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One Badass Babe: Julia Cuthbertson on How Teaching in Spain and Crashing a Wedding in Mexico Led to a Love Affair with Mezcal and the Birth of Las Chingonas Imports
Manage episode 510387946 series 3573273
A wedding in Oaxaca. A chance meeting. A suitcase full of small-batch bottles that turned into an import company with a mission. We sit down with Julia Cuthbertson—founder of Las Chingonas Imports—to unpack how real mezcal is made, why labels can mislead, and what it takes to keep agave traditions alive without romanticizing them to extinction. Julia’s path winds from Connecticut and Spain to Brooklyn, where late nights at a mezcaleria and home tastings evolved into trusted relationships with families in Guerrero, Oaxaca, Puebla, and Nuevo León. She explains the messy truth behind certification and denominations of origin, why many ethical producers choose the “agave spirits” label, and how corruption, cost, and geography shape what ends up on US shelves. We go deep on sustainability: thirty-year tepextate, deforestation, water scarcity, and viveros that replant seedlings back into the hills. The conversation gets candid about adulteration, lawsuits, and the “tequilaization” of mezcal—plus the quiet, practical steps small producers take to protect species, like semi-cultivating wild pups on rocky home plots. Along the way, we taste what makes this world so vivid: clay-pot distilled tepextate from Santa Catarina Minas made by Perla of Pasión Ancestral, and the pulque‑fermented profile of Pecho Tierra in the mountains of Nuevo León—spirits that bend your expectations and expand what mezcal can be. If you care about terroir, craft, and honest sourcing, this one’s for you. Come for the stories; leave with a buyer’s toolkit: ask who grows the agave, how it’s roasted and fermented, and whether the family owns the brand. Then choose bottles that keep the flame honest. Like what you heard? Follow the show, leave a quick review, and share this episode with a friend who geeks out on agave. Your support helps small producer families get the spotlight they deserve.
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Mentioned:
Mis Mezcales Tienda
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Chapters
1. Bar Intro & Last Day of Summer (00:00:00)
2. Meet Julia of Las Chingonas Imports (00:01:20)
3. Origins: Connecticut, Vermont, Spain (00:02:40)
4. Latin America Trips That Changed Everything (00:06:45)
5. From Spain to NYC and Public Health (00:11:40)
6. Brooklyn Mezcal Obsession Begins (00:15:30)
7. Building Community Through Tastings (00:20:05)
8. Launching an Import Company (00:24:40)
9. Choosing Producers & Trust (00:28:20)
10. Mezcal vs. Agave Spirits Demystified (00:33:00)
11. Sustainability, Scarcity & Integrity (00:38:40)
12. Adulteration, Lawsuits, and Tequilaization (00:45:10)
13. Wild vs. Cultivated: Pragmatism vs. Purism (00:50:20)
14. Highlight: Pecho Tierra & Pulque Ferments (00:56:10)
15. Clay Pots, Tepextate, and Ancestral Methods (01:01:40)
16. Life Lessons: Travel, Risk, and Growth (01:06:30)
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