Pensador produces small-batch mezcal using a strictly traditional process. Fully-matured agave is stripped with a machete before they are slow cooked in the earth with a fire (or ‘palenque’) on top of which rocks are piled on and covered with bagasse, a fibrous side product of sugarcane, to create a roasting oven (known as an ‘horno’). Once the agave has been slow-cooked, the agave is dug up and rested for a number of days before it is crushed by a horse-drawn mill-stone (or tahona). Fresh well water is added to remaining juices which are transferred to open-top wooden vats where natural airborne yeasts ferment the mixture to create a mash. This is then double distilled in 250l copper pot stills heated on an open fire.