[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey guys, I'm really excited about this one. Today we're going to sit down with Eric Morin who has this tequila here, M77, and he's going to talk about the traditional style and micro batch tequila that this is. This is really incredible. He's got a great story. Another veteran serving our country bringing amazing tequila to us. Stick around, check it out.
Hey Eric, it's great to have you here today. How you doing, man?
[00:00:36] Speaker B: Good, thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited.
[00:00:40] Speaker A: I'm excited too. This is such a great tequila and I just know there's such an awesome story behind it. So I'm really excited to hear it. So if you could, why don't you tell everybody who you are and what you did before or what you do besides tequila.
[00:00:54] Speaker B: Okay. Well again, thanks Bradford for having me. Right, so my name is Eric Mora. I am the owner provider of M77 tequila. I am currently still actively military, but I did, I have been the tequila world for about 15 years or so. I had another brand about 15 years ago. It was very different than this brand. I mean it was a very different industry at the time. So we went out, released a whole line off the bat. Blanco Repo, Repo Pink, which used, you know, some Bordeaux wine barrels.
But in all honesty, we white labeled. I didn't know much. It was more a business thing. Something was going great. I thought it would be good. You know, it went well. We went with a couple different countries. We were doing a lot of stuff with big brands. We did something UFC with this stuff with like some NBA teams. But then I realized it, it wasn't really, you know, the craft of tequila. It was just more sales. So it ran its course. And then I took kind of a hiatus. Well, actually pretty long hiatus. Right. So right before COVID I came up with, I want to do this again. You know, I want to do this again. But this time no partners, by myself, self funded, just do it really small. I saw such a big change in what was happening in tequila world, right? Additive free movement started and the whole craft of it. So I want to do that. And I'll be honest with you, when I started the project before Kobe its fruition, the plan did change a little bit, right. So it evolved to what the final product is now. So final product is now is micro batch tequila. I'll be honestly, you know that that brand was talking about, you know, small batch stuff and I don't want to call it small batch and because I mean when you sell millions of bottles, not quite small batch. Right, Right. So I came up with the term micro batch. I'm sure it's been used in the past, but I don't recall ever seeing a brand being completely micro batch in that. All lots are going to be 1077 bottles. That's the number I came up with. Right.
M for Roman were for a thousand or mil in Spanish. Right.
The gnome is 1477 Puerto Riero. So I kind of combined it. It was a little bit easier to register that with the USPTO than just the number 1000 or the letter M. So I came up with that and I approached the distillery again, you know, approached Puerto Valliero again. Alberto Partida, you know, an entire Partida family, been friends with them for all these years. They've been really great. And they were gracious enough to kind of humor me in this project. Right. I honestly didn't think about going into distilleries, but the more I thought of it after, I was like, oh my God, they would have said no. I kind of would have been in a pickle here, because who's gonna say, hey, can you produce a thousand bottles for me? You know, like nobody? I don't think so, you know, and let me do it the way I want to do it. And so again, Alberto was. Was gracious enough to be okay, you know, at first. Like, you sure amount a thousand bottles, like, yeah, yeah. So I kind of explained the vision to him and I want to do it as artisan as possible. Right. So we went with mesquite, we went with stone ovens, we went with tahona, crushed open air fermentation, you know, yeast for naturally occurring there, Copper pot distillation. Just again, just trying to make it as artisan as possible. Then at the end, we just let it open air, you know, bamut for about 48 hours. Just kind of let it breathe, let it oxygenate on its own and we bottled it. That's it. No, no, no real magic to it other than, you know, the process, you know, trusting the process and using good quality agave, all six to seven years old before we kind of harvested. It's all lowlands too. It's all via. And that was it. That was it. Like I said, nothing crazy with it, you know, nothing. Not even special kind of yeast or anything like that. Or you said, I just want to keep it as hard as it must fall.
[00:04:51] Speaker A: That's awesome. You just did my whole interview.
[00:04:54] Speaker B: Sorry, man, I apologize.
[00:04:56] Speaker A: No, that was a great explanation of the whole process.
You know, the. The Beauty of that is that you know your process and that you, it's your tequila. It's not just a tea, a tequila that you like. You talked about white labeling it, and for people that don't know what that means, white label is the distributor or the, the distiller says, hey, here's, here's four profiles. Tell me which one you like the best, and then we'll put your label on it. Versus private labeling, which is where you've done and come into a distillery and made your own profile and your own.
[00:05:26] Speaker B: With. With such a small project and such a specific way of doing it, I, I'm glad you were able to do that for me, you know, so I, I, I, I'm lucky.
[00:05:38] Speaker A: I'm impressed with the profile. The, the flavor, the nose is. It is kind of different than anything else that I can set a tequila next to and go, this one is similar or this one is similar. This one is. To me, it's very more minerally and very more herbal.
[00:05:54] Speaker B: Herbal.
[00:05:55] Speaker A: And it has the agave, the cooked agave flavor to me is. It's different than what I can put my finger on. So are they doing just a regular stone oven or are they doing a. Just steam, like just a normal process?
