Nobu Teams Up With QUI Tequila

Nobu Restaurant Group has collaborated with QUI Tequila on a limited-edition, small-batch aged tequila. Nobu Rare 2008 Reserve by QUI Tequila, announced on March 2, will soon make its way to Nobu’s establishments worldwide.

Made with 100% Blue agave grown in the Los Altos highlands of Jalisco, Nobu Rare 2008 Reserve uses a blend of agave harvested in 2007 and 2008, which are aged in traditional American whiskey oak barrels before maturing in steel tanks. The tequila’s tasting notes of sweet oak, toasted almond and maple play on the nose with aromas of wood, tobacco, caramel and vanilla, the company says.

Why would the world-renowned Japanese restaurant group decide to partner with a tequila brand? Chef Nobu Matsuhisa has been a tequila lover for years.

Chef Nobu Matsuhisa with the Nobu Rare 2008 Reserve by QUI Tequila.

“In fact, after every successful Nobu opening, it is tradition for our team to do a tequila toast. But the quality, the crispness of flavors and the elevated complexity of QUI’s aged tequila is what brings this drink to the next level. We are so happy to announce this partnership and are excited to get something new into the hands of our customers,” said Chef Nobu.

The Nobu Rare 2008 Reserve will be available at Nobu locations domestically and internationally and at QUItequila.com. A limited retail allocation of 500 bottles will be available in select markets, priced at $500 per bottle; each of the 1,500 bottles of The Nobu Rare 2008 Reserve are individually numbered. 

Nobu, a business partnership between Chef Nobu and partners actor Robert De Niro, producer Meir Teper and restaurateur Drew Nieporent, started in 1994 as a new-style Japanese restaurant in New York. The Nobu brand now includes 51 locations across five continents. 

QUI, founded by New York restaurateur Medhat Ibrahim, along with Pete Girgis and Mike Keriako, launched its first sipping aged tequila in 2011. The brand, named for the “qui” in the word tequila, came out with the world’s first crystal clear extra añejo tequila in 2013.

In addition to the Nobu Rare 2008 Reserve, QUI and Nobu have also created a signature cocktail called QUI Garden, made with fresh cucumber and mint, QUI Platinum tequila, ginger/monk fruit syrup, and a touch of fennel liquor. The cocktail will launch at Nobu Downtown in New York and then to additional Nobu restaurants worldwide.  

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