Mexican Terroir
The story about Mexican whisky that you’re about to read would have turned out very differently if Iván Saldaña wasn’t infatuated with agave. For Iván, distiller of Abasolo Ancestral Corn Whisky, making whisky in Mexico is just another chapter in his epic exploration of how to bring an agricultural soul to spirits. For him, distilling is not just about honing technical skills and making great-tasting spirits. It’s about taming wild natural elements and displaying their flavours and workaday glories on an alternative stage. Sound whimsical? Absolutely, but this is no overwrought sales pitch. It’s the work of a committed, if not obsessive, scientist whose laboratory is Mexico’s vast landscape.
“My love for agave is love for understanding how it works, the chemistry of how plants bring flavour to spirit. I love white spirits; they show how to trap the soul of raw material and let it speak in the spirit,” Iván said. “That approach, of course,
