How the Gringos Stole Tequila: The Modern Age of Mexico's Most Traditional Spirit

by Chantal Martineau

Overview

Once little more than party fuel, tequila has graduated to the status of fine sipping spirit. How the Gringos Stole Tequila traces the spirit's evolution in America from frat-house firewater to luxury good. But there's more to the story than tequila as upmarket drinking trend. Chantal Martineau spent several years immersing herself in the world of tequila—traveling to visit distillers and agave farmers in Mexico, meeting and tasting with leading experts and mixologists around the United States, and interviewing academics on either side of the border who have studied the spirit.

The result is a book that offers readers a glimpse into the social history and ongoing impact of this one-of-a-kind drink. It addresses issues surrounding the sustainability of the limited resource that is agave, the preservation of traditional production methods, and the agave advocacy movement that has grown up alongside the spirit's swelling popularity. In addition to discussing the culture and politics of Mexico's most popular export, the book takes readers on a colorful tour of the country's Tequila Trail, as well as introducing them to the mother of tequila: mezcal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781595348807
Publisher:	Trinity University Press
Publication date:	07/09/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	312
Sales rank:	1,086,146
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Chantal Martineau has written articles about food, drink, culture, and travel for numerous publications, including Afar, Allure, the Atlantic, Decanter, Edible, the Guardian, Islands, Redbook, Saveur, Time Out, the Village Voice, and Wine Enthusiast. She lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Preface: In the Beginning, There Were Body Shots v

1 Before Tequila Came Pulque 1

2 The Mysteries of Distillation 13

3 The Long, Hard Life of Agave 31

4 Putting Tequila on the Map 51

5 The Terroir of Tequila 75

6 La Ruta del Mezcal 87

7 El Día del Magueyero 101

8 Tequila Goes Top Shelf 119

9 Bottling Mexican Identity 135

10 The Agave Activists 149

11 America's Favorite Cocktail 169

Epilogue: The Nightcap 177

Acknowledgments 183

Notes 184

Bibliography 191

Index 197

Editorial Reviews

"Martineau makes her nonfiction debut with this thoroughly researched study of what appears to be a growing trend in the spirit world: the rise of tequila from a low-end frat-party tipple to a high-end connoisseur's sipping drink." —Kirkus Reviews


“The perfect read to accompany your tequila, mezcal, or pulque—all drinks made from the mature agave, the spiky Mexican succulent with a heart that can become distilled gold. Chantal Martineau has written a compelling travelogue, tasting guide, business analysis, and ecological primer that firmly places tequila and its cousins as worthy spirits beyond cheap college margarita drunks.”—Mark Pendergrast, author of Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World


“Chantal Martineau ties our fate as Americans with the ecosystem of the agave, which is threatened, like our foodways, by shortsighted industrialization and corporate greed. The struggle is complicated as it relates to the tequila-loving gringo, and as one, I am deeply grateful for the way Martineau has portrayed it.” —Jim Meehan, author of The PDT Cocktail Book


“This wonderfully written book illuminates a part of the spirits industry that even the most diehard aficionado might not know about.”—Tom Acitelli, author of The Audacity of Hops: The History of America’s Craft Beer Revolution


“Martineau is an adept guide, charming and deeply knowledgeable, to the intricate and fascinating world of agave-based spirits. With passion and authority, How the Gringos Stole Tequila argues that tequila and mezcal are not cheap firewater, but rather richly cultural and potentially threatened products worthy of connoisseurship.”—Bryce T. Bauer, author of Gentlemen Bootleggers: The True Story of Templeton Rye, Prohibition, and a Small Town in Cahoots


“For anyone curious but largely uneducated about agave spirits, Ms. Martineau makes a fine instructor.” —Wall Street Journal


“Martineau’s book is an excellent introduction to tequila’s long history and complicated evolution over the last 15 years…”  —Distiller 

From the Publisher

2015-02-17
A brief glimpse into the increasing gentrification of tequila. Widely published food and travel journalist Martineau makes her nonfiction debut with this thoroughly researched study of what appears to be a growing trend in the spirit world: the rise of tequila from a low-end frat-party tipple to a high-end connoisseur's sipping drink. But the book is about more than just tequila's new image as a luxury product; it's also about the processes and people behind the making of the drink, the conflicts over mass-produced tequila versus more exclusive artisanal tequila (Patron et al.), and the agave activists who fight to keep tequila "real"—i.e., a Mexican product through and through. "How Mexicans are viewed—either by themselves or by foreigners—has long influenced how tequila is marketed," writes the author, "both in the United States and in Mexico." Through the marketing of tequila, using old-world Mexican authenticity as its selling point, it has become, ironically, just as American as it is Mexican. Martineau chronicles her interviews with a variety of industry insiders, from small producers and agave growers from Mexico's Jalisco region to hipster mixologists and corporate CEOs pushing their upper-crust customers to take on what passes for authentic Mexican tequila. The real problem is not so much that age-old traditions are being made a mockery of in the mass production of tequila; the trouble comes when the production and bottling of the drink get increasingly co-opted by corporations based in the U.S., which means fewer jobs for Mexican workers in Mexico. So, as Martineau objectively presents it, the very factors that are making tequila so popular are also threatening to undermine it. Unfortunately, however, the book's reportorial nature doesn't lend itself to theorizing on what might ultimately be the answer to tequila's curious new authenticity problem. An informative but somewhat inconclusive study.

Kirkus Reviews