Latest / Into The Barchive / Tequila — From Jalisco’s Agave Fields to Global Icon
Transcript
- ITB: To the bark where the past comes alive. Tales let them dive. Welcome to the Barkhive. Welcome back, Barkabus, to Into the Barkhive. The podcast where we dive deep into the stories, peoples, and cocktails that shape the way we drink. I'm Tim Wright, mixologist, above average curious drinker, and your tipsy tour guide through Boo's history. And I'm Dr. Blake Jones, historian and certified specialist of spirits, here to pour out the stories behind what's in your glass. And today we're celebrating one of the world's most recognizable spirits because today is July 24th, National Tequila Day. And while tequila might be most associated with shots or salt and lime, there's so much more than just a party ritual. Absolutely. Tequila is a spirit with centuries of history, deeply connected to Mexican agriculture, craftsmanship, and identity. It's a drink that comes from a very specific place, made from a very specific plant, but it's become a global phenomenon. So today we're going to explore that journey, right? From the blue river agave fields in Jalisco to cocktail bars around the world. And we'll talk about how tequila is made, ⁓ the challenges facing the agave industry, why tequila has exploded in popularity, and of course, we'll shake up a couple cocktails. So, first cocktail is a classic, right? It's gonna be ⁓ the classic from Mexico, the cantorito. Yeah, and the cantorito is a refreshing citrus-forward tequila drink that showcases the spirits. A traditional role in Mexican drinking culture. And then we're going to move to a modern classic, right? The siesta. Yeah, and the siesta is a contemporary cocktail that takes tequila into the world of craft cocktails with a beautiful balance of bitter, sweet, and tart. So grab your glass, slice up some citrus, and ⁓ let's get into the barchive. Let's do it. We're gonna start today by making the cantorito. So what we're gonna do is take two ounces of tequila. Now you could use blanco tequila or reposado tequila depending on the flavor profile you're shooting for. Blanco for like a fresher agave Ford or Reposado tequila for a little more complex, richer flavor. So I've got a Lurquard Gratonia Reposado tequila there. ⁓ we're after the tequila gonna add three quarters of an ounce of orange juice. And then follow it up with three quarters of an ounce of pink grapefruit juice. And some people call the cantorito like a supercharged paloma with all of this fresh juice ⁓ in the cocktail. After that, we're gonna follow it up with a half ounce of lime juice. And then, like a lot of tequila drinks, we're gonna have salt, but instead of on the rim, we're gonna add a couple drops of a saline solution directly into the cocktail, like so. And then we'll ice it up and ⁓ get ready to shake, and then we'll add some of the other ingredients in a moment. So Ice your tin up, shake 10 to 15 seconds. didn't get a good seal there. After we shake, we're gonna take our clay cantorito mug, add some ice to it before we strain our cocktail. So from there. We will strain what's we shook together into the clay mug over fresh ice and then we will finish it with some grapefruit soda. If you're at your Mexican market and can have access to Mexican squirt, that's great. But otherwise use a high-quality product like a fever tree grapefruit soda. For the garnish. Traditionally they would do like a ⁓ tahien rim around the glass. I'm just gonna take some tahine and put it on my lime wedge, like so, and sit it on top of the drink. And here is our cantorito. Cheers. Our next cocktail is the modern classic siesta. Pretty tasty cocktail if I would say. Into our small tin, we're gonna take one and a half ounces of silver tequila. For a little bit of color, a quarter of an ounce of Kapari. keeping on thing with that grapefruit, we're gonna go with a half ounce of pink grapefruit juice. And pretty easy for the next two ingredients, three quarters of an ounce. So three quarters of an ounce of simple syrup. Of course, adding the sugar to the cocktail alongside of what the Kampari did. And then three quarters of an ounce of lime juice. Ice or tin? And shake. Next we're going to grab a chill coop. If I can break your seal. And we will double strain. And board this siesta as part of that sustainability piece that we'll talk about a little bit later. Instead of going and using a fresh peel of the ⁓ the grapefruit, actually using some grapefruit extract. So get it going. Couple of spritz. And now we have our siesta. Now that we've built the cocktails, let's build the context. Dr. Jones, certified specialist of spirits, what exactly is tequila? Well, tequila is a distilled spirit ⁓ that's made specifically from the Blue Weber agave plant. And it must be produced in certain designated regions of Mexico, primarily the state of Jalisco. And while there are small areas of other Mexican states that can legally produce ⁓ tequila, Jalisco is the heartland. So it's kind of like a champagne thing. Yeah, it's like it's gotta be this region to be able to be called tequila. Other than that, it's an agave spirit. Exactly. And and you know, tequila