The Greatest Tequilas for Each Sort of Drinker

Tequila is exclusive in its versatility. Open-air fermented blancos can have the wild essences of mezcal, whereas additional añejos are {smooth} and as pleasing as candy, woody XO cognacs. However tequila is an often-misunderstood spirit in america, although a staggering 80 % of the tequila from Mexico’s 5 tequila-producing areas is offered and consumed within the U.S. The truth is, stateside bars have bigger alternatives of regional mezcal made with agave tequilana variedad azul (or blue agave) than you’ll discover in Mexico. The dizzying array of choices is maybe why drinkers face a wall of tequila behind a bar or within the well-stocked aisles of liquor warehouses.

Attending to know the varied types of tequila is vital to choosing the proper bottle for all events, whether or not ingesting palomas at your Mazatlán seashore apartment, sipping aged tequila as a digestif, or slowly savoring fruity, smoky ancestral tequila on the finish of the day. And because the pandemic elevated demand for premium tequilas, together with artisanal productions which are turning again the clock to pre-industrial strategies, now’s a very thrilling time to increase your tequila shelf.

Right here’s every part you need to know to buy tequilas within the 4 principal classes — silver, reposado, añejo, and additional añejo — primarily based on my years of ingesting expertise, with some extremely advisable bottles for every. Plus, a couple of suggestions for one of the best properly tequilas for margaritas, and a have a look at the newer type generally known as cristalino.

What’s tequila?

Tequila is a regional type of mezcal, historically known as tequila de mezcal, or vino de mezcal. To make tequila, producers bake the hearts of the agave plant in an oven or autoclave. The juice is then extracted by a stone wheel known as a tahona, or a curler mill, and is fermented in chrome steel or wooden tanks, and, usually, distilled twice.

The preferred tequilas fall into a couple of classes: silver, unaged tequila, known as blanco; and reposado, añejo, and additional añejo, aged in new oak or used whiskey casks. For all of those, blue agave should mature between seven and eight years earlier than jimadores (agave farmers) take away its leaves with a coa (agave-harvesting software) to ship to the distillery. Much less widespread are mixto tequilas made with 51 % blue agave and 49 % sugars, and tequila joven, or gold tequila, that are adulterated blancos. The newest development is pricy platinum tequilas, that are aged, triple-distilled, then filtered to take away the colour, producing a {smooth}, white spirit.

Tequila is definitely a denomination of origin comprising all of Jalisco, and a few municipalities within the states of Nayarit, Tamaulipas, Michoacán, and Guanajuato. To qualify as a tequila, Mexico’s most well-known spirit can solely be made with agave azul, or blue agave, from this area. The completed tequila should have a minimal of 51 % blue agave, though the vast majority of tequila is 100% blue agave, permitting for as much as 1 % components. Tequilas should even be a minimal of 35 % to 55 % ABV, and bottles offered in america require a minimal ABV of 40 % (water is used to decrease the proof to the specified quantity).

These strict laws do nonetheless supply appreciable variations to the tequila client. There are some 2,270 manufacturers registered by the Consejo Regulador del Tequila (CRT), the regulatory board that upholds the requirements of tequila manufacturing tracked by the Norma Oficial Mexico (NOM) for the Appellation of Origin. However the system is just not with out its flaws. Lately, the CRT has allowed manufacturers so as to add as much as 1 % components to 100% blue agave tequila with out disclosure. It has additionally allowed celebrities to simply launch tequilas, together with George Clooney, Xzibit, and Kendall Jenner, who has confronted backlash for cultural appropriation over the launch of her 818 Tequila. It’s a observe that appears at odds with a authorized physique tasked with preserving tequila and Mexican custom.

The CRT additionally attracts criticism for primarily benefiting the most important tequila producers in Mexico, and standardization has handcuffed small distilleries seeking to make use of ancestral strategies like pit-roasting and hand-maceration. Agave distillates that use such nonstandard manufacturing strategies or aren’t produced in one of many denomination of origins, together with mezcal, tequila, raicilla, and bacanora, are labeled “destilados de agave.” However whereas the label may deter some prospects, destilados de agave, tequila, and raicilla are all within the household of mezcal, a drink that was born lengthy earlier than the DO.

