Heritage Mezcal

Agaves and humans have always had an intimate relationship  but, believe it or not,  a significant part of if has nothing to do with booze. As we've discussed before in this podcast agaves provided to our ancestors with many charms; from clothing to nourishment. But given the fact that many of these relationships have disappeared, this wider understanding of agave is quite hard to imagine. That is...

Pox, the quintessential Chiapas spirit, is probably the most mysterious Mexican drink that I've encountered in my life. It was a big part of my early 20's, but I never truly understood its technicalities or cultural relevance. Happily, thanks to Javier Oroz, who I just interviewed a few weeks ago (go check the Bacanora episode), I got to meet Zury Guindi. Zury started bottling bottling Pox back in...

This is the beginning of a series where both Roy and Chava go around the many venues that hold agave collections that they think are pretty and tasty. Some may be the usual suspects but others may be hiding in plain view, just like Tahona Mezcal Room. Join Chava and Julie Mann Wharton in a conversation that includes tips on how to party when in Brazil, the different types of cachacas you should lo...

Vinasse, which are maybe the most offensive byproducts when making mezcal or tequila, can be neutralized in a number of ways. Scientists are always trying to offer more efficient and cost effective options to neutralize this nasty stuff, and one of  those experiments was brought to our attention by our brilliant medical correspondent, Ryan Aycock (aka Cocktail MD).   The technical specifics of how...

As most things that have been created in Northern Mexico, Bacanora tends to create more questions than answers. It may have an active Denomination of Origin and there are some really awesome brands out there bringing delicious juice, but many of the stories linked to its origins are still obscure.  In this conversation with Javier Oroz (mastermind behind @bastardosdelbacanora and @santocuviso) we...

How big is it too big? When does a mezcalero stops being "small batch" and migrates to something that could be labeled as not truly artisanal? In this conversation with jóven Jon Darby (patrón at @sin_gusano) we dabble around some some of these questions, while sipping some rarities, that according my invitee prove that he may not be the worst purist in this industry. I hope you enjoy this one. 

A popurrí is the ultimate mix, an intense collage of songs merged together to accelerate enjoyment.   I am sure that the term has been confined to music because if someone were to create the "taco popurrí" it would be too much for humanity to withstand.   But jokes aside, this episode is exactly that, a "Popurrí" .  Fabio Raya, one of my favorite scientists on earth,  was in town and we decided to...

So many of the most valuable Mexican products  are tremendously fragile.  A perfectly ripe zapote, a prime "lechón", a fresh habanero salsa and my always beloved pulque.  In this episode with Cesar Ojeda, aka @intergalacticyeastieboy,  we talk about some of his most recent experiments  regarding pulque fermentation, we touch a bit on social justice and we do laugh quite a bit.  Welcome to Heritage...

There are many ways to access the very vast diversity within Mexican food and drinks. Some love spirits, others honey or tea. But Martina ( from @colectivoamasijo) has been working with many different producers from around the country trying to showcase milpa-based agricultural products. We hope you enjoy this episode that delves into the many faces of Mexican agriculture.

If there has been an agave that I've been aggressively celebrating for the last few years, it definitely has been Lamparillo. I still remember the first time I tried and I was so confused. I just didn't know that an agave could create that specific set of flavors and aromasBut most importantly I couldn't imagine the kind of landscape that could foster such an unique agave. To better understand thi...

Arguably the first person to coin the term pulque aristocracy was Jose Vasconcelos, one of Mexico's most famous intellectuals. Using this term he was referring to the many families that recognized in pulque a profitable industry that fueled both exceptional festivities and everyday work. But now pulque is almost a rarity in Mexico City, and the once buoyant business is  an almost extinct tradition...

Different places ask for different drinks, even certain music styles, in my opinion, need specific booze pairings.  And even though I am always the first to complain when I can't find delicious complex spirits in the middle of the night. I am starting to understand that calibrating which booze is served on a dancefloor is a important as the stage and lights design. Without further adieu, please we...

