Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, guys, thanks for stopping in again to check this one out. This is a great interview. I was really excited to get to do it. Chris Cardenas, Cardenas Legacy Tequila. It's got a great story. Veteran owned company. That's where the legacy comes in. We've got a whole family of tradition of people being in the United States military, and it's really awesome to hear that story. And from Alaska to Guadalajara, Chris has, like, been in the music business and done all of these amazing things. And it's really cool to hear how he put together this tequila and the trials and tribulations it took to bring it out. And the amazing thing is, during this interview, he pointed out that a brand new fire had lit up just three hours from his house, around 3,000 acres, and he still wanted to stay on and get the video done in case they told him he had to evacuate and he didn't. We had a great interview. I think you're really going to enjoy it. You're going to find out about a great traditionally made tequila cheers and stick around.
Foreign hey, guys. I'm here today with the owner of Cardenas Legacy Tequila, Chris Cardenas. How you doing today, Chris?
[00:01:09] Speaker B: I'm doing great, thank you, Brad.
[00:01:11] Speaker A: I'm fired up to have you here. I love hearing the stories of tequila. And I know you didn't grow up in Mexico and you're not a lineage family of tequila makers that grew up in a distillery. So I know you have a different job that you've had outside of tequila. So tell us a little bit about your background and how you stumbled into tequila.
[00:01:34] Speaker B: So we'll start from the beginning. I joined the United States Air Force, so I'm a veteran. During Desert Storm, I joined, and that kind of goes with the Cardinals legacy brand. I never went to combat. I was never at war personally, but my dad was in Vietnam and my grandfather is World War II. So that's where the legacy part comes in on the veteran side of our family. So I joined the Air Force, moved to Anchorage, Alaska with the Air Force, Was up there, very, very cold, beautiful, one of the most beautiful places on earth. And really enjoy it up there. Still have some of my best friends up there and everything. And I started doing a little bit of music stuff up there with some friends and stuff. And then I was like, if I really want to do this music stuff, I need to move back, back to Los Angeles. I'm a California resident originally.
So I moved back to Los Angeles to get in the music industry, met some really good people, started working, doing Stuff with the Warp tour. Started meeting a lot of bands and stuff like that. Because my. My thing was, at that time, there wasn't really much going on in Alaska for music. So I was meeting bands at clubs and being like, you want to go to Alaska? Here's the deal. You're not going to get paid, but you can sell your merchandise, and we're going to pay for everything for you to get up there. And you're going to do three nights of music, and we get local bands to open up for. And one of the bands, I don't know if you've ever seen the signs called with people holding up signs, says Free Hugs. That started with a band called the Sick Puppies.
[00:03:03] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah, I'm familiar. I'm an old punk rocker and an old rocker, so.
[00:03:07] Speaker B: Well, not Skinny Puppies. Sick Puppies. So there isn't.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:10] Speaker B: Yes. From Australia. So I saw them playing in front of about 20, 30 people in a little bar in Manhattan beach here in California. And I'm like, do you guys want to go to Alaska? And the singer's like, dude, go talk to our manager. And I knew they weren't taking me serious. And the manager's like, well, that sounds pretty cool. Okay. And I'm like, all right, here's the deal. Three nights, we pay for everything. You sell your merchandise, and you should do pretty good with merchandise. All right, sounds like a deal. So we're trying to finalize everything. He's like, chris, I need to get this deal done because there's some big things happening, and I have to have this deal done before somebody tries to overwrite it. And a week before they were going to Alaska, they were going on Oprah Winsley for the Free Hugs thing. So I'm like, okay, done deal. We'll make it work. Just don't worry. We're done. Deal. So we had everything done. Took them out there. They did three shows. The first night, I think there's like 50 people there. The second night, there's like a hundred people there. And the third night, we were past capacity of, I think 250 people. I think it was people waiting to get in and everything. And it was cool for a band that had just moved here to have see that much growth. And they sold a ton of. They sold out of merchandise. So they were ecstatic. They made money off the deal and everything. So anyway, that's kind of where the music side of things. I moved back to la, doing that, started doing bigger, bigger. Like I said, I put on the Warp tour in Alaska. We called it the Road to Warp tours, a smaller version of the Warp tour. And it was pretty cool because bands were going up there. It was 10 o'clock at night and still daylight. They're like, dude, this is so weird. So it was really cool, you know, and we had a lot of fun with that.
And then 2017, I put on a music festival. And I put on music festivals all the way from Alaska down to Guadalajara, Mexico. I had stuff going on in all those markets.
17, I put on a big music festival up in Alaska. Weather went south, everything went south. Lost a lot of money out of my own pocket. Put the family in a bad situation. So at that time, I was working with a band from Mexico, and the bass player, I was like, man, I want to find something different.
Because I lived in Mexico for three years, I went from LA to. To Mexico for three years. And at that time I was working with the band down there. And the bass player's like, chris, you were talking about. Because I learned a lot about tequila.
So what happened was when I moved to Mexico, I learned about quality tequila. I learned you actually sip tequila. I learned how to properly drink tequila because I was one of those guys in college. I drank the worst tequilas. I drank it as fast as I could. And so I couldn't drink tequila for about 10 years. You know, I was one of those guys that smell everything. But then when I was in Mexico and learned. So I'd moved back to la, and that's when this concert happened. Lost my butt. And my buddy goes, hey, I. What you were trying to do is I have a guy that'll do it. So my music company was called Anger Management, so that was the name of my music company. So we found a company in Mexico, in Guadalajara, actually, that takes kind of like wine. They take your bottle and they already. They pre bottle, they prepackage it like wine, and then they just throw your logo on it. So I did that. I ordered like, I think it was 20 the first time, of these anger management bottles just to give to people. I was retiring from music. I was giving these to people to say thank you. But then I tried the tequila and I'm like, man, this is good tequila. I need to know more about this tequila. Well, then I said, I need more. I need 25 more. He's like, well, I can't get you anymore. I'm like, what? He goes, well, technically, that tequila was never supposed to be in there.
