Unearthing the secrets of Cardenxe Sotol
How Luigi Ambrosi’s musical quest led him to the creation of a modern sotol with Nitzan Podoswa Marrun.
And what the hell is sotol?
Luigi and Nitzan, the founders of Cardenxe
What is Luigi Ambrosi, an Italian, doing in the USA promoting a distillate from Chihuahua Mexico ?
I love to answer this question, because at the root of it lies the core reason for the existence of Cardenxe Sotol. It’s a romantic story that intertwines art, music, culture and passion. Sotol came to me in the form of music and inspired me on a deeper level.
There’s not many people venturing in the mysterious uncharted world of sotol, and it takes a particular type of character. I just happened to be in the right place, at a special moment… it all happened so serendipitously that it just made sense to follow a feeling. I’m so passionate about sotol that I wanted to be part of this movement, collectively pioneering a new category of Mexican spirits.
Why in the US?
Well that’s simply because I live here already, and is where I believe people would have been prone to accepting sotol, outside of Mexico which is handled by my Mexican business partner Nitzan. However, Cardenxe is not just in USA and Mexico, we are also in Europe now!
Interestingly enough, Mexicans and Italians have a lot in common actually – the values, the warm welcoming attitude, the cult for hospitality and most of all the preservation of our cultural heritage, regionality and artisanality, in food, drinks and craftmanship.
In Mexico I am sometimes affectionately referred to as ‘El Italiano’, or ‘El Güero Sotolero”. (the “light-skinned” sotol maker). I am so humbled and grateful of how warmly I have been welcomed by the Northern Mexican community, and that’s likely because they feel the passion and respect I have for their culture.
I mean, it’s not every day that a foreigner comes to your country and falls in love so much that they take it upon themselves to promote your culture. There’s definitely something to be appreciated there.
Luigi, Where are you from originally?
I am originally from Brescia, and grew up between Milan and Brescia in the North of Italy. .I moved to the USA for my studies, and after graduating I settled in New York, working for Campari. Shoutout to my first boss who told me very early on: “Once in the industry, forever in the industry”! After that, I spent several years developing an import and distribution business for Italian cheeses in the United States.
But the industry reeled me back in I guess… so here I am now – developing the sotol category and building Cardenxe, a brand that hopefully resonates deeply with people.
The constant passion in my life has been music, having played many instruments throughout my life, DJing since the early age of 14 years old and producing events to promote the sound I am passionate about. It’s only fitting that in 2020 I co-founded the record label and music collective Discolypso, through which we’ve had the pleasure to release great music, organize Disco and Electronic parties all over the world, and be involved in the production of music festivals.
What first brought you to Mexico?
I mentioned my ties to music because that’s kind of where this whole story began.
My long-time Mexican friend Nitzan Podoswa Marrun had read an article about a ‘near-extinct’ folk music from the north of Mexico – El Canto Cardenche. She immediately called me to tell me about it, suspecting that I’d be intrigued by it too… It only took a few minutes for us to decide on a whim to head to Durango, Mexico and learn more about this cathartic Cardenche sound. A quest to discover and document this genre before it may get lost in time.
Some people have compared it to Portoguese Fado, or American Gospel… El Canto Cardenche is a style of music that is passed down orally. It has no score – rather it’s a physical experience, a skill that needs to be learned by teaching and hearing.
It originated over 100 years ago in Northern Mexico, and it was the way for agricultural workers and other locals to express their feelings – emotions of love, of sorrow, of faith and religion. Anything that settled deep within their soul.
The ‘Cardenche’ sound is visceral and powerful; in a way also elusive. Traditionally a cappella, the ‘instrumentation’ comes from the different timbres of the participating voices, and it aims at being a vehicle to release deep emotions. It’s an amazing experience.
We were told by local musicians Los Cardencheros de Sapioriz that the name ‘Canto Cardenche’ actually comes from a local cactus called Cardenche, which has thick red thorns that, once pinned into one’s skin, sink in deeply, but are much more painful to remove. They take this as metaphor for love or any other deep emotion – it’s easy to fall in love, painful to lose it or express it sometimes.
How did your quest for music take a detour towards sotol?
