▷S4E10 Felipe Muñoz of Yola Mezcal

NYC bartender and brand ambassador Felipe Muñoz illuminates mezcal’s sense of place. Unlike crops that mature in a single growing season, agave plants grow for years or decades before being harvested for mezcal. Felipe shares what it’s like to work as a brand ambassador for the community-centered, woman-forward mezcal brand Yola, and teaches us some juicy drinking sayings from his native Colombia.

Rose Thomas and Felipe do an in-depth tasting of Yola mezcal. They sip on a mezcal cocktail and share advice for beginning bartenders and anyone learning to make cocktails at home.

Find a bottle of Yola Mezcal near you: yolamezcal.com/
Follow Felipe on Instagram: instagram.com/anfemu
Follow Yola on Instagram: instagram.com/yolamezcal

• Edited transcript. (Please excuse errors.)FM: I mean agave are very unique plants. You have wine made from grapes who grow every year or like you have orchards that produce apples to make calvados or apple brandies or eau de vie that are from fruits. The trees stay there and they will give you fruits every year. Or then you have grain that grows really fast from like corn, barley, you know, malt. But then you have agave that take, you know, some where the youngest agave will probably be like four years and you can have certain species of agave that can take up to 25, 30 years. And you wait all that time and then you literally cut it. And so you are, you know, you're taking that and with that you're taking those 30 years or 10 years or 9 years that the plant took to grow.RTB: Welcome to Modo di Bere, the podcast about local drinks and local sayings. I'm your host, Rose Thomas Banister.Today I have the pleasure to interview Felipe Munoz, brand ambassador for the Yola mezcal company. Felipe, I have so many questions for you about cocktails and mezcal, but I'd like to start off the show asking my guests about a local drink and a local saying. I know you're from Colombia originally. Do you have a saying from home that you want to share with my listeners or any Colombian drinks you want to mention?FM: I mean obviously I feel like the most well-known Colombian drink is aguardiente which is an anise flavored sugar cane distill. It's honestly not my favorite thing because I think I had too much of it when I was young. But yeah, I feel like everybody who has been to Colombia has been offer a guard at some point. Nowadays there is some other especially where I come from is close to the Pacific. So we had like viche and some other ancestral drinks that were introduced to Colombia or like are being made by Afrocolombian communities and I mean since 2020 now they have been regulated by the government. So we're actually seeing them in a legal form and like we're not you know the government not going after the people that actually made these drinks and so yeah viche or like yeah viche is very similar to, it's a sugar cane distill also but it's produced, you know, the sugar cane is it's a specific type of sugar cane called caña viche which usually comes from close like where the river connects with the ocean and so the fields for this specific sugar cane have to be like they can only grow there. And there's also like certain rules as to like how it is made, but those are like kind of new.RTB: What does it taste like?FM: I mean, it's made out of sugarcane juice, so you definitely get like that grassy yeah, you get the very strong sugar cane in a way. Tastes like a rhum agricole. I would say it might be a little softer, but then again, it's like it's something that I grew up drinking or not grew up drinking, but something that we specifically like near Cali or like where I come from in Colombia. is something that is very common for us but nowadays is something that like starting to grow throughout the country. People are kind of starting to pay some interest into it. Yeah. But before it was seen it was seen as something Yeah. It was it wasn't it wasn't even legal to make in the first place. I guess in in Colombia the government kind of has the monopoly of the distillation of alcohol and so most of the industry was is owned by the government. And so basically they kind of dictate like what the rum brands are or like what people are drinking because pretty much every state in Colombia has like their own distillery and and so you know back when I lived there it was just like for small brands it was hard to compete with like the whole government industry in a way.RTB: So the viche was almost almost like a moonshine in a sense.FM: Correct. Yeah.RTB: That sounds like an amazing local drink story. Let's go to Colombia and I mean find out all about viche.FM: Yeah. as I I mean as I mentioned like viches mostly produced in the Pacific part of Colombia so we're like you know we have both sides Caribbean and Pacific and so it is produced you know in the Valle de Cauca or like Nariño, Cauca, which is in the south part of the country and like obviously the Cauca which has a very high like Afrocolombian population and yeah the way it is produced is like you know they have like this