Swell AI Transcript: S4 E13 Sound Only.mp3

SPEAKER_10:
It is five o'clock somewhere, and you've tuned in to Season 4, Episode 13 of BRC. For those of you who'd like to watch this episode, I highly recommend it. You can view Season 4 on our website, YouTube, Spotify, WhiskeyNetwork.net, and Zencastr. I'm Keri Moynihan, and in this episode, we're headed south to New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail. First, I hit the streets for a spontaneous chat with Quail and Gordon of Greenwood Whiskey and Dram on the Street. Then I head to the conference to meet the makers for a new segment, Festival Floor Finds, where I uncover some incredible whiskeys that I've never encountered before. I reconnect with Kyle McHugh from Bullitt Frontier Whiskey for a special Tales from the Still, explore some seminars, events, and vibrant parties that make Tales unforgettable, and wind down with a nightcap alongside Josh Novosky of High West, then finally I share the last sip with Adira Hanna above Cafe Amelie, a perfect way to close out the week. So kick off your shoes, pour yourself a dram, and join me for this episode of Barrel Room Chronicles.

Announcer: There's one thing that gives Bullitt Tenure its refined character. Time. Ten years of it. Getting richer. Smoother. Bolder. Bullitt Tenure. Not a day too soon.

SPEAKER_10: Sometimes the best conversations don't happen on the panel. They happen on the street. Outside, an official Tales of the Cocktail Happy Hour, I caught up with Kweillian Gordon, CEO and co-founder of Greenwood Whiskey, to talk legacy, community, and what's next for this rising brand. This is Drum on the Street.

SPEAKER_03: My name is Kweillian Gordon, but everybody calls me KG. I am the CEO and co-founder of Greenwood Whiskey.

SPEAKER_10: Fantastic. KG. Yep. And how do you say Quaylin? Quaylin. Oh, I love that. That's beautiful. Thank you. So, KG, tell me about Greenwood Whiskey. You were telling me inside, we're here at Tales of the Cocktail official happy hour here in the middle of the day. And I saw you with your beautiful shirt and I said, oh, I haven't heard of this whiskey. I must talk to this man. So tell me, how long you been doing Greenwood? What's the origin? Like, tell me the whole thing.

SPEAKER_03: Okay, so it'll be five years in November that we started Greenwood Whiskey. So the origin of Greenwood Whiskey, it goes back to me being living in Atlanta, it's Atlanta-based brand, and my disdain for Atlanta traffic and sitting in a cubicle. I've been in financial services for years, and I woke up one day and realized that I wanna do something different with my life. I wanna do something that I truly enjoy, something I can pass on a legacy to my kids, families, and friends. And that was whiskey. Right. So a group of guys, me and three of my buddies got together and said, hey, we're going to start a whiskey brand. How hard can it be? Hard. Hard. Extremely hard. You know, we had no food and beverage experience and background. So it was totally like on a whim. This was during the pandemic that we started this ranch. So it's a great idea in a pandemic, like, hey, you know, we can start a whiskey brand. So we launched later that year. And since then, we've been growing tremendously. We named it Greenwood to pay how much of the Greenwood district in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which in 1906 was home to Black Wall Street. And that was the largest concentration of African-American owned businesses in the nation.

SPEAKER_10: I love that. Black Wall Street. That's so awesome. Okay. And so have you ever been there or is it just something you knew about?

SPEAKER_03: Yes. So I've been there and it was something I knew about. So I've been there because I had family in Oklahoma and they were visiting Greenwood Avenue and having seen that amazing experience. It was something in history that not so many people knew about. I didn't know about it. Yeah, like they don't teach it in schools like anywhere and they don't teach it in schools in Oklahoma. So the story of Greenwood and Black Wall Street was something very unique and something we wanted to shed a light on. So it's more than just whiskey. You know, you get whiskey, you get a little bit of history and something to celebrate. And that's why we call ourselves the Celebration Whiskey because we want to celebrate culture, celebrate excellence, celebrate entrepreneurship.

SPEAKER_10: That's awesome. So is this your first time at Tails?

SPEAKER_03: No, this is actually my third time at Tails. So, yep, it's been a, it's a great experience. This is probably my best experience this year. Um, we had, cause you met me. Yep, absolutely. I think that's what it was. And we did activation this year. It was super cool too. Yeah. At Bourbon street distillery.

SPEAKER_10: So it was, uh, wait, there's a distillery on Bourbon street. How do I know about this?

SPEAKER_03: Yeah. It's not like, yeah, it's on Bourbon street. Yeah. It's right. Like ducked off. Interesting.

SPEAKER_10: How long has that been there?

SPEAKER_03: I don't know. It's my first time hearing about it this year.

SPEAKER_10: OK, I'm about to check that out when we when we finish this up. Wrap it up, because I'm, you know, staying in the quarter. OK, so this is the first time you've had an activation here. The other times you just came as a patron.

SPEAKER_03: So last year we did activation in partnership with Diageo. Yeah, yeah. So this is our only one we actually did on our own. So last year we just kind of stuck onto their coattails.

SPEAKER_10: That's cool. Are you with Diageo or not yet?

SPEAKER_03: Not yet. So we received a venture capital investment from Pronghorn Ventures. So Pronghorn Ventures has a relationship.

SPEAKER_10: You know Tracy Franklin?

SPEAKER_03: Of course I know Tracy Franklin.

SPEAKER_10: You got to watch the show with Tracy Franklin. I interviewed her at WSWA. I've interviewed her before she did the Jack Daniels. Yeah, you got to check it out. I love Tracy.

SPEAKER_03: She's great. Yeah, yeah, no, Tracy is good people, definitely. She's been tremendously helpful to us, like, for somebody who coming in with no food and background, no food and beverage experience, and meeting people like Tracy and, like, the talent at Prawnhorn helped us tremendously, helped us grow the brand.

SPEAKER_10: Love it. I love it. I love the brand, too. I've got a good story that I can't remember his name off the top. No, yes, I do. It was Chet Lemon, and we were saying, oh, Chet Lemon, if we're down here. I talked to him about what was the name of the brand. It was really cool. It was like a Prohibition brand. It had this really cool label with like a guy with this big hat. And it was really cool. I can't think of what it was called. But anyway, that was a really good story, too. And they had a lot of really cool brands. Were you at WSWA?

SPEAKER_03: I wasn't at WSWA this year. I was there the year before, but this year I couldn't make it.

SPEAKER_10: Well, maybe next year I'll see you there. Yeah. So tell me, what are the goals right now of being here at Tails, and what are you hoping the next five years will bring to your company?

SPEAKER_03: I think coming to Tails is a learning experience, right? Like, we come here to learn, network with other people in the industry, specifically, you know, hospitality, you know, the mixologists, the bartenders, and kind of understand, like, for us, what makes a brand go. You know, like I mentioned, we're rather new to the industry. You know, our goal is to, right now, we're a regional brand. You know, we're on shelves in Georgia, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia. So, as we continue to grow, become a nationwide brand is the goal. and just figuring out what are some of those key things that other brands do and what do our partners look for, specifically the bartending community.

SPEAKER_10: Okay, and right now how many different expressions do you have out on the market?

SPEAKER_03: So we have three different expressions right now. So we currently have a rye whiskey, which we started with. We have a caramel flavor, which we call our Greenwood Celebration whiskey. And we also have our 1906, which is a bourbon.

SPEAKER_10: I love that. Do you have any of those here with you?

SPEAKER_03: Mmm, and I have that I think I have the caramel in the car. So I have some I have some here with me So yeah, we could figure it.

SPEAKER_10: Well, we'll taste that here in a minute cuz I when you say caramel That's like one of my favorite like sweets and then whiskey smells my favorite. So, you know you got me You got me at hello, as they say, right?

SPEAKER_03: Hey, there it is, there it is.

SPEAKER_10: Okay, so in the next five years, you plan to dominate the country, that's good. Absolutely. What's your next goal? What next state are you trying to get into?

