“Are you able to suggest a great tequila?” It is a easy query that almost anybody who has an curiosity in agave spirits possible will get requested by mates, colleagues and members of the family. However on the subject of trendy tequila, it calls for a follow-up query: Good how?
Practically eight years in the past, after we first compiled a listing of blanco tequilas to style, it was a month after George Clooney’s Casamigos model turned a unicorn, promoting to Diageo for a whopping $1 billion. It appeared like the height earlier than an inevitable downturn of celebrity-backed tequila. Certainly the market might bear solely so many; absolutely this was an aberration. However every time we’ve gathered since, one other handful of well-publicized movie star tequilas have entered the market. Every new high-profile launch has made that follow-up query—Good how?—as a lot a mainstream concern as an trade one. It’s now not a query of transparency round who is definitely making the spirit, but additionally How?, and Who really advantages?
Fortunately, there aren’t solely extra movie star tequila manufacturers available on the market, however there’s additionally a better collection of tequilas from artisanal manufacturers who’ve made nice farming, honest labor practices and the preservation of conventional strategies their mission. What really leads to a bottle of tequila has additionally turn into extra of a shopper concern than ever. (Spoiler: 70 % of all tequila incorporates undisclosed components, typically used to change taste or mouthfeel.) The phrases “additive-free” at the moment are more and more frequent on labels from producers who proudly eschew these practices. So, sure, for each nice bottle of blanco tequila, there are in all probability a dozen not-so-great ones, however there’s nonetheless a lot to like about this class, and at an reasonably priced value level.
In looking for best-in-class blanco tequilas, we centered on worth and bottlings that have been singular with out breaking from the qualities which have come to outline what we love concerning the class: salinity, minerality, grassiness, earthiness and, above all, purity. For the tasting, Punch editors convened to style 21 tequilas priced at $50 or much less. As in earlier tastings, at finest the sphere confirmed the unbelievable vary that blue Weber agave can specific; at worst, there was unevenness by way of high quality, most frequently manifesting in spirits that have been muted, or maybe delivered on aromatics however struggled to have the form of textural complexity and completeness of our high picks. However let’s deal with the positives, lets?
With out additional ado, listed below are our favourite reasonably priced tequilas for sipping and mixing.
Editor’s notice: As a result of costs fluctuate by market, sure bottles listed beneath might retail for barely above $50.
