Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: I think you're really going to enjoy today's video. You're going to meet somebody young, somebody that quit their job and threw all of their life savings behind them to start their own tequila. And they wanted to make an authentic tequila with an authentic name, Xolo Esquintle. It is a fantastic tequila. Everything they make is high proof. And Ernesto is going to be here to talk about it and tell you about his brand and how they make it, the process of manufacturing it, and what a small batch tequila really looks like.
Hey, Ernesto, how are you doing tonight? I know you had a great trip in Mexico and I'm so excited to hear about it.
[00:00:49] Speaker B: It was fantastic. I'm doing well. I had a little golf trip this morning, but ready to get back on it.
[00:00:55] Speaker A: You were out there working hard all day on the green, right?
[00:00:58] Speaker B: It's all business.
[00:01:00] Speaker A: All business. Exactly. That's what life is all about. Working and playing and having a good time.
[00:01:05] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:01:06] Speaker A: All right, well, I'm really excited to have you here today. I'm excited to talk about what I have dawned as the hardest tequila for me to. To pronounce.
Show. Lo ex quinte.
[00:01:19] Speaker B: There you go. That was a little better.
[00:01:22] Speaker A: Yeah, see, I've been working on it.
[00:01:25] Speaker B: It's pretty good. I mean, a lot better than the most.
Not as good as some.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: Well, this shirt helps me show low. It's Gwente.
[00:01:34] Speaker B: That was like the first shirt I made. I was like, I need to be able to tell people how to make the. How to say this stuff.
[00:01:40] Speaker A: Have it right on there. And I've been telling a lot of my friends about it. I've been sharing your tequilas here at the bar and have had a really positive response from everybody.
[00:01:49] Speaker B: So that's awesome.
[00:01:50] Speaker A: Pretty awesome. And it is fun to explain the name to people.
[00:01:53] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it's definitely part of the story.
[00:01:56] Speaker A: It is a huge part of this story because I've had people come in here and, you know, out of the, you know, couple hundred bottles on the wall, they go, what is that?
[00:02:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:05] Speaker A: What does that say?
[00:02:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:08] Speaker A: Great conversation piece. So tell me a little bit about your story. Tell me, you know, tell everybody who you are and kind of your tequila journey.
[00:02:18] Speaker B: Cool. So my name is Ernesto, founder of Xolo. It's Cuinkle Tequila.
And my story with tequila starts when I was 10. My dad started a import company here in California.
So I was always kind of educated in a sense when it comes to like trying tequila and the variety of tequilas. And so it was always, try this. What do you Think, can we sell it? Try this one. What do you think? Can we sell it? You know, that kind of thing. So that's kind of where my journey with tequila started. I know it's a little young, but it was mostly educational, you know, and then, you know, and then I worked with my dad from time to time. I would help him set up for events and do things like that. But as, you know, as all men do sometimes, you know, you bump heads with your dad, and I'm going to do my own thing. I'm going to be my own man.
So I veered off and I found my way into the education field.
I worked for a special ed school for 10 years. But, you know, the, the dream of having a tequila brand, the seed that was planted when I was 10, kind of never left. It was always there. So it's, it was one of those things that you always kind of tell yourself, you know, if I had time, if I had time, I would do this. If I had time, I would do that. And Covid happened, and all of a sudden, I had a lot of time.
[00:03:44] Speaker A: Right.
[00:03:45] Speaker B: So as soon as Covid happened, I started planning and trying to look for, you know, a good name, something that represented me and Mexico as a whole, something that I could, you know, tell the world, you know, what it is, and show that Squeaks just happened to be available. Super lucky. Don't know how that happened, but I'm really happy that I got to trademark that name. And, and, you know, I, from the little edge that I did when I was in a meeting at work to modeling, you know, it, it was about a year, a year long journey, but it definitely took all my Savings, it took $45,000 to start this brand. So I might be one of the smallest, you know, little founding brands out there. I'm not sure of too many more that are out there that started with such low, low funds, if you will.
[00:04:34] Speaker A: You know, did you keep the job in teaching while you did this, or did you just, like, burn the bridges and go for it?
[00:04:40] Speaker B: No, I, I, I quit because I said I didn't want to, I didn't want a fallback plan. My, my mindset was, this has to succeed, otherwise I'm just gonna, you know, be starving and homeless or something.
No, but it was, it was, it was honestly just more like a mental push. I didn't, I didn't want that, that crutch, that cane, I don't know, safety to, to have to push myself.
[00:05:06] Speaker A: Yeah, when you, when you burn the bridges and you can't go back. Right, right. Like, that's where great success stories always come from, is the people that just say, this is the, this is the way I'm going to do it. And it's the only thing I'm going to do. So. That's awesome. Yeah, it's awesome that you're young, you bailed on a career, that you were starting to chase a dream, and then you put everything into it. And that's, that's awesome, right?
[00:05:30] Speaker B: Yeah, it was.
[00:05:32] Speaker A: Tell me about this name.
[00:05:34] Speaker B: Okay, so Xoloitz is. It's actually two names in one. Xolok is a, is a, is a God. God of the underworld. And it's. Cuincle means dog. So it's kind of a. They put it together.
Xolok is the not only God of the underworld, but, like, God of, like, monsters and weird things.
[00:05:54] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:05:54] Speaker B: So when the natives saw this dog, it was like, oh, look at that weird dog. And then that's kind of where, like, Xolo and Squinkly came from. It's. Yeah, I mean, it's, it's one of the oldest dog breeds in the world. You know, it's 4,000, 5,000 years old at one point, almost extinct. And then they were brought back. You know, they had, I think, 20 dogs left in the 1960s, and they brought, brought the dog back. And it's the national dog of Mexico. They are spirit guides. So, you know, they guide you in life, and then when you would pass away, they would guide you in the afterlife. But, you know, the cool thing about that is, like, they would only guide you in the afterlife if you were good to dogs, if you weren't good to dogs.
[00:06:34] Speaker A: People that aren't good to dogs.
[00:06:35] Speaker B: Yeah, me neither. If you weren't good to dogs, they would leave you in limbo, basically, and you would be stuck in the underworld for, for all eternity.
[00:06:43] Speaker A: Probably with a bunch of cats.
[00:06:45] Speaker B: Probably with a bunch of cat people. No, I'm just kidding. I love cat people. They're, they're awesome too. I love all animal people. There you go.
[00:06:53] Speaker A: I love animal people too, but cats and I, we don't get along as much as dogs than I do.
[00:06:59] Speaker B: No, I, I, My sister had cats growing up, so it was kind of always part of the, part of the family. But yeah, I'm, I've always been the dog person.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: Yeah, that's awesome. I've seen the dog before. I had no idea that it was the national dog of Mexico, and I also didn't know what their names were.
[00:07:20] Speaker B: Yeah, the Mexican Hairless A lot of people just say xolo. Xolo.
[00:07:24] Speaker A: Yeah, I've heard Xolo. I, I guess I have heard that and I've seen the dogs before and I love that you have it right on the logo with them. It's really cool.
