Indiana Whiskey Co. Breakfast of Degenerates

• Interesting things about the distillery: 
  • The pot still was made in South Bend
  • Veteran Owned
    • Charlie was infantry for 12 years
    • Diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome and medically discharged
      • Causes nerve pain in the legs and feet
  • Has an MBA from Notre Dame, and that is where he thought to start, since there wasn't any small batch in Indiana 
  • 80% corn, 10% wheat, and 10% rye is the signature blend
• Our Bottle:
  • Breakfast of Degenerates
    • Flavored whiskey
    • Has maple flavoring added
• Pipe Pairings:
• Cocktails:
  • IWC Maple Smash
    • 2 Orange Wedges
    • 2 Lemon Wedges
    • 4 oz Breakfast Of Degenerates
    • 1/2 oz - 1 oz Simple Syrup
    • Garnish: Mint Spring
  • Breakfast is served
    • Ingredients:
• 2 oz Breakfast Of Degenerates
• 1 oz Hoosier Sweet Heat
• Orange Juice
• Maple Old Fashioned
• Research Sources
  • https://www.inwhiskey.com/cocktails
  • https://bizmagazine.nd.edu/issues/2014/fall-2014/charles-florance-inspirational-spirits/
  • 
    

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:09

Welcome to the Whiskey Chasers, where we talk about our passion for whiskey and its history, either amongst ourselves or while interviewing distilleries. Hello while enjoying a glass. I'm Steve, I'm Nick, and I'm Chris. Please enjoy responsibly while enjoying this week's episode of The Whiskey Chasers.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

We are back with another flavored whiskey out of my home state.

SPEAKER_03 0:35

A craft flavor, you say?

SPEAKER_01 0:37

It's a craft flavor out of my uh state of home state of Indiana. In fact, before I left Indiana, the place I used to work was maybe a mile away from this distillery.

unknown 0:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

And I've never visited this distillery. Was it around at the time? How long has it been around? Uh it's been around since 2011. Yeah. So it was it was around. I I first tried when I was first getting into whiskey. I decided it was a good idea to essentially try their corn whiskey, but it was clear. So it was it was kind of like a white dog kind of moonshine kind of deal, but it was their corn whiskey, very popular. And I tried it and went, ooh, this this is not this is not for me. I don't I don't like this. And so I I kind of got a bad taste to it. Too hot, too sweet, uh, too different. But keep in mind, this is when I first I was first getting into whiskey. It was it was too uh too much, too different for me, too ethanol-y, I think, uh, kind of kind of feel, if I remember right. And so that kind of turned me off to to the company for quite a while. And I got this for Christmas uh a couple years ago, actually. My brother loves him to death, not into whiskey. He likes his beer, but he's not uh like a whiskey guy, and decided to buy this bottle for me because they were they're having a tasting, I think, uh like a mall or something. This is pure Indiana. At a mall in South Bend, they were having a whiskey tasting in the center of the mall, which seems so odd. That does seem odd, but that is Indiana for you. And so he got to try it, and he was like, Oh, Nick would love this. And so he got me this bottle. I've had it for quite a while. He loves it. Whenever he has it or is around, he'll have a glass of this normally around breakfast time. Breakfast for degenerates, which I think fits. It fits. Yep, it really does. Breakfast of degenerates. Oh, not four. Okay. I think it's four, but I mean breakfast of degenerates. I think it fits the name. It is a maple whiskey or maple flavored whiskey, but they claim it's natural maple, like yeah, real maple. Maple syrup. Yeah, which is very popular around that area of Indiana, especially around like April time. Um yeah, maple syrup is big, like homemade, fresh maple syrup kind of deal. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:09

And this brand, you know, this whiskey Indiana Whiskey Co. is very Indiana. Oh. And so like they're they had their distill, they had their pots still made in South Bend there, which is very unique. Usually those are all mass-produced over in China or whatever. And so to have somebody make it there is pretty unique. The guy that started it is a military guy, so very veteran-owned kind of deal. He was medically discharged. He has something called Gillian Barry syndrome, uh, which no idea what that is, but it causes a lot of nerve pain in like his legs and feet and stuff. And he was infantry, so not really something you can do.

SPEAKER_04 3:54

This does this make it go away. Yeah, this makes it go away.

