Jose Cuervo: additive-free narrative ‘overstated’
The parent company of Jose Cuervo believes there is a “misconception” about the use of additives in the Tequila industry, claiming they are “not harmful”.
Over the past year, the conversations around additives being used in Tequila have heightened, creating widespread debates across the industry and beyond.
The category’s regulations are enforced by the Consejo Regulador del Tequila (CRT). As stipulated by the CRT, Tequilas made entirely from Blue Weber agave can include up to 1% of additives (also known as abocantes) in production, but this does not have to be disclosed on the label. The four additives legally allowed to be added to 100% agave Tequilas are: glycerin, caramel colouring, oak extract and sugar-based syrups (jarabes).
Many have commented on the additive-free conundrum in recent months, and now the world’s biggest Tequila maker, Jose Cuervo, has added its voice to the additive-free issue in the industry.
“I know there’s been a lot of noise around these issues and we’ve been kind of in the back seat just watching it, but I think at this point we decided that it was time for us to really open up, not only about what we do, but also what we think about this whole additive-free movement,” says Lander Otegui, executive vice-president, marketing and innovation at Jose Cuervo parent company Proximo Spirits.
He goes on to explain that the company is “fully supportive of consumer transparency”, adding that this is a “long-term trend that is happening across every single industry, not only in spirits or alcohol, but across the board, and consumers are asking for this transparency”.
Otegui said: “Transparency is the way to go, and we firmly believe that it’s something that is going to stay when it comes to additives.”
He noted there has been “a lot of noise around the additive situation”, highlighting that additives are “present across multiple industries, not only Tequila”, pointing to the likes of Scotch, rum and Cognac.
“From a macro standpoint, I think it’s a little bit unfair that this question [of using additives] is only centred around Tequila and not other spirits categories,” he explains, adding they have been “prevalent for many years” and “are not harmful”.
He explains: “They are just things that are used to standardise certain things within products, whether it’s the colour, the mouthfeel, the taste and the flavour – it’s not a substitute, it’s just an enhancer, something to balance it out.”
For his second point, Otegui also stresses that Proximo Spirits does produce additive-free Tequilas through its blanco offerings.
“All of our blancos are made with only three ingredients: agave, yeast and water. In the case of [Jose Cuervo] Especial Silver, it’s a mixto Tequila. So it’s made with agave, other sugars for the other 49% and then water and yeast.
“So we are capable of participating in that narrative. We just don’t believe it’s the right narrative for Tequila right now, and for the category to be built for the future.”
CRT puts a stop to ‘additive-free’ claims
The dispute over making additive-free claims in the Tequila industry came to a head last year.
In August 2024, the CRT and Mexico’s federal consumer protection agency, PROFECO (Office of the Federal Prosecutor for the Consumer), issued a statement that said the “certification of the term ‘additive-free’ would cause confusion among consumers and regulated parties and in the conformity assessment activities” and “the use of the phrase ‘additive-free’ as part of the commercial information displayed on the labelling of ‘Tequila’, must be previously verified and not mislead regarding the characteristics and nature of such alcoholic beverage”.
As such, PROFECO stated the term ‘additive-free’ misleads and confuses consumers due to its inaccuracy, and is in violation of the Tequila NOM. The CRT issued a notice on 12 August to urge the industry to avoid using the phrase.
The CRT has taken action against several brands that have promoted themselves as ‘additive-free’.
The regulatory body asked Mijenta Tequila to take the term off its labels, despite it being initially approved, prompting the brand to use stickers to cover the words instead of throwing away the labels.
Meanwhile, Bacardi revealed last month that it was in “constructive conversations” with the CRT to address the topic of additives transparently following a ban on Patrón exports for several days in February. The move was made in response to an additive-free campaign by Patrón in the US.
Addressing the ‘misconception’
Otegui believes there is a “misconception” regarding the use of additives in Tequila.
He explains: “They’re not a substitute for ageing, which is some something that people believe. So you cannot call a Tequila an añejo Tequila by just putting additives into it. It has to be three months for a reposado, over a year for añejo, and more than three years for extra añejo. So an additive is not a substitution.”
He adds that the narrative around additives being used to “cut corners” is “completely incorrect and overstated”.
Using colour as an example, he says: “When you use different charring in different barrels, or you’re finishing Tequila in different barrels, the colour that those barrels produce is not going to always be the same. And if you think of a consumer, think about any other industry, you want your product to look the same on the shelf.”
Otegui stresses that in some cases when caramel colouring is used in Tequila production it is “not to substitute a flavour”, adding that caramel colouring has “zero flavour” and is used for standardisation.
He emphasises the importance of Tequilas appearing the same on shelves to consumers, particularly in Mexico, where “there’s a lot of counterfeit Tequila being produced”.
The company uses caramel colouring in its Jose Cuervo Gold Tequila for this reason.
Otegui continues: “I cannot speak for the rest of the industry, but our agaves are fully mature, especially when you talk about our super, ultra-premium Tequila products, we don’t cut corners in that way as this communication has been falsely attributed.
