Hedonistas de la Fe did not begin in a boardroom.

It began in a modest car park, during the early months of the pandemic, outside a Oaxacan friend’s butcher shop. The world had gone quiet in the worst possible way, and every Sunday a small group of friends found their way back to one another.

There was smoke from the grill. There were drinks passed from hand to hand. There was the strange, powerful gratitude of being healthy, alive, and close enough to laugh across the distance.

They called themselves The Hedonistas.

At first, it was half a joke. But the name stuck because it meant something. It was not about excess. It was about refusing to let life become small. It was about food, friendship, conversation, and the simple belief that pleasure matters — especially when the world reminds you how fragile everything is.

The Sundays began with beer. Then came wine. Whisky made an appearance. And then, one afternoon, someone opened a bottle of small-batch Espadín from a modest palenque in Santiago Matatlán, Oaxaca.

The conversation stopped.

This was not mezcal as theatre. It was not smoke for the sake of smoke. It was complex, grounded, and alive with the taste of somewhere real. You could feel the place behind it. The hands behind it. The patience behind it.

They didn’t just like it. They got on a plane.

In Oaxaca, they met Maestro Mezcalero Gerardo "Kain" Santiago Hernández, the man whose family, land, and craft had shaped the spirit that brought them there. There was no grand vision, no polished pitch deck, no clever strategy waiting to be executed.

There was only one question, and once asked, it seemed impossible to ignore:

Why isn’t this in the United States?

So they brought it here.

The name came from the group that started it all, with one addition: de la Fe — of the Faith.

Because hedonism without intention is just appetite. But pleasure pursued with care becomes something deeper. It asks something of you. It asks that you respect the people, the place, the craft, and the culture behind what you enjoy.

When the name was shared with the extended family in Oaxaca, they took it seriously enough to consult three local priests.

All three gave their blessing.

That blessing did not make Hedonistas de la Fe a brand. The Sundays had already done that. The mezcal had done that. Oaxaca had done that.

It simply confirmed what was there from the beginning: a belief that the best things in life are meant to be shared, but never taken lightly.

Those Sunday afternoons are still in every bottle.