Mezcal (/mɛˈskæl/, Latin American Spanish: [mesˈkal] ⓘ), sometimes spelled mescal,[1] is a

distilled alcoholic beverage made from any type of agave. The word mezcal comes from Nahuatl
mexcalli [meʃˈkalːi], which means "oven-cooked agave", from metl [met͡ɬ] and ixcalli [iʃˈkalːi].
[2] Traditionally the word "mezcal" has been used generally in Mexico for all agave spirits and it
continues to be used for many agave spirits whether these spirits have been legally certified as
"mezcal" or not.[3]

Agaves or magueys are endemic to the Americas and found globally as ornamental plants. More
than 90% of mezcal is made in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, but is also produced and
commercialized throughout Mexico for the national and international market. Native fermented
drinks from maguey plant, such as pulque, existed before the arrival of the Spanish,[4] but the
origin of mezcal is tied to the introduction of Filipino-type stills to New Spain by Filipino
migrants via the Manila galleons in the late 1500s and early 1600s. These stills were initially used
to make vino de coco, but they were quickly adopted by the indigenous peoples of the Pacific
coastal regions of Mexico and applied to the distillation of agave to make mezcal.[5][6]

Mezcal is made from the heart of the agave plant, called the piña.[7][8] In Mexico, mezcal is
generally consumed straight and has a strong smoky flavor.[8] Though other types of mezcal are
not as popular as tequila, Mexico does export the product, mostly to Japan and the United States,
and exports are increasing as the liquor grows in popularity.[9][10]

Despite the similar name, mezcal does not contain mescaline or other psychedelic substances.[11]

History

A "Tarascan still", a modified Filipino-type still with bound wooden staves as the boiling
chamber. It was used by the Purépecha people for distilling mezcal (c. 1893).[12]
Pulque (a fermented drink from agave sap) is pre-colonial,[5] but the distillation of agave heart
juice into mezcal was only introduced in the colonial era when Filipino sailors and migrants
brought the technology of Filipino-type stills with them during the galleon trade between Mexico
and the Philippines (1565 to 1815).[5][13][6][14][15][16][excessive citations] This is supported
by ethnohistoric, botanical, archaeological, and toponymic evidence. Mezcal is the product of the
merging of pre-Columbian indigenous fermentation traditions and Asian distillation techniques
brought over from the Philippines.[17]
Generalized diagrams of the two main variations of Filipino-type stills[18]
Filipino-type stills, derived from Mongolian and East Asian stills, are very distinct from the more
complex European-type alembic stills (derived from Arabic and Middle Eastern stills). They were
cheap and easy to manufacture, though less efficient than alembic-type stills. They were made of
a mixture of different easy-to-acquire materials. They usually consist of a hollowed-out log
(usually from the parota tree) with two copper or iron pans. These were often substituted with
larger capacity earthenware jars and bowls, bound wooden staves, or even metal cylinders. The
upper pan is continually filled with cold water and functions as the condenser; while the bottom
pan holds the fermented juice over the furnace, functioning as the boiler. The distillate is
collected either by an internal container placed in between the two pans on a platform; or a
spoon-shaped collector and gutter made from wood, rolled agave leaf, or carrizo cane (originally
bamboo in the Philippines) that exits from the hollow log in between the pans to an external clay
container. A modified version of this, usually called "olla de barro" (lit. "clay pot"), use a
specially-shaped clay vessel (or overlapped clay vessels) built into a furnace as the boiler
chamber (doing away with the hollow log and the bottom pan). It only uses one pan (the
condenser), but otherwise operates on the same principle.[5][13][6][14][15][19][18][20][21][22]
[excessive citations] There are also many other modified variants, usually named after the
indigenous peoples that use them, including the "Tarascan still" (or "Tarasco still"), "Zapoteco
still", "Nahua still", "Bolaños still", and "Huichol still" (the latter used for making sotol, not
mezcal).[23][18][20][12] Filipino-type stills are also still referred to by mezcal and tequila
manufacturers (especially in Jalisco and Michoacán) as the "Filipino still" (destilador Filipino).
[15][19][22][24][25][23][excessive citations]

