Palomas Mensajeras is produced in the small hillside village of Opongio, Michoacán on the Western shore of Lake Patzcuaro by 4th generation Maestro Vinatero Miguel Perez Reséndiz (76 yrs old) and his two sons Miguel (thirty-six) and Melitón (thirty-five), who are the 5th generation. Unlike many vinateros in Michoacan who have switched to stainless steel Filipino style stills, the Perez family proudly continues the family legacy of distilling in Destiladoras Tarasco’s, a type of Filipino still who’s still head is made up of Oak planks (kind of like a barrel that is flared out at the bottom). This is an exciting new addition to the Heavy Métl jigsaw puzzle of different distillation techniques found in Mexico while highlighting exceptionally well crafted destilados de agave from family-owned brands. Palomas Mensajeras is proudly 100% owned by the Perez family.

If you “Google” Opongio you will quickly discover that it is well known for mezcal, what it doesn’t tell you is that mezcal had not been produced there for over 120 years prior to the arrival of Don Miguel in 1996. The short story is that Miguel Perez Reséndiz at the very least put Opongio back on the map for its mezcales… perhaps he is responsible for it ever being known for high quality mezcal production but those who might be able to tell us differently are long gone. Local lore is that mezcal was made for local consumption back in the 1870s.

The long story is back in 1996 Don Miguel was producing mezcal in Etúcuaro in the vinata (palenque) hidden down in a valley that he built with his brothers in 1979 after he was arrested with his wife for the illegal production of mezcal. The sale of mezcal in Etúcuaro was slow in ’96 which resulted in him having to travel around to different parts of the state of Michoacan to sell his mezcal, which at that time was primarily made from Agave cupreata (Chino). It was on one of his visits to Opongio when the owner of the defunct ex-hacienda tasted his mezcal and approached him about converting his Agave inaequidens (Alto) into his delicious spirits. Don Miguel had never worked with this agave but accepted the offer and would travel to Opongio twice a year for the next 5 years to produce mezcal for Juan Mejia at the ex-hacienda.

In 2001, Don Miguel had his “ah-ha moment” when he realized that Opongio had become known for the mezcal he was producing at the ex-hacienda and that people were traveling there to buy it. He decided that there was much more opportunity to produce and sell mezcal there than in Etúcuaro, so he packed up his family and moved to Opongio 2001 to produce and sell mezcal for himself. In 2001, after 10 years of hard work and slowly saving up enough capital he was able to construct his own vinata, which would continue to grow into what it is today.

The name of the brand comes from the first stanza of Don Miguel’s favorite song “Que Lindo Es Michoacán”