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High Quality Tequila (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Dwayne Hoover
- Start date
Gatorade
Footballguy
Don Julio reposado myself.
My wife prefers Patron reposado.
She likes to put a little Agavero on top to sweeten it a little..
Have a bottle of Don Julio Anejo, but have not opened it yet.
Had some 1800 Anejo at a resort last year and it was very smooth.
Sipping neat is the only way to go.
My wife prefers Patron reposado.
She likes to put a little Agavero on top to sweeten it a little..
Have a bottle of Don Julio Anejo, but have not opened it yet.
Had some 1800 Anejo at a resort last year and it was very smooth.
Sipping neat is the only way to go.
Leroy Hoard
Footballguy
Sounds like something Judge Smails' niece might drink.
No idea how accurate found this a while back. https://uproxx.com/life/best-selling-tequilas-blind-tasted-ranked/
FiredMartz
Footballguy
wifey likes expresso martinis with Casa Amigo.....and Patron on the rocks
CletiusMaximus
Footballguy
Its maybe a little strange to judge blanco, reposado and anejo against each other but I realize this writer is ranking the top 10 selling tequilas so he's not trying to do an apples to apples comparison. I'm sure many people sip blanco and I probably have a few times as well but it is pretty harsh, mostly used for mixing in my house. I think the Kirkland blanco is great value for making margaritas, palomas, etc. The only real important rule with blanco is you have to get one made with 100% agave even if only mixing in a cocktail. The cheaper rail tequilas are "mixto tequila" meaning it is made with minimum 51% agave and up to 49% grain alcohol, which is the cause of the nasty taste and brutal headaches. The tenth rated tequila on this list - Jose Cuervo Silver - is a "mixto" that probably sells for less than $20 so its somewhat strange to have it in a blind taste test with a $150 Don Julio Anejo. So rule #1 is do not drink a mixto tequila! Hornitos blanco is one example of a cheap 100% agave that works great for drinks.
Also be aware that most of these large tequila distilleries make a wide variety of bottles, so for example Cuervo makes a ton of really fantastic tequilas on the high end as do the others, so you don't want to shoe-horn a brand into being very good or very bad because they all make a wide variety of products of different quality and price.
For sipping, I think most people prefer something a bit smoother like the reposados (aged a few months) and anejo (aged at least one year). There’s nothing wrong with sipping blanco though. It’s a bit harsh but I think some people like that bite. I think the big producers like Don Julio, Patron, Casamigos all make good anejos. I’m not really loyal to any one brand and usually just look for good value, something on sale in the $50-$75 range. I got an anejo from Arette at Costco a year or two ago in this range and it was great. The really high rated ones are usually $100+ and I almost never pay that much for a bottle.
I’ve done a flight of tequila a few times at a Mexican restaurant and it’s a great way to compare and contrast different brands as long as someone else is is driving us home. I don't really have a favorite but would say if starting out there's nothing wrong with going with one of the large brands. Its like a new scotch drinker going with Glenlevit 12 - a great safe, dependable choice. When I sip tequila, its typically a couple ounces over one ice cube or half a cube, sometimes with a lime which I don't squeeze but just put in glass with the booze.
Finally, check out https://www.tequilamatchmaker.com/ - a good resource to pick around and find something you like based on your tastes, budget, etc.
Sure, this wasn't an apples to apples comparison. And I liked the criteria of best selling.
For blind testing, I think it's great to have a wide range of prices like they did as sometimes you can be surprised. Or sometimes, like this case, the cheap stuff tastes to match the price.
SFBayDuck
Footballguy
Last year we visited my in-laws in Ajijic, which is outside of Guadalajara. We hired a driver and went to the town of Tequila, stopping at a small place on the way called Tres Mujeras. Was really cool to see how it's made on a small scale, let alone the miles and miles of fields of agave we drove through. We got to taste 6-8 different tequilas throughout the tour, and I brought home a bottle of Anejo Primera Generacion 1953 that is so tasty.
We hoped to go to another small shop, but our driver failed to make another reservation on time so we ended up at Cuervo in the town of Tequila. Impressive place, and they do have some decent higher-end stuff, but obviously the opposite of the smaller, craft places that are way more interesting.
