Love Tequila? The Penn Museum Is Hosting Ancient Alcohol After Hours: History of Agave Spirits
Love Tequila? The Penn Museum Is Hosting Ancient Alcohol After Hours: History of Agave Spirits
Tequila lovers will be happy to know that tickets are now available for “Ancient Alcohol After Hours: History of Agave Spirits,” a talk-and-tasting event tracing the history of agave from its ancient uses to modern mezcal and tequila production. The event features two James Beard Award-winning authors alongside a guided tasting. Tickets are available here.
Penn archaeobotanist Dr. Chantel White will discuss what ancient plant remains reveal about early agave harvesting, cultivation and use, including evidence of agave’s presence in 18th-century Philadelphia. According to organizers, agave sustained communities across Mexico for generations as a source of food, fiber, medicine and ritual long before mezcal and tequila became widely known internationally.
David Suro Piñera, an advocate for ethical agave production, will discuss how agave spirits are made, covering Indigenous production traditions, recent research into agave’s origins, and the environmental and social challenges facing traditional producers today.
Danny Childs of Slow Drinks will close the program with an overview of different agave spirit styles, followed by a guided tasting featuring a mezcal with a notable backstory, along with a specialty agave cocktail.
Organizers describe the event as suited for both newcomers and experienced agave spirit enthusiasts. Tickets are on sale now.
About the Speakers
Danny Childs is the author of the James Beard Award-winning book “Slow Drinks” and founder of the company by the same name. A trained ethnobotanist, Childs takes a botanical approach to beverage-making, incorporating ingredients foraged from the wild, grown in his cocktail garden, and sourced from local farms. He teaches this approach through his consulting business, educational courses, and his role with the Slow Food organization. He can be followed on social media at @slowdrinks.
David Suro-Piñera, a native of Guadalajara, founded Philadelphia’s Tequilas Restaurant in 1986 and has since become an internationally recognized advocate for traditional agave spirits. He created the Siembra family of tequilas, founded the Tequila Interchange Project and the Siembra Suro Foundation, and co-founded the Bat Friendly project, which promotes sustainable production, biodiversity and fair practices within the agave spirits industry. In 2024, he co-authored “Agave Spirits: The Past, Present, and Future of Mezcals,” which received a James Beard Foundation Award.
Chantel White, Ph.D., is a Teaching Specialist in the Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials, where she teaches archaeobotany. She previously served as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Notre Dame and received her Ph.D. in Archaeology from Boston University in 2013. White maintains ongoing archaeobotanical research projects in Greece, Israel, Jordan and the United States, and served as curator for the special exhibition “Ancient Food & Flavor.”
