Añejo tequila is elevated stuff Good agave-fueled distillate rests in oak for a year or two and takes on a litany of new flavor notes that feel familiar — winter spices, vanilla, leather, and dark fruits to name only a few. The result is a deeper experience all around. But that doesn’t mean that it’s automatically a better experience. Shitty base tequila is going to give you subpar aged tequila and many tequila aficionados like the vegetal agave notes of a good blanco (we often fall in the “reposado is the sweet spot” tequila camp).
Anyway, to help you find the best añejo tequilas right now, I’m pulling the double gold awarded añejos from this year’s San Francisco World Spirit Competition (SFWSC).
What does that mean exactly? I’ll give you the short version. For an añejo tequila to get one of those coveted “double gold” medals at SFWSC, every judge has to unanimously give that pour a gold medal in a blind test. The judges don’t know what medals each judge is giving while they’re tasting, meaning that one judge can’t influence another judge. Moreover, the judges at the table are titans in the booze industry from bartenders to distribution icons to production legends to critics (like yours truly).
In the end, of the hundreds of tequila entries judged this year, only nine añejo tequilas took home the double gold. With 80 añejo tequilas in the mix, just over 10% of them actually achieved this coveted award. So let’s dive in a find you a great añejo tequila to add to your bar cart before Cinco de Mayo this year. Take a gander at my tasting notes for each one and then click on the price link of the tequila that speaks to you.
Baluarte Tequila Añejo
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $60
The Tequila:
This tequila from the wetlands of Jalisco (Ciénega) is made at Destileria La Experiencia. It’s made using brick ovens to roast the agave hearts, roller mills, classic fermentation in steel tanks, and double distillation in a stainless pot still with copper coils. The hot juice then goes into old American whiskey barrels for 15 months of resting before batching, proofing, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose on this one leans into rich bourbon fruits — think cherry and banana with a touch of orange — next to rich caramel sauce and vanilla cake with an underlying spiced chocolate warmth and roasted agave vegetal-ness.
Palate: The palate is lush and leans into caramelized roasted agave over hints of banana bread with plenty of clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, and handfuls of walnuts with a hint of old tobacco and dark agave.
Finish: That dry tobacco leads to woody dark spice and a hint of burnt aloe over dark cherry and soft vanilla with a hint of pepper in the background.
Bottom Line:
This is a super lush sip of tequila that leans hard into bourbon/whiskey notes. In short, if you’re looking for a sweet whiskey-influenced tequila, this is it.
Black Sheep Tequila Añejo
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $109
The Tequila:
This tequila comes from the Ciénega (wetlands) and Highlands of Jalisco. The process at Integradora San Agustin distillery is pretty common with stone ovens, steel tanks, copper stills, and deep well water. The tequila ages in used bourbon and new white American oak before batching, proofing, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Oak tannins drive the nose initially before soft roasted agave with a deep caramelization comes in with a nice pepperiness and almost sour cherry tossed with sea salt.
Palate: That rich and caramelized agave vibe carries over to the palate with a sense of old oak and almost floral honey, winter spice, and old savory dried herbs.
Finish: The oak really drives the finish with the caramel and agave creating a nice balance.
Bottom Line:
This is very straightforward in the best way. There are no surprises but what is here is finely tuned. Pour it over some rocks to amp up the creaminess and you’ll find a chocolate tobacco addition.
Don Ramón Tequila Platinium Cristalino Añejo
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $62
The Tequila:
The key to this classic tequila from Jalisco’s Highlands is that it’s double-barreled and very refined before it goes into the bottle (though it is made using a diffuser and column still which some will balk at). The hot juice spends 12 months in both American and French oak resting. After batching, the tequila is then slowly filtered to remove all the color before proofing and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a light woody spice on the nose with a hint of roasted agave and black pepper next to a dash of lime and orange oils.
Palate: The palate is so soft and smooth with a hint of river rock next to aloe vera oils and a flutter of vanilla creaminess.
Finish: The end is short and sweet with a light sense of mineral water next to more of that citrus and agave.
Bottom Line:
This was so smooth it was… almost too smooth. Still, that means this was super fine and easy drinking with some serious flavor left deep in the body of this sip.
Clementina Tequila Añejo
ABV: 40%
Average Price: Limited
The Tequila:
This is a very straightforward aged tequila from a smaller distillery relatively (IBEV Casa Tequilera). The juice is made with an autoclave and stainless steel pot still. It then rests in used American oak barrels for 12 months before batching, proofing with deep well water, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a distinct sense of chocolate nut clusters on the nose with deep woody winter spice and vanilla pods over a light sense of sweet roasted agave, black pepper, and old oak.
