Agave Road Trip

• Are Mezcal geeks ruining Mezcal? Part 1

  It’s amazing and moving to see mezcalerxs whose lives have clearly improved as a result of the growing interest in agave spirits. But there’s another side to that story – or, really, multiple other sides to it: some good, some bad, and some … well, the jury is still out on those. We talk about those various stories 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 Linda Sullivan of seynasecreto.Episode NotesThis episode cover is Courtesy of Slim Pickens! Thanks, Slim!The episode of “The Hidden Brain” that I was trying to recall is “Relationships 2.0: The Power of Tiny Interactions + Your Questions Answered: Erica Bailey on Authenticity.” So good!My friends Jen & Adam Murphy have great Instagram feeds, if you’re a gardening nerd or a garden-in-a-cocktail nerd!Shout out this episode to Jason Cox whose Cinco Sentidos brand of agave spirits is amazing! Equally amazing are his two (count them, two!) brands of Oaxacan rum: Alambique Serrano and Cañada - Aguardiente Oaxaqueño!Shout out this episode to Mezcal tour guide Randall Stockton and his amazing pandemic program, Feeding Chichicapam!Shout out this episode to Chuck Klosterman and his novel Downtown Owl! (But also … go read Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto. Like, now.)

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• Some agave can't be farmed

  When I first started drinking Mezcal, I was told that there were some agaves that couldn’t be farmed — that could only grow wild. And I still here that narrative some two decades later. And it still doesn’t make sense to me. So I did the only logical thing: I asked a farmer.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 Tracey Vowell of Three Sisters Garden.Episode NotesIf you’re anywhere near Chicago or Kankakee, order your farm-fresh produce (and dry goods like locally grown popcorn, beans, and oats) from Three Sisters Garden! 

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• Gringx bartenders can save biodiversity

  In my consumer-focused tastings, I tell attendees that one of the big things I hope they walk away with is, they can lead a more delicious life and support a more sustainable ecosystem if they start drinking more than just Blue Weber processed in Jalisco and Espadin processed in Oaxaca – that’s literally 99% of what they drink now, and if they instead drink one of those two eight times out of ten instead of, rounded up, ten times out of ten, they’ll be helping to turn the ship away from the monoculture trajectory. And I ask them to ask their bartenders if they have an agave spirit that isn’t one of those two, so the bartender ask their beverage director to get something different. But … what if we could get the gringx bartenders to make that argument themselves? What suggestions can they make to put the agave spirits industry on a healthier trajectory?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.Episode NotesIf you want to listen to that episode about flights, it’s “Mezcals flights or Mezcal cocktails?”If you want to listen to that episode about biodiverse cocktail Mezcals, it’s “The Best Mezcals for Mixing, According to Agave Road Trip.”If you’re a bartender who wants to visit agave spirits producers in Mexico who aren’t connected to brands, check out the Tequila Interchange Project!

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• Corn as cultural heritage

  Mexico has been purchasing about $3 billion of corn annually from farmers in the USA, the vast majority of that corn having been grown from genetically modified seeds. The Mexican government announced in 2020 that it would, in 2025, ban that GMO corn from the country, which was found to be in violation of the USMCA agreement of 2018. So now, the Mexican government has amended their constitution to identify native corn as an "element of national identity," which will ban GMO corn from being planted in the country – and "[a]ny other use of genetically modified corn must be evaluated ... to be free of threats to the biosecurity, health and biocultural heritage of Mexico and its population." What exactly does this all mean, for farmers in Mexico, for the environment in the Americas, and for the price of tacos? We try to suss it all 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 Dave Dyrek, retired farmer of Leaning Shed Farm, with quotes from Dr. Hector Ortiz of the Chicago Botanic Gardens and Chef Gustavo Romero of Oro by Nixta.Episode NotesWhen in Chicago, visit the Chicago Botanic Gardens! When in Minneapolis, grab a meal and a stack of tortillas at Oro by Nixta! When traveling back in time, head to the farmers market and visit Leaning Shed!“US wins ruling in a trade dispute with Mexico over its bid to ban genetically modified corn,” AP News, December 20, 2024“After trade dispute, Mexico officially bans the planting of GM corn,” Reuters, February 25, 2025“Don’t mess with Mexico’s maíz: Constitutional amendment to ban GMO corn seeds,” Los Angeles Times, March 13, 2025

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  28:09
• The CRT is no longer the sole certifier for Tequila

  If you want to listen to that October 2023 episode with Khrys Maxwell, it’s “The CRT loses their Tequila monopoly.”You might also want to check out this episode: “The Birth and Death of the CRM,” in which MIA Chava and I discuss the end of the CRM’s monopoly on Mezcal certification.

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