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00:00Cheers.
00:02Tonight, we explore the fascinating life of the whiskey barrel,
00:06an ancient product that still plays a vital role in global commerce.
00:11Millions of new oak barrels are built in America every year,
00:15fired up and then filled with what will become bourbon through years of aging,
00:20as the wood delivers magic to the whiskey.
00:24This story involves a celebrity chef, a rock star,
00:30and a highway heist that even Hollywood couldn't dream up.
00:33Well, when the president of your company calls you, he says,
00:35you're not going to believe this, but you lost two truckloads of Santo Tequila.
00:40Lost.
00:41I said, well, wait, wait, wait, is this a hijacking?
00:43Not quite.
00:45International cyber criminals have found new ways to steal hundreds of millions of dollars of goods.
00:51It looks like a Costco in here. You've got everything.
00:53Yes.
00:57Artisanal mezcal resists machinery.
01:00The agave is roasted in underground pits for days.
01:04Then it's crushed by horse-drawn mill.
01:08The mash is fermented in wooden barrels and distilled twice in copper vats.
01:13No temperature dials or controls.
01:16Bubbles indicate the alcohol content.
01:20Who knows more about the process?
01:22I think he may know more, but I drink it more.
01:28Good evening. I'm Bill Whitaker.
01:39Welcome to 60 Minutes Presents.
01:41During this holiday season, when there's no shortage of toasting,
01:45we thought we'd share a few stories about the spirits behind the cheers.
01:50We'll take you to Mexico to see how mezcal is made,
01:53and we'll bring you along as a tequila heist is investigated.
01:58But we begin with whiskey and one of its essential elements.
02:03If someone asked you to name a product that was first made 2,000 years ago,
02:08still looks and works as it always has,
02:11and still plays a vital role in global commerce,
02:14would you be stumped?
02:15It turns out, the answer is the simple wooden barrel.
02:20Almost always made of oak, barrels have a long and fascinating history.
02:25First built and used by the Celts and Romans,
02:29they have held nearly every commodity over the centuries.
02:32Metal and plastic and cardboard long ago eclipsed barrels for the shipment of most items,
02:38but as we first reported earlier this year,
02:41when it comes to wine and whiskey, especially bourbon whiskey,
02:46the oak barrel still reigns, not just as a container,
02:50but for the magic that the wood gives to the whiskey.
02:57We were speaking with someone,
02:58and they called a whiskey barrel a breathing time machine.
03:03I love that.
03:04Brad Boswell is the CEO of Independent Stave,
03:09the largest maker of wooden barrels in the world.
03:12Brad's great-grandfather founded the company in 1912 in Missouri.
03:17It now has operations worldwide.
03:20We met him in Kentucky.
03:23Most of our barrels would have a useful life of 50-plus years.
03:2750-plus years?
03:2850-plus years, yeah.
03:29Like, I'll go to different places and look at barrels
03:31at distilleries or wineries around the world,
03:35and I can see barrels that my grandfather made, you know, in the 1960s.
03:41I still see them.
03:43A barrel begins as a log from a white oak tree,
03:47fed into what's known as a stave mill,
03:51where it's cut into ever-smaller pieces, staves,
03:55which are then arranged in huge Jenga-style stacks
03:59and seasoned outdoors for three to six months
04:02before heading to a nearby cooperage where the barrels are built.
04:07There's no nails that will go here, no glue.
04:10Brad Boswell's newest cooperage produces thousands of barrels every day.
04:15How many of these go into a typical barrel?
04:18Typically between 28 and 32 staves per barrel.
04:21After a barrel is raised, mostly by hand,
04:26it travels through a host of other steps and checks
04:29to make it ready to begin its life,
04:32including being toasted and then charred on the inside.
04:37Most of the barrels we make there are bespoke.
04:39We know exactly who this barrel's going to, which distilleries.
04:42How about that?
04:43The demand for such a huge volume of barrels
04:46can be attributed mainly to one thing, bourbon.
04:51President Franklin Roosevelt, in the 30s,
04:54became more specific about what bourbon and whiskey should be.
04:57At that time, he said, you know,
04:58bourbon should be in new charred oak barrels.
05:01So if it's not in one of these barrels, it's not bourbon.
05:04That's correct.
05:05Bourbon has to be aged in a new charred oak container.
05:09That rule, plus booming consumer demand for bourbon
05:14starting in the early 2000s,
05:16has been very good for the barrel business.
05:213.2 million new barrels
05:24were filled with whiskey last year in Kentucky alone,
05:29and more than 14 million full barrels are aging in the state
05:33in massive warehouses known as rickhouses.
05:36How many barrels are in this rickhouse?
05:3923,500 on six floors.
05:43Dan Calloway is the master blender for Bardstown Bourbon,
05:47a young but fast-growing Kentucky distillery.
05:50To make a great whiskey,
05:52you have to start with a great distillate, a clear spirit,
05:55but then the magic comes from the barrel.
05:57The fact that it's new charred oak, it's just incredible.
06:00So the barrel is crucial to your product?
06:04Absolutely.
06:04Depending who you talk to,
06:06some would say 50% of the flavor,
06:07maybe up to 70, 80% of the characters derived from that barrel.
06:12The rest of the flavor comes from what's known as the mash bill,
06:18grains like corn and wheat and rye
06:20that are mixed with water and fermented with yeast.
06:23Despite bourbon having recently been threatened or hit with tariffs
06:28by other countries in retaliation for President Trump's tariffs,
06:34Bardstown's huge distillery is still producing enough new whiskey
06:38to fill more than 5,000 barrels a week.
06:41You take the clear liquid,
06:46which is basically what people call moonshine,
06:49goes through this process and comes out
06:51as this beautiful, brown, tasty liquid here.
