“Mixology 101 with Bartender Josh Suchan”

I wanted to start by pointing out that you're wearing some really clean temps.

Oh, thank you very much.

Yeah, these teams are the right amount of urban.

Ah. Yeah yeah.

The last show I did, I wore a suit, but I used to wear tims whenever you wouldn't see my feet on screen.

I don't know how to do it, bro, I can't do this long term.

Bro.

Those are heavy, and they're like, they don't even ban Bro.

You know, growing up in Chicago and having these since I was in high.

School, you just get used to them.

If he gets used to my wife. You know, my wife says you still dress exactly like you did in high school. And I was like, what are you talking about? And then all of a sudden, I'm getting Damn, she's right.

You have different color. I have a pair of brown.

And but but the classic Yeah.

But I mean there's like every cut, yeah, every color. Now, were you ever a Tim guy? I gave it a shot. Yeah, but people thought I was false advertising, So why I don't know. I went back to Ali Davins and you know, biker boots and uh and Lee jeans and uh.

So if you're from Venezuela, you're not allowed to have tims on.

I just don't. I don't think that at the time that I grew up there they had ever made the cross around the pond, you know. Yeah, But but I love the tims. It's I do have tims right now, you know. So whenever I feel a little hip hop, Yeah, little hipp a little hip hop, I put my tims on. What are we zipping on right now?

Littlecito here?

And that might change, Salud, that might change. I want to welcome everybody to those amigos. I am Wilmer Valderrama.

I am Freddie Rodriguez.

And uh, today we have an interesting episode as we get into topical things, you know. You know, for us Latinos, we like celebrating life, you know, and when it comes to celebrating life, we get quite a run at it. We get a lot of a lot of moments to celebrate life and living and and you know, and what we love about life. Were you Were you someone that did you go out a lot when you were young?

You know, had I had children at a very early age, so maybe not as much as a lot of the people from our generation did, but you know, I went out here and there.

Oh yeah, when I first, you made me out a few times I did. This is a great opportunity to introduce my friend Josh, so you can.

Josh was good.

Josh, Josh. Everything is good when Josh is in the building, It really is good. Josh has been someone who had taught me so much about about liquored and about drinks and appreciating the craftsmanship of drinks. You know, at the beginning, when we started, you know, our celebrating life careers, we technically didn't really you know, whatever it was we were drinking, you know, and yes, you know, it was what it was.

You know.

So when I met Josh, you know, Josh actually came and did a whole whole class, like a like a drink making class, mixologist class for for my for my lady's birthday one year, and it was the best experience. He's incredible. So you know, he's a curator of of incredible restaurants and hotels, and you know, the guy makes the most delicious drinks for you know, all the bars and and all that. So I you know, not only he's a dear friend of us, but he's helped me

Well.

You know, my background academically is an architecture and design, So I started bartending during college to help pay for it, and it was all nightclub stuff, which was a blast. We're talking about previous life, nightclub stuff.

And then when I.

Graduated, it was that recession, the financial crisis of two thousand and eight nine, so no architecture going on.

So I just continued bartending and eventually kind of found my way.

To the more craftier sider mixology or whatever you want to call it these days, and from there all the creative wheels just started spinning again. You know, you have context, you have history, you have culture, you have all this kind of stuff all combined. It's just that now my platform is in a glass in a space, kind of curating that kind of experience versus you know, kind of creating a space in architecture. So it was an interesting transition.

What inspires those drinks, Josh, it can come from anything, I guess, you know, any experience that you have, or maybe there's an interesting like flavor affinity that I haven't thought of before.

Maybe it's.

Traveling is huge, you know, anytime I'm traveling and checking out new cultures and what they're working with.

When was the last time you were somewhere that inspired a drink?

Greece probably, Yeah, Greece playing with a lot of they had passion fruit everywhere.

What it was almost like.

That season or that year, but they had passion fruit everywhere. And that's an ingredient that I love but never really like dove into that much.

And so it was one of those things.

When I came back, I was like, I'm going to deep dive into passion fruits. So I'm starting to clarify and carbonate it and you know, even distilling it whatever it is to kind of like turn it into something that is different.

