National Tequila Day: 5 brands you must try

National Tequila Day is Friday, July 24. Celebrate it out in town or enjoy a nice sampling with friends at home. There's a number of tequila brands created in Mexico and headquartered in Arizona. Check some of these out and toast to National Tequila Day.

Cruz Tequila

Arizona State University graduates and brothers Saulo and Joseph Katcher, and friend Todd Nelson, launched Scottsdale-based Cruz Tequila in 2005. It's now a fixture in Valley bars, standing out on shelves with its signature pyramid-shaped bottle with a big silver cross on the front. Tequila lovers can find Cruz nationwide in silver, reposado and añejo.

Details: cruztequila.com.

Dirty Tequila

For years George Duerr mixed up drinks at his Cave Creek restaurant, particularly a tequila concoction that customers loved. In 2012, he teamed up with friend Corbin Jones and created Dirty Tequila, inspired by Duerr’s popular cocktail, which is infused with pineapple, cinnamon and other flavors. Dirty Tequila can be found throughout Arizona, California, Colorado and Oklahoma.

Details: dirtytequila.com.

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Señor Rio

Jonathan Mach and Debbie Medina founded Jalisco International Imports out of Queen Creek, serving as business partners and friends. During a trip to Mexico to see Medina’s father, the pair enjoyed small batch tequila and fell in love with not only the spirit, but also each other. They created Señor Rio in 2009 and they sell blanco, reposado and añejo varieties in Arizona, California, Oregon and Tennessee.

Details: senorrio.com.

Luna Malvada

Andy Rose and Michael Cardenas have been working on this Scottsdale-based brand for about 12 years and finally launched it in 2011. The agave is grown in the tropical dry forest of Jalisco, Mexico, unique to other tequila companies, and the company harvests only on a full moon. The bottles are skinny and black and feature moonlike stoppers. The brand has plata (silver), reposado and añejo tequilas, and is available throughout Arizona and California.

Details: lunamalvada.com.

3 Amigos

The company, based in El Mirage and run by Santiago Gonzalez and his family, launched in 2007. The Gonzalez family owns a farm in Jalisco, Mexico, that has been growing blue agave for more than 40 years. Gonzalez and his brothers decided to create and bottle their own affordable, 100 percent blue agave tequila, and it's available in a number of states. The brand features a blanco, an organic blanco, reposado and añejo.

Details: 3amigostequila.com.