trapiches, basically they, they squeeze the sugar cane to get the juice out but like there is also the way of doing it it needs to be like in between wood and so you only use wood to like extract it. It's something that is very new and again it's still only in like 2020 the government kind of allow it and set up regulation for it and so now you're starting to see like small brands come out with like better packaging and like trying to create like a a demand for it.RTB: I didn't know any of that. Thank you so much. Is that something you can find in New York City or is it still something that's really just found in Colombia?FM: It's, you will probably not see it around here. Yeah. And then within the viche category like there is different styles and so there is some that are like infused with certain plants and and you could almost think about it like an amari in a way you know they kind of use it as medicine for these communities. It is medicine depending on what plant they infuse into the viche. They will give it a different name and usually it's like not just one plant. It's like a combination of different plants. It has it has a whole different flavor as well, you know, but then the base of it will still be the sugar cane distill.RTB: Oh, I'm so intrigued. Thank you so much. One night I was at an Italian wine bar, Have and Meyer in Williamsburg. So, I'm at this I'm at this Italian wine bar and some people who worked there were Italian, but others were from Colombia or from Venezuela. We all started trading local phrases from our countries about how to say, "I have a hangover." I can't quite remember which one was from Colombia and which was from Venezuela, but I remember learning "Tengo guayaba [sic]" and "Tengo ratón".FM: Guayabo.RTB: Guaybo.FM: Yeah.RTB: What is a guayabo?FM: Guaybo is basically like a tree that produces guayabas, but it just means to be hung over. What the origin of the expression is. I I wouldn't really know, you know, but it's just like the way we we always say it like, "Estoy enguayabado" is like "I'm hangover."RTB: "Estoy guay—"FM: "Enguayabodo."RTB: "Estoy enguayabado."FM: Yeah. And so like very Colombian way of saying it, you know, like I think every country in Latin America kind of has in Spanish their own way of saying like we are hangover. I mean, but we also have like different expressions where you say like if you're partying and it's like you say, "Estoy prendido," and it's like, "prendido" is like fired up like getting as we would say here like getting lit. But means that you are maybe you're like two three four drinks in and so you are not really drunk yet like you're just like lightly like you're getting a little buzz when so you say, "Estoy prendido." I think that's also very Colombian.RTB: What's the literal meaning of prenido and guayaba? Is that a mango?FM: Guayaba is like a guava.RTB: A guava. Guayaba.FM: Guayaba. Yeah.RTB: Got it.FM: And then "prendido" will be like lit, like fired up. I don't know like prendido, it doesn't mean that you're drunk. It just means that you only had a couple drinks. And then there's ways of using like you will always say like "Oh, que prenda, que tengo," and it's like you know yeah you're like two three drinks in but you still have a lot to go through through the night you know the night is just getting started in a way.RTB: That's awesome. Are there any other Colombian sayings that you want to share with us about alcohol or or not?FM: I think in Spanish we have just like so many like idioms. I mean I just want to like kind of keep going in topic like you know when we are like taking a shot we always say like if you are to drink like the whole drink you say like "Fondo blanco."RTB: Fondo blanco?FM: "Fondo blanco," yeah. Which means like white background I don't even know why I guess that would be like the literal translation but it would make any sense but in Spanish just for in Colombia at least is an expression of like oh, fondo blanco, and so that means you know they pour you three ounces of whatever they pour you you are to drink it all or if you're drinking a beer then you're just going to chug it all and that means that you're not going to stop until you finish it. And so it's something that you could do with your friends like, Fondo blanco! And then it's like all right we're drinking it all and it's got to be quick and you got to be as quick as as you can. You know.RTB: On the other side when I met you we met at a tasting of this mezcaL that we're going to talk a lot more about later. And you taught me the word in Spanish for to take a sip to sip on your drink.FM: On, at least on mezcal, uh you know and when when you're tasting you we say like we want to give it "besitos," and so besitos is like little kisses just because you know a lot of mezcal is at a very high proof and so you don't want to take in a big gulp right away will be a little too much so you kind of want to wet your lips first as if you were kissing somebody and that is kind of like how you getting through into it and then obviously as the night goes then you can take bigger