SPEAKER_03: D.C. and Maryland is next. So top of Q1 2026, we do add D.C. and Maryland to the mix, and Alabama after that. So we're being intentional, listening to our audience, you know, listening to our customer base, and going where we're embraced.

SPEAKER_10: Very cool. Well, if you ever get to California, let me know. I just launched the Barrel Room Chronicles online whiskey shop, and we have our fulfillment center outside of San Diego. And currently, I have over 550 SKUs. All of the SKUs, the brands have been on the show. So I would love to add you to that portfolio.

SPEAKER_03: Oh, no. That sounds exciting. I would love to be there.

SPEAKER_10: Yeah, yeah. Well, thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time out. And for those of you, what's your website?

SPEAKER_03: The website is greenwoodwhiskey.com. Social media, Greenwood Whiskey on Facebook, Instagram, everything, Greenwood Whiskey.

SPEAKER_10: Great. Well, thank you so much. And hopefully I will catch up with you guys soon. And maybe this time next year, you'll have some more news to share.

SPEAKER_03: Absolutely. I'm looking forward to it. Thank you.

SPEAKER_10: Thank you. After enjoying the happy hour, I went to the Ritz to explore, meet the makers and see if I could discover anything new or at least new to me. Festival Floor Finds is next.

SPEAKER_06: I'm Rick France with Ghostwood Whiskey. I am the Senior National Brand Manager.

SPEAKER_10: Fantastic. So I've never heard of this before, and I came upon you here at Tales of the Cocktail. So tell me, you gave me some pours already. The first one was this bad boy. What do we got?

SPEAKER_06: So what do we have here? This is our double gold winner, two years running with the San Francisco. We're hoping for the next one coming up. If we get that, we get the platinum. But this is five years in the barrel, four grain, 90 proof. And we do it up in Montana. The only thing he imports into Montana for this is the sweet corn from Illinois. We use a winter red wheat up in Montana. There's two farms that have it up there. They actually were using it for feed when we found it, or when Luke found it and all that. And that's what he contributes to smoothness to. I contribute to smoothness to no humidity, the water, the freshness of the air, just the whole gamut up there. Because if you know- Whole Montana. Yeah, the whole Montana. If you know anything, a lot of the whiskeys are all done south where you have all the humidity and everything, so it's hard to control that. It is very smooth. Yeah, and this is what I throw the cocktails out of. The next one we have is our barrel proof. We call it the black. It's 114 proof. It's the same mesh build, but just proofed up at 114.

SPEAKER_10: Yeah, that's hotter for sure.

SPEAKER_06: But I have a lot of females that like this.

SPEAKER_10: It is very good. It is very good. Okay, and then the last one is very unique. I'm very excited about this one.

SPEAKER_06: Excited about this. This is the first one, we're the first one in the industry to do this. It's a Chardonnay cast finish. That's amazing. You've got your reds, you've got your ports, you've got your sherrys, but not a Chardonnay. So what we use, we use our 90 proof here. We partner with Trefevin Vineyards in California for their Chardonnay barrels. Six months in those barrels, get you this. This one I like. You know, I'm not really a big whiskey guy. I'm a more tequila and beer guy, but I love this. The reason why is because it's real soft and buttery, but I like it because the Chardonnay actually builds back up, comes back up, lands on your tongue.

SPEAKER_10: Alright, check it out.

Announcer: Yep.

SPEAKER_06: Just let it sit there for a second. Oh yeah. Bingo.

SPEAKER_10: Oh yeah. Alright, so tell me a little bit, who's Luke?

SPEAKER_06: Luke Perks is our distiller. He's the one, he's the one that came out, you know, that did this. He went to Scotland to learn how to do scotch. Came back, came up with this recipe. He started with a hot plate in his family barn in Illinois, doing this, the old steel type thing. So the packaging about the marketing about that, I'll pick this up so you can see it. So this right here, The oak tree is, the father had three sons. And so he'd take them out camping every weekend. Well, they would camp underneath the oak tree. This is a new addition to that oak tree. They tell ghost stories and all that kind of stuff. Well, ghost wood comes from that. Our motto, go beyond the firelight down the bottom there. The father's trying to teach his sons, you know, something about life and everything. So he's like, you know, You feel comfortable around the fire, right? No animals, no bugs, you know, you're all warm and comfy. I want you to go through that firelight, go out in the dark, and see what you can make of yourself.

SPEAKER_08: Wow.

SPEAKER_06: I.e., the reason for the black bottle. Everybody told him in the whiskey, you can't put whiskey in a black bottle. Why? Well, everybody's got to see the whiskey. It's like the distillers nowadays saying, well, whiskey season, O and D, right? Well, that's October, November, December. Nobody stops drinking whiskey. I don't. I know, right? So nobody's saying, I'm going to break that with those guys. I'm going to break the mold on that. But anyway, so I.E. the reason for the black bottle. He wants everybody to take a chance on this bottle because he'll be pleasantly surprised, you know, when they open it up and taste it. So that's where that comes from. And then for me, Go Beyond the Firelight, I've been 46 years in the restaurant business, so I bring a little bit different tool than most distilleries do, because I've got the background with that. So, my whole purpose is getting us out there in the restaurants, in the bars, doing shows for them, getting the staff to love what we've got going on, and I want to meet everybody that we talk to. You know, Ma and Paul type of situation. So, I've come up with 20, you go to the website, see all the different cocktails, but the two I bring up is Totally opposite of the spectrum, if you want to say. Here you have the cowboy mojito, which I make with whiskey, not rum.

SPEAKER_10: Yeah, I have not had a mojito with whiskey before, and this, I must say, is fantastic.

SPEAKER_06: Appreciate that, yeah.

SPEAKER_10: It's just the right amount of mint, it's not overly citrusy, and the whiskey gives it a great different flavor, which is just beautiful.

SPEAKER_06: So, you know, normally everybody talks about, okay, whiskey, okay, what am I doing? Well, I've got a whiskey salad, I don't want that. Maybe a mule sometimes with whiskey, but it's either Manhattan or old-fashioned, right? Well, and that too you want to use our black for, you know, 114 if you want to do that. But this here, because it's so smooth and the way the flavor profile is it, you can't, the drinks that I make here, you can't make with most whiskeys just because of how the flavor profile is. This just works so well with it. And so I'm trying to bring more people to the table with whiskey. I mean, I even have a mimosa I make with this. Really? I created it for a place down in Key West. Yeah. And they're like, I've got people all over. Dude, this is great. We've got a place in Corpus Christi right now called Studio 41, I think is what it's called. It's right on the water. It's an art gallery. It's got a really elegant restaurant over there. So they have a brunch, so they do a huge brunch business on Sunday. We're their featured Bloody Mary and Mimosa there for that.

SPEAKER_10: Nice. OK, speaking of the Bloody Mary.

SPEAKER_06: So guys, very unique here.

SPEAKER_10: Most shout out to Jeffrey Pogash, who is a big he wrote a book on Bloody Marys and he's here with me today, but not at the moment. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06: Oh, I'd love to. I'd love to meet the guy. So the Bloody Mary here, you know, vodka has no flavor profile at all. The whiskey with the tomato juice and everything with it. That's good. It pulls out the openness and the smokiness of the barrel into that.

SPEAKER_10: So what else, what kind of, what is all in this? Because… I can't tell you that. He can't tell me, he can't tell me.

SPEAKER_06: I tell you what, all my recipes are all online. I make cocktails so everybody can make them. You know, you've got, you know, I agree with all the craft stuff and everything, but when you go to a really nice restaurant, why do you want to wait, if you've got a party of six, why do you want to wait 30 minutes for your cocktails? You don't. Right? I mean, I get all the fanciness and everything. This is a meal in a glass right here. No, it is. I call a regular Bloody Mary an appetizer. I call this your meal, just because of the way it is. So my cocktails that I've created, they're easy enough to make at home, but they're easy enough that the average bartender and average bar manager can sit there and make them in time for the guests to enjoy them. And I think they're good quality.

