May 4, 2025 • 28 mins
Join Que Pasa Boston for an intimate reunion as host Gabriela Salas sits down with Steve McGarry, CEO of RosaLuna Mezcal - one of the most prestigious Mexican spirits brands making waves in the American market. What makes this conversation special? Gabriela and Steve were once colleagues in the liquor industry, now finding themselves on opposite sides of the microphone discussing the rise of authentic Mexican mezcal.
In this captivating episode, McGarry shares the fascinating journey of bringing RosaLuna Mezcal to prominence, while Gabriela brings her unique perspective as a Mexican native deeply connected to mezcal's cultural heritage. Their shared industry background creates an unfiltered, insider's look at how premium mezcal is transforming the spirits landscape.
Discover the artisanal processes behind RosaLuna's award-winning mezcal, the brand's commitment to sustainable agave farming, and why mezcal has become the choice of discerning drinkers worldwide. From Oaxaca's fields to Boston's finest establishments, this is a story of tradition, innovation, and the power of authentic Mexican craftsmanship.
Perfect for spirits enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, and anyone interested in the business of bringing authentic cultural products to mainstream markets.
Spanish
CEO de RosaLuna Mezcal Steve McGarry y Gabriela Salas: Cuando Veteranos de la Industria Se Reencuentran con el Orgullo de México
Únete a Que Pasa Boston para una reunión íntima mientras la presentadora Gabriela Salas se sienta con Steve McGarry, CEO de RosaLuna Mezcal - una de las marcas más prestigiosas de mezcal mexicano que está revolucionando el mercado estadounidense. ¿Qué hace especial esta conversación? Gabriela y Steve fueron colegas en la industria de licores, ahora reencontrándose en lados opuestos del micrófono para discutir el ascenso del auténtico mezcal mexicano.
En este cautivador episodio, McGarry comparte el fascinante viaje de llevar RosaLuna Mezcal a la prominencia, mientras Gabriela aporta su perspectiva única como mexicana profundamente conectada con la herencia cultural del mezcal. Su experiencia compartida en la industria crea una mirada sin filtros sobre cómo el mezcal premium está transformando el panorama de los destilados.
Descubre los procesos artesanales detrás del galardonado mezcal de RosaLuna, el compromiso de la marca con el cultivo sostenible de agave, y por qué el mezcal se ha convertido en la elección de los bebedores más exigentes a nivel mundial. Desde los campos de Oaxaca hasta los mejores establecimientos de Boston, esta es una historia de tradición, innovación y el poder de la auténtica artesanía mexicana.
Perfecto para entusiastas de destilados, emprendedores y cualquier persona interesada en el negocio de llevar productos culturales auténticos al mercado masivo.
In this captivating episode, McGarry shares the fascinating journey of bringing RosaLuna Mezcal to prominence, while Gabriela brings her unique perspective as a Mexican native deeply connected to mezcal's cultural heritage. Their shared industry background creates an unfiltered, insider's look at how premium mezcal is transforming the spirits landscape.
Discover the artisanal processes behind RosaLuna's award-winning mezcal, the brand's commitment to sustainable agave farming, and why mezcal has become the choice of discerning drinkers worldwide. From Oaxaca's fields to Boston's finest establishments, this is a story of tradition, innovation, and the power of authentic Mexican craftsmanship.
Perfect for spirits enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, and anyone interested in the business of bringing authentic cultural products to mainstream markets.
Spanish
CEO de RosaLuna Mezcal Steve McGarry y Gabriela Salas: Cuando Veteranos de la Industria Se Reencuentran con el Orgullo de México
Únete a Que Pasa Boston para una reunión íntima mientras la presentadora Gabriela Salas se sienta con Steve McGarry, CEO de RosaLuna Mezcal - una de las marcas más prestigiosas de mezcal mexicano que está revolucionando el mercado estadounidense. ¿Qué hace especial esta conversación? Gabriela y Steve fueron colegas en la industria de licores, ahora reencontrándose en lados opuestos del micrófono para discutir el ascenso del auténtico mezcal mexicano.
En este cautivador episodio, McGarry comparte el fascinante viaje de llevar RosaLuna Mezcal a la prominencia, mientras Gabriela aporta su perspectiva única como mexicana profundamente conectada con la herencia cultural del mezcal. Su experiencia compartida en la industria crea una mirada sin filtros sobre cómo el mezcal premium está transformando el panorama de los destilados.
Descubre los procesos artesanales detrás del galardonado mezcal de RosaLuna, el compromiso de la marca con el cultivo sostenible de agave, y por qué el mezcal se ha convertido en la elección de los bebedores más exigentes a nivel mundial. Desde los campos de Oaxaca hasta los mejores establecimientos de Boston, esta es una historia de tradición, innovación y el poder de la auténtica artesanía mexicana.
Perfecto para entusiastas de destilados, emprendedores y cualquier persona interesada en el negocio de llevar productos culturales auténticos al mercado masivo.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
When I was as Boston cow Stama. This is a
very fabulous Sunday. It's a special Sunday because we're going
to get drunk. Now, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I have a guest that has been part of my
life for a long, long, long time.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Just imagine this going back to the two thousand early
two thousands and ray Tie was still owner of United
Liquors back then, who taught me to ride and with
the drivers like delivering cases, because that was it. You
couldn't work for the liquor industry if you did not
deliver the cases. And then we jumped into like selling
(00:39):
the coolest brands possible.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
And there is where I met Steve McCarry, our guest
for today.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Welcome, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
I want to share with all our audience what are
you doing now? Before you were part of the ray
Tie Martinetic companies and you went into your whole other
world with another there is not a distributor, it was
a supplier. And now you're doing completely different things. So
let's just get started. How have you been.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
I've been great. I've been great. It's it's been, as
you mentioned, quite the journey over the last I hate
twenty years really right, So, but it's flown by as
it always tends to do when you're having fun. So yeah,
to your point in your question, when I left the
United Liquors slash Martinetti, after that Martinetti acquisition, I went
on to a company called pronour Card and they are
(01:33):
the second largest spirit supplier globally. So there's a no
shortage of great brands. And I had the pleasure to
move to New York spend a decade in NYC with
that great organization, was leading their luxury business for about
ten years, and then about two years ago, a little
over two years ago, I tapped on the shoulder by
a really interesting opportunity, a new brand which I'm very
(01:55):
happy to be part of today called Roseland and Mescal.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
So, Steve, where did you grow up?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
I grew up in a small little town in Connecticut
called East Harford.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
How did you get to Boston?
