Every Type of Tequila Explained | Blanco, Reposado, Añejo, and More

Tequila is sold in five legal classes, blanco, joven, reposado, añejo and extra añejo, defined by time in oak under Mexico’s tequila standard, NOM-006-SCFI-2012, plus cristalino, which is a filtration treatment and not a class. Separately, every bottle belongs to one of two categories, “Tequila 100% de agave” or plain “Tequila,” which is about what was fermented, not how long it aged. Here is what each class legally requires in the standard’s own words, what the two categories mean, what can be added and how much, how to read the label, the numbers on the industry, the dates behind the rules, and how strong a pour is.

Last verified September 14, 2026. Class and category definitions are quoted from the Consejo Regulador del Tequila’s English translation of NOM-006-SCFI-2012; the US rule is 27 CFR 5.148; production and export figures are the CRT’s, as published by the CRT and by El Informador citing it; standard drinks from NIAAA; calories from USDA FoodData Central. Full list at the end.

Tequila types at a glance

All classes must be bottled between 35 and 55 percent alcohol by volume under the NOM (Table 1), and at 40 percent or more to be sold in the US (27 CFR 5.148). Mellowing additives are capped at 1 percent of the tequila’s weight before bottling (§6.1.1.1). The word “mixto” does not appear in the standard; the category it describes is simply “Tequila.”

Two categories first: 100% de agave, or Tequila

Before the class comes the category, and it is the more important word on the label. NOM-006 §4.36 defines tequila as the spirit distilled from “the hearts of tequilana weber blue variety Agave,” made “in the manufacturing facilities of an Authorized Producer” inside the protected territory, “wherein said musts may be enhanced and blended together before fermentation with other sugars up to a proportion no greater than 49% of total reducing sugars.” Section 5.1 then splits the product in two:

So a bottle that says only “Tequila” may be up to 49 percent non-agave sugar by origin and may have been bottled outside Mexico; a bottle that says “100% de agave” (or “100% agave,” “100% puro de agave”) is all blue Weber agave and was bottled at the distillery’s own plant in the territory. In 2025, 100 percent agave accounted for 278.6 million of the 407.8 million liters exported, about 68 percent, per the CRT. Either category can be any of the five classes below.

Blanco (Silver, Plata)

NOM-006 §4.36.1: “Transparent product not necessary colorless, without additives, obtained through distillation, whose commercial alcohol content must be adjusted by dilution with water… possibly having an aging process of less than two months in oak or Encino oak containers.” Two things in that sentence matter. Blanco is the one class defined “without additives,” so the mellowing agents allowed elsewhere (below) are not allowed here. And it may sit in oak for up to two months, so “unaged” is not quite the rule; “under two months” is. It is the base of the Margarita, the Paloma and most other tequila cocktails.

Joven (Gold, Oro)

§4.36.2: “Product resulting of the mix between white Tequila with aged, extra-aged or ultra-aged Tequilas. Also called Tequila joven or gold is the product that results from blending silver Tequila with any of the ingredients listed in section 4.1 in what is known as mellowing.” Joven is therefore made one of two ways: blanco blended with an aged class, or blanco with the permitted additives, and the label does not have to say which. “Gold” is a class, not an age grade, and a gold tequila has not necessarily spent any time in a barrel. This is the class historically used for the Tequila Sunrise.

Reposado (Aged)

§4.36.3: “A product which may be enhanced by mellowing, subject to an aging process of at least two months in direct contact with the wood of oak or Encino oak (holm or holm oak) containers… The result of blending aged Tequila with extra-aged Tequila is considered aged Tequila.” The standard sets a minimum (two months) and no maximum, and no container size. A reposado can be two months in a 200 L ex-bourbon barrel or most of a year in a vat holding tens of thousands of liters; both are legally reposado, and the label will not tell you which unless the producer chooses to. A reposado blended with añejo is still reposado.

Añejo (Extra-aged)

§4.36.4: “A product that may be enhanced by mellowing, subject to an aging process of at least one year in direct contact with the wood of oak (holm or holm oak) or Encino oak containers with a maximum capacity of 600 liters… The result of blending extra-aged Tequila with ultra-aged Tequila is considered extra-aged Tequila.” The 600 L cap first appears here: a barrel that size or smaller fixes a minimum ratio of wood to liquid, and reposado has no such floor. Aging must be done by the authorized producer inside the territory (§6.4).

Extra Añejo (Ultra-aged)

§4.36.5: “A product that may be enhanced by mellowing, subject to an aging process of at least three years, in direct contact with the wood of the oak or Encino oak containers, whose maximum capacity is 600 liters.” The class was added with NOM-006-SCFI-2005, which took effect in 2006; before that, everything over a year was añejo. Three years is the floor and there is no ceiling. Don Julio 1942 is the most widely stocked example; how that bottle came about is here.

Cristalino

The word does not appear in NOM-006. A cristalino is an aged tequila, usually añejo, that has been filtered (typically through activated charcoal) or redistilled to remove the color the barrel gave it; Difford’s Guide’s definition is “aged tequilas that have been charcoal filtered or redistilled to remove the amber hue imparted by oak during maturation.” The bottle must still carry its legal class, so Don Julio 70, the first one, is labeled “Añejo Cristalino” and described by its producer as “aged… for 18 months in American white oak barrels, then carefully charcoal filtered.” Diageo announced it on September 13, 2011 as “el primer Añejo Claro del mundo,” for the seventieth anniversary of Don Julio González’s start in 1942. What the filtration removes beyond color is not defined anywhere, and the label cannot tell you.

What can be added: mellowing and the 1 percent rule

NOM-006 §4.1 defines mellowing (abocado) as a “procedure to soften the flavor of the Tequila, through the addition of one or more of the following ingredients: Caramel coloring; Natural oak or Encino oak extract (holm or holm oak extract); Glycerin; Sugar-based syrup.” Section 6.1.1.1 caps them: “The use of any of the mellowing additives to which section 4.1 of this NOM refers must not be more than 1% in relation to the total Tequila weight before it is bottled.” Joven, reposado, añejo and extra añejo may all be mellowed; blanco may not. Because caramel coloring is on the list, color alone does not prove time in wood. Tequilas with other permitted flavorings or sweeteners are a separate labeled product with their own caps (75 g/L reducing sugars, 85 g/L dry extract) and must declare the flavor on the label.

How to read the label

Section 11.1 of the standard requires every container to carry: the word “Tequila”; the category and class; net content; alcohol content as “% Alc. Vol.”; the name of the Authorized Producer; “HECHO EN MÉXICO” or an equivalent; and the official countersign with the producer’s registration number, the “NOM” number (§10.4). That NOM number identifies the distillery that made it, whatever brand is on the front, so it is the one line on a label that tells you where the liquid came from. Lot code and health warnings are also required.