From LeBron James to Travis Kelce, These Are the Top 19 Athlete-Owned Spirits Brands

Football season is just around the corner, and we all just spent the majority of our summer watching the 2024 Olympics. All that to say — we’ve all got sports and athletes on the brain. But athletes? They’ve got liquor on the brain, with more and more athlete-owned and athlete-sponsored brands popping up every month.

Interestingly, some of the most successful alcohol brands are owned by athletes. Conor McGregor’s Proper No. 12 Irish Whiskey, Travis Kelce’s Casa Azul Tequila, LeBron James’ Lobos 1707 Tequila and Mezcal… we could go on.

We’ve gone ahead and compiled a list of 19 of the most popular athlete-owned spirits brands and broken them up by category. Here you’ll find tequilas, whiskeys, rums, gins and vodkas owned by champions — and you might find a few surprises on this list!

Whether you’re looking to serve up a cocktail on game day or want to support your favorite MVP, the following 19 spirits brands on this list are all owned by legends in their own right.

Athlete-Owned Agave Spirits Brands

Michael Jordan’s Cincoro Tequila

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Cincoro Tequila’s origin story involves the meeting of the minds between five NBA team owners: Emilia Fazzalari and Wyc Grousbeck of the Celtics, Jeanie Buss of the Lakers, Wes Edens of the Bucks and Michael Jordan — yes, that Michael Jordan — of the Hornets in 2019.

The tequila brand is luxurious, to say the least, and bottles can feature eye-watering price tags of $1,500 a pop. The brand’s portfolio consists of a Blanco, Reposado, Añejo, Gold, Extra Añejo and Joshua Vides. Though Jordan is the frontman of this brand, Cincoro has attracted other marquee athlete investors including Serena Williams, Derek Jeter, Dustin Johnson and Keegan Bradley.

Cincoro sources Blue Weber Agaves from the Highlands and Lowlands of Jalisco, Mexico. The juices are housed in stunning and sleek bottles meant to represent agave leaves. Cincoro definitely falls within the “splurge” category, but if you’re looking to elevate your agave game you should consider His Airness’ brand.

LeBron James’ Lobos 1707 Tequila & Mezcal

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Though LeBron James has a huge reputation for being a wine guy, the superstar invested in the Lobos 1707 tequila brand, which launched in 2020. Other celebrity investors include Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors and James’ teammate on the Lakers, Anthony Davis.

Lobos 1707 Tequila has a rich history that dates back over 300 years when Diego Osorio transported tequila in sherry barrels to Spain. Osorio is the Lobos 1707 founder’s great-grandfather. The tequila brand honors its Mexican and Spanish heritage, and the tequila is distilled and aged in Mexico from Blue Weber agave.

The brand shared that every Lobos 1707 liquid spends time finishing in Pedro Ximenez sherry barrels from Spain. Lobos 1707 offers a Joven and Reposado priced within the $30-$50 range. It additionally offers a Lobos 1707 Red Tequila, whose sales are donated to the Global Fund and help combat AIDS.

LeBron’s Lobos brand additionally produces a mezcal, made from Espadín agave in Oaxaca. After it is harvested, the piñas are slow roasted in an open fire pit with agave fibers used as kindling. The resulting liquid hosts a warm and spicy profile.

Abraham Ancer’s Flecha Azul

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Mexican-American pro golfer and winner of the 2021 PGA Tour, Abraham Ancer, and his friend, Aron Marquez, are the minds behind the Flecha Azul brand. Ancer and Marquez wanted to create a tequila to celebrate their Mexican heritage — and they wanted it to taste pretty darn good.

Flecha Azul is made at the Orendain distillery in Tequila, and the brand possesses blanco, reposado, añejo, añejo cristalino and extra añejo expressions within its portfolio. Suggested retail prices range from $30 to $60 for the blanco, reposado, and añejo expressions. The cristalino expression can be purchased for anywhere from $60 to $100 and the extra añejo will cost you north of $200.

Flecha Azul additionally has another big name backing the tequila brand: Mark Wahlberg. The actor known for his roles in “The Departed” and “Planet of the Apes,” joined forces with Ancer and Marquez during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Though competition in the celebrity agave category is stiff, Wahlberg is a huge fan of the additive-free brand, referring to it as “the best value proposition for the customer.”

Travis Kelce’s Casa Azul

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The Kansas City Chiefs tight end — and boyfriend to Taylor Swift — Travis Kelce unveiled a line of canned tequila sodas in 2022 from his brand, Casa Azul. Not to be confused with Clase Azul, the additive-free, organic tequila brand has tapped additional athletic investors including New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski and pro golfer Brooks Koepka.

