THIS NEW WOMEN-OWNED SPIRIT SHAKES UP THE LUXURY TEQUILA INDUSTRY

In 2018, former Obama administration official Lindsey Davis Stover ran against human rights expert Alison Kiehl Friedman in the Democratic primary for Virginia’s 10th Congressional district. What started as a classic D.C. political introduction resulted in an unexpected twist.

“There were so many absurdities that went on in our campaign,” recalled Stover (incumbent Rep. Jennifer Wexton ended up winning). “We would often make jokes about one day we will have to talk about this over tequila. Little did we know we would actually end up working on tequila together.”

Fast forward five years later, Stover and Friedman — along with their friend and former education policy advisor Shivam Mallick Shah — went on to roll out 1953 Tequila in October 2023.

Named after the year women secured the right to vote in Mexico, 1953 is trailblazing a path in the premium añejo tequila category but also unabashedly focusing on females as the consumers and creators of the product. Based on their previous career experience in male-dominated industries, the three founders consciously built a company run by women on all levels, from farming to distilling to leadership. Women’s History Month may have just passed, but breaking the glass ceiling in their field is a 365-day mission.

When it came to finding the right producers and distillers, the trio took multiple trips to Mexico starting in 2020 during the height of the pandemic. Most candidates they reviewed did not share their vision, however. “We were told no a lot and we were mostly told no, because we were women and that women can’t own or run the agave fields well,” says Friedman.

“Having an all-women team was considered a “pipe dream,” adds Shah.

Despite the naysayers, they continued to persevere and make regular visits to Mexico until they finally found a lead. They crossed paths with Adriana Lopez, who was the first woman in her family to run a major distillery after generations of the company were passed down through father to son. Her father sold off the distillery since he only had daughters, but Lopez’s husband bought back the distillery for her to run, which is also the first unionized distillery in Mexico. With Lopez as a partner, Rocio Rodriguez became their master distiller. Rodriguez has a background in chemical engineering and brings her science acumen to distilling.

The final piece to the 1953 puzzle was finding the farmers to grow the agave. They found an agave farm where four sisters were willing to take over the farm from their father.

“We asked these young women if they would be comfortable being the targets of isolation, mocking, or worse, violence,” says Friedman, as women rarely operate and manage agave farms in Mexico.

“They responded, ‘We are not scared. We’ve had a family meeting. Our father and husbands stand behind us. We’re far more excited about what the women and the girls at the local high school will think when they see women can do this to than any risk to us.’”

Wrapped in a Tiffany blue-hued box, 1953 Tequila’s packaging is exquisitely feminine. The bottle mimics a perfume bottle shape with a strikingly opaque minimalist design. Bottles starting at $236 can be purchased at local Virginia ABC stores or online via Reserve Bar.

Beyond its aesthetic, the shape of the bottle serves a larger purpose.

“We spoke to women bartenders who talked about the difficulty of pouring a tequila bottle because they’re fat and bulky,” says Friedman. “We wanted to create something that was easy for everyone to pour and enjoy.”

When choosing the packaging, the goal was to make the bottle resemble a present that could be gifted at dinner parties. The bottle can also be upcycled as a flower vase.

At the end of the day, what matters most is how the tequila actually tastes, and accolades are already coming in. 1953 Tequila was named 2023’s “Best Additive-Free Tequila” by Men’s Journal. With notes of vanilla and caramel, 1953 is meant to be sipped like bourbon and can be enjoyed with a cube of ice or at room temperature.

“I always kid and say our tequila doesn’t taste like a bad decision over ice,” says Stover.

2024-04-18T18:35:33Z dg43tfdfdgfd