Story

It all started with a small bucket and a few limes

Hi, I’m Vytas. I arrived to America from my homeland, Lithuania, with nothing, but my dreams. My quest to create the perfect margarita started in 2006, when I would spend countless hours in my basement, tweaking my recipe. All ingredients were handcrafted; I even distilled the tequila and the citrus liqueur. All day, every day was spent working on margaritas, thinking about margaritas, and dreaming about margaritas.

My life’s savings went into my business. I started traveling to the agave fields in Mexico regularly to hand pick agave plants from which I would distill my tequila. Down the road, years later, I had to look for more space in order to continue, my neighbors started to complain about this ongoing “basement operation”. Day by day I built a margarita factory, hammering every nail and moving all of my basement equipment to the bigger place. It was very risky not that romantic. I gave up all I had to keep it all going to eventually deliver the product to the stores. There’s self-made wooden cabin off the back where I still sleep every night.

Many told me “you’ll lose your shirt doing this”.

I was often told that this “bootlegging” would never work. In fact, one person said: “You’ll lose your shirt pretty quickly doing this.” Many told me that I needed to have a business degree, serious investment or right connections in the beverage industry in order to start this idea. It wasn’t all romantic. I tried to reach out to large beverage manufacturers, but they turned me away every time. Had to beg the landlord to give me some space. At the same time, I was building a growing group of fans and neighbors, who talked to others and started to knock on my door asking for another bottle of margarita.

I still remember squeezing the limes into the bucket for that first batch that I made in my basement. I’m very thankful to everyone of you for your support and to be able to share all this with you and the world today. Cheers, Vytas

I still remember squeezing the limes into the bucket for that first small batch that I made in my basement.

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