Agave Lux Business Profile & Interview with the Founders

Agave Lux stands as a business with truly global roots that have spread from London to Australia via Mexico.

The company, which today specialises in importing and distributing premium agave spirits, was conceived with the purpose of enlightening consumers about the fascinating world of traditional Mexican spirits.

However, in this endeavour, founders Justin Kosmina and Howard Baynie embarked on a learning journey of their own.

The duo set a formidable challenge for themselves when they resolved to introduce lesser-known agave spirits like Raicilla, Sotol and Bacanora to the largely untapped Australian market. Their journey has been one of passion and dedication, and thus far, it has proven to be a resounding success.

The inspiration

Justin, a native of Adelaide with a background in hospitality, was living in London and working for a wine company in 2015 when he identified a unique opportunity to educate consumers about the relatively obscure realm of agave spirits.

"I fell in love with the agricultural elements of wine and spirits," he reflects. "And I saw an opportunity to actually educate consumers about high-quality, artisanal spirits that truly encapsulate the essence of craftsmanship.

"I didn't want to be a distributor or importer; I aspired to be a brand owner. In 2015, I acquired a Raicilla distillery in Mexico called Estancia Raicilla with the intention of being a brand owner and using that platform to educate consumers about how to appreciate better tequila and to showcase the depth of the agave spirits beyond tequila."

Raicilla, pronounced "rye-see-ya”, is said to have originated in the western state of Jalisco, where it was enjoyed by indigenous communities, particularly the Nahua and Huichol, long before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors.

When the Spanish conquistadors arrived, they brought with them the knowledge of distillation and introduced copper stills to the indigenous communities, elevating the quality and consistency of the local spirits.

However, with the growth of tequila production in the 17th century and the centralisation of power by the Spanish crown, Raicilla (along with mezcal and sotol) was pushed underground. It faced prohibitions and restrictions, as the Spanish crown sought to maintain control over the production and taxation of agave spirits.

As a result, most agave spirits aside from Tequila are little understood outside of their native regions, but Raicilla is a fascinating agave spirit to explore.

Thinking bigger

Justin and Howard soon realised that a single premium raicilla brand, no matter how exceptional, would not provide the platform they needed to achieve their dream of taking agave spirits to the world. They established a company to import and distribute their products to London distributors and partnered with a distributor to reach consumers and commence their educational mission.

When Justin returned to Australia in 2016, the business evolved into its third iteration, Agave Lux, to directly deliver the spirits they were passionate about to Australian consumers.

“The market dynamics of how you get to a consumer are different,” he says. “To get directly to a consumer it was better to be an importer distributor than it was to align yourself to a distributor at that stage.”

In this, they learned their first valuable lesson at Estancia Raicilla. Despite their initial intent to avoid being distributors or importers, altering their course granted them greater power to achieve their primary goal of educating consumers in the realm of agave spirits.

“We've always truly led with education,” he says. “If you look at the category of agave spirits, 999 out of 1000 bottles is tequila. The general consumer thinks tequila is the category, they don't understand that a sauvignon blanc to wine is what tequila is to agave.

“The category that we bought into with Estancia Raicilla was about a quarter of a bottle of those thousand bottles sold around the world. It’s a really small part of agave spirits, but it has a really beautiful rich history behind it. We've always been in the market of educating on the category of agave; we're category led. And then based on the quality of product that we have, we'll get our share of opportunity within that.”

These days, the pair are using the Agave Lux platform to encourage people to branch out from Tequila and try other agave spirits. They’ve even leveraged AI to offer an agave quiz that suggests new agave spirits based on a consumer’s tastes and preferences.

The challenge of the unknown

Naturally, this undertaking brought its own set of challenges. While consumers are well-acquainted with tequila, other agave spirits remain relatively unknown, making them a more difficult sell.

“Not having a tequila has been our biggest challenge; if you have a big tequila brand, that gets you in more doors because people are ready to have a conversation straight away. We're always looking to grow the category of agave and our portfolio up until recently has been Mezcal, Raicilla, Sotol, Bacanora, Rum, all these different bits and pieces from Mexico that we’re educating on – everything but tequila,” Justin says.

“When you taste a Raicilla with a consumer, they love the product but they don’t know what to do with it, and that’s been the structure of our portfolio for the last seven years. If we’d flipped that and got a tequila brand early, obviously we’d have had a bigger brand, a bigger space to work with. You can reinvest that into more brands, you could grow at a faster pace.”

This was their third lesson: “The long-term play of truly growing a category and being storytellers of the rich history and craftsmanship behind the products, can also slow down your business.”

Celebrating milestones

Since their initial investment in Estancia Raicilla eight years ago, Justin and Howard's passion project has matured into Howard's full-time occupation. Agave Lux now has two dedicated salespeople on board and a behind-the-scenes team supporting them across various business functions. Justin regards this as one of the most gratifying milestones in the business's history.

However, they don't reserve their celebrations solely for major accomplishments. Justin highlights that he and Howard decided early in their Estancia Raicilla journey to acknowledge and celebrate all the minor victories along the way.

“You don't always do that because you get caught up in the day to day and the growth pains that you have as a small business. But there was a moment recently that we just took a step back and said, Wow, look at what we've built.’”

Prioritising people

The final lesson Justin underscores revolves around the significance of people and the value of community. Justin's initial exposure to Raicilla arose from a long-term friendship, affording him the initial opportunity to invest in Estancia Raicilla in 2015 and human connections have remained a pivotal aspect of their journey.

Agave Lux's selection of agave spirit brands predominantly features smaller, independent producers they've encountered through their existing connections.

“It's a beautiful community of people in Mexico and we're lucky because – although we don't live there – we are an owner of a brand there, which supports us to become part of the community. So we became part of this great community of raicilla producers and that slowly has got us into more independent producers within those regions because we're not just an Australian company that's reaching out from the other side of the world. We have a little bit of trust and reputation within the community over there.

“If you look at our brands, you can see most have a connection to one another along the way. When we need another mezcal, a partner of ours will go, ‘Oh look, you have to speak to this guy in Oaxaca, he's doing amazing things.’ It's really nice to continue to support true local independent producers around Mexico and be part of that community.”

While both Justin and Howard bring a diverse array of professional skills and experience to the table, they've discovered that their personal qualities provide a harmonious balance.

Justin is the one who can establish rapport with people, engage them, make them feel like they are part of a larger purpose and align them with a common objective. This complements Howard's highly structured and business-minded approach, characterised by unwavering focus on the business's goals.

Both share an unyielding determination to navigate life's challenges and the tribulations of running a small business, always striving towards the next step.

As with any small business venture, their journey so far has been one of lessons, but Justin says their education isn’t done.

“Like with agave spirits themselves, you’re always learning. There’s always more to learn.”

You can check out Agave Lux here.