AI Transcript: BRC S3 E23 - Kentucky Bourbon Festival 2024 

Kerry:
It is 5 o'clock somewhere and you've tuned in to Season 3, Episode 23 of BRC. For those of you who'd like to watch this episode, I highly recommend it. You can view Season 3 on our website, YouTube, Spotify, WhiskeyNetwork.net, and Zencastr. I'm Keri Moynihan, and in today's Tales from the Still, I'll bring you tales from the many bourbon movers and shakers that I met at this year's Kentucky Bourbon Festival. Then later in Whiskey Whereabouts, I have the pleasure of catching up with the head distiller of Chicken Cock Whiskey, Greg Schneider, before rounding out the episode with the Scotchy Bourbon Boys in this week's Tavern Talk. So kick off your shoes, pour yourself a dram, and join me for my 2024 Kentucky Bourbon Festival experience. All right, I'm here at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival with Haley, who's the brand manager of this beautiful, beautiful bourbon. and whiskey, and rye, and all of the above. And we're gonna find out a little bit more about this. I see you're at the table that's got some select bottles. What's going on with that?

SPEAKER_18: Yes, so we have two offerings, especially for the festival this year. We have our Wheated Bourbon. This is our master distiller's pick. It is a single-barrel, cast-strength bourbon. It's a departure from our normal offerings, a small-batch bottle in a bond, but hand-selected by Shane and Pat themselves. And then we have our Kentucky Bourbon Festival selection as well. This is our high rye bourbon single barrel cast strength. Hand selected by the Kentucky Bourbon Festival staff. They came to the distillery and had a nice time there and a little adventure and got to hand select that bottle.

Kerry: That's fantastic, and can you tell me a little background about Wilderness Trail?

SPEAKER_18: Yeah, absolutely. So we are 11 years old as a distillery, but we have our co-founders Shane and Pat, they have had their hands in the distillation industry for almost 20 years at this point. Starting with a company called Firm Solutions, as in F-E-R-M, fermentation solutions. And so they actually started selling yeast and other fermentation agents to different distilleries and breweries all across the world. And so with that, that company still exists. We still work with our competitors heavily, but we opened up Wilderness Trail in 2013 and have been making our own bourbon since day one and have been growing ever since. That's fantastic. Well, thank you so much. Yeah, thank you. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02: My name is Aaron Harris and I am the head distiller and distillery operations manager for Green River Distillery.

Kerry: So Aaron, so tell me, how long have you been with Green River and what brought you to them and give me your whiskey story.

SPEAKER_02: Okay, so Green River, I've been here two years now. I joined right after the acquisition from Bardstown Bourbon Company of Green River and I've been in the industry a little over 10 years. I started out right here in Bardstown at Barton 1792 Distillery, went on to help build Luxor Distillers and then went on to a small craft distillery in Ohio called Watershed Distillery where I learned the awesome trade of craft distilling. And family and friends called me back home to, excuse me, Kentucky. And I reached out to some industry friends and had a job at Green River two weeks later. So never burn your bridges and there's always room for talent and what I call talent and experience in Kentucky.

Kerry: That's fantastic. So when you started, did you start off as the head distiller or did you start at something and then move up?

SPEAKER_02: I became a distillery supervisor on off shifts. Terrible hours, but learned a lot of experience in old school distilling.

Kerry: Fantastic. So what are you guys doing here at the festival? What's your hope to be giving out to the people?

SPEAKER_02: Absolutely. So today and tomorrow, we are allowing all of our guests to sample our foolproof, our rye whiskey, which are 95 proof rye, our black label rye bourbon, and our blue label weeded bourbon. We also have for everyone to try our 1885 blended whiskey, which is 85 proof. It will only be allowed to be sold, excuse me, you can only try it on premise and at our distillery to buy a bottle there.

Kerry: Fantastic. And then are you here all three days?

SPEAKER_02: I'll be here until close all three days.

Kerry: Fantastic. And then what is the five year plan for Green River?

SPEAKER_02: continued growth. You know, we don't want to change pricing. We feel like we're very comfortable at our pricing and we feel that our patrons really love where we're at and that we punch a lot harder than our weight class. So we want to see, you know, if we see 250,000 cases next year, that would be an amazing growth for us and hopefully it continues after that.

Kerry: Well, that's fantastic. Thank you so much. And if you want to say hi to Barrow Room Chronicles and let everybody know where they can find you, your product, and you on socials, maybe?

SPEAKER_02: Absolutely. So you can get me on Instagram at youcanthandletheproof. And you can also see everything that Green River has offering and coming up at greenriverwhiskey.com.

Kerry: Thank you so much, Aaron. It's a pleasure. I'm here still at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival with Tia, who is one of the founders of Fresh. You guys have some amazing stuff. Tell me about what I'm drinking right now.

SPEAKER_13: Yeah, that's our four grain recipe that my husband and I created and distilled ourselves. So we came to market with our product, not sourced. It has corn, honey malt as our second primary ingredient, malted barley and honey malt, malted barley and malted wheat. I'm sorry, I don't know why I couldn't remember that, but that's our product. Have you been drinking already? Not yet, but I will be later. And how long have you guys been around? We started in 2017 wanting to bring a fresh approach to the bourbon industry, hence the name Fresh Bourbon. And we've been around bourbon our entire lives, and so we enjoyed it. But as a couple, we would go on tours, and I feel like there was no place for me because I like bourbon and cocktails. And so we wanted to create a product that was approachable enough to drink in cocktails, but also that where people could enjoy it neat as well. So at our distillery, you can enjoy it in a cocktail or neat or however you like it.

Kerry: I love it. And then was it your idea or your husband's idea to start this business?

SPEAKER_13: It was actually his idea. I just made it pretty.

Kerry: I love that. And what were you guys doing before you started this distillery?

SPEAKER_13: So my husband owns a construction company and a dry cleaners with his brother. And I'm in sales and have been in sales about 20 some odd years that I won't say the exact number because you'll know my age. But girl, black don't crack.

Kerry: Okay, so what's your five year plan with the show?

SPEAKER_13: With this bourbon? Yeah, so we definitely plan to take fresh bourbon to a global, to the world. We have a global strategy. We plan to open our larger distillery in the very near future. And right now we're operating in our smallest space, downtown Lexington. But being on the Kentucky bourbon trail, they've been so supportive. Believe it or not, the bourbon industry is so supportive. I mean, it's like a big family. So we've been grateful for that. So we plan to be a global brand in the very near future. Great, and where can you get it now? So you can go to FreshBourbon.com across the country and order it online, but we are in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Michigan and all stores.

Kerry: Fantastic, and then can you go to all states or is there some that you just can't get to?

SPEAKER_13: There are some limitations that we do have, but you can… Damn that leftover prohibition. But you can definitely find out on our website on www.freshbourbon.com. Great. And can you put in like your zip code and find out where to? You can put in your zip code and immediately find out where you can ship it. Fantastic.

Kerry: Thank you so much for taking your time today.

SPEAKER_01: My name is Ben Franzini. I'm one of the co-owners of Bluegrass and Stillers.

SPEAKER_16: Maggie Young, I'm the Director of Marketing and Distribution.

