Tequila/Mezcal Flashcards
Pulque
Pulque is a milk-colored, somewhat viscous liquid that produces a light foam. It is made by fermenting the sap of certain types of maguey (agave) plants. In contrast, mezcal is made from the cooked heart of certain agave plants, and tequila, a variety of mezcal, is made from the weber blue agave. About six varieties of maguey are best used for the production of pulque. The name pulque is derived from Nahuatl. The original name of the drink was iztāc octli (white pulque), the term pulque was probably mistakenly derived by the Spanish from the octli poliuhqui, which meant “spoiled pulque”.i
Agave
Agave is endemic to the Americas. 90% of the world’s agave exists in the Southern US and Mexico, but its population does extend all the way to Colombia. Basically, anywhere warm and dry in this hemisphere.
Genetically, agave is in a class of it’s own, the agavacae family, and there are subsections within that the delineate species. Out of 150-200 species of agave total, 40 species can yield spirits. For the most part, we’ll be discussing the Agave Weberi, or Weber Blue Agave (also known as Agave tequiliana), when we discuss tequila, and the Agave Espadin, when we talk about Mezcal. Frequently, however, you will hear about Agave Tobala, Agave Americana (or Maguey), Agave Madracuise, and others. This is because mezcal can be made from many different kinds of agave, which lend different characteristics to the spirit. Tequila is very carefully curated by law, the DOC or NOM Laws established in 1994.
In terms of genetic cousins, the artichoke is the closest, tracking a 97% match to the agave plant. Other close relatives include the water lily and the palm tree. The cactus, although seemingly similar due to its arid nature, color, and systems of self-protection, is drastically different. As it was phrased to me, comparing an agave to a cactus is like comparing a bird to a butterfly. Aloe Vera, which also seems close, does share a lineage with the agave plant, dating back to Pangea, but a split of continents caused them each to grow differently, with aloe existing only in the African continent.
Biologically, the agave plant is a wonder. In its raw form, then base nectar is inedible. It is contained within the fibers of the base, called the pina (pineapple) or heart. Basically, the pina is a mix of cellulose and fructose, not unlike bran; fibrous and undigestible. Additionally, the pina and the leaves contain a mix of turpins and supanines, chemical compounds poisonous to almost all living things.
Eating raw agave nectar will result in stomach pains, vomiting, and fever, and contact with the skin will cause dermatitis, reddening and blistering for about 2 weeks.
This brings us to the real wonder of the agave plant. Since it only thrives in dry conditions, the agave has evolved to respirate differently from any other plant in the world. While all other photosynthesizing plants open stoma during the day to take in CO2 for an instantaneous reaction, agave has become nocturnal. The reasoning being that by opening stoma during the day, it runs the risk of losing water to evaporation. By opening stoma at night to take it CO2, then converts it to malic acid to hold it, then waits for sunrise to run the rest of the photosynthetic process using sunlight. This, along with the leaf shape evolving to collect water and funnel it to the pina, makes the agave the most water efficient organism on Earth. This is known as plasticity, or the ability to cope with large range of conditions and survive.
Agave can also reproduce two ways. First, and most commonly, is using a runner, or rhizome. When a plant is 3 years old, it will sprout “legs” which will “run” away from the plant. It will settle about 6 feet away, and establish a new plant, about the size of a grapefruit in about 3 weeks. The other, is by flowering, or growing a quiote. Agave plants reach flowering maturation around their fifth or sixth year. In 2-3 weeks of reaching this phase, agave plant can grow a flower. It can grow up to 10cm per day. You can hear them growing in the mornings. It will continue at this rate until it reaches a height of roughly 10 feet. Then, the top of the quiote will bloom with flowers, attracting birds, insects, and bats to come and take the seeds, then distribute them around the surrounding area to propagate. One stalk will generate 400 to 500 seeds. On a sad note, the act of flowering will kill the plant.
So, the lifecycle is as such. Planting occurs in April or May just before the rainy
season, after 3 years it runs rhizomes, after 6 it flowers. For mezcal or tequila production, the phases are halted. Rhizomes are cut, flowers are stunted. This allows the plant to reach another level of maturation. At 8 years, the agave is ready for harvesting. The base fattens, and the leaves turn a reddish-yellow. At this point, the jimadors will harvest the plant for roasting. However, the soil cannot immediately be replanted with agave. It must be reestablished with, say, garbanzo beans for one year. So, 8 years to grow, 1 year to reestablish, 1 year to plant. 10 year cycles for agave production.
At full 8 year maturation, the average Pina is 30 kg in weight, with a circumference 1.7m. 1 pina can yield 8 or 9 liters of tequila.
