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Becle, S.A.B. de C.V.
Becle makes and sells tequila and other spirits, most famously under the Jose Cuervo brand.
Jose Cuervo is the world's best-selling tequila, and the company behind it, Becle, is a Mexican spirits giant. It sells tequila, vodka, whiskey, rum, gin, and liqueurs, but tequila is the heart of the business. The company grows and harvests its own blue agave, cooks and distills it into tequila, bottles it, and ships it around the world. It also makes ready-to-drink canned cocktails, like a margarita in a can, which have become a fast-growing part of the business as people want a convenient drink without the mixing.
Becle earns money by selling bottles to distributors, liquor stores, bars, and restaurants. Customers choose Jose Cuervo because it is cheap enough for a party and familiar enough to trust, while other brands like 1800 and Maestro Dobel let the company charge more for a fancier bottle. Its biggest markets are Mexico and the United States, where tequila has surged in popularity. The company also owns Bushmills Irish whiskey and Kraken rum, so it is not a one-drink pony. Competition is fierce, with Diageo selling Casamigos and Don Julio, and Pernod Ricard pushing its own agave spirits. One vulnerability is agave itself. Tequila is made from a plant that takes roughly six to eight years to mature, so the company must plan harvests years in advance. When agave prices spike, margins get squeezed; when they crash, farmers suffer. Becle also leans heavily on the Cuervo name, which is both a strength and a risk—if drinkers move on to flashier brands, the whole company feels it. The family that founded the business, the Beckmanns, still control a large share of the company, which listed on the Mexican stock exchange in 2017.
The company spends its cash on expanding production, growing its premium brands, and paying dividends. It has also pushed into the United States with its own distribution arm, giving it more control over how its bottles reach shelves. That bet matters because the U.S. is the biggest and most profitable tequila market in the world. The simple story: Becle sells the world's most popular tequila, but it must keep agave cheap, drinkers loyal, and new products flowing to stay on top.
Saved answer · last researched 9 Nov 2026
BIG PICTURE
Jose Cuervo maker Becle ranks in the top 3% of 240 alcohol companies on a key measure of business strength
- 2.5% Becle, S.A.B. de C.V.
- 97.5% Others
GuruFocus puts Becle at number six out of 240 alcoholic beverage companies for what it calls a moat score, a rough measure of how hard a business is to copy. That places the Jose Cuervo owner in the top 2.5%. Tequila drinkers pick brands, and a name people ask for by name is why Becle can charge more and keep shelf space. Source: GuruFocus, data from 2026
Timeline
The Cuervo Land Grant
In 1758, the King of Spain gave José Antonio de Cuervo y Valdés a piece of land in Mexico with permission to grow agave, the plant used to make tequila. That royal paper is where the Cuervo family story begins, a family tradition the company says has lasted more than 250 years.
The First Tequila License
Decades later, King Charles IV of Spain gave the family something even better than land: a royal decree to make and sell 'Vino de Mezcal,' the drink we now call tequila. It is considered the first license ever granted to produce and distribute tequila.
La Rojeña Distillery Opens
In 1812 the family opened La Rojeña, which is still running today. It is the oldest active distillery in Latin America.
Cuervo Bottles It First
For a long time tequila moved around in barrels. In 1880, Jose Cuervo became the first tequila brand to bottle each serving on its own, which made it far easier to ship and helped meet booming demand in Mexico and across the border.
Defending the Name Tequila
Tequila can only be called tequila if it is made in certain states of Mexico. In 1974 the company fought to defend that rule, called an appellation of origin, protecting the very product at the heart of its business.
Bushmills Bought from Diageo
The company completed its purchase of the Bushmills brand and its facilities from Diageo. That gave it a foothold in Irish whisky, one of the fastest-growing spirits categories, and a step toward selling more kinds of drinks in more places.
Merger with Sunrise Holdings
Shareholders approved a merger with Sunrise Holdings, the parent of Proximo, which completed the integration of its international distributor. The company also folded in most of Maestro Tequilero as a brand. It was a year of preparation and reorganization ahead of something bigger.
The Company Goes Public
In February 2017, Becle sold shares on the Mexican Stock Exchange under the ticker CUERVO. The offering covered 15% of its share capital, a big moment for a family business that had spent centuries making drinks.
Proper No. Twelve and Gran Coramino
In spring 2021, Eire Born Spirits became a subsidiary, adding the Proper No. Twelve Irish whiskey brand. Soon after, the company bought a third of Gran Coramino, a new tequila brand it planned to develop.
Gran Coramino Launches with Kevin Hart
The next year, Gran Coramino tequila hit the market in partnership with American comedian and actor Kevin Hart, putting a famous face behind one of the company's newest brands.
Becle Shares Plunge
In 2026 the shares fell as much as 14.3% to 13.19 pesos, tripping a temporary trading halt, after quarterly results showed net sales down 15.3% and net profit down 84.6%. The company blamed weaker demand, an unfavorable product mix, currency effects, and a distributor change in the United States. The drop erased about 6,600 million pesos in market value.