Latest / The Scotchy Bourbon Boys / Inside Barton 1792 With Master Distiller Ross Cornelissen at Kentucky Bourbon Festival

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Inside Barton 1792 With Master Distiller Ross Cornelissen at Kentucky Bourbon Festival · The Scotchy Bourbon Boys

• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: It looks like we are recording.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: We are recording.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: All right, great.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Scotchy Bourbon Boys Podcast.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: We are live at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival on day three.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: And we have Ross Crennellison, Master Distiller 1792, Bartons.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Throw that in.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: If you're local, that's what we call it.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: 1792.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: No, Bartons.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: Barton 1792.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, just Bartons.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: Just check up Bartons.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: If you if you live in Bardstown and someone says, hey, where do you work?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: You don't say 1792.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what people know it as.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: They know it's Bartons.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: So anywhere else?
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: You work at Barton 1792.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: So and you've got the circular one?
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: He's wearing it.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, he's wearing it.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: So we're all leaning into that one, and you could hear.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, it was let's see if it's still being a pain in the butt.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: Here we go.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_03: It's green.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_03: You guys can keep it away.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's not green.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's not, it's just flashing.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: No, yours is perfect.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: I won't touch it.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: We could hear it.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: We could hear it.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like we did everything.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: The sound was there, everything.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Cool.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: So Ross.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, sir.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: For everybody, give give a little bit of a background.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: And you've been on the podcast before.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: You've been on the podcast when we're at the when we were at the distillery, and you've been on the podcast through a Zoom.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: And then you've also been on the podcast while you're driving home.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: That's true.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I forgot about that.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: From Ohio.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: So now we've got you.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Now what blows my mind is I remember meeting you the first time at Scout and Scholar.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: I was hanging out with Stacey that day, and all of a sudden you came in and she she talked about how awesome that you had just started, right?
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: I think I had been there oh gosh.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe a year.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I was pretty junior.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: So but at the time.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: You were the one of the cool things about Ross is initially he was like straightforward.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: You brought your family.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: And you were just right into the community.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the things when I first talked to you initially is how much you loved being a part of the community here at Bardstown.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Bardstown is yes, it's the bourbon capital of the world, but it is a really rich community with a lot of great people here.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: And you see a lot of people, you know, here here at the festival today who are who are locals and just love love what it's become.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: But we have we have made very good friends.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: I I have two young kids with with my wife, Megan, and we've met many other many other parents with young kids, and we just love to hang out.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, it's great.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: We're driving distance from our parents now.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I've been I've been at uh 17 i2 just over four years now, which seems impossible because it's flown by.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: But you uh you hit the nail on the head.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Scott Scotchy Burber Boys was my first podcast as a master distiller in the distillery.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, you you get to you get to have that credit to your to your name.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: So thanks for thanks for breaking the ice on that one.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: You're welcome.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thanks for showing us.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, one of the things about the distillery, and we've talked about this before, it's a working distillery.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Very much so.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: And Sazerac made the just the determination to make it a working distillery.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the things when you when you to go there, you have to be either media or you're there for a barrel pick or whatever.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: The tours, and it's not open to the public.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: And we've talked about it, it does help out a little bit, but I think early on it did.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: But now you might not be open to the public, but they seem to be putting you out into the public.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: You're like you're they're bringing yes, they are you to them instead of them coming to their right, right?
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: I am a bit I I think we just chuckle about it because I'm definitely an engineer.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a little more introverted.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: But they're like, well, we're gonna have to change that a little bit.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta you gotta get out there and like we have a great story behind 1792, and we tell it well, and we just we just need more people to know about it.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: So no, Sazraq has been very, very good to me and and my family, but they've also been good about you know helping helping grow 1792 as a brand.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: So it's been it's been a very ever-evolving and ever-changing four years at the company, and every year is exciting.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: I learn something new every day, and then I'm I'm really excited about the future of 1792, especially when it comes to new releases like that bottle right there, our new straight rye.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: And that yeah, and we'll we'll we'll talk about that.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we will.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: But so we gotta get to when you first got there.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: I I I some similar experiences that uh you were at MGP.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: And they did some, they did a bunch of things one way, and we and I remember early on you talking about why you got into bourbon.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: Just tell them real quick what got you into bourbon.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it wasn't bourbon.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: No, didn't that was not why I went to college or really anything else.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: I I went to Purdue for engineering for any any boys out there, boiler up.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: But I went to I went to bio and food processing engineering to go make cereal because I just like cereal.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: I like eating cereal dry still today.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: Well, what about the cereal that's in the distillery all the time?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: No!
