January 24, 2024 • 19 mins
Maria chats with Founder & CEO McCauley Williams about the new tequila Alma Del Jaguar; an "exceptional tequila protecting jaguars" ! They keep it local, it's sustainable packaging and all for a good cause. As it says at almadeljaguar.com Jaguars are our mission. Not our mascot.
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(00:01):
It's Maria's MutS and Stuff. Whata great idea on iHeartRadio. Welcome to
Maria's Mutts and Stuff and with me, I am so excited to talk to
and find out so much about him. It is founder and CEO of Alma
del Jaguar McAuley Williams. So McCauley, thanks for taking the time out.
(00:27):
I have to tell you I tastedAlmadel Jaguar at north Shore Animal Leagu's gala
with Joe who works for you,and I don't often drink tequila, but
it was one of the smoothest andfinest tequila. Is that. I'll drink
tequila now because of you, Soso thank you for that. But let's
(00:52):
go. Let's go back because Iknow you're an attorney, you've made bourbon.
Tell me all about how did AlmadelJaguar begin? Well, thanks for
the kind Rhodes, and thanks forchatting with me today. Sure. Yeah,
we have a really cool we havea really cool brand story that really
starts with my uncle thirty years agowhen he founded the Northern Jaguar Project in
(01:15):
Mexico. So he was a wildlifephotographer and conservationist who got into wild jaguar
conservation, moved to Mexico and reallydedicated his life to it. It's kind
of kind of crazy, but sufficeit to say that jaguars are native to
the US Mexico borderlands are actually nativeto our country in the United States.
And they founded this amazing wildlife refuge, just protected land, no fences or
(01:40):
anything, in the Sierra Madre Mountainsof Sonora, Mexico. And he's been
doing that most of my life.And I live in Tennessee and I'm an
attorney and entrepreneur and ended up leavingthe practice of wall seven or eight years
ago to get into the craft beveragespace. I started a bourbon brand called
(02:00):
Blue Note Bourbon here in Memphis,Tennessee. We grew that successfully, and
unfortunately I brought in the wrong partnersto that business, and I was ultimately
forced out of my own company twoyears ago. And learned a lot of
valuable life leasons along the way.And when doing soul searching after that,
(02:20):
as one you know could imagine youdo in that situation, I started thinking
about what I wanted to do next. I started thinking about tequila, and
I started to think about my uncleand his work with jaguars, and a
light bulb went off of well,what if we could tie my skill set
of building craft spirit brands to hisconservation work, and Alma del Haguar or
(02:42):
Alma del Jaguar in English was born. And we're the first tequila brand with
a mission or an environmental calls likethis. And the premise is simple that
through tequila or through you know,alcohol, we can open up doors and
conversation about our content servation mission,raise awareness for what he and his team
(03:02):
are doing and other great folks alongthe US Mexico borderland are doing for wild
buff conservation. And then we canalso use the sales of our tequila to
generate donations to raise money for themas well. It's win win, really,
that's that's the idea, right Andand you know, when you start
bringing up things like conservation, itcan get really academic, and you bring
(03:25):
up things like the US Mexico border, it can get really political, of
course, and we found that tequilais the great icebreaker and gets people talking
about it that would otherwise feel uncomfortablespeaking of for asking questions. Sure,
and and it also gets people talkingabout it in settings like the bar,
restaurant or a party settings you wouldn'totherwise be talking about this kind of thing,
(03:46):
right, No, it's genius.And I love the fact that your
quote is Jaguar is our cause,not mascot, which I think explains it
all. I love that because it'strue. I mean, it's just it's
such a unique idea. I don'tmean unless I'm wrong, but I don't.
I can't think of another alcohol thatdoes the same thing, you know
what I mean, like has apurpose as your brand does. So,
(04:10):
you know, kudos to you,congratulations with coming up with this brainstorm.
To you, Well, it's truebecause they always say when one door closes,
another one opens, and it seemslike the one that opened for you.
You know, I'm sure it wasawful to be kicked out of your
own company, but you know,there's always like a reason, and this
was the reason because look what you'redoing now. Thank you so much.
