Ep 371 - Aidan Marengo: Oh The Places We'll Go

♪ Shall ♪ Well hello, everybody. Welcome to another installment of Shoulder View with Mike G. The Show of Life, The Show of the Muscat. Again, the show of Wahakad, Taste Things, and so much more. Today I sit down for what I think is his first hot cast interview or quote-unquote media interview ever, Aiden Murengo from Kyoto, Mescaleria, and Wahakad, central. We sit and we talk about how he's found love and through that process of finding love and finding Mescal, finding himself to be part of the team there at the Kyoto tasting room in Wahakad. We sit some incredible Mescalies following this thing from Ikutla and Puebla and one that is from Abarada, Santa Catarina, Abarada's that taste unlike anything I've ever tried. So two things. One, if you can find a bottle here even though it's not imported into the United States, grab it and two, if you can't do that head down to Wahakad. So without further ado, I hope you enjoyed this great conversation with Aiden Murengo of Kyoto, Mescaleria. ♪ ♪ So when I was talking to Mateo earlier, because he's, he's, he's funny because he didn't know I was coming to this six, six PM tasting with you. And the you know, Leslie had already kind of told me and stuff. And so, Mateo's like, yeah, Aiden's a good friend of mine. I'm like, oh, cool. And I said, give me some dirt, you know, but not in the not in the Howard Sternway. But anyway, it, what he, what he told me, which we'll talk about here shortly, but I really liked it because it feels like you're a romantic guy. You know, and so what I wanted to share with you that I mentioned I was going to say that I, I've only told two people this one being my partner. Okay. And believe me, this is not heavy at all. It's, it's the complete absence. She's the, so I'm not the biggest Bridget Jones fan. Okay. You're like, have you seen any of those movies? I think I have. Yeah. So they made a new one. Bridget Jones has managed to have a successful career as a movie star or in, in the movie as a writer, but they're kind of British rom coms. And I'm not the kind of guy that's like, I want to watch British rom coms, but I watched the new one yesterday, which this is not a spoiler. It's part of the summation of the movie, but she loses her husband. She ends up being a single mom of two for three, four years. And she finds love again. Of course. Of course. And fuck you. Shit, you not. I cried twice during that movie. Okay. And I'm not really sure why. So I guess the question is when I talk about, are you a romantic guy? Do you, are you in touch with, and this is not going to be a psychological thing, I promise, but are you like relatively in touch with your emotions? Do you feel like you can talk about how you feel and that you can share what you're going through? Yeah. I do. I think normally I have to think about it for a little while until I finally know what I'm going to say or I don't want to say exactly what I'm feeling right at that moment, but that's the thing, right? Yeah. Until I actually dial it in and figure out exactly what I, what I need or want to say. So when you think thinking about a business, and we'll talk about Kyoto, inevitably here, is it methodical to or do you just go with your good and kind of move on something because the two, do you have a mascot or you know, and Mahaka is going to take a lot of time, a lot of thinking. Are you, was it, it wasn't impulsive for you to start the project, was it? No. So I, I didn't start the project. I mean, Celia started this project two and a half years ago. Yeah. And when I met her, I was a customer first. Okay. Okay. Yeah. So I was a customer and then eventually, like, went on a trip with her with Omar, our friend who's a tour guide there and I really like the space. I bought a couple bottles because I really loved some of the juice that she had and things like that. But being part of Kyoto, it was never really my intention. And then I went back on like a brand trip with a bigger brand, you know, obviously, because those are the ones that can do brand trips. Like it's a money. Yeah. Exactly. And running water. Yeah. Typically to make the joke. Okay. So that kind of frames a little bit for me. But before we get to kind of the Wahakad chapter, you're born and raised San Francisco and tell me if these, these are correct places that you worked at. Worked at Oatrah. Celia's. Celia's. Yeah. Celia's. Thank you. Fresca's. Fresca. Yeah. Fresca. Thank you. And there's one other that I can't recall. But the bottom line is like you for some time now almost that seems like over 10 years, you've been working in the hospitality industry. Yeah. Since I turned 21 really so like immediately, immediately. I was about 12 years ago. So when I was 20, I got hired at Celia's as a busser. Yeah. And the only reason I got hired I think was because we had the same birthday as the manager there. Is that right? And he was like what birthday is that? May night. There we go. Yeah. So he's the grandson, yeah, grandson of Celia. Okay. Yeah. So I really kind of connected on that. Yes. Where I live. And I said right by the beach, but I did in the half baked sense that I read by the beach boy. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Because this is, you know, you said about 12 years ago. So roughly what, when 2013, something like that 2012 going up into that. Were you studying for any other direction? Are you a math guy? Are you an art guy? A lot of people fall into hospitality as well. I asked that they were maybe going in another direction before that. No, I mean, I didn't, I did. I always felt like I was fairly smart, but I didn't do very well in school. I'm like you. I'm there with you. Yeah. So I, I really like to figure out problems and solve things. And I always thought if I'm going to do something, I would do it to the best of my ability. But I had never found something that I really loved before that. And then when I was working in hospitality, I felt I really love to make people happy and make sure they have the best time and make sure that I'm doing whatever I can to the best of my ability. So it's, it, does hospitality run in the family? Not the, the, the aspect of hospitality, but my mom's in our end, for instance. And you never think about it, but that is hospitality. Yeah. Actually, I would say so. My parents are, they love to host. They love to have their friends over. They love to make something delicious and, you know, make sure everybody's happy and they like to talk into very, very late hours with their friends over a few, a few bottles or glasses or bottles of wine. So yeah, I'd say that in that aspect, but never informally in like the industry. I think it kind of comes from our folks in a lot of ways, right? This kind of wanting to help other people or meet them where they're at and be hospitable. Did you ever want to do the, the nine to five day job? He's sitting behind a desk. And I say that and I do that a lot, but I don't always love it. I mean, when I was, before I started going into like bartending, I worked a little bit at my mom's, she's an office manager for a neurosurgeon. Oh, okay. And I would work a little bit there and it just didn't interest me too much. Yeah. Do you find that you were even hospitable then though, or given the opportunity like I'm talking to patients that were coming in and out? Yeah. Definitely. I mean, I've always make them feel welcome. They're there for something they don't want to be there for neurosurgery. You said right? Yeah. That's probably not great. No. Spinal and neurosurgery. Oh, spinal too. Yeah. Really? But you know, predilection or no kind of interest in going into like medicine or science in that way. No, not in particular. Yeah. Your dad would, what does or didn't he? My dad's a writer. Oh, really? Yeah. What kind of stuff? So what, well, when I was younger, he was an music agent and then was he really? Yeah. So he was a music agent for kind of smaller bands. Like in the Bay. In a very, yeah. Really? And then after that, he became just working on his own. He always, he always worked from home. So whenever I was at home, he was at home. So I didn't have a lot of, they didn't have a lot of time to buy myself. He's always in the other room. But yeah, no, it was always nice to have my dad around. He's a big gardener as well. So he loves botany and, you know, taking care of things. So I imagine having it that it's an agent. And now I think of a and R that's not exactly the same thing anymore. But if you go back 20 years, whatever that that term exists, but he must have been playing music all the time. Is that fair? Is he introducing the family to music or did you want to leave work behind? I think when he was younger, he played some music, but he wasn't, he didn't play instruments that much growing up. He did play a little bit of guitar, but it was just for himself. It was just an outlet, I think. Not a professional career. No, yeah. Any of that trickle down to you? Any musical town? I played a little guitar when I was younger, but it never, never quite stuck. Yeah. Everybody that's in this miscount industry and I mean, I interview all kinds of people, but like, they're all failed guitars. I could see that. And I'm not a failed guitarist, but I'm one that never succeeded. Right? Right? So I'm kind of right at the middle. So predominantly, when we talk about frescoes, right? This was in the Othra, like you've been around Mexican spirits. Is that fair? Yeah. Do you remember your relationship? How it began with Moscow? Yeah. So when I was working at Celia, as I was maybe like 22, 23 when I got to the point where I felt really comfortable bartending and talking to people. And then I noticed there was a point where people were always asking me about tequila's because that was the big thing. In fact, especially in San Francisco, it's tequila. Yeah. So I started going to Tommy's and they have a wealth of knowledge that I don't think you can find in for a lot of other spirits categories. People who really care, people who really know. So I started going to Tommy's and they kind of got me hooked on agave spirits. And then as the category of Moscow grew, as I was a bartender, I found that I just loved Moscow a little bit more. It's pretty clear. And I'm with you. I think it's the most interesting. I think it's the most diverse spirit of anywhere. And you can say like there's some Eastern European brandy sense of it. Those are cool, but there's still never as complex as Moscow. But for you, what did you gravitate towards? It's hard because I think there was only a few brands, right? And since I was a younger bartender in my spare, right? mid 20s, I was thinking about cocktails, right? So I was like, how can I turn this into a cocktail? How can I make it palatable? Balances, flavors. And then the more I started like sipping spirits neat, when I got a little bit past that, I started