sips, I guess.RTB: So it's like a spectrum from besitos to fondo blanco.FM: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. From besitos to fondo blanco. Yeah.RTB: That's wonderful. I'm ready to go party in Colombia and drink some viche. We have all the lingo. That's amazing. Thank you.Felipe, when I when I met you at a tasting for the Yola mezcal, Felipe, you were really made the story of mezcal come to life for me. The way you describe the biodiversity of the types of agave and how you talk about all the different locations where mezcal is made. My understanding about mezcal is that it's an agave spirit with you could to which you could apply more the wine term of terroir. Something that can only taste the way it tastes because it's grown where it's grown with all the different factors that have to do with that locality. So for listeners who might be more familiar with tequila, if you don't mind, could you just start from the beginning for us with the difference between mezcal and tequila?FM: I think what is important to understand itself in like tequila, mezcal production is the agave plant and so these are plants that take many many years to grow mature and they are grow a very slow pace. I kind of try to simplify the differences but basically they are both we have been making or people in Mexico have been making me mezcal for 400 years or maybe more. You know it originated from pulque, and then the Spanish brought Filipino people who brought in the stills and then they distilled that pulque and then that is how mezcal came to be. You could say tequila is a more industrialized mezcal which is only producing the state of Jalisco only in some vicinities of it and then it must be from at least 51% Blue Weber agave and Blue Weber agave only and so then you have to understand that there's many other species of agave out there that are endemic to Central and South America most of them obviously being in central America. And so mezcal is made out of most of the other species that are not Blue Weber. It's also nowadays there's like regulation over what is considered mezcal and like these norms came to be obviously to you know reassure that the the quality of the product or you know certain certain processes are being followed through. And so nowadays we have 10 states in Mexico that are allowed to name an agave distill mezcal as long as they follow certain rules. And obviously these 10 states were chosen because they have certain cultural and historical ties to the agave distillation. I mean agaves are very unique plants. You have wine made from grapes who grow every year, or like you have orchards that produce apples to make calvados or apple brandies or eau de vies that are from fruits. The trees stay there and they will give you fruits every year. Or then you have grain that grows really fast from like corn, barley, you know, malt. But then you have agave that take, you know, somewhere the youngest agave will probably be like four years and you can have certain species of agave that can take up to 25, 30 years. And you wait all that time and then you literally cut it. And so you are, you know, you're taking that and with that you're taking those 30 years or 10 years or 9 years that the plant took to grow. You know, the flavors really develop in that sense like where it comes from is obviously very important. Obviously production methods can also affect the flavor of it. But that's why like where where the agave is from is is very important.RTB: Can you talk to me a little bit about the production method about the way that you cook the agave and how that that can give different flavors?FM: I think the the biggest thing is for most most you know as we mentioned before tequila is a little more industrialized process. So you know you have some brands using clay ovens some brands using autoclaves which are basically you're cooking by steam. There is only a few brands out there that will use what traditional way was used which is a earthen conical oven which is basically a pit on the earth where you like you cover with rocks you put wood you put agave then you you will cover them and they basically get smoked and that's where a lot of the flavor for for mezcal comes from and that's where the smokiness comes from. Obviously there is like there are exceptions to the rule. There's a couple of states that you know they don't really smoke their agaves. They actually steam them. But I think in you know at least in the south part of Mexico like Oaxaca uh which is probably is the biggest producer of mezcal in the country like usually the way to cook the agave is going to be always a a conical oven but it's going to be a pit. You know that changes the way the agave are cooked. You can cook—in tequila, you can cook agave if you're using an autoclave. You can cook those agave very very fast. If you, you know, if you put more steam and you increase the pressure, you can cook them in hours compared to days. So that creates a whole different in flavor. You know, you're extracting flavors a little slower and so a lot of the real