How Mijenta Is Blazing A Path For Premium, Sustainable, Impactful Tequila
The World’s First B-Corp Tequila | © 2023 Vincent DeSantiago, All Rights Reserved
In 2019, three colleagues who had spent years working together at Bacardi sat down to ask themselves a simple question: what if they started a company from scratch, with a blank sheet of paper, and tried to do everything the right way from the very first decision? Mike Dolan Sr., Elise Som and Juan Coronado had seen what it looks like when a company has 100-plus years of history behind it, including the parts that are just "the way it’s always been done."
The tequila brand they built was Mijenta. "From the first discussions with Juan and Elise, we knew that Mijenta would be focused on two core pillars, an unwavering commitment to the quality of the tequila, and a strong set of core values," recalled Dolan, Mijenta's Co-Founder and CEO. "I'm honored that in the years since we launched, consumers, bartenders, retailers, and distributors have warmly embraced the brand."
Mijenta was originally set to launch in March 2020. Then the pandemic hit, and the founders held the product back, unsure how long the disruption would last. They finally launched that September, digital-first, without a single bar or restaurant pour behind them. The tequila mattered, but so did the packaging people saw on their screens, and the brand found an audience faster than the founders expected.
Michael Dolan, Mijenta's Co-Founder and CEO | Briana Balducci Photography
A Taste Profile Built From Scratch
Quality meant finding someone who could build a taste profile from first principles rather than inherit one. That person was Ana María Romero, who began her career as a sommelier before turning her attention to tequila. Unlike many of the additive-free brands that come from families that have made tequila the same way for generations, Romero had no such inheritance. She taught herself by visiting distilleries across Mexico and studying how each stage of the process, cooking, fermentation, distillation, shapes the final taste. She later wrote a book identifying roughly 600 potential tasting notes in tequila, and had already developed the profile for a brand later acquired by LVMH before Coronado, Mijenta's Co-Founder and Global Ambassador, who knew her work, brought her into the company's founding conversations in 2019.
"When we launched six years ago, our vision was to create an amazing, sipping-quality tequila that would also be used by the best bars and restaurants in the world to build inspiring, innovative cocktails," Coronado explained. "Using only agave, water and yeast, our Maestra Tequilera, Ana María Romero, has crafted one of the best tequilas I've tasted."
"My goal with Mijenta is to celebrate the terroir of the highlands of Jalisco, whose unique environment helps to develop the natural fruit and citrus aromas you detect in our tequilas," Romero explained. "Having begun my career as a sommelier, I have always held a deep appreciation for what makes each agave and each region special, and the meticulous process that we employ to make our tequila is designed to showcase the craft, the land and the traditions of Mexico." She's especially drawn to the teaching side of the work. "I love to introduce people to our tequila through sensory trainings to help them develop their nose and palate to better detect the complex flavors and aromas you can find in this amazing spirit," she added. That precision now shows up most clearly in the brand's Maestra Selection series, small-batch releases where she isolates one variable at a time, agriculture, terroir, production method, to show drinkers exactly what shapes what's in the glass. "What I'm most proud of with Mijenta is our Maestra Selection limited edition series," she noted, "where I'm able to explore in small batch releases different aspects of the tequila making process, from agriculture to terroir to production methods, that shape what you experience in the glass."
Ana María Romero, Mijenta's Maestra Tequilera | Mijenta
Sustainability Built In, Not Bolted On
The second commitment fell to Som, Mijenta’s Co-Founder and Director of Sustainability, who holds a master's degree in sustainability from Harvard. Her approach was that it's far easier to build responsibly from the start than to retrofit good behavior later. That thinking shows up in details most drinkers never think to check: bottles made from recycled glass, labels made from agave waste, bottle caps switched from glass to a sugarcane-based biopolymer, and packaging that is FSC-certified. A bottle redesign last year cut the carbon footprint of each unit in half, and Mijenta offsets its remaining emissions through a blockchain-based partnership with REGEN Network, now in its second year.
"From the very beginning, our goal was to demonstrate that it’s possible to craft a great tequila, make our products responsibly, and run a successful business," Som reflected. Six years in, that case is harder to dismiss. "I'm incredibly proud that six years after we launched, we not only have a portfolio of amazing tequilas, but we became the first tequila producer to earn B Corp certification, and renewed it three years later with an even better score," she added.
Elise Som, Mijenta’s Co-Founder and Director of Sustainability | Briana Balducci Photography
Giving Back to the Land
Since 2022, Mijenta has run a twice-yearly campaign donating a dollar from every bottle sold to Women's Earth Alliance, now entering its fifth year. What began as a project still being planned has grown into support for six women-led organizations across Mexico, working on issues ranging from ocean and forest preservation to indigenous and women's rights to the preservation of ancient grains and seeds. "Sustainability and community support remain at the heart of what we do, and I'm also thrilled that we are entering our fifth year partnering with Women's Earth Alliance to support women-led organizations across Mexico focused on a range of local issues, including rainforest protection, ocean preservation, and women's and indigenous rights, to name a few," Som noted. "As we continue to grow, we look forward to the opportunity to do even more."
Juan Coronado, Mijenta's Co-Founder and Global Ambassador | Nico Schinco
Designed to Tell a Story
Mijenta's core lineup, a Blanco, Reposado and Añejo, is joined each year by two limited series: the Symphony Series in spring, designed since 2024 by Japanese artist Hiroko Otake, and the Maestra Selection in fall, whose second release was designed by Mexico City artist Sofia Castellanos. Partnering with female artists on the packaging wasn't incidental, it was part of the same instinct that shaped everything else about the brand. "From our Blanco, to our aged products, to our limited edition series, Ana brings a meticulousness, dedication to craft, and vision that has helped us foster a passionate community of bartenders across the globe," Coronado reflected. "Building the brand has been extremely fulfilling, but I'm always most proud of the expression on someone's face when they taste Mijenta for the first time."
From Five States to Five Continents
Mijenta is now sold in all 50 U.S. states, with particular strength in California, Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois, and a growing footprint abroad in Spain, Dubai, Lebanon, the Netherlands and France, along with a newly opened presence in Asia. Dolan is candid that the international market for additive-free tequila is trailing the U.S. by roughly five to ten years, not that it's failing to materialize. "As consumers become more sophisticated, particularly about tequila, they are gravitating towards higher-quality, more authentic offerings," he observed. "At the same time, the distributor landscape has been transformed, with seismic shifts upending how suppliers, especially small, independent brands, bring their products to the market."
Six years and a pandemic delay later, the recycled glass, the agave-waste labels, the B Corp renewal and the Women’s Earth Alliance partnership are no longer separate initiatives sitting next to the tequila. They're the reason the tequila found an audience in the first place. "I'm proud that through all this change, we've built a brand that continues to resonate with people, both in terms of the tequila and the values that drive how we operate," Dolan concluded.
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