Don Ramón has not been made in one distillery. Two bottles of it sit on my shelf and they carry two different NOMs — 1417 on the Platinium, 1590 on the Reserva Reposado. Neither number matches what the reference sites had published for those bottles.
That looked at first like a database error. It is not. Don Ramón has been registered to five different distilleries, and every one of those numbers is real. Which means a brand-level NOM lookup for Don Ramón will give you an answer, and the answer will be wrong for most bottles on most shelves.
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Don Ramón at a glance
| Brand | Tequila Don Ramón |
|---|---|
| Region | Jalisco |
| NOMs on record | Five — 1629 current; 1420, 1590, 1417 and 1602 previously |
| On my shelf | 1417 (Platinium) and 1590 (Reserva Reposado), both read off the glass |
| Agave | 100% agave across the expressions recorded |
| Notable | The Platinium sits at 35% — the Mexican legal minimum |
The five numbers, and how each one is known
This is the whole point of the page, so the evidence column matters more than the list. A reading off a bottle and a database row are not the same kind of fact, and this page does not blend them:
| NOM | How it is known here | Strength of evidence |
|---|---|---|
| 1417 | Printed on my own Don Ramón Platinium | First-hand reading |
| 1590 | Printed on my own Reserva de Don Ramón Reposado | First-hand reading |
| 1629 | Listed as the brand’s current NOM by Agave Matchmaker | Database entry, not seen on a bottle here |
| 1420 | Listed by Agave Matchmaker as a previous NOM; also the number published for my Reserva | Database entry |
| 1602 | Listed by Agave Matchmaker as a previous NOM; also the number published for my Platinium | Database entry |
Read the last two rows again, because that is the resolution. When I first checked my bottles against the published sources, the sources said 1602 for the Platinium and 1420 for the Reserva. My labels said 1417 and 1590. It looked like two flat contradictions.
All four numbers are on the brand’s own record. The sources were not reporting the wrong distillery; they were reporting a different production run of the same expression. Two bottles bought at different times can legitimately carry different NOMs, and nothing on the front of either one warns you.
What this actually means when you buy a bottle
- The NOM belongs to the bottle, not the brand. For a brand that has moved five times, “who makes Don Ramón” has no single answer — only “who made this bottle.”
- A lookup is a snapshot. Any site that lists one NOM per brand is showing you whichever number it recorded last. That is not dishonest; it is a limitation of the format.
- Consistency across purchases is not guaranteed. If a bottle you liked came from one plant and the replacement came from another, the difference in the glass is not imagined and not a storage problem.
- The four digits on the back are the only field that settles it. Ten seconds with the actual bottle beats any database, including this one.
This is the same shape as two findings already on this site, both of which started as an apparent contradiction and ended as a real fact about the industry: NOM 1122 spans two distilleries in two different regions, so a region lookup is wrong for half its bottles; and NOM 1459’s published brand list is demonstrably incomplete, because two bottles on my shelf carry it and neither appears in the listings.
The Platinium and the 35% floor
My Don Ramón Platinium is bottled at 35% alcohol — the Mexican legal minimum for tequila. It is a metallic, heavy, unmistakably premium-looking bottle, and it contains less alcohol per measure than almost anything else on the shelf.
It is not alone. Four bottles here sit at that floor, and every one of them is a decanter, a painted ceramic or a metallic presentation bottle sold as premium, master premium or platinium. Meanwhile G4 108, in a plain bottle with a screw cap, is at 54%. The full range is here, and what the decanter is actually buying you is here.
Alcohol carries aroma. A tequila at the legal floor is a quieter spirit in the glass than the same liquid at 40%, whatever the bottle it arrives in. That is a statement about physics, not about this brand — and it is worth knowing before you pay decanter prices.
Where to buy: Don Ramón Añejo — Check price. Whichever expression you pick, turn the bottle over and read the NOM before you buy it, so you know which of the five you are getting.
What is not known here
Honest limits, stated rather than papered over:
- The distillery names behind 1417, 1590, 1602, 1420 and 1629 are not recorded on this site yet. The numbers are documented; the buildings are not, and no name will be asserted here until one can be sourced properly.
- The order of the five is not established. Agave Matchmaker lists 1629 as current and the other four as previous, without dating them.
- The ABV of my Reserva Reposado is read off a small front-label line and has not been re-checked, so it is not stated on this page. The same discipline applied to Don Julio.
The brand-level NOM history here follows Agave Matchmaker’s product records, which list the current and previous NOMs for the Silver and the Reposado identically. The two readings from my own bottles are independent of that source, and they corroborate two of its five numbers.
Don Ramón: common questions
Who makes Don Ramón tequila?
There is no single answer, which is the unusual thing about this brand. Don Ramón is on record at five different NOMs — 1629 currently, with 1420, 1590, 1417 and 1602 previously. The two bottles on my shelf carry 1417 and 1590. Check the four digits on the back of the bottle you are holding; that is the only reliable answer.
What NOM is Don Ramón?
It depends entirely on the bottle. My Platinium reads 1417 and my Reserva Reposado reads 1590. Published listings give 1602 and 1420 for those same expressions, and both of those numbers are also genuine Don Ramón NOMs — from different production runs.
Is Don Ramón 100% agave?
The expressions recorded here are 100% agave. That is printed on the label, so it is one of the few claims you can settle without leaving the shop. Where to look on the label.
Why is Don Ramón Platinium only 35% alcohol?
35% is the Mexican legal minimum for tequila, and a bottle sold in Mexico may be filled at that strength. The US legal minimum is 40%, so a US-market bottling of the same expression will read higher. It is a market and bottling decision, not an aging one — aging never changes alcohol content.
Did Don Ramón change distilleries?
Yes, repeatedly, and it is not unusual. Brands that do not own a plant contract their production out, and that contract can move. What makes Don Ramón a useful example is that two of its moves are documented on bottles I can hold, rather than inferred from a register.
Related
- The full NOM directory — every distillery recorded so far
- What does NOM mean on tequila? — the four digits explained
- How to read a tequila label — where the NOM sits on the bottle
- NOM 1122 — one number, two distilleries, two regions
- NOM 1459 — the contract bottler whose brand listings are incomplete
- Tequila proof and alcohol content — the 35% to 55% range
- Collector’s edition tequila — what the decanter is really buying you