Mexican Whiskey Is on the Rise, Powered by Ancient Corn | Hacker News Reader

Mexican Whiskey Is on the Rise, Powered by Ancient Corn

nytimes.com

28 pointsThevet33 comments

Gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/11/dining/drinks/mexican-whi...

I've always avoided corn-based whiskey and preferred rye. Generally, I avoid any US corn products where possible.

Mexico takes their staple crop seriously. They've banned the Bayer/Monsanto engine corn. When making tortillas, I use Mexican masa harina. Strangely, most Mexicans here (US) use the Azteca brand, which is about as Mexican as Moses.

I'd definitely go for some heirloom corn Mexican whiskey.

> about as Mexican as Moses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Mexico

A wee bit anachronistic, considering the dates mentioned. But yeah, Ladinos are real.

Plenty of more recent Jewish Mexicans too after WW2 and the final years of the Ottoman and Russian Empire. Louis CK is a notable member of the community, as is Leon Trotsky technically. They are one of the larger communities in CDMX.

I went to school with a Mexican guy named Moses actually!

It's not strange. The last thing a poor Mexican in a foreign country thinks about is whether their ingredients are authentic enough. You buy what's readily available.

Balcones makes a really good and interesting bourbon out of baby blue corn. Flavor is certainly different than the standard bourbon. Not really a Mexican corn whiskey I don't think, but I thought this was relevant as it involves using a native American (Hopi) corn to make a whiskey.

https://whiskeyreviewer.com/2018/10/balcones-baby-blue-corn-...

https://archive.ph/Fk8Vl

Novel, but not unheard of. The popular Japanese Nikka Coffey Grain Whisky (which, last I check, commands a price tag of $80 a bottle) is mostly made from corn.

I could see this becoming a luxury product in short order. Especially with all of the varieties of corn available in Mexico.

I’ve never seen any marketing saying Nikka was made with anything other than commodity dent corn. I can’t find anything on the web about it either. Do you have a link?

Moonshine is just corn whiskey that hasn't been aged, isn't it?

Usually. Ideally, pot-distilled.

But there isn't any legal standard of identity. It's just a marketing label. The pot-still corn liquor is supposed to taste like the illegally-made homebrew, but some products are basically just watered-down ethanol.

Have you ever had Nixta? It's a corn spirit with a very unique and pleasant flavor

A liqueur rather than a spirit, to be pedantic. I agree that it's very nice - a bit like popcorn, but not in a tacky way!

This is an obvious PR piece and an advertisement. The only "hacker news" aspect would be an explanation of how to get articles like this made in the first place.

People think it's cool. All content is an advertisement at the end of the day (or indirectly sponsored). At least it's not as bad as a bunch of the political content the ends up on here because of SlateStarCodex's shutdown (eg. never saw Marginal Revolution get much traction on HN until after that happened).

All content is an advertisement at the end of the day (or indirectly sponsored)

This is not true at all. General writing is not an advertisement and you could say that talking about a project is promoting it, but this is a straight advertisement for https://granmaizal.com/ https://abasolowhisky.com/en/home/ https://www.sierranortewhiskey.com/ and https://www.maiznation.com/en/taller

Anyone who has worked with a PR firm knows that a big part of it is trying to get articles like this placed on big web sites and it isn't cheap.

I know. I'm just pointing out that a lot of content on HN is very clearly astroturfed. A good YC buddy of mine even confirmed how a couple startups would attempt to astoturf or guerilla market on HN, sometimes getting caught, other times not so.

Didn’t SSC reopen/rebrand shortly after the “doxing” kerfuffle as ACT on substack anyway, with some subscriber only content?

I think SSC had a forum as well, which ended up getting shut down.

I honestly don't dig deep into that whole Rationalism cult (I deal with enough of those fucks professionally), but I definetly noticed an overt change in tone on HN in 2020. It was partially covid related, but the timing of most new accounts fits with the same time period SSC shut down.

I disagree on all fronts.

