Collaborations
Rather than sticking our name on a bottle of mezcal belonging to someone else, we choose to promote small, independent brands.
How we choose who to work with
We don’t rush into things at Época. It took us over two years to develop the relationships with the producers we work with. To ensure producers align with our vision and values, we carefully developed criteria they must meet.
Small and independent
For centuries mezcal was produced within communities, often at a small, family-level scale. Following in the dangerous footsteps of tequila, there is growing commercialisation and industrialisation in the mezcal industry. We want to fight against this and preserve traditional methods of production.
We believe that prioritising smaller producers in areas relatively unknown outside of Mexico for mezcal production will maximise our impact and support sustainable development in these communities.
We currently source mezcal from Guerrero and Michoacán. These states have high levels of insecurity and relatively low economic development.
Focus on sustainablity
This includes environmental, cultural, and economic sustainability. We're not looking to work with someone who is interested in growing fast, regardless of how they get there.
Due to the small size of the producers we work with, expecting them to do everything overnight is unrealistic. Our priority is a commitment to work with us and our industry partners to evolve towards production methods that reduce environmental and ecological harm.
Quality
We love mezcal. We also know that people won't buy any old bottle.
We've been fortunate to try lots of different mezcals (and we mean lots!) and have been extremely selective on the quality of the mezcal we'll agree to import. A mezcal may achieve all our other criteria, but if it's not good enough, we won't import it.
As we've been looking for producers off the beaten track, we've unearthed some hidden gems.
Part of Mujeres del Mezcal
It was clear to us in our first meeting with Mujeres del Mezcal that we had to work with them. Their aims and principles align so closely with our own that we knew each producer in the cooperative would do so too, we have nothing but respect for the work they do.
Having initially approached all producers through Mujeres del Mezcal, moving forward we now aim to grow alongside each other, collaborating with more members to import to the UK.
For more on the Mujeres del Mezcal, see below.
Mujeres del Mezcal y Maguey
In their own words, ‘We are women who work together through sisterhood to have spirits with soul and heart, being sustaining and sustainable.’
Mujeres del Mezcal y Maguey are an association of more than 200 women located throughout the country. They support one another in a male dominated industry, fighting for visibility, respect, and recognition.
We’re not the only ones who think they’re incredible. Women of the collective featured in the award winning documentary Las Hijas del Maguey (The Daughters of Maguey). View the trailer here.
We’re hoping to arrange a screening in the UK soon. Watch this space!
Our partners
