Distilled Bourbon Podcast
Distilled: The Bourbon Podcast discovers all that America's spirit has to offer from trails to distilleries and everything in between. Co-hosts Brent Bridges, Chuck Stinnett, Aaron Nelson and Brian McDaniel bring unique perspectives to this popular topic. Brian is an Army veteran and owner of the Beverage Barn liquor stores. He knows how to find those rare unicorn bottles. Chuck is a member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame and is best described as a walking encyclopedia. Chuck and his wife Donna are experts in many things including maneuvering the Bourbon Trail(s). Aaron brings his knowledge of whiskey and bar tending skills to the team to make us look good. Brent...well he owns a few microphones and loves bourbon.
Distilled Bourbon Podcast
Silk Velvet Bourbon Awakened
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A major bourbon brand is back from obscurity and everyone wants it! Silk Velvet was born in the 1800's and went dormant just before prohibition. Now its back thanks to The Hargis family and Master Distiller Jacob Call. It's so popular that it sold out in 30 minutes during the release party.
Distilled Bourbon Podcast was lucky enough to have Zach Hargis and Jacob Call bring bottles of barrels 1, 2 and 3 to the turrent. Here's our take on one of Henderson Kentucky's legacy brands.
#Silkvelvet #HendersonKY #JacobCall #WesternKentuckydistillingco #bourbon #whiskey #podcast
https://www.silkvelvetwhiskey.com/
https://www.wkydistilling.com/
Welcome to the Still the Bourbon Podcast in a very packed turret today. We're glad to have you back. Um , fellas, it's good to see you . You guys know I'm my co-host Aaron Chuck, and if you don't remember this guy, his name is Brian <laugh> . He's the busiest man on the planet and hasn't been here the last couple of episodes, but forever. Buddy , it's good to have you back in the direct . It's like ,
Speaker 2Seems like May or June last time
Speaker 3I got get
Speaker 1With you guys, I went to your new store in Owensboro today. It was , uh, it's , it's coming along. It's getting there slowly but
Speaker 2Surely.
Speaker 1It's getting there. Yeah. So what's the , it's on Fredericka . Frederick is
Speaker 2Yep . Close by
Speaker 1Chick-fil-A. Everybody knows where Chick-fil-A is . Everybody knows where Chick-fil-A is. So , uh, that's gonna be a great story. Good to see you . Uh , I also was at Captain Court today, so yeah . Gotta see you for
Speaker 2Lunch today
Speaker 1As well. Yeah . So I'll take my 10% kickback at any point to mention those <laugh> . Uh , but I thought it's five.
Speaker 2I agreed on five.
Speaker 1Okay. We'll talk about that later. Uh, so listen, we have some fantastic guests with us today. Um, Aaron , do you wanna introduce our guest today?
Speaker 4Absolutely. So we have , uh, Zach Hargis , president of Silk Velvet , uh, whiskey, and we have Jacob call Master distiller at Western Kentucky Distilling Company. Uh, and today we're gonna talk all things , uh, silk, velvet. Uh, so Chuck, I'll turn it over to you and let you , uh, start off with the questions. Well,
Speaker 2I'm, I've been super excited about this. I've been aware Silk Velvet is a, is a legacy brand. It was from our hometown Henderson, Kentucky. Uh, about four blocks from where I've lived for the last 40 years. Uh, I, I even was able to find an old silk velvet , uh, unused label that I framed and had next to my, my bourbon cabinet . Very cool. Then I heard that Zach's brother had had come into possession, maybe really your dad, but it sounded to me like your brother had come into some silk velvet memorabilia. And I texted him, I said, Z Man, I had, I'd love to see this. And he said, yeah, well , we'll do that. But then something even more exciting happened. So tell the story of Silk Velvet,
Speaker 3Please. Yeah. So , uh, silk Velvet came into my lap actually , uh, perusing my dad's antique shop. So , uh, we were out one day , uh, out at the shop, and he said, Hey, I come across this cool memorabilia, and I had just started in the bourbon industry myself. So he , uh, uh, he's like, you've gotta see this. And, you know, he's been a history guy. If you know Mark Hargis , he's, he's a history guy , uh, all the way through. So he comes and shows me these bottles, and they were all pre-prohibition, silk, velvet bottles. He had the old labels, he had the old , uh, prescription , uh, receipts. Nice , sweet , uh, you know, it just a whole collection , uh, as , as well as other Henderson bottles and things that he had bought. And , uh, he looked at me and he said, Zach , you know, this would, wouldn't this be cool to bring this back <laugh> ? And , uh, I'm looking at him if you know my dad as well , he's an idea man . Uh , through and through. And I was like , yeah, this, this would be cool to bring back. And went home that night and , uh, had just kept replaying in my head and I was like, you know, that would be cool to come back. I , as you see with the label, I mean, it is just a beautiful label , uh, you know, the original labels and all. So, you know, and I ended up calling my brother , uh, uh, that night and I said, Hey , uh, dad, show me these bottles. They're really cool. I'm gonna go in , uh, tomorrow and I'm gonna do some research. I'm gonna see some things. So we , uh, uh, actually went back, you know, perused the trademark sites to see how, you know, and luckily enough it was available, so jumped right on it, ended up calling him and said , you'll never believe this, but it's available. Uh, had some help , uh, uh, with some guys at work , uh, Jacob and , uh, uh, or my good friend JD Edwards as well. Uh, they knew day one , uh, that, you know , uh, that we were going to try to get this. So , uh, so yeah, it started in the antique store. Uh, and, you know, we ended up giving him the present at Christmas , uh, as a Christmas present, the trademark, and said, Hey, wow, we , we have , uh, you know, we , we've applied for this. It's not done yet, but this is where we're going. And I think we spent the whole Christmas talking, Hey, how do we make this day happen? And that was Christmas of 2020. And here we are in 20, 24 and two weeks , uh, post launch . And I'm still pinching myself that we made this happen
Speaker 1A hell of a Christmas present. I mean, you kind of set the bar high for the rest of <laugh> .
