Category - Spirits
Tequila Companies Won't Make High-Aged Spirits. The Reason Might Surprise You
Whiskey fans are regularly treated to outlandishly old releases from their favorite distilleries. Scotch single malts aged 60, 70, and even 80 years command tens of thousands of dollars, while bourbons nearing 30 years fetch high resale values on the secondary market.
However, you’ll likely never see such high age statements on a bottle of tequila. The oldest tequila you’ll ever drink probably won’t even spend 25 years in oak, let alone a half-century. Here’s why.
Tequila Ages Differently Than Whiskey
Bourbon and tequila aren't exactly comparable, largely due to the “angel’s share,” which is the portion of liquid lost to evaporation during the aging process.
Scientists working for Kentucky’s distilleries generally agree that a typical bourbon barrel loses about six percent of its volume to evaporation each year. In Scotland, where the climate is cooler, aging occurs more slowly. By contrast, Jalisco, Mexico, has a significantly warmer climate, which accelerates the process.
“Something aged for one year in Mexico can be the equivalent of several years in Scotland,” says Patrón master distiller David Rodriguez.
Several master tequila distillers estimate an average evaporation loss of around 10 percent per year. At Patrón, the number is even higher—one percent per month—essentially double the loss seen in Kentucky.
“It might seem like a large sacrifice over time,” Rodriguez says. “But it’s the way we get the right flavors from the barrels, so the spirited tax is worth the cost.”
G. Clay Whittaker
The Upper Limits of Tequila Aging
The Kentucky bourbon industry has a consensus about the upper limits of aging whiskey. If a barrel loses six percent of its liquid annually, it would theoretically dry up in 16 years. That’s why whiskeys much older than that are rare.
Applying similar math to tequila suggests an upper limit of around eight to 10 years, which aligns with the oldest bottles currently available.
Herradura’s longest-aged expression, Anniversario, spends over eight years in barrels. Patrón’s oldest product to date is its Extra Añejo 10 Años, aged for a decade in “a blend of used American oak and hybrid American and French Limousin barrels,” according to global brand ambassador William Brooks.
Related: 11 Best Añejo Tequilas for Sipping and Mixing
The numbers can go higher, of course. While the average barrel may run pretty low by the 10-year mark, some barrels exceed expectations, which is why whiskeys like Pappy Van Winkle 23-Year exist.
In the tequila world, independent bottlers often profit from these small volumes. They seek a few dozen barrels that defied the odds and buy them wholesale.
Niche brands like Fuenteseca have released tequilas aged as long as 21 years, but with limited production runs and irregular availability, these remain anomalies rather than industry standards.
How Aging Affects Tequila Flavor
Even when age statements don’t make it onto bottles, older tequila is sometimes used for blending—similar to how Scotch and bourbon distillers incorporate aged whiskey to refine a product’s overall profile. Rodriguez has sampled much older tequilas than he would ever consider selling.
“The oldest sample of tequila I’ve tasted was a 15-year-old tequila,” he says.
However, older isn’t always better. That 15-year-old sample proved it to Rodriguez: “Due to the extensive aging, it had lost a lot of its tequila character. The aging had introduced a lot of wood flavor and astringency, making it hard to drink.”
Aging is unpredictable, with factors like evaporation varying from distillery to distillery. For instance, El Tesoro ages its whiskey in a cellar that loses less liquid to evaporation compared to others, allowing it to stretch aging limits.
Gil Hernandez
“Thanks to the [natural] temperature and the humidity in our cellar, we have about a 3.5 percent evaporation per year, which is relatively nothing," says Jenny Camarena, third-generation tequila maker and head of operations at La Alteña Distillery.
Beyond evaporation, interaction with wood plays a crucial role. Too much oak can overwhelm the tequila’s natural character, making it undrinkable.
There are a number of ways that distillers can remedy that, though. One of the simplest strategies is to use well-made, thoroughly depleted barrels. Patrón acknowledges the ability to age tequila in used barrels—most come from whiskey makers—plays a big role allowing more time for flavor development.
“To produce bourbon, by regulation, it must be aged in new barrels,” Rodriguez says. “In the case of Scotch whisky and tequila, it can be aged in both used and new barrels. However, aging that same tequila in new oak barrels could lead to astringency and an excessive amount of tannins imparted by the wood.”
Related: We Tasted Hundreds of Tequilas. These Are the Best for Sipping Neat
Techniques to Slow the Aging Process
Whiskey distilleries use a number of tricks and techniques to slow down barrel aging. Some Scotch distilleries combine barrel lots into new barrels. When you take ten old barrels and combine them to fill one new barrel, you can typically see a drop off in evaporation.
Some bourbon and Scotch makers move select barrels from higher warehouse positions—where temperatures are warmer—to lower floors, where conditions are cooler, slowing the aging process.
To create its 18-Year tequila, Fuenteseca employed nearly every technique available—re-barreling, using new oak, adjusting elevation, and lowering storage temperatures—to extend the aging process as much as possible.
Meanwhile, companies like Sazerac have built refrigerated, humidity-controlled warehouses to age rare casks with minimal evaporation and wood interaction. Though Sazerac didn't comment on whether any of its tequilas had aged in one of these mega-chill chests, such experiments hint at what might be possible in the future.
Finding Tequila's Perfect Age
For now, such experiments remain a low priority, as tequila fans tend to prefer younger expressions or tequilas without age statements. And as for the people who make it, most of them prefer less aging than you’d expect.
“Most opinions suggest that between one and 1.5 years in barrel could be the lower limit of the optimal point, achieving an ideal balance between agave notes and wood influence,” says Rocio Rodriguez Torres, master distiller of Casa San Matias Distillery in Corazón. “However, the flavor profile can vary widely based on market preferences and the producer's style.”
At El Tesoro, Camarena is focused on finding balance rather than pushing age limits. She calls seven-year-old añejos “bourbon tequilas,” as raw wood can lead to harsh, tannic flavors. For her aged series, she aimed for a mellower wood influence that complements the tequila’s natural personality.
Courtesy Patrón
Rodriguez says Patrón has never aged a tequila until it completely evaporated, but he estimates that it would likely take around 12 years, though he wouldn't age tequila past 10.
“Some people love the rich, woody flavors that come with extended aging, while others prefer a lighter touch that lets the agave shine through,” he says.
El Tesoro’s Camarena shares a similar philosophy regarding extra añejo tequila: “An ideal extra añejo, in my personal opinion, I’d go with four years tops. For me, longer than that is too much oak.”
She once sampled a decade-old tequila and found it lacked a certain character from its younger days: “I really missed that first agave note on the nose.”
The Market’s Preference for Younger Tequilas
U.S. consumers don’t seem particularly interested in ultra-aged tequila anyway. Earlier this year, Herradura announced that for the first time since its founding in the 1870s, the unaged Herradura Blanco would be available in the United States.
“We are seeing a wonderful desire for raw agave flavors and higher-proof tequila, making our unaged tequila a great introduction to the U.S. market,” Brooks says.
It’s hard to imagine a bourbon brand making a similar move in 2025—not even Pappy.
Related: How to Drink Tequila: Experts Share Their Best Tips