[00:06:10] Speaker B: You know, mesquite goes right underneath cook.
[00:06:13] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:06:13] Speaker B: So, yeah, so it's not.
[00:06:15] Speaker A: So that's adding a little bit of flavor.
[00:06:17] Speaker B: Correct. In the cookie, you're going to smell a little bit. That smoke profile, it's not following. No, but it's present. It's definitely present. You know, like I said, I want to do something like they did 100 years ago. Right. They didn't have, you know, autoclaves and all that stuff back in the day. Right. It was stone and wood, and that was a heat source. So, you know, we did that. Went with the mesquite.
I'll be honest. First batch of kind of playing with it was a little bit, you know, too smoky. I loved it, but I didn't think, you know, as my first expression, would be great for a release. So what we did this time was definitely let it air out for a little bit, you know, let that kind of dilute itself a little bit. But I did really like it. And actually, Ellie, Tequila Fest last year, we were there and we released. We actually brought that, that kind of smoker expression to it, and people were loving it. But also some people were, oh, this is a mezcal. You know, And I was like, no, no, not so much. But I think down the road, I do want to release A special edition, you know, of just that pure, raw, maybe part of my high proof, you know.
[00:07:26] Speaker A: There you go.
[00:07:27] Speaker B: And leave that smoke in there.
[00:07:30] Speaker A: The reason I ask is, to me, it almost tasted like it was cooked in a stone oven. But wood fired, like, that was the.
[00:07:37] Speaker B: There's exactly what it was. It was a wood fire.
[00:07:40] Speaker A: Okay, perfect. Yeah, I. I totally got that. But I didn't know for sure if that's how it was done, so I was like, man, I can just taste this, like, earthy, smoky, you know, I can't really put my finger on it. But you still have.
[00:07:51] Speaker B: Yeah, it was a wood fire. Exactly.
[00:07:53] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:07:55] Speaker B: You know, your stuff, definitely. They actually let me play with it. Let me throw the wood in there myself a little bit. I was like, you know what? That's enough. I did about 15, 20 minutes of it. I was like, I'm good, man. It's hot.
[00:08:05] Speaker A: Who let somebody else do that?
[00:08:06] Speaker B: Yeah, you guys got it. You guys got it.
[00:08:09] Speaker A: And how did you originally meet the partitas to start your first brand, to be able to have this relationship?
[00:08:16] Speaker B: I.
At that time, it was in real estate, right? It was the whole bubble thing happening.
I was mixers, and I kept seeing tequila pop up, Tequila. Reading magazines like GQ and. And, you know, Esquire, and I kept seeing articles in it. So I. I met these guys at an event, and they had their brand, but I saw it was really cool at the time.
It was very, you know, sounds kind of weird, but the name sounded too ethnic for, like, the general public. You know, everything was Patrona Don Julio at the time, right? And coming in, like, in those days, can you think of. Or Cascaline or. Those names probably wouldn't have taken off the way they are now because of the whole boom in this more artisan craft. And it's been a lot more accepted. So I saw their name. You know, we talked them for a little bit. We end up getting European rights to it. But one of them approached us and said, hey, I have this kind of project I want to do.
Would you guys be interested in. So my. My partner and I, we're in real estate together. He decided, you know, hey, let's jump on board. Sounds great. So they did the introduction, but I was one, since I was only spoke Spanish, was flying back and forth with a distillery, thus form the relationship that way. Even after, like, our project, you know, ended, I stayed in touch with them. I saw them grow, you know, saw them develop. I saw, you know, them getting into different brands and, you know, and actually white Leaving for other people. But they kept their brand together. And I saw, like, what Alberto was doing with his own brands. Right? Alberto is.
And those are really cool, you know, brand. It does really awesome things with it. That was something kind of more I wanted to. To. To do so again. We stayed in touch all these years, and then when I started kind of talking to them about it, I was out there a couple years ago, right before COVID for the older brother Gilardo's birthday, not when I talked to them again, hey, guys, I want to do this. And they're like, okay, man, get the name registered. We'll talk then. So that took forever. You know, just Covid slowed everything down, both here and in Mexico. You know, stuff with crt, the impi, stuff here with the uspto, it just took forever.
But I think everything happens for a reason. And the timing was right. You know, we finally were able to get product in country in December, barely. So we really have been in the market since December.
And I was really fortunate to work with Roman from Old Town. Everyone knows Old Town in San Diego, so he's actually my importer, so that helped me a lot. So as soon as he went live, an Old Town site, he sold like three and a half cases that first night. So, like, wow, that's pretty cool. You know, so. And it's just been organic and in this growth, don't have a marketing team quite yet. You know, I don't have all of that.
I've been, you know, meeting people online and they've been, hey, go to my store, tell them I want to buy it, you know, and it's happened like that. And I've been having other stores reaching out to me. Hey, we keep seeing this. Let's try it. And it's kind of grown that way. And I like it. I like it. It's great community back in this community, it's evolved. And it's just so much the advancement of social media now versus where it was. It's so much easier to connect with people, like, all over. And it's great. I love being part of it right now.
