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Building a tequila collection from scratch can be shockingly difficult. Walk into your local liquor store and you'll probably find hundreds of different brands, each of which might have three or four or five different bottlings each. You'll probably see words like 100% de agave, mixto, single estate, and cristalino. And depending on which store you're going to, there's a decent chance that the employees there might steer you towards the wrong selections. I'm looking at you, Total Wine.
Today, we're going to boil it down to the essentials, a small handful of excellent additive-free, mostly budget-friendly, and all widely available tequilas that just about everyone should add to their bar cart. For the sake of diversity, we're going to be looking at each of the major tequila categories. So, that'll be blanco, reposado, joven, añejo, and extra añejo. I know that cristalino tequilas are a recent fan favorite, but I don't like them, so I'm not going to include them on this list. Without further ado, let's get straight into it.
Right off the bat, I'm going to break my own rules just a little bit for unaged blanco tequilas. Generally speaking, there's two different flavor profiles you'll find in a lot of different unaged tequilas. Some lean into a brighter, fruitier flavor profile, while others lean a little darker, more vegetal, and peppery. You're going to taste roasted agave in both of these kinds of tequila, but the way that it presents itself is going to be different.
For a sweeter blanco flavor profile, I would recommend the Lost Explorer, which for my money is one of the most underrated tequila distillers on the market right now. The Lost Explorer started off as a mezcal brand a few years back. They make some really great mezcals, but they're not stuff that I would recommend to everybody, if only because some of them are a little harder to find and a little bit more expensive. They recently got into the tequila game when they recruited a former master distiller from Don Julio. And unlike that brand, this tequila is actually really, really damn good. It costs 50 bucks, and it smells and tastes like springtime in a glass. I get a lot of guava, mango, lime, and vanilla on the nose here, followed by some big flavors of lavender and a pinch of spice on the palate. It's got kind of a flowers and citrus vibe going. It's just really approachable. It's the kind of tequila I would recommend to my grandmother if she drank tequila.
If you're looking for an earthier blanco, then you really can't go wrong with Tequila Ocho. Available at just about every Costco and Total Wine in the country, this is one of the most widely distributed additive-free tequila brands and for my money, also one of the best. Now, usually when you hear people talk about tequila, they'll say that lowland tequilas are earthier and highland tequilas are sweeter. In my experience, that isn't always the case. Tequila Ocho makes a point of harvesting its agaves in the highlands, but the fermentation and distillation methods that they use result in a very mineral forward and peppery spirit. In the case of their blanco, which you can find at most stores for around 40 to 45 bucks, we're talking flavors of brine, mint, earth, little bit of black tea, and then also maybe rosemary, if you're going searching around for some of those more obscure flavor notes. This is a tequila that very much tastes like the region it comes from. So, even if some of those tasting notes don't sound like your exact cup of tea, I think it is very well worth checking out. If you're building a back bar, I would choose Tequila Ocho for cocktails like a ranch water or a tequila martini. Whereas, Los Altos Explorer would be my choice for a sweeter, fruitier cocktail like a margarita or a paloma.
Now, let's talk about reposado tequilas. Reposados are aged between 2 and 12 months in oak and this is the fastest growing category of tequila in the United States right now. It's not my favorite type of tequila, but I think a lot of people like them because they balance that recognizable punch of agave with a mellow, almost caramel-like sweetness. We've got a lot of options here. El Tesoro is one that I recommend frequently. There's also Quinta Lisa, if you don't mind spending a few more bucks for a really cool coffee finish. But, the one I'm going with today is a recent discovery for me called Agua Sol. This is made at the critically acclaimed Cascahuín distillery and it comes packaged inside a bottle shaped like a giant glass water bottle. At first, I thought this was just going to be a gimmick, but the juice really speaks for itself. For 55 bucks, you're going to get a tequila that has a little bit of everything. I get a big hit of vanilla custard on the palate followed by some burnt marshmallow, apple pie spice, and a bit of pear. Now, this one's only aged 3 months in ex-bourbon casks. So, it has a lot less of that recognizable oak flavor than you might get from some other reposados.
But, I don't think that's a bad thing. If you want more oak, go for an añejo or an extra añejo. This is a reposado that tastes like a reposado and really embraces what makes the category unique. Agua Sol doesn't get nearly enough love online and I think that has to end now.
