Wild vs Farmed: Last Pulque Standing
04 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Gonzalo Alvarez is pursuing his master’s degree in pulque. Ivan Saldana has his doctorate in agave...
What’s Wrong With Your Stomach
28 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It started with a rumor I heard as a kid, that Maraschino cherries and bubblegum would stay in your ...
There Is No Coffee in Mexico
21 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Well, of course, there is coffee in Mexico. I’ve bought some at Whole Foods in the past. But my fr...
The Cult of Hospitality
14 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A Liquor.com article I read earlier this year highlighted the number of hospitality workers who grew...
A Game of Chicken With the Mexican Police
07 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Maybe you were speeding. Maybe you weren’t. Either way, the Mexican police have pulled you over. Q...
How Not to Bring Mezcal Back From Mexico
30 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I used to regularly come back from Mexico with a lot of alcohol — a lot. But in the last few years...
Giving Tuesday
23 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this Day of Thanks, I ponder why Giving Tuesday isn’t Giving Thursday — why we aren’t givin...
The Beautiful Inconsistencies of Coffee and Mezcal
16 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It's impossible with coffee beans to get consistency in flavors and aromas from one harvest to the n...
How to Welcome the Mezcal Curious
09 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With all the press, all the talk, all the social-media posts, there are always people looking to fin...
The Church of Our Lady of Tequila
02 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A preachment, dear friends, you are about to receive, on Mayahuel, nicotine, and the temptations of ...
Mexican Hand Gestures in a Mezcaleria
26 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I’m accustomed to people making hand gestures at me, whether in the USA or Mexico. And I’m gener...
Should You Worry About Plastic in Your Water-Bottle Mezcal?
19 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The best stuff is always in plastic water bottles — that’s a thing I hear from a lot of Mezcal g...
The Best Mezcals for Mixing, According to Agave Road Trip
12 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Price certainly has to be a factor when considering which Mezcals you stock in your well. And flavor...
The CRT Loses Their Tequila Monopoly
05 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Back in May 2021, Chava and I recorded an episode titled “The Birth and Death of the CRM.” Alber...
Espresso Martinis Are a Lie
28 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The espresso martini is quickly becoming the go-to cocktail at bars. But is it really an espresso ma...
How the Hijuelos Killed Tequila
21 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There are three different natural methods agaves use to reproduce, but only one of those methods pro...
The Contagious Patience of Mezcal
14 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The best agave spirits require a lot of patience. It takes an awful lot of time for the agave to mat...
Fast Mezcal and Slow Bars
07 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The amount of time that mezcaleros take to make their spirits is an essential ingredient in the proc...
The Bartender’s Guide to Skittles
31 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I’ve been reading lately that Skittles are being banned in parts of Europe. That made me think of ...
Chill Filtering: Threat or Menace
24 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Almost all alcohol goes through some kind of filtering, and chill filtering has been one of those me...
Mezcalarrhea: Some People Think it’s Funny, But it’s Really Hot and Runny
17 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There are often-repeated inaccuracies that cause the general public to greatly misunderstand Mezcal....
The Differences Between Tequila and Whiskey
10 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I’m asked all the time what the difference is between Tequila and Mezcal. But, for my money, the m...
Chocolate and Coffee Are Antioxidants, but What Does That Mean?
03 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For years I’ve heard that cacao and coffee are antioxidants, but I’m left wondering … what exa...
Tequila is Doing Fine but Mexican Beer is Killing it
27 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There’s been a lot of talk about the environmental damage being done to Jalisco and Oaxaca as a re...
Spirits as Landscapes
20 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this conversation with Eric Zandona we try to address one of the elephants in the room: can mezca...
Rules of the Road Trip
06 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s episode marks the third anniversary of Agave Road Trip! Chava and I celebrate by shari...
Every Agave Landscape Tells a Bigger Story
29 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gringx bartenders like to tell the bigger story of mezcal, the story that goes beyond the delicious ...
Never Use Espadin Mezcal to Make Cocktails
22 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There’s this idea that’s been circulating around USA bars that you should only ever use espadin ...
Some Drinks Don't Travel -- Pulque with the Hadza
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Pulque is a drink of place — something you have to have near or where it is made. It doesn’t tra...
1% for the Bats
08 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Our friends at Bat Conservation International have teamed with a number of other organizations to la...
To Keep Community Viable, You Have to Save the Water
01 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino has traveled the world documenting the stories of our most endangered foods. He would a...
Can Plastic Save the World?
25 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Yeah yeah yeah. I know. Plastic is killing the world. But it’s hardly the only thing. And in the c...
What Do You Do With the Tiny Sips of Mezcal Left in Your Bottles?
18 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There’s this concept of the infinity bottle in other spirits – where you take the last bits of f...
The Ever-Popular Tortured-Agave Effect
11 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There’s an idea that mezcal made with wild agave is more delicious, because the agave lived in a h...
Let's Talk About Maguey Salmiana
04 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Chava says this is the first of a series of episodes where we take a close-up look at specific agave...
