Brent Hocking | |
---|---|
Occupation | Entrepreneur |
Known for | Founder of DeLeón Tequila, Co-founder of Virginia Black Whiskey |
Brent Hocking is an American entrepreneur. He is the founder of DeLeón Tequila, which he launched in 2009, and Virginia Black Whiskey, which he co-founded with Drake in 2016. Hocking grew up in Compton, California and has lived in Southern California for most of his life.[1]
Hocking left his job in finance[2] in 2006 to start his own brand of tequila, which later became known as DeLeón Tequila. Hocking bought a distillery in Purísima del Rincón, Mexico and launched the brand in 2009.[3] Hocking sold the brand to Diageo and Sean Combs in 2014 for an undisclosed amount.[4] Hocking is the co-founder of Virginia Black Whiskey, a venture he launched with Drake in 2016.[1]
In 2019, Hocking launched Mod Sélection Champagne stating; "What I’m doing with champagne is very much in line with what I did in tequila. [With DeLeón], I partnered with a family who had been producing a high-quality product for generations but never exported to the US. I came in and furthered their tradition and technique by selecting only the most pure, mature and superior quality agave available, which resulted in a supremely pure and unadulterated product. This is exactly what I’m doing with our vines in Champagne, France."[5]
Hocking has been credited with creating "a whole new class of tequila"[6] and "a new generation of Champagne':[7] “If you know anything about me, you know my background (and passion) has always been in wine. I started aging DeLeón Tequila in Sauternes wine barrels … 10 years before anyone else in the market caught on. Barrel aging and flavor profile have always been paramount to me … and Champagne is a natural progression. What we’re doing ... is nothing short of revolutionary and very much in line with what I’ve done in the tequila and American whiskey space.”[8]
Under Hocking, DeLeón Tequila won the following awards:
Virginia Black Whiskey won the following awards:
Mod Sélection Champagne won the following awards:
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