Agwa, a new liqueur made from coca leaves, is giving Valley barflies a boost

It's a muggy Sunday night in mid-June, and Robyn Milton is celebrating her 30th birthday (for the eighth time) with a party in the backyard of a pal's north Phoenix home. She's about to liven up the party for her guests.

• Jamie Peachey

  

• Jamie Peachey

  

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Check out bars and restaurants that serve Agwa, and peruse drink recipes.

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Agwa de Bolivia, Babco International

"Hey, my friend brought this stuff," she says. "And I've been dying to try it. It's supposed to get you high. Everybody needs to do some with me."

The "stuff" is divvied up and everybody does some. Ten minutes later, Robyn and her guests are pacing the backyard, rubbing their faces, talking over each other in multiple conversations, trying to push each other into the pool, and insisting, "We should do some more."

There's more where that came from, for sure. The guy who's the biggest seller of the stuff in the state even offered to give me a mirror and a couple of extra vials with it.

But this isn't cocaine. It's the latest trend in edgy European liqueurs, a green brew called Agwa de Bolivia Coca Leaf Liqueur.

Since making its way to bars and liquor stores across the Valley this spring, Agwa de Bolivia has built a reputation as a mystery liquor that's highly intoxicating, yet strangely energizing, too. It's not the tastiest thing to drink straight, but seems to mix well with almost anything. It's being hailed as "the new absinthe" by some, "the new Jägermeister" by others, and being celebrated as everything from an alleged booster of sexual prowess to a substitute for illegal drugs.

Jeremy Johnson, co-owner of Homme in central Phoenix, says Agwa's been selling so well at his club that he ran out a couple of weekends ago and had to increase his order. The liqueur has its appeal as a novelty drink among the younger crowd, but also holds a nostalgic kick for older folks whose drug-doing days are over.

Throw in the idea that Agwa can increase sexual potency (a claim made by numerous college guys on Internet forums), and you've got the perfect party drink for yuppies, Yippies, hippies, and pretty much everyone in between.

Agwa's hook is the "Agwa buzz," a heady rush followed by a period of sustained, mildly euphoric energy — a similar feeling to that induced by cocaine.

"It does get you high," says Rich Naegeli, the broker/distributor for Agwa in Arizona and New Mexico. "If you drink enough of it, it will actually get you high."

Whether or not Agwa has the properties to really get you high doesn't matter, at least not at Robyn Milton's birthday party.

"I feel pretty damn good!" Robyn's husband, Chuckie, says, as his guests scour the kitchen cabinets for mixer liquors, perhaps something melon-flavored. "I feel like I could party all night!"

Agwa de Bolivia Coca Leaf Liqueur looks like watered-down NyQuil cough syrup, and smells about the same. I knocked back a double shot of it on a Tuesday night a few weeks back, after hearing about the drink and rushing out to buy a bottle. I bit into a lime, then did the shot. There was a tingling in the back of my throat, similar to a tequila burn, followed by a slightly minty, fruity aftertaste. Even though it was pungent and harsh, I did two more double shots of the drink and called it a night. Agwa de Bolivia is 60-proof alcohol, so I should have been slumbering shortly after downing a quarter of a bottle.

But by 4 a.m., it was clear that I wasn't going to fall asleep anytime soon. My head was buzzing, and I was absolutely wired awake. I decided to mow the lawn after alphabetizing my vinyl record collection.

Could it be true that Agwa had me flickering on its reputed "cocaine buzz"? After all, the drink is made from the leaves of the coca plant, the same plant that produces cocaine. I'd heard about the drink from a handful of barfly and bon vivant friends, and the general consensus among them was that they weren't sure if Agwa de Bolivia made them feel "high" but that it most definitely made them feel "drunk," "funny," and "different."

I'd also heard that Agwa was a more potent herbal liqueur than Jägermeister, but a comparative review on liquorsnob.com declared, "[Agwa] offers a crazy buzz, a funky flavor, and a good marketing campaign. In our opinion, it's an interesting and unique liqueur, but it doesn't have what it takes to become the true classic Jägermeister is."

Curious about the "crazy buzz" and "funky flavor," I wanted to try it, too, but it was still relatively new to my friends and they only knew of one bar and one liquor store that was selling it. Turns out, Agwa's available at more than 48 locations around the Valley, including clubs like TT Roadhouse in Scottsdale, Shady's in Phoenix, and Tavern on Mill in Tempe, and at all BevMo!, Tops, and AJ's Fine Foods locations.

That's perfectly legal because there's no cocaine in Agwa de Bolivia Coca Leaf Liqueur.

True, the drink is made from the leaves of the coca plant, the same plant from which cocaine is derived after a long process involving solvents and other chemicals, but the kick's been taken out of the coca, so to speak, by the time it hits the Agwa recipe, which also includes ginseng, green tea, and a natural source of caffeine called guarana. But that hasn't stopped Agwa's marketing gurus from playing up the coke jokes — nor has it curbed consumer curiosity about the drink's alleged effects.