Taste 'Mexico in a bottle' at Tucson agave fest this weekend

The annual Agave Heritage Festival returns this weekend, celebrating the culinary, cultural and environmental importance of agave in Southern Arizona and the Sonoran Desert. 

This year marks the festival’s 18th anniversary, and there are several new events added to the lineup, including a grand tasting party, “Mexico in a Bottle.” 

“It's the big tasting event of the four days, with 50 plus different types of agave spirits,” said Todd Hanley, founder and director of Agave Heritage Festival.

“But also it's ‘Mexico in a Bottle,’ so it's not just about the agave spirit, it's also about gin, it's about whiskey, it's about how the spirits of Mexico are still a very big part of their culture and history.” 

Event-goers can meet producers and brand owners, chow down on themed bites from local food trucks, watch live mariachi performances, and dance to music by Old Paint Records and DJ Monobiche.

“It's just a wonderful party,” Hanley said. 

Agave Heritage Festival has grown over the years to include dozens of lectures and educational events, culinary experiences, and tastings with local spirit importers, specializing in bacanora, mezcal sotol and tequila.

One of the main focuses of this year’s festival, he said, is promoting lesser-known agave spirits like bacanora, and the producers and importers who make them.

“It's an exciting opportunity for bacanora to continue to grow in awareness, similar to how mezcal has grown into awareness over the last 10-15 years,” Hanley said. “One of the really exciting elements of the festival this year is we have multiple mezcaleros.”

Carlos Acuña and his father Omhar Acuña are two of the importers participating in this year’s festival. Their company, Los Cantiles 1905, specializes in bacanora, sotol and lechuguilla spirits. 

“Bacanora is an agave distilled spirit, but it's not really known like tequila,” Acuña said. 

According to Acuña, that’s partially because bacanora was banned in Arizona from 1915 until the 1990s. 

“All that time tequila was being industrialized in the States, and so that's why we appreciate bacanora more — since it took a stop, or a pause for so long, the methods are still very traditional,” he said. “We use a lot of traditional methods in the roasting of the agaves.”

The agave for their bacanora is slow-roasted over a pit of volcanic rocks, which Acuña said gives it more depth of flavor. 

Bacanora is also unique because it is specific to certain areas of Sonora.

“Like champagne can only be produced in the champagne region of France, bacanora can only be produced in some regions of Sonora,” Acuña said. 

Acuña and his father will bring their spirits and their musical talents to several festival events this weekend, including “Spirit of Sonora at the Tucson Folk Festival,” from  6-8 p.m. on Friday, April 10, and “Mexico in a Bottle” on Saturday, April 11, from 7-10 p.m.

Father and son master mezcaleros Luis Carlos Vásquez Sr. and Luis Carlos Vásquez Jr. will lead a tasting at Unicorn Zebra, 82 S. Stone Ave., from 7-9 p.m. Friday, April 10. Guests will sample four Del Maguey expressions, while learning directly from the makers themselves.

“I think it best represents the festival in terms of our approach to working with what we would call small to medium size producers of high quality that also are very, very in tune with the realities of working with the environment,” Hanley said.

What really sets the festival apart, he said, is offering educational discussions and experiences for the public. 

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“We focus as much as we possibly can on offering panel discussions, education, presentations, that get to the root of, not just the process of mezcal and a spirits production, but also the important socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental realities of this industry,” Hanley said. 

The panel that seems to be gaining the most interest, he said, is “Spirit of the Sierras: Bacanora Without Borders Roundtable.” The free event takes place Friday, April 10, from 12:30-2:30 p.m. at Whistle Stop, 127 W. Fifth St., and examines how bacanora moves from rural production to U.S. markets. 

Agave Heritage Festival is also hosting nearly 20 other panels, lectures and educational community events, in addition to its bar takeovers and tastings. 

Here are some highlights from this year’s program; for a complete schedule, visit agaveheritagefestival.com. You have to be at least 21 to attend events that involve tastings.

Events

From agave planting at Mission Garden, 946 W. Mission Lane, at 8 a.m. Thursday to Friday’s Chihuahuan Desert Art Exhibition by Sandra Harper at Tucson Gastropark, 1625 E. Broadway, this weekend is packed with experiences to help you learn everything about the world of agave.

For a complete list of lectures and demonstrations, visit agaveheritagefestival.com/agave-culture.