And I'm like, what the heck? So I'm like, well, who makes It. And he. So he tells me who makes the tequila. And. But in the meantime, he sends me more tequila and I try it. I'm like, this is not the same Tequila. So I flew down there. I flew to Guadalajara. Me and the guy, the kid that I knew down there, knocking on his business door, he opens up and I'm like, poured it out right in front of me. Said, this is not the tequila you promised me. And he was honest. He goes, no, it wasn't. I'm sorry. I'm like, no, there's a big difference. So that's when he told me who made the tequila that was in the bottle that he gave me. Originally one of the biggest tequila families in the world, but they had sold their brand, like, which we all know happens a lot. I think six hundred and something million dollars or something they sold their brand for. So it was a lot of research. We were trying to find out how to get a hold of them to try to talk about making tequila.
We couldn't get on. Everything led to the new ownership.
And then my wife, whose family's from Mexico, did some research, research, and found out her friend married into this family.
So we set it all up. You know, we get all squared away. I'm going. Me and my wife are going to fly down there because she's my translator. My Spanish is no bueno, but my wife actually has a law degree from Guadalajara, University of Guadalajara. So, you know, she's always my. My guys and ears and everything for stuff like that. But the night before we're flying down, they start asking me, well, what do you do for a living? How much money do you make? And all this stuff. And I'm like, well, these are kind of weird questions the night before. And at this time, I'm taking my youngest daughter, who I think was 3 or 4 years old at the time. I'm like, am I being a little selfish? Just trying to get this tequila thing going, taking my daughter or my wife and my youngest daughter. But we went, and I told my wife, if anybody else shows up except them, we're getting back on the plane and just going right back to la.
So we get there, and typical Mexican style, they show up about 30 minutes late. Two guys come up with their sports coats on and everything. We meet them, nice guys, okay? Like, okay. But there's two guys. We're like, oh, kind of weird. We walk out. All of a sudden there's a black suburban, tinted windows, can't see in it. Everything. Yeah, I. You know, you got to remember, I watch Narcos. And I watch all these shows all the time and everything. I'm like, oh, man, here comes the potato sacks over the head and everything. All of us. All of a sudden, the wife and their son jump out, which was. He was like 1 or 2 years old at the time, put us at ease. We throw all our stuff in the Suburban, we drive out to the distillery. Not my distillery, the family distillery. And we started talking. He really liked me because I was honest with him. I said, can we start out with like a thousand bottles? I said, I just want to test this. No, nothing. I don't come from a liquor business background. Nothing. I said, this is just something I want to try to do and have fun with it. And he's like, yeah, absolutely. And I think that's what he liked. His family gets approached all the time to make tequila and say, yeah, we need a hundred thousand bottles. They're like, okay, show us the money. And then they never come back or whatever. So I'm like, a thousand bottles, okay. So the next day we. We go stay at the hotel and everything. Next day we meet up with them talking business. He's like, all right, we can do this. But he goes, I gotta be honest with you, to make it even cost efficient, we really gotta do at least 2500 bottles. And I said, fair enough. I get it. Fair enough. We can make that happen.
So. But then I was like, hey, I gotta tell you a story. I said, man, we were scared. We started asking all those questions about, you know, how much money and what do you do and all this kind of stuff. And he goes, yeah, no kidding. He said, why do you think my wife and my son came? Because she was worried. You know, you're from one of the biggest tequila families in the world, and you're going to pick up some guy from LA you've never even met. So it's kind of a mixed story. So Now Francisco Gonzalez Jr. Is my master distiller. And you might have heard of him, his cousin is Lalo, and he is the master distiller for Reserva de Gonzalez down in Mexico, which you can't get in the us. So that is my master distiller. He's been my mentor. So to go back just real quick. So the tequila that was in those bottles that was never supposed to be in there was reserve a Day Gonzalez. So, yeah, the guy that started this business doing this was part of the Gonzalez. He was in the. He's one of the cousins. So it got him in a little bit of trouble. Once they found all this, I was like, hey, I'm not trying to cause trouble. You know, I'm just, like, trying. Everything's fine, Everything. Everybody's cool now. But, yeah, so that's in a quick kind of long nutshell of how this whole journey started. It was all by accident.
I was not one of those guys out there really looking. And when I moved out of Mexico, I was like, oh, it'd be cool to own a tequila company after learning so much more. But I never thought it was going to happen. And then just all these little situations happened, and everything just happened. And they even said if it wasn't for my wife's friend saying, oh, yeah, she's a good person, you know, this is. They said they never even would have responded to the emails. So that's awesome.
[00:11:27] Speaker A: A good connection brought it all together.
[00:11:30] Speaker B: Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, that's. You know, that's why I'm a firm believer that this was meant to be. Because everything that had to happen for this to happen, you know, and the obstacles that we overcame even after that and stuff, it's just every day, people don't understand what's going on behind the scenes and everything you have to deal with and everything and stuff, but it's all worth it.
[00:11:49] Speaker A: Well, as a business owner, I know, to me, I go back to that image of the duck, right. I own a mortgage company, and I work crazy hours, and I do this for fun. And, you know, it always looks like I'm just kind of cruising along, like everything's just okay and it's just working out, but them feet underneath there just going crazy to get that duck to move. And that's what I feel like our lives are as business owners, as entrepreneurs. It's like this frenzy of excited madness that makes everything work. And everybody's like, oh, you're so lucky, and we'll go, I haven't slept in four days.
