Erin Lichy was way ahead of the curve when it came to the Mezcal craze.
The Real Housewives of New York City star and her husband, Abe Lichy, launched their tequila brand, Mezcalum, in 2023 and have been bringing the crisp taste of the smoky agave cocktail to parties all around New York ever since.
Erin Lichy dishes on starting her tequila company, Mezcalum, with her husband, Abe Lichy. EMANUEL FANTINI© OK Magazine
Erin chats exclusively with OK! about why they wanted to bring their own brand of mezcal to the market, how they are able to work together and maintain a healthy marriage and why she’s a “serial entrepreneur.”
“Abe and I love Tulum. We’ve been going for many years,” she recalls of how the two got the idea for their company. “We ended up at this gorgeous house on the beach, and one of the house managers came one night with a bunch of local mezcals without a name, brand or anything. We tried it, totally overserved ourselves, and when woke up the next day, we were like, ‘How do we feel as good as we do right now? I’m not dying or hung over.'”
Erin Lichy and her husband, Abe Lichy, got the idea to launch a Tequila brand after visiting Tulum. YEON J YUE/PURPLE J VISUAL© OK Magazine
The more the pair learned about the specific type of alcohol, the more inspired they became. “We had this whole conversation with him [the manager] that was really insightful about what mezcal is, how it’s made and the differences between mezcal and tequila,” she says. “By Mexican law, mezcal has to be a 100 percent pure agave, while tequila only has to be 51 percent. So, there’s a lot of hidden additives and sugars and things that they don’t have to disclose so people just don’t know about it.”
As the duo continue to grow their business, they’ve been able to divide and conquer when it comes to running the company. “We learned from having a business in our prior life together that it’s really important to delegate roles,” Erin notes. “It was like, ‘You are going to be fundraising, operational, dealing with distillers and distributors and production and I’m going to be design, marketing, branding.'”
Erin Lichy and Abe Lichy began Mezcalum in 2023. @ERINDANALICHY/INSTAGRAM© OK Magazine
“You learn all these lessons. I love to say that your twenties are your years for exploration. Your thirties are your years for growth, and your forties, you know a lot more so you can just improve a bit more,” the Bravo star adds.
Despite being in real estate, a reality star and a tequila aficionado, this venture may certainly not be her last. “I’m a serial entrepreneur. It’s who I am. I don’t know how to be another way,” Erins notes.
Erin Lichy is gearing up for the upcoming season of ‘RHONY.’ MEGA© OK Magazine
“I’m always evolving, and I’m no longer so interested in what I was doing before as an entrepreneur compared to where I am now,” she says. “I’m not going to say exactly what, but you’re going to see some changes and some new things that I have going on that lend itself more to where I’m at in my life.”