Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/17414
UP Agwade Bolivia by Rachel Burkons / photos by Rob Brown Talk about getting an undeservedly bad reputation. For thousands of years, the coca leaf was enjoyed for its spiritual and holistic qualities, first by the native peoples settled in and around the Andes, and (much) later, by Europeans, who recognized that this is one plant that packs a powerful punch of energy with a mild mental and physical uplift. In the 1860s, coca leaf liqueurs and wines enjoyed tre- mendous popularity thanks to Vin Mariani, a fortified wine drink made with coca leaf and praised by the likes of Queen Victoria, Thomas Edison and Pope Leo XIII. It wasn’t until the late 19th century and the isolation of the cocaine alkaloid that the leaf was misused and misrepresented as dangerous and highly addictive; suddenly, the coca leaf’s well-established good name was dragged through the mud. Fast-forward to the close of the 20th century, and the great coca leaf redeemer emerges from the shadows in the form of a bright green herbal liqueur, Agwa de Bolivia. That’s when longtime spirits industry veteran Mark Wilson, CEO of international spirits and import company Babco, rediscovered this long lost category, and knew that it was something special. “Coca leaf liqueur at the turn of the 20th century was the biggest seller in Europe, and there were some great brands out there, but they all ran afoul of the narcotic trade,” Wilson explains. “Consequently, it completely fell off the face of the planet for 80 years. So we began to ask, ‘How do we get a coca leaf back in the bottle?’” At Hollywood hotspot La Velvet Margarita Cantina, bartender Jonathan Bruno mixes an Agwa Mojito. “Our customers come in, see the bottle and always ask about it,” says Bruno. “Once they hear the story about the coca, they’re hooked.” / the tasting panel / october 2010 The answer to that question lies by way of armored guard, but we’ll get to that later. After several years spent smoothing out legal quagmires, making packaging and label adjustments and fine-tuning the formula and balance of herbs and botanicals (a whopping 650 different blends were tested), Wilson and his team finally rolled out Agwa de Bolivia in the U.S. market in 2007, and since then, Agwa’s gotten tongues wagging. “It’s a real ‘talk-about’ brand,” acknowledges Wilson, refer- ring to Agwa’s coca-connection and the natural buzz supplied by this potent potable. “Consumers can be initially wary, but