There are so many reasons why people may start a mezcal brand.  Some do it for the  money, some for love and some others because the craft has been in their families for generations.  But regardless of how you started, nobody, to my understanding, has found a perfect formula to maintain exceptional quality while still paying the bills. Without further adieu please welcome Sergio Garnier, from Ultr...

Like many agricultural products, agaves have developed a complex relationship  with humans over millennia.  Some agaves were chosen to make rope, others to extract pulque and maybe the luckiest of them all to create mezcal.  But there've been many other more subtle ways in which people have chosen their favorite agaves to deal with. In this conversation with Fabio Raya we talk about the agaves tha...

For a while I was not sure if I  wanted to publish this episode. But I think there are quite a few  things hiding in the middle of this conversation that somehow relate to the clash of cultures within mezcal.  Without further adieu please welcome Dalton Kreiss and his impressive affection for dogs.

This episode is not about a new religion, so don't you worry.  This episode is about trying to better understand some of the people in the tequila, mezcal  and agave spirits multiverse that I would say have a very clear and unmovable set of ideas of how these categories should behave.  So I decided to do an episode, with my  good friend Jon Darby. I've referred to him before as one of the worst pu...

I've been thinking so much about the things that are so close to us, so ubiquitous,  that we decide to erase them completely.  Octavio Paz, our literature nobel prize,  explores this intensively in his famous book "The Labyrinth of Solitude".  He talks about "Ningunear", which is the act of making someone, no one.  We've done this to so many Mexican products. but a group that I believe has been  n...

Having a conversation with Vinik is never a straight line.  We always allocates the unexpected crevices, he finds ways of expanding what may seem bland and inoffensive. He may even be a spy, considering his very  avid interest on maps, borders and the rivers that run through them.  But the most important thing, is that he is a rather entertaining human to share conversations and mezcalitos.  Witho...

Welcome to the longest episode I've ever recorded. And usually I would say this as a warning,  but while listening to it I realized that this conversation touched on so many things that I believe are critical not only to cacao  but to all Mexican craft, including agave spirits. Without further adieu please welcome Jose Lopez Ganem and his poignant perspective on how we can  create a slightly bette...

There are a multitude of different names that people use to call agave spirits around Mexico.  The most prominent ones are obviously Tequila and Mezcal. But if you travel a bit more you'll find names like Tepe, Ixcateco, Minero, Bacanora, Raicilla and so on and so on. Tuxca is one of those names. But I find that currently there is a good  amount of misinformation about the origin  and history of s...

I've always been fascinated about how things travel and get to be transformed. One of my favorite stories on the matter is how Jose Luis Borges decided to learn Icelandic just to have access to language that has been frozen in time within a very cold and isolated island (excuse the pun). Mexico is the complete opposite, both our language and our culture has traveled and has been transformed in a m...

The controversies around who gets to use the words tequila or mezcal are never ending.  All of which are linked to how the PDOS, or Protected Designations of Origin, for each one of these products were written. That is why I decided to invite the man I call the “Cheese Superman” to this podcast. I find cheese to be very relevant to understand this matter because one of the first PDOs, back in 1925...

If you want to pick up a quick fight with a mezcal nerd you just need to start throwing compliments to añejos and reposados. It'll get even worse if you claim that the best Tepextate you've ever had spent 12 years in bourbon barrels  and that the most complex sotol you've ever encountered was pink and shiny  from resting in barrels  previously used to mature red wine.  Even at the risk of creating...

For the last months I've realized that just like mezcal, so many other Mexican culinary products have been neglected over the years. By now we've touched on traditional fermented products like tolonche, we've explored coffee fermentation, herbal infusions and now, naturally, it is the turn of honey. To understand honey's extremely ample world I was lucky enough to have Arlette Gómez as an invitee....

Agave spirits have been around for at least a few hundred years and within that time they've traveled, they've evolved,  they've been prosecuted by the authorities, they've been neglected by modernity and finally, just around 25 years ago, they started to win the hearts of the spirits and cocktail nerds.  Now mezcal is a global phenomena, but to be absolutely honest, that is rather surprising. So...