Is Celebrity Tequila Worth the Hype?

Over the past two decades, tequila sales have boomed in the United States. So much so, in fact, that tequila overtook American whiskey to become the country’s second-highest-selling spirit in 2022; it’s forecast to surpass vodka for the top spot soon.

When Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar launched his tequila brand Cabo Wabo in 1996, tequila didn’t have a firm hold in the United States. For Hagar, working with the modest Jalisco distillery El Viejito to create Cabo Wabo was a passion project. “I was just a rock and roll kid that liked tequila,” he says. He intended to serve the spirit at the beachside venue he ran in Cabo San Lucas. “I didn’t plan on having it explode the way it did.” By 2010, Hagar had sold the brand to spirits giant Gruppo Campari for nearly $100 million. Amid Hagar’s success and a bounding premium and super-premium tequila market in the United States, celebrity-backed brands blossomed.

Two buzzy entries emerged in 2013 and 2014: Casamigos, from actor George Clooney and entrepreneurs Rande Gerber and Mike Meldman, and DeLeón, from musician Sean “Diddy” Combs, who purchased 50 percent of the brand. More than a dozen have cropped up since, opening the celebrities involved to accusations of cultural appropriation, particularly when a brand’s identity has become more entwined with its celeb stakeholder than with the artisans making the spirit. Tequila cannot be made anywhere in the world outside of five authorized states in Mexico. The labor it entails—from the multiyear process of growing mature agave to the backbreaking work of harvesting and roasting its piñas (hearts)—gives the spirit an identity and a sense of place that can easily get lost amid the high-desert vibes of celebrity-tequila marketing.

A few celebs with tequila labels—like actor Eva Longoria of Casa del Sol and musician Carlos Santana of Casa Noble—are of Mexican heritage. Several have prioritized building their brand’s identity around social and environmental initiatives, including sustainable agave farming, carbon footprint reduction, and women’s empowerment.

When it comes to buying a celebrity tequila, how can you tell whether it’s worth its high price? A good rule of thumb is to start with the brand’s blanco spirit, typically the base for its aged expressions and an indicator of overall quality. Hagar recommends avoiding any additives (like glycerin, which gives the spirit a thicker texture, or sweeteners). We taste-tested half a dozen tequilas in the celebrity sphere—including one from Santo Spirits, the label Hagar launched in 2017. “My crystal ball says in the next two years, you’re going to see half as many new tequilas on the market,” he says. “There’s so much competition.… The tequila’s got to be good.”•