agave flavors are going to stay within within the plant.RTB: Gosh, I'm just thinking about scotch whisky and when people are trying to talk about why does this whisky cost so much, then they say, well, you know, it's aged for 12 years. Can you imagine as business decision making something that you can't sell for 12 years? Of course, it costs a lot of money. Now I'm thinking about a mezcal agave plant that grew for 25 years and then before you even start to cook it for days. Can you talk to us about the the aging process?FM: That's why you don't see me mezcal that are like usually rested in barrels because the plants itself have like taken so long to grow. To your point what you're saying I mean to your point there's a lot of like the value in like whiskey and certain spirits are is is in the time that they spend in a barrel and like how those barrels were storage and you know you you'll see brands saying that this is their winter blend because they you know the barrels were picked up at a certain time of the year or like you know in these warehouses like for whiskey for example how hot it is and you have like rums that can change in flavor depending on where they're from based on the temperature that they are in the barrel. But then for mezcal, it's like it's all about the plant. I define mezcal more of a farmer's spirit than anything else. Really, the the hand of the farmer and like the place he comes from is just what's going to dictate the flavor. And to your point, it's like it's a hard business for them. Like you plant something with the hope that seven years down the road, you're going to make something out of it, but you don't have anything tangible now. You don't have a liquid. You don't have anything yet. And so as demand grows, there is some challenges that have come down the road because obviously you have to let some of the agave, like you know, they grow the the flowers in the Middle East which is called the quiote. So you got to make sure that you have you let enough of them grow the quiote. You know there's a demand for certain agave that only grow in the wild and like we haven't figured out how to how to like actually grow them in crops yet. And so you know if everybody is drinking let's say we have the agave Jabali and if everybody let's say is drinking Jabali and then we create too much demand for it we don't let Jabali create the seeds which is the quiote then we're probably not going to have Jabali for the future. So these are all challenges that production of mezcal you know as the the demand grows here in especially here in the United States something people are still trying to figure out.RTB: Tell me about Yola mezcal. What sets it apart? What makes it special?FM: So Yola mezcal is produced in a single state palenque which is, "palenque" is the name for, basically, a distillery at least in Oaxaca, which means that we only grow our agave or agave in our land which is a land that Yola herself inherited from her grandfather Luis Jimenez in 2007. Yola herself just like she is from is a native Oaxacan who moved to Mexico City, grew up there. She went to school in Cambridge. She started philosophy and gender politics, you know, she came back to Mexico and I feel like as many of us who grew up in Latin America and then go somewhere else, we always think of always going back and like seeing like we kind of discovered that, you know, there's a lot of greatness of where we're from. And so after she inherited the land, she kind of started bringing this, she she went to Mexico City, opened a bar with some friends called La Clandestina, which is a mezcaleria, which back then there weren't a lot of them even in Mexico City. And then she met other people. She started like the palenque has been open or at least Yola's grandfather had the palenque in Oaxaca since the 60s.RTB: And that's a place where you make mezcal.FM: Yeah, the palenque. That's what it's called. In at least in Oaxaca. In the north part of Mexico you'll have a different name they usually call them vinotecas. And so that's when like you know it can get a little complicated with the terms cuz there's like based on every state you can have like different names for even the same even the same plant or even the same yeah even the same product will be called a different name.RTB: We love that we love that here.FM: It's very regional when it comes to those things. And so Yola started bringing like little samples kind of mezcal back in you know, '06 six to LA. She started kind of traveling to LA and bringing some of the mezcal that was being done what was being made out of her grandfather's farm in, palenque in Oaxaca. And then from there she saw the opportunity of like actually starting a brand or they saw the opportunity just because you know there was this is like back in, you know mezcal wasn't that popular back then but people were kind of asking like oh what is this or like you know where can I find it where can I buy it. And the brand was started and then she did a lot of emphasis in making sure that the brand was all uh since you know the other