On Friday, business daily RBK has reported that the Mexican government has issued a license in Russia for bottling tequila, for the first time in history.

The Crystal distillery, based in the city of Kaluga in the western region of Russia, is now officially licensed to bottle the classic Mexican alcohol in the country. However the Mexican Embassy noted that the distillery is still not able to produce the drink within Russia.

The Embassy explained that Tequila can only be made from the “Tequila Weber” strain of blue agave, a cactus-like plant which is grown only in the states of Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacan, Nayarit, and Tamaulipas, in Mexico.

The Embassy concluded, “Therefore tequila cannot be produced outside Mexico but it can be bottled outside the Mexican territory.”

The owner of Crystal distillery, Pavel Pobedkin said that the distillery is planning to launch the new product in 2024, however he did not offer any further information on the upcoming product or its launch.

In the second half of the 20th century, the Mexican government secured the registration which gave it the exclusive right to the use of the name Tequila. The government passed, in 1974, a law which specified that the only liquor which could be branded tequila was Liquor extracted from the blue agave plant, which was produced in specific regions in Mexico. If a manufacturer wishes to produce the drink, it is required to apply to the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) to gain a license granting it permission from the government.

With an annual production capacity exceeding 20 million liters, the Crystal spirits distillery is among Russia’s top ten producers of alcohol spirits in terms of volume.