Julia over at Bear Radio did an interview with us about the podcast and especially season 5. Worth a read while we are finalizing the second half of the season.
S3.C6: The world of Sotol – with Isaac Montes and Sergio Gonzalez, part 2
The second part of our conversation. If you missed part 1, you can find it here.
We also would like to thank Claas von Zombory who kindly provided us with samples of Flor del Desierto Sotol.
Get in touch with Isaac from Casa Montes
Get in touch with Sergio from Flor del Desierto
Instagram – @sotolflordeldesierto
Facebook – @sotolflordeldesierto
Get in touch with Us:
Elixir of the Gods Instagram – @elixirpodcast
Elixir of the Gods Facebook – @elixirofthegods
S2.C10: Finale, Craft Spirits Berlin, Bars: Auroom – with Alex Wimmer
This is a short one. And the last one for a little while. We are recapping Season 2 , which has brought us some outstanding conversations with giants of the Agave world. Thanks again to all our guests and to you for listening and giving us feedback!
For Season 3 we will try to keep up the quality and we are looking forward to it (we hope that some of the ideas we have hatched already will become a reality… )
For those of you who are in Berlin, you can meet Diego at the Craft Spirits Berlin convention March 7 & 8.
But stop! Before turning your device off, please enjoy the interview with Alex from Auroom in Munich. He is a listener of the first hour and you will experience his love for Agave in our interview. Every time Albert visits Auroom, it feels more like a Mezcaleria, as the Agave expressions are taking over. But nonetheless you will also find excellent cocktails there too. Unfortunately we did the interview back in July 2019 before his trip to Oaxaca – so we might have him as a guest in the 3rd season as well so he can share these experiences with us as well.
Please also check out our Map of Bars and feel free to contribute.
Reach out:
- Elixir of the Gods Instagram – @elixirpodcast
- Elixir of the Gods Facebook – @elixirofthegods
- Elixir of the Gods Twitter – @elixirpodcast
- Elixir of the Gods Mail – elixirofthegodspodcast@gmail.com
S2.C9: Bartender Work Program – with Cate Czerwinski
In this chapter we are joined by Cate, a tequila nerd and wonderful conversation partner. She gave us some insight into her experiences at the Fortaleza bartender program last year – a trip that let her experience the hard work, craftsmanship and arts of creating Agave spirits first hand. (If you want to learn more about Fortaleza, you can listen to our episode with Don Guillermo here.) She also shared some amazing spirits from her personal collection with us, one of them a “dusty bottle” of Herradura which gave Diego some serious goosebumps. Enjoy!
Photos from the recording:
The suitcase 
Geeking out before the recording 
Cate’s coa 
Our flight (it was first class)
Photos from Cate’s trip:
Don Guillermo at his estate 
Fiona attacking a maguey plant 
Out in the fields 
Fortaleza tahona 
Blending
Explore further:
- Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant (San Francisco)
- Documentary: Agave: The spirit of a nation
- Stefano Francavilla, Fortaleza ambassador
- Ashtin Berry
- Megs Miller/FAM Bar
Fact checks:
- Fortaleza uses their own family yeast and no accelerators
- Herradura was purchased by Brown-Forman Corporation in 2007
- El Tesero: “Don Felipe” is Carlos, Lily, Jenny, and Felipe’s grandfather, not father. Theirs Dad’s name was also Felipe, but he wasn’t “Don Felipe”.
