What Our First Trip to Tequila Taught Us

We had both been to Mexico before, but neither of us had been to Tequila.

There is, as it turns out, a significant difference between drinking tequila in Mexico and travelling to Jalisco specifically to understand how it is made, who makes it and whether there was a real opportunity to bring more of it to Australia.

We went on our first scoping trip with the beginnings of an idea.

We knew there were extraordinary tequilas being made in Mexico that most Australians would never see. We also believed that tequila was still widely misunderstood here, often reduced to shots, regrettable nights out or something to mix into a margarita.

Tequila Vault was dreamed up as an opportunity to do something different.

To find genuinely interesting, traditionally made tequila and introduce it to Australians properly: not just as a spirit, but through the people, processes and stories behind it.

What we didn’t know was whether the idea would stand up once we were on the ground.

We knew less than we thought!

This was probably the first and most important lesson.

We didn’t arrive pretending to be tequila experts. I have spent more than 15 years working in liquor marketing, and Sam has been passionate about tequila for years after working in Mexican restaurants across the world, but knowing the category from Australia is not the same as understanding it in Mexico.

There is so much nuance.

The same distillery can produce multiple brands. A family-owned brand is not necessarily made in a family-owned distillery. The people growing the agave are generally not the people distilling it. Traditional production doesn’t mean every producer follows the same process. And a small brand can produce an exceptional tequila while having almost no international presence or export infrastructure.

Every meeting we had seemed to answer one question and create five more.

That was a good thing.

We had gone to Mexico to test a business idea, but the trip quickly became so much more.

The people mattered more than the pitch

Before we left, we spent time refining how we would explain Tequila Vault.

We wanted distillers to understand that we weren’t trying to buy some bottles, produce another brand, put it in a box, and build a subscription business around it.

The aim was to create a direct relationship between Australian tequila drinkers and the people making the product, to help Tequila Vault members and Australian consumers more broadly understand why one tequila tastes different from another and why the decisions made during production matter.

We had the idea. But rather than pitch, we had conversations.

They happened while walking around distilleries, tasting at a table, discussing family history or hearing why someone had decided to create a brand in the first place.

In a long corporate career, it’s the first time I’ve ever experienced meetings that were a minimum of two hours, and never once could they have been an email.

We met people, often the owners and head distillers, who were incredibly generous with their time and knowledge. They explained what they were trying to protect, what they wanted to change and what they wished consumers understood about tequila.

Those conversations shaped Tequila Vault far more than any formal presentation could have.

Relationships aren’t optional

The tequila industry is highly connected.

People know each other, introductions carry weight and reputations matter. It became very clear, very quickly, that this is not an industry where you simply send a purchase order and expect the best opportunities to appear.

Nor should it be.

Many of the producers we want to work with have spent years, and sometimes generations, building their businesses. Some have limited production. Some have never sold into Australia. Trusting someone on the other side of the world to represent their tequila properly is a significant decision.

We realised that Tequila Vault needed to be built through genuine, long-term partnerships.

That means returning to Mexico. It means spending time with people. It means doing what we say we are going to do and making sure our partners see value well beyond the initial order.

It also means accepting that not every tequila we love will be available to us immediately, or possibly at all.

The best tequila isn’t always the easiest to buy

Some of the most exciting products we tasted were from brands that were virtually unknown in Australia.

That is partly what makes the opportunity so compelling.

It is also what makes it complicated.

Small producers do not necessarily have export teams, international marketing budgets or thousands of bottles sitting ready for a new market. Getting tequila from Mexico to Australia involves importers, compliance, freight, warehousing, excise and a long list of other practical realities that are largely invisible when you pick up a bottle from a shelf.

A tequila can be exceptional and still be commercially difficult to bring here.

This helped clarify the role Tequila Vault could play.

By bringing together a committed group of members, we can create enough demand to make these smaller allocations viable. We can work with Australian importers rather than around them, introduce a product to the market with a ready audience and then help create broader interest in the brand after the release.

The quarterly bottle is the starting point, not necessarily the end of the relationship.

Context changes the way tequila tastes

It sounds slightly dramatic, but tequila tastes different when you understand what went into it.

When you know whether the agave was grown in the highlands or lowlands, how it was cooked, why the producer chose a particular fermentation method or what they were trying to achieve during distillation, you notice more.

When you have met the person who made it, you pay attention differently.

That doesn’t mean every drink needs to become a technical exercise. Tequila should still be enjoyable, and nobody needs a lecture every time they pour a glass.

But context adds something.

It turns a bottle you may never have heard of into a product with a point of view. It helps explain why it tastes the way it does and why it deserves your attention.

That is why education and storytelling are such an important part of Tequila Vault.

We don’t want to simply tell members that a tequila is rare or special. We want to show them what makes it worth discovering.

We became more certain - and less inclined to rush

We came home more convinced that Tequila Vault should exist.

We also came home with a much better understanding of why it needed to be built carefully.

It would be easy to fill four quarterly releases with tequila. That is not the challenge.

The challenge is finding the right products, working with the right people and creating an experience that does justice to both.

We don’t want to choose a bottle simply because it is available. We want each release to have a reason for being there.

Sometimes that will be a small family-owned producer Australians have never encountered. Sometimes it may be a special expression from a more recognised name created especially for Tequila Vault members. What matters is that the tequila is excellent, the story is worth telling and the partnership feels right.

That takes more time than selecting stock from a catalogue. It means producing samples and refining them if necessary. That all takes time.  

And we’re comfortable with that.

So, why are we building Tequila Vault?

We are building it because agave is having a moment, and Australia is ready for a better tequila experience.

Because there are producers in Mexico making extraordinary products that deserve to be discovered here.

Because the story behind the bottle and distillery is often as interesting as the tequila itself.

And because we believe there is room for a business that treats tequila with respect without making it intimidating, or taking all the fun out of drinking it. Just never as a shot, please!

Our first trip to Tequila didn’t completely change the original idea; it gave us clarity.

Tequila Vault will give members access to four carefully selected bottles each year - but the ambition is bigger than delivery.

We want to connect people with producers, explain what makes each release different and build genuine relationships between Mexico and Australia.

We’re still learning, and we expect that to continue for a very long time. And we want our members to go on the journey with us.

This is where we’ll share some of that process: the places we visit, the people we meet, the things we discover and, occasionally, the things we get wrong.

Our first trip was meant to establish whether Tequila Vault could work.

Instead, it confirmed what we wanted to build.