Megs Miller - Agave Spirits Exploration, Terpenes for Mood Enhancement, Sotol, Salon de Agave

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 Meg’s Trip to Durango
04:00 Agave Species and Taxonomy, Tequila
09:00 How Different Agaves Affect Your Body, Agave Spirits Distillation
13:10 Retail of Agave Spirits in Mexico
14:10 Terpenes in Agave Spirits, Health
16:30 Moving to Mexico – Opening Salón de Agave
24:00 Glass-Matured Mezcal, Pechuga, Salt & Lime
35:00 Agave Education, Price & Value
42:40 Mapping Flavour Around Mexico, Terroir
47:30 Tasting Maguey Inaequidens Agave, Cheesiness, Narcos
54:20 Back to Durango, Maguey Lampranillo, Label Design
58:10 Tasting Vino del Norte from Pechotierra, Pulque Production, Appreciating Pulque
1:04:15 The Evolving Flavour of Agave Spirits, Appreciating Agave Spirits, Glassware
1:05:50 Sotol, Dasylirion
1:08:07 Texture and Mouthfeel in Agave Spirits, Tuning Your Flavour Perception, Context in Tasting
1:17:00 Mezcal Labelling, DO, Rebellion, World Agave Spirits, Mezcal Politics, Responsible Sourcing
1:26:00 Chihuahua Sotol, Pine Forests, Cultural Terroir
1:29:17 Women in Agave Spirits: Challenges, Progress
1:38:00 Guerrero Cupreata, Inconsistency, Scarcity, Bottle Killing
1:42:50 Distilado de Pulque from Salmiana, Mango Distillate
1:46:20 Identifying Agave by Smell: Inaequidens & Salmiana, San Luis Potosí Agave Cooking
1:49:20 Challenging Preconceptions in Agave Spirits, Smokiness
1:52:00 Oaxaca, Small-Batch Cupreata, Cowhide Fermentation
1:54:10 Tasting Notes, Describing Flavour, Context

📷 Follow me on Instagram -   / tristanstephenson  
📚 I've written quite a few books on spirits and cocktails - https://www.thecuriousbartender.com/