I've almost finished this already.
I know, me too.
What the hell man, do we need a little load up there?
We're on the first half though.
We got an early start on it though.
I know, yeah we got here really early.
I was always here.
What's up with the bottle?
That's problematic when we get an early start.
Oh, whatever man, we can do a little bit more.
We'll still, Michael, he doesn't, he's not very...
No, I'm making good progress.
All right.
It's 110, wow.
Okay, we'll talk about it later.
Michael explains it.
All right, well folks, welcome to another episode of Dudes Like Us podcast.
It's November 12th.
We have a fantastic lineup.
We have a fantastic guest.
We're super excited about this upcoming year.
We have things that happened in the past, the election.
We've got some new things to look forward to.
Anything new?
Football?
Dallas Cowboys, Shlaba Daba Ding Ding, not happy with that program?
They're stinking it.
Yeah.
We can talk fantasy football.
Yeah, man.
And for those people out there that have a fantasy football lineup and you sit there
and you look at it like a couple hours before the game starts, you're like, oh, I guess
I'm all set.
And then all of a sudden 12 o'clock hits, kickoff time.
Oh, by the way, you have these two players that are out.
What the hell?
Where did that come from?
It's called poor management.
Yeah.
Dudes Like Us, I'm Sean.
I'm Paul.
I'm Jeff.
I'm Michael.
Welcome to the podcast, Mike.
Mike?
Michael.
Michael, how the hell are you?
I'm good.
And we we you guys met Michael up at the eight point.
I was through that.
We were at that 1845 distilling single barrel release.
Yeah, that's good stuff.
Back in April.
And they need to do another one.
She hasn't done another one yet.
But anyway, we met Michael there and we just talked about the podcast.
He was a listener and Paul and I were there.
And it took a while, but we finally were able to schedule it.
And here we are.
Yeah, we we have a long list.
There's such a wait.
I mean, people are waiting on us to get on the show for years.
Really?
Well, I haven't been told about it.
Who's our booking agent?
We said we need to get a booking agent.
We do, apparently.
Well, technically, we're booked out till almost February right now.
Well, we do have a lineup.
I mean, that's that's not bad.
It is nice.
But one thing we are going to talk about in this podcast today is cookie.
Ooh, that's topic in the world.
Yeah, like cookies and so does my circumference.
Nice.
Michael, walk us through your story here.
OK, so what do you do?
So my wife, I'll go all the way back kind of to the beginning.
My wife has a catering company and we tell the story differently.
She says that we started working on chocolate chip cookies to make one of her catering clients
happy.
OK, just kind of like a side gig.
Yeah, a side job.
Yeah.
So in my mind, I was doing it because she likes chocolate chip cookies and I was trying
to make my wife happy.
So we were always trying to make the best chocolate chip cookie.
OK, and we settled on one that was pretty good.
I took some recipes online, tweaked them a little bit, combined them, had what I thought
was a pretty good chocolate cookie.
OK, so then the pandemic hits and we kind of refined that recipe a little bit.
We come out of lock up, lock up, lock up.
Nice.
That's actually a perfect description.
That's a Freudian slip there.
Yeah, yeah.
We're in Australia.
So, you know, so for the novice here, I don't cook baked cookies.
Actually, that's not true.
I mean, I go to the store and I get these things that come in these squares.
I put them on a cookie sheet.
They come out.
So for you to say you're coming up with a recipe, for me, that's strange.
Because I've never cooked baked.
I've never cooked or baked cookies from fresh.
So I've never baked cookies.
So when you when you come up with your own, what what what is the dimensions here?
So it's what are cookies made of?
So cookies are butter, sugar and flour.
OK, at their very essence, right?
When you break them down, it's some combination of that.
So it's white sugar, brown sugar.
Sometimes you add more one of the other.
And it was finding something that would.
That would come together, bake soft.
I don't like crispy cookies.
Right.
I don't like cookies that are textured, everything for a cookie.
Yeah.
So I don't like I don't like cookies that are cakey.
I want them to be medium rare.
OK, so I want it to be gooey on the inside.
I'm getting around.
Yeah, you need to keep the erotic talk down a little bit if you can.
So go slow.
So they have to be gooey.
And but the outside has to be cooked because you don't you don't want something to fall
apart in your hand.
Yeah, no, no, no.
It's OK if you have to eat it with your hands, but you don't want it to fall apart.
You don't want to be a mess.
Right.
And that's a tricky combination in it.
It is surprisingly tricky.
Yes.
And it it gets more complicated than that.
I'm sure.
So we worked on finding that perfect recipe.
And then we came out of lockdown, started going back into the office and I was tasked
with getting some of our I'm a software developer by trade.
So I was tasked with getting some of our developers up to speed on some of the latest skills.
And if you know anything about software developers, you lock them down for a year and tell them
to stay at home.
Most of them will never leave the house ever again.
Right.
They will be perfectly happy to be locked in their apartment, having food delivered
and they'll never go anywhere.
So we were I think most of the world was like that, actually.
But yeah, go for it.
So my job was to try to get some of these guys back into the office and do training
sessions, get them up to speed on some of the latest tech.
And I bought pizza.
I brought beer.
And that didn't work.
But I was getting like 10 people and it was a it was a lot of work to come up with all
these all these little sessions.
Right.
So I joked that I was going to start bringing cookies in.
So I started baking these cookies and it got us a few more people.
But not not a lot.
And then I said jokingly, I'm going to start making these cookies with bourbon in them.
And bingo.
Yeah.
So now you had people coming in that didn't work.
Yes.
There was like theme music.
Pretty much.
Right.
Bag of Banzas shot was there.
So the homeless people started lining up outside the office and everything.
Right.
Yeah, pretty much.
So I understand at this point, I know virtually nothing about bourbon.
I know what Woodford is.
I know what Jack Daniels is.
But that's the extent of my knowledge.
So I make the cookies with about a half a shot of bourbon in them.
And you know, to the previous point of how do you make that cookie work?
Right.
Oh, that adds a whole different.
Yeah, that's getting the right cookie without booze in it is a challenge.
And adding that much booze.
Sure.
Changes everything about the cookie.
So you're saying a half a shot of bourbon in a batch, which is how many could know
that each shot of bourbon in each.
Are you kidding me?
No.
Do you do that prior to cooking it?
Yes.
Interesting.
Yes.
Wow.
Are these ginormous cookies?
They are about four ounces.
OK.
Well, give me a diameter.
Well, how many ounces is it?
So that is like three inch diameter cookie.
Yeah.
That's a dilation of a nine for those ladies out there.
Yeah.
Wow.
With a half a shot of bourbon each.
Yes.
Damn, I didn't realize that.
OK.
So anywhere between a quarter and half of the booze cooks out.
OK.
Obviously having that gooey center makes them a little boozier.
Sure.
So that's that's the goal.
Right.
The the dough is deadly.
Is dead.
Eat it raw.
Yeah.
You eat that raw.
And, you know, of course, we have to taste it.
Of course.
You know, so you have to.
So we're struggling.
We're tasting the dough.
We're tasting the cookies.
And you're shit faced.
Yeah.
Wake up on the floor.
Yeah.
So when you do a whole batch, you do make it sweet.
I love you.
So we a batch is about a third of a bottle.
God.
Yeah.
You know, you go through a lot of bourbon and making a lot of cookies.
Yes.
We go through a lot of a lot of booze.
That's interesting.
So imagine you got to go back and you got to account for the liquid, the booze in there
in your three major ingredients.
It's like a chemical.
Yeah.
You're you're you're an alchemist.
Yes.
You're what is it?
An elixir, an elixirist.
Yeah.
I mean, it took a lot of experimentation to get it right.
They get to eat all of them.
Yeah.
We had, you know, for science, this was just not quite right.
Have you ever got a buzz eating these cookies?
Oh, yeah.
You get a buzz eating the cookies.
I get a buzz just making the dough.
So just like the fumes off of it.
Yes.
When you were when you were when you were starting to try to create these, did you ever
have one?
You're just like, well, that was terrible.
Like just horrendously type things.
It was like, we need to go the opposite way of this.
I don't know that from Williamsburg.
I don't know that we ever had anything that was horrible.
There's some that my wife just doesn't like.
