1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,960 Welcome everyone to this special bootleg episode of Whiskey Wanderlust. I'm Corey and I'm Ryan and 2 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:11,360 Today we bring to you guys a special interview which was completely unplanned 3 00:00:12,420 --> 00:00:18,260 But we were able to pull off in December Ryan. Do you kind of set the stage for us? Yeah, so 4 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:25,620 We were attending the laws whiskey houses soft opening or soft launch of their whiskey sanctuary 5 00:00:26,180 --> 00:00:28,380 It was an invite only event. It was really cool 6 00:00:28,380 --> 00:00:32,900 Everybody's really welcoming awesome drinks beautiful space hospitality was through 7 00:00:32,900 --> 00:00:36,620 Yeah, and so we we talked to Casey who was in the the previous episode 8 00:00:36,980 --> 00:00:41,740 If we could get a moment to get out Al on camera because we put a video together if you haven't seen it 9 00:00:41,740 --> 00:00:44,020 It's on Instagram. Go check it out cool space 10 00:00:44,980 --> 00:00:49,220 But we wanted to have a moment without just so we could talk about the the opening of the tasting room 11 00:00:49,500 --> 00:00:55,260 We're literally looking for like two to three minutes tops, right and I end up sitting down 12 00:00:55,260 --> 00:00:57,580 on the couch with him for I don't know like 13 00:00:58,140 --> 00:01:03,420 Total uncut time was probably like 40 minutes like and he just opened up and you know 14 00:01:03,420 --> 00:01:07,460 And just just shared everything from the construction of the new sanctuary 15 00:01:08,380 --> 00:01:10,780 To some of the details that you guys will see in that 16 00:01:11,100 --> 00:01:12,700 It will show in the episode as well 17 00:01:12,700 --> 00:01:15,420 But if you have an opportunity to go down and visit the space there 18 00:01:15,420 --> 00:01:18,620 I should say like if you guys are in Denver and looking for a really cool 19 00:01:18,940 --> 00:01:22,140 Place to go have a great tasting a really cool tour and just a 20 00:01:22,140 --> 00:01:27,580 A fantastic vibe in the lounge there. Just go ahead of this whiskey sanctuary spot. It is is awesome 21 00:01:27,980 --> 00:01:32,300 But he he kind of talks more about the space there and what it meant to them as a project 22 00:01:33,180 --> 00:01:37,740 And really I mean really back to their ethos. There are no shortcuts and 23 00:01:39,420 --> 00:01:42,620 The time he gave us was just like yeah, I did not expect that 24 00:01:42,620 --> 00:01:46,620 It was he was you know, he's a very gracious host an awesome welcoming guy 25 00:01:46,620 --> 00:01:52,140 And so, you know, he he kind of just started running with us all over the place and just you know 26 00:01:52,140 --> 00:01:57,980 Telling us all about it. Just like we got a private tour of the new space from al and then sat down and had that conversation with you 27 00:01:58,780 --> 00:02:01,340 Yeah, I mean, it's really cool, you know on a special night 28 00:02:01,340 --> 00:02:06,860 Like I just cannot express my gratitude to the team there and the time he gave us for a special night 29 00:02:06,860 --> 00:02:09,660 He's got you know, they've got friends and family from all over 30 00:02:10,380 --> 00:02:14,380 Coming in and doing this and he took the time out to chat with us, which was just 31 00:02:14,380 --> 00:02:18,780 I mean just immense treasure. So thank you al for the time you gave us and 32 00:02:19,660 --> 00:02:23,100 You know, we didn't have an opportunity to meet him at our first interview with him 33 00:02:23,100 --> 00:02:28,780 And so this is the first time we got to meet him and it was it was killer. So yeah al is a great guy 34 00:02:29,420 --> 00:02:34,380 And his and his passion really comes through in this particular view and it really comes out in their products 35 00:02:34,380 --> 00:02:38,300 So and you guys will see it come through in that new tasting room. It's fantastic 36 00:02:38,300 --> 00:02:42,540 Yeah, so enjoy this episode this bonus content this bootleg episode 37 00:02:42,540 --> 00:02:44,540 Without Loss. Yep 38 00:02:46,060 --> 00:02:48,060 So you've now been open for 13 years 39 00:02:49,100 --> 00:02:52,300 Yeah, 13 and a half and so tell us what 40 00:02:53,100 --> 00:02:56,780 What does this particular thing mean to you and oh man, tell us about the journey to get here 41 00:02:57,500 --> 00:03:01,180 Yeah, so when we started out we wanted to be like 42 00:03:02,220 --> 00:03:07,020 We wanted to be a wholesale manufacturer, right? We weren't interested in this side of 43 00:03:08,220 --> 00:03:11,020 Of what this was we were very focused on the width of the space 44 00:03:11,020 --> 00:03:12,780 This was we were very focused on the whiskey 45 00:03:13,660 --> 00:03:18,060 So we learned pretty soon on that, you know, there's more to this than that 46 00:03:18,060 --> 00:03:23,420 So there's an hospitality element to it. And so we soon had our our version of a tasting room, which is 47 00:03:24,140 --> 00:03:26,140 you know pretty 48 00:03:26,460 --> 00:03:32,220 Pretty low-key you've been in the one we had before. Yeah, we added some kind of interesting elements to it 49 00:03:32,220 --> 00:03:34,540 but the same time we wanted it to be 50 00:03:35,820 --> 00:03:38,140 You know, we still wanted to have like this authenticity 51 00:03:38,140 --> 00:03:42,540 And we still today that this was not supposed to open today. It was supposed to open years ago, but 52 00:03:43,100 --> 00:03:45,100 You know five years of permitting 53 00:03:45,660 --> 00:03:47,660 Because I don't know why 54 00:03:47,980 --> 00:03:51,900 And then two and a half years of construction and I have a lot of reasons why that took so long 55 00:03:52,460 --> 00:03:56,460 But the staircase is not with any right? Yeah, like this is a really complicated staircase 56 00:03:56,460 --> 00:04:00,700 It's not when you draw it on AutoCAD, right? But when you have to actually physically build it 57 00:04:00,700 --> 00:04:03,420 It's very complicated. Wait and not to digress too far 58 00:04:03,420 --> 00:04:06,540 But you you said that each one of these steps had to be custom 59 00:04:06,540 --> 00:04:09,820 Cast and then they weigh like 250 pounds the installation must have been a nightmare 60 00:04:09,820 --> 00:04:14,140 Yeah making them because originally when they come in to template them they were like, oh well 61 00:04:14,860 --> 00:04:19,340 We're like, oh it's easy. And when it was like six grand or something for this. Oh, no 62 00:04:19,340 --> 00:04:23,260 Oh, no, it