“It’s a very thick and crowded market for tequila — even celebrity tequila,” admits Matthew McConaughey, co-founder of Pantalones Organic Tequila, which turned one this month. “But we believe in the juice. It speaks for itself. And let’s have fun. We noticed not many people were having fun with tequila, the way they were talking about it or consuming it. We wanted to make sure we brought that back.”
We recently had a tasting with Matthew and his wife (and Pantalones co-founder) Camila over Zoom, and the word “fun” was a key talking point. It’s certainly part of the brand’s marketing strategy, which finds the long-wed couple often pantsless in celebration, including ways that slyly mock the advertising of George Clooney’s tequila, Casamigos. And their most recent ad ponders why brands aren’t bringing back the “worm” — as in the dance move — to their tequila.
In a way, it’s bringing tequila back to its celebratory roots. “Before I was gonna drink or have a tequila recently, I felt like I was getting a sermon,” Matthew says. “It was like a sommelier sermon. I felt like I needed to be registered if I was qualified to even try it. I was like, what? We kind of want to push back on that type of guy.”
As someone who’s agnostic on celebrity tequilas (there are good, there are bad), Pantalones admittedly needs to have something beyond cheeky fun and two visible spokespeople to set it apart from the agave spirit masses. But one positive for the brand is its emphasis on being USDA-certified organic.
“I’m super pumped that Camila, in particular, insisted on the tequila being organic,” says Pantalones co-founder Andrew Chrisomalis. “There have been other sorts of organizations that have tried to codify tequila, like the Additive Free Alliance. And all of that has been disbanded by [Mexcian regulatory agency] the CRT. The good news is we’re 100% USDA-certified organic, which the CRT recognizes. It’s the highest standard in clean tequila — no pesticides, herbicides, fungicides.” (For more on the CRT’s heavy-handed response to additive-free tequilas and other labels it refuses to certify, I highly recommend this explainer.)
The 5 Best Certified Organic Tequilas
Why it’s a good thing — and why the best ones may not say it on the bottleThe tequilas also arrive with a modest price point ($40 to $50) and some early award recognition. The añejo won Double Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, the reposado took home Double Gold at the SIP Awards and the blanco received a Gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. On repeated tastes, I think the tequila does offer a unique profile that could appeal to both tequila and non-tequila drinkers. It’s admittedly more sweet than earthy and lacks the minerality, citrus and even vegetal notes I particularly like in most blancos. However, the añejo offers an excellent balance between the sweet and cooked agave I don’t always find in aged expressions.
“We had plenty of trials to get to this,” Camila says. “It took us 47 iterations to where we are and what you’re tasting from that bottle.” It was that aforementioned sweetness the couple was searching for, after previous iterations were coming back with a finish closer to star anise (a note that is absent from the final product).
Matthew says he keeps a five-part checklist for what he likes in a drink: taste, the time you have while you’re drinking it, how it affects your sleep, how it affects your dreams and how you feel the next day. “I’d say Pantalones checks all those boxes,” he says.
Another aspect helping the brand is Matthew and Camila themselves. Beyond star power, the couple has a history with tequila — they met drinking Margaritas 19 years ago. (“And we’ve now got three kids in the family,” Matthew quips. “We’re still together, so we have some thanks to tequila for my eyes being clear that night.”) And they do appear to be taking the tequila head-on and as a joint project.
“We said ‘let’s do it together and be face-forward,’” Matthew says. “Understandably, starting a business relationship between a couple, and you’ve got a romantic relationship, it can throw things off-kilter. But look at our humor with our campaign, the whole pantless thing that doesn’t work with just me or if I’m with a celebrity female. Because Camila and I are married and we have kids, there’s a sort of innocence about it.”
The Oscar-winning actor also has a history in the spirits business, having collaborated with Wild Turkey on their Longbranch release a few years back. “I really loved that as a bourbon,” Matthew says. “And their thing was about being authentic. My responsibility advertising and marketing with them was to tell their family story, which is very, very important. But this is a brand new creation, so we’re the origin story.”
McConaughey offers three toasts during our Zoom tasting — and in those, you can see the carefree vibe Pantalones is aiming for. “Here is to our children,” Matthew says. “Maybe all out there with children. We all are children, but here’s to our children because if we didn’t take our pants off, they wouldn’t be here.”
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