Luann Lennox’s pat answer when someone asks about her favorite tequila is “The one that’s in my glass.” In reality, she has several. But she highlighed three for yourvalley.net.
El Cristiano: A newer tequila to the market that is additive-free.
Senor Rio: Lennox calls it “exquisite,” and made by family recipe from a woman who reunited with her Mexican father after 30 years.
Cancion: From Arizona-based singer Roger Clyne of Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, Lennox said it is affordable and great and loves the bottle, with the bottom in the shape of a compact disc.
Luann Lennox is not much of a drinker — like, ever.
“I don't say I don't drink,” she said. “But I just, I'm not a drinker.”
That is perhaps what makes her occupation so surprising. Lennox classifies herself as a concedora — Spanish for connoisseur — for, of all things, tequila.
You know, the spirit with the party reputation of “I’m here for a good time, not a long time.”
Lennox throws parties with tequila, but if the name of her company, TequilaSnobs, does not set the tone for those events, then surely the tagline of “BecomeEnamored, NotHammered” brings it home. No one is getting wasted at a Tequila Snobs gathering.
Lennox is on a mission to teach people about the higher end of the spirit made from the agave plant and maybe just leave behind the cheap stuff they are shooting at the bar.
In fact, Lennox thinks tequila is getting a bad rap for your hangover.
“They forgot about all the beer and umbrellas and wine and all the malarkey that they drank before,” she said. “And then somebody at the bar screams, ‘let's do shots.’ And they all say, ‘OK.’ And they don't care what the cost is. They get the cheapest thing possible. They grab a lime and salt — which is training wheels, which I never do — and they shoot it down, and then they blame tequila because they're in the toilet.”
Lennox’s expertise and her business came much by chance. She collected tequilas, but more for the colorful bottles than the spirit. She hardly drank from them at all.
The business came out of a Gilbert Chamber of Commerce referral group meeting she was invited to attend. Those groups are networking opportunities where members can do “commercials” for themselves and no two members are allowed to come from the same industry.
Lennox was invited but actually was in the same line of work as a member, so the leader asked her to just talk about herself a little.
Lennox owned a Jeep, having at one time worked for an off-road company, and was dabbling in photography. She put out an invitation to join her for an off-road adventure into the desert, where she would take her guest’s picture out in that landscape. But then she went on ...
“’And then when you come back to my house,’” she told them. “’I have an amazing array of tequilas. And I can tell you all about the different ages and how they're made and where they're made and the age designations and how important the plant is that they use to make the tequila, the agave. And I can tell you all about this.’ Great. And I realize as I'm talking about this, I was obsessively pretty passionate about tequila.”
The leader picked up on that passion and asked Lennox if, instead of going to Lennox’s house, she could bring the tequila to her house to have everyone sip and try the different tequilas and they would pay her for it.
“And I was like, ‘Hmm, idea,’” she said. “Thanks for the business plan.”
They booked a date and Lennox went home, crunched numbers and planned for her first party. It was so well received that one member pressed a $100 bill in her hand. Lennox was trying to figure out how to give her change.
“And she said, ‘no, Luann, you were so good. This is so amazing. This entire bill is worth it, and I want you to keep it.’ Wow. So I went, ‘maybe I have something here.’”
The plan has been refined from experience in the 12 years since then. She pours the shots to control costs and keep anyone from drinking too much. But guests have only a handful of sips over two to three hours as they swirl and sip and take notes and discuss flavor profiles.
She has added poolside margarita parties, in which she teaches guests not only how to make margaritas but how the quality of tequila makes for a better drink. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she switched to remote Zoom parties in which she delivered the drinks in the days leading up to the party. She still offers remote events.
She does about 30 parties a year. A Gold Canyon resident, most of her parties are in Scottsdale and the Southeast Valley, but she travels all over the Valley for events and even has ventured out of state to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Albuquerque. Cinco de Mayo and National Tequila Day, coming up July 24, are popular times.
Unlike a wine-tasting party, the closest thing she has to compare, guests pay to try the different tequilas, but also unlike a wine-tasting, she is not selling bottles at the end. She is not a distributor, so guests who like something have to write it down and go to their local liquor store to get it.
“I've really kind of created this 100% out of thin air and me, which is my tiny little brain trying to wrap around what works,” she said. “But it's fun.”
Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on Twitter. We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
Tom Blodgett Senior News Editor | Gilbert @sp_blodgett
Meet Tom Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.
Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism.
Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).
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