Cheers to the weekend! We have lots of news for you this week. We love delivering interviews with seasoned industry professionals but we know that’s not the only reason you’re here. Two topics that we have covered recently have updates that we know you will want to be filled-in on: the growing tequila adulteration scandal and Uncle Nearest Whiskey’s receivership case.

Without further delay, here’s the latest.

And They Aren’t the Ones Already Facing Lawsuits

Once again Mezcalista’s Felisa Rogers is one of the first to drop the latest update on the growing tequila adulteration scandal. I will be drawing heavily from her previously linked article. We have also been working to keep our readers up to date on the situation. You can read our recap from July here.

On October sixteenth Remberto Galván Cabrera, a spokesperson for agave farmers, revealed at a press conference in Mexico City that four undisclosed brands had failed independent purity testing. The tequilas in question all claim to be 100% agave but after testing have shown to contain anywhere from 49% to over 77% industrial cane spirits. One sample, Galván claims, even contains unsafe levels of methanol. This comes on the heels of a formal complaint he made with the Mexican government demanding a criminal investigation of the CRT this past September.

We have previously discussed how the adulteration scandal injures smaller agave farmers, but to those who have recently joined us: as big tequila allegedly cuts their agave spirits with other, cheaper spirits they also drive down the price of agave in the market. As tequila and other agave spirits continue to increase in popularity somehow the price of agave has dropped - but with no oversupply in the market. according to Rogers at Mezcalistas: “In October of 2024[…]The price of agave had dropped from 32 pesos a kilo (in 2018) to just one peso a kilo[…]” So it’s understandable why there’s a lot of tension amongst agaveros (agave farmers) regarding “big tequila”.

Rogers is respecting Galván’s request to leave the names of the implicated brands undisclosed for the time being. This is in order to insure that there is no interference with the current official investigation and to keep Galván safe from harm. Rogers has verified that she has seen the actual test results and asserts their validity.

Brands Facing Adulteration Accusations Assert that Tests Aren’t Capable of Discerning What they Claim

The most logical course of action when facing such a damning accusation is for these brands to deny the validity of the independent testing being done on their tequilas. The onus of seeking out accurate information is then put back on consumers which means some will just shrug and continue buying the adulterated brands they always have. It’s not the worst plan, at least in the short term, because it does essentially prolong the inevitable.

Unfortunately this strategy can’t hold out forever because as it turns out, the tests are really accurate. Actually, stable isotope analysis is so good that some scientists are studying markers to determine accurate age statements in tequila and the altitudes that the agave in analyzed tequilas were grown in. Rogers actually wrote a really great article explaining the science if you want a more thorough understanding but I’ll try to give you the TLDR version.

Using highly sensitive equipment scientists are able to isolate the carbon in a given substance and using the specific isotopes of that carbon can determine the original source. Agave is from a class of plants that is already very distinct from other plants used in distillation but it also contains a molecule that is so unique it was given its own name, agavin, which is a type of fructan. The presence of this molecule helps determine (as a last line of verification after stable isotope analysis) with near certainty if a product is in fact made with agave. I will include some interesting studies I found while learning about stable isotope analysis at the end of this newsletter for anyone who likes a good deep dive like me.

Headlines Can Be Deceiving, Tracking the Data and Sources

We recently wrote about Uncle Nearest and some financial drama that they are facing. At the time of last writing a judge had ruled that Uncle Nearest would be placed in a receivership in order to pay back a $108mil loan they had defaulted on. This was a huge blow to the brand which had previously been making headlines for its incredible success. Fawn Weaver, the company’s founder, has remained determined and confident in the company and is now having to push back against further proposed court oversight. Weaver and her husband have 10 other businesses that are unrelated to Uncle Nearest and operate independent of one another.

Weaver has also stated that the case with Farm Credit has already damaged the brand’s reputation. Court filings allege that the creditor is seeking to do further damage to the Weavers’ image with the new push to include their other businesses in the receivership. Farm Credit has not produced evidence to support their claims despite being ordered by the court to do so.

In the latest update on AFROTECH there is also a piece of information I have not seen widely covered: Farm Credit may have some liability in Uncle Nearest’s financial difficulties. The former CFO, Mike Senzaki, accused of misrepresenting assets and landing the company in receivership to begin with may have had a connection with a loan officer at Farm Credit. The creditor had previously claimed to be unaware of the property that was bought with the loan they provided. They were able to provide “…an internal email paper trail between Senzaki and Farm Credit’s Jonathan Boyce and Brian Klatt, in addition to travel records showing the lender knew of the property and had attended events there.” In the legal filings from Uncle Nearest they state: “Plaintiff’s employees and agents were actively involved in – and frankly acquiesced to – the exact circumstances that it is now claiming somehow support a receivership.”

It seems that there is quite a bit more here than what can be gathered from the collection of headlines. Some sensationalized headlines state the company is facing chapter 11 bankruptcy, which is technically something the receiver could decide to do if necessary, but currently the company is making progress in the right direction. The receiver Phillip G. Young Jr. says that “The company has significant value and can be reorganized” and there is currently no move to file for bankruptcy.

This one made me drool a little. I have been scrolling a lot of recipe videos lately to get some inspiration for my husband’s big 40th birthday this weekend. Even though this feels like it might be on the sweet side, the brown butter bourbon, cinnamon syrup, and amaretto together feels like the right level of decadence for an after dinner drink. I’m truly a sucker for fall flavors and the presentation on this makes me want to curl up with it next to the fireplace.

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