15 Best Cheap Tequilas to Enjoy on a Budget
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Tequila has exploded in popularity over the past few years, with sales starting to outpace American whiskey. After George Clooney sold his tequila brand, Casamigos, for a big payday in 2017, many celebrities and businesspeople followed his example, starting their own celebrity liquor brands or jumping onto existing ones, hoping to land their own billion-dollar windfall. As a result, there are so many brands to choose from, ranging from cheap, low-quality tequilas to ultra-premium bottles that cost thousands of dollars.
It's not all bad news, though. There's a whole lot of great tequila to drink at affordable price points, and such brands don't sacrifice quality to keep costs down. In other words: You don’t have to empty your bank account to get the best tequila.
Our pick for the overall best cheap tequila is Espolon Tequila Blanco. We picked Espolon for a few key reasons: You can find a bottle for less than $30 in most markets around the U.S., it’s versatile enough to use in a margarita or sip on its own, and provides the best flavor and quality for its price point.
How We Define Cheap Tequila
In this roundup of cheap tequila, we aren’t talking about handles of the toxic stuff or mixto tequilas like Jose Cuervo that blend agave and other sugars. We're talking about true 100-percent agave tequila—and it typically costs no more than $30 a bottle.
Some brands make cheap tequila using modern methods like diffusers to keep costs down, while many other companies use additives to enhance the color and flavor (it's worth noting that even expensive tequila brands use those methods). But the best cheap tequila is made using the traditional method: cooking and crushing agave to extract its juices. For this list, we compiled the best cheap tequila that's both affordable and delicious, focusing on brands that use traditional production methods and avoid additives.
Why You Should Trust Me
I've written about spirits for numerous publications for nearly a decade. Throughout that time, I've sampled thousands of bottles in every category of spirits, visited distilleries across the world to see how the juice is made, and honed my palate and nose. I also judge two spirits competitions, John Barleycorn Awards and the New York World Wine & Spirits Competition, for which I blind taste hundreds of spirits to determine what stands out based on flavor, mouthfeel, color, and aroma.
To make this list of the best cheap tequila, I sampled many products and talked to industry experts, who have long track records in the drinks industry and unique interests and experiences with tequila.
Related: The Best Sipping Tequilas of 2023
Best Overall Cheap Tequila
The best overall cheap tequila is affordable, versatile, and—most importantly—delicious. The great thing about this spirits category is you can find a brand that checks all the boxes and can be used to mix up a fantastic cocktail or sip on its own.
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Owned by Campari, the drinks company behind well-known brands like Wild Turkey and the eponymous Italian red bitters, Espolon Tequila Blanco is excellent, versatile, and widely available. The tequila has a nice agave-forward palate and is much more affordable than other brands owned by large companies. As we noted, you can usually find the brand's blanco for under $30, but the aged expressions are fantastic and won’t break your budget either. Use any of the brand's offerings in a margarita or paloma, or enjoy neat or with some ice.
Best Cheap Tequila
These tequila brands are a great value, with low prices but high quality. The best cheap tequila doesn’t sacrifice earthy agave flavor just because the bottle doesn’t cost a lot. On the contrary, these brands hold their own against tequilas double the cost.
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Manufactured by Buffalo Trace, Corazón is known for its high-end tequilas, which are aged in barrels that once held whiskey like George T. Stagg Bourbon or Sazerac Rye. Those pricey collectible bottles are superb, but the affordable core expressions are worth checking out as well. Corazón Blanco is a single-estate expression, meaning the agave is grown on one estate and harvested when it’s between seven and 10 years old. This is a bright, grassy, citrusy tequila that can be enjoyed in many different ways.
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Arette is not as well known as some of the other brands on this list, but those in the know recognize the tequila as a dependable and affordable option. "Arette Blanco is one of my go-tos when looking for something funkier,” says Cristhian Rodriguez, beverage director for bar and restaurant elNico in New York City. “It's mildly smoky, with some cool Parmesan cheese undertones, and carries a bit of extra heat. It represents five generations of growth, culture, and family traditions; hard not to support or keep more than a few bottles at hand.”
Best Cheap Blanco
Blanco is arguably tequila's purest expression. It’s unaged, so it best represents what the distillate actually tastes like, and typically presents cooked agave, grass, earth, citrus, vanilla, and spice notes. You can use blanco to mix classic cocktails, but a truly good blanco tastes great when sipped on its own.
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According to the brand, Cimarron Blanco is made from highland agave and distilled to have a dryer flavor profile, making it a great choice in cocktails with sweeter ingredients. “This is a great mixing tequila, and has a very good reputation in the craft cocktail and tequila world,” says Sean Zawadzki, director of national beverage operations on behalf of Punch Bowl Social’s The Agave Room in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. “Produced at the very well-respected Tequileña Distillery (NOM 1146), it’s almost impossible to find better quality at this price," Zawadzki adds. "Very straightforward black pepper and agave flavor profile.”
