Tequila Wars

Jose Cuervo and the Bloody Struggle for the Spirit of Mexico

By: Ted Genoways

Narrated by: Andrew Joseph Perez

At the dawn of the twentieth century, José Cuervo inherited his family's humble distillery, La Rojeña, in the Tequila Valley. Within a decade, it would become Mexico's leading producer of tequila. 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.

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.

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.

©2025 Ted Genoways (P)2025 Highbridge Audio