Articles and Stories

October 6, 2015

By Sabina Wrightsman

Only a connoisseur will know that the worm will never be added to Tequila, only added to Mezcal, the famous Mexican drink.

Tequila and Mezcal are both forms of Tequila, however, the Mezcal is far superior to Tequila as it is hand made out of 25 year old agave plants called “Maguey”. Tequila, however, is only made from blue agave in huge industrial batches.

Mezcal is produced in Mexico, in the state of Oaxaca.  There are several legends told about the drink, the most widespread is that God struck the agave plant with lightning, revealing its purest liquid, and offered it to men. The Mezcal is also called ‘the sacred spirit of Oaxaca.’

The Mezcal comes in different flavors. For all of the drinks, the flavor is very smoky, but the taste is also influenced by many factors, from the type of agave used, to where and how it was grown, as well as to the production process.

Adding the maguey worm, el gusano, into the bottle makes the flavor taste much smoother. It is a blessing to have the worm end up in your glass, when that happens, you say a prayer and eat it. Insects are part of the everyday diet in Oaxaca. (Deep-fried grasshoppers, for example, are available on every corner as snacks.) The taste also changes with the worm inside the mescal, as it makes the alcohol taste then less obvious.

The Mezcal is made out of the maguey plant, which is a wonder plant. The plant can be used to build houses and clothes can be made out of it. You can eat it and enjoy the Mezcal drink. This plant has been worshipped by the people of Mexico’s highlands for its many properties but now it is now mainly used for distilling Mezcal.

The word Mezcal comes from an Aztec language called Nahuatl, which means “oven-cooked agave”. That translation describes the process very accurately: as the agave hearts, the piñas, are cooked in earthen mounds or pit ovens over hot rocks for three days.

There is a famous saying attributed to the drink: “Para todo mal, Mezcal, y para todo bien, también” (“For every ill, Mezcal, and for every good as well.”).

Mezcal is like a medicinal drink, if you are sick, it is good for you, if you are healthy, just enjoy it, and the occasional worm will be a blessing to you.