Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
The lizards pair the San Cristóbal de la Habana La Punta with Fuenteseca Cosecha Blanco Tequila 2013 and Casa Noble Tequila Reposado. The guys welcome Chef/Partner Ricky Camacho of the Añejo Restaurant Group (NYC/PHI) for part one of a deep dive on artisan Tequila. They also discuss the shortfalls of commercial tequilas and why tequila pairs so well with cigars.
Released every Tuesday, the LOUNGE LIZARDS podcast helps listeners navigate the experience of finding and enjoying premium cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban) and quality spirits. Episodes are normally around 90 minutes long and feature a variety of different topics including food, travel, life, sports and work.
The podcast features eight members: Rooster, Poobah, Gizmo, Senator, Pagoda, Chef Ricky, Grinder and Bam Bam.
This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.
Join us and become a card-carrying lounge lizard yourself! Email us at hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!
**Gizmo:** [00:00:00] Welcome to the Lounge Liz's podcast. It's so good to have you here. It's a leisure and lifestyle podcast founded on our love of premium cigars, as well as whiskey, travel, food, work, and whatever else we feel like getting into. My name is Gizmo. Tonight I'm joined by Rooster Puba, Senator Grinder, and bam bam.
And our plan is to smoker cigar drinks of tequila, talk about life, and of course, have some. So take this as your 32nd official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard. Len, meet us here once a week. We're gonna smoke a Cupid cigar tonight, share our thoughts on it, and give you our formal lizard rating.
We welcome our first guest, lizard chef, partner Ricky Camacho from the Anejo Restaurant Group for part one of our Tequila deep dive, and we discuss why this spirit pairs so well with cigars, all among a variety of other things for the next hour. So, sit. Get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, and enjoy as we pair two artisan tequilas with the San Cristobal de Havana La Punta.
Our second pyramid in the Battle of the [00:01:00] pyramids on the pod tonight, the sand Cristobal de la Havana la Punta. It's a 52 ring gauge by five and a half inch stick. A gorgeous looking pyramid. Very rustic though boys. It is, uh, way more rustic than I would think most of the other pyramids in the havanas line.
You know, you, you think about the up and two, the P two. The P two, yeah. Even the Unico, I mean Yep. This is certainly the most rustic looking of the bunch, so I'm very excited to do it on the pod tonight. Let's, uh, let's cut this thing really quick. See what we're getting on the cold draw and the wrapper.
**Grinder:** Beautiful, uh, soft box press here.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Compliments of the dress box,
**Gizmo:** unfortunately. Absolutely.
Mine is definitely
**Ricky:** a little tight. Yeah. So is mine.
**Gizmo:** Very Mine tight. Mine's
**Bam Bam:** definitely a little tight. Really? I'm wide op. I
**Gizmo:** had a feeling
**Senator:** about that. I took a good amount off of mine. I dunno, if you wanna look at this, gizz
**Gizmo:** and I did the, I'm open, I did the same. Mine's [00:02:00] pretty wide open. I'll take a little more.
Okay. I'll take a little more.
**Rooster:** Yeah. My, yeah. Mine's open. Yeah, mine's open.
**Gizmo:** So what are you guys getting on the, uh, on the cold draw? Not, not much a little. Well, Cedar, nothing crazy tobacco, just
**Senator:** cedar on the cold draw. But if you smell the wrapper,
**Gizmo:** yeah.
**Bam Bam:** A bit of sweetness
**Gizmo:** on a wrap wrapper, like some milk chocolate.
Giving it another cut. Senator did help a little bit, but it's still, I wouldn't say close to what I would expect from Right. A ho
**Bam Bam:** bono's pyramid. Interesting. I'm just
**Gizmo:** gonna go with it. Very
**Poobah:** cool. Yeah, I was, I was fueling around in the box and there was, there was one or two that were hef. . I just, just luck of the draw.
They just felt like heavy. There was one or two that felt
**Gizmo:** heavy. Yeah. Like they were packed too much or something. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. All right, so we have a, uh, very special guest with us tonight Boys, as we're about to light this thing. Ricky is here, the chef [00:03:00] and uh, partner in the Anejo Restaurant Group with restaurants in what New York.
Did I miss any? Ricky? No.
**Ricky:** Currently two in New York and one in Philadelphia. Awesome. Awesome.
**Gizmo:** And growing. And growing. What's like this thing, the San Cristobal de Havana la Punta. We'll, we'll call it for, uh, brevity's sake tonight. We'll call it San Cristobal, but it's formal name is San Cristobal DLA Havana.
That's such a,
**Grinder:** that's such a common word in your vocabulary. Formal. because you're like the least formal guy. I, I
**Bam Bam:** know . It's
**Poobah:** true. It's fucking hilarious. He's actually anti, yeah, you're actually
**Bam Bam:** visceral reactions
**Grinder:** to anything
**Bam Bam:** having to do with
**Gizmo:** being formal. It's very true. Only if it's a wedding or a funeral.
Or a cigar rating. Or a cigar rating. Again, this is 52 ring gauge by five and a half inches. A pyramid to be curious how
**Poobah:** everyone's drawings. Interesting. If it was like, if it was a blind [00:04:00] tasting, I think this is Amani too for a. On the, I'm
**Ricky:** right
**Senator:** there with you. Pba. Oh
**Ricky:** my
**Bam Bam:** God. Are you're right.
**Gizmo:** This is super
**Poobah:** chocolate.
Like if you blinded it.
**Ricky:** Um, lot, lots of that Cuban swang for me.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Yeah. Agreed. So this is the first Sun Crisal I've ever had. Ah, I've never had one before.
**Bam Bam:** This is the only one I've had
**Ricky:** the same
**Senator:** here. I've been asking Bam, for, uh, this Garfield the last two
**Bam Bam:** years. What else is made your wish has come true.
**Gizmo:** just waiting for the pod. . It's very pleasant. Very
**Grinder:** pleasant. Loving it so far. Uh, your comment about the money too has me immediately guessing what's the price point of this versus money two.
**Bam Bam:** So I paid 14 bucks a stick for these.
**Gizmo:** So right on price, right on. Same. Well, not, not anymore. I mean, the box now of, of money, two reasonably priced is about 4 75.
Yeah. So that has jumped about a hundred bucks in the past. I don't know. I don't know the last week or two. , it's [00:05:00] jumped quite a bit last month, so, so
**Bam Bam:** Grindr, I find these to be a, a light to medium cigar for me personally. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** I'm getting the Monte two thing, but not as twangy. Um, it's a little smoother. Um, I don't know if I like that though, versus what I like and I'm getting a lot of, I like chocolate in, in this cigar.
I get cocoa in this. Yeah, for sure. It's good so far. I mean, I wish the draw was a little more wide open, but For yours. Yeah. Yeah, for mine. But so be it, you know?
**Bam Bam:** Does this have any age on it? Uh, these are 20 nineteens. Yeah. L g r
**Gizmo:** box code. So before we get into tequila, I'll talk very briefly about San Cristobal de la Havana because there's not really that much to talk about.
Uh, the brand was created in 1999, um, and there was another brand with the same name, but, uh, it's not related and. It's a portfolio, uh, Marco from Havanas. [00:06:00] Yeah, and there's really not much else to say about it. They have three, uh, regular production cigars, the pri, which is a petite Corona, a la Fuerza, which is a Robusto extra.
And this La Punta, which is a pyramid. So that's really the brand history on San Crista. Ball. Ball. Not much else to say. Well, I
**Senator:** think before we get into tequila, uh, we were excited to have our, our first guest. And so, uh, Huben, his excitement brought something that, uh, necessitated me, uh, going upstairs for the sabor.
