It's left smaller Mexican producers with a fraction of the profits. But as demand soars stateside, small Mexican mezcal producers aren't making the big bucks. While Mexican regulations do require mezcal to be made in Mexico, that hasn't stopped large, international companies from scooping up mezcal supplies, repackaging them, and reselling them for huge profits abroad. And the only organization that can stand in the way, the mezcal certifying agency COMERCAM, has faced claims of favoritism of large companies over smaller, traditional ones. This has left some century-old mezcal brands frustrated and fearful that their ancestral ways of making mezcal are at risk.

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