Erstwhile Mezcal

Food and Beverage ManufacturingNew York, United States2-10 Employees

A social impact-driven company, Erstwhile advocates for small, independent mezcal producers who lack representation. We elevate your bar with beautiful, limited-edition agave spirits: ethically sourced and lovingly curated for you from small, independent, family-owned producers.

Autonomy for and fair trade with producers are among our core values. We focus on Mezcal education, knowing that it empowers consumers and industry colleagues to be confident, informed decision makers.

We set ourselves apart from others in several ways. First, the small producers we work with are independent family businesses, not our employees. We pay our partner producers fairly. No bargaining. No exclusivity contracts.

We seek out small producers who are interested in exporting, but do not have the means to do so on their own. We believe in giving producers autonomy in their production and export process, be it using their own bottling facility or hiring their own workers. We step in if and only if they want our help.

We feel good about the fact that we help our producer partners clear these hurdles from the get-go, independent of their work with us in the future. 

We are committed to transparency. We believe in sharing, not hoarding, knowledge. QR code on the back label of every Erstwhile bottle gives full disclosure of where you can find our producer partner and buy directly from the source if you so choose. Read our website, product pages, blog posts, newsletters, social media. Talk to us at events and tastings. We are proud and open about who we are, who our partner producers are, and every aspect of how we do business.

Erstwhile is owned, led, and produced by women. We thrive on diversity. We are outspoken about elevating underrepresented voices - including and not limited to those of women - in Mezcal and the broader wine & spirits industry.

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