The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails Definition of Mexico

Mexico has an ancient history of fermentation and alcohol production, as the culture of the Native Americans (Indios) included alcohol beverages for religious ceremony, spiritual enlightenment, and familial celebrations, dating back at least two thousand years, if not longer. These fermented beverages were crafted from the staples of a subsistence lifestyle for early Americans, such as pulque from maguey, or the agave plant, which was a primary source of food and nutrition for at least nine thousand years, and maize, or corn, an invention of the indigenous peoples of the Americas that scientists often still credit as one of the first and perhaps greatest feats of genetic engineering of all time—over six thousand years ago. Although distillation in Mexico focused upon fermented tepache or mosto from the maguey, the indigenous people of Mexico have throughout history fermented virtually everything they could, with most variations depending predominantly upon geography and availability, including chicha (sugar-cane juice), ciruelas (plums), chocohuite (a bromeliad), matzaoctli (pineapple wine in Nahuatl, often referred to today as tapache), coyol or taberna (palm wine), xocoyolle (of the sorrel family), beer from maize and mecate bark, and balche, or mead (honey with bark).

It is commonly taught that there were no spirits in the Americas until the Columbian exchange and the arrival of the Spanish, who are credited with bringing their alembic stills and teaching the Indios how to distill their “crude fermented beverages” into basic distillates. There is, however, a significant body of new evidence that points to distillation existing in a pre-Hispanic Mexico. Many archaeologists and anthropologists in Mexico now agree that distillation, for the purpose of ritual beverages, may have begun as early as 600–400 bce.

There are several different types of spirits being distilled in Mexico today from the maguey (or agave), most prominently tequila, which is by far the leading spirit of Mexico and still one of the fastest-growing spirit categories in the United States; mezcal, the most ancient and perhaps still the most artisanal spirit in Mexico, itself a rapidly emerging category; and other distillates of agave (maguey), such as raicilla and bacanora. See raicilla and bacanora. There is also Mexican brandy, distilled from local grapes, and scattered local distillations of corn, tropical fruits such as pineapple, and sugar cane, which has a long history in the country and was formerly made and consumed in very large quantities. See charanda, chinguirito, and habanero. Formerly there was also a significant amount of spirit distilled from palm wine in the southern coastal areas.

Mezcal

Until recently, the term mezcal could have been used to describe the category of all distillations of agave throughout the country of Mexico, but in spite of the fact that most producers of agave spirits still refer to their spirit as mezcal, that term is now legal only in certain states, and only from registered producers.

To call an agave distillation mezcal, it must carry a denominacion de origen from COMERCOM, the governing body of mezcal, and it must be produced in one of the nine designated states: Oaxaca, Durango, Guerrero, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas, Tamaulipas, Guanajuato, Michoacán, and the recently added state of Puebla (2016). After many years, mezcal has been established as its own category, finally beginning to garner some of the long overdue recognition that these spirits, and their mostly Native American producers, deserve.

Tequila

Tequila, a particular, legally delimited subvariety of mezcal, is truly a Mexican spirit, yet it is at least partially accurate to describe it as a Spanish invention, or intervention, as it was the Spanish and Mexicans of Spanish descent that first converted this ancient native beverage into a modern industry, applying more modern techniques to the artisan agave spirit, and brought this spirit to the world.

Today, tequila, (formerly mezcal de Tequila) is still produced in Jalisco where it originated, near the town of Tequila, but now it can also be produced outside of the state of Jalisco, in four other states, including Nayarit, Tamaulipas, Guanajuato, and Michoacán.

Tequila’s global popularity continues to grow. The Margarita has driven awareness and sales, as the drink formerly known as the Tequila Daisy continues to be one of the most popular and important cocktails in the world. See Margarita. But increases in consumption can also be directly correlated to the arrival of artisanal, handcrafted tequila.

The United States is responsible for the direct sale of over 75 percent of the exports of mezcal and tequila, but mezcal represents less than 1 percent of that total.

Other Agave Spirits from Mexico

In addition to Mezcals that can be legally produced from these designated and approved states above, there are other unique spirits distilled from the agave plant in Mexico, including bacanora from Sonora; raicilla, from the area around Puerto Vallarta, in Jalisco and Nayarit; tuxca, from around Tuxcacuesco, Jalisco; and comiteco, from Comitán, in Chiapas. Sotol from Chihuahua is distilled from a different species of plant, dasylirion, until recently believed to be a member of the agave family. See sotol. There is evidence of some form of mezcal being created through the local, indigenous distillation of maguey in at least twenty states in Mexico today.

New NORMAs (standards and regulations) for mezcal were approved in July of 2016, with updated rules and classifications to determine how and where mezcal can be distilled and how these spirits can be labeled.

Mexico

Mezcal

Tequila

Other Agave Spirits from Mexico

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