Scorpion Mezcal

In the shadow of the Sierra Madre mountains of southern Mexico, small boys come to the Scorpion mezcal distillery in Oaxaca with jars of live scorpions they have hunted in the barren hills of the valley. “We turn over the stones they hide under and grab them by the tail,” 10-year-old Luis explains.

The distillery puts a scorpion in every bottle of mezcal, and on a good day Luis catches as many as 100 with his bare hands. He has been stung many times, but scoffs at the pain – “it is nothing,” he says. His machismo is part of the mystique of mezcal, an 80-proof spirit produced from agave, a spiky-leaved succulent plant (not a cactus, as tradition had it) that thrives in the harshest conditions.

Now that has to beat a drink that simply sports a paper umbrella.

[HT: Sergetheconcierage ]