Tequila and Mezcal
Next time you take a sip of your tequila, mezcal, raicilla, or any other agave distilled beverage, take a minute or two and consider what is behind those beautiful, appealing spirits:
- These amazing plants owe their existence to one of the most unfairly treated animals in the world: bats! Yes, a handful of species of bats are responsible for pollinating those monumental, elegant, robust flowers that emerge from the plant once in their lifetime.
- Unfortunately, for more than a century the tequila industry primarily, has prevented agaves from flowering. Agave harvesters know that the plants accumulate lots and lots of sugar in their sacred center –the agave head-, hoping to invest the sugar in the flowering. But humans have learned to use those same agave heads to produce alcohol: mezcal, tequila, and more.
- To replant their fields, agave producers customarily use the clonal shoots that grow under the parent plant, because they harvest every last head to maximize alcohol output. These shoots are genetically identical to the parent plant, and they use only the shoots of a handful of plants to replant the fields, thus purifying the genetics every generation and every harvest. In the process, vast areas that used to have lots of food for the bats, and that are replete with food plants for them, are paradoxically completely empty of food for them. There is nothing for the bats in modern agave fields.
- This process has depressed genetic diversity in agaves and that has made them more susceptible to disease. It has also lowered their ability to reproduce sexually, through their flowers. Many agave flowers are aborted and never develop into a fruit, even if bats pollinate them. Even in the fruits that develop, the seeds have very low germination rates.
In short, excluding the bats from the process has had negative consequences for the plants, and in the long run for the tequilas and mezcals because the source plants are being affected by disease and low seed set.
Our project, the Bat Friendly™ project, aims to solving this problem by inviting producers, distillers, bottlers, bartenders, and consumers, to promote, value, and enjoy a tequila and mezcal in which agave producers have actively encouraged bat pollination in an effort to help the bats to feed.
All tequilas, mezcals, raicillas, and other agave distilled beverages that receive our label have been authorized after a series of visits to confirm that:
- They have allowed at least 5% of the agaves to flower
- Bats have visited and fed from those flowers
- The remaining 95% of the agaves have been transported (traceability measures are in place) to the processing plant
- The tequila/mezcal obtained from those plants traced from the field to the roasting ovens to the fermenting vats to the distillers to the bottling facility is the only one that receives the Bat Friendly™ distinction
Further steps we are documenting and studying are:
The flowers are developing into seeds. The viability of those seeds is being measured. The genetic diversity of the seeds is being measured and compared against the parent plant.
With this series of activities, producers, consumers, scientists, and bartenders are securing the future of one of the most remarkable, wonderful beverages on earth.