The Mexican agave spirit that is not tequila is mezcal. Mezcal is distilled from the roasted heart, or piña, of an agave plant and can be made from more than 30 agave species, varieties, and subvarieties.
Tequila is often treated as mezcal’s close cousin, but the modern legal and commercial distinction is important: tequila is made only from blue agave, while mezcal may use many different agaves. Mezcal production is especially associated with Oaxaca, which produces roughly 90% of Mexico’s mezcal.
The word mezcal comes from the Nahuatl mexcalli, meaning “baked agave.” Agave-fermented drinks such as pulque existed before Spanish colonization, while distilled agave spirits developed after still technology reached New Spain. The first documented mention of distilled mezcal dates to 1619.
Mezcal is commonly served neat, sometimes with orange slices and sal de gusano, a chili-and-ground-larva seasoning. The famous “worm” is optional and is not present in every bottle; it is a moth larva added during bottling.