Happy Cinco de Mayo, Milwaukee. Have fun! Be safe! Eat tacos!

Many Milwaukeeans have a penchant for Mexican food and beverages, and yet, the city does not have a signature tequila. Why is this?

"Tequila is a protected name," says Guy Rehorst of Great Lakes Distillery. "It can only be made in certain states of Mexico. We could make the same thing, but couldn't call it ‘tequila.’"

Made from the blue agave plant, the spirit is made primarily in areas surrounding the city of Tequila and in the highlands of the Mexican state, Jalisco.

Because Mexican laws prohibit tequila from being made anywhere else, if a similar spirit was distilled in Milwaukee it would have to be under a different name.

"This is a huge marketing challenge," says Brian Sammons of Twisted Path Distillery. "I could call it a ‘blue agave spirit’ but 99 percent of people looking for tequila would walk right past it in the liquor store. So even if it’s a great beverage, how do I sell it?"

This doesn’t mean, however, that Rehorst or Sammans are opposed to the idea of giving a "blue agave spirit" a whirl.

"I’d love to do one," says Rehorst.

Sammons says it’s likely he will make a small batch in the future.

"Because I’m a smaller distillery, I can cater to a smaller audience," says Sammons. "I don’t necessarily make something with the intention of selling a million bottles. Sometime I like to make small, weird batches for a limited audience."