Leonista Origins: Inspired in Mexico
The theme this month: is around Leonista’s origins…
…how it all started; the journey, the ups and downs, and a few interesting events in between. So to kick off - how did it all begin? How did I start an Agave spirit (Tequila/Mezcal) company?
I always loved Tequila. I was the girl who came to the party with a bottle of Tequila in hand drinking nothing else until the sun came up. I discovered the difference between good Tequila and bad Tequila and the effect they had.
The more expensive, good stuff is 100% agave i.e 100% made from the plant. It can be sipped like a whisky, is an energy giver and if treated with respect doesn't give you a hangover.
A “Mixto” is the cheap stuff. Mixed with cane spirit to make it cheaper, served to you in a plastic shot glass, with salt and lemon, to make it palatable and gives you a horrible hangover. I was so intrigued by 100% agave spirits that I experimented in starting to make it at home, for fun.
My apartment became a bootlegger “crack-den.“ The garage was filled with a homemade still, fermentation buckets, and a little gas stove to heat the still and convert the fermented “mash” to spirits.
The first labels were designed by a friend and bottles were old gin bottles. I took these early experimental bottles to Africa Burn and they became my ‘Gift’ for fellow burners. A spirit from the desert made for the people of the desert. The response was always, always so positive that the idea stuck in my head even when the dust washed away.
The home distillery in the early days:
This idea that wouldn't go away forced me to book a trip to the origins of Tequila and agave spirits. To meet the Maestro distillers and have a Tequila, and Mezcal, tasting adventure around Mexico.
Leonista became the lovechild from that Mexican adventure. I was inspired by the industry and culture around Tequila, Mezcal and all the agave spirits and other products that could be made from the plant. After that trip I had a monkey on my back that wasn’t going to quiet until I recreated what I saw in Mexico back at home in South Africa where I knew agave grew very well.
The Mexican Adventure:
My favourite part about the agave plant is that it grows in hot, dry, arid conditions with little water. Perfect for places like the Karoo, in South Africa. Karoo farmers grow it in large quantities as an emergency crop for animals in times of drought. They call it their emergency “bank account” to use when they have nothing else left.
I found some farmers who believed in my dream to create an industry around the plant and a distillery that was willing to take a chance on me. We built a wood-fired oven and started to produce 100% agave spirits in the traditional Mexican way. Bylaws similar to the ones protecting Champagne, agave spirit cannot be called Tequila or Mezcal if it is not made in Mexico - so in South Africa, it is called 100% Agave Spirit.
The birth of Leonista started in 2016 with R60 000 (Less than €3000 in today’s terms) I earned from planting 115 000 trees over 3 months in the forestry industry in Canada. With that, the first 1000 bottles were bottled and gave me a 6-month runway to make this dream into a reality. Sustainability and having a positive effect on the planet is very important to me and so it has been very important to be part of the Leonista DNA from day one, but we’ll get into that a bit later. ;-)
I'll touch on what happened, from then to now, and our goals (where we want to be in the next 5 years) in the next blog.
A dream come true:
For now, know that we have since launched the Leonista online store - now in Europe. This is a dream come true!
A tool for the company to better understand our customer, and so better serve them. We can offer added value branded gear, larger discounts, and create online events tailored to customer requests.
So, you check out Our Spirits section to see what’s on offer, or sign up to our newsletter and stay up to date on local Leonista News, Events, Offers and more.
Originally posted on Leonista.co.za