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Andrew Summersett, right, with a member of his tequila family in the agave fields of San Juanito de Escobedo.
Here’s a drinking game for you this weekend. Before you agree to play, make sure you’re not driving and doubly make sure you don’t have anything important to attend to the next day.
OK, ready, set, go: Take a drink for every celebrity with a tequila brand.
You’ll have a good buzz on your head before finishing this sentence.
I counted 16, and I’m surely missing some. They include Clooney, Strait, one with a Kardashian tie (insert an eye roll here), Eva Longoria, Sammy Hagar, Lebron James, Michael Jordan — not in that order — The Rock, Kevin Hart, and Nick Jonas. I didn’t even realize Nick Jonas was old enough to drink. Check his ID.
Whatever the case, the celebrity brands have had to confront the critical eye — namely the view that their products are more vainglorious cash grabs than passion projects.
"Our space really got bastardized, if that's a word, by the shove-it-down-your throat-celebrity-endorsed additive garbage,” says Andrew Summersett, 38, an entrepreneur from Aledo whose “juice” is clearly a passion project.
Point Blank Tequila is free of both additives and coastal celebrities, though there is a local A-lister who approves.
Point Blank has been selected as the exclusive tequila sponsor for Bosque Ranch Live, the inaugural music festival on Saturday hosted by Taylor Sheridan at his Bosque Ranch.
The event is an introduction of the brand for a fall market retail launch. And it’s the first element of, by all appearances, a partnership between the Point Blank and Sheridan on specialty events and branding.
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The three expressions of Point Blank: Blanco, Anejo, and Reposado.
“Our groups just brush shoulders often enough, and they really liked our style and what the brand stood for,” says Andrew Summersett, co-founder of Point Blank, of Sheridan and his various enterprises. “I think it'll be very mutually beneficial. He likes to prop up local brands and brands that obviously they have synergies with.”
Point Blank, Summersett says, has all the elements of the Sheridan's cowboy ideal — a blend of respectful rebellion, one who pushes back against conformity while still living a personal code of honor. Another element Summersett believes Sheridan and his people liked was Point Blank’s “girl power,” as he calls it.
Zandra Gomez Santiago is Point Blank’s master distiller. From her view at the Destiladora Agave Azul distillery in the heart of Jalisco, Mexico, she has stood out as a pioneer in an industry — and national culture — dominated by men.
As evidence of her craftsmanship, she was awarded “Best Woman Distiller” by the Women’s International Wine & Spirits Competition in 2024.
"I think that's what [Sheridan] ultimately saw in our brand: girl power. That's cool. That's different," Summersett says, elaborating on Sheridan’s penchant for strong female characters in his Paramount+ empire.
Moreover, Point Blank has positioned itself as a lifestyle brand that highlights the stories of the people in Mexico who produced the tequila.
The distillery is in the small town of San Juanito de Escobedo in Altos de Jalisco — also called the Jaliscan Highlands — an important cultural region of eastern Jalisco. Its historical development was shaped by early Spanish-colonial settlement and indigenous resistance. It retains a deep Catholic heritage, visible in its pilgrimage sites, and strong cultural conservatism.
Economically, the area is anchored in livestock, local manufacturing, and, yes, tequila. Altos de Jalisco is a part of the important blue agave production zone.
The town has a population of roughly 11,000.
“It is a tequila town,” Summersett says. “All the farming and production in and around is based on agave and tequila farming primarily. There's a lot of sugar cane down there, but it's mostly a tequila town. It's just ingrained in that culture. At Thanksgiving, you're not drinking wine with your turkey or whatever. You’re drinking tequila. The people there — our partners, our friends who are really more like family than anything — this is what they do. This is their legacy and their parents' legacy and their kids’ one day. It’s an amazing thing. It's a fascinating place.”
It's the difference maker, he says, in the space taken over by George Clooney, et al.
“No, you don't have to dump it into a margarita to stand it. That's not tequila, right? I mean, let us show you how it's really made, how the magic happens here and what it's supposed to taste like, what the experience is supposed to be. I think that's magic.”
Summersett has been at this for 3½ years. Before taking this on, he worked in capital equity raising and real estate much of his career. He has a degree from Baylor and a master’s in international business from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio.
He has partners in this endeavor — Bill and Jeff Foss, father and son. Bill Foss is the founder and CEO of Sauvecito Tequila. Bill was looking to sell an agave farm he purchased in the early 2000s when the recession reared its head and showed its fangs in 2008-09. It was difficult to find a buyer. Coincidentally, that also happened to be when the agave plants were at long last ripe for picking.
The Foss team turned all that into own tequila brand all of their own.
Point Blank owns its own agave fields and controls the entire production process, Summersett says, from farming to bottling.
By the sounds of it, Summersett turned to the tequila business because he was tired of drinking bad tequila. If it’s the mainstream you’re looking for, Point Blank isn’t the brand.
“There's a very discerning tequila community, a lot like wine,” Summersett says. “There's a very specific contingency that will spit your product out if it's not premium quality. Tequila is so physically intensive to go from A to Z. Even today, even with machines and computers and all this stuff, it's like we don't do it that way. It is all by hand, which is, it's cool. It's like a time warp going down to our little town, our little distillery. It is like a hundred years ago. I love those things. It's awesome.”
