As far as I can tell, Tenoch makes only one type of tequila, this reposado bottling that’s lightly golden, aged in oak, and bottled in a stoneware jug designed to look like an agave plant is enveloping it.

Tasty stuff, it’s lightly peppery and sweet like caramel, with herbal notes dancing around your mouth. For sipping tequilas, it’s just about perfect, creamy and lush, filling your mouth wonderfully.

The downside is the price. At $42 a bottle (or urn?) you won’t be making margaritas out of the stuff, and I woefully regret spilling half a shot on myself. Not just for the wasted money, I mean, but for the wasted tequila, too.

Highly recommended.

A / $42 / gviimports.com

I tried two of Milagro’s tequilas today (the silver and the reposado; didn’t have the anejo). Rather disappointing on the whole.

The Silver is a traditional, 100% agave blanco tequila, but it’s awfully harsh, even for a silver. Most super-premium, traditional silvers are surprisingly smooth, but Milagro’s Silver is rustic and carries far too much bite. It may be fine for college kids doing shooters with “training wheels,” but those tequilas cost 10 bucks a bottle. C / $22

The Reposado is better, mellowed with a bit of age but still packing in quite the bite, which overpowers the wood, though the oak age is evident on the palate. It’s still not something I’d sip as an aperitif, but I could get a shot down if a bet was involved. B- / $26

milagrotequila.com

From the biggest name in the tequila business comes an ultra-premium bottling, Jose Cuervo Platino, a silver tequila that’s priced to the skies.

Made using the innermost part of the agave, the piña, the tequila is meant to evoke agave in the extreme. And it certainly does. While it’s impressively smooth, it packs quite the agave wallop. If you love that musky, peppery tequila taste, this is the bottle for you.

For me, the flavor is simply too intense. A more charitable reviewer would say it has a “long finish,” but for me it’s an aftertaste that lingers for 10, 15 minutes. That finish begins with floral notes but ultimately gives way to vegetal flavors. It’s just too much “agave” for me. Try it with lime, on the rocks, instead of neat. But for my money, I greatly prefer Cuervo’s reposado Tradicional, which you can frequently find for $20.

The packaging, by the way, is impressive: Bottles are hand-numbered and dipped in wax. The glass is meant to evoke age, with microscopic bubbles embedded within. It’s a striking design, and the whole thing is packed inside a wooden box. Amazing gift potential here.

B / $53 / cuervo.com

Patron enthusiasts, you’re on notice: There’s better stuff out there… but yes, it will cost you.

Tonala is a pottery town in the state of Jalisco… and they also turn out a mighty fine tequila, too. Tonala’s Añejo is a subtle, not-overly-oaky golden amber sipper, as smooth a tequila as I can remember.

With just two to three years of age on it, the woodiness in many añejos is almost absent here. Instead, you get that telltale agave flavor, with a quite sweet finish: Caramel is even evident on the aroma, and it’s almost too the point where it’s too strong. Some cinnamon and allspice are also present.

You could make some killer cocktails with Tonala if it wasn’t so pricey. Most will probably want to just sip it straight… which I highly recommend.

The ceramic bottle is also tres chic.

A / $48

Here’s the official cocktail for my 2007 holiday party, inspired by the La Real at Solstice in San Francisco.

The Joost Sparkler
1 oz. silver tequila
3/4 oz. pomegranate liqueur
3/4 oz. lychee liqueur
1/2 oz. triple sec

Shake in a cocktail shaker with ice, strain into a champagne flute. Fill remainder with Champagne.

I’m planning it as a pitcher drink, making eight at a time (sans the Champagne), then pouring them as needed to avoid spending all night mixing drinks (which is common at my parties).

Oh, and St. Germain works in lieu of the lychee liqueur, too.

Cheers, and happy holidays! It’s a very refreshing, festive drink!

Finally got to sample Partida’s new, full line of tequilas today. Color me impressed. No, seriously. Here’s how they shake out.

Partida Blanco - This is a peppery but very clean silver tequila, smooth and perfect for mixing and even for sipping straight in a pinch. Among the best tequilas I’ve tried. A-

Partida Reposado - Very similar to the Blanco. A pale yellow, lighter than most Reposados. It has a bit more bite than the Blanco and a light woodiness reflecting its cask aging. I like it almost as much as the Blanco, but not quite. A-

Partida Añejo - The Cadillac of Añejo tequilas as far as I’m concerned, and my new favorite “sipping” tequila. This is an incredibly smooth Añejo, oaky and aged in Jack Daniels barrels, giving it a complexity and lushness that you don’t get in most tequilas of any age. A strong sweetness on the finish gives it a fruitiness that’s, again, uncommon in this liquor. Tequila fans will need to put this on a must-try list, immediately. A

Now for the bad news: None of these are what I’d describe as cheap. You pay for quality, especially in the tequila world, it seems. (Feeling rich? There’s a $330 bottle called Elegante Extra Añejo that even I haven’t gotten to try…)

Partida Blanco : A- / $40
Partida Reposado: A- / $50
Partida Añejo: A / $62
partidatequila.com

Hornitos is known for its trademark Reposado tequila with the bright green label. But now Hornitos expands in a natural direction: With both a Plata (aka Blanco or silver) tequila and an aged Anejo, to round out the line with one of each of the three traditional tequila varieties. I tried them all side by side and against some competition, too, to see how well the expansion went.

Hornitos Plata is a straightforward, unaged tequila, very crisp and having that trademark tequila “kick,” an almost medicinal note that makes it bad for sipping straight but good for mixing. Hornitos’ Plata is as good as any silver I’ve tried. It would be fine in a Mexican Martini or a Frozen Margarita.

Hornitos Reposado, the old guard, is aged in oak for two months, giving it a pale yellow tone and smoothing out the tequila. It’s a very creamy tequila, but oddly was my least favorite of the three. Sure, it’s a far better choice for sipping straight than the Plata, but its undertones of vanilla and oak are too nuanced to make it all that interesting in the long run. As a Margarita ingredient, it would be fine, though.

My favorite was the Hornitos Anejo, though I’m always a fan of Anejos over unaged and reposado tequilas. I put this one up against my standby, Don Julio, and found them similar in overall tone but markedly different in a few key ways. While the Don Julio was oaky and smoky, the Hornitos was peppery and creamy (much like the Reposado), but with those vanilla notes far more pronounced. This is a great straight choice with spicy, saucy food. I might actually prefer it on the rocks to neat.

The prices aren’t bad on all of these; I’d highly recommend tequila fans pick up a bottle of the Anejo, which is priced to move.

Hornitos Plata: B+ / $25
Hornitos Reposado: B / $26
Hornitos Anejo: A- / $30
sauzatequila.com