06:55How does that happen?
06:57Yeah, so I always compare it to a seesaw, okay?
07:00So when it comes off the still, moonshine, like you said,
07:03it's a seesaw that's out of balance.
07:06But every year that goes by of the barrel aging,
07:09the seesaw comes into balance.
07:11And what the barrel is bringing is caramel, vanilla, baking spice,
07:16and all this rich, beautiful color.
07:19How can solid oak produce all those flavors and spices?
07:23Back where the barrels are built,
07:25Brad Boswell gave us a vivid lesson
07:28with a barrel that had just been toasted,
07:30a process that brings sugars in the wood to the surface.
07:34Smell that. Smell the vanilla.
07:35I mean, that does smell delicious.
07:39It's incredible.
07:40It really does. It's amazing.
07:42There's a reason why people still use oak barrels 2,000 years later.
07:46So when I'm sipping the bourbon, I'm sipping this barrel.
07:50That's right. Absolutely.
07:52After toasting, we and the barrels
07:55move to the visually stunning char oven.
07:58So we'll see this barrel coming through right here.
08:01Oh, look at that.
08:02Yeah. So actually, the inside of the barrel is on fire.
08:06So you just light the barrel on fire.
08:07Yep.
08:08We light the barrel on fire.
08:09And that teases out more and more of the flavors.
08:12And we call that an alligator char.
08:13Because the inside of the barrel actually looks like kind of an alligator's back.
08:17And you can see...
08:18We could see that blistering inside a newly charred barrel pulled off the line.
08:24I mean, people, you know, expect this to smell like a campfire.
08:27It smells more like a confectionery product.
08:30It does. I can smell the caramel and the vanilla.
08:32Yeah.
08:33What that barrel can give to the whiskey is evident in these glasses.
08:37So this is the same exact distillate that came off the still at the exact same time.
08:43Went into a barrel four years later.
08:45And this we just kept in a glass bottle.
08:46It's also apparent in the taste.
08:50First, the white lightning.
08:52Wow, that gives a punch.
08:54Yes, it does. It does.
08:55And then the barrel-aged bourbon.
08:59Oh, big difference.
09:01Huge difference.
09:01Smooth.
09:02Oh, smooth.
09:03Some of that smooth comes from temperature swings in the rickhouses,
09:08according to Bardstown Bourbon's Dan Calloway.
09:11We want those swings.
09:13When it gets really hot, things expand, lets the liquid in.
09:18When it gets cold, it contracts.
09:21And it's that natural progression of in-out that ages the bourbon so beautifully
09:26as the liquid interacts with the wood.
09:28As those barrels are aging whiskey for four, five, or six years,
09:33some savvy investors have figured out there's money to be made.
09:36Whiskey is an interesting asset in the sense that as it ages,
09:42it becomes more valuable.
09:44Chris Heller is co-founder of California-based Cordillera Investment Partners.
09:49So explain to me how this works.
09:52You go up to a distiller and say,
09:54I want to buy those barrels filled with what will eventually become bourbon.
10:02So that is exactly right.
10:04Heller and his partners buy thousands of newly filled barrels from distillers,
10:09pay to store them as the whiskey ages,
10:11then sell them to craft bourbon brands.
10:15What are your starting costs?
10:16Somewhere in the $600 to $1,000 range
10:19is sort of the price of what's called a new fill barrel of whiskey.
10:23At the end, what do you sell it for?
10:26It can be anywhere from $2,000 to $4,000 by the end.
10:32That's a pretty good return on your investment.
10:35We really find it an interesting and compelling investment area.
10:40Nice way to say it, huh?
10:46Whoever makes it, owns it, or ages it,
10:49when bourbon is emptied from a barrel after five or six years,
10:54that barrel's life is just beginning,
10:56and it's likely to travel the world.
11:00It's really interesting that when the bourbon barrel is freshly dumped,
11:04there's still around two gallons of actually bourbon trapped in that wood.
11:08That is just seeped into the wood.
11:10That is seeped into the wood.
11:10So then a lot of secondary users actually look forward
11:14to putting their product into the barrel again
11:17for four, six, ten, a lot of scotches, 12 years, 18 years.
11:22And it can pick up that American bourbon taste.
11:24Absolutely.
11:24Then it pulls out that sweet bourbon.
11:26That sweet taste in the wood
11:29makes used bourbon barrels very hot commodities.
11:32We really view our role in the industry
11:35as moving as many barrels from the original source
11:39to the next stopping point as fast as possible.
11:42Jess and Ben Lowsky own Midwest Barrels.
11:45Their Kentucky warehouse is stacked to the rafters with empty barrels.
11:50So we're the next stop for the second use of that barrel.
11:53So in Kentucky here, we bring in barrels
11:56from all the major distilleries and then send them back out.
11:58These barrels will be shipped out
12:00and then refilled with something else.
12:02Correct, yeah.
12:03So the idea is to get these barrels in here
12:05and out of here as quickly as possible.
12:07So we'll turn over this entire warehouse
12:09every two to three weeks.
12:11Probably 70 to 80 percent of our business is overseas.
12:15It started as a hobby.
12:17While Ben was finishing his Ph.D. in Nebraska,
12:20he began buying barrels
12:22and selling them to local craft breweries.
12:25You said that a few barrels
12:27were a big order in the beginning.
12:30Yeah.
12:30What's a big order today?
12:3310,000.
12:3410,000.
12:35Yeah, yeah.
12:36India and China and Scotland and Ireland
12:38are by far four biggest markets.
12:41The Kentucky Distillers Association
12:43says that the state exported
12:45more than $300 million worth of used barrels last year
12:49just to Scotland,
12:51where they'll be used to age Scotch whiskey
12:54for up to 40 years.