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: No oatmeal kind of, you know.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: I don't I don't eat the DDG.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: I will, you know, we we we do quality is obviously very important, and so I will, you know, chew on some rye or some malts every every once in a while.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Not not hardcorn, I don't recommend it, but we taste fermenters all the time.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I got I got into I had a whole goal of going to make cereal honey bunch of oats or apple scent, Cheerios, what what have you.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, corn breakfast.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, there you go.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Such a complex cereal.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: You think about all the different types of green?
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't know.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's just it's cool.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I took a bunch of microbiology and just yeah, really fell in love with the world of fermentation.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if that was a right turn, a 180, but it was a turn for sure, and said I I'm gonna do something around fermentation.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Got a great job as a night shift or actually a swing shift supervisor at MGP in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I learned more than I realized I learned there from so many, so many smart people, including Ian, who's our current master of distiller.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: He and I started around the same time.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: He he's awesome and super smart.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Greg Metz, who was the previous master of distiller, but yeah, I was there for four years and I went to Colorado.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Follow followed my wife.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: Did you get the job at MGP?
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: Because people don't under don't really understand.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: MGP is the is the main corporation.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's Ross and Squib is the distillery, right?
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, so we all call it MGP, but it's really Ross and Squibb.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: They do other things, right?
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: Do they make cereal?
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: No, they just do they their operation out in Action City, Kansas, where they're technically headquartered, is they do specialty wheat proteins and starches.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: So some of those things do go into cereals.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, but they do not make cereal them.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, they they are a food and food ingredient company too.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: So, really quick, when you started getting into wanting to make cereal, right?
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: Is there a need that much for that job after all these years?
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: Is is it all about changing flavors and stuff?
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: Are they always trying to call is that where it is, or or you just never found out?
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I didn't really find out.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: I I have friends who I'm like the average engineer from Purdue.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: I got friends who do all sorts of cool things, some of them who work on cereal.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I think part of it is you know maintaining quality and quality with cereal, like you know, Super Nash, you had cereal for breakfast this morning.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: They you want to make sure that as an engineer, that bowl of Cheerios or Honey Bun Foats is the same every time, anywhere, wherever it may be sold.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I think I think there's that part of it.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Then also to your point, the innovation.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what are some really good Cheerios flavors?
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Where, you know, James, but yeah, pumpkin.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: James, my son, loves loves the strawberry Cheerios, you know, so it's just like I think I think there's that that part of it as well.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_02: I like the frosted cherry.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, also delicious.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't realize this was a cereal podcast, but that's sorry, sorry, Jeffrey.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_04: No, to my option.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: We always gotta mix it up and make things interesting.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: We gotta fill up, we gotta fill the time.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: That's good.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: So when you get uh you get hired from there and Barton, what was the interview like?
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: Who do who did you interview with?
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: Gosh, uh it was it was a really long process, I'm not gonna lie, but it's it's an important role, and there are a lot of uh lot of gates and important people that want to make sure that you're the right person for the job.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that role was open near a year, I believe.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um so and much credit, Ian from MGP, he's he's the one who out of the blue like texted me and was like, hey, I saw this.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because he he and I still chatted, even though I lived in Colorado at the time.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, I was like, yeah, that sounds kind of interesting.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: So um didn't think anything of it.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I got a cold call from a headhunter asking asking about it.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, like five months later of interviews with Danny Kahn, who was the previous master stealer, my predecessor, he's now who's now my my boss, and just a wealth of knowledge, and just a great man and mentor with Harlan, you know, master at Buffalo Trace, and and many others.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, it was it was a lengthy process, but yeah, they they they got to check a lot of boxes and so when you do sad track events, now you're rubbing with Harlan, you all get together, hang out.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, they're those guys are great.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: What's that uh after after the event bar, like when you go before you go back to the when you're all at the same hotel and you just go out and normally we've worked all day and then we've done that and we're like, guys, it's been great seeing you.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: So you guys aren't pushing up Booker Dreaming Russell when they're basically what were they killing?
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: They were rabbits.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: They were killing rabbits, and then they tried to flush the pelts down.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, nothing.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: In the bathroom.
