Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, guys. Brad Nickham, Tasting Tequila with Brad. I'm so excited about this episode. What do you get when you have somebody that is a successful winemaker, they're a successful brewer, and they've already dabbled a little bit in spirits. And you end up meeting a guy who's from Mexico, who's six generations of farming in the Jalisco region and they farmed agave and now you come together and you want to create your own tequila brand. That's what happened when Peter and Omar met each other and decided to blend. They're both knowledge bases of farming and agave. From distilling, creating amazing spirits and wine, to now making a fantastic Tequila. This is going to be a great story. I think you'll all enjoy it. And I have to say, for a brand new brand that's an authentic, traditionally made Tequila, this is fantastic. Pedro Fortivo, Amazing.
Hey, guys. Hey. This is Brad Nickel with Tasting Tequila with Brad. And I'm here with Omar and Peter, the owners and co founders of Pedro Fortivo Tequila. I'm really excited about them telling their story and about this awesome brand. So, guys, tell them a little bit about who you are and how you guys know each other.
[00:01:29] Speaker B: You first, Omar.
[00:01:30] Speaker C: Well, I am Omar Martinez. I am the agavero in this brand. I own and operate the family estate land where we have all our agave. Jalisco, Mexico we're in the last little corner of the highlands. Everything on my end kind of started as a, like a project to kind of revamp all the lands. My dad had saw them, you know, as we were younger, we had a lot of cattle. But having a business in the states and having land in Mexico was kind of hard for my dad to run both businesses. So the land started to kind of got a little bit run down, you know, wasn't being used. I could tell he was bumming out my dad, but he couldn't do both things at the same time. So as I started getting older, I started going to Mexico a lot more often and just really falling in love a lot more with, with Mexico, with my dad's land. Kind of thinking of what it must have been like for him growing up, you know, with next to nothing but just hopes and dreams and then being able to acquire his farms and, you know, take over more and more land that my grandpa had and then adding more land to his farms. And it all kind of started for me as a, like, project of love to kind of make my dad happy and see that his lands was prosperous again. So that's really, when we started getting into agave, like a lot on a larger scale and seeing that evolve into, well, then, you know, let's figure out a brand. And who knew that at the same time, there's this guy named Peter doing the same thing I'm doing. And by just fate, we kind of end up meeting and a lot of our ideas aligned and we end up kind of like, you know, this is obviously a very fast forwarded version, but we end up falling together to make the same tequila with the same vision. And fast forward to now seeing our product in the stores. Georgia, Tennessee, seeing our friends and family drinking our brand. And for me, it feels really cool knowing that it really genuinely started in my heart with wanting to make the lands prosperous and make my dad proud to, you know, see his lands, like, functioning. That. That feels really cool seeing how far we've gone. And when me and Peter talk, I know, like, through the stresses of the business, we'll get, like, stressed out of the bottles are taking too long, or, you know, the labels are the wrong side. But then when we start talking about the future products we want to launch, like, we forget about all the stresses and get excited again because it's been a really fun project doing this with Peter. When me and him hang out, we're like cheerleaders. We'll talk about what's next, and we start getting excited and we'll talk about our way. We want to, like, do our commercials and whatnot. And we just, like, go down a rabbit hole every time. So it's been a lot of fun working with Peter. Like, I couldn't have asked for somebody, anybody else to be doing this with. Peter's. Peter's a really great guy, man.
[00:04:11] Speaker B: I don't know if you could tell, but I'm actively blushing under my beard right now.
I mean, Omar, you're the man. You know this. Well, it's hard to follow that, but I'll try. My name is Peter Kiley, and I am, I guess I would say, in this operation Tiquiero. But also I am a traditionally a chemist who has been in professional alcohol production for two decades now.
Started more so in a winemaking family. Ended up making wine in California and Napa, Sonoma, Anderson Valley. Did that for quite some time. Made some wine, oddly enough, in my home state of Georgia over at Chateau Lawn, for anyone that knows that place.
After that, trained to become a sommelier. Did that for a while. Didn't really like it as much. I found myself getting a little too pretentious. I didn't like, you know, being on the sidelines, you know, kind of critiquing other people's work. I really like making.
And then about 13 years ago, I hoped to start a brewery over here in Atlanta, Georgia, called Monday Night Brewing. And I've been our brew master over here for quite some time. And from there, yeah, I'd say about five or six years ago, started distilling. And we have, you know, a whole liquor program over here and then a couple other businesses that we've launched. But tequila was always, like, the passion, but coming from wine, it was. It's really important to me that if I was going to do this authentically, which people can always tell when you're fake, I'm usually a pretty hard critic on myself. We had to have. I had to have connection with the land first and foremost. And so I always wanted to do tequila. I just never really knew how to. I didn't want to do some, you know, white label, kind of just create a brand, but not have a soul. And then the universe is kind enough to give me Omar.
And there's so many funny stories that will probably. Maybe we'll get into today, maybe we won't. But one of my favorite memories was the night that we decided to go into business together.
There was a lot of tequila that was consumed. There is, if anyone knows Guadalajara. Well, I'll give you a hint. We were at a hotel where in the front, it's got these bronze statues of these little baby ducks, and we were really, really, I mean, in no shape to be creating a business, but we did it anyways. And you realize that people get put into your life for a reason. And I know the Omar is in my life so that we can both do something greater than, you know, just start a business. We really have a purpose that we need to live through. And luckily for us, Pager for Tebow has become that conduit that we get to use to live our purpose. And it's been such a fun ride. Stressful, but, you know, like, I do it with one of my best friends, Omar, and I do it with my wife, Rachel, who is our CEO. And it's just amazing getting to create this new family, bring families together, bring people from different parts of the world together over this singularite vision that we have. So, yeah, that's who we are. This is Pedro Fertivo.
[00:07:16] Speaker A: That's. That's awesome. I'd say all the time. Tequila is. It brings people together. It's, like, so amazing. It's. I really don't feel that there's any other spirit out there that does that, where you have on so many hands that go into making tequila. So much time with the plant, so much tradition in the way that it's made, and then there's. There's always so much to talk about, and it just brings so many people together. So I think that's pretty awesome.
[00:07:40] Speaker B: I feel like it's probably broken up a few relationships, but, you know, probably created some families.
Yeah, Yeah, I think I think about itself out.
[00:07:52] Speaker A: Yeah, it does every time. So tell me about the name. How did you guys come up with the name? And I learned just a little bit ago there's a meaning behind the name too. So tell me. Tell everybody what that's about.
[00:08:03] Speaker B: So the name actually started in many ways before the tequila did. And this is one of those rare instances where I would create a brand before a product. I'm usually very product centric, so I usually will create a product and then obviously create a name like, oh, design a beer and then give it a name. You know, you. You build your house first, then you paint it. But this one was a funny one. So we were starting a bourbon company over here that we're about to really do a big launch on in 2025, but it's been going for a few years privately, just through our six locations at Monday Night Brewing. And I just called it Sneaky Pete because, you know, with our brewery license for a while here in Georgia, which, if anyone knows Georgia, it's got some really aggressive laws just due to it being in the quote unquote Bible belt. So it's very neo prohibitionist kind of still. And so we had this license that allowed us to manufacture beer. And I think the statute of limitations puts me in the clear. But for a while there, I was just illegally distilling on our property. And so whenever people would refer to what I was doing, they'd be like, oh, he's being sneaky, Sneaky Pete. He's over here just making some hooch in the corner. Which honestly feels very Georgia, you know, like, I mean, it's kind of our roots.
[00:09:23] Speaker C: I was.
[00:09:23] Speaker B: I was. I was doing what, you know, my forefathers would have done, but a lot of.