(04:31):
I've definitely you know, I'm religiousand have come to believe that that that
is, this is what I wasmeant to do. And yeah, you
know, some every life event offersa educational experience. Some are just a
little more expensive and hurt a littlebit more than others. But right right
now, this is amazing. AndI'm sure your uncle Rick, right,
is that Uncle Rick? Am Icorrect on that? That's right? Yeah,
(04:53):
William, I'm sure he was,like he probably was so thrilled and
surprised that you had this idea.He that he was kind of rejuvenated in
the project. You know, afterliving on in the in the mountains of
Mexico more or less for the lasttwenty years. You know, he's in
his mid seventies. The project hasreally grown and this has rejuvenated his enthusiasm
(05:16):
for it, which is exciting.We've raised about twenty five thousand dollars for
Jaguar conservation to his group as wellas some other groups in the United States,
which is amazing because I mean you'rea very you know, you're like
an infant company and an infant alcoholSo that's pretty amazing. Twenty five grand
thank you. Yeah, no,absolutely, well, we hope we're not
going to stop there. We keepgoing. And so a lot of brands
(05:39):
do good and donate a you know, a small percentage of theirselves. Our
goal is to donate ten percent ofour profits towards this cause. So a
higher commitment and then a more specificcommitment as opposed to just one percent for
the planet kind of thing, right, And we also produce our tequila entirely
sustainably on a fifth generation of Gaveranch in partnership with the Vivanco Fly.
(06:00):
And we're also the first brand inthe alcohol beverage space that I'm aware of.
I don't know this beature, butI'm pretty sure we are the first
brand to ever bottle our product inentirely recycled material, So it bottled and
recycled glass like Jave fiber labels,repurposed quirk stoppers, and it ships in
a one hundred percent recycled cardboard box. Yeah, and I was going to
ask you about that because I dorecalled when Joe was introducing me to the
(06:24):
tequila and he was talking about that, like everything about the brand about it
is green, which is so important, especially in today's day, and the
fact that you took the time todo that. No, absolutely, I
mean, you know, I feellike you are going to be a trendsetter
because I feel that that's the wayto go these days, and I feel
(06:44):
like other people who come up withideas should follow the same path that you
are on and that you began.Actually, you're like a pioneer. Thank
you. And you know what thecool the coolest thing about it is is
we don't we do it because wewant to walk the walk and not just
talk the talk. Sure, butwe've also found a lot of positive business
synergies around us. So we sourceall those materials for a packaging with that's
(07:05):
all made with local manufacturers in Julisco, Mexico. And we found that while
it's more expensive to produce the recycledyou know, labels and bottles, we
make up for it on a lotof our supply chain due to freight by
partnering with local manufacturers. So what'sreally cool is that there's a business case
for it too that we have otherswill adopt that not only is it good
for the environment, but it alsocan be it can make sense if you
(07:27):
do your homework to the bottom line. And that's that's what we want to
see it more people looking at likethe since and of the real business opportunity
to go greener and more local.Yeah, and that's and that's key to
the fact that you've gone local,because that's like a big thing. You
know, everything is always oh it'snot it's not local, it's but local
is. I just think it's veryimportant and you know you really did the
right thing. So tell me howdid you find the Vivanco family you went
(07:51):
around to. I mean, I'msure you you did your homework because that
you are that type of guy,But how did you decide on them,
like find them and to sign onthem? So, uh, the journey
started as I bought a one wayticket to Halusco, Mexico, flew in
the Guadalajara, had my uncle meetme there, and we rented a car
and drove to every tequila distillery thatwould see us wow. And we went
(08:13):
to all different size to distilleries.Some some distilleries, you know, were
mega factories that are industrial mega plants. And we just randomly were introduced to
the Vivancos at a bar, kindof licking our wounds, trying to figure
out where to go next, dissatisfiedwith all the people we've met with,
and then they said you should gocheck out mister Vivanco's operation, and we
(08:35):
just instantly fell in love with SergioVivanco or Sergio Ivanco is that his name,
fell love with him, his masterdistiller, Sodio Cruz, and their
family and their legacy and their carefor the land, and we chose to
go with them. So they werethe only producer we met that talked about
not using chemicals in the fields,suring for the land, family legacy,
how this has been in their familyfor five generations and that to them,
(09:00):
and they just seemed like the clearpartner. But it ultimately the light bulb
went off and we actually tasted theirproduct and they offered to work with us
to craft our own unique recipe,and we just fell in love with the
family, the liquid story, everythingabout it. Sure. Yeah, And
they've been great partners. You know, it takes a lot of a leap
of faith to do business with peoplein different countries, in different languages,
wiring, you know, large sumsof money to get going, and they
(09:24):
have been just upstanding, amazing businesspeople and just humans through and through,
and it seems like, you know, you found you found people who were
