Tequila

Tequila is an agave-based spirit made primarily in the area
surrounding Tequila, 65 kilometres (40 mi) in the northwest
of Guadalajara and in the highlands (Los Altos) of the western
Mexican state of Jalisco. The volcanic soil in the region
surrounding Tequila is particularly well suited to the
growing of the cactus-like blue agave, and more than 300
million of the plants are harvested there each year.
However, Mexican laws state that tequila can be produced
anywhere in Mexico,and the country boasts several other
tequila-producing regions.

Tequila is most often made at a 38–40% alcohol content (76–80
proof), but there are also several varieties of tequila
produced with 43–50% alcohol content (86–100 proof).
Tequila was first produced in the 16th century near the
location of the city of Tequila, which was not officially
established until 1656. The Aztec people had previously made
a fermented beverage from the agave plant, which they called
octli (later, and more popularly called pulque), long before
the Spanish arrived in 1521. When the Spanish conquistadors
ran out of their own brandy, they began to distill this agave
drink to produce North America's first indigenous distilled
spirit.

Some 80 years later, around 1600, Don Pedro Sanchez de Tagle,
the Marquis of Altamira, began mass-producing tequila at the
first factory in the territory of modern-day Jalisco. By 1608,
the colonial governor of Nueva Galicia had begun to tax his
products.

The tequila that is popular today was first mass-produced in
the early 1800s in Guadalajara, Mexico.

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. Don Cenobio's
grandson Dan Javier gained international attention for
insisting that "there cannot be tequila where there are no
agaves!" His efforts led to the practice that real tequila
can only come from the State of Jalisco.