• by Fern Siegel , October 22, 2024

Pantalones Tequila launched a new spot featuring brand co-founder Matthew McConaughey. The focus is bringing back the worm to tequila — but with a whimsical twist.

Maximum Effort did the creative, which runs on social media.

Important caveat: There were never worms in a tequila bottle. (There were worms placed in mezcal bottles starting in the 1950s, when a mezcal maker found a moth larvae in a batch and claimed it improved taste.)

Pantalones is content to toast the worm dance move. It’s also introduced a new cocktail — The Wide Leg Wiggler — a mango margarita with a worm-salted rim.

Tequila is made from the blue Weber agave plant, while mezcal can be made from over 400 different agave varieties. Tequila, which is more industrialized, is usually distilled twice. The more rustic mezcal can be distilled up to four times.