Heritage Mezcal

Aging agave spirits (with the exception of tequila) is still a taboo, something you talk about using your softest voice not to gain some pretty vocal enemies. Yet, the influence of barrels (and clay vessels) has been critical to the evolution of spirits, wine, and beer for at least a few thousand years.While there are very sophisticated studies dedicated to better understanding this piece of technology, its basis has remained mostly unchanged. In this conversation with Cal Larson we explore the potential of soluble oak and how this approach may get us closer to more sustainable booze.  

Mezcal is equally fascinating and terrifying for those who may not be familiar with it. Some are curious but too shy to venture beyond a cocktail, while others can take significant chances, to the point that one day, they may even become fellow agave nerds.To promote the right environment where curiosity can bloom, the person handing these spirits has to be gentle and firm. Capable of sharing mezcal directly from the heart.Please welcome Miryam Sierra, and her intense passion for expanding mezcal's reach. 

The agave spirits multiverse is as exciting as ever. The conversation has been expanding year after year, bringing to light new regions, agaves and production techniques. But, at least personally, certain places have been more prolific than others. As I've stated in previous episodes, I have an ongoing romance with Salmiana, and I've been exploring the Bajío region with passion for the last few years. The Casa Agave project checks all of these boxes and more. They plant and harvest their agaves using regenerative techniques to supercharge the Cañada de la Virgen bioreserve; bottle a one-punch-knock-out spirit called Atzin made in conjunction by two of my favorite Mexican distillers (Germán Gonzalez and Daniel Navarro); and released Mata de Monte, a 29 ABV "vino de mezcal", that has become my favorite party trick. I could go on and on, but I rather let this conversation with Sophia Trapp, Casa Agave's CEO, be the one to tell you the full story. Hope you enjoy it! #casagave #agavespirits #tequila #mezcal #guanajuato

Lately, I've been in a little bit of a conundrum. I've been asking myself what the most important aspect of mezcal is that I should be talking about. Should I focus on the history, the culture, the market, the flavors, or the technicalities? After much thinking, I realized that I should attempt to cover all of this and more. Because that is the only way to approach such a complex spirit.So, I am always hunting for minds that understand agave and dasylirion spirits in atypical, enriching ways. The minds that offer me conversations that I haven't yet had. And Cesar García embodies exactly that: an engineer by trade with a curious and precise eye that made me rethink the current policies that may be preventing mezcal from reaching its full potential. If you are interested in Cesar's projects in the US, you can find his spirits under the Puntiagudo brand, distributed by Rocksteady Spirits. If you feel like having a great time in Oaxaca or Puebla, I recommend you visit any of the producers he works with. They make some of the best spirits I've tried in a good while. Happy semana santa y nos vemos al rato. 

Chihuahua is not only Mexico's largest state but also full of neverending stories. The first episode I ever recorded about this state was more of an ode: two people who had recently found Chihuahua and had become hardcore fans overnight. But, after that, I wanted to record with someone that had deep roots and a fine-tuned expertise in the territory. This conversation with Alessandra Camino has become my new excuse to delve further into sotol and the many Chihuahuan delights I have yet to experience. I hope you enjoy it! 

More and more I've been thinking that we could summarize agave as the lovely culmination of three main variables: agave, yeast and water.In this podcast I believe we've explored in great depth agave and yeast, but we had only superficially touched on water. There are plenty of themes to explore within this realm, but given the times we live in, I thought that exploring reasonable ways of using this vital resource was a good place to start. Mezcal, some would say, is not a basic necessity. So, is it ethical to dedicate precious water to mezcal when that same liquid could be used to grow food or mitigate fires? Is there a way to build a distillery that nourishes its surroundings instead of damaging the environment?We don't claim to have all the answers, but we do have some ideas. Please welcome Miguel Albarrán, from Cara a Cara Mezcal, and his simple yet powerful insights about water. 

