(Photo: Weber Ranch)
After decades of ballooning growth, the tequila market has reached an inevitable crossroads. In 2024, tequila exports to the U.S. declined for the first time since 2009, a shift that coincided with rapidly falling agave prices and broader difficulties posed by inflation and trade tensions. Some have speculated that demand is plateauing; others argue that the market has reached the second half of a damning boom-bust cycle.
Whatever your perspective, it's clear that the spirits landscape is thirsty for innovation. Preferably, one that can capitalize on the eminent star power of agave. And thus, into the fray enters Weber Ranch Vodka, a Texas-based startup distilled with the same base ingredient as tequila.
Interestingly, it isn't the first of its kind. Blue Weber agave-based vodka has been on our radar since 2020, when Dan Aykroyd's Crystal Head claimed to have invented the concept. Its product, simply dubbed "Onyx," came in a gloss-black skull decanter with a none-too-inexpensive $50 price tag. Despite the SNL alum's star power, the idea never quite took off in the mainstream.
Weber Ranch is already shaping up to be a different story. The brand has gotten a gargantuan marketing push, placement in high-end bars across the country and a string of above-90 reviews from some of the field's most respected voices.
Those successes can be attributed, at least in part, to the brand's leadership team. No discredit to the liquor itself, but the alcohol industry is a cutthroat market in which liquid is arguably as important, if not slightly less, than execution. To stand out in the wildly oversaturated vodka category, you need name recognition and deep pockets that speak for themselves.
Spearheading the venture is John Paul DeJoria, the Austin-based billionaire who co-founded Patrón Tequila back in 1989. Other members of the executive board include ex-Patrón CEO Ed Brown, former Grey Goose CMO Lee Applbaum and former Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits COO Brad Vassar, who spent 15 years in senior leadership at the nation's largest alcohol distributor. If anyone can turn agave vodka from buzzword to trend, it's going to be these guys. And they sure seem confident in their prospects.
"Our mission at Round 2 Spirits is to identify scalable spirits categories – like vodka – that are ripe for disruption," Applbaum remarked in a news release at launch. "Couple that with our love and respect for agave, not to mention the rapid growth of agave spirits, and that's when the light bulb went off that we could harness the flavorful and complex characteristics of agave to craft a superior vodka that was totally different, and truly better than anything else on the market."
We sat down with a $30 bottle of Weber Ranch to see what all the fuss was about. According to the brand, the 100% Blue Weber spirit begins with agaves grown and distilled in Jalisco, Mexico. The batch is then transported to Muenster, Texas, where it's further distilled and blended with water from the local Trinity Aquifer. It claims to be 100% gluten, carb and additive-free from "garden to glass."
The nose opens with a light, creamy quality halfway between vanilla pastry and candied coconut. The agave is there, but remains incredibly subtle, wholly unlike what you'd expect from a typical blanco. Imagine a drizzle of agave syrup blanketed underneath confectioner's sugar sweetness and a hint of herbs.
The palate comes into its own with a more distinctive character. Layers of lemon, orange and minerality balance out stronger flavors of homemade whipped cream and almond. The experience is intriguingly sweet for a vodka, perhaps thanks in part to its main ingredient. But it never veers into cloying territory. DrinkHacker's Christopher Null suggested using this inside a citrus-based cocktail rather than a briny martini, and we'd be inclined to agree.
Marketing shenanigans aside, it really is a fascinating product. There's just enough going on under the hood here to distinguish this beyond the umpteenth vodka hitting liquor store shelves. The dry, ethanol character endemic to this genre is almost entirely absent, and the aroma packs a honeyed intrigue that'll likely prove popular in shots and easy-going mixology needs.
Click here to read our full review.
Whether or not vodka is necessarily my cup of tea is beside the point (for the record, it's almost always not). As other trends rise and fall, the category remains the reigning champ in America year after year after year. Consumer's favorite neutral spirit isn't going anywhere anytime soon. If Weber Ranch opens to door to a new subgenre teeming with unexpected flavor, I more than welcome the change of pace.
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