SPEAKER_03 3:57

Yeah. But yeah, so then he went to uh Notre Dame, got his MBA from there, and uh while they're sitting around, and they they have uh competition in when you're going through an MBA to like come up with a bit business plans and all this kind of stuff. We know this a little bit because of Blake also, because Blake had to do something similar uh when he was going through and getting his engineering stuff. But uh he did this, and this starting a distillery was kind of his idea from that, and then he ran with it. So their uh their whiskey, they they make it all. It's uh 80 10 10, 80 corn, 10 wheat, 10 barley.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

That's very interesting, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:43

And so no rise at all in this. So hopefully we'll we'll kind of see how much we're gonna tear it apart with this flavored stuff, but maybe we can try some of their regular stuff sometime.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

I've had some of their other flavored stuff, and it's not bad. It is all lower proof. I mean, they're it's 70-proof, yeah. Other flavored stuff is. Uh, they do a chocolate one, it's good.

SPEAKER_03 5:08

See, that's that's where some of these whiskies that are flavored, yeah, that are these fall flavors, what I would call. So, like your maple, your chocolate, your pecan, like those type of ones that you can put on top of ice cream and just have it like be a top, like and I mean that's no chino at Watershed, it's the same kind of thing. Like having something like that that is a topper on top of something like ice cream, or this one, this is very maple heavy, and I would for sure put this on a pancake. Oh, yeah, like that would be really good. Whiskey's a good pancake or waffle.

SPEAKER_04 5:51

How have I not thought of that before?

SPEAKER_03 5:53

I'm going camping tomorrow, and I'm I'm making me some corn cakes for breakfast because I'm going by myself, so nobody else and nope nobody to argue about different kinds of pancakes. So, corn cakes it is. I may have to take a little bit of a couple of things.

SPEAKER_01 6:08

I was gonna say this would be fantastic with that.

SPEAKER_03 6:11

That would be really good. Because that is this is very much maple syrup.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

It is now how is this one different for you guys from the last from the the the uh watermelon, the salty watermelon one?

SPEAKER_04 6:28

Well, this is actually whiskey. It's still under 70 proof, yeah, so it's still underproof, but like it's a night and day difference between that thick syrupy base of old smoky versus like with this, it's um yeah, you can tell like this is real whiskey with something extra. Um it yeah, I I respect that. And um it doesn't it's not trying to hide the whiskiness where salty watermelon is trying to hide it, I think.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

It's trying to be something else, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:12

It's it's like this this is like embracing the whiskiness and adding a little extra maple sweetness, and it's a it's a nice flavor. I I do I do like this. It's not like overpowering. It's it's not like they went crazy with the maple, like it's not like candy, it's not it's not like a jolly maple jolly rancher type type thing, which I like Jolly Ranchers. I don't want to cut on that, but like um sorry. Sorry, Jolly Ranchers. Sorry for the comparison with the you're cool. Um it's cool, it's kosher. But but yeah, it's I I think the the whiskey and the maple are more balanced. Yeah, I I think you can you don't have to hang your head with when you put this on the count. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:08

Okay. I wonder how much of that is the flavor versus like the like watermelon versus maple. Okay, and so I I'd be curious to try a maple-flavored old smokey because I feel like maybe maple is just better for whiskey. Now, I still think this would be a lot better than that because there is some consistency issues with old smoky, and this one, like like you said, Ryan, uh, I get hit with maple, but it ends in whiskey. Like I do know that there is whiskey in this, and so it's it's not, it wouldn't be the same, but I feel like if I had something that wasn't a uh uh wasn't watermelon, if it was something like a maple, a vanilla, a caramel that is suited for whiskey, yeah, it might make a little bit more sense.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

This almost tastes like they proofed the whiskey down with the maple syrup. Yeah, like a thinner version of the maple syrup is what they use to proof their whiskey down, which I don't mind because, like you said, you still get that whiskey flavor, like it kind of hits both worlds uh and a really nice balance of like I want something sweet, I'm not a big whiskey guy. Perfect, here you go. I'm a whiskey guy, I'd like to taste the whiskey. Okay, here you go. Like, you're gonna get some sweetness, you're gonna get some of that flavor, but you're also gonna at the back end feel and hit that that flavor of whiskey, which is nice. That can be a hard combination to find.

SPEAKER_03 9:40

Yeah, I do wish that they did proof this up to 80. Okay, I think that that would be really good in this. Um, that would improve it. Yeah, I think that uh I I I don't know because we haven't tried the other two yet, and and this doesn't always hold true, so I don't even know if I it's too late now. I've already started. You already went down the path. I was gonna say, I was gonna say, I feel like uh the underproof stuff is concentrating on the flavoring and and the whiskey as a backdrop. Whereas the foolproof stuff is gonna taste more like a whiskey with a hint of something, right? So it's gonna be more like uh like what when I think about this like seltzers and stuff, like white claw is a hint of flavor, and so and I think that that might be what our frillproof stuff might be a little bit more so of. Whereas these ones are full flavor, like they says this is not watered down, this is the this is Kool-Aid versus that. And the reason I don't believe what I'm saying when I started all this is because like Crown Royal, when we had like the peach crown royal, that peach was atrocious, like it was very, very, very sweet, like peach in your face, like peach Kool-Aid kind of thing, and that's a foolproof. So maybe it doesn't maybe that won't hold up. And we haven't had these foolproofs yet to know if that's gonna be true, but it's it's kind of a theory I have a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Do you feel like this bottle hits more of that aromatic, like the comparison of an aromatic for tobacco?