gets r really interesting because the plant, the agave plant itself is not a quick crop. Yeah, it it's something that takes Years, right? Like six, seven, eight. Correct me if I'm wrong. And maybe even longer to mature depending on the species. Wow, so we've got different species of blue agave. Well, there are different species of agave, which would could be used like in Mezcal, but the blue Weber agave is to play six to eight years. Okay, gotcha. But I mean, think about this is unique in the world of spirits when ⁓ most of the other agricultural products grow at least once a year. Yeah, it's grapnual. Yeah, grapes, grain, you know, sugar cane. Hell, apples, right? If we're making brandy, pears, pe peaches for those type of Yeah, that makes sense. So this one is instead of long barrel aging processes, this one is before I could even make a distillate to age. It has to be six to plus years. Yeah. It i if you're using good farming practices, of course, and these farmers called hemidoras harvest the plant and they remove some of the leaves around the agave plant and they dig out the heart of the agave called the pinya. The pinya. Yeah, and can you guess why they call it the pinya? Because it's a pin pain in the ass to get out. Well there's that. Okay. But it kind of looks like a pineapple. Which It does. Before they start to like as they start to shave it down, that yeah, the ⁓ I never thought of that part. So the pina, as in pineapple. Yeah. And so it kind of looks like a pineapple. And that pina is packed with sugars that eventually you can convert into alcohol. So we now have this sugary thing for fermentation to be able to go through and get some some spirit. Yeah, and traditionally, once you harvest the agaves, you cook them to access those sugars. And traditionally you would cook them in stone or brick ovens called hornos. Yes. And it would soften the plant and convert the complex carbohydrates within the pina into those simpler fermentable sugars. Okay. Now, there are modern producers that use large autoclaves, which are like big pressure cookers or they may use diffusers where they like shred the plant and add chemical enzymes and it's a much more industrialized sort of ⁓ process. And while they're more efficient, ⁓ they definitely create different flavor profiles from the traditional methods. Where the more traditional methods give you that I guess the word is artisanal, right? So even though the plants were potentially from the same hectare side by side, two different producers doing it in two different methods could have have two s different flavor profiles. Yeah. And this is where sometimes producers using more industrialized methods, they are like stripping out some of the natural flavor and then they're going back in with additives. To kind of make up for it. ⁓ okay. So when these distillers make their choice whether to leave like to to use these different techniques, it's based off of preference in finance? Yeah, I mean definitely some of it's the bean counters, right? ⁓ but in some of the more traditional producers they use less efficient methods because They care about what's in the glass or maintaining traditional practices. Okay, so once these things ⁓ these flavor profiles are ⁓ extracted, the cooking process, what is this? So after you've cooked the agave and kind of converted some of those sugars, you have to crush the agave plants to kind of get them out. Now in the traditional way, you would use what's called a tahona. That's the big wheel, right? Like this I mean it varies from production to production, but typically pulled at times by some kind of horse, mule, ass around. So obviously most traditional would be a donkey going around. Now some producers today use a tractor. Okay. But still use that same crushing process. It doesn't get as much out of it. Again, it's not as efficient, but some people have argued That tahona crushed agave creates a certain minerality in tequila that you don't find in other crushing methods. Yeah. the way that I look at that is fresh ground pepper compared to already ground black pepper that you could get from a store. Right? Both serve a purpose, mm-hmm, but the fresh cracks has a little bit of extra texture and minerality. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And and there, like if you have a more industrial producer, they might use like a modern roller mill, so like a machine to run the agave through. and then after that you take the the juice and take it to fermentation. You add the yeast, then eats the sugars and makes the alcohol and the CO2 and everything else. Yep. Yep. And There are choices producers can make there. Do you ferment in open ⁓ top vats, like wooden vats? Do you ⁓ do closed fermentation in stainless steel tanks? Do you use all light trad like distillers yeast, the more commercial form? Do you use wild yeast? Natural open air, yep. Yeah, another decision that some producers make. Do you leave the fibers of the agave in in with the fermentation or do you strip the net strip out the fibers where it's just the liquid? Most producers don't leave the fibers in, it's just the liquid, but leaving the fiber in again amps up