Next Wave Awards Spirits Brand of the Year: LALO Tequila

How do you launch a new tequila brand today and actually get any attention? There seem to be only a few options: Partner with a celebrity, put your liquid in a flashy bottle that pops on the backbar, or charge an arm and a leg.

LALO Tequila chose a different path, earning acclaim the old-fashioned way by making tequila the old-fashioned way.

“It was important to me to showcase a really good product that actually tasted like tequila,” says Eduardo “Lalo” González. “But it was also really important for me to apply all the things that I had learned from my dad.”

His father, and the tequila’s namesake, was Edward “Lalo” González, Sr., founder of the Don Julio brand — himself the son of legendary distiller Don Julio González Estrada. Growing up in Guadalajara, the heart of Jalisco and tequila’s birthplace, González knew what real, high-quality tequila should taste like and how it should be made.

Credit: Cathlin McCullough

In 2015, González and childhood friend and fellow co-founder David R. Carballido began making small batches of tequila. They used Highland blue agave, slow-cooked in stone ovens for 40 hours, fermented with Champagne yeast and deep-well water, then twice distilled in copper.

Originally called Casa Pujol 87, the non-commercial tequila debuted at a friend’s wedding in Guadalajara in 2017. It was such a hit among family and friends the duo knew they had to take it commercial. But how?

“So many brands were spending so much money in marketing and using celebrities and influencers,” says Carballido. “We were tempted to do that stuff.”

Carballido admits they took a meeting in Los Angeles with some Hollywood hot shots. The entrepreneurs were eager to get involved — one even offered to partner them with a “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star. Headed back to their hotel after the meeting, the founders realized they didn’t want to chase celebrities, trends, or crazy packaging.

Credit: Cathlin McCullough

“Cristalinos were starting to have a little bit of traction and I was like, ‘I just don’t get it,’” González says. “Like, why don’t we just go back to the source and that way it’s going to be easier for us as a brand — for us as Mexicans — to explain to consumers that have been bombarded with all these new trends, that the source is is the most important, the source is the most beautiful, and you don’t need to overthink it.”

Unlike many upstart tequila brands that lean on aged expressions — perhaps to lure bourbon fans — LALO is unique for its singular focus on blanco: “the beauty of the agave plant in its purest form,” González says.

Carballido’s husband, Jim McDermott — the brand’s third co-founder and current CEO — suggested the brand change its name to LALO to honor González, Sr., who had passed away in 2017.

Credit: Cathlin McCullough

In January 2020, LALO Tequila hit shelves in a simple squared-off bottle with a subtle white label. It wasn’t flashy or overly expensive (about $49 MSRP), but it was an immediate hit with online cognoscenti. That was a bit unintentional. When Covid arrived and on-premise sales essentially disappeared, González had no choice but to go grassroots with marketing.

“I was on my Facebook, trying to be in every single tequila group, to see what people were posting, see what they were liking,” González says. “If someone posted about LALO, I personally thanked them, took their feedback, answered questions. That created a personal connection with consumers.”

LALO’s approachable, classic flavor profile soon caught the attention of bartenders, too.

“In a world where the tequilas lining the shelves deliver tasting notes like ‘cotton candy’ or ‘grassy honey,’ LALO makes a daring return to the basics with notes of agave and pepper,” says Jason Male, bar manager at Slightly North of Broad, Charleston in S.C., who praises its versatility whether neat, on the rocks, or in a Margarita.

Credit: Cathlin McCullough

A LALO Limited Edition High Proof followed last year — a high-octane, savory, and zesty blanco. It garnered VinePair’s highest tequila score of the year and landed at No. 4 on our list of The 50 Best Spirits of 2024.

The brand’s trajectory has continued apace. In September 2025, Tito’s Handmade Vodka announced it had acquired a majority stake in LALO — the first strategic acquisition in Tito’s history.

Despite the meteoric rise and accolades, González has no plans to expand the product line, release a trendy cristalino, or partner with a Real Housewife.

“Our original approach has always been ‘less is more,’” he says.

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