● ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES Agave salmiana Waiting for the sunrise ‘Tequila to wake the living; mezcal to wake the dead’ - old Mexican proverb. Before corn was ever domesticated, agaves (Agave spp.) identifi ed it with a similar plant found at home. Agaves fl ower only once (‘mono- were one of the main carbohydrate sources for humans carpic’), usually after they are between in what is today western and northern Mexico and south- 8-10 years old, and the plant will then die if allowed to set seed. This trait gives western US. Agaves (or magueyes) are perennial, short- rise to their alternative name of ‘century stemmed, monocotyledonous succulents, with a fl eshy leaf plants’. Archaeological evidence indicates base and stem. that agave stems and leaf bases (the ‘heads’, or ‘cores’) and fl owering stems By Ian Hornsey and ’ixcaloa’ (to cook). The name applies have been pit-cooked for eating in Mes- to at least 100 Mexican liquors that oamerica since at least 9,000 BC. When hey belong to the family Agavaceae, have been distilled with alembics or they arrived, the Spaniards noted that Twhich is endemic to America and Asian-type stills. Alcoholic drinks from native peoples produced ‘agave wine’ whose centre of diversity is Mexico. agaves can be divided into two groups, although their writings do not make it Nearly 200 spp. have been described, according to treatment of the plant: ’cut clear whether this referred to ‘ferment- 150 of them from Mexico, and around bud-tip drinks’ and ’baked plant core ed’ or ‘distilled’ beverages. This is partly 75 are used in that country for human drinks’. The fi rst method deals with the due to lack of processing details and food, fermented and distilled beverages, living plant (e.g. pulque), while the latter partly to the fact that the Spaniards used fi bre, and fodder. Some 50-odd species destroys it (e.g. mezcal). Most Mexican the same word to describe both types of are used to make ‘mezcal’, the generic alcoholic beverage production processes drink. name given in Mexico to distilled spirits from agaves involve complex fermenta- Mesoamerican civilizations have pro- such as tequila and bacanora; these tions involving both yeasts and bacteria. duced alcoholic beverages from agaves drinks being distilled from the fermenta- As well as being used for food and since pre-Hispanic times, and consump- tion of juices obtained from baked plant beverage production (including act- tion of these products has played a vital cores. ing as ‘water substitute’), agaves have role in the religious and secular lives of The word ’mezcal’, is derived from been used for clothing and a source of these peoples. In Mexico in particular, ’mexcalli’ in the native Náhuatl lan- herbal medicines. The name ‘maguey’ traditional alcoholic beverages have guage; a combination of ’metl’ (agave) was introduced by the Spaniards who always played an important role in daily 36 z Brewer and Distiller International August 2016 www.ibd.org.uk ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES l an ethnographic record of the Aztec peo- only survived via clandestine bootleg- ple. The work commenced in 1545 and ging, which consisted of distillation of completed ca. 1580 and was originally fermented coconut and agave juices. published as the Universal History of the It was only possible to avoid Colonial Things of New Spain. Lavishly illustrated prohibitions by fermenting in sealed by native artists, it has been described underground pits carved from bedrock, as “One of the most remarkable ac- and by using small, easy-to-use, stills counts of a non-Western culture ever that were easy to hide. composed”. The importance of agaves and pulque in Aztec society are central to Pulque Sahagún’s work. Traditionally, pulque, which is first de- After the Spanish Conquest, the art picted in Indian stone carvings around of ‘western’ distillation was introduced AD 200, was made by spontaneous to Mexico and the agave distillates fermentation, or by using a pre-fer- such as tequila evolved, and these also mented starter, but nowadays it is also have exalted status in that country. The produced on a small industrial scale The goddess Mayahuel Spanish had learned their distillation through inoculation of aguamiel with a life, and their production and consump- techniques from the Moors who had pure, mixed starter culture. Because an tion have become deeply embedded conquered parts of their homeland, but, artisanal fermentation rarely ferments in various customs and rituals. Agave as we shall see, a crude form of distil- out completely, attempts to bottle the sap (or aguamiel) has long been used lation may have been practised even final product usually fail spectacularly – as a base for pulque the national beer earlier. Agaves still play a prominent role whereas modern commercial samples of Mexico, a Mexican icon, and one of in the culinary traditions of Mexicans can be canned and exported. the oldest alcoholic beverages on