Sammy “The Red Rocker” Hagar has been one of rock music’s most prolific artists, with 25 platinum albums and a Grammy award. His decades-long career started with the hard rock band Montrose, followed by a successful solo career. He is perhaps best known for his time as the lead singer of the iconic rock band Van Halen (for which he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame), followed by the creation of supergroups Chickenfoot and The Circle.
Earlier this year, Hagar, 76, was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and he continues to perform, touring this summer along with longtime bandmates Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani and Jason Bonham in The Best of All Worlds Tour.
Hagar is also known for his love of wine, food and spirits. He launched Cabo Wabo Cantina in 1990 and Cabo Wabo Tequila in 1996 (selling the brand in 2010). Hagar now owns a portfolio of restaurants, spirits and beer embracing his Baja beach life and rock ‘n’ roll vibe.
In 2017, he got back into the tequila market with Santo Spirits, a partnership with chef Guy Fieri that includes an añejo, two blancos, a reposado and the innovative Santo Mezquila, the world’s first tequila-mezcal blend.
Hagar has also expanded into other drinks, with the release of Sammy’s Beach Bar Rum in 2012 (a partnership with rock icon Rick Springfield), which comes in three varieties. He has even ventured into the ready-to-drink category with the rum-based Sammy’s Beach Bar Cocktails, founded in 2021, and into beer with Red Rocker, which debuted in 2023. He spoke to Wine Spectator senior editor MaryAnn Worobiec about his new projects, his current tastes in wine, what has changed in the world of tequila and the impact of celebrity brands.
Wine Spectator: When we spoke to you in 2007, you told us about a memorable wine tasting. Does that still stand out to you?
Sammy Hagar: I was dining in one of my favorite French restaurants in Orange County. As I was leaving, I saw a few guys at a table next to us drinking a 1967 Conterno Barolo magnum. I couldn't help myself. I said, ‘Wow, that’s a nice bottle of wine,’ and one of the gentlemen said, ‘Are you Sammy Hagar?’ Next thing I knew, Kari [Hagar’s wife] and I were sitting with them drinking a glass of that beautiful, perfectly ready-to-drink red—one of my favorite Italian wines.
After a long, deep conversation about wine, we decided to meet at the restaurant again sometime in the near future. My new friend asked about some of my favorite wines of all time, as well as what year I was born. We exchanged numbers and decided to meet at the same restaurant in the next few weeks. He wanted to surprise me with some 1947 wines (my birth year) to celebrate the fact that he was a big fan of my music and wanted to show me his appreciation!
Of course I accepted. Weeks later, it was showtime. He and his three friends showed up with 1947 Cheval-Blanc, 1947 Yquem, 1947 Mouton Rothchild. Every one of the bottles was perfect, because they were perfectly stored. No cork damage. All 98- to 100-point wines in my humble opinion. The gentleman didn’t want to decant any of the wines. It worked for me. I was ready to spread that sediment on toasted bread, like a fine Bordeaux grape jam.
Wine Spectator: How have your wine tastes evolved? What are you collecting and drinking now?
I’ve been around the world 10 times with this, and I always come back to Italian wines like Barolos, Barbarescos and Brunellos. But, of course, I’ll always be in the mood for a great white or a red Burgundy, because when they’re right, they’re right. Period.
Have you visited any wineries in recent years that stand out?
The last place I visited was Beaux Frères Vineyard up in Oregon a few years back, and I was very impressed. To me, those wines are the DRCs of America. They make some great Pinots.
Any plans to get into wine? What would your dream wine look like?
My dream wine would be something like a Vega Sicilia Unico. I think that’s one of the greatest wines ever made. But, no, I don’t think I’ll ever make a wine. I usually say “never say never,” but in this case, I will say it, because if something has my name on it, it has to be the best on the planet. I could never make a wine that’s better than a DRC wine like Montrachet or a Romanée-Conti, and I won’t make an inferior product.
