Agave Human Symbiosis: An Overview

Tasting: Overview of Agave Spirits and Their Importance

Agave has been a mainstay of culture in the Americas for millenia: food, drink, tool, spirit, utilitarian, sacred. Adaptations to aridity represented by both agave and people hold critical insights into how to live in the desert. The Agave Renaissance lecture series looks closely at these adaptations and the reciprocal relationship between this desert plant and people. Through presentations, roundtable discussions, tastings, and art we will collectively reconnect to the importance of agave, how this relationship in threatened by climate change and our actions, and also how a resilient future is embedded in the heart of a plant.

For this series, Club Congress and El Crisol will be offering tastings of agave spirits. If you'd like to participate, register for the presentation portion of the tasting and click the link to the Hotel Congress Bottle Shop to make a purchase of agave spirits to enjoy at home during the presentation.

Agave Human Symbiosis: An Overview

January 20 at 6 PM MST

Wendy Hodgson, Herbarium Curator Emerita and Sr. Research Botanist, Desert Botanical Garden

Tasting: Overview of Agave Spirits and Their Importance

January 21 at 6 PM MST

Gary Nabhan, W.K. Kellogg Endowed Chair in Food and Water Security for the Borderlands, University of Arizona

David Suro-Piñera, Owner Siembra Spirits, President Tequila Interchange Project, Co-President Bat Friendly Project

We begin the series by taking a look at the big picture to understand how intricately linked people and agave are and have been for thousands of years. When one thinks of a close relationship between plants and people, corn, potatoes, or squash may come to mind. Yet, agave is as diversified and coupled in its relations to people—and people to it—as any other plant. These inaugural presentations will reveal a world of connections, hiding in plain sight either on a hike in the desert or in your glass at the bar.

Communities, Culture & Engagement