Tequila Ocho was co-founded by 3rd generation tequila master distiller & 5th generation agave rancher Carlos Camarena (a horticulturalist by education) & restaurant/bar owner Tomas Estes in 2008. Camarena’s family started out as agave farmers in the Highlands (Los Altos) region of Jalisco, one of tequila’s official Denomination of Origin (D.O.) regions at a time when disease had decimated Blue Weber agave crops in the Tequila Valley of Jalisco.
Valley tequila producers initially encouraged & bought agaves from Los Altos during this time so they could continue to produce tequila but later, after the Valley agave crops recovered, stopped buying Altos agaves, leaving many ranchers suddenly in the lurch after they had rescued the Valley tequila producers. In response, Camarena’s family and other Altos agave farmers became tequila producers.
Tequila Ocho is built around the idea that terroir matters for Blue Weber agaves with different soils & growing environments impacting the nature (aromas & flavors) of specific harvested agaves, in part because the thinner soil in Los Altos leads to agave plants producing higher sugar (brix) levels. Pollinators, chiefly bats & moths, also distribute different pollens to different sets of agaves, adding in additional characteristics.
Every year Tequila Ocho features a handful of expressions of tequila (blanco/plata & reposado; less often añejo & extra añejo) using agaves solely from a few specific fields/farms, each with its own unique growing environment. This creates tequilas with aromas & flavors that are each unique.
The latest fields featured by Tequila Ocho in 2024 were the El Zapotito (agaves w/average high sugar content of 31% brix), Mirandillas (31% brix), & Tierras Negras (32% brix+) farms/fields. Tequila Ocho is produced by distillery Los Alambiques in Arandas, Jalisco.
Tequila Ocho uses solely fully mature agaves (7-10 years old) with maximum brix levels. The plants are harvested & then cooked for 48 hours in brick ovens called “hornos” before being cooled & then crushed for their aguamiel (sugars/”honey water”) using a roller mill. The aguamiel is then fermented for 100 hours using natural local airborne yeast. The fermented aguamiel (the “mosto”) is then 2x-distilled in copper pot stills designed just like those used by Camarena’s grandfather, Don Felipe Camarena. The plata (“silver”)/blanco is unaged & unrested in wood & is bottled at 80% using mineral-rich deep well water, except for limited distiller’s proof/high proof platas, the “Puntas” releases, the latest of which was released in 2024 using agaves harvested from the Mirandillas field/farm & bottled at 108 proof.
Tequila Ocho reposados are aged for 8 weeks & 8 days in ex-bourbon American White Oak barrels (reposados can be aged for between 2 to just under 12 months). New añejos & extra añejos are not released every year because of the time needed to age them, 1 year in ex-bourbon barrels for the añejo & 3 years in the same type of barrels for the extra añejo. A new extra añejo , the first since 2022, was released last year that entered its aging barrels in 2021 from the La Ladera field/farm. Only 720 cases of it were released in the U.S.
Camarena owns 50% of the brand & Heaven Hill purchased the other 50% from the family of Tomas Estes after he died in 2021.
Tequila Ocho is one of the best-made, highest quality tequila brands & is always reliable whether you are a neat sipper or a tequila cocktail lover. Note, though, that each agave farm will have somewhat different aroma & flavor profiles
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