The last decade has been the most significant in mezcal’s long history. Not only has its production increased tenfold (COMERCAM data), its international footprint has become almost universal. But explosions can be destructive, and mezcal’s rapid expansion has saddled the architects of its growth with a responsibility to safely sustain its momentum for the benefit of the category and its producers.

No brand has done more in placing mezcal on the global stage than Del Maguey. When it launched Vida in 2010, the category was less than 10% of what it is today. Vida was largely responsible for introducing bartenders, first in the US and later further afield.

“Vida is sometimes described as industrialised because of its scale, but scale and industrialisation are not the same thing,” says Fabien Re, brand architecture and activation director at Pernod Ricard’s House of Tequila, owner of Del Maguey mezcal.

“If you visit the palenque where Vida is produced, you will see traditional methods and, above all, the knowledge of mezcalero communities who have been producing mezcal for generations. From the beginning, the ambition was to preserve a deeply rooted ancient craft by making it known beyond Oaxaca, and by creating sustainable demand that allows producing families to continue making mezcal as a viable livelihood.

“Vida was designed to carry that scale responsibly… By concentrating volume in Vida, we can meet global demand while protecting the integrity of our single village mezcals, which can remain expressive, place and community driven, and produced at the rhythm of nature and each palenque. For us, scale is not a compromise. It is a deliberate choice to ensure mezcal can grow, travel and endure, without losing its cultural and human foundations.”

Following the admittance of several municipalities within Sinaloa in 2021, the DO permits 10 Mexican states to produce certified mezcal. Of the 11 million litres produced in 2024, more than 90% were made in Oaxaca. Durango, the second most productive region, accounted for just 2.5% of the 2024 volumes.

“The Central Valleys of Oaxaca are where 90% of the market is concentrated today. But that doesn't mean we cannot grow elsewhere, and that's exactly the example we are trying to make with Derrumbes,” says Esteban Morales, founder of Casa Endemica, which owns several Mexican spirit brands, including Derrumbes Mezcal, which has a lineup of mezcals from six states within the DO.

“There’s space in the market to invite the industry to explore mezcal from San Luis Potosi at an amazing price, or from Durango at an amazing price, and take that business into other areas that are ready to grow and explode. The difficulties come in how to continue to grow the market. Mezcal is currently at around 10 million litres total, which is nothing. Mezcal has the potential to grow to where nine different states in the DO are producing 10 million litres each."

The concentrating of mezcal production within Oaxaca’s Central Valleys isn’t just a disservice to the country’s other producing states, it places pressure upon the communities and the land. As distilleries swell to meet demand, traditional production methods can become threatened, while trees are frequently cleared both to make space for the planting of agave fields and for the firewood used for the roasting of agaves and heating of stills.

“The healthy way to scale mezcal is to give the chance to all the areas and families that produce it to express their own history in their own way,” says Morales. “The focus of economic sustainability and environmental sustainability needs to be social sustainability. If we just focus on keeping the agave safe, we will have mountains of agave and we will lose the families and their knowledge of this beautiful product. The balance is found in the creation of business with the families, so they take care of the agaves while continuing to grow their own business.”

Language of authenticity

At its best, mezcal’s self-governance has created a bevy of unique reflections of its communities. The thought of a handcrafted, time-honoured, artisan product is always going to be alluring, but the language of authenticity can be easily co-opted in a category that is new to much of its consumer base.

“We’re seeing the more commercial brands trying to appeal to authenticity because they need to,” says Sofiá Barrera of Salón de Agave, an agave spirit tasting room-cum-learning space in Mexico City. “It might be because of the lawsuits [in tequila], but they also realise that people are looking for more authenticity in spirits and in general.

It might be a reaction to AI, but authenticity seems to be really important. Big brands try to seem more handcrafted and artisanal, while the smaller producers that have been making authentically for many generations can try to adapt to meet that demand, but many won’t have the resources.

“Right now, Mexico has high taxes on alcohol and the smaller the batches that you produce, the higher the proportion of taxation. So, this leaves mezcal in a position where people want to see authenticity, but it’s more difficult for those brands to reach consumers. Hopefully, as smaller producers, like the ones we work with, begin to grow, they’ll find better ways to get their own products to market, and we’ll start to see the rise of the small-scale producer.”

Morales is keen to spread the message that the international mezcal audience can have a direct impact on Mexico through its purchasing power.

“We’re not building huge distilleries and hiring people to be our workers,” he says. “We build economic structures with producers and families and their independent business that sells liquid to us in an equal relationship. That’s what we invite bartenders and consumers to buy into. We want them to choose a brand where they know that with their decision, they can build economic opportunities in Mexico.”

The importance of economic sustainability at multiple levels of the category’s production and distribution chain does pose a question about whether mezcal is underpriced. Highly valued single malt Scotch can point to several factors to justify its price tag. Regional heritage, the generational expertise of its craftspeople, and the most significant consideration is maturation. The capital and time investment for storing and maintaining casks for 25 years is a huge financial commitment. That much time also creates scarcity. Alongside what’s not lost to the angels’ share, not all Scotch will taste good after spending a quarter of a century in a barrel, making the best casks even more special.

Mezcal shares all those qualities, it just performs its maturation on the other side of distillation. The vast majority of mezcal is unaged, but where grain can be harvested annually for whisky, agave is an entirely different proposition. Agave angustifolia, often known by the maguey name Espadín, is the most commonly used species for mezcal and takes between six and 12 years to reach the level of ripeness required for mezcal production. For other species of agave, this can be much more. Agave potatorum, commonly known as Tobalá, is a species growing in popularity that can take 15 years to fully mature. Agave americana, or Arroqueño, can take more than 20 years to ripen. For agave marmorata, also known as Tepeztate, it might be 40 years before it’s ready for harvest, and just like with Scotch casks, not all agaves survive several decades in the ground.

“There are over 200 species of agave with different varieties and sub-varieties, and we don’t drink anything else in the world where the agricultural crop takes so long to grow,” says Megs Miller, owner of Salón de Agave.

“But value is not only monetary. We stock a very specific mezcal that is 12 bottles a batch. And it’s so rare that we thought we should sell this bottle at a price to reflect that. But the producer asked us not to, he didn’t want it to sit on a shelf and not be bought. There are sotols that use 80-year-old plants, and you need three plants to make a single bottle. How can you price that? Because the level of education around the category is still so small, if we just put a high price point on it, the bottles don't move, and then that doesn’t help the producers.”

It’s another example of the push and pull present within mezcal. Every vision of its future direction carries a counterpoint, a symptom of the diversity of the category and the communities that have been its custodians for centuries before the arrival of the brands. Sustainable growth within mezcal will be founded on balance.

“The way we manage growth is through a deliberate architecture,” says Re. “Our Vida mezcals play a central role as the entry point to the brand, anchoring Del Maguey in bars around the world and allowing us to build presence at scale. Our single village mezcals are not designed for mass replication; they are designed to express place, people and production choices, and to be grown selectively.

“Increasing our global footprint does not mean pushing every single expression everywhere. It means being disciplined about where each mezcal belongs and ensuring that growth remains aligned with the capacity and rhythm of each producing family. By doing so, we can expand internationally while preserving what makes each mezcal distinctive. And we can keep our portfolio coherent, readable and true to its origins.”