Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: All right, guys, tonight you're going to meet Donna, Veronica, Brittany, and Chris. And they're the people who have their feet on the ground hustling to sell Murcielago tequila. You're going to hear their story. You'll hear how hard they're working to get this brand everywhere in California. And I think it's going to be a lot of fun. So check it out. It's tasting tequila with bread.
All right, guys, I got a treat for you today. Today we have a whole crew right here ready to talk about Murciel Lago Tequila. Guys, introduce yourselves.
[00:00:39] Speaker B: Hi, I'm Donna. I'm the brand manager for Murcielago.
[00:00:43] Speaker C: I'm Chris. I am also a sales rep for Mercielago.
[00:00:48] Speaker D: I'm Brittany, also a sales rep for Merc a Lago.
[00:00:51] Speaker E: Hi, I'm Veronica, and I am a sales rep for Mercy Lago.
[00:00:55] Speaker C: All right.
[00:00:56] Speaker A: If anything, we're going to get sold on some Murcielago today.
[00:00:59] Speaker D: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
[00:01:00] Speaker B: I have the dream team here.
[00:01:02] Speaker A: That's awesome. All right, tell me a little bit about the brand. Where. Where did it. Where did it originate from? You know, who are the founders? Kind of give me a little background on the actual brand.
[00:01:12] Speaker B: So Marcielago is from East Coast.
It came from a family that was in the restaurant and bar industry, and they just kind of wanted to try something new and wanted to dwindle in the tequila industry. And Murcielago was born.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: So multiple restaurants or just one?
[00:01:29] Speaker B: Multiple restaurants and bars.
[00:01:31] Speaker A: Let's ask each one of you guys, what. What do you like most about just tequila? And what got you drinking tequila?
[00:01:38] Speaker B: Okay, I'll start. I'm older, so tequila doesn't hurt me as much as other spirits. And that's why I love tequila.
[00:01:47] Speaker C: For me, see, I've been around it ever since my grandpa shoved me about it. So, you know, going to Mexico and try a tequila with him, it was. I love it. I'll always love it. And it just tastes really good.
[00:02:00] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:02:01] Speaker D: And for me, I'm part Mexican, so for me, it actually comes from my roots. So I love to be supporting something from where I'm from. And I love the way it feels. I love the fun that it brings. And everything about tequila is something that I love to represent.
[00:02:17] Speaker E: And for me, tequila was my first drink when I turned 21 many years ago.
And I feel like tequila, besides it tasting so good and margaritas and drinks, it makes me have a good time and makes me a better dancer and just all around.
[00:02:34] Speaker A: I like that she Threw out many years ago. All right, so the. Is the brand brand new this year or has the brand been around a little bit longer?
[00:02:42] Speaker B: Two months.
We're brand new.
[00:02:45] Speaker A: Okay. And you sent out, like, one of the coolest packages I've ever got from a brand.
[00:02:51] Speaker B: Awesome.
[00:02:52] Speaker D: Awesome.
[00:02:52] Speaker A: The. The box that. That came in, I did a video and I showed the. The opening up. It was one of the coolest setups. The necklace that came with it, the shirt, the hat, the bottle, the box. The presentation was amazing. And my wife stole that box. And now it's. It's one of the rooms with stuff in it. So I want to say thanks for that. That was really awesome. Very cool.
[00:03:13] Speaker D: You're welcome.
[00:03:14] Speaker B: Are you glad you liked it?
[00:03:15] Speaker A: It's impressive. No, I'm. I'm a person that really loves the story of the bats and how they work with tequila. How did they get involved with that and have that concept for their bottle?
[00:03:26] Speaker B: Yeah, go for it. For it.
[00:03:27] Speaker D: Yeah. So basically, a bat is our number one pollinator for agave. So we wanted to keep it traditional and keep the connection based between agave and the bat. Without our bat pollinating agave, we wouldn't have agave. Without the agave, we wouldn't have tequila. And so very necessary because we need tequila. The connection between the bat is something that we really hold on to and represent to actually educate people on what our number one pollinator is for the agave. So special to us and special to people that find out about it, especially.
