Ep 232 - Sazerac opens a TN Distillery

To start any opinions I share in this podcast are just that my opinions not based on anything I know from working for Sazerac.

Brandon and I are back in the Den discussing Sazerac opening a distillery for TN whiskey in TN.  Well buying one and changing the name.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Welcome to the Bourbon Boys. We're back in the cave, in the den, the Bourbon Boys Cave. What's going on? Where we belong. We're joined by my co-host again, Brandon. What's up?

SPEAKER_00 1:11

What's going on?

SPEAKER_01 1:12

We're back with some new equipment. This is the second time using this. We'll see how this works out. Since the first time we used the other stuff, it didn't pan out so well for us.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

It's alright. It's alright. It's all all works out in the end.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

So spitballing, before we started, we decided we're going to talk about a new uh Sazrak.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

A new development.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

It's by Sazrak, who uh just decided to purchase. Well, not just, it's happened a while ago. Um the former distillery of Popcorn Sutton, which is fame. You know what he came to fame for.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

Right, correct. Uh I mean, I remember seeing him on like the Moonshiner show when uh coming up and stuff like that, but obviously his history goes way back than that.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Yeah. I mean, that's what he's mainly known for is Moonshine. I think his wife was part owner in this distillery or something. They ended up deciding to sell it to Sazerak, who's getting into the Tennessee whiskey business.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Which is interesting because we've talked about like the Brown Foreman acquisition and stuff like that, and is that gonna happen? And it kind of looked like to me, either they're gonna not pursue that or they're not able to get that locked in.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

I think what's gonna ultimately happen is I mean, this was a they already own this distillery, so this the the Jack Daniels is more new than this is. Correct. Uh so I think they were going after that because it's a main state brand and it's a it's just a giant brand of the Tennessee business.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

Yeah, that's probably like the Yankees of Tennessee whiskey. Like if you could buy that, you probably would.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

That or Dickle, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

Right.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

And Dickle's probably not as loved by most as Jack Daniels.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Yeah, yeah. I think that Dickle's more like you really are from Tennessee. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

You really you really do know who popcorn slowly is.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

Like you probably met him.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

Yeah, you might have met him in the back. You might have gone blind off his shine.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Exactly. It's a little too high proof there, popcorn. Right. Blind faith, though. Blind faith. That's what they call blind faith. Right. Going blind faith.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Except for that, you'd be alright. So I think from the outside looking in, not having any real knowledge of it officially, I don't know. Right. I put up air quotes because we got an email about it. We don't know anything about it. Right. Jack Daniels acquisition.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Which is fine with me.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

Yeah, that's the truth. I don't know anything about it. Um only what I've read and what you've read.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Right, and that's always that's a big conversation. And I think either way, if you're Sazerac, like to go from uh maybe we do get Jack, maybe we don't, but then either way, we're gonna be able to put our foot in the in the water in Tennessee, I think is uh is a good thing for them, and we'll see what happens.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

I think from the from looking in and seeing all the information about the new distillery, which is used to be popcorn Sutton, now is gonna be called AJ Bond. Um they're gonna be producing stuff uh do we know anything about the AJ Bond name origin or I don't have any it's just AJ Bond distillery reinforces a commitment. Uh they're talking see, I'll look it up real quick. They're talking like that's gonna be more of a traditional uh Tennessee whiskey to start off, but they're gonna be doing a lot more uh experimental stuff, which could be interesting as well, you know.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Um obviously Jack does some stuff, but like as far as experimental goes, I'm I'm very interested to see what uh Sazerat can do because obviously their budget's a little different than maybe what was going on to AJ Bond before. You know, like it's gonna be some different stuff going in there.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Okay, so here's here's what AJ Bond is about. The name comes from the distillery, and I'm not gonna try to pronounce that again. I already tried earlier and I didn't do it very well. Well, I will. Let's do it. La Virgne. It's a respectful attempt. La Virginna, Tennessee. Okay. Uh, it honors the partnership between master distillers Alicia Hensley and the late John Lunn, their bond of over 12 years of working together to develop Sazraq's Tennessee whiskey, formerly at the Popcorn Sutton Distillery inspired the name. So it's A and J. And J, A and J, and they're bonded over whiskey.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

