Mezcal producers worm their way into drinkers' hearts
By Chris Hawley, The Arizona Republic
OAXACA, MEXICO — Luigi Romanelli reached over rows of brown bottles filled with mezcal liquor, each with a dead worm inside, and proudly tapped a bundle of sleek metallic tubes.
"1011 Platinum — Premium Mezcal," the silver bottles' labels said. They looked like cans of hair mousse, not something that contained the smoky, strong drink of bandits, cowboys and worm-munching wannabes.
"This is what we're aiming for, something you would see on the shelves of a New York discotheque," Romanelli said. "We want to make mezcal the next tequila."
In Mexico's mezcal country, distillers are out to change the drink's image as a hard-to-swallow shot for macho men. They've launched new rules to ensure quality, rolled out such new flavors as cappuccino and coconut cream and are trying to break into U.S. nightclubs and discount stores.
A few zealous producers even briefly tried to ban the trademark worm as part of the new production rules, which took effect Feb. 10. When Mexican health officials found that the worm was harmless, the producers backed off.
"We're trying to change our image," said Ruben Flores Santiago, production manager at the Beneva Mezcal bottling plant. "A lot of people look at mezcal as if it's a dirty word."
Mezcal producers say they are inspired by the success of tequila, which is actually a type of mezcal and used to have the same image problem.
In the 1990s, tequila producers adopted their own production rules and began an aggressive marketing campaign led by Tequila Cuervo, maker of Jose Cuervo. U.S. imports of bottled tequila soared from $17.6 million in 1996 to $222.6 million in 2004.
Mezcal sales to the United States rose 81% in the same period, to $1.8 million. But the biggest increases have been in Asia and Europe, said Romanelli, export manager for Agro-Industrial Products of Oaxaca, which produces the Tehuana and Donaji brands.
The company's sales have doubled in the past five years, helped by booming markets in Italy, Japan and Taiwan, Romanelli said.
In the United States, the liquor has gained a foothold in some high-end restaurants because of new interest in cuisine from Oaxaca, said Mark Abbott, sous chef at Mezcal restaurant in Phoenix.
"In the past five to six years, a number of celebrity chefs have come up who do that kind of food, so mezcal is being introduced to a little more refined crowd," he said. "It's not just people sitting around a campfire passing around a bottle."
Aged mezcals are increasingly getting good reviews in magazines dedicated to fine spirits, said Jeff Smedstad, co-owner of Los Sombreros restaurant in Scottsdale. Fans of Scotch whisky seem to especially like mezcal's charcoal tones, he said.
"Once you turn people on to it, they love it," he said. "Whenever they come back, they order it."
Both tequila and mezcal come from agave, a tough desert plant with sword-shaped leaves. Tequila is made from blue agave, while mezcal comes from spiny agave and other varieties.
By law, tequila can come only from Mexico's Jalisco state and a few surrounding areas. Mezcal can come from Oaxaca, Guerrero, San Luis Potosi, Durango and Zacatecas states, along with seven towns in Tamaulipas.
The liquor has a smoky flavor and a powerful kick. While tequila averages 38% alcohol, mezcal ranges from 38% to 55%.
The agave worms — actually caterpillars — are added during bottling. Producers first began adding them in the 1940s as a marketing stunt.
Now they're so popular that each worm costs 20 to 30 cents. During the rainy season, Beneva has to send security guards into the agave fields at night to stop caterpillar poachers, Flores Santiago said.
The new rules are paying off in smoother blends, said Juan Ramirez Perez, a certification manager for the council.
"It's the same road as tequila took: certifying the mezcal, then protecting the authentic product, then promoting it," Ramirez Perez said. "We're really just beginning."
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