realizing there was so many interesting things. And I think what we do in the States is we always think about brands first. I couldn't agree more. Yeah. Because that's how we're paid to think in a way if you think about it. Yeah. And it's most relatable, right? You see a picture and you see this bottle that's always facing you on a bar. You think about that brand and what is inside that? So you know, if you try, say beef eater gin or Jamison, you know it will always taste like that. And then what I loved about Gavi Spirits was that when I tried in the Gavi Spirits, it would be like, or a good a Gavi Spirits. You know, it's kind of smaller batch. It would be a little bit different every time. Yeah. Because there's so many more variables than there are controls. So I wanted to learn more about Moscow and why? And as I think when I got past the fact that every that mustings are brands, what I learned about Moscow is the. My skill that I really loved were from specific producers. Because they might be under a few different brands. But I got past the brand part and was like, Oh, this person makes this Moscow. I want to go visit this person. So when I first went to Ahaka, that's what I was doing. I was like, I want to go visit this person. I want to visit a X, Y and Z brand. It is a weird way because you think of whiskey and whiskey is a brand and you never, I mean, the concept and the role of a myastor or a master that's still or now, that's been it's celebrity now. You know what I mean? Yeah, for sure. But that's a huge shift from where it was when you're thinking, well, this is the brand and this is kind of the behemoth. If you care to share that first time you went out to walk, who is on your short list that you wanted to go visit my myastoral answer, myastoral. Felipe Hill. Oh, yeah, yeah. Cool. And Victor Ramon, so I was like, you're back and do these. You love this meal a lot. Yeah. I love me what? It's one of my favorite places. That's also where I went on tour with what Celia, when we, you know, when we first met. Yeah. It's got a lot of official place in your heart for sure. Definitely. What do you like about the style from me, a lot of line? Because there's a similar note to me, but there's a lot of variety with regard to the agave and stuff. But what is it about that? Measick out from that area? I think when I first started learning about mezcal, you think about like clay pot and how interesting and unique it is. And I love clay pot still. But when I started, you know, figure out things I really wanted to drink all the time or something that really stood out to me. I noticed that I really like copper, refrescanetta. Yeah. So I, because in Mioa, what land they have both, you can kind of see both, both styles of that where, you know, a lot of like other regions that do clay pot. It's only clay pot for the most part. Yeah. So for there, I can see two different types of distillation and, you know, find a little little bit of variety. Did you? Something I find when I get out of downtown, at least in Mioaaka. And a lot of places are kind of rural. It speaks to me. And actually quite a literal sense that nature is making a noise and it's making a note that it kind of resonates with. So same friends allowed place. Yeah. You know, it's densely populated in that. Did you find that Mioaaka gave you a sense of peace? Now, I actually do think, I don't think that's too serious word, but like a sense of peace and a sense of nature. Do you find yourself needing to go outside of the city more now? I think so. I mean, when I first moved there, and I we lived in Mioaaka, like just a little bit up the hill towards Galagetsa, and just a big any of the year we moved to Tlaqulula. Oh, really? Yes. We live about 40 minutes outside of the city now, which I love. We have a lot more space. It's beautiful out there and it's very different pace. There's no not really any bars to go to at night or not. Our friends are in there at night. So we get to have our own time, but we still spend some time in Mioaaka. So I think we need a little bit of both, I think, because I'm. Did you move out to Mioaaka last January? So that's January, just over a year now. So that process, because you're born in San Fernando, you folks maybe were born in San Fernando, maybe makes why don't I know, but what is the process like? Because you're American citizen. What's the process of moving out to Mexico like in getting that visa and all that? That's something I'm quite curious about. Yeah, it's interesting. So is that or is that why you got engaged? No, no, no, no, no, I did that before we even thought about that. But no, you actually actually have to stay past your visa. So typically you have six months and then after you stay six months, then you can apply for your temporary residency. So yeah, are you at risk of, because in the States, right, especially right now, it's kind of a shitty time for immigration and all that. But if you they'll find you here, it will say in the air quotes, this is the interpretation is they'll find you whatever and then send you back, right? But in Mexico, you're saying stay past, stay past. And then because you stayed past, they want you, is it that they want you to be a resident or is it just that's just how you have to do it? I don't know if it's they want you to be, but when I talk to my immigration lawyer, they were like, you need to go past. So you need to technically not be not be, you're not supposed