There are people in rural Mexico for whom Mezcal is 100% cultural heritage. And there are people there for whom it’s 100% business — sometimes tied to cultural heritage but sometimes tied simply to paying for food, clothing, shelter, and life’s aspirations and pleasures. So what does it mean when that business side taps into the cultural heritage side to increase business? It’s a thoughtful, precious 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 with Shawn Miller of PKGD Group.

Episode Notes

Shout outs this episode to Ultramundo Mezcal, Mezcal Palomo, Chrissie Hynde, Sleep Walk’s award-winning Blanco Jaguar chocolate bar, red Solo cups, DC Chocolate Festival, Linda Sullivan, The Tequiladies, Connie, and Mezcal Lalocura!

I see it all over the news, hear it in conversations: we're drinking less. But then I look at the sales numbers from DISCUS and it makes me wonder, are we really drinking less? Or are we just drinking differently? It’s a complex math equation that we try to solve 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 with Linda Sullivan of seynasecreto.

You can check the raw data from DISCUS here.

The fastest-growing spirits category in the USA is Tequila/Mezcal. The most popular cocktail is the Margarita. We love tacos, we love tamales. So … can all of that help us as a country learn to love the people who brought us these things we love?

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 Alba Huerta of Julep Houston.

Episode Notes

Shout outs to Alvin Schultz, Ben Quasius, Gustavo Arellano and his book Taco USA.

This episode was recorded about a month before the immigration raids in Los Angeles. The government’s violent response to the peaceful protests against those raids is, I think, evidence of what Alba says in this episode.

This Instagram post from my friends at Lost Lore Tequila says everything I’d want to say in a smarter way than I could

At the DISCUS conference a few months ago, I was at a party that was populated by small-brand tasting tables. The one that drew my attention most was the one that was both least visited and most colorful. And my response to everything they were pouring was, Yes, please! But most especially, the White Chocolate/Raspberry Tiramisu whiskey! It’s an artificially inspired 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 with special guest Linda Sullivan of seynasecreto with wisdom from Al Murphy of Mother Murphy’s Flavors.

Episode Notes

Thanks to Al Murphy of Mother Murphy’s Flavors

Shout outs to the Distilled Spirits Council of the US, Runts, Skittles, Hampden Estates Rum, Elevate Innovation, Non-Alcoholic Phony Negroni, Zignum Mezcal, Ancho Reyes Verde, Mexico in a Bottle, and “Outspoken,” the monthly storytelling event at Chicago’s Sidetrack!

I thought this episode was going to be about blind tastings. And it is. Or, at least, it starts that way. But when you’re talking with Marissa, aka @tequilaencyclopedia , you rarely take as straight a path as you’d expect. So if you want to listen to a conversation about that … or about CostCo … or about the Agavos Awards … or how much I paid Marissa to join me on a trip to 818 Tequila, this episode is for you!

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 Marissa Paragano of The Tequiladies.

Episode Notes

Marissa is also a board member of Tequila That Cares, a philanthropic organization bringing positive change to the agave spirits industry!

Shout outs this episode to the Agavos Awards, 818 Tequila, Costco, and Marissa’s dream team, the Boston Red Sox!

Chuck Cowdery was called “the dean of American whiskey journalism” by no less than Robert Simonson in the New York Times. So when I decided more than 250 episodes into this podcast to finally devote one to Mexican whiskey, I naturally invited my celebrated drinking buddy over. It’s (perhaps) the corniest 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 with special guest Chuck Cowdery and additional wisdom from Ismael Gomez of Laika Spirits, Xaime Niembro of Whisky Juan del Campo and Gracias a Dios Mezcal, Txomin Alcorta of Whisky Prieto y Prieta, and Jonathan Barbieri of Whiskey Maiz Nation!

Episode Notes

Check out The Chuck Cowdery Blog!

Thanks to Ismael Gomez of Laika Spirits, Xaime Navarro of Gracias a Dios Mezcal and Juan Del Campo Whiskey, Txomin Alcorta of Whisky Prieto y Prieta, and Jonathan Barbieri of Whiskey Maiz Nation for the quotes this episode.

You can check out NOM 199 here and to see how the rules for whiskey in Mexico compare to the rules for Mezcal, Tequila, and everything else, check out this spreadsheet.

And if the tangent about feni in Goa got you going, check out Hansel Vaz’s Instagram page and Fazenda Cazulo!

Last episode we contrasted the good done through the consumption of heritage agave spirits with the damage caused by same. This episode, we talk about the damage done by the casual consumption of agave spirits. And coffee. And chocolate. And … well, everything. It’s a casual-destruction 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 with special guest Linda Sullivan of seynasecreto with wisdom from Xaime Niembro of Gracias a Dios Mezcal.

Episode Notes

Thanks to Xaime Navarro of Gracias a Dios Mezcal and Juan Del Campo Whiskey for the quote this episode.

Shout outs to Palomo Mezcal, Dark Matter Coffee, Chengdu Bistro, Rogue Ales & Spirits, and Chuck Klosterman and his novel Downtown Owl! (But also … go read Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto. Like, now.)

It’s amazing and moving to see mezcalerxs whose lives have clearly improved as a result of the growing interest in agave spirits. But there’s another side to that story – or, really, multiple other sides to it: some good, some bad, and some … well, the jury is still out on those. We talk about those various stories 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 with special guest Linda Sullivan of seynasecreto.

Episode Notes

This episode cover is Courtesy of Slim Pickens! Thanks, Slim!

The episode of “The Hidden Brain” that I was trying to recall is “Relationships 2.0: The Power of Tiny Interactions + Your Questions Answered: Erica Bailey on Authenticity.” So good!

My friends Jen & Adam Murphy have great Instagram feeds, if you’re a gardening nerd or a garden-in-a-cocktail nerd!

Shout out this episode to Jason Cox whose Cinco Sentidos brand of agave spirits is amazing! Equally amazing are his two (count them, two!) brands of Oaxacan rum: Alambique Serrano and Cañada - Aguardiente Oaxaqueño!

Shout out this episode to Mezcal tour guide Randall Stockton and his amazing pandemic program, Feeding Chichicapam!

Shout out this episode to Chuck Klosterman and his novel Downtown Owl! (But also … go read Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto. Like, now.)