Tucson’s Agave Heritage Festival about much more than margaritas

Annual event this weekend explores all things agave, from culture to consumption

Delaney Penn, Arizona Sonoran News

April 10, 2025

Agave grows wild in Tucson including in the Mission Garden. (Courtesy Mission Garden)

The Agave Heritage Festival returns to Tucson April 10–13, adding a little more energy to the city’s already lively food scene. There will be many events in the city that celebrate the agave plant’s long history and its deep link to the cultural and natural heritage of the Sonoran Desert.

The streets will be full of people looking forward to guided tastes, an agave roast pit demonstration and the chance to meet local makers and aficionados including mezcal and coffee expert Doug Smith, who will host one of the festival’s best tasting events.

The event isn’t just about drinking mezcal, though. It’s also about enjoying sustainable farming, keeping cultural practices alive and, most importantly, getting to know your neighbors. What once was a drinking festival has now become something that teaches people the importance of the history of agave.

This year’s event, the 17th annual, will continue to work with Mission Garden, a place where Tucson’s farming history comes to life.

Abby Rhinehart, Mission Garden’s education coordinator, said festival lectures including the Agave Planting and Agave Roast Pit Uncovering let people take part in traditional activities that have been passed down for generations among Indigenous people.

This year’s roast from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 10, was be led by Dr. Stanley Rodriguez of the Kumeyaay Nation.

“As an organization Mission Garden has tried to highlight that agave has many uses,” Rhinehart said. “In addition to alcohol it can also be used as food, a source of fiber and a source of syrup.”

https://www.missiongarden.org/events/agave-roast-2025

All events at the Mission Garden are free.

Agave Heritage Festival
A crowd gathers at the 2024 Agave Heritage Festival. The festival will return this weekend.

Participants also have a chance to try agave in its purest form at the various tasting events including the lively Noche De Mezcal crawl that begins at Playground Bar & Lounge, 278 E. Congress St., or more private tasting events including the Del Maguey Mezcal Tasting beginning at 6 p.m. Friday at Tough Luck Club, located at 101 E. Pennington in the basement of Reilly Craft Pizza & Drink. Both events are ticketed $45 per person and no one under 21 is admitted. The Del Maguey Mezcal Tasting is sold out.

Smith will lead a tasting event where people can learn about the different flavors of agave spirits and how the old-fashioned ways of distilling them give them such unique qualities. His event at the Bar Crisol is sold out.

When Smith designed his Crisol bar project inside his Exo Roast Co. coffee shop, it was dedicated to his great appreciation for small-batch agave producers in Mexico.

“In 2018 the Agave Festival transformed into something more educational,” Smith said. “A partnership across the border bringing producers from Mexico to tell the stories of the production from their point of view.”

Some of his friends from over the years will also be attending to explain where agave comes from.

“We want consumers to appreciate what they are drinking and make consumption decisions appropriately,” Smith said.

People who go to events like Agave Fiesta at Borderlands Brewing Co. can try more than 50 handmade agave spirits and meet the master distillers who make the drinks. They also can learn about the makers’ skills and, of course, taste a lot of different spirits.

This festival gives people a chance to learn about agave from all sides, from how it is grown to how it is celebrated in a glass. Attendees of these events can hear from researchers who have spent decades working to protect agave or go to Mission Garden to learn about its various uses, from a food source to syrup, in textile manufacturing and in a glass as alcohol.

A list of some of the weekend’s highlights include:

Agave Talks and Tastings at Club Congress in Hotel Congress

311 E Congress St.; from 11:30-5:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 12

There will be expert talks, spirit tastings and exhibits that show off sustainability, creativity and cultural resilience.

Agave planting at Mission Garden

946 W Mission Ln; from 8-11 a.m. on Thursday, April 10

Come plant agave in the traditional Hohokam style

Book signing: Ted Genoways

At the Petroglyphs, 160 S. Avenida del Convento; from noon-2 p.m. on Friday, April 11

Genoways will discuss his book “Tequila Wars: José Cuervo and the Bloody Struggle for the Spirit of Mexico,” the historical account of the Cuervo family’s rise in the Mexican tequila market.

Agave – The Tree of Wonders at Saguaro National Park

2700 N Kinney Rd.; from 1:15-2 p.m. on Thursday, April 10

Educational Tasting At Bar Crisol

196 W Simpson St.; from 7-9 p.m. on Thursday, April 10. Sold out.

Cambio Tequila Tasting

Tabu Bar, 128 E Congress St.; from 6-8 p.m. on Friday, April 11

Receive two one-ounce pours and unique cocktail samples, each matched with carefully made small bites by the Tabu kitchen staff; $45 per person

Del Maguey Mezcal Tasting

Tough Luck Club, 101 E Pennington St.; from 6-8 p.m. on Friday, April 11. Sold out.

Four 1-ounce pours, one from a different town and production style, will be part of this guided tasting.

Sip & Switch with Tequila Ocho

Tap & Bottle Downtown, 403 N 6th Ave.; from 6-7:00 p.m. and 7:30-8:30 p.m. on Friday, April 11

Your ticket gets you three 1-ounce pours and a drink. You will be given a glass to taste drinks to take home. There will be light bites; $48 per person