[00:07:32] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, I have to educate people on what they are. A lot of people still look at the label while looking at it and they, they'll. I'll teach them about the name and they're like, oh, and you have a kangaroo on it. And I'm like, a kangaroo? Like, what do you.
[00:07:47] Speaker A: Okay. I know. Maybe if I drank half the bottle, I would see a kangaroo.
[00:07:52] Speaker B: Maybe that's what it is. Maybe it's after the tasting. So that's when people come up to me.
[00:07:55] Speaker A: It's after they've already drank a lot.
[00:07:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:57] Speaker A: Scared of kangaroos. But I even like the logo in the back. Is hard to see in the glass because it's a. It's an agave.
[00:08:04] Speaker B: Yeah, it's an agave way.
[00:08:07] Speaker A: The dog's face is in the agave plant.
[00:08:09] Speaker B: Right. I have the. On the etched anejo. You could see it better.
[00:08:13] Speaker A: Yeah, you can see it good. That's fantastic.
Yeah. See, that's very cool. That is very cool.
[00:08:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:20] Speaker A: That was paper logos that was going on.
[00:08:24] Speaker B: That was. My, My friend Saskia made that for me when I told her I was starting a tequila brand. She's a very like art artiste. She's an artist, sure. And I was like, hey, you think you could like, kind of design me a logo and, you know, we'll go and see if it works out. I didn't end up using it, obviously, but I wanted to put her like a little homage to her and.
Yeah, that's how it ended up being.
[00:08:52] Speaker A: It's very cool on the, on the.
[00:08:53] Speaker B: Back of the bottle.
[00:08:54] Speaker A: Really adds a lot to the back of the bottle. It's very cool.
So. And I, I love the.
Excuse me. I love the paper labels. I like what you've got going on here. I love these big, tall bottles. I like that they're a leader. But I know we've talked about that. That's probably going to change in the near future. So everybody should get out there and buy up these liter bottles while they're available. Right?
[00:09:19] Speaker B: Yeah. Leaders are going away by popular demand.
Yeah. I mean, just feedback wise, it was, it was. A lot of people were saying 750s or 700s. You know, it does make it cheaper to the consumer, you know, so that'll be a little bit more accessible as A first time purchase, especially when you don't know the brand, you might be tempted to buy something and it just might be like slightly out of your price range, you know, 10, $15 more. So making it a little bit smaller will help, help, you know, people make that jump into the show, the show world. The label is, is paper, is like avid paper. So, you know, we try to, we try, yeah, we try to recycle. Some of them have really cool like fibers coming out of it that are the front, out of the back.
[00:10:03] Speaker A: I can see fibers in, in this one, actually.
That's very cool. Yeah, I mean, I like the tall, sleek bottle. I think it's a really good look. Again, it stands out on a shelf, you know, so that's one of the things that's really cool. But I agree, if you're a new tequila person and you're trying to pick something and tequila is, you know, it has jumped in price, you know, over the last few years. So it is hard for somebody to, to spend a little extra money on a bottle they're unsure of for sure.
[00:10:33] Speaker B: Right.
[00:10:33] Speaker A: We just have to make sure they all know about it.
[00:10:36] Speaker B: Yeah, that's why I do shows with you and other shows.
[00:10:39] Speaker A: Yeah, that's the goal. So some, some people may not know this, but if they watch Netflix and they're watching the show Lincoln Lawyer, there's a truckload of your tequila that almost runs over the detective on a motorcycle. Yeah, that was in that show. That's amazing.
[00:11:00] Speaker B: Yeah, it just honestly, it's one of those, like, it's who, you know.
[00:11:05] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:11:06] Speaker B: You. My friend Rachel goes to my gym and she, she works for Lincoln Lawyer slash Netflix. And she just asked me, came up to me like, hey, like, what do you think about having your tequila on a truck on a show that I'm working on? Super. Like, she couldn't tell me like, anything. And I'm like, well, you know, how much is it going to cost me? And I said, how much? And she was like, well, I could see if we could pay you. And I was like, oh, no, no, I'm asking, I mean, I'm asking how much I need to pay you guys to have my truck? And she's like, oh no, it's free. Don't worry about it.
And I said, okay. Like, yeah, that's fine. And. And they ended up, you know, putting it in lingular. The, you know, I think it's the last episode of. Second to last episode.
[00:11:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:49] Speaker B: Super cool experience. But it was very secretive, so I got to watch it with everybody. Else I didn't get, like a sneak peek or anything like that. The one thing she did tell me was that the director couldn't decide what side of the truck to put the images on. So they were like, yeah, just put it on both. We'll figure it out. And I was like, all right. I love that.
[00:12:08] Speaker A: Yeah. Too bad you couldn't have gone and got lots of shots of that semi.
[00:12:12] Speaker B: Yeah, that would have been awesome. But it's still. It's still in a sandlot. A sound lot. Yeah. So they. They've told me that if it's available for other shows on Netflix to use.
[00:12:24] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:12:25] Speaker B: That I'll just get like a contract in the mail. Like, hi, we're going to be using it for another show. Please sign here, sign here, sign here. So it' there's total possibility that it could be used again for something else.
[00:12:36] Speaker A: Well, so I know how small of a batch of tequila you are. I know that you are not, you know, one of those brands that are pumping out a thousand bottles a month.
[00:12:47] Speaker B: I wish that would be nice.
[00:12:49] Speaker A: Would it be great. And you will be. You will be sometime. But right now, you. You're a true small batch. Like in the hundreds of bottles, not in the hundreds of thousands of bottles.
[00:12:57] Speaker B: Right?
[00:12:57] Speaker C: No.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
I've only ever bottled one lot. That was a thousand bottles. It was a special edition black label I did in collaboration with a rapper. But all. And I was just all blanco. But all my other lots have been. I think my biggest has been 480 bottles.
[00:13:14] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:13:15] Speaker B: Yeah. So. And you know, and being honest, I use maybe 20 of those as tasty.
[00:13:21] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:13:23] Speaker B: So there's even less out there in the market than it went 480. But it's. It's definitely. Yeah. If you have a bottle like that repo that you have in front of you, you're one of. I don't know how. What number is that do you have there?
[00:13:33] Speaker A: One of this one is number. Is it bottle number two? 354.
[00:13:38] Speaker B: Yeah. So you're.
[00:13:40] Speaker C: You're one.
[00:13:40] Speaker B: One of those. One person has, you know, one out of 354, which is crazy if you really think about it. You know, it's one of those things, like if you take it to a party, the likelihood of somebody else having another repo might be, you know, they might have another repo, but having that repo is probably, you know, pretty slim. Yeah, it's not happening.
[00:14:01] Speaker A: Well, you know, you could actually, if you could get some pictures of that truck and they let you go down there. And get that. And then, you know, you could do a comparison against your great tequila and maybe a tequila that's considered a small batch tequila that a big Hollywood guy makes, that's really not a good tequila.
[00:14:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:20] Speaker A: And his small batch, I think, is 6 million bottles a year. So you could show that big truck and then show like 20 cases in it and say, this is what small batch tequila looks like coming to a town near you. That'd be great.
