Olmeca Altos Blanco (700 ml)

Olmeca Altos was created in 2009 by bartenders Dré Masso and Henry Besant working alongside master distiller Jesús Hernández — a deliberate brief to build a blanco that could perform in cocktails without losing agave identity, which drove the decision to retain tahona stone-crushing alongside roller mills, preserving more fibrous agave character in the must.

The blue Weber agave is sourced from the Los Altos (Highland) region around Arandas, Jalisco, at elevations above 2,000 metres. The red clay-rich highland soils and cooler nights slow agave maturation, concentrating natural sugars and producing piñas with a distinctly sweeter, more floral agave profile compared to lowland fruit.

After traditional brick-oven roasting of the piñas, fermentation uses open wooden vats with proprietary yeast, and the liquid is double-distilled in copper pot stills — a choice that retains more congeners and agave oils than column distillation. Bottled unaged as a blanco at 38% ABV, no oak contact occurs post-distillation.

The tahona element is the differentiator: few volume-tier blancos at this price point retain stone-crush in any part of production, giving Altos a textural weight and cooked-agave depth unusual for the category.

Drink now; blanco tequila does not benefit from cellaring.