Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, guys, Brad Nickam here. I have another amazing interview coming at you today. We're going to talk to Alex Beca, the brand manager for Nueva Uno Tequila. An amazingly traditionally made, authentic, additive free tequila that is part of one of the most amazing families in the world of tequila. And I hope you really like this one. I think you'll enjoy it very much. Foreign guys. Well, I'm really excited to be here today with Alex, Becca, and I'm really excited to hear the story of Nueve Tequila. So, Alex, welcome.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here again. My name is Alex Baca. I represent Nueva Uno Tequila. I am the. I wear many hats within the company. Small brand, small company. I'm primarily the national brand ambassador. So bottom line is I get to officially represent the brand in the US and every once in a while, once a month, once every six weeks, I'm down at the distillery in the Matitan and I'm either drinking Hue Uno here in the US or drinking it direct from the source in the Matitan. So it's a good way to sum up what I do.
[00:01:17] Speaker A: That's a fantastic job. I think I would be.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: Would hate it.
[00:01:21] Speaker A: No, I drink enough tequila, you'd think I had a job doing it already. And I've already got a start on you. So I started with sipping on the Blanco here. Fantastic.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: Good job.
[00:01:31] Speaker A: So I'm in Indianapolis, Indiana. Where are you right now?
[00:01:35] Speaker B: I am in the city of Corona, which is in Southern Cal, right next to Riverside. From here again, I go down to Jalisco, as I said, pretty often throughout the year. But I'm based out of Southern California.
[00:01:48] Speaker A: That's fantastic. I love Southern California. If it wasn't so expensive to live there, I wouldn't have to put up with the weather with it being so inexpensive to live here.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: Yeah, I hear you.
[00:01:59] Speaker A: So tell me about your journey into tequila and what your background is before we dive into the brand.
[00:02:05] Speaker B: Okay, excellent. I can do that. So I've been in the industry for, Gosh, probably about 15 years now. I started with a small brand, Azuna Tequila. I came on board with them when they first started. My job at the time was to be that distillery liaison once again. All it meant was that I got to go to the distillery and say, hey, I'm the guy representing all the guys trying to sell your tequila in the US and here I am. And over time, the brand grew and, you know, faced many challenges and, you know, it's still there, still alive. Great brand. And I became good friends with Enrique Partita, who was the managing partner at the time of Agaveros Unidos de Matitan, who owns Rancho Miravalle. Now the distillery is Rancho Miravaya. Rancho Miravalla is well known aside from Azuna, for also being the distillery for Cabo Wabo. So this is Distillery Nom 1426. Cabo Wabo was there, went out, may know that story. Azuna came in and then Azuna is still there. But one of the things that happens there is that every so often the managing partner position rotates. So someone else took on that position. Enrique Partita took a step back, still one of the seven partners, seven owners. And he decided to, because he wasn't running the day to day operations, to start a brand with his daughter Noemi Partita. So here enters Noemi and this is right around 2018, 18, 19. And then I'll get into Noemi's vision and what she wanted. But that's, you know, that's how I came about being friends with Enrique Partita and things. Me moving on from Azunya and, you know, still wanting to be in the market, in the industry, talking to Enrique Partita. Enrique's saying, hey, we have this project. What do you think? Said, absolutely. And this is in the, this is in 2021. And I've been with them since. So it's. Again, just wanted to sum it up. Like I said, I have a lot to say about the brand and Noemi, who's wonderful. But that's kind of like my, I don't know, 60 second intro on myself.
[00:04:15] Speaker A: That's fantastic. That's back in the day when Cobble Wabo was good tequila.
[00:04:19] Speaker B: You said it, it was distillery at the time.
[00:04:24] Speaker A: Exactly. Over my shoulder there's old school blue bottle, Cobo Wabo, which is kind of the first tequila that I really experienced as good tequila, you know, a traditionally made tequila, and then went away. So that's the way, that's the way the celebrity brand goes usually, right?
[00:04:41] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:04:41] Speaker A: So Noemi is not only the founder of this tequila, she's also the master distiller. Correct?
[00:04:47] Speaker B: Noemi is the founder, she's the master distiller along with her dad, Enrique. She's the owner. And basically what you see there, right? I mean, it's her creation, it's her dream, it's her vision. Talking about the bottle, the design on the bottle, the, the cap and obviously the liquid, I mean, that's 100% Noemi.
[00:05:08] Speaker A: So that leads me to a question. I know this wonderful stopper has to have a pretty awesome Significance, because, one, you don't put that much effort into crafting such a cool topper if there's not a great story behind it. So what's the story behind that?
