Casamigos

The Casamigos brand was originally founded in 2013 by actor George Clooney and his friend Rande Gerber – a bar and nightlife entrepreneur who has also been married to Cindy Crawford since 1998. Clooney and Gerber had known each other for over 40 years, and were neighbours in a villa complex named ‘Casamigos’ or ‘House of Friends’ on the coast of Mexico. Sharing meals as families together, the pair discovered they also shared a love of tequila and decided to bottle one that they could drink neat that wouldn’t give them a hangover.

Clooney and Gerber initially partnered with a small selection of local distilleries to bottle their own tequila which was then shared with friends. However, after they ordered over 1000 bottles in a year they were told they needed to be licensed to continue purchasing – so they set up their own business.

Thanks to the success of the brand – due in no small part to Clooney’s name on the label of course - Diageo purchased the Casamigos brand at the end of 2017 for a cool $700 million, with a potential additional $300 million on top if sales projections were met. It earned Clooney $239 million on his own and made him the highest paid actor of 2018 above Dwayne Johnson – even though he didn’t appear in a single film.

The Blanco Tequila has a crisp, slightly dry earthiness but what is so enjoyable about this is the slightly creamy mouthfeel, which makes this incredibly drinkable on it's own. There's enough bite to work in a cocktail but this is one of the best sipping Blanco Tequilas out there.