Oh, no. I left my drink over there. You want
to hit the timer? Yeah, hit the timer. We'll
not know anything that's going on. We need to
get like a pointer. Beautiful. Or we can move
it closer. I don't know if this... Is the cord
too short? That's fine. I don't care. It's been
two weeks? We didn't meet last week, did we?
Well, it was the holidays. It was the holidays.
And now we're in the new year. That's right.
Very exciting. That's right, because I had to
cancel last Tuesday. Is this the first? Oh, what'd
you end up doing? I had dinner with Brandon and
Yasmin. Actually, my wife and I did. Nice. So
they called and said, let's get together for
dinner. I was like, score. Hell yeah. You gotta
spend time with family. Yeah. This is the first
Tuesday of the new year, right? The very first
Tuesday. Yeah, okay. Yeah, our listeners, if
you can see that, I'm like jostling a bunch of
little token circles for our Dudes Like Us podcast
magnets, officials. Kind of feels like a scrotum.
Are they condoms? I don't think my scrotum feels
like a bag of nickels. Don't they look like a
condom package? We have dude like us condom package.
Maybe we need to market that. It is. It's the
first Tuesday of 2026. Congratulations for everybody
being able to survive another year listening
to us. We know it's been awesome. This one will
be officially season seven. Wow. Very nice. Lucky
seven. Getting closer to double digits. It's
exciting because I think that our podcast is
more becoming like people just can't wait for
the next release. It's kind of like the land
man, you know? Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's interesting.
People are getting frustrated when we have a
podcast. They're like, I can't wait. I can't
stand this. Well, it's the first half of Dudes
Like Us podcast, January 6th. We got our producer
Chuck back in town. Welcome back, sir. Dudes
Like Us. I'm Sean. I'm Paul. And I'm Jeff. Yeah,
you went on a binge for a few days, I believe
it looked like anyway. Yeah. Drinking binge?
Well, yeah, Chuck did. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah,
yeah. He had to detox when we were over drinking.
Did you really? A little bit, yeah. I'm like,
oh, my God. Yeah. And you went to multiple distilleries?
We went to Rebecca Creek. We went to - All of
them. Real Ale. Real Ale. Did you go to Andalusia?
Did not go to Andalusia. Did not make it to Garrison
Brothers. They were booked. Oh, yeah. Holiday
week for sure. And then we went fishing and drank
beer. Did you catch anything? Yeah. Did you pick
up any nuggets from Rebecca Creek? Oh, you did?
Hold on. Did you say you caught trout? Trout,
yeah. They stock trout. Oh, they stock trout.
Yeah. I was going to say, I didn't think trout
was a natural species here in Texas. In certain
places where the water's cold enough, yes. What
about alligator gar? No. No gar. Pike? Gar. That's
northern. Rainbow fish. Rainbow trout, yeah.
Oh. Yeah, rainbow trout is - I was thinking the
one with the little light in front of it with
the big teeth. Oh, like in - Was that emo? Finding
emo? That's the lantern fish. Yes. Do they have
those in Texas? No. We didn't get any arcotuthis.
No deep sea fishing. How disappointing. It's
exciting, though, getting out there like that,
visiting the distilleries, going for a manly
fishing expedition. Would you went with your
brother and friends? Yeah, four brothers. So
we kind of took over the - Four brothers? Yeah.
I think we've met like one or two. Mike. Probably
met Paul. Why don't you be a fly on the wall
for that program? I'm kidding. Are you the youngest
or oldest? Where are you? I'm the oldest. You're
the oldest, so you find all of them annoying.
Oh, God, yeah. Interesting. Yeah, and they're
listening. Hey, shout out, brothers. Hey, do
they all listen, really? I said, you got to listen.
Do they have no idea, or you have been telling
them, and they just haven't been making time
for it? Yeah, they just haven't followed up.
Okay, well, this might be the first one they're
listening to. There you go. Welcome, Chuck Brothers.
Yeah. I have a question in regard. He brought
up Architeuthis. Yes. What's plural? Architeeth?
Architeuthi? Architeuthethis. I think it's Architeeth.
That's Architeuth. No. Why am I saying no? I
have no idea. You know what I really appreciate?
Yes? The level of lifestyle for Jeff where that's
what he's concerned about. You know, I sat around
all day today. All day thinking, what's the plural
of Architeuthis? Well, maybe we can solve that
burning question for you. Well, you have one
tooth and you have a mouth full of teeth. I don't
think it's tooth. It's not arc -a -tooth. Is
it? I don't know. I don't even know how you spell
it. Okay, well, he's looking it up for us. I
can't spell it. This is like the most important
thing right out of the gate. Let's talk about
it. But I will tell you, it's the first week,
it's the first full week of official work for
those folks that... I don't want to complain
because I'm not complaining because Christmas
and New Year's Eve, they're perfectly a week
apart. And I always hate it. It really grinds
my gears when you have Christmas like on a Friday
or a Saturday. Friday's not bad, but a Saturday,
you're kind of like, come on. Why are you wasting
a day? But this year was perfect. Both of them
were on Thursdays. Right. And they were cool
because you didn't work Friday or if you did
go to work, you didn't really do anything. And
then the two Wednesdays before were both early
releases. These were two perfect weeks. Do you
think that was Jesus' goal to be exactly one
week early? Yes. For 2025? No, just to say I
want to be born exactly one week prior to the
new year. God moved around. I don't think he
had any concept of that. God moved galaxies and
suns and all sorts of shit to make that happen.
Was it a planned C -section? Wow. Wow. No. Trading
on thin ice over there, brother. I have a coworker
that's like, it's not even December 25th. He
wasn't born. He was born probably during the
summer. I guess she's been watching these podcasts
where they're kind of trying to. make it a science
to figure out when actually during the year he
would have been born. I was like, it doesn't
matter. This is when we celebrate the birth of
Christ. This is all that matters. You don't need
to get all wrapped up in, is it scientifically
founded? Who cares? And then it also turns into
a point where it's not a matter of, it's a matter
of celebration. It's a matter of tradition. It's
a matter, it's more of a symbol. than it is something
scientific like that. It's the spirit of giving
and everybody's happy. The other symbol of the
antithesis of that, which was awesome, is the
negative side of that, which is the first week
going back to work. It's just different. It's
like this holiday letdown. Today was my first
day back. It sucked. Gloom and doom. Not me.
Get that theme music playing. Not me. I rolled
into yesterday being like, you know what? I'm
going to start out productive, focused. I'm going
to suck down on energy drinks super fast. And
I'll tell you what. I kicked ass yesterday, and
I stayed focused today. I can figure the music
going in Paul's mind when he's going to work.
Hey, guys. It's usually ABBA that I'm playing.
It's like the Muppet Show or something. I'm just
a little super trooper. Yeah, that's one of the
80s songs they have, yes. Seriously, I've been
hammering ABBA. Listeners, if you have not listened
to ABBA, truly get past the five or six songs
that everybody knows about. It's some good shit.
Oh, my gosh. I'll tell you what. I did go somewhere
today. In the background, they're playing ABBA.
Really? They were playing the whole God Blessing
album. Good. People are getting on board. I was
sitting in the waiting room where I was at. I
was like, this is fantastic. This is an ABBA
revolution. I'm on board. They're getting on
board. Finally. After 50 years. Uh -huh. There
is nothing we can do. There's so many good songs,
really. Anyway, and they have longevity. They
had like nine albums. You know what doesn't have
longevity? What's that? Our freaking eyeballs.
No, you're coming to the realization you needed
glasses. Man, I made an appointment. So first
of all, I have a good friend. His name is Stephen
McDaniel, and I'll say his first and last name
because whatever. Is he an ortho? Is it eye doctor?
Ophthalmologist? Yeah, what do you call it? Is
it ophthalmologist? Eye doctor. Hey, look, Mr.
I have all the words for every moment is coming
up short today. Is it optometrist? I'm thinking,
well, I already said that. No, you said ophthalmologist.
I did not. I said ophthalmologist. He said that.
You know, it doesn't matter. But I went to, I
needed glasses. You guys know this. And so I
was like, you know what? I don't want to go to
just any doctor because I can. I can go to any
doctor. Anyone you want. They'll spit one out.
It's not a big deal. You know, I haven't seen
my friend in a long time. You know, and we were
really close. And this guy I've known since 1989.
