Siempre Tequila Forges New Ground With Vivo

Alex Lacroix loves to do the impossible.

A convict-turned-businessman-turned-tequila maker, Lacroix made a name for himself that many would find impossible and sought to innovate with his Ciempre tequila.

Together with Sergio Cruz, one of Mexico's most famous tequila producers and founder of the International Tequila Academy, Adam Fodor, the trio created Simpre Exclusivo-Vivo, perhaps the only tequila in the world. "We wanted to create an interesting profile that no one in the tequila world has done before," says Fodor.

In an effort to create something new, they applied unusual technologies to create Vivo. They started with a wild fermentation using only a few tequilas.

"We didn't add any yeast," explains Lacroix.

"Because we used wild fermentation, which takes care of everything about the brew, and when you taste tequila, it smells and tastes like it was made," says Fodor.

But what sets Vivo apart from other tequilas is that they used an ancient Peruvian production method where the fermentation doesn't stop after the yeast has completely converted all the sugars in the agave into alcohol.

Instead, the yeast stays alive as long as most of the mash liquid is poured into the kettle. This method of distilling live yeast has never been used to make tequila, Fodor said, although it has been used in some tart cherry and cookie productions.

"Put simply, we haven't completed the fermentation process," says Fodor. “The yeast was still alive when it got somewhere. Usually, all your sugars make you collect more alcohol. We're losing alcohol and strength, but there will be more agave essence in the bottle, which will provide a unique depth and complexity of flavor."

Hence the name Vivo.

To maximize flavor and aroma, they didn't add water to the tequila after distillation. "It's like imprinting our distillery's signature in its purest form," says Lacroix. "A really good tequila lover will be able to taste different types of tequila and recognize what type of distillery they come from, and that tequila is actually almost a replica of a distillery."

With just 10,000 bottles and only 9,000 releases in the US, Vivo is slowly turning around and retailing at $129.99 a bottle. It's now available in four states, 25 of which will go on sale in mid-January, with additional bottles for sale online.

"It doesn't taste like it used to," says Lacroix. "The answer was really funny. There's a bartender in Nashville who uses it in their martinis, a retailer ordered $30,000 from him, and other people bought a bottle from Las Vegas to California."

"Enthusiasts go crazy for it," Fodor said.

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