Regenerative Agriculture? Biodynamic Agriculture? Climate-Smart Agriculture!
27 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There are so many different approaches to farming these days, and so many different terms that, from...
What Oaxaca’s New Mezcal Tax Means for You
20 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The average consumer doesn’t understand how the established taxes on mezcal in Mexico affect the p...
The Cow/Mezcal Connection
13 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Cows, goats, sheep — it’s not at all unusual to see livestock roaming around fields of agave in ...
Mezcal Sales in 2022 Were… Terrific? Daunting? What, Exactly?
06 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Distilled Spirits Council of the US released their 2022 report detailing who sold what, how that...
A Fistful of Pesos
30 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve had any number of conversations about what it means to pay a mezcaler@ fairly. But a better ...
Do You Prefer to Drink Your Calories?
23 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How many calories do you consume daily? How many do you consume through alcohol? Agave Road Trip’s...
Can Alcohol Warm the Body? Or Cool it Down?
16 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Alcohol is nature’s great temperature regulator — it warms you up when you’re cold, and cools ...
Can Drinking Snake-Venom Mezcal Kill You?
09 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If drinking mezcal that has snake venom in it killed you right away, there’d be a lot of dead peop...
Chocolate and Coffee Road Trip!
02 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Lou and Chava got to go on a week-long trip through Tabasco and Chiapas …. visiting cacao and coff...
Can Mezcal Help You Sleep?
23 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Having trouble sleeping, pal? Think twice before you reach for that bottle of mezcal. Or tequila. Or...
What Does it Mean to Support Mezcal Communities?
16 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s not uncommon when a new tequila or mezcal launches that buyers will ask the brand what they a...
This Car Runs on Mezcal – Agave as Biofuel
09 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a project down in Brazil that’s investigating agave as a source of biofuel. It’s funde...
Do Consumers Really Care if Mezcal is Sustainable? (Sustainability Miniseries, Part 3 of 3)
02 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This series on sustainability was sparked by all the industry talk about consumers only supporting s...
Is Anything Sustainable? (Sustainability Miniseries, Part 2 of 3)
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Last week we bickered about whether or not mezcal is sustainable. But maybe the bigger and more im...
Is Mezcal Sustainable? (Sustainability Miniseries, Part 1 of 3)
19 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a lot of industry talk about only supporting sustainable mezcals. But … none of the bran...
Mezcal is a Nine Million-Liter Monster!
12 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
VP Pro shared out a story about the “impressive” growth that mezcal has been experiencing for ma...
The Rainbow of Problems with Food Coloring
05 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For thousands of years, we’ve been adding color to our world to make it more beautiful — and coc...
What’s the Craft in Craft Spirits?
29 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There are a lot of distilleries referring to themselves as “craft” distilleries. But … are the...
What’s the Big Deal about Bats and Agave?
22 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
So we say it's about bats, but it's really about pollination. And we talk about all these other crea...
Can Coffee Supercharge Mezcal?
15 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Irish coffees, espresso martinis, carajillos, vodka and Red Bull … there are so many examples of d...
Agave Syrup: Threat or Menace?
08 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
“Agave? I don’t know what that is, agave.” That’s what Oprah Winfrey said in a 2004 episode ...
What Makes Mezcal Taste like Mezcal?
01 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Rosemary Smith of Black Snake Distillery in Australia asked us the question, “Does the unique tast...
Mezcal: The Aphrodisiac that Makes you Strong as a Rhino
24 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s pretty common, when we visit mezcaleros, that they’ll pull out a bottle and tell us it’s ...
The Long, Long History of Aging Mezcal in a Barrel
17 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a school of thought that suggests that aging mezcal in wood isn’t traditional, and that ...
Why Lou Says “Agave Spirits” Instead of “Mezcal”
10 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Back in the 1990s, the Mexican government took legal control of the word “mezcal” away from the ...
Activated Charcoal Makes your Cocktails Black, Your Teeth White, and Your Poop Firm
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Is it just me or is activated charcoal suddenly in everything? We’re joined by our Chief Medical C...
What You Don’t Know About Pulque, Part Two
27 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Pulque is fleeting — it’s here, it’s gone. But does that mean it’s harder to make than mezca...
What You Don't Know About Pulque, Part One
20 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A year or so back, Alvin Starkman introduced us to Reina Cortés Cortés at A & V La Casa del Pu...
Hernán Cortés Declares Pulque was Always for the People
13 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Chava found a letter from Hernán Cortés to Carlos V from 1520, and now we're pretty sure that ever...
The Secret Origin of Rick Bayless
06 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Normally, Chava and I interview someone for an hour, pull a 90-second quote from that interview, the...
Your Perfect Thanksgiving in Mexico City!
29 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In November 2021, we celebrated Thanksgiving in Mexico City! It was great fun, but we learned a lot ...
Babies or Booze? Agaves Can’t Make Both… or Can They?
22 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
All alcohol starts life as sugar, and the sugars used to make agave spirits like mezcal and tequila ...
Tequila and the Myth of the Low-Glycemic Index
15 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There’s this idea that, somehow, tequila and mezcal are healthier to drink because sugar from agav...
