Tequila

Additive free, and why it is the spec worth knowing

Mexican regulation permits four additives in tequila at up to one percent by volume, and at that level they do not have to appear on the label. One percent sounds like nothing. It is enough to change a spirit completely, because the additives are chosen precisely for how much they alter perception per drop.

A bottle can therefore be one hundred percent agave and still be sweetened, coloured, thickened and oaked. Those two claims are not in conflict, which is the part most people find surprising.

The four additives, and what each one hides

Sugar-based syrup adds sweetness and body. It makes a thin or harsh spirit taste rounder, and it is why some tequilas taste like candy rather than cooked plant.

Glycerin adds weight and a slick texture on the tongue. It mimics the mouthfeel of a spirit that has had longer in the still or the barrel.

Oak extract adds the vanilla and caramel notes of barrel ageing without the barrel or the time. A reposado can taste like an añejo this way.

Caramel colouring makes a young tequila look aged. Colour sets expectation before the first sip, and a pale añejo sells worse than a dark one regardless of what is inside.

Each one substitutes for something that is otherwise expensive: better agave, slower cooking, real barrel time. That is the economic reason they exist.

How to tell

The label will not tell you, so three things have to do the work.

The producer's own position. Distilleries that work without additives generally say so plainly and consistently, because it is the thing their customers buy them for.

Taste. Additive free tequila tastes of cooked agave: vegetal, mineral, sometimes olive or black pepper, with sweetness that arrives as roasted plant rather than sugar. Once you have had both side by side the difference stops being subtle.

Independent verification. Several community-run databases test and publish results by brand and expression. They are the closest thing to a neutral check that exists, and they are more current than any printed list.

NOM numbers

Every bottle of tequila carries a four-digit NOM identifying the distillery that made it. It is the single most informative thing on the label, because it tells you who actually produced the liquid regardless of the brand on the front.

Several brands often share one NOM. If you find a tequila you love, the NOM is how you find its siblings, and it is also how you discover that two bottles at very different prices came off the same still.

Tahona, roller mill, diffuser

How the cooked agave gets crushed changes the result more than most people expect.

A tahona is a stone wheel, traditionally volcanic, turned over the agave. It is slow, it leaves fibre in the juice, and it tends to produce a rounder, earthier spirit.

A roller mill is the industry standard: faster, more efficient, cleaner extraction, and a brighter result.

A diffuser sprays the agave with water and often acid to strip sugars, sometimes before cooking rather than after. It is the most efficient method by a wide margin and the most criticised, because it extracts sugar rather than flavour. Diffuser tequila is why some large brands taste similar to each other and faintly of nothing.

Single barrel and single estate

A single barrel tequila is one barrel bottled on its own, the same idea as a single barrel bourbon. Single estate means the agave came from one field rather than being bought on the open market, which matters because agave takes six to eight years to mature and where it grew shows up in the glass.

Mezcal

Mezcal can be made from dozens of agave varieties rather than blue weber alone, and it is usually cooked in an earthen pit, which is where the smoke comes from. It is not tequila with smoke added. It is a different drink with a wider range, and it lives on its own page.