[00:09:30] Speaker A: A lot of yeehaws. A lot of yeehaws. And some Mason jars.
[00:09:35] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, some. Some good hooch.
But so it was always Sneaky Pete. And I remember asking my wife one day when we were trying to separate this from Monday Night Brewing and turn it into its own business and raise money and do all that stuff I asked her. I was like, this feels, like, much more narcissistic than I felt comfortable with. And she was like, peter, she's like, I love you. But she was like, there's one thing I know about you to be true. She goes, if you put your name on it, I doubt you'll let it fail. And I was like.
So one day, we were talking about the tequila. We're trying to figure out, you know, what we're gonna call it. And Rachel was like, why don't you just call it Pedro for Tevo? And I was like, what is that? And she's like, that's just sneaky pee. And then fast forward, you know, I meet Omar, and Omar and I during one of our first meetings, which hopefully we get into the story later. But actually, during our first meeting, sitting down, and I kind of like, you know, we're feeling each other out. We're trying kind of each other's vision for tequila.
We're not completely getting along. During this first meeting, which I always love about our start, we were both kind of like this guy. I remember sharing with him, it was kind of just this vision. I'd already had this brand put together. I just didn't have the right liquid. I didn't have anything except for the brand itself.
And I showed it to him, and he was like, dude. He was like, I love that label. He was like, it reminds me of something that would have read, like, in a children's book in a weird way. He's like, it feels so much like something I would have seen my grandfather drinking. And I was like, yes. That's really where I wanted this to come from. When I designed the label, I was like, I really wanted to feel like a time that used to be.
You know, you really see this wine ification of spirits right now, where it's very modern, it kind of is. It's ushering it into a period of time, which I think is appropriate. But we always wanted to step back and go back in time, you know, I feel like so much of tequila is historic preservation. So we want to start with the label. But when I showed him the label, Omar's like, the fox. He's like, what's the deal with the fox? And I was like, you know, like, he's got a little crown on his head. I've always felt, like, this real tiny, you know, ruler of an even smaller kingdom. And Omar's like, the fox is my spirit animal. And I was like, my spirit animal, too. And we're. He was like, all right. He was like. I was like, this is all I got so far. And he was like, all right, we'll figure out the rest together. And I think it was about two weeks after that first meeting, we find ourselves in Mexico together, starting our journey together. And since then, it's just been like one of the coolest experiences I can imagine. This has been years now of this, but still feels short. Still feels like just because we're brand new now feels so young. But this road's been long for us. So I knew when I.
[00:12:31] Speaker A: When I got the bottles, you know, I didn't know what they were going to look like, right. I hadn't seen the brand before. And I'm unwrapping the bottle and I was just like, wow, what a cool, authentic looking tequila label. Like, to me it's. It has an old school kind of look to it. Like it looks like an older traditional tequila. Like it's been around forever. And it has this label that's to me is very classic. And so many people are hung up on how big can we make that fancy bottle. Then you go back to some of the gray older tequilas that have a screw top and a very plain label. But it's great juice inside. So this, this is like an awesome, authentic. It's very cool. I love it.
[00:13:12] Speaker B: I'm glad you like it, man.
[00:13:14] Speaker A: Go in history wise. So, Omar, your family's own bland and grown agaves, like, is it multiple generations? Right?
[00:13:22] Speaker C: So I'm technically the sixth generation working this land. And we've always done a little bit of agave, a little bit of corn, you know, parts of cattle. I was always kind of touch and go throughout my family on who, you know, there was more or less agave. Now that I'm kind of running the. The properties, it's all agave and a few horses, but yeah, it's all agave. Right now what I realized with agave is it. It's a very needy plant, but if you do things on time and you do things right, you can kind of break up your year and tackle it in sections. So, you know, you show up when it's time to remove the huelos, which were the baby, that are the baby saplings, when it's time to prep them, when it's time to prep the land to plant, you have a really good window, time frame to do your work on agave. So you're not really like having to be there all year. And then one of my good cousins in, in Mexico, he kind of.
At first it was like part time, helping me. But now there's so much agave. He's there every day. And one of my uncles, they kind of run the farm while we're gone. So he's been awesome from the start. And he's a part with me in the agave. I've given him a part of it so that, you know, he feels vested in it as well. And it's cool, you know, to see when you. I remember this last time I was there on Thanksgiving, I was walking the land with my dad and walking through our biggest pinas and seeing how big our agave has gotten. And as like, thought back to whenever that plot was barely planted. They look like little onions, just tiny, you know, like they're about a foot tall, a foot and a half. And now they're like, I could walk through there and you can't see that I'm in the field. So it feels really cool to see how, like, much they've grown, how much love all these plants have, because, like, they've been a. We've really, you know, not really skimmed out on any other process. We've really taken good care of them and it's just exciting to see them grow. And, you know, as they get older and mature, I always get excited knowing, like, it's going into our brand and people are going to be able to enjoy that process that we did on our land and be able to enjoy it in a tequila. And that one of the plots is really special to me. My dad was able to acquire that land, but before my dad, my dad's family didn't own it. It was a piece of land that one year my dad's dad would rent it and work it, and the next year my mom's dad would rent it and work it. So both of my grandfathers and their, you know, their sons work that land. And now it's ours.
[00:15:48] Speaker A: That's very awesome. Now, did you. So before you guys started the brand, were you selling agaves to other producers?
[00:15:55] Speaker C: That's what I was doing first. And it felt cool, you know, it felt really, like, special to be able to do that and know that like, in, you know, X brand, there's some of our agave. But now that it's like our brand, it feels so much more special. It's just really unique. It makes. Makes doing what we're doing a lot more fun.
[00:16:14] Speaker A: I can imagine knowing that that's yours. I mean, that. That to me is the coolest part. So many of the brands that are farmers that are making great tequila it seems like their tequila is a little more outstanding than some of the ones that are just a brand sourcing or, like you mentioned, a white label. Even some of the private label brands that are using just anybody's agave. You don't get the. That. Yeah, I mean, your guys is fantastic.
[00:16:39] Speaker B: I mean, it's just to chime in here with how special this is for people that have never tried Pedro Fertiva, which I'm sure are a lot of them, probably way more than people that have tried it. It's just special that it's really such a closed process. Right. You know, with it being, you know, coming straight from Omar's family's land in islaaconda Rio, to, you know, like, to being in this bottle and then for the price that we offer it at, it's. And of course, we're able to do all of that because of what Omar's, you know, six generations of family have provided. And it's. It's such an honor for us to be able to carry on this tradition and maybe do something greater than they could have imagined with this land. So it's really exciting.
[00:17:27] Speaker A: Yeah, that's. That's really cool. It's part of the beauty of tradition that I love about tequila. So how did you pick the distillery? Did you already have a connection with the. With the distillery that you guys chose, or did you kind of talk to other distilleries until you picked one?
[00:17:44] Speaker C: So the owner of the distillery, he was good friends, which I didn't know right off the top of the. Right off the rip. Good friends with my uncles, my oldest uncle on my mom's side. And, you know, we were looking at getting. When I was before, me and Peter were on the same ship and I was kind of doing my thing. I was. I was already in the process of wanting to start my own tequila. And once me and Peter met, just so happened, like the way me and him. Him met and everything aligned. I had known about 1360, and then through a conversation with my mom, she's like, you know, your. Your oldest uncle has a friend that's owns a distillery, right. And I went out and met him. Super awesome guy, like, just genuine person. And his sons, him and his sons run the. The distillery. So then met Peter and we went down there, met. Met them on 1360. Everything just seemed to be kind of in line with what we wanted, and we started going from there.
