WEBVTT

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Did you bring the hard drive over? I did. All

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right, go. It's plugged in and recording. He

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had to go all the way back home. All the way.

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Was it a clean hard drive? No, it was not. We

00:00:18.030 --> 00:00:20.870
made space. Chuck came in. Look at you just rolling

00:00:20.870 --> 00:00:23.949
in with all these judgmental questions. Well,

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I mean, he was right. Of course, I know. Chuck

00:00:27.109 --> 00:00:28.649
came out of the podcast room and was like, fee,

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five, full, flum, somebody didn't clean the damn

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hard drive. I don't remember any of that. No.

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He asked very nicely. Exactly. All right. And

00:00:38.649 --> 00:00:40.929
you had a pretty long week, actually. I mean,

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Jeff had one, but for different reasons. I landed

00:00:43.390 --> 00:00:47.390
at 1 .30 today. In the morning? No. In the afternoon?

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In the afternoon. And you were where? I was in

00:00:49.810 --> 00:00:53.369
Albuquerque, New Mexico. For work? You were there

00:00:53.369 --> 00:00:55.679
for what, one? One and a half days? Just a day,

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yeah. I mean, yesterday and today, yeah. How'd

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it go? Went great. Work is work. Non -stop. Well,

00:01:03.500 --> 00:01:05.359
it's Dudes Like Us podcast, the first half. What

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is today's date? Today is March 19th. It's Thursday.

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We normally do it Tuesday, but for this particular

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one, because Jeff was out gallivanting in Fredericksburg.

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And it's spring break. Yes. And it was a day

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that worked for our very special guest today.

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I was thankful for that, too, because you're

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not the easiest person to get in touch with sometimes.

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And the fact that you responded. When I got the

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email and said, accepted, I was like, oh, fuck

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yeah, finally. God bless. Well, check us out

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on Instagram. Check us out on Facebook. Check

00:01:35.540 --> 00:01:39.260
us out on YouTube, TikTok. We're on most things

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to listen to. Go to rss .com forward slash dudes

00:01:44.340 --> 00:01:46.659
like us podcast. And it takes you to like 20

00:01:46.659 --> 00:01:49.280
different. We're on Apple, Spotify. Everything.

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Well, dudes, I got some Sean. I'm Paul. I'm Jeff.

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And I'm Robert. There you go. And thank you,

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Mr. Chuck, our producer, staying on top of shit

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today. We've got a guest, a special guest from

00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:00.719
Ironwood Republic, Mr. Robert Licorice. What's

00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:02.780
up, guys? Hey, man. Well, you know what? Thanks

00:02:02.780 --> 00:02:04.260
for joining us, man. Yeah, this is exciting.

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We've been trying to - We've been waiting for

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a while. Yeah, to get you on here so we can talk

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about your stuff, your story, and all that good

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stuff. I looked back earlier today at the first

00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:14.400
email you sent me because I was like, oh, make

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sure I'm showing up at the right time. 2010.

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I was like, oh, boy. We have been trying for

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a while. Yeah, that's all right. We get busy.

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Life happens. And we had a lot of life happen

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in the last year or so. So things get delayed,

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put off. But the matter is we're all together

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here now. Yeah. Yeah. And it allows us to build

00:02:33.659 --> 00:02:35.780
the expectations for this podcast to be like

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astronomical. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Huge expectations,

00:02:39.080 --> 00:02:41.300
man. In reality. The bourbon just gets better

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over time is really what it does. It does. I

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was waiting for it to get better. Extra aging.

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Yeah. Nice. Well, we've got a lot of things to

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talk about. Iron Root Republic itself has been

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just a venture. It's been a whirlwind for you.

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We've seen you on several different tours up

00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:58.219
there at the distillery itself. And you broke

00:02:58.219 --> 00:03:01.120
ground in some additional space for you guys

00:03:01.120 --> 00:03:04.020
to store more and amplify your production. Huge

00:03:04.020 --> 00:03:07.840
growth. Giant growth for us. It's kind of crazy

00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:09.960
that it's finally come to fruition. It's been

00:03:09.960 --> 00:03:13.000
years that we've been working on it. Sure. It's

00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:15.710
always nice for it to finally be done. Yeah,

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excellent. All right, so you're up in Denison.

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Denison, Texas. Denison, Texas. Denison. Denison's

00:03:22.509 --> 00:03:24.569
the other way. Denison. Denison. So what's that?

00:03:25.210 --> 00:03:27.789
Well, because I was worried I was going to get

00:03:27.789 --> 00:03:29.539
it wrong, but I knew I had it right. Yeah, you

00:03:29.539 --> 00:03:31.740
just drive to see Oklahoma, and then you hit

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the brakes. That's the rule. I got to tell you,

00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:35.919
though, it's been a pain in the ass the first

00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:37.379
couple times I've been out there at a distillery

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because of the construction they've been doing

00:03:38.680 --> 00:03:41.360
out there. Oh, Lord. Is that done yet? Not even

00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:43.900
close. God bless. Oh, we should exit right now.

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Nah, man, it's right up the street. God bless

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it. We should have exited. Damn it. And that's

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on the Texas side, obviously. Yeah, Highway 75

00:03:51.539 --> 00:03:54.919
is a giant mess in Sherman and Denison right

00:03:54.919 --> 00:03:56.900
now. Wow. Are they just widening it? Is that

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what they're working on? Yeah, from what I'm

00:03:58.740 --> 00:04:01.159
hearing, they're actually trying to make it Interstate

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45 all the way up to Tulsa. 45? Yeah, so it goes

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from Houston to Tulsa. That makes sense. Right,

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because 45 ends in downtown Dallas and becomes

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75. And 45 picks up again in Oklahoma? No, that's

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it. It ends? Oh, it just ends. So it's 75 that

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goes all the way up, I guess. All right. Yeah.

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Interesting. Why would it just stop like that?

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I don't know. The road wasn't big enough for

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us, I guess. I don't know. But what does it mean

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to make it? They're having to do construction

00:04:36.839 --> 00:04:39.879
to make it worthy or qualify as an interstate?

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Right. Really? It has to have so many lanes and

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so much infrastructure and stuff behind it. So

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75 is not... Interesting. Well, I guess it's

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not an interstate because it's just... It's a

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highway, I thought. Just a highway. So it's US

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Highway 75. Oh, I guess I never realized that.

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Yeah. I guess they can always make it another

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tollway, those assholes. They probably will.

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I'm so sick of that shit. I mean, look, it's

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already been paid for. We should shut that shit

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down. I mean, it's ridiculous. They're never

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going to do it. There's also already an I -75.

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It runs through Cincinnati. It goes all the way

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from Michigan all the way down to Florida. So

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there's already an I -75. So maybe they don't

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reuse numbers, do they? I don't think so. I would

00:05:20.980 --> 00:05:23.399
call it a 45, though. Well, I mean, you're talking

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about interstate. That's why they'd call it 45.

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That's why there couldn't be an interstate 75.

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75 is U .S. Highway 75. Yeah, the 75 goes right

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through Cincinnati. We would take it all the

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time down to Florida. With the blue sign. So

00:05:40.199 --> 00:05:43.600
it's interesting. The numbers. I forget exactly

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how it goes, but it's like increments of five

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and even and odd. East, west, and north, south.

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Exactly. Yeah. Evens east, west, and odds are

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north, south. But I think the three digits are

00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:00.899
the outer belts, right? Yeah, a loop. Loops,

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is that what they are? So you got 635. Except

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for loop 12. See, they always got to fuck it

00:06:04.379 --> 00:06:06.540
up with something. Oh, damn it. That's not interstate.

00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:09.560
012? Oh, okay. You see, Robert, how this podcast

00:06:09.560 --> 00:06:11.439
goes. Did you think that we were going to be

00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:13.420
talking about interstates in the United States?

00:06:13.980 --> 00:06:16.339
You act like I haven't listened before. I know

00:06:16.339 --> 00:06:17.879
exactly what I was getting myself into. Okay,

00:06:17.879 --> 00:06:19.319
okay. And I realized I didn't bring the board

00:06:19.319 --> 00:06:20.620
in here. Let me go grab it while you guys are

00:06:20.620 --> 00:06:25.720
talking. You have one job. So a recent award

00:06:25.720 --> 00:06:27.879
diamond. So I downloaded some AI stuff. I mean,

00:06:27.899 --> 00:06:30.160
we know a lot about you, but I don't have all

00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:33.680
the different factoids. But Hubris Corn Whiskey's

00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:36.720
winning streak. On route, Hubris recently secured

00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:38.720
the category championship title for the best

00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:41.579
American corn at the World Whiskey Awards in

00:06:41.579 --> 00:06:44.399
2026. This marks the eighth time winning a world's

00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:47.279
best or U .S. best corn whiskey title, solidifying

00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:49.319
it as a gold standard in the category. What say

00:06:49.319 --> 00:06:52.600
you? I agree with the computers in this one.

00:06:52.759 --> 00:06:55.160
The overlords are correct with their assessment.

00:06:55.680 --> 00:06:57.959
When were the, so it's 2026, so obviously it

00:06:57.959 --> 00:06:59.579
happened to happen in January or February, I

00:06:59.579 --> 00:07:00.860
guess, right? Yeah, it happened in February.

00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:03.420
February, okay. How awesome is that? Just to

00:07:03.420 --> 00:07:07.139
get pounded nonstop with accolades. It's, you

00:07:07.139 --> 00:07:08.620
know, and that one's been really cool because

00:07:08.620 --> 00:07:10.800
that was, the Corn Whiskey Award was the first

00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:13.699
one we won and it actually won it back in 2017

00:07:13.699 --> 00:07:16.920
was the first time we won. So being like essentially

00:07:16.920 --> 00:07:19.920
12 years old and having won it uh you know eight

00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:23.339
times is kind of crazy that you know to have

00:07:23.339 --> 00:07:26.980
that and uh it's that was like the first time

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we knew like oh maybe we're actually on to something

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here right sure we're actually good it's not

00:07:31.560 --> 00:07:33.540
just my mom telling me i'm good it's somebody

00:07:33.540 --> 00:07:36.079
else mom stop it that's what our moms say about

00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:37.839
the podcast i mean mom and dad listen all the

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time yeah it's the best out there who's that

00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:44.540
joe rogan yeah wow nothing compared to us wow

00:07:44.540 --> 00:07:49.850
delusion runs rampant jesus so uh So let's do

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a startup. Let's get kind of a background history,

00:07:54.089 --> 00:07:58.810
the Cliff Notes version. Your quick story, were

00:07:58.810 --> 00:08:01.589
you the lawyer or was that your brother? Lawyer

00:08:01.589 --> 00:08:03.430
is a very strong word for what I am. Were you

00:08:03.430 --> 00:08:05.490
on the path to that or something? You both as

00:08:05.490 --> 00:08:08.709
a family made a business decision. I have graduated

00:08:08.709 --> 00:08:11.069
from law school. That's as far as I will go with

00:08:11.069 --> 00:08:16.589
that statement. Yeah, you look at... My God,

00:08:16.589 --> 00:08:19.730
geez, it's been so many years now. My brother,

00:08:19.850 --> 00:08:22.910
he's four years older than me. He's got multiple

00:08:22.910 --> 00:08:26.709
degrees in engineering. He's got a master's degree

00:08:26.709 --> 00:08:29.610
in biomedical engineering. I was working on a

00:08:29.610 --> 00:08:31.610
second master's in mechanical engineering when

00:08:31.610 --> 00:08:34.669
I talked him off the ledge to come join me in

00:08:34.669 --> 00:08:37.529
making whiskey. And kind of the idea started

00:08:37.529 --> 00:08:40.230
back years previously. We were at a family reunion

00:08:40.230 --> 00:08:42.429
in Washington State, wandered into this tiny

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distillery that had just opened in like, it's

00:08:44.610 --> 00:08:47.710
like 2008. And my dad just looked at us like,

00:08:47.730 --> 00:08:49.629
no, this is actually what you guys should do

00:08:49.629 --> 00:08:51.970
when you retire. This would be really fun. And

00:08:51.970 --> 00:08:54.029
I was like, yeah, that sounds great. Yeah, retire.

00:08:54.389 --> 00:08:56.750
Exactly. Well, when you've gone through life

00:08:56.750 --> 00:08:58.230
and you want to just sit down and hang out with

00:08:58.230 --> 00:09:00.049
family, it'd be great. And I'm like, yeah. So

00:09:00.049 --> 00:09:02.289
getting ready to graduate from law school, I

00:09:02.289 --> 00:09:04.350
decided that was not what I wanted to do with

00:09:04.350 --> 00:09:07.750
my life. So I decided to kind of announce to

00:09:07.750 --> 00:09:09.710
my family at Christmas dinner before I graduated

00:09:09.710 --> 00:09:11.850
that May that I was graduating, but I wasn't

00:09:11.850 --> 00:09:13.529
going to practice law. I wasn't going to do that.

00:09:14.289 --> 00:09:17.169
And my dad, in order to break the tension at

00:09:17.169 --> 00:09:19.029
Christmas dinner, because trying to make it all

00:09:19.029 --> 00:09:21.809
jovial and fun. Yeah. You picked a great moment

00:09:21.809 --> 00:09:24.750
for it. Oh, yeah. Hey, they can't get too mad

00:09:24.750 --> 00:09:27.169
at you at Christmas dinner. Mom's going to -

00:09:27.169 --> 00:09:28.990
Good point. She might drink a little bit more

00:09:28.990 --> 00:09:30.950
wine than she was planning on, but other than

00:09:30.950 --> 00:09:32.350
that, you're going to be pretty good. The hell

00:09:32.350 --> 00:09:35.190
you are. At least your dad gets lucky. So he

00:09:35.190 --> 00:09:36.750
was like, what are you going to do? You're going

00:09:36.750 --> 00:09:39.029
to go start that distillery now? And in my brain,

00:09:39.049 --> 00:09:41.429
I'm like, I'm young. I'm dumb right now. I can

00:09:41.429 --> 00:09:43.860
eat ramen noodles every night if I need to. And

00:09:43.860 --> 00:09:46.500
if I'm going to take 10 years, 15 years to make

00:09:46.500 --> 00:09:48.940
whiskey, I want to actually survive long enough

00:09:48.940 --> 00:09:51.539
to drink that whiskey. So might as well do it

00:09:51.539 --> 00:09:53.720
now and not wait till I'm 65 or 70 years old

00:09:53.720 --> 00:09:56.620
to start. Love it. That's kind of started us

00:09:56.620 --> 00:09:58.960
on a path and went and interned at a bunch of

00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:01.700
distilleries across the country. That's what

00:10:01.700 --> 00:10:03.789
it was. Yeah, I was trying to find out the influence

00:10:03.789 --> 00:10:06.769
with the cognac portion of it. And you went to

00:10:06.769 --> 00:10:09.309
France, right? So, yeah, I've spent time over

00:10:09.309 --> 00:10:12.169
in cognac. I did some distilling over there,

00:10:12.230 --> 00:10:15.129
which was really, really fun. But the cognac

00:10:15.129 --> 00:10:16.669
influence actually started here in the States.

00:10:18.529 --> 00:10:21.149
Through the interning, I actually fell in with

00:10:21.149 --> 00:10:24.070
a gentleman. His name is Hubert Germain Rabanne,

00:10:24.190 --> 00:10:26.490
who was a master cognac distiller that had moved

00:10:26.490 --> 00:10:29.710
over to the United States in the 70s and started

00:10:29.710 --> 00:10:33.049
distilling. took his still from cognac and brought

00:10:33.049 --> 00:10:35.230
it over to california started distilling there

00:10:35.230 --> 00:10:37.450
and he actually is the same one who taught nancy

00:10:37.450 --> 00:10:41.350
fraley uh he's uh really instrumental in american

00:10:41.350 --> 00:10:43.690
spirits he's kind of a lesser known person but

00:10:43.690 --> 00:10:47.889
really really instrumental um just amazing talent

00:10:47.889 --> 00:10:51.049
amazing like he's very philosophical teacher

00:10:51.049 --> 00:10:54.269
as well um but kind of like learning from him

00:10:54.269 --> 00:10:56.929
just kind of really inspired my brother myself

00:10:56.929 --> 00:10:59.700
to kind of like take on and really pursue a lot

00:10:59.700 --> 00:11:01.700
of kind of more of the French tradition for distilling.

