Patron Tequila used “International Tequila Day” to announce a partnership with Guillermo del Toro, the Oscar-nominated and widely celebrated Mexican film director, designer and screenwriter.
The “Patrón x Guillermo del Toro” collaboration is multi-dimensional, as it incorporates an exquisite physical package, two bottles (both extraordinary blends of Patrón aged spirits), and the ritual of opening and enjoying it.
For the outer package that houses both bottles in the “Patrón x Guillermo del Toro” piece, he designed a stark, matte black cover that peels away to reveal a box with carefully detailed black and silver drawings. These drawings were inspired by the “jimadores,” the skilled laborers in Mexico who for generations have hand-harvested and trimmed the Weber Blue Agave that creates tequila. The images depict skeletons (one of del Toro’s favorite expressions of the Mexican cultural celebration of life and death) working in the agave fields, the tranquil land where tequila is born.
The case then opens and unfolds to expose a warm red and orange color palate inside, in stark contrast to the black and silver exterior of the box. The beautiful and mysterious labyrinth of imagery furthers del Toro’s narrative, with illustrations of the Hacienda Patrón distillery in the Highlands of Jalisco, where agave is transformed into Patrón tequila.
The most striking detail inside the box is the centerpiece glass bottle, which upon closer examination reveals not one, but actually two bottles. It resembles what looks like a fantastical winged creature straight out of one of del Toro’s iconic films. A limited-edition 750ml bottle of extra añejo tequila sits upside down as the “torso,” while the second, a 100ml bottle of aged orange liqueur, sits on top, a skull exquisitely carved into the crystal. The spirit in the larger bottle is a remarkable blend of rare Patrón tequilas aged for an average of more than five years in a combination of different new and used oak barrels. Complementing that tequila is the smaller bottle, a first-of-its-kind aged Patrón orange liqueur produced from aged Patrón tequila.
“This project is the meeting of two masters, one of monsters and film and the other of tequila. Guillermo honored us by visiting Hacienda Patrón several times, and experienced firsthand that tequila is the result of a world of values, customs, and traditions from Mexican culture,” says Francisco Alcaraz, Patrón’s Master Distiller who created the recipe and process for Patrón tequilas and liqueurs more than two decades ago. “Guillermo also has a deep respect for the basic philosophy of our production process at Patrón — ‘Tiempo, Vida y Madurez,’ which means Time, Life and Maturity. The time it takes for the finest agave to reach maturity, the time it takes to cook, ferment and distill the agave, and the time that’s needed for aging in oak barrels. And ‘life,’ to use all of our senses to enjoy this noble spirit.”
In addition to creating a spectacular tequila and a masterpiece presentation, del Toro also envisioned a ritual, or process, for how the tequila should be enjoyed. Alongside the bottle are two candles, which are designed to be placed on a drawer that slides out from the interior of the box. Lighting the candle flames creates an altar, of sorts, where in the middle, one of several bespoke cocktails, also developed in collaboration to highlight these unique spirits, can be set.