Ooh, ooh, and uh,
**Bam Bam:** properly. Hey, now,
**Senator:** We're gonna
**Gizmo:** properly toast our proper Liz as well.
**Bam Bam:** Oh, wonderful. So Gizmo, we are making it
**Gizmo:** formal. In other words, , it seems very formal as the box comes out. Puba take the narration away. Yes.
**Poobah:** And so right now what's happening is Senator, um, he's got a wooden box. For those of you who have not heard this before, there's a wooden box and in this wooden box is a saber.
It's approximately. [00:07:00] Two feet long, maybe more intimidating. Um, it's got a beautiful handle on it and it actually says his name on there, which is interesting. And, um, Elena aor . El Elena aor.
**Gizmo:** Do you see the bottle sweating PBA And, um, what's the bottle sweating. Look
**Poobah:** at it. You know, I, I, I really chilled this, this was, this is gonna be nice and cold cause it was nice and cold.
In transport and we only live five minutes away. And now he's taking the sword. Now he's taking the sword. He's standing up. He's going for it.
**Gizmo:** Oh.
**Ricky:** Oh wow. What
**Gizmo:** a beauty. What a job. What a beautiful job. That's wonderful. I mean, nice, impressive, clean
**Poobah:** right off. . Fantastic.
**Gizmo:** So Rick, he's got to
**Ricky:** the pod. Thank you.
Welcome to the pod. Thank you. I am extremely flattered and happy. And
**Gizmo:** now you get to watch Senator b Garone, which is one of our favorite parts. .
**Grinder:** I was waiting, I was waiting for Puba to
**Bam Bam:** say he's pulling out a six foot saber
**Poobah:** about to Samurai Gizmo in the fucking face, [00:08:00]
**Gizmo:** which is not that unlikely.
**Poobah:** Yes. Now he's, he's evenly distribut.
Very, the Paul Roge very gratuitous in the pos, which, oh yes, oh yes. Well, we're just gonna generate this poor and pound, oh, look at his
**Gizmo:** daisy chaining. Wow. What a
**Poobah:** gentleman. He's the, he's the best boy. He's the key grip and the garon. So much effort and, and, and thought with the towel
**Bam Bam:** wrapped around his arm and all.
Yes. Thank you
**Poobah:** Senator. It's a caddy. Beautifully done. He's got a senator, he's got a work belt on with, with the cork screw. Duct tape.
**Gizmo:** Thank you so much. W D 40
**Poobah:** W. D 40
**Gizmo:** wires he's wearing. Tims . Exactly. All right, boys. All right. Cheers, fellow. Cheers. Cheers. Thank you so much. Cheers, Ricky, welcome to the pod.
We're so happy to have you here. Cheers, boys. Cheers. This is fantastic. God, it
**Grinder:** hits the spot.
**Ricky:** Gonna be pretty hammered at the end of this, huh? Oh yeah, sure Spot. Nice. [00:09:00]
**Bam Bam:** Do we need to give Ricky a name?
**Ricky:** Should Ricky, you know, I was thinking of that on the way. , uh, believe it or not, and I just, what do you got for us?
I, I couldn't, I couldn't come up with anything as cool as your guys' names. , um, cactus? No. Jesus.
**Gizmo:** You prickly bastard. Cactus. Prickly. No.
**Bam Bam:** I'm trying to think
**Grinder:** where I hero, hero, agave. The, the, the top bun takes agave. His name is Hero. Sushi.
**Gizmo:** Sushi guy. The sushi guy are the top. Now, because you're a chef in
**Ricky:** your, you're just. Cause I'm bald.
**Gizmo:** No. Could you have no hair?
**Poobah:** Let's call him Nobu. The name, the name has, the name has to be generated organically.
It does. Well, you know, that's your job. It's
**Bam Bam:** an organic process.
**Gizmo:** We'll get there.
**Ricky:** We'll, we have a moment. I'll tell you what, let me think of that and uh, I'll get back to you. But that's the problem. You don't, you don't
**Senator:** make your, you don't, don't, don't. It's granted, he's given, it's granted. There's [00:10:00] really only one person that gets to pick.
**Gizmo:** That's exactly right. Which is why he's Puba.
**Poobah:** Look at, it'll reveal itself in, in, in two time.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. It'll come out before the end of the episode. It'll come out Sure. Like the spirit of God. Yes. Sometimes it just reveals the spirit of the lizards. So, uh, Ricky, we are so happy to have you here. And, uh, this was, uh, brought on by, you know, in our short time knowing you in having met you at, at our clubhouse, uh, through I know Senator has some mutual friends of yours, partners of yours.
Uh, you have been an eye-opening resource. Certainly for me, I would, I would, I would say for the entire group on the artisan, uh, side of great
**Ricky:** tequilas. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, yeah, man, first and foremost, I, I gotta thank that partner, uh, Jay Pizo as I call him for bringing us together. Um, and you know, I, I, I saw it as an opportunity when joining the clubhouse.
So, you know, I [00:11:00] figured, uh, you know, I've, I've listened to all of the episodes prior to coming on here. Not in the one shot, but, or, you know, as they, as they get released and I see, you know, scotch and bourbon and even rum or beer, uh, featured oftentimes, and there was a couple features or, or pairings with tequila, I should say, and find tequila.
but there's so many tequilas out there that don't get the, uh, the mark, the marketing dollars. They don't get the same opportunities that, you know, some of those other brands that you may have covered previously. Uh, get, and it's not because they're any worse, or, and, you know, and more often than not, they're much better.
Uh, they're, they're, they're excellent. They're produced artisanally, um, and they're just delicious to drink. So, you know, I, I was just really grateful for the opportunity. Super excited. A locker to put my things in and you know, I just look forward to getting into the clubhouse and whenever there's people there pulling out some good tequila and preaching the gospel, getting people interested, and maybe we could get some of those Scott [00:12:00] sales over to the, uh, tequila side, uh,
**Gizmo:** to the good te you've side, you've converted.
You've already done that. You've
**Senator:** already done that. I just have to say, I mean, I, I think we're all very discerning consumers when it comes to spirit. and me especially, I mean, I can't count how many vineyards I've I've visited in Napa or other places, and the people at the actual site don't even know very much about the product that they're responsible for making.
So I've got a pretty sensitive bullshit meter for stuff like this. And I'll never forget the first time sitting down with Ricky, just astounded by his knowledge. Yeah. Of tequila and aga. And even more astounded that every single bottle of tequila that he has poured from me, one I have never heard of. Yep.
and two has been absolutely fantastic. There's yet to be one that disappoints him.
**Bam Bam:** They've all been delicious. Absolutely. It's been a long time coming. Thank you. What's also interesting is that he goes into the manufacturing process, which I'm so excited dig into. It's really fascinating. Yes. Yes. Yeah.
**Ricky:** And, and that's probably one of the most romantic things about tequila.
I mean, obvi obviously a, you know, flavor aside. Just how this stuff is [00:13:00] made and, and what it takes to get it done is, is so interesting. And, and it makes you really want to seek out the good stuff, you know, not just whatever's out there, whatever you can get your hands on. And, you know, if you can't find it in your local brick and mortar.
Just, you know, go online and get it and, uh, or come to the restaurant, you know, chances are we'll have it. How, how many, how many tequilas you guys have? Have on, uh, I'd say a Gavi distill. It's in total, we're stocking right now about 234 bottles. Wow. What? Uh, wow. Okay. Interestingly enough though, I would say it's.
Mezcal and tequila are pretty well balanced. And then we have a few other agave distills that really haven't gotten any time in the limelight, you know, such as CE and Bana and Soto. Uh, they're, they're just not out there as much as tequila or mezcal, but we'll get there, you know. 10, 15 years ago, tequila sort of blew up in, in the, in, in a good way.
Uh, and then Mezcal sort of started following, you know, I'd say five or six years ago. Hmm. The mezcal
**Grinder:** thing [00:14:00] fascinates
**Ricky:** me. So what? Yeah. I can't wait to get you guys into the mezcal. I figure we did. I can't wait for that. We get through this. I can't te tequila first. It's definitely gonna be a slightly.