Gotcha.
She just can't really go wrong with a bourbon, right?
I mean, yeah, it's not.
I'm not talking about that.
I'm just talking like the ratios weren't right.
Yeah.
This is so we did.
We did try like a pina colada cookie.
Interesting.
And we tried an Irish cream cookie and the flavor was fantastic.
I bet.
But it fell apart.
But no, it's like it's like eating a cupcake.
Right.
You don't like and you don't like cake.
Well, yeah, I don't want that in a cookie.
How about like a how about a whiskey sour, like a push up cream vanilla orange pop?
So the the biggest problem.
My nipples got hurt.
I saw that with doing the cookies is the more liquid you add to a cookie, the more cakey
it becomes.
But you could make little cakes.
I mean, dude, there are people who make custom custom.
What do you call them?
The little little rub cakes?
No, the little cupcakes.
Yeah, they're cupcakes.
Yeah.
And they charge a fortune for that.
Yeah, that's not the spirit of I got you.
I got you.
But still, and that's on the list.
All right.
That's something that we want to get to.
OK.
We just have to make sure that we've, you know, covered a market and make sure that
we have it right.
I'm good.
So you have been trying all these different recipes, trying to get the perfect texture,
trying to get the ingredients perfectly right.
But but you're also bringing in different you're trying different bourbons.
Yes.
Well, first off, I want him to tell us the name of his company.
Oh, I thought.
Yeah, I'm so sorry.
I thought he did.
Yeah, Sean, it didn't either.
I didn't want to introduce you.
It's the Boozy Baking Company.
And so you got the kind of a kicker of how it started and where you guys located as far
as office goes.
Headquarters.
So our headquarters is in our house.
We live in McKinney.
OK, we just moved into a new kitchen called Revolving Kitchen in Fairview.
So there are like a food hall.
Right.
You can rent you can rent an entire kitchen.
You can rent it by the hour.
Oh, OK.
I get it.
They are.
They will have a marketplace where you'll be able to buy the cookies.
Just walk in and buy them off the shelf.
So that's a nice transitional way to like have a commercial kitchen.
Yeah.
I mean, ultimately, you probably want to open your own storefront if things go well, right?
Things take off.
Yes.
If things go well, that's what we'll do.
Excellent.
So this is a perfect transitional revolving kitchen thing.
Yeah.
OK.
So this started off in two thousand nineteen.
No, twenty three.
Two thousand twenty three.
I mean, we started we started baking the cookies before then.
OK.
But once we came.
So the once that aha moment.
Yeah.
So once once we started plan, once I started bringing notes into the office and I realized
they were good, then I'm like, well, let's go see a distillery and let's see how the
sausage were.
They were the employees that were working on this code.
Were they able to finish tasks in a timely fashion with under the influence of these
cookies?
Yeah, the productivity plot.
To me, I have a little bit of booze and I get better or or at least I think I do.
Is that part of your tagline?
Eat our cookies and be more productive.
Well, I mean, you've got these these baseball players.
You have Babe Ruth was shit faced all the time, striking people out.
And he was a home run king.
Yeah, that picture.
No, I never know.
It makes you perform better.
I can try that.
Makes you.
Hmm.
So I.
So you're forming partnerships.
You reach out to different distilleries.
So we we went up to eighteen forty five because it was it was down the street.
Right.
So June and Bob Pettit.
Yes.
Love them.
Yeah.
Shout out to eighteen forty five distillery in Lowry Crossing, Texas.
So we walked in and no idea what we were doing and no idea how to properly taste bourbon.
So Ben kind of showed us the ropes and we told them what we were doing.
And we're like, you know, we're going to make cookies out of this stuff.
And I mean, you know, June, she was excited about that and was excited about that.
Sure.
So I said, well, I'll I'll bring you some next week.
So went home, made a batch of cookies, brought them out the following Saturday and.
They went nuts.
I remember you the first time I met you.
Yeah, you had the front of the story.
You had all your samples out there and and everybody who was coming into eighteen forty
five to like do their own samples of the bourbon and stuff.
You know, there you were on the on the side there.
Yeah.
So that was a big boost for a great intro.
Yeah.
So we we did that for a couple of months.
And meanwhile, June saying you need to sell these.
Sure.
And I'm like, I don't want to do a commercial kitchen and all the stuff that's involved
in it.
It's a lot.
You know, I have a little bit of experience when I was young in the food business like
most people do.
And I just didn't know if I wanted to do that.
In addition to my day job.
Sure.
A lot of capital, for one thing.
And eventually she wore me down.
My wife and I talked about it.
Meanwhile we were bringing the cookies to some of the catering jobs and they went over
really, really well.
So we finally decided, OK, let's just.
These catering are just for like business events, weddings.
Most of them are bomb its fuzz.
House party type things.
House party.
So a little upper end type things.
Most of the people.
Like P Diddy parties.
Yeah.
Not quite that bad.
Oh, oh, sorry.
Sorry.
Yeah, not like that.
Yeah.
Freak out party.
Freak out.
No, no, no, no.
We're the king of freak out cookie parties.
No, no, no.
Maybe not.
All right.
Keep going.
So in October we did all the paperwork, got everything going and then launched the website
first week of January.
And that's where you do the primarily your sales.
Yeah.
On the website.
Yeah.
We're doing them there.
We're doing.
We did two events in Salina.
They have a Friday night market every Friday.
Or I'm sorry, not every Friday.
The first Friday of the month.
OK, so we've done two of those.
The first one, it was about one hundred and eight degrees outside.
Perfect.
Yeah.
Perfect for cookies.
Yeah.
And, you know, with in the sun, it was like one hundred and fifteen.
That was August.
In September, we did another one there.
It was cooler, but still unbelievably hot.
Yeah.
It doesn't matter.
I mean, above a certain temperature, it just is fucking hot.
Yeah.
It's just hot.
It's fucking hot.
I can't feel.
Yeah.
The second one, we actually brought a cooler and put the cookies on ice.
There you go.
So, you know, my thing is we're going to make a lot of mistakes.
I want to make them early and I want to make them local.
Sure.
So for sure.
You're learning.
Yeah.
Everything is about learning here.
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
So I knew I was going to make mistakes.
We're learning from them.
Right.
Sure.
You screw up.
You figure out what you did wrong.
You were saying you had two events.
What were these events again?
These were in Solana.
Oh, OK.
And these were?
It's they just.
These are the festivals or something.
It's like a little farmers market.
Gotcha.
OK.
You were doing booths at different local events.
OK.
Yeah.
So we did those.
Then we did the Oktoberfest in Frisco.
That was a good one.
I was there.
We were just talking about this before the podcast.
I was like, you were there?
It wasn't a large festival, but somehow I missed your booth, unfortunately.
Yeah.
I would have been like, what's up?
But anyway, so yeah, we got other products on them.
Did I see bourbon mayonnaise?
What was that?
So we did do so.
We've been doing some recipes on on the blog.
I haven't done it in a while, but I did do some like some burgers with bourbon mayonnaise.
We're looking at the the boozy baking company dot com.
So you're just sharing different types of bourbon recipes to get people to engage in
the website, which is a great idea.
At the end of the day, I like cooking.
Sure.
Oh, you go into death right down.
Yeah.
That's good.
Yeah.
So I go.
That payne burger looks ferociously well.
Yeah.
So I you know, I just like cooking.
So we cook and we've always cooked the booze.
Yeah.
I mean, it's always kind of been, you know, whatever it is.
Who is that that that that cook, the chef, the female one that gets shift based on wine
when she cooks?
Is that Rachel Ray?
No, the one that used the very negative word.
Oh, Paula Dean.
Oh, yeah.
She ate sticks of butter.
Yeah, it was.
Yeah.
She just takes it.
She's an older one.
We're going to try some wine.
Oh, that's that's Julie.
Yeah, Julie.
Yeah.
Dan Akroyd.
Sounds like a great place.
Oh, I said it sounds like the Muppet Scientist there.
I don't know what you were.
Work, work, work.
Yeah.
That's what it sounded like.
Sorry about that.
So this was at Salina.
This one up here.
Yeah.
That was that is my wife.
Nice.
Well, that's a nice setup you got there.
That's a nice fucking booth.
That is Oktoberfest.