SPEAKER_03 11:18

Yeah, I think so. And it might just be because, like I said before, maple just suits itself better to whiskey, and so it just it makes a little bit more sense, and it's thinner.

SPEAKER_04 11:30

Yeah, like it's not as thick, like putting real maple syrup in this, I think uh is a good call. I mean, if you like so we were talking about pancakes, if they if this would instead of maple syrup, it was like Aunt Jemima's like pancake syrup, uh-huh. I I think it would end up more like Old Smoky. That is fair, yeah. Yes, real maple syrup is key.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

Yeah. See, I could see this on top of like a Belgian waffle. That would yeah, like a nice egg kind of uh Belgian waffle and it's kind of eggy at the same time. That would that'd be nice. Oh yeah. You know, you know how you let kind of the butter and the syrup fill in the the squares in a waffle? I'd let my my squares fill up with this guy.

SPEAKER_04 12:21

There, there you go. Yeah, there you go. And I would say uh, like I'm just drinking it neat, and I and I like it that way. I think it's like friendly that way. It's it's something that I think you could make a cocktail with nicely, but you don't have to.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Now, the last one we had it was I can't drink this neat. I don't know that this is for whiskey drinkers. Would you say the same for this guy?

SPEAKER_04 12:46

No, I think this is for whiskey drinkers. Okay. But it might be more uh maybe maybe this could be like an intro. This could be an intro bottle. This could be an on-ramp for for whiskey drinkers just to kind of get used to that flavor uh at the base. But for people who are still like wanting to go on the sweeter side and they're not ready. I don't know. If you think if you think Buffalo Trace is uh is a little strong, I got something for you. Yeah, yeah, this might this might help you along a little bit. Um but yeah, I guess I would say I would say this is more for whiskey drinkers.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

But a nice in between between whiskey and non-wiske.

SPEAKER_04 13:35

Yeah, it's not like yeah, this is not the uh drunk sorority girls drink. This is not the cul-de-sac. No, no. This is uh maybe maybe uh you know the the the 21-year-old lit major okay girl. Oh, okay. Yeah, maybe maybe you could give her this. A little bit of brains under the hood. But yeah, yeah, not not like looking to get wasted and and stand on the table or whatever. Okay, all right. Yeah, yeah. You could go you could go camping with your college girlfriend and drink this. You know.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

While you're reading some poetry or something. Right. Right. Now we'll say this guy brings about a different idea or a different maybe a different idea from me. When you you guys talked about the last Old Smoky being like cocktail. I I could possibly put this in a cocktail. I'd struggle to put that in a cocktail. Possibly, yeah. I struggled to put that one in like anything from old smoky after having that, like, struggled to the idea of like, okay, I want this in a cocktail by itself, right?

SPEAKER_03 14:42

You don't think you replaced Bucker?

SPEAKER_01 14:44

I, you know, I I don't think I could do Old Smoky in a cocktail. It would, I would still have a uh hard time.

SPEAKER_04 14:50

I would say try an old smoky moonshine at some point. Yeah. Like a flavored moonshine.

unknown 14:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 14:55

It's a I think it's I do think it is more respectable than salty watermelon. All right.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

I can see this one being in a cocktail, and I can see this one doing really well in a cocktail. And maybe it is that maple flavoring, but it's also it it feels more like a whiskey without being a full-on like whiskey.

SPEAKER_03 15:20

What you couldn't do though with this is replace it with the primary spirit. Oh, okay. I don't think I could like if you're gonna do like a maple old-fashioned, yeah, you would still have to put some regular whiskey of some sort, bourbon, rye, whatever, whatever you're going with. You'd have to do like maybe one ounce of that and one ounce of this. And like kind of combine so you can up that whiskey flavor that you're looking for in something like an old-fashioned.

SPEAKER_04 15:49

Yeah. I wonder what the ratio would be, though, because I I could see the maple getting lost. But I agree with you. I think that would be nice.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

Do you feel like the the old smoky is one kind of that uh it it almost rub the wrong way uh of the idea of it being whiskey? Does this rub the wrong way? Like, is this kind of like I'm gonna put my nose up in the air, kind of? I can't have this this whiskey. I don't think as much. Do you still struggle with it being labeled as a whiskey?

