The Top Community Rated Agave Spirits From Last Week

Avión Tequila revamped its packaging in mid-2018 to reflect the single origin for its agave. All agaves used in the production of the tequila is sourced from the town of Jesus Maria, located at 7,000 ft. above sea level in the Los Altos region of Jalisco, Mexico. The tequila is distilled in small batches and finished with a "proprietary" ultra-slow filtration. Each bottle is hand-filled and labeled with batch number, a bottle code, and for its aged products, the number of months the tequila is aged. For the reposado, that is 6 months in used American oak bourbon barrels.

Fortaleza Añejo Tequila is made from 100% blue weber agave grown in the Tequila Valley of Jalisco. The piñas or hearts of the agave plants are roasted in a traditional stone oven before being stone crushed. The juice called "mosto" is fermented for 3.5 days in open air wood tanks using natural yeast present in the air and plants to ferment the mosto. The fermented product is double distilled in copper pot stills before the spirit is aged for 18 months in used whiskey American oak barrels.

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.

Produced at the Productos Finos de Agave (NOM 1416), this tequila is produced from agaves from the Highlands of Jalisco. This añejo tequila has been aged for 14 months in reconditioned whiskey barrels. And yes, this is George Clooney's tequila.

This 100% tobalá agave mezcal produced in the state of Oaxaca. The tobalá maguey is found growing wild in the highest altitude canyons in the rocky soil beneath oak trees. It is smaller and broader leafed than the other agave used for mezcal and takes about eight tobalá piñas (agave hearts) to equal one piña from the more commonly propagated and cultivated magueys. Produced in the traditional manner by open-vat fermentation, adding the fibers along with the fermented juice (agaumiel) to the copper pot-still. This mezcal is unaged and bottled at 94 proof.

Don Julio 70 is an añejo tequila that is filtered to remove the color imparted in the aging process. It is aged for 18 months in used American white oak barrels. 70 does not refer to the proof (which is 80 proof), but to the 70th anniversary of the distillery Don Julio started in 1942. This bottling was released in 2012 to commemorate that occasion.

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.

Named for Don Felipe Camarena, the man who established La Alteña Distillery in 1937 and where El Tesoro is distilled today. The agaves used in its production are 100% estate-grown agaves from Los Altos (aka Highlands) of Jalisco. After the agaves cook for three days in a horno (oven), they are then crushed by a two-ton tahona stone. Fermentation and distillation includes not only the aguamiel (cooked agave juice), but the fibers and pulp. It is distilled to proof meaning no water is added. It is bottled without aging at 80 proof. Note: Packaging and name update from Platinum to Blanco Tequila in April 2018. (SRP $50)

Avión Tequila revamped its packaging in mid-2018 to reflect the single origin for its agave. All agaves used in the production of the tequila is sourced from the town of Jesus Maria, located at 7,000 ft. above sea level in the Los Altos region of Jalisco, Mexico. The tequila is distilled in small batches and finished with a "proprietary" ultra-slow filtration. Each bottle is hand-filled and labeled with batch number and a bottle code.

Introduced in 1989 along with their Añejo release is the now iconic Patrón Silver Tequila. Co-founded by John Paul DeJoria (of John Paul Mitchell hair products), Patrón first introduced the world to "ultra-premium" tequila. The brand's standard line is produced by using half tahona-crushed agave and half modern roller-mill crushed agave. The agaves are sourced from Los Altos, Jalisco and are slow-roasted in an oven before fermentation in wooden vats. The late Francisco Alcaraz was their original Master Distiller & Blender who created the recipe for the brand. It was initially produced at the Siete Leguas distillery until Patrón built their own in 2002.