Different experience.
**Senator:** Can't wait. Am I the only one very nervous about that? ? Very,
**Ricky:** very nervous. I'm nervous. I'm nervous
**Senator:** about if there's one spirit I have not been able to enjoy, it's mezcal. Now I would put my life in Ricky's hands and I'm gonna do this. We do mezcal. We we're gonna see how that goes. I'm very curious.
**Grinder:** Is that, is that, is mezcal a spirit that you can, you know,
**Ricky:** Nicely Absolutely. Consume out on its own. Yeah, a hundred percent. That's cause I've only had it in mixed . That's the only way I have it. Yeah. I only have it nepo, as you guys know. No ice. Right. Uh, yeah. Very rarely do I ever use ice in anything. Uh, but yeah, it's, you learn to appreciate the terwar, the flavors that you're getting from the agave, from how, from how it's processed.
Uh, and when you get into the mescal world, it's even broader than it is in tequila. , this is a tequila episode. So,
**Grinder:** so is this amateur question, what's the difference
**Ricky:** between the two? Uh, there is many, but I'll [00:15:00] highlight a couple. Uh, so tequila has to be made from the tequila tequilana, blue Weber agave, so only one type of agave, uh, and five different states in Mexico.
They're usually cooked in brick ovens or stone ovens, autoclaves. , um, and diffusers, which we might, we might get into later on, uh, mescal could made from o could be made from over 60 different types of agave. So you get a broad range of flavors. And then as far as cooking instead of the, there are some that are done in brick ovens, but most are done in earth and pits.
Uh, so, you know, sometimes, especially early on, it seemed like every Moscow hitting the market was a smoke bomb. And, and that's all people remember. It's like, oh, Mescal's, a smokey counterpart of tequila. Yeah. And. I probably have two Smoky Mescals on my back bar out of the hundred that are there. Uh, so that, that's the exception.
Uh, not, not the, the common denominated with Mescals. And I think that's sort of where we get people started is it doesn't have to be an ashtray, right? It doesn't have to be that flavor [00:16:00] profile. Uh, cuz there's, so there's some of these that, you know, the agave just gets to shine and do its thing.
**Gizmo:** So, um, I think I speak for a lot of folks out there, a lot of listeners, maybe a lot of guys in the room.
My previous experiences with tequila were not great, you know, because I was drinking maybe poor tequila, bad tequila, whatever word you wanna use. So it was very eye-opening to, to see the correlation between artisan te tequila, um, which, you know, the first vehicle for that for me, uh, was from Puba and Senator getting into Don Julio and Ajo.
And then moving on from that to the things you have been bringing to the clubhouse and kind of making us aware of, I mean, it's eye-opening. Much, I'm enjoying these, I'm reaching for tequila nine times outta 10 now versus any other spirit. So that, that's awesome. And that's a credit to, to you and, and Puma and Senator.
So that's why I think this is very valuable. I think this, the, doing this deep dive is very exciting for me because I can't wait to try some of these things [00:17:00] guys.
**Ricky:** Awesome. It's, it's so exciting for me cuz I think a lot of people, just like you have had that same experience where their first tequila was probably the goat stuff in college.
And you wake up the next day, feeling like crap. And, and look, the reality is that legally that's not tequila. Right. Contains about 49% of Gavi. The rest are additives and things like this. And that's why you probably felt like crap the day after. Uh, you know, everything from glycerin to caramel coloring to, you know, you name it, it's in there, right?
And those are the additives. Uh, all of the tequilas we will be covering today will not contain additives. So had had
**Rooster:** not, had nothing to do with the 20.
**Gizmo:** Shots, .
**Ricky:** Sure. had everything to do with that too. . But you could only do that because of the price point at that time. Right. You know, a bottle of that stuff was, oh, we didn't
**Rooster:** know any better.
Yeah. Yeah.
**Poobah:** So. Well, I'm glad you, I'm glad you mentioned the, the additives because, um, as someone who's been [00:18:00] drinking tequila kind of since the boom started mm-hmm. , um, but drinking commercial like higher end commercial. More commercially made, less artisanal, made tequila. Sure. It's like Don Julio. Yeah. Like Classica.
Um, and what you've and Don Julio. I, I do like, I'll always drink it Class A. Oh, class A. There you go. Class. Class. A class. There you go. Class.
**Gizmo:** Sorry. Blue class. Yeah. Class
**Poobah:** A. Yeah. Well anyway, I don't love
**Gizmo:** it. I
**Senator:** like this. Please correct. Oh, please correct.
**Bam Bam:** Pbu. I was gonna go . I was gonna go right there. He is very well behaved tonight.
correct me God.
**Poobah:** Classic. Um, anyway, uh, is. and, and there's, and there's, there's a lot of sugar added to that and there's a lot of premium. So maybe that's something you can, you can talk a little bit more about. There's a, there's, there's this [00:19:00] premium high-end celebrity tequilas that are out there Sure. That are very drinkable.
They're high priced, um, but they add a lot of sugar and, and, and it really is. , it masked the tastes of really what a more true spirit or a true tequila should taste like. And, um, it's not that great
**Gizmo:** of an
**Ricky:** experience. Sure, yeah. It's, it's not right. And I'm not here to, to shit on any brand or talk bad about any brand because there's something out there for everyone you know, and just like, y you guys don't cover many new worlds, or you're very particular about the cigars you smoke.
I'm the same with my tequila. So if there's people out there that enjoy Klaus Ozo and I, and I imagine there's many, because it's marketed well, it does well, it's available. So chances are if you're at a bar, at a restaurant, or even at a club, it's there for you to get and you could taste it. And you know, unlike the bottles that I have here today, You're gonna have to seek them out a bit.
You know, you might get lucky and [00:20:00] find 'em in your local brick and mortar, but otherwise there's not a whole lot done, uh, a whole lot else done. We do have a celebrity tequila here today, so it's not all celebrity tequila. So I did make a point to bring a celebrity tequila, cuz this is one that's done right.
Uh, and we'll get into it. But yeah, in some cases there there's, there's, there's three different ways to process or you're agave. Right? And I mean it's, you know, we'll, we'll get into it. Agaves in general, you know, you, there's different levels of ripeness at that, you know, at those different levels. There's percentages of sugar.
Those sugar, those sugar percentages increase. when you're a mass market at tequila and you need to make thou hundreds of thousands of liters of. , you're probably not gonna wait to get that 10 year old agave or that 13 year old agave that the smaller guy's waiting to get because he doesn't make as much as you do and he wants to make sure that what he does make is delicious.
So you're gonna go for the younger agave. What else are you gonna cut out? You may not use the full artisanal process that [00:21:00] requires you to, you know, use a to or a roller. or a brick oven with that would take days. It could take hours if you use a diffuser. Um, diffuser is a controversial thing in, in the, in the tequila world because of how it's done and what it does to the agave and what it allows you to do.
Uh, but the fact of the matter is if you're drinking a tequila that. Is that big? It's probably made in that manner. Um, so what happens is they have to add additives to give that tequila soul, because when you bypass all of those artisanal methods, you lose the soul. That's, that's natural. That would naturally be in your juice.
Uh, you lose it. So let me ask
**Rooster:** you a question. Some of these other tequilas like class say that you say like they're, you know, additives to it. Mm-hmm. , are they marketed more towards.
**Ricky:** I don't think it's women that it's marketed to. It's marketed to the consumer that's looking for that smooth experience. You almost feel no burn, right?
I just, I call it hot or not hot, right? There's heat. That heat is that burn. Some of that [00:22:00] heat is good because that heat's coming from the agave, so you just, it's kind of like those natural, fruity notes. Coming from the agave, it's bright. Uh, classical is very dark, you know, and that, and that's a repo, which, you know, we'll get into.