I don't know how lucky that is.
[00:12:25] Speaker B: You know, you didn't see us in the makeup before doing this video, you know, Exactly.
[00:12:29] Speaker A: Before I came in here, I knew I had a broke, potentially a frozen pipe. My wife just stuck her head around the door and said, there's water everywhere, and I've turned all the water off. I was like, okay, good.
[00:12:38] Speaker B: Do you need a reschedule?
[00:12:40] Speaker A: No, we'll be all right. We'll not.
[00:12:41] Speaker B: Between your pipe and my. The fire right here behind me going on. Hey, we're in a good spot right now.
[00:12:46] Speaker A: We are.
[00:12:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:47] Speaker A: We're like my frozen and your heat's gonna bring it all together.
[00:12:50] Speaker B: That's right. That's right.
[00:12:51] Speaker A: All right, so I haven't opened this yet, so I want to pop it so we can get a little rest.
I always love a good pop like that, don't you?
[00:13:00] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. And so this. We're doing the reposado, so I'll. I'm not gonna let you drink alone.
[00:13:05] Speaker A: Good.
[00:13:07] Speaker B: This one, though. I just. This one. I've had it too many times. It's going in the glen. Karen. I have one of. I have mine too here, but yeah, the neho will go in that one.
[00:13:19] Speaker A: Awesome. And that's what I. That's what I assume this little jobby right here is, right?
[00:13:22] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:13:23] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:13:24] Speaker B: So you're one of the very first people to even get some of that, so no kidding.
[00:13:28] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:13:28] Speaker B: I think there's five people that have it right now.
[00:13:31] Speaker A: Well, thank you very much. I can't wait to.
[00:13:34] Speaker B: I did a little sampling this weekend with it for my friend Caesar's fundraiser, and so it was very well taken. So that's good.
[00:13:42] Speaker A: That's really good. That's really interesting that you were in the music industry on the production and promotion side, because I'm a big music fan. That my two things were tequila and music. And started out as an old 80s rocker, and then I grew up into country music. So now I'm a country music guy and lots of friends in Nashville and spent quite a bit on. Bit of time on the phone today with a friend of mine that owns a publishing company and a label and is a producer in Nashville. They're. They're money searching, needing to do another seed of funding, and they've got all these, like, really new about to break artists, and. And then I just. I thought that's crazy that I'm talking to you today because you have such a music industry background too, and. Yeah, that's really cool.
[00:14:21] Speaker B: So my. My father's a musician. He's been a musician his whole life, ever since the Navy. I mean, even in the Navy, he was playing music. So there's a lot of musicians in the Cardenas family, where for some reason, our family's very artistic. I have a cousin that does amazing art. I don't know if you saw any of the pictures, like, with the C130 flying. The military guy. My cousin's. My cousin's daughter. She drew that by hand.
[00:14:45] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:14:46] Speaker B: Yeah, I. When. First time I saw her any of her work, I was just blown away. And she's very into military stuff. In fact, she's creating something for me right now because I'm starting a club for carnist legacy just for updates, you know, newsletters, stuff like that. But it's going to be the Cardinals Legacy squadron. So to get the military stuff and everybody will get dog tags and just all this kind of stuff and just have some fun with it. But this will be a spot where people maybe get special discounts here and there and get up to date on what's going on with Cardinals legacy. You know, like everybody's asking right now, when's the nail coming? When's the nail coming? It should be going on the truck anytime. So hopefully that'll be up here very soon. And then everybody's asking, you know, when I'm coming out with like a steel strength or something. So it's all in the world is.
[00:15:32] Speaker A: The question all the time. When's the still strength coming?
[00:15:34] Speaker B: Yeah, no, and it's. I get it a hundred percent. But on a business level, that's what I try to tell people is that's still a very small niche in the tequila world. The tequila lovers, that's their niche. But my tequila, I started making to win over people that normally won't drink tequila for one of the somebody that was like me that wouldn't drink tequila. So I honestly made the reposado to win over bourbon and whiskey people because, you know, everything, everything will always be agave forward. You know, that's, that's your main ingredient is agave. So that I will never go away from that. You know, that's the whole key. But you'll, the flavor profile and I think you'll see here in a few minutes. Our reposado gets a lot of good recognition as a good eight month. It's eight month aged and white oak bourbon barrels. So. And someone yesterday that tried it yesterday for the first time actually it was a great compliment. He goes, it reminds me of the good traditional tequila, you know. And that's, that's what I want. I'm not trying to change, I'm not changing the will, changing the world. With tequila, I'm trying to make something good, natural and clean, you know. And there's a lot of good brands out there right now. About 20% of tequilas are good brands.
[00:16:48] Speaker A: You're exactly right. And the, the other 80% are made by about 2%.
[00:16:53] Speaker B: Yes, exactly, exactly 100%.
[00:16:56] Speaker A: It's so interesting now if people from bars or restaurants, you know, they're like what up here is good? And I'm like, well that's, that's this Brand and. Oh, that's that same brand. Oh, that's that same brand. And they have no idea. So to find one, a Nom that is doing traditional tequila. And you're at nom 1468, which is known for some other great tequilas, all very traditional as well. So.
[00:17:20] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Lalo Ham Spirits, Alchemia. And that's my boy right there. Me and Alchemia, we're always at tastings together. We. We live about 25 miles apart from each other.
[00:17:29] Speaker A: No kidding.
[00:17:30] Speaker B: Yeah, so we see each other all the time. Great guy. I support his brand 100%. He supports my brand. You know, it's funny, when I go into Total Wines, pushing my product, I sell a lot of other tequilas too, because.
