If you happen to needed to go search on-line to seek out the most effective tequila manufacturers from Mexico, it ought to be a straightforward job, proper? See which of them get picked essentially the most and then you definately’ll be set.
Sadly, as I’ve discovered after researching this topic for a few years, there’s virtually no settlement from article to article, from competitors to competitors, on that are the most effective manufacturers of tequila. Plus Google’s search outcomes have gone down in high quality a lot over the previous 12 months and a half that it’s onerous to seek out articles from actual consultants on most topics within the first placce, slightly than simply model hyperlinks for purchasing.
There are in all probability greater than 1,000 tequila manufacturers now, all produced from the identical blue weber agave plant. Every has three or 4 common classes inside every model, then you’ve got offshoots of these like bleached-out aged tequila that’s a brand new fad.
You usually see many alternative manufacturers on a Mexican shelf than you do in the USA, which makes it extra sophisticated. Plus the U.S. liquor distribution system is nearly as wacky and illogical as its electoral school system we use to resolve on a president. There are manufacturers from the massive Jose Cuervo firm (owned by a fair bigger conglomerate) that you’ll find anyplace, however then a whole lot of the smaller producers successful awards are solely obtainable in a couple of locations.
Plus you’ve got the motivation points behind the scenes. Liquor distributor awards are about what sells, magazines appear to all the time sneak in a model or two from an organization that’s promoting with them, events and junkets have extra affect on what will get written about.
Amongst particular person reviewers (together with me), you possibly can by no means get rid of private style bias. My favourite bourbon or beer received’t be the identical as yours, so how do I say what is a good tequila, or which is the finest reposado tequila out of all these obtainable on the shelf?
So if I would like goal solutions, I flip to the blind tasting competitions for spirits. Essentially the most revered annual contest on the market within the liquor world is the World Spirits Competitors happening every year in San Francisco. It will get essentially the most entries, has essentially the most revered and skilled judges, and conducts blind tastings that get rid of any previous assumptions from the combination. If a spirit will get marked as gold by each choose, which isn’t frequent, then it will get the designation as Double Gold.
This text on the most effective tequila from Mexico was up to date in November, 2024, based mostly on the newest outcomes from the San Francisco World Spirits competitors, principally highlighting these Double Gold winners.
Latest Greatest Tequila Model Winners
I put up the primary model of this text within the 2010s and naturally there have been modifications every year in who wins. Some high-end tequila manufacturers appear to maintain standing out from the pack 12 months after 12 months, whereas different ones have a pleasant displaying as soon as after which disappear.
The San Francisco World Spirits competitors has modified the way it pronounces winners a number of occasions and their web site will get extra sophisticated every year. It’s slightly onerous to trace down the winners now until you go to their purchasing part they’ve added in a latest company merger otherwise you hand over your e-mail handle to see the outcomes.
They’ve gone forwards and backwards in selecting a “finest in present” winner and that appears to be again, so let’s begin there Drumroll please, the winner is…
Don Fulano Fuerte Blanco
By no means heard of Don Fulano? Neither had I and it’s a wierd alternative. Initially, a blanco tequila (usually known as silver) is unaged tequila, the least in style sort, the another prone to go in cocktails as an alternative of sipped neat. And this one is 100 proof on prime: 50% alcohol. However hey, the judges gave this one the very best marks.
I do need to search this out although as a result of it’s a household owned enterprise, not a part of one of many large worldwide liquor conglomerates, and their web site has a complete part explaining their total course of, with every tequila sort itemizing specs intimately.
In any other case, we have to have a look at who scored a Double Gold as a result of the Tasting Alliance that runs this competitors is handing out so many awards now that the ceremony should go on for days. Getting a Bronze is beginning to appear like a participation prize. Even among the many Double Golds, Mexico positioned 88 bottles. So both the nation is getting higher at what they do by leaps and bounds every year or the judges are actually loving a whole lot of completely different spirits.