[00:05:24] Speaker B: Absolutely. And you're right. And it goes with the story behind the name Nueve Nueva. As you may know, Nueva uno In Spanish means 9:1. And the story is that it's also the reason why Noemi created Nueva Uno. The individual, Enrique Partita senior, who started all of this for the Partita family, and there are many partitas in Mexico, I like to say partida in that part of Amatitan is like Smith here in the U.S. right. Excuse me. So the partitas out of Amatitan, everything started with Enrique Partita senior. And many, many years ago, he passed away. Many, many years ago, he came to the U.S.
migrants looking to work and provide for his family. And he started doing that as a teenager, sending money home. He went back to Amatitan, and then he settled down there. And the money that he had, he started with the money he made here. He started buying land, bought a house, and he started working with different people. And many times instead of people that owed him for whatever job he did for them, instead of if they couldn't pay him cash, he said, well, just give me. Give me an acre, give me half an acre. Give me some land. And he started, over time, acquiring land different ways until collectively with his family and a partner, they became one of the biggest landowners, agave field owners in all of Jalisco. So he was primarily an agave farmer. And they still describe themselves as agave farmers, the Partita family. And they grew and he grew and grew and grew, and at one point decided to build the Rancho Miravalla distillery where Cavawaba was made. Miravalla tequila, which is their local tequila that they stand in the US it's only down there in Amatitan. Well, as this is happening, as he's a father, then he's a grandfather, Noemi comes along, and Noemi spends a lot of time with her grandfather, Enrique Partita senior. So as an adult, she went to university in Guadalajara. She worked for multinationals.
But then she always had very fond memories of being at the farm and being at the distillery and being in the agave fields with her grandfather. 20, 15, grandfather gets sick, he passes away. And he passes away at the age of 9,000, 191. So the brand, it's a way to pay homage to her late grandfather. Noemi goes back to Matitan and then takes over, you know, helps her father now run the family business, which, again, is primarily being agave farmers. Growing agave, selling agave in the open market, what's needed for their own distillery, and then, in this case, creating this brand. If you look at the top, the cap, it has two numbers. It's not 1991. It's 19 and 91. The 91 stands for 91 nueva uno, and the 19 is for Noemi's birthday, which happens to be both hers and Enrique's birthday, her father, are on the same day, February 19th. So those are the, you know, numbers, not just in Mexican culture, but in many cultures, you know, a lot of significance, you know, behind numbers. And so a lot of people don't notice that. They'll notice that there are two numbers there. And again, it's not 1991. It's 19N 91 again, Captain. Signed by Noemi the Wonderful. I love that one logo. I mean, same thing. Something that she designed. But everything has a story behind that bottle, and everything's traced back to Noemi's vision and what she wanted for, you know, a particular reason within her life and what she's trying to achieve with the brand.
[00:08:50] Speaker A: I love the traditions. That's why I think these videos go so well with people, because, you know, sure, someone's out there drinking a Coke or a Pepsi or a Sprite, and it's just a pop, right? It's just a drink. And even in American beer and in a lot of the bourbons, the traditions or the stories are now gone. It's just been washed over with all of these brands. Tequila, to me, seems like it has more tradition and rooted in family and really highlighting traditionally made, you know, authentic tequilas and showing what that story is and why this is what you should be pulling off the shelf when you're shopping for tequila. That goes back to the. The heart of why I love this so much. I think it's so awesome.
[00:09:33] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:09:34] Speaker A: The logo. The logo, the bottles. I mean, it's. This is a beautiful presentation. There's a. On the bottom of the bottle. It has a neat design, too, which you don't usually see a design on the bottom of the bottle. What's the story behind the bottom? Is there a significance to that?
[00:09:49] Speaker B: It's a. It's a pina down there. So if you look at it, that's.
[00:09:53] Speaker A: What I thought you could see it.
[00:09:54] Speaker B: More harvested or agave, you know, see.
[00:09:59] Speaker A: So I didn't notice it looking in at the bottom. That's why I was struggling. But when you put it down and you look at it into the bottle now you can see that.
[00:10:09] Speaker B: You can tell the bottle that I have.
[00:10:10] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:10:10] Speaker B: And it's meant for you to look at it. You know, not a lot of people turn over a bottle. What you do, we do in our industry, you know, we look at a bottle from every angle. But consumers just look at the bottle. Yeah, but if you look at it from the top, looking down, then it's there. It is.
[00:10:25] Speaker A: I totally see it now. That is. That is really super cool. So one of the things I learned today that I thought was really neat, and I'm. I'm really bad at Spanish. I'm learning. Right. I want to learn Spanish. I've been going to Mexico for 20 years. You'd think I would quit being lazy and just learn some good Spanish. But. So agaveros un idos de ematican. Right.
[00:10:47] Speaker B: That's.
[00:10:48] Speaker A: That is rancho.
Right. And from what I understand, that means Agave growers United.
[00:10:56] Speaker B: Yes, United Agave Growers from Amatitan. And it's a somewhat popular name.
I'm sorry, Brian, go ahead.
[00:11:04] Speaker A: Because they were farmers. Is that what they were thinking when they came up with that name, to. That they were agave growers?
[00:11:11] Speaker B: Well, I mean, think about it. If you're. If you're a small or even a medium sized, you know, agave grower, how are you going to compete with the big guys? Whether it's a corporation, whether it's one of the big, you know, brands that has tens of thousands of acres or an individual that has accumulated as much acreage, you know, to grow and sell agave. If you're a little guy with, you know, a few hundred acres or a thousand acres. And how are you going to be able to compete? Well, you partner with someone. So in this case, there are seven. Well, now that there's six partners that are Agave Agaveros Unidos de Matitan. And these individuals came from, you know, they're the children of Enrique Partita Senior and Mr. Rivera. Chava Rivera, which was the partner of. He also passed away of Enrique. So they're the two. Right. That came together and formed this partnership. And then their kids are the ones that now run the business, run the distillery. And in turn, their children are getting ready to, at one point, you know, take like, Noemi. Noemi, you know, she's a granddaughter, but she's already running. She has her own brand, helps with the distillery, making a new distillery that would be just for Nueva Uno. But again, it all gave her Unidos comes from the fact that they, you know, you want to partner as a small guy in order to be. Be competitive against the big guys.
