Latest / The Scotchy Bourbon Boys / Tradition Meets Innovation: A Bourbon Journey with Augusta Distilleries Master Distiller Alex Castle

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Tradition Meets Innovation: A Bourbon Journey with Augusta Distilleries Master Distiller Alex Castle · The Scotchy Bourbon Boys

• 0:57
  Speaker 1: theme song hey, scotchy bourbon boys.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Time here to tell you all about rosewood bourbons and rock bourbon that inculcated andy dufresne in the double homicide that committed in the classic movie shawshank redemption, initially produced in california by general distillers in the 1930s and originally called lewis hunters.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Rosewood bourbon master blender, jason giles, has brought back rosewood toby by purchasing plus contract distilling barrels of bourbon in Kentucky and Indiana.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Once they mature he ships them to Texas where he ages them for at least another summer in the Longhorn heat.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: The Rosewood Texian blend and the Rosewood single barrels offer a unique bourbon and rye experience.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Please drink responsibly and never drink and drive.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: I'm going to go ahead and do it.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Let it roll.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Raise your hand, give me some noise.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we start to learn more.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: We'll be in the fun.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll be in the fun.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, All right.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to another podcast of the Scotchy Bourbon Boys.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: This morning it is 10 o'clock or 5 o'clock somewhere.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: Always 5 o'clock somewhere.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: So we are this morning Saturday I believe it's October 26th on this beautiful fall morning, down here with Alex Castle, the master distiller and head of distillery operations of the Augusta Distillery.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Good morning, good morning, welcome, welcome.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: This is very exciting.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Ct, who's part of our podcast, has met you before and has talked from where he loved what you were doing at Old Dominic Dominic.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: Dominic, sorry, see, there you go.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: Everyone wants to say Old Dominion, like the freight company.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Old Dominic, I mean the whole time driving.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: I'm like old Dominic, make sure, make sure I've even tasted it.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: It's just like there's.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: But anyways, I'm sorry for that, but he, he's been a fan and so he was he's.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: He told me to tell you he wished he could be here, during his son has had a serious leg injury playing basketball and he's been taking care of him, so he hasn't been able to spend the time, but he wished he could be here, so I wanted to let you know that I appreciate it next time.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, for sure, but it's great to meet you.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Um, and so far, this is.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: You know, we went through, did a tour.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Okay, I got to turn that completely down.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: We've got a dog in the distillery.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: So the theme song.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: All of a sudden the dogs are.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: That's my ring, that tells me someone's at the front door right and so I don't have my.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: I should have this silenced.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: I don't have that silenced.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: So all of a sudden in the theme song, I think the dogs showed up like part of the theme song.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: I was just like, oh that kind of worked.
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: I think it's fun.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: So, anyway, yeah, we went.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: You gave me a tour of the distillery, but we're right now in the tasting room and the barrel thieving room.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: I mean the whole experience of what you guys are doing right here is fantastic.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: I mean just you with the tours and the size.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: I was really impressed with the size of the distillery that Augusta has built.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we're a nice.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: I guess midsize is probably the way to put it.
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: 18 fermenters just shy of 3,000 gallons each.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and they're, and they're stainless steel and they're.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: They're the real deal.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: I mean, I've been at smaller distilleries and they're using plastic tubs and you know there's a lot of different ways to do this Exactly.
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: You make it work.
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: There are a hundred ways to skin a cat.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, we did.
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: Did all stainless.
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: And then, of course, our stills are by bend them yeah, and they're beautiful.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, uh, the the touch of the riverboat is phenomenal spirit.
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: Safes are definitely the pride and joy of our production area, um the paddle wheels inside and the steam stacks.
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: And, yeah, we're very proud to be a river town yeah, yeah and and honestly, um, you can't.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: The building, uh, it's the.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: The where, where we're at, is a historic building, right?
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: yes, this building was built in the early 1900s um and was actually in operation up until 2008 okay yeah, it has a long, long history.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: A lot of people in the town either worked here or had family that worked here, so it's been fun seeing them come in as we've done renovations and they get very excited to see that we have done a very good job.
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: We've worked very hard to maintain the integrity of the building.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Yes, and then you've got the other aspect the other buildings, the newer buildings and then you've got the other aspect the other buildings, the newer buildings and then you've got where the still is and it's beautiful, and then just see where you're going to have the outdoor recreational and the cigar area and all that which I believe in the summertime is what you know, if you're here and you're doing, it keeps people here.
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: And that's we realized we had to make it a destination because you said it took you about an hour to get here.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: We're not exactly close to anything, so we want to make it worth the travel.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're in between a lot.
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: We are in between a lot it's just coming down.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: You know that's one of the reasons I always look at coming down and whatever.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: But now if I make a lot of times, like you said, it's not on the way down to the places.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: You've got to kind of come back up and then go to those places and you make up that hour and then the hour back.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: But for me, coming straight down it's closer than the other places.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: So, like you said, if it's a destination to come to, then it's perfect.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: You still can go through the Cincinnati area, the Covington, but then you head up.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: But that drive was it did not feel it felt a lot shorter than it was.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: I think it was just based off of how beautiful it is.
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: Absolutely Well.
