Tequila Aficionado’s Tequila & Mezcal Road Show, Part I

[From October 14 to October 28, 2015, Tequila Aficionado Media, accompanied by 33 expressions representing 19 brands, embarked on an epic RV road show christened, The Dia de los Muertos Tequila & Mezcal Tour.  In these next passages, we recount the historic–and hysteric–highlights.

You can also view a complete video playlist of our adventures on our YouTube channel here…]

On A Dark Desert Highway

Somewhere outside Carlsbad, New Mexico

 

On a dark stretch of highway in southeastern New Mexico, a road weary Lisa Pietsch guided the Cruise America RV that Tequila Aficionado Media had rented for the historic Dia de los Muertos Tequila & Mezcal Tour.

Avoiding oncoming eighteen wheelers hauling oil and speeding two-ton diesel  trucks, she counted the minutes until she reached her destination for the night, the Carlsbad KOA campground.

Suddenly, she gasped as a huge piece of truck tire appeared in the high beam headlights ahead of her.

With no way to avoid the giant twisted remnant on the two lane highway without swerving and fishtailing the thirty foot RV, she gritted her teeth, straddled the rubber and hoped for the best.

A resounding ka-thunk ka-thunk let her know that she had successfully survived what could have been a perilous situation.  It wasn’t until the next morning that Lisa discovered what had actually happened.

Uncomplicated Sipping

Feeling like the castaways from Gilligan’s Island, what was supposed to have been a leisurely six hour drive from San Antonio, Texas to Carlsbad, New Mexico turned into a 9 hour ordeal that began with early morning packing and stocking the RV.

Once we parked and hooked up the water and electricity at the campground for the night, Lisa announced that all she wanted was something uncomplicated to sip on for a late evening nightcap.

Malinalli blanco fit the bill perfectly.

Black Water

After a sluggish morning, we decided to drive for Carlsbad Caverns in the early afternoon.

Unhooking the RV, Lisa noticed the damage to the black water tank.  The coiled tire we had straddled the night before had poked a sizeable hole.  If any of us needed to use the bathroom while we were on the road, it would spell disaster, especially for those following behind us.

With fingers crossed, we headed to Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

To The Bat Cave!

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After struggling with our selfie stick trying to capture a family photo outside the park sign, we hustled into the visitor’s area for a mid-afternoon tour of the caverns.

Once inside, we were met with this alarming notice–1016151439a

Bats are dying!

While we weren’t able to manage a tour of the Caverns’ famed bat exhibit that featured the Mexican free tail bats, there was enough important information to post in the above article.

Attack of The 10 Foot Martians 

1016151716 1016151717aOn our way back from Carlsbad Caverns just before nightfall, we were able to do a bit of souvenir shopping and picture taking with carved bears and aliens.

We had no idea that the alien culture was so prominent in Carlsbad, but we were sure that Roswell, our next day’s whistle stop, would have more than enough little green men to spare.

In the meantime, we appropriately eased into the  gray, stormy evening with Tromba tequila.

The Truth Is Out There

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From the moment that Alien Tequila hopped aboard our Tequila & Mezcal Tour, I knew that a stop in Roswell, NM at the UFO Museum was a must.

Walking through this charmingly quirky city with a bottle of Alien Tequila hidden in a bag made these photos even more delightful.

1017151250aAfter more souvenir shopping, it was off to our stop for the next two nights at my old stomping grounds in Albuquerque.

R & R

Having stayed at this particular KOA campground during our first family RV outing earlier in the Spring of 2015, we were familiar with the amenities and felt comfortable enough to enjoy some down time.  The driving had taken its toll on Lisa, so a two-day respite was just what she needed.

JLP Margaritas were the order of the evening.  After catching up on emails and drafting blogs, Senda Real made an appearance, as well.

Finding Photo Ops

When you’re stuck behind a computer from 5 to 8 hours a day like Lisa and I usually are working to make Tequila Aficionado Media even more interesting, compelling and educational for you, finding ways to create more inspirational photo and video opportunities is challenging.

Stepping away from the home office and being on the road really lends itself to “outside-the-box” creativity.  If you remain open to possibilities, even the simplest things can serve to generate epic social media content and articles.

Which is exactly what we needed since we were still faced with the dilemma of the damaged black water tank.

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Learn all about tequila from field to glass and then get paid to share your love of agave spirits with others! Buy Them Both Now!

What is Tequila Aficionado’s “Open Bar”

c5557f7cd6005f56af323daf8ff76ad1Happy Chinese New Year!

We’ve spent the last 16 years creating a website and Sipping Off The Cuff© shows for your enjoyment and we see a great 2016 Sipping Off The Cuff season lining up.  Last year, during our Quincinera, we introduced Last Tequila Standing© to our stable of fine content.  We have even more in store as we add new shows and personalities in 2016.

What is Open Bar and what the hell are we doing?

Don’t worry, Sipping Off The Cuff isn’t going anywhere.  We’re simply taking advantage of new media (as we like to do at Tequila Aficionado) and creating the first of it’s kind Tequila Talk Show.  We see this as a great opportunity to connect with our audience (you) to find out more about what you’re looking for and what you want to talk about when it comes to tequila.  We’re also looking for new personalities to join our team and see this as an excellent way to audition new talent (so if you’d like to work for tequila that you may not be able to get in your home state, be sure to tune in and take a seat with us for a chat.

Open Bar is a live show that we’ll record every Monday on Blab.im at 7pm CST.  We hope you’ll join us for the live show, but if you miss it, you can always watch the replay on demand.

Here’s the replay of our first episode:

 

Our First Open Bar featured George Harris of FUBAR and Alien Tequilas

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FUBAR Website: http://www.fubartequila.com/

Sipping off the Cuff with FUBAR: https://youtu.be/L8XhOTyL94Y

FUBAR exudes with sweet notes of stone fruit, cantaloupe and exotic caramelized orange that are accented with a hint of refreshing cucumber and mint… smooth, lingering and juicy on the palate, this Silver Tequila is the purest expression of agave, rounded with flavors of savory lemon/lime, wild flowers and herbs… Delicious undertones of chamomile, fennel seeds and a touch of white pepper spice makes this Premium Tequila perfect for sipping, mixing or the ultimate shot.

Stay tuned for future episodes of Open Bar!

Feb 15 Next week: Mardi Gras Special – Show us your booze!

Feb 22 National Margarita Day show & tell – What’s your favorite margarita/mix/recipe?

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Learn all about tequila from field to glass and then get paid to share your love of agave spirits with others! Buy Them Both Now!