You can’t log onto a Facebook Tequila group without seeing Cristalino Tequila derided, abused, and generally treated as some kind of punch line. But … do those user groups reflect the average consumer? Does the average consumer matter as much as the more highly engaged consumers that populate these online groups? And does consumption itself matter as much as cultural heritage? And why do I like the average Tequila Cristalino more than I like the average Tequila? That’s what I discuss with my past self on this time-travel 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 Lou Bank from the Past and filled with interview clips from Jaime Salas, Head of Advocacy at Proximo Spirits; Juan Eduardo Nuñez of Tequila El Viejito; Tequila-geek royalty Khrys Maxwell; dean of American whiskey journalism, Chuck Cowdery, and Barbara Engelskirchen from the National Museum of Mexican Art.

Episode Notes

If this episode interests you, you can also check out this 2022 episode, “Cristalino Mezcal: Threat or Menace.”

Here’s that 2015 David Hammond story I reference: “Agave Adoration: The Mezcal Gospel According to Lou Bank,” Newcity, April 2, 2015.