CRT

CRT stands for Consejo Regulador del Tequila or the Tequila Regulatory Council. In 1994, the Mexican government tasked the CRT with interpreting and enforcing the Norm, aka the rules that govern the tequila industry. To this end, the organization set up a border program to prevent “fake tequila” from crossing into the US and implemented protocols to ensure that anything labeled as tequila met certain standards. This meant tracking agave production, regularly inspecting distilleries, and analyzing every batch of tequila in an approved lab.

Although often conflated with the Mexican government (especially by northerners), the CRT is actually a nonprofit. This “interprofessional organization” supposedly represents all parties associated with tequila production, including agave farmers. According to the CRT website, “all actors in the production chain are treated with equity and equality.” But its detractors allege that CRT leadership skews heavily in favor of “big tequila.” The Mexican government is purportedly in the process of opening the door to additional agencies that would be authorized to certify tequila.