[00:04:00] Speaker B: When they see our logo and they don't see the bat at first. They just, you know, see the agave. But then when we flip the bottle over and they see the bat, they're just blow. They're blown away.
[00:04:13] Speaker A: Yeah. It was really cool because I had. I had no idea what I was about to see, so.
[00:04:19] Speaker D: And then incorporating the agave, like with wings essentially with the bat is it's fun kind of logo that we try to create.
[00:04:26] Speaker A: Yeah. Now what. How did you guys create the logo? Like, who. Who is the person that kind of had these ideas to bring it together?
[00:04:33] Speaker B: Kind of a mystery, really.
Yeah.
[00:04:37] Speaker A: So it just all of a sudden happened. There was an upside down bat as an agave and you're good to go?
[00:04:43] Speaker B: Yep, absolutely.
[00:04:45] Speaker A: Well, happy. Accidents are amazing. So. Yeah, I really love it. Yeah. Is the brand involved with any of the programs, like the bat friendly project that's helping bring awareness to this within producers?
[00:04:59] Speaker B: Not yet, but we are definitely looking into that.
[00:05:01] Speaker D: Working on it. So that's something we'd love to Be.
[00:05:04] Speaker A: A part of when they had the idea of making a tequila. What was their process to be able to find the distillery to make the tequila for us?
[00:05:13] Speaker D: Yeah, so it comes from Casa Techelea de Arandas in Jalisco.
So it's a, you know, it's a little hardening to say, but that's where we are based at our distillery. And we're processed through a roller mill shredding. So that's where we stainless steel oven.
[00:05:32] Speaker A: So you're doing a high pressure autoclave. You're using the highland agaves and you're crushing that through a roller mill. I believe they do a lot of wild open stainless steel fermentation at that distillery.
[00:05:44] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:05:45] Speaker A: And then I think you're twice distilled through copper coiled stainless steel pots.
[00:05:51] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:05:52] Speaker A: All right, I know that distillery and there's some great brands coming out of there.
[00:05:58] Speaker B: Oh, that's awesome.
[00:05:59] Speaker A: So did they interview a lot of distilleries before they picked one or did they have a connection to 14.99?
[00:06:06] Speaker C: I believe they interviewed. Yeah, I want to say they interviewed with them.
[00:06:11] Speaker A: Okay, perfect.
And how many states are you guys in right now?
[00:06:16] Speaker C: We're in California, Nevada, was it Arizona? And of course New York and Florida.
[00:06:27] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:06:27] Speaker C: So we're, I believe we're trying to get Colorado on board also for the licensing on that.
[00:06:34] Speaker B: We're going to take over the whole United States.
[00:06:37] Speaker D: Yeah. Our main goal is to expand, start from the bottom and get up there like all the bigger guys because it's a great product.
So we're really just trying to get our name out there as much as we can. And so right now I feel like we're doing great with the states that we are in in the past two months of us launching. So that's our main goal is just be around everywhere and get us worldwide.
[00:06:58] Speaker A: So what state are you guys actually sitting in right now?
[00:07:01] Speaker B: Where in California? We're in San Diego.
[00:07:04] Speaker D: San Diego, California. And it's been doing great so far down here.
[00:07:08] Speaker B: Taking off and you know, we're brand new two months in and we are just hitting the town hard. This is an amazing team that I have a very small team, but we are. These guys are on fire. They're killing it.
Like I said, we, they or she said, we're in Margaritaville. And that was big. That was big for us.
But yeah, they are taking it, you know, taking it by storm right now.
[00:07:34] Speaker D: So we're excited to branch out and just have everybody taste this super clean tequila and just educate people on the background. Of it and the bats being the number one pollinator. So we're excited to see the feedback that we're getting already and. And for the future as well.
[00:07:52] Speaker A: I seen today that you show up in the agave matchmaker application, so I'm sure people will start rating that and give some good feedback in there.
[00:08:02] Speaker B: Talk about that.
