From the Importer: Bacanora is a Sonoran agave spirit, a cultural tradition that has persisted for over 300 years, passed on through generations, even through 77 years of prohibition that ended in 1992. Bacanora now has a Designation of Origin established in 2000, limited to the mountains of Sonora Mexico. Batuq Bacanora is following 300 years of culture and tradition, and is made on the family ranch near San Pedro de la Cueva, where Rafael Encinas Molina and his sons continue more than four generations of tradition. Batuq Bacanora celebrates the families origin from the small town of Batuc, founded in 1629 near the Yaqui River, but inundated when the river was damned. Rafael wants to maximise the flavor of the agave, and minimize the flavor of wood and smoke. The agave used are A. Yaquiana (a subspecies of A. angustifolia spp.) and are hand harvested at 7-12 years old. The harvested "pinas" are either roasted underground in a traditional shallow "maya" with mesquite and ironwood for 48 hours, and some are processed in a mesquite fired autoclave (no electricity on ranch). The cooked pinas are milled and then fermented with wild yeast for about a week. The fermented mash or "machucado" is then double distilled in a hand made stainless/copper still, fired by mesquite wood.