Worth a Shot: Luis Cota of Tequila Comisario
I’m here with Luis Cota, President and CEO of Tequila Comisario. We’re going to be discussing today the story behind Tequila Comisario, as well as where Tequila Comisario is going. Luis, thank you so much for being here, I appreciate it.
It’s a pleasure to be with you today, Lincoln.
Please tell how you guys got started, let’s start from the beginning.
Well – by coincidence, really. One of our partners, Rick Darnell, retired NBA player, was the host of the 2012 All-Star Game. At the after party, there were two booths left, and one was Hennessy, one was Tequila Comisario, and the Hennessy Booth was sort of empty. Nobody was there. And this little booth with the tequila was just jammed with people. So, Rick Darnell and Steve Reiss, my two partners, Rick says to Steve, “let’s go take a look.” Steve says, “we don’t drink. Why should we take a look at it? But, let’s go see what it is all about.” They went to look at this booth. They saw this tequila. As it ended, they met the owner who had literally started the brand a couple of years back and had done an incredibly beautiful job of developing a concept, a bottle, and a blend that was absolutely fabulous. Iin 2014, we ended up buying the brand from him. Since then, we’ve become the most awarded brand in the entire industry since its release. And Tequila Comisario, along with the industry overall, has been on this incredible roll. Tequila as an industry now is on track to be a $12 billion category. It’s going to bypass every category and it’s going to be bigger than vodka. As a matter of fact, in two years time, we’re going to pass vodka sales revenue wise, not volume wise. It will be the number one revenue producing category in the industry.
I spoke with someone from the vodka category that was saying that tequila is the most competitive market right now, next to vodka, which has without a doubt always been the leader. But now tequila is one of their biggest competitors as a whole category.
People don’t think about it, but, usually either you’re a brown spirit – you’re a scotch, bourbon, or whiskey, or you’re a white spirit – a gin, or vodka. Tequila competes in both segments. We have two age expressions, Reposado and Anejo. We have a Blanco that is becoming a darling of the mixology world. People love the spiciness, the pepperiness of our Blanco. And people can be so creative, these young bartenders, with what they can do with our Blanco for cocktails is truly impressive