There you go. There we're boom. So we did we did uh pulling at some real hard strings with the name. That's nice. We did some research on the fly here. First rate. Yeah. Alicia's pretty cute. Well, it sounds like she's doing well for herself. She is. We're getting involved with Sazerac, so that's gonna be it could be good or bad for her, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Yeah, I was gonna say, like, what uh it hasn't worked out so well for female distillers in the main in the mainstream so far. You can ask Marianne Barnes about her experiences.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

Yeah. I need to get her on. Yeah. Need to get her on.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

Yeah, I'm sure maybe I can work some back channels to have that happen. I'm sure she's got some interesting interesting stuff to say. I'm sure she does. Especially if she's let loose on a anything goes podcast. Correct. Although she probably wouldn't say a whole lot. She didn't want to get in more hot water than she already has been. Yeah. She's uh intelligent lady. She is very intelligent.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Very intelligent lady.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

So what do you think about them foraying into Tennessee whiskey?

SPEAKER_00 6:21

I think if you're uh Sazerac at that point, like what else can you do? You know, if it and if you're not in that one, and and to me, that's a pretty big category. You know, Kentucky Bourbon, Tennessee whiskey, um, and Jack for the most part has kind of had free range to do whatever they want, and that's for the most part their category. Yeah. Right? So Sazerac being a big player in that world, I think they have to step up and get involved. And I I would like to believe that they're gonna turn out a quality product. Just because I think they're gonna invest in it, do the research and and get the right people involved that they can, and then go from there.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

I think it's interesting that they're gonna honor the real Tennessee whiskey with the Lincoln Lincoln Road technique and all that jazz.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Right.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

Instead of going into some a different way of it. Sure. I guess it makes sense if you're trying to compete with Jack Daniels and Dickles of the World Chattanooga whiskey or whatever they're doing down there. I don't know what they do, the Lincoln County.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Yeah, I don't know. That's interesting too. Like, so then does that mean they come in? Is it gonna be lower sh lower shelf stuff too? Or just premium experimental? You know what I mean? Like that think about that.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Like I'm pretty sure from the release, they're gonna be doing their inaugural release, it's gonna be something that's like mid-tier. Okay. Probably something in the range of Jack Daniels. Okay. Um, if I had to guess. And they're gonna do more uh experimental and limited stuff as well out of there. Sure. Right. They just gotta find out which one of their rick houses is Coy Hill stands.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Right? Just well, they just need somebody cool to say it is Coy Hill. And then they then it will take off.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Yeah, get the ascot to call it Coy Hill.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Correct. Now we're good. We're good.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

Then we're all in it.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

So what are you drinking? What are you having to drink on? Uh well, I figured we'd honor Sazrack.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

Dusty, Dusty Rock Hill.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

Literally Dusty.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

Uh I'm excited because I'm a big fan. Uh I've had it a couple times, and uh I'd never have owned one, ironically. Um I guess the second one I owned. Okay. But it it it um I think it gets respect amongst BTAC line, but like you don't hear about it a lot. Uh and I enjoy it a lot. So this is this is nice. What are your thoughts? I haven't even drank it yet.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

I was just you know what year. Pontificating. I I got this uh funny enough, the first week after I moved up here, so nine years ago, uh I went to Total Wines right after they opened. Okay. In Brookfield, and they had about eight of those. Wow. On the s on the just sitting there. I grabbed them all and I sold them all to my friends except for that one because I really didn't care for it. Yeah, right. You you don't care for it. I didn't care for it at the time. At the time. Yeah. At the time. I mean, it's fine, it's it's a 90-proof whiskey. It's good, but it wasn't like something I was gonna seek out. Sure. And it was something people in Kentucky can't get.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Right. To me, like hits those simple notes that I really want in bourbon, right? That caramel and oak. It's it's pleasant, right. It's just a nice Oh, Wemby was about to slam that on everybody. Wemby's back from the concussion. It's good to see.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

We went to uh we were watching that yesterday when I had people over. We were watching basketball. So that was interesting.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

It's the best time of year for the NBA.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

The only time of year for the NBA.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

Wow. This is really good.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Yeah. So nice legs too for that.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

Right?

SPEAKER_01 10:04

Yeah, those are sticky for.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

Well, I mean, it's been sitting for nine years, so you think about that too, like you know.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

Well that I mean well, it's been sitting in my garage for probably a year.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

Open. Well, that whole concept, like, does it continue to age in the bottle?