wasn't six grand because they're like well every one of these is different like no 63 00:04:23,260 --> 00:04:27,980 No, there's just three types and they're like no there isn't and I'm like, oh 64 00:04:28,620 --> 00:04:31,660 Just the yeah as built. That's the that's the line like 65 00:04:31,660 --> 00:04:37,500 Yeah, we had to learn a lot of this stuff along the way and it cost more and more and more every time we had to learn 66 00:04:37,500 --> 00:04:42,540 So two and a half years later and you had some issues getting your final occupancy certification 67 00:04:42,540 --> 00:04:47,340 But that's right. We had and you know, I'm not gonna blame I have a lot of blame for a lot of like inspecting agencies 68 00:04:47,340 --> 00:04:50,140 And this like this and I'm not a big fan, but I'm not gonna 69 00:04:51,180 --> 00:04:53,900 The fire department held this up another four or five months 70 00:04:53,900 --> 00:04:57,180 But they had a legitimate reason to do that and as design issue 71 00:04:57,180 --> 00:05:04,220 And when we heard like what that was really. Oh, yeah, we understand right? But why does it take five months to 72 00:05:04,780 --> 00:05:06,140 extend a 73 00:05:06,140 --> 00:05:10,700 Fire escape. Yeah build a little room, but that's what the model because it does 74 00:05:11,740 --> 00:05:17,980 Yeah, yeah, there's no reason no it just is but we tried to build this during kovat folks. So like 75 00:05:19,420 --> 00:05:21,420 Oh, man like 76 00:05:22,220 --> 00:05:24,620 You know, you see the news you see supplies 77 00:05:24,620 --> 00:05:29,820 You know, you see the news you see supply chain stuff. We live supply chains. Absolutely stuff that when you would look at like wall street charts of 78 00:05:30,300 --> 00:05:33,340 Commodity various commodity prices going through the floor like tripling. Oh, yeah 79 00:05:33,340 --> 00:05:39,420 Well that's your background right financial. Yeah, like yeah, i'm a yeah, i'm an economist by training and oil oil and gas 80 00:05:40,460 --> 00:05:43,580 Equity analysts, but we're watching this and you're like no 81 00:05:44,140 --> 00:05:47,260 And then it goes up more and goes up more and then all sudden 82 00:05:47,740 --> 00:05:51,740 It can't possibly go any higher and then it does and then it does and then it's 83 00:05:51,740 --> 00:05:59,180 Like our our wood pack. Well, a lot of wood in this building went from like sixty six thousand to 84 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:02,760 180,000 85 00:06:03,100 --> 00:06:04,940 And then it came back down 86 00:06:04,940 --> 00:06:10,060 But never return back to 66. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no none of this and then 87 00:06:12,220 --> 00:06:18,620 Cmu blocks we had to buy it before we had a contractor because they weren't available. So we we had we're like 88 00:06:18,620 --> 00:06:21,740 We're like speculating on cmu blocks 89 00:06:24,380 --> 00:06:26,620 Yeah, it's this is a very painful experience 90 00:06:27,260 --> 00:06:34,300 But look at it now. It's like a very happy years of construction and permitting and covid speculated by him later 91 00:06:36,060 --> 00:06:39,900 How do you feel about how this came out because it's unbelievable it's better than I would ever expected 92 00:06:40,300 --> 00:06:43,180 So now that it's done, what is your like, what are you looking forward to the most? 93 00:06:43,180 --> 00:06:48,380 So it kind of goes to your one of your earlier questions. This is we've been looking for this to be the next 94 00:06:48,940 --> 00:06:52,220 Kind of stair step for us for the laws whiskey brand 95 00:06:52,860 --> 00:06:56,380 We've made really good whiskey. We've had some hospitality interaction 96 00:06:56,700 --> 00:07:02,140 We have reached out of our state and done fairly well outside of our state and we're still trying to 97 00:07:02,700 --> 00:07:06,060 Kind of own this state and we have a lot of great competitors and peers in the state. So 98 00:07:06,780 --> 00:07:11,180 It's a tough it's this is a very competitive state for this kind of business plus now we you know 99 00:07:11,180 --> 00:07:13,820 we're the sponsors of the cu athletics program and 100 00:07:14,700 --> 00:07:19,660 We're making bigger steps and you had a special release for that. Oh, yeah, ralphie's reserve. It's doing great 101 00:07:20,220 --> 00:07:24,540 Perfect for tailgating perfect for you know, throw it on some ice with some mixer in it 102 00:07:24,780 --> 00:07:28,780 And then we also have black and i'm sorry got black and gold which is 103 00:07:29,420 --> 00:07:34,700 Cu athletics director and our head blender and I we we picked the barrels and the blend 104 00:07:35,500 --> 00:07:37,500 And and that's a higher end 105 00:07:37,500 --> 00:07:41,480 Sippers whiskey so that one turned out fantastic as well 106 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:48,000 But yeah, these are all affinity type products that go to help, you know support feeding ralphie the buffalos 107 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:50,560 Yeah, and then also to the nil program 108 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:55,920 So to pay these athletes and absolutely she's had a great year and i'm not a cu alum 109 00:07:56,480 --> 00:08:01,760 Peyton our cfo is my daughter is so we've done a lot at cu before and 110 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:04,560 we're pretty happy about this and 111 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:11,120 Coach, you know coach prime is like the best like he is just the most positive individual 112 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:13,520 he just fits our whole thing like 113 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:19,680 Being positive is really important in whiskey. It's got to be important because you know what tomorrow with green i'll tell you what 114 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:23,520 I'm a niner fan and I loved watching him win the super bowl with us. Like that was amazing 115 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:28,400 So my kids and I we've been really into watching cu I was never cu bowler fan until he got there. And so now 116 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:34,400 We've been great though, right to see that and I love the doubters the doubters and the yeah the back and forth 117 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:38,720 And there's a lot of like parallels to starting a whiskey company and like everyone's like, oh well 118 00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:42,400 