Photo by Janaap Dekker Julio Bermejo, of Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant in San Francisco, disciplines his customers about the truth of tequila. He also offers degrees, like the one featured bottom right, for the serious agave drinker.

Let’s clear up some common, erroneous and often far-fetched information that has tragically stripped tequila and mezcal of their proper standing in the world of fine spirits.

For the record, tequila is not rot-gut cactus juice that can only be tolerated with the most potent chasers. Premium tequilas are finely crafted sprits that are as complex in taste as single-malt scotch, and cognac.

They are heavily regulated by the Consejo Regulador del Tequila (C.R.T.), which some people say is the only branch of the Mexican government you can trust.

Premium tequilas are not to blame for those horrendous crippling hangovers. Perhaps mixto tequilas, or mixed tequilas, which contain less than 100 percent blue agave, can intensify morning pains after a belligerent night out.

In truth, all 100 percent blue agave premium tequilas are double-distilled, a process that greatly diminishes the drink’s impurities. It is this distillation method that makes tequilas among the least toxic spirits in the world, and enables drinkers to avert many a hangover.

Today, a few mezcal and tequila connoisseurs have taken it upon themselves to put an end to beliefs that have tarnished these spirits’ reputation. Some have even gone so far as to introduce public re-education programs on the merits and rituals of drinking Mexico’s original spirits.

Julio Bermejo of Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant is known as the tequila disciplinarian of San Francisco — and yes, he does have a whip.

The first lesson to be had by Mr. Bermejo is, "you can drink the wrong tequila and you can drink the right tequila," and the right tequila is always 100 percent agave.

Since actions speak louder than words, Julio has stocked his bar with one hundred and sixty 100 percent agave products, offering the largest selection of premium agave drinks outside of Mexico.

To curb the miseducation of people’s agave spirit knowledge, Julio holds class at the end of his bar. Assisted by flash cards and a red laser pointer, he takes any patron with a serious desire to learn through an overview of tequila and mezcal production.

For those who wish to pursue a higher education, he offers a tequila club that extends into Ph.D. and demigod levels.

But for those who respond better to tough love, "I’m going to charge you $15 for two ounces," Julio tells those who try to order a drink like Cuervo Gold, which is cut with sugarcane alcohol. "That’s more than the wholesale cost of the bottle, as a penalty for being a dumb-ass and ordering a shitty tequila in a place that has such a spectacular collection."

Upon the mere mention of the word mezcal, many people’s faces will contort into a morbid look of disgust as they recall an evening spent intoxicated on the drink with the worm in the bottle.

Let’s get this straight once and for all: mezcal is not Mexican backyard moonshine that only comes with a limbless invertebrate in the bottom.

Premium mezcal is a smoky elixir often produced using traditional hand-crafted methods.

The worm, formally called the gusano, is actually a caterpillar that feasts on the agave plant.

To some, the gusano in the bottle is proof that the drink is real agave. Others contend that placing the gusano in the bottle started as a marketing ploy in the 1940s or 1950s to increase sales. Either way, most likely you will not find one of these grubs in premium exported mezcal.

Finally, you won’t see flying monkeys if you drink mezcal. Sorry, wrong drug. For those types of apparitions you will have to hit up the local shaman for a vision quest and get some mescal.

More commonly known as peyote, it is the mescal plant, not the mezcal plant, that holds hallucinatory powers.

Who knows how many stories have been shared relaying memories of a hellish evening spent at the mercy of tequila or mezcal.

But it’s time to be honest, folks. The true cause of your singing in your underwear in public while trying to convince people that you are mariachi music’s next best thing was most likely the manner in which inebriation took place. Eight to ten shots of any hard liquor in an hour is likely to bring out the diablito in anyone.

Like many exceptional spirits, premium tequila and mezcal are meant to be sipped and savored.

To fully appreciate the bite of tequila and the smokiness of mezcal, an understanding of the agave is in order, to establish proper reverence for the plant and the gifts that it bestows.