LOTE M77 Reposado: The Story Behind This Craft Tequila | Exclusive Interview with Eric

0:00All right guys, here we go, returning guests. We're going to talk about M77, their new repo. We're going to talk about how they did their batch to Blanco. This tequila absolutely blows my mind every time we have it. And Eric is such a great guy. All the things to be done, the tequila community and military veteran. You know, we love those guys. So stick around for this one. It's great interview. It's tasting tequila with bread. It's tasting tequila with bread. Guys, I am fired up tonight because not only am I getting to sit with a true American hero, somebody that's done so much for our country, but a guy that has been in the tequila business for a long time and has brought us an amazing tequila that we're going to talk about today, Eric. How the hell are you doing today, my friend? Good, Brad. Thank you so much, Matt. I appreciate you having me on. I appreciate your kind of words.

1:00I really am happy to be here, man. Get to talk about some more stuff we got going on. Well, I'm stoked. You sent me this repo that I have my second glass. I did a review of it the other day. It blew me away like your Blanco did. It's really good. So I can't wait to hear about this process and all the things that you've got going on right now. So kind of catch us up. What have you been doing since the last time we did an interview this been probably about almost a year ago? Yeah, about a year. So I had just launched my lot one Blanco, right? So since then, thanks to the community at large, I was able to sell out an under a year. So that was really cool, a little bit faster than I expected, because I had no product for a few months. And that was, I mean, it's cool to sell out, but when you don't have anything, I was like, man, it was kind of a, give me some time to catch up a little bit on stuff I wanted to do. I got with my distillery and I want to do a little bit something different with the second batch. And I want to do a repo. So we sold out. I got a lot of great reviews at the first time around.

2:01It was, it was a lot faster and better than I could have hoped, you know, the market received my product. So what I did this time was, we did a lot to Blanco, but we held, I did two batches. I tell you before I only make about 1100 bottles, but enough to kill 4, 1100 bottles, because I numbered 1000s and 7 and the rest are for like samples and stuff like that. So I did double the production. So one of the repo to be from the same bot, the same batch as the Blanco, is you could taste the difference of the two. I don't want to do separate batches, right? So what I did was I did the Blanco very similar to the first time, but a little bit different. I want to go a little bit different. So we still use the Mamboste de Alastone ovens, but we did not use wood fire this time. You know, we use steam like is being done. We used Thauna. So Thauna as well, open air fermentation, natural cream yeast. I didn't use fibers this time. So a little bit different. And then the main thing is after that, instead of bottling, I put in stabilization tanks for five months.

3:03So that was the, that was the Blanco. The repo, when we gave it, we put in French oak. So same process, but we put French oak for three months, and then stabilization tanks for two months. So they both somewhat rested for five months, right? The Blanco in five months of stainless steel, and the repo three months French oak and two months stainless steel. So, so instead of wood fire in your cooking this time, you did a steam cook. So more like a steam, or corn, or versus a wood fire, corn. Correct. I want to go a little bit more like a even profile, right? I don't want it diluted by anything. I don't, I want you to have the same notes and everything, but I just wanted to kind of more even. Same reason I put it in the stainless steel tax stabilization. So you get the full profile of the pepper, the, you know, the caramel, all these different notes, but it's all at the same time. Like a nice wave of flavor hitting your palate, you know, a nice even dissipation. It's not, you know, as a spike, you know, like the, the front end low and it kind of goes off at the end.

4:04It said, I, it was hoping to do a little bit different with that. So I did and then this was, was again, kind enough to humor me and what I was trying to do here. And they, they came through amazing. I got to partita, like I said, non-1477, my master's stiller. And it's pretty scary when you go down there, because I make so little I can't be like, you know what? I think I like that anymore because it's done, you know, it's done, right? Because they're making it just for me the way I want it. So that's kind of scary part sometimes, you know, just, it's got to work out. Yeah. So, so you're saying this repo is technically the batch two blocko. Okay. See, I was thinking that you threw some of batch one into barrels and then you went and did batch two and the repo was from batch one and then batch two came out. So I'm, I'm glad to know that that's actually the batch two. So that's going to make me do a whole different thing with like last, I'm going to pour because the one that I have in front of me is the batch one blocko. And I want to revisit the batch one blocko. I forgot I have this one sealed up really nice

5:05because I didn't want to lose anything out of here. So this one, batch one, you did wood fired with like a mesquite wood to do your cooking, right? Okay. Because I always get this like really nice smoke note in the nose of it. And I've always liked that about this one. And I didn't look for it in batch two because I wasn't expecting a different process. Yeah. But you're right. It isn't the same prevalent like mesquite wood that I get in this blocko. But we do take, we do smell with it. Like I hate giving people like what I smell or what was supposed to be smelly. But when I was talking to techie ladies on their, their show they were talking about we kind of smell the like a wet cedar on the repo. So there's a wood aroma there, but it's not as smoky as the lot one. Totally agree. I guess I wouldn't have said cedar. I get that that you planted it there, right? Yeah. That's how that works. I was gonna say like an oaky

6:05with a really strong minerality. So I get like a lot of minerality notes which is like this. I say this and people make fun of me. You know when you walk into the barrel house and you get that must wood alcohol like barrel room smell. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 100%. Kind of a little sweet tinge to it, but almost a little funky. And the air is kind of thick. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very thick. So I get like this musty barrel minerality of like almost like a petricore, but not quite like limestone, but just very earthy, well water minerality with that barrel note. And it is still a little bit of a tinge of smoke, but nothing like the musty that you pick. Yeah, and that's gonna have like the French oak influence to kind of mute some of the other notes, but definitely I want to keep them in a rally and they're hence the tone, you know, hence the wood baths for fermentation. Tell me you're gonna be hitting over there. So you'll see the process, how it drips straight from the tone

