The plan initially with the newsletter this week was to talk about some of the recent sales data coming out regarding agave spirit sales, some new (and new to us) mezcals, raicilla and sotol, and a fabulous new book that looks at the evolution of distillation and how that impacted Mexico. But as the headline says, we need to talk about the elephant in the room and what happened in Jalisco this past weekend.

We are all taking deep breaths of relief here at Mezcalistas that things have calmed down in Mexico and that Puerto Vallarta has returned to normal. I was glued to social media and WhatsApp, checking in with various people on the ground to make sure they were well. The violence was directed toward non residential properties, cars, chains like Oxxo, and not toward people. But the images and videos were horrifying, and in several cases, completely false, either AI generated or old footage from places not even related to what was going on. The speed with which they emerged and circulated was breathtaking and you would have thought all of Mexico was on fire. This kind of stuff is only going to increase as media outlets continue to contract, and more people put credence into things they see on social media from sources that are not verified.

There are so many reasons why I love Mexico and first and foremost is the people. I don’t ever want to take for granted the privilege it has been (and continues to be) to travel through out the country and experience everything that I have. And I will continue to do so.

I wish we could have an honest conversation about what is happening in Mexico. I wish we could really come face to face with the issue of the continual increase in demand for drugs in the US, and that people would finally understand the direct connection of what goes up their noses and the blood in the streets in Mexico, and care. I wish we could be honest about where the guns and bullets and arms are coming from. I wish we could acknowledge that at this point, profits from the drug trade no longer make up the majority of earnings for the cartels.

A quick anecdotal story. The other week I was at a launch party for a new sotol and was introduced to a guy who was quite fascinated that I wrote about agave. He asked me what was an interesting story these days and I said, well, as a matter of fact, the mayor of the town of Tequila was just arrested for allegedly colluding with the cartel and extorting money from major tequila companies like Cuervo. As I was saying this, I saw his eyes kind of glaze over and when I finished he said, oh yeah, excuse me I need to go get a drink.

Cartels are involved in just about every facet of the Mexican economy, not to mention how all that money flows through a global system. So how the hell do you rectify that? For the people living in Mexico it is an ongoing reality and the resilience and kindness in the face of this is incredible. For those of us who travel there for vacations or otherwise, it is an occasional inconvenience.

I completely agree with a friend in the industry who said he couldn’t imagine any real solutions coming from this <US> administration, nor could the Mexican government change this on their own. It is just so enormous. But maybe, just maybe, extorting major tequila brands was a bridge too far and we are on the precipice of some real change. I am forever a glass is half full kind of person.

Saludos,

Susan & the Mezcalistas team

MEZCAL NEWS

MEZCAL EVENTS

• February 28th, Mezcal Fest MX, Mexico City

• March 8th and 9th, Viva Agave, Paris

• March 14th and 15th, Encuentro Nacional Maestros del Mezcal, Mexico City

• March 23rd, Mexico in a Bottle, Washington, DC 

• March 26th, Bowl of ‘Zole, Denver

• April 11th, Mexico in a Bottle, Tucson

• April 26th, Mexico in a Bottle, Chicago

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

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