El TIgre

Santa María La Ribera, CDMX

Damian and Raquel, the founders of El Tigre, officially started the project in 2011, but the roots date back to the early 2000s, when Damian’s tío Chimino, an accomplished magueyero (agave farmer) first introduced him to the Patricio García family, and Damian, who had grown up in Mexico City and Detroit, began developing a greater interest in the culture of his family’s ancestral home in Atempa-Xulchuchio.

Since then, the couple have hosted mezcal tastings in their home in Mexico City as way of spreading Atempa’s culture of mezcal, while using the proceeds to help support and preserve the web of agricultural and artisan communities that all play important parts in Atempa’s traditional social, religious and economic systems.

An elderly man with gray hair and a beard holding a shovel in a green forested area.

Familia Patricio García

Atempa-Xulchuchio, Guerrero

Tío Chuchi, 77, and his wife Tía Victoria, 75, have made agave spirits in the same chivita (distillery) since getting married 50+ years ago. Before that, it was shared by their fathers and which their father’s shared before that, and Chuchi’s grandfather before that. While most of the couple’s seven children have left Atempa for more lucrative work in the North, the couple continues to endure the physical work of roasting and mashing agave, and the long sleepless nights while distilling.

A large green agave plant in dry soil with brown leaves, rocks, and sparse trees in the background under a partly cloudy blue sky.

PRODUCTION

Distilling Season(s): March to June (dry season)

Woods used in Oven: Tepehuaje

Agaves used: Papalote, Zacamexcal

Oven Size: Apron. 120 heads (piñas)

Cook Time: 7 days

Rest Between Oven and Mill: 1-2 days

Mill Type: Wooden mallet in wooden canoa

Fermentation vessel: plastic

Water Source: Spring

Fermentation Time: 3-5 days

Still Type: filipino, steel/clay coxcomite

Number of stills: 1

Distillations: 2

A bottle of Tijuana tiger tequila with colorful tribal design and a tiger face on the label.
An elderly woman sitting outdoors, surrounded by plants and gardening tools, working with large green leaves.
A large green leaf is floating inside a circular concrete plant well with green grass-like fronds surrounding it.
An elderly man wearing a cowboy hat, glasses, and a denim jacket is tending to a fire on a natural woodland floor with leaves and forest greenery in the background.
A man wearing a cowboy hat and dark clothing is chopping a large agave plant outdoors in a rural area with mountains and trees in the background.
A young boy sitting on a donkey in a dry, wooded area with mostly bare trees and bushes. An older man with a straw hat sits nearby, resting with a stick in his hand.

THE BASICS (November, 2022)

Where did the inspiration for the El Tigre project come from?

Damian & Raquel: Anti-racism. Twenty years ago, before the mezcal boom had taken off, rural Mexican culture was looked down on in cities. Mezcal over the years has become an opportunity to promote the values of the culture of the Montaña baja region of Guerrero. To vindicate the origin and the values where mezcal is coming from, as a cultural artifact with its own story and social value.

What are the goals of the project?

Damian & Raquel: To promote, through mezcal, an artifact of culture rooted in social interactions, the rural values of the Montaña Baja region of Guerrero. Contextualizing it in the cities for new consumers, who are aware of the long history of the biological and social lanscape that constructed the rich complexity of this spirit.

To contribute to the preservation of mezcal culture from the region with concrete actions. Ensure that mezcal stays in the community and continues to be used as medicine, as part of its own rituals, celebrations and trade. As well as to preserve the population of local maguey species at a sustainable population.

batch tech sheets

 Sonido>

<Ramirez