El Mexicano: A Tequila Legacy Three Generations in the Making
September 12, 2025 –––––– Sponsored Content
“Tequila is more than a beverage for us,” explains Willy Bañuelos, one of the third-generation Bañuelos to craft tequila from the heart of Mexico’s Jalisco region. “It’s a legacy and a lifetime of absorbing the knowledge and passion of our elders.”
His sentiments echo throughout the distillery at Hacienda El Mexicano (NOM 1588), where evidence of his father’s and grandfather’s Tequila heritage seems to permeate from the walls. Don Félix Bañuelos, the grandfather of Willy and his brother León, was one of the original partners in Tequila Cazadores®, and the artisanal ethos of that global benchmark is inherent in Tequila El Mexicano. Today, El Mexicano is handcrafted by the current generation of Bañuelos brothers—Léon Jr. and Willy—in collaboration with their father Léon Sr.
A tribute to traditional production, Tequila El Mexicano is made exclusively from Blue Weber agave, water, and yeast—eschewing additives that compromise both tequila quality and the naturally powerful flavors of highlands agave. Grown at high elevations, these agave naturally contain more sugars than their lowland counterparts, resulting in agave-forward tequilas with incredible purity.
Once harvested, The Bañuelos family gently cook the agave in a two-step process: Using autoclaves that allow for adjustments based on humidity, each agave cooks low and slow to gently release a maximum of flavor and aromatic compounds followed by a traditional milling process. Next, the agave undergoes a slow fermentation lasting a full week or more—one of the longest in the industry—in open-air tanks. Classical music plays throughout the fermentation room, harmonizing to fully activate the yeast and secure its partnership with the agave. Then, the agave undergoes a double distillation in custom-made stainless steel pot stills. Each meticulous step heightens the fruity, herbal, agave-forward notes that define El Mexicano, a tequila renowned for its powerful agave flavors.
El Mexicano offers two unaged expressions: Blanco 80 Proof and Blanco 90 Proof. The family selected Blanco 90 Proof as the ideal tequila for cocktails, as it preserves the rich, cooked agave flavors even when mixed into classic recipes.
“My father chose stainless steel over traditional copper to ensure the agave shines through, free from any added flavors or aromas that copper can impart,” adds Willy, noting the flavor profile of Tequila El Mexicano stems from the slow, time-honored process used by the family—a signature that’s impossible to replicate with accelerated techniques.
Even El Mexicano’s molded glass bottles are redolent of the family’s storied history in Jalisco: Three concentric arches fused in the glass pay homage to the generations of Bañuelos behind the brand while simultaneously depicting Hacienda El Mexicano’s famed archways. An agave piña and setting sun lie within the arches, a visual representation of Jalisco’s distinctive highlands region.
Rooted in tradition and crafted with uncompromising techniques, El Mexicano bottles a steadfast devotion to quality with nothing added. In El Mexicano Blanco, Blanco 90 and Reposado—which is aged for 90 days in a mix of American and French oak—the essence of highlands terrior comes through in vibrant agave flavors. Ideal served neat or in cocktails, El Mexicano offers the richness of unaltered, authentic tequila in every glass.
