Walk into any serious agave bar in the United States and ask for a raicilla. If the bartender knows the category, you will likely hear some version of the same introductory line: “It’s basically Jalisco’s version of mezcal.” The comparison is understandable. Mezcal is the reference point most American drinkers have for agave spirits that are not tequila. And raicilla does share a few surface-level traits with mezcal: it is…
Ask someone who has never tried mezcal what it tastes like and they will almost certainly say “smoky.” Ask someone who drinks it regularly and you will get a longer answer, but it will probably still start with smoke. That word has become the default descriptor for an entire category of spirits, and while it is not wrong, it is so reductive that it borders on useless. Describing mezcal as…
Justo cuando la confianza en la categoría enfrenta un ajuste de cuentas Lisa Pietsch, de Agave Today Magazine, presenta la edición en español de Agave 101, una guía para principiantes sobre cómo catar tequila, mezcal y los espíritus del agave, el 13 de agosto de 2026 GLADBROOK, IOWA — 13 de agosto de 2026 — We Woodwards Publishing anunció hoy el lanzamiento de la edición en español de Agave 101: Guía…
Just as Trust in the Category Faces a Reckoning Agave Today Magazine’s Lisa Pietsch releases Agave 101, a beginner’s guide to tasting tequila, mezcal, and the wider world of agave spirits, on August 6, 2026 GLADBROOK, IOWA — August 6, 2026 — We Woodwards Publishing today announced the release of Agave 101: A Beginner’s Guide to Tasting Tequila, Mezcal & the Spirits of Agave, a new book by Lisa Pietsch, Publisher…
The agave spirits you pour on a Friday night did not arrive in your glass through abstract market forces. They came through land. Specific land, in specific states, worked by specific families who have cultivated agave across generations, sometimes centuries. And increasingly, that land is contested. Land disputes tied to agave production take several overlapping forms. In Oaxaca, Jalisco, Guerrero, Durango, and San Luis Potosi, small-scale producers and indigenous communities…
HACIEN Tequila opened a crowdfunding campaign on Republic Europe on July 6, aiming to become the UK’s leading brand in premium, 100% agave, flavoured tequila. The numbers in the pitch are genuinely strong: distribution in more than 350 UK venues including Harvey Nichols, Michelin-starred restaurants, and top 50 bars; ten-fold e-commerce growth between 2025 and 2026; medals from the Tequila & Mezcal Masters 2026; £800,000 raised to date; a confirmed…
How gatekeeping is quietly killing the very category it claims to protect Picture the scene. A couple walks into a good mezcal bar for the first time. They are curious, a little nervous, drawn in by something they read or a bottle a friend brought to dinner. The bartender pours them something smoky and complex, and one of them wrinkles their nose and says, half-joking, that it tastes a little…
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club has announced a new partnership with Pantalones Organic Tequila, the brand co-founded by Matthew McConaughey and his wife, Camila Alves. As part of the deal, the club is transforming two executive spaces in the South Stand at Hillsborough into the new “Pantalones Suite,” offering premium members a three-course dining experience with an inclusive drinks package, panoramic pitch views, and, on a match-by-match basis, up to 20…
Before any agave spirit reaches your lips, something extraordinary has to happen. The sugars extracted from roasted or steamed agave heart must be converted into alcohol, and the character of that conversion shapes everything you will eventually taste. Distillers have two broad choices: inoculate the must with a commercially propagated yeast strain and get predictable, efficient fermentation, or open the process up to the microbial world and let nature decide…
From maguey field to finished bottle, here is what separates artisanal mezcal from everything else in your glass. Not all mezcal is made the same way, and if you have spent any time in the category, you already know that. But knowing it and understanding it are two different things. The word “artisanal” gets thrown around constantly, in tasting rooms, on back labels, in marketing copy, sometimes accurately and sometimes…
