The Tequila Storyteller

Meet Manuel De Avila, Tequila Don Julio’s National Ambassador.

By: Noah Rothbaum

It only seems like fate that Manuel De Avila would become the National Ambassador for Tequila Don Julio.

While he grew up in Los Angeles, some of his family lived in Atotonilco El Alto, Mexico. The small town is in Jalisco and is where the famous tequila distiller and innovator Don Julio González Estrada was born and lived his life. Most importantly it is where he started producing his eponymous tequila brand in 1942 at the age of 17.

And to this day Tequila Don Julio is still made in Atotonilco and celebrates his legacy of creating a high-quality spirit completely from blue weber agave plants. González’s personal mission helped shape the modern tequila industry and he is one of the people directly responsible for its meteoric rise in popularity around the world.

De Avila wouldn’t feel the pull of Atotonilco until a bit later, but thanks to his family he was already familiar with the place of prominence that Tequila Don Julio has in Mexican culture.

Before getting into the liquor industry, De Avila first went to college and got a degree in social psychology. While he was still in school he started bartending in craft bars in downtown LA. At the beginning, “I was simply curious about cocktails,” he said. But then he truly fell in love with cocktails and spirits. “So I kept with it.” It soon became obvious to him that this was his calling in life and he kept trying to learn as much about ingredients and bartending techniques as possible. “I kept soaking it up,” he says. “Kept falling in love with it.”

A few years into his career, he started to feel the pull of agave. “Along the way, as one does, you develop your favorite spirit and for me that was tequila,” he remembers. He felt a connection to the spirit deep in his soul, since tequila played a major part of the culture of his family and the society he was raised in.

Ultimately, he switched to the brand side of the business and began representing liquor brands in LA. “Mentorship is massive in the bartending community,” he said. As a brand ambassador, he was excited that he could focus on mentorship and education of bartenders around the city. Helping people to further their careers behind the bar and take their skills to the next level was deeply satisfying and felt like a way of repaying his own mentors.

A year-and-a-half ago he couldn’t believe that Tequila Don Julio was looking for a national ambassador, since it was always his dream job to work for the brand. He’s still excited that he gets to share Don Julio González’s story and his tequila with the world. “It’s amazing,” he says.

Now when he visits Atotonilco as part of the Tequila Don Julio team he’s filled with pride.

“There is nothing more authentic than spreading the Mexican culture to every corner of the Earth and there is no doubt that Tequila Don Julio has done that. And that’s something to be actually proud of,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’re always going to be the tequila that Don Julio himself dreamt to be. We’re always going to emulate what he wanted out of the brand. We’re always going to continue that.”

This article was published in partnership with Tequila Don Julio.

Please drink responsibly. Tequila DON JULIO. 40% Alc/Vol. © 2026 Imported by Diageo Americas, New York, NY.