It’s not hard to connect ancestral agave spirits, distilled and/or fermented in clay pots, to the rich heritage of clay pottery throughout the state of Oaxaca. Along with mezcal, Oaxaca is known for art, pottery, textiles, food, and the people that live and work and make as their livelihood. Artisan endeavors are of the land, and of the people. As we experience maestro palenquero José Alberto Pablo’s clay pot agave spirits, we also experience traditional clay pottery, an integral part of his process.

The earliest evidence of distillation in Mexico can be traced back to around 1000-1500BC, where remnants of clay vessels indicate the use of clay to distill small amounts of agave for ceremonial purposes. For José Alberto Pablo, clay pot agave spirits are tradition. And as I’ve spent time with José Alberto, and other clay pot producers in Oaxaca, I’ve become increasingly interested in understanding more about the clay artisans in the area, a vital and influential element in ancestral-style mezcal.

A few years ago, at a fiesta at his palenque, Jose Alberto introduced me to Luis and Elena Muñoz, Artesanias Muñoz, a pottery family from Santa Maria Atzompa, just north of Oaxaca city. Artesanias Muñoz make “green” pottery, the pottery for which Atzompa is known, referring to the green shiny glaze that covers the pottery. They create mostly utility pieces for the kitchen - cups, bowls, plates, and some decorative pieces, for example the stem copitas that have “Oaxaca” inscribed on them. Importantly for this story, they also make the large clay pots used by not only José Alberto Pablo, but also by mezcaleros and palenqueros in Santa Catarina Minas and San Juan Bautista Jayacatlán.

Back at the fiesta, I spoke with Luis and Elena about their craft, passing around a bottle of “yellow” mezcal from José Alberto, and soon arranged a visit to their home and workshop in Aztompa.

*Firing oven - one of the largest in Atzompa - under watchful guard*

We visited some months later, arriving late morning. Luis and Elena’s home is situated on a hill off of the main thoroughfare in Atzompa, with a small room at the front of their property filled with green pottery for sale. Luis tells us his family has been making pottery here for generations. Each day, very early morning, the couple goes up into the hills of Atzompa to mine, by hand, the clay that is used to form the pottery. And each day, Elena makes pieces to be fired.

Luis points to the large earth kiln and states that theirs is the largest kiln in Atzompa, and it certainly seems so as it is filled with nine large 200 liter clay pots, more than twice the size of pots used for making mezcal. Luis fires the large kiln three times per week, each fire taking around one hour at high temperature. Luis and Elena sell their wares weekly at the market in Ocotlán, carefully traversing potholes and topes for the hour or so drive so as not to damage their fragile clay wares.

*The large kiln, or el horno, filled with 200-liter clay pots*

There are piles of firewood at the edges of the property, the fuel for the kilns, as these are traditional wood-fired kilns, as are the traditionally wood-fired stills of maestro palenquero José Alberto. Bags of powder that will be the glaze used to finish the pottery are piled near a second smaller kiln at the back of the property, and at the heart, their home, with a patio in the front, which is where Elena forms the pottery and sets it to dry.

They ask if we would like to see a demonstration, and before long Elena is kneeding clay to form a pot, spinning on a simple wheel. We talk about their process - everyday they mine clay, make pottery, fire three times a week, and then sell weekly at the market. As we leave we “exit through the gift shop”, or rather the room that contains the completed wares ready for sale, which are packed and taken to market. This is the livelihood of Artesanias Muñoz, as it is the livelihood of traditional artisans throughout Oaxaca.

*The gray pots are clay pots drying before being fired*

*Waiting for the traditional “green” glaze of Santa Maria Atzompa pottery, with one decorative bowl glazed in the center*

Luis tells me that his family has been making pottery for ten or more generations here in Atzompa. He has also been making and selling the clay pots used to make mezcal to mezcaleros across Oaxaca, in the pueblos where clay pot mezcal is made. While the profiles of mezcales from these villages vary, one of the constants, for the producers that buy their pots from Luis and Elena, are the clay pots of Artesanias Muñoz.

When I first met José Alberto Pablo in 2019 he poured mezcal into some of the Muñoz’s stemmed copitas with “Oaxaca” inscribed on the side, which struck me as these are the copitas you see at the tourist shops in Oaxaca Centro, and not what I expected to see at the palenque. A few years later, at that fiesta, I realized the connection to the Muñoz’s, to the green copitas, and to the clay pots.

And so I asked Elena and Luis if they would make some of their copitas with a slight change - could they inscribe “Creador”. Por supuesto! Of course! There are no molds involved in the making of their pottery - each piece is made and inscribed by hand by Luis and Elena at their home workshop in Atzompa. The copitas are available for purchase, in our “gift shop”, and at the Bar Singular tasting room in Bastrop, TX.

*“El Creador” handmade copitas by Artesanias Muñoz of Santa Maria Atzompa*

For Creador it’s important not only to share the beautiful clay pot agave spirit expressions of maestro José Alberto Pablo, but to also explore and share the connections to his communities. Understanding the clay pot tradition and the artisans that make the clay pots that you experience through your copita of Creador should start to impart the breadth and depth of this tradition and its ties to the people and the land in Oaxaca. Salud!

Made in Clay: The family that has been making clay pots for mezcaleros for generations

Creador Release 3 - Agave Source & Terroir