Pre-Hispanic
Long before Spanish ships reached the Gulf coast, the peoples of Mesoamerica fermented agave sap into pulque, corn into tesgüino, and tree bark into balché. Pulque alone has a documented continuity of more than 2,300 years.
— Bruman, Alcohol in Ancient MexicoThe most secure conclusion the archaeology supports is this: pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica fermented; it did not distill.
Distillation arrives
Two channels of distillation reached Mexico after 1521. The first, the Spanish alembic, came directly with colonial settlement. The second — and increasingly accepted as the dominant Pacific-coast channel — was the Filipino still, brought by sailors and immigrants on the Manila–Acapulco galleon trade between 1565 and 1815.
Modern revival
The 1994 mezcal DO, the 2000s premium boom, and the post-2015 artesanal / ancestral recognition under NOM-070 collectively reframed Mexican spirits from "the worm" to the most diverse spirit landscape on the continent.