00:11:01.720 --> 00:11:05.240
Yeah. From still choices to kind of maturation

00:11:05.240 --> 00:11:07.919
approaches, all those things. And that's why

00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:10.220
we ultimately ended up back in Denison, Texas,

00:11:10.259 --> 00:11:13.059
because Denison's sister city is with Cognac.

00:11:13.980 --> 00:11:17.620
Yes. Because of that crazy story. For those of

00:11:17.620 --> 00:11:19.659
you guys who don't know, a gentleman who lived

00:11:19.659 --> 00:11:22.580
in our town actually saved the French wine industry

00:11:22.580 --> 00:11:25.879
using Texas grape roots. And so the folks in

00:11:25.879 --> 00:11:28.389
Cognac, they referred to. The roots from Texas

00:11:28.389 --> 00:11:30.450
is the iron grape roots, so that's actually where

00:11:30.450 --> 00:11:35.509
the name of the distillery comes from. All right.

00:11:36.570 --> 00:11:39.750
There we go. Perfect. Ladies and gentlemen, our

00:11:39.750 --> 00:11:41.610
producer, Mr. Chuck, sitting on top of stuff.

00:11:41.850 --> 00:11:44.230
Yes. Check's perusing the lunch list for tomorrow.

00:11:46.069 --> 00:11:47.809
I thought he was going to play some little video

00:11:47.809 --> 00:11:50.389
about Cognac France. I was going to be really

00:11:50.389 --> 00:11:53.190
impressed, and immediately I was not. The Whopper.

00:11:54.509 --> 00:11:57.149
That is French for burger, I believe. I believe

00:11:57.149 --> 00:12:00.309
that's what it is. That's good stuff, man. That's

00:12:00.309 --> 00:12:01.970
hilarious. All right, continue. And I was going

00:12:01.970 --> 00:12:03.870
to make the joke that we saved France more than

00:12:03.870 --> 00:12:06.610
once. Yeah. No, there you go. That's true. Keep

00:12:06.610 --> 00:12:09.710
on helping them out. I find that the whole wine

00:12:09.710 --> 00:12:11.970
thing, because again, my wife and I are, we like.

00:12:12.250 --> 00:12:14.230
drinking wine as well. And I love that story

00:12:14.230 --> 00:12:17.210
about how the Texas roots specifically up there

00:12:17.210 --> 00:12:20.009
in Denton saved the French wine industry. Cause

00:12:20.009 --> 00:12:22.090
French wine is, you know, you would think is

00:12:22.090 --> 00:12:23.710
considered some of the best out there. Yeah,

00:12:23.710 --> 00:12:26.470
for sure. And, uh, I think it's fascinating that,

00:12:26.570 --> 00:12:31.529
uh, Texas saved that whole, whole industry, whole

00:12:31.529 --> 00:12:33.970
industry. Damn right. When, when was that back

00:12:33.970 --> 00:12:37.950
in the 19 or 18? Late 1800s is kind of when it

00:12:37.950 --> 00:12:40.429
happened. Cause you had, well, basically, unfortunately

00:12:40.429 --> 00:12:43.470
what happens, we actually, We accidentally had

00:12:43.470 --> 00:12:46.990
transferred some bugs that had this disease called

00:12:46.990 --> 00:12:49.730
Phylloxera from the United States. We transferred

00:12:49.730 --> 00:12:52.009
it over to Europe. So we caused the problem.

00:12:52.009 --> 00:12:54.389
We created the problem. And then we solved it.

00:12:54.529 --> 00:12:57.429
But we don't have to talk about the creation

00:12:57.429 --> 00:13:02.600
part. It was our fault. We were trying to do

00:13:02.600 --> 00:13:05.100
trade, so why not? But was it particular types

00:13:05.100 --> 00:13:07.879
of wine or all wines or just a certain type of

00:13:07.879 --> 00:13:10.919
grape, right? In a very generic sense, I think

00:13:10.919 --> 00:13:13.620
the number that I've seen most often was they

00:13:13.620 --> 00:13:16.419
lost about 80 % of the French grapes. You're

00:13:16.419 --> 00:13:19.519
talking Wardo, Burgundy, Cognac, Champagne roll

00:13:19.519 --> 00:13:22.120
hit really hard. And it was a fungus? It's a

00:13:22.120 --> 00:13:26.899
little aphid that was carrying a disease. No

00:13:26.899 --> 00:13:28.879
kidding. And they didn't have any predators for

00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:30.639
the aphid, so it just kind of spread like wildfire.

00:13:31.370 --> 00:13:34.929
So giving them the Texas grapes had to change

00:13:34.929 --> 00:13:38.350
everything for them. Because grapes are everything.

00:13:38.570 --> 00:13:40.730
It's the root system. So they actually graft

00:13:40.730 --> 00:13:43.450
their grapes on top of the Texas grape roots.

00:13:43.490 --> 00:13:46.909
So the same French grapes, our root system. Right.

00:13:46.970 --> 00:13:50.029
It's our support, their flavor. Iron root. Yeah.

00:13:50.399 --> 00:13:52.379
So when I go over to France, probably the next

00:13:52.379 --> 00:13:53.980
year or so, I'm going to say, you know, this

00:13:53.980 --> 00:13:57.179
is really Texas wine. Oh, jeez. They would love

00:13:57.179 --> 00:14:00.080
that, Jeff. And you know they love Americans,

00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:02.340
right? They completely love them. Like all the

00:14:02.340 --> 00:14:04.080
Americans that come hoarding off of the cruise

00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:06.500
ships, they're like, Americans are here, yay!

00:14:06.860 --> 00:14:09.059
And then all of them should say, your wine sucks.

00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:11.700
It would not even be alive if it weren't for

00:14:11.700 --> 00:14:12.980
us. Well, the reason I find it fascinating is

00:14:12.980 --> 00:14:15.460
because... You don't hear about that. The first

00:14:15.460 --> 00:14:17.500
time I heard it was when we were up at your distillery

00:14:17.500 --> 00:14:20.559
and you were talking about it. I just found it

00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:23.519
fascinating. We've been to some wine classes

00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:26.299
and stuff like that here at some of the Total

00:14:26.299 --> 00:14:28.000
Wines and stuff and they don't mention anything

00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:30.799
like that. I feel like asking the question sometimes.

00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:34.500
They may not even know. That's huge history,

00:14:34.600 --> 00:14:37.080
man. I think it is because the wine industry

00:14:37.080 --> 00:14:40.080
is very, very large. French ones, like I said,

00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:43.080
the image of, you know, some of the best wines

00:14:43.080 --> 00:14:45.820
out there. The best, for sure. But specifically,

00:14:46.179 --> 00:14:48.620
I mean, it wasn't the whole wine industry, was

00:14:48.620 --> 00:14:51.179
it? Or was it like specific grapes? Oh, 80 %?

00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:53.299
That's what he said. Oh, French grapes. When

00:14:53.299 --> 00:14:56.039
you look at Phylloxera, it impacted really most

00:14:56.039 --> 00:14:58.279
of the world. Really, South America has been

00:14:58.279 --> 00:15:01.340
insulated and didn't need that to happen, thank

00:15:01.340 --> 00:15:04.580
goodness. It didn't really reach there. But it

00:15:04.580 --> 00:15:07.120
actually impacted almost all the other parts

00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:10.120
of the planet. So now do they do all the other...

00:15:10.570 --> 00:15:14.070
Countries use grapestock from Texas. Not necessarily.

00:15:14.269 --> 00:15:16.090
They've been breeding and they've been working

00:15:16.090 --> 00:15:18.429
through different programs in more modern day.

00:15:18.529 --> 00:15:21.230
But historically, that's the first thing that

00:15:21.230 --> 00:15:23.750
really helped them save the industry. So who

00:15:23.750 --> 00:15:27.289
was that person? His name was T .V. Munson or

00:15:27.289 --> 00:15:30.470
Thomas Volney Munson. Interesting. You're not

00:15:30.470 --> 00:15:32.610
going to find that on a trivia. And he lived

00:15:32.610 --> 00:15:35.009
in? In Denison. In Denison. And that's where

00:15:35.009 --> 00:15:36.769
he did all of his research and everything. In

00:15:36.769 --> 00:15:40.899
the late 1800s. Yeah. It is, and I agree with

00:15:40.899 --> 00:15:43.240
Jeff. It is fascinating. I mean, I recall you

00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:45.100
talking about it, and at the time I was like,

00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:46.580
oh, that's cool, but it was like one ear out

00:15:46.580 --> 00:15:48.639
the other. I don't recall it until you just now

00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:50.919
re -mentioned it. Well, I mean, how profound

00:15:50.919 --> 00:15:53.299
that is. And it's profound that they didn't give

00:15:53.299 --> 00:15:56.159
us kudos. I'm sure they did, didn't they? They

00:15:56.159 --> 00:15:58.899
did. They gave us a medal or something. Didn't

00:15:58.899 --> 00:16:00.879
they give us the Statue of Liberty? He was...

00:16:04.460 --> 00:16:06.200
He will give you a root. Thanks for saving our

00:16:06.200 --> 00:16:10.620
grapes. Here's a statue. Statue of Liberty. Lord.

00:16:11.059 --> 00:16:14.120
No, they named him to the French Legion of Honor.

00:16:14.299 --> 00:16:17.899
He got quite a few awards for doing it. Nice.

00:16:18.299 --> 00:16:20.980
And then for us, the mayor from Cognac, a lot

00:16:20.980 --> 00:16:22.379
of master distillers actually come and visit

00:16:22.379 --> 00:16:24.039
us every few years. That's outstanding. That

00:16:24.039 --> 00:16:26.220
must be fun, too. It's a lot of fun because they

00:16:26.220 --> 00:16:27.980
come and then obviously we got to go check on

00:16:27.980 --> 00:16:29.399
the barrels in the back, make sure they're still

00:16:29.399 --> 00:16:32.940
good. Right. There's a trust factor. Once you've

00:16:32.940 --> 00:16:34.899
tasted enough, generally you start feeling pretty

00:16:34.899 --> 00:16:36.440
good. And then they're like, hey, come visit

00:16:36.440 --> 00:16:39.279
us in Cognac. And I'm like, deal. I will take

00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:41.559
you up on that one. Oh, for sure. But they love

00:16:41.559 --> 00:16:44.000
your stuff, I'm sure. Yeah, it's a lot of fun.

00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:48.039
Distillers, there's a lot of love for going in

00:16:48.039 --> 00:16:50.620
and tasting and jumping and going through all

00:16:50.620 --> 00:16:53.379
that. I've never met a distiller that's like,

00:16:53.559 --> 00:16:56.529
no, I don't drink that. It's more of like, I

00:16:56.529 --> 00:16:58.610
want to understand why this tastes the way it

00:16:58.610 --> 00:17:01.789
does. Well, Iron Root is, you guys have, I've

00:17:01.789 --> 00:17:05.450
never heard of another distillery that uses a

00:17:05.450 --> 00:17:08.690
variety of the corn that you guys use. All local

00:17:08.690 --> 00:17:13.190
corn. I mean, when we sat in that tour and you

00:17:13.190 --> 00:17:17.349
broke out with the red, yellow, purple, blue,

00:17:17.349 --> 00:17:19.410
all these different freaking corns, I was kind

00:17:19.410 --> 00:17:21.609
of like. Wasn't there a blood corn or something

00:17:21.609 --> 00:17:23.130
like that? Bloody Butcher is one of them, yeah.

00:17:23.329 --> 00:17:26.269
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just, you've seen them

00:17:26.269 --> 00:17:28.710
before. Actually, you see them on the tables

00:17:28.710 --> 00:17:31.109
for Thanksgiving, but you're like, yeah, it's

00:17:31.109 --> 00:17:34.529
just decoration. No, it's freaking corn. I've

00:17:34.529 --> 00:17:36.369
never really seen that before. I'll admit that

00:17:36.369 --> 00:17:38.569
as well. I didn't realize that those were real.

00:17:38.650 --> 00:17:40.710
I thought that was just stupid. Like painted?

00:17:40.950 --> 00:17:43.779
In the fact that you guys... The fact that you

00:17:43.779 --> 00:17:47.440
guys have harnessed that and used it as a tool

00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:50.299
to create the products that you guys have, I

00:17:50.299 --> 00:17:55.099
find that fascinating. What a different taste

00:17:55.099 --> 00:17:59.240
that Iron Root has compounded with the styles

00:17:59.240 --> 00:18:01.059
that you guys pulled from the cognac business

00:18:01.059 --> 00:18:04.480
and complemented with the types of corn up there

00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:07.559
in the local denison. I think that's fascinating.

00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:10.220
I love it that you have partnered with local

00:18:10.220 --> 00:18:13.900
farmers. to grow exactly the corn. And they would

00:18:13.900 --> 00:18:15.859
never do that on a regular basis because they

00:18:15.859 --> 00:18:18.160
probably don't have a market for it. Yeah, it

00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:19.500
wouldn't have been profitable at all. Exactly.

00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:21.579
It would have been great. We grew it. Congratulations.

00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:25.559
Right. But what's been fun is that, especially

00:18:25.559 --> 00:18:27.579
with bloody butcher corn, it's actually grown

00:18:27.579 --> 00:18:30.180
beyond just our use. So they actually will grow

00:18:30.180 --> 00:18:33.680
it for a lot more commercial uses now. um since

00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:36.579
we started which is using for what now the uh

00:18:36.579 --> 00:18:39.299
the but yeah it's used for a lot of culinary

00:18:39.299 --> 00:18:42.420
uses uh there's there was a restaurant in mckinney

00:18:42.420 --> 00:18:44.140
there was it was down in dallas for a little

00:18:44.140 --> 00:18:46.859
while called rye that they'd had a dish that

00:18:46.859 --> 00:18:49.680
was they called cornucopia that was just 100

00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:51.619
corn but it was like one of the coolest dishes

00:18:51.619 --> 00:18:54.099
i've ever had it was the bloody butcher corn

00:18:54.099 --> 00:18:57.599
made into grits it had blue corn chips on top

00:18:57.599 --> 00:18:59.559
of it and it was warm and then they put a yellow

00:18:59.559 --> 00:19:02.250
corn ice cream on top of it It was absolutely

00:19:02.250 --> 00:19:05.390
delicious. Is that what you had at the tour that

00:19:05.390 --> 00:19:08.009
one time? No, that would have just been random

00:19:08.009 --> 00:19:10.490
cornbreads that I made at home for you to try.

00:19:11.089 --> 00:19:13.450
So these corns, because I know when we took that

00:19:13.450 --> 00:19:14.910
tour, you were showing us, because I think the

00:19:14.910 --> 00:19:16.190
purple have a lot of them. Or are you talking

00:19:16.190 --> 00:19:17.589
about the ice cream? I was talking about the

00:19:17.589 --> 00:19:20.009
ice cream. Now, that's a really wonderful place

00:19:20.009 --> 00:19:22.029
down here in McKinney that actually makes that

00:19:22.029 --> 00:19:24.670
ice cream for us. Yeah, that was... I went back

00:19:24.670 --> 00:19:27.750
for thirds. That's good. Shocker. He came back

00:19:27.750 --> 00:19:32.769
like this. Total shocker. So good. Yes. Well,

00:19:32.869 --> 00:19:36.750
when we took that class, I half -assedly kind

00:19:36.750 --> 00:19:39.569
of looked because I would be interested to actually

00:19:39.569 --> 00:19:42.769
buy some of this corn to eat at home, but I don't

00:19:42.769 --> 00:19:44.549
know where anywhere like this would care. I've

00:19:44.549 --> 00:19:45.769
never been to a Whole Foods. Maybe they have

00:19:45.769 --> 00:19:48.130
something like this, but can you even buy this

00:19:48.130 --> 00:19:51.390
in a store? Most stores, maybe there are some

00:19:51.390 --> 00:19:54.329
health food stores or occasionally places like

00:19:54.329 --> 00:19:57.509
Whole Foods will have these things. Most of the

00:19:57.509 --> 00:20:01.289
time, you're ordering it online. A lot of these

00:20:01.289 --> 00:20:04.410
corns, you wouldn't necessarily eat corn on the

00:20:04.410 --> 00:20:08.269
cob style. You can, for sure. But most of them,

00:20:08.309 --> 00:20:10.509
you're going to dry and you'll turn into grits

00:20:10.509 --> 00:20:12.269
or something like that, make cornbread, corn

00:20:12.269 --> 00:20:14.309
flour, stuff like that. Is it too bitter, too

00:20:14.309 --> 00:20:17.049
hearty? Yeah, what is it? No, it's just much

00:20:17.049 --> 00:20:19.990
higher in protein, so it's not as sweet. So if

00:20:19.990 --> 00:20:22.750
you're used to eating like big sweet corn on

00:20:22.750 --> 00:20:24.990
the cob, it's not going to taste like that. It's

00:20:24.990 --> 00:20:27.849
going to be a lot healthier for you, but it's

00:20:27.849 --> 00:20:30.609
very different flavors. Dude, protein's all the

00:20:30.609 --> 00:20:32.569
craze right now. Yeah, dude. Yeah, 100%. And

00:20:32.569 --> 00:20:35.490
if you start doing corn products that are boosted

00:20:35.490 --> 00:20:37.529
in protein, people will jump on it. What if I

00:20:37.529 --> 00:20:41.450
wanted to buy a 12 -pack of these ears? Corns?

