Taking taste into their own hands
What do George Clooney, Justin Timberlake, Bob Dylan, and Dan Aykroyd have in common – apart from being incredibly famous?
Answer: They’re all making money from your liquor cabinet.
Alcohol companies love hooking up with celebrities. A big star can instantly define a brand, not to mention immediately cause fans to rush out and buy a bottle.
Here’s a roundup of some of the most well-known and recent celebrity alcohol brands:
CASAMIGOS TEQUILA – GEORGE CLOONEY
Casamigos Tequila was founded by Clooney along with two friends, the bar and restaurant mogul Rande Gerber and the Discovery Land Company CEO Mike Meldman.
AVIATION GIN – RYAN REYNOLDS
Gin, the uber en vogue drink has quickly become one of the most popular drinks in the Western world. And Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds seems to have taken note, as this year he bought Aviation Gin, a Portland, Oregon-based gin company.
CRYSTAL HEAD VODKA – DAN AYKROYD
Ghostbusters’ star and comedian Dan Aykroyd has his own vodka – Crystal Head. Packaged in as the name suggests – a glass skull shaped bottle – it was launched in 2007.
And its fancy bottle is designed by Aykroyd’s business partner John Alexander, who’s an award-winning American painter. Aykroyd seems to have put his heart and soul into the brand, and since 2013 claims to spend at least a third of his time on the road promoting it.
LONGBRANCH BOURBON – MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY
Academy award winner Matthew McConaughey introduced his own bourbon brand to the world – Wild Turkey Longbranch.
VIRGINA BLACK WHISKEY – DRAKE
In a joint venture back in 2016, the Grammy-winning rapper and spirits producer Brent Hocking launched an aged Bourbon whiskey.
BORN AND BRED – CHANNING TATUM
The Magic Mike star says he dove into the liquor business after failing to find a “good American vodka”. So he partnered with Idaho’s Grand Teton Distillery to launch the potato-based drink that has “a smooth taste to it, like a cool feeling in your mouth,” he told Bon Appetit.
SANTO MEZQILA – ADAM LEVINE and SAMMY HAGAR
The Maroon 5 frontman and former Van Halen member now have more than rock music in common. The pair bonded over their love of tequila and launched Santo, the world’s first mezquila (a combination of tequila and mezcal).
SAUZA 901 TEQUILA – JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
In 2014, Timberlake partnered with Sauza Liquors to relaunch his own tequila.
HAIG CLUB – DAVID BECKHAM
The retired soccer star and dad partnered with British entrepreneur Simon Fuller to create a single grain Scotch whisky bottled in a distinctive blue square.
Buy It! Haig Club Scotch
CIROC VODKA – DIDDY
Sean “Diddy” Combs changed the fortunes of Ciroc vodka. “Within only a few years, Ciroc was number two in the premium vodka category, to only Grey Goose doing about 2 million cases a year.”
HEAVEN’S DOOR SPIRITS – BOB DYLAN
The Nobel Prize-winning Dylan just launched a range of whiskies in collaboration with Marc Bushala — the liquor entrepreneur behind Angel’s Envy bourbon, which was sold to Bacardi for $125 million.
The Heaven’s Door range includes a rye, a seven-year-old bourbon, and a double-barreled whiskey.
And there’s more including Jay Z, Marilyn Manson, Bethany Frankel, Connor McGregor, George Strait, Blake Shelton, Drew Barrymore, Willie Nelson, AC DC, Danny DeVito, Jay Z even Kyle Maclachlan’s got in on the act… we could go on.
