This new ad for Cadbury’s Bournville “dark” chocolate is funny. But there’s a cost to that humor, and it isn’t to Cadbury. We take Goliath to task for attacking David in this episode of Agave Road Trip!

Agave Road Trip is a critically acclaimed, award-winning podcast that helps gringx bartenders better understand agave, agave spirits, and rural Mexico. This episode is hosted by Lou Bank and Bruce Costa of the Granite Forest Dojo!

Episode Notes

Shout outs this episode to Dark Matter’s Sleep Walk Chocolate, Lifetime Wells International, “The Last Tourist,” Hampden Estate Rum, and Appleton Estate Rum!

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There’s a field of blue weber agave in Jalisco that SACRED has purchased. The plan is … well, a secret. But there’s a possible glitch in the secret plan and that glitch is the picudo, a weevil famous for eating agave. Are we going to let a famous weevil interrupt our plan? No — we’re going to bug out!

Agave Road Trip is a critically acclaimed, award-winning podcast that helps gringx bartenders better understand agave, agave spirits, and rural Mexico. This episode is hosted by Lou Bank and Greg Rutkowski of Finca 18 with wisdom from Isaac Arellanes Santos, an agricultural consultant, and interstitial fun from Agave Road Trip Poet Laureate and Official Troubadour Larry Beckett!

Episode Notes

Shout outs this episode to the the 818 Tequila-funded water-security project in Chacala, Jalisco, Emilio Sengar, Eduardo Aguilar from Telesecundaria El Manantial, and Sergio Garnier of Mezcal Ultramundo!

The cover to this episode is everything to me. The art is by Gilbert Hernandez — Beto, of Los Bros Hernandez, creators of the comics series Love and Rockets. When I was a 15- or 16-year-old kid, this comic book showed me that comics could tell any story. The magical realism that Beto and his brothers Jaime and Mario depicted in Mexico and Southern California stuck with me. I think a lot of the joy I feel when I’m traveling in rural Mexico now is the discovery of images that they planted in my teenage brain. I was a comics geek growing up — mainly Marvel with a bit of DC on the side. Then some of the alternative superhero stuff when that started popping in the 1980s. But Los Bros Hernandez showed me a whole different world.

And that art was colored by my friend and former Marvel Comics colleague Gregory Wright! When I moved as a 21-year-old kid to New York to take the job with Marvel, Greg was one of the first to welcome me, introducing me to the fabled pastrami-on-rye at the dearly departed Carnegie Deli! Long-suffering friends are the best friends!

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There’s a restaurant that opened in Queens, New York, a couple months ago with the name Whitexicans. That’s a loaded word – loaded with enough implications of classism and racism that it sparked a protest. But it also sparked a lot of media coverage. So what does it mean that your place of hospitality has an inhospitable name?

Agave Road Trip is a critically acclaimed, award-winning podcast that helps gringx bartenders better understand agave, agave spirits, and rural Mexico. This episode is hosted by Lou Bank and Dr. Steven Alvarez of St. John’s University.

Episode Notes

Shout outs this episode to Ismael Gomez, The Great Gatsby, sound engineer Roy Sierra, the Instagram page of Whitexicans, Steven’s course Taco Literacy, and the neighboring restaurant The Queensboro!

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In the past decade, housing prices in Mexico City have climbed 148%, fueled largely by digital nomads and a tourism boom. More than 26,000 AirBnB units have taken over what would have been apartments for people for whom Mexico City is home. This past summer, that led to protests in the streets: “shattered glass, broken doors and furious graffiti,” according to a story in The Guardian. In our enthusiasm to visit a place, are we displacing the foundation of what makes that place so desirable? The people who live there? Should we not visit?

Agave Road Trip is a critically acclaimed, award-winning podcast that helps gringx bartenders better understand agave, agave spirits, and rural Mexico. This episode is hosted by Lou Bank with special guest Roy Sierra of Agave Road Trip with insights from Olga Camargo of SheNix.

Episode Notes

Check out the other podcast Roy engineers, Heritage Mezcal! And Olga’s app, SheNix!

The sweet art in this week’s cover includes Manifestación by José Clemente Orozco!

Shout outs this episode to Hotel Stanza in CDMX and Agave Spirits Presents, the best way to get amazing, traditionally made agave spirits from families in rural Mexico, even when you find yourself at an all-inclusive resort! And when you’re looking to stay in a hotel in Mexico City, consider all of these wonderful options from Marriott!

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If you’re a business owner who makes their living serving food or drinks that are rooted in Mexican traditions, or a brand owner who is selling spirits made in Mexico or, perhaps, made somewhere else but rooted in Mexican tradition, what are your obligations — if any — to the people who come from Mexico?

Agave Road Trip is a critically acclaimed, award-winning podcast that helps gringx bartenders better understand agave, agave spirits, and rural Mexico. This episode is hosted by Lou Bank with special guest Lyanne Alfaro of Moneda Moves with insights from Arturo Lamas of Lost Lore Tequila and Primo Hermano Mezcal.

Episode notes

Check out Lyanne’s podcast, Moneda Moves!

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First I heard from Sergio Garnier that the wild lamparillos on his 24,000-acre ranch in Durango skipped a season. Didn’t shoot quiotes. Didn’t go to flower. Then I heard the same about the agaves in Guerrero from Damian Meneses from El Tigre. And Damian and I were in Jalisco together and he told me that the raicilleros were saying the same thing: none or almost none of the agaves are going to seed. So … what’s up?

Agave Road Trip is a critically acclaimed, award-winning podcast that helps gringx bartenders better understand agave, agave spirits, and rural Mexico. This episode is hosted by Lou Bank with special guest Sergio Garnier of Mezcal Ultramundo.

Episode Notes

Check out Mezcal Ultramundo!

Shout out this episode to El Tigre!

“Do Trees Talk to Each Other?,” Smithsonian Magazine, March 2018

“Trees Talk To Each Other. 'Mother Tree' Ecologist Hears Lessons For People, Too,” “Fresh Air,” May 2024

“Underground Networking: The Amazing Connections Beneath Your Feet,” National Forest Foundation

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

There’s a lot of talk about ensuring that the mezcaleres get paid fairly, and that’s an important conversation. There’s less talk about the palenqueres getting paid fairly, and that’s also an important conversation that we should be having more often. But there’s zero talk about ensuring the people who own Mezcal brands get paid fairly. So … let’s talk.

Agave Road Trip is a critically acclaimed, award-winning podcast that helps gringx bartenders better understand agave, agave spirits, and rural Mexico. This episode is hosted by Lou Bank with special guest Linda Sullivan of seynasecreto and sharing from David Martin, Jr. of Dos Gabachos Mezcal.

Episode Notes

Check out Dos Gabachos Mezcal!

Shout outs this episode to David Suro, Lalo Angeles of Lalocura, SACRED Agave, celebrity owners, and Diageo!

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