It’s just like my music: If I didn’t think I could sing as well as the other performers out there, I’d be apprehensive about going out and singing. I wouldn’t make a record if I didn’t think it was as good as anything else out there. So, as long as I’m performing, creating things, etc., I will only put my stamp of approval on something I think is worthy.
What feeds your curiosity about the way things taste and smell?
I’m naturally curious about just about everything, especially tastes and scents. I’ll pick things up and smell them all the time. I’ll pull leaves off of trees or scratch fruit and smell the peels. I’m fascinated by all the different tastes and scents around us. It’s how you build a library of references in your head that you can refer back to when you’re creating new tastes or products of your own, or how you can remember the little intricacies that set a great wine apart from others.
I think I’ve got a pretty sophisticated palate … once I walked into a blind tasting and smelled a guy’s wine and said, “That’s a ’73 or ’74 Cab from California, probably Napa,” and boom, I nailed it. I think that’s because of my lifelong curiosity of smelling and tasting everything I come across.
As someone who loves food, I think this is an absolute must for cooking. If a dish needs something and you don’t know what to put in it, you use your nose and your taste buds to guide you. So when you’re cooking something or making a cocktail, you’re using that vocabulary and that library of knowledge that you’ve built up, which leads you to something great.
Is what you look for in wine related to what you look for in spirits?
I look for different things in a wine and a spirit. A wine is so elegant on the nose. You smell it; you pair it with food. My favorite wines are almost too much to drink without food to accompany them. There are just too many tannins and acid, like in the Barolos.
On the other hand, spirits are about the mouthfeel and the smell to some extent, but you can’t really take a big whiff of a high-alcohol tequila or Cognac without burning your nose. So, it’s just a different thing than with wine. I enjoy my spirits in small quantities. I may have one shot of tequila or a small glass of añejo, or I may have a glass of Cognac or a brandy after dinner, but that’s about it. Wine you can savor and enjoy throughout your meal, taking sips between bites so that the flavors pair perfectly on the palate.
Since you founded Cabo Wabo, the tequila world has seen a huge number of celebrity partnerships. Are they good or bad for the industry?
The growing number of celebrity tequila brands is mind-boggling—although having some of the biggest superstars out there spreading the love of an agave-based spirit to a larger fanbase works in my favor.
Fans will eventually find their way to the best one on the market. Other than that, the biggest challenge is that it’s making it hard to get good agave because the market is saturated and it takes so long for an agave to grow.
Is your Santo Tequila partnership with restaurateur Guy Fieri an evolution of Cabo Wabo?
Santo is a culmination of everything I learned from my early days with Cabo Wabo Tequila. Back when I started Cabo Wabo, there were no other celebrity spirits brands. You couldn’t find 100 percent agave pure tequila made the old-fashioned way in the U.S.
I relied on the distiller and the farmers down in Mexico to give me an amazing education in the art of making tequila. I worked closely and hands-on with them and learned everything from the barrels and the aging process to how to trim an agave plant, plus cooking it twice. I learned all the insights and steps that many producers skip because it’s too expensive. There are so many nuances, like trimming away all of the bitter parts of the agave. We trim more than most distillers because they don’t want to waste that much of the plant, but those things are critical to making a real premium tequila. I brought [everything I learned] to the creation of Santo Tequila.
How has the tequila market changed since you first got into the game?
I believe there should be two categories of tequila these days. It’s changed enough to where people should be able to know what’s in the tequila or whatever they’re drinking. When you look at a bag of potato chips or soda, it tells you every ingredient, the amount of calories, sugars, etc., and I believe that spirits should be the same way. If I want a pure tequila, I don’t want to be surprised when I’m drinking something that is chock full of fake flavors and coloring, or that wood chips were used in the barrel. If I want a coconut-flavored agave product, then it would say on the label “coconut-flavored agave,” just like how we label coconut- or pineapple-flavored rums.
Tell us how Santo Mezquila came about.
