House Made Podcast

Episode #10 - Tequila 101

April 30, 2021 House Made Season 1 Episode 10
House Made Podcast
Episode #10 - Tequila 101
Show Notes Transcript

In this episode we talk about the different styles of tequila, which one might be right for you and the crazy flavor differences that come from such a strictly regulated spirit.

Nick Boban (00:01):
This is the house made podcast. We're your hosts Nick Boban and John Vieira. We're here to cover your questions about home bartending. Let's get into it.

Nick Boban (00:22):
Hey, welcome back guys, to another episode of the house made podcast. Today, we're going to talk all about tequila. Specifically, kind of tequila 101. What is it? There's a lot of brands out there. There's a lot of weird stuff going on. So we did a little bit of research on this hot topic, seeing that there's a holiday that has been Americanized, that's coming up very shortly.

John Vieira (00:51):
Right around the corner.

Nick Boban (00:52):
All about tequila.

John Vieira (00:53):
Yeah, next week we wanted to gear you guys up properly for Cinco de mayo. We're going to go over 101 kind of stuff. Just, you know, like what's the different types, different brands, stuff like that. What specifications and qualifications there are to be considered tequila. Things that you may or may not already know. And then we're also going to do a blind taste test on the next episode.

Nick Boban (01:21):
With some pretty awesome brands. And some bottom shelf brands.

John Vieira (01:26):
Well it's kind of a split. We'll get into that when we start doing that, but essentially let's jump into this. Where do you think we should start? What's our jumping off point?

Nick Boban (01:35):
Okay, so tequila, just like everything else, or a lot of other spirit types, is dictated by the government. Right? And it's all very location-based. So tequila specifically has to be made in a handful of municipalities. I think it's like 160 different municipalities, which are essentially like counties, if you will, in Mexico. So the number one state that everything's made in is called Jalisco. And right outside of Jalisco there's three neighboring States where there's limited municipalities that this tequila can be made. And then there's one state that has limited municipalities that's not actually connected geographically, but essentially when you're looking at the map, it's kinda the what would you say? The West central region of Mexico? There's like a big circle and that's where tequila is made from.

John Vieira (02:36):
Okay. So it's kinda like when you have cognac or champagne. It comes from a very specific region in France in order to be called that or labeled that. Otherwise it would have to bear a different name, essentially.

Nick Boban (02:49):
Yeah, exactly. And so in my research, the Mexican government, or what I found out is that the Mexican government has done more trade agreements with nations than anyone else on the planet specifically regarding tequila itself. So the big one that they did was with like the European union, right? That's where Mexico essentially acknowledges things like champagne, cognac, and scotch in return that the European union acknowledges things such as mezcal and tequila so that none of their citizens could produce that. Yeah. And vice versa. It's just like you said, it's not cognac, it's Brandy if it's not made there.

John Vieira (03:31):
Okay.

Nick Boban (03:32):
Now trying to follow up back with this regionality based thing... Also agave grows very wonderfully in the state of Jalisco. So it has to actually be made out of 100% blue Weber Agava to be called tequila. Produced in these regions in Mexico, mostly Jalisco, and 80% of all of the blue weber agave production comes from Jalisco itself.

John Vieira (04:03):
Okay. So it's kind of the hub. I mean, it makes sense geographically. Jalisco is also where a lot of the cervesas, like a lot of Mexican beers come from.

Nick Boban (04:13):
Oh, it's like a powerhouse region for alcohol.

John Vieira (04:17):
So real quick, just if anyone's wondering, we're not going to touch, in this episode on mezcal, but essentially the umbrella, the way this works with agave spirits is that tequila is technically mezcal, but mezcal is not tequila. So mezcal doesn't have as many rules and regulations. It can be made from different types of agave, different distillation techniques, things like that. Whereas, tequila's a lot more zoned in. And so that's why with a lot of this stuff, you get so much variation, I guess, like with a lot of the mezcals, there's just like so much stuff out there. So we'll do a whole nother episode at some point on mescals, but today we're going to go strictly tequila.