That's only age for, you know, six months, six to 11 months max by law. Yet it tastes so insanely sweet and smooth as if it's been sitting in wood for 10 years. Right? So that, that's usually the first sort of, uh, Factor that helps you determine what, what's, what's happening with that brand.
**Gizmo:** So, uh, before we get into trying our first tequila, I'm curious what you guys are thinking of this cigar.
Um, I'm about, uh, smooth, like the class PBA has his hand up go, .
**Bam Bam:** Oh, I like that. Glasses in session.
**Poobah:** very flat for me. I totally agree. It's very flat. It, I've had some performance issues. It's not burning particularly well. Even though my draw was open, it [00:23:00] tunneled on me a little. And then it also, the wrappers kind of, it's very one-dimensional for me.
I'm not getting a whole lot of sh of power. I want more and it's not delivering it.
**Gizmo:** And that's, I agree on everything you just said. I have it actually
**Grinder:** a very good burn here.
**Gizmo:** Um, how's the flavor on your. ,
**Grinder:** it started very wonderful and then it, to your point, it's ki, I wouldn't say it's flat.
**Bam Bam:** One
**Gizmo:** dimensional.
There is some cocoa, cocoa notes. A little nutty little co. I just re-lit and got that. Yeah, you get that. But it's one dimensional.
**Poobah:** It's re and the the finish is really, really abrupt. Yeah. Like nothing. Like not at all. The
**Rooster:** aroma
**Ricky:** is nice. It's all right guys. That's a kilo makeup for .
**Gizmo:** I
**Poobah:** promise. I'm just being honest.
Cause I felt strongly about it as coming through through here. I. It's not
**Ricky:** doing it for me. You know, it, it's funny, in the chef world, there's different types of cocoa powder, different grades, different colors in all our worlds, but I see it more often than you guys. Um, this reminds me of a very light cocoa [00:24:00] powder, almost like Hershey cocoa powder, right?
Which is just your just sort of everyday commonplace cocoa powder. Uh, whereas there's like very ruby red, uh, colors on, on some darker cocoa powders or, or even really black, uh, this. Like a very light purple.
**Grinder:** It's so wonderful having a chef in here to like, it's our pallets
**Poobah:** right now, . It's totally great.
Now do you use the, do you use those in mole
**Ricky:** or, I do. We use them in mole. We use them in, uh, at one point I was doing a chocolate pudding. Um, yeah, yeah.
**Rooster:** So, so as a chef, I mean, you might be getting some different notes from the cigar that we are
**Ricky:** getting, you know, on the cold draw. I was getting some lick, some not licorice, Anis.
I was getting a little. A niece, uh, hint, which is coming from the cedar too.
**Gizmo:** So yeah, I'm kind of getting like a nutty thing too. There's like a, a nuttiness about it. I don't want to compare it to a rass, but what I'm saying nutty, I mean in that kind of rassy, nutty way. Um, but we'll see how it develops your voice.
You know what retro ha
**Poobah:** it? Yeah. It is [00:25:00] nice on you. Get that a, you get that anus. It is nice on the retro. Now if you get that little anis.
**Bam Bam:** No, I would certainly classify this as a mild cigar. It definitely as mild, yeah's mild. Absolutely. Yeah,
**Gizmo:** absolutely. All right, boys, so let's, uh, Ricky, let's try our first tequila.
Tell us what we got here and let's, uh, let's, let's start, let's dig
**Ricky:** in. Sure. All right guys. So we're starting here with, uh, it's almost a shame to go with this one first. Uh, it's a blanco tequila, whereas all the others that we're doing have some age on them. Um, this tequila is extremely special. It's called fuce.
Uh, pupa. You can see that in English or everyone? .
**Gizmo:** Oh,
**Bam Bam:** pagodas in the house. Yes.
**Ricky:** Ce So, although it's a Blanco, this guy here, he, he essentially was, you know, he's a master cultivator, comes from a long line of, of, uh, agave cultist. And he wanted to find his own distillery. He wanted to create something [00:26:00] that was more.
In the middle. Right. And now if you look at this, comes in a beautiful wooden box with hay in there and it's, it's secure in the box. And on the box it says, which is basically saying it's a single field, right? So some of those mass marketed agaves, they, they're, you know, because they need, I mean, tequilas because they need to produce so much, they're just buying agaves from multiple sources.
This guy is going as far as as saying, this isn't only a. Gro Agave Maya estate, these agave come from a single field, right? And that field is located at about fifty five hundred and twenty four feet, right? Um, and it's protected by a cliff or a mountain that shades it in a particular manner, and it's also down slope.
So what happens is the agave is never flood, right? Senator, you with the wine, you understand the, the flooding. I you're
**Senator:** speaking my language. This is wonderful .
**Ricky:** So it's, you know, you know, and it's funny, right? So I, I knew nothing about tequila. This is all like [00:27:00] self-taught and talking with people and many bottles won't tell you where the agave specifically this guy, if you look on that bottle, the label, I, if I could drag it here, I would.
Uh, but it tells you specifically where it is in al in elevation, uh, and. . What he wants to do here is highlight that agave, but that elevation is right smack in the middle between low lands and highland lands. So he's trying to tell us there's not only lowland and Hyland tequila, but there's this also.
Right. And when you get into this, uh, you know, pre petro corre is, uh, sta uh, uh, uh, uh, adjective I hear on this podcast often, usually to make fun of, of Grindr. But, um, no, this is where, this is where I. , but when you taste that agave, you know you're gonna get that. And he wants to highlight that flavor profile so much that instead of saying, okay, we're gonna go zero to two months, because after two months, close to three months, you start to become a rapsodo if you're aging an oak.
He says, I'm gonna let this [00:28:00] sit in glass. Cask or, uh, forget the proper name for it, but for three years. Wow. And that's gonna allow the tequila to sort of play together, meld, and just become one with itself. and you know, you're gonna get everything from briny notes out of here to, you know, mineral black pepper.
Not too much, maybe more so like white pepper.
**Bam Bam:** Maybe I'm crazy, but I'm getting a little bit of black licorice. And you mentioned anise earlier. Yeah,
**Gizmo:** I'm, I'm tasting that. So what are you guys getting the, the nose on? This is really interesting. It's amazing. On the nose. Smoke's a little something, something going on in the nose that, yep.
I can't describe. Hey, Ricky, let me
**Rooster:** ask you something before you go on . What does, what does, uh, ceia mean?
**Ricky:** Ceia means.
**Rooster:** Ah, because they do say that on some of the, uh, Reserva.
**Gizmo:** Ccha. Exactly. Reserva, CCEA, yep.
**Ricky:** Harvest special, special harvest. Mm-hmm. just means heart to harvest. So ccea is the, the, that specific harvest.
So are we
**Gizmo:** trying this thing? [00:29:00] Sure. Let's do it. . Let's try it. What were we gonna say?
**Bam Bam:** Baam? Getting back to what you were saying, it's, it's really beautiful and elegant and mild on the
**Ricky:** nose. Now I want you guys to take note of this one thing. This is still strength. So usually tequilas you're gonna taste are 80 proof.
This is at about 93. Hmm. . Wow. Yeah.
**Senator:** It has a little kick. Little kick
**Grinder:** to us. It, what is it? Were you hot? Is that what you said? It's hot. Hot, yeah. Hot. It's very hot.
**Gizmo:** It's really delicious. It's smooth, but it's, it's gotta. There, there, it's got a
**Ricky:** noom to it. There's a creaminess to it, there's a brightness to it. There's a minerality to it. Uh, I'm getting like Creamsicle. . Yeah. Yeah. There's a hundred percent Creamsicle now. He, he kept this still strength on purpose. He thinks the agave comes through more when, when it's, uh, you know, when the final spirit's hotter.