Different.

So you really so you really say you grab an ingredient and you evolved that ingredient to serve as a number of objectives for your creations. Is that how you're like, You're just you play with this ingredient.

And that's what you wanted to do.

If I sink my teeth into something like that, like I will just dissect it until there's nothing left to take apart, you know. And so it's one of those things that like, uh, sometimes I like to keep it classic, tried and true and just let it be what it is, and sometimes like, well what can it be?

Just let your imagination run wild? Yeah?

Yeah, So I mean and listen, I'm a I'm a believer. Josh comes in and he preaches that that a little bit of that, a little bit of this, you know, smoky this, and yeah, garment that you're like, all of a sudden, it's like wow, it's effortless, but it took me to a different dimension. Yeah.

No, I love sort of the artistic angle that you have on for sure. Yeah, instead of like an average and there's nothing wrong with it, like an average bartender.

I mean, you take it to a next level.

And I think that's what's cool about the industry, you know, like you can take it as far as you want to. Maybe that's with every industry, but especially a creative industry. You know, as a bartender, you can pour shots and beer and be be the rest of your life.

And that's totally fine.

Or you can take it to the nth degree and all of a sudden you find yourself doing the consulting for bars and restaurants and resorts.

And stuff like that or whatever it is. So it really is endless.

It's so interesting, so to great that it's interesting because when you go to a restaurant or a resort, or you go to a hotel in the city, or you go to a boutique you know, speak easy and you go to the bar and you have a menu. Right, somebody had to be the scientist behind this hero menu.

Or you're not wrong at all.

It's basically a piece that becomes more than the some of his parts when it's all put together.

You know, it's it's it is.

Oftentimes the beverage program or the cocktail program, whatever it is, can be overlooked and you know, people either feel it consciously or subconsciously. But when it all comes together at that same quality level, like that's when people are just kind of like whether they know it or not, they leave feeling that thing that you want them to leave with.

You know, this thing restaurant first, So, oh, so I'm curating in the restaurants bar, what is the most common drink that the manager wants on that menu.

I mean, it kind of depends place to place, but I would say, especially in Southern California, the margarita. And we're going to be warming up with a margarita variation today.

What I was not expecting this today.

Tahuila here.

Yeah, I would say the margarita is just like probably the most popular cocktail in the world, and so especially in Southern California, we do love our agave spirit.

So making sure you take that and.

You just bat it out of the park, even if it's just a classic margarita, you know, just like making sure you have that dialed in.

What's the most creative margarita you've ever created?

A version of what I'm going to be doing right here.

So basically what I am doing is taking I kind of make a lime acid solution by making like a lime oil tea and then that way it's perfectly crystal clear when I'm serving it with the drink, and I'm topping it with a like a Grand Margnier alo foam because I feel like the Cadillac margarita like, everyone orders

If a bartender were to ask you for the best advice you could give him to make a consistently good margarita, what would you say one is the most common mistake that bartenders make, meaning like a little bit too much of that or a little bit too little of that. And what would be the one thing that you feel like, could they could walk away from this conversation and say, oh, man, like yes, I'm gonna my my marita game is going to go up to go up two levels.

I would say the biggest mistake is and something we're gonna hate this answer, but not measuring what you're putting in there right right, Like when they're working with a multi component recipe, you kind of got to pay attention to what those ratio are. And like some people can do it by counting, some people can't, some people use jiggers, some people don't.

Whatever it is.

But as long as you know your measurements are on point, that's going to get you so much closer to the

So quality of the recipe, quality ingredients.

And then probably the biggest thing, and this is why I do a lot of consulting, is the quality of the technique. You know, not all ice is created equal, Shaking different ways will produce different results, like all this kind of stuff.

So it's all those little nuances.

So when you're able to kind of if you feel like dissecting it to that level, go for it. You're just gonna end up with a better product and like surprise yourself every since.

But you have obviously, I mean, yeah, are you are you actually there testing shakes out?

Would share develops what thousand?

Yeah? And there's books on it from people smarter than I in the industry and stuff. So it's one of those things, like I say, is if I if I never thought I would geek out so hard on anything like this in my life.