SPEAKER_10: That's fantastic. Well, I am a new fan. And when you guys get distribution in California, let me know. We will add you to our barrel room shop. And you know, this is great. It was great to meet you. And thank you so much for giving me the history.

SPEAKER_06: So much. I appreciate it. All right. Thank you. Awesome. Cheers. Bye, guys.

SPEAKER_09: My name is Mary Allen. I am the market rep in the Milwaukee area of the state of Wisconsin for J. Henry and Sons bourbon, which is a Wisconsin whiskey brand. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_10: So I see you have a bunch of screws, screws, a bunch of skews here. This is the wrong convention for screws. Um, so tell me which one was the first one and which one is your favorite?

SPEAKER_09: All right, so the very first one is our small batch bourbon blend. That was the very first one that the Henry's released back in 2015. That one's got a little 93 score on it and happened to win a silver this week. Yes, good, good, good. We're kind of a big deal. So that's the very first one, then followed up by the Patton Road, which is the name of the road that the farm is on in Dane County, single barrel cast strings. And the master blender, Joe Jr., who's worked with Nancy Frehley, and you know Nancy Frehley. They put little fun stickers on the bottom that gives you a hint of what they tasted in the barrel, or he tasted in the barrel. That one's Honey Bismuth. That sounds yummy. Okay. And this is our most popular SKU, which is our Cognac Barrel Finish. So that is Joe Sr. 's favorite. The Henry's are French, so they like to give a nod to the French heritage when they can. Cognac barrel aging five, closer to six year barrels, just light and sweet. It is a cigar lover's friend, for sure. Spring release and then fall release is our Armagnac barrel finish. Oh, Armagnac, I love Armagnac too.

SPEAKER_10: Armagnac, there we go with the Armagnac, okay.

SPEAKER_09: Armagnac is the spicy sister of Cognac, we like to say. A little bit more uncut and unfiltered, different region of France. It's going to be Gascony. We named it in honor of the Le Flamme Festival, which is a festival at the end of the distilling season in Gascony. So that is Armagnac barrel finish. Recents are going to be at the end, which are going to be our rye. So we have a small batch rye blend, which is a four grain rye, which is very different. You don't see too many. Only 64% rye in that. 14 wheat, 14 corn, 8% barley. Going to drink a little bit more like a bourbon on the front and a rye on the back. That's got a good, a good, a unique mash bill, I think. Absolutely. This one won silver last year in the New Orleans Spirit Competition. Congratulations. So, thank you. This is our late summer release. It's an Aranha barreled rye, so very nice. Aranha. Dairy cask finish, very sexy.

SPEAKER_10: I think I need to try that one. That sounds amazing. And the label, the label on this, guys. Take a look. It's very festive. Very festive on that label.

SPEAKER_09: Sweet oranges and blooms on there. Yeah, I'll give you that so you can pour me a little bit. Absolutely. And there you go on that one. And that one is $113. I feel like I'm at the dentist office with this. They told me paper cups, so I got paper cups. It's medicinal. Absolutely, it is. And this is the star of the show this week. This one won two golds this week. This is lovely. That's very unique. Okay, what's the match bill on that again? This one, the ryes are going to be 64 rye, 14 corn, 14 wheat, 8% barley.

SPEAKER_10: That's great. I love it. I like a rye forward bourbon. I'm a more rye girl than a bourbon. It is because it's also got some some barley which yeah and that's my that's my favorite.

SPEAKER_09: I always tell the real rye drinkers, the real spicy rye, we might not be ryey enough for you but give it a try and they usually love it.

SPEAKER_10: Well here's what you do with the rye. You toned down the bourbon. And the bourbon, I like bourbon, but I really like them when they're more, when it's, you know, when it's just at the very minimum of the amount of corn that they're supposed to have and everything else is another different kind of green, because I think adding the different grains in it makes it more interesting.

SPEAKER_09: Absolutely, a lot more layers of flavor, like a layer cake of flavors. So, that's why I really enjoy our bourbon. And, I mean, you can put us up against any good Kentucky bourbon and we're gonna hold our own, so. So how long has this company been around? They released their first bottle in 2015. So they put barrels down 2009. They are seed farmers by trade and they are still seed farmers. Let me show you a photo. So do you know where all your corn and your grains come from? Most people don't. We do. Because Joe and Joe are out there, and now the other son, Jack… Is that red butcher corn? It is not. It's its own varietal. It came out of the UW-Madison seed bank. All the grains did. They're all heirloom grains that were grown in the 40s on their farm. It's W335A is the varietal of corn. W335A or something. Not a sexy name. Not at all. We're trying to get it renamed, but you know, that's a process. What do they want to call it? You know, I'm thinking Henry Red maybe would be a good one. That's a good one. Henry Red, nice and short. So they've since made some modifications to it. So it is proprietary. So they're the only ones that use this corn. And there are some right there as well.

SPEAKER_10: Can I pull one out?

SPEAKER_09: Absolutely. Just don't eat it. It's a little crunchy. It's a little crunchy. Wow, look at that.

SPEAKER_10: That's a really cool colors. Look at that. It's like yellow on the top and red in the inside.

SPEAKER_09: OK, and then what's this other one you've got here? This is the one that won two golds this week here at New Orleans Spirits competition. This is the single barrel rye. And this one's got fun names as well, just like the single barrel bourbon. This is crema catalana. Crema catalana. Joe Henry loves to give them fun names. Oh, now that's rye, baby. I know. People love that one.

SPEAKER_10: Now, the other one that won last year.

SPEAKER_09: This, the small bag. Oh, you said this one was your most popular. This is our most popular. I'll try that one, too, please. And then that's the one that won silver. We had a cognac.

SPEAKER_10: Actually, I would like to try that next to the Armagnac. I think that would be, I suggest.

SPEAKER_09: All right. Cognac for you. Thank you. And then we got some Armagnac. So two seasons, spring and fall. I'm sure you can figure out which ones scream, which ones fall. The bell of all.

SPEAKER_10: Very similar, yet both distinct. Very. And I can't figure out which one. Hold on, wait a minute. This one's a little spicier. That's this, yeah, right. So is that, is that the spring or the fall?

SPEAKER_09: The fall? The fall. Yep. Okay. Think campfire, colder. It's going to warm me up a little bit. Wear the Belle of the Ball, Belle of Fontaine's going to be a bit lighter, sweeter for the warmer, warmer months. Okay. And where can people find this stuff? We are only in three states right now. Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota. So. Not okay. No. Well, I think this might be our next state down here. Okay. Still not okay. I mean, it's okay for all these fine folk. Well, you can also order us unsealed box out of Florida. Okay, out of Florida. And they carry all of our SKUs. I'm not happy with Florida. We can't ship. We can't ship yet. Wisconsin won't allow shipping.

SPEAKER_10: You know, this country with its three-tier mumbo-jumbo and it's too hard.

SPEAKER_09: It's really too hard. But we're growing. Where everybody else is kind of, you know, slowing down a little bit, we're growing. We want to be down in the South, so I think it's going to happen.

SPEAKER_10: Well, good. Well, if you ever get yourselves in California, we just opened up our online whiskey shop. Okay. It's Barrel Room Chronicle. It's, sorry, shop.barrelroom, no, no, no, shopbarrelroomchronicles.us, because we're in the U.S., and it was a cheaper domain than .com. Alright well this is fantastic and then what is coming up for you guys next in the near future?

SPEAKER_09: Next month we have two Calvados bourbon and rye coming out so really excited about that. Like I said the Henry's are French so here we're gonna give another nod to French heritage so the apple brandy barrel. So that was a project that Joe and Nancy worked on as well. Apple brandy, that sounds amazing.

SPEAKER_10: Right? Okay, well I would like to keep in touch with you guys and learn more about this and if I get myself out to Wisconsin I'd come to love to have you. And do you guys do tours?