to be here anymore. But if you want to stay, then you can do this. So I have my temporary residency. And it's interesting too, because like when I came back to San Francisco for a trip, I was like, Oh, man, now I got to stay another six months before I can even apply for my temporary residency. But Celia, she, she talked to the customization and told them I had a work thing, you know, some bullshit. Sorry, can I swear? Yeah. Yeah. Some bullshit work thing. And she was like, can you just give him three days on his, on his, on his visa. So they like stamped my thing and said, I had three days. And the person was like, nobody's ever asked for this before. So I stayed past my three days instead of my six months. And then I was able to apply really. Yeah. And Celia or Celia, Celia, Celia, Celia, yeah. She, she's from the States as well, right? Yeah. So she live in Vegas. I think this all is. Yeah. Born in California in a group in Las Vegas. Okay. But her family's from La Haca. La Haca. Okay. And so let's talk about the thing that Mateo said to me, which wasn't too insidious by any means. Okay. But he was telling me nervous now. No, no. There's no drug. It's very, maybe some mule in. But anyway, a little bit, a little bit. But he was telling me one fine evening. I'm trying to paint this like I'm narrating. Right? Even now I was not there. Okay. But one fine evening when he was trying to wrangle all the people, all the brand people, all the people that were out in the hot guy at that time, he somehow managed to lose you. And in the wake of you losing your phone. So tell me a little bit about how this thing kind of unfolded because apparently that was the evening that you met Celia. Is that right? That's what he told me now. Bear in mind, he's got love with him. Yeah. But he has more drama than I do. Of course. Nobody can trust. That's him. No, but I'm making sure I paste them so he lives this shit. I had met Celia before that. Like a trip before that. And when I was going with Mateo on this brand trip, I hit her up and I was like, Oh, hey, I'm coming. I'm coming. I'd love to come to Kyoto. And you all been keeping in touch before that? Yeah, just a little bit. You know, over like Instagram. Oh, okay. Messaging each other. Yeah. And there was a event for the brand at Soboreo, Miss Kelspeake Z. Yep. So Celia came to that and we were hanging out and then I left with her and I dropped my phone in the like the crack of her car. Oh, okay. I didn't realize she'd drop me back off at the hotel and we were going to Huttla the next day to go visit producers and go on this multi day thing. So I didn't have my phone for a couple days on this brand trip. Oh, I have no photos from this trip. Do you remember the trip? Yeah. Good. Yeah. It was great. Sometimes I don't remember the trips. Yeah. And always on the brand trip, I try to stay a couple extra days because I know the brand wants to show you certain things, but I also love a hawk and I want to hang out with people that I've already met and you know, build more connections. So I'd you get your phone back then a couple days later when you got back from me. Yeah, I did find my iPhone thing. Oh, yeah. And then I messaged her on Instagram through one of my roommate on the trips Instagram. And then I went back and got in. They told me, they didn't realize that I knew the person who had my phone. They thought my phone was stolen. That's what he told me. So like it's somewhere in central day of us. So right now, you're not going to get your phone back. It's been resold for parts like right now. Yeah. Exactly. Did you know at that point that I always loved the Genesis stories of love and all of that, did you know? Did you know at that point that this was going to be the woman you would marry? I don't know. So guys to talk about it, think about it sometimes. I knew I liked her. I think the time before that when I first met her, we went on. I went on a trip to mean us with my friend who came back with Omar. He was the guy. And then we were going to I wanted to go to me at what long to go visit like Felipe Ana Hale. And we went on that trip and Celia came along like Omar invited her. It was really cool. And I remember at one point, she was not feeling too great. She gets a little bit car sick sometimes and that wrote in me what Lawn is crazy. But she pulled over. She's like, I don't feel very well. Can you pull over? I need a beer to cure my car sickness. And I was like, I had never heard of a beer, especially carsickness. Yeah. So I like the show. I'm intrigued. Yeah. It's like something to kind of focus on. I haven't yet been to Kyoto. I've read about it. I've heard about it. And for you now that you're involved in what extent you're involved, but what does it feel like going into that spot? What is what's the vibe? I mean, use that word when you get into Kyoto. You know, it's very light and bright. So we're outside of Centro. So we don't have to deal with a lot of the same things that Centro has to deal with. I feel like when you're in Centro, you have to make like a cocktail. You have to make a meat ladder. You have to make something other than a mezcal. You got to appeal to maybe not pure mezcal people. Yeah. You have to walk in and all these people have heard this. I go, this looks interesting. But for us, I think we've garnered a lot of respect on just the mezcal. So we source. And so we're typically open like one to seven. And we're outside of the Centro. So