About Us
Image of Doña Tules by Susan Guevara at susanguevara.com
Doña Tules was an infamous saloon and gambling hall owner in Santa Fe, New Mexico during the mid 1800’s. Incredibly astute in business, a truly liberated woman, and widely known as the best Three Card Monte dealer in the West, she was also one of the first to bring barrels of Mexican agave spirits* up the ancient “Turquoise Trail” to serve in her establishment.
In her honor, today we buy very small lots of the finest 100% agave spirits from tiny traditional producers throughout Mexico and bring them up that same trade route to our "mezcal cave" in Santa Fe. Here they are aged in the finest French and American oak and then released single barrel by single barrel.
All of our agave spirits are made 100% from one or more of the forty plus agave varieties found throughout Mexico. Whether harvested from the wild, or from plants grown from wild seed, no chemicals are ever used by the farmers who grow and harvest the agaves used in our selections. No accelerants or artificial yeasts are used during fermentation, and none of the additives often legally used to “improve” tequilas and mezcals aged in old and inferior oak barrels come anywhere near our single barrel products. We use a variety of highest quality new and once used French and American oak barrels, age for a minimum of 18 months, (Añejo) and never use water to dilute.
More than just a brand and an exclusive spirits club, we are dedicated to honoring the traditional producers who make our agave spirits. We pay their fair asking price and make a documentary to promote them and their traditional mezcal, culture, and community- a film which they can use as they see fit.
We donate 50% of all profits to non-profits- 25% to local community charities chosen in consultation with our local mezcal producing partner, and 25% to thewisdomarchive.com, a youtube based video archive dedicated to the promotion and celebration of disappearing traditional culture.
Now available to taste at three of the finest restaurants in Santa Fe, New Mexico: Geronimo, Anasazi, and Paloma.
*A general note about our agave spirits. All spirits distilled from agave in Mexico for the last 500 years have been known generically as "mezcal". Starting in the 1960’s various regional mezcals sought to distinguish themselves through branding. Most famous is “Tequila”- a regional mezcal made from blue agave by registered producers in a few Mexican states. More recently, in 1995, A "Mezcal Denomination of Origin" limited official "mezcal" production to only 8 out of the 31 states in Mexico, and required a costly certification process that excluded many small artesanal producers. These unregistered producers, and producers outside this strictly defined region, suddenly, after 500 years, could no longer call their product mezcal! For this reason, all our products are simply labelled as “Spirits Distilled From Agave”, “Made in Mexico”, with information about the specific product and producer on the back label.