Agave Road Trip

The rules around Mezcal are so complex that I’m not surprised when someone gets the details wrong — even brand owners. And two brand owners did exactly that on a recent episode of The TequiLadies Show. I used that as a jumping-off point to get into it with Marissa Paragano about some recent clips from her podcast, and then we landed on one in which she talks about what agave tastes like. And what does it taste like? Well, which agave…?
 

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 Marissa Paragano (AKA the eye-rolling, not-easily-offended, kind-of-5’2” Tequila Encyclopedia) of The TequiLadies Show and The Tequila That Cares Foundation and added wisdom from Heidi Roach of the Mezcal Academy in Scotland.

Episode Notes

Marissa is a board member of Tequila That Cares, a philanthropic organization bringing positive change to the agave spirits industry!

Check out Heidi’s  Mezcal Academy in Scotland, with educational tastings at the end of every month!

Join us in Puerto Vallarta this April for the tenth-anniversary celebration of SACRED!

Shout outs this episode to Tove Lo, Billy Bragg, Long Island Lou, Eduardo Angeles of Lalocura Mezcal, Tequila Ocho, Chicago pizza, chocolate, tasting wheels, and “So I referenced this helpful tasting wheel, designed by Patrón, to expand my awareness of what to look for and to help better define”.

Agaves have three ways to reproduce: they can generate seeds, bulbils (semi-clones that grow on their quiotes), and hijuelos (clones from the roots). But sometimes, you’ll hear that a particular variety of agave doesn’t produce hijuelos, or its seeds aren’t viable. Why not? Which ones? And how did that come about? It’s our most sexual episode yet!

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 evolutionary biologist Daniel Moen.

Episode Notes

Thanks to raicillero Nereo Garcia Romero for the cover pose this episode!

Shout outs this episode to Dr. Iván Saldaña, El Acabo Raicilla, the Herculoids, Tacho Guzman, and Emilio Saenger!

My frequent-but-not-frequent-enough cohost Linda Sullivan‍ has a beverage education business, seynasecreto. And while she’s doing the education part at events, sharing funky, interesting, and cool agave spirits, the guests are engaged and loving it. But when the education stops and the bar becomes open call, those same guests go back to their common-order comfort zones. Which makes Linda uncomfortable — but gives us something to talk about 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 Notes

Shout outs this episode to the shiftie, Licor Pajarote, Casamigos, Kool-Aid, Sloe Gin Fizz, The Ramones song “Somebody Put Something in My Drink,” the Tequila Report, the French Martini, and 818 Tequila!

The Mexican government is considering a revised version of the NOM that defines what is and what is not Mezcal. My big takeaway is that it feels like the changes are either moving more toward protecting heritage mezcaleres or codifying things that were already allowed but weren’t anywhere in the existing NOM. Sergio Garnier’s view isn’t so different. But we argue anyway. Because that’s our love language.

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 food writer Sergio Garnier of Ultramundo Mezcal.

Episode Notes

To read the draft revised NOM-070 in Spanish, click here!

To read the draft revised NOM-070 in Google Translate English, click here!

Shout outs this episode to Queretaro’s spectacular table-in-a-farm restaurant Bárbaro Asador de Campo, Rancho Villa Organica, Campanilla,  Francisco Terrazas and the Tequila Interchange Project, Cristalinos, and Chava!

That’s what I thought we were talking about: the Margarita collapsing under the weight of its popularity, so to speak. But food writer Alisha Miranda thought we were exploring the question, Can we get past the Margarita? And that question itself suggests that, at least for Alisha, the Margarita has become a victim of its own success. And David Suro’s La Jefa Milpa Bar in Philadelphia doesn’t serve a Margarita, which suggests Alisha isn’t alone. So … what’s going on with the Margarita?

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 food writer Alisha Miranda!

Episode Notes

Check out Alisha’s article “Beyond the Margarita: Rethinking Tequila & Agave Spirits,” August 31, 2026.

This week’s cover features art by Jose Guadalupe Posada, taken from the “El corrido de la muerte” broadside published by Antonio Vanegas Arroyo. You can access that file via the Library of Congress!

Shout outs this episode to David Suro’s La Jefa Milpa Bar, vodka/sodas, Morgan Weber’s Marfa Spirits Co., Frankie Ramirez’s Amà, Nacho Jimenez’s Superbueno, Ricky Ramirez (and Jason Parr)’s Mothership, Squirt, Jon Langley’s Sobre Masa, and Palomas!

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For a copita full of hospitable Mezcal, check out Mezcal Palomo! Carlos Mendez Blas makes delicious spirits, some of which were distilled with cacao, coffee, and mole!

Chicotona Mezcal honors tradition while always looking for something better. Try a taste of family, culture, and tradition! 

