Cristalino Tequila

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Cristalino tequila is aged tequila that's been charcoal-filtered to remove color, leaving a clear spirit that carries the vanilla, oak, and agave notes of the underlying añejo, extra añejo, or reposado. The bottle looks like a blanco. The flavor profile is closer to a well-aged sipping tequila. Browse our full cristalino tequila collection above, filterable by brand, age class, and price. What Is Cristalino Tequila? Cristalino tequila is a category built on a single process: take an aged tequila, run it through activated carbon filtration, and strip out the color compounds the barrel imparted. What's left is a spirit that pours completely clear but still carries most of what made the aged version interesting. The underlying base is typically añejo, meaning it's spent at least a year in oak barrels per regulations set by the Tequila Regulatory Council (CRT). Some brands use extra añejo, which pushes the aging further. The filtration removes color and some of the heavier tannins, but the vanilla, caramel, and cooked agave notes that develop during barrel aging largely remain. This is the basic trade-off with every cristalino: clarity for some tannin character. How much is lost depends on how aggressively the brand filters, which varies. How Cristalino Tequila Is Made The process starts the same as any aged tequila: 100% blue agave is harvested, cooked, fermented, distilled, and rested in oak barrels. A reposado cristalino sits in barrel for two to twelve months. An añejo cristalino ages at least one year. An extra añejo cristalino holds for three or more years. After aging, the tequila passes through activated carbon, a filtration medium that binds to the color pigments and some of the heavier oak-derived compounds. The result is a liquid that reads visually like a blanco but is chemically different from one. It hasn't been redistilled. The aging is real. The color is simply removed. Some producers do additional filtration passes for a more polished finish. Others kee