I can’t tell you how many times I have started to write this post, only to be blindsided yet again by more news and school closings and shelter in home instructions. It is impossible to even articulate how much our world has changed in just a week.
It has become increasingly clear that we are not looking at things “returning to normal” in three weeks, probably not even in three months, and like everyone else in the frontlines of the fallout from social distancing (events industry, service/hospitality, independent contractors) we are having to seriously look at how we are going to get through this time.
Here’s the thing, our revenue model at Mezcalistas is built on events. Mexico in a Bottle has enabled us to build our scrappy little blog into the go to resource for mezcal information Over the years the blog, our tastings, and our social media presences have fostered a global mezcal community that only continues to grow today.
But, since we’ve had to postpone our spring events for several months, we lost our key revenue stream. So for the first time in our eight year history, we are asking for your support so we can continue writing about our wonderful world of mezcal and keep producing events once the Coronavirus has abated. Just click the PayPal button below to jump in with your support.
It has always been tempting to turn to a subscription model, but we have consistently resisted and sought other ways in which to cover our costs and expand our coverage and programs. We do not believe now is the time to scale back our coverage or organization, the mezcal world isn’t going to stop working so neither are we. The pandemic will end eventually and when that happens we want to be ready to continue supporting our friends and partners in mezcal.
Pay it backward, pay it forward
We are asking folks to pay what they can – $5 on up, anything helps. How many articles of ours have you read in the past? Do you find our newsletters valuable? Have you used our Touring Mezcal Country pages to plan your visits to Oaxaca and elsewhere?
Your contribution means:
- We can continue covering the stories that matter in the world of mezcal
- We can continue to pay our team of contractors so they do not become yet another statistic of people losing work
- We can grow our contributing writers team, bringing new voices and perspectives to our coverage
Conversations in Agave
We realize that one of the most vital components of Mexico in a Bottle is that feeling of community and the camaraderie it creates. The one-on-one interactions, the guided tastings, the talks all give you incredibly varied opportunities to learn more about mezcal. We don’t want to lose that, especially as we are forced to practice social distancing so we are creating a surrogate for the times called “Conversations in Agave,” a virtual presentation platform about mezcal.
If you contribute more than $40, we will automatically subscribe you and you’ll receive access to a weekly masterclass talk with different speakers along with session we are calling Ask the Bartender, a Q&A class that will cover everything from how-tos to stories behind the bar. We’re already working away on the schedule of speakers and topics and are really excited to announce details next week.
We know these are difficult and uncertain times for us all, and I know none of us could have ever imagined how much our lives would change in just one week. But one thing is for sure, we are all in this together.
Dixeebe and be kind.
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