Agave Road Trip

When I tell people about my trips to Mexico, it's not uncommon for them to ask how dangerous it is. Chava and I debate the relative threats of Mexico in this not-approved-by-the-US-Department-of-State episode of Agave Road Trip! Episode Art Courtesy of Jose Guadalupe Posada Find extra photos and related links at  agaveroadtrip.com Agave Road Trip is Powered by  Simplecast . See Privacy Policy at h...

All over Mexico, there are communities where they distill spirits from fermented agave. And in a lot of these communities, they call that spirit "vino de mezcal." But "vino" means "wine," and wine, when it's distilled, is called brandy -- has been for the Spanish since before they ever came calling. So ... why do they use the word "vino"? Chava's mind is blown in this speculative episode of Agave...

The cigarettes you smoke and the food you eat will kill you sooner than the alcohol you drink. But make no mistake: in the USA, alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of death. And yet, alcohol also brings people together, which has its own health benefits. So is there a healthier way to drink alcohol? Chava pitches Cocktail MD, Dr. Ryan Aycock, on agave spirits as the healthfu...

Last year, Chava and I recorded an episode titled “The Best Mezcal is the Most Highly Awarded Mezcal.”  We kind of panned the idea of spirits competitions as anything more than a guide for someone new to a spirits category. Then Chava was invited to serve as a judge for a competition, and now he’s a convert — both to judging and to spitting. Chava positions himself as a tremendously useful tool in...

It all began with Dr. Ryan Aycock telling us about “The Effects of Alcohol and Your Shrinking Brain.” Then we had an on-air therapy session for Chava, who both wants to drink agave spirits but also wants to maintain a fat brain. Now… Chava lands on his solution. We do a spit-take in this episode of Agave Road Trip! Find extra photos and related links at  agaveroadtrip.com. Agave Road Trip is Power...

A few weeks ago, Cocktail MD Dr. Ryan Aycock joined us for “The Effects of Alcohol and Your Shrinking Brain,” an episode so titled because … well, drinking alcohol causes your brain to shrink. This freaked out Chava (and apparently several of our listeners). So I made him talk about it “on air.” What do you do if you like to drink agave spirits but also like your brain? We strategize options for p...

Okay, we really liked our conversation with renowned food journalist Dan Saladino, author of Eating to Extinction . In last week’s episode, we talked about the importance of consuming a diversity of options. This week, we talk with him about the importance of that diversity coming from a specific place. And maybe that place should be where you live. We think about staying parked in place in this e...

We’ve talked a lot on this podcast about the importance of biodiversity in agave. But Dan Saladino takes that conversation to the next level, explaining how what we eat – and drink – will determine whether or not we can survive as a species. We have that conversation with the renowned food journalist and author of Eating to Extinction in this episode of Agave Road Trip! Find extra photos and relat...

Mezcal is good for the soul. But what about the brain? And especially the developing brain? Dr. Ryan Aycock, the Cocktail MD, joins us for the scariest episode that Chava never wanted to record. Grab a glass of water for this sobering episode of Agave Road Trip! Find extra photos and related links at  agaveroadtrip.com Image Courtesy of Carlos Palomares Agave Road Trip is Powered by  Simplecast ....

Maguey mutts! Palenque pups! Fido de mezcal! We did an episode about how much mezcal you can bring back from Mexico -- now we talk about how to get a dog back! If you’ve ever fallen in love with a four-legged furry friend in rural Mexico … or even a three-legged furry friend … we give you here the lowdown on how to head home with the ultimate bounty our neighbors to the south have to offer!  Find...

For years, I’ve heard that a glass of wine each day is good for you — makes you healthier, helps avoid heart problems. So will a bottle a day make you even healthier? We call in Dr. Ryan Aycock, Cocktail MD, to answer this question. Get set for the best health regimen ever in this episode of Agave Road Trip! Find extra photos and related links at  agaveroadtrip.com Agave Road Trip is Powered by  S...

The capon’d agave — the agave that is harvested after it’s begun reproduction, after its quiote has been cut, after it’s been left to develop and change in the field, healing its wound — is considered a special, beautiful, romantic source for making an especially delicious agave spirit. But not by maestro vinatero El Lobo de la Sierra in Los Jacales, Jalisco. Lobo breaks Chava’s heart by busting t...

