“Agave? I don’t know what that is, agave.” That’s what Oprah Winfrey said in a 2004 episode in which Dr. Oz warned of the threats of refined sugar and listed his suggestions for substitute sweeteners. Agave nectar was top of his list. It was the endorsement heard round the world...

Rosemary Smith of Black Snake Distillery in Australia asked us the question, “Does the unique taste of each agave spirit mainly come from its sugar source or the crushed fibers and juice?” So, of course, we fought over the answer! It’s a chicken-or-the-egg episode of Agave Road Trip! Find extra...

It’s pretty common, when we visit mezcaleros, that they’ll pull out a bottle and tell us it’s a special blend that serves as an aphrodisiac. Or Mexican Viagra. But … is that even possible? We ask Cocktail MD Ryan Aycock for the straight scoop, and somehow detour off into avocados...

On this episode of Cooking In Mexican From A to Z, Aarón and Zarela sit down with Lori Flores. Lori is an associate professor of History at Stony Brook University, where she teaches classes in US Latino, labor, immigration, and food history. They discuss Lori's background growing up in rural...

There’s a school of thought that suggests that aging mezcal in wood isn’t traditional, and that the changes imparted by the barrel distract from the flavors and aromas of the agave. And, sure, there are some communities where the mezcaleros would never age in anything other than glass for those...

Back in the 1990s, the Mexican government took legal control of the word “mezcal” away from the people who have shepherded mezcal traditions for hundreds of years. But legal control isn’t the same as moral control. But what does it mean to refer to an uncertified agave spirit as mezcal...

On this episode, Sandro Canovas sits down with Aarón and Zarela to discuss Sotol, the state spirit of Chihuahua. They outline how it is made from plants of the dasylirion genus, close relatives of the onion, it's significance to the state of Chihuahua, and it's popularity in the United States...

As a woman whose first sip of whisky created the female doppelganger of a Mr. Yuk sticker, Shelley Sackier’s view of the spirit changed on a trip to Scotland. After completing a short course in Scotland’s Bruichladdich Distillery, she began writing about — and working within — the world of...

A year or so back, Alvin Starkman introduced us to Reina Cortés Cortés at A V La Casa del Pulque. We had a Bordeaux barrel gifted to us by the kind folks at Mezcal Sombra — one of the barrels they had subsequently used to age their Mezcal Repose...

This week Aarón and Zarela are pleased to be joined by Benito Molina to talk about seafood in Ensenada and beyond. Chef Molina is the owner and chef of multiple restaurants in Ensenada, Baja California including Manzanilla, and he was thrilled to represent his people on MasterChef Latino. Working together...