OK.
No, I'm sorry.
That is Salina.
September 8th, 2024.
It's a good say on that.
And so how were people responding?
How'd it go?
People went nuts.
Right.
Yeah.
The tough thing about Salina is very family oriented.
Yes.
So there were lots of people like, no, I don't want any alcohol.
Right.
They're like, no, no, these are great for five year olds.
They're great for kids.
Yeah.
We did bring some non-alcoholic cookies for the kids.
Oh, good idea.
But we did that once.
So and you and you give those out for free.
No.
Well, that's what you should do.
Make smaller ones.
The booze free smaller ones for the kids.
Right.
Let them have those free.
Yes.
We'll have small ones.
And then then that then that then the parents come in and then the parents will buy the
boozy ones.
So you say that there's still some alcohol left in there.
Do you have to be considered of who is buying these?
Check IDs.
So we do make sure that people are are over 21.
So do you have to have a T.A.B.C. sort of license?
No.
According to T.A.B.C., as long as you as long as you bake the alcohol, it's considered food,
not alcohol.
So I could just put in the pot like warm it.
Yes, you can.
I cooked it.
Yeah.
So I baked a pound of ice in 15 bottles of bourbon.
Get on the T.A.B.C. website.
I can do this.
So well, this is great.
I can't wait to sample these guys.
We're going to we're going to do some samples in the first half.
We're going to do some samples on the second half.
And so so far, you've been kicking this down the road.
This picture is from September twenty four.
So we're turning a corner.
Yeah.
So you're at the eighteen forty five still.
Are you hitting some of the other ones?
Are you going far?
Like, yeah.
How many how many stories?
So we have a total of six distilleries.
Nice.
We did that.
There was a like an event in Plano in April.
We were there.
Yeah.
So we went down there and talked to all the distilleries and anybody who was interested.
What time were you there?
Like it was early.
Yeah, we were there early.
Yeah, we were.
We don't remember much.
We were drunk by noon.
So this was our first.
So this was our first whiskey fest.
Bless you.
This was our first whiskey festival.
And we never know how to do it.
We were newbies.
We didn't really understand.
We had no idea what we were up against.
So we know we were going to go there and have some drinks.
But when we got, you know, they got lined up like 14 different after the first one,
we were like, this is not going to go well.
Now, so we get the first booth and they line up for shots.
Of course, the smaller ones little point, they're supposed to be point five.
But they're all like 110 proof.
So they lined up for, you know, so even if you have four and half an ounce, which they
weren't, you know, we drank all four.
Bam.
By the time we got to the third booth, we're shitfaced.
And by the way, there's 20 booths.
Yeah.
You have to imagine like, you know, like the New York Marathon, right?
You know, all those people are at the front of the line and then they say go.
That's kind of that was us.
Yeah, we know we raced to the first, you know, we stumbled across the finish line.
Oh, we really fell.
Well, actually, we were asked to leave.
So we didn't see you because we, we, well, we never got to leave.
You have an hour and 15 minutes.
I think that's what it was.
We didn't get through them.
We didn't get to 1845.
We didn't.
So 1845, when you go do the loop, when you walk in there, 1845 was was the last one on
there.
And we just kind of like, well, hey, Ben, how you doing?
And then we're just like, and then we were drunk.
He's probably thankful that we did.
Right.
And then I heard people hollering, oh, you gotta leave, man.
They're out there telling us to get out.
So we're intoxicated.
It did not go well.
We end up going to actually at that point, we were just good.
We went for food.
We went to a food truck.
We went across the street.
There's a little bar there and we had a, we had a couple of drinks there, a couple of
beers is what we did.
And then I walk up to the bar.
We had, you bought a bunch of bourbon.
Well, I was getting there.
Oh, okay.
So we had, we had beer.
We got a couple of beers, just relax and just have fun.
And then I go to the bar and they've got a bottle of foolproof.
No, it was 107.
Yeah, antique 107 from a Wellers.
And then, and I was like, how much for a shot?
She was like, $7.
And I was like, I'll take the bottle.
We'll have all of them.
Anyway, so you, you were out there and we missed you.
I mean, we were there.
We were really close.
I mean, so we were just visiting.
We weren't, we didn't have a booth or anything.
Oh, okay.
Okay.
So this was, by this point, we, we had talked to 1845.
They were on board.
I'm not sure if you can get pictures because these guys had bandanas on their head and
everything.
It was just, I don't think that's true.
So we had, we had 1845 as, as, you know, selling their cookies, we talked to iron root and
we were kind of finalizing the deal with them.
But our goal was to taste the different bourbons and get more on board.
Sure.
So while we were there, we picked up my lemon green, picked up Alconas, picked up a little
distillery in Flugerville called spirit of Texas and Garrison brothers.
Nice.
Flugerville.
Where's that at?
Just north of Austin.
All right.
Cause I was going to say, I just, I was just going to Texas or to Austin.
I've never seen Flugerville and I couldn't place it.
Yeah.
So I, and that's a distillery.
It's a distillery.
It's PF.
Yeah.
Oh, so it's, it's a small little distillery.
They make whiskey.
They make rum.
So they con rum.
Yeah.
The pond, pond rums from them.
Yeah.
Oh, that'd be good.
And then they, they're also brewing beer now.
Very cool.
Yeah.
Is it something you could like, you can visit and tour or is it just, they got a little
room there?
You can go buy some other stuff.
I know you, I don't know if they're, I think they stopped doing tours.
I don't remember.
They, they may be doing them again.
Gotcha.
So let's say, uh, I live in Austin.
Let's say I do.
I don't, but let's say I do.
I want some cookies.
So I go to your website.
I put an order in.
Um, do you mail me those cookies?
I can't yet.
So I have to deliver them though.
I can deliver them.
Okay.
So let's say you deliver them.
Um, I received them and, uh, I I'm like, I, I don't want to eat these right away.
How long are those cookies going to last?
They will last on your counter for about two weeks.
Okay.
Um, you can freeze them and they freeze well for several months.
All right, so three, four months.
Yeah, that's now the door dash to Austin is $180.
I think.
I'm kidding.
Right.
I'm not kidding.
So, uh, your price list on your, uh, for the cookies, is that for a dozen?
That's for a dozen.
Okay.
And those, uh, those, those, I mean, they are pricey.
They're not normal cookies.
No, they are not cheap.
But, uh, they're the ballpark Frank of cookies.
Well, I agree.
Well, we have a tasty.
I can't wait.
He's got three bags of sample cookies sitting on the table and I'm like getting a little
frustrated over here, but, but we'll get there.
We'll get there.
But I have a question for you.
Okay.
Start to finish ingredients to a baked cookie.
How long does that take?
So that's kind of a deceptive question because they takes me about 20 minutes to make the
dough.
Okay.
I can do it faster.
It depends on how many I'm doing.
Um, but then they have to sit overnight.
Yeah.
Because I want to make sure that that dough gets fully hydrated because there's, there's
a lot of liquid in it.
Right?
So I've got to, I've got to get all of that into the flour to make sure that the flowers
properly and it's overnight, not at room temperature.
No, the fridge in the fridge.
Even my wife does that when she makes cookies, she sticks them in the fridge.
Yeah.
Really?
Yeah.
She doesn't overnight.
She does it for a couple of hours.
Doesn't have as much liquid in it.
Yeah.
Probably do.
But, but it's all mixed together in a, in a, in a, in a mush in a, in a dough.
Yeah.
And then you put it in the refrigerator overnight.
Yep.
And then in the morning, and then we bake them and it's 20 to 30 minutes to bake.
It depends on the cookie.
And you've already made them into little balls.
Yeah.
Before you put them in, right in the fridge.
Gotcha.
Yeah.
And then you pull them out and right into the oven.
Yep.
Do you have any problem with, uh, the caramelizing, the sugars, the other, the sugar in the cookie
as well, but the bourbon as well.
I agree.
Yeah.
Any caramelization that happens when you're, I mean, there's going to be some, but it's
the really all you see is, you know, some of the cookies brown a little more than others.
Right.
Um, it all depends on the amount of alcohol.
Right.
So I saw your list of cookies up there and there's a bourbon that I'm not a big fan of.
