Sotol is a distilled spirit made in Durango, Chihuahua and Coahuila. It is made using the Dasylirion plant, a plant in the Asparagaceae family, which some know more commonly as the desert spoon. Sotol is not a type of mezcal – it is less smoky and earthy than mezcal.
Dasylirion wheeleri (also known as sotol), the plant from which sotol is made, grows in northern Mexico, New Mexico, western Texas and the Texas Hill Country. Sotol is the state drink of Durango, Chihuahua and Coahuila. Some commercial varieties are in existence. Sotol is distilled and produced similarly to the way mezcal — one of Mexico’s popular exported spirits — is produced. The stem of the sotol plant is straight, making it ideal to use for friction when building a fire. It …show more content…
Spanish colonists later introduced distillation methods to create a liquid with higher alcohol content. Sotol is now increasing in popularity, trying to reach the same level as related spirits mezcal and tequila.
PRODUCTION
It takes about 15 years for the Dasylirion wheeleri plant to mature, and even then, one plant only pro-duces one bottle of spirit. The sotol plant thrives on rocky slopes in the Chihuahuan desert grasslands, typically growing about 3,000 to 6,500 feet above sea level. A sotol plant produces a flower stalk every few year, so you can gain more than one use from the plant. Once the plant matures, it is harvested in the same manner as the agave plant in the mezcal and tequila harvesting processes. The harvesting methods today are virtually identical to those used when early Anazasi and Tarahumara tribes completed their harvests, which allows the sotol to keep its mystical and medicinal appeal.
Natural selection is a very real role in the development of the sotol plant — the desert in which sotol grows has a harsh climate, so only the strongest