[00:17:43] Speaker A: Yeah, when you're at Total Wine.
[00:17:45] Speaker B: Yeah, I do, because I, I'll tell people I make a high premium tequila. I put my tequila up there against any tequila, but that doesn't mean it's going to be your favorite. That doesn't mean that you're going to look at it that way. But the way it's made is up. Made up there with any other brand. But it's like wine or anything else. Your palate is your palate. You like what you like. And that's why I always tell people, I think you'll enjoy my tequila. But it's not a bad tequila. It might not be your favorite, but I think you'll enjoy it.
[00:18:14] Speaker A: Well, let's. Let's enjoy it.
[00:18:15] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:18:18] Speaker A: It's got a great nose. I mean, I get a little bit of the, A little bit of a barrel nose, a little bit of a caramel. But mostly the agave forwardness. And I get. It's a little floral, so I get a little bit of a floral and a little bit of a citrus.
So it's got a great nose.
A nice cooked agave that's very agave forward, a nice, just a really nice sweetness. That's really good. And then the finish, a little bit of pepper. I got a little bit of caramel, a little bit of vanilla.
It's got a nice long finish, too. And it's a, it's a very approachable tequila. This is one that I can see why you, you would say, you know, I'm going to bring a bourbon drinker over because I, you know, there's some tequilas that are punch in the face. Right, right. This one doesn't. It has all of the, all of the agave flavor, all of the tequila flavor that I like, but it is, it's like, it doesn't punch you in the face. It's very, it's very approachable.
[00:19:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:23] Speaker A: Great legs, great mouth. Feel like a medium, medium bodied feel.
Gosh, this is going to turn into a daily sipper right here. This is good.
[00:19:33] Speaker B: Well, thank you. Thank you.
[00:19:35] Speaker A: Yeah, that's very good. So what markets can we get this in? Where, where can people find this in their local stores?
[00:19:44] Speaker B: We're in all the total wines in Southern California and then 10 in Texas. On our website cardinalegacytaquila.com you can find out which ones exactly.
And then you can order it from Fermentin still, if you don't live in those markets, we are looking at going, this is going to sound kind of funny, some of these. So we're looking at New York, Illinois, Colorado and Alaska this year of launching. So Alaska, I have a little advantage, you know, I can go up there and I own, I know most of the restaurant owners and a lot of the club owners and stuff up there. So not too many people can be say they lived in Alaska and are now a tequila owner. So.
[00:20:29] Speaker A: Right. Yeah, that's, that is quite a, that's quite a distance. Although so many Canadians all vacation in Mexico.
[00:20:36] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:20:37] Speaker A: And we actually know some friends that show up at the Cabo Wabo Cantina, Sammy's birthday every year that come in from Anchorage. And those Alaskans are a different breed than the people here in the Midwest.
[00:20:49] Speaker B: They 100%.
[00:20:51] Speaker A: They're tough.
[00:20:52] Speaker B: The women, the women, I'll tell you that right now, they don't take crap from nobody. They're strong. Yeah, they're very good. You know, it's funny you mentioned Cabo. I was so upset. I was just in Cabo last month and I didn't see Sammy's Instagram till the day after. He's like, hey, I'm going to be playing at Cabo tomorrow night. And I was there and I was so mad. I saw that. I saw it afterwards. I was so mad. I've always dreamed to go see him play there.
[00:21:19] Speaker A: It's very cool to see him play there. I've seen him play there, I don't know, couple hundred times, you know, from doing the birthday bash and yeah, it's a lot of fun. He puts on a great show and you can't get very many singers that are that excited about tequila all the time, right?
[00:21:36] Speaker B: No, 100%, you know, and Sammy's one of the good guys in the tequila world. You know, if you're, if you're going to do a celebrity tequila there, you Go. You know, I can always recommend George Straight. You know, CLO is not my kind of brand as much, but it's a good brand.
[00:21:53] Speaker A: So, you know, I know everybody's palate's different like you were talking about. And you know, I know additive free is important and you can tell just by sipping this, you can tell by the nose on this that it's as clean as they come. But I've been talking a little bit less about the additive free side, which I think's incredibly important, but even more so on the traditional tequila versus an industrial tequila.
[00:22:17] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:22:17] Speaker A: And once people understand what a diffuser is and you know, the age of the agaves they use, you know, for a tequila like yours, I'm pretty sure it's. It's brick or stone oven, right?
[00:22:29] Speaker B: Yes, it is.
[00:22:30] Speaker A: It's a brick oven and roller mill.
[00:22:33] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:22:35] Speaker A: And then are you doing open fermentation?
[00:22:38] Speaker B: Yes. And stainless steel.
[00:22:41] Speaker A: Stainless steel. And then are you guys using like a propagated yeast or do you have a. Your own proprietary yeast?
[00:22:47] Speaker B: Yeah, we, we make our yeast out of our extra agave and everything right there.
[00:22:52] Speaker A: Gotcha. Now, do you do any fermentation with begoze or fibers in the fermentation or is all without?
[00:22:59] Speaker B: No, we do not. Okay.
[00:23:01] Speaker A: It's got a great round flavor to it. The, the longer it's set, the, the more of that as that finish, you know, finished, if you will. Then I got that really sweet, almost citrusy aftertaste and I like that. That is, you know, sometimes your aftertaste may be a little more peppery or a little burn, you know, at the, at the very end yours years rounded off with a sweet like a citrus finish. That's. That is really good. That's good.
[00:23:30] Speaker B: Thank you. No, thank you very much.
[00:23:33] Speaker A: On your barrels, are you using used barrels, New barrels?
