Carmen Lopez
2026 TIP Writer-in-Residence
We are pleased to announce the winning applicant for the Tequila Interchange Project Writer-in-Residence Program is Carmen Lopez, a young writer whose work was recently featured on L.A. Taco. Through the generosity of the Slow Food Negroni Week Innovation Fund, TIP's new Writer-in-Residence Program will connect Carmen with volunteer mentors and editors to publish bi-monthly pieces through TIP’s website. Carmen Lopez is a food chemist and a Mexican spirits expert currently based in Mexico City. As a former new yorker, she has worked with agave spirits for more than 10 years consulting, crafting cocktail menus and teaching about agave and her Zapotec heritage. You can see her on Netflix’s Taco Chronicles and occasionally sharing mezcal around the world.
A New Call To Preserve Mezcal
As Mexico revises NOM-070, the renewed debate over mezcal regulation invites a broader conversation about tradition, territory, and the living knowledge behind Mexico’s agave spirits.
In her second piece for the Tequila Interchange Project Writer-in-Residence program, Carmen López provides a comprehensive primer on the NOM structure, its agave spirits, and the revisions currently under consideration.
Agave, Memory, and the Stories We Carry
At their core, agave spirits are intertwined with Mexican biodiversity, which we have to respect and preserve. I’ve always said that when I talk about mezcal, I am talking about Mexico. We share the social tissue of communities alongside their endemic varieties of agave and Sotol, through their distillation.
In her first piece for TIP, Writer-in-Residence Carmen López Torres introduces herself to our audience and explores her own connection with agave spirits.