Adam Gilchrist is entering the spirit game with his new tequila, El Arquero
Gilly has swapped the greens of the SCG and MCG for Mexico's agave fields
ADAM GILCHRIST HAS DONE plenty of surprising things on a cricket field, but his latest move comes with more agave than adrenaline. The former Test captain has swapped the crease for craftsmanship with El Arquero, a small-batch, additive-free tequila made in Mexico.
“I love it, simple as that,” he says when Esquire asks why he’s thrown his hat into the spirits’ ring. It’s not, we joke, your typical cricket-aligned thirst quencher.
“I’ve loved tequila for 30 years. Most of us had a bad experience when we were too young and drinking rubbish, but once you taste the good stuff, you realise how incredible it can be.”
Good stuff, in this case, meant travelling to Jalisco, the spiritual home of tequila, and finding a distiller who cared as much about purity as he did. Gilchrist, his wife Mel, and a line-up of close friends, including Eddie Brook from Cape Byron Distillery and Dan Fitzgerald of Fourth Wave Wine, partnered with the Báñuelos family, third-generation masters and original founders of Cazadores. Their Destiladora de Los Altos distillery has been quietly perfecting the art for over half a century.
“We didn’t want to just slap a label on someone else’s juice,” he says. “We wanted something authentically made, traditionally distilled, and clean as it gets. No additives, no shortcuts.”
That clarity shows in the liquid. The Blanco leads with roasted pineapple, citrus and white pepper before sliding into notes of vanilla and lemon. A small portion is aged briefly in oak, just enough to take the sting out of the back end. “People say tequila burns,” he says. “Ours still has warmth, but we’ve taken the aggression out of it.”
The brand’s name, El Arquero, is Spanish for “The Archer”. And, conveniently, “The Keeper”. “That’s where the cricket reference ends,” Gilchrist says. “I wanted something that could stand on its own two feet.” The sunburst logo, nicknamed “Max” after a farmer they met in the agave fields, links Mexico’s highlands with Australia’s coastal lifestyle.
Gilchrist isn’t shy about the irony of another famous face launching a spirit brand. “Yeah, there’s a few of us around,” he says. “But this isn’t about celebrity. I’m not a brand ambassador, I’m a founder. I wanted to do it properly.”
His mission isn’t to convert drinkers through hype but through education. “People still think tequila’s either a shot or a margarita,” he says. “But it’s so much more versatile. You can sip it, mix it with soda or juice, throw it in a spritz. It’s clean, it’s fresh, and it won’t ruin your tomorrow.”
The brand’s signature serve, El Arquero Máximo, takes its cue from that same Mexican farmer: tequila, soda, pineapple juice, a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lime. “It’s our way of showing people it can be sophisticated and easy at the same time,” he says. “My line’s always been: don’t make tequila the last shot of the night you can’t remember, make it the first drink you’ll never forget.”
With a Reposado now on shelves and an Añejo in barrels for 2026, El Arquero joins a growing movement of Australians discovering what the rest of the world already knows, tequila is no longer jet fuel, it’s a craft. And in typical Gilly fashion, he’s playing it straight, clean and with a grin.
“Every step of the process felt like it wasn’t really happening, and then suddenly it was. To walk into a shop and see it sitting there, it makes me so proud. It’s been the most fulfilling experience.”
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