It's not old enough or it's this or it's that i'm like, you know, like 119 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:48,000 Take it for what it's worth. Stop trying to compare it to blantons or something like that. It's supposed to be blends 120 00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:51,840 Yeah, it's supposed to be something different from that and that's what we've you know 121 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:55,280 Our whole foundation has been on that make a four grain out of the gate 122 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:59,360 We make 100% rye whiskey and make 100% wheat whiskey 123 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:05,520 And those are things that are like not done and we're using heirloom variety grains and we're supporting family farms and these 124 00:09:05,680 --> 00:09:07,840 these sound like like sound bites for 125 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:13,040 For like marketing and they're not these are absolutely real and the cool part of them 126 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:16,800 No one ever has to like make up a story here. We have plenty of stories that are true 127 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:21,680 so we don't need to change our name every two years or change our label every two years like 128 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:23,920 This is who we are 129 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:26,480 And yeah, so the ticity comes through let me ask you 130 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:29,200 I mean you you mentioned you originally focused on wholesale, but then 131 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:34,560 You end up end up on the retail side like what like what prompted that leap? 132 00:09:34,560 --> 00:09:37,040 Like how did you make that leap and like what led to this? 133 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:42,320 Well, the brand can only grow on its own for a certain 134 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:45,360 Time and then it needs something 135 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:50,880 That distinguishes it and we want to make this and I think you'll probably agree after seeing it 136 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:53,440 It's a destination place for denver. Absolutely 137 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:59,120 It's not the only destination place, but it is a cool destination place for denver. So if you come visit 138 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:04,320 In your downtown the hotel, they're probably going to say hey go over here and we're trying to compete with 139 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:06,800 our like 140 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:12,000 Customers at restaurants and bars and sincerely we're just trying to be another thing that allows you to experience 141 00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:16,880 What you could buy at the liquor store or have one of our our great 142 00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:18,880 you know 143 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:21,600 Friends at various bars and so hey you need to try this 144 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:24,240 Now you can come in here and you can at the source 145 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:26,800 You can try these whiskies 146 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:31,200 In a different form in a cocktail, but we're not going to be open at two o'clock in the morning 147 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:36,800 We're we done at ten, right? So this is a pre-dinner post-dinner come here with a business cowlick 148 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:38,800 And your location like, you know 149 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:42,000 Your neighbors on the street joked when they first opened their place that they bought a saloon, right? 150 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:43,360 Because they were you know 151 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:48,000 And it was kind of like the first time my wife and I came down we then visiting both your locations 152 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:54,480 Right both your neighbors bear creek down there and I came up here after and we saw Casey's nice big 153 00:10:56,320 --> 00:11:00,000 Chalk drawing that she had on the wall. That was super cool. Right was a big one, you know, and 154 00:11:01,040 --> 00:11:05,120 You know, it was a definitely different vibe just several years ago to today 155 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:07,760 So now like everything's being built up and there's some cool stuff going on 156 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:12,800 So like this now adding to that space is a huge deal. So this is an elevation of the brand 157 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:18,800 So I would tell you that um, our whiskeys we never take a knee to anyone whether it's kentucky tennessee 158 00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:24,720 Absolutely. We make us good a whiskey as any any of these other places in the united states 159 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:27,120 We have a lot of peers to do as well 160 00:11:27,120 --> 00:11:30,800 And then we're like, oh well, we have this tour and we have this little whiskey chapel with 161 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:34,880 Free pews that we got from a methodist church and 162 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:41,520 And like they gave them to us and we had this but but that experience while it was kind of cutesy 163 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:43,680 The whiskey was below the brand standard 164 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:44,640 Okay 165 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:44,880 Yeah 166 00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:50,480 But the education that you got was well above the brand standard because you got a lot out of those things and you 167 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:55,200 Got to learn a lot about what we do and then just in general how how the whiskey is made, right? 