Refugio “Don Cuco” Calzada Hernández produces in the village of Teititlan de la Lima, Guerrero. Don Cuco comes from a revered mezcal-making family and has spent the last 20 years cultivating Papalote. He doesn’t shy away from lending his gregarious and playful personality to his production, wholly displayed in wondrous fashion with this Pechuga Guerrerense.

The process is very typical of the pechuga style of Guerrero. First, Don Cuco distills a batch of Papalote then adds 12 chickens, cinnamon, raisins, almonds and pineapple into the still on the second distillation. The nose is sparkly clean while the palate delivers an explosion of flavor. The entire experience when tasting this mezcal begs for further exploration on every sip.