There’s a new tequila brand in town that has lovers of the spirit standing up and taking notice.

Headquartered in the Midway District at 3486 Kurtz St., #102, Blowfish is the new Blue Agave distillation on the block, having been in existence just a year. The business is a partnership between Adam Prange and Michael Brown. So far, the company distributes to about 200 locations in San Diego County including liquor stores and bars.

“It’s been spreading like wildfire,” said Prange. “When people try it, they lock in. We have these loyal fans who will only drink our tequila. It’s like, ‘We tried your tequila – and we’re never drinking another tequila again.’”

Concerning their business name, Prange said it has nothing to do with sushi as you might suspect. “But we’re trying to make that connection because it goes so perfectly,” he noted adding he and Brown are in Baja a lot where their tequila is made pointing out blowfish “are everywhere there.”

Prange said their tequila bottle is modeled on the blowfish characterizing it as “cute on the outside but dangerous inside.”

“Blowfish represents the ocean and coastal energy and they’re interconnected,” noted Brown adding, “I wanted a name that would be memorable because the tequila field is littered with brand names that you couldn’t remember if you tried. What’s nice about Blowfish is our bottle design morphed into what a blowfish represents. The serendipitous part of the name is its connection to the sea and the type of animal it is, with a little mystery to the brand.”

Brown said their Blowfish brand is smoother and easier on the palate than most and is intended to be “best in class.” He added the Blowfish bottle is made overseas while all the bottling itself is done in the little town of Tequila, Mexico where Jose Cuervo started. “A lot of the good-sized distilleries are in this tiny sleepy one-horse town that generates billions of dollars,” he said.

Tequila has to be manufactured in the Mexican state of Jalisco added Brown noting, “You can’t go outside. It’s equivalent to Champagne (from a particular region in France).”

This is the first foray for both men into the tequila industry. “Michael’s been in the packaging industry for the last 30-plus years and we met through mutual friends,” said Prange adding it was Brown who started the blowfish concept.

“I love tequila and we just started talking and connected on the whole thing and he needed some help with it,” said Prange. “I just happened to have some free time away from my other job to focus on building this tequila.”

Prange told Brown “The only way this is going to work is if we have the best tequila in the bottle.” He added Brown vetted the distillery they’re with noting the tequila produced there “was just remarkable” adding “the meticulous vetting of our formulation and sampling and getting it perfect took a lot of time. The rest is history: We bonded over a bottle of tequila.”

Concluded Prange: “We’re proud to call San Diego our home. San Diego as a whole gets behind a lot of brands and supports them when they’re good brands with good ethics and moral code moving forward.”

BLOWFISH

Info: blowfishtequila.com, 760-402-9748.

Tequila’s origin: Tequila originates from the state of Jalisco, Mexico, surrounding the city of Tequila in the highlands of Los Altos. It is made from the blue agave plant growing in the region. Modern tequila production dates back to the 1600s in Mexico, though its origins go back further to around the year 250. Today, tequila is an integral part of Mexico’s economy and cultural pride.

Tequila production: Begins with harvesting the blue agave succulent plant with large leaves ending in spiny tips. Step 1: Bake the agave core, or piña bulb, in either clay or brick ovens to extract its fermentable sugars; Step 2: After baking piña bulbs are crushed and shredded to extract the sweet juice inside called mosto; Step 3: Next the mosto must ferment into ethyl alcohol. Combined with yeast and water in large fermentation tanks, the fermented mosto is distilled (typically twice) purifying the liquid and concentrating the alcohol in the mixture; Step 4: All tequila is aged for at least 14 to 21 days. Silver or blanco tequila is aged for the minimum time. To produce a more aged tequila, the distilled blanco is put into aged oak barrels giving the tequila a golden color.