168 00:11:55,200 --> 00:12:00,160 So we we purposely did that for a long time and then we're like now we need to catch up 169 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:02,160 right and 170 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:04,960 You know being in a you know, our little bottle shop when the 171 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:08,320 You know it we had the same the same 172 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:11,520 Company nah house who built all of our bars 173 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:16,320 Built all the bars and the little tables that were in that little room 174 00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:22,080 So we've been working with them for that long. They do amazing work. They built a whiskey room in my basement 175 00:12:22,560 --> 00:12:26,880 Oh, well, sack and his team is fantastic said you have quite a collection that goes with that. I used to 176 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:29,440 COVID decimated that 177 00:12:29,680 --> 00:12:34,720 I I can't imagine why you didn't read enough bottles about how whiskey is something to be shared with others 178 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:38,240 During kovat, there's a lot of whiskey didn't get shared with others. Yeah 179 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:43,760 Irreplaceable kind of whiskies that you'll never ever be able to get again or just want to pay 180 00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:49,520 Enjoy it. I did enjoy it. There you go. When the world's ending you're like, this is a great way to end the world 181 00:12:50,560 --> 00:12:51,760 so, uh 182 00:12:51,760 --> 00:12:54,320 Yeah, so I got rid of a lot of it and I have not um 183 00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:56,960 I guess 184 00:12:56,960 --> 00:12:58,080 Maybe 10 years ago 185 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:02,240 I would have considered myself a collector of this and I would define a collector as 186 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:06,240 Somebody who buys it faster than they drink it because they were never afraid to open it 187 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:08,640 It's never going to be dusted and all this kind of stuff. So 188 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:11,920 And then we hit this point where 189 00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:13,680 Now I don't buy it anymore 190 00:13:13,680 --> 00:13:18,800 We make we have six thousand barrels of stuff that I think is world-class and absolutely and then I would rather buy 191 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:23,360 well, and even some of the stuff that actually was on I have a good authority was 192 00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:29,760 Went into a bottle that would really wasn't intended to go in the bottle as labels such but we sam was especially proud of that 193 00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:30,960 Costco release 194 00:13:30,960 --> 00:13:38,000 Oh, and I bought I had to put several bottles those on reserve because those are so good. Yeah, so we have a new um 195 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:44,880 Director of sales, okay, and he had it like this week. So what is this cost go when we talk about? 196 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:50,080 Like you don't know about it. He's like no i'm like we had our our um, our prior 197 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:57,280 Sales director our west she was awesome and she set this all up. She's here tonight. That's who I hugged as we walked by 198 00:13:57,360 --> 00:13:58,160 Okay 199 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:05,600 Um in the in the buffalo, uh buffalo bowls. Okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. And that was her husband in the detroit. Okay, so um, yeah 200 00:14:05,680 --> 00:14:08,640 She changed industries um back in the summer 201 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:13,760 But with this new she set that up and when she said well, can we make because we don't want cost go to ha 202 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:15,760 We didn't want them to have 203 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:17,040 Because they take lower margin 204 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:22,640 We didn't want this to be we already had a rough time because of the wine and grocery our heart is with the independents for the most 205 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:25,040 Part we'll sell to anybody we're agnostic for that 206 00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:29,440 Right, we gotta sell to everybody absolutely, but we were like the way that happened was really kind of bad 207 00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:33,760 So we wanted to okay. Well, we want to do this you guys want to do this with us 208 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:40,480 But now we want say 300 cases. I'm like, okay, we'll build it but i'm gonna build you 600 cases like no 209 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:43,280 Oh, tell i've been thinking about this 210 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:49,360 For two years what I wanted to do here and you get to be the gimme pig on this 211 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:52,800 Okay, and it's not really being again to be because this stuff is going to be awesome 212 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:57,120 Yeah, so we blended four-year-old bourbon about five and a half years old 213 00:14:58,160 --> 00:14:59,760 with um 214 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:01,760 four-grain bourbon 215 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:03,040 with 216 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:08,640 Eight-year-old two-grain bourbon, which is essentially corn whiskey, but in a new barrel and that 217 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:14,880 Is not good until it hits about five years and then it starts to fill in you get more oak quality 218 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:19,360 And but it is kind of one-dimensional or maybe not one dimension probably two 219 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:22,400 but it has a huge amount of like 220 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:27,680 Crème brûlée caramel and that's kind of it. There's no no wood depth to it even at eight years 221 