At $11,000 a bottle, 1800 Colección Friedeberg was never intended for the average liquor cabinet. The latest entry in 1800 Tequila’s Colección series pairs a rare Extra Añejo with Mono Laberinto Doble, a sculptural nickel decanter created by celebrated Mexican surrealist Pedro Friedeberg.

Limited to just 50 examples worldwide, the release pushes the increasingly thin line between luxury spirits packaging and collectible art even further. That distinction carries added weight here. Mono Laberinto Doble was among Friedeberg’s final works, turning 1800 Colección Friedeberg into more than another expensive tequila dressed in elaborate packaging.

1800 Colección Friedeberg Turns the Bottle Into Sculpture

Rather than simply decorating 1800’s familiar pyramid-inspired bottle, Friedeberg effectively built a sculpture around it. Mono Laberinto Doble is rendered in nickel and draws from the geometric forms, architectural references and densely layered visual language associated with the artist’s work. Its intricate structure surrounds the tequila while allowing the underlying bottle to remain part of the composition, making the vessel and artwork feel intentionally connected rather than like two separate objects.

Only 50 examples of 1800 Colección Friedeberg have been produced worldwide. Each is individually numbered and signed and comes with a signed certificate of authenticity. The collaboration also has history behind it. Friedeberg became the inaugural artist for the 1800 Milenio Artist Series in Mexico in 2017, establishing a relationship with the tequila maker years before Mono Laberinto Doble was conceived.

That context matters because this is not simply an existing piece of artwork reproduced on a luxury bottle. Friedeberg created an original sculptural object specifically for Colección, and 1800 describes it as one of the final projects completed by the artist. For collectors, the tequila may therefore be only one part of the proposition.

The Extra Añejo Inside Is Just as Ambitious

The sculpture understandably commands attention, but 1800 Colección Friedeberg also places one of the brand’s rarest tequilas inside it. Colección is produced only during years the brand considers among its finest for tequila production. The Extra Añejo begins with 100% Blue Weber agave harvested at peak maturity in the Tequila Valley before being slow-cooked in traditional masonry ovens, fermented and double-distilled using copper pot stills.

The tequila then spends at least three years aging in oak. Its maturation program combines new American oak barrels with medium and high char alongside French oak casks that previously held Amarone wine. The latter adds an unusual element to the aging process, particularly in a category where American whiskey barrels and other more familiar oak treatments tend to dominate the conversation.

According to 1800, the finished tequila pours a copper color and offers aromas of dates, honey, caramel and vanilla. The stated palate brings together honey, dried plum and vanilla, while additional tasting materials point to cooked agave and oak underneath the sweeter notes. The brand describes the finish as long and refined.

Those are producer tasting notes rather than our own, but on paper the liquid at least carries a production story ambitious enough to sit inside the artwork surrounding it.

Colección Has Always Put Art Beside Tequila

While 1800 Colección Friedeberg may be one of the most sculptural expressions of the concept, pairing tequila with collectible artwork is not a new direction for the brand. The Colección program stretches back decades, with editions dating to the late 1990s and a history of bringing artists into the presentation of its rare Extra Añejo releases.

Past collaborators have included Bosco Sodi, Leonora Carrington, Gary Baseman and Hector Velazquez, among others. The series has consistently treated the bottle as a platform where Mexican spirits, visual art and craftsmanship can intersect.

Friedeberg takes that premise to an extreme. Instead of giving collectors a decorated decanter, 1800 Colección Friedeberg presents something that can stand independently as a sculptural object. The numbered production, artist signature and certificate further reinforce the idea that buyers are purchasing an artwork that happens to contain tequila rather than tequila that happens to arrive in an artistic package.

Only 50 1800 Colección Friedeberg Bottles Exist

Rarity does much of the heavy lifting behind the $11,000 asking price. Each edition contains a 700ml bottle of Extra Añejo tequila at 40% ABV, encased in Friedeberg’s nickel sculpture. With only 50 produced worldwide, 1800 Colección Friedeberg operates on a scale closer to a small art edition than a conventional luxury spirits release.

Even the delivery process reflects that positioning. 1800 says insured shipping and delivery fees are included in the purchase price, with bottles receiving next-day air shipping, hand delivery and direct coordination with the purchaser.

In other words, this is less a bottle you order and more an object you take custody of. At the time of publication, 1800 Colección Friedeberg / Mono Laberinto Doble is available for pre-order directly through 1800 Tequila for $11,000.

Mono Laberinto Doble Appears in Assouline’s The Art of Tequila

Mono Laberinto Doble also appears in Assouline’s The Art of Tequila: Spirit of Mexico, a book examining tequila through the wider lens of Mexican history, craftsmanship, culture and design.

The book explores 1800’s roots in Jalisco alongside its history of artist collaborations, with Friedeberg’s project fitting naturally into that broader conversation.

Its inclusion helps clarify how 1800 wants Colección Friedeberg to be understood. This is not simply a flex within the increasingly expensive luxury tequila market. The company is positioning the piece within a longer relationship between tequila making and Mexican creative culture.

At $11,000, nobody is pretending that the production costs of Extra Añejo alone explain the price. What buyers are being offered is simultaneously a bottle of aged tequila, a numbered Pedro Friedeberg artwork and another chapter in a decades-long collection built around the intersection of Mexican spirits and art.

With just 50 examples produced and Mono Laberinto Doble standing among Friedeberg’s final works, 1800 Colección Friedeberg may ultimately be judged as much by art collectors as tequila drinkers.

Via 1800 Tequila