Stories

Stories from the archive.

Real editorial from the world of Eléctrico — Oaxaca, mezcal craft, food, the women of mezcal, music, and everything that surrounds the spirit.

Stories from our Archive.

Cine Eléctrico story image

Cine Eléctrico

Oaxaca is a land of color and celebration, and Eléctrico Mezcal plays its own integral role in the festivals and traditions of this beautiful country. In tribute to its homeland and heritage, Eléctrico’s family created the short film “Festival Oaxaca,” which has been gathering awards and accolades across the USA.

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Gold is the color story image

Gold is the color… and blood red

A story rooted in Flor de Muertos, marigolds, and the flower of life, connecting Oaxacan ritual color and meaning to the season of the dead.

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Omar's escape story image

Omar’s escape from school food

Eléctrico’s Omar, Isabel, and Nev paid a visit to one of the Eléctrico community’s favorite eateries on their way to Mitla, the Zapotec City of the Dead.

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Dia de los Muertos story image

Dia de los Muertos is no Halloween

A seasonal field note from Oaxaca about one of Mexico’s greatest festivals and the difference between local ritual memory and imported costume culture.

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Oaxaca's Frankincense story image

Oaxaca’s Frankincense

A post about the mystical copal tree, its place in the valley where Eléctrico is made, and its role in Oaxacan material and spiritual life.

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Water of Life story image

Water of Life

An actual house-process story about why local water matters and how the aquifer beneath San Baltazar shapes the mezcal in the bottle.

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Legend of the Zapoteca story image

The Legend of the Zapoteca

A celebration of Zapotec heritage, language, and the valley culture that gave Eléctrico Mezcal its roots and context.

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Mezcal and Music story image

Mezcal & Music: Eléctrico’s Artistic Coalition

A post that makes the music-and-mezcal bridge explicit, showing why Kathleen Blackwell and Manuel Antonio Cirino’s collaboration works across very different artforms.

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Hot Rocks story image

Hot Rocks

A closer look at the white-hot stones used in the horno, where the piñas roast under earth and sacking for three days.

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Cantera story image

Cantera: The Green Stone of Oaxaca

An architectural and material story about the green stone that colors so much of Oaxaca City and deepens the archive’s sense of place.

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Orange Day story image

Eléctrico’s Orange Day solidarity with the women of mezcal

An archive entry centered on Isabel, women of mezcal, and solidarity work across Oaxaca.

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Eat hearty story image

Eat hearty on the Eléctrico Mezcal Palenque

A food story from the palenque, focused on Eugenia’s cooking and the everyday life around the mezcalero family.

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A Family Baptism story image

A Family Baptism

Maestro Cirino’s three children — Jackie, Keila, and Wilber — chose to be baptized, and the whole Eléctrico family gathered to celebrate.

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Eléctrico Partied at Guelaguetza story image

Eléctrico Partied at Guelaguetza

Omar and Isabel brought Eléctrico Mezcal to Oaxaca’s 90th Guelaguetza fiesta, honoring Centeōtl, the goddess of maize.

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Maguey or Agave? story image

Maguey or Agave?

Agave or Maguey? We unpack the words behind the plant at the heart of Eléctrico Mezcal — and the dozens of things it gives us.

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The Bees in the Trees story image

The Bees in the Trees

A delivery of firewood arrives humming: a rare stingless meliponid bee colony, and Cirino’s plan to help it survive.

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City of Beans story image

City of Beans

The name Oaxaca traces to the guaje bean tree — and guaje verde still flavors the recipes you sip Eléctrico alongside.

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Don’t Gild the Lily story image

Don’t Gild the Lily

Yes, Eléctrico makes great cocktails — but pair it gently with the fruits of Oaxaca, and let the mezcal lead.

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Like Father Like Son story image

Like Father Like Son

Across three generations, Eléctrico’s maestros have stewarded the land around San Baltazar — Cipriano taught Cirino how.

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Corn: Tlaolli — Our Sustenance story image

Corn: Tlaolli — Our Sustenance

Corn was first cooked just miles from the Eléctrico palenque. In Oaxaca it remains sacred — and so does mezcal.

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The Women of Mezcal Champion Certified Tasting Protocols story image

The Women of Mezcal Champion Certified Tasting Protocols

Dena Chagoya and Las Mujeres del Mezcal are building the first certified tasting protocol for mezcal.

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Macedonia, Music, and Mezcal in Mexico story image

Macedonia, Music, and Mezcal in Mexico

Before mezcal, there was music — Kathleen’s recording sessions in Oaxaca’s Teatro Macedonio Alcalá that led to Eléctrico.

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Kathleen’s Epiphany story image

Kathleen’s Epiphany

An 18th-century pipe organ in Tlacolula drew Kathleen to Oaxaca — and to the mezcal that became Eléctrico.

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The Big Piña story image

The Big Piña

A 450lb espadín piña, a machete, and El Rojito: one harvest and the magueys Cirino loves to experiment with.

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The Magic of Las Perlas story image

The Magic of Las Perlas

Cirino reads the pearls — perlas — streaming from a cane to judge the ABV of every batch by eye.

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Marfil the Magnificent story image

Marfil the Magnificent

Marfil, the Criollo mare who pulls the tahona — strong, smart, steady, and always hungry.

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Glass Over a Barrel story image

Glass Over a Barrel

Whisky needs the barrel. Eléctrico doesn’t — our matured mezcals age slowly in glass, never wood.

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Less Smoke, More Glow story image

Less Smoke, More Glow

Great mezcal isn’t about heavy smoke. Cirino roasts on white-hot stones for a clean taste and a clear head.

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No Added Flavorings? story image

No Added Flavorings?

Eléctrico’s ‘Distilled With’ releases add nothing after distillation — the flavor comes from the still itself.

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The Day the Men with Machines Came to Town story image

The Day the Men with Machines Came to Town

When salesmen came to mechanize San Baltazar’s palenques, Cirino said no. Years on, the machines sit under tarps.

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A Marriage Made in Heaven story image

A Marriage Made in Heaven

Eugenia, the madre of Eléctrico — love at first sight, eight years apart, and the partnership that built the palenque.

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