Hacienda de Chihuahua Campaigns for a New Mexican-Made Spirit in the American Market
(Photo: Hacienda de Chihuahua)
Hacienda de Chihuahua, one of the biggest names in the up-and-coming sotol category, is setting its sights on the American market with a national awareness-raising campaign.
Spearheaded by Overton & Associates, the push hopes to build upon a growing love for Mexican-made spirits that has blossomed over the past decade. While tequila and mezcal tend to originate from southern states like Jalisco and Oaxaca, sotol is all about the north. Specifically for Hacienda, the Chihuahua desert found along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Though sotol has been distilled for decades, it’s never achieved quite the same international recognition as other cherished Mexican exports. Master distiller José Daumas — credited as “sotol’s founding father” — thinks a change of pace is long overdue.
“My main goal with sotol has always been to make a genuinely world-class spirit from it, expressing every element it offers, magnifying its scents and textures, and guiding its evolution with great care from wild harvest to final appreciation. Sotol stands alone in the world of spirits. ‘Una bebida fina es aquella queue saca lo mejor de la planta’—a fine drink is one that brings out the best in the plant,” Daumas said in a news release.
Within the rich and varied world of agave spirits, the word “cousin” comes up a lot. Chances are, you’ve heard someone refer to mezcal as the smoky cousin of tequila, or perhaps sotol as the grassy cousin of mezcal. Though these comparisons help illustrate a rough sketch, they tend to miss the finer details. Often lost in the fact that sotol isn’t technically made from agave.
Sotol is distilled from dasylirion wheeleri, a spindled evergreen shrub better known as desert spoon. Found through Northern Mexico, Arizona and Texas, the varietal can be spotted from a mile away by its characteristic 10- to 15-foot flowering spike. Most commercially available sotol is made from wild-harvested shrubs grown in the Chihuahua desert. In terms of flavor, imagine a terroir-forward blend of herbs, earth and lingering pine.
Spinning up a comparison of its own, Hacienda wrote:
“If tequila is Mexico’s Cognac, sotol is its Armagnac—an overlooked and inherently craft spirit sought out by a widening demographic of conscious consumers who value discovery, diversity, aroma, richness, and texture.”
(Photo: Hacienda de Chihuahua)
Taking a nod from the legacy of agave spirits, Hacienda’s catalog is chock-full of recognizable names. Among its nearly dozen expressions you’ll find a blanco, reposado, añejo, extra añejo and even a chocolate liqueur. Embedded within its modern influences is an old-school ethos. The distiller is located on the Hacienda Tabalaopa, a 90,000-acre estate that has been used for sotol production since 1881.
If you’d like to learn more about Hacienda de Chihuahua and the sotol movement, find the distiller’s website here.
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