that agave flavor a little more. And then you take it to distillation. Okay, we've gone all the way through and now we're finally to distilling. Mm-hmm. And so a lot of times most Tequilos have traditionally been produced using pop stills. Yes. So you have to distill one batch at a time, do your heads, hearts, and tails cuts. Yep. Now there are again more industrial brands that would use a collar still. And so that's going to be more efficient where you can continuously distill, but it may come off the still at a much higher proof, which means some of that agave character is lost. Then I guess this comes into those choices are made in consideration of how they're going to finish the product. Right? So if I'm going into it and I know that this is something that I am going to barrel age and get, I want more of those barrel notes, then maybe throwing it through a column still is the way to go. Or if I want a pot-stilled single, I could. Keep it as a natural silver because I want just whatever that pot still brought to thee and let the Magabi spirit speak for itself. Yeah, and I mean one of the big differences between pot and column stills is pot stills, regardless of the spirit, tend to produce oilier, more viscous textured spirits. Column stills, because they're more industrialized, produce cleaner flavors. but again, it's not I Traditionally it's pot stills, but there are lots of modern distilleries like a lot of the big bourbon producers in America. They're using column stills because they're letting the barrel play a lot of role there. So let's talk about the flavor thing. So when people talk about tequila tasting, they talk about the flavors being what? Things like maybe cooked agave, pepper, citrus flavors. ⁓ particularly if you get into Barrel age tequilas, vanilla, maybe the minerality or earthiness, like if you use a tahona style. But again, your flavor notes come from a lot of inputs. The agave itself, like, do you let it come to maturity? Like one of the issues with sustainability we'll talk about earlier is because tequila is so popular, some of the industrial ones are harvesting young tequilas. Using the diffuser method and then putting it chopped full of additives. ⁓ then how do you cook it? Do you use the traditional brick ovens? Do you use the diffuser? How do you ferment? What type of yeast? Is it closed top or open top? How do you distill and then of course, do you barrel age or not? Yeah. So we go from then that gets us to our styles of tequila by the Age note. So silver reposado on yayo. Yes. Extra on yayo. Yes. Okay. So unaged tequilas or tequilas, you can age a blanco tequila for just under two months in barrel if you want. A lot of times they're unaged or they like rest them in like st steel tanks just to kind of let the spirit open up or things like that. If you put ⁓ your tequila in barrel for at least 60 days but less than a year it's considered reposado or rested okay tequila. If you go from one to three years in barrel it's on yeah and then beyond three years is extra on yeah. Now with this the tequila makers are aging in used barrels so not like new chart American oat like bourbon Well most time it's X bourbon barrels. Some will do it in like X wine barrels. They may use different types of barrels, but because the American bourbon industry, which can only use a barrel once, you know, those barrels are easy to come by and cheaper than wine barrels or cognac barrels or things like that. Okay. Then y you mentioned ⁓ earlier the issue we are coming across of producers harvesting at a young erb ⁓ agave fruit, agave plant. The interesting point on this would be like tequila's always been around. It's always been that party spirit. What's the difference now? Well, premium tequilas are changing that perception. And I'm not talking like the like baller bottles that you would get at a night club and have bottle service. And yes, those are premium in one way, but these other premium tequilas that are focused on we're gonna be super transparent about all our production practices and ⁓ we are gonna do tahona, we're going to ⁓ cook in the old brick ovens, we're s harvesting matura agave, double ⁓ distillation copper pot stills, you know, they are creating like your Fortalesas of the world, Cascanes, ⁓ El Tesoro, Tequila Ocho. Like those aren't the nightclub bottles, right? Your nineteen forty twos or your the one the blue white bottle. Blue azul Azul. Classe Azul. Yeah. You know, those are They're part of the premiumization, but they're a different saw premiumization ⁓ that's happening. But people are now approaching tequila the way they approach whiskey or wine, asking questions about how's this produced? Where does it come from the terroir and the craftsmanship? Yeah, going back, Tawar does show. Mm-hmm. ⁓ then let's talk about a a a question that is tequila's rise around the world, right? So it was regional. Eventually it had to spread. How did that happen? So tequila's popularity outside Mexico has gone through several ways. In the United States, tequila first becomes associated with border communities in Mexican American culture before it spreads across the nation. So by the mid-twentieth