7:06and into the big wood bath they have underground. And it's so cool to see it's just like doing this little and what the kind of process rather the butt starts bubbling and stuff and so awesome. Yeah, I can't wait to see it. Fortunately we get to be there. This will come out probably the week after we were there. Okay. So Alberto invited us to come over and see the whole distillery and he was like, do you wanna come? And I'm like, absolutely, like this will be awesome. So we're really excited to go and see the process. So for people who don't know you and know how you got into this, how did you find Alberto and kind of come to this decision to start this brand? What was your journey to get to NAM 1477? Sure. So you said, I had a brand 18 years ago, different brand like a lifetime ago in the tequila world, right? There was this whole additive free movement wasn't a thing. You know, we had in those days you were lucky you had 100% of God there, which Patron, Doncullio, all those brands were at the time. Right? So we had another brand. I had another partner who put us in touch

8:08with this distillery. We went down there, they did it what they did for us. And we did well at the time. I remember the name of the brand was Kadamba. We had bin magazine. They had, I remember there was a, the top 100 tequila's at the time. And we had been in business at that point less than two years. And we had got number one for flavor tequila, which we weren't flavored is just we were resting in a Bordeaux barrels. So at the time, they didn't really know how to classify that. So they said it's flavored. So we got number one for that. We got number three for extra Nyevo, which we did in French oak from number correctly. And then we got number 10 for our regular episode, which at the time was cool, because you came in right between Augusta de Ores and Kimado de Ores, which again, 18 years ago was a whole different conversation. It was like legacy brands. So I really liked what they were doing there. So that brand ran its course. I stepped away from it. I kind of did a bunch of other things during the military, all this other stuff, right? So when I started this project again,

9:08and I didn't touch with, not only Alberto, but at the time he wasn't the master distiller, the time I was dealing with the father, Qldardo Senior and brother Qldardo, we didn't, they'd come out, we'd talk with them. But I mean, I remember in contact with the family, and I saw how much they grew from that with their brands and other brands. And I saw a character with this project, the first César de Ongo Alberto, which is an adirfe brand, then with a Montedania, which was amazing, right? So when I started thinking about this, I was down there a few years ago for, he thought of the brother's birthday, and I started talking to them, I want to do this again. You know what I'm doing? I don't know what capacity yet, but I wanted to do the like, all right, man, just let us know, let us know. So the more I thought about it, I definitely want to go crack this time. I want to, like more of a passion project type thing, hey man, it goes good, it goes good. You know, I'll figure that out, right? So when I came to them, I want to do a micro batch. I was kind of influenced by the whole teramana small batch label issue, and I was like, man, I can't say small batch. Come with micro batch.

10:09I don't know if people use micro batches, you know, some brands that's great. So, but I wanted to brand those all micro batch, because I didn't think anyone really had done that. It's not in the Miss Call of the World all day long, even smaller than what I'm doing, right? So because of that, I was like, you know what? Let me go ahead and kind of pitch this project to them. And honestly, I was just lucky that they're like, okay, we got you, you know? And they're like, man, your quantities are ridiculous, but you know, we've done it for a long time, we'll do this. So one, because they're being, you know, kind to me, and two, because probably they'll only be like, working in the small batches that I'm making, you know? The quality that I want. So I went with them and like, said, they've been so gracious, and with just, you know, accommodating what I want, and not trying to just sum me what they have in their barrel room and trying to white label. So I've been able to work with them because of that, because they've actually allowed me to, you know, from scratch to what I want to do with this project. That's awesome. So now, 1477, they have a lot of,

11:10they have a lot of tools in their kitchen, right? They make a lot of brands, and there's a lot of different tequila's, tequila's they come out of there. So for you, yours is being made in a very specific portion of the distillery, is that correct? Correct. So there's different areas of it, right? They have industrial site, they do produce other brands and other ways, and sometimes some of them are blended away, some of them, you know, they do have autoclaves there, they do have a roller mill, they all have down, and they just build down us. So when you get them, it's so cool. It was like four downed us in a row. The ovens behind it, they have like the, the stone ovens on the side as well. So that's a different portion of it, and it's just grown and grown, and it's really, really awesome. I mean, I think you're really gonna like it, and especially going downstairs, the way they have like the barrel room huge and have bars down there, and they really cool stuff, and yeah, so the process are different. So they do produce, you know, commercial stuff, which that's the business side of the house, right? But lucky for me, I've got to have the foresight

12:13to go ahead and move forward with his project, which gave me the tools to use, you know, for mine. And I knew they do other craft stuff as well, but I've been pretty lucky in that. He's allowed me to play around with his toys. Well, I think it's important that we mention it, because some people will get on a gov-a-match maker, they'll look at a knob, and they'll look at some tequila as in that one knob, and then they check out. Like, they're like, oh, I'm not gonna get anything in that knob. I had that tequila, and I didn't like it. And to understand that different distilleries can have so many different tools in their kitchen to make so many different things, that to pay attention to each individual tequila, not necessarily just the knob. And I think that's important. No, 100%. And even with brands, right? I know like now, before you had a brand house stick with one knob and you were married, right? Now they could jump around from Nonsense. I had different knobs producing different projects for them, right? Same thing, now distilleries. Yes, they could be crafts, they could have that part

