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Old Kempton's The Old Stables NOT a Bourbon, but an An Australian Whisky from Tasmania · Aussie Bourbon Lovers

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  Incredible flavours, even better stories.
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  One Pour, 10 Minuts, Aussie Bourbon Lovers, Sharing Bourbon with Australia.
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  There we go.
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  I always underestimate how long it's going to take me to get the cork out of the top.
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  It's hard when you have a five-second Timer in front of you, coming down, five,
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  four, three, two, one, you're going to get the pop right to it.
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  You're revealing behind the scenes a bit there.
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  What are we having, Hedge?
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  We're having an old Kempton single malt whiskey.
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  I know it's not a bourbon. This is the old stable.
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  Cheers. Cheers.
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  If you're playing along at home, this is the December 2021, which is batch four.
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  The significance of that is that this is probably the batch that was
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  judged, the one that won the award, which was best Australian small batch single
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  malt in 2022 at the World Whisky Awards.
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  So it's award-winning, but it's not bourbon.
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  No.
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  Are you okay with the fact that we're drinking a whiskey that's not bourbon,
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  or are you a bit offended by this idea?
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  No, I think, well, we can't get Australian bourbon for obvious reasons.
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  Right.
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  But whiskey made in Australia, Tazie is a place to go.
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  So I think it's good We're drinking some local quality, not bourbon whiskey.
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  Not bourbon whiskey.
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  So sharing bourbon with Australia one pour at a time, this is not bourbon.
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  But it does get aged in old bourbon cast.
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  It's one of the things that maybe is the connexion between Australian whiskey and
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  bourbon, really, is that we use a lot of whiskey barrels.
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  Well, for lots of stuff, of course, everyone uses bourbon barrels
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  for lots of stuff, sorry. But we do...
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  The Australian whiskey industry does use the bourbon barrels, often
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  refurbished, which these ones are.
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  And Old Kempton in particular?
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  Well, Old Kempton definitely, too. Yeah.
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  And this one, some of this, I don't know exactly what barrels have been used
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  here, but they'll be using some wine.
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  They use port barrels and Pinot barrels, I know that.
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  And they definitely It's just bourbon barrels.
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  So, yeah, that's definitely a thing.
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  And what are you getting on the nose?
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  I'm getting not bourbon.
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  It's a single malt made in what I think, and I'm probably going to say
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  this wrong, is the Scotch style.
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  So the grain straight up the front there is the malt of barley.
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  And so that's the single...
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  I'm not getting this wrong.
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  The single malt is the malt of barley.
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  Yeah, It's definitely much more like a…
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  There's some sweetness to it, but it's got that tanginess that I
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  think- A grainy, I like it.
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  It just smells like grain.
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  We'll get to the reason why we're drinking this in a sec, but this was recommended to
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  me when we were at quite a nice restaurant called Amaru, and they
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  said, Would you like it?
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  You were after a bourbon.
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  Something to wrap up the meal.
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  I was like, I'd bourbon.
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  And they're like, We don't have bourbon, but we've got this whiskey
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  that drinks beautifully.
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  I was like, All right, give me a go.
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  So this is the-And you were suitably impressed.
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  We now own a bottle.
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  And this is not our first one either. We've gone through a few of these.
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  And we love our Bourbon.
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  So we really both mostly enjoy Bourbon, but we do have some Tassie whiskys.
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  We love a trip to Tasmania as well.
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  It's our end of January, beginning of February sojourn, at least once a year.
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  And you've actually been to Old Kempton Distiller.
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  I have been to Old Kempton.
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  So Kempton is about an hour north of Hobart.
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  If you can imagine a map of Australia, if you're not an Australian,
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  Tasmania is the island at the very bottom underneath Melbourne.
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  About an hour flight from Melbourne to get to Hobart.
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  And then if you drive back up the island of Tasmania, you get to Kempton.
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  It's just a tiny little town.
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  And old Kempton Distilleries in the...
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  I think it's the old bank or something like that.
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  It's an old building. It's the main house.
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  And then there's a distiller that's connected to it.
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  And it has some fun history of its own.
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  But Tasmanian distilling is interesting.
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  When you think about the history of bourbon and the history of
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  whisky's around the world, you think about how long it's been going for.
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  But Bill Lahr, who's the grandfather of Australian whiskey, really only
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  finally got the government to say you're allowed to distil anything in Australia,
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  distil a spirit in Australia in the early '90s.
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  So that's the earliest distilling whiskey.
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  The Australian There you go.
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  Whisky industry, the spirits industry.
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  I don't know what I talk about whiskey.
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  Yeah, is only about 30 years old.
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  And so even our oldest stuff isn't that old.
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  If it's a real Australian whiskey, you really made in Tassian.
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  So the bulk of our distilleries are in Tasmania, which is close- Would you say
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  Old Kempton is one of the more well-known Tassian distilleries?
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  Probably, I think in the top, say 10.
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  I'm making this up, but that's probably about, right?
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  Lark is the The one that everyone knows, and it's quite big.
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  There was another distillery called Nant that doesn't exist anymore, and that's
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  quite famously is involved in what's now a court case about.
