From Sandend to Suits - Whiskey Conversations at Fog City Social (BRC S4 E12)

Rory: [00:00:00] My name's Rory Glasgow, work for Brown Foreman as their national single Mott Scotch Whiskey ambassador representing Glen Glaser, Ben Rake, and the Glenro Distillery. 

Kerry: Fantastic. Alright, so Rory, it is so good to see you again. Well to see you again. Yeah. We've, we've known each other for almost as long as you've been in the country, right?

Rory: Thank, yeah. In LA it was way back, way back when those peeing me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Kerry: I remember that. And I saw you here last year. Yep. Did a great interview. 

Rory: Yep. 

Kerry: Sound hard guide. I'm 

Rory: so sorry. 

Kerry: Uh, so here we are again to do a repeat dejavu. Lets do, but now this year is better 'cause we can talk about Rachel's send End.

Rory: Absolutely. So, 

Kerry: so if you could Yeah. Gimme a little of that. 

Rory: So, 

Kerry: um, we don't have to go too much into detail about the sand end because Rachel did in, in our episode, but, um, if you wanna do a quick maybe, uh, tasting notes. 

Rory: Absolutely. It. So Glen Glass sand end sand end's name of the little beach that we sit upon.

Rory: We're about a three minute walk from that lovely beach. How I would describe Glen Glasson in a nutshell, it's coastal. It's luscious, it's tropical, and really. [00:01:00] Sand end is gonna give you that tropical, it's gonna hit all three, but it's leaning more on that tropical feel. It's cooking up mango, papaya. It's got a grapefruit note to it, and that crack of sea salt with the manzania casts coming into play, the bourbon barrels and the all or sherry casts all coming together to give you something that is honestly, I would say, one of the most unique whiskeys in Scotland right now.

Rory: All 

Kerry: right, let's take a little taste. I, I recall this being quite luscious. 

Rory: I'm gonna put this down for a second. And actually, 

Kerry: yes, I, and in fact, when I say luscious, I believe that's one of the words that, um, Rachel, that's good. Rachel used to describe it was luscious. 

Rory: Yeah, luscious. And that is a good way of thinking about it.

Rory: It's, this is the closest that you'll get to the actual distilleries new make spirit. So it has that sweet. Because it's coastal, it's sweet. It's very tropical. There's three things happening at once, and so for me it's just, yeah, luscious. It has that incredible vibrancy. Actually, 

Kerry: it feel a little like a little teeny bit of coconut with the pineapple and the, and I, I've never gotten that on any other whiskey, 

Rory: and that's a young whiskey.

Rory: Usually the [00:02:00] tropical fruit emerges 25, 30 years. Yeah. But to see it in what we know is a relatively younger whiskey. At a high proof light color. It does. It punches so far above its weight. It's an amazing whiskey. It really is. Yeah. 

Kerry: Um, okay. So you have some older expressions here from Ben React? I do. Um, what's your favorite other one you have and, and, and I would like to try that one.

Kerry: So 

Rory: one of the funnest ones that I've been enjoying, uh, this evening has being the. Our Ben single cast from 1997. It's a 25-year-old Virgin American Oak Barrel, which is unusual for scotch to see Virgin Oak. 

Nora: Yeah. 

Rory: Um, and what this gives us is almost like if you were a bourbon drinker, this would be one that would be really it.

Rory: It would really give a run for his money in terms of bourbon. If I can do it, I got it. Boom. Look at that skill. So cast strength, I believe this is coming in at around 50. What are we looking at here? 52.9%. Oh, that's so it is coming in a lovely A BV cask strength, non tail filtered natural color, and [00:03:00] it just has so much oak extraction, but it's still Ben, it's still fruit.

Rory: It's still gonna be apples, pears, caramelized sugars. Some oak spice. Just lots of vanilla there as well. Really tasty, 

Kerry: beautiful sun on the nose really is. I see our good friend Vinno is here. He was there when we met, I believe. 

Rory: That's right. And Pete, me in la. I remember that. In the railway station, right?