00:20:41.450 --> 00:20:43.089
Yeah, just like, you know, whatever, a variety.

00:20:43.190 --> 00:20:45.490
And I want to eat them after I cook them and

00:20:45.490 --> 00:20:47.309
just kind of get an experience. Is that something?

00:20:47.900 --> 00:20:51.180
It can do through your folks? No. Most of them,

00:20:51.180 --> 00:20:52.720
they're not going to sell it in that kind of

00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:56.279
method. They dry it and they put it in bags and

00:20:56.279 --> 00:20:57.720
sell it. It's already big hitter for you. Before

00:20:57.720 --> 00:20:59.660
it hits you. For sure. So you'd have to go straight

00:20:59.660 --> 00:21:01.839
to the - You'd have to go to the farms for it

00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:05.480
directly. I see. Because the purple has some

00:21:05.480 --> 00:21:07.140
kind of health benefit to it. I can't remember.

00:21:07.259 --> 00:21:09.799
Was it antioxidants or something to it, right?

00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:13.119
Yeah. So the purple corn that we use, it originally

00:21:13.119 --> 00:21:15.259
came from South America, from Peru. It was a

00:21:15.259 --> 00:21:18.609
Peruvian corn. that the Incans use. If you Google

00:21:18.609 --> 00:21:21.029
chicha morado, it's the corn they use to make

00:21:21.029 --> 00:21:23.930
that. Really cool corn, but it is very high in

00:21:23.930 --> 00:21:27.470
antioxidants. It has more antioxidants than a

00:21:27.470 --> 00:21:30.450
lot of green teas actually do. Go figure. Now,

00:21:30.529 --> 00:21:32.829
again, by the time I'm done with it, you're not

00:21:32.829 --> 00:21:35.089
going to get those benefits, but when you eat

00:21:35.089 --> 00:21:37.210
it, you leach all the good stuff out of it. Exactly.

00:21:37.730 --> 00:21:40.509
The yeast uses all that stuff. Listen to this

00:21:40.509 --> 00:21:42.150
right here. The purple and blue corn contains

00:21:42.150 --> 00:21:46.799
high levels of anthocyanins. Anthocyanins, I

00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:49.279
think. Antocyanins, like that, pigments, acting

00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:51.660
as a strong antioxidant. Purple corn specifically

00:21:51.660 --> 00:21:57.599
may help combat obesity, diabetes, and cancer

00:21:57.599 --> 00:22:00.920
-reducing inflammation. I mean, that's a sell

00:22:00.920 --> 00:22:03.680
right there. Yeah, sure. The obesity part, you

00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:05.220
know, I would love to be able to. I don't have

00:22:05.220 --> 00:22:08.279
diabetes yet, you know, if that won't. I mean,

00:22:08.279 --> 00:22:10.039
they got a list here of all the different benefits.

00:22:10.180 --> 00:22:14.980
Look at that one. That's crazy. How the hell?

00:22:15.059 --> 00:22:17.980
Have you tasted that? Oh, yeah. No, the Chicha

00:22:17.980 --> 00:22:20.799
Morado drink is a non -alcoholic drink they make

00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:23.339
in Peru. It's like a traditional drink, but it's

00:22:23.339 --> 00:22:26.460
really tasty. And it has rum. It's got the sweetness

00:22:26.460 --> 00:22:28.359
of it. Hey, let's go. You can have whatever you

00:22:28.359 --> 00:22:31.220
want. Let's go. But it's absolutely gorgeous,

00:22:31.259 --> 00:22:35.000
and it tastes really, really good. Interesting.

00:22:35.160 --> 00:22:38.579
Golly, man. So I remember - It's refreshing.

00:22:38.779 --> 00:22:41.339
It's grape juice. Incan ladies, they chew on

00:22:41.339 --> 00:22:46.259
something. And they have a lot of red mouths.

00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:50.200
But it's not that. They're chewing on some sort

00:22:50.200 --> 00:22:53.720
of... I'm not sure what they're chewing on. It's

00:22:53.720 --> 00:22:57.259
actually a problem. It rots their teeth. But

00:22:57.259 --> 00:22:59.640
I don't think it's the corn. But it's that color.

00:22:59.920 --> 00:23:01.859
It could be historically. I know a lot of the

00:23:01.859 --> 00:23:04.460
South American, Central American cultures, they

00:23:04.460 --> 00:23:07.869
would do that because it would... Your saliva

00:23:07.869 --> 00:23:09.890
would break down the corn or whatever you're

00:23:09.890 --> 00:23:11.329
drinking, and it would make it so you could ferment

00:23:11.329 --> 00:23:14.089
it and do stuff like that. In Mexico, there's

00:23:14.089 --> 00:23:17.789
certain beverages that they make that way. Actually,

00:23:17.849 --> 00:23:20.230
it's like a fermented corn beer, but they use

00:23:20.230 --> 00:23:22.150
it by chewing on it. I forget what those are

00:23:22.150 --> 00:23:25.630
called. Yeah, I just remember that being a very

00:23:25.630 --> 00:23:29.950
interesting thing. They always had these purple

00:23:29.950 --> 00:23:31.529
lips and purple mouths, and they were always

00:23:31.529 --> 00:23:33.410
chewing on something. I don't know what it was.

00:23:33.710 --> 00:23:35.480
Maybe it was that corn. I don't know. I know

00:23:35.480 --> 00:23:38.859
in Asia, especially like Taiwan, that region,

00:23:38.940 --> 00:23:41.079
they have what are called beetle nuts, which

00:23:41.079 --> 00:23:42.799
are kind of like, they use them kind of like

00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:44.680
tobacco, but they'll pop the beetle nuts in there

00:23:44.680 --> 00:23:46.839
and that would be really red. And that was kind

00:23:46.839 --> 00:23:48.779
of intimidating to see. And where was that? It

00:23:48.779 --> 00:23:51.099
was in Taiwan, at least where I had it. I know

00:23:51.099 --> 00:23:53.279
it's all over that kind of region, but it's a

00:23:53.279 --> 00:23:55.960
really cool thing. And it gives you like, it

00:23:55.960 --> 00:23:59.220
gives you like warms your body up. You like feel

00:23:59.220 --> 00:24:01.579
like this warmth kind of buzz feel. It's really

00:24:01.579 --> 00:24:04.039
kind of a cool. Psychoactive. Yeah. Interesting.

00:24:04.299 --> 00:24:07.839
Collinogenic. Interesting. So are you guys, imagine,

00:24:08.119 --> 00:24:10.660
ooh, look at those teeth. Yeah, see what I'm

00:24:10.660 --> 00:24:13.200
talking about? That is actually what I'm talking

00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:15.839
about. Maybe they do have that same type of nut

00:24:15.839 --> 00:24:22.000
in Peru. I don't know. Oh, goodness. Peru. Peru.

00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:26.259
Peru. Yeah, I'm fluent. So how much of the fun

00:24:26.259 --> 00:24:28.980
and the day is spent on just experimenting with

00:24:28.980 --> 00:24:32.440
new corn, new yeast, or whatever? I mean, because...

00:24:32.859 --> 00:24:34.940
What I'm impressed with is you guys seem to have

00:24:34.940 --> 00:24:37.279
a lot of experimentation that turns into some

00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:39.740
really fine whiskeys and bourbon. You know, it

00:24:39.740 --> 00:24:42.359
varies from kind of year to year, depending on

00:24:42.359 --> 00:24:46.599
how much I'm containing my brother. He's the

00:24:46.599 --> 00:24:48.779
mad scientist. He is very much the mad scientist.

00:24:48.819 --> 00:24:51.599
He's kind of the crazy one that wants to try

00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:54.839
all the things. So I have to be like, well, we

00:24:54.839 --> 00:24:58.430
still need some of our normal stuff, too. You're

00:24:58.430 --> 00:25:01.690
like, let's perfect what we're focusing on. The

00:25:01.690 --> 00:25:04.549
ADD gets us sometimes, but I'd say about 15 %

00:25:04.549 --> 00:25:06.869
of what we do in a year has some sort of experimentation

00:25:06.869 --> 00:25:09.549
from it from us, either trying a new yeast, trying

00:25:09.549 --> 00:25:12.329
a different corn species, a little bit different

00:25:12.329 --> 00:25:14.710
length of fermentation, different barrel size,

00:25:14.890 --> 00:25:18.349
different char levels, different wood types.

00:25:18.450 --> 00:25:20.910
Again, we're always playing around and kind of

00:25:20.910 --> 00:25:23.230
trying to tweak what we do. How much of that

00:25:23.230 --> 00:25:25.490
translates into something that ends up in a bottle?

00:25:26.119 --> 00:25:29.099
I mean, we end up using almost everything. Oh,

00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:31.900
really? Knock on wood on this one. You mean for

00:25:31.900 --> 00:25:34.460
commercial release? Yeah. There's never been

00:25:34.460 --> 00:25:36.660
a barrel that we have never used commercially.

00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:38.839
Oh, wow. Yeah. So everything's turned out. So

00:25:38.839 --> 00:25:40.019
you haven't had one. You're always like, wow,

00:25:40.180 --> 00:25:42.160
that one didn't work this time. Yeah. Don't get

00:25:42.160 --> 00:25:43.759
me wrong. There's ones I like better than others.

00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:46.359
Sure. It definitely happens. But generally, by

00:25:46.359 --> 00:25:48.269
the time we get to the... to actually doing like

00:25:48.269 --> 00:25:50.170
a distillation of something, we've kind of messed

00:25:50.170 --> 00:25:52.349
with it enough to kind of have an idea of, yeah,

00:25:52.410 --> 00:25:52.990
we're going to be okay. Okay, so you're doing

00:25:52.990 --> 00:25:55.430
small batches up until the point where you're

00:25:55.430 --> 00:25:57.589
good enough to move forward with it. We're testing

00:25:57.589 --> 00:26:00.230
out, a lot of times I'll make, with corns, I'll

00:26:00.230 --> 00:26:02.549
make new cornbreads and like taste them against

00:26:02.549 --> 00:26:04.750
the other cornbread, like regular yellow cornbread.

00:26:04.890 --> 00:26:07.190
Okay. Just to see kind of what flavor differences

00:26:07.190 --> 00:26:10.910
can we see. In a cornbread? Yeah. Oh, yeah. And

00:26:10.910 --> 00:26:14.000
that translates to... A mash bill. It doesn't

00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:15.859
translate to the flavor of the whiskey, but will

00:26:15.859 --> 00:26:17.079
tell me if there's going to be something new,

00:26:17.180 --> 00:26:19.500
different, interesting about it. And then the

00:26:19.500 --> 00:26:22.039
way we typically use the heirloom corns, we don't

00:26:22.039 --> 00:26:24.420
do like a mash bill that's 100 % that corn. Right.

00:26:24.519 --> 00:26:27.619
A lot of them, they don't have enough sugars

00:26:27.619 --> 00:26:30.759
to them to like have a good yield. So we'll use

00:26:30.759 --> 00:26:32.700
it in a certain percentage. And based on kind

00:26:32.700 --> 00:26:34.420
of our experience now, we know kind of like,

00:26:34.500 --> 00:26:36.480
are we going to use this for 5 % of the mash

00:26:36.480 --> 00:26:40.130
bill, 10%, 15%, 20 % to kind of know. where we

00:26:40.130 --> 00:26:42.329
can experience those flavors, but also still

00:26:42.329 --> 00:26:44.329
have something that's still recognizably whiskey.

00:26:44.450 --> 00:26:48.390
It's an equation. That is interesting as hell.

00:26:48.609 --> 00:26:52.730
It really is. So you break down, so you figure

00:26:52.730 --> 00:26:56.470
out all the way down to the small ingredients

00:26:56.470 --> 00:26:59.569
and the sugar content and this and that of every

00:26:59.569 --> 00:27:02.609
corn to know how that's going to feed into the

00:27:02.609 --> 00:27:05.390
recipe. Exactly, 100%. How do you do that? I

00:27:05.390 --> 00:27:09.099
mean... So some of it's experience now that we've

00:27:09.099 --> 00:27:12.200
been doing it. Some of it's whoops. But I mean,

00:27:12.200 --> 00:27:14.319
when you're measuring sugar content, there's

00:27:14.319 --> 00:27:15.920
got to be equipment for that. So a lot of times,

00:27:16.019 --> 00:27:17.359
yeah, there's definitely equipment. So whenever

00:27:17.359 --> 00:27:20.059
you mash and you cook a corn or cook any grain,

00:27:20.559 --> 00:27:22.740
there's actually a tool you can stick in it,

00:27:22.759 --> 00:27:24.440
and it'll actually read the level of sugar that

00:27:24.440 --> 00:27:25.859
you put in it. Beautiful. I figured something

00:27:25.859 --> 00:27:28.099
like that. So we know how much can we ferment,

00:27:28.220 --> 00:27:30.430
how much alcohol is there going to be. And then

00:27:30.430 --> 00:27:32.609
when we're looking at kind of, all right, how

00:27:32.609 --> 00:27:34.750
much sugar there is and then kind of what flavors,

00:27:34.789 --> 00:27:36.730
even when you start cooking the corn and tasting

00:27:36.730 --> 00:27:39.490
it, kind of seeing like, is this a flavor that

00:27:39.490 --> 00:27:42.430
would be really good as a nuanced flavor? Or

00:27:42.430 --> 00:27:43.930
is it something that's going to be a really big

00:27:43.930 --> 00:27:46.569
base flavor? And so that's kind of like as we

00:27:46.569 --> 00:27:48.390
start judging the flavors that we start seeing,

00:27:48.630 --> 00:27:50.490
how we're going to use it. And even like if we

00:27:50.490 --> 00:27:53.569
make something that's 25 % of an heirloom corn,

00:27:53.650 --> 00:27:55.849
and then as it's aging, we're like, you know,

00:27:56.009 --> 00:27:59.920
it's too much of that certain flavor. We'll blend

00:27:59.920 --> 00:28:02.619
that barrel in with other barrels to get to the

00:28:02.619 --> 00:28:04.779
kind of the right amount of what we want of that

00:28:04.779 --> 00:28:06.859
particular flavor. Right. So you keep playing

00:28:06.859 --> 00:28:10.220
with it until it works. Everything's really done

00:28:10.220 --> 00:28:12.339
on the blending table at the end of the day,

00:28:12.359 --> 00:28:16.200
for sure. That is fascinating. Yeah. And then

00:28:16.200 --> 00:28:18.740
on top of that, you take blends from other distilleries

00:28:18.740 --> 00:28:20.559
and do partnerships with other. How do you have

00:28:20.559 --> 00:28:23.640
time to do all that too? Well, I mean, one of

00:28:23.640 --> 00:28:26.619
the things for us is, and we didn't start doing

00:28:26.619 --> 00:28:30.230
that until after 2020. and because 2020 is when

00:28:30.230 --> 00:28:32.289
harbinger won its really big award it was named

00:28:32.289 --> 00:28:35.470
best bourbon which we can talk about what you

00:28:35.470 --> 00:28:38.430
know the awards and all that stuff on that end

00:28:38.430 --> 00:28:41.410
but it really blew blew up for us like again

00:28:41.410 --> 00:28:43.410
like we went from like having to go out there

00:28:43.410 --> 00:28:46.349
and actually like sell product and taste customers

00:28:46.349 --> 00:28:49.170
and convince people to try this new and really

00:28:49.170 --> 00:28:51.190
different thing to we had people now starting

00:28:51.190 --> 00:28:53.109
to come to us to wanting to try something new

00:28:53.109 --> 00:28:55.309
and something different And so for us, we went

00:28:55.309 --> 00:28:58.069
from, you know, we were making 100 to 120 barrels

00:28:58.069 --> 00:29:00.630
a year was kind of what we were making. And all

00:29:00.630 --> 00:29:02.329
of a sudden, we just didn't have enough whiskey.