Is the Mezcal Worm Cultural Heritage or Crass Marketing?
08 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
If you believe the mezcal geeks, no self-respecting mezcalero would ever adulterate their multi-gene...
Mezcal Cristalino: Threat or Menace?
01 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When Maluma announced he was releasing a cristalino mezcal, a corner of the world went nuts: tens of...
Does Bottling Mezcal and Tequila in Mexico Save Jobs?
25 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Back in 2004, the USA imported over $400 million worth of tequila. Approximately 73 percent of that ...
Is Mezcal Pechuga Cultural Heritage or Crass Marketing?
18 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
One of the things you hear over and over is that pechuga – the mezcal made (often) by adding raw c...
Why Does Mezcal in the USA Have a Higher Minimum ABV than Mexico?
11 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mexican regulations require an agave spirit to fall between 35% and 55% alcohol by volume (ABV) to q...
Does Mezcal Help You Hydrate?
04 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Since mezcal is often around 50% ABV, that means it’s also around 50% water. Does that water help ...
Historically, Mezcal is Made with Steam
28 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Read almost any of those “differences between tequila and mezcal” articles, and they’ll tell y...
Mezcal Can Be Made From (A Lot) More Than 40 Kinds of Agave
21 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How many different kinds of agave can be used to make mezcal? Well, heck, that’s easy: the regulat...
How Much Alcohol is in Mezcal?
14 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
If you hang around a certain crowd, they’ll tell you that mezcal needs to be at least 50% alcohol ...
How Dangerous is Mexico?
07 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When I tell people about my trips to Mexico, it's not uncommon for them to ask how dangerous it is. ...
Who Put the "Vino" in the "Vino de Mezcal"?
30 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
All over Mexico, there are communities where they distill spirits from fermented agave. And in a lot...
Healthy Living Through Mezcal
23 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The cigarettes you smoke and the food you eat will kill you sooner than the alcohol you drink. But m...
The Value of Spirits Awards Competitions
16 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Last year, Chava and I recorded an episode titled “The Best Mezcal is the Most Highly Awarded Mezc...
Attack of the 50-foot Chava
09 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It all began with Dr. Ryan Aycock telling us about “The Effects of Alcohol and Your Shrinking Brai...
Chava's Incredible Shrinking Brain
02 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A few weeks ago, Cocktail MD Dr. Ryan Aycock joined us for “The Effects of Alcohol and Your Shrink...
Another Drink Towards Oblivion
26 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Okay, we really liked our conversation with renowned food journalist Dan Saladino, author of Eating ...
Are We Drinking Ourselves Into Extinction?
19 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve talked a lot on this podcast about the importance of biodiversity in agave. But Dan Saladino...
The Effects of Alcohol and Your Shrinking Brain
12 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mezcal is good for the soul. But what about the brain? And especially the developing brain? Dr. Ryan...
How Many Dogs Can You Bring Back from Mexico?
05 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Maguey mutts! Palenque pups! Fido de mezcal! We did an episode about how much mezcal you can bring b...
A Small Amount of Alcohol a Day May Make You Healthier?
28 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For years, I’ve heard that a glass of wine each day is good for you — makes you healthier, helps...
When You Capon the Quiote Do You Get Better Mezcal?
21 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The capon’d agave — the agave that is harvested after it’s begun reproduction, after its quiot...
Travel Mexico -- You'll Love it to Death!
14 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We love Mexico! We love visiting, love eating the food, love drinking the drinks, love checking out ...
And Sometimes, Even When It's Certified, It Still Ain't Mezcal
07 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Profeco, the consumer-protection agency of the Mexican government, ran an analysis of 36 certified m...
Can Mezcal be Medicine?
31 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Chava got a bug. After consulting the Ebers Papyrus and an appointment with Pliny the Elder, he chos...
Immature Agave Makes Better Mezcal
24 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a lot of moral outrage around the harvesting of agave that hasn’t yet reached maturity. ...
Super Sugar Tequila: Fortified with Four Essential Additives
17 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How sweet it is! Mexican regulations allow up to 1% of your tequila to be additives, the four most c...
You Think Tequila is Better if you Pay More for It
10 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States released their 2020/2021 report and … good lord...
It Ain't Mezcal if it Ain't Certified
03 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There's a Denomination of Origin for mezcal -- has been since 1997. The Mexican government gets to d...
Tequila: The Perfect Hangover Cure (Cocktail MD Special)
24 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jon Darby got Chava drunk. So we called in Dr. Ryan Aycock, Cocktail MD, to help the most popular Ag...
Mallory O'Meara Drinks like a Woman
17 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mallory O’Meara says you’re getting it wrong when you offer women fruity drinks. "It's the women...
Is Texas Messing with Sotol?
10 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When people talk about mezcal and related agave spirits, they'll often lump in sotol. But it's not m...
What Exactly is Artisanal about Artesenal Mezcal?
03 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 2020, 86% of all mezcal was classified as “artesenal.” Twelve percent was just straight-up “...