How a Boise State alum built a top-tier tequila brand

Chad and Cristina Allen with their children. The pair founded Volans Tequila.

You might not guess that an award-winning, traditionally-crafted tequila has Idaho roots, but there are signs. Volans Tequila, founded by Idaho-raised Boise State alum Chad Allen and his wife, Cristina, hints at its heritage through its name and logo. "Volans" is a Southern hemisphere constellation shaped like a flying fish - a nod to Allen's lifelong passion for fly fishing.

Although it took the pair months to settle on the name and logo, the fish is a natural fit. Allen grew up in Eastern Idaho where his great grandparents started the Three Rivers Ranch fishing lodge nearly 100 years ago. While the logo tells a subtle story about Volans' Idaho connections, the journey to creating the tequila is a story in itself.

Foundations in entrepreneurship

After high school, Allen spent a year and a half at college in Georgia before moving to Los Angeles to work in the music industry. There, he met his wife, whose family is from Guadalajara, Mexico. After marrying in 2007 and in the midst of the Great Recession, the couple left Los Angeles and headed to Idaho to work on the family ranch. Then Allen decided to return to school, enrolling at Boise State as a non-traditional student.

Chad Allen grew up in Eastern Idaho on his family's
fly fishing lodge, Three Rivers Ranch. He earned his
bachelor's in entrepreneurship from Boise State.

"I felt like I should finish something, so I went into entrepreneurship," Allen said. "I liked that we focused on a variety of subjects like accounting, finance and marketing. Sometimes classes can feel subjective, but every time I went to class, I could relate it to the family business and something practical. There was a lot of benefit in being able to apply it to practical things. That education gave me the opportunity and the skill to develop and execute on an idea."

After graduating with his bachelor's of business administration in entrepreneurship in 2012, Allen quickly found entrepreneurial success. He believed that both his family's lodge and their fishing clients would benefit from a fly fishing shop in Boise, so he created a thorough business plan. Then he pitched that plan to key suppliers, including Patagonia and Orvis, who signed on to the venture. That shop became TRR Outfitters, which has since expanded to four locations across Idaho and is still owned by his family.

A traditional approach to craft

Volans Tequila is made with Blue Weber agaves that are estate grown in Jalisco's Los Altos region.

Throughout these years, the Allens visited Cristina's family in Mexico frequently, where Chad developed a taste for tequila. Twenty years ago, high-quality tequila was scarce in Idaho. In 2014, Cristina's dad, Miguel, proposed creating a tequila brand. Miguel is an agricultural scientist and had the knowledge - and the agave fields - to help them get started. He also helped connect them with their distiller. After a long development process, in 2016, Volans' first tequila went into barrels. In 2019, after aging for three years, their first tequila was ready.

A man harvests agave for Volans Tequila.

When producing tequila, makers can take an industrial or more traditional approach. Volans is made the traditional way through a partnership with third-generation master distiller Felipe Camarena of the famed El Pandillo distillery. They start with Blue Weber agaves that are estate grown in Jalisco's Los Altos region. After harvesting, the agave is cooked in a stone oven for 24 hours, then cooled for 24 more. After the agave is cooked, it's shredded by "Igor," a machine that breaks up the agave fibers, and then crushed by a mechanical tahona nicknamed Frankenstein, an upcycled steamroller and train axle powered by a two HP electric motor and solar energy. The mosto, or agave juice, is then fermented. Volans uses natural open-air fermentation with a proprietary yeast, and the surrounding environment plays an important role in shaping the tequila. The distillery sits in the countryside of Los Altos at nearly 7,000 feet above sea level, surrounded by cinnamon, citrus, apple and jasmine trees, which all influence the final product. They distill the fermented mosto twice in 100% copper pot alembic stills.

"What we're talking about is industrial versus craft," Allen said. "Volans is created with intention. We want to give people an elevated experience, so we do it our own way. Our way isn't always perfect. Are we the biggest? No. Did we grow the fastest? No. For us approaching the business with more intention and more authenticity means you actually enjoy it. And that comes through in the product."

Storytelling through spirits

Volans has grown its offerings to include a variety of tequilas.

Volans' first tequila was an extra anejo. It's a dark-colored tequila that's aged in barrels for over three years. This tequila was meant to appeal to the whiskey-drinking guests at the family's fly fishing lodge and it sold out quickly. It also won medals in every competition they entered. Since then, Volans has grown its offerings to include a variety of tequilas: blanco (unaged), reposado (aged between two months and under a year), anejo (aged one year to under three years), a still strength tequila and special editions. Volans tequila is now available across the United States, Mexico, Australia and Thailand.

Volans' Reposado labels match the rich red soil where
the agaves are grown.

"Each of our tequilas has a story. The red reposado labels are the color of the iron-rich soil of our agave fields. The blanco's blue-green label is the color of the agave we grow. All these stories are what thread everything together," Allen said. "We're not trying to see how big we can get; we're trying to bring good spirits, tell a story and have fun doing it. And maybe my son or daughter will want to take over the business someday."

Over the years, Volans has won over two dozen major awards, including Rolling Stone's 2024 "Best Blanco" recognition, Double Gold at the 2025 Agavos Awards, and a Top 5 Tequila ranking by VinePair. The Allens have since moved their family to Guadalajara and introduced their tequila to the Mexican market and are working to expand into the European market.

"Boise State was where I started my family, where I started having ideas and saw that things were possible," he said. "Having a good idea is one thing, but being able to execute on the idea is more critical. Boise State gave me the skill to be able to meet those ideas. It made me able to take the subjective and turn it into something concrete."

Learn more about the Volans' story on their website.

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