Katy O'Donnell spent years telling stories for one of the biggest whiskey brands in the world. Now she is telling a very different one. In this episode she joins John to explain what happens when a Buffalo Trace national brand ambassador goes all in on agave.

We get into why a barrel-proof tequila is close to a physical impossibility, why aging tequila underground in Jalisco makes proof go down instead of up, and why that single fact flips everything a bourbon drinker assumes about "a well-aged spirit." Katy also fields a question she says nobody in tequila had ever asked her before, which came from a room full of whiskey buyers.

From there we get into how Tequila Tromba actually gets made. Master distiller Marco Cedano built the brand around a commissary kitchen model, taking over a distillery he does not own and producing under his own standards. Katy explains NOMs, the seven-year math of planting agave against a market you cannot forecast, the Agave Rewilding Project planting species the brand can never sell, and how leftover agave fiber becomes compostable straws and cutlery.

Guest: Katy O'Donnell is VP of Brand Development at Tequila Tromba. Previously she spent roughly seven years at Sazerac, including three as National Brand Ambassador for Buffalo Trace Distillery.

Mentioned: Tequila Tromba (Blanco, Reposado, Añejo, Extra Añejo, Cafeto coffee liqueur, 3.75L Extra Grande), Buffalo Trace Distillery, Sazerac, Siete Leguas, Fortaleza, G4, Tequila Ocho, Don Julio, The Sustainable Agave Company, Sheer Agave, Arte Agave.

Video version on YouTube. Full written piece on Substack.

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