Don Amado Mezcal Anejo

Don Amado Mezcal Anejo is a 750mL clay-pot mezcal bottled at 43.5% ABV, made from 100% Espadin agave grown at around 4,800 feet in Santa Catarina Minas, Oaxaca. At the Real de Minas Distillery, maestro mezcalero German Bonifacio Arellanes roasts the agave in earthen pits, ferments it with its fibres in pine vats on wild yeast, and double distils it in ceramic pot stills — then the Anejo rests a minimum of 18 months in American white oak barrels that previously held Pedro Domecq Mexican brandy. It is available to order online at Del Mesa Liquor.

• ABV: 43.5%
• Size: 750mL
• Agave: 100% Espadin (Angustifolia), Santa Catarina Minas, Oaxaca
• Ageing: Minimum 18 months in American white oak ex-Mexican brandy barrels
• Distillation: Double distilled in ceramic (clay) pot stills
• Origin: Real de Minas Distillery, Santa Catarina Minas, Oaxaca, Mexico

Eleven Generations in the Clay-Pot Town

Santa Catarina Minas is famous across Oaxaca for one thing: mezcal distilled en barro, in clay pots, the oldest way there is. The Arellanes family has made mezcal there since the late 1700s — eleven generations — and Don Amado is their house label, built for the US market with Las Joyas del Agave. The Anejo takes that deeply traditional spirit and gives it time: at least eighteen months in oak that once held Mexican brandy, so the clay-pot smoke meets dried fruit and caramel rather than raw oak. See the younger expressions on the Don Amado vendor page and explore the category in our mezcal collection.

Tasting Notes

The brand describes savoury mesquite and toasted cayenne on the nose with baked stone fruit from the brandy casks; grilled pineapple through the palate; and a long finish carried by bright, saline minerality — the clay-pot signature showing through the oak.

How to Enjoy

Neat, in a copita or small glass, given time to open — this is a sipping anejo, not a mixer. Aged agave fans will find more in our tequila collection.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is Don Amado Anejo aged?
A minimum of 18 months in American white oak barrels that previously held Pedro Domecq Mexican brandy — longer when the maestro judges the extraction needs it.

Is Don Amado a tequila?
No — it is a mezcal, made from Espadin agave in Santa Catarina Minas, Oaxaca, and double distilled in ceramic clay pots. Tequila is made only from blue Weber agave in its own denominated region.

What does clay-pot distillation do to mezcal?
The ceramic pot softens and rounds the spirit while adding an earthy minerality that copper does not — it is the traditional minero method Santa Catarina Minas is known for.

Clay-pot smoke, eighteen months of brandy oak — order Don Amado Mezcal Anejo online from Del Mesa Liquor, San Diego, CA.