Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Tonight you're going to learn about a tequila that's about the tradition of Mexico and most of all, the culture. The owner of Cultura 100, you're going to meet my friend Jaime and you're also going to meet my buddy, Keith Bogart. Keith is the person who runs Forte Fanatics on Facebook. It's a high proof group and Keith and Sergio Cruz actually conspired to help Jaime come up with the actual profile that he has with their fantastic tequila. He's going to talk about all the new things that have coming that are coming out and how they came up with the blanco and the flavor profile. We're going to talk about this repo and why it's a little bit higher abv. And we're going to talk about his history of bringing amazing brands of tequila and mezcal as an import and distributor into this country. We may even talk about this crazy famous brand from years ago that he was involved with as well. Thanks for tuning in. Enjoy this interview. It's tasting tequila with brand.
All right, Jaime and Keith, I am fired up to talk about Cultura 100. How you guys doing tonight?
[00:01:05] Speaker B: Very good, very good. Been waiting to meet you face to face. Not in person yet, but maybe in the next trip we'll, we'll head out that way to Indiana, I think.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: We did meet. Didn't we meet in Chicago?
[00:01:17] Speaker B: Yes, I did.
[00:01:18] Speaker A: We met in the elevator.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: I apologize. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: And I think you were as busy as a one legged man in a buck kitten contest when I first met you, so I understand why you wouldn't remember that.
[00:01:32] Speaker B: Yeah, very true, very true.
[00:01:34] Speaker A: And I haven't met Keith yet in person. You, you haven't came to Chicago yet?
[00:01:38] Speaker C: No, I haven't come to Chicago. But you and I, we, we've been talking offline online for a long time.
[00:01:46] Speaker A: Almost this whole year that I've been doing this.
[00:01:48] Speaker C: That's true. I feel like we feel like we know each other obviously, right. I, I text you out of the blue every once in a while to see how you're doing stuff. So.
[00:01:55] Speaker A: Well, let's, let's break into this a little bit. Tell everybody, Jaime, who you are and kind of what your journey to tequila and agave spirits is all about.
[00:02:06] Speaker B: Well, I'm not totally new to the game.
Between 2012 and 18, I was actually importing tequila.
Stepped away times partnerships don't work out.
I stepped away in 18 and just missed the game, missed the industry, the community.
22. I told my wife I miss it. I need to get Back and, but this time I'll do it solo. But that's not 100% correct either. Oh, we're sitting down after choosing a distillery, which we're at Gnome 1414 with Mr. Zombie himself, Sergio Cruz and Mr. Sergio Vibanco.
I'm sitting down one day tasting my profiles for the Blanco.
There's a gentleman that's sitting across from me at a different table with a boatload of high proofs.
I'm saying, hey, Sergio, who's this gentleman?
So that's Keith. Who's Keith?
So he explains it to me and I said, here, tell him to try these Blancos, see what he has to say. I was curious. After Keith tries him, I go introduce myself and said, so what you think?
So right there he knew Sergio slips them in in between his other, his high proofs basically.
And so that's where me and Keith started to talk and get to know each other. And that conversation I thought was going to last 10, 15 minutes is now going on months that we're going back and forth and enjoying each other's pallets, company opinions.
[00:03:54] Speaker C: It's in October, it'll be a year.
[00:03:58] Speaker B: Wow. Yeah, that's right.
[00:04:00] Speaker C: But yeah, the simplest part of that story is that that Sergio Vivanco and Sergio Cruz wanted me to explore making my own brand.
And of course to do that at 14:14 you get all the profiles. And I had picked so many profiles, but Sergio wanted me to have four. Sergio Cruz and I'd only be able to pick three.
And Sergio goes, I'll, I'll be right back. And that's when him and Jaime had must have figured out they could, they could use this, this, this guy.
And so they gave me, I think it was four samples. Yeah, I, I, I knew all of them were, were lower ABV than I was tasting. I figured most of em were 40. But style of this Blanco, what became this Blanco simply because it had more of a citrus note and I, I love citrus, not only in just tequila, but most drinks. So I was like, well, I'll take this because, you know, the Sergio has the plastic bottle. So I was like, I will take this and add this to my profile.
And Sergio was like, no, no, no, you cannot do that. It belongs to that guy.
And so it turned out, and I didn't know this Jaime until like months later you told me that one of the samples that I turned down was a Tequila Ocho Blanco from a newer Rancho.
[00:05:22] Speaker B: Right.
[00:05:23] Speaker C: So I had made the choice above.
Clearly some of other Sergio's other stuff and a Tequila Ocho to, to pick a Blanco that is now out there in the market doing, doing well, people enjoying it.
It's a 40%. We're working on a lot of other stuff. I'll, I'll transition it back to Jaime so he can explain all the future of the brand and where it's going.
[00:05:47] Speaker B: Well, yeah like you say it is a 40 blanco but our goal is to have and it's, it's always going to be to always bet not just bettering ourselves but we wanted this, a Blanco to be very agave forward and with a pow. And after working on our rep we wanted the same for our reposado. So since we, the blanc was already picked, we were working on the reposado when we went from 55 and tasted every, every degree going down and we decided 43 was, this was a sweet spot.
And after that I said wow, I got it. We should have did the same thing on the Blanco.
So we went back and did the 55 all the way down and we've decided now lot two is going to come out at 44 and our high proof Blanco will be at a 54.
[00:06:39] Speaker A: Very nice.
