818 Tequila launches its Best Summer Ever sweepstakes, win $8,180, plus a Sazerac partnership that rewrites what this brand becomes next. Enter now
Five years in, and 818 Tequila is not slowing down for the anniversary. The brand Kendall Jenner built from a Jalisco family distillery into one of the fastest-growing tequilas in the country is kicking off summer 2026 with a season-long campaign, a sweepstakes paying out $8,180 to multiple winners, and a new institutional partner in its corner that changes what the next five years look like entirely.
The number is the tell. $8,180 is not a round figure. It is 818 times ten — a piece of brand math so clean it either happened on purpose or got very lucky.
Either way, the sweepstakes launches June 2 and runs all summer, with multiple winners getting the full amount to spend however summer demands: a weekend away, a season of perfectly made margaritas, or whatever a person decides $8,180 of summer feels like. Enter at drink818.com/818summer.
The Campaign: Built for the Season
The “Best Summer Ever” campaign is structured around three things that actually work: money, community, and a calendar.
The sweepstakes is the anchor. Weekly “Summer Fridays” giveaways run across Instagram and TikTok throughout the season, each one featuring curated 818 cocktails and partner collaborations — DUNE Suncare, Hommey, FWRD, Ring Concierge, with new partners dropping weekly.
These are not random brand alignments. They map directly to how 818’s audience actually spends summer: SPF at the beach, elevated homewear, fashion-forward shopping, jewelry that photographs well at golden hour. The brand knows its people.
The campaign culminates July 24 at the Surf Lodge in the Hamptons — National Tequila Day, outdoor venue, 818 behind the bar, exclusive experiences and community events. Details are still coming, but the address and the date do most of the work already.
Kendall Jenner, founder, frames the campaign in terms that feel less like marketing copy and more like an actual brief:
“Summer has always been about the rituals; the golden hour margarita or the spontaneous hangouts over tequila cocktails that turn into the best nights.”
The sweepstakes is the entry point. The rituals are the product.
The Sazerac Partnership: What It Actually Means
Here is the part of this story that matters past August.
818 Tequila just announced a strategic partnership and financial investment from Sazerac Company — one of the world’s largest distilled spirits companies, fourth-generation family-owned, with a portfolio that includes Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, Fireball, and over 550 brands across international distilleries.
Sazerac does not make small bets. When they put money and infrastructure behind a brand, it is because the distribution runway is real.
For 818, this is the difference between a celebrity tequila and a category player. The brand has delivered growth since 2023 in a broader tequila market but growth without institutional distribution muscle has a ceiling. Sazerac removes that ceiling. Their reach across key markets means 818 moves from being findable in the right stores to being everywhere the right stores are.
Chief Marketing Officer Kathleen Braine calls it “an exciting new chapter.” That is accurate and understated.
A B Corporation certified, award-winning tequila with 50+ blind tasting competition wins and a founder with one of the largest social footprints in the world just got the distribution infrastructure to match its ambition. The “Best Summer Ever” is the first activation of that new chapter. It will not be the last.
Why 818 Has Earned This Moment
The skepticism around celebrity spirits brands is legitimate and has been earned by a decade of labels that used a famous face to move bottles and called it a brand. 818 has spent five years building something harder to fake: a track record.
Produced at a family-owned distillery in Jalisco using traditional methods, with four expressions — Blanco, Reposado, Añejo, and the ultra-premium Eight Reserve — and B Corporation certification that signals genuine supply chain accountability, 818 has the product underneath the marketing.
Fifty blind tasting awards across fifteen competitions is not a number a PR team invents. That is a liquid that keeps winning when nobody knows whose name is on the bottle.
The Sazerac partnership is the institutional confirmation of what the blind panels have been saying for five years.
Mini FAQ
How do I enter the 818 Tequila “Best Summer Ever” sweepstakes? The sweepstakes runs all summer starting June 2, 2026. Multiple winners will each receive $8,180. Full entry details and rules are available at drink818.com/818summer. Find 818 near you at drink818.com/store-locator.
What is the 818 and Sazerac partnership? Sazerac Company — one of the world’s largest spirits companies, home to Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, and Fireball among 550+ brands — has announced a strategic partnership and financial investment in 818 Tequila. The partnership is designed to expand 818’s distribution reach across key markets as the brand enters its sixth year.
What makes 818 Tequila different from other celebrity spirits brands? 818 has won over 50 blind tasting awards across 15 spirits competitions — meaning the liquid wins when no one knows who made it. The brand is B Corporation certified, partners with S.A.C.R.E.D. to support Mexican agave communities, and is produced at a family-owned distillery in Jalisco using traditional methods.
Make it an 818 Summer
The sweepstakes is the easy reason to pay attention to 818 this summer. The Sazerac partnership is the reason to pay attention to 818 next year, and the year after. Enter at drink818.com/818summer, follow @drink818 for the weekly Summer Fridays drops, and if you are near the Hamptons on July 24 — the Surf Lodge on National Tequila Day is where this summer ends.