But if I'm going to kick out on something, it's booze and it's fun.

Is your favorite margarita an an yejo base or a blanco base? Blanco so much easier to drink, right, And.

It's also it's just got It's just it's it's tequila in its natural state. It's got those vegetable notes. It just play so well like you you really do taste you know, the origin of the product kind of thing as soon as you start barrelaging it. I love it for different reasons, but for my margarita, uh, definitely a blanco.

Yeah. So when people I also I was thinking, so you Nique, when people use like just because they want the most expensive shot in the in the in the margarita, they'll ask for like an Anejo and he's such a climb. It's such a crime to drop a shot of a really good and yeho inside you know, water ice, and it's just it's like you lose the point of aging it for that long. I I what do you think about that?

I mean, I don't get it in the margarita personally, I think it is kind of a social flex.

But don't get me wrong. Some people do love you.

Know, ah, you know aneo tequil on the margarita's it's not my drink.

I don't care go for it, you know what I mean.

But that said, in Los Angeles, I have made one hundred and twenty five dollars margaritas before and round for people, you know.

And and is that is that what makes it expensive? Is it that.

You're getting that you know, limited release, you know, addition from a distillery that you know aren't going to produce any more of that thing, and they're having a business meeting and boom, just lay them out there. So I mean they're still getting a great product for all the reasons we talked about the ingredients technique, et cetera.

But but you're saying, heyquila like that is is more meant to be sipped as opposed to using it as a mixture or shooting it back right, you know, in order to enjoy the taste and the process.

And I would say, yeah, it's like anything that you're trying to really kind of sit back and taste the you know, the quality of the product and its origins and history and all that kind of stuff. Sipping it is going to give you a bit more of an opportunity to appreciate it.

Like that.

That said, I love taking shots, you know, back in the day, and I love taking tequila shots, you know. So it's, I guess, to each their own. But in my advanced years here, sipping is the way to go.

What's the what's the worst hangover you've ever had?

Oh jeez, what were you?

What were you drinking?

The absolute worst hangover you ever had?

Because of.

What I do for a living, I've probably had a few hangovers that have knocked years of my life.

Off for a couple of dog years.

Yeah, exactly exactly.

I would say usually my worst hangover are the ones where I'm you know, at some sort of events where uh, you know, you're just kind of drinking what you're giving in its own open bar kind of situation, you know.

What I mean.

Weddings, great example, Oh.

Yeah, everyone's happy, everyone wants the bartender to drink with them, right, yeah, even.

If I'm just a guest at the at the the wedding. You know, it's like how many glasses of one did you have?

Oh?

I don't know, because the glass was never empty, Like they just keep coming around. So kind of the same thing with an open bar situation like.

Those are? Those are?

I can't say I can't pinpoint a specific one because trust me, there's been like a handful where like you know, you just you just want to fast forward, you know, just that they lead that night.

Yeah exactly.

So wait, so what what I don't know? I'll tell you there's one of a couple of things that I have a tough time sometimes with is saki. H yeah, this choice me the next day. Really, that's why I just don't drink. I mean, look, no transparency, I don't drink you know often at all anymore? Right, I get I used to celebrate and I haven't drink, you know, at dinner and all the stuff from now. It's all about like, what is the purest form of hduo that I can find at a place?

You know?

But but but yeah, back in the day, I will go to these amazing sushi restaurants and then they will want to pair this saki with the courses. Right, they do this four or five six course meals, and then they paired the saki with it, and man, that I mean just doesn't agree with No, it doesn't agree with me. For in champagne, for some recent champagne, I can't, oh cheap champagne.

Yeah, cheap champagne.

Yeah, it'll destroy you. So this so this techia, this margarita you're making today, do you have a name for it?

Really?

It kind of goes by a couple of different names because I'll have like variations of it in different places.

But basically I call it the pimped out Cadillac margarita. You ever see pimped my ride, pimp my ride with yeah, exhib it back.

In the day, take those beaters and turn it into these low riders and stuff.

It's kind of what I'm doing. I'm taking the Cadillac and I'm pimping it out.