00:29:03.410 --> 00:29:06.289
What a nice problem to have. It really was. But

00:29:06.289 --> 00:29:08.609
still stressful. Yeah. I mean, because you're

00:29:08.609 --> 00:29:10.990
looking at, like, how do I grow incrementally?

00:29:10.990 --> 00:29:13.809
Like, is the enthusiasm for what we're doing

00:29:13.809 --> 00:29:16.130
going to continue going forward? Because, you

00:29:16.130 --> 00:29:18.390
know, if I all of a sudden jumped to making,

00:29:18.450 --> 00:29:21.049
you know, 1 ,000 barrels. And then everybody

00:29:21.049 --> 00:29:23.190
went away. Yeah, in five years when that whiskey's

00:29:23.190 --> 00:29:25.049
ready, everyone's still going to be there. It

00:29:25.049 --> 00:29:27.630
seems like that's kind of a common issue right

00:29:27.630 --> 00:29:30.789
now with the whole whiskey market. I mean, people

00:29:30.789 --> 00:29:33.029
are not drinking as much right now. There are

00:29:33.029 --> 00:29:35.869
some whiskey vendors out there that aren't making

00:29:35.869 --> 00:29:40.269
it. No, 100%. It is a really kind of fickle.

00:29:40.829 --> 00:29:43.369
I mean, and the market's always moved in cycles

00:29:43.369 --> 00:29:46.369
of more and less and more and less. But you went

00:29:46.369 --> 00:29:49.009
with COVID in that time when people were just

00:29:49.009 --> 00:29:50.880
home. we were just sitting home drinking. And

00:29:50.880 --> 00:29:54.599
so obviously drinking went up pretty drastically

00:29:54.599 --> 00:29:56.700
during that period of time. And now we're coming

00:29:56.700 --> 00:29:58.720
off of that. So it's one of those things that

00:29:58.720 --> 00:30:01.599
are we, we're still, the consumption rate is

00:30:01.599 --> 00:30:05.900
still significantly above 2019. Okay. So that's

00:30:05.900 --> 00:30:07.799
good to hear, but it's not as high as you were

00:30:07.799 --> 00:30:11.359
in 2024, which was kind of the peak really of

00:30:11.359 --> 00:30:13.160
kind of on it. You're seeing things kind of dip

00:30:13.160 --> 00:30:16.319
down now. Oh, that's good to know. I was thinking

00:30:16.319 --> 00:30:20.619
that the market was, It was stalling, essentially.

00:30:20.619 --> 00:30:22.079
Well, and to your point, the younger generation,

00:30:22.259 --> 00:30:25.859
they have other options now to, you know, I mean,

00:30:25.880 --> 00:30:27.599
people drink for different reasons, right? A

00:30:27.599 --> 00:30:29.839
lot of it's coping, right? Stress, anxiety to

00:30:29.839 --> 00:30:31.720
calm you down, you know, be relaxed. For sure.

00:30:31.859 --> 00:30:34.180
Well, they have other options now. A lot of it's

00:30:34.180 --> 00:30:36.839
marijuana, to be honest, the younger generation.

00:30:36.859 --> 00:30:39.960
The THC stuff. Yep, the THC stuff. So that's

00:30:39.960 --> 00:30:42.519
really, for the younger generation, that's cutting

00:30:42.519 --> 00:30:46.890
into drinking. Are you seeing that? So what's

00:30:46.890 --> 00:30:49.069
really interesting is you've kind of seen in

00:30:49.069 --> 00:30:51.589
2023, there came out this big study that was

00:30:51.589 --> 00:30:55.190
Gen Z is not drinking anywhere near. They're

00:30:55.190 --> 00:30:57.630
only about 40 % were drinking, whereas most generations

00:30:57.630 --> 00:31:01.470
are right around 70 -ish percent. I think most

00:31:01.470 --> 00:31:05.049
like 71, 72 % is what you're seeing. And so in

00:31:05.049 --> 00:31:07.009
2023, they did this big study where they went

00:31:07.009 --> 00:31:08.990
on to college campuses and they had all these

00:31:08.990 --> 00:31:12.549
guys asking these kids, these 18, 19, 20 -year

00:31:12.549 --> 00:31:15.079
-olds. Do you drink alcohol? Are you drinking

00:31:15.079 --> 00:31:17.559
multiple times a week? And the results that they

00:31:17.559 --> 00:31:19.299
got back were horrifying because it was only

00:31:19.299 --> 00:31:21.480
about 40 % were responding that they had drank

00:31:21.480 --> 00:31:23.460
in the last six months. What a bunch of idiots.

00:31:23.740 --> 00:31:25.380
I think our kids were definitely in that 40%.

00:31:25.380 --> 00:31:28.859
What's wrong with these kids? Our kids were making

00:31:28.859 --> 00:31:32.599
up the difference. Yeah, mine still are. Thank

00:31:32.599 --> 00:31:35.000
you, boys. Now, if it makes you feeling better.

00:31:35.440 --> 00:31:38.079
They did another study last year, last June,

00:31:38.140 --> 00:31:41.440
and the study came back, and it turned out that

00:31:41.440 --> 00:31:43.839
the methodology that they were using for that

00:31:43.839 --> 00:31:47.000
2023 study wasn't really great because they had

00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:50.480
a bunch of older guys wandering around college

00:31:50.480 --> 00:31:54.420
campuses asking 18 -year -olds, You like popsicles?

00:31:54.640 --> 00:31:57.119
Well, sure. Then you need to come on down to

00:31:57.119 --> 00:31:59.380
the cellar. Do you drink alcohol? How much do

00:31:59.380 --> 00:32:01.940
you drink? Right, right. And I'm an undercover

00:32:01.940 --> 00:32:03.420
officer, so please tell me. Yeah, the responses

00:32:03.420 --> 00:32:06.579
weren't exactly accurate, is what I'd say. And

00:32:06.579 --> 00:32:08.819
it was outside of churches when people were coming

00:32:08.819 --> 00:32:13.059
out? Yeah, pretty much. Right. So it turned out

00:32:13.059 --> 00:32:15.400
the most recent study now is about 70 % of it.

00:32:15.859 --> 00:32:18.720
Oh, okay, good. Oh, thank God they're drinking.

00:32:18.880 --> 00:32:20.960
Now, you are seeing more, I would say, varied.

00:32:21.000 --> 00:32:23.240
So they will drink alcohol, but they'll also

00:32:23.240 --> 00:32:25.299
do THC. They'll also do some other things. So

00:32:25.299 --> 00:32:27.890
you are seeing... a little bit less of just alcohol

00:32:27.890 --> 00:32:31.190
in general, but it's other stuff being mixed

00:32:31.190 --> 00:32:32.829
in there, if that makes sense. The White Claws

00:32:32.829 --> 00:32:34.769
and the whatever that category is. Yeah, the

00:32:34.769 --> 00:32:36.670
White Claws. Shelters. Shelters. This is crazy.

00:32:36.710 --> 00:32:39.769
Now, the crazy thing with that, kind of the research

00:32:39.769 --> 00:32:41.650
that came out from this last year and then kind

00:32:41.650 --> 00:32:44.789
of like all the purchasing kind of studies was

00:32:44.789 --> 00:32:50.069
that for the first time in like 70 years, liquor

00:32:50.069 --> 00:32:52.069
was actually the number one consumed alcohol

00:32:52.069 --> 00:32:55.490
in the United States. At 25? We passed beer.

00:32:55.880 --> 00:32:58.039
For the first time ever. Or the first time since

00:32:58.039 --> 00:33:00.099
like the 50s or 60s. Thanks, Tyler Mulvaney.

00:33:00.299 --> 00:33:04.079
I think we've helped us. You take the beer industry,

00:33:04.140 --> 00:33:07.460
huh? So wine's staying pretty even, kind of the

00:33:07.460 --> 00:33:09.240
percentage that they typically, it's like 18

00:33:09.240 --> 00:33:12.920
to 20%. But yeah, the beer is what's really taking

00:33:12.920 --> 00:33:16.400
a hit right now. I'll tell you what, before bourbon,

00:33:16.420 --> 00:33:18.940
Sean and I were really into the craft beer scene,

00:33:19.039 --> 00:33:21.619
like big time. Yeah. And I had a fridge full

00:33:21.619 --> 00:33:24.800
of them downstairs, and I put on 20 pounds. And

00:33:24.800 --> 00:33:28.920
I was like, I'm done. I have to stop. And I don't

00:33:28.920 --> 00:33:30.279
really drink beer anymore. I have a hard time

00:33:30.279 --> 00:33:32.539
drinking beer now, strange enough. I was able

00:33:32.539 --> 00:33:34.660
to drink all those really rich, strong beers.

00:33:35.400 --> 00:33:38.619
IPAs, right? Big old stouts. Stouts. I almost

00:33:38.619 --> 00:33:40.700
have to choke those down now whenever I have

00:33:40.700 --> 00:33:43.259
one. So I drink a light beer now occasionally

00:33:43.259 --> 00:33:46.160
when I have one, but we used to be in that a

00:33:46.160 --> 00:33:48.569
lot. We'd go. Instead of the bourbon, we were

00:33:48.569 --> 00:33:50.529
stocking up on craft beer. Yeah, we would go

00:33:50.529 --> 00:33:52.849
shopping for it. We'd hit the different beer

00:33:52.849 --> 00:33:54.849
stores. We'd hit the different bars and be like,

00:33:55.009 --> 00:33:57.529
what's the biggest point? And then we found a

00:33:57.529 --> 00:34:00.130
barley wine made by Bigfoot. I don't know. It's

00:34:00.130 --> 00:34:03.609
called Bigfoot barley wine made by Belgium Ale,

00:34:03.750 --> 00:34:06.210
I think. I don't remember. And it's 12 points

00:34:06.210 --> 00:34:10.650
on that, 14 points. But the quadruple ales, I

00:34:10.650 --> 00:34:13.469
loved them. I mean, we just simply can't drink

00:34:13.469 --> 00:34:15.460
them because it's... you might as well just glue

00:34:15.460 --> 00:34:18.739
it to your waist. Yeah, exactly. And that's what

00:34:18.739 --> 00:34:21.360
you've seen, and that's why liquor has really

00:34:21.360 --> 00:34:23.760
kind of been raised above that. Well, we enjoy

00:34:23.760 --> 00:34:26.320
the hell out of it. We enjoy the hell out of

00:34:26.320 --> 00:34:28.440
Iron Root. Oh, yeah. You've seen what we've got

00:34:28.440 --> 00:34:33.360
going out there. We are running a campaign to

00:34:33.360 --> 00:34:37.159
really experiment and taste everything. I mean,

00:34:37.219 --> 00:34:41.210
we had... Jeff brought some, it's not tequila,

00:34:41.289 --> 00:34:43.630
but it's tequila from Hawaii, which was excellent.

00:34:43.809 --> 00:34:45.889
It can't be called tequila, but it's made with

00:34:45.889 --> 00:34:50.590
agave and stuff there. We sampled that Vixen

00:34:50.590 --> 00:34:55.849
sweet wine. Oh, yeah. That was really good, by

00:34:55.849 --> 00:34:59.530
the way. Was it a fortified? No, it was a distilled

00:34:59.530 --> 00:35:02.639
wine. Yeah. It was excellent. It was fascinating.

00:35:02.760 --> 00:35:04.119
It wasn't a fortified wine. It was a distilled

00:35:04.119 --> 00:35:05.760
wine. It had a very unique taste, and it was

00:35:05.760 --> 00:35:09.820
super good. And the newest and latest, the American

00:35:09.820 --> 00:35:13.019
single malts is now what we're picking up. But

00:35:13.019 --> 00:35:15.219
we are really starting to enjoy that category.

00:35:15.519 --> 00:35:18.480
And now, what say you on your Iron Root single

00:35:18.480 --> 00:35:20.920
malts? I mean, are you guys producing them? Am

00:35:20.920 --> 00:35:25.579
I ignorant here? We haven't released any. But

00:35:25.579 --> 00:35:28.760
we do have some that's around six years old at

00:35:28.760 --> 00:35:32.800
the moment. Very nice. It'll be another few years

00:35:32.800 --> 00:35:37.139
before you see that. We have, over the years,

00:35:37.179 --> 00:35:39.539
occasionally dabbled into a little bit of barley

00:35:39.539 --> 00:35:43.360
distillation as well. So six years, that's the

00:35:43.360 --> 00:35:47.840
Vixen red wine liquor. It was very different.

00:35:47.980 --> 00:35:51.460
It was excellent. I wanted to buy a case after

00:35:51.460 --> 00:35:55.050
that. It's a fortified wine. I love it. I think

00:35:55.050 --> 00:35:56.929
it's Russian or something. Where would we even

00:35:56.929 --> 00:35:59.570
buy that? You have to buy it. Georgia? It's Georgian,

00:35:59.570 --> 00:36:02.170
yeah. Florida. Some place in Florida carries

00:36:02.170 --> 00:36:06.090
it. Anyway, six years you've aged it. You're

00:36:06.090 --> 00:36:07.570
still thinking three to four. So you're thinking

00:36:07.570 --> 00:36:09.949
almost 10 years for the single malt? Yeah, we

00:36:09.949 --> 00:36:13.070
approached it in a little bit different kind

00:36:13.070 --> 00:36:17.389
of mindset than like Balcones or Andalusia or

00:36:17.389 --> 00:36:18.989
some of our other kind of friends in the American

00:36:18.989 --> 00:36:22.289
single malt area is that we really wanted to

00:36:22.289 --> 00:36:24.599
take our time when we were making it. And so

00:36:24.599 --> 00:36:27.820
we distilled it in a way that we intentionally

00:36:27.820 --> 00:36:30.280
did not intend to release it before it was eight

00:36:30.280 --> 00:36:33.280
years old. So it could be eight, it could be

00:36:33.280 --> 00:36:35.519
10, it could be 12. By the time it's really ready

00:36:35.519 --> 00:36:37.980
to go, I don't know yet. So when you do an experiment

00:36:37.980 --> 00:36:40.280
like that, a project, I'll call it a project.

00:36:40.280 --> 00:36:43.119
Because that's really what it is. I mean, how

00:36:43.119 --> 00:36:46.199
many barrels are you talking for a project? Typically

00:36:46.199 --> 00:36:48.519
about eight. Eight? Okay. And what would that

00:36:48.519 --> 00:36:52.219
yield as far as bottles -ish? I mean, it always

00:36:52.219 --> 00:36:54.079
depends on what proof you end up bottling that.

00:36:54.199 --> 00:36:58.199
But over a decade in Texas, we'll end up with

00:36:58.199 --> 00:37:02.039
about 100 to 120 bottles per barrel. Okay. That's

00:37:02.039 --> 00:37:04.420
a lot of loss, man. It is. And it's really at

00:37:04.420 --> 00:37:06.280
the end of the day. That's a vicious loss. Which

00:37:06.280 --> 00:37:09.900
I assume the single malt is going to be excellent.

00:37:10.099 --> 00:37:12.380
In fact, I can't wait. I mean, what do we got?

00:37:12.440 --> 00:37:14.659
How many more years do we have? Two more years?

00:37:14.880 --> 00:37:18.380
Between two to six more years, depending on.

