Tequila, Jalisco and the history behind it has made the town and the area surrounding it a World Heritage Site. It was also named a "Pueblo Mágico" (Magical Town) in 2003 by the Mexican federal government. Tequila has also been famous for being the prime setting in the successful Televisa telenovela "Destilando Amor", starring Angélica Rivera and Eduardo Yáñez. The coat of arms of the municipality was officially adopted on 31 December 1983 by the municipal council. It contains the Latin phrase ALMA LAETA NOBILIS, meaning “cheerful and noble soul.” Its representative symbols include the tower of the main church in the
Tequila around 1600, Don Pedro Sánchez de Tagle, the Marquis of Altamira, began mass-producing tequila at the first factory in the territory of modern-day Jalisco. By 1608, the colonial governor of Nueva Galicia had begun to tax his products. Spain's King Carlos IV granted the Cuervo family the first license to commercially make tequila. Don Cenobio Sauza, founder of Sauza Tequila and Municipal President of the Village of Tequila from 1884–1885, was the first to export tequila to the United States, and shortened the name from "Tequila Extract" to just "Tequila" for the American markets. Don Cenobio's grandson Don Francisco Javier