On July 4, Diageo was slapped with another class action lawsuit alleging that Casamigos and Don Julio are not really tequila. The plaintiff accuses parent company Diageo of engaging in “fraudulent scheming” and “racketeering.” The complaint alleges that Diageo knowingly mislabeled its Don Julio and Casamigos tequilas as 100% agave—when both brands are purportedly adulterated with industrial alcohol.
The class action lawsuit, which was filed in the San Francisco division of the United States District Court, publicizes specific test results. In other words, if you were wondering just how adulterated Casamigos is, you’ll find (alleged) answers here.
The complaint was filed in California by the law firm Baron & Budd in conjunction with Hagens Berman, who were responsible for the first class action lawsuit of this nature against Diageo in New York. (We broke this story on May 6, 2025.)
What is the case against Casamigos and Don Julio?
The latest complaint alleges RICO violations (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act). The document is both more specific and more damning than the New York lawsuit.
The complaint was filed on behalf of California resident Jacqueline Jackson, who states that she bought at least four bottles of Don Julio Blanco between April and May of 2025. The plaintiff made these purchases while under the impression that she was paying a premium for 100% agave tequila. She’s filing on behalf of “all persons who purchased Diageo Premium Tequila Products” in the United States and “seeks to hold Diageo accountable and recover financial losses sustained by consumers who were misled by its false and misleading advertising.”
In other words, this is huge. The plaintiffs could number in the millions.
Legal documents don’t typically make for scintillating reading, but this one verges on scathing. The plaintiff’s attorneys note: On its official website, Diageo calls Don Julio Blanco “tequila in its truest form.” The sarcasm is palpable.
It’s followed by an informed critique: “In a segment where small-batch producers and traditional distillers uphold rigorous standards, misuse of the ‘100% agave’ label by mass-market brands dilutes the label’s value and harms both consumers and honest competitors. For dominant players like Diageo, this is not just deceptive—it is a calculated, strategic misuse of market power.”
The Tequila Regulatory Council (CRT) is in the crosshairs. Among other duties and interests, the CRT is charged with enforcing the standards that govern the production of tequila, ensuring that all tequila meets the spirit’s legal parameters. The council is ostensibly an intraprofessional organization that represents both agave farmers and small and large tequila producers, but the plaintiff’s attorneys note that Diageo Mexico and Brown-Forman Mexico hold vice presidencies on the organization’s board of directors. “In effect, the very companies that CRT purports to regulate are the ones running it,” they write. This echoes what agave farmers have long been protesting.
The Adulterated Tequila Enterprise?
In addition to accusations against Diageo, the complaint outlines what the attorneys are calling “The Adulterated Tequila Enterprise,” which they define as an “association-in-fact enterprise” composed of Diageo, Diageo Mexico, the CRT, and “other individuals and entities” involved in “producing, verifying, bottling, labeling, certifying, marketing, advertising, and selling Diageo Premium Tequila Products.”
At this point, the case moves into potentially swampy territory. Per the document, this “association-in-fact enterprise” was formed for the common purpose of “illegally profiting from the sale of Diageo Premium Tequila Products that were falsely labeled as “100% Agave” tequila.” It also states, “Notably, CRT was formed in 1994 and the Adulterated Tequila Enterprise has continued for at least that long.”
That the CRT has been complicit in hoodwinking the public into buying adulterated tequila since 1994 seems difficult to prove. However, no one can accuse these lawyers of being weak-kneed, and this is just one point tacked onto the stronger allegations that Diageo has engaged in mail fraud, wire fraud, and false advertising. The complaint is explicit: Diageo knew that the Diageo Premium Tequila Products were adulterated with non-agave alcohol and should not have been certified, labeled, marketed, and/or advertised as ‘100% Agave.’
The attorneys claim to have hard evidence of current corruption, including carbon isotope ratio analysis proving that Casamigos and Don Julio products contain substantial quantities of alcohol that is not actually tequila. They go so far as to divulge an approximate breakdown in the alcohol content of both Casamigos and Don Julio products.
How much tequila do Casamigos and Don Julio actually contain?
We’ve been hearing rumors of adulterated tequila mislabeled as 100% agave since we began following this story in November of 2024. In January, we wrote about agave farmers who were protesting alleged corruption in the tequila industry. The agaveros accused the CRT of being in league with “big tequila” to drive down agave prices. Along with complaints of illegal monopolistic practices, they alleged that large tequila companies were adulterating tequila with cheaper alcohol and selling it as 100% agave.
This breaking Mezcalistas story and a follow-up are cited extensively in the New York class action complaint, as well as the recent California lawsuit, which finally delivers the numbers. According to the document, tests reveal Casamigos Blanco to contain approximately 33% agave-derived alcohol. (The reposado allegedly has 42%). Meanwhile Don Julio Blanco is purportedly 42% agave, while their 1942 Añejo contains 33% agave.
