Despite having made mezcal since he was a teenager, Hernández, who always wanted his own distillery, had to leave Mexico for the United States for 18 years because opportunities were scarce. Agua Mágica, which launched in 2021 with co-founder and CEO Rafael Shin, wants to change how mezcal is valued, paying mezcaleros like Hernández higher prices for the higher quality of their product, as opposed to the current system of pricing regardless of quality.