There’s a phenomenon in tennis when a ball hits the net, fires straight up into the air, then — for a blink — seems to hang on the wind, refusing to telegraph which half of the court it’s coming down on. In that instant, anything can happen. The players can only watch in anticipation, waiting for it to drop.
Five years ago, the trajectory of one young man’s life looked just like that tennis ball. He was standing before a judge, bracing for the decision about which Alex Lacroix was about to leave the courtroom — and which door he’d be leaving through. Would it be the wayward kid who’d grown up in a hard part of Ottawa, Ontario, a teenager ground down by poverty, neighborhood violence and a fatherless home?
That Alex Lacroix had known the shock of his best friend being murdered before he was 26.
Or would it be the other Alex Lacroix? The one who’d held down jobs to pay his way through college during the six years he awaited trial — the standout student who had earned numerous academic awards, worked as two teachers’ assistants and continuously upped his game as a parent to his baby daughter?
Tragedy and scarcity had led Lacroix to tangle with numbing demons when he was young; and now, as the judge prepared to sentence him on felony weapons charges, those demons were coming back to haunt him. There was a decision to make. The judge could condemn Lacroix to a prison cell and more bleak prospects. Or he could give the defendant house arrest, parole and a chance to continue bettering himself.
Lacroix was about to see which side of the net his future would come down on.
Lacroix was granted a second lease on life, and after the verdict, he started his dream business with feelings of relief, gratitude and optimism. He was soon wandering through agave farms in Jalisco, Mexico, accompanied by the woman he’d fallen in love with and surrounded by the plants that were at the heart of his new Siempre Tequila. Like the agave plant itself, the word “siempre” has its roots below the border. It means “always,” and it’s come to symbolize a rugged rose that grows up from the sands of adversity.
For Lacroix, there couldn’t be a better emblem for what kept him going as he willed his fortunes in a new direction.
“I had that little bit of hope that day in court,” he remembers. “I thought, if by some miracle I get out of this, I can really carry on with my life… That’s what Siempre means to me, that idea that you should always look on the bright side — you should always look for the celebration — even when things seem really bad.”
The passion behind Siempre doesn’t just come from Lacroix’s hard-fought comeback story: It’s also deeply rooted in the family history of his life partner, Monica Sanita. She and Lacroix met while attending the Seneca College creative advertising program in 2013. As they started dating, Sanita would reminisce about the mescal-making tradition that her mother Beatriz was raised with in Acapulco, Mexico. It was Sanita’s grandmother, Doña Ade, who was the real master of secret mezcal recipes. Sometimes Doña Ade had to improvise, depending on the ingredients she had, but her batches were always pure celebration in a glass.
Growing up, Sanita would glimpse that legacy whenever she’d travel from her home in Toronto to visit family in Mexico. There, under the cactus-studded horizon, Sanita discovered that drinking mescal and tequila is part of the bonding experience — a highlight of each meal that lasts from start to finish. She never forgot how special it felt.
“When Alex and I were thinking about starting a business, tequila was looking us right in the face,” Sanita recalls. “And I wanted to explore that part of my cultural roots.”
She, Lacroix and their friend Chris Matte started visiting distilleries across North America. They also started forging relationships with agave farmers in Jalisco. In 2015, the trio launched Siempre, a label that would eventually offer plata tequila, reposado tequila and añejo tequila, all made in Tequila, Mexico.
Siempre doubled its production volume in 2020, and today is being sold in 17 states.
Siempre’s crew still spends time in the country known as “the navel of the moon.” Moving through the streets of Tequila allows Lacroix to be hands on with his two distillery partners, as well as maintain close ties with the local farming community.
“Being down there just helps you keep your finger on the pulse,” he explains. “Last year, there was talk of a possible agave shortage, but since we knew the farmers on the ground, we were able to find out that it probably wasn’t going to happen.”
The scrappy authenticity behind Siempre — its reliance on Jalisco growers and distillers — shines in each bottle. its plata has a crisp, clean-running taste that makes for an elegant paloma; its gold reposado brings a smooth, deep, almost buttery center to a margarita; and its dark añejo is a joy for sipping, conjuring a satiny front that broadens into a bright array of spicy caramel notes and hints of melting molasses.
Sanita wishes her grandmother could have seen the effect of these creations. While she was able to discuss mescal philosophy with Doña Ade when the business started, the grand lady had passed away by the time Siempre perfected its tequila. Sanita’s mother, on the other hand, has been able to watch the label win a wide audience.
“She loves that she has access to great tequila all the time now,” Sanita says with a laugh. “There’s a bit of her, and my grandmother, in every bottle we make. They’re there in spirit.”
The spirit of new beginnings is also in every bottle, though conveying that isn’t easy. This is where Lacroix and Sanita’s education in creative marketing comes into play. As a startup, Siempre doesn’t have the kind of advertising budget that major tequila brands enjoy. The team has made up for it by putting a lot of energy into its label art. All three offerings come in bottles emblazoned with surreal, copper-etched explosions of desert roses.
“No matter what’s going on, that label is the one thing that’s going to be out there fighting for you,” Lacroix notes.
The strategy appears to have paid off. Even with tasting events cancelled across the continent due to COVID-19, Siempre finished the last three months of 2020 increasing its sales by 164%.
“We’re not going to stop growing this,” Sanita says confidently. “But it was really Alex who sparked that entrepreneurial drive. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have taken this leap.”
Despite how far he’s come, Lacroix is modest about his achievements, preferring to view Siempra tequila through a broader lens.
“We’re giving it all we’ve got,” he stresses. “Our message is that nothing is impossible.”
