On March 18, 2020, while bottling their very first batch of tequila in Mexico, Socorro cofounder Pablo Antinori received a call from fellow cofounder Josh Irving with news that nobody in the food and beverage industry ever wants to hear.

“Bro, they just closed every restaurant in Texas.”

Such a monumental setback didn’t define the famed Dallas brand, however, as partners Pablo and Josh hustled for the first three months, revamping their business plan into a grassroots campaign of tastings. Pablo reminisced about those early days as we sat on the patio of the popular José on Lovers. He looked at the menu and ordered for us, changing a few items on the set menu. “You gotta try the pescalillas,” Pablo said. “You gotta dip it in that salsa.”

Socorro weathered that initial storm and has since grown from two to 25 employees, from one of their first restaurants at José to 1,800 restaurants throughout Texas, and now inside the suites at SMU games and on domestic and international flights with American Airlines. Pablo candidly shared those experiences with TLM and more as we indulged in margaritas during a perfect spring evening.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I call myself the Director of Agave Spirits, which means that I put my nose in every glass and every drop of tequila. And then when I mean my nose, I mean I drink a lot of it. I make sure it’s good. Not only in our tequilas, but also in our orange liquor or anything that bears the stamp of our brand, our company. I still do a lot of sales and presentations. Mainly, I have a lot of fun. Whenever you own a successful company, fun is there. And then if not, you have to make it fun. Wouldn’t it be horrible to have a successful company and not have any fun? So that’s what I do.

But as for my beginnings, I’m from Argentina. Everyone’s like, “You’re from Argentina making tequila?” Well, I’ve been here for 25 years, so I’m pretty much a Texan/Mexican. I know Mexico more than I know my own country, just because I spend a lot of time there. I know their traditions. I know their music. I know their people and I’m in love with it. It’s their culture, their people, their food, and their drinking is phenomenal. It’s an amazing country. From all the way down in Oaxaca and Chiapas, all the way up to Monterrey–-that country does not have a bad view.

How are people enjoying Socorro? Mixed in drinks, like margaritas, or are they doing straight tequila?

You know, that’s the beautiful thing about Socorro. It’s good mixed or by itself. Our Blanco and Reposado are delicious if you just want to sip on them. But they’re quite mixable as well. Usually, we find ourselves having a lot of success with Ranch Water because people can still taste the tequila, or a skinny margarita with less sugar, and then they can see what the agave tastes like.

It seems that tequila is finally having its day. What would you say that tequila and wine have in common from a cultural, historical, or even a culinary perspective?

Let’s start with what I know: the culinary part. I don’t think so before; whenever people were drinking mixed, there was a lot of space for blending or pairing tequila with food. But now it’s completely different. The quality is there. You can easily eat this ceviche with a Blanco and sip it, enjoying every sip. Get a little bit of that lime and that sweetness from a tomato, and then sip on that Blanco and enjoy it, right?

Culturally, I would say that just like wine, but even more so, tequila brings people together. If there is a party, a get-together, there’s always tequila. It makes it fun. Tequila has the power to take people’s preconceptions away. When people are drinking tequila, they feel their shoulders are loose, right? You might speak your mind a little more, and then you might do something that you’re not, whenever you’re not under the influence of tequila, right? But that’s what makes it fun, it makes it honest and genuine. I love that part about tequila. Do I drink tequila at home by myself? Hardly ever will. Hardly ever. I never drink anything by myself. I’m a very social drinker, and that’s why I think tequila has a better social aspect because it’s an upper. It makes you be who you really are sometimes.

Socorro is 100% additive free. It’s one of the purest tequilas. How does Socorro achieve this?

Of course, that’s by design. I’m going to give kudos to Grover, the guy who started Tequila Matchmaking, now called Agave Matchmaker. He started this movement of making sure that people are drinking cleaner and additive-free tequila. By law, you can actually add additives to tequila. You can add up to 1% of glycerin or caramel coloring. By law, up to 1%. So, it is not illegal to do so.

