Hugh Hamer Cherry Brandy finish!

We crack a Hugh Hamer cherry brandy barrel finished bourbon and end up with a shockingly sweet, creamy, cherry-forward pour that drinks lighter than its proof. The real surprise is how perfectly it pairs with Plum Pudding pipe tobacco and turns the whole night into a “Nirvana smoke” kind of memory. 

• Debating how to pronounce Hugh Hamer and why the name matters 
• First impressions on nose and palate, from vanilla cream to cherry soda vibes 
• Smoking Seattle Pipe Club Plum Pudding and talking Balkan vs English characteristics 
• West Fork Whiskey background, Indiana identity and the Old Hammer vs Hugh Hamer lines 
• Mash bill talk and why 99% corn amplifies the finishing influence 
• Why this feels like a summertime dessert whiskey and how chilling changes it 
• The “Nirvana smoke” concept, nostalgia, and why perfect pairings are hard to repeat 
• Single barrel store pick scarcity, pricing, and whether we would buy it blind 
• Cherry brandy definitions, what barrels might actually be, and the muscadine brandy dream 
• White labeling vs sourcing with purpose, plus why transparency drives value 
• Bottle hunting vs drinking, and why trying odd or even bad whiskey teaches your palate 

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, whiskeychaserspomma.com, with any ideas for the show.

Transcript

Welcome And Basement Banter

SPEAKER_01 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. Oh, 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_03 0:30

We should just keep it rolling for all the the what do they call that? B uh B BSing? No, uh B track or something. What Steve said that years ago. What did he call it? He called it like B track or something like that. B something. This is the other all the extra random stuff that we talk about in between takes. Oh man. And look at the size of that shank. Nice, thick author. Plump shank. It's like right in the middle. It's kind of goes like real nice and thick like. Yeah. It's engorged. That's another Savonelli, right? It is a Savonelli author. It's a 320 KS king size. That one, that author looks thicker than mine, is it? They do make them thicker than yours, you know. It's not the longest pipe, but it is quite thick.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Okay, back on topic. We're back on topic. We got a new bottle. Hugh Hammer.

SPEAKER_03 1:17

Hugh Hammer. Not Hugh Hefner. Is it hammer or hammer? Hammer like the book. Like the detective. That's not how you spell hammer.

SPEAKER_02 1:25

Well, I know, but there's old hammer, Hugh Hammer. Well, how would you pronounce it?

SPEAKER_03 1:29

Is that not spelt normal? I thought it was spelled.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

H-A-M-E-R.

SPEAKER_03 1:32

Oh, yeah. Hammer. Hammer. Hamer? Isn't that hamer? Hamer? Shouldn't it be hammer? Like C-A-M-E would be came, right? Came.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

Kamer? Kamer though?

Pronouncing Hugh Hamer

SPEAKER_03 1:45

Kamer. Probably this up beforehand. Shamer. I'm just here to mess things up. No, I think that's right. I think you're right. I would never think that it's Hamer, right?

unknown 1:55

Hamer.

SPEAKER_03 1:55

Or it could be hammer. Ham. I'm pretty sure that it's hammer. I mean, because ham, you don't call it ham when you have a slice of honey ham. You could have a slice slice of hummy ham, honey, ham. So it'll be hammer, h-a-m, but it should be H-A-M-M-E-R. Hammer. Unless it's someone's name. If you would place the H with a T and it's T-A-M-E-R, what would you say that is? Tamar? Tamer? Tamar? Tamer. We'd say Tamer. It's more it's Tame. Wouldn't Tame be T-A-I-M-E-R? You're very tame. No, Tame is T A M E. Oh, I'm thinking of Fame, like the TAME. Fame. Tames. That's T-H A-M-E. That's a good thing. Like the Tames River or something. That's some French nonsense.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

I'm pretty sure it's Hammer because this this this bottle, the name has a story behind it.

SPEAKER_03 2:41

It's hammer with a single M. If anybody's like really over this conversation. Everyone that I've talked to has said hammer. Hammer with a single M, straight bourbon whiskey, but but it's finished in cherry brandy barrels. Yes, that is what I'm talking about. You had a brandy finish today? Yes. We're gonna have fun today. Oh yeah.

Pour Stories And First Noses

SPEAKER_02 3:03

Which is also interesting because we we just got done talking about Liar's Bench and the price tag that we paid for that. This guy was 35 bucks, but also on sale discount, attempting to get rid of it, it feels like.

SPEAKER_03 3:15

Now that is a crisp. I'm anticipating a good bottle here.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

So okay, Bob was not able to join us for these recordings. He was on the last ones and saw him last night. And Bob? Yeah.

unknown 3:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

Because we had the second chapter of the club. Bob from two episodes ago. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 3:32

If you're wondering.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

If you're wondering. Good dude. He looked at me and great dude, but he looked at me and goes, I learned after last time I need to not look at Chris and go off of his pores.

SPEAKER_03 3:46

Those are fairly standard pores.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

Which I I laughed and I said, two things I've learned about Chris over the years. Never let him pour your drink and don't look at his when you pour yours.

SPEAKER_03 4:01

Or have a good time. Or if he is pouring your drink, plan on staying wherever he is. This is my standard pour about anywhere I go, I would say. Unless I'm trying to be super respectful. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

So he said that I just started laughing. I was like, that sounds about right. That's about right.

SPEAKER_03 4:16

I won't deny it. Yeah, I get it. I won't deny it. I'm gonna give it a sniff or two, and then we'll talk about the tobacco. Yeah. Oh, yeah, it smells great. Smells good. So I think the finished in cherry brandy barrels sounds very intriguing.

unknown 4:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 4:29

Cherry brandy in general is intriguing. I would agree with that. Yes. This bottle, the label and the style of it reminds me of Echo Spirits a little bit. Oh yeah. Okay. I I I hope it doesn't remind me flavor-wise. Flavor, yeah. Because Echo I've not been super impressed with. Although I did have a single barrel from that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

But yeah, Chris was not a big fan of the engineer be my neighbor.

SPEAKER_03 4:52

The engineer. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

He was not a he didn't mind it. He just, I think towards the end he had a bone.