Head out on an Agave Road Trip with Finca 18!‍  ‍Greg Rutkowski will take you on his Agave Road Trip Route #2 - Raicilla de la Costa! Price includes a bottle of Paulo Rodriguez’s fabled, limited Tumbado batch!

Order beautiful spirits to be delivered to anywhere in Mexico — beautiful or otherwise — through Agave Spirits Presents!

As we approach September 16, we prepare to celebrate Cinco de Mayo: Mexican Independence Day! And we do so in Agave Road Trip style with lawyer and professor Dr. Juan Pablo Salazar Andreou, author of Con o Sin Derecho, about the history of Cinco de Mayo in the legal context. Take off your shoes, grab a machete, and join us for the fun!

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 and wisdom from Dr. Juan Pablo Salazar Andreou, with translations from Daniel Peñaloza of Chicotona Mezcal!

Episode Notes

Check out Dr. Juan Pablo Salazar Andreou’s book Con o Sin Derecho!

This week’s cover features art by Jose Guadalupe Posada, taken from the “El corrido de la muerte” broadside published by Antonio Vanegas Arroyo. You can access that file via the Library of Congress!

Shout outs this episode to Katherine May Lewis, Siete Rayas Yolixpa, and Julia of Las Chingonas Imports!

When most people think about Mexican drinks, they think about Tequila. But Tequila's success is really built on the vibrancy of the broader landscape of drinks and drinking in Mexico. It’s not a standalone spirit. It comes from a history and geography and culture that made possible something as compelling as Tequila. And author and researcher NC Stevens argues that is one of the leading reasons that Tequila has become so successful.

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 Nic Comrade Stevens, author ofThe Complete Guide to Mexican Beverages: From Atole to Zambumbia.

Episode Notes

Shout outs this episode to the Cuba Libre, cactus tuna wine, Buchanan’s, and colonche!

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Every time you drinkEl Acabo Raicilla, you’re helping to support the biodiversity of Jalisco — it’s a delicious way to help the environment!

Head out on an Agave Road Trip with Finca 18!‍ ‍Greg Rutkowski will take you on his Agave Road Trip Route #2 - Raicilla de la Costa! Price includes a bottle of Paulo Rodriguez’s fabled, limited Tumbado batch!

Order beautiful spirits to be delivered to anywhere in Mexico — beautiful or otherwise — through Agave Spirits Presents!

I was watching an episode of John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight” about gas-station drugs and it felt to me like, while never mentioned explicitly, the reason to ask every guest who orders an alcoholic beverage to show their ID. And I had Linda cornered so made her talk it through with me.

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 Notes

Watch the episode “Gas Station Drugs” on “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” May 4, 2026.

Read“FDA pushes to restrict synthetic opioid derived from kratom leaf,” Washington Post, July 29, 2025.

Read “The arguments against dietary supplements,” Harvard Health, March 12, 2026.

Shout outs this episode to the Wild Mile, Monster Energy, and Rob Lowe.

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Whatever you’re talking about when you’re talking about G4 Tequila, what it boils down to is Felipe Camarena!

Chicotona Mezcal honors tradition while always looking for something better. Try a taste of family, culture, and tradition!

Head out on an Agave Road Trip with Finca 18!‍ ‍Greg Rutkowski will take you on his Agave Road Trip Route #2 - Raicilla de la Costa! Price includes a bottle of Paulo Rodriguez’s fabled, limited Tumbado batch!

Order beautiful spirits to be delivered to anywhere in Mexico — beautiful or otherwise — through Agave Spirits Presents!

“This brings us to the question of glass versus food-grade plastic, because both are used at José Alberto's palenque, and food-grade plastic is certainly used to store mezcal at every other palenque I’ve visited, and both are legitimate vessels for storing agave spirits.” That’s what Marcus Piña of Creador Spirits wrote in his online journal — and then he answered the question. We’ve talked a lot on this podcast about how agave spirits change when aged in glass. Marcus takes us beyond the claim to the details — as much as someone who is not a scientist can. It’s an episode of Agave Road Trip for the ages!

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 Marcus Piña of Creador Spirits.

Episode Notes

Read Marcus’ journal entry that inspired this episode: “What Happens To Mezcal When Rested In Glass.”

Shout outs this episode to maestro palenquero Jose Alberto Pablo, maestro podcastero Mike Gr, Genius Liquids, David Dong of PM Spirits, Lalocura, mezcaleroVictor Ramos, Bar Singular, The Austin Shaker, and Edgar Angeles.

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My favorite wood-aged spirit is Asil Raicilla! Go get some!

Head out on an Agave Road Trip with Finca 18!‍ ‍Greg Rutkowski will take you on his Agave Road Trip Route #2 - Raicilla de la Costa! Price includes a bottle of Paulo Rodriguez’s fabled, limited Tumbado batch!