Speaker 3 (02:07):
To me? A great question. So prior to working in
the distributor side, I actually worked in on premise and hospitality,
so I was working for independence and then I got
involved with a great, great franchise called tool Hands, which
I'm sure you all know, and I was in working
in Framingham for a couple of years and discovered John Harbridge,
which no longer exists. So I did a Circuit nine
(02:29):
Route nine. I don't think whole is still there, but
there's plenty of great restaurants to this day. And they
moved me back to Connecticut, but I always knew I
wanted to come back to Boston, and then I found
my way. And it was a gentleman that we know
in the business, Kevin McCann, who tapped me to come
do sales for a company that was called Whitehall Brand
at the time before United about them.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Wow, And that's how you got to Boston, and then
your whole career was based in Massachusetts for.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
The most part of the best. So I moved to
New York.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
With PRONO when that happened.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
How was it to get from the distributor side to
the supplier side.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
I tried it many times.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
I tried, and I tried, and I mean I barely
made it once.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
It's really fascinating because I don't know any other industry
that is so tethered together relevant to the tiers, but
they're so siloed, and it's whether you if you're working
on the hospitality side or retail side. You work with
a distributor partner and maybe you come into contact with
a few suppliers, but you don't really have a great
degree of interaction on the distributor side to the supplier side.
Very similarly, there's a lot because of post prohibition. The
(03:37):
way that works in the US is you've got this
three to four tier system put in place, which is
to protect the consumer and to have these structures, but
the ways of working between the parties is difficult, so
you don't get a lot of exposure to the other
side of the aisle. When I saw the opportunity with
Pronola Card several years ago and recognizing the brands based
(03:57):
upon my on premise experience running bars and nightclubs, et cetera,
and then doing a decade on distributor, I knew there
was a unique opportunity for me to take that learning
and apply it to the supplier side. So there was
just a window time that opened up and they needed
someone to run their own premise business and it just
worked out. It starts very fabulous.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
You know that happened to me too, And for those
that don't know quite all my story.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
When I was working for Martinetti.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
I also saw the opportunity of the niche in the
Hispanic market and just addressing consumers in their own language,
but culturally, not just speaking Spanish. So I think that
as a team, we all developed our own skills in
a certain way, and we grew on our careers because
we learned so much from what we were doing, and
(04:45):
we learned to talk to people in their own way.
And probably that's why you've been so successful too, right,
because you learn how the consumer is taking their products,
consuming them at home or at their favorite restaurant. But
what's strange to me is just seeing you just like
(05:06):
amazed with a mescal. Because I'm Mexican. I love tequila,
but mescal is a different thing. Mescal is so true
to our culture, is handcrafted. Yes, so tell me about
what you're doing now.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Okay, And I couldn't agree more. I think there's something
really special about mescal. And just before I get into
the roselune piece of it, to that end, you know,
even though I spent years in the industry on multiple
sides and representing a lot of really great mescals, I
never really learned truly about everything. There is no about
(05:40):
mescal until I got into Roseluna, and it really has
everything to do with with our One of our core
founders are Mescalero JJ. So the story behind Roseland is
it is four years old, but it's many more years
in the making. Sour our mescalero, our massive stiller JJ.
He's six generation mescalero, so his family has been making
mescal going back to seventeen fifty.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
To be exact, let's just clear something out because I
don't think that people know the difference between tequila and mescal.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Can we just define that?
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Of course? Yeah, no, great question, Thank you for asking
that question. So there's there's interestingly enough when you think
about categorically speaking, so tequila is a massive category.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
It's taken off, it's taken off by what everybody owns
a tequila.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Now everybody yes, yes, yeah, And that's actually it's interesting
because the pendulum swinging back in terms of the celebrity
endorseed brands today, I think they're great at driving awareness
but not tying back to authenticity and yeah, quality, it's
losing it, it's losing it. But I think they've done
a great job overall driving awareness for the category. So
the category today in tequila is roughly worth about twenty
(06:45):
eight billion dollars in terms of size global size. Comparatively speaking,
mescal is under a billion, so it's really about three
and a half percent of the size of the total category.
It's crazy, right, that's the opportunity. So even though mescal
and just from a historical perspective, mescal is older than
tequila because obviously from the origination agents. So what I
(07:09):
think where the big deviation took place, and we'll get
into the history on it and early in the seventies,
But the big difference is between the two is really
three key things. One, it's it's where that it's it's
legally can be sourced. So tequila can be made in
five states in Mexico, but it's really predominantly one Jalisco,
whereas whereas mescal can be made recognized in nine states
in Mexico, in the primary being Ojaca, which is also
(07:31):
lovely known as the world Capital of Mescal, which is
where we're located as well. And then you've got the
second piece is the type of agaves to you. So
there's over fifty different species of agaves plus that exist today.
Tequila can only made for one which is blue lever,
whereas mescal is it can be made from roughly any
that thirty plus range is what we draw from, but
(07:52):
primarily it's made from espadin or about ninety percent istinct,
which that instinct, Yeah, it's so's.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
There's that was a time, right or a time from
where those type of gaps were not growing and it
was in an extinction.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Oh oh sorry, yes, the CLI clients, it's definitely declining.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
So I think a lot of it my Irish accent,
you know.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
But it's a really great point because there's there's a
huge need for more sustainable practices, certainly throughout I mean
almost everywhere now, but certainly when we're talking about making mezcal.
And the reason why is because we see this pendul
swinging on availability on certainly in Blue Weber, because if
you recall during COVID, where high end tequila shot through
(08:41):
the roof to demand, there was a there's a huge
rush for planting and as you know.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
It's takes seven years exactly right.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Gabby, so to get a full mature a Gabby at
seven years and the you think about that challenging prospect.
So they're planting years in advance before you can go
to harvest. But also so if you're just doing one dimensional,
one type of gobby, it's not great for the soil.
And it's also in terms of how you prove. So
we are just the last point, the big difference between
(09:10):
the two, and there's really three. The third point is
that is how you cook it right. So whereas tequila's
pretty much made in what is known as an autoclave,
it's it's like a microwave, you really cook and roast
the goby with steam. For the most part, we're cooking
ours underground. We are one hundred percent, but you're roasting
your agave and open fire pits or closed fire pits.