SPEAKER_00: I'm Dani Gugino and I'm the Brand Ambassador. Fantastic.

Kerry: Okay, so I'm here outside of this beautiful tent for the Bluegrass Distillers and I am drinking a blue corn that you guys have. I'm trying to try all the different corns. I have the Jeptha Creek Red And I was like, okay, because I'm a little bored with the yellow corn, I must say. So I'm going to try all these things. So tell me, how did you start this company? Or did you start the company and you're just, tell me about the company.

SPEAKER_01: So my partner, Sam Rock, started Bluegrass Distillers in 2012. I joined about five years ago. And yeah, so we're located downtown Lexington. We've been distilling there since 2013. We're building a new facility in Midway, Kentucky. We're doing tastings right now at the distillery. And we'll be open for tours in October in Midway, Kentucky.

Kerry: Fantastic. And what made you want to get involved with this whole distillery project?

SPEAKER_01: So I was born and raised in Kentucky. I was always around bourbon. I love bourbon. And as an engineer, I saw it as an awesome way to combine agriculture, engineering, hospitality, and bring people together. And it's delicious.

Kerry: So what's been your favorite part so far working doing this?

SPEAKER_01: I think all of the fun products and just Trying to work with our team to develop as many products as we can and find ways to continuously improve and get better and make our products better every year.

Kerry: Fantastic. Now tell me a little bit about you. You do the marketing for the company. So when did you join? How did you join? And why did you join?

SPEAKER_16: Yeah, so I started working for Bluegrass in 2017 as an intern. When we were in Lexington, I graduated from the University of Kentucky with my degree in marketing and management. There you go. So I graduated in 2018, and I've been with Bluegrass full-time since. So I started as an intern, worked in the gift shop, I've done tours, I did a lot of hospitality, social media, kind of a little bit of everything. And now, you know, marketing's so broad. Danny and I do both the marketing and sales. Yeah, so we do, you know, that really started back sat down and when we als looked at, you know, what' the next 10 years. So rea diving into that and growing our brand. And we're now in 10 states and in the UK. We have product heading there now. And then, you know, with the marketing too, with the new place and all of that. So, yeah, that's how I started and it's been seven years now.

Kerry: Okay, so Danny, tell me, what brought you on board to this job? Why did you apply? And do you like doing what you do?

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I actually interned for Maggie, actually, around three years ago. I was looking for an internship for my senior year of college, summer before. So I started working with them and then throughout the last semester, I graduated in December of 22. So I kind of stayed on board and kind of helped out here and there. And then come January 2023, I decided to stay full time and I've been here ever since.

Kerry: Fantastic. And were you a bourbon drinker before this job?

SPEAKER_00: No, I was not. But I will say that my palate has gotten significantly better since working here.

Kerry: Okay, and then of the expressions you guys have here today, what's your favorite? The blue corn. Mine too. I mean, that's all I had so far, but I immediately know it's my favorite. I love it. So tell me, how did you come across the blue corn and how did the blue corn come to be?

SPEAKER_01: So actually, talking about UK, in the early days of bluegrass distillers, most of our labor force were actually interns from the chemical engineering department. And one of the- They were getting that going. Yeah, they were getting it going. We worked with Brad Barron, Seth DeBolt. But they essentially did a lot of projects around different types of corn, ran experiments on cooking them, mashing them, fermenting them. And the blue corn experiment just resulted in very unique distillate that had a delicious flavor off the still. And so we started barreling it, and four years later, we were really happy with the result. So now, unfortunately, we did not make enough four years ago, five, six years ago at this point. So we're stockpiling it now. So in a couple of years, we'll be able to do a lot more blue corn.

Kerry: And how do I get my hands on one of these blue corns?

SPEAKER_01: Well, actually, in 23 minutes, we're going to drop 50 bottles right here.

Kerry: Okay, so what's the five-year plan?

SPEAKER_01: Five-year plan, so really, the distillery in Midway, we're expanding capacity 150X, so we've got space to store barrels now, where we've been storing them off-site, so we're able to do a lot more tasting, blending, finishing. So we're just looking to improve the quality of our product and ramp up sort of all of our SKUs that are the core SKUs in our line.

Kerry: And what's your favorite dram from what you got?

SPEAKER_16: I'm not going to say blue corn, because we don't always have it. The toasted oak, as we roll into fall, it's got a lot of those campfire notes of marshmallow. And yeah, it's like the perfect fall bourbon, in my opinion. Have you had it with a s'more? Yes, yes. Yeah, it kind of resembles a s'more. The graham cracker, that toasted marshmallow, the sweetness from the barrel, too, some of that chocolate. So that with a s'more by the campfire is Perfect this time of year.

Kerry: Fantastic. You guys, thank you so much for sharing your stories and your whiskey. It was great meeting you. And I'm going to get some of that blue corn. You stay right with us. I am here with Hemingway Rye, my favorite Rye, as you guys all know from the last podcast that I had Ron Call on here for, and I actually get to finally meet Ron Call in person and Jacob Call, and you're… Clayton Call. Clayton Call. Jacob, how was it like to turn your, to leave Grain River and then come in to do this Hemingway stuff with your dad?

SPEAKER_07: Oh, it's been awesome. It's a big family project. You know, I got my distillery out in Beaver Dam, Kentucky, Western Kentucky Distilling. It's up and running good. And we've made about 60,000 barrels. We're making the Hemingway rye at the distillery. And we bottled what's here today at our distillery. So it's a great project.

Kerry: This is delicious. I love it. So, Ron, tell me a little bit about the history of this 50 that I'm drinking.

SPEAKER_09: Well, this barrel here, it's actually 11 years old. It's part of the test barrel that created the old brand. So it's 123 proof, believe it or not.

SPEAKER_10: Oh no, I believe it. It's smooth though, isn't it? It is smooth, but I can tell, yeah.

SPEAKER_09: So, that's pretty well it, just enjoy it. But once it's gone, it's gone, no more.

Kerry: Well, I'm glad I got to try it. Now, you are the third son, or the second son, the third call that I have not yet spoken to. So tell me, what is your involvement with the company?

SPEAKER_08: I help with the blending and the finishing of our whiskey, so we'll bring the barrels down to where we are in Florida, go do the blending, the finishing. mainly the taster to make sure it's all right and good. And then I also do a lot of family ambassador stuff, talking about our history of our family, which dates back to 1791. I'm sure you've heard that story.

Kerry: Do you also talk about the Hemingway family?

SPEAKER_08: Yeah, Hemingway family's big-time part of this. Without them, this wouldn't even be possible.

Kerry: And do you talk about the cats at all?

SPEAKER_08: Six-toed cats.

Kerry: Or, you know, because they might get eaten if they're in Springfield, I hear. Bad joke, bad joke. There are so many memes going on right now. It's just cracking me up. I love it. But no, I do. Actually, my best friend has a, well, it should have been a Hemingway cat. She's an orange cat. The whole litter was Hemingway except for her. And so she did not get the toes. But we talked about that a little bit.

SPEAKER_08: I think you guys did. I watched that podcast. Good, good, good. It was just Kyle and you, right?