There are so many things that we just do. We don't know where did they start or why do we do them . Pure social inertia. Sharing drinks at a bar, at least for me, is one of those things.  Many people in other places socialize or party differently. But in the West, cheering over cocktails,  beers, or mezcalitos, if you are lucky, is the norm.In this conversation with Kraig Rovensky we explore the many ways in which the spirits industry, and the places where we party and socialize, are changing. And we speculate on how they may look once we recognize that drinking ethanol is not the only way to play with our moods and vibes.

In this episode with Fabiola Santiago, President and Executive Director at Mi Oaxaca (an NGO which aims to “preserve Oaxaca's indigenous food and beverage cultures through narrative change, education and collaboration with compatible organizations across borders”) we talk about so many things that I believe are critical for the future of mezcal. Things like how terrenos comunales work, the impact of mezcal in Santiago Matatlán, how, in a perfect world, should mezcal be presented to consumers and the many ways in which this spirit is more than a commodity.If you want to learn more about Fabiola's work you can find her on Instagram  as @mi.oaxaca or on the internet as mioaxaca.org. 

It  is undeniable that mezcal has become a poster child in the alcohol world. A spirit that in a way brings us hope, because it is a reflection of many biocultural legacies. , Those  beautiful relationships that are slowly formed between humans and their environments if both sides decide to respect and enhance each other. Yet, as pretty as all of this sounds, sharing mezcal is an incredible challenge. Even more so if you want to convince people to drink it slowly and patiently. Please welcome Sofía Barrera from Salón de Agave, and her very  wise mantra: A besitos es mejor. If you feel like exploring a vast number of agave and dasylirion spirits do consider booking a tasting in Salon de Agave. You'll surely have a blast nerding with Sofía and Megs. And to fill that belly after copious amounts of spirits there are some chicken soups really close called Ricos Caldos de Gallina Don Luis, that will get you back in shape to keep on partying. Feliz Navidad y nos vamos al rato. 

Methanol is one of the scariest things I can possibly imagine. We've all read stories about people getting intoxicated. Losing their sight and sometimes even their lives. And with all of that as a backdrop I've always wondered: why is it that after sampling hundreds of agave and dasylirion spirits that have never been tested, have I never had any problems with this? That answer belongs to a longer, more convoluted discussion, but for now, let's start exploring methanol from a medical standpoint, which involves the vast wisdom of Mr. Ryan Aycock.Let's dive in!

Spirits are quite a weird thing. They are everywhere; you engage with them constantly at bars, concerts and restaurants and yet, it is rather difficult to share your thoughts and ideas about them. People get shy and weird when you try to dissect the origin, flavors or implications of a spirit.- Why can't you just shut up and have fun! - I've been shouted at many, many times. That is why I find tremendous joy in the little but great community of mezcal and sotol enthusiasts that I've encountered in Mexico City. It is a tiny one, but with these gentle souls I get to talk about cities that most people have never visited and I get to refresh my memory and re-spark my curiosity about things that I missed when I visited this or that producer. In this conversation with Megs Miller, mastermind behind Salon de Agave in Mexico City, we try to go through all our memories connected to Chihuahua and beautiful spirits we found there. I hope you enjoy this one!

In this episode on Heritage Mezcal, I had the opportunity to have a delightful conversation with Eric Zandona. He is an incredibly booze-informed gentleman, and the organizer of the ADI'S International Spirits Competition, which, if you were to ask me, offers a great chance for brands of all sizes to break into the US market. Especially if you have something that may shock the nerds. They are not sponsoring this episode, but after being invited a few times as a judge, I can say that I've never met a group of people that cared about and loved spirits with such passion. That being said, this episode covers a lot of ground, but was originally inspired by a petition published in Change Org by Pepe Tequilas titled: “Highlighting the Importance of Protecting Agave's Biocultural Heritage”. I prefer not to throw any major spoilers in this introduction, but let's just say that both Eric and I would love for agave spirits' beauty to prevail for at least another thousand years. 

