At this past year’s Tales of the Cocktail, I was invited to a tasting room hosted by one of the many new-school mezcal brands out on the market. The theme of the event was “Peep Show.”
At the beginning of the line to get in, a woman dressed in old timey lingerie greeted the crowd. Perched on top of a whiskey barrel, she looked more like a piece of artwork than a welcome wagon; Something to titillate and entice guests before they got to the main event. I felt uncomfortable. Why is she here? Why is her cleavage in my face? And what does any of this have to do with mezcal?
I didn’t stick around to find out.
Using sexuality to sell booze is not a new tactic, but it’s a tired one, and the trend seems to be ramping up in the mezcal industry. Does your ninth-generation mezcalero know that you’re slapping photos of naked women on his centuries-old recipe and selling provocation with the fruits of his hard labor? Would he care? What about his wife? Would she care? Or his kids—
the ones who are learning how to plant agaves at age eight so they can carry on the family legacy when it’s your time to step down? What exactly does this do for his cultural heritage?
I get it. There’s a foundation for connecting agave spirits and sexuality buried deep within mezcal’s history (the goddess Mayahuel represents fertility). On the surface, there’s no great mystery about why a bunch of old white dudes would take that idea and run with it.
But whhhyyy? Why can’t we get more creative with the way we market agave spirits?
There are so many other angles one could take in marketing mezcal and tequila. So much rich history and heritage to draw upon, dozens of different regional characteristics and cultures (in the case of mezcal, anyway), and if we’re going to talk about women in the mezcal industry, why don’t we think beyond the boobs and talk about how the wives, daughters, sisters and aunts have always played a role in the culture and production of mezcal? Today, women are taking over distillation themselves as older generations fade out. Some manage the operations for major mezcal making companies. Women also played an important role in mezcal culture during the years of Mexican Prohibition. Why devalue their contribution to this industry by turning them into objects of desire?
The mezcal industry stands at a precipice. For the first time in its history, the category is faced with a precarious future as increased popularity and demand has attracted all sorts of (positive and negative) attention. Quick start-up brands and American investors with no personal stake in the spirit are cashing in on the trend and starting to introduce some shitty products—and a lot of misguided messages—to the masses. It’s time to curb this behavior before it spreads too far.
I am tired of the lack of innovation (at best) and the damaging repercussions of reducing women to sex objects to sell alcohol (at worst). I’m not going to support the brands that make me feel like I am a less valued drinker than my male components. 
