CLEVELAND — Seth MacDonald is busy at work. 

What You Need To Know

  • Tequila Fest Cleveland takes place Friday, July 15 and Saturday, July 16

  • More than 50 tequilas are available for sampling

  • Cantera Negra Tequila is an Ohio-owned brand that will attend the festival

“I’m setting up my booth for Tequila Fest Cleveland,” MacDonald said.

He’s the Midwest market manager for Cantera Negra Tequila, an Ohio brand with a distillery that's outside of the country.

“The distillery is in the town of Tequila, in Jalisco, Mexico,” MacDonald said. 

MacDonald said it’s difficult to start an alcohol company in Ohio because of the state’s liquor control regulations.

“They are not interested in starting brands," he said. "They are just interested in giving the population the brands that have already proven themselves,” MacDonald said.

He said the festival circuit helped them gain popularity.

“We’d never done any kind of event this size before and we were able to taste between three [hundred] and five hundred people,” MacDonald said.

​Four years later, MacDonald said they’re now in distribution in 27 states and are on track to sell more than 80,000 cases of tequila in 2022. 

“We have a silver tequila, and silver sees no oak at all," he said. "We have a reposado, that means rested."

They also sell other varieties like Anejos and a coffee flavor, which MacDonald said makes for a great espresso martini.

Besides Cleveland, MacDonald said the company will appear at other festivals around the state.

“We’re going to do the Willoughby tequila [festival] in August, and we’ll also do the Columbus tequila [festival],” he said.