Kerry: So tell me like what is, between you and the three of you, what is your five-year plan for Hemingway and what is your favorite thing about working with this brand?

SPEAKER_08: Five-year plan is just keep growing. So, you know, we had our first edition, which you remember had the library card in the back. Down the road, second edition could be available soon. So keep your eyes out for that. Possible dab in the bourbon industry, too, the bourbon. So, and the favorite part is just doing stuff like this. I mean, it's pretty fun.

SPEAKER_07: Five-year plan really for us. So what we're distilling at Western Kentucky Distilling, we'll go in a Hemingway bottle in four, five, six years from now. So that's exciting. Favorite part is just getting to hang out with my dad and my brother and do cool stuff.

SPEAKER_10: All right. And you?

SPEAKER_09: Retired.

Kerry: Before five years or in five years?

SPEAKER_09: Before five years, I hope. Let me ask you a question. I think your friend was a chef.

SPEAKER_10: Yes.

SPEAKER_09: And?

Kerry: Oh, she loved it. She and I are both big Rye fans. She absolutely loved it. She's actually in Italy right now working on a show. Um, so I haven't been able to have her on the show for a while cause she's, yeah, me too. I was like, wait, you're going to be in Italy. So we can't do like remote. She goes, no, because I can't send her the samples. It would be too expensive, expensive. But, um, yeah, no, she loved it. Like she and I are both like, sorry, bourbon fest, but we're more Rye fans than we are bourbon fans. So, um, yeah, we loved it.

SPEAKER_09: All right. Thanks. I wanted your feedback.

Kerry: Oh, no, it was great. Again, guys, thank you so much for taking time out. I know it's a really busy festival out here today, but it's a pleasure to meet all three of you in person. Thanks again, and happy retirement. Yay to 50! Well, we are back here for day two at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, and I'm here with Karen Wells of Green River Distilling, and I got to talk to her distiller friend yesterday. Today, I get to talk to the lady herself. So, Karen, tell me, how long have you been working for the company, and what started your whiskey journey to how you got here?

SPEAKER_05: Yeah, great. So I started in 2018. I was actually retired, wasn't planning on working again. Started at our distillery as a part-time tour guide. That kind of rolled into full-time. And then when we launched Green River, was asked if I wanted to be the national brand ambassador. So here I am.

Kerry: Fantastic. And when you were a wee little lass, did you think that you would be working in whiskey?

SPEAKER_05: No. No clue whatsoever. My first career, I was a teacher. I always joke and say that that's what got me to drink. But you're still a teacher. I am still teaching. I am still teaching, yeah. Then from teaching, I rolled into firefighting, believe it or not. I was a lieutenant and paramedic. And I can actually see that with you. I can see it. Oh yeah, can you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're hero-esque. I can see it. Hero-esque? Thanks, thanks. And then when I retired, moved to Kentucky, And, you know, you're in Kentucky, a distillery opened in our hometown, and so it's like, well, why not?

Kerry: What made you choose to retire in Kentucky?

SPEAKER_05: I have family there. Florida's hot all the time. Very humid. And so I had a second home in Kentucky, a vacation kind of home. And so moved there just to like, okay, I get my four seasons back. And then I had an aunt. She's in her 80s now. And I say that she's the reason that caused all this because she wanted to drink bourbon. She didn't want to go by herself. Here I am. And then did you take her on some of those tours while you were tour guide? Oh, yeah, absolutely. She's been on tours. We kind of meet when I'm in town. We try to meet up and there's a small group of us that we get together. We call ourselves Whiskey Women and we bring a bottle and just sit and enjoy and talk about it. And it's great.

Kerry: That's fun. OK, so as the National Brand Ambassador and the COVID pandemic is basically over, at least the lockdown part,

SPEAKER_05: How often do you travel? Better question is to ask me how often I'm at home. Yeah, I travel quite a bit, usually about three weeks out of the month. And literally as national, I'm from coast to coast. So here in Kentucky now, I'm home next week, then it's off to Florida and Colorado.

Kerry: Okay, so tell me, this is your post-retirement, so what is your real retirement plan and when do you think you'll do that?

SPEAKER_05: You know what, I've always said, everybody's asked me that too, and as long as I'm having fun and I'm having a blast and I get to share in my love of Green River, not only Green River, but whiskey in general, then I'll continue to do it. And I would say, you know, I'd love to do it for another 10 years and then, you know, see how everything holds.

Kerry: And then maybe sit down by the lake with your dram and feed up?

SPEAKER_05: That's it. That's it. Yeah. Watching the sunsets and the corn grow, as we like to say here in Kentucky.

Kerry: OK. Now, if the fans out there want to get a hold of some of these beautiful bottles, what's the best place to do it? And what's the best place to find you guys on socials?

SPEAKER_05: Yeah. So socials were Green River Distilling. You can go on the internet to greenriverwhiskey.com. You can go into where it says Our Products. You can scroll down. There is a United States map. Type in your zip code. Pops up every location that we're at. We're in 32, well, 35 different markets now. That's fantastic.

Kerry: Are you overseas at all? We are in Australia. Fantastic. Good, good. Oi, oi, oi, Aussie, oi, oi. All right, Karen, well, thank you so much for your time today and have a great time at the rest of the festival.

SPEAKER_05: Cheers, everybody.

Kerry: Thank you. Well, hey, Jared, how are you today?

SPEAKER_17: I'm wonderful.

Kerry: So great to see this booth here. So I interviewed the former owners of this when they were still in California working out of Angels Island. Bummer that neither one of them are here today. But now I see you guys have some investors that we'll talk about here shortly. So tell me, when did they move to Kentucky? And when did you become part of the brand?

SPEAKER_17: Love it. So Bespoken moved from Menlo Park in 2023, which was a risk but reward situation. We love California. We still have great connections there. But we decided to move to Lexington, Kentucky, because our CEO is born and bred from here. So TJ Rogers, who's our biggest investor, is like, hey, Scott, do you want to build a new distillery in Lexington, Kentucky? And Scott's like, I'm quitting my job tomorrow. Nice, nice. And I joined the company in October of last year. Originally, I was at James Pepper Distillery, where I was the director of operations. And so I had an opportunity. I love the brand. I love the image. And it's just been a whirlwind of opportunities and successes so far.

Kerry: OK, so for those of my audience who missed the first episode, tell us why this brand is so unique and what the process is that makes this so fantastic.

SPEAKER_17: So our process is that we take new fill barrels, minimum in probably about three months age and we use stave oak technology so we use these oak staves which we char both sides of a stave and so we're using about 13 staves per activation or tote or barrel and what we do is that we char both sides of them in-house with a co2 laser where that gives a natural toasting and then we infrared char everything in-house so what we do is we're using less energy less time less wood and less water. So our company is a little bit more sustainable because we're not relying on angel share or oxidation to fulfill those tannin notes that you associate with whiskey. So instead of cutting with the grain, we actually cut with the wood. So it becomes more porous. So it gets those tannins at a very accelerated rate without adding outside chemicals. So it's accelerated maturation, but all we're really doing is exposing it to more tannin quality and more charring.

