Los Magos
A Chihuahua sotol brand founded by Juan Pablo Carvajal and Eduardo Almanza, made from wild-harvested organic desert spoon that is pit-roasted and triple-distilled, with a stated conservation programme and an associated Los Magos Foundation.
At a glance
Los Magos is a sotol brand from ChihuahuaA large state in northern Mexico, on the United States border, whose high desert is the heartland of sotol, the spirit distilled from the wild desert spoon plant., founded by two natives of the state, Juan Pablo Carvajal and Eduardo Almanza. It launched in the United States in 2021 and has leaned hard into an organic, sustainability-forward identity, picking up early press in outlets from Forbes to Bloomberg as part of a wider wave of interest in sotol as a desert spirit.
The line is built around an unaged blanco, with an aged 6-year reserva and occasional barrel-finished special editions. The blanco is bottled at about 38% alcohol by volume, on the softer, more approachable end of the category.
How it is made
Los Magos is made from wild-harvested desert spoon, Dasylirion, certified organic. The piñasThe trimmed heart of the plant. In sotol it is the swollen base of the desert spoon, roasted to convert its starches into fermentable sugars., the plant's hearts, are roasted in a wood-fired pit for 36 to 48 hours, then milled, fermented in open vats, and distilled three times before bottling. Triple distillation is unusual for traditional sotol, which is more often distilled twice, and it is part of why Los Magos reads as clean and bright rather than heavy or smoky. The brand states that its sotol carries no additives.
Conservation and the foundation
Los Magos frames itself around the long-term survival of the wild plant. The desert spoon is slow-growing and reproduces from seed, so over-harvesting can hollow out a stand for decades. The brand states that it never harvests more than 40% of the mature plants in a given area, leaves part of the roots and leaves to allow regeneration, and runs seed collection, seedling care, soil regeneration, and reforestation work. Alongside the spirits, the founders have established the Los Magos Foundation, whose stated mission is to invest in the healthcare, education, nutrition, and infrastructure of the desert communities where the sotol is made.
High confidenceHigh confidence: the main claims on this page are backed by primary sources (regulatory documents, peer-reviewed research, or direct producer attestation) and have been verified against the editorial correction log.The founders, the organic and triple-distilled production, the roughly 38% strength, the 2021 United States launch, the harvest-cap conservation practices, and the existence of the Los Magos Foundation are stated by the house and corroborated by independent listings. Conservation figures such as the 40% harvest cap are the producer's own description of its practice rather than an independently audited certification, and should be read that way.Where Los Magos sits
Los Magos belongs to the modern, export-facing wing of sotol, where a sustainability and community story is part of the proposition, much as it is for some of the newer agave-spirit houses elsewhere on this site. Within sotol it contrasts with the deep-rooted, maker-led vinatas such as Don Cuco and Flor del Desierto, and with curated multi-producer projects like Parejo. Reading it against those shows the range of ways a single desert plant reaches a bottle.
See also
Sotol
Mexico's Chihuahuan Desert spirit, distilled not from agave but from the Dasylirion genus. Protected as a Denomination of Origin since 2002 across Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Durango, governed by NOM-159-SCFI-2004, and at the center of a live cross-border IP dispute with Texas producers.
Hacienda de Chihuahua
An industrial-scale Chihuahua sotol producer founded in 1989 by Federico Elías and master distiller José Daumas; widely credited as the pioneer of the modern commercial sotol category, with the most internationally distributed lineup (Plata, Rústico, Reposado, Añejo, Oro Puro, H5, cream liqueurs) and a steam-cook plus copper-column production process that distinguishes it from the artesanal vinata tradition.