00:37:19.059 --> 00:37:22.260
We've got a couple other. malts that will come

00:37:22.260 --> 00:37:24.679
out before that like we did a collaboration with

00:37:24.679 --> 00:37:28.400
tupps that will come out another um uh we got

00:37:28.400 --> 00:37:30.219
another brewery that we've also done a collaboration

00:37:30.219 --> 00:37:33.599
with um that we've got some kind of fun really

00:37:33.599 --> 00:37:35.579
different those are not i would say traditional

00:37:35.579 --> 00:37:38.880
style malts like the like the single malt we

00:37:38.880 --> 00:37:40.940
were talking about but uh we have some stuff

00:37:40.940 --> 00:37:43.159
we've done with malt that's a non -traditional

00:37:43.159 --> 00:37:45.760
that will come out before that i'm enjoying them

00:37:45.760 --> 00:37:50.400
you know i've got so we were gifted some And

00:37:50.400 --> 00:37:53.159
the Balcones was a complete surprise. You know,

00:37:53.199 --> 00:37:56.400
how great some of their stuff tastes. We enjoyed

00:37:56.400 --> 00:37:59.920
the Rumble, the High Proof Hazmat Rumble. That

00:37:59.920 --> 00:38:01.940
wasn't a single malt, though. It's not, but I

00:38:01.940 --> 00:38:05.000
still enjoyed it. The Balcones. Such a cool,

00:38:05.079 --> 00:38:08.679
different spirit, Rumble. Yeah. It's sad that

00:38:08.679 --> 00:38:10.780
they don't make it anymore. Yeah, I know. I gave

00:38:10.780 --> 00:38:13.739
them a hard time. I didn't understand that. Because

00:38:13.739 --> 00:38:16.340
they're not selling. Well, it's a difficult...

00:38:17.409 --> 00:38:20.070
when something doesn't have a category. Yes.

00:38:20.090 --> 00:38:22.070
When you go to a liquor store and it's like where

00:38:22.070 --> 00:38:23.849
do they stick it in the liquor store and it's

00:38:23.849 --> 00:38:26.869
in the like random liqueur section. Yeah. And

00:38:26.869 --> 00:38:28.869
so when you're going in, like again, most of

00:38:28.869 --> 00:38:30.530
us are going to the whiskey section, tequila

00:38:30.530 --> 00:38:32.269
or mezcal. We're going somewhere in that area.

00:38:32.329 --> 00:38:34.590
You're just not going to see it. And so it's

00:38:34.590 --> 00:38:36.670
tough. It's so high proof. Well, I mean, not

00:38:36.670 --> 00:38:38.809
all of it's that. Like most of the ones you find

00:38:38.809 --> 00:38:42.010
now are 90 to 110 proof. Oh, really? Yeah. The

00:38:42.010 --> 00:38:46.039
hazmat one is. So good. Yeah. I have a bottle

00:38:46.039 --> 00:38:48.320
and a half left, and I don't know if I'll ever

00:38:48.320 --> 00:38:50.340
open that second bottle. Well, you want to enjoy

00:38:50.340 --> 00:38:52.760
it. You have to. Well, I do, but I can enjoy

00:38:52.760 --> 00:38:55.619
it when I'm 70. When I'm shitting my pants and

00:38:55.619 --> 00:38:58.099
forgetting where I'm at, you know? Then you won't

00:38:58.099 --> 00:39:00.239
remember what it tastes like. I know. Here's

00:39:00.239 --> 00:39:01.900
a new one for you, grandkids. I'm going to puke

00:39:01.900 --> 00:39:07.659
on you. So, you guys, how often are you tasting

00:39:07.659 --> 00:39:12.639
the aging single malt to determine, like, Maybe

00:39:12.639 --> 00:39:16.179
another year, maybe six months. When do you make

00:39:16.179 --> 00:39:18.400
the call? So that's the best part of the French

00:39:18.400 --> 00:39:20.460
methods for aging is that we taste everything

00:39:20.460 --> 00:39:22.460
about every four months. Every four months. And

00:39:22.460 --> 00:39:24.460
so we're judging how it's developing, how it's

00:39:24.460 --> 00:39:27.260
going. And based on the progression, you're kind

00:39:27.260 --> 00:39:31.099
of predicting that it's probably another 12 months.

00:39:31.460 --> 00:39:33.380
And sometimes if we really like it, we're like,

00:39:33.420 --> 00:39:34.940
well, let's hang on to it a little longer and

00:39:34.940 --> 00:39:38.860
see how it gets. Now, do you guys move them around

00:39:38.860 --> 00:39:42.929
the rickhouse at all? It depends. So for us,

00:39:42.969 --> 00:39:44.829
moving things around the rickhouse is really

00:39:44.829 --> 00:39:49.530
more flavor profile dependent because when we

00:39:49.530 --> 00:39:50.849
move things to certain parts of the warehouse,

00:39:50.949 --> 00:39:54.070
we want it to help encourage certain flavor developments

00:39:54.070 --> 00:39:56.250
because the more extreme parts of the warehouse

00:39:56.250 --> 00:39:58.070
are going to have certain impacts on kind of

00:39:58.070 --> 00:40:00.010
what flavors you're going to get. And the more

00:40:00.010 --> 00:40:02.690
docile, calm areas will allow other flavors to

00:40:02.690 --> 00:40:04.449
really develop more dominantly. And you're really

00:40:04.449 --> 00:40:06.010
talking about temperature, right? Yeah, temperature,

00:40:06.210 --> 00:40:11.099
how... the temperature changes are, whether it's

00:40:11.099 --> 00:40:14.480
slow variation or high variation. When you're

00:40:14.480 --> 00:40:18.280
looking at also like barometric pressures that

00:40:18.280 --> 00:40:20.360
you'll see, that also is going to impact how

00:40:20.360 --> 00:40:22.360
things really mature and change. Is your new

00:40:22.360 --> 00:40:25.199
rickhouse, is it pressurized in there? It's not

00:40:25.199 --> 00:40:28.440
pressurized. It's actually, so the new warehouse,

00:40:28.599 --> 00:40:31.039
it doesn't have any insulation in it, but it's

00:40:31.039 --> 00:40:35.010
also... right next to a creek so on the backside

00:40:35.010 --> 00:40:37.369
yeah so when we're talking about like i had my

00:40:37.369 --> 00:40:40.849
concerns about that the erosion factor falling

00:40:40.849 --> 00:40:43.670
out of there it's always dangerous uh you know

00:40:43.670 --> 00:40:46.530
the concrete's been there for many years so hopefully

00:40:46.530 --> 00:40:49.809
it stays around hopefully yeah uh so how many

00:40:49.809 --> 00:40:52.289
stacks high are the the barrels like we go about

00:40:52.289 --> 00:40:54.769
four stacks high four okay that's not too bad

00:40:54.769 --> 00:40:57.210
we don't go too crazy but the crazy thing from

00:40:57.210 --> 00:41:00.070
ground floor to four high can be about three

00:41:00.070 --> 00:41:03.909
to four degrees difference. So it's really quite

00:41:03.909 --> 00:41:08.409
massive. But having that kind of that dry creek

00:41:08.409 --> 00:41:11.389
bed on the far side of that building, especially

00:41:11.389 --> 00:41:13.449
when we have wet years like we did last year,

00:41:13.570 --> 00:41:16.869
the humidity level is so much higher in the new

00:41:16.869 --> 00:41:18.530
warehouse than the old warehouse. So whereas

00:41:18.530 --> 00:41:22.690
at 1845, they see a slight, either their proof

00:41:22.690 --> 00:41:24.610
stays the same or kind of drops typically at

00:41:24.610 --> 00:41:27.869
their warehouse. Our original warehouse, the

00:41:27.869 --> 00:41:30.489
proof always goes up. or all but one year the

00:41:30.489 --> 00:41:33.010
proof has gone up. In the new warehouse, it's

00:41:33.010 --> 00:41:35.329
actually way more docile as far as that increase

00:41:35.329 --> 00:41:37.670
in proof. So it's really interesting because

00:41:37.670 --> 00:41:40.070
of that. So does that unpredictability excite

00:41:40.070 --> 00:41:42.809
you guys? Or does it make you nervous? Or like,

00:41:42.889 --> 00:41:44.869
how do you feel about, like, are you wanting

00:41:44.869 --> 00:41:47.389
to try to control it and predict? Or are you

00:41:47.389 --> 00:41:49.210
just like, hey man, bring it. Mother nature,

00:41:49.269 --> 00:41:50.809
just bring it. That's, again, that's another

00:41:50.809 --> 00:41:52.949
one of those French things that's really been

00:41:52.949 --> 00:41:56.230
ingranduous is it's... mother nature it's it's

00:41:56.230 --> 00:41:58.690
where we're from it's what we are and that's

00:41:58.690 --> 00:42:01.650
what you're supposed to embrace and really curate

00:42:01.650 --> 00:42:04.469
is that and what it does to the barrels is what

00:42:04.469 --> 00:42:06.289
it does what it does and that's because that's

00:42:06.289 --> 00:42:08.730
what texas is that's where that's what denison

00:42:08.730 --> 00:42:11.289
is and that's what we're really supposed to embrace

00:42:11.289 --> 00:42:13.789
and in the philosophy that we follow now i have

00:42:13.789 --> 00:42:15.789
some very good friends that have a distillery

00:42:15.789 --> 00:42:19.690
out in nevada who have a certain warehouses that

00:42:19.690 --> 00:42:22.730
are actually keyed to certain parts of scotland

00:42:22.730 --> 00:42:26.079
and they're their temperature, their humidity...

00:42:26.079 --> 00:42:28.579
Massively controlled. ...is all set to the exact

00:42:28.579 --> 00:42:30.500
place in Scotland that they want to replicate.

00:42:30.840 --> 00:42:33.840
Ah, interesting. Interesting. And so it's a very...

00:42:33.840 --> 00:42:35.679
Again, it's a little more expensive process.

00:42:35.679 --> 00:42:37.400
Are they successful? Yeah, I mean, they... Does

00:42:37.400 --> 00:42:39.559
it work? It does work. Like, they can maintain

00:42:39.559 --> 00:42:42.940
those conditions in that warehouse. Now, is it...

00:42:42.940 --> 00:42:44.619
That's kind of like cheating. ...pricier than

00:42:44.619 --> 00:42:46.519
what you want it to be? It's... Dude, that's

00:42:46.519 --> 00:42:47.380
what they're trying... The money they cost to

00:42:47.380 --> 00:42:49.300
climatize that has got to be... Yeah, you're

00:42:49.300 --> 00:42:51.320
right. I don't think it's cheating. It's cheating

00:42:51.320 --> 00:42:53.889
if you're trying to make a specific... spirit

00:42:53.889 --> 00:42:57.050
with a specific profile to mirror what Scotland

00:42:57.050 --> 00:42:59.070
is. Yeah, I get it. Cheating is not the right

00:42:59.070 --> 00:43:02.030
word. I guess I'm with you. I'm like, it's exciting

00:43:02.030 --> 00:43:04.690
to see what Mother Nature does. And when you

00:43:04.690 --> 00:43:08.210
look at Texas or even Pacific Northwest or Florida

00:43:08.210 --> 00:43:14.130
or Arizona or SoCal or New York, all those areas,

00:43:14.449 --> 00:43:17.070
again, because it's been so long since it's been

00:43:17.070 --> 00:43:19.230
traditional to distill things in those areas,

00:43:19.329 --> 00:43:22.210
we really don't have spirits that have those.

00:43:22.590 --> 00:43:25.409
profiles from those regions and so part of the

00:43:25.409 --> 00:43:27.769
to me what was the most exciting part about the

00:43:27.769 --> 00:43:30.130
explosion of craft distilling in the united states

00:43:30.130 --> 00:43:32.849
is you all of a sudden had products being made

00:43:32.849 --> 00:43:35.409
in all of these regions yep so you can really

00:43:35.409 --> 00:43:38.230
start seeing what these different climates do

00:43:38.230 --> 00:43:42.389
but also like embraces it's weird how kind of

00:43:42.389 --> 00:43:44.489
almost reflects the culture of an area too their

00:43:44.489 --> 00:43:47.090
signature yeah and it to me it's really really

00:43:47.090 --> 00:43:48.889
beautiful like when we start talking about american

00:43:48.889 --> 00:43:53.860
single malt uh you go out to um Tucson. There's

00:43:53.860 --> 00:43:56.840
a really amazing distillery out there that does

00:43:56.840 --> 00:43:59.460
also some mesquite smoke stuff that's absolutely

00:43:59.460 --> 00:44:02.699
phenomenal. It's one of my favorite American

00:44:02.699 --> 00:44:05.800
single malts because it is so reflective of that

00:44:05.800 --> 00:44:08.599
place. I think I've had the mesquite smoke. What

00:44:08.599 --> 00:44:14.500
is it called? Belbeck? Delbeck. Delbeck, sorry.

00:44:14.679 --> 00:44:19.099
My brother lives in Tucson. No, he lives in...

00:44:19.099 --> 00:44:23.019
Shit. Yeah, he lives in Tucson. And he got me

00:44:23.019 --> 00:44:25.480
the mesquite smoked one. And I wasn't ready for

00:44:25.480 --> 00:44:27.860
the smoke stuff. It is really smoky. You would

00:44:27.860 --> 00:44:31.079
hate it. They do have some that's non -smoky

00:44:31.079 --> 00:44:32.780
that they do that's really interesting as well.

00:44:32.860 --> 00:44:35.619
But you have them. You've got Westward up in

00:44:35.619 --> 00:44:37.360
Oregon that's absolutely amazing. You've got

00:44:37.360 --> 00:44:40.380
Andalusia and Balcones here in Texas. You've

00:44:40.380 --> 00:44:43.719
got just so many they're doing. There's a couple

00:44:43.719 --> 00:44:46.239
really cool ones on the East Coast as well. But

00:44:46.239 --> 00:44:49.559
they're all so different because of that climate

00:44:49.559 --> 00:44:52.380
and that. Again, some of the choices the distillers

00:44:52.380 --> 00:44:54.739
have made, but it really embraces a lot of what

00:44:54.739 --> 00:44:57.440
those places are. And to me, that's what gets

00:44:57.440 --> 00:44:59.400
me giddy as a distiller. I'm like, oh, let's

00:44:59.400 --> 00:45:01.539
see what happens here. And that's just the aging.

00:45:01.699 --> 00:45:03.539
Well, we're giddy for you. Yeah, that's just

00:45:03.539 --> 00:45:06.619
the aging in those areas. I mean, when I toured

00:45:06.619 --> 00:45:09.599
at Cooperage, and they talked about the oak and

00:45:09.599 --> 00:45:12.019
where the oak comes from, and they're talking

00:45:12.019 --> 00:45:14.260
about down to square miles of where they're requesting

00:45:14.260 --> 00:45:16.900
oak in a certain ravine, in a certain state,

00:45:17.000 --> 00:45:20.449
because that was the best oak they... They age,

00:45:20.530 --> 00:45:25.230
I mean, dude, the variability is insane. It's

00:45:25.230 --> 00:45:27.610
insane. Even go to with cooperages, what's one

00:45:27.610 --> 00:45:29.869
of the, sorry to jump into the super nerdy stuff

00:45:29.869 --> 00:45:32.130
here, but one of my favorite things about cooperages

00:45:32.130 --> 00:45:34.949
is because they yard age lumber. So they put

00:45:34.949 --> 00:45:37.170
it outside. It's part of what breaks it down,

00:45:37.230 --> 00:45:39.789
which again is really important part of the whole

00:45:39.789 --> 00:45:42.670
process for making barrels. But you have different

00:45:42.670 --> 00:45:45.489
bacteria, different flora in different places.

00:45:45.510 --> 00:45:47.909
And then that breaks down the oak in different

00:45:47.909 --> 00:45:50.320
ways. So you can have actually the oak from the

00:45:50.320 --> 00:45:53.300
exact same forest that is yard aged in two different

00:45:53.300 --> 00:45:55.980
places. And the flavor profiles are massively

00:45:55.980 --> 00:45:57.679
different. Again, when you guys come up to the

00:45:57.679 --> 00:46:00.559
distillery next time, we can taste a Kelvin barrel,

00:46:00.619 --> 00:46:04.460
which is in Kentucky versus an independent stave

00:46:04.460 --> 00:46:07.300
barrel that is in Missouri. And the flavor profile,

00:46:07.380 --> 00:46:09.679
even though the wood is from the exact same forest,

00:46:09.880 --> 00:46:13.539
same region, flavor profiles are massively different.

00:46:13.980 --> 00:46:15.539
And that, again, is one of those things that's

00:46:15.539 --> 00:46:17.719
so cool. It's a little overwhelming. So you almost

00:46:17.719 --> 00:46:21.460
have to embrace that you can't necessarily make

00:46:21.460 --> 00:46:24.699
everything, like you don't want to necessarily

00:46:24.699 --> 00:46:26.760
make everything identical. No, no, no. But then

00:46:26.760 --> 00:46:28.679
again, you have, you know, you got Jack Daniels

00:46:28.679 --> 00:46:31.159
and you got Jim Beam and they make the product

00:46:31.159 --> 00:46:33.780
exactly the same. Yeah, the same Nashville. They

00:46:33.780 --> 00:46:35.119
just put in different parts of the Rickhouse.

