Noble Coyote

  • San Luis Amatlán, Oaxaca, Mexico
Noble Coyote

Launched in 2013, this new project was inspired by the spirituality of the people who have made mezcal here since before the Pre-Columbian era. Bernardo Sada, the founder of the project, was born in Oaxaca city in 1986. An evolutionary biologist by profession, he has worked in several sustainability projects, as well as projects regarding Mexican ancestral botany and pre-Hispanic cultures. It was this work that led him into the world of mezcal production, together with Eleazar Brena, an agronomist and professor at the University of Mihuatlan in Oaxaca, where he teaches agave reforestation and ecology, and his father Don Marcos Brena, the fifth generation of his family to make mezcal. Currently 83, Don Marcos learned to cook, ferment and distill mezcal at the age of 12. He lived through the mezcal prohibition era, when he and other maestros had to make mezcal in hiding.  Today, he is a shepherd, and it is on hiLaunched in 2013, this new project was inspired by the spirituality of the people who have made mezcal here since before the Pre-Columbian era. Bernardo Sada, the founder of the project, has worked in several sustainability projects, as well as projects regarding Mexican ancestral botany and pre-Hispanic cultures. Together with Eleazar Brena, an agronomist and professor who teaches agave reforestation and ecology, and his father Don Marcos Brena, the fifth generation of his family to make mezcal, it was this work that led him into the world of mezcal production.The mezcals are made in San Luis Amatlán in Oaxaca (the cradle of mezcal) by maestros mezcaleros who practice the secret techniques passed down to them by their forefathers. The line is based on four varieties of agave—Espadín, Tobalá, Coyote de Amatlán (also known as Madrecuixe or Madre-Cuishe) and Jabalí—specifically selected for their sustainability, a driving force behind the project.

The arid and semi-arid Amatlánes region of Oaxaca presents a favorable climate for cultivating agave, especially wild agave. They started with the cultivation of Espadín, and then began to experiment with the reforestation of wild species as a way to improve biodiversity and maintain the health of the local ecosystem. They are now pioneering the cultivation of Tobalá and Coyote as semi-wild agaves and continue to experiment with the cultivation of other wild agaves including Tepeztate.  At this time, they do not believe that it is responsible to make mezcal from Tepeztate which can take up to 35 years to reach maturity.

Each bottle of Mezcal Noble Coyote identifies the maestro mezcalero that distilled it, the village in which it was made, the type of agave used identified by both its scientific name and the common name used in the place where the plants were grown, and the lot and bottle number of the particular batch. The mezcals are not aged; they believe that the mezcals “age in the plant” as the agaves live out their 8-12+ years of life soaking up the sun, air, water and earth in Oaxaca. It is the special terroir of San Luis Amatlán and San Agustín Etla that gives these mezcals their flavor.

Image Producer PRODUCT Description Country / Region

DB0070-NV
Sustainable
Noble Coyote Espadín
NV
Agave
The Espadín agaves for this bottling are cultivated in and around the village of San Luis Amatlán. Espadín is the most common agave used to...
Mexico

DB0071-NV
Sustainable
Noble Coyote Capón Espadín
NV
Noble Coyote Capon Espadín is the masterpiece of Maestro Mezcalero Eleazar Brena and is sustainably produced in the village of San Luis... Mexico

DB0072-NV
Sustainable
Noble Coyote Coyote
NV
This unique mezcal is made with a variety (karwinskii latrans) that the people in the village of San Luis Amatlán call “Coyote”; it is... Mexico

DB0073-NV
Noble Coyote Tobalá
NV
Mezcal Noble Coyote is a pioneer in the cultivation of Tobalá, which only 15 years ago was only sourced from the wild.Today most of our... Mexico

DB0074-NV
Noble Coyote Jabali
NV
Mezcal Noble Coyote is one of the few mezcal brands to be able to offer Jabalí mezcal in the United States. Made by maestro mezcalero José... Mexico