Tequila can only come from five states

Fewer people know the same thing is true of tequila — that it isn’t a style of spirit you can make anywhere, but a product of a specific, legally drawn piece of Mexico. Make the identical liquid in the identical way outside those lines and you legally cannot call it tequila.

The Denomination of Origin

Tequila’s Denomination of Origin was established on December 9, 1974, published in Mexico’s federal register and recognized internationally in dozens of countries since.

The story behind it is worth knowing. On a trip abroad, a member of one of tequila’s founding families discovered a foreign spirit being sold under the name “Tequila.” Without the protection that followed, the name could have been used by any producer anywhere in the world.

What the Denomination of Origin does is bind the name to a place. Only blue Weber agave grown and distilled inside the protected region can legally be called tequila.

Five states, 181 municipalities

The region covers 181 municipalities across five Mexican states — and the distribution is wildly lopsided.

| State | Municipalities | |---|---| | Jalisco | 125 — the entire state | | Michoacán | 30 | | Tamaulipas | 11 | | Nayarit | 8 | | Guanajuato | 7 |

Jalisco is the only state included in its entirety. Every one of its municipalities can legally produce tequila. The other four contribute selected municipalities each — clustered around Jalisco, except Tamaulipas, which sits off in Mexico’s northeast.

Why Jalisco does the heavy lifting

Jalisco isn’t just the largest qualifying territory. It’s where the industry actually lives.

The overwhelming majority of tequila people encounter comes from Jalisco — and even agave grown in the four minor states is frequently trucked into Jalisco to be distilled. The town of Tequila itself sits there, in the shadow of a volcano, and has been the industry’s historical and symbolic center for centuries.

The other four states are not footnotes, though. Each contributes something to the category’s range. Tamaulipas produces a small number of distinctive tequilas that are genuinely hard to find. Nayarit’s authorized zones, inland from the Pacific, are associated with brighter, fruit-forward character. These are worth seeking out if you go looking.

But if you pick up a can or bottle at random, the odds are overwhelming that what’s inside was distilled in Jalisco.

Two states, two facts

There’s a distinction the map makes easy to miss, and it matters more for canned drinks than for bottles.

Where the tequila was distilled and where the can was filled are two different facts.

A tequila seltzer can be built on genuine tequila distilled in Jalisco and then blended, carbonated and canned in a facility in the United States. That’s normal and it’s not a problem. But it means “Hecho en México” on a label is telling you about the spirit’s origin — not necessarily about where the finished product was assembled.

Which is another reason the NOM number is useful. It points at a specific distillery inside that protected region. It’s the difference between a brand saying Mexico on a label and a brand telling you exactly which building.

Where ours comes from

Our tequila is distilled in Jalisco, at the source, and carries NOM 1658 — a number that identifies the exact facility, on a public registry, whether we tell you about it or not.

The map is small. The rules are old. And the fact that a spirit has a legally protected home is, we’d argue, one of the more interesting things about drinking it.

#CheckTheCan

Figures reflect the Denomination of Origin for Tequila and CRT guidance current as of 2026.