• 12:39
  unknown: Cleaner them in the bathroom.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean somebody got on to and said, Oh no, the master's coming and started stuff and gonna be.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh gosh.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, not not nothing like that.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, we're just we're just a couple I mean at the end of the day, like Carlin, Danny, myself, a lot, a lot of distillers, like we're just we're kind of geeky.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe not all of us.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: I guess I speak for myself there, but it's like we care a lot about quality and we're in the distillery all day, and then and then we'll go do things.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're we're kind of tired sometimes.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I could see the New Orleans thing was was pretty cool.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: And see, yeah, New Orleans Bourbon Festival was I really love that venue.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I think next year they're gonna really get a hold of it so that in all that indoor stuff, and then they got the movie theater rented with and they're they said they're gonna ask all the distilleries for their you know their their videos or their instruct anything, and they're gonna play them in the movie theaters all throughout the festival.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, now that's that's cool.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: I like I like that a lot.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like you're going in and buying$12 popcorn.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: You just get it, you know, and it's and it's good popcorn.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: It was.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: So, anyways, we've been I s we've been everywhere I've been going, you've been going as far as the festivals.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's great to see you and and see you about.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: I've tried to get out a little bit, so you've never, I I would say you I've never perceived you as shy.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'd see you are you're you have a really good um demeanor, what everybody loves about bourbon.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: You're you just are when you're around people, you're you you I don't know if you actually do, but you probably do.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: You like them, you come off as you like somebody.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah what I mean.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure there's been jerks where you have to pretend, but at the same time, it's a genuine thing, and that's one of the things that why we gravitated towards you right away.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: But what was it like initially?
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: So you worked with he Danny was there with you all the time, right?
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: Initially kind of helping you get the thing.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: I definitely needed Danny's guidance.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I kinda yeah, I I knew uh how a distillery ran and I knew a lot of the technical aspects of it.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: But and this is why like I still kind of you know pinched myself to I knew nothing, really nothing about maturation.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I, you know, I technically oversee the distillery operations and the barrel warehouse operations.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: So day two and three, I spent one day I was in there rolling barrels in the warehouses with the guys, and I was I think it was maybe 30 minutes.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: I was soaked head to toe.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then the next day I was rolling, I was rolling barrels out and we were and we were doing regage because I just like wanted to know like how's this work?
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: But yes, Danny, Danny was uh very very pivotal in a lot of quick learning curves alongside what I consider one of the best teams that are that are in whiskey right now.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: We have we have a lot of good veterans who have been there for you know 20 plus years.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: Brian, our distilion manager, he's been there 21 years.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like that guy, he is the encyclopedia.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think and then you have all these young guns engineers and other people who are just so passionate about whiskey as well.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: So you have like the protectors, like the people like this is how we do it, and then you have all these young guns who are like, I love how we do it, and I want to explore and try to make our quality even more consistent and better.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, I am listening I am always grateful and and very lucky to work with the guys and gals I do.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: So Danny's now your boss.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: So Greg Schneider you know is a he's been a consultant and he did chicken talk and he's been part of Wild Turkey, but part of Bead, been part of Seagram's, yeah.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: He ran at, you know, whatever, and now he's consultant for four branches.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: But when he was at Wild Turkey, he was there and he worked for what was it at the time?
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: He was working corporate, yeah, corporate, and he was Jimmy Russell's boss.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so that's kind of cool.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: To you, that's kind of similar when most people are thinking the master distiller is the boss, you know what I mean?
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: But you are running everything you have to do things, but you then do have a boss that is the go be between operations and the corporate money aspect of it, right?
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's where the boss comes in, right?
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I deal with plenty of finance and capex and RD and all those maybe not so fun the the gritty part of the job, I guess is what I would call it, which is which is fine.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's just you know, yeah, you have a lot of a lot of responsibility.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: But again, like all the the people that I that I get to work with uh are just in all in all those different different departments are also very good.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's just a really really solid team at the end of the day, and I'm and I'm very grateful for it.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, Danny, Danny and I, you know, he's he just knows so much.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so if there's ideas that he has or I have, a lot of our one-on-ones and time together is spent yes going over like how is the distillery running, how's Barrelware House, but also what's next?
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: What are we, you know, what are some very innovative or creative ideas or things that we can do just on a daily basis to make us better, better tomorrow than than we are today.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: So he is a wealth of knowledge.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: Hit hit him and Harlan both.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Harlan's been at Buffalo Trace for 30 years, right?