It's, it's not necessarily the, the, the bourbon, but the style of bourbon, the brimstone.
Oh yes.
I see it's a dark smokey looks like a dark.
I may be interested in these.
The, uh, it looks like dark chocolate to me.
And it looks like it has cherries in there.
Yes.
Does it have that real strong smokey flavor to it?
So it does have a smoky flavor to it.
It's, it's kind of a combination of smoke and the cocoa from the, from the, all right.
That's in there.
I can see that working really well.
Me too.
It's really good.
I can't, I can't drink the whiskey, uh, cause we have some out there and, but I saw that
and I saw the dark chocolate.
I didn't see the cherries.
That's really interesting.
But I'm very intrigued on those to see what that, do you have that sample with it?
I do.
Oh really?
Yeah.
He's got that one.
So the idea behind that cookie is we wanted it to look like a briquette.
It does.
So you get, so you get, you get the smoky flavor, but then it also looks like a briquette.
Right.
That's great.
So it's not only the taste and the texture, but it's the presentation.
Yeah.
I love it.
Now you're not a huge fan of the brimstone from a bourbon, but I imagine the cookies
are very interested in trying this because I can imagine that actually going really well
together.
I love brimstone.
Can we go with our first sample now?
Sure.
Let's do it.
I'm ready for a sample.
You can unveil this.
He's got the little white bag.
He's opening up.
Yes.
What are we starting with?
This is the Spirit of Texas, uh, pecan street rum raisin oatmeal cookie.
Oh good Lord.
That's a great start.
So do each of us get one of these or we break it apart?
I'm not breaking it apart.
I'm not sharing my cookie with anybody.
We are going to get a sugar high from hell with all these samples.
This is great.
The Spirit of Texas pecan street rum raisin oatmeal cookie.
Yeah.
So if you like oatmeal raisin cookies, how you just feel how gooey that is.
I can, I can tell you, Oh man, it smells like, all right, Mr. Producer, bring up, bring up
this cookie on the website.
It's the oatmeal raisin spirit of what was it?
Spirit of Texas.
It's that one right there.
Yeah.
I was going to say St. Louis, but that's just an automatic response.
All right.
That smells absolutely delicious.
Yeah.
So if you like oatmeal raisin cookies, I love them.
This will be one of the best things you've ever eaten in your life.
Now are those big pieces of oatmeal that I see in there, the white?
Yes.
Ooh.
So we got three different kinds of raisins.
We got the, the black raisins, we got golden raisins, and then we have Sante Curran.
All right.
So these are excellent Christmas gifts.
Yeah.
People need to start getting ready for.
So I didn't really finish where I was going.
I ordered the cookies.
How long does it take to get to my front door?
Two days.
So we asked for a two day lead time just because we've got to do that overnight.
Is there an opportunity to come pick them up?
Yeah.
You can pick them up at every Volving kitchen.
So these are sample size.
These are not your normal size.
Correct.
So they would be like.
The normal size of four ounces.
How much are these?
Those are, those are a third of a cookie.
So then they would be like a.
Three times that size.
There would be an eighth of a shot.
Yeah.
Ish.
I'm drunk.
Yeah.
I'm drunk too.
So.
I'm sorry, Austin.
I'm your father and I ate the whole goddamn cookie.
I thought about your son.
So you, you gave him a part of your cookie.
I did.
What a stud.
I am.
I'm sorry, man.
I ate it.
And then I looked up at Austin and then I saw you.
As soon as I did that, you gave him the Bristol producer, the.
If it makes you feel better.
I ate mine faster than you ate yours.
So we, we brought some.
And garrison was doing an event over in Louisville about six months ago.
Right.
And we.
Yeah.
So we brought him a couple of cookies and he ate that thing in maybe 20 seconds.
I got the whole, the whole, the whole.
Right.
Full big cookie.
And you're like, what'd you think?
He's like, I don't remember.
I'm like.
He, so he signed a bottle described and said the best chocolate chip cookie I've ever
eaten.
Yeah.
You need to make a cookie with the cowboy.
Well, the cow does the proof impact?
It does.
The cookie.
It absolutely does.
Yeah.
Um, so we use one of the bourbons we use as harbinger, which is 115 proof.
And that makes a great cookie because of the high alcohol.
It, it completely changes, changes it versus the other.
Well, the cowboy is 140 proof.
I wonder what that would do.
That's an expensive bourbon though.
So it would be a very expensive.
And that's, that's kind of the problem.
Right.
That's amazing.
The same amount of liquid, but a different proof.
You're saying completely changes.
Yeah.
The consistency.
A big part of the reason is because the more water you add, the more cakey the cookie is.
So the higher the proof means you have more alcohol than you do water.
Right.
So is there a, a, a time?
I mean, okay.
So if you bake the, the, God damn it, if you cook the, the water out of it, still keep
you maintain the proof, but you.
Are you saying take the bourbon and, and, and, and do something to the bourbon before
you put in the cookie?
Yeah.
Just kind of dumb.
What do you call it when you try to burn the water out of something?
You call it something when regular.
Reduce.
Yeah.
You reduce the bourbon.
The problem is when you reduce it, you're reducing the alcohol first.
Right.
So what is the ratio of angels versus devils cut?
Well, like, like, uh, uh, by the way, the producer is certifying that these things are
great.
Like bananas foster.
That's good.
They, they, uh, I don't know what they use bourbon or a whiskey in that, don't they?
And they burn off the alcohol and they leave all the, uh, the flavor of it.
Yeah.
And so that's the other thing about alcohol.
Even if the alcohol cooks off alcohol, being in food enhances the flavor because there are
certain flavor compounds in food that are alcohol soluble.
So just having the alcohol in there will give you different flavors.
So I should start adding bourbon to spaghetti.
No, everything.
Spam.
My morning oatmeal.
Yeah.
Spam.
Yeah.
Well, my wife eats those raisin cookies for breakfast.
We'll keep her regular.
No, that's good.
There's a lot of, a lot of oat in there.
Now, is it like steel cut or what kind of?
No, it's steel cut.
Steel cut oats.
Yeah.
Very nice.
We, that's a good stuff.
We don't skimp on any of the ingredients.
Very nice.
It's, you know, the best chocolate chips we can get the best flour.
We can get the best oatmeal.
We can get, um, the, the butter is a European style butter.
Better ingredients, better cookies.
Yeah.
Papa Michael's.
Yeah.
Pretty much.
So it's, I mean, it's, we want the cookies to be good.
We want good cookies.
And then the alcohol just makes it being better.
Nice.
Are we doing that?
Are we doing another sample or am I being a glutton?
Well, I mean, we're just going to take this, you know, as fast as it is.
The first one was excellent.
So it was excellent.
I mean, these.
Okay.
So what was the note?
Oatmeal and pecans.
This one is raisins.
I tell you for the folks out there looking for the perfect gift for your, your, uh, business
partner, business mate, business spouse, you know, this is it.
You got to get a work person that, you know, our friend, uh, you're looking to give them
a gift.
You go to the basic, uh, the bake, the boozy baking company.com and you got to order these
and it takes you know, Christmas time.
You're going to get ramped up.
What about last year at this time?
Were you busy?
We weren't around last year.
Oh, this is your first holiday.
Do these come in like a sleeve or a box or a tear?
They're individually packaged.
Just like we see them now.
Yeah.
So they come in a bag like this.
They come in a bag like that.
They come in a little header card with, you know, information and there's stuff on the
back.
Right.
So are you going to be ultimately transfer those?
Cause I feel like a bag being transferred is going to cause it to potentially get slammed
in a door dropped.
What are you thinking?
What do you want to like a cast iron box?
I'm like a Dunkin Donut box.
I'm thinking, I don't know.
So we, we will get to that point.
Um, when it says, I mean, especially when we ship, right.
They've got to be packaged better than this.
And there's all future stuff.
Gift bag, gift bags kind of stuff.
And this is Christmas.
I mean, this is one of the logistic things that we have to work out.
Sure.
Cause it's.
Those are exciting problems to have.
Yes.
Hopefully.
Yeah.
You know, I'm, I'm, I'm going to be buying cookies from you, uh, for gifts.
I think it's an excellent, excellent idea.
It is especially, uh, like you said, uh, for work people, work, uh, excellent gift for
your boss.