From that's where they are artisonal touch comes in. That's
(09:32):
where the smokey aroma comes in because of how you're
cooking your gobi. So the thing that really separates Rosluna
from really almost all other mezcals today's number one. We're
single estate. We're vertically integrated with USDA Organic. So the
fact that we're single estate is really it's unheard of
because even in the Kila space, most brands are made
(09:56):
at a single distillery where they might buy their gave's
an open market spot price, so you don't really know
the quality or the age. You're just getting something like sugar, right,
But exactly it's folk whereas we are. You'll never You'll
never when you come to our our polenke, when you
come to our site, and I hope you do, you'll
never see a whole role of agave's harvested at once.
(10:16):
We only harvest our agave's when they're at peak maturity.
And then the second piece of that is we only
harvest copona gaves. And most people don't know what the
compone is, and it's not a type of agave. It's
a type of maturity of how you mature to the
to the to the greatest extent possible. And the greatest
analogy I've ever heard when I talk about copone is
if you think about it like a banana, if you're
(10:38):
harvesting or you're eating a banana of a treat. It's green,
it's it's got sugar, but it probably doesn't taste that
good if you if you wait for a banana to
get to that brown color, it's it's super sweet. And
because the complexity of sugar structures that are more enhanced,
a copona gave is exactly that we only harvest when
they go to the peak ripeness where they're literally popping
out of the ground.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Even more difficult, it's.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
More difficult, it takes longer. So that's the other challenge.
Most most mesclearics don't do that because it's got to
be in the ground for another six months or two
years to reach that peak maturity.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
So you're not risking the quality of your product because
of the rapidness of like producing and just like manufacturing
one percent.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
So this is the recipe that JJ's father and his
father before him were passed down generation and generation. So
when we think about mescaleros, like JJ considers himself a
farmer first because it's really about the product, the produce
that what he's harvesting is a crop. And then the
it's the roasting process. Those are the two single most
important factors of having high quality product because unlike tequila,
(11:42):
for mescal whatever comes out of the still, that's what
you get. You can't get any additives in, you can't
round it out, no glycerin, no coloring.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
You and it's distilled in copper too, right, right, And
let me tell you a story. This is funny This
is a very funny story. Back in twenty sixteen, I
actually wanted to create my own mescal and I went
to Wahaka, and I was on a whole trip to
Jalisco and I mean to Halisco to Wahaka, and I
was on a whole trip trying to figure out how.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
I was going to make it. So that's why I
know so much about mescal.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
So I went to sites where you could see even
like people with their own hands just digging the ground
to put the product there, to roast it and to
make it. The smell everything is just so so fabulous.
But what caught my attention is that I was also
in Mexico at that time. In Wahaca is a very
special place. All the taxi drivers were on a strike.
(12:38):
So I was supposed to go to a conference where
they had all these exposition and boots of mescalleros, where
they were going to present their mescals. And here I
am in the hotel that is on the other side
of the city, right that I have to get to
this place, and I was not able to do it.
So guess what I did. Of course, Gaby doesn't stop
(12:58):
with anything. A Mexicana. I ask a police officer on
a motorcycle if you could take me. So I'm with
my heels and my little cute dress on the motorcycle
on steps on the like the town because the town
is so tiny and it's so rustic.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
But I made it.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
And one of the things that I loved about making
that is what the memory, but also the stories that
all Mascalo's had to tell. It is a big, big,
big part of history. And that's why I'm so fascinated.
You tell me the story about JJ. So how do
you get involved with JJ? How do they meet you?
(13:38):
Like they heard from you, like you met them at
this place or.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
It's such an amazing story. And I, you know, I
was not part of the journey when JJ and the
founders first met. So the impetus behind this brand, the
name and the record is the Juices. JJ's the roson
of the name, the label. The creation was a synergy
between JJ and the founders. To the founders, Nate Brown
and Terry Lee. One lives in La One lives in
(14:04):
Brooklyn and became best friends. And they really, like so
many other origin stories, were talking about you know, we'd
love to and they love mescal but a lot of
their friends didn't, and it was because mescal is very polarizing.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
You know.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
It's either you love it because you like the badge
on the smoke or you're like, oh no, hell no,
too hot to smokey for me, and there's this huge
the hangover. Yeah not a ro.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
But so they they went on a journey about eight
years ago to do exactly what you just were trying
to do and they wanted to and then there's a
coordination with the Mexican government and we had another founder
who got involved with that, who orchestrated meetings with many
medscal aeros throout the day and they met probably ten
different mescaleros, went to their sites, and there was no synergy,
no feeling. It just wasn't connected. And then they were
(14:50):
about to call it quits, and the other gentleman's like, well,
I have one more person who you guys should just
go talk to. And sure enough it was Jay. J
was about an hour away from where they were, so
they took the ride and they met JJ, his mother
and his sister, and you know, what they thought would
be a fifteen minute introduction turned out to be a
three hour conversation. Just hit it off. The stars aligned.
(15:11):
It was just magic, and that was again the origin
story of really where they just found it. Just the
puzzle pieces ft and it was it was just so
that's really where the brand the origin story of Rosaluna.
But the liquid has been in his family for.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Generations and where does Rosaluna come from?
Speaker 3 (15:29):
So it was really just the idea of again going
back to the symbolism on the bottle, so pig Moon,
you know, because there's obviously a lot of history and
heritage around harvest Moon. The Zeppa techs believed that they
would obviously harvest the guy is in nighttime because there
would be the hardest, largest concentration sugar that they could
(15:49):
draw from. That was the belief. The label itself, does
that color look familiar because it's basically a soil color,
the structure of the Wakan soil because it's heavy and iron.
The two women are basically the mountain sides that flank
Wi Haak or Santi O Matalan, so because there's just
a very mountains gorgeous region, so we wanted to pay
(16:10):
homage to that, and that's really the whole concept, tying
them back to the history Inheritan culture of Mexico, and
obviously I feel so proud for being Mexican.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I mean when I see stuff like that is when
I really wish people had the opportunity to travel and
see exactly what we're talking about, because it goes back
to the root of like where we belong and where
we grew up, and the pride that you have on
your land and what our old grandparents, our great grandparents,
(16:43):
like they really cared for giving you.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
The best of the best that they could have. So
what does it taste?
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Like? Let's get into it all right, how.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Do you drink mezcal?
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Because you know there's some people that say, okay, tequila,
you gotta do it like with a shot.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
No way, like you gotta sip it. You have to smell,
you have to savor it.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
There's even ways of breathing sometimes, like before you take
that tequila shot or sip, I should say you can
mix it.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Then we came out.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Do you remember when we came out with all those flavors,
the tequila flavors, they were not very nice.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Salute.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
So that's the most riba.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Abajo al centro.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
And so.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Mmm, for those who are listening, we are trying a
really smooth it's not burning at all.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
It's not smoky, it is it has.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
That I didn't make a weird face, right.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Because Leanne is here with us. Thank you, Thank you
Leanne for sharing this opportunity with us.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Isn't it so delicious? And it smells so good?