[00:14:35] Speaker B: Yeah, that would be a good. That's not a bad ad. Okay. I might have to pay you for that one later if I, If I end up using it.
[00:14:41] Speaker A: Don't have to pay me. Just like the. Just like the show. Nope.
[00:14:45] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:14:45] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:46] Speaker A: Well, it's really neat to see a brand like yours that's coming from somebody who has a passion for this and it show up in places like a Netflix show. That's, you know, it's pretty. For me, it was pretty cool to see. You know, it's like, hey, wait a minute, rewind that. You know, I just seen that. So it's very cool.
[00:15:02] Speaker B: Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I got to get like a lot of new followers that were just like dog owners that just sent me a message like, oh, I own a show low. Nobody knows what it is. Thanks for repping. Thanks. Thank you for like, representing the brand or the dog, you know, And I'm like, yeah, of course, you know, gotta do a good job.
[00:15:22] Speaker A: So in this journey of starting this tequila brand, somehow you ended up at nom 1545. So what was your journey? To find a place that was going to make your tequila. And then. I know, but other people don't. I know that you didn't just stick a label on a bottle, that you worked with them to come up with the profile that you wanted in the tequila that's in that bottle. So how did you go through that process of finding the distillery and kind of deciding how you were going to make your tequila?
[00:15:54] Speaker B: Yeah, so finding the distillery was. There was a lot of, like, things that I needed, you know, that I had on my list. I wanted something in the highlands, something in Arandas or close to Arandas, because that's where the. My mom's side of the family is from. And I, you know, wanted somebody that could. I could get along with because that, that work relationship's really important for me.
Somebody that I could drink with. Also very important for me. Because if we're being honest, every time we go down there to the bottle, you're, you're, you're drinking with them, you're tasting with them. So if, you know, if that. That connection isn't there, then it's. It's going to be a rough time working with somebody. And. And I spent about a month out there with. With my family, and we would just go to different distilleries, two or three a day, and just try everybody's high proofs. I mean, and you're like, all right. And they obviously, you know, they. They'll show you, like, the. This is what we make, the 40 stuff. Okay. I'm like, yeah, that's. I'm like, I love it, but I'm looking for, you know, give me the. Give me your still strength, and then, you know, your second highest proof that you have that you normally work with. And. And, you know, we would come out of the distilleries a little tipsy every time, just because that's just. You're trying high proofs. Uh, so we ended up being stumbling into cafe, and. And at first it was. It was. I was at the bottling, and I met the owner, and. And there was. He was a good guy, and he had you. Me try some stuff that he makes, and it was a. Okay experience.
On the second trip around, we're like, hey, you know, put it on a Facebook message board. Like, hey, we're going to. Going down there looking for distilleries. And Claudio. Claudio is one of the brothers that makes my tequila. Claudio and Hector Davalos messaged me like, hey, stop by my distillery where I worked. I'll show you around.
Stop by. Did not put two and two together that I had already been to this distillery, but it was a very different experience when I went with Claudio and he, you know, he's. Him and his brother worked on Croyo.
So that's. As soon as you mentioned that, I was like, okay, so these guys kind of know what they're doing.
And. And it was. It was. It was so much fun. And then. And then he had high proofs that they were working on already that. That I was like, okay. Oh, these are tasty. These are nice. And then they were. They varied so much in flavor, which is very appealing to me, because obviously, you don't want to go to a distillery and just end up with the same juice as everybody else. Right? Like, that's. That's like the. The worst nightmare when you're, like, doing comparisons. It's like the same gnome. You're like, oh, it tastes very similar.
So that. That was definitely not something I wanted. And then the and then I needed somebody that would work in. In small batches.
A lot of. A lot of distilleries have minimums, and the minimums are like, yeah, you know, we'll make your tequila, but we need, you know, 5,000 of each style.
[00:18:49] Speaker A: Right.
[00:18:50] Speaker B: And I'm like, yeah, well, that's. I'm obviously not gonna. I'm not there now after, you know, being out there for three years, you know, it's. It's. It's just impossible. So they were able to. I asked Claudio and he's like, yeah, we'll make whatever you want us to make, we'll make it. And I was like, that sounds fantastic. This sounds like something I could, you know, somebody I could work with.
[00:19:09] Speaker A: So that's how you really got like a good feeling and a great connection when you started with it. That when people feel like family, then good things happen.
[00:19:17] Speaker B: Right? Exactly. Yeah. So that was. That was really the whole goal. And then the tequila, they're multi generational, so that's always super important. I feel like a lot of people are multi generational in the tequila world, but it is super cool to see, you know, like, lineages going way back.
[00:19:33] Speaker A: Well, it brings you a heritage of recipe as well.
[00:19:36] Speaker B: Right, right. Yeah.
[00:19:37] Speaker A: You know, these long families. So let's talk a little bit about the process and the tequilas that you have, because I believe everything you have is high proof, which is really cool.
[00:19:46] Speaker B: Everything I make is high proof.
[00:19:48] Speaker A: The.
The hoven is the highest, right. The hoven's at 48. Everything else is at 46, except for maybe something new that's coming.
[00:19:55] Speaker B: Right, Right, Yeah. So as of right now, everything is 46, Hoven, 48. And then something new is coming slightly higher, if you will.
[00:20:06] Speaker A: We're going to leak that here in a little bit.
[00:20:09] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:20:09] Speaker A: So the Love, the high proof in each expression. And I don't find a lot of 46s in an Onyejo or extra on. Yeah, there's a couple in repos and, you know, there's a couple that are in hovens. There's a lot of blancos. But to have an XA that's coming in at 46, you've got such a really nice barrel note in this tequila. But because it's a high proof that that agave is just so much more of an agave bomb, if you will. Right. In the XA and.
[00:20:38] Speaker B: Right.
[00:20:38] Speaker A: It makes it really. The amount of it that I've drank probably puts it in my top three of xays. I really. Because yeah, it's. I Think it's that agave in there that's so strong. I really like it. It's a balanced finish. And I'm going to do reviews on all. All of your tequilas. I have to wait on that one that we're speaking of. But I love the way they taste. The repo is really good to me. It is a great sipper. And actually made a. I made a Paloma with it the other day. I thought, ooh, let's put this repo 46 into a paloma. It's such a great flavor. So you've got a great tequila here.
[00:21:14] Speaker B: Yeah, that's awesome. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Yeah, I think that the proof was super important to me. I'm a big mezcal guy, and all the mezcals are always high proof. If you get a MEZCAL that's at 40, you're kind of like, almost frowned upon, right? You're like, why is he water? Yeah, exactly. And in my point of view, I feel like tequila should be the same way, you know, it comes the same ancestry, you know, so it's. It's super important to me for. To have high proof, even though it's. In all honesty, it's kind of hard to car to sell because a lot of people just see it on the shelf and they're like, oh, why is it so not only. Not to mention only the leader, but the high proof also affects price.
