Tequila is HOT!

Tequila, particularly on the high end, is the most exciting spirit category in the United States, with unprecedented demand

- JACK BETTRIDGE

POP QUIZ: Name the oldest original North American spirit, a drink that is absolutely booming on the American market and being discovered by waves of new enthusiasts who are enticed by its quality after years of dismissing it as pedestrian.

You could be forgiven if you answered Bourbon. Certainly, that homegrown whiskey category from the United States has shot to prominence after long being written off by Scotch drinkers. But for a far older spirit that hails from this continent, you have to range south of the border to Mexico, where Tequila was first distilled some 200 years earlier than Bourbon.

The four-century-old product, which is made (mainly) in Jalisco, about 300 miles west of Mexico City, has dramatically changed its image. Long ago, it shook its reputation as an alcohol delivery system, downed repeatedly in shots by frat boys, to become a top-tier spirit savored by connoisseurs. And today the demand for high-quality Tequila has never been greater, with aficionados scouring the extra-premium end of the category, seeking out both greater purity and longer aging to improve their experience. Luxury-priced brands, many of them with star power behind them (see sidebar) are enjoying double-digit growth.

Market figures from Impact Databank (a trade publication from M. Shanken Communications Inc., the publishers of CIGAR AFICIONADO) show a soaring growth in Tequila sales with no signs of slowing. Back in 1987, the category claimed a mere 2 million cases among U.S. liquor imports. In the ensuing 10 years, that figure had tripled, and by 2007 sat at 11 million cases. In 2020, the latest year of data available, Tequila claimed a gawdy 21.2 million cases (or $6.86 billion), up 13.4 percent from 2019. The five biggest premium brands in the segment are Jose Cuervo (nearly 8 million cases), Patrón (3.2 million), 1800 (2.1 million), Don Julio (1.8 million) and Hornitos (1.7 million).