[00:08:02] Speaker E: Yes. We also just won second place out of 50 in a blind tasting at the San Diego Spirits Festival, which is pretty big for us, being a new company only around for two months. Exciting.
[00:08:15] Speaker A: That's pretty exciting. Yeah. Were you guys in the Agavos Awards or were you not around yet to be able to. To go into those?
[00:08:22] Speaker C: We were in the.
[00:08:24] Speaker A: Okay. That's right.
[00:08:25] Speaker E: We'll be at the next one.
[00:08:26] Speaker A: Going to be in the next one. Fantastic. Okay.
[00:08:28] Speaker B: Launched around Halloween time, hence the bat.
[00:08:31] Speaker A: That's. Oh, it's that new.
[00:08:34] Speaker B: Yes. Yes.
[00:08:35] Speaker A: Wow. I.
Gosh. I got this before you launched.
[00:08:40] Speaker B: Yeah, we slow. We did a soft launch prior. Around September is mid September. And we did it so that we can start promoting, you know, obviously Halloween, obviously, our bat, and kind of was just fitting for us to kind of hard launch around that time.
[00:08:56] Speaker A: Yeah. Very cool.
Okay. Tell people what the tasty notes they should get and what they should expect from this blanco.
[00:09:03] Speaker D: So basically, we want to keep that traditional agave profile on it. So we're pushing out the agave. We have slight notes of pear in there, and then towards that end, we try to kick it off with some peppercorn, some. So you get that bite at the end that's also really smooth in the beginning, but has a really clean profile taste at the end with just that kick without it being too harsh. So I think what we essentially try to do is create something smooth for people to enjoy a blanco tequila, because blancos are usually a little bit on the harsher side. It's just pure agave. There's nothing aged out on it necessarily. And so for us, we really want something that people can enjoy in a cocktail and also enjoy neat. So. So it really. We're really specializing in that really clean agave flavor.
[00:09:50] Speaker A: I also pick up some citrus and some cinnamon in the finish, which is really nice. So it's got a great flavor to it.
[00:09:58] Speaker D: Perfect. Yeah, we love. We love the flavor. We love tasting it. It's done great in blind testings. I did my own personal blind testing on it, and I was interested in.
[00:10:08] Speaker B: Only that tequila prior to us hiring her, too.
[00:10:12] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:10:13] Speaker A: Oh, no kidding.
[00:10:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:14] Speaker A: So what did you. What did you all do before Mercielago? Tequila.
[00:10:19] Speaker D: So I actually bartend and this was brought to us at our, our restaurant and we did a pre blind testing years ago when this was something new and they wanted to see what we thought about it. And so with the blind testing, I was able to pick up a few of them and this one really stood out to me. And of course, this is the one that they brought in to present us because they know that they're coming in with such a great product. And I reached out to them and I was like, I would love to get this out here and bring it to California, show people the feeling it gave me in this exact moment.
[00:10:54] Speaker E: I'm also a bartender. I bartended for many years before working for the company.
So it's been nice to create the cocktails with the tequila with our tequila and to create recipes for our buyers. And it's been nice to try new drinks. We just tried an old fashioned. We made it old fashioned with the tequila. So tasty. Since it does have that pear. Not so good. Nice and smooth. And now I drink tequila. Marcy Lago old fashions because of it.
[00:11:25] Speaker D: Right.
[00:11:26] Speaker C: I worked for a couple distributors at first, and then I was happy enough to find this Mercy Lago on, on, you know, on the Internet and finally applied. And I'm happy to be here with these, with my, you know, people here and I'm happy to get this, this tequila out.
[00:11:48] Speaker B: And I managed athletes and launched brands, so I did a lot of consulting for new brands and kind of just worked in the MMA industry for a long time.
[00:12:00] Speaker A: Oh, and you, all of you are from San Diego?
[00:12:04] Speaker B: No, originally I'm from Guam in Japan.
[00:12:07] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:12:08] Speaker C: I'm originally from San Francisco.
[00:12:11] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:12:12] Speaker D: Born and raised San Diego.
[00:12:14] Speaker E: I am also a San Diego native. Born and raised.