people come and seek us out, which is really cool. That's great. And also about Eizuchi Milco is like one of the oldest neighborhoods. It's very beautiful. And it's more of a daytime walking spot, kind of like Halalako. So people come and visit us because of that. And we get to talk one-on-one without interference of a lot of noise and stuff. Yeah. A ton of people there. We're on the second floor. We're not street levels. Yeah. It's a little bit different. Was it an inevitability once you got engaged that you would be part of the business? Or is it something that kind of, because Omar you said in Celi and you, is it just a three of you? Yeah. So how did that balance work if you're kind of like the new guy kind of? I think still, like I've always done like tastings in the states and everything. And I knew how to do them. But she has so many mezcales that she has had picked up before I got there. So I needed to go and visit a lot of these same producers and kind of understand for me that's the best way to learn. Absolutely. So what I can go and see firsthand and then reiterate to people who are doing tasting. So it took me a minute to understand these 100 different mezcales that we have. And be able to talk about them. Maybe the fun part is like, oh it's work, but it's fun work. That's right. Yeah. Podcasting is work, but it's fun work. Yeah. I'm enjoying this. No, yeah, that's the thing too. It is like, I would because I, you know, all right. So I, I try to find out not in an ethical way, but I try to find out something about my guest before we talk and hence Mateo just happened to know you and text me before talking about the last phone. But it's one of those things that, so I'm sure Aiden's got an Instagram and you do. And then I saw Lomba, we like 30 of the same friends. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. Like, this is not a big community if you think about it. Yeah. With respect to maybe bourbon is massive, but the mezcal community, that's not so big. It's, when you seek out mezcal, I feel like it gets dialed in and gets fluddled, you know, like to people who really, really care. That's right. And to that end actually, because I hadn't thought about asking you this, but you've been in hospitality for a while. We've both been doing this thing with mezcal for quite some time. You're now sourcing and when we talk about kind of some of the, that I'm drinking this WCJ, which I think is really, really beautiful. We'll talk about some of these others that you'll be serving at the tasting. But I saw a dude, I'll elaborate. I saw a dude who looked quite young and that's okay. Youngest is fine, old's fine. It's not really about the age. But he, I could see what he was trying to do with mezcal. And that was because he was doing a video about tasting, so again, I've done hundreds of them, you know. But it felt like finally, but maybe not in a good way that mezcal was getting really influenced or heavy. You know what I mean by that? Like, so tequila, tons of people talk about tequila, tons of people make cocktails with it, like on TikTok, on Instagram, like Lucas, or I'd like Lucas quite a lot of the accessories. But tequila is still where it's at for most people. But then I saw this younger kid who just like maybe saw the opportunity to say, I can influence a mezcal. Like, do you think that mezcal can be influenced in that way? It seems too wild to me, like the spirit itself. I think when people talk about tequila and mezcal, and if it's going to have the same effect on the tequila world, what happened with that is going to have the same effect on mezcal. I think it's a little bit harder too because one, there's many different types of magey that you work with with mezcal. They're most of the good mezcal that we really love are a very small batch, and they're a lot more variables. So it's always going to change. Where if you know if you're buying one brand of tequila, it will be the same flavor profile the next time you buy it, where I think the beauty of mezcal is that it's always going to be something different. Mostly consistent, but it's always different from itself to your point. And people I've heard say, and I like this comparison that wine from one year to the next from the same region is a vintage. And I do feel that the same way about particular bottling of mezcal too. So if do you think it would be good if somehow despite the diversity of flavor, the diversity of production areas within Mexico, how strange mezcal can be, can it ever be that popular? Would that be a good thing if it did become that popular? If it did become that popular, I think we had lose a lot of those variables that we talked about that are what make mezcal unique different from batch to batch, from producer to producer, all these different things. No, I think, no, I would say no. Yeah, I don't think I don't think it can. Has your clientele changed at all? Like as mezcal becomes even if just marginally more popular globally at Kyoto or at Kyoto. I think we get a a varying degree of people that come into Kyoto. So sometimes if they're just walking in, they just want to learn a little bit about the scale. And other people come and seek us out because they've heard about us or something like that. And they want to delve deeper into it. And those are the tastings I really love to do. So we do like a 101 tasting where it's just kind of get acclimated to mezcal and learn a little bit about it. We'll pour you