Special Report

The 17 Worst Tequila Brands You Can Buy

Kathryn Koehler

Published: January 15, 2024 10:12 am

Last Updated: February 18, 2024 1:31 pm

In determining the 17 worst Tequila brands you can buy, we discovered plenty of contenders. Our criteria was threefold: flavor, value, and severity of the associated hangover. Even responsible Tequila drinkers, an oxymoron if ever there was one, can suffer the consequences of the dreaded Tequila hangover, and irresponsible Tequila drinkers are sure to. Conventional wisdom suggests that drinking 100% pure blue agave (Agave tequilana) Tequila is less likely to result in a hangover than when drinking mixto Tequila

Mixto Tequila contains a minimum of 51% blue agave plus sugar from cane or corn. Mixto also sometimes has added coloring, and these additional ingredients tend to alter the flavor of the Tequila. Authentic Tequila is produced in the region around Tequila, Jalisco, Mexico. It is enjoyed neat or in cocktails like Margaritas. So, considering flavor, value, and hangover probability, we present the 17 worst Tequila brands from not necessarily bad at all to seriously the worst.

1./2. Ley Tequila 925 Diamante/Tequila Ley Ultra Premium

• parent/owner: Fernando Altamirano/Hacienda La Capilla
• established: 1885
• price point: $3.5 million (Diamonte)/$225,000 (Ultra Premium)

Nothing screams eat the rich like a 3.5 million dollar bottle of Tequila Even the $225,000 bottle, though it provokes rumblings and whispers. The liquid gold flowing from within these bottles is top-tier Tequila. It’s made from 100% blue agave that’s been barrel-aged for seven years. It undoubtedly goes down smooth. But, you must ask yourself, Who would pay three-and-a-half million dollars for Tequila?

With these two Ley products, you’re not paying for the Tequila, you’re paying for the bottle. Diamonte, as you might have deduced comes in a diamond-encrusted bottle. The bottle is composed of platinum and white gold, encrusted with 4,100 white diamonds, totaling over 18 carats. The cap, fashioned of pure platinum, is a replica of the Aztec calendar. The Ultra premium, a steal at just under a quarter of a million, comes in a bottle of platinum, white gold, and yellow gold.

Bottom Line: When you can grab the same contents in a plain, ordinary glass bottle for $75.00, save your millions for a yacht.

3. Clase Azul 15th-Anniversary Edition

• parent/owner: Arturo Lomelí
• established:1997
• price point: $30,000/750 ml

Same song, second verse. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the Tequila in the bottle, and the bottle is a commemorative work of art. The white and cobalt ceramic bottles are inlaid with amber and 24k gold. The bottles house Clase Azul Tequila Reposado, made with slow-cooked 100% Blue Weber Agave, aged for 8 months. Only 15 bottles were produced, making them highly collectible. In 2022, Clase Azul produced 9,125 commemorative bottles in honor of their 25th anniversary.

Bottom line: If you must have a commemorative bottle of Clase Azul Tequila , go with the 25th-anniversary vintage, it’s infinitely more affordable at ≈ $2,ooo.

4. Santanera Organic Blanco Tequila Batch Inicial

• parent/owner: Pablo Lara/Casa Maestri
• established: 2016
• price point: $3,750.00/750 ml

When I discovered this brand initially, the price was listed in Mexican dollars, which looks like a lot more than 3,750 U.S. dollars. Sourced from organic blue agave and distilled using traditional methods, and offering a Kosher option, Santanera Tequila is an excellent product. But unless you have a money tree or a trust fund, any spirit in the four-figure range is probably out of reach. Santanera limited production of Batch Inicial to 2,066 bottles.

Bottom: You can grab a case of Santanera Organic Blanco Tequila Batch Siembra for about 1/2 the cost.

5. Sauza Silver

• parent/owner: Beam Suntory
• established:1873
• price point: $15.00/750 ml

Sauza Silver is a mixto Tequila. Though the label states that Sauza Silver is made from fresh blue agave, nowhere on the bottle does it say 100% and that’s the rub. Mixto substitutes cane sugar or corn syrup to sweeten the product while using less agave. Why? Because it’s cheaper. When you’re owned by a multinational company headquartered in Chicago, craftsmanship and pride take a back seat to shareholder happiness.

Bottom line: If it doesn’t say it’s 100% blue agave? It’s not.

6./7.  Jose Cuervo Especial Gold/Especial Silver

• parent/owner: Beckmann Family/Proximo Spirits
• established: 1758
• price point: $15.00/750 ml

José María Guadalupe de Cuervo was the first Tequila maker in the world. Cuervo received the first license to distill and distribute Tequila in Mexico from 100% agave grown on his father’s agave farm. Not only is the Curveo Especial line not 100% agave, it’s also processed through diffusion. The use of the diffuser method dates to the early 2000s. Mass-produced diffused Tequila employs modern techniques that prioritize efficiency and quantity over quality and craftsmanship. In this process, the agave piñas are often shredded and then subjected to diffusers, machines that extract the sugars from the plant using high-pressure steam and chemicals.

Traditional methods cook the piñas in ovens to convert their starches into fermentable sugars. The cooked piñas are then crushed to extract the juice, which is fermented and distilled, often in copper pot stills. This method typically results in Tequila with more pronounced agave flavors and a smoother finish due to the longer fermentation and aging processes.

Bottom line: José María Guadalupe de Cuervo wouldn’t even recognize the Cuervo Especial line as Tequila.

