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 Raicillero Paulo Rodriguez, interpreted by Greg Rutkowski, and Raicillero Omar Alejandro Cruz Ortega, interpreted by Roy Sierra.
Last episode I talked with Linda Sullivan about the tumbado process of harvesting agave. This episode … also about tumbado, but with Paulo Rodriguez, the raicillero who brought the method back to Chacala, Jalisco! So, why two episodes about the same thing? I was maybe a bit under the influence when I recorded the episode with Paulo, forgot we’d recorded it, got home, and recorded last week’s episode with Linda. It’s a Deja Lou 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 Raicillero Paulo Rodriguez, interpreted by Greg Rutkowski, and Raicillero Omar Alejandro Cruz Ortega, interpreted by Roy Sierra.
.
.
.
@chicagosullivan@seynasecreto@g.o.y.o.18
I was listening to Tim McKirdy’s podcast “Mezcal’s Untold Past, Soaring Present, and Fragile Future,” and he talks about an agave harvesting process called tumbado, where you disconnect the plant from its roots and let it sit there in the field. It was said to be an old practice that had been lost. Even in the podcast, he said he only heard about this from one guy, so I thought, yeah, probably not really a thing. And then I met Paulo Rodriguez in Chacala, Jalisco.
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 Raicillero Paulo Rodriguez, interpreted by Greg Rutkowski.
.
.
.
@chicagosullivan@seynasecreto@g.o.y.o.18@timmckirdy and cover photo by @seniorleche
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 of The Tequiladies with numeric wisdom provided by DISCUS.
.
.
.
@tequilaencyclopedia@tequilathatcares@thetequiladies
There’s a graph in the latest report from the Distilled Spirits Council of the US that shows that for the first time in recent history, we’re drinking more spirits than we are either beer or wine. What does this mean, exactly? Or does it mean anything? And why is it that everyone I know will drink wine but wine is, and always has been, the runt of this litter?
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 of The Tequiladies with numeric wisdom provided by DISCUS.
.
.
.
@tequilaencyclopedia@tequilathatcares@thetequiladies
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 Xaime Niembro, owner Mezcal Gracias a Dios and Juan del Campo Whisky.
.
.
.
@chicagosullivan@seynasecreto@graciasadiosmezcal@whiskyjuandelcampo
I was talking with a brand owner about the process used to make his Tequila, and when he described his fermenters, I asked if they were indoors or outdoors. I hadn’t realized the regulations required them to be indoors – or, anyway, he said they did, though I found nothing in the NOM to corroborate that. But … he said they did because when you go around to these traditional vinatas, it was disgusting to see all the birds pooping in the fermenters. But … is it?
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 Xaime Niembro, owner Mezcal Gracias a Dios and Juan del Campo Whisky.
.
.
.
@chicagosullivan@seynasecreto@graciasadiosmezcal@whiskyjuandelcampo
When people talk about stills in Mexico, you hear “Filipino” and “alambique” a lot … “Mongolian” a little. And it’s been suggested that the Filipino still was the first to arrive the Americas’ What makes it Filipino? How did it get here? And what’s it got to do with coconuts? Food writer Nic Stevens joins me this week to talk about that plus vino de coco, vino de cana, and the origins of distillation in the Americas!
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 NC Stevens!
.
.
.
@drinkingfolk
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 of The Tequiladies and Tequila That Cares with numeric wisdom provided by DISCUS. Making nonsense of 2025 spirits sales
/episodes/4-142-making-nonsense-of-2025-spirits-sales
For the first time in a decade, we’re paying less per liter for Tequila/Mezcal, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the US. The most expensive cordials are growing in sales faster than anything. We’re not drinking less, we’re drinking differently. And those are just three of the insights we gain from the latest DISCUS annual report! If numbers are your thing, this is your 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 Marissa Paragano of The Tequiladies and Tequila That Cares with numeric wisdom provided by DISCUS.
.
.
.
@tequilaencyclopedia@thetequiladies@tequilathatcares