12:55Could you just tick off for me
12:57the different spirits
12:59that these barrels will hold?
13:03They start with bourbon,
13:05Tennessee whiskey,
13:06Scotch whiskey,
13:08tequila,
13:09rum,
13:11Pisco, Maine, Peru,
13:12cachaça made in Brazil
13:13will use these barrels.
13:15Beer.
13:16Beer uses them.
13:17These barrels for sure end up in China.
13:19A lot of these barrels end up in Japan.
13:22It's everywhere.
13:23Beer.
13:25Beautiful.
13:26Now, master blenders like Bardstown's Dan Callaway
13:30are bringing barrels back to Kentucky
13:35to do special finishes for their whiskeys.
13:39So this is the first of its kind.
13:42It is an American whiskey
13:44finished in Indian whiskey barrels.
13:49Okay?
13:50Indian whiskey is traditionally aged in a bourbon barrel.
13:54So the physical barrel has left Kentucky,
13:58gone to Bangalore,
13:59filled with a barley
14:01and then sent back here.
14:04Callaway finished this whiskey
14:06in those barrels for 17 months.
14:09My God, that's good.
14:11Yeah.
14:12One of Dan Callaway's newest creations
14:15called Cathedral
14:16may be his most miraculous yet.
14:20We sourced wood
14:22in the Loire Valley,
14:23the Bursay Forest,
14:25and this plot,
14:26this lot in the forest
14:28was selected
14:29to repair Notre Dame
14:31after the fires.
14:33So most of the wood went there.
14:36We were fortunate
14:37to obtain six barrels
14:39made from that wood.
14:41And we picked our best stocks
14:44of Kentucky bourbon
14:45up to 19 years old,
14:48filled the barrels.
14:50They aged for 14 months.
14:52You know how wild that is?
14:54Yeah.
14:55That the beams
14:56that restored Notre Dame
14:58come from the same forest
15:00as your casks?
15:01The same lot.
15:02That's a story to tell.
15:04Absolutely.
15:05And a whiskey to taste.
15:09Ah, it's nice.
15:11When Bardstown put that
15:15Cathedral bourbon
15:16on sale earlier this year,
15:18bottles sold out
15:19in near record time.
15:21Remember,
15:22they only made
15:23six barrels full.
15:24Now,
15:25on the secondary market,
15:27Cathedral is listed
15:28for as much as
15:29$2,000 a bottle.
15:31There is no shortage
15:41of unbelievable stories
15:43that start with tequila.
15:45And this is one of them.
15:47It involves a celebrity chef,
15:49a rock star,
15:50and a highway heist
15:51that even Hollywood
15:52couldn't dream up.
15:54Last year,
15:55two semi-trucks
15:56carrying more than
15:57a million dollars worth
15:58of Santo tequila,
16:00a brand founded
16:00by Food Network star
16:02Guy Fieri
16:03and former
16:04Van Halen frontman
16:05Sammy Hagar
16:06disappeared on its way
16:08to the warehouse.
16:09If you're wondering
16:10how in the world
16:11that much tequila
16:12could just vanish,
16:14we did too.
16:15As Sharon Alfonsi
16:16first reported in October,
16:18it turns out
16:19international crime groups
16:21have found new ways
16:22to infiltrate
16:23the global supply chain
16:25online
16:25to steal hundreds
16:27of millions
16:27of dollars of goods.
16:29Guy Fieri
16:30got a crash course
16:31on this sophisticated
16:32high-tech theft
16:33after a sobering call
16:35from the president
16:36of his company.
16:39Well, when the president
16:40of your company calls you
16:41and says,
16:42we have a problem,
16:42I'm,
16:43what's up?
16:44And he goes,
16:45you're not going to believe this,
16:46but we lost two truckloads
16:48of Santo tequila.
16:49Lost.
16:50I said,
16:51elaborate on lost.
16:52He says,
16:53well,
16:54they disappeared.
16:55I said,
16:56well, wait, wait, wait,
16:56is this a hijacking?
16:57I said,
16:58are the drivers okay?
16:59I said,
16:59is this a,
17:00because all my mind
17:00goes to is goodfellas
17:02and, you know,
17:03that's what I'm thinking
17:03is happening.
17:04He said,
17:05no, no, no,
17:06no, the trucks,
17:07they were appropriated,
17:08but we don't know
17:09where they are.
17:10I'm like,
17:11it's not a needle
17:12in a haystack.
17:13I mean,
17:13this is a semi-tractor truck.
17:15My mind is swimming
17:16in exactly how do you lose,
17:19you know,
17:20that many thousands
17:21of bottles of tequila.
17:2224,000 bottles of tequila,
17:25enough alcohol
17:26to fuel a lifetime
17:28of bad decisions.
17:30The tequila started out
17:32like every other
17:33Santo batch
17:34in western Mexico,
17:36where it was distilled
17:37and bottled.
17:39From there,
17:40it was trucked
17:41to the U.S.-Mexico border
17:43through customs
17:44and unloaded
17:45in Laredo, Texas.
17:47The next day,
17:48it was moved
17:48into two semi-trucks
17:50that were supposed
17:51to head to the
17:52Santo tequila warehouse
17:53in Lansdale, Pennsylvania.
17:56When was the first indication
17:58something's not normal here?
18:00The product was due
18:01on Wednesday
18:01to our warehouse
18:02in Pennsylvania,
18:04and on Thursday morning,
18:06the logistics company
18:07told us
18:07there was a water pump
18:09cooler problem
18:10with the truck.
18:11It's just going to be
18:12a slight delay.
18:14Dan Butkus
18:14is the CEO
18:15of Santo Spirits.
18:17He told us,
18:18like many small businesses,
18:19Santo doesn't have
18:21their own delivery trucks,
18:22so they rely
18:24on a logistics company
18:26to hire trucking companies
18:28to ship their tequila.
