Latest / Brewsers / Brewsers #405- ​​Gus Jenkins with Equanimity Tequila

Transcript

Brewsers #405- ​​Gus Jenkins with Equanimity Tequila · Brewsers

• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Bruisers, a podcast about beer, coffee, booze, and Bruisers.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Ray John, and today we talk to
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Gus Jenkins with Equanimity Tequila. We talk about how Equanimity
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: got started, helping communities, and so much more. What Gus
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: is doing with his wife with this tequila is absolutely phenomenal.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: So you don't want to hear from me, you want
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: to hear from him. So without further ado, here is
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Gus Jenkins with Equanimity Tequila. I would like to welcome
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: the show, Gus Jenkins with Equanimity Tequila. How are you
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: doing today?
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: I'm doing well. How about yourself?
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: I'm doing well.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: That's good.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Well, for those listening, kind of paint us a word picture.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Where are you at and what's going on around you?
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Say what now? I didn't hear you.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Where are you at and what's going on around you?
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: Right now, I'm in Oklahoma, the state of Oklahoma, and
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: the weather has finally broke.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: It's a beautiful day.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: Other than that, we're just busy trying to continue to
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: push this product.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: I love that.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: Where in Oklahoma are you at right now?
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Oklahoma City. Okay.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: That's a nice little city.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it is.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: I was up there a couple weeks ago. I enjoyed it.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, let's go all the way back in time.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: What is your earliest memory of alcohol?
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: Earliest memory of alcohol?
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: Yes, sir. Wow. Actually, when I was young, I tell
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: people now all the time that when we was younger,
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: you know, we never was taught how to drink.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: That's true.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: We just we just indulge in and. and overindulge to achieve, uh,
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: one purpose and goal in my life. Uh, so yes, I, um,
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: started early, uh, but I was, even, uh, then I
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: was cautious of what I drank.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: I didn't, um, I didn't do a lot of, uh,
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: like drinking like bad stuff i'll probably have experimented with
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: it or tasted it and then realized nah that's not
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: for me exactly exactly so i was always very kind
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: of cautious of what i drank.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: That's smart yeah even now depending on where i'm at
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: what's going on i'm like all right maybe we'll stick
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: to this today i think uh this other one may
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: not be a good idea Exactly.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: Exactly.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Well, so how did equanimity begin?
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: Actually, just a thought process. I always talk to our
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: boys about creating generational wealth and legacy building. And so
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: it was always a topic of discussion for us. And
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: so I was like, you know, Hey, I think I
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: need to start, you know, putting a little action behind
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: my words. And so, so initially it started off, I
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: wanted to do a whiskey brand.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Oh, okay. Yeah. So spoke to my wife about it.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: And of course she supported the idea and was enthused
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: about it. And the more I looked into it, it
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: seemed like, uh, creating, manufacturing your own whiskey brand was
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: something that everybody was doing or trying to do, either
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: that or some type of vodka to that nature. So
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: I didn't want to do what everybody else was doing.
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: So besides the fact that I love tequila, I looked
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: into the tequila realm and just started doing the research
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: and just came back to my wife and say, nah,
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: let's not do whiskey.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: Let's do tequila.
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: And it just took off from there doing the research
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: and everything about it and, uh, reaching out to, uh,
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: local distilleries in Mexico. Um, and then, uh, also I
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: didn't want to just sell alcohol to people. I wanted
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: it to mean something. Um, and I wanted our brand
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: to mean something. And so I just prayed, I just
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: prayed about it and, and kind of, you know, just
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: ask God to help guide me with it.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: And I came up with the name.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: Uh, he gave me the name equanimity, which means sound
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: mind and mental calmness. So during that time, um, My
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: wife and I also was dealing with some personal issues
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: with our mothers.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: Both of them were suffering from dementia. I'm sorry.
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: And so I was just, I was already in a
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: space of just wanting to do things different with my life,
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: wanting to be a better husband, a better father, you know, just.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: Be.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Better all the way around.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, all the way around.
