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Another push for tequila consumption came in 1997 from the World Trade Organization and the European Union. Since 1974 the Mexican government had kept tight control over the production and labeling of the liquor: only tequila made from at least 51% Weber blue agave grown in Jalisco state or five designated neighboring areas could bear the generic tequila name.

Ediotr's Note: Jose Cuervo crap is only 51% tequila. Koresh only knows what the other 49 percent is, but it's not tequila.
 
 

The WTO and the E.U. concurred, making tequila--like champagne, Cognac and sherry--one of the world's few geographically defined liquors. Suddenly dozens of brands produced in other Mexican states, the U.S. and Spain had to be relabeled, focusing the tequila demand on Jalisco.

 The scarcity of Weber blue agave in Jalisco 
has meant that some distilleries have quietly augmented their supply with cheaper agave from the southern state of Oaxaca--outside the officially designated zone. Sales of Oaxacan agave to Jalisco have roughly doubled in the past year. Mexican regulators are trying to crack down on the rogue suppliers and buyers, and have closed at least one distillery. The smuggling also threatens production of tequila's less tony cousin, mescal, made with unauthorized agave species or Weber blue grown outside the designated zone, by driving up Oaxacan agave prices 40%.

 Despite the agave crunch, tequila's popularity is likely to endure--another reason those caballitos are going to cost more. Elliot Lane, deputy editor of Drinks International Bulletin, a London liquor newsletter, expects prices to rise an extra 30% to 60% in the next six months. 
So forget buying limes and salt--you'll be needing every penny for tequila. 
 

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