Explore the agaves, makers and production traditions of twelve Mexican states.
Mezcal varies with the plant, the landscape and the way a community cooks, ferments and distills its agaves. Oaxaca’s clay pots, Michoacán’s wooden stills and San Luis Potosí’s steam ovens offer different ways into that variety. Choose a state below to meet its producers and follow the process.
Agaves and traditions · 2025 production by state
Compare agaves and production traditions across twelve states
These regional examples show which plants and ways of making mezcal you can explore. The same state can have several traditions. Open a guide for its makers, villages and sources. In the plant names below, A. stands for Agave.
On a narrow screen, scroll sideways within each table to see all three columns.
| State | Characteristic agaves | Methods and places to explore |
|---|---|---|
| Oaxaca | Espadín (A. angustifolia); Tobalá (A. potatorum); Tepeztate (A. marmorata); Cuishe and madrecuishe (A. karwinskii) | Pit roasting, crushing with a stone wheel (tahona) or mallets, and copper or clay distillation. Sola de Vega has clay-pot makers; Santa María Ixcatlán has cattle-hide fermentation. Read the Oaxaca guide. |
| San Luis Potosí | Verde (A. salmiana subsp. crassispina) | Steam cooking, a stone tahona for crushing, masonry fermentation vats and copper stills. Explore the Altiplano’s hacienda and family-distillery traditions. Read the San Luis Potosí guide. |
| Durango | Cenizo (A. durangensis); Lamparillo (A. asperrima); Manso / chacaleño | Pit roasting and varied crushing, from axes to mechanical equipment. Nombre de Dios distilleries, known as vinatas, use wooden fermentation vessels and copper-and-wood stills with external cooling coils. Read the Durango guide. |
| Guerrero | Papalote / ancho (A. cupreata); Sacatoro / zacatoro / espadín (A. angustifolia) | Pit ovens, wooden fermentation vats and copper stills. Village distilleries around Chilapa and northern Guerrero supply Sanzekan and Aguerrido; growers raise papalote from seed. Read the Guerrero guide. |
| Michoacán | Chino (A. cupreata); Alto (A. inaequidens) | Pit roasting, mallets or mills, and varied fermentation vessels. Filipino-type stills cool vapor inside a wooden chamber. Explore vinatas around Morelia, Pátzcuaro and Queréndaro. Read the Michoacán guide. |
| Puebla | Papalote / papalome (A. potatorum); Pichomel / pizorra (A. marmorata); Candelillo (A. karwinskii); Azul (A. tequilana) | Pit roasting and several still designs. Delfino Tobón works in San Pablo Ameyaltepec; Abdias De La Luz uses bullhide fermentation vessels. San Luis Atolotitlán has community agave restoration. Read the Puebla guide. |
| Zacatecas | Azul (A. tequilana); A. salmiana | Azul in the southern valleys; salmiana around Pinos. Former haciendas have stone ovens and tahonas. Don Aurelio’s Teúl plant used autoclaves in a 2018 account. Read the Zacatecas guide. |
| Guanajuato | A. salmiana; local names include verde, cenizo and manso | Jaral de Berrio in San Felipe steam cooks agave, crushes it with a tahona and distills in copper. Cuanax in Mineral de Pozos also offers clay-still variants. Read the Guanajuato guide. |
| Tamaulipas | Jarcia (A. montium-sancticaroli); A. angustifolia; A. americana; A. asperrima | Family vinatas around San Carlos and Jiménez. El Tinieblo pit cooks agave, crushes it with a motor-driven tahona, ferments in wooden vats and distills in copper. Read the Tamaulipas guide. |
| Estado de México | Criollo agaves, including A. angustifolia and A. rhodacantha in Zumpahuacán | In Malinalco, a 2024 study describes pit ovens, wooden mallets, steel or plastic fermentation vessels, and copper or steel stills. Zumpahuacán makers work with local criollo agaves. Read the Estado de México guide. |
| Morelos | Criollo / espadín (A. angustifolia); Azul (A. tequilana) | Pit cooking, hand crushing, steel or plastic fermentation drums, and varied wooden and metal stills with external cooling coils. Explore Palpan de Baranda, Tlajotla and Tepoztlán. Read the Morelos guide. |
| Aguascalientes | A. salmiana; Espadín (A. angustifolia) | Small distilleries called estancos use pit or masonry ovens, tahonas, and wooden or steel fermentation vessels. Stills include copper, steel and clay; Real de Calvillo adds guava. Read the Aguascalientes guide. |
Reported mezcal production by state in 2025
Oaxaca accounted for 89.47% of COMERCAM-reported production in 2025, followed by Puebla at 3.26% and Durango at 2.12%. The national total was 6,912,256 liters, adjusted to 45% alcohol by volume so production at different strengths can be compared.
| State | Share of reported production | Approximate volume (liters) |
|---|---|---|
| Oaxaca | 89.47% | About 6,184,000 |
| Puebla | 3.26% | About 225,000 |
| Durango | 2.12% | About 147,000 |
| Michoacán | 1.57% | About 109,000 |
| Guerrero | 1.39% | About 96,000 |
| San Luis Potosí | 1.21% | About 84,000 |
| Zacatecas | 0.84% | About 58,000 |
| Tamaulipas | 0.14% | About 10,000 |
| Guanajuato | 0.00% (rounded) | Not estimated |
| Estado de México | Not separately reported | Not separately reported |
| Morelos | Not separately reported | Not separately reported |
| Aguascalientes | Not separately reported | Not separately reported |
Guanajuato’s 0.00% is a rounded share, so it cannot give a useful volume estimate. COMERCAM lists no separate 2025 figure for Estado de México, Morelos or Aguascalientes. These figures cover reported certified mezcal; traditional uncertified agave spirits fall outside the total.
Espadín dominates reported production nationally
Across the reporting states, espadín (A. angustifolia) accounted for 84.53% of 2025 volume. Cenizo (A. durangensis) contributed 2.00%, tobalá (A. potatorum) 1.78% and verde (A. salmiana) 1.33%. These national figures show the scale of espadín use; the state guides reveal a much wider range of local agaves. COMERCAM report, page 7.
Follow the agave as well as the state
A state name is a starting point. Two producers in the same state can work with different agaves, ovens and stills, while neighboring states can share a plant or a distilling tradition.
Cupreata illustrates the connection: it is known as papalote or ancho in Guerrero and chino in Michoacán. Salmiana connects the plateau traditions of San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas and Guanajuato.
Local names also change meaning. Papalote in a Puebla producer’s mezcal can refer to a different species from Guerrero’s papalote. The plant name, village and maker help explain what is in a bottle.