Agave Road Trip

What’s the difference between tequila and mezcal? Is all tequila really mezcal? Is all mezcal made by hand? These and other questions are answered in this episode of Agave Road Trip! Agave Road Trip helps gringo bartenders better understand agave, agave spirits, and rural Mexico. Your hosts are Lou Bank and Chava Periban. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Su...

All of the fruits and spices and flowers and herbs and meats and magic of Mexico show up in the mercados -- the markets. So you should show up there, too! What should you look for? What can you bring back? And what exactly is a clown market? All this and more in this episode of Agave Road Trip! Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Agave Road Trip by bec...

You’re headed to Mexico! Excited to drink agave spirits in their natural habitat! More excited to bring spirits home to share with friends! So … how much are you allowed to bring back? Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Agave Road Trip by becoming a member ! Find extra photos and related links at agaveroadtrip.com Agave Road Trip is Powered by Simplec...

The margarita is almost certainly Mexico’s greatest ambassador. But how do you move from drinking cocktails to drinking neat spirits? We suggest one specific journey in this episode of Agave Road Trip. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Agave Road Trip by becoming a member ! Find extra photos and related links at agaveroadtrip.com Agave Road Trip is P...

Many men and women in rural Mexico started learning to make agave spirits when they were 10 or 11 years old, from their parents. Then some learned in two weeks from a bunch of university students who randomly showed up in town. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Agave Road Trip by becoming a member ! Find extra photos and related links at agaveroadtri...

The traditional methods of making agave spirits in Yutanduchi de Guerrero, in Oaxaca’s Mixteca region, go back to … the late 1990s? So what does “heritage” mean, in this case? Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Agave Road Trip by becoming a member ! Find extra photos and related links at agaveroadtrip.com Agave Road Trip is Powered by Simplecast . See...

Maybe someone told you that all tequila is mezcal but not all mezcal is tequila. Hell, maybe you read it in the New York Times, USAToday, the Daily Mail, or the Chicago Tribune, or on VinePair, Thrillist, Chowhound, or Science 2.0. They’re all wrong. Find extra photos and related links at agaveroadtrip.com Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Agave Road...

Some folks are wondering what we mean when we say “gringo.” Here’s the deal…. 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 . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Before there was mezcal, there was pulque: the undistilled, fermented sap of the uncooked agave. If you’ve never had it, you’ll want to go find it after listening to Chava and Lou talk with master pulquero Jose Luis Dominguez Gonzalez. Or, at least, you’ll be amused by how he dismisses Lou’s choice of the Arnold Palmer of pulques. Find extra photos and related links at agaveroadtrip.com Agave Road...

Some tequila bottles say they're 100% blue agave. Others don't. So ... what exactly is in those bottles? Lou and Chava speak with David Suro of Siembra Azul Tequila about mixto tequilas: what they are and how they affect the tequila industry and the people whose lives are impacted by the industry. Find extra photos and related links at agaveroadtrip.com Agave Road Trip is powered by Simplecast. Se...

Dr. Roberto Zenit is a highly regarded professor at Brown University. Nonetheless, he speaks with us about his recently released study of las perlas, the process by which maestro mezcaleros use the bubbles in their agave spirits to measure the alcohol content and quality of the spirits. Find extra photos and related links at agaveroadtrip.com Agave Road Trip is powered by Simplecast.   See Privacy...

The season wrap includes Tecate I.V. drips, bartender super powers, and the value of time in rural Mexico. Find extra photos and related links at agaveroadtrip.com Agave Road Trip is powered by Simplecast.   See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

To age or not to age, that is the question. And Lou and Chava attempt to answer it, along with mezcalero Mariano Vazquez . They also talk the proper mass of a tortilla and drink the proper mass of Michoacan mezcals. Find extra photos and related links at agaveroadtrip.com Agave Road Trip is powered by Simplecast . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at htt...

This is where we separate the alcohol from the water – we talk about distillation with mezcalero Jesus Franco. And traditional ceramics. And Oaxaca tour guides. And not a single poop joke. Find extra photos and related links at agaveroadtrip.com Agave Road Trip is powered by Simplecast . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-n...

We give a nutshell explanation of how agave turns from sugar to alcohol and are joined on the occasion by mezcalero Amando Alvarado Alvarez. We also talk about how growing agave helped a middle school in rural Oaxaca reduce violence in their community. Find extra photos and related links at agaveroadtrip.com Agave Road Trip is powered by Simplecast . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy...

After you cook your agave, you’ve gotta mill it – make tiny, little pieces of those giant, cooked agaves. How do you do that? We explain it here and maestro mezcalero Eduardo Angeles joins. Then we talk about how to avoid explosive diarrhea while eating great street food in Mexico. And chocolate. Find extra photos and related links at agaveroadtrip.com Agave Road Trip is powered by Simplecast . Se...

That agave won’t just start fermenting, you know. You’ve gotta make it delicious for yeast before yeast makes it delicious for you. We talk with mezcalera Catalina Navarro Sanchez about how that’s done, then talk about how mezcalero Eduardo Angeles saved Santa Catarina Minas, Oaxaca, from drought. Find extra photos and related links at agaveroadtrip.com Agave Road Trip is powered by Simplecast . S...

We give a nutshell explanation of how agave turns from sugar to alcohol and are joined on the occasion by maestro mezcalero Amando Alvarado Alvarez . We also talk about how growing agave helped a middle school in rural Oaxaca reduce violence in their community. Find extra photos and related links at agaveroadtrip.com Agave Road Trip is powered by Simplecast .   See Privacy Policy at https://art19....

We introduce ourselves and the series, but mainly because we felt obligated to do it. We think it’s more fun to let that information reveal itself naturally. Though there is a nice bit about mind-blowing arroqueño and Santa Maria Sola de Vega. Find extra photos and related links at agaveroadtrip.com Agave Road Trip is powered by Simplecast . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Cali...