From Old Hall to New Spirit: Building an Intentional Agave
An agave brand engineered from place and process, proving intention beats imitation in a crowded category.
The Client
- Company
- Gate 11 Distillery
- Website
- gate11distillery.com
- Headquarters
- Chattanooga, US
- Employees
- 1-10
About Gate 11 Distillery
Gate 11 Distillery is a craft spirits producer and experiential venue located in Chattanooga's historic Choo-Choo terminal. They produce a diverse portfolio of small-batch spirits including whiskey, gin, vodka, rum, absinthe, and agave spirits, while operating an on-site bar and distillery tour operation.
The Challenge
The agave spirits category is crowded with legacy tequila brands, celebrity-backed launches, and surface-level heritage storytelling. Known for award-winning spirits developed with intention, Gate Eleven Distillery set out to create an agave brand that honored tradition without imitation and felt grounded rather than promotional. This moment also marked Gate Eleven’s shift from a single branded house to a true house of brands, requiring an agave identity able to stand on its own while remaining anchored in place and process.
Our Approach
Chameleon Collective partnered with Gate Eleven, where I served as Fractional Brand Strategist, Creative Director, and Minority Owner, leading the development of Salazar Agave Spirits from concept through launch. The liquid began quietly, with early agave experiments released under the working name Once in 2021, followed by an aged expression in 2022. While the distilling team refined fermentation, distillation, and aging, we explored a wide range of naming directions.
The final name, Salazar, was not my recommendation and one I initially resisted.
That changed when its Basque meaning “old hall” or “hall of stone” revealed a direct connection to Gate Eleven’s home inside the historic Chattanooga Choo Choo train station. The name shifted from personal to architectural, grounding the brand in structure, history, and place.
From there, we built a cohesive brand system spanning positioning, identity design, label architecture, and core messaging across Blanco, Reposado, and Añejo expressions. The creative direction emphasized restraint, material honesty, and credibility for agave-literate bartenders and buyers.
The Impact
Salazar Agave Spirits launched as a refined, award winning agave portfolio defined by intention rather than trend. The brand strengthened Gate Eleven’s evolution into a house of brands, expanded its presence beyond traditional American spirits.
Featured Expert
The Chameleon who led this engagement.
