“I believe the best way to have tequila is not the common jest of downing it with salt and lime, it’s with good company.”
These were Deano Moncrieffe’s first words as we started this interview. Before that, he took it upon himself to make me two of what he regards as some of the best cocktails you’ll ever have especially if you’re a Tequila cocktail virgin like me.
The Kenyan Kick: Comprised of Don Julio’s Blanco infused with local chilli, blended with pineapple and mint (yum)
The Tequila Barista: Coffee infused Don Julio Reposado blended with local cane juice and Madafu.
I watch him in wonder as he expertly goes on to make the drinks and the only things going through my mind are: I’ve never had a tequila cocktail before, What the hell will this taste like? 🤔 And the other obvious question was why do drinks take so long to be made especially when you need the most?
As if he reads my mind, he goes on to explain on the main reasons why he was there – at the Africa Nouveau Festival.
“The idea is to not just make an exquisite cocktail, it’s to make the drinks so deliciously amazing such that out customers come back for more – and the best part is with this one of a kind craft and draft bar – they don’t have to wait a gruesome fifteen minutes for them to down some Don Julio”
If you’re wondering how the first sip went – even with the apprehension on my face being very evident – I couldn’t have enough and believe me once you have your first sip of the Don Julio tequila cocktail, your life changes forever!!!
So what exactly is the story of Don Julio? Who is Don Moncrieffe?
Well:
Don Julio was the first luxury premium tequila founded by Don Julio Gonzalez. His passion for the brand has pushed him to improve on every aspect of the spirit making it what it is now. Their popular products include The Blanco, Anejo, Reposado and The 1942. Their most premium brand is The Real.
Deano Moncrieffe was born in London. His parents are both Jamaican but his dad is half French. He lived in Jamaica for a little while but the need to see the world came knocking early and he started traveling at a very young age.
What most people don’t know is he went to Paris because he had dreams of becoming an accomplished author, he had even published his very own poetry book.
So how did he move from the subtle world of poetry to the more exciting job of taking care of one of the world’s most loved tequila brands?
“I actually got into it completely by accident. Once I was in Paris, I very quickly realized that I could not sell enough books to sustain myself so I started looking for old jobs and I ended up being a bartender.
So the very first bar I worked in, I met an incredible French manager who for some reason told me he would take me under his wing and teach me everything he knew.
I used to work well into 5 am in the morning but I absolutely loved it. I actually entered into a bartender competition about 8-9 months later. I later travelled around Europe and got a chance to work as a bartender in many other countries.
Why Tequila?
Well, I grew up around rum because of my parents and the community we lived in and as a bartender, you wake up everyday surrounded by very many different spirits.
I however fell in love with tequila during one of my many excursions. I got to try and it and I absolutely loved it. I believe different types of alcohol give you different sensations but the feeling I got from tequila was sensational!
So what makes Don Julio Tequila so unique?
All tequilas are made from the Blue Agave plant. Tequila production is actually only legal in Mexico in 5 different states with Jalisco state having the bulk of the production.
When Don Julio Gonzalez, the original founder of Don Julio, had the idea to start making tequila, he decided to do things differently. He spaced the plants wider apart so that they could get more sunlight, he harvested the product 7-12 years as opposed to the 6 years people were used to, and he let the plant product stay in the oven for a longer time. All these changes made the end result incredible so much so that other tequila brands decided to do the same.
The beauty about Don Julio from the 9 years I’ve worked with the brand is that you can take it without adding any soda or lime or salt. Its been crafted in such a way that you can simply take it slowly at the end of the day with a few friends – I always like taking my Don Julio with great company.
How has the 9 year experience been so far with Don Julio?
It’s been nothing short of amazing, I’ve been privileged to travel to various parts of the world, with Kenya being my first time, and i absolutely enjoy it. Needless to say the job does have it’s challenges but nothing a good drink won’t fix. 🙄
Speaking of, what are some of the benefits and challenges you’ve faced with this job?
As I mentioned earlier, I get to travel a lot. I see and experience and get to immerse myself in very different cultures, sometimes on a weekly basis. The upside is, it’s an experience most people dream about but I’m still human and my body needs rest sometimes.
The upside to all this is that even with the fatigue, caring for a brand such as Don Julio totally makes the fatigue worthwhile. (Giggles)
Talk to us about the main reasons for your visit here.
So I’ve been here for a week now and I’ve been mentoring bartenders, mixologists, and connoisseurs on the heritage of tequila and the ultimate Don Julio experience. My visit was crowned by sharing my experience with Don Julio at the Africa Nouveau Festival where we set up our new Don Julio Draft and Craft mobile bar.
The mentorship program was basically an avenue to teach various people who work in the bar industry about tequila as a category. I was mentoring about 30-50 people in a couple of bars where I taught them on how to use the versatility of the product to cater to the needs of their customers. From here, I’ll be mentoring a few other people in Germany.
What I’ve learnt so far with this program is to keep the conversation open by letting the audience ask questions about what they want to know for example conversations about competition in the market, the history of the bar industry, trends, ingredients etc.
The Craft Bar is an ingineous idea of the cocktail-on-tap concept. You get to order high quality cocktails and get them without having to wait a million years for them. The cocktails are also made fresh – that is within an hour or so of people arriving – and what I loved about Kenya is there’s such an abundance of fresh fruit everywhere (it almost felt like Jamaica) and it makes the cocktails even yummier.
Why do most people have a negative outlook on Tequila?
Ask yourself when most people take tequila shots, it’s about 1 or 2 am when you’ve been mixing various drinks all night and we all know mixing drinks is a bad idea. So when people start puking their guts out, they blame it on the tequila which didn’t do anything wrong.
Also, why take drinks on an empty stomach? That’s a recipe for disaster!
Third is, most people take tequila that’s harsh and strong and smells really powerful; Don Julio on the other hand is smooth and subtle and sweet with a spicy finish but it doesn’t kill you.
I always say, it’s really easy to have a bad time on bad tequila but it’s not so easy to have a bad time on good tequila.
What are the plans for Don Julio in 2018?
We are looking into getting into new and strong partnerships with other companies all over the world especially in countries we have not quite ventured into.
We also seek to educate people about the products we offer and about the differences between good and bad tequila, e.g look out for the 100% Agave print on the bottle because if it does not have that, it means there are other additives.
There are also plans to produce a new limited edition which we will release some time next year. However we really want to build on the brands we already have; the Blanco, Reposado and the Anejo.
In the meantime, I want to keep ‘creating’ mini Don Julio brand ambassadors like you wherever i go because then I’ll know my work is done 😊