13:14of the house, but they also have the commercial side of the house, because at the end of the day, there's a business side of this, you know? And it's really nice to romanticize doing a whole craft thing, but, you know, it's great, but at certain point, you have to eat still, right? You still have to do all this other stuff. And they have a lot of killer depend on them. So they do have those projects, but they do have, and I know many things that very craft, because that's his baby, right? That he holds up very dear, so he controls a lot of, well, all of how it's produced. So yeah, a lot of distilleries do have that option to different, you know, production. Then you get these other craft brands, craft brands, they say, but that's what they're shown, but when you go to the distilleries, everything is, you know, autoclave, roller mill, and again, nothing wrong with that. That's what you're at. That's what pilots at Godspeed and, you know, good luck to you. And to that brand, we hope to do that, but that's where, as owners, we have to cite what it is we're trying to do. And stick with that, stick with your plan, or move on. And, you know, if the business side is what you want

14:17to focus on, so be it. Like, I know I can never be in every Costco and every total wine, every battle. There's no way. So I kind of shot myself for the foot, and I want to go that way by putting the name of my, the quantities in the name. So I, you know, I can't do more of that. I do a whole bunch of, you know, long goes at the same time. And I want to make an each unique, I want to give you specials. So maybe down the road, I do a different version of this to do that. I still keep a craft, but just the way in this incarnation, which I'm going to always keep this incarnation, it's going to be special bottles, special lots for that kind of demographic that, hey, this is every lots special. Even if I did 304 Blancos, but they're all going to be a little bit different, you know, even if it's the exact same method, like wine, the vintage has changed from year to year, right? So you're doing all Valley Agabas, right? Yeah. For now, you know, I have thought about like, hey, you know what, lot three might be, you know, altos agabas, or a blend, or, you know, the cool thing is that it's such small quantities that I could play with that, right?

15:19I mean, even starting to think of the next expressions, because I don't have a lot to go through, right? It does move, you know, thank God, it moves fairly quickly, but like a whole thing, or a repo, or, I mean, yeah, well, even doing barrel blends, you know, from the, or different ages, maybe just to a repo with a three months to go for the nine month, and blend those in the same barrel, that. I don't know, it's so many cool things you can do with it, and just see how they come out. So each batch is what I'm trying to do, a little bit unique, make it different from the last one to give, you know, people like a chance to try something different that a bigger brand who's scaling at containers at a time probably wouldn't be able to financially make that risk happen and hope as well received. Yeah, I like that you threw out right away. Maybe I could do Los Althos agabas, because maybe you could do mitu agave, or maybe you could do naiarita agaves, right? Like play with the flavors of where the agave comes from, and really show that off, that'd be cool. And then you said, yeah, you said one of my favorite words.

16:20I was gonna make one here when you said, Hulvin, like Hulvin's happened to be, I think a lot of a fishy anatoes really like Hulvin's, and I seem to really gravitate to this Blanco forward, just a little bit refined that you get with the Hulvin, and even if you do, like there's been somewhere, it's a little bit of it on Yejo and a little bit of a Repo, and a little bit of a Blanco blended together. There's something about those that maybe there's this romantic thought that it's all three of those blended together, but also I think it does something to the flavor. Yeah, no, so again, it makes it a little bit difficult for me to do a Hulvin that way, because that's how I want a blend of all of them. I'll see, even gets a little XA, but for me to do that, I'm gonna have to wait the three years to get the XA done, and make it a little bit more, so I could wait, so I get the other ones ready. So I'm thinking of different versions of it, because technically Hulvin could be a Blanco and a Repo, so maybe I play with a type of barrels,

17:22maybe I play with the proportion of Monterey shows, maybe I do two-thirds Repo, one-third Blanco, or I don't know, or maybe just 75% Blanco, two-thirds of Repo, but from two different barrels, or I don't know, there's a whole bunch of so many stuff you'll play with, and I'm looking forward to that. So I look about the Repo projects that I wanna work on, but we'll see, we'll see, I have to start kind of committing to that here pretty soon before this kind of runs out. I don't need stuff with no product again, like it was last year. So. I'm sure that is a challenge, because I know you have a real cult following amongst all of us nerds that absolutely love Tiki, like we are diving into something. Thank you, Todd. But everybody that I've introduced it to, even my, so I live in Indiana, so I have a lot of what I call the Tater Head Weated Ferb and Bros, that will drive their car through a building to get a Weller 12. Yeah, yeah. And when I've brought this out and had them taste it, and they're like, what is that?