It is not only about not adding anything to it but also concentrating on the quality of the distillation. Only giving the pure heart, or the Corazón, of the distillation. The distillation has many different alcohols, and usually you concentrate on the middle. The ones on the outside are a lot more harmful to your body. Whenever you drink cheap tequila, there’s a lot of those ends in there. That’s what usually makes it bad. For us, it’s very important that people know that what we make is not only additive-free, but it’s the purest part of the distillation. We lose a good percentage of production by cutting heads and tails. But we gain people like you. They’re going to drink it today, and they’re going to drink it tomorrow, and they’re going to buy it and gift it away, and then you’re going to be like, this is amazing. It’s not about just the dollars for us. It’s about long-term success and long-term sustainability.

You’re often at the distillery in Mexico. How important is it for you to be on-site?

There are a few parts to this answer. Number one, you can’t control stuff from here. You cannot sell tequila if you sit at home sending text messages. You have to see it. You have to smell it. For the company, it was a priority to become an expert. We are a very unusual company. We are very, very hands-on. We don’t need a broker to find out which top or bottle manufacturer we use; we know them all. We know each bottle, each label, where they come from, what the competition is, where the competition is, and where they are going.

Then, it’s the love for the craft. The love for the place. If I can move to Mexico, I will. You know, I love being there. If you combine both the love for something and the idea of you becoming an expert, then you’re in heaven. There’s no better place to be. It’s not like work. I wake up eager every day to see what else I can do for the tequila, for the company, for our employees.

Socorro is now served on American Airlines flights. How did that come about?

It always takes a crazy idea. And then a lot of people make it happen. I always fly with American Airlines to Mexico. They have three flights to Guadalajara every day. I noticed that they didn’t have tequila and asked a question. I reached out to someone who used to work for American a long time ago, before the pandemic, and she put us in touch with someone, but my work stopped there. I cannot take any more credit than that. But Lindsey, one of our executives, is amazing. We did a little presentation, then the RFP was kind of at a stop for almost 2 years. During those two years, Lindsey would email at least once a month to somebody. That persistence and consistency were the best you could have. Then, in January last year, they called us, saying the RFP was back and asked for samples. That day, we ordered 50 ml plastic bottles on Amazon. We printed labels using a local printer here in Dallas. We submitted the product just like that because we never had airplane bottles.

Then they wanted more samples and said we were in the semi-final. Then the final. We were on a team retreat in Colorado when they called us. Lindsey picked up and told Josh and I, “We have just been awarded with American’s on-flight tequila.” I still get goosebumps from that day. We wondered if we could even make it happen. Ask me anything right now, and I can always make it happen. Because I’m that way. Josh and Lizzie are a lot more conservative but trusted me. I had two months to find bottles, a bottling company, the labels, the tops, the boxes…there’s so much that goes on there, and we made it happen. It’s crazy to think that such a large global corporation would give a chance to another local company that is doing well, but not even close to the credit American has. And it was a tasting competition. That’s the amazing thing. It wasn’t like they were looking for a company in Dallas. They tasted it, and they were like, “This tastes the best.”

You’ve partnered with a few orphanages for the Spirit of Socorro initiative. How often do you visit them, and what are some ways you assist?

As much as I can. They need everything. Anything that we can provide, either financially, emotionally, or educationally, they need it. And we provide attention. Some of these orphanages have 30 or 40 kids. There are two or three ladies trying to keep everything together. So they don’t get attention. There are not enough people.

I want to talk about your community effort, because it’s the brand mantra, “For every case of tequila sold, a case of water is donated to an orphanage.” But there’s much more than that now, right?

Yes. One of our big commitments from last year and into this year is to find a way to amplify the work we do and our message. The waters are never going to go away. We’re committed to that forever. But now, as a company, how do we help both sides of the border, not only in Mexico? What can we do in the U.S.? What can we do in Mexico other than the water? We are constantly looking for opportunities.

We’ve donated tequila, and we have so many events that involve some type of charity. For us, it’s a big initiative. It’s Brian’s idea to move into a bigger role in this capacity because we have the people, the sales, and the bandwidth to do more. Then, why not? We’re moving from “case for a case,” which used to be our program, to changing our movement’s name to The Spirit of Socorro. I encourage anyone who is reading this and has an opportunity to reach out. Reach out to our team. We’ll be happy to help.

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Cover Photo courtesy I&A Agave Spirits.

Martin Ramirez is a brisket-eating, Shiner-loving, road-tripping enthusiast of all things Texas. This Dallas-born writer / adventurer is ready to take his ‘78 El Camino to find the best in food, fun, and fitness throughout the Lone Star State.