Speaking of añejo tequilas, these are spirits aged between 1 and 3 years in oak barrels. Oak is going to take on a bigger role, but a well-crafted añejo will still make plenty of room for recognizable agave flavor. This is usually where you're going to see prices jump up a little bit, but that doesn't always have to be the case. My go-to recommendation for budget-friendly añejo is and forever will be Suerte. This begins with a high-quality blanco made the good old-fashioned way and then aged for 24 months in ex-Jack Daniel's whiskey barrels. It'll cost you as little as 50 bucks depending on where you buy it, but I would easily pay double that. This is just a really solid, well-crafted añejo from a brand that I think deserves to be uttered in the same breath as heavy hitters like Fortaleza or G4. When I post on Instagram, I get a ton of bourbon drinkers in my comments saying they would never sip tequila because it tastes like cactus or hangovers or something in between. This is the bottle I would use to convince them otherwise. It's classic American flavor meets a quintessentially Mexican spirit. If you're looking for other añejos that won't break the bank, I would also recommend El Mexicano Añejo, Sumador Añejo, and El Bandido Yankee Añejo, just to name a few.
So, quickly, let's take a sidebar to talk about joven tequilas. That's spelled j o v e n. This is a bit of a weird in-between category and one that doesn't get that much love from die-hard tequila fans. These are tequilas that contain a mix of un-aged blanco and aged reposados or añejos. For decades, joven tequilas were mostly associated with low-quality gold tequilas that distillers would crank out for a quick buck. But recently, we've seen a renaissance of high-quality additive-free jovens that have taken the spirit in a different direction. G4 Tequila makes a really good joven, El Tesoro makes a really good joven, but today's recommendation is going to be Los Lores. This is a 60/40 blend of blanco and reposado tequilas bottled at a pleasantly high 92 proof and it'll cost you around 75 bucks. I love this tequila because it tastes like so much more than a combination of two things. Yet, you can still taste those two things very distinctly and almost separately. There's a mineral, almost salty note on the palate here, a bit of spice, and then plenty of those approachable milk chocolate, agave, honey, and apricot flavors. I don't think that jovens are a must-try type of tequila, but this is a brand that does something really unique with the concept.
I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention that Los Lores has tons of interesting stuff that's worth checking out. They have tequilas aged in Buffalo Trace barrels, barley wine casks, and one finished in jackfruit wood that I've been dying to get my hands on. It's just an all-around classy brand that's pushing boundaries in the right direction.
Last but not least, we've got extra añejo tequilas, which are spirits aged for a minimum of 3 years. Unlike whiskey, which can spend decade upon decade in the cask, extra añejos rarely reach above that 5-year mark. The weather is really hot down in Mexico and enough juice evaporates out of the barrel each year that it's rarely worth it for brands to hold onto tequila for that long. Exceptions to that rule can prove prohibitively expensive. While Siete Añejo costs around 50 bucks, the brand's 11-year extra añejo will run you up nearly 300. This is a delicious, one-of-a-kind bottle, but I can't recommend it to anybody in good conscience.
Instead, I'm going to recommend Bandera de Oro, a brand that came out of seemingly nowhere last year. This bottle started going viral on Costco forums last November for all the right reasons. Chief among them that this is a totally new brand that specializes exclusively in an extra añejo, which is very rare. It's a 1 L $90 tequila bottled at a well above average 106 proof. The three numbers I just said are never found in the same sentence when it comes to tequila. So, it's a miracle this one turned out as good as it did. 5 years in the barrel give this a big maple and raisin flavor. I'd almost compare it to a cognac. I also get some baked apples, cherry, marzipan, and a smack of nutmeg and oak on the finish. The flavors are super pronounced. It tastes like something you would pour onto a bananas foster at a high-end steakhouse. Unfortunately, these bottles have gotten a little harder to find after their big viral moment, but I suspect that the brand has another batch in the works sometime soon. I think it would be silly for them not to. If you're comfortable spending well above 100 bucks, I would also recommend Tears of Verona, Don Fulano, and anything that Fuenteseca does.
And with that, we've rounded out the list. I'm thinking of doing a separate video talking about liqueurs and aperitifs that pair really nicely with tequila. So, if you have any recommendations, be sure to drop those in the comments below. I have a handful of personal favorites, but there's so much out there that I haven't tried. And as usual, this list is by no means exhaustive. There are so many fantastic blancos, reposados, añejos, extra añejos at every price point. These are just a small handful that I think are particularly excellent and that everyone should try. This is the Tequila Pour, and my name is Pedro Wolf. I write about agave spirits for a living, and I occasionally post here on YouTube and Instagram. So, if you're interested in seeing more of this kind of content, be sure to like and subscribe. Until next time.