#46 Megs Miller - Agave Spirits Exploration, Terpenes for Mood Enhancement, Sotol, Mezcal, Salon de Agave, Durango

Megs Miller is a bartender, educator, and all-round agave obsessive — whose journey has taken her across multiple continents but most recently to Mexico City, where she runs Salón de Agave, a tasting room dedicated to exploring the depth and diversity of Mexico’s native spirits.In this episode, you can expect to learn about agave species and taxonomy, how different agave species affect the mind and body — Megs and her co-worker Sophie have been conducting a two-year experiment on this — insights into retailing agave spirits in Mexico, the nuances of terroir and regional flavour mapping, and the joy of glass-matured mezcal.We also dive into sotol, pulque, and the evolving conversation around responsibility, sourcing, and politics in agave spirits. From the cheesiness of Inaequidens to the pine forests of Chihuahua, and from women’s progress in the industry to the cultural storytelling behind each bottle — this is a deep and generous look at the Mexican spirit.Megs was so generous, in fact, that we tasted around 25 different distillates — and as someone who’s tasted quite a few in my time, I wasn’t surprised to find that there were many amazing surprises. I wasn’t able to write down or document them all, but if you’re interested in anything in particular, I suggest giving Salón de Agave a follow on Instagram or booking a session with them next time you’re in Mexico City. It’s awesome.https://salondeagave.com/

00:00 Intro

02:25 Meg’s Trip to Durango
06:25 Agave Species and Taxonomy, Tequila
11:25 How Different Agaves Affect Your Body, Agave Spirits Distillation
15:35 Retail of Agave Spirits in Mexico
16:35 Terpenes in Agave Spirits, Health
18:55 Moving to Mexico – Opening Salón de Agave
26:25 Glass-Matured Mezcal, Pechuga, Salt & Lime
37:25 Agave Education, Price & Value
45:05 Mapping Flavour Around Mexico, Terroir
49:55 Tasting Maguey Inaequidens Agave, Cheesiness, Narcos
56:45 Back to Durango, Maguey Lampranillo, Label Design
1:00:35 Tasting Vino del Norte from Pechotierra, Pulque Production, Appreciating Pulque
1:06:40 The Evolving Flavour of Agave Spirits, Appreciating Agave Spirits, Glassware
1:08:15 Sotol, Dasylirion
1:10:32 Texture and Mouthfeel in Agave Spirits, Tuning Your Flavour Perception, Context in Tasting
1:19:25 Mezcal Labelling, DO, Rebellion, World Agave Spirits, Mezcal Politics, Responsible Sourcing
1:28:25 Chihuahua Sotol, Pine Forests, Cultural Terroir
1:31:42 Women in Agave Spirits: Challenges, Progress
1:40:25 Guerrero Cupreata, Inconsistency, Scarcity, Bottle Killing
1:45:15 Distilado de Pulque from Salmiana, Mango Distillate
1:48:45 Identifying Agave by Smell: Inaequidens & Salmiana, San Luis Potosí Agave Cooking
1:51:45 Challenging Preconceptions in Agave Spirits, Smokiness
1:54:25 Oaxaca, Small-Batch Cupreata, Cowhide Fermentation
1:56:35 Tasting Notes, Describing Flavour, Context