Speaker 3 (18:00):
I can sip will always taste better than the first
because your your first, it's always going to have to. Yes,
that's why we have a whole bottle.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
So when we're drinking mescal, are we supposed to mix it?
Because I've seen a lot of cocktails now that offer
mescal in their menus.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yes, So it's again of the great question is a
variety of ways to consume it. I think the cleanness
is certainly neat or on a cube of ice with
a little teeny salt and then on an orange slice.
It's the most simplest way. You know, the traditional cups
are the competas. We've done a little bit of work
(18:38):
with that, so that's that's the baseline. But I think
certainly most consumers today come into it by way of cocktail,
and I think it's just the easiest way to kind
of lean in, especially if your first time tryer of mescal.
So the beautiful thing about the cocktail piece, specifically with
Roson is that because of our profile being less smoky,
less hot, and then again you get that residual sweetness
(18:59):
with the copone, you have this we have this great
adaptability versatility to citrus for cocktails. So and behold we've
entered roseland into a cocktail competition last year against other
tequilas as well, and we won first place for world.
Really yeah, good job.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Oh that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
So for ladies, ladies, if you're drinkers, I'm telling you,
mescal these Rosaluna is so good because you're gonna have
that smoky feeling. But it's just like I can't get
over the flavored A.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Yeah, I think it's really good.
Speaker 4 (19:36):
I'm never had a mescal.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
I'm honest.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
It's one of my favorite drinks.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
It is delicious. Like I said, I didn't make that
tequila face that some James I make.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
You.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
You didn't hear that.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
Beautiful aftertaste and it it's just tastes nice.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
When you're looking for tequilas or mescals, what can you
suggest our audience to look for, whether it is on
the label, because that's a lot of confusion, Thank you
so much. There's a lot of confusion also when you're
shopping around. Big brands tend to make it very pretty
to the eye. Yes, but as we educate ourselves, and
(20:18):
this is part of my show, I want people to
have that leg up, that opportunity to learn a little bit,
you know, more of what they should look for. In
this case with the labels or the product itself. This
is GMO free, gluten free, organic. What does that mean
in alcohol?
Speaker 3 (20:38):
You know?
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Alphabet?
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Oh, that's that's a great question. I think you know
going I guess for the starting point for quality reference.
When you think about like making sure you've got a
high quality recognized product. It's whether it's tequila or Mascal,
all t kilas and all mascales have should have a
non number on the back of their labels NMS Destination
(21:02):
of origin and basically what that tells you is that
they come from a registered site really a distillery in
whether it's Wahaka or Jalisco. So that's it. There's a
lot of quality process that are put in place to
get that recognition. Okay, So just just worth noting because
of our history and Heritage Are. Our original non member
was zero zero two, which is one of the second
(21:23):
recognized still, so there's still.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Two bottles that's out so important.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
So important. And then we have the second and six
ninety one because two years ago we created a second
plank cater distillery on our estate just to keep up
with rosel and demand. But it's basically the same process
all the way through, just little more modernized. So that's
number one. And then you'll see a lot of the
labels will put some of their accreditations on the back.
So when there's USDA Organic, we just received the UK
(21:48):
Organic certifications well, which is actually more stringent. Then you
open London, the open London exactly right. So London, France,
we just landed a great We have a partner who's
done some amazing workforce getting new positions in south of France, Santropez, Paris,
so it's just brand new. So this is all expansion
for us in Mexico.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
It's everywhere. So once you decide you know this is
the right tequila moscal in this case for me, what
would be the next step in order to enjoy it?
Like what would you pair it with? For example, if
you're having a nice meal.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Oh, I love that question. So I mean, so ideally
that's where you're consuming and you're enjoying. I mean, of
course most people and vibe having a cocktail pre post
dinner or dining experience. But I love to drink, and
as does our mascallero and a lot of our friends. Well,
it's a big part of the meal. So if you
think of the old termagabe a gapi, which is a
(22:47):
love feast where you're having that food and great spirits
and cocktails combined. I think the alcohol content actually does
a really good position of breaking down the food from
a digestive. But I think anything that with this type
of style profile you can do more lean on the
spice side, you can do something that with some fatty acids,
whether it's beef or pork or even into the fish,
(23:09):
it cuts through with a little sauce.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Anything with it just reminded me of something my grandfather
used to have a mesca before every meal.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
It's really good.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
It was a whole you know I thing. Yeah, it
was like a whole thing that we had to do. Oh,
it doesn't matter your age back in the day, Like
you know, we're seventy five cousins. Never mind like it
was a big thing, but it was like to open
up your appetite.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
That's what they used to say, is like.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Okay, well going to have our mescal so you can
open up appetite to you know, enjoy the meal.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
The great palate cleanser between courses. It just just really
just is your palate. So I think again, depending on
the style and as you both have tried it, now,
hopefully you agree that that less smoky, less hot profile
affords you the opportunity to kind of reset. You can
really enjoy it any way you like. I mean, I
prefer if I'm doing cocktails. I love roseland and gimlet.
People laugh because they're like a gimlet, that's just I'm
(24:00):
and really.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
What is this that we're going to try?
Speaker 3 (24:03):
And margarita that is the recipe of world's best. So
hopefully you'll agree.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Oh yeah, oh, Shakira, here we came. You know, Shakuia
is coming to Fengwai. I think we're gonna have We're
going to have a pre party. Yeah with Rosala.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Here you go.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
No, this is delicious and it doesn't like upset mys
feel like it's not eating my stomach. No, it's not
like when you do a shot at killing.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
It's so delicious. This is so good, Steve, You've made
something wrong here. So I'm not going to work for
the rest of the day.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
Guys.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
We're staying with you for the you know, the remaining
of the Sunday. This is delicious, So tell us where
can we find Rosaluna.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
So we've got great distribution in master Chusetts, our distributed partners, Martinetti.
They've done a fantastic job. So we actually have a
strong retail presence were we're in Total Winy Wars where
Blanches empires. There's a lot of fly around here and
then obviously heavy up in the on premise as well.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
So that's a price point.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
So on shelf every day, all day, our price point
is thirty four to ninety nine. It's perfect pricing down.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
That is great. So we it's quality.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
I'm telling you guys, if you're listening and you have
not tried it, you have to go just try it
because besides the bottle is what seven.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Fifty's that's a leader.
