Agave Spirits Book Talk

Gary Nabhan will be joining us at The Fairweather to share insights from his book Agave Spirits: The Past, Present, and Future of Mezcals. It is free to attend the book talk, which will be followed by a Q&A and book signing.

Copies of Agave Spirits and other books by Gary Nabhan will be for sale at the event by Peregrine Book Company. To ensure youget a copy of the book, please pre-order Agave Spirits here, visit The Peregrine Book Company or call us at 928.445.900 to place an order.

This collaborative event will include an option for a curated mezcal and food tasting, available for purchase at The Fairweather. Co-owner of the Cresent Bar, Aaron, will be sharing his knowledge of artizinal spirits and providing a mexzcal and cocktail tasting. The mezcal cocktail includes prickly pear juice from Delicious Earth Farm. Slow Food Prescott is partnering to provide a curated food tasting as part of their Lecture & Food Series - "Hidden Roots, Future Harvests". Mezcal-inspired dessert tamales will be for sale and prepared using locally grown heritage corn, pecans, and apples.

Winner of the 2024 James Beard Foundation's Award for Beverage Writing without Recipes

The agave plant was never destined to become tasteless, cheap tequila.

All tequilas are mezcals; all mezcals are made from agaves; and every bottle of mezcal is the remarkable result of collaborations among agave entrepreneurs, botanists, distillers, beverage distributors, bartenders, and more. How these groups come together in this “spirits world” is the subject of this fascinating new book by the acclaimed ethnobotanist Gary Paul Nabhan and the pioneering restauranteur David Suro Piñera. Join them as they delight in the diversity of the distillate agave spirits, as they endeavor to track down the more distant kin in the family of agaves, and as, along the way, they reveal the stunning innovations that have been transforming the industry around tequilas and mezcals in recent decades.

The result of the authors’ fieldwork and on-the-ground interviews with mezcaleros in eight Mexican states, Agave Spirits shows how traditional methods of mezcal production are inspiring a new generation of individuals, including women, both in and beyond the industry. And as they reach back into a rich, centuries-long history, Nabhan and Suro Piñera make clear that understanding the story behind a bottle of mezcal, more than any other drink, will not only reveal what lies ahead for the tradition—including its ability to adapt in the face of the climate crisis—but will also enrich the drinking experience for readers.

Essential reading for mezcal connoisseurs and amateurs interested in unlocking the past of a delightful distillate, Agave Spirits tells the tale of the most flavorful and memorable spirits humankind has ever sipped and savored.

Featuring twelve illustrations by René Alejandro Hernández Tapia and indices that list common and scientific names for agave species, as well as the names of plants, animals, and domesticated agaves used in the production of distillates.

“A manifesto…[and] a positive spin on the future of mezcal.” —Florence Fabricant, New York Times

Gary Paul Nabhan is a MacArthur “Genius Grant” Award–winning ethnobotanist and literary naturalist. He lives in Patagonia, Arizona.

David Suro Piñera is a restaurateur and founder of the Tequila Interchange Project. He lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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Host or Publisher Peregrine Book Company