[00:12:27] Speaker A: That's so cool. It's really neat how people work together like that. So that's. I read quite a bit today. I wanted to kind of catch up on. I knew a lot about the brand, but some of the intricate intricacies of the brand I didn't know and know. Just learning sometimes what the meaning is behind something makes it mean so much more, you know, so. So let's start with talking about the process. So the agaves that are being used, they're obviously growing their own agaves.
[00:12:54] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:12:54] Speaker A: And then are they all. Are they all valets agaves?
[00:12:58] Speaker B: Yes, 100%. So we are one of the few brands left that. I wouldn't say the only one. I know there are a few other brands that can claim the same, that 100% of the agave we need for our brand come from our own fields, which are within the region where our distillery is now. And as you know, it's. It's rare. It's probably going to change again now with the, you know, now that we're going to have a huge or we have already a huge surplus of agave and prices have dropped and all that. But for the last few years, and we, you know, we were one of the very last brands, very few brands where all of the agave needed for the brand came from our. Our own fields.
[00:13:33] Speaker A: Yeah. And that's really hard to find from what I've learned in. In the Tequila, you know, Ataman region is a lot valets don't. Don't have enough of their own where it's really awesome that you guys do because then you can pick and choose and use the agaves you want to. And then I bet when you have agaves you don't want to use, there's probably other brands that buy those agaves from you guys, don't they?
[00:13:53] Speaker B: That's exactly it. And that's why I said earlier, Brad, that they're primarily agave farmers. So the primary business that Enrique and Noemi have, you know, they grow agave and have agave fuels. They sell, you know, saw a lot of it in the open market, but, you know, we keep what we need for. For Nueva Uno. And obviously over time that, you know, we're keeping more and more and more. The goal is to eventually keep all of it, not sell any of it, not have to sell any of it in the open market so you can.
[00:14:17] Speaker A: Sell those ones that you don't want to use anymore?
[00:14:19] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely. We're keeping the best.
[00:14:21] Speaker A: I learned one, I learned that one time that all of the leather in Alexis is purchased from Bentley and Rolls Royce and is the leather that they turned down.
That makes sense.
So you, you guys get to be the Rolls Royce of the agave and let everybody else be whatever they are.
[00:14:39] Speaker B: I'll take it. I'll take it.
[00:14:40] Speaker A: So I noticed you guys are certified organic, so there's not a lot of brands that I, I don't know of any other brands that are certified organic and kosher that are doing their own fields and make, are able to make that a statement. Is that true? There's not a lot of other brands that are like that?
[00:14:56] Speaker B: Yes, I believe it's true. And many times when presenting the brand, what I, what I say, what I point out is that one of the things, or probably the key thing that makes things that make Nueva Uno unique are the fact that we're the only tequila that's organic, kosher, additive free, non gmo, single estate, female owned, female master distiller. Now if you take any one of those, or maybe a couple, you can apply to a few other brands, but collectively, all those attributes, I believe, only apply to Nuevo.
[00:15:26] Speaker A: So, yes, that's pretty awesome. And it's good to see women own brands and women master distillers, you know, women usually have better taste than men. It's just how it works, right? So, and that's, that's a great evolution because, you know, sure, this multi generations, but it's great to some of those generations get to be women that then step up and do what grandpa did or what dad did. I think that's really, really cool. So in the fields, are you guys doing any type of additional crops within your fields, like you just do it all agave?
[00:16:00] Speaker B: Well, again, our fields are certified. Our fields are certified organic. And the organic certification starts with, with the fields, with the agave. So we have to be careful what we can and cannot do in the fields. So some agave farmers, you know, in their fields, they grow other things, you know, in between the agaves and the rows or they'll let cattle graze in their fields. So. No, not, not, not us at all.
[00:16:23] Speaker A: I seen that when we were down there in August and I thought y'all got some tough cattle to be able to graze in between those agave plants. Because I have like four very large Americana plants and I, I move them in in the wintertime and they're in big pots and we move them outside in the Summertime, and we're all bloody every time we move them because they, they bite you. And I thought, how are those cows going in between there? And there's some tough cows. And when, when we were there going through Matatan, we did notice, you know, some of the fields would have corn growing along with agave. Some were just really cleanly cultivated, some had grass. So, you know, I thought that was really interesting. And, you know, in the States we do a lot of crop rotation, you know, because you're planting something new every year. So a lot of beans, then corn and, you know, sunflowers and that kind of thing. So that's been interesting to me as someone that came from a farm town, understanding how you guys do that. I think it's pretty cool. So let's talk about the process. Let's. Let's dig into this amazing blanco that you have. So tell me what your guys process is once you've brought those pinas back to the distillery.