Rory: You were at the Yeah. Central Station, wherever it's called and there. Oh wow. Lovely. That's amazing. So if you gave that to a bourbon drinker that doesn't like scotch, 

Kerry: oh, you're gonna have that one. 

Rory: Let's try that. Yeah, yeah. Let's do it. 

Kerry: Well, Rory, it's always good to see you. To see you. You have a line coming up here, so I know, including Gino.

Kerry: So I'm gonna, I'm gonna let you get back to it, but thank you so much for sharing this with me. It's delicious. Thank you're so welcome and again, it's always great 

Nora: to see 

Rory: you. My pleasure. Good to see you. Thank you. 

Nora: Um, Nora Ganley Roper and I am co-founder, general manager and head blender at Law Center.

Kerry: Fantastic. And you're here. And I'm here. Our presence. Yeah. That's awesome. Alright, so Nora, do you happen to have any relation to another [00:04:00] famous female roper in the industry? 

Nora: I don't. I wish 

Kerry: I could say I did, but Have you met her? I have, yeah. Yeah, she's great. Yeah. Love her. Um, okay, so I have heard about your whiskey.

Kerry: Yes. I have never had it before. Cool. So I'm very excited that you're here. Um, and you have quite a lineup. There's 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Jesus. How many. 

Nora: I don't know. Always. I think it's like 12 standard, a few extras always. So probably 16. 

Kerry: Yeah. Wow. Okay. Yeah. So tell me a little bit about the brand and like how did you, how did you start it?

Kerry: When did you start it? Where can people find you? 

Nora: So Los Lantern is an independent butler, which means that we buy whiskey from distilleries all across the country. We're not a distillery. Okay? We'll never be a distillery. Okay. What we do is we curate and blend. So we've bought whiskey from about 40 distilleries in over 25 states.

Nora: Wow. And we centralize them all in Vermont. We're sifting through the 3000 distilleries that exist, and then we either release them as a single cast or small blend from [00:05:00] one distillery. Or I blend the whiskey from multiple places together to showcase all the cool things that are happening that people can't find out otherwise, we launched.

Nora: That's awesome. In 2020, of course. Great time. Um, but we are distributed in California and New York, Massachusetts, and a little bit in Vermont. And then we also sell, throw website. Wait a little bit. That's home. I know it's a control state. I know. So it's hard to It's not worth it. Only our. Flagships go into stores there.

Nora: Got it. Got it. But we have a tasting room in Vermont. All right. So you gave me a little bit of one of your Rise Farflung Rye, which is our, I love that name. Our flagship rye. This is a blend of rise just from the Midwest. Okay. From five distilleries, because we wanted to showcase how amazing pool climate rye is.

Nora: Oh wow. It's more delicate. It does it. The heat brings out more of the pepper noses, whereas if it's cooler, it's a little more kind of grassy eucalyptus and creamy. 

Kerry: It's got some legs a little bit. Yeah, [00:06:00] it actually has a little bit of a caramel scent. Mm-hmm. Okay. I was like, or is that the old whiskey that was in here before?

Kerry: I mean, maybe a little bit of both. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe except, oh, no, because the last one I had was petered, so Oh, no. So definitely 

Nora: not that. Yeah. Um, 

Kerry: oh, wow. Okay. I'm, I'm going in.

Kerry: Great job. That is, that is, I, I'm a big Rye fan, uh, for American Whiskey. R is where it's at for me. Um, of course now also America Single malts if they do it right. Yes. I love single malts. Yeah. So that is really good. It's got a nice spice, but it doesn't like punch you in the face. No. 

Nora: I found it's a great gateway rye for people.

Nora: It has all of the markers of rye, but it's not necessarily as punchy. Yeah. So you, you get, you get that intro and it does have a little bit of carnal on there. Yeah, I love that. And it's cast strength. So it is 60.8 Really? So, okay. We're not [00:07:00] kidding. 