Order beautiful spirits to be delivered to anywhere in Mexico — beautiful or otherwise — through Agave Spirits Presents!

Mezcal can get very confusing for the average consumer. You’ve got regular Mezcal, Mezcal Artesenal, and Mezcal Ancestral. And then there are variations among those, including Joven, Reposado, Anejo, abocado con, destilado con, and on and on. But this, it seems, is part of the heritage of Mezcal — at least according to a 1904 book titled Diccionario de Aztequismos o Sea Catalogo de las Palabras del Idioma Nahuatl, Azteca ó Mexicano, Introducidas al Idioma Castellano Bajo Diversas Formas. (That’s Dictionary of Aztecisms, or a Catalog of Words from the Nahuatl, Aztec, or Mexican Language Introduced into the Spanish Language in Various Forms, and, yes, that is the longest title ever for a book.) In that book, there are ten categories of mezcal. Want to know what they are…?

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 Notes

Read Diccionario de Aztequismos o Sea Catalogo de las Palabras del Idioma Nahuatl, Azteca ó Mexicano, Introducidas al Idioma Castellano Bajo Diversas Formas, by Cecilio Agustín Robelo (1904), for the source of the quoted passage in this episode:

There are several types of mezcal.

Mezcal: Heads of medium-sized maguey plants—from which pulque cannot be extracted—are roasted, crushed, and steeped in the appropriate amount of water; the resulting ferment is then ready for distillation.

Mezcal corriente (Standard Mezcal): Distilled from a mixture of water and cooked chaparro maguey (known in the Mixtec region as Yahuytzingu), which has been fermented in animal-skin bags; white pulque is often added to the mixture.

Mezcal flojo or cola (Weak Mezcal or "Tail" Mezcal): The same liquor as above, but resulting from a second distillation.

Mezcal de pulque: Distilled from a mixture of tlachique pulque and piloncillo (unrefined cane sugar) syrup, fermented in animal-skin bags.

Mezcal resacado de cola (Redistilled "Tail" Mezcal): Produced by redistilling mezcal cola to improve its quality; the volume is reduced to one-quarter of the original.

Mezcal resacado corriente (Redistilled Standard Mezcal): Produced by redistilling mezcal corriente; the volume is reduced to one-quarter.

Mezcal de cabezas (Head Mezcal): Obtained by distilling the liquid in which the maguey heads were fermented.

Mezcal de sustancia (Substance Mezcal): Obtained by distilling the fermented juice of the maguey heads together with cooked chicken meat or veal trotters.

Mezcal de chorrera (Stream Mezcal): This name is given to mezcal produced in San Luis Potosí using specialized distillation apparatuses that yield a continuous stream from the still.

Mezcal de campanilla (Bell Mezcal): Also produced in San Luis Potosí. Mr. José Segura, in his monograph on the maguey, states: "The still used to produce vino de campanilla is the most imperfect and curious apparatus imaginable: it consists of a somewhat elongated earthenware pot—barely protruding from the hearth in which it is embedded—covered by another inverted pot; the latter's open bottom holds a small copper vessel filled with cold water, which serves as a condenser. Suspended inside the apparatus, beneath this vessel, is an earthenware bowl—or apaste, as it is locally known—which catches the alcohol condensing on the bottom of the vessel. It is to this specific arrangement that the spirit owes the name campanilla."

In several European countries, mezcal is known as "Mexican Gin," while in some U.S. states, it is referred to as "Mexican Brandy."

It is a mistake to call the plant itself maguey; the specific maguey from which it is derived is called mexcalmetl—that is, "mezcal maguey." Botanically, it is classified as Agave mexicana (Lamarck) or Agave wizlizeni (Engelmann); Tequila-style mezcal is produced from these varieties. There is also Agave decipiens, which is harvested in Texas, New Mexico, and Chihuahua.

Shout outs this episode to Google Books, Daniel Moen, Marco & Andrea at Mezcouting, the book El Maguey (1901), Mezcal Villasuso, Mezcal Campanilla, and the lie about gusanos only being marketing.

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The street taco of Tequilas? For me, that’s Tequila El Viejito! Always great, always worth a taste!

Chicotona Mezcal honors tradition while always looking for something better. Try a taste of family, culture, and tradition!

Head out on an Agave Road Trip with Finca 18!‍ ‍Greg Rutkowski will take you on his Agave Road Trip Route #2 - Raicilla de la Costa! Price includes a bottle of Paulo Rodriguez’s fabled, limited Tumbado batch!

Order beautiful spirits to be delivered to anywhere in Mexico — beautiful or otherwise — through Agave Spirits Presents!