00:46:35.179 --> 00:46:37.760
So. Yeah, walk us through that. So with them,

00:46:37.760 --> 00:46:42.030
obviously they have. The way they've commercialized

00:46:42.030 --> 00:46:43.949
things, the way they've built those factories,

00:46:44.250 --> 00:46:47.409
it really helps with maintaining consistency.

00:46:47.690 --> 00:46:49.849
And it's really impressive because it's a very

00:46:49.849 --> 00:46:52.489
difficult thing to keep consistent. But the truth

00:46:52.489 --> 00:46:55.070
is, if I grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniels from

00:46:55.070 --> 00:46:58.449
92 and you opened a Jack Daniels from today and

00:46:58.449 --> 00:47:00.150
you tasted the two next to each other, they're

00:47:00.150 --> 00:47:02.630
different. And because you have slight flavor

00:47:02.630 --> 00:47:07.269
drift over time because of forest yeast actually...

00:47:08.010 --> 00:47:10.369
and change, especially a lot of those distilleries

00:47:10.369 --> 00:47:12.150
will have their own yeast cultures that they

00:47:12.150 --> 00:47:14.570
maintain. Those things, they evolve over time.

00:47:14.730 --> 00:47:17.630
Because you have so many generations, there's

00:47:17.630 --> 00:47:19.409
a little bit of evolution that actually occurs

00:47:19.409 --> 00:47:22.269
and so the flavor profiles change slightly. And

00:47:22.269 --> 00:47:25.570
then you have the blenders and the distillers

00:47:25.570 --> 00:47:27.690
that have... Also slightly different palettes

00:47:27.690 --> 00:47:29.489
than previous generations. And so they kind of

00:47:29.489 --> 00:47:31.829
slowly move things. It's very difficult to be

00:47:31.829 --> 00:47:35.050
consistent like that. It seems to me like everything

00:47:35.050 --> 00:47:37.969
has to be constantly changing. I mean, I was

00:47:37.969 --> 00:47:41.679
going to ask you regarding. the changing palate

00:47:41.679 --> 00:47:45.380
for you. I'm sure four or five years ago, you

00:47:45.380 --> 00:47:47.840
had your favorite Iron Root bottle, and I'm sure

00:47:47.840 --> 00:47:49.940
that Iron Root bottle is not your favorite anymore,

00:47:50.019 --> 00:47:52.519
and you've got new ones. And I think everybody's

00:47:52.519 --> 00:47:55.139
like that. It's just constantly changing. So

00:47:55.139 --> 00:47:58.059
I've got some of my favorite bottles, and I tasted

00:47:58.059 --> 00:48:00.860
them now, and I'm like, eh. It's fine. It's good.

00:48:00.980 --> 00:48:05.539
I'm glad that we grow. We appreciate different

00:48:05.539 --> 00:48:07.659
flavors that we didn't taste before. Seven years

00:48:07.659 --> 00:48:11.480
ago, we were totally weeded. people because the

00:48:11.480 --> 00:48:13.739
the rivalry kind of like oh god bless that's

00:48:13.739 --> 00:48:17.000
really uh tart and astringent and we we can't

00:48:17.000 --> 00:48:19.860
do that and now we're like wheat oh it's nice

00:48:19.860 --> 00:48:22.699
and soft it's like an iced tea you know and now

00:48:22.699 --> 00:48:24.820
we're like gravity why do we why do we talk like

00:48:24.820 --> 00:48:28.039
that that was i'll see you oh you mean me oh

00:48:28.039 --> 00:48:31.320
okay cool And the proof, we changed on proof,

00:48:31.440 --> 00:48:34.159
too. Yeah, and the proof is off the charts. That

00:48:34.159 --> 00:48:36.920
was a big change for us. I remember the first

00:48:36.920 --> 00:48:39.219
tiny Jack Daniels bottle that we bought. It was

00:48:39.219 --> 00:48:42.360
like 120 proof, 130 proof. I brought it over

00:48:42.360 --> 00:48:44.440
to your house. It was a Jack Daniels, one of

00:48:44.440 --> 00:48:48.000
the single barrels. It was like 137 or something

00:48:48.000 --> 00:48:50.179
like that. We were like, good God almighty. We

00:48:50.179 --> 00:48:53.239
did a shot of it, and we just thought, and now

00:48:53.239 --> 00:48:55.159
we're kind of like, bring it. Yeah, let's go.

00:48:55.679 --> 00:48:59.179
It would warm us in a very calm way. I mean,

00:48:59.199 --> 00:49:02.039
I think for me, honestly, one of the really eye

00:49:02.039 --> 00:49:03.960
-opening experiences I had was the first time

00:49:03.960 --> 00:49:06.960
I had a Jack Daniels cast strength. Yeah. Which

00:49:06.960 --> 00:49:10.579
was really fun because it was 66 .6%, which I

00:49:10.579 --> 00:49:11.980
was like, all right, definitely going to buy

00:49:11.980 --> 00:49:16.780
that one. Sounds evil. It was evil. And that's

00:49:16.780 --> 00:49:20.599
what was great about it. But it was the first

00:49:20.599 --> 00:49:23.639
time I was like, oh, Jack can do some really

00:49:23.639 --> 00:49:27.059
amazing, like, I really like this, which is normal.

00:49:28.219 --> 00:49:30.139
Jack Daniels, Gentleman's Jack, whenever you're

00:49:30.139 --> 00:49:32.619
drinking it, it's fine. It's the same all the

00:49:32.619 --> 00:49:34.159
time. It's nothing that really interests me.

00:49:34.239 --> 00:49:35.820
But when you had that, I was like, oh, my goodness.

00:49:36.000 --> 00:49:37.340
Yeah, this is really amazing. The single barrels

00:49:37.340 --> 00:49:39.699
that they put out, the Coyhill, the Tanyard.

00:49:39.699 --> 00:49:41.739
Amazing. Really good. That stuff is like insane.

00:49:42.159 --> 00:49:45.079
Yeah. And that's one of the things like when

00:49:45.079 --> 00:49:46.739
people were talking to us early on, they're like,

00:49:46.800 --> 00:49:50.159
oh, craft whiskey. It's like craft beer that

00:49:50.159 --> 00:49:52.840
you're making better versions of. And I was like,

00:49:52.840 --> 00:49:54.920
no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not what's going

00:49:54.920 --> 00:49:57.030
on in the craft whiskey. We're like. We're doing

00:49:57.030 --> 00:50:00.110
different, unique things. But the difference

00:50:00.110 --> 00:50:03.090
between us and the brewers were the brewers were

00:50:03.090 --> 00:50:05.650
a revolution against kind of bland and uninteresting

00:50:05.650 --> 00:50:08.710
beer. The big guys in the distilling world make

00:50:08.710 --> 00:50:11.409
super interesting, really delicious whiskey.

00:50:13.329 --> 00:50:14.929
Yeah. And again, you're not going to say that

00:50:14.929 --> 00:50:16.969
about regular Budweiser or Bud Light. Right.

00:50:16.969 --> 00:50:18.349
It's not going to be something that's going to

00:50:18.349 --> 00:50:20.869
capture your interest. But the big guys, they

00:50:20.869 --> 00:50:23.449
had all this really. Now, did they always release

00:50:23.449 --> 00:50:26.389
it that way? No, they didn't. They have it and

00:50:26.389 --> 00:50:28.250
they had it and they were making really amazing

00:50:28.250 --> 00:50:30.989
whiskey. That was one of the cool things as a

00:50:30.989 --> 00:50:33.489
distiller. Oh my goodness, our big guys are doing

00:50:33.489 --> 00:50:36.650
some really cool stuff too. Then you get these

00:50:36.650 --> 00:50:39.690
distillers that have a great product and they

00:50:39.690 --> 00:50:42.769
sell their company. Then you have the new person

00:50:42.769 --> 00:50:46.610
that says, we're going to change the mash bill

00:50:46.610 --> 00:50:50.269
on this. Early Times, for example. They sold

00:50:50.269 --> 00:50:54.239
the Early Times brand in the mash bill. So they

00:50:54.239 --> 00:50:56.460
changed it. Changed it up. It's completely. So

00:50:56.460 --> 00:51:01.099
when they made that announcement and we ran to

00:51:01.099 --> 00:51:03.079
the stores to try to gobble up all the, I mean,

00:51:03.079 --> 00:51:05.159
look, I don't drink early times a lot, but I

00:51:05.159 --> 00:51:07.260
like to always have early times on my shelf.

00:51:07.619 --> 00:51:10.800
I mean, six years bottle and bond 100 proof for

00:51:10.800 --> 00:51:14.039
that price point. Amazing. I mean, do we know

00:51:14.039 --> 00:51:16.679
that the new one's not good anymore? Well, we're

00:51:16.679 --> 00:51:18.139
getting feedback. Are we just upset that it's

00:51:18.139 --> 00:51:21.130
changed? Well. I mean, I'm sure it's both. I

00:51:21.130 --> 00:51:23.909
mean, based on what the Total Wine Kevin Nishimi

00:51:23.909 --> 00:51:28.429
said, is that his name? Yeah. You know, he was

00:51:28.429 --> 00:51:31.409
telling me that it's trash. Oh, that's upsetting.

00:51:32.010 --> 00:51:33.809
Coming from Kevin, you know, I mean, you got

00:51:33.809 --> 00:51:35.449
to take his word for it. Oh, for sure. He's a

00:51:35.449 --> 00:51:36.949
pro. He had called us, and he was kind of like,

00:51:36.969 --> 00:51:38.489
well, you guys kind of need to come up here and

00:51:38.489 --> 00:51:43.750
get up a bottle and say goodbye. Goodbye. Right.

00:51:44.170 --> 00:51:45.530
So we went up there, and I think we bought like

00:51:45.530 --> 00:51:47.869
four or five bottles, didn't we? A group hug.

00:51:47.949 --> 00:51:50.070
Oh, you guys didn't tell me about this. Can I

00:51:50.070 --> 00:51:52.250
get one from you guys? They left you out? Yeah,

00:51:52.250 --> 00:51:54.670
they left me out. That's rude. What is this?

00:51:55.309 --> 00:51:57.070
You were out of town. I'm kind of used to it.

00:51:57.090 --> 00:51:59.130
I see how it is. I see how it is. He was gallivanting

00:51:59.130 --> 00:52:03.349
with his tier ones. Yeah, no. With his grand

00:52:03.349 --> 00:52:07.030
reserve status over there. Right. Right. So I

00:52:07.030 --> 00:52:08.690
want to ask you a question. So you're growing

00:52:08.690 --> 00:52:11.230
like crazy, super successful, but there have

00:52:11.230 --> 00:52:13.250
to have been moments where there was a really

00:52:13.250 --> 00:52:16.630
disappointing setback or something super frustrating

00:52:16.630 --> 00:52:20.710
or wish you had done differently. Like what mistakes

00:52:20.710 --> 00:52:22.670
have you guys made that you're like, well, maybe

00:52:22.670 --> 00:52:24.670
there aren't any. Maybe it's all been just a

00:52:24.670 --> 00:52:27.559
fun experiment and everything's gone great. I

00:52:27.559 --> 00:52:29.579
will tell you, if there's an entrepreneur that

00:52:29.579 --> 00:52:31.440
says, no, I did everything perfect, everything

00:52:31.440 --> 00:52:34.000
went to plan, everything's great, they are lying

00:52:34.000 --> 00:52:36.840
to you. That's not the way. Not usually, no.

00:52:37.260 --> 00:52:40.360
No, I mean, we've had so many setbacks and so

00:52:40.360 --> 00:52:46.039
many trials during our time as a company. I mean,

00:52:46.059 --> 00:52:50.059
you look at from us, even when we first started

00:52:50.059 --> 00:52:52.260
out, when we were doing some really different

00:52:52.260 --> 00:52:54.940
things with the different corns, it was really

00:52:54.940 --> 00:52:57.639
a struggle early on to be like, hey, we're doing

00:52:57.639 --> 00:52:59.460
something interesting and different. Isn't that

00:52:59.460 --> 00:53:01.780
exciting? And not everybody wanted. Nobody cared.

00:53:02.079 --> 00:53:03.860
Yeah, not everyone was interested in something

00:53:03.860 --> 00:53:06.840
new and unique and different. Right. And so our

00:53:06.840 --> 00:53:10.980
first three, four years, it was a slog, especially

00:53:10.980 --> 00:53:12.920
since we didn't do any sourcing whatsoever our

00:53:12.920 --> 00:53:15.639
first four years. So when we started releasing

00:53:15.639 --> 00:53:18.739
whiskey, when it was two, three years old, it

00:53:18.739 --> 00:53:20.500
was like, hey, isn't this cool? And a lot of

00:53:20.500 --> 00:53:22.179
people were like, no. I'm sorry, who are you?

00:53:22.199 --> 00:53:24.159
Yeah, what's going on here? Yeah. And so that

00:53:24.159 --> 00:53:27.769
struggle to try to, get people to understand

00:53:27.769 --> 00:53:30.409
what you're doing and to see kind of the vision

00:53:30.409 --> 00:53:32.389
that you had for what you're doing and and why

00:53:32.389 --> 00:53:34.389
they should be excited right yeah and even when

00:53:34.389 --> 00:53:36.289
i'll tell you now like i i think our whiskey

00:53:36.289 --> 00:53:38.750
can get even significantly better than where

00:53:38.750 --> 00:53:41.449
we're at today and we have a vision of where

00:53:41.449 --> 00:53:43.889
that goes and how to do that and it's one you

00:53:43.889 --> 00:53:45.409
got to last long enough to be able to achieve

00:53:45.409 --> 00:53:48.329
that which is a struggle of always as a distiller

00:53:48.329 --> 00:53:51.289
is when is it that you have to sell something

00:53:51.289 --> 00:53:54.869
when is it like that perfect artist ready product

00:53:54.869 --> 00:53:58.690
right and so As a young distillery that's three,

00:53:59.090 --> 00:54:01.989
four, five years old, that is one of the biggest

00:54:01.989 --> 00:54:03.829
struggles. I mean, you're not making money for

00:54:03.829 --> 00:54:05.969
a while. Oh, no, no, no. I mean, we sat down

00:54:05.969 --> 00:54:09.849
as a family at the end of 2017 and said, we're

00:54:09.849 --> 00:54:11.289
going to give it one more year and see if we

00:54:11.289 --> 00:54:14.989
can make a go of it. Oh. And we were very, very

00:54:14.989 --> 00:54:19.809
fortunate the end of 2018 that we finally got

00:54:19.809 --> 00:54:21.989
in front of some people that really saw the vision

00:54:21.989 --> 00:54:24.590
of what we're doing and helped us. Start growing

00:54:24.590 --> 00:54:26.610
and start investing. Does that mean partnership?

00:54:27.090 --> 00:54:29.590
No, no, no. It was actually some liquor stores

00:54:29.590 --> 00:54:31.750
that actually saw what we were doing and really

00:54:31.750 --> 00:54:34.630
jumped in. Because we had, you know, obviously

00:54:34.630 --> 00:54:37.250
the first liquor store group that really kind

00:54:37.250 --> 00:54:38.550
of saw what we were doing, like, oh, this is

00:54:38.550 --> 00:54:40.269
cool, was Fossil Creek. They were right next

00:54:40.269 --> 00:54:42.269
door to us. There's kind of our own backyard.

00:54:43.010 --> 00:54:44.849
But they went through some financial troubles

00:54:44.849 --> 00:54:47.110
of their own in 2017. So when we kind of lost

00:54:47.110 --> 00:54:49.269
them, it was kind of like, what do we do now?

00:54:49.510 --> 00:54:52.429
And it was, I'll never forget, it was Christmas.