SPEAKER_01 10:20

I don't know aging.

unknown 10:22

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

It shouldn't age in the bottle, but it definitely can oxidize. Right. If you get too much air to it. Or if it's really I mean, when it gets really low in the bottle, I think, and get really short, I think the more air that's in there, it just overwhelms it.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

That I that I would agree with. It's interesting too, like um what it like that bottom third of a bottle, you hear a lot of people talk about how it opened up more. And that's always interesting to me because because of the whole oxidation thing and how well how long have you had it, how quickly have you drank it, like that kind of thing comes into play. Where it's stored. Correct.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

Um I think that I'm not sure that I'd say the bottom third of it opens up. I don't think that really matters uh how much is left in it to where it opens. I think after you open it and let it sit for a little bit, it opens, regardless of how much you drink out of it. Just because it allows the uh the uh oils and the in the liquid to to re-introduce themselves after they separate. Because that's what that's gonna happen, is they're gonna have some separation of some sort chemically. That's why I think that there's a there's such thing as the neck pour.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

Although I don't this we were at uh we were at Amon's last week, or I was, and they they did a uh an infinity bottle from all the MGP samples that I brought from mobile. Yeah. And he's like, Do you want the neck pour? I was like, I don't think that classifies as a neck pour anymore. You just refilled the bottle, yeah. Correct. This is still a neck pour.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

No, it's not right. It's uh uh it's a blended.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

I think it's just the first pour out of the bottle, not necessarily neck pour agreed.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

I'm more along that.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

I mean you can you could shake the bottle up and then it's not a neck pour anymore. Correct. That's my thought always, well, because most of the time I'm tipping a bottle to you know wet the cork. So you gotta get that cork wet. Correct.

SPEAKER_01 12:15

That's what she said.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Well, you gotta get it wet. You gotta get that cork wet before you pop it. I mean, like let's you know, because you can't just dive into it. You don't want to crack that cork right away. Like you don't want that breaking off in your bottle. That's not you definitely don't want to break your cork off.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

That's a big process, then correct. I had to empty out that smooth ambler mythical last week because I had cork bits in it. You got a screen. I tried to hide that last night in the bottle that was upstairs. Yeah. Of course, somebody saw it. I was like, that's an Easter egg. Yeah. Right. I saw it right away by the kitchen when I was walking through. I was like, oh, look at there.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

There it is.

SPEAKER_01 12:49

That uh Jimmy saw it, so of course Jimmy had to have some. Kyle saw it too, I think. That's all it takes. And it's you know Kyle's like, is that okay to drink? I was like, uh I mean, you have a little pour out of it. That's my drink is a drink is a subjective term. I mean, that's a thousand dollar bottle now. Correct. Correct. Open it up for the dad for Pop's past.

SPEAKER_00 13:11

Which is fair. Which is fair. So Sazraq in a Tennessee whiskey. Yep. Good luck to him. I I mean, I'm a big fan of Tennessee whiskey, so I'm I I would like to see what they put out. I mean, they're buying everything. Right.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

I mean, he's bought uh sipping cream and moonshine and buying RTDs out left and right. Just came out with a three-liter size uh buzz ball called a boulder. That's what they're called. Yeah, boulder. Boulder. They're play they're having a lot of fun with the balls and the boulders. Yeah, they're going all in. Uh they're uh advertising for those as um top tier.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

Which is funny to me because you keep hearing more and more about Americans drinking less. But buzzballs, no problem. They're doing well.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Buzzballs is up almost 150% in every store I'm in. I don't know if that's because there's more of them.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

Cost effective? Like you think people are just trying to get point A to point B as quick as we can.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

I guess. I mean, it's 16% alcohol, so it's a decent amount of alcohol. And they're I mean, they're not for me, they give me a stomachache. Yeah, I'm gonna sugarch.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

That all that sugar is gonna get.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

And uh I mean they use real stuff in it, so it's it's real mixers.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

I don't know if I believe when I see the colors though, you know what I mean? Like that that colors are bright.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

They are bright. They're moving away from that though, and they're coloring the outside of the balls instead of instead of the coloring inside the balls.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

Got it.

SPEAKER_01 14:43

They could have more consistent ball color when they wrap them. You gotta wrap your balls. So the clear balls balls are not good. Well, the clear balls are going away because they want to have more consistent color to them. Okay, I think it reminds me that there was a movie on Amazon that just came out called Balls Up. It's uh Mark Wahlberg. Did you see it?