Speaker 3I don't think we're ever gonna be able to top
Speaker 2This , that's for
Speaker 3Sure . So , yeah .
Speaker 2Now to be sure, silk Velvet, it was not an obscure brand. No, no. It was advertised in newspapers back in the 1880s, 1890s, 19 hundreds. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Jacksonville, Florida, Texas, someplace out in Arizona. Yeah . Um , you know, liquor was advertised in newspapers a lot back in those days in Silk. Velvet was widely
Speaker 3<crosstalk> .
Speaker 1What a great name, man. It is a great name . If you're thinking bourbon, silk, velvet, just, it just kind of describes it, doesn't it?
Speaker 2So I think Silk Velvet started , uh, uh, Colonel a s Winstead started 1870s.
Speaker 3So yeah, the , the story is, is, I mean, really deeply rooted in Henderson. So , uh, Colonel a s Winstead , uh, he , uh, married a lady called America Orsham . I love that. A great name. I think it's about the best name you can have. Uh, uh, but he , uh, he married her and her dad , uh, was , uh, a distiller and ran the Worsham Distillery at the time. So , uh, he, you know, got into the family and was like, Hey, I'd love to learn. And so , uh, and right now, Chuck, if you can help me, I , I'm blanking on his name. Do you remember talking about Elijah? Elijah Washam ? Yes .
Speaker 2Was that, was that his father-in-law, or brother-in-law?
Speaker 3I think it was his, I'm not a hundred percent sure. Do you ? I
Speaker 2Think it might have been his brother-in-law, and I think they actually started out in the wholesale liquor business Oh , okay. In Henderson. Yeah . And one of the , one of the other of 'em started a , a distillery on one side of the railroad tracks here. And , and the other started on the other side railroad track with sight of one another. And the old worship distillery eventually became Kentucky Peerless. Yeah . Which was reborn by Henderson's , uh, yes , Corky , Corky Taylor up , up in Lexington. And they've done very well, very
Speaker 3Well. Uh , recent Hall of Fame , uh, in Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame . I mean , uh, uh, we love Corky. Uh , he's, he's good. I mean, he led the, you know, this resurgence of bourbon , uh, the spotlight on Henderson. So, you know, we're all following his footsteps on that. But , uh, but yeah, so , uh, uh, so he was with his brother-in-law , uh, and I guess learned the craft through there. And then one day , uh, he finally decided, you know what? I wanna do this myself. And he had some grand ideas, and sure enough, he went and opened up the distillery , uh, the Winstead Distillery , uh, at the very tail end of Center Street here in Henderson, right by the railroad tracks. Uh, the property is still there, unfortunately. The distillery is not, no , um, it, it burned down. Um, it did
Speaker 2Late in 1950s.
Speaker 3Yep . Yep . So , uh, at the same time as the grandest hotel in Western Kentucky region , uh, I think burned down as well. So it , or that might've been the first time it burned down <laugh> <laugh> .
Speaker 2So , uh, now by the time it burned down, it had been not a distillery since the 19 teens . Yeah . It's, it ceased production. Yeah . And then of course, prohibition, I think maybe it was being used for tobacco storage or something like that . Yes . So it ceased production prior, before Prohibition started. Did
Speaker 3Okay . Yeah . So he , uh, as took it from the ground up, and he took it, you know, nationwide. I , I mean, obviously it started small, but he grew it and kept growing it. And as you said, I mean, it was all over. Uh, we have receipts from Texas advertisements, Arkansas, Florida, you know, just all over as started to become, you know, kind of older in age. And so he gave it off to his son, Ew , uh, Winstead . And , uh, Ew had it for a while . And he, his marketing started getting a little bolder . Uh, you know , he was really following his father's footsteps, but really pushing it out there as well. Unfortunately , uh, they both , uh, succumbeded to illness. Uh, I think ew , uh, ended up passing away pre-prohibition. Uh, and with the passing of Ew, the brand , uh, died with it. So nobody else in the family wanted to take it up. Uh , and yeah , so , uh, uh, but there was a time , uh, Winstead Distillery. I mean, they were, they were very big. I mean, you're talking 600 barrel production weeks, you know , uh, uh, they very big , uh, operation there. So , uh, and with it, you know, soap velvet died, which , uh, was a shame looking back at it. I mean, it's such a good product. Uh , it , the packaging alone Yeah . Was just
Speaker 1Beautiful bottle. I love that you went with a kind of the old school look , uh, cork. That's cool. But sat there and laid dormant for a hundred years. A
Speaker 3Hundred years. Or you like , say asleep .
