Nick Jonas Is 'All In' on His New Tequila
The Jonas brother has teamed up with designer John Varvatos and the people behind Stoli Vodka to launch a new celebrity tequila brand.
Mike Windle
What is it about celebrities and tequila? Bold-faced names ranging from George Clooney to Carlos Santana, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson to Sean "P Diddy" Combs, Toby Keith to Justin Timberlake have launched or lent their names to tequila or mezcal brands. Clooney even sold his brand, Casamigos, to liquor giant Diageo in 2017 … for a reported $1 billion. (I guess that’s what it is about celebrities and tequila.)
Now Nick Jonas is getting in on the star-liquor-brand action. The Jonas brother has teamed up with fashion designer John Varvatos and Stoli Group, the liquor brand behind, most notably, Stolichnaya Vodka, to bring the world a new "ultra-premium tequila" brand, Villa One. Jonas and Varvatos decided to launch the brand – to reflect “life as it should be” -- following a trip to Mexico with friends in 2017, according to a press release.
"John and I forged a great relationship while working together. When we brought our friends together over tequila in Mexico, we learned that we share the same values – enjoying time with friends and family, old and new, one glass at a time," Jonas said in the release. "When it came to Villa One, it was critical to us that we take part in the decision-making process every step of the way and, now, we feel that this is exactly the tequila we sought out to create more than two years ago."
The tequila, set to roll out nationwide in September, will come in three varieties, all 80 proof (or 40 percent ABV) and priced between $44.99 and $59.99: Silver/Blanco, a clear liquor offering "a nose of cooked agave" and "a continuous bouquet of dried fruit with a long, smooth finish;" Reposado, a light-gold tequila aged for six months in oak barrels and featuring "a full, balanced butterscotch and oak flavor" and "a coffee, mellowed spice and leather aftertaste;" and Anejo, oak-barrel aged for 18 months and delivering "rich caramel notes with vanilla wafer and banana essences, a full-bodied mouthfeel and a silky finish with notes of dark chocolate and honey," according to the company.
Jonas and Varvatos designed the bottles, with a "fine jewelry-inspired metalwork around the neck" meant to evoke Varvatos’ designs, but the tequila itself was made under the supervision of Master Distiller Arturo Fuentes, whose three decades in the business have earned him the sobriquet "the godfather of tequila."
To make the tequila -- at the Stoli Group’s Fabrica de Tequilos Finos distillery in Jalisco, Mexico -- Fuentes used "artisanal well water and only the finest, sustainably sourced, 100% blue weber agave, matured 5-7 years and sourced from both the Highland and Lowland regions," according to the release.
Still, Rudy Costello, Stoli Group’s acting global president and CEO, said Jonas and Varvatos have taken an active role in launching the brand.
"Nick and John have been 'all in' on Villa One since they approached us more than a year and a half ago – visiting the distillery, providing tasting and bottle design feedback, joining marketing and sales meetings and more," he said in a release.
"All in" on tequila? For some people -- perhaps Jonas – that may just be where happiness begins.
Photo: GettyImages
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