[00:17:31] Speaker B: Okay, so once the pinas are hand selected, it's. And it'll be either Enrique or Noemi going on, going out to the fields. And typically, what you see, you've been down there, what you see is that, okay, as a distillery, let's go with. You have your own fields, right? So you have so many acres that has enough agave for that batch that you want to cook, that you want to move forward with. And then you go and you go through the entire field, load it up, take it back to the distillery, because it's just more efficient. You go to that area, you harvest all of that and you're done. What Enrique will do, he'll go out there and a day before his workers go and harvest, and he'll, you know, the clip some of the agaves to let them know, this one, this one, this one, this one. And the ones that are not, you know, clipped, if you will, then they stay and they'll come back at a later time, whether it's a few weeks or a month or whenever, and take care of those. So when I say, you know, they're hand selected, then that's exactly what the partitas are doing with, with those agaves. They're taken back to the distillery, usually cut in half and they go. And we have a traditional or no oven. So you know, they'll be in there 24 hours, rest for another 12 hours, and then it just goes through the regular process, have four passes, and then it'll be a natural yeast, airborne yeast fermentation, and it goes through a double distillation again, pretty typical, Noemi stops right at 56%. And then at that point, you know, then that's where the key process that makes even more than before selecting the agave and all of that comes to play with what Noemi's doing where, you know, she's letting the tequila rest a certain period of time. And the one time I asked her, well, how many days? And she just smiled and said, well, that's the family recipe there, Alex. You know, we don't get into that, Dewey. I'm like, ah, good point. We don't get into the details of that the blanco is done, but at that point, like I said, it's in the mid-50s percent.
And then it's either going to be, you know, prepped to be bottled as a blanco or go into a barrel to go off to be become a reposado. Anejo or reposado.
[00:19:33] Speaker A: So are you guys using deep well water? Is that what your main water source is or do you have multiple water sources?
[00:19:39] Speaker B: We are. We have a deep well. We're fortunate, fortunate enough that the Rancho Mirror Valle, the distillery, sits on a deep well, that amazing, amazing water to the point that they bottle the water and they sell it in town. It's drinking water as well for a lot of. A lot of people in town. So, yes, so we're very fortunate. Not everyone. I found out not every distillery has their own water source. And again, it's the valley, right, Valle? So you can get water, you know, it's pretty easy to get water, but when you have it, when the sources your own distillery, it's even better.
[00:20:16] Speaker A: I agree. It helps create another part of the DNA of somebody's brand. If you drink out of my well water and you go to my mom's and you drink her well water, it's going to taste different. There's different minerals. The ground is really part of the, you know, not. Not only do the agaves create that terroir and not only do the natural yeast create that, but I truly believe the water does as well because it's.
[00:20:37] Speaker B: 100 of the area. 100.
[00:20:39] Speaker A: So is your fermentation all open fermentation?
[00:20:41] Speaker B: No, it used to be for open fermentation. For the other brands I know me chose to go with closed fermentation. So. So we have both fermentation tanks, distillery and the ones for Nueva Uno are. It's a close fermentation, no.
[00:20:53] Speaker A: That's awesome. Are you. Is it stainless steel tanks? Is that what they're using?
[00:20:57] Speaker B: It's stainless steel tanks, yes. And Let me real quick mention, Noemi is very. She's. She's like a, you know, the chemist, I call her. She. I mean, she. She has all the degrees you could have and she has her master's. She's. Pretty soon she's going to start her PhD program. And she's found out through not just you know, being, you know, studying and reading and, you know, learning about other brands and other processes, but also experimenting. I mean, I always wonder, Brad, I mean, what would you do if you and your family owned a distillery? You'd be in there every day experimenting, right? Aside from drinking the. The product? Yeah, that'd be me.
[00:21:31] Speaker A: I'd be the head taster. Head taster is what I would want to be.
[00:21:35] Speaker B: Yes. But she found out that what, what she prefers and, and this is her taste profile.
That, that her vision. I mean, it's, you know, pro star fermentation, close tank fermentation.
[00:21:48] Speaker A: Gotcha. There's so many methods and they all have such great contributions to tequila. So I love knowing, you know, like, how they made it. So that's also this. So stone oven, roller mill, and then on your distillation, are you copper? Are you stainless steel?
[00:22:05] Speaker B: No, stainless steel. Stainless steel as well.
[00:22:07] Speaker A: Stainless steel. Okay.
[00:22:09] Speaker B: Awesome.
[00:22:09] Speaker A: Well, it's punching out a great tequila. The. I poured these a little early so I could let them rest a little bit. And the first thing I noticed on this is the. I've got a real citrus nose and a lot of. Of the minerals and then just a real great punch of cooked agave. And it, to me is just a fantastic valet tequila. This is, this is what I like. And I'm. I'm a blanco drinker. That's. I started drinking, you know, repos when I first started drinking, and now I drink, you know, a blanco on a daily and maybe an anejo or an xa. Even if it's like a dessert for me, that's like not my everyday. That's like maybe something I need something that. Like a dessert, I guess is the best way to say it. So I really like the blanco. Now, is the blanco the same tequila that's going in the barrels for your other. Your other offerings?