Uh, otherwise, if this was sort of a, I would say if this was rested at 80 proof. . So this point it will [00:30:00] fall flat. Right? If he's sat for three years in, in the glass jars. Um,
**Senator:** I mean this thing has also just been aged in that bottle. I mean, this, this said what, 2013 was the
**Ricky:** year, I think. Well, 2016. Or 16. Cause it sat in glass for three years.
So I've had it since 2016. Wow. Okay. Yeah. So that was bottled
**Senator:** in 13? Yep. Wow. How, how common or uncommon not bottled that for there to be an eight statement an actual. on a bottle of tequila. I feel like I haven't seen that. Obviously we know Don Lio, 1942 has not been sitting in
**Ricky:** that bottle since 1942.
**Bam Bam:** it has in Rooster's house,
**Ricky:** So Senator, to your point, it's not often that you see it, and it's mostly because it's implied, right? When you see a Rapsodo, you know, bylaw, it has to be between three and 11 months. When it's an anjo, it has to be. , you know, between, uh, it has to be a year or more when it's an extra ane it's, uh, 18 months or more.
Um, so, you know, we will, it's more of, it's [00:31:00] usually not mentioned unless there's something special. This guy wants you to know the exact altitude, the exact, uh, field, uh, why it's special to him, how it's rested. So he puts all of those details on the bottle. So , guess your favorite or one of your favorites is Don Fallo.
Yep. This guy makes Don fall. .
**Gizmo:** This guy's a genius. Yeah. What is
**Bam Bam:** Don Fallo?
**Gizmo:** It's a brand tequila. You've had it one of, haven't You had it at the club? You had it at the club. Yeah. You were there. Oh, yes, yes. He was ready to attack me. It was excellent. Did you see his hand go up? ? We see that that was the stuff
**Senator:** on Cco De Mayo is
**Bam Bam:** drinking from the bottle, right?
Oh yeah.
**Gizmo:** That's right. Yeah. Got it, got it. Recommend tell
**Rooster:** everybody the name of this again.
**Ricky:** Sure this is, uh, fu this is the 2013 bottling, uh, or harvest I should say, cuz it doesn't get bottled until 2016. Uh, there, there are other years available that have other, you know, uh, properties attached to it. In terms of why it's special.
I'm not too familiar with the [00:32:00] others. This is sort of my Blanco what's the, uh, price point on this? So, for a Blanco, this goes to $89. , uh, and more as the years go on, because there's obviously less of them since there's only 8,000 made here. Um, and about a thousand were distributed outside of the us so,
**Rooster:** but is he still bottling?
I mean, is there new batches being
**Ricky:** produced of this stuff? No, but he does have other years. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. .
**Senator:** So every year is he producing roughly like 8,000 and putting a, the, the year of the
**Ricky:** harvest on it? I don't know for sure, but I would say something along those lines. Yeah, he's making something, special's making.
It's very cool. Something
**Gizmo:** special. Very cool. For sure.
**Poobah:** So I, I, so, um, just to comment on this, this, this, so you gotta, I feel like I get a much better experience when you take a, when you take like a take a generous sip of this. Yes. Yep. And, and, and, and just get it, just jump into. And the finish is long. I'm not saying drink it like a shot, [00:33:00] but if you gotta, if you just nip it, it's not, you're not gonna get it.
You gotta like, I'm gonna finish this right now. Oh really? . And you get it like coach your mouth. Yeah. And you really get I a good, it's, it's not as hot. It's a great point. The power adjusts. I did the same thing for us. And you just, just,
**Bam Bam:** it's fantastic on the finish. Good belt. Yeah, he's
**Poobah:** right. He's right.
And it tastes. So here's finishes so long on
**Bam Bam:** it. So here's a question. We're we're, this is, we're drinking this neat. I know how you feel about ice in your tequila. If we had a chip of ice in each, how would the tequila react and would it open up and would we have different notes?
**Ricky:** It'll open up a hundred percent.
I don't know if it'll have different notes. I think it'll open up those notes and sort of reduce the heat a little bit so that it comes through. Sure. Um, I think for me, because I'm, I've drank. Often up until the last couple years, uh, this is probably the third bottle. I think I purchased three bottles in total.
And this is the last of the third bottles. Uh, the third bottle that I [00:34:00] have, we, we feel privileged.
**Bam Bam:** Wow. Thank you.
**Ricky:** Thank you. Yeah. Thanks so much. Thank you very much. And forgive me cuz I should, what a great start, by the way. Thank you. I should have given you guys some pointers to kind of get that going.
Right. So when tasting tequila right. . It's always important to get that, that first sort of whiff, you know? But when you do it, do it with your mouth open so you're not getting the vapors, you're actually getting the aroma of the tequila, right? A lot of people smell and they smell with their mouth closed, and it's sort of the equivalent of taking a shot, right?
Then you bring it up to your lips, let it sort of kiss your lips. You take a little bit more of a sip, rub it around your gums, and what you're doing is you're just tempering your palate, you're tempering your mouth, and then you swallow that. You start tempering your throat and. Prepares you to receive the rest of the tequila.
Totally,
**Poobah:** totally. Yeah. That's kind of where I was going without even knowing what I was talking about. Absolutely. Like, like as you drink this, like Yes. At first you're like, okay, it's a little hot, but then as you drink it, it and your pal adjusts to it. Yep. I got, I got some really nice citrus notes.[00:35:00]
Absolutely, and which was really cool, but there's something else in there that's going on too, which I can't
**Ricky:** quite pinpoint. For me, it's like, it's like cream soda, creamsicle, you know? There's a creaminess, there's a viscosity to it that just makes it, you know, it, it gives it a really long finish. Um, the
**Grinder:** difference, the difference between when I first tried it with.
to use your word, nip, you know, when to, to nip it versus now is like night and day, night and day, night. Yeah. It's true.
**Ricky:** Yeah. So much. That's why I'm not a fan of ice. Yeah. Right. Because the ice is just diluting it as it sits, you know? So you're, you're you, you're potentially changing the flavor too much.
Yeah. Right. You know, you're introducing water, and here the water may help because it's, it's a higher proof than, But then you lose the flavor also, you know? And you lose that, that creaminess, you lose that oiliness that's present here
**Bam Bam:** by an someone. Someone will have to call me an Uber tonight. . Same freaking thing.
So I took back the rest of my drink. It is definitely, it's a different experience. It's really, really good. [00:36:00] It is. Wow. It is. That is powerful.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, what a, what a great start. What a great start. Yeah.
**Senator:** Delicious. Yeah. I can't emphasize enough though. How helpful this little seminar and just how to approach a spirit like this was because when I first tried this, I mean, I, it was, it came in hot like everyone described, but flavor-wise, for some reason I just kept getting this licorice like taste.
**Bam Bam:** Exactly. I had that earlier. Yeah. I,
**Senator:** these licorice, I actually, I really, really dislike licorice, so it's just a personal thing. Sure. For me, I was like not very happy with this at first. and then listening to Puba described. Just, just take some more of this down and your palate really does adjust. Yeah. And then the creaminess really comes to the forefront.
Very unusual. And now this is very much Yeah. In my wheelhouse. So Absolutely. I think this is super instructive, unusual.
**Gizmo:** It, it also accentuates
**Rooster:** the ese flavors
**Gizmo:** of the cigar. Exactly. You know,
**Bam Bam:** honestly. Yeah. I, I, I agree with you. I agree. I
**Grinder:** don't know. I think it goes, I don. I think there's,
**Bam Bam:** I think there's a clash.
**Ricky:** Well, I think the brineness might be clashing [00:37:00] a little bit. Yeah. But the anice that's present in the stick definitely, uh, is highlighted here as well. But
**Gizmo:** I just think it's the stick , so. Alright. Right. So we're about halfway through here.
**Bam Bam:** We're so halfway through. I will tell you, I, this is definitely a cigar for, uh, for the guy that likes the lighter cigars.
