Mike Barad

El Tequileño was founded in 1959 by Don Jorge Salles Cuervo and named after the town of Tequila, in which it remains a mainstay. Don Jorge distilled for Jose Cuervo before forming his own brand. El Tequileño continues to be produced by the family, now under master distiller Jorge Antonio “Tony” Salles, following Paradise Spirits’ acquisition of the brand in 2017. El Tequileño is one of the few brands to operate out of its own dedicated distillery (NOM 1108).

Cazadores traces its roots to a Bañuelos family recipe from 1922 and launched commercially in 1973. It was later sold to Bacardi in 2002. While the current quality can be debated, what cannot be is the strong retail success the brand continues to find. I see this brand everywhere. Cazadores is one of the biggest names in tequila, generating tens of millions of dollars in sales this summer while posting weekly sales growth of 20.8%.

We've published more than 300 tequila reviews since our debut in January. Through October 18, 124 of those bottles scored 90 points or higher. That's up from 87 in our July edition. The 37 bottles added since then are marked (new). Note: Scroll down, below the list, for more about how our scoring system works. More than half are blancos. There are 31 reposados, 12 añejos and 12 extra añejos. Some of these leading bottles come from legendary distilleries.