$35,000 Bottle of Clase Azul Tequila Shatters Auction Record

(Photo: Sotheby’s)

A rare Día de Los Muertos-themed decanter of Clase Azul just became the most valuable single bottle of tequila ever sold at auction.

Offered to buyers in Sotheby’s Whisky & Whiskey “Single Cask Summer” collection, the tequila was expected to net a gavel price somewhere between $8,000 and $12,000 — though it ultimately broke through at an unprecedented $35,000. The five-figure sum shattered a record previously set by a bottle of Jose Cuervo “Rolling Stones Edition” 250th Anniversary Extra Añejo, which sold for $24,265 in 2023.

So how, you might ask, did the tall tequila justify the tall price?

Debuted in 2017, the tequila was the inaugural edition of Clase Azul’s long-running Día de Los Muertos series, annual releases of which now hit the market at no less than $1,500. The original, however, was sold at a mere $250, and was limited to a total of 300 bottles available exclusively at the brand’s headquarters in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The liquid contained inside the show-stopping decanter is an añejo, indicating that it was aged between one and three years. Sotheby’s says that the few remaining samples are exceptionally scarce.

“This is a very interesting time for Tequila. Tequila and mezcal have seen huge growth in recent years and anecdotally I have noticed many Whiskey drinkers in America turning to Agave spirits,” Jonny Fowle, Sotheby’s Global Head of Spirits, said in a news release. “However, Tequila’s secondary market activity is very much in its infancy. This is the first big result for one of the industry’s most iconic brands, Clase Azul, which could mark the dawn of a new boom for collectible Tequila.”

Impressive as it may be, we have some conflicted thoughts about the sale.

For one, it’s impossible to define what a “collectible tequila” looks like, if only because the standards are so vastly different from other spirits. In the whiskey world, for instance, an auction-worthy bottle would have to either a) originate from a cult-favorite, legacy distiller or b) spend decades in the cask. Neither of these qualities really exists in the tequila world. Many of the distillers held in high regard by tequila fans have only launched in the past few decades, and their spirits are rarely aged more than five years due to the angel’s share of Mexico’s climate.

As a result, most tequilas that make headlines at auction trade legacy for a pretty bottle. No shade to Clase Azul, but the brand is divisive (to put it lightly) among agave spirits nerds, and it’s fair to say that its popularity has largely rested on the laurels of iconic decanters and a larger-than-life, club-friendly reputation.

It’s telling that the previous tequila auction record holder was a bottle of Jose Cuervo packaged inside a literal guitar case. The most expensive tequila ever sold? A $3.5 million extra añejo encased in five pounds of pure platinum and 4,100 diamonds.

If auction houses like Sotheby’s are keeping an eye out for truly boundary-pushing collectibles, ones where the juice is just as good — if not better — than the packaging, we’d love to see some love for tequila distillers like Fortaleza, Cascahuin and Fuenteseca. Ultimately, it’ll be up to collectors to vote with their wallets.