What is Tequila? The tequila is a distillate originating from Mexico, obtained from the fermentation and subsequent distillation of the blue agave (Agave tequilana), originally produced in the Mexican town of Tequila and in its vicinity, in the State of Jalisco. The first tequila was produced in Mexico in the 16th century near the town where the city of Tequila will be built after 1666. The Aztec populations produced a variant of pulque called ixtac octli ("the white liqueur"), long before the arrival of the Spaniards in 1521, obtained by fermenting the agave juice. When the conquistadores ended their stocks of brandy they began distilling the fermented agave so as to produce one of the first autochthonous distillates in North America. Some eighty years later, around 1600, Don Pedro Sánchez de Tagle, Marquis of Altamira began mass production of tequila in the first factory in the present-day territory of Jalisco. From 1608 the colonial governor of Nueva Galicia began to tax the product. King Charles IV of Spain granted the Cuervo family the first license to produce and market tequila. Don Cenobio Sauza, founder of Sauza Tequila and municipal president of the village of Tequila from 1884-1885, was the first to export tequila to the United States and soon the name from "Tequila Extract" was shortened to "Tequila" for the American market. Don Cenobio's nephew, Don Francisco Javier Sauza, came to international attention by insisting that "there can be no tequila where agave does not grow" and his efforts were aimed at the production of tequila only in the state of Jalisco .