Speaker 1Asleep for a hundred years , asleep for a hundred years. Nice time . And your dad drops this, huh ? Wouldn't that be cool? Yeah. <laugh> . And you do the work and you find out what it would take, you get it done. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . And you're about ready to , you , you , you , you have a partner here. You found a, a , a , a distillery that's up and coming . You wanna talk a little bit about , uh, uh, Western Kentucky Auxiliary and, and , and what you guys do, or?
Speaker 3Yeah. So, I mean, as far as the brand goes, I've known Jacob now for , uh, five, six years now. And , uh, it does, it does <laugh> and , uh, you know, we've, we've become good friends. And, you know, my bourbon journey started before him. But, you know, he's opened my eyes to a lot of, of good bourbons as well. Now that I'm very seasoned in bourbon, I see how talented he is. And , uh, he won't brag on himself, but , uh, he , uh, you know, he's an eight generation master distiller. Uh, he , uh, his father worked at Jim Beam . His granddad worked at Jim Beam. You can trace it all the way back to 1791. Wow . Uh , with Samuel Call , who was distilling at the same time as Elijah Craig. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Uh , a lot of the pioneers of bourbon. Actually, if you go on Whiskey Advocate Magazine this month, you'll see the families of bourbon , uh, and the Rus the, the Beams. Uh, you go down the list and the calls are right there with it. Nice . That's fantastic. Uh , it'll show you how, you know, how much , uh, he, he and his family know. So when we were looking at bringing back Silk velvet, it was the, the label. I mean, the Steads did so good back then. They were ahead of their time , uh, really with packaging and everything else. So we knew we had a good label. We knew every , we had a good story. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . But, you know, being a bourbon nerd, we wanted to make sure the bourbon was also good. Something that, Hey, you buy this for the package, the story, but you're really buying it for the juice. Yeah .
Speaker 1You buy it the first time for the packings in the story, the second time is because juice is
Speaker 3Good. Yeah. You're not coming back again if the bourbon is not any good. Right. So , uh, so, you know, Jacob was there from day one. Yeah . And , uh, you know, we asked him if he'd come along the journey and, and , uh, you know, help us get this going. And, you know, Jacob has tasted every single barrel we've put into a bottle.
Speaker 5So , uh, so yeah. There's nobody better
Speaker 1Have
Speaker 6Some more today,
Speaker 1<laugh> . Yeah . So , uh, before the , before we sat down to , to start the episode, I told Jacob that I was gonna try not to fanboy. 'cause 'cause I am a huge fan of your work. And , uh, so, so pleased to have you here , uh, at the house in , in the turret. Um , but I've had this glass pour this pour in front of me for about 15 minutes now. And , and we like to say we drink bourbon and talk about it. And we've done some pretty good talking. <laugh> . Let's start drinking <laugh> . Can you tell us what we got, what we have in front of us?
Speaker 6Sure. So this is a , uh, about six and a half year old , um, 75 corn , um, 21 Rhine, four Oh , Walter Barley . Yeah . So it's a little bit , uh, a little bit higher corn. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Um, we're super proud of it. I think it , um, goes very well with the name Silk Vel , but it's silky kind of smooth
Speaker 1Now . I think the last time we talked, we talked a little bit about notes and that kind of stuff, and you're very much like in the same camp we are. It's like, yeah, that's good. <laugh>. No , I don't like that <laugh> . Uh , and , and you can do all the fancy things, but you, you , uh, have told me before that you really just like to, to experience the bourbon. So
Speaker 6Yeah. I'm not a poet. I'm not a bourbon poet that, you know, makes up stuff, but , um,
Speaker 5Leave that to the marketing people . Yeah .
Speaker 6Sell the product . You know, it's sweet and spicy. Yeah . Um, if you get those and smooth, no burn, this is 107 proof. Um, so I just think it's a really good representation of, of what , what Kentucky Bourbon should be. And , uh, <laugh> really excited about .
Speaker 5So 1 0 7, what do you go in the barrel at
Speaker 61 21 to one 20 ? Uh , we cut it down. We , we experimented a lot with the , yeah . Uh , you know, we tried, we tried barrel proof . Yep . We did . I don't know . Every proof you can think of <laugh> . Yeah . And then we settled on 1 0 7. We just kind of thought that was,
Speaker 4I missed my invitation
Speaker 1For that . I was about to say <laugh> Aaron . We chose the wrong professions buddy .
