The Difference Between Tequila and Mezcal
What’s the difference between tequila and mezcal? Is all tequila really mezcal? Is all mezcal made by hand? These and other questions are answered in this episode of Agave Road Trip! (And in the illustrations below, by CHema Skandal!)
This episode of Agave Road Trip is brought to you by Mezcal Amarás. Mezcal Amarás is a company built through love: love for the sun, the land, and the people who work it, and most of all, love for Mexico and its sacred plant, the agave. Learn more at mezcalamaras.com
Agave Road Trip is a podcast that helps gringo bartenders better understand agave, agave spirits, and rural Mexico. It’s hosted by Lou Bank and Chava Periban.
Want a T-shirt of the Swift Brown Fox educating fellow luchador The Lazy Dog about the differences between tequila and mezcal? Here’s your chance! Swell art by CHema Skandal!
You know the famous Mexican luchadores, The Brown Bat and Clowner? They agreed — along with our excellent friend Chema Skandal — to help us illustrate some of the misconceptions about tequila and mezcal. For instance … while it’s true that tequila can be made in Jalisco and mezcal can be made in Oaxaca, each of those agave spirits can be made in other states, too. Which ones? Hey, here’s a spreadsheet to help you keep track!
So … in 1993, this would have been accurate, that all tequila is mezcal. But in 1994, the Mexican government began the process of converting mezcal from a category (like wine) into an expression that requires certification (like Champagne). Now it would be impossible for a tequila to qualify as a mezcal, based on the certification rules. What do those rules entail? Hey, here’s a spreadsheet to help you follow along!
Yes, blue weber is the only type of agave that can be used to make tequila — but it only has to be 51% agave to qualify for certification. The other 49% of the sugars used can come from any other source (except another agave). Corn syrup? Sure. Cane sugar? You bet. Sotol? Hey, yeah, so … where’s that? Anyway, while most mezcal exported from Mexico is in fact made from espadin, there is no restriction as to which agaves you can use to make mezcal. There are anywhere from 200 to 300 varieties, and all of them qualify for use in making mezcal (so long as they are grown within the region where mezcal can be made). Don’t believe us? You’ve heard there are only a dozen or so types of agave that can be used to make mezcal? Hey, here’s a spreadsheet that spells out the rules!
This, for me, is the one that burns deepest: the suggestion that mezcal is industrial and mezcal is handmade. Why? Because there is no rule preventing mezcal from being made using a diffuser, which is the most industrial way to convert an agave into spirits. Google “diffuser tequila” and you’ll get a sense of how tequila lovers tend to hate the diffuser. So why does it get my hackles up that people assume all mezcal is made by hand? Well, hey, listen to this episode, okay? We didn’t just record it for future civilizations to unearth. And in the meantime … You Hey, here’s a spreadsheet that proves you can use a diffuser to make mezcal!
This doesn’t really tie in to the episode or the whole tequila-vs.-mezcal thing, but it felt like it needed a punchline, and Clowner deserved his shot. So … sotol. And here’s a thing about sotol: people tend to include it when they are talking about agave spirits. But it’s not an agave. Yeah, we used to think it was, but botanists disabused us of that notion more than a hundred years ago. Here’s another thing about sotol: like tequila and mezcal, it is a certified spirit — but there are two bodies doing certification. And … even though the plant (also often called sotol) grows all over Mexico, you can’t make a spirit from it anywhere in Mexico and call it sotol. So where can you call it sotol? Hey, here’s a spreadsheet with all the answers!
Funny anecdote: When I sent the text for this panel to Chema Skandal, it autocorrected “sotol” to “stool.” He spent weeks trying to figure out what a “stool man” was. I think if he’d just listened to the chatfests — our podcast within a podcast that has nothing to do with agave, agave spirits, or rural Mexico — he may have gotten some insights into what a stool man might be.
