I first met Tomas Estes, a West Coast American (who opened Europe’s first-ever Mexican restaurants starting in Amsterdam in 1976, and co-founded Tequila Ocho in 2008) almost twenty years ago.
We last had dinner and drinks in Athens in December 2020.
The Tequila Ambassador V.O.(link to preorder below) is the "director's cut" of Tomas' book The Tequila Ambassador, first published in 2012.
Five years ago Tomas started working on an update with his son Jesse, his business partner Phil Bayly, and Mitch Wilson, who had edited Phil's own book, Agave Love.
Tomas passed away in 2021, and the guys finished the book.
The book is a beauty, twice the length of the original, incalculably more photos, recipes, agave spirit rules & regulations, essays about Tomas, about Cafe Pacifico, about Tequila Ocho, about tequila personalities and lots, lots, lots more, all in a gorgeous high-quality WonkPress book.
Me, Phil, Mitch and Jesse had a 3-continent 4-timezone chat about Tomas, the book, Cafe Pacifico, Tequila Ocho, the agave spirits business, Pacifico's lemon juice margaritas, grinding corn for tortillas in the basement of an Amsterdam townhouse and a loooot more.
Enjoy, and raise a glass of good tequila to my mate Tomas; he's raising one in the big cantina in the sky, right now.
(Many thanks to Rachel Harrison Communications in NYC for suggesting this episode, and for getting me a pre-publication proof to read).
Pre-order The Tequila Ambassador V.O.: https://www.wonkpress.com/products/the-tequila-ambassador-vo
(UK & EU pre-orders coming soon)
The Tequila Ambassador V.O. on IG: https://www.instagram.com/tequilaambassadorvo/?hl=en
Jesse Estes on IG: https://www.instagram.com/jesseocho/
Phil Bayly on IG: https://www.instagram.com/philbayly/?hl=en
Mitch Wilson on IG: https://www.instagram.com/mitchsaidthis/?hl=en
Tequila Ocho on IG: https://www.instagram.com/tequilaocho/
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