As the complaint summarizes, “These findings directly contradict the prominent ‘100% Agave’ labels on Diageo Premium Tequila Products and confirm that Diageo’s representations are materially false and misleading.”
What is the difference between a mixto and cold mixing?
It’s important to note that these quantities of agave-derived alcohol fall short of the legal definition for any kind of tequila. To legally be labeled as tequila, the spirit must be made in specific parts of Mexico (mostly located in the state of Jalisco) and it must contain a minimum quantity of alcohol derived from blue agave grown in those regions. There are two legal categories of tequila: 100% agave tequila and simply “tequila.” One must (no surprise) be made from alcohol derived from 100% agave sugar. The other must contain at least 51% alcohol derived from agave sugar. This is colloquially known as a mixto.
So even a mixto has more agave in it than the allegedly mislabeled Casamigos and Don Julio. But the difference between a mixto tequila and the supposedly adulterated Diageo products goes deeper than different quantities of agave sugars.
If we believe the charges leveled by the protesting agave farmers, Diageo and other large tequila companies are engaged in cold mixing. What does this mean? While mixtos are made from fermenting agave with added sugars from other sources, the agaveros allege that Diageo is cutting one more corner by “cold mixing” distilled tequila with industrial alcohol. This practice is illegal in Mexico. This may seem like a minor distinction, but it’s not. If the agaveros and the US lawsuits are correct, this isn’t just a matter of Diageo mislabeling a mixto tequila as 100% agave. They are bottling and selling a product that isn’t tequila at all.
Stay turned for our ongoing coverage of this story.
Note:
We contacted Diageo for comment but had not yet heard back by the time of publication.The North American subsidiary of the group strongly denied the original allegations: “These claims are meritless, and we plan to vigorously defend ourselves in court.”
The CRT has repeatedly ignored or declined our requests for comment on this unfolding story.
Excellent follow up to previous reporting. Keep on investigating!
Thank you!
Thanks, mom!
Thank you for your efforts in bringing this to light. It’s outrageous, and hurts my Mexico- and agave-loving heart to learn. I hope justice can be served, and that there will be protections for the people that have protested and made themselves vulnerable to retaliation in exposing it.
Thanks so much for reading. We shall see how it all turns out but man oh man, these allegations are just insane.
Thank you, Tracy! It has been a wild ride. I am kind of astonished at how deep this goes. More to come!
I love Ron Julio!
A good start would be to reform the bottle labels – remove the “100% agave” label and keep just “tequila”. And add the label “mixto” from “tequila” so customers would finally know what they are buying! Just change the label. Yes, it will be confusing at the beginning of the reform, but it would be a return to the roots before the ’60s of the last century. ❤️
Solid point!
jajaja
I initially misread this and thought you actually said, “I love Don Julio,” and I was like, “Um, sorry?”
Hopefully this will force the tequila governing body and Mexican government to stop working against the smaller additive free distilleries, but instead create stricter laws and regulations, forcing large houses to produce clean alcohol and to give a bigger name to the smaller family growers, distilleries and business to increase the chance for prosperity and overall growth for the entire market.
It would be enough to be inspired by the rules for rums, for example. It was also a strong punk until recently. And now they finally have some rules. Not perfect, but at least a start. 🥂
I also hopes it forces change. It’s really sad that there’s not more support for small distilleries, not to mention agave farmers. I don’t think it’s so much a matter of stricter rules, but a matter of actually enforcing the rules.
It’s amazing to me that an issue about misrepresentation on a label, although indicative of overall rot in the industry, is seen as more important than the widespread use of immature agaves in the production of tequila and the grotesque industrial techniques used to cover the taste of unripe agave. Then there’s the practice of creating mixtos, which can still be called ‘Tequila’ so long as the ‘rum’ comprises only 49%. This lawsuit is so close to the second issue, yet skirts that issue in favor of ‘unethical practices’.
There’s so much that’s wrong about the tequila industry, including the extreme monocropping and complete destruction of milpa in favor of profits.
Thanks for reading, Mark. I certainly don’t see the labeling thing as the most important issue. In my initial reporting on the topic, I dug into the current situation for agave farmers. (https://www.mezcalistas.com/tequila-industry-corruption/) I agree that the use of unripe agave and the additives used to mask this (and other ways of cutting corners) is a huge issue as well.
I never really cared for either one of these tequilas.
I always sip tequila before purchasing, and neither one of these tequilas have ever tasted correct, regardless of their wild popularity – which is now comically ironic. Most people thought they were buying a status symbol. In fact, they were just buying a fraud.
Additionally, the outrageous price point was misaligned with the taste that I experienced compared to other tequilas that were far smoother and tastier with lower price points. Now I know why.