September 8, 2025 • 29 mins
On this episode of Tasting Arcadia with Karen Mac Nair you might think a bottle of hard espresso might not seem revolutionary until you hear the story behind Mario's Hard Espresso. Founder Joe shares how his father Mario, a Sicilian immigrant farmer with powerful hands and an even more powerful sense of community, crafted a special espresso liqueur once a year for six decades simply to bring people together.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
John Villa (00:04):
Welcome to Tasting Arcadia, the official podcast of
Taste of Arcadia.
Taste of Arcadia is anall-inclusive event featuring
food and drinks from the SanGabriel Valley restaurants, all
for one price Sample food, wine,beer and spirits.
Check out our brand new cars,visit our business showcase
booths, smile at our photo boothand shake it on the dance floor
(00:24):
with me, john Villa from DanceSyndicate DJ Entertainment.
Taste of Arcadia is September13th at Santa Anita Park.
The fun goes from 2 to 6 pm,with special VIP entrance at 1
pm.
Don't forget this isa 21 andover event.
Get your tickets today attasteofarcadia.
com.
Now let's hear it for our host,Karen Mac Nair.
Karen Mac Nair (00:47):
Well, thank you, john, for that great
introduction.
I am thrilled to say today, onTasting of Arcadia, it's an
episode where we get to tastesome great hard espresso.
I know if you're driving outthere, if you're walking, if you
are watching us on YouTube,this is an exciting episode of a
brand that I have not beenexposed to before, so this is
(01:10):
all going to be new to me.
This is all exciting.
We just kind of went over a fewthings.
I'm thrilled.
So I'm here with Joe, who isthe president and founder of
Mario's Hard Espresso, trying toshow all the cameras.
Joe Grasso (01:23):
There it is.
That's the little one.
Karen Mac Nair (01:24):
This is the little guy who I feel like is my
new friend.
Joe Grasso (01:29):
We like to say it's perfect for the purse, perfect
for the pocket, good for thegolf bag.
I'm loving that we actuallyrefer to them as dog walkers,
because they're just the rightamount and they're refillable,
so that's important.
Oh.
Karen Mac Nair (01:43):
So you get the baby dog and the big dog.
Exactly Okay, Joe, why don'tyou start?
Let's get everybody else caughtup to our conversation.
Sure sure.
Let's start talking aboutMario's Hard Espresso.
Joe Grasso (01:53):
Tell me the story Happy to.
First of all, thanks so muchfor having us and we're thrilled
to be, a part.
We do a lot of eventsthroughout the year and this was
a big one for us, so we're veryexcited.
But Mario's Hard Espresso isreally pretty simple.
Obviously the gentleman there'sa pretty buff gentleman right
on the front of our bottle.
Karen Mac Nair (02:14):
Okay, yep, totally see that.
Joe Grasso (02:15):
Yep, that is actually Mario, and Mario is my
dad.
Karen Mac Nair (02:19):
Oh, I love that.
Joe Grasso (02:20):
Yeah, my dad made this in our family.
One batch a year around 12 or15 bottles.
One batch a year for friendsand family for over 60 years.
And I just sort of grew up onit.
I was probably about 14 or 15when I noticed people were kind
of like you know, hey, mario, amI going to get a bottle this
year?
It was a very special thing.
Yeah, and he did it to bringpeople together.
I mean, that was just part ofwho he was.
(02:41):
He loved people to share adrink and a laugh and a story,
and it was just his way ofgiving and he encouraged people
to gift it and to share it.
So that's kind of our ethos as abrand.
But I was fortunate enough tomake it with him in the last few
years of his life.
I learned how to do it and thenwhen he passed away 14 years
(03:02):
ago, I was literally I said tomy son, aaron, I'm like we have
to keep doing this, we have tokeep this tradition going to
honor him.
So we did it, like you know,very much in the kitchen old
wine bottles, different photosof him on every bottle.
Karen Mac Nair (03:11):
You're like print that, reprint that picture
.
Yeah, you know it's that kindof thing.
Joe Grasso (03:14):
It was really awesome and people loved that.
We continued.
And then in 2018, honestly,this is how it started I had no
experience in the spiritbusiness.
In 2018, I was reading a storyabout a vodka brand, a very big
vodka brand, that we all know,but that they don't distill
their own vodka, that they use acontract distiller.
And I was like you can do thatand I started.
(03:34):
I was looking at the bottle.
I'm like I don't have to makeit because you can't make
alcohol in your kitchen andright, you need.
There's a lot of licensinginvolved.
I said, huh, maybe I can builda brand around this.
Tell the story of my dad, findsomeone to actually make it for
us.
So, that was the beginning ofthe quest, and that was in 2018.
And we launched the brand inNovember of 2021.
So almost four years now.
Karen Mac Nair (03:55):
Wow, that is amazing.
So after hearing the story, Ido have a question.
Your dad was creating this.
Did he get the recipe for anyway?
Was it his own recipe?
Joe Grasso (04:07):
I wish I could tell you I knew but, I, really don't.
It's part of sort of the originof my family.
They were Sicilian immigrants.
They had farms in upstate NewYork.
In fact that photo is of my dadon the farm and people look at
that photo and they say was he aboxer or was he a weightlifter?
Was he a weightlifter?
He was a farmer.
That's from my dad.
He used to say to me you liftcrates of onions all day, you'll
(04:28):
look like that too.
So you know, they did a lot ofthings right, as immigrants do.
Nothing goes to waste Right.
And they baked and they werebutchers and they were masons
and they were farmers.
And he did a lot of thingsbeside this too.
He made biscotti and pasta anddid all kinds of things.
So I think this was just anextension of that.
Karen Mac Nair (04:46):
Okay, that totally makes sense.
And then the back of the bottlealso has a picture.
Joe Grasso (04:50):
Yeah.
Karen Mac Nair (04:51):
And it looks like it's your dad as a baby.
It is Because it does say Marioand pointing.
Joe Grasso (04:54):
So I'm not that it's my father Mario Okay, sitting
on my grandfather, joseph, mynamesake, sitting on his lap.
That's actually a much largerphoto.
The whole family is in it.
There was 10 of them and Idisplay that on the table when
we do events like Taste ofArcadia so people can see it in
context.
But we like to joke because mydad's got his hand to his head.
(05:16):
We like to say, oh, that's theminute he gets the idea for hard
espresso.
Karen Mac Nair (05:20):
Oh, that's cute.
Joe Grasso (05:21):
I'm not sure that's actually the case, but we're
going to say yes, we're going tosay I'm going to go with it.
Maybe his little teeth hurt orsomething.
He was teething I thought maybehis big onesie is hot.
Karen Mac Nair (05:28):
He's all like I got it.
I got it Rubbing his gums.
John Villa (05:30):
I love it.
Karen Mac Nair (05:32):
I love that.
It's a family story.
Joe Grasso (05:49):
And if anyone out Like, we kind of go over the top
a little bit when it comes todecorating, but you'll see old
cameras and photos and all kindsof things we bring out because
it's literally a brand rooted inthe history and the tradition
of our family.
So that's.
Karen Mac Nair (05:55):
So that leads me to my next question Are you
local?
Joe Grasso (05:59):
Yeah, we're based in Simi Valley.
I was actually born here inSouthern California.
My father, my parents, hadmoved out from upstate New York,
where the farm was in the early60s, and I shocked everybody.
So I'm the native Californianin the family, but we make it in
Simi Valley.
Subsequent to finding acontract distiller, which is a
whole other story, we decided tobring production in-house.
(06:19):
So about a year ago I receiveda distilled spirits permit and
we produce it ourselves as afamily, again Uh-huh.
And we also distributethroughout California ourselves
and we also sell ourselves.
So we're very busy.
Karen Mac Nair (06:32):
Wow, your son's still involved.
Oh yeah, very much so Okay.
Joe Grasso (06:34):
He's our operations, yeah.
Chief operations officer.
Karen Mac Nair (06:38):
And yeah, I feel like that's your dad smiling
down, like that.
Everyone is still together.
I'd like to think so.
Joe Grasso (06:44):
It's been really satisfying, really gratifying,
these last four years since wedid this, because I talk about
him every day.
Karen Mac Nair (06:52):
I just got chills.
Joe Grasso (06:56):
I talk about really the good parts too the things
that really motivated him.
And it's also been good for usbecause, quite frankly, if we
ever get to a fork in the road,and.
I have to make a decision.
