Tobala y Tepextate - Amatlán

Batch: NGG-20

Release date: December 2025

At a glance:

  • Maguey: Tobala (A. Potatorum) y Tepextate (A. Marmorata)
  • Producer: Nicolas Garcia Gutíerrez
  • Region: San Luis Amatlán, Miahuatlán District, Oaxaca
  • Cooking: Classic in-earth horno: 1 week roast
  • Milling: Machete & Shredder
  • Fermentation: 1 week in open-air wooden tina with spring water added on day 3
  • Distillation: Double pass in copper alembic
  • Composition: Heads, hearts and tails
  • Batch size: 105 litres
  • Date of production: April 2023
  • ABV: 47.4%

In San Luis Amatlán, in the Miahuatlán district of southern Oaxaca, you’ll find Nicolas Garcia Gutierrez and family making exceptional agave spirits.

We’re extremely pleased to present this wonderfully balanced and nuanced ensemble that embodies all we love about Nicolas and Amatlán. This release is the perfect follow-up to our 2024 smash hit, NGG-19.

Produced with wild Tepextate (A. Marmorata) plants, harvested from the rolling hills of neighbouring community San Antonio Chigivana, and equal weight of hill foraged Tobala (A. Potatorum). This bottling is a true delight.

The agave-rich, lush hills of Chiguivana ready to harvest for mezcal production

The agave-rich, lush hills of Chiguivana

Wild agave in Chiguivana, grown to make mezcal

Wild agave in Chiguivana

Nicolas & Jon from the Sin Gusano project, checking out the wild Tepextate in Chiguivana

Nicolas & Jon checking out the wild Tepextate in Chiguivana

Brought by truck to the palenque, the agaves are loaded into the oven at sunrise – a community effort after the fire has been lit in the very early hours. 

Once the oven is sealed the piñas will slow roast for a solid week before being un-earthed, chopped by hand with machete, and milled with a chipping machine. All of this is heavy manual labour.

Trucking in the agave

Pre-dawn, waiting for the rocks in the horno to heat

A group of men filling the outdoor oven with agave to make mezcal

Community oven covering at sunrise

Nicolas at the agave nursery, including Tobala

Jon Darby from the Sin Gusano project cutting agave with a Machete ready for the shredder to make mezcal

Machete work

Agave chunks ready for the shredder during the process of making mezcal

Agave chunks ready for the shredder

The milled roasted agave is then left in large open air wooden tubs, or ‘tinas’, with the addition of local well water, to interact with the airborne yeasts and naturally ferment for a week (the first 3 days without water).

Nicolas then employs quite an old-school distillation technique, double passing a copper alembic still. You can read more detail on his technique at batch page NGG-19.

the agave Fermenting for the Tepextate - Amatlán mezcal

Fermenting

All the fibre goes in the still for the first pass to make the mezcal

All the fibre goes in the still for the first pass

Swapping out the mash for mezcal production

Swapping out the mash

Collecting this specific batch

Cut in March, distilled and proofed in April

A traditional spring time production, these plants were harvested in March 2023, with the batch distilled, proofed, and finished in April. Having rested for 2.5 years before this release, it's perfectly matured and ready for sipping.

Nicolas, the creator of the Tepextate - Amatlán mezcal

Gracias Nicolas

House Tasting Notes:

Nose: Must & damp forest floor. Salt & brine – those quintessential Amatlán notes are immediately present. But there’s more – distant curing catch of the day… like walking along a Portuguese beachfront promenade where the fisherman are sun-drying their mackerel and sardines. 

Palate: Sweet upfront, almost chocolaty with a healthy dose of white pepper. Very low on the smoke scale. The maritime flavours fade into the forest floor with notes of clove, before it becomes drier, opening to hints of chalky stone and slate.

Finish: The sweet and maritime and spice blend wonderfully into an incredibly complex, pleasingly tingly, and lengthy finish. Outstanding. 

Grab a bottle for your collection while stocks last:

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