Turns Out, Your 100-Percent Agave Tequila Might Still Have Additives. But These Two Recent Bottles Don't

Some numbers just don’t add up. Like, when you’re counting the percentage of blue Weber agave in your favorite tequila.

If the liquid in question is explicitly labeled as “100-percent blue Weber agave” it might, in fact, merely be 99 percent that. The remainder could consist of any number of additives used to tweak the color, flavor or even mouthfeel of the end product. As long as it’s below the one-percent threshold—according to the laws governing the category—the distillery needn’t even disclose what those particular additives might be.

Thankfully, for fans of the pure, unadulterated stuff, the category’s top luxury producer is also among its fiercest advocates for additive-free transparency. I'm talking about Patrón. And specifically about El Alto and El Cielo, two recent releases from the brand that are able to deliver both a rounded sweetness and a supple mouthfeel without having to rely on anything other than actual 100-percent blue Weber agave.

“We recognized that there was a gap in the market for naturally sweet, elegantly packaged prestige tequilas,” says David Alan, director of trade education and mixology for Patrón. “In 2022 we entered the prestige category with El Alto, and just a year later, we released El Cielo, the world's first four-times distilled prestige silver tequila. Both of these launches really represent an exciting new chapter for us as a brand.”

Related: We Tasted Hundreds of Tequilas. These Are the Best for Sipping Neat

El Cielo boasts a menagerie of fruit flavors. In the nose it’s more tropical with pineapple playing a part. But in the palate it shifts towards strawberries and watermelon. Alan attributes this vibrancy to the unique distillation technique, which involves 500-liter copper pot stills far smaller than the 2,000 liter industry standard.

“It unlocked and opened up the natural sweetness and smoothness from the agave to deliver an incredibly sweet and light tequila,” Alan says.

The innovative technique does come with an up charge. El Cielo is now available across the U.S., selling for about $90 a bottle . That’s about three times the price of the standard Patrón Silver.

El Alto lifts things up into the triple-digit range. Although it's classified as a reposado, the eminently sippable 80-proof spirit includes a sizable portion of añejo, and even extra añejo, in its blend—liquids that spend multiple years maturing in oak.

There's a creamy sweetness to the end result. It tastes of vanilla, cinnamon, and toasted coconut on the tongue. Plenty of that is collected from the barrel, no doubt. But Alan points out that there’s a natural sweetness to the distillate owed to the extra mature agave used in its production, which grows in some of the highest parts of Jalisco, where iron-rich volcanic soil yields sweet and floral plantings.

Initially unveiled as a limited release, El Alto now enjoys national distribution. Its recognizable on shelves in its slender teal bottle and retails for $115 .

For anyone eager to explore an honest expression of well-matured agave, either of these releases are worth getting your hands on. And if you’re curious to know more about some of the unadvertised adulterants being used by other brands, there is a comprehensive list you can check out here . Its maintained by the Additive Free Alliance , a watchdog group that was formed in 2020 to help shed light on the practice—and to celebrate the labels that truly keep things 100. Despite significant industry blowback, it hopes to one day see more honesty in how top tequila makers add up those agave percentages.

In the meantime, here are four of the most usual additives that you might find lurking in your liquids, according to Alan:

• Jarabe: Jarabe is a sweetening syrup derived from a variety of sources including cane, corn syrup or Sucralose. “They are often used not just to add sweetness, but to enhance flavor profiles like vanilla,” says Alan.

• Caramel coloring: As you might have guessed, caramel color is used to modify color, particularly in barrel-aged or “gold” tequilas. But it can also be deployed as a way to enhance the actual flavors of those associated barrel notes.

• Oak extract : “Oak extract is used to add aromas and flavors associated with barrel aging,” says Alan. “And to increase the perception of the tequila’s age.”

• Glycerin: This is a sugar alcohol often found in soaps, and yet it’s “one of the more common additives used in tequila,” according to Alan. “To give a more well-rounded mouthfeel and impart ‘smoothness.’”

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