two Gina [Corell Aglietti] and Lykke [Li] started the brand with Yola [Jimenez]. She wanted to make sure that it was an all female [team]. I feel for Yola it was very important that to make sure that the brand gave opportunities for females down in Oaxaca and she kind of made sure that females had control over the brand she being a female herself of course. and so 85% of the workforce of Yola mezcal is females we have maestra mescalera who is the daughter of our original maestro mescalero, so mescalera is Guadalupe Bautista. Javier her father still works for us in a way. It's just the labor of love like all mezcals!RTB: Well we have a little bit of mezcal here so we can taste it together. If you've been hearing some little icy, clinking noises, I was enjoying the El Diablo cocktail that Felipe made for me before we started the interview. But right now I'm just going to give this mezcal some little kisses!FM: Our mezcal is blend of Espadín and Madrecuixe. Those are the names of the agave themselves. Espadín is very common in Oaxaca, and they make a lot of the a lot of the mezcals you see here in the United States obviously coming from Oaxaca are made out of Espadîn. Madrecuixe are agave that are wild. They take up to 15 years to grow mature. They both have like different characteristics in flavor. Espadín tend to be maybe a little more vegetal while Madrecuixe be a little softer more fruit show more fruit characteristic to them like you know pineapple and like peach and I think it translates to the glass. You know the mezcal is this mezcal is like very delicate. I think a part of why I like working for Yola is because me being a bartender, I see a lot of people drinking mezcal cocktails but not really understanding what they like about it and not really sipping on it. It's something that you don't see in whiskey or other categories. Like I feel like people sip on whiskey all the time and they don't actually drink a lot of whiskey cocktails or like whiskey or something very straightforward. And I feel like it was the opposite for mezcal, but I think this is it's a beautiful mess to sip on of his own. And it's a really good introduction into the category as well.RTB: I totally agree. I I feel like I can find the fruitiness on the nose almost something like um just a very warm aroma. It's not really like banana, but I'm thinking more like when you make really nice banana bread and you put some butter and like some brown sugar on top. I mean I'm making it sound sweeter. It's not a sweet drink, but do you know what I mean about the aroma? Are there other aromas that you find or that you—FM: You know as it is a natural product, it can always change batch to batch, and going back to the to the plant itself. And so I mean what I typically find in it is again I do find those tropical flavors you're describing and to me like roasted fruit characteristics more than maybe like leather or smoke. I don't find that like maybe you will find in some other mezcals. But I also find it maybe a little like peppercorn sage in a way like this very aromatic at least at the end which I really enjoy here. I think it's just a well balanced mezcal.RTB: Yeah, I find the bruised the bruised fruit more on the nose like maybe kind of like a bruised pear when you think about the brown spots on a really nice pear that just tastes great. I get more of the kind of grassy herbal notes when it's in when it's in my mouth and I get that really fresh green bright almost wild flavor and then yeah I feel that kind of peppery note as as it goes on. And I will say that it is really sippable and that's just a huge compliment for something you know that—for spirits, I I didn't put any water or anything is really in well balance as far as the alcohol and just the smoothness of it like I'm just drinking it here in my glass with with nothing at all and it quite a testament to the quality.FM: This comes out of the still at this proof which you know mezcal usually is higher proof than most spirits. So this is 90 proof and you'll find like mezcals out there that are going to be like way higher proof than that like 52— I mean 104, I'm sorry. Yeah the flavors are definitely it's just definitely like a very very unique taste taste profile for the mezcal.RTB: I would say that even though it's I think it's very versatile because you know while I'm really enjoying sipping it on its own, it's not something that's like so precious that oh my god you can't mix it. We made this El Diablo cocktail with it for instance and it's not at such a it's at a good price point I think in the market where you could go either way. You could have it as something to sip on for people who like to do that, but if you want to mix it, it's not so precious. You go ahead and mix it, enjoy it, right?FM: I think what is important also like you know the reason why your mezcal maybe the price it is is also like we are making sure that all the workers down in Mexico are really getting compensated for the work and again like this is mostly an all-female team doing all the work. There is certain things