Peace, Love & Tequila!!! That is the slogan of the Tres Cabo Amigos who have brought the new, exciting and exquisite taste of BAJARRIBA Tequila to the forefront of distribution. This newly formed company by three long-time friends consisting of Rico Austin, managing member & co-founder; Jay Nance, co-founder; and, Michael Hill, co-founder who too had the idea of trying to have a bottle designed as the BAJA upside down. This idea was expanded upon and the Tres Cabo Amigos, Rico, Jay & Mike combined the two words of Baja and Arriba to form BAJARRIBA which loosely translates to “Bottoms Up.”
Rico’s wife Connie Austin designed graphically on her Mac computer the bottle that is now in production, adding in mountains, towns, and the lone highways that connect transportation from the beginning of the Baja Norte to the southernmost tip of Baja Sur of Cabo, where the famous Land’s End Arch divides the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean of endless fishing waters. This is where the Tres Cabo Amigos’ story began 20 years prior.
Mike (Miguel) Hill had lived in Cabo since 1989, moving there from Ensenada. Mike originally from California started a maquiladora in Ensenada in 1984 making backpacks and met his first wife Josefina Collins at San Nicolas Hotel and Casino. Mike wrote Josefina a song that very first evening. Her family was one of the four original families who homesteaded and founded Cabo, she invited Mike to visit and meet her family in Cabo. Mike loved Cabo as much as his new girl and moved there in early 1990 where they married and later a beautiful daughter was born. Mike pursued his music career and formed his band, Miguel Hill and the Cabo Cowboys. In 2004 until 2010, Mike and Josefina ran their restaurant / bar called Miguel Loco’s. Mike had also founded his tequila brand Arco del Cabo which was a two-piece bottle in the shape of the famous Land’s End Arch in 2006. Mike later was dangerously ill in 2016 – 2018 and nearly died in 2018. He moved to Payson, Arizona in 2019 where he married his second wife Pamela Jolley.
Jay Nance moved to Cabo in 2004 and purchased the Cabo Lounge of which he sold in 2009 and moved to Las Vegas working as a Marketing Manager for a start-up company. Prior to that Jay had lived in Texas and Nevada working as an Investment Banker, Licensed Stockbroker and Entertainment Promoter. Jay met his wife Marinette in Vegas and the two moved to Mesa, Arizona in 2018 so that Jay could help care for his aging parents. Jay is a boating enthusiast and spends most of his weekends on Canyon Lake with his 40-foot Carver yacht. Jay originally from Iowa is a son of a banker and is proud of his Midwest heritage. Jay and Marinette have a daughter and grandson who still live in Nevada and whom they visit regularly.
Rico Austin visited Cabo for the first time in 1992, thirty years ago and has been traveling back and forth there for nearly 100 different trips, sometimes visiting as many as five times a year to see friends, vacation, fish the waters and drink tequila. Rico grew up in Idaho and moved to Arizona in 1991 where he met his wife Connie in 1999 as next-door neighbors. They married in 2004. Rico has worked at various jobs and several roles during the last 50 years including as a real estate agent, land developer, marketing manager and the last 12 years as a Western Region Sales Manager for an International Tire Company. Rico also writes in his spare time, has 10 published books and novels including his first novel – the award winning, best-selling My Bad Tequila which has won over 15 national and international awards. His latest short story DOG took first place honors in 2021 Arizona Authors Association Literary Contest with entrants from all over the 50 states and the entire globe. Rico has a PhD in Tequila and states, “I wasn’t drinking, I was studying,” when asked about it. Yes, this is a real thing of which less than 200 people in the world can lay claim to!
Connie works as a graphic design artist and has down the final cover touch-ups for each and every one of Robert Redford’s Sundance Catalog for the last 23 years. Connie originally from Minnesota, left for Arizona in August of 1990 and has been living the AZ Loca Vida since arriving in the Land of the Sun. She was raised on a 660-acre farm where too, they had a dairy farm and raised cattle and sheep in McIntosh, a small town in Northern Minnesota. Connie first visited Cabo in 1986, all the way from Minnesota, before most persons even knew about Cabo San Lucas, Baja California, Mexico.
