George Clooney & Rande Gerber’s Quest to Reinvent Tequila
It’s the year of tequila! George Clooney, Rande Gerber and Mike Meldman’s Casamigos is taking over. 2018 has also brought the newest addition to the family, Casamigos Mezcal. It’s not only an exciting time for the ever-expanding agave spirits industry, but also a direct reflection of the impact of Casamigos, the fastest growing tequila company in the world. Rande Gerber gives insight on the billion-dollar brand and what’s next.
Describe the industry and the impact of Casamigos on the industry.
Rande Gerber: Great brands reflect the people who create them. We created Casamigos for us to drink and share with friends. We took our time, had the patience and the money to get it right. It’s all we drink and that’s why we are involved in every aspect of Casamigos. From the tequila, to the name and bottle design, to marketing and distribution, for us it’s our lifestyle. Consumers are very smart and they know what they want. They love and appreciate the authenticity and quality of our brand.
What are the components that you love about Casamigos Tequila?
We grew it drink by drink. We take our time, some companies speed up the creation process, but we don’t. We are a small batch ultra-premium tequila and we use old fashioned methods which take quite a while. Besides growing the agaves from 7-10 years, the whole process takes time, which includes slow roasting our agave piñas for 72 hours, while most others steam theirs for 7 hours, and an 80-hour fermentation process compared to the average 48. There are tricks you can do, that other companies might do, that we don’t because the quality of Casamigos is of the utmost importance. As you can see George and I sign every batch that is made. We taste every batch before it goes into the bottle. We don’t want to speed up the process and the demand has been incredible.
What inspired you to add mezcal to the existing Casamigos family?
Just as we made our tequila, we wanted to create a mezcal that we want to drink. Smooth with no burn and smoked to perfection. One we are proud to share with our friends. We were given mezcals to try a few years ago, and there was one we fell in love with. At the time, all of our attention was focused on sharing Casamigos Tequila with the world. I didn’t want to lose the chance of having this Mezcal, so we stayed in touch with the family. They understood our passion and commitment for Casamigos and were kind enough to be patient knowing one day it would become part of our Casamigos family and now it is.
What’s next for the brand?
We are always thinking ahead and have some ideas in the works, but we are really proud of what we have done and are focused on the continued growth of our tequila and sharing the new Casamigos Mezcal.