Clooney too enthusiastic with tequila

George Clooney was "forced" into his tequila business after his distillery ruled he was consuming too much for it to be personal use.

The Hollywood actor and his good friend Rande Gerber have alcohol line Casamigos, which means House of Friends, together. They got the idea when they were building their neighbouring homes in Mexico together, as during their stay in the country they discovered their fondness for tequila.

After sampling many different versions, George suggested they make their own - but the pair developed a little too much of a taste for it.

"It was never meant to be a business. We decided if we were building homes we should have our own house tequila. It started out just us drinking it for years without anyone being able to buy a bottle," Rande explained to ET Online.

"We were kind of forced into that. It took us about two years to come up with Casamigos, then we'd been drinking it for about two years and one day we got a call from our distillery and they were like, 'We have a situation. In the past two years we've sent you 1,000 bottles a year, so either you're selling it or you're drinking way too much. Either way you need to get licensed and legit with this situation.'"

The guys took the advice on board and their brand has gone from strength to strength.

Friendship remains at the core of the men's mission statement, which is why they've launched a social media campaign asking fans to show themselves enjoying a tipple with their pals.

This is something George and Rande regularly do - although Cindy Crawford's husband refused to be drawn on who has more staying power.

"George and I are both professionals, so we're never under the table, we're usually up above or on the table," he laughed.