[00:06:40] Speaker B: Both of them are just going to. It's exactly what I, what I want is a pow that's left in your mouth that just all that flavor of agave forwardness with a little bit of sweetness, fruity sweetness that will also do is bring some of what I believe some of the.
I don't know how to explain this part but some new tequila people that are, that are ready to cross over into the non additive world and, and know what tequila should be tasting like. We've gotten some great feedback from, from our consumers especially over the weekend with that reposado that 43. They were like wow. This wow. And I'm like wait, just wait. We got a high proof 47 coming and a special high proof 48. That which is six months. Our 47 will be a three month age.
Both of them are amazing. Both of them are going to be amazing.
[00:07:36] Speaker A: So where's this love of Tequila come from? You didn't come out of the womb with a, with a brand. So how did this start? Where did, where, where is your moment that you love Tequila between again between.
[00:07:48] Speaker B: 2012, 12 and 18, being around the community, doing events, it just, it grows on you. You get to meet some interesting people.
Like all the trips you take to Mexico and meet all these different distillery owners and the consumers. Just meeting consumers and explaining to them about the Tequila and just it's super fun. It's super fun.
[00:08:12] Speaker A: I'm going to push deeper.
When's that day that you picked up a glass, drank too much of it, spent the night in front of the toilet saying you were never drinking tequila again. And then all of a sudden, now you like tequila. When did you first have tequila? What's your first recollection of going, well, this is what I want. This is what I want to do.
[00:08:32] Speaker B: It wasn't the first or the second time because that was somewhere in high school. And those are some days you just drank anything.
I can't remember totally what I was drinking, but I was in my mid twenties.
Cousin of mine got married and we bought tons of bottles. It's Mexican party.
And I'm passing them out, passing out shots.
And I said, okay, here, one for you, two for me. One for you, two for me. That was a huge mistake.
As long as I was dancing that night and moving around, I was fine.
I get to a point, party's over. And the wife says, all right, let's go home.
We get home, exactly what you just said. I was hugging the porcelain. God. My wife comes into the restroom. She says, you need any help?
I said, no, just leave me alone. I'll be fine. Wake up about an hour later next to that porcelain, and I got to go to my room and said, why did you leave me alone? She said, you said, no help. So I took a hiatus for about a year. I couldn't smell or touch alcohol. It was that bad.
And I started getting into slowly but surely drinking again.
I got familiar with siete leguas and Costcoine.
Later on, a little bit later on, and I started drinking quality tequila. And I had the opportunity brought to me to start importing tequila. That was around 2012. Later on down the road, I said, oh, okay, this sounds fun. And I had a great journey, a fast track schooling.
Did a brand for a celebrity brand between 2012, 2018.
So I was actually, like I say it was a crash course for me because I was. The different states were demanding the brand. So I was. My job was to deal with the different states in this distro.
My partner was dealing with production and logistics out of Mexico into the US so I was dealing with the R D Cs of the world, Southern of the world, a lot more, New York to the west, east coast to the west Coast. So like I said, I did step away from 18 and around 20, I started really thinking about Miss. I was missing it. I was missing the fun. I was missing the.
The people. I'm sitting down drinking and talking about stories and different brands and different flavors.
I said, you know what?
I'm gonna do this, and I'm gonna do this, but my way this time and my own brand.
One day, around 15, 2015, we were doing a tasting at an event, and a young lady walks up, and she's wearing her fraternity sweater.
And I said, here you go. Have a shot for your fraternity.
She says, no, but I will have one for the culture.
And when she told me that, I was like, whoa.
That hit.
And then never that. Just the word culture never got out of my head. And I said, wow, one day, if I ever do this again, I'm coming back with a tequila that represents the culture.
And in order to do that, I had to go back to Jalisco, go visit different distilleries.
And the day that I made my decision to which nome I was going to be at, I had just left Cascawin, left the lowlands, and went straight up to Arandas and met Sergio Vivanco, Sergio Cruz.
And this has nothing to take away from the Cascawin.
They're great people, great juice.
Just when I got to 14, 14 and talked and met with both Sergios, I felt at home.
Sergio Vivanco is very humble, very nice man.
And Sergio Cruz, well, what more can you say about him?
[00:13:00] Speaker A: He's a celebrity master distiller who is so much fun to be around.
[00:13:04] Speaker B: He's so much fun. And just again, it felt like family.
I said, I'm home. I'm home. And what was even crazier about that, I told Sergio Vivanco, I go, you want to know what my flight number today was?
Bolates.
Flight number was 14. 14.
[00:13:23] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:13:25] Speaker B: It was something else. And I'm like, God's telling me you're at home, kid. Stay there.
[00:13:30] Speaker A: So you speak of home. Where are you from originally?
[00:13:33] Speaker B: I'm originally born here in Oxnard, California. Born and raised and still live in Oxnard, California. My dad is from Zacatecas, which is a neighboring state to Jalisco. And to go back to that, I was actually, in about 2013, I started importing a famous artist scar, which is Antonio Aguilar. Antonio Aguilar for Zacatecas is like saying Elvis.
Long day?
Yes, sir.
I was the first person to import that mezcal.
That bottle there you got, like I said, besides, I was the first one that brought it in. I wasn't the importer for them, but we. I have a distro. I had a distro license, which I still do now for California. We Met the gentleman at.
At a supermarket in California. The distillery was looking for help to come into California.
And because I dealt and still do with some of the supermarket chains in California, he asked, can we do it? And I said, yeah, we brought it in. Unfortunately, they did not have the funds to support it, nor was a family behind the brand.
