Tequila, the first distilled drink in North America and the first commercially-made alcohol, has a deep and lengthy history. It traces back to ancient times when native people fermented sap from maguey plants into a beverage known as pulque.
Tequila’s journey from a traditional drink to the modern spirit mirrors Mexico’s tumultuous growth, which can be quite puzzling to outsiders.
Mezcal wine, which is like tequila’s grandparent, came about a few decades after the Spanish arrived in the New World in 1521. Initially, it had different names like mezcal brandy, agave wine, mezcal tequila, and eventually just tequila – appropriately named after Tequila, a small town in a valley in Jalisco state, Mexico.
The word tequila is quite mysterious. It’s believed to originate from the ancient Nahuatl language, spoken by the original people of the area. Depending on the source, it can mean various things like “the place of harvesting plants,” “the place of wild herbs,” “place where they cut,” “the place of work,” or even “the place of tricks.” Jose Maria Muria, a Mexican historian, suggests it comes from the Nahuatl words tequitl (work, duty, job, or task) and tlan (place). The tequila makers from renowned “Tequila Cascahuín” suggest it’s a twist on ‘tetilla’ because the nearby volcano looks like a small breast. Some sources even propose it’s a variation of the name of the native people, Ticuilas or Tiquilos. All of them are suitable. It is the name of the spirit, the name of the town, and the name of the valley.
The agave plant, the key ingredient in tequila and mezcal production, has its own intriguing history.
While “maguey” is another name for it, it originally came from the Antilles. The Nahuatl people called it metl or mexcametl, and that’s where we get the word mezcal. They saw it as a special plant, even worshipping it as the goddess Mayaheul’s earthly form, with 400 breasts to feed her 400 children, known as the Centzon Tōtōchtin. Curiously, it is true that some agaves have four hundred nipple-like “teats” – the jutting protrusions on undulating leaf edges. Different indigenous groups had their names for it, like carnaba or tocamba for the Purepecha and guada for the Otomi. This plant was more than just a source of alcohol; its leaves were used to make things like mats, clothing, rope, and paper. It also gave us pulque, a nutritious and vitamin-rich brew. In a 1596 history of the Central American Indians, it was fittingly called el arbol de las maravillas, “the tree of marvels.”
Fermented beverages are almost universal among ancient human societies. Ethanol, as an analgesic, disinfectant, and mind-altering substance, can help preserve and enhance the nutritional value of food. Fermentation has therefore played a key role in human cultural and technological development. In Mesoamerica, codices and colonial-era sources describe a variety of fermented beverages produced before European contact. Distilled beverages, in contrast, have not been invented in all cultures, and their production in pre-contact Mesoamerica remains controversial.
Distilling requires a technique for separating ethanol from water by exploiting ethanol’s lower boiling point (78.4°C) or melting point (−114.3°C). This allows the production of beverages with an alcohol content greater than 15%, the natural limit of fermented beverages.
In the late 19th century, Bourke (1893) and Lumholtz (1902) suggested that distillation had developed before contact based on their findings that several cultures in western Mexico (Coras, Huichols, Nahuatls in Jalisco state, and Purépechas) produced agave spirits using a very simple still, clearly different from the Arab-type introduced by the Spanish in the 16th Century.
Capacha vessel
In the late 1930s, Isabel Kelly, an American anthropologist, and her team uncovered an ancient burial site in Colima, western Mexico, where a seemingly revered man had been entombed before the common era. That individual is believed to have been a prominent member of the Capacha culture, a western Mesoamerican society of the formative period (1500–1000 BCE). With him in his tomb sat a unique ceramic vessel, with a bulbous base connected by three hollow pipes to a rounded, vase-shaped top. It was dubbed a Capacha vessel.
While Kelly herself was cautious not to propose in print any special uses of this Capacha vessel, the details of her work prompted other historians to suggest that the Capacha container was used for distilling fermented agave juice.
To test the hypothesis that the vessel described above could have been used to distill ethanol, replicas of the original trifid and gourd-shaped vessels were made based on specimens on display in the National Museum of Anthropology and History (MNA) in Mexico City and the Museum of Colima Regional History. Employing the elements and techniques most probably available during the period, including agave ferment, an ethanol-containing liquid was successfully produced.