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: They recently repaved Route 8, so it's a much smoother drive than it was a couple months ago there you go there, you go, all right.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: so you, old Dominic, it was your prior brand.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: You have a distinction which is, I'm sure, you basically, initially, with Old Dominick, were involved with the design and setup of the distillery correct.
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, when I started there it was a completely empty building, so I got to see the equipment get installed.
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: I was part of the piping, got to be a part of all those decisions.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: And then you became the first female master distiller in Tennessee, so that honor that had to be special right.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: It was.
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: I didn't know that that was going to be a thing, but also was the first woman to be president of the Tennessee Distillers Guild as well.
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: It was that for four years, so it was a lot of firsts, while I was in Tennessee.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Now are you still on the board of the Distillers Guild?
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: So unfortunately, when I left Tennessee I had to step away from the Tennessee Distillers Guild.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: Uh, but fortunately I'm still um, um on the Cracked Advisory Council with the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: So on a more national level, Right and uh, uh, that's just that's called growing right absolutely yeah, and it's funny because we were, we were talking and your journey you know as not.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Then, once you become a master distiller, a lot of times the distilling, if the distilling's running, that's you have.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: You have distillers, just you know distilling, yeah, but but the face.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: You're the face of the brand um, also the problem solver.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: Uh, you know something goes wrong.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: You got to make sure it works.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: You know that kind of thing.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: Now transferring here back here, um, have you been doing more distilling yourself?
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: I am, I'm back in.
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: So I I forgot what it was like to be really hands-on in production because, as you said it, I had a team.
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: It was built up.
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: They didn't need to be babysat day to day Um, whereas here I am boots on the ground um, running the stills, teaching, you know, learning the system because it's brand new system, so I have to learn it.
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: And then I have to be able to teach, teach my team how to do it um, so I am very much involved in the back um in production now and, and definitely less on the the front facing side yeah, and and so just talk a little bit about starting.
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: So okay, talk a little bit about what we're I mean, yeah, we got some whiskey in front of us, right?
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so this is our old route.
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: Eight, so it is an eight-year-old um, because here at augusta we don't believe in doing anything under eight.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: But we also only do single barrel and I believe, if I found the correct bottle at the bar, um, it's 122.9.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: Proof is what we're sipping on, um, so that one's that's from the retail shelf.
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: So I don't even think that's is what we're sipping on, so that one's that's from the retail shelf.
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: So I don't even think that's the one we're sipping on right now.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Was that 127.2?
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: 127.2.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: Okay so 122.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: So just let's I got other questions but talk about the proof of Augusta and Buckner's and that being a single barrel is one thing.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: Augusta and Buckner's and that being a single barrel is one thing, but you know, last night I tasted a Weller 12 single barrel.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: That was 90 proof.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: So you know there's there's an aspect of barrel proof that is more cost because you're you're not diluting, so there's less bottles, yep, there's.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: So now, what I always try and tell my people is that when you buy a barrel proof and it's that high of proof it's not bad to put, put some water in it and take it down a little bit, whatever one you know it's like if you're doing an 80 and 120 proof the difference.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: This is like drinking two, almost two, two pours to one of the other ones.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: You gotta watch yourself, right, right and and the bottle is supposed to you can.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: It doesn't have to go down the same way and 90 or 94 proof it goes down.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: I mean, but people, for some reason it's just like well, that's how it is, that's how I'll drink it, but I'll drink in the same proportion, and I always you know, not right now I'm finding that I can't drink it in the same.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: I don't want to catches up.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: Well it's hard.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: I mean, I find that sometimes it's like hard on you, you know if you're doing, do you feel it?
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: because it is high alcohol.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: But for us, you know, we do believe in single barrel only and we do cast strength and for us I don't think we've ever seen anything below 109 proof.
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: Most of ours do average closer to 120 proof, but we have had some hazmatsats.
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: We've seen 140 plus proof in a couple of our barrels.
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: We don't target it.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: Well, that's just what happens that's how I've met matt at revival, because that was well what was really.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: Um, brad bonds took care of me like there was a bottle that was being tasted through the podcast initially, and there was some there's probably about a third of it and he's like why don't you take that?
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: And I was like thank you, brad.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: And Brad no, if you want that hazmat, that still is a few bottles left at Revival Spirits.
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: Oh, I'm going to have to make a trip up there.
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm going to have to find those.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: Yes, I saw it on the shelf yesterday.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Okay, perfect shelf yesterday.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: Perfect, yeah.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: But you know, the thing I like about cast strength, as you said, is you can add water.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: You can do what you want.
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: So basically, we bottle it at its purest form.
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: We want you to experience bourbon as purest form.
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: But what's fun is then you get to dictate the journey.
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: You get to decide if you add water which helps open it up right right.
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: Add ice that chill adds a whole different component to it.
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: Heck, even use it in an old-fashioned or something.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: No judgment on it.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: You can have so much fun when it's cast strength because you get to do things to it Once we proof it down.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: You don't really get a choice as a consumer.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: No, that's where it's at Now.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: I do know that some distillers really love certain proofs.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: They'll start to go to well and there's an aspect of as you start to proof, down where the whiskey if you're good the whiskey peaks.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Not every batch peaks at the same place.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: That's why if you're just buying a 90 proof or it's always 90 or 94, they're not really they've done the work to see where it peaks.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: But that's individual.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: You know, like when you're talking about Blanton single barrel at 94, which is majority of Blantons, it basically every single barrel is different.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: So that is not the prime place.