I think about what honors him.
Karen Mac Nair (07:10):
And that's the way we go.
You know, know your why that?
Joe Grasso (07:13):
keeps it really Exactly.
Karen Mac Nair (07:15):
So I feel like we've already talked.
He seems to be the inspirationbehind the business family.
Joe Grasso (07:21):
Yeah, very much so.
And I'll be honest, I've alwaysbeen sort of a serial
entrepreneur and done a lot ofdifferent things.
I've always wanted to buildsomething I don't know that had
some sort of legacy, you know,some sort of lasting value, um,
but this was one of those thingsthat just came out of like sort
of that desire, and then thatthey the also the desire to like
(07:42):
, honor him and honor my familyand provide my kids and
grandchildren.
You know something to be proudof yeah, that is.
Karen Mac Nair (07:49):
That is so great .
I do love that.
Thank you, um.
I feel like we've also talkedabout what you're most proud of,
like I'm thinking about thedifferent things.
It's like your story is likeall inclusive.
It really has all the points.
It's so yeah centric.
Joe Grasso (08:04):
Yeah, thank, thank you.
Yeah, you know I'm very proudof what we've done.
You know we're in about 900locations in almost well, five,
almost six states.
We're about to get going toNorth Carolina, primarily
California, though.
Okay, we're in hundreds of barsand restaurants, people,
restaurateurs and bar owners whoreally care about quality, love
Mario's and pour us, and that'sbeen really satisfying.
(08:28):
But I think, even more than that, in our family we loved it and
my father's friends loved it,right, and so when I brought it
to market, I wasn't looking foran affirmation, I just thought,
well, let's see what happens.
In fact, the first year, I made1,500 bottles and put them in a
warehouse and just startedwalking the streets, and I
remember saying, if I just givethem away, we'll see what
happens.
I didn't know how it was goingto be received, right.
(08:49):
But now, three and of fouryears in, and I see how it's
received and I see how peoplelove it and how people basically
use it or do with it what myfather intended, which is they
buy it, they gift it, they bringit, they serve it at weddings,
they serve it at, you know,family functions, and they've
really embraced it.
So that is by far the mostsatisfying thing.
(09:10):
And then you know it's crazy towalk into.
It still gives me goosebumps towalk into a bar or restaurant
or a store shelf and see it onthe shelf.
It's like I can't hardly evenbelieve it.
So that's really beensatisfying.
And a lot of those places likeNorth Beach and San Francisco
where we have a really strongpresence.
My father used to go there allthe time and for me to think
about what he would think toknow that he was in.
(09:32):
Molinari and Tony's Pizza.
I mean, it's just, I don't know, super great.
Karen Mac Nair (09:39):
So we're going to dive into now what do we do
with it?
John Villa (09:42):
I have this bottle, you've gifted me this bottle.
Karen Mac Nair (09:45):
I receive it, you can have all of it, take it
all.
John Villa (09:47):
Buy the show.
Joe Grasso (09:47):
Give it to friends, it's over.
Karen Mac Nair (09:49):
I'm done.
We get this bottle, now what doI do with it?
Joe Grasso (09:52):
Yeah, so here's the thing In our family we drink it
straight.
Karen Mac Nair (09:57):
That's how we drank it forever my father would
do around the holidays he woulddo one cocktail, which is
actually on this cocktail cardwhich I can talk about.
Joe Grasso (10:07):
We have a cocktail card.
Yeah, it's called a KingAlphonse.
Around the holidays he would dothat kind of a special after
dinner.
He would get everybody around,pour some Mario's and then he'd
float a little float of cream ontop of it and it's super
delicious.
You see, sip through the creamand you get all the rich flavors
of the of Mario's, and sothat's kind of how what I was
thinking when I, when we broughtit to market.
Karen Mac Nair (10:26):
people were just going to love it, but then of
course you know one of the firstthings somebody said to me was
and I was like, wow a specialmartini.
Joe Grasso (10:34):
So now we are in just it's an insane amount of
cocktails, and what I didn'trealize when we brought it to
market, and what bartenders andmixologists have taught us is
how versatile it is.
So we put these cocktail cardstogether to show the versatility
.
So you asked what do you dowith it?
Well, the reality is you can dovirtually anything with it, so
(10:56):
it is delicious on its own.
Okay, it is amazing.
Karen Mac Nair (10:58):
It's a great starting point.
Joe Grasso (10:59):
Yeah, some of them are not, so we're very fortunate
, right.
John Villa (11:04):
It's true.
Joe Grasso (11:05):
And I still drink it this way, we still drink it
straight, we still pour it onthe rocks.
A little twist of lemon,amazing.
But then At home you can makean espresso martini, very simply
a true espresso martini, withwhiskey, with rum, with tequila,
with mezcal.
We have drinks with.
We have one, a 213, which isour ode to LA.
Karen Mac Nair (11:24):
Like the area code oh yay, yes.
Joe Grasso (11:26):
Yeah, two parts Mario's, one part tequila, three
parts horchata, which isamazing.
Karen Mac Nair (11:30):
Ooh, that does sound delicious.
Joe Grasso (11:32):
Amazing.
We have a bakery in Camarillothat's doing Mario's chocolate
truffles and Mario's tiramisu.
We have a restaurant in LaJolla that is pouring it over
ice cream as an affogato.
So I mean I had somebodyrecently do a half Mario's, half
Modelo beer.
Oh my gosh, which sounds insane, it does.
It was delicious, so there'slike, okay, sure, why not?
(11:55):
That's literally the way it'sbeen for us.
Karen Mac Nair (11:57):
So businesses and bartenders, mixologists, are
out there coming to you to giveyou inspiration of what they're
coming up with.
Joe Grasso (12:04):
I love that Everything you see on the
cocktail cart is being poured ina different bar and restaurant.
We didn't come up with them,except there's two on there that
we came up with.
But yeah, those are cocktailsthat are being poured.
That were revelations for us,because I had no clue that that
was going to be the case.
Karen Mac Nair (12:20):
I also never thought about, when I order
espresso martini, to ask what isbeing included in it.
Joe Grasso (12:27):
You should.
Karen Mac Nair (12:28):
Right, that's what you just taught me that.
Joe Grasso (12:31):
Because I can tell you a lot of them don't have
espresso in them.
Karen Mac Nair (12:34):
Joe.
Joe Grasso (12:35):
Sorry.
Karen Mac Nair (12:36):
I'm going to push you, get out, they lead
into cold brew, and it's anentirely different thing.
Joe Grasso (12:40):
Oh so espresso is much smoother.
It doesn't have the bitternessand the thing about Mario's
which, partly, I'll tell you thesecret.
So there's only fouringredients.
Karen Mac Nair (12:48):
OK.
Joe Grasso (12:49):
Super, super simple Four natural ingredients, 100%
Arabica, dark roast espresso.
Okay, that's how we startOrganic Madagascar vanilla the
real stuff, the expensive stuff,a little bit of cane sugar real
again sweetener, and thenthat's it.
We take those three ingredientsand blend them with a neutral
grain spirit.
That's super high proof, okay,and the best way for me to
(13:10):
equate it would be to likeEverclear Everyone's heard of
that, but that's like kind ofrough Right.
This it would be to likeEverclear Everyone's heard of
that, but that's like kind ofrough Right.
This is triple distilled, supersmooth, got a nice silky
mouthfeel, but because it's sucha high proof, we use way less
of it to hit that 28% in thebottle, so it's not diluting the
concentration of coffee.
Okay.
So, people, on the first sip youshould get real strong notes of
true espresso and real coffeeflavor, and then people taste
(13:36):
chocolate and caramel in the midpalate and then a little bit of
heat on the back end to let youknow you're drinking a spirit
but no alcohol flavor.
So that's why it blends so wellwith everything right, and it's
also why why you know coldbrews can can sometimes be
bitter, and then you have tomask the bitterness and you
don't have to do that with thisI feel like that explains why
they mask the bitterness andthen they over-sweeten it.
Karen Mac Nair (13:57):
So then there's that where you're like okay, it
just didn't quite turn out theway you would have to do if it's
too bitter.
Yes.
Joe Grasso (14:04):
Yeah, so Mario's has some sweetness to it, so it's
not like just drinking a blackcoffee, but we think it's
perfectly balanced.
As I said almost like a wine,right, a wine has a beginning,
middle and an end.
Same kind of thing.
Unced, as I said, almost like awine, right, the wine has a
beginning, middle and an end.