Based on the average reported gourd or trifid vessel sizes, their archaeological context, and the ethanol yields produced with replicas in this study, it is probable that, if used as stills, they were used to produce a prestigious product for ceremonial purposes with high social and cultural relevance.
However, the most widely accepted theory today regarding the introduction of mass distillation techniques to Mexico is based on the Filipino theory.
In 1565, a little over forty years after Hernán Cortés and his troops conquered the Aztec Empire, Spain conquered the Philippines. In the same year, Spain established the Manila Galleon trade route, spanning 12,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean, connecting Manila and Acapulco. For 250 years, these ships transported a variety of goods from Asia to Mexico, including spices, silk, porcelain, and other items, before returning to Asia with New World silver.
By the early 1600s, the majority of these galleon crews, ranging from 100 to over 350 men, were comprised of skilled Filipino sailors.
Some were enslaved, while others were underpaid navigators, and all endured harsh conditions on board, suffering from scurvy, starvation, and dehydration.
Adequate clothing was not provided, and survival during the voyage to Mexico was uncertain. Once in Mexico, entire crews would sometimes desert their ships and assimilate into the local population.
Scholars estimate that approximately 75,000 Filipinos settled in western Mexico during the Galleon era. They married into Mexican families, creating a community of mixed-race individuals with Spanish surnames who practiced Catholicism. This cultural exchange left a lasting impact, still visible in places like Acapulco and Colima.
Among the various items introduced by Filipinos to Mexico, tamarind, rice, mango de Manila, and coconuts were significant. Of these, coconuts, which were brought to Mexico in 1569, had the most enduring influence.
Filipinos had a similar relationship with the coconut palm as Mexicans did with their native agave. Filipinos utilized the palm fronds for clothing, shelter, and tools. They consumed coconut meat and milk, drank the refreshing coconut water, and employed various parts of the tree for medicinal purposes.
In the same way Mexicans fermented agave sap into the mildly alcoholic beverage known as pulque, Filipinos fermented palm sap to create a similar drink called tuba. You can still find tuba being sold on the streets of Colima today. Filipino sailors also introduced the technology to distill tuba into a potent liquor known as lambanog, which in Mexico is called vino de coco.
Upon their arrival, Filipino immigrants established coconut palm farms in Mexico. This led to vino de coco becoming a thriving industry in Colima. By the year 1631, the town was producing a staggering 262,000 liters of this coconut liquor. As mining activities picked up in northern Mexico, vino de coco played a significant role in providing the labor force with a source of energy.
It is believed that mezcal, as we know it today, emerged from this unique blend of circumstances. The evidence suggests that the distillation process for agave spirits originated by adapting the coconut distillation process in Colima. This historical fusion of Filipino and Mexican cultures laid the foundation for the mezcal industry we know today.
In 1608, the governor of New Galicia, the region where tequila was produced, imposed the first taxes on mezcal wine. By 1621, “wines of mezcal” were being regularly supplied to the nearby city of Guadalajara. The first references to a bountiful mezcal harvest also appeared in local records around this time. The Description of New Galicia (Descripcion de la Nueva Galicia) by Domingo Lazaro de Arregui in 1621, provides the earliest reliable reference to this spirit.
In 1636, Governor Don Juan Canseco y Quiñones gave the official go-ahead for the distillation and production of mezcal wines. This decision made it simpler for the government to collect taxes on the production of mezcal, and these taxes increased considerably over the next decade. The government used these funds to support public projects.
Around 1651, a Spanish doctor named Jeronimo Hernandez noted that tequila, also known as mezcal at the time, was being used for medicinal purposes. People believed it could help treat conditions like rheumatism by applying tequila to the affected parts of the body.
After the Spanish Conquest, the region we now call Jalisco was initially called New Galicia by the Spanish conquerors. The place we today recognize as Tequila officially became a village in 1656. Originally, it was named after the then-governor of New Galicia, La Torre Argus De Uloa y Chavez. In the highlands of Jalisco near Tequila, the community of Arandas was founded in late 1721. Up until 1821, Jalisco had its own separate government from the rest of Mexico. During this time, Spanish names replaced the native names for many of its communities.