[00:23:36] Speaker B: Once used white oak bourbon with a 3% char. Yeah.
[00:23:41] Speaker A: And then from what I looked up from what I could find, it looks like you guys are really fairly priced on everything. Like $40 blanco, like 45 to $48 repo.
Is that pretty much?
[00:23:56] Speaker B: That's about right. And the Navo is going to be. The Neho is going to be about $70 because it's a 30 month age to NEHO.
[00:24:04] Speaker A: No kidding.
[00:24:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:06] Speaker A: Well, we probably ought to get that one resting over here.
[00:24:09] Speaker B: Yeah, that one breathe a little bit. It shouldn't be too bad because it's aerated a little bit. Pouring it in there and everything.
[00:24:16] Speaker A: Sure. I like how you, you know, I noticed on the logo, I'm like, okay, this one's blue. This is something different. But color wise, I'm impressed that they're really pretty close in color. So that, that says you're, you're not getting over oaked or too much.
[00:24:32] Speaker B: Right? You will notice. I guess you'll notice when you have a full size bottle, you won't notice as much. It's a, it's a little bit darker, but like you said, it's not like extremely darker.
You know, it's. And this. So I'll tell you the story with this too, because this was supposed to be a 24 month in a.
But because of a certain brand that has gained so much popularity in our distillery, I don't have to mention any names or anything, but it's really put a pushback on all the other brands and trust me, we all talk and it's just been like frustrating. Finally at 30 months, had to tell them, take it out of the barrels, put in a stainless steel tank. I said, I can't age anymore. I don't want an extra Nejo with no Anejo on the market, you know, so. So this was supposed to be a 24 month. So this will be. We'll be going back to 24 month unless this just has so much popularity. But this will be the only 30 month that NEHO we probably have.
[00:25:29] Speaker A: That's a long time for an on Yejo.
[00:25:31] Speaker B: It is, it is. I mean, I try to push the envelope a little bit with the reposado at eight months, you know, so then they. I wanted like 24 months to have a little bit, you know, for it to be different than the eight months. But I'm happy with it. I'm happy with the way it came out with the naho and everything. And I. People seem to really be digging it.
[00:25:49] Speaker A: Well, I'm ready to give it a try. All right.
The nose is similar, but I definitely get a little bit more of that oak in the nose than I did on the repo expected.
[00:26:02] Speaker B: And I like to have people give me their feedback because I see some tequilas and they start telling everybody, oh, these are the flavor profiles you're going to get. And I don't like to do that because everybody's palate's different. Like my reposado, I don't know what my wife has in her palate, but somehow she was getting raspberry out of it. I'm like, okay.
[00:26:19] Speaker A: Really?
[00:26:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:20] Speaker A: I've never gotten raspberry out of one.
[00:26:21] Speaker B: Neither have I.
[00:26:23] Speaker A: Now I'm gonna look for raspberry you know that, don't you?
I got some cinnamon.
I got some cinnamon right away. I get a little. A little more of the barrel, a little more of the oak in that, but a little bit of caramel really, I guess is the difference in the barrel side is that I get a little bit more of a caramel, but I also get like a burnt sugar. A little bit. Creme brulee is kind of what I think of when I think of a burnt sugar.
So I got that floral, but it's not as strong as it is in the repo. And I. I got a little more citrus than what I did in the repo as well. And I don't sometimes a hard time, like picking. Is it orange? Is it grapefruit? You know how to like. I get that citrusy, like, sting, but it's like, okay, what is it?
I like these people that go, that's cantaloupe on a warm summer day. And I'm like, what does that taste like?
[00:27:26] Speaker B: Exactly, exactly.
[00:27:28] Speaker A: But they have something, you know, every once in a while I'll get something like, man, I don't know how to say what that is. And you try to figure it out. And I. I'm not good at like differentiating some of the things. Like.
Like, I wouldn't be able to say, you know, this is a certain kind of berry. I just say, you know, I. That's fruity, you know, like.
[00:27:48] Speaker B: No, I know what you're saying. I. Sometimes these people dissect it so much, I'm like, damn, that's pretty efficient.
[00:27:54] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm not that efficient. I can.
[00:27:57] Speaker B: You have a great palette, though. I could tell. Have a great palette because of the flavor profiles you're picking up.
[00:28:02] Speaker A: I love that cinnamon. I. That cinnamon and that last drink came back in the finish and. And then I get that citrus in the finish that I got in the repo and I don't get a lot of, like citrus going at the end usually, you know, that's in the middle somewhere. That. That's. Boy, this is special. This is really good.
Are you sure it's going to be in that $70 range, that what you said?
[00:28:24] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:28:25] Speaker A: It's still a great price for a rep for an anejo, especially as many months as it's been in there.
[00:28:31] Speaker B: Well, that's. And that's the point is, that's why I tell people, I said, you're not going to find too many 30 month aged Nejos.
[00:28:38] Speaker A: That's really good. That's. That's fantastic. You did a Great job with that.
[00:28:41] Speaker B: Thank you, thank you. We're very proud of it. Very proud.
[00:28:45] Speaker A: So all Highland Agaves, is that right?
[00:28:47] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:28:48] Speaker A: Six years and then six years. And are you guys sourcing those? Are they estate? Like they're a state. Work directly their state. Okay.
[00:28:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:56] Speaker A: Fantastic. That's pretty awesome.
[00:28:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:59] Speaker A: So you know, my next question was what. What kind of things do you have coming out new? But you spilled those beans right in the beginning with a potential maybe high proof and this on Yeho. So I don't have a trick question to say what's next?
[00:29:12] Speaker B: Well, we could just edit that part out and I could just act like we've never had that question before.