[00:22:59] Speaker B: Yes, 100% and interesting you asked that question because you're right. I mean, that's not always the case. In our case for Nueva Uno, Noemi insists on that. I mean, so if there's. When she, she tells me we talk daily on the phone. So I'll be, you know, at the distillery tomorrow. We're gonna be. Gonna be Cooking. Well, what are you making blanco, then? My question is always, well, for what? I mean, are you gonna. Are you putting in. Putting in barrels after you're done? Are you bottling? But it's always that blanco is the base for all the other products that you have in front of you as well. Always.
[00:23:30] Speaker A: That's the way. To me, that's the way it should be because the blanco is the star of the show. It's what brings you the most agave and the. The flavor of what, to me, tequila is supposed to taste like. And everything else is just supposed to round it and shape it and give it some new nuances versus throwing a different tequila in. And I've never really understood that, so I appreciate it. So when you're doing the repo, what kind of barrels are you doing for your aging?
[00:23:56] Speaker B: She's been using used whiskey barrels, American oak mostly. And funny, we just had this conversation, her and I yesterday. Not exclusively the majority of the barrels she's been. And again, it goes back to. She likes to experiment a lot. So. And as we get into the black label there that you have the reposado deep, I'll explain more, but in terms of what I mean by knowing me experimenting. But in the case of the reposado Indiano, in this particular case, yes, she there used American oak.
[00:24:24] Speaker A: The best thing is that agave is the forward taste. That blanco taste is there as star of the show. But you do get a little bit of a. A little bit of a buttery feel with maybe a little bit more of a caramelly vanilla touch, but you still have all those minerals. And then the finish, I actually pick up some citrus and some cinnamon in the finish of that. That's. That's fantastic. And I did. Now I'm curious if I got cinnamon when I tasted this one.
[00:24:54] Speaker B: Okay. And we're going about six months on that reposado, by the way, in terms of how long it's staying on that. And it's a blend, but that she's checking barrels. Right. Right around five months. They typically don't go past six months, so on average, it's going to be the majority of them. So an average is going to be about six months in the barrel for the reposado.
[00:25:12] Speaker A: So you kind of have a timeframe that you know, and then you age to taste. You may say, hey, this barrel is ready at five, and this barrel is ready at six.
[00:25:19] Speaker B: Right, right. As the master distiller, she'll go in there, she'll sample that individual barrel, and then she'll say, this is ready or no, I need to give it another two weeks, another month. May leave it there. If not, she'll pull it. And when she has enough for the batch that we want to bottle, then she'll start doing her blending to match the taste profile that we want to, you know, the original taste profile that, you know, that's due to reposado.
[00:25:43] Speaker A: Sure. I think it's amazing that people think that everything's this exact timeframe, but this whole process is nature, right?
[00:25:49] Speaker B: It's.
[00:25:50] Speaker A: It's temperatures. It's. It's wood, it's the agave. It's. It's all these things.
[00:25:54] Speaker B: Cold west, never always going to. Yes.
[00:25:57] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. What. What time of the year did that one, you know, ferment? What time of the year was that one barrel? There's so many factors there.
[00:26:04] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:26:05] Speaker A: That's. That's really good repo. I really like that.
[00:26:08] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:26:09] Speaker A: Okay, so let's go into this repo deep. Because when I pulled this out of the. Out of the box, I was like, oh, wow, what is that? So I was pretty fired up, and I. It's actually the first one that I popped. I let it rest, and it's the first one that I tasted, and I was like, okay, I can't wait to hear about this, because this is awesome.
[00:26:27] Speaker B: Okay, so our everyday lineup, if you will, it's the. It's the blanco reposado anejo. Those three are organic, kosher, where the reposado deep. And we did have an anejo deep, same concept, which is, again, Noemi122 experiment. So in this particular case, reposado deep. What she wanted to do was, hey, what if at six months, she has her reposado, regular reposado? What if she pulled it out and then put it in a finishing barrel in a different barrel and let it leave it there for a few months? What would happen? Well, this happened. So basically, what you're seeing there, what you have there, what you're tasting there, is a reposado that's been sitting just like the other one in a used whiskey barrel for six months. But then as she pulls it out, instead of bottling, what she does is she puts it in another barrel, and she let it sit there for another about four months. So it's a total combined 10 months. And that's why it has that deep, dark finish, even darker than the anejo, as you'll notice. The other thing is that it has kind of like a pink. Pinkish reddish, you know, but when it. Once it's in the, it's in your glass, then it's more like pink hue. And that's because. Do you want to guess what kind of, what the second barrel is, Brad? I'll tell you.
[00:27:43] Speaker A: Is it a rose barrel?
[00:27:45] Speaker B: Close, but no, it's. It's a, it's a used wine barrel, but. And it's, it's a Hungarian barrel.
[00:27:50] Speaker A: It has a, a really cool barrel nose. You know, on the smell when it has this like you get a barrel, but it's not real distinctive to say, oh, that's a caramel or that's a vanilla. It has.
[00:28:02] Speaker B: Right.
[00:28:03] Speaker A: Like just a really neat oaky smell to it. And the taste is phenomenal. It to me rivals some of my favorite anejos as, as a.