SPEAKER_03 16:21

Uh, I think my opinion still stands that it would have to be uh it should be labeled as underproofed in some way. But I am less offended.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 16:32

A little less offended. I am less offended. Okay, all right. Yeah, I won't duel you, but I might punch you.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

I I have more faith in what else this company has to offer than I do in the old smoky. And I I think there's there's still a uh a part of me that that struggles with it. Ryan, you talked about like I kind of have a conflict going in uh into this about how I feel about this flavored whiskey stuff. And my conflict, I share uh a similar maybe conflict. I I think there needs to be for every whiskey drinker, there needs to be an entry point into whiskey. It's kind of like uh on-ramp for for the expressway. There's multiple on-ramps to get onto the expressway, right? Not all of them are the same, not all of them are the same point, but they all get onto the expressway in some way, shape, or form. I think that should be the way for whiskey. I struggle to an extent to consider flavored whiskey to be an on-ramp into the whiskey world when you've got companies like Old Smoky that's like, we are it. Like we, we are, we're popular, like we're so we're we are a destination for people to come to and try our stuff. And I have a hard time people being like, Old Smokey, you gotta get that flavored stuff, it's good. I don't know that I can call that an on-ramp into whiskey. This one gives me a little bit more hope. This one I can see being an on-ramp into whiskey, but I still struggle with it not being AD proof, and that's like the inner conflict in me of like, I want to say, yay, this is good, like great on-ramp, but it's not it's not full proof, and I struggle with that.

SPEAKER_03 18:25

Yeah, but does it have to lead somewhere? You know how you know how going if you go north if you're on 23, yeah, there's after you go through Delaware and stuff, there's there's a whole like seven or eight miles between Delaware and Marion where there is another road going right next to you, and it's just like a place for the people that live there to get on and off, and you can get on if you like what if these are just that road? Like, they don't they could technically get you to 23, they could technically get you to the main road, but also you don't have to. Like, I don't know that every whiskey leads you to other whiskeys. Okay, I don't know that whiskey is in itself a path to future whiskies, and so there may be that you're not a whiskey drinker, but you do happen to like this whiskey. Would you consider it whiskey at that point then?

SPEAKER_01 19:19

Would you feel offended if it was like, hey, I'm a whiskey drinker, I drink this.

SPEAKER_03 19:22

I feel like a vast majority of crown drinkers are this, where they are they are not whiskey drinkers, but they like crown. Like crown is the only whiskey they're gonna touch. If you try to give them a bourbon, they say, absolutely not. I want no, I want no part of that. That stuff's way too harsh for me. I want I want my crown. That's all I drink. Okay, I drink that, I drink beer, and I'm happy, and and when I'm fancier, red wine. A sweet red. Sweet red, yeah. Read eating, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:57

No, sorry, I wouldn't this better than reading in a box.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

So does this more fit the idea of a brand like this is my brand mentality?

SPEAKER_03 20:05

Maybe, maybe a brand. I don't even know if when you especially if we're talking on flavored stuff, they probably don't even care about the other flavors, they probably just like that flavor.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

So it's not my brand, it's my flavor.

SPEAKER_03 20:17

This is my bottle. Yeah, this is that like there's nothing else. There's no they don't even care about the brand. They just want they just want the maple, yeah, yeah, yeah. And you we kind of know this a little bit because of like this this these future ones we might have. There's there are there's another brand out there that makes like a peach, a blackberry, that crown also makes. But when crown's out of their peach because it's hard to get, they don't go pick up one of those other flavors of peach.

SPEAKER_04 20:48

Is it because the Canadian bottle the Canadian base is so mild?

SPEAKER_03 20:53

Yeah, I think so. But like that is like that is that bottle, and it's not even even if another well, and in in that example, black velvet makes a peach, right? They don't go grab the black velvet when the when the crown's out. I didn't wait. Black velvet makes a peach? They sure do. Whoa, but black velvet upgraded, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:16

They did.

SPEAKER_03 21:17

It's still in a plastic bottle.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

I don't know that we can upgrade to a peach flavor. Yeah, I don't know what that would be. That's that's like a that's not a that's not a downgrade.

SPEAKER_04 21:27

That's that's like a lateral rough and so but that's what it's like trying to switch from highway 23 over to that side road with just like through the grass.

unknown 21:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:44

And so, yeah, so I think it's just like when it comes to this flavored stuff, right? I think if somebody decides they like these, then that's like their bottle. They don't care about the brand, they don't even necessarily care about that flavor in other things, it's just that one. That hits the spot for them. They've tried it, they like it, I'm done. And I don't want to experiment or try anything else.