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: And so I was in this, I was just in
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: this phase in my life.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: And so God gave me the name Equanimity.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: So I started researching psychology colors and everything. And so,
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: because when I wanted people, what I wanted to do
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: is when people saw our name, saw our logos, And
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: so our bottles, I wanted it to be a reminder
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: to them to take care of yourself mentally, physically, emotionally,
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: whether you take those five minutes out for yourself, 10
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: minutes out for yourself to think about your failures, your achievements,
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: lost loved ones, whatever that is for you. I wanted
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: us to be that reminder to people, even if you
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: don't drink our product, when you see it, it's a
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: reminder to you, you know, to.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Check on yourself and to check those boxes, you know?
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: So got with the design team for our bottles and
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: kind of just went over, you know, the life I
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: was trying to live, the life I wanted for my,
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: for our.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: Kids, for our two boys.
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: And, So we just put our brains together and that's
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: how we came up with the design of the bottles.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, those bottles are beautiful. If people haven't looked at
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: these bottles, obviously go to your social media and find it.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: And yeah, these are beautiful bottles.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: Yes.
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  Speaker 3: So what people don't know is that everything was intentional
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: to accommodate.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: The name equanimity.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: So if you look around the circumference of our label,
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: you will see lotus flowers.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: And then behind the category of each bottle, the Blanco, Repo,
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: and the Añejo, you would see the piece with.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: Yes. So, excuse me, so all of that was to
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: accommodate the name Equanimity.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: I love the detail you put in all this.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so, I mean... Obviously, what did you do before this?
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Actually, my wife and I, we just retired.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Congratulations.
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: We both was government employees. Prior to this, well, doing this,
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: we ended up retiring. My wife, she retired back in
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: June of this year, and And I retired in December
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: of this year. Well, congratulations ahead of time. That's amazing.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Well, you retired from one and then obviously you jumped
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: full board into another industry that is a very crazy industry.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Not that you weren't a crazy one before that.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it is. It is.
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: But, you know, I enjoy it so much because I
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: get to share something with every time we meet people,
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: I get to share our story.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: And hopefully leave something that will resonate with someone.
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: You know, because again, when I go out, because a
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: lot of times I don't talk about the tequila. I mean,
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: I truly believe.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: God has blessed us with a good product.
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: So I just let the product speaks for itself when
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: you taste it. The main thing I want to do
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: is when I go out, I want to share our.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: Story with people.
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: And, you know, to make sure that, you know, especially
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: men as it relates to mental health awareness and just,
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: you you know, share the story of how we came
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: to this point, you know, and the why behind the
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: creation of Equanimity Tequila.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, so there is not enough focus and
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: attention being brought to, you know, mental health in general.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: Obviously there's far more now than there ever was, but
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: I do think we can still get better. And especially
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: with men, because we are kind of brought up as like,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: you know, you gotta be tough or, Oh, we just,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: you know, rub some dirt on it. You'll be fine. Or,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: you know, even in some cases, unfortunately people, you know,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: in a bottle and it's like, no, talk to somebody
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: like just exactly. You're not, you're never a burden to
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: anybody else.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: Exactly. And, and I'll, I'll tell you, man.
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: Um, so, so in 2023, um, uh, so we started
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: working on this in 2022 and, So in 2023, I'm
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: just going a little personal with this.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: My wife lost her mom on Mother's Day. Oh.
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: Then that was in May of 2023. Then that September,
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: I lost my mom as well as my oldest niece.
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: Then in November... I lost my cousin, who was more like,
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: was like an older sister to me, to us.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: And so that year, it was just, wow. It was
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: a lot. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: And I had to figure something out because my psyche
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: and my mental stability was just.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: For sure. Yeah, it was a lot.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And that's what, and that's the story I like
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: to share with people. And that's what equanimity is about.
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: It's about savoring those moments, uh, with your loved ones,
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: with your friends. And also, you know, while you savor
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: in that moments, you know, making sure you are working
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: on your, you know, again, your mental, your physical, your
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: emotional wellbeing.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: I love that.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Tomorrow's not promised. So celebrate every day.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: So, uh, because actually our motto is meant to be savored,
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: not rushed. And also, we like to use.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: The phrase, save the moments.
