Patrón was the first ultra-premium tequila, created in Jalisco, Mexico in 1989 and remains one of the world’s best-selling spirits. In 2018 it was acquired by Bacardi for $5.1 billion.
Meaning and history
Patron is a world-famous brand of premium tequila produced by the Patron Spirits Company. Compared to other famous brands of alcoholic beverages, The Patron Spirits can be called a relatively young company, because it was founded only in 1989. However, this did not prevent it from gaining worldwide recognition and expert recognition in a very short period.
Today The Patrón Spirits Company is the largest exporter of premium tequila. And it is thanks to the efforts of this company that tequila has moved from a second-class drink to the ultra-premium category. Already in 2004, Patron Tequila was awarded the prestigious “Five Diamond Stars” award, and in 2007 the sales of premium tequila surpassed such leaders in the segment of spirits as Martel cognac and Famous Grouse whiskey.
Patron Tequila has always been made exclusively from 100% blue agave growing in the hills of Jalisco Mexico. After all, quality was the main idea and goal of the company’s founder. The art of tequila production has been improved and perfected by Patron through a combination of traditional methods and modern technology.
As for the visual identity of the brand, everything is quite laconic and elegant. The bee on the Patron logo is the personal mascot of the company founder John Paul de Joria. And, obviously, the mascot fulfills its mission to the fullest.
1989 – Today
The name, Patron, usually means a charitable or financially supporting person, but the meaning John Paul De Joria and Martin Crowley preferred for their brand name was ‘big boss’. Patron Tequila uses Algerian font and black or white color for its wordmark.
According to one of the versions, the symbol of Patron Tequila is a bee, and this symbol was used because of the strong attraction of bees to the blue agave plant. But in reality, Patron’s labeling was designed by the brand’s co-founder, Martin Crowley, who served in the Navy on the massive USS Hornet aircraft carrier, so it’s not a bee, but hornet on the Patron Tequila’s logo.
Patron has several different versions of tequila ranging from it’s original Patron Silver to it’s GranPatron. And the color palette varies from version to version, but the main brand’s colors are white, black and gold.
Patron Tequila products undergo careful inspection before being dispatched from the distillery and it takes almost 60 hands to manufacture the tequila product. A four-digit code is present in each bottle of Mexican tequila, which indicates the distillery where the product was manufactured. The NOM code of Patron is 1492 and is visible on every bottle of Patron Tequila.