It is said, that in order for agave to produce the best spirits, it must experience stress. Ergo, the complexity of the spirit is said to come from the harsh conditions as well as the terroir, more so than the specific species of agave. For example, all tequila comes from Blue Weber, and all are grown in red clay with low PH and no residual water. But, agave grown in high heat has a higher sugar content, than those grown in shadow or cold. So, for example, tequilas from the Highlands of Arandas are sweeter than those made in Tequila.
Agave History
It is not known who invented pulque; its origins go back at least 1,000 years.
Various stories and myths have developed as to its origins. Most involve Mayahuel, the goddess of the maguey. It was thought that the aguamiel collecting in the center of the plant was her blood. Other deities, such as the Centzon Totochtin (400 rabbits) are associated with it, by representing the drink’s effects, and are the children of Mayahuel. Another version involving Mayahuel has her as a mortal woman who discovered how to collect aguamiel but someone named Pantecatl discovered how to make pulque.
Another story states that pulque was discovered by the Tlacuache (opossum), who used his human-like hands to dig into the maguey and extract the naturally fermenting juice. He became the first drunk. Tlacuache was thought to set the course of rivers. The rivers he set were generally straight except when he was drunk. Then they follow Tlacuache’s meandering path from cantina to cantina. Another story traces the discovery of aguamiel to the Toltec Empire, when a noble named Papantzin was trying to get the emperor to marry his daughter Xochitl. He sent her to the capital with an offering of aguamiel, honey of the agave plant. The emperor and princess wed, and their son was named Meconetzin (maguey son). In other versions of the story, Xochitl is credited with discovering pulque.
Production of pulque
The production process is long and delicate. The maguey plant needs 12 years of maturation before the sap, or aguamiel, can be extracted, but a good plant can produce for up to one year. This aguamiel can be drunk straight, but it is alcoholic only after a fermentation process that can start in the plant itself. This liquid is collected twice a day from the plant, yielding about five or six liters per day.
Today, this liquid is collected with a steel scoop, but in the past, an elongated gourd was used as a tube to suck the juice out. Between gatherings, the plants leaves are bent over the center where the juice collects to keep out bugs and dirt. This center is regularly scraped out to keep the plant’s production of sap active. Most maguey plants produce this aguamiel for about four to six months before they finally die. Some plants can yield up to 600 L of pulque.
The collected juice is placed into 50-liter barrels and carried from the field to the fermentation vats. These vats, called tinas, are located in a special building called a tinacal. This word derives from Nahuatl, tina and calli and means house of vats. When pulque haciendas reached their peak in the late 19th century, hacienda life revolved around these tinacals. It typically was a rectangular shed of stone with a wooden roof. The upper parts of the walls opened for air circulation and the facades were sometimes decorated with indigenous designs or other images associated with the making of pulque. One popular motif was the discovery of pulque by Xochitl. Other popular elements were the images of the hacienda’s patron saint and the Virgin of Guadalupe. Inside were the vats, which were cowhide stretched over wooden frames lined up against the walls. In larger tinacals, there were three or four rows of vats. Today, the tinas are made of oak, plastic or fiberglass and hold about 1,000 liters each.After placing the juice in the fermentation vats, mature seed pulque (semilla or xanaxtli) is added to “jump start” the process. Unlike beer, the fermenting agent present in pulque is a bacterium of the species Zymomonas mobilis rather than yeast. Those in charge of the fermentation process guard their trade secrets, passing them on from father to son. Fermentation takes from seven to 14 days, and the process seems to be more art than science. A number of factors can affect fermenting pulque, such as temperature, humidity and the quality of the aguamiel’.
The process is complex and delicate, and can go sour at any point. For this reason, and perhaps due to its ancient “sacred” character, there are rituals and prohibitions. Religious songs and prayers may be offered, and women, children and strangers are not allowed inside the tinacal. Other superstitions include those against eating canned fish and wearing a hat inside the tinacal. The first is claimed to cause a bad taste in the pulque and the second is considered bad luck. To cleanse the bad luck, the offender must fill the hat with pulque and drink it down.
Just before the peak of fermentation, the pulque is quickly shipped to market in barrels. The fermentation process is continuous, so the pulque must be consumed within a certain time before it spoils.
Mezcal
Mezcal, or mescal, is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from the maguey plant (a form of agave, Agave americana) native to Mexico. The word mezcal comes from Nahuatl mexcalli; metl and ixcalli which means “oven-cooked agave”.
