Women, Tequila & Representation | Grace González & Tiffanie Barriere

This week on The Cocktail Academy, two conversations from Tales of the Cocktail 2026 bring together very different perspectives on tequila, bartending, representation and the stories the drinks industry chooses to remember.

First, Damian sits down with Grace González, master distiller and part of the family behind El Mayor Tequila. Grace shares her family's nearly 150-year connection to tequila, what really goes into producing El Mayor, and what it took to establish herself in an industry that hasn't always made space for women.

She explains why Blanco is the expression she reaches for to understand the true character of tequila, the importance of agave, water and the family's multi-generational yeast strain, and offers a nuanced take on the industry's increasingly heated additives debate.

Grace also shares the brilliant story of an early experiment involving 87 Chardonnay barrels that went disastrously wrong — before ultimately becoming El Mayor's first limited-edition Chardonnay-finished tequila.

Then Damian is joined by acclaimed bartender, educator and author Tiffanie Barriere, aka The Drinking Coach.

From helping establish One Flew South as one of America's most celebrated airport bars to consultancy, education and being recognised among the industry's Living Legends, Tiffanie's career has taken her across the drinks world.

But the conversation goes deeper into representation and who gets remembered in cocktail history. Tiffanie discusses her experience as a Black woman in the industry, the Black and brown bartenders whose contributions were rarely documented, and why recovering those stories matters.

It's also part of the thinking behind her book Good Spirits — bringing different people, histories and experiences onto the pages of a modern cocktail book.

Two interviews. Two very different careers. One conversation about agave, family, failure, bartending, representation and who gets written into drinks history.

In this episode:The González family's nearly 150-year connection to tequilaHow El Mayor Tequila approaches agave, water, yeast and productionGrace's perspective on the tequila additives debateBecoming a female master distiller in a traditionally male-dominated industryHow 87 Chardonnay barrels went from expensive mistake to successful limited releaseTiffanie's journey from bartender to One Flew South, educator and consultantWhat it means to be recognised as a Living Legend at TalesWhy representation in the drinks industry still mattersThe Black and brown bartenders missing from traditional cocktail historiesWhy Tiffanie wrote Good SpiritsThe importance of documenting the people who helped build cocktail culture

About the guestsGrace González is part of the multi-generational family behind El Mayor Tequila and works as master distiller on limited editions and innovation projects.

Tiffanie Barriere is an award-winning bartender, educator, consultant and author known as The Drinking Coach. Her career includes nearly a decade at Atlanta's acclaimed One Flew South, and her book Good Spirits explores cocktails through culture, history and representation.