In a class stuffed with legacy names and lookalike bottles, OLUJO is taking a extra deliberate method—beginning with the liquid and constructing the whole lot else round it.
Targeted on craft, design, and a transparent perspective, the model is much less considering following tequila’s conventional playbook and extra targeted on redefining it. We caught up with the OLUJO staff to get a better have a look at what units the model aside.
OLUJO entered a crowded class with a really particular perspective. The place did that readability come from?
Truthfully, it got here from being prepared to be trustworthy about what we have been really making an attempt to do. Most manufacturers on this area begin with a narrative, a heritage narrative, a star, a life-style idea, after which discover a liquid to connect to it. We did the other. We began with the query of what the very best tequila might really be, and constructed the whole lot outward from that.
That meant accepting some uncomfortable truths early. “Greatest” is subjective. So we reframed it: the very best tequila is the one that individuals persistently select. We reverse-engineered from there, spending a yr working blind tastings by our company Herman Scheer and mapping actual preferences throughout the aggressive panorama. What emerged was clear. Folks gravitate towards profiles which might be smoother and barely sweeter, whereas the extra austere connoisseur profiles, even additive-free ones, really ranked decrease with common customers.
Closely candy manufacturers carried out properly initially however fell off rapidly as consumption elevated. So we understood the vary we wanted to work inside: approachable sufficient to open a second bottle with associates, nuanced sufficient to carry the curiosity of somebody who really is aware of tequila.
Each manufacturing choice was pushed by that information, refined by a number of rounds of blind tastings till we had a profile that held up persistently. That’s not a romantic origin story, however it’s an trustworthy one.
From which area is OLUJO’s agave sourced, and in what methods does that terroir affect the tequila’s character?
OLUJO’s Blue Weber Agave comes from the Los Altos Highlands of Jalisco, and we’re working with mature vegetation, seven years and up. That maturity issues as a lot because the area itself. Agave that’s been given the time to completely develop carries a complexity that youthful harvests can’t replicate.
The Highlands contribute one thing particular. The elevation, volcanic soils, and local weather push agave towards larger pure sugar improvement and a extra fragrant character than you sometimes discover in lowland-grown vegetation. Within the glass that interprets to a rounder, extra expressive basis, softer fruit tones, and a texture that carries by the ageing course of with out getting misplaced underneath the oak.
For a spirit constructed round ageing, the place the agave comes from is among the most consequential choices in the entire course of. The area provides us a place to begin with sufficient character to assist what comes subsequent, with no need the wooden to do all of the work.
Stroll us by the manufacturing philosophy. What have been the traces you wouldn’t cross?
The non-negotiables have been clear from the beginning. No diffuser. No reducing corners on fermentation time. No choices made as a result of they have been simpler or quicker. We visited over twenty distilleries earlier than choosing our manufacturing companion, and the criterion wasn’t which one appeared greatest in photographs. It was which one had each the technical functionality and the shared method to craft that might allow us to obtain the precise profile we have been after.
From there, each method, tahona versus curler mill, wooden choice, relaxation time, was evaluated towards one query: does this get us nearer to the profile, or does it take us additional away? That sounds apparent, however it’s really a self-discipline loads of manufacturers skip. Manufacturing choices usually get made for custom, or advertising causes, or as a result of that’s simply the way it’s achieved. We used information and repeated tasting to remain trustworthy about what was working.
The ageing facet is the place the character we constructed actually develops. American White Oak introduces vanilla, toasted notes, delicate spice. The agave brings the natural raise, the brightness, the id. Getting these to coexist with out one overwhelming the opposite required endurance and a willingness to maintain refining till the mix was proper. That pressure, resolved properly, is the entire level of the spirit.
The bottle is tough to disregard. How did that design really come collectively?
There was no romantic moodboard second the place inspiration struck. It was a grind, and I believe that’s really what makes the outcome really feel proper.
We knew from the start that the bottle needed to cease individuals. Squint your eyes at most tequila backbars and the whole lot begins to blur collectively, identical silhouettes, identical colour palettes, identical visible language. We wished one thing that made somebody throughout the room say “what’s that?” whether or not they meant it as a praise or not. Eliciting that response in a class as visually repetitive as this one is the job.
This was within the early days of generative AI, a really totally different second than the place we are actually, and we used it to push the exploration so far as it might go. We bought it all the way down to round 300 ideas, bodily printed each one, laid them throughout a convention room flooring, and began pulling out the design parts that stored resonating. We knew the materiality and the proportions we wished. We would have liked somebody who might carry it to life with actual craft. That led us to Ivan Venkov, who labored with us and with our manufacturing companion Anfora in Mexico to execute the ultimate type. We even 3D printed early variations to see how they learn in precise environments earlier than committing.
