The British alcoholic drink maker Diageo is to build a $500m tequila distillery in the southwest Mexican state of Jalisco. Work on the plant will begin this year in the town of La Barca.
Álvaro Cárdenas, president of the company’s Latin America and Caribbean operations, commented in a press statement that its tequila sales had risen 79% in the past financial year, driven by demand in the US.
He said: “This is the most significant investment we have made in Latin America and the Caribbean in the past 10 years.”
The growth in US tequila consumption has been attributed to the Covid-19 lockdown, which has led to a surge in online buying and the making of summer cocktails at home.
The company said the La Barca plant would support Diageo’s 10-year sustainability plan by incorporating environment-friendly technologies, and would create around 1,000 jobs.
In 2019, the company completed another tequila facility in Atotonilco El Alto, in the southern state of Guanajuato. The company is also the owner of Tequila Casamigos, a brand created by actor George Clooney and other partners.
Tequila made from the blue agave plant, and originated in the area around the city of Tequila in Guadalajara and in the Jaliscan Highlands.
Image: Blue agave fields near Tequila (T2O media México/CC BY-SA 4.0)
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