Oh okay, okay, okay, okay, all right, man, there's there's no Boons farm, is it right? We're doing a little bit better a Mad Dog twenty twenty or yeah, okay.

That's that was one of the hangovers.

Like now that we're and you guys reminded me when I was living in South Korea teaching English, sold you.

Like that it was cheaper than water over there.

I just want to make it internationally known that he just well, first of all, that shout out to my daughter running up in the roof of our podcast, as she always makes an appearance on these episodes.

Four.

Yeah, she used the fourth and little but small flags you used to teach English and South Korea? I sure did, man.

Yeah. Actually, my wife now is my girlfriend at the time, and we're both just not in love with what we were doing in Portland, Oregon.

We're like, we want as big a change as possible, right, and so we uh packed up with South Korea for a year English and just I mean loved it.

I learned a good amount of Korean while I was over there.

Oh no way, Yeah, why Korea?

Why did you choose?

Like I said, I wanted to?

We wanted something that was so different, you know, so like not not a romanized language that we could pick up on terribly quickly, like really kind of push ourselves outside of our comfort zones because we really felt like Portland was just too comfortable for us at the time. We were craving more adventure and it definitely shook things up and we loved it.

Had a blast exploring Soul while we were there.

And but we would you know, we were actually in this town outside of Soul about forty five minutes and we'd take the metro in and uh, every weekend to go to the night life.

We were like twenty five years old, you know, so like twenty five years old on a.

Teacher's buzzet budget saving money over there, We're getting six back packs of you know, the sixteen ounce bottles of soju for like less than six dollars, and so you're just playing drinking games with that.

And I swear the next day like there was no cure. There was no cure.

Really, no, you have to let it wreck you that way.

It broke me like that.

Yeah, yeah, what has sowed you exactly?

It's a it's a rice distill it predominantly. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, there's different sak' So saki is the wine is brewed.

Yeah, so it's yeah, I'm sorry one one time. What's the difference between sake and instead of.

So Basically, saki is brewed like a like a wine or a beer essentially, and then to take it to that distilled kind of soju level, you would actually run it through a still right, and so it becomes higher proof. Similar to how like if you take a beer and you distill it, you get whiskey, or you take wine and you distill it, you get a brandy.

Uh, same deal.

And is there are there different qualities of soju?

For sure? Like I'm not knocking soad you as a whole. I'm just knocking myself for buying the chiefest planet.

The year old. So yeah, yeah. When when when you all your travelers around the world, where when you're working, whether you're shooting movies or TV shows or you're just out there promoting internationally, is there a restaurant that you went to that you that you remember having it drink and you're like, wow, all of this ellen man start coming together creating an unforgettable memory.

Man, I wish I could remember the name of this restaurant. I was in Mexico City, and I figured, well, if I'm in Mexico City, I want to try some of the mescal. And we asked the waiter to bring some mescal. And I was like, what's the best mescal you have?

And I kid you not.

The guy came with a bottle and it was dusty and the name of the mescal was like written by hand on there.

Wow.

And he came with like a platter full of orange slices and different and a variety of salt. And I'd never had mescal that way and it was the absolute best mescal I ever had in my life my school city.

That's amazing.

What about you for me?

Let me see, we thank you so much. But what do we have here, sir?

So? Like I said, this is our crystal clear.

And then we have that Grand Marnier Allo phone floating floating over the top, so you kind of still get that Grand Marnier float.

Look at how beautiful this Look at this thing, salute sal look at this thing. This doesn't even salute to Vermelia. For those who are listening to this episode, would you mind describing what you're seeing?

Let's see here, there's some phone, there is a piece of lime. Is that correct on the on the top and and it and it looks pretty clear on the bottom.

That's quite delicious.

I just have is that one cube?

One cube inside of there?

Oh that's great. I love the one cube for many an amount of reasons. All right, what you years, Salon, Let's see what this is. Let's check this conversation turns into three or four of these.

Oh man, wow, coming off of dry, Jedyary me, yes, quite literally.

Dry? What well, No, we just got some rain, We just got some rain.

Yeah.