four different, very, four very different things. And with the bottle collector, we'll do like eight different expressions, smaller pours, and let you try a whole bunch of things. And if we were like, you will keep pouring. But before like 12 things, yeah, because we get excited, we want to talk. And if you're interested, and we're interested. And you've got to see Bigit's curiosity. Yeah. And then it's really nice to Omar does the, Omar Munoz does the science class, which is something that I can't do because I don't have a science background. I've taken his class a few times, but I don't think I could reiterate the same knowledge that he has and apply the science aspect to mezcal. But if you have a science background or you understand these things, it's really, really informative. I've heard about it. When I hear about something being different with regard to what it offers educationally, that resonates very loudly. So that's one of the other reasons that I wanted to talk to you because what you're doing at Giotte educationally seems really, really top of class, I guess you could say, right? In terms of science. So knowing that you're not the scientist and there's the three of you, what are you bringing to this band? What is your unique skill set that you're bringing to this? I hope I'm bringing something positive, but no, I think what's what I help bring to it, I think, is that I used to work in the States for many years. And bars that, you know, where you have to serve a cocktail, you have to do all these things. And I can kind of relate from people who are from the States or from other parts of the world or people that work in bars and relate it to the knowledge that we get from mezcal, where Omar and Celia haven't done that part. So I can kind of explain to people, I can kind of reverse engineer from brand branding to what we're pouring for you at that moment. That's amazing. And so this is your first time in Texas? Second time. Second time. Yeah. How do you, with regard to people like a mezcal? Do you think Texas is a pretty warm place to poor mezcal? I mean, not now, it's like in the 20s, but cold right now. Yeah, the cold is it's been and will be all year. But like, what's been your reception? Like to mezcal just in general here? Yeah, I mean, we did the industry tasting earlier, which was great. And we're going to have a few people in later on this evening. But I've seen a ton of like really great restaurants and bars that are pouring really great mezcal. I haven't done enough like sitting down one on one talking to the bartenders to know what their knowledge is. And I think it's always something where I've gotten lucky. And since I moved to Oaxaca that I've been able to delve a little bit deeper. But the search for that knowledge is something you have to want to do because running mezcal bars back before you can really love something and really try to talk about it and share your experiences. But unless those people really want to have those, it's not same experiences, but those experiences where they go visit a producer, where they go figure out why this mezcal tastes so good or you know, things like that. It's hard to make people want to learn. So I think the bar culture in the states more people should be sending their employees or the employees should be wanting to go to find out more. Absolutely. I think there's. I didn't know as much as I guess this is inevitably as you accumulate age, but and whiz them supposedly if you do it right. But I remember the first time I went to Oaxaca, which was 2013, I think. And I didn't know what to ask then. Yeah. You know. And now when I know that, what did you ask? I just took it all in because it was so big and vast and I had a distillery at the time. I mean, it still do. So I was making spirits, but I was making gin and gin's not made like misgales. And some of the things I did know how to do. I knew what proofing was. I knew how to measure that. And my maybe the first or second day I was out there. I was out with Judah at at Ocalino's place. And we were proofing some type of stat they from Ocalino. And I'm like, okay, I don't feel so uncomfortable here. Like I do this back home with different stuff. And so then that translated into I was on the Patron trip. I could give you a trip. I see a trip a couple months ago this summer. Okay. I'm there. That was on the influencer trip. Why? I don't know. I didn't know I was on the list. But Lucas was on that trip. And like again, I like him a lot. But I was asking questions and they were looking at me like, what the what the fuck is he talking about? That's what's the asking questions. Well, they answered a couple questions that they weren't so as the answer, which was great. But I didn't know those questions then years ago. Yeah, I mean. And so that's the thing that I really agree with you is until you go to the place and go to Wahaka and smell it. How it's often smells good. How it often smells bad. And everywhere in between because of this bentagaso and stuff, taste the water. Taste the water. Taste the cookie. Got it. Get burned on this stuff. Like all these kinds of things. You and this is a little tangential. But do you like traveling and learning? Are you a curious person by nature? Yeah, definitely. I would travel. I wish I could do it more. Yeah, sure. Yeah, I've been to many countries, many places, always trying to learn about, you know, maybe not the best restaurant, but like what is it that