SPEAKER_09: Tours, tastings, flights, cocktails, some amazing cocktails. So you'll fly me out there, flights? We'll talk to Joe, we'll see what you say, we'll see what Joe says about that. That's great. And so are these all of your expressions or do you have other ones that you didn't bring? I have some other older patent roads. Some are eight year, there's going to be a 10 and a 12 year coming out as well too. And then every Black Friday, we release a limited edition anniversary blend. It has all black label and it's our oldest and best stocked.

SPEAKER_10: That's awesome. Well, thank you so much for taking the time out. Absolutely. Thank you. It's a pleasure. I love learning about new whiskeys. So guys, stay tuned and we'll hear more about this in the coming months, years, all of the above. Don't touch that device. We'll be right back with Tales from the Still. Now open. Barrel Room Chronicles Online Whiskey Shop, where every bottle tells a story. Solange of us. Like Richard Patterson's Timeless Scotch at the Dalmore. Rachel Berry's elegant malts from the Glendronic, Benrea, and Glenglassa. Or the bold Nevada bourbon of Ashley and Colby Fray. From Hemingway Rye's Call Family Legacy to Bernard Walsh's Poetic Irish Whiskey and the Scully Family's Coastal Planaquilti. These aren't just spirits, they're stories. And they pour neat. BRC Whiskey Shop. The drams we talk about, now delivered. Kyle, how are you?

SPEAKER_02: I'm doing wonderful. How are you?

SPEAKER_10: Good. I'm so glad you could make it here today to this beautiful venue. We're upstairs of Cafe Amelie. Downstairs is a beautiful restaurant, which we'll be going to a dinner there, a spirited dinner. I have been trying to get you on the show for quite some time now. We met at the Spirit Awards, not the Spirit Awards here, but the Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica last year. And we got a chance to talk then. And I said, got to get you on the show. But instead of getting you on the show, I got you up to Fog City Social. And you had a little booth there. So tell me, what was it like to, I mean, that's your city, you're in San Francisco. So tell me, like, what was it like to hear about this? And did you even know about that organization? Because it was a pretty big thing.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah. Oh, well, yeah. So I had heard about it a few times over the first few years. And then honestly, like that conversation we had down there was so like natural and we just started chatting. And then you mentioned it again. I'm like, man, I really got to get, get over there and check this out. And, um, it being so industry ran, I mean, it, it was like a well oiled machine. It was beautiful. And I've done so many different whiskey tastings and, and, uh, events and shows. And it just felt, it felt great. I mean, from, you know, loading in beforehand and setting up and all the familiar faces and their attention to detail with everything, uh, down to, you know, the allotted time at the end of it so that people can catch up with each other and try each other's expressions. And, you know, I think it's a big misnomer that people think that, you know, all the ambassadors or the distillers don't get along. They do, better than most people. You know what I mean? So we all get to enjoy each other's stories and liquids. So it was phenomenal, I enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_10: And then tell me, what was it like, was this the first time you were at the Spirit Awards for Hollywood?

SPEAKER_02: No, so that was my sixth year. Yeah, we've been there for quite some time and it got bigger every single year, which was really cool. Definitely a huge, huge layout. We pull out all the stops for that one.

SPEAKER_10: Yeah, it was pretty fun. I ended up getting swept into a shot they were doing at the opening or something. And they're like, here, go stand over here and hold this. And I'm like, I'm working. I can't be drinking. Oh, yeah. But yeah, that was a good time.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they do that little live sizzle reel so that they can play it during the show. It was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_10: Yeah. That's fun. So I'm glad that we got to finally talk and I see today you brought three lovely expressions. You want to tell me about them?

SPEAKER_02: I have. So we have, they're all new expressions. We've had a few pop up over the years, some permanent, some limited offerings, but these ones are permanent and they've all been released within the last year to year and a half. We have our American single malt here, which is really good. It's in the green. It looks, almost like a dark green, but it's a recycled glass, but that is a 90 proof, it's 100% malted barley, finished in new charred oak. It's got hints of, it kind of starts like a highland scotch, which is very smooth, non-peated, and then finishes with kind of a nice big oak vanilla bomb.

SPEAKER_10: Nice, well let's try that.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_10: Here, I'll hold this for you. Thank you. And out of these three, which is your favorite?

SPEAKER_02: Ooh, I would say that's like asking someone which kit is their favorite. Right. I would say it really depends on the day. I've been a huge fan of this American single malt, so it was really cool. When we released this, we did some launch dinners where we invited local bartenders and folks from the industry to come try it, and we did a pairing with food. But we also had the American single malt president of the association. come to the dinner as well, and he kind of went through all the different trials and tribulations that American Singapore has gone through, which has recently become official.

SPEAKER_10: Finally.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I know. So it was really cool to hear, you know, and he talked about the struggles, but also just the different styles. And people are having so much fun with it from, you know, balconies and the things that we're doing. And I believe Jack Daniels has done a great one as well. And there's just so many different things out there.

SPEAKER_10: So when did you guys release the single malt?

SPEAKER_02: Uh, the single malt came out with, that would have been February of, sorry, February of last year. Okay. Yeah. February of last year. Um, just for my birthday.

SPEAKER_10: That was so nice of you.

SPEAKER_02: Perfect. Absolutely. Let's try this. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_10: It's got a good nose. I mean, I could nose it better if I had a more appropriate glass, but it's okay.

SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah. I always get like apricot or like a peach fruit.

SPEAKER_10: Oh yeah, and it is really smooth. You were here earlier talking with Jeffrey and Jonathan Pogash from the Cocktail Guru, and Jeffrey was saying how smooth this was, and I'd have to agree.

SPEAKER_02: It's very smooth.

SPEAKER_10: For a 90 proof, I mean, it's very smooth.

SPEAKER_02: Yes, and I think throughout our whole lineup, I think that's one of the coolest things about it is they're strong enough to stand up in cocktails or drink neat over ice, but the smooth finish on it, and it comes from the distillation process, but it just really does round it out, so it's not as intimidating. You know, you can come back to it, have a sip of it. It's phenomenal.

SPEAKER_10: All right. So what do we have next up?

SPEAKER_02: So next up we have our bottled in bond. This is the newest one. Thank you. Our newest one to our, uh, lineup and it is a hundred proof.

SPEAKER_10: Oh, we're getting higher.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah. But it's still just as smooth. Um, a hundred proof. Uh, it was distilled in a single season, which was 2007 spring of 2017. Okay. And a fun little fact on this is that it is the first juice that came out of Shelbyville, our new distillery.

SPEAKER_10: It's got a little bit of floral notes on it. Well, out of this glass. I don't know if that's normal, but… No, it does.

SPEAKER_02: I mean, it is like a bouquet of everything. You get mint, you get floral, you get spice and vanilla. I mean, it's got the whole package.

SPEAKER_10: Oh yeah. I taste the mint on that too. And it is also very smooth. And this is a hundred. I wouldn't even ever guess it. I know. How, how is that possible?

SPEAKER_02: It's, uh, it's, it always comes back to everybody there at the distillery and our, our blenders. And I mean, the, the magic that they create there is it's unbelievable. And whenever I go visit, which I visit often, um, I always try to tell them, I wish we could, you know, bring them out so they could see the fruition of their work. You know what I mean? Just see people's faces when they get to try it because they've done such a great job with it.

SPEAKER_10: So where exactly is the distillery and do you guys have tours and everything?

SPEAKER_02: Yes. So it's in Shelbyville, um, which is about 35 to 40 minutes outside of Louisville. Um, but it's, it, that sounds longer, but it's really, it's a quick little hop and a skip. Uh, we also have some awesome, uh, buses that we can take folks out from Louisville out to Shelbyville. I mean, it's about 20 minutes from Buffalo trace one way you can get out. I mean, they got heaven Hill and, and will it out there in the, you know, very close as well. So you could make a day of it. But the Welcome Center is phenomenal. We have a lot of green and sustainable ways of working throughout the distillery, such as we have solar-powered forklifts. It's a lot of fun stuff. They put a lot of those things that they wanted to do when building a new distillery into this spot, and it really did come out looking great.

