Impact Databank: Don Julio, Lunazul, Espolòn Drive Growth In Tequila
Tequila continues to be among the best-performing areas of the drinks market. While the category slowed a bit last year, it still grew 2.5% to 31.5 million 9-liter cases, according to Impact Databank, propelled by rapid gains for leading brands including Don Julio, Lunazul, Espolòn, Teremana, and Cazadores.
Proximo-owned Jose Cuervo continues to lead the Tequila category overall at 4.92 million cases after a 2% decrease in 2024. Within the brand family, the 100%-agave Jose Cuervo Tradicional tier grew strongly last year, boosted by rising sales in the on-premise, as did the upscale Reserva de la Familia label. Elsewhere in the Proximo Tequila stable, 1800 dipped slightly, but remained above the 2-million-case threshold to lead the up-and-coming $25-$40 Tequila segment.
Don Julio vaulted into the second position among all Tequilas in 2024 as it rode growth in its Reposado expression to an increase of almost 1 million cases for the year. “There is a lot of runway for growth,” Diageo CEO Debra Crew recently told analysts. “Household penetration of Tequila is 33%; Don Julio only has household penetration of 5%, so there’s lots of opportunity to build.” With the growth of Reposado, along with high-end Añejo Don Julio 1942, 80% of the brand is now in its aged expressions, Crew added.Portfoliomate Casamigos, which skews more to the Blanco segment, faced a tougher road last year, falling 19% in volume terms. “We are launching a new campaign on Casamigos,” said Crew. “In stores where we have actually implemented the right pricing strategy, we are seeing improvements. We also have distributed the 375ml and 175ml sizes. Those SKUs are growing as well and helping us stem some of the losses on Casamigos.”
Bacardi-owned Patrón continues to target the ultra-premium tier of the category, now ranking third overall behind Jose Cuervo and Don Julio. Roberto Ramirez Laverde, who formerly headed up the Bacardi brand, recently transitioned to become SVP, Patrón and Agaves at the company, taking on responsibility for Cazadores Tequila and Ilegal Mezcal in addition to Patrón. While Patrón slipped 6% in volume last year, Bacardi’s Cazadores label jumped 11% to 920,000 cases.
Heaven Hill’s Lunazul was among the fastest-growing brands in the category in 2024, adding nearly a half-million cases in volume to surpass 1.7 million cases. The brand debuted a “Look to Luna” ad campaign last year positioning Lunazul as the “best quality Tequila at an approachable price.”
Espolòn, from the Campari portfolio, also rose by double-digits, continuing its strong run of the past few years. Espolòn has expanded by more than 600,000 cases in the U.S. since 2021. Similarly, the Teremana brand founded by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and partners kept up its momentum, reaching the 1.1-million-case mark in 2024 on a 10.5% increase.
| Top 10 Tequila Brands In the U.S.1 (millions of 9-liter cases) |
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| Rank | Brand | Importer | 2023 | 2024E | Percent Change2 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jose Cuervo | Proximo | 5.02 | 4.92 | -2.0% | |
| 2 | Don Julio | Diageo | 2.40 | 3.35 | 39.5% | |
| 3 | Patrόn | Bacardi | 2.60 | 2.45 | -6.0% | |
| 4 | 1800 | Proximo | 2.10 | 2.05 | -2.5% | |
| 5 | Casamigos | Diageo | 2.45 | 2.00 | -18.5% | |
| 6 | Lunazul | Heaven Hill | 1.27 | 1.74 | 37.7% | |
| 7 | Espolòn | Campari | 1.37 | 1.58 | 15.4% | |
| 8 | Hornitos | Suntory | 1.73 | 1.57 | -9.5% | |
| 9 | Teremana | Mast-Jägermeister | 1.00 | 1.11 | 10.5% | |
| 10 | Cazadores | Bacardi | 0.83 | 0.92 | 11.0% | |
| Total Top 103 | 20.77 | 21.68 | 4.4% | |||
| 1 excludes RTDs 2 based on unrounded data 3 addition of columns may not agree due to rounding Source: IMPACT DATABANK © 2025 |
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Tagged : Cazadores, Don Julio, Espolón, Jose Cuervo, Lunazul, Patrón, Teremana
