i heard alot of dirff things, but what happens when you eat it.
Mescal worm in the bottom of tequilla
- Thread starter laxincubus311
- Start date
nothing it's there to tell you the tequilla it's self wont kill you.
Nada. the worm accidentally got in some bottles of tequila way back, and used to be the way to tell between crappy tequila and good tequila. its not were the mascaline comes from. is comes from the peyote cactus, which used to be put in tequila too
Why is there a worm in bottles of tequila?
02-Jul-1999
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Dear Cecil:
The other night I was talking with a friend who worked at a bar in Arizona where most of the hicks got shots of tequila. As they got drunker they would ask to have "the worm" (bleagh) along with their shot. My questions are: What kind of worm is that thing? Does drinking/eating the worm make you drunker? And how did the worm end up in the tequila? --Beth L. Grover, via the Internet
Dear Beth:
You probably think this is some ancient Mexican tradition, right? Not unless your idea of ancient is 1950. We even know who invented the practice. Various reasons are given for it, but I say it all boils down to: Let's see if we can get the gringos to eat worms.
First let's get a few things straight. There's no worm in tequila, or at least there isn't supposed to be. Purists (hah!) say the worm belongs only in a related product, mescal. Strictly speaking, mescal is a generic term meaning any distillate of the many species of agave (or maguey) plant, tequila included. Today, however, mescal is popularly understood to mean a product bottled in the region around the city of Oaxaca. For years this stuff was basically home-brewed firewater consumed by the locals, but in 1950, Mexico City entrepreneur Jacobo Lozano Paez hit on the idea of putting a worm in each bottle as a marketing gimmick. Stroke of genius, eh? I don't get it either, but that's what separates us from the visionaries.
The critter in question is the agave worm, which is actually a butterfly larva. The worms bore into the agave plant's pineapplelike heart, and quite a few get cooked up in the brew used to make mescal. Far from being grossed out, Jacobo concluded that the worm was an essential component of the liquor's flavor and color. He may also have figured, Hey, mescal is about as palatable as paint remover, and the only people who are going to drink this stuff are macho lunatics, so why not take it to the max? In fairness, the worms were also said to have aphrodisiac properties, and worms and bugs are sometimes consumed in Mexico as a delicacy. (Supposedly this dates back to the Aztecs.) At any rate, the ploy worked and the worm in the bottle is now a firmly established tradition.
The genuine agave worm is a bright coral color, which fades to pink in the bottle. Some bottlers substitute a species of white worm that lives in the leaves of the agave plant. Connoisseurs complain that the white worm isn't as tasty as the red one, which to me is like complaining that your soup contains the wrong species of fly. To me the whole thing seems pretty silly. I've had a sip or three of mescal in my day, and my feeling is, if you want to get sick, who needs a worm?
--CECIL ADAMS
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990702b.html
02-Jul-1999
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Cecil:
The other night I was talking with a friend who worked at a bar in Arizona where most of the hicks got shots of tequila. As they got drunker they would ask to have "the worm" (bleagh) along with their shot. My questions are: What kind of worm is that thing? Does drinking/eating the worm make you drunker? And how did the worm end up in the tequila? --Beth L. Grover, via the Internet
Dear Beth:
You probably think this is some ancient Mexican tradition, right? Not unless your idea of ancient is 1950. We even know who invented the practice. Various reasons are given for it, but I say it all boils down to: Let's see if we can get the gringos to eat worms.
First let's get a few things straight. There's no worm in tequila, or at least there isn't supposed to be. Purists (hah!) say the worm belongs only in a related product, mescal. Strictly speaking, mescal is a generic term meaning any distillate of the many species of agave (or maguey) plant, tequila included. Today, however, mescal is popularly understood to mean a product bottled in the region around the city of Oaxaca. For years this stuff was basically home-brewed firewater consumed by the locals, but in 1950, Mexico City entrepreneur Jacobo Lozano Paez hit on the idea of putting a worm in each bottle as a marketing gimmick. Stroke of genius, eh? I don't get it either, but that's what separates us from the visionaries.
The critter in question is the agave worm, which is actually a butterfly larva. The worms bore into the agave plant's pineapplelike heart, and quite a few get cooked up in the brew used to make mescal. Far from being grossed out, Jacobo concluded that the worm was an essential component of the liquor's flavor and color. He may also have figured, Hey, mescal is about as palatable as paint remover, and the only people who are going to drink this stuff are macho lunatics, so why not take it to the max? In fairness, the worms were also said to have aphrodisiac properties, and worms and bugs are sometimes consumed in Mexico as a delicacy. (Supposedly this dates back to the Aztecs.) At any rate, the ploy worked and the worm in the bottle is now a firmly established tradition.
The genuine agave worm is a bright coral color, which fades to pink in the bottle. Some bottlers substitute a species of white worm that lives in the leaves of the agave plant. Connoisseurs complain that the white worm isn't as tasty as the red one, which to me is like complaining that your soup contains the wrong species of fly. To me the whole thing seems pretty silly. I've had a sip or three of mescal in my day, and my feeling is, if you want to get sick, who needs a worm?
--CECIL ADAMS
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990702b.html
haha this thread is very informative.
I just want one of those T-shirts like Milton had at the end of Office Space that says "I ate the worm!" 
You can tell the difference between the two worms (agave and white) because the agave worms will crunch a little bit when you chew them as they have little "fangs" that don't soften that much.
My 21st birthday was spent drinking a fifth of mescal (along with a ton of corona) in an evening. I remember being at my birthday party. Then I remember being in an IHOP at 4:30 in the morning with 2 girls I didn't know without any shoes. The shoes were eventually found tied to a trash can on top of the main university flag pole....... (my name was written on the inside of them as they were indoor soccer shoes that everyone on the team had....
Explaining that was interesting.
Mescal is very potent stuff.
My 21st birthday was spent drinking a fifth of mescal (along with a ton of corona) in an evening. I remember being at my birthday party. Then I remember being in an IHOP at 4:30 in the morning with 2 girls I didn't know without any shoes. The shoes were eventually found tied to a trash can on top of the main university flag pole....... (my name was written on the inside of them as they were indoor soccer shoes that everyone on the team had....
Explaining that was interesting.
Mescal is very potent stuff.
Hey that's neat! When I turned 21 my older brother bought me a clear lollipop that had the worm in it. It was an interesting decoration in the apt for awhile, to say the least 
.
Too bad I can still just barely hold down a tequila shot...the smell doesn't do it for me I'm fraid.
. Too bad I can still just barely hold down a tequila shot...the smell doesn't do it for me I'm fraid.
I had heard that they dropped worms in tequilla to test the proof. Basically if they died within a certain time, it was strong enough.
That being said, pure blue agave tequilla is the shiz.
That being said, pure blue agave tequilla is the shiz.