And. And a lot of people just like, oh, no, it's. It's why? Or like, oh, it's just. Why would 6% change the price so much? Well, it's, you know, a lot less water being used to. You know.
[00:22:13] Speaker A: That's a great point. People don't realize it. They're like, well, it's a high proof. They're doing less work.
[00:22:17] Speaker B: Right.
[00:22:18] Speaker A: They're making less product.
[00:22:20] Speaker C: Right?
[00:22:20] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:22:20] Speaker A: That's the part that people don't understand. So since we're talking about that, let's. Let's dive into process a little bit. So, okay, you mentioned all highland agaves.
[00:22:29] Speaker B: All highland agaves.
[00:22:30] Speaker A: What's your cooking method?
[00:22:32] Speaker B: So my initial cooking method, Lot 1, 2, and 3, were a 50, 50 autoclave and stone brick oven. After Lot 3, I changed it just to low pressure autoclave because I'm saving for either a full transition to brick or special editions with the stone brick oven.
[00:22:54] Speaker A: You know, as long as it's low and slow, it's very similar to the brick oven.
[00:22:59] Speaker B: It is similar. A lot of people still think that they can taste the Difference. I struggle myself to really taste the difference. I'm sure there is people out there that like, just have that palette that are like insanely talented. I am not one of those people that could tell the difference, but, you know, and a lot of people are like, on the onset mind, like, if it's autoclave, even low pressure, don't want it, you know, so I'll make a special edition just for them.
[00:23:26] Speaker A: There's a stone break oven, low pressure autoclaves. And, you know, there's there's even some great high pressure autoclaves. And.
[00:23:33] Speaker B: Right.
[00:23:34] Speaker A: Sometimes I can tell that one. Sometimes I can go, that's a high pressure autoclave. Like, I. There's a little bit difference in the, the way the agave is present, but I can't tell the difference even when I know, like, oh, this one's a. You know, this is a stone oven built in the stone age. And this was.
[00:23:50] Speaker B: Right.
[00:23:50] Speaker A: It was like, man, they taste the same to me on that side.
[00:23:54] Speaker B: Yeah, there's people out there that could taste it and just. I mean, kudos to them. I love that. You know, I wish, I wish I could be them. That, that sounds fantastic.
[00:24:04] Speaker A: Those are those people that when they taste something, they're like, oh, I taste cantaloupe on a Sunday and it's 50 degrees in the park. Like, I'm like, what the hell are you talking about?
[00:24:15] Speaker B: I've had people describe my inejo. Really? Like, oh, it's. This is like almost like eating breakfast by the beach. And I'm like, oh, that sounds amazing. Like, yeah, tell me more. I'm like, yeah, you just did it.
[00:24:27] Speaker A: Sounds awesome.
[00:24:29] Speaker B: Exactly.
Super stoked. Yeah. So extraction is roller mill.
[00:24:35] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:24:36] Speaker B: We. It goes through four passes.
[00:24:39] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:24:40] Speaker B: And then we go to open air fermentation. We use agave yeast, and the yeast is, is proprietary to the Davalos. They, they make it themselves from scratch. The lab is in their dad's house there. It's always been there, so it's, it's kind of cool. And then open air. So obviously there's going to be a lot of other factors. We, we have eucalyptus trees around the distillery. So it does get like. Sometimes I do pick up like some crazy mint, like some fresh mintiness, I.
[00:25:10] Speaker A: Guess, in your platter in the end.
[00:25:13] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:25:13] Speaker A: Finish. All of a sudden it's like, whoa, there's like a spearmint in the finish. It's so good.
[00:25:17] Speaker B: Yeah, so that's, that's part of the, like the eucalyptus trees just giving off.
Especially if there's Fermentation when they're flowering, you'll. You'll really get like a lot of mint in. In the, in the platters mostly. Right. You know, there we have peaches. We have.
I mean, the oranges, I bet you mangoes there. There's so many, there's so many fruits. The distillery is huge. And, and you know, it's, it's. You could drive around and just go around and picking fruit. It's. It's fantastic. The strawberry fields, it's. It's really fun. So that, that after the fermentation, it goes into distillation and we do a. Like a marriage. It's stainless steel with copper coils.
[00:25:58] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:25:59] Speaker B: So, you know, kind of best of both worlds, in my opinion. And then distilled twice and then that's. Ta da. You get the plata.
[00:26:07] Speaker A: So do you, you guys have a bigger still for your ordinario? And then is it a smaller still for the tequila for second distillation? Or you.
[00:26:16] Speaker B: I mean, the size is. It is bigger, but it's. It not too much, too much bigger. There's four stills. The. The two on the corner are, are the, the first distillation, but they're not too much bigger than this. The. The second, second path.
[00:26:31] Speaker A: Gotcha. And have you. Do you like the taste of ordinario?
[00:26:36] Speaker B: You know what? I. I made the mistake. I forgot what bottling it was, but Claudio was like, hey, come here. Let's. Let's do this. Let's try this.
So I, So he, he poured me some and then I, I gave it a swig and I. And it, I mean, it burst. Yeah, it burst in my. And I'm like, I was so mad because we hadn't, we hadn't bottled yet. So I was like, oh, no, my palate. And I, I was, I couldn't taste anything. My nose was like, singed. My mouth was. I mean, I was. I was like, I can't taste anything. So like the whole two days I was there, I just. There was no, no breathing.
[00:27:14] Speaker A: I was amazed at how much I like tequila off the still, but ordinarily, oh, it's so much more vinegary to me.
[00:27:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:24] Speaker A: And I just. It gives me the willies every time. And of course, every time I want to taste it, even though I know I'm not going to like it. It was like, maybe this one will be good. Nope, nope, that's not good either. But it's such a neat experience to get to taste them right off the still. And you know, right at the beginning of the hearts and, you know, that's. That's a cool experience. And I'm. As a. Just as a owner of a brand, I bet you get to do that every time you're there, so that's pretty cool.
[00:27:50] Speaker B: Yeah, it's. It's. It's definitely fun. I mean, there's so many, like, speaking of, like, trying some stuff on the still. There's. There's times where you try something, and it's like, try this in 70% alcohol, and it's delicious. And you're just like. Like, I wish I could. I wish I could bottle this. Exactly. Like, I wish I could bottle this. I wish I can show people and, like, have people try this, you know, not just, like, at a tasting, because I could obviously have, like, bottles, but I want to sell it. Like, I want. I want people to, like, have it, but it's. It's, you know, nothing more than 55.
[00:28:25] Speaker A: I have a few of those bottles that I've brought home.
[00:28:27] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:28:28] Speaker A: But you know, when. And people don't know, this was kind of to talk about when you're sitting there at the still and you're tasting, and they say, okay, here, taste this. We're. We're right in the puntas, right? We just finished the heads, and this is the beginning of the hearts. This is the distiller's cut. Taste it. And it's, like, amazing. And then five minutes later, still amazing, but completely different, right? And then five minutes later, different, but still really awesome and how those changes happen. And then it becomes, you know, a blanco. As all those flavors go together in the tank, it'd be really cool to be able to go, this is, you know, the first five minutes of the hearts. That's this bottle, you know?