00:54:53.529 --> 00:54:58.250
of 2018 that total wine one of the store managers

00:54:58.250 --> 00:55:00.150
called the distillery was like hey i've had people

00:55:00.150 --> 00:55:03.389
asking for your whiskey wow but we uh who's your

00:55:03.389 --> 00:55:05.050
distributor because we can't we can't figure

00:55:05.050 --> 00:55:08.230
it out that was us by the way yeah and our thank

00:55:08.230 --> 00:55:10.349
you for that i appreciate it i didn't really

00:55:10.349 --> 00:55:13.469
want to save you like like you say france that's

00:55:13.469 --> 00:55:16.769
very very kind of you it was us yeah so anyway

00:55:16.769 --> 00:55:19.570
keep going so he uh he was and so we told him

00:55:19.570 --> 00:55:22.380
who our distributor was and you know, next thing

00:55:22.380 --> 00:55:24.519
I know they had, they brought in that hubris

00:55:24.519 --> 00:55:28.000
corn whiskey in five days before Christmas. And

00:55:28.000 --> 00:55:29.599
they brought in all of it that we had, which

00:55:29.599 --> 00:55:32.300
was at the time, like 40 cases. So not a ton

00:55:32.300 --> 00:55:34.460
of product, but they brought it in. And then

00:55:34.460 --> 00:55:37.340
between that 20th of December and new year's

00:55:37.340 --> 00:55:39.900
day, they sold every single bottle. Damn. And

00:55:39.900 --> 00:55:43.219
so then January 4th, I get a phone call from,

00:55:43.260 --> 00:55:46.699
uh, from total wine that said, Hey, you know,

00:55:46.699 --> 00:55:50.780
you sold really well here. We'd like to do, can

00:55:50.780 --> 00:55:53.170
we, sell your product in other stores and we'd

00:55:53.170 --> 00:55:55.730
like to work with you to try to do that um if

00:55:55.730 --> 00:55:57.650
you we want to bring into some other states so

00:55:57.650 --> 00:56:00.030
if you need some help contacting some distributors

00:56:00.030 --> 00:56:03.190
we'll help get that all set up for you and that

00:56:03.190 --> 00:56:05.710
was kind of off the races and really help set

00:56:05.710 --> 00:56:08.530
you know set us up and then 2020 happened with

00:56:08.530 --> 00:56:10.369
harbinger and then things blew up from there

00:56:10.369 --> 00:56:12.349
so you were literally on the brink we were on

00:56:12.349 --> 00:56:16.190
the brink yeah it was that's scary yeah but but

00:56:16.190 --> 00:56:19.329
you know hey The coin landed heads that day.

00:56:19.409 --> 00:56:21.269
There you go. That's awesome. That's awesome.

00:56:21.409 --> 00:56:24.530
You guys have a lot of great things going for

00:56:24.530 --> 00:56:27.550
you. I mean, the style that you have, awesome.

00:56:28.070 --> 00:56:31.030
I got to tell you, the tour itself, the tour

00:56:31.030 --> 00:56:33.010
has got to be one of the best tours that we've

00:56:33.010 --> 00:56:35.250
gone to. And look, we're not kissing your ass.

00:56:35.250 --> 00:56:37.409
No, for real. It's a fact. You guys are very

00:56:37.409 --> 00:56:40.510
thorough. You're very friendly. The family appeal

00:56:40.510 --> 00:56:43.530
is strong. When you guys go in there, talk and

00:56:43.530 --> 00:56:45.670
give in the banter between you guys, it's excellent.

00:56:46.199 --> 00:56:48.699
and uh and just very knowledgeable when you start

00:56:48.699 --> 00:56:51.400
talking about the you know the tails and hearts

00:56:51.400 --> 00:56:53.719
and heads fatty acid esters and start breaking

00:56:53.719 --> 00:56:57.380
everything down you know that is so it's we didn't

00:56:57.380 --> 00:57:00.159
know a lot of that stuff and we we gobbled it

00:57:00.159 --> 00:57:02.460
up And we went through several different tours.

00:57:02.559 --> 00:57:04.719
And the fact that we were to piggyback on the

00:57:04.719 --> 00:57:07.139
Total Wine one, that was just a bonus. Kevin,

00:57:07.219 --> 00:57:10.659
we acted like Total Wine employees. We just kind

00:57:10.659 --> 00:57:13.679
of slipped in there. So the tour is great, and

00:57:13.679 --> 00:57:17.769
your product is great, and you are... ever -evolving,

00:57:17.769 --> 00:57:21.869
and part of these evolving things are the newer

00:57:21.869 --> 00:57:23.650
bottles that you guys have coming out. Yeah,

00:57:23.650 --> 00:57:25.630
we haven't even talked about this. So tonight

00:57:25.630 --> 00:57:28.769
we're drinking the Iron Root Republic Assemblage

00:57:28.769 --> 00:57:34.449
or Assemblage. I don't know. It's actually none

00:57:34.449 --> 00:57:37.469
of those. But it's a fancy bottle. I've got to

00:57:37.469 --> 00:57:39.929
tell you, it's a little similar to the Heaven

00:57:39.929 --> 00:57:42.789
Hill grain to glass kind of bottle, but it's

00:57:42.789 --> 00:57:44.989
got the cool little snub on the top. Well, I

00:57:44.989 --> 00:57:46.940
think this is... Yeah, I think maybe the bottom,

00:57:47.000 --> 00:57:49.000
but I really like this bottle. Yeah, it's sharp.

00:57:49.000 --> 00:57:52.420
I think it's unique unto itself. So when you

00:57:52.420 --> 00:57:53.960
see this on the shelf, you're really going to

00:57:53.960 --> 00:57:55.840
go, I don't know who that is. Is that kind of

00:57:55.840 --> 00:57:57.679
the goal behind that was? Is it we need something

00:57:57.679 --> 00:58:02.059
unique? So when we first started, we had a custom

00:58:02.059 --> 00:58:05.079
bottle that was kind of this flat horseshoe -shaped

00:58:05.079 --> 00:58:08.860
kind of bottle. And then when 2020 happened,

00:58:08.980 --> 00:58:11.159
that factory that made those shut down, we went

00:58:11.159 --> 00:58:13.460
to try to get it made somewhere else. We got...

00:58:13.769 --> 00:58:15.869
The price jump was a little bit shocking. And

00:58:15.869 --> 00:58:18.429
I was like, I'm not willing to have a bottle

00:58:18.429 --> 00:58:20.989
increase of $20 on shelf for the same thing.

00:58:21.449 --> 00:58:22.949
Just because of the bottle. Just because of the

00:58:22.949 --> 00:58:27.030
bottle. And so we went to a more generic E .H.

00:58:27.050 --> 00:58:30.989
Taylor. Right. Same bottle. And so it's something

00:58:30.989 --> 00:58:32.489
that we've had in the back of mind that we wanted

00:58:32.489 --> 00:58:34.070
to come back and have something that was really

00:58:34.070 --> 00:58:38.190
our own again. But it took us many years to really

00:58:38.190 --> 00:58:42.110
come up with this because one. Getting my mother,

00:58:42.210 --> 00:58:44.289
my brother, myself, and my father to all agree

00:58:44.289 --> 00:58:48.909
on something is not an easy task. And I think

00:58:48.909 --> 00:58:52.710
designing stuff to me, label, naming things,

00:58:53.010 --> 00:58:55.889
design work, that is the most difficult part

00:58:55.889 --> 00:58:58.610
of all this. The cap on there, the licorice family.

00:58:58.690 --> 00:59:02.530
It's sharp. I mean, that is, you own that. Yeah.

00:59:02.889 --> 00:59:05.989
That is wonderful. Kudos to you in the design

00:59:05.989 --> 00:59:07.809
of it. Who designed it? Was it a collaboration?

00:59:08.309 --> 00:59:10.650
Yeah. The whole family jumped in or what? So

00:59:10.650 --> 00:59:12.789
we actually went through a couple different design

00:59:12.789 --> 00:59:16.230
companies and just nothing really hit. And then

00:59:16.230 --> 00:59:18.449
there's a really amazing company out of Mexico

00:59:18.449 --> 00:59:22.190
called Human that are designed by Human. And

00:59:22.190 --> 00:59:24.809
those guys, they're some of the coolest people

00:59:24.809 --> 00:59:29.349
I've ever met. Have amazing kind of just creative

00:59:29.349 --> 00:59:32.820
energy. They also did, they've done a number

00:59:32.820 --> 00:59:34.940
of things. They've worked with Bardstown on like

00:59:34.940 --> 00:59:36.739
the design of their bar and stuff at Bardstown.

00:59:36.960 --> 00:59:40.159
Right. They've done, there's a really cool Mexican

00:59:40.159 --> 00:59:45.840
whiskey called, it's Grand, what's the name?

00:59:46.079 --> 00:59:50.320
Grand, geez, this is going to kill me. Grand

00:59:50.320 --> 00:59:52.519
Maze, I think that's probably. Mexican whiskey.

00:59:52.880 --> 00:59:55.519
It's a Mexican whiskey. Really cool. But they

00:59:55.519 --> 00:59:57.659
actually designed and developed a way to actually

00:59:57.659 --> 01:00:01.519
print the label on a corn husk. for the for the

01:00:01.519 --> 01:00:05.000
label it's a really kind of cool um and see if

01:00:05.000 --> 01:00:08.539
it comes up yeah so really just kind of because

01:00:08.539 --> 01:00:10.860
i can talk about this this bottle as well that

01:00:10.860 --> 01:00:13.559
they developed grand mazel yeah it's really really

01:00:13.559 --> 01:00:16.639
really cool um there you go so you see the top

01:00:16.639 --> 01:00:19.960
of it they actually use soil from the from the

01:00:19.960 --> 01:00:22.139
land where they farm the corn oh wow for that

01:00:22.139 --> 01:00:23.820
top part it's actually embedded in the glass

01:00:23.820 --> 01:00:26.699
oh wow that sounds expensive it's really cool

01:00:26.699 --> 01:00:31.010
it's it's i mean it it's it's more expensive

01:00:31.010 --> 01:00:33.550
than just a you know regular everyday bottle

01:00:33.550 --> 01:00:36.110
but as far as kind of the thought that went into

01:00:36.110 --> 01:00:38.710
of like hey this is our soil this is what makes

01:00:38.710 --> 01:00:41.010
what this what it is it was something that really

01:00:41.010 --> 01:00:44.349
spoke to us and so working with them um on the

01:00:44.349 --> 01:00:46.869
kind of reimagining our logo that had my brother's

01:00:46.869 --> 01:00:48.989
like thumbprint on it because again of how much

01:00:48.989 --> 01:00:52.409
we touch barrels um Oh, is that his thumbprint

01:00:52.409 --> 01:00:54.170
on there? It is his thumbprint. I was going to

01:00:54.170 --> 01:00:57.050
say that. So the logo has a thumbprint behind

01:00:57.050 --> 01:00:59.130
the R. Interesting. And then roots below it.

01:00:59.150 --> 01:01:00.610
Say that again. Whose thumbprint is that? So

01:01:00.610 --> 01:01:02.090
it's my brother's. So if you want to steal his

01:01:02.090 --> 01:01:04.090
bank account information, that's the best way

01:01:04.090 --> 01:01:06.750
to do it. So the bottle at the top, it's got

01:01:06.750 --> 01:01:09.889
a snub on there. It also has an embossed Iron

01:01:09.889 --> 01:01:13.170
Root Republic around it. And then the cap has

01:01:13.170 --> 01:01:18.329
a gold. metal band that says the licorice family

01:01:18.329 --> 01:01:20.610
on there. I mean, it's just absolutely sharp

01:01:20.610 --> 01:01:23.789
and stunning. It's really cool. And for $30 for

01:01:23.789 --> 01:01:26.409
a bottle, $32 for a bottle, it's... Well, I have

01:01:26.409 --> 01:01:28.909
to tell you, this is outstanding. That's how

01:01:28.909 --> 01:01:32.710
much the bottle costs? I'm sorry, Jeff. That's

01:01:32.710 --> 01:01:34.210
a blend of like six to eight -year -old whiskey

01:01:34.210 --> 01:01:36.550
in it, too. I was going to say, this is outstanding.

01:01:36.809 --> 01:01:40.610
And we're proof snobs. Because when you start

01:01:40.610 --> 01:01:46.840
getting into the 95s, At least a lot of them.

01:01:47.340 --> 01:01:49.019
There's not a lot there. They fall off. They

01:01:49.019 --> 01:01:52.639
do. This does not at all. No, it doesn't. It's

01:01:52.639 --> 01:01:54.739
rich start to finish. Yeah, we've had a couple

01:01:54.739 --> 01:01:57.619
of them that are like that, Michter's 10 being

01:01:57.619 --> 01:02:00.539
one of them. And this is another one that is

01:02:00.539 --> 01:02:02.980
just, there's a lot there for this kind of proof.

01:02:04.460 --> 01:02:06.420
you know secret i guess i'm announcing it now

01:02:06.420 --> 01:02:08.619
you guys first ones know there will be a cast

01:02:08.619 --> 01:02:10.360
strength version of this will come here in a

01:02:10.360 --> 01:02:12.900
few months so there will be a big boy well that's

01:02:12.900 --> 01:02:14.480
gonna be we have an opportunity to sample it

01:02:14.480 --> 01:02:17.539
that's gonna be hard oh you get ready it's really

01:02:17.539 --> 01:02:20.699
fun if this is as rich as what this is at 95

01:02:20.699 --> 01:02:24.000
or 96 whatever it is already rich no yeah yeah

01:02:24.000 --> 01:02:29.380
the the The 117 is killer on that one. The problem

01:02:29.380 --> 01:02:32.079
with a lot of these whiskeys at the lower proofs

01:02:32.079 --> 01:02:35.599
is that they are up front very tasty, but it

01:02:35.599 --> 01:02:39.500
dies down. This one has a lingering flavor that

01:02:39.500 --> 01:02:42.519
continues for another 30 seconds, up to a minute.

01:02:42.599 --> 01:02:45.500
It's still there. And I'll tell you the reason

01:02:45.500 --> 01:02:48.420
why this has it, and it's because of the pot

01:02:48.420 --> 01:02:50.809
still, like our distal that we add to it. The

01:02:50.809 --> 01:02:53.510
pot still has just a little bit more oils to

01:02:53.510 --> 01:02:54.849
it. It has a little bit more things that grip

01:02:54.849 --> 01:02:57.429
and hang on to your palate. Really? That's really

01:02:57.429 --> 01:03:00.510
what it lends to this blend is it helps it last

01:03:00.510 --> 01:03:02.809
a lot longer than what normally you would at

01:03:02.809 --> 01:03:04.909
this brew. You would think that most distilleries

01:03:04.909 --> 01:03:06.869
would know that because that is one of our major

01:03:06.869 --> 01:03:10.690
complaints about things, that they die. You would

01:03:10.690 --> 01:03:12.449
think that they would understand that there's

01:03:12.449 --> 01:03:14.889
more oil you need in that process. We talked

01:03:14.889 --> 01:03:16.809
about that. They don't have pot stills. That's

01:03:16.809 --> 01:03:18.750
right. They don't use pot stills. No, they don't.

01:03:18.750 --> 01:03:21.280
They use column. And when you only have column

01:03:21.280 --> 01:03:24.739
in the six to eight year range, it's very difficult

01:03:24.739 --> 01:03:27.019
to get a concentration of oils. That's why we

01:03:27.019 --> 01:03:29.500
start talking about 12, 15, 18 year old column

01:03:29.500 --> 01:03:32.000
still spirit. You finally have had enough evaporation

01:03:32.000 --> 01:03:33.599
where you've started to concentrate some oils

01:03:33.599 --> 01:03:36.360
and it will start holding on. With pot still,

01:03:36.440 --> 01:03:38.639
you have that at a much earlier age than you

01:03:38.639 --> 01:03:41.980
do with column. Like right away. Yeah. That is

01:03:41.980 --> 01:03:43.920
fascinating. This is outstanding. It's available

01:03:43.920 --> 01:03:48.320
now, you said, right? It ships out next week.

01:03:48.519 --> 01:03:52.380
Oh, okay. Yeah, we got first dibs. World debut

01:03:52.380 --> 01:03:54.619
right here. Yeah, well, this is outstanding.

01:03:55.099 --> 01:03:58.219
And $30, you said? Yeah, it'll be between $30

01:03:58.219 --> 01:04:02.219
to $35. How much is this? $30 to $35 on the shelf.

01:04:02.219 --> 01:04:04.019
That's how much this is on the shelf? I would

01:04:04.019 --> 01:04:07.119
definitely buy this. Oh, definitely. 100%. All

01:04:07.119 --> 01:04:08.739
right, I have a question, just because I'm old

01:04:08.739 --> 01:04:12.960
man. That everything has to be so small print

01:04:12.960 --> 01:04:15.960
on the back? It is. It is. It can't be larger.