Greatest properly tequila

All tequila collections ought to embrace not less than one reasonably priced mixer for making margaritas and palomas, or for when a dozen of your mates present up and wish to do pictures. The second they ask for salt and lime and slam the empty caballito in your desk, you’ll be glad you didn’t pull out the Casa Dragones.

Olmeca Altos

It’s uncommon to seek out such a fairly priced tequila that makes use of agave steamed in ovens and never an autoclave, which has a quicker cooking time however produces much less caramelized taste and complexity. Within the highlands of Jalisco, maestro tequilero Jesus Hernandez partially extracts the agave’s sugars with a tahona and distills the tequila in copper pots. With ample notes of citrus, pepper, and inexperienced herbs, this may be top-of-the-line utility tequilas within the $30 vary and works simply in addition to a sipper because it does for mixing.

Bracero Blanco

This industrial tequila (which means it’s made totally with industrial instruments, together with an autoclave, curler mills, and metal tanks) from a small distillery in El Arenal is a strong on a regular basis sipper, stuffed with earthy agave. You virtually don’t wish to pour it right into a cocktail, however at this value, you may make premium cocktails on a budget.

Cabrito Blanco

From the well-respected Tequila Centinela S.A. de C.V, NOM 1140 distillery comes this old-school highlands tequila that’ll earn you respect out of your abuelo and tio’s desk for its agave-forward taste and worth.

Silver (Plata) tequila

Silver tequilas are each valued as sipping tequilas earlier than a meal and for making cocktails. For purists, that is tequila in its truest type, and for aficionados, that is the tequila class to observe, as increasingly more next-generation distillers flip to artisanal practices, corresponding to cooking in ovens and earthen pits, crushing the piñas with a tahona, open-air fermentation, and distilling with copper stills, the go-to for grasp distillers for its superior warmth conduction.

Within the final 20 years, grasp distillers like Carlos Camarena (Tapatio, Tequila Ocho), and Fortaleza proprietor Guillermo Sauza (grandson of Javier Sauza, founding father of Sauza Tequila) have led the best way, with semi-artisanal productions, utilizing ovens together with heavy equipment like curler mills. Right this moment, there are a number of labels producing high-proof (45 % ABV and above), ancestral expressions of unaged, silver tequila worthy of the names mezcal de tequila or vino de mezcal.

Cascahuín Plata 48

There’s maybe no higher instance of the way forward for artisanal tequila than Salvador Rosales Briseño Jr.’s high-proof tequila, created from choose tons in El Arenal and by no means exceeding 2,500 liters of manufacturing. These bottles are stuffed with candy agave with a buttery end, accented by pepper, herbs, and lightweight cinnamon. This is likely one of the distilleries to observe; it makes the best tequilas in Mexico.

Fortaleza Nonetheless Power

Guillermos Sauza’s high-proof (46 % ABV) tequila blanco delivers an extended caramellic, nutty roasted blue agave style and end. It’s created from choose agaves roasted in brick ovens, crushed with a tahona, fermented in picket barrels, and distilled twice in a copper pot nonetheless.

Tapatío Blanco 110

Legendary grasp distiller Carlos Camarena by no means adjustments the recipe for his 55 % ABV blanco distilled in a copper nonetheless, permitting every manufacturing to precise the terroir and seasonal differences of this famed highlands label. It’s a well-balanced expression of pepper, grass, and inexperienced fruit-flavored blue agave that’s a benchmark tequila blanco and reasonably priced sufficient to make premium margaritas and cocktails.

Greatest reposado tequila

Reposado tequilas, which have been rested in new, used, or impartial barrels (barrels which were used 3 times) for no less than two months and as much as just below a yr are the perfect sipper for agave lovers who need some complexity from wooden. New, toasted oak barrels from France or America can impart vanilla flavors and smoky notes. Impartial barrels, in the meantime, are nice for softening the tequila whereas sustaining its blue agave profile. In the event you’re getting American rye whiskey, bourbon, or Jack Daniel’s (whats up Partida) within the nostril and on the palate, your reposado was rested in used barrels, which principally come from the U.S.

