The problem with the InsideHook article about 2023 Tequila sales
A couple weeks ago, I threw the Washington Post under the bus for failing to recognize that food journalism is — or should be — journalism. This week I throw myself under the bus for an article I wrote for InsideHook. Not because it fails as journalism — I’ll let someone else make that claim. But because I think it misses the most relevant point about the story of Tequila sales in the USA in 2023. And I attempt to rectify that here, in this mea culpa 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 Arturo Lamas of Lost Lore Tequila.
The problem with the Washington Post article about Mezcal
Do you want to preserve the biodiversity of agaves? Or do you want to preserve agaves in the wild? Because those are two different things, often at odds with one another. And you can’t have that conversation without talking about the reasons for the disappearing wild lands in Mexico. But that’s exactly what the Washington Post did last week, when they concluded that the biodiversity of agave is disappearing because “[f]oreign mezcal drinkers have adopted a taste for the wildest, scarcest agaves.” I wish foreign drinkers had adopted a taste for the wildest, scarcest agaves. And Mexican drinkers, too. But instead we’re all drinking spirits made from monoculture blue weber agave in Jalisco and soon-to-be-monoculture espadin in Oaxaca. And that’s the problem the Washington Post should have covered. So we do it here, instead, in this set-the-record-straight 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 Sergio Garnier of Mezcal Ultramundo, with supporting insights from Dr. Hector Ortiz, conservation scientist at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
Drink More Wild Agave
Some people will tell you that agave is at risk of becoming extinct. They'll tell you that you should primarily drink mezcal made from farmed espadin. But we tell you, gringo bartenders, that if you love mezcal, you should drink more wild agave, and you should get your customers to do so, too. Find out why in this episode of Agave Road Trip!