Earlier this year we went to Tulum and Playa del Carmen, and the place we stayed in at PdC was an all-inclusive that had a 24-hour, self-serve tequila and mezcal bar. Nothing mind-blowing there, they weren't putting out the good stuff for everyone to just have at, but pretty cool to walk in after dinner and just taste whatever you wanted. I'd really like to explore mezcal more, the smokiness of some of those is really interesting, especially replacing whiskey and bourbon in classic cocktails. We also did a guided tasting that included a Clase Azul Plata, and finished with a Don Julio 1942. I already knew how good that stuff was as a buddy brought a bottle to my house last year as a gift, but it seemed even better even when compared to other good tequilas.
We also had a bottle of Cosmico anejo in our room, that stuff was really good for palomas, ranch waters, and my new personal favorite easy cocktail, ranch water with a splash of grapefruit. Has a pepperiness to it that still comes through even with the juice.
I'm no expert at all, so looking forward to suggestions here in the thread.
We hoped to go to another small shop, but our driver failed to make another reservation on time so we ended up at Cuervo in the town of Tequila. Impressive place, and they do have some decent higher-end stuff, but obviously the opposite of the smaller, craft places that are way more interesting.
Earlier this year we went to Tulum and Playa del Carmen, and the place we stayed in at PdC was an all-inclusive that had a 24-hour, self-serve tequila and mezcal bar. Nothing mind-blowing there, they weren't putting out the good stuff for everyone to just have at, but pretty cool to walk in after dinner and just taste whatever you wanted. I'd really like to explore mezcal more, the smokiness of some of those is really interesting, especially replacing whiskey and bourbon in classic cocktails. We also did a guided tasting that included a Clase Azul Plata, and finished with a Don Julio 1942. I already knew how good that stuff was as a buddy brought a bottle to my house last year as a gift, but it seemed even better even when compared to other good tequilas.
We also had a bottle of Cosmico anejo in our room, that stuff was really good for palomas, ranch waters, and my new personal favorite easy cocktail, ranch water with a splash of grapefruit. Has a pepperiness to it that still comes through even with the juice.
I'm no expert at all, so looking forward to suggestions here in the thread.
Thanks. That's awesome.
Ron Swanson
Footballguy
For those of you who like Mezcal, try some Sotol if you get a chance. It's made from a wild growing desert plant called Sotol that isn't in the agave family but somewhat adjacent. Truly, "Mexican Moonshine". I suspect it will be very popular in a few years. Very vegetal and earthy.
Thanks. For Mezcal, any tips for beginners?
PlayaHata
Footballguy
Tequila is my go-to alcohol and I've easily tried 40+ tequilas over the past 3-4 years. My favorite "bang for the buck" for mixing is Olmeca Altos. I will also echo that Tequila Matchmaker is an awesome resource and they have a nice mobile app as well that is great to pull up on your phone when you're browsing in a liquor store or looking over a tequila menu in a bar.
Thank you. And do you mean their Blanco?
PlayaHata
Footballguy
Yes, blanco. I mix and match with their reposado too but the blanco is cheaper so I usually stick with that for mixing.
Ron Swanson
Footballguy
That's not so easy to give a blanket answer to since there is much variety in Mezcal. And frankly, I'm far from an expert. I just find them to generally have more earthy, and spicy notes than tequila. And Sotol even more so.
www.mezcalreviews.com is a good starting point if starting with bottles. I find it easier to try multiple styles at bars that specialize in Mezcal or bars in the SW US or Mexico that all have it.
Chaos34
Footballguy
Welp, this is going to be long. If any of you follow me on Twitter/X you know I have self-identified for 15 years as a tequila snob. I should change that as it was accurate a decade ago, but I'm alcohol free since Thanksgiving and haven't been into tequila this decade. Oddly, I will be in the town of Tequila on the 22nd of this month doing a self-directed tour for a small family group meeting at my nephew's wife's parents' 200 acre agave farm, outside of Guadalajara in the Los Altos region, where the premium agave grows. A different nephew, who's recently fallen in love with tequila, talked me into this. I feel out of my depth, tbh. I've done Town of Tequila tours twice with a gang from the old Blue Agave forums, but that site died (as did a few key members) and so did my interest. So what I have to share is dated. For example, I've never tried Casamigos, and as an annoying snob, I sort of reject the whole big brand marketing campaigns. Backinaday, we called those "grocery store tequilas" and turned our noses away. Nowadays, I see many of the brands we wholeheartedly endorsed... in the grocery stores.
