2024 has been on hell of year for me. I went down to Mexico 4 separate times to visit some amazing distilleries, I started and launched (and ultimately had to put on hold) a Podcast with my friend and someone I looked up to (Shout out Leandro, The Educated Barfly), I went to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to visit a Gin distillery for 36 hours (video coming soon), Got to give a talk about additive free tequilas in New York City at a bar convention, Got to work with some incredible brands and spend some time with some incredible friends in New Orleans for Tales of The Cocktail, & rebranded my Bar & Restaurant.

And that only covers up until October of this year! There has also been a year long project I’ve been working on behind the scenes since March which unfortunately seems to be unraveling as the year ends and could result in having to walk away from something that has basically been my primary focus for the last 10 months.

The end of my year has been magical though. Spending time with my new family and seeing my little guy grow and change over the last 3 weeks has filled me with so much joy.

But one of the biggest changes in my life has actually been this Newsletter. We launched this newsletter in March, and since then we have grown to over 9,500 readers! I was incredibly skeptical of launching an email newsletter because so many people hate getting unnecessary or just so many emails every day.

But my goal from the very beginning has been to not make this just another spam email in your inbox or something that’s only self promotional (hey I do gotta share some stuff about me in here after all). I want to bring you folks value and actual entertainment, focus on the community and try to keep you in the loop of interesting things happening in the spirits / cocktails / bartending space.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is. Thank you so much if you have been a reader at any point this year. Its been really fun to get to create in a written way rather than just videos like i have been accustomed to over the last 5 years. Also a big thank you to Cam Tieuli who helped me write so many articles when we started out, and helped make sure this newsletter kept going during some of my tougher periods this year.

Have you enjoyed this newsletter? Is there a suggestion you have that would make it even better? Or just have an idea that you think would make this even better? Send me a DM or an Email! I would love to hear from you.

I am very excited for some ideas I have for 2025 on this newsletter. Some exclusive things. But well get to that later in 2025.

Tequila Boom May Actually Be Coming to An End?

I know I wrote recently in here about the way the tequila industry has been going and is projected to go in 2025 but a friend on Instagram sent me this article from the financial times and I think it adds a lot more context. (Shout out to christopher, @agavejourney)

Agave Blues: The tequila industry is facing a serious hangover after years of explosive growth. According to a recent Financial Times article, Mexico is currently sitting on a surplus of over 500 million liters of tequila – that's almost as much as they produce annually!

What's behind this tequila "lake"? The FT points to a few factors:

• Sobering Up: The pandemic-fueled home bar boom has fizzled out, and consumers are cutting back on spending (and drinking) due to inflation.

• Trump's Tariff Threat: The possibility of a 25% tariff on Mexican imports looms large, potentially devastating the tequila industry, which relies heavily on US consumers.

• Oversupply: New distillery capacity and falling agave prices have further contributed to the glut.

While some of this surplus tequila is aging in barrels, the FT highlights that tequila evaporates quickly, meaning most won't be stored for long periods. This situation has led to price wars among major brands like Patron and Casamigos, which could impact the industry's long-term profitability.

What could this all mean?

• Survival of the Fittest: Smaller brands might get squeezed out, leading to fewer players in the game. Which is a huge shift from this last year of 2024.

• Innovation Boom: Expect to see a wave of new and exciting tequilas and expressions hitting the shelves as producers try to stand out. Think unique aging techniques, experimental flavors, and maybe even some crazy tequila cocktails we haven't even imagined yet.

• Sustainability & Prices: This situation could be a chance for the industry to embrace more sustainable practices and maybe even stabilize agave prices in the long run. But don't be surprised if your tequila habit gets a little pricier down the line.

• Global Takeover: Tequila could be going global as producers look beyond the US for thirsty customers. Which so much explosive growth since 2020, the industry might not be willing to accept the lower demand so expect tequila to start trying to go more global.

My Favorite Videos I Made This Year

I was thinking about what videos i made this year that were my favorite and there are many for different reasons. From a news / whats happening point of view, One of my favorites was the WTF is Actually Happening with Tequila Matchmaker and it was one of my favorites because it covered something we had spoken about a lot on here and it covered these insane saga that’s been going on all year.

From a purely storytelling standpoint my favorite was I opened a Bar & Restaurant 6 Months Before the End of the World, which was the story of my restaurant and bar up until that point, which now needs a Part 2 since I have rebranded my bar and restaurant. I actually knew we were doing when I filmed this original video, and I meant this one as more of a goodbye to the original brand and as a chapter close on our first five years.

Another one I loved from a storytelling standpoint was How Real Tequila is ACTUALLY Made. It took so long to put together and i really tried to put my filmmaker hat on to try and make it more involved than my regular videos.

But if i had to pick just one video it would have to be I Made 3 Bartenders Compete Against Each Other With a Secret Ingredient. This was my attempt at recreating a ‘Chopped’ style competition for bartenders and I had dreamed about doing this for 2 years. I had been scripting and planning for years before we ever picked up the cameras to film this.

Best Video I Saw This Week

notjustabartender

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Chris knocked this one out of the park and this hot chocolate looks absolutely immaculate. And I think is perfect for the cold winter.