Same kind of thing.
Um, and we were scored 95points by the tasting panel,
which is a pretty prestigiouswine magazine, and they
specifically called out the, uh,the lack of bitterness.
(14:25):
In fact they said no bitteredge.
So we were, we were pretty uhlove that.
Karen Mac Nair (14:29):
Did you get one of those medals?
Joe Grasso (14:31):
we got a bunch of medals.
Karen Mac Nair (14:32):
Yay, I'm so proud of you.
We were very, very excitedabout that.
Joe Grasso (14:36):
It was very, very, very satisfying, very awesome.
Karen Mac Nair (14:40):
Good, okay, we're going to jump into the
part of tasting.
Joe Grasso (14:43):
Oh, excellent, this is my favorite part.
Okay, so what I'm going to do?
I have a little taster cup here.
Karen Mac Nair (14:50):
It's a small cup , Don't worry folks.
Joe Grasso (14:52):
Yeah, I'm just gonna start small what was the
percentage?
90, 28 oh 28, well, 98 no, no28, okay, okay, I'll share with
you since thank you I can't letyou drink alone, so cheers,
cheers is there a special way?
No, you just sip it.
Just I would sip it first, justso you have a little oh, that
(15:17):
is good.
Karen Mac Nair (15:17):
Okay, I'm sorry everyone, I paused for a long
period of time, but the flavorsdo take you through.
It starts off, you get a littlehold on.
I'm gonna take another test.
You get that coffee flavor, butbut then it adds sweetness and
then at the end it almost feelscreamy with no cream in it.
(15:39):
It's got a finishing.
Joe Grasso (15:43):
Yeah, that's the balance.
Yeah, and, like I said, like agood wine, it has a story and it
has a journey.
Karen Mac Nair (15:50):
Through the whole thing.
Joe Grasso (15:51):
A beginning, a middle and an end.
Karen Mac Nair (15:53):
Yes, oh, my goodness, I see why you could
just drink this myself, and likeI said, even that with just a
little lemon, peel the citrus on.
Joe Grasso (16:01):
Putting a little citrus on it is incredibly
delicious.
Karen Mac Nair (16:05):
So and I'm I enjoy a cup of coffee yeah so
this is yes, yeah, if.
If you're out on vacation andyou don't have your morning
coffee yet, you can just havesome of this.
So I brought a few differentthings.
If you want to, yeah, let's trywhat.
Joe Grasso (16:15):
Yeah, let's make a cocktail If you're out on
vacation and you don't have yourmorning coffee yet, you can
just have some of this.
So I brought a few differentthings.
Karen Mac Nair (16:18):
If you want to try them differently?
Yeah, let's try.
Yeah, let's make a cocktail.
Joe Grasso (16:20):
So this one is fun.
Okay, can I reuse your cup?
Yes, this is going to be asmall one, yes, so this is one
that I was holding my cup,hostage everybody.
There's plenty more.
We anymore, we don't have tostop.
This is one that we came upwith, um, because we needed to
(16:41):
do a brunch drink and we neededsomething brunchy.
Um, and we couldn't pouranother spirit and, uh, I had
been hearing about this likeviral tiktok thing going on with
coffee and orange juice okay ohwow, that's wild coffee and
orange juice.
What does that mean?
Karen Mac Nair (16:55):
so I'm intrigued .
I don't know, I'm not committedyet, but I'm intrigued so we
came up with this cocktail.
We call it a boozy julius okayum, and it's really really fun I
grew up in the mall, so orangejulius was always exactly you
remember, uh-huh this is reallyfun.
Joe Grasso (17:14):
I tell people it's great.
Um, when you're having folksover, it's game day or you're
doing a brunch, you don't wantto serve everyone a mimosa, put
them to sleep with champagne.
You want to get theconversation started.
They will see you make this andgo.
What the heck are you doing?
And then you say, just hang inthere, you just try it.
Karen Mac Nair (17:37):
So we added the orange juice and the third.
Uh, I really don't want to tellyou.
Okay, do you want me to?
Joe Grasso (17:39):
taste it first, okay , but I will tell you it's white
in color folks, you're okaywith cream.
Yes, I should have asked, justin case no but here you go.
So I would just suggestshooting that.
Karen Mac Nair (17:45):
It's very mellow , you're gonna be sorry, you
invited me I'm sorry, it'sreally mellow okay, um, but
you'll get all the flavors thatway it looks like a cappuccino
right now is what I'm going to.
Okay, so shoot it.
Joe Grasso (17:58):
Please Okay.
Karen Mac Nair (18:05):
Okay, an orange sickle.
Joe Grasso (18:07):
Yeah, like a creamsicle.
Karen Mac Nair (18:10):
Yeah.
Joe Grasso (18:11):
Yeah.
Karen Mac Nair (18:12):
But it still has that.
Well, is it just the sweetnessthat is there?
Joe Grasso (18:21):
Yeah, yeah.
Karen Mac Nair (18:23):
Wow.
Joe Grasso (18:23):
Yeah, so we call that a boozy Julius.
We have the photo that you seethere was actually taken on the
cocktail card.
It was actually taken atEsther's Kitchen in.
Excuse me, I'm going to tidy upa little here in, uh um, las
vegas, which is a fabulousrestaurant.
If anyone's going to las vegas,go to esther's kitchen, but we
have a number of places that areserving it.
(18:43):
It's really fun for people todo I.
Karen Mac Nair (18:45):
I think I'm shocked because, tasting the
hard espresso on its own, yeah,that was not the flavor I was
expecting what were youexpecting?
Um more coffee flavor huh butit just smoothed it out where it
was richness.
Joe Grasso (18:58):
Richness yeah.
Karen Mac Nair (19:00):
And not so like coffee.
Joe Grasso (19:01):
We have people telling us they taste chocolate,
they taste caramel.
I can see the chocolate flavor,definitely, but it wasn't in
the beginning.
Karen Mac Nair (19:11):
It was like just the shot definitely had the
coffee flavor to it.
Joe Grasso (19:17):
I can pour another one for you, if you'd like.
Karen Mac Nair (19:20):
I'm going to get a hot flash.
Do we have a different cocktail?
Joe Grasso (19:23):
we could try too.
Yeah, I'm going to do onethat's a little different.
It's going to take me a littlemore to make, but this is a
summer cocktail.
It's super refreshing, reallydelicious.
Well, I'll let you be the judgeof that.
Karen Mac Nair (19:35):
Okay, so we're poolside is what we're hearing.
We have brunch and we can haveanother option Poolside.
Joe Grasso (19:42):
Exactly, exactly right.
There's tons of options.
Karen Mac Nair (19:44):
Okay.
Joe Grasso (19:45):
This one, just a second.
Karen Mac Nair (19:47):
And we have a fresh cup for this one.
Wow, I still think it's amazingthe great flavors this has.
Joe Grasso (19:57):
Thank you.
Karen Mac Nair (19:59):
Handcrafted with love.
Now I'm reading the label whilehe is making the drinks.
Sorry about that?
No, handcrafted with love, invery small batches.
Joe Grasso (20:10):
And that is the truth Mario's Hard Espresso I
tell people you know as a family, you know we make it, we sell
it, we distribute it and wefight over it, as any good
Italian family would right.
Okay where am I?
I'm going to try to do thisvery slowly, because it has a
tendency to.
Karen Mac Nair (20:32):
DrinkMarioscom is a place you could go, yeah.
Joe Grasso (20:36):
Yeah, all of these recipes and more are on our
website.
You can also put in your zipcode and it'll show you all the
bars and restaurants andretailers.
Karen Mac Nair (20:43):
Oh, I love that.
Joe Grasso (20:44):
Where you can buy it in your area.
Karen Mac Nair (20:47):
Because that would be one of the questions
how can we support Mario's HardEspresso?
Joe Grasso (20:52):
Sure, sure you know this sounds kind of hokey, but
having people enjoy it and giftit, and share.
It is the is the mostsatisfying thing for us.
It's what my dad did.
John Villa (21:06):
Um.
Joe Grasso (21:08):
I always thought that you know, our success
relied on two things awareness,certainly and availability Right
.
So, we're trying to get it outthere to as many places as
possible.
We have, uh a very um have avery sort of active online
presence in terms of people cancome to the website.
You can get free shipping onthree bottles or more.
(21:29):
We're about to start a Mario'sClub.
We're going to start doing.