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: And that's exactly when people drink our product. You know,
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: you buy it, you do what you want with it,
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: but it's meant to savor. It's meant to enjoy the
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: same way people advertise on how you're supposed to enjoy
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: Cognac or Scotch.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: Right. Tequila is supposed to be enjoyed the same way. Right.
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: And that goes back to me telling you about how,
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: you know, you know, we was never taught how to drink. Yeah.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: We'll just talk how, you know, uh, overindulgence or overindulgence. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: So, uh, so yeah, so that's pretty much the whole
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: makeup of equanimity tequila and, and, and what it's about,
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: you know?
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: I want to touch on like what you were talking about,
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: how we didn't get taught to drink, which I guess
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: is good and bad, but at the same time, tequila
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: was always something that it was like, it's either in
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: a margarita or you're shooting it. Like you're not, you're
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: like how many times were we growing up that we,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: you actually knew somebody that would just sit down and
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: sip a tequila. Like, like you said, do it with
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: the cognac. They would do it with scotch, maybe bourbons
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: or whatever, but no one is just sitting down drinking
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: like just regular tequila. And now luckily the, we have
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: so much fantastic tequila out there that a lot more
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: people are drinking it just straight.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: And it's, I guess. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. It's, I mean, it's,
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: it's wonderful.
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: And I tell people tequila is one of the, uh,
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: spirits that you can enjoy and you can go from
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: light to dark without having any effects to you.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: And if you're drinking authentic, real good tequila, I'm trying
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: to be careful.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: We'll say additive free.
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, additive free tequila. And you can sip on it
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: and drink it all day long. And, you know, you
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: just enjoy it. Um, and that's one of the reasons
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: I knew we had a good product because when we
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: went to Mexico, when we finally, uh, found a distillery,
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: so not only are we family owned, we work with
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: a family owned distillery in Mexico. So we are able
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: to have that hands-on and that close input on, um,
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: on the manufacturing of our tequila. And when we went there,
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: we actually stayed in Mexico until we developed our profile
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: that we was looking for.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: Oh, awesome.
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we stayed there, yeah. And I knew we had
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: a product because in developing and finding the right profile,
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: we drank tequila like all, it was on a Thursday.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: We started Thursdays. We started that Thursday morning and we didn't,
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: we didn't leave.
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: The distillery to like that Thursday evening, like drank tequila
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: all day.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: Right. And woke up that Friday morning. Like we have
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: been drinking water.
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: Like we have been drinking water all day and we
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: did the same thing Saturday.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: That Saturday and woke up Sunday morning and caught our flight.
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: So, uh, so yes, um, this journey has been, uh,
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: nothing short, but amazing, man. It's, it's been a wonderful journey. Um, and, uh,
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: I've enjoyed every bit of it.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: I love that.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: What do you think you learned the most getting into
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: obviously with tequila and being down there and being like
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: literally on the farm where they're doing it at? And
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: so like, what has been your favorite thing that you've
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: kind of learned about this?
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: Just the aspects of it and, and how much.
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: They honor and, and, and, and how much pride they
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: have in the making of, of, of tequila.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: Um, so that was the, that was the biggest thing,
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: just to joy, just to see, you know, the conversations
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: we had and, you know, and, and learning as well. Um,
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: you know, um, And feeling it. It was reciprocated, the
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: joy that they had. And not only, you know, is
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: the distillery we are in partnership with is family owned.
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: Majority of the staff, they're like 80% women.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Whoa, that's amazing.
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: So just the, you know what I mean?
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: The acceptance of everyone. you know, to be involved in
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: the process, you know, watching them, you know, cook the agave,
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: you know, it was, man, it was exciting.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: It was fun. And just, and just.
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: Being in the local area, you know, and it, it
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: was exciting. I'm telling you, it was a great experience.
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: And that was one of my favorite parts, just, being
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: able to go there and just see it, taste it,
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: interact with the local people, interact with the distillery employees, themselves,
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: and just, you know, and be able to see and
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: feel their sense of pride in making a good quality product.