century, cocktails like the margarita Help introduce tequila to a much larger audience. And the margarita is a very important cocktail because it shows the versatility of tequila. Yeah, we've already had our margarita ⁓ cla ⁓ episode, you know, a couple of weeks back and talked about how the margarita and then the paloma itself. So we've definitely gone into those, and it did. It was the intro, right? It was a good handshake of letting people into the world of tequila without ever knowing another cocktail with it in it. Yeah. And and over the last few decades, tequila has moved from kind of a niche spirit or one where it's only used for lack of margarita to a global category. And part of that's because consumers have become more interested in authentic place based products, right? Like this is associated with a particular place and not like vodka where you can produce it anywhere. Correct. Right. And so there's a story behind tequila. You can trace it back to the field, to the farmer, the distiller, and the region as a whole. So I guess now there is a boom, right? Because once there is a niche, there's a need to fill that gap and celebrities and all start to jump in on this. ⁓ yeah, I mean, think about it. I mean, obviously the biggest celebrity tequila has been George Cross. Cluny and Casamigos. Back with his affiliation back in the day with that. And then he made bank selling that to Diaggio. But then I mean, think about so many celebrities have their tequila brand, The Rock. Yep. ⁓ Terramano or whatever. Yeah. ⁓ I forget which of the genners, ⁓ the younger ones. Eight eight eighteen is her brand. Yep. So but It's not just celebrity brands, it's these more artisanal products, your tequila ocho, eltasoro, fortilesa. Yeah. They're also driving that for like the spirits nerds and people who want to drink. For for us, it was weird. We were w in the store being able to get tapatio all day long, and then all of a sudden either a label change or something happened and now it's not on the shelves around this area and magically it's starting to come back and so looking into it, it's was it a w there was rumor it was a labeled rebrand or something like that. Or then so with without official knowledge, we're kind of left in the dark. And so wanting to know those stories especially for us, we're kind of in a void, maybe still looking to see because now it's back on the bar menus at places. We're able to order it again. Yeah, and I mean some of that of course has to do with tariffs and other political issues. But I mean agave spirits there's also the other reason for its boom is kind of the wellness culture as there are lots of people they go to the gym and things like that, they're like I only drink tequila because I don't get hangovers or it's cleaner or yeah. So but ⁓ agave spirits like Tequila and mezcal are the fastest growing category of spirits here in the United States. In twenty twenty two, the sale of agave spirits outpaced the sale of American whiskey for the first time ever. So this was twenty twenty two. Yes. So agave spirits sold more and again agave spirits is tequila and mezcal. Okay. Now mezcal is a tiny sliver. This is ninety-five percent plus tequila. Okay. They outpace American whiskey, so bourbon, rye, Jack Daniels, all that. So that category as a whole surpasses American whiskey, and sales of tequila and mezcal are expected to overtake vodka as the best selling spirits category in the United States, a position vodka has held since overtaking American whiskey in nineteen seventy six. Yeah, I was like I remember us having this conversation pre potentially on a previous episode as well where vodka overthrew whiskey nineteen seventy six yeah that is crazy that in a short a period of time right so it went from almost two hundred years because brandy I guess would have been our our refrigerator first and then whiskey takes over from there but golly and it's not slowing down like as you walk into liquor stores the tequila the agave section It's getting bigger and bigger. Yeah. I actually went into a total wine the other day and then moved sections around, expanding the American whiskey section. And they expanded the tequila and mezcal section and releg and moved vodka entirely. And so ⁓ this aisle or half of the aisle that was vodka is now like tequila. Wow. So big changes there, but of course that popularity creates challenges. That challenge comes back to the sustainability and the future of tequila. Like let's talk about that elephant in the room. Yeah, so because agave takes years to mature, producers have to predict demand far in advance. You know, it's kind of like whiskey, but on the back end with barrel aging, yeah. Is it takes years to finally produce that product. And when tequila demand rises quickly, farmers may plant more agave. But that yield isn't coming until six plus years later. Exactly. And so and when demand slows, there can be price swings. So as those agaves are coming to maturity, if you're in a slower market, now they're fetching lower prices and there's not a need to plant as much. So the the the the seed of planting that could be say, you know, a dollar, but then by the time they have