[00:28:10] Speaker B: Well, it's a 10 month reposado and like I said, I mean it's, you know, to some people it's looks like a, you know, two earring.
[00:28:17] Speaker A: Yeah, it really does. Now is the. I'm going to assume on this, the barrels, these has a really light char. Did the barrels they use for this, did it have the same char and it's just coming from the different barrels of making it darker.
[00:28:29] Speaker B: Correct, Correct. Because yeah, she goes light on all of, all of her barrels. That nut she doesn't like to do. She likes the, you know, more interaction with the wood as it is instead of just, you know, having had the wood. Having had too much heat or too much character. Not heat char. So yes, light char and everything. So the, the, the. Not just the flavors but the color. You're getting more from the, the actual, you know, the type of barrel when the barrel had in there before, like I said, in this case, it used to be a, a red wine.
[00:28:59] Speaker A: That's good. The finish actually has a little hint of a dryness to the finish, which is really nice. And then it's got a nice linger, it lingers on the back of your tongue back there. It's got a great like finish. This is really, really strong product. It's really good. You know, I have to finish all these too tonight after we're done.
[00:29:15] Speaker B: Absolutely. Yeah.
[00:29:16] Speaker A: I'll probably sleep good.
[00:29:19] Speaker B: I'm sure you will.
[00:29:20] Speaker A: So I always do. Yeah, that is, that is fantastic. That's a great idea too. You know, there's some other bourbons and whiskeys that will they call it finishing in a different barrel.
[00:29:30] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:29:31] Speaker A: And to bring that concept here and take a repo that still maintains an agave forwardness that you still know that this is tequila and sometimes you'll get a anejo that doesn't even taste like a tequila with this being so dark and aged a couple of different ways for her skills to keep that agave forwardness and the tequila flavor there with the barrel just enhancing is what makes this a great product. That's, that's fantastic. I bet that would even taste great in like a, any kind of Manhattan or an old fashioned. I, I only drink tequila old fashioned if I'm going to drink a, you know, an old fashioned soap. That's awesome. All right, well let's, let's dive into this anejo which just has a beautiful color to it. I like it on Yeho. That's not like over oaked or crazy dark and has this wonderful caramelly color to it. It's a beautiful anejo and I've tasted already. I know, it's really, really good too.
[00:30:25] Speaker B: Yep. And you know, for a while the anejo was my favorite. Like you, I'm drinking more blancos now.
But I Love Aranejo. It's 18 months and again it's not, I mean it's not over the top dark. I mean you can see that the reposado next to it, it's darker than it.
But it has to do with the fact that Noemi wants all the tequilas to be very agave forward as you pointed out before. You know, you have to have a solid base, which I believe our blanco is a solid base for the rest of the, you know, all the other ones that you have in front of you. And I think with the anejo, she's done more than all the other ones, an excellent job in terms of, you know, you, you're tasting the agave. You're, you know, you know that there's a blanco, a solid blanco behind it. But now you're obviously you're, you know, there's that whiskey influence, the barrel influence, but it's not overpowering. I feel that you still, you still know that you're drinking, you know, a tequila, not a whiskey that you know or more whiskey than tequila. This is more tequila than whiskey 100.
[00:31:28] Speaker A: I mean it even has that nice peppery finish that sometimes an anejo will get faded out where you don't get that peppery finish in the end that still has that, it has all of the agave flavors and it's just like somebody added a little bit of toasted caramel or a little bit of toasted ah, creme brulee. That's the, that's the flavor That I get like just a little bit of like a creme brulee on top of the agave. That's.
That is, that is excellent, my friend. I. I thought of what my question was. So you, we. You talked about this coming out at 50. Did you say 55 or 56, right?
[00:32:05] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:32:06] Speaker A: And then you guys are proofing it down with the well water that you have there. Correct.
And then are you proofing down before you go in the barrel? Are you going in the barrel at a higher proof? And then proofing down after you come out of the barrel?
[00:32:19] Speaker B: It's going in the barrel at a higher proof. And then you, because you're going to lose by default, you're going to lose some of that. You put it in a 50, 56 into the barrel. When it comes out as a reposado, it's going to lose a few degrees. So it's going to go down regardless. And then you, once it's done, whether it's a reposado anejo, then you still bring it down to 40% with. With water. So. Yes, but it's going in at the high proof.
[00:32:43] Speaker A: So here's my next question, because I think 2024 in the tequila world, I'm going to say was the year of the high proof. So many brands brought a high proof to the market. Do you guys have any plans of bringing a still strength or a high proof out to the market?
[00:33:00] Speaker B: I just had that meeting a month and a half ago with Noemi where we're planning 2025, and she was presenting to me or showing me, not presenting, but just sharing with me the idea she has. So what I can say is that that is one of the ideas that she has for 2025. She's not sure yet. I mean, I'll tell you, I'll give you an example. I mean, she has an extranejo that would be ready. So her, you know, she's trying to decide what do I do, what do I do with that? You know, that, that extra niejo, you know, do we, you know, something special, something limited edition, you know, but also on the list we had the reposado deep. I mentioned that we had don't, you know, sold out and anejo deep. So we bring that back and then we talked about a high proof. And you know, so I think we're going to wait a little bit. Maybe I should note towards the end of quarter one what her decision will be, but I think it's a good idea. People are loving them. I think it also Highlights many aspects of the brand, including whether that master distillers knows what they're doing. And we have so many talented people in the industry, as you know. So, yeah, I'm interested in seeing, you know, what Noemi can do, you know.