18:29On Friday,
18:31two days after the shipment
18:32was supposed to arrive,
18:34the trucking company
18:35started sending
18:35more excuses
18:36about why it was late.
18:38Dan Butkus
18:39was informed
18:40that the truck
18:41was near Washington, D.C.
18:42with a water pump issue.
18:44The logistics company
18:45emailed him a video
18:47they received
18:48of a broken-down semi
18:49with a note.
18:51Looks like the issue
18:52is bigger than he thought.
18:53Mechanics advise
18:54the truck will be fixed Saturday.
18:56He says he can deliver Sunday,
18:58but I know y'all are closed
19:00so he can be there
19:01first thing Monday.
19:03So the tequila's late,
19:04but you don't think
19:05anything's wrong
19:06because they're sending emails?
19:08Yeah, we don't think
19:08anything's wrong.
19:09We're a day or two
19:10behind delivery,
19:12and meanwhile,
19:12they track these
19:13with GPS.
19:14So someone's checking
19:16to make sure
19:17the truck is where
19:18it says it is,
19:19and on GPS,
19:19it looks like
19:20it's in D.C.
19:22where they say it is.
19:23Then on Monday,
19:24we get an email
19:25that the truck is close,
19:29GPS says it's within
19:30a couple miles
19:30of our warehouse
19:31in Lansdale.
19:33Can you let us know
19:34when it arrives?
19:35The tequila
19:36never arrived
19:37in Pennsylvania.
19:39Here's what happened.
19:40The logistics company
19:41that worked for Santo
19:42hired a trucking company
19:44to move the tequila
19:45from Texas
19:46to Pennsylvania.
19:47But then
19:48that trucking company
19:49outsourced the job
19:51to two other trucking
19:52companies
19:53who then hired drivers.
19:55The problem is
19:56those second trucking
19:57companies were fake
19:58with phony letterheads,
20:00email addresses,
20:01and phone numbers
20:02to appear legitimate.
20:05It's a bit of a tractor,
20:07trailer, shell game
20:08called double brokering,
20:10and it happens
20:10more than you might expect.
20:12Santo CEO Dan Butkus
20:14learned it was all part
20:16of an elaborate ruse
20:17set up to buy time
20:19and steal the tequila.
20:21So the email
20:22that came to you guys
20:24was fake.
20:25The picture was fake.
20:26The GPS was phony.
20:28Correct.
20:29The GPS signal
20:29was spoofed.
20:30They call it spoofed
20:31or emulated.
20:32The thieves
20:33had manipulated
20:34the GPS
20:35to make it look
20:36like the tequila
20:36was still on its way
20:38to Pennsylvania.
20:38This is the essence
20:40of real tequila.
20:44Making matters worse,
20:46Guy Fieri
20:46and Sammy Hagar
20:47had been heavily promoting
20:48a new special tequila
20:50ahead of last year's
20:51holiday season
20:52that took three and a half
20:54years to make,
20:54and all of it
20:56was on those
20:56two missing trucks.
20:58It's not like
20:59we're sitting
21:00on huge reserves.
21:01So you can't just say,
21:02turn it up,
21:02we're going to keep
21:03making more.
21:03That's exactly
21:04what we couldn't do.
21:05And then you have
21:07to go back
21:07to the retailer
21:07and say,
21:08you're not going
21:09to believe this.
21:11How did this
21:11impact the business?
21:13Oh, it hurt.
21:14It hurt bad.
21:15You know,
21:16here we are,
21:16we're coming right
21:17into the fourth quarter,
21:18we lose all the tequila,
21:19we can't fill the shelves,
21:21we had to lay off players,
21:23you know,
21:23and that's the hardest thing,
21:25knowing how many people
21:26are counting on you.
21:27So, yeah,
21:28it hurt all the way around.
21:29Did you think
21:30you were being targeted?
21:31Well,
21:33I,
21:34there's a side of me
21:35that still says,
21:36yeah,
21:36it wasn't a truckload
21:38of screwdrivers,
21:39you know,
21:40it wasn't a truckload
21:41of baskets,
21:42they were coming
21:42across the border,
21:43someone knew what it was,
21:46and tequila is a hot commodity.
21:49That's why Keith Lewis
21:50was called in.
21:52He's a former cop
21:53who runs operations
21:54for CargoNet,
21:55a company that works
21:56with law enforcement
21:57to solve these kinds
21:59of crimes.
22:00Lewis says,
22:01last year,
22:02U.S. businesses
22:03lost more than
22:04$230 million
22:05of goods
22:06to physical heists
22:08and those
22:09engineered online.
22:10Let's start
22:11with the tequila case.
22:12How common
22:13is something like that?
22:15It happens
22:15multiple times a day.
22:17How does all
22:18of this impact
22:18consumers
22:19and the prices
22:20they pay?
22:21100% falls back
22:22on the consumer shoulders.
22:23100%.
22:24We pay at the pump
22:25for this.
22:26We pay at the grocery store
22:27at the point of sale.
22:28Lewis started investigating
22:30and began to piece together
22:31how the tequila heist
22:32was pulled off.
22:34He says the criminals
22:35created fake online profiles
22:37of trucking companies,
22:39bid on jobs
22:39they suspected
22:40might be valuable
22:41and hired unsuspecting
22:43drivers online.
22:45Then,
22:46instead of sending
22:47the drivers
22:48to the Santo Warehouse
22:49in Pennsylvania,
22:50the criminals
22:51redirected them
22:52to deliver the shipment
22:53into their hands.
22:55And instead of taking
22:56it to the destination
22:57that was on the bill
22:57waiting,
22:58they told them,
23:00to take that load
23:00to Los Angeles.
