Over the years the infamous tequila worm has taken on mythical proportions making its way into Hollywood films like “Poltergeist II” and giving rise to urban legends about its supposed hallucinogenic effects. But it turns out that the creature floating in that bottle of mezcal isn’t actually a worm and you’ll never find one in a bottle of tequila. For the first misnomer a 2023 University of Florida scientific study published in the journal PeerJ uncovered the truth. The tequila worm is actually the caterpillar or larval stage of the agave red worm moth.
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Why There's a Worm in Your Tequila
To get to the bottom of the second issue of calling these larvae tequila worms we first need to understand the difference between tequila and mezcal. Ultimately it can be summarized as follows: All tequilas are mezcals but not all mezcals are tequilas. Since the agave redworm moth caterpillar is only found in bottles of mezcal—and is actually illegal to add to tequila—it is simply incorrect to call it a tequila worm.
Both tequila and mezcal are traditional Mexican distilled spirits made from agave plants. While mezcal can be made from at least 20 different species of agave including wild varieties tequila must be made from 51% Blue Weber agave sugars. Blue Weber agave must be produced in the Mexican state of Jalisco or one of four other nearby Mexican states.
Tequila and mezcal also have distinct flavor differences with mezcal’s most prominent characteristic being a smokiness brought on by the traditional roasting of the heart of the agave plant called a piña as part of the drink’s creation. Mezcal production flourished in Mexico from the 17th century onward but indigenous peoples of Mexico had been making a drink called pulque from fermented agave nectar for thousands of years. The addition of tequila worms to mezcal on the other hand is a relatively new phenomenon and may have been more of a marketing ploy. And it worked.
