Ilegal Mezcal

Ilegal Mezcal is a mezcal brand, established in 2006 in Antigua, Guatemala. The mezcal is distilled twice and created using Espadín agave. The brand is also known for its namesake cocktail, the "Ilegal."

The company originally began in 2004 as an operation to import mezcal from Oaxaca, Mexico across the border into Guatemala. By 2006, the company established a formal brand, marketing itself as "Ilegal." In 2010, the company signed a United States distribution contract. In 2017, multinational spirits company Bacardi acquired a minority stake in the business, with the intention of establishing national distribution.

By 2020, the mezcal producer crossed the industry standard threshold of 40,000 cases to be considered a craft distillery as defined by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), and was similarly officially certified by Mexico's National "Consejo Regulador del Mezcal" (CRM) ("Mezcal Regulatory Council"). In 2022, the company sold ~174,000 cases, representing a 37.4% market share by case volume and the highest market share for any mezcal brand in the United States, per research completed by Shanken's Impact Databank.

In 2023, Bacardi publicly announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Ilegal.