Cocktails Distilled
Cocktails Distilled
Understanding the Artistry of Tequila Partida's Single Barrel Program
For years, the Whiskey industry (both with an ‘e’ and without) has been innovating and keeping consumers intrigued by using Single Barrel programs.
Now, Tequila distillery Partida, the original additive-free Tequila, has announced that Master Tequilero José Valdez has crafted 30 unique barrels of their award-winning and highly regarded añejo for a single-barrel programme of their own.
Each barrel will have unique tasting notes, making each one special and highly collectable for tequila aficionados.
To find out more, we talk to Valdez about barrels, barrel sections and what this new programme will mean for consumers
Tiff Christie
This is Cocktails Distilled, a podcast that takes your favourite spirits and cures from the still to the cocktail glass. In each episode, we talk to distillers and creators about particular expressions that their brand have released, what they are, why they were created and in what cocktails they can be used. Are you ready to understand what's in your glass? Or perhaps should be Welcome to Cocktails Distilled.
For years, the whiskey industry, both with an E and without, has been innovating and keeping consumers intrigued by using single-barrel programs. Now, tequila distillery Partida, the original additive-free tequila, has announced that Master Tequilero Jose Valdez has crafted 30 unique barrels of their award-winning and highly regarded Añejo for a single barrel program of their own. Each barrel will have unique tasting notes, making each one special and highly collectable for tequila aficionados. To find out more, we talked to Valdez about barrel selection and what this new program will mean for consumers. Thank you for joining us, Jose.
José Valdez
Thank you, tiff, for having me.
Tiff Christie
Now, for those who don't know, explain to us what a single barrel program actually is.
José Valdez
Yeah, a single barrel program is the possibility to bottle individual barrels instead of a batch of several barrels that age tequila, either reposado, Añejo or extra Añejo, which are the three categories that we have in the tequila for ageing. That it depends on the tequila for ageing depends on the ageing time is the definition of the category.
Tiff Christie
Now you've been distilling for 20 years, which is quite a milestone. What made you want to celebrate that with this program?
José Valdez
Well, in tequila, many people identify tequila only with the blanco, which is an unaged tequila. But I think the new innovation in tequila that is growing more is ageing and experimenting with different types of barrels. Ageing and experimenting with different types of barrels, and we have done in the past single barrel for the category of reposado, which is a category that has to be aged a minimum of two months up to a year, because after a year is an Añejo, and we did that program in the past. But we never did a program with the Añejo, which is more than one year.
And in the case of Tequila Partida, which the philosophy and my personal philosophy is to exceed the minimum standards of the Mexican law of making tequila, In our case, the Añejo, instead of making one year, we go from 18 months up to two years. Okay, but like I said before, the single barrel is from a batch of 100, let's say a number, 100 barrels that has been ageing, the same liquid, the same base, Blanco. We select, I select the most intense and unique flavours and give the opportunity to customers to select that barrel and to customize the amount of bottles that we obtain from that barrel. That goes from around 250 bottles. Up to 300 bottles.
Tiff Christie
So, just in regards to the barrels themselves, are you using speciality barrels for this, or are you using the same ones that you would normally use?
José Valdez
We use for all the tequila Partida, reposado, Añejo and extra Añejo. We use white American oak used one time with bourbon. We don't work only with one brand of bourbon, we experiment with different brands and, yeah, that's basically what we do every time, and the difference with this single barrel is that is the first use of this bourbon. So normally, we use the bourbon up to three years of use and that means several passes not like for reposado. That means several passes no Like for reposado. That means sometimes, like three or four times, using the same barrel, but for this single barrel, it's the first use. After the bourbon, we put the tequila, and after two years, we launched and selected just a few barrels. That is very unique. Nobody is going to have this selection. Every barrel is going to be different.
Tiff Christie
Tell us a little bit more about your Añejo. You mentioned how long it's aged for, but what sort of flavours and notes can people expect from liquid?
José Valdez
The Añejo that we are are looking is to balance the dryness of the blanco Blanco tequila, especially our tequila that is made in the valley of tequila in Tequila Town, is very mineral, is very black pepper, is very citric, very herbal, and what we want to add is more sweet whiskey, butter, scotch dark chocolate, orange peel flavours that we obtain after a longer period of time, a longer and it sounds like it's not too much two years in the tequila, but it is because it's very intense ageing in Mexico because the weather is warmer, it's drier, than in Scotland or Ireland or US or Japan. No, in Mexico, especially in Jalisco, is a semi-desert environment and the angel share per year goes around 10%, which is very, very intense the ageing.
Tiff Christie
If people know you're in the Añejo and have drunk it before. What difference in flavour will they find with this single-barrel program? What change does that first tequila in the barrel make to it?