Not at work, but not at work.
Well, I mean, the nice thing is you're just giving somebody cooking.
You're eating a cookie.
Right.
Nobody knows.
They're going to take that first bite.
Go love it.
I know.
I love it.
You can give it to a girlfriend perhaps.
And then just kind of what are they called it?
A roofies.
Hey, you want to eat this dozen cookies?
You could, that's your tagline.
That's six ounces of alcohol.
You can boost it up at work.
Hey, I mean, that's your tagline.
Some of our social media stuff alludes to that.
There you go.
Uh, this is no one would know.
It's an incredible idea.
That's incredible concept.
Uh, I hope this thing just flourishes and takes off.
I mean, I mean, we're going to do what we can.
You know, it's just a much, we have four listeners, you know that, right?
Well, we have three now.
I mean, it's more than I have.
So we got Vinny.
We do.
We have a Vinny or well, we have a new listener.
I'll talk about that later though, because I want to ask you a question.
You know, there are people that have these, uh, little shops, uh, little activities where
you can go and paint with your, like on a date, right?
Or you take your kid and you can paint something or you can, you can do this or you can do
sometimes and they make their own little coffee mug.
Yeah.
They make, they make stuff or they bake stuff or something.
I was trying to think if you, if you could, it's tough that you do it overnight though,
because if, if somebody could come in and they could, it's like a workshop, right?
Just a, I don't know their own booze.
There's a lot of intellectual property involved.
Yeah.
The problem is I don't want to give away this.
Yeah.
That's a good point.
It's I'm just saying that would be a great reason for people to drink, make cookies,
put the booze in the cookie.
Well, they can make their own.
They can make their own cookies.
Yeah.
But it will be a completely different recipe.
Yeah.
You make that and then buy it.
And then pour the booze in the cookie.
We do have some secret ingredients that we put in there.
That's a good point.
And I don't, I don't want to give any of those away.
No, I, I totally get it.
I totally get it.
Is it approved by the health department?
It is.
Okay.
And what is, what is the holdup on the, uh, the shipping issues with the.
So we have to have a manufacturing license.
And in order to do that, do you have to have a commercial kitchen?
So that's, that's the revolving kitchen.
Yeah.
And then you have to fill out the paperwork and it's based on the revenue of the location,
not your revenue.
So everybody that uses revolving kitchen, yeah.
Playing a game of this.
Yeah.
So bullshit.
Yeah.
But you know, and, and the, the website looks like is out of the nineties.
Probably shouldn't say that too loud.
Actually, I thought the photographs were very, very well done.
No, I'm not.
No, I'm talking about the website for the state where you fill it out.
Yeah.
Which is what you're.
Yeah.
So you have to fill this thing out and it's not straightforward.
They're like, it almost seems like it'd be a timeshare kind of thing.
Like you know, what is the, but my timeshare is this much.
You have maintenance fees.
Yeah.
Those timeshares.
I know my in-laws had a timeshare in Hawaii.
You know what I'm talking about, Michael?
Yeah.
I don't exactly which time.
That may, I mean, I don't know.
I'm, I'm always, I'm one of these guys.
I always look for loopholes.
I look away.
I look for getting away with anything.
Yes.
It doesn't even matter if I want to do it.
I just want to know, can I do it?
Yeah, but you don't have timeshares and I don't think that works very well.
No, I'm not sure if people want to get out of.
No, I'm not talking about timeshares necessarily for an actual timeshare, but I'm like, use
that as kind of a concept or a methodology of getting away with the manufacturing place
at the revolving kitchen.
Yeah.
You know, instead of saying, well, I'm at the revolving kitchen, they produce X amount
of, of money a year to say, uh, I'm at the revolving kitchen kitchen.
Our portion of their revenue is X amount per year.
Yeah.
I don't think they're asking that though.
Well, yeah.
They specifically say the revenue at the facility.
Yeah.
Well, my revenue at the facility equals this.
Well, so the question is revolving kitchen has restaurants.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
And then they have places that are a lot of money that goes through there.
So they have, they have places that are manufacturing food.
Do I include the restaurants in that revenue or is it just the manufacturers?
Do you have any, do you have any lawyer?
Friend or anything like that that could help you answer them?
No, I would.
Uh, well, you know what?
We, we have a few that we can ask.
That will be, that's probably the next step just to make sure I'm doing it right.
Cause I don't want to, cause that does seem kind of bullshitty.
Yeah.
I'm thinking I would ask for forgiveness then permission.
You know, what are they going to do?
Tell the government?
Podcast and then no.
No.
Take everything.
I mean, no, no, they wouldn't take everything.
I mean, if it ever gets recorded, you're going to be fine or something.
What are you going to do?
I mean, it's, and then, yeah, then you have to say, do you have the cookies?
Because this revolving kitchen is actually a pretty good idea.
Then there was this podcast.
We were like, yeah, those guys were wrong.
You had it right the first time.
But I mean, I think like the revolving kitchen, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think there
are some dying companies out there.
Like let's say you, for example, flood rockers, you know, flood rockers has used a revolving
kitchen style format and they have, and they basically take that's a conglomerate that
a bunch of these restaurants jump in and if you want food delivered or for pickup, they
make it right there and they use all the recipes from that local venue.
There used to be one down there.
You remember where that Posados used to be?
Is it called the revolving kitchen?
No, it's closed.
But I mean, is that the same thing as you're referring to?
So revolving kitchen, it's similar.
Um, producer, but they are.
No, I'm just saying maybe pull up revolving kitchen.
So they have 34 kitchens, I think.
Um, and places are renting out an entire kitchen and then you can, you can go in, you can order
on the kiosk in the dining room and they'll deliver the food out to you with a robot.
Where is this located?
So it's in Fairview.
It's in Fairview on the Northeast corner.
So click on the, click on the, the Fairview one.
Yeah.
I want to see who's all in there.
Cause you mentioned flood rockers.
I thought, are you saying flood rockers no longer does the revolving kitchen that was
in Frisco or?
No, that facility closed down.
They did?
I didn't know that.
No, the one that's in Posados closed down.
Damn it.
I've waited too long.
Brooklyn bagels?
Cause I love flood records.
Absolutely love it.
Yeah.
It was fun.
You know, growing up the kids and, oh yeah, they had the fixing bar.
Yeah, it was great.
By the way, they had good burgers.
By the way, they still have it in Albuquerque.
Every time I go to Albuquerque now, it's a must.
I go to, go to.
So, so I think you're, you're fairly new to the, what's the place downtown by the cross
from the university and Albuquerque.
Oh, geez.
I don't know.
Is it a pizza place?
No, it's a burger place.
Uh, is it, uh, like something cow, sacred cow or flying cow?
Oh shoot.
My wife would kill me.
Cause we, we were talking just the other day about flying to Albuquerque just to get it
just to get that, just to get a burger and spotted cow.
I don't know.
We'll come back to it.
Holy cow burger.
No, that's that's stackers burgers.
Holy cow is what I was thinking of, by the way.
Anyway, we'll come back to that.
All right.
So, so I got a grass burger.
I got to stop track.
So you were talking about, oh, we were talking about revolving kitchen.
Okay.
And what else?
So there, there are, I don't know, 20 ish restaurants that were all being served and
you said there's a kiosk and they get out with a robot kiosk.
So you can, you can go in and order from, you know, multiple restaurants at your table.
And is there one near here now?
Yeah.
It's so it's Northeast corner of Stacy road in 75.
Okay.
Is that the one you use?
Yeah.
Okay.
Behind the Macy's.
So when, when do you use it?
We used it for Frisco.
We used it for, no, I mean time of day, like you, you rent it for how many hours?
Like three, four hours.
And how many other people, how big is this place to where they're other people are using
it at the same time?
They have 34 different kitchens in the same place.
Yeah.
Oh shit.
Okay.
So you're, you're just renting one little spot is the rest of it just hustling and bustling?
Yeah.
And do you, are you responsible for cleaning it?
Yep.
That's crazy.
I mean, what a great concept though.
It's cool.
I mean, there are, there are a number of like hourly kitchens in the area.
Huh.
This one is really convenient to where we are.
Sure, sure.
Just local.
Yeah.
Local.