Speaker 4Uh ,
Speaker 1Aaron
Speaker 6Number four, char on all of our barrels .
Speaker 1And , uh, this is an early,
Speaker 4Early ,
Speaker 5This is number one barrel,
Speaker 4Number one
Speaker 1Barrel. Fricking number one. Ladies and gentlemen, <laugh> . Wow. What you got, Aaron ?
Speaker 4Man , there's some fruitiness on this that I, I didn't, I've I've had barrel two. Um, and there is some fruitiness on barrel one that I did not pick up.
Speaker 5And the nose is totally different on this one than the second one. I ,
Speaker 4I've had hundred percent .
Speaker 5Of course. Chuck was the only a fortunate one here, other than I think Brent , did you have one prior?
Speaker 1This is the first taste I've ever had.
Speaker 5Yeah , me too. Chuck came in and rubbed it in that he had a taste.
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 6I mean , we get a lot of fruit, a lot of fruit drinks
Speaker 4As well.
Speaker 6Fruit and spice. And
Speaker 1This is fantastic. Anybody can drink this bourbon. Yeah. This is a great bourbon for anybody. I don't care where you are on your journey. This is fantastic.
Speaker 2I got to visit the distillery , uh, several weeks ago mm-hmm <affirmative> . Before the release, and they were kind enough to bring out some product from, from Barrel one . My wife was with me and I was working on a newspaper story about , uh, the, the rebirth of Silk velvet. And we took our first sip and we just looked at each other. It's like, wow. Yeah. And, and our home , our hometown has been so excited, so excited. I think Barrel One had already been sold out. You released to the Public Barrel number two? Yes. And how long did it take to Shot Barrel? Two
Speaker 330 minutes. If , if that , uh, it was, the reception has been insane. Uh, and we can't thank Henderson enough. I mean, and everybody that's been involved with it, we , uh, uh, we knew that we had a good package. We, I obviously knew the product was great. Uh , it's, but it was , you know, you never know until you, until you release out what the reception's been. And Henderson has just been phenomenal embracing this brand , uh, just helping us along the way. Get the word out. And, you know, this is just the beginning. Zach
Speaker 6Told me that , uh, on his launch party day, he said, I just have this bad feeling that nobody's gonna show up. <laugh>,
Speaker 1I think you're gonna be fine. Yeah .
Speaker 2So before in Brian's liquor store, that afternoon before the before , before the launch party, you guys were there signing bottles, your dad mm-hmm . And brother were signing bottles, you're in line to wait to get your, your bottle autographed. And then , uh, a downtown restaurant that nor normally is closed on a Monday. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Evening was open and it was packed, and people were super excited. And the mayor was there. The county judge executive was there. Lots of friends. It was, it was a
Speaker 1Great, well, it sounds awesome. <laugh> . I wish I could have been there. <laugh> . So I had to work. Aaron , Aaron texted me, he said , Hey, you want me to get you a bottle? And I thought, well, I really , I'll just, I'll just stop by , uh, beverage Barn on the way home and grab one. No , 30 minutes. That's awesome, man. That's really cool.
Speaker 5Oh , I knew it was gonna be a big hit. Uh , my sales rep came to me for , um, heritage is Heritage, right? Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Yep . She said, you know, we're getting, I believe 35 cases, this product, you know, we're trying to get some presales. And I , she said, I think if you buy three cases, you get a dollar offer or something like that. I said, I want 30. I'm not trying to be greedy. You're getting 35. I want 30 of 'em . Can you give me 30? Of course. I didn't get 30 <laugh>
Speaker 1That , but ,
Speaker 3Uh ,
Speaker 4We have , uh, we sold through, I wanna say two cases, maybe two and a half. And that's by before , that's by the port. Um , so , uh,
Speaker 1You got some it today while I was there?
Speaker 4Yes. We got three more cases. That's barrel four that's we got today, which we will try here shortly.
Speaker 1Dan , Danielle rubbed it in as I walked in and she says, yeah, there's are <laugh> in that box right there. It's like, I still can't have any Thanks. This is the next one . That's number, that's barrel number two. If that's okay to Yeah . Yeah . Go ahead.
Speaker 3So I , I , as you go through these , uh, you're going to , there's gonna be these , this is a single barrel product, so each one is gonna be different. Sure. But there are some things that , uh, are also similar between 'em . And the biggest one between those is, is that smooth finish on the backside. It's still complex. Like you said, anybody can drink this bourbon, but the seasoned bourbon drinker as well, there's a lot to appreciate in, and there's a lot in that front and mid palette . Uh , a lot of complexity as you saw in Barrel one, that floral note at the end is just, oh my gosh. Uh , and , uh, so there will be some consistency with it, but each bottle's gonna be different. So it , uh, yeah. Which is exciting. Yeah .