[00:29:17] Speaker A: It was a good flow. It was awesome. So, you know, a lot of people are into the merch of tequila companies too. And since you have this background in making sure that bands can make money selling merch. Do you have any merch coming out that's going to have.
[00:29:31] Speaker B: We are, yes, we are. You know, we had a bunch of shirts and we just gave them out, you know, just giving them out to people because obviously you want people wearing your logo around and stuff like that. So that is one of the goals in 2025 is to actually come out like. So we're going to be doing dog tags. Our new, our motto is to go with the military side of things is made with integrity. That's. That's how we make our tequila. We make it with integrity. So that integrity is obviously a big word in the military. So we'll be doing dog tags and they'll be saying made with integrity on them with the logo and then shirts, hats. Probably by the end of the year we'll have some hoodies and stuff like that. No, that is, that is the next level. And Mr. C.J. agave is trying to, he wants to do some stuff with it too because he's doing his whole little merch store and everything now and stuff like that. So I got to get the logo. I don't know what happened to it. I had it in AI, but it's not coming up now. So I'm not. I'm just gonna have somebody vector it and get it to him so we can get some stuff out there. But I also want to, you know, put some of the cardist legacy shirts out there with some kind of military thing with it. Our goal is eventually and I think I have a non profit that we might work with here very shortly. I'll find out more here soon. But to work with the military non profit and so part of the proceeds of every bottle sold will go to them. You know, military is a little bit of a fine line mixing alcohol with it and everything, But I think as long as you do it properly. And that's what I try to tell people is with. It also is we're not promoting shooting tequila and getting wasted. We're promoting, you know, having a sip, relaxing. This is something you can just sit down and enjoy. And I think as long as you're doing it properly, it's not.
[00:31:14] Speaker A: Yeah, that's what I mean. So many of us that do this and talk about it are, you know, two reasons. We have a love and a passion for it, but also the teaching people that this isn't the tequila you got sick on and you don't need salt and a lime, and, you know, let's drink it out of a proper glass. You know, let's drink it out of a glass that lets you enjoy all of. All of the flavors and the smells and, you know, the. The finishes and teaching people how to drink it and trying to remove that stigma. You know, this isn't. This isn't the peppermint schnapps we all got sick on, and we don't want to drink anymore.
[00:31:47] Speaker B: What do you mean? Never drink peppermint schnapps or Jagermeister or any of that stuff. Never.
So the bar up in Alaska, it's called Chilku Charlie's, for the longest time was the number one seller of Jagermeister in the country. We do.
[00:32:00] Speaker A: I can't be warm. Do the Jaeger?
[00:32:02] Speaker B: No. Keeps you warm.
[00:32:04] Speaker A: No, I bet it does. And that's. I mean, that's what I need here. Today. It was 2A. Two below was our normal temperature. No wind chill. And I think right now we're around three. But at least we didn't get all the snow they got south of us.
[00:32:16] Speaker B: So I just hope it's warm by March.
[00:32:19] Speaker A: I will be warm by March. Are you coming to Indiana in March?
[00:32:22] Speaker B: Yeah, my daughter has tryouts with Indiana State for soccer.
[00:32:26] Speaker A: All right, so that's about an hour and 45 minutes from here, so I would love to host you guys here to drink right here at the tasting Tequila with Brad bar.
[00:32:38] Speaker B: Hey, you never know. You never know.
[00:32:40] Speaker A: Yeah, we'll go grab a nice dinner downtown, and I have a really awesome steakhouse that Indiana is not a great place for tequila. It's very hard to find good tequilas. And I have a friend that is the general manager of a bar called Tony's, and he's from Mexico he didn't drink. He didn't drink good tequila.
And I'd go in the store a lot and I got to meet him. And I've said, you know, Reuben, you've got to get this, you got to get that. And so now you walk in there and every good tequila that you can get in Indiana, his bar has been flipped.
Still the one with the bell, and there's, you know, still one with an Oscar. But outside of that, it's. It's all good tequila. And it's been a hard change to get him to get it, you know?
[00:33:22] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, places are going to have those, you know, it is what it is, you know, and, you know, people. You got to have it because people come and ask.
[00:33:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:31] Speaker B: You know, there's a. A guy out here, he has a speakeasy, and it's a beautiful speakeasy. He built it onto an American Legion. He's a Marine veteran. And that's beautiful. All wood inside and just beautiful. He only carries my tequila because we're a veteran owned tequila brand and a super great guy and everything. But I'm like, are you sure you want to do that? I mean, it's nice to have a couple options just in case. He goes, no. And I'm like, okay, I'll take it. I'm not going to argue with you. But, you know, I was kind of.
[00:33:56] Speaker A: Like, all right, that's pretty awesome. You know, there's something to be said about the people that have served for our country. And I work with a lot of veterans on the mortgage world, do a lot of VA loans, and, you know, I never served. My grandpa served in World War II, and I have such an appreciation for what all of you do for our country. And not just in battle. There's so many jobs within the armed services that are just so important to our country. So. And you. We were talking about music earlier, and you said your father was a musician in the military. Did you know that the United States military is the largest employer of musicians in the United States?
[00:34:33] Speaker B: A buddy of mine was in the Air Force band, and I was so jealous of him. I was like, dude, you're making more than I'm making because you get all these extra per diems and everything. We're going everywhere. I'm like. And you got. Half the time he was just sitting in an office doing nothing. I was just like. And I did the wrong thing. Yeah, look up Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs.
[00:34:53] Speaker A: And the fireballs. Okay.
[00:34:54] Speaker B: Number one song in 1963, Sugar Shack.
[00:34:57] Speaker A: I Know the Sugar Shack?