So what is the, what is the commitment?
If, if you were to do away with that, I mean, you got a goal, you're going to sell these
cookies and then there's a, there's a business plan that says when I sell enough of these
cookies, I'm going to get to this point where I'm going to want to go ahead and open up
a storefront.
Right.
Yeah.
If, if on the course that we're right now, we're looking at two years, four years, of
course you don't know, but what do you, when do you, what's your goal?
Yeah.
Probably more than two years, hopefully less than four.
And it's all based on how many cookies.
Yeah.
Well, tis the season, tis the season right now.
I mean, not during this podcast, but I mean, well, hopefully during this podcast, but
I mean, this, this, this Christmas time right now, uh, do, do some, some promoting, uh,
we'll do some reciprocal promoting on our behalf, but I'm telling you, this is an excellent
gift.
Uh, there is a, you said that they last for two weeks.
Yeah.
Two weeks.
Okay.
A longer, uh, put them in the freezer.
They freeze really well.
I'd so June and Anne, I think have from 1845 have, I think they had cookies in their freezer
for three or four months.
Yeah.
Well, uh, they won't last that long in my house, but yeah, he just inhaled his three
seconds.
Yeah.
Paul did his two, but they don't last that long in my house.
He didn't even offer some to them.
I shared mine.
I was going to, uh, bring up, like there's a business in downtown McKinney called, uh,
Obama pops popcorn place.
Yeah.
So Obama pops popcorn is a unique, they've got all kinds of different flavored popcorns.
And if you're a fan of that, you know, but they sell during Christmas time, they run
those poppers in the back 24 seven.
Yep.
24 seven.
Are you kidding me?
24 seven.
They, uh, they sold their business, but there's someone else running it.
And like from like between Thanksgiving and Christmas, around the clock, around the clock,
nonstop dude, they are, there are businesses, there are corporations that buy those bags.
Well yeah, it's the, it's the caramel and the, and the candy.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, this fits, this is, this is the same package, but it's an upper tier product.
So, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's like, you know, you, you, you've got, it's an,
it's a class a, I mean, this one's good stuff.
I mean, people with money will buy this people, you know, the Lexus car dealerships, the,
the corporate golf outings.
I mean, this stuff is what this is great.
You have a great product, man.
Thank you.
I mean, it's especially with a half a shot.
You haven't even got, I mean, you haven't even got the chocolate chip cookies yet.
I mean, but the concept is, is, is just, it's mind boggling.
You know, I actually see you partnering with another.
Like a dudes like us.
Oh, I'm sorry.
What?
Maybe.
Yeah.
You have a lifetime supply of samples.
Yeah, sure.
I mean, no, but, um, I see you partnering, like you talked about the popcorn place.
I see you partnering with somebody with like-minded, like-minded product that you, you know what
I mean?
Instead of, and then that would be your stepping stone out of a revolving kitchen into a semi-establishment,
right?
That you're sharing with just one other person.
Yeah.
You know, I could, I could see that.
But it also needs to be comparable.
It needs to be part of the same, uh, league.
Yeah.
Because I mean, there you can walk in and you could buy $4 bag of candy.
And this is not that product.
Yeah.
You know, there, there are kids that are going into that specific store.
You know, I don't know where that's at.
Where is that?
Is that at a, what is the chocolate place they have at all the malls?
Godiva.
Yeah.
Like a Godiva would that be?
Maybe.
Target.
Yeah.
That's too big of a company.
You'd have to be a mom and pop.
But that same idea.
Yeah.
Same idea.
Yeah.
I mean, you could ride on the coattails of what is it called?
Tiffs?
Tiff's treats.
Yeah.
You can say, Hey, we can send you some boozy cookies.
You know, you know, maybe put your, hey.
And they're, yeah.
But you have to say you're from New Jersey on your website.
Sound like Bill Casper.
Hey, and I'll get you a sandwich.
Turkey Popeye.
A grinder.
What?
I don't know.
Uh, I mean, what, what are you thinking?
I mean, where are some businesses that you're pushing this?
I mean, you're going to distillers.
Yeah.
What else?
I mean, what, what's local?
Oh, my wife would love to be in specs.
Specs is great.
Yeah.
But you got, you got a two week shelf life.
Yeah.
That's so that that's the, the, the bar.
So I, some of these specs have food and refrigeration though.
They have pecan pies.
So they're selling it.
I'm thinking, I'm thinking wedding venues.
That's one thing that we want to push.
So, so we do have a half size cookie.
And one thing that we've talked about is doing like that smaller cookie and then do like
a label on there that has a bride and groom's name.
Yeah.
That's a good idea.
That's a good package.
And if you get in with those, I mean, they have wedding venues all over the place.
Yeah.
And when people drop, when people get married, I mean, it's ridiculous on the shit that they
spend money on, you know, and I put it down, I used to be a disc jockey and I used to do
a bunch of weddings.
And, you know, when you, when you sit down and you have a hundred person wedding and
I start negotiating my price and how much I'm going to charge, you know, I start bringing
up the fact that, all right, well, if you have a vegetable plate for one person in your
wedding, that's what seven bucks, six bucks.
I'll make it that number up.
I have no idea.
You know, and it's kind of like, all right, well, are you saying I'm as valuable?
I'm less than that.
I'm the valuable that that vegetable plate, you know, cause I try to rationalize me being
there.
I'm just like, there's money there is my point, you know, six bucks for a vegetable plate.
You know, I mean, that's two cookies.
That's I mean, how much is a cookie?
Probably let me see.
80, 12, excuse me, like seven bucks, eight bucks.
So the 18.45 is the most expensive.
It's eight and a quarter, eight and a quarter.
Yeah.
All right.
So that seems reasonable for a big four ounce cookie.
I would expect that with a half a shot of bourbon.
Yeah.
I mean, you can label it like that in, man, I'm telling you, uh, this could go off the
rails.
I have nothing but positive thoughts for you.
Thank you.
Yeah.
I'm super excited.
I'm, you know, fingers crossed.
Well, that's great.
All right.
Well, let's launch into the next one.
Hey, sorry.
I mean, we're stalling here.
Stop talking.
Well, we've got like 20 minutes.
Again, you're going to need your eyes.
This is the 18.45.
Do we want to save those for last?
Oh, I don't know.
We got it out.
Let's just tell, let's do it.
Preemption.
Let's just do it.
You're holding it.
It's time.
Mr. Bruce, can you come over here, please?
This is the balcony is baby blue.
Hang on.
And this is begrudgingly.
You share your cookie.
I gave him the bigger half too.
They get that right?
Yes.
Okay.
I saw you just like, okay, so with these especially, open them up and smell them before you, before
you do anything.
It's like, it's like taking your mouth, putting this, no, I smelled it.
It's like taking a snifter and the way you smell the bourbon is you just take a big old
with them.
All right.
My bag is broken.
I'm getting frustrated here.
Oh, I can't open it.
So sobriety test.
It is.
It is childproofed.
Oh, you pulled apart.
I know.
I'm trying.
All right.
Good.
Austin's been working out.
He has been working out.
It's very impressive.
All right.
Here we go.
I'm smelling.
He's got some jacked up opposable thumbs.
Surprisingly, I don't smell as much bourbon as I was expecting, but I smell wonderful
chocolate chips.
So the other thing that you can do, and we tell people this when they buy them at one
of the festivals, take them home, throw them in the microwave for about five, 10 seconds,
get them a little warm.
Oh yeah.
And then you'll get even more of that flavor.
Oh yeah.
More of that.
I can see that.
I can taste the bourbon.
Oh yeah.
I mean, it's, and I'm not kissing your ass because I don't care.
It's the perfect fucking cookie.
I mean, it's everything.
Because you think about, you know, you get the regular chocolate chip, you go chip ahoy
and you know, they're kind of soft.
Those aren't real cookies.
Yeah, whatever.
But you get it.
Then you have to dip it in milk.
Then it's soft.
It gets where you want it to be.
Then they have the chips ahoy that are soft to choose.
Soft serve type things.
Yeah.
And then it's kind of like, oh, that's good.
Then you get the ones you bake yourself and those are the real cookies and they're soft.
This one, it's thick.
Michael, that cookie's ridiculous.
It is.
