EDUARDO “LALO” GONZÁLEZ and DAVID CARBALLIDO, childhood friends from Mexico, have turned LALO – their premium tequila- into an international spirit sensation.TED HILDNER takes a sip.
What started as a passion project five years ago between two friends outside Guadalajara, Mexico, has fermented into one of the most popular tequilas on the planet.
Childhood friends Eduardo “Lalo” González, the grandson of the legendary Don Julio, and David Carballido share three generations of tequila-making experience, growing up in the heart of Mexico’s tequila-producing region.
So, after a bit of thought and a lot of love for tequila and Mexico, it comes as no surprise that their famed LALO Tequila was born in the legendary highlands of the Jalisco region, where agave is grown and tequila was invented.
Growing increasingly unhappy with the quality of the rapidly booming tequila industry, González and Carballido started plotting. “We said, wait, why don’t we create something just for us, by us? Let’s do a product we truly like, something we believe in,” remembers González.
But instead of creating a brand for public consumption, they set out to make the pertect tequila with the most exacting standards in quality and flavor. To offset costs and reduce the risk of hoarding their prized recipe, they devised a plan to sell it privately to their friends at cost. “It doesn’t have to be a business; if they like it, they’ll drink it. If they don’t, we’re going to have a bunch of tequila for us. That’s how much trust we have in our product,” says Carballido.
Combining their passion for tequila with deep Mexican pride, González and Carballido achieved their goal using a simple and authentic (secret) recipe using only the finest ingredients. LALO Tequila(named after the spirit of Lalo’s grandfather) is their take on the art of blanco – purely crafted for a clean taste, with simple ingredients such as deep well water, champaign yeast, and nothing else. Developed in the heart of Jalisco, with no additives or aging process to mask the flavor, it honors the tradition of Mexican tequila-making at its finest.
A grassroots movement was launched. They started selling cases of LALO from their garage— not worried about turning a profit. “We had all these cases at my house,” says Carballido. “And we sold it to our friends for their birthdays, for weddings, for any kind of party. It became a tequila club thing.” It didn’t take long before this private tequila club started catching people’s attention outside of their small group. They knew that they had something big when the governor’s inner circle reached out and inquired about serving LALO for his daughter’s wedding.
In that authentic Mexican spirit of generosity, that is so important to their philosophy and brand, they didn’t charge the governor, instead giving him cases of LALO as a wedding gift.
Today the “tequila boys” (as friends call them love that the world outside of the hills of Jalisco embraces their tequila as much as their friends. LALO is now one of the top 10 fastest-growing spirit brands in the U.S. and is available in all 50 states. Although they are thrilled by their success, they want to make sure Lalo gets in the hands of the people who will enjoy it most.
So, next time you’re in the Hamptons, Aspen, or your favorite New York restaurant, González and Carballido have one wish: to enjoy the finest and purest Mexican tequila outside of Jalisco, the way it was originally intended.