SPEAKER_10: Cool. All right, well, let's get ready for the next one here. And when did this one come out?

SPEAKER_02: Uh, so, uh, the rye or the, oh, the bottled and bond, just that one just came out, uh, March of this year.

SPEAKER_10: Okay.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah. So it's, it's been, it's almost hard to keep it on shelves.

SPEAKER_10: Trade you.

SPEAKER_02: Yes. Uh, and then this one came out shortly before that, and this was to round out our, our portfolio. Cause we have the, the bullet bourbon 10 year.

SPEAKER_08: Right.

SPEAKER_02: Which is going to be the cream label with the orange 10. And this has the green 10, which is highly associated with our full green label. Yeah. Um, but this is, yeah, 95, 5, uh, so 95% rye, 5% malted barley. Uh, it's going to be 91.2 proof, which is the same proof. I know, I know. It's so meticulous. Um, but it, uh, is the same as our 10 year bourbon. And honestly, I tried to wonder why they did that. you know, but when you go from the age from our, you know, six to eight years on our flagship bourbon and our rye, taking it up just a notch to kind of compliment that age from the barrel, it really does round it out.

SPEAKER_10: Nice.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

SPEAKER_10: Okay. Oh yeah. That's a good rye. Oh, that's beautiful. So when I have my Manhattans, depending on where I'm at will depend on what I get, but more often than not, if I'm not in a proper whiskey bar, they will always have bullet. So I usually get a bullet rye perfect Manhattan. But instead of orange bitters, I ask them for cherry bitters. Um, and I think this one would be excellent.

SPEAKER_02: It's fantastic. I love it. It's such a meaty rye. Um, it's, you know, I've worked on, on different whiskeys throughout the year. Bullets always been there over the time I've been on the brand side, but, um, you know, I worked for George Dickel for a while and with the masters of whiskey and they have the Dickel rye, which is also a 95% rye, 5% malted barley, but it's been charcoal filtered. Right. So I got to try the contrast between the two and as much as I love my Tennessee whiskey and the charcoal filtration, which it does smooth it out.

SPEAKER_10: The state of the industry right now is kind of the state of the country. It's kind of in flux, and kind of, which I kind of think is probably part of it, because if people don't know what's going on with tariffs and prices and interest rates, and- It's too much information. Yeah, then I feel like everyone's kind of holding off on spending, and then there's a lot of jobs that have been eliminated by the government, and then, you know, then just- It always trickles down or up. Right, and I feel like even if the government's idea is to help the economy. I don't know that that's necessarily how it's working at the moment. I have thoughts, but we won't get into that. I'm trying not to be too political. But how is Bullitt handling all of the change lately?

SPEAKER_02: We have a great team around us from all the way from the supplier to the distributor, our agencies that work with Diageo. But Bullitt especially, we try we know there's a lot of information out there. We know that people, you know, fly by the seat of their pants off of, you know, headlines and ideas or things to come that haven't happened yet. Um, and it really truly is since I've started, even as a bartender, it's your job to kind of calm the consumer, calm the bartender, um, and you know, kind of point and highlight the positive stuff and try to keep that, you know, uh, at the forefront so that they can, you know, make it to the next thing, you know, Um, but yeah, I mean, you know, we've seen some, we've seen some influx and stuff and some of it's been from, you know, knee jerking, like, oh, is this going to happen? Is that going to happen? Uh, but all in all, yeah. And I think, you know, whether that's tactic or not, um, You know, I think when it all comes down to it, you know, like I said, they rely on us a whole lot more, you know, and that means the distillery, that means, you know, getting the liquid out, making sure it's consistent, focusing on what we can in the moment. And then the other stuff when it happens, you know, we're no strangers to change, you know, that's this industry is. changing all the time, and I think that's the biggest thing, is just making sure people feel comfortable and they can rely on the things that we offer them, whether it be a conversation or the liquid we have in our bottle.

SPEAKER_10: Okay. I mean, I know there's a lot going on with the audio, like they just stopped production of row and co in Ireland. I mean, they're still holding the tours and they're still, uh, you know, bottling what they've done. But, um, do you see any potential of that kind of thing happening with bullet?

SPEAKER_02: No, no, I don't. And I definitely have my thumb on that pulse. I mean, I'm always, I've geeked out since I started in this side and, and then some, um, so I try to stay up, you know, I follow whether it be stocks or whether it be, you know, industry emails from, you know, the Mark Brown Report or things like that. So I kind of try to follow, you know, as they say, follow the money or follow the voice. And no, I mean, like, we've had our ups and downs. Like, you know, we had a glass shortage at one point. You know, that was kind of insane because everybody wants bullet and whenever we could.

SPEAKER_10: Was that during the pandemic or was it?

SPEAKER_02: It was during the pandemic. Yeah. So like, you know, that was. Yeah. Oh man, it was crazy. But, you know, we got through it. It was rough. You know, some people whenever, you know, there's so many different products out there. If you're not there and you don't have it, it's really hard to compete with someone who does. You know what I mean? And being such a brand. I mean, I've been on this brand since it was smaller and now it's grown so, you know, massively. uh… over the years and beautifully if i might say so uh… it's it's you know it has that nostalgia now even though it's from nineteen eighty seven you know it's such a young brand uh… with a lot of history still you know which is really cool well kyle it's been great getting to talk to you about all these things and i hope to see you again next year at the spirit awards and uh… i'll see you around tales of the cocktail and thanks for joining us today thank you for having me alright cheers introducing bullet american single malt

SPEAKER_00: Bright. Complex. Crafted from 100% malted barley. Born from relentless experimentation.

SPEAKER_10: Of course, Tales of the Cocktail isn't just about the interviews. It's about discovery, connection, and it's a whole lot of fun. As one would expect, there's no shortage of unforgettable events. Not only did I attend an official Tales happy hour where I met and interviewed KG, but I also joined the Cocktail Guru spirited dinner at Cafe Amelie. It was a night filled with amazing cocktails, wonderful food, and great live music. Then, the parties. Tails always knows how to turn it up. At the William Grant party, I was invited to a secret Balbini tasting, a true highlight. Then over at the Irish House party, I caught up with Tracy Franklin and Adira Hanna, and made a few new friends along the way. I even had time to stop in at the Historical Pharmacy Museum where Spirits writer Robert Simonson was hosting his party before heading off to meet Cheech and Chong at their High and Dry event. Finally, at the High West party, I sipped fantastic cocktails, played some games, and I was gifted a personalized flask before sitting down with Josh Novosky for The Nightcap. Hi there. Hi. Josh, it is lovely to be here with your beautiful backdrop and your campfire. I am drinking something called Stop the Wedding, which is a showstopper, folks. It's very good. So Josh, we're here at your party here at Tales of the Cocktail. And tell me, what was this activation all about? What was the hopes to be done? And what all did you have going on here today?

SPEAKER_05: Well, it's been a long time since High West came down to Tales. at least in an official way, is we wanted to have a kind of coming back party, if you will. So we found this venue. We love the concept. We wanted to activate in a few different rooms and kind of provide a few different types of ambiance, but still support the idea of The mountains, kind of where we come from. If anyone doesn't know, we're based out of Park City, Utah. So the room that we're in is kind of our outdoor sports room, which is a nod to the Olympics, which we've had before and we're getting again. And then, of course, we've got our camping area outside and then upstairs. I'm not totally sure.

SPEAKER_10: Let's call that… It's an ice house.

SPEAKER_05: Ice vibes with a little Lady Gaga flair.

SPEAKER_10: Yeah. I get to throw, I'll show that on the thing. I get to throw a little, I didn't, I missed by that much.