18:23This is so different, and to see them kind of light up and wanna know what it is, I think it's really cool. So doing such a small batch, is that like a really difficult thing to be able to manage your inventory and keep your clientele happy and not lose space on the shelves. Yes, 100%. That's why sometimes I feel like, man, I messed up. But at the same time, I'm a big proponent in staying the course, right? This was my vision, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna continue with this. Like I said, if I need to have a different variation of this brand, maybe one more, what, I don't know, M672.0, whatever, you know, coming up with, that's not gonna be, you know, hand numbered, that could do larger quantities. I don't wanna scale back on the craft, you know, I'll maybe do it just a little bit different. And that wanna be keeping on the shelves, you know, a little bit longer, maybe bigger, bigger, like box stores, but then they'll give me shelf space to squeeze these lots in when they come in, you know, because the goal is, yes, have these sell out,

19:25but I also don't wanna get to a point where people are getting gouged for pricing because they know the availability is there, because I see that happen a lot. And it's not the brand's fault, right? The brand is more than happy to produce and sell, but they're doing what they're doing, but this after mark is the retail, and it's supplying demand. They also don't really blame the retailers because people willing to pay for it, right? So it's just a big vicious cycle. But not much we can do as brand owners to prevent that, right? We have no saying what, it's at least here in California, we cannot dictate pricing on the retail. We can dictate wholesale pricing, whatever people's margins are, that's their margins. Yeah, I mean, we've seen that with a lot of brands. So let's back that up for people who don't know what that even means. So let's say, so you're probably cooking in, I'm gonna take a guess that it's about a 20 ton oven, if you're doing your regular hornos. Yeah, yeah, okay. And so is that two 20 ton ovens to create one batch of 1,100 bottles? Yeah, just about. Yeah, okay, that was, I was kind of doing math

20:27in my head, knowing to hold up, you're not quite as efficient. So, so two 20 ton ovens, run through to a whole, you got one batch, boom. You rest that in your tanks, and you go to bottle, but you could turn around and quickly do another batch right behind it, and it be a second batch, and it be completely different than that first batch, doing it in the same timeframe. Is that what you're doing, or are you giving it a longer timeframe between each batch that you do? Oh no, no, like I said, I want to, I hope to get to that points, you know, something like that in the future, right? But this one, like I said, I didn't start producing until the other one was done, I didn't expect it to be done that fast, so we started the production, but that wait for, hey, when can you guys squeeze me in? Like you said, 1477 is a bigger distillery, they do have their own products, other products. I'm lucky that the craft client is pretty much a directive. So, I have to do a screener in between his own stuff. So, that's what makes it easier for me, and now they have more donnas, and so it's not gonna be that far between, but that being said, I have to forecast, okay,

21:30I should be done with, and the first one was just, I don't know how long it's gonna be, I'm gonna make a blanco, see how it goes, and I'll order when I'm ready. So, this time, I started to see the movement, and now I was, okay, like, let me ask you, I went through, put it this way, I'm down to one pile of each right now, this is the next stuff. So, I really need to put those orders in, I saw a Verteau here in LA a couple of months ago, like pretty much right after this came in, he's like, bro, you gotta, what do you need next? Cause we gotta start forecasting, and I saw him at BCB in New York, who ran into at BCB in New York, so we're working on some stuff, maybe some, I get two into it, I don't know, you might tell you when you're down there, but maybe some, yeah, I hope me some hoax and stuff, but stuff that we kinda started working on, but I try to make sure that I moving forward, and even this was maybe just a, flashing the panel of the first stuff, right? So, I'm hoping this is starting to move a little bit, better, and then I could start forecasting to be easier, cause I want to at least make one blanco, have one blanco version on the shelf at all times,

22:30I wanna, you know, have a couple of different repos a year, maybe two different type of, and you have a specialty, one see year, I mean, that's the goal, I don't wanna be to where, it's one right after the other, right? Cause like you said, even if I did do that, it can be very different from where I got the goblin from, the Gaussian process, right? Or, you know, where in the lowlands it came from, even like the, the age of them, just so many different things, or even I'm resting at the barrels, you know, the barrels, or I'm aerating, you know, running oxygen through, or aerating them, or just letting it open air, you know, breathe a little bit before body, all those things can change it, right? But I'm hoping to have a little bit time between to, you know, decide to even detach or not, you know, let them fibers, no fiber, all those little things, I wanna kind of nerd out on and hope it make a difference. Okay, so sales wise, are you mostly in stores on premise or direct to consumer, where do you see most of your sales? But right now, still retail, I'll be honest,

23:31more retail, however, I am, getting more into some bars, restaurants, but I'm trying to say away from nightclubs, although I have done so many events with some clubs that have really cool bar managers that let us do really cool projects with them, you know? Just, I find that that target sometimes, this is a goblin forward bar, I have a good goblin program, people gonna buy with it by, and the bar staff is not gonna push something else, right? So they're gonna be really more so, hey, whatever people buy, we'll sell that, and you sit on the shelf and be playing new, right? And unless it's a restaurant bar club that actually has to go to program, then great, you know, we'll do it, but I don't try to not be in those type of establishments, but when I do get picked up by them, I do wanna make sure that I support them as much as I can, tastings with the staff, you know, come with cocktails, whatever it is, we like to do that, but yeah, mainly I've noticed retail has been really, really, really kind to me,

24:31and the online portion, cause it's still, I'm still here in California, although I'm really looking for distribution in a couple of states I wanna get into, I'm getting a lot of people asking me, you know, some other people DM me, hey, when you come to New York, rewatching New York, Texas is another one, Kentucky, I wanna get into Kentucky just cause, I spent a lot of time in Kentucky, I like to go over a big bottle on the shelf every now and again, when I'm out there, but, you know, you only a couple hours south of me. Yeah, yeah, I know, we're gonna talk, we're gonna talk, I gotta figure this out. Yeah, so I, We gotta do one of these right here at the bar, you can, yeah, yeah, we go in, pick you up a bottle or something, and then come up here and we'll hang out and drink, you were to kill up my bar and do a live video, cause that's what I do out here. Yeah, yeah, so are you a bourbon drinker too? You know what, my theme was scotch before, right? Okay, I think Scotch guy, but spending a lot of time in Kentucky at Knox was, got to a bourbon trail a lot, so I got to taste so much cool stuff, right? We did all the big, you know, distilleries,

