Fresh Take: Inside Clase Azul Tequila’s Big Ambitions

My last story of the year is out today along with this final 2024 edition of Fresh Take. How are you doing? I’ve had a brutal run-up to taking some time off for the holidays, but I’m thrilled to get this feature on the ultra-premium tequila brand Clase Azul published in time for your weekend reading.

After visiting the company’s founder and CEO Arturo Lomeli at his home in Guadalajara, Mexico last month, I’ve been feeling energized. And not just from the taquitos and pozole we ate for lunch (though I have not stopped thinking about that meal). While staunchly remaining independent and committing to staying 100% Mexican-owned, Clase Azul has become quite the business over the past three decades—despite its structure being a rarity today.

And now the poetic Lomeli is starting to translate that powerful brand into what he envisions could be Mexico’s first luxury house, with visions extending beyond tequila to ceramics, hotels and more. It’s a big dream, but Lomeli may be the only entrepreneur positioned to do it entirely authentically.

“We control for longevity,” Lomeli told me during my three-plus hours spent interviewing, eating, sampling tequila and checking out his hyperbaric oxygen chamber. “If you don’t face the fear, you’re not going to evolve yourself.”

Another highlight from our time together that has stuck with me: “Most successful people are not the ones who have more money,” he said. “They are the ones who have enough. So the question is, when is enough?”

I hope you enjoy reading this story, as well as everything this season has to offer. I’m wishing you a happy end to your year—with plenty of rest! See you in January!

— Chloe Sorvino, Staff Writer

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The Feed

How Clase Azul Built A Billion-Dollar Tequila Business Beyond The Top Shelf

Arturo Lomeli is transforming his super premium tequila brand into Mexico’s first luxury house—including hotels and boutiques—while maintaining the brand’s independence.

CDC Confirms First ‘Severe’ Human Bird Flu Case In US And California Declares State Of Emergency

There have been more than 60 human cases of bird flu in the U.S. since an outbreak began in April, but this marks the first severe case of the illness in humans.

This Startup Makes A Vaccine For Honeybees. Shrimp Are Next.

Dalan Animal Health is working to sell its bee vaccines to commercial beekeepers and governments—and potentially expand to other invertebrates.

Sustainable Spirits Aren’t A Fad. An Expert’s Picks For The Holidays

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FIELD NOTES

I couldn’t resist the reopening of the storied Upper East Side bistro Le Veau D’Or. These (sustainable!) escargots were the perfect way to kick off the holidays. I won’t share how much buttered baguette I ate with them.

Thanks for reading the 129th edition of Forbes Fresh Take! Let me know what you think. Subscribe to Forbes Fresh Take here.

Chloe Sorvino leads coverage of food and agriculture as a staff writer on the enterprise team at Forbes. Her book, Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed and the Fight for the Future of Meat, published on December 6, 2022, with Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books. Her nearly nine years of reporting at Forbes has brought her to In-N-Out Burger’s secret test kitchen, drought-ridden farms in California’s Central Valley, burnt-out national forests logged by a timber billionaire, a century-old slaughterhouse in Omaha and even a chocolate croissant factory designed like a medieval castle in northern France.