Kerry: You want to show us that little sample? The little sample guy you have. And for those of you who haven't seen the original, they don't age things naturally. It's a Silicon Valley engineered way to do it. And I thought when I first tasted it, this is going to be disgusting. It's going to be like all those others trying to do something fancy and it doesn't really taste like whiskey. Well, it's whiskey, let me tell you. So Jared, tell us about this device.

SPEAKER_17: Yeah, so this is a micro activator. This is an activation system that basically uses like a sous vide water bath system. So this is one of our experimental ones. So we do about 15 to 30 experimental runs in four days. That's how long our process usually takes. Obviously, depending on weather, sometimes it takes a little longer for those vats to cool. But with this activations, we steep about 10 or 15 microstaves in here for experimental wise. And then we use augmentated water that goes around at a controlled temperature and rate that's proprietary. And after it controls that, what we achieve is those water connections that control those temperatures and brings those tannins at a natural rate. So we're not, like I said, I keep saying this, we're not adding outside chemicals. And what that does is it creates more surface contact and those tannins become extremely noticed. So it almost tastes like a double-oaked whiskey that's done in about seven days.

Kerry: So fantastic. And then you guys also, not only do you make your own spirits, but you also help other companies with their business.

SPEAKER_17: Correct. So our technology is proprietary, but what happens, we work with RTD companies, we work with other brands that just don't have rickhousing or space. So what we'll do is we'll bring in their distillate, and it isn't always new distillate. That's on our end. We probably use raw distillate, but we bring in their distillate. We've worked with two-year, six-year, eight-year, 12-year. We're actually working with a 20-year company right now. And so what we do is they bring it in with an IAC tote, we put it into our process, put it back in that said tote, ship it right back to them. So we've gotten a lot of bulk services because of this. We've worked with bigger companies, which I can't state on television, but we've worked with a lot of, for our research and development, we've worked with a lot of companies. And so we use our tasting panel with other companies and vice versa. So it's not just us saying that the product's good, we're actually sending it to other tasting panels.

Kerry: Oh yeah. No, I would not be backing it if I, cause I've tasted some, some people that were out of the San Francisco area before I met you. And I was like, this is not resemble. It looks like whiskey, but it didn't taste.

SPEAKER_17: The nose. I actually think you can tell, in my opinion, you can really smell young whiskey that adds chemicals and stuff. It tastes like cardboard. And so what's good about our whiskey and that we're, we're just making things more flowing through the wood and that's with cutting with that grain, with that wood.

Kerry: That's fantastic. And then where do you guys get your staves? Or do you get them from all over the place?

SPEAKER_17: So we get them from ISC, Independent Stave Company. It's a smaller company that they own called Evoke. So we get the staves unbent. And what we do is we do a quality control. So we make sure that the grain quality is up to standard, that there's no bacteria or mold growing. Once it passes our QC phase, we laser cut it with that CO2 BOSS laser. And what that does, it gives a natural toasting with that laser. Then we put it into our ovens where we do our own charring. And so once we take it out of it at a certain temperature, then depending on the whiskey, we put an infrared char on it. So for instance, our rye, we put about a level four char with an infrared laser. And so what that basically does, once again, it exposes it to those rich flavors at such a fast rate that we can, we don't have to depend on ricking or palatizing.

Kerry: That's fantastic. So you get the staves before they've ever been into a barrel. Correct. That is really cool. That's a lot of, um, That's a lot of unwasted stuff.

SPEAKER_17: And not to mention, let's say one doesn't pass QC and everyone's like, what do you do with the ones that do have bad grain quality? We get credit for those and then we repurpose them with, you know, we sell gift shop stuff, smoking bags, things like that, Christmas ornaments, things like that. But since we're not getting the whole barrel, we can't sell them to Scotland or something like that. So instead of sending it back to them, we just repurpose them and they give us a credit.

Kerry: So that's great. Okay, and then if somebody wanted to buy your well, how many expressions do you have for be spoken right now currently currently right now?

SPEAKER_17: We just released sable. That's what the best men so Morris chestnut Harold Perry knew Malcolm Lee and so sable is an affluent black individual so they wanted to change the image of The cheap whiskey is for the black demographics. So this is a beautiful French oak whiskey we just released yesterday in a KBF.

Kerry: It's really good. I had it yesterday.

SPEAKER_17: But we have seven SKUs right now in the market. Depending on the market, you get it. But we also have e-commerce at 47 states. So if you ever want to purchase online and get it shipped directly, unless you're in Utah, Hawaii, or Alaska, you can get this shipped right to your door.

Kerry: That's fantastic. OK, so and then who did you say were our, can we pull this up?

SPEAKER_17: Yeah, so this is the best men. So this is Harold Perrineau. Taye Diggs, Malcolm Lee, and Morris Chestnut. They met in a film in the 90s called The Best Men, which is a pretty cult-driven movie, especially in the black audience. And so they came to us, just like Leonard Skinner came to us, and they wanted to create a whiskey that was not only their image and likeness, so to speak, but they curated the distillate, the char level, the toast level, the bottle, the label, the cork, the packaging, the marketing plan. So they're investors of our company. They're not just believing in just this bottle. They believe in all the bottles we do, which that's what we want. So anytime we do bring on a celebrity, they don't just invest in their own product. They want to make sure that we, because high tide raises all ships because we're not going to piggyback off this, but the celebrity brands are going to get us in the door. So then you can taste our beautiful bespoken products as well.

Kerry: Okay, well thank you so much for your time today and we look forward to tasting more in the future.

SPEAKER_17: Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_14: My name is Brett Connors. My title is Whiskey Wizard or Head Blender if you prefer the more formal and I work with Castle & Key and have for about nine years now. How are you? Good, enjoying a wonderful and beautiful KBF.

Kerry: Tell me a little bit about your whiskey journey and how did you decide as a wee little lad did you ever think you'd be working in whiskey?

SPEAKER_14: I don't know if I thought I was working in whiskey. I actually grew up, my family did a lot of art and antiques, so I've always liked collectibles. And I guess in some ways I found whiskey as a hobby in my early 20s, just kind of collecting, drinking, enjoying. I've always been a part of on-premise, so working in bars and restaurants. And then I was really fortunate almost 10 years ago to meet the founding partners of Castle & Key and to be brought onto this project, initially from a hospitality side, to build out our tour offerings and kind of what our hospitality program felt like. and then was able to kind of transition more into product development, R&D, research and development, and some media and PR work too.

Kerry: Fantastic. So once you got hired, you never look back.

SPEAKER_14: Yeah, I mean, definitely look back. I think, look back to be gracious for the opportunity. Those, you know, being part of a small whiskey company in the beginning as a startup, I definitely look back and look at the amount of work that is involved in renovating a 120-year-old distillery. That was pretty aggressive, but now we're definitely getting to enjoy the fruits of our labor, tasting some whiskey that's been in barrel for a good bit of time now.

Kerry: Okay, so what all are you serving here today, do you know?