23:02And the drivers
23:03are not in on this?
23:04The driver
23:04that picked it up
23:05has no idea
23:06that he's committing
23:08a crime.
23:09He thinks he's taking
23:09a legitimate load
23:10to a legitimate place
23:11doing his job?
23:12Doing his job.
23:13And he's being directed
23:15instead by criminals?
23:16Correct.
23:17Once investigators
23:18determined how
23:19the tequila
23:20was diverted
23:21to California,
23:22they tried to figure out
23:23who did it.
23:25But that was tougher
23:26because unlike
23:27the kind of cargo theft
23:28you typically think of
23:30like this
23:30with guys in mass
23:32breaking into trucks
23:33with bolt cutters,
23:34there was no suspect
23:35description or fingerprints.
23:38Lewis says
23:38the tequila heist
23:39was orchestrated
23:41entirely online.
23:43You're saying
23:44that these folks
23:45don't even need
23:45to be in the same
23:46country sometimes.
23:47No, and we've tracked
23:48them to over 40
23:49different countries
23:50around the world.
23:51And investigators
23:53say the tequila heist
23:54had all the characteristics
23:56of a criminal gang
23:57operating out of Armenia,
24:007,000 miles
24:01from the U.S.-Mexico border
24:02where the tequila
24:04was last seen.
24:06Keith Lewis says
24:07that kind of theft
24:08where criminals
24:09remotely redirect
24:11cargo to steal it
24:12has spiked 1,200%
24:14in the last four years.
24:16If you think about
24:18online dating,
24:19for example,
24:20you can be anywhere
24:21in the world
24:21and set up a date
24:22with someone.
24:23It's the same thing
24:24in the supply chain.
24:25You can be anywhere
24:26in the world,
24:27go online,
24:28and book that load.
24:29And we don't do business
24:30face-to-face anymore.
24:32We don't have
24:32the hand-to-hand
24:33transactions.
24:34We're doing business
24:34by PDF file,
24:36by rate confirmations.
24:37We book that load
24:38with this individual.
24:39We've never met him,
24:40and bam,
24:41you have a million-dollar
24:42load of electronics
24:43going down the road,
24:44hopefully to the right
24:45destination,
24:45or maybe it's not.
24:47It's become a global
24:49threat to our supply chain.
24:52Nowhere is that threat
24:54higher than California.
24:56Last year,
24:57California had more goods
24:59stolen from trucks,
25:00trains,
25:01and by cyber criminals
25:02than any other state.
25:05That's because
25:06California's ports
25:07and highways
25:08make it a favorite target
25:09and hiding place
25:10for cargo thieves.
25:12To respond,
25:13the Los Angeles Police Department
25:15created a special unit
25:16to tackle all kinds
25:18of cargo theft.
25:19We were allowed
25:21to tag along with them
25:22one morning in August.
25:25Before dawn,
25:27officers swarmed
25:27this block
25:28in southeast Los Angeles,
25:30where they suspected
25:31a shipment of rifles
25:32stolen from a train
25:34were being hidden.
25:35They found the rifles,
25:37but also stacks
25:38of stolen sneakers,
25:41piles of power tools,
25:43and designer clothes.
25:45They've also recovered
25:47pallets of protein shakes,
25:49energy drinks,
25:50and vitamins.
25:52Typically,
25:53it all ends up
25:54in an LAPD warehouse
25:55until the rightful owner
25:57can claim it.
25:58It looks like a Costco
25:59in here.
26:00You've got everything.
26:01Yes.
26:02This is from a major
26:02manufacturer.
26:03Alan Hamilton
26:04is the chief of detectives
26:06at the LAPD.
26:07He told us
26:08all this
26:09had been recovered
26:10by the cargo theft unit
26:11just a week earlier.
26:12So we've got beer here
26:14that was stolen.
26:15We've got washing machines.
26:16We've got large appliances.
26:18You see the Sub-Zero
26:19back there.
26:19These are high-end appliances.
26:21Some of these
26:22are very high-end,
26:23high-priced computers.
26:24The technology
26:25will be turned back around
26:26and sold for like
26:2730 to 40 percent
26:28on the dollar.
26:29The LAPD says
26:31the stolen swag
26:32is typically sold online
26:34or in stores,
26:35including this one,
26:37to unsuspecting customers.
26:39In August,
26:40they busted two hardware stores
26:42stocked with stolen goods,
26:44$4.5 million worth.
26:47What's the value
26:47of all the goods
26:49that you've recovered
26:50over the last year?
26:52So just for instance,
26:53in 2024,
26:54the Los Angeles Police Department
26:55cargo theft unit alone,
26:58$42.8 million in recovery
27:00just in the city of Los Angeles.
27:03And it was that unit
27:05that cracked open
27:05the case of the missing tequila.
27:08Detectives tracked down
27:09one of the drivers
27:10who picked up the tequila
27:11in Texas.
27:13He'd moved on
27:13to other jobs
27:14but told investigators
27:15he was directed
27:16by what he thought
27:18was a legitimate
27:18trucking company
27:19to leave the shipment
27:21at this industrial site
27:22in the San Fernando Valley.
27:25That information
27:26ultimately led police
27:27to this warehouse
27:28in Southeast L.A.
27:29and 11,000 bottles
27:32of Santo tequila.
27:34Guy Fieri told us
27:35the thieves
27:36and that second truck
27:37of tequila
27:37were never found.
27:39It feels like a movie plot.
27:41The celebrity chef,
27:42the rock star,
27:44the small tequila company,
27:46you know,
27:46it all comes together.
27:47The special shipment.
27:49Did you think
27:49they were going to find it?
27:51Gosh, no.
27:52They found it when?
27:54Three weeks after,
27:56I'll say.