Plum Pudding Balkan Tobacco

SPEAKER_03 4:58

More so, like I said, just the bottle shape and the the label design. It has a lot. It's very clean. It is very clean, other than the yellowish cream kind of color that the Yeah, yeah. It's got like a maroon or like a you know, like a kind of a darker red font with the cream label. With the cream, yeah. And we're gonna smoke with it. We're gonna smoke pipes. We're gonna smoke plum pudding from Seattle Pipe Club. Again, this is another, it says 2009 on it. I'm sure I'm reading that right. Uh, it's been sitting in my cellar for forever. We're gonna see. We're gonna pop it. I hope it's not dry. Sounds like it could be dry. It sounds a little crispy, it's a little dense. You hear that? I do. It sounds kind of like rice. Dry rice. It's rattling inside the can. It's probably a little bit so anybody want this is we're doing back-to-back Englishes, but this one is a Balkan. Okay. So which means if anybody wonders, it's usually has more Orientals in the English with the Virginias and everything. We're gonna pop it. Wow. This I haven't tried it yet. This whiskey is something.

SPEAKER_02 6:01

Not a ton of air. No air. Zero air. The more it sits in my glass, the more cherry it comes. The smell of cherry comes in. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:09

This is drier. A little drier. This is about how the other one was. But it I think we'll I think it'll be fine. Well, you can see the crystals. That is cherry. Oh gosh, dude. Like like cough syrup cherry. It almost smells like it sounds it sounds terrible. It almost smells like old feet. You know what I mean? Like that's how old it is. Old people feet for dirty. Yeah, but like not bad, not dirty, but not feet, but you know what I mean? Like you would be the feet guy. So this is probably why you're out in here. It's kind of your thing. I don't mind the I like a clean one, I guess. I don't know. Do you get what I'm saying? Old feet kind of like it's a little bit funky. Nope. No, no.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

It's it's uh so when you shut off the you you're done using the fireplace in the winter, summertime hits. Yeah, you don't use it for the whole summer, but it the soot in there like heats up over time.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

And you open it for the first fire in the the fall. Yeah, that smell, oh yeah, that's this. It's it's like dried soot, hot, warm, pre-soot, and soot in there. Like that's and it wouldn't it's like multiplied, right? It's yes, like staunch. Yeah, it's it smells great. I think that might actually uh depending on how it smokes, it might actually go really well with us. I bet it will. Based off of the smell. I haven't had a sip. Herm has. I did too. Herm's reaction.

SPEAKER_03 7:24

Yeah, it kind of snuck a sip on accident. This one I'm not gonna stuff it. I'm gonna break it up.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

But before we really go into this distillery, Chris has actually had a sample of a Hugh Hammer's rum cask finish. We had it the rum cask, we had it for the blind barrels. And when Chris tried it, initially, both Chris and I initially said, This is a rye. Yeah, yeah. We both said it's okay, yeah. And the more sat we Steve and I were like, This is too sweet to be a rye. This there's gotta be something else. And we all of us were way off, like couldn't tell that it was.

SPEAKER_03 7:58

I could not believe it was rum finished. I remember that, but it did get sweeter as it went along. Yeah, and that's that's interesting because yeah, I did listen to that that podcast as well, and I remember you saying it's a rye, and then it was like a couple minutes later, like I change, I changed my mind. It's not a rye, it's really sweet. Um, and it was it sounded like it was very subtle, it had some sweetness to it, but it wasn't very rum heavy. But it was so weird because uh and in initially it was, but I think it was just it was so complex. We ex we thought it was a rye kind of a thing. I feel like probably doesn't follow that same path. We'll just leave it.

West Fork Origins And MGP Sourcing

SPEAKER_02 8:30

You know, the interesting is oh, you know what is interesting? If I didn't know this is a cherry brandy finish, I'd probably say this is a four-grain or like a weeded whiskey or like a weeded.

SPEAKER_03 8:42

I haven't tried this, you're making me very interested.

SPEAKER_02 8:44

It's there, there's it's very different. Pipe is loaded, yeah. Oh, nice. This Hugh Hammer, we're we're out of Indiana, right? We're out of West Fork, is where they originally got started. I believe they moved somewhere else now. Westfield is where they're at now. What's really vanilla on the nose? So West Fork Whiskey is the distillery company name. We've got three guys that joined together to do this. And two of them brothers, one of them childhood friend. So they get started in 2014. That is very vanilla. Very yeah, uh 2014, they get started. They originally were sourcing while they were distilling their own stuff, and they realized, oh crap, we can't keep up with demand. So they did a they had a divide. They created old hammer. Old hammer has heritage that goes back, I think the bottle says 18 something or 1825. It was a family-owned distillery back in the day in around in or around Indiana. So they were like, let's revive Old Hammer, let's bring that name back, but not their family, not their family.

SPEAKER_03 9:57

So they wanted to make it New Hammer.

SPEAKER_02 9:59

Yes. Uh they want to make it New Hammer. So they've got West Fork Whiskey, which they have three offerings: a weeded, rye, and a bourbon that is all theirs, their own distillate, their own stuff. West Fork? West Fork. Well, if you look at the label on here, they have like a WF, like almost like Watershed does their their stuff. It's their West Fork whiskey.

SPEAKER_03 10:21

It's just west of East Fork, yeah. Or like Maker's Mark does start off arm.

SPEAKER_02 10:25

Yep. Yep. So West Fork whiskey is their own distillate. Again, they got started with Old Hammer sourcing it, thinking we could keep up with demand and we could replace it with our own stuff and be good. They had such a strong following for Old Hammer that they said, nope, we're not gonna stop sourcing. But the thing that we're proud of most being Indiana natives is the grains have to be from Indiana and it has to be distilled in Indiana. So they went with MGP to have grains from Indiana distilled in Indiana. So that's what this is.

SPEAKER_03 10:57

So this is MGP, and then so and then but they finished it in and this is where things get interesting.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

It's not white labeled, it's not white labeled. So we when we talked to blind Bobby at uh blind barrels, he mentioned that they are not into white labeling. Something needs to be done, something needs to change with it.

SPEAKER_03 11:15

You need to you need to do something, which is something we've said for so long. I'm so glad he agreed with us on that. Yeah, that was that was uh kind of uh good to hear that somebody else kind of agreed with that. Like, you have to do something to it for us to really value it.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Their old hammer, if you notice, we have a bottle here that's old hammer, and we have a bottle that's hue hammer, they're both part of the old hammer series, but the hue hammer was their take on finishings, so that's where we had the rum cask finish. They have a brandy barrel cask finish, they have uh that's that line. That's a line, yeah. Their their hue hammer line is all finishings, they do something unique and different with those. The old hammer series, they don't change anything other than single barrels or cast strength. That's about all they do with old hammer. But again, old hammer people are like, we like the flavor so much, we wanna it's MGP, it was reliable, it's it's good. There's nothing at its core that's wrong with it, but I'm okay with the Hugh Hammer aspect of let's change something up and let's do something slightly different. But I do find it interesting that they were like, hey, we we want to make sure everything is Indiana grown. They work closely with MGP for all their their stuff for Hugh Hammer and Old Hammer again. Three guys, two brothers, and a childhood friend. They're very interesting. I've never I've seen their West Fork whiskey, but I haven't gotten it yet.

