Sierra Negra - Albarradas

Batch: O-EL-02

Release date: Summer 2026 Private Batch Pick - Side Hustle, London

At a glance:

  • Maguey: Sierra Negra (A. Americana)
  • Producer: Ever López
  • Region: Santa Catarina Albarradas, Sierra Norte, Oaxaca
  • Cooking: Small in-earth horno, covered with banana leaves
  • Milling: By hand with wooden mallet
  • Fermentation: Open air in rawhide, with added bark from tepehuaje tree
  • Distillation: Double distilled in small clay pots
  • Batch size: 60 litres
  • Date of production: September 2024
  • ABV: 46.4%

Santa Catarina Albarradas is a remote community in the northern mountains of Oaxaca.
Mezcal production here is extremely small scale and traditional in style.

We’re very pleased to present our second bottling from young mezcalero Ever López. This is a fascinating batch, and we’re looking forward to sharing more of Ever’s work in the future.

The long road into Albarradas

Harvesting wild Sierra Negra

The piña of a single mature agave Americana can weigh up to 500kg

Huge, mature (20+ yr old) maguey Sierra Negra (Agave American) were wild harvested from the hills of the northern sierra.

Back at the palenque the piñas were roasted in a small conical oven, covered with banana leaves, as well as the leaves of the local tepejuaje tree.

Milling here is ancestral style – entirely by hand, using heavy wooden mallets to squash the cooked plants as soon as they can be removed from the oven.

Harvesting Tepejuaje

Loading agave Americana into the oven

Covering the oven with leaves

Hand milling with mallets

Bark added as nitrogen source to fermentation

Open-air rawhide ferment

The bark from that same tepejuaje tree is used here as an addition to the ferment.
In this high-altitude cloud forest environment, the bark is a source of nitrogen, stabilising the open air ferment through day-to-night temperature fluctuations.

Distillation is also the most rudimentary and ancestral ‘filipino’ style, with a double pass of small clay pots.

Palenque in the Sierra

Tiny clay pot still

Distilling

Batch sizes are tiny, with this September 2024 production clocking in at just 60 litres.

An incredibly special liquid.

Gracias Ever

House Tasting Notes:

Nose: Bubble gum and cotton candy on first approach. Dig a little deeper to find mild menthol and a hint of bees wax.

Palate: An incredibly complex and almost otherworldly experience. Resinous sweetness with green herbs and tropical fruit, all with a background earthy bite.

Finish: Cacao nibs and dark berries with a lingering woody sweetness that betrays the unique fermentation style.

Overall: Exceptional expression of Albarradas. One for the ages.

This batch was bottled exclusively for the Side Hustle bar at the Nomad Hotel in Covent Garden, London.

For a copita, head to Side Hustle:

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