Nick Boban (05:02):
Yep. So for me being a little bit nerdy, I always want to know like who makes the rules and where all that kind of stuff comes from. So what I found out was it was the... It's the Mexican government that actually sets these standards. Right? And specifically I've seen this abbreviated CTR, CRT, TRC, just depending on what language it was written in. It's essentially the tequila regulatory council is like a section of the government that regulates and monitors and sets all the rules for what tequila can be. And those guys report, essentially, to the international organization of standards, which is coming out of... Which is actually headquartered in Switzerland and the Norma official Mexicana. Is there representation at that Switzerland based international organization of standards. Anyways, it's a bureaucracy hierarchy, but essentially the people that govern tequila in Mexico, they abbreviate their logo as NOM. N O M. Or sometimes they call them Norma's.

John Vieira (06:21):
Okay. So NOM. So when you talk about that, tequila products have a NOM number, right? And that's how you look up, essentially details about that product?

Nick Boban (06:33):
So what it is, is that this regulatory body certifies the distillery that they are producing tequila itself,

John Vieira (06:42):
So it's a certification, not an identification, nececarily.

Nick Boban (06:46):
Yeah. You'll see on the actual bottle. Every bottle of tequila will have a nom number on it and that number translates to the distillery, so you can see multiple brands with the same nom number is because all of those products are coming out of the exact same distillery.

John Vieira (07:02):
Okay. So kind of like how, when we talk about the Buffalo trace distillery, there's many products that are coming out of that distillery, but they're separate brands. Okay. So that makes sense. So that's just the proper channels and classification for tequila.

Nick Boban (07:19):
So that's who makes it. That's where it's from. And what goes into it has to be made out of 100% blue weber agave. And that blue Weber is just a species of agave. There's there's hundreds and hundreds of species of agave. Some are wild and some aren't. This particular one is actually a cultivated species of agave.

John Vieira (07:40):
So agave, no matter what species it is, as far as I understand, takes quite awhile to grow, right?

Nick Boban (07:46):
It does. Yeah. So blue Weber, itself, takes right around nine years to mature, typically. And you'll see, especially in this region of Jalisco is a really volcanic red soil and that actual plant loves it. Loves, it, loves it. They look kind of like a big cactus, like a large aloe Vera plant.

John Vieira (08:14):
Yeah. They kind of do. And like, when you cut the leaves, it kind of looks like a gigantic pineapple.

Nick Boban (08:22):
It sure does. Yeah. And so a lot of people think that it's a cactus, but it's not. It's actually closer to a... It's like a flower. I can't remember what they said now. It's like a daisy or something. Not a Daisy... I'll have to look it up again.

John Vieira (08:39):
Some species of agave can take much longer to mature and be ready for harvest. Right? So like some of them, I think, can be up to what? 20, 25 years in some cases?

Nick Boban (08:48):
Oh yeah. There's a couple that are wild Agave plants and they can take 60 plus years to mature.

John Vieira (08:56):
Wow.

Nick Boban (08:57):
So you're talking like an entire lifetime product cycle wise.

John Vieira (09:01):
That's crazy.

Nick Boban (09:02):
Yeah. Which even like nine years is kind of crazy when you think about it, because... I guess it's just kinda like scotch. Right? And when you're talking about a 12 year minimum age statement, that's your product cycle anyways.

John Vieira (09:17):
Right? Yeah. I mean that... When you think about, you have to make a product for 12 years before you can sell it. That's kind of insane. Right?

Nick Boban (09:26):
Well, that's why we see all the new distilleries that pop up. They all introduce like a vodka or a rum or a gin to start. And then 10 years down the road, they start introducing whiskeys and other aged spirits and stuff like that.

John Vieira (09:39):
Interesting.

Nick Boban (09:40):
Yeah. Okay, so it's made out of... Oh, I think it was something cool that I learned too about the Agave plant itself. So it takes nine years to grow. And then once it matures and is ready, it will start to shoot a stock straight up out of the middle of the plant and it looks like a big asparagus. I mean, the sucker's probably 8 to 10 inches in diameter and just big asparagus shoots straight up. And then it will start to flower on top. And once it flowers, it's bad, it ruined the plant.

