Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to the chromatographic and spectroscopic data of authentic Mexican tequilas (n = 14) and commercially available samples purchased in Mexico and Germany (n = 24). The scores scatter plot of the first two principal components (PC) of the anions chloride, nitrate, sulfate, acetate, and oxalate accounting for 78% of the variability allowed a classification between tequilas bottled in Mexico and overseas; however, no discrimination between tequila categories was possible. Mexican products had a significantly (p = 0.0014) lower inorganic anion concentration (range = 1.5-5.1 mg/L; mean = 2.5 mg/L) than the products bottled in the importing countries (range = 3.3-62.6 mg/L; mean = 26.3 mg/L). FTIR allowed a rapid screening of density and ethanol as well as the volatile compounds methanol, ethyl acetate, propanol-1, isobutanol, and 2-/3-methyl-1-butanol using partial least-squares regression (precisions = 5.3-29.3%). Using PCA of the volatile compounds, a differentiation between tequila derived from "100% agave" (Agave tequilana Weber var. azul, Agavaceae) and tequila produced with other fermentable sugars ("mixed"tequila) was possible. The first two PCs describe 89% of the total variability of the data. Methanol and isobutanol influenced the variability in PC1, which led to discrimination. The concentrations of methanol and isobutanol were significantly higher (methanol, p = 0.004; isobutanol, p = 0.005) in the 100% agave (methanol, 297.9 +/- 49.5; isobutanol, 251.3 +/- 34.9) than in the mixed tequilas (methanol, 197.8 +/- 118.5; isobutanol, 151.4 +/- 52.8).