[00:29:10] Speaker C: And then that would.
[00:29:11] Speaker B: That would be interesting. That would be very interesting to do or just. Or even to have just to, like, at the. At your bar. Just like, all right, this is one distillation.
[00:29:20] Speaker A: There's 15 minutes.
[00:29:21] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:29:22] Speaker A: Because I was doing that one of the distilleries with the master distiller, who had just a really small setup for him to tinker with. So he's got this still outside of the distillery, the building, you know, that all of their.
[00:29:34] Speaker B: Okay, yeah, yeah.
[00:29:36] Speaker A: And he's just like, hey, come here. Taste this. And it was like. It tasted like cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. So, so much cinnamon and so creamy. And it was just, like, amazing. And then, like, five, 10 minutes later, it is all apple and pear. And, like.
[00:29:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:54] Speaker A: Where did that come from? Like, how did it change? So he's like, oh, just wait, you know, and then.
[00:29:59] Speaker B: So there's more.
[00:30:00] Speaker A: The cinnamon was back and the apple was gone. It's like, oh, this is so cool. So it's. I wish everybody got that experience. And then, you know, to see how those go into a great blanco and gives you this amazing flavors is, you know, I think that's why I'm such a blanco and high proof person, because I, I can pull those flavors and aromas. Yeah. Your hoven, Tonya, to me, is one of my favorite hovens. It's got a great balance of a blanco with a nice creaminess of a repo. So that, that's really good. And your repo is really strong as well. And then the anejo and the extra are. They're high proof, so they're pretty awesome too. So. Yeah, I appreciate what you've done with these tequilas. Is pretty awesome.
[00:30:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:43] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:30:44] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:30:44] Speaker A: Let's talk a little bit about your trip that you just had in Mexico. Tell me, tell me about what was going on there. Some of those, some of those pictures and videos. Looks like you guys are just all about hard work and that there was absolutely no fun involved.
[00:30:58] Speaker B: No. So this, this trip, we, we bottled the. My new steel strength. We bottled Lot 3 of the Hoven and then we bottled another lot of the. Of the plata.
[00:31:12] Speaker A: Very awesome.
[00:31:14] Speaker B: Yeah, it was a good time. But I, I go down there every time before we bottle just to make sure that everything's, you know, all the juices are good, all the tequila is good. And if I don't, like, you know, certain things, certain aspects, we'll airy or we'll, you know, leave it in the tank a little bit longer or, you know, maybe add a little bit more blanco to the hoeven. Like just, you know. Okay, what about like, you know, one liter more of blanco? See what that does? Kind of thing and Right. You know, play around that way. But it was definitely a good time. All the juices came up fantastic. But, you know, there's nothing like that video you're talking about. I mean, we're in the back of the truck just with our tequila glasses. Yeah. A little bit fancy, but, you know, still, still driving around the distillery.
[00:31:59] Speaker A: Yeah, I've seen a lot of pinkies up in the back of that truck.
[00:32:02] Speaker B: I mean, that's, that's the only way you, you have to do it high proof. Whether, you know, you're a little. With the Rydell, you have to just, you know, enjoy it that way.
[00:32:12] Speaker A: So what? So I seen a Lot of different bottle colors. So I recognize the purple bottle. That's. That's the anejo that. The extra anejo. That's the etched bottle.
[00:32:22] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:32:22] Speaker A: And then the pink bottle. What one is the pink bottle?
[00:32:25] Speaker B: That's the new one. That's the new baby.
[00:32:27] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:32:28] Speaker B: Yeah, that's the new baby.
[00:32:30] Speaker A: Okay. So the black bottle, the black label, that was one that you did for something special?
[00:32:35] Speaker B: It was a special edition for a rapper. Like a collaboration almost.
[00:32:39] Speaker A: Very cool because I've seen that one bounce around too. So then I didn't know. Oh, no. Is the high proof of black bottle or is it.
[00:32:45] Speaker B: No, no, no. I went pink.
Rosa Mexicano, if you will.
[00:32:49] Speaker A: Love it.
[00:32:50] Speaker B: And then instead of the. The sticker dog, I etched it like the extra niejo. But it is a different etching.
[00:32:57] Speaker A: It's a different etch. That's really bad.
So when is this landing in the good old US of A.
[00:33:05] Speaker B: So it should be here, I think two to three weeks.
[00:33:09] Speaker A: Okay. And people will be able to find that. Where. Where do they go?
[00:33:13] Speaker B: It should be on my website or I know Roadrunner is going to be selling it for me.
[00:33:18] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:33:19] Speaker B: Liquorama. So it'll be though I think those will be the. Are high proof and Fullerton also be. Yeah.
[00:33:26] Speaker A: But if you're nationwide, go to your website and you'll help them find someplace that can ship to the States.
[00:33:30] Speaker B: Absolutely. Yeah.
[00:33:32] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:33:32] Speaker B: So but this is. This is. This is my new baby.
[00:33:35] Speaker A: One of those on hold. I want to order one tonight when we get done. So there's one on hold for me because.
[00:33:40] Speaker B: All right, sounds good. And this is. Comes in at 50.
[00:33:44] Speaker A: What's that same paper label?
[00:33:46] Speaker B: Same paper label, yeah. And it comes in at 50.696.
[00:33:51] Speaker A: 50.696, yeah.
[00:33:54] Speaker B: So I can.
[00:33:54] Speaker A: Beautiful.
[00:33:55] Speaker B: Handwritten.
[00:33:57] Speaker A: Very awesome.
[00:33:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:34:01] Speaker A: It says valleys on.
[00:34:04] Speaker B: Says Valles. Yeah. So it's actually, it's the first time I use tequilas from the Tequila Valley.
[00:34:10] Speaker A: Really?
[00:34:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:34:12] Speaker A: This is you pulling out some really cool stops on something brand new.
[00:34:16] Speaker B: So this is from El Arenal. Is from El Arenal.
[00:34:20] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:34:21] Speaker B: Yeah. So it's really good. I wanted to do a little marriage. See, I wanted to see if the. The minerality of the valley agaves and having. Having it made at the distillery. That's very citrusy and minty and how that would come together. And it's. I mean, it's delicious. It's. It's so, so good. Yes, it's absolutely delicious. But everything's, you know, handwritten, all the. My back Label is obviously you have all the information. So it says, you know, with, it's also fermented with fibers.
[00:34:52] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:34:53] Speaker B: So first time I do that. So it's, it's a very experimental high proof. If you don't, if you don't mind me saying, that's impressive. Hopefully people like it. I. It's a thousand bottles.
[00:35:04] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:35:06] Speaker B: And then that's, that's gonna be, that's gonna be. For, for now I have a lot too planned. But it's, it's gonna be age. So that, that's, that's to come. That's in the future.
[00:35:17] Speaker A: Are you gonna age it to repo or age it to.
[00:35:20] Speaker B: No, no, no. It's still gonna be a blanco.
[00:35:22] Speaker A: It' two months.