How about that shit? Hold on. You have not seen
him since then? No, no. I've seen him. But we've
been friends. We've been friends since 1989.
Very nice. And we moved up to Dallas here together.
I mean, holding hands. Like in the same car?
Yeah. We drove up here together in the same bus,
van, whatever you want to call it. With your
hand on his knee? Junk. Yeah, a little bit like
that. Did you say junk? I said junk. Not that
kind of ride. You know, life happens. And we
got kind of separated. And, you know, I got married.
And he went off and got married and went to school
to be an eye doctor. And, you know, we kind of
say hi every now and then. We talk on the phone
once a year maybe. And, you know, I just called
him up and said, hey, man, I need my eyes looked
at. And I need to take care of this. I just need
your opinion on some things. And we just went
over there today. And I bought two pairs of glasses.
Glasses are fucking expensive. Yes, they are.
Did he give you a friend discount? You know,
he did. Nice. And I'm thankful. So, you know,
but still, even with a friend discount. Oh, yeah.
Oh, it's painful. It's still. The frames, the
lenses. The lenses are the expensive part. Yeah,
and then they talk you into doing the anti -scratch
and the automatic sun thing and this and that
and then like all this. And while you're making
these decisions, do you want to back rub? But
they should at least do that. Happy ending. Oh,
wow. Yeah. I wouldn't have mind that with the
staff he has working there. So it's a massage
slash eye doctor. Did you get the computer glasses,
the polarized? Yeah, I got a little. Actually,
I did not do the blue. Yeah, but it's not that
big of a deal. I don't. I mean, I get it. You'll
be surprised. They can help. But there's stuff
that you could do to your actual monitors to
cover it. Just buy glasses. I did get them. I
totally forgot to. So I got two pairs. I got
readers. Okay. Readers are good. And I got the
progressive lens. Those are fancy. I said no
to those. I did too. Why? Well, no. Based on
what? From getting them and going, I do not like
these because - Oh, well, there you go. Yeah.
Because I got them, and I think they may have
been trifocals, and you have to look down. to
read up close, and you look straight, and you
can't look side to side like that. You have to
turn your head. So hold on. So when I drive.
Trifocals and progressive are two different things.
What are progressives? Progressives are there's
no lines at all. Well, it's still a different
thing. Yes. There's no lines at all, but it is
even a different experience than the trifocals.
Like you have to, even more so in my opinion,
you've got to find the sweet spot in everywhere
you're trying to look. It's essentially the same.
It is. Actually, what I had were bifocals. They
said, you have to turn your head so don't look
like this. And I was getting horrible headaches.
And I was just like, fuck that. Because I drive
with my eyes. I'm not like flipping my head left
and right everywhere when I turn. Well, when
you have long hair like you used to. Yeah. I
didn't have a mullet for a while. You have to
shake your head. Hi, guys. I never did that.
Did you wear glasses while you were high, guys?
No, I didn't need glasses back there in my life.
You just didn't. I didn't need glasses until
I turned 40. Yeah. That's normal. In fact, that
seems to be the age that Dr. McDaniel pointed
out. He said once you turn 40, certain things
have a tendency to go downhill. He said I have
astigmatism. 0 .75 to 2 .0 for my up -close reading.
Yeah, yours are worse than mine. I don't have
problems with up -close. Yeah. Did you end up
getting the progressive then? Yeah. I got two
pairs. Hopefully they work for you. I couldn't
do it. I didn't want them. The up -close, the
readers, I mean, they truly are fantastic. I
mean, but you cannot, I mean, you cannot see
10 feet out in front of you. Right. It's crazy.
I don't know how I feel about that, but I'm going
to end up getting, I could never maintain glasses,
sunglasses specifically. I've never had glasses,
so I don't know what to anticipate. So I think
what I'm going to end up doing is getting those
little necklace thingies that attach to my glasses
and putting some sort of Bluetooth chip or some
Wi -Fi chip on there. Might be the church lady.
Yeah, somewhat. Just like tape like a big AirPod
on it. Yeah. No, do the ones with the little
beads. Looks like a buoy that floats in the water.
They have those. Whatever. I just need something
because I'm Sean, so I'm going to put my shit
down. Who knows where it's going to be? But I
got the readers. The readers already came out
already. I got them. They're at the house. I
kind of forgot them. And when I arrived here,
Mr. Larry Hokai had these readers, and I left
them here. I was wondering where the hell I left
them. But they're great. So you haven't tried
the progressive yet? I have not. I have not.
I'm interested to see how well you respond. He
had a little simulation of one, and you're right.
It's going to... It's going to take some getting
used to, but I feel that with my type of personality
and the way I am, I feel like I can become resilient
to these kind of things. Hell, if I could sleep
with a CPAP machine on and learn how to just
kind of work through it, mind over matter kind
of stuff, I feel confident I can get through
it. I have to because I really want to see it.
It affects everything. I was asking about the
LASIK. I wish the information was readily available
online. You just can't find it. I was kind of
like, really? Go talk to her. I talked to the
doctor about it. He was like, yeah, LASIK is
great for those people that are under 40. What
was the rationale there? I would think it'd be
for anybody. But the difference is that why are
you getting LASIK? You're getting LASIK so you
don't have to wear glasses. But you're almost
guaranteed to have to wear glasses if you get
LASIK. So if you get LASIK - Your eyes continue
to go bad. Yeah. Like Julie's wearing glasses
again because your eyes continually to age. Oh,
I see. So all it does is kind of delay things.
That's true too. Yes. But the upfront part that
Dr. McDaniel was sharing was that when you get
the LASIK done, your up -close reading will automatically
start to fill pretty quick. So you got to wear
the readers no matter what. She was fine. She
didn't wear glasses probably for 15 years. Like
any kind of glasses. Up close, far away, nothing.
Oh, I'm sorry. I'm misspeaking. The LASIK is
specifically really for distance. They don't
have LASIK for readers. No, I don't know. That's
what I meant to say. I misspoke there. So when
you do the LASIK, it's specifically for seeing
distances. Yeah, it'll correct it, but it's not
going to correct your... I totally misspoke there.
The thing that Julie struggles with, and it's
still to this day, that a lot of people don't
know if it's an automatic thing, is she has a
hard time driving at night because of the starbursts.
Yeah, yeah. The halo around all the lights. It's
really bad for LASIK. I don't know if they've
adjusted the technique in the 20 years, 25 years
since she's had it. Really, LASIK makes that
worse. Correct. The night vision. There is another
generation of LASIK coming out, but it's all
the same. You know, they basically cut the top
layer of your eyeball. I was in there when she
had it done. That sounds so gross. They let it
heal, and that's it. Yep. There's no magic to
it. Isn't it like a super fast, like zip, zip?
Well, what they do is they put this thing, because
I was in there. He goes, you want to come in
and watch? I was like, sure. I would not watch.
So, you know, the proper eyeball. Jeff, you put
your pants on, please. This isn't that complex.
And it's got a blade on it, and they lower it.
You know, they're taking measurements, and they
have a big mic. microscope type of thing to get
in there closer. They could tell how deep they
need to get. Is she out? No, she's awake. Damn.
What happens if she blinks? I know. They hold
her eye open. Yeah, but what if she moves her
eye? Like, ow, or something. Well, they numb
the eye. Who will hold the eye open? Oh, they
deaden the eye. Yeah, they put drops in, so they
deaden it. That makes sense. And then they have
this little thing. Back then, it was... They
just moved a little. We're coming up with every
horrific scenario we can think of. Well, she
burps her fart during the procedure. This is
how every horror film starts. And then they just
moved this little thing. And it has a little
circular blade thing. A blade. I thought they
went to laser. Nope. Then they lift it up. That's
the second version. And then they shoot your
laser in there. See, that's just. I'm a baby
about eyes. So that's just gross to me. I couldn't.
