Spring 2021 Tour Update

March 15, 2021

Dear friends of Experience Agave,

What a year it has been. The human losses have been incalculable, and the economic ones staggering. Experience Agave has been shut down de facto since the second week of March, 2020. Luckily, our entire team has weathered the storm and is doing well. With increasingly positive vaccine news, we are now beginning to plan for the resumption of mezcal and tequila tours.

As always, our priority remains maintaining the health and safety of our team, guests, and partners at distilleries, hotels, restaurants and other venues throughout Mexico.

Both our team members and our partners are eager to resume hosting guests who are willing to take reasonable precautions. For the time being, we will be working exclusively with guests who have been vaccinated against COVID, have had it and recovered, or quarantine for ten days upon arrival in Guadalajara or Oaxaca.

We are currently working with such guests on private mezcal and tequila tours, and are cautiously optimistic about the resumption of four-day group tours in the fall. We ask for your patience as we revise our pricing structure internally and with our providers — please remember all of us have been shut down for a year!

The public health situation in Mexico and abroad changes constantly, as does our knowledge about the virus and best practices. We are committed to staying abreast of information as it emerges, and will continue to be completely flexible in offering refunds for any cancellations resulting from the pandemic. We are immensely grateful for the patience of all our clients who have had to put travel plans on hold, and continue to be aware of the need for doing so.

We look forward to seeing you again in Mexico relatively soon. If you have any questions or concerns, please let us know. 

Sincerely, 
Clayton J. Szczech
Founder, Experience Agave

2020 Tour Update

Agave Landscape

July 20, 2020

Dear friends of Experience Agave,

We are currently working with a public health consultant and our partner distilleries, hotels, and transportation providers to ensure that when our tours resume, Experience Agave will have effective safety protocols built into every aspect of our tours. We are preparing to implement social distancing, temperature checks, mask usage, frequent sanitization of surfaces, al fresco meals, and other “best practices.” We are confident that will be ready to host you in safety and style when the time comes. 

Nevertheless, as both the United States and Mexico struggle to contain the novel coronavirus, we have decided that we will not be resuming public tours for the remainder of 2020. This includes the public versions of our Valley of Tequila Four-Day Experience, Tequila Highlands Four-Day Experience, Valley of Tequila Day Tour, and our Mezcal Pechuga Camp. We will not be offering a public Day of the Dead Tequila Experience this year either.

Our priority remains maintaining the health and safety of our team, guests, and hosts at distilleries, hotels, restaurants and other venues throughout Mexico. We are particularly concerned with the possibility of bringing COVID-19 from hotspots in the US to rural areas in Mexico that have been successful in keeping the virus out of their communities. 

We will continue to accept reservations for private tequila and mezcal tours with start dates in September and later. These tours will be contingent upon the circumstances on the ground in both Mexico and the United States, and we will continue refund 100% of any payments towards tours that are cancelled due to the pandemic. 

We are all in this together, and we sincerely look forward to seeing you again in Mexico. If you have any questions or concerns, please let us know. 

Sincerely, 
Clayton J. Szczech
Founder, Experience Agave

Tequila: It’s not just a drink, it’s a place (Associated Press, July 2011)

“The luckiest tourists arrive with Clayton Szczech of Experience Tequila. He’s a Portland resident who loves the culture and history so much that he now guides tequila-curious tourists. The Lonely Planet-recommended guide is the first gringo to hold the TT certification of the country’s Tequila Regulatory Council, which means he is as adept at discerning flavors as he is at explaining how it all came to be. He took us to an obscure, one-man operation where the tequilero used a garden hose to fill our liter Coke bottle from his lone aging barrel. And he’s friendly with premium distillers such as Casa Noble, which don’t usually open their doors for tours.

“True tequila and a tequila culture thrive down here, you’ve just got to know where to look,” said Szczech. 

Read the full article by Tracie Cone of the Associated Press.

More Experience Tequila media coverage.