Good ole Patron was my gateway. As a noob in those forums, I quickly learned that Patron was a marketing bad guy. Different "noms" were stamped on bottles of Patron all across the country. In San Diego El Jimador's nom was stamped on Patron. NOM stands for Norma Oficial Mexicana. It's the # assigned to each distillery for ensuring quality standards and authenticity. Was San Diego Patron just El Jimador with great marketing? For the life of me I couldn't differentiate a $9 bottle of El Jim from a $50 bottle of my precious premium Patron. Disappointing but I'd add El Jim is pretty derned good cheap tequila. Patron's nom story is long and I'll spare you. The nerds also rejected Don Julio for a different reason. They were suspicious of the sweetness and found pictures of sugar cane trucks outside the nom. Were they selling a mixto as 100% blue agave? Dunno, but it sure was sweeter than other premiums. If you like that then no worries. What's so bad about a little splash of rum in your tequila?
I'll get to it and share the brands that really stood out to me, but first I should explain something since we can have different tastes. I'm drawn to a tasting note usually referred to as minerality, but also cement or wet cement or gravelly or just stone. It was true of my favorite wines before my favorite tequilas. The tequilas that really brought the minerality had several things in common that for me justified my taste. They only harvested agave that was 9 or 10 years old. Others harvest by size. They roasted their agave hearts in stone buildings (hornos) with raging wood fires. Really something fun to see. Others use commercial ovens. The best of them crushed the fire roasted hearts in circular stone pits with a donkey pulling a tahona (large stone wheel). Also cool to see and likely where that minerality develops.
El Tesoro (surprised it hasn't been mentioned. Was my favorite. Seen at the grocery store nowadays. Highest rating on TotalWine's premium tequila page btw.)
Siete Leguas (in this thread once and a very close second. Highly recommended.)
Fortaleza/Los Abuelos (already mentioned a few times. small batches. old school process. great tequila)
Casa Noble (no donkey and stone wheel, but very old school, organic blue weber agave only, 36 hour roasts in stone ovens. good stuff)
Herradura's mid-shelf and premium products. (Clay ovens impart a unique minerality and pretty faithful to traditional methods)
I wanted to get the recs out of the way instead of saving them for last, but I'm having tequila nostalgia so I'll go on a little. My group from the Blue Agave forums became friends of Carlos Camarena, the owner/operator or La Altena, which is El Tesoro's nom/distillery. On our first trip there he was excited to meet the gringos who talked about premium tequila day and night. He invited us into his private lair and shared several of his off market tequilas while telling the story of premium tequila through the lense of La Altena/El Tesoro. In the late 1800s Herradura became the only producer of premium tequila. Everything else was just Mexican party fuel, mostly mixtos. His grandpa started El Tesoro in the late 30s to compete with Herradura. He believed he'd perfected the process and made the best tequila in the world. It was a struggle. Name recognition kept Herradura alone in the premium market and he sold his beautiful painstakingly made product for party fuel prices. In 1949 Don Julio entered the premium game and carved out a space next to Herradura. This frustrated grandpa to no end and he spent the rest of his life trying and failing to break into premium pricing. Before he passed in the 60s he made his son promise to never change the product. Never stop harvesting only the ripest agave, or roasting in the hornos with real wood, or crushing the hearts with the tahona. He was faithful to all of it and taught his son Carlos. From then until the late 80s El Tesoro carried on selling premium product for less than premium pricing, but their reputation had grown in the big cities of Mexico. They were getting a better price, but it still seemed unfair compared to the growing competition. Then in 1989 a miracle happened. The incredibly wealthy owner of a hair care company called Paul Mitchell contracted several noms to produce a premium tequila to be marketed in the US. Soon the floodgates opened for premium tequilas. Carlos's dad got to witness his father's dream come true. If you ever do a tequila tour in the great state of Jalisco, make La Altena your first priority.