What we didn’t know was that northern Mexico held another almost ‘lost-in-time’ surprise for us. Once in Durango, we drove to the remote pueblo where one of the last groups of Cardenche singers lives – Los Cardencheros de Sapioriz.
Sapioris an oasis in the middle of the desert, where a river pierces through the arid land, giving new life to vegetation and animals.
Before immersing into song, as a gesture of hospitality, Nitzan and I got offered a dusty cup of a mysterious local distillate – it was in fact sotol. I like to say that my mind immediately re-wired… I had never tasted something so distinctive and full of character.
Could it be the environment we were in? The sotol spirit itself? The experience as a whole? All we know, is that, as we were sitting by the river in the Mexican oasis, listening to the Cardencheros release their emotions in music, sipping on that cup of sotol, we were both silently and perhaps subconsciously falling in love with sotol.
On the drive back to the main city of Durango, reflecting on the whole experience we felt inspired, and agreed to embark on an adventure around northern Mexico. An adventure that would last over one month, where we would learn about the history, production and culture behind this ‘sotol’ spirit.
The Cardenche had indeed pierced our soul.
Tell us about Nitzan, your sotol expert and now business partner
Nitzan had in fact heard of, and tried, sotol before. Never in an intentional and conscious way however. She has been in the Mexican spirits industry for 10 years, developing brands of tequila, mezcal and hospitality concepts. She is also a certified master distiller and has a deep knowledge of spirits.
However, the northern clandestine spirit sotol was such a regional and local product that often people outside the regions where it’s produced (Chihuahua, Durango and Coahuila) don’t know much about it.
It was her incredible palate and experience which helped in the formulation of Cardenxe Sotol’s unique flavor profile, and the development of the brand in just over a year.
Now, she’s still based in Mexico handling the complex operations, as well as spreading the sotol love all over the country. Although on occasion she’ll make her way abroad to share her deep knowledge of sotol and the industry.
The distinctive bottle
Tell us about the name of your sotol. What about the artwork on the label?
Cardenxe is not a name, it’s feeling, an emotional response – it’s the act of unleashing deep emotions.
When developing Cardenxe Sotol we wanted the project to be based on two core pillars: the authentic liquid side, with its focus on expressing the terroir in each bottle – what we like to call the ‘Gastronomic Journey’ – and the lifestyle that Cardenxe inspires, that intentional unlocking of deep emotions and creativity. A brand at the intersection of art and music
For us it’s very important to recreate unique musical and artistic moments so that people can feel the vibe of Cardenxe, and how this whole romantic story began.
The story behind Cardenxe is one of soulful self-expression through art, and the properties of sotol itself help us feel more in touch with our creative side and connect with others on a deeper level. In Mexico they say – “El Sotol Te Pone Magico”.
This experience, and our dedication to honoring the soul of each plant with terroir focus as a way of inviting people into the world of sotol, is exactly why we call Cardenxe a soulful Mexican Spirit.
We wanted to transcend feelings in all elements of our brand, including the bottles, which immediately spark a conversation, and invite people to look closer – you know that there’s ‘something’ behind this.
We worked with an artist to represent the different terroirs, and she was inspired by the linear and surreal Estridentismo artistic style – a 1920s Mexican avant garde movement.
Can you explain the difference between sotol and tequila?
Sotol is the traditional ancient spirit of central/northern Mexico. The same way you go to Jalisco and the heritage revolves around tequila, or if you find yourself in Oaxaca you will find mezcal everywhere. If you go to Chihuahua, for example, their history, their tradition and their heritage revolve around sotol. That is they’re local drink; it’s been that way for millennia. It’s what they make.
In fact, sotol comes from a non-agave shrub endemic to the Chihuahuan Desert, which extends also to Durango, Coahuila and some parts of the southern USA (Texas, Arizona).
However, sotol (the spirit) holds a Denomination of Origin in the original distilling states of Chihuahua, Durango and Coahuila, where the sotol plant (Dasylirion) grows abundantly.
The sotol plant is an evergreen desertic shrub that reproduces and spreads in the wild at a fast pace. It thrives in dry lands and harsh conditions. While it takes 12-15 years for a plant to reach maturity for harvesting, in those long years it reproduces in the wild.
Differently from the agave, which when it flowers the qiote sucks the sugars out of the plant and eventually kills it, the sotol plant actually flowers many times of the course of its life, and by doing so it reproduces constantly.
