El Jolgorio Sierrudo Mezcal

El Jolgorio Sierrudo is made with wild maguey Sierrudo (Agave Americana) by José Cortés in Santiago Matatlan, Oaxaca. As of 2019, Don José Cortés was the oldest living member of the Cortés family and the inspiration for the entire El Jolgorio range. He is mostly retired from making mezcal, but will produce a special batch occasionally. The maguey Sierrudo is seldom used in Mezcal. It’s closely related to maguey Arroqueno, Sierra Negra, and Coyote. This agave is enormous. It generally takes 13-15 years to mature in this region and can grow up to 1,000 pounds in weight. Sierrudo has a high concentration of sugars, meaning a single agave can yield around 20-25 bottles of mezcal. The agaves for the introductory release (ed. 1) were cultivated in a wild environment (i.e. semi-cultivated) in Agua del Guaje, San Pedro Lachigoba, San Carlos Yautepec. The first batch (ed. 1) imported into the US was just 180 bottles.