José Valdez
What people are going to find in the single barrel is the three things. One is the intensity. It's going to be very intense in flavour because normally a batch, a whole batch of several barrels that balance low intensity barrels and high intensity barrels and give an average, which is okay. But this selection I'm selecting the more intense barrels that doesn't mean that are, you know, strong in flavour. That means that it's very, very defined the personality of that barrel and can be completely different one barrel to another.
Tiff Christie
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José Valdez
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The second thing that I look for the single barrel is the balance. At the end of the day, we want the customers to explore and taste every sip of this Añejo and enjoy different aromas, a wide variety of aromas, but all balanced, not only like, okay, this is super dark chocolate and that's it, that's the only aroma and flavour you find. No, what we want is in every sip you have a balance of a wide variety of aromas and flavours. So that's the second. And the third one is the stability. Some tequilas have more stability than others. It's because of the I don't know. That's something that we discover in some barrels are very volatile the flavours and in some are very stable, are very stable. So what I'm looking at is the stability that gains over the breathing and breathe out of the barrel, the change of oxygen inside the barrel.
Tiff Christie
You mentioned earlier that there will be a difference in flavour between barrels. How extreme is that?
José Valdez
If you are not a sipping taster and you only drink in cocktails. It's hard to tell. It's hard to tell for the regular consumer. This is a product that is very popular nowadays for people who really have a certain expertise in tequila and in tequila Añejos. And in tequila Añejos, additive free. That means that is 100% natural. In Mexico we are allowed in the tequila industry to add up to 1% of additives, including caramel colour, sweetener and essence and flavours are either artificial and natural flavour. But Tequila Partida, since 20 years ago, we don't believe in the additives. We believe in doing 100% natural. So the colour that you see in our bottles is going to be different in the single barrel than the standard. It's going to be sometimes lower, sometimes higher, but it's going to be different. It's not going to be a standard colour, so every barrel is going to be unique.
Tiff Christie
Is it true to say that the liquid that you'll be releasing through this single-barrel program is not typical tequila?
José Valdez
It's not typical tequila, it's not easy to find. I would say it's like a wine that that one year you select the very best year, no, and you save those bottles for many years are going to be very unique and very special and very high quality, I would say.
Tiff Christie
Take us through some of the benefits that the single barrel program will have for retailers and restaurants or bars.
José Valdez
So we have two ways of working with us for the single barrel. One way is that we provide samples to retailers or on trade, let's say liquor stores or restaurant bars that they want to acquire a barrel. We provide the samples, the physical samples. They taste it and we have right now like 10 different samples, a kit that our commercial and distributor team has to offer.
And once they select one of these barrels, we announce to our team that that barrel is not available anymore. It's already with one customer and as soon as we confirm that let's say PO purchase order, we start the bottling and customise that presentation so it's not the same presentation of the regular Añejo. We modify and make a unique presentation that changes the labels, the colour, and the labels design and also we personalise by handwritten the name of the account. If it's a restaurant or liquor store, we put the name on every single label and also we put the number of the bottle, of each bottle. So that is one way to work, and you can buy from one barrel to all the barrels. The second way to do it is, if you don't want to taste only from the selection, the pre-selection that I did, you can come to the distillery, and we have a batch that I have more barrels already pre-selected that are not in the first selection.
And they can taste and live the experience to come to the distillery to learn about more the tequila, to the agave and to the process and then select at the distillery the barrel. But for this opportunity or this type of way to offer the barrels has to be a minimum of two barrels. That's the only constraint to live this experience that we organise the trip for the customer.
Tiff Christie
That second one sounds much more fun.
José Valdez
It is more fun because you know, know you are part of the, you're part of the decision, you and your team. Normally is a team, or yeah, bar managers or liquor managers, or they select and they feel that they're their own selection in their own name. So they're going to promote, they're going to tell the customers why they choose these barrels over another barrel or to the standard, tequila Partida Añejo.
Tiff Christie
When those bartenders or liquor shop owners or restauranteurs or whoever communicating about the barrel they've selected to their consumers, what sort of advantage do you think it gives them that they have actually bothered to do this?
José Valdez
Well, it's a huge advantage to one in education, because part of the period is education, is learning of the process of production and what makes different one to another. So they have a story to tell the customers, you know, and not only to tell but also to taste and to live that experience so they can provide like, ok, this is the standard, Añejo, and try one-on-one the difference and you tell me what is the difference in the tasting and the flavour. So it's a process of education. Plus, they have the exclusivity because you know it's 50 states in America, multiple bars and restaurants, and only a few of them have access to these kind of programs. The consumers identify these bars, this liquor store, like very unique, that they innovate and bring this kind of exclusive product to their customers.
