Vintegrity was honored to host David Suro Piñera, the founder of Siembra Azul, at several Missouri and Kansas retailers and restaurants last month. At each stop, Suro gave a presentation about the history of agave spirits, discussed his new book, Agave Spirits: The Past, Present, and Future of Mezcal, and, of course, led tastings of some of the finest agave spirits on the market today.
David Suro Piñera
Before founding Siembra Azul, Suro opened Tequilas, an upscale Mexican eatery and bar in Philadelphia in 1986. His search for quality agave spirits to serve at his restaurant led him to start his own tequila brand, Siembra Azul, a brand focused solely on traditionally crafted small-batch tequilas.
Suro then established the Siembra Suro Foundation. The non-profit focuses on supporting and improving agave-producing communities by providing access to resources like clean drinking water, renewable energy, and educational opportunities.
In 2010, Suro took his passion for agave spirits a step further. Seeing the harm that multi-billion-dollar tequila conglomerates caused family producers, tequila, and the agave plants themselves, he founded another non-profit. The Tequila Interchange Project advocates for sustainable and traditional practices within the agave spirits industry. Suro strives to showcase the power of small-batch, agave spirits in every aspect of his work, and why protecting them is essential.
Agave Spirits: The Past, Present, and Future of Agave Spirits
Suro’s co-author is Gary Paul Nabham, an acclaimed ethnobotanist. The pair “delight in the diversity of the distillate agave spirits, as they endeavor to track down the more distant kin in the family of agaves,” Amazon writes. “And as, along the way, they reveal the stunning innovations that have been transforming the industry around tequilas and mezcals in recent decades.”
