Our take
Don Julio Blanco is the margarita bottle we reach for when we want the agave to sing without pushing too hard. Unaged, so the spirit is all the blue agave: citrus peel, cracked pepper, a little grassiness, a clean finish that doesn’t leave any sweetness behind.
100% blue agave, which matters: the cheap mixto tequilas you find at the bottom shelf are cut with cane spirit and give tequila its bad reputation. Don Julio Blanco is the baseline. If you can spend a bit more the Reposado adds oak; if you can spend a lot more the Añejo adds depth. But the Blanco is the bottle that earns its rent.
What to mix it with
Classic Margarita, Paloma, Tommy’s Margarita, Batanga, Oaxaca Old Fashioned. Straight over a single ice cube with a lime cheek.
Background
Don Julio González founded the distillery in 1942 in Atotonilco el Alto, Jalisco, pioneering the single-estate tequila idea when the category was all volume and mixto. Now owned by Diageo but still sourcing agave from the original highland estates.