Chino con Alto - Michoacán

Batch: M-JI-02

Release date: August 2026

At a glance:

  • Maguey: Chino (A. Cupreata) con Alto (A. Inaequidens)
  • Producer: Jose Ines Vieyra
  • Region: Aguacatito, Michoacán
  • Cooking: Small brick-ilned in-earth horno
  • Milling: Mechanised shredder
  • Fermentation: Shallow concrete vats with well water
  • Distillation: Double distilled, internal capture 'fFilipino' style, with copper boiling pot and wooden condenser
  • Batch size: 220 litres, pre-proofing
  • Date of production: July 2024
  • ABV: 48.6%

Aguacatito - or 'little avocado' - is a name give to various tiny communities in the state of Michoacán. This particular one is in the municipality of Tzitzio and registered as having just 20 residents. It's hard to find, and unfortunately not the safest place to travel.

We stumbled across Jose after taking a wring turn on pre-pandemic road trip. What a happy accident that turned out to be, and we're very pleased to present this second bottling from him. - an ensamble of the quintessential agaves of the region.

Wild Chino and Alto agave flowering in the dry season

Cupreata nursery

Michoacán

Jose made this batch with a mix of roughly 2/3 Chino (A. Cupreata) and 1/3 Alto (A. Inaequidens).

Chino (or Chinese) is the local name for Agave Cupreata - plants that are quite squat in stature but highly symmetrical in the structure of their leaves, often giving quite cheesy flavours.

Also (or tall) is the local name for agave Inaequidens (literally meaning 'uneven teeth'). These can be identified... you guessed it... by their relatively tall stature , and the irregular nature of the spikes on their leaves. Alto can often be a little acidic in flavour.

Both species have a broad maturation time depending on their conditions. All Jose's agave are wild harvested and likely between 10-15 years in age.

Wild Cupreata

Jose's overgrown oven - he only uses it once per year

Hiking out of the vinata (distillery)

Jose only produces once per year - favouring the very hottest month to encourage quick fermentation and maximum sugar from his plants.

Those plants are roasted in the small oven with encino and tepehuaje wood for 4 days, then milled with mechanical shredder before being fermented in wide and shallow open-air, wood-lined cement vats with well water.

Ultimately distillation is a double pass of the traditional Michoacán version of the in-still capture 'Filipino' set-up, comprising a copper boiling pot and a slatted wooden condensing chamber, topped with a copper lid.

Wide and shallow fermentation vats

Filipino still

Batch proofing on the veranda

220 litres produced in the summer of 2024 during a continuous distillation (collecting everything from puntas through to colas in different containers as it runs off the still). A smaller final proof batch of 95 litres was purchased by us in 2025.

It took 6 years to line up this releases after our first from Jose in August 2020. Who knows how long it will take for the next. To be savoured.

Gracias Jose

House Tasting Notes:

Nose: Curds & whey. Lactic flavours of light cheese like ricotta and paneer. Grassy and floral background notes with hints of wild garlic and pink peppercorn.

First Sip: First attack of harder cheeses - into the Welch cave aged cheddars but stopping short of pecorino - fades back into ricotta before being overtaken by deeper tones of leather & tobacco, with a big dose of French Pastis.

Finish: The opposing lactic and earthy tones that earlier competed merge into balance and fade into grandma's boiled sweets.

On Return: The sweetness present on the finish builds as this one opens in the glass. Wonderful representation of these agaves and the north-eastern region of Michoacán.

Grab a bottle for your collection while stocks last:

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