This is a type of whiskey I've never heard of, and the approach - distinctly anti-seed-cartel and pro-Indigenous culture - resonates with me.

Further, it's an exploration of the how and why of a newly-developing type of product; at no point does it link directly to a storefront or even a first-party blog post, just the websites of some of the parties in question.

You can say that you like it, that you think it should be here, that you're glad you saw it and that it's interesting, because those are your opinions, but to say it's not an advertisement is denying reality.

I'll make it easy for you, here are the distilleries linked:

https://granmaizal.com/

https://abasolowhisky.com/en/home/

https://www.sierranortewhiskey.com/

https://www.maiznation.com/en/taller

And here are some pages one click away where you can buy some bottles:

https://granmaizal.com/products/gran-maizal-corn-whisky

https://abasolowhisky.com/en/shop-now/

https://shop.sierranortewhiskey.com/64746290v

Don't forget that they are distilled in the 'birthplace of corn' while using copper stills and american oak barrels.

Linking to relevant websites is a common practice in digital journalism.

So, either you're prepared to say most digital journalism is advertisement, or your argument is flawed. Pick one.

To be clear, are you saying you don't think any of these companies paid directly or indirectly (a PR firm) for this article?

Linking to relevant websites is a common practice in digital journalism.

First, there is just journalism. Second, there is a big difference between an article about products and an article about news.

Yes, that's accurate - I don't think any of the mentioned companies paid to be included in the article.

I'll grant that there's a difference between an article about products and an article about news. To my mind, this particular article seems to be about a cultural trend, rather than explicitly about products.

Now, if the article was using language I consider to be "sales-y" I would have a different opinion. It doesn't appear to be saying anything like "this type of whiskey is better than your current brand" or similar. Nor is there any sense of urgency.

It just seems to be an interest piece on a new fad.

I don't think any of the mentioned companies paid to be included in the article.

It just seems to be an interest piece on a new fad.

This is very naive.

https://thehustle.co/pr-firms-paying-tech-journalists/

I wonder what these companies do?

https://www.badenbower.com/

https://www.prnewswire.com/

https://9figuremedia.com/

https://www.prfire.com/guaranteed-publishing/

https://getfeatured.news/

https://www.prdaily.com/

https://www.edwinelliscreativemedia.com/

https://www.axiapr.com/blog/how-does-your-pr-firm-generate-e...

https://www.imperiumgrouppr.com/pressreleases/

https://bettermarketing.pub/how-to-get-your-company-featured...

I've personally seen the whole process. All it takes is a little money and these companies will find a way to get an "article" that features links to your product on a "news" site. Sites need content, companies need exposure. Thinking wording needs to be "salesy" to be useful is just wrong, there is no way to sugar coat it. Neutral or mildly positive exposure is still hugely valuable when it comes to marketing. Do you think coke or apple's ads are always "this is better than everything"? A lot of the time their ads are almost just saying "this exists, keep thinking about it".

You seem to think that because I think this particular article wasn't "sponsored content," that I don't believe sponsored content exists at all.

I've worked for a newspaper, and I'm familiar with how that process works too.

No, I'm wondering why you think that when you can't explain why. This is the exact template of a paid PR article, but all your comments are just claims that it isn't paid with no explanation or though process.

Mm, no. I gave my explanations and thought process, you're just declining to accept them.

I think we can safely say this conversation has run its course.

Only available in Mexico and France. Pretty feeble for an advertisement.

If you like Whiskey its an interesting change from Scottish single malts.

https://granmaizal.com/pages/shipping (ships to the US)

https://abasolowhisky.com/en/shop-now/ (ships to the US)

https://shop.sierranortewhiskey.com/64746290 (ships to the US)

If you like Whiskey its an interesting change from Scottish single malts.

Maybe so, but I don't know why people are so desperate to pretend this isn't a straight advertisement.

The suit is back!

https://paulgraham.com/submarine.html

Reply on news.ycombinator.com