[00:35:24] Speaker B: Yeah. Like a month and a half. 45 days, 50 days along there. Yeah.
[00:35:29] Speaker A: Resting that in a certain type of barrel.
[00:35:32] Speaker B: So that's, that's going to be the fun part. It's going to be 10 different barrels. So it's, it's definitely going to be a collector's, a collector's item because it's only going to be one barrel of each of each one. So, you know, one wine barrel, one brandy barrel, one racia barrel, one mezcal barrel.
[00:35:51] Speaker A: So I need to come to the distillery with 10 sample bottles as well be part of that blending process of this one.
[00:35:58] Speaker B: Right? Yeah, no, we're not going to blend. It's just going to be barreled and then whatever comes out, that's. That's what we're bottling. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. We're not, we're not going to do anything to it.
[00:36:09] Speaker A: Okay. That's pretty awesome. That's a great, that's a great product to talk about. Yeah, let's try those.
[00:36:16] Speaker B: It's. Yeah, I'm excited for them.
[00:36:19] Speaker A: From here we're going to dig into the xa. So tell me about your xa.
[00:36:24] Speaker C: Thank you. Thank you.
[00:36:26] Speaker A: Yeah, I think I need one of those on my shelf. So I'll probably be sending you, I'll probably be getting your Venmo information here when we're done.
What's your aging time frame on your xa.
[00:36:38] Speaker C: So again it varies from lot to lot. The one that we're trying today is going to be a 3 year X Ray 46 ABV.
[00:36:46] Speaker A: I love a high proof extra on yeho like the agave is still there like so forward but you get a, like a really nice caramel, vanilla, cinnamon. And that's where I pick up like a burnt sugar.
[00:37:01] Speaker C: Yeah. So good for, for my xa I always get like some leather. I get like the, like the deeper flavor, like the leather tobacco obviously, like really heavy heck.
[00:37:12] Speaker A: You know this is going to sound weird to you, but I get a little bit of a rose.
[00:37:17] Speaker C: Okay. It's like some floral notes.
[00:37:19] Speaker A: Yeah, I get the leather and definitely in the front, man, as it goes into the finish, I get like a rose petal, really nice floral going into the finish which is a. Get you right in the back of the tongues and a little bit of pepper on that finish. So that, that's a great combo to me to have all of those upfront barrel notes yet still bring that agave through. Do you get those floral notes like that?
[00:37:43] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean from time to time, honestly it just kind of depends on what I've eaten that day. But I mean every time I try it, it definitely I pick up something different or I lose something that I had picked up before. So it's, it's not as subtle for me today, but I am picking up like those, those I do have like some caramel, some butterscotch.
[00:38:03] Speaker A: Butterscotch, yeah.
[00:38:05] Speaker C: And then again like that tobacco, like almost like chewing on a cigar.
[00:38:09] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I get that. I'm gonna say midway through, you know how so like everybody talks about the nose, the taste and the finish, but to me there's a middle where everything kind of changes as it goes into the finish.
[00:38:23] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:38:24] Speaker A: So I get that caramel, vanilla, a little bit of leathery. Then I, then I get that cigar tobacco flavor and, and then I get that floral and then I get a little bit of pepper on the finish. Not a lot of pepper, just a little, little bit of pepper. Maybe even more of an allspice or baking spice type flavor. That's a, that's a pretty complex drink. That's very good.
[00:38:45] Speaker C: Thank you. Yeah, this is probably one of my, my go tos. This is one of like I, I smoke cigars. So I, whenever I'm with this. Yeah, this is my, my, my cigar pair for myself. A good pour, A good, I call it a good wine pour, you know, 5 ounces and then enjoy a nice cigar with it.
[00:39:08] Speaker A: So I drink on my show with these nice Glen Karens. Right. But when I drink on my own, I drink out of these. I like a big 5 ounce pour myself. Yeah, yeah, that's a, I don't like to have to keep coming out to my bar. So I just take a lot to the house. So.
[00:39:24] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm the same way. Yeah, absolutely. You know, give yourself a healthy pour and it's Kind of. It's going to open up anyways. More enjoyable, you know, the longer you. So it's.
[00:39:33] Speaker B: It's.
[00:39:33] Speaker C: As long as you're not shooting it, then it shouldn't really affect it too much. But it's definitely.
Yeah. I pour myself in actual wine glasses sometimes where I'm just like, all right, well, this will do.
[00:39:46] Speaker A: That's a wine glass with a little stems.
[00:39:48] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:39:50] Speaker A: So you seem like a young guy to me. How old are you?
[00:39:53] Speaker C: I'm 35.
[00:39:54] Speaker A: Yeah, that's. I was guessing you're a youngster. This is impressive that at 35 years old, you've been able to put this together on your own. That's. That's very admirable.
[00:40:04] Speaker C: Yeah, well, a lot of. A lot of support, obviously, from family, friends, but it's. It's definitely a pill battle when you're. When you're thinking about, like, giants in the tequila world. But I'm always excited to be, like, mentioned, you know, next to. Next to those giants. Like, oh, yeah, I'll always check the, like, the list.
[00:40:21] Speaker B: I made the list. All right.
[00:40:22] Speaker C: Next to, like, these great names, you know, that I, you know, aspired to be, like. And it's always fun. This is definitely been, like, one of those journeys.
And I.
[00:40:33] Speaker B: People are like, oh, you know, in.
[00:40:35] Speaker C: The beginning, how did you feel? I'm like, I'm still in the beginning.
[00:40:37] Speaker B: I don't know.
[00:40:39] Speaker A: We're doing, you know, like, 100 bottle lots. Come on.
[00:40:41] Speaker C: Yeah. Like, yeah, like, I'm. I'm, you know, I'm not very big, but the goal is to.
[00:40:48] Speaker B: To almost keep the same format where.
[00:40:51] Speaker C: My lots are smaller, the same kind.
[00:40:54] Speaker B: Of size, but just more of them.
[00:40:56] Speaker C: More frequently, I should say. Frequency would increase, but the lot size will not.
[00:41:01] Speaker A: Well, I think you're doing a fantastic job. I mean, this is. This is really good. You've got a great expression of tequila. Your hoven's amazing. I can't wait to try your still strength. I already know that's going to be great, and you're doing a great job. I appreciate you taking your time tonight, for sure. I mean, this is.
[00:41:16] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:41:17] Speaker A: I. I mean, I appreciate the tequila. I'm gonna. I can't wait to tell people what the heck this shirt means. That's going to be the funnest conversation piece.
[00:41:25] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:41:26] Speaker B: They're gonna look at it like, what is that?
[00:41:27] Speaker A: How do you say that? Yeah, I pulled it out of the box, and my wife's like, sure. Like I said, oh, no, this is. Check it out. And I showed her the tequila. She's pretty excited.
So talk about your what, what was that? Your. Your website is where you get the tequila and you're just shipping from. You have a local liquor store that's working with you on shipping and available in most states. So people can probably check that from your website, right?
[00:41:51] Speaker C: Yeah. So I'll just name.
[00:41:53] Speaker B: I'm not in most states.
