Spirits Distilled from Sotol
Is it Tequila? Is it Mezcal? Is it a cactus or agave?
TTB has approved many Sotol products. The labels don’t do an especially good job of explaining what sotol is, but here are three fairly recent approvals:
All three are classified as “Spirits Distilled from Sotol,” are made in Mexico, and are about 80 proof. According to Wikipedia, sotol is a spirit made from the Dasylirion wheeleri plant. It is the state drink of Chihuahua. The plant is known as Desert spoon in English and sotol in Spanish. It is a flowering shrub.
The Polished Palate seems to do a good job of distinguishing among Sotol, Tequila and Mezcal. It says they are all made from the agave (agavacea) plant and:
Tequila is made only from the Blue Weber agave. Mezcal can be made from a larger variety, the most popular being Espadin and Tobala. Sotol is made only from the agave grown in the Chihuahua State.
It remains confusing, however, because Ian Chadwick explains that sotol is not made from agave. He says it is made from an altogether different genus and species.
Related Posts:
Email This Post
| 
Print This Post
|
Tags:
This entry was posted on Friday, September 11th, 2009 at 8:55 am and is filed under distilled spirits specialty . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
September 15th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
This is another Sotol that just came into the market in the United States that is worth mentioning (Don Cuco Sotol). This company does have a back label that has great information about the sotol. They are only in New Mexico hope they expand fast because their distilled spirit is great. http://www.doncucosotol.com
September 30th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Yes, Don Cuco and Hacienda are in Las Cruces. Both are really good and mix well with anything. I first tried Hacienda about 4 years ago. I buy a bottle everytime I go to Chihuahua. I also started seeing Don Cuco by New Mexico State University. I understand that Hacienda and Don Cuco can be found in border towns. Also in Juarez and Chihuahua City