A Symbiosis Imperiled?
Tasting: Reviving the Heartland
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.
A Symbiosis Imperiled?
April 14 at 6 PM
David Suro-Piñera, Owner Siembra Spirits, President Tequila Interchange Project, Co-President Bat Friendly Project
Francesca Claverie
Valeria Cañedo, Centro de Colaboración para la Ciencia y Cultura
Lee Ibarra, Colectivo Sonora Silvestre
Tasting: Reviving the Heartland
April 15 at 6 PM
Zulema Arias, Manager Mezonte
Pedro Jiménez, Director and CEO Mezonte
Millions of acres of monoculture Agave tequiliana. A worm in a bottle. $15 for a liter of tequila or mezcal. Domesticated agave long abandoned in what was once a thriving field. These are the hallmarks of a story gone awry. In recent centuries, the cohesive and reciprocal nature of the human-agave relationship began to slip. Fields once tended for generations were left isolated as Native peoples were killed, physically relocated, or otherwise disenfranchised. A shift in distillate production that increased quantity and profits created a rift from small-scale artisanal models to mass production, diffused, and artifically flavored tequila products based on a house of card of inbred monocultures. Yet, the heartbeat of the symbiotic relationship ticks loud and has thousands of champions and masses of supporters. Learn how the choices made by each of us can and will shape the future of agave culture in a way that honors the diversity that makes it great.
When
6 p.m. April 14, 2021 to 7:30 p.m. April 15, 2021