25:31you know, we're down in Louisville, around the area, but then we would have weekends off and you go check out the small Monopopolis theories, that was cool, that was really cool. I like that, so, I do like bourbon, it took me a little while to get into like this sweetness part of it, right? I, being from Scotch, I was more into really wood, okay. I didn't like the PD stuff, I wasn't big into PD stuff, right? But, but yeah, I, I, I, I, I do like bourbons, I'm not as well versed in, in bourbons, you know, as I am in, in tequila, but I spend so much time, it was so fun just hitting all the different distilleries and, you know, really cool stuff, really cool stuff. So were you stationed down there for a while? Yeah, well, I, I used to do a lot of gunry missions out there, I was kind of a gunner instructor, so we do missions through there. I'd be there like 90s at a time for on and off for about two years, so we would do that. And then right now our, our headquarters for like human resources command and when I go back to for trainings is at four knocks.

26:32So, you know, we went in Rome, right? You know, so yeah, we'll be able to get to camp at a berry. That's only 45 minutes south of me. So, okay, okay. Yeah, camp. So I know a lot of guys that came from four knocks that moved camp at a berry. I do the mortgages when they move here, because the mortgage carries so very cool. I do a lot of being owned. So I know there's a lot of movement between those two two bases. Yeah, yeah, very cool, very cool. Yeah, it's a no. Okay. Is it true all the money is still at four knocks? Like is there really all the money there? All the gold, that was the, that was a rumor, right? That's all the gold there. No, but so funny. On post they sell, because they bought into it, right? They sell little gold bars, said four knocks on them, little blue young bars, they have the small ones and the bigger ones, because everyone thinks that so, you know, those are kind of cool to buy souvenirs. I have no idea what's in that for it. If you ever been down there, it's pretty crazy, heavily secured. And it's in the front off the side of the road,

27:33and there's like gates and turrets and gates and towers, and then it is. And it's not a very unassuming building, but super, super secure. So it makes you think all the gold is there, right? Like, whatever's in there, they're guarding it, they're guarding it, right? It's awesome. Because of that, I actually wanna touch on this. So when I was there, the first inklings of doing a new brand started, right? So I definitely wanna do something bourbon, barrel aged, something, but I wanna make it special, you know, I wanna make it special with, I wanna find a nice, family, distillery, you know, we could work with maybe Zerberal, that's something that I like. I don't know, that's, I have all these different projects on in my head, right? I have some of those, some mixing wine stuff on, do you like, all these different stuff, right? But that's definitely on my to-do list. I definitely wanna do a bourbon, barrel aged from, you know, that area. That's very cool. Okay, so you and I talked about it a little bit before we jumped on here. Explain this amazing mural that's behind you,

28:33because that is so freaking cool. So yeah, so this is stuff that since we talked last, put together a festival, put together my own festival, right? Okay. So there's so many different festivals going on, and it's cool, you learn from all of them, but you know, there's certain things that, as a Brad owner, you wanna showcase. So I wanted to kind of do that. So I had a friend of mine, Chris, he does events and he has really amazing venue out here, kind of a little bit remote, but beautiful venue had own lake and stuff like that. So kind of put together, they got with Liz from Blue Wine, because I'm, I wanna do a do a right, I wanna real retail on there. I don't wanna be, you know, selling bottles under the table, but I wanted to give brands opportunity to sell, because again, as a Brad owner, it's what I want, right? So we put this together, and the thing is we opportunity to do it, but it was like two months, maybe nine weeks, 10 weeks tops, to put this whole festival together. And we did it, I heard a God of Festivals, so it was last April, but it surpassed our expectations.

29:35We wanted to hit 25, 30 brands, something kind of cool, with that was 66 brands. Yeah, we launched 17 new brands, first debuted there. We had some RTDs there, we had Sergio Cruz came out, Cesar Ivanko, Polanco, God, who else? Yeo, you know, John was there. So not only did we have the brands, we actually had owners out, which was so cool. So gave people an industry, or all the fanboys, I was so fanboy that day, you know, like, it's so cool, let's take a picture. And, but to have them there on site, you know, we had Miscars, we had I think once with those. So it was just so much fun. And this mural, we had artists painting it live there. So that was really cool. We did have a little bit of hiccups, you know, being remote, internet was non-existent. You know, so that made transactual a bit difficult, but aside from that, we heard back from people say, you know what, we were frustrated at first, but we loved it because we all were talking to each other. We got upload later.

30:35We were taking pictures and uploading later, like back in the old days, right? We didn't have all that remote, you know, social media stuff, but it was so much fun. We're gonna do it again. We're so working out those details. We're trying to do it. Maybe we're thinking about it twice a year, but I definitely think we're gonna do it once a year. We're trying to work through because then we went down, well, Liz, from blue and white, she had gone down the week after, there was in Mexico and all the people actually like, dude, he'll come to me and tell us. We would have gone. Like, we just did it so fast. So this time we want to have a little bit more time to pilot a little bit better, but it was so much fun. It was so much fun. A lot of work, a lot of running around. I wasn't even at my booth. And then I had a, I started to key look club too. I don't know if we talked about that. I started the no bad to key look club. So the reason I did that was, because I wanted to give a space and be able to utilize resources and a platform for new brands. I was so grateful that I was so well received. At our I Heart agonvent festival, we had four suites, right? So we had the 10 by 10 on the floor.

