It seems like every two-bit celebrity has their own brand of alochol these days.
The days are seemingly gone when celebrities would endorse a brand of wine or beer to make a quick buck or two by recommending a product on the TV.
Since then celebrities have gotten a little smarter and realised that they could make a serious amount of money from creating their own brand of liquor, affiliating themself to it and pushing the product with their status and connections to their millions of fans.
That way, the celebrity doesn’t just get a one-off, flat fee for performing in the advert, but they get a large percentage of sales for evermore.
Smart thinking indeed, if it manages to take off like they hope.
It’s a pretty good idea for actors to branch out and explore other avenues of income because the film industry is built on shifting sands and many celebrities enjoy a relatively short self life in the thick of it.
For those who don’t wish to eventually die on set and want to actually retire, it’s a good plan to have a future plan for continuous income since the silver screen doesn’t necessarily pay a pension.
With tons of celebrities putting their names to new brands of liquor though, are many of them actually going to succeed and last for the long term?
First things first, you’d need to be a seriously iconic celebrity with a loyal and diverse following of people who are of drinking age.
If Miley Cirus had brought out a brand of vodka or the likes when she was in Hannah Montana her success would likely be limited, since the majority of her followers would have been under the age of twenty one and not able to legally buy or drink her product.
What Liquor Did George Clooney Own?
As far as A-list celebrities with semi-mature fanbases go, surely suave, sophisticated George Clooney has got to be a serious contender as the smartest choice to bring out a brand of alcohol.
So what did the sophisticated silver fox go for? A rich red wine for dinner parties?
A smooth Bourbon Whiskey? Did he create a brand of light beer for middle aged men who want a flat stomach like George’s? Um, not exactly.
Mr Clooney decided that Tequila was the way to go. The young, trendy party shot with Mexican origins.
Clooney was born in Kentucky so a Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey might have made more sense, but no, he decided that the mexican fiesta shot was his chosen liquor baby to create and push.
It wouldn’t be his ongoing retirement stash though, as he sold the company in 2017 for a whopping $1 Billion, according to Holloywood Reporter. Then again, that ought to last him a while.
Despite the fact that the Casamigo company isn’t owned by him anymore, the liquor is still widely associated with him in people’s minds.
Chiefly because he and the other two co-founders had originally collaborated to make tequila according to their personal tastes for personal use and consumption rather than to market publicly.
People must like the ides of drinking something made according to George Clooney’s tastes because the brand is still going strong even without his stake in the business.
Why Did Clooney Sell Casamigos?
It’s not known precisely why he chose to sell, but there was speculation at the time that his wife, Amal wasn’t keen on the amount of alcohol that Clooney was habitually drinking and wanted him to stop or limit his consumption of alcohol.
Perhaps giving up the Casamigos brand was a step in a less alcohol dependent direction for his life according to his wife’s wishes, or maybe it was just a smart business decision.
It sold for an extremely high price, so it must have been an optimum time to sell the brand while it was performing well. Whatever the reason for the sale, Clooney made a pretty penny indeed.
What Tequilas Does Casamigos Sell?
The Casamigos range consists of three different tequilas and one mezcal. The tequilas are: Casamigos Blanco, Casamigos Reposado, and Casamigos Anejo.
They vary in price but all are sold with George Clooney’s signature on the label, despite his buyout. So what’s the difference between them?
What Does Casamigos Taste Like?
Let’s start with the Casamigos Blanco Tequila.
The manufacturers boast that Casamigos premium tequilas have beautiful flavours without the after burn that is generally associated with Tequila.
In terms of the Blanco profile, Casamigos says this:
Casamigos Blanco Tequila
- Color: Crystal Clear
- Aroma: Hints of citrus and sweet agave
- Flavor: Fruity with vanilla notes and zesty grapefruit
- Notes: The blanco tequila is aged for 2 months in stainless steel containers
Casamigos Reposado Tequila
- Color: Golden honey.
- Aroma: Hints of cocoa and caramel.
- Flavor: Dried fruits and spicy oak with a hint of sweet agave.
- Notes: This tequila is aged for 7 months in premium American white oak barrels which presumably gives the oaky flavor.
Casamigos Añejo Tequila
- Color: Rich caramel.
- Aroma: Soft caramel and vanilla notes.
- Flavor: Sweet Blue Weber Agave with barrel oak and a hint of spice.
- Notes: This dark tequila is aged for 14 months in premium American whit oak barrels to get that signature kick of spicy, woody flavor.
Casamigos Mezcal
- Color: Crystal clear.
- Aroma: Herbs and fruit fragrances with a hint of smoke.
- Flavor: Smoke and black pepper flavors, with a silky finish.
