Don Chingón Sabe White Rum
Don Chingón Sabe White Rum is a piloncillo spirit from Santiago Matatlan, Oaxaca, Mexico, made by the Cortes Hernandez family — the mezcal dynasty behind El Jolgorio and Nuestra Soledad — bottled at 45% ABV (90 proof) in a 1L bottle. Fifth-generation maestro mezcalero Valentin Cortes runs the palenque with his son Asis, fermenting piloncillo — Oaxaca's unrefined dark cane sugar — spontaneously in pine tanks with a small amount of roasted agave, then double distilling in the same copper pot stills the family uses for mezcal, with no additives. Labeled as rum, it drinks like a cross between rum and mezcal. It is available to order online at Del Mesa Liquor.
- Proof / ABV: 90 proof (45% ABV)
- Size: 1L
- Base: Piloncillo (unrefined cane sugar) with a small amount of roasted agave
- Production: Spontaneous fermentation in pine tanks; double distilled in copper pot stills; no additives
- Origin: Santiago Matatlan, Oaxaca, Mexico
A Mezcal Family's Answer to the Agave Shortage
The Cortes Hernandez family built this bottle to solve a problem they see daily: agave takes six to twenty-plus years to mature, and cocktail demand for mezcal is outrunning what the hillsides can grow. Piloncillo renews in a single season. Don Chingón — 'Sabe a Maguey', 'it tastes of maguey' — applies two centuries of family mezcal craft to cane: spontaneous fermentation, copper pot distillation and nothing added, producing a white rum with genuine Oaxacan terroir. Explore more Mexican spirits in our rum collection and wider spirits shelves.
Tasting Notes
Roasty and brown-sugar sweet on the nose, with sweet piloncillo, smoky agave, earth and a little wood. The palate opens with rounded cane sweetness that gives way to maguey and light smoke — a rum's body with a mezcal accent, in a full one-liter format built for cocktails.
How to Enjoy
Swap it into any mezcal or rum cocktail — it lifts a Daiquiri, a Margarita riff or a Paloma with cane depth and a whisper of smoke. Stock your bar from our cocktail ingredients, and browse the rare and top shelf shelves for the family's limited mezcal releases when they land.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is piloncillo?
Piloncillo is unrefined whole cane sugar, made by boiling cane juice into cones. It renews in one growing season — unlike agave, which can take decades — making it a far more sustainable base for a cocktail spirit.
Is it rum or mezcal?
It is labeled as a white rum and made from piloncillo, but the Cortes family ferments it with a small amount of roasted agave and distills it in their mezcal copper pot stills, so it drinks like a cross between the two.
How strong is it and what size is the bottle?
45% ABV (90 proof) in a 1L bottle, with no additives.
Pour Don Chingón Sabe from Del Mesa Liquor in San Diego, CA — Oaxacan cane craft in a cocktail-ready liter.