Jose Cuervo
Jose Cuervo is a brand of tequila that was founded in 1795 by Don Jose Antonio de Cuervo. It is the best selling tequila in the world, with 35.1% market share of the tequila category worldwide and 33.66% share of the US tequila category as of July 2013, nearly twice the share of the second-leading brand. As of 2012, Jose Cuervo sells 3.5 million cases of tequila in the US annually, and a fifth of the world's tequila by volume.
Jose Cuervo has always been family-owned and is run today by the Beckmann family of Mexico, direct descendants of Don Jose Antonio de Cuervo. Juan-Domingo "Dobel" Beckmann, son of Don Juan Beckmann, is the sixth-generation leader of the company. In July 2013 Proximo Spirits took over US distribution of Jose Cuervo from Diageo, who had managed it since 1997.
History
Early history
Agave's use as a flavoring and sweetener dates back at least 2,000 years. Shortly after the Spanish conquistadors arrived in Mexico in the early 1500s, they applied their knowledge of the distillation process to pulque, an old Mexican drink made from fermented agave, to create a mezcal. This was a precursor to tequila, which is a form of mezcal.