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  A lot of good stories behind the whiskey that we drink.
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  Well, maybe we could do that another time.
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  But the guy's accused of having swindled a lot of people a lot of money
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  through a barrel investing scheme.
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  And then there's others like Overeem and Spring Bay and newer ones like Warps
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  Harbour and stuff like that as well.
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  Bell Grove is a quite famous one because the character who runs up.
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  But yeah, there's lots of distilleries down there.
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  A good fun and great to visit.
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  And you come to Australia if you want to check it.
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  And were you happy when you got poured this instead of a bourbon Did it…
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  Was that happy?
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  I think it impressed you because you weren't prepared to be impressed
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  because they didn't have bourbon.
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  I think…
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  Was that impressed?
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  I don't know if I was I was happy.
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  It's super easy drinking. It's only 40 % or 40.
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  5 %. So it goes down pretty smoothly.
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  There is some lovely sweetness that comes from the barrels.
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  Of course, they're using second fill barrels.
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  So you get some sweetness from the bourbon barrels they use and then the
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  wine barrels, too.
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  So, yeah, it's lovely.
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  I think every time I have these whiskies that aren't bourbon, that don't
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  have the sweetness and the corn influence.
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  Missing the corn.
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  I remember why I love bourbon so much.
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  That's really what my answer But for those who are after a very delicious tasting
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  whiskey that's readily available in Australia.
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  Yeah.
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  What? An old Kempton is a great one to grab.
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  One of the really interesting things that happens because the whiskey industry is
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  so young in Australia and because we've got these huge taxes, these crazy taxes.
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  It's really expensive.
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  This is a 500 mil bottle.
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  Sorry, get out and support the Aussie still is.
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  This is a 500 mil bottle.
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  I think it's about 200 bucks.
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  Yeah, compared to what you could buy a bottle of bourbon in the US.
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  A tonne of bourbon in the US for that.
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  A tonne of bourbon in Australian dollars is still quite a good bourbon.
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  Yeah, it's like a very nice drop of bourbon.
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  But this is like...
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah, but get amongst it.
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  They do some tiny batches, Small batches by comparison to
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  American distilleries and by Bourbon runs.
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  And the other one that's interesting is we talked about…
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  The reason we're having it tonight is we were in Tazia on a weekend,
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  and we were talking about going to do a distillery tour.
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  The distillery tours over there are so tiny.
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  Everything's so small.
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  It's done in these tiny little-Very boutique little.
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  Pots stills and small batches and all that stuff.
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  It's definitely not the same level you get when you have a bit of fun
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  on Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
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  No, but it's still delicious.
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  And what- And Tassie.
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  Tassie is a fabulous place to go visit.
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  Why is it a fabulous place to visit? I don't know.
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  It's not very far away from where we are, and they make delicious whiskies.
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  Yes. And it gives you that old school feel.
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  I feel like I'm in, I don't know, Scotland or England or
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  just the weather and the old buildings.
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  It's a good vibe.
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  I love Tassie.
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  I feel relaxed when I'm in Tasmania.
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  Do you know what's a really good thing to do in Tassie?
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  What? Drink bourbon.
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  Yes, we do.
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  We drink the local whisky and we take a bottle of bourbon.
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  I did go to the Tassie Whisky Festival.
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  Tassie Whisky Show. Tassie Whisky Festival.
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  Tazz Whisky Week, I think it's called.
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  This year, just gone. Last year.
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  Last August. And it was good fun.
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  Yeah. Lots of great stories came back from that.
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  I didn't get to go.
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  Australian, really.
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  But yeah, good fun.
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  And the thing that I love about it is I love supporting these little distillers
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  who are doing great stuff and just plugging away doing amazing stuff.
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  The whiskey is beautiful for sickle moults and does compete with the-Oh, yeah.
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  World's best.
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  Solvence Cove, one, world's best whiskey in the air a few years ago, which is
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  another one of the well-known Australian distillers.
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  Solvence Cove is basically where we stay.
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  I think Tazia also has that little thing about it that I found really
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  big in Kentucky.
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  They're each lift each other up like that, what is it?
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  Rising Tide lifts all boats.
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  They're really supportive of each other and love helping each other out.
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  And that same vibe is very much in Kentucky with all the
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  bourbon distilleries and everything.
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  They all really support each other and are able to tell each other great
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  things and recommend other ones to go to.
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  I feel like Tazie definitely has that vibe as well.
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  Yep, absolutely.
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  So if you do get to Australia.
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  I mean, obviously outside of Tassie, up on the mainland, there's
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  lots of good ones, too. Starwood and Archie Rose and Gospel.
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  There's a good list of ones on the mainland as well.
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  So check out Aussie distilleries as well, because they make great stuff, too.
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  It's not bourbon.
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  It can't be called bourbon if it's not made in America.
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  And they often are not trying to do that 51% corn mash bill.
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  But definitely- We do love the corn. But we do- We do love the corn.
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  But we do- We love supporting Aussie Whiskeies.
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  Cheers. Cheers.
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  Thanks for listening.
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