A New Regulatory Body for Tequila?!

Is the Bear the most important Restaurant show ever?

AuthorAuthor

Cam Tieuli & Luiz Fernandes
May 31, 2024

Tequila Gets a New Regulatory Body (Maybe)

Accreditation certificate for Certificadora Royalty

A few weeks back we wrote about the issues surrounding the CRT and Tequila Match Maker. We also talked about how the CRT isn't a government entity and was a private company. We also hinted at the fact that there could be a second regulatory body created to regulate tequila, and to our surprise it seems like that may finally actually be happening!

Tequila Matchmaker made this post stating that Certificadora Royalty SA de CV “was just accredited to inspect and certify tequilas. The next step is a final approval at the Mexican Ministry of Economy. If this new body is approved, the CRT will no longer be a monopoly, and brands will be able to choose which regulator they want to work with.”

From the brief research we were able to do, Certificadora Royalty was founded and is lead by Fernando Luevano. He is a Maestro Catador, which is like a sommelier for tequila—basically a professional tequila taster & drinker. Certificadora Royalty offers courses to train people to become Maestro Catadores themselves on their website, which seems to be directed towards the service industry of bars, hotels, cruises, and more.

While this hasn’t quite been confirmed yet that they will become a second regulatory body, we found it quite interesting that they seem to be a group dedicated to the art of drinking tequila and being able to fully appreciate it.

What does this mean:

To be honest, we are not quite sure. There doesn’t seem to be much information out there at the moment about what Certificadora Royalty plans to do, or how they plan to work, or if they will be any different than the CRT for that matter. It seems that if this does get approved and passed, brands will be able to choose which regulatory body they would like to work with. It will also mean that the CRT won’t be the only game in town anymore.

The CRT is funded by the brands that they regulate, so this would (in theory) hold them accountable & put pressure on them to get better, since brands will be able to opt out of working with them altogether. Competition is usually a great thing for business—it’s why governments usually try to break up monopolies.

Given recent happenings, we think it can potentially be a good thing for tequila and the Additive Free movement.

The Bear May be the Most Important Media about Restaurants to Ever Exist

The Bear on FX

The Bear deserves all of the love and recognition that it's been getting. Simply put, it’s an outstanding, incredible show. And while that will come as a shock to literally no one who has spent even one minute watching it, it was a shock to me.

What’s interesting is, despite the glowing reviews of everyone on the Internet and so many people I know in the industry, I refused to watch even a single second of The Bear during its first two seasons. I heard it being touted it for its realism, for capturing the essence of what the day-to-day of a real restaurant is, and of course for some insanely good acting.

Rolling stone even called it the most stressful show on television. They were saying it was TOO real, and that it "was doing almost too good a job at creating atmosphere."

I recently posted a video talking about running a restaurant for the last (nearly) 5 years, through COVID and a ton of other crazy events. In reality, that was what kept me away from watching the show. When I got home from running my family restaurant and dealing with my broken equipment, my health inspections, and my overflowing toilets, the last thing I wanted to do was watch a hyper-realistic, fictional version of what I was already going through. I thought it would hit too close to home.

And boy, was I right. When I finally decided to watch, it did exactly that. I was so stressed and having flashbacks almost every episode. But despite all of that, I can't stop watching. I can't turn it off. I am obsessed with it as much as Marcus is obsessed with perfecting his donuts in Season 1.

When Carmy and Sugar are talking in the office about how all of their time, money, and work get sucked into their place and all that they get back is chaos and resentment—that echoed real conversations I've had with loved ones and feelings I've had so many times. The want they had to feel like they were on solid ground and for things to be consistent—that’s exactly how I felt, and it really hit home.

To me, its depiction of the characters you find in restaurants is one of the show’s most beautiful elements. Complicated, rugged misfits, from all walks of life. The kind of people I love… the kind I vibe with, and the kind that makes working a restaurant so rewarding, because for the hours you’re open, you all are working together with one mission.

I've worked with addicts, I've worked with alcoholics, I’ve worked with people from all walks of life. I’ve seen shit that most people would never imagine. But I wasn’t expecting a show to accurately depict that.

It was also really weird, too. While it was somewhat of a stressful experience, the show accomplished something amazing. It represents so much of what I and so many people experience and love about restaurants day in and day out.

