The Best Reposado Tequilas for Sipping

Roca Patrón is a collection which represent tequilas that are produced using tahonas to crush their cooked agaves. A tahona is a two-ton stone (Roca is Spanish for "rock") and it gently crushes rather than quickly shreds the agave. Roca Patrón Reposado ages for 5 months in single-use American ex-bourbon barrels before it's bottled at 84 proof.

Don Julio Tequila sources its agaves from the Highlands of Jalisco. After harvesting, they are then steam-cooked for 72 hours. The juice is fermented and double-distilled in stainless steel pot-stills. For the Don Julio Reposado, it is aged for eight months in American white oak. The reposado is then bottled in the characteristic, square-shaped bottle at 80 proof.

Arte NOM is the brainchild of wunderkind Jake Lustig. An American who grew up in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, Lustig has been importing, selling, and writing about agave spirits his entire adult life. He asked his favorite producers of blanco, reposado and añejo tequilas to make special batches just for him to showcase their mastery of these respective styles. Such a project required a change to Mexico's law, which previously required an individual brand to represent the product of one distillery only. This reposado is made by Feliciano Vivanco in Arandas from estate-grown agave and spends ten months in ex-bourbon barrels.

Produced in Los Altos in Jalisco at the famous La Alteña Distillery established by Don Felipe Camarena in 1937. Today his grandson, Carlos Camarena, is the master distiller. El Tesoro uses 100% estate-grown agave in its production. After cooking, the agaves are crushed using a tractor-pulled tahona. Post-distillation, the reposado is aged from 9-11 months in ex-bourbon barrels. Please note a packaging update in April 2018. (SRP $65)

Casamigos (loosely translated to "house of friends") is indeed the tequila brand created by George Clooney and Rande Gerber. The agaves are sourced from the Highlands of Jalisco and this reposado is aged for 7 months in reconditioned whiskey barrels and is bottled at 80 proof.

Inspired by the legend of Aztec fighters, Pasote Tequila Reposado is made by master distiller Felipe Camarena at El Pandillo Tequila Distillery in the Los Altos (Highlands) region of Jalisco. The brand is part of the 3 Badge Mixology portfolio headquartered in California. Traditionally made using 100% blue agave tequila, it is rested for six months in barrels previously used to age bourbon. It is bottled at 40% ABV.

Partida is known for having complete control over its production from field to bottle. The estate-grown agave used to make it is aged 7 - 10 years in a section near a dormant volcano in the Tequila Valley of Jalisco, Mexico. It's aged six months in ex-Jack Daniels barrels.

Gran Centenario is a brand that was founded by Lazaro Gallardo in the late 1800s. This reposado is made from 10-12 year old agave grown in Los Altos, Jalisco and aged 6 months in charred, new French Limousin oak barrels. Fun fact: the bottle depicts an angel who is thought to keep a watchful eye on the agave growing in the fields.

Based in the Tequila Valley of the eponymous town of Tequila in Jalisco, Fortaleza (known as Los Abuelos outside of the US) holds on to classic production methods dating back over a century. They hand-harvest their agave, roast them in brick ovens for 3 days which are then crushed by a tahona pulled by an electric tractor (which took the place of their mule after he died). Later the pulp is rinsed with local spring water and the mash is fermented for 3.5 days in a wooden fermentation vat. It is double distilled in classic alembic stills. This reposado is rested in American oak barrels for 7 months in used whiskey barrels.

1 2 3 or as it is meant to be pronounced “Uno, Dos, Tres” is a certified organic tequila brand. The agaves used were sourced from the Tequila Valley and the piñas were cooked for close to two days in stone ovens. The reposado, or “Dos” is aged in white oak for 6 months.

t1 is produced by Master Distiller Germán González, formerly of his family's Chinaco, of 100% Highlands blue agaves--especially mature in some cases. After slow autoclaving and double-distilling--and in the case of the reposado, spending six months in "very old" Scotch barrels, it is bottled in a distinctive, Aladdin-shaped bottle.

Bottled in a beautiful handmade and hand painted ceramic decanter. Inside is a distillate that is carefully aged for eight months in second-use oak barrels. It is then triple micro-filtrated to ensure the highest purity.