Who Actually Makes Costco's Kirkland Brand Tequila?

Many popular Costco items have hidden brands behind them. But the warehouse chain likes to play coy when it comes to name-dropping its suppliers.

Costco sells Kirkland Signature brand tequila in three varieties including añejo, blanco, and cristalino. All three varieties are bottled in Mexico, according to the labeling, and authentic tequila can only be produced in specific regions of the country. This allows the average consumer to narrow down the maker of Costco's tequila. Further inspection of each bottle helps to pinpoint the region and exact distillery that might be currently producing the agave-based spirit sold at Costco. 

People have speculated that the chain's Kirkland brand vodka might be Grey Goose, but the maker of Kirkland hard seltzer was actually revealed to be a leading manufacturer in Oregon. Similarly, pinpointing the exact producer of three varieties of this budget-friendly tequila takes a bit of digging, but here's what we know.

As it happened with Costco's Kirkland Signature ready-to-drink old fashioned, just looking at the design of the label might lead people to assume it comes from the producer of a popular brand with a similar bottle. For example, the Kirkland blanco bottle looks almost like Casamigos blanco tequila. Both labels have a blue agave plant at the center of their label, and the bottle shape appears almost identical. A closer look at the Kirkland Blanco bottle label even shows that it is made in Jalisco, Mexico just like Casamigos. 

However, Forbes reported in 2022 that Costco's distillery was actually located in a town Northwest of Guadalajara, Mexico. Tequila bottles from Mexico are labeled with the Norma Oficial Mexicana (NOM); which is the identification number that is assigned to a specific distillery. Previously, Costco's tequila had NOM 1142 which was attributed to La Madrileña, a distillery in the Jalisco Highlands. Now, the bottles are labeled with NOM 1173 which identifies Corporate Distillery Santa Lucia, S.A. de C.V. Forbes notes that some of the Kirkland tequila bottles from the previous distillery can still be found on shelves.

Paying attention to the NOM label on your bottle of Kirkland tequila can help to trace its origin down to the town. Because of the popularity of the Kirkland brand, and Costco's bulk deals, it's not surprising that multiple distilleries would be vying to produce the private label.