27:57So by then,
27:59who knows
27:59what's happened to it?
28:00Who knows
28:00what condition it's in
28:02and so forth?
28:02I'm just thinking
28:03this is all going
28:04to go down the drain.
28:05But after an inspection
28:06of the recovered bottles,
28:10Santo was able
28:11to put it back in stores
28:12and take a shot
28:14at a happy ending.
28:15There's a lot of companies
28:17that this has happened to
28:18but they don't want
28:19to talk about it.
28:20Why did you decide
28:21to speak about
28:22what happened?
28:23It's not a thing
28:24I want to go and brag about
28:25like, hey,
28:26we got ripped off.
28:28That's not fun
28:29but if it can happen
28:30to us
28:31with what I believe
28:32were pretty strong
28:33measures and security
28:35and awareness
28:36and, you know,
28:37communication
28:37and, you know,
28:38the way we do business
28:39and to get ripped off
28:41for two full
28:42semi-truckloads
28:44of tequila
28:44in today's age
28:46then everybody's vulnerable.
28:52Have a news tip
28:54to send to 60 Minutes?
28:56Learn how you can
28:57send information
28:57to our journalists
28:58securely
28:59at 60MinutesOvertime.com
29:01For years,
29:11Mezcal sat in the shadow
29:13of its popular cousin
29:14tequila,
29:15known for its worm
29:16and deemed
29:17too smoky
29:18for a spot
29:18on the same shelf
29:19as premium spirits
29:21but not anymore.
29:23Once banned
29:24and later sold
29:25in plastic jugs
29:26for pennies,
29:27the handcrafted spirit
29:28has found its way
29:30into cocktail bars
29:31and Michelin-starred restaurants.
29:33As we first told you
29:35last year,
29:36no other liquor
29:37has seen a greater
29:38increase in production
29:39in the past decade.
29:41Mezcal gets its name
29:42from the Aztec word
29:43for cooked agave,
29:45a thorny plant
29:46sacred to Mexico
29:47for thousands of years.
29:49The vast majority
29:50of Mezcal
29:51is made
29:52in the southern state
29:53of Oaxaca
29:53where family-owned
29:55distilleries
29:56dot the landscape.
29:57Cecilia Vega
29:58went to meet
29:59the Mezcaleros
30:00as they labor
30:01to quench
30:02the world's thirst
30:03for Mezcal.
30:09Mezcaleros
30:09harvest agave
30:10year-round
30:11but it's no
30:13low-hanging fruit.
30:15Pried from the earth,
30:16the spikes
30:16are removed
30:17by machete
30:18revealing the heart,
30:20the piña
30:21which looks like
30:22a hundred-pound pineapple.
30:25Agave takes
30:25its sweet time
30:26to ripen
30:27up to 30 years
30:29for some varieties.
30:30It grows
30:31in the valleys
30:32that run
30:32between the Sierra Madre
30:33mountains
30:34here in Oaxaca.
30:38The crossroads
30:39of indigenous
30:40and Spanish
30:41colonial cultures,
30:43the birthplace
30:43of Mezcal
30:44and Santiago Matatlan
30:47is its cradle.
30:49The Hernandez brothers,
30:51Armando and Alvaro,
30:52are fourth-generation
30:53Mezcaleros
30:54from an indigenous
30:55Zapotec family.
30:56They learn the craft
30:57from their father,
30:58Silverio.
31:00Today they run
31:00Mal de Amor,
31:02one of Matatlan's
31:03largest distilleries
31:04or palenques.
31:09We make Mezcal
31:10without hurry,
31:11meaning everything
31:12in its time.
31:15We don't add
31:16or do anything
31:16to speed up production,
31:18but we make it
31:19non-stop,
31:19365 days a year,
31:21the entire day.
31:22Is it different
31:23from the way
31:24your father made it?
31:26No, it's the same.
31:30We conserve
31:30all the traditions,
31:31everything we were taught,
31:32and everything
31:33is done by hand.
31:35Agave was first
31:36distilled here
31:36in the 1600s.
31:38Mexicans have been
31:39drinking Mezcal
31:40at baptisms,
31:42funerals,
31:42and every occasion
31:43in between
31:44ever since.
31:45And let's clear
31:46this up early.
31:48Tequila is a type
31:49of Mezcal,
31:50made with blue agave,
31:52mostly in the state
31:53of Jalisco.
31:54But most tequila
31:55has been mass-produced,
31:57made by machines
31:58since the 70s.
32:00Artisanal Mezcal
32:01resists machinery.
32:03The agave is roasted
32:04in underground pits
32:05for days,
32:06and it's crushed
32:08by horse-drawn mill.
32:10The mash is fermented
32:11in wooden barrels
32:12and distilled twice
32:14in copper vats.
32:16No temperature dials
32:17or controls.
32:19Bubbles indicate
32:20the alcohol content.
32:23Who knows more
32:23about the process?
32:26I think he may know more,
32:28but I drink it more.
32:35At Mal de Amor,
32:37they offer Napa-style tours
32:39of their agave fields.
32:41Mezcal is now
32:42a half-billion-dollar-a-year
32:43industry.
32:44But in the 1980s
32:46and 90s, Armando
32:47and Álvaro told us
32:48production of Mezcal
32:50could barely support
32:51the family.
32:52The price of Mezcal
32:54was very low.
32:55It was miserable.
32:57What was it?
32:59Seven pesos
33:00for a liter of Mezcal.
33:02Less than a dollar.
33:03And we were ten children.
33:07Sunday was the only day
33:09we could afford
33:09a cup of milk
33:10and a piece of bread.
33:12So we decided to go.
33:13Armando left Mexico
33:15first, alone,
33:17bound for California.
33:19Do you remember
33:19the day you left?
