Maestros del Mezcal Podcast: Recent Episodes
Rion Toal and Rok Alcantara
Welcome to the Maestros del Mezcal Podcast where we cover all things related to mezcal and agave distillates. Maestros del Mezcal is a Civil Association in Mexico dedicated to promoting and protecting traditional mezcal.
Welcome to the first Blind Tasting With... Episode; In this series we will try to understand the processes that different people go through when decifering what is in their copita during a blind tasting.
We interview Diana Pinzón, a biologist, conservationist and co-founder of Zinacantan mezcal. Diana poses 10 questions for the California Agave Council and expresses her concern for protecting endemic agave in Mexico and the bio-cultural heritage they represent.
We continue our investgation into the plant known as Espadin in Oaxaca; This time following genetic trail. Dr. Jorge Nieto Sotelo from UNAM in Mexico City talks to us about Agave angustifolia and it's possible origins among other things.
Recorded sometime in 2022 - we finally edited this interview / tasting we did with professional cheesemonger, Julia Gross. Some fun and insightful stuff about cheese and mezcal pairing in general.
Our new host Vinik Jure and Rion Toal talk about the importance of words when it comes to the preservation of traditional mezcal.
We talk with analytical chemist Adam Floyd about the mezcal samples he ran through Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometry
Shea Comfort talks to us about Fermentation, Durian Fruits, and Location Specific Microbial Influence on Wine Barrel Wood among other things.
We interview Dr. Joaliné Pardo Nuñez about an experiment she is helping to conduct concerning mezcal producers perception of the flavors in mezcal.
We talk about the Agave species within the Tobalá Complex and the common names used to refer to them.
We continue to bother fruit flies with questions about their pallets. They are starting to get annoyed.
We talk with Dr. Jorge Nieto Sotelo about his recent study that sheds some light on the genetic origins of Agave tequilana, Espadín and other species and varieties.
Did you know there may be thousands of Traditional Mezcal producers in Jalisco? In this episode we talk with Pedro Jimenez Gurría of Mezonte and Pare de Surfir about his projects and about the diverse mezcales of Jalisco.
In this episode with talk with Silvia Philion of Mezcaloteca to discuss her thinking behind the recent decision to remove essential information from the labels. We also discuss what happens when mezcal becomes more about business and less about tradition, and a quickly changing Oaxaca.
We talk about our new map with 16 Oaxacan mezcal regions and common and scientific agave names.