John Vieira (10:14):
Oh, okay.

Nick Boban (10:15):
Because what it's...

John Vieira (10:16):
What kind of window do you have on that? From where it becomes an asparagus?

Nick Boban (10:20):
Like 2 days.

John Vieira (10:20):
Wow. Okay. So it takes nine years to grow and then you've got...

Nick Boban (10:24):
I think they're called Jimadors.

John Vieira (10:25):
And then you've got that window.

Nick Boban (10:27):
Yeah. The Jimadors are essentially the farmers that harvest the Agave and so they work... They always are working the field. They live there. That's that's their livelihood. And so what happens is when it flowers, it sucks all the sugar out of the Pina and pops it into the flowers up top. The pina is what it's called when you knock all the leaves off and get left with that...

John Vieira (10:48):
Cause it looks like a pineapple.

Nick Boban (10:49):
So it's called a Pina. It sucks all the sugar out of it. And then there's no sugar left or not enough sugar left to ferment.

John Vieira (10:57):
Oh, okay. Gotcha. Interesting

Nick Boban (11:00):
Not leaving anything for thr yeast.

John Vieira (11:02):
Okay. So jumping into...

Nick Boban (11:06):
Daisy. I think that's what... I think that's what the plant's closest to is a daisy. I don't know. I'll have to look it up, but I'm just trying to think.

John Vieira (11:13):
That's wild. I actually, I didn't know any of that. At all. So I'm actually probably learning as much as anyone else during this episode. Some stuff that I do know about, and that actually probably a lot of you already know, but may need sort of a refresher course, things like that. Here's a little tidbit that we'll go over for anybody that's headed to the store. They're like, I want to make this cocktail or that cocktail. What tequila should I be buying? Now, obviously on the blind taste test, we're going to go through some different brands. We're going to kind of taste some stuff, but in general, you're going to see these different kinds of tequila, I guess. I don't know really they're, they're essentially age statements, but I don't know if there's like hard, fast rules on the ages. But what you're most commonly going to see is a Blanco tequila or a silver as like something like Patron calls it. So Blanco or silver. And then you're gonna have a reposado, which translates literally to "rested". So it's aged longer. It's usually darker in color. Then you're gonna have an anejo, which is aged even longer. It looks like it's close to three years in some cases. And then you're going to have an extra anejo, which is just aged even more. So these are the main styles you're going to see, is the first three. So Blanco or silver, Reposado and anejo and almost every product has those three options. So let's dive in a little bit at some of the age statements, I guess, if they're known or if they're even really a thing.

Nick Boban (12:51):
Okay. So yeah, so Blanco. Blanco is a blend of tequilas and they have to be aged less than two months. So you can actually get an aged Blanco.

John Vieira (13:06):
Okay.

Nick Boban (13:06):
So it can be, it can be essentially like kissed in a barrel. All these agings have to go to an Oak barrel. It doesn't matter what Oak barrel it is.

John Vieira (13:17):
It doesn't have to be new American or anything like that?

Nick Boban (13:18):
Nope. And so what you actually see is a lot of tequila brands are using ex-bourbon barrels. And so they'll actually put that on their label quite a bit. Like, "Oh, aged in bourbon barrels." There's a lot of brands too, that do wine barrels, cognac barrels, stuff like that. Those are usually higher end products that you see and the anejos and stuff like that. For most reposados and anejos you're gonna see bourbon barrels. Now the barrels themselves have to be less than 600 liters each. So you can't just do a humongous batch and age it that way. They have to actually be the regular barrels. Actually 600 liters I think is considerably bigger than a normal barrel, but most of the time they're using ex bourbon barrels because they can buy them for cheap from all the manufacturers in America that can only use the barrel once.

John Vieira (14:10):
So Blanco, less than two months? Is that what you said?

Nick Boban (14:15):
Yeah. Blanco is less than two months.

John Vieira (14:16):
Less than two months. So hardly aged, but as we've seen from the maker's mark thing, several weeks can make a difference.

Nick Boban (14:24):
Yeah. And most of the time you don't see it

John Vieira (14:26):
Now, a lot of Blanco, especially because there's not much of a color component. Is that something that is stripped away on purpose to make it as clear as possible? Or is that just a product of the fact that it's really not aged?