[00:18:39] Speaker B: Yeah. Just to add on to that, 1360 was. It's been a really good partnership, like all things. Maybe it's A me thing. I don't know. I have a nickname back home in the brewery of particular, Pete. And I remember in the beginning, you know, my Spanish is not great.
I know you and I were talking earlier as a dyslexic. New languages are tough. But I remember, you know, current language is tough. Yeah, right.
Yeah. English, what a nightmare. But I. I remember I. I had a lot of opinions going in because obviously, you know, you can research a gnome. And 1360 had a speckled past of products that I was never really, like, kind of in line with. But once you get to sit down and really, like, kind of look at what we had to offer, you know, we, you know, do things with wild yeast and whatnot. But outside of that, once, you know, we got to spend time with the family over there. Both Omar and I are so deeply relationship people. Like it really. Like, I. The. I can. You know, when I think about the brewery, right. You know, we got hundreds of employees over here. And I always tell them, I'm like, you know, I can train anything really into most people, but I can't chain, you know, integrity or work work ethic or a nimble brain. Right. Like, you know, I am not your parents. I'm not the military. Right. Like, I don't have the time for this. But I just remember really kind of breaking through some. Some barriers really quickly with the team at 1360, and once they were really aware of what our vision was and how certain things might need to change, just the willingness to go take that path, which has resulted in tequila that I know if they were present, this tequila really is something that is really special. It's without a doubt, I think some of the best work that the team over at 1360 has been a part of. Obviously, I'm a little biased, but sure. I mean, just you can even, you know, do some research people can. On Tequila matchmaker and read about them. But it's. It's cool to have a brand and a team right now that really kind of is taking this approach to create a new product in a way that 1360 hasn't done and really doing it in such a singular way with a single state kind of approach. And yeah, making it all about.
[00:20:57] Speaker A: And 1360s. It's a valley, right?
[00:21:02] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:21:03] Speaker A: In the lowlands.
It's hard to call the valley lowlands when it's. I was like, we're in Hollywood 4,000 elevation. But so you're using mostly highland agaves, which you're growing and then distilling in the.
[00:21:15] Speaker B: Right.
[00:21:16] Speaker A: And I get on the nose I kind of got that malolactic, that little bit of a funk, earthy herbal that I love so much in so many tequilas. And it's great. The nose on, it's amazing. It has a great earthy, agave forward flavor. And those are the things that I gravitate towards. So I knew when I pulled it out this morning, I was like, oh, I'm gonna like this, you know, so it's fantastic.
So Juan Pablo Gonzalez is your master distiller, right.
And did you guys really work with him to develop the palette that you were looking for? Did you just kind of tell him, hey, go for it?
[00:21:58] Speaker B: There is a lot I'm working with.
[00:22:00] Speaker C: Yeah, this is where I learned a lot of, from Peter about distillation and stuff, which is awesome. Like a lot of things. I didn't know I was able to watch through Peter and learn a lot. So, yeah, we did a lot of.
[00:22:10] Speaker B: Work, I would say more so than just the distillation aspect of it, as I think a lot of producers can attest to. Like, first, it starts with water quality. Water is so important when it comes to the production of any alcohol. You think it's, you know, predominantly what makes up, you know, most. I mean, come a certain point, once you distill a lot of that water is, you know, obviously separated. But before then, the fermentation is so important. So it's good that you picked up that kind of. I wouldn't call it more malolactic, but there definitely is. When we think about our fermentation, we have a very wild fermentation in the sense that we have standard saccharomyces yeast and we have an immense amount of proteinomyces.
And you can tell when there's potatomyces, obviously, right? Because at the end of fermentation, there's a very well developed helical over the surface of the liquid in our tanks. And, you know, it looks like a lunar landscape. It's fascinating to photograph. But it's really important to us that we have in as many ways that we can with our product. There needs to be a sense of place.
And I think that, you know, with the property 1360, as well as, you know, Omar's family property, like collecting our yeast there, doing a lot of plating, and bringing that in to our fermentation profile using, you know, deep well water off of Omar's property, as well as rainwater that we collect to help put together the base of this. Doing a lot of water chemistry, which I could probably do hours of just talking about the Science of water. I know how to make water so many different ways.
But yeah, from there it's kind of like all this comes together and you know, our fermentations also just to add to this, like, we really have avoided thus far doing any fermentation. In the summertime, I like to have a more of a cold fermentation just because Britainomyces out of the world of yeast, I refer to them as the American yeast. They just don't stop eating. They consume so fast.
And so we like to have colder fermentations, which we just had one recently. Weather's lower. But all this plays into this flavor that it comes across as. It almost feels full body when it's not. It has this almost oiliness, which a lot of that carries over from, you know, using Omar's agave. But as well as avoiding a lot of, you know, like the tails aspects. You know, obviously you want some aspects of your heads with your methanol and whatnot, but avoiding the bitterness that comes in the back end.
I have probably one of the more inefficient ways of making tequila, but it results in just once again, a beautiful product. So we choose our battles. I'm just great at not making money.
[00:24:49] Speaker A: Great. Tequila is not made efficiently.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: No, it's indeed not.
[00:24:55] Speaker A: So for cooking, are you using a stone or brick oven?
[00:24:59] Speaker B: When we can. But we also try to really focus on less about how we're cooking it. And then really it's about how long we're doing rest for and whatnot. So we've done both. Autoclave. Right now, I know there's some idea of a stigma around it. I personally don't see one as long as the rest times are proper.
But we're trying to experiment as much as we can responsibly so that we have consistency within our brand. But we really like to explore. So right now we're just trying to figure out what fits best for a brand. And then, you know, it's always like this idea of historic preservation, but also innovation. So we're trying to do both, trying to figure out what works. But right now there's a lot of fun inside of rest times and just making sure that we're patient about our process.
[00:25:42] Speaker A: Yeah, some people are, oh, you can't use an autoclave. But I have a lot of tequilas that I like are low pressure autoclaves. And I have several that I like that are high pressure autoclaves as well.
[00:25:53] Speaker B: Yeah, there's a piece of me that always had this vision for what I wanted you know, I kind of went into it in many ways in a box. And then you start figuring out what actually has an impact. And you can measure that impact, right? Especially approaching tequila production from a very quantitative point of view. So you start figuring out what becomes essential, what becomes a trademark of your brand, and then what has room for interpretation. And right now, like, I think low and slow is always the way to go. And a good rest time before you start, you know, breaking up your. Your cooked penas. But beyond that, like, I have a lot to learn. You know, both Omar and I, if he was here, he'd be agreeing with me. But we are already in our personal lives, just commensurate students. But it's amazing being a student in an industry right now where there's actually surprisingly more than I expected of a group of masters that are willing to educate the next generation. Coming from wine, everything was so secretive in Napa. Only thing you knew is where the grapes were grown and what varietal they were. No one talked about yeast profiles. No one talked about, you know, there was no sharing of ideas because it was very doggy dog. And then you go into craft beer. Craft beer is probably the most collaborative professional environment I've been in. Everyone sharing ideas. And that's why I think craft beer grew so rapidly outside of other economic factors was that it was so stimulating. It was this open source project where everyone shared data. And then, you know, coming into tequila, I expected to be maybe a little bit more of an embargo on information. But surprisingly, we've gotten to be around some of, like, I mean, some of the fucking greats just because of Omar's connections and the people that he's become friends with over the years. But really getting to sit down and like, openly share ideas and talk about what's working has been a huge advantage for us. And as long as we stay that, you know, that mentality of a student, I think that we'll continue to evolve our brands and just try to strive for making a better tequila.