So we weren't getting that assistant from the family. And the distillery owner was getting upset how it was not moving.
So we gave it back. We just gave it back.
We just. Here you go. But right after that, I was ready to.
To let my license go because I wasn't using it for a while.
So another celebrity comes up and says, hey. I meet him at her manager, and they said, hey, well, we wanted to do a tequila for her, and what are you thinking? And I'm like, what do you think? What do you. What are you looking for? What kind of deal are you looking for?
So we.
We cut a deal, come to an agreement, I should say.
And it's like beginning of October, verbally come to an agreement.
She dies in a famous. Excuse me. She's a famous artist that dies in a plane crash.
And they call me right after the. The services manager says, hey, are we doing this or not?
I said, doing what?
And he says, the tequila.
How's this?
He says, you got the verbal agreement. Let's do this.
And I'm like, okay.
So I get there, I go sending my partner back to Mexico, and they're bringing back samples and samples and samples to sit down with the family members so they can pick their profile.
They picked the profile. And in the first 60 days, we sold in Southern California through three containers of Blanco.
Three to four. Three. I think it's three. Without even reaching the warehouse. The first PO was from one super Hispanic supermarket. Wanted to buy the whole container of Blanco.
I said, you can't do this.
The other customers are going to be upset. I have to figure it out what he was doing. He was trying to corner the market.
But because I do such a lot of business with this customer, he convinced me. And I said, well, I got to shave off at least four pallets. I'll give you the rest. We did that. He came back in 10 days wanting another load.
[00:16:56] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:16:56] Speaker B: They sold it that fast.
Just went through. Once we got to Texas, Texas did the same thing. So it came out to the first 15, 12 to 15 containers. Never made it to my warehouse before. They crossed it. Got a really huge demand from her fans where people are crossing states to go buy it.
And like I said, it was a crash course for me learning the industry. But I come from 30 years of agricultural business, so that's why I had that connection already with the supermarkets and big box. But that crash course also opened my eyes and, and, and love for tequila.
Awesome. And so you asked me, what was that moment?
[00:17:41] Speaker A: That was it.
[00:17:42] Speaker B: That was it. Because then I started doing different tequila festivals and getting to meet new people, new distillery owners, because such a, when it was such a high demand, I was getting calls from different distilleries. Hey, come out here. We want to talk to you.
So we got to go meet from the highlands to the Lowlands, everyone in between. It was a great ride.
And when I walked away, it wasn't an easy decision to walk away from.
It's just sometimes partnerships don't work.
And now I'm doing it my way. And I'm very glad to have met to be at 14, 14 to work with both Sergios and super happy to meeting Fuerte fanatic at 14. 14 that day.
Yeah, it's only growing, brother. We only have great things coming down the pipeline. Yeah, we're just, we're barely scratching the surface.
[00:18:35] Speaker C: Yeah.
It feels like it's like a little bit like a rubber band that's being pulled back and you know, you know, at some point you have so much energy built up that it's just, it's going to explode. And I really think that the new high proofs, the high proof repo, the high proof blanco that are coming, growing, the interfacing with the public, you know, actually getting to going to Sabor and looking at, going to good juice in a couple months.
It's, it's, it, it just feels like that rubber band. It's like that. All that potential energy is just like, it's like a gun that's been cocked, you know, it's ready to fire.
[00:19:19] Speaker B: All that we want to do is. People have asked me the opposite question.
I mean, what's making you go back?
Why are you doing this all over again?
You do just fine. In which I do.
My company does great. We do just fine. I said love the love of the industry. I miss it. You know, for instance, this is our first year in la, obviously, since we're new at Sabor Cultura, Louisiana, and I get there and I get to meet in person a very cool friend, and he hands me something at industry night, and I didn't open it till today. I don't know if you can see these very cool coasters.
[00:20:10] Speaker A: Very cool.
[00:20:12] Speaker B: Yeah. I was like this. I, I barely got to Open it this morning. Yesterday I was down pretty much all day. That's why I didn't give you a call, Keith, yesterday, let you know how support went.
I was just exhausted and I opened them today and I'm like, oh, my gosh. I go, this is super cool. And this is a part of the community and the culture that I missed.
It's the culture. It's a cult. When I say culture, it's not just the Mexican tequila culture, it's tequila's worldwide.
And I just missed the industry. I missed the culture.
[00:20:48] Speaker C: Yeah, the culture is the people.
The more any of us get involved with tequila, the industry, the more we start loving the people, probably a little bit more than we love the juice. And that's hard to say when you really love the juice, but the more people you get to see and then you. When you begin to support brands that have initiatives to help the people and their own employees, and you go, this is people's lives. This is. This is super important in that community.
So, you know, but I'll say this about Jaime, too. Is that in a landscape right now where so many brands are, are popping up, some of them doing very well, some of them struggling, me being on both sides of the fence, you know, clearly I, I'm, I'm.
Many people know me as a reviewer, whatever you want to call that.
A lot of other people know that I work for brands, clearly, obviously work for Cultivator 100.
But the thing that I love about Jaime is that he has that history, that history of working as a distributor and now as an importer, or he was an importer as well, and that that experience has already paid dividends. Right. Just setting up new connections for Kotura100 to. To be able to be sold and find its way to online real retail shops as well as we're looking at eventually getting on shelves and having him be. Have that love of the culture, the love of tequila and have that background.
He is so suited to be able to move into the future and be agile and to be successful.