Speaker 5 (25:22):
But it is yeah, okay, so it is good thirty
four dollars and it's really good quality and then I
can go to any liquor store and find it here
in Massachusetts.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
If they're not, it's not there, asked for it, they'll
have Okay, in a couple of days. Because we have nationally,
we have obviously statewide distribution with more you're.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Going national now right because you're on seventeen states.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
Seventeen states now, but soon to we are by the
end of the year. We hope to be in almost
every state.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
One of the things that I would like to propose
to you, as my heritage and Mexican proud woman, how
can we start a trend with Arsalona.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Yeah, let's do something wouldn't mean so cool? Like wherever
we go?
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Can just start at Rosluna trend like for us women
of power and intelligence and you know viral.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Yes, I love it.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Like, let's just come up with an idea.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
What do you think I'm all in on that.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Okay, so we're gonna come back. But I went on
the show.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
It's just the less smoky mescal. It's so simple and smoky.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Eyes with smoky eyes with smoky mescal.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Yeah, I mean, all right, we're gonna have a party.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Let's do a cat passive party smoky eyes. All the
girls are gonna have to come with their smoky eye makeup, okay,
and we'll do a smoky Moscow.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
What do you think of that?
Speaker 4 (26:37):
Yes, the less smoky I know, not smoky.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
No, but it's it's it's it's not perfect.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
Yes, I feel very distinguished.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
I feel like I feel like I'm just.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
Going to start speaking Spanish.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
See perfect though, So please Steve share Roussa Luna handles.
Where can we follow you guys? Is there a website?
Speaker 3 (27:05):
There is, so we're Instagram. Please look us up Roseland
and Mezcal obviously on Facebook Instagram. We have a beautiful website. Actually,
we're just finalizing our redesign on that which helps you
kind of go right to where to buy, find your
location near you. I mean, we want to be the
brand that brings people into the category, So please reach
(27:27):
out to us. All the contact information is there. Happy
to answer any questions that anybody has at anytime. Really
that's the key piece.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Hey, maybe we can do apasa trip to Waha comn.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Let's do it now you're talking. I can't wait to
do it.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Awesome Jello saving me hand it. Remember to download that.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
iHeart app and pre select Kepasa Boston as your favorite
podcast and to return every Sunday. We have cool stories
like today Steve's, and we are here to share also
what your ideas are and we want to hear from
you on that red icon that you can tap and
ask us any question.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Again.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
This is Ca Pasaga ri la Salas. We'll see you
next Sunday Knows by mos
When I was as Boston cow Stama. This is a
very fabulous Sunday. It's a special Sunday because we're going
to get drunk. Now, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I have a guest that has been part of my
life for a long, long, long time.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Just imagine this going back to the two thousand early
two thousands and ray Tie was still owner of United
Liquors back then, who taught me to ride and with
the drivers like delivering cases, because that was it. You
couldn't work for the liquor industry if you did not
deliver the cases. And then we jumped into like selling
(00:39):
the coolest brands possible.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
And there is where I met Steve McCarry, our guest
for today.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Welcome, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
I want to share with all our audience what are
you doing now? Before you were part of the ray
Tie Martinetic companies and you went into your whole other
world with another there is not a distributor, it was
a supplier. And now you're doing completely different things. So
let's just get started. How have you been.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
I've been great. I've been great. It's it's been, as
you mentioned, quite the journey over the last I hate
twenty years really right, So, but it's flown by as
it always tends to do when you're having fun. So yeah,
to your point in your question, when I left the
United Liquors slash Martinetti, after that Martinetti acquisition, I went
on to a company called pronour Card and they are
(01:33):
the second largest spirit supplier globally. So there's a no
shortage of great brands. And I had the pleasure to
move to New York spend a decade in NYC with
that great organization, was leading their luxury business for about
ten years, and then about two years ago, a little
over two years ago, I tapped on the shoulder by
a really interesting opportunity, a new brand which I'm very
(01:55):
happy to be part of today called Roseland and Mescal.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
So, Steve, where did you grow up?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
I grew up in a small little town in Connecticut
called East Harford.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
How did you get to Boston?
Speaker 3 (02:07):
To me? A great question. So prior to working in
the distributor side, I actually worked in on premise and hospitality,
so I was working for independence and then I got
involved with a great, great franchise called tool Hands, which
I'm sure you all know, and I was in working
in Framingham for a couple of years and discovered John Harbridge,
which no longer exists. So I did a Circuit nine
(02:29):
Route nine. I don't think whole is still there, but
there's plenty of great restaurants to this day. And they
moved me back to Connecticut, but I always knew I
wanted to come back to Boston, and then I found
my way. And it was a gentleman that we know
in the business, Kevin McCann, who tapped me to come
do sales for a company that was called Whitehall Brand
at the time before United about them.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Wow, And that's how you got to Boston, and then
your whole career was based in Massachusetts for.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
The most part of the best. So I moved to
New York.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
With PRONO when that happened.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
How was it to get from the distributor side to
the supplier side.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
I tried it many times.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
I tried, and I tried, and I mean I barely
made it once.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
It's really fascinating because I don't know any other industry
that is so tethered together relevant to the tiers, but
they're so siloed, and it's whether you if you're working
on the hospitality side or retail side. You work with
a distributor partner and maybe you come into contact with
a few suppliers, but you don't really have a great
degree of interaction on the distributor side to the supplier side.
Very similarly, there's a lot because of post prohibition. The
(03:37):
way that works in the US is you've got this
three to four tier system put in place, which is
to protect the consumer and to have these structures, but
the ways of working between the parties is difficult, so
you don't get a lot of exposure to the other
side of the aisle. When I saw the opportunity with
Pronola Card several years ago and recognizing the brands based
(03:57):
upon my on premise experience running bars and nightclubs, et cetera,
and then doing a decade on distributor, I knew there
was a unique opportunity for me to take that learning
and apply it to the supplier side. So there was
just a window time that opened up and they needed
someone to run their own premise business and it just
worked out. It starts very fabulous.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
You know that happened to me too, And for those
that don't know quite all my story.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
When I was working for Martinetti.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
I also saw the opportunity of the niche in the
Hispanic market and just addressing consumers in their own language,
but culturally, not just speaking Spanish. So I think that
as a team, we all developed our own skills in
a certain way, and we grew on our careers because
we learned so much from what we were doing, and
(04:45):
we learned to talk to people in their own way.