There's no way. Did you watch it close enough
to where you saw the. Oh, yeah. Are you kidding
me? Jeff's into that kind of stuff. Seriously,
what are you, Dexter? Yeah, I am. Then I sliced
her up. It aroused you, so you just sliced her
to pieces. Nice, nice, lovely. That's not really
my wife out there. Jeff has a secret room under
his stairs. Keeps his Iron Maiden there. Yeah,
I wouldn't do that. I would continue to wear
glasses. I wouldn't. It was a great service going
out to the clinic there. It's in Dallas. I'll
do a shout out to Stephen McDaniel. It's called
the Glass Optical. It's 833 West Davis Street
in downtown, not downtown, but Dallas, Texas,
75208. Stephen McDaniel. It's Glass Optical.
It was fun. And they have all the technology
there. I mean, look, it's taken a quantum leap.
It was fun? Yeah. I mean, it was kind of cool
because you go up to these different machines.
Do they have a jumpy house? They kind of did.
It's an emotional one, but it was sitting there.
You know, you sit in this chair and this thing
comes up to it and it's blasting lights in there.
And then there's one thing where there's like,
here, take a look at my earlobe and air pops
in there. And I'm like, will you stop doing that?
She did it like three times. It's like, do you
feel this? Do you feel that? Did they dilate
your eyeballs? No, they didn't. Because you did
the digital opto -map or something. Yeah, it
was - That's what I do, too. No -brainer. Don't
do the drops where they dilate your eyes. Do
the digital opto -map. It's like 30 bucks. Oh,
yeah. And they see much better, and they have
a history of your eye. Yep. And I got to tell
you - That's so much smarter. You know, in retrospect,
for the amount of money, I don't know exactly
how much I pay in insurance for eye care. But
for the amount of money that I had to spend on
everything there, why the fuck do we even have
insurance? Vision Insurance, at least ours as
well. I don't know if you have it through the
school, but it sucks. I have it through my company.
I mean, you have it, but they give you like a
hundred. It was a fraction of the cost. 10 %
perhaps of the total cost of everything. And
I'm like. Oh, that they covered, you mean? Yeah,
it's just kind of ridiculous. I mean, I'm out
of pocket. I mean, look. He took care of me,
but imagine if he didn't. For the normal person
that goes in there, you're going to drop anywhere
from five on the low end to $3 ,000 to get some
up -to -date glasses. I've never heard of that.
Usually the frames, again, I guess I have good
insurance. There's new progressive lenses. Lenses
are expensive depending on what they are. Go
to Costco. Yeah, well, I mean, that is an option,
too. Once you know what your, what is it called?
Your diagnosis? Prescription. Yeah, once you
get your prescription, you take it to Costco
and say, I need glasses. There you go. And it's
usually two for one or something like that. Yeah,
well, that's if you have a flat -out regular
prescription. But if you've got the progressive
ones, I think those are. They do progressives.
So how do they do that, though? Yeah, they do
everything. They just send it off to a lens.
A lens making... Yeah, but the progressive ones,
there's kind of like, they have to measure your
eyeballs and that kind of stuff. So I'm assuming
they do that there too, right? Yeah, they have
the shit there and everything. Well, why do you
want to, like, stomp on my friend's eye doctor
place? Fuck Costco. Well, you're the one who's
saying it's fucking expensive. Glass optical.
Well, it's not as fun. Yeah, it's not as fun.
Yeah, Costco's nowhere near as fun. Oh, no. They
don't have, like, the balloons. Lots of families
in your way. Yeah, they don't have big carts.
Oh, everywhere. Hey, there's a little sticker.
What is it called? The little new driver stickers
on those Costco carts? I don't think they do
that on the carts. But, you know, you were talking
about things that happen to us when we get old.
I mean, do we have any fears of getting old?
Like, other than, like, worried about dementia.
I'm worried. And maybe falling down. I don't
know. Like, what? I worry more about losing my
brain. I have memory issues right now. The other
day, I was sitting in the kitchen, and I'm like,
hey, are we going to keep this? And I'm pointing
at the bowl, and it's cheese in it. And you're
just not talking. And it's fucking queso. I couldn't
come up with the word queso. I know. And I was
looking at it. I'm like, this is right here.
This cheese in this white bowl is cheese. And
you're getting more and more frustrated. And
they were like, you have the queso, Dad? And
I was like, yeah, the queso. And you're like.
Yes, I am concerned. It scares me because I tell
you, I'm not normal. You guys know that. I will
go on a walkabout once I find myself. If I can't
take care of myself, that's it. I'm done. At
that point, you may not realize that you can't
take care of yourself. That's how that happens.
You don't realize it. The day that you would,
you forgot that you wanted to. That's the problem.
But we'll take you off and shoot you in the head.
Yeah. Because as long as it's fast, who cares?
Let's grind you real slow. Dude, just a little
bullet to the hair. What are you guys doing?
He said the day this happens, we need to off
him. That's it. That's all we're doing. Feet
first. Yeah. Slow. Do the grinder. But I wanted
to burn the top half. He wanted to grind the
bottom half. I wanted to burn the top half. So
we're both doing it. It's no big deal. Burn your
candle at both ends. Yeah, age, I mean, I know
me, I know Paul has as well, that when both my
parents finally passed away, especially my dad,
the mortality aspect has kicked in. And that's
what I was struggling with last year. And I was
trying to get across to you guys on what I was
dealing with, and one of the reasons I retired
from the corporate and all that stuff, because
I was like... I'm not going to screw around.
I'm not going to fuck around. I don't need to.
I'm not going to screw around with that bullshit
anymore. Right. I don't need to stress. I don't
need to stress because. Because we don't have
as much time as we think we do. I theoretically
have 18 years left. Right. If I die at the average.
Right. Lifespan of it. And I want to sit around
wondering what the plural of Architeuthis is.
Yes. Exactly. For 18 years. Exactly. So, you
know, I've, now, I'm through that process. But,
you know, it's still in the back of your head
a little bit. But, you know, just. You know,
of course, everyone thinks of dementia and stuff
like that because you don't really realize it's
happening to you. Right. More and more. And it
just kind of all of a sudden happens. But, you
know, the falls. And time is flying. I mean,
it doesn't help that, you know, I was talking
with my friend Steve today, and we were talking
about my firstborn, whose birthday is tomorrow,
and she turns 29. Damn. Damn. That's crazy. Holy
shnikes. Yeah. You probably remember when you
were 29. You were probably married with kids
at 29. Yeah, I guess so. I mean, but you're right.
The passage of time, it does just fly by. And
then you wake up one morning and go like, all
the things that you said, yeah, I'll do that
someday. I'll get into that someday. I'll learn
Spanish someday. I'll go skydiving or scuba diving
someday. I mean, when I have time. That kind
of stinks because we're running out of time.
I feel like that ship has, I've missed that ship.
No, you haven't. You really haven't. You haven't.
If you spend 10 ,000 hours, you'll be an expert.
You have to make the time. You do. And the decision
to do it without your wife, if that's what it
is. That's the sucky part. And even more now
than ever because we're running out of time.
It's just so much guilt. But to do what? To whatever,
man. I was born a military brat. Change, movement.
My dad went on four tours over to Europe. We
were constantly moving, constantly sightseeing,
constantly seeing new shit. Man, I get here.
Hell, even living in southwest Texas in El fucking
Paso. That was like a different country. Yeah.
You know, but it's just like, now I'm kind of
like, I went from that to this. And my wife,
she's kind of like, well, you can leave me anytime.
She's just like. So she's supportive. Yeah. But
my point is. To leave on vacation is what you're
saying. That's not what she was saying. Well,
in my opinion, you have to make the decision
because you're right. You're either, I'm out
of time and this is what it is. And I'm giving
up. Or you're like, screw it. want to do this,
I would like you to go. But if not, I'm going
to go. Right. Well, I mean, or I could just do
some things that are mainly things that I want
to do. I mean, of course, I want to travel and
see these amazing things in the world that I'm
totally interested in, you know, but I could
settle for driving to Amarillo to. the caverns,
not the caverns, but the canyon, the Palo Duro
Canyon, and doing some camping out there. I'd
love to, and this is the time of year to do it.
What about taking one of your daughters or one
of your sons with you on a trip? You did that
with us. Yeah, well, I mean, the option's all
there. You know, I mean, just, you know, got
to rally the troops and kind of time it with
everybody. See if Emily wants to go to Australia.
