X

Elon Musk tried to call his tequila 'Teslaquila,' but Mexico said no

Hey, it was worth a shot.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, and generational studies Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
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Gael Cooper
tesla-tequila.png

Tesla Tequila comes in a lightning-bolt shaped bottle.

 Tesla

Need a holiday gift for a fan of Tesla cars? Elon Musk's company now has its own tequila, but Musk wasn't allowed to give it the name he wanted. The company wanted to call the booze "Teslaquila," playing off a joke Musk made in a 2018 tweet, but according to The Verge, Mexico's Tequila Regulatory Council rejected the name for being too confusing for a brand name, since it's close to the word "tequila." 

Instead, the drink is called Tesla Tequila, and its lightning-bolt-shaped bottles, priced at $250, are already sold out.

The striking 750 ml hand-blown glass bottles went on sale on Nov. 5 and sold out within hours. It's described as "an exclusive, small-batch premium 100% de agave tequila anejo made from sustainably sourced highland and lowland agaves," and is aged for 15 months in French oak barrels.

Musk first referenced "Teslaquilla," though with two Ls, in a 2018 April Fool's Day joke, writing, "Elon was found passed out against a , surrounded by 'Teslaquilla' bottles, the tracks of dried tears still visible on his cheeks."

People who ordered the tequila are beginning to receive their shipments, and some are sharing photos on social media.

"It's finally here and it's so sexy!" wrote one Twitter user.

Cars are Tesla's main product, but this isn't the first time Musk has joked around with novelty items. The company quickly sold out of the red satin shorts it offered this summer.