Once Upon a Time in Guadalajara … a Tale of Tequila
Ovolo Hotels
According to National Geographic, it all started with two competing tequila-making families called the Sauza and the Cuervo. The relationship between both families involved nothing but quarrels, insults and of course, pistol shots. Children between families never met until one fine day, young Javier Sauza went to university in Chicago where he not only met but married a beautiful red-haired Cuervo relative, in secret!
Long story short, Sauza senior found out and according to legend, shot a Cuervo dead in the streets of Tequila, a town about 40 miles northwest of Guadalajara, which is where the spirit got its name. Note, this happened back in the 1900s.
Javier Sauza was then banned from the family and had to work as a Mexico City tour guide alongside other odd jobs before he was allowed back into the family business shortly before his father’s death. This is where it gets interesting. Black sheep of the family, Javier raised tequila’s image by creating brands such as Tres Generaciones in honor of his Sauza descents and fighting off imitators such as the Japanese (who would have thought!). Amidst his success, Javier did the most unthinkable, he sold the family tequila business to a Japanese-owned conglomerate, which sent the Sauza brand spiraling. He did however leave behind the distillery’s name Fortaleza, which Guillermo Sauza, a fifth-generation member of the Sauza clan build and sold world-wide.
Now a UNESCO World Heritage site (since 2006), Tequila, Mexico is not only filled with tequila distilleries, but with various tales of family feuds and corporate lawsuits of trade secret banditos and tequila larceny, stories involving generations of Mexican families in which some cannot be spoken openly about.
How to get to Tequila: Fly into Guadalajara and drive 32 miles to Tequila town. Most of the distilleries in Tequila town are available for tours, including the two giants Cuervo and Sauza.
Te Quiero Mucho (TQM), our very first Mexican eatery will open at Mojo Nomad Central in early September. A two-storery eatery that will serve up mouth-wateringly good Mexican cuisine helmed by Guadalajara-native Chef Jose Alfonso Rodriguez. TQM’s energic upstairs bar will serve am impressive selection of 36 artisanal tequilas and mezcal with boutique pours like El Luchador – an organic distil-proof tequila blanco and Ocho – an age-distinguished liquor made with family-grown agave.
G/F & 1/F, Ovolo, 286 Queen’s Road Central, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong