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Hayner Distilling Rebuilds A Legacy By Reverse-Engineering A 1904 Bourbon · The Scotchy Bourbon Boys

0:58
SPEAKER_01: I'm here to tell you about Whiskey Thief Distilling Company and their newly open tasting world.
1:04
SPEAKER_01: Whether you are up for a farmed glass distilling experience on the Three Boys Farm in Frankford, Kentucky, or an out-of-this world tasting experience in you with outfit, you won't be disappointed.
1:16
SPEAKER_01: At both locations, they're barrel fixed all day, every day, and farmed like none other.
1:22
SPEAKER_01: Each location speech patents with five barrels.
1:25
SPEAKER_01: Each weekly passed until Burbank and Ryan.
3:15
SPEAKER_01: And hey Greg, good to see you.
3:19
SPEAKER_01: Welcome.
3:20
SPEAKER_01: And then CT, you are with us again.
3:23
SPEAKER_01: We're what's up?
3:25
SPEAKER_01: It's just like I'm back straight from vacation up in northern Michigan.
3:30
SPEAKER_01: Had a really good, relaxing time, seemed to do, I don't know.
3:33
SPEAKER_01: It didn't feel like I was powering up a little bit because we were doing so much, but I just went back to work today.
3:40
SPEAKER_01: And I was, I had when you remember when I fell on my back that time.
3:46
SPEAKER_01: When I watched you fall on your back?
3:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, not what would you or my ass or my back, my ball, whatever.
3:52
SPEAKER_01: But not being on a forklift for 10 days kind of let me heal up a little bit.
3:56
SPEAKER_01: So I was kind of excited about that.
3:58
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't having any back issues finally.
4:01
SPEAKER_01: So I guess going back to work and getting on a schedule, but I I you know, long vacations, I I I get back, I want some structure in my life.
4:12
SPEAKER_01: It's like I'm gonna have to do something forever because when I don't do anything, you know, there's some times where my grandson's up there and I was doing nothing, and all of a sudden I was like, what do I do?
4:26
SPEAKER_01: There's the he's napping, there's no way and I'm like, I don't want to scroll my TV.
4:31
SPEAKER_01: I'm just sitting there and I'm just like, this is this is not for me.
4:36
SPEAKER_01: That's too slow.
4:37
SPEAKER_01: I like to go quicker.
4:39
SPEAKER_01: But with that said, uh, Greg, welcome.
4:42
SPEAKER_01: Big things happen at Hayner, and we're excited to have you on tonight.
4:46
SPEAKER_06: I uh I'm I'm excited.
4:48
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, thanks, thanks for the invitation.
4:50
SPEAKER_06: Happy to be here.
4:50
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, look forward to uh great discussion about whiskey.
4:54
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, and you know, for for me, Greg is about as close to my literally my backyard as anybody other than Indian Creek, because I grew up around the corner from them.
5:07
SPEAKER_07: But this obviously it's great having Ohio represented, but what you guys have done with with bringing a brand back.
5:17
SPEAKER_07: And I one thing we'll talk about when we get going here is explain, you know, to the people about the brand how it used to be, what it's become.
5:27
SPEAKER_04: Right.
5:27
SPEAKER_07: And of course, people that don't know where you're at, Troy, Ohio is pretty well famously known for the Strawberry Festival.
5:35
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, sits right above Dayton, you know, right off of I-75.
5:39
SPEAKER_07: So if you're 75 north of Dayton, going towards Pickwood, Troy or Pickware or Sydney, you're gonna kind of bump into Troy.
5:47
SPEAKER_07: So but you you grew up in that area, your dad in the car business.
5:52
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, so I was in the like yourself, like I was in the car business 20 years.
5:55
SPEAKER_06: My dad, we worked at Troy Ford, Troy, Ohio, which is now called Agagas Ford.
5:59
SPEAKER_06: So a couple great dealerships there.
6:01
SPEAKER_06: Been in Troy since 77.
6:04
SPEAKER_06: So for me, that was like the fourth grade.
6:05
SPEAKER_06: So I'm not a true Trojan.
6:06
SPEAKER_06: You got to be born here to be called a Trojan.
6:09
SPEAKER_06: But that's pretty close.
6:10
SPEAKER_06: So I do know Crazy Mary final.
6:14
SPEAKER_07: Did you know Crazy Mary?
6:15
SPEAKER_06: I did, yeah.
6:16
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, Crazy Mary.
6:17
SPEAKER_06: It's actually not not far from here.
6:19
SPEAKER_07: Right.
6:19
SPEAKER_07: So you're you're a troll a if you knew Crazy Mary.
6:23
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
6:23
SPEAKER_06: Well, then I'm a Trojan, I guess.
6:27
SPEAKER_01: That's cool.
6:28
SPEAKER_01: So you know, give everybody a little bit of the history, you know, for people just discovering Hayner, what's the story behind the name?
6:39
SPEAKER_06: All right, so I'll give you my my elevator speech as I say.
6:42
SPEAKER_06: I have to go on for a much longer time than we have here, so I'll keep it short.
6:46
SPEAKER_06: So, in short, Hainer distilling started back in 1866.
6:50
SPEAKER_06: If you're a history buff, you know, 1865, the Civil War just ended.
6:54
SPEAKER_06: Lincoln is assassinated in 65.
6:56
SPEAKER_06: Guy named Lewis Hainer comes to Troy in 66, starts Hainer distilling.
7:00
SPEAKER_06: From 1866 to 1920, became the largest distiller in Ohio in 1920's prohibition.
7:06
SPEAKER_06: They closed down, like everybody.
7:07
SPEAKER_06: The manufacturing of alcohol is illegal for 13 years in this country, uh, starting in 1920 to 1933.
7:13
SPEAKER_06: So Hayner closes in 1920 and we revived the brand in 2020.
7:18
SPEAKER_06: So we do not distill.
7:19
SPEAKER_06: So I always like to just close that up front.
7:21
SPEAKER_06: We we had Bargetstown Bourbon Company distilled for us.
7:24
SPEAKER_06: So we sort of reverse engineered the original mash bill.
7:28
SPEAKER_06: What got us started on this journey was we had done the bourbon trail, uh, visited all the distilleries.
7:33
SPEAKER_06: When we did it now 10, 12 years ago, I think there were 15 distilleries.
7:37
SPEAKER_06: Now I don't know, but I'm sure it's 30, 40 distilleries on the bourbon trail.
7:41
SPEAKER_06: Back then, they even had you had a book, they literally stamped your book, and then you would take it and get a free t-shirt, right?
7:46
SPEAKER_06: After they stamped your book, I don't again, I don't think they do that anymore.
7:49
SPEAKER_06: So we did the bourbon trail, fell in love with whiskey, fell in love with the history of bourbon, got back to Troy, it's our hometown.
7:55
SPEAKER_06: We always knew the story of Hayner, but uh we went to the Hainer Cultural Center, it's a nonprofit in town, and basically asked them, hey, can we rebuy this whiskey brand?
8:05
SPEAKER_06: They gave us their blessing.
8:06
SPEAKER_06: So we took a sample of an old bottle.
8:08
SPEAKER_06: The uh we took a sample of a bottle from 1904 uh that they had on open, took that down to Barnes Town Bourbon Company, Barstown, Kentucky, and had them distill for us.
8:17
SPEAKER_06: We figured out what the mash bill was, we had them then distill.
8:21
SPEAKER_06: So we did that because I don't have the skill set or the money to make high-end bourbon.
8:26
SPEAKER_06: I know I didn't I didn't want to put, I know we could have bought a$10,000,$20,000,000 still.
8:31
SPEAKER_06: I could have learned how to how to uh make bourbon and and let it sit for four or five years, but it was sucked.
8:36
SPEAKER_06: And so yeah, I didn't want to lose that time.
8:38
SPEAKER_06: And bar sounds the best of the best.
8:40
SPEAKER_06: And you guys have been there.
8:41
SPEAKER_06: I mean anybody been that's been there knows they make good quality stuff.
8:45
SPEAKER_06: So we basically contracted them to do it, right?
8:48
SPEAKER_06: So they made our bourbon barrels for us.
8:50
SPEAKER_06: Those barrels are now four years old.
8:52
SPEAKER_06: So we're starting to incorporate that into some of our products, but most of our products are older bark sound barrels that we've sourced and we have purchased while we wait for our barrels to come online.
9:02
SPEAKER_06: So and the biggest thing that shares Hainer Hainer's claim to fame was mail order whiskey.
9:08
SPEAKER_06: So so for$3.20, you get four quarts of whiskey in the mail.
9:12
SPEAKER_06: So they mailed whiskey all over the country.
9:15
SPEAKER_06: Largest mail order whiskey company ever in the United States.
9:20
SPEAKER_06: Unfortunately, mail order is not legal right now in Ohio, but they say it's coming back, so we're waiting for that date.
9:25
SPEAKER_01: So you'll be the you'll be setting the trend when it does come back.
9:31
SPEAKER_06: We've already got our marketing set up.
9:32
SPEAKER_06: The original mail order whiskey is back.
9:35
SPEAKER_01: So it'll be email order whiskey.
9:38
SPEAKER_01: The the what?
9:39
SPEAKER_01: The email?
9:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's what instead of mail order, you'll just call it email order whiskey.
9:43
SPEAKER_01: I like that, right?
9:44
SPEAKER_01: That that's that makes sense, right?
9:47
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and to today's market, that would work better.
9:50
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, so we've been at it for five years.
9:52
SPEAKER_06: Our our our hand of bourbon that we have now is actually a source, it's a blend of four different bourbons from Barnstown that we blended with their help uh with Dan Callaway down there, and and blended to taste like the original.
10:06
SPEAKER_06: So we sample the original from 1904, made this blend out to taste like the original, and is as close as we could get it.
10:12
SPEAKER_06: And then they distilled that for us.
10:13
SPEAKER_06: They distilled the bash pill that we derived from that sample, they distilled that for us, and so uh things are going great last five years, and we're uh getting ready to do a big expansion.
10:23
SPEAKER_01: So, real quick, so anybody out there that thinks I mean, this is a way to go about doing it.
10:30
SPEAKER_01: That and Bardstown, in my opinion, when they're distilling, like you said, you don't have to have the equipment, you basically batch distill.
10:41
SPEAKER_01: And when you're a craft distillery like yourself, it's it's over like you basically the whole process from grain to your distillation into the barrel is like a week, right?
10:54
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's in the year that's you can produce that much there that as much as you need, it's like a week, correct?
11:01
SPEAKER_01: How many yeah?
11:03
SPEAKER_01: So I mean, it's the way to go.
11:06
SPEAKER_01: I mean, if you purchase a still and you have to distill all year, no, most lot of people don't distill all year round, but you have it, but you have to have a market for that.
11:18
SPEAKER_01: So, what I've always felt the way you're doing it, is even though you're not distilling at your facility, you're still coming up with the mash bill, you're still going through how the cook works, they help you out and you produce, and then you're picking where the barrel, you know, the barrels and everything, and then they help.
11:36
SPEAKER_01: It's it's you're not a non-distilling producer, you're you're a non, what would you say, ownership.
11:45
SPEAKER_01: You don't own the still, but you're still produced.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: You are you are, and and I want to make that clear to everybody.
11:52
SPEAKER_01: Your footprint is on your whiskey.
11:57
SPEAKER_01: It's not just like you're buying, you know, what you what you're distilling.
12:01
SPEAKER_01: You're not just now the greatest thing is is you're using Bardstown, and they're the ultimate people of how to bring on you know, blend it or you know, purchase your and then bring your own stuff and into the mix to make it a really great transition from going from and you know, using and buying and being the non-distilling part of it to become your distillant.
12:27
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and that's how that's how Martown started.
12:29
SPEAKER_06: Uh, they were a contract distiller.
12:31
SPEAKER_06: And now obviously they went in and and they did their own branding and they have their own product, but yeah, that's what they were built for is to do contract distilling to help launch brands.
12:40
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it's our mash bill, you know, it's our juice.
12:43
SPEAKER_06: Uh the barrels say have our name on it, and and so we just didn't do it here.
12:47
SPEAKER_06: We just sit down in Kentucky.
12:49
SPEAKER_06: So, and and we've been very, you know, it's a little bit of luck, a little bit of ski though uh with blending.
12:54
SPEAKER_06: We we've just from Barge Town and from MGP, we've just got some amazing barrels that we went out and picked to pin, and that's what we've been using the last five years.
13:03
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, and Greg, I know we talked about it a little before the actual podcast started, but the other thing that it seems like for you, if it was me looking at, you know, doing what you're doing, you you have a lot of variety too that it offers you because if you were distilling your own product, you would pretty much have what you have.
13:22
SPEAKER_07: And now you're able to go out and pick that like six, those two six and a half year barrels that we tried a couple weeks ago, and how unique they were.
14:19
SPEAKER_07: And you know, you you you can have a little variety, and not only with Barnstown, because you can go out and find a barrel that Barton has.
14:30
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, we've got some, we have some Barton barrel barrels and Green River barrels.
14:34
SPEAKER_06: That's a great point because you know we have 15 different whiskeys at least, different blends, different mash fills, different barrels, every some of Green River, Barton, Bartstown, a lot of our rice from NGP.
14:45
SPEAKER_06: You're right.
14:46
SPEAKER_06: If we making our own, just doing, and there's there's validity to both ways.
14:51
SPEAKER_06: I don't want to say, you know, distilling your own.
14:53
SPEAKER_06: That that's a I'm very impressed and very envious of the people that can distill their own and do it very well.
14:59
SPEAKER_06: I just don't have that skill set.
15:00
SPEAKER_06: But what we've been very successful at is blending it and and so bringing in these different barrels, all the different experiences, the different tastes we can make with by uh sourcing barrels and picking the right ones is done well for us.
15:14
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, I I think that the well, for instance, I was gonna say this bottle, 2021, this had a 13-year-old Barton in it.
15:26
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
15:26
SPEAKER_07: And that bottle was$59.
15:30
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
15:31
SPEAKER_07: 40% of this bottle is a 13-year-old Barton.
15:34
SPEAKER_07: That is, yeah, that was expensive barrels.
15:36
SPEAKER_07: Is that what I got?
15:38
SPEAKER_07: I think we're cap on your lid, it should say 2021.
15:42
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, so you haven't opened that.
15:44
SPEAKER_07: No, it's a classic.
15:46
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it's a keeper.
15:47
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, August 21st.
15:49
SPEAKER_01: August 20th, 2021.
15:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so that's mine is August 20th, 2021.
15:55
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, so that's from that's from the first batch.
15:58
SPEAKER_06: The first two batches, I think, had that 13-year-old Martin.
16:01
SPEAKER_06: Then then we did actually switch to a some Barnstown, some older Barstown and batch two and three.
16:07
SPEAKER_06: But there's batch two and three are you can't tell them apart.
16:10
SPEAKER_06: I mean, it's very difficult to tell them apart.
16:12
SPEAKER_06: So every batch has been about the same.
16:15
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
16:16
SPEAKER_07: Well, and and we found out just by trying the different ryes, the 95-5s that you've got, you know, there's some similar nuances, but then there's there's differences.
16:27
SPEAKER_07: So being able to play around with those and put together different uh blends and different bottles is pretty amazing.
16:35
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
16:35
SPEAKER_07: When you did the first rye, though, this rye that came out in 21, was this MGP rye here?
16:43
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
16:43
SPEAKER_06: So it's a blend of a four-year and a six-year barrel.
16:46
SPEAKER_06: So when we purchase the barrels, you know, we they send you samples and okay, I like this batch, uh, this batch code, I like this batch code.
16:53
SPEAKER_06: So we we we got we we found some four and six we like.
16:58
SPEAKER_06: You would think, okay, well, just do the six-year, right?
17:00
SPEAKER_06: It's older, it'd be better.
17:01
SPEAKER_06: I'm telling you, when you put the four-year with it, it improved it.
17:04
SPEAKER_06: And so, and that's the cool thing about blending.
17:07
SPEAKER_06: It is, and and when people come into our tasting room, I always encourage them to try blends.
17:11
SPEAKER_06: A single barrel is great, um, but it's just sort of one note, it's one experience.
17:17
SPEAKER_06: You do a blend, if it's done well, you've got multiple notes, but multiple barrels, multiple experiences, it's a little bit more flavorful.
17:24
SPEAKER_06: I think that's what's what happened with that rye by putting that four-year in it.
17:28
SPEAKER_06: It gave it a made it a better experience.
17:31
SPEAKER_07: That rye, that rye is really good.
17:33
SPEAKER_07: I've almost drank that bottle, and you know, I I didn't open it.
17:38
SPEAKER_07: I drank another Burgerman.
17:39
SPEAKER_07: I'm not gonna lie, this is my backup bottle.
17:41
SPEAKER_07: The other one is gone.
17:43
SPEAKER_07: So but yes, I I love the idea of being able to kind of have that playground where you can just kind of take different things and and mash them together and not just be pigeon-holed into a certain setup.
17:58
SPEAKER_07: Right, absolutely.
18:00
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's just like that's another thing that we we talked a little bit about how conducive craft distillery is to the market right now.
18:11
SPEAKER_01: They're the plan of a craft distillery at the level that you're selling the bourbon and whiskey, opposed to a mass-produced whiskey, which is really feeling this, you know, is feeling the plateau that's happened.
18:27
SPEAKER_01: And everybody's kind of backed off because there's enough.
18:30
SPEAKER_01: But on the same, the the same note going forward, blenders are really starting to come into their own in this in the this country.
18:43
SPEAKER_01: When you look at what how scotch evolved, right?
18:47
SPEAKER_01: And you know, we do certain things, but they're you know, when you're talking about Johnny Walker, they take whiskey scotch from multiple different distilleries and make blends.
18:57
SPEAKER_01: And that, you know, bourbon is about, you know, where we're looking at is so much about the rules of being bourbon, but then it's evolved now that you can finish them and people accept it way more than they did just, you know, six, seven years ago.
19:15
SPEAKER_01: You know, that and then the same thing with the blends, there's people the mind is being expanded, is that you don't, you know, you're starting to see the the blend between the ryes and the bourbons where someone's putting a rye and you know, making and people are starting to get into that.
19:33
SPEAKER_01: But the blender, and I think John Rempe from I want to say, oh my god, from LuxCo, he basically with his blood oath kind of was, and and I think Freddie at at um you know at Jim Beam, they both have been doing blend, have been pushing the blending.
19:52
SPEAKER_01: And yourself, you know, when you're making your blend and putting the stuff and doing it, it's very important that you understand what a good whiskey or a good bourbon or a good rye tastes like in general.
20:05
SPEAKER_01: Now, Greg Schneider, who was chicken cock in now he's four branches, and he's worked with Bardstown Bourbon Company, exactly how you're working, you worked with them, you know, where they distilled, and he was there to you know go over the dis you know the whole distillation process that he was doing.
20:22
SPEAKER_01: He was saying it was a great choice.
20:24
SPEAKER_01: He loves working there, he loves Dan, he loves Mark Irwin, he loves Steve Nally and Nick Smith and Justin.
20:31
SPEAKER_01: He it's just a great experience, and there's people who are doing it this way, and then then how you're taking your stuff and blending, you've got a skill, and then and then you just keep evolving it, and that's the me getting into you're expanding now, right?
20:49
SPEAKER_06: Right, yeah.
20:50
SPEAKER_06: And so let me go back up a little bit.
20:52
SPEAKER_06: You talk about blending rye and bourbon.
20:55
SPEAKER_06: So I think the best product we have is actually a rye bourbon blend.
21:00
SPEAKER_06: It you know, at that point's a whiskey, it doesn't say bourbon on the on the label, but oh man, it's just a flavor profile of it.
21:06
SPEAKER_06: Yes.
21:06
SPEAKER_06: So we'll we'll often do a blind tasting here, and we'll do bourbon blind tasting, but I will pour the bourbon rye blend often, and it will win in a in a blind tasting.
21:17
SPEAKER_06: People like, oh, that's great.
21:18
SPEAKER_06: Well, it's not really bourbon, it's a bourbon rye blend.
21:21
SPEAKER_06: And so we're trying to educate people that that look for stuff like that.
21:25
SPEAKER_06: You know, or before we came on camera, we talked about the price of barrels.
21:28
SPEAKER_06: The price of barrels are dropping somewhat unfortunately.
21:30
SPEAKER_06: So the price the price of those barrels come down, it gives us of the uh gives us and all craft distilleries opportunity to experiment it with those blends and and really produce some unique and and great experiences.
21:43
SPEAKER_01: Well, I just before you get into the expansion and and just quick, I just still don't understand the consumer who's worried about this part of the market.
21:56
SPEAKER_01: It's a consumer, it becomes a consumer's market.
21:59
SPEAKER_01: You're able, you guys are able to get more stuff cheaper to do, like you said, experiment.
22:05
SPEAKER_01: And then the price can, you know, there's a lot on there means that the price is going to be friendly to the consumer.
22:12
SPEAKER_01: So you shouldn't be, as a consumer, upset.
22:15
SPEAKER_01: You should be ecstatic.
22:18
SPEAKER_01: That's all absolutely.
22:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
22:20
SPEAKER_07: Real quick, two things, and one of them was back to what Greg Snyder said.
22:25
SPEAKER_07: And Greg and he makes a good point on this that ries bottle, there's several ries bottled at two years old, but it seems like rye's take on the barrel influence quicker than bourbon does.
22:38
SPEAKER_07: So younger rye, like he agreed, adding in that four-year to a six-year would definitely enhance the overall flavor of it because of that.
22:48
SPEAKER_07: So I that's that's a good point, Greg.
22:51
SPEAKER_07: The other thing, you know, we we personally sat there about a month or so ago, six weeks ago at your place, tried some really good bourbons, then tried a really good 95-5 rye that was 10 years old, I think.
23:06
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, 10 years old.
23:08
SPEAKER_07: And and when, you know, there's a there's a mindset for anybody in the bourbon or a whiskey world, whatever you want to say, that when you have a six-year-old bourbon and a 10-year rye, and you're like, we're just gonna blend them.
23:26
SPEAKER_07: Because some people would be like, wait a minute, that's 10 years old.
23:31
SPEAKER_07: You know, if you blend it, we lose that 10 year old statement and it's arrival.
23:36
SPEAKER_07: But what we found is the amazing blend of those two things brought all the Of both bottles, you know, both both both whiskeys together.
23:48
SPEAKER_07: And yeah, 100%.
23:51
SPEAKER_06: The blend is where it's at.
23:52
SPEAKER_06: And that's what I'm sampling tonight.
23:54
SPEAKER_06: So this is, I mentioned to Chris, so this is the blend that I don't know if you want to start talking about bourbon cigars, but the blend that's going to be there.
24:02
SPEAKER_06: So this is that blend that we created that night, Chris.
24:05
SPEAKER_06: So half of it's at 10-year double barrel MGPP rye.
24:08
SPEAKER_06: The other half is the uh uh six-year uh barge town bourbon.
24:13
SPEAKER_06: Both separate, they're great.
24:15
SPEAKER_06: Putting them together, it's absolutely phenomenal.
24:18
SPEAKER_07: I I share I've shared that sample with the guys that came, of course, but I've shared it with other people, just getting some ideas.
24:26
SPEAKER_07: Everybody has been like, that's amazing because it's super sweet up front.
24:31
SPEAKER_07: That bourbon had that really nice sweetness going, and the rye came in at the end and had it a nice amount of heat, but not too much heat.
24:40
SPEAKER_07: It is the it's gonna be so good.
24:42
SPEAKER_07: We we had it the other night.
24:43
SPEAKER_07: I had some with a cigar.
24:45
SPEAKER_07: It's so good with a cigar.
24:47
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, well, so I'm excited for that.
24:49
SPEAKER_07: But yes, before you talk about the expansion, we'll talk about real quick that the bourbon and cigar, the t-shirt I'm wearing, the post number that's behind me, that we are doing at Mother Stewart's, which is where Jeff and I originally met when we saw you four years ago at the at the first inaugural bourbon and cigars.
25:11
SPEAKER_07: Andy and Kevin and the guys from Mother Stewart's had put it together.
25:16
SPEAKER_07: We met there.
25:17
SPEAKER_07: I obviously didn't have any affiliation with any podcasts or anything.
25:22
SPEAKER_07: I just enjoyed bourbon and I liked the people around it and all that.
25:26
SPEAKER_07: So this being kind of like we took a pause, and now four years later, we are coming back with a vengeance because this event next Saturday, you know, if people are paying attention to this, I'm still kind of dumbfounded of all they're getting for what they're getting, you know.
25:46
SPEAKER_07: So$75 for a 12 Ohio distilleries tastings, number one.
25:53
SPEAKER_07: They're like, where do you get that?
25:55
SPEAKER_07: Like, you're gonna be able to drink everything that that Hainer is bringing.
25:59
SPEAKER_07: You're gonna drink Middle West, you're gonna drink Bellow Dayton, you're gonna drink High Bank, MO Spirits, all these brands.
26:08
SPEAKER_07: I mean, I can't, I won't name them all.
26:10
SPEAKER_07: But$75 get you a ticket to do that.
26:14
SPEAKER_07: But also when you come in, Mike Manette is packaging together two cigars, a cigar cutter, other crap that you get from his his end of the cigar side of it, that you're gonna walk in, you get that.
26:28
SPEAKER_07: And if you're one of the first hundred, you get the custom Glenn Karen that has this logo on it.
26:34
SPEAKER_07: And wait, there's more.
26:38
SPEAKER_07: It just keeps getting better.
26:40
SPEAKER_07: Each distillery is bringing a what I it's a swag basket like no other, because the raffle itself is going to be more than just a raffle.
26:52
SPEAKER_07: We want everybody to win something that's great.
26:55
SPEAKER_07: So just like Greg will be bringing something from Hainer, and you can win that.
26:59
SPEAKER_07: And every distillery is doing that, but there will be more attached to that that we'll talk about later.
27:05
SPEAKER_07: But then on top of it, you just showed that special bottle.
27:09
SPEAKER_07: That is a once first time ever that we've done a barrel pick that is exclusive to the people going to this event.
27:21
SPEAKER_07: So you're not only gonna get the chance to try it that night, and that's part of your$75 ticket, crazy, but you can actually buy the bottle and and you can buy it from Greg directly at the distillery in Troy.
27:36
SPEAKER_01: So are we I am doing that for each individual distillery or just through Greg?
27:43
SPEAKER_01: Just through Greg this year.
27:45
SPEAKER_01: It's the inaugural launch.
27:47
SPEAKER_07: Don't worry, I I got plans for next year, but we got to just stay in our lane for right now.
27:52
SPEAKER_07: But for right now, Greg has the exclusive barrel pick.
27:56
SPEAKER_07: But let me tell you, everybody along the path, the other 11 distilleries are like, wait a second, what's next year?
28:04
SPEAKER_06: So my question is, I decided to be the first, but yeah.
28:07
SPEAKER_01: Is that a barrel pick or is that a barrel blend?
28:11
SPEAKER_07: No, it's it's a barrel pick of a blend.
28:15
SPEAKER_07: We did a blend, but it's a barrel pick.
28:16
SPEAKER_06: And then you put it.
28:17
SPEAKER_06: So we ended up picking right.
28:18
SPEAKER_06: We picked two barrels, a rye barrel and a whiskey barrel, and a bourbon barrel.
28:22
SPEAKER_01: And you put them together.
28:23
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
28:24
SPEAKER_06: And then bottled them.
28:26
SPEAKER_06: Yep.
28:27
SPEAKER_06: So, and then to clarify, in case the state of Ohio is watching, we're not selling there.
28:32
SPEAKER_06: Um, so yeah, you'll there'll only be, I think we're only doing about 50 bottles, only sold here at Hayredist Silly.
28:39
SPEAKER_07: And and we want it to be where somebody that tries it that night and they're like, I want it.
28:44
SPEAKER_07: Yes, go buy it from the distillery.
28:47
SPEAKER_07: The other thing about that that I am super excited about going forward is I want people to go to the distillery.
28:55
SPEAKER_07: I want people to go to these Ohio places and try them and see what it's like and do a tour and see, like when they go into your place, how many different expressions you have.
29:07
SPEAKER_07: Because you not only have bourbon, you have all these vodkas.
29:10
SPEAKER_07: You've got grape vodka, strawberry vodka, all the different flavors.
29:14
SPEAKER_07: So that's what we hope that comes from it.
29:18
SPEAKER_07: But this has been a lot of fun to do because it is a special thing and it goes so well with the cigars.
29:25
SPEAKER_07: So, you know, we'll we'll we'll talk more about it later.
29:28
SPEAKER_07: But Greg, I'm so thankful that you came up with coming up with these ideas along the way and having you back as our repeat OG, I guess we could say, the OG of the Cigar and Bourbon event.
29:43
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it's gonna be a first-class event.
29:45
SPEAKER_06: I mean, it definitely should sell out, and uh people need to get their tickets because it's it's gonna be amazing.
29:51
SPEAKER_06: Right.
29:52
SPEAKER_06: The value that you've built in of all those desceries and in the glass and in the cigar uh stuff that is great value and and looking forward to it.
30:04
SPEAKER_07: Well, we're we're excited to have everybody.
30:06
SPEAKER_07: There's a band playing afterwards.
30:09
SPEAKER_07: It's it's it's gonna be a lot of fun that evening.
30:12
SPEAKER_07: Everybody obviously we want to stay responsible.
30:15
SPEAKER_07: And and I would tell you this: if you're watching and you're planning on coming, plan a driver, you know, go have fun, but have somebody that can pick you up, somebody that can get you home, because it is definitely not a try stuff from all these different places and then try to make it home.
30:33
SPEAKER_07: You know, there's a hotel that's close by, but but be safe, be smart.
30:40
SPEAKER_07: For sure.
30:41
SPEAKER_07: So all right, so just tell us about this expansion.
30:46
SPEAKER_06: All right, so you see if you've been here, it's a very small spot that we're in, very small space that we're in.
30:53
SPEAKER_06: And we're one of one of the owners of the building, and so we have this small space that we've been here about five years now, sort of outgrew it day one.
30:59
SPEAKER_06: Behind me, you see the bottling machines, you see the totes and the bottles.
31:03
SPEAKER_06: Outbrew day one, but we've we've survived here for five years.
31:06
SPEAKER_06: We own this big building, it's completely rented.
31:09
SPEAKER_06: Gentlemen at the other end of the building vacated, and so we've got 3,000 square feet that we're moving into.
31:15
SPEAKER_06: We're gonna have a huge chasing bar, uh a large chasing room, a whiskey thieving room, much much larger retail room.
31:23
SPEAKER_06: Even going to do a room dedicated to the history of Hayner.
31:27
SPEAKER_06: What's important to us is telling the story.
31:29
SPEAKER_06: It's Hayner's got this amazing story.
31:31
SPEAKER_06: It started back in 1866.
31:33
SPEAKER_06: So sharing that story and and and leaning into that is gonna be a big part of what we do down there.
31:39
SPEAKER_06: It's always uh it's all gonna be built out in sort of a 1910, 1920s theme from the bar to the aesthetics.
31:46
SPEAKER_06: And so, you know, the the hope is October, November, the reality is maybe December, as far as when we're done.
31:54
SPEAKER_06: They're just out finishing up the sewers and the water lines, and then we start building the bar and building out the retail space.
32:00
SPEAKER_06: So a lot to do, but it'll be this fall, this winter, and so we're excited about it.
32:07
SPEAKER_07: Troy, Troy is a great place, like destination-wise.
32:10
SPEAKER_07: I think people don't realize all the good that's going on in that town.
32:16
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, you know, uh when people come here, I send them to what I always send them to the Hainar Cultural Center.
32:22
SPEAKER_06: There's a great museum in there about our history.
32:24
SPEAKER_06: I always send them to the crafted and cured, crafted and cured in downtown Troy, an amazing bourbon bar.
32:29
SPEAKER_06: You gotta visit it.
32:30
SPEAKER_06: It's first class bourbon bar.
32:32
SPEAKER_06: You expect us to be in New York.
32:34
SPEAKER_06: And it's a thing.
32:35
SPEAKER_06: I mean, this is Troy, Ohio, population 20, 20,000 people.
32:39
SPEAKER_06: We got this amazing bourbon bar in downtown Troy.
32:41
SPEAKER_06: Crafty Vent bar in downtown has uh amazing cocktails, and they've got a sort of a speakeasy lounge in the basement.
32:48
SPEAKER_06: You can go have some cocktails and just great restaurants.
32:51
SPEAKER_06: We have agave, agave and rye at downtown Troy.
32:55
SPEAKER_06: So, yeah, we're all about people coming here, and you got to see the rest of Troy.
33:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
33:04
SPEAKER_01: For sure.
33:06
SPEAKER_01: So, a question.
33:07
SPEAKER_01: When someone, you know, watching tonight had never had a bottle of Hainer, but they get their first bottle, what are you looking for when they have that first sip?
33:16
SPEAKER_01: I mean, what what as a as a blender?
33:19
SPEAKER_01: What's what's your main goal?
33:22
SPEAKER_06: So I I I will always tell people, and so whiskey's, in my opinion, the whiskey is very personable.
33:29
SPEAKER_06: Just because I think this is great and Chris thinks this is great, you might not like it.
33:33
SPEAKER_06: That's okay.
33:34
SPEAKER_06: It's all palettes are all different.
33:36
SPEAKER_06: For our main product, Hayner bourbon, I always tell people it's a blend.
33:40
SPEAKER_06: And so blend is very complex, and that's what I look for.
33:43
SPEAKER_06: That's what I that's what we like, is that complexity, all those different flavors coming through.
33:49
SPEAKER_06: I will honestly say that I blends aren't as quote unquote smooth, I think, sometimes as people want.
33:55
SPEAKER_06: You know, maker's market is a great smooth, weeded whiskey, right?
33:58
SPEAKER_06: Uh, bourbon.
34:00
SPEAKER_06: But it is as complex, is it as flavorful as a blend?
34:04
SPEAKER_06: I don't think so.
34:05
SPEAKER_06: And so, back to the question, why I always tell people expect a great mouthfeel.
34:11
SPEAKER_06: I get sort of some baking spices, graham cracker spices at the end of it, a very sweet finish on our bourbon blend.
34:20
SPEAKER_06: But the blend a blend drinks differently than a single barrel.
34:24
SPEAKER_06: And it a blend drinks different than you know, maker's markets on a single barrel, but then they're dumping 500 barrels at a time, so it all comes out to be the same.
34:34
SPEAKER_06: So that's something part of the education difference between single and and and the blends that we teach people.
34:40
SPEAKER_07: So, Greg, when people come in to the distillery, which it it's a small space, but you have barrels there that you talk about like the experience.
34:50
SPEAKER_07: What can they do that is unique to you?
34:53
SPEAKER_07: You like you have your barrels set there.
34:55
SPEAKER_07: Can they taste through those?
34:56
SPEAKER_07: Can they bottle them?
34:58
SPEAKER_06: What do you offer of the So we do a it's called a uh barrel proof experience?
35:02
SPEAKER_06: We actually have four different barrels set up for two from Green River, one from Bardstown, and one from Barton, uh, where they can sample each barrel.
35:10
SPEAKER_06: And the barrel that they like, they can pull.
35:12
SPEAKER_06: We literally have a tap on the barrel so they can pull a tap and fill their own bottle right from the barrel.
35:17
SPEAKER_06: And then we also have a 10-year, actually, what's in this that 10-year MGP rye, a double barrel MGP rye, is also set up to where you can fill your own bottle right from the barrel.
35:29
SPEAKER_06: Again, all about the different experience, uh, all about doing the experience, trying different things.
35:33
SPEAKER_06: And so, yeah, we've got, of course, they can right now we don't charge for any of our samples, so they can do uh free samples, sample the barrels, and then if they like, they can pour their own and put on their own label, put on their own cork right here.
35:47
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, that's it's a it's a great experience for a small location and everything that you guys offer.
35:53
SPEAKER_07: You you make it very exciting.
35:55
SPEAKER_07: And every time we'd been there, uh Jeff and I, what we go a couple years ago.
35:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, I don't know.
36:01
SPEAKER_01: Was it 2021?
36:03
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, you'll you'll be in there, and then people are walking in the door, like even off the beaten path as you are, people are still finding you.
36:12
SPEAKER_07: It's a destination, like they're coming to find what's going on.
36:16
SPEAKER_06: So yeah, exactly.
36:18
SPEAKER_06: So we uh we uh in we are we're in an old industrial building and south of downtown Troy.
36:24
SPEAKER_06: And but if that fits our history, uh Hayner was a very large industrial uh factory.
36:30
SPEAKER_06: You know, our our friends down the street, uh Indian Creek, they're they're a farm, they're a small farm distillery, and that's still what they are.
36:37
SPEAKER_06: And so amazing place, but we're an industrial place, and this building fits fits that that idea.
36:43
SPEAKER_06: And we're excited about the expansion and moving down there.
36:46
SPEAKER_06: We're gonna do more of the blending.
36:47
SPEAKER_06: So, right now we have four barrels set up on taps.
36:50
SPEAKER_06: Down there, we have staged up to have up to 20 barrels.
36:52
SPEAKER_06: And so think about the experiences you can have blending all these different barrels, different mash bills, different age bourbons and rides.
37:00
SPEAKER_06: So, really gonna lean into that as part of the expansion.
37:04
SPEAKER_07: So, who who's helping you?
37:07
SPEAKER_07: So it's it this can't be just you doing all this.
37:10
SPEAKER_06: Do you have family involved?
37:12
SPEAKER_06: What yeah, both.
37:13
SPEAKER_06: So I'm 50% owner of Hanner.
37:16
SPEAKER_06: So the other owner is a gentleman by the name of Andy Watemaker here at Troy.
37:19
SPEAKER_06: So the two of us are doing this, but yeah, it doesn't happen without a great support system and my family, his family.
37:26
SPEAKER_06: Uh when we bottle, that the the wives are here, the kids are here, the parents are here.
37:32
SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, so I think the day we stopped, Chris, your mom and your wife were there.
37:40
SPEAKER_01: The parents and them.
37:41
SPEAKER_01: Oh, really?
37:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, you were bottling that day.
37:44
SPEAKER_01: Because when we stopped by, when we stopped by that day, if you remember, they were you guys were just finishing it up.
37:50
SPEAKER_01: So your family was definitely all there.
37:53
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, yeah.
37:54
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I'm blessed to have that support, and it doesn't happen, especially now in case she's watching.
37:58
SPEAKER_06: Shout out to the wife, dad would love you, because what I do doesn't happen without her.
38:03
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, well, absolutely.
38:05
SPEAKER_07: You gotta have the ability to do it and do it well without having that over your back, you know.
38:11
SPEAKER_07: So okay.
38:14
SPEAKER_07: Was your daughter, was it your daughter that was there the day that we were doing the pick?
38:19
SPEAKER_06: Uh, I think she yeah, she was.
38:20
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, my daughter Abigail, she she's uh come on board and works here now at Hanner.
38:25
SPEAKER_06: So it's really been me and Andrew.
38:27
SPEAKER_06: It's my full-time gig.
38:28
SPEAKER_06: It's Andrew's part-time gig.
38:30
SPEAKER_06: He's a lawyer here in Troy.
38:31
SPEAKER_06: So he's here, he's here a lot on the weekends, but it's my nine to five.
38:35
SPEAKER_06: It's only me.
38:36
SPEAKER_06: Everything we do is me and but it's Andrew and his family, and my family comes in to help model.
38:41
SPEAKER_06: But we brought on Abigail and excited to have her here.
38:45
SPEAKER_06: We've got, and you know, it's all these fresh ideas.
38:48
SPEAKER_06: You know, she's much younger, she's uh in her 20s, and she's bringing all these fresh ideas to what we're gonna do, which I'm excited about.
38:55
SPEAKER_06: Is she on board with the dent puller?
38:58
SPEAKER_06: The what?
38:59
SPEAKER_06: The dent polar.
39:01
SPEAKER_06: What's that?
39:02
SPEAKER_07: The slide that you use to pop the bottom.
39:04
SPEAKER_07: Oh, the hell, yeah.
39:05
SPEAKER_06: So yeah, there might be a training training involved with that.
39:09
SPEAKER_06: So yeah, it's it's a slide hammer.
39:11
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, slide hammer.
39:12
SPEAKER_01: Not a dent puller, slide hammer.
39:14
SPEAKER_01: What the hell's a dent puller?
39:16
SPEAKER_06: That sounds like you could use it for that.
39:19
SPEAKER_06: So when when we I know uh maybe we did it that night on cork a barrel, you can buy a fancy barrel on the corkers.
39:28
SPEAKER_06: We use a slide hammer if you're pulling the axle seal out of your car.
39:32
SPEAKER_06: Uh you just put a screw on the end of it, you screw it into the into the cork and into the bunk, and you slide hammer it out, and it works just as well.
39:41
SPEAKER_06: And it's$15 on Amazon versus$500.
39:44
SPEAKER_01: Well, we've done that before, and it's always been called a slide puller, but that's a oh, okay.
39:49
SPEAKER_01: So a dent puller is basically a car person term for a slide hammer.
39:55
SPEAKER_01: Well, now I do.
39:56
SPEAKER_07: There is a dent puller that's similar.
39:58
SPEAKER_07: Dent oh yeah.
40:01
SPEAKER_06: You could use it to pull a dent, but it's a slide hammer.
40:04
SPEAKER_07: Okay.
40:05
SPEAKER_07: That that was a that was a fun experience.
40:07
SPEAKER_07: You just gotta make sure your finger is not in the way when you bring it.
40:11
SPEAKER_07: Exactly.
40:12
SPEAKER_01: Well, so you know, I noticed that obviously you're looking.
40:16
SPEAKER_01: I I love the fact that you're gonna do a 20s.
40:19
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be, you know, you've kind of got that kind of style of label on your bottle.
40:24
SPEAKER_01: You're lay, you know, how the label is.
40:26
SPEAKER_01: You've got that Art Nouveau kind of feel.
40:29
SPEAKER_01: And I take it at the new place.
40:31
SPEAKER_01: But you know, you're talking to you, I get that you're big on experiences, and you, you know, and you've you've got an experience at where you're at now, but you've also experienced probably you know, going on the whiskey trail and everything.
40:46
SPEAKER_01: Well, what has been one of your favorite experiences being in this industry?
40:51
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, you know, is there something that stands out that was a great experience for you?
40:57
SPEAKER_06: Oh my goodness.
40:59
SPEAKER_06: Well, that's what got us started in this.
41:01
SPEAKER_06: I I I I mentioned that earlier is doing the bourbon trail down in Kentucky and just having all of those experience for me was made me the history.
41:11
SPEAKER_06: It sounds weird.
41:12
SPEAKER_06: I I love the spirits, but just the history of bourbon in in this country and learning about that was very influential to me.
41:23
SPEAKER_06: And big reason why, and I think also for Andrew, my partner, the big reason we started this was just, you know, obviously we want to soak whiskey, we want to make some money, but we're we're in love with the history of whiskey in this country and the bourbon.
41:36
SPEAKER_06: And if people don't, you know, I people come in, I always make sure I tell them bourbon is a uniquely American spirit.
41:43
SPEAKER_06: You don't have bourbon in any place but America.
41:45
SPEAKER_06: You have champagne, champagne, France, tequila, not Mexico.
41:47
SPEAKER_06: If you're bourbon, you are an American spirit, and not everybody knows that.
41:52
SPEAKER_06: And that's just a small part of what we try to share with customers that come in.
41:57
SPEAKER_06: So, you know, I don't know what one unique experience, but just the general history uh of whiskey in the spirits industry, fell in love with.
42:07
SPEAKER_06: And and and and then we happen to live in a town which has which uh was one of the largest distilleries in the state of Ohio and the largest mail order whiskey company in the country.
42:17
SPEAKER_06: We happen to live here, so it was a natural.
42:21
SPEAKER_01: Did you know before like before you did the trail, were you aware of the mail order?
42:28
SPEAKER_01: Were you Hainer before you went out on the tour and kind of felt like that?
42:31
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, so here in little old Troy, Ohio, in downtown Troy, there's a a mansion right next to the courthouse, which is the Hayner House, which is the house the Hainer family built when they're the ceiling.
42:42
SPEAKER_06: So now it's a nonprofit, and there's a museum in there about Hayner whiskey, great museum.
42:47
SPEAKER_06: And so growing up is actually this house was actually the town's library until 1977.
42:53
SPEAKER_06: So growing up, I would go there and it would be the library.
42:56
SPEAKER_06: Now it's of course the Hayner mansion, it's it's a it's a cultural arts center.
43:00
SPEAKER_06: And so we're always aware of it, but uh it wasn't until we're older that we sort of uh and and it wasn't until we did the bourbon trail that we started going back there, going to the whiskey museum and and to fell more in love with it.
43:13
SPEAKER_06: Uh, and got to crazy idea to do this.
43:17
SPEAKER_06: Sipping bourbon one night.
43:19
SPEAKER_06: It's what literally, it's what I'm not making it up.
43:21
SPEAKER_06: Sitting around drinking bourbon one night with Van Drew, you know, why don't we do this?
43:25
SPEAKER_06: Why don't we see if we can relaunch this uh whiskey company?
43:28
SPEAKER_06: That's what we did.
43:30
SPEAKER_07: There's a lot of people that say that, and I think it's funny because you know, you'll that that thought comes across a lot of people's minds, you know, like there's memes about it.
43:42
SPEAKER_01: I will say this.
43:43
SPEAKER_01: I will say this.
43:44
SPEAKER_01: It it it's not, it's you're not you where you're unique is the reason why it comes across your mind, or let's just say Danny from Penelope, is because you guys appreciate and know and taste bourbon and how you're sipping and how it's in involved in your life.
44:08
SPEAKER_01: You feel like you kind of understand what you like, like and you want to make that, but you want to make it the way the you want to have to have your twist on it, like and and so it there's a there's millions of guys that sit around and say, Well, it would be great to start a whiskey some people start the groups, some people start the podcast, but you you are it's not you're although it's a common story in the craft distilling industry, it's not a you it's not like there's millions of you, there's only a certain amount of people, one you've to that would have the financial aspect ability to go out and or the knowledge, because a lot of people have the knowledge of how to do it, and so and it's all part of it, but most people have owned their other, you know, owned businesses and been a part and they understand marketing because craft distilling is all about it's it's creating, it's it's also about marketing, it's about financing, because you know, you can't you can't spend too much here or too much there or produce too much.
45:26
SPEAKER_01: So if you understand all those kind of things and being in the car industry, I think you absolutely kind of do understand how it works.
45:34
SPEAKER_01: And then sometimes you don't sell a car.
45:37
SPEAKER_01: You know, I my my friend was a car salesman, uh a salesman for my my art industry.
45:43
SPEAKER_01: And he basically said they would they would literally have ice cream drives so that the kids that would all get free ice cream when they came in, and then they'd start the marketing pressure as the ice cream was melting all over the kid.
45:57
SPEAKER_01: It was like he just described it.
45:59
SPEAKER_01: Now that was early on, that's not kind of now car sales, but you know, there's but understanding marketing is very important because you know you got to have the whole package to be able to do what you're doing, right?
46:11
SPEAKER_01: Right.
46:12
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and and and like you said, I did bring a lot of the that marketing skills and the entrepreneurial spirit from the auto industry.
46:22
SPEAKER_06: I'm pretty good at that.
46:23
SPEAKER_06: And Andrew is pretty good at the legal side, he's a lawyer.
46:26
SPEAKER_06: So, you know, when we started this, you gotta have a permit to get a permit to get a permit to get a permit to sell alcohol in Ohio.
46:32
SPEAKER_06: There's a lot to do to pull this off.
46:35
SPEAKER_06: And having a lawyer uh it helps, right?
46:38
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
46:38
SPEAKER_06: Um we hired outside counsel, but we needed him to get through that.
46:44
SPEAKER_06: So but a lot of the marketing, I I always tell people that a lot of times the story, the marketing, the label can even sell the first bottle, and you hear this all the time, but you've got to have good juice on the inside to sell the second bottle, right?
47:00
SPEAKER_06: We've been blessed, we've got some really good barrels, we've got some really good blends, and we know the product inside is good.
47:07
SPEAKER_06: Our challenge is always is the marketing side.
47:09
SPEAKER_06: We know we've got a good product.
47:11
SPEAKER_06: It's it's it's a crowded industry.
47:14
SPEAKER_06: You go to a state liquor store, how many bourbons do you get to choose from?
47:18
SPEAKER_06: You're 200.
47:19
SPEAKER_06: Why does somebody pick up a hander bottle?
47:22
SPEAKER_06: Why would they do that?
47:23
SPEAKER_06: So you've got to figure out ways to get it in front of them.
47:26
SPEAKER_06: We're only right now, we're only at 50 state liquor stores.
47:29
SPEAKER_06: Uh well, why that's not there's 500 in the state, so we're at 10%.
47:32
SPEAKER_06: That's not a lot.
47:33
SPEAKER_06: But somebody our size, it actually is a pretty good number, and we're slowly expanding, you've got to control that.
47:40
SPEAKER_06: So, yeah, so it's getting people to try.
47:43
SPEAKER_06: If I give them a try, you know, I I think they'll become a fan.
47:48
SPEAKER_07: Great.
47:48
SPEAKER_07: So when you when somebody on that topic, if if they go to, for instance, here in Springfield, Wineworks, Carries, Hainer, if they go into the state liquor stores, what are they gonna find?
48:01
SPEAKER_07: And what are they gonna find in comparison if they make the trip over to Troy?
48:05
SPEAKER_07: Right.
48:06
SPEAKER_07: Well, what's the difference?
48:07
SPEAKER_06: Our our main bourbon, uh, which feature which features uh it's it's in Jeff's screen there, features Isabel.
48:14
SPEAKER_06: That's in the 50 state stores.
48:16
SPEAKER_06: Our main whisk, our main rye whiskey, which features her her father.
48:19
SPEAKER_06: Uh, you've got so it's a father-daughter deal, also, real quick.
48:22
SPEAKER_06: So uh uh William is on the rye whiskey, and his daughter Isabel's on the bourbon.
48:27
SPEAKER_06: So it's father-daughter.
48:28
SPEAKER_06: So those two products are about 50 state liquor stores.
48:32
SPEAKER_06: And we've got a there's a smattering of products in other stores.
48:36
SPEAKER_06: Here in Troy, we used to have a state liquor store that carried everything we had that carried it there.
48:42
SPEAKER_06: Unfortunately, our state liquor store closed in Troy, but it is coming back.
48:46
SPEAKER_06: So uh later this year, early next year, it'll it'll reopen.
48:50
SPEAKER_06: And so the local state liquor store uh generally will carry all of our product.
48:55
SPEAKER_06: Right now, unfortunately, we just don't have a store in Troy.
48:58
SPEAKER_06: There's uh uh Miami Valley Wine and Spirits down in Tip City, carries a lot of our products, even more than just the bourbon and the rye.
49:05
SPEAKER_06: They carry a lot of our outdoor products.
49:07
SPEAKER_06: Kroger's up in Tips, Kroger's up in Piqua, Kroger's up in Sydney.
49:11
SPEAKER_06: They do carry some of our flavored vodkas.
49:13
SPEAKER_06: So a lot locally.
49:15
SPEAKER_06: Uh, we're in about five stores in Columbus, five in Cincinnati, but most of it is in Miami Valley.
49:22
SPEAKER_07: And so, again, in contrast, if they could come there, what what's the different thing that you would have there that's unique?
49:30
SPEAKER_06: A lot of our single barrel stuff is here.
49:32
SPEAKER_06: Some of our smaller blends, like uh if you're uh right behind you, Chris, uh, you're right, is the uh Golden Jubilee right in the middle.
49:40
SPEAKER_06: Yep.
49:41
SPEAKER_06: That's an amazing blend of an eight-year rye and an eight-year bourbon.
49:44
SPEAKER_06: It's only available here.
49:46
SPEAKER_06: So we've got a lot of smaller products like that that only available here uh in your distilling.
49:51
SPEAKER_06: And that is a great bottle.
49:52
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it's fantastic.
49:55
SPEAKER_07: It reminds me somewhat of the one that we blended, but not quite.
50:00
SPEAKER_07: It doesn't have quite as much punch to it.
50:02
SPEAKER_06: It doesn't well, and it was only an eight-year rye.
50:04
SPEAKER_06: I think what what you picked for uh uh the bourbon cigar blend that that 10-year is a double barrel 10-year, just gives us the gives us the depth and a character that's different than that other one.
50:16
SPEAKER_06: Um, so and and that'll be only available here.
50:20
SPEAKER_01: So well, and I always think you know, you were talking about the marketing and how do you get people to pick what amongst all the other I mean it's just exactly somebody getting to know you, boots on the ground, like if you if you're in a liquor store, if you do a signing or whatever, and they get to meet you, or they come to the distillery and they meet you, and you you know, you basically intrigue them on what you're doing in your passion.
50:48
SPEAKER_01: Right now, Kirk just did a super chat.
50:51
SPEAKER_01: So on super chats on YouTube, we have we read them, and he he definitely did a a decent uh super chat, but he says he respects okay.
51:03
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna pull it because I'm blind.
51:06
SPEAKER_01: I will pull it because he's and let's throw on the glasses on this one.
51:12
SPEAKER_01: All right.
51:13
SPEAKER_01: He says, Greg, much respect.
51:15
SPEAKER_01: You sir are living my dream, following your passion through bourbon and whiskey, puts you in the history books.
51:21
SPEAKER_01: Whiskey puts you in the history books.
51:23
SPEAKER_01: Be the Joe Verde of whiskies.
51:25
SPEAKER_01: That's what he threw up there.
51:27
SPEAKER_01: All right, I like that.
51:28
SPEAKER_07: Thanks.
51:28
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, we we know Joe Verde, don't we?
51:32
SPEAKER_07: The the car salesman guru.
51:34
SPEAKER_07: There you go.
51:35
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
51:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
51:37
SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, and and that's um and and realistically, that's what I found.
51:42
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's Greg Schneider when he was with the when he the brands that he represents.
51:46
SPEAKER_01: He's basically when you talk about what it is, your passion, and somebody gets to know you, people when they walk in, they have 4,000 choices, let's say, but they're like, I met him, I'm gonna pull them today, you know, or I've I've had his stuff and seen him and whatever, I'm gonna try that, you know.
52:06
SPEAKER_01: And then the quality of your whiskey isn't a problem, as you said.
52:10
SPEAKER_01: Once somebody tries this, then if you're looking to do local Ohio and you're whatever, this is this is a great choice.
52:18
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you do a nice job blending, you know, from the you know, when we came in the one day, and when I met you at uh the originally at the first mother steward's, it's you know, there's there's nothing wrong with with what you're doing with the whiskey.
52:33
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, you're doing great things, and then I can't wait till you know the stuff that you're distilling and you've got the original blend coming, and as you keep going forward, that that's gonna be great.
52:44
SPEAKER_06: Oh, and uh I think with that we did a uh uh release for the uh America 250, the 250th anniversary of America called Patriots Reserve.
52:54
SPEAKER_06: Uh, we did 250 bottles, 25 of that bottle was our our distillate, and the other 75 was a Barkman Sound distillate, but it was a great again, a good another great blend.
53:06
SPEAKER_06: And that was the first, and we sold out within the day all 250 bottles for the Patriots Reserve.
53:13
SPEAKER_07: And so what you're saying is these 50 bottles that we did for our event are gonna be gone like crazy.
53:20
SPEAKER_06: I would expect and hope that they they go well.
53:22
SPEAKER_06: I mean, if we can get them to taste it, and yeah, at the event, at the event we'll be sampling it.
53:27
SPEAKER_06: And I'd be I'd be surprised if we don't get 50 orders that day.
53:30
SPEAKER_07: We're gonna have people that are gonna be like, put us on the list when you get more of it.
53:36
SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, uh, you know, Greg Schneider just said he can help.
53:40
SPEAKER_01: Because he's he knows what you're doing.
53:43
SPEAKER_01: And but yeah, that's but that's exactly the marketing that I see from the distill, you know, the the craft distilleries is exactly that.
53:54
SPEAKER_01: You do those releases and you just release a couple hundred, two hundred, two fifty, and they go.
54:01
SPEAKER_01: People, that's that is that's that unique, what'd you say, niche niche market that you guys have?
54:08
SPEAKER_01: And you see it at all the craft distilleries.
54:10
SPEAKER_01: I was up at Ironfish in northern Michigan just this past this past week, and they got this release of this, they they do this thing with it's called what's it called?
54:21
SPEAKER_01: I want Mad Angler.
54:23
SPEAKER_01: It's a sp and it's their distillate and it mixed with some of the the sourcing, but whatever, and they do it with a local poet that's world that's world-renowned up in Minnesota who fishes.
54:35
SPEAKER_01: So everything's around and he writes poems and stuff.
54:38
SPEAKER_01: Well, they do this blend every year that they release from the distillery, and it sells out like crazy, right?
54:45
SPEAKER_01: But what's left over from all the barrels they put together to make a whiskey called Dead Man.
54:52
SPEAKER_01: And so it's all the dead barrels, you know.
54:55
SPEAKER_01: When they're when you're doing it, you're not using all of this barrel.
54:58
SPEAKER_01: And they put it together and they do a 36 bottle release that people just that they're just releasing on a raffle.
55:06
SPEAKER_01: And on every Saturday they release two of them, and everybody's there with, you know, trying to, you know, you're you're there, there's you know, 50, 60 people trying to win a raffle to spend$300.
55:19
SPEAKER_06: That's that's great.
55:20
SPEAKER_06: We're we're doing something similar to that, is a like an infinity barrel.
55:24
SPEAKER_06: So every time we do these blends, you always end up with sample bottles and and the product, well, you know, you can't drink it all and you don't want to throw it away.
55:33
SPEAKER_06: And so we have a barrel that we're pouring all the all of this into.
55:37
SPEAKER_06: So all it all these sample bottles we end up when we're doing blends, we're creating an infinity barrel.
55:43
SPEAKER_06: We're just putting it in there, and when we get enough full, then we'll get a bottle back.
55:47
SPEAKER_06: It's a very similar product, and it's it's we're excited about that.
55:50
SPEAKER_01: Or you could do a blend, you know, you get it and then maybe take some blend it in to make the whatever, but then have a percentage that you use the next year in the next infinity from the next infinity barrel where you like keep it going.
56:07
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
56:08
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna be out of space before you know it.
56:12
SPEAKER_01: But that's the thing about blending that I think is gonna explode in the United States.
56:16
SPEAKER_01: Also, you get an infinity barrel, you can then, once you have that, you could double oak it.
56:22
SPEAKER_01: You could put it in a you could put it in a used bourbon barrel, or you could put it in a brand new French oak, or you could put it in whatever you want.
56:29
SPEAKER_01: You know, you could do whatever.
56:30
SPEAKER_01: There's so much.
56:32
SPEAKER_06: One of a kind, I mean it's you're never gonna be able to replicate that flavor.
56:36
SPEAKER_06: Well, we have found we we actually have infinity bottles that we when it's just the bottles.
56:42
SPEAKER_06: Again, there's something unique about just putting it all together, and these infinity bottles often taste amazing.
56:48
SPEAKER_06: I can't tell you what's in it, right?
56:50
SPEAKER_06: Because it it's it's just a mix of stuff that we've poured.
56:52
SPEAKER_06: It's whiskey.
56:53
SPEAKER_06: You have great flavors to them.
56:55
SPEAKER_01: Well, but but I mean, that so you need to make it an infinity label, and it's always different.
57:01
SPEAKER_01: This way, you won't have to change the label every time or make something different.
57:05
SPEAKER_01: It's just the infinity label.
57:07
SPEAKER_01: Boom.
57:08
SPEAKER_01: People will die for it.
57:10
SPEAKER_01: They'll just be coming in for that.
57:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, you do you do 10 bottle releases on a weekend.
57:19
SPEAKER_01: I mean, just always about what we can't have, right?
57:23
SPEAKER_01: There's there's definitely marketing potential there.
57:25
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
57:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
57:28
SPEAKER_01: All right, Chris, you got any more for uh Greg?
57:32
SPEAKER_07: Oh man, you know, I I'm excited for a lot of things, but mostly to to hang out next Saturday.
57:39
SPEAKER_07: And I I'm excited about Hainer in general just because I I love the brand.
57:44
SPEAKER_07: It's it's my stomping grounds, but truly is.
57:47
SPEAKER_07: I mean, Tip City Detroit is literally next door neighbors, and that's where I grew up.
57:54
SPEAKER_07: So I'm I I love the fact that this brand is doing what it's doing, Greg.
57:58
SPEAKER_07: You're doing awesome with it.
58:00
SPEAKER_07: I I like the I think the transparency is huge.
58:04
SPEAKER_07: You know, people and this this this industry can be a little overcriticizing, but transparency is big.
58:11
SPEAKER_07: People people knowing what's going on is is a big part of it.
58:15
SPEAKER_07: And I don't think it faults you at all for that.
58:18
SPEAKER_07: You know, you're doing that job of bringing in good stuff.
58:22
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, we learn that transparency, transparency from barns to pound.
58:26
SPEAKER_06: They distilled for us.
58:27
SPEAKER_06: That's what they're all about, and and we've sort of picked up on that, obviously.
58:30
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
58:31
SPEAKER_07: So with with all that being said, with everything going in the positive way that it is, the addition of the the new space, I can't wait to to see that and be a part of what's going on there.
58:43
SPEAKER_07: But super excited to have you this year at our event next Saturday.
58:48
SPEAKER_07: So again, one more shameless plug.
58:51
SPEAKER_07: If if you're watching and you haven't got a ticket, get a ticket.
58:55
SPEAKER_07: Urban and Cigars, Mother Stewart's 12 distilleries, including Hainer, will be there.
59:02
SPEAKER_07: And our special blend.
59:04
SPEAKER_07: A special single barrel blend that will be available that is telling you you want that bottle.
59:10
SPEAKER_07: I it's I I've already got people that are like, yep, I'm getting that.
59:15
SPEAKER_07: And I'm like, well, you've got to go there to get it.
59:17
SPEAKER_07: So you better be there Monday morning when he opens.
59:20
SPEAKER_07: So we probably what are your hours?
59:23
SPEAKER_07: We better discuss that.
59:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, ours, website, waiting, I'll just do the whole promotional thing.
59:29
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, website hater.com, obviously.
59:31
SPEAKER_06: Ours right now are actually Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
59:34
SPEAKER_06: So only Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
59:37
SPEAKER_06: Um, so so we're expanding when our expansion will expand those hours from right now, that's all we are.
59:43
SPEAKER_07: So when we do this barrel pick, this blend that'll be available next Saturday to to try.
59:50
SPEAKER_07: They can buy it from you, but that following Thursday is when you're good.
59:55
SPEAKER_07: Okay.
59:56
SPEAKER_07: Well, good luck.
59:58
SPEAKER_07: That's all I can say.
59:59
SPEAKER_07: With only about 40-50 bottles or so to get, they're gonna want to get there quickly on Thursday.
1:00:07
SPEAKER_06: So can you open it new?
1:00:10
SPEAKER_06: Look forward to it.
1:00:11
SPEAKER_06: It's gonna be a great event.
1:00:12
SPEAKER_06: Just and I I'm looking forward to just to try the other stuff too.
1:00:16
SPEAKER_06: You know, D trick.
1:00:17
SPEAKER_06: Uh oh, D-Trick has an amazing bourbon out there.
1:00:20
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, so I'm looking forward to trying all the other brands myself.
1:00:24
SPEAKER_07: I was in D trick there Thursday.
1:00:26
SPEAKER_07: That's where I was at today was D-Trick with Bella Dayton.
1:00:29
SPEAKER_07: Or you're there again.
1:00:30
SPEAKER_07: And so we get done, and and oh, I was there just to pick up their gift, their raffle prize.
1:00:37
SPEAKER_07: And Katie's like, You gotta try.
1:00:41
SPEAKER_07: Have you tried our rum?
1:00:42
SPEAKER_07: And I'm like, Well, I don't think I've actually tried your rum.
1:00:44
SPEAKER_07: She's like, So try the rum.
1:00:46
SPEAKER_07: And Tyler's like, Have you ever tried our rum with ginger beer?
1:00:49
SPEAKER_07: And I'm like, no.
1:00:52
SPEAKER_01: Holy crap, that was good.
1:00:53
SPEAKER_01: So they got you, they got you drunk and then made you do a live.
1:00:58
SPEAKER_01: No, no.
1:00:59
SPEAKER_07: That was after afterwards.
1:01:01
SPEAKER_07: We just had a sample of the words.
1:01:03
unknown: Yeah.
1:01:04
SPEAKER_07: But but they're but I think they're bottling.
1:01:08
SPEAKER_07: This puts this in perspective for Ohio distilleries, especially that Dayton area.
1:01:13
SPEAKER_07: If you remember, they did their D trick release, and it was about two years ago when they came out with batch one, and it was super well received.
1:01:22
SPEAKER_07: People were in like it sold out quick.
1:01:25
SPEAKER_07: They're on batch, they're getting ready to release 18.
1:01:29
SPEAKER_07: So I didn't know that.
1:01:31
SPEAKER_07: That's great.
1:01:31
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, it that's uh speaks, but they only come out with a new bottle about every three to four years, or three to four months, sorry.
1:01:39
SPEAKER_07: Three to four months is about what their bourbon is.
1:01:42
SPEAKER_06: And and I assume you know, D Trick is a Tip City brand.
1:01:46
SPEAKER_06: So that they're from Tip City.
1:01:48
SPEAKER_06: Well, of course, bell day's a date, it's a date now, but D Trick was a distillery in Tip City, and and they did mail order just like Hahner did back in the day.
1:01:56
SPEAKER_01: What the heck?
1:01:57
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
1:01:57
SPEAKER_01: Mail orders.
1:02:00
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
1:02:02
SPEAKER_07: So the canal that runs through Tip City was so big, you know, back in the day.
1:02:06
SPEAKER_07: That's my parents had an antique store, craft store in the old mill slash thing, right?
1:02:13
SPEAKER_07: The red mill.
1:02:14
SPEAKER_07: And right across the street from San Vanethel's.
1:02:18
SPEAKER_06: Oh, yeah, I know where you're at.
1:02:19
SPEAKER_07: Exactly.
1:02:21
SPEAKER_07: Man, that brings back memories.
1:02:24
SPEAKER_07: Bologna sandwiches.
1:02:26
SPEAKER_07: Well, now I'm getting hungry.
1:02:28
SPEAKER_01: So we should uh wrap it up.
1:02:30
SPEAKER_01: And Greg, we do invite some of the people that were commenting.
1:02:34
SPEAKER_01: We kind of throw down a Facebook for them to come on and ask questions if you want to stay on for a couple more minutes.
1:02:41
SPEAKER_01: But if you have to go down.
1:02:43
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:02:43
SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, you can always follow CT's lead.
1:02:47
SPEAKER_01: When it's time to go, we understand you just peace out because they'll talk forever sometimes.
1:02:54
SPEAKER_07: And I'll I'll probably that sounds kind of shitty, you know.
1:02:57
SPEAKER_07: Just so you know, I I piece out sometimes because my camera goes dead, but otherwise it's because there's eight people talking, and I'm like, all right, my my O my my ADHD, whatever it is, can't take it in my head stop.
1:03:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's just like where did C T go?
1:03:14
SPEAKER_06: All right, but okay.
1:03:16
SPEAKER_06: Well we'll try we'll we'll try for a little bit.
1:03:18
SPEAKER_06: Okay, let me go get my barrel pick bottle while you're all right, and I'll finish this up.
1:03:22
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