What Is The Worm In The Tequila Bottle

The tequila had already personality says torres.

What is the worm in the tequila bottle.

The plant the bottles and region with the laws protecting all of that. Some think the worm in the bottle started as a marketing ploy to get people to drink more mezcal in the 1940s and 1950s. The genuine agave worm is a bright coral color which fades to pink in the bottle. Tequila was flooding the american market and mezcal needed a way to stand out.

The worm however isn t actually a worm but the larva of one of two different types of moths that live on the agave plant. Connoisseurs complain that the white worm isn t as tasty as the red one which to me is like complaining that your soup contains the wrong species of fly. The worm you see. While tequila can only be made from the blue agave mezcal can be made from other varieties of agave including the wild tabala variety.

The worm floating at the bottom of mexican liquor bottles has confused many drinkers. A bottle of tequila with a worm in the bottom would not meet these quality controls. When a bottle of mezcal contains a worm the mezcal is described as being con gusano or with worm in spanish. So they didn t have to use the worm for the rest of the mezcal.

Some bottlers substitute a species of white worm that lives in the leaves of the agave plant. The worm we re all thinking of actually belongs in a bottle of mezcal tequila s huskier smokier cousin tequila has to be at least 51 blue agave but mezcal can be made from any variety of. You see at the time tequila was flooding the us market and mezcal companies were desperately trying to differentiate themselves. Even though we can t be 100 sure most drink historians believe that the whole worm in a bottle of mezcal myth most probably started as marketing ploy back in the 1950s.

The worm is never found in tequila says heriberto oviedo the tequilier like a sommelier for tequila at the cantina beach restaurant at the ritz carlton in key biscayne fl. Here s what you need to know about the worms in tequila or mezcal bottles.