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PacO
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Well, I've learned.... that's why last night I nursed my cold w/a nice cold shot(s) of Cazadores......of course, I will now have to try your
recommendations because at this age I can not drink chitty beer or booze. I mean, what the hell am I working for if I can't do quality?
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Santiago
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Horse strolls into a bar and grabs the nearest stool. Bartender walks up and says "Why the long face, buddy?"
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Oso
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Bacanora! Breakfast of Champions
Although I've heard of, but never seen, a legal version of this agave distillate, it is most commonly sold illegally as bootleg "moonshine" throughout
Sonora and parts of Chihuahua and Sinaloa. It is "homemade" clandestinely in essentially the same manner as tequila or mezcal. It can't be called
tequila for the same reason as Champagne vs. sparkling wine- Tequila must come from around Tequila, Jalisco. Of course, most doesn't have a label
anyway. It usually comes in plastic 2 liter soda bottles. Some of it is not bad at all, in fact smoother than "average" tequilas - no raspa la
garganta. Many aficionados say it produces much less of a hangover than tequila, but I have yet to test it "to the limit". Customarily it is
consumed straight without lime or salt. The taste doesn't seem to need them. It is also mixed with coke for "cubas".
I don't know what the beehive bottle stuff is but at the prices I've seen it advertised, I think I'd rather take my chances with Bacanora.
All my childhood I wanted to be older. Now I\'m older and this chitn sucks.
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jerry
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i have seen a pile of empty 5 gal beehive jugs behind an all inclusive resort i talked to a guy working there he told me it what they make tequila out
of just fill the little bottles up and tint as needed that why i drink beer unless im in a place i know
jerry and judi
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jrbaja
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Many tourists down here
wonder why they got in fights with loved ones, hurt themselves, lost their money, got ripped off at a restaurant, and countless other tales of woe
while waking up with the worst hangover they have ever experienced.
Beehive tequilas in their margaritas!!
And Cuervo is almost as bad !
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Skeet/Loreto
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Now JR!!
A few yearss back{Not Many} there was a very Popluar Place in Loreto{On the Beach} mixing Beehive with "Denuded Alcohol".
Jose Curevo is Great, just do not mix- Warms your Tummy!!
Skeet/Loreto
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jerry
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yes skeet
i think thats the place im talking about good thing it was clothing optional patrons didnt have to worry about losing there cloths
jerry and judi
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Dave
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Oso
Tequila must come from around Tequila, Jalisco. |
I doughen theenk so. My favorite Tequila (Chinaco) comes Tamaulipas.
There are three Mexican States that produce Tequila. I've given you two. Anyone care to provide the third?
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jerry
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hood river oregon makes it
state of confusion
jerry and judi
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Bob and Susan
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In 1974, the Mexican government designated five Mexican states as the only regions that could produce government certified tequila as a means to
establish quality standards, similar to champagne in France.
The five Mexican states are Guanajuato, Michoacan, Nayarit, Tamaulipas and Jalisco.
Only 3 of these 5 currently produce it.
Hic!!
[Edited on 8-27-2005 by Bob and Susan]
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Oso
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Bob and Susan
In 1974, the Mexican government designated five Mexican states as the only regions that could produce government certified tequila as a means to
establish quality standards, similar to champagne in France.
The five Mexican states are Guanajuato, Michoacan, Nayarit, Tamaulipas and Jalisco.
Only 3 of these 5 currently produce it.
Hic!!
[Edited on 8-27-2005 by Bob and Susan] |
I stand corrected. I thought elsewhere it had to be called Mezcal.
All my childhood I wanted to be older. Now I\'m older and this chitn sucks.
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jrbaja
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http://www.tasteoftx.com/bevs/mezcal/vs.html
Mezcal vs. Tequila
Mezcal is made from
the agave plant.
The agave is also
used to make tequila
but in a different process.
While tequila is made exclusively
in the state
of Jalisco,
mezcal is exclusive to Oaxaca.
Although tequila is most popularly
consumed in the margarita,
mezcal is almost exclusively
served as a shooter,
with or without a
lick of salt and bite of lime.
At the arrival of
Spanish people to Mexico,
Pulque was the only
alcoholic drink available.
Once the distilling process
was introduced by the Spanish,
beverages of high alcoholic
content were made
from the agave plant,
these spirits were first called:
"agave wine" or "mezcal wine"
from which
Tequila emerged.
Technically speaking
it could be said
that Tequila is a form of Mezcal,
but it can not be said that
Mezcal is a form of Tequila.
There are specific diferences
between both beverages,
mainly the methods of production
and the agave varieties
from which both are made.
