We Put People First
Erstwhile is more than Mezcal.
We bring people and communities together. Our purpose is to serve, delight, and give back to the human beings and communities we care about. With every Erstwhile bottle you purchase, you choose and support direct social impact in the following ways.
Fair Trade
No haggling. No bargaining.
We pay our partner producers what they ask for their mezcal. Traditional small-batch mezcal production requires hard, honest labor. Our producers know the value of their labor better than anyone.
Autonomy
No exclusivity contracts.
We believe in our partner producers owning as much of their production as possible, be it hiring their own workers or using their own bottling facility. We only step in if they want our help. We prepare our partner producers for success, independent of their work with us in the future.
Pro Bono
Representation
Set producers up for success.
We work closely with our partner producers and guide them through the complicated steps to export in their own names for the first time. We cover all necessary expenses for our producers, including local attorneys, accountants, license application fees, and more.
Job Creation &
Support Network
Revenue from every Erstwhile bottle sold creates jobs in our producers’ and vendors’ local communities in Mexico. Our partner producers hire their own team of local men and women, on their own terms.
We build local support networks, connecting our partner producers to share knowledge and help each other in production. We work with local businesses in Oaxaca and use locally-sourced supplies whenever possible.
Supply Chain
We absorb our partner producers’ supply chain costs, risks, and challenges as our own. We source from local businesses whenever possible, and pay for all supplies necessary to produce their mezcal such as: bottles, labels, corks, and ocean freight.
Advocacy
We are tireless advocates for our partner producers and fellow consumers. We create digital presence for producers who lack representation. We build distribution and find buyers for our producers in the United States and international markets. We absorb all of their marketing expenses as our own.
Mezcal Education
We focus on mezcal education, knowing it empowers consumers and industry colleagues to be informed, confident decision makers. We create rich digital content like videos and photos, taking you behind the scenes to meet our partner producers and see their craft in action.
We offer free staff trainings for our retail partners, and private mezcal tastings & seminars for corporate clients’ team building events.
Diversity
Make us stronger and smarter.
Our team is multicultural and multilingual. Erstwhile Mezcal is a woman-owned, women-led business. We work closely with women master distillers who head their family businesses. We are outspoken about elevating underrepresented voices – including but not limited to those of women – in Mezcal and the broader wine & spirits industry.
