Anyone who has ever been to Mexico has heard of, and probably sampled, Mexico´s national alcoholic beverage – tequila. Tequila is the distilled product of the blue agava plant which, like champagne grown in the Champagne region of France, can be labeled “Tequila” only if it is produced in the states of Jalisco, Nayarit or Guanajuato. However, that has not precluded distillers from other states making and marketing a tequila-cloned beverage, usually labeled “agave” or “mezcal,” with great success. In 1850, the State of Sinaloa commenced producing both agave and mezcal. The main distillers were the Tres Hermanos Hacienda belonging to the Iznunza family and the Pericos Hacienda of the Retes and Peiro families. In southern Sinaloa, the 1930s found several families licensed to make the beverage, including the locally familiar names of Kelly, Osuna, Tirado and Hend-erson. When the illegal narcotic trade began to infiltrate Sinaloa, the State government levied onerous taxes on the liquor industry on the premise that liquor and drugs promote violence. The end result was that in 1978 the production of agave and mezcal ceased in Sinaloa. Three years ago the Sinaloa government re-opened the door by issuing two licenses to make agave, one to the Osuna family, and one to a young 33 year old named Gabriel Tostado Bestidas. Gabriel, whose father is a former mayor of Mazatlán, began his working career in the Mexico City office of the