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Is Kendall Jenner’s Tequila Cultural Appropriation?

I said “briefly” because this is actually a pretty complicated subject and there is no easy answer. The Oxford dictionary defines cultural appropriation as “the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people of society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society.” Keep in mind this is just one definition of cultural appropriation (see what I mean about complicated?), but already you can see that this definition doesn’t 100% apply to Jenner’s brand. I can say this with confidence because we know this is a tequila, which means it was produced in a very specific region in Mexico, so you can’t exactly say it’s not acknowledging the origin and tradition of the product in question, even despite the name, which pays reference to Jenner’s Calabasas, California area code of 818.

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Then you get to that part about dominance. Jenner certainly has more notoriety than the underpaid Mexican farmers who actually work the fields and extract the agave to make Tequila 818. But so do the rich distillery owners, the boards of the publicly held mega-brands, and every celebrity that ever dabbles in the tequila game, from George Clooney to Nick Jonas to Guy Fieri to the Rock. So if you have a problem with Jenner’s tequila, which is fine, you also have a problem with every single corporate or celebrity-owned brand (or, at the very least, non-Mexican corporate or celebrity-owned brand).

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That’s also fine, by the way! We’re just advocating even-handedness when approaching this issue.

At the end of the day, there is a Mexican-owned distillery and Mexican farmers making money from the existence of 818. Perhaps not as much as they should be making, but that’s more of a problem with the rampantly extractive nature of late-stage capitalism. On the flip side, 818’s very existence is making it harder for lesser-known brands to garner the same level of attention, and pulling the exhausted agave resources away from brands that can’t afford to keep up with Jenner’s massive wealth, which may cause them to fold. That would definitely put some people out of jobs — especially brands owned by local Mexican families who have a deep, historical, and personal connection to tequila that Jenner might not have. It’s not wrong to be deeply concerned by that. But remember that, when viewed through this prism, all celebrities entering the tequila space are gobbling up precious and limited agave resources and jeopardizing the fate of smaller labels. Though they’re also building a pipeline of new aficionados, so there’s room for some nuance here — do you believe in the phrase “a rising tide lifts all ships” or not?

As we said, it’s a thorny issue. Wherever you land on it, please do absolutely vote with your dollars. If you feel like Jenner’s tequila is cultural appropriation, we implore you: don’t buy it. It’s not like it’s lightyears ahead of anything on the market. In fact, I have a piece coming next week all about non-celebrity, non-corporate tequilas that will help you navigate lesser-known brands.

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In the meantime…

The Tequila

Tequila 818 comes from the La Cofradia distillery in Jalisco. La Cofradia is a pretty divisive distillery amongst tequila snobs, as it’s a contract distillery that is currently home to over 60 brands of tequila. That doesn’t automatically make tequila from La Cofradia “bad,” as some self-described tequila aficionados will tell you. Plenty of well-respected brands that have scored highly at the prestigious San Francisco World Spirits Competition come from this distillery — including Storywood and Hiatus — so the idea that a good tequila can’t come from this distillery is a little ridiculous. Having said that, the distillery is certainly no Fortaleza or Alteña, two smaller, family-owned distilleries that live up to their well-deserved hype.

The tequila itself is produced from Blue Weber agave harvested at peak maturity (seven years) by jimadores local to the Los Valles region of Tequila. The agave is then cooked in brick ovens for 40 hours, before being subjected to the tahona extraction method, a traditional extraction process adapted from the Aztecs that relies on a large stone wheel that crushes the agave. It’s a very labor-intensive process, so Kendall’s brand certainly can’t be accused of cutting any corners.

The juice is then fermented for 70 hours and twice distilled in alembic pot stills. All in all, the process is pretty solid. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that people keep saying this stuff is actually good.

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