At a time when every alcohol brand seems desperate to convince drinkers that it carries a story, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Teremana arrives with something a little more grounded: patience.
Last week at Truffles On The Park, guests gathered for what the brand called a “Liquid Education Experience”, an intimate tasting session marking the South African launch of the additive-free small-batch tequila.
There were no oversized gimmicks. No forced theatrics. Just glasses moving slowly around the room, conversations growing louder with every pour and an audience learning that tequila can be far more nuanced than the sharp, punishing spirit many have grown accustomed to.
Produced in the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico, Teremana’s philosophy is embedded in its name: “terra” meaning earth and “mana” meaning spirit. The tasting moved through the brand’s three signature expressions — Blanco, Reposado and Añejo, each one offering a different relationship to time, oak and agave.
For me, the Reposado stole the evening.
Rested for three months in ex-bourbon barrels, it carried warmth without becoming heavy. Vanilla notes lingered softly against the brightness of roasted agave, while hints of oak rounded out the sip without overpowering it. It tasted intentional. Refined but playful enough to imagine inside a cocktail.
Throughout the evening, Teremana vice-president Gonçalo Faria guided guests through the technical side of tequila-making, demystifying a spirit that is often flattened into stereotypes.
“The more time spent in barrel, the more the spirit absorbs the characteristics of the wood and what was previously inside,” he explained during the tasting. “In our case, we use previously used bourbon barrels, so we get a little bit of that vanilla and unique character from the bourbon.”
What became clear quickly was that Teremana wants to position itself differently from many commercial tequilas dominating the market. The brand repeatedly stressed its additive-free process, something Faria and the tasting hosts returned to often when discussing colour, flavour and texture.
“When you have a reposado that is darker, usually something else was probably added to give softness and smoothness,” Faria said. “We don’t add anything to our tequila.”
That commitment to purity reveals itself most clearly in the Blanco, the foundation of all three expressions. Crisp and bright, it carries fresh agave notes without the harsh burn many associate with tequila.
The team say every Teremana variant begins with the exact same Blanco base before ageing changes its profile over time.
The tasting also became an unexpected lesson in patience. Reposado tequilas, guests learnt, must legally rest for at least 60 days before earning the classification. Teremana pushes beyond that minimum with a full three-month maturation period. The Añejo spends between one and three years ageing in oak barrels, developing a deeper complexity and richer sweetness.
And it shows.
The Añejo arrived darker, fuller and noticeably more contemplative. Caramel, cooked agave and soft woody notes unfolded slowly across the palate. If the Blanco felt youthful and energetic and the Reposado sociable and warm, then the Añejo felt like the elder sibling in the room — quieter, richer, more self-assured.
But perhaps the most refreshing aspect of the evening was how accessible the conversation around tequila became. There was no pretentious gatekeeping. Guests compared tasting notes freely across tables. Some picked up citrus. Others tasted vanilla more strongly. Some preferred the brightness of the Blanco, while others leaned toward the heavier oak influence of the Añejo.
The Reposado, though, seemed to consistently pull people back in.
Maybe because it sits in the middle, carrying enough maturity to feel sophisticated while holding onto the freshness that makes tequila exciting in the first place.
By the end of the evening, Teremana’s South African launch felt less like a celebrity-backed alcohol roll-out and more like an invitation to slow down and taste what is in the glass. Not to shoot it hurriedly across a crowded bar but to sit with it long enough to notice the layers.
Perhaps that is the real luxury now: not excess but attention.
At Teremana’s South African launch, additive-free tequila, oak-barrel ageing and slow sipping transformed an ordinary tasting into an education in craft and flavour