Palate: Lush cherry vanilla ice cream and chocolate oranges mingle with tannic oak and old pipe tobacco with a hint of leatheriness and cedar round out the taste.
Finish: The woody tobacco and spice really amp up with a black peppery base before the soft cherry and vanilla temper everything on the very end.
Bottom Line:
This is complex and bold. The wood really drives the taste, which is what you want from an oak-aged tequila after all. Still, this is balanced enough to be a fine and slow sipper, especially over a rock or two.
Dos Armadillos Tequila Añejo
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $94
The Tequila:
This is an interesting expression. The blend is made from an eight-year-old tequila and an 18-month-old tequila. Basically, the older tequila is used to naturally amp up the color and flavor profile of younger stuff.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: There’s a rush of tannic oak with a sense of smokiness, roasted almonds, and burnt pineapple and mango skins on the nose next to rich and buttery salted toffee with a hint of dark chocolate.
Palate: Burnt orange and black cherry lead the taste toward winter spice cake with a hint of mincemeat pies, deeply roasted agave, and bourbon vanilla.
Finish: That bourbon vanilla leads the end toward soft but dark cherry tobacco spiked with caramelized agave, white pepper, and more burnt orange with a whisper of marzipan.
Bottom Line:
This is a Frankenstein’s Monster tequila, sure. But it’s also really freakin’ tasty. So enjoy it slowly on a nice sunny day with an ice cube or two in the glass.
Dos Primos Añejo
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $57
The Tequila:
This tequila brand was founded by country singer Thomas Rhett and his cousin, Jeff Worn. The actual tequila in the bottle is an añejo that spent 13 months resting in old bourbon barrels at Destiladora Gonzalez Lux.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is layered with dark berries, rich tobacco, black peppercorns, clove buds stuck in orange peels, and buttery salted caramel just kissed with dark chocolate-covered espresso beans.
Palate: The soft caramel sweetness meets sharp spice barks and more black pepper with a deeply roasted agave that feels still warm from the oven next to dark fruit leather and cherry tobacco.
Finish: That woody and sweet tobacco leads the finish to a spice bark end with plenty of dark agave vibes and sweet bourbon vanilla.
Bottom Line:
This is definitely a bourbon lovers tequila.
Hotel California Tequila Añejo
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $50
The Tequila:
This is classic autoclave cooked agave that’s sent through stainless steel pot stills before a long rest. The tequila barrels — both used American whiskey and French wine — are matured for 22 to 28 months before cold filtering, batching, proofing, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is all about grilled peaches dipped in dark salted chocolate sauce and dusted with cinnamon before a tannic oak vibe sets in with a hint of smoldering sage and agave leaves.
Palate: That woodiness drives the palate toward rich chocolate cake with a dollop of vanilla ice cream next to leathery dates and prunes with a light sense of fig tobacco.
Finish: The softness of those fruits attach to woody spice and black pepper with a counterpoint of rich and creamy choco-caramel aura over darkly roasted agave.
Bottom Line:
This is another one that’s just good. Drink it slowly and enjoy the ride.
Tequila De La Gente T
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $109 (sample box)
The Tequila:
This is from a tasting kit that’s available right now. The idea is that tequila fans will buy the pack and choose one of the añejo tequilas, and then they will bottle and release of crowd-sourced tequila to the open market. Evidently, the bottler sent in each of the four tasters for adjudication from the judges at SFWSC too.
The tequila in the bottles comes from Casa Maestri Distillery in Tequila, Jalisco, which makes over 170 brands of tequila. This tequila then spent 12 to 16 months resting in old American whiskey barrels.
Tasting Notes:
None are available as it’ll undermine the whole project’s point of blindly crowd-sourcing a tequila.
Bottom Line:
Feels like these folks found a way to get the best palates in the world to find which tequila for them to bottle. Just sayin’.
Tequila De La Gente D
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $109 (sample box)
The Tequila:
This is another sample from the same crowd-sourced tequila pack as above. So the same goes here.
Tasting Notes:
None are available as it’ll undermine the whole project’s point of blindly crowd-sourcing a tequila.
Bottom Line:
To be fair, I really want to see which of the four samples is trending with the most votes from the general public and how that matches up with the two double gold medals that two of the four received from the judges at SFWSC.
Or… will the votes be swayed to these two picks over the other two now that they’ve medaled so highly?
Probably the latter.