Nick Boban (14:39):
Oh, no, no, no. It's just not aged at all. So after you harvest this Pina, to be tequila, you have to brick oven roast it. That helps kind of... Well, I guess you have to, but you have to cook it somehow to break the sugars down. And then it has to be distilled a minimum of two times through a copper pot still. This is all their requirements from the government. And then to be actually imported into America as a tequila, it has to be a minimum of 40 ABV. In Mexico, they will let you be anywhere from 35% to 55% alcohol by volume. To be able to do it.

John Vieira (15:26):
Yeah, you really don't ever see any over proof.

Nick Boban (15:29):
No. And it's... I've been able to try some over proof ones and they're awesome.

John Vieira (15:35):
Oh, I'm sure. Well, just think about the flavor of tequila, like a good tequila, right?

Nick Boban (15:39):
Yeah. So usually on the second distillate, the tequila comes off of the still right around that 55% mark. And then they're cutting it back with water to bottle it 40%. Because 40% is kind of the industry standard. And so the color, to answer your question, the color is just straight up like that. It comes out of the still that way. Okay. Usually they'll take all the multiple runs, put them in a big vat, blend them so that they are very consistent and bottle straight from there.

John Vieira (16:11):
Okay. So then we move into Reposado, which 2 to 12 months. Right? So this so up to a year, but in a lot of cases less.

Nick Boban (16:21):
Yep. And it's just... All the different brands are going to be very similar to like whiskeys. Right? So they're going to have huge Ric houses full of barrels, and they're going to blend them all together to get as consistent product as they can.

John Vieira (16:33):
Are there rules or regulations regarding artificial coloring and stuff like that? Can you use artificial color? What's the deal with all that? Because we learned with rum, like you can do whatever the hell you want.

Nick Boban (16:48):
So the government or the Mexican government pretty much says that if you are less than 1% by volume, so you could be up to 1% by volume of additive, which is like Carmel coloring or sugar or something of the sort, you don't have to disclose it on the label at all and can actually market it as non additive.

John Vieira (17:06):
So anything less than 1%?

Nick Boban (17:08):
Less than 1%.

John Vieira (17:09):
Okay.

Nick Boban (17:09):
So out of a 25 ounce bottle of tequila, which is the standard. What's 1%? 0.02%?

John Vieira (17:20):
Yeah. 0.025% essentially.

Nick Boban (17:22):
But as you know from playing with caramel coloring. I mean, you only need the head of a toothpick in a bottle and it looks like it's been aged for six years.

John Vieira (17:32):
That's what I was wondering because when you see some of these low end, cheaper brands of tequila. You see these products that they're... You're like, there's no way this was actually like aged or cared for in this manner.

Nick Boban (17:50):
The one that's called gold.

John Vieira (17:51):
Yeah. Like anything that's called gold and it's that way with rum too. If it says gold on it, chances are that means they put a little drop of caramel coloring in it and they were like, "this seems fine."

Nick Boban (18:01):
Yeah. Now there is an app out there, it's called tequila matchmaker, and they're super awesome. You're able to actually look up these nom numbers and distilleries, and brands and see kind of like who makes what? You can check out all the rules and regulations for tequila on there. And they actually have started a verification process with these distilleries, that's called a non additive. So you can actually look up different brands and you can see who actually is not adding anything and who's been verified essentially by this third-party source. Okay, so that brings us to anejo.

John Vieira (18:43):
Okay. So 1 to 3 years on anejo. So no more than three years, which I'm sure a lot of these manufacturers don't have any problem with because they're cranking this shit out.

Nick Boban (18:55):
Also, with that, it's just like aging rum, right? Because we're talking about a very humid, equator region, spot. So the longer you're letting your barrels sit, the more evaporation you're getting. It's not like scotch and with the extreme temperature fluctuations between night and day, your aging process is actually sped up by quite a lot.