[00:28:02] Speaker A: Sure. So extraction using a roller mill, right?
[00:28:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:06] Speaker A: And then in the fermentation, are you using stainless steel tanks?
[00:28:11] Speaker B: When we can, it's nice. But we also like to have a diversification so we can do both.
We have a big older that we can use as well.
[00:28:20] Speaker A: Oh, no kidding.
[00:28:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:22] Speaker A: So. So fermenting in the winter, doesn't that extend your fermentation time a little bit because it is colder?
[00:28:27] Speaker B: Absolutely. And that's the goal, right. I think when it comes down to, like, the, you know, the Biomechanics and, you know, the aspect of what's happening which is really more so biotransformation. Right. And as you think about fermentation, there's a lot of beautiful compounds that will get cleaved or stripped or just volatile inherently with a faster fermentation. So there's. We've gone back and forth, Amber. Some of our first turns, we just were like, this isn't right. We go through distillation, we dump it.
So a more of a struggle. Fermentation has proven to be something that we like more in our flavor profiles. We're able to capture more of, like, the more necessary compounds than we do when we just have a really fast fermentation, which I know some people swear by, you know, champagne yeast of the world, you know, these really, like, they call them, you know, diastatic. So these sta1 positive genes that result in just a very vigorous and fast fermentation. And that works for a lot of brands. It's just something that we personally don't really like as much.
[00:29:30] Speaker A: Sure. Now. And from what I understand, you tell me, because I'm always learning new things at this. So a lot of the finish and the flavors that carry through the finish, and maybe the peppery or the.
I don't know, I don't want to call it a burn, because it's not a burn.
[00:29:47] Speaker B: It's.
[00:29:47] Speaker A: To me, it's a spice. It's a. And. And the flavor changes through, like, I. I just got some cinnamon flavor in that. You know, spice, in the end, primarily comes from fermentation. Is that correct?
[00:29:59] Speaker B: I mean, once again, I'm also by no means an expert, but I do believe that a lot of your building blocks, you know, from your water to your yeast to your, you know, your agave, you know, your most, like, fermentation is outside of the act of distillation. It's the most important thing. Right. So I do believe that we gain a lot, obviously, to map it all out, which a lot of really fun, smart, nerdy people are doing. But I don't know for a fact where a lot of things come from. I just do know the more that we map our process, we start figuring out when we make a change somewhere. You know, taking the classic, you know, scientific approach of, like, one variable, you know, you don't want more than one variable at a time because you can't really tell what has changed and why. But as we just kind of tinker with our product, that's one of those places where it's fun to see like, you know, you flip, you know, just turn one knob a little bit and, you know, things change. But yeah, there is so much to learn for us, Omar. I was talking about how we're just like constant students and just the great minds that we've gotten to be around just because of your connections in the industry, but just that we love learning and making the perfect keel is impossible, but we really want to get close to it.
[00:31:15] Speaker C: Yeah. I was saying about Peter, like, I learned so much from him. I'm always asking him questions about distillations and stuff. And it's actually made me want to go back to school and maybe get a chemistry degree because it's really like, I'm a very hands on guy. I graduated with a computer science degree, concentration in cybersecurity. And, you know, when I got my degree, I was like, I just can't sit in an office all day though. Like, I gotta be talking to people, I gotta be doing stuff, you know, So I followed on with my entrepreneurial spirit. But getting into this with Peter and seeing how much there is behind, like, with the chemistry and the distillation, it's really fascinating to me. And I've learned so much from Peter and I'm sure he says the same, like, learned a lot from me as far as, like, you give me the field and I'll grow anything you want. But, you know, I think we make a really good team.
[00:32:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:09] Speaker A: So one of the things Peter told me yesterday. So your, your primary business is in the masonry and the construction industry, is that right?
[00:32:18] Speaker C: Yep. We do. We do commercial and residential masonry. That's what we started in. We really expanded that. We started building a lot of custom and commercial pools. We build all over the Southeast. We get it. We got into a lot of land management, like grading and stuff. So we've kind of just expanded the business quite a bit. Me and my brother and I really enjoy what we do. And now with this tequila, you know, like I said, me and Peter said earlier, it's a ton of stress. But when you see somebody post you up on social media, like, oh, trying Pedro Fertivo for the first time, like, those little bits of that glory is like, worth all the stress we're doing.
[00:32:54] Speaker A: Yes. So my background is a union bricklayer.
[00:32:57] Speaker C: Oh, okay.
[00:32:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:58] Speaker C: So I started Lane break when I was real young. I think it's a dying art. You know, people don't know how to do masonry stationery anymore.
So, yeah, I've enjoyed that.
I can't relate with a lot of masons. You Know, it's not. It's like you meet Masons all the time now. It's like I said, it's kind of a dying art. So, yeah, you definitely know the hard work behind it.
[00:33:19] Speaker A: Yeah, it's definitely tough work.
[00:33:21] Speaker B: You guys have no idea how hard it's been to have to drink alcohol professionally for the last 20 years. All right, so, yeah, I do.
[00:33:30] Speaker A: I've always drank alcohol professionally.
So.
[00:33:34] Speaker C: In Mexico, there's a joke that, like, masons in Mexico, that they say, man, you were drinking harder than a mason. That's a lot of, like, the running joke in Mexico. Masons in Mexico, they know how to put it down for sure.
[00:33:48] Speaker B: That's funny.
[00:33:49] Speaker A: Oh, that's awesome. I have another one more question on the blanco. So when you guys are all done distillation, are you resting it before you're bottling it, or are you going straight to bottle?
[00:33:59] Speaker B: We're resting it, absolutely. I think it's important. You know, there's always, like, this little bit of shock, especially in a lot of products. You know, with beer, you know, there's always this fear of oxidation. Right. You know, oxidation in a beer is not a good thing. We try to keep it as anaerobic as humanly possible, but, you know, with tequila or with any spirits, you have a lot more of that wiggle room. But we do believe that just as you go through change, you have to create time for assimilation, reconstitution, in a way, you know, so we do believe that there's a little rest that's necessary. We try to keep it short, but, yeah, you know, it's one of those things that we found that we liked. And, you know, luckily, with the tequila or any spirits, unlike beer, you know, the beer, it's so important to keep things fresh, and that's paramount. Right? But. And even with wine, oxidation is not always your friend. But with spirits, it's great. So we take our time. Everything really is built with this foundation of patience.
So, yeah.
[00:35:02] Speaker A: Awesome. So now the repo. Same exact tequila. You're putting your blanco right into some barrels.
[00:35:07] Speaker B: Absolutely.
As I've talked about, barrels are my. My favorite thing. Like everything that I've done, right, with wine to beer to now spirits. Like barrels are the. Or the through line, you know, outside of fermentation and yeast management.
But, you know, for our repo, it's really important to us. You know, Omar and I, when we put this together, I kind of wanted to marry, just like we've done with a lot of things with Pedro. I wanted to marry Our past in our present, to create a future. Right. So one way that I found to personally do this, to connect myself more at this brand, was to kind of create. With our repo, it's always going to be with everything that we barrel age, there will always be an aspect of wine barrels as well as spirit barrels. So with our repo, it's a 60, 40 blend. 60% of it is usually. I say usually, it always is Heaven Hill 8 year barrels. Luckily, you know, with our beer business, we have a lot of different connections in the barrel world from Kentucky, so we have a lot of good things to choose from. But then from there, we use new world Bordeaux, red wine barrels, French oak, obviously.
And so it's a 60, 40 blend, you know, spirit predominantly, and we do six months. I think that Reposado is right. It's very easy to monetize them, you know, get them out as quickly as possible, kind of hit those minimum requirements. But maturation really does have a flavor. The flavor of thyme is something that we don't have any curiosity to fake.
