Todos Santos Mezcaleros Arroqueño

About this mezcal

El Jolgorio Todos Santos Mezcaleros Arroqueño is a special edition – released in 2020. Todos Santos (All Saints), an important event in Mexican culture, is a three-day celebration of friends and loved ones who have passed on. In 2020, Casa Cortes paid special tribute to the late Crispina Hernandez Romero, mother of Rolando Cortes and herself a maestra mezcalera. In lieu of a planned Todos Santos celebration in her honor (cancelled due to the pandemic), Rolando decided to release two bottles in her name. In the words of Rolando:

“My mother taught me the meaning of Dixeebe, a Zapotec word that embodies gratitude, love and thankfulness in a way that is difficult to explain. When we toast mezcal with our friends and family, we say Dixeebe to show them we are thankful to be with them. It was a tradition that was very important to my mother. Because we could not have the Todo Santos celebration we wanted in Oaxaca, we decided to bring this tradition to the world with two very special edition mezcals. These Todo Santos mezcales symbolize the most important connection between life and death, between today and tomorrow, between two hearts and between families. They are an opportunity for us to pay tribute to my mother and toast with her when she is here from the spirit world.”

Maestro Mezcalero “Tio” Pedro Vasquez is often called the King of the Arroqueño. He is the only mezcalero to distill Arroqueño batches released under the El Jolgorio label. This batch was distilled in 2015 and rested in glass for five years, before bottling at a traditional 55% ABV.

El Jolgorio Mezcal

El Jolgorio translates to “the revelry”. Jolgorios are small festivals that occur in remote, mountain villages throughout Oaxaca, Mexico. They celebrate births, deaths, weddings and Saint’s days. For centuries, the lifeblood of these celebrations has been traditional mezcal. In 2010, the Cortés family began building a collective of top mezcal distillers from around Oaxaca. As of 2019, El Jolgorio represents sixteen different families, working in ten different regions of Oaxaca, Mexico, each with its own special story. Every bottle is hand-marked with the specific details of each batch, to truly connect the drinker with the family behind the expression.

In 2017, the team behind the brand realized that certain varieties of agave would be extremely limited and they would only be able to make them available once per year (if at all). They began packaging these rare editions in black bottles to set them apart from the other releases.

The artwork on the first 8 releases was created by Alejandro Peña (Espadin, Pechuga, Tobala, Cuixe, Madrecuixe, Tepeztate, Barril and Mexicano). The next 5 labels were created by Asis Cortes (Arroqueno, Jabalin, Coyote, Tobaxiche, and Cenizo) and the Sierrudo artwork was created by Alberto Almánza.