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: No, every barrel has its own proof that it's at now when you're blending.
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: You said it.
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: Some of it really sings at a lower proof and that's you know.
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: That's what I found in memphis.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: That's why one of our whiskeys was we did an 85 proof.
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: I'll tell you right now, my sales team was not happy that we ended up at that low of a proof.
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: That's where that whiskey sung.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: That is where it was the best.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and so there's.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: So like you have so many different variables, so talk about one, talk about you know now, you've done this once before from the ground up, said I was never going to do it again.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: But, but we get as we get older, we realize in more experience that some things are a little bit easier than others, and so now that you're here, uh, the the one thing that we were talking about a little bit is, um, talk about leaving your whiskey, you know there?
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, what kind of that feeling has to be.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Was it what you expected it would be?
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: Um, I mean, leaving was hard cause it the whiskey, everything I was so happy with with the product and how things were going and how things were aging, cause I had no clue how Memphis was going to treat my barrels.
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: Um, you know, and so it was.
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: It was not an easy decision at all but it felt like I had.
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: I was kind of on a high.
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: You know, we had just released um, not just our Tennessee whiskey but bourbon one, um best in class with one of those bourbons actually at the Southern um best of the South awards, I think it was, and felt like it was the right time.
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: Um, as hard as it was, it was the right time to to move on.
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: Let the team I built take over um and trust that they they would do it right and keep it going Um do you ever get any calls?
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: I don't actually.
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: Well, I think the only one I got.
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: It was the most random thing.
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: My production manager texted me asking me if I'd ordered something from a company and I heard the name.
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: I was like I have no idea what that is.
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: I guess he'd gotten an invoice or something.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: He was trying to figure it out.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: So it was more of a money kind of thing to make sure that I have no idea.
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: Where is this at?
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: I have no idea.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: That's interesting, so you know.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: Then you come to Augusta.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: Now you said you'd never do it again, but is it fun doing it again?
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: With the experience that you learned off the first time.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely.
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: But also I'm coming in at a different point.
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: You know the equipment was already installed when I got here.
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: The brand itself is built, you know, because that was something I got to do in Memphis was help design the bottles and the labels and all that's done.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: So I'm coming in much later in the game, but getting to learn a new system and figuring that system out has been.
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: I forgot how fun it was to do that.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: Okay, so it's a challenge, but you like challenges right, I do.
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: And then also you know I filled my first barrel in Memphis back February of 2017.
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: And so you kind of don't ever get that again right At a distillery.
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: You never get that again unless you go to a new distillery.
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: Get that again unless you go to a new distillery.
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: And so to get to share a first barrel fill with this team, it honestly was just as fun and just as emotional filling it, as it was that first barrel in memphis and I didn't know it could be that way okay, I didn't know I could get that again.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: You get that, yeah, um so, but but you, you had, there was brand, there's no doubt.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: But the distillery when you got here was still fairly new.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: I mean, they had not had distilling operations going for long.
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: Not at all Right.
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: They hadn't started anything when I came on.
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: Okay, so as far as distilling.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: So as far as the Augusta distillery, their own stuff that they're going to, that will age and go, that's completely new.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: That's you.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: So 100 percent.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: So that part you have, the brand you have.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: So you almost, like, have this backing of what happened before to then start powering the new brand 100 percent.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, well, cheers to that, cheers, yes, so did, when you you know, I mean, how did the whole thing come about, like, how did what you know to come and then come to Augusta up here, which is kind of close to your home, but were they on your radar?
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: No full disclosure.
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: I had never heard of the brand.
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: I didn't even know Augusta Kentucky existed, even though I grew up 35, like 35, 40 miles from here.
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: Didn't even know Augusta Kentucky was a thing.
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: But what's really funny is I got recruited to Memphis via a message on LinkedIn.
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: I got recruited to Augusta via a message on LinkedIn.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: Really.
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: And so they were.
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: They were looking to fill this role, and cheers to linkedin man, that's just like who knew?
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: yeah, I mean that's you know you would have thought so it it went.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: The when, when it happened, it was much bigger than when you first.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: The first time this this time there was almost like a, a buzz in the industry that you were, that you had made that, that change.
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, the announcement that I was leaving Memphis, because we announced that at a different time than where I was going.
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: Um, I, I was a little caught off guard by how much noise it made.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Well, I can see that.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: I mean the, the just, you know, as this gets bigger and bigger.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: But you know, just it just, especially with the women within the industry.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: Now there's a there's, there's definitely a strong movement for that, but I women have always been in the industry because, they have to be, because one I really believe women's palates.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: when it comes to whiskey, you're, you're.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: It's not so much your tape, the tasting isn't, it's the smell, yes, and and when people smell better, and it's a, it's an, because the majority of men, you know, high proof, you know, I always say a guy that starts ripping on somebody who can't, that's watery and it tastes like nothing.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: I'm like, well, you burned your taste buds.
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: You can't taste anything at this point.
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: Well, you burned your taste buds, yeah you can't taste anything at this point.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: Right right, you burned your taste buds.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: You have to have the high alcohol, just to feel it.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: Right, just to, so then you taste something, so that's why you like it and it's like well, why are you ripping on people who didn't burn their taste buds?
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, and you can, and you get asked this all the time, I'm sure what's your favorite whiskey and why do you think this is good?