The Manufacturing Process
The long, pointed-leafed agave
must be allowed to grow
for a minimum
of eight years before it is
plucked from the earth and its
pineapple-like core is separated.
The cores of hundreds
of agave plants
are baked in a sunken pit
for a few days,
then mashed with a
horse-drawn grinding wheel.
The mashed remains are
put in a huge barrel
with water to ferment,
followed by distillation
in clay or bronze tanks
covered by dirt
and heated by logs.
Steam passes through ducts and
the condensation yields mezcal.
In contrast,
tequila also uses the baked cores.
A sweet juice is then extracted
by steaming and
compressing the cores.
The juice is fermented
for several days
and then distilled at low proof,
and then double
or even triple distilled.
The species of Agave from
which these beverages are
obtained are different,
this means that both spirits
are obtained from the same plant:
Agave or Maguey,
but from a different
variety of the plant.
In the case of Tequila it's
Agave Tequilana Weber Blue variety,
and in the case of Mezcal
it's Potatorum zucc,
Amailid?ceas (Tobal?)
and Angustifolia haw (Espad?n)
mainly.
The Worm
Unlike Tequila,
some Mezcal Brands have a
worm inside their bottles.
The belief that the worm
grants aprhodisiac powers
comes from prehispanic cultures.
The worm lives
inside the agave plant and
it can be of two types:
white or red depending on the
place of the plant from
which is obtained.
The worms lives in the agave plant
and are hand-harvested during
the rainy summer season.
They are stored in mezcal,
drained and sorted,
and placed in bottles
near the end of the process.
The worm is what makes
mezcal unique;
it is added as a reminder
that it comes from the plant
from which the alcohol is made.
Like the drink itself,
the worm is something
of an acquired taste
Drinking Mezcal
Mezcal has a high potency
and a strong smoky flavor.
Distillers insist the drink
has medicinal and tonic qualities.
In Mexico, tribal women drink mezcal
to withstand the pain of childbirth,
and laborers drink it for added strength.
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Bob and Susan
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Mezcal vs. Tequila
Mezcal is to Tequila as Armagnac is to Cognac.
Tequila is distilled from a distinct variety of agave, Mescal is not.
Mezcal is roasted agave done in small underground wood-fired pits.
Tequila is steam-cooked in large stainless-steel vats.
Mezcal is distilled in small batches using copper stills.
Tequila is processed in factories with industrial-sized fermentation and distillation systems.
The worm in Tequila is NOT A WORM it's a catapiller....HIC!!!
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jrbaja
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http://www.ianchadwick.com/tequila/pulque.html
Tequila's ancestral drink, pulque, was made from one of three to six types of agave grown in the Mexican highlands - but not the blue agave, however.
It is one of about 30 different alcoholic beverages made from agave in Mexico - many of which are still made regionally, although seldom available
commercially. Pulque is like beer - it has a low alcohol content, about 4-8%, but also contains vegetable proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins, so it
also acts as a nutritional supplement in many communities.
Pulque dates back to at least 200 CE and perhaps much further. It was first made by the Aztecs around 1172-1291 CE, and was used by them as a ritual
and ceremonial drink. A similar fermented drink from the southern part of the country is called tepache and in some places it is known as octli..
Agave may have been cultivated for aguamiel as early as 1239 CE, according to archeological records. Aztecs were very strict about its use and only
priests were allowed to drink a fifth glass of pulque - often to help keep them in the mood for their frequent ritual sacrifice and cannibalism. Aztec
punishment for public drunkenness was beating, loss of public office and even death, except on the five last days of the calendar year, known as the
'Days of the Dead.' Seniors were generally exempt from these laws. Other pre-Columbian Mexicans fermented the agave sap into a drink the Aztecs called
octili poliqhui - which the Spaniards corrupted into pulque. The 16th century Franciscan friar, Torbio de Benavente, wrote about the curative powers
of pulque and agave sap - as mentioned in the Florentine Codex (figure 596).
Pulque is fermented but not distilled, resulting in a sweet, milky and fruity drink, rich in vitamins. It was originally used in religious festivals,
dedicated to the god Ometotchtli - Two Rabbit (one of the Centzon Totochtin, or 400 rabbits; Tochtli, or Ometotchli, was also a figure in the Aztec
calendar - day eight of the 20-day cycle). There was no "One Rabbit." When they looked at the moon, the Mexica saw a rabbit in its face.
Pulque makers sometimes use various fruit to accelerate fermentation. In traditional pulque, a mu?eca ("doll") was used - a rag or sock filled with
human feces and dipped to start the fermentation process.