that makes that place unique? Right. Yes, whenever I travel, I try to try to do that as well. So six p.m. Actually, about just an over half an hour from now. You're in Austin, Texas playing your second date here. You did the 1 p.m. now you're on six p.m. And I'm sipping this tobazice from a hotel and refresh cadera. Five marks this evening that we're going to try. Sounds like I'm announcing a football match or something. I like it. I like it. But what do you with the tasting tonight maybe specifically? You could have picked four, you could have picked three. You could have picked different marks. What is it about this stuff tonight that you pick and selected for this tasting in Austin? I think for Kiyote, it's that we have such a broad range of flavors. So it may not be specifically super different regions or anything like that, but all very different flavor profiles. Yeah, I've only tried that one or the five and I'll try the others. Yeah, but I smelled them and I was like, okay, man. Because the thing from Alvarado's, yeah, smells like kind of like other stuff I've had kind of just like a pinch, but he really went wide. Yeah, different kinds of flavors. Any, and I know you're very fond of me, what's wrong? But these batches, does the team pick them out together? Is it one of you that says, I know this is exceptional. Can we bring it in? How does the process work to get the batches? You know, Omar is a guide. So he gets to visit a lot of Palenque's all the time. Sometimes he has a lot of demand to go to the same places like Minas or something like that. We don't have a lot of stuff from Minas, but if he does go to somewhere unique and he will tell us about a batch and be like, hey, this is really good. I'll bring you a sample and then we'll then we'll go visit that Palenque. Yeah, so I might be a new producer and it might be something like that. Otherwise, typically, Celia and I go together and we'll paste things. Do you really like something? Well, by maybe five to ten liters. Very small. I'm going to say this and it's okay if people get mad at me because they'll get mad at me anyway. Your podcast. That was just a very good point. I mean more than that. But you're right. I always differ on one region and I will say the region and I just don't care for it. And actually, I won't even say the region, but it's a heavily clay region. I'll tell you when we start here. It's a region you just mentioned. You go to a lot that makes clay. But between you and Celia, do you guys have similar preferences on the profiles of the mezcal or do you really, really differ on what you like? I think when I first started getting into mezcal, I liked a little bit of everything because it was so new to me and interesting and now that I've been in Wahaka, I can definitively say that's not for me. Typically, we have a pretty agreeable palette. Which is good thing. It certainly doesn't hurt things. I've got an inflennial argument about South Dakota. I mean, that's a lot of time. I love this one. I'm like, why though? Is it quality? Yes. Is it skillfully made? Yes. Do I like it? No. I just don't like it. And I can taste it, blind anytime I take. Like, you give me 20 minutes because she's like, running at this. You give me 20 mezcal days and I'm like, oh, fuck, why'd you put the meanness in that, right? So this is not a hatred. It's just a trigger for me somehow. But I'm glad that you guys have kind of a compatibility in terms of profile. Now, one of these and I, the Petro Mel, that is from Pueblo in Wahaka still. The Espadilla Pichinella is from Pueblo from Kuatapik. Do you go out there quite a bit as well? We don't usually. So we got to me a lot. We got to, you know, other regions, like Woodla, places like that. But kind of in that cradle, like a little bit southern east, southeast southwest. We go there a lot and then we decided a couple of weeks ago that we really wanted to go north and find some interesting stuff. So we drove to Teoakán and Zepalto Tidlan Silinas and then tried to find some pancakes on the way there. It's a super decent exploration than this particular batch. Yeah. Yeah. Very cool. I haven't tried to get a bit of that region. I'd love the flavor of it. It's so uniquely not mojaco. Yeah. Great. Other plans to go into places like San Luis Potosi or Durango or Michoacán or just as it happened. It's tough. I think we want to. But right now we're pretty focused on Wahaka and Pueblo mezcal's. Like typically it's all all Wahaka right now. We're trying to do some more Pueblo stuff just because we want a little bit more variation. We want to see different types of distillation. We want to see different agave's or magueis. Yeah. I mean, you'll learn more. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. You're personally right. Yeah. You're asking them for stops. Exactly. All right. So I got two questions left for you. One is and I don't like to use word favorite, but it's cold. It's in Austin. Of these, what would you be sipping right now? Like these five, I'm sure they're all both all of them are amazing, but what do you, what warms you up more? Worms me up more. I think that toba sej. That's what I'm saying. Perfect. Okay. So you're drinking, let's say this toba sej. Anywhere in the world doesn't matter. But you can have a mezcal with anybody living or deceased. Who would you love to drink mezcal and have a conversation with? That's tough because I feel like I, especially for like celebrities, I don't know. I don't always like research people's personality, but I think we find out against research. Maybe Jeff Bridges. Man, that's good. Yeah. Yeah, I love Jeff Bridges. Yeah. I think he's a very interesting character in so many different movies, so many, so much range. And was he, you know, he's recently battling cancer too. Yeah. Did you watch the old man? The new show. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've watched the, there's two seasons. There's two seasons. I think I just watched the first season. Second is spectacular, but they cancel this like within the past. Okay. Jeff Bridges. Any favorite Jeff Bridges. And now don't give me started to talk about movies. I'll go out there on that show. But any favorite Jeff Bridges performances or movies? I think it's got to be the big Lebowski. Yeah. The dude. Yeah. I mean, I, yeah. I grew up with that movie. Yeah. It speaks to me sometimes. It speaks to a lot of us. Yeah. I lived in Minneapolis for a while. Like, or brothers are from Minneapolis. And I remember one time I went to a Bryant Lake Bowl, which is the bowling alley. And I was looking around at all these neon signs. And I was like, I think it looks super familiar. And they were like, oh, this is, this is the neon signs that are in the beginning opening credits of the big Lebowski. Like when they do like the, but neon like backdrop. That's incredible. I was like, man, that's pretty cool. Do you know a bit of, and this is, I promise, there's a piece of sink. I got one last question. Where, but do you know a bit about the comb, brother? Do you know they're from Minneapolis and all that? I mean, I know their work, but I don't know. So you know, blood simple. Their first movie. No, I actually don't. Beautifully pays like film noir and French, it's like Germans in it. But I didn't know it was filmed in Austin. Oh, cool. And there is what used to be the Ritz, uh, is a bar downtown called Jacolo. Actually, it's like really close. They went there yesterday. Uh-huh. So they filmed blood simple on the top floor of that building. Oh, well. Yeah. Yeah. So this is something that only you would get by talking to me on a microphone. I need it now and you go to the top floor of that building. I know. Well, it's like a residency now. So you know, okay. Maybe talk. But yeah, because it's where she's living and she's fighting off in assassin, basically like really amazing. Anyway, so that's like the early 80s. So really worth seeing that movie. But last question. A lot of people come into Austin and they do these state, not a lot of people, but good people come into Austin with mascara and do taste things. Is there any desire, export, import, make cute? They not only the mascara, they're a brick of mortar, but the mascara brand itself. Um, I think we are thinking about doing exportation, everything, but it won't be under the name keyota. I see. I can't say the name now because we're still working on registering and all these things. But I think just one thing we really want to focus on is that we found so many really amazing ensembles. Yeah. Like super unique mague that are blended together, you know, through the whole process. And where it's very different from like a whiskey blend where he can put all these different parts together and make something delicious. But no, so here, I think the thing we love the most is finding an ensemble that is, you know, multiple different types of mague and they do it all. They don't know what it's going to taste like at the end. Exactly. And it comes out beautifully. And there's a thing where a lot of ensembles here in the states are like 95% spudding, 5% type of estate. And we want to showcase all the different like beautiful different types of mague in Oaxaca and put them all together. I like that. And showcasing batches that are just super, super unique. What do they call it? Like there are a bunch of, I don't know the word for it, but there were bands that have like everybody's famous in the band, but they're also got their own band like these ensemble, I think. So I like that kind of premise. It's like, well, we'll just bring the best singer from this guy. This band is guitar player from another band, a drummer and then something totally unique, but beautiful. Yeah. I love that. Well, it ain't a spin, the pleasure, man. I'm glad this was your first podcast. I was nervous and I really enjoyed this. Yeah, it's really good. And very comfortable. I appreciate that. In a way, this is hospitality too, right? To have people talk and share. But six PMs coming up and I can't wait to taste some more stuff at you. So thanks so much for taking the time out, man. Thank you, Mike. Appreciate you. Cheers. All right. Cheers. Well, there we have it. Aided Marengo of Kyoto, Mescaleria. Now we talk about it in the conversation, but he has a very decorated history in hospitality world and San Francisco, specifically. So he's so hospitable, so warm and he couldn't tell that was his first interview. At least I couldn't from sitting down to chat with him. And again, either get down to a hot cut to go to Kyoto or try to find these bottles in the States. I don't know. There may be plans for that. There may not be. It's hard to say. But thank you, everybody, for listening to Show to V with Mike G. No matter how you're thinking, I don't have so many meetings tomorrow or do I? And what should I do this weekend? I actually have time on my hands. Please keep dancing. [MUSIC]