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: And I always try and tell people, I try and give you a guide, yep, but in the long run a guy will come up to me and say I like that, but no one else does.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: I'm like, so keep drinking it.
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: Drink it and be thankful.
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: No one likes it, because you'll actually never find it.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, except that marketing doesn't work really well because it's just what we can't have, which seems to drive everybody, you know what I mean.
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: Yes, well, and that's what I think is so funny is okay.
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: So you can't find it.
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: Go try something that you can't find and you'd be amazed at some of the amazing stuff that is there all the time.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: Well, yeah, and I visited that.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: My last podcast was under $30, what's the best.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: And I had my wife blind me.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: I bet that was fun.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it comes.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: You know, you try and figure out what you're tasting and I think I got three of five, but I was just trying to see which one was the best of the five.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it wasn't a matter of which one, but then I tried to guess which one and I got three of five, opposed to usually it's zero of five.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: You know, marketing has a lot to do with and people, so that's the other aspect.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: It's just kind of like I always find it's.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: I'm glad that I'm meeting you personally when this is just starting, because there's a journey to go to get to these eight yeah, yeah, it's gonna be an eight-year journey.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, right, right and all the stuff that goes in between.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: But but the times that you that I can experience and coming down here and promoting and talking about really good whiskey and to get to that point, but then when you get to that point, but then when you get to that point, you feel like that we were a part of you growing.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: It's kind of like growing that your whiskey is growing up, yeah, and but you get to that point and it's it's special.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: But it's always.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: I find if I'm drinking this with you, for whatever reason, my taste buds are way more than if it's just a regular Tuesday night on a podcast where that's the thing about whiskey and bourbon.
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: Is it's?
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: Yes, it is about the liquid.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: Okay, we all care about the liquid.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: It has to be good right.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it needs to be good, but at the end of the day, it's really more about the experience you're having while you're drinking it.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: And the friends you're having while you're drinking it and the friends you're with.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: I mean, how many an expensive bottle, like the Buckner's 10, which isn't cheap, but you get that bottle and you drink that at your friend's wedding.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: These are special times that you always remember.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: You know, and that's what that's where I think.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: Um, throughout the whole history of whiskey, there's certain aspects of.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: There's the general stuff that people do yep and it's all.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: It's got to be there too, and then there's the stuff that's special and that's something that you know.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: I just find that's why I'm in this.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: When you first start out, you're like I have questions.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: Well, can whiskey taste like creme brulee?
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: When I was reading some of the tasting things, it really can, it can.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: I mean it could taste like bananas foster I had the other day.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: I had a sip of it and it reminded me of the ice cream social.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: There was this creamy like actually vanilla that just tasted like you were at a nice.
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: I had.
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: I had a barrel in Memphis and my one of my sales guys read the tasting notes.
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: He's like what?
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: And then he tasted it and agreed and it was toasted, marshmallow and campfire.
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: And he was like this is amazing.
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: All you need needed was to eat a piece of chocolate with it and it was perfect well, or yeah.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: I mean it's amazing what chocolate will do.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: And then it's amazing what what a cigar does I mean?
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: People, until you really.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not a huge cigar smoker but I will have it with friends or whatever, but it's always good to have a really hot.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: These, these, these go real well.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: High proof, because it basically the, the, what would you say?
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: The, the bitterness of the tobacco which is there intensifies the sweetness of the bourbon.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: It does 100 completely changes.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: They kind of balance each other right, right, and you know some you, you know which ones.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: You just now it's just kind of like after you know have getting into it a little bit more, as steven fonte of limestone branch has got.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: I mean, he knows cigar.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: So every time we're together he's like you gotta try this one, try this one.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: So and then you just then you drink it with them and you're just like, wow, that just takes that bourbon to a different experience.
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: So that's because we actually do a cigar rolling experience here.
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: I think it's once a month on sundays we actually have a local tobacco farmer come in and he does a cigar rolling experience, because we do.
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: We see how the two things they pair beautifully I agree.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: I mean it pairs with food.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: I mean the whole napa valley experience really transferred into the burp.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: They, they got it.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: This, you know, the bourbon people did, and you think about the money that got spent in kentucky and then now throughout the whole the whole country now is benefiting from the napa valley effect.
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: yeah, applying, applying to distilleries.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, and it's fun, because anytime I'm traveling except it's really hard to find a bourbon distillery that's in Florida it's usually you go to a rum distillery or something.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: But, any other state that you're in.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: It's just like we're coming up in South Carolina I think it was Burnt Church and it's just this gorgeous facility, restaurant, patio, the whole thing.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: I mean it's just like, yeah, so you just keep fun.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: And then now with you guys, with Augusta, I love the.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: All we needed is some dry ice and you walk into the tunnel.
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: You know what I?
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: mean, it's just like a really cool.
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: We like an entrance.
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we like everyone to feel like they've made an entrance.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure um so, but those experiences.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: But so now do you have your family?
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so yeah, they're all moved up here where?
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: yeah, so basically for nine years yeah, nine years uh, my husband and I lived in memphis, um so seven plus hours from all of our family.
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: We both have brothers in Lexington, he's got a brother in Louisville with our niece and nephew, and then the parents.
