George Clooney was the actor who earned the most money in 2018 and he did not appear in any film. The 61-year-old performer earned $239 million that year, but it was not thanks to movies, but to tequila. A tequila called Casamigos that was born from “the nights of tequila and friends” that Clooney shared with businessman Rande Gerber – husband of Cindy Crawford – and real estate developer Mike Meldman, as explained by the three partners on the distillate's website. Their goal was to make a tequila so tasty and smooth that no salt or lime was needed to mitigate its taste. After several years of blind tastings, they found what they were looking for. They launched it in 2013, when they acquired a license and began professional sales. The success of Casamigos was overwhelming. So much so that in 2017 the British distillery Diageo bought the product for 1 billion dollars (905 million euros), which earned Clooney a check for 200 million euros and leadership on the list of the highest-paid actors. After of this round business, many celebrities have followed in the actor's wake and have launched their own brand of agave spirits, that is, tequila or mezcal In 2015, Justin Timberlake did it with Sauza 901, a line of premium triple-distilled tequila, and Adam Levine, from Maroon 5, created the Santo Mezquila drink with guitarist Sammy Hagar, a fusion of the two distillates that they created by chance in an after-dinner A year later, Michael Jordan launched Cincoro tequila, which arose from a conversation while waiting for a table at a restaurant. The singer Maluma has also launched into this business, with the Mezcal Contraluz or the actor Dwayne Johnson, with the Teremana tequila, which sold more than 600,000 nine-liter cases in 2021 ―a year after its launch―, becoming the tequila that has grown the fastest in history.More informationKaren Locke, founder of the American alcoholic beverage marketing company High-Proof Creative, sees it logical that All these stars look to tequila for “a way to redistribute their wealth outside of their professional career.” First, because according to analysis by IWSR – the main source of data on the global alcoholic beverages market – tequila has just surpassed whiskey as the second most valuable spirits category in the United States. Agave spirits contributed $1.6 billion to this industry in 2022, second only to vodka. But he also considers that it is a drink that “gives the opportunity to create a story” around it. “It has a long and intricate process that often involves traveling to other parts of the world, such as Europe or Mexico. “George Clooney wearing jeans in an agave field is sexier than the production of vodka in a distillery in the center of the United States,” she says, when asked by EL PAÍS. In this sense, Locke highlights the authenticity with which the protagonists of Breaking Bad, Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston, have focused their Dos Hombres mezcal. “After a beautiful, but exhausting search through Oaxaca, we thought we had found our place. Our mezcal. It was on a dirt road, in a small town, hours from the city center. Damn, it was perfect. We looked at each other and simply nodded. This is it,” they say in the Instagram post with which they presented the product in 2019. Whiskey, despite having lost the silver medal in the North American market, has also seduced many celebrities when it comes to investing their fortunes. Matthew McConaughey (Wild Turkey Longbranch Bourbon), Jamie Foxx (Brown Sugar Bourbon), Bob Dylan (Heaven's Door Whiskey), Drake (Virginia Black Whiskey) and David Beckham (High Club Whiskey) are some of the stars of music, cinema and sport who have launched their brand of this spirit drink. Jeff Hopmayer, founder of the consulting firm for the alcoholic beverage industry Brindiamo Group, located in Nashville (USA), believes that one of the reasons why celebrities opt for this distillate is that they are interested in being associated with what it represents. “In the case of whiskey, they seek to align themselves with values such as tradition, authenticity and craftsmanship,” he comments. It is also lucrative: Irish fighter Conor McGregor, for example, sold his Proper Twelve Whiskey in 2021 for €130 million to the Mexican company Becle, owner of José Cuervo.
A men's business?