Tiff Christie
Why did you develop two experiences? Wouldn't it have been equally as easy just to send the sample? You know your reps with the samples out. Why did you develop two versions?
José Valdez
That's a very good question. Quite honestly, it's easier for us to develop the sample kit sent to the commercial team in America, and they provide to customers, right, customers start asking that because this is yeah. Some customers say can I go and be part with the maestro tequilero to select the barrel? Yeah, and you know we open this option and not all the people like that, because people are rushed and they don't have time. And some people say, okay, I want an easy, easy selection, so I just wanna, I just wanna taste. I'm driven by the taste, so I select these samples, I like this. I can commit to buying these 300 bottles of this. Yeah. But some other people say you know what I want to go, and, and some customers they do this, not only with Tequila Partida, but with other brands. So they go to Mexico and say, ok, I'm going to buy like five barrels, one from each distillery of tequila that my customers are asking. Normally, additive-free tequila brands are running this kind of program and, yeah, it's becoming more and more popular.
Tiff Christie
From the time that somebody has picked their barrel to when they receive the bottles, what sort of timeline are we looking at?
José Valdez
Well, it depends on the load of work we have in the distillery, but normally takes around three months from that moment until the customer receives all the bottles, because you know there is logistics. So the first step is to take the liquid out, but it's not a barrel strain. That means that we don't put the liquid from the barrel to the bottle. We have to cut with water because we decided to make it a lower alcohol by volume dilution with the volcanic water that we have in the distillery well and so it's a deep well that we extract the water.
It's a volcanic water and we extract the water. It's volcanic water and we use that water to cut the tequila aged tequila down to 40% alcohol, and that marriage takes time. So we have three weeks without movement of the stabilisation and marriage of the water and the tequila and then, after that, start the process of filtration and bottling. One is a bottle. We use the barrel heads, so we cut the barrel and we use the heads POS as a POS, let's say, a promotion that is included in the palette with all the bottles, that is included in the palette with all the bottles. So we put these branded Tequila, Partida branded heads of the barrel and are shipped within the product.
Tiff Christie
Talk us through how somebody should actually pick the barrel. What are they tasting for? What should they be looking for in a barrel?
José Valdez
Well, I have experience with different customers and every customer is different. I will tell you the story of a customer in Jacksonville. I was two weeks ago in their restaurant bar. It's a Mexican restaurant bar, and all the managers, it's around four or five managers, plus the owner of the restaurant were there at 9 am, and we were tasting the 10 different samples. Previously, I gave them more information about the production process and how we made it, and then we spent, let's say, 30 to 45 minutes talking about the process of tequila partita and how we made this selection and then after that, we started tasting.
They taste not all the tens. They selected like five random and everyone make their own notes and put a grade, a number. So at the end it was a group discussion and they came with a unanimous decision of one barrel. That is one team, and we spent, let's say, an hour and a half discussing the distributor, my commercial team. I was there and then the team, and it was fun because it was a process that now they're very happy with this decision. Another customer that came to the distillery is a liquor store in South Carolina and they came to the distillery, the manager, and also brought an expert in taster, an external taster, whiskey and tequila taster.
And he was ‘okay, jose, can you give me some samples?’ And he tasted at 55%, different than the sample kit that we provide at 40%. So this guy was an expert in tasting whiskeys and tequila direct from the barrel and basically he made a suggestion to the owner, to the manager, and the manager decided okay, I'm going to follow your advice and select this barrel. So each customer is different. It depends on what they want. The process we're very flexible to adapt to the process of decision and that's what makes us unique. We're not like okay, has to be like this way A plus B plus C and that's it. No, we're open to listen and we want to make the customer be part of the process of selection.
Tiff Christie
Obviously, the advantage to consumers is the uniqueness of these offerings. How important do you think uniqueness is to modern consumers, especially tequila drinkers?
José Valdez
You mean uniqueness for the final consumer. Yes, I think it's very important because nowadays there are multiple brands of tequila. You know there are celebrities launching tequila like every almost every month, and you know it's new brands. So what we are offering is a brand that has been in the market for 20 years, consistently focusing on the quality and learning about their own unique process, and what we are offering now is something exclusive and different from what we have done. In 20 years, I would say we perfected the base and the categories that we have, and this is something that is learning over the years and the process and we are putting like a more unique and exclusive way to have an experience in tasting. It's something that I will do it for myself. No Like, okay. I have invested like 20 years learning about how to make good tequila natural. If I have to select a few bottles or a few cases, how will be that selection? And that is all about being unique and taking the time to make something very special and have the opportunity to taste it.