And when you get it to six months, there's something really just magical about, you know, the harmonization of the wine barrel as well as spirit barrel. And we don't just take everything that we produce. We still are very much selective as we think about our blends, to the dismay of our P L.
You know, if. If we are like, okay, that barrel doesn't work, doesn't really fit. And I think for us, you know, just with a lot of other producers, we're not unique in this way, but we really take a vintage approach to anything barrel age, regardless of time. So we really just want to make sure it's just as good, if not better than the last time that we produced it. So for that one, you know, 60, 40 blend, six months, and it really has this great flavor. You know, second, third, use barrels. We don't want too much color. I want a little bit of influence. But I also want. I think that reposado and I think Omar and I are definitely in agreeance on this. And that is that our perception of Reposado is that it still needs some aspect of rusticity. Right. It still needs to be a little bit rough, but it needs to be greater than an experience of just a traditional blanco. You know, you need to be able to have the value associated with why it costs more, and that is, you know, the flavor of oak and thyme.
And so it's great to be able to taste it because you can really taste, you know, the Substrate. Right. You know, this, the. The standard pager. You know, it's there. And then you get this great influence of time and diversified barrel sources and just creates a really cool experience.
[00:38:15] Speaker A: It actually has a really neat, dry finish. Yeah, that isn't. You know, you don't get that in a lot of repos. I don't know if that's the wine influence or you can argue that maybe.
[00:38:26] Speaker B: There'S some influence of a tannic nature, you know, in wine production. So often in a red wine barrel, you'll have precipitates form, you know, potassium bitartrate, cream of tartarite. That is a crystalline structure that will grow in the maturation of red wine. You'll see it inside of the stainless tanks. You'll see it inside of the barrels. So when we receive our barrels, we really like to etch them. You can go through with, you know, high pressure spray ball, which we use in the wine industry and the beer industry, and we can kind of strip away a lot of those tartrates, but also reinvigorate the oak to where it's reopened. You get kind of a little bit deeper into there, so you get unique flavors. But we try to avoid, you know, outside yeast tartrates, anything like that. Even with our spirits barrels, we don't want to have any. Our barrels are great when they show up wet. Right. You know, but we pour that out in some cups, strain it with some coffee filters, let the team try. But outside of that, we want our barrels just to be that. We want them to be wet and fresh, but not too much of an influence on our tequila. Right. Our tequila is supposed to be tequila with a little bit of a guiding source of flavor.
[00:39:34] Speaker A: I mean, you nailed it on the repo because you get. The agave is the star of the show. You get that sweet, cooked agave, it almost sweetens up a little more. You have a great sweet agave flavor in the blanco. But it's. I don't know, it's like almost a little more intense of sweetness in there.
[00:39:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:39:53] Speaker A: And you. You can tell it's real, authentic sweetness. There's nothing fake about it. It's so good. And then you get that earthiness. But then, like I said in the finish, it's a little more subdued, but it has like a little bit of a dryness. And then. Then I. I pick up that hint of cinnamon at the end, which I. I love. I love cinnamon in a tequila. It's one of those ones I kind of look for. Oh, am I gonna. Yeah, yeah, that Spice. It's a spice that's so good.
[00:40:20] Speaker B: We never got that flavor at three, four months, even five months. It's cool. You say that sweetness, right? You know, within oak itself, especially with American oak, you know, Quercus alba, then Quercus petraeus. Right? The two, you know, groups of oak, French oak is great. Right. You know, there's an oxygen ingress that's a little bit different, obviously, but really within American oak, something is so strong is the amount of hemicellulones and vanillin compounds. Right. That are a part of this wood that leach into it just because of the solvent nature of spirits.
And it's great that you get this authentic influence. Right. As we know with tequila, there's a really.
There's this not invisible battle, luckily, anymore, thanks to some leaders in our industry. But we are certified, let's say we're not certified. Right. We. We just believe in an approach of additive free for anyone in the Mexican government that's listening.
And we really like to make sure that we respect the heritage of tequila by guaranteeing in our process and our product that there is nothing other than water, yeast, agave, and occasionally thyme and oak. Right. We don't really like to play with anything else. And so it's really amazing that when you take this holistic, natural approach, approach tequila production, what you achieve, you know, just depending on the environment that you place it in for how long you do it.
[00:41:53] Speaker A: I say additive free a lot. That's. That's been a term that's been around for so long, but really, to me, it's more of a. Is it a commercial product or is it an authentic product? Yeah. Is it an industrial product or is it a traditional product? And I think those really. That's a great way to define it. You know, that. That tequila over there is a very commercialized product. This tequila here is an extremely authentic tequila. And the flavors that you're getting are coming from an authentic method, a real method.
[00:42:23] Speaker B: Omar and I talk about this often, and we like to use science to create our art. You know, I would not view ourselves as artists. We are very much those students of our individual disciplines, and we take this consistent, you know, quality improvement approach, and it results in both us being stimulated and fulfilled, but also, hopefully, it creates a great experience for people that consume our products.
[00:42:50] Speaker A: Yeah, I've. I've heard that theory with some other people that I know that they're. They're that same thought process. And there's a great brand out there and a guy who's done a Lot for tequila that in his motto, it's the future of tradition.
[00:43:03] Speaker B: I like that.
[00:43:04] Speaker A: I like that because it is. It's taking this. This family heritage. You know, you. Omar talked about how your land was falling in disrepair because you didn't have something to do with that land that would create keeping the tradition of your family going. So it's all that. The future of tradition, I think, is such a cool way to say it, because it's going to take something that's so old and so amazing and not necessarily change the way it's done and continue to create it for people in the future. It's awesome.
So Blanco Repo. Anything else coming?
[00:43:45] Speaker B: Omar, you want to share the news?
[00:43:47] Speaker C: I see you got something hiding back there, Peter, on your little table.
[00:43:52] Speaker A: Oh, there's some hiding back there.
[00:43:54] Speaker B: Beautiful little label.
Well, I guess it's okay to talk about it. You know, like, things in the industry are tricky right now, you know, with administration changes and, you know, the fear of tariffs and whatnot. So, Omar, Rachel and I have been busy behind the scenes trying to get our ducks in a row for the future of our brand.
One thing that you'll hear us consistently talk about is that, you know, we believe that people deserve nice things. And we say this in our meetings. We say this. This is how we conduct ourselves in. In a very authentic way. And, you know, things are hard, right? Money is not easy to come by always. And I feel like quality experiences are priced away from people so frequently.