SPEAKER_04 22:06

Right. Okay. So it's they're not really trying to experiment. They're not, they have no intention of going further. Right. They just found one thing that they like and they were kind of excited about that. And they're not.

SPEAKER_00 22:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:19

They have no intention of going anywhere.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

Do you also think that stuff like this? So I think of the story of how I got this bottle, right?

unknown 22:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Brother's not a whiskey drinker. Um, he got a bottle of our club pick because he tried it and he's like, holy crap, like this is really good, but that's even drastically different.

SPEAKER_02 22:35

Yeah, I was gonna say, I don't like surprised.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

Flavor-wise is drastically different from anything else you've ever had. It's very friendly, but very different. Do you think that bottles like this, not old smoky, right? So ones that are still kind of underproofed, but carry that flavor, the the equal balance of flavor to whiskey, right? They they touch both. Do you think that's a a valid go-between or a valid in-between for people that that say, I I recognize that you like your whiskey. I don't know that I could ever really get into whiskey, but I can get into something that's flavored as a whiskey.

SPEAKER_03 23:13

Yeah. Yeah, I think it's uh in a kind way.

unknown 23:17

Right.

SPEAKER_03 23:18

This is a wanna be bottle. They those are for people that want to be whiskey drinkers that but aren't and don't really want to be, but they want to be able to say that they have a whiskey that they like.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

Interesting. I've got a lots lots of questions on that.

SPEAKER_04 23:36

Well, I was just thinking, let's not overlook the fact that it's called Breakfast of Degenerates.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

Right.

SPEAKER_04 23:42

What about whiskey drinkers who want to have a whiskey with breakfast? Okay, that's fair. Yeah. Because it's 70 proof. I mean, hey, here's something that you can have like on a Saturday morning, you know.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

So maybe the intention wasn't necessarily to create a uh underproof flavored whiskey for non-wiske drinkers. Maybe the intentions was to create a slightly underproof whiskey that whiskey drinkers can have with breakfast and not feel as bad about. I think that's probably more accurate, actually.

SPEAKER_04 24:11

Yeah, for this particular body, like special. Because it really would go. I mean, even if you don't put it on the pancake itself or you know, whatever. Yeah, you could totally have so you could be like, it's okay, honey. It's only 70%. I can have a couple of these with uh breakfast and we'll be fine.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

Growing up, the uh one of the towns I grew up next to or in, I went to elementary school in this town and middle school in this town. Walkarosa, right? Knee Deep and Mud is what it means, Walkarusa. Uh, but they are popular for their maple syrup. And every April they have a maple syrup festival. And I remember growing up, we always went to uh typically it was at the school that they would have it, but like the the school board would put it on or the PTO PTA, PTO, somewhere they would help put it on, and it was this breakfast for uh yeah, yeah, it was a breakfast for the support teacher association. Uh it was a breakfast to help fund other things for like the school, right? Very local community, very close-knit community. And you get in there and you've got like the fire department that's cooking up the sausage links, right? And then you got uh people cooking up pancakes for it, right? And it was kind of like all you can eat. They'd walk around with a tray and be like, yeah, I want more pancakes, yeah, I want more sausage. And they always had fresh maple syrup for the festival from like a local provider. And they always had fresh maple syrup at this thing. I remember going to that, and that's the memory that I think of for this. And I think, you know what? As an adult, I could go back there and I'd be all for standing in a really long line to get to eat this breakfast with this sausage and this pancakes. If they also served this, I'd be all for standing in line and drinking this while waiting and for breakfast. It fits right in line with that that very like natural maple syrup kind of homemade feel. It's that's what it brings home, it brings back a lot of home memories of that, which is fun.

SPEAKER_04 26:22

You can date, you can start your day drinking. Uh, like it's not gonna be a busy day, it's gonna be a leisurely day. You can start your day drinking and start out light and then go into heavy. Yeah, it won't it won't be a problem.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Yeah, you can start out light with this and then move your way into Knob Creek Maple. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 26:40

I love those little small town uh all you can eat breakfasts. Like that they're Delaware has a few of them still. The the Masons usually do it. And pretty much most towns that have a Mason's lodge that you can get a brancake breakfast. Uh a lot of the FWs and stuff do too. When I lived in uh in southern Columbus, there was a VFW that did it every Saturday, like the second or third Saturday of every month. And I worked in the leasing office at the apartment complex I worked at or lived at. And uh they let me come in late on that day, as long as I brought them uh a thing also. So I'd go there, I'd go up with there every week, and it was an all-you-can-eat breakfast place. I we ran them for Boy Scouts and stuff too, all the time as kids.