Kerry: Okay. Yeah. Alright. It's dangerous. So we're gonna try this other one 

Nora: here in a 

Kerry: second when I, when I finish this bad boy.

Nora: And what, tell me about that one. So this is a, what we call it from our single distillery series, which means that we blend multiple barrels from one distillery. This is an apple brandy, finished rye, seven years old, and, um, it showcases how apple, brandy and rye work really well together. And it's from a distillery called New York Distilling Company that's based out in Brooklyn.

Kerry: Oh, that's a really soft nose. I love apple, brandy Dry, and it's, it's a little fruity. Yeah. All right. Let's see.

Kerry: Oh wow. That's lovely. Thank you. That is lovely. I can see having this with apple pie. Yes. Oh totally. Um, by a campfire. In the winter to warm up. That's great. So, alright, so I, when I do my full, my full podcast, I [00:08:00] always end with, um, what's your five year plan? Um, so we'll get there in a second, but, uh, so 2020 and then after you, you had your COVID start.

Kerry: Yep. Uh, how long did it take to actually get things going? The lockdown. 

Nora: So we launched in October, 2020. We did it all through two e-commerce partners. Okay? So we were supposed to, we were supposed to ship April, 2020. That didn't happen. Um, and for us, there was a silver lining to launching in 2020 because if people were going to be whis nerd.

Nora: That was the time. Yes. And so people were online reading about us and we think that more people found us because of that. So we honestly did so much better in the early years than we expected and it's, we're continuing to grow and do more flagship whiskey and and distribute more widely. Okay. And how did you come up with the name, the ideas that we're shining a light on whiskey that would otherwise be lost?

Nora: Ooh, I like that. Is that your tagline? Shining a light on the 

Kerry: independent 

Nora: spirit is 

Kerry: [00:09:00] our tagline. No, that is beautiful. Um, Nora, you've got some great stuff here. Um, thank you. After I finish working, I'm gonna come back and taste some more. I'll be here. Um, but thank you so much for sharing your story and your whiskey, and we will talk soon.

Kerry: Sounds good. Thanks so much. Ah, 

Peter Talhame: Peter Hammi. I work with Next Century Spirits. I'm representing Bear Fight Whiskey. 

Kerry: Fantastic. Okay. Your thing is, so 

Peter Talhame: there we go. 

Kerry: Alright, so Peter, um, we are here with Bear Fight. Absolutely. And I've heard a little rumblings about this, but I don't really know too much about it.

Kerry: So what can you tell me about the brand who's behind it? 

Peter Talhame: Well, first of all, we have an incredible two expression lineup of American whiskeys here. Um, behind it, we, we've got, excuse me, let me hold that right for you. Uh, we've got two really fun minds. So Seth McFarland from Family Guy. Uh, he's. Kind of some of the [00:10:00] creative juice behind the brand and Gabriel mocked, uh, best known as Harvey Specter on Suits Favorite is, is the face of the brand.

Peter Talhame: And actually, if you're watching Suits LA you'll see, see that Harvey is pouring the American single mal. I did notice. 

Kerry: That I did notice that. Yes. Sees that. 

Peter Talhame: Absolutely. Uh, so these two expressions, they're really unique. They set themselves apart in the marketplace. One, we have a Kentucky straight bourbon rested in Reposado barrels.

Peter Talhame: You don't find a lot of that. You don't find a lot of that. So. We have a high rye bourbon that's a 21% rye, 9% malted barley, 70% corn. But that high rye profile is gonna have a really nice handshake with the agave spice. Meanwhile, those nice bourbon sweet notes are gonna hand off to the, uh, to the agave sweetness.

Peter Talhame: So it's a really, a beautiful marriage of two of the, the popular. Spirits, uh, that people are looking for in the market right now. Let me take a little taste of that. I think you ought to. [00:11:00] 

Kerry: And do you know how Seth and Gabriel met? Like how have they been friends? Long, 

Peter Talhame: uh, you know, I don't know how that partnership met, uh, you know, got together, but if you see some of the ad campaigns are so hilarious, it was like a match made in heaven.