For this reason, the common practice of distilling the sotol spirit involves wild harvesting, naturally more environmentally friendly than wild harvesting agave.
Back in the smuggling days
Why didn’t we know as much about this long-lost spirit until now?
Fun fact, during US prohibition in the 1920s, bootleggers were smuggling whiskey and sotol (the local moonshine) from across the border.
During prohibition, the authorities forced distilleries to close, burned down entire operations and made it illegal to distill. As such, sotol became a clandestine spirit, only know regionally, to those who, from town to town, knew where to find their local sotolero.
A drink from the cow horn
The norm was to visit the underground and hidden distilleries and fill up jars to bring back home, as well as hanging out and drinking sotol from concave cow horns, with the Maestros.
In the late 90s, the sotol production became legal, and the descendants of these historical distilling families took it upon themselves to carry on the legacy and champion their regional heritage. And so sotol started sweeping slowly into the markets.
When did you start producing sotol and what varieties of sotol do you produce? Can you give us some tasting notes on the products?
The thing that struck us the most about sotol during our travels was how much the terroir affected its flavor profile and how clearly different its aromas are from region to region. More so than we had ever experienced with any other spirit or wine.
All our expressions will have the distinctive earthy and floral notes of sotol (I like to say, floral like gin and earthy like a mezcal), but each terroir will have a unique twist on it. Instead of focusing on the plant species and varieties, with Cardenxe we highlight the places our expressions come from – the Desert, the Prairies and the forests in the Mountains.
Cardenxe Sotol de Desierto – with its vegetal, mineral, dry feel from the desert of Chihuahua. It has a lingering sweet note at the end which comes from the hot days and cold nights stressing the plant and creating more starch in its heart.
This, at 45 abv we believe to be a perfect introduction to sotol, surprisingly smooth and vibrantly aromatic. Perfectly round to be extremely versatile in cocktails. I always recommend switching it in gin cocktails, or pairing it with other bitters or herbal liqueurs… or quite simply with lime/lemon and tonic.
Try an old fashioned, and try a negroni. Experiment in a sour. In general, when mixing sotol in a cocktail think GREEN – cucumber, cilantro, aloe.
Cardenxe Sotol de Pradera – this is going to be richer in flavor, with notes of hay, leather and fruits. I call this, “harvest at dawn”, really encapsulating the aromas of the grasslands of Durango. It carries the notes of the flowery fields and fruit plantations that grow around it.
Our Pradera expression is produced in a 1400s monastery turned into solar powered distillery in Nombre de Dios, Durango.
This sotol expression is perfect in a pre-dinner palate opening sip, or in classic cocktails such as the Manhattan, Martinez or Corpse Reviver. Also great in passion fruit or pineapple mixes (which is true also for the desert sotol).
The pinas in the fields, often cultivated by families.
Cardenxe Sotol de la Sierra – This mountain sotol is the most fragrant, and yet most delicate of the three. With alpine notes of eucalyptus and moss - I call this “lost in the forest after the rain”. This sotol carries the true essence of the moist earth in the forest. The greenery of freshly cut grass,
This sotol is great for sipping neat, but also an amazing addition to a Dry Martini or a Last Word. It’s produced in Ciudad Madera, in the mountains of Chihuahua.
You may have had Dasylirion Wheeleri varieties before, as they often grow in the desert too, but this particular sotol expression is made from Wheeleri that grows in the mountains. Because it’s so rare to find sotol so up high, and when you do the plant grows smaller, typically maestros distill sotol by blending Agave and Sotol piñas. We wanted to make this with 100% Sotol, which brings more emphasis to the true essence of the plant.
The cool thing about sotol is that you truly get to taste the plant, in the spirit. The point for us it to really encapsulate the essence of a place in a bottle, and invite you into the world of sotol with our gastronomic journey. And this place does not have to be only in Mexico. It’s a universal truth that can be found in different countries that have similar terrains and climates. We want people to drink our sotol and be transported to a place or a memory. We want to inspire emotional responses.
Is the fermenting and distillation process different than tequila or mezcal?
It depends… Cardenxe Sotol follows the standards of artisanal production, and we kept the process the same across the three expressions, so as to show that the difference in flavor simply comes from Terroir – where the plant grows and where the three distilleries are located.