Much mi it's a mild, I think my father-in-law would love this show. Yeah. It's a very mild cigar. I happen to like this in the morning with. . Got it. Yeah. It's very light. Good morning. Yeah, it's a good morning step. I also think my father-in-law
**Gizmo:** would love this cigar . Yeah. I totally think that he would love this.
I mean, hold on, hold on. This
**Bam Bam:** is better than an Ashton. .
**Gizmo:** Macondo . Uh, you know, uh, I'm, you know, we're about halfway through. I, to me, it hasn't changed much from the last time we checked in on it. It's a simple,
**Bam Bam:** it's a very
**Gizmo:** simple cigar. It's smoking better than it was actually for me. I don't know about Puba, but.
You know, it's, it's, it's improved a little bit, but it's still, who was throwing it down? He's done. It's still not, uh, it's not great. It's not great. I think
**Senator:** the thing for me that's, . Disappointing is, is that I like some of the flavors that I [00:38:00] get out of this cigar. I just don't get enough of it. Yeah. It's very mild.
Like I really wish that they just had some, some other, something else in their line. Totally agree. That has a little more oomph
**Ricky:** and, and very
**Bam Bam:** mild, a bit more of that. Very, very
**Senator:** mild. Yeah. And that would be more, I feel like a lot of our speed. Mm-hmm.
**Gizmo:** hard
**Poobah:** stop. Mm-hmm. , that's a totally accurate. The, the, it's, there's nothing, absolutely nothing.
Offensive about the flavor profile. It's just not enough. Right. It's mine. I mean, for me, I think that's the perfect description. Mm-hmm. , when I say flat, or Yeah. One or it's just not, it's, it's not enough. Yeah. I totally agree. And
**Grinder:** there's, there's definitely light cigars that have a lot of flavor. Yes. Like you talk about the qds.
Yep.
**Bam Bam:** Um, oh, those are amazing.
**Poobah:** It doesn't have enough bodyguard does
**Bam Bam:** not have enough body. No,
**Gizmo:** it's not a flavor.
**Poobah:** It's body. It's, it's, it's, it's mild and lax body. And for me, , you know, like this hand shark tank and for that reason I'm out. .
**Gizmo:** Quite literally, quite literally, I think,
**Ricky:** I think the
**Grinder:** combination of the clashing with the tequila and the tough draw [00:39:00] and some of the composite question, you know, comments you were, you were raising, it's just nah.
**Poobah:** I love mild, full-bodied.
**Gizmo:** I don't think
**Senator:** it's a clash. Yeah. I, I wanna say the same thing. I, I'm with you. Yeah. I don't think this clashes, and I say that because I'm actually glad, given how mild this is, that we started with a Blanco that like doesn't have like a ton of those sort of, you know, whiskey notes that we would get out of, uh, an AHO or something with more age.
So I actually think the tequila helped this
**Ricky:** cigar for me. Yeah, I agree. I I'm right there with you. Um, I, I, unfortunately, I knew of the cigars that we'd smoked prior to this, but I've never had 'em. Uh, that's one of the great things you guys have done, uh, for me through the podcast is, you know, sort of sparked my interest in, in Cuban cigars.
Uh, prior to this, all I smoked were new world cigars. Uh, so I had nothing to sort of base it off of, but it's kind of funny how they, they can work, uh, between the anice. Um, and you know, initially that, that start of [00:40:00] smoke. I don't know. I feel like milder cigars, the, the, the smoke is really what sort of comes through and, and not a whole lot else.
Is
**Grinder:** that a common, is that a common flavor profile in tequila
**Ricky:** andis? It's not. It's not. It's not? No. No. Uh, what you're getting in this blanco is unlike anything you'll get in any other Blanco It is just insane. And that's why for me, like I appreciate it. , uh, if I bring another Blanco or at some point we get to taste another Blanco, you see just how different they are.
And even a Blanco that's maybe 80 proof will drink hotter than this because it just doesn't have that creaminess, it doesn't have that, that developed character that this guy has. Well, let's
**Gizmo:** try, let's try our second tequila. Sounds good. Oh, yeah. And then, uh, let's, let's try that cuz it's staring at me and I I want to try it.
You're dying to have it. I'm dying to have it. All right. I'm so into tequila. Dude. It's beautiful.
**Senator:** Anything to help this cigar
**Ricky:** along? Oh, , . I can't promise that on this one because this, uh, this, this tequila here. This is gonna be Casa Noble Rapsodo. Now [00:41:00] everyone talks about celebrity tequilas and obviously George Clooney, uh, has Casamigos and Sammy Hagar.
I forgot the name of it. Kawa? Kaba. Wabo. Oh boy. Gibo coming in hot 18. You know Kardashian has eight 18 and Justin Timberlake had 9 0 1 at some point. Don't forget about do Obra. The Breaky bad guys. Sombra. Yeah. I've actually never had that and I probably would just cuz I love those guys. Yeah. And the Kardashians, right?
I have, that's eight, that's 18. So this is Casaa Noble and this, uh, Carlos Santa. Has a stake in this company and he's had it since I believe 2013.
**Gizmo:** Lemme tell you something, Carlos Santana is a badass. He is. He is. What on man? He is What? A guitar player. What a songwriter. Phenomenal. What a
**Ricky:** legend. Super humble about the whole thing too.
Like he's, nobody knows this, you know? He's not out there banging his chest and. , they're not relying on his endorsement to be, uh, a popular brand or anything like that.
**Bam Bam:** So he is not riding a motorcycle [00:42:00] like George Clooney. Yeah. , yeah.
**Gizmo:** On tractor trailers.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. With the wind blowing through his
**Ricky:** hair, of course.
And something else to take note on, you know, despite it being a, a celebrity tequila. , he's doing everything right. I won't say he, but the brand is doing everything right. You know, they're making this in artisanal methods. They're using brick ovens. They're using, uh, you know, proper mills. They're waiting for ripening of agaves.
Maybe not as long as the Fuentes seka guy, but not as short as maybe some of the more popular, uh, tequilas that you see out there. ,
**Grinder:** um, this is also very accessible, right? You can get
**Ricky:** this? Absolutely. Yeah. So from here on out, you know, the, the Blanca was 89 bucks, anywhere between, I say 89 to a hundred dollars, uh, probably more now.
And the Casa Noble comes in at about 52. Yeah. Right. So now that's great and, and it's a lot easier to find out your local brick, brick and mortar, right? That's right. Uh, you don't have to go nuts for this one, but I'd much rather you buy this one than say the other one. What's
**Bam Bam:** everyone getting on the nose?
**Gizmo:** Let's [00:43:00] try. It's, oh, the nose is wonderful. Yeah, it really is. Oh, I'm drinking. I don't know, like, I don't know. You know what's interesting about this? It's so hard for me to describe the nose on these. I'm
**Bam Bam:** getting honey all day on this. Rick. I get like honey and even caramel. Honey and caramel. Yeah. Right on the first le first sip, I'm getting some vanilla.
**Ricky:** Vanilla. Vanilla, yeah. Yep. Lots of vanilla here. Lots of vanilla, even butter scars sometimes, but vanilla is like the signature here. So is that like
**Rooster:** an added,
**Ricky:** added? Uh, it's not, it's, it's not. So these guys use and forget, I speak great Spanish and pretty good English. My French on the other hand is somewhat iffy.
