204 episodes

Agave Road Trip provides gringo bartenders with firsthand knowledge about heritage agave spirits from Mexico, including mezcal, raicilla, bacanora, and destilado de agave.

Agave Road Trip Heritage Radio Network

    • Society & Culture
    • 4.6 • 39 Ratings

Agave Road Trip provides gringo bartenders with firsthand knowledge about heritage agave spirits from Mexico, including mezcal, raicilla, bacanora, and destilado de agave.

    Mezcal Moto-Rally!

    Mezcal Moto-Rally!

    Four wheels good! Two wheels more good? For the last few years, Nick Barreiro has organized a moto-rally for small group of motorcycle-and-Mexico enthusiasts. And while motorcycles aren’t my speed, I know they work for plenty of gringx bartenders, and I love this whole different way to take in the stories of rural Mexico. Learn about Nick’s international motor rally in this bitchin’ hog of an 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 Nick Barreiro of Mezcal Moto Rally.

    • 46 min
    What Can Cultivated Meat Teach Us About Mezcal?

    What Can Cultivated Meat Teach Us About Mezcal?

    In his New York Times op-ed about the imploding dream of cultivated meat, Joe Fassler writes, “[It] was an embodiment of the wish that we can change everything without changing anything. We wouldn’t need to rethink our relationship to Big Macs and bacon. We could go on believing that the world would always be the way we’ve known it.” And while I can’t see a direct corollary to Mezcal and Tequila, the way the word “sustainable” is thrown around over an afternoon of neat pours, it suggests to me that we think we’re saving the world one copita at a time. So … are we? It’s a plant-to-the-slaughter 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 Evelyn Cotton Botello of Mezcal Amaras.

    • 28 min
    Are the Best Bottles of the Year the Best Bets for Your Bar?

    Are the Best Bottles of the Year the Best Bets for Your Bar?

    Vinepair, Wine Enthusiast, Esquire … seems like every publication these days has their suggestions for what you should have been drinking over the past year. Maybe what you should be purchasing as holiday gifts. But these lists can also serve as sales tools for gringx bartenders! It’s a DIY 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.

    • 24 min
    This Bottle Protects Jaguars

    This Bottle Protects Jaguars

    We’ve done a lot of episodes about the importance of biodiversity, but usually we’re talking about plants. Sometimes insects. Bats, on occasion. So when we got an email from the gang at Alma de Jaguar Tequila about preserving this apex predator, I thought, yeah, let’s really sink our teeth into this subject! It’s a wild cat 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.

    • 25 min
    Are Agave Straws Really Better Than Plastic?

    Are Agave Straws Really Better Than Plastic?

    A trend that’s emerged in the past decade are these drinking straws that are being promoted as made from agave fibers — the agave fibers being a byproduct of the process for making Tequila and Mezcal. The straws are marketed as biodegradable. But I think — emphasis on “think” — that these straws are at least in part made from plastics and are not actually entirely biodegradable. At least not in the way that they are presented. So I invited Natasha Tucker, the executive director of Mind Your Plastic, to have that conversation. Are agave straws really better for the earth than plastic straws? At the risk of giving away the answer, it’s another heartbreaking 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 guest cohost Natasha Tucker of Mind Your Plastic.

    • 21 min
    How to Pair Mezcal With Food

    How to Pair Mezcal With Food

    I’m seeing a lot more restaurants expanding their Mezcal selections, and a lot more events pairing Mezcal with food. So what do you eat when you drink Mezcal? I asked a bunch of industry folks that question over the last several months, then coerced food, science, and nature journalist Rowan Jacobsen to dig through those quotes with me to add his own thoughts. It’s a smorgasbord 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 guest cohost Rowan Jacobsen and insights and thoughts from Lanie Bayless of Topolobampo, Francisco Tapia of Tacovision, Grace Gonzalez of Tequila El Mayor, Mariana Alvarado-Garcia of Masazul, Kate Owca and Adrian Villarreal of Tahona, and mezcaleros Jorge Torres and Eduardo Angeles!

    • 33 min

Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5
39 Ratings

39 Ratings

TonyBeruvides ,

Best agave Pod

Been tuning in to Lou and Chava for a while now . Very fun banter and great Info sharing on all things agave ! I always Look forward to every episode .

Argee_23 ,

Energetic & Educational

Love staying up to date with all things agave spirits. I appreciate how respectful the co-hosts are of Mexican communities.

MuchoSpanish.com ,

A lot of fun and very informational

Living in Mexico City, I’ve fallen in love with mezcal. This podcast is full of information and expertise, and it’s a lot of fun to listen to.

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