This week on The Cocktail Academy, two conversations from Tales of the Cocktail 2026 bring together very different perspectives on tequila, bartending, representation and the stories the drinks industry chooses to remember.
First, Damian sits down with Grace González, master distiller and part of the family behind El Mayor Tequila. Grace shares her family's nearly 150-year connection to tequila, what really goes into producing El Mayor, and what it took to establish herself in an industry that hasn't always made space for women.
She explains why Blanco is the expression she reaches for to understand the true character of tequila, the importance of agave, water and the family's multi-generational yeast strain, and offers a nuanced take on the industry's increasingly heated additives debate.
Grace also shares the brilliant story of an early experiment involving 87 Chardonnay barrels that went disastrously wrong — before ultimately becoming El Mayor's first limited-edition Chardonnay-finished tequila.
Then Damian is joined by acclaimed bartender, educator and author Tiffanie Barriere, aka The Drinking Coach.
From helping establish One Flew South as one of America's most celebrated airport bars to consultancy, education and being recognised among the industry's Living Legends, Tiffanie's career has taken her across the drinks world.
But the conversation goes deeper into representation and who gets remembered in cocktail history. Tiffanie discusses her experience as a Black woman in the industry, the Black and brown bartenders whose contributions were rarely documented, and why recovering those stories matters.
It's also part of the thinking behind her book Good Spirits — bringing different people, histories and experiences onto the pages of a modern cocktail book.
Two interviews. Two very different careers. One conversation about agave, family, failure, bartending, representation and who gets written into drinks history.
Grace González is part of the multi-generational family behind El Mayor Tequila and works as master distiller on limited editions and innovation projects.
Tiffanie Barriere is an award-winning bartender, educator, consultant and author known as The Drinking Coach. Her career includes nearly a decade at Atlanta's acclaimed One Flew South, and her book Good Spirits explores cocktails through culture, history and representation.
🎙️ The Cocktail Academy explores the people, techniques, history and stories behind the bottle and the bar.
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