And probably that's why you've been so successful too, right,
because you learn how the consumer is taking their products,
consuming them at home or at their favorite restaurant. But
what's strange to me is just seeing you just like
(05:06):
amazed with a mescal. Because I'm Mexican. I love tequila,
but mescal is a different thing. Mescal is so true
to our culture, is handcrafted. Yes, so tell me about
what you're doing now.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Okay, And I couldn't agree more. I think there's something
really special about mescal. And just before I get into
the roselune piece of it, to that end, you know,
even though I spent years in the industry on multiple
sides and representing a lot of really great mescals, I
never really learned truly about everything. There is no about
(05:40):
mescal until I got into Roseluna, and it really has
everything to do with with our One of our core
founders are Mescalero JJ. So the story behind Roseland is
it is four years old, but it's many more years
in the making. Sour our mescalero, our massive stiller JJ.
He's six generation mescalero, so his family has been making
mescal going back to seventeen fifty.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
To be exact, let's just clear something out because I
don't think that people know the difference between tequila and mescal.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Can we just define that?
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Of course? Yeah, no, great question, Thank you for asking
that question. So there's there's interestingly enough when you think
about categorically speaking, so tequila is a massive category.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
It's taken off, it's taken off by what everybody owns
a tequila.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Now everybody yes, yes, yeah, And that's actually it's interesting
because the pendulum swinging back in terms of the celebrity
endorseed brands today, I think they're great at driving awareness
but not tying back to authenticity and yeah, quality, it's
losing it, it's losing it. But I think they've done
a great job overall driving awareness for the category. So
the category today in tequila is roughly worth about twenty
(06:45):
eight billion dollars in terms of size global size. Comparatively speaking,
mescal is under a billion, so it's really about three
and a half percent of the size of the total category.
It's crazy, right, that's the opportunity. So even though mescal
and just from a historical perspective, mescal is older than
tequila because obviously from the origination agents. So what I
(07:09):
think where the big deviation took place, and we'll get
into the history on it and early in the seventies,
But the big difference is between the two is really
three key things. One, it's it's where that it's it's
legally can be sourced. So tequila can be made in
five states in Mexico, but it's really predominantly one Jalisco,
whereas whereas mescal can be made recognized in nine states
in Mexico, in the primary being Ojaca, which is also
(07:31):
lovely known as the world Capital of Mescal, which is
where we're located as well. And then you've got the
second piece is the type of agaves to you. So
there's over fifty different species of agaves plus that exist today.
Tequila can only made for one which is blue lever,
whereas mescal is it can be made from roughly any
that thirty plus range is what we draw from, but
(07:52):
primarily it's made from espadin or about ninety percent istinct,
which that instinct, Yeah, it's so's.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
There's that was a time, right or a time from
where those type of gaps were not growing and it
was in an extinction.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Oh oh sorry, yes, the CLI clients, it's definitely declining.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
So I think a lot of it my Irish accent,
you know.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
But it's a really great point because there's there's a
huge need for more sustainable practices, certainly throughout I mean
almost everywhere now, but certainly when we're talking about making mezcal.
And the reason why is because we see this pendul
swinging on availability on certainly in Blue Weber, because if
you recall during COVID, where high end tequila shot through
(08:41):
the roof to demand, there was a there's a huge
rush for planting and as you know.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
It's takes seven years exactly right.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Gabby, so to get a full mature a Gabby at
seven years and the you think about that challenging prospect.
So they're planting years in advance before you can go
to harvest. But also so if you're just doing one dimensional,
one type of gobby, it's not great for the soil.
And it's also in terms of how you prove. So
we are just the last point, the big difference between
(09:10):
the two, and there's really three. The third point is
that is how you cook it right. So whereas tequila's
pretty much made in what is known as an autoclave,
it's it's like a microwave, you really cook and roast
the goby with steam. For the most part, we're cooking
ours underground. We are one hundred percent, but you're roasting
your agave and open fire pits or closed fire pits.
From that's where they are artisonal touch comes in. That's
(09:32):
where the smokey aroma comes in because of how you're
cooking your gobi. So the thing that really separates Rosluna
from really almost all other mezcals today's number one. We're
single estate. We're vertically integrated with USDA Organic. So the
fact that we're single estate is really it's unheard of
because even in the Kila space, most brands are made
(09:56):
at a single distillery where they might buy their gave's
an open market spot price, so you don't really know
the quality or the age. You're just getting something like sugar, right,
But exactly it's folk whereas we are. You'll never You'll
never when you come to our our polenke, when you
come to our site, and I hope you do, you'll
never see a whole role of agave's harvested at once.
(10:16):
We only harvest our agave's when they're at peak maturity.
And then the second piece of that is we only
harvest copona gaves. And most people don't know what the
compone is, and it's not a type of agave. It's
a type of maturity of how you mature to the
to the to the greatest extent possible. And the greatest
analogy I've ever heard when I talk about copone is
if you think about it like a banana, if you're
(10:38):
harvesting or you're eating a banana of a treat. It's green,
it's it's got sugar, but it probably doesn't taste that
good if you if you wait for a banana to
get to that brown color, it's it's super sweet. And
because the complexity of sugar structures that are more enhanced,
a copona gave is exactly that we only harvest when
they go to the peak ripeness where they're literally popping
out of the ground.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Even more difficult, it's.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
More difficult, it takes longer. So that's the other challenge.
Most most mesclearics don't do that because it's got to
be in the ground for another six months or two
years to reach that peak maturity.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
So you're not risking the quality of your product because
of the rapidness of like producing and just like manufacturing
one percent.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
So this is the recipe that JJ's father and his
father before him were passed down generation and generation. So
when we think about mescaleros, like JJ considers himself a
farmer first because it's really about the product, the produce
that what he's harvesting is a crop. And then the
it's the roasting process. Those are the two single most
important factors of having high quality product because unlike tequila,
(11:42):
for mescal whatever comes out of the still, that's what
you get. You can't get any additives in, you can't
round it out, no glycerin, no coloring.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
You and it's distilled in copper too, right, right, And
let me tell you a story. This is funny This
is a very funny story. Back in twenty sixteen, I
actually wanted to create my own mescal and I went
to Wahaka, and I was on a whole trip to
Jalisco and I mean to Halisco to Wahaka, and I
was on a whole trip trying to figure out how.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
I was going to make it. So that's why I
know so much about mescal.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
So I went to sites where you could see even
like people with their own hands just digging the ground
to put the product there, to roast it and to
make it. The smell everything is just so so fabulous.
But what caught my attention is that I was also
in Mexico at that time. In Wahaca is a very
special place. All the taxi drivers were on a strike.