Last thing, haha, sorry. Are you really reading all this? Pff. I really liked @CletiusMaximus post above and he said something interesting and true, but also something Carlos taught us to see/taste differently:
He only sips blancos, which he called platas (silvers). A taquilero can tell everything he needs to know by the plata he produces. Too vegetal? They didn't roast long enough or got the temps wrong. Bitter, harsh? They used young agave. And so on. So he taught us to TASTE blancos. Aged tequila has been altered in the process. Flaws can be hidden. Oak is introduced. It's hard to tell premium anejos apart as they get a little homogenized in the process. Anyway, give this wonderful tequilero and his traditional methods a shot.
Good ole Patron was my gateway. As a noob in those forums, I quickly learned that Patron was a marketing bad guy. Different "noms" were stamped on bottles of Patron all across the country. In San Diego El Jimador's nom was stamped on Patron. NOM stands for Norma Oficial Mexicana. It's the # assigned to each distillery for ensuring quality standards and authenticity. Was San Diego Patron just El Jimador with great marketing? For the life of me I couldn't differentiate a $9 bottle of El Jim from a $50 bottle of my precious premium Patron. Disappointing but I'd add El Jim is pretty derned good cheap tequila. Patron's nom story is long and I'll spare you. The nerds also rejected Don Julio for a different reason. They were suspicious of the sweetness and found pictures of sugar cane trucks outside the nom. Were they selling a mixto as 100% blue agave? Dunno, but it sure was sweeter than other premiums. If you like that then no worries. What's so bad about a little splash of rum in your tequila?
I'll get to it and share the brands that really stood out to me, but first I should explain something since we can have different tastes. I'm drawn to a tasting note usually referred to as minerality, but also cement or wet cement or gravelly or just stone. It was true of my favorite wines before my favorite tequilas. The tequilas that really brought the minerality had several things in common that for me justified my taste. They only harvested agave that was 9 or 10 years old. Others harvest by size. They roasted their agave hearts in stone buildings (hornos) with raging wood fires. Really something fun to see. Others use commercial ovens. The best of them crushed the fire roasted hearts in circular stone pits with a donkey pulling a tahona (large stone wheel). Also cool to see and likely where that minerality develops.
El Tesoro (surprised it hasn't been mentioned. Was my favorite. Seen at the grocery store nowadays. Highest rating on TotalWine's premium tequila page btw.)
Siete Leguas (in this thread once and a very close second. Highly recommended.)
Fortaleza/Los Abuelos (already mentioned a few times. small batches. old school process. great tequila)
Casa Noble (no donkey and stone wheel, but very old school, organic blue weber agave only, 36 hour roasts in stone ovens. good stuff)
Herradura's mid-shelf and premium products. (Clay ovens impart a unique minerality and pretty faithful to traditional methods)
I wanted to get the recs out of the way instead of saving them for last, but I'm having tequila nostalgia so I'll go on a little. My group from the Blue Agave forums became friends of Carlos Camarena, the owner/operator or La Altena, which is El Tesoro's nom/distillery. On our first trip there he was excited to meet the gringos who talked about premium tequila day and night. He invited us into his private lair and shared several of his off market tequilas while telling the story of premium tequila through the lense of La Altena/El Tesoro. In the late 1800s Herradura became the only producer of premium tequila. Everything else was just Mexican party fuel, mostly mixtos. His grandpa started El Tesoro in the late 30s to compete with Herradura. He believed he'd perfected the process and made the best tequila in the world. It was a struggle. Name recognition kept Herradura alone in the premium market and he sold his beautiful painstakingly made product for party fuel prices. In 1949 Don Julio entered the premium game and carved out a space next to Herradura. This frustrated grandpa to no end and he spent the rest of his life trying and failing to break into premium pricing. Before he passed in the 60s he made his son promise to never change the product. Never stop harvesting only the ripest agave, or roasting in the hornos with real wood, or crushing the hearts with the tahona. He was faithful to all of it and taught his son Carlos. From then until the late 80s El Tesoro carried on selling premium product for less than premium pricing, but their reputation had grown in the big cities of Mexico. They were getting a better price, but it still seemed unfair compared to the growing competition. Then in 1989 a miracle happened. The incredibly wealthy owner of a hair care company called Paul Mitchell contracted several noms to produce a premium tequila to be marketed in the US. Soon the floodgates opened for premium tequilas. Carlos's dad got to witness his father's dream come true. If you ever do a tequila tour in the great state of Jalisco, make La Altena your first priority.
