Gotta love a festival centered around one of the region’s most famous and beloved spirits, tequila.
Specifically, the four-day 2022 Agave Heritage Festival — Thursday, April 28, through Sunday, May 1 — which is all about the plant at the root of tequila.
After a two-year hiatus courtesy the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual event returns as a four-day celebration of the plant that produces a spirit culturally connected to Tucson and our Mexican neighbors.
“There is no other festival in the U.S. that comes close to the richness and depth that has been our calling card to aficionados from all over the region and south of the border,” Todd Hanely, the festival’s founder and Hotel Congress CEO, said in a written release. “This festival brings together over 40 presenters, in over 20 events taking place over four days that celebrate every aspect of the agave plant in our region.”
The festival features more than 20 distinctive events, from conversations with producers to showcasing the women behind mezcal and a concert with Lila Downs.
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This festival comes 14 years after the inaugural Agave Fest in 2008 that launched it all. Since that single-day event at Hotel Congress, the agave plant has gained worldwide fascination and tequila has exploded.
That one-day inaugural event that featured a number of artisanal and ancestral agave spirits has nearly tripled today, and has grown into a multiday festival that looks beyond what’s poured in your margarita to the sustainability and historical, cultural and economic significance of the agave plant across borders.
“Over the years, the Agave Heritage Festival has been refining the art of throwing a festival that both celebrates agave spirits in themselves and educates the public on the history, culture and ecology of the human-agave relationship, including spirits production,” said longtime participant Doug Smith, who owns Exo Roasters and its sister El Crisol mezcal tasting bar. “There is no other festival in the U.S. that approaches the depth and breadth of this one, no other that appeals as strongly to enthusiasts on both sides of the border or draws more important figures in Mexico, from scholars to conservationists to actors in the spirits industry. We bring together more than 40 presenters addressing nearly every aspect of the agave plant.”
The festival includes several free events. Ticketed events can be purchased at agaveheritagefestival.com.
The festival kicks off at 2:30 p.m. Thursday with a lecture and workshop on Mexican fermented beverages. Participants can sample some of those beverages: tepache, tesgüino, roasted agave and colonche made with prickly pear fruit. It’s being held at Crisol, the tequila bar at Exo Coffee Roasters, 196 W. Simpson St. The cost is $25.
Obviously since the festival is all about alcohol, no one under 21 will be admitted to most of the events.
Here are some highlights from the schedule:
Thursday: In addition …….