In the 1700s, mezcal wines became essential for export because Tequila was located on the way to the newly opened Pacific port of San Blas. These mezcal wines gained a reputation for quality, even in Mexico City. However, in 1785, the government of Charles III banned the production of all spirits, including mezcal wines and pulque, to encourage the importation of Spanish wines and liqueurs. Although production was officially stopped, it continued secretly until 1792 (possibly 1795), when King Ferdinand IV lifted the ban after ascending the throne.
During the ban, people resorted to baking agave underground as a way to make mezcal, a practice that continues in mezcal production today. Eventually, authorities realized that taxation, rather than prohibition, was a more effective way to regulate the industry. Taxes on mezcal wines even contributed to funding the University of Guadalajara.
The importance of tequila declined during the War of Independence, partly because the port of Acapulco became more significant than San Blas in terms of Pacific trade. Tequila regained its prominence after Mexico gained independence in 1821, when Spanish products became harder to obtain.
Jose Antonio Cuervo aka “Joe Crow”
The first licensed tequila manufacturer was Jose Antonio Cuervo, often known as “Joe Crow” from the Cuervo Montaño family. He obtained the rights to cultivate a piece of land from the King of Spain in 1758. This land, called the Hacienda Cofradia de las Animas, was acquired from Vicente de Saldivar, who already operated a small, private distillery there. In 1795, Jose Maria Guadalupe de Cuervo, his son, received the first official license from the Crown to produce mezcal wine, marking the founding of the first licensed Mexican distillery. Casa Cuervo, also known as Taberna de Cuervo, became highly profitable. In 1812, Jose passed away, leaving his estate to his son, Jose Ignacio, and daughter Maria Magdalena. She married Vicente Albino Rojas, and her dowry included the distillery.
Vicente renamed the factory La Rojeña and increased production. He eventually inherited it after the death of his wife. By mid-century Cuervo’s fields had more than three million agave plants. Although he died before the railroads were built into the area, Vicente exported his mezcal to fairs in Aguascalientes, Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi and by the mid-19th century had more than 3 million agave plants under cultivation. He died before the railroad came to Tequila, bringing another boom to the industry.
Damajuanas
In 1860 Jesús Flores, owner of the taverns “La Floreña” and “La del Puente” (also known later as “La Constancia”), acquired “La Rojeña” from the Cuervo family. Flores was the first producer to bottle tequila in glass vessels. His bottles were called damajuanas, hand blown, rounded-shape 5 liter bottles, wrapped in agave fiber. Later these bottles would be as large as 32 liters. The use of the small pocket-sized ‘pachoncita’ bottles at the end of the century really gave tequila sales a boost because workers could carry them around in their baggy pants. By 1880, Cuervo was selling 10,000 barrels of tequila in Guadalajara alone.
In 1900, after Flores passed away, his widow married the administrator, Jose Cuervo Labastida, and the product became known as Jose Cuervo once more, while the taberna reverted to its original name. The plantations were home to four million agave plants. Today, Cuervo, whose plant is still called La Rojeña, is the largest tequila manufacturer with a substantial export market.
In the nineteenth century, it was common for distilleries, known as tabernas, to be named after their owners. They would add eña to the owner’s name, like La Floreña, La Martineña, La Guarreña, La Gallardeña, and La Quintaneña. Later, distillery names began to reflect values or convictions, such as La Preservancia (perseverance) and La Constancia (constancy).
During Mexico’s War of Independence in the early nineteenth century, tequila became a common item among soldiers on all sides of the conflict.
The war with the United States in the mid-to-late 1840s also introduced American soldiers to tequila, but its distribution network didn’t allow it to become widespread in the United States at that time.
In the early 1800s (possibly around 1805), Jose Castaneda founded La Antigua Cruz Distillery. In 1873, Don Cenobio Sauza acquired it, and in 1888, he renamed it La Preservancia, a name it still carries today. Sauza started making mezcal wine. Legend has it that in the 1870s, Don Cenobio decided that blue agave was the best plant for making tequila, and others in the industry followed suit. Blue Weber agave is a cultivar known for its ease of growth and relatively short maturation period of 5 to 9 years, in contrast to the 9 to 12 years required for wild agave species to mature. This variety not only matures swiftly but is also rich in sugars, hastening the cooking phase in tequila production.
This crucial discovery led to tequila’s official distinction and separation from other agave-based spirits, like mezcal.
