W. W. Norton & Company
Tequila Wars: José Cuervo and the Bloody Struggle for the Spirit of Mexico
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At the dawn of the twentieth century, José Cuervo inherited his family's humble distillery, La Rojeña, in the Tequila Valley. Within a decade, he had transformed it into a complex national enterprise that would become Mexico's leading producer of tequila. Cuervo grew his kingdom of agave by acquiring thousands of acres of estates throughout the valley; he brought electricity and a railroad line to Tequila, so he could reach drinkers across the country. But when the Mexican Revolution erupted, a charge of treason and a death threat against him by Pancho Villa forced Cuervo to flee. His disappearance turned him into an obscure, shadowy historical figure--despite having one of the most famous names in Mexican history.
In Tequila Wars, award-winning author Ted Genoways restores Cuervo to his place as a key player in Mexico's formative period. Before the revolution, Cuervo's acclaim spread worldwide, and once war broke out, Cuervo remained an impresario, kingmaker, and cultural force. In the face of his own government's corruption and the nationalism of his northern neighbors, Cuervo reached American drinkers by establishing Mexico's covert form of cross-border commerce with the United States. As the largest and most important distilleries in the Tequila Valley recognized the threat posed by Mexico's unraveling, Cuervo also lobbied for suspending normal competition in favor of "a union of tequila makers"--what would become the first Mexican cartel.
With extensive original research, including access to the secret archives of the Cuervo and Sauza families, Genoways follows the violent, unpredictable, and hugely profitable world of tequila through the story of its most successful maker. The first biography of Cuervo, Tequila Wars uncovers the history of the man who would forever change not only the business of tequila, but international relations between Mexico and the United States.
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Book Details
ISBN:
9780393292596
EAN:
9780393292596
Binding:
Hardcover
Pages:
368
Authors:
Ted Genoways
Publisher:
W. W. Norton & Company
Published Date: 2025-06-05
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What a fantastically researched book about the Tequila Wars in Mexico by author Ted Genoways. This book deals with Jose Cuervo, his family, his rival the Sauza family and the sad wars in Mexico for over 50 years. Yes, the liquor Tequila plays a big part in this, but the actual town of Tequila is really the main player in all the revolutions that swept through the country. So many times the city was burned, bombarded, its citizens killed either by revolutionaries or constitutionalsts. Cuervo was survivor, and a political force besides being the larges Agave grower and distiller of Tequila. This is truly the first book that tells the entire truthful stuggle that the Mexican citizens endured and by the end we come o realize that all the bootleg routes used by the Tequila companies no longer are needed but have been taken over by the Mexican drug cartels. Wonderful depiction of the life and times of Cuervo and others and a definite book to read if you wish to understand Mexico!
Interesting background story of the Tequila production
3/4 of the way through it. I can't put it down. I’ve been struggling to find a page turner recently, but this one has me hooked. Think The Splendid and the Vile, but the main character is Jose Cuervo and the conflict is the Mexican Revolution of the early 1910s. The amount of political upheaval that was happening there is mind-blowing, and Cuervo had to figure out how to navigate it where the guy who he backed one day gets overthrown by a guy who considers Cuervo a traitor for backing the incumbent and then wants to kill him. You also learn about the history of Tequila, which is fun too. I can’t put the book down. Also, for fans of Ray Dalio’s “Principles for Dealing with a Changing World Order,” but this book dovetails with one of my main takeaways from that book, which was that the most violent periods are never during the initial change in government of a revolution. It’s what happens once people start fighting for power once the revolution has already taken place. That’s exactly what happens in this book, and it has had me thinking a lot about how I would handle such a situation.
