LCBO Food & Drink Early Summer 2018

tequila 101

Tequila is made from the succulent-type agave plant, which can grow around two metres tall and wide. The best comes from Weber azul (Weber blue) agave, named for the French botanist who classified it. Mezcal is a word that can be used to generally describe any agave-derived spirit (including tequila, raicilla and bacanora), though specifically it’s often used to describe smoked-agave spirits from southern Mexico, around Oaxaca.     Fine tequila is labelled “100% agave,” “100% puro de agave” or similar. Tequila labelled mixto or abocado may contain sweeten- ers or colouring or mellowing agents; these can be great as good-value cocktail-mixing options, but generally not for solo sipping.     Though more than 80 per cent of the spirit is made around the town of Tequila, northwest of Guadalajara in the coastal Jalisco region, it can also be produced in the regions Tamaulipas, Guanajuato, Nayarit and Michoacán—and nowhere else in the world. The four-digit Norma Oficial Mexicana (NOM) of authorized producers must appear on the front or back label of each bottle.

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