Apparently, a little tequila goes a long way to soften the rivalries among NBA owners. This week, Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Wes Edens was among a group of five founders who announced the launch of Cincoro Tequila— a family of artisanal, small-batch tequilas.
Edens joins fellow professional basketball co-owners Jeanie Buss of the Los Angeles Lakers; Michael Jordan of the Charlotte Hornets; and Emilia Fazzalari and Wyc Grousbeck of the Boston Celtics in the spirits venture.
The name Cincoro translates to “five gold” in Spanish, reflecting the company’s five founders and “pursuit to create the gold standard in tequila,” the company said.
Like many startup origination stories, the idea for Cincoro emerged over drinks. In July 2016, the five founders — who were then just acquaintances — met in New York and discovered a mutual love of tequila, according to the Cincoro press release.
“That was when we realized there was an opportunity in the market to create a new tequila, a better tequila,” Fazzalari said in an interview to Forbes. “We let our hair down and became true friends that night.”
Not long after, the group took the leap to launch the luxury tequila brand from scratch, embarking on a nearly three-year journey of researching, blending and tasting to uncover its signature distillation and barrel-aged processes, the company said.
According to the company, Cincoro provides a taste profile that “highlights the terroir of the agave,” and a “one-of-a-kind tequila experience akin to a single malt scotch, American craft bourbon or fine wine.”
Cincoro’s high-end tequila is created from 100% Weber Blue agave harvested from private farms in both the highland and lowland regions of Jalisco, Mexico. The brand's portfolio so far includes four distinct flavor expressions: Cincoro Blanco, The Reposado (aged 8-10 months), Añejo (aged 24-28 months), and Extra Añejo (aged up to 44 months).
Prices range from $70 for Blanco, to around $1,600 for Extra Añejo.
The company’s sleek bottle design and branding was a collaboration with Mark Smith, vice president of innovation special projects at Nike.
Edens and Marc Lasry purchased the Milwaukee Bucks from former Sen. Herb Kohl in 2014 for $550 million.
In Milwaukee, Cicoro is currently available at LEVY @ Wisconsin Sports, and La Casa De Alberto, just blocks from the Bucks’ team home base.