[00:11:49] Speaker A: I think the community of Tequila people have grown, like, super fast as well. Like, yeah, so many tequila people everywhere you go now, which is really cool.
[00:11:59] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. 100%. Restaurants, bars, retail. Like, I've seen a lot of, like, these smaller, you know, liquor stores that are actual liquor stores versus, you know, just something on the corner type thing. And they actually have a great selection.
I was fortunate enough to have been picked up by a liquor store here Locally, it's called Blue Wine and Spirits. And they're new, but they've been around for maybe a year. But they started getting rid of, like, all the big brands. You know, we're not doing this anymore. We just want, you know, additive free stuff. We want this. And they have all the big brands, like, on the bottom shelf, like, this is it. We're liquidating this. And we're not. We're making room for good stuff now. And that's so refreshing to see, you know, um, and the fact that there are being more like educators to the common public, and the public as a whole is coming out saying, tell me about this. Explain this to me. And they. They love it. They love it. You know, and I love that part of it, you know, I love that. I love being really hands on right now. It's been so cool to meet so many different people. I ran into people at stores. I was making delivery over the weekend and I ran into some guys. Hey, man, I know you. And he goes, I bought. I bought M77 at this other liquor store, like, movies in Azusa. And I happened to me this time, I was in high proof. And he's, oh, that's so cool. I bought mine there. And, you know, and same thing, you know, it's a really cool feeling, you know, because I know it's about the product and not me. Like, you know, I'm not a celebrity.
[00:13:23] Speaker A: Yeah, but you are the product. I mean, that's. That's what makes so many of these products unique. You. You created a profile. You created a brand. You put your life behind it, and then you created a flavor profile that's unique and authentic, and it's a really good tequila. So you are. You're this guy's celebrity?
[00:13:41] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess looking at like that, I. I guess so.
I guess I just want to make a good product, you know, I wanted to. To do that. Like I said, you know, earlier, we're talking. I. I don't want to blow up to a point where the tequila itself is gonna have to suffer this quality. I want to grow to where I can keep.
I mean, as much as I can grow, obviously, right? But not to where it's going to affect the quality. You know, I don't want it to be torn. Hey, I. Sorry. We're gonna go autoclave now, or I'm gonna have to do this now. I'm gonna have to start white labeling. I don't want to do that. Like, every batch is gonna be. So let's say I do Another blanco, which I've already ordered. I'm not gonna be going down to Mexico here soon, but it's going to be same process, but it might be slightly different. Right? Because agave is going to be different, you know, kind of like a wine and they're vintages, right. But the season I make it since open air fermentation, you know, spring versus summer versus all that affects it. And people don't really understand that, but now they're starting to. Right? So that's why all of them are hand numbered. All bottles are hand numbered so they know what's unique to that batch and same thing. So we're gonna. What I'm doing with this next batch coming up is the blanco. But from that same lot, I'm gonna go ahead and pull for the repo anejo and extra niejo. So I do have that coming in the future. So that first lot of all, that had to be from the same blanco lot.
[00:15:05] Speaker A: That's awesome. And knowing that you're doing different lots, right, you know that it's going to taste different. What's kind of cool to me is I don't like to finish a bottle until I get that next lot and then compare the two lots. Because it's one thing to compare a tequila against another brand, you know, a Highlands or a Lowlands or. It's really amazing to compare a tequila against itself against the same brand, different lot and taste, those nuances and those differences.
Talking about 1477. So I know that's a pretty good sized distillery, but didn't Alberto also build like a little second distillery that's separate, where he's doing his own batches in a separate area with the wood fire and all that?
[00:15:47] Speaker B: So, yeah, yes and no. That was original one. Right?
[00:15:50] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:15:50] Speaker B: So they built the more commercial autoclave stuff on the other side. However, when I was down there in October, November, somewhere around there, they were building four more to own a, like, pits. So they had the two that they were using. I mean, it's old school. They just have a motor to it. So it's pretty cool, right? But they still have two guys in there, you know, brushing it underneath to make sure it gets crushed. But they were building four more that's gonna. That made me happy to see because I know, okay, I'm not gonna have to wait as far in between, you know, batches because he's doing his or something else. But they have two parts of the distillery. Right? So like you said, the. The more, you know, commercial or the more, you know, autoclave and roller mill and all other stuff versus this side with the ovens because they have two sets of ovens as well. So like the steam on one side, another side is a wood fire.
[00:16:44] Speaker A: Gotcha. I knew there was like a. You don't want to say a little area for craft stuff, but it kind of. To me it's like your micro batch fits into this area. Area that's different from the more modern distillery that they have.
[00:16:56] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And like I said when I met them, initially they had that area and they were building the. The more, you know, out of place type stuff.
[00:17:04] Speaker A: Gotcha again.
[00:17:05] Speaker B: For production. But now when I went back, now they're. They're expanding that too area in that part because a lot of that stuff is going that way as well. They said the other stuff and. And they do really well with that as well with the brand to push through there.