And I love to say this because I tell a lot of people this.
He's bringing me along.
In some cases, I'm kicking and screaming because I love to be the drinker guy, but the future for me might be something working with Jaime in the import side.
And it's because import import is doing what I do already know. I support brands.
[00:22:58] Speaker B: That's.
[00:22:58] Speaker C: That's what I do.
[00:22:59] Speaker B: But Robin team, we're just still arguing over who's Batman.
[00:23:04] Speaker A: Yeah, I can tell you I Don't want to see Keith in a Robin outfit.
[00:23:07] Speaker C: No, you don't. You don't want to see that. Me and. Me and skin tight pants that got outlawed a long time ago. Yeah.
Jaime's here, so I have to embarrass him and say thank you, brother. Thank you for, for bringing me, you know, dragging me along. You know, I've, I've. I've always wanted to be helpful to you, but to know where the future is and to know that you want me to be a part of that future with you is, is, it's, it's cultural.
[00:23:34] Speaker B: Like I said, we only got great things coming. When I say, say we, you and I. And we got some great things coming down that pipeline. And we can't wait about November.
No, mid November. Share our high proof blanco.
[00:23:48] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:23:50] Speaker B: And beginning of the year, we should be sharing our high proof repo.
And come, come December, we'll start tasting our first taste of our niejo.
And everything comes from our blanco. We're not buying juice that's been sitting around the distillery.
We're putting our own touches on it. And people that also actually over the weekend tasted, they said, this doesn't taste like the 14, 14 cousins.
We purposely did that.
[00:24:19] Speaker C: We purposely did that.
[00:24:21] Speaker A: Well, let's, let's go in on that a little bit. Knowing the agaves that are coming in there, are you guys picking a certain cut or shave on the agaves before they go in for cooking, or are you doing this standard 2 centimeter?
[00:24:35] Speaker B: It's still, still standard, but what we wanted was high bricks.
We wanted to make sure that the bricks stood out in, in, in the flavor. We wanted to be agave forward. So our bricks, when they cut, they're normally between 28, 29 and after cooking, they're in the mid-30s.
So we wanted, we wanted that flavor, not just to taste that flavor, but also to stay on your palate afterwards.
So. And also if you notice our blanco, as opposed to some of our cousins blancos, you let our blanco sit and it has a tendency to open up a little bit more and more, which I recommend to people actually to do on the blanco and even on the repo, people are noticing the citrusy notes, the little bit of pepper on the back end that's a little bit different from our cousins. And like I said, we purposely did that because we don't want people to say, oh, it's the same thing like blah, blah, blah.
And that's one thing we didn't want.
[00:25:39] Speaker A: It's your, your cooking time is There in those beautiful masonry ovens.
[00:25:45] Speaker B: Yeah. 30 hours. 30 hours. And we let it rest for 24.
[00:25:49] Speaker A: Okay.
And then our regular roller mill. And then from there, fermentation. You're going straight into those stainless steel tanks.
[00:25:58] Speaker B: Yes.
Fermentation is 144 hours.
The rep was 165.
[00:26:06] Speaker A: Okay.
And then are you doing a different yeast blend for this one?
[00:26:12] Speaker B: No blend.
[00:26:12] Speaker A: Wild.
[00:26:13] Speaker B: Wild.
[00:26:14] Speaker A: Okay, Fantastic.
[00:26:15] Speaker B: Just like the Wild Man. Just like the Wild Man. Right there in the middle.
[00:26:18] Speaker A: Yeah, There you go.
And then twice distilled like normal. And then using their water to proof it down to 40 again.
It is delicious. I mean, I.
I've drank it multiple times, so I knew we were doing this, so I knew I couldn't show up with an empty bottle, so I put it up on the higher shelf where I have to do acrobats to get it down.
[00:26:41] Speaker B: Well, hey, I'll drop a few at home.
[00:26:43] Speaker C: One thing I'd say about, you know, trying to be different is also to honor our Cousin Brands at 1414 that, you know, there's. There's enough brands coming out of Cotorce. Cotorce that, you know, you. You want to be different because you want to be. You want to have something that. That, that makes you unique, but you also don't want to step on anybody's toes there, even though it is a huge family. And once you're. Once you begin working with brands that are facilitated with 1414, the words Mikasa take on a whole different meaning. But to give them respect, to give those brands respect by making sure that we're not kind of stepping on their profiles makes us unique, but at the same time honors them. And I think that's kind of a really cool thing that we've tried to do.
[00:27:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:33] Speaker A: I did a 1414 blind video where my wife poured different blancos that were just from 1414 to taste through them.
And for me, I like to be able to guess which one I'm drinking and see if I can get them right.
And the ones that I did, I. I got three of five correct.
And the other two, I was shocked because I thought they were something else. Right. Because I didn't know which one she poured, so I just had to guess the one she poured. And I do like that about your brand. I can taste through it. And I do get the DNA of 1414. I. I get.
There's a cooked agave note that I seem to pick up in almost each one of them that it's, you know, that's kind of that DNA and there's a little bit of a minerality that I notice in each one.
But, you know, I don't get a cinnamon finish in yours like I do some of the others. I get a better pepper note in yours than I do the others. I get a little less floral, a little more citrus, like.
And it definitely stands up and stands out on its own. That's what's really pretty awesome.
[00:28:42] Speaker B: On the blanco. Yes. I think. I think on the repo, you start to touch you at the start to feel that. Excuse me. Taste the cinnamon.