Peter Talhame: Uh, Frank, the beer, uh, the bear is the, the X factor, uh, and he really brings a lot of the energy to our crew. 

Kerry: Alright. 

Peter Talhame: It's got a great nose, doesn't it though? I might actually have to join you. 

Kerry: Yeah, no, have one Perfect. All, all four for you. Let 

Peter Talhame: me uh 

Kerry: Oh. No, you don't have it. You can have to. All right. Ready?

Kerry: And here we go. There 

Peter Talhame: we go. Here we go. 

Kerry: All right. Solan. 

Peter Talhame: Cheers.

Kerry: Oh wow. That's really good. Why do people not, why do people, I'm talking into my cup. Yeah. Listen. Why, why do people not do Reposado finishes more often? You know, is great. 

Peter Talhame: [00:12:00] I think, um, you know, for too many years there was just the wrong type of stigma associated with agave spirits, and I think the American market is really saying, Hey.

Peter Talhame: This is good stuff and we demand quality. Yeah. And you know, we're responding. So, uh, I think you're gonna find more of that happening. Uh, you know, I know some other people are now, uh, chasing us, uh, now that they see what can be done with such a beautiful blend. 

Kerry: And, uh, where's the distillery? Or is it Um, so 

Peter Talhame: we are in Zebulon, North Carolina.

Kerry: Never heard of Zebulon. 

Peter Talhame: Hey, listen, uh, well, hello Zebulon. We're, we're putting it on the map. All 

Kerry: right. 

Peter Talhame: Uh, and then 

Kerry: what's the other 

Peter Talhame: expression you have today? Now this is really fun. So we have an American single mold that is both peed and Triple Oaks. Oh. You don't find a lot of that No. Uh, on the market.

Peter Talhame: And what's so, uh, beautiful is you've got the number three selling American single mark, uh, in the nation, but it's priced to compete. Uh, it's, it's less [00:13:00] expensive than anything in the top five. And, you know, um, it's tough times out there right now. You know, the dollars don't go as far in a whiskey as they used to.

Peter Talhame: Yeah, that's true. Uh, and so we really wanna see quality at a price point meant for the American market. How Pete is it? Um, I would say it is just Petey enough, right? You're really gonna get some nice oak notes. So it's gonna be just as smoky as it is, Petey. And that difference is, I 

Kerry: just wanna smell it. I, you what?

Kerry: I, I'm doing Pete note, I'm doing peat last tonight because once I pea Well, you 

Peter Talhame: know what, we'll do it in the, I miss my palate. We'll do it in my glass. All right. And, uh. That way. I'll give you the nose on this one. 

Kerry: Yeah. I'm, I, once I have peep I just in my pallet shot, so I gotta 

Peter Talhame: listen. 

Kerry: Oh yeah. You can barely smell it.

Peter Talhame: It's not overwhelming is what I'm telling you. So they pee smoke the barrels instead of the barley. Right. 

Kerry: The [00:14:00] oil on the, okay, hold on. 

Peter Talhame: Now. Now are you ready for it? That's what I thought. That's what I thought. Just teeny tiny bit. It's too lovely of an expression to pass up on. 

Kerry: I mean, you really can barely, barely smell it.

Kerry: But that's interesting that they, they pee the barrels not, 

Peter Talhame: there you go. Okay.

Peter Talhame: Oh wow. You know, that's really good. I think an American single malt should be an homage to scotch, but not a scotch. Yeah, no, it's great. It should be distinctly American. And I think that's what we've created here. I 

Kerry: definitely have a big wood tone on here. Um, and it's like, it's, it's not even a kiss of Pete.

Kerry: It's like a kiss, a blown. There it is. Exactly. And it's just, oh yeah, you know, you won me over. 'cause I'm not a big Pete head, uh, unless it's a kiss or less. And this is it. I'm, I'm 

Peter Talhame: so sad. You know, it's, uh, it, it's a kiss from the dock. In fact, you know, blown kiss from the dock. Right. There you 

Kerry: go. Well, thank you.

