Sotol

About Sotol

Sotol is a Mexican spirit distilled from the sotol plant, also called desert spoon, which grows wild across the deserts of Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Durango. It looks like an agave spirit, but it isn't one: sotol comes from a different plant entirely and has its own denomination of origin.

Most sotol plants are harvested wild and take well over a decade to mature. Like agave, the heart of the plant is cooked, crushed, fermented, and distilled, sometimes after roasting in earthen pits. The result tastes greener and more savory than tequila: fresh herbs, eucalyptus, wet stone, and earth, with less of agave's cooked sweetness and, in pit-roasted versions, a touch of smoke.

Sip it neat to taste the desert, or swap it for tequila or mezcal in a margarita or Negroni. Curious how the agave spirits compare? Browse our tequila and mezcal collections.