from Forbes

As with so many other national culinary cultures, there is an increasing focus on the regional differences of the food and drink throughout Mexico, with restaurants around the United States offering guests insights into what differentiates, say, the food of Oaxaca from Mexico City. When consumers immerse themselves in these various cuisines, drinking well-crafted cocktails that pair with it, or sipping high-end tequila and mezcal, makes infinitely more sense than overwhelming the food with saccharine-sweet concoctions that for too long were synonymous with margaritas or other agave cocktails in the United States.

Education, however, as Simmonds argues, is key. Tequila and mezcal, after all, are still subject to plenty of misapprehensions, which is why efforts to change them, and to increase knowledge among consumers, is such a focus right now. “People are often surprised to learn how strict and vehemently enforced the rules in Mexico are for producing high-end agave-based spirits,” Augus explained. One result of learning more about the category, he believes, is that “[not] only do people appreciate the technical education in regards to the [denomination] of origin rules, but they also absolutely love learning about what specific producers do, as well as the people and communities behind them. This has even translated into a burgeoning tourism industry in the Tequila Valley, which many (including the Mexican government) hope will become as well-known and popular as the Napa Valley.”