The maguey grows in many parts of Mexico, though most mezcal is made in Oaxaca. There is a saying attributed to Oaxaca regarding the drink: “para todo mal, mezcal, y para todo bien también” (“for everything bad, mezcal; for everything good, the same”).
History of mezcal
Upon introduction of proper distillation procedures to Mexico by the Spanish, these liquors were called aguardiente (literally fire or fiery water). The Spanish had known distillation processes since the eighth century and had been used to drinking hard liquor. They brought a supply with them from Europe, but when this ran out, they began to look for a substitute. They had been introduced to pulque and other drinks based on the agave or maguey plant, so they began experimenting to find a way to make a product with a higher alcohol content. The result is mezcal.
Sugar cane and grapes, key ingredients for beverage alcohol, were two of the earliest crops introduced into the New World but their use as source stocks for distillation was opposed by the Spanish Crown, fearing unrest from producers at home. Still requiring a source of tax revenue, alcohol manufactured from local raw materials such as maguey was encouraged instead.
The drinking of alcoholic beverages such as pulque was strongly restricted in the pre-Hispanic period. Taboos against drinking to excess fell away after the Conquest, resulting in problems with public drunkenness and disorder. This conflicted with the government’s need for the tax revenue generated by sales, leading to long intervals promoting manufacturing and consumption, punctuated by brief periods of severe restrictions and outright prohibition.
Travelers during the colonial period of Mexico frequently mention mezcal, usually with an admonition as to its potency. Alexander von Humboldt mentions it in his Political Treatise on the Kingdom of New Spain in 1803, noting that a very strong version of mezcal was being manufactured clandestinely in the districts of Valladolid (Morelia), Mexico State, Durango and Nuevo León. He mistakenly observed that mezcal was obtained by distilling pulque, contributing to its myth and mystique. Spanish authorities, on the other hand, treated pulque and mezcal as separate products for regulatory purposes.
Traditionally, mezcal is handcrafted by small-scale producers. A village can contain dozens of production houses, called fábricas or palenques, each using methods that have been passed down from generation to generation, some using the same techniques practiced 200 years ago.
The process begins by harvesting the plants, which can weigh forty kilograms each, extracting the piña, or heart, by cutting off the plant’s leaves and roots. The piñas are then cooked for about three days, often in pit ovens, which are earthen mounds over pits of hot rocks. This underground roasting gives mezcal its intense and distinctive smoky flavor. These piñas are then crushed and mashed (traditionally by a stone wheel turned by a horse) and then left to ferment in large vats or barrels with water added.
The mash is allowed to ferment, the resulting liquid collected and distilled in either clay or copper pots which will further modify the flavor of the final product. The distilled product is then bottled unsold. Unaged mezcal is referred to as “joven”, or young. Some of the distilled product is left to age in barrels for between one month and four years, but some can be aged for as long as twelve years. Mezcal can reach an alcohol content of 55%. Like tequila, mezcal is distilled twice. The first distillation is known as “punta”, and comes out at around 75 proof (37.5% alcohol by volume). The liquid must then be distilled a second time to raise the alcohol percentage.
Mezcal is highly varied, depending on the species of agave or maguey used, the fruits and herbs added during fermentation and the distillation process employed, creating sub-types with names such as de gusano, tobalá, pechuga, blanco, minero, cedrón, de alacran, creme de café and more. A special recipe for a
specific mezcal type known as pechuga uses cinnamon, apple, plums, cloves, and other spices that is then distilled through chicken, duck or turkey breast. It is
made when the specific fruits used in the recipe are available, usually during November or December. Other variations flavor the mash with cinnamon, pineapple slices, red bananas and sugar, each imparting a particular character to the mezcal. Most mezcal, however, is left untouched, allowing the flavors of the agave used to come forward.
Liquor by Regions in Mexico
Mezcal:
- Oaxaca
- Durango
- Zacatecas
- San Luis Potosi
- Guanajuato
- Guerrero
- Tamaulipas
Tequila:
- Jalisco
- Michoacan
- Tamaulipas
- Guanajuato
- Nayarit
Bacanora
1. Sonora
Sotol
1. Chihuahua
Distilling Tequila & Mezcal
DISTILLATION:
- Cooking: agave is slowly roasted in brick ovens for 36 hours at 98*C to convert the starch to fermentable sugar.
a. New methodology includes autoclave/pressure cooker, but doesn’t cook pina through. Chars outside and undercooks center.
b. Also can use a diffuser, where pina is juiced, and the agave nectar drawn is then cooked. This sacrifices complexity coming from fibers.
c. Longer the cook, the more complex the resultant juice. - Crushing: agave is then crushed to release sugar from it’s fibers using a TAHONA.
a. Distilleries using tahonas:
i. Olmeca
ii. Fortaleza
iii. Siete leguas
iv. Tequila ocho (tapatillo)
v. Tequila suerte
vi. Parton (roca series)
vii. Only 6 of 150 operating distilleries
b. Tahona crushing allows juice to macerate with fibers
c. Crushing can also come from a roller mill
i. Sugars are extracted using MOLINOS which squeeze juice from fibers - Fermentation: addition of yeast cultivated at distillery to turn sugar agave into alcohol.
