Navigating Mexico’s Agave Drinks

Mexico’s agave drinks range from tequila and mezcal to fresh aguamiel, fermented pulque and sweet agave syrup. Some use the piña—the heart of a mature plant—while others begin with sap collected from a living maguey. Production methods and protected regional names help distinguish them.

Mexico’s history of creating drinks from the agave plant goes back thousands of years, well before the Spanish arrived. Indigenous people had a particular reverence for pulque, a drink made from the fermented sap of agave. Following the arrival of the Spanish, distillation methods spread across the country and different regions developed their own nuanced production methods. For hundreds of years most of these distilled products were referred to simply as “mezcal” or “vino de mezcal”.

Agave species and production methods have long varied between regions. Protected denominations of origin formalize some of those regional practices. Tequila received the first in 1974; raicilla followed in 2019.

The Agave Drink Family Tree

Agave Spirits

Agave’s stored sugars supply a wide variety of drinks and products. Mezcal can be made from any of the almost 300 agave species, though around 12 different agave species are most commonly used. The most common spirits start with cooked piñas from mature plants. Their extracted sugars are fermented, and the resulting liquid is distilled. In traditional usage, mezcal is a broad term for these agave spirits. Tequila is one type and uses only blue Weber agave, Agave tequilana. In that broad sense, all tequila is mezcal, while many mezcals use other agaves.

Mezcal is also a protected commercial name. Its denomination of origin, established in 1994, governs use of the name.

Some long-established producers make agave spirits outside the mezcal designation or without certification, and market them as destilados de agave. Location can prevent them from qualifying for the mezcal name; the certification process and its cost can also put registration beyond a small producer’s reach. Certification alone does not determine quality—uncertified spirits can be just as good or better.

Raicilla and bacanora are agave spirits with their own protected denominations of origin. Sotol is made from desert spoon, a different plant. Its regional history and fermentation and distillation methods connect it with the wider Mexican spirit tradition.

Comiteco starts with aguamiel rather than a harvested, cooked piña. The sap is fermented and distilled. The protected product, Comiteco de Comitán, Chiapas, is made with maguey comiteco (Agave americana) and cane sugars.

Other Agave Drinks

Aguamiel, or “honey water,” is sweet sap collected from a prepared cavity in a living, mature maguey. It is considered highly nutritious; the sap contains sugars, vitamins and minerals. A tlachiquero collects the sap, usually twice a day. Fermentation turns aguamiel into pulque, a milky alcoholic drink made with yeasts and bacteria; producers commonly use actively fermenting pulque to start a new batch. Pulque’s origins are thought to go back thousands of years. Chemical evidence places its production at Teotihuacan around AD 200–550. It held an important place in pre-Hispanic ceremonies and remains closely associated with Mexico’s central highlands. Salmiana is one of the magueys used for aguamiel and pulque.

Agave syrup, also sold as agave nectar, is a concentrated sweetener used in place of sugar or honey. It can be made from harvested piñas, whose stored carbohydrates are extracted and broken down into simpler sugars, or by concentrating aguamiel collected from living plants. The harvested piña can be processed raw or partly cooked, depending on the method. Agave syrup is a plant-based alternative to honey.

Where the protected spirit names apply

Protected spirit names have geographic limits. Some cover whole states; others cover particular municipalities. Being inside a protected area is one requirement for using its name: producers must also meet the applicable production and authorization rules. A spirit made elsewhere can still be sold under a broader name such as destilado de agave.

The coverage below was checked on 13 October 2026. The maps distinguish included municipalities from the rest of each state; green marks protected territory. Open a map image for a larger view. Sinaloa’s disputed Mezcal municipalities are marked separately in amber.

A state may be covered by several denominations, with different boundaries for each. Michoacán, for example, has municipalities within the Tequila denomination and others within Mezcal’s; some belong to both. Sotol appears alongside these drinks because of its regional tradition, although its plant is Dasylirion, rather than agave.

Mezcal: whole states and selected municipalities

The Mezcal area has expanded since the original 1994 declaration. Later declarations included seven municipalities in Aguascalientes, 23 in Morelos and 15 in Estado de México in 2025. Guanajuato now has six included municipalities, Michoacán 30 and Puebla 118, following additions in 2025 and 2026.

Sinaloa’s Concordia, Mazatlán, Rosario and San Ignacio were added by a declaration published on 12 October 2021. Their current inclusion is disputed. They are shown in amber on the map and kept separate from the twelve states above.

Recent changes are documented in the federal declarations for Aguascalientes (April 2025), Morelos (June 2025), Michoacán (September 2025), Estado de México (November 2025), Guanajuato (May 2026), Puebla (May 2026). The Sinaloa declaration (October 2021) records the original four additions.

Tequila: Jalisco and parts of four other states

The Tequila denomination covers 181 municipalities across five states: all of Jalisco and selected municipalities in four neighboring or more distant states. The geographic scope is separate from whether a particular producer is authorized.

See the Tequila Regulatory Council’s denomination overview for the protected territory.

Raicilla: 16 Jalisco municipalities and Bahía de Banderas

Raicilla’s 2019 declaration covers sixteen municipalities in Jalisco and Bahía de Banderas in Nayarit. These are specific areas, rather than all of either state.

A July 2026 application seeks to add Cocula. An application does not add a municipality to the protected area; Cocula is excluded from the granted coverage shown here.

Bacanora: 35 municipalities in Sonora

Bacanora takes its name from the Sonoran town of Bacanora. Its 2000 declaration covers 35 municipalities within Sonora, rather than the entire state.

Sotol: three northern states

Sotol’s 2002 declaration covers the entire states of Chihuahua, Coahuila and Durango. Durango is also within the Mezcal denomination, but the two spirits use different plants.

Comiteco: nine municipalities in Chiapas

The protected geographical indication Comiteco de Comitán, Chiapas was declared on 6 October 2025. It covers the Meseta Comiteca Tojolabal: Comitán de Domínguez, Las Margaritas, La Independencia, La Trinitaria, Tzimol, Socoltenango, Las Rosas, Chanal, Amatenango del Valle. The declaration identifies a spirit made with maguey comiteco and cane sugars, and describes collection of aguamiel followed by distillation of the fermented liquid.

Pulque: a central Mexican tradition

Pulque has no denomination of origin restricting where it can be made. Fresh pulque lasts only a few days, making storage and long-distance sale difficult. In my view, that short shelf life limits the commercial branding potential and practical value of establishing a denomination of origin.

Sources

Regional declarations are linked beside each protected name above. The maps use INEGI’s December 2025 statistical boundaries. These illustrate the named areas; the legal declarations define the protected territory.

Tequila Regulatory Council

Mexican Mezcal Regulatory Council