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:31,520 And I thought well it fills in various gaps in the four grains 222 00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:37,120 And it's like easy drinking phenomenally sweet. Yes, and i'm like, this is what we're going to sell them 223 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:40,160 This is pretty good. I'm like, it's not pretty good. This is amazing 224 00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:44,880 Absolutely, we're going to use up all this stuff that i've been looking at for again two years 225 00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:48,320 Like who would buy this because we wanted to do it all at once we didn't want to 226 00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:49,120 You know 227 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:54,080 Peacemail it more more barrels in the batch always makes things better. Right? So that was our uh, 228 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:59,680 Yeah, that's what you got to have. I'll tell you what it's really good. Right sam like when he put his badges like 229 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:02,160 Pride on that. Yes 230 00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:02,960 I was like, okay 231 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:06,320 Because I I thought it was great because I bought a bottle right and then 232 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:10,560 I bought another one and then we ended up having a conversation sam and I I told my wife said 233 00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:13,600 He told me that you guys released a couple more pallets to costco 234 00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:18,320 That's why I said I said beggin you gotta you gotta go look and if they have it buy me a few bottles 235 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:22,720 So we ended up buying four more bottles. So they're sitting on our shelves at home because it was so good 236 00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:25,920 I have one in my office 237 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:30,160 And I gave it to to fit and then he goes well, I got this in my office 238 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:32,240 It was open. I'm like, give me mine back 239 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:36,320 It was really good and so but it was like it's 240 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:38,720 It was an idea 241 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:45,200 And then supported by our head blender and sam made it and so it was like really cool to kind of all come together on this 242 00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:49,520 Like this is what we're doing guys, and we hadn't done that before and it was sort of the start of us 243 00:16:50,960 --> 00:16:52,960 I guess marrying our own 244 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:57,200 Our own stuff like so everything we ever put out was like, oh, this is an eight year 245 00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:00,320 So it's all like very tight and then um, then we had like 246 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:05,680 Um, then we were like, oh well, we just did this we just blended basically across different 247 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:12,240 Types of whiskey that we made plus age statements and then that brought to us this idea of our origin stuff 248 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:15,600 We did we're doing origins were basically a set of barrels that I had made 249 00:17:16,080 --> 00:17:22,640 When nobody else worked here and then I'd sold them to my friends and then they in a usury fashion sold them back to me 250 00:17:23,280 --> 00:17:28,560 Or to a point like I can't pay that much for that guys like we need to right and then we bottled it all at 12 251 00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:30,560 And those were our first origin stuff 252 00:17:31,120 --> 00:17:34,480 And then we're like, well, we need to continue this on and well 253 00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:36,480 Well, why don't we vertically integrate? 254 00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:39,840 Um or do a vertical of 255 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:43,680 Our foreground and that was our very first 256 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:50,880 It's our first time really blending our own stuff. Yeah, and it's it's complicated like it really is and 257 00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:57,760 We have a lot of respect for those that do blending. It's really tough to do. We're slowly learning it. We would be 258 00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:00,000 I think we were 259 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:04,640 Then we did a really good job of the bourbon. The hardest one was the next one with cornerstone was rye 260 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:07,520 Because rye we don't make as much 261 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:11,040 And rye is very distinctive year to year because we're using 262 00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:14,160 Um only grain of that year, right? 263 00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:19,280 and so one year it might be really wet and so the rye grains really plump and has lots of like 264 00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:22,480 Extra proteins 265 00:18:22,480 --> 00:18:28,720 And so it doesn't attenuate well and it gives off different esters and it does all these sort of so to blend that 266 00:18:28,720 --> 00:18:30,720 Say you say that's five year 267 00:18:31,120 --> 00:18:35,520 And then you had some seven and then you have some ten. You're like, oh, this is gonna be easy 268 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:38,960 We'll just like we did with the bourbon, which was a lot easier. You couldn't do it 269 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:43,920 We're like took five iterations or so like right this doesn't taste right. Like why is it? 270 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:47,920 And then what's wrong with these barrels? There's nothing wrong these barrels. They're just in a weird spot 271 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:48,320 Yeah 272 00:18:48,320 --> 00:18:52,960 