It's thick because the cookies we make ourselves, those kind of flatten out a little bit.
They're still soft.
They're still tremendous.
This one's thick and soft.
Yeah.
It's got that gooey center.
It's where you get some of the dough.
It's the perfect texture.
It's not a lot of times it's undercooked.
We're getting back to, we're getting back to erotic talk.
So we need to kind of get off of that a little bit.
I'm Sean's dude from the waist down now.
Yeah.
Just ignore him.
Nah, I've got my thong on.
Yeah.
Turn away.
We just ignore him when he does that.
Yeah.
That's why I wear my crocs.
What a great conversation.
And we're going to talk more about this in the second half because we have more samples.
You have listened to the podcast before.
I have.
Yeah.
So yeah, you should be used to this.
Yeah.
All right.
So we're going to talk about this in the second half and this is, and we'll talk more about
the business, right?
Cool.
And more your cookie, your cookie stuff.
So I thought maybe with the, what do we have left?
We've got about.
We've got about 10, 15 minutes left.
10, 15 minutes.
All right.
So we definitely need to talk about the bourbon.
Let's talk about the bourbon.
We're, we're.
Well, this is not a bourbon.
Let's talk about the bourbon right now.
Yeah, let's do that.
Before I finish mine.
It's actually not a bourbon.
It's a, what is it?
It's a whiskey.
It's a rye.
It's a straight rye whiskey.
It's a rye.
It's a straight rye whiskey.
It's made by Pikesville.
So this one, Stan from Total Wine in Plano off of 121 and Preston.
Stan, shout out to Stan.
Shout out to Kevin.
Shout out to Heather.
God bless.
Heather's the one, the chick that was put in her two weeks note.
She's not going to be there by the time she hears this podcast.
No, it's not the one that was talking to us or you.
Well, she was talking to us collectively.
She's the one that has like seven kids and, and, God bless it.
She is like some master workout fiend and, and she's like a wine steward, a sommelier.
She really is.
She is.
She really is.
She's super smart.
She got a job working for, I don't know exactly.
I shouldn't say right now, so I won't.
That's it, sir.
110 proof straight rye whiskey Pikesville.
Stan pointed this one out.
He was like, you know what?
You need to grab that one because, you know, it shows up once in a while and then it just
disappears and it's not here for a while.
It's six years straight rye whiskey first produced in Maryland in the 1890s.
This is actually, this is actually a heavens ill juice.
Interesting.
Is this a heaven's ill whiskey?
It was once part of the booming Maryland rye industry.
It was shuttered by prohibition.
It was heaven reemerged from prohibition, which is by the way, not a lot of them reemerged
from prohibition and became the last standing Maryland rye as the rest of the industry's
production had ceased.
So yes, you're right.
Heaven hill distillery keeps this historic Maryland mark alive.
Kentucky.
Very nice.
It is, it's got a pale copper color, the aroma right out of it.
Dusty cocoa with the oaky smoke, kind of a...
I picked up some vanilla.
The longer it sat, the sweeter the nose got for me.
Taste for me, it's a dried spicy with...
I smell raisins.
Yeah, rye, cloves.
You know, we always talk about rye being spicy.
There's nothing spicy about this at all.
This is so smooth for me.
The finish is vanilla for sure.
I don't usually go back for more, but this went down so easy tonight.
It was a sweet start.
You get the sweetness immediately.
I tell you what, it's the perfect compliment with these damn cookies too.
It sure is.
So we do make an oatmeal raisin cookie with rye from Mylam & Green.
I'm sorry, man, but I think that...
Are you emotional right now?
I think so.
This is like a perfect night.
I don't know.
I mean, I don't smoke cigars.
I don't, but sometimes I have been known to smoke cigars and I'm thinking, man, I could
have a...
You could do a cigar, a rye, and a cookie in one night, in one sitting.
And just imagine the moon and the stars and a breeze.
Oh, and it's what, 100...
I mean, just looking up at the moon at just 61 degrees and Sean's having his moment with
these cookies and this cigar.
Residing sonnets.
Always got on it.
It's just crocs.
Yes.
And some ashless chaps.
And some black socks.
Yes.
Oh, that's a Sean moment.
They're my compression socks.
That is a Sean moment.
You guys make fun of my compression socks.
Dude, it needs to go.
That's not a good look.
Some say Pikesville rye is easy to drink and full of flavor.
Others say that spice becomes more noticeable the longer the whiskey sits in the glass,
like Jeff just said, and that a splash of water can tone down some of the sharper edges.
There's no sharp edge on this.
Well, at first it can be.
A lot of ryes have a sharp edge.
Not me.
I don't...
Pikesville rye is a product of Heaven Hill Distillery and it's aged for at least six
years.
It's made of charred virgin oak cask and ABV of 55%.
I don't know this was coming too.
All right, General, let's rate this.
All right, so Michael, you're not...
This is the irony of this whole conversation.
Michael's shit faced right now.
I am.
But here's the thing.
You make these cookies, you put all of these spirits in these cookies, but you're not
a big drinker.
I'm not.
And so, yeah, so this is kind of an odd experience for you to be drinking.
We drink when we taste things.
I'm good.
Right.
Okay.
But you don't...okay, you taste when you make cookies, but you don't...like you and
your wife don't sit down and pour a glass of something.
We do a fair number of distillery tours.
Just because...
But you want to try them for your cookies.
Right.
So we drink there.
Sure.
You have to.
But this is not a regular thing for you.
We went to San Diego.
We did a couple of distillery tours.
Right.
Austin, Houston.
Nice.
And then we went to Kansas City.
So yeah, I mean, we do it, but we don't like at the end of the day go, man, give me a...
All right.
So how are you feeling about this Pikesville straight rye whiskey?
I really like it.
Okay.
It's got that rye bite to it.
Yes.
But it's not overly strong.
It's got a good flavor.
It's kind of like a wasabi.
It's shockingly smooth.
It's kind of strong and then it just rolls down.
This might be one of the smoothest, I'll say spirits, right?
Because it's not a bourbon or smoothest whiskies at 110 proof.
110.
This is one of the smoothest I've ever tasted at 110 proof.
I'm not going to lie.
At 110 proof, guys, I tell you, I'm going to give this one a 7.8.
At 110 proof.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
I'm sorry.
Oh.
7.9.
You went up.
Yeah.
It's not an 8, but God bless it.
It's really close.
This is really easy to drink.
You could easily sip on this on an evening.
Oh, for sure.
You know, for sure.
There's no burn.
There's no harshness.
You can just like stick a straw on it.
So are we going to grade this against bourbons or just we're just saying, regardless of what
it is?
At this time right now, we're not set up for that.
So you know, like a scotch, we're not going to.
I mean, we have a couple scotches.
This is a tough one.
I don't know how high to go.
I mean, I like it a lot.
I'm trying to think what else is in the 110 region.
But here's the thing.
It's not rich, meaning it's just not bursting with flavor.
No.
But it's smooth as hell for 110.
I think I'm probably about 7.3, just because it tastes phenomenal.
But when you think of the richness of some of these, it's not quite there.
That's not its character.
Its character is it's smooth.
There's still a really good flavor, but it's not as rich as some of the other ones.
I would agree with that.
And I think a 7.3, no, 7.3, 7.4 is about perfect.
Right.
I would agree with you on that one.
Yep.
And I know you don't know our rating scale, but if you're gathering arbitrary, so you
give us very good, good.
Okay.
Or so if I just based on what you guys said, okay, I would go seven five.
Okay.
Yeah.
I mean, I think it's I think it's very good.
It's very drinkable.
Very drinkable.
Compared to the other rise I've had.
I've had better.
It's definitely up there.
Yeah.
I think it's still Austin cast strength, right?
That'd be one of my favorites.
Yes.
But that's one 18.
Yeah, it's a little stronger.
It is.
Yeah, I've had that one.
It's good.
Well, I'm enjoying it.
This is a great night.
Uh, the first half, we, we have tons of things to talk about too.
We've got, we have a robot dogs.
We got, you know, FEMA and NGP bourbon.
Uh, Oh yeah, that's right.
The NGP in Illinois.
Yeah.
Do we want to jump on that since we're talking about this?
Yes.
Let's talk about it.
This is Paul's story that he sent us.