Yeah. So seeing that, I know I'm gonna have, you know, a little. Some longevity there, you know, I'm not gonna outgrow them anytime soon.
[00:17:27] Speaker A: It's exciting. Now, I know the partita family is really big in growing agaves too. Are these agaves from their estates or are you sourcing a lot of your agaves from the valleys?
[00:17:39] Speaker B: No, no, from there. So we're gonna do some stuff if we have to do valley from a similar region, you know, if not, you know, we might do special the state only stuff from when, you know, I want to be able to came from here, this came from there. So you really source where it came from, you know. But yeah, everything's coming from them. Yeah, they have a lot of land down there.
[00:18:00] Speaker A: Yeah, there's a lot of partitas growing agave all over down there. Yeah, that's fantastic. So you said repo Blanco an extra on Yeho and you said high proof as well. And I know that I've got a lot of high proof people that love high proofs. So is that something that's coming soon?
[00:18:17] Speaker B: Yeah, so like I said, hopefully the next month or so. I just, I'm just dealing with some stuff right now with CRT and MP for some labels. So the Blanco repo coming, Like I said, hopefully the next three months or so, you know. Well, depending how long I age the repo, I gotta. I gotta barrel it. Right. But definitely want to have it here, you know, before the year's end, the repo. But I need another batch of Blanco just because that's what people. I personally like being introduced to a brand by the Blanco. Right. I. I want to use a Blanco. If I just jump straight to repo. Not everyone's tasted the blanco yet. I think that's kind of unfair to everybody. Right. So I'm about halfway done with this first batch, which I more than exceeded my expectations. I honestly don't even have a proper distribution quite yet, you know, so for it to go so fast, you know, I think in December, we started in one store, then two, and now we're in about 12 or so, and that's growing. Once that kicks in, I don't want to run out of this. So that's why I had to go with another blanco. But, yeah, the repo's next. Daniel is going to be a year out because I have to wait the extra as well. There's a couple of repo expressions I want to play with, you know, some barrels. That's one of the beauties of doing it this way, I think, is that the batch is so small that I'm like, hey, you know what? Let's play with bourbon barrels. Let's play with. Let's do a double repo. Let's do like, you know, wine and French barrel or something, you know, and at the end of the day, it's so small that for the business standpoint, it can sell. Right. I'm not stuck with a container full of stuff that everyone's like, bro, you killed that profile. What did you do? You know? Yeah, so. And then they, like the blanco just keep doing the same thing, but with understanding that, hey, this was, you know, bottled this season versus this season might be a little different, but against the community that is, you know, being drawn to this product, understands that, you know, and it's not just the regular, you know, Costco weekend shopper. And one day, how come this doesn't taste the same? You know, there is one thing I. I'm trying to play with. I'm trying to get some. Some barrels from Guadalupe. I want to do a special, like, Mexican wine. Like, nothing wrong with Napa barrels, but I want to keep it very Mexican in that. So I'm trying to work with them on that. I want to maybe partner with a couple, like, bourbon distilleries, you know, again about the craft. You know, I spent a lot of time in Kentucky, you know, near Fort Knox, and I visited a lot of the. The distilleries there. And the stories are so awesome. You know, I remember there's one distillery, it was a dad and his three sons, and they were working it, and he had got it from his grandfather, you know, stuff like that, just to Use barrels like that would be awesome to me. You know, just the story behind the history behind it.
[00:21:08] Speaker A: Well, speaking of history, you know so much about tequila, and you have this deep love for tequila. Where does that come from? How did you even start enjoying tequila? Where's your tequila journey start?
[00:21:20] Speaker B: So, like I said, honestly, it started off leaving the real estate industry, going to tequila business. Started off with just, okay, how are we gonna make this work? We can market it. My background is marketing, sales, business development, stuff like that.
[00:21:34] Speaker A: So what about. Did you enjoy tequila? And, like, were you a tequila drinker before all this, or did it just start as a business a little bit?
[00:21:43] Speaker B: Honestly, it was more into, like, scotches and wine.
[00:21:46] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:21:46] Speaker B: Stuff like that. I like tequila, but you got to think was really available at the time here commercially. There wasn't much. So when I started going down to Mexico for business, like, man, you guys got amazing stuff down here.
It just wasn't in the States yet. So I was being all different distilleries. I'd go down there with them, and then I try other stuff. I was like, this is a whole different world. Like, I was thinking, why isn't this over here?
So I like to kind of. I'm never gonna know everything about everything, right? But I'd like to kind of immerse myself in whatever I'm doing and really learn about it.
[00:22:16] Speaker A: So.
