The idea of musicians dipping into booze is far from a new concept—neither drinking it, nor making it. After all, iconic rocker Jon Bon Jovi launched Hampton Water rosé, and eight-time Grammy-winning metal band Metallica has its own whiskey, Blackened, aged in ex-brandy barrels as their bass-heavy tracks are blasted through special speakers that allow sound waves to push more flavor into the liquor. Far out, right?
There’s nothing quite as wild going on in the making of Villa One (villaonetequila.com), the new tequila range by pop music icon Nick Jonas and celeb-loved rock-n'-roll-inspired fashion designer John Varvatos, but it’s nothing short of premium. The impetus? A shared trip to Mexico. Three expressions brought to market with Stoli Group—silver, reposado and añejo—are blended from sustainably sourced 100% blue weber agave from both highland and lowland regions of Tequila, in Jalisco, Mexico. The pair also designed the fine jewelry-esque metalwork around the neck of the bottles.
Meanwhile, another set of pals, Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston, missed their Breaking Bad days so much they reteamed to create Dos Hombres (doshombres.com), a mezcal that’s as smooth as it is smoky thanks to handselected Espadin agave from the Oaxacan hillsides, and a production process of working with a maestro whose family has been harvesting it for many, many generations. “We wanted to be creative together but realized that being on camera again wasn’t possible for a while, so we put our energy toward discovering the perfect mezcal,” says Paul. As they say south of the border, salud!