Amando Alvarez

Amando’s full name is Amando Alvarado Alvarez. He distilled his first batch as a 15-year old under the direction of his father, Amando Alvarado Jimenez, in Santa María Ixcatlan, Oaxaca. Amando is one of only a dozen distillers who maintain the centuries-old practice of fermenting in rawhide and distilling in clay.

In order to better protect his fragile clay stills, Amando adds fermented mash to the second distillation. This absorbs some of the heat and also results in a final product that is approximately a 20% first-run distillate.

Read more about Amando in our blog post Santa María Ixcatlán: Rawhide Fermentation with Amando Alvarez