How to build a brand: Madre Mezcal – natural, authentic community -- report excerpt
Madre Mezcal was born from founders steeped in art, fashion, music, interior design, and storytelling, and that background has shaped the business from day one...
This is an excerpt from our newly released 2026 Report: The New Rules of Brand Building in Bev/Alc. It’s our most comprehensive look at the industry yet. And it’s free to download ↓
A quick welcome to all of our new subscribers – we love seeing so many newbies. Let’s get acquainted: we’re a Substack dedicated to brand building in the bev/alc space, and we share:
>Founder and expert interviews (like this one, with The Zero Proof founder Sean Goldsmith)
> Newbies spotlights of brand new brands (like this profile of ‘forbidden spirit’ SAG)
> Features that dive deep into the trends shaping beverage today (like, say, the age of potency or the era of GLP-1s)
> Our very own hot takes 🔥 (like this piece exploring what non-alc can learn from meat-free’s demise)
The Madre Mezcal story
Madre Mezcal has grown through the creative community that recognizes itself in the work: designers, musicians, hospitality people, artists. The result is a mezcal that carries a clear point of view, and feels rooted in the cultural lives of the people who built and love it.
Community-first looks like this
“We captured the imagination of the graphic design community on day one,” says Madre Mezcal co-founder Chris Stephenson, who partnered with the brand agency Land to create Madre’s iconic identity. Looking at the tequila brand’s label and visual expression, that’s not surprising.
What may be surprising is the way that same creative community has catalyzed the business’s growth. Madre Mezcal didn’t need an influencer strategy – they were speaking to a built-in network from the get-go.
Ready-made connections
That community has been a huge driving force for the business. Madre knows that when they open in a new market, they’re tapping into a global creative network that’s “psychographically connected”, and primed to love the brand.
As Chris Stephenson says: “We were not spirits people at all. The way we approached the brand came from the creative worlds we lived in.” The result is a mezcal that carries a clear point of view, and that feels rooted in the cultural lives of the people who built it.”
The Madre world
The identity of Madre feels cohesive because it grew from a real cultural ecosystem. Chris describes the founding team as “this little culture agency on day one.” Their combined backgrounds created a shared vocabulary that naturally translated into the brand’s tone, visuals, and community.
The illustrations and label system are central to that expression. They carry a handmade, folkloric quality that feels both contemporary and connected to Oaxaca. They’re the visual language that anchors Madre and signals its point of view wherever the bottle appears.
Scaling the brand
Madre is now moving into national chains and larger commercial spaces, including Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Pavilions, and international markets. Costco is testing the brand in California and New Mexico. “My goal is to make it the number one brand without losing the identity,” he says.
Of those partners, Costco surprised him. “Costco has the highest disposable income consumer in America,” he says, adding that Madre performs well there because the product, price, and identity align with how that customer shops. Walmart represents a different challenge. It requires education and patience because, as Chris puts it, “You have to ask whether the Walmart consumer is yet a mezcal consumer.”
There’s still a mezcal story to be told
Tequila (actually a type of Mezcal) is massive and getting louder. Mezcal is growing, but it’s still early for most consumers. That gap creates space for a brand like Madre to define how people first meet the category.
Chris puts it simply: “There is a mezcal story to be told that still hasn’t been told.” Madre’s advantage is its clarity. It’s rooted in natural production, cultural authenticity, and a creative identity that already resonates.
As Chris says, “Everything we do is about being natural. In a world that is becoming increasingly artificial, a return to natural and authentic is real.”
Madre doesn’t need to change. It needs to keep presenting mezcal in a way people can understand and connect with.
NEW RULES FROM MADRE MEZCAL
Identity needs a real origin
It can’t be reverse engineered, or post-rationalized.
Community builds strong early momentum
Building a network of likeminded people can power you onwards.
Scaling works when your brand stays intact
You can go into Costco. And Trader Joe’s. But you need to know who you are.
Authenticity is more valuable as the market gets noisier
It’s an overused word. That doesn’t make it any less powerful.
The New Rules is a labor of love by nihilo.agency
Support us by:
- Subscribing
- Sharing
- Hiring us
- Inviting us to speak at your conference or event on branding/bev/alc/fun