[00:22:17] Speaker B: So I did that with this. And the last project served me well in that you learned a lot of lessons, both about tequila and about business. And just in general, I mean, that was. I mean, it was going really well. But again, for the time, right, it took me to the Philippines. I went to go to the Filipino Wine Museum and talked about how we're using wine barrels, Bordeaux barrels, to age our stuff. I was invited to do that. That was pretty fun. You know, I was invited to a couple of things in Mexico as well, with different chambers as well. It was. It was a really cool experience. So I got to learn so much about it. And again, the community itself being so open and so, like, you know, welcoming in that respect, that, at least in my experience, no one I met had been like, hey, we're kind of gonna be gatekeepers here. You know, everyone's been so, like, open, and, hey, and we do RTQ like this. And this is why we do ours like this. And other ones like, hey, this is just for business. Look. People like, no, I'm gonna make it tiny. And. And that was so cool. So it just came from that. Just being down there and realizing initially was just for business. And I realized this is just amazing community. This is like, so cool. And that's why this time around, I decided to do it. Like I said, no partners, no nothing myself. And trying to see how, like, if it does well, it's on me. If it doesn't, same thing on me, right? But it's. I can't blame anyone at that point, so. But it's. It's been just a great project. It's been a really long jo. Journey, right.
A few years just to get. Get to this point. But I am definitely here for the long haul, you know, here for longevity. I like to even take a while from batch to batch. It's okay. I'm not gonna, you know, sacrifice the. The quality here to say, hopefully, based.
[00:24:04] Speaker A: On this taste, I'm glad you're here for the long run because this is really good. And this is. I'm a blanco drinker. I don't drink a lot of repos or anejos.
[00:24:13] Speaker B: It.
[00:24:13] Speaker A: To me, it's a dessert drink. It's not what I'm going to drink to taste tequila like. So I use more repos usually in mixed drinks than I do blancos because I drink my blanco straight.
[00:24:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:24:24] Speaker A: So this. This is such a great sipper as a blanco. But I. I do picture that barrel influence because it already has that wood influence in the taste already. That I repo is just going to really be really good. That. Just a real good flavor bomb out of it, I guess, is the.
[00:24:40] Speaker B: I'm excited about that too, because I was thinking the same thing is like, you know, usually you don't have that, right? It's the steam and. And you don't have that. So now I was like, that wood that's smoking it now, actually aging it, like, man, I'm curious to see how it's going to turn out too, right. Because I won't know. I won't know till it's done. So. But like I said, I'm all about blancos with a good base can only get better from there, you know, if you keep it. If you keep it, you know, right. Without additives. And because you can mess it up that way with, you know, doing all kinds of different stuff to it, but to each their own, you know, I. It's one thing, I'll never do it ever. Batting out another brand. I know how hard is to get there and whatever is or do, their vision is, you know, God bless them and, you know, more luck to them. But I think blanco being a good base, that brand can Only be better from there with the repos, their expressions. But yeah, like I said, high proof. Hopefully again by the end of the year. Excited about that too.
[00:25:34] Speaker A: What do you know where you're going to land proof wise, have you decided or is it still kind of seeing how it goes?
[00:25:40] Speaker B: You know, honestly, I, I don't want to have a definitive. I'm going to get this because that means I have to fluctuate it to that. Right.
I want to make it see where it goes. And same thing with this. I. We got the raw. I was like, okay, what do I do now? Okay, I air out a little bit the 48 hours after, you know, the aeration that wasn't done until we're sitting, you know, I don't quite. It's not quite right. So high proof. I want to sit there, have it, you know, be distilled, sit there and drink it and not bottle it if I don't feel right with it. Hopefully, you know, hopefully this high proof enough.
I don't know, Maybe. Maybe the 50s.
We'll see. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see.
[00:26:27] Speaker A: Every once in a while when we're down there, I like sipping those ones off the still where you know, it's not able to be called tequila if you put it in a bottle like that. So good.
[00:26:36] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And that's what. I was actually at a store the other day. I was actually with Joel for me was like he was telling me and he was actually telling customer leave. Just moving from bourbon into tequila. He said if you, if the blanco, you know, is too strong for you can't enjoy it quite yet, then you're not quite there yet. You know, your profile develop because the repos and yeah, that stuff's great, you know, for transition, but you kind of know when you're that. So you say same thing you're saying about that, that really high proof stuff when you can sit there and enjoy it and oh man, that's when you know, okay, I, I'm here now, I get this, you know, and. But yeah, I know what you mean. It's kind of just tapped it out a little bit and. Yep, I'm sorry, go on.
[00:27:19] Speaker A: Some of these bourbon drinkers are drinking 120 proof cast strength bourbon, you know, so I, I don't understand when they say, oh, that's strong. And I'm like, are you kidding me? That lit my mouth on fire.
[00:27:31] Speaker B: Like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:27:32] Speaker A: This is so easy to drink. And a lot of times the high proofs to me it's sometimes Hard to tell that they are overproofed. You know, it's. Some of them are so easy to drink enough, so. Such a nice flavor and they're so well balanced. Where those hot bourbons don't seem as balanced to me, they burn all the way down, you know, so good. Tequila doesn't have that same hit to me. Even as a high proof.
