A Timeline of the Weirdest, Wackiest, and Most Attractive Tequila Bottles [Infographic]

We’ve always been taught not to judge a book by its cover, but that life lesson holds little weight when it comes to tequila shopping. More so than any other spirits category, tequila has embraced the concept of spectacle. This wasn’t always the case, but over the past 30 years, bottle designs have grown increasingly experimental, wacky, and wild.

Producers started going avant-garde to make their bottles stand out on a shelf, and that’s still a driving force, especially given the dizzying number of expressions and brands on the market these days. But these days, these extravagant designs are also chosen to signify luxury and status — and to make for a head-turning bottle service option. Sometimes these bottles are elegant examples of functional art, and sometimes they’re completely absurd. (Either way, they make some pretty decent vases once they’re tapped.)

From vessels that could pass as movie props from “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” to those that look like throwaway designs by Frank Lloyd Wright, we’ve rounded-up some of the wildest bottles that have hit the market over the years. Mind you, this list is not a celebration of distillation, but one of design — from the gorgeous to the ridiculous — so the liquids’ quality was not considered (though there are some high-quality products peppered in here). Let’s get into it.

Rey Sol (1998)

Kicking off our list is a bottle that predates tequila’s packaging revolution. Produced by Casa San Matias, the Rey Sol line of extra añejos comes packaged in a sun-shaped decanter designed by Mexican artist Sergio Bustamente. Did we mention the sun wears a smiling face, a mustache, and a prominent unibrow? Its rays also circumnavigate the decanter in ridges à la Remy Martin Louis XIII. The tequilas housed in this vessel fetch upwards of $250, depending on the expression.

Clase Azul (2000)

One of the most famous examples of showy tequila bottles is Clase Azul. The brand itself launched in 1997, but founder Arturo Lomeli’s first bottle design — which involved a sombrero and a mustache — would get a makeover in 2000. The brand’s now-iconic, ceramic decanters take roughly two weeks to make and are painted by hand, meaning no two bottles are exactly the same. There’s also a surprisingly robust secondary market for empty decanters online for people who repurpose them into lamps, candle holders, flower vases, and the like.

AsomBroso (2000)

The same year Clase Azul premiered its towering decanter, AsomBroso dropped this… thing. It’s hard to not let our imagination get the worst of us here, but questionable design aside, the brand is known for aged tequilas and barrel-aged expressions with a focus on wine barrels like ex-Bordeaux and Cabernet Sauvignon casks.

Don Julio 1942 (2002)

When Don Julio tequila first hit the market in 1985, the brand’s squat bottle was a departure from the tall vessels of agave brands past. This choice was inspired by the tequila legend’s 60th birthday party, where his family requested that his tequila be served. He agreed, under the condition that it come in bottles small enough for people to see their tablemates without anything obstructing their view.

All that got flipped on its head with the 2002 debut of Don Julio 1942. The first vessel for the two-and-a-half-year-old añejo tequila was a tad wider than the one we know today, which was the result of a subtle redesign in 2010. The sleek, brown tinted bottle stands at a towering 17.5 inches tall in the shape of an agave leaf, and it was one of the first tequilas to achieve somewhat of a unicorn status.

Casta Pasion (2006)

Many of us are familiar with the old marketing ploy of sticking a worm in an agave spirit bottle. But in this case, the bottle is the worm — a very cartoonish, happy-looking one. Casta Pasion has three different worm-bottle expressions: The reposado gets a wooden worm-head top, while the añejo and extra añejo are christened with upgraded metal heads. They’ve got antennas so they’re not entirely anatomically correct, but it’s an adorable idea nonetheless. It was tough for us to pinpoint exactly when this little guy hit the market, though based on a few websites and reviews, it seems it was no later than 2006.

Grand Mayan (2009)

Grand Mayan’s bulbous ceramic vessels may take up about double the shelf space of any standard-shaped bottle in your cabinet, but they’re gems to behold nonetheless. Like Clase Azul’s decanters, these ornate Talavera-style vessels are all hand-painted, making them look more like precious pottery than booze containers.

Hijos de Villa Reposado Pistol Tequila (2010)

Around 2010, the tequila industry became saturated with borderline-gimmicky packaging. Exhibit A: Hijos de Villa’s Reposado Pistol Tequila. And yes, the liquid comes in a glass pistol, marking the 100th anniversary of the start of the Mexican Revolution. Volume-wise, the vessel holds just 200 milliliters of spirit, but never fear — the brand makes a 3-foot-long, rifle-shaped tequila bottle, too.

La Gritona Reposado (2012)

In a pivot back to more understated designs, we find La Gritona Reposado. The attractive, green-tinted, swing-top bottle is an achievement in minimalist design, and looks like something one would find at an estate sale. There are no intricate floral patterns, sombreros, or skeletons — just an embossed label with the brand name, an ABV, and a coy nod to its place of origin, Valle de Guadalupe.

Tres Cuatro y Cinco Extra Añejo (2017)

This long-necked vessel, designed by Mexico City-based artist Alonso Gonzales Jr., is a wild sight to behold. True to its name, this extra añejo is a blend of three, four, and five-year-old tequilas aged in French oak casks. The liquid itself is crafted by seasoned industry vet and master distiller Enrique Fonseca, so it’s arguably worth the splurge. Just be careful not to tip it over.

Sangre de Vida Corazón Collection (2018)

Sangre de Vida is among the 50-plus brands produced at La Cofradía distillery, and its bottles come in three different designs. There’s a run-of-the-mill rectangular bottle, another resembling a sugar skull, and, finally, one in the shape of a heart — an anatomically accurate human heart. Sangre de Vida introduced the heart-shaped bottles in 2018 as the packaging for its Corazón Collection, and it’s been a mainstay ever since.

Pātsch Tequila (2021)

Have you ever looked at a set of brass knuckles and thought, “Man, I wish those were fused to a bottle of tequila”? Well, if you have, Pātsch Tequila’s got you covered. Designed by New York-based aquatic architect Martin Schapira, the bottle is quirky down to its three-pronged resin topper. The brand’s website doesn’t offer much information regarding the design process, but the built-in handle likely makes this the least-droppable tequila bottle on the market.

818 Tequila Eight Reserve (2022)

Named for California’s Calabasas area code, Kendall Jenner’s 818 Tequila has seen substantial success among the other celebrity spirits. Booming business aside, the brand turned heads in 2022 with the release of Eight Reserve, an añejo blend in a ceramic decanter shaped like, well, the number 8.

Casa Obsidiana (2023)

Casa Obsidiana’s bottles could be considered preposterous or stunning, depending on whom you ask. There’s the chunky, stone-toned blanco, the reposado that looks like the better half of a fish, and the midcentury-modern-meets-Stonehenge-esque añejo. Every ceramic decanter comes embedded with a circular piece of obsidian, which is sleek, but also kind of makes them look like not-so-subtle security cameras. That said, the tequilas themselves are all pretty good, if not a little overpriced.

Azulejos Tequila Trophy Head Collection (2024)

Azulejos is no stranger to the art of outlandish design. Although the sombrero-sporting Skelly Collection is certainly absurd enough to make this list, this spot has to go to Trophy Head Collection. These bottles are exactly what they sound like: massive, ceramic deer skulls with antlers dolled up with Talavera-style patterns. Despite the $218 price tag, they’re much less expensive than most taxidermy deer heads, so maybe hang this bottle above your fireplace instead — hanging bracket included.

*Image retrieved from @tequila.azulejos on Instagram