NOM 1487 is Bacardí’s distillery in Arandas, in the Jalisco highlands. It makes Cazadores, which is 100% agave, and Camino Real, which is not. One building, one four-digit number, and two products that are not the same kind of drink.
That contrast is the single best worked example on this site of why the NOM is worth reading — and why, on its own, it is not enough.
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NOM 1487 at a glance
| NOM | 1487 |
|---|---|
| Distillery | Bacardí y Compañía, S.A. de C.V. |
| Location | Arandas, Jalisco |
| Region | Los Altos — the highlands |
| Cazadores created | 1922, by Don José María Bañuelos |
| Owner | Bacardí — US clearance granted 28 January 2002 |
| Brands recorded | Cazadores · Camino Real |
| Verified first-hand | NOM 1487 on the back label of my own Cazadores Reposado |
Bottles made at NOM 1487
| Brand | Expression | Type | ABV | 100% agave? | Additive-free |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cazadores | Reposado | reposado | 38% (MX) | yes | — |
| Camino Real | Blanco | blanco | — | no | — |
| Camino Real | Gold / Reposado | joven | 36% | no | — |
“Additive-free” records an inspection carried out before October 2024, when the public verified list was withdrawn. It is a historical record, not a check you can repeat today — here is why. A dash means no inspection was ever published, which is not an accusation.
Same building, two different products
Cazadores is 100% agave and widely stocked. The Mexican-market Reposado on my shelf is bottled at 38%, below the 40% the United States requires — both figures legal under NOM-006-SCFI, which permits anything from 35% to 55%.
Camino Real is a mixto. The Gold is bottled at 36%, the lowest strength recorded anywhere in my bottle reference sheet, and entirely legal. Up to 49% of its fermentable sugars can come from cane or corn rather than agave.
Nothing about the number 1487 tells you which of those two you are holding. The distillery is the same, the registration is the same, the highlands are the same. What separates them is three words in small type on the front: 100% de agave. The NOM tells you where; the front label tells you what.
1922, and the date Bacardí actually bought it
Bacardí states that Cazadores was created in 1922 by Don José María Bañuelos, in Arandas, and that it still follows the recipe and process developed then. That part is the brand’s own account of itself, which is how it is recorded here.
The acquisition date is firmer, because it is in a US federal record rather than a press release. The Federal Trade Commission granted early termination of the waiting period for Bacardí U.S.A., Inc. acquiring Tequila Cazadores, S.A. de C.V. on 28 January 2002 — transaction 20020361. The notice is public.
Worth the detour, because brand histories are vague about dates in exactly the places where regulators are not. A merger filing is a primary source in the same way a back label is: somebody had a legal obligation to get it right.
What Bacardí states about how Cazadores is made
Taken from Bacardí’s own description of the brand, and labelled as its claim rather than as an inspection:
- 100% blue agave, highland-grown.
- Double fermentation and double distillation.
- Aged in virgin oak barrels — new wood, not refilled ex-bourbon casks. That is the detail worth noticing: new oak gives up far more of itself to the spirit, and it costs considerably more than a used barrel.
- Four expressions: blanco, reposado, añejo and extra añejo.
None of that is verifiable from outside the distillery, and this page does not pretend otherwise. It is recorded because a producer that states its process in writing has at least put something on the record — which is more than most brands at this price do.
Bacardí owns both ends of this directory
NOM 1492 is Hacienda Patrón, and Bacardí bought that too, in 2018. So one company runs two of the distilleries recorded here — and they could hardly be further apart in what they put in a bottle.
| NOM 1487, Arandas | NOM 1492, Atotonilco el Alto | |
|---|---|---|
| Flagship | Cazadores — 100% agave | Patrón — 100% agave |
| Also makes | Camino Real, a mixto at 36% | Nothing that is not 100% agave |
| Price position | Everyday | Premium |
That is the argument for reading the four digits rather than the corporate family tree. Ownership tells you who banks the money; the NOM tells you which building the liquid came out of, and only the front label tells you what is in it. Three separate facts, and knowing one of them does not give you the other two.
36% is the lowest number I have recorded
The legal floor for tequila is 35%. Camino Real Gold at 36% sits almost on it, and it is the lowest figure anywhere in my records — a mixto in a plain bottle at a low price, which is at least an honest arrangement.
The interesting part is what shares that basement. Four 100%-agave bottles on my shelf sit at 35%, and every one of them is a decanter, a painted ceramic or a metallic presentation bottle sold as premium. The cheapest bottle in the house and the most elaborate ones are separated by a single percentage point of alcohol. The full ladder, and what the decanter is really buying you.
NOM 1487: common questions
Who makes Cazadores tequila?
Bacardí, at its distillery in Arandas, Jalisco — NOM 1487. The brand was created in 1922 by Don José María Bañuelos; Bacardí’s acquisition cleared US review in January 2002.
What NOM is Cazadores?
1487. It is on the back label, next to the CRT mark and the words “Cazadores de Arandas” — read off my own bottle, not a database.
Is Cazadores 100% agave?
Yes, and it says so on the front. That matters here more than usual, because the same distillery also makes Camino Real, which is not.
Is Camino Real tequila?
Yes — legally and completely. A mixto is still tequila under NOM-006-SCFI; it simply allows up to 49% of the fermentable sugars to come from somewhere other than agave. It is a different grade, not a counterfeit, and the label says which you have.
Who owns Cazadores?
Bacardí Limited, which also owns Patrón, acquired in 2018. Two distilleries, two very different output profiles.
Where is NOM 1487?
Arandas, Jalisco, in the Los Altos highlands — a town that holds at least six separate NOMs in my own records, which is a useful corrective to the idea that “highlands tequila” is one thing. The others are in the directory.
Is Cazadores additive-free?
Unknown, and nobody can tell you otherwise right now. The public verified list was withdrawn in October 2024, so there is no current independent inspection to point at for this or almost any other brand. What happened, and what a claim is worth without it.
Related
- The full NOM directory — every distillery recorded so far
- What does NOM mean on tequila? — the four digits explained
- How to read a tequila label — where the NOM sits on the bottle
- NOM 1492, Hacienda Patrón — Bacardí’s other distillery in this directory
- NOM 1119, Casa Herradura — the other big-group distillery with a cheap bottle worth reading
- Don Ramón — one brand, five different NOMs
- Additive-free tequila — what can and cannot be verified
- Tequila proof and alcohol content — the 35% to 55% range