SPEAKER_14: Yeah, so at KBF we definitely are always highlighting our flagship. So we do a wonderful small batch rye whiskey, along with a small batch traditional bourbon. In addition to that, we brought two really fun single barrels that were picked with the KBF team. The first is what is in our glass right now, which is a really fun rye whiskey. It's almost five years old. What's really cool about it is it's lost almost 10 proof in maturation too. So the barrel entry was 118, but it dropped all the way down to 107 on a low floor of our warehouse. So super condensed flavors, big rye kind of profile, but the nose is really fun because it's a little bit sweeter and more bourbon centric. Then when you get into the palate, you're really going to see that spice build. Along with that, we're also doing a really fun single barrel bourbon that's five and a half years old. Those picked by the KBF team. Same things, lost a little bit of proof and maturation. So it's big, silky, jammy, juicy. Definitely a fun pour too. And with it being so hot, of course we had to do cocktails. So we're doing a rye whiskey Old Fashioned. That's an apple cider Old Fashioned. I'm going to have to try that. It's way tastier than it should be. It's actually a little bit dangerous because it's pretty boozy too.

Kerry: I'll try that after I stop working.

SPEAKER_14: Yeah, after you're off the clock, you know, like four or five, swing back through, we'll get that situated for you. And we're doing a Kentucky painkiller, so, you know. Can't go wrong with painkillers. Yeah, tiki forward, so something a little bit more summery, kind of end of fall.

Kerry: Fantastic. Well, let's taste this bad boy. Oh, wow, that's really nice. It's chewy. It's very oily. It's got a great mouthfeel. It's got some good legs. Oh, that's nice. I'm, as people know, I'm, I'm, I'm big, big on rye. So, um, you've got a fan in me with this one.

SPEAKER_14: Thank you. Yeah. I think we'd only like, if it was up to the blending team, we'd probably only make rye. You know, we're all pretty big flavor nerds. Don't tell the bourbon festival bourbon people. Yeah. I mean, we're very happy to rise here too, but no, I think if you dig flavor, I think rise a really logical journey and your bourbon experience where You know, there's so many great bourbons at this festival, but if you like exploration and flavor and cocktailing, I think Rye is definitely something you shouldn't overlook.

Kerry: True. All right, so what is your five-year plan for yourself, and what is the five-year plan for your company?

SPEAKER_14: Ooh, five year plan for myself. Continue growing our team, you know, getting, I have the luxury of working on a lot of education for our team, you know, trying to spread the gospel of the work that we're doing along with kind of the history of the industry. So, you know, I hope to keep blending delicious whiskeys for us, getting into some older products too. Yeah, I also personally have a three-year-old and a nine-month-old, so watching our kids grow over the next five years is gonna be stressful and awesome. Getting diapers out too would be nice. It'd be really nice. Yeah, we got one out of them and one back in. So, you know, that's how that ebbs and flows, I think. But yeah, so on the personal side, watching my small family grow, watching me get to have a lot of professional opportunity. On the distillery side, even more exciting stuff. You know, we're coming up on our six year anniversary this next week for hospitality. So continuing to grow that program. You know, the first year we had 35,000 guests on site. This year we're doing north of 150,000 guests. Wow, that's a lot. So yeah, you're telling me. I don't think we were built for it. So yeah, now we're getting the opportunity to grow and interact with more visitors, aging up our whiskey. So next year, our bourbon will be a minimum of five years old, working to older age statement. We're releasing a 70-year-old cash-strength weeded bourbon for the first time ever this year. So starting to release some really fully matured products. And then getting over the next five years, those age statements will continue to increase as we produce even better and better whiskey every year.

Kerry: That's fantastic. And then do you guys have a specific barrel or a specific expression you're using for the festival here?

SPEAKER_14: I think for what we're doing here, we love our traditional bourbon. It's definitely where bourbon distillery first and foremost. So on that side, it's a 73% white corn, 10% rye, 17% malted barley. It's just kind of our flagship for a reason. It's lovely. It's drinkable. Great mouthfeel and body to it consistently. That rye's pretty fun, too, because it's kind of a hybrid. It's not quite a Mahongahela or like a 51% rye. It's going to be 63% rye, 10% well, hold on. It's been a long time since I've said this.

Kerry: I was going to say, you're ripping through these stats like nobody's business.

SPEAKER_14: I know. It's like, hey, it's Bourbon Fest. It's hot out here. And I just drove a long way. But yeah, 63% rye, 17% yellow corn, 20% malted barley.

Kerry: OK, great. Well, thank you so much for taking the time out to talk to us. Appreciate your interview. Awesome.

SPEAKER_14: Thank you again for having us on. Cheers.

Kerry: I'm here with Joe from Barrel Craft Spirits, my good friend who's been on the show several times. He's wasting away though, I could barely recognize him when I walked up. So Joe, how are you today?

SPEAKER_03: Amazing. This is such a great event today and we dodged the bullet with the weather and so it's just having a good time. People are really enjoying it. It's a good event.

Kerry: You have a whole bunch of bottles up here today. How many expressions do you have up here for tasting, and how many do you have for sale?

SPEAKER_03: We must have 20 here today, but we're really focusing on some of our new products. Our Barrel Foundation, which is our first non-cast-strain product. It's a 100-proof, 5-year-old product. It's five to nine years old. We have our new cask series release which is bourbon finished in ice wine casks. Old standby seagrass. I love seagrass. What else we got here? Oh, we got the new batch 36. Why 36? What's that about? That's the next in the series of our original batch from releases and it's just one more in the series of delicious expressions for us.

Kerry: Fantastic. Okay. Now, what year did you start this again, this whole project?

SPEAKER_03: Let's see, 2014. Okay.

Kerry: In the last 10 years? 2013. Okay. In the last 11 years, I've seen you grow, grow, grow. Did you think you'd grow this big this fast?

SPEAKER_03: No, no, that's not true. I knew we were going to do well. It felt good. And we just had an amazing customer base of people who just come back over and over again. And we just love what we do and produce products that people like to drink.

Kerry: Well, I do love drink and I do love that bluegrass, that bluegrass. I saved my empty bottle because I loved it. I'm like, I got to keep getting this bluegrass. Okay, so tell me, what do you foresee in the near future? And what do you foresee in the next five years for the company?

SPEAKER_03: Well, we're in the near future, we're going to continue to do what we've been doing. You know, our focus is on blending and and and we're just in the business of making the best tasting products we possibly can. And I just see the continued, you know, there's a lot of shifts in the industry and people are changing behaviors and we're adapting to that. And we just we're going to be there for them and keep making products that people like to drink.

Kerry: Fantastic. And what do you hope to get out of being here at the festival today?

SPEAKER_03: It's a chance to really meet and see old friends, a lot of people we know, and welcome a lot of new people to our business and our brand and our product. And this is my, I hate to say it, but it is my favorite event. I love doing this event. I love being here.

