A Huge Class Action Lawsuit Alleges That Casamigos Tequila Is Just Sugar Water and Don Julio Has Been Gutted
Food & Wine Magazine - Over the past several years, the conversation around transparency in tequila has largely centered on the use of additives and the precise language producers can use on their bottles to describe what’s been added—or not added—to the spirit inside. However, this week, that conversation shifted to the purity of the agave spirit itself, as a class action lawsuit filed in U.S. federal court accused global spirits giant Diageo of adulterating some of its most popular luxury tequilas and misleading consumers through deceptive labeling.
The class action complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York alleges that “an investigation of Casamigos and Don Julio tequilas has shown that they consist of significant concentrations of cane or other types of alcohol rather than pure tequila.”
As such, the complaint contends that neither brand meets the regulatory requirements to label itself “100% agave” in either the United States or Mexico, although both Casamigos and Don Julio bottles carry the descriptors “Tequila 100% Agave Azul” and “100% de Agave,” respectively.
In the filing, the plaintiffs, which include a Brooklyn sushi restaurant and a New York-based bartender who runs a popular Instagram account, claim that they purchased both Casamigos and Don Julio tequilas under the assumption that both contained spirits made exclusively from Blue Weber agave. Moreover, they and countless consumers like them paid a premium for what they believed to be high-quality tequila based on Diageo’s labeling terms. Had they known those products were (allegedly) adulterated with non-agave spirits, they wouldn’t have bought those products or would’ve paid less for them.
The suit ultimately seeks $5 million in damages on behalf of consumers, as well as an injunction compelling Diageo to cease the deceptive advertising alleged in the complaint. Via a statement, Diageo global head of agave Sophie Kelly responded that “these claims of adulteration are outrageous and categorically false.”
This is honestly the least surprising news I've seen in a while. And anybody who's tended bar or worked in one will surely agree.
I’ve been in the nightlife game long enough to see a lot of garbage get passed off as luxury. But no one, and I mean no one, does fake-fancy booze like Diageo.
The same soulless corporate Death Star that’s been buying up authentic brands, gutting them, and pushing the hollowed-out shells like they’re still the real deal.
Diageo is like the Maroon 5 of the liquor world. All flash, zero soul, and somehow still insanely successful despite everyone claiming they hate them.
Now, finally, we get some receipts.
A class action lawsuit just dropped in the Eastern District of New York, accusing Diageo of straight-up lying about what’s in Casamigos and Don Julio. These bottles say “100% agave,” but the suit says they’re spiked with "cane sugar distillates". That, my friends, is a mixto in a tuxedo, and it's illegal.
This suit was filed by three plaintiffs, and they're no slouches. Avi Pusateri (a New York mixology instructor), Chaim Mishulovin, and a restaurant called Sushi Tokyo Inc.
The lawsuit claims they and millions of others shelled out big bucks thinking they were buying premium tequila. But instead, we have all allegedly been drinking diluted, adulterated, corporate Kool-Aid.
I feel so vindicated.
I’ve been yelling for years that Casamigos is basically liquid candy. A tequila for people who think agave is a type of yoga class. Basically tequila-adjacent corn syrup cocktails in designer glassware.
And as for Don Julio 1942?
That stuff used to taste so smooth. But ever since it became nearly extinct during the shortage during covid, when you couldn't find it anywhere, once it became readily available again it was never the same. Call me crazy but I swear. Now it tastes like someone melted a Yankee Candle into a bottle of rail tequila.
This gets pretty shady too.
The suit doesn’t just go after Diageo, it calls out the Consejo Regulador del Tequila (CRT), the official Mexican body that’s supposed to enforce the “100% agave” rules.
The plaintiffs claim the CRT turned a blind eye, or worse, took kickbacks, while Diageo allegedly mixed in cheaper booze and still slapped on that premium label.
According to reports, CRT officials have allegedly allowed tequila companies to buy fake agave fields, launder in cane alcohol, and keep the “100% agave” stamp. Imagine if the USDA certified a hamburger made of tofu and sawdust, that’s what we’re talking about here.
And guess who’s taking the hit? Not Diageo. Of course not.
Not Clooney and his cronies who cashed out for a billion bucks. It’s the farmers in Jalisco, whose real agave is getting pushed out of the market by sugar-spiked fraud bottles.
Prices have cratered, and these communities, the soul of tequila production, are getting absolutely steamrolled by boardroom vampires in London.
Diageo, of course, denies everything.
Their official response is that these claims are “outrageous and categorically false.”
Which is what every guilty company says every single time they get caught, and exactly what you’d say if you definitely weren’t mixing Kool-Aid into your premium tequila and charging $150 a bottle for it.
This is the same outfit that just settled a huge legal beef with Diddy over Cîroc and DeLeón, so… yeah. Not exactly a squeaky-clean track record. (There are also rumors in connected circles that they were the ones behind the infamous Cassie beating the hotel lobby security video mysteriously dropping to CNN out of the blue.)
Advertisement
As for what the outcome will be? Honestly, hard to say.
These giant corporations have endless money to throw at legal teams who specialize in dodging accountability. But even if the lawsuit doesn’t stick in court, it’s sticking in the tequila culture, and that might be worse for them. Because now everyone’s watching. And talking. Now it’s out there.
It’s not just some bartender ranting on Instagram anymore. This is federal court filings. And if you’re a smaller tequila brand out there doing things the right way, you just got a massive PR gift. (Especially with how big the "additive-free" market is becoming)
But hey, what do I know? I’m just a bitter industry vet who’s been shouting into the void about this for years while Diageo raked in billions and Clooney played the charming face of what’s basically boozy splenda in a tuxedo.
p.s. - speaking of additive free, I have been searching high and low wanting to try Fortaleza and cannot find it to save my life. If anybody has other brands worth tasting drop them in the comments please.