We actually have in the works aspecial aged bottle for gifting
for this Christmas.
We do gift packs.
Karen Mac Nair (21:42):
Okay, great, that's a good idea.
Joe Grasso (21:43):
Yeah, there's just a lot of ways to.
Karen Mac Nair (21:46):
Social media.
Joe Grasso (21:47):
Social media Instagram.
Karen Mac Nair (21:49):
On stream.
Okay, primarily Instagram andFacebook.
Okay, yeah, that's good to know, yeah.
Joe Grasso (21:54):
Okay, sorry I'm talking and not working.
Karen Mac Nair (21:56):
No, no, it's okay, it looks like a Diet Coke
right now and a diet coke rightnow.
So we had tonic water so far,yeah, and the mario's hard
expresso, and now we're puttingin an orange slice.
How nice is that?
It does look delicious, okay.
So this is very different thanthe last, very different.
Joe Grasso (22:17):
Like I said, this is very much our summer sort of
cocktail sitting by the pool inthe middle of the day okay
something refreshing.
You give that a shot, see whatyou think.
Karen Mac Nair (22:25):
Cheers okay, that is delicious and refreshing
.
Joe Grasso (22:35):
I'm shocked again totally different set of flavors
, totally different, that'sright yeah, totally different
right, and then we'll do a thirdone.
Oh dang Eventually, wheneveryou want, we can do a third one.
Karen Mac Nair (22:48):
This though the lightness of it.
Yeah, bubbly goodness.
Joe Grasso (22:54):
It's really an espresso tonic.
Right, you can find differentespresso tonics or blending.
You know, blending espresso andtonic isn't a new thing.
Blending Mario's and tonic is alittle different.
Certainly, the vanilla changesthe character of it, makes it a
little more cream soda like, andthen the orange and put the
citrus on.
(23:14):
It makes it super refreshing,so it's just a great.
Karen Mac Nair (23:16):
Okay, thank you for the reminder.
The vanilla in there, that iswhat I'm tasting in the middle
of so many things.
Joe Grasso (23:23):
Is that vanilla?
Yeah, it's madagascar realmadagascar vanilla.
It's the real stuff and I lovevanilla.
I'm a vanilla fan, but Icouldn't put my finger on what
that middle taste was it's thevanilla, it's the vanilla and
it's the, and it's theinteraction between the vanilla
and the coffee that reallycauses those chocolate and
caramel notes that.
Well, it's the only thing thatcauses the chocolate and caramel
notes that people taste.
You know they get that in there, which is why it plays so well
(23:46):
as a tiramisu.
Oh.
Karen Mac Nair (23:48):
Yeah.
Joe Grasso (23:49):
Yeah, make a tiramisu, did you just?
Karen Mac Nair (23:51):
see the light bulb go on, bing Wow.
Joe Grasso (23:53):
Yeah, we have a number of places that actually
make them.
That's smart.
Yeah, it's cool, super cool, socool super cool.
Karen Mac Nair (23:59):
So what was the third?
Okay, cocktails.
Here we go.
I'm not for the record, though,I'm not drinking this whole
thing.
Right, it's okay, all right, Iunderstand.
Joe Grasso (24:05):
We're going back to the little cups okay because
this will just be a littletaster okay, little cups.
So this is, um, this issomething that's nice for people
who, uh, want something alittle creamier.
Okay, desserty, this is a verynice, kind of nice way to end
the evening If you've had yourespresso martini in the middle
of the day which by the way, Iwant everyone to know, we'll be
(24:27):
doing a Mario's Espresso Martinion Nitro tap at Taste of
Arcadia.
We'll have a tap out there.
It's amazing.
The Nitro adds small littlebubbles, almost like pouring a
Guinness beer, so that it takesa second.
It forms a beautiful head on it.
They're delicious, super smoothand creamy, so people will be
(24:48):
able to try that.
Karen Mac Nair (24:49):
My mouth is hanging open.
Yeah, so that's the middle ofthe day.
Okay, yes, middle of the day Atthe end of the day.
Joe Grasso (24:54):
You want something just to sort of end the night.
What we'd like to do is put alittle float on it.
This is actually a mixture of70 cream and 30 baileys okay and
we do that ratio because wefind that the baileys on its own
kind of takes over.
That's all you taste, and thecream on its own is a little
flat.
Karen Mac Nair (25:11):
So we'll see what you think of this okay, and
you already have the mixture inthere.
Okay, I'm all questioning.
Like I've done this before,that's all right.
Did you already mix it?
Joe Grasso (25:20):
Yeah, it's okay, I'm making a mess over here, it's
okay.
So that's another version ofMario's.
Karen Mac Nair (25:28):
Okay, and this does have.
You can see the creamy chop.
Joe Grasso (25:30):
Oh yeah, this is definitely, yeah, most
definitely Okay.
So cheers again, Cheers again.
Karen Mac Nair (25:40):
Wow, that is good.
Joe Grasso (25:47):
Yeah, and you can see that's a little more, yeah,
end of the night.
Karen Mac Nair (25:50):
So we've kind of I've given you, we've got
breakfast, uh, midday and end ofthe night here, all in a very
short okay, I see why youbrought the big bottle then and
not just the little bottle,because you're like you need
this at home for all.
You kind of do, you kind of do.
Joe Grasso (26:00):
I tell people it's like it's kind of shocking how
fast it goes, but then that justmight be us as a family.
Karen Mac Nair (26:05):
No, it's true.
So, Joe, is there anythingwe've missed?
Anything else you want to sharewith the group?
Joe Grasso (26:11):
There probably will be, and I'll think about it when
I'm driving home.
I would just say, you know,we're a California-based band
I'm sorry, sorry brand orCalifornia based brand, and that
means a lot to us.
It means a lot to us to be apart of this community, to to be
able to share with thiscommunity.
John Villa (26:28):
You know we all live here.
Joe Grasso (26:31):
My kids were all born here.
You know this is where we.
You know LA and SouthernCalifornia is home to us and
it's been satisfying andhumbling to be embraced as we
have yeah.
And to be able to you know,serve this community and to be a
part of it you know yeah.
We do a lot of eventsthroughout the year, and we do
(26:53):
them because being a part of thecommunity is important to us
and, you know, nothing is moresatisfying than people embracing
us and buying it and thensharing their stories with us.
Karen Mac Nair (27:03):
I love that.
Joe Grasso (27:03):
Phenomenal.
So, yeah, I think that'sprobably all you know.
Just thank you, no, no, that'sreally how we feel.
Thank you, Thanks for making usa part of you know, your lives
and your community.
We always say thanks for takingus along for the ride.
Just on another note, one ofthe things we talk about a lot
in the brand is we believeMario's is the best coffee
(27:26):
liqueur on the market, and a lotof people would probably say
the same thing, and so you takethat as a given right.
John Villa (27:32):
Right.
Joe Grasso (27:33):
For us, the honor comes from being a part of the
daily lives and the lifeexperiences of people.
Like I said, weddings and barmitzvahs and, you know,
birthdays, and people share withus all the time and it's just,
as I said, just super humbling.
So for us, that's whatmotivates us and that's why we
do it.
(27:53):
That's why my dad did it.
Karen Mac Nair (27:55):
Joe, I love that because Taste of Arcadia is
coming, but it is sponsored bythe Arcadia Chamber of Commerce
and that is what we love to do.
We love bringing peopletogether, we love businesses
growing, we love the communitythat San Gabriel Valley we're in
, we love Southern California,so I just love that our brands
match in that aspect.
So thank you for agreeing tocome to Taste of.
John Villa (28:14):
Arcadia, of course.
Thanks for having us.
Karen Mac Nair (28:15):
We're excited to have you, I'm excited for
everyone to go on this tastingadventure.
Joe Grasso (28:20):
Oh, my goodness, and you have to come try the
espresso martini.
I will, I will.
Karen Mac Nair (28:24):
I'll be walking around, I promise I will and
I'll tell everyone there, allthe friends and family, but
everyone out there listening.
Thank you for being with us foranother Tasting Arcadia podcast
.
We're excited.
Taste of Arcadia September 13th.
Make sure you get your ticketstoday at tasteofarcadia.
(28:44):
com.
John, sorry you couldn't behere with us, but so happy you
still can do the intro and outro, so take it away.
John Villa (28:48):
Thank you, karen, for another great episode.
You can hear us on YouTube,Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon
Music and iHeart Radio.