Agaves and humans have always had an intimate relationship  but, believe it or not,  a significant part of if has nothing to do with booze. As we've discussed before in this podcast agaves provided to our ancestors with many charms; from clothing to nourishment. But given the fact that many of these relationships have disappeared, this wider understanding of agave is quite hard to imagine. That is why Marcela Sandoval has been researching how and why and with which consequences did humans domesticated agave. While most of us keep on speculating how agave fields looked a few decades ago,  she gets to inspect traces that go back thousands of years.  Please welcome Marcela and the incredible agave-stories that  she has to share. 

Pox, the quintessential Chiapas spirit, is probably the most mysterious Mexican drink that I've encountered in my life. It was a big part of my early 20's, but I never truly understood its technicalities or cultural relevance. Happily, thanks to Javier Oroz, who I just interviewed a few weeks ago (go check the Bacanora episode), I got to meet Zury Guindi.Zury started bottling bottling Pox back in 2011 under the umbrella of "Siglo Cero". When even mezcal was just starting to happen, he decided to dedicate his life to corn, panela and wheat instead of worshipping agave. In this episode we try to cover as much as we can about this fascinating and delicious drink. Hope you enjoy it!This episode was recorded at Som, Zury's bar in Mexico City. Nested in the heart of Condesa I can't emphasize enough how fun is to go through all their menu. You'll get to try Pox, rum, raicilla, mezcal, tequila and many other bizarre and lovely Mexican spirits. 

This is the beginning of a series where both Roy and Chava go around the many venues that hold agave collections that they think are pretty and tasty. Some may be the usual suspects but others may be hiding in plain view, just like Tahona Mezcal Room. Join Chava and Julie Mann Wharton in a conversation that includes tips on how to party when in Brazil, the different types of cachacas you should look for and how this tasting room came to be. Saludcita!

Vinasses, which are most likely the most offensive of the byproducts when making mezcal or tequila, can be neutralized in a number of ways. Scientists are always trying to offer more efficient and cost effective options, one of which was brought to our attention by our brilliant medical correspondent, Ryan Aycock (aka Cocktail MD). The technical specifics of how Titanium Dioxide nanoparticles is not really the main focus of this episode, but we decided to delve into what would happen if this approach were to be adopted by the industry at large. What would all that Titanium Dioxide could possibly mean to the health of those applying it to the vinasses or those in the vicinity of the distilleries?  It all may sound very sci-fi and complicated, but this conversation tries to show that every decision has repercussions that may not be incredibly evident right away and that fighting one type of pollution may create other challenges. Finally, this is the full citation of the article mentioned in the episode:Alicia Rodriguez Arreola, Marciano Sanchez Tizapa, Florentina Zurita, Juan Pablo Morán-Lázaro, Rocío Castañeda Valderrama, José Luis Rodríguez-López & Alejandra Carreon-Alvarez (2018) Treatment of tequila vinasse and elimination of phenol by coagulation–flocculation process coupled with heterogeneous photocatalysis using titanium dioxide nanoparticles, Environmental Technology. 

As most things that have been created in Northern Mexico, Bacanora tends to create more questions than answers. It may have and active Denomination of Origin and there are some really awesome brands out there bringing some delicious juice, but many of the stories linked to its origins are still obscure.  In this conversation with Javier Oroz (mastermind behind @bastardosdelbacanora and @santocuviso) we tried to briefly explore Bacanora's extremely convoluted history. We hope you enjoy it!

How big is it too big? When does a mezcalero stops being "small batch" and migrates to something that could be labeled as not truly artisanal?In this conversation with jóven Jon Darby (patrón at @sin_gusano) we dabble around some some of these questions, while sipping some rarities, that according my invitee prove that he may not be the worst purist in this industry.I hope you enjoy this one. 

A popurrí is the ultimate mix, an intense collage of songs merged together to accelerate enjoyment.  I am sure that the term has been confined to music because if someone were to create the "taco popurrí" it would be too much for humanity to withstand.  But jokes aside, this episode is exactly that, a "Popurrí" . Fabio Raya, one of my favorite scientists on earth,  was in town and we decided to talk all things  agave in one shot while we were sipping gorgeous pulque.   I hope you enjoy this one. 

