A story that starts in Mexico
In 1984, Grace and her family went on a holiday to Mexico. Her children were teenagers then, so they quickly hit the party spots and she was left to her own devices. Being a genealogy major, she decided to look into the origins of the Fernandes family name.
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Remember that Goans, like the original Indian Mexicans, were also converted to Christianity by Spanish priests. These priests bestowed their surnames on the new converts, and so there are common surnames among Mexicans and Goans. Fernandes is Fernandez in Mexico.
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Grace’s exploration took her to Guadalajara, in the interiors of Mexico, away from the beaches and the typical touristy crowd. Here she met Senor Julio Ramirez- Fernandez. He greeted her like she was his long-lost sister and they immediately hit it off. A chance meeting in a library ended up with an invitation to dinner with the Ramirez- Fernandez clan!
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Dinner done, as Grace got ready to leave, Senor Ramirez-Fernandez presented her with a bottle of his specially made Agave drink. It was his family recipe. Grace thanked him and went back to her beach combing family.
Back home in Bandra, Grace replicated this drink using Indian ingredients, and some that she got her Mexican brother to courier! And soon the Bandra Fernandes clan had a drink that connected them with the Mexican Ramirez-Fernandes clan. This drink- that everyone called ‘Grace’s drink’ was a hit at all their family functions and parties.
In 2024, at the age of 83 years, Grace Fernandes passed away peacefully, surrounded by her family. And Suzann, Grace’s favourite daughter, decide to make her mother’s drink commercially available to all, in her memory. Suzann christened it Gracia, it means Grace in Spanish.
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Thus Gracia Viva Agave! was born.
