QandAs: Food

What is Tequila?

Answer:
Tequila is a distilled beverage ("spirit")

made from the blue agave, which is part of the lily and amaryllis families of plants. The name Tequila is from the city of Tequila in the western Mexican state of Jalisco. Tequila is typically made with up to 46% alcohol content (up to 92 proof).

Tequila was originally produced in the 16th century. Prior to then, the Aztec civilization made a beverage from the fermented agave plant which was called "octli", then "pulque". Sometime in the 1500's the Spanish Conquistadors began distilling the indigenous octli when their brandy supply ran dry, thus creating the first North American distilled (indigenous) beverage.

Today in Mexico there are over 100 distilleries producing over 600 varieties of Tequila with over 2000 individual brands.

Tequila is typically bottled in one of five categories, as follows:

Oro ("gold") - young, not aged, often with additives such as coloring and flavoring to suggest an "aged flavor".
Blanco ("white") or Plata ("silver") - non-aged white distilled beverage.
Reposado ("rested") - aged 2 months minimum, 1 year maximum, in oak barrels.
Anejo ("aged", "vintage") - aged 1 year minimum, 3 years maximum, in oak barrels.
Extra anejo ("extra aged", "ultra aged") - aged 3 years minimum, in oak barrels.

Tequila has often been associated with "the worm in the bottle", but that common misconception is primarily found only in certain mezcals (another distilled beverage from the agave plant but not considered Tequila) from the Mexican state of Oaxaca. The "worm in the bottle" was used as a marketing ploy back in the 1940's, and the worm is actually a larva of the Hypopta agavis moth which lives on the agave plant.

Tequila has experienced a somewhat bumpy road in that it is often thought of as an "outlaw's drink", and is sometimes associated with ugly hangovers or other drink-induced maladies from some of the "rot-gut" Tequilas of yore. Indeed, this chant/song was even created to describe some of Tequila's darker influences.

"One Tequila, Two Tequila, Three Tequila...Floor!
Five Tequila, Six Tequila, Seven Tequila...Morgue!"

Please drink responsibly!