Definitions

A tequila labeled 100% agave is made only from sugars of blue Weber agave grown in the protected territory, with no other sugars added. NOM-006-SCFI-2012 also requires it to be bottled inside that territory.

Abocantes are the only four ingredients NOM-006-SCFI-2012 allows producers to add to soften tequila: caramel color, natural oak or holm oak extract, glycerin and sugar based syrup. Together they cannot exceed 1 percent of the tequila's weight before bottling.

An alambique is a pot still, the batch vessel in which most tequila is distilled. The Tequila Regulatory Council states that distillation consists of two phases and is generally carried out in stills of this kind.

Tequila aged one to three years in oak casks under 600 liters, developing deeper color, vanilla and spice.

An autoclave is a sealed stainless steel pressure vessel used to cook agave for tequila. It works at roughly 120 degrees Celsius under pressure, cooking the piñas in hours rather than the days a masonry oven needs.

Bacanora is an agave spirit from Sonora, distilled from Agave angustifolia Haw. Mexico granted it an appellation of origin on 6 November 2000 covering 35 Sonoran municipalities, governed by the standard NOM-168-SCFI-2004.

Bagazo, or bagasse, is the spent agave fiber left after cooked piñas are crushed and their sugars washed out. It is the industry's main solid byproduct and is commonly composted, burned as fuel or turned into board and brick.

Unaged tequila, or rested under two months, bottled clear. The purest read on the agave and the distillery.

Agave tequilana Weber, blue variety. The only agave permitted in tequila; it takes six to eight years to mature.

The coa, or coa de jima, is the harvesting tool of the agave fields: a flat, sharpened semicircular steel blade on a long wooden handle. A jimador uses it to shear the leaves off an agave and cut the plant free.

A column still, also called a distillation tower, distills continuously rather than in batches and yields a lighter, higher strength spirit. The Tequila Regulatory Council confirms such towers are used in tequila alongside pot stills.

The Consejo Regulador del Tequila, or CRT, is the nonprofit body founded on 17 May 1994 that inspects, tests and certifies tequila against NOM-006-SCFI-2012 and defends the appellation of origin worldwide.

An aged tequila filtered, usually through charcoal, to strip its color. Popular in luxury gifting and polarizing among purists.

The Denominación de Origen is Mexico's protected appellation for tequila, published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 9 December 1974. Only spirit made from blue Weber agave inside the defined territory may be called tequila.

Destilado de agave, or agave distillate, labels a spirit made from agave that sits outside a protected appellation such as tequila, mezcal, bacanora or raicilla. It signals certification and geography, not quality.

An industrial extraction method that strips sugars from raw agave with water and often acid. Efficient, and widely considered a marker of lower-craft production.

Tequila aged more than three years, the darkest and most oak driven category. Introduced in 2006.

The high-elevation region of Jalisco. Iron-rich red soil, larger and sweeter agave, floral and fruit-forward spirits.

A hijuelo is a shoot that sprouts from the base of a mature agave. Growers separate these clones, usually between the third and fifth year, and replant them, which is how blue Weber agave is propagated.

A horno is a traditional brick or stone masonry oven in which agave hearts are slowly steam baked before milling. Cooking typically runs 24 to 48 hours, followed by a long cooling rest inside the oven.

The field worker who harvests agave, trimming each piña by hand with a coa.

Tequila joven, also sold as oro or gold, is blanco tequila blended with reposado, añejo or extra añejo, or softened with the permitted mellowing ingredients. It is a blending class, not a statement about aging.

The maestro tequilero is the master distiller of a tequila house, responsible for agave selection, cooking, fermentation, distillation, aging and blending. The title reflects long experience and is not a qualification defined in Mexican regulation.

Tequila made from at least 51% agave sugars, the rest from other sources. Always choose 100% agave instead.

Mosto is the sugary liquid, the must, extracted from cooked agave and made ready to ferment. NOM-006-SCFI-2012 defines it as the must from which tequila is distilled, with other sugars permitted only in the mixto category.

Norma Oficial Mexicana. The four digit code identifying the distillery that produced a tequila. Many brands can share one NOM.

NOM-006-SCFI-2012 is the Official Mexican Standard for tequila, published on 13 December 2012 and in force since 11 February 2013. It sets the two categories, the five classes, the 35 to 55 percent alcohol range and the labeling rules.

The spirit after first distillation, before the second pass makes it tequila.

Piña is the harvested heart of the agave plant, left once the leaves are cut away. NOM-006-SCFI-2012 calls it the piña or head and names it the only part of the agave used to make tequila.

The quiote is the tall flowering stalk an agave sends up as it nears the end of its life, reaching several meters high. Growers cut it off so the plant's sugars stay concentrated in the piña.

Raicilla is a Mexican agave spirit from western Jalisco, distilled from species such as Agave maximiliana, inaequidens, angustifolia and rhodacantha. It gained its own appellation of origin on 28 June 2019.

Tequila rested in oak between two months and one year. Light color and spice over an agave core.

A volcanic stone wheel that crushes cooked agave in the traditional method. Slow, inefficient and prized.

The lowland region around the town of Tequila. Earthier, more herbal and peppery spirits.

Tequila may legally be produced only in 181 municipalities across five Mexican states: all 125 municipalities of Jalisco, plus 30 in Michoacán, 11 in Tamaulipas, 8 in Nayarit and 7 in Guanajuato.

Verified Organic is the mark this publication puts on a bottling that a third-party certifier has certified as organic, and that we have checked ourselves against that certifier's public register. Every marked bottling carries the name of the certifier, the date we checked, and a link to the register entry. We assert nothing of our own about what is in the bottle; we cite a document somebody else issued. A certificate covering a distillery does not carry to a product bottled there, and the word organic in a brand or product name is not a certificate. The absence of the mark means only that we hold no certificate for that bottling.

Vinaza, or vinasse, is the hot, acidic liquid left in the still after tequila is distilled. Between 7 and 15 litres are generated for every litre of tequila, which makes its treatment a significant environmental issue.