John Vieira (19:16):
Okay. Extra anejo is not a category that's super common. A lot of them are a lot more expensive and you probably would not be using these products to make drinks, by the way, unless you're just like super high roller. But the category does exist and anejo translates, I believe, to "aged" in English.

Nick Boban (19:35):
I think so. Yeah.

John Vieira (19:36):
Extra anejo would mean just that. Extra aged. So anything more than three years. And then on top of that there's products that are charcoal filtered. They're becoming very popular called crystalinos. And they are either anejo or extra anejo and then they are completely clear. So they look like a Blanco tequila. But you've got all that sexy, mellow, aged property to it from a regular anejo or extra anejo. It's just this really crystal clear liquid.

Nick Boban (20:07):
Yeah. And I thought this was interesting. Extra anejo, the classification didn't actually exists until 2006.

John Vieira (20:15):
Oh really?

Nick Boban (20:15):
Yep. It's brand new actually, as a category.

John Vieira (20:17):
So I was going to say, it doesn't ever ring a bell in my memory, although that's not saying much cause I have a terrible memory, but I don't recall ever seeing extra anejo. And then I remember when I first came to Craft, you had that bottle of Espolon extra anejo. It was a really sweet, flat, you know, matte black bottle.

Nick Boban (20:38):
Oh, it was super awesome.

John Vieira (20:39):
Really cool. I actually never got to taste it. I heard it was amazing.

Nick Boban (20:41):
Ugh. It was so good. Here's what I thought...

John Vieira (20:44):
I was like extra anejo? I've never even heard of that.

Nick Boban (20:48):
Here's what I thought was funny too. So apparently the government doesn't let you actually put an age statement on the label.

John Vieira (20:55):
At all?

Nick Boban (20:56):
At all. For extra anejos. For tequila.

John Vieira (20:58):
Oh, just for extra anejo.

Nick Boban (21:00):
Yeah. Uh, well...

John Vieira (21:02):
I can't say that I've seen one on anything else.

Nick Boban (21:04):
So the only reason... So just talking about that Espolon, that matte black. The only reason we knew that it was a six anos is because it was actually engraved on the cap. It wasn't on the label.

John Vieira (21:15):
Oh. So that's how... All the information has to be on the cap. Not on the label.

Nick Boban (21:20):
Yeah. It was just really weird. They're not allowed. I don't know. I don't know why. They're not allowed to age statement them.

John Vieira (21:26):
Interesting. Was that a rare bottle? Cause I've never, ever seen...

Nick Boban (21:29):
Yeah, it was a... It wasn't a rare bottle. So it was a regularly listed bottle. It was on the shelf, just good to roll. It was like $106, which used to be very expensive for our program. And now it's not so much. It didn't sell, so the state closed it out.

John Vieira (21:48):
Oh, gotcha.

Nick Boban (21:49):
From my understanding. And actually what they did... So when the state closes out products, they reduce the price every month until all of the products are gone. So I just happened to find, I think, two or three of those bottles towards the end of their run. And I think I got each one for like $40.

John Vieira (22:12):
Wow. That's crazy. You still have them or did you drink them?

Nick Boban (22:16):
They were too good. I drank them all. I know. Actually, I mean, that was a long time ago. So I drank the last the last one probably two years ago, now.

John Vieira (22:25):
I don't drink a lot of tequila these days.

Nick Boban (22:28):
I love tequila.

John Vieira (22:29):
I used to drink a lot. I worked at, before I came to Craft, I worked at a family owned Mexican restaurant and they had a really good selection of tequila. It was kind of their thing, so I got to try a lot of really great stuff and they've come out with things even since then that I am curious about, but I used to drink a lot of tequila and I think I just kind of burnt myself out. I don't dislike it at all. It's just not something that I reach for on the shelf. So this taste test that we're going to do, it's going to be especially interesting for me since I really haven't been in that world for awhile. So this will definitely be cool.

Nick Boban (23:08):
Yeah. I was going to say, the more I learn about tequila, the more I actually enjoy the Blancos or the un-aged tequilas. Mostly because the aged ones are all using ex-bourbon barrels. Right? And they're tasting more and more like whiskey, essentially.

John Vieira (23:24):
Right. Like the hornitos black barrel.

