Drinks in Mexico

Overview

Mexico drinks beer every day, tequila and mezcal to celebrate, aguas frescas with lunch, and coffee or hot chocolate in the morning. Behind the familiar names are dozens of regional agave spirits, fermented drinks older than the Spanish conquest, and a Mexico City cocktail scene that rivals any in the world. This page covers what to order, distillery visits, the law, counterfeit liquor, ice and water, and getting bottles home.

For food, see food; for Mexico City's bars, see eating and drinking in CDMX. Wine regions, led by the Valle de Guadalupe, are covered in Baja Norte and San Miguel and Querétaro.

Tequila

What makes it tequila

Tequila is a spirit distilled from one plant, the blue Weber agave (Agave tequilana Weber var. azul), inside a protected denomination of origin that Mexico declared in 1974. The zone covers all of Jalisco plus a limited number of municipalities in Guanajuato, Michoacán, Nayarit and Tamaulipas. Production is certified by the Consejo Regulador del Tequila (CRT) under the official standard NOM-006-SCFI-2012.

The agave grows for roughly 5–8 years before jimadores trim it with a flat blade called a coa, leaving the heart, or piña. Piñas are cooked in brick ovens or autoclaves, crushed by a stone wheel (tahona) or roller mill, fermented and distilled at least twice. Some big distilleries use diffusers, which extract sugar from raw agave; many aficionados find the result flatter.

100% agave versus mixto

• "Tequila 100% de agave" (or "100% puro de agave") must be made only from blue agave sugars and bottled inside the denomination zone.
• "Tequila" with no "100%" on the label is a mixto: at least 51% of the sugars come from agave and the rest from other sources, usually cane sugar. Mixtos can be shipped in bulk and bottled elsewhere, including in the US.

Gold tequila is usually a mixto colored with caramel.

The NOM number

Every bottle carries "NOM" followed by a four-digit number identifying the distillery that made it. Jose Cuervo's La Rojeña, for example, is NOM 1122. Many brands, including celebrity labels, are made under contract at the same few distilleries, so the NOM tells you more about what is inside than the marketing does. You can look up a NOM in the CRT's records or on enthusiast databases before buying.

Categories

You will also see cristalino: aged tequila filtered through charcoal to remove the color. It is a popular style and a marketing term, not one of the official classes in the standard. The standard also allows producers to add small amounts of caramel color, oak extract, glycerin and sugar syrup without listing them on the label, which is why some brands now advertise themselves as additive-free.

How Mexicans drink it

Good tequila is sipped neat from a caballito (a tall, narrow shot glass) or a small stemmed glass, slowly, at room temperature. Often it comes with a sangrita on the side, a tangy chaser of citrus juice, pomegranate or grenadine and chile, taken in alternating sips. The lick-salt, shoot, bite-lime ritual is mostly for cheap mixto and for visitors. To order, ask for "un tequila derecho" (neat) or name the brand and class.

Visiting Tequila town and the distilleries

The town of Tequila, a Pueblo Mágico about 37 miles (60 km) northwest of Guadalajara, sits among blue-gray agave fields below the extinct Tequila volcano. The landscape and its old distilleries were listed together by UNESCO in 2006 as the Agave Landscape and Ancient Industrial Facilities of Tequila. It makes an easy and enjoyable day trip from Guadalajara.

What to see

The Jose Cuervo Express train

The Jose Cuervo Express runs from Guadalajara to Tequila and back as an all-day package, with drinks on board, a tour of La Rojeña and time in town. The main Saturday experience lasts about 11 hours. 2026 prices, all in pesos:

Seasonal departures change through the year. For Día de Muertos 2026, a themed car with dinner and mariachi runs on October 31 and November 7 for MX$4,850 (about $264). Book on the Jose Cuervo Express page; popular dates sell out weeks ahead.

Other ways to get there

• Bus: frequent second-class buses leave from Guadalajara's old bus station (Antigua Central Camionera) and take about 1.5–2 hours.
• Day tours: vans from Guadalajara hotels usually combine a distillery, agave fields and lunch in town.
• Driving: about 1–1.5 hours on toll Highway 15D. Only if someone in your group will skip the tastings.