In March 2023, the brand debuted its line of bottled tequilas: a blanco, reposado and añejo. All of them are organic. The tequila brand is made at Tequila Las Americas, Nom 1480 and the Montes family tends to the Blue Weber agaves grown within Tequila Valley and the Lowlands. The Montes are third-generation agave farmers turned distillers.

Casa Azul shared that its blanco expression rests for two months before it is bottled, and the vibrantly fresh and fruity tequila hosts a smooth finish, with a suggested retail price of $69. The brand’s reposado hosts a suggested retail price of $89 and spends 4-6 months in American oak bourbon casks, yielding a candied quality to the final spirit, with caramel and toffee. The brand’s añejo spends over 15 months in those same bourbon casks, and the final spirit is chocolatey and rich.

Jorge Masvidal’s El Recuerdo Mezcal

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Founded by MMA fighter Jorge Masvidal, El Recuerdo Mezcal aims to capture the essence of Oaxaca in each bottle. Masvidal is known for breaking the record for the fastest knockout in the history of the UFC at 5 seconds.

El Recuerdo Mezcal pulls no punches, and the brand’s Abocado mezcal includes a signature worm in the bottle and typically costs within the $40 range. Besides the Abocado expression, the portfolio includes a Joven mezcal that can be purchased for $38.

For those who appreciate an aged Mezcal, El Recuerdo’s 5 Special Edition is a limited release that celebrates the moment Masvidal broke the record for his 5-second knockout. It is the only mezcal with five guisanos (agave worms) included in the bottle and retails for around $60. Just 5,000 bottles exist.

Athlete-Owned Gin Brands

Ron Guidry’s Championz Gin

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Former Yankees pitcher, Ron Guidry, released Championz Gin in October. Known as “Louisiana Lightning,” Guidry’s gin is distilled in New Zealand in small batches by Sue Bensemann, a chef turned master distiller. Bensemann claims to use “the clearest spring water in the world” in Championz Gin to add plenty of freshness to the spirit.

The brand’s calling card is dialing down the heavy juniper aromas that are so often present in more typical London Dry styles of gin. If more modern styles of gin are right up your alley, you’ll find Championz Gin to be a winner. This New Zealand gin possesses plenty of creamy sweetness and is exceptionally light, with just a mild kiss of citrus.

Championz Gin possesses a subtle sweetness from botanicals like licorice, black pepper, cardamom, angelica, black pepper and almonds. It clocks in at 40% ABV, and you can pick up a bottle within a modest price range of $30-$60.

Mike Tindall and James Haskell’s Blackeye Gin

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Blackeye Gin is a London dry gin that’s the “unofficial spirit of rugby.” The gin was founded by rugby icons Mike Tindall and James Haskell, in accordance with the television presenter Alex Payne.

For each bottle of Blackeye Gin purchased, the brand donates £1.5o ($1.95) to support three key pillars involving the sport: research, risk and recovery. Blackeye shared that it intends to be one of the largest donors to all things rugby within the next five years.

Blackeye Gin implements a global approach to sourcing its botanicals, with citrus peel sourced from Africa, Coriander Seed from Australia and Oregano from South America. The gin leads with plenty of citrus interspersed with subtle florals. Just a pinch of juniper and pepper adds multidimensionality to the finish.

Blackeye Gin also offers ready-made gin and tonics with a suggested retail price of £35.95 ($47) for a 12-pack of 250-milliliter cans. The gin won a Double Gold medal at the 2024 San Francisco World Spirits Competition and hosts a suggested retail price of $46.03.

Athlete-Owned Rum Brands

Aljamain Sterling’s Funk Harbor

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Featherweight UFC fighter and former Bantamweight Champion, Aljamain Sterling, unveiled Funk Harbor Jamaican Rum in August 2023. His nickname is the “Funk Master,” so the name for his personal rum brand couldn’t be more fitting. The project took Sterling about a year to get off the ground. Sterling claimed he was additionally inspired by another MMA Fighter’s venture into alcohol: Conor McGregor.

The UFC Champion shared he often partakes in a little tipple before he fights, and is typically partial to drinking his alcohol on the rocks. When the spirit launched, he claimed he would partake in some Funk Harbor Rum before going back into the Octagon.

Funk Harbor Rum is made with Driftwood Distillery in the Netherlands, yet it’s unclear where the Jamaican rum is sourced from. The rum costs $59.99 and hosts an ABV of 44% and is a nod to Sterling’s Jamaican heritage, as his family is from the Dry Harbor Mountains.

