8 Best Clase Azul Tequilas and Mezcals, Ranked

(Photos: Clase Azul)

Few tequila brands have achieved quite the luxury status of Clase Azul. These Eiffel Towers of agave find themselves perched on the highest shelves of the liquor store, usually accompanied by eyebrow-raising price tags and endless debate over their “true” quality. No doubt that the tequila is wildly popular in the club and the collector’s cabinet, the splurge of gifting occasions and the frenzy of a frat party. Among spirits enthusiasts, however, the story is a little more complicated.

It’s time to settle the debate. Using our expertise as a review aggregator, we’ve rounded up every core offering from Clase Azul from lowest Raided Score™ to highest.

For the sake of time, we won’t delve into the brand’s laundry list of limited-edition bottlings. Clase Azul releases a handful of these every year, usually amounting to a few thousand one-off decanters that find their way into the hands of collectors rather than reviewers. We’ll instead focus on the brand’s main lineup of tequilas — Plata, Reposado, Anejo, Gold and Ultra — as well as its oft-overlook mezcal collection including Guerrero, Durango and San Luis Potosi.

Last but not least, let us reiterate that we’re reviewing spirits, not bottles. Every decanter from Clase Azul is a work of art in its own right, bustling with painstaking detail that clearly took weeks, if not months or years to perfect. The liquor contained within those bottles? Opinions vary, as you’ll soon see.

What is the best Clase Azul tequila or mezcal? Read on to find the full list.

These rankings are based on each bottle’s Raided Score™, a score on the 50-100 scale that aggregates reviews from across the internet. The following bottles are ranked from worst to best, based on the reviews given by spirits critics.

8. Clase Azul Añejo (69)

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Coming in last is Clase Azul Añejo, which spends a minimum of two years in ex-whiskey American oak casks.

Considering its price point and slender design, it should come as no surprise this one is often compared to Don Julio 1942, the other ultra-popular, club-friendly añejo. Reviewers have picked out spiced notes of clove, nutmeg, black tea and cinnamon on the palate. However, criticisms of its overly sweet, marginally agave flavor are aplenty, leading to its relatively low standing in the brand’s portfolio. The “overly sweet” criticism is brought up a lot against Clase Azul products, and the Añejo seems to have caught the brunt of the storm within the community.

7. Clase Azul Ultra (74)

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Clase Azul Ultra takes note from the scotch world with a mix of bespoke cask finishes. The expression, aged a total of five years, is first matured in ex-whiskey barrels before being split between Amontillado, Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez sherry casks. The result is as ultra-aged as it is ultra-expensive, commanding prices between $2,000 to as much as $10,000 among different retailers.

This one is all about the oak. Caramel and molasses are the two most frequent flavors tasted on the palate, followed by hints of butterscotch, nuttiness and dried fruit imparted from the trio of sherry finishes. “Overoaked” is a criticism levied against many extra añejos, though you won’t find the term used here. Instead, detractors claim that an artificial wood note (most likely glycerin and extract) takes center stage, making for a mix of genuine and insincere oak character that never quite hits its intended stride.

6. Clase Azul Gold (76)

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Clase Azul Gold occupies the much-misunderstood joven category, used to describe blends of blanco with small amounts of aged reserves. In the case of Gold, the brand’s Plata is combined with a French oak-rested reposado and an eight-year extra añejo finished in Pedro Ximénez sherry casks.

The blend has provoked a wide range of tasting notes from reviewers across the Internet. Some have observed flavors of black pepper, earth and caramel; others, hits of artificial sweetener, cornbread and margarine. Across the board, reviewers seem to agree that the flavor leans heavier into the uncompromising sweetness of the brand’s blanco than the syrupy viscosity of its aged expressions.

5. Clase Azul Plata (78)

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Most tequila brands are defined first and foremost by their blanco expressions. Clase Azul is instead most famous for its reposado, leaving its unaged Plata in an odd position — this is the distiller’s cheapest tequila by far, but perhaps also one of its most overlooked.

