As you probably know, mezcal has a cult-like following. Perhaps these sayings have emerged as a result of that, or maybe people are trying to further the education of mezcal, or maybe they are trying to capture the cultural and spiritual heritage of this spirit. Or maybe they were just bombed when they came up with them! Whatever it is, I don’t know of any other spirit that actually has a growing body of descriptive phrases surrounding it. Or maybe I have not been paying attention! That said, here are a few of my favorites:
- Mezcal is an acquired taste, but a taste worth acquiring.
- If you drink too much mezcal, they don’t say you are drunk; they say you are “closer to god”.
- For everything bad, mezcal. For everything good, mezcal.
- Based on the long growth period (8-12 years) for an agave plant to reach the age of harvest, they say that mezcal represents “drops of time”.
- You don’t find mezcal, mezcal finds you!
- Tequila is to wake the living. Mezcal is to wake the dead.
More later….
I’ve heard it translates more like “For everything bad, mezcal; for everything else, the same”
It could be, but most people sat “for everything bad as well”….
The “For everything bad …” saying is a rough translation of what is reputed to be an Oaxacan saying that goes —
“Para todo mal, mezcal, y para todo bien, tambien.”
The translation then might be closer it if it was —
“For all that’s wrong, mezcal, and for all that’s right, ditto.”
But the original Spanish is still sounds better with the internal rhymes (mal and mezcal, and bien and tambien).
The real take away is that no matter what, drink mezcal 😉
Love it. Thanks for the color!