So many of the most valuable Mexican products  are tremendously fragile. A perfectly ripe zapote, a prime "lechón", a fresh habanero salsa and my always beloved pulque. In this episode with Cesar Ojeda, aka @intergalacticyeastieboy,  we talk about some of his most recent experiments  regarding pulque fermentation, we touch a bit on social justice and we do laugh quite a bit. Welcome to Heritage Mezcal, I hope you enjoy this one.

There are many ways to access the very vast diversity within Mexican food and drinks. Some love spirits, others honey or tea. But Martina ( from @colectivoamasijo) has been working with many different producers from around the country trying to showcase milpa-based agricultural products. We hope you enjoy this episode that delves into the many faces of Mexican agriculture.

If there has been an agave that I've been aggressively celebrating for the last few years, it definitely has been Lamparillo.I still remember the first time I tried and I was so confused.I just didn't know that an agave could create that specific set of flavors and aromasBut most importantly I couldn't imagine the kind of landscape that could foster such an unique agave.To better understand this convoluted story please welcome Sergio Garnier, patrón at Ultramundo Mezacal, and his tremendous love for the dessert.If you want to buy the puntas box, that includes the lovely lamparillo puntas, head to MagueyMelate.com and find the "Heritage Mezcal Box" in its shop. Available starting June 10th. 

Arguably the first person to coin the term pulque aristocracy was Jose Vasconcelos, one of Mexico's most famous intellectuals.Using this term he was referring to the many families that recognized in pulque a profitable industry that fueled both exceptional festivities and everyday work.But now pulque is almost a rarity in Mexico City, and the once buoyant business is  an almost extinct tradition. I had the chance to talk with Martina Manterola, whose family was part of such aristocracy, exploring her memories, interests and frustrations around this wonderful agave ferment.  Hope you enjoy this one.

Different places ask for different drinks, even certain music styles, in my opinion, need specific booze pairings. And even though I am always the first to complain when I can't find delicious complex spirits in the middle of the night. I am starting to understand that calibrating which booze is served on a dancefloor is a important as the stage and lights design.Without further adieu, please welcome Roberto Ávila, and his many insights on  how to create accurate booze experiences.

There are so many reasons why people may start a mezcal brand.  Some do it for the  money, some for love and some others because the craft has been in their families for generations. But regardless of how you started, nobody, to my understanding, has found a perfect formula to maintain exceptional quality while still paying the bills.Without further adieu please welcome Sergio Garnier, from Ultramundo Mezcal,  and his rather atypical approach to owning a mezcal brand.

Like many agricultural products, agaves have developed a complex relationship  with humans over millennia. Some agaves were chosen to make rope, others to extract pulque and maybe the luckiest of them all to create mezcal. But there've been many other more subtle ways in which people have chosen their favorite agaves to deal with. In this conversation with Fabio Raya we talk about the agaves that were favored in Brazil versus those that we decided to love in Mexico.

For a while I was not sure if I  wanted to publish this episode. But I think there are quite a few  things hiding in the middle of this conversation that somehow relate to the clash of cultures within mezcal. Without further adieu please welcome Dalton Kreiss and his impressive affection for dogs.

This episode is not about a new religion, so don't you worry. This episode is about trying to better understand some of the people in the tequila, mezcal  and agave spirits multiverse that I would say have a very clear and unmovable set of ideas of how these categories should behave. So I decided to do an episode, with my  good friend Jon Darby. I've referred to him before as one of the worst purists in the business, but he knows I say with affection.Without further adieu please welcome Jon and his intense and tender love for mezcalito.

I've been thinking so much about the things that are so close to us, so ubiquitous,  that we decide to erase them completely. Octavio Paz, our literature nobel prize,  explores this intensively in his famous book "The Labyrinth of Solitude". He talks about "Ningunear", which is the act of making someone, no one. We've done this to so many Mexican products. but a group that I believe has been  ninguneado like no other, are the thousands of traditional herbs that are still used today   for making delicious infusions. Without further adieu please welcome Monica Favila, and her love for all glorious herbs and teas.

