How to read a tequila label

A tequila label is part legal disclosure, part marketing. Learn to read the first part and you can mostly ignore the second.

1. "100% de agave" — or not. If a bottle just says Tequila, it's a mixto: as little as 51% agave sugars, and it may have been bottled outside Mexico. If it's 100% agave, the label will say so, prominently. This is the first thing to check.

2. The category. Blanco (or plata), joven, reposado, añejo, extra añejo. That tells you how long it spent in wood — see the types of tequila. Cristalino is a style, usually an añejo filtered clear.

3. The NOM. Usually small, on the back: NOM 1146, for example. It tells you which distillery actually made the tequila, whatever the brand name says. See what a NOM number is.

4. Alcohol content. Tequila must be 35–55% alcohol. Most bottles are 38–40%. Higher-proof bottlings (high proof, still strength) often show the distillery's character more clearly.

5. Production details — when they're there. Nothing obliges a producer to say how the tequila was made, so the ones who do usually want you to know: horno de mampostería (brick oven), tahona, fermentación natural, alambique de cobre (copper pot still), the agave's region or estate. A label that says nothing about production isn't proof of shortcuts — but a label that's all celebrity and no process is a hint.

What the label won't tell you: whether the tequila contains additives, or whether it was made with a diffuser. For those, you need independent sources.