SPEAKER_05: It was a Frozen Nights dram, I think is the name we landed on for that space. So we're giving out some premium whiskeys, but ultimately we want to connect with people that we already know and like.

SPEAKER_10: And me.

null: Of course.

SPEAKER_05: And just say hi to our friends and kind of give out a few handshakes and cocktails.

SPEAKER_10: Fantastic. So yeah, this is I think my favorite. I didn't have all of them because I do have to say I'm a little sober. And I love the little camping cup that we got. And then also in the camping area, I got to have a personalized flask made with my initials, which is fantastic.

SPEAKER_05: I think that was the big hit. Everyone likes the free cocktails. There's free cocktails everywhere, but the personalized flask.

SPEAKER_10: You need one of these little mugs so we can go clink, clink.

SPEAKER_05: You know what? I do.

SPEAKER_10: You do. There should be some left, I would hope. So tell me, right now, do you guys have any new expressions coming out? Do you have anything new that you're promoting or you just kind of wanted to get back to the people with here?

SPEAKER_05: Well, if you had a chance to go over to Basecamp and explore that room, we're offering a specialty pour every day. So today we are pouring our blue rye. We've been making blue rye since 2009, so it's nothing new, but it was Utah only for some time.

SPEAKER_10: I was going to say, I didn't know anything about it. How could I if it's 2009 and we're in 25 now?

SPEAKER_05: Yeah, well, it was nationally released for a long time. We ran out of the stocks. We made a product called Son of Burai. We brought it back, but it became limited. And then a little after COVID, it became a Utah-only thing. So we are bringing that back out on the national stage this year. So those allocations are out, so we're tasting that today. Tomorrow we'll be doing, hopefully, Noble Share, which I don't know if you've had that one yet, but it's Rye's finished ex-tequila casks. It's super spectacular.

SPEAKER_10: Are you guys doing that here too, or is it somewhere else?

SPEAKER_05: Well, all we'll have tomorrow is for the tasting here. I don't think we're able to, it's been pretty limited and it sold out pretty quickly when we released it earlier.

SPEAKER_10: But you're going to be here all week or in this particular location?

SPEAKER_05: We're doing today, we're doing tomorrow, and then we're doing the next day. Okay. And so we're just rolling out a different whiskey each day as a little bit of a treat and kind of a I'll carry it to Dangle if people want to come and try something special. And then we'll have our Prisoner's Share on Thursday, which is rye and bourbons that are pretty mature. They've been finished in ex-prisoner casks, and that's really, really good. That's our new expression. What's a prisoner cask? Prisoner red wine.

SPEAKER_10: Oh, OK. Like they were in jail?

SPEAKER_05: I'm sure you've seen the bottle because it has pretty iconic artwork, and it was previously Orrin Swift. It's a great red wine full of a bunch of Bordeaux grapes.

SPEAKER_10: Oh, yes, yes, yes. I have seen that, yeah.

SPEAKER_05: And so it's a ton of Zinfandel, Merlot, Petit Syrah, Syrah, so very, very inky grapes that are left in the barrels, and then we fill them up with whiskey, and then we let that ride for about a year, and then put it in the bottles, and it's delicious. It's a little bit over-proofed, too. So we're kind of rolling those things out, but again, they're mostly treats. It's not their coming out party, but it's a great way to just give people a little taste of the stuff that it's harder to find in their home market, potentially.

SPEAKER_10: So how many national expressions do you have available?

SPEAKER_05: Oh, that's a great question. We have what we refer to as our core four that are always available year round. And then there are three limited time products that go in rotation. That process kind of always changes. And so technically, you could say there are eight, plus a whole bunch of stuff that we refer to as the cast collection, which are smaller batches of things that have been finished in secondary barrels, like Ola Rosa Sherry, white wine, Barbados rum barrels, really anything you can think of, and they have these beautiful black labels. I wish I had one to show you, with a copper embossing. So at any given point, you might encounter 12 to 13 high-west whiskeys on the shelf, but I think year-round, full-time, eight is the total.

SPEAKER_10: Okay, and then how many expressions do you make altogether?

SPEAKER_05: Well, if you go to our distillery in Park City, we actually do a few things there that you can't get anywhere else. We have High Country Single Malt, which we've been doing for quite some time, but that is becoming a Utah exclusive. So you have to come and see us there to get that. We actually make our own gin, which a lot of people don't know.

SPEAKER_10: No, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_05: Yeah, it was a really fun experiment and collaboration with the distillers between the bar team, which I used to be a part of, and the distilling team. And they wanted to work on things that weren't whiskey. or doing the same thing, and I had a lot of ideas and thoughts, and we take it with some… It can be really fun to make. Yeah. Really fun to make. And there's actually a vodka that we used to produce for many years. It's in this kind of iconic blue bottle. It's a frosted blue high-west bottle and we thought it'd be a really cool way to repurpose that and make something fun for people who are visiting locally to put the gin in that bottle. So if you go to the distillery you can buy this beautiful blue gin, really coriander forward, quite spicy, makes excellent gin and tonics. And so that's a distillery only thing. Well, I take that back actually. It's been released to the the state of Utah as of last month.

SPEAKER_08: Oh, nice. OK.

SPEAKER_05: Still Utah only, but you don't have to actually make it all the way to Stellare, but we always encourage people to come visit us anyway.

SPEAKER_10: Here's a question for you. Being a very Mormon state, how are the sales overall in Utah?

SPEAKER_05: Well, per capita, it's our best market.

SPEAKER_10: Really?

SPEAKER_05: Yeah. Yeah. I mean. You're not wrong, there are a lot of LDS people in the population as a whole, but if you look at the population centers where people are concentrated, it's very much mixed. So I believe these days Salt Lake is less than half LDS, which is a nice tipping point for us to reach. And Park City is almost no religious undertones whatsoever. Well, it's mostly folks who've either come here to ski or had a second home. I've just been trying to escape Salt Lake and the conservative nature of it.

SPEAKER_10: So do you ski?

SPEAKER_05: I snowboard. I know how to ski, but I'd rather be on a board.

SPEAKER_10: I keep saying I'm going to try snowboarding, but I've been skiing since I was four. And I just like the idea of my feet being separate.

SPEAKER_05: See, I think I can make the case the other way as well. Keeping them together, it's better for your knees. It's safer for your knees. I don't blame you.

SPEAKER_10: Maybe it depends how good of a skier you are.

SPEAKER_05: I am not good enough to actually say for sure, but I do try to ski once a year. If I can, I like to go to Deer Valley and just hamming up with the people who were there.

SPEAKER_10: I've always wanted to go to Deer Valley. One of these days.

SPEAKER_05: Come visit us.

SPEAKER_10: I will.

SPEAKER_05: We do an activation every March where we have our Airstream out on the snow. Oh, nice. And we're selling cocktails and have a little apres party. Cool. Yeah. That's a great time.

SPEAKER_10: Well, Josh, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me after your beautiful party. This has been fantastic, and I appreciate everything. And please do let us know when you have more things available for the national market. Of course. All right. Cheers. Cheers. Coming up, I'm back above Cafe Amelie, this time with Adira Hanna, who's bringing the spirit of Wicklow's Forest straight to Chicago. Through foraging events, garden parties, and creative workshops, she's reimagining how Americans experience Glendalough. Before the cameras are rolling, we were talking about the four seasonal gins created by Geraldine Cavanaugh and Rowdy Rooney, who I visited in Season 2, Episode 11.

SPEAKER_04: My name is Geraldine Cavanagh and I am the full-time forager at Glendalough Distillery. My job is to pick the botanicals and to put that essence of Glendalough into the bottle. The inspiration for the flavours comes from Glendalough. From what you might smell and taste and see, The ingredients that we use grow in the wild. It's a collection of botanicals that just really grow here. It's a very Irish gin. It has a sense of place, and its place is Glendalough. Glendalough Irish gin, a place in time.