Having a conversation with Vinik is never a straight line. We always allocates the unexpected crevices, he finds ways of expanding what may seem bland and inoffensive.He may even be a spy, considering his very  avid interest on maps, borders and the rivers that run through them. But the most important thing, is that he is a rather entertaining human to share conversations and mezcalitos. Without further adieu, please welcome Vinik Jure, and his aggressively eclectic mind. 

Welcome to the longest episode I've ever recorded. And usually I would say this as a warning,  but while listening to it I realized that this conversation touched on so many things that I believe are critical not only to cacao  but to all Mexican craft, including agave spirits.Without further adieu please welcome Jose Lopez Ganem and his poignant perspective on how we can  create a slightly better world through cacao.

There are a multitude of different names that people use to call agave spirits around Mexico. The most prominent ones are obviously Tequila and Mezcal. But if you travel a bit more you'll find names like Tepe, Ixcateco, Minero, Bacanora, Raicilla and so on and so on.Tuxca is one of those names. But I find that currently there is a good  amount of misinformation about the origin  and history of such a name. So I decided to  invite Edwin, who is currently  making his doctoral thesis about historical tabernas, to give us a little bit more insights into what Tuxca really means. Please welcome Edwin Mayoral,  and his passion for vino de cocos y vino de mezcal.

I've always been fascinated about how things travel and get to be transformed. One of my favorite stories on the matter is how Jose Luis Borges decided to learn Icelandic just to have access to language that has been frozen in time within a very cold and isolated island (excuse the pun). Mexico is the complete opposite, both our language and our culture has traveled and has been transformed in a multitude of ways. In today's world, in which a big part of having a restaurant or a bar is being able to "play" and engage with the ingredients and techniques of over cultures, I like to think of this as a "Translate and Expand" approach. I had been wanting for a long time to interview someone that had a good deal of experience doing such a thing and having Matthias Inglemann as an invitee was a strike of luck that I very grateful for. Hope you enjoy this episode!

The controversies around who gets to use the words tequila or mezcal are never ending. All of which are linked to how the PDOS, or Protected Designations of Origin, for each one of these products were written.That is why I decided to invite the man I call the “Cheese Superman” to this podcast. I find cheese to be very relevant to understand this matter because one of the first PDOs, back in 1925, was created to protect Roquefort and fight its counterfeits. According to the Roquefort official website this has allowed for  Roquefort to be serenely modern and more relevant than ever. Please welcome Zach Berg and his cheesmongering parlance.

If you want to pick up a quick fight with a mezcal nerd you just need to start throwing compliments to añejos and reposados.It'll get even worse if you claim that the best Tepextate you've ever had spent 12 years in bourbon barrels  and that the most complex sotol you've ever encountered was pink and shiny  from resting in barrels  previously used to mature red wine. Even at the risk of creating some violent confrontations  I wanted to explore the world of aging,  but instead of using the very controversial agave as a study case, I decided to delve into the intricacies of aging sugarcane spirits.So without further adieu please welcome Keegan Meneses and his  tremendous passion for all things rum.

For the last months I've realized that just like mezcal, so many other Mexican culinary products have been neglected over the years. By now we've touched on traditional fermented products like tolonche, we've explored coffee fermentation, herbal infusions and now, naturally, it is the turn of honey. To understand honey's extremely ample world I was lucky enough to have Arlette Gómez as an invitee. She has one of the most gifted palates I've ever encountered and her encyclopedic memory was able to juggle every one of my silly questions. I hope you enjoy it!

Agave spirits have been around for at least a few hundred years and within that time they've traveled, they've evolved,  they've been prosecuted by the authorities, they've been neglected by modernity and finally, just around 25 years ago, they started to win the hearts of the spirits and cocktail nerds. Now mezcal is a global phenomena, but to be absolutely honest, that is rather surprising. So I've been tracking some of the people that arrived at this scene right when things were starting to change. In this episode I was lucky enough to have John McEvoy as an invitee. He was there when nobody could explain what mezcal was at gringo bars, when bottles had hotmail emails stamped on their sides, and even decided to invest in the category when it  was unlikely for mezcal to secure any growth. Without further adieu please welcome John, better known as Mezcal PhD. 

