Can culture and commerce coexist in a bottle of spirits?
An article in Food & Wine highlighted a crisis in craft distilleries in the USA. I think there's a lot of overlap between that crisis and what so many of these families in rural Mexico are experiencing — the discomfort of trying to preserve something that's art-focused in a world that’s more commodity-focused. But is the market even built for that? We try to suss it out 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 Jordan Tepper of Apologue Spirited Liqueurs with insights from Morten LJ Koch of Mezcal Chulele.
Cocktails as cultural bridges
I’ve heard a lot about how bartenders use cocktails as a way to introduce their guests to Mexican spirits like Mezcal, Tequila, Raicilla, Bacanora, and Sotol. And lately, I’ve also heard a little about using those same cocktails to introduce guests to the communities those spirits come from – turning the cocktail into a gateway to another culture. So I spoke with some bartenders about exactly that. Alex Dominguez checks in from Calico in New York, Matthias Ingelmann from KOL in London, Mariane Garcia from Copitas Cholula, and … Aithan Shapira from MIT Sloan School of Management. It’s a globe-spanning 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
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!
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!