SPEAKER_10: So we're talking about this beautiful dram. You said all 12 months go into this one.

SPEAKER_07: Yes, to encapsulate all the seasons of Ireland into a bottle. And it's really gorgeous. As I was saying, I believe these gins, the softness of these gins, it just adds the components and these beautiful botanicals they put in, it's in essence. And the fact that we're using fresh botanicals, I think makes a big difference in the distillation process. And we're also, Geraldine's going out and picking all these at their peak ripeness. I always think about cooking with fresh herbs as opposed to cooking with dried herbs. You're just going to encapsulate more of those oils and those beautiful flavors, which is really lovely. And I think this is such a good staple gin just to have. It's the perfect martini. It is.

SPEAKER_10: Cheers. Cheers. I feel like it's, I mean, I could, this is very versatile gin. Like you could use it in different cocktails. You could drink it neat. You could have it on ice. you know, all these things. So let's talk about The Rose Gin a little bit. And for those of you who have watched the episode where I got to go to Ireland and talk with Rowdy and Geraldine Rowdy, started this gin as an homage to his mother at his sibling's wedding using her rose petals. Do you want to tell us a little bit about that? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_07: So just a difference between the botanicals, there's 35 plus that go into our wild botanical gin. We have 16 that go into our wild rose gin, just to sort of narrow the flavors that we're looking for, the floral essence, there's a bit of like Turkish delight sweetness to it. And the roses definitely come through not perfumey, but floral and beautiful. And The fact that he made this to honor his mother who had passed away at his brother's wedding and then it just took off from there is really beautiful. And they actually use roses from the mother's garden in every bottle to honor her, which is also really amazing. The color comes from steeping rose petals. into the gin as well. So think of like a massive, massive teabag of three different varietals of wild roses that go into it. And it's gorgeous in cocktails. First of all, you get even just in a gimlet, which is just three ingredients. You can smell the rose on there. You get this beautiful pink. French 75, if you just want blush, you can get there. If you want to lean in and add raspberry, strawberry, you can get these. Oh, raspberries would be really good on this. Oh, red fruits are amazing with the rose gin. Raspberry, yeah, anything. We have a really amazing cocktails right now. There's a giant tea party cocktail at Queen Mary, which is a really fabulous gin bar in Chicago. And one of the bartenders there, Amy, made, it's called a Barbie punch cocktail. And you get a little teacup and a teapot and a cookie and you get this beautiful milk punch. And it's made with rose lily, strawberry rhubarb. It's so good. So the rose is really easy, I think, to just highlight that. And again, that hint of sweetness. A lot of non-gin drinkers love this. That's great. Here, cheers. It's not scary gin.

SPEAKER_10: It's beautiful gin. Solange va? Solange. Mm. And just this on ice, super, super refreshing, like on a hot, humid New Orleans day, for example.

SPEAKER_07: Yes. Spritzes. We love spritzes with this.

SPEAKER_10: So how did you get involved with the brand? And was it your idea to start doing all this foraging stuff? Or did they say, hey, can you come and kind of replicate what Duraline does?

SPEAKER_07: Like, how did that all become? So I was introduced to this brand as a bartender I want to say eight or nine years ago, I was working at a bar called Money Gun and we did a staff training and the brand ambassador, Jenny, who still actually works in the brand advocacy side of the brand to this day, she came in and just did a tasting for us and we were doing a happy hour special and I fell in love with it. I was able to taste the rose gin and it really changed my mind about gin. I sort of thought that gin was this very narrow category. It's got to be dry gin and that's it. Exactly, yeah. Or like dirty martini, let's go. But it's really opened my world up to the past. passion behind Spirits and I ended up actually working for a brandy distillery in Chicago right after that, just because I didn't know that there were jobs and there was a world beyond sort of just general hospitality in my mind. And when this job opened up, I jumped for it just because I love the brand. I've seen them just improve and really grow. And then now that I know everyone, I absolutely adore and love everyone. And they're just such passionate, kind people that really, I've not seen the passion that's so deeply rooted in every step of the way. I mean, Geraldine like forages in her own time and makes gin on her own. She told me a story about going down and finding all this sea kelp and she made like a sea kelp gin and then just made dirty martinis for everyone at the distillery. Like they just, they love what they do and it's really amazing.

SPEAKER_10: So did she take you foraging? Yes. We were going to go and then it was raining so I didn't get to.

SPEAKER_07: I'm very, very lucky. Geraldine has come to Chicago and we've done that. And then also I went to Ireland and we went to Glendalough and it was- It's tiny. Oh, it's so tiny. Tiny. But it's so cute. It is. And it was 70 degrees. I was the luckiest person in the world. Oh my gosh, yes. There was a million people and every person was like, this isn't normal. This is not normal Ireland. And she took us around and It was just so beautiful and we all like we went forging, we ate ice creams. There's like these little cones that are classic Irish dipped in chocolate.

SPEAKER_10: So that's really awesome that you got to hang out with Geraldine a couple of times and that you got to go and be there. So were all these people there training or what were they doing? There's so many people when you went to.

SPEAKER_07: Oh, it was just beautiful outside. So everyone in Ireland was outside. Yeah. Great.

SPEAKER_10: All right, so let's move on to the whiskeys. Which whiskeys did you bring today?

SPEAKER_07: So I brought three very different but very beautiful whiskeys. So starting with our flagship, which is our Double Barrel. So this is going to be, I love all of our whiskeys just starting out. We work with private cooperages and bodegas only so that we're ensuring sustainability, we're supporting smaller businesses and actual people. And for this one particularly, it's an Oloroso sherry cask. It's in Montilla in Spain. It's actually just outside the jurisdiction for sherry. Oh, nice. So adjacent.

SPEAKER_10: It's kind of sherry, but it's not sherry.

SPEAKER_07: But it is. It's like champagne, but it's not champagne. Exactly. And they make the sherry to our specifications that Rowdy comes up with. Every step of the way, they own it. It's really gorgeous. And then it's going to be in an ex-bourbon barrel. And then it's 95% corn and 5% barley as a base. Nice. Want to hold that? Oh, yeah, absolutely. I love this whiskey, especially because I think it breaks a little bit of the mold of what people think traditional Irish whiskey tastes like. I know that for a fact that bourbon drinkers love this. It's got a little bit rounder of a quality. It's got the sweetness. It's like Christmas pudding, lemongrass. It's really bright. It's amazing with citrus, really easy and old fashioned. And I especially love it in espresso martini. All right, cheers. It's got a great nose too. I call this easy drinking.

SPEAKER_10: Yeah. Like this, this would be too dangerous for me. I would, I would drink it too fast and I would drink like the whole bottle and then I'd be like, Oh, what happened? Cause like it's, what's the, it's Oh, 42%. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07: So it's a lower ABV, but typically Irish spirits tend to go lower and it's even lower for all these spirits in Ireland as well.

SPEAKER_10: The door is opening, the ghost is coming. There's a ghost in the house. I mean, there might be. There might be. It's New Orleans. I don't know. I don't think you guys can see that door off camera, but it's the ghost in the house. All right. This is fantastic. And what's the next one you have? So this is our Irish pot still. Very Irish, really beautiful.

SPEAKER_07: I think Irish pot—I'm gonna hand this to you.

SPEAKER_10: You're gonna hand that to me. She's gonna hand that to me.

SPEAKER_07: I think Irish pot still is a little bit of a confusing category for a lot of people. Yeah, it is. A lot of people think about red breasts, I think, when they think about Irish pot still. but this I absolutely adore. There is a like saline quality to this. I'm sitting here holding the microphone and I'm like, yeah. Oh yeah. There's a saline quality to this. It's got like nuttiness and grassiness and it's just really gorgeous. So this is going to be traditional round copper pot still. And then we have, it's around 60% of malted barley and around, it's like 67% or so malted barley, 33% unmalted barley. And then it's really gorgeous. Bartenders love this whiskey. It's so versatile. Don't you feel like you're lying in a grass in Ireland when you drink this? Yes.

