THE MYTH:

THE TRUTH:

Tequila's got that icky worm in the bottle.

Mezcal has the worm in the bottle, tequila doesn't. There are actually four different types of worms you might find in your bottle of mezcal. Sometimes it's a small grub that can be either the larvae of a butterfly, or the larvae of a moth. The other possibility is that it is one of two gusano jojos. A red version of the gusano jojos is found in the roots of the agave, while a white gusano jojo lives in the leaves. The presence of any worm signifies that the alcohol content is sufficient to preserve the worm.