Kerry: So thank you so Absolutely. 

Peter Talhame: Thanks. Pleasure. [00:15:00] 

Kerry: Barrel Room Chronicles has just opened the doors to its brand new online whiskey shop, bringing stories behind the spirits, straight to your glass at the BRC Whiskey shop. You're not just buying a bottle, you're sipping history from the hands of legends like Rachel Barry of Glenro and Riak and Glen Glass.

Kerry: Richard Patterson of the Delmar, the Tilling Brothers reviving Irish whiskey in Dublin and Bernard Walsh, the storyteller behind the Irishman and Writer's Tears. These aren't just spirits, they're stories waiting to be poured. BRC Whiskey Shop, the Drams we talk about now delivered. 

Richard: My name's Richard Lobar Chipol.

Richard: I'm the owner of the Molly Mulan Whiskey Company. 

Kerry: So, Richard, tell me a little bit about the history of your brand, um, and, and what it is that you do for the brand, and is there a good story behind it? 

Richard: Uh, there's plenty of stories, but, um, I'm, I'm actually from, uh, my family. We're one of the first independents of the scotch whiskey industry.

Richard: Uh, my mom, I believe, was the very first [00:16:00] woman in the scotch whiskey industry. Nice. Um, I joined in the late eighties and I developed. Single mult single casts throughout the world. I've got an opportunity to do Irish whiskey. Um, in 2016, trying to think of what name we could come up with. I first came with a name.

Richard: It was, um, first heard the Irish Beat All Blacks in 2016 in Queen Rugby. Um, and all I could hear in the Crown background was singing cockles and muscles for which the leading character of Matt is Molly Malone. And I did a bit of searching round on it and I couldn't see any trademarking on it. Uh, and I checked it out.

Richard: I went, Dublin has Millennium in 1988. Uh, they unveiled the Molly Malone statue, and at the same time they declared June 13th will be National Molly Malone Day. They did some searches online and any R celebration. C and Mus is, is a centerpiece of celebrating being Irish. So [00:17:00] from my independent background in scotch whiskey, we decided to implement the same, uh, ethics, really between quality of, uh, quantity.

Richard: And we developed what we believe as large whiskey speak out. It's a fiber style of a triple distilled Irish whiskey, uh, classic crisp notes with a classic note of Christmas. Um, so we went about. Searching for what whiskey we do. We came up with a small batch, so it's for more than one distillery. Uh, and what Molly Malone is as a, as a name, Molly Malone is, uh, a celebration being Irish.

Richard: Um, and more than that, she's, you know, she doesn't, for me, she doesn't say symbolize being from north or from the south. She's not in any way religious inclined. So our, our company mission is celebrating the history culture in rich taste of Ireland. And this is what we're trying to put together with this whiskey.

Kerry: That's fantastic. Um, so which one are we gonna try here today? 

Richard: Well, it's my Molly Malone small batch is the only, it's the only one right now. We currently do, we are [00:18:00] looking at, like for me, a classic Irish whiskey would be the pastel. 

Kerry: Okay. 

Richard: But we are looking at line extensions and we did some small extensions, but right now our, our, our large band is the Small Dutch.

Kerry: Okay. Well, I'd love to try that and I'll hold that for you. And, um, when did you first release it? 

Richard: Uh, in 2020, probably. Right? The start of the, uh, lockdown. Yeah. I live in a small island and whole, our, our, our whole island's locked down as well, so we couldn't get on and go get off, so we basically had nothing with it for the first few years.

Richard: Wow. Um, and then I put it into the Eastern European market, into Poland. We did really well on that. Uh, we put it into, uh, Canada, in the Quebec. We recently put it back into Canada. We sold out in two weeks. In, in, in Quebec. Oh wow. Uh, luckily enough to find through history, some connections with, uh, Pete Curry from Shannon Import.