31:37We had different tiers. We had four suites that like Scorpios. Really awesome. By the way, they were there a lazy 71, a couple of brands with these suites, right? I took one of the suites, but I was like, you know, at the time, it's just had my blanco and I had run out of blanco. Luckily my importer happened to just sell store five cases, like, look, man, I get them back from you. I give them to you, but when you get the, because the stuff was coming in, you see, it was stuck at the border. So that's one reason I hadn't any tequila. So I didn't think it was fair for me to use a whole suite for just that. So what I did was I pushed forward the Nobantakila club and I was able to hand pick brands that maybe just were able to stick into the country, but I want to give them a space to showcase. So we put that into the VIP. We had brands like Koya, Maestro, Reuosa, Toraewa Su, like she's 71. I run my bottles there, of course, Scorpios. All these other brands that were able to do. So the Nobantakila club started as what I wanted to do. The vision was to not only give other brands a platform,

32:38but let their owner jump on lives and talk, because a lot of them are still in Mexico. They don't have any following or any exposure here. So again, being so new and being able to have a platform to do so, I wanted to share that. Also, I want to bring new brands to people who haven't heard of them yet. But the biggest thing to want to do is be able to race funds for project and the club decides what project it is, right? And nothing crazy. We're going to do t-shirts or hats and 20 bucks, 25 bucks. Nothing crazy. But anything we come from that or anything we do, bottle shares or what have you, we want to race funds and pick different projects, whether in Mexico or here in the States. But again, I'm not picking that, the club's going to pick that as a whole. And then we can move into another arm with that and that we're actually helping them showcase products. So a lot of them aren't here. So when we do these events or we're invited to these events, I'll go on as M77, but also we're going to the Nobantakila club and under that umbrella, be able to bring other brands who don't have a physical footprint here. And we've done one golf tournament before

33:40and the other ones coming up. But like I said, I'm more about the community. And that's all that's kind of nonprofits, so we're still working on the five of them and see three for it. But I really just want to give other brands an opportunity that may not have since I'm sharing their not. You know? Wow, that would be cool. A brand helping brands. Like it's one of the coolest things about the Tukki, the community is, you know, you got Walmart trying to make K-Mart grow out of business. And you got Amazon trying to get Walmart to go out of business. But we have Tukki, the brands trying to get other people to drink, other people's Tukki, but you would think that's not how it's supposed to work, but in this world of agave spirits, it's just how it works. It's like, look, you like this one. You got to try this guy. So it's really cool. This community is pretty amazing. Yeah, no, 100%. That's one of the things that I love so much about this time around for me. It wasn't like that before. And I think it's a lot more craft brand smaller brands. I'm really liking that.

34:40And not everyone's like that. I will say that. But I am. So it's OK. If I like it, great. I'm going to talk about it. On my public page, I talk about other brands all the time, the NoBan page. I'm running that, posting that all the time. I know Arctin Long just did a single barrel with Bluwan. I posted that. Scorpio, I posted like, you know, Manus Grito. I'm looking at all the balls I have over here, you know. And to the man I was, I was interviewed last week in a given like, I can talk about shit that Lego has. One of my favorites, you know, I just a old school blonde, just nothing, nothing create. Just old school blonde go, I love that, right? So I think the community as a whole is elevator, has exposure, or then we all win, right? We all win. Now everyone's not like my product. That's fine. But like you said, you don't like it. Hey, did you try this guy? This guy's pretty good. I like this guy. Like why not? It's like, it's like that one right there. Oh, yeah, yeah, cholo. You got the cholo dog? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. There's another one over here. There's one hiding in this corner. Oh, okay.

35:40They were very nice to me. The first one that they shipped me completely broke. Oh, and it was completely drained. And it got the foot broke off of it. And I called her Nesto and I'm like, I'll do the, it broke and it's empty. The, but the box smells good. But I can't really smell good. And they're like, I don't think there's any more. And I'm like, don't worry about it. And a couple of days later, I got a call and like, there's another one in the mail. And so I said, look, I'm going to make sure that it has always a spot above my shoulder and all times. And then I glued the other one that was broken and I put him over here, right? So it's amazing how these small brands and some of you California guys like y'all hang. Like everybody knows each other and everybody supports each other. And I think that is so cool to see that. You know, with people. So, and I hear it from brands all the time. I talk to a lot of brands and, you know, I'll be talking to John, like you mentioned from Yeo and he'll ask me, dude, if you tried this, it was like, it's not what he is. It's a different brand, right? And it's such a common thing.

36:42And I love that. And when you go to Sergio's place, I don't know how many different tequila he hands me to have nothing to do with Sergio to taste. Like, I think that is really a cool thing about our community and how people lift other brands up and share and do the festivals pretty cool. Yeah, like I said, I had wanted to do something one day, right? I unexpected to be so soon and pull together in two months. It was insane. Like I didn't see for a couple of months. I took it, I had to take a couple days to just decompress because it was crazy. And then the pre-party the day before, then the after-party, oh man, a lot of liquid IDs, a lot of liquid IDs, you know, but it was fun. But you mentioned Sergio. And even a guy at his level, this is called, was so cool. I ran into him at the New York New Jersey, a garbage club, rooftop or a refer there for BCB. The awesome take up bottle. I took two bottles, you know, it's all I had at the time of the rip. And he was like, this tastes, they were opening and there's other brands that were there, you know, and I was feeling bad. Opening up someone else's tables, I was like, it was a cooler, yeah, yeah, yeah.