[00:28:51] Speaker A: So I've only just tasted this for the review, and I. I wanted to wait till we were all together to make sure.
[00:28:58] Speaker C: We gotta dig deep into the repo then, because this is.
[00:29:01] Speaker A: I had it up on the high shelf again, so I didn't drink it all in a day because I am one that likes to tear into these and drink them rather quickly. You've talked about all the new things that you've got coming on, and a person that's been in this industry for so long, and I can see where you having the contacts that you had going into this really gives you an advantage over a lot of the brands.
What's something in the world of tequila today that really concerns you about the industry? Is there anything out there that you're like, man, I wish that wasn't going on, or I wish this worked better?
[00:29:38] Speaker B: No, not really. It's just the only thing that it just.
These times right now, economically for people and going, you know, especially in the US Right now, and we didn't want to come out. One thing that we were asked, especially on the repo, what's your. Since it's at 43, what's your price tag? What's your SRP? 47.99.
Wow, you're under 50.
And we said, yeah.
A lot of questions were, why, why, why not?
I said, look it.
I'm not here to take advantage of an industry and. And overprice a tequila again. It is truly about the culture and. And. And sharing the culture and hopefully sharing tequila cultura, not just nationwide, but worldwide at one point.
[00:30:35] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:30:36] Speaker B: And we planned it later on as we grow, is give back not just in Mexico, but also to different foundations.
That's something that is also close to me, is part of giving back not just to the Keela community, but everybody.
[00:30:57] Speaker A: Yeah, that's. That's fantastic. That's good to hear. That's been a core of. Most of the stuff that I do is figuring out, how can I be a blessing to other people, because other people have been an amazing blessing to me.
So that's something that's near and dear to my heart.
[00:31:14] Speaker B: So I agree with that.
[00:31:15] Speaker A: I'll keep drinking up, so you can do that.
[00:31:18] Speaker C: Yeah, let's drink to that. That is fantastic. To give cheers for the right reasons. Salud.
[00:31:24] Speaker A: So I'll give you the opposite question.
What's something going on in the tequila world today that you're really fired up about that really excites you?
[00:31:31] Speaker B: How much I was now realizing quality of tequila, understanding what non additive is and understanding just because we're 43, some people that think, wow, or a high proof think, oh, that's going to burn.
It's not true.
And explaining to them how much more agave flavor you're going to get that's watered down product.
And it's between two. You know, earlier, my first time around, it was almost like a whole bunch of tequila festivals. That was those party scenes, those party festivals. People, they were just to get.
Keep drinking and drinking, get hammered. This time around, such as Sabor Cultura, you're sitting down with people such as yourselves that understand that tequila is meant to be sipped and enjoyed and understanding the different aromas and flavors that tequila has to give.
And this is a new journey, and we're hoping for a long, long ride and meeting you new people, new friends.
[00:32:44] Speaker A: Yeah. Awesome.
[00:32:46] Speaker C: Yeah. One of the. One of the things that the badges that I think that we're wearing proudly is there's only probably three or four brands right now that are creating juice where people are saying things like, wow, that's that that juice tastes way above its price point and that that's a badge of honor right now. Not because we want to be inexpensive, but the idea that you can make amazing juice and deliver it at a great price point and still have other expressions coming that may be a little bit more expensive, but people can still buy into and enjoy.
And that's. And Jaime and I have hit on the high proof thing. I guess I'm, you know, I'm known as a fuerte fanatic.
But high proof is. Is. Is a big game changer for all brands right now.
And to be able to get into high proofs so that you can simultaneously get people that are not connoisseurs to explore what it's like to taste tequila with all the flavor and then still be able to market with the same bottle.
You know, to say connoisseurs and experts who are looking and craving for that explosive flavor. And somewhere in there is where. Where Where. Where we're aiming, and you gotta. You gotta start with the 40 percents and the 40 threes.
But to aim towards that goal of being able to hit multiple people, multiple markets, and at a price point that people say, wow, I didn't know you could get good tequila like this for that price.
[00:34:22] Speaker B: It's a.
[00:34:23] Speaker C: It's a big. It's a big, big goal. And I think we're. We're definitely hitting it and we're ready to move forward to continue to hit that target.
[00:34:32] Speaker A: Yeah, I think there's a shift in the market right now a little bit that way, too. There's several new brands that have come into the market at great price points with good tequila. And it's. It's good to see that, you know, as a person who drinks probably too much tequila. My, my.
[00:34:49] Speaker C: You do not drink too much tequila.
[00:34:51] Speaker A: Oh, you go ask my wife about my budget.
[00:34:55] Speaker C: Well, my wife has the same problem.
[00:35:00] Speaker A: So, you know, there's. It is nice for people to be able to take that step when they're looking into tequila and they're standing there looking at, you know, one of the.
The $30 garbage brands and to hope there's somebody in that store that says, hey, wait, you could get into this, and it'd be so much better, so much more pure and traditional. And, you know, people talk about additives a lot, and I've. I've really.
For a couple reasons. You know, I don't want to say something that gets a brand in trouble by talking about just additives. So I've. I've transitioned a bit because I don't think it's just about additives.
I believe it's traditional versus industrial. And when you're talking about culture and really the whole foundation of your brand also goes back to tradition, because you don't have the culture without the tradition. We have so many hands that touch this tequila. You go to 14, 14, and your bottles are done by hand. You know, it's harvested by hand. They're loading it in the oven by hand. They're unloading it by hand.
[00:36:07] Speaker B: It's.