The Aztecs also had Tepoztecal, the god of alcoholic merriment. Olmec legend credits the discovery of aguamiel to a woman, Mayahuetl, and fermentation
of the sap to her husband, Petecatl. Aztec legend says fermented maguey sap was revealed to them by the gods who split a ripe plant with a lightning
bolt. To the Nahuatl, the maguey was divine, represented by the goddess Mayahuel, who had 400 breasts which oozed pulque. Ron Cooper, of Del Maguey
mezcal producers, was quoted in Metro Active, saying, "The Aztec's 400 gods of pulque were representative of the infinite forms that intoxication
takes. The native culture was sensitized to the immense release of being in an altered state - it's considered liberating." The ancient Zapotec legend
tells of Mayatl, the mezcal goddess, who fell in love with a handsome warrior and produced a wondrous elixir from her breast for him to drink. Such is
one story of the origin of pulque.
When the Spanish arrived, pulque use was so prevalent among the natives, that Cortes described pulque in his first letter to King Carlos V. The drink
was exported back to Europe very early, but it is doubtful the brew survived the voyage without becoming sour and unfit to drink.
To harvest the agave sap, the tlachiquero cuts a cavity into a ripe (10-12-year old) maguey pi?a. The sap (aguamiel) flows into this hollow and is
siphoned off by hand using a long-necked gourd (acocote) or a hollow stick of bamboo and carried in a pitcher (apilote) . A good maguey can last up to
a year and produce 2,500 liters of aguamiel. The sap is collected in a wooden barrel and fermented overnight in a place called a timacal. Sometimes it
is fermented with cultivated yeast, sometimes from naturally-occurring yeasts (from the air or the leaves of the maguey).
Pulquerias thrived during the colonial period (1520-1810) because many were integral to the large haciendas and became a source of significant
revenue. The Iturbe family near Apan produced about 110 barrels (27.500 liters) of pulque daily on their farm at Hacienda San Nicolas de Grande - the
largest producer of its day. Landowners promoted cultivating agave for their own pulquerias (see www.unam.mx/voices/1997/oct/salazar.html) to control production and costs. The tinacal was the room (rooms or even whole buildings) set aside in
the hacienda for pulque production, with its tubs for fermentation. Each tinacal had its own staff; to guard it, harvest the sap, measure the
production and usually an administrator.
Pulque developed its own rich sub-culture, which remained strong in the rural communities for several centuries, but barely survives today. Each
pulqueria had its own name, as did the barrels of foaming liquid - The Brave Man, the Dancing Lady, the Cry Baby, the Repentant Woman. Each pulqueria
had its own decor, traditions, drinks and songs. They had murals, games and poetry. Pulque de Apan (from the plains of Apan) was widely considered the
best. Pulque glasses were named according to their size: flowerpot (maceta) for the largest - one liter. Then came screw (tornillo) for half liter,
and so on down to the tiny cacarizo used for tasting. Pulque glasses and mugs were often decorated and painted.
As more and more land fell into a smaller circle of families in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the hacienda became a restrictive feudal
environment. A small aristocracy had absolute control over thousands - even tens of thousands - of indentured and impoverished workers. Pulque was the
peon's drink, and often used to keep the overworked farm labourers content through drunkenness. Mondays became 'Saint Monday' or 'Holy Monday' - San
Lunes, the day when workers drank to excess, ate and brawled in the pulquerias while local musicians played. The rich drank French wines and cognac,
but were called the 'Pulque Aristocracy' during the regime of Porfirio Diaz, because of the profit they made from the production.
Viceroy Revilla Gigedo (D. Juan Francisco Guemez y Horcasitas, Conde de Revilla Gigedo) issued a sweeping decree regulating the manufacture, sale, and
consumption of all alcoholic beverages, including pulque, in the mid-1700s. His decree was similar to decrees by two earlier viceroys (Vizarr?n y
Eguiarreta and the Conde de Fuenclara). But since pulque contains many proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins, it is an integral part of the diet of the
indigenous peoples, so control proved difficult. A report from 1777 indicates 750-800 loads of pulque arriving in Mexico City daily.
There was another downside to the pulque culture. The unsanitary conditions and the lack of regulation of the hacienda pulquerias led to widespread
toxemia during the late 19th century. At the same time, a strong anti-alcohol sentiment arose, fueled by a campaign in the Catholic press, which
propelled the Diaz government to impose legislation reducing the hours of pulquerias, and forbidding them to have music, chairs and even windows.
Women were forbidden to enter them. Drinkers were forbidden to linger in pulquerias. The efforts didn't seem to reduce either alcoholism or toxemia
associated with pulque, however. But the expansion of the middle class during this time probably had the greatest impact, as pulque was abandoned as a
lower-class drink. In 1950-51, Dr. Manuel Gamio attempted to get Mexican villagers to plant soya beans to provide additional protein in their diets,
and to diminish their consumption of pulque at the same time. His efforts proved unsuccessful and were soon discontinued.