Well and what you guys have done like with the finishing like the saturn dry that you guys did like that was really good 273 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:55,840 and I think doing those kind of special releases with the rye is 274 00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:58,400 especially good strategy because you can 275 00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:03,520 You can add a different dimension to each expression as it comes out and then you're able to maximize 276 00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:07,760 Different so none of those none of those things is random 277 00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:12,160 So in order to to for us to execute any of these ideas 278 00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:17,060 Whoever's idea it is has to come with like here's the null hypothesis 279 00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:21,840 What are we trying for? We're going to put this in this barrel. Well, why well 280 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:23,760 I'm going to pick up on the notes of this 281 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:29,760 I think it'll add different mouth feel because these what barrels are wet or these like that's how it all goes and then we're okay 282 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:32,720 Is everyone going to vote everyone's? Yeah, we're going to do this and then 283 00:19:33,120 --> 00:19:35,600 Get enough of the barrels together and we do it and it's awesome 284 00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:37,120 and then we 285 00:19:37,120 --> 00:19:39,520 So we make that exist and then we're going to next time we do it 286 00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:45,200 We're going to make it better and that's where the cognac finish series the mini modified solera. Maybe sure 287 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:51,200 That's where that came from. It's like at some point you're like, oh i'm finishing this in cognac barrels. That's great. Like well 288 00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:54,400 We should pay homage to cognac, which is a whole different thing 289 00:19:55,360 --> 00:19:58,720 It's a type of brandy. That's that's made excellent through blending 290 00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:04,960 Blend it blend it blend it blend it to excellence. Arminia different very little blending a lot of like 291 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:12,320 Vintage year a little rougher things that like whiskey people would like more right and so 292 00:20:13,120 --> 00:20:15,360 We're like, oh we have army of querels. Those have done really well 293 00:20:15,360 --> 00:20:19,120 But the cognac thing was like well, how could we elevate this? I'm like, wow 294 00:20:19,120 --> 00:20:23,840 We could just do more and more of them put them in tank and then keep slayer. I'm like or 295 00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:27,040 We could go get one of those blending tanks from france 296 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:31,040 And that's what we did and it took two years to fill it 297 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:35,360 And then since that time, this is our our fourth release 298 00:20:36,080 --> 00:20:41,600 And so every year we take 20 25 percent of it off and then we immediately refill it with 299 00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:47,440 Three-year-old bourbon that was aged an additional year to two years in cognac acid 300 00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:55,040 So it's it's kind of a three steps and then it gets to marry and gets to integrate in a breathing living breathing vessel 301 00:20:55,600 --> 00:20:58,480 Yeah, and it keeps changing and it's gets richer and now it's 302 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:03,200 I think the oldest and it's probably almost nine years and the youngest is five 303 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:08,160 But it just keeps evolving right and that to us is really cool 304 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:12,240 It's so cool. I tell you I mean I could sit here and talk to you about whiskey all night long 305 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:14,960 But i'm pretty sure you have other folks that you want to you want to meet and greet 306 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:17,920 So tell us before before we let you go. Yeah 307 00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:23,040 You came to colorado from canada by way of new york 308 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:29,920 Yes, and you have a lot of influences here a lot of gothic influences. Yeah gargoyles some other stuff. So tell us about 309 00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:32,640 the original vision and 310 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:39,280 We talked about the construction right but tell us like yeah like what's it means to you now even before that you find gargoyles all over 311 00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:43,680 The place in the distillery some people would give them gift them to us. They had the sign up 312 00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:47,280 Before you went laws right it was gargoyle industry 313 00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:54,160 Is um is our holding company, okay, and then gargoyle holdings is the company that owns all the real estate 314 00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:59,040 okay, and gargoyles are real important to me and I don't know where it started but 315 00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:01,840 It had more to do with 316 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:05,680 I like the the imagery of it, but it's also if you know what they are 317 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:10,880 It's the inside thing like oh they're scary or they're satan or they're they're not they're neither of those things 318 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:17,600 You know what gargoyles are for right? They scare away evil spirits. Yeah, so we talked about salmon and casey a little bit about it 319 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:24,800 Yes, drink no evil there. There you go. So and then I've like I have all kinds of gargoyles 320 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:28,640 I was gonna ask you about your tattoo. This is the first gargoyle one and this is when 321 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:31,520 This is me being patient 322 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:33,920 Sitting on the barrel because I came from wall street 323 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:37,840 Hey something happens five minutes. You gotta be 99 percent, right? 