Yeah. I'm not going there. See if Emily wants
to go to Australia. Yeah, she would. I'd like
to go back to the Northeast and visit up there
with some of the family members up there. I wouldn't
mind doing that. See if Preston wants to go or
Austin. Well, those guys would have to focus
on school. If I took anyone, I'd probably take
both my girls. Take the girls up there. The question
is, why not at this point? But if it makes you
feel any better, like Shelly doesn't have any
sort of phobia or anything like that, and we
haven't gone anywhere. We've been to Mexico a
couple times, right? To Cancun. We're going to
the Mediterranean next year. We are. So that's
a big trip next year, right? You've got a couple
cruises. Yeah, true. But it's not like we've
been, you know what I'm saying? I'm still in
the same boat of, like, if we want to go see
this or that or that, we've got to do it. Like,
you've got to do it. You've got to make these
cognitive choices. Yeah, we don't have to be
crazy and take off four months of unpaid leave
and get it all knocked out. Just plan a trip
a year or every other year. No, I'm planning
the year. Once I reach full retirement and Julie's
there, like every year I'm going to be going
on a big trip. Right. Probably for a month or
more, something like that. Right. Just gone.
Right. You know? Well, what about podcast? Well,
we'll take a break. We'll go with you. Well,
this is not for another. 10 years. Oh, okay.
Right when we hit our peak. We'll be in season
17 at that point. Okay, okay, okay. I'm sorry.
I had a little panic moment. We'll have 200 listeners.
You know, that's the goal. We're up to 220. Exponential,
baby. But, you know, that's the goal. We're going
to take a big old trip every year. And, you know,
I talked to the financial guy because he's asking,
what are your goals? These are my goals, or one
of them anyway. And then you need to put aside
this amount of money, save it up, and make a
trip. Doable. You just plan for it, and you pull
it out as needed, and you're good to go. The
key is doing the planning, being intentional,
making it happen. And I want to do it, like I
said, start doing that within the next 10 years,
because that puts me at 67. Right. Health starts
going downhill exponentially at that point. Yeah.
And your ability to go on long walks and shit
like that. Walks in some fancy city, right? Correct.
And I want to be able to do that while I'm still
able to do that. Because it comes to the point,
you hear people waiting until they're 70 to retire.
Well, now they're too old to fucking do anything.
Either physically or just energy -wise. Correct.
You know what I mean? Correct. What about Segway?
God, could you imagine a 70 -year -old on a Segway?
Don't you just lean forward like the mall cop?
Because they have the best balance as it is.
That's a good point. Battery -powered tricycle.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, that's... His and hers.
They'll probably have hoverboards by the time
we're retiring. Just teleportation. Ooh, we could
better. Problem solved. Then you turn into the
fly. Especially your wife. She doesn't want to
travel. Oops. She's out of there. That works.
Here, get into this machine that's going to molecularly
destroy you and then re -put you... Shit, there
was a fly in there. Sorry, Tara. Do you ever
watch that movie? Oh, it's freaky, man. Do you
ever watch the original? Was it like where string
flies on a string? No, I think it was Black and
White, but he had a fly head. It wasn't good,
but the remake by, I think, Cronenberg made it
with Jeff Goldblum. It was colored. Yeah, Jeff
Goldblum had it. See the picture of the fly.
He's got a fly head. Yeah, it's pretty bad. Back
in that day, it was probably pretty good. There
he is. He's got like clothes on. He's got a claw.
But anyway, the one with Jeff Goldblum was disturbing.
Yeah, especially when they were doing the testing
it and the animals all destroyed and inside out.
Well, he was jarring up his pieces and he jarred
up his penis. Did you notice that? No. Yeah,
he was keeping the vials of his body parts as
they fell off in his medicine cabinet. And one
of them was his. Cool. This is Johnson. It's
neat that you noticed that. I think you told
me about it. Like one of the first times we met.
Hey. Did you see that jar of formaldehyde in
there with the penis in it? Yeah. What the hell?
That would be the first thing I'd have looked
at. That was our first conversation. Wow. Okay.
Anyway, why did we get on teleportation? Oh,
a better way to travel. Traveling. Yeah, who
knows? Who knows what it'll be like when we...
Well, the older we get, the more intentional
we need to get with everything. We do. And you
know what? It starts with a list. Turn your phone
off. Turn the TV off. Sit down with a piece of
paper and a pencil and just, even if it's stupid
stuff, just start, just unload everything that
you wish you did as a kid or you wish you did
now or you wish you knew how to do, you know,
and a lot of it you'll just be like, okay, I'm
never going to learn to play the mandolin, okay?
So just move on. Or the oboe. So let's just skip
those. What about the pan flute? Pan flute you
need to keep on the list. That's an everybody
thing, I think. But you see what I mean? I mean,
just start making a list. And then after you
have a list, you scratch off the things that
are stupid. You look at the ones that you really
kind of zone in on and think are important, prioritize
them, and then make a plan for one at a time.
I think you have to be intentional, though. You
actually have to fucking do it. Again, that's
kind of where we're at. I mean, this year is
going to be crazy travel -wise for my wife and
I, Julie and I. Yeah. Crazy as in you're going
to do it or not do it. You already have plans.
You guys are going to one of them, right? Yeah.
Steven's wedding. Right. How far in advance do
we need to buy tickets for that? You could buy
tickets now. I was wondering. I need to do that
now. What would be the responsible amount of
time to buy those tickets? Probably more than
a month out. And it's in May? No, it's in June.
It's in June. It's on June 14th. It's a Sunday.
So keep that in mind. I was going to ask you
guys, like, when are you going out so that we
can, you know, coordinate maybe? Well, I'm going
to say you guys need that because I want to be
fucking stupid crazy with family shit. Oh, yeah.
So if we can hook up, we can hook up. So don't
count on me. You guys need to plan. Is Shelly
going? Of course. Oh, and Dawson. Yeah. I recommend
hitting wineries while you're out there. You're
going to be in fucking wine country. Of course.
That's the whole point. You know. And go online
and book your tours early. Yeah. And it's fucking
expensive, man. Yeah, it's going to be expensive.
But maybe we just stop buying rare characters
and we save money for Napa. We could. Wouldn't
that be smart? But, you know, then after that,
I've got Brandon's wedding. I just did that,
by the way. Three weeks later, no travel with
that. And then two weeks after that, we're going
to Cabo for a friend's wedding. Oh, wow. That'll
be fun. Yeah, that'll be fun. Cool. So, you know,
summertime is going to be kind of crazy. The
same thing goes for you, Sean, man. Make a list
and then kind of, you know, and if you can't
do it with, you know, if Tara's not willing to
travel, then, you know, we can make. I have a
very small list. You know, I do my little things
in my house, you know, just like travel from
one room to the other. Doing my office and kind
of buying little knickknacks that I like. That's
kind of it. That's all I got right now. I hear
you. I'm going to focus on that. But you did
some cool stuff. You got me on this whole metal
detector thing. I actually put that on my list.
I was like, I want to buy a metal detector, and
I want to go somewhere where I can hunt for something.
Your front yard. You don't have to go anywhere.
Hey, man, you'd be surprised what's out there.
Perfect. Honey, I think these are from the Aztec
times. There are people that out in Mobile, Alabama,
when I went out there on one of my job ventures,
there were people that had the Civil War broke
out. Yeah, that's cool. And there are people
with their metal detectors. People have to like...
will come up to these residential properties
and they'll kind of sneak over the fence and
they'll be out there in the middle of the night
with metal detectors. Oh, that's not good. Unbeknownst
to people. And you're like, what the fuck are
you doing? Yeah. And it's just like. Then you
came out the next day and your yard's dug up.
Yeah, a bunch of holes everywhere. Well, I think
that they're, well, whatever. It doesn't matter.
It's inappropriate. My point is, is that these
metal detectors are cool for fighting stuff like
that because you never know what's going on.
That's how they found the London Hammer. We've
talked about that. You know, the. Hammer that
was from London. It was, they're saying, I forget
how old it was, but it was, I want to say 50
,000 years. I was going to say 50 years. Good
guess. Yeah. Was London around 50 ,000 years
ago? No, they're projecting the, so they said
the London Hammer is a controversial artifact
found in London, Texas. Found where London is.
They're saying it's millions of years old. I
was going to say that, but I was like, but you
didn't want to be wrong. Well. I was going to
be wrong no matter what. It was found in 1936.