Siembra Valles Reposado

From the esteemed Cascahuín distillery, NOM 1123, maestro tequilero Don Salvador Rosales Briseño applies a contact of vanilla accent to the strong baked agave on this tequila, which is rested in proprietary oak barrels long-established from Missouri white oak. The pale-yellow-colored expression is aged a mere three months, making this mint- and citrus-tinged reposado a super selection for blanco lovers preferring that distinct agave taste.

Volcán de Mi Tierra

In 2017, the Volcán model moved from an industrial workroom in a sugarcane discipline close to Huaxtla within the Tequila Valley into the Moët Hennessy portfolio. This additionally got here with funding within the distillery, permitting for a extra conventional manufacturing for this fruity, grassy reposado, which was beforehand cooked in an autoclave, a completely industrial course of. It was good then and has solely gotten higher.

El Tequileño Reposado Uncommon

Based in 1959 within the pueblo magico of Tequila by Don Jorge Salles Cuervo, the La Guarreña distillery continues below his grandson, Jorge Antonio Salles. This intense, woody reposado is fermented in cement tanks, cooked with copper pot stills, and aged six years in large picket tanks, making for a very uncommon high-end reposado. The additional time and manufacturing strategies yield massive pure vanilla, caramel, and spice flavors and aromas.

Greatest jóven tequila

Immortalized within the lyrics of the 1980 Steely Dan hit single “Hey Nineteen” are pictures of Cuervo Gold, a jóven, or younger, tequila (also referred to as oro or gold tequila). The music about this longshot age-gap relationship personifies the class of jóven tequila, which is outlined as a mix of blanco and aged tequila, yielding a spirit that sips someplace between blanco and reposado tequila. This isn’t your grandfather’s low-cost drink related to components and hangovers. Contemplate a high-quality jóven for drinkers who need massive agave taste mixed with a touch of wooden aged-aged sophistication.

Suave Tequila Jóven 45G

This elegant mix of tequila blanco and aged tequila — crafted by fifth-generation grasp distiller Jaime Villalobos Sauza — is the results of natural practices and pure fermentation that’s freed from components. It’s additionally kosher licensed. Take pleasure in numerous clove, pepper, and sweetness with numerous agave taste (45 % ABV) on this younger sipper that’s a standout within the jóven class.

Xoloitzcuintle Jóven

Tequila blanco followers are in for a deal with. Named after a prized canine breed indigenous to México, this beverage is a mix of 80 % blanco, 10 % reposado, and 10 % añejo that clocks in at 96 proof, packing loads of cooked agave in every sip. Inexperienced chiles, spices, and herbs season the wealthy blue agave style that’s attribute of this pale cornsilk spirit.

Siembra Valles Aniversário Jóven

At Siembra Valles, one of the crucial thrilling distilleries within the area, grasp distiller Salvador Rosales Torres employs conventional strategies together with brick ovens and pure fermentation in its first-ever restricted version jóven. The earthy, mineral mix incorporates tequila blanco with a 2-month-old reposado aged in each French and American oak barrels, leading to a stellar jóven produced with artisanal practices that’s properly definitely worth the excessive value.

Greatest añejo tequila

Tequila G4 Añejo (6 Barrels Version)

Grasp of grasp distillers, Felipe Camarena, has enjoyable with this one. It begins with a cook dinner in brick ovens earlier than a maceration of 100% blue agave by tahona. Camarena makes use of an outdated copper pot nonetheless, then ferments his distillate in open-air picket tanks using a champagne yeast earlier than getting older in an amalgam of six barrels. The recipe requires 4 completely different white wine barrels and a pair of cognac barrels. The ensuing spirit is a bouquet of fruit, blanched by herbs, and a minerality that’s each complicated and polished.

Caballito Cerrero Chato Añejo

Caballito Cerrero, based by Don Alfonso Jiménez Rosales, a co-founder of Tequila Herradura in Amatitán, has rejected the tequila Appellation of Origin so it could actually make this distinctive mezcal de tequila, formally labeled destilado de agave, freed from the constraints and prices imposed by the highly effective paperwork. The important thing to this beautiful añejo is a mix of estate-grown blue agave, water from an uphill spring, and open-air fermentation.

