New Bottle Highlight Series: G4 Clasico Reposado

The G4 Clasico Blanco and Reposado are limited special releases from master distiller Felipe Camarena and his distillery, El Pandillo (NOM 1579) in Jesús María in the Jalisco Highlands (Los Altos). There are 2,016 cases (6 bottles per case for a total of 12,096 bottles) of each expression released to the market.

The Clasico Reposado uses Highlands Blue Weber agave which is cooked in stone/brick ovens (hornos), has its aguamiel extracted using El Pandillo’s special “Felipestein” roller mill designed by the master distiller himself, fermented in open-air stainless steel tanks, 2x-distilled in copper pot stills, and brought to bottling proof of 80 (40% ABV) using a 50/50 mix of natural spring water from the distillery and rainwater (filtered).

It is in the barrel aging where the Clasico Reposado really stands out – It is aged for 3 months in single-use/first-fill American White Oak ex-bourbon barrels and in single-use/first-fill ex-sherry casks – the two reposados are then blended together 50/50. The specifics of which bourbon brand and which type of sherry are not specified though G4 has often used very used George Dickel Tennessee Whisky barrels and this year started using newer Jack Daniel’s barrels. Camarena says that the Clasico Reposado is “the best reposado [El Pandillo has] ever made,” which is quite the statement.

The lote (lot/batch) is LG0001RCE and it was bottled on 23 May 2025.

Below are some very preliminary tasting notes using one of my Denver & Liely Mezcal glasses:

A darker gold, the G4 Clasico Reposado is significantly darker in color than the regular G4 reposado, which is also a blend. The aroma and flavor profiles include dried fruits (red berries), caramel/butterscotch, vanilla, earthy cooked agave, baking spices (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg), herbal/grassy notes, oak/barrel notes, roasted nuts, dried orange and lemon peel, black pepper, anise, butter, and minerality. The tequila has medium-long viscosity in the glass leaving tears and pearls and a medium creamy/oily mouthfeel with a finish of around seven seconds.

The Clasico Reposado is definitely worth a pickup at around its MSRP of around $80, which is around $25-30 above the usual price in my market for the regular G4 reposado. The Clasico Blanco’s MSRP is $70, which is around $30 above the price of the regular G4 blanco in my market. A lot of retailers, though, are heavily inflating the prices of both releases, banking on people’s FOMO to control them – don’t succumb and don’t reward predatory retailers who do this.