So these, uh, this, this brand A uses Frenchly Mosan Barrel. To age their, their, their, their
**Bam Bam:** juice. I, I think senator's getting an erection now. , , you can't say erection on
**Grinder:** the bottom. . So do
**Bam Bam:** not edit that.
**Gizmo:** the main difference here. So clinical in the [00:44:00] description,
**Grinder:** That's right. Sorry. Sorry.
**Ricky:** No, no worries. No worries. The biggest difference here is, um, these guys are still three times. every, most every other tequila distills only twice. Uh, these guys go three times and they do that, you know, just sort of, they, they, they're going for a somewhat smoother experience and they, they want that sort of, that vanilla nose to come through
**Rooster:** on the, so is that what it does?
It makes a tequila
**Ricky:** smoother, little smoother. It's sort of, uh, cleans it up a little. You know, it, it makes it a, in my opinion, a little less soulful. Uh, but these guys do a good job of, you know, not screwing it up because
**Grinder:** it, because it removes more of the particulates, right? Mm-hmm. . Yeah. So there's less of the
**Ricky:** Yeah.
Usually that, that translates into a shorter finish. Yeah. Right? Yeah. It translates into a. Creamy or viscous tequila. But here, because of the vanilla and [00:45:00] almost root beer, like if you guys get, there's root beer on that finish. It's, it's, it's, it's,
**Gizmo:** yeah. It's insane. It almost tastes like a candy or something.
Yeah. It's easy to drink. It's super easy
**Ricky:** to
**Grinder:** drink. It's very candy, so it's, it's almost
**Ricky:** worthy, super easy to drink. It's like a wordy.
**Bam Bam:** It is. Yeah. The caramel's. Caramel's great. That's right there. And so there's
**Senator:** no
**Ricky:** additives in this either, right? No additives. Yeah. It's well done. No additives. Brick ovens.
They're using screw mills. Wow. Um,
**Grinder:** So like I look, I look at this, I, I look at this, I taste this, and then I compare this to something that I feel like has a lot of additives, which is George Clooney's brand. Mm-hmm. . And that is a very sweet tequila,
**Gizmo:** right? Sure. This is George Clooney's brand. No, this is Carlos.
**Ricky:** No, it's not Ient. I like you too much. How many Legalists have you had, rooster? Welcome to
**Gizmo:** the conversation Rooster
**Poobah:** George. And by the way, just for the listener, they just legalized marijuana.
**Bam Bam:** in new. Yeah, you gotta give Rooster a break.
**Poobah:** So
**Gizmo:** I thought we talking
**Rooster:** about George Cloney
**Ricky:** earlier. What's his brand?
What's his [00:46:00] Casamigos? Casamigos
**Gizmo:** We're in the. We're
**Poobah:** in, we're in New Jersey, by the way. ,
**Gizmo:** ascend baby. Ascend, , send.
**Ricky:** Oh,
**Grinder:** anyway, I don't know what I was saying.
**Poobah:** Viva something
**Gizmo:** about sweetness and additives and Viva Carlos Santa, it's, it's a better
**Grinder:** sin than I get from that,
**Senator:** that tequila. Yeah, I agree that the, the reason I even asked specifically if there were additives in here is just because I, I feel like I'm conditioned whenever I have a tequila that this is fairly sweet, not overly sweet, but fairly sweet.
The first thing I worry about is additives, and I say that. I mean, the one thing in the casamigos line is Clooney tequila. The, the reto is the sweetest tequila. It's the sweetest spirit, one of the sweetest spirits I've ever had in my life. And you immediately know there's no way that that can be natural.
They're obviously adding stuff and even, you know, KLA Suzu that we've talked about, that Rapsodo is out outrageously sweet. It's like candy to me. It's like cotton candy. I, I, there's no way that that's all natural. So it begs the
**Bam Bam:** question, how, how [00:47:00] do you produce the a tequila. that has sweet notes without any additives in it.
What part of the process gives you that? You
**Ricky:** have to start with rip agaves. Uh,
**Gizmo:** so you're waiting a
**Ricky:** while then, so you're waiting a while. So we're talking about to get from, from 10 plus years easily. Wow. Yeah. I'd say a minimum of seven years. A minimum of seven years. And some go. That's
**Bam Bam:** amazing. Discipline for
**Ricky:** a company.
Yeah. And this, this is just for a blanco, right? So this isn't taken into account any aging that's done in wood to get to a rep. , which you have to get to at least three months. Here's another
**Bam Bam:** question. Is agave farmed or is it, is it, is it out in the wild
**Ricky:** blue Weber? Agave is farmed. Okay. Uh, but it can't be harvested with any type of machinery.
Mm-hmm. , it has by hand to be done by hand. And that's where the hema doors come in? What's that? What's that? What's that tool they use that, that's called the. It looks like a machete. C o a. Yeah. It's a, it's on a, it's a long stick and at the end of it there's sort of like this, it's like a sickle. Yeah, not a sickle.
It's uh, it's [00:48:00] rounded, I don't wanna say a teardrop. It's kind of like a half circle sort of oblong. Uh, and they sharpen the edge before they hit the fields and they go out there and, you know, there's no other way to do it. Know, and, and more, more often than not, there's no way to even get transportation onto the fields to bring the agave back to the distillery.
So that's where the donkeys come into play. You know, they load the horses or the donkeys up with the agave to carry back to the,
**Rooster:** the how. How drunk that's carry. How big is an agave?
**Gizmo:** Woo.
**Ricky:** They could go, I would say at minimum you're talking like 18 kilos. Oh wow. Wow. And then above that, you know, the Blue Burger Ave gets pretty.
um, you know, you do with aging, you do lose volume. So size-wise, like a watermelon? Yeah. Larger, larger, larger, larger. Oh wow. Wow. I'd say probably at a minimum of like three to four times at big, big, massive, we'll get to the fourth, Alyssa, but if you look at the fourth Alyssa [00:49:00] cap there, that's what a finished BEYA looks like.
Okay. So the only step left after that is cutting it in half before they place it into the ovens.
**Gizmo:** I just can't, I just can't wrap my head around.
**Ricky:** why people do this? No, no, no.
**Gizmo:** Not why . I know why, but just the, the, the investment, the energy, the time. Absolutely. To, to see this thing from seed to harvest, to bottle to consumed is such a, there's such a long
**Bam Bam:** tail, isn't it?
Isn't it? Isn't it reminiscent to the process of making a cigar? Cigar? Yeah. Yes. That's the beauty of what everything I'm hearing is really reminiscent to what we're smoking, regardless of the cigar.
**Gizmo:** It does tie to the, the cigar we've talked about this in, you know, it's a handmade product. Yeah, yeah. Made by human being, it's an
artisinal
**Bam Bam:** quality to the cigar.
Yes. And what I'm appreciating about the tequila. I didn't realize how artisanal it was. How many hands touched it. It's incredible.
**Gizmo:** It is. It is a passion project for these people. Yes, they wanna make a profit, but it is a, it, it's a handmade earth, [00:50:00] you know? Uh, earth. Mm-hmm. organic. Yeah. Organic product that, yeah.
And, and the best of them don't have additives and, and junk in them, and they're not machine made. It's, and they take, it's a celebration of, of Absolutely. Of time and effort and energy and sweat. And you can taste that. And you can taste it. Yeah. You know, which is again, uh, said it be earlier. Coming from a pedestrian understanding of tequila, this has really changed, you know, this artisan understanding of it.
Uh, You know, it has really changed my perspective on te Just, just like a cigar. Absolutely. Yeah.
**Rooster:** And
**Poobah:** it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a very difficult category to navigate, um, without a little bit of guidance. So for me, this has been helpful because, um, absolutely, it's, it's, it's, uh, it's not like scotch, you know, which, it's a little, it's a little bit easier to navigate.
There's a lot of tequilas. A lot. Uh, you go single malt scotch, a single malt scotch, and it's a little bit, there's not as many [00:51:00] brands. Yeah. Um, so, and there's age statements on them and they're, there's a lot of wel, they're old brands. So they're well documented. You know, these are brands that have been around for a long time.
There's a lot of new entrants into the, into the, the, the tequila market. And it makes it a, it makes it a tough one to navigate. So you're mixing in premium what's, what are marketed as premium spirits, which a lot of it's marketing. And how do you, how do you parse. How do you, na you gotta really do your research to find out, I think what you, you know, value for money, what you can get.