SPEAKER_00 15:05

Yes. I think my son wants to see it. He was asking me about it, so that's funny. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

It's the the the concept is they come up with a condom that goes all the way down your balls.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

So you can protect your balls from uh any interference or any touching of things you don't want to touch on. I mean, at that point, is it a wetsuit? Like, I don't know what pretty much is a wetsuit for your penis. And what'd you think of the movie? It was pretty funny. Funny, it was funny. I mean, Mart Wahlberg and that dude, the big dude that's in it, I can't remember his name. He's got like a Paul something. He was in uh he was in that movie about the Atlanta uh bombing.

SPEAKER_00 15:45

Yes, heavy set guy, yeah. He's actually done some decent stuff. He's done a couple other films. He's he's not bad. I do like him.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

He's good in funny movies. Yes. I mean he's a good serious movie. He's good, he's a good actor.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

Yep. He looks weird. Yeah, I think that's what does it for him. Right. I think that's you don't think he's gonna be able to pull it off.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

He's not gonna be a leading man. No. I don't think he's getting the women, at least not believably.

SPEAKER_00 16:07

Yeah, I don't think he's gonna be a leading man like that. Yeah, I don't think he's gonna be Mark Wahlberg.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

No.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

But like some like an Atlanta bombing movie, that he's the bomber. Yeah, that works. That works for him.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

It's okay, I believe Marky Mark and from the Funky Bunch is a serious actor now.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Serious actor. Wow. Restaurant tour.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Left the funky bunch behind. I did not know that this podcast was gonna go off the rails to talk about Wal Mark.

SPEAKER_00 16:31

Wahlberg was uh New Kids in the Block, right? No, no, no. See, I always get him mixed up. He was Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

What was the what that was the group with his brother, too? Uh I don't know what he did with his brother.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Yeah, because I thought they did like another boy band. I don't think so. I have no idea.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

I don't either. I wasn't into boy bands. Yeah, that's too bad Alicia's not here.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

We could have known you don't have any sisters, do you? No. Yeah, see, so you didn't get it like that. So I had a younger sister, so I had a seven-year-old older brother than me. He probably wasn't rocking Mark Wahlberg.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

No, he was just trying out DDTs and pile drivers on me. On you. Yes. Okay. I got beat up.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Listen to like a little ACDC.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Uh he was in a rap.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

Okay. It was a lot of, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

It was definitely run DMC and uh So he's beating your ass while he's got a beat. Fat boys.

SPEAKER_00 17:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

A little beatboxing going on.

SPEAKER_00 17:21

Big fat boys fan. Yeah. I'm a big, big fat boys fan.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

Cow can you go wrong with fat boys? The movies I try to tell all my my friends. The movies. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

The fat boy movies are classic.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

Delirious? Was that one of them?

SPEAKER_00 17:33

Uh that's the one where they were the uh I remember there's one there where they were like working in like a mental hospital. Yeah, I think that was like my favorite one. Yeah, that was delirious. Yeah, yeah. They're like helping them get out and stuff, and that was good.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Such good actors.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

Yeah, like authentic. Real acting. Authentically. Correct. The fat boys. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

That's right. Well, I think we've probably extended this as far as we can. AKA Warn Out Our Welcome. Yeah, we got about uh we're about 17 minutes in, so that's a that's a solid that's a solid listen. No, that's good. I was talking to the dude who does the uh bourbon barrel talk, barrel barrel strength talk podcast. Okay. He said 27 minutes.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

Is that the sweet spot?

SPEAKER_01 18:20

That's where he likes to be.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

That's where I'm sure he's done some research. Under 30 is the key. Okay. I mean it makes sense. It makes sense. We're normally around 30. That sounds about right. That's a lot to say.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

We got a lot to say. Sometimes. Sometimes we'll see. Even though we can go off on a tangent. Just warming up. Just warming up. It's been a while. So we gotta get back in the uh in the driver's seat. Back in the original den. Alright, let's let's close this one out. We'll see if we can come up with something else to talk about.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

Sounds good. All right. I'm in.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

Got anything to say until next time?

SPEAKER_00 18:54

Man, appreciate you all. Always all the support.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Um I'm just grateful. Okay. Until next time, enjoy your pours and enjoy your family. Be safe.