Matthew Lillardis suddenly everywhere. All he has to do is say something offhandedlyabout hisScreamcharacter Stu MacheronThe Drew Barrymore Show, and the quote goes viral everywhere. Beyond his involvement (speculated or otherwise) in major franchises likeScream, Scooby-Doo,andFive Nights at Freddy’s, the actor is involved in a variety of Dungeons & Dragons-related TV series, hosted a horror-themed baking show withKiller Cakes, will star in the action seriesCross, and has been putting out high-end, genre-themed liquors with Find Familiar Spirits (named after a D&D spell). Now he’s moving from bourbon to tequila withMacabre Spirits, an exclusive horror-themed tequila that comes with thefirst novella from horror king Mike Flanagan.
Lillard is treating liquor like cinema, bringing together disparate artisans to craft something unique and entertaining. “The one thing I wish people understood is how much effort goes into each,” explains Lillard. “I mean, the bottle, we designed the bottle. This frame, we designed the frame. Everything on the cap, that’s us, you know, the art that goes into it. Mia Bergeron did the art for this. Mike Flanagan wrote an 80-page novella. We had to source the tequila. I mean, the whole thing is this year-long adventure that we duplicate every four to six months. It’s definitely been an incredible journey, but it’s a journey, nonetheless.”
What Mike Flanagan’s Novella Is About
The brilliant thing about Macabre Spirits is how the drink connects toRare, Fine, and Limited, the novella by Flanagan (famous for Stephen King adaptations likeDoctor SleepandGerald’s Game, and Netflix series likeThe Haunting of Hill HouseandMidnight Mass). After all, “spirits” can refer to both alcohol and ghosts. “There’s a deep connection,” explains Lillard, adding:
“I mean, the whole idea ofRare, Fine, and Limitedis that our main character, our central character, is a guy who is a hedonist. He’s looking to eat life. And he gets an invitation to a proprietor and goes looking for the ultimate bottle of wine, and finds something that is scarier than anything you could have possibly imagined. So the entire short story takes place around somebody looking for an exquisite drink, the rarest of all rares, and he finds it, unfortunately for him. So it’s great. I don’t think we’ll ever do another story about the liquid, but if we’re doing one, this is the perfect iteration of that story.”
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Mike Flanagan Confronts Sobriety with Macabre Spirits Tequila
Lillard wasn’t familiar with Flanagan’s filmography until he met the filmmaker and later worked with him on the upcomingStephen King adaptation,The Life of Chuck. He was hesitant to ask Flanagan about collaborating on Macabre Spirits, because Flanagan is sober. The director has tackled themes of alcoholism and sobriety in his masterpieceMidnight Mass, though, and has the skill and courage to confront those issues in an entertaining way.
“I didn’t know Mike’s work until after I met Mike, and I came home and devouredMidnight Mass. I’m a huge fan, and I think you’re right [about its themes]. I mean, there is this incredible B-storyline, or through line, inMidnight Mass,” says Lillard. He continues:
“You know, we asked Mike for a series of quotes that we could use to help promote the book — he’s been super, bless him… but he wrote an incredible forward that we used in the novella, and in that he directly addressed his sobriety. For him, as a storyteller, he took it as an opportunity to tell a story, and he’s deeply proud of what he wrote. We’re excited to present it to the world.”
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Considering the Flanagan novella, it’s easy to imagine that Macabre Spirits will do just as well as Lillard’s Quest’s End bourbon, if not better. But why tequila? Why not do more bourbon? “Well, the reason we leaned into tequila is A) I like it, and I’m the co-owner of the company, so I was like, ‘Let’s do tequila,'” explains Lillard. “And B), the reason we went tequila is that it’s got an artisan, bespoke element to tequila; where they make it, how they make it, is very different, and how they use the plant. And we’re 99.9% additive-free. Because we’re not bottled in Mexico, we can’t say we’re 100% additive-free, but it’s delicious.” And tequila may not be the end of the road:
We wanted to branch out. We wanted to do something different. It was a challenge for us, and it was an adventure for us to add something else. Like gin, we have plans in 2025. We have all kinds of exciting things coming.