- Notes: This is the exception to the rest of the range. They have gone for a traditional, rustic Mexican Mezcal here. Unlike the other three, this Mezcal is made in Oaxaca, Mexico. It uses a completely different method of distillation to the tequilas. Casamigos says the Agave “piñas are split and laid to cook for 4–6 days in six-ton earthen pits lined with volcanic rock. Piñas are [then] cooled for 24 hours before the crushing process begins. The agave is crushed, in the traditional method, one ton at a time by a horse-drawn tahona wheel.”That’s a little extravagant given modern innovations, even for a premium brand, but let’s see what the reviews say about each product. Are they worth the premium price?
Casamigos Tequila Reviews
Blanco
No products found.
The Amazon.com rating for the 750ml bottle of Casamigos blanco tequila is an impressive 4.9 stars out of 5. It’s not a fluke either as there are over 200 global reviews. Some comments praise the value and sppecifically the quality of the flavors in the blanco tequila product.
On Drizzly.com the Casamigos blanco was the staff pick at the time of writing, so it’s clear the retail experts like it. Customers rate the blanco product at a 4.8 stars out of five which is still very good.
Dizzly customers praise the flavor and say that to mix it with any other ingredients is practically herressy, because it’s so good to sip on it’s own.
The vast majority of one star reviews on Drizzly referred to the service of the retailer, not the product itself, so don’t pay too much attention to the 1 stars in this case.
Reposado
Amazon reviewers rate this tequila as a 4.7 stars out of five which is still very respectable, especially considering the premium price. People who spend more on a product, usualy love to complain.
One customer declared that the notes of caramel and vanilla were way too overpowering for their tequila taste. Some say it’s the only reposasdo they have ever liked the taste of.
Both points of view indicate that it’s not your usual reposado tequila.
The Casamigos Reposado is also 4.7 stars on Drizzly. One happy customer declared that this is “the smoothest most caramelly delicious tequila out there.”
This particular five star review was given by a self-professed Tequila enthusiast, which may account for the slight lack of punctuation in their description, but you get the idea.
Again, many one star reviews stated a lack of customer service quality when buying it, rather than a dislike of the actual liquor, but the occasional review also stated that the vanilla flavor was too overpowering for them. Each to their own.
Anejo
This one generally is the most pricey of the tequilas, but despite this, it is also one of the highest reviewed. It has an overwhelming 4.9 stars rating and zero reviews under 4 stars on Amazon.
One verified buyer stated that it was the best anejo they had ever had and that it’s even “better than Patròn & Cazadores” which is saying something if you’re a tequila lover.
One Drizzly customer also stated that this was better than Patron Anejo as it “has a smoother and sweeter taste.”
There are a lot of happy customers out there who love this tequila, and a few very unhappy ones that never got to try it, by the looks of the Drizzly reviews.
What Is The Difference Between Tequila and Mezcal?
Casamigos make three tequilas and a Mezcal. Or perhaps we should say they make four tequilas, one of which is a mezcal.
If you’re wondering what the difference is between a tequila like the blanco, reposado, and anejo and a mezcal, you’re not the only one.
They are both made form the same base ingredient which is agave, but the difference between them is in the type of agave used. All tequilas are mezcals but not all mezcals are tequilas. Stick with us, we can explain.
Tequila is made from only blue agave, also known as agave tequilana, whereas mezcals can be made from pretty much any variety of agave.
The most common varieties used in mezcals are tobala, tobaziche, tepeztate, arroqueno, and espadin agave.
So because tequila is made form agave, it is also a mezcal. You get it?
There is some overlap, but generally, tequila and Mezcal are made in different regions of Mexico. Tequila has five traditional locations for distillation and one is Jalisco where Casamigos’ three tequilas hail from.
The distillation processes differ between tequilas and mezcals as the containers that the agave is heated in are quite different.
As Casamigos do, traditional mezcal is cooked inside earthen pits, lined with lava rocks. Tequila is usually made form agave steamed in industrial ovens then distilled in copper pots.
In a nutshell, those are the differences between a tequila and a mezcal.
Final Thoughts
Despite George Clooney’s enormous paycheck when Casamigos was sold, he continues to be associated with the Casamigos brand, because he helped create the tequila and mezcal to his taste along with the other two co-founders.
The continued success of the brand is presumably accredited to him, althout he no longer has an actual stake in the company.
As a rule, people still refer to it as George Clooney’s tequila and enjoy it a LOT!
People rave all over the internet about what an unusual and innovative flavor blend the tequila has, which may explain the premium price-tag on each bottle and the enormous billion dollar sale the founders managed to profit from.
Clearly George Clooney was the perfect celebrity to create and market a booze brand, but we still have hope he’s going to breathe life into our ‘Clooney’s Kentucky Bourbon’ idea.
It’s such a good drink to associate with him. We wouldn’t mind a splash of that on the rocks of an evening.
