Agave Spirits: The Past, Present, and Future of Mezcals [Hardcover]

Winner of a 2024 James Beard Award Mr. Nabhan, an ethnobotanist and naturalist, and Mr. Pi?era, a restaurateur, serve as guides to the complex making of mezcal and lead readers through various steps in the mezcal-production process, from growing and harvesting to mashing, fermenting and distilling. But they also aim at a far-reaching overview of the precarious place in which mezcal now finds itself after an extended and harried history. Talking about agave with Suro-Pi?era is akin to discussing the Bible with the pope: His knowledge is so deep and intuitive that it draws you in, even if you consider yourself agnostic, or perhaps (shudder) more of a gin drinker. [ With tequila booming stateside with no signs of a plateau, theres never been a better time to learn the ins and outs of agave spirits straight from the source. To capture the history, diversity, and innovations of the centuries-old category, restaurateur, founder of Tequila Interchange Project, and VinePair Next Wave award winner, David Suro Pi?era, and acclaimed ethnobotanist, Gary Paul Nabhan, journeyed to eight Mexican states and spoke with their producers. What they found and detailed will captivate agave newbies and connoisseurs alike. The craft of agave spirits is part science and part art, but always about embracing where we come from to understand where we are going. This book, as with David Suro and Gary Nabhans lifes work, is a true celebration of how a communitys respect for its biodiversity can create liquid magic. With agave spirits clearly guiding, Gary Nabhan and David Suro Pi?era have blended fascinating science with a loving homage to a mystical plant and the wizards who tend it and extract its juicesand a timely plan for safeguarding its native origins, so we all might keep imbibing. A thoroughly fascinating dive into all that goes into the spirits, revealing an elaborate web of biological and cultural entanglements, with rich biodiversity in terms of plants, microbes, and evenlsÔ