Ignacio Carballido and Guillermo Olguin envisioned Los Amantes after a series of conversations between Oaxaca and New York. Following their inspiration, they developed Los amantes Mezcal with master distiller Eric Hernandez at Destilleria Tlacolula.

Los Amantes is one of the first brands of Mezcal in the United States, where the spirit was perceived as brute and undrinkable by wrongful stereotypes.

It was essential for Los Amantes to reflect the true essence of mezcal: a complex spirit full of subtleties of aroma and flavor.

The legend of Mayahuel

The Gods' council

The gods encomended Quetzalcoatl to retrieve Mayahuel, a goddess who possesed a magical plant that would bring food and shelter to the humans.

Mayahuel was fiercely guarded by her grandmother; Tzitzimintl.

The ESCAPE

Quetzalcoatl, transformed in wind reached the goddess, and with wise words convinced her to escape inspite of the fury of Tzitzimintl.

In their escape, fleeing from her siblings and grandmother, the two gods fell in love with eachother.

To spend eternity together, the lovers decided to transform into Mayahuel’s magical plant to hide from their persecutors.

Found

Eventually her siblings recognize the plant and the lovers were found. With cruelty, they attacked and destroyed it.

Mayahuel was fatally injured, but Quetzalcoatl survived the strike.

THE BIRTH OF AGAVE

Quetzalcoatl gathered her lover’s remains, and plant them deep in the ground. With his tears, he nurtured them for days and from the flesh of Mayahuel the agave was born.

The plant brought food, shelter, joy and warmth to the humans as the gods had intended.

Los Amantes has been produced in our artisanal “palenque” (distillery) since 2003. Our palenque “Destileria Tlacolula” was the first certification issued by the mezcal regulation board, allowing us to mark our bottles with the NOM 001X.

Located about 30km (18 miles) east of Oaxaca City, in Tlacolula de Matamoros, a famous market town located in the central valleys. This route goes east towards the famous zapotec arqueological site of Mitla, known as the “ruta de mezcal” (the mezcal route).