Maestros del Mezcal Podcast

Welcome to the first Blind Tasting With... Episode; In this series we will try to understand the processes that different people go through when decifering what is in their copita during a blind tasting. 

We interview Diana Pinzón, a biologist, conservationist and co-founder of Zinacantan mezcal. Diana poses 10 questions for the California Agave Council and expresses her concern for protecting endemic agave in Mexico and the bio-cultural heritage they represent. 

We continue our investgation into the plant known as Espadin in Oaxaca; This time following genetic trail. Dr. Jorge Nieto Sotelo from UNAM in Mexico City talks to us about Agave angustifolia and it's possible origins among other things. 

Recorded sometime in 2022 - we finally edited this interview / tasting we did with professional cheesemonger, Julia Gross. Some fun and insightful stuff about cheese and mezcal pairing in general.

We begin to research the origins of the plant known as "Espadin" in Oaxaca. 

Hablamos con Raul Chavez, un Agricultor de Agave en California

A conversation with Craig Reynolds of the California Agave Council

Our new host Vinik Jure and Rion Toal talk about the importance of words when it comes to the preservation of traditional mezcal. 

We talk with analytical chemist Adam Floyd about the mezcal samples he ran through Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometry

We start to dive into how mezcal ages and which mezcal ages best.

Lalo Angeles sheds some light on the karwinskii of Minas

Shea Comfort talks to us about Fermentation, Durian Fruits, and Location Specific Microbial Influence on Wine Barrel Wood among other things.

Luis Loya of Lamata talks with us about Agave asperrima

We interview Dr. Joaliné Pardo Nuñez about an experiment she is helping to conduct concerning mezcal producers perception of the flavors in mezcal.

We talk about the Agave species within the Tobalá Complex and the common names used to refer to them.

We continue to bother fruit flies with questions about their pallets. They are starting to get annoyed.

We continue to try to decipher fruit fly's mezcal preferences. 

We talk with Dr. Jorge Nieto Sotelo about his recent study that sheds some light on the genetic origins of Agave tequilana, Espadín and other species and varieties. 

Borrachitos: Those little flies in your copita; what can they tell us?

Did you know there may be thousands of Traditional Mezcal producers in Jalisco? In this episode we talk with Pedro Jimenez Gurría of Mezonte and Pare de Surfir about his projects and about the diverse mezcales of Jalisco. 

In this episode with talk with Silvia Philion of Mezcaloteca to discuss her thinking behind the recent decision to remove essential information from the labels. We also discuss what happens when mezcal becomes more about business and less about tradition, and a quickly changing Oaxaca. 

We talk with Max Rosenstock of Neta Spirits about Karwinskiis in Miahuatlan, Oaxaca. 

We talk about our new map with 16 Oaxacan mezcal regions and common and scientific agave names.

All about mezcal distillation in Oaxaca

A quick but detailed introduction to mezcal.