This week, Altos Tequila kicks off a tour around Australia and New Zealand to launch the Tahona Society Collective Spirit competition.
Altos co-founder and Global Brand Ambassador, Dre Masso and the creator of the Tommy’s Margarita, Julio Bermejo*, join the Altos team hitting seven cities across the two countries, launching the entrepreneurial competition. A finalist from both Australia and New Zealand will head to Mexico in June to compete in the global finals to win 50K USD, plus a years’ worth of mentoring from Harvard Innovation Lab.
The Tahona Society Collective Spirit is a global competition from Altos Tequila, focusing on sustainability and social welfare. It gives hospitality professionals a chance to create and launch a business concept that could change their venues and the industry forever.
Dre Masso (pictured above) and the late Henry Bessant, the co-founders of Altos, created The Tahona Society in 2009 with the aim to educate and develop bartenders, focusing on cocktails and, of course, tequila. To this day, the Tahona Society is the world’s leading tequila education program for bartenders, aiming to promote and spread agave and tequila culture. In 2018, the competition arm was transformed into The Collective Spirit which focuses on the development of the wider industry with a sustainability focus.
The Tahona Society Collective Spirit is a global competition from Altos Tequila, focusing on sustainability and social welfare. It gives hospitality professionals a chance to create and launch a business concept that could change their venues and the industry forever.
Dre explains; “For a while we had been discussing how we could change the dynamics of a bartender competition and how bartender’s think when it comes to business. One of the contestants will end up with a substantial prize to help kick start their idea, but at the same time everyone participating has a chance to develop themselves and their own project. Before and during the week of the finals in Mexico all the competitors will have the opportunity for private and group sessions with experts in sustainability and business development.”
The Collective Spirit sessions are an opportunity for people to find out more about the competition, understand the application the process, learn about past winners, ask questions, and will also hopefully spark some creative ideas.
In Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and New Zealand, the sessions are followed by the ‘Altos Tequila Very Happy Hour’ parties where the hosts will be jumping behind the stick with some drinks inspired by old school happy hours.
“We simply wanted to have some fun with the bartending events. The term Happy Hour is a phrase that a lot of bartenders want to stay away from, but we thought we would embrace it. We have a menu that plays homage to tequila cocktails that were popular in the 70’s and 80’s” says Dre.
Alice Newport, Altos Brand Specialist says, “We’re so excited to be launching The Collective Spirit in Australia and New Zealand with Dre and Julio – and to be having fun with it. While every session focuses on inducting the industry into the competition, sparking creativity and helping people to enter, we want people to enjoy themselves too. In Sydney, there’ll be a live podcast Q&A with Julio, in Brisbane we have an Altos Tequila Very Happy Hour after party at Frog’s Hollow, and in Melbourne the session has an interactive food element.”
“We’re so excited to be launching The Collective Spirit in Australia and New Zealand with Dre and Julio – and to be having fun with it. While every session focuses on inducting the industry into the competition, sparking creativity and helping people to enter, we want people to enjoy themselves too. In Sydney, there’ll be a live podcast Q&A with Julio, in Brisbane we have an Altos Tequila Very Happy Hour after party at Frog’s Hollow, and in Melbourne the session has an interactive food element.” – Alice Newport, Altos Brand Specialist
As part of the ‘Altos Tequila Very Happy Hour’ parties, there will also be a nod to Dre’s new London bar, The Drinks Trolley, that was inspired be the creativity and passion he saw at the last Collective Spirit finals, plus there’ll be a couple of special Australian spiced Tommy’s from Julio doing the rounds.
Entries for The Tahona Society Collective Spirit are open until Feb 28th, 2023.
Local finalists will be announced at the beginning of March and the finals are being held at Casa Altos in June 2023.
For more information, contact your Altos BA at altostequila@pernod-ricard.com or visit https://tahonasociety.com/
Altos Tequila Tahona Society Collective Spirit sessions
- Brisbane The Gresham January 15th 4pm
- Sydney PS40 January 16th 4pm
- Melbourne Mejico January 17th 3pm
- Adelaide Cry Baby January 18th 2pm
- Perth Mechanics’ Institute January 19th 12pm
- Auckland COOPS January 22nd 4pm
- Wellington Hanging Ditch January 23rd 4pm
RSVP to altostequila@pernod-ricard.com confirming the city you’ll be attending in to reserve your spot.
*Julio Bermejo attending Australian sessions only