Erstwhile Espadin Mezcal

Erstwhile Espadin Mezcal

Brand Introduction 

A mission-driven, social impact-driven company, Erstwhile is a boutique agave spirits importer based in Brooklyn, New York.  Our mission: advocate for small, independent, family-owned producers who lack representation outside their local communities in Mexico; and bring their craft to mezcal lovers in international markets for the first time. We work closely with our partner producers and set them up for success.  No haggling.  No exclusivity contracts.  We guide producers through the complicated steps to export in their own names for the first time and cover necessary expenses including local attorneys, accountants, license fees, and more.  We absorb our producers’ marketing and supply chain costs as our own.  We believe in autonomy for producers, be it hiring their own workers or using their own bottling facility. We only step in if they want our help. We connect with our partner producers to share knowledge and help each other in production. Revenue from every Erstwhile bottle sold creates jobs in our partner producers’ and vendors’ local communities in Mexico.  Our producers hire their own team of local men and women, on their own terms. Erstwhile is a woman-owned, women-led business.  Our team is multicultural and multilingual.  We are outspoken about elevating underrepresented voices in Mezcal and our industry. 

Erstwhile Espadin Mezcal

Named a Top 100 Spirits by Wine Enthusiast the year Erstwhile Mezcal launched in the United States.  Crafted by Silverio García Luis and Epifania Gómez Mejía, a mezcal producer family of Zapotec heritage based in Rancho Blanco Güilá, Oaxaca.  Epifania did not grow up in a mezcal family, but learned the ropes and became a master distiller in her own right.  In 2020, the Mezcal Regulatory Council in Mexico (Consejo Regulador del Mezcal) honored and spotlighted Epifania as a Woman in Mezcal.  Silverio's father, renowned master mezcalero Lorenzo Antonio García, was recognized as a Cultural Treasure of Mezcal by the Mezcal Regulatory Council in 2016 – a rare honor reserved for the few masters who have preserved the virtuosity of artisanal mezcal production for at least 60 years.