In the 1880s, the rapid expansion of railroads across North America helped spread tequila’s popularity further. The industry experienced stability and growth during the 35-year rule of Porfirio Diaz, known as the Porfirato Period. During this time, the tequila industry matured and solidified. By 1893, “mezcal brandy” was regularly exported to the USA, and it even received an award at the Chicago World’s Fair that year.
Mexican spirits were also exported to Europe in the 1870s. During this period, distilleries in Jalisco were gradually shifting from producing aguardiente made from sugarcane to making tequila. It was around this time that the product from Jalisco, originally called mezcal of Tequila, started being referred to simply as tequila, much like how brandy made in a specific region of France is known as cognac. The first recorded reference to mezcal wine as tequila was made by the French traveler Ernest de Vigneaux in 1854, but it took some decades for this name to become widely accepted and used.
Around the early 1900s, many companies began selling tequila in bottles instead of just barrels, which boosted sales. This marked the start of a modernization wave, and the number of distilleries in Jalisco increased to nearly 100.
However, this number dropped significantly to just 32 by 1910, when the regime of Porfirio Díaz collapsed, and Mexico entered a period of political and military turmoil.
During the Mexican Revolution in the early twentieth century, tequila gained significant national importance. It became a symbol of Mexican pride, replacing the passion for French products with patriotism for Mexican goods. Tequila became closely associated with the fearless rebels and heroic figures of the 1910–1920 period. This was also a time when tequila found its way to American troops stationed along the border, helping spread its popularity to neighboring US states. In the first novel written about the Revolution, author Mariano Azuela described a character who preferred the clear tequila of Jalisco over champagne, highlighting its significance. Notably, a Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa’s real name was Doroteo Arango, which is commemorated in the Los Arango tequila brand. His horse was named Siete Leguas, which became the name of another tequila brand.
Distillers conveniently forgot that many of the revolutionary armies raided their plants and confiscated tequila for which the owners were never repaid. But many of the larger tabernas suffered in the aftermath when the government redistributed their land and gave away many acres of agave to the peasants. By 1929, the number of distillers was down to a mere eight as they suffered through the Depression. The post-Revolutionary leaders like Victoriano Huerta eschewed tequila for French cognacs, but tequila managed to make a comeback through its popularity among the people.
Modern production techniques, including cultivated yeasts, were introduced in the late 1920s, when peace returned and the Depression had ended, and the industry expanded again. Prohibition in the US later that decade boosted tequila’s popularity when it was smuggled across the border.
The decision to use non-agave sugars (usually cane sugars) in fermentation along with those from agave was made in the 1930s, a fateful move that changed the industry and affected its reputation for decades. By 1964, distillers were allowed to use 30% other sugars, which soon climbed to 49%.The blander product, however, was more palatable to American tastes and helped boost export sales.
During World War 2, tequila rose in popularity in the US after spirits from Europe became hard to get. Production grew, the demand for tequila increased, and agave fields expanded 110% between 1940 and 1950. In 1948, exports fell to an all-time low, while national consumption grew, thanks in great part to the positive portrayal of tequila as a macho drink of heroic rancheros in Mexican movies from the 1930s to 1950s. Despite the slump, the increased demand during the war meant more money coming in, and in the 1950s, many distilleries used their extra revenue to modernize and upgrade their facilities. Agricultural reform under President Lopez Mateos during this time saw 30 million acres of land parceled out to farmers, with some of it going to maguey farmers across the nation. Sometime between 1930 and 1955, depending on which legend you believe, the margarita was born in Mexico or in a nearby state. This cocktail would become the most popular mixed drink in bars for the next four decades.
Efforts to regulate the industry also grew in this period, with two groups created between the two world wars, eventually evolving into today’s regulatory organizations.
In 1944, the Mexican government decided that any product called tequila had to be made by distilling agave in the state of Jalisco. The first standards for tequila were laid out in 1947, and they have been upgraded and revised over the years.
Popularity grew again in the 1960s, along with increased consumption. The 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City helped worldwide exposure. But it wasn’t until the growing population of American tourists to Mexico started to discover the premium brands in the mid 1980s that tequila moved from a party drink to snob appeal among the cocktail set. It reached high society in the 1980s, helped by the release of Chinaco, the first premium tequila sold in the US, in 1983. The first set of regulations governing where tequila could be made were published in 1974, but they were amended in 1976, when the first NORMA was released.
