the award - Agavos Awards

● The Agavos Award

In greek mythology the sacred agavos plant was a symbol of passion, desire, health and transformation – centuries later a rapidly growing number of us are still seeking enlightenment from the byproducts of these magnificent and noble plants.

The AGAVOS statuette is destined to be the iconic award of the agave spirits industry.

Instead of a small, token medal, the statuette represents a major achievement and is something winners will be proud to display in their tasting rooms, bars, and gift shops.

The 12-inch metal casting is a hand-tooled, high-quality piece of art. Each award has a customized plate inscribed with the winner’s information. The statuette is finished in platinum or gold depending on the level of achievement. The AGAVOS award is presented in a Tiffany-style display box.

The statuette was created with Society Awards, the most prestigious custom design and manufacturing firm in the awards industry. Society Awards produces the Golden Globes, Emmys, CLIOs, MTV, Academy of Country Music, YouTube and many other prominent awards.

Grover Sanschagrin

Grover Sanschagrin co-founded TasteTequila.com, a tequila blog site, in 2009, with his wife, Scarlet.

A couple years later they launched the Tequila Matchmaker mobile app and website, building what is now the largest database of information and ratings on tequila.

Grover received formal “catador” training in the evaluation of tequila from Ana Maria Romero Mena, and has visited 78 different tequila distilleries in Mexico, thus far.

Scarlet and Grover lived in Mexico from 2010-2011 and again from 2017-2024 so they could study tequila, the tequila industry, and how tequila is made and evaluated.

He is currently a tequila consultant and the President of the Additive Free Alliance non-profit, an offspring of Tequila Matchmaker’s additive free program.

Visit Tequila Matchmaker

Scarlet Sanschagrin

Scarlet Sanschagrin co-founded TasteTequila.com, a tequila blog site, in 2009, with her husband, Grover.

A couple years later they launched the Tequila Matchmaker mobile app and website, building what is now the largest database of information and ratings on tequila.

She discovered the pleasure of drinking tequila while working as a journalist in Mexico City and has been enjoying and evangelizing the merits of agave ever since.

Scarlet has received formal “catador” training in the production processes and evaluation of tequila from Ana Maria Romero Mena and the Academia Mexicana del Tequila, A.C.. She serves as “Chief Tasting Officer” for Tequila Matchmaker.

Visit Tequila Matchmaker

Emma Janzen

Emma Janzen is an award-winning book author and journalist

who has written about agave spirits for outlets including The New York Times, PUNCH, Imbibe Magazine, Eater, Good Beer Hunting, and more. The recipient of two James Beard Foundation awards and two Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards, she is the author of Mezcal: The History, Craft & Cocktails of the World’s Ultimate Artisanal Spirit, and co-author of three other cocktail books written with industry luminaries including Julia Momosé, Toby Maloney, and Jim Meehan. She currently serves as the Midwest Academy Chair for The World’s 50 Best Bars, an agave spirits judge for the New Orleans Spirits Competition and the John Barleycorn Awards, and has been included in the Drinks International Bar World 100, an annual list of the industry’s most influential people, since 2023.

Mezcal: The History, Craft & Cocktails of the World’s Ultimate Artisanal Spirit

Brad Japhe

Brad Japhe is an award-winning freelance journalist specializing in craft spirits, gastronomy and travel.

He covers agave spirits and whiskey for Bloomberg, Forbes, Men’s Journal, Food + Wine, and several other prominent publications. He serves as a beverage consultant for notable restaurants and bars in the US and the UK, and is the co-host of "Sipping Point," a video series on the Spirits Network. In his role as a roving reporter, he has visited more than four dozen Mexican distilleries and palenques over the past decade. His favorite breed of dog is unequivocally the Siberian husky and he suffers from an irrational, unrequited love for the New York Knicks.

Muck Rack

Jason O’Bryan

Jason O’Bryan has set up a professional life at the intersection of cocktails and writing.

He's been managing cocktail bars for the last fourteen years, first in Boston and now in San Diego, where he's been making, educating, writing about, and drinking cocktails. He is Robb Report's resident cocktail columnist, hosts the video series "Cocktails for Grown Ups," is the lead mixologist at Michelin three-star restaurant Addison, and co-owns the virtual cocktail company Drinkwell.Co.

robb reportwww.drinkwell.co

Jay Baer

Jay Baer has spent 28 years studying agave spirits,

and today runs the popular tequila education channel Tequila Jay Baer. He is also the Executive Director of slingshot, a strategy collective of craft tequila brands. Jay is the author of 7 best-selling business books, and when not talking tequila, is a keynote speaker at 50 conferences per year on the topics of marketing and customer experience.

Author of 6 books on marketing and customer experiencewww.jaybaer.com