So what about you, Wimar, Have you been incredibly impressed by a drink you've had at a certain city, at a certain restaurant.

Yeah. So I went to Japan, oh, you know, and Japan Tokyo is my probably top two favorite cities in the world. It's a place that I love so much. It's a place that reminds me so much of some of the most precious moments into my life. That's when Amanda and I said I love you to each other for the first time in Tokyo and Tokyo wow. And that's when that kind of became a possibility. That's when we said to each other that a family is what we wanted with each other. So we went to this

And were you dating?

We were dating for I think at this point we're probably eight months or something. Yeah, you know, and we had just been traveling everywhere and we went and took you know, a bunch of our dear friends and to Japan and experienced this beautiful thing there. Anyways, my point is that they had me taste is Japanese whiskey, and there was something about the Japanese whiskey that just took me to a different Oh yeah, it's just different. Yeah,

That makes sense because when we first started hanging, you were really heavy on on Japanese whiskey. You know, I've had it before, but the first time I've really ever had it, had it was was with you.

You introduced me to it. I love it.

I think I think it's incredibly smooth and cool, but it has such a deeper meaning for you and your your family, that's for sure.

I also think that the way the Asian culture cultivates their their liquor and what that liquor is supposed to represent and what it does, you know, the way it tastes makes the experience and where you're you know, you're partaking, whether it's a dinner, a celebration, and his whiskey is just a different level, and you know, and you can feel it, you can feel it that it was it took hundreds of years to get this whiskey to where

So that that was that was my nice What.

About you judge? You like you like Japanese whiskey?

Yeah?

I do. What's your favorite house?

Is really good? Story time?

Yeah, it's I don't know, I like all of them.

It's one of those things it's getting increasingly hard to get, really, but it's but it's also well worth it for those celebratory reasons for oh yeah.

And you know you're not you're only allowed to buy one bottle sometimes, right and if you're going to bring one from Japan, you're not allowed to bring more than two, right because because a limited batch's learned batch that they want.

Guys westbers so shoes.

I want to margrat to.

Fourth Amiga.

Yeah, yeah, the fourth Amiga's out here wildly house. She's I think she can smell the you know, the foam of this delicious margarita. So when you're in Japan, you're only allowed to buy one bottle at a time, and that's because they want as many people to experience this as as possible, you know. But but you know, it's

Are you Are you a wine guy at all?

Do you like wine or champagne or.

I do have deep dive into it as much.

Definitely, not as much as I have with spirits and cocktails and stuff like that at this point, mostly because not mostly because I don't want to throw it under the bus. But my wife Jessica said somewhere along the lines or someone along the lines of if you geek out on wine the way you geeked out on spirits and cocktails, I will not go wine tasting with you.

I was like, oh, okay, fair enough.

Why is that why?

Because there was a period where I was just I mean, I think I think a lot of the like serious bartenders at a certain point kind of get in a phase where like even when you sit at the bar top like you're egalized, like you're looking watching everything movements. She wouldn't even let me face the bar restaurants if we went out to eat, you know, to face.

The towards the window, because you'd be judging it.

I get distracted.

Yeah, too much, too heavy, too heavy on the phone, Yeah, exactly exactly where you're going, too long in the smoker.

Yeah.

Uh So when she told me that about wine and wine tasting is our happy place like passer roadblaze love, oh cool, you know when we love them in a big way to Oregon wine country where we're from, Like Jessica's parents live up there.

Love that.

And so that was kind of a clear point to me to not geek out.

But that said, I kind of have her blessing now to go through the court of Somalia's so I'm gonna start working my way through that process.

If I were to go to a restaurant or a hotel, then I went to ask for this margarita. How much would this margarita be?

Uh, that's probably gonna be around it.

It depends on where you go, anywhere between probably nineteen in La anywhere between nineteen and twenty four, probably right twenty four.

It depends on the spirit that you're putting in there, you know what I mean?

So, yeah, what kind of tequilas listener, this one was called rail Devia.

Okay, it's relative. Shouldn't they really something to the market anymore? But it's nice to one hundred percent of gave.

Uh.

