In 2011, a group of television professionals sought to create the first tequila reality show. They called upon the industry expertise of then journalist and Editor at Tequila Aficionado, Mike Morales. When production began, just under 20 tequila start ups vied to be crowned the Last Tequila Standing in the world’s first broadcast Tequila Reality Show.
What? No Tequila Shots?
The creators of Last Tequila Standing only filmed their pilot season back in 2011. From there, in the old school way of doing things, they sought to sell the program to a television network. But the Latino markets they were approaching had no love for a tequila show that didn’t include shots. They felt the world, or at least their audiences, wasn’t ready for such a thing.
Tequila History Preserved
Here at Tequila Aficionado, we knew better. After years of discussions, we were finally given access to most of the show’s recorded materials. As this was not a Tequila Aficionado Media Production, we don’t expect to see another season but we’re thrilled that we were able to preserve these tequilas’ stories, personalities, and cocktails for posterity here at Tequila Aficionado Media.
The litmus test for most tequila start-ups is five years. If you can make it in this business for that long, you’re in it for the long haul. We’re very happy to see that many of these then “start-ups” are alive and kicking down doors five years later in the industry today!
Watch the whole Last Tequila Standing series here:
In 2011, eighteen tequila start ups vied to be crowned the Last tequila Standing in the world’s first broadcast Tequila Reality Show.
The creators of Last Tequila Standing only filmed the one season back in 2011 and we were very limited in our access to the show’s materials. As this was not a Tequila Aficionado Media Production, we don’t expect to see another season but we’re thrilled that we were able to preserve these tequilas’ stories, personalities, and cocktails for posterity here at Tequila Aficionado Media.
Click on the links below to catch up on any episodes you may have missed:
First ever Tequila Reality Show kicks off on National Tequila Day!
For Immediate Release!
In 2011, eighteen tequila start ups had vied to be crowned the top Brand Of Promise(TM) in the world’s first broadcasted Tequila Reality Show.
Tequila Aficionado Media Presents Last Tequila Standing
July, 2015, San Antonio, TX: Starting July 24, 2015, National Tequila Day, 45 exclusive episodes of Last Tequila Standing will be streamed daily over Tequila Aficionado Media’s website and on-demand over its own YouTube playlist, as well as featured throughout all of its powerful social networks.
“Through the expansion of opportunities on the Web, and Tequila Aficionado
Last Tequila Standing.
Media’s own explosive growth, we are proud to present for your enjoyment, Last Tequila Standing,” declared Tequila Aficionado’s CEO, M.A. “Mike” Morales.
Never-before-seen raw footage of some of the tequila industry’s most promising labels will be aired. Each will relate their start up stories and demonstrate their tasty signature cocktails, too.
Colorful brand owners, master distillers, and top flight brand ambassadors took the stage with their enduring tequilas, many of which are still thriving even in 2015’s more competitive tequila market.
[Tweet “Tequila Aficionado Media Presents Last Tequila Standing!”]
The Dare
In the late summer of 2011, 18 brave tequila brands took up this challenge–
To appear on the first ever televised tequila reality show to share with the world their personal stories and to participate in a judged tasting competition to be named the Last Tequila Standing.
Rocky Road
As with most TV pilots and shows that are ahead of their time, Last Tequila Standing struggled to find a permanent network home.
“After a series of fits-and-starts, several failed business deals and cable company mergers that never happened, Last Tequila Standing was all but lost,” recounts Morales, a producer and one of the hosts of the show.
From the moment Season 1’s taping had wrapped, Morales worked tirelessly for months with the Executive Producers to try to fulfill the show’s original mission–
To educate and inform tequila aficionados worldwide in an entertaining fashion on the finer points of Mexico’s national spirit, as well as to help promote organic, artisanal, small batch, and boutique tequila Brands Of Promise(TM).
“But just a few years later, with the advent of streaming video made popular by services like Hulu, Amazon, and Netflix, the playing field has changed dramatically,” adds Lisa Pietsch, Tequila Aficionado Media’s COO in charge of social media marketing. “Last Tequila Standing lends itself perfectly to our binge watching audience.”