The plant is wild harvested, and cooked in underground rock lined ovens in direct contact with the lava stones for 24hours. Differently from traditional agave roasting, for example, where the piñas are stacked in a pyramid shape and roasted.
How our oven works is that we light the fire, place the lava stones on top. Once they’re incandescent, the fire gets put out and we throw the piñas in. We then proceed to seal the oven with cow skins and soil, thereby creating a sort of steam pan effect. The piñas are not roasted on fire or smoked… they’re cooked in the heat of the oven.
Cooking the pinas
We then crush the cooked piñas with a mill, and the juices go into fermenting tins. To preserve the local terroir, we practice natural fermentation by not adding any yeast, starters or other additives. All the yeast is airborne in the local atmosphere of the distillery.
After about 10 days in fermentation, we double distill in copper stills, and adjust to proof with distilled water from a local stream.
Is it considered an artisanal spirit?
Not all sotol is artisanal… Some brands use modern techniques, some others are making ‘industrial’ style sotol. But with Cardenxe Sotol, in order to preserve as much terroir as possible, we chose to keep the methods artisanal.
Sotol as an exciting cocktail ingredient
How does one drink Sotol? Straight? Mixed in cocktails?
Sotol is particularly soft on the palate, so it can easily be consumed neat or on the rocks… I call it ‘the friendlier spirit’.
Nevertheless, It’s extremely versatile in cocktails and can be substituted in many classics… some of my favorites being the Sotol Negroni (try a White Negroni!), Sotol Old Fashion (‘So Told Fashion’), Gimlets and Sours, as well as the Last Word. Or perhaps you want to try a ‘Mexican Manhattan’ with our Sotol de Pradera.
I love to use sotol in Martinis personally, Espresso Martini or the Chihuahuan Martini, created by Alex Dominguez in New York’s first sotol-inspired venue Bar Calico. It’s Cardenxe De La Sierra, Chareau Aloe Liqueur and Combier Triple Sec.
On a general note… think Gin, think Green and try your favorite cocktails. See how it plays. Goes really well with other herbal liqueurs and amaros.
Politically speaking, do you plan to increase your exports to Europe based on the possible tariffs to the USA?
I try not to get too involved in politics when it comes to key business decisions… one day it’s one way, the next is the other. We’re just try to gently stir our strategy, without shaking it. (no pun intended!)
The United States are and will continue to be an extremely important market for all Mexican spirits, but as my fellow Europeans start discovering them more and more, we want to be there to pioneer the category and shift trends. Some places where Cardenxe has been particularly well received are Ibiza, Berlin, London and Rome.
Why should a bartender stock Sotol on their shelf?
Sotol is a rapidly growing category, and is an essential element of any modern bar program.
Traditional sotol drinking cups
Sometimes people are introduced to sotol by chance, or sometimes they may have heard of it, but never been able to find it. That’s when they’re particularly pleased to find it in a cocktail list.
A Mexican joint should have sotol to educate consumers and cater to their Hispanic patrons, a cocktail bar might have it because bartenders like to be creative, pioneer new spirits and switch up their menus. Your neighborhood spot might have it so it can surprise its regulars or please the customer asking for a “Mezcal-Tequila drink but not so smokey”. Plus… it’s important to stay on top of trends. I always like to say that sotol is not necessarily a need. It’s a ‘want’, an aspiration.
Why should someone play a record as opposed to hit shuffle on spotify? Some moments are supposed to be intentional and conscious. Cardenxe is just a deeper more soulful drinking experience.
Rapidfire questions for Luigi
Your favorite Cardenche artist ?
There’s not many! Check out this youtube of Los Cardencheros De Sapioriz
Do you prefer a smoky or vegetal sotol? Vegetal, always and forever.
Your go-to place as soon as you get to Mexico The local cantina…
Your favorite way to drink sotol?
Neat in a small stemmed goblet or in some sort of sour (gimlet, last word etc).
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If you could toast with any bar legend, alive or dead, who would it be?
I’d toast a bootlegged sotol in one of Al Capone’s speakeasies with the legendary bar regulars that are Ernest Hemingway and Dorothy Parker in 1920s New York.