Rezpiral is a mezcal brand that curates and sells an assortment of high-quality spirits made by independent mezcaleros in Mexico.

🔥 Real mezcal, made the old-school way. Roasted in earthen pits, crushed by stone, fermented under the stars. No additives, no shortcuts. Just smoke, soul, and fire.

💸 Power to the producers. Instead of faceless corporations, a new generation of mezcal collectives (like Rezpiral, NETA, and Lalocura) partner directly with mezcaleros sharing profits, planting agave, and keeping control where it belongs: in the hands of the families who’ve made it for generations.

🙌 Why we said hell yeah. Craft mezcal is an act of resistance against industrial liquor, exploitation, and cultural erasure. Every sip is a toast to the land, the lineage, and the labor that make it possible.

Mezcal is Mexico’s original agave spirit: older, wilder, and infinitely more complex than tequila. Firstly, whereas tequila is only made from blue agave, true mezcal can come from more than 40 varieties of agave, each with its own distinctive flavor (kind of like wine varietals). So, if you’ve only tried a cheap bottle made from espadin (the most common agave varietal and our least favorite) and wrote off mezcal as just smokey tequila, that’s like only trying a Barefoot Chardonnay and judging wine as a whole.

And we bring this up, because we used to think that mezcal was just smokey tequila. But then we discovered ancestral mezcal… and well damn, we got converted. We’re not snobs about most things, but small-batch, craft mezcal is one of the best drinks on earth… and worth paying for.

Agave spirits are having a moment. For the last decade, tequila sales have boomed making it the fastest growing spirit in the US (2nd to vodka). The growth has been largely driven by younger consumers who enjoy the premiumization, George Clooney’s handsomeness, and the wellness desire for a healthier (low sugar, no additive, reduced hangover) spirit. Mezcal is expected to hit $2.1 billion by 2031.

But, as you might imagine, big money invites unscrupulous producers. Particularly the industrialized brands that mass-produce Mexican spirits while underpaying indigenous producers, depleting agave stocks (or monocropping blue agave), and stripping away centuries of artisanal knowledge.

Real mezcal should take time to create and enjoy. Unlike tequila shots (See Nick’s closet for his “Lick it, slam it, suck it Cancun Spring Break 2004” tshirt), mezcal is meant to be sipped slowly. Kissed in fact.

But… consumers “savoring” bottles with flavors that proudly vary from batch-to-batch flies in the face of the traditional liquor playbook looking to push homogenous product quickly and cheaply.

Rezpiral is a radical and artistic alternative that’s independent, fair, and deeply rooted in tradition. Rezpiral partners directly with master mezcaleros across Oaxaca and other states, offering small-batch agave spirits that aren’t industrially certified, but are 100% authentic. So technically, it’s not certified mezcal, rather a spirit produced from agave.

Each bottle comes from a unique, limited-run batch, most of which aren’t larger than just a few hundred bottles. These are made in palenques - small roasting, crushing, fermenting, and distilling set ups - often in the mezcalero’s back yard!

NOTE: there is a growing tourism industry in Oaxaca around touring palenques - set up to be a very different alternative to other types of alcohol tourism like Napa wine tasting.

Each batch is produced by a specific mezcalero, with whom Rezpiral shares the profits (30% directly back to these producers). Mezcaleros use these funds for essential needs: planting agave, improving distillation equipment, securing land rights, and even covering medical bills.

As a higher-end brand, Rezipral is crafted with wild and cultivated agave like Tepextate, Arroqueño, and (my personal favorite) the small and mighty Tobala. Like wine grapes, each of these agave varieties produce distinct and wonderful flavors. Unlike wine, agave plants can take a long time to mature - Arroqueño takes 18-22 years! And some producers then choose to let the distilled spirit sit in glass for years to rest before bottling.

They also run a nursery program, gifting agave to producers and farmers to restore biodiversity and prevent overharvesting. With thousands of plants distributed annually, they’re ensuring the future of mezcal remains in the hands of those who’ve cultivated it for generations

Mezcal is one of the world’s most misunderstood products. Digging into it reveals a fulfilling world of massive complexity, community, and sustainability. And also it tastes great and doesn’t give me as much of a hangover.

As part of this agave love letter, we can recommend a number of high-quality, authentic mezcal brands that are awesome (e.g., NETA, Cinco Sentidos, Lalocura) as well as many other brands and mezcaleros that are difficult to find in the US (Pal’Alma, Macurichos, Farolito, anything from Rolando Angeles, etc.) Hell yeah to all of them!

Rezpiral has a special place in my heart because my love for mezcal started with a gifted bottle of their “Series 5.” I fell in love with the spectacular label itself that highlighted so much info, including the mezcalero (in my case, Berta!) I enjoyed the transparency so much that I bought Rezpiral’s illustrated booklet, El Tiempo En Las Raices and In the Eye of the Toad there is a Seed to support the brand and learn more.

Mezcal isn’t just a drink, it’s a living cultural heritage, deeply tied to land, tradition, and indigenous knowledge. These bottles aren’t cheap (expect to pay $100+/bottle). But for us, worth the splurge for a night of slow kissing copitas. Hell yeah.

Rezpiral Instagram

Reviews of Rezipral on Mezcal Reviews

Rezpiral’s Agave Sustainability Program - How they’re restoring wild agave stocks

How to Read a Mezcal Label - Learn more about this great spirit

Podcast About Mezcal Certification (with some great notes in the text about agave depletion)

Good Takedown of Mezcal Certification