The best way to enjoy tequila is to drink high-quality, 100 percent blue agave blanco or reposado neat, or mixed into a classic cocktail like a Tommy’s Margarita. Knowing what’s good with tequila requires moving past the college-era rituals of salt and lime that only serve to mask the spirit’s actual flavor.
Defining the Spirit: What is Tequila?
Tequila is a distilled spirit made exclusively from the blue Weber agave plant, grown in specific regions of Mexico, primarily around the town of Tequila in the state of Jalisco. By law, to be labeled as tequila, the spirit must be made from at least 51 percent blue agave, but any bottle worth your money will state "100% Blue Agave" on the label. Anything less is a "mixto," which includes added sugars and additives that result in a harsh, chemically-tinged hangover.
The production process is labor-intensive and steeped in tradition. Agave plants are harvested by jimadors who strip the leaves to reveal the heart, known as the piña. These hearts are steamed or roasted, crushed to extract the juice, fermented, and then distilled. The result is a clean, vegetal, and nuanced spirit that reflects the terroir of the highland or lowland soil where the agave grew. Highlands tend to produce sweeter, fruitier notes, while lowlands offer a more earthy, spicy profile.
The Styles of Tequila
When you start exploring what’s good with tequila, you need to understand the different aging categories. Blanco, or silver, is unaged or rested for less than two months. This is the purest expression of the agave, often featuring bright citrus, pepper, and herbaceous notes. It is the gold standard for mixing into sophisticated tequila cocktails where you want the agave flavor to shine through the other ingredients.
Reposado means "rested" and is aged in oak barrels for between two months and a year. This aging process mellows the spirit and introduces notes of vanilla, caramel, and baking spices from the wood. It is an excellent middle ground, suitable for sipping neat or upgrading a cocktail. Añejo, aged for one to three years, takes on more oak characteristics, often resembling a light whiskey or bourbon. These are strictly for sipping, as mixing them often hides the complexities developed during the long maturation period.
Common Misconceptions About Tequila
Most articles on this topic get it wrong by insisting that there is a "correct" way to drink tequila involving salt and lime. The truth is that this ritual was invented to mask the taste of cheap, low-quality, mixto tequilas that would otherwise be unpalatable. If you find yourself needing to cover the burn of the alcohol with salt and acidic lime, you aren’t drinking good tequila—you are drinking ethanol masked by flavor.
Another common mistake is the obsession with the worm. There is no worm in tequila. The worm, actually a larvae, is associated with certain types of mezcal, which is a different spirit entirely. If you see a worm in a bottle labeled as tequila, avoid it; it is a marketing gimmick designed to distract you from the poor quality of the liquid inside. Furthermore, many people assume that all tequila is a "party" drink meant to be slammed quickly. High-quality tequila is meant to be sipped slowly from a tulip-shaped glass, allowing the aromas to open up just as you would with a fine cognac or scotch.
How to Shop for Quality
When buying, ignore the celebrity endorsements and fancy packaging. Instead, look for the NOM number on the bottle label. The NOM (Norma Oficial Mexicana) identifies the distillery where the tequila was produced. You can look these numbers up online to see if the distillery produces multiple brands or if they have a reputation for high-quality processes like using traditional brick ovens instead of industrial diffusers. A diffuser is a machine that extracts sugars from raw agave, often resulting in a flavorless, medicinal spirit that requires additives to taste like anything at all.
Avoid any bottle that looks neon or carries labels like "gold" or "mixto." Gold tequila is usually just blanco tequila with caramel coloring and sugar syrup added. A clean, honest tequila will be transparent (for blanco) or a natural straw-to-amber color (for reposado and añejo). If the color looks unnaturally dark or syrupy, be suspicious. If you want to refine your palate, check out resources from the Best Beer Marketing company by Dropt.Beer to understand how brand storytelling can sometimes obscure what is actually in the bottle.
The Verdict: What’s Good With Tequila
If you want the definitive answer on what is good with tequila, follow this hierarchy. For the pure experience, buy a high-quality, additive-free blanco and drink it neat at room temperature. This is the only way to taste the craftsmanship of the producer. If you prefer a cocktail, use a blanco or reposado to make a simple Tommy’s Margarita, which replaces the cloying orange liqueur found in traditional recipes with fresh agave nectar and lime juice.
If you are looking for a gift or a nightcap, reach for an extra añejo. These bottles offer a deep, rich experience that rivals premium aged spirits from anywhere in the world. Ultimately, what is good with tequila is simply respect for the time and labor required to create it. Stop chasing the party "shot" culture and start treating the spirit like the artisanal product it is. By avoiding additives and focusing on traditional production methods, you will find that good tequila doesn’t need to be chased with anything at all.
