Welcome to the New World of Agave With Vodka, Wine, and Zero-Proof Spirits

Technically, Can de la Calle is a wine. It’s golden-hued and aromatic, with notes of fresh citrus, spice, and green vegetables. But there’s one major difference between Can de la Calle and your textbook Chardonnay: It’s made from agave. 

There are many ways to enjoy agave. Tequila is the obvious choice, and mezcal has seen significant growth in recent years. Other categories of agave spirits, such as raicilla, sotol, and bacanora, have also steadily emerged in the U.S.

Agave lends itself well to a range of expressions. You can mix a Martini with agave gin, shake up an agave vodka Espresso Martini, or sip on a glass of agave wine.

Agave, a succulent native to hot, arid regions, is a shapeshifter of sorts. It’s best known for tequila and mezcal, but it can also produce floral wines, silky vodkas, and expressive, zero-proof spirits. 

All the ways to agave

Melly Barajas, a tequilera and one of the few female master distillers in Mexico, has been making Can de la Calle for more than 20 years. The artisanal agave wine starts just as a tequila does: with the piña, the heart of the spiky agave plant. The piñas are harvested, cooked for 24 hours, crushed, and then fermented until a low-alcohol liquid emerges. Barajas fortifies the mixture with tequila until it reaches 20% ABV. 

Iain Griffiths, owner of New York City’s buzzy Bar Snack, loves agave wine. They liken it to an unaged agave sherry. “It’s juicy, with notes of green and black pepper [with] an herby, arugula-ish kick,” they say.

At 20% ABV, it’s more versatile in cocktails than a typical tequila or mezcal. “It still has a robust agave aroma that jumps out of the glass, but you don’t get that full, 40% ABV slap,” says Griffiths. 

At Bar Snack, the wine ends up in two drinks: the spritzy Menage-a-Gave, and the Good Gordo, a spicy Margarita riff. In the former, the wine adds an extra oomph of agave energy without raising the cocktail’s alcohol. 

In the Good Gordo, guests can pick between tequila or mezcal. Both are amped up with a split-base of agave wine. 

“It lowers the ABV of the drink and helps us bring more herbaceous, fruity notes forward from the hot sauce we add,” says Griffiths. “This keeps a spicy Marg from being just a two-dimensional hit of booze and heat.”

Beyond tequila and mezcal

Other products further redefine what it means to be an agave spirit. 

In San Antonio, Devils River distillery makes an agave-tinged whiskey by topping bourbon with blue agave nectar. 

Gracias a Dios is an agave gin, made with an agave spirit macerated with Oaxacan botanicals that include avocado leaf, yerba santa, cacao, and Oaxaca tangerine. 

Actor Dan Akroyd’s Crystal Head Vodka makes a cross-continent vodka crafted from blue Weber agave grown in Mexico and Newfoundland water.

The allure of agave extends beyond alcohol. Seedlip, the pioneering line of zero-proof spirit substitutes, recently launched Notas de Agave. It’s a nonalcoholic spirit made with prickly pear and agave. 

Lee Applbaum is no stranger to agave. In the late 1990s, he was part of the team of entrepreneurs that built the Patrón brand. They wanted to show Americans that tequila had premium potential and was more than a shooting spirit.

When the team stepped back from Patrón, they vowed to only reunite if a similar opportunity to innovate arose. 

Enter agave-based vodka. 

Weber Ranch Vodka, run by Patrón’s former team, is made from 100% blue Weber agave, grown in Jalisco and distilled in Texas. The spirit is married with local water, distilled in both pot and column stills, and then bottled. The agave notes shine through, with a subtle greenness and a lingering oiliness on the palate. 

“In its very purest form, agave makes really spectacular distillates that need no additives,” says Applbaum. He says that Weber Ranch isn’t a tequila-flavored vodka. It’s vodka with a subtle agave swagger.

“You have a soft, velvety mouthfeel that you don’t get from a potato, wheat, or corn vodka,” says Applbaum. “You get a natural sweetness, plus citrus and tropical fruits. It meets all the criteria a vodka drinker wants, but it retains what makes the agave so special.

The power of agave spirits

Bartenders will extol the virtues of an herbaceous, earthy lowland tequila, or the complexities of a smoky mezcal. And many health-conscious drinkers gravitate toward tequila because it’s gluten-free and has a low glycemic index.

Agave spirits are one of the industry’s fastest-growing categories. According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, more than 31.6 million cases of tequila and mezcal were sold in 2023. In 2021, tequila sales overtook those of whiskey in the U.S.

While vodka remains the largest category of spirits by volume in the U.S., it’s a sector that has lacked disruption, says Applbaum. 

“There’s so much buzz and conversation about tequila and agave, so now, we’re making that accessible to those who enjoy vodka,” says Applbaum. “Why has no one done this before? It’s hiding in plain sight. For consumers, there’s a sense of pride when you’re an early adopter of something really fun and interesting, exploring new agave that hasn’t existed in the category.”

Agave beyond booze

Master distiller and biochemist Iván Saldaña is behind some of the most innovative spirits in Mexico, like Montelobos Mezcal, Abasolo El Whisky de Mexico, and bitter orange liqueur Alma Finca. When Formula 1 superstar driver Lewis Hamilton asked Saldaña to consider creating a nonalcoholic tequila, it was a first. 

“I had to reconsider my career. I now think of myself as a flavor professional. My job is to bring sensory experiences to the world, alcohol or not,” says Saldaña.

The result was Almave, the first alcohol-free tequila made from blue Weber agave. It was a personal challenge for Saldaña. 

“As I’ve become a more mature person, what I drink has changed,” says Saldaña. “I’m not 30 years old anymore. I have the desire to enjoy things that are delicious, but it’s tougher to process these things. We had to take our egos apart and consider what is right and wrong.”

Agave is an excellent vessel for such explorations. “There are so many volatile molecules that exist in agave,” says Saldaña. “Some bring the fresh, green dimensions of the plant, and then there are the compounds created when you caramelize the sugars or cook the agave. Agave is also full of fatty flavors.”

Saldaña also worked with glycoprotein from a variety of mushrooms, to add freshness and pungency, and capsicum, a molecule that chiles generate, to create heat when sipped.

The magic of agave

Agave is a storied plant that, when treated well, showcases place, history, and culture. The Aztecs worshipped the agave plant (the maguey) as a gift from the gods. 

Agave plants take a minimum of eight years to raise from seed to viability. They thrive when distilled by hand, from cooking the piña underground to distilling in clay pots. “Grain and other crops just aren't very romantic,” says Applbaum. “There’s an inherent craft to every step of the process.”

It can also be finicky. Agave is thorny, spiny, and temperamental. To make great agave spirits is costly and timely, especially in a manner that respects the process, land and people. “It's expensive, it’s laborious,” says Applbaum.

It’s not for the faint of heart. But for the fervent agave enthusiasts, it’s worth it. 

“The world of agave is huge,” says Saldaña. “You can do so many things that contain agave. It’s such a strong pull for me.”