[00:41:54] Speaker C: I'm in a couple, few states.
California, obviously, I'm here. You got Nevada, Arizona. Arizona is probably one of my second biggest state.
[00:42:03] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:42:04] Speaker C: Texas, I just opened up. I'm going to do a Texas club tasting there next month in March. Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, Michigan, I think that's about it.
[00:42:16] Speaker A: Okay. But like California can ship to. I know, Indiana.
[00:42:20] Speaker C: Yeah. So California can ship almost to a lot of states. So that's kind of be the way to go. I am working probably in March, we'll release a free shipping deal where it's like you buy two bottles and you get free shipping.
So, so I will, you know, be make. I'll post that and blast it and let people know that, you know, because I, I know that shipping could get expensive. Especially when you're in the east coast somewhere, you know, you're buying $200 worth of bottles and then the shipping is another $100. You're like, I, that doesn't make sense. But you know, we're working on a deal, so hopefully in March we'll get some free shipping going. So you can order yourself an xa I will be or still strength.
[00:43:02] Speaker A: It's awesome for people to know that because I really think there's a community of people that love helping out a small brand that has really good tequila that, um, I know that the additive free process kind of went away, but for me, on my palate of what I've tasted here, this is all clean. I don't taste any, any additives of any kind. I taste just really good juice. And I've heard other people say the same thing that have tasted your product. So when people know you're a small brand and you're doing it the way you're doing it, like you're not a giant corporation trying to pump out some crazy celebrity tequila and you're making good juice that the celebrities, you know, inside the bottle and, and you're young and working hard, I think people will support that just because of that. And, and they're getting a liter of tequila, you know, versus a regular seven, 750 or 700. That's a great selling point as well.
[00:43:52] Speaker C: Yeah. For now.
[00:43:54] Speaker A: Are they all, are they all going to switch to 700?
[00:43:57] Speaker B: So eventually they're all going to shift.
[00:43:58] Speaker C: To the 700 just to make it more approachable to people. The goal is to have La plata somewhere around $55, as opposed to $70.
[00:44:09] Speaker B: No.
[00:44:09] Speaker C: And for people that are buying for the first time that $70 for something that, you know, you've heard that's good, but do I really want to spend $70 on something that I might not personally like or enjoy? It's, it changes when you go to like, oh, I could spend $55 instead, you know, on something that's a gamble. So the goal is to just to make it more approachable in that sense. But, you know, like, the lot that you're trying right now for the xa, that's the last slot that's going to be a liter bottle. From now on, it's going to be 700. I'm going to work my way down from top to bottom. So the prices are going to drop, like in that.
[00:44:45] Speaker A: That's very smart. Especially in this, you know, much tighter economy that we're in, you know, you know, there's a lot of people saying, oh, the wheels are coming off at tequila. I completely disagree. I think the market is slowing down because of the, the economic pressures that we have today. But I still have more people reaching out to me, asking about tequila that were bourbon drinkers or vodka drinkers or rum drinkers that are so, you know, I call them tequila curious. Right. They're wanting to get into this. And making that more approachable for people is awesome. But also, you should carry a little bit higher price point with everything being a higher proofed juice right there. You've got less water in your bottle, and people need to understand that.
[00:45:29] Speaker C: So, yeah, I mean, that's, that's, that's why I'm, I do shows like this. Like, you're like your show. Because education is key, right? Because a lot of, a lot of the times people go to the store, go to the liquor store, and all they see is a bottle and a price.
[00:45:45] Speaker A: Right?
[00:45:46] Speaker C: I mean, they don't even see the abv. They don't even see the size of the bottle. Because if you, I mean, if you, you have bottles there with you, but I can grab a cheap floor and it's, it's, it's actually like, it's, it's the same size, really. Right.
[00:46:03] Speaker A: But.
[00:46:03] Speaker B: No, yeah, exactly.
[00:46:05] Speaker C: But, you know, when you're, when you're, when you're looking, you're looking at it at A liquor store. Right. You're just gonna see this, like. Oh, it's the same size, more expensive. So it does take some, you know, some education, some shows, some tastings and stuff like that. So it's like kind of.
But, you know, hopefully with the move of the 700, it is going to be gradual too. I mean, money is. Money is a thing.
I do have liter glass bottles left, so I want to use them as much as I can and then slowly release the seven hundreds and kind of up the game that way.
[00:46:40] Speaker A: Have you thought about moving to a 375 as well? Because I know a lot of brands have started to do that.
[00:46:45] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:46:46] Speaker B: So I think I'm going to do.
[00:46:48] Speaker C: I'm going to do Pachitas.
[00:46:50] Speaker A: Is that like the 200 milliliter bottle?
[00:46:52] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:46:53] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:46:53] Speaker C: So like these guys. Yeah, like Salvadores has the Pachitas.
[00:46:58] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:46:59] Speaker B: Because I like these.
[00:47:00] Speaker C: These. These are nice. It's not quite as, you know, a shot, you know, from a little 50 or 100, but it. It's definitely something price wise, a little more manageable if you want to try something along the lines and you don't want to spend for a full bottle.
[00:47:15] Speaker A: Well, since you're some. If you weren't from around us, I wouldn't bring this up. But since you're from around us, I'll bring it up. So I walked into, you know, Vino Ye Liquor, Right. One of the stores there, and I seen this bottle in a little teeny 200.
[00:47:33] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:47:33] Speaker A: I couldn't help but buy it because I was like, that is such a cute little tapatio.
[00:47:39] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, tapatio is excellent. But yeah, all the small bottles are always kind of, just kind of cute. I mean, I have. When I was growing up, my room was not like posters or anything. I had a collection of miniatures.
[00:47:52] Speaker A: No kidding. That's awesome.
[00:47:53] Speaker B: That was my.
[00:47:54] Speaker C: I had, I think I got to up to like almost 1500 miniatures.
[00:47:57] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:47:58] Speaker C: In my room, that was my home. Like, I was 12, 13, and I just had a collection of just. And that was, you know, it's always kind of been in my room was like that. It had walls and little bars like that.
[00:48:09] Speaker A: Tequila bars.
[00:48:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:48:10] Speaker C: It was like people would have like, kids. Other kids would walk into my room and like, oh, is this.
Yeah. Is this your dad's old, like, bar or something? I'm like, oh, this is my room. Like, oh, that's interesting.
[00:48:23] Speaker B: But it's.
[00:48:24] Speaker C: It's just kind of. Yeah.
[00:48:26] Speaker A: I'd never seen those little bottles till we got to around us. So, yeah, we stayed in our hotel and there was a little liquor store right across the street.
[00:48:34] Speaker C: And I thought, well, I gotta get liquor stores every. There's more liquor stores than anything in Arandes.
[00:48:40] Speaker A: There was a lot. That's true. And that a lot of them had really great tequila, and then a whole bunch of them had not so great tequila. So you had to pay attention. So, yeah. And like I said, the people were amazing, the town was beautiful. I. I can't wait to go back.
