Jose Antonio de Cuervo received a land grant in 1758 from the King of Spain to start an agave farm in the Jalisco region of Mexico.
Jose used his agave plants to make mescal, a popular Mexican liquor. In 1795, King Carlos IV gave the land grant to Cuervo’s descendant Jose Maria Guadalupe de Cuervo and granted the Cuervo family the first license to commercially make tequila.
The family started packaging it in individual bottles in 1880, and in 1900 the tequila started using the brand name Jose Cuervo. The brand is still under the leadership of the original Jose Cuervo’s family. Juan-Domingo Beckmann is the sixth generation of Cuervo ancestors to run the company.