Speaker 4Yeah . So
Speaker 1I usually show my , uh, stupidity when I try to guess what some of these notes are, <laugh> . But , um, a a wise man said, you know, what, what do you remember? What , what , what does it remind you of? And this one gives me a little bit more leather than the first one. Does anybody else get that, or am I way off here ? I get leather , a little bit
Speaker 5Of leather liquorice on the , on the nose. Okay .
Speaker 4I'll let you know if you're right or wrong.
Speaker 1I know . I'm sure you'll just playing . If you come up with some bubblegum crap, I'm gonna , you know , <laugh> . Hey , kick you out. I don't know what I'll do. Just
Speaker 4Ask. I'm just kidding. This <laugh> ,
Speaker 1This
Speaker 2Has been so popular that we were driving back home from , uh, going out to lunch this afternoon, and my wife's phone rings and it's a friend calling to report silk velvet back on the shelves. <laugh>,
Speaker 1There's a network out there already. There is fantastic.
Speaker 5Yeah . We were answering calls most of the day. People wouldn't know, you know, when's it coming in? Of course, we're at the mercy of the distributor to, to show up and deliver the product. Uh , and they don't always show up at the same time. So , uh, once it came in, it , it was chaos , uh, you know , people coming in out the door buying it, and Yeah. So
Speaker 3They're gonna have to bottle
Speaker 5Some more, so . Yep . That's
Speaker 1Right . Yes. So tell us about the future. Where we, where are we going here? Yeah .
Speaker 3So, you know, this being a Henderson brand, we wanted to bring it back to Henderson first. That was our goal the whole time. But we're also have some of that Colonel Winstead in us as well. Yeah . Oh yeah . So this is, this is just the beginning , uh, going into 2025. We're going to really blow this thing up and, and scale it up to where we're statewide. And even further, as 2025 goes on, we've got some , uh, partnerships going , uh, even potentially being able to ship up to 45 states next year. So Wow. That's awesome. The cases are gonna be coming. We're, we're ramping up. Uh, but right now, like I said, we wanted Henderson first to be able to enjoy this , uh, and get their hands on it and embrace it.
Speaker 4Yeah . I love it. Absolutely love it . We appreci it .
Speaker 3And
Speaker 2You also are doing new make already?
Speaker 3Uh, yes. We have barrels set back. Uh, we're , we're aging barrels. We have some of the first run barrels , uh, that, that Jacob made , uh, out at Western Kentucky. So we tasted actually some of that today, a year and a half old. Uh, and at a year and a half. Oh my gosh. We're excited. <laugh> , we're excited. Brought some of that . We shoulda have . Yes . And , uh,
Speaker 1Yeah . Well, sometimes you don't wanna say, but are you , you do , you're doing full-sized barrels? Yes.
Speaker 3Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Mm-hmm <affirmative> .
Speaker 5Palletized, right.
Speaker 3Uh , palletized.
Speaker 1Yeah . That means ver stacked vertically. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Yeah .
Speaker 3Okay . Yeah . So, I mean , uh, palletized has been around, you know, scotch and Irish whiskey have been doing palletized for forever. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Uh , bourbon, you know, we're stuck in tradition a lot of the times. And , uh, and don't get me wrong, side feel is great. I mean it Yeah . But the , the cost of side field and all, you know, it , it gets super expensive in that it's
Speaker 5More labor intensive, more
Speaker 3Labor intensive. You know, the , I know the barrel guys at ing , the barrels, Kentucky love , uh, you know, prefer the palletize versus
Speaker 6Yeah . We built our warehouses a little bit differently than some of 'em , you know , palletize got a bit of a bad name in the past because a lot of 'em were concrete bomb shelters, basically.
Speaker 1Oh , okay.
Speaker 6So it wasn't a lot of aging. And , but ours are metal sided. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Uh , non insulated. We have , uh, windows between our rows. We've got a lot of spacing. We're on a hill. We get a lot of wind, a lot of air flow . We have fans. Um,
Speaker 5So what's the height of, of the Rick house ? Um,
Speaker 627 feet. So
Speaker 5You're, you're essentially stacking just two pallets. Six , six high. Six high six barrels . Okay. Yeah.
Speaker 6But , uh, so
Speaker 5It's , it's consistency because of they're all stacked essentially the same temperature Yeah . Throughout
Speaker 1The whole house . And the physics are gonna be such that it's gonna go in and out. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Uh , of , of the wood pretty Oh yeah . Pretty dramatically.
Speaker 6You know how it is in Kentucky, we get all worst seasons sometimes in the same
Speaker 1Day. In the same day. Yeah. Yeah. We call that Tuesday. Yeah . <laugh> .