Not mentioned on the Show:
- El Tesoro (the brand) was purchased by Beam a few years ago, but all El Tesoro is still made my Carlos at La Altena (Nom 1139)
- Agave and Mezcal business women of Jalisco
Reach out:
S2.C8: Join a guided tour of Oaxaca – with Fernando Bolaños
Fernando – co-owner of our Berlin’s most favorite Mezcal bar “La Tentación” – has planned a spectacular trip to his birthplace Oaxaca from September 1st to September 10th 2020. When we read about it, we wanted to create some more awareness of this tour to our listeners and asked Fernando if he can walk us through the schedule. So we could learn more about the Mecca of Mezcal and you can decide if you want to join this trip. You can contact Fernando directly ( fernando@tentacionmezcalothek.de )
La Tentanción:
https://www.facebook.com/tentacionbeer/
http://www.tentacionmezcalothek.de/
https://www.instagram.com/tentacion_de/
Get in touch with us!
https://twitter.com/ElixirPodcast
https://www.facebook.com/elixirofthegods/
https://www.https://www.elixirofthegodspodcast.com/
https://www.instagram.com/elixirpodcast/
Schedule:
Tuesday, September 1st
- 15:00 – 17:00 Oaxacan Buffet
- 18:00 – 21:00 Mezcal tasting at In Situ
- 21:30 – 22:30 Tacos for dinner!
Wednesday, September 2nd
- 07:00 – 14:00 (3. Sep)Visit to Paranubes (Oaxacan Rum and prizewinning as the product of the year at the BCB)
Thursday, September 3rd
- 15:00 – 16:30 Traditional food at the Hotel
- 09:30 – 22:30 Oaxacan Craft Beer & Mezcal tasting + Dinner + Surprise
Friday, September 4th
- 08:00 – 09:30 Traditional oaxacan breakfast at the hotel
- 10:30 – 14:00 Hierve el agua + Mitla
- 15:00 – 17:30 Palenque Gracias a Dios (Mezcal & oaxacan gin) + Traditional food
- 19:30 – 22:30 Mexican cantina + dinner
Saturday, September 5th
- 07:00 – 08:00 Traditional Breakfast at the Hotel
- 11:00 – 16:00 Visit to a Miahuatlan Palenque + Mezcal tasting + Food
- 18:00 – 19:59 Mezcal tasting at Neta
- 20:00 – 22:00 Tacos for dinner
Sunday, September 6th
- 09:00 – 10:00 Traditional Breakfast at the hotel
- 11:00 – 15:00 Visit to Teotitlan del Valle + Tlacolula Market + Food at the market
- 16:00 – 18:00 Santo Domingo Museum
- 19:00 – 22:00 Slow food dinner + Mezcales at La Biznaga
Monday, September 7th
- 07:30 – 08:30 Traditional Breakfast at the hotel
- 11:00 – 15:00 Visit to Real Minero & Proyecto LAM
- 15:30 – 16:30 Traditional food at Conchita
- 17:00 – 19:00 Mezcal tasting at Ocotlan with Mr. Santaella
- 20:00 – 22:00 Mezcal tasting at La Mezcaloteca
- 22:30 – 23:30 Tlayudas for dinner
Tuesday, September 8th
- 09:00 – 10:30 Tacos de guisado at La Abuela
- 11:30 – 16:00 Cooking class + visit to the market by Rodolfo Castellanos (Mexico’s Top Chef 2016)
- 16:01 – 18:01 Cocktail class
- 18:01 – 23:59 Day off so you can do some tourism at the city center
Wednesday, September 9th
- 07:00 – 08:00 Traditional Breakfast at the hotel
- 09:30 – 14:00 Monte Alban
- 15:00 – 16:00 Nieves (Oaxacan Ice cream) at La soledad Church
- 16:30 – 17:30 Traditional food at the Pasillo de Humo
- 18:00 – 19:00 Aguas de Casilda
- 19:01 – 23:59 Day off (With some recommendations)
Thursday, September 10th
- 08:30 – 09:30 Traditional Breakfast at the hotel
- 11:00 – 15:00 Visit to “Los Danzantes” palenque + Mezcal tasting + Food(To be confirmed)
- 15:01 – 16:01 Last toast of the trip
S2.C7: Bars: “Crazy Pedro’s” with Adam Wilson
This bar episode takes us to Manchester. Already in July 2019 and only equipped with a tiny microphone (so please excuse the sound quality) Albert met with Adam to discuss the love for Agave based spirits in Northern England. Crazy Pedro´s mixes Pizza and Agave, so it is not a classical Mezcaleria, however their range of spirits is excellent. No matter if you like your spirits in pure form or in a cocktail, Crazy Pedro’s can fix you up in three locations. We have marked all of them in our custom map for you.