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and when you think of the two different places, right, of what Bartons is put was producing before you.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: And then as a team, and you always stress it, and I agree, you're when you're running a team, you're making sure everybody's doing the right thing.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: But it's a day-to-day people thing too.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like fun, you know, you're a manager, you know.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: Oh no, yeah.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: My first thing in the morning is to make sure everybody's in, but there's days where people something happened and they're not, and then you gotta gotta get them right on to the whole thing.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: And yes, I always feel really happy when we go home at night and nobody's been hurt.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: Then you know safety is number one.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: It always could be making bourbon, and that can be, and yes, there's days where I and I know that distillars where there's something go you blow O-rings or you have things, and or there's a pump down, or there's this, and you know you're not being productive, and those are fun days, not, but at the same time, but at the same time, not at all.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's not as far as safety and everybody in that those are you don't want the other, those are the worst days, if that you know, yeah, kind of thing.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm always happy, I'm always said that if we go home, we'll always be able to you can always distill the next day, and then you can always make bills of cardboard the next day.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's you know, that's kind of as a manager, that's how I look at it.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, our our motto is uh at least from an operation standpoint, not not a sim Chinai Two Brain MOS.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: We want to make great quality whiskey safely and efficiently every day.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's our goal.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: And if we if we do that, you we we win the day.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: So all right, so we're gonna get into this one more time.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm gonna compliment the shit out of you because that's what I don't like this part of the internet.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's your team and you working on the whole thing, including Danny, he came and helped you to get to be able to do what you but whatever you've brought has helped this brand.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: Well, there's some people that said, well, six years ago I tried it and it was I'm like, it's not this is not what it was six years ago.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I'm just like the one thing I haven't tried is very old Bartons again.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: Because when I took the tour with at the time, what that was not a I was not happy with that because that was one of the few it's six years ago.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: I should actually revisit it now that you got this this because you the the bourbon was very, very heavy.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: It was uh the all all of them you had a 1792, it was a lot of times it was hot, it was spicy, okay, and you felt like this is the bourbon that that Booker would be, you know.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: This is what he's used to high proof, you know, but whatever.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then and you guys had the year of bourbon of the year with foolproof, correct?
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and that 1012 year, yeah.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: We've had bourbon of the year a few times.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: That that that foolproof was that when you were still here?
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: No, yeah, no, that was before you're waiting for bourbon of the year again, right?
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: No, sometime, someday.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: But that foolproof really eliminated so much, but that put had Bartons just like you couldn't even buy the small batch on it.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: So the sales were there.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: But what you come out with all the different I just noticed there's a richer caramelier, it's not you don't really get even on your small batch, it's it's delicious.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: You'll you'll pour it, and I don't get that heavy heat that you could get before.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: So everybody I tell that has whatever.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that was a little, I'm like, you gotta go to it now.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Because now you I think you guys have put it right in the bourbon community's wheelhouse.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_02: So I want to know if you're coming there, since the tasting better, and we everybody can tell the difference.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_02: Have you been an instrumental part in like tweaking the mash bills and things like that?
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um sort of how it evolved.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_02: Or which barrels you the product that we're getting now?
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: I would, you know, I went in with a very open mind, and it's like, show show me how we're doing things.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: You got to go in and you as a manager as well, I'm sure you're like, you're like, you don't go and be like, I don't care how you're doing it, I'm gonna do it my way.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: And no, you go and be like, hey, I want to understand how you are doing it, and then based on past experience or other thoughts you have, or you know, inclusive leadership, you're like, hey, here's some other thoughts I have.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe, maybe we change this or maybe you change that.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I've made a few changes here and there, but again, people like, I'm gonna go back to him.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: Brian, who's been there for so long, he's I'll I'll come up, I'll come to him with an idea, I'll be like, what do you think of this?
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: He goes, uh, we tried that in 2016, don't recommend it again.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, well, maybe, and then we'll compromise and be like, let's do one fermenter like that or something, or one mash like that.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: But I would say maybe your point on flavor profile, maybe being more in people's wheelhouse, I've tried to be more dialed in on where we're pulling barrels from in the warehouses.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I I think there's like when I drink Semchi I2, be it the rye or or the bourbon or what.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: You there's three distinct notes.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: You got all that rice spice because it's a high rye bourbon.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: You have, I want to make sure the yeast shows off.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a fermentation guy, so you got those nice banana fruity notes there, and then you want to have the barrel show off, be it butterscotch, or you were talking about caramel, brown sugar, vanilla, all those things.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to make sure when people taste small batch for the first time, they're like, oh, that is like a nice spice, not over spicy.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: So when they taste it, they want to eat.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I what if this tastes like this?
