????布倫特?霍金推出高檔龍舌蘭酒DeLeón后，他的朋友道格?埃林很快就在電話里給了他一個好機會。埃林是HBO熱播劇《明星伙伴》（Entourage）的制作人，他向霍金提議在這部電視劇中給DeLeón安排一個出場機會，讓劇中的聚會迷特特爾喜歡上這種酒。

????不過，面向眾多年輕男性消費者（《明星伙伴》當然能帶來這樣一個群體）和更專注于精英團體還是存在差別。很快霍金就告訴埃林：“我不參加。”最終在這部電視劇里亮相的是Avión龍舌蘭酒，2012年該產品的銷量為5.5萬箱，增長了22%。不過，DeLeón在好萊塢也同樣闖出了名堂。

????DeLeón龍舌蘭酒每瓶售價介于140-825美元（858.2-5,057.25元人民幣）之間。現在，它已經出現在了洛杉磯一些最具有精英色彩的活動中，比如時裝周、電影首映式、私人音樂會以及著名制片人哈維?韋恩斯坦舉辦的聚會。這些來自影視圈的客戶格外引人關注，原因是僅僅7年前霍金還在Countrywide Home Loans和Coast Capital這樣的信貸機構發放抵押貸款。他在2009年，也就是美國經濟嚴重衰退時推出了這種龍舌蘭酒。

????霍金看上去有點兒像專業健美運動員。他并不是人們通常所認為的那種企業家，而且也不打算讓自己的產品成為一種尋常的龍舌蘭酒品牌。霍金是個品酒行家，喜歡夜生活。2006年，他決定離開抵押貸款行業，把他身為一個葡萄酒愛好者的品位帶到龍舌蘭酒領域。

????為了找到自己的釀酒廠，霍金來到了墨西哥哈里斯科州。這個州面積很小，首府瓜達拉哈拉市之于龍舌蘭酒就像法國的香檳地區之于香檳酒。（DeLeón 龍舌蘭酒網站建議飲酒者將DeLeón Diamante龍舌蘭酒放在香檳杯中，再和其他純龍舌蘭酒進行比較。）哈里斯科州對龍舌蘭酒的生產實行嚴格監管，把它限制在143家釀酒廠。霍金既找對了時機，又碰上了極好的運氣。他發現自己婚禮上那位年輕D.J.的祖父擁有一家龍舌蘭酒廠，而這位老人不久前剛剛去世。霍金就這樣買下了這家酒廠，成了在墨西哥自行經營龍舌蘭酒廠的“唯一一個外國佬”。

????霍金的經歷聽上去也許很奇特，但他絕不是近年來唯一一個開創精品龍舌蘭酒品牌的企業家。龍舌蘭酒占美國烈性酒市場的7%，這個領域實際上已經變得特別擁擠，競爭非常激烈。2008年以來，龍舌蘭酒品牌從832種暴增至1,600多種，其中許多都是小批量品牌（就像DeLeón和Avión龍舌蘭酒），而且都想在不斷增長的高端領域立足。歌星賈斯汀?汀布萊克就擁有一個龍舌蘭酒品牌。影星喬治?克魯尼也有一個。

????全球信息服務機構Euromonitor酒類行業分析師斯皮羅斯?馬蘭德拉科斯認為，烈性酒行業的走勢類似于蓬勃發展的精釀啤酒。他指出，在美國國內市場已經飽和的情況下，走高端化發展路線既是最有希望、也是順理成章的一個途徑。“消費者會喝的更少，但質量會更高。”

????Shortly after Brent Hocking launched his high-end spirit, DeLeón Tequila, his friend Doug Ellin, the creator of HBO's hit show Entourage, called with a big break. Ellin offered DeLeón a bit part on his show, as the new favorite tequila of the party-loving character called Turtle.

????There is, however, a difference between exposure to a huge young male audience (which Entourage would certainly provide) and a more elite exclusivity. Hocking quickly told Ellin, "I'm out." The tequila that did score a spot on the show, Avión, sold 55,000 cases and grew 22% in 2012. Still, DeLeón has made its own mark in Hollywood.

????Hocking's blends, which sell for $140-$825 a bottle, now turn up at some of the most elite L.A. events: during fashion week, at movie premieres and private concerts, or parties thrown by Harvey Weinstein. Hocking's red carpet clientele is particularly striking given that just seven years ago he was working as a mortgage banker at places like Countrywide and Coast Capital, and that he launched his tequila in 2009, in the depths of a recession.

????But Hocking, who looks a bit like a professional bodybuilder, is not your typical entrepreneur. And he's not trying to build your typical tequila brand. A oenophile and lover of nightlife, Hocking in 2006 decided to leave his career in mortgage lending to bring a wine-lover's touch to tequila.

????Determined to find his own distillery, he traveled to Jalisco -- the tiny state in Mexico bordering Guanajuato that is tequila's equivalent to the Champagne region in France. (The DeLeón website instructs drinkers to compare its Diamante blend to any other clear tequila by placing it "in a champagne flute.") In Jalisco, tequila production is highly regulated and limited to 134 distilleries. Hocking, through a combination of good timing and great luck, bought his distillery after learning that the young D.J. from his wedding was the grandson of a recently deceased tequila distillery owner. Hocking claims to be the "only Gringo" in Mexico operating his own tequila distillery.

????Singular as Hocking's story may sound, he is hardly the only entrepreneur to have started a boutique tequila brand in recent years. In fact the tequila market, which accounts for just 7% of the U.S. spirit market, has become an especially crowded and competitive one. Since 2008, the number of tequila brands has ballooned from 832 to more than 1,600, many of them small-batch players (like DeLeón and Avión) that have tried to seize upon the growing premium market.Justin Timberlake owns a label. So does George Clooney.

????Spiros Malandrakis, an alcohol analyst with Euromonitor, compares the trend in spirits to the craft beer boom and says the premium sector is the most promising path toward growth in, and a natural consequence of, a domestic market that is already saturated. "Consumers are going for drinking less, but higher quality," he says.