SPEAKER_03 12:42

Okay. So they're still they're primarily sourcing from MGP, just for the old hammer and hue hammer.

99 Corn Mash Bill Sweetness

SPEAKER_02 12:47

Anything that has West Fork whiskey on the label is their own. And you want to make it even more interesting, these guys love their corn. They Indiana again, Indiana natives, they see that Kentucky has got their or foothold on bourbon, but Indiana has their their foothold on corn, just growing corn. Majority of corn that are corn in general, yeah. Yeah, is majority of the corn that's used for that or for whiskey or for bourbon is gonna be coming from Indiana. So their old hammer and hue hammer that do come out of MGP is 99 corn, one barley. That's the mash bill.

unknown 13:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

Interesting.

SPEAKER_03 13:33

So what we have right now is 99 corn and one barley. I was gonna say it's so dang sweet, and I understand it's finished, yeah, but it's so sweet. Like the way I was gonna say it was kind of like candy corn sweet, because originally I said vanilla. Then I started thinking more like sh like sugar, like that um like rock candy kind of thing? No, like sugar, like uh, what's that sugar? Like not white sugar, but like powdered sugar. Yeah, maybe that's it. And like candy corn sugar, like the artificial kind of white sugar. And that's that is probably from the corn. But I will say there is, and maybe because it's 99% corn, which is kind of like a blank canvas, that cherry comes through like a mother effort. Like that that that cherry comes through with a punch, like almost to like an artificial cherry feel. Yeah, it's like it's got like that cherry cough syrup. Well, it reminds this reminds me kind of like like the cherry cream soda. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You get what I'm saying? Like, cause that that sh that what I thought was vanilla, it's more cream, it's more like that cream, like artificial sugar, like I said, like that cream soda. And then that cherry comes through so much. It comes through. But it's not in a bad way, but this is a like a dessert, like this is the most dessert bottle I've had in a hot minute.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

I can't think of the last time we had like a dessert bottle like this.

SPEAKER_03 14:50

This is totally a dessert bottle. Like, I kind of want to have this with ice cream. Like it's it's it's it's so like, and you don't like um you don't always pick up on something like a like the cherry and a cherry cherry rum finished thing, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 15:01

But this is so like I know this can sound really you know this would do really well in like hot cocoa or like even a cold chocolate, like chocolate cookies.

SPEAKER_03 15:11

Because it's like amaretto kind of, yeah. Yeah, it's cherry, yeah. It's cherry liquor, it's like an amaretto. Like, yeah, it is, but in a good way, this is good. This would be great on ice, like to be honest. This is what I would think of when somebody says that we have that we make a cherry flavored whiskey. Yeah, this, yeah, this would be for for not being a cherry flavored whiskey. This is a very good cherry flavored whiskey.

SPEAKER_02 15:34

Well, and it's also cash.

SPEAKER_03 15:36

It's still a whiskey, you know what I mean? This is no, it's I was gonna say this is like 80 proof.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

No, it's a hundred. If you look at it, I think it's a hundred and something. No, there's look at it.

SPEAKER_03 15:45

There's no way this tastes like 80 proof. Uh it looks like it says 103. Yeah, that is hard to really see. Yeah, I was gonna just I was about to say the only thing it's lacking is proof. Oh no, it's I was about to say, like, this is so low proof. I almost like it needs way more oomph, but yeah, it's a 103 proof. That is which I would that when you when he says cast strength, I like you were like, I looked at him like, what? Like you're lying. Like I looked at this bottle before, but I didn't look at the proof. I try not to do that just because I don't want it to like is it taste like 80 proof or what? Yeah, it's it's it's very light. Yeah, like so light, but light in a good way, it's airy, it's refreshing. Yeah, refreshing, yeah. For being that high of a proof, it's still refreshing. Summertime, yes. Which there's not a whole lot of like actual whiskeys that are good for summertime.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

Like this would be great on the beach or on the boat, like chilled, it doesn't have to have ice, just if it was kind of chilled, it would be bottle on the cooler, yeah. Yep. I'm not taking shots of this, but I will sip on this chilled, and it would be refreshing.

SPEAKER_03 16:46

Yeah, no, this, yeah, like I'm saying, this is good. This would be great in Coke, this would be great on its own.

SPEAKER_02 16:51

This would be great in ice. But what's interesting about this, and maybe it's just me, the finish doesn't last very long.

SPEAKER_03 16:57

The whole thing doesn't, it's the whole experience.

SPEAKER_02 16:59

When you talk about, yeah, it's it's very fleeting, which I think is good, which is why it's good for summertime, but I think it's also good for how significant that cherry, yeah, it would get very cough syrup.

SPEAKER_03 17:10

Oh, yeah. Like, oh, I just took a cherry flavored coffee, and you're like, and it kind of lingers there forever. You'd be suffocating.

SPEAKER_02 17:17

And I think fleeting it's just enough that you're like, you know what? I know I remember being strong in cherry.

SPEAKER_03 17:23

Let me have another drink.

SPEAKER_02 17:24

I might need another sip. Yeah, just just to confirm that I might need another sip.

