Meet Maestro Mezcalero: Eugenio Lopez Garcia

“El Metodista” The Methodist

For Maestro Mezcalero Eugenio López García, mezcal is more than a spirit. It’s a living connection to his ancestors. His grandfather, Benigno López, began crafting ancestral mezcal in 1930, passing the tradition on to Eugenio’s father, Joel López, who continued the legacy through the 1960s. Now in Eugenio's hands, he plans to teach and pass the torch to his own son.

Today, Eugenio honors that lineage with the juice he produces—creating small-batch, artisanal mezcal that reflects not only his skill but also the emotion and pride he pours into every production. From carefully hand-selecting only ripe, mature maguey hearts to the unique process of single distillation using a refrescadera, Eugenio "leaves it all on the floor" every single time.

The Tobalá and Tepeztate mezcals he creates for Dos Gabachos carry decades of wisdom and leave a lasting impression. Each sip is a testament to a lifetime of hard but beautiful work and deep dedication to the craft of making the best mezcal possible.

Eugenio is proud to represent Dos Gabachos Mezcal and the sacred work of a maestro mezcalero. “For everything bad, mezcal. And for everything good, mezcal too,” he says.

He thoroughly enjoys every step of the process, and it makes him smile when he visualizes his bottle on a table with guests enjoying it. His only hope is that those who drink his mezcal learn about the craftsmanship it takes to make something so special. He’s not just making mezcal. He’s building a legacy for his son and showing the world what it really means to be a great mezcalero—and what exceptional mezcal tastes like.

Did You Know?

Dos Gabachos agave Tepeztate and Tobalá is uncultivated, growing wild in its natural habitat on the rocky mountainsides of Ejutla, south of Oaxaca City, at Eugenio’s palenque (distillery). Both agaves have long maturation cycles of at least 15 years and are limited in abundance, making them particularly scarce.

Gathering these agaves is extremely laborious, as the heavy piñas must be carried a quarter to half a mile by hand before being placed on a mule and hauled another four and a half miles to the palenque.

Eugenio cooks them separately, as they are single agave expressions, in an underground pit with limestone for three days. They are then mashed and fermented in open-air wood vats for eight days.

Eugenio distills each batch only once, using a refrescadera—a rare and traditional method that requires precision, patience, and deep understanding of the plant. Unlike most mezcals, which are double-distilled, this cold distillation process uses internal cooling plates to gently strip out toxins and impurities during a single pass. It allows Eugenio to refine the spirit without overheating or overworking it, preserving more of the wild agave’s natural aroma, flavor, and structure.

This approach is uncommon and speaks to Eugenio’s confidence in his craft. It’s a bold choice that results in a mezcal that’s pure, expressive, and true to the plant’s wild nature. With each sip, you taste not just the agave, but the place it came from, the method it was made by, and the hand of the mezcalero who's method cannot be replicated.