SPEAKER_10: I definitely get the grain, the unmalted barley flavor. It's nice and robust, but not overly robust.

SPEAKER_07: And it's so refined. I feel like it's complex flavors, but the acidity sort of hits you in the right place.

SPEAKER_10: It's like, if it were cold out, I would have this with a barley soup.

SPEAKER_07: Yes. It's so good with spices. So, so good with spices. I've even used it in soda bread when I've made it at home. That's a good idea. I know. Ooh, fancy. I like all of these over ice cream, too. I think you can even, especially in New Orleans on a hot day, I think any of these would be really fabulous over that. All right. So what's the last one? And then this one is our newer one that has come to our market. OK. I don't know if I've had the newer one. So we were the very first Irish distillery to age in Mizanarkask. And misanarchasque, just for the people who don't really know, is the rarest oak on the market right now. It's Japanese oak. It means water oak. But it's a really problematic wood to work with. So I've heard. And so we work with a private cooperage in Japan. Oh, and just to touch on the pot still as well, this is ex-bourbon barrels. And then it's Irish oak that we actually sourced right outside of the distillery. Oh, nice. So it's close to Wicklow. Oh, it's from Wicklow, yeah. Okay, and so we're really lucky and there's our like a hundred and forty year old trees And then we also put seven saplings in its place any time we cut a tree down so we are giving back We're giving back. We're not just taking trees and then so this one we work with a private Cooperage in Hokkaido and it mizunara adds Beautiful crazy flavors, and I do truly feel like this is the perfect merriment of Irish whiskey and Japanese whiskey You're gonna get umami and sesame and chocolate and hazelnut and coconut I didn't pour it.

SPEAKER_00: I didn't pour it.

SPEAKER_07: Here we go. And it's a little tight. I think people read it more scotch-like as far as just the flavor profile goes because these are a little bit more open and round.

SPEAKER_10: I like the little nod to Japanese on here with the writing and the red tie.

SPEAKER_07: So this is the red thread of fate. And in Japanese culture, It ties you to people that have made an impact on your life, people that you love and different things. So we have this on there to tie us back and honor where we are taking these beautiful mizanara trees from. And actually a lot of people, bartenders, they'll wear it on their wrist after they sell the bottle, which is really cool. But it's just a really beautiful nod to the fact we want to honor. We're very big about sense of place.

SPEAKER_10: And are we trying to put saplings down for those too? Um, so mizanarch trees actually have to fall down. You're not allowed to cut them down.

SPEAKER_07: Oh, you're not. Okay.

SPEAKER_10: So it's like the, um, the ones in Washington, the, uh, the Gary, Gary, Gary, Garyana. They have to, they can't take them down. They have to fall. Okay. Let's taste this bad boy. And I would take multiple sips of this as well. Wow. That's got a very distinct nose.

SPEAKER_07: This is, I love this whiskey. We actually have a lot of Japanese accounts that use this, especially sushi, because it's so good with fatty foods. I could totally see this with sushi. Steak houses use it a lot. We have this a lot of placement there. Wow. And also, we've had at Lazy Bird, we had this really gorgeous roasted carrot, old fashioned, that was insane. Carrot? Yes. Because it's so savory. I really think miso goes really well with it. Chocolate really goes well with it. I love split-based drinks with it. Like, aged rum and this are a really amazing pairing together. This is amazing. It's so good.

SPEAKER_10: It's much different than the other two. So far, way different. So what is the mash buildup on this?

SPEAKER_07: So this is 100% malted barley. OK. That's why it tastes more like a scotch. And then, yeah, expurbing barrels, again, for this. And then the mizunaris, the secondary cask.

SPEAKER_10: So the pilot that started, the pilot TV show that started the whole thing, which we're still shopping by the way, so if you're interested, call me. We had a tasting at the end and one of the bourbons was aged in a Mizunara cask, and that was the favorite of everybody. And the distiller was surprised. He goes, really? And I'm like, what do you mean really? Like, it's Mizunara. Like, who doesn't love a Mizunara finish? It's great. So is it 100% aged in the Mizunari cask, or is it finished?

SPEAKER_07: No, it's finished.

SPEAKER_10: OK.

SPEAKER_07: I believe that you're only allowed to have it as a secondary cask because it's so limited.

SPEAKER_10: OK. Gotcha. So you said this is now available in the US. Yes. Great. And what are the recommended price points?

SPEAKER_07: So both of the gins and our double barrel whiskey are going to be, it depends on your market and your taxes, but anywhere between $30 to $35 is the general price range. And then our Irish pot still can arrange around $45, upward of like $55. And then this is around $100 or so. That sounds about right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_10: OK.

SPEAKER_07: But we are one of the lowest priced Mizanars on the market.

SPEAKER_10: Yeah. Mizanar is usually very high. So if you were going to say anything less than $100, I would've been like, what?

SPEAKER_07: And also, we're very lucky that a lot of places, because it's such a unique whiskey, actually keep it at a lower price point for pourers so that people can try it. Because we're very lucky to be within this price range. I think it makes it really accessible. So it still is very much a luxury brand. But it's something that I would feel really comfortable gifting to someone at any occasion. I love the gin bottles, especially for wedding gifts and even the double barrel, just because I know that if I give it to anyone, they're going to like it.

SPEAKER_10: Funny story, well not funny, it's a story about this, the Irish Tua glass, which is a whiskey glass, Rosie who makes those, she was asked by Glendalough to make, because she makes some for them, but then they asked her to make a gin one, so she made this beautiful tumbler and it has the same design on it. And it's gorgeous, and I got to take one home. So I have a beautiful matching glass of that bottle.

SPEAKER_07: I love these bottles. They actually were made to reflect the forging experience. So Geraldine actually hand weaves baskets to collect all the, which is crazy. She's just such an amazing woman. And so that's actually reflected at the very base of the bottle. And then also, the botanicals sort of suggest where up below and above she's going down and all around Wicklow foraging. And then you see these little symbols on the bottle. And that represents the seven monastic villages that Glendalough actually was founded in. And on the very back, there's this round stone here. So if you go to Glendalough, there's these beautiful ruins from the 1500s, et cetera. And that's a deer stone. And they used to post up flags to have messages. But there's a story with St. Kevin, who's on our bottle, who founded Glendalough, that he came across this baby that was left in the forest. And a deer came and let out its breast milk into the deer stone. And he was able to keep it alive from that. So there's all these beautiful stories interconnected with St. Kevin, even around the distillery. So it's really cool.

SPEAKER_10: It is a beautiful, beautiful part of the country, and I recommend anybody to be able to go. And one of these days, we are going to get our tour back up and running, and we will go there as long as it's small enough, because anything more than 10, they won't take us because it's too small. So keep your eye out for when the tour comes back. But I want to thank you so much for bringing this on. And then you guys, if you want to know more about all of this stuff, well except for the Mizunara, that's all her, then check out our previous episode with Geraldine and Rowdy and thank you so much for being here today.

SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_10: It was great having you and cheers. Cheers. Sláinte. Sláinte. That does it for today's show. To read notes on this episode or learn more about our guests, please visit barrelroomchronicles.com. Want to interact with the show or have questions for our guests? Then ask them on our socials or send us an email. Or better yet, leave us a voicemail on our website. If you like what you heard, please rate and subscribe to the podcast. If you really liked it and you want to show your support, buy us a whiskey through our Ko-fi site at ko-fi.com slash BRC or become an exclusive member of the Barrel Room Parlor. If you work in the whiskey or spirits industry or just have a deep passion for whiskey and want to share your spirits journey, register to be a guest through our website. Last but not least, please enjoy your spirits responsibly. Thanks for joining me. Until next time, so long. Barrel Room Chronicles is a production of First Reel Entertainment and is available on Spotify, Apple, iHeart Radio, Amazon, YouTube, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.