Among the many tequila winners, who else stood out? As soon as once more, as has been the case most different occasions I’ve up to date this text, it’s the model Cierto. They’ve develop into the undisputed king of premium tequilas. Their identify is the Spanish phrase for “sure,” which appears apt on this case. Cierto Tequila got here house with 5 Double Gold awards, for one blanco, two reposado variations, and two further añejo variations.
Reserve Assortment Blanco
Non-public Assortment Reposado
Reserve Assortment Further Añejo
Reserve Assortment Reposado
Non-public Assortment Further Añejo
Their web site says that is “essentially the most awarded tequila in historical past” and I believe that’s in all probability true: they’ve racked up lots of of them. These are costly bottles, however not like many on the three-figures degree, these appear to justify the worth. It is a certain factor for those who’re shopping for a present to impress, particularly if the recipient is a tequila lover.
For the remainder of the Double Gold winners, there are a couple of we now have talked about in our tequila evaluations, like these:
Don Julio (although it was the blanco that received Double Gold, two others received Gold)
1800 Reposado (right here’s our 1800 anejo assessment)
Casa Don Ramon (although it was two restricted version variations)
Then there are a whole lot of manufacturers I’ve by no means heard of earlier than. That is even though I stay in Mexico, I drink tequila a good bit, and I’m a spirits reviewer. Many of those bottles I’ve by no means even seen in a bar or on a shelf.
Since these tastings happen within the USA, assume that each one are 40% alcohol. The quantity you’ll pay could be risky and the worth of tequila is considerably decrease in Mexico if the model is offered there and the spirit is often bottled at 38% alcohol as an alternative. Typically the bottles are 700ml as an alternative of 750 and also you’ll often have not less than 50 selections in a large Mexican grocery store.
If you happen to’re caught shopping for one thing on the Oxxo comfort retailer, the place you’re restricted to the top-selling tequila, go for frequent award winners Don Julio, Don Ramon, Cuervo Tradicional, or Herradura. You’ll have a wider choice at Obligation Free, however the costs are virtually all the time greater than you’ll pay in a conventional liquor retailer until it’s a particular version you possibly can’t discover elsewhere otherwise you’re shopping for three bottles of one thing.
Use this as a information for which top-shelf tequila manufacturers are really well worth the cash and which of them you may need to experiment with.
Tequila Manufacturers Profitable A number of Double Gold Awards
As talked about above, the large winner once more was Cierto, taking house 5 trophies. Right here’s who else confirmed that it wasn’t only one strike of inspiration: they received a couple of Double Gold Award.
Alquimia for 2 further añejo variations, 5 years and 14 years
Casa Don Ramon for 2 particular restricted version añejo tequilas
El Tesoro for a blanco and a particular version
Lodge California reposado and añejo
Rodeo de la Aquas for reposado and additional anejo
Tequila de la Jente for 2 manufacturers marked “T” and “D”
Tequila Nobleza 33 for blanco and reposado
Tequila Ocho for a blanco/silver tequila and a reposado
A few of these I’ll attempt to discover and assessment later, others could also be too obscure to find outdoors of Jalisco and some specialty retailers. If you happen to do see considered one of them, or one thing else from that model, it’s in all probability a stable alternative the place you possibly can’t go flawed.
Sure, the Lodge California model is owned by the individuals who personal the lodge of that identify in Todos Santos. It’s a superb worth too, so choose a bottle or two up for those who’re within the space.
We famous within the final model of this submit that Tequila de la Gente was a crowd-sourced tequila model that was solely obtainable in boxed tasting kits of 4 200ml bottles ($109 plus transport). Oddly, it’s nonetheless listed that manner on their web site after two years of inserting as winners, so we’re unsure what’s holding them up nonetheless.
A Few Return Tequila Manufacturers
Some manufacturers that we’ve highlighted as winners previously acquired one Double Gold in the newest competitors, so it’s honest to say they’re persistently placing out a superb product. Listed here are a couple of that you simply may need to search out. I need to purchase the primary two simply due to the enjoyable names.
Ay! Ay! Ay!
