Eric Hernández Cortés, a fourth-generation mezcalero and also an engineer, is relatively unknown outside the insular world of mezcal distillers. However, he could lay claim to being one of the most influential producers we work with at Coeur. This isn't hyperbole. He's literally the first registered mezcal distiller in Mexico — NOM-001X, for all the agave heads out there — working from a family palenque in Tlacolula, Oaxaca, that has been making mezcal since 1917, and he has been quietly shaping the category from it for nearly three decades. American drinkers may be most familiar with his work via the original run of Ilegal Mezcal, distilled out of his palenque, though Los Amantes and Xicala have also come off his stills. With those Ilegal bottlings, he pioneered the distinctive lower alcohol, lower smoke, and brighter style that has revolutionized mezcal cocktail culture and become his calling card.

Laughing, Eric told our team that, before he came around, all the mezcal cocktails had smoke in the name, almost like they were apologizing in advance for a flaw, or hiding something. Eric was determined that his mezcals would taste of agave, without being overpowered by smoke. To accomplish this, Eric utilized his engineering bona fides and patented a brand new conical horno design that cooks the piñas under low, constant heat rather than fierce direct fire, minimizing the burned and roasted aromas and allowing the natural fruit and spice of the agave to shine through. Additionally, his design greatly diminishes fuel inputs and shortens cooking time, lowering the distillery's carbon footprint — both critically important in the rapidly deforesting Oaxaca.

In his quest for purity of taste, Eric realized that he needed to ensure that his agaves were second to none, so he's spent much of the last few years tweaking his farming. It starts at his own nursery, where espadín, tobalá, and a range of other varieties are germinated and nursed through their most vulnerable years before being transplanted out to the fields. When we last visited we found tiny tobalás nestled in the shadow of espadíns — a sensitive way of growing these temperamental succulents, and also unbelievably cute. Some of those plants go into Eric's own fields; the rest go out to local farmers who raise them to maturity on their own land and sell the harvest back to him, which means Eric can vouch for the genetics and the age of virtually every piña that crosses his threshold while keeping his neighbors in the business of growing agave rather than selling off their land. We absolutely can't wait for the wild varieties to come online, though our expectations are tempered by a growing cycle that can run eighteen to twenty years. In the meantime, Eric has devoted himself to growing espadín organically, making him a true anomaly in an industry reeling from industrial production and exploitation. It is from those organic magueys that his newest project, La Colula Mezcal Artesanal, is derived.

With La Colula, we're happy to see all the strands of Eric's career woven together at once. Organic espadín is left in the ground a full ten years before it is hand-harvested, then roasted in Eric's special oven over mesquite for two days and crushed by tahona. In just about the only really modern touch at the distillery, the giant stone wheel is moved by electricity rather than horse power — a second patent of Eric's, and one that can be chalked up to his being a bit of an animal lover. The crushed piñas are mixed with spring water in giant wood vats to ferment naturally for four days and then double distilled in copper alembic stills. There's not much room for artifice, and on the nose, Eric's hand is most clearly felt: ripe watermelon and earth with only a small dart of smoke as an anchor. On the palate, the watermelon gives way to cooked citrus, fruit forward and linear. This is mezcal without makeup, without the gnarl or the burn often associated with the spirit. Instead, the complexity comes from the texture, the glycerine weight of alcohol on the palate, and the distillation of perfectly ripe and healthy piñas. We're through the roof to partner with Eric for La Colula and to share artisan mezcal from one of the true masters of the spirit.