Athlete-Owned Whiskey Spirits Brands

Jenson Button’s Coachbuilt Whisky

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Racing champion Jenson Button is no stranger to the good life. In March 2022, Button teamed up with Johnnie Walker expert, George Koutsakis, to launch Coachbuilt Whisky. Both intended to create the perfect blended whisky, with plenty of balance and finesse.

The blended scotch rolled out a debut flagship expression with liquid sourced from all of Scotland’s five regions: Speyside, Islay, Campbelltown, the Lowlands and Highlands. Coachbuilt’s flagship whisky leans tropical, with threads of dark chocolate and caramel. There’s plenty of spice and coffee on the finish.

The brand’s flagship scotch whisky has a 46% ABV and a suggested retail price of $55.

Stephen Curry’s Gentlemen’s Cut Bourbon

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Golden State Warriors Point Guard, Stephen Curry launched Gentlemen’s Cut Bourbon in May 2023. The bourbon was years in the making.

Distilled from a mashbill of 75% corn, 21% rye and 4% malted barley before being aged for five to seven years in charred American Oak barrels, Gentleman’s Cut clocks in at 90 proof and hosts a suggested retail price of $79.99 for each 750-ml bottle.

The brand maintained that Curry was intimately involved in the making of Gentlemen’s Cut. In May, Curry entered the super-premium market with the release of a 15-year-old bourbon, the Player Exclusive, that hosted an eye-watering price tag of $4,500 before CA taxes and shipping. Just 230 decanters were made.

Russ Smith’s Mr. & Mrs. Bourbon

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Russ Smith rose to prominence playing for the University of Louisville and helping them win the NCAA championship in 2013. The point guard currently plays for HDL Nardo in Italy when he’s not working on his bourbon line, Mr. & Mrs.

Mr. & Mrs. was founded in 2019 by Smith and Cecy Linzey. The company is a partnership between Smith and his distilling contacts across Kentucky. Mr. & Mrs. currently features seven bourbons within its portfolio, and they range in price from $55 to $250. Mr. & Mrs. additionally makes rye whiskey and in July, the brand launched a line of branded whiskeys to honor The Basketball Tournament which took place in Kentucky.

Smith claims that bourbon is a true passion of his, and he spent seven years mentoring under “the biggest names in Kentucky bourbon,” before he stepped out on his own. The brand has grown quite a bit since its launch, and Mr. & Mrs. Bourbon Company boasts 100,000 barrels in its stocks.

Conor McGregor’s Proper No. 12 Irish Whiskey

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Arguably one of the most lucrative athlete-owned spirits brands is Conor McGregor’s Proper No. 12 Irish whiskey brand. CBS Sports reported in 2021 that the MMA fighter sold his majority stake in Proper No. 12 for $600 million. Though the brand has seen its fair share of controversy over the years, it’s clear that Proper No. 12 is an incredibly successful spirits brand, and Union reported that it was the number 10 top-selling Irish whiskey brand in 2023.

McGregor founded Proper No. 12 in 2018 and the US Sun reported that in its infancy, Proper No. 12 was a sponsor for Mystic Mac’s UFC 229 in 2019. The brand could barely spend any time on the shelves due to Irish whiskey and McGregor fans’ voracious thirst for the stuff.

Proper No. 12 is triple distilled in copper pot stills and the whiskey is aged in bourbon barrels. Before it is released, the sweet Irish grain spirit is blended with Irish single malt whiskey. The Irish whiskey brand is fairly affordable, and Proper No. 12 can typically be purchased for anywhere within the $30 range. The brand additionally released an Irish apple-flavored whiskey and if you want to know what we thought about it, you can read our review here.

Floyd Mayweather’s Good Money Canadian Whisky

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Floyd Mayweather entered the whisky business in October with the release of Good Money Canadian Whisky. The professional boxer’s Good Money whisky and personal champagne brand launched at the same time and were distributed by Southern Glazers Wine and Spirits.

Good Money Canadian Whisky features a 5-year-old expression and a 10-year-old rye whisky within the brand’s portfolio. The younger, 90-proof expression hosts a suggested retail price of $39.99 and the 90-proof rye whisky hosts a price of $84.99.

Both whiskies were aged in American oak casks. Good Money shared that its rye expression was produced with the “purest Canadian spring water.”

Peyton Manning’s Sweetens Cove Bourbon

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Former Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning stepped into the bourbon game with his Sweetens Cove brand in 2020. The brand was co-founded by Peyton Manning, Eli Manning and former pro tennis player Andy Roddick.

Sweetens Cove Bourbon is blended by Marianne Eaves, one of the foremost blenders in the bourbon world. Eaves was Kentucky’s first female master distiller who trained at Woodford Reserve and stewarded the whiskey brand, Castle and Key.