(12:38):
So I was supposed to go to a conference where
they had all these exposition and boots of mescalleros, where
they were going to present their mescals. And here I
am in the hotel that is on the other side
of the city, right that I have to get to
this place, and I was not able to do it.
So guess what I did. Of course, Gaby doesn't stop
(12:58):
with anything. A Mexicana. I ask a police officer on
a motorcycle if you could take me. So I'm with
my heels and my little cute dress on the motorcycle
on steps on the like the town because the town
is so tiny and it's so rustic.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
But I made it.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
And one of the things that I loved about making
that is what the memory, but also the stories that
all Mascalo's had to tell. It is a big, big,
big part of history. And that's why I'm so fascinated.
You tell me the story about JJ. So how do
you get involved with JJ? How do they meet you?
(13:38):
Like they heard from you, like you met them at
this place or.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
It's such an amazing story. And I, you know, I
was not part of the journey when JJ and the
founders first met. So the impetus behind this brand, the
name and the record is the Juices. JJ's the roson
of the name, the label. The creation was a synergy
between JJ and the founders. To the founders, Nate Brown
and Terry Lee. One lives in La One lives in
(14:04):
Brooklyn and became best friends. And they really, like so
many other origin stories, were talking about you know, we'd
love to and they love mescal but a lot of
their friends didn't, and it was because mescal is very polarizing.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
You know.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
It's either you love it because you like the badge
on the smoke or you're like, oh no, hell no,
too hot to smokey for me, and there's this huge
the hangover. Yeah not a ro.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
But so they they went on a journey about eight
years ago to do exactly what you just were trying
to do and they wanted to and then there's a
coordination with the Mexican government and we had another founder
who got involved with that, who orchestrated meetings with many
medscal aeros throout the day and they met probably ten
different mescaleros, went to their sites, and there was no synergy,
no feeling. It just wasn't connected. And then they were
(14:50):
about to call it quits, and the other gentleman's like, well,
I have one more person who you guys should just
go talk to. And sure enough it was Jay. J
was about an hour away from where they were, so
they took the ride and they met JJ, his mother
and his sister, and you know, what they thought would
be a fifteen minute introduction turned out to be a
three hour conversation. Just hit it off. The stars aligned.
(15:11):
It was just magic, and that was again the origin
story of really where they just found it. Just the
puzzle pieces ft and it was it was just so
that's really where the brand the origin story of Rosaluna.
But the liquid has been in his family for.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Generations and where does Rosaluna come from?
Speaker 3 (15:29):
So it was really just the idea of again going
back to the symbolism on the bottle, so pig Moon,
you know, because there's obviously a lot of history and
heritage around harvest Moon. The Zeppa techs believed that they
would obviously harvest the guy is in nighttime because there
would be the hardest, largest concentration sugar that they could
(15:49):
draw from. That was the belief. The label itself, does
that color look familiar because it's basically a soil color,
the structure of the Wakan soil because it's heavy and iron.
The two women are basically the mountain sides that flank
Wi Haak or Santi O Matalan, so because there's just
a very mountains gorgeous region, so we wanted to pay
(16:10):
homage to that, and that's really the whole concept, tying
them back to the history Inheritan culture of Mexico, and
obviously I feel so proud for being Mexican.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I mean when I see stuff like that is when
I really wish people had the opportunity to travel and
see exactly what we're talking about, because it goes back
to the root of like where we belong and where
we grew up, and the pride that you have on
your land and what our old grandparents, our great grandparents,
(16:43):
like they really cared for giving you.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
The best of the best that they could have. So
what does it taste?
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Like? Let's get into it all right, how.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Do you drink mezcal?
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Because you know there's some people that say, okay, tequila,
you gotta do it like with a shot.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
No way, like you gotta sip it. You have to smell,
you have to savor it.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
There's even ways of breathing sometimes, like before you take
that tequila shot or sip, I should say you can
mix it.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Then we came out.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Do you remember when we came out with all those flavors,
the tequila flavors, they were not very nice.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Salute.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
So that's the most riba.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Abajo al centro.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
And so.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Mmm, for those who are listening, we are trying a
really smooth it's not burning at all.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
It's not smoky, it is it has.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
That I didn't make a weird face, right.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Because Leanne is here with us. Thank you, Thank you
Leanne for sharing this opportunity with us.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Isn't it so delicious? And it smells so good?
Speaker 3 (18:00):
I can sip will always taste better than the first
because your your first, it's always going to have to. Yes,
that's why we have a whole bottle.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
So when we're drinking mescal, are we supposed to mix it?
Because I've seen a lot of cocktails now that offer
mescal in their menus.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yes, So it's again of the great question is a
variety of ways to consume it. I think the cleanness
is certainly neat or on a cube of ice with
a little teeny salt and then on an orange slice.
It's the most simplest way. You know, the traditional cups
are the competas. We've done a little bit of work
(18:38):
with that, so that's that's the baseline. But I think
certainly most consumers today come into it by way of cocktail,
and I think it's just the easiest way to kind
of lean in, especially if your first time tryer of mescal.
So the beautiful thing about the cocktail piece, specifically with
Roson is that because of our profile being less smoky,
less hot, and then again you get that residual sweetness
(18:59):
with the copone, you have this we have this great
adaptability versatility to citrus for cocktails. So and behold we've
entered roseland into a cocktail competition last year against other
tequilas as well, and we won first place for world.
Really yeah, good job.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Oh that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
So for ladies, ladies, if you're drinkers, I'm telling you,
mescal these Rosaluna is so good because you're gonna have
that smoky feeling. But it's just like I can't get
over the flavored A.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Yeah, I think it's really good.
Speaker 4 (19:36):
I'm never had a mescal.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
I'm honest.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
It's one of my favorite drinks.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
It is delicious. Like I said, I didn't make that
tequila face that some James I make.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
You.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
You didn't hear that.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
Beautiful aftertaste and it it's just tastes nice.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
When you're looking for tequilas or mescals, what can you
suggest our audience to look for, whether it is on
the label, because that's a lot of confusion, Thank you
so much. There's a lot of confusion also when you're
shopping around. Big brands tend to make it very pretty
to the eye. Yes, but as we educate ourselves, and
(20:18):
this is part of my show, I want people to
have that leg up, that opportunity to learn a little bit,
you know, more of what they should look for. In
this case with the labels or the product itself. This
is GMO free, gluten free, organic. What does that mean
in alcohol?
Speaker 3 (20:38):
You know?
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Alphabet?
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Oh, that's that's a great question. I think you know
going I guess for the starting point for quality reference.