[00:34:58] Speaker B: Yeah. So my dad's not original member, but he played with them for years. But I know all those guys and great people. Yeah. So we're from the same era. I mean, I grew up with all the 80s bands and all that kind of stuff. And you know, my. My. One of my best friends is in the band called Bisto Blanco and it's.
[00:35:16] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:35:17] Speaker B: It's Alice Cooper's daughter and Alice Cooper's bass player. And then my buddy Chris is the guitar player. When you get a chance, check them out. They're kind of a Rob Zombie meets Motorhead kind of slash, you know, this good heavy rock. I wouldn't call it heavy metal, just a good heavy rock.
[00:35:33] Speaker A: Awesome. I'll check it out for sure. That's awesome.
[00:35:35] Speaker B: Yeah, and I worked with a lot of, you know, those kind of bands and stuff like that and it was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun doing it. You know, I took Lita Ford and Night Ranger up to Alaska and bands like that and stuff. Night Ranger, one of the nicest bands you'll ever meet. Just great guys.
[00:35:52] Speaker A: I got to meet Brad Gillis one time the guitar players.
[00:35:55] Speaker B: He's amazing. He's amazing. And I still talk to him every once in a while. I still talk to him every once in a while. Yeah, great guy. I helped him. He collects, you know, old guitars. And so my buddy owned the music store up there. And Brad was, hey, do you know anybody up there? And I said, my buddy owns a music store. I don't know what he has. So I took him there. My buddy was all excited. He's like, oh man, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he took him to the back room where the guitars that don't come on display. And Brad bought a guitar for a moment, remember how much? And my buddy gave him a smoking deal. He's like, I just want to say I sold a guitar to Brad Gillis.
[00:36:27] Speaker A: Heck yeah. That's very cool.
[00:36:29] Speaker B: Yeah. Super nice guy.
[00:36:31] Speaker A: I seen a post today that George lynch is playing at a rooftop bar today in Nashville, Tennessee. I thought really? Well, George. George lynch playing in a bar in Tennessee versus, you know, with Dawkin in a sold out stadium like full circle there, you know.
[00:36:47] Speaker B: Oh yeah.
[00:36:47] Speaker A: Crazy.
[00:36:48] Speaker B: So here's a little. I've told this story before. So my buddy works at the private airport here in la. So he gets celebrities coming in, out and everything all the time. So I can honestly say this bottle, the reposado, is on Blake Shelton's pride of it Jet. Whether he's drank it or not. I don't know if he's drinking it, but it is on the jet, you know, I go, I told him he hasn't seen Blake lately, but he's like, next time I see him, I'll ask him if he tried it. So.
[00:37:16] Speaker A: Well, he is a known drinker.
[00:37:18] Speaker B: No? Yes. Everybody knows that. What's in that red cup there, Blake?
[00:37:22] Speaker A: Probably one of his vodka companies.
[00:37:24] Speaker B: Yes, exactly. Exactly. But he does like tequila. I won't say he likes good tequila, but he does like tequila.
[00:37:31] Speaker A: Well, and some of those guys are coming around too. You know, you see Midland, you know, is drinking and is part of a great tequila brand and there's a couple others. And if you've ever been Miranda Lambert's bar, downtown Nashville, you know, she's one of the only bars that has, you know, some tequila. Actually, that's the very first bar I had tears in.
[00:37:51] Speaker B: Oh, really?
[00:37:52] Speaker A: You know, to go in there and see, you know, the normal stuff that you see and then see, you know, all of these additive free, traditional brands there too. You know, I was like, okay, I've. And Roberts is also another one where you find a bunch of really good additive free brands. So it's kind of. I'm trying to remember places.
[00:38:07] Speaker B: I was just there two weeks ago and I hung out with Tequila Cop.
[00:38:12] Speaker A: Did you?
[00:38:13] Speaker B: Awesome. Yeah. And he took me to place was a Bueno Taco or something. It was pretty good.
[00:38:17] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:38:18] Speaker B: It was pretty good food and yeah, they had a good tequila selection there.
[00:38:21] Speaker A: Yeah, he and I was talking on our show the other day. You go downstairs underneath that bar, there's a speakeasy called Pushing Daisies. They had Fort Delisa winter blend and like these amazing tequilas.
[00:38:32] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:38:33] Speaker A: Kind of cool to see some of the bars be open to. You know, let's. Hey, let's get this. It's good. It's. It's out and free. It's traditionally made, you know, and it's. It's veteran owned. That's. I mean, that's. You're hitting like all of the buttons there.
[00:38:46] Speaker B: Trying. I'm trying. You know, at first I wasn't using. I wasn't talking about the veteran side of things. And I started talking a lot of my veteran friends and they're like, Chris. And that's, you know, the legacy part of it. That's where it really came around too, was, you know, and then my uncle was just telling me, I think my. Even my great grandfather was maybe in World War I. I haven't confirmed that. But I was like. But I know. My great. My grandfather was World War II in the army Air Corps. My dad was in Vietnam in the Navy, on the riverboats. And then I fixed airplane. I was a C130 mechanic. And now my oldest daughter is in the Coast Guard Academy and she wants to fly C130s. So.
[00:39:23] Speaker A: Wow, that's awesome.
[00:39:24] Speaker B: Yeah. I said, ah, I'm glad you'll be flying them when I'm not fixing them. That makes me feel a lot better.
[00:39:28] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. Well, that's a great legacy. You've got a great tequila, an awesome story you've had. It sounds like you've had a super fun life. That's pretty awesome. So let me ask you this as a good closing question. I like this one.
Now that you have this, this tequila that you're really proud of and you've worked to have this all here, who's somebody dead or alive, famous or not, who's someone that you would love to sit down and share a glass of your tequila with and talk about your story? To get in here and hear them talk about your tequila?