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Did they have a tradition of drinking it that you've
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: carried on, but maybe other people don't know about?
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: So, um, not more of a tradition, just more of, uh,
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: teaching us how to enjoy it.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: So, and we do this sometimes when we are at
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: vendor events or whatever, and we have the time or,
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: or we come across, uh, the customers that are sincerely, uh,
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: invested and wanted to know about the tequila, we take
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: time out to kind of show them what we was showed.
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: And that was just how to, you know, you know,
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: when you pour the tequila into the glass, the smell.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: of it smelling it figuring out which uh side is
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: your dominant side oh um so you actually when you
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: pour it in the glass uh.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: You kind of turn to your left smell.
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: It Uh, I always close my eyes when I do
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: it so I can, you know, cut off the sense,
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: but smell it. Then you turn to the right and
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: smell it. And then either your left or right side,
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: you will have, uh, more of a, um, uh, uh,
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: stronger scent, stronger notes.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: You will get more of the stronger notes.
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: So whatever side is the strongest, uh, Pretty much that's
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: your dominant side.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: And that's with anything you drink. And then the.
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: Sipping of it. Then you sip it a little bit.
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: You don't sip it all. You sip a little bit
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: and let it marinate on your tongue, around your mouth,
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: swish it around your mouth a little bit.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: And And that's for to prepare your palate for the
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: notes for the taste of the tequila. Right.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: And then you partake in the rest of it. And
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: when you do that, you're not getting that initial.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: Right, you're not overloading your senses or your tongue.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: You're not overloading, yes, you're not getting that.
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: And when I show people that, they be like, man,
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: it do make a difference.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm thinking in my head, I'm like, man, I've
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: been doing this wrong for a long time.
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, because before, you know, like I said, we were
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: never taught how to drink.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: Before, we'd get it, and we were like, man, that's strong.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: You know, it's kind of strong. But if you take your.
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: Time, and it's kind of like foreplay. Yes.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: So to speak. You know what I mean?
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: And so you take your time to get up to
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: the grand– The grand finale.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean? Yeah. It's the same concept. Yeah. Okay.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: See, cause every time, you know, I smell like whether
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: it be beer, tequila or wine or whiskey or whatever
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: it is, most of us will drink it or not
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: drink it, but they'll, we'll smell it, but we sniff
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: it right in the middle. We don't go to either side.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: Cause I never, I didn't know. This is the first
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: time I'm ever hearing about that.
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: So I love that.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: And then, yeah, the first little sip that makes sense
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: to coat your mouth. get your mouth primed for it,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: and then, you know, then you drink it.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: And then, and if it's, if whatever you're drinking, if
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: it's authentic, if it's good, whether it's scotch, a single
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: malt scotch or whatever, or, you know, in our case
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: with our tequila, it seems like once you go through
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: that process and then you start partaking in it, the
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: longer it sits on your.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: Palate, right?
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: It seems like it just lingers that you get all
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: the notes and it just started lingering. And it'd be
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: like a couple of minutes later and you'd be like, Hmm, man,
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: that was, you.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: Know what I mean? Wow.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: What I've been missing all these years. Yes.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: Yes. Yes.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: I love that. Okay.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: Now you've taught me something and this is amazing. I'm
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: going to definitely take that away from this.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: Appreciate it.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: Well, so I saw that y'all are veteran owned. Is
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: it you or your wife that was the veteran?
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: I'm the veteran. So I did 26 years in the military,
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: in the army.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: Thank you for your service.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: Thank you for your support. Yes.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: So what has the, the veteran community been like for this?
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: Well, it's, it's been wonderful.
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: You know, when people find out that, uh, it's, uh,
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: first of all, um, they find out that we're the
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: owners of it.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, but that kind of.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, minority owned.
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: Then when they realize we are a husband and wife team.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: So those two are the top, you know, where people are, like, amazed.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: Because even for me, when I first got into tequila...
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: You know, one of the other reasons was that I'd
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: never seen anybody, any common people like you and I,
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: people who get up and go to work every day, right?