[00:36:07] Speaker A: It's everything by hand. And that's part of the tradition of what makes the culture so amazing with the people that are in it. So doing both of those things, bringing a tequila at a great price, honoring the culture, but also honoring the tradition of making tequila. There's a great distribution.
[00:36:25] Speaker C: There's two cultures that we're also kind of looking to.
To enfold into the brand and moving forward is the idea of the culture of now like the people that are engaged in making the tequila, the people that are engaged in loving the tequila, but looking back in history and being inspired by things like Pulque from the Aztecs and so forth, so that we kind of continue to cherish that history and that culture, both the here and the now, and also the past.
And I think Jaime's vision of culture being authenticity and making sure that we always second check, you know, like double check ourselves, second guess ourselves.
How does this, how does this stand in reason to authenticity and how does it stand in reason to.
To the culture? And it's a perfect check. It's a perfect check.
[00:37:27] Speaker B: So what going back a little bit. Excuse me, Keith. One of the brands that prior we imported, it's nothing knocking Ato Clavis, but that's what they used and they mass produced. And then when I found out they were mass produced, some of that the juice that they were doing for was salsa.
So my scare was, how do I know 100% that I'm not getting some of their juice at some time?
So when I this time around, when I went around and I visited multiple distilleries, I said I wanted to do it the traditional way.
I wanted to be true to the culture. Meaning it was a Bricks ovens were a must. Slow, nice cook. The goddess roast. You know it? I take when someone asks me, well, what do you mean about that said? The best way I can explain it to someone that doesn't understand the process is it's like smoking your barbecue or throwing it on a gas propane.
What do you like better roasted? You can taste it more. Same thing, same scenario.
Here you go.
[00:38:47] Speaker A: It's cooking a brisket, right? You want to cook a brisket low and slow.
[00:38:50] Speaker B: And because I come from the agricultural world, I told, like, when I sat down with Cedric Cruz, I told him our agave has to be fully matured and sweet because I want that to come out in the profile.
He says, okay, okay, okay. So please do not put any young agave in our juice.
And fortunately, right now, for many, agave is plentiful. Plentiful. And unfortunately for the growers, unfortunate for the growers because it is very, very, very cheap right now for them to survive. But yes, it was definitely a must that we went into brick ovens. Do it the traditional way, slow and right. People ask me also about, like, that way, and what are you thinking? I said, what am I thinking? Right now the tequila industry is having a craft beer moment. When the craft beer blew up IPAs and such forth they had gotten a good ride, and they're still doing good.
I think that's what's happening in the tequila industry.
It's having its craft moment, and people are realizing there's really good tequila out there, and it's just a matter of introducing that good tequila.
[00:40:10] Speaker A: So, speaking of tradition, we know that 1414 now has that new Tohona. Do you have a Tohona product project that's going to happen in the.
[00:40:20] Speaker B: In the future? Yes.
Right now, we're still doing our high proofs and getting through that, and then we got to get through Anejo. And at that. And at that same moment, we know that. That Tahona is going to keep working and getting some of its mineral flavor out.
And hopefully by that time, when it's broken, fully broken in, we go back and revisit that moment. But definitely, definitely, definitely is on the back burner for Tohona.
[00:40:45] Speaker A: Have you thought about playing with the wood fermentation that they have there as well?
[00:40:50] Speaker B: That was.
And Sergio. When you get to one day talk to Sergio about tequila culture, he's gonna probably tell you that I drove him crazy, because we've been working on this for about two and a half years, this project going back and forth, back and forth. And I think he was ready to give up on me at one point.
So that wasn't available back then when we started.
Like, will we play with that later on in the future? Of course we're going to play with different barrels. Keith might get a little too frustrated with me as well, because he's going to have to take all those trips with me down there to Jalisco, and.
[00:41:26] Speaker C: It'S such a burden.
[00:41:27] Speaker B: It tastes a lot more tequila.
[00:41:29] Speaker C: Yeah. It's such a burden to travel with you, Jaime. It's just. It just. Oh, it's so frustrating, especially if you're.
[00:41:36] Speaker A: Wearing that Robin outfit.
[00:41:38] Speaker C: Yeah, well, it's. It's the tights, man. Let me tell you, they. They pinch.
Hey, before. Before we get too far away, too. Look at this little picture over my shoulder up here.
This is one of my favorite pictures.
This was that bottling of this reposado.
[00:41:55] Speaker A: Awesome.
[00:41:55] Speaker C: And, you know, we probably couldn't go far without you know, putting a little thanks on Sergio Cruz for. For being. For being there for every step of the process. You know, I mean, he does that for anybody and everybody, but when he's doing it for you, at the moment, he's doing it for you, you feel like you're the center of his universe. And that's. That's a. That's a cool feeling.
[00:42:21] Speaker B: I think it was matter of fact, in that day. Was it that day when we were at his ranch until about 11:00pm yeah, we, we, we.
[00:42:31] Speaker C: We went out to Sergio's ranch and spent quite a bit of time out there drinking at his man cave, as he calls it.
And we all learn. You all learn a lot more about each other when you're inebriated and far away where you have been, where Sergio has driven you far enough away that you can't get home easily.
[00:42:52] Speaker B: But yeah, by the time it got dark, you wouldn't know which way to go. There was no lights. There's no lights up there.
[00:43:00] Speaker C: There's nothing there. It's just fields of agave and his compound.
But he does take care of you.
