Gary Paul Nabhan, Agave Spirits

Friday, June 9, 2023 - 6:00pm

Join us for a reading and signing with Gary Paul Nabhan to celebrate the release of his new book, Agave Spirits.

All tequilas are mezcals; all mezcals are made from agaves; and every bottle of mezcal is the remarkable result of collaborations among agave entrepreneurs, botanists, distillers, beverage distributors, bartenders, and more. How these groups come together in this “spirits world” is the subject of this fascinating new book by the acclaimed ethnobotanist Gary Paul Nabhan and the pioneering restauranteur David Suro Piñera. Join  us for a conversation on the diversity of the distillate agave spirits, an exploration of the family of agaves, and a look at the stunning innovations that have been transforming the industry around tequilas and mezcals in recent decades.

Gary Paul Nabhan is an Arab American agro-ecologist, ethnobotanist, literary naturalist, and Ecumenical Franciscan Brother who lives near the U.S.-Mexico border. His collaborations with O’odham families and pueblos on both sides of the border now spans forty-five years. He is a MacArthur Fellow, a Labán Literary Fellow, and has been awarded several other honors for his cross-cultural, community-based conservation initiatives to safeguard and restore biocultural diversity, sacred places, and food traditions. He holds the W. K. Kellogg Chair in Borderlands Foods and Water Security at the University of Arizona Southwest Center. He has been recognized as a pioneer in the local food movement by Time magazine and Slow Food International. In addition to his new book, he is the author of over 30 books on the Sonoran desert, seed preservation and native plants, the loss of biodiversity, the importance of pollinators and the critical link between a healthy land and a healthy culture. He live on a five-acre homestead in Arizona and farms a diverse set of heirloom fruit and nut varieties from the Spanish Mission era and from the Middle Eastern homelands of his Lebanese ancestors, as well as heritage grains and beans adapted to arid climates.

Event address: 
4022 Rio Grande Blvd NW
Albuquerque, NM 87107
Agave Spirits: The Past, Present, and Future of Mezcals By Gary Paul Nabhan, Ph.D., David Suro Piñera Cover Image
$30.00
ISBN: 9780393867107
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: W. W. Norton & Company - May 16th, 2023