What's a NOM anyway?

It’s usually near the bottom of the back label, set in type small enough that most people have never noticed it. Three letters, then four digits. NOM 1658, in our case.

It is the single most useful thing on the can, and it is the one thing a brand cannot fake, borrow, or design around.

The letters

NOM stands for Norma Oficial Mexicana — Mexico’s system of official standards. The one that governs tequila is NOM-006-SCFI-2012, and it defines everything: what tequila can be made from, where it can be made, how it must be distilled, and what has to appear on the label.

To print those three letters, a producer has to be certified under that standard and audited by the Consejo Regulador del Tequila — the CRT, or Tequila Regulatory Council.

The CRT was founded in 1994. It operates as a private certification body under a concession from the Mexican government, and it is the only organization in the world accredited to certify compliance with the tequila standard. It verifies agave sourcing, monitors production, tests the product, and reviews documentation before a batch can be labeled or exported.

No certification, no letters. The NOM is not a design element. It’s a permission slip.

The four digits

This is the part that surprises people.

The number does not identify the brand. It does not identify the town. It identifies the exact facility where the liquid was made.

The CRT assigns a unique four-digit number to every licensed tequila distillery and maintains a public record of which brands are produced at each one. Which means that with four digits and thirty seconds, you can find out exactly where any tequila came from — without asking the brand a single question.

That’s the entire point. Traceability that doesn’t depend on trusting anyone’s marketing.

Why so few seltzers show one

Every certified tequila carries a NOM. It’s required, and it’s how the CRT traces production from agave to bottle.

A ready-to-drink can made outside Mexico isn’t governed by that same labeling requirement. So an RTD can contain real tequila and simply never print the number. Others don’t print it because there’s nothing to print — they’re flavored malt beverages that taste vaguely of a margarita and contain no tequila at all.

From the outside, on a shelf, those two cans look identical. Both will say something about tequila on the front. Only the back label tells you which is which.

Most don’t show one. We do.

What it honestly doesn’t tell you

Our whole campaign is built on this number, so it would be easy for us to oversell it. Here’s the honest version.

A NOM is not a quality grade. Excellent and forgettable tequilas can come out of the same distillery, and often do. The number tells you where, not how good.

A NOM is not exclusive. As of the CRT’s most recent counts, there are roughly 360 certified producers and around 2,600 registered brands. The arithmetic is unavoidable: most distilleries produce for many labels. Contract production is standard practice across the entire category, including at the very top of it. Sharing a NOM is normal. Hiding one isn’t.

A NOM is not the whole story. It tells you where the spirit was made. It doesn’t tell you what else went into the can afterward — which is a separate question, and one worth asking too.

A NOM is a starting point for trust. It is not a trophy.

How to check any can in thirty seconds

Turn it around. Skip the front. Everything useful is printed small, usually near the bottom, next to the CRT mark. Find NOM and four digits. Nothing there? Read how the can describes itself. “Made with tequila” means real spirit. “Tequila-flavored,” “natural flavors,” or “flavored malt beverage” means something else entirely. Look it up. Type the number into a public registry like Tequila Matchmaker or the CRT’s own database. You’ll see the distillery, where it sits, and every brand it produces.

That’s it. Three steps, half a minute, and you never have to take anyone’s word for anything again.

Ours is 1658

It’s printed on every can we make, in type you can actually read. Our tequila is distilled in Jalisco, and the facility that made it is a matter of public record.

We didn’t build a campaign around this number because it makes us special. Plenty of good tequila carries a NOM. We built a campaign around it because most people have never been told the number exists — and once you know, you can’t stop checking.

So check ours. Then check whatever else is in your fridge.

#CheckTheCan