Add to Bar Cart: Cazcanes Tequila Makes Tradition-rooted Spirits Every Agave Lover Will Appreciate

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It wasn’t all that long ago that picking a tequila to keep on your home bar was an easy task. Today, there are many things to consider: ownership, the use of additives or not being 100% agave, adherence to tradition—the list goes on. It can all be a lot to wade through when you’re simply looking for something good to sip or mix into a cocktail. Thankfully, the tequila brands doing it right are increasingly putting transparency at the forefront.

Cazcanes Tequila is one of those brands. The name comes from the Cazcanes Indigenous people who lived in and around what is now the state of Jalisco, where tequila is made. The Cazcanes resisted Spanish conquistadors who moved north in 1530 after toppling the Aztec empire in 1521. As Spaniards attempted to build Guadalajara, the Cazcanes refused to participate and fought back over the ensuing decades. Disease and conflict eventually led to the decline of the Cazcanes, and the language and culture was largely lost.

Cazcanes the tequila pays homage to this history in more than just name. According to the brand, the recipes is based on a 300-year-old Indigenous recipe found in a moonshine jungle still.

Additives common to modern tequila—glycerin for sweetness, caramel for color, oak extract—weren’t around back then to be included in any distillate recipe of course. And Cazcanes stays true in that way as well, using solely agave and natural spring water. History is about as clear as a river after a rainstorm when it comes to anything alcohol related. Still, brand story aside, Cazcanes follows admirable production techniques and has a dedication to letting the agave speak for itself. Turns out, skipping the modern short cuts makes for some of the best tasting tequila I’ve had in years of tasting agave spirits as well as reviewing, writing about, and visiting production sites.

Cazcanes uses blue Weber agave from the Lowlands. The Tequila Valley is known for agaves that turn into tequila with earthy, herbal, and peppery notes. Fields of agaves grow at 4,000 to 6,000 feet elevation in tufa volcanic soil (which comes from when lava cools and fragments to create soft and porous rock).

Every spirit is only partly the result of distillation. In the United States, 40% spirits are the standard, meaning 60% of what’s in the bottle is water (when there aren’t additives, of course). Cazcanes takes the water just as seriously as it does the agave. Natural water from rain and snowmelt on the peaks of the San Pedro de los Landeros mountains flows through natural mines in the mountains down into the Navichi springs—the same land the Cazcanes people relied on. The water from the jungle springs is then trucked to the distillery to be used for the tequila.

Finally, there’s the yeast. There are many high-quality tequila brands that use added commercial yeast or a proprietary yeast strain. Doing so ensures a consistent fermentation time and batches that end up at close to the same alcohol level before reaching distillation. Yet just like natural wine has carved out a niche partly through yeast, Cazcanes relies solely on natural, wild yeast before distillation in alembic stills.

This dedication to a more natural way of production helped the brand earn additive-free verification from Tequila Matchmaker. (The program has had some controversy around it this year as the Mexican government’s tequila regulatory agency pushed back, but Tequila Matchmaker’s program is still the most reliable additive-free verification.)

Over the past couple of months, I’ve gone through a handful of Cazcanes bottles with friends and family. Those who prefer to sip their tequila have similarly found a new favorite. Those who pretty much only drink tequila in cocktails are pleasantly surprised by neat pours and love the resulting cocktails. Tequila shooters are going to shoot, but I have seen the Cazcanes Reposado make one shots-only tequila drinker slow down and appreciate the flavor profile.