There are mezcal brands, and then there are mezcal projects. Rezpiral is firmly in the second category — and understanding the difference is exactly why we carry it at Off Premise.
Rezpiral isn't a distillery. It's a collaboration network, built on direct relationships with small-scale, indigenous Zapotec producers in Oaxaca, Mexico. Founded by Saša Šljivar and his partners, the project exists to do one thing: get the most expressive, traditionally made mezcals from the families who produce them into the hands of people who will actually appreciate them. No middlemen. No homogenization. No marketing gloss applied over something rough and real.
The answer changes depending on which bottle you pick up — and that's the point. Each Rezpiral release is attributed to a specific producer family and their village. You might be drinking a mezcal made by Esteban García in San Marcos Tlapazola, or one from Fortino Ramos in a remote corner of the Sierra Sur. These are palenqueros — traditional mezcal makers — who have been doing this work for generations, long before "craft spirits" became a category anyone cared about.
Most of these producers work with wild or semi-wild agave, harvested at full maturity after anywhere from 8 to 25-plus years of growth. That patience isn't a selling point. It's just how it's done when you're working with plants that take decades to develop their full character.
Production methods vary by producer, but the throughline is deeply traditional. Agave hearts (piñas) are roasted in earthen pit ovens, crushed by stone tahona or wooden mallet, fermented outdoors in open-air wooden vats using wild ambient yeast, and distilled in clay pots or copper stills depending on the maker. No shortcuts, no additives, no industrial intervention.
The flavor profiles that result are extraordinary — smoky, earthy, herbal, sometimes funky, often mineral-driven, always specific to a place and a person. You're not drinking a brand's house style. You're drinking someone's hands and their land and their knowledge.
Rezpiral releases typically come in at natural proof — whatever the distillate yields — and are bottled without dilution. That commitment to transparency extends to the labeling, which includes producer name, village, agave variety, and production details. It reads more like a provenance document than a back label, because that's what it is.
The mezcal category has grown fast, and with growth comes pressure to standardize, scale, and simplify. Rezpiral pushes back against all of it. Šljivar and his team pay producers fair prices — well above market rate — and structure relationships that prioritize long-term sustainability over volume. They work with producers to protect agave populations, not deplete them.
The result is a portfolio that's inherently limited and inherently varied. Releases come and go based on what producers make in a given season. When a batch is gone, it's gone. If that sounds inconvenient, that's because the alternative — consistent supply at the cost of authenticity — is the wrong trade.
Adam has spent years building relationships with producers and importers who share a specific value: the spirit in the bottle should tell you something true. Rezpiral does that better than almost anything in the mezcal category right now. Every bottle connects you to a real person, a real place, and a real tradition that predates the craft spirits boom by centuries.
We carry Rezpiral because our customers deserve access to mezcal at this level — and because the producers behind these bottles deserve to have their work understood and celebrated, not just consumed.
Find current Rezpiral releases in our Lincoln Park shop at 1128 W Armitage Ave, or order online for pickup. Stock is limited and rotates with each new producer batch — when it's gone, it's gone.
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