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: My parents are in Florence, his are in Fairfield, so for years we were really super far away and now we're 50 minutes from the parents hour and a half to two hours from the siblings and the niece and nephew, and we've actually been able to go to birthday parties.
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: It's been an amazing benefit of coming back to this area.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, that makes sense Now.
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: You've been here since May End of May, yes, the end of May.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: Now you've been here since End of May.
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: Yes, the end of.
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: May.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: And so now, what's the most unique thing that you didn't expect when you came here?
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: Was there anything kind of special that happened that you're like, wow, that's kind of cool?
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: Honestly I think it's I've fallen in love with small town living.
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: You know, we both grew up in the Cincinnati area, which is not a small city Memphis is not a small city and now we literally live in Augusta.
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: It's a town of I think it's twelve hundred.
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: Maybe, maybe on a good day, but just falling in love with this super small town.
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: I live in a medium small town, like about 60,000.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: It's Canton, ohio, but it's not Cleveland, whatever.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: But there's an aspect of what would you say groundedness, seriously, that big cities they can't be grounded because there's just so much happening.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: But not like you don't have Cincinnati, frankfurt.
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: Louisville anywhere you want to go when you need it.
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: It's a super small town.
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: Like you said, it's grounded.
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: I love the pace of it.
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: I think we don't realize how fast we move all the time when you come to a town like this.
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: We don't have a McDonald's.
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: We don't realize how fast we move all the time.
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and when you come to a town like this, you know we don't have a McDonald's.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: We don't have fast food in this town.
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: What was it?
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: The general store?
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we had the general store.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: They had fresh baked donuts.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: The donuts were fresh, but they hadn't been glazed.
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: And I'm like, well, I'm going to be drinking.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: I'm like, well, I'm going to be drinking, I'm like I'll just take two unglazed donuts to go.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: And she's like, really, I'm like, yeah, I'm just trying to fulfill having something in my stomach.
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: I just need the base layer, but they were delicious.
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: So it's been wonderful just discovering the small town life.
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: Well, and you're also on the river, which is amazing, and it's just gorgeous, also on the river, and it's just gorgeous, I mean honestly.
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: I used to have a.
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: Before my husband actually moved up here, had a one-bedroom apartment like half a block from the river, and so either the mornings or the evenings after work I'd go take a book, take my coffee, or take a seltzer or something with me and I'd just sit by the river.
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: It's the most calming, relaxing thing ever yeah, there's.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: There's no doubt um there that that this area is beautiful.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: And then if it's if you're talking about so it's eat is it easier to focus and concentrate on what you're doing?
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: I think.
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: So there's a lot fewer distractions, um, and a lot less demands on my time, so I get to focus on what's going on here at the distillery, um, but then when I'm at home, also, because there's so much, there's nothing around, uh, because we have 26 acres, so we literally have nothing around us.
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: There is nothing to distract.
• 32:50
  Speaker 3: You know, when you're at home, that's what you get to focus on.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, and you also have to take care of some of the 26 acres.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: So that, yeah, well, and you also have to take care of some of the 26 acres.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: So that's probably that's my husband's job, so, so he moves up with you, okay.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: So what did what?
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: What is his?
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Is he working here?
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: he actually um decided he's he's taking what he likes to refer to as a sabbatical and so because he's he is, he has followed me around, he is supporting you, know he.
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: When I said you know there's a job in Memphis, he said let's do it.
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: And then rip the rug out from under him and say, hey, there's a job in Kentucky.
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: And he says let's do it.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: And he's he's followed me.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: Did he have a job in Memphis?
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he worked at Granger.
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: He was in sales Okay, perfect, and did that for for over a decade and has been in sales even longer than that and just was getting burned out.
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: And so I was like you know what this move is?
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: An opportunity for you to take a beat, figure out what you want to do.
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: You know you've let me do what I want to do all this time and I'm doing it.
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: So figure out what you want to do.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: I'm sure that's something you can only do, so so much before you have to get back into it, but I'm sure you know he's enjoying it.
• 34:02
  Speaker 3: He's enjoying the nice little break because he's helping get the house in order.
• 34:06
  Speaker 3: He's taking care of the dogs, so I don't have to be stressed about it, because I'm not working eight hours a day.
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: I'm working 10 hours a day, if not longer, and so having to worry about the dogs is an added stressor that now I don't have.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: Right, right.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: And when he does go, then you can just bring them here.
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: I my older dog I would absolutely bring here.
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: I would not bring, I have a.
• 34:26
  Speaker 3: I have a one year old chocolate lab.
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: Okay, she is she's lovable.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: You have to wait.
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: But, she's a velociraptor right now.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, you don't need them knocking over the cliff and she would.
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: She'd knock everything over just based off of love.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, so, yeah, so that that that's great.
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: Um, so let's get it a little bit.
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: Um, do you have any like right now, augusta makes barrel proof, bourbon, do you have any kind of you?
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: Are they letting you do unique kind of things, your own, I mean?
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: You got to be at that point where you're going to lay down some stuff and do a little bit of an experiment and I think eventually we will start experimenting with mash bills.
• 35:08
  Speaker 3: um, we're still trying to get the equipment to cooperate on a daily basis.
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: Um, so right now we're sticking with a very traditional bourbon mash bill 75 corn, 20 rye, 5% malted barley.
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: So a little on the higher rye.
