Tucson agave fest celebrates plant’s heritage

For centuries, the agave plant has had an important impact on the Southwest borderlands. The annual Agave Heritage Festival celebrates the plant as well as Tucson’s rich cultural history through four days of tastings, seminars, an agave pit roasting, culinary events and live Latin and jazz music.

This year, the festival will run from Thursday, April 27, to Sunday, April 30, throughout Downtown Tucson.

Various businesses and organizations are involved with the event, including restaurants, bars, hotels, Mission Garden, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, the Sosa-Carrillo-Fremont House Museum and Local First Arizona.

The festival highlights the culinary, commercial and cultural importance of the agave plant.

In Metro Tucson, there are around 125 agave species. Six species of agave grow natively in the Tucson Basin and surrounding mountain ranges.

The agave plant has a long history in the region, especially as a source of food. Agave cultivation goes back over 1,000 years in the Tucson Basin.

Hotel Congress Chief Executive Officer Todd Hanley founded the festival in 2008. It started with a Cinco de Mayo celebration and bartender showdown and has grown into a citywide event.

Hanley said at first, the festival was meant to bring more people into Downtown. Over the years, it has become more focused on the ecology, conservation, sustainability and education related to the plant.

“It’s about the bigger element of how our region should be aligned as much as possible to this plant that is endemic to this region,” Hanley said.

Many of the events take place at Hotel Congress, which has its own mezcal room. This year, bars from Costa Rica; Baltimore; Dallas; Oaxaca, Mexico and Brooklyn will take over locales for one-night, offering special cocktails and experiences.

The festival will also have more than 15 intimate, guided mezcal tastings, where participants learn more about the history, culture and cultivation of agave spirits.

Guided dinners at Downtown restaurants will feature multicourse dinners, cocktail pairings and presentations.

A new event on Sunday called the Spirit of Sonora: Consumer Expo will celebrate the Sonoran Desert and region, as well as Sonora’s partnerships with Arizona. Held at Maynards Kitchen, the event will have Bacanora and Sotol samples, food, live music, presentations, book signings, vendors and an art exhibit.

One of the signature events of the festival, the Agave Fiesta on Saturday evening at Hotel Congress, brings together live music, food, samples from 50 mezcal producers and an agave showcase.

Hanley said through the festival, he hopes educate others about the agave plant in engaging, hands-on ways.

“The festival is designed to allow for the consumer to understand, appreciate and thoroughly enjoy agave distillates, because nobody wants to be force-fed information about aspects of our environment and our ecology without having fun. You are sampling generations of knowledge,” Hanley said.

There will be chances to try types of mezcal, a word used to describe spirits that are made from agave, produced in regions of Mexico. This includes tequila, Bacanora, Raicilla and Sotol.

The festival will highlight mezcals from more than 10 producers.

“Our focus is on the artisanal and ancestral mezcal producers, but we also work with what we consider to be ethos-minded producers. It’s very diverse, from very small to pretty big,” Hanley said.

Hanley has become knowledgeable about the agave plant over the years, but he takes on more of a role of community connector. He brings together experts from different fields to showcase the agave plant.

“There are people who are experts in this field from the botany perspective, from the archelogy perspective. They’re critically important in the festival. I utilize them for all of the expertise that they bring,” Hanley said.

This year, the festival will include Carlos Camarena of Tequila Ocho, a third-generation tequilero and fifth-generation farmer who is involved in conservation and ecological efforts in the agave industry.

Another prominent guest this year, Asis Cortés comes from six generations of mezcal producers in Oaxaca. He has recently been working on a project related to regenerative farming and ranching.

Agave Heritage Festival

WHEN: Various times Thursday, April 27, to Sunday, April 30

WHERE: Various locations in Tucson. At the center of the festival is Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress Street, Tucson

cost: Price points vary depending on the event. Tickets for each event sold separately

INFO: agaveheritagefestival.com

This article appears in Apr 20-26, 2023.