Most of us were introduced to tequila shots in our college years, leaving us reeling from its fast track to pounding hangovers and bad decisions. Meanwhile, mezcal had a bad reputation as a rough spirit with a worm in the bottle. However, today's connoisseurs know that the agave spirits category is one of the most historic and complex, and its popularity is rising, worldwide.
The Aztec fertility doddess Mayahuel is the matron of the mystical Maguey plant, also known as the Agave. Ancient people rubbed its milky sap on babies' lips for nourishment, and they also fermented it into pulque, drunk in religious ceremonies. Nowadays, mezcal is the term for all agave spirits comprised of
tequila, sotol, bacanora and their cousin, raicilla.
Mezcal often has a smoky flavor because the agaves are roasted in a traditional fire pit rather than baked in an oven. Made from wild-growing plants, ezcal is also appealing because it’s gluten-free and naturally organic. And, while this spirits category and its international laws are still developing, connoisseurs are vigorously exploring and embracing the range of citrusy, smoky, floral elixirs, starting with the most popular mezcal, tequila:
Real tequila is made 100 percent from the blue agave plant, and only in five regions in Mexico: Jalisco, Nayarit, Michoacán, Guanajuato, Tamaulipas.
The agave plant is not a cactus but rather a succulent, which looks similar to a giant aloe, with a stalk rising six feet from its core.
Agaves typically take 8-12 years to mature.
At harvest, the plant's "arms" are hacked off, the stalk removed, and the heart (or piña) cooked until soft, then pressed for juice, which is fermented, distilled, aged and bottled.
Tequila, typically, is not smoky because it is baked in an oven.
Blanco: the tequila has been in-barrel for less than two months (if at all).
Reposado: means rested for up to 364 days in wooden barrels, slight amber color.
Añejo: means aged one to three years, deep amber color.
Extra Añejo: open-ended, long-term aging.
Bacanora hails from the state of Sonora and made from agave angustifolia. Typically, its piña is roasted in an earthen pit resulting in a slightly smoky flavor, as well as hints of pear, apple and green herbs.
Raicilla is quickly rising in popularity among mixology nerds and bartenders. One of the oldest forms of mezcal, it's made from various types of wild agave, often fire-roasted with smoky, dusty, tropical fruit, and vegetal tones.
Sotol is made from the desert spoon plant, which grows in higher elevations of Chihuahua. Sotol can have hints of baked tropical fruit, peppercorns and sometimes a whisper of smoke. The desert spoon is not technically an agave plant, but related to it, and people in Mexico drink it as they would any other agave spirit.
Fun fact: Award-winning Del Maguey Mezcal is owned by Ron Cooper, a world-famous artist and Taos resident.
Santa Fe Reporter