SPEAKER_01 27:25

Those were there's a few things that you can do all you can eat like that, and like community, and it's good.

SPEAKER_03 27:31

Yeah, there's a few spaghetti and and pancakes. Those are the two all-you can eat. I can do fish fries. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

Uh, we so I don't know if you guys know this. When I was in middle school, my family did what's called the ragbri. It's uh it's a great annual ride across to Iowa, like on bikes.

SPEAKER_03 27:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 27:50

And so we rode across on tandems. And the thing to do is each each year it changed up the route. So it hit different towns and in Iowa and it'd bring in money for them, tourist money, because the towns would put on like different things. And there's one that I believe I don't remember if it was Mason or if it was VFW that put on a uh oh gosh, it was a beef stroganoff that they put on.

unknown 28:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

There, guys, it was the worst thing we ever had.

SPEAKER_03 28:19

This is this is on a bike trail. This is like stroganoff.

SPEAKER_01 28:26

Like every night you stopped at a town, you slept there, and this is like the ending town for the night. And so we were looking for something to eat, and we were starving. And we're like, man, we're from Podunk, Indiana, country Indiana, beef stroganoff, those kinds of meals sound great. Yeah, so we went there. We could not put enough seasoning, enough salt or pepper on that thing. I mean, it was like they they Yeah, if you get the wrong people making it, it's awful to the end of bland as all get out. Uh, I mean, it was like worse than saltine crackers. I mean, it was just terrible. And I, after that experience, I'm like, you know what? I'll go to pancake uh meals, I'll I'll I'll go to fish fries, uh, I'll go to spaghetti. Like spaghetti is really easy and fine to do. I'm not going to another beef stroganoff one. I I don't care how small the town is, I ain't going to a beef stroganoff one. I need some flavor.

SPEAKER_03 29:17

I need just a little bit of flavor here. Not to go too much off on a food tangent, but uh every year for Christmas, my in-laws do a uh do a very fancy uh beef cut for for dinner. So the leftover the next day becomes a beef stroganoff. Oh the first time this happened, I was pretty upset. I was like, you cannot take this like hundred and hundred and fifty dollar cut of wit beef and put it in a stroganoff. Like this is for cheap beef. That's what this is. That's why we made these. But ever since but they have it every year, and and by God, isn't it the best beef shroganoff I've ever had? Uh, but I don't think I want maple with it. So for this, that's fair. That's fair. Uh just yeah, but for the for the pancakes or anything like that, this this seems really good. And you might even be able to add this to a maple syrup and and like spice it up a bit down a little bit or or something to kind of keep the consistency right. You know what? We should have given this to Prince.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

When he did the family style, yeah. Oh man.

SPEAKER_03 30:34

You should just let him know if you're ever considering breakfast, here's a two-ounce pour of this, just to fluff if you would like.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

Fluff it up a bit, yes. Yeah. So old Smoky, I think it's fair to say you guys will probably be alright never having any of their other stuff or trying any of the other stuff.

SPEAKER_03 30:54

Of their whiskey variety. Yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

They're with their flavored whiskey. Yeah, yeah. After having this guy, knowing they do flavored, there's a bit more of a they do flavor profiles. The chocolate one, I think they do a hot one too. I don't think it's in cinnamon, it's like a peppery kind of feel. Um, but then they also do their own whiskey at the same time. After having this, would you be more inclined to want to try their stuff? Instead, like Old Smokey was like a clear definite. Well, hell no, I'm not doing that.

SPEAKER_03 31:26

This one, I know that there's whiskey behind it, and so because of that, I'd be willing to try the whiskey and see how that tastes.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

Even as a whiskey drinker, you're like, I'm not a big flavor guy, but like, come on.

SPEAKER_03 31:37

Right. But I'm not gonna say no to it. Old Smoky, I know enough to be like, I'm probably not gonna get their bourbon, like just their straight up bourbon. Because I'm sure because this is their their concentration, is the flavored stuff. I don't think they have bourbon. What they consider whatever they get, yeah. Uh for Indiana Whiskey Co. Um, if they have which they do a lot of flavored stuff, but they also have you know a vodka, they have a bourbon, they have all that stuff. So like I give it a shot, and it's also craft, and craft I'm always more willing to try. And so what proof is their regular whiskey at?

SPEAKER_04 32:19

Uh 80 or above, I think.

SPEAKER_03 32:20

Yeah, they that is foolproof. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 32:24

So I'd do that.

unknown 32:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 32:26

Yeah. I mean, so you're not turned off by this. No, no. If it I mean, if it was all 70 proof, you know, if it'd be a different, yeah. Yeah, that'd be a different story. But yeah, if they're I mean, if they're 80 and above, it's 90.