[00:12:19] Speaker A: You have the Blanco. Do you have any other selections coming out?
[00:12:23] Speaker B: Not yet. Stay tuned though.
[00:12:25] Speaker C: We want to make sure the Blanco does well in the market. Before you know the name. We want the name to make sure it's out there first before we start really looking at a repo and Yale or anything like that.
[00:12:37] Speaker B: First we want to focus on our award winning blanco and go from there. But surprises, you know, will be coming shortly, so.
[00:12:46] Speaker A: Sure.
Well, we're always watching for repos and anejos, but us crazy nerds are always watching for still strengths and high proofs. Those are our favorite.
[00:12:56] Speaker B: So we'll keep you in the loop.
[00:12:58] Speaker A: Yeah, I want to know for sure.
[00:13:02] Speaker D: When we get those new products. We'll send it in a even better packaging.
[00:13:05] Speaker B: We'll get your wife. We'll get your wife a better one for your life.
[00:13:09] Speaker A: I don't know that you can make a better package than that one. That was really awesome. So it was very cool. One of the coolest things I've gotten from a brand, so, so very cool.
[00:13:17] Speaker D: A lot of love was poured into this product so we just want to send it out the same way. It was made with just some ton of love for our customers.
[00:13:24] Speaker A: That's very awesome. And it showed that, like I said, that package was really awesome. Very cool. And I've had a couple other content creators that have mentioned the tequila as well. So it does seem like there's a good buzz among some of the people that I know that are talking about it. I have a couple of tequilas from 1499 that I'm familiar with and it has a very similar footprint or fingerprint of that distillery, which happens a lot. So I like. It's good.
[00:13:49] Speaker B: Well, we're super new so we're really hoping to grow from here. We're a very small team as well, so crossing fingers. We can blow up soon in a good way.
[00:14:00] Speaker A: So how many, how many owners are there in the company?
[00:14:03] Speaker B: So it's the family, the family that owns it from the east coast. They actually live in San Diego right now and it's just our intimate team.
[00:14:14] Speaker A: Wow. Okay, that's awesome.
[00:14:16] Speaker B: So Chris and I were the first to jump on board and then I pulled these two fantastic women on board and yeah, like I said, the dream team right here, they're on fire.
[00:14:28] Speaker A: So they, they said, hey, we're going to make a tequila. Here it is.
It's all put together now. Go get this thing sold. And you guys.
[00:14:36] Speaker B: Absolutely, absolutely. And it is, it is a hard task. You know, like post came from the beverage industry, from a different company who already had an established menu out in venues. So introducing a brand new product into this world can be a, can be a task, you know.
[00:14:55] Speaker C: Yeah. Especially with the, how many tequilas are coming out like the saturated market now. Let's be honest, it's, it's really hard. Especially we're next to Mexico. It, everyone's coming out with Tequila. So.
[00:15:06] Speaker D: Right.
[00:15:06] Speaker C: Being able to get this brand out there and making sure people know what it is, it's, it's fun, it's, it's cool. So I'm happy to be part of this team and can't wait to see how far this, this brand can go.
[00:15:18] Speaker D: Yes. And with all that being said, us being around for such a short time and seeing all the great feedback, we've gotten and all the people that have already supported us, all the restaurants and liquor stores. It's been super fun to just kind of see how this is growing and such a fast pace for how new it actually is with it being a saturated market and us only having it out here for two months. It's done incredible and it's been an incredible process to be a part of and see it grow. So I'm just excited for what it's going to become within more time.
[00:15:51] Speaker A: Sure, sure.
[00:15:52] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:15:53] Speaker A: So Veronica said the Tequila. Tequila old fashioned. So what would be your go to tequila cocktail?
[00:16:02] Speaker D: This is my go to shots meat.
And I am right now. So there is no nothing being biased right here. I truly enjoy this thing. It's a great thing to. It's a great tequila just to sip on me. If I was doing a cocktail, I'd love something spicy. Spicy, spicy margarita. It complements everything so well. But I think it being a traditional agave, 100% blue agave, it tastes amazing with the margarita where margaritas are traditional with tequila. So love both of those. But it's. It's been a great smooth ride so far.