cut from the same cloth as youare. So I think that's really important
to make it work, that's right. Yeah, they're stewards of the land
as we as we say, OhI like that all yeah, yeah,
yeah, no, that's great,it's great. I mean I just think
(09:45):
it's a very unique. I thinkit's just a unique thing that you did
and that you're doing. So Imean, kudos to you. I know
I told you that, but Ijust feel like, no, but seriously,
because you know, many people getinto things because especially like coming up
with an alcohol and they come inthey decide because they like the alcohol and
they want to be you know,to say like, oh I started this
(10:09):
alcohol. Okay, great, andmaybe I'll give some to charity. Okay
great. But you are like thereal deal, you know, and probably
influence obviously growing up with your unclethat influenced you as well. I mean
growing up, did you visit youruncle many times? You know? With
the Jacks, I haven't went ona lot of journey. So a lot
of our deep appreciation from nature comesfrom our families, from a farm that's
(10:33):
been in our family for since itwas actually I'm named after a gentleman who
served in the Revolutionary War who gotour farm as a land grant for a
service and our family's been there eversince. Oh wow. I grew up
with a deep appreciation of nature fromour family farm and then going on adventures
with my dad and uncle like fishingtrips to Canada or out West, and
(10:54):
that's something of how we actually marketour brand. In terms of the branding,
you know, we of course,they're all about our cause, sustainability,
in our product quality. We're winninga lot of awards just in blind
tastings for how good it iss turnsout. If you don't cut corners and
do things the right way, youmake a superior product. You know who
do right? Yeah? Teasing there, right, you know we should all
know this, But yet business folkswant to cut corners often most times they
(11:16):
do, of course. I meanthat seems to be their own detriments,
right, which is the ultimate ironyof it. Well, yeah, I
mean I hate to say it,but that's like the American way. You
know, let's cut corners and let'scharge a lot of money. But wait,
but not you, Yeah, notyou, mccar. What I was
going to say is the way we'vebranded our brand. If you go to
our website and social media, weshow our tequila being consumed outside is we
(11:39):
feel like people that like to goon a hike or sit on their patio
or deck, or get out innature or go canoeing, kayaking, fishing,
that kind of activity develop a deeperappreciation from other nature. And so
whereas most tequila brands are showing theirproduct consumed at the nightclub or with celebrities
on a red carpet or what Iwould consider a vapid sort of cultural experience,
(12:03):
we want to show our product withpeople in nature, which is where
our product comes from, from naturefor nature. So just our overall branding
is really different too, and we'vekind of denounced the celebrity backing and kind
of the big the big corporate backing, and you're showing this totally different way
of life. We call that ourwildly Free campaign because our tequila is all
about wild jaguars. It's made fromwild, natural, wild yeast, and
(12:26):
we are additive free. So theother dirty secret is most tequilas not only
are not made sustainably, but theyactually add chemical manipulance called additives to them.
Around ninety four percent of tequilas onthe shelves today have chemical manipulence blended
in to cover up all the cornersthat that producer cut. They add things
like glycerine and coloring agents, andthey don't have to disclose it on the
(12:48):
label, which is the real travesty. To me what you want, But
whose it on the label. Whydon't you have to do FDA regulations?
You don't have to do in spirits? Wow, and then the Mexican regulations
around tequila. But we are confirmedadditive free by a third party auditing source
that has done lab analysis and we'renumber probably number three on that list.
And there's about seventy wallcraft brands thatare now on the confirmed additive free lift
(13:11):
and nice. We just want toshow people, but you can do it
the right way. Sure, Icut corners. You can have a cause,
and you can be different in yourbranding and succeed. And hopefully we
can encourage other people to do thatbecause we were really inspired by brands like
Patagonia the closing company, and theiramazing product quality but also their environmental,
environmental first mission and that you canbuild a for profit company that's also for
(13:37):
good. Sure we want the othersfollow that puts following not only our footsteps,
but the much larger companies like Pataganiathat have blazed the trail for us.
All. Yeah, I think you'redoing it. I think you're on
your way. I mean, youknow there's I don't I don't see any
negative to what you're doing and whatyour goal and what your dream about it
is. So I mean, obviouslyyou're brand new, so it takes time.
(14:00):
But the fact that you've already wonawards and that you're number three on
that list that has something you know, that says something about you, and
of course the tequila and what andhow you're doing it and what you're doing,
I tho, right, well,thank you. It takes, you
know, to build a brand.It's one bottle, one taste, you
know, one handstake or one interviewat a time, and so it takes
folks like you that hear our storyand are inspired by it to spread the
(14:24):
word. So honestly, I can'tthank you enough for to give me the
opportunity to come here and speak withyou and tell our story. Oh absolutely,
I mean I was real, LikeI said, I was very excited.
