A juicy Tobalá Mezcal from a small Mexican village.

Rey Campero (meaning King of the Countryside) is made by Rómulo Sánchez Parada in Candeleria Yegloe, a tiny village of 150 people in the mountains of southern Oaxaca. Rómulo learned to make Mezcal from his father and grandfather but the family’s roots in Mezcal go back to his great grandmother Clara Manzano Rios who built the family’s palenque in 1870 and began distilling with her husband Nicolas Sanchez. This was the first palenque to be built in Candelaria Yegolé. Flash forward more than a century, Rómulo finally got his Mezcal brand started in 2012. Today, Rey Campero is imported to the U.S. by Mezcal savant William Scanlan who runs the awesomely named Heavy Metl Imports.

Rey Campero Tobalá Mezcal is a special release, crafted with the highly coveted Tobalá agave. This varietal grows in the shade high up in the mountainous regions, but its small size and low sugar content make it difficult to produce large quantities of Mezcal. No problemo for Maestro Mezcalero Rómulo, though, who crafted this juicy Tobalá Mezcal with traditional methods. The agave was roasted underground and fermented with natural yeast in wood casks before it was double-distilled in a copper alembic still. Bottled at 96 proof, there’s plenty of smoke, salty flavors, grilled pineapple, strawberries, lime zest, and white chocolate on the velvety smooth palate.