Summer Dessert Whiskey Serving Ideas

Pipe Pairing Turns Aromatic

SPEAKER_03 17:28

This bottle would be dangerous outside in the patio, especially with being over 100 proof, which I didn't expect. Summertime, this bottle would be dangerous. When it's not often, I think something would be very improved by like, and I don't want to say ice because that could water town. I don't think that'd be good, but just the coolness, like if it was the temperature change, like this would be very good as a cold beverage. I don't say that very often, but this would actually, the colder it is, the better it would probably taste. Like, like if you took this out of the freezer and poured it into a metal tumbler, that'd be fantastic. Maybe even with some of those metal ice cubes. You get that kind of that metal, like cold metal taste. Yeah, this is good, man. This is I think it's pairing really well with this tobacco too. I wondered, yeah. It is. It is, it's it's giving me like the old timers, like cherry, the codger, like the you know, the codger blend, like the cherry. It's turning it into an aromatic crape. It's very much like but not like a fake aromatic, like a real aromatic. Yeah, yeah. It reminds me of um, which is crazy. This is freaking plum pudding, but it reminds me of that one blend. Yeah, G uh Robinson, Robinson's blend. G, whatever Robinson, the gangster. You remember that guy? There's a there's a gangster. It was an old gangster, but he they have a blend called uh Robinson's G something Robinson. This, I think this the flavor and cherry, yeah. It's an aromatic pipe tobacco. That's what this tastes like. Yeah, I think this tastes this the whole the flavor profile combined tastes like an aromatic cherry tobacco smell experience. Yeah, it's like when somebody's smoking a cherry, like because I don't I'm not a huge aromatic guy, but like that smell of cherry, like that's what drew us. Don't I mean you can't if you live in the cherry cherry pipe tobacco isn't what drew you into smoking a pipe, then you're lying. Yeah, you're liar. That is what made you want to smoke a pipe because that smell is very distinct. It's it's but you never're chasing that smell all the time. Like that smell. Yeah, like yeah, and I think when you when you try a cherry aromatic for the first time, you're really disappointed because you're like, it doesn't taste like it smelled or like you remembered it smelling, and so then it it kind of kind of taints that that for you. But this with this whiskey makes it actually taste like it's taste exactly like that smells, right? This this makes uh pipe tobacco taste like the way an aromatic should, which is quite amazing, and also this isn't English, and it kind of again, I don't know if it's the age or if it's the whiskey, but the English aspect, the latiquia aspect, is dulled down. The orientals have been brought forward, so it's a little bit more creamy, a little bit more sweet, sour, sweet and sour, which the orientals uh you know, bring that up. A little bit more of that. I feel like I you I get a little bit more of the incense with this, the plum pudding, than I did with the Mississippi River. Yeah, but it's not smoky, but it's very subtle, not campfire. It's more in your face, yeah. It's not in your face, it's not like yeah, it's not it's more of a muted English, yeah. Yeah, there's not as much smoky campfire for it's kind of dusty for all that though, isn't it? Kind of like old, yeah. Old, like graveyard kind of old. But I'm enjoying this combo a lot, actually. This is this is uh this was an unexpectedly really great combination. This combination is very, very good. And it's funny that you said you thought it would be a good combo. Not, I mean, obviously, not knowing what this flavor profile was, but I think it it I don't know if a if a if a fresh plum pudding would have the same effect. This is uh I don't think it would. I I can't believe I mean you've nailed it, Herm. Like I this is making an aromatic pipe smoking experience. Like, I'm not really drinking right now, I'm more like enjoying an aromatic pipe smoking experience. That's what I'm getting at. It's like you're somebody you're sitting next to your grandpa who's smoking a cherry tomato. I'm actually tasting it. And you're just sipping water. Yeah. It's amazing. Or like a tea or something in the summertime. And you're allowing us to experience what an aromatic should be. Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty cool. Yeah. I'm loving it. I'm loving it. And what I can't, what's interesting. So in the last episode, we talked about like, okay, this is enough. Like one glass would be enough. I actually think, like you said, Herm, this would be dangerous. I do think this would go quick. Too quick, probably. Like, like you'd need two bottles per session. Like, like for me, I I could sit around and drink this all day and smoke in the summertime. Like, like late spring, early summer peak for this.

SPEAKER_02 21:48

Now, what's sad about that is Is this another bottle you can't get? So the this expression for Hugh Hammer is only done and offered in single barrel releases.

SPEAKER_03 21:59

But they still

SPEAKER_02 22:00

Make it, but they don't sell it outside of single barrel expressions, like store picks or at their distillery, right?

SPEAKER_03 22:08

It's not even on their website. I have a hard time thinking that they only sell this random distilleries.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

I would agree, like random stores.

SPEAKER_03 22:16

It's not like they're loot, like if you need more, just go to MGP, right? It's cherry brandy finish, though. That that's probably the kicker. There's probably plenty. Well, and also how many how many cherry brandies are there out there? Right.

SPEAKER_02 22:27

How many cherry brandies are there out there? But how popular is this? I again I bought this for 35 bucks on kind of a last call shelf. Would you guys if you went into a store and you saw a bourbon, an unknown, like not unknown, but kind of a no-namer or white-labeled kind of feel bottle that was cherry brandy finish? Would you go for it?

SPEAKER_03 22:47

Depending on the price, especially. I don't know. Once you see it's cherry brandy finish, I think it gives you like I'm gonna give it a go because I like brandy finish. Yes. But I'm a big cherry guy, like I love cherry. So for me, like cherry wood or like a cherry brandy, that would intrigue me enough to maybe buy it, depending on what it is. Depending on the price, how much was it?

SPEAKER_02 23:07

So this is 35. They normally go for about 70.

SPEAKER_03 23:10

70. Okay, well, let's say craft price. But I will say this just really quick. I don't know how much I would. I mean, I'm sure I would enjoy it, but I don't think I'd be anywhere near to enjoying it if I wasn't smoking while I was drinking. This is going so good. This is almost like a nirvana smoke for me, which I don't get very often. It's the perfect pipe, it's the perfect tobacco, and it's the perfect whiskey. And it's maybe it's the perfect moisture content. I don't know, but this is really a great combination right now. Like this is almost just about perfect. And I think without one of these components, I think I'd be having a good time, not a great time. But with all of these together, I'm having a really great experience. This is great. I'm just having a great experience being here with you guys, mainly. No, I agree. I agree 100%. I think if it was by itself, it would be too sweet. When we talked about this, I've kind of been dipping my toe into brandy and and different, you know, cognacs, and and and it's just like, oh I'm like, I just I don't know if it's it's just too sweet for me. And you're like, you have to smoke. You're like, you have to smoke, or you have to have a have had a big dinner, and then it's kind of your dessert. And and with this, I think this is one I would have to smoke with, or I would um not have to, but really want to. And this is something I wouldn't appreciate. I would if I was going outside on the patio in the evening and I'm wanting to just kind of wind down, maybe you know, just sit and listen, because we, you know, my house backs up. We have a little bit of woods behind us, and we can just hear birds chirping in the evening and stuff. That would be what I would be my go-to. Like, I would immediately grab this bottle, grab my pipe, and head out to the back patio. But yeah, I would agree. It's this this might be my first Nirvana smoke in terms of especially pairing with whiskey so well. And it it's very much like the opposites attract kind of thing. And compliment each other. Yeah, there's it's not a you're not adding something in that's not there, you're not trying to replace something that is missing with the whiskey, but with the tobacco. It's just in their own right, I think each, each, each individual part would be very good, but together there's something very it's different. I really, really like this bottle. It smells good too. Uh that I don't know that like I want to just take it and I want to run out with it right now and just leave with it and just take it home with me. I but again, I don't think I could for me, I don't think I could drink this by itself without smoking. If you if you handed me this whiskey by itself, I would be like, uh, yeah, it's good. And it's very unique. It's here's the scary thing. Like true Nirvana smokes. You might try to smoke the same pipe tobacco and that's have that same drink, and it might not be as good. And that's the thing, is that sometimes those nirvana smokes are a once in it, and I've tried to replicate them and you can't. It's just a it's just the right combo at the right time, depending on the meal you had and how much sleep you got. Like there's all these weird little little weird factors that go to it. Uh-huh. Well, yeah, how your day went, you know, it looked different. It really is. Yeah, it really is. But for right now, for this moment in time, I can't. I'm having I haven't a great experience. I don't think I can experience this bottle any better than how I am.

