Quote:
Originally Posted by
mystillwater 
my only Tequila experince has been with Patron Silver. a friend from work always raved about it and one night on a business trip i bought a round of them and really liked it.
i'm very interested in trying some other brands. what's the next one i should try?
As I've said, El Tesoro and Casa Noble make consistently excellent tequilas. Also look into 1921, although admittedly I'm not crazy about their blanco.
If you want something a little more sweet than silver, look into El Tesoro Anniversario, Don Julio 1942, or perhaps Clase Azul (Repo) if you can get your hands on it. There are tons of other good brands out there - Chinaco makes a good tequila (although it has declined slightly of late) as does Siete Leguas, which consistently ranks among the best anejos (not extra-anejo) out there. You may also want to consider Fina Estampa if you can find it, as those range in the $20-30 range per bottle. Also, San Matias Orgullo is a terrific anejo.
You should check out online sources (Shoppers Vineyard in NJ and Hi Time Wine in CA, for example) to see what's on sale as often you can get a great deal on some bottles, even if you have to pay for shipping. I ended up with 6 bottles of Fina Estampa (2 of each blanco, repo, and anejo) for about $100 at one point from one source and a case of XQ Anejo for about $120 from a place in DC.