So as we build our brands, we always want to keep this. This balance, right? This struggle, healthy struggle of how can we create the best experience at a fair price and really guarantee that we're not just going to be a brand that's around for a few years or, you know, as tequila just grows so rapidly, we don't want to be just another one that goes away in a short amount of time. You know, ideally, this is something that, you know, my kids are a part of and that I get to bring a generational gift the way that, you know, Omar's parents and their parents before them, you know, six generations have done that. So from there, as we go about this struggle, right, we have a new product that we'll be launching. And just to put this out there, you know, Pedro Fetivo will always, you know, have its blanco and its repo in the future. We do see ourselves very much so having still strength, and we plan on having a lot of fun inside of Reposado. I think Reposado is an amazing place to explore specialty barrels Kind of taking the approach of some of the things I've done in craft beer over, you know, the past decade or so. And do it respectfully, but also create a gentle realm of innovation to see where we can responsibly take tequila. So for our next commercial product that will be coming out, hopefully it'll be in the states before the 20th of January will be our first step into a vintage in Yeho. And this is a brand that we're calling 1331. And I say it's a brand, but really it's not. This will be as they, for example, think of like Fortalezer, right. With their winter blend, we plan on putting together a yearly almost celebration bottle for our celebration of oak and thyme. So we'll put together just kind of almost like a proprietors blend every year. So this year we're doing what we call 1331. So 10% of our blend is 13 month old Pedro from a source of different red wine barrels, actually from a winery I used to work at in California. And then the remaining 90% of the blend, this 31 month old Pedro that has been aging in our standard Heaven Hill barrels. We have different uses on some of the blend aspects to give it a lot of range and variance. But so yeah, we, you know, as we were doing this with our, our friends over in Mexico, they're like, you know, you can just wait like a few more months and you could charge a lot more. This could be like extra nao. And I remember telling Omar and our other, I would say almost in a way, partner in the, in our business, our man in Mexico, no way. Who is Omar's cousin. And he's so deeply a part of our brand and so much a part of our success. But I remember telling them, I was like, kind of had this vision of, you know, this like 9010 kind of thing. And we're talking about this in our 2 hour car ride through one of the valleys to get to our distillery. And they're like, all right, well let's put together a couple blends. And I was like, all right, so we go through this and the end of this three hour blending session, we're all just like 1331. And as we put the name together, Omar and I, you know, we're joking. Because in Mexico, numbers really have an immense significance.
Both spiritual. There's a lot of ways that numbers manifest themselves. And you see that so often in Mexican culture as well as like even in tequila. Right. But we found it to be fun. Even though my wife's over there, she's kind of scratching her head. She's like, 1331, like unless we do the same exact thing, which knowing you, Peter, you'll never do the same blend every year. She was like, this is going to be a one time label. And I was like, yeah, I think it's just going to be a vintage. It's a, it's a celebration. So weirdly enough, we're not taking a very brand architectural specific approach. You know, we have, our two core products are blanco and a repo. And Rachel's like, wait, our third product is going to be a specialty product? And I'm like, yeah, why not? Like it's. People deserve nice things, right? And she looks at me and she's like, damn it. Yeah, you're right.
So 1331, our celebration in Yejo will be coming out and will be available for sale next year early. And I think it's probably like think of being fair. I think it's at $63 a bottle for a 31 month aged tequila. So I think that's still pretty dang fair.
[00:49:09] Speaker A: So why so cheap? That's one thing we talked about yesterday. You said the word cheap. I don't like the word cheap. I like the word inexpensive.
[00:49:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:49:17] Speaker A: Why?
I mean these are excellent. And I know your price points are really low for the product that you have here. And I think you said your goal was you wanted to bring not as much profit focus as you were on bringing great tastes to people in the, in the world. Right?
[00:49:34] Speaker B: Yeah. Everyone always talks about ROI. ROI. I hear about ROI all the time. I got different CFOs and accountants and different businesses. No one ever talks about rof. And that's return on flavor.
And I'm sure they don't talk about it because no one knows about it. But I think ROF is important. But really from there, one of the, one of our early nights of drinking too much, Omar and I, one of the first places, the first, I think the first base that we landed on together, that we stuck our flag in the ground, our first campsite, was that we wanted to operate within our currency. And our currency has always been trust and respect. That's how we treat each other. That's how we like to treat other people in our lives. That's how we were raised.
And then as we think about creating a product for other people, both Omar and I are, in our professional lives, we are people pleasers. Right? We create things for people. You know, the things that Omar builds, which by the way he's being Extremely humble. I mean, you can see this guy's work like on like Architectural Digest. Like the guy is, I mean he's prolific right now. He's going to be one of like, he will be known as one of the greats, him and his brother Christian.
But you know, from there, like, trust and respect is really important if you're going to really build something, especially when you're the new guy. It's so important just to operate in trust and respect. And if we do that well and we have a fair price, then at some point. I'm not an economics guy, but at some point I think if you focus on quality and top line growth, you will encounter financial success. And unfortunately for my wife, Omar and I are less concerned with financial success right now. We are concerned with being a part of the conversation. We really want to earn the trust and respect of producers and consumers that when they see our brand, that they know that with their hard earned money that the experience they'll get when they support us will be greater than for your, a greater value than for some other brands. And that's how we're going to ensure that we stay here for a while. And we need to rely on the fact that if we don't put our customers first and really our product first in many ways, then we will come in last.
[00:51:52] Speaker A: Well, I can tell you that my wife appreciates that as a person who spends a lot of money on tequila and loves tequila, to find a brand that is in a price point that is easy to buy, that is so good that that's. My wife sends her thank yous.
[00:52:10] Speaker B: Tell her we are very welcome.
[00:52:13] Speaker C: Yeah, that's what you're gonna say.
[00:52:14] Speaker A: Omar.
[00:52:15] Speaker C: That was one thing me and Peter talked about at the start as far as like the, the trust and respect. I really liked when he, he brought that up because, you know, I kind of learned that from him. You have one shot to earn their trust and respect. So every time somebody opens this bottle and tries it and they like it, you know, it's, it's. We kind of have every advantage to win because it's a great product, it's very reasonably priced and I think it's pretty cool because like, you know, people like me growing up in construction, when you go to a family party or when you have a bottle for an occasion like this is very affordable. And we can kind of share that with everybody in the industry that, you know, Peterson, I'm in. It's kind of like a, for us, by us product because I mean, neither of us are Celebrities. And the first one that becomes one has to leave the business because.
[00:53:00] Speaker B: Yeah, additive free, celebrity free. You'll see it in our marketing, but, you know, it's, it's a, you have.
[00:53:07] Speaker A: A, you, you have a celebrity here. The celebrity is the juice that's in the bottle. That's what we like, that's what it's supposed to be.
[00:53:13] Speaker B: The celebrity is the Fox. Yes. No, it's just, it's. I think there's a lot of hero brands out there. Think of like, you know, like Arizona Iced Tea. Right. Or think of like the Costco hot Dog.
[00:53:26] Speaker C: Right.
[00:53:27] Speaker B: I think there's a lot of ways that it's important to protect the customer. You know, obviously, capitalism is the thing that makes our world move around. But because of the gift that Omar's family has provided us and the torch that he's carrying, none of this, the product, the price, none of it would be possible if we had a more of a shared ecosystem with other partners and other, you know, suppliers. But because of the fact that it's so contained inside of our business, it allows us to do this. And that's been such a, an awesome gift that I know I don't want to squander. So it's, it's been really, it's a fair amount for us to continue down this path for as long as we can. And, you know, I know that in the new year, we're going to have a website available where people can purchase this in many different states. And unfortunately on the website, they were going to see that it has to be priced higher just because of, like, shipping. And it, it's a loophole that you can, like, send things out of Washington D.C. right, because it's not a state.
And so the prices there, I even struggle with my wife, and I'm like, what? These prices, they're not right. And she's like, Peter, they're like $4 more. And I'm like, well, that's like, you know, for a $36 bottle blanco, right, that's more than 10%. And she's like, sweet boy. She's like, you suck at making money.
[00:54:52] Speaker A: Are you guys in Florida yet?
[00:54:54] Speaker B: No, we're not. We're focusing. Slow growing, deep establishing roots. We're going to be sold in Mexico.
[00:55:01] Speaker A: Tip tequila.com in Florida. That's a great way to take your product a lot of places. And I don't, I don't have any affiliation with them other than they probably know me by name by the amount of things that I order, because we, we Live in a tequila desert in Indiana. Like, there's not great distribution in Indiana. So most of the great tequilas that I'm looking for, I'm. I'm ordering them from somewhere and begging my, you know, low liquor store owner to give him a hard time to the distributors, you know, to pick it up. But a sip tequila is a great way to get your product. You know, a lot of places with one, you know, one great company so there. And they love great, authentic, traditional tequila. So you should reach out to sip tequila.
