What Makes A Celebrity Liquor Worth Buying, According To A Master Mixologist

How you feel about celebrity-endorsed food and beverage items will likely depend on your awareness of advertising and your understanding of how companies use individuals and their identity to sell you things (case in point: Dolly Parton's baking mixes, which, based on our experience, aren't that good). But how do celebrity liquors fare? 

To get some insight into this Wild West of endorsements, we chatted with Justin Lavenue, master mixologist and co-owner of The Roosevelt Room and owner/operator of The Eleanor and RoadHaus Mobile Cocktails. "Celebrity spirits have become incredibly common over the past decade, and like anything else in the spirits world, the quality varies widely," he says. "Some are clearly marketing exercises, while others are backed by genuine partnerships with experienced distillers and producers."

According to Lavenue, the most important thing that a celebrity spirit brand can have is a quality that is as impressive as the name the bottle carries or the person it's associated with. "The spirits world is built on centuries of craftsmanship, and the best brands respect that heritage by working closely with skilled distillers," he says. He's wary of brands that are centered around the celebrity instead of paying close attention to the libation inside the bottle. 

The nice thing about bad liquor — celebrity-branded or not — is that customers will be able to tell that it's not worth buying after trying it. You might be able to hide behind a label or a name, but the flavor and quality are where push comes to shove. "Consumers today are increasingly savvy, and if the liquid doesn't deliver, people figure that out pretty quickly," says Lavenue. After sampling a variety of them, we found that some of the worst celebrity-owned liquors include Kendall Jenner's 818 Tequila, which lacks depth (not unlike its owner, as some may argue), and Crystal Head Vodka, owned by Dan Aykroyd, which many people think is nothing more than just another pretty bottle. 

Lavenue did offer some guidance as to brands that have matched superb quality with a notable name. "Casamigos, for instance, succeeded because the product itself is approachable, consistent, and well-made," he says. "It introduced a lot of people to sipping tequila for the first time." This tequila, founded by George Clooney, is often regarded as one of the best celebrity liquors and spirits and is a standout in the tequila world, proving that a celebrity association can only get you so far; it's what's on the inside that counts.