SAMMY HAGAR On Teaming Up With ADAM LEVINE For New Mezquila Venture - "This Wasn't A Business Deal"
February 12, 2017, 7 years ago
Sammy Hagar is ready for his tequila encore, but this time he has a playing partner in Maroon 5 frontman and The Voice star Adam Levine. The duo are bringing their own twist to the burgeoning spirits category: a tequila blended with mezcal, reports Mike Snide of USA Today. Hagar and Levin recently spoke with People about the venture. An excerpt from the interview is available below.
It’s no wonder that the Van Halen and Maroon 5 rockers instantly became great friends when they first met, and have since done everything from working on The Voice to becoming business partners together.
“Getting involved with Adam is strictly passion—this wasn’t a business deal,” Hagar, 69, told reporters at the launch event for Santo Mezquila, the new tequila and mezcal blend he created with Levine, 37. “He said he wanted to get in the tequila business and we, as friends, did this together.”
But their friendship all started in the most unlikely of ways.
“It was my makeup artist on The Voice who gave me Sammy’s number on a napkin and said, ‘If you’re in Mexico, hit him up,'” Levine said. “I gave him a call and said, ‘Hey, want to hang out?'”
Though Hagar said he was “intimidated and kind of nervous” to meet Levine at first, he accepted his offer to get together. Within 10 minutes, Levine said, the two were “shaking hands.”
Go to this location for the complete story.
Priced at about $55 a bottle, Santo Mezquila is an 80-proof blend of the two spirits, both of which are distilled from agave. Tequila is actually a type of mezcal made from blue agave, while mezcal can be made from other forms of the desert plant.
The two spirits are made differently, with agave for tequila baked and often shredded, for mezcal it's usually roasted and subsequently pressed, which gives mezcal a flavor distinct from tequila. Mezcal may be a popular hipster order at the bar, but some can find the taste overbearing. "After three or four shots, you feel like you smoked a cigar," Hagar said.
When Hagar mentioned to Levine his plan to bring a new mezcal to market, the pop star was more interested in tequila. While drinking together in the celebrity destination of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, they mixed some tequila and mezcal together and found they liked the taste. "When we came up with that name — mezquila — the whole road opened up," Hagar said. "We know what we’re going to do. It's the first mezquila. We've invented a new product."
Learn more at this location.