You know, all the folks, you know, I can't say enough about some of the other folks at Vivanco, like specifically Oscar and Cesar, who, who Gladly Don Kotiro 100 shirts when we're there, you know, like, it's. It. It is kind of neat. Like your, your Mikasa, you know, Corte Catorce. Catorce.
When you're there, you feel like the rock star because they'll put aside all the other brands and focus on you, and it's just neat. The camaraderie between the brands. And I mean, maybe you could even say something like from Sabor Chicago and Sabor La, like, the idea of like how the 1414 brands kind of cling together and help each other. Maybe you can talk about that a little bit.
[00:44:00] Speaker B: We did.
Was it the 1414 takeover in Chicago?
[00:44:06] Speaker A: That was amazing.
[00:44:07] Speaker B: That was fun. That was super fun. And that was. We were just out just. We just made it there. A whole new experience, Fun learning experience. Being there with 1414 and part of the. The family. And we did some.
We were didn't do something. It wasn't similar. In La Samol Coutura kept us together and people kept saying, where are you from? 1414. Oh, wait a minute. 1414 Foot. I mean.
And again, we've only been accepted and great relationship between all our big cousins, so to speak.
[00:44:43] Speaker A: Okay, I got a good question for you.
So when you have this brand, I always look at these as people's babies, right? This is something you've put your blood, sweat, tears, some of Keith sweat, like, you've put a lot into this.
So if you could pick whatever your favorite one is and then sit down and share a glass with anybody alive, not alive, family famous, whatever, who would it mean the most to you?
To Be able to share what you've done here with them and, and talk about it and hear what they have to say.
[00:45:25] Speaker B: That's a hard one.
I lost my mom in, in this year in June, end of June.
Sorry, Father time. I mean, it's the path we all take. But I would love to sit down and have a drink with my mom and just show her, look, mom, your son's made it.
This is, this is this. We.
We grew up single mom, six kids, six siblings. Well, six. I'm number six. I'm number six. I'm the baby. So for me, it wasn't an easy upbringing. I mean, we know, we knew what it was to, to wake up and eat beans and, and eggs and, and go to bed with eggs and weenie hot dog. And I'd be like, mom, I don't want this. We had this. We had eggs this morning. She says, not this one. This time it has weenie, not beans. So if you wanted to eat and if you don't, don't eat.
I'm not gonna eat. There you are, 20 minutes later. Okay, can you make me a burrito?
So coming from a rough up upbringing and to say, look mom, this is your son and I got you. I would love to, to be able to travel with her and do the things I only wish I could have done 20 years ago. But 20 years ago I wasn't financially where I'm at today.
So that's the most important person in my life that I would love to sit down and have one drink with and for her to just say, yeah, you did it.
And just. She'd probably be bugging Keith and you better take care of my son, my baby.
53 year old baby.
But yeah, yeah, definitely my mom appreciate you sharing that.
[00:47:15] Speaker A: That's, that's.
[00:47:17] Speaker B: That was awesome. Was a special do that. But thank you.
[00:47:21] Speaker A: Well, Keith, I'll ask you the same question.
[00:47:23] Speaker C: I will say, and this means no disregard to Jaime and everything amazing. He's let me be part of Siempre. Has. Has. Was kind of got me involved in this. This whole thing that I'm doing and being involved with different brands, velour or caille. 23 lost lore.
Doors kept getting open for me and I kept being in the right place at the right time and, and weirdly, all of it led up to October of last year when I was sitting by myself at 1414 sipping high proofs, not a care in the world. Just me and Sergio Cruz hanging out.
And suddenly now I'm part of this amazing brand. And more importantly More part of Jaime.
And, you know, I guess there's a lot of people that would like to go, okay, I want to go to Jalisco.
I want to go to.
I want to spend time at a distillery, you know, and I've, I've been to so many.
It's a, it really comes back to the people.
So if I could spend some moments again, go back in time, it would be, It'd be hilarious, fun. If I know now what I knew then, and I could see Jaime and, and, and Sergio kind of conspiring to send me samples to know what that would have done to the future of my course in the tequila world.
That would be a moment. I'd like to go back and have some pores with those two guys and thank my wife. Thank, you know, so many people, Ken, I like, there's so many people that have been part of my world to get me to where I am and to be at this point where I can help Jaime and Help Cultivar 100. It's just a hell of a ride, man. Like, you know, being the right place, right time, sometimes being lucky, sometimes being good, I, I keep getting that. People tell me you're an expert, you're a con, you're this. I'm like, how did that happen? How the hell did I get here? You know what, I look around like, how the hell did I get here?
But it's great. People like Jaime, it's great people like Tammy lee and Alex O' Croix from Siempre. It's having that family at 14, 14 with Oscar and Cesar and, And Senor Vivanco. It all adds up. So what would I go back in time and do? I'd have a big ass party for Jaime and all those people and, you know, drink some Kotira CN and just, just not even worry about the future. Because I think the future is bright.
[00:50:13] Speaker B: Very cool.
[00:50:14] Speaker A: I agree. I think the future's super bright.
[00:50:17] Speaker B: We can't forget Brad.
Friends like Brad, without friends like Brad, we don't exist.
[00:50:25] Speaker C: That's true. And you know, there's a lot of people out there, Brad, you know, and I'll, I'll go on the record of saying this now. You know, there's a lot of haters against, quote, influencers. And I think you might have even heard me say this on any of the forums, forte fanatics or whatever, the influencers are an incredibly important part of the industry.
And whether you want to call yourself a content creator or an influencer, I don't care.