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: But what I'm excited about is we've got because I didn't have this in Memphis we have a traditional seven-story rickhouse.
• 35:29
  Speaker 3: You know, I was palletized in Memphis and it was great, it worked for us and it produced amazing whiskey.
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: Right, I forgot how much I missed the traditional r Rickhouse until I got up here and went okay, there's something to be said for this.
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: And so now I get seven stories to play with.
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: How now, and it's not full.
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: No, not full.
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: Now do they store some of the barrels that they purchased in there?
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: Yes, so most of what's in that warehouse right now is stuff that we have purchased from elsewhere and we're actually I forget when we break ground, but we've already got a second warehouse in the works.
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: But getting to learn the different stories, the different corners, I'm really going to play with barrels.
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: You know, right now we're doing char three from one Cooperage, but I'm excited to get some char four because it's my personal favorite.
• 36:19
  Speaker 3: I love the alligator char.
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: But also do some lighter chars with toasting and see what that comes out with, because for single barrel, that's what I want.
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: I want uniqueness, I want different characteristics, and so getting to play with the barrels in a way I haven't before is really exciting for me.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: That makes total sense.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: Now I've been in empty rickhouses and when you're on the seventh floor of a rickhouse it's terrifying Not when it's full.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: It's not terrifying when it's full.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: You're walking next to barrels, but you go, you look down and you're like really, yeah, an empty seven-story warehouse is terrifying.
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree my team avoids the seventh floor right now because I think we've maybe reached the fourth floor, so it's getting less scary.
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: And people don't realize that when it's empty and you're on the seventh floor, it's open, what it's all open.
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: It's open down, but it's usually the windows are and it's the winds blowing up there and I mean, you realize, you just get this feeling of height and you're just like.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: That's what it's like.
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: You know, if it's full, I've been up there and it's full, it's not quite the same.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: Usually it's hot, yes, it's just yeah, it's hot.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're up there.
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: But I've been up there on a hot day on a new rick house and it's the wind's blowing enough where it's not that hot you know what I mean?
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I see.
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: And ours, ours is bad because we are, our warehouse is up on a hill.
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: We intentionally did up on a hill facing north to south, so we get, we get some wind up there.
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and just when you think about it, if it's not completely full and you are getting that wind.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: I was at a palletized warehouse where they used giant fans to circulate the air and at first they turned them on, like they were doing, and it just freaked the whiskey out.
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: It's just like there was just too much air movement going on and they were getting they were tasting.
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: So now you look at them and they're just just barely barely moving, because you don't want to, you don't want to freak it out, and same thing it's got to be like when you're putting it up there right off the bat and you're starting to fill it and whatever, and it's getting that wind.
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: Wind it's got to be.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: Those first barrels will be so unique, right?
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: Yes?
• 38:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but you know that's the fun part of it.
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: Well, it is, and well, I've been to so many different and you know your palate is not in question, okay.
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: So once somebody who understands and people don't realize.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: When you're making, you don't do batches, you're picking single barrels.
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: Do you see down the line that went with the distilling that you'll be doing batches?
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: Right now no no, just be the single barrel, strictly single barrel.
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: Okay, the only time you'll see us do a blend is we have them here at the distillery.
• 39:11
  Speaker 3: It's our river proof series.
• 39:12
  Speaker 3: It's part of our onsite experience.
• 39:14
  Speaker 3: We do occasionally release some finished bourbons, okay.
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: And those will be super small blends, but we will blend a couple barrels together and then finish them in a sherry cask, a white port cask, things like that.
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: Or you could do the blend and put them in different barrels.
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we did a double Oaks.
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: Well, that's going to be well sought after.
• 39:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's the extent of our blending.
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: It's different than where you were Very different.
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: But I mean, you know people don't understand that when you're doing a brand and you have all these different barrels to keep that brand on flavor profile.
• 39:53
  Speaker 3: It's challenging.
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: Right Now.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: I will have to say that the aging in Kentucky lately and the weather has been so ideal that I find some of the brands are actually becoming better.
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: You know they're not.
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: You'll taste more caramel on them or whatever than you were before, which is a a good thing.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: But if you take one from 10 years ago and the one now, they're not gonna, the flavor profile is gonna, but it's gonna be different.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: Yep, I mean my my favorite podcast was with plantains and it's a single barrel and one of them was horrible and it was, and it's the same exact distillate yeah, really nothing changed.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: And the other one was like one of the best with, you know, and I opened them both, you know, in one was like a 62 and the other one was a 93 and I swear to god I was drinking different actual disc bourbon.
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: But that's just.
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: That's the nature of the single barrel.
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: But you guys, you do these single barrels.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: Now here's the big question.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: You do all these single barrels.
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: What happens if a barrel is not?
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: You know a lot of people when they're doing single, like they do, they pick out the good stuff and the other stuff goes into the batches and the and and I've.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: It's been explained to me that you need a bland barrel to do a batch and you need a spicy barrel, really high to do the batches to keep that, to get that balance of that good whiskey.
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: So what happens to you guys with what happens to those barrels?
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, most of them.
• 41:28
  Speaker 3: You kind of let age and hope, and hope that it gets more characteristic as it goes further down the line and hope that it gets more characteristic as it goes further down the line.
• 41:36
  Speaker 3: But if we do come across a barrel that just can't get there, that's when we do that River Proof series and we do a barrel finish Ah okay.
