Everything here is done the old way, which is another way of saying the hard way. Animas comes from the village of San Juan del Rio in Oaxaca, sitting around 6,300 feet, where maestro mezcalero Humberto Juan works with espadin agave grown by his brother Rodolfo and left to mature about eight years. The pinas are roasted in an underground pit oven, crushed under a stone tahona, fermented in open wooden vats with native yeast, and distilled twice in copper. No shortcuts, no additives, no industrial column stills. It’s a joven, meaning unaged, so the smoke and the agave itself are front and center rather than buried under barrel. Sip it neat at room temperature from a copita, in small pours; it also makes a serious Negroni if you’re feeling adventurous.