And it's interesting because at this northShore Animal League gala, their veterinarian
came over to me and we weretalking and he was like, oh,
you should go taste that tequila andI was like, yeah, I don't
really drink tequila too much, andhe goes, yeah, but it's for
(14:45):
Jaguar rescue, and I'm like,what so of course I made like a
bee line over to the table andJoe was there and he was just so
accommodate, and he was Joe andhis wife and they were talking to me
and he's like, you have totaste it. I was like, okay,
And honestly, it was just sovery so booth and very tasteful,
and honestly, it's probably why Ihaven't been drinking tequila because of the chemicals,
because it just was a different tasteYours was just so it was just
(15:09):
it was very delicious. And hemade me a drink and I had that
and I was like And then wewere talking and I was like, oh
my god, you'd be on mypodcast, so, you know, because
it's animal rescue and it's just andhe was telling me about the packaging and
now everything's sustainable, and I waslike, oh my god, this product
is just so perfect. So,you know, again, like I said
about the thing with you with twoyears ago, but everything happens for a
reason, you know, running intoJoe and talking about it and he was
(15:33):
like, we're brand new, andI'm like, what, it's amazing.
It doesn't feel like it's brand new. So my point is you are so
on the very right path, Ibelieve, and I just think it's just
amount of time, you know,before everybody knows about the tequila. Are
you available and in all the states? Or is just a few states at
a time? Like how does thatwork? So alcohol distribution in our country
(15:54):
is a challenge. You're in sixteenstates and spreading. So whom you reference,
you know as our VP of sales. He's based in the New York
metro area. But right now aswe speak, as it is being recorded,
we are launching New Jersey, NewYork, Connecticut, and Massachusetts,
really expanding our northeastern footprints, whichis really exciting. But we're also available
(16:17):
in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee,soon to be Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas,
Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Illinoisamazing. Then we look for Oklahoma
too, we're launching, and thenwe're looking to expand westward. So you
know, you can look at theElectoral College votes in a presidential election and
get the idea of where most peoplelive in this country. Right you see
a lot of votes out of California, Texas, New York, Illinois,
(16:40):
Florida. Those are the big states. There's the big five for us too,
and so now we have four ofthe Big five and we're looking to
move into California next and nice justcontinue to spread the word and awareness for
our product, our calls and hopefullyinspire more people like you. But but
since since we you met Joe atgala, we're actually now going to be
distributed in the New York in NewJersey metro area, which is really exciting
(17:06):
because we hadn't had that. Wehadn't had that yet. And it's critical
not only just because it's a largepopulation base. There's a lot of growing
tequila enthusiasts there, but it's reallyimportant for our brand because it's New York's
the kind of the lighthouse market oftrends and writers and reviewers, and getting
our brand in front of them iswhat's going to hopefully allow us to grow
and spread spread the word even faster. Absolutely, and we're really excited for
(17:29):
twenty four. Yeah, no,for sure. And I mean I'm in
New York City and I have manyfriends who are drinkers and who drink tequila,
so you know, word of mouthhelps as well. You know,
New York's the coin capital of thecountry, right, so there's a lot
of great tequilla, a lot ofgreat restaurants, and it's a huge opportunity
for us. So our interview canbe heard nationally. If someone if a
(17:52):
state, if someone is in astate that doesn't have Alma del Jaguar,
can they go into like their favoriteliquor store and say, hey, hey,
could you get this brand? Canthey do that? That always is
really helpful. And then there's agrowing online sales. So you can go
to our website almadel Jaguar dot comand you can click the buy now button
and we can shift to pretty muchany state from that website. I think
(18:14):
we can shipped a forty four ofthe fifty states. Oh that's great from
our website, which is fulfilled throughkind of third party retailers. Right,
that actually did the back end ofit. But that's really exciting to watch
kind of our archaic alcohol systems slowlydevelop into the realities of you know,
twenty twenty four. Sure, crazy, how backwards some of these laws are.
I know, well, there aremany laws in this country that are
(18:37):
pretty backwards. But that's another story, another conversation, another podcast altogether.
Right, yeah, exactly, MacaulayWilliams, thank you so much for your
time, good luck, Almadeljaguar dotcom. For my listeners who want to
check it out, they can readabout Jaguar rescue and so much more.
