In the small town of San Juanito de Escobedo, there’s a name that carries weight, respect, and tradition: Don JosĂ© GarcĂa.
He’s the patriarch of Destiladora Agave Azul — the renowned agave plantation and distillery behind Point Blank Tequila — and a man deeply devoted to the craft and culture of authentic tequila-making.
“This is my land, these are my people,” Don JosĂ© said in Spanish, overlooking the blue agave fields he’s nurtured for decades. “This is where I grew up and where I am still growing, thanks to this tequila company. It has given me the chance to give back to the place that I love.”
For Don JosĂ©, his tequila company is more than a business — it’s a legacy. One that began generations ago with his great-grandfather, and one he brought back to life on the very same soil.
It’s a place committed to doing things right — from giving back to the land where the agave grows to honoring the hands that shape its spirit and story.
There’s a reason Point Blank Tequila is born of this place. The land, the town, the family — they’re part of the spirit inside every bottle. Only a place this rooted in purpose, culture, and care could produce a tequila this pure. Every drop reflects heart, history and honesty.
Humble Beginnings
Born in 1957, Don José was raised in San Juanito de Escobedo, a small, quiet town about 40 miles west of Guadalajara. He worked the same lands as his father — cultivating agave, corn, and wheat under the golden Jalisco sun.
Though the work was hard, he remembers it fondly.
“Playing and having fun in the countryside, riding the animals. It was beautiful,” he said.
But San Juanito is more than just his hometown — it’s a place where time slows down and traditions run deep. Nestled between rolling hills and near ancient pyramids, it’s a town steeped in history, where every street carries the memory of generations past. It’s where festivals still light up the plazas, where neighbors know each other by name, and where faith and family shape daily life.
To Don José, San Juanito is sacred. It’s not only where he played as a boy, but where he learned the rhythms of the land, and where his roots have only grown deeper with time. It’s here, in this unassuming town, that his story began — and it’s here that his legacy continues to grow.
How the Past Found Its Way Home
Don José grew up surrounded by agaves — but he never imagined he would be an agave farmer, let alone a tequila maker.
But fate has a funny way of bringing things full circle.
Long before Don José was born, his great-grandfather, Don Anselmo Garcia, was a humble craftsman who traveled the region selling goods.
“He was an entrepreneur because he had carts to transport straw mats, corn, and cheese,” Don JosĂ© said. “He would sell them around here, in Guadalajara, in Nayarit.”
But as the story goes, it was during a visit to the town of Tequila that a conversation changed everything.
There, Don Anselmo met Don Javier Suaza — one of the founding figures of the Mexican tequila industry. Suaza encouraged Don Anselmo to plant agave in his hometown.
Inspired, he returned to San Juanito de Escobedo and introduced agaves to the region for the first time. The land proved perfect — its rich soil, elevation, and climate created ideal conditions for cultivating agave.
Years later, when the agaves were finally ready for harvest, he and some friends built a small taberna — a rustic distillery where they made aguardiente (firewater) not for commerce, but for community.
When Don Anselmo passed, the taberna went quiet — and his legacy quietly settled into the soil, waiting patiently for someone to revive it.
That someone would be Don José — who, decades later, unknowingly walked the same path his great-grandfather once carved.
A Legacy Reawakened
In 1996, Don José found himself working with friends to revive a forgotten distillery on a dirt road in the hills. It wasn’t until he brought his uncle for a visit that the past came into focus.
His uncle revealed that this was the very site where Don Anselmo had once made his aguardiente. Without even knowing it, Don José had been walking in his great-grandfather’s footsteps.
“It was just a small tavern, made of metal sheets and cement,” Don Jose recalled. “Very rustic.”
In the following years, Don José took that rediscovered legacy and built it into something lasting. He officially named it Destiladora Agave Azul — a tribute to both the plant that defines the region and the family roots that run through it.
“This place is so special,” GarcĂa said. “I love it for the view that it has and for the legacy my great-grandfather wanted to create.”
What began as a forgotten taberna has since been transformed into a thriving, fully integrated production site for authentic tequila — one built on tradition, driven by sustainability, and fueled by family.
Today, the land is home to three interconnected companies. At the heart is Destiladora Agave Azul, the distillery that produces Point Blank Tequila, led by Zandra GĂłmez Santiago, a world-class master distiller and the 2024 Best Woman Distiller.
Just beyond it lies Agaves Finos, where blue weber agave is grown with precision and respect for the land.
“Quality tequila comes from quality agave,” Don JosĂ© said. “We carefully manage the fields and we protect the purity of the agave from diseases that are common in the region. We are free from those — thanks to a phytosanitary engineer.”
Completing the cycle is Compostas de San Juanito, a composting operation that transforms leftover piña fibers into nutrient-rich fertilizer, returning life to the very soil from which it came.
Together, the companies employ more than 100 people who help preserve every step of the craft. It’s an ecosystem designed not just for efficiency, but for integrity — where nothing is wasted, and everything has a purpose.
Don JosĂ©’s children now work in the business, carrying forward the values he instilled: authenticity, excellence, and respect for the land and their heritage.
“The legacy I want to leave is carried forward by them. I’ve always told them: don’t lose your grounding. If the quality is good, people will choose you,” Don JosĂ© said.
“My children are learning how to do it and the company is on the right path. I want them to know who JosĂ© GarcĂa was — and that I always loved my town. This is where I will die.”
Inside the distillery, a photo of his great-grandfather, Don Anselmo, hangs in quiet tribute — a reminder of where it all began. They even produced and named a tequila after him.
“I think if he were here, he would be proud of me,” Don JosĂ© said. “Something he started is now being continued. It’s a great source of pride to be his grandson. What he couldn’t finish, we are trying to do now — in his honor.”
What began as one man’s quiet dream in a small town decades ago now lives boldly in every bottle of Point Blank Tequila — crafted with care, fueled by family, and built to last.
