400 Conejos led US mezcal volume in 2025 at an estimated 87,000 nine-liter cases, narrowly ahead of Del Maguey at 86,000. Ilegal, Banhez and Casamigos completed the five-brand ranking in Impact Databank’s 2025 mezcal estimates. Siete Misterios led the separate Drinks International 2026 survey of acclaimed bars.
Mezcal’s recent figures tell a more mixed story than the earlier boom. Certified mezcal production totaled 6.91 million liters in 2025, expressed at 45% ABV, about 39.2% below 2024. Export-market bottling totaled 7.72 million liters in 2025. Production and bottling measure different stages and can move differently as stocks are used. Source: COMERCAM’s 2026 report.
Many large mezcal brands sit within international spirits groups: Del Maguey with Pernod Ricard, Ilegal with Bacardi and 400 Conejos with Becle. Banhez is owned by an Oaxacan cooperative.
Table of Contents
US mezcal brand volumes in 2025
The table compares estimated US volumes for five leading mezcal brands in 2025 with revised 2024 figures.
| 2025 rank | Brand | 2024 cases | 2025 estimated cases | Reported change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 400 Conejos | 70,000 | 87,000 | +22.9% |
| 2 | Del Maguey | 86,000 | 86,000 | -0.2% |
| 3 | Ilegal | 75,000 | 79,000 | +5.5% |
| 4 | Banhez | 67,000 | 62,000 | -8.0% |
| 5 | Casamigos | 33,000 | 26,000 | -20.5% |
One nine-liter case is equivalent to twelve 750 mL bottles.
Mezcal’s US market is much smaller than tequila’s. Impact Databank estimated 580,000 US cases of mezcal in 2024, while its tequila brand table put Jose Cuervo alone at 4.92 million cases in the same year. Source: Impact Databank’s 2024 estimates.
Bestselling mezcals in the 2026 bar survey
Siete Misterios led Drinks International’s 2026 bar survey, followed by Del Maguey and The Lost Explorer. The rotating panel draws from acclaimed bars around the world. Owners or head bartenders name their three bestselling brands. This measures sales within the surveyed bars, rather than worldwide case-volume sales. The 2026 report’s top ten were:
- Siete Misterios
- Del Maguey
- The Lost Explorer
- Montelobos
- Derrumbes
- Alipús
- Bruxo
- San Cosme
- Ilegal
- Koch
Del Maguey is credited with opening up the premium mezcal category in the US. Its Vida line has been particularly successful for mixing; Del Maguey ranked second in the 2026 acclaimed-bar survey.
400 Conejos in US retail and the global market
400 Conejos is owned by Becle, the company behind Jose Cuervo, and is distributed by Proximo Spirits in the US. 400 Conejos claimed first place in US tracked retail channels over the 52 weeks ending 10 May 2025, measured by nine-liter-equivalent volume, in its October 2025 announcement. The brand also claimed a global volume lead for 2024, citing IWSR. Separately, Impact’s annual US estimates put 400 Conejos first in 2025 at 87,000 nine-liter cases.
Recent growth among leading US mezcal brands
400 Conejos had the strongest reported 2025 growth among the five leaders, up 22.9%. Ilegal rose 5.5%, while Del Maguey fell 0.2%, Banhez fell 8.0% and Casamigos fell 20.5%. Growth figures: Impact Databank’s reported year-on-year changes, using its revised 2024 comparison.
What the mezcal brands make
Mezcal Ilegal
Position: US volume: third in 2025 (estimated 79,000 nine-liter cases). Bar survey: ninth in 2026.
Reported US growth in 2025: +5.5%.
History: Around 2004 John Rexer started bringing mezcal from Oaxaca to his bar Café No Sé in Antigua, Guatemala. The brand Ilegal Mezcal was founded in 2006. The name references the less than official methods Rexer first used to bring unlicensed mezcal across the border from Mexico to Guatemala. Bacardi took a minority stake in Ilegal Mezcal in February 2017 and in September 2023 it purchased the remaining share of the brand.
Current Owner: Bacardi
Origin: Oaxaca, Mexico
Products:
For mezcal, joven means unaged; reposado rests in wood for two to twelve months, and añejo for more than twelve months, under mezcal’s official standard.
- Ilegal’s mezcal is made from Espadín agave (Agave angustifolia). Its range includes joven, reposado and añejo, plus a limited edition añejo aged for seven years.
Del Maguey Single Village Mezcal
Position: US volume: second in 2025 (estimated 86,000 nine-liter cases). Bar survey: second in 2026.
Reported US volume change in 2025: −0.2%.
History: Del Maguey Single Village Mezcal was founded in 1995 by US artist Ron Cooper. The brand is responsible for first popularizing mezcal in the US. In 2017 Pernod Ricard acquired a majority stake in Del Maguey.
Current Owner: Pernod Ricard
Origin: Oaxaca, Puebla, Mexico
Products:
- Vida Collection: Espadín (A. angustifolia). Made for cocktails. Comes in Clasico (42% ABV, from Oaxaca), Puebla (40% ABV, from Puebla) and Dia de Los Muertos (45% ABV version of the Clasico)
- Village Tradiciones Collection: Five expressions of Espadín from different villages in Oaxaca including artesanal and ancestral methods. These are higher-proof and made for sipping.