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean? Yeah. They had their own
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: tequila brand.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: I was only privileged to seeing celebrities and rappers and
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: stuff that had a tequila brand.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: And so....
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: And I learned that a lot of people had the
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: same thought process as I did. And so for them
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: to kind of meet somebody like them, you know, that
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: I would say, you know, blue collar, you know, medium household,
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: you know, income, someone that gets up every day and
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: go to work.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Right.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: The one who actually is learning about the gas prices.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: Yes. Yes. For them to have their own tequila brand is,
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: you know, it's not only I think it's inspirational and
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: that's what we want to be. It's inspirational to people
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: because if I tell people if we can do it,
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: you can do it.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, you just have to be committed to
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: do it.
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: For the veteran community, of course, when they ask the
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: same question, well, who's the veteran? And when I tell them,
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: so if they are a fellow veteran, you know, we go,
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: especially if they was like in the Navy or something
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: like that.
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we have our little jokes and stuff. But all over, the.
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: Support has been great, whether it's from the veteran community.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: And the community in general.
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: It's been great it's been great and I think one
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: of the best things what make it so great is
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: that although we have ourselves listed as minority owned or
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: veteran owned because you know when it comes to the
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: world the society makes you know where you have to
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: label yourself right Yeah.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: See, I always see, I didn't want to ask about
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: it too much because like, yes, you're a minority. And
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: especially in the alcohol world, luckily we're having far more minority.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: It's starting to become the majority. I don't, to me,
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: I hate saying this. It's not the focus because that's not,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: it's the product.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Obviously you have your stories of, of growing up as
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: a minority. And of course, being in the world of
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: alcohol where, there unfortunately is, you know, luckily again, like
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: I said, we're having far more minorities enter the world,
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: which I think we need far more in general. But again,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: it's just, you know, I, it, for me, it wasn't
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: the focus of like your story.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: Yes, exactly.
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: And so, so besides all that, it's just the support
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: of the.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: Community or wherever we go, we're able to interact. Yeah.
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: With the consumers, right? And we're able to interact because
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: we are people, the working force of America, of.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: This country, right? We're able to relate to a lot
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: of things.
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: And we're able to communicate and resonate with people. And
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: we don't make it about, are you going to buy
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: the product or what? Hey, don't talk to me. You're
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: going to buy it. Stop asking about the car. You're
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: going to buy it. Because our thing is, of course,
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: we want you.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: To buy it.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: Obviously.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: But first and foremost, we want to build a relationship
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: with you. Yes.
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: Because this is what equanimity tequila is about.
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: It's about building relationships, savoring those moments. Yes.
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: Whether it's with your family, friends, or totally strangers. Being
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: able to come together and savor those moments with people
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: and be able to provide a sense of camaraderie with
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: whoever you are partaking with. Yeah. You know, and that
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: for us, that's what it's about. You know, it's not about,
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: you know, whether you're a veteran or this and that. No,
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: let's enjoy this drink. Tell me what you think about it.
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: You know, hey, you know, I remember, you know, yeah,
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: I have kids, you know, I remember my son got
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: caught sneaking out the window, you know, just being able to,
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: you know, those common life activities that we have gotten
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: away from with sharing with each other. The things that
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: make us laugh, make us cry.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: You know, make us shake our head. You know what
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: I mean? Those are the moments we want to create. Exactly.
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: None of us have a choice of how we're born,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: when we're born, what we're born, any of that. But
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: we're all in this life together and we all get
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: out of it together.
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: Yes. Yes.
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: If you need someone to cry to, man, even ain't
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: no more. Just call me.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: There you go. Right.
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: Those those type of relationships that we we want to
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: build with people.
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: And when we give people when we talk to people
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: and I'm sure as God as God continue to bless
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: us and we grow with us. hopefully we'll be able
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: to bless other people to be able to bring them
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: on as staff and, and hire them to kind of
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: be more of a spokesperson and, uh, for our brand.
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: But at the same time, uh, we are so hands
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: on because of the interact, we love interacting with the consumers,
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: with the people, because we want to be like, when
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: someone see our bottle, right, see our brand or drinking
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: our brand, And they ask them, oh, what you drinking? Oh,
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: Equinem to tequila. Hey, do you know the owner's name,
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: Gus and Velma Jenkins?