• 41:44
  Speaker 3: So, that's out of necessity of what's happening and that's really what started.
• 41:48
  Speaker 3: The first one they ever did was a double oat and it was because they got a barrel and I didn't get to taste it, but they said it was the worst thing they ever had and they didn't know what to do with it.
• 42:01
  Speaker 3: Um, you know because this is a team who they were brand new to this industry like what are you supposed to do with a crap barrel?
• 42:07
  Speaker 3: And but they someone had sent them a new oak barrel, kind of as a sample barrel, and they weren't ready to fill it with distillate.
• 42:15
  Speaker 3: This was years ago, and so that's when they had the idea let's take this really bad barrel, blend it with after how many, like two, maybe two other barrels or something like that, and put it in that new barrel.
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: And it turned out phenomenal yeah, no, there's one distiller I was talking about and his owner bought the from distillate from like the 2012, where they were running into the barrel shortage.
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: They're putting it in used barrels, that's all out on the market.
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: He bought it and he's like you can't put this in a bottle, this doesn't belong to our brand, he's like.
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: But if you take brand new french oak and you put it in there, so it was almost like reverse bourbon, but it was like instead of finishing it in used barrels, it sat in a used barrel and then finished in the bourbon barrel.
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: You know a charred oak barrel, and it was.
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: You know they call it double oak.
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, and right now you call something double oak oh people, immediately.
• 43:15
  Speaker 3: They don't have to know anything about the brand, they just see double oak and say I'm buying it so your excitement level, let's finish up with that.
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: I mean, what, what's what?
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: What, where are you?
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: Where is this gonna go?
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: Your excitement, you're, you're part of it.
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: I mean, it just has to be such a fun experience.
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: I mean, is that, and you're just?
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: it has.
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: It has been such a fun experience, um, and partly cause it's it's been fun getting to know a new team of people.
• 43:46
  Speaker 3: Um, after you work with a certain group for so long, it you get comfortable, um, and so it's been super fun with this new team to see the passion and the excitement of our founders and those early day employees.
• 44:00
  Speaker 3: It reenergizes you.
• 44:02
  Speaker 3: You know, kind of take things for granted after a certain point and, coming to a new place, kind of got to rediscover my love of production of bourbon and I get to make Kentucky bourbon again.
• 44:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I didn't know that was important to me until I got back here and realized how much it meant to me as a Kentuckian.
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: I mean I'm not going to say quite, but it's almost like Kentucky's the NFL or Major League Baseball, you know what I mean.
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: Now there's some like in the NFL.
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: They're trying to get like teams in Europe or whatever yes, so.
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: Tennessee to me are like those, those teams I mean Jack Daniels, that's a whole different story.
• 44:46
  Speaker 3: It's a league of its own, yep you know, they're almost like that.
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: They come from the same time, same place, same whatever.
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: But as far as when you're talking about the rest of the United States, they're playing the game and a lot of them can do it really good.
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: They just don't do it at that level.
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: But, Kentucky can do it If you're in Kentucky, even if you're small.
• 45:08
  Speaker 3: You have to play at a certain level.
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: The level of that is the quality of the whiskey, yeah, and then if you want people to come to your place because people are running around here, it's then the quality of the experience right, and I think you got both of those going now I'm going.
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: So so matt is who said I'm so glad that when he asked me, I I was like super excited because I kept leaving him little messages Are you going to be there on Saturday?
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: I'm coming down.
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: He's like well, alex is there at 930.
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: I'm like okay, you just.
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: I'm like thanks.
• 45:46
  Speaker 3: He called in a favor.
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: I wish that he was here, because Matt is such a great guy.
• 45:51
  Speaker 3: Matt is awesome as far as an ambassador, well, and Matt, for those who don't know, matt's on our sales team.
• 45:56
  Speaker 3: He is actually our Augusta native on the team.
• 46:00
  Speaker 3: He grew up here, he went to the high school here and I believe he's the only employee on staff right now who can say that.
• 46:07
  Speaker 3: And so he is that's why he's such a great ambassador for us is because this is his hometown.
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: Well, and so I had a childhood.
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: I have a childhood friend.
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: I remember the day he was born.
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: My mom was friends with his mom and I.
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: The day he was born, I was told I was I think I'm like six, seven years.
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: I just remember them telling me that he was born and so we were friends throughout our childhood and then and then kind of reestablished our friendship when we're just a little, you know, when we're in our 20s, and we've been just like super best friends, worked together, did a lot of stuff.
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: I used to be in the commercial art industry.
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: He was a stock photographer, I did.
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: So we've done a lot together.
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: We've done a lot together.
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: But Matt looks his mannerisms, he's just taller, it's like even his voice inflection is exactly my best friend.
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: That is awesome, so I told him that and now we're becoming friends, but it's still the whole time I'm talking to Matt, I'm like what is going on?
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: It's like because he's such a great guy, he does anything for you and he's a family guy, he loves the he he loves promoting it.
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: But when you're with him, like out in the thing, you you're just it's not that he's, you're just there with him as as a person and as a friend.
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: Yep, and he just does that.
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: So well, right, he does and he's fantastic.
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so that was a good shout out to you, matt and um, all right, so anything coming up?
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: Do you guys got anything you want to promote or say anything?