And what I mean by that is it's like completely unadulterated, because even one hundred percent of gaves can add up to one percent of different additives.

And there is certain tastes like vanilla.

Yeah, to talk a little bit about that because I you know, one of the when when when Freddy and I went to dinner with Jay that night at Carlitos, we were talking about, you know, uh, liquor companies and all these you know, all these incredible companies out there that are have showcased their brand and such a level

Basically by having those additives, it's just like you're saying, you're trying to appeal to a broader market kind of thing. It also gives them the opportunity to harvest the agaves prematurely a bit right, which is going to yield them an inferior you know, juice essentially that they're then going to distill.

But it's a faster turnaround.

Exactly because like nagave is going to take like minimum six to eight years to mature minimum right, so they're trying to get on the lesser end of that timeframe and then doctor it up before selling it.

To the to the market. And don't get me wrong, like they killed it, they killed it, they're.

Selling about it, they're selling a bottom.

Yeah, so it's one of those things, like I guess it's trying to each their own.

I personally look for brands that are unadulterated, and I also kind of as much as possible, like to know where the money's going. Is it going into the pockets of the investors that are from the United States, or is going into the pockets of the people and the villages producing it, and you know, even up to like different sustainability efforts things like that. So obviously that is kind of the kind of stuff that the abje consumer just doesn't have time to really digest.

And I get it.

That's totally fine. So yeah, that's just like, no, it's.

So important you say that, because you know, most people are sold like, oh man, I love you know, and we're not going to bash any bottles right now, but I can tell you one of the bottles or two of the bottles that you know are the most exciting to buy, you know, because of either lineage or name

That you're like, okay, well this is this tastes really sweet, and that's the stuff that gives you the that gives you the hangovers, right in many ways as the additives and all that, I.

Would say, yeah, that that can definitely play a role for sure, just kind of the hand of the producer, how much care and for after they putting into it. Yeah, it really is about like the heritage, especially in a spirit that's like so special, like.

A Skyal tequila. I know, I sea all these things down there are you.

Are you more of a spirit guy as opposed to a wine or pain.

Yeah, I'd say so, I'd say so. I mean I can appreciate a gray wine. Like when I went to and shot this movie called A Sudden Case of Christmas with Daniel on Hulu on Hulu available for everybody right now.

Uh.

The it was a beautiful summer Christmas movie with Danny de Vito and Lucy de Vito and Antonella who plays my my little daughter. She's incredible, Annie McDonnell and a bunch of amazing people and Peter who directed uh the movie, Sarahen Dibity And it's a beautiful movie and I like, highly recommend it. We shut it up in the Dolomites in North three, Italy, so we we were shooting up in the Rockies and the mountains of you know, the

You know.

It was just a beautiful and not by the way, the Italian culture is it's the closest to latinos that I could ever imagine. Really, they're just family number one sharing a meal, number two and number three, cell. I mean, I say number three is number one, celebrating life, like yes, be happy that we're doing this, and you know, and it was really beautiful. Every lunch that we had at in this movie, every every every time that we had a you know, a lunch, it was what you expected.

And I super Tuscans around.

Yeah, And I went to two places where, you know, they were like a family owned that you in order to get these bottles, you have to buy them from them because it's not distributed it anywhere. And I really got to appreciate how beautiful, you know, the tradition of wine is. And I really got to appreciate it. In Gray Wine, your work up the next morning, it's fine, right, Yeah.

I've done two wine movies, man, So I got to spend a lot of time in a Walk into Clouds.

My first movie was a wine.

Movie, and I did a movie called Bottle Shock with me Alan Rickman, Chris Pine, Bill Pullman, and we drank a lot of wine.

Research. You have to understand what face to make when they say, you know exactly.

But man, I went to a lot of those different places, a lot of the different little family owned wineries. You know. It's funny, man, there's a lot of producers who used to be who have retired and have started wineries out there. As a matter of fact, the producer you and I both worked with Darryl Frank. His father owns I think family wine not there.

You're right, I just remember, yes, I never.

I never.

By the way, shout out to their friends. Really, dear dear, dear friend of ours. We should take him to dinner.

