What is the difference between mezcal, sotol, raicilla and bacanora?

All four are Mexican spirits with their own protected origin and their own official standard.

Mexico regulates its spirits with normas oficiales mexicanas and with declarations of protection of origin. For mezcal NOM-070-SCFI-2016 applies, for bacanora NOM-168-SCFI-2004 and for sotol NOM-159-SCFI-2004. Raicilla received its protection on 28 June 2019. Regulation (EU) 2019/787 has no category for agave spirits, so the Mexican rules are decisive here.

Sotol is distilled from plants of the genus Dasylirion and not from agave.

NOM-159-SCFI-2004 describes sotol as a drink made from Dasylirion, a plant with long, fibrous, lance-shaped leaves. The standard sets the alcohol content at 35 to 55 percent. Representatives from Coahuila, Chihuahua and Durango, the states where sotol comes from, worked on the standard.

Tequila may only be made from Agave tequilana Weber blue, mezcal from several agave species.

NOM-006-SCFI-2012 prescribes one agave species for tequila, grown in the area of the declaration of origin, and recognizes two categories: one hundred percent agave, and tequila in which up to 49 percent of the sugars may come from elsewhere. Mezcal falls under NOM-070-SCFI-2016 and is certified by COMERCAM. Historically, tequila derives from the broader family of mezcales.

Raicilla comes from sixteen municipalities in Jalisco and from Bahia de Banderas in Nayarit, bacanora from Sonora.

The declaration of 28 June 2019 describes raicilla as a drink of one hundred percent agave with 35 to 55 percent alcohol, made from agave species other than Agave tequilana Weber blue. It distinguishes three categories: raicilla, raicilla artesanal and raicilla tradición ancestral. Bacanora falls under NOM-168-SCFI-2004, published on 14 December 2005, and comes from the state of Sonora.

Both words refer to the permitted method and not to maturation or age.

NOM-070-SCFI-2016 distinguishes mezcal, mezcal artesanal and mezcal ancestral; the declaration for raicilla has a comparable three-way division. The categories artesanal and ancestral bind the producer to traditional ovens, mills and stills. Aging is a separate matter: for tequila NOM-006-SCFI-2012 fixes this with reposado from two months, añejo from a year and extra añejo from three years.