Don't even get me started on the “review” episode. Oh boy. That episode was a masterpiece. It had me reliving some of my worst nightmares and some of my worst days. The palpable desperation on Carmy’s face when he looks around and realizes everything is fucked. His lashing out, his confused and shocked face as the world is crumbling around him. The fucking phone that won't stop ringing, people walking out, it’s just pure and utter chaos. Carmy freaking out and smashing the printer and walking out.

I didn't realize watching a show could trigger PTSD.

In the video I made talking about my experience opening and running restaurant, I expressed about how difficult it was to open up and talk about what I experienced because of how traumatic that time was. I uploaded that video and started watching the Bear later that night. And holy shit, I felt seen.

Throughout most of it—while people were incredibly supportive—there were so many days I felt so alone and just kept showing up the next day despite it all feeling like it was going to shit. I thought I was going crazy because I had exhibited some of the stuff Carmy did (I'm not a Michelin level chef and not comparing myself to one), and that I was alone in feeling this way.

I remember getting taken away from my restaurant on a super busy Friday night in an ambulance because I thought I was having a heart attack. As it turned out, it was just one of the worst anxiety attacks I had ever had. I left the E.R after a few hours and they couldn't find out what was wrong with me.

Months later it happened again but luckily this time it wasn’t during service. As it turns out this career can make you feel like that. And it sucks that, that can happen but it does. This industry does crazy things to you and it can swallow you up.

—

The part I loved the most about the first season was the desire to make something work, despite all of the impossible. Carmy is looking at his run down beef shop trying to turn it into something beautiful and magical despite the mountain of debt the place is in and the fact that its literally falling apart. And wanting to do so because it was his family’s restaurant and then his brothers, and now his. And so against all of the odds he continues and perseveres.

It was really hard not to see parallels in my story and Carmy’s and I know I’m not the only one who feels that way. There have been many articles written about how realistic it was, like this one from Bon Appetit. While I always somewhat figured that would be the case I didn’t expect it to resonate so much with me and make me feel even a little seen.

I think the greatest trick this show pulls is showing you why people love this industry and why they stay. Its a beautiful show that deserves every little bit of praise and accolade its gotten. And I’m saying this all without being able to pick up the remote and turn on season 2 just yet. But with Season 3 premiering in a few weeks and season 4 announced. I cant wait to have a panic attack watching those episodes.

Tales of the Cocktail honors creators with nominations

Tales of the Cocktail released their nominations this week for the Spirited Awards categories. The Spirited awards are annual awards given by the Tales of the Cocktail foundation, and they are a pretty big deal. Kind of like the Oscars or Emmy’s of bartending & spirits if you will. There were nominations for best bars, best bartenders and even best new spirits and so many more.

But the part that caught my eye was in the media section. Likeable Cocktails, Kaitlyn Stewart was nominated for best online video series and it is thoroughly deserved! If you don’t know who Kaitlyn is, she is a Badass bartender and former World’s Best Bartender in 2017. She also has an incredible presence both on TikTok & Instagram. We also recently interviewed her on Behind the Stick if you want to know more about her!

The reason I found this to be so significant is that it shows that maybe the industry is finally starting to take content creators seriously. Obviously, Kaitlyn is not just a content creator and has been a huge part of this industry for a while, but nonetheless its huge that one of us content creators got nominated for such a prestigious award.

Unfortunately, It has seemed that the “mainstream Bar Industry” (is that even a thing?) kind of ignored us content creators and just silly people making silly videos on the internet.

In the past few years we’ve seen how Social media has started to influence the cocktail/bar scene. Hell all we have to do is look at how well #BatangaWeek did to the point where even the legend and Snoop Dogg’s bestie Martha Stewart got in on the action a few weeks ago.

Erick Castro was also nominated for his podcast, Bartender at Large. Erick is a Bar owner, kick ass bartender and he also makes cocktail videos for his Instagram and YouTube as well. While primarily he is a podcast host he also does produce content. He has been nominated a few times before I believe but his is thoroughly deserved. His podcast has been by far the gold standard for Bartending & Spirit podcasts for years now.

In Other News:

Reply

or to participate.