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Suerto Blanco is a great sipping tequila for the price. "It's well-built, made with very traditional methods, including tahona extraction, open fermentation, and a pot still,” says Zawadzki. It also happens to be the only tequila produced at Tequilero Simbolo (NOM 1530), in the highlands of Jalisco. "It's agave forward with a vegetal and citrus undertone.”
Best Cheap Reposado
Reposado tequila is aged between two months and a year in barrels, giving it subtle but notable vanilla, oak, and caramel flavors from the wood. The best reposado is great in cocktails, as it usually has a nice balance between pure agave notes and the complexity that comes with a short amount of time resting in casks.
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Mi Campo Reposado double-distilled tequila is made at the same distillery as the higher-end Casa Noble, but in this case, cheaper doesn’t mean lower quality. The reposado is aged in French oak red wine barrels for three months, giving it a light copper color and notes of fresh berries, vanilla, cinnamon, espresso, and a bit of oak on the palate. There are several other wine barrel-aged tequilas out there, but very few at this low price point.
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El Tequileño Reposado is beloved for its purity, a solid expression that hits all the right notes from herbal to spicy to sweet. “This is a great aged tequila at this price, distilled at Jorge Salles (NOM 1108) in copper pot stills, and aged for three months in American oak barrels,” says Zawadzki. “The aging process adds good notes of vanilla and oak to an agave-forward tequila." Zawadzki touts its versatility as well, saying its good enough to sip on its own but also adds some nice complexity in a mixed drink.
Best Cheap Añejo
Tequila in this category spends one to three years in barrels, where it picks up a lot of flavor the longer it interacts with wood. Therefore, añejo tequila a great choice for swapping out in any whiskey cocktail or sipping on its own. This category tends to be more expensive, but luckily there are a few affordable selections among the best añejo.
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Lunazul Añejo is an incredible bargain for an añejo. Aged in bourbon barrels for 12 to 18 months, whiskey lovers will enjoy the oaky, vanilla-heavy palate with notes of spice and agave.
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There are bottles out there that are aged for just as long as Tres Agaves Añejo but priced twice as high—so you might as well try this one instead. It spends a full 18 months in two types of barrels—bourbon and Tennessee whiskey. That experience gives it rich notes of caramel and molasses, allowing this añejo to punch well above its price point flavor-wise.
Best Cheap Sipping Tequila
Some people still don’t consider tequila to be a sipping spirit, which is a real shame. A high-quality 100 percent agave tequila is as sippable as any fine whiskey or cognac, whether you’re talking about a blanco or an aged expression.
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Sip any of the expressions from Pueblo Viejo neat and you’re in for an agave-forward experience. From the vegetal Pueblo Viejo Blanco to the vanilla and oak-forward palates of its aged expressions, these tequilas stand up on their own, neat and unadulterated.
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Zarpado is a relatively new brand that offers a lot of bang for your buck. Both Zarpado Blanco and Zarpado Reposado, the latter of which is aged in bourbon barrels for three to four months, taste great in a tumbler with a large ice cube. Both represent just how sippable good tequila can be.
Best Cheap Tequila for Margaritas
While any bottle can be used, there are a few things to consider when choosing the best for margaritas. Generally speaking, however, a blanco is the best choice. It’s clear, won’t affect the drink's color, and offers the brightest, most agave-forward flavor.
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There are so many celebrity tequila brands to choose from, but The Rock’s Teremana is one of the best and most affordable. The blanco is crisp and flavorful, providing a good counterbalance to lime and orange liqueur components. The brand is so popular, it cracked 1 million cases in sales.
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Herradura Silver is barrel-aged for 45 days—just short of the amount of time that would bring it into the reposado category. But that brief interaction with wood gives this tequila a unique complexity, adding a new range of flavor to your margarita.
Best Cheap Tequila for an Old Fashioned
If blanco is your choice for a margarita, then aged tequila works best as a whiskey substitute for an old fashioned. We're talking the original cocktail, just three ingredients: whiskey (or in this case, tequila), bitters, and sugar.
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Olmeco Altos Añejo tequila is matured in ex-bourbon barrels for at least a year, giving it a warm amber color and notes of vanilla and spice. "Olmeca Altos is a tequila created the right way and able to cut through complex cocktails,” says Rodriguez. “Not only is it a bartender favorite, but also a great collaboration example between professional bartenders and producers.” The agave character is still present, making this a good choice to mix up an old fashioned.
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If you’re looking for a cheap organic tequila, Dulce Vida is worth checking out. The reposado spends less than a year in whiskey barrels, giving it a honey-like color and a healthy dose of oak and vanilla to complement the agave’s earthiness.
Related: 26 Best Tequila Brands of 2023, Tested and Reviewed