SPEAKER_02 26:09

Would you would you ever want to try to recreate that? Or is this kind of like try to try to recreate it? Could you probably try?

Nirvana Smokes And Chasing Moments

SPEAKER_03 26:16

You just typically don't. It's always chasing that experience. You know, chasing that, yeah, that moment, I think. Yeah, that's what I told him. Like, you know, I hear him talk about Nirvana Smokes and and Steve, and I'm like, man, I've just never had that. And like this, it is that. It is that. It's it's very much like I just it takes me back to my, you know, like sitting, sitting at my great-grandpa's house, and he's got his pipe and it's and he's sitting there reading his newspaper, sitting, you know, armchair quarterback, and we're watching the Buckeyes game on a cold, you know, fall night or fall, fall morning. And in a very much like it's just like that whole experience for me is it's all there. Completely satisfying. Which is funny because like, you know, we we had Bob on and he talked about something similar. And it was like, I'm like, man, I really want to like this whiskey because you made me want to love it. And and now I'm kind of like, man, it just it's this is like I just want to I want to take it home with me. Like I just want to, I want to keep this. You want to bottle this experience and try as you try it again over and over again. Yep. And just this, if if if if I could get this every single time, this this will be my go-to every single day drink. And I would never smoke another pipe tobacco. Yeah, that's how that's how good the when you have one of those experiences. Like, I just want to just put this together and keep it. That is just like a little bit of like what heaven's gonna be like, isn't that amazing? Like, you know what I mean? Just a sniff. Yeah, just like a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 27:37

Yeah, but do you think that that might be the reason?

SPEAKER_03 27:39

Let me know how it goes. Hey Herma, you like it down there? It's like you're getting a nice sunburn.

SPEAKER_02 27:49

Pretty good up here. Remember that Nervato's experience? Yeah, I just kidding. Do you uh do you think that that might be that whole idea you just talked about might be the reason why they don't offer this outside of barrel picks? Because it's such a unique bottle, such a unique experience that if it was always on the shelf, would it always carry that? Or would people lose?

SPEAKER_03 28:10

I I don't know if it's that so much as I think it's probably just it's probably hard to acquire cherry brandy barrels, especially to be able to produce enough you know, whiskey to bottle and put out. And they're I mean, if and if if you're sourcing and stuff, you're gonna wonder this is not a single barrel, correct? This is a single barrel. This is a barrel pick, yeah. Oh, so yeah, that's right. You you said it's always so so. My guess is it's probably I mean, I I don't know. I've not seen any cherry brandy. Obviously, Ohio doesn't have a great selection of brandy anyway. I think it's a mix between limited, like you're saying, and also like they just want to have a diverse amount of products, like because I'm sure this I mean, how many things are they putting out with this? Hue hammer.

SPEAKER_02 28:51

So Hugh Hammer itself. So again, you got old hammer and you got Hugh Hammer.

SPEAKER_03 28:55

So they're all say they're each putting out, like say they have like four or five bottles per lineup. Like that's a lot for a distillery, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 29:02

Well, Hugh Hammer has rum finish, double oaked, and maple. You think this one is sweet? Think of 99 corn, one barley, and maple finish.

Single Barrel Scarcity And Pricing

SPEAKER_03 29:13

Nick overdid maple a few years ago. I was like, I like I'll look at some maple. No, we overdid maple, it can be maple. We we overdid a lot of different maples, especially me. And I'm just like, it's like when you eat something that you typically loved and then you threw up on it one time, like you had food poisoning, and you threw up on it one time, and you're like strawberry shortcake. Yeah, and then you can't do it anymore. I was like seven. Not that I ever threw up on maple like alcohol, but I definitely overdid it. I remember at one point I had like what Nick, what did I have, like four or five bottles of the crap maple? Well, just different maple. Well, maybe I was all that one was all crown maple. I was trying to drink it all, yeah, and I went through like a period of like, I'm only drinking this because this is I need to finish it. And like instead of just getting rid of it or throwing it down the drainer, I like forced myself to drink it, and I'm like, never again. Yeah, I've gotten some crowns along the way, and I'm just like, they just hide under my cabinet, and I'm like, eventually I'll make some cocktails for like company or something. I needed room. I needed the room. I drank them up. I just bury them where I can't see them, and I just forget about them. Between that and Caribbean cast scotch. No, thank you. Caribbean cast is interesting because like a rum finished scotch, I just can't do I can't do rum scotch.

SPEAKER_02 30:22

Yeah, rum we overdid it. Well, there's one that I can do that's the log voluman. That's the only one I can do.

SPEAKER_03 30:27

We overdid it.

SPEAKER_02 30:28

We did overdo it.

SPEAKER_03 30:29

It was good, but then it was too much.

SPEAKER_02 30:31

But the one that you kind of seek out from the bottle that you're like, I'm kind of upset I don't have it, can't find is oddly enough, one that I think you went through a few bottles and at the time was like, I'm done with rum, done with rum, but now you want it is the basil Hayden rum case. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:45

Well, because I drank so much of it, and I then then you can't get it. Then I'm like, I do kind of miss that. Anybody knows me, I look knows I love Canadian whiskey, which is basically a maple finished whiskey. So, but the problem is it's like not it's subtle, and like an actual maple flavored whiskey is so on the nose that it's like ugly, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 31:03

Like you mixed maple in with this, kind of yeah, like this is too damn much, you know what I mean? Like it's not we've had a few maple finished, like maple barrel finished whiskeys. Very few that we have gone this this is great. This hits the nail on the head for like a most of the time.

