Top 10 Tequila & Mezcal
These are the Tequila and mezcal bottles you should be drinking in 2026. This year is not about discovering these spirits. It is about rediscovering and enjoying them.
What Tequila and Mezcal to Drink in 2026
Tequila and mezcal have passed their awkward teenage phase. Some still see a gold rush here, want to create novelty bottles, and don't think celebrity launches have peaked. But there's another world in here for us. The people who appreciate when agave is allowed to speak, and isn't sanded smooth. We get to divide between us the spoils from the top producers. The ones who actually care.
If you've written Tequila off as a party shot or mezcal as a one-note smoke bomb, now is exactly the time to give new bottles a chance. These spirits have nuance. They have personality. They taste like someone gave a damn.
The kind of brands we like make decisions that cost more and take longer, because flavour, texture, and character still matter. Sometimes they are cast members of Breaking Bad. Mostly, they're not.
Everything on this page is here on merit, representing a snapshot of respective categories. We could name a dozen more bottles at least, but 10 makes for a nice intro. There are some wildcards, some essentials, but every selection is worth a try.
Blanco Tequila
Fortaleza Blanco
70cl • 40%
Guillermo Sauza's family have a rich Tequila-making history, with Don Cenobio a key figure in establishing Tequila as we understand it today. When Guillermo was little, his grandfather sold the company, however, dashing his chances of growing up to become a jet-setting mariachi band brand ambassador for the family's spirits (this is all true by the way). They held on to the distillery and land though, and Guillermo was able to get the traditional distillery (deemed too "inefficient" and old fashioned in the 1960s) back up and running, launching Fortaleza in 2005.
"Former MoM head buyer Guy Hodcroft introduced me to Fortaleza. It's the kind of Tequila that industry nerds like us get very passionate about. It's made with integrity by a family that is five generations into the Tequila game, and that shows."
Añejo Tequila
VIVIR Tequila Añejo
50cl • 42.6%
VIVIR Tequila Añejo is made with double distilled 100% Blue Weber agave, harvested at around 12 years of age. The Tequila is then blended with local volcanic spring water and aged in bourbon casks for at least 18 months. VIVIR was founded by Navindh Grewal and Paul Hayes in the UK, who worked with the The Casa Maestri Distillery in the heart of Jalisco, Mexico, to create the spirit.
"Responsible agave farming's a focus, with local farmers and jimadors employed full-time with job certainty. The agave's grown to maturity. Even the local bat population gets looked after! This Añejo's aged in intentionally-not-quite-first-fill-ex-Jack-Daniels barrels (to avoid them overpowering) for 18 months."
Artisanal Mezcal
Pensador Ensamble Mezcal
50cl • 48%
Don Atenogenes and his family create Pensador Mezcal in his fields near Miahuatlan, Oaxaca, using traditional methods which remain largely unchanged since the 16th Century. They use a combination of espadín and madre-cuishe agave to create it - these are popular agave varieties for good reasons. The process from harvest to bottle each batch of Pensador takes two months - with the hand bottling and labelling taking it closer to three.
"Pensador is a purist's dream. Everything the brand does appreciates what makes mezcal special, and you taste that in the spirit. It's one I will always happily point people towards, because I can't imagine them being disappointed."
Classic Mezcal
Del Maguey Mezcal Vida
70cl • 42%
Del Maguey Vida Clásico is a single-village mezcal. It’s made alongside the tropical riverbed in the village of San Luis Del Rio, Oaxaca, where the Red Ant River flows. The agave used is 100% Espadin, which is naturally fermented and then twice distilled in wood-fired copper stills. Vida Clásico has been so many people's first mezcal. Not one of them regretted it or ever looked back afterwards.
single estate Reposado Tequila
Ocho Reposado Tequila
70cl • 38%
Ocho has always treated Tequila like wine, and this reposado proves why that matters. Made from 100% agave grown for at least eight years on a single estate, this is terroir you can actually taste. Rested for precisely eight weeks and eight days in American whiskey barrels, the oak adds gentle vanilla and spice without flattening the agave’s natural vibrancy.
Beloved Blanco Tequila
Tapatio Blanco
50cl • 40%
Tapatio Blanco is great value in all senses of the word. Bold agave character, peppery heat, citrus brightness, and a savoury edge that keeps it firmly out of cocktail-only territory. It works beautifully neat, sings in a Margarita, and refuses to be background noise in your cocktail of choice. Tapatio is no frills, no gloss, just a textbook example of how good blanco can be when it is made properly.
Lowland Reposado Tequila
Pancho Datos Reposado Tequila
70cl • 40%
This 100% agave reposado Tequila from Pancho Datos was rested for ten months in white oak barrels previously used to mature bourbon whiskey. The agave itself is allowed to age for at least six years before being cooked for two-to-three days in a stone oven. Following that, the agave is fermented, and then it's over to the stills to be double-distilled. Pancho Datos takes its time, and you can taste it.
Sweet 'n' fancy Premium Tequila
Patrón El Alto
70cl • 40%
A high-end, generously aged expression from Patrón. Produced from 100% Blue Weber agave, grown in the high altitudes of Jalisco, El Alto combines aged extra añejo Tequila, blended with rare añejo and reposado expressions in a diverse combo of 11 types of barrel, predominantly American and French oak, for a sumptuously soft and silky profile to savour.
'Abocado con Mezcal'
Ojo de Dios ODD Hibiscus
70cl • 35%
Ojo de Dios Hibiscus takes the brand's signature Joven and blends it with Oaxacan-grown hibiscus flowers to create a drink inspired by the Mexican tradition of serving hibiscus tea, ‘agua de Jamaica,’ to guests. It works over ice, in spritz-style serves... Fun, yes. Frivolous, absolutely not.
Celeb-tastic (but don't hold that against it) Mezcal
Dos Hombres Mezcal
70cl • 42%
Yes, it is the Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston one. No, that is not why it is here. It is approachable without being dull, smoky without being aggressive, and genuinely well made. Dos Hombres begins with Oaxacan Espadin agave, cooked traditionally, fermented in wooden vats, and then bottled as a joven that balances smoke with fruit and gentle woodiness. Celebrity mezcal that actually respects the category. Yeah. Science.
More agave excellence
Pour yourself something new. Trust your palate. And leave the tired bottles where they belong. Find your new favourite here.
Popular agave categories
From iconic Tequila houses to small-batch mezcaleros working deep in the valleys of Oaxaca, explore the full spectrum of agave spirits. Crisp blancos, oak-rested reposados, smoky artisanal mezcals... Mexico’s spirit scene is anything but one-note.
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