This model, which he defines as “from the seed to the cup”, also opened the door for the company to make assemblies and productions with agaves that other distilleries, including the big players, do not have within their varieties.
As part of these processes, the distillery transitioned from chemical farming and deforestation to organic farming to be a carbon neutral and water efficient company. He also created bio-input factories that operate with the waste generated by losing the mezcal.
“Mezcal is being recognized as a luxury spirit and the average price is much higher than that of tequila, mainly because it is more expensive to make mezcal. The most important challenge is for people to understand why a bottle of mezcal can cost 500 dollars”, he adds.
The company, which grows its sales to double digits each year, very close to triple digits, is going for a slice of a market that has an estimated value of 241.3 million dollars, and that will reach 437 million in 2028, with a rate compound annual growth rate (CARG) of 10.4%, projects Industry Research.
In Mexico, 85% of mezcal production is concentrated in Oaxaca. Last year, the national production of mezcal referred to 45 degrees of alcohol was 8.1 million liters, and artisanal is the main category with 88.92%, according to data from the Mexican Regulatory Council for the Quality of Mezcal (Comercam).
“Mezcal has been growing between 30% and 40% in the world for ten years. It is the category that is growing the most in the United States, England and Spain. It is not the competition of tequila, on the contrary, tequila opens the doors to mezcal and if a decade ago mezcal represented 0.1% of the value of tequila, in ten years it will be 15%”, concludes Suárez.