TEQUILA SUNSET?

Salon/AP has this:

The U.S. liquor industry is crying foul over a proposed Mexican government regulation that would require all tequila sold in the United States to be bottled in Mexico.

Boosted by the popularity of tequila shots and margaritas, tequila has been the fastest growing liquor in America in recent years, with sales nearly doubling over the past decade.

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Mexican supporters of the proposed change argue that it will allow for better monitoring of tequila quality.

Salvador Behar, trade counsel for the Mexican embassy in Washington, said the proposed rule is simply an effort “to protect the honesty of tequila. We are concerned that the measures now in place are not working properly.”

Which makes sense, really. It’s a well-established fact that the way to prevent corruption is to have Mexico control it.

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James Joyner
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James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Okay, here’s my dumb question: How is a mexican government regulation going to stop a US-based distiller from making whatever it wants?

  2. James Joyner says:

    Heh. My understanding from the piece is that all tequila is made in Mexico, with some of it processed here. Since I’m not even sure exactly what tequila IS, I’m not sure why we couldn’t just do it all here.

    (I know it’s an alcoholic beverage; just don’t know what the raw ingredients and processing entail.)

  3. The deal is that the tequila is produced in Mexico, then trucked up to the US in bulk and bottled at places in the US. This reduces the shipping costs because you don’t have to ship several ounces of glass per bottle all the way from Mexico.

    This is exactly what happens with imported beers like Guinness, or even with domestics a lot of the time; dunno why it would be controversial with tequila.

    As for the composition of tequila… I honestly don’t know. I seem to remember something about an “agave” fruit? I generally stick to rum and whiskey (with the occasional splash of vodka) for my hard liquor needs, and then only in limited quantities.