01:04:16.219 --> 01:04:19.480
It can't be. If you have anything better than

01:04:19.480 --> 01:04:21.900
2040 vision, you're not allowed to be able to

01:04:21.900 --> 01:04:25.400
read it. Is that a Texas law? Oh, it's ridiculous.

01:04:25.639 --> 01:04:27.380
Well, that's a federal law. And some of these

01:04:27.380 --> 01:04:29.679
will have like big long stories. And they're

01:04:29.679 --> 01:04:33.510
in like old English script. There's no way. We

01:04:33.510 --> 01:04:35.610
kept the story very short on the back of the

01:04:35.610 --> 01:04:37.769
phone. It's like the end of a commercial and

01:04:37.769 --> 01:04:41.530
they're talking super fast. What just happened?

01:04:41.789 --> 01:04:43.949
My grandfather invented a recipe back in 2017.

01:04:45.489 --> 01:04:47.730
Yeah. No, but it's great. And you brought a couple

01:04:47.730 --> 01:04:50.989
more on there. Yeah. I figured we'd investigate

01:04:50.989 --> 01:04:53.449
a little deeper. We might do a couple samples

01:04:53.449 --> 01:04:56.010
during the halftime, a couple little ones. I

01:04:56.010 --> 01:04:57.230
mean, you're not working tomorrow. You don't

01:04:57.230 --> 01:04:58.829
care. What do you got going on? You're babysitting

01:04:58.829 --> 01:05:00.710
a dog. It's spring break. It's spring break.

01:05:00.710 --> 01:05:03.889
Oh, my God. We could get blown up. Dude, I work.

01:05:04.329 --> 01:05:07.170
Oh. I got to work tomorrow. But you know what?

01:05:07.190 --> 01:05:09.739
I don't care. Theoretically. Theoretically. Oh,

01:05:09.760 --> 01:05:11.820
we have our St. Patty's Day. We have a St. Patty's

01:05:11.820 --> 01:05:14.400
Day celebration over the weekend. If you guys

01:05:14.400 --> 01:05:15.860
want to join us. Robert, you're welcome to come.

01:05:15.920 --> 01:05:16.780
We live about half a mile up here. That would

01:05:16.780 --> 01:05:19.599
be super cool. We can visit it. We got a little

01:05:19.599 --> 01:05:21.980
karaoke going on. Uh -oh. There's going to be

01:05:21.980 --> 01:05:24.280
a couple of whiskey guys out there. Chris Van

01:05:24.280 --> 01:05:26.739
Rees will probably bless us with this. Scott

01:05:26.739 --> 01:05:29.219
Cash will be there. You have Bill, the whiskey

01:05:29.219 --> 01:05:31.699
guy. Nice. He's showing up with a few heavy hitters.

01:05:32.599 --> 01:05:35.289
Michael Marine. Don't know Michael. Have we met

01:05:35.289 --> 01:05:37.210
Michael? Michael was over at Scott Cash for the

01:05:37.210 --> 01:05:39.170
samples. These guys go to the Sips Thursday night

01:05:39.170 --> 01:05:41.170
show. Ooh, all right. There you go. So these

01:05:41.170 --> 01:05:43.190
guys are all heavy hitters. They're going to

01:05:43.190 --> 01:05:44.769
be there, and they're bringing a six -pack of

01:05:44.769 --> 01:05:46.769
whiskeys to sample. Damn. They always make some

01:05:46.769 --> 01:05:49.510
good stuff. Six -pack of whiskey. That's a dangerous

01:05:49.510 --> 01:05:52.110
combination right there. It totally is. It usually

01:05:52.110 --> 01:05:55.469
ends with yes. I purchased. I got ahead of it

01:05:55.469 --> 01:05:57.610
a little bit. I went on Amazon. I purchased.

01:05:57.989 --> 01:05:59.869
They're plastic. I don't give a shit. I purchased

01:05:59.869 --> 01:06:02.159
a bunch of whiskey glasses. You know, about a

01:06:02.159 --> 01:06:04.940
40 -pack. Little Glen Cairns? Well, they're not

01:06:04.940 --> 01:06:07.460
quite Glen Cairns, but they're more highballs.

01:06:07.639 --> 01:06:09.960
But, you know, it was just me. I'm kind of like

01:06:09.960 --> 01:06:12.179
I'm going over. Several of my Glen Cairns broke

01:06:12.179 --> 01:06:14.039
last time, and I'm kind of salty about that.

01:06:14.099 --> 01:06:15.980
So I'm like, yeah, you know, we're just going

01:06:15.980 --> 01:06:17.820
to get these. Whatever. If you guys want a Glen

01:06:17.820 --> 01:06:19.900
Cairn, you're more than a grab one. But some

01:06:19.900 --> 01:06:21.639
of these other folks, I don't know. I'll bring

01:06:21.639 --> 01:06:24.000
mine from Heaven Hill that has. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:06:24.239 --> 01:06:29.179
You got to have the I'm hanging out on a walking

01:06:29.179 --> 01:06:31.530
around glass. Oh, my gosh. That's such a great

01:06:31.530 --> 01:06:33.949
idea. I forgot about that. Yes. Shelly and I

01:06:33.949 --> 01:06:36.610
both have one from the Heaven Hill tour. About

01:06:36.610 --> 01:06:37.969
the three of us wearing it. Sean will be left

01:06:37.969 --> 01:06:40.150
out. Yes, let's do it. We've got a couple more

01:06:40.150 --> 01:06:42.789
minutes left before the time stacks. Actually,

01:06:42.789 --> 01:06:45.349
a couple more. As far as, we talked a little

01:06:45.349 --> 01:06:47.590
bit about staves. You kind of hinted on the word.

01:06:47.650 --> 01:06:49.690
Do you guys use staves in any of your production?

01:06:50.449 --> 01:06:54.480
I mean. Obviously, the barrels are made of staves.

01:06:54.480 --> 01:06:57.159
We don't do any insertion of staves like you

01:06:57.159 --> 01:06:59.000
would see with a Maker's 46 or something like

01:06:59.000 --> 01:07:01.380
that. Do you mix any of the species of wood?

01:07:01.500 --> 01:07:03.940
You have American oak and French oak at the same

01:07:03.940 --> 01:07:08.000
time? Oh, yeah. We're one of the crazier distilleries

01:07:08.000 --> 01:07:12.519
on that end. Only about 60 % of our barrels are

01:07:12.519 --> 01:07:16.579
100 % American oak. We've got a lot of Slovenian

01:07:16.579 --> 01:07:18.099
oak that we're going to use. We'll use a bit

01:07:18.099 --> 01:07:20.940
of Hungarian. You're saying there's different

01:07:20.940 --> 01:07:25.099
staves in the same barrel. A lot of times when

01:07:25.099 --> 01:07:27.039
we have hybrid barrels, it'll be multiple oaks.

01:07:27.199 --> 01:07:29.900
It'll be the barrel itself is made from one type

01:07:29.900 --> 01:07:31.579
of oak and the heads are made from a different.

01:07:31.699 --> 01:07:33.239
There you go. That's typically how it's done.

01:07:33.360 --> 01:07:35.699
Just because if you try to match up different

01:07:35.699 --> 01:07:38.460
staves from different oak types, they won't seal

01:07:38.460 --> 01:07:43.019
super well. Doing what I call a rainbow barrel

01:07:43.019 --> 01:07:45.619
works really well if you have the same type of

01:07:45.619 --> 01:07:47.639
oak that had different wine finishes or something

01:07:47.639 --> 01:07:49.679
on it. But if you're trying to use different

01:07:49.679 --> 01:07:51.639
species of oak, it's really better for the body

01:07:51.639 --> 01:07:55.059
to stick with one type. So is that standard in

01:07:55.059 --> 01:07:56.840
the industry for people to do that? Are the Cooperages,

01:07:56.880 --> 01:07:58.400
like, they're used to those kind of requests?

01:07:58.699 --> 01:08:00.400
Or were you guys throwing out some crazy shit?

01:08:00.420 --> 01:08:04.139
We're kind of a crazier bunch. You know, 99 %

01:08:04.139 --> 01:08:06.559
of bourbon is 100 % American oak. That's just

01:08:06.559 --> 01:08:10.559
how it's done. The zany couples. We're only about

01:08:10.559 --> 01:08:13.360
60 % normal. The other 40 % is pretty unique.

01:08:13.639 --> 01:08:15.579
My favorite is actually some of the black oak

01:08:15.579 --> 01:08:18.500
out of France. It's really interesting. Super

01:08:18.500 --> 01:08:23.119
different. What is produced with the black oak

01:08:23.119 --> 01:08:25.579
that you guys have? Armagnac. So you're looking

01:08:25.579 --> 01:08:28.640
at Harold. We'll use, especially on the St. Sally's

01:08:28.640 --> 01:08:30.119
side, we'll have a lot of the black oak with

01:08:30.119 --> 01:08:34.859
it. A lot of Harbinger we'll use. About 30 %

01:08:34.859 --> 01:08:36.439
of the barrels will actually have Slovenian oak

01:08:36.439 --> 01:08:38.579
in the barrels for that because it's a little

01:08:38.579 --> 01:08:41.680
bit more. Any Hungarian, Czechoslovakian? Hungarian

01:08:41.680 --> 01:08:45.600
we'll use. Czechoslovakian, not as much. I think

01:08:45.600 --> 01:08:47.479
I made that up. But the Hungarian one, because

01:08:47.479 --> 01:08:50.979
I know 1845 had their double oak in the bottle.

01:08:51.720 --> 01:08:53.859
What does the Slovenian, what does that impart

01:08:53.859 --> 01:08:56.560
into the bourbon? So Slovenian, as far as the

01:08:56.560 --> 01:08:59.399
way the species is, it's kind of in between American

01:08:59.399 --> 01:09:04.199
and your standard French limousine oak. So it

01:09:04.199 --> 01:09:06.439
has a little bit more baking spice to it, but

01:09:06.439 --> 01:09:08.420
also has a little more sweetness than the French

01:09:08.420 --> 01:09:11.680
does. So the French oak tends to be a lot more

01:09:11.680 --> 01:09:14.939
baking spice, but less sweet overall when it

01:09:14.939 --> 01:09:17.539
comes to spirits. The wine's a little bit different,

01:09:17.619 --> 01:09:19.359
but we're throwing a bunch of curveballs. Now,

01:09:19.359 --> 01:09:21.060
double oak. You guys doing a double oak yet?

01:09:21.199 --> 01:09:24.100
Oh, gosh, yeah. Are we missing this? What's going

01:09:24.100 --> 01:09:26.939
on? Jeff and I already have it. In fact, on the

01:09:26.939 --> 01:09:31.060
research paper earlier, you had a release that

01:09:31.060 --> 01:09:34.590
was an independent bottling. from Lost Lantern.

01:09:34.630 --> 01:09:38.670
It was actually a double oak that we did. 2025,

01:09:39.130 --> 01:09:42.090
single cast, 13. A recent double barrel. I didn't

01:09:42.090 --> 01:09:43.510
even read my own shit. How about that? Double

01:09:43.510 --> 01:09:45.529
barrel Texas bourbon collaborates with the Lost

01:09:45.529 --> 01:09:47.149
Lantern has gained attention for the dance floor.

01:09:47.609 --> 01:09:51.529
I really enjoy double oaks. I got to gobble that

01:09:51.529 --> 01:09:55.329
up. You guys out loud now? So we do on the assemblage

01:09:55.329 --> 01:09:59.489
side, we do have some double oak. The most recent

01:09:59.489 --> 01:10:01.710
specs and total wine picks are actually double

01:10:01.710 --> 01:10:05.550
oaks. So it's something we do occasionally. It's

01:10:05.550 --> 01:10:06.949
a really fun thing to kind of pepper in there

01:10:06.949 --> 01:10:08.850
because we have so many different types of oak

01:10:08.850 --> 01:10:11.729
that we use that we have double oaks of French

01:10:11.729 --> 01:10:14.590
oaks and American oaks and different European

01:10:14.590 --> 01:10:18.250
species. We've played around with it all. How

01:10:18.250 --> 01:10:19.829
do you keep track of this? You have this massive

01:10:19.829 --> 01:10:22.909
spreadsheet with all these, every possible combination

01:10:22.909 --> 01:10:24.930
of everything you guys are doing. It's epic.

01:10:25.029 --> 01:10:27.710
My brother is amazing at Excel. I will tell you

01:10:27.710 --> 01:10:29.970
that. I've got to say, there's got to be like

01:10:29.970 --> 01:10:34.149
48 tabs on this thing. You better back it up.

01:10:34.229 --> 01:10:35.430
He's reached the limit. Put it on the cloud,

01:10:35.529 --> 01:10:36.710
yeah. He's reached the limit of his cell. He's

01:10:36.710 --> 01:10:39.369
got a 30 -foot wide dry erase board. That's all

01:10:39.369 --> 01:10:42.329
the cells you can use. He's capped out on the

01:10:42.329 --> 01:10:44.489
cells. He's capped out. Dude, this has been great.

01:10:44.550 --> 01:10:45.909
I can't wait for you to join the second half.

01:10:46.130 --> 01:10:49.689
I'm ready for it. Good. What did you think about

01:10:49.689 --> 01:10:52.229
the Dudes Like Us podcast? Wonderful Infinity

01:10:52.229 --> 01:10:56.800
Classy sample. It's really, really fun. I wasn't

01:10:56.800 --> 01:10:58.960
expecting it to have as much like craft bourbon

01:10:58.960 --> 01:11:00.760
influence into it. And that was really kind of

01:11:00.760 --> 01:11:03.050
cool to see of like. You can see the layers of

01:11:03.050 --> 01:11:04.710
some of the different craft whiskeys in there,

01:11:04.829 --> 01:11:07.289
along with some, again, like your more traditional

01:11:07.289 --> 01:11:09.989
bourbon. But I was looking at the list, and I

01:11:09.989 --> 01:11:12.930
was looking at kind of which ones you use. But

01:11:12.930 --> 01:11:14.109
that was the thing that really stuck out to me

01:11:14.109 --> 01:11:16.869
is that it was still really unique, even though

01:11:16.869 --> 01:11:19.109
you peppered in just a few of the craft guys.

01:11:19.210 --> 01:11:21.750
There's 30 more bottles in there that's not even

01:11:21.750 --> 01:11:24.529
on the list. How impactful that side of it was

01:11:24.529 --> 01:11:27.329
was something that I absolutely loved. Well,

01:11:27.430 --> 01:11:28.989
we enjoyed doing it. Yeah, we're writing it all

01:11:28.989 --> 01:11:30.850
down, and we're going to bottle it, and we're

01:11:30.850 --> 01:11:33.329
going to... like barrel it and double barrel

01:11:33.329 --> 01:11:35.250
it. You sticking around for the second half?

01:11:35.369 --> 01:11:37.409
You know it. God bless. Chuck, thank you for

01:11:37.409 --> 01:11:39.689
staying on top of shit today. It's the first

01:11:39.689 --> 01:11:41.630
half of the Dudes Like Us podcast Thursday, March

01:11:41.630 --> 01:11:44.789
19th. It's a Thursday. It is. God bless. Tomorrow

01:11:44.789 --> 01:11:47.729
is Friday. First day of spring. Is it really

01:11:47.729 --> 01:11:50.390
tomorrow? March 20th. It's going to be 90 degrees

01:11:50.390 --> 01:11:53.270
on Saturday. Is it really? Yes. Good thing I'm

01:11:53.270 --> 01:11:55.590
wearing my kilt. Spring in Texas. There you go.

01:11:55.630 --> 01:11:57.949
Is it a good thing? Oh, dude, you know, me, I'm

01:11:57.949 --> 01:12:00.130
crotchless with those things. Oh, God. That's

01:12:00.130 --> 01:12:02.119
not a good thing. Check us out on Dudes Like

01:12:02.119 --> 01:12:05.819
Us podcast for Instagram, Facebook, YouTube,

01:12:06.319 --> 01:12:08.859
TikTok. We're on everything. We're kind of a

01:12:08.859 --> 01:12:12.380
big deal. Yeah. I mean, we got iRoot on our podcast.

01:12:12.579 --> 01:12:14.779
Give me a break here. All right. Look, Dudes

01:12:14.779 --> 01:12:16.859
Like Us, I'm Sean. I'm Paul. And I'm Jeff. And

01:12:16.859 --> 01:12:17.140
I'm Robert.