So, you’re at a dinner party or maybe just browsing bottles online. You see one that costs more than most and has that dramatic indulgent shape. The label’s minimalist but clearly trying to say “exclusive.” You start to wonder… am I paying for what’s inside, or for everything wrapped around it?
And that’s a fair question. Because with tequila, the price doesn’t always reflect the process. Some bottles are expensive because they took longer to make, used better agave, or aged in rare barrels. And some are expensive because they factor in the humongous cost of marketing to make you merely believe the story.
High quality tequila doesn’t have to be the most expensive bottle in the room. So how do you know what to choose? Simple, read ahead.
Start With How It Smells
Before the taste, before the burn or the finish, there’s the aroma. It’s the first real introduction. If you want to know what you’re drinking, start there.
Bring the glass to your nose and pause for a second. Breathe in gently. What do you get?
Real Agave Has a Fresh, Almost Green Note (Not Vanilla Perfume)
If it’s made well, you’ll catch something that feels grounded. There’s a fresh, slightly grassy scent, like agave cut at peak maturity. Some describe it as earthy. Others pick up notes of citrus, aloe vera, and even stone.
But the heart of it is this clean, vegetal clarity. It smells like something that grew. Something alive, and that can only happen when high quality tequila is given the time it deserves.
This kind of aroma comes from time. From fully mature blue Weber agave that’s been roasted, fermented, and distilled without shortcuts.
Curious about the process? Click here for a deeper read.
If It Smells Like Cake or Cotton Candy, Walk Away
If, instead, you’re hit with the scent of vanilla frosting, caramel syrup, or something sweet that feels like it belongs in a candy shop or an icecream shop, that’s a sign. It usually means that the tequila relies heavily on flavorings (commonly known as additives) that come from a bottle on a shelf, not pure agave.
These sweet aromas can make a tequila seem smoother or more “approachable” at first. But they’re doing too much. They flatten the experience instead of deepening it. And they’re often hiding the fact that the agave wasn’t ripe enough, or the process was rushed.
There’s a reason real tequila drinkers walk away when it smells like dessert. They know what it means.
Look at the Finish
The finish is what stays with you after the sip is gone.
Tequilas that are made quickly, or with additives, tend to finish loud. You’ll taste sugar, maybe artificial oak, maybe something that feels a little too polished. It lingers in the wrong way.
With high quality tequila, the finish is controlled. It stays long enough to say something, then steps back.
Celosa Leaves Your Palate Clean
Ever took a shot of tequila and felt a sickly sweet residue on your tongue? Yeah, that’s not high quality tequila.
Real high end tequila (like Celosa) doesn’t coat your mouth. There’s no residue, no sticky sweetness. Just a clear tapering-off that gives you space to notice what came before.
What stays behind is light and clean: a trace of heat, maybe a dry mineral note or soft pepper. It feels deliberate, not engineered. That kind of finish comes from using mature agave and distilling it carefully, without rushing or blending in flavors that don’t belong.
A Proper Finish Shouldn’t Hang On Like Sugar
A finish that tastes sweet long after the sip is over usually means something was added late in the process. Caramel, oak extract, glycerin: these are used to mimic aging or smooth out flaws, but they leave a sticky, artificial trace.
You shouldn’t feel like you’ve had a dessert. You should feel like you’ve had a spirit made from a plant that took seven years to mature. A proper finish respects that, and leaves you with a clear unclogged pa
Ingredients Are Everything
You can’t make high quality tequila from mediocre agave. You can’t rush the raw material or hide behind flavoring. If the base isn’t solid, everything else is just noise.
100% Mature Blue Weber Agave (Always)
If it doesn’t say 100% blue Weber agave on the label, you’re not drinking real tequila.
You’re drinking something that’s been diluted with sugar or other neutral spirits. That’s legal, but it isn’t the kind of tequila worth sipping.
Even within that standard, there’s a range. Mature agave means the plant has grown for at least six to eight years. Anything harvested earlier won’t have the complexity or sugar content needed to create depth. It might still ferment, but the flavor will be thin. Unfinished.
High end tequila starts here: with fully mature agave, harvested at the right moment, handled by people who know what they’re doing.
If Your Tequila Has Additives, It’s Not Tequila
This part gets glossed over too often. Additives (like glycerin, caramel coloring, oak extract, or synthetic flavorings) are allowed in small amounts without being listed on the label. They’re used to create the illusion of smoothness or age.
But they are shortcuts.
And they come at a cost.
They flatten the natural flavor of the agave, cover flaws, and make everything taste the same. You end up with something sweet and one-dimensional.
On the other hand, real tequila doesn’t need help. High quality tequila gets its body, its warmth, and its finish from the plant and the process. If it’s been flavored or softened with additives, it might still be expensive… but it’s no longer honest.
The Production Tells You What the Label Won’t
Tequila labels could list the right words (100% agave, Jalisco, blanco, reposado) and still leave out details that actually shape what’s in the glass.
If you want to know whether you’re drinking high quality tequila, look past the marketing.
Ask how it was made. The answers are usually simple, and they matter more than anything printed in gold foil.
For example, here’s exactly what goes into making Celosa tequila.
Celosa Is Slow-Cooked, Slow-Fermented, and Twice Distilled for Clarity
At Celosa, we cook our agave in traditional brick ovens. Slowly, over days. It’s not the fastest method, but it draws out the most depth:
Roasting like that caramelizes the sugars naturally, without burning off the green, fresh character of the plant.
Fermentation happens in open-air wooden tanks. Again, slower than it could be… but so much better. It gives wild yeast time to interact, adding nuance you can actually taste. A slight earthiness. A little grip.
And then we distill twice. Just enough to clean the spirit while keeping the character intact. You should still taste where it came from.
We Don’t Blend Batches. We Craft Them One at a Time
With Celosa, you will never get conveyor belt style tequila. Each batch is made separately, you won’t find any mixing or standardizing here.
We treat each bottle like it’s the only one we’re making.
That might sound a tad too romantic, but it is practical.
Agave isn’t uniform. Weather, soil, and harvest timing all affect how it ferments and distills. Treating every batch individually means we can respect those differences instead of smoothing them out.
The result is a high end tequila that speaks clearly without needing to be loud.
Ready to experience it yourself? Discover Celosa online or find a distributor near you, it’s time to bring exceptional tequila to your table.