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: They this, they this. They live here.
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: They live, you know what I mean? If you got
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: some questions about it, here go their number. Here go
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: their email address.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: That's how personal we are.
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: When we talk to consumers and say, hey, you buy something,
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: you order something, is that right?
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: Something going on? Call me and let me know.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because that's your reputation as well.
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: Yes. And so, and I.
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: Ask people all the time, you know, have you ever met,
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: you know, who is Don Julio?
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: Exactly. Yeah, who is Don? Is that actual person or
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: just a name of the product?
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: You know, so I'm just asking. It's true.
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: And those are the type of questions because people, one
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: of the main questions people will ask me, right, they
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: would say, so what makes your product better than Don
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: Julio or Casamigos? And I said, well, first, I was
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: just attitude-free.
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: I said, secondly, I reach out my hand.
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: I said, how you doing today, sir or ma'am?
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: My name is Gus Jingles. I'm the owner of Equanimity Tequila.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: Love that.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: I said, that's what makes us different. Mm-hmm.
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: Here go my number, here go my card, here go
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: my number, here go my email address.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: When you respond, even on our website, when you ask them,
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: you know, to let chat box come up, it's not
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: a robot. I mean, at the beginning, it's a robot
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: because it asks you, yeah. But when you get the.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: Real responses on answering your question, that's us. That's me
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: on my wife, you know, responding to those questions. Yes.
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: When you send an email, it's one of us responding. Yeah.
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: When you get that phone call, it's one of us
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: calling you. Yeah. Yeah.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: You can't get that anywhere else.
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: So, and when you go out to some of these
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: tastings and stuff, nine times out of 10, it's us.
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: That's beautiful. At the event. Yeah.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: And again, that's putting the face with the tequila and
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: with the brand. And like you said, even if they
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: don't buy it, you guys are savoring moments by creating
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: moments with people.
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: Tell us about the event you guys put together as well.
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: Which event?
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: I saw that you guys have had multiple events.
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: So we recently just came back from Cincinnati. So we've
• 33:39
  Speaker 3: been in the Cincinnati area, distributing in the Cincinnati area.
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: For about a little over a year.
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: So we just went there to do an in-person tasting
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: just to kind of push the product a little bit
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: more in that area.
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: And then what else?
• 34:03
  Speaker 3: So the weekend of Halloween, we'll be in Greensboro, North
• 34:12
  Speaker 3: Carolina at North Carolina A & T.
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: Um, we're helping them, uh, sponsor a alumni, uh, gym jam.
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: Oh, cool.
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: So, um, so we're doing that. Um, and one of
• 34:30
  Speaker 3: the biggest things, and this, we just put this on,
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: on our calendar.
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: So we actually had to change our flight. We changed our.
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: Flight in order to participate because this, this is a
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: event that, uh, I would counsel events for.
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: So we're helping a young lady.
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: We are sponsoring a golf tournament for St. Jude's in Atlanta,
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: in Villarica, Georgia at a golf course.
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: Okay. So we'll be doing that on Monday. What is it? October? No.
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: November the 9th. Okay.
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: In Georgia, Villarica, Georgia. So all proceeds would go towards St.
• 35:19
  Speaker 3: Jude for their research.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: Love that. And then Halloween will be where again?
• 35:26
  Speaker 3: In Greensboro, North Carolina, North Carolina A & T University.
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: Yes, for their homecoming.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: There you go. So people obviously listening right now, you
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: know where to be on Halloween and obviously in July 19th,
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: or no, November 9th.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: Yes. So, uh, yes.
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: So, um, and then as events come up, you know,
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: people always call us, um, for to participate in different
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: events and as long as it, uh, it's feasible and
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: it's fits into our schedule. We, we try to support
• 36:00
  Speaker 3: it the best way we can.
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: That's huge. Yeah.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: I mean, again, getting in front of the people and
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: saving those moments.
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So, uh, A lot of things we wish we
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: can do more of.