SPEAKER_03 31:22

If it says maple on it, it would be better on pancakes than it would be drinking it straight.

Maple Rum Finishes And Palate Burnout

SPEAKER_02 31:27

Going back to the the bottle off the tangent. Uh cherry brandy. Cherry brandy's not really a thing. I went looking. There's really only it's not a thing or it ain't no thing. Um, so there's traditional uh unsweetened brandies distilled directly from fermented cherries. So they brandy made from cherries. It's it's from Germany and from uh France that I can't even pronounce they're like in German and French. I I don't know how to pronounce it.

SPEAKER_03 31:58

We don't know exactly too. That's alright. But this one's a German, like a dark chocolate like cake. But then they also went on to say chocolate covered cherries are delicious, by the way. They've got like the real ones, not the fake ones.

SPEAKER_02 32:12

Liqueurs that are labeled as cherry brandies, which uh there's one called a uh it's really just cherry schnapps, probably. So I've got one that's a cherry hearing, yes, so that one is one that's like labeled as like a brand, like a cherry brandy, but it's a liqueur.

SPEAKER_03 32:29

Is that like brandy that they mix with cherry? It's not like an actual cherry. So they like macerate the cherry. You have to have a cherry wine and you make a brandy out of that. That's what I'm expecting.

SPEAKER_02 32:38

Well, they consider like the Luxardo does like a cherry liqueur, they consider that like a cherry brandy, but it's not really a brand. Like it's not a traditional brandy?

SPEAKER_03 32:46

It's a brandy with the city.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

They label it, yeah. They label it as a brandy because it's a liqueur, but they're favorite brandy. They macerated cherries in it, kind of thing. Yeah, macerated.

unknown 32:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:56

But I mean, the fact that there's only three companies that do it.

SPEAKER_03 32:59

But you can make a wine out of cherry, and if you make a brandy out of cherry wine, yeah, but is it?

SPEAKER_02 33:04

You ever had cherry wine? But it's not very common.

SPEAKER_03 33:06

Cherry wine is actually pretty good. What I want to have, and I don't know if we've talked about this. My favorite wine is a muscadine wine. I've got do they make muscadine brandy?

SPEAKER_02 33:17

No. I don't know that I've ever seen muskadine brandy. You guys have that muscadine wine?

SPEAKER_03 33:22

Have I talked about it? If I said the same thing, I might have I keep asking. Someone needs to make this. I don't know. I love muscadine wine. Never a muskadine brandy. I want to have a muscadine brandy, and then I want to have a freaking rye finished in muscadine brandy. I mean, good lord. Come on, people. It is 2026. Let's get with your program. I don't have the equipment. Somebody needs to do this.

What Counts As Cherry Brandy

SPEAKER_02 33:50

We also don't have the brand like traditional brandy, the way that they make it comes with a uh doesn't come with, they're normally done with a very specific still.

SPEAKER_03 34:00

Like, and it maybe this sucks, but I don't know. But tell me, tell me if it sucks. Maybe it doesn't work. Maybe they've tried it. I doubt it. I doubt it. I want to try it. Because have you ever even eaten muscadine grape? Like on the gray, dude.

SPEAKER_02 34:14

Muscadines aren't very like popular outside of America, let alone like southern America. Well, we can make brandy in America. Well, I know I know that, but I'm saying like brandy's not very popular, like being made within America.

SPEAKER_03 34:26

Brandy's very popular in general. What's crazy about brandy is like Europe is brandy goes from cheap to very expensive to unreal expensive. There's not a whole lot, it's very it jumps. There's like different levels of it. It doesn't just gradually increase. Yeah, there's no middle, there's no middle ground. It's either super cheap, you don't want to drink it, or it's expensive, and this is good, or it's a handful of crazy expensive middle ground brandies. I think there is some brandy. It's all the big houses, like it's not. It's like there's no craft. There's some that's like it's like 200 grand per pour. It's like insane. Like an ins because brandy, like they have brandy from like the 1700s, right? Like sitting around, like Louis, whatever the hell, brandy. Like that's like millions of dollars of thirteenth, crystal glass, like three thousand. That's probably freaking amazing. But like, who in the heck would ever like I could either buy a Lamborghini or drink this glass of brandy? That's an insane amount of wealth. That's that's wealth I'm not comfortable with having, you know what I mean? Like, I might buy the brandy. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I mean, I would be comfortable with that amount of wealth to be fair with you. I don't what if you if somebody wanted to donate it? You have something you drink you drink the brandy while driving the car. It might be a good thing. I think if you have enough money to buy that drink, then you probably aren't driving yourself anywhere. Well, I'm drinking that in the back seat of my bent. Well, but you could say the same for Tiger Woods, and that dude still chooses to drive himself. I just got off the phone with the president. All right, I'm under Esperiva again. How awesome though, to not even be affected by I mean, luckily, nobody got hurt. That's all that mattered, right? But anyway, Tiger Woods has given us some great memes.

SPEAKER_02 36:12

Oh, yeah, it is so Hugh Hammer. I also brought again, I brought a bottle of old hammer, which I should we try it somehow. I get these bottles that aren't done anymore or specialty releases because I just got done saying at the beginning that old hammer and Hugh Hammer is so hard.

Old Hammer Rye And White Label Ethics

SPEAKER_03 36:30

I know, right? I have all these bottles that aren't made anymore. And then everybody's got to listen to us talk about stuff they can't get. We need a really quick do that. We've talked about this. I've listening to the podcast sometimes because I'm like, oh, I want to try that. And then, like, right as soon as I decide I really want to try it because it sounds amazing to me. It's usually me asking, well, can we get this? Can people get this? And Nick's like, and I'm like, dude, I can't. If you go to Wyoming in the middle of winter and you snow ski 13 miles, you could maybe get a friend of wolf, and then you can find out. The best is when I ask that, and Nick's like, nah. And then you say freaking Steve. Steve's giving you the look like you son of a. Like, he's actually upset. Just so you know, whenever Steve gives you that look, I'm gonna give you that same look just from the other end of the house.

SPEAKER_02 37:15

I got done saying old hammer, hue hammer. They're 99 corn, one barley. Cody got me this old hammer cast strength rye, single barrel rye. Now, again, we know they come out of MGP, right? But there's something interesting about this guy. And the sense that uh theirs is not the 95 and 5 from typical from MGP. It's 51 rye, 45 corn, and four barley.

SPEAKER_03 37:43

Yes. That mash book?

