The year 2025 turned out to be one of the most significant in recent Tequila history. While most beverage-alcohol categories faced declines in volume and revenue, Tequila resisted the global slowdown—remaining stable and, according to some surveys, even recording a slight increase.

Yet, performance metrics were overshadowed by a much more contentious issue: additives. A surge of brands promoting themselves as “additive-free” triggered a strong response from the Consejo Regulador del Tequila (CRT), the industry’s regulatory body, sparking widespread consumer confusion and heated debate.

To understand what the additives issue truly involves—where the regulations originate, what practices are allowed, and why the controversy began—we spoke extensively with Ana Cristina Villalpando Fonseca, Directora General of the Cámara Nacional de la Industria Tequilera, the trade association for the Tequila industry, whose insights over several months form the basis of this feature.

First, Villalpando Fonseca explains that the CRT does not establish the rules for the production and packaging of Tequila. Instead, those rules are created by the General Directorate of Standards appointed by the Mexican Ministry of the Economy. The CRT’s role is to enforce rules approved by the Mexican government.

From a practical perspective, notes Villalpando Fonseca, the additives used in Tequila fall into two main categories. These are flavoring agents used to artificially flavor Tequila, and what the CRT refers to as “abocamiento” (mellowing agents).

The rules for using artificial flavoring in Tequila are straightforward. Mexican regulations mandate that their use be clearly stated on the packaging, and there is no evidence indicating that Tequila producers are ignoring these rules.

Mellowing agents refer to four main additives: caramel color, oak or natural oak extract, glycerin, and sugar syrup. According to Mexican regulations, the combined weight of these mellowing agents cannot exceed 1% of the total weight of the Tequila. Additionally, mellowing agents are not permitted in Blanco Tequilas. The use of mellowing agents is the central point of controversy surrounding Tequila additives.

Most countries, including the U.S., EU, and Mexico (Tequila NOM-006), allow Class I Caramel (E150a) in distilled spirits. Caramel E150a is also known as “plain caramel,” “spirit caramel,” or “caustic caramel.” It is produced solely by heating carbohydrates, typically glucose, sucrose, or fructose. No ammonium or sulfite compounds are permitted. This caramel is considered the “purest” and least reactive. It yields a neutral flavor, minimizing the risk of off notes in spirits.

This type of caramel is preferred because it doesn’t react with ethanol or change the spirit’s aroma. Producers use spirit caramel to ensure consistent color across different batches. Sometimes, producers add caramel to darken a spirit’s color, making it seem older than its actual bottling age. Testing for the presence of spirit caramel is straightforward.

Oak or natural oak extract involves using additional oak during the aging process. There are no limits on how many times a spirit can be transferred between casks. Similarly, under Mexican regulations, there are no restrictions on using oak chips or additional staves to enhance oak flavors in a spirit, provided the Tequila still complies with the barrel-aging rules for its category.

Oak extract is a concentrated solution made from American or French oak, intended to provide the same color, aromas, and flavor compounds that spirits usually develop during barrel aging. It’s produced by boiling oak chips in an alcoholic solution, typically the same type of liquid to which it will be added.

It is often called oak essence, oak tincture, or natural oak extract. Oak extract contains essential oak-derived compounds such as vanillin (vanilla aroma), eugenol (spicy, clove-like notes), whiskey lactones (coconut, sweet wood), guaiacol (smoke/toast notes), furfural, and 5-methylfurfural (caramel, almond, toasted bread aromas). It also contains color compounds such as tannins, ellagic acid, and toast-derived phenols.

These compounds are the same ones naturally extracted during barrel aging. Oak extract does it faster and in a concentrated form. Using oak extract is one of several methods to enhance oak flavors in a spirit. A similar effect can be achieved through barrel grooving, in which grooves are cut into the barrel wood to increase the cask’s surface area.

STR (shave, toast, re-char), a process for rejuvenating barrels developed by the late Dr. Jim Swann, yields a similar effect. Raising the temperature in a warehouse, experiencing daily and seasonal temperature fluctuations, or changes in barometric pressure can also boost wood extraction. That’s why Texas and Colorado whiskeys are so heavily extracted and flavorful, and why they mature faster than those in cooler climates.

From a practical perspective, it’s difficult, and some might say impossible, to determine whether higher oak extraction levels were achieved through frequent barrel changes, greater temperature fluctuations, increased barrel surface area, or the use of oak extract to enhance oak-derived flavors.

Glycerin is a trihydroxy alcohol, which means it attracts water, increasing the liquid’s viscosity. Adding glycerin makes a spirit feel smoother, creamier, heavier, or fuller-bodied, and less sharp.

Glycerin has a mildly sweet taste, about 60% as sweet as sucrose. When added to a spirit, it can impart a subtle sweetness, mellow bitter and overly tannic flavors, and enhance the integration of oak notes, resulting in a more balanced profile. However, glycerin does not contribute a distinct flavor of its own; it primarily influences texture and sweetness, especially on the finish, rather than acting as a flavor ingredient.

Glycerin is a natural byproduct of yeast metabolism during alcoholic fermentation. All fermentations produce some glycerin, usually between .1% and 1% of the wash. When used as a softening agent, the added glycerin is typically around .5%, which is roughly in line with what is usually produced naturally.

