How A 4th Generation Sotol Maker Is Taking Sustainability Seriously For This Mexican Spirit

CORRECTION 10/21/25: A previous version of this article stated Gerardo Ruelas started Casa Lotos with Douglas and Wendy Eisenberg, Aaron Dujovne, and David Schimmel. Gerardo Ruelas is the distiller for Casa Lotos.

If you live in the U.S., you may not be very familiar with sotol, a spirit from Northern Mexico that's just recently become popular stateside. Sotol is distilled from the wild Dasylirion plant, also known as sotol, or the desert spoon. The spirit has been produced for more than 300 years, but with its increase in popularity — some say it's coming for tequila's spot — the potential for issues about sustainability are cropping up. 

Gerardo Ruelas, a fourth-generation master sotol maker (sotolero in Spanish), is leading the way in trying to solve potential problems, like the possibility of overharvesting, through the additive-free Casa Lotos brand of sotol from Aldama, Mexico. Additionally, he's tackling concerns surrounding the traditional use of wood — a limited commodity in the Chihuahuan desert — for roasting the piña, or heart of the plants (it should be noted that these are similar issues facing the much larger mezcal industry).

The sustainable production methods Ruelas and the Casa Lotos team are using include the innovative use of solar power to run the distillery. "We use solar energy for everything at the distillery and we use a brick oven, which for sotol is very uncommon," Ruelas, via an interpreter, told Chowhound recently at a sotol-making demonstration at the Consulate General of Mexico in Manhattan. The solar-powered brick oven eliminates the need to use wood to roast the sotol plants. This means no deforestation issues or CO2 emissions, he said. 

Gerardo Ruelas grew up in a sotol-making family in Chihuahua, learning this traditional craft as a child from his father. His grandfather, Vincente Ruelas, was the first distiller to legally obtain a permit to produce sotol in the 1930s. But that didn't mean Gerardo was restricted by custom. As one of the leaders of the Mexican craft spirits industry, he saw the possibilities of improving sustainability. "What I'm trying to do is apply lessons and not make the same mistakes as others," he said. He's the distiller for Casa Lotos, which was founded by Douglas and Wendy Eisenberg, Aaron Dujovne, and David Schimmel. The brand hit the U.S. market in early 2024.

Besides using solar power for the distillery and recycled glass for the bottles, Casa Lotos also uses sustainable harvesting practices for these plants that can take up to 15 years to mature. When harvesting the wild plant, they leave the root system intact so it can continue to grow. Additionally, the harvesting of the plant requires permits from the Mexican government, another layer of protection for the plant. Still, Ruelas is looking ahead to try to mitigate potential overharvesting as the industry grows and sotol becomes more popular. And it is becoming more popular of late, especially as a cocktail trend that's only growing. Casa Lotos is one of the very first companies to begin a cultivation program to grow Dasylirion plants for its sotol. "We are getting prepared for the future," Ruelas said.