SPEAKER_02 37:44

Yes, because old hammer, everything from old hammer and hue hammer is all MGP.

SPEAKER_03 37:50

It's just a it's a weird one for MGP. But again, that's not standard, like we're gonna source this.

SPEAKER_02 37:55

No, and bottles that have old hammer as the label, it's all white label. You don't do anything. Cask strength cask strength or just normal stuff, maybe single barrels.

SPEAKER_03 38:04

Don't like that. Don't like that, especially for what are they selling it for? I don't know what it's cask strength bullet. No, that that that's a different uh that's a different recipe. For me, I struggle so much with with like you have a small distillery and and sourcing, and I don't have an issue with sourcing when you're white labeling something, and then you turn around and you try to sell it as a craft product because it has a different anybody anybody that has a you know something between their ears is gonna have an issue with that. That just you know what I mean. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth for and it and it's sad because like this hue hammer, the the the cherry fin is is phenomenal. It makes you want to try more stuff in that lineup, and I want to try more, and then you tell me that that is just a white label MGP put in a bottle that looks however it looks, and it's not like by all means, it's not a crazy marketing pull away. I don't even really want to try it. Yeah, it makes you not want to try it. It makes me want to just pour another of this of this. But I will I will try it. 40 to 43 bucks. But I don't want to try it, I don't need to try it, but yeah, I'm like, I'm gonna try it. I do want to try more hammers uh the hue hammer stuff. Hue hammer.

SPEAKER_02 39:08

I want to because they do the rye, they do not the rye, the rum, they do.

SPEAKER_03 39:12

Well, then I guess they're we don't like it's still just MGP, right? It's still just a white label, too, right?

SPEAKER_02 39:16

Well, but they're doing they but they do something to it. White labeling is they they pull it from MGP and they put it in a bottle.

SPEAKER_03 39:21

Oh, I understand that, but it is are they finishing this or is MGP finishing it? No, they're finishing it.

SPEAKER_02 39:26

Okay, yeah, so they're the Hue Hammers are separated out because they're not gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_03 39:30

The way Angels MV used to do it. I mean, they they always sourced and then finished, and that's what made them kind of like their that was their thing. And it was fine because they were sourcing good whiskey. Um there's finishing wrong, there is absolutely nothing wrong with MGP, but when you don't do anything to it, it's just MGP. Like I just we've we've always struggled with that concept. But if you're gonna do something with whether it's aging or finishing or it's like it's like it's like you bought a Toyota Camry and now you're trying to you're you put a Mercedes body on it and you're trying to tell or a sticker on it, just a sticker, yeah. This car now costs eighty thousand dollars, right? It's like it it's it's a Toyota Camry. Yeah, that is still a Toyota. I'm not saying it's a bad car, yeah. It's not worth$80,000. Exactly. That is exactly a great analogy there. Yeah, you're basically just slapping, like I said, you're slapping a sticker on something. Ever buy another tobacco that was just lane one Q in a different 10. No, no, who would do that? Nobody would do that. Like just by me if somebody tries to like pass off one Q as like something like they're like this is a house, but I'm like, this is lane one Q. This is freaking you know it when you smoke it. Like the second Captain Black White. Yeah, you're like, yo, I know what this is. Although one Q is more like Captain Black Royal, I guess. But either way, it's Captain, this is Captain Black. Not hating on one Q. I do like it a little bit. But you can't relabel it and tell me it's something. Dude, even pipe smokers. I mean, I remember pipe, it smells good. Only smoke English, only ever smoke English. And he was kind of like a snob about it. And I had him in this room sitting, he was sitting where Nick was sitting. We were watching a movie in here, and I literally we went from smoking some high-end English or something. I threw lane one Q bulk in my pipe and lit it up, and he goes, Now that smells great. What is that? And he was like going on and on and on about it. I was like, You don't know what this is, and after a while, I find like this is one cue. And he was like, No, it's not. I'm like, Yeah, it is. He's like, dude, my wife would let me smoke even more if I smoke this. I'm like, Yeah, because dude, this is the quintessential aromatic tobacco smell. Like anybody that smells lane one q is gonna love it. You walk around the neighborhood smoking that, people are gonna remember it. Yeah, it's this, it's that's the tobacco. So there's there's no you can't talk crap about it. But if you were to take that and throw it in any way, and people do this, right? They throw it in a container with their name on it and they sell it as like some premium aromatic, and it's like, dude, that's one Q. Yeah, we like taking lane one Q and like putting like a Frog Morton label on it. Yeah, like that's white labeling right there. Yeah, that's white labeling at Sotericot. No, this is one Q. And I'm not paying double or triple refuse.

SPEAKER_02 42:11

It's so interesting because we we talk about white labeling when we first started really getting into whiskey, is when people were like, Oh, it's sourced. We get we have to know that it's sourced. We don't care where from, transparent, we just want transparency that's sourced. Now it's gotten to the point where people are like, but are you white lady? Are you just taking someone else's stuff and putting it in a bottle?

SPEAKER_03 42:35

People find that point. This when we first so many companies, because during the bourbon boom, so many companies were being so dishonest. Right. That's when the small batch stuff was a big deal. Yeah, what we've all learned like what that small batch means. Yeah, it means organic. It's like organic, it means anything, anything, anything you want to do.

SPEAKER_02 42:54

But I find it interesting that there's now the topic of more people are catching on, like, oh, I don't want white labeled stuff, but I'm okay if you source it and do something special. If you source it like you hammer and we're gonna finish it in something unique or take the time to do something different, I don't care that it's sourced at that point because it's a good idea.

