Aaron
Paul
&Bryan
Cranston
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Hollywood actors Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston have turned their on screen partnership into a real-life business, as these two are behind Dos Hombres mezcal—which you can find at Hy-Vee.
roof that life imitates art—and in this case, to the better—actors Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul’s characters became formidable business partners on AMC’s hit crime drama, Breaking Bad. But, while the story of a terminally ill, financially strapped high school chemistry teacher working with a former student to make money selling meth made compelling television, the story of Cranston and Paul’s real-life partnership, and how they found one of the best mezcals in the world, is better than fiction.
“Bryan and I got to know each other very well on Breaking Bad. He became one of my best friends in the world, my mentor. And when the show was done, it was a hard goodbye,” Paul says.
It was during a dinner in New York six years ago when Cranston asked about working together again, and Paul suggested a liquor business.
“I was introduced to mezcal about 11 years ago and just fell in love with the spirit, but it was hard to find,” Paul says. “When we were trying to come up with something to do together, we started talking about the spirit industry. I just instantly was like, mezcal’s got to be it.”
Cranston wasn’t convinced an alcohol business was the right fit. “I pictured us as moonshiners in the Appalachians running booze illegally or something. You know, because that’s what people knew us from. But when he [Paul] mentioned mezcal, I thought, oh, this is, this is just a terrible idea,” says Cranston, recalling the poor quality mezcal he drank with buddies in college.
P
WITH breaking bad, we all became very close, especially bryan and myself. we closed up shop and bryan and I became even closer through the years.
–Aaron Paul
Neither one knew the business side of mezcal, so they took a research trip to Mexico. “The agreement we made before going down to Oaxaca and tasting a hundred different mezcals was we had to find one juice that we really, really fall in love with. And if we don’t, we just had a great vacation,” Cranston says.
They did fall in love with a mezcal, but like any great love, it wasn’t an easy process. They’d hit village after village trying all the families’ different mezcals but were coming up with nothing.
It was just one of those aha moments. We tasted it, we looked at each other, we didn’t say anything,” says Paul.
Cranston wanted to make up his own mind on the mezcal—this was too important of a decision to be swayed by the romance of the location or the fact that they had run through dozens of mezcals and were on their last day in Mexico. “I turned away because I didn’t want to be influenced. I wanted to make sure,” says Cranston. But each man, with their differing palettes, fell in love with the drink they’d slogged through a river and jungle to taste. They knew instinctively they had found the one—it had the perfect blend of smoke with hints of mango, guava and banana. “We want to be the number one mezcal in the world,” says Cranston. And the treasure they found—liquid gold in a glass—just may prove to be it.
“We are as passionate, invested and involved in the Dos Hombres Mezcal business as we are with anything that we produce in the entertainment world. We love the work. We love meeting people. We love going to the stores and the restaurants and talking about it because we’re so proud of it.”
-Aaron Paul
Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston at Bathtub Gin Los Angeles.
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roof that life imitates art—and in this case, to the better—actors Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul’s characters became formidable business partners on AMC’s hit crime drama, Breaking Bad. But, while the story of a terminally ill, financially strapped high school chemistry teacher working with a former student to make money selling meth made compelling television, the story of Cranston and Paul’s real-life partnership, and how they found one of the best mezcals in the world, is better than fiction.
“Bryan and I got to know each other very well on Breaking Bad. He became one of my best friends in the world, my mentor. And when the show was done, it was a hard goodbye,” Paul says.
It was during a dinner in New York six years ago when Cranston asked about working together again, and Paul suggested a liquor business.
“I was introduced to mezcal about 11 years ago and just fell in love with the spirit, but it was hard to find,” Paul says. “When we were trying to come up with something to do together, we started talking about the spirit industry. I just instantly was like, mezcal’s got to be it.”
Cranston wasn’t convinced an alcohol business was the right fit. “I pictured us as moonshiners in the Appalachians running booze illegally or something. You know, because that’s what people knew us from. But when he [Paul] mentioned mezcal, I thought, oh, this is, this is just a terrible idea,” says Cranston, recalling the poor quality mezcal he drank with buddies in college.
“I was very dubious about this,” Cranston admits. “Then Aaron took me to a mezcal bar and I couldn’t believe what I was tasting. I was just blown away,” says Cranston.
Mezcal, which isn’t as well known in the United States as its cousin tequila, also gave the duo an opportunity to grow a brand from scratch.
“We don’t want to slap our names on something that we don’t really believe in. So, if we’re going to spend time and energy in something, we both have to be passionate about it,” Cranston says.
Neither one knew the business side of mezcal, so they took a research trip to Mexico. “The agreement we made before going down to Oaxaca and tasting a hundred different mezcals was we had to find one juice that we really, really fall in love with. And if we don’t, we just had a great vacation,” Cranston says.
They did fall in love with a mezcal, but like any great love, it wasn’t an easy process. They’d hit village after village trying all the families’ different mezcals but were coming up with nothing.
“I was very dubious about this,” Cranston admits. “Then Aaron took me to a mezcal bar and I couldn’t believe what I was tasting. I was just blown away,” says Cranston.
Mezcal, which isn’t as well known in the United States as its
cousin tequila, also gave the duo an opportunity to grow abrand
from scratch.
“We don’t want to slap our names on something that we don’t really believe in. So, if we’re going to spend time and energy in something, we both have to be passionate about it,” Cranston says.
On their last day in Mexico, as they headed to their car, Paul says, “A kid runs up to us and invites us to his family’s operation.” Cranston and Paul thought about it and decided to give it a shot. It was rainy season so the trek wouldn’t be easy. “We had to hike through a river. On the other side of the river is a guy with a machete and when he sees us, he starts clearing a path,” says Paul. They followed the man through the jungle, “And a clearing just kind of opens up, and we see this little operation, about 10 minutes into the hike in the middle of nowhere along the riverbed. We see these two donkeys pulling giant stone wheels, mashing up freshly smoked agave and it just felt so romantic,” says Paul, joking the scene also conjured up images from Breaking Bad. “It kind of reminded us of some meth labs that we shot in. You know— brought some warm memories into our hearts. And we’re like, okay, I hope that juice is good. We sit down and we sample it straight from the source.
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