I wish you all the best.I'm very excited because of you and your
(19:00):
I will drink tequila now. Sothank you for doing this and just for
your passion, and I just wishyou nothing but the best. It's really
it's a really wonderful thing that you'redoing. And like I said before,
you I really believe that you arethe trendsetter and I hope others follow you
in your past. Well, Maria, thank you so much and as we
say, salute or cheers to that
It's Maria's MutS and Stuff. Whata great idea on iHeartRadio. Welcome to
Maria's Mutts and Stuff and with me, I am so excited to talk to
and find out so much about him. It is founder and CEO of Alma
del Jaguar McAuley Williams. So McCauley, thanks for taking the time out.
(00:27):
I have to tell you I tastedAlmadel Jaguar at north Shore Animal Leagu's gala
with Joe who works for you,and I don't often drink tequila, but
it was one of the smoothest andfinest tequila. Is that. I'll drink
tequila now because of you, Soso thank you for that. But let's
(00:52):
go. Let's go back because Iknow you're an attorney, you've made bourbon.
Tell me all about how did AlmadelJaguar begin? Well, thanks for
the kind Rhodes, and thanks forchatting with me today. Sure. Yeah,
we have a really cool we havea really cool brand story that really
starts with my uncle thirty years agowhen he founded the Northern Jaguar Project in
(01:15):
Mexico. So he was a wildlifephotographer and conservationist who got into wild jaguar
conservation, moved to Mexico and reallydedicated his life to it. It's kind
of kind of crazy, but sufficeit to say that jaguars are native to
the US Mexico borderlands are actually nativeto our country in the United States.
And they founded this amazing wildlife refuge, just protected land, no fences or
(01:40):
anything, in the Sierra Madre Mountainsof Sonora, Mexico. And he's been
doing that most of my life.And I live in Tennessee and I'm an
attorney and entrepreneur and ended up leavingthe practice of wall seven or eight years
ago to get into the craft beveragespace. I started a bourbon brand called
(02:00):
Blue Note Bourbon here in Memphis,Tennessee. We grew that successfully, and
unfortunately I brought in the wrong partnersto that business, and I was ultimately
forced out of my own company twoyears ago. And learned a lot of
valuable life leasons along the way.And when doing soul searching after that,
(02:20):
as one you know could imagine youdo in that situation, I started thinking
about what I wanted to do next. I started thinking about tequila, and
I started to think about my uncleand his work with jaguars, and a
light bulb went off of well,what if we could tie my skill set
of building craft spirit brands to hisconservation work, and Alma del Haguar or
(02:42):
Alma del Jaguar in English was born. And we're the first tequila brand with
a mission or an environmental calls likethis. And the premise is simple that
through tequila or through you know,alcohol, we can open up doors and
conversation about our content servation mission,raise awareness for what he and his team
(03:02):
are doing and other great folks alongthe US Mexico borderland are doing for wild
buff conservation. And then we canalso use the sales of our tequila to
generate donations to raise money for themas well. It's win win, really,
that's that's the idea, right Andand you know, when you start
bringing up things like conservation, itcan get really academic, and you bring
(03:25):
up things like the US Mexico border, it can get really political, of
course, and we found that tequilais the great icebreaker and gets people talking
about it that would otherwise feel uncomfortablespeaking of for asking questions. Sure,
and and it also gets people talkingabout it in settings like the bar,
restaurant or a party settings you wouldn'totherwise be talking about this kind of thing,
(03:46):
right, No, it's genius.And I love the fact that your
quote is Jaguar is our cause,not mascot, which I think explains it
all. I love that because it'strue. I mean, it's just it's
such a unique idea. I don'tmean unless I'm wrong, but I don't.
I can't think of another alcohol thatdoes the same thing, you know
what I mean, like has apurpose as your brand does. So,
(04:10):
you know, kudos to you,congratulations with coming up with this brainstorm.
To you, Well, it's truebecause they always say when one door closes,
another one opens, and it seemslike the one that opened for you.
You know, I'm sure it wasawful to be kicked out of your
own company, but you know,there's always like a reason, and this
was the reason because look what you'redoing now. Thank you so much.