[00:16:42] Speaker A: My go to cocktail happens to be tequila and glass. Those are.
[00:16:45] Speaker D: There you go. Mine too. If they given me something in plastic, I need a glass. I need to taste all. All profile of the tequila. So cheers to that.
[00:16:56] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:16:57] Speaker B: So we've been working. We've been doing a lot of events out here, especially golf tournaments. We just partnered with Topo Chico. So obviously our go to was a ranch water doesn't get any better than a fresh Topo Chico with our tequila. And it was a hit.
[00:17:11] Speaker D: It was a super hot day and it tasted delicious.
[00:17:14] Speaker B: And we were partnering with the Anaheim Ducks minor league team here in San Diego. The San Diego go.
And we had the players there drinking our tequila all day. It was absolutely like just an amazing time for everybody with our tequila.
[00:17:29] Speaker A: Okay, what's been the thing that you really have been shocked by since you've started doing this?
[00:17:37] Speaker D: I think just the reactions from all of our consumers, they.
[00:17:41] Speaker B: How fast we grew.
[00:17:42] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:17:43] Speaker B: How fast we've grown too, because like I said, we recently launched within the last two months. And we're all over Gaslamp. We're all over downtown San Diego. We're all over. You know, and it's just.
It's like our baby. It's like all of our babies watching this product just grow in the last two months and it's just shocking to see, you know, a lot of people are like, ah, another Tequila. Another tequila. You walk in and they're just like, okay, let's try it. And when they try it, they're like, mind blown. They're just like, wow, this is actually really good. Yeah. And so to see that, to hear it, to just, you know, see how much people are actually enjoying our product, we're. We're super stoked to be a part of.
[00:18:25] Speaker D: Right.
It helps motivate us because it's such an easy selling product to everybody that tries it, they love it and they're looking forward to buying it and share it with their friends and family and talk about it. So we have certain merch that we're giving out and they're wearing it around, supporting us. So it's a really great feeling to see something that we've adopted and be loved by everybody around us and grow at that fast pace as well.
[00:18:51] Speaker A: That's very cool. So are you guys working with. Do you own your own distribution company or do you work with a local distributor in California?
[00:18:59] Speaker C: We work with the distributor in Florida called Park street, so they only do the deliveries for us.
But we usually we just the team that goes out and does do the ordering and everything. So, yeah, we're partnered with park street right now.
[00:19:13] Speaker B: We do it all. We do everything. We all wear many hats.
We're not afraid to take on anything. You name it. Okay. Challenge, accept it.
[00:19:23] Speaker D: Because we are a small team, we are growing that relationship with all of our accounts. So they love seeing us come in and have that familiar face and have us just be close to them and supporting them and drinking our tequila with them. So it's more of like an experience that we are also selling at the same time for them.
[00:19:41] Speaker A: Yeah, you're doing a great job getting liquor to lips and not just expecting your distributor to do it. So that's very cool.
Are you more on premise in restaurants and bars or are you more off premise in stores?
[00:19:55] Speaker C: Mainly on both.
[00:19:58] Speaker B: She's the queen of off premise right here.
[00:20:00] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:20:01] Speaker B: Very cool liquor store. You know, she's got all the liquor stores ready, and then obviously our bars and restaurants, they're just soaring.
[00:20:11] Speaker D: And she's great at events, so she sets up all of our events for us. So we have a solid team of a mixture of liquor stores, restaurants, bars, and then events that are getting our names out there and just all that good support.
[00:20:26] Speaker B: We have a concert coming up with a dj we have. We do a lot of tastings both on and off premise as well.
We sponsored an MMA fight here in Long beach, so we're we're all over. We're doing different types of events. We did the golf tournament with the hockey team.
Just about anything. We're, you know, we're just down. We're just down to let everybody try our products. And, you know, we love to see the great reactions that everybody has.
We actually did a shot ski with our Tequila with the hockey team at the golf tournament, and that was a hit.