This may be the most  heartbreaking episode that I've ever done. In this conversation with Dalton Kreiss we'll go over mezcal logistics. Because it is not enough to find a very delicious mezcal. Which is a lot of work already, but you also have to deal with regulations, transportation and all sorts of mysterious things before someone can actually acquire what you've chosen with a lot of love. So if you are planning to start an agave spirits brand this may be the episode that could convince you to do otherwise.  You may prefer to just stay as a committed nerd, instead of  having to endure all of the pains that we'll describe in this episode. Without further adieu, welcome joven Dalton and his unparalleled passion for logistics.

There is not a unique approach to making mezcal or coffee, so it shouldn't be surprising to realize that there are many different ways to dissect their flavors.  A few episodes ago I had a long and illuminating conversation with Eric Kozlik about flavor and I wanted to compare and contrast our discussion from a coffee perspective.Coffee is an interesting study-case because it is one of the most consumed commodities in the world. So I had always thought that their tasting protocols were rather strict and homogenous.  Regardless of the medium, be it honey, mezcal, tea or coffee; we are all trying to find and sell the most delicious things possible.  But how exactly do we identify and describe deliciousness? Does it change depending on the country and culture? Is it a static thing? Or maybe it does change depending on who you are and how you perceive yourself.  Grab some pretty coffee and let's talk about its flavors. 

I listened to this episode with Roberto Ávila (school manager of the Bartending European School in Mexico) a few times trying to come up with a proper introduction. But like I mention at the end of it, it is a bit like a Simpsons episode. The narrative arc is over the place and we jump  from working in Dubai to drinking like a Mexican teenager; from how to pair your tacos to how to run a bar. Hope you enjoy this rather eclectic approach. 

If there is something that is practiced by every culture I've ever encountered is boiling leaves, herbs and/or flowers to make comforting or delicious drinks. In my household my mother preferred teas over conventional medicine : anis estrella for the stomach, manzanilla for insomnia and bugambilia to scare the flu away were amongst the many other “creations'  that she came up with over the years to alleviate even the most stubborn of pains. But it was not until I tried tea in Taiwan that I found an amazing array of flavors connected to the different leaves, processes and ways to prepare it. Tea leaves, just like agave, are great  and ancient storytellers. Not only have humans consumed tea for thousands of years but some of the trees used to make puer   can be more than hundred years old. When I met  Mónica Favila, today's invitee, I was thrilled at the prospect of better understanding this medium and trying some of the delicious expressions that she collects.

Everything that I read and hear around agave spirits these days suggests that the people and places that sustain this heritage are at risk.It is clear to me that we are at a time that if we don't do something there may be a day when homogeneity will take over. The days of thinking about the possibilities brought by the ample agave diversity will be gone and we'll end up with something as boring as the cavendish banana. At the same time there are many ways to resist, to promote change and to make people care deeply about mezcal and the artisans that make it. While reading @vinikjure essays I realized that many of them referred to “joyful resistance”, which seemed a way more effective approach than the usual hostility or mockery that I get to see in this industry. This approach does have its limitations, but in this episode I think we do a fairly good job in exploring many of the reasons why working from this framework may allow us to further empower the full mezcal multiverse.

Every country is a brand. If you want to buy cameras you are probably looking at Japan or Germany;  if you have an interest in silk or denim, you may look for French or Italian goods.  But when we talk about Mexico, what does our national brand stand for?  What is our global reputation? Is our vast biocultural heritage being promoted or are we just being reduced to tequila, tourism and avocados?  Beyond some ontological drama, is our brand strengthening the overall economy and promoting social equality or is it just making money for a few very visible entities?I know these are extremely loaded questions but somehow we found a way to make a multitude of jokes around them. Please welcome to the podcast  José López Ganem and his infinite set of academic parables.