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: What's the foolproof?
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: What's the problem then bond?
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: What's single barrels?
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_01: And even the single barrels, all the single barrels are all.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there for a while, old Forester was putting out these single barrels that were just solid pepper.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I can't, I don't, I want banana.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I mean, I don't want solid pepper.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: Some people like them.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's good.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone's different.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: People have their palate.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: And you're making whiskey for the whole when you're making for the whole country or the world, there, yeah.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna sell it.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's no doubt, but but bringing more people in is always a good thing, and especially in this market that we're experiencing right now, I think you guys and Sazerac as a whole is what would you say, navigating it very, very well.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: We seem like it.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we we have a lot of conversations around quality, and uh I think as you as you look at this phase, this is maybe more so of an opinion than anything.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think people's expectations as whiskey has aged up versus where it was, you know, even three, four years ago.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you walk around the festival today versus like 2023, there's a lot more age-dated stuff today.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I think people's expectations, I don't I wouldn't say it's people they are they are up.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: They expect very good things for a good price.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of the times, you know, kind of going back to small batch, for most people, that's the first 17 IQ product they're gonna try.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: Be it, you know, we sell it on the 200s or a 375 or or a 750, like that's probably the first thing they're gonna try.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: That is I have two I have two small children at home, but that is that's the third, that's the third baby right there.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: I got I have to take care of that and nurture it.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, it's obvious to me.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_01: I I mean when I got my first ball batch, it was it was in 2018, okay?
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I picked up and I was like, I'd like the bottle.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I tried it, and uh for me and the one at the time, it took it sat on my my my my first bourbon shelf was our we we had a curio cabinet in the bedroom.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: So to keep it away from the kids, I would put the good bourbon on top of the curio cabinet.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so she looks at me one day and she goes, You know, we need to buy a cabinet for bourbon.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: Could call Roxy.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: So that was the start.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: Once you got your own cabinet, you'll get another cabinet, then you get shelves, then you get a room, then you get two rooms.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: Then she loses her laundry room and turn it into a speaking scene.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: I've haven't done that yet.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_03: We I don't mind it.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: It was a special one.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, is that something that will be bottled in the future?
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, hopefully.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that the label has been approved for uh for a foolproof version of of our weeded bourbon, so don't know when it'll come out, but it was one of those things I just yeah, I'm just really I'm really excited about it.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_02: It was really cool.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so we should be excited about it.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: And everybody should go get it.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: Whenever it comes out, it's hard to keep sweetweed on the on the shelf.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: Just imagine what this is gonna do.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm a little nervous about that.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then and then the other one was our our newest and oldest release, XV, the 15-year Cast Strength.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: So first ever Cast Strength and oldest, oldest bourbon from the distillery.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_04: Where did you release that?
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: That was duty free only.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: So find that wherever you want to go, Roxy, and guys, go for it.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think I think I have one bottle in my office.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not open.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's not open.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I was always hoping for one of those bottles that just is up there, you know.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: There's there's a couple of those, but yeah, that's well, that's where you know I I want to be very pointed and specific about what is expectations are up.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: What what do we need to do to match those?
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, your 12-year-old I mean love 12 years.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: Oh god, and then when you think about it, and I it's been there 12 years, better for me.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: I have two bottles, one before whatever, and it's night and day, but I think you tainted me with that one bottle.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: I I swear to God, it might have been one of the best tasting bourbons I've ever tasted.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: No gosh.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: It could no, I'm not kidding.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: You did you get we gotta get you to try more bourbon?
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I just think.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: I couldn't believe it.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, oh, the one at the yes, oh gosh, by golly.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're drilling.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: Second floor of warehouses, and we're it's gotta be like 115 up there.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: We're kind of whatever, and then all of a sudden you bring it out, and it's all it's cold, which it was hot that day, but it was the the it was still close from the winter.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yep.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: And we were like, oh wow, yeah.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: I will, yeah.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: How can I forget?
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: That was it was so complex.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: It was viscous.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: It was there was no all the notes, everything.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: There's nothing there.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: Your mouth had a party, and there was nothing interfering with it.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: It was just beautiful, there was like a carmic butterscotch, everything going on.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: It was cherry, it was gosh.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was a pretty cool.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for that.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: You're welcome.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, I'm not kidding.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not just saying that on this podcast.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: That was that was a great experience.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it was.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: How can man?