More so than any other offering from the brand, unbridled sweetness is the name of the game. Drinkhacker’s Christopher Null likened its “palate-jarring” flavor to Nutrasweet, a sentiment you’ll find repeated by Tequila Matchmaker users who point out notes of cream soda, vanilla and medicinal peppermint. In a favorable write-up for Distiller, reviewer Brock Schulte complimented notes of papaya, mango, butterscotch and lemon zest. He too, however, made note of that ubiquitous cream soda flavor, adding that the tequila is decidedly “quite a sweet sipper.”

T-3. Clase Azul Durango Mezcal (80)

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Surprisingly few know that Clase Azul introduced a line of mezcals in 2021. Unlike the brand’s tequilas, all of which are produced at the Casa Tradicion distillery in Jalisco, Mexico, each mezcal is outsourced to a different palenque in a different state.

The first of the bunch is dubbed Durango. The spirit is distilled using wild-grown agave Cenzino (typically minty and vegetal in flavor) that’s milled by hand before roasting in underground pits. It’s an admirable experiment for a brand so closely associated with tequila, and, we’d argue, a serviceable take on a wildly trendy spirit.

The nose opens with a swash of candied aromas led by plum, orange rind and cinnamon. The palate delivers much the same, balancing in notes of apple, pear and minerality that amount to a creamy, sugar-forward mouthfeel somewhat unusual for a mezcal. At 44% ABV, this is the highest-proofed spirit that Clase Azul has ever released, warranting its place in the cabinet of any collector looking to stock up on the deep cuts.

T-3. Clase Azul Guerrero Mezcal (80)

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Clase Azul’s second mezcal release hailed from the state of Guerrero. This one is distilled using the popular agave Cupreata strain, often noted for its light, citrus-forward palate that draws influence from the surrounding terrain.

It’s without a doubt the most complex offering we’ve tasted from the brand. The nose is classic mezcal, brimming with damp hay, leather, tobacco and a dense barbecue scent reminiscent of peppers roasting over flame. The palate is an altogether different experience, trading smoke for sugar by way of cocoa, toasted sesame and plenty of honey. The finish pivots once again with notes of paprika, oak and milk chocolate.

Like many expressions from Clase Azul, Guerrero isn’t loaded with agave, per se, but it’s an interesting experience nonetheless that delivers surprising range.

2. Clase Azul Reposado (90)

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Easily the most recognizable offering in the brand’s catalog, Clase Azul Reposado is as iconic as it is controversial.

By that, we mean reviews for this tequila are all over the place. The expression, aged around eight months in ex-whiskey barrels, has earned more than its fair share of five-star accolades heaping praise on its sweetened flavors of caramel, vanilla and baking spice. Comparisons to cognac- and sherry-aged whiskey come up often, as do compliments on its “silky smooth” mouthfeel and easy finish.

Critics bundle up all the same talking points in the opposite direction — usually with a few exclamation points to clarify their stance. Many argue that the tequila provides little more than cake batter and fake vanilla on the palate, coating the tongue with a viscous mouthfeel that overwhelms any semblance of agave character. As a recent user review on Tequila Matchmaker put it, “Great on flapjacks…”

For a sense of scale, the lowest score for Clase Azul Reposado in our catalog is a 73; the highest, two 100s and a 97. This is a spirit that caters first and foremost to die-hard fans who know exactly what they’re buying into. If you aren’t among its legion of worshippers, chances are you won’t be converting anytime soon.

1. Clase Azul San Luis Potosí Mezcal (94)

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The most colorful decanter in the Clase Azul catalog also happens to be its best-reviewed. For its latest take on mezcal, the brand recruited agave Salmiana from the state of San Luis Potosi. The varietal is often dubbed the “green giant” due to its 25-year maturation period and towering 10-foot height, a stature that requires it be dug out of the ground with a literal bulldozer if the conditions are right.

Dalton Redman over at The Whiskey DR complimented light and bright aromas of cooked agave, green chile and crushed peppercorn on the nose. The palate gives way to an assortment of herbal, citrus and mineral characteristics, within which lime zest and clove take center stage. This one hit the market earlier this year at $370 and currently retails in the range of $550; for Clase Azul, it’s not the worst markup you can imagine.

So, what is the best Clase Azul tequila? It’s not a tequila at all, but a mezcal: Clase Azul San Luis Potosí Mezcal.