Agave Road Trip

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...

Do you wash that fruit before you cut it? Add salt after juicing? Freeze it? And before you drink it, maybe give that juice a second sniff...? We're joined in this episode by Dr. Ryan Aycock, Cocktail MD, for the lowdown on bacteria and how it can sneak up on you either in a gringx bar or on the roadsides in rural Mexico! Find extra photos and related links at  agaveroadtrip.com Heritage Radio Net...

An ensamble mezcal is made from a number of different agaves — generally whatever has reached maturity at the same time. Or … is it? Maybe there’s a precise recipe that’s been handed down for generations? But how does that work within the confines of nature? We cook the cookbooks in this episode of Agave Road Trip! Find extra photos and related links at  agaveroadtrip.com Heritage Radio Network is...

When I first started learning about heritage agave spirits, I misunderstood the labels that noted “puntas and colas.” I thought that meant that what was in the bottle was a blend of the heads and tails of a distillation — but in fact the heart of the distillation had been adjusted with the heads and tails. But, then … maybe I was wrong about being wrong? We look closely at the cuts in this episode...

For decades we’ve seen flavor-wheels for wine, and more recently they’ve been appearing for mezcal. It makes sense, both in terms of market positioning and also trying to define the broad spectrum of different flavors you’ll find in mezcal and other agave spirits. But … what if banana tastes different to me than it does to you? The flavor training wheels come off in this episode of Agave Road Trip...

You want to drink mezcal, but it makes you itch … gives you a headache … turns you bright red. Are you allergic to mezcal? Is that even possible? Agave Road Trip medical correspondent Ryan Aycock, MD, MS, joins us for another Cocktail MD special that’s nothing to sneeze at! Find extra photos and related links at  agaveroadtrip.com Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast ne...

One of the hundreds of trends in the world of drinks right now is the zero-proof, nonalcoholic cocktail. Which is what we used to call an iced tea north of the border and an agua fresca south of the border. And, yeah, I recognize that it’s not simply that. But it’s also that … and more! We talk Mexican terroir, traditional herbs, and delicious liquid flavors in this week’s episode of Agave Road Tr...

Sometimes the palenquerx who made your mezcal is the brand owner. But that’s rare. Even being a part-owner is rare. Usually the producer is a free agent. And sometimes they are asked to sign contracts with the brand that is sourcing their mezcal — sometimes those contracts require exclusivity. Is that okay? We do a deep dive into the fine print in this episode of Agave Road Trip!  Place your bid f...

Not gonna lie: Liquor.com has an article with a similar title to this week’s episode, and I know this because their source, Nacho Jimenez, suggested that one of the art prints offered by SACRED is among the best gifts you can get for mezcal lovers. And I know this because I suddenly got flooded with orders for that print. So I wanted to offer our take on the best gifts, to see if we could get the...

Liquid nitrogen and dry ice can add some serious Instagram cache to your cocktail … but can also cause some serious trouble. Agave Road Trip medical correspondent Ryan Aycock, MD, MS, joins us for another Cocktail MD special that is sure to be a gut-buster!   Find extra photos and related links at  agaveroadtrip.com Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support...

Yeah, okay, that title is intentionally misleading. I mean, everyone hasn’t heard of it — if they had, we wouldn’t continue to see articles explaining how mezcal is “having a moment.” And clearly someone is drinking it. I mean, you are, right? But … how deeply has it penetrated drinks culture in the USA? Or in Mexico, for that matter? And how can you get more of your customers to drink it? We run...

You went down to Mexico on some brand trip. But you managed to break away for a day and visit some independent agave spirits producers. You listened to our episode, “How Much Can I Bring Back?,” and now you have 120 liters of heaven that you want to share with all the angels who visit your bar. So ... can you? It’s the Law & Order episode of Agave Road Trip! Find extra photos and related links at ...

Ryan Aycock is an emergency-room physician who attended bartending school at the same time he attended medical school — because, you know, it’s always good to have a Plan B. The result is that Ryan is acutely aware of all the things that can go wrong in a bar. The things that can result in your guests winding up on a gurney in his emergency room. This episode of Agave Road Trip is the first in a s...

There’s this thing called a Denomination of Origin. The premise is, “Hey, we’ve got this special product we make here. You can maybe make something like it somewhere else, but what we are making here? It’s our cultural heritage. And we’re going to protect our cultural heritage.” So Champagne? That’s protected. Scotch? That, too. And Tequila. But is the Denomination of Origin protecting the cultura...

When you think about terroir, you think about a place. But that place is made up of soil, and that soil informs the plants that grow in it. So what does that mean for agave? And what makes soil good, what makes it bad? And, ultimately, what does that mean for wild agave versus farmed agave? These questions and more in this episode of Agave Road Trip! Find extra photos and related links at agaveroa...

Over the last few months there have been a flurry of stories in the news that basically boil down to “celebrities are destroying Mexico by starting tequila brands” and “gringos are destroying Mexico by drinking too much mezcal.” So Chava and I dig into those stories, argue about their relative veracity, and point out all the inaccuracies! It’s an “On the Media” episode of Agave Road Trip! Find ext...