Erstwhile Henequen Mezcal

Erstwhile Henequen 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 Henequen Mezcal

Must-have for any serious mezcal collector.  This is the first mezcal made from the Henequén agave that is available in the US market. This distillation, made from cultivated Henequén agave, is a small-batch limited edition of 397 liters (roughly 500 bottles) from the personal collection of the late master distiller Juan Hernández Méndez in Santiago Matatlán, Oaxaca.  Henequén, an agave plant native to the Yucatán Peninsula and valued for its fiber since pre-Hispanic times, once ruled and transformed the region’s economy to such an extent that it came to be known as “green gold”. It is not native to, and thus rarely seen in, Oaxaca and other mezcal-producing regions of Mexico.