maestro mezcalero

While the genesis of mezcal is not fully understood, its secrets have been passed down from generation to generation. Fortunately for us and the world, those secrets can sometimes be concentrated in one person, the maestro mezcalero. This inherited knowledge imparts on the maestro mezcalero a deep respect and understanding of the craft that is manifested in truly incredible mezcales.

Mezcal Nacional’s maestro mezcalero, Celso Martinez Lopez, not only demonstrates his mezcalero linage in every mezcal he produces, he quite literally has the stones to prove it. Nestled along a hillside of the mystic 9-puntas sierra near Santiago Matatlan, Oaxaca, is an ancestral palenque and the mezcalero origins of maestro mezcalero Celso. It is here where maestro mezcalero Celso's forefathers learned the craft, the very same that now produces Mezcal Nacional.

Mezcal Nacional is produced utilizing strictly traditional methods, which include baking agave piñas in traditional stone ovens, fermentation in open air wooden vats, and double distillation in copper stills, all under the careful direction of maestro mezcalero Celso.