4. Don Julio

2018: 1.5m
2017: 1.3m
% change: 21.6%

Place last year: 4

Last year’s Tequila Brand Champion, Don Julio, joined the million-case ranks for the first time in 2017 after growing an impressive 44.4%.

In 2018, the brand yet again achieved the highest growth in the category, with an increase of 21.6% to 1.5m cases.

According to Diageo’s financial year ending 30 June 2018, Don Julio grew by “strong” double digits, boosted by the US and Mexico.

Diageo completed its full acquisition of Don Julio in 2015, announcing a US$400m investment in the brand’s production facilities that same year.

The UK drinks giant broke ground on the expansion work at its Atotonilco production site in Jalisco, Mexico, in May 2018. Don Julio now sits alongside George Clooney’s Casamigos Tequila, which Diageo acquired in 2017 for US$1bn.

In July last year, Don Julio Tequila launched its first innovation in six years – a reposado Tequila finished in casks previously used to aged Scotch whisky for the Buchanan’s blend.