Speaker 3That's true . So right now, these are single barrels
Speaker 2Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Six years from now. Mm-hmm . Or five years, or four and a half years from now, when you've got some of your new make aged six, six and a half , whatever years. Yep . Do you expect to still be single barreling, or do you think it'll
Speaker 3Go to small batch? So I mean, it , as you scale up, you're gonna have to go small batch at some point, but there's always gonna be a single barrel , uh, line of silk velvet. So, I mean, my favorite part of the job is being able to sit with this man and taste bourbon. So, I mean , our
Speaker 6Offices are right beside
Speaker 3<laugh> right beside each other. So, I mean , uh, so we're always gonna peruse the , you know, the warehouse and find barrels that people are gonna enjoy. We're bourbon nerds at , at the heart of it. I mean, we love bourbon. I , he was born into it. I found it at a later time. Uh, but we love bourbon. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . And so those good, you know, you go through the house and, and you find those really good barrels. I mean, you just wanna share it. So yeah . They might be empty
Speaker 2Before <laugh> got a bunch of ,
Speaker 3So, I mean, this is the best way we can share those barrels with the public. I , I mean, obviously we can't invite everybody in to , to try 'em every day , even though we wish we could. You
Speaker 2Can invite me, <laugh> . Absolute . You
Speaker 3Definitely have an invite. But I mean, we , uh, this is our, our other way of sharing these with masses that , uh, you know, those bourbons, we found those honey barrels. Yeah .
Speaker 5So you said something that's interesting there that I've never heard anyone say. Um , you said that at some point, once you get to scale, you have to do a small batch. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Is that because some of the single barrels are so obscure that it's something that you don't want put into the market?
Speaker 3Yeah. So I mean , when you find those honey barrels, you, we only have so many, I mean, we make a lot of barrels. This man makes a lot of barrels. But we, you know, there's, when you find those special ones, you know, you don't want to mix 'em in and out. But also there's, there's not a, a plethora of really honey barreled out. And not to say that , uh, you know, the bourbon is , is bad or good, but when you find those exceptional barrels, those are what you would need to find for the single barrels. The other barrels are great, great, but I mean, as you ,
Speaker 5You marry them together,
Speaker 3Marry them together, you're losing that , that, you know, that single barrel taste of it. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . But to scale up to go to 45 states and everything else, we would be on the floor every day taste , uh, what it takes to get to that level.
Speaker 2It sounds like you need to hire somebody. I know ,
Speaker 3I know a couple people .
Speaker 2So are you , uh, is it gonna be six year ? Is that the for
Speaker 3All so
Speaker 2<inaudible> , or is that Yeah ,
Speaker 3Up for debate ? That is up for debate as of now. As of now, it's a 6-year-old product. It , we all know how the bourbon industry changes. Yeah . This , this , uh, I , I think a six to 8-year-old is a sweet spot for bourbon. That
Speaker 2Is ,
Speaker 3I love a 10-year-old, I love a 15-year-old. But as it gets older, you know, that wood , you know, takes over. Uh , so that six to eight, there's still the complexity to all, all those notes that you can still find. Yeah . So that's where I see it staying kind of in that range, but fluctuating kind of, kind of going ,
Speaker 2I would think from a business perspective that makes a lot of sense also. Yeah . So would you describe each of these as honey barrels?
Speaker 3Yes, very much so. Oh ,
Speaker 2That's awesome . And this, to be sure, this is all Jacob called
Speaker 3Distilled bourbon. And it will be for as long as I can see forward
Speaker 2<laugh> .
Speaker 3Yeah . I mean, and it , I , he's gonna blush with it, but I , I think Jacob , uh, is, you know, one of the best distillers of its generation. I , it , it , uh, when you taste and see what he's done with resurrecting historic brands before, historic distilleries , uh, in , uh, you know, and , and building his own as well , uh, what he's done with his family outside of it, with Hemingway Rye and everything else. I mean, top , uh, 20 whiskeys in the world three times in the last five years. I can keep going on and on. You're gonna make me cry <laugh> , but I , I , I mean, he,
Speaker 5I see why he is next to you , your office
Speaker 3Now . But I mean, I just love the whiskey that he's putting out. He's already got a raise in a boat it Christmas time . We'll talk after this . And , uh, but no, and , uh, I mean, and this is all sincere and you all are seeing it as well. I mean, we're Jacob Cole fans. Oh,
Speaker 5We are. No. So when I heard that Jacob call was, you know, go , come down here and take over the green or up here. 'cause I , I believe you were down south mm-hmm <affirmative> . Working in South Carolina or somewhere. Florida. Florida.
Speaker 6Okay.
Speaker 5So whenever I heard that you were coming up to Kentucky to help resurrect Green River and their rebranding and all that, I kept, I kept saying, you know , they've gotta do something with Ozy Tyler. The juice is absolutely terrible. Yeah. And that was a consensus among most people around here. And it was a supersonic aging or whatever that they did. And I , I think you were the one that really pushed behind it to get away from that, thank God , and to do the traditional way of bourbon. And then when Green River came out, I mean, it was Ray reviews. I mean, and that's obviously due to, to your distilling and, and all that. So Yeah. I mean, what you said, Zach is hitting down the head.
