Raicilla Las Perlas de Jalisco

Raicilla Las Perlas is made by the Díaz Rubio and Díaz Ramos families, who describe themselves as fifth-generation raicilleros working out of Hacienda El Divisadero near the village of Las Guásimas, roughly 30 minutes north of El Tuito in Jalisco's Cabo Corrientes municipality.

The brand traces raicilla production in the region back centuries, to the late 1500s and early 1600s during a regional mining boom in the Sierra Madre Occidental — though, as with much folk-spirit history, the exact origin of the name "raicilla" is contested; the producers note it may derive either from tax-avoidance terminology used to distinguish the spirit from taxed mezcal, or from a description of the agave's small root structure.

Las Perlas uses single-origin amarillo and verde agave grown for more than 12 years on coastal, hilly terrain without pesticides or other chemicals. Production follows six stages: harvested agave hearts are cooked for 72 hours in a stone-lined underground pit oven fired with wood, then milled by hand with sledgehammers and mechanical chippers. Fermentation relies on wild yeast over more than 20 days. Distillation happens twice — first in a 400-liter stainless steel pot still, then again through an 80-liter wood still called a Higuera, fitted with a copper top.

The result is a coastal, terroir-driven spirit the family markets as distinct from both tequila and the more widely known mezcals of Oaxaca, reflecting Jalisco's separate raicilla tradition.