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: I've not I almost forgot about that.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: That was that was an unforgettable moment.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: So yes, delicious.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_01: I won't let you.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'll just get a random message every once in a while.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: Hey man, remember when.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: Just so you don't forget.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so you've got the straight rye being delivered out, right?
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I've done.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I can tell you within.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: So my thing always is I found a lot of ryes I liked, but I found a lot of ryes I didn't like.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm always if you're making me nervous.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: I don't mind, I don't mind a little rice spice.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: I like chocolate and mint.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of minty.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: Grassy and formeldehardy.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: Good word.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_01: Formaldehyde.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh or I I can pick up really ranted flavors on some rice.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this one is about is it a bottled in bond?
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: What's approved?
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: It is not bottled in bond, but it is 100-proof.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so it's 100-proof.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I learned I was at a place, uh a pot still place, and they make rye in Pennsylvania and they make a ton of rice.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: So we're tasting through, and I'm like, no, no.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: All of a sudden, yeah, yeah, no, yeah.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_01: And it was the wife of the master distiller who was giving us the taste, and she goes, You just don't like proof down rice.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_03: It's all you know.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's what she's like, oh, these are 94, 910.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: But those are the ones you were saying yes to is barrel strength.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: So she pulls one more out, gives it to me barrel strength, and I'm like, that's delicious.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: And then she gives me proof down, and I'm like, so so never again.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: So 100, when I saw it, now all my friends, all my social media friends and everybody, it's like they just they love it and they bring it to me.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_01: I probably had to try that bottle 12 times where they're like, and the first time I was scared because it's you and whatever.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: But then now I just pretend so that they bring it to me and I can keep trying it.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm not sure about this.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: Honestly, the way I work is that with all the bottles that I have and tasted and everything, if I'm gonna drink something, I walk downstairs and I'm not doing a podcast, and I need something real.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: I usually, with all the bourbon I have, and I'm a I'm a caramel butterscotch guy, I usually don't tend to pick a rye.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: No, you don't have to be a good one.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's not a normal note in those.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, I love I love I love other brands, rye.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: There's some really good ones.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I've picked a couple over bourbons from time to time, but it's still uh uh I kept tricking a bourbon, you know what I mean?
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm excited to tell everybody because there's so many people who just love this.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_01: Good Matt Lysing from Cleveland on the Rocks.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: You can see the phone tell you hello.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, hello, Matty L, wherever, wherever you are.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, probably Let me in.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, he's a fan.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yes.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and everybody that that you know, so I'm excited.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you want to crack it?
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay, let's do it.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, new new 72 straight ride.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's been out a few months now.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of co-released it with with the XV.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: So there you go, Roxy.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: So we've co-released it with the XV, so right when that started happening.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: The media release was was with each other.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: So there you go, that's for you.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you are almost snippet.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, why not?
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: Why not?
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: What one more glass?
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I haven't had any yet today.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: Didn't he make a statement just before?
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: He did.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_01: It does get a little bit of the notes, yeah, yeah.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it is it is the same yeast strain as the bourbon.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I did that for maybe those people who shy away from rice a little bit.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: So the fruit, the fruity notes from the yeast, I think go well with the uh all all the rice spice instead of it just being all rice spice.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then you put it in a barrel for a good number of years.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's at least four years old, but it's it is much older than that.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: So they yeah.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_01: So they don't don't make, I mean, it's not your there's not a lot of rye that barkins, right?
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: No, we do we do not make a lot of rye.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: So what's that like running a rye now?
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_01: Now are you making more of it with the rye market being a little bit bigger, or are you kind of staying what they they normally do?
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, what is what was your production?
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_01: I don't talk about production.
• 34:22
  unknown: I don't talk about rye.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's fine.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: We're following the forecast.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't trying to get it's what we I know, I know.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_01: I really wasn't.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: We we make rye whiskey there and we follow we follow our forecast.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: So what's it like?
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: Is it a different animal?
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean it's uh is it a hard first off, I I love making rye whiskey.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: My roots are at MGP, which is you know, very well known for the rye.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: So big, you know, a big competitor there, but also also a good friend in Ian and and all the folks there.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: But I wanted to make something and continue making something that was not just a spice, something that was more balanced and not more of a bourbon guys rye, but just something that is more balanced and and still show off our great yeast strain while showing off the wonderful things of rye.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it is it it can be definitely harder to run.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: Rye is much stickier when you especially on the on the grain processing side.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: So after you ferment or mash ferment and distill it, turn that into DDG.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's well I mean it's tough.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: Your still is massive.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's the second largest still still in Kentucky, right?
