History is such an easy thing to forget, or overlook and in this age of non stop content, we can’t even remember what happened last month, let alone 100 years ago. I am a huge history buff and had I not bought into the idea of a “marketable” degree, I probably would have been a history major. So any opportunity to dive into history is irresistible to me. To publish two stories in a row? Dream.

The first takes on something most people think they already understand — Cinco de Mayo. And that's precisely the problem. Familiarity is the enemy of history. We think we know, so we stop asking. Author Holly Devon writes of her youth celebrating Cinco de Mayo in her southern California elementary school and how dismayed she was in adulthood to see how far the day had strayed from her youthful idyll. In coming to terms with that, she realized the story behind the holiday is not the one most of us carry around. It's a story about resistance, about a moment when the odds were laughable and the outcome was not, and about why that moment resonated here in the United States.

The second story is a reminder of the power of music and how history can be told. When Felisa Rogers was sent the Agavero Anthem, she thought not only was it a hip hop banger, it was actually an encapsulation of everything she had been writing about regarding the tequila scandal and the agavero protests. In interviewing the author, she came to understand not only the history of some of the current leaders of the agavero fight, but also the larger history of rural protests that led not only to the Mexican Revolution but also to the later fights in Tequila. The lyrics hold something that no industry white paper or spirits guide can — the memory of people who worked this land and knew it was worth defending. It made me think about how much history lives in folk music, in corridos, in the songs that communities make to remember what written history often leaves out.

Together, these two stories kept bringing me back to the same uncomfortable thought: what gets lost when history becomes trivia? What happens to a culture, or a community, or a movement, when its defining moments collapse into a meme, a drink special, a footnote? I don't have a tidy answer, but I think asking the question is crucial in mezcal world. The people in this category are still living the history. The fight for land and fair recognition is not past tense for the families growing and distilling agave in Mexico.

Be sure to check out our other big stories below, including a controversial change a couple of highly influential brands are making when it comes to saying who a maestro mezcalero is, and two new Encyclopedia of Mezcal entries. Plus, check out some upcoming mezcal events!

Saludos,

Susan & the Mezcalistas team

MEZCAL NEWS

MEZCAL EVENTS

• May 16th-17th, La Tertulia Mujer Agave, Oaxaca

• May 17th-20th, Tahona Tour, San Diego, Los Angeles, Emeryville

• June 4th-7th, Agave Fest Marfa, Marfa, TX

• June 13th-14th, Mezcal Culture Fest, Miami

• August 29th-30th, Barra Mexico, Mexico City

• Save the dates: Mexico in a Bottle October 4th, San Diego, November 8th, San Francisco

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