“We use fully mature agaves all the way to seven, eight years old, even nine-year-old agave in some cases.”
‘False narrative’
Otegui describes Proximo as the “most integrated Tequila company in Mexico” with the firm planting the largest amount of agave in the industry.
He said: “We are the most integrated from farm all the way to bottle. We pay farmers with long-term contracts, which is very different from other companies that are buying agave at spot prices [current market price], which is very damaging to the agave growers, and most of those are the companies that are speaking about additive free.
“So I think there’s a false narrative in what’s really important for the industry and for the future of the category that none of these companies are really speaking about.
“So when you look at how the farmers are being affected by these brands that are probably internationally owned, people that are looking either to fill gaps in their portfolio or to make a quick turnaround, buy, create a brand, grow it for a few years and then flip it and sell it to someone else.
“They don’t really care about what’s happening in Mexico. They don’t really care about what’s going to happen in seven years with these agave growers that are planting agave today. What’s going to happen with those families, what’s going to happen with that community? What’s going to happen with that distillery that’s making Tequila for all of these brands? We do because we’ve been in Tequila for over 250 years, and for us, it’s legacy.
“We care about the town, we care about the people, and we care about the agave growers, and that’s why we have long-term contracts with them. They make money from selling agave for years, not just when the agave prices are high, which is how some companies take advantage.”
Otegui believes it’s nearly impossible to determine if additives have been used.
He adds: “What’s important to understand is whenever you go from a blanco to an aged product, it’s pretty much impossible to tell if a product has additives or not, because you are extracting things from the barrel, right?”
As an example, he points to Jose Cuervo Reserva De La Familia Tequila, which is finished in a Sherry cask.
“If you were to test a product like that, you’re extracting a lot of sugar from the Sherry cask,” he says. “So even if I decided to go and do a lab test on that product, there’s going to be stuff in the liquid that was, of course, not agave. Of course, it’s not water and it’s not yeast. But that’s the whole point of using a cask because you’re adding flavours, and that flexibility allows for Tequilas to taste different. If everybody used the same exact technique, the same exact basis, then everything would taste pretty much the same.”
When I ask Otegui why he believes additives have become a big issue in the agave spirits industry as opposed to other spirits segments, he points to Tequila being “the hottest category right now” with “lots of consumer interest”.
He feels many consumers are “looking for more information” around the category, and adds that Tequila “has been built around the craft and the authenticity and the nature of how it’s being produced”.
In regards to the CRT’s stance on additives and preventing brands from labelling and marketing their products with the term, Otegui says the regulatory body has “done a really good job over the years” to protect the category.
“I’m pretty sure that if they made that decision, it’s because they believe that it’s for the best of Tequila category because some people falsely claim that the CRT only protects or it’s only represented by ‘big Tequila’, whatever that means. The CRT represents all the value chain. They represent the agave growers. They represent small distilleries, big distilleries, they represent everybody, and everybody has the same vote or the same rights within the CRT. There’s no control of the CRT by anyone. So I think that’s the first thing that is important to understand,” he explains.
‘No real standards’
When it comes to advertising, Otegui says his point of view is “it’s very tricky and dangerous to advertise something that you can’t really fact check”.
He continues: “The fact is that in the past, the brands that were claiming to be additive-free didn’t have any real support from anybody that was like a valid lab test, or anybody that was checking every single batch of the production to make sure that their brand or their product was actually additive free. They were just using the claim like if it was the Wild West. There was no real standard. Nobody was going and checking every single batch, no one was lab testing every single batch. So it was an overstated claim.
“I think that had no real validity or fact checking around it, and especially since a lot of these brands are made in facilities that produce Tequilas with all kinds of different things. So it’s not like they had full control of everything that was happening within their Tequilas, yet they were claiming things that that were probably not really well tested and validated.
“So I think if these companies want transparency, and they want to offer consumers something like that, they need to make sure that they’re having their products being validated with the right standards, which they weren’t in the past.”
Otegui also claims that most growth in the category is “coming from the brands that that are not claiming anything around additives”.
According to figures (Nielsen XAOC and Liquor Open State and Conv/last 52 weeks to 19 April 2025) provided by Proximo, almost 90% of the overall growth in the Tequila category is driven by brands that are not participating in the additive-free narrative.
Jose Cuervo reported a 9.9% net sales increase in the first quarter of this year, however volume fell by 3.9%.
Otegui says producers claiming to be additive free are “losing share to the brands that are not participating in that narrative”.
As such, he believes the conversations around additives are “still very small and concentrated”.
He reiterated the importance of transparency, adding that the conversation should be on the community and sustainability to support the category in the long term.
“’Big Tequila’ are the ones that are capable of doing the big things for the community, the big things for the environment, the big things for innovation, the big things to protect the future,” Otegui stresses.
“And that’s the reason why the category is successful today. It’s not because of the small, craft Tequilas. It’s because these big companies have been putting a lot of resources, investment and a lot of focus into growing this category, and we are the ones that are protecting the real long term of the industry.”
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