(04:31):
I've definitely you know, I'm religiousand have come to believe that that that
is, this is what I wasmeant to do. And yeah, you
know, some every life event offersa educational experience. Some are just a
little more expensive and hurt a littlebit more than others. But right right
now, this is amazing. AndI'm sure your uncle Rick, right,
is that Uncle Rick? Am Icorrect on that? That's right? Yeah,
(04:53):
William, I'm sure he was,like he probably was so thrilled and
surprised that you had this idea.He that he was kind of rejuvenated in
the project. You know, afterliving on in the in the mountains of
Mexico more or less for the lasttwenty years. You know, he's in
his mid seventies. The project hasreally grown and this has rejuvenated his enthusiasm
(05:16):
for it, which is exciting.We've raised about twenty five thousand dollars for
Jaguar conservation to his group as wellas some other groups in the United States,
which is amazing because I mean you'rea very you know, you're like
an infant company and an infant alcoholSo that's pretty amazing. Twenty five grand
thank you. Yeah, no,absolutely, well, we hope we're not
going to stop there. We keepgoing. And so a lot of brands
(05:39):
do good and donate a you know, a small percentage of theirselves. Our
goal is to donate ten percent ofour profits towards this cause. So a
higher commitment and then a more specificcommitment as opposed to just one percent for
the planet kind of thing, right, And we also produce our tequila entirely
sustainably on a fifth generation of Gaveranch in partnership with the Vivanco Fly.
(06:00):
And we're also the first brand inthe alcohol beverage space that I'm aware of.
I don't know this beature, butI'm pretty sure we are the first
brand to ever bottle our product inentirely recycled material, So it bottled and
recycled glass like Jave fiber labels,repurposed quirk stoppers, and it ships in
a one hundred percent recycled cardboard box. Yeah, and I was going to
ask you about that because I dorecalled when Joe was introducing me to the
(06:24):
tequila and he was talking about that, like everything about the brand about it
is green, which is so important, especially in today's day, and the
fact that you took the time todo that. No, absolutely, I
mean, you know, I feellike you are going to be a trendsetter
because I feel that that's the wayto go these days, and I feel
(06:44):
like other people who come up withideas should follow the same path that you
are on and that you began.Actually, you're like a pioneer. Thank
you. And you know what thecool the coolest thing about it is is
we don't we do it because wewant to walk the walk and not just
talk the talk. Sure, butwe've also found a lot of positive business
synergies around us. So we sourceall those materials for a packaging with that's
(07:05):
all made with local manufacturers in Julisco, Mexico. And we found that while
it's more expensive to produce the recycledyou know, labels and bottles, we
make up for it on a lotof our supply chain due to freight by
partnering with local manufacturers. So what'sreally cool is that there's a business case
for it too that we have otherswill adopt that not only is it good
for the environment, but it alsocan be it can make sense if you
(07:27):
do your homework to the bottom line. And that's that's what we want to
see it more people looking at likethe since and of the real business opportunity
to go greener and more local.Yeah, and that's and that's key to
the fact that you've gone local,because that's like a big thing. You
know, everything is always oh it'snot it's not local, it's but local
is. I just think it's veryimportant and you know you really did the
right thing. So tell me howdid you find the Vivanco family you went
(07:51):
around to. I mean, I'msure you you did your homework because that
you are that type of guy,But how did you decide on them,
like find them and to sign onthem? So, uh, the journey
started as I bought a one wayticket to Halusco, Mexico, flew in
the Guadalajara, had my uncle meetme there, and we rented a car
and drove to every tequila distillery thatwould see us wow. And we went
(08:13):
to all different size to distilleries.Some some distilleries, you know, were
mega factories that are industrial mega plants. And we just randomly were introduced to
the Vivancos at a bar, kindof licking our wounds, trying to figure
out where to go next, dissatisfiedwith all the people we've met with,
and then they said you should gocheck out mister Vivanco's operation, and we
(08:35):
just instantly fell in love with SergioVivanco or Sergio Ivanco is that his name,
fell love with him, his masterdistiller, Sodio Cruz, and their
family and their legacy and their carefor the land, and we chose to
go with them. So they werethe only producer we met that talked about
not using chemicals in the fields,suring for the land, family legacy,
how this has been in their familyfor five generations and that to them,
(09:00):
and they just seemed like the clearpartner. But it ultimately the light bulb
went off and we actually tasted theirproduct and they offered to work with us
to craft our own unique recipe,and we just fell in love with the
family, the liquid story, everythingabout it. Sure. Yeah, And
they've been great partners. You know, it takes a lot of a leap
of faith to do business with peoplein different countries, in different languages,
wiring, you know, large sumsof money to get going, and they
(09:24):
have been just upstanding, amazing businesspeople and just humans through and through,
and it seems like, you know, you found you found people who were
