What's Legal, What's Not, and Why It's Not on the Label
Most people assume tequila is just agave, water, and time. Legally, it doesn't have to be — and that surprises almost everyone the first time they hear it.
Mexico's tequila regulations (via the Consejo Regulador del Tequila) permit a small list of additives, up to 1% of total volume, without requiring any disclosure on the label:
- Glycerin — for texture, to fake a "smoother" mouthfeel
- Oak extract — to mimic barrel aging without the barrel
- Caramel coloring — to make a blanco look aged, or deepen an añejo's color
- Sugar-based syrups — to round out harsh edges or mask a rushed distillation
None of this has to appear on the bottle. A tequila can use all four and still call itself 100% agave, because the rule only restricts the sugar source used for fermentation — not what gets added after distillation.
Why brands do it: Additives are a shortcut. They can make a younger, cheaper batch taste smoother or look older than it actually is, without the time or cost of doing it the traditional way.
What to look for: There's no additive disclosure requirement in the U.S. or Mexico, so a label won't tell you directly. The clearest signals are consistency claims from the brand itself ("additive-free," verified by third-party databases like Tequila Matchmaker) and, honestly, trusting brands with a long enough history that cutting corners was never part of the process.
Centinela has never used additives — not because a law required it, but because 120 years of doing it one way doesn't leave much reason to start.
