Counterfeit Tequila

(Mexico City) The popularity of tequila has exploded in the last couple of decades and caused a flood of counterfeiters. Currently, the Mexican government only allows the tequila name to be used for 735 brands of blue agave liquor from 118 companies in Mexico. Anything outside that realm cannot be called tequila or political, legal and law enforcement action can be expected.

Unfortunately, the Mexican Tequila Regulatory Council has had to chase fake tequila-makers throughout Mexico and the world.

Tequila makers said they also are spotting knockoff liquors in other countries.

Complaints from the Mexican government forced a South African company, Agave Distillers Limited, to stop using the tequila name for the Agava liquor it began producing in 2002. The company acknowledges Agava is a tequila look-alike.

"The final product is virtually indistinguishable and in some ways superior to its Mexican counterpart," the company's Web site boasts.

The council said it has found fake tequilas across South America, Europe, Australia and the United States. In Britain, one company even put the tequila name on bottles of paint thinner, the council said.

To fight counterfeiters, the tequila council has hired detectives to comb bars and grocery shelves worldwide, he said. When they find knockoff tequila, the council contacts Mexican embassies, foreign governments and law firms to put pressure on the producers.

Paint thinner! Crikey!

"Have a go, mate?" (cough, cough) "It's SMOO-O-OOTH!"