The types of tequila

Tequila is classified by how long it spends in wood. The categories are official and apply to every bottle sold as tequila.

• Blanco (also plata or silver). Unaged, or rested for less than two months. The purest expression of the agave and the distiller's hand — there's no barrel to hide behind, which makes it the best test of a distillery.

• Joven (young, sometimes oro or gold). A blend of blanco with aged tequila — or, in cheaper mixtos, blanco with caramel coloring. Rarely the interesting choice.

• Reposado (rested). Two to twelve months in oak. Gentle vanilla, caramel and wood on top of cooked agave. The most popular category in Mexico.

• Añejo (aged). One to three years in oak barrels of no more than 600 liters. Richer and more oak-forward, with caramel and dried fruit. Usually sipped neat.

• Extra añejo (extra aged). More than three years. Deep amber and often mistaken for whiskey or rum in a blind tasting.

• Cristalino. Aged tequila — usually añejo — charcoal-filtered to remove the color. It's not a separate legal age category; it's a style. The pitch is aged smoothness with blanco clarity. In practice filtering strips out much of the barrel's character, and many cristalinos rely on additives for their smoothness, so it's the category additive-free drinkers are most skeptical of.

More aging isn't better. A great blanco from a serious producer beats a mediocre añejo every time. The category tells you which shelf to look on; the producer tells you what's in the bottle.