What's significant about it? It's a hammer. It's
a tool. It's a tool that's millions of years
old. How the hell did they do that? How would
they even do that? Again, we talk about lost
knowledge. They had knowledge back then. We just
don't know how they did it. We know how we would
do it. They obviously were able to do it. The
cool thing about that, the hammer point is some
of the purest iron they have found in anything.
Right. That was before man polluted everything.
Yes. Was it from like a meteorite? It was, what
are you talking about? Like iron came from space
and crashed? Oh, I don't know. I mean, it could
be. Who knows? So it wasn't spoiled. In Cambodia,
we've talked about this on one of the prior podcasts.
In Cambodia, there is a seven -inch diameter
pole that comes out of the ground, and it's about
30 feet tall. Pole. P -O -L -E. Yes. Okay. And
it's pure iron. And, you know, iron will rust.
It should. It should. But this one doesn't rust.
Does it have electric running through it? I don't
know what it is. Some kind of current? No, but
it's interesting as fuck. Interesting. Are you
looking up the Cambodia Iron Pole? It's that
orange thing right there. Oh, that's a construction
sign. Those barrels. You got to put maybe ancient
in there. Ancient aliens? Ancient Cambodian Iron
Pole. All that stuff to me is interesting. I
mean, to me, it'd be worth a trip out there to
look at stuff like that. There you go. Put that
on your list. I'd love to. Jesus. I would love...
There's like palaces from Chinese emperors that
no one's allowed to enter. And they've got a
seal on them. You want to break in? No, but that's
the kind of stuff that I'm like, why can't they
just break the rules? See what's in there. What
if you flew a little drone in there and see what's
in there? I'm sure they've come up with all kinds
of things they could do, and I'm sure people
have seen it before. I don't know why it's not
pulling up, but it's basically this pull that
comes out. It may not be Cambodia. It may be
Tibet or just an ancient iron pull. There it
is right there. That's exactly it right there.
Oh, you know what? I remember you talking about
this. This is in Delhi. Is it iron or copper?
It is iron. It says iron pillar. It looks like
brass, almost. Well, that's my point, is that
they say it's like some of the purest iron out
there. It kind of trips me up. Where did this
pole come from? What are they saying about this
pole? Why is it silver on one and brass on another?
I'm sure it's the sunset or something. I mean,
that era of time where they were doing stuff
like this, I mean, the things that they... envision
and and they produce like in these cambodian
uh temples that they have uh they have these
tiles on the ceiling that are in the formation
of a 3d rendering of what a sound is like do
re mi la di do whatever uh they have those what
the signature looks like but it's in a 3d form
and it's in rock and people look up and they're
like no one knows what that is And actually,
no one did know what it was for a very, very,
very long time until recently, the last five
years. People were like, dude, that's sound.
Like the whole... Like frequencies. There are
different frequencies. And even though it was
a Tesla that came up, if you understand the power
of frequencies, you understand just about everything.
But Nikola Tesla. Yeah. That stuff fascinates
me. And I kind of... We talk about having regrets
in life. I regret not knowing and learning more
about this stuff because it fascinates me. Yeah.
Keep reading those books. Yeah. We got to do
that. You do it because there's all kinds of
shit like that in those books. When you say those
books. The James Rollins Sigma Force books. Ah,
yes. All of them have shit to do like that. Is
it all nonfiction or is it fictional books built
around? Those mysteries. Yes. Gotcha. So it's
a mix of real science and a fictional team that
kind of travels around, right? Yeah. On one of
the last podcasts, you guys were talking about
your library thing, and I was like, man, I really
need to do that. Oh, the Frisco Library. I have
yet to do that. I need to do that. Well, let's
put that on the list. Put it on your list. Before
I die, I want to sign up for the Frisco Library.
Paul, you're one of these people that I've got
to tell you. I am envious of your lists that
you do. I mean, you've got a things to do list,
and I need to do that. Every now and then, actually,
you know what exactly happened? I had a list.
I kept it in my office, and my wife saw the list.
Uh -oh. Uh -oh. And she had expectations? She
was kind of like, oh, I want you to do number
seven on that list. You're like, uh -uh. It's
my list. I choose the order of it. That's what
it kind of was. It squashed it. Right then and
there, it squashed it. So then you crumpled up
the list. I don't know what happened to it, but
I was kind of like, I think I just discarded
it after that. Because it was kind of like, you
know, that was my little private thing, and it
was something I wanted to work at, and then someone
would come in over me. It was your personal diary.
I would start ordering you around that it's her
list. Why don't you take care of one of those
things on your list? Yeah. Wow, that's a big
list of things you've never done before. Yeah.
I got a list for you. Why don't you try traveling?
I'll have one item. I think we've talked about
this before, but in terms of why I do the list,
I like to be productive. I like to feel productive.
I hate going through a day that is not set aside
for total leisure, like New Year's Day. So you
would never read? No. Because that is pure leisure.
No, no, no. I like that. No, I like that. But
New Year's Day, I was like, I'm not doing anything
today. I'm not fixing anything. I'm not cleaning
anything. I'm watching football. It's a leisure
day, right? I mean, and sometimes you're supposed
to make Sundays your kind of leisure meditation,
you know, tune out the world and just kind of
mentally focused day, right? And maybe that's
one of those days. But on the days I'm supposed
to be productive and I need to get shit knocked
out, it's like, you know, Saturday, right? So
I roll into Saturday already having... What I
want to get, I mean, I want to start at like
830. I'm going to fix the freezer. That's cool.
I want to fix the freezer. I want to clean the
pool. I need to pick up all the poop in the backyard.
And I write all these stupid little things down,
but then I'm crossing them off. And it makes
me feel productive. Correct. You know what I
mean? I mean, sometimes this is really stupid,
but I do something that wasn't on the list. I
write it on the list and I cross it out. So it's
a mental, it's like an OCD thing. No, I think
it's great. Anyway, it helps me. That way, if
anyone says, hey, what did you do today? You'd
be like, here's my scroll, just in this little
scroll, the naughty list. Yeah, suck it. Yes.
No, I mean, wow, look at that. No, I mean, suck
it. But yeah, just stick with it. Yeah, that's
a train wreck. All right, well, we... What else
we got? We got New Year's Eve. This last weekend.
Yeah, let's talk about what we did during the
holiday. We went over to Scott Cash's. Shout
out to Scott Cash. So for those listeners out
there, we have kind of fallen into this new routine.
It's becoming more and more of a thing where
we're sampling. Like on tonight's podcast, we'll
sample whiskey in the first half. We'll sample
one on the second half. Scott Cash has been on
the podcast a couple times. He has started the
very impressive collection. Yeah, he's procured
tons of really fantastical stuff. Yeah, he does.
And he is the most sharing, giving guy ever.
And he loves it. So we go over to his house,
because he invites us. He's going, hey, and there's
a group of guys, and they're all whiskey lovers.
And we all sit around, and that's what we did
this past week. We all dork out. Oh, my gosh.
So I'm going to, let me pull up the list. I have
them saved. I called it. I actually made a new
category in my library of pictures. Of just booze.
Well, we're over at Scott's house. So I'm going
to, I mean, look. So we have these little small
glasses. We're evolving. We're evolving the process
because you can't. We're having so many samples.
We've got to do it responsibly. Yeah, because
we want to taste it. We want to have a good time.
We want to appreciate it. And we want to be like,
I'm going to hunt this down. I really like it.
And frankly, that's kind of what we did from
one of the things that we had. That happened
today, yeah. But you guys count them as I'm reading
them off, you know, because you've got the Murray
Hill Club. One. There's two. There's Special
Reserve and Bourbon Whiskey. All right? Then
we did, there's a Patron. I didn't do that one.
Well, the Patron is a 10 -year. Patron. Is that
the smoke one? Oh, yeah. That you were like,
this is disgusting. Well, I didn't do any tequila.
You're like, this is not my. You told Scott.
You didn't have to say that. Oh, now we should
catch up. We don't have to like everything. All
right. Well, the next one was the Tequila Patron
Ahumada Silver. How do you say it? Ahumado Silver.
Agave cooked over charcoal for a smoke. You know
what? Moving on. So another tequila. And there's
another tequila, the Grand Patron. Didn't do
any tequilas. Hold on. You're saying you tried
all of those tequilas? All of them. Oh, I didn't
try any. That's why your blood alcohol was 3
.8. It might have been. Or .38. .38. That was
ridiculous. We'll talk about that in a second.
