The Truth Behind Tequila Ocho’s Terroir

It had been a while since I’d last sat down with Jesse Estes, but within minutes of his talk at The Barking Dog in Copenhagen, the years fell away. I first met Jesse in 2012, around the same time I met his father, Tomas Estes, a man who introduced countless people to agave spirits with a priest-like devotion. That night, though, it was Jesse on the pulpit—leading a packed room through twelve distinct blanco vintages of Tequila Ocho, each one from a different field, each one humming with its own character.

Tequila With Nothing to Hide: What Ocho Stands For

For those new to Tequila Ocho, a bit of context. Founded by Tomas Estes and legendary distiller Carlos Camarena, Ocho set out to challenge what tequila could be. Their radical idea? That tequila, like wine, could express terroir. Each batch is made from blue agave harvested from a single field in the Highlands of Jalisco. While some fields have been revisited in later years, each vintage reflects a unique harvest from that specific place and moment in time. The result is a living archive of time and place: the soil, the sun, the slope, even the weather that year. Ocho is about transparency, flavour, and respect for the agave. No additives, no shortcuts, no chasing consistency—just truth in spirit.

Tasting Terroir: A Twelve-Bottle Revelation

The tasting at The Barking Dog was billed as the most ambitious Ocho lineup ever poured in Denmark: twelve unique blancos spanning ten years of harvests. Jesse walked us through highlights like La Magueyera (2014), Los Patos (2016), and Las Aguilas (2017). Some were long gone from shelves. Others, like the 2024 Tierras Negras, were brand new. The sequence wasn’t just a trip through vintages; it was a revelation. Tasting them side by side exposed just how much the land shapes the liquid. A peppery snap here, a lactic softness there, a wash of tropical fruit or minerality. Terroir in tequila isn’t a theory—it’s a sensory fact.

A Love Letter to Agave and the People Who Make It

As Jesse spoke about his father and Ocho’s mission—to create the most agave-forward tequila possible—I was transported. I remembered our early experiments with Shaken, the cocktail-at-home startup we built, the nights at El Nivel (the Estes´ bar in London), and the dreamers who made it all happen. People like Massi, whose gift for hospitality made every pour feel personal. The “Tequila Wager” video I made with Jesse’s in 2015 (still online, if you dare) captured that same spirit: a lighthearted dare with a serious message underneath—tequila deserves your respect.

Ocho and the Art of Honest Tequila

He remains one of the most genuine voices in the industry. That night at The Barking Dog, he was all heart and humour, shifting from tasting notes to field maps to impromptu mezcal tangents. He reminded us that Ocho doesn’t filter out its soul. It’s oily, expressive, sometimes eccentric—like the best people I know. It reflects the agave, but also the people who grow it, ferment it, distill it, and care enough to bottle it honestly.

Some bottles glowed in the glass: 2016’s Potrero Grande had surprising elegance; 2018’s El Bajío came off creamy and bright, a contrast to the peppered rawness of the 2015 Loma Alta. The differences weren’t subtle. They were visceral. Proof that when you let a plant speak for itself, and you listen, it can tell you exactly where it came from.

Distilled Sunshine

Ocho has changed over the years. New bottles. QR codes. A wider reach. But its soul hasn’t shifted. Jesse closed the night by describing tequila as “distilled sunshine”—a line his father once used. It hit me then how much sunlight is in the bottle, yes, but also in the room. In the stories, the friends, the memories. In the way tequila, when it’s made like this, doesn’t just lift your spirits—it brings them back.

Watch the original 2015 Tequila Wager here

Photos by Andrea Sohlström.