Sotol Ono

Sotol Ono is made by Don Gerardo Ruelas Hernández in Aldama, Chihuahua, the same master sotolero behind Flor del Desierto and La Higuera, and it is his cocktail-focused label, built exclusively on Dasylirion cedrosanum, the slender, razor-leafed sotol species that grows in the low valleys of the Coyame Desert. The wild plants are harvested, trimmed and split by axe and knife, then cooked in shallow earthen pits fueled by willow and oak, which puts a light smoke under the plant's natural herbal character. Fermentation happens in open-air masonry tanks with ambient yeast, and the wash is distilled twice in traditional copper pot stills before bottling at 45% ABV. Importer Skurnik describes the nose as pine tar, alfalfa, black pepper, vanilla bean, cacao and almond skin, and notes that it sits lighter than Ruelas's typical work, splitting the difference between the earthy D. leiophyllum and the resinous, herbal D. wheeleri profiles found in his other bottlings. That lighter frame is the point: it is the sotol to reach for in a Paloma, a Negroni variation or a spirit-forward stirred drink where mezcal would take over, and it is still expressive enough to sip neat.

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