Harvesting maguey the “tumbado” way (Linda Sullivan remix)
I was listening to Tim McKirdy’s podcast “Mezcal’s Untold Past, Soaring Present, and Fragile Future,” and he talks about an agave harvesting process called tumbado, where you disconnect the plant from its roots and let it sit there in the field. It was said to be an old practice that had been lost. Even in the podcast, he said he only heard about this from one guy, so I thought, yeah, probably not really a thing. And then I met Paulo Rodriguez in Chacala, Jalisco.
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 wisdom from Raicillero Paulo Rodriguez, interpreted by Greg Rutkowski.
Want your own bottle of Paulo’s Tumbado batch?
Visit Chacala, Jalisco, under your own steam! Go to the community plaza and you’ll see a little tienda. Ask inside that tienda where you can find Paulo Rodriguez — he’s a short walk away.
Want to go to Chacala in style? Greg Rutkowski will take you on his Agave Road Trip Route #2 - Raicilla de la Costa! Price includes a bottle of Paulo’s sweet Tumbado!
Episode Notes
Cover photo for this episode, featuring Raicillero Saúl Espinoza Rodríguez Barrillas, was taken by @seniorleche and is courtesy of Finca 18.
Shout outs this episode to Tim McKirdy and his “Cocktail College” podcast, the Magic School Bus, Francisco Hernandez’s Rerum medicarum Novae Hispaniae seu Plantarum animalium, mineralium Mexicanorum historia, Mike Schallua of is/was brewing, and the water-pump campaign in Ixtlahuahuey, Jalisco!
Ad Links
Coming to you from a 24,000-acre ranch of wild desert, check out Mezcal Ultramundo!
Head out on an Agave Road Trip with Finca 18!
Order beautiful spirits to be delivered to anywhere in Mexico — beautiful or otherwise — through Agave Spirits Presents!