come to harvest, it could now be back down to 25 cents. Like it could be a huge swing where the investment is well up front. And how are they managing that now? Like what analytics, what's going into helping assist with this? Yeah. Well the other issue is as they're planting, as the agave plant grows, it creates this shoot. And so naturally what happens? This shoot, ⁓ you have bees and other pollinating like insects and animals, birds, things like that, who will take that and distribute that and lead to new agave plants. The issue is is when that shoot comes up, it's taking a lot of the sugars inside of the pena. So what most tequila producers do is they cut the shoot because they want the sugars to stay concentrated in the pina. So they are essentially cloning the tequilas, like they'll take pieces of it and plant. The issue is those agave plants then are essentially genetically identical. Okay. So again, they're like clones. So one of the big issues is biodiversity. is because they're not letting the agaves naturally reproduce is if every agave plant is genetically identical, that means if you have a new insect or new ⁓ like mold or fungus. Phylloxera. Yeah. ⁓ same things with grapes. Yeah. Is they are going to become more vulnerable to those sorts of issues. Which then leads farmers to potentially more pesticides, more fertilizers, more things like that. And so you have questions about biodiversity, soil health, and just the long-term resilience of the agave plants. So what where's the silver lining? Where's the good news on this? Because that would sound like gloom and doom. Well, the good news is is that many producers are trying to practice more ⁓ sustainable techniques, ⁓ whether it's using agave waste for compost or building materials, more environmentally conscious farming. Like there's some that are like, okay, for the long-term future of our industry, we've got to let more agave plants be naturally pollinated and reproduce naturally rather than kind of just like cloning them. ⁓ some agave producers, ⁓ you know, some of them look very like, okay, that's all agave, like in straight rows. Others are like mixing in other crops to help replenish soil health. So again, the producers where you may be paying more for the bottle, typically it really is a much higher quality product. Because of not the process as a whole. Yes. Gotcha. So the future of depi ⁓ of tequila it sounds like it depends on making that future depends not only making great spirits, but also protecting whatever this ecosystem or just the the system as a whole that makes making that spirit possible. If they don't think of it from t ⁓ from snout to tell, it's potentially gonna be in a tizzy. Yes. So let's talk about our cocktails and how tequila fits into that. We've gone from a little dark, let's go to a little bright then. Okay. Okay. ⁓ we mentioned that the ⁓ two cocktails we were going to do today was more of a traditional and a modern, right? So the traditional. Let's go for it. Yeah, so with the contorito, ⁓ in Jalisco, which is the main Mexican state f ⁓ responsible for tequila production. There's this open-air bar called El Güero. What is that? Okay. I don't know the Spanish translation, but it's this bar in Jalisco. They have one cocktail on the menu. The contourito. Okay. And you have two choices. You can have a single serving contourito or a 21 liter version. Wait, this is the one where I think we've seen the videos and a guy is like, Two handed with bottles going around. It's a it it's a I mean clay vessel that is larger than most men's bellies. Yeah. Yeah. And the he's entering in, he's squeezing limes and like as he's going doing a fresh squeeze, limes getting rid of the sh the half shells. And then at the end of it it's like two two liters of squirt, right? And he's just going around and then tops it off one last time with maybe like a floater of another bottle of tequila. Yeah. So we're talking using whole bottles of things, and while the exact origin of the Cantorito is unknown, it is the popular after work drink of the hemidoros, the farmers who harvest the agave plants ⁓ that are the basis of tequila. And you know the cantorito isn't trying to turn tequila into something it isn't. It's celebrating where it comes from. Like this is the drink of The people harvesting the agave plants. And we ⁓ we mentioned it when you were shaking yours. ⁓ some people have called that cantorito like the superchars paloma, right? Yeah, so it's very juicy because you have grapefruit, orange, and lime juices in it. Now, for the most authentic cantorito, you would use ⁓ a Mexican grapefruit soda like a jaritos or squirt. Yep. Now Again, if you're gonna use squirt, go to your Mexican market. Don't use like the one you would get in most American supermarkets that are full of high fructose corn syrup. But squirt and joritas tend to have a zippier grapefruit flavor. ⁓ whereas modern grapefruit sodas like the fever tree I use focus more on like a balanced floral grapefruit flavor. So Again, when I went to the Mexican market the other day, they were out of the Mexican squirts, so I was like, ⁓ we'll use the fever tree. Okay. What's another ⁓ signature