This tequila brand made me smile before I even popped the top on the bottle. That’s because Espólon tequila bottles don’t try to justify a high price with hand-blown glass or fancy caps. Instead they wrap the bottles in fantastic illustrations from the famous Mexican artist/printmaker José Guadalupe Posada.

He’s the artist who is most associated with the Day of the Dead figurines and illustrations. (See some of Espolon’s Day of the Dead cocktail recipes here.) Posada was also illustrating events during the Mexican Revolution 100 years ago as well, so it was an opportune time for the tequila company to launch this new packaging with appropriate prints.

What’s inside the bottles may immediately conjure up images of cantinas and brawls as well. This is a robust and hearty tequila, a far cry from the smooth—some would say wimpy—taste of Gran Centenario, Patron, or Siembra Azul. This tequila is from Los Altos too though—the highlands—which does give it a more floral and sweet nose than brands made at lower elevations. There’s a lot of intensity and complexity in the mix though once it hits your tongue.

For my tastes, it’s a bit too much when drinking it neat, especially at the 40% alcohol level that’s standard in the U.S. It works better in cocktails, which is where most tequila ends up outside Mexico anyway. I liked Espolón’s blanco version especially when put into a paloma or margarita. That took a bit of the edge off and let the varied flavors shine through.

Espolón’s blanco and reposado versions are both a screaming bargain, generally retailing for $18-$25. It’s almost impossible to find 100% agave tequila in the U.S. at that price point, so even if this were just barely above the likes of Jose Cuervo Gold it would be a deal. Fortunately it’s a big step above that rot-gut stuff.  If you’re having a party where you’ll need multiple bottles or you’re going to mix cocktails instead of sipping neat, but this brand in bulk before word gets out and they start raising the price!

Related Luxury Latin America feature: Tequila in Jalisco

I’m currently in central Mexico, where the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebrations are in full swing. Here the dead get remembered in strange and wonderful ways. Visiting the graves. Building alters in the home that are full of symbolism—and the favorite food and drinks of the deceased. Making special rolls and candy skulls. And women getting dressed up like walking skeletons, complete with fancy hats and dresses.

Meanwhile though, this is a time of festive celebration. So how about some cocktails? These come from the people at Espolón Tequila. Their reposado is made from 100% pure Blue Agave from the Los Altos region and is aged six months in American Oak barrels. This is a brand whose label is about as true to Mexico as you can get, with imagery related to Day of the Dead and the Mexican revolution. (At a retail price of $25, it’s also a great value.)

I’ve only tried the first cocktail below—I was missing too many ingredients for the others—but they all look like a fitting way to toast the dead.

Marigold Ofrenda

Created by Christopher Bostick
The Varnish Bar, Los Angeles

2 oz. Espolón Tequila Reposado
1 oz. Fresh Lime Juice
.75 oz. Orange Curaçao or Triple Sec
.5 oz. Light Agave Nectar
.5 cup peeled and chopped cantaloupe
1/8 tsp. Chile de Arbol powder
1 small edible marigold for garnish

Directions:
Muddle cantaloupe, Agave Nectar, and Orange Curaçao in the bottom of a mixing glass. Add remaining ingredients, excluding garnish. Add ice and shake very well for at least 10 seconds. Double strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with edible marigold.

Ashes to Ashes

Created by H. Joseph Ehrmann
Elixir, San Francisco

1.5 oz. Espolón Tequila Reposado
.5 oz. Pedro Ximenez Sherry
1 oz. Lemon Juice
1 tsp. Sweetened Cocoa Mix
.25 oz. Agave Nectar
1 pinch Ground Cinnamon

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a mixing glass, fill with ice, cover and shake well for 10 seconds. Strain up into a cocktail glass. Garnish with cinnamon dust.

Fresa Katrina

Created by Thomas Waugh
Death & Company, New York

2 oz. Espolón Tequila Blanco
.5 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice
.75 oz. Simple Syrup
1 small strawberry
10 whole black peppercorns
Splash of Absinthe

Directions:
Muddle strawberry with black peppercorns. Rinse a cocktail glass with absinthe. Shake all ingredients with ice in a shaker and fine strain into the rinsed cocktail glass.

After two weekends of somebody going “I can’t believe we drank that whole bottle in one night,” it’s a sign that I need to do a write-up on Gran Centenario Tequila.

I’m living in Mexico right now and there’s a whole different pantheon of respected tequila brands than what you find in the U.S. First of all, most people with money and taste tend to have some favorite artisanal tequila they like that nobody else has heard of, from some obscure distillery that makes small batches. Once you start talking about brands you can find anywhere though, Don Julio is at the top, Jimador is the reliable mass-market brand you get for $10, and Gran Centenario is somewhere in the middle. You can’t go wrong bringing Centenario to a party or presenting it to someone as a gift. Everyone who likes tequila seems happy to see this one getting poured.

This is a very smooth tequila, easy to drink straight, which explains those two bottles that quickly got emptied by a few chatting friends. Like much of the tequila from the highlands, it has a lighter, more flowery nose and taste. It’s aged in new oak barrels, but the timing seems to be just right: the agave sweetness still comes through easily, but without the rough edges of your usual white tequila.

This is also a brand with heritage, not something cooked up by committee to meet a certain demographic target. It’s been around since the late 1800s, in roughly the same type of bottle, with roughly the same label.

I’d link to their website, but it doesn’t seem to work anymore. I can just hear the family owners as they taste a new batch straight from the barrels in their hacienda headquarters. “We don’t need no stinkin’ website!”

They’re probably right. Just taste this and share it with a friend or three. A 750ml bottle will cost you anywhere between $38 and $60 in the U.S. depending on where you get it, but is often $25 or so at an airport duty free shop. Better yet, buy it from a liquor store in Mexico, where you will likely pay somewhere around $15 to $18—a screaming bargain if there ever was one.

If you’ve ever spent much time browsing the tequila shelves in Mexico, you’ve no doubt run across the striking slender bottles of Tequila Corralejo. I say “ever” because this was probably the first tequila brand to really differentiate itself with unusual packaging, long before the premium tequila boom hit the U.S. and companies started putting $30 tequila in showy bottles so they could charge $200 instead.

Corralejo hasn’t gone that route though. In fact if you’re buying a bottle while on vacation in Mexico or from the duty-free shop, this brand is often the best value on the shelf. In this photo here that I shot in Playa del Carmen, a bottle of Corralejo is only 50 cents more than crappy Jose Cuervo Gold. The former is 100% agave, the latter is part agave, part whatever kind of sugar could be bought on the cheap. (The other great bargain in that photo is Milagro, which I’ve reviewed on here before.) Unfortunately, you’ll pay three times that amount pictured if you buy it in the U.S., but that’s on par with its peers.

This is a fairly complex reposada tequila, especially considering the price, with a mixture of citrus flavors, pepper, oak, and honey. It gets four months in three kinds of oak barrels—enough to smooth things out and add balance, but not as front-and-center as with añejo versions. In some shops you’ll also find a blanco and añejo in bottles with different colors, but those are less popular.

Besides the distinctive bottle, this tequila has another attribute setting it apart: it’s not made in Jalisco. That’s a rarity since nearly all the quality tequila comes from that one state. Instead this is made in the state of Guanajuato, in the town of Pénjamo. It comes with a heavy dose of history: this tequila was is distilled in a hacienda that was the birthplace of of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla—the priest who sparked the Mexican fight for independence. You can’t get more authentically Mexican than that. Fire up the mariachi band and pour some tequila!