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Considered a lesser drink for some time, due to “a version of segregation between the really indigenous places in Mexico”, it was undervalued for a long time as it was thought to be an overly natural, rural drink — a poor man’s tequila. Tequila is actually a type of mezcal but, similarly to champagne, it may only be named tequila if it is produced in the eponymous town. The spirit itself is any drink made from distilled agave but there are plenty of varieties of it and various recipes that change the taste and strength — “it’s complex, like wine, a lot of people think that there’s just one version of it because it’s the agave and you distil it. But because there’s so many different terrains in Oaxaca, you use different types of agave. So in that way it’s more like wine where you have different grapes in different regions.” Despite these endless forms and varieties of mezcal, the production process remains relatively unchanged. The agave plants are harvested and roasted giving them the recognisable smoky flavour, it is then mashed and left to ferment before the distillation begins. Most liquids are distilled twice to increase the alcohol content, using raising the percentage to around 55%.

Collecting recipes from friends and creating his own blends was a passion of Yola’s grandfather and one that has definitely been inherited, in fact before creating her own brand, she set up one of the first mezcal only bars in Mexico City. Sixteen years ago, Yola and some friends started serving and selling rare and remarkable mezcal, further fuelling and curating her passion for the drink. Cut to a few years later, when friends Lykke Li, Swedish singer song-writer and Gina Correll Aglietti, LA-based stylist and entrepreneur, were visiting Yola in Mexico and they fell in love with mezcal (Lykke who didn’t even drink ended up filling her suitcase with bottles before heading back to the States). The three women then set about creating their own brand, following the precise recipe of Yola’s grandfather as well as producing it with families near her grandfather’s farm. After the passing of her grandfather, Yola resolved to save his life’s work. “Luckily, he had written out a lot of his recipes and he worked with a mezcalero the whole time who remembered how to do it and who actually did a lot of the work.” She spent time discovering the region and being educated on the different types of distillation.

Learning about the family production and the warm and rich heritage of mezcal “planted a seed for wanting to do something for the women in Oaxaca”. The ethos and original view of the brand was to create a stable and direct payment structure for the women, “the best way to create a form of change for women is not through versions of charity but just to employ them, give them dignity and allow them to have direct access to money so that they can make their own choices.” Having read Women’s Studies at the University of Cambridge, it makes sense that many of Yola’s business choices have been geared towards female empowerment not only in a social sense but also fiscally. This encouragement and active hiring of female employees is creating a positive shift between generations; the women who were traditionally taking on low level domestic roles are now watching their daughters go to university and create opportunities for themselves and their pride is joyful!

Looking forward at YOLA, however, the plans go even further than simply creating opportunities for the local women in Oaxaca, Yola and her team aim to build a community centre around a functioning mezcal factory. A place in which women can work and support their families and have childcare, access a library and a convivial kitchen. The aim is to work with award-winning Mexican architect Frida Escobedo (who has just been green-lighted to design the new wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York) to create a public space in which employees, family, and friends can come together and use the resources on offer to explore their passions, further their education, and enrich the already-present family connection.

By keeping the growth of production of YOLA mezcal slow and steady, they aim to eliminate the threat of overharvesting the land. The worry that the rapid popularity could lead to industrialisation and exploitation of the arable land and workers is a real one, with Coca Cola and Pernod Ricard setting up factories in Oaxaca, Yola and her team are truly aiming to keep the mezcal trade autonomous by hiring those who already work within the industry. Some of the YOLA employees are the granddaughters of Yola’s grandfather’s original team, creating a beautiful kinship and heritage throughout the brand. “I want to experiment on a version of equality. So our team gets to make their choices. And then we can provide things and expand the company in areas that they are interested in and they want to do. Provide resources for agriculture, literature, sustainability and giving back their autonomy of their own time.”