And just like that it’s a new year! We are kicking things off with a flash sale of tickets for Mexico in a Bottle DC. The big event is taking place on Monday, March 24th at 6pm at the Mexican Cultural Institute. We’ve got some exciting things in store, not only a great selection of agave spirits, sotol, and other Mexican craft spirits and restaurants but also some interesting programs! Details are forthcoming but in the meantime, grab your discounted ticket before they are all gone!

Speaking of tickets, we have changed our ticketing and pricing for 2025 and will have only three levels of tickets, flash sale, industry and general admission. To make this all work, we will have more flash sales tickets available, though they are going up in price by $5 ($60), as are the industry tickets ($50). General admission tickets now will cost $75. It is a delicate balance of trying to keep prices as accessible as possible while all other costs of producing an event go up. It is still a screaming good deal!

So, 2025… Thus far we seem to be off to a rocky start what with Avian flu, drought driven fires, question marks on tariffs, a proposed cancer warning label for alcoholic beverages and just a whole lot of uncertainty. Early trend pieces for 2025 point to continued demand in agave spirits even though the jury is out on what happened in 2024 and there is news that Mexico is sitting on a 500 million liter surplus of tequila. Divining tea leaves is definitely a challenge.

I think 2025 will see an existential crisis in the world of hospitality as it confronts less people drinking and changing social norms where bars are no longer social/community centers, especially among young people. It’s not all gloom and doom, there are opportunities here, bit for those of us hoping that 2025 would provide some sort of “normalcy”, well that is probably not going to happen.

To end on an up note, be sure to check out Anna Bruce’s profile on Tomonotomo, a non alcohol agave drink out of Oaxaca. And for those of you who see cheese as an answer to all woes, Tess Rose Lampert has a great list of cheeses to pair with mezcal, tequila and raicilla.

Saludos,

MEZCAL NEWS

MEZCAL EVENTS

• February 8th, Bowl of ‘Zole, Boston

• March 20th, Bowl of ‘Zole, Denver

• March 24th, Mexico in a Bottle, Washington, DC

• SAVE THE DATE: April 10th-14th, Agave Heritage Festival, Tucson

• SAVE THE DATE: April 27th, Mexico in a Bottle, Chicago

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