Venencia

A venencia is a bamboo like reed which is used to check the ABV of mezcal by syphoning off a bit and then ejecting it into a small copita. A maestro mezcalero can visually ascertain the ABV by the size and number of bubbles or perlas in the copita as long as the mezcal is in the 45-55% range. This operation is called “venenciar.”