Wow.  Whoa.  Holy shit.  This week saw HUGE news in the mezcal world.  Del Maguey Mezcal was acquired (a majority stake) by spirits industry giant Pernod Ricard.  It is shocking, exciting, and troublesome to many as well.  I’ll take the first two and pass on the third – not troubling to me at all.

First, a little background.  Del Maguey, and it’s artist founder Ron Cooper, is the pioneering brand which brought the first premium mezcal to the U.S. in the mid-to-late 1990’s.   Prior to the beginning of Ron’s evangelical campaign, mezcal was thought of as this worm-infused, gag-inducing swill only a frat boy could love.  Del Maguey was largely alone in this pursuit for as long as ten years.  It was not until the late 2000’s when other premium brands like Ilegal, Los Nahuales, Fidencio, and Pierde Almas, among others, began to show up in the U.S.

While certainly those brands, and a few others, have helped drive mezcal to where it is today, Del Maguey clearly got it started, and they are the number one selling mezcal in the U.S as a result.  They have an army of industry supporters who prosthelytize the wonders of mezcal and Del Maguey, which has been awesome for the mezcal category.  Their leadership, passion, and education-driven approach to mezcal has helped bring it to the forefront of the artisanal world of spirits.  Sometimes I find the brand approaches mezcal with a bit too much reverence, but I cannot argue with the results.  I too hold mezcal in high regard, but this is still booze after all!  If we’re on a mission from god, let’s make it the Blues Brothers version.  Mezcal is fun and sexy, cool and exotic, and an amazing tradition-laden spirit, so I don’t get too carried away.

And Del Maguey is REALLY good mezcal, especially their Vinos de Mezcal series and Single Village line-up.  Their cocktail-oriented Vida is likely the main driver of their revenue, and no, it is not as good as their single village line-up, but it is also costs $35-$40 a bottle and works well in cocktails.

So that all said, it is a shock to see them sell the brand.  The word from Ron is nothing will change in the way they operate the business, and they will continue to support and work with their palenqueros as they always have.  And I have no doubt it is true because I know he and his team care so much about mezcal and what it represents.  They would not do a deal with someone who did not subscribe to their world view, which is why this is not troubling to me in the least.  Plus, I am a capitalist so more power to them.  Del Maguey will now have more money and resources, and they will continue to produce their mezcal in an honest, sustainable way.  For another take on this move, my friends at Mezcalistas posted THIS.

While Del Maguey is the first brand to be sold to one of the large spirit companies, there has been other action in the category.  Bacardi bought a minority stake in Ilegal in February and Diageo has a distribution deal (and likely some equity stake or options) with Mezcal Union.  Cuervo also has their own brand Creyente in the U.S. market, which they claim is made in an artisanal way, though I cannot say it tastes like an artisanal mezcal (I am stretching to find the nicest words I can).  Nevertheless, the large spirit companies are approaching mezcal in the right way for the most part.  They seem to recognize this is an artisanal product which cannot be industrialized.

I have a lot more to say on this subject and what it means for the future of mezcal.  So this post is just a preview as spurred on by this huge industry news.  You may not care about what else I am thinking, or you may be interested to know that I have already written a chapter on this very subject for my new book, the Revised Second Edition of Holy Smoke!  It’s Mezcal!

Yes, I am revising the self-proclaimed best selling mezcal book of all time, Holy Smoke! It’s Mezcal!  Is it really the best selling mezcal book of all time?  Well, I am not really sure but it’s possible.  And there really are not many books on mezcal so it can’t be that far off.  I hope to have this ready to bring to market sometime this Fall.

So that’s it for now.  Big news for the mezcal category and its continued growth.  Thanks for reading and as always, drink mezcal!