Patrón (Spanish for “the good boss”) was the brainchild of two entrepreneurs, John Paul DeJoria and Martin Crowley, whose love of tequila and desire to create the best tequila in the world led them to the Highlands of Jalisco, Mexico. There they found tequila industry veteran Francisco Alcaraz and asked him to produce the most extraordinary, highest-quality, 100 percent agave tequila possible. From that fortuitous meeting, Patrón Tequila was born.
Patrón’s success is due in no small part to its founders’ hunch early on that consumers were ready for an ultra-premium luxury tequila, a spirits category which at the time didn’t exist. Few exported tequilas back then were created from 100 percent agave — from the beginning, Francisco’s handcrafted method for Patrón included not only 100 percent Weber Blue Agave but also a centuries-old technique called the tahona* process, where agave fibers are slowly crushed by a large volcanic stone wheel and then the agave juice is fermented and distilled with the agave fiber. Francisco created tequila from this process and tequila from the more modern roller mill process, and blended them together to become Patrón.
*Tahona or tajona has a double meaning in Spanish. It used to mean mill or mill house but in Mexico it also means the large stone wheel that is used to crush the roasted hearts of agave, or piñas, into a fermentable mash. Used primarily by artisanal mezcal makers and only a handful of traditional distillers.