Safety in Jalisco

Under the State Department advisory of May 29, 2026, Jalisco is Level 3, Reconsider Travel, because of crime and kidnapping. There are no restrictions on US government employees in the Guadalajara metro area, Puerto Vallarta, Chapala or Ajijic. Restrictions cover southern Jalisco along Highway 110 toward the Michoacán border and Highway 80 south of Cocula. The town of Tequila, northwest of Guadalajara, is outside those zones and is not named in the advisory.

In February 2026, after Mexican forces killed the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the cartel carried out retaliatory attacks in Jalisco and many other states; flights were briefly grounded and the US Embassy told Americans to shelter in place until the situation stabilized. Visit in daylight, use the train or an established tour, enroll in the State Department's STEP alerts, and check the news the day before. See safety.

Mezcal

Mezcal is any spirit distilled from cooked agave within its own denomination of origin, granted in 1994 and certified under NOM-070-SCFI-2016. The zone covers Oaxaca and all or part of roughly a dozen other states, among them Guerrero, Durango, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Puebla, Michoacán, Guanajuato and Tamaulipas. Tequila itself began as a regional mezcal.

Unlike tequila, mezcal can be made from many agave species, usually roasted in pits, which gives many mezcals their smoky edge. A good one tastes of its place, its plant and the maestro mezcalero who made it.

Agaves you will see on labels

An "ensamble" blends several agaves. Wild agaves can take a decade or more to mature and are being overharvested, so wild mezcals are rightly expensive; ask producers whether they replant.

Mezcal, artesanal and ancestral

The standard sorts mezcal into three categories by how it is made, and the category must appear on the label.

• Mezcal: industrial methods are allowed, including autoclaves, diffusers and column stills.
• Mezcal artesanal: agave cooked in earth pits or masonry ovens; crushed by mallet, stone wheel or mechanical shredder; fermented in natural vessels; distilled over direct fire in copper pot stills or clay pots. Most good mezcal you will taste is in this category.
• Mezcal ancestral: pit-roasted, crushed by hand or stone wheel, and distilled over direct fire in clay pots only. The rarest and most traditional.

Classes describe aging and flavoring: blanco or joven (unaged and by far the most common), madurado en vidrio (rested in glass), reposado, añejo, abocado con (flavored after distilling) and destilado con, which includes pechuga, a celebratory mezcal distilled a third time with fruit, spices and a raw chicken or turkey breast hung in the still.

Some excellent small-batch spirits are sold as "destilado de agave". That usually means the producer is outside the denomination zone or has not paid for certification. It is legal, and often a sign of a tiny producer, but there is no official guarantee of what is inside.

How to drink it

• Sip it neat, at room temperature, in small "kisses". Mezcal is often bottled at 45–55% alcohol.
• It is often served in a copita, a small clay cup, a gourd (jícara) or a ribbed votive glass, with orange slices and sal de gusano, a salt ground with toasted agave larvae and chile.
• The worm in the bottle is a marketing gimmick found mostly in cheap export mezcal. Tequila never contains one.
• Start with espadín, then compare a wild agave; good bars pour half servings.

Visiting palenques

A palenque is a mezcal distillery, often a family operation in an open-air shed. Visiting one is the best way to understand the drink: you see agave hearts roasting in a stone-lined pit, a horse or mule turning a stone wheel to crush them, fermentation in wooden vats, and distillation in small copper or clay stills.

• Santiago Matatlán, about 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Oaxaca City, calls itself the world capital of mezcal and has dozens of palenques along Highway 190.
• Santa Catarina Minas is known for clay-pot mezcal, San Baltazar Chichicápam for espadín, and Sola de Vega and Miahuatlán for wild agaves.
• In Oaxaca City, tasting bars such as In Situ and Mezcaloteca (by reservation) offer guided flights from small producers.
• The Feria del Mezcal runs in Oaxaca City each July alongside the Guelaguetza (July 17–28 in 2026).

Oaxaca state is Level 2, Exercise Increased Caution, and the valley mezcal towns are outside the areas the advisory restricts. Group tours stop at one large commercial palenque with a shop; a mezcal-focused guide can take you to small family producers. Several other mezcal states, including Guerrero, Michoacán and Zacatecas, are Level 4, Do Not Travel, so taste their mezcals at bars in Oaxaca City or Mexico City instead. Full planning details are on the Oaxaca page.

Raicilla, bacanora, sotol and more

Beer

Beer (cerveza, or "chela") is the everyday drink, and two multinationals make almost all of it.