[00:27:56] Speaker B: Yeah, no, no 100 like, I mean back to Alberta. Like his high proof of Montana. I love it. You know, it's what entremanos. I, when Alan was in town here locally, went to go see him. I had to go see the man. Love his stuff. He got a bottle of Interimano there. I got it signed. I'm still kind of a fanboy too, you know, so. But yeah, it was super smooth and he's such a great guy, you know, so we're able to talk a little shop and. But you're right when, when it's done well, doesn't feel like you have to shoot it or, or sip it slowly. It's like. It's just the, the, the boltness, the character of it. It's, it's. The profiles are just. It's amazing to me.
[00:28:37] Speaker A: It's like the heat's in a different place sometimes. Like it may be more in the front that you know that it's a high proof. But when you, when you swallowed, it doesn't have that burn going down where.
[00:28:46] Speaker B: It, it just goes off. So the cascades, you know, nice even dissipation on the back of the pallet. It doesn't really burn. Yeah, yeah, it's, it's, it's good. One thing I'm looking forward to in October, there's a group of guys going down to Tequila Guadalajara and October's my birthday, so I'm meet them down there. But we hooked up something with at the garden at Matitena Garden. I don't know if you've been there, but he has that little pot there, little still. So you just. So they kind of do that sometimes on the weekends. So I promised them that we're going to try to get that down there. And part of it we do full tasting of all the different products and stuff. But we're going to go ahead and tap the still a little bit and you know, maybe stick your head under there. I don't know.
[00:29:28] Speaker A: Yeah, there you go. Yeah. I have drank out of the wall at a, at a distillery in the Highlands. Yeah, that's very cool. Yeah, I've been to amount of 10, but I haven't Been to the gardens that they talk about.
[00:29:40] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Oh, it's so fun. It's so fun. It's just so beautiful. Like, you're in the middle. Think of a winery, but with a guy in the middle of nowhere with a mountain in the background. There's some cool food there, you know, a little taco stand there. But it's just so raw and, you know, you could drink straight. They make cocktails there. Their music. It's a good afternoon. It's a good. And it's only open on the weekends, but. Or Friday, Saturday, Sunday, I think, but from 4 to 11 or something like that. So it's not a crazy range, or you have time to head back to wherever you're going or stop in for a cocktail or two. But it's a really good time. It's a really good time.
[00:30:16] Speaker A: Is it attached to a distillery?
[00:30:19] Speaker B: No. So it's. It's Albertos from.
[00:30:22] Speaker A: Okay, so it is part of Albertos. Okay.
[00:30:24] Speaker B: Yeah, it's his. It's his. That's what I call that Montintean garden, because that's where the family's from.
[00:30:29] Speaker A: Gotcha. Okay.
[00:30:30] Speaker B: Yeah, so he did it there, but, yeah, it's so cool. When I first saw it online, like, man, that looks awesome. And I finally got to go there. We actually did our launch there, so.
[00:30:39] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:30:39] Speaker B: Yeah, he was really cool. He was gracious enough to say, yeah, man, of course, brother, let's do it. So I think. I don't know, I'm talking into hopefully letting me do every expression. Launch there. You know, it's kind of. Kind of a cool, fun place to do it at. So we'll see.
[00:30:53] Speaker A: I'll arrange a trip when you do that. I'd love to check that out.
[00:30:56] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, I know. For sure. We'll keep in touch and I'll let you know. But, yeah, it's a cool, cool time. But the whole. The whole valley, you know, again, I haven't had, you know, any bad experiences down there. You know, I love going down there. People are so great. The food, food. Although, you know, again, I say stay hydrated. Take liquid IVs with you, because even just tastings that, they catch up on you, you know?
[00:31:21] Speaker A: Yes, they do.
Tequila turns off my record button in my brain.
So there's a certain time where all of a sudden, I'm not recording anything that I am participating in. So then the next morning, I wake up and go, did we eat dinner?
[00:31:40] Speaker B: No, No. I know. Like, when we're doing this, I've got a couple times and I'm trying to say, okay, we need to profile 9:00am I'm in the distillery by noon. I was like, dude, I need to go eat.
[00:31:50] Speaker A: Right.
[00:31:51] Speaker B: I've had a lot of water, but still I need to go eat at this point because. But it's, it's all work, right? It's all in the name of work.
[00:31:58] Speaker A: You know, it's all the name of work. That's right. We're shooting content. That's how we claim that it's work. We're.
[00:32:03] Speaker B: There you go.
[00:32:04] Speaker A: We're doing content and tasting tequila. Mike, you have a friend that I have as well. Mike the Tequila Cop. Nashville, Tennessee.
[00:32:11] Speaker B: Super cool guy. Love him. Awesome.
[00:32:13] Speaker A: I told Mike next time I head down, I'm borrowing his body camera. I'm going to call it the Tequila Cam. So then before I leave the hotel, I can go back and re watch everything that I may have missed after a certain appointment.
[00:32:26] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, no, yeah. Mike's so cool. It's so. So that's kind of what I was saying earlier, like it being so organic, you know, I think he has seen me on Jay's review day drinking 101 and I met him at LA Tequila Fest. And then we found out we were in the military together. Well, we had, we're in the military. Then we had a common friend and then like, oh, it's such a small world. And then Tequila Cop saw it on there and then, you know, started talking to him and it's just been one person after another that, like I said, such a small community and everyone's been so gracious and so, so cool. And I love it. I love it.
