#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 Intro02:25 Meg’s Trip to Durango06:25 Agave Species and Taxonomy, Tequila11:25 How Different Agaves Affect Your Body, Agave Spirits Distillation15:35 Retail of Agave Spirits in Mexico16:35 Terpenes in Agave Spirits, Health18:55 Moving to Mexico – Opening Salón de Agave26:25 Glass-Matured Mezcal, Pechuga, Salt & Lime37:25 Agave Education, Price & Value45:05 Mapping Flavour Around Mexico, Terroir49:55 Tasting Maguey Inaequidens Agave, Cheesiness, Narcos56:45 Back to Durango, Maguey Lampranillo, Label Design1:00:35 Tasting Vino del Norte from Pechotierra, Pulque Production, Appreciating Pulque1:06:40 The Evolving Flavour of Agave Spirits, Appreciating Agave Spirits, Glassware1:08:15 Sotol, Dasylirion1:10:32 Texture and Mouthfeel in Agave Spirits, Tuning Your Flavour Perception, Context in Tasting1:19:25 Mezcal Labelling, DO, Rebellion, World Agave Spirits, Mezcal Politics, Responsible Sourcing1:28:25 Chihuahua Sotol, Pine Forests, Cultural Terroir1:31:42 Women in Agave Spirits: Challenges, Progress1:40:25 Guerrero Cupreata, Inconsistency, Scarcity, Bottle Killing1:45:15 Distilado de Pulque from Salmiana, Mango Distillate1:48:45 Identifying Agave by Smell: Inaequidens & Salmiana, San Luis Potosí Agave Cooking1:51:45 Challenging Preconceptions in Agave Spirits, Smokiness1:54:25 Oaxaca, Small-Batch Cupreata, Cowhide Fermentation1:56:35 Tasting Notes, Describing Flavour, Context