History - La Familia Krassel

Passing the Torch

Max’s three sons followed in his footsteps, improving upon his still design and increasing aguardiente production. Word began to spread far away from Santa Maria Tlalixtac about the quality of the rum produced by the family.

There was only one problem - there were no roads to Santa Maria Tlalixtac! Max’s family members began to literally mule the aguardiente to communities far and near, sometimes traveling for weeks at a time with mules loaded with 40-liter jugs of aguardiente.

But one of Max’s sons, also named Max, knew there had to be a better way. He studied to get his pilot’s license in Tehuacan, Puebla and came home to serve his community as an Aero-Taxista. It wasn’t long before roadless communities began carving out runways in the rare patches of flat land that were found in the region. Throughout the 1970s, Max Jr. and his brothers would fly around the region with their Cesna plane loaded with aguardiente, dropping off orders as large as 300 liters for small towns' regional fiestas.

Nowadays, Santa Maria Tlalixtac has a road into town - a four-hour unpaved trek from the nearest highway that is as stunning as it is treacherous. Grandpa Max has passed away, but his son Isidoro and four grandsons Rommel, Axel, William, and Isidoro keep the family tradition alive, working alongside one another in every aspect of production. Thanks to their hard work, aguardiente aficionados no longer need to hike for days to try a rum that has been three generations in the making.