[00:33:09] Speaker A: So can you talk a little bit about you do in the military right now?
[00:33:13] Speaker B: I guess he's my sales and marketing side. So now I'm actually in recruiting.
So it's cool. It's cool. I like it. But a lot of fulfillment in it, you know, change people's lives in the sense that, you know, a lot of times, you know, it's a misconception what people do. And I was like, guys, it's a 9 to 5. They have a hybrid of different opportunities. Anywhere from like law to like, you know, being in contracting, like being in, I mean, so many different ways of going. I didn't go into way later in life because I wasn't feeling. That is so dumb. I'm not doing that. You know, I mean, the older you get, you have kids like, well, the benefits are awesome and start doing stuff like that. And I transitioned into that. Like I said, I Was doing business. I started off being little by little. Then I ended up getting offered this opportunity. I'll do it. I'll stay local.
And yeah, it's been good. It's been good. I got a little bit longer here. Not too much longer, but then go full time into, into hanging out and tasting tequila for a living.
[00:34:17] Speaker A: Well, I definitely appreciate your service to our country. I think that's so important.
I know, I know really how hard it is for so many people that are in the military. I do a lot of VA loans for people in service and out. I just really appreciate that service and what you do for our country. It's really important.
[00:34:36] Speaker B: It's much appreciated. Thank you so much. Appreciate the support.
[00:34:39] Speaker A: And thanks for bringing great tequila to us, for sure.
[00:34:42] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, like I said, I, I, I, I, I'm more thankful to, to, to you and, you know, people like you, who, who tasted it, who appreciate it, who want to talk about it, because that's the only way, you know, I'll grow again. It's validation in a sense, too, because this is something I dreamt up the way I wanted it done. I mean, I didn't do it from scratch, but I just try to follow, you know, that the kind of more purist approach to it and the fact that it seems like I've been able to kind of get it somewhat right.
It means a lot hearing it from other people who actually enjoy tequila. And especially so much good stuff coming out right now, you know, so that, that's cool.
[00:35:24] Speaker A: You stand out, and you stand out among all of those great things that are coming out today. That's what's impressive is it's this fits into one of those great things. So this is one that any aficionado that's tasting through different profiles and wanting to find different things in tequila, right. Because that's what we're all looking for. Like, oh, this was rested in a beer barrel. That's going to taste different. We're always searching for that thing. You have that thing right here in a Blanco. So I can't wait to try your other expressions. And I'm excited about them coming out.
[00:35:54] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Hopefully they'll start rolling out soon. I learned I have to plan way ahead. And dealing with Mexico, like the Niejo, I got to do the labels now. Even though it's a year of extra Niejo, I gotta register all that stuff now. Just waiting for it. It's like, I'll be honest, that's what I'm building on. Right now, my repo, I need approval for my ripple labels. I could go into production because without that I can't bottle. You know, since I have to bottle all at the same time from the same batch, I don't want to do different batches like the blanco then the rebel from a different batch. I want to be all from the same one. So you could taste like the journey of, of that particular forceps, the lots, the, the blanco, the repo that all came from the same base. I think that's the only way to really, truly experience the. The progression of it. Right. Because I do one go from one lot and then okay, rep will be ready in six months. But I had to pull from another lot then it's not the same. I want to be all from the same one. So you could experience that all the way through. Now I would do another expression like the high proof, I mean, from a separate lot. But I want to just have one lot that went, hey, that's the exact same base.
This, it aged all the way across.
[00:37:02] Speaker A: That's a great idea because that way, this is what this agave tastes like. Here, this is how the barrel influenced it. Here, this is how much more the barrel influenced because it doesn't change it. It just influences. So that'll be great. To be able to know that this is truly all of those going down, that's pretty neat idea.
[00:37:22] Speaker B: And again, I think the fact that I am so small allows me to do stuff like that. You know, I, I don't know how many other brands can do stuff like that.
So it's. It's been kind of a blessing to be so small, you know, but it's. It makes, it makes it a lot versatility and what I can do and stuff like that.
I, I'm happy to work in, in these volumes.
[00:37:46] Speaker A: Sure. Now, are you guys changing up the colors for the different lots or changing up the colors for your. What are you doing with your colors?
[00:37:54] Speaker B: So I, I might have a prototype down here. Well, this was the actual original body we're going to use, but I like this one better. Right. But the repo is going to be an orange similar to this. But if you see the blanco, how it's chrome.
[00:38:11] Speaker A: Huh?
[00:38:12] Speaker B: I got it. This logo's gonna be gold. It's actually shiny gold. So the orange tone like this for the repo and this will be gold.
But then that's. Everything is going to just change the color and then I gotta come with a cool metal color that kind of offsets that a little bit.
So we'll we'll see. So the repo I have locked in. I don't. I honestly haven't quite thought of the anejo or the extra quite yet, you know.