[00:34:06] Speaker A: When you get to taste it out of this still, which I've got to. I've got to do that. When we were in tequila and I got so much more of that agave forward, you know, tequila flavor, all of the minerals are highlighted, the herbal taste is highlighted, the citrus is highlighted, which makes sense because when it all comes out and it's amazing, we're putting a little water in it, right? So the high proofs is so, so cool. I mean, think about. You could do the high proof in each one of these and you could add so many things, it'd be amazing.
So many brands.
I make the joke that it creates fomo, right? You put out something limited edition, and we're all afraid we're going to miss out on it, right? But then for me, I buy that limited edition bottle, and now I don't want to drink it all because I get faux row fear of running out and not being able to get it again. So I'm not a guy that puts them on my shelf and doesn't open them. I'm a guy that brings it home and goes, ah, let's try it. That's why. That's why you all make tequila. That's why you do this. So is there anything about the bottle that we missed? Any. Any special things? Because I think we covered most of it, but I love it so much. I wanted to make sure we cover everything about it.
[00:35:13] Speaker B: No, that. That's pretty much it. I mean, if you see, if you look at our label, the white labels, that just signifies the regular blanco rep on yo. But there's a black label, then that's the, you know, the. It's that. That'll be the labels for the.
The Deeps, the Reposado Deep and Deep mean just deeper flavor, deeper above and beyond, doing more with it. So that's for the Repo Deep and Anejo Deep, and. And we're working on designing labels for all the different options. It doesn't mean that everything's coming out this year or maybe that, you know, they'll. They'll, you know, come to pass. I mean, it could be that they're just ideas and that Noemi is thinking about sharing with us and some will, you know, come to fruition and somewhat won't.
[00:35:54] Speaker A: Now, do you guys Do a single barrel program or is that something you've thought about doing?
[00:35:57] Speaker B: We, the distillery has done those. I've done them with the distiller, with other brands in the past. So yes, it's something that we haven't done one yet. It's something that, that we are capable of doing something that we want to do. So again, we will definitely be doing it. What's happening with Nueva Uno in terms of the distillery? As I said, Enrique is part owner of Rancho Miraballe and that'll never change. You know, he owns that distillery with partners and siblings. But in addition to that, Enrique and Noemi are building a Nueva Uno distillery that will be exclusive to Nueva Uno. And at one point we'll move from 1426 from Branch Mervaya to the new distillery. And I think a lot of it has to do with whether we're going to do, you know, single barrel or we're going to do other projects or, you know, hosting people. Then we're waiting for that distillery to be done. Hopefully throughout, you know, late summer, maybe at the end of this year it'll be ready up and running and, you know, hopefully you'll come in and visit us and might throw a party down there for that. But. But that's one of the exciting things that I'm looking forward to. And again, we'll still be with branch of Miraya as well. That's never going to change.
[00:37:02] Speaker A: I know never to ask for time frames on construction in Mexico.
[00:37:06] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:37:07] Speaker A: So.
[00:37:07] Speaker B: So yeah, what I like to say is that, you know, I ask Enrique and you know, and. Or I asked Noemi and she says, well, you know, she'll give me like at the time, you know, and then I ask Enrique who's footing the bill and he says, you know, he prolongs it. And you know, people ask me and I say next month, the guy that's not putting a dime towards, you know, the projects, like next month. But no, no, hopefully it'll be sooner than later. And I think at this point it'll be more of a surprise. So I'll definitely let you know when that. When it's ready to go.
[00:37:33] Speaker A: Yeah, I would love. We would come down. We're actually going to be in town in February for a couple of days in Tequila and then a few days in Aranda. So I come home. We. I've been going to Mexico for 20 plus years. We, we go to, of course, we've gone to all the resort cities. We've been going to Cabo San Lucas for over 20 years. That's where the, the aforementioned brand we were talking about. We would always go to Sammy Hagar's birthday party and hang out in Cabo San Lucas. And that's really where my love of Mexico and the Mexican people started to come from. We have so many friends from there, from Guerrero, from Nayarit, from Jalisco that we've met over the years. These people are, you know, they're the. The kindest, loyal, just amazing people. And that's where our, our love for the area came from. And then when we went to Guadalajara, by the way, if you haven't been this. Probably one of the best airports I've ever been to. The airport is beautiful. And when the construction is done, I know it's going to be even more amaz Someday. Someday. And then, you know, when we went into Tequila and Arenal and Ataman, the. The people are just, gosh, they're so amazing. Here I'm a stranger that can't speak Spanish. Most of them couldn't speak English. And we communicated like we've known each other forever. It's. It's a beautiful thing. It really, truly is.