Really? Yes. Good lord. We did the 1845, the
Panhandle Proud. 1845. Shout out to 1845 Distillery.
We did the Heaven Hill Grain to Glass. Yeah,
we've got that. Excellent. The Fox's Bow Irish
Whiskey. Did not do that. The 10 -Year Sagamore
Rye. Did that. That's very good. Very good. We
need to get the Sagamore rye and add it to the
collection. I've been saying we need Sagamores.
We need to get some Sagamores. Yeah. Highly recommend
it. We did the single barrel Hancock President's
Reserve. Not impressed with that. No one was
really impressed with that. Another tequila.
I can't remember. The 15th. Yeah. We all did
the Hancock. That was before Sean got there,
and everyone was kind of like, yes. We probably
followed something that was amazing, though.
So that doesn't help. I don't think, I don't,
doesn't matter. It's crazy. I showed up an hour
and a half, two hours after you guys, and I still
got. Dude, you bypassed it. You just surpassed
us. Yeah, but you started power sampling. Yes.
We were like, oh, this is relaxing. We were drinking,
I was drinking less than like a little half ounce
of them. I wasn't, I didn't have a full glass.
You had like two glasses in front of you. You
had a large Glencairn, and I had this little
thimble. Yeah, no, but that's what we had the
whole time. So Barrel puts out a seagrass. Barrel
products, seagrass. Yeah, this one was a rye
whiskey finished in rum, apricot brandy barrels.
It's fantastic. You know what was cool that night?
We did the whole progression of Knob Creek. That
was neat. I'll get there. Barrel Dovetail. The
new riff, The Red Turkey Wheat, which I had not
had before. That's good. Yeah, that was at a
Bottle and Bond, and I got to do a shout -out
to Bottle and Bond because normally I'm kind
of like, eee, hunter -proof, loser. But this
one was good. Yes. Enjoyed it. It was good. The
Van Winkle, 12 -year -old, lore. Yep. God, the
glasses. Hold on a second. It was smooth, but
it was 90 -proof. I was very nonplussed about
that. Yeah, well, that's the thing. I expected
more. The lot B. Kentucky Straight, Bergman,
Van Winkle. Yeah, I agree. That's just kind of
meh to me. It was meh. I liked it. You like everything.
I did like it, though. Well, look, I wouldn't
kick it out of bed. Well, no. If I'm going to
compare it to something. But I'm not going to
spend a grand to buy the bottle. Oh, my God.
How does it cost? Yeah, we talked about that.
It's like the hype. The hype affects our opinion
of it. Correct. Every time. I was expecting so
much more out of it. Of course. Because everybody's
like, ooh. Like, even on shows, they'll show,
like, a bottle of it in the background to, like,
impress people. And it's like, hmm. So there
were. Not all that. There were two other. There
was another brand. And I don't think we have
this one. Lucky Seven? Do we have this in our
collection? We've seen it. multiple times when
we talked about it. I remember trying those.
I did one of them. I don't know what the other
one was like. This one's Trade 7 Marked, Lucky
7. It's Curators of Fine Spirits. We tried a
Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, which was
113 proof. Then they had the sister of it, which
was a seasonal one. This one is a Holiday Toast,
Lucky 7. That was 115. I think we did try that
one. I enjoyed it. I don't remember it. I'm not
going to mention the next one just because it's
by Short Barrel. It is on the list of whiskeys
that was supposed to be disposed of by a liquor
vendor, and they were like, well, we're not allowed
to sell these, but we acquired one, and then
we acquired another case. I thought that was
the secret you weren't supposed to tell. Yeah,
you just talked about it. Yeah, but I didn't
say who or anything like that, so we'll just
let it go. We have a George T. Stagg, Kentucky
Stripper. This one is $138 .2. Was that in the
tiny little bottle? No, this is the big boy.
The big boy. Yeah, the George T. Stagg, the big.
Did I have one of those? Yes. I don't remember.
We actually had two samples. Is that when I blacked
out? We actually had two of those. I don't know
if you tried the other one. There were two George
T. Staggs. One was in the sampler bottle. That
was a 2024. I did not. And I think the big bottle
was a 25. I don't remember the big bottle. I
remember the little sampler. Yeah, we tried them.
So we had a 13 -year Penelope, the estate collection,
the Penelope 13 -year, 121 proof. That's with
the embossed P, I believe. Yeah. So, I mean,
what are we looking at? Like 15, 20? 30? We did
30 samples? At least. Okay, the OKI double -oaked
10 -barrel, the double -oaked 10 -OKI. You guys
heard of that? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ohio, Kentucky,
Indiana. I didn't do that one. And then the Knob
Creek. Let's roll into the Knob Creek. At some
point, you drink so many, it's like, how do you
remember? We were done at that point, and that's
when Sean was doing it. That's when you got all
your tequilas as well. Yeah, I had to slow the
roll. I was like, I went and played Galaga. For
an hour. We heard you bitching. Dude, I suck.
You know what's even funnier than that? Before
you took off, you were kind of like, I need a
break. And you just like, you get up and you
go to the bathroom. You come right back. You
start pouring again. I was like, nice break.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it was a shit break. All right.
Like you said, we rolled it to the Knob Creek.
So we got the 12 year, the 15, the 18, and the
21 year. All of them different. You could tell.
Yeah, they were. How they all kind of. Some were
related, but they were different. I think we
like. the 18 at least paul and i like the 18
the most but in all honesty i would rather just
go for the 12 because it's so much cheaper based
off of price the quality of stuff that you can
The 12 is really, really good. Yeah. And it's
all the same proof. It's all the same proof.
It's all the same shit. It's just aged a little
bit different. The 21 year for me was the one
that was the best. I agree with the 12 year.
That was the biggest bang for the buck. The 15
was a little hot, tasted good. The 18 tasted
really good, wasn't hot. And 21 had it all. Yeah.
I mean, it really did. I liked the 21 as well,
but I was just like, for the $250, $300 I'm going
to spend on that, I can get, you know. four bottles
or five bottles of the other one. Which you'll
100 % enjoy just as much. So the A. Smith Bowman,
that was the cask strength, 139 .7, 10 years.
That was very good. Terrific. Then the rare character,
the American Light Whiskey. That was a ball buster.
That was good shit. This one is officially a
hazmat, 140 .1 proof, 20 -year -old, eight -month
barrel. They had to add that extra eight months
in there. That's the one from today, right? Correct.
That's supposedly, yeah. I'm excited. That one
is about $140 for that bottle. I've never done
that, to buy one for my own collection. That's
crazy. We did a Bardstown. Hold on. Is that right?
I didn't do a Bardstown. I didn't do a Bardstown.
Oh. Okay. Let me just close this. Anyway, so
- It was fun. It was a fun experience. It was
fun, and I ended up drinking like 30 ounces,
30 ounces -ish. We're getting better at it. We're
evolving in the process to where it - Doesn't
need to turn into like a, you know, like a B
shit face. Yeah, we're not going to get shit
faced. I mean. Right. We need to stick to those
little glasses. The problem I have with those,
I think I'd rather maybe pour it in there and
then pour it into a Glencairn because you can't
get any kind of nose out of those things. Oh.
That's true. I'd rather just. Measure it with
that and then dump it in one of these. Nothing
wrong with that. And then you can smell it. There
you go. All these things have really good noses,
I'm sure. Yeah. Weird thing about the tail end
of the sampling, Scott had whipped out the blood
alcohol content meter. And we were taking turns
blowing in that thing. And the thing is, people
out there, let's say you're at a bar. And you
have two beers. And you've been there for four
hours. You're not going to be drunk. You're completely
fine. Hey, before you leave, do a shot of tequila
with me. And I'm like, you know what? I've been
chill all night. I'll do a shot, and then I'm
going to go home. Guess what? If you do that
shot of tequila. Oh, it'll blow up your mouth.
You go out to the car, and you drive home. You
get pulled over. It doesn't matter. It's in your
mouth. Before you drive, coach, coach out there.
I'm coaching you guys. Before you drive. Rinse
your mouth out. Have a nice big glass of water,
swoosh it, spit it out, swallow it, whatever.
Rinse your mouth out and wait 15, 20 minutes
before you leave. Let your mouth aerate enough
to get rid of that alcohol because I blew a .38.