cut from the same cloth as youare. So I think that's really important
to make it work, that's right. Yeah, they're stewards of the land
as we as we say, OhI like that all yeah, yeah,
yeah, no, that's great,it's great. I mean I just think
(09:45):
it's a very unique. I thinkit's just a unique thing that you did
and that you're doing. So Imean, kudos to you. I know
I told you that, but Ijust feel like, no, but seriously,
because you know, many people getinto things because especially like coming up
with an alcohol and they come inthey decide because they like the alcohol and
they want to be you know,to say like, oh I started this
(10:09):
alcohol. Okay, great, andmaybe I'll give some to charity. Okay
great. But you are like thereal deal, you know, and probably
influence obviously growing up with your unclethat influenced you as well. I mean
growing up, did you visit youruncle many times? You know? With
the Jacks, I haven't went ona lot of journey. So a lot
of our deep appreciation from nature comesfrom our families, from a farm that's
(10:33):
been in our family for since itwas actually I'm named after a gentleman who
served in the Revolutionary War who gotour farm as a land grant for a
service and our family's been there eversince. Oh wow. I grew up
with a deep appreciation of nature fromour family farm and then going on adventures
with my dad and uncle like fishingtrips to Canada or out West, and
(10:54):
that's something of how we actually marketour brand. In terms of the branding,
you know, we of course,they're all about our cause, sustainability,
in our product quality. We're winninga lot of awards just in blind
tastings for how good it iss turnsout. If you don't cut corners and
do things the right way, youmake a superior product. You know who
do right? Yeah? Teasing there, right, you know we should all
know this, But yet business folkswant to cut corners often most times they
(11:16):
do, of course. I meanthat seems to be their own detriments,
right, which is the ultimate ironyof it. Well, yeah, I
mean I hate to say it,but that's like the American way. You
know, let's cut corners and let'scharge a lot of money. But wait,
but not you, Yeah, notyou, mccar. What I was
going to say is the way we'vebranded our brand. If you go to
our website and social media, weshow our tequila being consumed outside is we
(11:39):
feel like people that like to goon a hike or sit on their patio
or deck, or get out innature or go canoeing, kayaking, fishing,
that kind of activity develop a deeperappreciation from other nature. And so
whereas most tequila brands are showing theirproduct consumed at the nightclub or with celebrities
on a red carpet or what Iwould consider a vapid sort of cultural experience,
(12:03):
we want to show our product withpeople in nature, which is where
our product comes from, from naturefor nature. So just our overall branding
is really different too, and we'vekind of denounced the celebrity backing and kind
of the big the big corporate backing, and you're showing this totally different way
of life. We call that ourwildly Free campaign because our tequila is all
about wild jaguars. It's made fromwild, natural, wild yeast, and
(12:26):
we are additive free. So theother dirty secret is most tequilas not only
are not made sustainably, but theyactually add chemical manipulance called additives to them.
Around ninety four percent of tequilas onthe shelves today have chemical manipulence blended
in to cover up all the cornersthat that producer cut. They add things
like glycerine and coloring agents, andthey don't have to disclose it on the
(12:48):
label, which is the real travesty. To me what you want, But
whose it on the label. Whydon't you have to do FDA regulations?
You don't have to do in spirits? Wow, and then the Mexican regulations
around tequila. But we are confirmedadditive free by a third party auditing source
that has done lab analysis and we'renumber probably number three on that list.
And there's about seventy wallcraft brands thatare now on the confirmed additive free lift
(13:11):
and nice. We just want toshow people, but you can do it
the right way. Sure, Icut corners. You can have a cause,
and you can be different in yourbranding and succeed. And hopefully we
can encourage other people to do thatbecause we were really inspired by brands like
Patagonia the closing company, and theiramazing product quality but also their environmental,
environmental first mission and that you canbuild a for profit company that's also for
(13:37):
good. Sure we want the othersfollow that puts following not only our footsteps,
but the much larger companies like Pataganiathat have blazed the trail for us.
All. Yeah, I think you'redoing it. I think you're on
your way. I mean, youknow there's I don't I don't see any
negative to what you're doing and whatyour goal and what your dream about it
is. So I mean, obviouslyyou're brand new, so it takes time.
(14:00):
But the fact that you've already wonawards and that you're number three on
that list that has something you know, that says something about you, and
of course the tequila and what andhow you're doing it and what you're doing,
I tho, right, well,thank you. It takes, you
know, to build a brand.It's one bottle, one taste, you
know, one handstake or one interviewat a time, and so it takes
folks like you that hear our storyand are inspired by it to spread the
(14:24):
word. So honestly, I can'tthank you enough for to give me the
opportunity to come here and speak withyou and tell our story. Oh absolutely,
I mean I was real, LikeI said, I was very excited.
