The name "Lalocura" is not a reference to

madness, as people so often guess. It is a word made up of “Lalo," the name by which everyone knows me, and “cura” (cure), because for myself and many others who practice traditional medicine, mezcal represents healing.

In the past, parents would give a little mezcal to children if their stomach hurt, to calm them when they were teething, or rub it on their chests when they were congested. It was even used to cauterize the umbilical cord.  In fact, it is thanks to all of its medicinal uses that mezcal was able to survive during times when it was less popular to drink.  I Include my name because ours is a mezcal with identity; when I make it, I express who I am as an individual, and the place from where I come.

Lalocura and our philosophy were born out of two guiding principles: the preservation of knowledge and tradition, and the sustainable use of our community’s natural resources.

We produce mezcal with the same materials and methods that my family has used for more than 100 years (I am part of the fourth generation), and we believe continuing this tradition ensures a better future for everyone. We do this by teaching the young people who work at Lalocura all about agave - how to care for, propagate, cultivate, and plant them - and how to make each of our mezcales with an understanding that each batch contains identity, history, and a future as well.  I emphasize the future, because it is never the past that hangs in the balance. Our ability to keep these traditions alive is what will give future generations the chance to know their heritage and who we are as a people. Just knowing that there are already batches of mezcal made by these kids gives me great satisfaction.

Beyond educating the next generation of mezcaleros, we are committed to spreading the culture of mezcal, sharing not only our bottles but our ideas with the world. Today, mezcal is trendy, but it is not a trend; it is our legacy. For me, it is the identity of my home, the identity of my family, the thing I want to leave my children, and something I hope continues to exist for many hundreds of years. Our mezcal is not something we think about changing, which is to say that we don’t adapt it to appeal to different, bigger or changing markets. We only make what we have always made, and aim to share it with those who will appreciate its quality.

We want people to get to know what mezcal really is, so that they too can fall in love with the spirit that is our passion, our life, our story, our roots. Though it can be hard to explain, its essence is in our blood,

Mezcal is community. Maybe everything is, but at least for us, by preserving our traditional production methods, we help strengthen our local economy, supporting the craftspeople who produce our clay pots, the copper pans, machetes and other tools used to harvest agave, wooden fermentation tanks and the mats that cover them. Like the land and the plants that we rely upon, the stronger our community is socially and economically, the stronger our culture and traditions are.

I don’t say any of this to boast, only to explain a bit about how much is behind Lalocura. The support of everyone we’ve become friends with over the years, and the sense of gratitude and encouragement we feel each time one of them buys a bottle of Lalocura and contributes a little towards sustaining our economy and tradition, which in turn ensures the survival of a drink that gives identity to a village, a state, even an entire country.

I am Eduardo Javier Ángeles Carreño. Since the day I became a maestro mezcalero 20 years ago, I have dreamed that the world would know what we do. Today, I believe that through this project we reach some hearts, and that makes us very happy.

Mezcal is not a trend, it is history, it is heritage, it is wisdom, it is love. For more than 100 years it has been. We are and we will be mezcal.

¡Eterna Vida Al Mezcal!

-Lalo

March 23, 2018