With Alvi Calvi, Yes, talv Oh red Amblet.

I love those guys. Yeah.

Yeah, his pop has a winery. The guy who wrote, uh, the guy who wrote A Walk in the Clouds created karate Kid. Karate Kid is his story, and he owns a winery called Cayman Wineries out there.

But I got to take some of the most.

Amazing you know, prior to that movie, Like, I never knew what the big deal was. You know, you'd go someplace to a party of a wedding, somebody serves you a glass of wine.

You're like, I don't know, I'm sleeping. Yeah, exactly right.

And but when you go there and like you're experience in Italy and they start to pair the wines with the food, and it was the most amazing experience.

I ever had.

And that's what it is. It's an experience.

Right.

What's the name of your company? Oh?

My company is called Ice and Alchemy.

Ice in Alchemy.

Wow, that's a great name, Thank you. And what what is it?

What does your company do? Exactly?

So the company, it basically started off quietly in Los Angeles, just helping places establish better menus and training for their their bar programs.

When I moved down to l ah you know, Las such a.

Big city geographically, and so many restaurants and bars want to be doing it right, but they just didn't quite know maybe how to how to get there. And I just happened to have you know, the right about experience and ambition and all that kind of stuff that people were taking notice of what I was doing and now it's a full fledged bar consulting firm where I do predominantly southern California, but other states as well.

And you know, there's some international proposals out there right now too.

Are there.

Every time that you go in a restaurant, you look at the menu, and there are times that I'm super impressed by it. By by the drinks that they have on there. I can tell it's been you know, well thought out, and they're just like somebody throwing drinks on the menu. And and so this is this is sort of the behind the scenes of what happens. Yeah, someone comes in and they it's almost like a good director or somebody right coming in and and and implementing their.

Vision hundred percent. Yeah, kind of kind of joining them from concept to reality.

I guess, my, my, my, My last question in the mixology universe is when Josh goes to a restaurant, okay, and he's ordering his food and they said, can I get you a drink?

Oh?

Yeah, what do you?

What do you that?

I usually jump for a classic simple drink first, And what I mean by simple is like three ingredients. You're talking your old fashions, your Manhattan's or dackerie, you know something like. And the reason is this, there's nothing to hide behind, right Like, if you mess up one of those ratios or one of those ingredients, or choose the wrong you know, spirit or whatever it is, it's going to show right away.

First.

If I ask for like a twelve ingredient tiki drink and you kind of mess it up a little bit, it's like it's sill gonna pass. So I get a really simple drink and I, you know, just want to make sure it's on point. And then from there, once I sit that drink, that tells me, okay, this is the place where I do get a cocktail, or my place where I get a glass of wine, you know, or maybe it's a place, maybe it's a shot in a beer place.

Whatever it is.

You know, it's a defence mechanism. I see. It's a oh I see.

Yeah, it's interesting. So you're you're an old fashion man, Okay, yeah, it's funny you say that. My wife lately has been ordering drinks since she's like, wow, they're.

Just too strong.

What do you mean lately?

Le's elaborated, you know, just the last couple of times we've gone to a restaurant. They've made her drinks really freaking strong. Interesting, And on one hand you're like, hey, thank you, I'm.

Grateful that you gave me a good because she's a confident looking woman.

I agree, I agree, but but yeah, they've been super So, you know, to your what you were explaining about the ratios being off, it almost just seems like they're just like that, put a bunch of alcohol in it, she'll be she'll be happy with it.

What about you? You go to it, You go to a you go to a restaurant, Okay, thank you. What do you want to you know, you look at the manual?

Can I get you a drink? My wine? Guy? Man first and foremost?

Yeah, I think maybe maybe because, like you know, doing these wine movies since I was like nineteen, and I've learned so much about it.

You're better than me, that's what you're saying. So you're saying you're better than me. Oh that's great. So quickly became one over here? No, No, not at all. Okay, So I just became. I just came that.

I just became accustomed to it, you know, and the pairing aspect. But I used to be like a good I used to be like a heavy cab guy.

I was about to ask you what what? Yeah, we had that cab that night.