And it's interesting because at this northShore Animal League gala, their veterinarian
came over to me and we weretalking and he was like, oh,
you should go taste that tequila andI was like, yeah, I don't
really drink tequila too much, andhe goes, yeah, but it's for
(14:45):
Jaguar rescue, and I'm like,what so of course I made like a
bee line over to the table andJoe was there and he was just so
accommodate, and he was Joe andhis wife and they were talking to me
and he's like, you have totaste it. I was like, okay,
And honestly, it was just sovery so booth and very tasteful,
and honestly, it's probably why Ihaven't been drinking tequila because of the chemicals,
because it just was a different tasteYours was just so it was just
(15:09):
it was very delicious. And hemade me a drink and I had that
and I was like And then wewere talking and I was like, oh
my god, you'd be on mypodcast, so, you know, because
it's animal rescue and it's just andhe was telling me about the packaging and
now everything's sustainable, and I waslike, oh my god, this product
is just so perfect. So,you know, again, like I said
about the thing with you with twoyears ago, but everything happens for a
reason, you know, running intoJoe and talking about it and he was
(15:33):
like, we're brand new, andI'm like, what, it's amazing.
It doesn't feel like it's brand new. So my point is you are so
on the very right path, Ibelieve, and I just think it's just
amount of time, you know,before everybody knows about the tequila. Are
you available and in all the states? Or is just a few states at
a time? Like how does thatwork? So alcohol distribution in our country
(15:54):
is a challenge. You're in sixteenstates and spreading. So whom you reference,
you know as our VP of sales. He's based in the New York
metro area. But right now aswe speak, as it is being recorded,
we are launching New Jersey, NewYork, Connecticut, and Massachusetts,
really expanding our northeastern footprints, whichis really exciting. But we're also available
(16:17):
in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee,soon to be Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas,
Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Illinoisamazing. Then we look for Oklahoma
too, we're launching, and thenwe're looking to expand westward. So you
know, you can look at theElectoral College votes in a presidential election and
get the idea of where most peoplelive in this country. Right you see
a lot of votes out of California, Texas, New York, Illinois,
(16:40):
Florida. Those are the big states. There's the big five for us too,
and so now we have four ofthe Big five and we're looking to
move into California next and nice justcontinue to spread the word and awareness for
our product, our calls and hopefullyinspire more people like you. But but
since since we you met Joe atgala, we're actually now going to be
distributed in the New York in NewJersey metro area, which is really exciting
(17:06):
because we hadn't had that. Wehadn't had that yet. And it's critical
not only just because it's a largepopulation base. There's a lot of growing
tequila enthusiasts there, but it's reallyimportant for our brand because it's New York's
the kind of the lighthouse market oftrends and writers and reviewers, and getting
our brand in front of them iswhat's going to hopefully allow us to grow
and spread spread the word even faster. Absolutely, and we're really excited for
(17:29):
twenty four. Yeah, no,for sure. And I mean I'm in
New York City and I have manyfriends who are drinkers and who drink tequila,
so you know, word of mouthhelps as well. You know,
New York's the coin capital of thecountry, right, so there's a lot
of great tequilla, a lot ofgreat restaurants, and it's a huge opportunity
for us. So our interview canbe heard nationally. If someone if a
(17:52):
state, if someone is in astate that doesn't have Alma del Jaguar,
can they go into like their favoriteliquor store and say, hey, hey,
could you get this brand? Canthey do that? That always is
really helpful. And then there's agrowing online sales. So you can go
to our website almadel Jaguar dot comand you can click the buy now button
and we can shift to pretty muchany state from that website. I think
(18:14):
we can shipped a forty four ofthe fifty states. Oh that's great from
our website, which is fulfilled throughkind of third party retailers. Right,
that actually did the back end ofit. But that's really exciting to watch
kind of our archaic alcohol systems slowlydevelop into the realities of you know,
twenty twenty four. Sure, crazy, how backwards some of these laws are.
I know, well, there aremany laws in this country that are
(18:37):
pretty backwards. But that's another story, another conversation, another podcast altogether.
Right, yeah, exactly, MacaulayWilliams, thank you so much for your
time, good luck, Almadeljaguar dotcom. For my listeners who want to
check it out, they can readabout Jaguar rescue and so much more.
I wish you all the best.I'm very excited because of you and your
(19:00):
I will drink tequila now. Sothank you for doing this and just for
your passion, and I just wishyou nothing but the best. It's really
it's a really wonderful thing that you'redoing. And like I said before,
you I really believe that you arethe trendsetter and I hope others follow you
in your past. Well, Maria, thank you so much and as we
say, salute or cheers to that
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