33:22Yes.
33:23It was the 3rd of December,
33:241992.
33:25I was 12 years old.
33:30I have children
33:31of my own now,
33:32and I could never
33:33bring myself to let them
33:34cross the border alone.
33:36It was a sad goodbye.
33:37Very painful
33:39to leave the family behind.
33:41How did you get there?
33:45Like all migrants,
33:46with a coyote
33:47smuggled across the border.
33:49Álvaro eventually
33:50joined him in Los Angeles.
33:52They spent a decade
33:53working in bars
33:54and restaurants.
33:55When the plot twisted,
33:57artisanal became hip,
33:59and Mezcal's popularity
34:00boomed.
34:01Álvaro began to dream
34:03about returning
34:03to the family business.
34:05I had plans drawn up
34:08for the palenque,
34:09and I showed Armando.
34:14Álvaro came in
34:14with the plan
34:15for his palenque,
34:16and he spread it
34:17on the bed and said,
34:17I'm going to do this.
34:20And I told him,
34:21you're crazy.
34:22How are you going
34:23to make a living?
34:24Álvaro was skeptical
34:25until he noticed
34:27shots of Mezcal
34:28going for $10 each.
34:30He says he looked down
34:31at the label
34:31on a bottle one day,
34:33and it was from
34:34their hometown.
34:35And you finally
34:36told your brother
34:36I told you so.
34:40So Armando
34:41and Álvaro
34:42went back home
34:43to ramp up
34:43the family palenque.
34:45Enter John Rexer
34:47and Gilberto Marquez
34:48of the Mezcal brand
34:50Ilegal,
34:51made from 100%
34:52espadín,
34:53a variety of agave
34:54that ripens
34:55the fastest.
34:56So how far out
34:58does the Ilegal
34:59go?
35:00Is this all
35:01Ilegal?
35:02Yeah.
35:03There's about
35:032,500 plants
35:06per acre.
35:07There's about
35:07five acres out here.
35:08There's a lot
35:08of espadín, right?
35:10Today, Ilegal
35:11is one of the
35:12top-selling
35:13Mezcal brands.
35:14It, too,
35:15started humbly.
35:17Rexer,
35:17an expat New Yorker,
35:19was in search
35:19of a steady supply
35:20of Mezcal
35:21to serve at a bar
35:22he owned
35:22in Guatemala.
35:23I would take
35:24a bus up
35:24from Guatemala.
35:26It's a 24-hour
35:27bus ride.
35:28Along the way,
35:29you can pull a string
35:29in that bus
35:30and say,
35:30I want to stop
35:31here,
35:32walk to a village,
35:33wait until lights
35:34came on somewhere
35:35and say,
35:36hey, do you know
35:36anybody who makes
35:37good Mezcal around
35:38here?
35:39And invariably,
35:40someone would have
35:40an uncle,
35:41a brother,
35:42a cousin.
35:42Tengo un tío.
35:43Tengo un tío.
35:44Si.
35:44That's exactly it.
35:46Everybody has an uncle.
35:47As the name
35:48on the bottle suggests,
35:49Rexer's operation
35:50wasn't exactly legal.
35:53Is it true
35:54that you once
35:54dressed like a priest
35:55to have to get
35:56this across a border?
35:57Uh, listen,
35:59I went through
35:5912 years of
36:00Catholic school.
36:01Me too.
36:01I knew how
36:02to play the role.
36:03It was his friend,
36:04Gilberto Marquez,
36:05who introduced him
36:06to the Hernandez brothers.
36:08And we rolled
36:08down here,
36:09and it was very,
36:10very, very tiny,
36:11and they were making
36:12very small amounts.
36:16And he asks me,
36:17do you have more
36:18of this Mezcal?
36:19And we said,
36:20yes.
36:21We have 10,000 liters,
36:23and it took us
36:23like two years to make.
36:26And John says to us,
36:27I want it all.
36:29A sidebar,
36:30and this may go
36:31without saying,
36:32but Rexer has swigged
36:33his fair share
36:34of Mezcal.
36:36Excuse me.
36:38Do you want a water?
36:38Yeah, no,
36:39take a break.
36:39You're good.
36:40He's like,
36:40do I want a water?
36:43You know,
36:43there's an expression,
36:44the best Mezcal
36:44is the one in front of you.
36:45It's not entirely true.
36:47You don't want
36:47to cover it in smoke.
36:49You want to taste
36:50the agave.
36:50A lot of people say
36:51they don't like Mezcal
36:53because of the smoke.
36:54Obviously,
36:55you're in a smoky environment,
36:56right?
36:56When you dig up the pit oven,
36:57there's smoke everywhere.
36:59So there's a lot
36:59of early Mezcals
37:00that came into the States
37:01that are heavy smoked.
37:03Has Mezcal gotten
37:04a bad rap on that front?
37:05I think in the early days,
37:07it did.
37:07But people began
37:08to discover,
37:09no,
37:09the agaves
37:10have particular unique flavors.
37:12Rexer asked brothers
37:13Armando and Alvaro
37:14to go into business,
37:15and he made a promise.
37:17If they could produce
37:18the Mezcal,
37:19he'd sell it around
37:20the world.
37:22They'd been burned
37:22by false promises before,
37:24so they weighed his offer
37:25in their native language.
37:27You spoke in Zapotec
37:28so he wouldn't understand.
37:31I said to Alvaro,
37:32in Zapotec,
37:33do you believe him?
37:34And he said,
37:35I don't know.
37:36But we figured,
37:37let's see.
37:38I said,
37:39listen,
37:39I'll pay you up front
37:40so that we can get started.
37:42Two days later,
37:45we had the deposit
37:46in our account
37:47for all 10,000 liters.
37:49He said,
37:50each month,
37:50I'll keep making deposits.
