E280 Inez Goodwine
Atlanta's Agave Princess on Tequila, Competitions & The Atlanta Bar Scene
From bottle girl to competition winner and co-chair of the United States Bartenders' Guild Atlanta Leadership Council, Inez Goodwine shares how competitions, mentorship and Mexico-sourced lessons shaped her career.
In this episode of The Industry Podcast, we sit down with Inez Goodwine, Atlanta bartender, cocktail competitor and self-proclaimed Agave Princess. Inez started out as a nightclub bottle girl at 26 while holding down a tech job, then worked her way through a cigar lounge, a seafood staple and an Italian craft restaurant, where a great GM helped her find her footing behind the bar. Her first competition was an internal contest to replace the restaurant's best-selling cocktail, and it sparked her passion for agave spirits.
From there, Inez won her West Midtown round of Rellie's Mixologist of the Year (MOYA) competition as the only woman in the field, and she credits the many competitions she has lost with teaching her even more. She talks about how competitions, brand activations and pop-ups built her network, and how COVID-era Zoom classes helped her sharpen her skills. Inez also shares the stories behind her favourite travel experiences, including a chef residency at Casa Jacaranda in Mexico City and a hacienda visit where she got to puncture an agave herself.
The conversation also digs into Atlanta's cocktail scene, which Inez describes as in a revamp stage, and into the lack of mentorship that held it back. Inez shares tequila picks and favourite brands, the 100% blue agave controversy and what it could mean for tequila laws, and how she stretches ingredients with a sustainability-first approach. She also explains the role of the United States Bartenders' Guild (USBG), a nonprofit community of bartenders with chapters across the U.S. that offers education, brand connections, competitions and support, and the work of its Atlanta Leadership Council, which she co-chairs.
Also in this episode:
- Why the classics are the foundation, and how competitions taught Inez to build on them
- A hard lesson about sharing ideas and building trust in the industry
- Turning pineapple and strawberry into syrups, tepache, oleos, garnishes and even fruit roll-ups
- Choosing tequilas by mood: blanco and reposado for mixing, earthy volcanic profiles for sipping
- Why price does not guarantee quality
- Brands that support everyone, and why Inez likes to shop women-owned
- Inez's recent career change and what's next
Notable Quote
> "Networking is probably one of the most powerful tools in this industry."
> — Inez Goodwine
Connect with Inez Goodwine
- Instagram: @freshnique
A big thank-you to Jean-Marc Dykes of Imbiblia. Imbiblia is a cocktail app for bartenders, restaurants and cocktail lovers alike and build by a bartender with more than a decade of experience behind the bar. Several of the features of the platform include the ability to create your own Imbiblia Recipe Cards with the Imbiblia Cocktail Builder, rapidly select ingredients, garnishes, methods and workshop recipes with a unique visual format, search by taste, using flavour profiles unique to Imbiblia, share recipes publicly plus many more....Imbiblia - check it out!
Contact the host Kypp Saunders by email at [email protected] for products from Elora Distilling and Noble Estates.
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