37:43Taking pictures, I started to grab my bottle, taking pictures where someone else was booze, he was like, no, this is good man. I got to take pictures with you, I was like, yeah. I appreciate it man, I feel kind of bad. But not not. But I said, no one cared. It was cool to just jump in, let's do this. And I think that's what makes it so great, you know, that most people that I've come across are open and they don't reciprocate the fully-ma-excent that others do. It's okay. You don't do it based on wanting their reciprocation. You do it because you're jumping, this is a great product. I enjoy it, you know. So why not? And again, if they elevate the industry, cool. We all do. It opens the craft door to other people then it's better for all of us, you know. Right, why not? Yeah, I'm not. Because if I'm gonna drink this and I like this, then I see this and somebody says, oh, you have to try that, then I'm gonna try that. It elevates all of the brands that have fallen to the craft organization or group. So I didn't know that you were doing I Heart of Gummy. I heard about it, but I didn't know that you were behind it

38:45and I apologize for not being there. Because if I didn't know you were doing that, I'd have been on a plane and I came out. I actually didn't make any festivals this year. I've been in Tequila and Arambas a lot this year and visiting distilleries and working on a lot of projects. So I didn't hit any of the festivals this year, but if I didn't know that was yours, I'm telling you, brother, out of in there. So the next time you have- No, worry. No, don't be there. No, so for sure you can talk to the next one. I'll let you know. I'm gonna personally about that. But it was kind of by designing initially, you know. I was new to the industry, again, knowing you, me, it was a tiny brand. I didn't wanna have that stigma of who's this guy, what's he trying to do or a brand through their own festival. So I wanted the brand to, I mean, well, the I Heart brand, you speak for itself, right? And I think what we did that, my biggest goal was to showcase the brands, right? If you go through our social media, which I was running that one as well, it's about 80, 90% brands and brand promotion,

39:49not event promotion. Because I've been at other festivals where, you know, you pay to be part of it, you do it at a post one picture of you and that's your real. And the other 80 is the event, the event, the event, which is great, but I see it as a brand, I wanna join as festivals, so I get promotion and let's be frank about it, that's where I'm trying to do. So why not make that the forefront of what the festival is? So I was creating reals, creating their content, rebranding their stuff, it's something I didn't have, I'm gonna do semi-reliable, I got you. So I'd spend hours and I building that stuff for them and doing that. So that was the focus this year. And I could say, kind of by design, I didn't want it to be known. I was associated with it initially, but yeah, yeah, it was us from the beginning. So then we did it and now it's kind of known, but it's okay, at least the event spoke for itself, and the brand, hopefully they had a great time and it was funny, that same day, I'd never seen so many brands repost, thank you for having me on the next year

40:50and they were a coasting about it. And hey, if you're taking my money, lock me next year and I'm gonna do it. I don't even know how we're done with it. This one yet, let's give me a minute, let me get it there. I got you, the first time I'm gonna call, but we're gonna wait a little bit. But yeah, it was a blast, it was just such a great venue. It was really nice, I don't know if you guys have seen it, the social media, it was like, there was a lake, we had, you know, it was the woods and it was so cool and the after party was so much fun too. We had a drummer out there with the DJ and being an old school stuff and it was just so much fun, so much fun. But definitely, we'll keep in the loop for the next one and you gotta come out. Now we'll be there for sure. Okay, so are we getting close to retiring? Like are you about ready to hang up? Working so hard for America? I'd like to, I've been buying a lot of ladies and trying to kind of, you know, force that hat or retire my hat, but they don't work out, they didn't work out. I'm kind of in a weird position to where I have a few years to go, but I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to finish that. I'm getting close to hopefully next three, four years.

41:53I'll be done. That being said, I could focus on this full time. That was a whole plan of starting this, so I could start growing it and not have to rely on this to survive quite yet. So that allows me to be more selective in what I do. I didn't want to be in a position to what I have to have to sell. I have to do this to me, you know, the demand so I could live. So I'm, I'm able to be a little more selective on when I release, what I release, how I release it or tell, you know, I mean, look, I have a great distillery, but I'd be like, guys, I don't want to buy this. I don't want it done like this, you know, so I have that luxury right now. So I'm looking at, you know, next few years, everything goes as planned to be able to transition fully into this and I don't know, I get really antsy sometimes, people make fun of me and say, dude, you got like 80, because you're like all over the place. And you want to do other stuff like I'm painting still too. So I'm doing some stuff for the, like the other project event that's coming out. So they asked me to do a few paintings for them to auction off. So they could raise funds for a well-hawkened women's group

42:55who sells something like Steve, but the Miss callacies from too, I run something like that. So the send Miss callacies to sell to the, the Miss callacies are out there so they could kind of keep that tradition going. So I was like, you got it. So I'm not only there as a vendor, but there'll be auction of some, I don't know what I'll be doing now. Hopefully a lot more time just to kill a time, but get to the other fun projects. So maybe do more of these. I don't know, I don't know, but definitely tequila related. What, you know, I look at you as my ADD brother. It is, it's a super power that we have when we have ADD, because work full time and the mortgage business do full time content. Also have a brand new full time business that you don't think about yet. And also I'm playing a charity event this weekend at a bar where we raise money for a couple of kids in ADLN. We raised $5,000 a few weeks ago up in Chicago. Our goal is to raise $10,000 this weekend. We'll do a third show in Kabulistan, Lucas and our goal is to raise over 100,000 pesos