Next month, I will expand on when and how the Tres Cabo Amigos all met in Cabo and reunited in Arizona to form what is turning out to be the most anticipated Tequila with the Hand Painted Artisan Collector’s Bottle with an engraved Medallion Cork.
Peace, Love & Tequila!!! Rico Austin PhD
Rico’s wife Connie Austin designed graphically on her Mac computer the bottle that is now in production, adding in mountains, towns, and the lone highways that connect transportation from the beginning of the Baja Norte to the southernmost tip of Baja Sur of Cabo, where the famous Land’s End Arch divides the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean of endless fishing waters. This is where the Tres Cabo Amigos’ story began 20 years prior.
Mike (Miguel) Hill had lived in Cabo since 1989, moving there from Ensenada. Mike originally from California started a maquiladora in Ensenada in 1984 making backpacks and met his first wife Josefina Collins at San Nicolas Hotel and Casino. Mike wrote Josefina a song that very first evening. Her family was one of the four original families who homesteaded and founded Cabo, she invited Mike to visit and meet her family in Cabo. Mike loved Cabo as much as his new girl and moved there in early 1990 where they married and later a beautiful daughter was born. Mike pursued his music career and formed his band, Miguel Hill and the Cabo Cowboys. In 2004 until 2010, Mike and Josefina ran their restaurant / bar called Miguel Loco’s. Mike had also founded his tequila brand Arco del Cabo which was a two-piece bottle in the shape of the famous Land’s End Arch in 2006. Mike later was dangerously ill in 2016 – 2018 and nearly died in 2018. He moved to Payson, Arizona in 2019 where he married his second wife Pamela Jolley.
Jay Nance moved to Cabo in 2004 and purchased the Cabo Lounge of which he sold in 2009 and moved to Las Vegas working as a Marketing Manager for a start-up company. Prior to that Jay had lived in Texas and Nevada working as an Investment Banker, Licensed Stockbroker and Entertainment Promoter. Jay met his wife Marinette in Vegas and the two moved to Mesa, Arizona in 2018 so that Jay could help care for his aging parents. Jay is a boating enthusiast and spends most of his weekends on Canyon Lake with his 40-foot Carver yacht. Jay originally from Iowa is a son of a banker and is proud of his Midwest heritage. Jay and Marinette have a daughter and grandson who still live in Nevada and whom they visit regularly.
Rico Austin visited Cabo for the first time in 1992, thirty years ago and has been traveling back and forth there for nearly 100 different trips, sometimes visiting as many as five times a year to see friends, vacation, fish the waters and drink tequila. Rico grew up in Idaho and moved to Arizona in 1991 where he met his wife Connie in 1999 as next-door neighbors. They married in 2004. Rico has worked at various jobs and several roles during the last 50 years including as a real estate agent, land developer, marketing manager and the last 12 years as a Western Region Sales Manager for an International Tire Company. Rico also writes in his spare time, has 10 published books and novels including his first novel – the award winning, best-selling My Bad Tequila which has won over 15 national and international awards. His latest short story DOG took first place honors in 2021 Arizona Authors Association Literary Contest with entrants from all over the 50 states and the entire globe. Rico has a PhD in Tequila and states, “I wasn’t drinking, I was studying,” when asked about it. Yes, this is a real thing of which less than 200 people in the world can lay claim to!
Connie works as a graphic design artist and has down the final cover touch-ups for each and every one of Robert Redford’s Sundance Catalog for the last 23 years. Connie originally from Minnesota, left for Arizona in August of 1990 and has been living the AZ Loca Vida since arriving in the Land of the Sun. She was raised on a 660-acre farm where too, they had a dairy farm and raised cattle and sheep in McIntosh, a small town in Northern Minnesota. Connie first visited Cabo in 1986, all the way from Minnesota, before most persons even knew about Cabo San Lucas, Baja California, Mexico.
Next month, I will expand on when and how the Tres Cabo Amigos all met in Cabo and reunited in Arizona to form what is turning out to be the most anticipated Tequila with the Hand Painted Artisan Collector’s Bottle with an engraved Medallion Cork.
Peace, Love & Tequila!!! Rico Austin PhD
RSS Feed