324 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:41,520 No, no, you're always jacked up in this and then so when we first started laying barrels down 325 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:46,080 My wife would get so mad at me. I'm like, hey barrel sevens developing 326 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:52,240 She goes you just made it three weeks ago. Would you stop opening the barrels? I'm like, well, but she's like slow this down 327 00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:55,120 So that was my first uh, like hey 328 00:22:56,320 --> 00:22:58,240 Stop, right 329 00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:01,440 Style goes way back. Yeah, and then yeah, you have to wait 330 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:06,720 This is a generational thing and I started to think about it in terms of like hey my son seven 331 00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:11,120 And this barrel we harvest it. He'll be 14 like those kind of things that were 332 00:23:11,740 --> 00:23:18,320 Interesting in in trying to think about what these things were. Yeah, because they're living they're breathing. They're they're there they're 333 00:23:18,940 --> 00:23:21,040 Individuals you put them in a batch to become a community 334 00:23:21,120 --> 00:23:25,440 There's all these like cool aspects to it right that I had to like learn 335 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:27,040 right 336 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:28,080 Yeah 337 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:32,320 But the gargoyle stuff is like yeah, it's all tied to that right drink. No evil 338 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:34,080 and 339 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:36,080 yeah, and all like 340 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:38,240 the egyptian like our forests and 341 00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:43,120 Yeah, i providence all these things you'll find those around here. We don't know if we put them up yet 342 00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:48,320 They'll be around they won't be necessarily as obvious as that one. We'll just be subtle. All right. So yeah a little 343 00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:54,640 A little bit of the oh man. Tell you what this place is beautiful. The staircase came together 344 00:23:55,280 --> 00:24:00,720 Your now what are you calling this now? You call this the barrel now or what? Yeah, it's just like it's our yeah 345 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:06,560 That's what I call it. So as you explained to me you had so many screw holes and nail holes on the on the you couldn't 346 00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:10,480 Paint it with like regular paint and make it smooth and it didn't look right 347 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:14,480 Like well and then this is even our contractors like yeah 348 00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:20,880 What if it's like char like that's exactly right tom would be like the inside of the barrel. Yeah, and he's like 349 00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:26,480 Whoa, would you do that? Well the architects like it I go I guarantee the architects are gonna like it 350 00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:32,160 Yeah, and let's see if uh, if the plaster guy could do it and the guy was like, yes 351 00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:37,280 And then it's like because it saved him and trying to argue about oh absolutely and it looks great 352 00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:42,480 And we have we actually have it something that hasn't been put up yet. You go over there with this big round 353 00:24:43,360 --> 00:24:44,560 um 354 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:48,560 It's like a barrel head, but bigger. It's gonna look like a bung in the side of the wall 355 00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:52,480 And independent staves making it for us. Oh, that's where we'll get our get our barrels from 356 00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:59,040 Yeah, well eventually you're gonna have to cut out another hole to make room for the next level stair staircase, right? Yeah, so 357 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:05,920 I don't give us two years and then we'll move towards getting the roof deck done, but we can do most of the roof deck 358 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:09,280 Because we now have this glorious 359 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:14,000 Extended staircase to the roof we can get a lot of that done without interfering with the business 360 00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:17,920 But what interferes what we'd have to shut down for is as you can see here 361 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:25,760 That's where the stairs would continue and they would go all the way up and they would um exit out onto the roof another whole batch of 362 00:25:26,620 --> 00:25:32,880 individual cast steps and oh same as this but I think there's been some learning we would probably use the same 363 00:25:33,600 --> 00:25:36,400 Joan of Arc is contractor. We probably use them because they 364 00:25:37,360 --> 00:25:38,640 they 365 00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:43,680 Definitely ground their way through this they did it's hard. So yeah, we we came up with 366 00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:49,600 People like oh, it's just the laws whiskey house tasting room. Like well, that's bland. Yeah, and then we have the church 367 00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:53,680 This is you know, the two-story gothic window and all it's like it needs to have 368 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:57,920 Some kind of vibe like that to it some gothic vibe to it 369 00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:02,320 