They say the desert spoon plant or sereque (dasylirion wheeleri) looks like a short palm tree, and you probably wouldn’t guess that it’s the source of sotol if you encountered it in the desert. There are sereque 16 species. The production process of this elixir is ancient, says a sotol master from Noche Luna, one of the state’s sotol brands, crafted in partnership with singer Lenny Kravitz. “This is part of the legacy inherited from the Seris, Rarámuris, and Apaches. They had underground ovens where they fermented the base of the plant and extracted the liquid they drank in sacred rituals,” says the sotol master.
Sotol’s Appellation of Origin has guaranteed to protect the identity of this Mexican beverage since 2002. The drink’s four main production areas are Coyame (Ojinaga, Coyame, Chihuahua), Jiménez (Jiménez, Camargo), Valle Zaragoza (Valle, Zaragoza, Satevó), and Madera (Janos, Casas Grandes, Buenaventura, Ignacio Zaragoza, and Madera).
The smoky flavor that sets this beverage apart is the result of a fermentation process, where the sotol heads are left to ferment with water, allowing the yeast to transform the sugar into alcohol. When this mixture bubbles, it is cooked in a hole in the ground under a bed made of stone, palm, and earth. The third step is to grind the mixture (in the past, sotol producers used axes to grind) and place it in a copper and wood still, then pass it through a tube called a serpentine that transforms vapors into liquid. It is essential to mention that most of the plants used to create this beverage are wild and grow throughout the desert, although several producers also cultivate them in greenhouses.
It is at this moment in the production process that the sotol master’s knowledge is essential, as he decides the flavor he will grant the spirit. Sotol goes through a three-distillation process until it reaches around 50 degrees of alcohol, the ideal to balance the “elixir.” Chihuahua has approximately 40 sotol masters, including the younger “sotoleros,” a generation seeking to create new flavors within the spirit while preserving the ancient ones.
Locals suggest pairing
sotol with nuts, cheeses,
apples, and preserves.
An ideal place to
explore this drink is La
Sotolería (Periférico de
la Juventud 3511, Las
Fuentes, Chihuahua),
where they serve
cocktails and a culinary
selection that pairs
perfectly with the drink.
Another excellent option
is the Desert Cocktails
Festival, also in the city
of Chihuahua, created
to exalt the spirit’s
culture and provide an
unforgettable culinary
and sensory experience.
The event takes place in
October
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