Drinks 101: What are agave spirits?

July 16, 10:07 AMDrinks ExaminerBill Dowd

Previous Next

1 comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Drinks Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Orendain distillery workers in Tequila cut up agave piñas to roast

before mashing them to start the fermentation. (William M. Dowd photo)

Tequila is the best-known agave spirit, but it is not the only one. There also are mezcal, sotol, destilado de agave, raicilla, and bacanora. Beyond Mexico, however, most are not widely known.

True tequila must be made 100% from the Weber blue agave plant and distilled only in Mexico's Jalisco state and certain specificed adjoining counties. The name tequila comes from the principal city in the area, Tequila.

The essential tequila making steps are:

1. Harvest the agave plant, ship the heart of it to the distillery.
2. Cut up the piña into quarters and put into an oven to slow roast.
3. Mash the roasted piña and combine with water, then heat to ferment. creating release of alcohol.
4. Run the evaporated alcohol into a cooling vessel to return it to liquid form.
5. Filter the distillate to remove impurities.
6. Add water to reach the desired level of alcoholic content, usually 40% alcohol by volume (ABV), or 80 proof.

Here's a quick rundown on the other agave spirits:

Bacanora:

This traditional liquor, mentioned by the earliest Spanish explorers as a native drink, is made in the state of Sonora, which lies below Arizona. It was illegal until 15 years ago when rules for its manufacture were put into place. It is made from a variety of the agave plant that grows exclusively in Sonora's climate and terrain.

Mezcal:

The state of Oaxaca in south-central Mexico claims this spirit as its own. It's the result of the fermentation of the native maguey plant by the indigenous people and the distillation techniques introduced by Spaniards. The unique topography of Oaxaca -- at the confluence of three great valleys at an altitude of 6,500 feet -- creates a wide variety of growing micro-climates for numerous varieties of the agave variety known as maguey, from the giant pulque maguey to the maguey tobala from which one of the rarest mezcals is made.

Sotol:

This shrub looks like a bouquet of spiney leaves with fringed tips. It grows in deserts, mountains, and on dry rocky slopes. Its powerful fermented juice is the state drink of Chihuahua state, south of New Mexico. Like tequila and mezcal, it was improved by distilling the original fermentation.

Raicilla:

This liquor, widely known as "Mexican moonshine," now can be found in somewhat more sophisticated varieties as a result of modernization and commercialization. It usually is distilled from a fermented mash made from the roots of the maguey plant. It's a harsh liquor, 100 proof or higher. Despite its dicey repuation, the tourist haven of Puerto Vallarta thinks enough of it to hold an annual raicilla festival.

Destilado de agave:

This spirit is quite similar to tequila, but is brewed outside the state of Jalisco which has 98% of all legal tequila production. As with tequila, it may or may not be made with 100% agave.

(Copyright 2009, William M. Dowd and Circle 7 Associates)