El Tequileño Named Agave Producer of the Year; A Look Inside ‘Mexico’s Best Kept Secret’

(Photo: El Tequileño/Instagram)

Amidst the glitz and glam of the 2023 International Spirits Competition, El Tequileño was crowned Agave Producer of the Year and awarded Best Tequila of the Year for its Reposado Gran Reserva.

The brands’ reposado — aged 8 months in American Oak before being blended with a small amount of añejo — first hit the market in 2021. Its distiller, however, dates back to 1959.

El Tequileño traces its roots back to Don Jorges Salles Cuervo, a descendent of Don José Antonio de Cuervo of no-introduction-necessary Jose Cuervo fame. At the turn of the 1960s, Don Jorges founded the NOM 1108 distillery in the highlands of Jalisco where the brand is still produced to this day, albeit under the watch of third-generation master distiller Jorge Antonio Salles.

Over the decades, the confirmed additive-free brand has developed alongside a fast-changing industry. El Tequileño’s flagship Blanco — one of the few mixto tequilas you’ll ever see agave spirits snobs gush over — has been institutionalized in iconic cocktails like the Batanga found in bars across Mexico.

In recent years, El Tequileño has tackled trends like the Cristalino and developed one-of-a-kind products of its own.

In 2022, the brand introduced its Reposado Rare, aged for six years and four months in massive 25,000-liter vats. That age statement would typically qualify it as an extra añejo, but since Mexican law states that añejos must be aged in barrels under 600 liters in size, El Tequileño had to get creative with naming.

Though the brand is omnipresent in liquor stores across Mexico, distribution in the US can lean scarce.

If you manage to find a bottle — which can cost anywhere from $20 to $200 based on the expression — be sure to snatch it up fast.

Read More: 

Clase Azul’s $1,450 Día de Los Muertos Tequila Pushes Collectible Spirits to Absurd, 24-Karat Heights 

New Additive-Free Tequila ‘Founded, Farmed Distilled and Led by Women’ Hits the Market Nationwide

‘A Delicious Treat’: El Tesoro Tequila Expands Specialty Collection With Knob Creek Rye-Rested Añejo

Here at Tequila Raiders, we do more than write about current events in tequila. We are the only media property reviewing tequilas and aggregating the scores and reviews of other significant voices in the tequila world in one place. If you’re interested in getting a shot of tequila in your morning email, sign up for our Deal of the Day newsletter