Unexpected Beginnings
Epigmenio Martinez Perez was born in 1931 in Santa Maria Albarradas, Oaxaca. At the age of 8, his father was shot and killed by a convicted felon. Four years later, his eldest brother was wrongly stabbed while returning home from work. This left Epigmenio with the responsibility to look after his family and in 1943 – with the help of his uncle – he began making mezcal.
A Life of Crime and Music
For Epigmenio, the art of mezcal began in criminality. Banned by the government, Federales would search for and imprison any delinquent distillers. Yet the young Epigmenio was drawn to the craft: the harvest of wild agaves along Santa Maria fields, the deep ovens beneath the soil with the scent of baking piñas, and the makeshift palenques alongside the mountains’ rivers from which the old liquor was distilled. Back then, mezcal sold for 7 pesos a gallon. Meanwhile, music entered his life through the clarinet. It was an instinct and escape from long work hours and quiet evenings on Oaxaca’s wooden mountains and rolling valleys. He would often serenade his audience of stars and fields with the music of his pueblo.
The Seeds of a Dream
In 1951, his mother died to illness. He continued to provide for his younger brother while working for different mezcal distillers. But in 1953, he took an opportunity to work in the United States of America under the bracero program where he acquired the newfound taste for industry. When he returned to Mexico, he met a wonderful woman, Facunda Juarez Ruiz, who shared his passion for future and success. They married in 1954. And in ’56 they had their first of six kids.
Now, as a young man with a family, Epigmenio was determined to create a life his children could admire. One built from passion and love. In 1959, he returned to Santa Maria and planted the first seeds of a dream. He would work the fields and teach music – a gig that took him all over the state of Oaxaca. And 40 years later, his dream finally matured. In 1999, Epigmenio opened his first official palenque-distillery. Since then, he has been awarded and recognized as a pillar to Oaxaca’s traditional music and mezcal industry.
Legacy of Two Passions
At 91 years-old, Epigmenio is still involved in the production of mezcal from his palenque with his two sons Diego and Edgar who have inherited the knowledge and passion for making quality mezcal, yet it is an enterprise constructed by his whole family.
To this day, wherever he goes, Epigmenio carries his sax and a flask of mezcal — always ready to share his love for sound and taste, two passions intertwined and connected to the spirit of Oaxaca.
