Skyrocket To Market ''Red, White and Blue'' Tequila
TEMECULA - 06/16/05 - Skyrocket Distillers is going ahead with its plans to produce and market its signature blue agave-based liquor in California and eventually throughout the US in an attempt to market the tequila-like drink to sophisticated consumers who are driving the surging luxury spirits industry.
In April, the US Patent Office (USPO) turned thumbs-down on the Southern California company's initial plans to use the name "Temequila" on the grounds that the proposed moniker for the product was too similar to "tequila," a name owned by the Mexican government.
"Temequila" is a derivative of the name of the company's hometown, Temecula, which is located about 85 miles southeast of Los Angeles in Riverside County.
The USPO decision was based on international trade law forbids use of the name tequila unless it's made from blue agave cactus grown in the Mexican state of Jalisco, which for generations has served as the traditional hub of Mexico's tequila industry.
Skyrocket chief executive J.B. Wagoner has said he will appeal the decision, but in the meantime, the company - which cultivates about 1,000 agave plants on 25 acres adjacent to its distillery - will initially market a "limited run" of the new product as J.B. Wagoner Ultrapremium 100-Percent Blue Agave Spirit.
The liquor will be available in 750-milliliter bottles, each of which will feature an American-flag motif and retail for about $58. Every bottle will be signed by Wagoner until the "Temequila" name issue is resolved "making these bottles true collectors items," said the company's website.
According to Wagoner, the new drink is the first such product made from 100% blue agave cultivated outside the US.
"I figure in the worst case, I'll have a nice landscape. In the best case, I'll create a new market for American-made tequila," he said in a recent press interview. "There are some 50 different kinds of tequilas from Mexico, but there's only one that's 100 percent agave tequila, made in the USA."
Tequila consumption increased almost 6% in 2004, with Americans consuming 8.5 million cases or about $1 billion worth, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the US.
Shawn Kelly, a spokesman for the Washington, DC-headquartered industry group, said demand for high-end liquor is being driven by a stronger economy, a re-emerging "cocktail culture" and new laws in several states allowing liquor stores to stay open longer.
Although sales of Mexican tequila in the US ranked ninth in 2004 behind vodka, rum, gin, whiskey and other liquors, high-end tequila brands saw substantial growth at 15.4%.
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