Tepanal Agave Spirits

The name Tepanal comes from the Nahuatl word “Tepanaltepec,” which means “hill of honeycombs,” which was the name for Santa Maria Sola from the time of the Spanish conquest until 1915. Tepanal pays homage to the community and its history, where honey extraction was an important activity that the residents of Tepanaltepec implemented.

Rafael “Rafa” Garcia Aragon is a first generation mezcalero. Rafa emigrated to California but returned to Santa Maria Sola in 2008 and established his distillery, Palenque Escondido, in 2014. Rafa’s son, Jair Garcia, also became involved in the mezcal-making process, and, in 2019, at the age of 21, Jair immigrated to California to raise funds to start their mezcal brand. Along with Antonio Avendaño, they established Tepanal in May 2020.