There’s no singular poetic inspiration behind the form. It’s the results of loads of concepts, loads of enhancing, and a really particular commonplace for what the ultimate object needed to be.
You launched with a single añejo expression slightly than a full vary. What was behind that call, and what does the profile ship?
Launching with one expression and doing it correctly felt extra trustworthy than spreading throughout a blanco, reposado, and añejo simply to have shelf presence. The business default of the three-tier launch is essentially a retail technique. It provides distributors choices and fills packages. We weren’t considering constructing a portfolio earlier than we’d constructed a press release.
The añejo gave us probably the most to work with. It’s the place the whole lot we cared about, the Highland agave, the manufacturing method, the wooden program, has the room to precise itself absolutely. The profile lands on vanilla, toasted oak, chocolate, and a mild spice, whereas the agave retains its presence beneath. The intention was all the time for these parts to come back ahead progressively slightly than arriving abruptly. It ought to open up the longer you sit with it.
The core character of that expression is what defines the model. Each future launch will construct from that reference level, not away from it.
How is OLUJO incorporating sustainability or long-term environmental duty into its manufacturing practices?
It begins within the fields. Accountable agave cultivation requires a protracted view by nature. The plant takes years to mature, and the well being of the soil throughout that total cycle issues. Working with skilled growers who method planting, harvesting, and rotation with real care is foundational, not a footnote.
What we discover significant about our partnership with Anfora is that the vessel itself displays that sensibility. The bottle is constituted of three parts: earth, fireplace, and water. Clay sourced and formed, fired, and completed by a course of that works with pure supplies. There’s an integrity to that which we worth each as a design alternative and as an expression of how we need to function.
Byproduct administration, water stewardship, power issues throughout the distillery, these are ongoing commitments throughout the business and we take severely our duty to contribute to shifting that ahead.
By way of consumption, what settings or kinds of serves greatest mirror how OLUJO is supposed to be loved, whether or not neat, blended, or each?
Neat, ideally. The profile was constructed to be sipped, and the ageing course of creates sufficient occurring within the glass that protecting it might be wasteful. Served at room temperature, the aromas open over time, the feel develops, and the end lingers in a manner that rewards consideration.
That mentioned, it holds its personal in a well-considered cocktail. Spirit-forward builds, a stirred format, one thing clear that lets the tequila lead, deal with it correctly. What it shouldn’t be is a supporting participant in one thing that might style the identical no matter what spirit you poured.
Nonetheless it leads to your glass, it’s going to indicate up. That was the usual we constructed it to.
What has the response from the commerce and customers really appeared like since launch?
The bottle will get individuals first, nearly with out exception. That was the aim, and it’s been constant. Folks cease, choose it up, ask about it earlier than they’ve tasted something. Getting that response in a crowded backbar atmosphere shouldn’t be a small factor.
What’s been extra significant is what occurs after. Bartenders and patrons who’ve achieved blind comparisons have come again saying the liquid holds up towards profiles in its class in methods they didn’t count on stepping into. That issues extra to us than enthusiasm pushed purely by the packaging. The 2 issues have to work collectively, and the suggestions has been that they do.
The moments that stick are those the place somebody who got here to the dialog skeptically, this can be a premium-priced newcomer in any case, leaves genuinely impressed by what’s within the glass. That’s the validation we have been after.
What’s coming subsequent for OLUJO?
The near-term focus is on constructing depth slightly than breadth. Meaning persevering with to develop the model in the correct environments and with the correct companions, slightly than chasing distribution quantity for its personal sake.
On the liquid facet, we have been lucky to safe a small variety of barrels of additional añejo relationship again to the founding period of the CRT, Mexico’s tequila regulatory physique, with the provenance documentation to again it up. It’s outstanding stuff, the form of factor that doesn’t floor usually. We’re not dashing it.
There are a couple of collaborations in improvement with hospitality teams and inventive companions who share a real appreciation for what the model is doing. Not co-branding workout routines, however tasks the place the alignment is actual. Extra on these when the time is true.
The lengthy sport is constructing a model that individuals encounter in the correct rooms, served the correct manner, and bear in mind. That takes longer than a launch cycle, and we’re comfy with that.
The put up Constructed Completely different: Inside OLUJO’s Strategy to Extremely-Premium Tequila appeared first on Chilled Journal.
