The Bite Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2021 - Issue 30

bitedrinks Jada Brookes dives into the centuries-old tequila’s history and Pimentae’s mission to show the blue agave spirit in a different light. PIMENTAE Giving Classic Spirits A New Story O ne of the success stories to come out of 2021 during the lockdown is Pimentae, a tequila drink described by its founders, Alice Parmiter and Wynter Karo as “your personal bartender packaged in a premium bottle.” It offers an alternative to bar-cu- rated cocktails with bottled drinks made to perfection so that you can enjoy a few drinks with your friends hassle-free without having to necessarily find your way home, as long as you are at somebody’s house. The founders once had a love-hate relationship with te- quila for years until they did something about it. “We decided to wave goodbye to the traditional ‘split-sec- ond embrace’ we once treasured and set out on a quest to showcase the true magic that tequila has to offer.” Mexico, home of the agave plant and now Pimentae’s humbled roots revealed the perfect line between beau- ty and balance that opened these two ladies’ eyes to the bewitching landscapes, unmatched culture, tantalising cuisines and mystical art. Whilst tequila is commonly associated with shots, with salt and lime at the ready or ‘70s one-hit wonders like ‘Tequila Sunrise’ the centuries-old agave spirit has stood the test of time and is widely respected among bartend- ers and mixologists. Tequila distillers have a stringent set of rules they must abide by including ensuring that each bottle is made in the right location, from the cor- rect ingredients and the reposado and añejo versions are aged for the right length of time. During the Aztec Empire from 1000 BC to 200 AD, the natives used the sap of the agave plant to create a fer- mented drink called pulque. They also worshipped two gods related to their relationship with alcohol - Maya- huel, the goddess of the maguey and the second, her husband, Patecatl, the god of the pulque. Although the Aztecs enjoyed pulque on many occasions, it wasn’t un- til they received a surprise visit from the Spanish that the drink caught on. In the 1400s and 1500s, it is said that these parched Spaniards couldn’t be without their brandy for very long so when supplies did run low, they improvised with mud and agave, creating mezcal. All tequilas are technically mezcals but not all mezcals are tequilas since the former is made only from the blue agave plant. The mid-1500s saw the Spanish government open a trade route between Manila and Mexico and in the following early century, the Marquis of Altamira built the first large-scale dis- tillery in Tequila, Jalisco.