[00:40:02] Speaker B: I, you know, it's. It's going to be. Probably sound a little corny, maybe like other people, but it would probably be my grandfather because he passed away when I was nine years old. And because of him, I was really close to my grandfather. He was my mentor. I think that would be the one person to show him how everything's come and how I'm carrying on the name and all that stuff because we're, you know, we're a very strong family. And my family spread out through New Mexico and Colorado. We were some of the settlers came from Spain, landed in Mexico, migrated north. And my family's been in New Mexico since like the late 1600s from my dad's side. Now my mom's side isn't too far from you. And I usually don't say this in public, but they live in Michigan City.
[00:40:46] Speaker A: Yeah, good old Michigan City.
[00:40:50] Speaker B: Yeah. You don't want to stop there. Just drive on by.
[00:40:52] Speaker A: Nice place to drive through. Right up to the. Right up to the. To the lake.
[00:40:56] Speaker B: Exactly, exactly. So, yeah. But no, it's my grandfather. It would be. Just be able to. Because I'm very proud of the name, you know, and my wife always laughs at me because I don't really look that much into my mom's side, but my dad's side, we've done the family tree all the way back and everything and just found out a lot of stuff. And I told a lot of my family, some of the information that was was misleading information that we have correct information now. So it's kind of cool. And I just met some people out here in California, and I have that one cousin back in New Mexico that knows how we're all related. He knows the whole family tree. And I'm like, do we know this person? This person? And he's like, oh, yeah, that's cousin. So and so from this is. I'm like, okay, there we go. So it's just kind of fun. Yeah.
[00:41:37] Speaker A: Well, that fits right in with tequila. One of the things I find, you know, the most beautiful about Mexico and the Mexican people is how they have maintained tradition. I feel in America we've lost a lot of family traditions and long term traditions, and there they've maintained this loyalty and tradition and loyalty to family. And I think that's really what you're doing here and what you're being able to show this through your tequila. The veteran owned thing is it's very important not just to people who are veterans, but it's important to people who aren't veterans, People that realize the sacrifice that people make. So I think that's great that you're doing that. And you've made a fantastic tequila. It's really good.
[00:42:16] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you.
[00:42:18] Speaker A: Well, I appreciate you taking your time. I know that there could be a fire heading your direction right now.
[00:42:24] Speaker B: And I think I see some water dripping on your forehead right now.
[00:42:27] Speaker A: I'm going to put it in a bucket and start throwing it your direction.
[00:42:31] Speaker B: We could take all you got. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. They just updated, so in five hours, it's become 8,000 acres.
[00:42:39] Speaker A: Holy cow. All right, well, cheers. Thanks. I got a teeny bit left.
[00:42:44] Speaker B: I do too.
[00:42:45] Speaker A: Cheers. Thanks for coming on and spending your time. Thanks for the tequila.
[00:42:49] Speaker B: No, thank you. And what I always tell everybody is thank you for what you're doing. Thank you for getting the word out, you know, teaching people about tequila, because it's getting better. But there's so much misconsumption about tequila. And I gotta say something because it's just. It's cracking me up. This whole interview. Ever since you said you're an 80s guy.
On your left ear, it looks like there's a big dangling earring because of the top of that tequila bottle right there with the way you're sitting.
[00:43:18] Speaker A: No, no, no earrings.
[00:43:20] Speaker B: It's just the way it was sitting there quite a bit during the interview. It looked like when I first saw it, I was like, oh, he's wearing a Big dangling earring. Okay, cool. And then I'm like, no, no, he's not.
[00:43:28] Speaker A: No, actually, my. My hair used to look like Jon Bon Jovi's when I. When I played guitar back in high school.
[00:43:33] Speaker B: And, yeah, I was a Joel Elliott guy. I had the, you know, good mullet. I had the good mullet going, you.
[00:43:39] Speaker A: Know, I had a good mullet, but then I did the full, like, you know, the full thing. I got some. I went to. I went to four proms with my. With my wife, not because I had. Not because I had trouble graduating, but because we went to two different schools, so. And all of our prom pictures are. I always look at them and say they're badass because I had, you know, either Jon Bon Jovi hair or Warren demartini, the. The guitar player for rats hair. Right. And. Yeah, can't do it. I mean, I could grow it out, but I don't think I'd be a good mortgage guy, you know, with the. The 80s hair.
[00:44:12] Speaker B: Thought about it a couple times, but I'm like, you know how much work it is. It's just so easy to keep the short hair. It really is.
I have nobody impressed. Why three daughters?
[00:44:21] Speaker A: You know, I'm like, ah, I'm not that cool anymore. I. I comb my hair. I cut my hair with a flow. I figure if it's good enough for a. If it's good enough for Clooney, it's good enough for me. So there you go.
[00:44:33] Speaker B: There you go, Covid.
[00:44:34] Speaker A: I found a flowy, and I've used it ever since. It's perfect.
[00:44:37] Speaker B: That is awesome. That is awesome.
[00:44:40] Speaker A: Well, I'll put all the info of your social media. You guys got some great social media, and I know that you answer awesome. So it's good for people to know that when they message, you know, it's not a. It's not a bot or a marketing person. It's you. And that's really cool. So I'll put all of your social media on a slide at the end so people will know where to go and have on all of the information as well. And I appreciate you taking your time and stay safe, and thanks for your service.
[00:45:04] Speaker B: You, too. And thank you. And good luck with those pipes.
[00:45:08] Speaker A: That's going to be a blast. Thanks. Have a good night.
[00:45:11] Speaker B: You too. Thank you.
