Many people can recall the intimate and life-changing opportunities from their college days. Filled with friendship, music and new experiences, these are the memories that last forever. There is one key ingredient that has become synonymous with the college experience —alcohol. 

Alcohol has turned ordinary days into unforgettable experiences and have made strangers best  friends. It's these joys in life that have inspired Brandon Scott, Curnelius Arnick, Roddrick West and Devin Woodson from Oak Cliff in Dallas, Texas to create the rising tequila brand Tequila with Friends. With the slogan, “Good times. Great Friends. Memories that last a lifetime,” it’s this premise that serves as the basis for the company.

“We’ve all been friends for a very long time. That’s actually how we came up with the name Tequila with Friends. This is a business founded by friends and is an actual friendship,” Brandon Scott, co-founder and CEO of Tequila with Friends, said. “We’ve known each other ranging from 15 to even 25 years. We actually grew up together and are all from Dallas.”

The friends had done extensive research into the art of tequila before the creation of their brand by blogging about tequila first. 

“The blog was called Tequila with Friends and we’d educate people on the ways to drink tequila, how to pair it, where the agave grows and where tequila comes from,” Curnelius Arnick, co-founder and COO of Tequila with Friends, said. “There are a lot of things that people didn’t know about tequila. We decided, ‘Why not create our own?’ We went down to Mexico, met with a few manufacturers and found a great partner. The rest is history … We wanted the name to stay true and authentic to ourselves. A lot of tequila brands have a traditional Hispanic name but we wanted to stay authentic to what we are and what we created, which was Tequila with Friends,” Arnick said.

With years of experience tasting different tequila brands and working with their new manufacturer, the friends were able to figure out the specific taste that they wanted their signature tequila to have, with their Tequila Blanco currently on sale throughout Dallas and Houston.

“What sets us apart from other tequila brands is the agave we use. It’s a blend of both lowland and highland agave. The highland agave is sweet and the lowland agave has more of an earthy feel,” Scott said. “Ours is a good blend of both. It’s not too sweet where the other brands are mostly highland agave. It’s a really smooth finish with … I wouldn’t say that it has a sweet aftertaste but it’s definitely not fighting you like people are used to when they take a tequila shot.”

Through Tequila with Friends, the group is not only spreading their brand and knowledge of tequila in Texas and beyond; they are working to be role models of what Black entrepreneurship can be through their platform.

“Our goal is to impact our community here in Dallas. We’ve partnered with several different organizations in the city to make sure we’re being ambassadors for the brand and the city … We are doing what we can as an organization to make sure we’re supporting them,” Arnick explained. “Whether it is donations, going to spend some time there or just going out and spending time in the community. Our organization is based in the community.”

With a thirst for hard work and a passion for seeing those around them succeed, Tequila with Friends is working to positively shape the world for generations to come.

“It’s truly amazing to go on this journey with my brothers … We came in very green. But one thing about our group, we’re very scrappy, hungry, and there’s nothing that can’t be done. Bringing this tequila to life was one of the greatest things we could do as a team, not only from the standpoint of having a seat at the table and being Black-owned but creating our own table,” Arnick added. “We’re creating that generational wealth for our families … We want to make sure that we’re building a platform or a brand that shows others that are following us, ‘You can do anything you put your mind to.”