part of this? The that clay mug. So Yeah, so I mean, of course, this is the the big guy where what makes this drink so recognizable, it not only keeps the drink extra cold, but it enhances the earthiness of the cocktail, you know, with a clay vessel. Yeah. And the alkalinity of the clay mugs neutralizes the acids in the citrus of the cocktail. So if you were using like a traditional clay mug like one that hadn't been glazed or anything like that, you should soak them in cold water first so that they don't like absorb the cocktail and it ensures optimal chill. But again, this is another kind of signature drink that is oftentimes defined by the vessel itself. If we go from that kind of traditional now into the modern craft cocktail take, Tequila takes a new place. Yeah. There it opens up a into a brand new spectrum of cocktails in this modern era. Yes, so tequila is now a lot more than just margaritas and palumas. It's applied in a variety of contexts. And the C is a great example of this. So bartender Katie Stipe ⁓ created this cocktail in two thousand six. She was working at the Flatiron Lounge in New York City, and she took her inspiration from the Hemingway daiquiry. Yes. So instead of white rum. She uses Bonco tequila instead of the Marashina liqueur, she uses Kimpuri. And I approve of both of those. Yeah, I mean it's a great choice. And but what makes the Siesta interesting is Katie Ste was developing this cocktail when essentially the only tequila cocktails were the margarita and the paloma. And other than that, tequila drinks were few and far between. I mean, other than A strawberry margarita, a mango margarita. Another citrus on top I mean another juice on fruit. Yeah. ⁓ and so the siesta is one of the first like modern classic tequila cocktails before this massive explosion of interest in agave spirits. I love the fact of this this cocktail because it does play lean hard into ⁓ that. Tequila with grapefruit bitter and kampare bitter, right? Bitter on bitter, one a little sweet, the one a little dry, and they just bury very, very well. And then throwing in the extra lime to give that citrus pop that it needs, but then making sure that we have the sugar that's lacking in the ⁓ the compare, like an Aperol would have that higher sugar content, bringing in that simple syrup. Interesting part on this is I think I would try it again. What happens if you lean into the agave more and maybe use an agave syrup instead of the symbol? Something we could try later. Absolutely. But now this agave character isn't duh ⁓ it does give it enough character though. Like this silver tequila did what it needed to. It comes through. It's not being bullied around by the bitterness. That's the other key, is there is some herbal and some. I wouldn't call it Tawar notes. I don't know that I have a palette good enough to call something out, but the agave splavers that are supposed to come through from this brand are coming through in this cocktail. Yep. So the siesta has now become this modern classic with others to follow. Yeah. Now we have a modern classic, the traditional. As we end today's episode on National Tequila Day, what else do you have for us? Well, when we look at tequila's story, what stands out is how a spirit that's tied to one specific place has become something enjoyed around the world. It's not just tequila is no longer just in Mexican restaurants or only in American bars. Tequila is a spirit enjoyed in cocktail bars around the world. But even as tequila becomes more popular, remembering that the origins matter. Again, origins do play a huge piece into this. Yeah, tequila is a spirit shaped by agriculture, tradition, and generations of craftsmanship. And I think that's what makes cocktails as a whole so fascinating, right? Because once you have this, imagine being there, or actually that imagine being there. It trans is transformative. It can like it enhances that in that experience. So a drink just isn't the recipe. It's a snapshot in history for my history buff over there, but it's a record of architecture, ⁓ technology, and then culture as a whole. Yeah, and whether it's a humble cantorito served in a clay mug or a modern cocktail like the siesta, tequila carries a story, and that's exactly why we keep exploring. As we conclude today's episode, always please like and subscribe on YouTube, on Instagram, TikTok. And then if you are a podcaster likes ⁓ listening to us, feel free to subscribe on Apple and Spotify. As you want to interact with us, go ahead, hit like, subscribe, leave some comments. We're getting some nice ⁓ funny ones coming back to us. ⁓ keep those up. We're we take those and try to enhance what we provide as as content to you all. ⁓ what do we have next time? Next time we're stepping away from agave and heading into the world of one of the most influential mixers in cocktail history. Always Coca-Cola. And so we'll explore how a soft drink, Coca-Cola, becomes a global icon and how bartenders have paired it with spirits for generations, including two legendary cocktails, the Cuba Libre. and the Batanga. So until next time, keep exploring the past. One drink at a time as we dive deeper into the bark.