[00:38:51] Speaker B: I. I agree, I agree. And I, too. I mean, I love it. As I mentioned before, I. I go there quite often and, and it's, you know, and now that the project is up and running, you know, when I go many times, have a little bit more free time, so I venture out more, go, you know, up to the highlands, try and visit all the other distilleries, just, you know, learn or grow with, you know, within the, our industry to see what other people are doing. And it's amazing, you know, it's not just, not just us, not just as in Amatitan, but there's, you know, so much more throughout. Brad, when you're down there, if you. You probably already have a full schedule, but if you have some time, I may not be there in February, but Noemi is down there. If you have time, just let me know. And even if it's a quick meet and greet with her, or if you have time to visit Rancho Mirror Vallejo or want to take a peek at the new distillery that's not done yet. We're right there in Amakitan.
[00:39:43] Speaker A: That'd be awesome. We. When we get done, I'll shoot you an email and give you our itinerary. Where we're not. We don't have anything on the 4th other than traveling from Tequila to Arandes. And we were going to stop at a distillery on the way to pick up a Couple of bottles that somebody had for me. And then outside of that, it's just a travel day. So we would have time definitely to stay. And unless we get stuck behind some of those people that ride their bicycles on that highway. What is up with that?
[00:40:09] Speaker B: Yeah, you see everything, right?
[00:40:11] Speaker A: Wow. Yes, you do. For sure. All right, so I know you guys have great distribution. One, because I can find you in Indiana. And if you're in Indiana, you're probably in all of the other states because we are a little backwards on being able to get great tequila. So where's the best place that people can find you? Is there a website that they can purchase your products from if you're not in their area? And what states are you in?
[00:40:37] Speaker B: So. So I would say that now you have a lot of the major liquor stores, you know, in the independents that do a ton of online sales. So many times, if you. If they don't have it, your favorite liquor store where you buy online, ask for it. They'll get it within a day, within two days. That would be the easiest way for you to get it. You're right. We are in Indiana. We're in a few kind of weird states. I would say that you wouldn't think like, Indiana tequila. Yeah, people drink tequila in Indiana. But we also have a buy button on our website. So if you go to our website, nueva unotecila.com and you, you know, click buy, then. And it's not us, we can sell directly to consumers, but it's a partnership that we have with one of those independents out here in California where you click, click, click, purchase, and you'll get your bottle fairly, fairly easy to get if you don't have a local shop around you that has the product. We are not in every state. In fact, right now, one of the things in 2025 that we'll be doing is just making sure that we're solid in a few key states. Don't want to be everywhere. We want to be in the right places.
[00:41:40] Speaker A: Social media. Where can everybody find you at?
[00:41:42] Speaker B: Obviously, we're on Instagram. Big, big, big. On Instagram, we have a. Uno tequila and the usual. The other usual suspect, which is Facebook. I feel that Instagram now has become, at least for me anyway. It's. It's, you know, so much bigger in terms of, you know, for, for brands, you know, social media. I mean, it's part of our conversation with our marketing team. So definitely social media.
Excuse me. And social media, definitely Instagram.
[00:42:10] Speaker A: I'll have all of your. Of your website and then all of the links to all of your social media put in the, in the notes here so people can find that. I'll add the links into the YouTube and also into the pod listening on the podcast. Go back and jump into the links and you can find all of their information. So I really, truly appreciate you coming on today. I know all of. All of you guys that are in this tequila business work crazy schedules and you're always on it. So I appreciate you taking the time to do this. I really appreciate the bottles. They. They will be drank and they will be repurchased and replenished. This is a great brand. I do have a couple of liquor stores that I'm friends with here in Indianapolis area that I've mentioned it to to make sure they got it on their shelves. And I've got a couple of great restaurants that I will also be saying, hey, I want to get this in your restaurant.
[00:42:56] Speaker B: So I appreciate it.
We don't have those big budgets, so. Thank you, Brad. That, that really. And, and I mean that it means a lot to brands, like small brands, like not just us, but a lot of other small brands that you. That I see behind you there. That, that means a lot when you get someone to go into a restaurant or liquor store and say, hey, I really enjoy this brand. You know, can you bring it on? Doesn't always happen, but it helps when it does.
[00:43:16] Speaker A: Does it helps what it does. For sure. And I say there's. There's two types of tequila, right? There's authentic, traditional, additive free tequila.
[00:43:24] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:43:25] Speaker A: And then there's the industrial guys. And I think you ought to be drinking this traditionally authentically made tequila where, where we can talk about who the owner is and that she's actually representing really the. The dawn of her family. Right. And then able to be the person that is distilling it, tasting it, making sure that the product meets the guidelines of what the owner is. It's not a celebrity saying, buy my tequila. This is. This is a family and this is their livelihood. And I just appreciate so much of that and I appreciate what you do to bring this to everybody.
[00:44:00] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you for that. Thank you so much.
[00:44:02] Speaker A: All right, Alex. Well, I'm gonna say cheers. I don't. I think it's in the middle of the day where you're at, so I'm able to drink in the evening. I think you're probably drinking some of water over there. Cheers, my friend.
[00:44:11] Speaker B: Cheers.
[00:44:12] Speaker A: I appreciate you very much. Thanks for coming.
[00:44:14] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:44:14] Speaker A: Bye.