[00:55:46] Speaker B: Sip tequila. Better not be surprised when they hear from Pedro Fertivo.
[00:55:50] Speaker A: Yeah. And you know, they, they, they specialize in great tequilas. It's one of the things you'll see on their website. And they're going to eat this up because this is really, this is a really great product. Like, I'm, I'm blown away, honestly. It is.
[00:56:04] Speaker B: Thank you. That means the world. That's true. Yeah. We've had a lot of tequila these in a hard day.
[00:56:10] Speaker A: These aren't going to last long.
[00:56:11] Speaker C: It's ready.
[00:56:13] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm gonna have to send you my credit card and my address.
So are you working on. I heard you mention it a little bit. You know, I think 2024 was the year of the high proof. Like, everybody rolled out a great high proof. And to me, because I am a blanco drinker and a very agave forward flavored tequila person, the high proof seemed to bring the most agave flavor. Are you guys rolling out a high proof?
[00:56:40] Speaker B: Yes, we are actively working on one right now.
And I think that we're really close in regards to our quality of product. We already have, you know, like the brand itself figured out the label, everything. So that's the easy part. We just really want to make sure that with our approach to tequila production right now that we find an expression that will be consistent and that also is commensurate with the work that we've done so far. So I still have some figuring out what to do. We're kind of doing some water manipulation right now, trying to figure out what ways that we can accentuate a lot of these flavors. But yeah, hopefully we're close. And I think that 2025 is going to be a really exciting year for our brand and for consumers that do support our brand.
[00:57:24] Speaker A: That's awesome. You mentioned rainwater, and I think that is so cool. Like there's. I can think of another brand out there that's doing some things with rainwater, doing, you know, a well, a deep well rain blend or just a Rainwater or just a deep well or just a spring. And. And I don't think a lot of people understand how much that can change the flavor of tequila. And being a person that lives in a house with a well, you might go to my mom's, and the well water tastes different than the well water here.
Then adding rainwater to that. Are you guys, like, one of the things I love when tequila brands put on their labels. Hey, this. We're. We're utilizing these processes, and we're getting the agaves from these fields and really turning what I kind of picture as a vintage in wines into your tequila. Do you see that as something in the future where you're putting kind of, hey, this came from this field, Planted on this day, harvested on this day. And explaining the differences in the waters and the processes?
[00:58:23] Speaker B: Absolutely. I don't know. Maybe people out there are familiar with Dr. Bronner's soap. Obviously, it's got the craziest label. It's got all this information. There's some wild stuff on the label. But I've always loved the idea of transparency. Right. And also, like, if you're proud of your process, you shouldn't want to talk about it. Right. You shouldn't want to hide. But sometimes, you know, I guess we think about growing our brand with being just so new, right? So new. I mean, no one knows about us.
It's good to get the right information across.
We're working on some marketing collateral to help better tell our story, both from our individual points of view as well as just tell the story about our product itself. But I, you know, like, I want to be able to share, and luckily, you're giving us this platform to, you know, help tell our story and to speak about our product. And I feel like there's so much dang information to share, people, and I'd have to have, like, a pamphlet on the back. But it's cool that we get to talk about it now, and we'll talk about it more on our websites. And as we grow, we'll help people to understand why the things that we do are important to us and how those important aspects translate into the flavor of the product they consume. I think that's always a part that I love sharing, and I learned this as a psalm, is that, like, you need to be able to tell a story with enough detail that, in a way, it not only elevates the product that you're consuming, but in many ways, it becomes your own story that you're able to then go share with other people and you get to pass on this gift of knowledge in a really tasty kind of engaging way. Right. So information, when used properly is really, it's definitely in many ways a great pairing for the product that we have. And we do want to plan on giving people more information about what we do and who we are.
[01:00:21] Speaker A: I can't wait for the future of your brand because this is, this is awesome stuff. So tell me, let's wrap everything like up in a beautiful little package and we'll leave people wanting more so we can do this again. Because when there's new products coming out, that's a great time to like talk about more. And I tell people that I get FOMO in this business, like there's a brand that launches something and then I can't wait to get it. And then I get it and I drink it and then I get faux row. The fear of running out because you know, you're 1331, that's going to be this many bottles and then then there's that many bottles and then now you have, you know, you buy a case of it because you like it and then you're like down to that last bottle and you're like, man, I can't ever have this again. So now I gotta wait. And then hopefully the next one's just as good. So I think your guys are gonna, you're gonna be on that path of creating some FOMO of the things that you put out there. And then us people who drink it are gonna be like, dang it, I'm gonna run out and I can't get another one. So I think you guys got a, like great thing going on and it's gonna be really fun to watch you in the future.
[01:01:27] Speaker B: Thanks.
[01:01:28] Speaker C: Me and Peter talked about that. A little bit of making our specialty products and you know, our vintage products where it'll be a one time run and then the next one will have to put our heads together again and find it. So yeah, you know, and I didn't really realize that, you know, you as a consumer like felt that way because us as the producer, we're, we're seeing them sell, we're like, we're almost out, like it's over. So it's cool, it's exciting because it gives us more a bigger push for the next thing we're going to make. But it's been a really cool process and we're super excited to launch this 1331 and see how the public reacts to it.
[01:02:04] Speaker B: So it's exciting, you know, just to add to that. One of the things I always really disliked about my time in Napa was that there's like, you know, it's the circus, right? You know, so often the quality of the wine is probably one of the last things that matters. You know, it's the facilities, it's everything else. And then there's this sales approach that I learned in wine that was, you know, called perceived scarcity. Right? You know, you have like a case out on the table. Someone would come in, you do a tasting, and they'd be like, this is amazing. You're like, yeah, this is actually the last case. I can only sell you one bottle, though. And they'd be like, no, no, no, come on. And they'll be like, I'll buy the whole case. I'm like, okay, fine, you can buy the whole case. They would leave. They'd walk out with it in their hands, feeling so exclusive and special. Second they leave, you put the next case back onto the table.
And I've always disliked that. But something. I've known that for myself and as well as Omar and Rachel, that in order to have this healthy appetite for innovation, you do have to have scarcity, right?
And so now we might produce products that not everyone can get. And that's something that I don't believe is a nice thing. And we want people to have nice things, but at the same time, like, we're not going to intentionally do it or manufacture scarcity, but when we do it, it will be because we had to. We had to create this. We had to, you know, scratch that itch. But now that it's gone, it's going to force us to go explore once again and create something that we would already want to be there. We're not trying to fill a void by any means, but it's fun just to have your own internal motivation to go explore, to really just to explore and then allow people to taste your. Your findings. And I think that's really cool.
[01:03:50] Speaker A: So that creates the scarcity by creating a great product, right? You. You mentioned Winter blend, which is a great product. And we get like this much left in the bottle and we seal it up. You know, we got to get to save that because you can't get it again. And I see you guys down that same road with. With an amazing bottle. I mean, it's awesome. So thank you. Where can everybody find you, social media wise?
[01:04:13] Speaker B: Where.
[01:04:14] Speaker A: Where do we go to find you on all of the social media stuff@pedrovertivo.
[01:04:19] Speaker B: Tequila.Com and then we're trying to make Omar famous first and exclusively so that he has to give up his shares in the business. So Omar, why don't you tell them.
[01:04:29] Speaker C: Your instagram handle @Pedrovertiva Tequila.
[01:04:35] Speaker B: Oh, I'll share it on the link, guys, don't worry.