Don't forget, join us onSeptember 13th at Santa Anita
Park for Taste of Arcadia.
You can get your tickets now attasteofarcadia.
com.
Thanks again for joining us forTasting Arcadia.
We'll see you at the Taste.
Welcome to Tasting Arcadia, the official podcast of
Taste of Arcadia.
Taste of Arcadia is anall-inclusive event featuring
food and drinks from the SanGabriel Valley restaurants, all
for one price Sample food, wine,beer and spirits.
Check out our brand new cars,visit our business showcase
booths, smile at our photo boothand shake it on the dance floor
(00:24):
with me, john Villa from DanceSyndicate DJ Entertainment.
Taste of Arcadia is September13th at Santa Anita Park.
The fun goes from 2 to 6 pm,with special VIP entrance at 1
pm.
Don't forget this isa 21 andover event.
Get your tickets today attasteofarcadia.
com.
Now let's hear it for our host,Karen Mac Nair.
Karen Mac Nair (00:47):
Well, thank you, john, for that great
introduction.
I am thrilled to say today, onTasting of Arcadia, it's an
episode where we get to tastesome great hard espresso.
I know if you're driving outthere, if you're walking, if you
are watching us on YouTube,this is an exciting episode of a
brand that I have not beenexposed to before, so this is
(01:10):
all going to be new to me.
This is all exciting.
We just kind of went over a fewthings.
I'm thrilled.
So I'm here with Joe, who isthe president and founder of
Mario's Hard Espresso, trying toshow all the cameras.
Joe Grasso (01:23):
There it is.
That's the little one.
Karen Mac Nair (01:24):
This is the little guy who I feel like is my
new friend.
Joe Grasso (01:29):
We like to say it's perfect for the purse, perfect
for the pocket, good for thegolf bag.
I'm loving that we actuallyrefer to them as dog walkers,
because they're just the rightamount and they're refillable,
so that's important.
Oh.
Karen Mac Nair (01:43):
So you get the baby dog and the big dog.
Exactly Okay, Joe, why don'tyou start?
Let's get everybody else caughtup to our conversation.
Sure sure.
Let's start talking aboutMario's Hard Espresso.
Joe Grasso (01:53):
Tell me the story Happy to.
First of all, thanks so muchfor having us and we're thrilled
to be, a part.
We do a lot of eventsthroughout the year and this was
a big one for us, so we're veryexcited.
But Mario's Hard Espresso isreally pretty simple.
Obviously the gentleman there'sa pretty buff gentleman right
on the front of our bottle.
Karen Mac Nair (02:14):
Okay, yep, totally see that.
Joe Grasso (02:15):
Yep, that is actually Mario, and Mario is my
dad.
Karen Mac Nair (02:19):
Oh, I love that.
Joe Grasso (02:20):
Yeah, my dad made this in our family.
One batch a year around 12 or15 bottles.
One batch a year for friendsand family for over 60 years.
And I just sort of grew up onit.
I was probably about 14 or 15when I noticed people were kind
of like you know, hey, mario, amI going to get a bottle this
year?
It was a very special thing.
Yeah, and he did it to bringpeople together.
I mean, that was just part ofwho he was.
(02:41):
He loved people to share adrink and a laugh and a story,
and it was just his way ofgiving and he encouraged people
to gift it and to share it.
So that's kind of our ethos as abrand.
But I was fortunate enough tomake it with him in the last few
years of his life.
I learned how to do it and thenwhen he passed away 14 years
(03:02):
ago, I was literally I said tomy son, aaron, I'm like we have
to keep doing this, we have tokeep this tradition going to
honor him.
So we did it, like you know,very much in the kitchen old
wine bottles, different photosof him on every bottle.
Karen Mac Nair (03:11):
You're like print that, reprint that picture
.
Yeah, you know it's that kindof thing.
Joe Grasso (03:14):
It was really awesome and people loved that.
We continued.
And then in 2018, honestly,this is how it started I had no
experience in the spiritbusiness.
In 2018, I was reading a storyabout a vodka brand, a very big
vodka brand, that we all know,but that they don't distill
their own vodka, that they use acontract distiller.
And I was like you can do thatand I started.
(03:34):
I was looking at the bottle.
I'm like I don't have to makeit because you can't make
alcohol in your kitchen andright, you need.
There's a lot of licensinginvolved.
I said, huh, maybe I can builda brand around this.
Tell the story of my dad, findsomeone to actually make it for
us.
So, that was the beginning ofthe quest, and that was in 2018.
And we launched the brand inNovember of 2021.
So almost four years now.
Karen Mac Nair (03:55):
Wow, that is amazing.
So after hearing the story, Ido have a question.
Your dad was creating this.
Did he get the recipe for anyway?
Was it his own recipe?
Joe Grasso (04:07):
I wish I could tell you I knew but, I, really don't.
It's part of sort of the originof my family.
They were Sicilian immigrants.
They had farms in upstate NewYork.
In fact that photo is of my dadon the farm and people look at
that photo and they say was he aboxer or was he a weightlifter?
Was he a weightlifter?
He was a farmer.
That's from my dad.
He used to say to me you liftcrates of onions all day, you'll
(04:28):
look like that too.
So you know, they did a lot ofthings right, as immigrants do.
Nothing goes to waste Right.
And they baked and they werebutchers and they were masons
and they were farmers.
And he did a lot of thingsbeside this too.
He made biscotti and pasta anddid all kinds of things.
So I think this was just anextension of that.
Karen Mac Nair (04:46):
Okay, that totally makes sense.
And then the back of the bottlealso has a picture.
Joe Grasso (04:50):
Yeah.
Karen Mac Nair (04:51):
And it looks like it's your dad as a baby.
It is Because it does say Marioand pointing.
Joe Grasso (04:54):
So I'm not that it's my father Mario Okay, sitting
on my grandfather, joseph, mynamesake, sitting on his lap.
That's actually a much largerphoto.
The whole family is in it.
There was 10 of them and Idisplay that on the table when
we do events like Taste ofArcadia so people can see it in
context.
But we like to joke because mydad's got his hand to his head.
(05:16):
We like to say, oh, that's theminute he gets the idea for hard
espresso.
Karen Mac Nair (05:20):
Oh, that's cute.
Joe Grasso (05:21):
I'm not sure that's actually the case, but we're
going to say yes, we're going tosay I'm going to go with it.
Maybe his little teeth hurt orsomething.
He was teething I thought maybehis big onesie is hot.
Karen Mac Nair (05:28):
He's all like I got it.
I got it Rubbing his gums.
John Villa (05:30):
I love it.
Karen Mac Nair (05:32):
I love that.
It's a family story.
Joe Grasso (05:49):
And if anyone out Like, we kind of go over the top
a little bit when it comes todecorating, but you'll see old
cameras and photos and all kindsof things we bring out because
it's literally a brand rooted inthe history and the tradition
of our family.
So that's.
Karen Mac Nair (05:55):
So that leads me to my next question Are you
local?
Joe Grasso (05:59):
Yeah, we're based in Simi Valley.
I was actually born here inSouthern California.
My father, my parents, hadmoved out from upstate New York,
where the farm was in the early60s, and I shocked everybody.
So I'm the native Californianin the family, but we make it in
Simi Valley.
Subsequent to finding acontract distiller, which is a
whole other story, we decided tobring production in-house.
(06:19):
So about a year ago I receiveda distilled spirits permit and
we produce it ourselves as afamily, again Uh-huh.
And we also distributethroughout California ourselves
and we also sell ourselves.
So we're very busy.
Karen Mac Nair (06:32):
Wow, your son's still involved.
Oh yeah, very much so Okay.
Joe Grasso (06:34):
He's our operations, yeah.
Chief operations officer.
Karen Mac Nair (06:38):
And yeah, I feel like that's your dad smiling
down, like that.
Everyone is still together.
I'd like to think so.
Joe Grasso (06:44):
It's been really satisfying, really gratifying,
these last four years since wedid this, because I talk about
him every day.
Karen Mac Nair (06:52):
I just got chills.
Joe Grasso (06:56):
I talk about really the good parts too the things
that really motivated him.
And it's also been good for usbecause, quite frankly, if we
ever get to a fork in the road,and.
I have to make a decision.
I think about what honors him.
Karen Mac Nair (07:10):
And that's the way we go.
You know, know your why that?
Joe Grasso (07:13):
keeps it really Exactly.
Karen Mac Nair (07:15):
So I feel like we've already talked.