Along with Tequila Aficionado Media’s CEO and Tequila Journalist, M.A. “Mike” Morales, Clayton J. Czczech guest judges on Last Tequila Standing.
Also on hand to impart his vast tasting expertise is industry expert Christopher Zarus, inventor of the only take home tequila tasting kit, TequilaRack, which will also be featured extensively.
A Global Event
“Since the taping of Season 1 of Last Tequila Standing, the Tequila Industry has aggressively pursued global expansion into countries like China, Russia, India, and Brazil,” explains Morales.
[Tweet “The streaming of Last Tequila Standing is a global event of epic proportions!”]
“Given that our audience is not only viewing Tequila Aficionado from these locations,” asserts Pietsch, “but all across Canada, the United States, Germany and Mexico, we can truly say that the airing of Last Tequila Standing will be a global event of epic proportions!”
***
Watch for new episodes of Last Tequila Standing premiering every day–for 45 days–beginning on National Tequila Day, July 24, 2015 at 11AM CDT.
[*Editor’s note: As a courtesy and at the request of Clayton J. Czczech, Tequila Aficionado has attempted to remove all videos and photographs in which he was featured without degrading the balance of the Last Tequila Standing content provided to us.]
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Learn all about tequila from field to glass and then get paid to share your love of agave spirits with others! Buy Them Both Now!
For some reason this article Tequila Timeline: From Agave to the Worm was reposted in Fast CompanyMagazine on Friday, November 20, 2009 from an earlier post on October 15, 2009. (Maybe it was because the editors forgot to add the cute tequila graphics the first time?)
Anyway, most of the timeline is historically accurate, except for this factoid:
“1873: Don Cenobio Sauza exports three barrels to El Paso, Texas, the first tequila in the United States. Today, the U.S. is the No. 1 market for tequila. Mexico is second. Third? Greece.”
The reference to Sauza exporting mezcal wine into El Paso in 1873 is incorrect. I’ll explain why momentarily, but first…
Texas’ long history of laying claim to being the home of tequila in the United States can be credited to W. Park Kerr of the El Paso Chile Company fame. Not for anything that he may have said, but for what he did.
Kerr was the first Texas entrepreneur to distill a private label tequila (Tequila Naciónal)in Mexico to his specifications, thus opening the floodgates of recent tequila brands based in Texas such as RiAzúl in Houston, El Grado in Corpus Christi, Republic Tequila in Austin, Buscadores in San Antonio, and Dos Lunas in El Paso, among others.
Sorry to break this to tejanos, but Texas was not the final destination of that first delivery.
The Rest of the Story
In his book La historia del tequila, de sus regiones y sus hombres, author Rogelio Luna Zamora recounts:
“‘…con destino a Nuevo Mexico sale una partida de 3 barriles y 6 botijas….’ El punto fronterizo por donde salió fue el Paso del Norte (hoy Ciudad Juárez) en aquel entonces, paso obligado a las mercaderías exportadas por tierra al mercado estadunidense.”
[“‘…with a destination of New Mexico there is a lot of 3 barrels and 6 jugs….’ The border town point of entry was el Paso del Norte (present day Juárez) that in those days was the required land passage for commodities exported into the American marketplace.”]
In 1873, New Mexico was a territory of the United States, but still considered part of Mexico. The final destination of Sauza’s shipment is believed to have been to the oldest capital city, Santa Fe. Being also the terminus of the legendary Santa Fe Trail, the route that opened the Southwest to trading with the Eastern United States, this conclusion only makes sense.
Thirty-nine years later, New Mexico joined the Union. Flash forward to today, and there is only one New Mexican owned brand of tequila (Silvercoin).
Perhaps now is the time for more New Mexico entrepreneurs to step up with tequila labels of their own?
Originally posted November 22, 2009 by TequilaRack.
In 2011, a group of television professionals sought to create the first tequila reality show. They called upon the industry expertise of then journalist and Editor at Tequila Aficionado, Mike Morales. When production began, just under 20 tequila start ups vied to be crowned the Last Tequila Standing in the world’s first broadcast Tequila Reality Show.
Tequila Timeline: From Agave to the Worm
