Now, I’m no expert like Cecil, but here’s a little something I heard that is a little more logical about the tequila worms (although I do like the idea that it may just be someone seeing what stupid things drunks will do). I can’t remember my source for the info, but it seems as though the worms are dropped in the tequila after it has been produced. The reason behind it is that the strength of the alcohol can be determined by how long it takes to kill the worm. Feel free to prove me wrong, I’ve been there plenty of times before.
Link to the Mailbag article being discussed: Why do they put a worm in bottles of tequila?
Of course, there’s always the option of reading the article first, and noting that Wildbabe said: << The worm was originally put into mezcal as proof of alcohol content >>
[Note: This message has been edited by CKDextHavn]
Here’s a link to a site called “Tequila: Culture and Myths” which basically claims that the worm is a recent (1940’s) marketing ploy:
http://www.georgian.net/rally/tequila/
And for those interested in the worm but not the tequila, you can get Tequila Worm Lollipops <yuck>:
http://www.candywarehouse.com/candywarehouse/teqworlol36b.html
Don’t you think I noticed that line “proof of alcohol”? What I mentioned was the strength of the alcohol. You can take a drop of beer and drop it in a gallon of water and test it for “proof of alcohol” with positive results, but you could drink the whole dern thing and be completely sober. On the other hand, if a living organism dies relatively quickly in an alcohol solution, the concentration is going to be higher than if it takes a longer amount of time. Perhaps I should have been clearer, but I always thought brevity was generally appreciated.
Um, Mapache1161, maybe you forgot: “Proof” is the term used for alcoholic content. 200 proof = 100% alcohol.
Well, there was a long thread on this topic once, but I can’t find it now.