When people describe Destiladora Agave Azul, they often use the word “magical.”
The distillery that creates Point Blank Tequila is more than a facility — it’s a union of heritage, craftsmanship, and heart. Nestled in the hills of San Juanito de Escobedo — a small town tucked in the northwest corridor of Jalisco, the birthplace of tequila — our distillery is a hidden gem where old-world tradition meets modern mastery.
Set against the backdrop of the Tequila Volcano, sweeping agave fields, and a lake the locals call La Laguna Roja, the distillery lives in a region that pulses with history. This is a place where sunrises paint the fields gold, where the land whispers stories of ancient traditions, and where authentic tequila is not just made, it’s lived.
“The views, the people, the energy, everything is really, really amazing here,” said Eva Mireles, marketing coordinator for Desiladora Agave Azul. “It truly is a magical place.”
A Living Legacy
Destiladora Agave Azul is a family-owned operation, led by Don Jose Garcia and his children. Don Jose’s journey began with a quiet dream — to honor something his great-grandfather started decades ago and create something lasting in the town that he loves.
What he built is a vertically integrated, self-sustaining ecosystem that includes agave farming, tequila production, and a full composting facility — three companies under one umbrella.
Few tequila producers oversee every step from soil to bottle. But at Destiladora Agave Azul, complete control of the process means unmatched quality, authenticity, and sustainability in every drop.
It’s also a place powered by the people who live and breathe this work every day. Dozens of locals work here, many of them second or third-generation artisans whose families have long been tied to the land and the tequila trade. Fathers pass down the skill of the coa to their sons. Mothers oversee bottling and labeling. This isn’t just a job, it’s a way of life.
“My dad has a lot of love for this town,” said Aldo Garcia, Don Jose’s son and the distillery’s sales director. “He wanted to give something back to it.”
Every bottle of Point Blank Tequila begins here — with Blue Weber agave grown on family-managed land, harvested by skilled jimadores, slow-cooked in traditional ovens, and fermented using time-honored methods by a master tequilera, who is also from this town.
Nothing is rushed. Nothing is wasted. This is tequila, crafted at its purest.
Masterfully Led
At the heart of the distillery is Zandra Gomez Santiago, an award-winning Master Distiller and the talent behind Point Blank Tequila. In 2024, she was named Best Woman Distiller by the Women’s International Wine & Spirits Competition — a recognition that speaks to her extraordinary talent, but only begins to tell her story.
Zandra grew up in San Juanito de Escobedo and raised her three children here. Her roots run deep, but she entered the world of tequila not by design, but by destiny. Originally hired as a secretary nearly two decades ago, she was brought on by Don Jose himself, a longtime family friend, at a time when he needed someone trustworthy by his side.
What he discovered was more than reliability. Zandra had a hidden gift, a natural sensitivity to aroma, balance, and flavor that transformed her from a newcomer to one of the most respected master distillers in the industry. With no formal training, only intuition, discipline, and a relentless desire to learn, she carved a path in a space long dominated by men.
Today, she is not only trusted with every batch of Point Blank’s Blanco, Reposado, and Añejo — she’s defining their profiles.
“She brings precision and intuition and deep knowledge to every step of the process,” Eva said. “She sets a powerful example, not only because she excels at what she does, but because she does it with integrity and grace. She is redefining what leadership in tequila looks like.”
Zandra said fermentation is the part of the process she loves most, “where the notes of tequila are born.”
She speaks of tequila-making as both an art and an identity. The distillery is not just her workplace — it’s her home.
“Every day I come here, I don’t feel like I’m coming to work,” she says. “I come to support Don Jose, he supports me, the relationship has always been like that…I have no limits.”
The Barrel Cave
One of the most iconic parts of Point Blank’s distillery is the barrel cave — a sanctuary 30 feet underground, stretching 100 feet long, where time and patience transform our tequila. Here, the air is thick with oak and earth, and the journey to our Reposado and Añejo unfolds slowly, gracefully.
This is the aging process and, as Adrian Martinez Mercado puts it, where “all the magic happens.”
Adrian, who handles international sales and also grew up in San Juanito De Escobedo, knows the craft from the inside out.
“To be honest, I love the whole process,” Adrian says. “Being here at the distillery gives me the opportunity to be part of everything alongside the production team. And trust me, every step is really important to the final product. If you change one thing, the outcome is completely different. It’s like cooking — if you forget the salt, you won’t get the right result.
But if I had to choose, I’d say aging is my favorite part, because that’s where the tequila truly comes alive.”
In the cave, barrels breathe with the earth itself, and with each passing month, the spirit deepens in flavor, character, and soul. This is where tequila learns patience. This is where it finds its voice.
A 360° Commitment
At Point Blank Tequila, we don’t just take from the land. The on-site composting facility near the distillery turns every bit of piña waste into organic fertilizer, creating a closed-loop system that enriches the soil for the next generation of agave.
“Only a few distilleries do this right,” said Roberto Ruiz, head of logistics. “It’s not just tequila — it’s a way of life.”
Don Jose said that being responsible for the land is the right thing to do, an attribute that he instills in his children and employees.
“We want to give back to the land what we take from it,” he said. “We’re returning what the land gives us, which is good agave and good tequila.”
From field to bottle, we’re proud to say that nothing at Point Blank is artificial. No additives, no shortcuts. Just the bold truth of agave, elevated through expert hands.
More Than a Distillery
Destiladora Agave Azul is a community, a culture, a cathedral of craftsmanship. It’s a place where ancient pyramids sit just miles away, where tradition runs as deep as the roots in our fields, and where everyone — from the jimadors to the logistics director — feels like family.
“It’s not a mass production,” Eva said. “It’s personal. And I think that’s something people can feel when they taste our tequila.”
When you sip Point Blank Tequila, you taste the land, the people, and the process. You taste San Juanito de Escobedo. You taste the magic.
