Our flat’s no stranger to the celebrity liquor brand. We have known the crisp kiss of Dan Akyroyd’s Crystal Head Vodka. We have known the sticky touch of Ron de Jeremy Rum.
And now Casamigos Reposado tequila, latest jewel to hit our drinks cabinet. This one has a bouquet of celebrity founders behind it, including George Clooney and Rande Gerber – the latter founder of the Gerber Group’s many bars, and already creator of the Caliche Rum brand. Casamigos was, the backstory goes, originally something they made for their own homes to drink amongst friends, before deciding it’d be churlish to keep it from the world.
The Casamigos website offers a glimpse of the lifestyle that’s meant to go with the three tequilas. There are pictures of Clooney and Gerber standing around by the sea, being handsome, enjoying glasses of Blanco, and there are cocktail recipes for each of the three tequilas – Blanco, Reposado and Anejo, in order of least to most aged. The Danny Ocean – Reposado shaken with lemon and grapefruit juice – sounds promising. But since it involves agave nectar and maraschino liqueur, neither of which I have, it also sounds like a lot more effort than their leading serving suggestion: just drink it the way, according to the website, its creators love it best. ‘On the rocks, by the shot, at times, straight from the bottle… Our idea was to make the best-tasting, smoothest tequila whose taste didn’t have to be covered up with salt or lime.’
Sold. No messing, no maraschino, no mint. Just us and the Reposado.
I get the clear impression from the pictures of relaxed, sun-drenched drinkers on the website that the proper setting for drinking this bottle of Reposado is a beachfront house in Mexico, or leaning against the bole of an oak-tree in a cornfield, or sitting with our feet dangling into Lake Como from a faded jetty. But I don’t have a cornfield or a Lake Como to hand, and we settle for channelling the spirit of Messrs Clooney, Gerber and Meldman with what London puts at our disposal: a rainy evening with a crackly Benny Goodman LP, sitting on the carpet with our backs against the sofa.
I can’t confirm if the founders would approve that as a fix, but I can confirm the Resposado’s as smooth as the website claims – so soft and caramel-like at the edges that after we’ve topped our glasses up a second time, even that crackly LP sounds a lot smoother.
Casamigos Tequila can be bought from Selfridges or Harvey Nichols, with the Casamigos Reposado 75cl priced at £69. For more information and for cocktail recipes, visit the Casamigos Tequila website.
