Which Tequila Is Best? A Taste Test of Patrón, Terremana, Casamigos and more

With 16 tequilas to taste, we decided it would be helpful to divide our contenders into three groups. We divided them by price point—though the exact numbers may vary by retailer. Our least expensive sold for $21.99 while our most expensive was listed for $54.99.

How to taste tequila

Ice can mute some of the flavors in a tequila, Reis said. To avoid that, we tasted our blancos at room temperature to make sure we could taste each spirit as fully as possible. We also used glencairn glasses—tulip-shaped glassware made specifically for tasting spirits—which would more effectively concentrate the aromas coming off the tequila.

Reis offered some tips on how to taste tequila. “Smell it with your mouth cracked open a teeny bit,” he says, to avoid alcohol fumes building up in your nasal passages and blowing out your olfactory sense. Then, “take a small sip to allow your palate to adjust to the high alcohol content,” before taking more small sips to zero in on the flavors in the tequila. We made sure to use Reis’ method so that we’d get as many flavor notes as possible.

How our editors evaluated

Evaluating a lot of different spirits is a unique task. Unlike cheddar or even Champagne, blanco tequilas almost always look exactly identical—crystal clear. That meant our tasters had to home in on aroma and flavor, as we did in our vodka taste test.

When we asked tasters what they wanted in their ideal tequila, many of them started by mentioning what they didn’t want. Namely, a harsh, acrid taste, and any kind of cloying sweetness. Some tasters recalled a blanco tequila that heavily overindexed on a sweet vanilla flavor, for example, a far cry from the peppery, clean taste of the tequila they were after. Instead, they said, a great blanco tequila would have a balanced sweetness—perhaps some caramel notes, bright zingy citrus, or even some vegetal flavors.

Tequila is defined by its terroir, and, of course, there is no universally beloved tequila, but our editors tried to select the spirit most pleasing to their palates, thinking that if our group of tasters liked it, the tequila might have a better chance at having some broad appeal.

The Surprisingly Soft: Hornitos Plata Silver Tequila

Price-wise, Hornitos sits firmly in the entry-level category of tequila. It’s described as a “plata,” Spanish for silver, which is another way producers label their blanco tequilas. Labeling a tequila blanco, silver, or plata means it must legally be aged under two months. As opposed to reposado and añejo tequilas, where aging is meant to impart flavor, this category is supposed to be a more direct expression of the agave distillate.

Why it won us over: Was Hornitos the subtle, soft, layered expression of blanco tequila that our tasters dreamt of? Not necessarily. But it was certainly serviceable, and it edged ahead of its competitors in our entry-level grouping the more we sampled. While some other spirits had aromas of burnt leather or an unpleasant chemical smell, Hornitos’ was much more neutral, as associate director of drinks Joseph Hernandez described it. Although tasters’ initial sips revealed a robust sweetness, they said they also tasted notes like pepper, lime, and a bit of vanilla. Unlike some of its competitors, Hornitos didn’t taste overwhelmingly harsh or acrid—in fact, as senior commerce editor Noah Kaufman said, it was rather “soft on the palate.”