The Story of Siete Sueños
History · Oaxaca
There are journeys that change a person's destiny, and others that change the way we understand success.
I never set out in search of a mezcal, much less a brand.
History · Oaxaca
The story behind Rana Silvestre
My name is Julio, although for much of my life, many people knew me by another name: Rana.
I was born in 1972 in Mexicali, Baja California. When I was only three years old, my father left. I grew up without that father figure and, soon after, my mother took our family first to Tijuana and then to the United States, searching for an opportunity to move forward.
While I was studying, I also worked alongside my mother in the agricultural fields of Bakersfield. But there was something else I had to learn to face. I was born with a physical difference in my hands: two of my fingers were joined. My brothers began calling me Rana.
At first, it hurt. Over time, I understood that the name others used to point out my difference could become something entirely different: it could become my identity. There is something about the frog that has always inspired me: its powerful hind legs to propel itself forward, its ability to adapt, and its determination to keep moving. And I discovered something else: its tongue. Powerful, precise, capable of reaching what others cannot.
Years later, when I was already working, studying, and had reached positions of greater responsibility, someone recognized in me a quality I still did not know how to name.
I asked for a raise, and I was told that my greatest strength was not only what I knew: it was my golden tongue. I was told that I knew how to speak with clarity and determination; that I knew how to express what was needed to reach a goal, open a door, or inspire others to believe in a vision.
Then I understood that Rana, once a reason for others to mock me, could also represent one of my greatest strengths: the legs to move forward, the golden tongue to open new paths, and the determination to never back down. Adaptation, transformation, and determination. Three strengths, one spirit.
At 19, I married Lizeth, the love of my life. Together, we began our own story. We moved, I worked, trained to become a welder, pursued better opportunities, and never stopped preparing myself. With time came new responsibilities, new positions, and new paths.
Until life took me much farther than that boy from Mexicali could ever have imagined: I made it to New Zealand.
And once again, I found a connection with the Rana that had already become part of me: strong legs to propel forward, the ability to adapt to new territories, and the determination to never back down.
Because that is what I had learned since childhood: if one door closes, you find another. If you fall, you get back up. If the path does not exist, you build it. Life taught me that success does not come from nowhere. It is built through work, discipline, sacrifice, decisions, and, many times, the ability to keep moving forward when it would be easier to stop.
Over the years, I had the opportunity to experience different countries, cultures, people, and remarkable tables around the world, and I discovered something that changed the way I understood success.
The celebrations I remember most were never necessarily the most extravagant. They were the ones that held something more important: a good conversation, a table, family, friends, and a shared glass.
Then I asked myself a question: What would be my own mark of achievement? I did not want a trophy. I did not want something to show off. I wanted something that represented my journey, something rooted in where I came from, something I could place at the center of a table and share with the people who had been part of my story.
Years later, I arrived in Oaxaca. I was not looking to create a mezcal. I was discovering a land, its mountains, the fire, the hands of those who know the craft, and a way of understanding life that seemed to belong to another time. Then I tasted a mezcal, and discovered that what made it extraordinary was not only what was in the glass. It was everything behind it: the land, the agave, the time, the fire, the hands, the tradition, and the table.
There, I understood what I had been searching for. I did not want to invent something that did not exist; I wanted to honor something that was already extraordinary: to preserve its authenticity, respect its origin, and present it in a way worthy of those who have learned to value the things that truly matter. That is how Siete Sueños was born.
And its first expression had to carry my story: Rana - Silvestre.
Rana, for the name I was once given and ultimately transformed into strength. For its powerful legs, representing the drive to move forward. For its golden tongue, representing the ability to express a vision, open new paths, and turn words into action; and for the determination that has accompanied me throughout my life: never back down.
Silvestre, for the agave that grows in the earth for years before becoming something worthy of a place at the table.
Because nothing truly valuable happens overnight: you have to give it time, work for it, endure, and keep moving forward. Rana - Silvestre is my way of honoring that journey. It is my mark of achievement, but one that was never created to be kept. It was created to be shared, because this bottle represents not only what I achieved. It represents everything I had to overcome to get here. And that is why Siete Sueños is for those who understand that a true achievement deserves to be recognized.
Even by yourself.
For the man who started with little, for the one who took his share of blows and kept moving forward, for the one who had to build his own opportunities, for the one who worked while others slept, for the one who fell, learned, and got back up; for the one who knows that the true value of an achievement lies not only in reaching it, but in everything it took to get there. And when that moment finally arrives, it deserves to be celebrated too.
Not to show off, but to recognize the journey, to look around, to remember those who were there, and to raise a glass to everything that was once only a dream.
So when you raise a bottle of Siete Sueños, I hope you do not see only a mezcal. I hope you see a story: the story of someone who dreamed, who fell, who rose again, who found his voice, who opened his own paths, and who never backed down.
Because true success is not displayed. It is toasted. It is shared.
Today, I invite you to discover Rana - Silvestre, the first expression of Siete Sueños.
This is my mark of achievement, your moment, our table. If you are one of those who knows what it means to build a dream from nothing, perhaps this bottle carries something of your story too.
Welcome to the Founders Circle.
