What is Mexican pulque?

Pulque, fermented alcoholic beverage made in Mexico since the pre-Columbian era. Cloudy and whitish in appearance, it has a sour buttermilk-like flavour and about 6 percent alcohol content.

Can you buy pulque in USA?

Pulque, like beer, is considered best when fresh, though despite rumors of underground pulque production in the U.S., fresh pulque is virtually impossible to find. The most common canned version is Pulque 1881, a product of Tlaxcala, Mexico. Even canned, pulque is rather rare.

What kind of alcohol is pulque?

Pulque is a traditional Mexican alcoholic beverage produced from the fermentation of the fresh sap known as aguamiel (mead) extracted from several species of Agave (maguey) plants that grow in the Central Mexico plateau.

Is Pulque illegal in the US?

While some American bars have tried smuggling in fresh aguamiel from Mexico to make their own pulque (which is illegal in all sorts of ways and we can’t condone it) or have resorted to making a pulque-esque beverage from agave nectar, it’s best to just book a flight to Mexico City and get a taste of the good stuff at a …

Is Pulque a beer?

Pulque is a pre-Hispanic beverage with a consistency reminiscent of kombucha, if kombucha were made from okra. It’s about as alcoholic as beer, but it’s made from the lightly fermented sap of the agave—the same plant that’s used to make tequila and mezcal.

Is tequila made from pulque?

Three types of alcoholic beverages can be made from the spidery agave plant: mezcal (distilled from the heart of the plant), tequila (the best-know type of mezcal, which originates from the city of Tequila), and the lesser-known pulque (a milky, viscous beer-like beverage made from fermented sap).

Is pulque a hallucinogenic?

Maybe you’ve never heard of the gentle, not-quite-hallucinogenic Mexican beverage pulque before. Fermenting and expanding and spoiling after just 24 hours, even when chilled, it won’t keep for transport out of Mexico.

Where does the drink pulque come from in Mexico?

Pulqueis a traditional Mexican alcoholic beverage produced from the fermentation of the fresh sap known as aguamiel(mead) extracted from several species of Agave(maguey) plants that grow in the Central Mexico plateau. Currently, pulqueis produced, sold and consumed in popular districts of Mexico City and rural areas.

What’s the difference between mezcal and pulque?

Produced from the sap of the agave plant, pulque is most aptly described as the forefather of the infinitely more popular tequila and mezcal. While the latter two are distilled, pulque is made from fermenting the agave sap.

What kind of juice was used to make pulque?

Here is what the Ancient History Encyclopedia online has to say about pulque: “Pulque is an alcoholic drink which was first drunk by the Maya, Aztecs, Huastecs and other cultures in ancient Mesoamerica. Similar to beer, it is made from the fermented juice or sap of the maguey plant ( Agave americana ).

How do you make your own pulque in Mexico?

Readers should keep in mind that it is difficult to replicate true pulque using only the ingredients in a home brewer’s pharmacopeia. It is common for pulque brewers in Mexico to reproduce their own strains of yeast, using a starter of fermented pulque (known as the “semilla”, or seed) to ferment a fresh batch of agave nectar.