Kerry: That's a [00:19:00] beautiful light, like fluffy nose. I dunno. I've never described it as, more 

Richard: importantly we bottled it and people, sometimes people in whiskey show are looking for really high strength whiskeys, but actually. A lot of times you'll hide the quality of the whiskey. So this is a, a classic Irish whiskey where the malt, it's quite a delicate malt, so we've matured it into second bill of bourbon cast, particularly the, the bourbon cast is from American white Oak purpose alba.

Richard: Uh, so that means the oaks all the absorb, the coconut and a bit of, bit of Italians of the new wood. We wanted a neutral, a neutral, uh. Cast being second to bourbon, cast generally to charge. Some people pick up nose, smoke nose. I, I don't particularly pick plain smoke nose, but you, what you do get, you get is I said before the signature note of Christmas.

Richard: It's, it's a beautifully light. It is, it's too whiskey, 

Kerry: gorgeous, uh, on the nose and it's got some good legs. 

Richard: Yeah, we bought a 40% because we want to give taste of whiskey. If we've made a [00:20:00] higher shrimp whiskey than that, you're not gonna, you're not gonna taste it. 

Kerry: All right. Well, let's see.

Kerry: Yeah, that's very nice. It's got a little teeny tiny little bite, but not like a bite bite, just a little, uh, a kiss. You might say. Thank you. Um, it's very light. It's got a good mouth. Feel little fruity. Love it. 

Richard: Thank you. A plus. Thank you very much. We have put together a bunch of the Chinese and cocktails, uh, which the most.

Richard: Popular today. So far been the old fashioned on the whisky sour, but she also makes a fantastic, uh, Irish coffee. 

Kerry: Oh, nice. I bet it would. Yeah, I could totally see that. With that. 

Richard: And again, one of, one of the other light bulb moments we had, I live in a small fishing area. And the fishing boat, um, crew, their engine had broken down and anyway, the tire came in, the boat starts coming in where we were drinking with some [00:21:00] friends.

Richard: Oh no. Anyway, and they're cooking scallops in the back of the boat. We, the crack started and they said, come on board and give it some free scallops, which is great. Asked me what I was, did, so the timers and scotch whiskey, but I went and got my bottle of whiskey for giving scallops. They started flash cooking the scallops with a whiskey.

Richard: And I'm thinking, you know, oh 

Nora: yeah, 

Richard: scallop. Well, potage Whiskey Volume Malone. Yeah. And it all came, yeah, kind of came together. It's 

Kerry: fantastic. Richard, thank you so much for sharing your story with me. Thanks for your interest and your It's great. It's beautiful. I love thank much and uh, I look forward to seeing more of it.

Richard: Thank you. Thanks. 

Kerry: Cheers.

Kerry: Okay, well here I am at the Impacts booth, which I saw, uh, the, uh, the big bosses yesterday, Sam and Chris over in Vegas. Um, and today I'm here with, 

Zakai: my name is Zaka. I work as the, uh, local territory representative of JVS imports. I, and here I'm today pouring, uh, for Impacts beverages, which is the importing.

Zakai: Okay. 

Kerry: [00:22:00] All right. So it is so good to see you again. I saw you last summer at the Highland Games in Pleasanton. Yeah. That was a great event. This was great event. It was very fun. Very hot. Um, and I've had, uh, is it Fey? Fey? Yeah. Fey Bay. Fey Bay. Before at a tasting with Chris. Oh, nice. Um, but that's the only time I had.

Kerry: So I thought let's give it another, another whirl and you can tell me a little bit about it because I would love to share it with, with the audience because I ab I loved it when I tasted it, so. 

Zakai: Absolutely. So let's pour a little jam first, first before we talk about it. Uh, so finally, bay is a single malt distillery in Yorkshire, uh, Northern England.