Kerry: It's fun. This is my first time and I'm having a blast. I love it. Okay, well Joe, thank you so much for your time and I'll let you get back to it and meeting all the people. Coming up, I sit down with Chickencock Whiskey's head distiller, Greg Schneider, in Whiskey Whereabouts. Stay with us. On season two of Barrel Room Chronicles, I embarked on an amazing journey through Ireland, from Cork to Belfast and nearly everything in between. Now I'm going to do it all over again, but this time you're invited. That's right. Join me this spring for a trip of a lifetime through the rich tapestries of Irish whiskey culture. We'll visit iconic locations such as the Titanic Experience and the new Titanic Distillery and tour through the lush Irish landscapes and visit filming locations from the hit TV series Game of Thrones. We'll also visit historic sites, including cathedrals, jails, castles and more. Plus, we'll get to distill our very own batch of Clonacelti gin. To find out more or to book now, visit BarrelRoomChronicles.com and click on the Brock Tours photo. I am here with Greg Schneider. It's a follow-up interview. I haven't had Greg on the show since the 2020-2021 when we were back at Spirits of Whiskey. So it's the first time we've had him on the video podcast. Anyway, we're here today to talk to you about Chickencock. So tell me, since the last time we spoke, what's been going on? How many expressions do you have? How have you seen the growth of the company?

SPEAKER_20: Yeah, I think in general the growth of Chickencock is just skyrocketing. Pre-COVID we were in about 12 states and now we're in 49 states. The only state we're not in is Alaska.

Kerry: I was going to guess Alaska. Why does Alaska seem so hard?

SPEAKER_20: It's just the location more than anything. We're going to get there, it's just a matter of time.

Kerry: Okay, and how many Expressums do you have out on the market? And do you have all of them available in all states or only select few?

SPEAKER_20: No, they're not available in all states, but gosh, I'm trying to think how many total we've got out there now. Because some are the limited editions, and so there may be a few bottles here and there still. You know, we have our flagship bourbon, our Kentucky Chicken Cock, Kentucky Straight bourbon. which is nine years old. We also have our Chickencock Kentucky Straight rye, which is nine years old. We have a few of our LTOs probably still out there. We have our Chickencock Island Rooster, which was our rye that I finished in Caribbean rum barrels. We have a cotton club, Chickencock Cotton Club, that came out in 2021. It was actually some 20-year-old rye, the Canadian rye, that the owner wanted to pay tribute back to the brand, pay homage to the brand, back 100 years ago when it was the house whiskey at the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York during Prohibition. But then after that, we came out and the next LTO was called Chicken Cock Chantecler. Chantecler is our bourbon that I finished in French cognac barrels.

SPEAKER_10: French cognac?

SPEAKER_20: Yeah, you got to be careful. It didn't stay in those cognac barrels very long because, as you know, cognac is very powerful. And so all I want to do is just enhance the flavor. I don't want to overpower it. But it did real well. It actually won a double gold out at San Francisco whiskey competition. And then this past year, we came out with Chicken Cot Red Steak, which was our bourbon that I finished in petite Syrah barrels.

Kerry: Oh, I gotta try that. Do you have any of that for tasting over there?

SPEAKER_20: I don't believe that's over in the tasting. We might have some over at the, over at Circa 1856. I'm not sure. They may have some over there you can try tonight if you come over.

Kerry: And what'd you bring today for us to talk about?

SPEAKER_20: Today, this is a special barrel pick that we did actually for the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. We had a great panel, had a couple of the guys from the Scotchie Bourbon Boys. Jeff was there, Chris Thompson was there. But Linda Roper-Wicker was on the tasting panel. Stacey Pritchard with the Bourbon Festival was there. We had a great group, actually. And we tried six different barrels, and this is the one we ended up picking. All six were phenomenal. But they're all unique in their own little ways, as a lot of people don't understand. You can take the same whiskey from the same batch, put it in two identical barrels that came from the same cooperage, the trees came from the same forest, sit them side by side and age them for the same length of time in the same location of a warehouse, and they can be distinctly different. But these six barrels, they were definitely different, but every one was fabulous in their own way. This one just kind of was just a little bit better than the other. And this is actually at 130 proof.

SPEAKER_10: That's some hot stuff.

Kerry: We might have to try that after this. But right now we have in our glasses, do you still have yours? We have in our glasses the bourbon. Which bourbon is this that they have over here?

SPEAKER_20: This is our flagship bourbon. This is our chicken cock Kentucky straight bourbon. This particular one is probably about five years old and it's 90 proof.

SPEAKER_10: Oh yeah, that's nice. It's not too hot, not too cold.

Kerry: It's got a good flavor, good finish.

SPEAKER_20: That's one of the things I'm very careful with. I've been in this business 46 years, Carrie, and I get to determine what the proof is going to be. When Grain and Barrel Spears, the founder, approached me, And he asked me to help him resurrect Chickencock back to Kentucky and bring it back to the high quality prominence the brand was known for many, many years ago. He said, would you help me do that and serve in the role of master distiller? And I said, I'll do it on one condition. We stopped bottling some of this young crap that they were bottling at the time to create cash flow. And everything we do is focused on bringing this brand back to its high quality prominence. Well, you know, if we let the financial folks of the business dictate what the proof is going to be, everything would be 80 proof. Because you can get a heck of a lot more bottles out of a barrel than 80 proof.

SPEAKER_10: That's very true.

SPEAKER_20: However, again, our objective was to bring the brand back to its high quality promise. So what I do with all of our products I basically tasted a barrel proof. I want to know what's in there. And then I started knocking it down with reverse osmosis water until I get to the point where the alcohol burns subsides and really allows the flavors to overtake the profile without over diluting it. And 90 proof is a sweet spot on this.

Kerry: That's great. Can you open this one or does that one have to stay closed?

SPEAKER_19: We can't open that one, but we'll give you a taste over at the booth here in a little bit.

Kerry: Fantastic. It's a beautiful bottle, too. You guys did a good job on the label. It's very cute. So tell me, for those of our listeners who didn't catch you the first time on the show, give them a little background about Chicken Cock and why you guys resurrected it.

SPEAKER_20: Yeah. So, you know, I do tastings all over the country. And the first question I get is, hey, where'd you come up with that name? You know, I didn't create the name. The brand goes back to 1856 in Paris, Kentucky. A gentleman by the name of James A. Miller was a farmer, and he had been in the whiskey business, but he built this distillery in Paris. And as the story goes, he was making a whiskey he was so proud of, he felt it was worth crying about. So he calls it chicken cock whiskey. Well, 1856, Americans were still using the old English language, and the term for male chicken was a cock. The term rooster didn't come about till late 1800s, early 1900s. So that's where the brand actually got its name. But it has a long storied history. It had a high quality reputation for many, many years. It flourished up until 1920. Gee, I wonder what happened then. Well, as everyone should know, in 1920, Prohibition hits. And so, like most distilleries, they shut down and they sold the brand to a company in Montreal, Canada. Well, they made a Canadian rye whiskey that they would bottle under the chicken cock label, but then they'd take that bottle and they'd seal it in a tin can. where that tin can protected the bottle when they bootleg it back across the border. It showed up in a lot of speakeasies, but one of Chickencock's claims of fame, it was the actual house whiskey at the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York during the Roaring Twenties. Just to appreciate how serious prohibition was, a pint, just a pint of Chickencock whiskey at the Cotton Club in the Roaring Twenties was $14, okay? Today's money?

SPEAKER_10: That would be a great bargain now.

SPEAKER_20: Oh, that's more like $240 in today's money, okay? Just for a pint. So, anyhow.

