Maestro Dobel showcases premium tequila at Bloomsbury Club

By Oliver Catchpole

Published: 27 October, 2025

Since 15 October, The Bloomsbury Club has transformed itself into a ‘gallery-meets-cocktail bar’ for The Artist Series, a celebration of art and cocktails in partnership with Maestro Dobel, the premium tequila producer.

Running until 3 January, the series aims to showcase creativity and craftsmanship, and this set against the buoyant agave category, which continues to grow in the UK.

The launch event for the series revealed a new art-inspired Maestro Dobel cocktail menu, while artist Helen Bullock live-illustrated the evening and painted on the surface of a bottle of Dobel 50 Cristalino.

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Harpers attended a masterclass hosted by Maestro Dobel’s tequila expert Maria Modafferi at The Bloomsbury Club, to find out more about the brand’s premium sipping tequila.

To explain her enthusiasm for the spirit, Modafferi said: “We know spirits made by grain – they pretty much all taste the same, but agave ends up very particular. It doesn't matter if you drink a Blanco Tequila or Reposado or Extra-añejo, you can still taste the agave. It's savoury, it's sweet, it's peppery, and it's absolutely heavenly. That's why tequila, from a Blanco expression to the Extra-añejo, is so complex, and it's always a surprise on the palate.

On display were three tequilas – Dobel Diamante Cristalino, Dobel 50 Cristalino Extra Añejo and Dobel 50 Extra Añejo 1973.

When Dobel Diamante Cristalino was created in 2008, it was the first of its kind. As Modafferi explained, Cristalino is a style of tequila that is charcoal filtered to remove colour after the ageing process. The filtration process adds no flavour, but it results in a very smooth, clear liquid, that could be confused for Blanco tequila in look.

However, Diamante is is a blend of reposado (meaning rested, aged from two months to one year), añejo (aged 1-3 years) and extra añjeo (3+ years) tequila – each in the same percentage.

Modafferi added: “The idea of Cristallino, I like a lot, because when I'm sitting on a table with somebody who expected to drink a Blanco tequila, and they taste Diamante… I like the element of surprise. I like the trick in the brain when you're expecting to taste something and the flavour is completely different… what I like is that people who don’t like tequila, love Cristalino.”

The second tequila, Maestro Dobel 50 Cristalino, was released in April 2024, making it the producer’s latest addition to date. It was created to be a pure sipping tequila, so it is even smoother than Diamante in the mouth.

Finally, Dobel 50 Extra Añejo 1973, is part of the Maestro Dobel ‘anniversary series’, which initially began as a celebration of its founder, Juan Domingo Beckmann Legorreta’s 50th birthday. Each year Dobel releases a limited edition extra-añejo tequila that has spent at least eight years aging. This year it was finished in Pedro Ximenez barrels, giving it a flavour that might appeal to a whisky drinker.

Interestingly, Dobel has had some success selling its tequilas in a few cigar shops in the UK, an indication of the fact that although consumers in the UK are still a little shyer when it comes to considering tequila alongside other premium spirits, that is beginning to change.

Modafferi added: “Around tequila, like other spirits, there is an incredible world. There is a lot to discover. Sometimes we miss some bits – I call it ‘lost in translation’ from Mexico to here – but it’s absolutely an incredible spirit.”

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