People ask us a fair question: if the bottles exist, why can't they just buy one?
The honest answer is that we'd rather they didn't — not yet, and not from a cart.
Made a little, made once
We don't run a production line. Each Chulele release is a single batch, tied to one harvest and one season in Oaxaca. There is no "more" to order. When a batch is finished, the count is fixed forever — 1,250 bottles of Día de los Muertos 2022, and no more, ever.
When something is that finite, selling it as fast as possible is the wrong instinct. A great single batch deserves to find the right homes, not just the fastest checkouts.
What "held in reserve" means
Held in reserve is not sold out. Sold out is an accident — you wanted to sell and ran out. Reserve is a choice. We are keeping these bottles back, deliberately, and releasing them by allocation:
- The batch is not listed for open purchase.
- We open small windows, by invitation, to people on the reserve list.
- The rest waits — for the right moment, the right table, the next harvest.
It's closer to how a small grower handles a great vintage than how a brand handles inventory.
Why this is better for the mezcal — and for you
A bottle that took a year of someone's life to make should not be treated like a commodity. Holding it in reserve does three things:
1. It protects the work. The maestro's batch isn't dumped into the market and discounted; it's placed. 2. It keeps the story intact. Every bottle that leaves goes to someone who knows what they're holding. 3. It rewards patience over speed. The people who care get first access — not the fastest bots or the biggest carts.
We're not interested in being everywhere. We're interested in being worth finding.
How to get one
There's no buy button to hunt for. Join the reserve list and leave your name. When a bottle is meant for you — or when the next batch comes down from the hills — we write to you first.
That's the whole offer. Quiet, finite, and by hand. The way the mezcal was made.
See what's currently held in reserve.