In the heart of the Oaxacan hills,  where the sunlight caresses the earth and time seems to stand still, a story hundreds-of-years in the making continues on. The sacred art of making Mezcal Ancestral is one of tradition, honor, and the ever-tenuous balance between humanity and nature, and its these very origins that inspired Madre’s latest expression, Madre Ancestral.

The process results with a mezcal that is light and beautiful, where floral notes with a touch of minerality and salinity are accompanied by hints of soil and clay. A smooth finish carries a ripe sweetness with notes of honeydew.

The Madre Ancestral expression is the true embodiment of mezcal’s origins and the gifts from nature.

Purchase Madre Ancestral here.

Crafted by Moises Martinez, a third generation mezcalero from the village of Santa Catarina de Minas, Madre Ancestral stays true to each tradition of this region known for commitment to the old ways, including hand-crushing the agaves and distilling in clay pots.

Inspired by Madre’s beautiful blend of Espadins and Cuishe agaves, Madre Ancestral pairs Tobasiche (a close relative to Cuishe native to Minas) with Espadin, creating a familiar base that takes on new layers of depth from the ancestral process. 

Like Madre Ensemble and Madre Espadin, which are made in the traditions of Madre Artesanal, the process for making Madre Ancestral starts with roasting agaves together in an earthen pit, covered with volcanic stones, and nourished by the heat of the earth for as many days as it takes for the mezcalero to deem them finished.

Where things differ is that once cooked, the agaves are hand-mashed using wooden mallets, rather than crushed with a horse-pulled tahona like Madre’s other expressions. In all cases, after being crushed, the resulting juices and fiber are transferred to large pine vats, called tinas, where they naturally ferment using wild yeasts that roam the air.