In 1974, tequila achieved international recognition and was accepted as a product originating solely from Mexico when the Appellation de Origin Controllee (AOC) was published in 1977. Mezcal also carries an AOC designation. However, it wasn’t until 1996 that Mexico signed an international agreement for all countries to recognize tequila as a product exclusively from specific areas in Mexico. The European Union signed a trade accord in 1997, recognizing Mexico as the sole producer of tequila.
To safeguard tequila’s quality, the Normas Oficial Mexicana (NOM) was established in 1978 to regulate all agricultural, industrial, and commercial processes related to tequila production.
Today, tequila can only be legally produced in five regions, most within 100 miles of Guadalajara in the northwest part of Mexico. Most of these regions are within the state of Jalisco, except for Chinaco, which is located in Tamaulipas. The semi-arid areas with clay soils are primarily plateaus and highlands. In Jalisco’s Tequila region, agave fields cover the slopes of two extinct volcanoes.
All 124 Jalisco municipalities are included in the standard, as are 56 others within Guanajuato, Nayarit, Michoacán, and Tamaulipas.
By 1980, there were 33 distilleries cultivating 30-35,000 hectares and employing 5,800 people to make tequila. These numbers have grown significantly, with more than 50,000 hectares of agave under cultivation, and approximately 38,000 people employed in the industry.
Today, the nonprofit organization Consejo Regulador del Tequila (CRT), which is sanctioned by the Mexican government, monitors the industry closely to promote best practices. This includes the treatment of laborers, proper agave growth, research, and the fostering of ancient tequila-making traditions. With more than 1,300 tequila labels and 180 municipalities to oversee, this is no easy task, but it is one Mexico and her people have fully embraced to ensure the spirit’s future.
Meanwhile, away from urban centers, remote mountain communities have continued the age-old tradition of crafting authentic artisanal Mezcals. Handmade without modern machinery, these mezcals are meticulously produced using organic agave, fire pit ovens, manual or animal-powered crushing, local airborne yeasts for fermentation, and copper or clay pot distillation over open flames.
Guided by experience, mezcaleros, passing down skills through generations, rely on their senses to make measurements and decisions. By the late 1990s, visionary brands such as Del Maguey and Pierde Almas spearheaded the recognition of these artisanal mezcals as intricate and sophisticated spirits, earning them a revered status in both Mexico and the US.
In 1994, the Denomination of Origin (DO) was established, serving a dual purpose: safeguarding the quality of Mezcal by mandating a 100% agave composition, and preserving its geographical authenticity by limiting production to nine designated states within Mexico. Additionally, the DO aimed to differentiate between mass-produced, commercial mezcals and the authentic artisanal mountain mezcals crafted in traditional villages.
The DO classification comprises three distinct categories of mezcal: 1. Mezcal: This variety can be mass-produced using methods akin to tequila production, involving diffusors, cultivated yeasts, and column stills. 2. Mezcal Artisanal: Crafted using the traditional techniques previously outlined, this type is distilled in copper alembics to maintain its authenticity. 3. Mezcal Ancestral: Employing the same time-honored techniques, this category utilizes a clay pot still, adding an extra layer of heritage to the distillation process.
As per the present definition, mezcal necessitates certification by semi-governmental entities, such as the Mezcal Regulatory Council (CRM). These organizations are tasked with overseeing the category, setting label usage guidelines, and validating its legality. Currently, the Mezcal Denomination of Origin (DOM) encompasses the states of Oaxaca, Guerrero, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas, and Durango. Additionally, 2 municipalities in Guanajuato, 11 municipalities in Tamaulipas, 29 municipalities in Michoacán, and 116 municipalities in Puebla have been included after demonstrating their tradition in mezcal production.
In 2018, the DOM protection resolution was modified to include some municipalities of the State of Mexico, including Aguascalientes and Morelos; however, there is currently an appeal process for these modifications, which is the same thing that occurred with the recent inclusion of 4 municipalities in the State of Sinaloa.
In accordance with NOM-070-SCFI-2016, the maguey or agave used in the production of mezcal must come from the territory that includes the Mezcal Denomination of Origin, and the production and subsequent packaging of Mezcal is only allowed within the DOM.
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