37:52So we made more,
37:53500 liters,
37:541,000,
37:552,000,
37:56and it grew like that.
37:58Now their partnership
38:00produces 3,000 bottles
38:01of Mezcal a day,
38:03almost all of them
38:04for export.
38:06And every bottle
38:07is certified
38:07by the Mexican government,
38:09stamped with a hologram
38:10to mark denomination
38:12of origin,
38:13like champagne
38:14or cognac.
38:15We'd heard
38:16there are rules
38:17about how to drink
38:18this artisanal Mezcal.
38:20The good stuff
38:21isn't for shots
38:22or diluting in cocktails.
38:24It's for sipping.
38:25So we asked Marquez,
38:27the former bartender
38:28who now promotes illegal.
38:30Favorite way to drink it?
38:31Spicy margarita.
38:32Oh, wait a second.
38:34I thought you weren't
38:35supposed to drink Mezcal
38:35in a margarita.
38:37You do want to enjoy
38:37Mezcal neat,
38:39but there's nothing wrong
38:40with having it
38:41in a cocktail,
38:41especially if we're
38:42trying to get folks
38:43to try it for the first time.
38:45It's an introduction
38:46to Mezcal.
38:47Marquez poured us
38:48a joven,
38:49the colorless Mezcal
38:50you'll find
38:51in most bottles.
38:52This is 100%
38:54espadín.
38:55So joven means young.
38:56Joven means young,
38:57unaged.
38:58Salud.
38:58Salud.
39:03This one tastes
39:03spicy to me.
39:05So smoke is not
39:06the first thing
39:06that you taste?
39:07It's definitely there,
39:08but I would not
39:09call this smoky.
39:10Yes.
39:11Aging Mezcal
39:12is a Mexican tradition.
39:14Illegal does it
39:15in American oak,
39:17the same way
39:17bourbon is made.
39:19So this is the Añejo,
39:20and this is aged
39:2115 months.
39:22The color's
39:23definitely darker.
39:24Yep.
39:27Wow.
39:28So good.
39:29How would you
39:30drink this one?
39:31Absolutely neat.
39:32100%.
39:32Has anyone ever
39:34said to you,
39:35hey, what's a gringo
39:36like you doing
39:37selling Oaxaca,
39:39Oaxacan Mezcal?
39:40Yes.
39:41I've gotten pushback
39:42over the years.
39:43You're a foreigner.
39:44But I'm someone
39:44who fell in love
39:45with the rhythm
39:47and the pace
39:48of Oaxaca
39:48and fell in love
39:49with Mezcal.
39:50He's no longer
39:51the only foreigner
39:52in this partnership.
39:54Bacardi,
39:54the largest privately
39:55held global spirits
39:57company,
39:58acquired Illegal
39:58last year
39:59in a deal
40:00worth a reported
40:01$100 million.
40:03When we started
40:04to grow the brand,
40:05one of the questions
40:05I asked myself
40:07was,
40:08how do you
40:09fall in love
40:10with something
40:10and then not destroy
40:11the thing you fell
40:12in love with
40:12by making it grow?
40:13Can you do that
40:14with an international
40:15conglomerate
40:16like Bacardi?
40:17I think it's
40:17a great question
40:18because it's not
40:19just the beautiful liquor,
40:20but it's certain things
40:21that we're trying
40:22to preserve
40:22and believe in.
40:23This is a family business.
40:25We have to respect
40:26the artisanal production.
40:27We can never let
40:28this become industrial.
40:30What does the deal
40:30with Bacardi mean
40:31for you?
40:34What's going to change
40:35is many people's lives
40:36in this community.
40:38It's a benefit
40:39for the whole community.
40:41The Palenque
40:42now employs
40:43100 people
40:44from Matatlan
40:44and beyond,
40:46including
40:46their 87-year-old father,
40:49the Mezcalero Emeritus.
40:52Armando and Alvaro
40:53translated
40:53from Zapotec
40:54to Spanish.
40:55We asked
40:56what Señor Hernandez
40:57thought of his son's mezcal.
40:59Does it live up
41:00to the family name?
41:04That's why I drink it.
41:06If not,
41:07I wouldn't drink it.
41:09De Hernandez brothers
41:10are expanding
41:11the family Palenque.
41:12Construction
41:13is already underway.
41:15So if there's
41:15the American dream,
41:17is this the Mexican dream?
41:22It's the Mexican dream.
41:24It's something
41:25we never imagined.
41:25We are sad to report
41:28Silverio Hernandez,
41:30patriarch of the Hernandez family,
41:32died in March.
41:34His sons say
41:35his legacy
41:35will live on
41:36in every drop
41:38of their mezcal.
41:39I'm Bill Whitaker.
41:49Thanks for joining us.
41:51We'll be back
41:52next week
41:52with an all-new edition
41:54of 60 Minutes.
41:55Happy New Year.
41:56Go to the ends
42:02of the earth.
42:03We'll hit the heights.
42:04A great adventure together.
42:06And reach for the stars.
42:07Star power.
42:08I like it.
42:09So cool.
42:10But wait,
42:11there's more.
42:12Experience thought-provoking.
42:13Something that's undeniable.
42:15With mindfulness.
42:16Innovative.
42:17Magical.
42:18It's like being a child.
42:19And truly original reporting.
42:21Got you to your research.
42:22I tell a good story.
42:23Because there's always
42:24something new
42:25under the sun
42:26on CBS Sunday morning.
42:31To be moderator
42:32of Face the Nation
42:33means bringing
42:34the most powerful
42:35stakeholders to the table.
42:36Why doesn't he tell Republicans,
42:38come into my office,
42:39let's hammer this thing out?
42:40Margaret,
42:41it's a totally fair question.
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