[00:38:42] Speaker A: You got a little tired?
[00:38:44] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, a little bit. Little bit. But I have thoughts of, like, the smoke when we're talking about. I want to kind of like a call like umo or something like that, right? Maybe going shades of gray or maybe even defrost a bottle, you know, stuff like that.
And I'm thinking when I do the extra, like I think I want to do just once a year release when we get to that point, and maybe make that special edition bottle or something, or make it in the case. I don't know. I've been getting asked to do, like, special edition bottles, but I'm not 100 sure about that. I want to keep simple and spend all the money I can on the product versus all the other stuff, you know, because it adds up, you know, But I think a nice bottle, it doesn't. I mean, it's great. But the tequila is what kind of matters.
[00:39:31] Speaker A: So now that you have this, you have this tequila that, that you've helped create, you have the flavor profile that you like. If you could sit down and share your tequila with anybody alive, dead, family famous, who would you want to sit down and share this palette and this story and how you made this tequila, who would you want to share it with?
[00:39:56] Speaker B: I've kind of been asked this question similar before, but not until recently that I started, like, thinking about this again. Honestly. My grandparents, right, they were very influential. I've lost all four of my grandparents. You know, they're all very influential to me for different reasons. You know, some of them were still alive when I had the first brand, but none of them are now. So I want them to see what this is now and just tell them the story and tell them how each one of them influenced me differently. One grandfather, he was very into the work ethic to where even the military, the whole having 15 minutes early, that was already ingrained in me, you know, that work ethic. My other grandmother was like. She was a hustler, you know, she was doing so many different things to keep her family doing with those 10 brothers and sisters, 10 aunts and uncles, you know, so all are very influential to me in different, you know, respects.
Very, you know, about her faith and believing and. And, you know, same thing with the work ethic and all of that. So I want to be able to share with the four of them, you know, that that would be my. My dream.
[00:41:03] Speaker A: Yeah, I have a feeling they'd be very proud of you.
[00:41:04] Speaker B: This is a thank you. Thank you so much.
[00:41:08] Speaker A: You seem like a really amazing guy as well, so I. I appreciate you and your time today.
[00:41:13] Speaker B: No, no, I appreciate doing this. And honestly, it's an honor. And, you know, this means a lot that you take the time to even hear about my story, let alone, you know, tell it. So thank you for that.
[00:41:24] Speaker A: The tequila is great. Sometimes the stories to me are even better when somebody comes over and I get to share this great tequila with them. I also get to share a story with that tequila. So now it's not just this great tequila, but they turn around and go, man, did you hear about this guy that made this? And like, now the story travels with the brand and this. The story is as much sometimes to me as the tequila is. It's very cool to know that, you know, while you're working, serving our country, find this business opportunity for tequila and then turn around and make it really a labor of love of tequila. Makes it so much cooler of a story to be able to tell. So thank you for doing.
[00:42:04] Speaker B: Thank you, man. I appreciate that. Like I said, right now I'm lucky to where I don't have to rely solely on this to live. My. My kids are grown now. You know, my youngest just started college, so my older one, she has her own life now. She's also serving. She's a K9 handler in the Air Force. You know, my other daughter, she's right about to graduate. College graduates in May. So now I was like, hey, they don't need me as much, so they're good. So I wanted to do this. And yeah, I. I could be a little bit foolish with my money right now. So, hey, this is. This is for me, It's a bad time. So this is what I wanted to do. And it's working out right now, you know, it's working out and hopefully it does.
[00:42:47] Speaker A: Well, glad you're doing it. So, website. You have a website people can check out?
[00:42:51] Speaker B: Yeah, It's.
[email protected] and it's the same for all the socials we're on. You know, everything TikTok, Instagram, X Blue sky threads, you name it, it's. It's all there.
[00:43:06] Speaker A: Wow. I've only got the YouTube, the tick tock, Instagram and Facebook. Those are the.
[00:43:12] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, we got Facebook too. That's right. I forgot. I can't forget about Facebook.
[00:43:15] Speaker A: So I'll link all those together so people can find you. And right now you're only able to be found in the state of California. Correct.
[00:43:22] Speaker B: And online. And online.
[00:43:23] Speaker A: And. And people can order online and get it. Now, do they order it from your website?
[00:43:28] Speaker B: No, no, I. I'm not selling directly. So we have multiple online vendors. I. I'll have that in our link as well on the Instagram page and on the website. I need to update that. But, you know, we have about four, four or five different online vendors right now, so. Yeah, I'll post that link on our Instagram too.
[00:43:45] Speaker A: I knew there was a couple. I just wasn't 100% for sure. So I wanted to make sure we get that out to everybody where to find it. And I'm looking forward to the rest of what you have coming. And again, thanks for your time today. It was awesome talking to you, Eric.
[00:43:58] Speaker B: Thank you so much, Brad. I appreciate your time. I appreciate you doing this. Thank you so much, man. Cheers.
[00:44:03] Speaker A: Salud.
