Agave Spirits and Cultural Shifts

I often think about how different tequila has become over the years, both in the US and in Mexico. I trace that shift to when tequila started being treated as a status symbol. In the 2000s, R&B and rap frequently referenced shots of Patrón in popular music. You can thank John Paul DeJoria for that.

In 2013, George Clooney entered the scene with Casamigos, amplifying the lifestyle marketing Patrón had started. Once Diageo got involved, the category exploded, and other celebrities rushed in. The pandemic became another major turning point. Alcohol consumption moved heavily to off-premise settings, meaning people drank more at home. Many new tequila drinkers emerged during this time. When the pandemic faded, cultural shifts led to a noticeable drop in on-premise drinking at bars, restaurants, and nightclubs.

In Mexico, tequila has always been part of family, celebration, and gathering. We also drink tequila on-premise, of course. You’ll see it in bars, cantinas, and restaurants throughout the country. But this is also the land of many agave spirits. My family loves pulque (though I can’t stomach it), and mezcal is a regular part of our celebrations.

Because many other agave spirits are regional, you don’t often see bacanora or raicilla across the whole country. What you do find are local distillates and infused agave spirits with unique flavors. American tequila marketing never had much impact here. R&B and rap weren’t popular, and most people simply bought whatever was cheapest. For special occasions, you’d sometimes see Don Julio or other premium brands, especially aged expressions.

In the last decade, things have shifted. Mexico City’s cocktail scene has exploded. We now have some of the best bars in the world, including the top-ranked bar in North America. At the same time, younger generations have been reconnecting with their cultural roots. Speakeasies, mezcal bars, and even pulquerías are thriving. Interest in agave spirits is rising fast, and premium brands are far more common now. We may never reach U.S. consumption levels, for economic and demographic reasons, but agave culture in Mexico is undeniably growing.

A market research firm called IMARC recently projected that tequila consumption in Mexico could more than double by 2035. Their report also shows a sharp increase in consumption during the pandemic years.

Why should this matter to someone outside of Mexico? Because for many tourists, drinking tequila is a major part of visiting the country. And as many of you know, finding great tequila in tourist areas isn’t always easy. But the situation is improving. While global brands and corporations may chase profits, in Mexico our connection to tequila is often about family, culture, and tradition.

People talk about sipping tequila alone. In Mexico, we drink with family and friends, often across generations. My 83-year-old mother is coming to stay with us next month. We’ll have barbacoa cooked in an underground pit, wrapped in pencas de maguey (agave leaves). And we’ll have pollo ximbó, another traditional dish also cooked in pencas de maguey. If you’ve never had them, they go perfectly with any agave spirit.

We’ll drink tequila and mezcal. Some of my cousins will drink that runny, disgusting fermented pulque, which I’ll buy from an old woman in our neighborhood who sells it on the street in reused bottles of Coca Cola. I’ll be behind the bar pouring the best tequilas and mezcales Mexico has to offer to 4 generations of family: my mother, my mother-in-law who is in her 70s, my aunts and uncles, brother and sister in laws, nieces, nephews, and even the teens, who just get a sip mixed with juice or Squirt and lots of lime juice. We’ll sing old Mexican songs, dance and the younger kids will stream their favorite new artists late into the morning hours.

The next day, we’ll continue to celebrate. We’ll eat breakfast together, everyone will pitch in to clean the house. And we’ll drink some more into the evening. My aunt will claim it is good for her arthritis. My nephew will drink too much. My mother will surprise everyone since she loves a good tequila and will drink and dance and make everyone cry singing duets with her husband while we all raise our glasses. My stepson will sit with his young friends and his cousins and he’ll share his experiences at Caballito Cerrero and our love for this plant, this heritage and the love and appreciation we have will spread (I know this because it already has for many years).

And we’ll do it all over again another 5-10 more times before the year is done.

We drink differently in the US and Mexico (and of course, the rest of the world). Our love for the spirit grows in different ways but the thing is, it continues to grow. Despite market analysis of slow downs and overproduction and on-premise declines. Still, the bigger picture is clear: the popularity of agave spirits is rising. I can’t say if that’s because of marketing, demographics, social media, or the pandemic. Maybe it’s just that agave is special, and more people are discovering that. This bodes well for broader distribution of products that have, up until now, exclusively been available to the US market but hopefully will be more available here in Mexico. And alternatively, the broader distribution of mezcals, raicilla, bacanora, sotol and other distillates to new markets outside of Mexico.

If you found this interesting and ever find yourself in Hidalgo, reach out. I always keep an open bar and love sharing a drink with new friends.

A summary of key data points from the IMARC study is available here:
https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/mexico-tequila-market-47163