Tequila, Jalisco World Heritage Site. It encompasses 35,019 hectares between the foothills of the Tequila Volcano and the valley of the Rio Grande, which is covered in fields of blue agave. For over 2,000 years, this plant has been used to make fermented drinks and cloth and since the 16th century has been used to make the distilled liquor with the name of Tequila. Both the drink and the culture associated with making it has become absorbed into Mexican identity. Within these fields are the towns of Tequila, Arenal, Amatitan and Teuchitlán with large tequila production facilities. This site contains an inventory
Agave americana flavored with the very pungent mezcal worm. "Mezcal" and "tequila", although also produced from agave plants, are different from "pulque" in their technique for extracting the sugars from the heart of the plant, and in that they are distilled spirits. In "mezcal" and "tequila" production, the sugars are extracted from the "piñas" (or hearts) by heating them in ovens, rather than by collecting "aguamiel" from the plant's cut stalk. Thus, if one were to distill "pulque", it would not be a form of "mezcal", but rather a different drink. Agave nectar is marketed as a natural form of sugar with