The bourbon brand initially launched in Tennessee then branched out to Texas, Kentucky, Louisiana, South Carolina and Colorado. Manning rolled up his sleeves during the launch and was cold-calling liquor stores in Indiana to stock his bourbon on shelves.

At the moment, Sweetens Cove hosts three whiskeys in its portfolio. The brand has a blended Kentucky and Tennessee bourbon that clocks in at 110.7 proof, a 112-proof blend of Tennessee whiskeys that range in age from 4 to 16 years, and a 114-proof blend of Tennessee bourbons finished in Speyside casks. The bourbons range in price from $50 to north of $200.

Terry Bradshaw’s Bradshaw Bourbon

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Former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw unveiled his Bradshaw Bourbon line in February 2020 with its inaugural expression that clocked in at 103.9 proof and hosted a suggested retail price of $39.99 for a bottle. In addition to a bourbon, Bradshaw Bourbon launched a Kentucky straight rye whiskey.

Bradshaw’s brand appeared to have a successful start. In 2022, Fred Minnick reported that Bradshaw Bourbon was one of the fastest-growing bourbon brands in the United States according to Drizzly.

The parent company behind Bradshaw Bourbon is Silver Screen Bottling Company, and the whiskey brand serves as a one-stop shop for celebrity whiskeys. Silver Screen Bottling company handles the entire process of creating a whiskey brand from licensing to distribution.

Charles Woodson’s Woodson Whiskey

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A former defensive back and safety for the Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers, Charles Woodson launched his whiskey brand Woodson Bourbon Whiskey, as a passion project. The former football player claims he is quite the wine aficionado, and his whiskey is finished in the same French oak wine barrels used for his wine label.

Woodson Whiskey spent six months experiencing an “accelerated” aging process implementing ultrasonic waves before it was finished in Woodson’s Cabernet Sauvignon barrels. The mash was made in Kentucky, and the bourbon was finished in San Diego. The brand’s flagship expression hosts an ABV of 40% and can be purchased for $40.

Woodson’s brand hosts other releases within its portfolio, including a Blue & Maize Signature Series, Green & Gold Signature Series, and a ready-made cocktail.

Derek Jeter’s Bespoken Spirits

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Former infielder for the New York Yankees, David Jeter, is a five-time World Series champion — but did you know Jeter also owns a spirits company? Jeter founded Bespoken Spirits in 2018.

The sustainably-driven spirits brand implements a specifically tailored finishing process that uses less wood, water and energy. Bespoken additionally claimed it does not lose 20% of its whiskey to evaporation due to the specific finishing process.

Bespoken includes three core whiskeys: bourbon, rye and American whiskey all priced at $49.99. Bespoken Bourbon hosts an ABV of 47%. The brand’s rye whiskey possesses a 50% ABV, and its American whiskey hosts an ABV of 45%. Bespoken’s Twice Toasted finishing process is implemented by the brand across the board for all three expressions.

Ever the entrepreneur, Jeter has sought out distinctive partnerships, such as two collaborative whiskeys that dropped in 2023 with Lynyrd Skynyrd and Whiskey Myers.

Eric LeGrand Whiskey

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Eric LeGrand’s launch of Eric LeGrand Whiskey made headlines in March 2023, and the tale of the former Rutgers football player’s spirits launch is a story of new beginnings. LeGrand was paralyzed in 2010 during a game, and LeGrand is donating $5.20 for every case sold to the Christopher & Dana Reeves Foundation.

Eric LeGrand Whiskey features an 88 proof bourbon as its flagship expression, which retails for $44.99 a bottle, and the bourbon is the result of a partnership with Brian Axelrod. Axelrod helped launch Conor McGregor’s Proper No. 12 Irish Whiskey.

LeGrand’s bourbon is distilled in Owensboro Kentucky and bottled at Bardstown Kentucky. In July 2023, LeGrand signed a multi-year partnership with Rutgers Athletics to feature the bourbon brand at games.

Rutgers Associate Athletic Director, Lisa Tirrell referred to LeGrand as “one of the greatest ambassadors for Rutgers Athletics,” because of LeGrand’s philanthropic efforts and the positive impact he makes.

Athlete-Owned Vodka Spirits Brands

Mike Piazza’s True Vodka

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MLB player Mike Piazza whose claim to fame was catching for the New York Mets unveiled the launch of his TRUE Vodka brand in 2020. The Vodka brand is meant to celebrate the best of New York City.

The vodka involves a mixture of rye and wheat grains sourced from Italy — a nod to Piazza’s heritage — and is made from purified water from springs in Tuscany.

Piazza’s 80 proof vodka is distilled seven times at a distillery in Friuli, Italy. The vodka typically retails for around $30.

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