The main reason why I started this podcast was to have conversations that  could expand how we understand  agave spirits.  You may have noticed this by now, most of the episodes are not directly about mezcal, but about the places, the people and the cultures that make mezcal possible and fascinating. In this episode I wanted to delve into flavor. To truly dissect  what bitter, sweet or funky mean when we talk about spirits. After listening to the brilliant way in which my friend Eric Kozlik explored the concept of smooth in  his podcast Modern Bar Cart.   I knew that he would be the best person to have a conversation about this infinitely complex area of study.

Many of the most appreciated spirits in the world are the consequence of clashing a base spirit with some sort of modifier. Think about every brown spirit, made with fairly uninteresting grains, but then, after spending enough time interacting with wood,  they get the chance to become complex and glorious. Mallort, big shout out to CH distilleries, Chartrouse  and every Amari under the sun, are some of other examples of beloved spirits that have been modified with external elements in some way or another. Yet when we talk about mezcal, the idea of using modifiers, with the exception of pechugas, makes most people uncomfortable.  Why the hell will you dilute or interfere with agave's essence, people claim, this plant that took such a long time to grow and which patiently collected information from the soil and its immediate environment should be consumed at its purest form in order to truly honor its origin. But then, oh how I love my Mallort and my worm infused mezcales. So I decided to have a conversation trying to get to the bottom of this with one of the industry's worst purists, my friend Jon Darby. 

Unlike most people that would typically enjoy alcohol on their free time, it is  not uncommon that given my line of work, that on a normal Tuesday I'll be busy sampling ten or more mezcales.  That is the reason why I've been trying to educate myself, finding the best ways not to destroy my body. But it turns out that there are a multitude of versions of what a non dangerous intake of alcohol means. Canada claims that if you have  3 drinks a week  you are asking for trouble, while Japan is happy to suggest that   half a liter of beer or a glass of sake a day may  not hurt at all.  In these series of episodes, with Cockatil MD Ryan Aycock, I've been trying to better understand the news articles that come my way. On this episode lets talk about how alcohol may be damaging your DNA.

Now that a significant number of people know that most of Mexico distills either agaves, dasylirions, sugarcanes or fruits, I believe it is a great time to delve into the different regions that articulate this country. "La Laguna" is a region, that I rarely get to talk about, it that covers municipalities of both Durango and Coahuila, two massive states with a vast agave and dasylirion spirits tradition. Sergio Garnier, founder of Mezcal Ultramundo, helps us have a better understanding of this mysterious area.  And for the adventurous here is the Google Maps for "La Jarochita": https://maps.app.goo.gl/XbuNdMsQuVUGqDUX6 

If you can distill agave and/or sugarcane then every other "sugar-source" is open for grabs. Be it mango, zapote or even mesquite; mezcaleros have long experimented with other sources either to find new flavors or to limit their expenses. In this conversation with Dalton Kreiss, founder of Maguey Melate, we discuss the prominence of mango as a cult produce that almost rivals the avocado craze, the many ways in which Mexican brandies may take the US market by storm and the technicalities behind these unorthodox spirits. 

In this podcast we've been discussing fermentation as a verb, almost comparing it to an erupting volcano. We've explored the many was in which agave and even coffee are transformed by this process but we haven't really explored yeast in detail. What exactly is it? How does it survive? Are there better yeasts than others? Can different yeasts create distinct flavors?I can't claim that we came up with clear-cut answers to all of these questions. But we definitely tried our best. Please welcome again Cesar Ojeda and his infinite curiosity for all things fermentation. 

This is the longest ever recorded episode of this podcast. But I just couldn't stop talking and picking Shak Zapata's brain. He is not only a grand barista capable of pulling espressos that will make you weep out of excitement but he has also traveled extensively to secure  some of the best Mexican coffees. On this episode we explore the hows and whys of fermenting this powerful bean. Make sure to grab an espresso from Shak at Casa Cardinal:https://www.instagram.com/casacardinal/ A big shout out to the "Anímate" employee resource group at Crunchyroll for sponsoring this episode.