According to Niall Brown, executive director of the Braeburn Whiskey company, which specializes in investments in this drink, celebrities are no longer enough to lend their faces to companies to make money. “Now younger consumers want authenticity. Creating a new brand seems like the logical step,” he assures this newspaper. What is not so logical is that famous people stay out of this business. Actress Kate Hudson is one of the few exceptions. In 2019 he launched King St. Vodka, which he named after the location of his former home in New York, where he often threw dinner and cocktail parties. “I have always found the spirits industry fascinating and I love Dirty Vodka Martinis. The businesswoman in me is eagerly facing the challenge of building a brand in a completely new industry,” she commented at the time. Channing Tatum and his Born and Bred or Jason Momoa, who in 2023 has launched his own sustainable vodka under the name by Meili Vodka, are just a few examples of other male performers who have accepted that challenge. For most of their female colleagues, however, it remains an unknown industry. “Historically, there has been a tendency to associate them with beauty and fashion brands, while male celebrities have been associated with products related to sports, technology and alcohol brands,” Hopmayer maintains. Actor Ryan Reynolds is co-owner of Aviation Gin, for which he also signed a sale agreement to Diageo for 610 million dollars – almost 550 million euros. Instead, his wife, actress Blake Lively, has chosen to launch the Betty Buzz soft drink brand, “without alcohol and with fewer calories than usual,” as advertised. “I don't drink. «I know it's strange coming from the wife of an infamous gin drinker,» Lively joked when introducing the project, «I've seen that soft drinks are the unsung heroes of the drinks world and deserve as much love as alcohol.» Still, Industry experts confirm that things are changing. “The stereotype of the typical whiskey drinker as an older man still holds up, but change is happening and women are becoming key to the industry in many distilleries,” Brown acknowledges. Hopmayer also believes that “in recent years, there has been a shift towards greater diversity, with female celebrities launching successful brands also in the alcohol industry”, although they tend to opt for drinks with a lower alcohol content. This has been the case in the case of Cameron Diaz and Avaline, the range of white and rosé wines that it created in 2020 from Catalan grapes; or that of her partner from Charlie's Angels Drew Barrymore, who has a collection of her own wines, made in Monterrey, since 2013. There are also two recent examples: that of Jennifer López, who at the beginning of April released her spritz under the name DeLola, inspired by Italian culture; and that of Emma Watson, who on April 29 announced the launch of her Renais gin, a project she shares with her brother Alex. “It is an ode to the sun-kissed vineyards of Chablis, where my family has been making wine for the last 30 years,” he explained on Instagram. Brad Pitt took advantage of the Cannes festival, which began on May 16, as the setting for present its new gin The Gardener Gin, which will hit US stores in a limited edition in September. In addition, at the 2023 Oscars, Fleur de Miraval was served, a $390 (350 euros) pink champagne that Pitt produces in his French Champagne winery. Angelina Jolie, whom he divorced in 2016 after 11 years of relationship, was part of the business, but in 2021 he sold his share of the vineyards – something the actor called “evil and vindictive” for not offering it to him. , so much so that he even sued her. The American model Kendall Jenner's tequila brand, Drink 818, has also been controversial, and has been accused of appropriation of Mexican culture. Some users criticized on social networks that, despite using Mexican products and the country's aesthetics, this tequila is not available in Mexico. He also didn't like that Jenner promoted the product by drinking tequila in a landscape of the Mexican steppe with jeans, a shirt and a pair of braids. “Kendall Jenner from her privilege making an advertisement about her tequila, with similar clothing and braids very common to Mexican stereotypes of indigenous women,” criticized one user. George Clooney in jeans in an agave field is sexy, but Kendall Jenner in jeans in an agave field is disrespectful.
'Spain is different'
There are American customs that have permeated Spain, such as celebrating Halloween or asking Santa Claus for gifts. But celebrities launching their own brand of spirits is not one of them. «Cultural factors and differences in consumer habits play a role. In Spain there is a long tradition of locally produced wines and spirits, which makes it more difficult for celebrity-owned brands to gain a foothold. On the contrary, in In the US, celebrity culture is widespread and consumers are more willing to try new products just because they are endorsed by celebrities,» argues Hopmayer of Brindiamo Group. In fact, the few examples of celebrities who have released their own brand of alcoholic beverages in Spain are wine-based, such as the wines from the Andrés Iniesta Winery that the former soccer player produces in Fuentealbilla, his hometown, although in recent years this business has only accumulated losses. «Spain is traditionally interested in other markets,» says Niall Brown, of Braeburn Whiskey. And in other famous ones. Because there is a brand of food products created by a Spanish celebrity that has triumphed: Sabores de la Esteban. The famous television collaborator Belén Esteban started this gazpachos, creams and chips business in 2021 with 3,000 euros and in its first year of sale she closed her accounts with a profit of more than 160,000 euros.