8. Margaritaville Silver

• parent/owner: Sazerac
• established: 1998
• price point: $18.00/750 ml

Ya hate to speak ill of a recently departed music icon like Jimmy Buffett, but I betcha he didn’t even drink Margaritaville Tequila, beyond a sip at the mandatory promotional photo op. And why would he? Margaritaville Tequila is a mixto Tequila that’s best experienced in a cocktail, say, a margarita?, and as any Parrothead will tell ya, JB didn’t drink margaritas.

Bottom line: Chances are if you keep the party going with Margaritaville Tequila, you’re gonna wind up with a massive hangover searching for that lost shaker of salt.

9. 818 Blanco

• parent/owner: Kendall Jenner
• established: 2021
• price point: $35.00/750 ml

Several celebrities have invested in their own lines of Tequila, and lots of them get rave reviews, but Kendall Jenner’s 818 Blanco isn’t one of them. Named for the area code of her California neighborhood, 818 tastes more like vodka than Tequila. Beyond the flavor which is decidedly more vanilla than agave,  the brand has suffered under claims of cultural appropriation and worker exploitation.

Bottom line: There are Tequila brands for 35.00 (or less) that are way more appealing.

10.  Tres Generaciones Silver

• parent/owner: Sauza/Beam Suntory
• established: 1973
• price point: $40.00/750 ml

Tres Generaciones was introduced on the 100th anniversary of the Sauza Distillery to honor the three generations of Sauzas who had established the brand. Fifty years later, diffuser extraction is the new norm in mass-produced Tequila . It’s both time and cost-efficient. Yes, it takes less time, costs less money, and produces less flavor. One tester commented. “I’ve had worse, but not much.”

Bottom line: While the label may tout 100% agave, if it’s been diffused instead of baked, why bother?

11. Hornitos Black Barrel

• parent/owner: Don Cenobio Sauza/Beam Suntory
• established:1873
• price point: $35.00/ 750 ml

Though its name, Hornitos, is Spanish for ovens, a nod to the traditional method for extracting the sugars from the agave piñas, Hornitos is now produced through diffusion. This process, while more economical and less time-consuming, removes the majority of the agave flavor, leaving in its place a bitter substitute.

Bottom line: For the price point there are more satisfying experiences to be had.

12. El Toro Gold

• parent/owner: Don Rafael Rodriguez/Sazerac
• established: 1920
• price point: $12.00/750 ml

As far as marketing gimmicks go, the little red plastic sombrero cap topper is a winner. But that’s the most alluring aspect of El Toro Gold Tequila. It is a mixto Tequila that should come with a disclaimer or a waiver or a barf bag. One minute you’re in a deep philosophical conversation with the cute little sombrero on your index finger, and the next you wake up on the bathroom floor.

Bottom line: Drink too much El Toro and you’ll feel like you’ve been kicked in the head by a bull.

13. Pepe Lopez

• parent/owner: Brown-Forman
• established: 1857
• price point: $15.00/750 ml

Pepe Lopez is another mixto Tequila that’s got you covered in the hangover department and little else. The agave that Pepe Lopez does contain, is diffuser extracted instead of baked, leaving it devoid of any actual agave flavor.

Bottom line: If you’re drinking to get drunk, or to forget, Pepe Lopez is just what the doctor ordered. If your goal is a pleasant drinking experience, look elsewhere.

14. Durango Gold

• parent/owner: Prestige Beverage Group
• established: 2006
• price point: $12.00/750 ml

Durango Gold Tequila is a mixto with a bonus additive! Caramel coloring! Their marketing would lead you to believe that adding neutral grain sugars to the mix gives Durango Gold a cleaner Tequila taste. Sure it does, because no it doesn’t. Unless by cleaner they mean flavorless. Neutral grain sugars make it cheaper to produce and more likely to cause you unnecessary pain and suffering, though.

Bottom line: Unless you’ve got a day to spare and a masochistic streak, keep away from the Durango Gold.

15. Montezuma Aztec Gold Mixto

• parent/owner: Barton Distilling Company
• established: 2000
• price point: $8.00/ 750 ml

The price point for Montezuma Aztec Gold Mixto Tequila should tell you everything you need to know. Montezuma starts to get its revenge from the get-go with a flavor that has been variously described with any number of negative superlatives: the worst, the most disgusting, positively the most horrible…and that’s on the way down. You don’t even wanna know what it tastes like coming back up.

Bottom line: Do yourself a solid, and let Montezuma exact his revenge elsewhere.

16. Kirkland Blanco

• parent/owner: Corporate Distillery Santa Lucia, S.A. de C.V.
• established: 1946
• price point: $18.00/750 ml

Kirkland is Costco’s signature brand. Their supplier changes regularly. Like other outsourced products, the quality is dependent on the supplier. Each Tequila distillery has a NOM, Norma Oficial Mexicana number, which assures the authenticity of the Tequila as well as identifying the producer. Kirkland Blanco, NOM 1173, is produced by Corporate Distillery Santa Lucia, S.A. de C.V. Perhaps it was a bad year for agave, or maybe the still needed cleaning, or the diffuser got clogged – we could speculate from here to Guadalajara, but the bottom line is Kirkland Blanco is little more than swill.

Bottom line: As long as NOM 1173 is supplying Costco’s Tequila, you might want to re-think your life choices and become a rummy.

17. Tres Sombreros

• parent/owner: Beveland Distillery/Masoliver Group
• established: 1994
• price point: $14.00/750 ml