Agave spirits with Colorado ties: Chawar, mezcal and tequila

Colorado may be a whiskey lover’s paradise, but those looking for an agave spirit have many options with local ties to choose from.

To be clear, drinkers won’t find a tequila distillery in Colorado since the liquor must be made in specific parts of Mexico to be called that. Most come from Jalisco, the Mexican state that is home to the town of Tequila. Similarly, the mezcals and other spirits noted here are made abroad, but the people behind them hail from Colorado and, in some cases, help import them into the U.S.

So next time you’re at the liquor store or a spirit-forward bar, consider trying these agave spirits with homegrown roots.

Chawar

For 13 years, Eliot Logan-Hines lived in Ecuador working on conservation projects to help the rainforest and native people prosper. Given his background in tropical forestry, he naturally turned to plants and how indigenous folks used them in beverages.

That’s how Logan-Hines, who now lives in Boulder, first learned about chawar mishki, which is the raw sap harvested from agave plants. It’s a culinary staple in Ecuadorian households where it’s used as a sweetener and in medicine, he said, and sometimes people ferment it into a low-ABV drink. But, he thought, what if the sap was distilled into a spirit?

In 2018, Logan-Hines partnered with a community of women near Quito to build a distillery co-op where they turn the chawar mishki into liquor with the brand name Chawar. Traditionally, women harvested the sap, and here they do everything related to the business, from administration to production.

Though the lineup of products resembles what you might expect of tequila – with blanco, resposado and añejo rosado varieties – Chawar is distinct because it is made from the aforementioned sap, not by roasting the pina of the plant as tequila makers do.

The sap lends slightly sweet and green grassy notes to the flavor profile, which are evident in Chawar Blanco, Logan-Hines said. The resposado is aged in French oak barrels, while the añejo rosado ages in red wine barrels. The company’s specialty Reserva Cotopaxi features sap from agave grown on the slopes of its namesake volcano.

“I always say it tastes like cotton candy and lava,” Logan-Hines joked.

Doña Loca

When drinkers sip on one of Doña Loca’s mezcals or tequilas, CEO Karen Ashworth-Macfarlane hopes they get a sense of the heritage that went into making each spirit. Doña Loca works with multigenerational mezcaleros and tequila makers in Mexico to produce its products.

In the mountains near Oaxaca, mezcaleros grow, smoke and distill three varieties of agave for Doña Loca’s espadín, tobalá and tepeztate mezcals. They use ancient techniques including wood fire pits and mule-drawn mills, called tahonas, to crush the agave. The mountain spring water used during distillation offers a smoother taste, Ashworth-Macfarlane said.

In Amatitán, a village near Tequila, producers use homegrown blue agave to create a blanco tequila, a reposado tequila, and an añejo. All three recipes are certified organic.

“What most people don’t realize is tequila can have a lot of additives in it and they’re not listed on bottles, it’s not required,” said Ashworth-Macfarlane. “So we’re very proud of the fact it’s one of the few certified organic products.”

Doña Loca launched its mezcal line first in 2021 before debuting the tequilas in 2022. Denver chef Dana “Loca” Rodriguez (Casa Bonita, Super Mega Bien, and Work & Class) co-founded the company; however, she is no longer involved, Ashworth-Macfarlane said.

Sauvecito Tequila

Despite purchasing a 160-acre agave farm in Jalisco, Mexico, Denverite Bill Foss never intended to make tequila. When he planted 50,000 agave plants there in 2002, the goal was to grow them to sell to distillers. But by the time the agave were ready six years later, a financial crisis had gripped the U.S. and the ripple effects were being felt in Mexico.

“I could not sell a plant,” Foss said. His son, Jeff Foss, encouraged him to make the best of the situation. “Typical son, he says, ‘Dad, when you have lemons you make lemonade. You got the agave plant and can’t do anything with it. Make tequila.’”