I came up with the idea of doing the first ever tequila-mezcal blend, Mezquila, because there was this wave of popularity for mezcal happening and, to be honest, I didn’t want to make something that would compete with my first child, Cabo Wabo. So I was initially going to do a mezcal, but after spending a couple of weeks down in Oaxaca tasting every possible rendition of mezcal, I realized ... I’m not really a mezcal kind of guy. It’s just too smoky for me. I wanted to make something cleaner, so I made something in the middle, a hybrid of pure tequila and mezcal.
I went down to Jalisco, and Juan Eduardo Nuñez, who is one of the legendary distillers down there, told me that there was no such thing as a Mezquila. So I told him, “Let’s invent it!” It took us about a year of really experimenting to get it right. It’s not as easy as just pouring the two together because they don’t naturally mix very well. But we found just the right blend that showcases the rich agave flavor with just a hint of smoke, which makes a wonderful smoky margarita or old fashioned.
Tell us about Beach Bar Rum (a partnership with rock icon Rick Springfield). Where does rum fit in the landscape of spirits to you?
SH: To me, rum is more of a fun afternoon type of cocktail. Those really aged dark rums are interesting, but that’s not part of what I’m trying to do. I like a clean, white rum. I think of the platinum rum as similar to a platinum tequila: It has a pure flavor where you can discern the cane. You don’t want to taste all kinds of other things in there. White rum has never really been considered an “elegant” drink, but I’m trying to elevate that perception. Our latest platinum is very clean and refined, similar to a spirit, like a blanco tequila or even a vodka. It’s perfect for mixing, and I use it as the base for my canned cocktails, because you can tell a big difference when a cocktail is made with premium spirits versus those made with malt or cheap alcohol.
I also have Red Head rum, which is infused with macadamia nuts and is as good as anything you’ll ever taste. It’s made with all-natural ingredients but has a delicious sweetness that makes it a great addition to any cocktail. At the end of the day, that’s what I think rums are best used for, to make great cocktails. You can do so much with it and create so many different variations that work amazingly well. Rum is fun. And rum cocktails are so much fun!
If you can’t tell, I’m totally into the whole kick-back, beach-lifestyle vibe and whether it’s sitting by the pool, at the beach or cruising around on a boat, just add some rum drinks and boom!
You also got into the RTD game with Sammy’s Beach Bar Cocktails.
I am completely shocked by how that category has blown up so quickly. It’s tougher than I thought it would be when I first started because, at the time, there were only a few canned cocktails on the market. Once again, I wanted to make the best one out there so I made Sammy’s Beach Bar Cocktails with high-quality, natural ingredients. I worked hard to perfect every flavor. That’s always been my M.O. But trying to compete in this overcrowded market is not easy, especially with the bigger brands. I’m just one man with a few brands … but I have a lot of friends to help me spread the word.
You’ve ventured into beer with Red Rocker Brewing. Why did you want to focus on lagers?
When I decided to create Red Rocker Brewing, I wanted the very first beer to be a lager because all of my favorite beers are lagers. I like pilsners and Belgian whites too, but a lager is always my first choice.
In developing our first beer, Red Rocker Lager, I tried countless lagers and took meticulous notes about each one’s flavor, tasting notes, etc. I then worked with our master brewer to develop our own lager to be what I envisioned as the perfect lager. After over a year of experimenting batch after batch, we came up with a lager that, when I tasted it next to my previous favorite beer, it blew it out of the water. That’s when it was time to put it in a can. That’s basically the way I do everything. That’s how I did each and every flavor of my canned cocktails.
Our biggest hurdle is getting enough distribution to get it out there for people to try it for themselves. Unfortunately, beer is like real estate: You have to have enough property and enough land to put your house on it. Red Rocker is quickly expanding into several states, plus Canada and Mexico, where it’s available now at my Cabo Wabo Cantina. I like to say that it’s on a cross-country tour and the fans will make it a hit.
