Mezcal

Distillate produced in Mexico obtained from the fermented juice of the agave fruit but not of agave azul, the type from which Tequila is produced. The Aztec legend tells that the god Quetzalcoatl, concerned about the sadness that afflicted the men of the earth, made the goddess Mayahuel  fall in love with him to lead her on the earth, on the wings of the wind, in order to give men her extraordinary beauty. The grandmother of the goddess, enraged, directed to the earth with an army of stars to find her. The god Quetzalcoatl to protect his beloved from the fury of her grandmother picked her up and turned themselves into a tree, which branches were the body of his beloved. The grandmother of the goddess, even more irritated by the attempted deception, ordered lightning and thunderbolts on the tree. The branches caught fire and burned. The god Quetzalcoatl came out from the trunk of the tree, picked up and buried the remains of the inert body of the goddess Mayahuel. From her limbs arose, like fruit of not won love, the Agave plant, the plant of the gods, from heart of which the sacred water gutter and put an end to the sadness of men and women of the earth. The origins of Mezcal go back two thousand years ago. Around the first century AD the Indians discovered that the juice of the agave plant, when exposed to air, fermented in a milky  beverage mildly alcoholic. The Aztecs called it "octyl poliqhui", a name that was later transformed by the Spanish in "pulque". As mentioned in the Aztec culture drinking "pulque" had a religious significance. It was consumed during public holidays where large containers full of pulque were arranged in squares. The ruling class, however, had the privilege of being able to enjoy  the drink throughout the year. He was also offered to prisoners of war to be purified before being sacrificed to the gods. The "conquistadores", arrived in Mexico in the sixteenth century, initially did not like this drink with low alcohol content from about 3% by volume and with earthy and vegetable taste. They took, however, the stills and knowings in the distillation. The first attempts to distill pulque were not exciting: the distillate had a sour and pungent taste; but they had then the idea to cook the agave pulp. The result was a sweeter juice which, when fermented, became known as Mezcal Wine. Once distilled it was born the first Mezcal as we know it today. The agave reaches maturity at a time that varies between 8 and 10 years. Reached this it produces a flower stalk that once started to grow, is cut by the farmer who directs the growth in the central stem of the plant, causing swelling in the form of large bulb. When the bulge reaches the desired size, the plant is cut from the roots and spiny leaves are removed using a tool similar to a razor called the "coa". What remains is the piña, which looks like a giant white and green pineapple weighing between 12 and 45 kg, full of sweet, juicy pulp. Arrived in the distillery Piñas are divided into four, starch from the pulp are converted into sugars by the heat applied slowly with underground ovens heated with charcoal, which gives the drink its characteristic smoky taste. After being cooked, they are crushed with a stone wheel, driven by a mule, to extract "the aguamiel", honey water. The stills used for distillation are discontinuous and produce a clear distillate, containing a significant amount of spices, which can be distilled in column stills again to get a distillation cleaner and lighter. In some bottles of Mezcal it's possible to find the "gusano", in English worm, which is actually the larva that grows one or two months in the agave plant. It is said that the "gusano" serves as a checker of alcohol content: if the worm remains intact in the bottle it means that the percentage of alcohol in the distillate is high enough to preserve it in alcohol. At the same time, however, it became a ritual for generations, to consume the "gusano". It should be emphasized that the best bottles of Mezcal has none and, indeed, begin to have a great character and the quality level which slowly allows them to capture a small slice of the market.