that we offer down in our palenque. Like there is a playground for the kids. There's a child care that is offered for the kids while they go to work. They kind of create their own schedule. They—not kind of. They create their own schedule and so they decide like which hours they can work. Those are things that I feel like, you know, for Yola and for me and for everybody that works for the brand are the most important things. Like we just want to make sure that a lot of the revenue that is being created is really transforming the community for the better without having like you know an imperialistic mindset or like you know we are not going to save anybody from anything. We are just making sure that the resources that are being created down there are actually coming back down there and people are really they are working for their community and not to you know create a profit for somebody else somewhere else.RTB: Which has definitely happened in Mexico as the interest in agave spirits has exploded.FM: Correct. Yeah. I mean it's something we see in the industry. You know it's kind of hard to control and I feel like at this point it's really hard to control as the demand grows again. Like I feel like for consumers, really getting to know their brands and like what the brand stands for is very important. I mean, that's what I'm here for.RTB: For listeners who are considering various careers in the beverage industry or who are just curious about this cool sounding job, Felipe, could you talk to us a little bit about your work as a brand ambassador?FM: I work in the industry or like I work in hospitality for 14 years now and I feel like being a bartender part of how I started and like or how I started seeing bartender as a career was my interest in showing the work of the people who make the spirits. And that's kind of what really intrigued me about it like from Amari to vodka to gin like whiskey there is a lot of effort that go into it. I was one time at the bar and one of my mentors told me like you know I remember I was very tired and I made a comment about something and and then he said to me well you know how tired you are like the same way you're tired like the people who made this are very tired. Back then I didn't have a lot of knowledge. And so he was like and this is why you should know because you are the last chance they have to tell their story. We go to the bar to have fun obviously and like it's not for everybody. Not everybody cares to hear the stories of these people, but for the people that care like you should as a bartender like you should know a little bit about it or like you should be able to educate and like that is something that I you know I concentrated on from early on in my career as a bartender and like it's something I try to do or like when I have the chance to or when people ask me what is the difference between this is I try to be as informative as possible. Now as a brand ambassador is pretty much what I is what I do for a living. I just go tell them how. How and why. It can be it can be a sometimes difficult because you know you go to let's say a liquor store and like they don't care about that. They just want to know how much? And that is okay. You know that's also part of the job. You have to learn how to wear many different faces and masks, and like you know I was talking to somebody the other day and it's like you know the rejection of it to the rejection side of it. Like some people just don't care. They don't want to hear about it like they just want to know how much is the case and how much is it going to cost me, how much is it going to make me and and that is, when the consumer is important because if they you know they have more people demanding good products and brands that they are feel strongly about those liquor store owners will also have to change the way they see the spirits. It goes to a lot of industries now the more the consumers are informed it will be better for everybody I guess.RTB: So my own background, I actually started out in cocktails before I got into wine. Was a super fun, creative life. And I wonder what advice you have for our listeners who might just be getting started with making cocktails or wanting to learn more about making cocktails. What's the best way to start learning? What's your best advice?FM: Using good quality products is like the most important thing. If you use a terrible gin, most likely you're going to make a terrible martini. With that being said, like you know, knowing what you like is very important. like what flavors you prefer. That is very important. Trying to use fresh ingredients at home instead of let's say buying the pasteurized lime juice. You can try to like squeeze your own lime juice. Simple things like that at home will just make a war of of difference between a not so good cocktail and a great cocktail. If you have lime juice that is from maybe you squeeze today, but you're going to use this 5 days from now, then obviously your quality of your margarita is not going to be good. But if you squeeze it to order, then you're