Right. Legally, I'd be dead. I mean, really.
Yeah, because it was literally right in your
mouth. And Jeff blew a .04. I did. Twice. And
you had had 30 samples. Yeah, you didn't believe
me. I was like, what the hell? He drank way more
than I did. And I was, because I was catching
up. And I was like, how in the hell? So that
makes you wonder, how accurate really are these
things? Like, it's not measuring, unless you're
pulling blood out of your arm. You know what
I mean? Unless you're measuring blood or testing
blood, it's probably not accurate. Yeah. I don't
know. I don't know. But yeah, I was 0 .04 and
Sean was beside himself for like 10 minutes.
Do it again. Well, I was just kind of curious
how it was because I was blowing a 1 .6. Yeah.
Or a .16. A .16. And then I did a .13 after that.
But still, I was kind of, what in the hell? But
obviously, I also had some stuff going on. I
also wonder if bodies metabolize alcohol differently.
Totally do. So, you know, my .04 and Sean's,
whatever he was, .16, even though we are similar
in booze. I don't know, maybe the... Your liver
is very efficient, and John's is not. Because
I guess my liver sucks. I guess so. It's all
clogged up, and it's just pooling all right now.
I don't know. I don't know what contributes that
impact, because we're about the same weight,
so that's not really playing into it. So I don't
know. I don't know what... Well, it is what it
is. I didn't play that game, so I don't... I
mean, I didn't know you guys were doing that
while I was struggling with Gallagher. You were
out there just frustrated. Then we bring it out
there and you blow like a three. And then Scott
sends me a picture today and he's like, yeah,
133 ,000 points and I couldn't get over 32 ,000.
And he was like, hey, this is what I did today.
I was like, I suck. 133 ,000? Yeah. And I was
like, dude. Now, I never play it, right? I only
play it when I'm over there, but still. He sat
there for eight hours and got that. I sat there
for almost an hour playing that game over and
over and over. So for those folks that don't
know what's going on, over at Scott Cash's house,
when we do the sampling, Scott has an amusement
park -style house with music, instruments everywhere,
drum sets, guitars, bass, amps, microphones.
Neon signs. Yeah, it's just really, it's a man's
man's house. It's really cool. And in the middle
of one of these little areas is an arcade game
that has 500 games. I think, somewhere out there.
It's got a bunch of games on the arcade. You
go in there and you push down on the little throttle
and it'll cycle through the games. It brought
back some memories for me because I recall playing
Mr. Do growing up in 1984. Oh, my God. They're
the official games, man. Yeah, they were Mr.
Do. Gosh, that was such a great game back then.
Kind of jumped right back into it. Yeah. Loved
it. Yeah, it was cool. I love hanging out at
his house. It's fun. Yeah, well, he's got some
new stuff coming out. I'm pretty excited. But
God bless, I need to, you know, I am not Scott.
I can't afford this shit. And, you know, I'm
going to tell them, they may take me off that
fucking list of every time you're passing out
stuff because I can't buy that. Because you're
just like, man, I want it. Yeah, you're like,
in, in, yes, yes, in, in. Look, the thing is,
like, most, look, this is what we've been wanting.
We've been wanting to be part of this culture
of these guys that are able to obtain these hard
-to -get whiskeys. We've been wanting this. And
before we were all on it, I was on it. And that's
how I kind of got to some of these other whiskeys
because I'm kind of like, jeez. But it's a dangerous
hobby, man. It's a dangerous hobby unless you're
a doctor or like a lawyer or some high -profile
money -making. I feel bad because I think I started
it all. I got you guys on Collected Bourbon.
Well, whatever. Because I had the 15, and you
guys were like, I want to join in on that. That's
how that happened out there. Yeah, you can get
sucked into this club. How many years were we
buying three a week? Yeah, that's true, though.
I mean, I don't mind. I mean, as long as we pay
for, you know, we've got a system set up, which
I'm liking. You know, right now, I'm about $1
,000 out of pocket. And I'm not going to bring
them over to the house. First of all, we've got
to agree to them. Because if you guys don't want
them, I'm going to drink them. They'll be in
my collection. So it's not a big deal. Well,
I think we need to be selective in what we get
at this point. Because we've got 250 out there.
I don't understand. And we'll never get through
them. Are we running out of them? We'll never
get through them all. No, we'll never get through
them. I don't think we need to jump at every
bottle that comes our way. That's what I'm saying.
There's a lot of good bourbons out there. We
don't have to buy every single time. There's
another one going to come along that we're going
to be like, all right, now I'm ready. Let's get
this one. Maybe we just set a budget. I was like,
I can't afford it. That's why I didn't respond.
I was like, I don't need them. We have really
good bourbons here. Yeah, but the thing is, in
the podcast, we do one new whiskey a week and
one old one. Well, we have been. We don't have
to. Are we changing that? Well, we can go back
to the well and do two that we haven't tried
in a long time. Yeah, we could do that, too.
But we still have several dudes. It becomes a
money thing. As soon as we hit it big, we can
get all the bourbon we want. No. Well, right
now, we've got, what, two more out there? Two
or three more out there? Three more out there.
Yeah, and I've got seven at the house plus two
I just picked up today. I think once we get to
these three, then we talk and say, okay, what
do you have, Sean? Let's bring this one over,
or I'm not interested in this one, or whatever.
Right. I think that's what we do. Because you
may like some things. That's what I'm planning
on. I think you may like some things that we
may not necessarily like, and vice versa. We
may find something. What do you guys think of
this one? I picked this one out specifically
because I enjoyed it. We weren't doing single
malts when I bought this. I'll tell you what.
I'll tell you what. The first pool was horrendous
for me. I did not like it at all. I didn't like
it at all. But now that it's opened up, I like
it a lot. Yeah, the single malt is like a stone
fruit pear. And I'm not saying that just to be
cliche, but it's so fruity. This one, I don't
know where they distill it. St. George Distillery
is the one place that it comes from. It is California.
California, American single malt. So, yeah, it's
an American single malt baller. And it's made,
it's Umeshu cast finished. It's like honey. It's
a mixture of honey. Oh, it's sweet. Yeah, it's
- Lots of sweetness. That first pool, I picked
up, I don't know if it's peated or not, but that
first pool, because all the subsequent stuff
doesn't taste like it's peated, but that first
pool gave me a lot. It felt like it anyway. That
typical malt, single malt flavor was very, very
strong in that first pool for me. And I'm starting
to like the malts more and more. I mean, at my
house, I'm starting to pick up some more scotches,
you know? I'd like to get into some more scotches,
but maybe not start with the smoked. Or the peated
stuff, we'll start with regular non -peated stuff,
and then we work our way into lightly peated.
That may be the same process moving from the
weeded whiskeys to the rye whiskeys, where the
non -peated stuff is just easier. It is, really.
All right, so real quick. It is California -made
single malt that is aged in used bourbon and
French oak wine casks and then finished in the
Umezu casks. Japanese style of plum liquor. It
was also made by this distillery in California,
grown ume fruit. Ume fruit? What is that? I don't
know. Which is in the plum apricot family. Interesting.
Yeah, it's a Japanese whiskey. Yeah. Umishu.
Umishu. It's a plum liqueur. Yeah, I mean, you
can definitely taste the fruity. Oh, yeah. The
fruitiness of it. Oh, that's an interesting looking
fruit. It's got a very interesting taste. And
it's Baller, B -A -L -L -E -R, American Single
Malt, Emushu Cask Finishes. It's whiskey. It's
made in California from the St. George Distillery.
It was 60 bucks, 65 bucks. That's what it says
there. I don't recall how much it was. It was
something like that. Yeah. And where'd you find
this? At Sips? Yep. It was at Sips. And frankly,
I can't find it anymore. Because I ran out. This
is one I'd like to keep on my shelf for the price.
50, 60 bucks all day long. Yeah, it's good. And
I brought over that Swift to Scott's, knowing
full well that it was not really comparable price
-wise to a lot of the ones he had. But we really
liked it. It was unique. It was unique. That
was the only single malt I think that was over
there. And the folks that tasted it really, really
liked it. Yeah. Single malts have a place in
whiskey lovers' hearts, and I think that they
get a bad rep for some of the bourbon whiskey
lovers out there because it's a single malt.
