La Guerra del Tequila / Tequila Wars: José Cuervo and the Bloody Struggle for the Spirit of Mexico

La reveladora historia del imperio tequilero nacido de la Revolución mexicana.

En La guerra del tequila, Ted Genoways desentierra una historia sepultada por décadas de silencio y archivos incendiados para revelar la épica y violenta forja de un imperio global... el del tequila.

Mientras México se desangraba en la Revolución, el valle de Tequila, en Jalisco, se convirtió en un campo de batalla donde las destilerías eran bombardeadas y los suministros saqueados. En este escenario de caos, el magnate José Cuervo libró una encarnizada rivalidad contra la familia Sauza, una disputa que trascendió los negocios para derramarse en emboscadas y traiciones por las calles del Bajío mexicano.

La obra documenta cómo Cuervo aprovechó las grietas de la Ley Seca estadounidense y las rutas del contrabando fronterizo para convertir un licor despreciado por los invasores franceses en un pilar de la estructura financiera del país, negociando en las sombras con figuras como Pancho Villa, Victoriano Huerta y Álvaro Obregón.

Basado en las memorias íntimas de su sobrina Guadalupe Gallardo y en archivos familiares rescatados del olvido, este libro es un thriller histórico que combina la precisión académica con un ritmo cinematográfico, revelando un momento completamente desconocido y fascinante de la historia patria.

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A New York Times Editors' Choice.

"A dizzying tale.... Mexico should be grateful to Mr. Genoways for bringing [José Cuervo] back from the dead." --Tunku Varadarajan, Wall Street Journal

Finalist for the 2026 James Beard Foundation's Award for Reference, History, and Scholarship.

A revelatory history of the vast tequila empire born from the fires of the Mexican Revolution.

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.