OK, so here’s the bare bones basic definition for each spirit…

Tequila*

Made from Blue Agave mostly in the state of Jalisco. The heart of the agave is usually cooked in above ground ovens, ground up, fermented with cultivated yeast, and twice distilled in copper stills. Sometimes aged in barrels to make Reposado (aged 2 months or more), Anejo (1 year or more), and Extra Anejo (3 years or more) Tequila.

Mezcal

Made from many different kinds of agave, both wild grown and cultivated, most commonly made from cultivated Espadin. Can be made in all or part of 8 different states in Mexico, most commonly made in Oaxaca. The heart of the agave is usually smoked in pits in the ground, ground up, fermented with wild yeasts and twice distilled in copper, clay, or bamboo, but usually copper. Sometimes aged like tequila.

Pechuga

Mezcal distilled for a third time with seasonal fruits and herbs and an animal carcass hanging in the swan neck of the still.

Sotol

Made from the Desert Spoon Plant (because its long stalks look like big spoons at the bottom), made in Northern Mexico – Chihuahua, Durango, and Coahuila. Produced in ways similar to tequila or mezcal depending on the producer.

Raicilla (pronounced rye-SEE-yah)

Basically mezcal made in Jalisco (aka tequila country). Made with many different types of agave. Commonly produced like a tequila: cooked in ovens above ground, rather than pits below ground like mezcal.

Bacanora

Basically mezcal made in Sonora. Can only be made with one type of agave, now regionally called Agave Bacanora, but found elsewhere in Mexico under many names.

 

*When I say Tequila, I mean 100% Agave Tequila. I’m not talking about mixto tequilas (your Cuervo Golds and the like). They’re just not worth talking about.