Hi. I’m Ferron Salniker, and if you’ve been an Insider for long you’ve likely noticed that my name has surfaced with more BevNET’s spirits coverage. Last year I started as the spirits editor after years of covering food and spirits as a freelancer. Before writing I worked in the restaurant world, which was my first entry into making chit chat about booze but not where I encountered my favorite spirit: that was in the agave fields of Oaxaca. Mezcal at the time was showing up at the coolest of my local Bay Area bars, but having traveled and lived in Mexico, I quickly familiarized myself with the spirit. I actually started producing an event in San Francisco with the goal of raising awareness of mezcal— now those events happen across the country. Watching the trajectory of mezcal is maybe why I’m fascinated by how trends develop and what that means for the future of the spirits I love. Produced for centuries in Mexico, it took founders hitting the pavement in the U.S. for decades before we saw headlines introducing ‘tequila’s smoky cousin’ (FYI mezcal is more like the grandaddy). Now Real Housewives are touting brands and mezcal has become one of the fastest-growing spirits. How did it get there? Bartenders helped: they served as unofficial ambassadors at a time when social media was kicking off and when the conversation about where our food and drinks come from began to go mainstream. Artisanal mezcal, made from a plant with an ancient relationship to people in the Americas, fit right into the farm-to-table ethos. Small brands worked collectively on education until strategics bought into the category. Mexican and Mexican-American chefs also worked very hard for years to change the American perception of their cuisine. Then of course, there’s the rise of premium tequila and a few big names putting their stamp on it. To me, mezcal’s increased popularity is not all good news, as the sustainability of this special cultural and agricultural product remains a big question mark. Mezcal’s growth holds lessons for other global spirits. I recently heard the owners of pisco brand Suyo make a comparison of the Peruvian and Chilean grape distillate to mezcal – but can we really chart the same graph over every fledgling category? While mezcal benefitted from the craft cocktail movement and makes a perfect base for what is now America’s favorite cocktail, pisco is stuck in what Kami Kenna calls ‘pisco sour jail’. That signature drink is made with egg whites— something that makes it less approachable than the margarita— and when it does end up on a menu, bartenders don’t see the value of trading up from low-priced pisco. “The reason why mezcal has had so much success is the humanity of it,” said Kenna, an agave spirit tour guide and educator as well as a partner in the pisco brand Psicologia. Education and the marketing of mezcal up until very recently mostly focused on fueling aficionados with stories about producers, agaves, and place of origin. There aren’t many other pisco brands besides Piscologia that put the producer front and center. With marketing and education still nascent, however, distributors of some of the biggest brands and large restaurant groups are flocking to Piscologia’s expert certification course. As the rise of tequila and agave spirits begins to normalize I’ve heard people ask, what’s the next tequila? If we look at pisco, will more entrants raise the tide? And can pisco brands borrow from wine varietal lingo as a bridge to American consumers? While we can review the data on gin, rum or yes, pisco, those numbers can only tell you so much before trends take hold. I’m interested in exploring how a convincing story at the right time and the right place can change how we drink. I want to hear from you, so send me an email if you have ideas. Ferron Salniker (fsalniker@bevnet.com) is BevNET’s Spirits Editor, based in Los Angeles. | 