And then so we did a internal contest really like okay. Well, let's come up with a whole bunch of things 370 00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:05,280 Some of the names are we have a bunch of dudes on the 371 00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:09,920 The packaging line that like metal so we had a lot of really heavy metal ones and 372 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:14,400 You know, you've seen our barrel of the beast stuff and we have another one coming out with true in february. Okay 373 00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:18,640 Um, so it came down to this contest. So we came up with the whiskey sanctuary 374 00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:24,000 This kind of fits to the church thing plus it gives it a little bit of dark or anything at laws whiskey house 375 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:27,120 So it gives it that fancy, you know, like a fancy hotel 376 00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:32,080 So so uh last thing before we go right you have right over this room 377 00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:35,200 You have you have the whiskey church, correct? And then 378 00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:38,560 Is and that's where your tours are starting now? That's right 379 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:40,560 So they're gonna start in the whiskey church 380 00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:45,840 They're gonna learn about it and then they're gonna walk through your facility and they're gonna end in your very your favorite room 381 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:52,800 My favorite room tell us tell us about that little tasting center or like it's more like a speed easy like it has that feel but 382 00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:55,840 If you have to be close in there, right? 383 00:26:55,840 --> 00:27:02,400 so everyone has to stand a lot closer together and and then our you know, our amazing like 384 00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:05,680 Brand ambassadors have this cool lighting around them 385 00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:12,960 It kind of makes them look larger than life. Yeah, and then the bottles are lit behind and it becomes another place to tell stories 386 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:17,440 Like around a campfire kind of thing. It has a very cool vibe when the doors are closed, especially 387 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:19,440 Yeah, and then yeah, you come out of there 388 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:26,000 And then you can either you know, look for merchandise or like get bottles or you try most of them in there 389 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:29,200 And then go upstairs to experience the whiskey that made here 390 00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:34,000 But at the same time in a different way we can talk to you about how 391 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:37,680 We can talk to you about how the like rye is mostly drank in a cocktail 392 00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:42,240 So well, you should have them cut look right and I can talk to you about that all day long doesn't really matter 393 00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:46,080 Right. It's now I can show you right and the wheat whiskey 394 00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:52,080 We're very i'm a big fan of the wheat whiskey this summer because I think it tastes good on ice and has these cool orange notes 395 00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:54,480 That come out and kind of like a creamsicle 396 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:59,760 But we can do a lot with these whiskies in a cocktail that we get to decide 397 00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:02,720 Most of the things we've got right now are like classic cocktail 398 00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:08,080 That will evolve will move to you know, have some pretty crazy names for things too. I'm sure you will 399 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:11,440 We have some really great bartenders and mixologists and 400 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:14,240 And we're gonna let them 401 00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:19,040 We're not gonna keep on a leash like go do this like create something great with what we make 402 00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:22,160 We even make some of the modifiers make our own Curacao make our own Amaro 403 00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:29,760 You can have Antica or you can have ours like there's some other element of like this is made here, right? And it's different 404 00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:31,760 It's different. Um 405 00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:34,400 Let's experience what? 406 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:41,760 These grains grown in Colorado by family farms in a specific place in the state what they taste in the foreign whiskey 407 00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:46,480 All right, so fun. Yeah flavor experiences al thank you so much for your time 408 00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:48,160 I know you've got a lot of other hands are shaped 409 00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:54,960 So if you're in town in denver come check out the whiskey sanctuary here at laws check out al's new digs the barrel 410 00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:58,800 Everything else goes in this place this place is fantastic. So thanks for your time 411 00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:03,200 And honestly, I don't have a whiskey but I would cheers you right now because let's go get one. All right, let's go do it 412 00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:05,120 Thanks, man 413 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:13,040 Thank you for joining us on whiskey wonderlust subscribe to the show on youtube apple podcasts spotify amazon music and all other major podcast 414 00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:29,140 Platforms and be sure to leave us a rating and review follow us on social media and visit us online at whiskeywonderlust.co