Zakai: Uh, they actually started off as bar. Farmers. Yeah. And kind of worked with a, uh, famous whiskey consultant named Dr. Jim Swan. Yep. To start their own distillery. So now they're a grain to glass distillery, growing their own barley and doing every step of the process at the distillery. That's awesome. Um, one thing that's pretty unique about the barley if they grow is that the field is very poor soil, which actually makes barley that's better for whiskey.[00:23:00] 

Zakai: So the flavor profile I get from this whiskey is a very creamy. You know, rich barley forward, uh, single mals. Okay? And this, uh, expression you're tasting is the STR cask release, which is shave, toasted and chard red wine barrels. This is very Jim 

Kerry: Swan thing. 

Zakai: Yes, very Jim Swan. Uh, so you get that nice kind of toasted oak character.

Zakai: A lot of spice. And then you get that really rich, creamy kind of barley flavor underneath. Yep. You sure 

Kerry: do. That's 

Zakai: delicious. Yeah, I am. I'm a big fan of this whiskey, and it's, 

Kerry: it's an easy drinker. Yeah, it's, um, I, I mean, I can see this being an everyday GoTo. What is the price point on this for retail? Oh my goodness.

Zakai: I have my reference over here. I'm gonna just sneak, I think I did that too. You last 

Kerry: time I talked to you too. Anyway, yeah. 

Zakai: Uh, so today we've, uh, we've partnered with a retailer. And the Filey Bay is retailing at, uh, 63 70, so very, very affordably priced. 

Kerry: Yeah. No, that's great. Yeah. Well, it was so good to see you again.

Kerry: Good. You so much for sharing your jam with me and uh, I'm sure I'll see you at another event soon. Cheers. Cheers. 

Peter Currie: My name's [00:24:00] Peter Curry. I'm one of the partners in Chand Import, LLC. Um, we import all of the products on the table and a whole selection of other cognacs and tequila mezcal. Fantastic. And I do everything from sticking a kilt on doing shows, building pallets, driving the forklift, getting the orders, invoicing, receiving the stock, pushing the pallet.

Peter Currie: So, 

Kerry: uh, jack of all trains they say, right? 

Peter Currie: Well, probably more master of none is definitely true, but, 

Kerry: alright. Um, Peter, uh, so as with our friend Richard over here, I saw you yesterday at the end and, uh, we're all in the same plane coming over here to San Francisco this morning. Yeah. And I know you guys had another event before this.

Kerry: Today. Very busy, very busy week for you. Um, so tell me a little bit more about the, the, your company and um, and what expression we're gonna be tasting today. 

Peter Currie: So I'm, today I'm talking about the Duncan Taylor Range. Uh, Duncan Taylor is a [00:25:00] blender broker and bottler. So they're not a distiller, they don't own any distilleries.

Peter Currie: Um, they buy from most of the facilities in Scotland. So their main product is a blend called Black Bull. Okay. White Bill, uh, has been going since 1864. Wow. And it was trademarked in New York in 1933. So straight after prohibition. It was one of the first whiskeys to come into the us actually owned by a long time by a gentleman called Abe Rosenberg, who was a New Yorker.

Peter Currie: Wow. And, um, Abe was buying malt and grain whiskey and laying it down. Predominantly for Black Bull. Um, the company was then purchased from Abe Rosenberg passed away. It was bought by in the early two thousands by a gentleman called Yon Shand. 

Nora: Okay. 

Peter Currie: And, uh, Yon said about reviving the Black Bull brand, but.

Peter Currie: The company by that point had a treasure trove of old casks, particularly from the sixties and early seventies Wow. Of Highland Park, Baltimore, Macallan. [00:26:00] Wow. And closed distilleries like Cap Onic, um, port Ellen, you know, so just a real hidden treasure. So what we're actually gonna try today is, uh, is from a closed distillery, but this is a single grain whiskey.

Kerry: Okay. 

Peter Currie: So this is from Caledonia. Like I say, they were, um, the Black Bull Duncan Taylor. They were producing blends. They, they needed mal and grain and, uh, many grain distilleries were shut down in the eighties and nineties. Um. During just a period of consolidation, and it was a focus on efficiency. So the smaller grain distilleries got shut down, but Duncan Taylor still have stock going back to the sixties of every grain distillery that worked.

