b"SEED TO SIP: DASYLIRIONHow better breeding can drive the future of the sotol.Melissa Shipman, Seed World ContributorSOTOL IS POISED TOshake up the spirits industry, and seeds have a crucial role to play in the shift.Sotol plants, or Dasylirion, grow wild throughout Mexico and in several border states in the United States. The spirit is often compared to agave-based tequila or mezcal, as they are similar in both pro-duction methods and flavor, but sotol is altogether unique. Sotols rising popularity in Mexico and the U.S. is well-deserved because it harbors fragrances, flavors and a texture altogether different than any in tequila and the many mezcals, says Gary Nabhan, senior fellow with the Borderlands Restoration Network. Moreover, unlike with agave produc-tion which relies on cloning cultivars, sotol is much more dependent on the seed industry.Seed viability and health is crucial for sustaining sotol production over the longDasylirion seedlings germinating.PHOTO PROVIDED BY HUMBERTO REYES.term, Desert Door Distillery cofounder Brent Looby says. This DO is recognized by 27 coun- I would like them to add Sonora as a According to International Winetries, but not the U.S., so only a handful oflegitimate place under the DO because and Spirit Research (IWSR) data, sotoldistillers in the U.S. currently are produc- its been distilled there for centuries, volumes grew by 17% in 2022, and IWSRing sotol, including Desert Door in Texas,Nabhan says. But he and others are predicts continued compound annualwhich has been in business since 2017. concerned about U.S. companies com-growth rate (CAGR) growth of 6%Nabhan believes Mexico will likelypeting with Mexican-distilled spirits. I am between 2022 and 2027.aggressively challenge these producers ina biologist. I work with the plants, but my the future to enforce the DO more. position is that the Designation of Origin Indigenous Beginnings However, Texas in particular, pro- should be respected or try to make a While Indigenous People of theduced sotol historically and throughmutual agreement where conservation Chihuahuan Desert have produced sotolthe depression so they have the tradi- of the plants is a priority, says Humberto in Mexico for centuries, it was technicallytion there as well, he says. What mayReyes, research professor and laboratory unlawful for much of the 20th centuryhappen is that those producers outsidehead at Universidad Autnoma Agraria until legalization in 1994. Then, in 2002,the area end up calling their productAntonio Narro, in Saltillo, Coahuila, sotol was granted a Designation of Originsomething else. The plant itself is calledMexico. Sotol species don't care about (DO) declaring only producers usingdesert spoon in parts of the country soborders. The history of sotol joins Mexico specific regulations in Durango, Coahuila,it could perhaps be labeled that way,and the United States. There are several and Chihuahua could legally market theirNabhan says.paleofecal analysis made near Rio Bravo, products as sotol. Dasylirion-based spirits are producedMexico and Del Rio, Texas that demon-Harvesting permits dictate harvestin other Mexican states, such as Sonora,strate prehistoric inhabitants of northern locations, volumes, techniques and trans- where it is known as Palmilla, and inMexico and southern United States used portation. Oaxaca, called Cucharillo.sotol for food. 14/ SEEDWORLD.COMSEPTEMBER 2024"