El Podcast

E144: Tequila’s Kingpin: The José Cuervo Story - w/ Ted Genoways

Episode Summary

Two-time James Beard Award winner Ted Genoways joins us to discuss his new book Tequila Wars, the first full biography of Jose Cuervo and a gripping history of Mexico’s tequila empire. From revolution to prohibition, Genoways uncovers how Cuervo helped build the country’s first cartel and shaped a global industry.

Episode Notes

Journalist Ted Genoways reveals the untold, action-packed history behind Jose Cuervo and the birth of Mexico’s tequila industry—and how it became the country’s first cartel.

👤 Guest Bio:
Ted Genoways is a two-time James Beard Award-winning journalist, senior editor at the Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN), and author of Tequila Wars: Jose Cuervo and the Bloody Struggle for the Spirit of Mexico. A veteran of longform investigative work, Genoways has spent over a decade researching the political, cultural, and economic roots of tequila in Mexico.

📚 Topics Discussed:

The real Jose Cuervo and the town of Tequila

• Differences between tequila and mezcal
• How tequila’s boom was fueled by Prohibition and WWII
• Cuervo's ties to Mexican revolutionaries and early cartel formation
• The risks of agave monoculture and authenticity battles in today’s market
• Lupe Gallardo’s lost diaries and research challenges
• The Beckman family’s modern stewardship of the Cuervo empire
• Best tequilas, cocktails, and restaurants in Mexico

📌 Main Points:

• Tequila’s rise isn’t just a story of booze—it’s one of war, politics, and survival.
• Jose Cuervo was more than a name on a bottle—he helped electrify towns, navigate revolutions, and pioneered cartel-like business practices.
• U.S. Prohibition and World War II drove tequila's global expansion by creating gaps in the liquor market.
• Lupe Gallardo’s rare journals provided an intimate, near-lost window into Cuervo’s household.
• The Cuervo brand remains family-run and central to preserving the legacy and economy of the Tequila region.

💬 Top 3 Quotes:

• “By the end, the challenge wasn’t adding action—it was finding moments to breathe between people shooting at each other.”
• “Lupe became the historian of Cuervo’s world in a way he never could be—she observed everything and wrote it all down.”
• “Tequila is more than a drink. It’s a history of survival, ingenuity, and reinvention—Mexico in a bottle.”