If You Capon the Quiote, Do You Get Better Mezcal?
The capon’d agave — the agave that is harvested after it’s begun reproduction, after its quiote has been cut, after it’s been left to develop and change in the field, healing its wound — is considered a special, beautiful, romantic source for making an especially delicious agave spirit. But not by maestro vinatero El Lobo de la Sierra in Los Jacales, Jalisco. Lobo breaks Chava’s heart by busting the capon myth in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
Travel Mexico — You'll Love It to Death!
We love Mexico! We love visiting, love eating the food, love drinking the drinks, love checking out the art! We love buying examples of all of these things and we love bringing those things back home to share with our friends, to encourage them to go love Mexico! But … are we loving it to death? We question our intentions and impact in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
… and Sometimes, Even When It’s Certified, It Still Ain’t Mezcal
Profeco, the consumer-protection agency of the Mexican government, ran an analysis of 36 certified mezcal brands. They flagged a bunch of them for various violations, including the claim that Mezcal Gusano Rojo doesn’t even qualify as mezcal. What?! We drag out the dead horse that is the mezcal denomination of origin for another beating in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
Can Mezcal be Medicine?
Chava got a bug. After consulting the Ebers Papyrus and an appointment with Pliny the Elder, he chose a mezcal shot over a flu shot. Cocktail MD Dr. Ryan Aycock joins us to get Chava back on track, and to answer the burning question: can mezcal actually be medicinal? Join us for a booster episode of Agave Road Trip!
Immature Agave Makes Better Mezcal
There’s a lot of moral outrage around the harvesting of agave that hasn’t yet reached maturity. But … when exactly is agave mature? By whose standards? And if the agave is getting harvested before it can produce seeds — which is always the case when you’re using the agave to make spirits — how is it a morals issue whether you harvest that agave a week before or a couple years before it reaches maturity? We light the fuse in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
Super Sugar Tequila: Fortified with Four Essential Additives
How sweet it is! Mexican regulations allow up to 1% of your tequila to be additives, the four most common being sugar-based syrup, glycerin, oak extract, and caramel coloring. Purists get outraged by this — it’s cheating! But we’re far more interested in what this means from a health standpoint. So we called in Agave Road Trip medical correspondent Dr. Ryan Aycock. Cocktail MD gives us the lowdown on tequila additives in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
You Think Tequila is Better if you Pay More for It
The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States released their 2020/2021 report and … good lord, you people are drinking a lot. But the real news here is, you’re also paying a lot more for what you drink. So does that mean you’re getting better tequila? Or just more expensive tequila? We dissect the numbers in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
It Ain’t Mezcal if it Ain’t Certified
There's a Denomination of Origin for mezcal -- has been since 1997. The Mexican government gets to decide what is and what isn't mezcal. So if the Mexican government doesn't recognize an agave spirit as "mezcal," should we? It's another rhetorical episode of Agave Road Trip!
Tequila: The Perfect Hangover Cure
Jon Darby got Chava drunk. So we called in Dr. Ryan Aycock, Cocktail MD, to help the most popular Agave Road Trip cohost deal with the resulting hangover and learn methods for mitigating them in the future. Join us for the biggest headache ever in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
Mallory O'Meara Drinks like a Woman
Mallory O’Meara says you’re getting it wrong when you offer women fruity drinks. "It's the women who really are the ones who are so much closer to the process and usually so much better at being able to discern different flavors,” says the author of Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol. Join us for a conversation about gendered drinking in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
Is Texas Messing with Sotol?
When people talk about mezcal and related agave spirits, they'll often lump in sotol. But it's not made from agave. But it is made in Mexico. But it's also now being made in Texas. And that's causing some waves. Is Texas messing with sotol? We skip through that minefield in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
What Exactly is Artisanal about Mezcal Artesenal?
In 2020, 86% of all mezcal was classified as “artesenal.” Twelve percent was just straight-up “mezcal,” so … made in a more industrial way. And only 2% was classified as “ancestral.” So is “artesenal” as artisanal as the name suggests? And who knows what that word even means? Chava gets quizzed on the mezcal NOM in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
There's Mezcal for Geeks and there's Mezcal that Sells
You’re an agave geek. You bleed pulque. The stuff that tastes like blue cheese and jalapeños? Costs $150 a bottle? You love it. But that’s not what you’re moving. So we talk about what is going to sell to those customers in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
You Got Your Pulque in My Tepache!
Okay, so ... not all agaves are created equal. Some have fewer sugars than others. Like Bruto. So they add pulque to start the fermentation. But, wait ... that pulque is also made from Bruto. So ... how does the pulque ferment? Chava freestyles his science-like ideas in a car in Miami to try to explain what's going on in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
Give that Juice Another Sniff....
Bloody diarrhea is much more dangerous than regular diarrhea. So maybe wash that fruit before you cut it? Add salt after juicing? Freeze it? And before you drink it, maybe give that juice a second sniff...? We're joined in this episode by Dr. Ryan Aycock, Cocktail MD, for the lowdown on bacteria and how it can sneak up on you either in a gringx bar or on the roadsides in rural Mexico!
The Perfect Recipe for Mezcal
An ensamble mezcal is made from a number of different agaves — generally whatever has reached maturity at the same time. Or … is it? Maybe there’s a precise recipe that’s been handed down for generations? But how does that work within the confines of nature? We cook the cookbooks in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
Puntas and Colas and the Heart of the Distillation
When I first started learning about heritage agave spirits, I misunderstood the labels that noted “puntas and colas.” I thought that meant that what was in the bottle was a blend of the heads and tails of a distillation — but in fact the heart of the distillation had been adjusted with the heads and tails. But, then … maybe I was wrong about being wrong? We look closely at the cuts in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
The Many Different Flavors of Mezcal
For decades we’ve seen flavor-wheels for wine, and more recently they’ve been appearing for mezcal. It makes sense, both in terms of market positioning and also trying to define the broad spectrum of different flavors you’ll find in mezcal and other agave spirits. But … what if banana tastes different to me than it does to you? The flavor training wheels come off in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
Can You be Allergic to Mezcal? (Cocktail MD special)
You want to drink mezcal, but it makes you itch … gives you a headache … turns you bright red. Are you allergic to mezcal? Is that even possible? Agave Road Trip medical correspondent Ryan Aycock, MD, MS, joins us for another Cocktail MD special that’s nothing to sneeze at!
Zero-proof, Non-alcoholic Mexican Cocktails
One of the hundreds of trends in the world of drinks right now is the zero-proof, nonalcoholic cocktail. Which is what we used to call an iced tea north of the border and an agua fresca south of the border. And, yeah, I recognize that it’s not simply that. But it’s also that … and more! We talk Mexican terroir, traditional herbs, and delicious liquid flavors in this week’s episode of Agave Road Trip!