Creador Tobala

About this destilado de agave

Creador Tobala is produced by maestro palenquero José Alberto Pablo in San Bernardo Mixtepec, Oaxaca. This small-batch 100% agave expression was cooked in an underground river rock-lined stone oven for 5 days, milled by hand with wood mallets (mazos) in a hollowed tree trunk (canoa), fermented 3-5 days in half-buried 90-liter clay pots, and twice distilled in 60-liter clay pots. The all-clay fermentation and distillation process makes this mezcal unique from most commercially available mezcals.

The agaves for batch JATO0524 were harvested in the wild at Santa Ana Tlapacoyan, near San Bernardo Mixtepec, Oaxaca, and took 12-14 years to reach maturity. Produced in June 2023, this is José Alberto’s first batch of Tobalá in nearly 5 years. Of the 240 liters that were originally made, 100 of those liters made it to export due to the popularity in the community of José Alberto’s Tobalá.

Creador Agave Spirits

Creador Agave Spirits seeks out independent family producers who have little to no representation outside of their local markets – producers who want to make a transition to full-time production of destilado and need help getting their agave spirits to market.

Creador strives to support palenqueros and their communities by providing autonomy for the producers, as well as fair pricing. The company does not contractually obligate producers, nor negotiate price – what the palenqueros ask, they pay, and the company will advise if they think the spirits are underpriced. Creador profit-shares with the producers, providing transparency into the complex economics of selling spirits into the tiered alcohol-distribution systems prevalent in the US.

Creador translates to “creator” and is an homage to the artisan creators of agave spirits, and a tribute to the creators and makers in us all. De la mano y el corazón – from the hand and the heart.

You can now order Creador directly to your door.