One Of America’s Favorite Drinks Started In Arizona

Humans have been making alcohol since the earliest days of our existence. We found the naturally occurring poison addictive, and soon, beers, wines, and spirits became a commonplace in our society.

One spirit dominates the southwest and college frat parties alike, but many people are unaware of Arizona's contribution to its production.

The History of Tequila

In the mid-18th Century, communities in coastal regions of Mexico realized that they could distill Agave, allowing them to produce Mezcal. One town in particular produced an incredibly popular formula. That town? Tequila, Mexico.

The substance soon became known as Tequila, after the town that popularized it, and it became widely popular across the Mexican states. As its popularity grew, Americans were hankering for a taste, and Municipal President of the City of Tequila, Don Cenobio Sauza knew he could swing it.

He began to export their Tequila to the United States, but his son, Don Francisco Javier, famously stated "There cannot be Tequila where there are no Agaves!"

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Arizona Takes Control

Despite Javier's insistence that true Tequila only came from the state of Jalisco, Americans were looking for the spirit like never before. Hope that the drink would ever make its way to America was looking slim headed into the 20th Century, but Arizona had a plan.

In 1933, a former senator, and mayor of Nogales named Harry J. Karns saw the massive illegal market for the drink in Tucson, and began to build their own distillery, right in Nogales. On June 6th, 1936, the first barrel of Tequila was produced on American soil, and the rest is history.

[Mezcalistas][Wikipedia]