Casa Cuervo, which produces Jose Cuervo and Tequila 1800 branded beverages, among others, sustained damage to its equipment, namely the vats in which the liquid was stored. Crews have been busy getting things back up and running, however it will likely be some time before production returns to normal.
"The incident involved the explosion of a tank car," Jalisco's civil protection agency said, per CNN, adding that three additional tank cars caught on fire as a result. Each of the vessels had a capacity of 219,000 liters, which is nearly 58,000 gallons.
A team of over 40 firefighters battled the blaze and managed to get it under control. A smaller fire broke out Wednesday morning, but that was quickly extinguished. Authorities have not yet been able to pin down the source of the explosion, though an investigation has been launched. Aerial footage of the scene showed the vat in which the explosion occurred laying on its side, the Jose Cuervo logo visible. The other three were badly burned, with one missing part of its roof. Tequila Mayor José Alfonso Magallanes Rubio urged people to avoid the downtown area as a precaution.
The factory is located in the state of Jalisco, which, according to CNN, produces the vast majority of the country's tequila and one of its main ingredients, agave.
July 24 is "National Tequila Day" in Mexico and the United States. Until recently, in the former nation it had been celebrated on the third Saturday in March, however that was changed via a unanimous vote in the Chamber of Deputies to better align with their neighbors to the north.
