Niki Nakazawa, co-founder of Neta Spirits, which acts as a broker for 12 small mezcal producers in Miahuatlán, Oaxaca, advises getting a sense of the size of a company and where they’re putting their resources. Large, transnational companies are more likely to take shortcuts in production, including methods like cold-batching their mezcal, which can erase the uniqueness of the batch.
Small producers often work alongside brokers such as Neta, Rezpiral, and 5 Sentidos as a way of getting their mezcal to international markets. “The movement to cultivate agave plants for the production of mezcal is still relatively new,” Nakazawa explains. “Because there’s been this historic disenfranchisement of rural communities within the industry, many small producers turn to brokers like us.”