Nick Boban (23:26):
Yeah. Which is specifically marketed as a whiskey barrel...

John Vieira (23:30):
It's very dark in color and it's good. It's just mellow.

Nick Boban (23:32):
Which is probably some caramel coloring.

John Vieira (23:35):
Well probably.

Nick Boban (23:36):
Cause it's like jet black.

John Vieira (23:37):
Yeah. It's super dark. But that is a good product. However, it is so much more close to whiskey, like you were saying. It doesn't scream "I'm tequila." So with the Blancos you get a lot of that fresh, vegetal... You really taste the agave come straight through.

Nick Boban (23:55):
Oh yeah. There is a couple other categories that are associated with tequila that I wanted to touch on real quick. One that I didn't even know existed until today. It's called a, probably a Hoven or a Joven?

John Vieira (24:09):
Yeah. That, uh...

Nick Boban (24:10):
Which is a mix of Blanco and Reposado tequila, and then bottled.

John Vieira (24:16):
Blanco and repo. Yeah, I know I. Okay. So I know that word and I can't remember what it translates to...

Nick Boban (24:22):
J O V E N and J's are pronounced with H's.

John Vieira (24:29):
I think that means young or something.

Nick Boban (24:30):
It might. I don't know.

John Vieira (24:31):
So maybe they're bridging the gap between the two.

Nick Boban (24:34):
Yeah. The one that most people... This weird category, that's not really tequila, is called mixto or...

John Vieira (24:45):
Mixto, which...

Nick Boban (24:47):
So it just means that they are using less than 100% blue weber agave. And then they're making up for the rest of the spirit with some other unnamed spirit and sugar. And so the biggest brand that gets the worst rap for this is the Jose Cuervo's core line. Now Jose Cuervo does make a 100%. It's called they're like family reserve.

John Vieira (25:12):
They have plenty of products.

Nick Boban (25:13):
They do. And they have some good ones, but the stuff you see on the shelf is not tequila.

John Vieira (25:19):
They've been around for a long time, not trying to bash them.

Nick Boban (25:22):
Them and Sauza are the two oldest distilleries for tequila.

John Vieira (25:27):
Yeah. And...

Nick Boban (25:30):
And they do have good products, but the most of the normal stuff you buy is not good.

John Vieira (25:33):
Yeah. They do have good stuff. The core line is pretty garbage, especially if it's not even... Cause like 100% agave. That's almost like... That's the thing. Right? So you can get like the cheapest well tequila ever, but it's still 100% agave.

Nick Boban (25:50):
So then we're talking, we're essentially talking about vodka where it's essentially almost all the same ingredients. Well, no, cause this is even more streamlined. You literally can all only use the same ingredient. You all have to use the same distillation method. So literally it comes down to your cooking process and your mashing process and that's it.

John Vieira (26:12):
Right. Because with vodka, as we kind of learned, your base of grains or anything like that can fluctuate your distillation methods. It's technically... Tequila, that is, is a much more...

Nick Boban (26:28):
Oh, it's a very strict.

John Vieira (26:29):
Very strict, very refined set of standards. Okay. So real quick, before we jump out of this episode and into the next one, let's talk a little bit about your experience when you got to the patron facility.

Nick Boban (26:46):
Oh yeah. So for me, learning almost everything that I just regurgitated, besides some of the governing bodies that do this, I learned from patron themselves.

John Vieira (26:58):
And your experience when you went there, it was pretty amazing, right?

Nick Boban (27:02):
Oh it was great. They flew us down into, God, what's that big city in Jalisco? Guadalajara. Yeah. They flew us into Guadalajara. Picked us up on a bus. Bussed us up to their... They call it a hacienda de patron. Set us up... And they have an onsite hotel there that's just for guests. Which, that hotel room was literally bigger than my house. It was unreal. They took us out to the fields for the agave. Then I got to learn all about the growing process, the harvesting process, the jimadores, the families that they all work with. Then we literally followed the shipment back to the facility. We watched them break apart and roast them. We watched them pull them out and shred them, ferment them, distill them, age them, blend them. We were able to taste the distillate straight off of the still, which was just unreal. We got to taste them at 55%. Right as, which was way better. And I don't... I still, to this day, don't know why they don't bottle that.