Speaker 3Well, I , I will go into this a little bit. So what people don't understand on those, the OZ Tyler way , Jake was making the barrels traditionally, that is a finishing step, is what they did. So even those first barrels that were coming out, they were made traditionally in the right way. They
Speaker 6Were trying to screw my bourbon up
Speaker 3<laugh>.
Speaker 5They did a good job of that.
Speaker 3Wow .
Speaker 5They
Speaker 3Kind of did.
Speaker 1Well,
Speaker 6You know , and that's, that's what happens a lot of times, you know, when you work for somebody else, you know, a lot of the master distillers, you know, we didn't have a lot of say in the marketing and, you know, what they did with branding and stuff like that. So , uh, really did push really hard to, to change to Green River and age longer. And , um, turned out pretty good.
Speaker 1So speaking of great bourbon, Aaron , number one was great.
Speaker 4Number one was great.
Speaker 1Number two, even better. I
Speaker 4Thought so , um, I think the difference between number two and number one was the, the floral notes from number one , uh, aren't quite as prevalent in number two. Uh, number two had a little bit more , um, in my mind, number two tasted older. It had a more , um,
Speaker 1Had that much more spice maybe. Yeah.
Speaker 4It was a little bit more spicy. It was a little bit more closer to normal. I don't wanna say normal bourbon, you know what I mean? Like what you expect from a, a typical bourbon. It had your vanilla, your caramel, your wood, your oak. Um, but man, that, that floral note on number one, that's just special.
Speaker 1Those are both gray . It's just , they're just different.
Speaker 4And then I know ,
Speaker 1Are we being consistent with what you guys have heard between one and two?
Speaker 3I understand . Uh , one , uh, that's why we picked number one as being one. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . That floral note that you find in that, that's rare in those bourbons that you find. And , uh, I , we've talked about this before. That's one of those notes we try to find mm-hmm <affirmative> . In the warehouse . Hundred
Speaker 5Percent . Yeah . Somebody mentioned bubble gum ,
Speaker 3You know, it's kind of like a
Speaker 4Juicy fruit . A hundred percent bubble
Speaker 3Gum . Uh , note that I get sometimes
Speaker 4I can't say bubble gum anymore because gr makes fun on the
Speaker 5Juicy Fruit. Isn't bubble gum though. It
Speaker 4No , it was a juicy
Speaker 3Fruit
Speaker 5Flavored gum. Right .
Speaker 3So now Barrel three, I'll tell you is the guys at the distillery , uh, this is their favorite. Yeah. Uh ,
Speaker 5Oh . Is that why there's so little up
Speaker 1<laugh>? Oh man . Smells good,
Speaker 4Man. It's, there is an earthy quality. The rye on this just pops
Speaker 3Little Spice here . Oh,
Speaker 5Yeah. It is on the nose. It's,
Speaker 4That's good.
Speaker 3It's
Speaker 5Got , it's amazing. All three, the noses are completely
Speaker 4Different.
Speaker 5Different , which they're single barrels. You , you would expect that.
Speaker 4Yes . But we've, you know,
Speaker 5I've done several single barrels where it's like, oh my gosh, these are very similar. And then you look at where they're aged and so forth, and they're age in different spots to the warehouses. So Yeah. Right.
Speaker 4Like you said, like we've done barrel picks before, like quite a few, and you can always, normally they're so close. Uh , the only one that I can think of that is way far different is , uh, four Roses. Like, because of all the different M mash
Speaker 5Bills , tand.
Speaker 4But with this, these are three different barrels with three distinctly different noses and flavor profiles.
Speaker 1Well , I think Peerless does some pretty different,
Speaker 4And I think that has to do with, I mean, we can talk about that later, but I think it has to do with , uh, the , they , there's sweet mash process, right ? Where this is like, it says , this is Kentucky's finest sour mash whiskey. I , I mean, absolutely.
Speaker 1So
Speaker 5These all the
Speaker 3Same lot, these are all the same lot. All the same . That's the crazy part . It ,
Speaker 5Oh my gosh . So you're using the same, so by lot you're saying you're using the same mash mm-hmm . All the way through
Speaker 1Came outta the same mash tank, right. Same beer
Speaker 3Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Barrel course . We're , we're making it that, especially at that time. Uh , 300 barrels plus a day. So I mean , uh, so there , there's gonna be Honey barrels out of that 300 lot. So barrels one, two, and three mm-hmm <affirmative> .
Speaker 5Same,
Speaker 3Same day as production. Same
Speaker 4Day. Yep . Now ,
Speaker 1Were they stored pretty close together.
Speaker 4Yep .
Speaker 3Yeah. And, and this is one of the first things,
Speaker 5And and this was stored at Green River, so this was, the Rick Houses are totally different than the way you guys do business.
Speaker 3Yeah. So it , uh, this was one of the , uh, my first education in bourbon , uh, probably my favorite day ever at work. Nice.
