Milagro Tequila Guide: Silver, Reposado, Anejo and Prices

Milagro is the tequila that sits in the awkward middle of the shelf - more than Espolon, less than Casamigos, exactly the same price as Patron - and most people who pick it up are trying to work out what that middle buys them. The short answer is 100% blue Weber agave from Jalisco at a price where a lot of bottles are still cutting corners.

What Milagro is

Milagro is distilled in Jalisco from 100% blue Weber agave and owned by William Grant & Sons, the family firm behind Glenfiddich and Hendrick's. The name means miracle.

The thing to hold onto is the 100% agave part. Tequila comes in two legal grades: 100% agave, and mixto, which only has to be 51% agave with the rest made up from other sugars. Every bottle in the Milagro range is the first kind. That is the difference you taste the next morning, and it is why the step up from a bargain bottle is usually worth making.

All three expressions are bottled at 40%. If the blanco-reposado-anejo ladder is new to you, we explained the whole thing here - it is only about how long the tequila sat in oak.

Milagro Silver - $44.99

Milagro Silver is unaged, triple distilled, bottled clear straight off the still.

Cool agave, cucumber and citrus zest on the nose. The palate is peppery and green with a flash of tropical fruit behind it, and the finish is quick and clean with a faint mineral bite.

This is a margarita bottle. Triple distillation makes it cleaner and softer than most blancos, which means lime juice does not have to fight it, and it is cold-shot friendly in a way that rougher blancos are not. It is the one of the three you will get through fastest.

Milagro Reposado - $49.99

Milagro Reposado spends six months in American oak, which is enough to round the edges off without burying the agave.

Roasted agave, vanilla and toasted oak on the nose. Honey, cinnamon and a whisper of pepper on the palate, then a smooth finish with soft oak behind it.

If you only buy one Milagro, buy this one. Six months is the sweet spot where a tequila becomes sippable but is still recognisably tequila, and it is the bottle that works in both jobs - a Paloma on a Sunday, a Reposado Old Fashioned when the guests are gone. Grilled skirt steak, carne asada, a wedge of aged Manchego.

Milagro Anejo - $59.99

Milagro Anejo rests fourteen months and more in a mix of American and French oak, which is where the colour and most of the character come from.

Butterscotch, roasted agave and dried orange peel on the nose. Caramel, dark chocolate and cinnamon on the palate. A long warming finish with oak spice hanging on.

This is the tequila to hand a whiskey drinker who says they do not like tequila. Serve it in a snifter with a few drops of water and do not put it anywhere near a margarita. It will take on chocolate desserts and mole-braised meat without any trouble at all.

What the price actually buys

The $44.99 on Milagro Silver is the number worth sitting with, because our tequila shelf has bottles either side of it.

Lunazul Blanco is $30.99 and Espolon Blanco is $33.99. Both are 100% agave, both are good, and both are less money. If your blanco is going into a pitcher of margaritas for twelve people, buy one of those and do not feel bad about it.

Patron Silver is $44.99, to the cent the same as Milagro Silver. That is the fairest head to head on the shelf - two 100% agave blancos from Jalisco at the same money. Patron is the softer, rounder one; Milagro is the greener, peppier one. Neither is wrong.

Don Julio Blanco is $49.99 and Casamigos Blanco is $54.99. Ten dollars more than Milagro for the two most recognised names in the category. Whether that ten dollars is worth it depends entirely on whether anyone is reading the label.

At the aged end the gap widens in Milagro's favour. Milagro Anejo is $59.99 against Don Julio Anejo at $64.99 and Casamigos Anejo at $65.99. Five and six dollars cheaper than the famous bottles, in the part of the range where the oak is doing the most work.

Which one to buy

Margaritas and cold shots, buy the Silver. One bottle to cover everything, buy the Reposado. Sipping after dinner, buy the Anejo. If you want more of the shelf before you decide, we have written up Casamigos, Espolon and Lunazul the same way.

Call us at (347) 533-8586 if you want a second opinion. We ship anywhere in the country.