He seems to be the inspirationbehind the business family.
Joe Grasso (07:21):
Yeah, very much so.
And I'll be honest, I've alwaysbeen sort of a serial
entrepreneur and done a lot ofdifferent things.
I've always wanted to buildsomething I don't know that had
some sort of legacy, you know,some sort of lasting value, um,
but this was one of those thingsthat just came out of like sort
of that desire, and then thatthey the also the desire to like
(07:42):
, honor him and honor my familyand provide my kids and
grandchildren.
You know something to be proudof yeah, that is.
Karen Mac Nair (07:49):
That is so great .
I do love that.
Thank you, um.
I feel like we've also talkedabout what you're most proud of,
like I'm thinking about thedifferent things.
It's like your story is likeall inclusive.
It really has all the points.
It's so yeah centric.
Joe Grasso (08:04):
Yeah, thank, thank you.
Yeah, you know I'm very proudof what we've done.
You know we're in about 900locations in almost well, five,
almost six states.
We're about to get going toNorth Carolina, primarily
California, though.
Okay, we're in hundreds of barsand restaurants, people,
restaurateurs and bar owners whoreally care about quality, love
Mario's and pour us, and that'sbeen really satisfying.
(08:28):
But I think, even more than that, in our family we loved it and
my father's friends loved it,right, and so when I brought it
to market, I wasn't looking foran affirmation, I just thought,
well, let's see what happens.
In fact, the first year, I made1,500 bottles and put them in a
warehouse and just startedwalking the streets, and I
remember saying, if I just givethem away, we'll see what
happens.
I didn't know how it was goingto be received, right.
(08:49):
But now, three and of fouryears in, and I see how it's
received and I see how peoplelove it and how people basically
use it or do with it what myfather intended, which is they
buy it, they gift it, they bringit, they serve it at weddings,
they serve it at, you know,family functions, and they've
really embraced it.
So that is by far the mostsatisfying thing.
(09:10):
And then you know it's crazy towalk into.
It still gives me goosebumps towalk into a bar or restaurant
or a store shelf and see it onthe shelf.
It's like I can't hardly evenbelieve it.
So that's really beensatisfying.
And a lot of those places likeNorth Beach and San Francisco
where we have a really strongpresence.
My father used to go there allthe time and for me to think
about what he would think toknow that he was in.
(09:32):
Molinari and Tony's Pizza.
I mean, it's just, I don't know, super great.
Karen Mac Nair (09:39):
So we're going to dive into now what do we do
with it?
John Villa (09:42):
I have this bottle, you've gifted me this bottle.
Karen Mac Nair (09:45):
I receive it, you can have all of it, take it
all.
John Villa (09:47):
Buy the show.
Joe Grasso (09:47):
Give it to friends, it's over.
Karen Mac Nair (09:49):
I'm done.
We get this bottle, now what doI do with it?
Joe Grasso (09:52):
Yeah, so here's the thing In our family we drink it
straight.
Karen Mac Nair (09:57):
That's how we drank it forever my father would
do around the holidays he woulddo one cocktail, which is
actually on this cocktail cardwhich I can talk about.
Joe Grasso (10:07):
We have a cocktail card.
Yeah, it's called a KingAlphonse.
Around the holidays he would dothat kind of a special after
dinner.
He would get everybody around,pour some Mario's and then he'd
float a little float of cream ontop of it and it's super
delicious.
You see, sip through the creamand you get all the rich flavors
of the of Mario's, and sothat's kind of how what I was
thinking when I, when we broughtit to market.
Karen Mac Nair (10:26):
people were just going to love it, but then of
course you know one of the firstthings somebody said to me was
and I was like, wow a specialmartini.
Joe Grasso (10:34):
So now we are in just it's an insane amount of
cocktails, and what I didn'trealize when we brought it to
market, and what bartenders andmixologists have taught us is
how versatile it is.
So we put these cocktail cardstogether to show the versatility
.
So you asked what do you dowith it?
Well, the reality is you can dovirtually anything with it, so
(10:56):
it is delicious on its own.
Okay, it is amazing.
Karen Mac Nair (10:58):
It's a great starting point.
Joe Grasso (10:59):
Yeah, some of them are not, so we're very fortunate
, right.
John Villa (11:04):
It's true.
Joe Grasso (11:05):
And I still drink it this way, we still drink it
straight, we still pour it onthe rocks.
A little twist of lemon,amazing.
But then At home you can makean espresso martini, very simply
a true espresso martini, withwhiskey, with rum, with tequila,
with mezcal.
We have drinks with.
We have one, a 213, which isour ode to LA.
Karen Mac Nair (11:24):
Like the area code oh yay, yes.
Joe Grasso (11:26):
Yeah, two parts Mario's, one part tequila, three
parts horchata, which isamazing.
Karen Mac Nair (11:30):
Ooh, that does sound delicious.
Joe Grasso (11:32):
Amazing.
We have a bakery in Camarillothat's doing Mario's chocolate
truffles and Mario's tiramisu.
We have a restaurant in LaJolla that is pouring it over
ice cream as an affogato.
So I mean I had somebodyrecently do a half Mario's, half
Modelo beer.
Oh my gosh, which sounds insane, it does.
It was delicious, so there'slike, okay, sure, why not?
(11:55):
That's literally the way it'sbeen for us.
Karen Mac Nair (11:57):
So businesses and bartenders, mixologists, are
out there coming to you to giveyou inspiration of what they're
coming up with.
Joe Grasso (12:04):
I love that Everything you see on the
cocktail cart is being poured ina different bar and restaurant.
We didn't come up with them,except there's two on there that
we came up with.
But yeah, those are cocktailsthat are being poured.
That were revelations for us,because I had no clue that that
was going to be the case.
Karen Mac Nair (12:20):
I also never thought about, when I order
espresso martini, to ask what isbeing included in it.
Joe Grasso (12:27):
You should.
Karen Mac Nair (12:28):
Right, that's what you just taught me that.
Joe Grasso (12:31):
Because I can tell you a lot of them don't have
espresso in them.
Karen Mac Nair (12:34):
Joe.
Joe Grasso (12:35):
Sorry.
Karen Mac Nair (12:36):
I'm going to push you, get out, they lead
into cold brew, and it's anentirely different thing.
Joe Grasso (12:40):
Oh so espresso is much smoother.
It doesn't have the bitternessand the thing about Mario's
which, partly, I'll tell you thesecret.
So there's only fouringredients.
Karen Mac Nair (12:48):
OK.
Joe Grasso (12:49):
Super, super simple Four natural ingredients, 100%
Arabica, dark roast espresso.
Okay, that's how we startOrganic Madagascar vanilla the
real stuff, the expensive stuff,a little bit of cane sugar real
again sweetener, and thenthat's it.
We take those three ingredientsand blend them with a neutral
grain spirit.
That's super high proof, okay,and the best way for me to
(13:10):
equate it would be to likeEverclear Everyone's heard of
that, but that's like kind ofrough Right.
This it would be to likeEverclear Everyone's heard of
that, but that's like kind ofrough Right.
This is triple distilled, supersmooth, got a nice silky
mouthfeel, but because it's sucha high proof, we use way less
of it to hit that 28% in thebottle, so it's not diluting the
concentration of coffee.
Okay.
So, people, on the first sip youshould get real strong notes of
true espresso and real coffeeflavor, and then people taste
(13:36):
chocolate and caramel in the midpalate and then a little bit of
heat on the back end to let youknow you're drinking a spirit
but no alcohol flavor.
So that's why it blends so wellwith everything right, and it's
also why why you know coldbrews can can sometimes be
bitter, and then you have tomask the bitterness and you
don't have to do that with thisI feel like that explains why
they mask the bitterness andthen they over-sweeten it.
Karen Mac Nair (13:57):
So then there's that where you're like okay, it
just didn't quite turn out theway you would have to do if it's
too bitter.
Yes.
Joe Grasso (14:04):
Yeah, so Mario's has some sweetness to it, so it's
not like just drinking a blackcoffee, but we think it's
perfectly balanced.
As I said almost like a wine,right, a wine has a beginning,
middle and an end.
Same kind of thing.
Unced, as I said, almost like awine, right, the wine has a
beginning, middle and an end.
Same kind of thing.
Um, and we were scored 95points by the tasting panel,
which is a pretty prestigiouswine magazine, and they
specifically called out the, uh,the lack of bitterness.
