Mal Bien - Espadin Mezcal by Felix Ramirez

MAL BIEN - Espadin Mezcal by Felix Ramirez

Yogana, Ejutla, Oaxaca
1222FRM, 46%, 612 bottles, December, 2022

Since starting to work with Mal Bien in 2018, Felix’s production has steadily grown. Plants that Felix would have sold to other mezcaleros in the past, now wind up in his own ovens and stills, which consistently produce some of the best mezcal in Ejutla.

As people have done since they first came to the region, Félix spends most of his time farming the rich, cambisol soil that covers the hills of Yogana, harvesting a bounty of agave, maiz, squash and beans. When he’s not working his fields, Félix works his agaves into mezcal. On fridays, he drives north to the Ocotlán market, where he sells his mezcal and uses the money to purchase packaged goods that his wife and daughter sell out of their neighborhood store.