• “Raicilla Smugglers Film Screening and Q&A," a feature documentary about ingenuity, risk and the communities who carried raicilla forward when it had to stay out of sight. 3-5 p.m., Friday, April 10 at Whistle Stop, 127 W. Fifth St.

• “Spirit of Sonora at the Tucson Folk Festiva" celebrates the living heritage of the Sonoran Desert and its agave cultures through tastings, music, presentations, vendors, and hands-on activities. 6-8 p.m. Friday, April 10 at Jácome Plaza, 101 N. Stone Ave.

• “The Amazing Agave at Saguaro National Park.” Join a park naturalist for this narrated theater presentation on agave. Saturday, April 11, from 1:15-2 p.m. at Saguaro National Park-West at the Red Hills Visitor Center,2700 N. Kinney Road.

• “Howard Scott Gentry Lecture.” Wendy Hodgson traces the story of agave in the Sonoran Desert, highlighting the importance of Indigenous leadership in stewardship. 4-5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 9, at Tucson Botanical Gardens, 2150 N. Alvernon Way.

Drinking 

Thirteen tasting events presented by several bars and restaurants are scheduled throughout the weekend, starting with Thursday's Mezcal Union Social Club, featuring three handcrafted cocktails paired with curated dishes at Agave House, 943 E. University Blvd., from 6-8 p.m. There is a cost for the tastings; check the schedule for details.

Tastings will be held at:

• Tough Luck Club (Basement of Reilly Pizza), 101 E. Pennington St.

• Tap & Bottle North, 7254 N. Oracle Road

• Bar Crisol, 196 W. Simpson St.

• Barbata (basement of BATA), 35 E. Toole Ave.

• Batch, 118 E. Congress St.

• Unicorn Zebra, 82 S. Stone Ave.

• Westbound, 267 S. Avenida del Convento

• Sonoran House Speakeasy, 2513 E. Sixth St.

• Borderlands Brewing Sam Hughes, 2500 E. Sixth St.

Bar takeovers

Friday, April 10 at 9 p.m., El Pima, Bacanora Hasta La Muerte, and Bacanora Pasión Sonorense take over Jo Jo’s, 76 W. Washington St., for a night rooted in desert tradition and community. Expect regional flavors and a celebration of bacanora.

Saturday, April 11 at 10 p.m., Del Maguey lands at Unicorn Zebra, 82 S. Stone Ave., with a lineup of mezcal cocktails.

Saturday, April 11 at 10 p.m., La Gritona brings its cocktails to The Lounge at Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress St.

Dining

The Agave Heritage Festival is hosting several agave-centric culinary events where you can not only sip cocktails and spirits, but also traditional Sonoran cuisine and bites from local food trucks. For details and tickets, visit agaveheritagefestival.com/culinary 

• This year’s Noche De Mezcal will take place at Whistle Stop, 127 W. Fifth St., from 7-10 p.m. Friday, April 10. Presented by Tequila Ocho and Mezcal Vago, Noche de Mezcal is a fully immersive culinary event that combines regional agave spirits, open-fire cooking, and live music. Tickets for the event are $65.

• Join Nana’s Kitchen, Cola Blanca Bacanora and Lost Lore for a traditional, authentic dinner to celebrate the Agave Heritage Festival. The event will take place from 4-8 p.m. Saturday, April 11, at Nana’s Kitchen, 8225 N. Courtney Page Way, Suite 129. Tickets are $95.

• New this year is the "Mexico in a Bottle Grand Tasting and Fiesta", featuring agave cocktails, mariachi performances, music by Old Paint Records and DJ Monobiche, and bites from local food trucks. Saturday, April 11, from 7-10 p.m. at Whistle Stop, 127 W. Fifth St. Tickets for the event are $65.

• Sunday, April 12, from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m., Whistle Stop is hosting a special festival brunch featuring Chef Pablo Valencia of Scratching the Plate, a Tucson City of Gastronomy chef ambassador whose cooking celebrates the heritage, ingredients and culinary traditions of the Sonoran Desert. Tickets are $85.

• The Canyon Club at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort is hosting an agave festival edition of its popular "Blues, Brews & BBQ" brunch" from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Sunday, April 12, at Loews, 7000 N. Resort Drive. Tickets are $75 per person and an additional $15 for agave tasting and cocktail enhancement.