SPEAKER_03 32:39

They're this whiskey bourbon whiskey is 90 proof. Definitely.

unknown 32:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 32:43

And their silver sweet corn, which is probably what that which is a non non-aged, is 80 proof.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

Oh, that's okay. That's but see, I'd be more interested to try that now because I it yeah, again, that was at the very beginning. Yeah, very beginning of my whiskey journey. And I was like, I don't know about this. You know, when you're you're mixing, this is right after like the college days. In college days, I was not into whiskey. It was uh smear noff ice and uh flavored vodka and pop. Uh, and so my my my most favorite drink that to have in college was uh uh smear noff original vodka and Mountain Dew voltage. That that was my combination. Um, and if I was feeling very uh fancy, uh it was blueberry flavored smear noff or blueberry uh flavored three olives in coffee. So this is shocking to me. So that this is shocking. That was the start, and then you jump into that, the the sweet corn, the yeah, the light sweet corn. Yeah, that's like you go between those two and you're like, ooh, okay. This yo, what what am I what am I doing with my life?

SPEAKER_04 33:50

Like oh my no, you Nick, you missed your window for all smoking, right?

SPEAKER_03 33:55

You did. You did those vaults.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

But funny thing is funny thing is, this was back in the day when Jim Beam had their their stag, the red stag, at full proof. So it was 80 proof, and they did a black cherry whiskey, and the roommates loved it. I thought it was hell. I thought it was terrible. I mean, it just burned out the wazoo, wasn't sweet enough for me, wasn't good enough for me. My palate has changed out the it is foot-flopped, man. It is, it's really changed.

SPEAKER_04 34:26

Okay, well, let's return some of the questions to you.

SPEAKER_00 34:29

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:30

What do you think about this maple flavor? Because I know when we talked about knob creek maple, which is isn't that a rye? So is that a rye or it's a it's a high rye.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

So we're talking high rye versus a wheat, yeah. Right. Or just rye in general, or rye, rye bourbon versus a wheat.

SPEAKER_04 34:44

But okay, so with knob creek, the the rye definitely brings it up a notch, but the maple, I recall the maple being a much stronger flavor as well.

SPEAKER_01 34:58

It was, but if I remember it was a maple bacon. Oh, maybe. I feel like it was maple something. I could be wrong.

SPEAKER_04 35:03

I think it might just be maple, but maybe it is.

SPEAKER_01 35:05

Um, but you didn't like that. But no, I had a hard time with that. This I can uh this is good. Like uh when I say good, it's not bad. It's not like I have anything bad to say about it. I think the reason why I appreciate this is because of the the memories that it it like invokes, right? So like the memories of uh going to the maple syrup festival, uh memories of doing a lot of maple stuff, maple trees, uh watching how maple's made, like all the stuff you did as a kid, that was we did as a kid, and like went on field trips for. This bottle reminds me of those those things. The the knob creek one doesn't do that, and I don't know if it's because of the mash bill compared to this. That one's also foolproof, so maybe it's the the the higher proof like uh the higher proof somehow changes the maple flavor involved with it. Um but this one I I actually don't mind. I won't drink this all the time. Uh you won't find me pulling this out very often to to drink it. But when I have it, I think it's I hate to say tolerable, I think it has its place for certain moments. Um I think it has its place for certain moments. But it's not too sweet for you. It's definitely not all smoky sweet, right? So it's uh so I I don't mind sweetness when it's natural. I have a hard time with sweetness when it's just sugary.

SPEAKER_04 36:42

Like hyperdose cool.

SPEAKER_01 36:43

Yeah, so I have a hard time when it's just like artificial sugary sweet. I have a hard time with that flavor. When it's more natural, it it doesn't it doesn't come across as sweet in my head, like a definition of sweet I have in my head. It comes across more desserty. Maybe that's a better way of putting it. And I don't mind dessert sweet, but it's very different from like Jolly Rancher or like uh Petering or Skittle sweet, you know what I mean? Those are very different things in my head. I don't know if that helps answer that that that that question. I would be interested to try their other stuff as well.

SPEAKER_03 37:20

Um, in on their website, they have a list of some cocktails to go with each of the bottles. And the one that really struck out to me was one they call it breakfast is served, but it's this and the hosier sweet heat, which is a cinnamon flavored.

SPEAKER_01 37:35

Sorry, say that one more time. What what's it called? The ho did I did I screw up with it? Is it Hoosier? It's Hoosier. I heard hosher and I was like, what is hosier? Hoosier sweet.