And basically what it's saying is the bourbon market is starting to soften.
It is.
So, but, but what walk us through what NGP it's it's multi-grain products.
Correct.
And this is based in a fair because a lot of people say NGP juice is the Indiana and
this company makes a lot of juice.
We call it the NGP product.
A lot of juice for a lot of distilleries.
I don't remember them all, but Jeff, your God bless our Almanac.
Why don't you spout out some of the, uh, folks that gobble up the NGP juice that these guys
make.
I have no idea.
Really?
I think bullet.
We just stump them.
No, no.
Well, I mean, there's a lot of them out there.
Yeah, tons.
Yes.
I mean, when people want to get into the bourbon industry and they don't have a distillery,
they don't have anything, that's where they go.
I would say go to, they go to saying that 50% of the whiskeys out there are NGP juice.
I have no idea.
Uh, maybe.
That seems high to me, but I think Rebecca's Creek used them.
Those are NGP.
Yeah.
I think some of those were NGP.
I think Milam and green is NGP.
And so it's significant from this perspective that they're thinking.
I'm thinking that they're thinking that a, our juice is worth something.
One, it's worth something because people are buying it as a starter.
Okay.
And so they're going to do this market, we've with this market and was selling it to all
these different companies.
We have built up these, this distillery.
We already have, we have the organization, we have the hardware to produce massive amounts
of distillate.
And now they're like, guess what guys, we're making our own shit.
Well, they are.
It's called Ross and Squib.
Yeah.
And Penelope.
Well, they bought Penelope.
They're going to rock the world right now.
But here's, and these other companies, what are they going to do?
But here's the thing, right?
So they have, they have a shit ton of distillate aging.
Okay.
Aging various years, whatever people are going to buy, right?
Three, five, eight, 10.
They've got all, they have so much stored up and the market is softening and they have
decided that they're going to scale back production because they see the writing on
the wall, right?
And that's got, that has to make a big part of the industry that is buying MGP product.
You just got to make them nervous because that means there's going to be less of it.
And then I don't know if that means price is going to go up, but I think they're doing
this because there needs to be, there's, I think they're anticipating that the market
is going to soften and prices are going to come down.
I don't know about that.
I think this is a cash grab for them and I think it's kind of a dick move, but it's
a shrewd business move because there are some businesses out there.
It's kind of like having one of your vendors that sells you your ingredients, top elite
ingredients that you get.
And then all of a sudden they're like, yeah, we're not going to sell you that anymore.
We can, but the price is going to double up because we don't care about some of that because
we're going to take it.
We want to use it for our stuff.
So if you want it, it's going to cost double.
I think that's what they're doing.
I mean, the, the, the angle of the article was that they're anticipating prices are
going to drop because the market is softening.
It's saturated and people aren't buying as much as they were during COVID, right?
COVID was a huge time when, when there was the peak, it was the peak of the market and
it's definitely going down and it's definitely saturated.
So I don't know.
I hear what you're saying.
I kind of, it kind of reminds me.
I don't see it being a cornering of the market type of move.
I see it.
I think it might be a combination of both.
I don't know.
There's a, but it's, I, I'm going to compare this to, to agree with you.
I'm going to compare this to like the, the boom of the beers, you know, you had like,
I'll bring up this company called rogue rogue.
You said dead, dead guy.
Ill is a made from, it's an ill beer from a company called rogue.
Rogue produced hundreds of different beers, right?
You know, that kind of like dogfish, dogfish produce hundreds of different types of beers.
Okay.
And these distilleries, these, these breweries have fallen off the face of the earth because
of just exactly what you said.
It becomes thin when your product isn't unique anymore because there's so many, you've got
a hundred different types of the same one.
Well God bless it.
You're not in bed with anybody.
But I remember when they first came out, arrogant bastard used to be like my favorite beer.
And then they sold out.
They stopped selling it into the courts that they used to make it in.
They changed the ingredients.
I don't give a shit what they say.
They did cause I remember the way it used to taste in the, in the courts.
And then they switched the cans and then they had, they came back with the courts and the
whole process was different.
So fell apart, huh?
Yeah, it is.
And at the same time, you know, cause Jeff and I, we were traveling all over, you know,
it was a mission.
We're going to find the strongest effing beer that we could.
The Imperial milk dragon, you know, that was called a dragon's milk, a dragon's milk.
It was an Imperial, uh, stout, Imperial stout.
And it was like, you know, 10, 12, 13%.
And then you got like the barley wines that went up to 15, 16%.
And then you became men.
And you became fucking fat.
And you started drinking bourbon.
And then we got really fat.
Oh, I mean.
That's when we stopped it.
That's really, that's why we were just like, I stopped drinking that stuff.
I put on 15, 20 pounds fast.
And I was like, I'm done.
I stopped.
And, uh, it's hard for me to drink that stuff now.
Yeah.
I can't even go back to it.
Like I won't drink Imperial stuff.
Jeff, did you find a story?
Did you find something on the MGP?
Do you have something on your list?
Yeah, I have a list here.
This is, this is on Reddit.
So take that for one of those.
It says up to date list of MGP source bourbons.
Uh, some of these I'm not familiar of a red line dancing goat, uh, Doc Swinson, which
we just had that last week.
Pin hook vertical series.
We know pin hook.
Blue run, which I'm familiar with those.
New Lou, which you have one out there.
No new Lou.
Yeah.
Backbone redemption, which we have a bunch of redemption.
Uh, old soul.
Old.
Oh yeah.
My son bought me a really expensive bottle of smooth Ambler.
We know that one.
These are all MGP smoke wagon.
Yep.
Smoke wagons.
Great.
Okanedon bell need.
Um, no need.
I've been to that story.
That's in Nashville.
Penelope, it looks like a, uh, Penelope four grain barrel strength architect Penelope has
Penelope is good.
It was a great, yeah.
There's a brother's bond.
So don't bring up that story, which is terrible.
I know it is terrible, but the point is, the point is MGP.
What happened there?
I got, you don't remember the Colorado story where I was on the trying to call you guys
and was like, Hey, they have these, they have four bottles.
They have four bottles of the four.
I thought it was like, I thought it was like, he's not heavy.
He's my brother kind of moment.
H Taylor.
Yes.
Yeah.
They were like, you want each tailor for 40, $40 a bottle.
But I was like, well, you know what?
They're not answering.
So I'll take brother's bond.
I'll just get brother's bond.
That was Michael.
It was a disaster.
They will never let me let that down.
All right.
Well, that is interesting.
I'm kind of wondering what their angle is.
You know, I, I'm going to take it for face value that they're reducing, uh, their supply
production.
But doing that increases demand.
I mean it, what does it do?
Reducing supply increases demand.
Right.
And it gets more expensive.
So how does that work?
Makes them money.
If they think it's going to soften, the market's going to soften.
I don't understand.
I think this is a ploy.
I think it's, it's a business plan.
These guys are smart.
Look, you know, they're, they're in business for a reason.
You know, they've been selling to a lot of people out there.
Who knows?
There's, there's, there's an angle.
There's always an angle.
Right.
Who knows?
Well, I'm excited about the second half.
I'm excited about the second half.
Me too.
I know we haven't touched on a lot of political things that are going on, but I know it's
on everybody's mind.
We'll talk about a couple things.
There is.
There's a lot of things that are happening right now.
And I loved that we're talking about, uh, your cookie company.
Awesome.
Thank you.
And we're going to touch on that some more in the second half.
Uh, thank you, Mr. Producer for staying on top of things like this.
Check us out on Dudes Like Us dash podcast, Dudes Like Us dash woodcrafting.
Uh, check out the bacon boozing company.
Oh my God.
Say it again.
Boozy baking company.
God damn it.
I'm so sorry.
Boozy, boozy, boozy, baking company.
You need a jingle.
I even wrote it up.
We're going to come up with a jingle in the second half.
Boozy, bacon company.
No, that's not going to work.
Boozy, boozy, boozy, boozy, bacon company.
Oh my God.
BBC.
There you go.
Boozy, bacon company.
Wow.
That just got dark.
Dudes Like Us, I'm Sean.
I'm Paul.
I'm Jeff.
I'm Michael.
You guys have, we'll see you in a couple minutes.
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