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's what it is.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: Something like that.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's a it's a six-foot still, it's big.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's huge, yeah.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_01: When you go in there, plus this it's this piece of iron.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_01: Not you know what I mean, and you just it's massive.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_03: So it doesn't have any of the notes that you don't like, would you?
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_03: No, you celery.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: It does not have it's not super vegetable.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's someone someone told me caramel apple.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_03: I was gonna say it's like those caramel apple suckers at Halloween.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: The other one said the Christmas gumdrops, so like the cinnamon and uh yeah, like the green, but not like a chewy.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_01: I I won't it won't affect my teeth as much.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_03: No, no, it doesn't it doesn't like super high spice that roast success, like I can't taste anything.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you and some of those fruity notes are still present yes in the finish, which is very good.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_02: I think you're real rich still being mouth eating.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, very good.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I'm good with it.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_01: Did what you said you wanted to do because for instance, you leave this in the barrel four more yeah, four more years, and the barrel starts to add its influx, then you start to get into a bourbon drinkers adding all the wood sugars and all that.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you gotta be careful there too.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: So because then it's just like rye spice and and a lot of tannins.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_00: So versus like bourbon, you have a lot of that sweetness from the corn that can balance the tannins.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_01: Now, just a question.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: When I was talking to a distiller before, and it was running a pot still, he had done a bunch of rye, and he was with it, and he's like, rye is the most unique thing when you're tasting barrels.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_01: He goes, You'll taste it in August, and it'll have the the vegetable flavors, okay?
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_01: And you'll taste it in in October, and he's like, now it's minty chocolate.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_01: He goes, but if you leave it, it can it's just like as you go, it just is pink.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_01: So he goes, you have to get it when you got it.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_01: He goes, it's you gotta get it quick.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_01: Gotcha.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'll find that.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: Man, I've never every quarter, I've never been like, oh, I'm gonna taste it at this point, this point, this point.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_00: But I could see how that's how it's definitely possible.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: But I I don't have any personal experience seeing those different fluctuations.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: He goes, You kind of now know when the barrels are young, how they're you know, some are aggressive, some are whatever, and then you kind of arrange them for what their age is gonna be, because if it's really super, you know, passive or whatever.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_01: He goes, that one is gonna go bow into the and get aged, you know, and then it's like if it's really aggressive, he's like, you know, you want to get it, and it'll be something that'll be ready for your, you know.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: Gotcha.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think, especially when when you're a smaller distiller, you get to pay so much attention to every single barrel, which I think is honestly, some days I'm jealous of that.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it'd be cool to just go through and know exactly how every single barrel tastes and and make these micro blends.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I get to, you know, I got to do that with something like XV, but for you know, larger blends, like you know, that I have to collect a lot of data and be like, all right, this is this is how we want to be, and I know it'll be in this general wheelhouse.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, for for the crowd folks, you get to taste every barrel and be like, I want that flavor, I want that flavor, I want that flavor, I want to blend those specific things.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I think that's yeah, a little a little jealous of that, honestly.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_01: So forever the before you forever up until like the 1970s, the most important thing was consistency.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_01: All the distilleries were working worked hard to make a consistent product so that when you went to the store, you bought something that consistently tastes like that.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_01: So but that's that changed a little bit now in the markets because I really feel that even in even in products like Buffalo Trace or that the aging process, I think the heat and everything, how you how what Kentucky's been doing, I've just noticed even on the lower lower levels, you know, there's just more uh they're they're changing and they're becoming sweeter or what you know, just like let's just say ancient age, right?
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_01: If you taste that seven years ago and you're tasting it now, I just feel like there's just so much more.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_01: I think the barrels are aging away, they're just so much more good bourbon.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_01: Even the lower shelf stuff and the the lesser age stuff is doing better.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_01: So that kind of changed everybody on consistency.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_01: I want consistency on every year your small batch to get better or be the same.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: Gosh, you already said it got better, and now you're being like, I'm like kind of satisfied with that.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_02: So you were talking about when you came in how you know you're trying to live in how I can make it better.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_01: Well, but he's just trying to he's just trying to get it.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_01: All right, no, but I'm saying I've never a newest Buffalo Trains.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_01: I did a podcast, right?
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I got one from five years ago, okay?