When you think about like making sure you've got a
high quality recognized product. It's whether it's tequila or Mascal,
all t kilas and all mascales have should have a
non number on the back of their labels NMS Destination
(21:02):
of origin and basically what that tells you is that
they come from a registered site really a distillery in
whether it's Wahaka or Jalisco. So that's it. There's a
lot of quality process that are put in place to
get that recognition. Okay, So just just worth noting because
of our history and Heritage Are. Our original non member
was zero zero two, which is one of the second
(21:23):
recognized still, so there's still.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Two bottles that's out so important.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
So important. And then we have the second and six
ninety one because two years ago we created a second
plank cater distillery on our estate just to keep up
with rosel and demand. But it's basically the same process
all the way through, just little more modernized. So that's
number one. And then you'll see a lot of the
labels will put some of their accreditations on the back.
So when there's USDA Organic, we just received the UK
(21:48):
Organic certifications well, which is actually more stringent. Then you
open London, the open London exactly right. So London, France,
we just landed a great We have a partner who's
done some amazing workforce getting new positions in south of France, Santropez, Paris,
so it's just brand new. So this is all expansion
for us in Mexico.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
It's everywhere. So once you decide you know this is
the right tequila moscal in this case for me, what
would be the next step in order to enjoy it?
Like what would you pair it with? For example, if
you're having a nice meal.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
Oh, I love that question. So I mean, so ideally
that's where you're consuming and you're enjoying. I mean, of
course most people and vibe having a cocktail pre post
dinner or dining experience. But I love to drink, and
as does our mascallero and a lot of our friends. Well,
it's a big part of the meal. So if you
think of the old termagabe a gapi, which is a
(22:47):
love feast where you're having that food and great spirits
and cocktails combined. I think the alcohol content actually does
a really good position of breaking down the food from
a digestive. But I think anything that with this type
of style profile you can do more lean on the
spice side, you can do something that with some fatty acids,
whether it's beef or pork or even into the fish,
(23:09):
it cuts through with a little sauce.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Anything with it just reminded me of something my grandfather
used to have a mesca before every meal.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
It's really good.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
It was a whole you know I thing. Yeah, it
was like a whole thing that we had to do. Oh,
it doesn't matter your age back in the day, Like
you know, we're seventy five cousins. Never mind like it
was a big thing, but it was like to open
up your appetite.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
That's what they used to say, is like.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Okay, well going to have our mescal so you can
open up appetite to you know, enjoy the meal.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
The great palate cleanser between courses. It just just really
just is your palate. So I think again, depending on
the style and as you both have tried it, now,
hopefully you agree that that less smoky, less hot profile
affords you the opportunity to kind of reset. You can
really enjoy it any way you like. I mean, I
prefer if I'm doing cocktails. I love roseland and gimlet.
People laugh because they're like a gimlet, that's just I'm
(24:00):
and really.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
What is this that we're going to try?
Speaker 3 (24:03):
And margarita that is the recipe of world's best. So
hopefully you'll agree.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Oh yeah, oh, Shakira, here we came. You know, Shakuia
is coming to Fengwai. I think we're gonna have We're
going to have a pre party. Yeah with Rosala.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Here you go.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
No, this is delicious and it doesn't like upset mys
feel like it's not eating my stomach. No, it's not
like when you do a shot at killing.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
It's so delicious. This is so good, Steve, You've made
something wrong here. So I'm not going to work for
the rest of the day.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
Guys.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
We're staying with you for the you know, the remaining
of the Sunday. This is delicious, So tell us where
can we find Rosaluna.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
So we've got great distribution in master Chusetts, our distributed partners, Martinetti.
They've done a fantastic job. So we actually have a
strong retail presence were we're in Total Winy Wars where
Blanches empires. There's a lot of fly around here and
then obviously heavy up in the on premise as well.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
So that's a price point.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
So on shelf every day, all day, our price point
is thirty four to ninety nine. It's perfect pricing down.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
That is great. So we it's quality.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
I'm telling you guys, if you're listening and you have
not tried it, you have to go just try it
because besides the bottle is what seven.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Fifty's that's a leader.
Speaker 5 (25:22):
But it is yeah, okay, so it is good thirty
four dollars and it's really good quality and then I
can go to any liquor store and find it here
in Massachusetts.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
If they're not, it's not there, asked for it, they'll
have Okay, in a couple of days. Because we have nationally,
we have obviously statewide distribution with more you're.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Going national now right because you're on seventeen states.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
Seventeen states now, but soon to we are by the
end of the year. We hope to be in almost
every state.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
One of the things that I would like to propose
to you, as my heritage and Mexican proud woman, how
can we start a trend with Arsalona.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Yeah, let's do something wouldn't mean so cool? Like wherever
we go?
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Can just start at Rosluna trend like for us women
of power and intelligence and you know viral.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Yes, I love it.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Like, let's just come up with an idea.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
What do you think I'm all in on that.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Okay, so we're gonna come back. But I went on
the show.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
It's just the less smoky mescal. It's so simple and smoky.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Eyes with smoky eyes with smoky mescal.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Yeah, I mean, all right, we're gonna have a party.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Let's do a cat passive party smoky eyes. All the
girls are gonna have to come with their smoky eye makeup, okay,
and we'll do a smoky Moscow.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
What do you think of that?
Speaker 4 (26:37):
Yes, the less smoky I know, not smoky.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
No, but it's it's it's it's not perfect.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
Yes, I feel very distinguished.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
I feel like I feel like I'm just.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
Going to start speaking Spanish.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
See perfect though, So please Steve share Roussa Luna handles.
Where can we follow you guys? Is there a website?
Speaker 3 (27:05):
There is, so we're Instagram. Please look us up Roseland
and Mezcal obviously on Facebook Instagram. We have a beautiful website. Actually,
we're just finalizing our redesign on that which helps you
kind of go right to where to buy, find your
location near you. I mean, we want to be the
brand that brings people into the category, So please reach
(27:27):
out to us. All the contact information is there. Happy
to answer any questions that anybody has at anytime. Really
that's the key piece.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Hey, maybe we can do apasa trip to Waha comn.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Let's do it now you're talking. I can't wait to
do it.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Awesome Jello saving me hand it. Remember to download that.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
iHeart app and pre select Kepasa Boston as your favorite
podcast and to return every Sunday. We have cool stories
like today Steve's, and we are here to share also
what your ideas are and we want to hear from
you on that red icon that you can tap and
ask us any question.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Again.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
This is Ca Pasaga ri la Salas. We'll see you
next Sunday Knows by mos
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