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: Is there anything special or is it just still rolling out all the experience?
• 47:52
  Speaker 3: really still rolling out all the experience we're.
• 47:53
  Speaker 3: We're hoping to actually start our production tours, I believe, after the first of the year.
• 47:59
  Speaker 3: Of course, we still have some cigar rolling experiences here on Sundays, so you can check out our Facebook for that or our website, and then I think we might have some special products that will be bottled later this year and drop maybe some older, older stuff.
• 48:18
  Speaker 3: We'll see, I think you still have um there is some 17 still sitting on that shelf over there yeah.
• 48:26
  Speaker 3: And it's.
• 48:27
  Speaker 3: I'm not gonna lie those 17s, cause I I tend to believe eight to 12 is a sweet spot for bourbon.
• 48:32
  Speaker 3: Some of those 17s were they're not overly oaky.
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: Well, the one thing Augusta and Buckner's that they know what they're doing is they know which barrels can go further.
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: Yes, that's just the key.
• 48:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah because some cannot go for 17 years.
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: No, it's a brand-new barrel and it's just yeah, because some, some, cannot go for 17 years.
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: No, I, it's, it's a brand new barrel and it's kentucky.
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: I I don't, there's not, there's not, not some, not many, but they go if you can, if you know how to pick it, it you know.
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: It's one thing and that so a lot of people who say the, the older barrels, when you get into the 17, 2023, 20, 23, whatever, they know those are the barrels One.
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: It can't be losing a lot of its, it can't be the angel share, just can't be sucking it all.
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: It's funny when you hear that the one year they didn't do the Pappy 23, because when they emptied the barrels there was nothing in them.
• 49:31
  Speaker 3: That is one of the worst things.
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: You can empty apparel and there's nothing there you empty it and there's this much in there.
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, there's, there's.
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: Definitely you really have to have that skill as far as maturation to get those there and you know what you guys when, when this is the the source stuff that comes that they do, but they do a really good job and they now have a full out Rick house to keep it going and do what they need to do, and so it's gotta be a lot of fun, right.
• 50:01
  Speaker 3: Oh, I have the best job.
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: All right, so, uh, let's, let's wrap this up.
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: Um, thank you so much for coming down on a Saturday morning and thank you for coming to Augusta on a Saturday morning Now this last one was the Tenya right.
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: Yes, this is our Buckner's Ten, and that's in the gift shop also.
• 50:19
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 50:20
  Speaker 3: It's a little more allocated than the Route 8.
• 50:22
  Speaker 3: Route 8's available all the time.
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: We get that in Ohio, yep, so I have a bottle at all times.
• 50:29
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, that's good but yeah, so our Buckner's similar to.
• 50:33
  Speaker 3: All right, we're always cast strength.
• 50:35
  Speaker 3: This one, I believe that we're sipping on.
• 50:38
  Speaker 3: It was about 121, I think.
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: I mean look at the legs that just you know.
• 50:41
  Speaker 3: It's legs for days.
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's, it's crazy.
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that is so good.
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: That's one thing.
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: I love the taste profile.
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: I mean it's brown sugar, it's got the really rich.
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: What did you say?
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: Almost like it's got that aged, it's got enough.
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: It's a sweet char, yes.
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: And it just says bonfire, bourbon, you know.
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: And then it's got the proof every that everybody wants the hazmats, the mouth feel that it always has.
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: There's always a nice viscosity to it yeah, you don't want to be drinking this on a 90 degree day at a concert.
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: No, yes, this is not a summer summer outdoor bourbon.
• 51:31
  Speaker 3: This is a fall campfire bourbon.
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, all right.
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: So thank you very much.
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: I appreciate it.
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: I'll just.
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: I got to end the, so I'm going to end this, but let's see if I can.
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: I'll end it the way I'm supposed to end it, because just real quick, and then we'll be done.
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: So normally, my, my laptop looks up to this and I got it all set up, but for some reason, this one all right, are you gonna do that, okay?
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: Well, I was, I was kick, I was all right there, we go, all right.
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: So so the way we do this, is it there?
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: There, it is All right.
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: Everybody, thanks for joining us.
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: Remember wwwscotchieperfumeboyscom.
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: What's Augusta's website?
• 52:25
  Speaker 3: It is going to be AugustaKYdistillerycom.
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: Perfect, you got to come down and check that out.
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: Make sure you check us out on Facebook, instagram, youtube and X, along with all the major podcasts, spotify, apple, iheart, wherever you listen, and then remember good bourbon equals good times.
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: Good friends, drink responsibly, don't drink and drive, and make sure you live your life uncut and unfiltered.
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: Let little Steve-O take us out.
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: Let's see if I got it.
• 53:07
  Speaker 2: Oh, show me the way to the next whiskey bar.
• 53:12
  Speaker 2: Oh, don't ask why.
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: Oh don't ask why.
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: Oh don't ask why.
• 53:18
  Speaker 2: Show me the way to the next whiskey bar, oh don't ask why.
• 53:26
  Speaker 2: Oh, don't ask why.
• 53:29
  Speaker 2: For if we don't find the next whiskey bar, I tell you we must die.
• 53:37
  Speaker 2: I tell you we must die.
• 53:40
  Speaker 2: I tell you, I tell you, I tell you we must die.
• 53:46
  Speaker 2: Perfect.