• 36:14
  Speaker 3: Of course, we're still a small business, but we most
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: definitely want to do more of community support like the St.
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: Jude fundraiser. That's awesome.
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: I love that you guys are doing that. You guys
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: are doing absolutely amazing things with this tequila and then
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: obviously with multiple communities.
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 36:39
  Speaker 3: Yes, so we just want to.
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: I tell people we want.
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: Not only do we want to be inspirational to people,
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: we want to become a household name to people.
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: So when people think of Tequila, they think of us. Yeah.
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: And when they're going through any type of trial and
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: tribulations in life, you know, they're able to....
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: Handle it appropriately.
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: And they also think of us and understand with the
• 37:13
  Speaker 3: understanding of the meaning of equanimity.
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: And what it represents. Yeah. That's huge. Yes.
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: Well, if people want to find out more about y'all,
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: follow you guys online, obviously by equanimity themselves, how can
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: they do all the things?
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 37:30
  Speaker 3: So of course our website, www.equanimity.com. Tequila.com. We're on Instagram.
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: We're on Facebook. We didn't get kicked off TikTok. So
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: I ain't figured that one out yet on how. But
• 37:50
  Speaker 3: someone was telling us it was. Cause when we post stuff,
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: it's like, if it's like you trying to sell.
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: Something, there's like a shop that's done.
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: Okay. Yeah.
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: But we don't, we don't sell them. We just advertise
• 38:03
  Speaker 3: events and stuff where we're going to be at. So
• 38:05
  Speaker 3: I guess they consider that as, you know, but so we're,
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: we got kicked out of TikTok, but we are on Instagram, Facebook,
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: and you can get us on, uh, our website. Uh,
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: you can always email us at info at, uh, equanimitytequila.com.
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: And just follow us.
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: If you want to purchase, the best way is to
• 38:33
  Speaker 3: go to our website, click on the menu button, go
• 38:38
  Speaker 3: to locations to purchase, and you will get a drop-down
• 38:42
  Speaker 3: menu of all the locations we're at, along with it's
• 38:45
  Speaker 3: broken down by the states that we're located in. If
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: you want to purchase online, you can go to the
• 38:54
  Speaker 3: same drop-down menu, go to our distributor.
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: Link, and then you will click on, you will look.
• 39:06
  Speaker 3: For Blackstorm, which is our distributor in California, and click
• 39:12
  Speaker 3: place of order and that link. When you click on
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: that link, it will take you directly to the order
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: page for her.
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: Perfect. Well, Gus, I've loved this so much and I'm
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: so glad that you guys are doing this and helping
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: so many people along the way as well. So thank
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: you so much for what you're doing. and I can't
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: wait to see what the future holds for you guys.
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I appreciate you reaching out to us, man.
• 39:35
  Speaker 3: It was anything, any promotion.
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: Is a blessing. So we take it. So I appreciate
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: you reaching out to us and doing this with us.
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much to Gus for being on the show. Again,
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: I love this story. They're doing absolutely phenomenal things, whether
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: it comes to mental health with veterans, the multiple communities
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: they are touching around the country. It is absolutely phenomenal.
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: So obviously go to their website, see where you can
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: buy equanimity tequila. If you can't buy it in your stores,
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: then obviously ask your local liquor store to try to
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: carry it. Please carry it or just buy it straight
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: from their website. So either way, Go follow them. Make
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: sure that you are helping them out. And while you're
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: following them, go ahead and go follow us. It is BruisersPod,
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: that is B-R-E-W-S-E-R-S-P-O-D, on the Instagram, the threads, and the Twitter.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: If you want to send us an email, it is
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: BruisersPod at gmail.com. If you want to follow me directly,
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: it is RodyJohn, that is R-O-D-I-E-J-O-N. RodyJohn is the name
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: on the Twitter, and I'm untapped. In case you want
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: to find out what I'm drinking, maybe we can have
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: a beer together. If you want to follow me on
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: the threads or the Instagram, it is OfficialRodyJohn. So until
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: next time, make sure to enjoy life, drink local, and cheers.