Tequila & Mezcal
Clase Azul – the ultra-premium mezcal and tequila brand turning heads all over the world
Mar
Clase Azul Mexico, the hugely successful mezcal and tequila maker, has forged a brand that celebrates the imagination and culture of its homeland.
Like many of the world’s best products, Clase Azul’s success is borne from failure. Its owner, Mexican native Arturo Lomeli, founded the company in 1997 – but only after watching his first tequila brand crash. Still in his early 20s, the Guadalajara native ran a bar in his hometown and launched a tequila brand that just didn’t sell – probably, he suggests, because of the sombreros and handlebar moustaches he used for its branding. Undeterred, he returned to college, studied marketing and tried all over again.
The second time around, he took his inspiration straight from the heart of Mexican culture, creating a handmade product that celebrated everything that is authentic about his country, its heritage, and its craftsmanship. The result? A hugely successful business that Forbes values at over a billion dollars and that remains 100% Mexican-owned, reportedly employing thousands of people in its distillation, bottling, and marketing operations.
Clase Azul is an ultra-premium mezcal and tequila brand. Its defining edge is the spirit itself, but the factor that turns heads all over the world is the handmade bottle that holds its product. Each Clase Azul bottle takes two weeks to create and is entirely handcrafted.
Indeed, the company built its own ceramics workshop, Tradición Mazahua, to design and shape the bottle’s evolution. Based in the town of Santa Maria Canchesda, a two-hour drive from Mexico City, its artisan ceramicists forge, hand-paint and shape each bottle of Clasa Azul’s core collection and its special editions, often priced at up to €10,000 each. The Clase Azul range has become a dedicated collector’s item.
Each bottle contains equally handcrafted tequila and mezcal. Tequila is traditionally made using the blue agave plant. On the other hand, mezcal can be made using a range of agave plants, depending on the style and flavour the master distiller is seeking. The plant is harvested, roasted in clay ovens and distilled by its master distiller, Viridiana Tinoco, by hand.
Here are three bottles from the Clase Azul core collection to get to know the brand better:
Tequila and Mezcal
€349.59 (Ex. VAT)
Clase Azul Mezcal Durango
This double-distilled mezcal is made using cenizo agave from the state of Durango in northern Mexico. The soil in this region is particularly mineral-rich, giving the flavour of the agave plant that grows here lots of citrus and peppered spice.
The agave is roasted in traditional clay ovens, enhancing the plant’s natural sweetness and delivering a smoky character that permeates its deeply layered flavour. This is a sweet and spicy mezcal with lots of citrus and a medium to long finish.
Tequila and Mezcal
€161.79 (Ex. VAT)
Clase Azul Tequila Reposado
Clase Azul Reposado is a flagship bottle in the company’s range. A premium tequila made using blue agave, it matures for eight months in American oak whiskey casks. With a medium to full body, this top-selling tequila is immediately recognisable from its blue and white ceramic decanter.
The aroma of the agave reaches the nose first, followed by notes of cloves, candied orange and hazelnuts. It’s a deeply flavoured tequila with layers of chocolate, clove, and cinnamon wrapped in its sweet and citrus-heavy character. More spice and cloves will arrive on the finish.
Tequila and Mezcal
€109.76 (Ex. VAT)
Clase Azul Tequila Plata
The clear glass bottle that carries the Clase Azul Tequila Plata reveals the purity of this handcrafted tequila and the process that creates it.
This unaged silver tequila has a herbal and citrus personality, offering lots of orange and apple peel on the nose, followed by a palate rich with sweet roasted agave, gentle spice and orchard fruits that make up a cornerstone of the brand’s identity. Bottled at 40%, this is the original of the brand’s lineup.
Click here to view more of our tequila and mezcal lineup.