the and Amerindians of the south-west Pulque (or metoctli in the indig- American continent. Some would argue American deserts. enous Nahuatl language), the oldest that, not having a grain base, pulque It was 1521 when Hernán Cortés and most traditional of Mexican alco- is not technically a beer. According to and his accompanying conquistadors holic drinks, is a milky white, viscous, mythology, the agave goddess Mayahuel subjugated the Aztecs and, prior to the slightly acidic, drink (3.0-6.0% ABV) discovered the fermentation of aguamiel, Conquest, legitimate consumption of produced from the sap from several and legend has it that this sap which alcohol was mostly ceremonial, and Agave species, mainly A. salmiana, A collects in the centre of the plant is the confined to the upper strata of society, mapisaga, and A. americana. Not having blood of Mayahuel. Magueys thrive best the elderly, and the wise. a grain base, pulque is not technically in the cold, dry climates of Mexico’s Ceremonial drinking was mostly a beer, although it is often erroneously central highlands to the north and west undertaken to honour (or placate) the described as such. Because of its great of Mexico City, where the best pulque is gods, to bless collective tasks and to historical, religious, social, medical, produced. promote fertility of the land. Commoners and economical importance, it is the were allowed to partake only in certain most widely studied and documented Indigenous alcohol and the circumstances; women after giving of the agave-based drinks. In Aztec Spanish Conquest birth and males after exhausting tasks; Mexico, pulque played a major role in The Aztec Empire was vast and popu- drunkenness was looked upon as a daily life, and was a decisive influence lous, spanning Central America from grave misdeed. Habitual drunkards were on religious and war rituals. A mural sea to sea and encompassing some 20 considered unworthy neighbours and million subjects, around one-tenth of had their homes demolished; persistent whom lived in the capital Tenochtitlán offenders were executed. (now Mexico City). They employed a pic- The one exception to the aversion tographic writing system and produced to overindulgence was “The Days of numerous texts, most of which were the Dead”, a five-day binge in which burned after the Conquest - so we know everyone participated! Legend has it little of Aztec domestic life. It should be that the Toltecs, one of Mexico’s greatest remembered that the Spaniards arrived civilisations, were destroyed through the ”to convert the barbarous Indians into misuse of alcohol. After the Conquest, peaceful and civilized people”. (sic), but pulque was taxed and there were no laws Women drinking pulque; from Codex Mendoza surviving Aztec accounts tell a different controlling its consumption. This laxity story. One of the earliest post-Conquest is often cited as being the reason for the texts containing references to pulque and rapid moral decline of the indigenous the daily life of the Aztecs can be found peoples and by 1672 the moral and in Codex Mendoza written in around 1541. physical health of the masses had sunk Consisting of text and traditional Aztec to such a low level that the govern- pictograms, the work was collabora- ment introduced regulations to control tion between native artists and Spanish (reduce) pulque consumption. This was priests. mainly achieved by limiting the number Another remarkable text, the of outlets (pulquerias) – only 36 being 4-volume (12-book) Florentine Codex, allowed in Mexico City, for example. was compiled by the Franciscan friar In the early post-Conquest Mexico, Bernardino de Sahagún and represents indigenous distillation was outlawed and Agave plant and jar of pulque; from Florentine Codex www.ibd.org.uk Brewer and Distiller International August 2016 z 37 l ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES fermentation commences. A thick, floating layer is then formed, indicating that the mixture is ready for a second fermentation. To initiate this, another batch (600-900 L.) of best-quality sap is then mixed with the starter at a rate of 1-3%v/v. This occurs in a tank called the ‘head fermenter’ and fermentation will proceed until the sugars have been exhausted. A batch (300-400L.) of the supernatant (essentially pulque, and called pie de cuba) is removed, and poured into a second vessel, the ‘tail fermenter’, and used as an inoculum (50% v/v) to ferment a batch of regular sap. After several days in the tail fer- menter, the desired ABV, viscocity, and sensorial characters are attained, and Part of mural from Pyramid of Cholula the product is barrelled. Essentially, this process is semi-continuous, since, dating from ca. AD 200 at the Great brewer, will eliminate the floral bud on withdrawal of batches of pulque Pyramid of Cholula, showing drink- (‘castration’) which is the initial step in from the head fermenter, the bulk of ing scenes (Los bebedores), indicates artisanal pulque production.