Another attempt to control the pulque trade was made in 1960, with the formation of the Patronato Del maguey, or Maguey Board. It also tried to
encourage total utilization of the plant, increased cleanliness and greater hygiene in pulque production. The board was merged with the National
Program for the Maguey and the Nopal in 1985.
Today pulque is almost unknown among young Mexicans in many areas, especially urban or tourist zones, and inquiries about obtaining it in tourist
areas are generally met with shrugs or shaking heads. In my own experience, pulque is unknown to the younger generation of Mexicans who inhabit the
urban or tourist areas. They tend to prefer American soft drinks or beer. In 1870, there were 822 pulquerias in Mexico City; by 1998 there were only
80.
Pulque, however, is still available in many Mexican communities, usually sold as homebrew made in small pulquerias, far less common than they were in
Colonial days, but it has assumed a more romantic and mythic stature. It's still a custom to spill a few drops of your drink on the floor of the
pulqueria before drinking, in homage to Two Rabbit. sometimes it is mixed with sangre de conejo - "rabbit's blood" - juice from the red prickly pear
cactus, or sometimes just food colouring and sugar). There are even street vendors who sell pulque from their carts in some communities. Pulque dulce
(also called tlachique) is young and sweet; pulque fuente is older, stronger and sometimes acidic or sour. A batch of pulque only lasts a couple of
days after fermentation before becoming too sour to drink. Sometimes it is mixed with fruit juices for drinking.
Pulque is allegedly still a local drink in Jalisco, made from sap from the flower stalk of the agave. It can be had natural, or mixed with a variety
of crushed fruit to soften the sour flavour. Even today, pulque and its communal, almost ritual, closeness are not commonly shared with gringos or
outsiders - and most pulquerias are still male-only. You may, however, be able to buy some from friends, or get a delicious bread made from pulque at
the local market. You can also find pulque in Tlaxcala, where it is known as Charagua, and served mixed with red chile and corn leaf. In Guerrero
chiocle is pulque mixed with ancho chiles, epazote, salt and garlic; in San Luis Potosi is is mixed with opuntia. Ojo de Gallo (rooster's eye) is
pulque mixed with pepper, salt, anisette and ancho chiles. A commercial pulque is produced and sold in cans in Santa Maria Tejacate. A Mexican
company, Bebidas Naturales San Tsidro, sells a pasteurized pulque as Nectar de Apan in specialty stores (the Plains of Apan were the source of the
best pulque).
The Hnahnu people live in the semi-arid regions of Hidalgo state, around the Valley of Mezquital. They use the agave salminae for more than 100
products, including pulque. They call the plant el arbol de las maravillas - the tree of wonders. For most indigenous Mexican peoples, the agave was
the source of food, fibre, thread, rope, soap, sugars and other products. Little wonder that they worshipped (or respected) the plant: its versatility
gave them many components of everyday life.
It was the Spanish Conquistadors who had the knowledge to distill the local pulque brew into something stronger. The Conquistadors had no local source
of grapes for wine, and found pulque too weak or short-lived for their tastes. They may have started distilling it into mezcal wine in the 1520s.
Check out www.turista.com.mx/clientes/pulque/ for the story on pulque in Spanish.
A cousin of mezcal is bacanora, a drink made by distilling the juices of the roasted yaquiano maguey pi?a. It is still made in the state of Sonora,
where it originated. Making bacanora was illegal in Mexico until 1992, when the government changed the laws. Today it is available regionally only in
small quantities, and may be as high as 92 proof. Sotol is a similar agave-based drink made in Chihuahua. See my page on other Mexican spirits for
more drinks distilled from agave juice.
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Bob and Susan
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WOW!!!HIC!!!
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jrbaja
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They don't put worms in Tequila
they put gusanos in Mezcal.  
[Edited on 8/28/2005 by jrbaja]
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Bob and Susan
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You're right of course...i guess that's why the call you a "Know-it-All"
After the second shot who can tell the difference HIC!!!
For us regular people GUSANOS=WORMS
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eetdrt88
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i'm really diggin the info on this thread...
i enjoy mezcal but rarely drink it,usually only when i'm in baja...tequila on the other hand i have much more often,mostly cazadores or hornitos
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jrbaja
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Don't know or really giva a chit who
"they" are but sounds like "you" have been "hittin the hive"
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soulpatch
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Jesus Christ Jr, you expect a bunch of tequila users to read that whole damn thing?!
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