But you open the eyes to People who don't have their eyes open. You give the opportunity for brands like Culture 100 to, to be seen by people. You give the opportunity for people to hear your opinions and your tasting notes and what you suggest.
And it opens up people's minds to be able to go to a store or to an online service and say, I, I heard about this. I want to buy that.
And those that hate, I say hate. It's an ugly word, but, you know, just dislike the.
[00:51:27] Speaker A: They're in my DMs.
[00:51:29] Speaker C: Yeah, you get, you get it all the time. I'm sure you get backlash all the time.
But it's the idea like you play an important role.
And I will say this on the record is like, Carolina's Tequila Collective is a massive entity. We're almost at a thousand members now. That's a big, big locality group. And I know that I saw significant growth in that group when I invited influencers, specifically you and a few others, to post on Carolina's Tequila because gave people something to learn.
[00:52:03] Speaker A: I can't believe people listen to my shows and things. Honestly, it's just a fun thing for me to share some passion and to have a great time and I love it. The people have been amazing. So I really appreciate that and I'll keep doing it. It's a good time. I, I'm not. I don't get paid by brands and I don't charge to do these interviews and I get the nastiest messages from people, you know, and you're just like, I don't respond. I, I try to let it roll off my back and.
[00:52:34] Speaker B: Which I can confirm.
[00:52:37] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
[00:52:38] Speaker C: We, we've sent you, we've sent you bottles and you've done reviews and you've been thankful and I think very much we're very thankful for you having us on today.
[00:52:51] Speaker A: Well, I appreciate you guys doing this. So let's throw this out there. Where can people find this? What states are you in stores?
[00:52:58] Speaker B: As of right now, we're only in California.
[00:53:00] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:53:02] Speaker B: At Old Town Liquor Online.
Blue Spirits Online.
We just after.
We are now available at Roadrunner in California. We'll also be at Inland Empire Liquors and High Proof.
[00:53:19] Speaker A: Okay. And I believe the first couple you mentioned there ship all over the country. I think 448 states. I know there's some states you can't, but almost every state in the country.
[00:53:29] Speaker B: So Blue Spirit, Blue Wine and Spirits and Old Town Liquor are both great, great online shipping stores.
We are working currently on the state of Arizona and also Georgia and shortly after that, hopefully we can get New York by the, by the end of the fourth quarter.
[00:53:50] Speaker A: Okay. And do you have a website for people to visit?
[00:53:52] Speaker B: Yes, unfortunately, we're still working on it. It'll be up soon.
Tequila cultura 100.
But yes, definitely. And it also will keep updated people on that website of where they can find it.
[00:54:08] Speaker A: Great social media. You're on Instagram and Facebook. I believe you're on TikTok as well. Right?
[00:54:14] Speaker B: We're joining TikTok soon.
[00:54:16] Speaker A: Okay. I thought I seen you on Tick Tock but I hate Tick Tock. Just I'm going on the record in front of everybody.
I hate Tick Tock but I, I, I'm there, right?
[00:54:27] Speaker B: You gotta do it.
My 23 year old son is, is on me constantly, is telling me how come you're not on TikTok yet? How come you're not assistant son, how come you're not on Tick Tock doing the tequila?
[00:54:43] Speaker A: My, my answer for a long time was because I'm too old. I'm not a teenager. That's why I'm not on Tick Tock. But I have a tick.
[00:54:52] Speaker C: Yeah. With everything that Tick Tock's going on, you know, Wayne Caf, drinking with Wayne, such an amazing guy.
He's, he's on there all the time complaining recently in the last two weeks about like, holy, like I'm not on anybody's for you anymore. What did I do wrong? And this is a guy that's got tens of thousands of followers and yeah.
[00:55:15] Speaker A: His biggest base is on Tick Tock. Has a big Instagram though. I think he's focusing a little more on Instagram. Instagram and YouTube are the two that I focus on. Do you have a YouTube set up yet?
[00:55:26] Speaker B: No, not yet, not yet. But I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be bringing on basically a social media crew real soon.
[00:55:33] Speaker A: Fantastic.
[00:55:34] Speaker B: Well, we've been really focused on, on the juice and, and especially the High Proofs, wanting to try to get those out as soon as we can.
I took a little hiatus like in July and, but I'm back and like he says, next Monday. Next Monday we'll be back there with the zombie himself, Mr. Cedro Cruz, putting on the final touches of our High Proof Blanco and our new release of our 45.45Blanco.44.
[00:56:05] Speaker C: Excuse me, 44.44Blanco. And then we haven't, we haven't fully picked the high, high Proof Blanco, but we know there's a couple, couple degrees in there that tasted.
[00:56:18] Speaker B: I was, I was trying to hold that back there, Keith, but now that you released it, go ahead.
[00:56:22] Speaker C: Oh, no, listen, if you're at 54, man, you know. You know I love it. If it's.
[00:56:27] Speaker B: I think. I think we're arguing between 53, 54, 53, and 54. I. I actually had Sergio make a 53.5 the last time I was out there, but I think Robin is actually correct on this one.
[00:56:42] Speaker C: Fantastic, man. I'll see you. Hey, I'll see you next weekend.
[00:56:46] Speaker B: Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
[00:56:48] Speaker A: Well, guys, I want to say thanks. Let's raise a glass to this amazing repo. Cheers, guys. Thanks for doing this. Thanks for spending your time with me today. I really appreciate you. Cheers.
[00:56:56] Speaker B: Thank you, brother.