At your you had that wonderful dinner at your house with that great chef by the way, Yeah, Carlos, Carlos, Yeah, man. But but lately I've been uh late lately, I've been just chilling out.

Period.

But if I do like a good pino noir man, just something lighter, you know, just good, just been going a little lighter.

What about you.

I'm a martini guy. Yeah, yeah, And you know what I paid attention when I ordered martini because I order it a little dirty with three olives.

Where a ginner or or vodka.

It depends, Yeah, it depends, like if I'm going to do it doesn't. This doesn't what I'm about to say. It doesn't have to make sense to anyone else, but somehow it makes sense to me. If I'm going to have a steak, yeah, I'll do a I'll do a vodka, Okay. If I'm going to do a fish, I do a right. I mean, and and honestly, I know what I'm gonna get when I go to these restaurants, Like I feel like a steak tonight you know, but I pay attention

On the glass size they get, they get cheap, and.

It's like like, yeah, a Martine is supposed to be like a piece of glass, like a piece of ice, you know. In my opinion, but I love to hear judge's opinion about how Martinez is supposed to be served. But to me, the martini is supposed to like somebody should be able to say the proportions of what I'm using eyes versus you know, the vodka, yeah, versus the dirty like whatever it's shaken. Yeah, the last drop she stayed she ended at the rim. Yeah, you know what I'm saying.

I understand what you're saying. It's a whole like it's it's it's it's almost like a perception of value. Kind of thing, you know, like when you're looking at it and this halfway you know, below the line or below the rim.

It's little, but a good martini is like that. The bartender it's looking at you, it's talking to you. He's shaking you martini and the last drop drops and when you look at that glass is literally perfectly aligned to the rim. Yeah, that's that.

You feel cheated if if it If it doesn't.

I just not not cheated because the liquors in there. But I do feel like I know where I'm at now.

Ah, So that's your that's your barometer.

Just like he has, like I'm gonna get something simple and see what kind of plays I'm at and what am I gonna trust? I know where I'm at. That interesting, And you know I got that a lot from believe or not growing up and watching James Bond drink this martiniz And I didn't understand the martini game until way later in my life when I realized how special it is to start your evening with the martini. You know, it's so it's so clean and also light that it

Yeah, yeah, I love how James Bond inspired that drink. But then but then you actually liked it like you had it here.

Yes, yes, I mean Martine's I mean I would I do it express a martini? Yeah, if I'm in yeah Cabo, and you know, and we've been at the Sun all day and it's a six pm and we're gonna go to dinner, I stay up. Yeah, we do it, you know, express martini. But yeah, but yeah, martini is my thing. That's the first thing you order.

I love it. I love it. I could do a good martini too.

Well that's next.

I got that couch.

Well, Josh, We're so grateful that you spend the time today and I appreciate it.

Guys, thanks for having me.

You know, it's beautiful here. The craftsmanship that goes into it, most importantly, you know, the work, the thought you know that goes into the creations that you've made for so many people, and you know, I think about you know, the environment that you have created for probably thousands of people in your career, Josh that have had unforgettable, beautiful celebrations not just about life, but special moments in their life.

You know, and I've seen Martini in your future.

Well, to everyone who joined our evening, our escapade or afternoon wherever you're listening or watching from, thank you so much for being with us here your show, Those Amigos with Wilmer Valderama, Freddie Rodriguez, and and Josh Succan. We'll see you guys on the next episode of Those Amigos.

Dose Amigos is a production from WV Sound and iHeartMedia's Michael through That Podcast network. Hosted by me, Freddie Rodriguez, and Wilmer Valdorama.

Those Amigos is produced by Aaron Burleson and Sophie Spencer's Abbos.

Our executive producers are Wilmer Valdorama, Freddie Rodriguez, Aaron Burlson, and Leo Klem at WV Sound.

This episode was shot and edited by Ryan Posts and mixed by Sean Trace and features original music by Madison Devenport and Hello Boy.

Our cover art photography is by David Avalos and designed by Deny.

Holtzclaw and thank you for being there third Amigo today. Appreciate you guys, always listening to those amigos.

For more podcasts from my Heart, visit the Rhart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

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