For a night, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul surprised guests by setting up shop behind the lobby lounge bar to make a variety of cocktails using their very own Dos Hombres Mezcal at the Four Seasons Resort Maui, a posh oceanfront property off the Wailea coast in Hawaii, back in January of this year. A select few may have even taken a celebratory photo with the “Breaking Bad” stars, and the modest visitors who just so happened to be staying at the resort that weekend had the opportunity to speak with them in a private situation.
Over the years, Cranston would frequently run across Mark Simon, the marketing director of Four Season Maui, at charity events in Hollywood, and the two became great friends, which led to the spontaneous visit. As they conversed, they came to the conclusion that the resort would be the ideal setting for Cranston and Paul to authentically pitch their product to customers. Celebrity spirits entrepreneurs are increasingly using surprise bar visits as a marketing tactic. Woody Harrelson (Holistic Spirits) and Kendall Jenner (818 Tequila) have both shown up at local bars to serve free drinks to patrons. Additionally, Four Seasons, which is located on the island’s southwest coast, would not have to deal with the unwelcome commotion that would occur at a bar in a big metropolis like Los Angeles or New York, where these kinds of marketing gimmicks are frequently used.
“We reasoned that we should greet your guests and simply discuss mezcal with them as a small gesture of goodwill.” Over a Zoom from his Los Angeles home, Cranston recounted. After everything went so smoothly, they said, “Well, we’re going to close this restaurant. We need to open another one as a pop-up to serve all of our hotel guests.” Are you interested? Aaron and I thought, “Oh, yeahh.”
“It’s a dream come true to be able to sort of delve deeper into Oaxaca’s history and bring out an Oaxacan-inspired pop-up to the guests at Four Seasons and all over Maui,” Paul continued.
With intentions to remain open until December 2, the Dos Hombres Cocina formally debuted on August 25. Ben Shank, the general manager of the property, claims that the cocina has been so well-liked that they are already thinking about prolonging the collaboration.
Shank tells Variety, “It’s pretty much sold out every night we’ve been open.” “It would make a lot of sense to keep it open past the 2nd, even though we haven’t figured anything out yet because our guests love it.”
With about 15 tables spread across a brand-new patio they built especially for the cocina, the pop-up is located on the resort’s lower level and overlooks the incredibly Instagrammable pool surrounded by palm trees. The menu features a variety of Oaxacan-inspired dishes, such as chicharrón, confit duck over mole, ceviche and pozole, and the main course, birria short rib.
Of course, most guests come to try out the extensive cocktail menu, entirely featuring Dos Hombres Mezcal. Highlights include Spice and Everything Nice, mixed with a Chile Liqueur and a Cinnamon & Ginger Infusion, and Coco-Crush, a smoky take on the classic Aperol Spritz. For every order of the Cantarito, mixed with orange, grapefruit, lime, soda water and salt, all proceeds will be donated to Hawai’i Community Foundation’s Maui Strong Fund, created in response to the devastating wildfires that ravaged parts of the island in August.
In honor of their success, Variety sat down with Paul and Cranston over Zoom to chat about their experience as co-founders, the importance of giving back to the Oaxacan community, and their hope to potentially work together as actors again:
Finding the right co-founder can feel like finding a soulmate. Why did you guys feel confident that you would be good co-founders, based on your relationship and personalities?
Paul: I never had any sort of hesitation. I just know what it’s like to work with him. I knew this was going to be a completely different beast because we needed to learn how to build a business from the ground up. It wasn’t a company that came to us asking us to to be the face of it and then they do all the work. We had to figure out what the hell we were doing. But I wasn’t hesitant, I was more just wanting to lean in and run towards that goal. Maybe it’s me being naive, but I knew partnering up with BC on this would be, obviously a challenge, but a fun one.
Cranston: It’s not dissimilar from a marriage, because you’re spending a lot of time, resources, energy and passion into something, and you want it to go toward a mutually desirable goal. I often get asked — I’ve been married for over 34 years now — what’s the secret to a good marriage and I say you marry into character. If the person is of good-standing character, a good principled person, that’s the foundation. And if they’re not, then it could go sideways. And I noticed that in Aaron early on that he’s a principled person, a man of character. And so there was never any doubt on my end either about it. We could have fallen flat on our faces. That’s just the business but it wouldn’t have been through a lack of trying, or a lack of character, or some deception, or thievery, or anything like that.
The celebrity spirits space has become so saturated in recent years. What do you think about all these celebrities creating their own tequila and mezcal brands now, after you?
Paul: Whenever I hear about a new celebrity brand popping up, I wish them luck. But I also like to know the history of how and why it came to be. Was it their brainchild? And you can you can see that when they put in the work. There’s a difference when it’s the company hiring you versus you hiring everyone within the company. There’s a difference there. And Brian and I are very proud of the fact that we’ve actually hired every one of our team members personally, we take great pride in that.
Cranston: And why not? It’s a big tent. Success doesn’t mean only me, not anyone else. That’s not the way of the world — that’s selfishness and capitalism in its greediest form.
Tequila brands can also come under fire for cultural appropriation. How do you avoid that criticism and make sure you’re being respectful in your branding and marketing?
Cranston: We’re doing a lot of things for the community — when they ask us. We are a company that always wants to keep our hands raised and have them ask us what they need as opposed to two gringos going down there saying ‘Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna knock this down, or you’re gonna bust this out…’ It’s like, just shut up and listen and learn something. We we weren’t about to be two guys to sign our names to preexisting mezcal, to a company that says if we can use your name and likeness, we’ll send you a check. I don’t take part in that. So we had to put in the work to do it.
Paul: San Luis del Rio is such a special village, a big place in both of our hearts and our company’s hearts. But it’s three hours outside of the center of Oaxaca City. When we first started working out of there, we were introduced to this mezcal and Gregorio [Velasco], our mescalero, seven and a half years ago now. There was about 375 people living in this village: one landline in the center of town, it rings on an amplifier, and whoever happens to be walking by it will pick it up, to kind of just give you an idea of what this village is like. Now, there’s roughly about 500 people, some family members have now moved back to the village and they are now working with Dos Hombres.
Six months in the market, we called Greg on his birthday, wished him a happy birthday, but also gave him ownership of the company. So he has some serious skin in the game. Apparently that’s just not how things are really done there. Which we find odd.
Would you guys ever be open to being co-stars again in a show or movie?
Paul: It would be a dream to share the stage with him. I mean, he’s just the best of the best. And that’s always been a dream of mine. I just haven’t found the right project, but to be able to just trust fall into that with him would be…Yeah, a dream. I mean, I love Broadway, I love the stage. To be able to do it with not only one of my best friends in the world, but someone that I really can trust and admire. I know that he’s just gonna swing for the fences, like he always does. And also just great input, great advice.