Casa Santanera

“Return respect to tequila out of respect for Mexico”

14 years have passed since I began this adventure, in 2009 I founded Casa Santanera with my ex-partner Fernando Toscano, the goal was high, “Return respect to tequila for love of Mexico” what moved me was what my Mom had instilled in me for respect for the land and mezcal (foreigners call the plant agave but in the area we know it as mezcal), tequila is Mexico and mezcal is its soul.

After 6 years of preparation, in 2015 we finally launched our first batches that we baptized as “Prueba de autor”, in 3 classes, silver, reposado and añejo, from the beginning we went against the current, the recipe was never created based on costs as the largest tequila producers do, concerned only with the profit margin, in our case it was doing each process to the best of our ability regardless of the final cost, that led us to create a unique tequila, but excessively high price when in those years it was not common, most of the tequilas were in the same price niche, here we find ourselves with the first challenge of the project, such as selling an unknown tequila, where the consumer hardly changed brands if there was not an ultra-expensive marketing campaign involved, at a prohibitive price in those days and with the big brands investing huge amounts of money in consumer centers to have exclusives and ensure sales of their products, this with the purpose of mitigating competition and avoiding entry of new participants.

“Casa Santanera participates in the luxury market, not out of aspiration or pretense, it really is because the luxury market allows us to have no cost restrictions and to be able to focus on what is important, creating the best tequilas that our capacity allows”.

Note: First bottle of Tequila Santanera on October 16, 2015.

2016, the year that everything changed.

I could define this year as one of the most challenging of my life, personally and professionally, it was the year in which we decided to end the partnership, Fernando and I, our role and responsibilities as partners were agreed from the beginning, he would act as an investor and in my case as an industrial partner, this separation meant restarting the project, but without resources, without financial support from anyone, causing one of the most distressing years of my life.

Written by: Pablo Lara.

Last update: January 26, 2023.