Kerry: Who drinks a pint of whiskey?

SPEAKER_20: That was a bottling size back then. They were easier to ship pints and they were larger sized bottles, I guess.

Kerry: So people weren't ordering a pint at the bar like a beer?

SPEAKER_20: They might. They might. Yeah, I don't know. I wasn't around then, but who knows. But it was a great story. Two years before Prohibition was repealed, National Distillers had a subsidiary who had the financial means to own a medicinal alcohol permit. Oh, lovely. They bought the brand back, started distillery back up in Paris, and they were making medicinal alcohol the last two years of Prohibition. So again, Prohibition was repealed in 1933, the brand flourished, had a high-quality reputation up until the 1950s. In the 1950s, the distillery had a fire, burned to the ground, and the company that owned it decided not to rebuild. So the brand sat idle for close to 60 years. Well, in 2011, Matti Antola, Matti is the founder of Grain and Barrel Spirits, he was looking for a whiskey brand and he did some research and ran across Chickencock and found the history interesting and he was able to acquire the brand rights. Well, Grain and Barrel Spirits is a small company. You know, they don't own any operational assets, they don't own a distillery, and he needed cash flow. So the easiest way to do that, he could source six-month-old whiskey, he bottled it in an aluminum bottle, and he flavored it. He had a root beer flavor, cinnamon flavor, you name it. Different flavors. And it served its purpose. It created cash flow. But it didn't help the quality reputation the brand was known for. And as I mentioned earlier, I've been in the business 46 years. In 2017, I started my own consulting company. And Grain and Barrel Spares were one of my first clients. I was helping them with some supply chain issues, some operational stuff. And one day, Motti came to me here in Kentucky, met and barged down here. And he shared his vision of wanting to resurrect chicken cock back to Kentucky and bring it back to the high quality prominence the brand had been known for many, many years. So he said, would you do that and serve in the role of master distiller? And I said, yes, sir. One condition. Again, you stop. bottling this crap whiskey and everything we do is focused on bringing that brand back to high-quality promise. So again, we started seven years ago. We make our whiskey over at Bardstown bourbon company. It's a great venue.

Kerry: How far is Bardstown bourbon from where we are right now?

SPEAKER_20: Oh my gosh, probably two to three miles, it's not far at all, not far at all. Great people. Steve Nally, their master distiller is an old friend of mine. Steve's one of the few people still in this industry that's been in it longer than I have, but Steve's a great guy and he introduced me to their management team and so we entered into an agreement in 2017 and they're a little bit unique. They have what they call a collaborative distillation program. Through that collaboration, I have oversight for everything they do for Chicken Cock Whiskey. Our mash bills are a mash bill on a bourbon, 70% corn, 21% rye, and 9% malted barley. And then our rye mash bill is a 95% rye, 5% malted barley. But in addition to the mash bills, I also give them all the work instructions, the time and temperatures I want to cook the grains, the enzymes I want to use, the yeast I want to use, all the specifications for fermentation, beer chemistry, and distillation. And then when they make our whiskey, I go down and oversee the process. Essentially, you know, I'm using their kitchen, their cooks, and I get to orchestrate everything that goes on.

SPEAKER_10: You give them the recipe card and they make it happen.

SPEAKER_20: They do indeed, and they do a good job. I taste our whiskey every six months and barrel samples, and it's aging beautifully.

Kerry: It is beautiful. I love your stuff. I've loved your stuff since you started sending it over to me a couple years back. And I'm excited to go over to the tent and try your barrel pick for the event here. And Greg, thank you so much for sharing your time today. I know you've got to get going, so I will not keep you. But thanks again for being on the show.

SPEAKER_20: My pleasure, Carrie. Thank you so much.

Kerry: Don't touch that device. I catch up with the scotchy bourbon boys in the Bourbon Festival's media tent. Tavern Talk is next. Stay with us.

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Kerry: I am here with the Scotchy Bourbon Boys and wife. Here is Tiny, Jeff, aka Tiny. Hi, Jeff. Yes, hi, I'm Tiny. And then we got Super Nash. Hi, Super Nash. Hey, Carrie, how are you?

SPEAKER_06: Great to meet you. Great. And Roxy.

Kerry: And Roxy, hi, nice to meet you again, Roxy. Nice to meet you, thanks for having us on. Thanks for being here. Okay, so I just wanted to get all of you, because I haven't been able to get Super Nash on the show, definitely not getting, although Roxy, you should have, you just should have come downstairs when we, when we had, when you had your husband on. But I just want to do a quick hello and say hi and ask you guys, this is not your first rodeo here, it is mine, but what do you think about this year's festival?

SPEAKER_12: Well, this year's festival, because in the past it aligned with Bourbon on the Banks, coming out of COVID, they had canceled the one year, but there was a certain amount of reduced people coming. But this year is the first year it's on its own. It's the week before Bourbon on the Banks, and you've really noticed the energy and the amount of people is up. As far as the crowd goes, I don't believe it's overly crowded, but it is crowded. You get the feeling, you know, and then the distilleries all have kind of figured out what to do. Now there's a few that don't realize what this potential is but because when we first started coming you could get a drink upstairs and it was a big thing upstairs in what is now the Brindiamo Penthouse. That was where the VIP was and you could come downstairs with it and walk around. That was in 2019. It was a big thing. Before that you had to have a taste at the tasting booths, and then you had to drink it there. No walking around, no walking around. So you also could get a cocktail. But at the time, there was only nine distilleries here. There was Maker's Mark, and the big events were all off. off campus it was you know why were they off campus because this was more of a carnival local festival than this part then it was the bourbon festival that it's become today so you had a lot of people going through but the locals who had you had all the food trucks and you had all the bands playing and beer beer tents and that type of thing and then off to the side You had all the little tasting for Jim Beam. But if you were a VIP, you went upstairs in the VIP lounge. If you went to the gala, the gala was off-premise. If you went to the cigar celebration, that was off-premise. you know, off the premises. So it was also a car show, like you were coming in the street.

Kerry: Wait, hold on. Bourbon and cars. That's kind of, that's not a good combination.

SPEAKER_12: I mean, the main distilleries around here, large distilleries, then they had an event that they would all get together on, but then they threw a party for their employees. But it was getting to the point where the party was big, it was very expensive, and the bourbon and everything, so it had to change. So in 2020, that's where the president, Randy Prask, came on board, and that's what he's been that was his task to change the culture of what this was. And the first couple of years, the local people did not like it. There's still some people that say that's not the bourbon festival that I remember.

Kerry: Yeah, there's been a few people that I know that are friends of mine online like you were until today, or yesterday, rather, that I said, hey, are you going to go? I get to meet you in person. And they said, oh, no, it's not the same as it used to be. And I'm like, so is this kind of like a Comic-Con thing where it started as a small thing, and now it's just gotten too many? And then I got here, and I'm like, this isn't like a Comic-Con thing. This is a good-sized festival. I don't know what their problem is. So Super Nash, what do you think the deal is? What is that?