Entrance Manchester NQ 
Adam and the bar 
In conversation 
The drink we shared
Get in touch with “Crazy Pedro’s:”
https://crazypedros.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/CrazyPedros/
https://www.instagram.com/crazypedros/
https://twitter.com/CrazyPedros/
Get in touch with us!
https://twitter.com/ElixirPodcast
https://www.facebook.com/elixirofthegods/
https://www.https://www.elixirofthegodspodcast.com/
https://www.instagram.com/elixirpodcast/
S2.C6: Bars: “The Barking Dog” with Carl Wrangel
Carl and Albert took a walk through Berlin to talk about our favourite topic! A couple of days before Carl made an experiment in Berlin’s La Tentancion Mezcaleria where he served the same drink three times, but each time with a different Agave spirit, showing how little details can make a big impact. Albert wanted to know more about his approach towards mixing spirits that are not predictable and about his history with Tequila and Mezcal.
You can find “The Barking Dog” and other great European bars on this custom map:
The Barking Dog on Social Media:
https://twitter.com/BarkingDogCPH
http://facebook.com/barkingdogcph
thebarkingdog.dk
Get in touch with us!
https://twitter.com/ElixirPodcast
https://www.facebook.com/elixirofthegods/
https://www.https://www.elixirofthegodspodcast.com/
https://www.instagram.com/elixirpodcast/
S2.C5: The Ambassadors – with Roberto Artusio and Cristian Bugiada
Roberto Artusio and Cristian Bugiada are Italian Mezcal legends. Roberto is the owner of Jerry Thomas Speakeasy and Cristian Bugiada is a partner of Freni e Frizioni. Together they created La Punta Expendio de Agave in Rome, which is a Mezcaleria, only dedicated to Agave spirits and offers more than 600 expressions.
Their passion for Agave did not go unnoticed by Mexico’s official regulatory board for Mezcal (CONSECO REGULATOR DE MEZCAL or CRM ) and it officially declared them “Mezcal Ambassadors”, an honor which at the time of our interview only five people outside of America have received.
We took the chance to speak to Roberto and Cristian during BCB. We dug deeper into their passion for everything Maguey, their other projects and the connection they feel – as Italians – to Mexico. Our interview with them also starts our long announced series of European bar recommendations.
We had to do this interview in a noisy environment, please excuse the not so optimal sound quality
You can find our evolving European Map of Mezcal bars here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ld6xDBs1V40TuyybiTJpGy3_JwUNOOlm&usp=sharing
Please don’t hesitate to contact us with your recommendations.
Connect with us: Mail: elixirofthegodspodcast@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elixirofthegods/
Instagram: @elixirpodcast
Twitter: @elixirpodcast
A map of bars (work in progress)
During our adventures we had the joy to speak with other Agave enthusiasts around Europe, and some of them either run their own bar or know good places in Europe where you can find an excellent selection of good spirits.
We will publish these chapters in the coming weeks and here is already a preparation.
We think this list/map can grow slowly into a compendium to help you find your Agave fix in Europe, but of course it doesn’t have the intention to be complete.
However, if you encounter a worthy candidate during your own adventures, please reach out to us so we can add it to the map:
Mail: elixirofthegodspodcast@gmail.om
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elixirofthegods/
Instagram: @elixirpodcast
Twitter: @elixirpodcast
S2.C4: Tequila – with Don Guillermo Erickson Sauza from Fortaleza
We took advantage of BCB to speak to Don Guillermo Erickson Sauza, an absolute legend in the industry. Of course we talked about his brand “Fortaleza” but the conversation went deeper into family and why Guillermo’s heart is in Mexico.