Well, this is
**Gizmo:** a complicated category investment. This is a very sexy space. Clearly, because there are so many celebrities in it, right? I mean, we have to admit that. I mean, because it's drinking bars and clubs. Exactly. It's a, it's a, it's a fun thing for these celebrities to throw some money into. They get a great, you know, return on it.
They market the shit out of it, and everybody's talking about George Clooney's tequila or, or the Kardashians. It's a young person.
**Bam Bam:** Lets also, any spirit that's mixed into a cocktail or a drink of any [00:52:00] kind. They're selling much more of it. Right? They're consuming much more of it. Definitely.
**Ricky:** Disclaimer, I've never had a casamigos ever.
**Gizmo:** That's George Clooney,
**Ricky:** by the way. I've never had custom casamigos. I'm just wanted to clarify. ,
**Senator:** you know, let's
**Bam Bam:** motorcycle with the wind in the
**Senator:** hair. This boom is driven by, there's been a huge void. , right? Like we think about years ago when any of us tried tequila for the first time, the number of tequilas that you would find on a shelf in a store, you could count on your hands.
Jose. That's true. Jose Cuervo, , that was it, right? Jose Cuervo sounds That's true. A few others. And like that was it. Yeah. There's a huge opportunity there. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** And honestly, before we started drinking tequila, you guys turned me onto it. . Honestly, I was intimidated by it. I didn't, you know, I felt, yeah, it's like you said, back in college for me, it wasn't that far long ago, but it would make me sick.
**Gizmo:** I could have never imagined it pairing as well with the cigars. It does. Yeah. I really could've. Yeah. Yeah. So speaking of cigars, boys we're coming to the end of the La Punta from Sun [00:53:00] Crisal de La Havana. I. My opinion has not changed. I'm curious what the rating is gonna be on this thing from everybody, but, um, well, you
**Bam Bam:** know, we can't always rate an eight or a nine cigar.
You're totally in
**Gizmo:** this room. You're totally right. And I, I would say from a, a Cuban standpoint, my, my guess is this is gonna be on the weaker end. Yeah. You know, so what is
**Bam Bam:** indicative of the profile as well? Absolutely. Mild
**Gizmo:** cigar. Yeah. And, and the taste profiles in this room. Yep. Don't align with mild.
Right. You know. So you guys ready to give this the formal lizard? We good up? Yeah.
**Rooster:** So I think, I think this is a good, decent morning cigar, maybe with a cup of coffee and stuff. It's mild. Doesn't have to go to aroma. I mean, it is kind of flat. It's like OneNote,
**Gizmo:** you know, OneNote. So I'm gonna give it a six.
Okay. Yeah. Luba,
**Poobah:** it's, it's, it's a six for me. I'm not, I I what? We said we made the points before. I, I don't think we need to, yeah,
**Gizmo:** we don't need to harp on it. No. For me, this is a five. I'm at a six. [00:54:00] Okay. Ricky, our guest, sir.
**Ricky:** Guest lizard. Fir first guest to maker her to say, have a rating here. That's exactly right.
Uh, so yeah, guess mom, I'm with you. I'm, I'm at a five, and maybe I'm a little biased just because I feel like these tequilas are freaking awesome and the cigar is just not, you know, and not, not to say that we're pairing them in any, by any means, but. Yeah, it's, I actually probably smoked a little bit more than the first third and haven't
**Gizmo:** touched it.
Grindr, you're up. I'm a six.
**Bam Bam:** I'm at a seven and I, I say that because I do love this in the morning gets me started. Okay. Nice and mild and simple. And for an entry level, Cuban, which is what I think this is, I think it does its job
**Gizmo:** well, the Composite Lizard score Boys is a 5.9. Ooh.
**Poobah:** That's the lowest rating for Cuban Sari ever in this
**Bam Bam:** podcast ever,
**Gizmo:** ever.
In 30 episodes. That's right. 30, [00:55:00] 32 episodes. Definitely on the lowest end of it. .
**Bam Bam:** Okay, I'll burn them tomorrow. , .
**Gizmo:** You know, these, these, these
**Rooster:** might meet
**Gizmo:** some age. Yeah. Let 'em sit forward maybe. But I wonder if, since they are so mild, I mean, with time, I can't imagine, well, I meaner
**Senator:** than, it's not like they're super young,
**Rooster:** right?
They're three years old. But you know, like some cigars do need a lot more aging than others like, , like some of the Hoyos and Montes, I think some of the older Montes, I mean, and the Hoyo Epicures, you know, you let them sit for like 10
**Gizmo:** years. Yeah. But,
**Poobah:** but, but, but they're starting off with so much more
**Gizmo:** Hoyo,
**Rooster:** epicure number two is
**Poobah:** very mild.
When they're, when they're fresh, they, they, they'll bite you. They'll, they're, there's, I don't know. Yeah, they're pretty
**Rooster:** mild. I mean, you let 'em, let 'em sit for a
**Gizmo:** while. I think an Epi two is, is, is a far better cigar at any. Then, then this will, this
**Poobah:** is, this is, this is, they're not even in the
**Bam Bam:** same conversation.
I would certainly put that above this. Absolutely. Yeah,
**Gizmo:** absolutely. Yeah. But we, Raven,
**Ricky:** sure. Our rating.
**Grinder:** I, I [00:56:00] think the fact that I have never heard of this. I mean, I, I mean, I've maybe have heard of it, but I didn't really,
**Gizmo:** it's a fair, let's
**Poobah:** go back to the tub. Let's go back to the tubo for the, the EPI two. I just, I don't wanna let it go because I don't think that this is like an epi two.
I don't, it didn't, I mean, To quote Senator, this cigars way str has more way full than I anticipated it to be. Um, when we smoked that, that, that tubo and it got, I think it got a pretty good rating. It did. I'm just saying it absolutely did. You know, like mild doesn't mean, uh, lack and lack of lack body, lack of flavor lack, lack of body lack, you know, you know.
Yeah. Okay. It's kind of, it's not a nicotine stick, the epi two, but it delivers some body when they're. So I think
**Rooster:** just, and that was a 2020 what? 20 16, 20 17 that you brought in the tuba?
**Poobah:** No, no, no. That was like a 2020. Oh it was okay. Or in 19 or a 20.
**Gizmo:** It was a great [00:57:00] cigar. Listen, at the end of the day here, a 5.9 says it all boys.
Yes sir, it does. So, uh, Ricky will be back for part two of our tequila. Deep dive in two. I want to thank Ricky. He's a, uh, chef and partner at Anejo. I can't say that as well as he can. Anejo. Here you go. An I can't do the ez an uh, he just did it in New York and Philly. And, uh, we'll have him back in two weeks.
We really appreciate you coming out, Ricky, and being our first guest in the pod and educating us degenerate lizards. on, uh, the wanders of artisan tequila. Thank you,
**Ricky:** Ricky. Thank you. Thanks for return in favor, guys, and for those, you did it, you did it with, with Cuban cigars for me, so thank you. Absolutely.
Thank you. And for those
**Grinder:** of you on the northeast, The United States Northeast Corridor. Gotta check out, uh, Philly and, and New York on Yahi locations. They're doing great stuff over there. And Ricky's, you know, obviously you can see the proof is in the pudding with how much commitment they're doing there.
Yeah. They know their
**Bam Bam:** stuff. They
**Gizmo:** know their stuff, and the food is great too. Yeah, [00:58:00] absolutely. Of course. All right, boys, a 5.9 for the sun. Cristobal De la Havana, la Punta, some great tequila, and uh, we'll see you next week. Marker. Thanks so much for joining us tonight. Hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.
If you have any comments, questions, if you wanna reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking, email us lounge lizards. P o d. That's lounge lizards pod gmail.com. You can also find us on Instagram at Lounge Lizards Pod. We really appreciate your time and we'll, uh, we'll see you next week.