DETROIT – Evening Bar, a cocktail bar in the Shinola Hotel, is partnering up with Tequila Tromba to spread awareness on endangered agave.
For all of September, all proceeds made from the bar’s signature paloma using Tequila Tromba will be donated to help raise money for endangered agave to be replanted. According to the Tequila brand, with every 100 bottles sold, Tequila Tromba will plant a wild, endangered agave.
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National Geographic state that agave flower spread seeds only once in their life span, which typically lasts about seven to 15 years. These plants spend a decade or more producing enough sugar to grow a single stalk before dying. The best time to harvest an agave plant is right before the stalk shoots up. The plant dies after harvesters remove the heart of the agave, also known as piña. The piña is the source of coveted sugar that is distilled into alcohol.
Tequila Tromba wrote that the company’s goal is to plant at least 4,000 endangered agaves in the upcoming planting season and increase the goal yearly. According to National Geographic, almost 50% of Sonora, one of the many states in Mexico that grows agave, agave crops have been wiped out in the past 50 years.
Below is a list of endangered agave species:
- Agave Chancuella
- Media Penca
- Agave Pencudo
- Ixtero Amarillo
- Azul Telcruz
Tequila is specifically made from Blue Webber Agave, and Mezcal can be made from 24 different types of agave.
Teaching Specialist Nicole Shriner from Michigan State University said that the quality of both Tequila and Mezcal could be lower if the proper agave is no longer accessible. Distillers only need a certain percentage of a specific agave for the spirit to qualify as Mezcal or Tequila. Shriner said that substitutes of the agave to make up for the lack of resources could be mixed sugars from other agave species or cheap sugar like table sugar.
Learn more about the origin of Agave spirits from Mexico here.