Oh, it's a scotch. I don't get it. It's a scotch.
But you know what? Single malts are becoming
more and more popular to the United States. They
created a new category, the American single malt.
Balcones, they're into single malts. The Iron
Root Distillery, the Iron Root Republic out there
in Denison. Texas? You know what's neat about
it? It's so different, right? So different from
bourbon. And it's something that is kind of a
nice break. Right. A nice break from bourbons
because, you know, I don't want to say they can
all be the same, but they all have, they're all
part of the same family. This is such a departure.
And you can get into it. It's an American whiskey,
right? It's light and it's very easy to drink.
Yeah. It's what, 94 proof? Is that what it is?
47%, yeah. So 94 proof. 94 proof. Nothing wrong
with that. Yeah, I could sit there and sip on
this. No problem. I'm not sure how we rate this.
Well, it needs its own category. It's a single
malt, and we'll probably need to put the... I'll
tell you what's going to... The rare characters
are single malts. It's going to be kind of tough.
Those are 130 proof, though. Well, it's a different
category. Well, not all of them. Well, the first
two. The first one I got was like 130, and I
think the second one was right there with it.
Well, the rare character, you know, I texted
a buddy I work with, Chris Van Rees, and shared
with him the opportunity to pick up some of the
rare characters. And he said that he's not into
the light whiskey. That's not all white and light.
Oh, that particular one was. He's not into that
label. And I'm like, huh. And, you know, immediately
I want to fire back, but I was kind of like.
Oh, everybody's tastes are different. Yeah, it's
like, why do I give a fuck? I mean, that's the
way he is. I mean, if he doesn't like it, he
doesn't like it. What are you, crazy? That goes
for anything we try. Yeah, that's the glory of
it is my palate is my palate. What I like, like
I said, what I like, you guys may not. Like the
really smoky stuff, I have a really hard time
with. Right. So when I fart and you think it
stinks and I don't, then that's okay. Yes, it's
terroir. No, my farts don't stink. They smell
okay. No. I always think mine smell like popcorn.
I think basically all farts. Maybe some rancid
popcorn that's been sitting. There's some vegetal
ones that come out. Are we rating this? Are we
rating this? All right. Let's see here. This
is hard for me to rate it because I'm kind of
comparing it to my enjoyment of a good bourbon.
You know what? I'm going to give it a 6 .9. I
was actually going to say 6 .8. I think we're
on the same path here. I wasn't in the 7s. I
think 6 .8 is good for me as well. It may be
something we're going to have to revisit after
we cycle through a few of these single malts
and have a little bit more. Because we don't
do it very often, right? Again, what I wanted
to start doing is we have several single malts
out there now. Blind taste. I want to blind them.
There you go. And we could score them at that
point. I've got the Scheinerbach Balcones version
of the single malt. I'm about a half a bottle
into this thing. Even if you want to bring over
a sample or bottle, we can include it. It's up
to you. But do we include the rare character
at 130 proof against this? No. I don't know.
I don't know how you can. Well, you can't because
I thought we're separating them by proof. Well,
we have been, yes. I think it would be fair.
I think that's a fair because – But like we have
the two – well, we don't have the two Swifts.
The one's over at Scott's still. We are not going
to – I'm sorry. I was going to say we have the
Baller. We had those two Swifts, and I think
we have some other ones out there. The Balcona
is, I think, maybe a single malt. We could do
three to four samples. It'd be fun. Of, you know,
four -ounce samples each, right? Yeah. So a good
16 -ounce. I'd be okay with it. Yeah, so I want
to start doing that because we have enough of
them out there that we could start doing this.
It'd be fun. Yeah, we got to get the little small
glasses, though. No, I want to get the small
ones. Like the small Glencairns you have? No,
I'm talking about the small Glencairns. The mini
Glencairns. The ones we found at 1845 Distillery.
Those are excellent. I've got two, maybe four
downstairs. I have another six -pack at the house
I can bring over. It's a box of them. That's
eight to ten. You talking about those little
plastic ones? No. Oh. They're like this, but
they're... So I use them right now. I take the
small one and I turn it upside down and I cover
my big Glencairn glass. It's a little cap. I
love it, man, because if I want to smell it,
excuse me, if I want to smell it, I take the
small Glencairn off and I give it a nice thick
whiff there. Yeah. You know, I am picking up
a lot of tobacco with this. Interesting. So hold
on. Mr. Producer, we'll go back up there. You
said there are two stories to tell when it comes
to the St. George Baller. One's about the distillery
and the other is about the product they shamelessly
and thankfully trying to ape. What is that term?
I don't know what that means. The first story
I've written about a few of their offerings over
the years, including a gin and vodka, though
they have three. Other gin varieties and two
other vodkas have yet to come. St. George makes
liqueurs, brandies, California shaku, a well
-regarded bourbon, and even did a rum on one
point. A person would be forgiven for thinking
is jack of all trades, master of none, kind of
a situation, but the baffling reality is that
just about everything they do is pretty good,
including the bottle, which is take on the Japanese
whiskey. So they do a lot of different things.
Oh, there's some Japanese single malts as well.
Yeah. I've had some of the expensive ones, and
I'm just kind of, I think you have one. I'm just
kind of like. Well, I mean, that's what they're
trying to copy here. I mean, they're making it
clear that there's a Japanese style of single
malt. Well, here, this one. But the expensive
one you have, I was just kind of mad. Well, I
think you should probably revisit them. They're
about 200 bucks a pop, but they're more of an
apple crisp kind of taste to them, you know,
that's real light. Right. And, you know, I think
it. It's almost in this ballpark here. I think
we should probably revisit all those because
we're ever evolving, these little taste palettes
that we have. I really want to do the tastings,
the blinds. Be fun. See where we land at. You
guys actually made a quick trip out to 1845 on
Saturday. We had a pickup. We had a pickup. Your
bottle's downstairs. You need to make sure you
take it with you. Thank you. We had a pickup.
So I had bought some different bottles, and I've
got a friend out in Arizona. Shout out to Greg.
And how's the family out there? Out there in
1845? June. Bob. Okay. Ben is doing great. They
want us to do a few 1845 box lids, so we need
to go back out there and pick those up. Plus,
we need to pick up another whiskey barrel that
they've set aside for us. This one has some stuff
to look at because we want to put it in the background
here. Yeah, yeah. No, cool. Very cool. That can
move. We'll figure that out. There's a lot of
stuff that has to do with it. We're excited,
though. Yeah, so we went down there, talked to
June for a long time. Had her dog pass away over
the last couple months, a new dog. So she went
out and bought a new dog. And this is a cute
little whatever snapper thing it is. It was in
an email. We got an email. She sent it out. This
is our new mascot. It's cute as hell. Oh, that's
funny. Yeah. That's funny. But they started something
kind of cool at 1845 Distillery where you can
go there. You take a little class. Dipping it
or blending their own? You get to pick your own
single barrel and then you pour your own. You
can blend as well as what it sounds like. But
you pour your own bottle out of the barrel you
pick and you label it yourself and all that stuff.
That's kind of cool. Yeah. I wonder how much
that costs. I think it's $130. $130, huh? Does
it come with a steak? A steak? I don't know.
You know, when I was down in Houston, they had
the Yellow Rose Distillery, and they had a program
set up, and they sold steaks. That's why I said
that. They did something similar, and part of
the tour, they had a little steak dinner at the
end. It was kind of fun. I don't think they had
the setup like that in 1845, but it was kind
of cool, and plus she has said they had pulled
a barrel aside from us. Yes, she did. So we've
got to go up there maybe this weekend or not.
This weekend at the, what's it called, the Rebel?
We've got Boston. I believe so. It's January
11th, I believe, right? Hey, I'm in. That's coming
up. That'd be fun. I may be misspeaking. I don't
know when it is. Let me look at the calendar.
We'll have to check that out. But it's Boston.
And what's the other one? Bob Seger. 11th is
a Sunday. So you have to took it to tickets.
I don't remember. Probably the 10th or something
like that. First half of the Dudes Like Us podcast
is January 6th. Thanks, Chuck. All fresh and
crisp. First day. I was going to go on the Bill
Cosby spew there, but I can't help it. This is
Bob Dudes Like Us. I'm Sean. I'm Paul. And I'm
Jeff.