- Village Varietales Collection: The line was formerly called Vino de Mezcal. It uses different agaves, including Arroqueño, Barril, Cuixe, an ensamble of Espadín, Arroqueño & Mexicano, Jabalí, Madrecuixe, Papalome, Papalote & Pizorra, Tepexate, Tobalá and Tobaziche.
- Village Especiales Collection: two Pechuga editions, one made with the traditional chicken breast, the other with Ibérico ham.
Banhez
Position: US volume: fourth in 2025 (estimated 62,000 nine-liter cases).
Reported US volume change in 2025: −8.0%.
History: Francisco Javier Perez Cruz led the founding of a cooperative in Ejutla, Oaxaca. The organization gives families the chance to organize to produce and sell their mezcal. The coop is now led by Francisco Javier’s son, Luis.
Current Owner: Co-op of Oaxacan farmers (Unión Productores de Agropecuarios del Distrito de Ejutla de Crespo, UPADEC Co-op)
Origin: Oaxaca, Mexico
Products:
- Espadin & Barril: 42% ABV, targeted at cocktails
- Single maguey varieties: 47% ABV, aimed at sipping. Including Cuishe, Tepeztate, Arroqueño, Jabalí, Tobalá, Mexicano
- Pechuga: Mezcal from Espadín with a third distillation involving turkey breast, fruit and spices. 47% ABV.
Casamigos
Position: US volume: fifth in 2025 (estimated 26,000 nine-liter cases).
Reported US volume change in 2025: −20.5%.
History: Casamigos was founded by actor George Clooney together with Rande Gerber and Mike Meldman as a tequila brand in 2013. Diageo purchased Casamigos in a deal worth $1 billion in 2017. The mezcal was released under the Casamigos brand in 2018.
Current Owner: Diageo
Origin: Oaxaca, Mexico
Products:
- Casamigos mezcal is made from Espadín agave (A. angustifolia).
- Tequilas: Casamigos is better known for its tequila range, including blanco, reposado, añejo and cristalino. Its tequila ranked seventh by global volume in the 2025 Brand Champions table.
400 Conejos
Position: First by estimated US volume in 2025, at 87,000 nine-liter cases.
Reported US growth in 2025: +22.9%.
History: Founded in 2014 by Becle, the company behind Jose Cuervo. Becle has used its massive distribution channels to help make 400 Conejos mezcal the number one selling mezcal in Mexico. “400 Conejos” means 400 rabbits. It is named in reference to an Aztec (Mexica) legend. In one version of the story Mayahuel, the goddess of agave, and Patacatl, the god of pulque and drunkenness, got together and had 400 rabbit offspring. The offspring are known as Centzon Tōtōchtin in Nahuatl. Mayahuel nursed the rabbits from her 400 breasts.
Current Owner: Becle (Jose Cuervo)
Origin: Oaxaca, Mexico
Products:
- The Espadín expression from 400 Conejos uses Espadín agave (A. angustifolia).
- Tobalá: A blend of Espadín and Tobalá (A. potatorum)
- Cuishe: A blend of Espadín and Cuishe (A. karwinski)
- Reposado: Espadín aged for 3 months
Montelobos
Position: Fourth in the 2026 bar survey.
Historical US figures: 22,000 nine-liter cases in 2023, sixth in that year’s ranking, with +10% growth (Impact Databank’s 2023 estimate). Montelobos is absent from the published 2025 five-brand US volume table.
History: Founded by Ivan Saldaña in 2011. Campari acquired a controlling stake in Montelobos in 2019.
Current Owner: Campari
Origin: Oaxaca (Espadín and Pechuga) and Puebla (Tobalá and ensamble), Mexico
Products:
- Montelobos’s Espadín expression uses Espadín agave (A. angustifolia).
- Montelobos’s Tobalá expression uses Tobalá agave (A. potatorum).
- Ensamble: Blend of Papalote (A. cupreata), Espadín and Tobalá
- Pechuga: Mezcal from Espadín with a third distillation involving turkey breast, fruit and spices
Los Siete Misterios
Position: Bar survey: first in 2026.
History: Founded by Julio and Eduardo Mestre in 2010
Current Owner: Julio and Eduardo Mestre co-own Siete Misterios together with 50% owners Chatham Imports (US company that produces Michter’s whiskey)
Origin: Oaxaca, Mexico
Products:
- Doba-Yej: An Espadín mezcal (A. angustifolia) from several regions of Oaxaca, designed for cocktails.
- Ensambles: A variety of different blends of agaves, usually with Espadín as a base (including Barril, Mexicano, Coyote, Arroqueño, Tobalá)
- Pechuga: Mezcal with a third distillation involving turkey breast, fruit and spices
- Ancestral: A variety of single maguey mezcals, ground by hand with wooden mallets and distilled in clay pots
Unión
Position: Mezcal Unión does not appear in the 2026 bar survey’s top ten.
History: Mezcal Unión was founded in 2011 by a group of Mexican entrepreneurs including Alejandro Gutierrez Champion. In 2016 Diageo became the distributor. Diageo acquired Mezcal Unión in August 2021.
Current Owner: Diageo
Origin: Oaxaca, Mexico
Products:
- UNO: Blend of Espadín (A. angustifolia) and Cirial (A. karwinskii). Designed for cocktails
- El Viejo and Silvestre: Two expressions which are blends of Espadín (A. angustifolia) and Tobalá (A. potatorum)
