What Exactly is Artisanal about Artesenal Mezcal?

I got obsessed with Rowan Jacobsen when American Terroir hit bookstores in 2010, and was recently re-obsessed when his podcast “Wild Chocolate” dropped into my feed. So I reached out and he noted he was writing a sustainability feature about Mezcal for Bloomberg’s Businessweek. That article dropped last week, but this episode was recorded prior to that. And he wouldn’t let me read an advance copy. So, instead, we just talk agaves and sustainability in general. If that’s your thing, this is your episode of Agave Road Trip!

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How do you find reliable sources for information about adult beverages? This is a multi-billion dollar industry, there should be reliable places to learn about trends. But I keep seeing significant errors in articles about agave spirits — which leads me to question what I’m reading about other spirits. And food. It’s an “On the Media” episode of Agave Road Trip! 

Agave Road Trip is a critically acclaimed, award-winning podcast that helps gringx bartenders better understand agave, agave spirits, and rural Mexico. This episode is hosted by Lou Bank with special guest Jay West of Whiskey Raiders.

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A couple weeks ago, I threw the Washington Post under the bus for failing to recognize that food journalism is — or should be — journalism. This week I throw myself under the bus for an article I wrote for InsideHook. Not because it fails as journalism — I’ll let someone else make that claim. But because I think it misses the most relevant point about the story of Tequila sales in the USA in 2023. And I attempt to rectify that here, in this mea culpa episode of Agave Road Trip!

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Why are there so few Mezcal and Tequila brands owned by the people who produce them? When I try to rattle off the names of brands of Mezcal and Tequila that are owned by the people who actually make those spirits, it’s more of a clunk than a rattle. Why is that? And why is that important? It’s an own-or-be-owned episode of Agave Road Trip! 

Agave Road Trip is a critically acclaimed, award-winning podcast that helps gringx bartenders better understand agave, agave spirits, and rural Mexico. This episode is hosted by Lou Bank with special co-host Linda Sullivan of seynasecreto. 
 

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Do you want to preserve the biodiversity of agaves? Or do you want to preserve agaves in the wild? Because those are two different things, often at odds with one another. And you can’t have that conversation without talking about the reasons for the disappearing wild lands in Mexico. But that’s exactly what the Washington Post did last week, when they concluded that the biodiversity of agave is disappearing because “[f]oreign mezcal drinkers have adopted a taste for the wildest, scarcest agaves.” I wish foreign drinkers had adopted a taste for the wildest, scarcest agaves. And Mexican drinkers, too. But instead we’re all drinking spirits made from monoculture blue weber agave in Jalisco and soon-to-be-monoculture espadin in Oaxaca. And that’s the problem the Washington Post should have covered. So we do it here, instead, in this set-the-record-straight episode of Agave Road Trip! 

Agave Road Trip is a critically acclaimed, award-winning podcast that helps gringx bartenders better understand agave, agave spirits, and rural Mexico. This episode is hosted by Lou Bank with special guest Sergio Garnier of Mezcal Ultramundo, with supporting insights from Dr. Hector Ortiz, conservation scientist at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

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Heather Morse traveled to Mexico City with her husband, Aaron. And her dog. And her cat. By car. From Las Vegas. If you’ve ever wanted cross the border in a car, with your pets, and make it back home with everything intact, this might be the episode you’ve been waiting for. 

Agave Road Trip is a critically acclaimed, award-winning podcast that helps gringx bartenders better understand agave, agave spirits, and rural Mexico. This episode is hosted by Lou Bank with special guest Heather Morse of Create Joy Travel.

Find extra photos and related links at agaveroadtrip.com

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Agave Road Trip by becoming a member!

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In a Wine Enthusiast op-ed titled “Is it time to leave Tequila alone?,” spirits and cocktail writer Kara Newman asks, “When it comes to pushing tequila’s boundaries, how far is too far?” Now, I tend to be a “head to the endzone” kind of guy, so I’ve brought in Ana Rita García Lascurain, founder and director of MUCHO, Mexico City’s museum of chocolate, to ensure there’s actual culture in this cultural conversation with Kara. 
 

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There’s Mrs. Butterworth’s, and then there’s fine Vermont maple syrup. And the same extremes exist for agave syrup. But here’s the thing: the artisanal version of agave syrup has this whole cultural heritage aspect to it. And you’ve probably only been able to access Mrs. Agaveworth’s. Until now! It’s a sticky, chicken-feather-covered episode of Agave Road Trip! 

Agave Road Trip is a critically acclaimed, award-winning podcast that helps gringx bartenders better understand agave, agave spirits, and rural Mexico. This episode is hosted by Lou Bank with special co-host Linda Sullivan of seynasecreto.

Find extra photos and related links at agaveroadtrip.com

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Agave Road Trip by becoming a member!

Agave Road Trip is Powered by Simplecast.

Gonzalo Alvarez is pursuing his master’s degree in pulque. Ivan Saldana has his doctorate in agave. Both tell me that farmed agave produces better pulque than wild agave. But on trips through Nuevo Leon, Cohuila, and Hidalgo, three pulque producers said the exact opposite. So … what’s the truth? They call me the Seeker, and I search low and high in this episode of Agave Road Trip! 

Agave Road Trip is a critically acclaimed, award-winning podcast that helps gringx bartenders better understand agave, agave spirits, and rural Mexico. This episode is hosted by Lou Bank with insights from Aaron Campos of Dark Matter Coffee, fermentation revivalist and New York Times best-selling author Sandor Katz, and Michael Schallau of is/was brewing.

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It started with a rumor I heard as a kid, that Maraschino cherries and bubblegum would stay in your stomach for seven years. Which led to a conversation about digestion. Which led to a conversation about fermentation. And Bloody Marys. And how your digestive system works. All of which is to say, Agave Road Trip’s Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Ryan Aycock joins me for a meandering year-end episode of Agave Road Trip! 

Agave Road Trip is a critically acclaimed, award-winning podcast that helps gringx bartenders better understand agave, agave spirits, and rural Mexico. This episode is hosted by Lou Bank with Agave Road Trip Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Ryan Aycock, author of Simply Cocktails.

Find extra photos and related links at agaveroadtrip.com

Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Agave Road Trip by becoming a member!

Agave Road Trip is Powered by Simplecast.