JaJa
Lana
Avion
Black Sheep
The next received Gold awards, not Double Gold, however they’ve persistently positioned a number of variations on the winners listing previously and you may ensure they’ve made the tasting judges glad.
Cantera Negra
Cutwater
El Sativo Natural
Don Julio
Cutwater
Herradura
El Patriarca
High Further Añejo Tequila: Be Cautious of Hype
If a tequila is aged in barrels for greater than two years, it’s often categorised as Further Añejo, a classification that has been round lower than 20 years. Typically the spirit is aged in French oak barrels, different occasions in used bourbon barrels.
Some assume that’s an excessive amount of of a superb factor and complain that the agave is overwhelmed by the oak, but when executed proper these top-shelf tequila bottles are a factor of marvel. A lot of the best tequilas and the costliest bottles are on this class.
These “big day” bottles often value essentially the most as a result of extra effort and time, plus since they’re sipping bottles meant to be savored for a very long time, these are usually those with essentially the most elaborate bottles, supreme for gift-giving. The true prime shelf tequila.
Be suggested that there’s a whole lot of misplaced hype on this class although. One model we are going to go away unnamed fees $1,600 a bottle however has by no means gotten higher than a silver award that we’ve seen and a number of other others that had been greater than $300 didn’t even place.
If you happen to’re going to spend greater than $100 on a bottle of booze, make it one that’s persistently praised by consultants, just like the Cierto ones, Don Julio 1942, Black Sheep, or Lobos 1707.
Tequila Worth and High quality Are Seldom Correlated
There are a couple of classes in all these high-quality tequila blind tasting winners.
1) Worth is usually a foul indication of high quality relating to 100% blue agave plant tequila. You may get higher stuff spending $50 than you do spending $250—although there are a couple of winners this 12 months that promote for greater than $200. They’re within the minority although. For each Casa Dragones that leaves you saying “How a lot?,” there are bottles for half the worth which are superb.
Aged tequila will value greater than clear tequila that hasn’t been by an getting old course of, in fact, however examine apples to apples and there are apparent outliers. These common retail costs within the USA among the many winners are fairly affordable, particularly in comparison with the showy bottles you usually see touted as price an enormous premium. (Trace, they’re often not. You’re paying for the packaging.)
2) Don’t assume that celeb tequila manufacturers are any higher than common manufacturers, the identical manner endorsers don’t make for higher cereal or vitality drinks. If that tequila is promoted by a actuality TV star, it’s in all probability a opposite indicator as an alternative. There are exceptions, like Avion, JaJa, and Lobos 1707, however extra which are simply bandwagon leaping. I like George Clooney films, however you don’t see an extended listing of tasting awards listed on the Casamigos web site.
?
Tequila the city, not the drink
3) The highlands of Jalisco have a tendency to supply extra award-winning manufacturers than the lowlands across the namesake metropolis do. So when you could not have the ability to say all “Los Altos” tequilas are nice, those from there are inclined to have extra complexity and work higher as sipping tequilas, particularly the reposados. Opposite to what some individuals assume, not all tequila comes from Jalisco. Most does, however there are a couple of notable manufacturers from different Mexican states, like Guanajuato.
4) Don’t dismiss a model simply since you’ve by no means heard of it. A lot of the main manufacturers which are 100% agave are not less than first rate—many often win silver or bronze in these competitions—however for those who take an opportunity on one you’ve by no means heard of you may get a really good shock and discover among the finest sipping tequilas on the shelf. The tequila business is large and regardless of consolidation, there may be room for lots of gamers, all doing issues just a little otherwise within the manufacturing course of.
The recognition of tequila from Mexico retains rising: some stories are displaying that it has develop into the #1 spirit within the USA, outselling vodka. So count on extra tequila manufacturers you’ve by no means heard of to hit the market in coming years. Simply do not forget that some Mexican distilleries are making a number of manufacturers in a single facility underneath contract, so these tasting competitions are a great way to separate high quality from advertising hype.
Comfortable searching!
This text on the most effective tequila from Mexico was up to date in November of 2024.
