Distilled Bourbon Podcast

Silk Velvet Bourbon Awakened

• Brent Bridges, Chuck Stinnett, Brian McDaniel, Aaron Nelson • Episode 69

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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/

https://distilledbourbonpodcast.com/

Speaker 1:

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 2:

Seems like May or June last time

Speaker 3:

I got get

Speaker 1:

With 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 2:

Surely.

Speaker 1:

It's getting there. Yeah. So what's the , it's on Fredericka . Frederick is

Speaker 2:

Yep . Close by

Speaker 1:

Chick-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 2:

Lunch today

Speaker 1:

As well. Yeah . So I'll take my 10% kickback at any point to mention those <laugh> . Uh , but I thought it's five.

Speaker 2:

I agreed on five.

Speaker 1:

Okay. 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 4:

Absolutely. 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 2:

I'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 3:

Please. 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 1:

A hell of a Christmas present. I mean, you kind of set the bar high for the rest of <laugh> .

Speaker 3:

I don't think we're ever gonna be able to top

Speaker 2:

This , that's for

Speaker 3:

Sure . So , yeah .

Speaker 2:

Now 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 1:

What 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 2:

So I think Silk Velvet started , uh, uh, Colonel a s Winstead started 1870s.

Speaker 3:

So 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 2:

Was that, was that his father-in-law, or brother-in-law?

Speaker 3:

I think it was his, I'm not a hundred percent sure. Do you ? I

Speaker 2:

Think 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 3:

Well. 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 2:

Late in 1950s.

Speaker 3:

Yep . 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 2:

So , 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 3:

Okay . 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 1:

Beautiful 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 3:

Hundred years. Or you like , say asleep .

Speaker 1:

Asleep 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 3:

Yeah. 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 1:

You buy it the first time for the packings in the story, the second time is because juice is

Speaker 3:

Good. 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 5:

So , uh, so yeah. There's nobody better

Speaker 1:

Have

Speaker 6:

Some 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 6:

Sure. 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 1:

Now . 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 6:

Yeah. I'm not a poet. I'm not a bourbon poet that, you know, makes up stuff, but , um,

Speaker 5:

Leave that to the marketing people . Yeah .

Speaker 6:

Sell 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 5:

So 1 0 7, what do you go in the barrel at

Speaker 6:

1 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 4:

I missed my invitation

Speaker 1:

For that . I was about to say <laugh> Aaron . We chose the wrong professions buddy .

Speaker 4:

Uh ,

Speaker 1:

Aaron

Speaker 6:

Number four, char on all of our barrels .

Speaker 1:

And , uh, this is an early,

Speaker 4:

Early ,

Speaker 5:

This is number one barrel,

Speaker 4:

Number one

Speaker 1:

Barrel. Fricking number one. Ladies and gentlemen, <laugh> . Wow. What you got, Aaron ?

Speaker 4:

Man , 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 5:

And the nose is totally different on this one than the second one. I ,

Speaker 4:

I've had hundred percent .

Speaker 5:

Of course. Chuck was the only a fortunate one here, other than I think Brent , did you have one prior?

Speaker 1:

This is the first taste I've ever had.

Speaker 5:

Yeah , me too. Chuck came in and rubbed it in that he had a taste.

Speaker 1:

Yeah .

Speaker 6:

I mean , we get a lot of fruit, a lot of fruit drinks

Speaker 4:

As well.

Speaker 6:

Fruit and spice. And

Speaker 1:

This 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 2:

I 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 3:

30 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 6:

Told me that , uh, on his launch party day, he said, I just have this bad feeling that nobody's gonna show up. <laugh>,

Speaker 1:

I think you're gonna be fine. Yeah .

Speaker 2:

So 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 1:

Great, 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 5:

Oh , 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 1:

That , but ,

Speaker 3:

Uh ,

Speaker 4:

We 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 1:

You got some it today while I was there?

Speaker 4:

Yes. We got three more cases. That's barrel four that's we got today, which we will try here shortly.

Speaker 1:

Dan , 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 3:

So 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 4:

Yeah . So

Speaker 1:

I 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 5:

Of leather liquorice on the , on the nose. Okay .

Speaker 4:

I'll let you know if you're right or wrong.

Speaker 1:

I 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 4:

Ask. I'm just kidding. This <laugh> ,

Speaker 1:

This

Speaker 2:

Has 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 1:

There's a network out there already. There is fantastic.

Speaker 5:

Yeah . 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 3:

They're gonna have to bottle

Speaker 5:

Some more, so . Yep . That's

Speaker 1:

Right . Yes. So tell us about the future. Where we, where are we going here? Yeah .

Speaker 3:

So, 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 4:

Yeah . I love it. Absolutely love it . We appreci it .

Speaker 3:

And

Speaker 2:

You also are doing new make already?

Speaker 3:

Uh, 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 1:

Yeah . Well, sometimes you don't wanna say, but are you , you do , you're doing full-sized barrels? Yes.

Speaker 3:

Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Mm-hmm <affirmative> .

Speaker 5:

Palletized, right.

Speaker 3:

Uh , palletized.

Speaker 1:

Yeah . That means ver stacked vertically. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Yeah .

Speaker 3:

Okay . 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 5:

More labor intensive, more

Speaker 3:

Labor intensive. You know, the , I know the barrel guys at ing , the barrels, Kentucky love , uh, you know, prefer the palletize versus

Speaker 6:

Yeah . 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 1:

Oh , okay.

Speaker 6:

So 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 5:

So what's the height of, of the Rick house ? Um,

Speaker 6:

27 feet. So

Speaker 5:

You're, you're essentially stacking just two pallets. Six , six high. Six high six barrels . Okay. Yeah.