SPEAKER_06: I think that it's great from what it's evolved to now because it's allowing one thing they did was to that he was saying is they they had families coming with their kids and they had bouncy houses and all that and usually that's not such a good thing to have you know bourbon drinkers and we don't need parents drinking and then driving their kids home that's and then yeah and then having their kids and driving them home and stuff like that so That's basically what the new president wanted to do is, you know, we need to separate these things. You know, there's a time and place to have a family type event for your kids. But then now we need to have a festival where we showcase bourbon and whiskey and the talents of the distillers. that are here, and it's like this year they've had the most ever. I believe there's 68 distilleries that are represented here.

Kerry: Yeah, there's a lot. There's a lot. And, you know, when I got here, I thought, oh, I'm going to be wall-to-wall people. I'm going to have to be elbowing my way. No, I mean, it's crowded, but it's not overly crowded. I'm happy with my experience so far, but now that I know what it used to be, now I kind of see what these people are talking about. Although, I think, I honestly think that's a different kind of, like, I just don't know that you should be mixing your whiskey drinking with driving your kids to a bouncy house. Anyway, Roxy, what do you think?

SPEAKER_04: So the festival really caters to the serious bourbon drinker, the collector, the distilleries are launching or introducing expressions that are not in their stores or are just for the festival. We have barrel picks just for the festival. When you come you can get some things here that you're not going to get anywhere else potentially. So it's a big draw for people who want to, you know, that collect bourbon or are hunting bourbon. But there's also plenty of fun stuff to do for someone that maybe is new to bourbon or doesn't, you know, isn't looking for really high expensive pours. All the distilleries and their tents have little cocktails or slushies. So there's a lot and there's a little shop where you can get all things bourbon. So, you know, it's a lot of fun. It really is.

Kerry: So I noticed when I got here, since we're media, they let me get in a little early so I could set up some stuff. And I got in about 10 minutes before the VIP this morning. And I went and I was doing an interview with somebody and all of a sudden I saw this rush of people all running like when I was a kid and Disneyland opened at 9 o'clock and you just ran to Space Mountain. And I was like, What's going on? And they all ran to, like, I was over by Heaven Hill, so they all just ran to the Heaven Hill thing, and I thought, shit, what's happening at Heaven Hill that I should have gone over there right now? Because now, like, the line is 80 feet long. And then when I finished my interview, I turned around, and it was like, and that was the only thing. Everybody, all the VIPs, well, 90% of the VIPs were in this line. And I was like, what's going on? They said, oh, there's an allocated bunch, so. And I was like, okay, but isn't there an allocated, I mean, everybody did a, well, not everybody, well, maybe everybody, did a festival pick. So wouldn't there be an allocated lot for everybody? What do you think makes the Heaven Hill so special?

SPEAKER_12: Well, they're releasing their Heaven Hill 18-year. They're releasing their 13-25-year. They're releasing their Parker Heritage.

Kerry: They're, like, releasing, like, three, four.

SPEAKER_12: Yeah, and they're releasing them, they're usually distillery releases only. And what's so special is the VIPs, when you're a VIP, there's a certain amount of money, so a lot of the people who flip and are used to going to these distilleries and having people wait in line and there's no whatever, they're not getting $500 tickets. The people who are getting this are the true collectors. they know, the distilleries know, you're reaching the people who you miss sometimes with your distillery release to the professionals that wait in these lines around, you know. So, realistically, when you see that, it's pretty funny because it's, to see a 350-pound man running across grass, it's more like, more like shuffling or it's… I mean, there was like, the ground was like… These guys are moving, and they're waddling.

Kerry: People were dropping stuff as they're riding, but I'm like, hey, OK, he doesn't care.

SPEAKER_12: And it's great, because they don't sell it all the first day or the second. They save it for all three days. So if you don't get something the first day, you're going to get something the next day.

Kerry: That makes sense, because I thought, weren't you guys here yesterday? What is this? I don't know. That makes more sense.

SPEAKER_12: Those guys that you were watching were running for a $319 bottle. I mean, that's a lot.

Kerry: I mean, if I had the extra 300 maybe I'd run for it, but nope, not going to run for that. All right. So, um, super Nash, what do you like best about the vessel? And what do you want to see happen with the festival over the next couple of years?

SPEAKER_06: Wow. Uh, I would say maybe that the best thing that I like is that I always enjoy coming and seeing and watching people's faces, reactions to all the allocations, all the stuff that they've never had a chance to taste before and all. Because that's what I am and how I came to the group is I'm a sharer, I'm a giver and I love to see people's reactions like that. It's just in my nature and so As far as what I want to see in the future, they're doing such a great job. I mean, they're stepping up like their VIP lounge and stuff like that. It's bigger, it's better, it's cooler.

Kerry: Probably the one thing… You know what I'm going to say real quick? They had real walls and if they did that for our tent, we might be able to be heard better.

SPEAKER_06: Yeah, exactly. That was what if the one thing that I could ask for was is maybe a better media center. So like with glass walls, top and bottom. Yeah, yeah. So silent because we're doing recording and and also trying to listen and hear what the distillers or the guests who met whoever it may be. And that's like that for every podcaster or interviewer or media person that's trying to do this in here and it's kind of been like that the last two years but as we go forward there's always room for improvement and something and this is something I'm sure that we'll be able to pass along and we'll see if we're heard.

SPEAKER_12: It's not because of a lack of trying I don't the festivals they're trying I mean they put this up But you still have, you know, the band across the way. You've got the, you know, and it is a festival. If you go outside, you're just going to have people talking. It would just be a little bit nicer if we did have some sort of canceling out of the echo and then let our microphones take over.

Kerry: Right, right. All right. So any closing remarks, Roxy?

SPEAKER_04: So if you've ever considered it or thought about coming to a bourbon festival, I think this is the one to go to. Yes, Bourbon on the Banks is fun, but it's mostly a music fest, so it's very loud, very crowded. And this is a little more personal and intimate, more mature. So I encourage everybody to check it out. You can get a one-day pass. You don't have to come here for all three days. And if you like a little quiet and less crowd, come on Sunday. It's a less crowded day.

SPEAKER_12: Also remember, this is the most intimate festival because all the distillers that are from this Kentucky area, this is their backyard. So they all are basically, most of them, a lot of them live in town. So they're just coming over to a festival that's in their own town. So you have access to some of the distillers that you would never have access. They're normally running their giant distilleries, but the Samuels, the Nose or the Beams, They're all accessible here. You can talk to them, you can interview them. They're signing bottles for everybody. Brent Elliott was out signing from Four Roses. I mean, Dan McKee and Andrea Wilson, they were signing this morning. Everybody's here, and if you're not here, you're not everybody.

Kerry: Yeah, I'm gonna say I met more distillers here than probably any other whiskey festival I've gone to, especially in the bourbon market. So guys, thanks for taking a break from all your stuff. I know you guys are busy interviewing people, tasting stuff, buying stuff, playing around, but I appreciate all of you sitting down because it was great to have everybody on for a change. Thank you so much. Finally, great to meet you too. Thank you. 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.

SPEAKER_15: Barrel Room Chronicles is a production of First Real Entertainment and is available on Spotify, Apple, Google, iHeart Radio, Amazon, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.