Chacolo
Jalisco mezcal? Yes, it’s a thing. Don Macario Partida Ramos’s distillery is in Jalisco, right on the border with Colima. The family produces small batches of vintage mezcals which represent this most ancient of mezcal producing areas and evokes the true terroir and tradition of his region.
The Partida family, led by Don Macario and his son Miguel Angel, have been making their distinctive mezcals for five generations in Zapotitlan de Vadillo, Jalisco. Despite being in Jalisco and distilling agave, they are not producing tequila–or Jalisco’s other famous mezcal: raicilla! Since their region is outside the protected denomination of origen for both tequila and raicilla, they must legally label their product a destilado de agave, or agave distillate. But there’s more to it than legalities. They are certainly not making tequila, and they don’t call it raicilla either. In their region, it’s called vino do mezcal. And they are renowned among mezcaleros and mezcal aficionados for producing some of the world’s best mezcal.
The family distills only ~2000 liters per year, using just one variety of Agave rhodacantha and twelve different subspecies of Agave angustifolia, which they have been collecting, cultivating and documenting for three generations. Perhaps most notably, the Partida family is known for their amazing success with capón mezcal. What do we mean by that? Agave is castrated as it develops its quiote (reproductive stalk), thus concentrating the natural sugars back into the agave’s heart. Where most mezcaleros distilling busily in southern states like Oaxaca might capón for a matter of months, the Partida family keep the sugars concentrating with an epic 3-4 year capón.
With every step of the production process, they similarly take their time. Agave are cooked in an earthen pit using using a mix of mezquite and guamuchil wood, then milled by hand using axes. Extra-long fermentation (up to 26 days) in the cool depths of volcanic rock wells precedes low-yield distillation in a Filipino-style still, made from a combination of copper and the hollowed trunk of a parota tree. Recognized among agave botanists for their role in biodiverse agave cultivation from seed, the Partida family produce their limited ‘destilados de agave’ out of passion, love, tradition and responsibility to the future.
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Chacolo is Don Macario Partida Ramos' project in Jalisco right on the border with Colima that produces traditional agave spirits.