Just over a year ago, Kendall Jenner’s 818 Tequila reduced prices to make a play in Tequila’s thriving super-premium category. When the brand launched, 818’s prices started at $45 for the Blanco up to $65 for the Añejo. In February 2024, 818’s pricing for its core expressions dropped to around $30-$50. At the time, the company said the move was to make the brand more affordable to its target demographic of younger consumers, turning 818 from a special occasion offering to a more frequent purchase.
The pricing strategy worked and, according to Mike Novy, the CEO of 818 parent the Calabasas Beverage Company, the brand reached 133,000 cases in 2024. “We saw a rapid jump in our sales,” said Novy. “We put ourselves in that slipstream of where our consumer is spending money and it’s paying consistent dividends for us.”
The brand is continuing to build on last year’s gains, according to Novy. Regionally, 818 is strongest in the eastern half of the country, with the nation’s largest spirits markets—including New York, Illinois, Florida, and Texas—being key drivers of growth. Outside of the biggest spirits-consuming states, 818 is seeing particularly strong growth in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Louisiana. In the western half of the U.S., California is the brand’s most important market but Arizona has exceeded expectations, growing more than 50% in the last year.
Within the portfolio, Blanco is the largest SKU, but 818’s Reposado is accelerating quickly, amid the current rush of consumer interest in lightly aged Tequila. “Reposado over the past year in particular has seen a nice acceleration and it runs a close second to Blanco,” Novy said. “Encouragingly, I would say our higher-priced expressions of Añejo and our Eight Reserve are now seeing an acceleration of sales after they took a dip over the last year when consumer spending patterns changed.”
818, along with Sprinter vodka soda from Kendall’s sister Kylie Jenner, is grouped under the Calabasas Beverage Company (CBC) and distributed nationally by Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits. The two brands formed CBC last fall to unify their operations and leverage their respective strengths with distributors and retailers.
So far, Novy said, the plan of merging the Jenner brands’ teams under CBC has paid off. “It allowed us to be easier to work with,” he said, “because we can go to one decision maker at the distributor or the retailer or the account manager and speak about both brands for different moments.”
