AlcoholTequila InformationTequila is a type of alcoholic beverage that originated in Mexico. It is made from the distilled sap of the blue agave (maguey) plant. The plant looks like a cactus or large aloe vera plant but is related to the lily and amaryllis. Tequila is almost always sold in concentrations of about 38%-40% alcohol by volume. Tequila is part of the drink family known as mezcal, in the same way as red wine is part of the wine family. That is to say, all tequila is mezcal but not all mezcal is tequila. Similarly all red wine is wine but not all wine is red wine. Because tequila is part of the mezcal family, some brands of tequila have the words 'tequila' and 'mezcal' printed on the label. Other brands just have 'tequila' printed on the label. Making things more complicated is the fact there is an alcoholic beverage called mezcal that is usually sold on shelves next to tequila at most liquor stores. The drink mezcal, also Mexican, is available in many countries under different brand names. Mezcal shares some characteristics similar to tequila but both are unique and easy to tell apart when tasted. Mezcal can be made from five different varieties of the agave plant while tequila can only be made from blue agave. A bottle of mezcal will never have the word tequila printed on the label. Tequila And MescalineThere is a worm (actually a butterfly caterpillar) in some types of mezcal but this has never contained mescaline, a mind altering drug produced by peyote and several other species of cacti. No real tequila contains a worm. Some American distillers produce a product they call tequila that has a worm in it but this is not real tequila, it is known as cheap tequila. The worm in tequila is a 20th century American invention that was thought up to produce sales of cheap tequila, which it did because of the myth that the worm contained mescaline. The worm in cheap tequila doesn't and never has contained mescaline and I can find no references to tequila or mezcal ever being produced with mescaline as an ingredient. There are more recent stories (1960's and later) of home users who added mescaline to a bottle of tequila to produce their own version of the mythical drink. Tequila HistoryMezcal wine, the first type of tequila, was produced in Mexico as far back as the early 1500's (sources vary between 1519-1525). However the drink was not exported to the rest of the world until the 1870's. Up until that time, tequila was known only to Mexicans and foreigners that might have been introduced to the drink while in Mexico. In the 1870's Mexico started exporting tequila to Europe and other destinations but the drink didn't gain wide popularity until the early 1940's when Americans were forced to find another source of alcohol. The reason for this was because most of the alcohol in the USA had been imported from European distillers. World War II (1939-1945) saw a drastic decrease in the export of alcohol from Europe to the USA, so a new source had to be found. The obvious choice for Americans living along the border with Mexico was tequila. Increased production fed the American market during the war but sales slumped when the war ended and European alcohol was once again widely available. It wasn't until the early 1960's that tequila would start to gain the popularity it has today (presently the largest consumer nation of tequila is the United States). What Is Real TequilaMost tequila available is not real tequila. To be designated real tequila, the drink can only be made from the blue agave plant and it can only be produced in five regions of Mexico, these regions are for the most part in the north-west part of the country. If you want real tequila the bottle will say 100% agave, 100% blue agave, or something similar. Do not assume expensive tequila to be real tequila. Some distillers will put cheap tequila in a fancy bottle with nice packaging and sell it for a higher price than real tequila. See the book of tequila for a detailed explanation of what real tequila is, how to tell real tequila from cheap tequila and where to get real tequila. Tequila can be clear to light brown in color. The brown color that some types of real tequila exhibit is caused by aging in oak barrels. The longer the tequila has been aged in oak barrels, the darker the color. Dark tequila is considered premium and preferred by most people. Cheap tequila is sometimes colored brown by an artificial method, such as adding food coloring. This is to give it the appearance of quality. However this brown color does not mean it will taste any better. Cheap tequila is cheap tequila, no matter what color it is. copyright © www.a1b2c3.com/drugs/ Books The Book of Tequila: |
The difference in quality between real tequila and cheap tequila is major. Once you have tasted real tequila, you will probably never want to drink cheap tequila again. Someone at your local alcohol store should be able to tell you if they sell real tequila. El Conquistador, 100% blue agave, made in Mexico real tequila, pictured here. Note that the tequila is clear, the bottle is blue.