Why is there a worm in Tequila??!
Why is there a worm in Tequila??
Answers:
Actually, there is no worm in TRUE tequila, that is Mezcal which is a whole different thing.
The drink that has worms in and is often confused with tequila is mezcal, a related but different beverage produced in Mexico. The agave worm (gusano rojo) and there are several theories about why it is in the bottle. One of these is that the worm guarantees the strength of the distilled spirit. Another is that the worm is supposed to endow special powers and is said to have hallucinogenic properties. The addition of the worm to bottles of mezcal dates from the early 1950's and while consumption of it has become somewhat of a young man's rite of passage. Nowadays, the worm is really just a marketing strategy.
Source(s):
I am spirit certified
Gives it that PUNCH!
there is no worm in tequila but there is a worm in mezcal. Mezcal (tastes like fire water) is pretty much any distilled substance made from the agava plant, but in particular the worm is related to a form of mescal that comes from the state of Oaxaca (southern part of Mexico). Tequila is made from the agava plant.
It started out as a marketing scheme in the 1950s. The butterfly larva that lives in the agava plant is normally used, though often companies will use a white worm that also lives in the agava plant.
If you ever go to Mexico ask for mezcal from Oaxaca. ;)
Maybe it got in while it was fermenting.
There's no worm in tequila, The critter in question is the agave worm, which is actually a butterfly larva. The plants they use to make tequila have this worm growing on it and some times it is cooked into the brew of tequila for flavor and color.
Tequila's made from an Agave plant, a worm lives inside this plant, known as the Agave Worm.. but they refer to it as a "Butterfly Caterpiller." The worm isn't put in every kind of Tequila, there isn't really a real reason it's in there. But, it does absorb the Tequila giving the worm a high quanity of alcohol for a person who choses to eat it. So eat the worm if you want to get extra drunk!!
I often wondered the same thing and when I was taking bartending classes our instructor told us a story about it so I decided to look it up.
"The famous "worm" that is found in some bottles of Mezcal (con gusano -- "with worm") is actually the larva of one of two moths that live on the agave plant. The reason for adding the worm to the bottle of Mezcal is obscure. But one story, that at least has the appeal of logic to back it up, is that the worm serves as proof of high proof, which is to say that if the worm remains intact in the bottle, the percentage of alcohol in the spirit is high enough to preserve the pickled worm. Consuming the worm, which can be done without harm, has served as a rite of passage for generations of fraternity boys. As a rule, top-quality mezcals do not include a worm in the bottle."
Tequila is made from the Agave plant. In the plant there lives a worm called you guessed it the Agave Worm. The worm actually is put in only one or two kinds of Tequila and it is put there more for amuzment then anything else. It does absorb high quatities of the alchohal therefor giving the worm an extra punch for those who eat them.
Tequila fameas , cause they put worm in bottle,
See how many drinks it takes, till worm floats up,
you get the worm as drinking it. Your friend takes a drink. next person takes a drink.you take a drink you might be the lucky-one gets the worm.its a game--who gets the worm first.