There is a dispute in the tequila industry over the right to certify and label tequila as additive free—but the small brands producing it are bearing the brunt of the fallout
*Update: On Sunday, October 6, 2024, Grover Sanschagrin shared that they would be removing all brands from the Additive Free Alliance website and the Tequila Interchange app after action by the CRT. Listen to his full statement here.
In January, ElVelo Tequila received some disheartening news. The labels their bottles had carried for years—as they had worked to establish themselves in the competitive U.S. market—were suddenly deemed unacceptable by Mexico’s tequila regulators, the Consejo Regulador de Tequila (CRT).
“We had always put on the back label ‘No Additives.’ However, the CRT flagged it and said we had six months to destroy labels and then print new labels,” says Leanne Favre, the brand manager at Altamar Brands, the distiller and importer of ElVelo. She couldn’t offer an exact dollar total lost by ElVelo, but called it a “not an inconsequential amount.”
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ElVelo is just one of the independent brands that have been swept up in the conflict over additive-free messaging in the tequila industry. This now-yearslong ruckus centers on what can and cannot rightfully be labeled additive free and by whom, and whether these now-contested words can appear on bottles. But as the dispute over the right to certify continues, independent producers are left with the often costly task of navigating the chaos.
The conflict came to a head on March 27, when Mexican authorities raided the Jalisco home of Grover and Scarlet Sanschagrin, the founders of Tequila Matchmaker, an organization advocating for greater transparency within the industry, and the Additive Free Alliance, which has been tracking and testing tequilas for their use of additives since 2020—work which put them at odds with the CRT. Indeed, the criminal complaint that spurred the raid came from the CRT, alleging the Sanschagrins property was housing a factory producing adulterated alcoholic beverages. Tequila insiders speculated about the motives behind the CRT’s allegations.
As the dust settles after the raid, and producers await the rollout of a CRT-sanctioned additive-free program, SevenFifty Daily reached out to brands and producers to find out what’s behind the conflict and how they’ve been impacted. *Update: On Sunday, October 6, 2024, Grover Sanschagrin shared that they would be removing all brands from the Additive Free Alliance website and the Tequila Interchange app after action by the CRT. Listen to his full statement here.
In January, ElVelo Tequila received some disheartening news. The labels their bottles had carried for years—as they had worked to establish themselves in the competitive U.S. market—were suddenly deemed unacceptable by Mexico’s tequila regulators, the Consejo Regulador de Tequila (CRT).
“We had always put on the back label ‘No Additives.’ However, the CRT flagged it and said we had six months to destroy labels and then print new labels,” says Leanne Favre, the brand manager at Altamar Brands, the distiller and importer of ElVelo. She couldn’t offer an exact dollar total lost by ElVelo, but called it a “not an inconsequential amount.”
Don’t miss the latest drinks industry news and insights. Sign up for our award-winning newsletters and get insider intel, resources, and trends delivered to your inbox every week.
→
ElVelo is just one of the independent brands that have been swept up in the conflict over additive-free messaging in the tequila industry. This now-yearslong ruckus centers on what can and cannot rightfully be labeled additive free and by whom, and whether these now-contested words can appear on bottles. But as the dispute over the right to certify continues, independent producers are left with the often costly task of navigating the chaos.
The conflict came to a head on March 27, when Mexican authorities raided the Jalisco home of Grover and Scarlet Sanschagrin, the founders of Tequila Matchmaker, an organization advocating for greater transparency within the industry, and the Additive Free Alliance, which has been tracking and testing tequilas for their use of additives since 2020—work which put them at odds with the CRT. Indeed, the criminal complaint that spurred the raid came from the CRT, alleging the Sanschagrins property was housing a factory producing adulterated alcoholic beverages. Tequila insiders speculated about the motives behind the CRT’s allegations.
As the dust settles after the raid, and producers await the rollout of a CRT-sanctioned additive-free program, SevenFifty Daily reached out to brands and producers to find out what’s behind the conflict and how they’ve been impacted.
The Issue With Additives in Tequila
Additives first began to appear in tequila as early as the 1860s to cover up bad agave and fungal blight. These days they include jarabe (sugar-based syrups that can add flavors of vanilla and tutti frutti), caramel coloring, oak extract, and glycerin. “They’re considered legal and very normal,” says Scarlet Sanschagrin. The Sanschagrins estimate that at least 70 percent of tequilas on the market contain additives, but perhaps as high as 85 percent.
“Some mass-produced brands use additives because they’re harvesting agave prematurely using diffusers that strip agave of all its natural qualities,” says Adam Millman, the cofounder and CEO of De Nada Tequila, an independently owned producer of additive-free tequila. “You are left with a flavorless distillate liquid that is then filled with additives in an attempt to restore flavor and as a way to make mass-volume tequila at a higher margin.”
While they have no reported health risks, additives can confuse neophyte consumers as to what tequila is supposed to taste like—notably cooked agave—instead rendering spirits vanilla-laden, sickly sweet, and with an overly syrupy mouthfeel. But more pertinently, brands are under no legal obligation to disclose the use of additives to the consumer.
The Norma Oficial Mexicana (NOM), the compulsory standards and regulations for Mexican products enforced by the CRT, allows for one percent of the weight of the liquid to be additives—referred to in the NOM as abocantes. The Sanschagrins have gotten their hands on a non-public document that lists what abocantes are allowed—it’s 67 pages long. Brands who use these permitted abocantes can still claim to be additive free.
That’s why the Sanschagrins started doing their own lab testing. There isn’t one definitive test to detect all additives, so “you have to know what you’re looking for,” says Grover Sanschagrin. They mainly use liquid chromatography, testing for 19 common additives, including intense artificial sweeteners like acesulfame K, aspartame, stevia, and saccharine.
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