Sizes and buying

• Beer comes in cans, bottles, the shareable 32-ounce (940 ml) caguama and the bigger caguamón.
• Corner stores (OXXO, Six), Modelorama shops and depósitos sell it cold. Glass bottles are often returnable; without an empty to trade (an "envase"), you may pay a deposit.
• Many states limit the hours stores may sell alcohol, and clerks will refuse a sale after the cutoff.

Craft beer

Mexican craft brewing took off in the 2010s. Baja California is the center, with breweries in Tijuana, Ensenada and Mexicali such as Cucapá, Wendlandt and Agua Mala; see Baja Norte. Guadalajara's Minerva and Colima's Cervecería de Colima are widely distributed, and Mexico City has many craft taprooms. Expect to pay well above the price of a mass-market beer.

Michelada and friends

A chelada is beer with lime juice and a salted rim. A michelada adds hot sauce, Worcestershire or Maggi, and often Clamato or a chile rim. Names change by region, and in some places a "michelada" is just lime and salt. Ask "¿qué lleva?" (what's in it?) before you order.

Cocktails

Pulque

Pulque is the ancient fermented drink of central Mexico, made from aguamiel, the sap of mature maguey agaves, which ferments naturally within hours. It is milky, slightly viscous and sour, usually around beer strength, and was sacred to the Aztecs. Plain pulque is called "natural"; "curados" are blended with fruit, oats, nuts or even celery.

Because it keeps fermenting, real pulque does not travel or keep. You drink it fresh in a pulquería, served from barrels into big glasses or jugs. Mexico City has a revived pulquería scene, including long-running spots like Las Duelistas in the Centro and La Hija de los Apaches in Doctores, and the old pulque haciendas of Hidalgo, Tlaxcala and the State of Mexico make good day trips. It is unpasteurized, so if your stomach is sensitive, start with a small glass.

Aguas frescas, horchata, atole and more

Mexico's non-alcoholic drinks are a highlight, and you will find them at every taquería, fonda and market.

• Aguas frescas: fruit, flowers or seeds blended with water and sugar, ladled from big glass jars. Classics are jamaica (hibiscus), tamarindo, limón con chía, pepino con limón (cucumber-lime) and seasonal fruits.
• Horchata: a rice-and-cinnamon drink, sometimes with milk. Oaxacan horchata adds prickly-pear syrup and chopped nuts.
• Atole: a hot, thick drink of masa (corn dough) with sugar and flavors such as vanilla, guava or strawberry, sold at dawn with tamales. Champurrado is chocolate atole.
• Regional corn and cacao drinks: tejate in Oaxaca (frothy, cold, made with maize, cacao and a tree flower), pozol in Chiapas and Tabasco, tascalate in Chiapas, and tejuino in Jalisco, a lightly fermented corn drink served with lime, salt and lime sorbet.
• Tepache: lightly fermented pineapple rind with piloncillo (raw cane sugar). Very low alcohol, very refreshing.
• Juices and licuados: market juice stands squeeze oranges and carrots and blend licuados (smoothies) with milk or water. Ask "¿con leche o con agua?".
• Sodas: cane-sugar Coca-Cola, Jarritos, Sidral Mundet (apple soda) and Topo Chico. Electrolit and other rehydration drinks are sold everywhere and are handy on hot days.

Coffee and hot chocolate

Coffee

Mexico is a major coffee grower. Chiapas produces the most, followed by Veracruz, Puebla and Oaxaca, much of it shade-grown by small farmers. The traditional brew is café de olla, simmered in a clay pot with cinnamon and piloncillo. Cities now have excellent specialty cafés, especially Mexico City, Oaxaca and Guadalajara.

In fondas and small towns, "café" can mean instant coffee; ask for "café de grano" or "café de olla" if you want brewed. Coffee-farm visits are easy around Coatepec in Veracruz, in the Chiapas highlands and at Pluma Hidalgo above Huatulco.

Hot chocolate

Cacao is Mexican, and chocolate was a drink long before it was a candy. Oaxacan drinking chocolate is stone-ground with sugar, cinnamon and often almonds, then whisked with water or milk until it foams, traditionally with a wooden molinillo. Have it with pan de yema (egg bread) for breakfast. In Oaxaca City, the shops on Calle Mina grind blends to order; tablets travel well and make good gifts. Tabasco and Chiapas also grow cacao, and cacao-farm tours are possible around Comalcalco in Tabasco.