Last thing, haha, sorry. Are you really reading all this? Pff. I really liked @CletiusMaximus post above and he said something interesting and true, but also something Carlos taught us to see/taste differently:
He only sips blancos, which he called platas (silvers). A taquilero can tell everything he needs to know by the plata he produces. Too vegetal? They didn't roast long enough or got the temps wrong. Bitter, harsh? They used young agave. And so on. So he taught us to TASTE blancos. Aged tequila has been altered in the process. Flaws can be hidden. Oak is introduced. It's hard to tell premium anejos apart as they get a little homogenized in the process. Anyway, give this wonderful tequilero and his traditional methods a shot.
BlackCrowes
Footballguy
El Jimador for Margaritas
Herradura or Casa Amigos for sipping
Herradura or Casa Amigos for sipping
Big Blue Wrecking Crew
downsized
Got a tip from local bartender whose trustworthy that this was what to get at that price point. The reposado is my "house" tequila for mixing and for when 2nd/3rd...pours are in order. Very good over a nice big rock.
SFBayDuck
Footballguy
Great post Chaos, ty! And I’ll definitely check this place out when we’re down there again, we’ll probably be visiting at least once every 12-18 months for the next few years.
CletiusMaximus
Footballguy
This is really interesting to me because I had a similar approach back in my beer geek days. When visiting a new brewery I would always order the pale ale first for the same reason - its the most basic expression of that brewery's beer and there's no way to hide flaws or flavor characteristics in a pale ale. The big hops, stouts and barrel-aged stuff is great, but all that adjunct flavor makes it harder to taste the beer underneath it all.
Thanks for the outstanding post. On this point, it makes total sense. Maybe not a great comparison but maybe it's like tasting bbq without the sauce? You want to know what the thing is first. Before it's covered with anything to alter or add.
Eggs
Footballguy
For those of you that a blanco fans, might I suggest a crystalino. The wife and I drink a lot of Don Julio 70. We get a case every year through family that winters in TX. Low price point (well used to be anyway) and great aged flavor w/o the reposado/anejo color.
Don Julio 70
Don Julio 70
Don Julio 70® Cristalino Tequila | Don Julio Tequila | Tequilas | Don Julio
Try our Don Julio 70® Cristalino Tequila aged eighteen months in American white-oak barrels & carefully filtered to provide a crisp agave flavor. Enjoy it neat or on the rocks.
www.googleadservices.com
Don Julio 70
Thanks. Also, you should post more!
massraider
Footballguy
This brand has been underrated for 30 years.
Chaos34
Footballguy
Aha! My tequila nerd friends were right! A year ago I said this:
Major lawsuit against the maker of Don Julio and Casamigas.
Anyway, the algorithm shared that with me and it reminded me of this thread. I also said if you like it, so what if it's a mixto with a little rum in it. Well, you shouldn't be paying a premium price for a mixto. Sugar cane is dirt cheap, grows like a weed. Agave is very expensive, takes years to mature. Lying on the label, claiming 100% premium blue agave, is not just illegal, it's hurting agave farmers and tequila makers who do it right. There's a bunch more in the article if anyone is interested.
Major lawsuit against the maker of Don Julio and Casamigas.
Anyway, the algorithm shared that with me and it reminded me of this thread. I also said if you like it, so what if it's a mixto with a little rum in it. Well, you shouldn't be paying a premium price for a mixto. Sugar cane is dirt cheap, grows like a weed. Agave is very expensive, takes years to mature. Lying on the label, claiming 100% premium blue agave, is not just illegal, it's hurting agave farmers and tequila makers who do it right. There's a bunch more in the article if anyone is interested.
massraider
Footballguy
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