Peter Currie: And back, back then, they were using predominantly wheat. So it's, it's a single grain, but it's actually a mixture. Uh, the mash bill is wheat, corn, malted barley, and unmalted barley. 

Kerry: I don't smell pea wheat. [00:27:00] A wheat. I was like, smell Pete. 

Peter Currie: So it's, this is, and I smell Pete 

Kerry: Peter, 

Peter Currie: and it's distilled in a column still rather than a pot still.

Peter Currie: Um, and these beautiful old grain whiskeys, you're basically getting something akin to a, a wheated bourbon that's been aged for 31 years in first fill American Oak. 

Kerry: I thought you'd said. 

Peter Currie: Incredibly elegant. Incredibly complex. 

Kerry: All right, I'm gonna taste this 31. I'm taste some, a lot of old whiskeys this weekend.

Kerry: That's very complex. 

Peter Currie: Spectacular, isn't it? It is. So it's a single cast cash trend. So you can see we only got 239 bottles. It's. From this cask of 31-year-old Caledonian, um, C number 7 8 2 3 8 7 5, which was distilled or filled in in April, 1987. 

Kerry: Show that bad boy to the camera over there. All right, 

Peter Currie: so we only had 31 [00:28:00] bottles left from this.

Kerry: I believe it. And then, 

Peter Currie: and then it's gone forever. So it's a little piece of history. 

Kerry: Yeah. And I, it's a little piece in my tummy 

Peter Currie: and a little, uh, kind of lesser known category in single grains that I think people can really look out for. And you can get some really good value. You know, if that was a 31-year-old single malt, you're up over a thousand dollars.

Peter Currie: You know, and this is probably gonna be like. 300, 250. Do you 

Kerry: know what kind of grain is the single grain grains? So 

Peter Currie: that's what I'm saying. The single grain is a bit of a misnomer because it's actually four grains. That's right. So it'll be wheat, corn. 

Kerry: Yeah. 

Peter Currie: And multi barley and unm, multi barley, you need a certain amount of multi barley to start the fermentation process.

Peter Currie: Um, so it's probably. Three to 5% multi barley. Um, but yeah, just a a, a beautiful way of making whiskey, but one that a lot of people look down their nose at 'cause they think grain whiskey's just a filler and blend. Yeah. And I think this shows exactly how, how good they can. No, it's delicious. 

Kerry: This is very, I mean.[00:29:00] 

Kerry: It's 

Peter Currie: spectacular. It's a 

Kerry: single beauty is what it is. Um, so if somebody wanted to buy your products, where would you most likely be selling them? 

Peter Currie: Yeah, we tend to deal with, with, with independent retailers and, and specialists. Um, you know, so, uh, actually. A retailer we work with is called Find good spirits.com.

Peter Currie: Okay. Um, and they can ship, they can ship most, most places throughout the country. Um, other independent retailers are the likes of k and l Mission Liquors. Okay? In, in La Benny's, in, in, in Chicago. Yeah, we work a lot with specs in Texas as well, so Okay. It tends to be the independent, you know, specialist where we have the most results, certainly with the single cast stuff.

Kerry: Oh yeah. I mean, that's where people go for, you know, they wanna, they want something good. Those are the places they get. Yeah. 

Peter Currie: It's the places all, all the geeks accumulate. We, we all end up there at some point. 

Kerry: Well, Peter, thank you so much for sharing this ram with me. It was delicious. It was so good to see you two days in a row [00:30:00] and on the plane.

Kerry: Um, yeah, you're welcome Terry. Thanks. 

Peter Currie: Thanks for taking the time to speak to me. 

Kerry: Yes. And we will keep an eye out for your products and uh, keep us posted on anything new. 

Peter Currie: Yeah, well, you should swing by our warehouse if you're ever in la 

Kerry: Oh yeah, 

Peter Currie: I've got bar. You're more than welcome. Let's 

Kerry: do it. Let's do it.

Kerry: All right. See you guys next time. 

Peter Currie: Cheers.