Real Minero is as deeply rustic and culturally historic as mezcal production can get. Roughly translated as “royal miner”, the brand is exemplary of the minero style of mezcal which can only be certified from Santa Catarina Minas, specifically. Minero implies a production method otherwise referred to as en barro or en olla; distillation occurs in handmade, clay pots using a carved, wooden spoon suspended on string to collect condensed distillate. Much of their agave is broken down after cooking by hand-mashing with massive, wooden bats—like a mortar and pestle of overwhelming size. These countryside methods have not changed in hundreds of years.

A classic expression of the broad Agave karwinskii family, Barril grows with a shorter stem or trunk below, with a rounder, fatter shape to its body but the same bold green bloom on top. This particular Barril is fruitier than most others on the market, packed with notes of pink peppercorn, citrus, and wood.