The Aztec people of Mexico made a fermented beverage called pulque from the agave plant. This plant was considered sacred, and pulque was used in Aztec religious ceremonies. In the early 1550s, when the newly arrived Spanish Conquistadores ran out of brandy, they fermented agave juice. The spirit was called mescal brandy.
The word likely comes from the Nahuatl tequitl, meaning work, duty, job, or task and tlan, which means place.
The city founded by the Spanish in 1530, the town of Tequila became exclusively associated with the drink only in the latter part of the nineteenth century.
In 1758, a young man by the name of Jose Antonio Cuervo received permission from the King of Spain to start producing tequila as a product for exporting.
In 1893 mescal brandy won an award at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, mescal wine was becoming popularly known as tequila.
Tequila became popular in the United States, mostly at first as the drink of the rambunctious college students on spring break, or as the liquor of choice for the most festive celebrations.
In 1977 tequila was defined by international convention as a product originating only in Mexico.
History of tequila
