International Tequila Day · July 24
Born from blue agave and Mexican craft. Raised in glasses around the globe. On July 24, we celebrate tequila—and the people, places, and traditions behind every pour.
Until International Tequila Day in Mexico
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Rooted in Mexico
Tequila begins as agriculture, not alcohol. Blue agave spends years rooted in Mexican soil before growers and jimadores decide it is ready. From there, cooks, millers, fermenters and distillers turn the harvested piña into spirit. Its name belongs to that whole chain of land, knowledge and labor—not simply to a flavor in a glass.
That is what International Tequila Day celebrates: the patience behind the pour, the communities behind the category, and Mexico’s right to define and protect one of its most recognized cultural products.
Sources: Tequila Regulatory Council ↗ · World Intellectual Property Organization ↗
Territory: Tequila Regulatory Council ↗ · Map geometry: svg-maps, CC BY 4.0 ↗
A living inheritance
Long before tequila became an international symbol, agave shaped food, fiber, ritual and fermented drink in Mesoamerica. In Jalisco, that relationship grew into a living landscape of fields, towns, haciendas and distilleries.
Agave has been used in this region for at least two millennia. Today’s tequila landscape carries that history forward, joining ancient knowledge of cooking and fermenting agave with distillation methods introduced from Europe. UNESCO recognizes it as a living World Heritage cultural landscape—not a museum piece.
Explore the World Heritage landscape ↗Growers tend blue agave for years. Jimadores read when each plant is ready, then use the sharp, round coa to remove its leaves and reveal the piña. Cooks, millers, fermenters, distillers and many others carry the work onward—knowledge refined through practice and often across generations.
Tequila appears at family tables and public celebrations, and across Mexican literature, film, music, dance and visual art. In 2026, Mexico’s Congress established July 24 as National Tequila Day. We share that date as International Tequila Day: the same celebration, rooted in Mexico and widened to the world.
July 24 in Mexico · Read the CNIT announcement ↗After more than five decades as a jimador, Ismael Gama Rodarte described the pride of knowing that his work travels around the world.
A family of spirits
Tequila opens the door to a much larger landscape. Across Mexico, many agaves, regions, and methods create spirits with their own identities. Celebrating well means tasting beyond the familiar—and learning who made what is in your glass.
01Bright, precise and unmistakably Jaliscan—blue agave transformed by fire, time and craft.
A protected Mexican spirit distilled from cooked and fermented blue Weber agave. Its identity is inseparable from its authorized territory and tightly defined production standard.
02Smoke is only the beginning—a vast world of agaves, landscapes and fiercely individual makers.
Mezcal is not one flavor or one agave. It is a protected family of regional spirits whose character changes with species, landscape, fermentation and the hand of the maker.
03Wild-hearted Jalisco—fragrant, earthy and shaped by coast, mountain and tradition.
A western Mexican agave spirit with its own denomination of origin since 2019. Mountain and coastal traditions produce strikingly different expressions under one name.
04Sonora in a glass—lean, mineral and desert-born, with generations of quiet resilience.
Bacanora is Sonora’s denomination-protected agave spirit: historically discreet, deeply regional and built around one desert-adapted agave.
05Not agave, but desert spoon—herbal, dry and untamed, carrying northern Mexico’s high desert.
Sotol belongs at the table, but not in the agave family. It is distilled from Dasylirion—desert spoon or sereque—and carries the ecology of northern Mexico in a very different voice.
Your July 24
There is no single ritual for International Tequila Day. Make it a moment of discovery: go out, bring a bottle home, gather your people—or simply ask a better question about what is in your glass.
Meet the agave-curious, taste together and turn a global date into a local occasion. Amsterdam is already lighting up—the next toast could be in your city.
Amsterdam event · July 24 ↗ Host one in your city ↗Ask for tequila neat, in a small flight or in a cocktail that lets the spirit speak. A good bartender can introduce you to a producer, region or style you have not met before.
Try · neat · highball · classic cocktail Explore cocktail bars ↗Look for 100% agave, the producer, the NOM and the place it was made. Let the label begin the story—not finish it.
Research your bottle ↗One thoughtful bottle, a few glasses, water and good company are enough. Taste slowly, compare impressions and give the people behind the spirit their place in the conversation.
Start the soundtrack ↗Go deeper
Good tequila education connects what is in the glass to the agave, distillery, process and people behind it. These platforms are excellent places to begin exploring.
Brands · distilleries · methods · ratings
Search tequilas, brands and distilleries, compare how bottles are made, and explore expert-panel and community ratings.
A journalist and a former photojournalist turned technology entrepreneur who spent eight years living in Mexico while studying tequila and its production.
Reviews · interviews · news · events
A digital magazine and newsletter for reviews, producer interviews, tequila news, events and thoughtful category analysis.
Jay leads the editorial, reviews and interviews as Editor; Maddie guides the publication and its partnerships as Publisher.
Choose authentic bottles. Learn the region and producer. Share the story. Sip slowly. And remember: the best toast is one that honors the land, labor, and living cultures that made it possible.
Raise your glasses · Say it together
For adults of legal drinking age · Enjoy responsibly