Destilería El Pandillo is a magical place in Jesus Maria designed by Felipe Camarena that outdoes all of the traditional rules in creating Tequila. Frankenstein, pictured above, is a mechanical version of a traditional stone tahona, and is how the agave is milled at El Pandillo. Using only 1 horsepower from a small electric motor, Frankenstein rolls back and forth over the shredded agave and according to Felipe, is much easier to clean and operate than the traditional method. Frankenstein’s pal, the shredder, is of course known as “Igor.”

In addition to Frankenstein, Felipe has innovated on many other parts of the tequila making process with efficiency and the environment in mind. This includes collecting and using rainwater vs deep well resources, and pre-heating the mosto on its way to the stills, and keeping the boiler warm with water already heated from the distillation process.