When we go on our mezcal tours we usually book the car service from Jaime. Sometimes Jaime will be your driver and guide but when he has sent a different driver, he also sends out Celeste to guide. She’s a really nice person, speaks excellent English and is very knowledgeable. Her local phone number is 951 198 2718. To call or text from the US just add +52. If you want to be sure to get Celeste, make your arrangements with her but you can also call Jaime, who is also very nice and speaks English at +52 951 188 5995. FYI…you can book tour days to other places with Jaime and Celeste. As I recall, the charge is $300 MXN per hour for the car, driver and guide.
One place that we always try to visit is the palenque of Mescalero Santos Martínez in an area known locally as “El Zompantle”. It is about halfway between Mitla and San Lorenzo Albarradas just over an hour outside of Oaxaca city. It is such a great setting and atmosphere that when you get there you know you are in the right place. Add to that; to our preferences, Santos always seems to have the best tasting mezcal we sample on literally every one of these mezcal touring days. (Note that there is another community in Oaxaca known as Zompantle but it is much further from the city.)
Right across the road from Santo’s palenque is another place with a prominent “El Zompantle” sign but it is a different operation owned by Marta and Isaac García. Their stuff is good and while not as good as Santo’s it tends to be the least expensive artisanal mezcal we have bought. One note: if you do buy there, make sure you secure/protect the cap on the bottle before you pack it as we had one cap from there fail.
On our trip in December 2023, Celeste took us to several other places in the area of San Lorenzo Albarradas and Mezcal El Encanto de Teo in particular was very good. In addition to tasty mezcal, it also presented a beautiful location on top of a hill overlooking the valley.
When you are at any of these places in San Lorenzo Albarradas you are close to Aqua de Herve so depending on your interests, you may want to visit there. Likewise, on the way to and from the area, you will be passing through or very close to Mitla so if you are looking for something to do in addition to mezcal, a visit to the archeological site there is worthwhile. Also note that if you are making your drive on a Sunday, going to either San Lorenzo Albarradas or Santiago Matatlán you pass close to the always-worth-a-visit Sunday market in Tlacolula de Matamoros.
When we travel to the area of San Lorenzo Albarradas we also usually include a stop in Santiago Matatlán, the self-proclaimed “Mezcal Capital of the World” to visit Mezcal Desede La Eternidad, also known as Mezcal La Curva to visit with Mezcalero mother and daughters Hernández.
This place is easy to find: It is at Oaxaca – Tehuantepec (Highway 190) km 49.5. The location is primarily a tasting room but the family that owns it is very nice and the mezcal is excellent. Sadly, Mezcalero Juan Hernández, the very talented and gracious husband/father that ran the place when we first visited in 2017 passed away during covid but his wife and daughters, who also had a part in the business from the beginning have taken over and we haven’t noticed any drop off in the quality or friendliness.
There are hundreds of palenques in Santiago Matatlán and it is not unusual for us to also include more than one stop there.
If you are interested in an agave-based gin, right across the street from Eternidad is Mezcal Gracias a Dios. In addition to at least 2 styles of gin, they make a full range of mezcals including tepextate, tobala, barril, etc and even some flavored varieties like mango. GAD is the only place we go to that charges a fee for tasting and it’s a little more modern than we typically like to visit so unless you want their gin, you may want to give it a pass.
Macurichos Mezcalmezcales Tradicionales is another place in Santiago Matatlán that makes two good gins as well as other agave varieties and is a bit more rustic than GAD (but not as much as El Zompantle. They distill in both copper and clay pots, which is not very common. They put on a good show and make very good mezcal but it tends to be among the most expensive mezcal we see on these tours.
On the way back to our hotel, we often stop for lunch at El Milenario in Tule but keep in mind, you’ll be paying for the car by the hour so you may prefer to just get back to the city.
The final two on our list of places we’ve been but like to return to are a little out of the way if you are going to include San Lorenzo Albarradas but we like both a lot and they can be incorporated with a stop in Santiago Matatlán. 
One is the Palenque of Félix Ángeles Arellanes in Santa Catarina Minas. He is one of the few mezcaleros that distills using only clay pots and is also known for making a style known as Pechuga, a method that adds flavorings in the 3rd distillation. Sometimes it is fruits, nuts and spices but sometimes chicken or turkey is suspended in the pot hanging over the mash and the drippings from the meat adds flavor. Because of the methods he uses and his notoriety, Don Félix charges more than most other artisanal makers but he makes very good mezcal.
The other place is the Palenque/Home of Fortunato Hernández (Toballa) in San Baltazar Chichicapam. His tasting room is a concrete bunker and if you want, he (or his teenaged daughter) will serve you any or all of the 18 varieties he makes. He makes good mezcal and usually at a very fair price.