How Tequila Production Made Its Way to Israel
Tequila, the spirit derived from the sap of the agave cactus, first saw large scale production in Mexico in the mid-to-late 15th century, as soldiers and explorers from Spain (known as “conquistadors”) discovered the local brew and partnered with local distillers to make the liquor available commercially. Though there’s no evidence that Jewish merchants or entrepreneurs were involved in the initial creation of a commercial market for tequila, there is substantial evidence that Jewish businessmen were integral to the explosion of the tequila market in the 20th century.
How a Jewish Community Developed in Mexico
According to most estimates, there are approximately 50,000 Jewish people living in Mexico today, most of who reside in Mexico City. The first Jewish settlers arrived just over have a millennia ago, in 1519, as many fled Spain to avoid compulsory conversion to Catholicism. Some who came to Mexico had already converted (hence the term conversos), but emigrated to the New World so that they could return to their Jewish roots. In Mexico, as elsewhere within the Jewish diaspora, Jewish people typically embraced local customs and traditions, commonly integrating traditional customs into local culture.
For the first four hundred-plus years of tequila production in Mexico, there was little involvement from the Jewish community. Part of the challenge stemmed from the application of Jewish dietary laws. While tequila made unadulterated from blue agave is inherently kosher, consumers could never know for certain if the barrels used for aging the tequila had previously held non-kosher item or if the grains used might not be kosher.
Milagro Tequila—The First Jewish Venture into the Tequila Industry
In the 1990s, two young entrepreneurs in Mexico City, Danny Schneeweiss and Moises Guindi, founded Milagro Tequila. Neither had any experience or background in tequila or even liquor production. Schneeweis said they were drawn to tequila because they knew that the unadulterated form of the spirit was kosher, but also because they perceived that nobody in the industry was trying to be distinct of different. Schneeweis’ family was in the glass production business, so the two decided to start by making the bottle visually striking. The two ultimately chose a blue bottle, symbolic of the blue agave. When they introduced their signature bottle, it was a one-of-a-kind. Now, many well-know tequila brands have some shade of blue bottle.
In addition, they traveled from Mexico City into the local mountains and found that the flavor of the local brews was more appealing than most other tequilas on the market. The agave used in the mountains was typically more mature than that used in most commercial tequila production. Also, that tequila typically came from agave that had been cooked for as long as 36 hours in a wood-fired brick or clay oven. Schneeweis and Guindi teamed with master distiller, Pedro Juarez, to develop a process that would replicate that taste, using only mature agave and slowly cooking it in Greek ovens.
The Negev Initiative—The Blue Agave Comes to the Israeli Desert
The first known cultivation of blue agave in the Negev occurred in the 1950s, when Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion imported seedlings to plant there, hoping to develop a thriving fiber industry that would produce rope and sacks. The enterprise was disbanded after about 20 years, as unable to compete with cheaper synthetic materials.
In 2019, entrepreneurs at Kibbutz Alumim in the Western Negev, asked the Israeli government for permission to bring blue agave plants into the country specifically for tequila production. Their request was denied, so they brought seeds and started from scratch, planting 35 hectares. Officials hope to have the first spirits available commercially within the next two years, though they won’t be able to call the libation tequila. That product name is legally protected under international law, and may only be used in connection with agave liquor made in certain locations in Mexico.
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