On meeting David Suro
It seems hard to believe that our paths hadn't crossed before but I finally had the opportunity to meet David Suro, he of Tequila Restaurant in Philadelphia, the Tequila Interchange Project (TIP) and Siembra Azul Tequila. For a good picture of the man and his passion for agave, be sure to checkout the great interview The Kitchen Sisters did with him a few years back. Suro is in town doing a series of trainings and tastings for his Siembra Azul Tequila and Siembra Metl Mezcal. A special dinner at Oakland's Calavera on Monday, a happy hour at Loló Tuesday, and a training and talk at ABV Wednesday. A whirlwind of activity for sure. So what's on Suro's mind these days?
The NOM 199 surprise
There's nothing quite like an unexpected news dump on Thanksgiving that took more than a couple of days to bubble up into the public view. David Suro first flagged the release of heretofore unheard of NOM 199 which seems to be some sort of bastard child of the failed NOM 186. Clayton Szczech, who has done great work covering the evolution of the NOM in Mexico, has a great synopsis and preliminary thoughts of the document and implications for mezcal:
Sarah Bowen interview
Sarah Bowen is an Associate Professor of Sociology at North Carolina State University who has long studied the impact of the tequila and mezcal industries on Mexico. Most recently she wrote a great portrait of the battles over how to
Iván Saldaña brings Montelobos to the United States
Late last year Susan and I had the pleasure of meeting Iván Saldaña, the primary force behind Montelobos mezcal for the label's formal domestic launch. Susan got to catch up with him again this spring at a tasting in LA
Oaxacan agave being sent to Jalisco
Since our last post about rumors of agave being shipped north we've heard from another source confirming that 3-4 trucks per day are moving agave north to Jalisco. Since then it's become a more widely reported phenomenon with this piece and this
In defense of tequila
Patricia Colunga has a provocative opinion piece in today's La Jornada on tequila, NOM-186, and the battle over denominación de origen for agave distillates in Mexico. Update: Here's a quick translation of Patricia's piece by Elliot Heilman: IN DEFENSE OF THE TEQUILA APELLATION
Who wins in the agave labeling battles?
Alberto Barranco's column in El Universal looks at the vast market opportunity in China as the prime mover behind the maneuvers to restrict how agave distillates are labeled.
Viva mezcal!
Here's a nice clip from an upcoming documentary on traditional agaves in Mexico. It's a good background on the topic and importance of agave diversity in Mexico. There's a great presentation of the issues and debate over the Denominación de Origen for
NOM 186 update
There's a new petition in the NOM 186 debate that we highly recommend you review here. There is also a new release in Spanish from one of the main groups opposing NOM 186 that we recommend reading. We have reproduced it
Live stream of agave forum
If you're engaged with the debate over NOM-186 and the politics of agave distillates in Mexico then take a look at the live stream of the Foro Nacional de Destilados de Agave meeting in DF. We're late on this one but