Alcohol laws

Age and ID

You must be 18 to buy or drink alcohol. Clubs and bars in tourist areas regularly check ID, so carry your physical ID when you go out.

Ley seca (dry law)

Mexico has no permanent nationwide prohibition, but states and municipalities declare temporary dry laws that ban alcohol sales, usually covering the weekend of an election, and sometimes for holidays, major events or emergencies. The next nationwide vote is the federal midterm election in June 2027. Rules vary: some ban only store sales, others close bars and restaurants too. Hotels and resorts sometimes keep serving guests, but not always. If you are traveling around an election, ask your hotel what applies locally.

Drinking in public

Drinking on streets, in plazas and in parks is banned in almost every municipality, and many beach towns ban alcohol and glass on public beaches. Beach clubs, hotel beachfronts and festival zones operate under their own permits. Police enforce the rules, especially against tourists in party areas. The usual penalty is a fine or administrative arrest; Mexico's constitution caps administrative detention at 36 hours.

Drinking and driving

Open containers in a vehicle are illegal under most state traffic rules. Mexico City and many other cities run breathalyzer checkpoints, called alcoholímetros, and in the capital drivers over the limit are taken straight to a detention center for up to 36 hours, with no option to pay a fine instead. Mexican auto insurance policies typically exclude crashes where the driver was drunk, which can leave you personally liable. See driving.

Counterfeit alcohol, spiked drinks, water and ice

Unregulated and adulterated alcohol

The State Department's advisory warns that travelers have reported becoming sick or losing consciousness after drinking contaminated or unregulated alcohol, and that criminals sometimes drug drinks to rob or sexually assault people, especially in resort nightlife areas. The most dangerous adulterant is methanol, which can cause blindness and death.

COFEPRIS, Mexico's federal health-risk agency, inspects hotels, bars and restaurants and takes reports of suspect alcohol: call 800-033-5050 within Mexico or +52-55-5080-5425 from the US.

• At bars and all-inclusives, order brand-name drinks and watch them being poured. Many resorts pour unbranded "house" liquor unless you ask; requesting a named brand is reasonable.
• Beer in a can or bottle opened in front of you is the lowest-risk drink.
• Buy bottles at supermarkets, established liquor stores or the distillery. Avoid suspiciously cheap bottles, broken or reused seals, and unlabeled jugs from unknown sellers. Legal bottles carry a printed tax stamp (marbete) with a QR code.
• Never leave a drink unattended, and do not accept drinks from strangers. Go out with friends and agree to leave together.
• If you or a friend feel far drunker than you should, or have confusion, vision problems, severe headache or vomiting hours after drinking, get medical help immediately. Methanol poisoning is treatable if caught early.

Water and ice

The CDC advises travelers to Mexico not to drink tap water and to use bottled water with an intact seal, or water that has been disinfected. Hotels usually provide bottles or a large purified-water jug (garrafón). Ice is only as safe as the water it was made from; the CDC's advice is to avoid it unless it was made from bottled or disinfected water.

In practice, most restaurants, bars and hotels serving visitors buy bagged ice made from purified water, often in tube shapes with a hole through the middle. That is a good sign but no guarantee. Street stands and small rural places are less predictable. Aguas frescas at busy, established places are generally made with purified water; if in doubt, ask "¿es agua purificada?". Brush your teeth with bottled water. Full advice on food and water is on the health page.

Bringing bottles home

US Customs and Border Protection lets each adult 21 or older bring back 1 liter of alcohol duty-free. You may bring more for personal use, but you must declare it and pay duty and federal excise tax on the extra, and your home state's limits also apply. Under-21s may not bring any alcohol into the US. Details on customs limits are on the shopping and US customs page.

• Pack bottles in checked luggage. If you connect in the US, you go back through security after customs, and carry-on liquids over 3.4 ounces (100 ml) will be taken unless they were bought duty-free and are still in the sealed, tamper-evident bag with the receipt.
• Airline safety rules allow up to 5 liters per person of drinks between 24% and 70% alcohol in checked bags, in unopened retail packaging. Anything over 70% (140 proof) is banned.
• Wrap bottles in clothes inside plastic bags, or buy inflatable bottle protectors. Mezcal sold in plastic jugs at palenques tends to leak; ask for a sealed glass bottle.
• Declare everything. Undeclared alcohol can be seized and fined.