[00:48:53] Speaker C: Let me know next time you're down there, Brad, and we'll. We'll hook up and do a tour. And I'm tasting and have you taste some barrels. Barrel stuff that I have coming up.
[00:49:04] Speaker A: And that'd be fantastic. I did learn something about a Rhonda's that. So, you know, in America, all of the police officers wear a body camera, right? So whenever something happens, they record everything that happens. And one of my friends that does social media is called the Tequila Cop. Have you ever seen his stuff?
[00:49:22] Speaker C: Yeah, from Tennessee.
[00:49:24] Speaker A: From Tennessee, yeah. So Mike's a great guy, so I messaged him. When we were in Arandas, we spent the day at one of the distilleries with the master distiller, who's known to maybe drink a lot when you come to visit. And yeah, I was talking to Mike the next day and he's like, did you have a good time? And I'm like, yeah, but can you.
Can I buy your body cam for next time I go down there? I'm going to call it a Tequila Cam. And I'm going to say something like, did tequila steal your evening's memories? Watch the Tequila cam to see what happened. I needed that to replay to know what happened.
[00:49:57] Speaker C: No, no, no. I think. I think Aranda's is a lot like Vegas.
[00:50:01] Speaker B: Whatever happened there is going to stay there.
[00:50:04] Speaker C: And we're just.
[00:50:05] Speaker B: We don't remember it. We don't remember it.
[00:50:06] Speaker C: Just know that you had a great time. I think that's. I think that's kind of the rule of thumb there.
[00:50:11] Speaker A: I just wanted to remember, well, where can people find you on social media? What's your favorite? Like, social media to be on.
[00:50:22] Speaker C: So Instagram is probably the most active of mine. And it's just Xolo X O L O, underscore Tequila. And then, yeah, you can message me.
[00:50:31] Speaker B: I do everything.
[00:50:32] Speaker C: So if you have any questions, if you're in a state that I'm in and you're like, hey, I need any stores around here, I can help you find A store that I'm in.
You know, my website is the drink show low.
[00:50:42] Speaker A: Damn.
[00:50:43] Speaker C: But feel free to always message me. I'm pretty good at responding unless I'm, you know, a little inebriated or asleep. I try to, try to stay off of social media, you know, when that happens. But yeah, I'm always open any questions, comments, concerns. You know, I have had some people ask me like, oh, this lot two doesn't taste like lot one. We all. And I had to, you know, explain to people and, you know, try to do that. So I'm always here to educate and help and, and try to find, you know, help people find their, their right tequila.
[00:51:14] Speaker A: Sure. Well, I appreciate you being here. I'm going to put at the end of this, there'll be a slide that has all of your social media, your website on it. And then we'll do individual reviews of each bottle and those will all be tied back to this video too. We'll put those all out on social media. Like, like I said, I appreciate you sending me the tequila. It's an honor to get to do this with you.
And I have one final question for you. So since you've got this all going and you have this special juice that you like and you've worked so hard to do this, who would be a person that you would love to sit down and share this tequila with that you haven't been able to do alive? Dead famous, not famous, who's just a person that you would love to sit down and go, hey, let me show you what I created.
[00:52:02] Speaker C: Oh, man. All right, well, you're gonna start making me cry over here.
[00:52:06] Speaker B: Let's see.
[00:52:08] Speaker C: I think my, my grandfather, Ernesto ii, because I'm Ernesto iv.
[00:52:13] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:52:15] Speaker C: I think he would, you know, really get a kick out of, out of what I've done. And he wasn't ever really much of a drinker, but I would, I would have liked to see him get drunk. I think that would have been, that would have been fun, you know, because he passed away when I was 15, so I never got to really drink with them like in general. So it would be, it would be really cool to drink with him.
[00:52:35] Speaker A: Well, that's awesome. Well, being a 56 year old guy with a 36 year old daughter and a 31 and 33 year old son, I could tell you that he would be immensely proud of you for.
[00:52:47] Speaker C: Thank you, Brad. That means a lot.
[00:52:49] Speaker A: Making a decision to do something, making a life change, to make it happen, burning the bridges behind you so you can't go back and then working so hard to do something so good and being so open and honest that you are. He would be immensely proud of you. I can say I'm proud of you as well. This is really awesome.
[00:53:07] Speaker C: Thank you. That means a lot. I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you.
[00:53:10] Speaker A: Anything else you want to say before we sign off?
[00:53:13] Speaker C: Yes, I forgot that I'm going to release a special Day of the Dead bottle.
[00:53:18] Speaker A: Awesome.
[00:53:19] Speaker C: I have it and it's. It's a ceramic bottle. So this is. It's going to go like this.
[00:53:25] Speaker A: Wow. That is super cool.
[00:53:28] Speaker C: It's gonna be an extra Nieko s strength. So we're aiming for 53 to 50, you know, 54 ABV.
[00:53:38] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:53:39] Speaker C: That's. That's kind of the goal. And we'll probably release two barrels in August, September around those lines.
[00:53:48] Speaker A: You're gonna put some pre orders out for that so that thing sells out before we even get there.
[00:53:53] Speaker C: That's the goal. We'll see what happens though. Yeah, absolutely.
[00:53:57] Speaker A: We'll have to do a video announcing when that pre sale starts and talk about that product before so we can get that thing sold out for you.
[00:54:06] Speaker C: Perfect. I would love that. Yeah. I'll make sure to send you a sample.
[00:54:09] Speaker A: No worries.
I'll just order a bottle. I'm not afraid to buy a bottle.
[00:54:15] Speaker C: Sounds good to me. Yeah.
[00:54:16] Speaker B: But that's about it.
[00:54:18] Speaker C: I really do appreciate your time and, and having my brand on your show. And again, anytime you're in Arandas or Jarlisco, let me know. I'll just fly down there for you.
We can do something.
[00:54:31] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm down there all the time.
[00:54:32] Speaker C: Anyways, I'll make an impromptu trip and we'll do something.
[00:54:35] Speaker A: Well, next time we do our planning, I'll let you know before we plan it. So maybe we can plan it when you're there.
[00:54:40] Speaker C: Perfect.
[00:54:40] Speaker A: Again, appreciate your time. Tonight. I'll put on the end of the video where everybody can find your information. Definitely plug in to Ernesto's social media. He's got some great social media out there. Don't forget to watch the Netflix show Lincoln Lawyer. I'm not going to tell you which episodes. You have to watch them all. And why don't you post in the comments if you've seen the video.
[00:54:59] Speaker C: There you go.
[00:55:00] Speaker A: So it's really awesome. So thanks.
[00:55:02] Speaker C: Support my friend Rachel and Lincoln Lawyer. That's right.
[00:55:05] Speaker A: Well, you have a great night. Stay safe with those crazy drivers in the rain. And I'm going to stay in the house here in Indiana the rest of the night.
[00:55:11] Speaker C: Sounds good. Stay warm.
[00:55:12] Speaker A: I'll do my best. Thank you, my friend.
[00:55:14] Speaker C: Thank you so much, Brad. I appreciate it.
[00:55:16] Speaker A: Appreciate you. Bye.