(14:25):
In fact they said no bitteredge.
So we were, we were pretty uhlove that.
Karen Mac Nair (14:29):
Did you get one of those medals?
Joe Grasso (14:31):
we got a bunch of medals.
Karen Mac Nair (14:32):
Yay, I'm so proud of you.
We were very, very excitedabout that.
Joe Grasso (14:36):
It was very, very, very satisfying, very awesome.
Karen Mac Nair (14:40):
Good, okay, we're going to jump into the
part of tasting.
Joe Grasso (14:43):
Oh, excellent, this is my favorite part.
Okay, so what I'm going to do?
I have a little taster cup here.
Karen Mac Nair (14:50):
It's a small cup , Don't worry folks.
Joe Grasso (14:52):
Yeah, I'm just gonna start small what was the
percentage?
90, 28 oh 28, well, 98 no, no28, okay, okay, I'll share with
you since thank you I can't letyou drink alone, so cheers,
cheers is there a special way?
No, you just sip it.
Just I would sip it first, justso you have a little oh, that
(15:17):
is good.
Karen Mac Nair (15:17):
Okay, I'm sorry everyone, I paused for a long
period of time, but the flavorsdo take you through.
It starts off, you get a littlehold on.
I'm gonna take another test.
You get that coffee flavor, butbut then it adds sweetness and
then at the end it almost feelscreamy with no cream in it.
(15:39):
It's got a finishing.
Joe Grasso (15:43):
Yeah, that's the balance.
Yeah, and, like I said, like agood wine, it has a story and it
has a journey.
Karen Mac Nair (15:50):
Through the whole thing.
Joe Grasso (15:51):
A beginning, a middle and an end.
Karen Mac Nair (15:53):
Yes, oh, my goodness, I see why you could
just drink this myself, and likeI said, even that with just a
little lemon, peel the citrus on.
Joe Grasso (16:01):
Putting a little citrus on it is incredibly
delicious.
Karen Mac Nair (16:05):
So and I'm I enjoy a cup of coffee yeah so
this is yes, yeah, if.
If you're out on vacation andyou don't have your morning
coffee yet, you can just havesome of this.
So I brought a few differentthings.
If you want to, yeah, let's trywhat.
Joe Grasso (16:15):
Yeah, let's make a cocktail If you're out on
vacation and you don't have yourmorning coffee yet, you can
just have some of this.
So I brought a few differentthings.
Karen Mac Nair (16:18):
If you want to try them differently?
Yeah, let's try.
Yeah, let's make a cocktail.
Joe Grasso (16:20):
So this one is fun.
Okay, can I reuse your cup?
Yes, this is going to be asmall one, yes, so this is one
that I was holding my cup,hostage everybody.
There's plenty more.
We anymore, we don't have tostop.
This is one that we came upwith, um, because we needed to
(16:41):
do a brunch drink and we neededsomething brunchy.
Um, and we couldn't pouranother spirit and, uh, I had
been hearing about this likeviral tiktok thing going on with
coffee and orange juice okay ohwow, that's wild coffee and
orange juice.
What does that mean?
Karen Mac Nair (16:55):
so I'm intrigued .
I don't know, I'm not committedyet, but I'm intrigued so we
came up with this cocktail.
We call it a boozy julius okayum, and it's really really fun I
grew up in the mall, so orangejulius was always exactly you
remember, uh-huh this is reallyfun.
Joe Grasso (17:14):
I tell people it's great.
Um, when you're having folksover, it's game day or you're
doing a brunch, you don't wantto serve everyone a mimosa, put
them to sleep with champagne.
You want to get theconversation started.
They will see you make this andgo.
What the heck are you doing?
And then you say, just hang inthere, you just try it.
Karen Mac Nair (17:37):
So we added the orange juice and the third.
Uh, I really don't want to tellyou.
Okay, do you want me to?
Joe Grasso (17:39):
taste it first, okay , but I will tell you it's white
in color folks, you're okaywith cream.
Yes, I should have asked, justin case no but here you go.
So I would just suggestshooting that.
Karen Mac Nair (17:45):
It's very mellow , you're gonna be sorry, you
invited me I'm sorry, it'sreally mellow okay, um, but
you'll get all the flavors thatway it looks like a cappuccino
right now is what I'm going to.
Okay, so shoot it.
Joe Grasso (17:58):
Please Okay.
Karen Mac Nair (18:05):
Okay, an orange sickle.
Joe Grasso (18:07):
Yeah, like a creamsicle.
Karen Mac Nair (18:10):
Yeah.
Joe Grasso (18:11):
Yeah.
Karen Mac Nair (18:12):
But it still has that.
Well, is it just the sweetnessthat is there?
Joe Grasso (18:21):
Yeah, yeah.
Karen Mac Nair (18:23):
Wow.
Joe Grasso (18:23):
Yeah, so we call that a boozy Julius.
We have the photo that you seethere was actually taken on the
cocktail card.
It was actually taken atEsther's Kitchen in.
Excuse me, I'm going to tidy upa little here in, uh um, las
vegas, which is a fabulousrestaurant.
If anyone's going to las vegas,go to esther's kitchen, but we
have a number of places that areserving it.
(18:43):
It's really fun for people todo I.
Karen Mac Nair (18:45):
I think I'm shocked because, tasting the
hard espresso on its own, yeah,that was not the flavor I was
expecting what were youexpecting?
Um more coffee flavor huh butit just smoothed it out where it
was richness.
Joe Grasso (18:58):
Richness yeah.
Karen Mac Nair (19:00):
And not so like coffee.
Joe Grasso (19:01):
We have people telling us they taste chocolate,
they taste caramel.
I can see the chocolate flavor,definitely, but it wasn't in
the beginning.
Karen Mac Nair (19:11):
It was like just the shot definitely had the
coffee flavor to it.
Joe Grasso (19:17):
I can pour another one for you, if you'd like.
Karen Mac Nair (19:20):
I'm going to get a hot flash.
Do we have a different cocktail?
Joe Grasso (19:23):
we could try too.
Yeah, I'm going to do onethat's a little different.
It's going to take me a littlemore to make, but this is a
summer cocktail.
It's super refreshing, reallydelicious.
Well, I'll let you be the judgeof that.
Karen Mac Nair (19:35):
Okay, so we're poolside is what we're hearing.
We have brunch and we can haveanother option Poolside.
Joe Grasso (19:42):
Exactly, exactly right.
There's tons of options.
Karen Mac Nair (19:44):
Okay.
Joe Grasso (19:45):
This one, just a second.
Karen Mac Nair (19:47):
And we have a fresh cup for this one.
Wow, I still think it's amazingthe great flavors this has.
Joe Grasso (19:57):
Thank you.
Karen Mac Nair (19:59):
Handcrafted with love.
Now I'm reading the label whilehe is making the drinks.
Sorry about that?
No, handcrafted with love, invery small batches.
Joe Grasso (20:10):
And that is the truth Mario's Hard Espresso I
tell people you know as a family, you know we make it, we sell
it, we distribute it and wefight over it, as any good
Italian family would right.
Okay where am I?
I'm going to try to do thisvery slowly, because it has a
tendency to.
Karen Mac Nair (20:32):
DrinkMarioscom is a place you could go, yeah.
Joe Grasso (20:36):
Yeah, all of these recipes and more are on our
website.
You can also put in your zipcode and it'll show you all the
bars and restaurants andretailers.
Karen Mac Nair (20:43):
Oh, I love that.
Joe Grasso (20:44):
Where you can buy it in your area.
Karen Mac Nair (20:47):
Because that would be one of the questions
how can we support Mario's HardEspresso?
Joe Grasso (20:52):
Sure, sure you know this sounds kind of hokey, but
having people enjoy it and giftit, and share.
It is the is the mostsatisfying thing for us.
It's what my dad did.
John Villa (21:06):
Um.
Joe Grasso (21:08):
I always thought that you know, our success
relied on two things awareness,certainly and availability Right
.
So, we're trying to get it outthere to as many places as
possible.
We have, uh a very um have avery sort of active online
presence in terms of people cancome to the website.
You can get free shipping onthree bottles or more.
(21:29):
We're about to start a Mario'sClub.
We're going to start doing.
We actually have in the works aspecial aged bottle for gifting
for this Christmas.
We do gift packs.
Karen Mac Nair (21:42):
Okay, great, that's a good idea.
Joe Grasso (21:43):
Yeah, there's just a lot of ways to.
