Dwayne Johnson on His Go-to Karaoke Song, What Celebratory Cheat Meal Reached Peak 'Gluttony,' and Cracking 1 Million Cases in Teremana Sales
Dwayne Johnson is among the most bankable celebrities in show business. In fact, he was the top-earning actor of 2022, with an estimated annual salary of $270 million. Now he’s just surpassed another auspicious career milestone—though this one has nothing to do with Hollywood and everything to do with high-end hooch. Teremana, the tequila brand he helped launch in March 2020 is now reporting north of one million in annual case sales.
It places the producer in rarified company: Only 10 others have crossed this threshold and all are established names like Cuervo, Patron, and Don Julio. To put the mark in further perspective, Casamigos enjoyed an output of only 120,000 9-liter cases in 2016, the year before co-founders George Clooney and Rande Gerber sold the brand for close to $1 billion. So you do the math.
The Rock, for his part, seems less concerned with sales figures and more focused on what they actually represent: His fans like what he’s cooking (and bottling).
“We had no idea how this was going to shake out, launching during the height of the pandemic,” he admits to Mens Journal in an exclusive interview. “But I have a very powerful tool in social media and I’ve got some pretty good trust-equity built up with fans all over the world. So my thought was I’m going to have a drink with them and we’ll see what happens from there.”
Of course, there’s no shortage of celebrity-backed spirits brands—all with Instagram followings in the millions—who've entered the spirits space as of late. Especially in the tequila category, which now even includes some of Johnson’s famous friends and co-stars. None of them have rivaled The Rock’s level of success, however. Perhaps it’s because he’s used to doing things bigger and bolder than the competition. More likely it’s because he partnered with one of the most-trusted tequila makers in Jalisco to craft his liquid (in the past, the Lopez family out of Jesus María has produced juice for Avion, Clase Azul and Casamigos among many others).
But why play the guessing game when we can just ask the man himself? Johnson weighs in on Teremana's success, epic cheat meals, his go-to karaoke song, and much more.
Men's Journal: What does 1 million cases mean to you?
Dwayne Johnson: Well, it means a lot of happy people, I hope. But the first word that comes to mind is just gratitude. Being able to create a brand and deliver it to people with the hope that a few may like it. With consumer behavior during the pandemic, to try and deliver something new to consumers at that time when things were so uncertain—people only wanted things they were familiar with. But, instead of shelving the product and putting it on hold, we decided to take a shot and go for it.
The tequila category has become increasingly crowded as of late. How has Teremana been able to separate itself from the pack?
The anchoring reasons would be creating a trust equity with the bartenders and the restaurant owners out there. That took time. Presenting a quality liquid done the old-fashioned way and giving consumers context as to what the old-fashioned way means. We hear that all the time in ad sales and marketing strategies. But we took it a step further to actually show this is what old school means to us: slower cooking of the agave, lowering the temperature of the cook, fully mature agave. Things like that. And then an accessible price point. But I think the primary reason, I’m a very forward-facing founder and I really took my time presenting something to my fans, connecting with them, and storytelling with them. I don’t know if there's another founding face to a brand in the spirits world that's as forward-facing as I've been. And I’m not counting my celebrity buddies who are in tequila [laughs].
Now that you’ve hit his benchmark, have you upped the ante on talking smack to Kevin Hart and said, 'Hey buddy, your move now?'
I love and appreciate you for saying that. But the truth is there is no competition. What we're moving case-wise and what those guys are moving, there is no competition. So, because there's no competition it’s an unfair fight for Kevin [laughs]. I don’t want to talk any shit. He’s working very hard and I wish him all the best. I’ve got a little bit of weight and experience underneath my belt in this industry—I understand how hard it is to sell 10,000 cases, 20,000, 100,000. It is so hard to do. So, when I look at these guys—like Kevin and Wahlberg—I know what they’re doing. They’re not my competition. Also, I think they’re in it for different reasons too. I think they see an exit strategy down the road and that’s just their business model.
And it’s different for you?
This is a legacy brand and I’m in it for the long haul. Our partners, the Lopez family, down in Jesus María—they've been tremendous partners. They're generational agave growers and tequila makers. They're the perfect partners for this and I love being long-gamers with them.
When you post on social media, it feels like you’re sharing something you enjoy with your followers rather than explicitly promoting it. Is that by design?
I don’t say promoting. We don’t promote, we don’t market. We have a relationship with these people. And thank you for bringing that up, because I do feel that way with working out: Here’s my diet, here’s the stuff I eat, here are my cheat meals. It’s never ‘Hey, you do this, you’ll look like me!’ It’s, 'Here’s what I do, maybe you can try a version of that yourself.’
You bring up cheat meals. Is there a particularly sizable one you cooked up to celebrate the Teremana milestone?
I did a four-inch thick brioche French toast with a very special coconut-peanut butter-maple syrup with vanilla bean cream. I covered it in coconut chips that were soaked in Teremana for a few hours, then toasted in the oven. It is just unbelievable. We call it DJ Toast. I like to bring new meaning to the term gluttony when I’m making cheat meals paired with Teremana.
Any other tequila pairing combos that you’ve uncovered?
This is where the interview goes off the rails because I've tried to pair Teramana with everything: all cheat meals, every meal. I felt like I had to, I had a responsibility. For my taste buds, it actually pairs incredibly well with sushi.
In my own personal experience, I find that tequila pairs incredibly well with karaoke. What's your go-to karaoke song?
It’s called “Bring It On Home To Me” by Sam Cooke. And the more I drink, the better I sound. That’s when I really start singing in keys that don’t exist [laughs].
Not to suggest you overindulge, but do you have any hangover cures?
I do. It’s called: Get your ass to the gym. You don’t have to get a full-fledged workout. It’s the idea of just going to sweat. You just sweat a little bit of that out and you feel like a million bucks afterwards. I’ve got a lot of drunk stories I can share. [My publicist] is going to love them!
You have so much on your plate right now with acting, family life, and running businesses. How do you keep yourself motivated? And what advice do you have for folks who are looking to find it?
I think about what’s the alternative. And the alternative is I don’t do it. I’m too tired. I say, ‘Fuck this, we’ve been going and going and nobody’s going to notice if I miss this one thing.’ But I’ll notice and how am I going to feel when I go to bed? Nine times out of 10 that will get my ass going. Especially when it comes to working out. It doesn’t have to be in the gym. It’s meditation, it’s yoga, it’s mountain biking. It’s some sort of physical activity that just gets your blood and your juices going. Get your brain going, then you start your day.
I heard a quote a long time ago: "You’ll never remember all of your workouts, but you will never forget the ones you miss." I could tell you where I was when that happened and what workout I missed. So I always think about the alternative. And I know there’s somebody else out there who’s willing to do it. The competition is always out there.
What’s next for Teremana to stay ahead of the competition?
Ideally—and this is very ambitious, but we have a shot here—my goal is to make Teremana a true global tequila brand that’s enjoyed by countries and cultures around the world. It’s very ambitious because everyone has different tastes for whatever their local spirit is. But I think we have a shot because we have a quality liquid; we have a great story behind it; and we have a founder who drinks it, too, just as much as everybody.
Congratulations on the milestone.
Thank you so much, man. I really appreciate it.
All I can say, Dwayne, is that "You’re Welcome."
Dude! That’s what I should have said my karaoke song is!”