With that targeted strategy in mind, though, there were skeptics in the industry.
“To be honest, the first time I heard about Casa Dragones, I was like, ‘What’s this tequila in a perfume bottle?” said Ivy Mix, 37, the author of “Spirits of Latin America” and a co-owner of the Brooklyn cocktail bar Leyenda and the wine and spirit shop Fiasco! “I don’t want anything to do with it. This is fake tequila. I always have my hairs up. So many celebrities launch tequilas and they rarely care about the culture. Then I tried it, and it was actually good, which, honestly, I was surprised, because so frequently you get these tequila brands that spend so much time and energy on their packaging, that what’s in the bottle tends not to taste that great.”
Though the brand has introduced carefully cultivated collaborations, such as one with the Danish artist Danh Võ at the 2015 Venice Biennale or another with the Mexican artists Jose Dávila and José Noé Suro, it was inevitable that celebrities — including Olivia Wilde, Ryan Seacrest and Kate Upton — would also become acolytes. Oprah Winfrey named Casa Dragones her favorite tequila in 2017.
“Casa Dragones is more with the way also many of us drink tequila,” said the artist Mr. Orozco, 60, who sips tequila every day when he is in Mexico. “You sit with it, you are in a moment of relaxed, good conversation. It goes very well with Mexican food but also with other food. The tequila is very refined, so it’s very healthy and you don’t have a horrible hangover the day after with a tattoo on your face.”
“I introduced Casa Dragones in my little town of Seal Harbor, Maine,” said Martha Stewart. “Everybody up there drinks it up since they had it at my house.” Ms. Stewart, 81, remembered when, decades ago, she first visited Marfa, Tex., and came upon a tequila bar, which seemed like a novelty at the time. “Now, when I ask for a glass of Casa Dragones,” she said, “no matter where I go, it’s there.”
