Colin and Chris Edwards, co-founders of Cazcanes Tequila, tell the tale of a relentless pursuit of authentic tequila. Beginning in the jungles of Mexico, we learn the origin story of the now globally renowned beverage company.
Cazcanes Tequila, based in Los Angeles, California, has garnered interest at an impressive rate, likely due to the company’s effort to embody the lost art of tequila making. The brand has a passionate team with a unique approach to tequila that blends both tradition and innovation. At its core is one of its esteemed founders, Colin Edwards, a winemaker with an unwavering love for tequila.
The brothers’ journey to producing exceptional tequila from scratch began with a casual conversation about plant science, spirits, and hobbies. Inherently curious and inquisitive, Colin and Chris’s discussions about agave and tequila built the foundational interest that led to the creation of the brand.
Colin ventured beyond the lush vineyards of Napa, California, where he had grown grapes for exquisite wines, to Mexico with his brother Chris. They learned about the beverage’s history, creation process, and country’s rich tequila culture. During this journey, they developed a friendship with Jose Santillan, who was hired initially as a driver but quickly revealed his business acumen. Jose became integral to the company’s growth and expansion and now oversees Cazcanes’s operations in Mexico.
Gaining knowledge from visiting multiple distilleries, they built a vision to craft a unique tequila from scratch, not merely stick a label on someone else’s creation. While in Mexico, a taco vendor from the small town of Magdalena suggested they seek out Humberto, a master distiller with a multi-generational heritage in crafting tequila. Humberto was creating a moonshine-like elixir that captured their hearts in the midst of the Mexican jungle. Colin apprenticed under Humberto for over a year, traveling between the United States and Mexico, conceptualizing his ideas for the perfect tequila. Once Colin had absorbed all he could, the team sought to find a distillery that could help them share this moonshine-like tequila with a wider audience.
Locating the right distillery proved challenging, but fate led them to a tiny distillery only 6 kilometers from the town of Tequila. This distillery crafted agave distillates for the Mexican market without certification from the Tequila Regulatory Council (Consejo Regulador del Tequila), also known as the CRT. There, the Cazcanes founders had the opportunity to collaborate with the revered master distiller of the quaint micro-distillery, Francisco Jiménez Lazcarro, affectionately known as Don Chico. With over four decades of experience in the tequila industry, Don Chico effectively combined Humberto’s ancestral recipe and Colin’s ideas with modern commercial distilling practices. This marked a turning point for Cazcanes Tequila.
In their quest for the perfect taste and blend, the Cazcanes team recognized the ultimate ingredient—water. Jose turned to his hometown’s water source, Navichi Springs, renowned for its pristine water. Transported for each tequila batch, this has become a fundamental ingredient in Cazcanes products, imparting a distinct flavor to each bottle. After working hard to obtain certification for the distillery from the CRT, Cazcanes Blanco No. 9 (Cazcanes’ inaugural certified batch) won its first double gold medal in the San Francisco World Spirit Competition in 2017. This milestone marked the beginning of Cazcanes’ remarkable journey in the world of spirits.
Ultimately, the legacy of Cazcanes is etched into each handcrafted bottle. With the unwavering vision, passion, and dedication of the Cazcanes team, success is the only logical destination. As the demand for Cazcanes Tequila continues to surge, the company remains focused on sustainable expansion without compromising the exceptional taste of its high-quality, organic, additive-free tequila that customers have come to love.
Written in partnership with Shannon Sparks
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