Tequila Don Julio is returning to mix cocktails for the eighth consecutive year at the 2025 Oscars and this time around it’s collaborating with 2024 World’s Best Bar Handshake Speakeasy on two exclusive creations.

Meanwhile, Brad Pitt’s Champagne Fleur de MIRAVAL has bowed out of the event and been replaced by Champagne Lallier as the exclusive champagne featured at the Governors Ball and other Oscars-related events.

For a third consecutive year, Clarendelle & Domaine Clarence Dillon wines will be the exclusive red and white wines poured at the Governors Ball and other Oscars-related events.

Hollywood’s night of nights will be held on 2 March 2025 at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood, followed by the Governors Ball, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ official post-Oscars celebration.

The Governors Ball will be held on the Ray Dolby Ballroom on the top level of Ovation Hollywood immediately following the Oscars broadcast.

Guests at the Governors Ball will also be treated to edible boozy treats courtesy of celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck, with a dessert menu featuring Don Julio-infused chocolate cigars, pina colada Oscar silhouette eclairs; rum & vanilla caneles; ube & sake-infused cherry tea cake; Champage, lychee and raspberry tarts; and bourbon & caramelised pecan paris brest.

A Governors Ball press preview was held on 25 February 25 2025, with drinks brands pouring their creations for the cameras.

The 2025 Oscars will be hosted by Conan O’Brien, with the star-studded line-up of presenters to include Willem Dafoe, Ana de Armas, Lily-Rose Depp, Selena Gomez, Goldie Hawn, Ben Stiller, Oprah Winfrey, Halle Berry, Penélope Cruz, Robert Downey Jr., Elle Fanning, Whoopi Goldberg, Scarlett Johansson, John Lithgow, Cillian Murphy, Amy Poehler and Emma Stone.

Diageo stole the show in 2024 by organising the Oscars ceremony’s first-ever cocktail moment. Everyone in the audience at the Academy Awards received a mini bottle of Don Julio, with host Jimmy Kimmel also swigging one on stage.

This year’s coup sees mixologist Charles Joly’s cocktails joined by two Handshake Speakeasy creations: the Golden Age Gimlet and the Class Act.

As 50 Best Bars describes it: “A hidden bar with a 1920s Prohibition theme is not exactly a unique concept in the cocktail world. However, Handshake Speakeasy is in a league of its own.

“Behind the innocuous black door marked with a silver number 13 in Mexico City’s Colonia Juárez neighbourhood, deep inside this velvet-lined, Art Deco enclave, bar director and co-owner Eric Van Beek and his team have built a shrine to molecular mixology that has catapulted the bar to the forefront of an already innovative Mexican drinks scene.

“In three years, under Van Beek’s exacting guidance, Handshake Speakeasy ranked at No.3 in The World’s 50 Best Bars 2023, achieved the No.2 position in both the 2022 and 2023 editions of North America’s 50 Best Bars, took the top spot in this year’s edition of the regional list, before attaining the ultimate accolade of The World’s Best Bar 2024

Golden Age Gimlet

1 ½ oz Tequila Don Julio Blanco
1 ½ oz fresh pineapple juice
¾ oz fresh lime juice
½ oz vanilla syrup

METHOD: Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake thoroughly and strain into a
chilled nick & nora glass. Garnish with an olive.

The Class Act

1 ½ oz mint-infused Tequila Don Julio 1942
¾ oz fresh lemon juice
½ oz simple syrup
1⁄3 oz milk

METHOD: Combine mint-infused Tequila Don Julio 1942, fresh lemon juice and simple syrup in a mixing glass and stir thoroughly. Add the mix to the milk in a container and let sit overnight (or at least two hours). Strain the mixture
through coffee filter twice. Pour into rocks glass over large-format ice cube.