You may have seen “Agave sp” as the agave listed on some bottles recently, it’s not some mysterious new agave, it’s just a bureaucratic issue expressed linguistically. Agave sp means that an agave hasn’t been expressly accepted and defined by the CRM. A number of somewhat commonly known agaves fall into this category and it seems like this space has been more defined in past year so expect to see more of this nomenclature. Right now a number of relatively prominent agaves fall into the Agave sp bucket including Mexicano, Cenizo, and Sierra Negra which have been fairly well accepted as distinct agave types and those names continue to be used on bottles.
UPDATE: September 20, 2022
A keen eyed commenter pointed out that the CRM based its decisions on other research and that the CRM no longer exists. A number of other certifying bodies have replaced it but it seems as if they’re using the same list of agaves the CRM relied upon. No doubt new updates will be made because there is so much ongoing agave research.
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