[00:21:00] Speaker A: So I bet that's awesome.
So have any of you ever been to the distillery where the Tequila is made?
No.
[00:21:08] Speaker C: No. Eventually we will come to that.
[00:21:11] Speaker E: Yeah, that's.
[00:21:11] Speaker B: That's. Surprise. Brad.
[00:21:13] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:21:13] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:21:14] Speaker D: I just got back from there. It's beautiful. I got to do a couple of Tequila tours, so it's super fun to see all that intricate process.
[00:21:23] Speaker A: Where did you go?
[00:21:24] Speaker D: I went to Tequila Tour. We did the Fortaleza Tour, and then we did the Jose Cuervo tour. So super fun to see all of that. This tour is absolutely beautiful. I always talk about it, and it's just so fun to see the passion within each factory and how they do their own thing. So super excited to see our distillery. Like we said, we are brand new, so that's definitely something we're working on. And when we do go out there as a team, it's. It's going to be great.
And we'll have a lot more feedback for you guys to show for.
Yes.
[00:22:00] Speaker B: Do you speak Spanish?
[00:22:02] Speaker A: I am rapidly learning Spanish.
[00:22:04] Speaker D: Okay, there you go. Just like our brand, I speak fluent Spanish, so it's fun to, like, navigate somewhere where my family's from and just being able to communicate and then also being passionate with the tequila and asking those questions and having them clearly tell me and. And their language and understanding it. It's a beautiful feeling, but very exciting. Very exciting. I love the tradition of tequila and all the roots, so it's a beautiful thing to be a part of.
[00:22:37] Speaker A: All right, guys, tell everybody what your social media handles are.
[00:22:42] Speaker C: Oh, man.
[00:22:46] Speaker D: First, our actual Instagram handle is mercielago.
[00:22:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:53] Speaker B: So she was about to give you the personal one.
[00:22:58] Speaker D: You'll see me drinking a lot of tequila on the personal account, which is Lil Schwanky. L I L S C H W A N K E. Nothing but support with Murcielago on there. So definitely there's that. And then we have our. Our actual Tequila brand Instagram, which is Mercy Lago Tequila.
[00:23:19] Speaker E: Do you want me to show the camera?
[00:23:21] Speaker D: And then for them, Donna.
[00:23:23] Speaker B: I don't have.
[00:23:24] Speaker D: Donna doesn't have any because she.
[00:23:26] Speaker A: She doesn't have Social media?
[00:23:28] Speaker B: No, I focus on work. Work. I feel like personal social media would just distract me. So I want to give all my time to these guys.
[00:23:39] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. What about you, Veronica? What's yours?
[00:23:43] Speaker E: Mine is Ms. Veronica Monique. And you can catch me making drinks with our tequila.
I do a lot of bartending on my stories.
[00:23:52] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:23:53] Speaker E: A lot of fun, right?
[00:23:56] Speaker C: For me, it's no ZL1. You'll see me on there at a lot of events.
A lot of Tequila events, actually. So I. I love to go to them and. And show our brand off. So, yeah, give us a follow. So you could follow us on the adventure with the tequila.
[00:24:15] Speaker A: Absolutely. And website, company website, tequila mercielago.com.
all right, cool. We'll flash those all on the screen.
[00:24:23] Speaker D: Simple. Yeah. Give us a follow on our main brand account, Mercy Lago Tequila. That's where we share all of our events, all of our updates, our new specials, where we're located as soon as we get a new account.
So definitely follow that account. Yeah.
[00:24:38] Speaker C: For the people that are in San Diego. Also our Instagram on Murcielago, it shows where some of our events are going to be. Also, you know, when we have events out supporting.
So it will show everyone where we're at.
[00:24:54] Speaker A: Right. Good deal. Well, how many people have a glass of Tequila?
[00:24:57] Speaker C: That's a good question.
[00:24:58] Speaker D: Just me, just right now.
But let's go ahead and finish off because I saved a little bit for the best for last. Cheers.
[00:25:09] Speaker A: Cheers.
