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Nature 438, 1070-1071 (22 December 2005) | doi:10.1038/4381070a; Published online 21 December 2005

Alcohol and science: Saving the agave

Rex Dalton1

  1. Rex Dalton is Nature's West Coast correspondent.
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A decade ago, the tequila industry was pummelled by plant diseases. Rex Dalton meets the scientists working to keep the blue agave diverse enough to survive.

For centuries, artisans working in the adobe haciendas of Mexico's rural valleys have followed tradition to make the powerful spirit tequila. Copying age-old indigenous techniques, they distilled the liquor from sweet juice cooked out of the fat stems of a local succulent, the blue agave (Agave tequilana Weber, var.

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