The Most Expensive Tequila Sold at Auction Is Now This 2017 Clase Azul

Despite the current downturn that the spirits industry is facing, the auction market remains hot. You need look no further than examples of some recent sales, including the most expensive bottle of American whiskey ever sold at auction and a record-breaking Japanese single malt sale. But it appears that collectors are not just interested in whiskey anymore, because a bottle of Clase Azul just set a record for being the most expensive bottle of tequila ever sold at auction.

Clase Azul is a luxury tequila brand that is known as much for the liquid in the bottle as it is for the bottles themselves, handmade ceramic decanters that people often keep as art pieces once they are empty. That is a big reason why this expensive brand has become such a collectors’ item, particularly when it comes to the limited-edition releases that it puts out a few times per year. One of those is the Dia de Muertos series which was created to commemorate the Day of the Dead. The bottle in question, part of Sotheby’s Whisky & Whiskey | Single Cask Summer online auction, was an añejo tequila released in 2017 in a run of just 300 bottles which were initially available at just one location in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for $250 apiece.

Initial estimates for the value of this bottle of Clase Azul ranged from $8,000 to $12,000, but it ended up selling for a record-setting $35,000, beating the previous record of $24,265 for a bottle of Jose Cuervo ‘Rolling Stones Edition’ 250th Anniversary Extra Añejo Tequila (that includes buyer’s premium and tax). There were some other spirits sales of note in the auction as well. Bourbon was represented by a bottle of Van Winkle 19 Year Old Special Reserve selected for Corti Brothers Wine Merchants in Sacramento, which sold for $25,000; and a bottle of Remy Martin Louis XIII Cognac Ultra Rare Red was not far behind with a hammer sale of $20,000.

According to Sotheby’s global head of spirits, Jonny Fowle, this could be the start of a new trend of the value of agave spirits increasing at auction. “This is a very interesting time for tequila,” he said in a statement. “Tequila and mezcal have seen huge growth in recent years and anecdotally I have noticed many whiskey drinkers in America turning to agave spirits. However, tequila’s secondary market activity is very much in its infancy. This is the first big result for one of the industry’s most iconic brands, Clase Azul, which could mark the dawn of a new boom for collectible tequila.”