Take a shot at our ten tricky tequila teasers. Hints are available under the choices for each question.

Tequila is made from a Mexican cactus. True or False?

Appearances can be deceptive...
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Correct! Wrong!

Tequila's raw material is the Agave Tequilana (blue variety), which is a succulent from the Aloe family not a cactus.

How long does an agave plant take to be ready to harvest?

Worth the wait...
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Agaves generally take at least 6 years to get to the required weight / sugar content.

Which of these Mexican drinks is the odd one out?

All of them are traditional Mexican alcoholic beverages but one is not like the others...
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Pulque's the odd one out. It's the only one that's not distilled (it's a fermented agave drink).

What does a jimador do?

The etymology probably comes from 'gemir' to groan with effort.
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The jimador is the field worker with amazing agave-harvesting skills and sharp implements.

What is sangrita?

Should have had a V8
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It's a tangy, fruity, citrus-y, tomato-y drink to go with your (sipping) tequila. Recipes vary from cantina to cantina, but the tomato's almost always there. Salud!

Tequila can legally only be labelled tequila if it's produced in one of 5 Mexican states. Which of the following states *cannot* call its distilled agave drink 'tequila'?

Last in the phonebook
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Zacatecas does produce some excellent Mezcal though.

There are five types of tequila. Which of the following tequila types did I just make up?

Tequila fermentation tanks
It should be fairly clear which one isn't a category...
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Here are the official categories (from Wikipedia):

Blanco ("white") or plata ("silver"): white spirit, unaged and bottled or stored immediately after distillation, or aged less than two months in stainless steel or neutral oak barrels
Joven ("young") or oro ("gold"): unaged silver tequila that may be flavored with caramel coloring, oak extract, glycerin, or sugar-based syrup. Could also be the result of blending silver tequila with aged and/or extra-aged tequila.
Reposado ("rested"): aged a minimum of two months, but less than a year in oak barrels of any size
Añejo ("aged" or "vintage"): aged a minimum of one year, but less than three years in small oak barrels
Extra Añejo ("extra aged" or "ultra aged"): aged a minimum of three years in oak barrels, this category was established in March 2006.

Which country consumes the most tequila *per person*?

Don't overthink it
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Although the United States consumes the most tequila of any country, 110 million liters, per year Mexicans drink the most tequila per person, about 1.3 pints (0.63 liters) a year. Americans drink about 0.76 pints (0.36 liters) per person (source

Which of these celebrities has never launched a tequila brand?

Whenever, wherever...
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Everyone except Shakira has or once had a tequila brand. Shakira's more involved with her line of perfumes...

Tequila? Mezcal? What's the difference? Which of these statements is false?

You must be seeing things
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Correct! Wrong!

Mezcal is not hallucinogenic, even if you eat the 'worm' that gets added to some brands. The confusion probably arose from the similarity between the words mescaline and mezcal. Mescaline is the active substance in the Peyote cactus not the agave plant.

Tequila Trivia Quiz
Tequila Expert!
You're a veritable fount of tequila knowledge. You probably have a bottle or two of tequila reposado on hand for your guests and refuse to serve anything less than 100% agave. You should write a book!
Tequila Connoisseur!
Not bad at all, you stumbled on a few of the trickier questions, but you definitely know your tequila trivia. Fine work! Why not pour a smooth reposado from Los Altos de Jalisco to celebrate?
Agave Amateur!
Not bad, you can tell a good tequila but there's lots still to learn about how exactly it arrived in your glass. Don't let it stop you enjoying your next margarita.
Tequila Challenged
You know a little bit about tequila and its culture, but there's plenty of room for improvement... Might we suggest a recently-published book on the subject?
Agave Acolyte
Plenty to learn it seems, but to be fair, some of those questions were pretty tricky. Maybe whiskey's more your thing?

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