A "Huichol still", a modified Filipino-type still with a suspended internal distillate collector. It
was used by the Huichol people for making sotol (c. 1898).[18][26]
These stills were initially used by Filipino settlers who established coconut plantations on the
coastal regions of Guerrero and Colima of New Spain to make vino de coco (coconut liquor, also
called lambanog). Over the centuries that the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade was active, an
estimated 75,000 Filipinos settled western Mexico and intermarried with indigenous and mixed-
race families. They passed the knowledge of these stills to local communities who applied it to
distill fermented agave. The first historical record of mezcal production is from southern Jalisco,
using techniques derived from coconut liquor production from Colima.[5][13][6][14][15]

By the early 1600s, the Spanish colonial government and the Real Audiencia in Spain banned
vino de coco and issued an order for the destruction of coconut plantations in Colima because it
competed with the sales of imported spirits from Spain. This was also the reason they did not
initially introduce distillation to Mexico. Although this wasn't complied with completely, the
prohibition of vino de coco led to the expansion and commercialization of the production of
mezcal to fill the local demand for cheap liquor. The first mention of distilled agave spirits in
colonial records is from 1619, by the Spanish cleric Domingo Lázaro de Arregui. He mentions
that the indigenous peoples in the coastal regions of the Sierra de Nayarit were distilling
"mexcales", which he describes as being obtained by distilling fermented juice from roasted
agave leaf bases. By 1638, the governor of Nueva Galicia also started to regulate the sale of
mezcal. Mezcal became banned shortly after, though its illicit trade continued. By 1643, there are
records of mezcal and vino de coco being sold in Guadalajara.[5][15]

A cantaro jar, made from barro negro pottery, used for serving mezcal
The production of mezcal moved from the coastal river basins of the Río Grande de Santiago to
the inland ravines by the early 1700s to evade the prohibition on indigenous spirits production, as
well as to take advantage of the larger numbers of wild agave plants in the interiors. The plants
used expanded to highland cultivars of Agave angustifolia, as well as Agave rhodacantha in
Jalisco, and Agave hookeri in Michoacán.[5]

By the mid-1700s, the production of vino de coco had ceased completely due to the prohibition
and the loss of coconut plantations. But mezcal liquor survived because they were sourced from
abundant wild agaves which the Spanish could not eradicate. The production sites moved to even
more remote and difficult-to-access areas in the foothills of the Volcán de Colima, the ravines of
the Colima Valley, and in the Chamila Valley. During this period, the first clandestine distilleries
in the highlands of Jalisco were also established in the valleys of Amatitán, Tequila, Magdalena,
and El Arenal, whose mezcal variant made specifically from blue agave later became tequila.[5]

The small size of the Filipino-type stills made it easy to disassemble and move while evading
colonial authorities. The numerous well-like ancient graves cut into the rocks in the region were
also coopted as fermentation basins for agave juice. The small size of the still also allowed
distillers to produce agave liquor from a very small number of agave plants or even a single plant.
These conditions led to the constant selection and vegetative propagation of wild agave plants
with the best characteristics for agave liquor production, eventually resulting in the development
of domesticated cultivars of agave.[5]
In Colima, the fermented agave to be distilled into mezcal is still called tuba (a synonym of
mosto), the term adopted from the tubâ used to ferment vino de coco.[5][18][17] The term tuba is
also used for fermented sotol plant (genus Dasylirion) core juice, before its distillation into sotol
liquor by the Huichol people, also indicative of its origins as an adaptation of vino de coco
production.[18]

The oldest agave spirits distilleries (called tabernas or viñatas) use Filipino-type stills, many of
which are still operational (like the Macario Partida distilleries in Zapotitlán de Vadillo, Jalisco).
The technology was also transported through trade routes into Zacatecas, Guanajuato,
Michoacán, Sonora, and the rest of Mexico, as well as parts of the southern United States, where
modified Filipino-type stills have been reported.[5][6] The alembic-type still, finally introduced
by the Spanish for distilling sugarcane, was later also adopted for mezcal production.[21] Most
modern mass-produced mezcals are made using alembic-type stills, but the highest category of
certification, the "ancestral mezcal" must be distilled using only Filipino-type stills.[25][27]

Travelers during the colonial period of Mexico frequently mention mezcal, usually with an
admonition as to its potency. Alexander von Humboldt mentions it in his Political Treatise on the
Kingdom of New Spain (1803), noting that a very strong version of mezcal was being
manufactured clandestinely in the districts of Valladolid (Morelia), State of Mexico, Durango and
Nuevo León. He mistakenly observed that mezcal was obtained by distilling pulque, contributing
to its myth and mystique. Spanish authorities, though, treated pulque and mezcal as separate
products for regulatory purposes.[28]