However, there are ways to boost glycerin production during fermentation by stressing the yeast. Several methods can stress yeast, including high sugar concentrations in the must (mosto in Tequila), high fermentation temperatures, low nitrate levels, low oxygen availability, and the presence of sulfites in the must. Additionally, some yeast strains naturally produce high levels of glycerin.

Here, too, it is difficult to tell whether the glycerin levels in a spirit result from adding glycerin before bottling or from manipulating the natural fermentation process to stress the yeast and increase glycerin production.

In Tequila production, “sugar syrup” is used as a mellowing agent, a neutral, food-grade carbohydrate syrup added after distillation but before bottling to soften the spirit’s mouthfeel, add slight sweetness, and smooth out harsh edges. It differs from natural agave sugars produced during cooking.

Under NOM-006, the specific type of sugar used to make sugar syrup (jarabe de azúcar) is not detailed. The permitted sugar syrups include sucrose-based cane sugar syrup, glucose/fructose syrups made from corn syrup, inverted sugar syrup made from a fructose/glucose mixture, and other approved sweetening syrups authorized by the Mexican Ministry of Health.

These syrups must be food-grade, neutral in flavor and color, and highly filtered. They can only be used to mellow, soften, or stabilize flavor, and their total amount cannot exceed 1% of the final product’s weight, whether used alone or with the other three abocantes. If agave syrup is added after distillation as a sweetener, it is considered an additive rather than part of the natural Tequila production process.

Detecting added sugar syrup in Tequila or any spirit is one of the more difficult areas of spirits chemistry because many natural fermentation byproducts—especially in agave spirits—can resemble signs of added sugar.

However, modern analytical chemistry provides several powerful tools to detect whether sugar syrup was added after distillation. Ethanol comes from fermented agave sugar, while additives like sugar syrup remain in the nonvolatile fraction or dry extract. A mismatch could suggest the presence of added sugar syrup.

This is the test that the CRT uses to evaluate the presence and quantity of added sugar. A high dry extract alone doesn’t prove sugar syrup, but it is a significant warning sign and prompts further testing.

It’s important to understand that the presence of non-agave sugars in a Tequila does not necessarily mean they were added before fermentation. It’s entirely possible to find trace amounts of non-agave sugars in a Tequila, even if the spirit is 100% Blue Agave.

The controversy over Tequila additives began when several Tequila brands started advertising their Tequila as additive-free. According to Villalpando Fonseca, the CRT objected to this practice for three reasons. First, under Mexican rules, the certification of a Tequila as additive-free falls under the CRT’s authority, and it has not made any such determinations for any Tequila brands.

Secondly, third-party certification of Tequila as additive-free was unauthorized under Mexican law and violated the CRT’s role as the industry’s regulatory authority.

Thirdly, according to the CRT, there is no single test that can definitively determine whether a Tequila is additive-free since mellowing agents can naturally occur during Tequila production.

The controversy has eased somewhat, with many brands that previously claimed their Tequila was additive-free withdrawing those claims, but it hasn’t completely disappeared. It has also caused many consumers to believe that the industry is engaging in questionable practices or that the CRT isn’t properly regulating it, neither of which is true.

There is a more straightforward solution to the Tequila additives debate. The Mezcal industry officially recognizes Artisanal Mezcal as a type of Mezcal made using traditional methods and without mellowing agents. The label for Artisanal Tequila already exists. It’s informal and has not been legally established as a separate category of Tequila.

However, the Tequila industry informally uses the term “Artisanal Tequila” to describe traditional, craft-style production methods. These historical methods include horno-roasted agave, Tahona milling (stone wheel grinding), open-air fermentation, shallow fermentation tanks, copper pot stills, longer fermentation times, and no additives or abocamiento.

These methods are more labor-intensive, produce more complex flavors, and use only three ingredients: agave, yeast, and water. Several producers already make a Tequila they describe as artisanal,including Fortaleza, G4, Cascahuín, Siembra Valles, Siete Leguas, and Tapatío, among others.

If the Mexican government added “Artisanal Tequila” as an official category and defined the necessary production methods, it would then be the responsibility of the CRT, as the industry’s regulatory body, to ensure that brands producing Artisanal Tequila meet the standards. Consumers seeking additive-free Tequila could then choose Artisanal Tequila, resolving the controversy once and for all.

The Tequila additives debate has revealed more misunderstanding than misconduct. Mexican law—not the CRT—establishes the standards for Tequila production, and those standards clearly define both the permitted mellowing agents and their usage limits. The problem arises from the fact that many compounds labeled as “additives” also naturally occur during Tequila making, making it nearly impossible to certify a spirit as “additive-free definitively.”

Rather than seeing this as a flaw in the system, it highlights the complexity and variety of Tequila itself. A formal “Artisanal Tequila” category—based on traditional, additive-free methods like those in Mezcal—could provide a clear path forward, giving consumers a transparent choice without harming the broader industry.

Until then, there’s little reason for concern. Tequila remains one of the most strictly regulated spirits worldwide, and most producers abide by both the intent and the letter of the law. So, enjoy your Tequila with confidence. Salud!