Vago Elote – Aquilino García López

About this mezcal

Vago Elote from Aquilino Garcia Lopez has a nose full of smoky toasted corn and dry river stones. The body is sweet with wood tones and layers of honeycomb, green tropical fruit, and smoke. It has a prolonged finish loaded with mint and papaya.  This is a triple distilled Mezcal. Between the second and third distillations,  Aquilino Garcia Lopez adds roasted corn from his farm. The roasted corn taste shines through to the finish. This Mezcal still has hints of the Vago Espadin’s tough exterior, but its revealing with a softer aftertaste that rounds the edges off the Espadin.

Read more about Mezcal Vago Elote on Mas Mezcal.

Vago Mezcal

Mezcal Vago began when co-founder Judah Kuper visited a hospital in Oaxaca, Mexico. He fell in love with the nurse who treated him. Her father, Aquilino Garcia, was a sustenance farmer who also produced mezcal. Judah and Aquilino, along with Judah’s longtime friend Dylan Sloan, launched Mezcal Vago. In 2013, their first exported bottles arrived in Texas. Each of their mezcals is produced naturally in a traditional palenque with no additives. The brand aims to empower both the master craftsmen with a celebration of his art. Also the consumer by giving them the knowledge they need to find a great mezcal. The brand plants 3 agaves for each single agave they harvest. Their goal is to end the use wild agave by 2025 for most of their releases.

In 2017, Mezcal Vago began using different color labels for their different mezcaleros. Emigdio Jarquin (blue label) distills in copper with refrescador. Aquilino and Joel Barriga (tan and gold labels respectively) distill in copper. Tio Rey (red label) distills in clay pots. All their mezcaleros use different water sources and make different distillation cuts. In 2018, Mezcal Vago established an investment partnership with Samson and Surrey. With the new partnership, each Mezcal Vago mezcalero has a stake in Samson and Surrey.

In 2021, Mezcal Vago went through its first major brand redesign since their launch in 2013.

Learn more Mezcal Vago:

• The Mezcal Vago Tasting Room in Oaxaca on Mezcal Reviews
• A podcast interview with co-founder Judah Kuper on Show de Vie Podcast w/Mike G
• The Mezcal Vago blog Mas Mezcal