Blanco, Reposado, Añejo: How to Read a Tequila Label

Three words, one phrase that matters more than all of them, and bottles at every price

Tequila is the largest section in our store - several hundred distinct bottles - and it is also the section people find hardest to shop. The reason is that the label answers a question most shoppers are not asking. It tells you how long the spirit sat in a barrel. It does not tell you what the tequila is made of, and that is the part that decides whether you enjoy it.

The only phrase worth memorising

Look for 100% de agave, or 100% agave. If those words are on the bottle, everything fermented inside it came from the blue agave plant. If they are absent - if the label just says "Tequila" - the rules allow up to 49% of the fermentable sugars to come from somewhere else, usually cane sugar. That is a mixto, and it is the single biggest reason people decide they do not like tequila and go back to vodka.

You do not need to spend much to clear this bar. Plenty of bottles well under thirty dollars are 100% agave. It is a production choice, not a price tier, and it is printed on every bottle that qualifies because producers are proud of it.

Then the three words

Blanco - also silver, or plata - goes into the bottle unaged or after a very short rest. It tastes most like the plant it came from: green, peppery, direct. This is the one for margaritas and palomas, and it is the honest test of a distillery, because there is no wood to hide behind.

Reposado means "rested": at least two months in oak, usually rather more. The wood rounds off the edges and adds vanilla and caramel. It is the crowd-pleasing middle, and if you are only ever buying one bottle it is probably the one.

Añejo means "aged": at least a year, in barrels no larger than 600 litres. It drinks closer to a whiskey and it is built for sipping. Putting an añejo in a margarita is not a crime, but you are paying for barrel time and then burying it under lime juice.

Blanco, at three price levels

Bottle or pack	Price	Where it sits
Lunazul Blanco Tequila 750ML	$26.39	The value pick. Deep stock, moves constantly.
Astral Blanco Tequila 750ML	$21.99	Comfortably under thirty dollars and well stocked.
Espolón Blanco 750ML	$30.79	One of our two best-selling full-size tequilas.
Teremana Blanco Tequila 750ML	$32.99	The one people ask for by the actor's name.
Don Julio Blanco 750ML	$52.79	The reference bottle at this level.
Casamigos Blanco Tequila 750ML	$38.49	Sits alongside Don Julio on most shelves and most bars.

Reposado, at three price levels

Bottle or pack	Price	Where it sits
Lunazul Reposado 750ML	$26.39	Same value tier as the blanco above, rested.
El Jimador Reposado 750ML	$24.17	The workhorse reposado.
Cazadores Reposado Tequila 750ML	$24.19	A long-standing favourite here.
Espolón Reposado 750ML	$32.99	The natural step up from the blanco you already like.
Teremana Reposado Tequila 750ML	$35.19	A top-five seller on our tequila shelf.
Don Julio Tequila Reposado 750ML	$58.29	The most popular bottle on our reposado shelf above fifty dollars.

Añejo, when you intend to sip it

Bottle or pack	Price	Where it sits
El Jimador Anejo 750ML	$32.99	The most affordable genuine añejo we carry.
Lunazul Anejo 750ML	$36.29	Value añejo, same house as the blanco and reposado.
Teremana Añejo Tequila 750ML	$43.99	Completes the Teremana range.
Herradura Anejo 750ML	$60.49	From one of the older houses in Jalisco.
Patron Anejo 750ML	$54.99	The one most people have heard of.
Don Julio Anejo Tequila 750ML	$63.79	The obvious next bottle after the reposado.
Don Julio 1942 Tequila Anejo 750ML	$186.99	The gift bottle, and it is bought as one.

What we would tell you at the counter

If you are making margaritas for people, buy a blanco and spend the difference on limes. Espolón Blanco at $30.79 or Lunazul at $26.39 will do everything a $52.79 bottle does once there is citrus and orange liqueur in the glass. Keep the Don Julio for drinking neat, where you will actually taste what you paid for.

Buying one bottle to cover every situation: reposado. Buying a gift: añejo, because the box is better and the person receiving it will sip it slowly enough to notice.

A margarita needs one bottle beyond the tequila - the orange liqueur - and that ladder is worth understanding too. We went through it in two bottles, eight cocktails.

Come get it

Beverage World Package Store, 6731 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, Doraville, GA 30360. Call (770) 441-0001. We are open Sundays; current hours are on the location and hours page. Prices and stock in this post were correct the day it was written — the links go to the live product pages, which always win.