John Vieira (28:11):
It's so crazy to me that they don't offer it.

Nick Boban (28:13):
There is, I did find a tequila that was a special order that I tried to get here and I couldn't get it, but they had a 55%.

John Vieira (28:21):
That'd be awesome. I'd love to taste that.

Nick Boban (28:23):
It's way better. It's way nicer in cocktails cause it comes through a lot better.

John Vieira (28:26):
Well, that's what I'm thinking is like, man, when you mix something that has some muscle to it like that, I mean, it's so much easier to play with. Cause you can be like, Oh, let's add like more of this flavor. Cause it's not going to wash it out. Let's add more of this other ingredient. Like it's just, it's liberating.

Nick Boban (28:42):
Yeah. So anyways, all that being said, it was a great experience. I did super enjoy it. We got to learn all about the history of Patron, which actually, patron having such a large backing and now actually being owned by Bacardi, has even more of a backing. They're a big push for the regulatory bodies. They're a big push on the no additives product. They're trying to spearhead the tequila game as like a super premium spirit on a world stage. That's what they're going after. Yeah. And they do a great job.

John Vieira (29:20):
Yeah. They've got good marketing.

Nick Boban (29:22):
And so with that, they've actually donated a whole mixology set for us to give away to our listeners.

John Vieira (29:32):
Yeah. And the great thing about this is, since we're a week from Cinco de Mayo, essentially. Whoever wins this giveaway, we can get you all this stuff to have for cinco de mayo. So that way, whatever kind of party you're throwing...

Nick Boban (29:49):
Hopefully. As long as they're close to us. I don't know how far, how long the shipping will be.

John Vieira (29:54):
It's usually not more than a couple of days.

Nick Boban (29:56):
True. On the West coast. If we hit someone on the East coast though it'll be four.

John Vieira (30:02):
We'll try our best. No promises. But essentially...

Nick Boban (30:07):
But we'll give you a couple of days from now, right? So essentially we need you to subscribe to the podcast, gotta like our Instagram page @housemadesyrup and then like our Facebook page and then like our sister company craft lounge. @craft.lounge

John Vieira (30:26):
Yeah. So I think what we decided to do to simplify this whole thing is actually the giveaway is through craft lounge because that's technically what patron had donated these supplies to. So we're going to do that through craft lounge, but since housemade is a sister company, we're just trying to kind of expand our reach with house made, and just try to get more viewers and more listeners and just more people that are interested in learning how to make cocktails and wanting to use mixers, essentially, that we make. So with that, if you guys can go onto our platforms and like that stuff. And we're going to have a landing page on the website as well. Probably the craft website, I would think. Right?

Nick Boban (31:15):
Well, let's, uh... Craft.lounge on Instagram. We'll post there and that'll have all the details.

John Vieira (31:23):
Right. So, yeah, we'll put all the details up, cause I don't know exactly what it looks like yet. We're still kind of putting it together, but essentially just go and like all of our stuff. Help us kinda get a little bit better reach and we'll basically enter you in to this drawing for some really cool stuff. We've got...

Nick Boban (31:41):
It's pretty cool. They have the sexiest mixing glass I've seen in a long time.

John Vieira (31:46):
It's really, really nice.

Nick Boban (31:47):
And matching jigger. Matching...

John Vieira (31:49):
It's all matching. It all looks sexy.

Nick Boban (31:51):
It all has the little bee on it.

John Vieira (31:53):
Yeah. There's a really sexy picture of it.

Nick Boban (31:55):
So the bee, for anybody that doesn't know, for patron, is their mascot because that is what pollinates all the plants.

John Vieira (32:02):
Oh, gotcha. That makes total sense. All right. Well, uh, so on this next episode we're doing, we're going to jump into a blind taste test. So you won't want to miss that and then we'll give you more details on this giveaway, cause we will hopefully nail it down more by there. So anyway, just check out the websites for all that. We'll catch you on the next one. Cheers.

Speaker 1 (32:30):
[inaudible].