M’tucci’s brings custom spirits to its beverage program

Through travel, research and plenty of taste testing, M’tucci’s Restaurants has carefully procured a unique collection of custom spirits for its beverage program.

Though the brands themselves — names like Maker’s Mark, Patron, Angel’s Envy, El Tesoro and Woodford Reserve — are well known, these particular products are completely unique to M’tucci’s, an Italian eatery with multiple locations and concepts in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho.

“Since we opened in 2013, we’ve always tried to do things that set ourselves apart and things that are kind of exclusive,” M’tucci’s Vice President Austin Leard said. “It was just another way to kind of dabble into it, as well known as our bar programs are. I think we have many offerings that you can’t find anywhere else.”

The gradual incorporation of custom spirits began around 2017, when Leard and M’tucci’s President John Haas traveled to the Maker’s Mark distillery in search of ideal bourbon to make a perfect old-fashioned.

“To me, out of all the single-barrel programs that I’ve been part of, Maker’s Mark has the most unique one that allows you to really alter a product to your liking,” Leard said. “They put you in this little tasting room, and you get to taste these expressions of different wood that the whiskey has been resting in.

“And then, you create your own blend based off of all the different flavor characteristics of each different style of wood. And then you create a stave (wooden planks used to add or intensify flavors) combination that has 10 different wood staves. And you get to put it in a barrel, and then you fill the barrel. And then it rests for, like, another nine weeks.”

Leard says the majority of the Maker’s Mark — approximately 98% — is used in the restaurant’s old-fashioned cocktail.

“I’ve had a lot of people say that it’s the best in town, which is subjective,” he said. “The flavor profile of any of these brands is very subjective. And we always take that into consideration when we’re picking them because what we really, really like for one reason, the general consumer may not like. You know, not everybody wants something that is 100 to 150 proof.

“Some people like them in the 90 to 100 range. And so we take that into consideration with certain brands of bourbon in general.”

Another memorable experience on the custom spirits tour occurred during a trip to the Patron distillery in Jalisco, Mexico.

“We literally got to taste individual barrels right there and pick which one we were looking for, based on the specifics of what we’re trying to do,” Leard said. “And so what’s cool about these individual barrels is there’s no other barrel like it. It’s just, you get to taste it. And before they actually blend it into their product, they just bottle it for you.”

Once that barrel is selected, the product is bottled, labeled and sent to a distributor, where M’tucci’s is able to purchase it by the case. For the custom Patron, they were able to get 396 bottles from the barrel. Once those are consumed, that particular version is gone for good. Then comes the fun part: A trip back to the distillery to pick a new barrel.

Traveling to various distilleries isn’t always an option. Some programs simply send several samples to M’tucci’s, where they are tasted and selected by the partner group.

As the restaurant continued to build its custom selection, M’tucci’s was able to obtain a barrel of Blanton’s Gold, which is made at the Buffalo Trace Distillery. It was such a rarity that customers were attempting to buy it from the restaurant by the bottle.

“Anything from them is just like gold these days,” Leard says. “… Unfortunately, our license doesn’t allow that. So, we’re just offering it by the individual pour in all of our locations. And that’s the same for all of these bottles.”

The special offerings are available at all M’tucci’s locations and Teddy Roe’s.