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_01: And that one was like three quarters.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I had it and I put the two together, and the one now is like a caramel bomb.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, holy crap, you know, and that's good because if you if it's better, it can be consistent.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_01: You could you set the bar for good consistency, right?
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'll keep going.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_01: It seems like it has a shot at just that's something you guys are always looking for.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just asking that you're looking looking for?
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think you know, personal definition of quality.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think I think everyone has their own.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's something can be defined as quality if it fulfills its purpose.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_00: So you're talking about cereal.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: You want that bowl of cereal, or I like Chick-fil-A.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: I want I want a spicy chicken deluxe to be the same anywhere I get it, or you want that bowl of cereal to be the same anywhere you get it, or I want small batch to be the same or very similar for anybody you get it.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_00: I want I want to hit those three notes.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_00: For something like XV, I'm okay if X V is different every year because people don't want the same special release every year.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think I think that's or single barrels.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_00: I want all single barrels to be delicious, but I want them to be that's the fun of a single barrel.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_00: I want them to all be delicious in their own in their own way.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it all de it all depends on how with the what is your end goal?
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_00: What is what is with the end in mind, what are you trying to accomplish?
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it should be quality, but you need to know what your what purpose you're trying to fulfill.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_00: So but yes, the small batch, consistency.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_00: With other things, uniqueness.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that answers your question.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's exactly it.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_01: And that's one of the things that the excess it's fun to be a part of what you're doing, pretty close to the start of what you're doing it, and seeing how you go into it.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_01: And you we could I could tell you your what would you say?
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_01: Your public persona has always been confidence, but but your actual how you're answering the questions, you're getting down the line where the a lot of the stuff that you've already learned, you can apply that.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas when you first get there, yes, you're learning it, and then you've got to put it in your mind of how you're gonna apply it, right?
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so I know very much so.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and the and you're I started in recycling 22 years ago coming from commercial art.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_01: So you go into as a plant.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_00: Very similar.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, just so similar.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm gonna tell you running a commercial art studio was very similar to running the plant because the people all have their their vices in commercial art too.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, they their drugs just cost more.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_01: But anyways, anyways, you know, running running running people is a thing.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_01: That's just part of it.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, and you what you said, what you were doing is exactly kind of how I don't ever want to go and tell somebody, but if you're gonna change something, you know, in your head, you get the plan in your head, and then you kind of do it and you kind of put it in slowly, and then eventually you train somebody, you know, an employee, and all of a sudden the muscle memory of the way you used to do it is no longer, and it's the muscle memory of how you do it, right?
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, very much.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and and just getting everybody rowing in the same direction.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_00: So and we have a good team, it's right, and it's good to keep them rolling.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, very, very much so.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I have about two minutes.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was gonna say you were right at the right there.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I was there.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, just well done.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_02: Well finished.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_02: Well, go ahead.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I was just about to say, uh, where is this available at now?
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_00: It is I think it's limited national distribution, so I don't know exactly every state where it's at, but it is it is released.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_00: So it's out there, be on the lookout.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_00: MSRP is fine because it is good very well.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: MSRP is$39.99.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's one of the great things about this brand.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_01: Everything's my favorite thing there is price point in the quality for price.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't know what the 15 year is, but that one's I mean very limited, but it's$250 for a one liter.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_00: So comes out to like$180 for the equivalent of$180 for a$750.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_01: Which is oh my god, that's that's fantastic.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_01: You you send it out in a one liter.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_01: Now that's awesome.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so yeah, yeah.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, everybody.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, thank you so much.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh remember, do you guys got a website and everything that you know or do they do?
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_01: But you know the normally aren't promoting.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean it who has to when it's it's Barton1792.com, probably.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_00: Simchaichu Bourbon.com.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, or if I'm always open to questions, you can follow me on social media.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um bourbon corn on on Instagram.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not on TikTok or anything, so I'm not that cool.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_00: No, yep.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_01: YouTube.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_01: I finally figured it out.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody thank you on YouTube and Facebook, and uh thank you, Ross, for coming on.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_01: We're okay, everybody.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_01: www.scotchybourbonboys.com for all things Scotchy Bourbon Boys, blank carries, t-shirts, but not ads yet.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_01: We're working on that.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_01: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube X, and Apple, iHeart Spotify, and everywhere else.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_01: And again, good friends, equal good bourbon, good times.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_01: Make sure you drink responsibly, don't drink and dry, and live nearby on the filter.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 46:12
  unknown: Nice.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_00: No, look.