- Distillation: to separate alcohol from water using heat
a. The liquid, or must, sits and brews to about 6% ABV
a. Alcohol has a lower boiling point than water, so you heat the must in a still to create vapor, then condense down and collect.
i. Head – fusill oils
ii. Heart - tequila
iii. Tails – Methanol - Interestingly, methanol has the lowest boiling point of all, and it comes out first in all other spirits, but last in tequila as it’s held in the fibers in the must.
- Aging: Tequila is stored in barrels to add flavor
a. Blanco: no age requirement
b. Repo: 2 months minimum – no limit on type or size of barrel
c. Anejo: 1 year minimum in a barrel
d. Extra Anejo: 3 years minimum in a barrel
e. Gold (Oro): no age requirement
i. All tequila can contain: - Caramel for color
- Sugar for taste
- Glycerine for body
- Oak extract for color/age mimicry
a. Sum of parts cannot exceed 1% total per bottle.
b. None of these ingredients must be included on label if less.
ii. Aging is as new as the 1940’s, when Mexico despised tequila, but was in love with brandy, so distillers aimed to find a way to make it more appealing to the Mexican people.
The Worm (Mezcal)
Not all bottles of mezcal contain a “worm” (actually the larva of a moth, Hypoptaagavis that can infest maguey plants), but if added, it is added during the bottling process. There are conflicting stories as to why such would be added. Some state that it is a marketing ploy. Others state that it is there to prove that the mezcal is fit to drink, and still others state that the larva is there to impart flavor.
There are two types of mezcal, those made of 100% maguey and those mixed with other ingredients, with at least 80% maguey. Both types have four categories. White mezcal is clear and hardly aged. Dorado (golden) is not aged but a coloring agent is added. This is more often done with a mixed mezcal. Reposado or añejado (aged) is placed in wood barrels from two to nine months. This can be done with 100% agave or mixed mezcals. Añejo is aged in barrels for a minimum of twelve months. The best of this type are generally aged from eighteen months to three years.
Mexico has about 330,000 hectares cultivating agave for mezcal, owned by 9,000 producers. Over six million liters are produced in Mexico annually, with more than 150 brand names.
The industry generates about 29,000 jobs directly and indirectly. Certified production amounts to more than 2 million liters; 434,000 liters are exported, generating 21 million dollars in income. To truly be called mezcal, the liquor must come from certain areas. States that have certified mezcal agave growing areas with production facilities are Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas. About thirty species of maguey are certified for use in the production of mezcal. Oaxaca has 570 of the 625 mezcal production facilities in Mexico, but some in-demand mezcals come from Guerrero as well. In Tamaulipas, eleven municipalities have received authorization to produce authentic mezcal with the hopes of competing for a piece of both the
Mexican national and international markets. The agave used here is agave Americano, agave verde or maguey de la Sierra, which are native to the state.
Drinking Mezcal
In Mexico, mezcal is generally drunk straight, not mixed in a cocktail. Mezcal is generally not mixed with any other liquids, but is often accompanied with sliced oranges sprinkled with “sal de gusano”, literally worm salt, which is a mixture of ground fried larvae, ground chili peppers, and salt, and served as a shot in hand made clay cups.
Tequila History
Just about two decades ago tequila was of minor importance among spirits. The national drink of Mexico has claims to be amongst the worlds most ancient. In the days of the pre-Conquistador Aztecs, those highly cultivated, if religiously barbarous people were drinking an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting the juice of the Agave Azul or blue agave not a cactus like most people believe but actually a member of the lily family.
It has visual similarity to the pineapple. This pulque, a potent brew, was probably drunk socially and it was certainly employed ritually: a sacramental mural, predating the Spanish invasion by well over a thousand years, describes the subjects of the artifacts as ‘pulque-drinkers.’
It is improbable that the Aztecs, Mayans or Incas knew the art of distilling. The Spanish did know about it, from their Moorish connection, and when they settled into the New World they naturally used local products for the purposes of distilling alcoholic beverages. What they first produced would have been ‘low wines’.