going to make probably a way better margarita than even many bars. I feel like quality when it comes to citrus just trying to have it fresh.RTB: I love home bartending. I feel like it is true that there's certain things that you can do, you know, even just the ice that you have in your fridge as long as it's not too old and getting a different freezer flavors from whatever else you you have in there. There's there's a lot of stuff that that people have just in their kitchen that you can make some really good—I remember just finding some advice somewhere to if there's a cocktail that you like or just pick a cocktail and just buy the ingredients for that cocktail, you know, like build your ingredients that way. What do you think about that about just kind of getting started, where to start?FM: I think understanding flavor is like the key to being like a great bartender. One of the one of the the faces you have to wear wear to be a great bartender. And like you can take a cocktail as simple as a Negroni and then like if you substitute your red bitter, or you substitute your vermouth, or you substitute your gin, you can have thousands of options just for the one cocktail or you can take a cocktail as simple as a daiquiri which is going to be rum, lime and sugar. But if you change rums, and it's going to taste completely different you know understanding the flavor what makes it unique what makes it different is very important. Though I think I would say that it's more in a professional setting. I think for the home bartender, again, like to me having quality ingredients is just going to make you a quality drink. Understanding like why you shake a cocktail, why you stir it, like little things like that can just make a world of a difference.RTB: When do you shake versus stir? What's the science behind it?FM: So the science behind it obviously is dilution first. And so you're diluting um at a different rate, but you're also adding oxygen in your shaker. And so the motion is just adding oxygen. And so as a rule of thumb, you typically will shake anything that has some kind of juice or eggs or milk or cream or something that you know needs a little, like, it needs the motion of shaking for the ingredients to actually incorporate. When it comes to stirring, you don't really want to change the chemical composition of the spirit. So you don't really want to shake it. You want the flavors to stay there. You just basically want to chill it. You want to get it cold. And this is like, you know, little things like the least ice you have in your shaker or in your mixing glass, the faster the drink is going to dilute, but it might not get to the right temperature. And so maybe little things like that, like having enough ice on hand to like pack your shaker or pack your mixing glass and make sure that it's full. Those things can give you more control and they can give you a better drink at home. It seems simple, but it's actually the most important step. The quality of the ice and then how how to do it.RTB: I always like to say the secret ingredient in every cocktail is water. And how you deal with the water is really makes a difference in in how good the drink turns out.FM: The ice is is going to melt in your drink. So it's a big part of your drink. It is important that the ice is of good quality.RTB: So guys, get out there and get some ice out of your out of your freezer and see what you have in in your kitchen cabinets and make some cocktails. Yes. Start just start somewhere.Thank you so much, Felipe. Will you tell us the link to find out more about Yolo mezcal, the website? And I'll also include that information in the show notes. Yeah, our uh website is going to be yolamezcal.com.RTB: [spells website)FM: And then that is going to be also the link for Instagram. There's a lot of information in the brand there. There's also, like stores. We list most of the liquor store where you can can actually find the product where we are available right now which is New York, California, New Jersey, Connecticut, Colorado, Texas. And but we're, you know, we're opening new markets. We opened a few new markets last year like Colorado, Tennessee. 2023 is kind of like a year, it's going to be a year of expansion for us after the pandemic. So, we're trying to open new markets.FM: Okay. So, stay tuned and and keep checking back for this this delicious mezcal. And thank you so much for for talking to me about all of these things, Felipe. Thank you so much to all of our listeners. Wherever you go and whatever you drink, always remember to enjoy your life and to never stop learning.Support us on Patreon. Grab the newsletter at mododibere.com and subscribe to the YouTube channel @ mododibere to watch the travel show Modo di Bere TV. Music for the show was composed by Ersilia Prosperi for the band Ou. Purchase their music at the link in the notes.

Music composed by Ersilia Prosperi for the band Ou: www.oumusic.bandcamp.com

Produced and recorded by Rose Thomas Bannister

Audio and video edited by Giulia Àlvarez-Katz

Audio assistance by Steve Silverstein