At the same time, say small-scale producers, the drink is experiencing a domestic renaissance as it becomes trendy among younger consumers.

Jaime Gaspar García, a small-scale producer from the village of Españita, is the only person left in his town who still owns a "tinacal," the tub used to ferment the drink. But he says more and more young drinkers are making their way to his house to purchase the maguey-derived beverage.

"The young people come in groups to buy the flavored varieties. But still others like the natural pulque," he said.

"At all of the fairs that we go to, it´s the young people, especially university students, who are drinking pulque," added Gaspar´s wife and business partner, Adriana Ortiz Nolasco. "Adults drink less, and the number of elderly people who come by every three days for their ration gets smaller and smaller."

MAGUEY

Pulque, a fermented beverage derived from juice of the maguey, or agave, plant, was the historical predecessor of mescal and tequila. In pre-Hispanic times, the drink had a mythological significance and was used in sacred rites and for medicinal purposes. Its popularity continued into the 20th century, especially in rural areas, until the quality and accessibility of beer began limiting its market.

Ortiz Nolasco says that people quickly forgot the tradition and beneficiary properties of pulque as cheap beer arrived on the scene.

"There´s a saying that pulque is just one step away from being a meat," she said. "But that just confirms the fact that it´s high in protein and Vitamin C, and that it helps build your defenses against respiratory illness. Furthermore, its pre-Hispanic sweetener is not harmful to diabetics."

She recalls that 30 years ago, her tinacal was selling 12, 250-liter barrels of pulque every three days. Today, they distribute no more than 100 liters during the same period. Along with three other local growers, they tend to some 4,000 maguey plants. But only 40 or so currently produce the sweet sap used in pulque production.

In the town of Nanacamilpa, just a few kilometers from Españita, Rodolfo del Razo and his family-run Productos Naturales de Agave have been pasteurizing and canning the drink for the past decade.

"Pulque is such an ancient drink, and so delicate in terms of production, that people always told me that it could never be canned," said Del Razo, who has 60 years of experience in this business.

He started out when he was just six years old, when he would accompany his father to his job at a pulque-producing hacienda in Hidalgo state. As he grew up, he had the chance to work at every stage of the process, from hauling baskets filled with maguey, to managing the loading docks, to working as a tlachiquero - the person who suctions the sap out of the plant.

After he arrived in Tlaxcala and invested all his savings in his own pulque distillery, he noticed a decline in the drink´s popularity. The problem, he says, was not only the rise of beer consumption in rural areas, but also a growing a misconception that pulque was "disgusting and nonhygenic."

As demand for the drink slipped, so did the demand for the maguey.

"Entire hectares were being left unplanted," he said. "The land was starting to be used to grow barley instead, especially after the company Cebadas y Maltas (Barleys and Malts) arrived, and the farmers wanted to sell to them."

But Del Razo continued to care for his maguey fields and sell his products in the region.

"Everything was against us. The maguey was no longer profitable, especially since every plant requires 10 years to become productive. Barley, on the other hand, needs only four months and it´s ready for harvest."

As the crisis mounted throughout the 1970s and 80s, dozens of pulque producers in Tlaxcala closed up shop. Del Razo turned his attention to canning the drink, believing that it was the only answer to the market crisis.

His first attempts failed, but then in 1994, he finally perfected the process. He struck up a partnership with a Texas firm that endures to today, and his canned pulque began to appear on the shelves of U.S. shops. He soon found a market in Germany, and now he says he is looking into exporting to Asia. Currently, Productos Naturales de Agave exports 15,000 cans of pulque each month.

CAN´T STOP MAYAHUEL

In the state of Tlaxcala, figures show that only 20 people still make their living growing maguey, while another 200 are employed by as tlachiqueros. But new a project taking place in the town of Sanctórum aims to change that situation.

A group of U.S. investors, in conjunction with producers in Hidalgo, Puebla and Tlaxcala, is working to launch a large-scale maguey-growing operation. The federal Economic and Economic Development secretariats chipped in with 5 million pesos for the project (US$450,000), matching the amount put down by the investors.

With increasing support for growers, along with a revitalized market both here and overseas, pulque just may be ready to give beer another run for its money, say producers.

Guillermo Rodríguez, a pulque producer from Taxco, Guerrero, has planted thousands of magueys in expectation of serving a growing clientele in Mexico City. He is confident that pulque´s popularity is back to stay.

"You can´t get rid of Mayahuel that easily," he said, in reference to the pre-Hispanic deity who lent his name to the maguey plant.