With luxury tequila driving growth for spirits, the beverage innovators behind Fuze, NOS, BodyArmor and Core, are looking to further their presence in agave spirits.

Launched last year, tequila soda brand Casa Azul is shifting its attention towards its high end tequila line of the same name and betting on celebrity investors and a “modern, luxury” brand to fuel sales.

Lance Collins, whose track record of success in beverage has few equals, introduced Casa Azul’s flagship tequila soda last August, positioning the 12 oz bright blue can in contrast to ranch waters or canned margaritas that use malt liquor by framing it as a product with a simple ingredient list. Now, the company is following the same branding ethos with Casa Azul Tequila, launched in March. The line, which sources its organic agave from a single estate family-owned distillery, comes in three expressions, a blanco ($69), reposado ($89), and añejo ($129).

“Tequila is growing like crazy and brands are trying to keep up so they’re being forced to cut corners to be able to get more volume out, so we think that’s a perfect opportunity for us to come in and talk about organic, additive free, and that we’re a single estate tequila,” said Bryan Crowley, CEO and board director.

As of March, Crowley is leading the charge as the new CEO, bringing over two decades of building and accelerating brands like AB Inbev, Pabst, and VEEV Spirits. Former Glaceau president and BodyArmor chairman/co-founder Mike Repole is also involved as co-chairman of the board. NOS Energy Drink, part of FUZE, and BodyArmor Super Drinks sold to the Coca-Cola Company in 2007 and 2021 respectively, with BodyArmor, which Collins co-founded with Repole, ranking as the beverage giant’s largest acquisition at the time at $5.6 billion. Core Hydration was acquired by Keurig Dr. Pepper in 2018.

While members of Casa Azul’s team have previously made their mark in the energy and wellness industries, the team will now need to build on its expertise to face competition in agave. Other low-ABV tequila RTDs on the market such as Onda also tout low-sugar and real ingredients, and the leading hard seltzer, High Noon, recently launched its tequila extension. The market is less crowded with organic tequilas, although many independent agave spirit brands boast other sustainable production attributes and family producers.

But Crowley is confident that the positioning of both the tequila and sodas, which centers “authentically Mexican branding” and features bright blue packaging will make the products jump off the shelves. The test for the RTDs will come this summer: due to supply chain challenges, the canned cocktails made it to stores after the summer resets, so Crowley is looking to hit the ground running in the 12 states where it is distributed. The aim is to expand to 19 states through the company’s partnership with RNDC and other distributors by the end of the year.

To gear up, the brand has banked a few celebrity investors. NFL tight end champion, Travis Kelce, joined the company in February.

“We’re just getting started with Travis, there’s a lot of things that we can talk about and do as we get into the summer, especially on the sodas which is where the focus will be with Travis,” he said.

The tequila line kicked off with a multi-million dollar campaign featuring Mexican actress and Casa Azul investor, Eiza González, best known for her roles in Baby Driver and the Fast and Furious spin off, Hobbs & Shaw.

The approach to celebrity partnerships follows the example of past deals orchestrated by Collins, said Crowley. BodyArmor separated from the traditional endorsement deal model by offering minority stakes in the company for its athlete investors, highlighted by Kobe Bryant.

“In my career, a lot of what I’ve seen is, it’s not the number of followers necessarily or the reach, it really is the brand match with the partner that really makes a difference,” Crowley said.

But the celebrity investor is not novel for tequila, as A-listers have been flocking to invest in the spirit following the acquisitions of George Clooney’s Casamigos and Dwayne Johnson’s Teremana Tequila, two top selling agave spirits. The partnership with Gonzalez – in addition to the third-generation agave farmers-turned-distillers who are producing the product – is part of the company’s way of communicating “the essence and value of family, quality, and luxury to the market in a unique and an effective way,” said Crowley.

The partnership with an organic agave farm will also help sustain the company’s growth, as it won’t be competing for agaves on the open market, he added. Shortages in agave have threatened the supply of tequila and mezcal in the past. The supply could also help fuel future innovations, which Crowley said are surely on their way. An extra-aged añejo is slated for 2024, and the team is looking into different format sizes and possibly a mezcal.

“Lance calls it the evolution of the ‘bevolution’, and if you look throughout his career, innovation is one of the keys to his success,” said Crowley. “You got to listen to consumers and you got to be able to react quicker than the competition and get new things out.”