SPEAKER_04 37:55

That's what it's named after. It's the hosier. Aged aged in a room that only plays hosher songs instead of the metallic.

SPEAKER_03 38:05

Yeah. Uh Hoosier, sweetheat, and orange juice is the is the mix that they had. I don't know about the orange juice. I'm a little little skeptical there. Is it because of the pulp or no pulp?

SPEAKER_01 38:18

I am a pulp guy. I'm gonna add something. Yeah, I can pulp. I can see that would not be good in a cocktail. I don't want stringy stuff in my I mean if I'm a pulp guy and I see orange juice in a cocktail, I'm like, nope, no, thank you. That won't sound good. But Tropicana, maybe, you know? I mean, sure, I'll go no pulp for the cocktail.

SPEAKER_03 38:35

Okay, I guess. But yeah, uh, but the cinnamon and maple, yeah, that I like that's a good combo. I could see that being really good.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

So, all around, would you would you say this is a good? We're talking flavored.

SPEAKER_03 38:49

I mean it's good for what it is.

SPEAKER_01 38:51

Are we starting to increase in conco?

SPEAKER_03 38:53

For me, this is good for what it is. It makes me willing to try something of theirs that is not flavored. That is definitely their primary thing. The only thing they have is a bourbon and that that sweet corn thing. Everything else is flavored. So flavored is their primary thing. So going into it, I know that I I would assume that they're just bourbon is probably gonna be fine. It probably isn't gonna be great. Because if what they mainly do is flavoring stuff, then that's where their concentration is, which is fine.

SPEAKER_01 39:24

But if they stick with the weeded, do you think it would still be good? Like the weeded mash bill for the bourbon?

SPEAKER_03 39:31

Okay, yeah, that's fine. Yeah, which is I think also right. Yeah, I don't think you're gonna want a bunch of rye in a flavored thing generally.

SPEAKER_01 39:42

If I went from this to a rye mash bill from them, I'd be like, what damn, what is happening? Like, what am I doing? Okay, right. Would you say we're we're kind of uh stepping up a level? We're increasing our flavored. We are, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:55

In a good way, I yep, I agree with uh Steve's comments. Yep, I don't I don't think I have much to add. I'd say yeah, the quality level defin noticeably definitely went up from the last one. And uh yeah, I think uh I I think if they can make it doing this, good for them.

SPEAKER_01 40:16

Would this uh would this be an embarrassing bottle to have on your cocktail shelf or just a shelf in general? The old smokey was kind of uh Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:24

For me, what makes this a little bit harder to s to answer that is it's a craft distillery. So therefore, I I I I'm never gonna be embarrassed by a craft distillery on my shelf. Okay. Yeah. Even if it's a bad one.

unknown 40:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:37

Because I was supporting it, I was trying it out, see what, see what it's like. It's it's it's craft as a crapshoot. So it might work, it might not. You you don't have a ton of like reviews to go off of generally. So you don't always know. So I'm never embarrassed by a craft on my shelf. Okay. All right. Uh whether or not it'll stay on the shelf, that's it's a different story. But but yeah, for this one, I think this is perfectly fine to have.

SPEAKER_04 41:05

Um, I might pick this up if I if I was going camping and or something like that, you know, and just something nice to have around, start the day with. I don't I mean if I had it on my shelf, it wouldn't be one that I'd like. So my my whiskey shelf is in the basement. Yeah. So whenever the club meets at my house, I I bring up stuff from the basement. This wouldn't make the cut to bring up from the basement.

SPEAKER_00 41:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:33

I I wouldn't be like bringing this out to show the guys.

SPEAKER_00 41:37

Right.

SPEAKER_04 41:39

But uh but I have some I have some people who uh are who know they're not really whiskey drinkers. And even like basic stuff like makers mark and stuff like that, they're not really into. Um, but for something like this, I think I think I could be like, hey, I got something for you to drink.

SPEAKER_01 41:58

I got something for you to try, see what happens.

SPEAKER_04 41:59

Okay. And and I think they'd be all right with this. So it it would be uh a hospitality bottle more than anything. That's fair.

SPEAKER_01 42:07

I can I can I can understand that. It gets pulled out for special occasions or special people, I should say. Well, we're going up in proof now. We're going up to a different flavor, going up to proof. Full proof world. Fool proof world. We're gonna see what happens. We're gonna see if uh Steve's theory, yeah, Steve's theory holds on this one. Uh I don't think you can be as bad as old Smoky. Yeah, no, I don't think. So until next time.

SPEAKER_03 42:31

All right, until next time. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you want more great content and other perks, be sure to support the show by clicking the link in the show notes. We can be reached on our website, whiskey tasterspomma.com, with any ideas for the show. Thanks again.