Tequila and mezcal lists come and go. But patterns? Patterns say something.

VinePair calls G4 one of the 25 most important tequilas since 2000. Robb Report places it among the top 50 tequilas of the 21st century. Industry insiders from Tasting Table and InsideHook list it right beside Don Julio, Casa Dragones, and Patrón.

Meanwhile, SevenFifty Daily named Ultramundo one of the 7 most exciting mezcals in the world. And they didn’t say it lightly.

That’s not normal.

We don’t make influencers dance. We don’t sell status in a bottle. We make spirits the way we think they should be made. And somehow, that keeps putting our brands on the same shelf as the giants.

So What Does It Actually Mean?

It’s easy to read these rankings and assume they mean “we won.” But we think they raise a better question:

Is transparency the same as quality?

Probably not.

But what happens when the very same lists that feature our brands also include others now facing lawsuits for deceptive practices? What happens when consumers realize the bottles they thought were honest representations of agave spirit were built on shortcuts and smoke? That’s when trust breaks. Not just in the brands—but in your own perception.

In that world, transparency might not define quality, but it becomes its precondition. You can’t judge a spirit if you don’t know what’s in the glass.

And that’s the paradox. To see G4 on the same lists as those brands isn’t shameful. But it’s not a point of pride either—not without examining what we’re being compared to. Because if "quality" includes both transparency and deceit, then the word has lost its meaning.

That’s where we stand.

We’re not saying we make the best tequila or mezcal. We’re saying we tell you how it’s made. We let the process speak. And if it resonates, it does.

Scaling Without Losing the Soul

Most people think scaling means change. At PKGD, scaling means repetition.

Not bigger tanks. Not faster cook times. Not maximizing yield.

It means more ovens. More fermentation tanks. More copper stills. More of the same process, repeated exactly.

Growth doesn’t mean optimization. It means fidelity.

What Counts as Real Innovation?

We’re not against technology. We just don’t confuse efficiency with improvement.

A diffuser is efficient. But it doesn’t respect the agave. It cuts corners. It forces flavor. It lets you use younger piñas and then fake the cooked agave notes with additives.

That’s not innovation. That’s a disguise.

We like playing with fermentation time. Yeast sources. Water profiles. That’s innovation inside the bounds of tradition. Not bypassing them.

So What’s the Strategy?

Honestly? There isn’t one.

We just keep doing what we believe is right. If people notice, great. If they don’t, we’ll still know we never lied to the land, the agave, or the glass.

That’s what producer-owned means. That’s the heart of PKGD.

Let’s Talk About Quality

If G4 keeps showing up next to billion-dollar brands… If Ultramundo is recognized for being nothing like the rest…

Then maybe the real question isn’t what quality is.

Maybe it’s:

What have we been calling quality all this time?

And how do we start trusting again?

This article was structured with the assistance of artificial intelligence (ChatGPT). All content is based on human input and editorial oversight. For more details on how PKGD integrates AI responsibly, please refer to our AI Policy.