[01:04:39] Speaker C: But yeah, around here in Georgia, like, what we're trying to educate everybody on is like, if you go to our website, you can do the Vertivo finder, put in your zip code and that'll help find the nearest store local to you. And you know, by going through all this perceived scarcity, like we actually sold out. We were like, we're sorry guys, we don't have any blanco at the moment. Luckily we're all full and stock ready to go. But it was really, it was a, it was kind of a bummer that we sold out, but it was really cool to see how many people were actually looking for us. So it was, it was pretty cool. You find the, the, the light in the darkness. A lot of people were like, where can I get it? Where can I get it? And we were just getting a, a flood of messages. So it's pretty cool to see that in a little time we had grown that big of a fan base.
[01:05:25] Speaker B: And I'll also say, just in the spirit of if my wife was here, she'd be like, important. We are dramatically increasing distribution in 2025. I'm not going to state which states yet, but we're already in advanced talk with a lot of different markets. Obviously we'll have our website up early in January for people. If you're in one of those states that complies that you'll be able to acquire it there. And then just to plug one more product before we wrap up, you know, with this additive free approach to tequila, which has really been important in beverage manufacturing. I see a lot of weird things that go into products.
And there's a category of products called RTDs, you know, ready to drink. And I don't really like the idea of a canned cocktail because I love bartenders and I think a bartender is one of the most important positions and professions in our culture. So I never wanted to put a, a product out that would interfere with the role of a bartender. But we did take this really fun approach where we created a product called Yacht Water. And you'll see it on the website. When we're able to sell our tequila online, you'll see this Yacht Water on there where we actually use our same additive free reposado and then we put it into a canned drink with just like four or five ingredients, no preservatives, no additives, no nothing. So Pedro Fertiva Reposado Tequila, that same old six month that you got in the bottle right there and then Key lime juice, sea salt and water, zero grams of sugar, zero grams of carbs. Really just we wanted to like kind of do what's been so instrumental in tequila and try to bring that influence and that honesty into other realms about alcohol manufacturing. Because I can tell you, for someone that works in, that has worked in wine and in beer and now in spirits, I haven't done cider, but there's a lot of artificial out there. And I think that it's amazing that you get to see Tequila really, really making this push towards transparency. And so I want to help usher that into a different industry which if anyone knows about the world of RTDs, the White Claws and the high noons of the world, there's so much artificial in there that as someone that's a food scientist, it just makes you, it makes you just disgusted. So we want to create a new point of view, an alternative. And the more we do this, the more of Omar's land we get to advance and we get to use penas and we get to grow this idea of creating a larger brand of high quality products because people deserve nice things.
[01:08:02] Speaker A: So yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome. Well, I really appreciate you guys taking your time today and doing this and having these bottles sent. I appreciate that very much and I look forward to this coming out because people are going to learn about a whole new brand that is going to be, I think, a great brand. Because your product's great, your philosophy is great. You and I have a similar philosophy in the way. I say it a little differently than what you've said it, but I've always believed that if you help other people get what they want, you inevitably get what you want. And you know, coming out at a price point at such an amazing product with such a great story, it's, you're, you're giving, you're giving us tequila people what we want. And I think people are going to embrace that and I think it's awesome. And having that website where people can find you is going to be so important. So when you have that ready, I want to know so we can do like a quick video and, and launch that out and tell everybody. And my door is always open to you. If you say, hey, you know, I got, I got this going on, I want to put this out there, call me, we'll do another one of these videos. So I look forward to your guys journey.
[01:09:05] Speaker B: Thank you. We really appreciate it. It's been really exciting to get to tell our story.
[01:09:11] Speaker C: And Wendy Anejo comes in. We've got one with your name on it, for sure.
[01:09:16] Speaker A: I'll drive all the way to Georgia to get that.
[01:09:19] Speaker B: Don't worry, it's Georgia. We'll drive it to you, you know.
[01:09:23] Speaker A: Well, you're gonna be here in May. You told me you'd be here in May already. So in May, we're gonna do a tasting Tequila with Brad video when you get here. I will.
[01:09:31] Speaker B: I will be in town for the craft Brewers Conference 2025. So maybe when I'm in town, let people know that we can do a little live get.
[01:09:41] Speaker A: We.
[01:09:42] Speaker B: We can be drunk influencers. We can be under the influencers.
[01:09:46] Speaker A: I am always an under the influencer. I agree with that.
[01:09:50] Speaker C: So, sounds like I have to go into this conference with Peter.
[01:09:54] Speaker A: You know, I'll see if we can set up maybe a tasting too, because, you know, we do some tastings and your product would be a phenomenal product to do a tasting with. So maybe we do that when you're in town as well. Great. Your stay probably just got longer.
[01:10:06] Speaker B: I can tell you that as someone that's relatively new in the tequila industry, the amount of. And this is for everyone out there, the amount of generous, nice, hospitable, kind and curious people that are attracted to the Keela game right now, it's amazing. So everyone out there, keep it up, because I think that we have a really special community that we're building. And Brad, I mean, thank you so much, Keith out there, if you get to watch this. I mean, there's so many people that have really taken a genuine interest in helping us. And if for all you normal people out there, that's very rare. So it's just been. It's been so. I don't know, it's been so promising and stimulating to see that there's just this great group of people out there that genuinely care about each other and that we all love tequila. I think tequila is a conduit for good people. So so far, I've been very, very relieved.
[01:10:59] Speaker C: That's. That's the same thing I've noticed. And me and Peter talked about this other day, like, seeing our reviews and what people write about us on Tequila Matchmaker. And, you know, like Peter said, a shout out to Keith. We met at Arte Agave. He. He came, met me. Peter wasn't there on that. On that show. It was me and my brother and Keith came up to me, tried our product and he was like, this is amazing and I'm gonna add you in my group of tequila guys. And then I started seeing Pedro pop up and Keith was sending it out to everybody. And I just blown away at the. How nice everybody is and how genuine everybody is to just try a nice product.
[01:11:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:11:34] Speaker C: So it's been awesome.
[01:11:36] Speaker A: When you bring a product like this to the market, that's. That's what you get.
[01:11:39] Speaker C: Amazing.
[01:11:40] Speaker A: So it's a great product. So that's probably the best close I've had for a video. Like, can you guys be on all my videos?
[01:11:48] Speaker B: Yes, we can.
Currently. Right now we need to diversify our streams of revenue because, yeah, we are all L and no P, but there you go.
[01:12:00] Speaker A: Well, I think Rachel will get that straightened out at some point.
[01:12:04] Speaker B: She is actively working on it more so than we are. But we all have our roles, you know, we all have a rules.
[01:12:09] Speaker A: That's right. Well, I appreciate you guys very much. Thanks for your time today and thank you. I think this would be a great video for everybody. So thanks for your product, your hard work, your friendship, your belief systems and, you know, just the core of who you are. It's going to make you very successful and I appreciate that.
[01:12:24] Speaker C: That.
[01:12:24] Speaker B: Thank you so much.
[01:12:25] Speaker C: Thank you. Appreciate it.
[01:12:26] Speaker B: Thank you to everyone out there. Thanks for supporting us.
[01:12:29] Speaker C: Thank you guys. Have a happy new year.
[01:12:31] Speaker B: Yeah, Cheers.
[01:12:34] Speaker A: Thanks for listening. That was Omar and Peter from Pedro Fortiva. You heard that they have a website coming soon and you can find them all over social media. I'll have the links in the summary and also in the comments. And this is one to definitely go seek out and find this brand. The tequila is absolutely amazing. It's authentically made. It has great flavors. The agave forwardness is amazing. So try it. Thanks for listening and have a great day.