43:56to hand off to a orphanage and also by clothes for kids in Kabul. So I understand the going in multiple directions all the time and always having something going on. So ADD is a superpower. We have to harness it the best weekend. That's the most important thing. I love doing stuff like that too. So we ever need, you know, let me know how I can be involved in anything like that. I'd love to because I am really big into, you know, charitable events and stuff. I mean, not only like military ones, because we did a gala. We raised funds for that. We did some other stuff for like this homeless organization. But whatever it is, we just recently did a summer small scale with Louis liquor out here. They did a backpack for kids back to school. Anything, you know, we can do. I'm a firm proponent and I'm in a position to help someone I will, you know, help wherever I can, wherever my new, why not, whether no matter where they're at. So man, kudos to you for that. That's awesome. Cheers. And if you ever need. Cheers. Anything. Let me know, man.

44:57I'll definitely jump on board. I'm the same boat. You have something going on that you need something you tell me because I, I, I feel like I've been really blessed with a lot of the opportunities that I've had in my life and the success that's been around that. So we try to give back in every area that we can and, and we've really found that helping in Mexico has been something I feel like I take from Mexico all the time. I take their hospitality. I take time at their beaches and I love their food and I take time from the people and I take more from there than I do from here. So our heart has really been trying to give back to the kids in Cabo, any organizations in Helisco helping out with Hint, they've went out and raising as much money as possible with Hint, they've went out and helped serving the people in the Tequila community is really where our hearts have been for a long time. So I appreciate all of the things that you do and it inspires me to do what we do. So yeah, cheers. Cheers to you, brother. So, yeah, I just, I'll take a moment to you, man. I just want to tell you, thank you for what you do and people like you.

45:57But I, you are one of the first people to have me on and what little success I feel I have at the moment is in doing part two platforms like this. So thank you for taking a chance on me in the beginning and having me on and giving this platform and just it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it means a lot to, to small brand needs to be personally to be able to tell my story, to get the brand out there to people who may not even be in my circle. And the cool thing with online now, they could buy online, they could try, you know, another state. So, really, man, I just want to say thank you. I really appreciate the opportunity and this platform to, to be here. I appreciate that. You, you actually took a shot on me too, because I was pretty new at doing this the first time that we talked and, you know, I, I appreciate everything about what you have going on. I, you know, I've learned a little bit about who you are and what you stand for and then bringing such a great tequila. You, you fit in exactly with what I wanted to promote and the people that I wanted to talk to. Thank you so much for you trusting me as well.

46:57And thanks for the great tequila, my friend. I appreciate it. Yeah, man. Yeah, no, it's good. I love it. It's, it's community is awesome. It's community is awesome. I'm so glad to be a part of it. And it's just, I'm excited for what's the coming of the future and, you know, not just with my brand, with other brands and mass, so much cool stuff out there. Like, say, all those brands that we, we debuted at IHARTS, they're, they're getting ready. We're pretty close to jumping in the market, a couple more in the market. Like, did I go to school? I didn't go to that. Awesome. Really great stuff. I'll put you in touch with them. I was talking to this on the show. He just came with this doughnut. Two-wheeled opposite direction at the same time. So super cool. Yeah, he's, I think I know a fair share about to give, but he's talking to me on a whole like molecular level of the stuff he's trying to do. He, yeah, I was like, man, nice guy. He just turned 30. Master's still has own, the family's been in the industry for a while, but not he's taking off. He should make this, DeLado's and stuff for the rest of the Trump. And now he's like, no, no, we got to do this right. And he's taking off. He's really, really great. That's what I'm looking forward to.

47:58Hoi and my ass. That's another one from a buddy of mine. You're going to be close. You may not have it out. Talk to me offline. Maybe you can stop by this other 32 friend of the vectors as well. The algorithm, I also have to, I was at the key, old school spot. I was down there with, with Mike to kill a cop last year for my birthday. And we got some 60-setting proof. We have to still type stuff. So awesome. So he produces for another friend of ours, Hoi and my ass, and I just won the Ellie Spirit's award for the high proof. A blog about I think a 92 or something like that. So excited for that. And then, he's actually, dog wasn't Japan right now, but they're taking stuff everywhere. And to see all my friends, who I was really great stuff to me is so cool, man. It makes me excited for them. And it makes me say, hey, at least, you know, in some small way, they're opening a door that I could come in through at one point in the future, you know? So it's just so cool to see all these different, smaller distillery now being showcased and being, you know, out here in the US and in other countries.

49:00And now I'm seeing it. I have other buddy, Galito's spirits. He's out in Japan a lot. He's been there for about a couple of years because he's seen that movie. And he's like, I'm making money yet, but they know who I am. So that kind of cool that people are taking those chances, these other market to open it up for the rest of us. I think that that's amazing. Columbia's another market, you know, we didn't think but stuff's moving that way too. And yeah, so I'll talk offline about stuff for a while if you want, but yeah, there's so many different things that and I'm so excited to see all these other brands doing these things. It's pretty awesome. Well, I'm excited about your brand. I'm fired up to share it. Talk about it. I love having people taste it. I think what you're doing is incredible. And what you're doing at this festival is really cool too. I can't wait to be a part of it. And hey, I poured a little glass of this batch one to cheers you and say thanks for doing this tonight. And it was so fun hanging out. Thanks, man. Cheers.