The best tequila to buy right now

Is it really summer without tequila?

Whether your style is shots or a refreshing cocktail, these bottles of tequila will give your BBQ a fun little kick in the right direction.

These are a far cry away from sticky club shots, so grab those lemons, tonic and ice trays and get creative.

With these delicious brands you could even (dare we say it) enjoy drinking tequila. Here’s how:

1800 Silver Tequila

The world’s most-awarded tequila may have a bottle shaped like a Mayan pyramid, but don’t worry, the liquid inside hasn’t been ruined. Sorry, terrible joke.

This has the Paloma cocktail written all over it, or a classic Margarita, if that’s more to your taste. Based around tradition, 1800 is the date that tequila was first successfully aged in oak barrels, though this silver tequila is completely unoaked, light, ultra-smooth and almost floral in flavour.

Buy it for £26 (Save £7) from Waitrose.

Próspero Blanco Tequila

Fun fact, this is Rita Ora’s tequila, and I can barely stop myself from making a ‘Marga-Rita’ joke. I won’t though.

Let’s get serious, this is produced by her business partner who is also one of Mexico’s top Master Distillers, Stella Anguiano, one of only a handful of females producing tequila in Mexico.

Blanco tequila hasn’t seen any barrel-ageing, hence the clear colour, which makes it a perfect addition to cocktails like, um, the Marga-Rita.

Buy it for £30.49 (save £21) from The Bottle Club.

Mijenta Blanca

Shout out to Maestra Tequilera, Ana Maria Romero, for crafting this super premium, sustainable and delicious tequila. I’d reach for the clapping and heart-eyes emojis if I could.

Saving the planet-wise, it’s completely carbon neutral, offsetting the equivalent of 60,000 trees. Its flavours are tied to the mineral-rich land of Jalisco, not that you’ll find chunks of mud in your glass. You’re more likely to taste notes of manuka honey and melon if I’m honest.

Buy it for £49.95 from The Whisky Exchange.

The Butterfly Cannon Blue Tequila

A spirit that changes colour, would that be called a colour shifting snifter? Call it what you like, there’s a new tequila in town, one that’s infused with prickly pear and clementine with a natural vegetable pigment colouring.

Add any mixer and it morphs from blue to dazzling purple, thanks to PH-reacting anthocyanin compounds found in the likes of aubergines and blueberries. It’s also simultaneously citrussy, tropical fruity and peppery, basically an alchemist’s happy drink.

Buy it for £25.95 from Master of Malt.

El Rayo Reposado

Talking about disruptor brands nailing the tequila game, which we weren’t, El Rayo is doing exactly that. I’ve mentioned them before and probably will again, as they’re freshening up the tequila category.

Founders and childhood best mates, Jack and Tom wanted to produce a modern spirit to use in a T&T, tequila and tonic, highly recommended with a grapefruit garnish. It tastes ‘bomb’, meaning really good, a term I believe is used on ‘the gram’.

Buy it for £33 from Threshers.

Casamigos Reposado

Here’s an oldie but goldie, not George Clooney, his tequila. He sold it in 2017, but that doesn’t mean we can’t think of him while we’re sipping it, neat, as intended.

Smooth as a Barry White at a Gillette convention, this brand helped bail tequila out of its party-shooter rut via quality-elevating processes like slow fermentation of 80 hours versus the 42-hour average, 72-hour slow roasting of the agave hearts when the average is seven.

Buy it for £70 from Harvey Nichols.

Ocho Reposado

After the stress of the last few years, give me a barrel to rest in any day. Reposado literally translates as ‘rested’ in Spanish, specifically eight weeks and eight days in this case, hence the name Ocho.

The tequila spends time soaking up vanilla and caramel notes from the oak staves, becoming smoother, richer, nuttier and more complex with every second. These are American ex-whiskey barrels too, so add butterscotch into the overall flavour equation.

Buy it for £23.99 from Vida Wines.

Codigo 1530 Rosa Tequila

Everything has a pink version, thank goodness. Tequila is no exception, and what started out as a Blanco style gets its rosy pantone from a month spent ageing in Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon barrels.

It doesn’t take long for the cabernet sauvignon-soaked wood to interact with the resting tequila, leaving behind its ripe red berry influence. Oh, I nearly forgot, this is another celeb-backed enterprise, with a small stake owned by country singer, George Strait.

Buy it for £44.99 (save £5) from VIP Bottles.

Dobel Diamante Cristalino Tequila

Not all tequilas are created equal, and this bottle puts the ‘extra’ in ‘extravagance’. It’s clear in colour, but this isn’t a spirit I’d chuck into a cocktail shaker. It’s a premium blend of barrel-aged styles including extra añejo, añejo and reposado with its pigment filtered out, AKA a ‘Cristalino’.

It’s all a bit mind-alteringly Heston Blumenthal, where you expect a youthful palate and instead get a super-smooth thwack of toffee and salted caramel flavours.

Buy it for £52 from Waitrose.

Rooster Rojo Añejo

When the stopper is teasingly tricky to open, you suspect there’s something good inside, and you’d be right. Aged for a year in ex-bourbon barrels for full-throttle flavours of brown sugar and fudge that wouldn’t taste out of place in an aged rum.

The seemingly random rooster on the label is actually a symbol of Mexican identity, while the distillery is located in Tequila Town at the foot of Tequila Hill – now that’s an address!

Buy it for £23.89 from Master of Malt.

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