In some instances the source would have been fermented wild sugar cane (rum); where they nurtured vines, distillation would have been from wine (brandy): in Mexico the obvious base was pulque. Distillations from this later became known as mescal, a fiery potion that is said to be hallucinatory.
It appears that the Spaniards in the vicinity of Guadalajara established the first properly organized distilling in Mexico. The nearest settlement was Tequila, which eventually gave its name to the improved mescal. An industry grew up in this part of Jalisco State, which now produces virtually all the tequila distilled.
Within Jalisco there are two major areas of production: the Amatitan valley where there are distilleries that produce among many the famous Jose Cuervo, Grand Centenario, Sauza, Heradura, Partida, 4 Copas, Patron and the highlands around the town of Arrandas where such great tequilas like Tapatio or El Tesoro are produced. There is a difference in taste between these two areas. This is due to the red volcanic soil in the surrounding region as well as the altitude and resultant weather. While particularly well suited to the growing of the blue agave in general (and more than 300 million of the plants are harvested there each year), agave tequila grows differently depending on the region. Blue agaves grown in the highlands region are larger in size and sweeter in aroma and taste, and thus result in a richer flavor and more earthy aromatics. Agaves harvested in the lowlands, on the other hand, have a more herbaceous fragrance and flavor, soft and floral.
Tequila Production
Tequila is the most sophisticated and most regulated spirit in the production today. There are unique features in tequila production. The succulent plants, of which the blue tequilana weber is the most usual, are planted as cuttings. They take up to 13 years to reach maturity. The leaves are then removed and the single fruit, the cabeza (head), taken to the distillery.
Unlike wine, tequila comes from a plant, which contributes, but once to the product. In large ovens, the cabezas are cooked for several hours, then cooled and shredded, after which the juice is extracted. Natural fermentation lasts about four days. Double-distillation is used to produce tequila; the new spirit is matured in 50-gallon American oak casks that are usually bought used from bourbon or Tennessee whiskey producers.
Real tequila is made only from 100% fermented blue agave juice. Three basic types result: tequila blanco, not aged where the quality is measured in aroma and flavor. Reposado or rested – aged by law in oak casks between 90 days and 364 days and Añejo (aged) which are aged between 365 days and 36 months in the oak. Recently we are witnessing the appearance of fantastic boutique lines of Extra Añejos which are older then 3 years in oak and whose bottle price is usually above $150 dollars and well worth it. These tequilas are bottled between 35% (mostly for domestic, Mexican market) or 40% ABV for export.
The slow growth of blue agave has caused problems because of tequila’s vast increase in exports. Whilst introducing legislation to protect the quality of the export product and hence its reputation abroad, the Mexican government has permitted as much as 49% of non-blue agave (usually rum) spirit to be added to the domestic product. This is not quite true tequila anymore, though it may carry the title, and is known as “mixto”. If in doubt just check the label if it says ‘Silver” or “gold” it’s mixto, if it says 100% de Agave Azul – you got the right stuff
Tequila and it’s Path to fame around the world
The commerce between the southern United States and Mexico ensured that some Americans were familiar with tequila many years ago, but except in the border area it was little considered until the mid-1960s. Then things Mexican began to enjoy particular popularity, especially with the young, who are so often responsible for initiating changes in drinking patterns.
Tequila started to move north in respectable quantities, most of it being drunk in Margarita cocktails, and very rarely in Mexican manner. The traditional ritual is to moisten the base of the thumb, pour on some salt and hold a quarter of fresh lime between the forefinger and index finger of the same hand; then, licking the salt, you swallow a small glassful of the neat spirit in one go and immediately chew on the lime.
Sales of tequila in the USA rose by almost 1500% in the decade from 1965 and by the late 1970s over 20 million bottles were being drunk there annually, predominantly in the border states but elsewhere too.
The taste of tequila is notoriously hard to describe. Take top-quality export tequila and you have a spirit whose most obvious feature is a smooth sharpness: an apparent contradiction in terms that is fairly near the mark.
The tart quality of tequila, more pronounced than that of vodka or Dry gin, make it an interesting spirit for mixing, and it is no longer wholly confined to a handful of special cocktails, but is making minor inroads into mixes dominated by gin, vodka and even white rum.
In the USA it has established as decidedly more than one of those novelty drinks that appear from time to time in that volatile and enterprising market.
In Britain, serious importation did not start until 1974 and it took over a decade for it to make a serious impact, especially amongst the younger consumers, tequila has now gained a strong foothold. In Canada, Germany and Australia tequila has grown in popularity faster than in Britain and is today an established spirit.
