Your perfect Thanksgiving in Mexico City!
In November 2021, we celebrated Thanksgiving in Mexico City! It was great fun, but we learned a lot of lessons on the way. If you want to celebrate this traditional USA holiday south of the border, give this episode a listen and start making plans! It’s a fully stuffed episode of Agave Road Trip!
Babies or booze? Agaves can’t make both … or can they?
All alcohol starts life as sugar, and the sugars used to make agave spirits like mezcal and tequila come from … agave! But the energy source that becomes sugar is also what powers the agave’s ability to reproduce. So if you allow the agave to reproduce, you’re also burning up the sugars you need to make alcohol. It’s a pick-your-poison episode of Agave Road Trip!
Tequila and the myth of the low-glycemic index
There’s this idea that, somehow, tequila and mezcal are healthier to drink because sugar from agave has a lower glycemic index than other sugars. Our medical correspondent Dr. Ryan Aycock, the Cocktail MD, punctures a hole in that idea — and also cautions that, if that idea had been drinking shochu before he made that hole, the idea will bleed more profusely. All that and more in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
Is the mezcal worm cultural heritage or crass marketing?
If you believe the mezcal geeks, no self-respecting mezcalero would ever adulterate their multi-generational spirits with gusanos or scorpions or any critter of any kind. But I tend to believe history over geeks, and history tells a different story. We share that story in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
Mezcal Cristalino: Threat or Menace?
When Maluma announced he was releasing a cristalino mezcal, a corner of the world went nuts: tens of thousands of his fans, excited to try it, and hundreds of mezcal geeks, outraged over a perceived attack on Mexico’s cultural heritage. Meanwhile, most of the world went about their day. It’s a keep-calm-and-carry-on episode of Agave Road Trip!
Does bottling mezcal and tequila in Mexico save jobs?
Back in 2004, the USA imported over $400 million worth of tequila. Approximately 73 percent of that was tequila in bulk form. So when the Mexican government suggested they were going to change the rules such that tequila had to be bottled in Mexico … well, US companies went to bat to protect their multi-million-dollar bottling factories. And they succeeded! Or did they? And should they have? We release our bottled up frustrations in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
Is mezcal pechuga cultural heritage or crass marketing?
One of the things you hear over and over is that pechuga – the mezcal made (often) by adding raw chicken (or turkey or venison or name-your-protein) – is a special spirit made for celebrations. But then you see novelty pechugas, made with bacon or al pastor. So what’s the truth about pechuga? It’s a chicken-or-the-egg episode of Agave Road Trip! The cover for this week’s episode is provided by Eisner Award-winning designer Mark Cox!
Why does Mezcal in the USA have a higher minimum ABV than Mexico?
Mexican regulations require an agave spirit to fall between 35% and 55% alcohol by volume (ABV) to qualify for certification as mezcal. But in the USA, the TTB requires that same spirit to be a minimum of 40% ABV to qualify as mezcal. Why? Well, who knows? Not us! But that doesn’t stop us from blindly speculating! It’s another meandering episode of Agave Road Trip!
Does mezcal help you hydrate?
Since mezcal is often around 50% ABV, that means it’s also around 50% water. Does that water help hydrate you? What about the water in beer, which is often around 95% of that pint. And coffee? That’s more than 99% water. So … what exactly is the deal with hydration? We’re under water in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
Historically, mezcal is made with steam
Read almost any of those “differences between tequila and mezcal” articles, and they’ll tell you that tequila steams their agave, mezcal roasts it underground. But in the cover to this week’s episode, you can see Chava and me sitting in the skeleton of a century-old boiler at an even older mezcal fabrica in Guanajuato. So when exactly does tradition start? We get the purists hot under the collar in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
Mezcal can be made from (a lot) more than 40 species of agave
How many different kinds of agave can be used to make mezcal? Well, heck, that’s easy: the regulations allow you to use any of them. So why have there been so many articles saying it’s “more than 40”? When 159 species have been identified in Mexico?! We take the media to task in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
How much alcohol is in mezcal?
If you hang around a certain crowd, they’ll tell you that mezcal needs to be at least 50% alcohol by volume to be true to the cultural heritage of the spirit. And while that is certainly true in some communities, Mexico is not homogenous. We geek out on some 28% ABV mezcal in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
How dangerous is Mexico?
When I tell people about my trips to Mexico, it's not uncommon for them to ask how dangerous it is. Chava and I debate the relative threats of Mexico in this not-approved-by-the-US-Department-of-State episode of Agave Road Trip!
Who put the “vino” in the “vino de mezcal”?
All over Mexico, there are communities where they call their agave spirits "vino de mezcal." But "vino" means "wine," and wine, when it's distilled, is called brandy -- has been for the Spanish since before they ever came calling. So ... why do they use the word "vino"? Chava's mind is blown in this speculative episode of Agave Road Trip!
Healthy living through mezcal
The Value of Spirits Awards Competitions
Attack of the 50-foot Chava
Chava’s Incredible Shrinking Brain
A few weeks ago, Cocktail MD Dr. Ryan Aycock joined us for “The Effects of Alcohol and Your Shrinking Brain,” an episode so titled because … well, drinking alcohol causes your brain to shrink. This freaked out Chava (and apparently several of our listeners). So I made him talk about it “on air.” What do you do if you like to drink agave spirits but also like your brain? We strategize options for protecting your brain in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
Another Drink Towards Oblivion
Okay, we really liked our conversation with renowned food journalist Dan Saladino, author of Eating to Extinction. In last week’s episode, we talked about the importance of consuming a diversity of options. This week, we talk with him about the importance of that diversity coming from a specific place. And maybe that place should be where you live. We think about staying parked in place in this episode of Agave Road Trip!
Are We Drinking Ourselves into Extinction?
We’ve talked a lot on this podcast about the importance of biodiversity in agave. But Dan Saladino takes that conversation to the next level, explaining how what we eat – and drink – will determine whether or not we can survive as a species. We have that conversation with the renowned food journalist and author of Eating to Extinction in this episode of Agave Road Trip!