Tequila Ocho Widow Jane Barrel Choose 2023

The newest launch from the Highlands of Jalisco employs copper stills and open-air fermentation to attract micro organism into the tequila, which is aged in Widow Jane bourbon casks. The result’s a union of an agave-forward spirit with a candy layer of bourbon taste on the end — and at 96 proof, customers get loads of agave on this thrilling collaboration of New World spirits.

Greatest additional añejo tequila

The DO established this fourth class of tequila in 2006 for tequilas aged in wooden for 3 years and past, and it’s seen extra progress than every other class as demand for premium tequila has soared in recent times, stoked by glossy promoting and advertising campaigns. A rival to wonderful cognacs, whiskies, or rums, EAs are ultra-smooth, rested in a spread of barrels. They have an inclination to draw collectors and sippers searching for luxurious, and are accessible to all for his or her ease of ingesting. Nonetheless, agave lovers usually miss the core flavors of tequila, because the vanilla, caramel, and candy flavors of wooden dominate.

Reserva de la Familia Jose Cuervo

It might be exhausting to discover a higher EA at this value, an approachable splurge to sip on particular events and the right present for a tequila collector. Jose Cuervo, the most important tequila model on the planet, situated on the La Rojeña distillery in Tequila, makes use of solely the hearts of choose, mature blue agaves, aged between 10 and 12 years. The agave hearts are then baked in ovens on the La Rojeña distillery and aged in each French and American oak — some charred — with older batches blended in to take care of consistency. There’s a pleasant stability of smoke, vanilla, sweetness, and whiskey, whereas the method has preserved sufficient blue agave within the glass to remind you it’s a tequila.

El Rey Sol

Carmen Villarreal Trevino’s San Matías distillery ages El Rey Sol in French oak for six years. The result’s an opulent mouthfeel, stuffed with nuts, butterscotch, and layers of sweetness and a horny burnt sienna colour that lights up the smiling solar decanter, designed by Mexican artist Sergio Bustamante.

Gran Patrón Burdeos

Sitting on the patio exterior the bar at Hacienda Patrón is the perfect setting to discover the right pairing of a wonderful cigar with an aged tequila. This tequila delivers a tawny drink stuffed with luscious, buttery caramel and dried cherries. Born from a mix of used American oak and new French oak that’s completed in classic Bordeaux casks, and lavishly displayed in a crystal bottle, it’s every part you need from a luxurious tequila.

Greatest cristalino tequila

Whereas not an official class, Tequila nation’s divisive cristalino type is rising in recognition regardless of the disdain from tequila aficionados (like me). Cristalino is an aged tequila (reposado, añejo, additional añejo) that’s filtered, usually via activated charcoal, to take away the colour imparted via the getting older course of whereas holding the complicated, wood-aged flavors of mature tequila. The result’s a transparent spirit that’s smoothed by the modern manufacturing technique, which loses a few of its pep within the course of whereas elevating the value. (Customers are additionally paying a premium for the high-end bottles.) It’s not for severe tequila drinkers, but when you end up wanting bottle service at Hakkasan, listed below are those to gravitate towards.

Volcán de Mi Tierra Cristalino Reposado

It was inevitable because the Volcán de mi Tierra-owning Gallardo household fashioned a partnership with beverage large Moët-Hennessy {that a} cristalino could be included in its tequila portfolio. A 70/30 mix of añejo and extra-añejo tequilas, respectively, aged within the conglomerate’s Glenmorangie and Hennessy barrels yields gentle tobacco, caramel, and a mixture of citrus fruit as a result of muting of wooden essences within the filtering of this reposado.

El Destilador Añejo Cristalino

From the Zapopan label established in 1946 by Enrique Guillermo Newton Alexanderson comes an añejo cristalino tequila rested for 18 months in white oak. A triple-distillation course of creates an excellent smoother end.

Invoice Esparza is a James Beard Award-winning author and creator of LA Mexicano.
Michelle Ok. Min is a meals photographer primarily based in San Francisco.