We love Mexico! We love visiting, love eating the food, love drinking the drinks, love checking out the art! We love buying examples of all of these things and we love bringing those things back home to share with our friends, to encourage them to go love Mexico! But … are we loving it to death? We question our intentions and impact in this episode of Agave Road Trip! Find extra photos and related...

Profeco, the consumer-protection agency of the Mexican government, ran an analysis of 36 certified mezcal brands. They flagged a bunch of them for various violations, including the claim that Mezcal Gusano Rojo doesn’t even qualify as mezcal. What?! We drag out the dead horse that is the mezcal denomination of origin for another beating in this episode of Agave Road Trip! Find extra photos and rel...

Chava got a bug. After consulting the Ebers Papyrus and an appointment with Pliny the Elder, he chose a mezcal shot over a flu shot. Cocktail MD Dr. Ryan Aycock joins us to get Chava back on the mend and to answer the burning question: can mezcal actually be medicinal? Join us for a booster episode of Agave Road Trip! Find extra photos and related links at  agaveroadtrip.com Are you a business own...

There’s a lot of moral outrage around the harvesting of agave that hasn’t yet reached maturity. But … when exactly is agave mature? By whose standards? And if the agave is getting harvested before it can produce seeds — which is always the case when you’re using the agave to make spirits — how is it a morals issue whether you harvest that agave a week before or a couple years before it reaches mat...

How sweet it is! Mexican regulations allow up to 1% of your tequila to be additives, the four most common being sugar-based syrup, glycerin, oak extract, and caramel coloring. Purists get outraged by this — it’s cheating! But we’re far more interested in what this means from a health standpoint. So we called in Agave Road Trip medical correspondent Dr. Ryan Aycock. Cocktail MD gives us the lowdown...

The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States released their 2020/2021 report and … good lord, you people are drinking a lot. But the real news here is, you’re also paying a lot more for what you drink. So does that mean you’re getting better tequila? Or just more expensive tequila? We dissect the numbers in this episode of Agave Road Trip! Find extra photos and related links at  agaveroadtri...

There's a Denomination of Origin for mezcal -- has been since 1997. The Mexican government gets to decide what is and what isn't mezcal. So if the Mexican government doesn't recognize an agave spirit as "mezcal," should we? It's another rhetorical episode of Agave Road Trip! Find extra photos and related links at  agaveroadtrip.com Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast n...

Jon Darby got Chava drunk. So we called in Dr. Ryan Aycock, Cocktail MD, to help the most popular Agave Road Trip cohost deal with the resulting hangover and learn methods for mitigating them in the future. Join us for the biggest headache of our series in this episode of Agave Road Trip! Find extra photos and related links at  agaveroadtrip.com Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonpr...

Mallory O’Meara says you’re getting it wrong when you offer women fruity drinks. "It's the women who really are the ones who are so much closer to the process and usually so much better at being able to discern different flavors,” says the author of Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol. Join us for a conversation about gendered drinking in this episode of Agave Road Trip! Find extra...

When people talk about mezcal and related agave spirits, they'll often lump in sotol. But it's not made from agave. But it is made in Mexico. But it's also now being made in Texas. And that's causing some waves. Is Texas messing with sotol? We skip through that minefield in this episode of Agave Road Trip! Find extra photos and related links at  agaveroadtrip.com Heritage Radio Network is a listen...

In 2020, 86% of all mezcal was classified as “artesenal.” Twelve percent was just straight-up “mezcal,” so … made in a more industrial way. And only 2% was classified as “ancestral.” So is “artesenal” as artisanal as the name suggests? And who knows what that word even means? Chava gets quizzed on the mezcal NOM in this episode of Agave Road Trip! Find extra photos and related links at  agaveroadt...

You’re an agave geek. You bleed pulque. The stuff that tastes like blue cheese and jalapeños? Costs $150 a bottle? You love it. But that’s not what you’re moving. So we talk about what is going to sell to those customers in this episode of Agave Road Trip! Find extra photos and related links at  agaveroadtrip.com Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Aga...

Okay, so ... not all agaves are created equal. Some have fewer sugars than others. Like Bruto. So they add pulque to start the fermentation. But, wait ... that pulque is also made from Bruto. So ... how does the pulque ferment? Chava freestyles his science-like ideas in a car in Miami to try to explain what's going on in this episode of Agave Road Trip! Find extra photos and related links at  agav...