Mezcal

Mezcal (/mɛˈskæl/ ^ⓘ, Latin American Spanish: [mesˈkal] ^ⓘ), sometimes spelled mescal, is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from any type of agave.

Agaves or magueys are endemic to the Americas and found globally as ornamental plants. The Agave genus is a member of the Agavoideae subfamily of the Asparagaceae plant family which has almost 200 species. Mezcal is made from over 30 Agave species, varieties, and subvarieties.

Native fermented drinks from agave plants, such as pulque, existed before the arrival of the Spanish, 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. Mezcal is made from the heart of the agave plant, called the piña.

The mostly widely consumed form of mezcal is tequila, which is made only with blue agave.

Some 90% of Mexican mezcal comes from Oaxaca. In Mexico, mezcal is generally consumed straight and has a strong smoky flavor. Mexico increasingly exports the product, mostly to Japan and the United States.

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