Speaker 5Uh , is that when you got the bonus and all <laugh> ?
Speaker 4Uh ,
Speaker 3But we, we went through a warehouse to find , uh, the initial release for , uh, the historic brand at the old distillery , uh, that, that we , uh, you know, resurrected in Green River. And , uh, so we went through warehouse A that day. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Uh , and I had , I'm a kid in a candy store. This is, this is insane to me. I, I can't believe I'm doing this, but we would try barrels right back to back sitting side by side in the warehouse mm-hmm <affirmative> . In the same warehouse, same rick , same location, and they would be completely different. And it , and when I say completely different as you're seeing, sure. There's still similar characteristics of it . Yeah . Bones are there. The bones are there, but there are notes that come out of others that, that , uh, and that was my education. He, he'd known this for forever, but <laugh> and , uh, but yeah. And , and so that opened my eyes, why single barrels, I think are the way to go when you're purchasing bourbon as well. Yeah. It , it , you can have the exact same day as production, but as you see there , there are different things in each one that will make it exceptional versus the other. That's why we gotta sample so many. That's right.
Speaker 1That's right .
Speaker 3So,
Speaker 1So we've seen trends from everything, single barrel mm-hmm <affirmative> . To, oh, we're gonna blend some now. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Uh , where are we in our modern day? Are we blending more, are we doing more single barrels? Is it distillery to distillery? What , what's the, what's the market out there right now?
Speaker 3I think the market as a bourbon drinker, a bourbon nerd, I, I, I still think that pure , uh, experience from a barrel is still Yeah . You know, the way to go. Don't get me wrong. I , there's some great things going on in blending as well. Uh, and , and you can do some great things in blending. So I, I, I do not knock that at all, but I still think, you know, the consumer doesn't get to go through the warehouse like we do every day . Uh, so they want to experience what that is in that barrel Right as it is, you know? So , uh, and when you have somebody as good as this, you , you know, why not? Why not
Speaker 1Shut that off? Exactly.
Speaker 2So, guys, what do you think? Would you be a Silk velt
Speaker 3Customer?
Speaker 1Would you like that ? Yes, Chuck. Absolutely. <laugh> . None of these bottles are leaving this room. Chuck <laugh> . I got two customers. I can sell <laugh> . I know a guy. Uh , yeah .
Speaker 2What's that pay level song? Uh , you'll , you'll never leave Harlan Wine
Speaker 1<laugh> . You'll never leave the Tur Field . Want back Nub my friend. Yeah . This
Speaker 2You , uh, this , I , I'm not surprised at all because I had so many of , of your products under a variety of labels, and a lot of our favorite bourbons were made by you.
Speaker 4Yeah. Blue Note <laugh> . And did you have a cough there? And
Speaker 2The , the product from , from , from your , uh, former distillery? Uh , I , this is sensational.
Speaker 1Every once in a while , a great story with a great label and a great bottle matches with great juice. Yeah . And magic things happen, and I , and you guys have captured that.
Speaker 4Fair enough. Thanks . So we have a well done bottle of Green River signed by you. Okay . At the house in , in a green river tin , whatever. Oh, the , the one that the camera would give out. Yeah . Heather was making, my wife was making room on the, the , uh, bourbon cabinet. And so I just grabbed it and was getting ready to toss it, and she said, stop <laugh> . She said, open that bottle. We open that . So I open it and looked and had your signature on it . She said, we can't throw that away. He makes silk velvet <laugh> .
Speaker 1Well , we can't wait to see what you guys do next. For sure. Um, Henderson, thanks you for, for considering us and , uh, as part of this journey , uh, great things are happening with bourbon and Henderson. Seems like these days, it's pretty cool .
Speaker 2Yeah . I'm glad Silk Velvet got reborn where it was born the first time.
Speaker 3Absolutely. Well, and maybe I failed to mention this too. We're lifelong, my family is lifelong heon. So this is not only is this, you know, we're happy that the hen Henderson has embraced this, but we're happy alone just to see this being revived. If somebody else would've done it, we would be happy with that. This is, this is out there. So , uh, we just hope Henderson really, you know, embraces it as they already have. Uh , it , I mean, we are beyond thankful Yeah . That everybody has. So , uh, so yeah, we're beyond staff . Awesome.
Speaker 1Cool. Zach , Jacob, thank you for being here. Guys, if it's not in your liquor store yet, it's gonna be, you're gonna want some silk velvet, and we appreciate , uh, any comments that you have regarding what your thoughts are. Have you tried it yet? Do you want to try it? Uh, go to Chuck's house. He has more than anybody else, <laugh>. Um , no. Go to your liquor store and find it. Go to Beverage Barn. Uh , and with that said, Sono <laugh>, did you see the smile on his face when he said that? No.
Speaker 4I'm mad. I wish I had more.
Speaker 1We all wish we had more. And with that said, please drink responsibly.