Richard Betts started out his career in the winemaking business.
Using his knowledge and skillset as a master sommelier, Betts crafted a tequila that combined his love of Old-World Mediterranean wine with traditional Mexican tequila-making. As a result, Komos is aged in oak casks from fine European wines, which impart his tequila with rich and complex flavor profiles. As Betts continues to explore agave distilling in innovative ways, so too does he look for new ways of thinking about sustainability, finding opportunities for the industry to improve. We asked Betts how he gives back, like his partnership with Orendain to repurpose waste material to make adobe bricks for the surrounding community in Tequila, Mexico.
Talk to us about your brand and its culture of sustainability.
Producing a spirit with the greater good in mind is at the heart of what we strive to do at Tequila Komos. Ever since I made Sombra Mezcal in Oaxaca, I have been interested in how we as an industry can make agave spirit production more sustainable. That’s why I started my brick project there. We carry on that ethos in an even bigger way today with Tequila Komos.
Why is sustainability important to your brand?
We want to leave the place where Komos is made (Tequila, Mexico) better than when we found it, that’s a big inspiration for me. Sustainability isn’t just important to me personally, or even just Komos as a brand. It’s both a problem and an opportunity for us as an industry and as a society to innovate around and solve for together.
What are some of the most successful initiatives?
Right now we, along with our amazing distillery partner Orendain, are working on building our visitor center from bricks that are made from our repurposed waste materials. This center will serve as a teaching center for other tequila producers to be able to learn the process of turning their waste materials into building materials as well. As we build out this facility it will also serve to continue to make bricks that will be given for housing and other municipal projects in the region.
Tell us the future for Tequila Komos concerning sustainability.
We hope to continue to innovate and contribute to the conversation around sustainability in the Tequila region and beyond. It is our stated goal to be completely waste-free in the next 3 to 5 years.
Tell us about the packaging.
These beautiful bottles are handmade porcelain made in Mexico by a producer that’s been making tableware for over a century. It keeps our supply chain short and reduces our carbon footprint, because the bottles have less space to travel to the distillery to be filled. Also, we don’t throw our bottles away, and hopefully you don’t either! They are meant to be repurposed, to be used for florals, candles, water service, whatever you can dream up for them. In fact, the labels are made with a special adhesive that comes off the bottle easily with a little running water to make it easier for anyone to reuse them.
Talk to us about the local community and involvement.
Of course, Tequila, Mexico is a place first and foremost! It lends its name to our favorite distilled agave drink. The town of Tequila and the surrounding appellation have a long and rich history that now obviously embraces its namesake drink and with that, it feels as though there is so much opportunity for collaboration amongst producers. In that spirit, we’re hopeful that our sustainability efforts will be adopted by others and that the community can all work towards a better future together by upcycling waste into building materials for the good of the community.
Talk to us about any new expressions.
We have two more very limited and very special expressions in the works. They’re secrets for now, but you’ll see them in early 2023.
The post We Ask Richard Betts, How Does Tequila Komos Repurpose Waste? appeared first on Chilled Magazine.
Source: Mixology News