Karen Mac Nair (21:46):
Social media.
Joe Grasso (21:47):
Social media Instagram.
Karen Mac Nair (21:49):
On stream.
Okay, primarily Instagram andFacebook.
Okay, yeah, that's good to know, yeah.
Joe Grasso (21:54):
Okay, sorry I'm talking and not working.
Karen Mac Nair (21:56):
No, no, it's okay, it looks like a Diet Coke
right now and a diet coke rightnow.
So we had tonic water so far,yeah, and the mario's hard
expresso, and now we're puttingin an orange slice.
How nice is that?
It does look delicious, okay.
So this is very different thanthe last, very different.
Joe Grasso (22:17):
Like I said, this is very much our summer sort of
cocktail sitting by the pool inthe middle of the day okay
something refreshing.
You give that a shot, see whatyou think.
Karen Mac Nair (22:25):
Cheers okay, that is delicious and refreshing
.
Joe Grasso (22:35):
I'm shocked again totally different set of flavors
, totally different, that'sright yeah, totally different
right, and then we'll do a thirdone.
Oh dang Eventually, wheneveryou want, we can do a third one.
Karen Mac Nair (22:48):
This though the lightness of it.
Yeah, bubbly goodness.
Joe Grasso (22:54):
It's really an espresso tonic.
Right, you can find differentespresso tonics or blending.
You know, blending espresso andtonic isn't a new thing.
Blending Mario's and tonic is alittle different.
Certainly, the vanilla changesthe character of it, makes it a
little more cream soda like, andthen the orange and put the
citrus on.
(23:14):
It makes it super refreshing,so it's just a great.
Karen Mac Nair (23:16):
Okay, thank you for the reminder.
The vanilla in there, that iswhat I'm tasting in the middle
of so many things.
Joe Grasso (23:23):
Is that vanilla?
Yeah, it's madagascar realmadagascar vanilla.
It's the real stuff and I lovevanilla.
I'm a vanilla fan, but Icouldn't put my finger on what
that middle taste was it's thevanilla, it's the vanilla and
it's the, and it's theinteraction between the vanilla
and the coffee that reallycauses those chocolate and
caramel notes that.
Well, it's the only thing thatcauses the chocolate and caramel
notes that people taste.
You know they get that in there, which is why it plays so well
(23:46):
as a tiramisu.
Oh.
Karen Mac Nair (23:48):
Yeah.
Joe Grasso (23:49):
Yeah, make a tiramisu, did you just?
Karen Mac Nair (23:51):
see the light bulb go on, bing Wow.
Joe Grasso (23:53):
Yeah, we have a number of places that actually
make them.
That's smart.
Yeah, it's cool, super cool, socool super cool.
Karen Mac Nair (23:59):
So what was the third?
Okay, cocktails.
Here we go.
I'm not for the record, though,I'm not drinking this whole
thing.
Right, it's okay, all right, Iunderstand.
Joe Grasso (24:05):
We're going back to the little cups okay because
this will just be a littletaster okay, little cups.
So this is, um, this issomething that's nice for people
who, uh, want something alittle creamier.
Okay, desserty, this is a verynice, kind of nice way to end
the evening If you've had yourespresso martini in the middle
of the day which by the way, Iwant everyone to know, we'll be
(24:27):
doing a Mario's Espresso Martinion Nitro tap at Taste of
Arcadia.
We'll have a tap out there.
It's amazing.
The Nitro adds small littlebubbles, almost like pouring a
Guinness beer, so that it takesa second.
It forms a beautiful head on it.
They're delicious, super smoothand creamy, so people will be
(24:48):
able to try that.
Karen Mac Nair (24:49):
My mouth is hanging open.
Yeah, so that's the middle ofthe day.
Okay, yes, middle of the day Atthe end of the day.
Joe Grasso (24:54):
You want something just to sort of end the night.
What we'd like to do is put alittle float on it.
This is actually a mixture of70 cream and 30 baileys okay and
we do that ratio because wefind that the baileys on its own
kind of takes over.
That's all you taste, and thecream on its own is a little
flat.
Karen Mac Nair (25:11):
So we'll see what you think of this okay, and
you already have the mixture inthere.
Okay, I'm all questioning.
Like I've done this before,that's all right.
Did you already mix it?
Joe Grasso (25:20):
Yeah, it's okay, I'm making a mess over here, it's
okay.
So that's another version ofMario's.
Karen Mac Nair (25:28):
Okay, and this does have.
You can see the creamy chop.
Joe Grasso (25:30):
Oh yeah, this is definitely, yeah, most
definitely Okay.
So cheers again, Cheers again.
Karen Mac Nair (25:40):
Wow, that is good.
Joe Grasso (25:47):
Yeah, and you can see that's a little more, yeah,
end of the night.
Karen Mac Nair (25:50):
So we've kind of I've given you, we've got
breakfast, uh, midday and end ofthe night here, all in a very
short okay, I see why youbrought the big bottle then and
not just the little bottle,because you're like you need
this at home for all.
You kind of do, you kind of do.
Joe Grasso (26:00):
I tell people it's like it's kind of shocking how
fast it goes, but then that justmight be us as a family.
Karen Mac Nair (26:05):
No, it's true.
So, Joe, is there anythingwe've missed?
Anything else you want to sharewith the group?
Joe Grasso (26:11):
There probably will be, and I'll think about it when
I'm driving home.
I would just say, you know,we're a California-based band
I'm sorry, sorry brand orCalifornia based brand, and that
means a lot to us.
It means a lot to us to be apart of this community, to to be
able to share with thiscommunity.
John Villa (26:28):
You know we all live here.
Joe Grasso (26:31):
My kids were all born here.
You know this is where we.
You know LA and SouthernCalifornia is home to us and
it's been satisfying andhumbling to be embraced as we
have yeah.
And to be able to you know,serve this community and to be a
part of it you know yeah.
We do a lot of eventsthroughout the year, and we do
(26:53):
them because being a part of thecommunity is important to us
and, you know, nothing is moresatisfying than people embracing
us and buying it and thensharing their stories with us.
Karen Mac Nair (27:03):
I love that.
Joe Grasso (27:03):
Phenomenal.
So, yeah, I think that'sprobably all you know.
Just thank you, no, no, that'sreally how we feel.
Thank you, Thanks for making usa part of you know, your lives
and your community.
We always say thanks for takingus along for the ride.
Just on another note, one ofthe things we talk about a lot
in the brand is we believeMario's is the best coffee
(27:26):
liqueur on the market, and a lotof people would probably say
the same thing, and so you takethat as a given right.
John Villa (27:32):
Right.
Joe Grasso (27:33):
For us, the honor comes from being a part of the
daily lives and the lifeexperiences of people.
Like I said, weddings and barmitzvahs and, you know,
birthdays, and people share withus all the time and it's just,
as I said, just super humbling.
So for us, that's whatmotivates us and that's why we
do it.
(27:53):
That's why my dad did it.
Karen Mac Nair (27:55):
Joe, I love that because Taste of Arcadia is
coming, but it is sponsored bythe Arcadia Chamber of Commerce
and that is what we love to do.
We love bringing peopletogether, we love businesses
growing, we love the communitythat San Gabriel Valley we're in
, we love Southern California,so I just love that our brands
match in that aspect.
So thank you for agreeing tocome to Taste of.
John Villa (28:14):
Arcadia, of course.
Thanks for having us.
Karen Mac Nair (28:15):
We're excited to have you, I'm excited for
everyone to go on this tastingadventure.
Joe Grasso (28:20):
Oh, my goodness, and you have to come try the
espresso martini.
I will, I will.
Karen Mac Nair (28:24):
I'll be walking around, I promise I will and
I'll tell everyone there, allthe friends and family, but
everyone out there listening.
Thank you for being with us foranother Tasting Arcadia podcast
.
We're excited.
Taste of Arcadia September 13th.
Make sure you get your ticketstoday at tasteofarcadia.
(28:44):
com.
John, sorry you couldn't behere with us, but so happy you
still can do the intro and outro, so take it away.
John Villa (28:48):
Thank you, karen, for another great episode.
You can hear us on YouTube,Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon
Music and iHeart Radio.
Don't forget, join us onSeptember 13th at Santa Anita
Park for Taste of Arcadia.
You can get your tickets now attasteofarcadia.
com.
Thanks again for joining us forTasting Arcadia.
We'll see you at the Taste.
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