Raising Spirits Equal parts non sibi and tequila create Craig Reynolds ’73’s cocktail for change
Craig Reynolds ’73 wearing thick gloves as he harvests agave pups (offshoots) on his farm in Woodland, California
MAX WHITTAKER
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A N D O V E R | FA L L / W I N T E R 2 0 2 1
raig Reynolds’ phone is ringing nonstop these days. Farmers. Distillers. Celebrities. All curious about his crops—rows of prehistoric-looking succulents across a sweeping desert vista in Yolo County, California. Crops that yield one of the most exclusive liquors on the luxury market. The agave plant is an iconic symbol of the Mexican spirits world, mainly enjoyed in its distilled form as tequila. Reynolds’ own brand of “agave spirits” —Dos Volcanes—is made from the same blue Webber plant as tequila. It began as a whim—an idea dreamed up as a way to raise money for scholarships to support Project Amigo. Since 1984, Reynolds and his wife, Cass,
have been volunteers at the nonprofit, which fosters literacy and educational opportunities for underserved children in Colima, Mexico. “I was certain it would fail,” admits Reynolds, whose day job was working in the California State Legislature as chief of staff for Sen. Lois Wolk. He had zero experience farming or, for that matter, running a business. “But I went along with it to humor my friend, Ted Rose, co-founder of Project Amigo, and surprisingly—to me at least—the agaves did very well.” His first crop, planted in Colima in 2006, produced 10,000 bottles of Dos Volcanes. The new brand quickly became a critics’ favorite, fetching $70 for a 750 ml. bottle. Proceeds from the sales were poured into the scholarship program that helps send children in rural Colima to high school and college. A teen from a migrant labor camp named Brenda was one of Dos Volcanes’ first scholars. Her father worked in Mexico’s sugar cane fields and her mother, also a field hand, harvested berries at a local farm. At 17, Brenda was accepted to the University of Colima Medical School—a one-hour bus ride from the camp. She traveled back and forth every day for six years; this past
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