Tiff Christie
I suppose there are going to be a number of consumers who are, sorry to say, frustrated with the three-tier system in the US, that they can't actually come to you directly, and I suppose the best thing they can do is just nag their local bar or restaurant.
José Valdez
Yeah, I mean the three-tier system is the way it works. The whole industry in America and that's the way we work. No, we work with importers, distributors, wholesalers and then retailers. Yeah, that's the only way that we cannot sell directly. We sell through this system and, yeah, that's part of the exclusivity. You will not find this single barrel. We don't have an amount yet. We started saying it's going to be only 20 barrels amount, yet we started saying it's going to be only 20 barrels, but so far we have sold eight barrels in less than one month. So we expect that we're going to exceed that 20 barrels and we saved some other barrels in case we need to increase that quantity.
That's a good result so far, then it is. It is because I think the single barrel is common in Reposado, but not in Añejo. So during COVID, the consumer in America and also in Mexico and globally, discovered sipping tequilas H, not only Blanco. The Blanco is more popular for margaritas and cocktails, but they discovered that actually are good for sipping, just like a good cognac, like a good whiskey, like a good bourbon, a tequila that is well aged, with no artificial flavour. It's something that you can really enjoy.
You don't need to drink too much yeah, just enjoy by sipping, and in an increase huge that the man of an echo after COVID, because I think people discover at home, with friends and with family, how to sip tequila age and and thanks to that, that's why we are now putting this product available to some consumers.
Tiff Christie
Tell me how do you think programs like yours will affect the tequila or wider agave industry.
José Valdez
I don't think it's going to affect on the other way around, because what we promote Tequila Partida and not only Tequila Partida, I would say additive-free, 100% agave, high-quality tequilas is that people focusing more on the quality over quantity. It's very important to us and it's not going to affect the other way around. It's going to educate the market and the consumers. We're not promoting the tequila as a shot and more like a sipping, more like enjoy the moment and respect the seven to ten years that the plant takes maturity and then all the hard work to convert into tequila from the cave, and then the time of ageing and all the angel share, the ageing losses, and then all the time to make it very manual.
The process of bottling because our process is is very manual, it's very artisanal, very craft, and then ship it to the US and finish with the consumer. It takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of passion and a lot of effort to make it happen, this supply chain. So what we're saying is okay, we're here because it's a business, but we're quite honest, we want to be proud of what we do. It's something that is quality over time, and you're gonna drink, and you're gonna feel good the next day. So quality it's also the ingredients that have, and the more natural, the better for the body. If it's artificial and sugar and high fructose and glycerin and caramel colour, then it's not natural, it's going to affect your health, and it's not going to be the best quality available spirit.
Tiff Christie
Do you think this program will start to bring people who normally drink whiskeys and bourbons to Tequila?
José Valdez
I believe so. I believe a good way to invite a whiskey, a bourbon drinker to discover the agave, but in a very subtle way, is ice, or with a few drops of water, or whatever they drink, but not, or even in a cocktail with, like you know, old fashioned and beaters and orange peel. It's okay because the protagonist is the spirit, it's not the other element.
Yeah spirit is not the other element. Yeah, so I think it is a good way that discover the, the agave, and the benefits, if you will, of agave spirit, because it's a plant that takes six to seven to six to ten years to reach maturity. Yeah, so, extract a lot, of, a lot of minerals from the earth, from the soil, sun, you know all the energy that this plant has.
So that's why it's very unique the agave spirits, such as tequila and mezcal and, yeah, it's very different than the grain spirits which is, you know, the barley, the wheat and the rye. You know, it's completely different. So the agave has an effect on the body of people. Some people love it, some people don't. But I believe that those who had a terrible experience with agave is because it was not the high quality tequila product.
Tiff Christie
Obviously, this is available to retailers and restaurateurs in the US, but is it available to people overseas, in Europe and Asia?
José Valdez
For now, not because the legislation of the US is very strict, and every country has its own law about compliance, labelling and volume and alcohol by volume. So in the warning message. So it's a lot of things that has to be met to be available in different markets. So for now this is only for the US and we are available. Tequila Partida in Europe since this year we launched it in Amsterdam and Belgium, the Netherlands and Belgium and also in Mexico, but the single barrel program of Añejo, is only for the US so far.
Tiff Christie
Now, if people want more information about the brand or your Añejo, they can, of course, go to your website, which is perdidatequilacom, or connect with the brand via your socials.
José Valdez
Correct, so you can either go to our webpage, which is, as you mentioned, partidatequilacom, or on Facebook, on Instagram, tequila Partida.
Tiff Christie
Excellent, all right, Jose. Thank you so much for talking to us about the program today.
José Valdez
Of course, Tiff. Thank you for having me and thank you for your audience to listen.