Speaker 6:

But , uh, so

Speaker 5:

It's , it's consistency because of they're all stacked essentially the same temperature Yeah . Throughout

Speaker 1:

The 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 6:

You know how it is in Kentucky, we get all worst seasons sometimes in the same

Speaker 1:

Day. In the same day. Yeah. Yeah. We call that Tuesday. Yeah . <laugh> .

Speaker 3:

That's true . So right now, these are single barrels

Speaker 2:

Mm-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 3:

Go 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 6:

Offices 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 2:

Before <laugh> got a bunch of ,

Speaker 3:

So, 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 2:

Can invite me, <laugh> . Absolute . You

Speaker 3:

Definitely 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 5:

So 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 3:

Yeah. 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 5:

You marry them together,

Speaker 3:

Marry 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 2:

It sounds like you need to hire somebody. I know ,

Speaker 3:

I know a couple people .

Speaker 2:

So are you , uh, is it gonna be six year ? Is that the for

Speaker 3:

All so

Speaker 2:

<inaudible> , or is that Yeah ,

Speaker 3:

Up 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 2:

Is ,

Speaker 3:

I 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 2:

I 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 3:

Yes, very much so. Oh ,

Speaker 2:

That's awesome . And this, to be sure, this is all Jacob called

Speaker 3:

Distilled bourbon. And it will be for as long as I can see forward

Speaker 2:

<laugh> .

Speaker 3:

Yeah . 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 5:

I see why he is next to you , your office

Speaker 3:

Now . 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 5:

We 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 6:

Okay.

Speaker 5:

So 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 3:

Well, 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 6:

Were trying to screw my bourbon up

Speaker 3:

<laugh>.

Speaker 5:

They did a good job of that.

Speaker 3:

Wow .

Speaker 5:

They

Speaker 3:

Kind of did.

Speaker 1:

Well,

Speaker 6:

You 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 1:

So speaking of great bourbon, Aaron , number one was great.

Speaker 4:

Number one was great.

Speaker 1:

Number two, even better. I

Speaker 4:

Thought 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 1:

Had that much more spice maybe. Yeah.

Speaker 4:

It 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 1:

Those are both gray . It's just , they're just different.

Speaker 4:

And then I know ,

Speaker 1:

Are we being consistent with what you guys have heard between one and two?

Speaker 3:

I 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 5:

Percent . Yeah . Somebody mentioned bubble gum ,

Speaker 3:

You know, it's kind of like a

Speaker 4:

Juicy fruit . A hundred percent bubble

Speaker 3:

Gum . Uh , note that I get sometimes

Speaker 4:

I can't say bubble gum anymore because gr makes fun on the

Speaker 5:

Juicy Fruit. Isn't bubble gum though. It

Speaker 4:

No , it was a juicy

Speaker 3:

Fruit

Speaker 5:

Flavored gum. Right .

Speaker 3:

So now Barrel three, I'll tell you is the guys at the distillery , uh, this is their favorite. Yeah. Uh ,

Speaker 5:

Oh . Is that why there's so little up

Speaker 1:

<laugh>? Oh man . Smells good,

Speaker 4:

Man. It's, there is an earthy quality. The rye on this just pops

Speaker 3:

Little Spice here . Oh,

Speaker 5:

Yeah. It is on the nose. It's,

Speaker 4:

That's good.

Speaker 3:

It's

Speaker 5:

Got , it's amazing. All three, the noses are completely

Speaker 4:

Different.

Speaker 5:

Different , which they're single barrels. You , you would expect that.

Speaker 4:

Yes . But we've, you know,

Speaker 5:

I'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 4:

Like 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 5:

Bills , tand.

Speaker 4:

But with this, these are three different barrels with three distinctly different noses and flavor profiles.

Speaker 1:

Well , I think Peerless does some pretty different,

Speaker 4:

And 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 1:

So

Speaker 5:

These all the

Speaker 3:

Same lot, these are all the same lot. All the same . That's the crazy part . It ,

Speaker 5:

Oh 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 1:

Came outta the same mash tank, right. Same beer

Speaker 3:

Mm-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 5:

Same,

Speaker 3:

Same day as production. Same

Speaker 4:

Day. Yep . Now ,

Speaker 1:

Were they stored pretty close together.

Speaker 4:

Yep .

Speaker 3:

Yeah. And, and this is one of the first things,

Speaker 5:

And and this was stored at Green River, so this was, the Rick Houses are totally different than the way you guys do business.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So it , uh, this was one of the , uh, my first education in bourbon , uh, probably my favorite day ever at work. Nice.

Speaker 5:

Uh , is that when you got the bonus and all <laugh> ?

Speaker 4:

Uh ,

Speaker 3:

But 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 1:

That's right .

Speaker 3:

So,

Speaker 1:

So 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 3:

I 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 1:

Shut that off? Exactly.

Speaker 2:

So, guys, what do you think? Would you be a Silk velt

Speaker 3:

Customer?

Speaker 1:

Would 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 2:

What'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 2:

You , 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 4:

Yeah. Blue Note <laugh> . And did you have a cough there? And

Speaker 2:

The , the product from , from , from your , uh, former distillery? Uh , I , this is sensational.

Speaker 1:

Every 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 4:

Fair 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 1:

Well , 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 2:

Yeah . I'm glad Silk Velvet got reborn where it was born the first time.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. 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 1:

Cool. 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 4:

I'm mad. I wish I had more.

Speaker 1:

We all wish we had more. And with that said, please drink responsibly.