SPEAKER_03 43:11

It's like taking a sequel, it's like making a sequel, but you need to have your original joke. When you do a sequel and you do all the same jokes as the original movie, it's not funny. It's like it's just the same thing over and again. Like you know what I mean. But there are times that they do a sequel and it's original and it's but it builds off, it builds off the old one, but it's its own thing, and people enjoy it and they appreciate it. And sometimes the sequel is better than the original, not often, but sometimes. But there are times where you have you ever seen that where you watch the second movie and you're like, This sucks. Like, come on, like the first one was good, this one's stupid, you know. That's it's the same thing, like you can't just replicate it and put number two. Like if you tried to make a sequel of like pulp fiction, yeah, yeah. With all the same gonna work jokes over again. Like he's like this is gonna work again. Yeah, yeah. He's like, Do you know what a royale with cheese is? Like, yeah, we do because we watched the first one. Yeah. It's such a great movie. But I think, I think for me, I think like I think if I mean when with white labeling, like I think there was um going back to the the craft like fair or whatever we want to call it that we went to there was the dog whiskey and we talked to them and I'm like it's a quick it's a cool little bottle. It's got like a dog like you know bow tie or something on it. I don't know. It was like a neat little bottle whatever and I'm like you know like I'm curious. I was curious because I was like I have I have not seen this or I maybe I had seen it one other time but I'm like curious. I want to talk to them and try it. I'm like you know do you guys you know do you make your own stuff it's like oh no everything we do is sourced and I was like oh okay well where do you source from and it was kind of like oh we source from we we only source from Ohio providers and I'm like okay watershed or I mean uh Middlewest yeah your Middlewest or watershed like there's really your only options for probably it's probably Middlewest. Yeah but he's like and I'm like so basically you don't one you don't source from the same place every time you're basically you're not it's not like you're doing a single barrel barrel pick and then you're like rebranding it or doing something they were marketing only weren't yeah you're just taking the cheapest barrel you can get and you're slapping your tag on it and it and it like I'm like this whiskey would be disappointing in and of itself and I like Middlewest and I like water and I like like just don't don't it just it just feels it feels icky. Yeah it's it's not genuine I like little Caesar's pizza is great but if you were to go and buy little Caesar's pizza and then put it in your own box and sell it for two dollars more it's still little damn Caesars now just I'm just paying more for it. You know you get what I'm saying like it's not a bad pizza especially for the price. Yeah it's like going to like a roller rink and you get a pizza from the roller rink like from the roller skating rink and it's like five dollar hot and ready or whatever it was it's literally like a it's a it's a you know it's an old de frozen pizza that they threw in a microwave and you you paid$12 for it's like are they still five dollars? No hot and ready yeah yeah no no I don't think they're I'll tell you what they're no longer hot and ready no such thing as a five dollar foot long anymore. Well they weren't foot long as we charge for a six inch foot long now it's not a foot long i mean a six inch sub I mean actually can we can we go back to that what do they sell the six inch foot long for shit your mouth a what a six inch sub now is five dollars like what happened to the five dollar freaking foot long dude like good lord this a five dollar foot long from subway is like ten bucks now like come on guys they were always five bucks what's a what's a hot and ready those used to be five dollars are no longer five dollars or 799 but there is still hot and ready's so for our listeners this is what our club meetings feel like yeah this reminiscing uh the obviously a mini club meeting but I think this bottle and I think that speaks to this bottle and to the smoking and like we're just having like it this feels more like less like a podcast more like a hangout like more like us just hanging out having some drinks just just chilling in the basement and it feels a lot like our like a club night obviously less people but it's not quite as loud because we're not having multiple conversations over each other but when you're when we're to kind of give you guys an idea of what the club is like from my you know from my point of view especially you know there's eight guys in the club and at any given point three guys are having a conversation at a time and so it's it's it's these three guys and it's those three guys and then there's a couple guys that are talking by themselves and then the the conversation flips and then it's like the other guys are talking with each other now which is really what this feels like. This is a club night like this is very much like hearing a story and just hanging out we're having a smoke we're having a drink and I think that speaks to the bottle like right this is a good bottle I I I mean yeah I I've fallen in love with this bottle which is weird because it's another circumstance if I would have bought this bottle and maybe drank it I'd probably like yeah that was well man that was interesting. I think that would be something I would want somebody else to try and I would share it and I would probably you know get but but like in this moment it's very much that Nirvana smoke and it feels like our club meeting it feels like we're just hanging around we're having some we're smoking and we're we're having some drinks and it's like man ooh this is this is the bottle of the night for sure. And that's cool. I mean from now on like Hugh Hammer is always gonna hold a special place.

SPEAKER_02 48:15

Well it's like a sentimental bottle you know and it's kind of funny because I've had the bottle of old hammer for two years maybe three years now and it's just under halfway done it's not that it's a terrible bottle but it's not one worth seeking out old hammer is not a brand that I I I have a desire to sink out after having this because there's nothing to write home about it's a TV. Right but it's a sentimental special bottle for how I got it kind of thing. Finding this Hue Hammer I was like okay this seems a little bit different. A cherry brandy finish I don't know anyone that does a cherry brandy finish let's see what it's like I now kind of have a a desire to seek after Hugh Hammer bottles to see like if that's your finishing line what else can you do? Like what else do you do? But their old hammer I'm all right just leaving that one go. But their hue hammer I'm I'm I I kind of want to see what I can find.

SPEAKER_03 49:08

And and that means that as a brand they won. Yeah we we want more right it also I feel like I'm now sentimentally attached to this bottle and I'm gonna take it home with me today.

SPEAKER_02 49:20

Wait for them to not be looking snatched well you can't get that one again so well in that case I'm definitely taking they may still have some on the shelf I we just have to go visit them before we but they do the Belmont the Belmont one. But they do do cherry finish brandy cherry finish potentially potentially potentially but I believe from what I understand it's this is we didn't really talk about the fact that that's Belmont.

SPEAKER_03 49:45

Yeah this is Belmont beverage college days yeah this is their story shout out to Belmont which we ought to do something with them because I mean that's sedimental too like that's old that's old school old school yeah that's in South Bend Indiana they have too is it technically Mishawaka uh they have uh South Bend Mishawaka and Great Four away yeah Belmont good good people good stuff uh they do picks yeah they they do do picks we should I should go there as a legal 21 year old adult because I don't think I've ever been there first time I don't think I've ever done that then they're a bunch interesting no they're probably like don't talk about us Belmont beverage is actually where I would go when you moved to Ohio you moved to Toledo or maybe it was Columbus but couldn't get Buffalo Trace.

SPEAKER_02 50:33

Oh you used to go there and get my half gallons I used to get half gallons for the same price for liters or something or whatever it was Ohio was selling them for dude uh Nick was Nick would show up with like he was either a liter or a half a gallon like every every like and I thought it was like the normal size. I was dude when people couldn't get buffalo trace I was going through it by like the handle just and people in Indiana were like I don't know what this is I don't care what this is yeah yeah I remember like we're like do you need more of that stuff I was like what do you think you know you remember that you could get it I was like keep bringing it down and I was drinking it up yeah and that's good stuff for a daily drinker buffalo trace is fine it's it's a daily drinker no think daily drinker no thinker I like a buffalo trace yeah one of the guys in the club was like you know I kept hunting these bottles like hopping in line until one day I realized I had 90 bottles and that was enough and all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye see guys looking over at me like when did you realize that was enough yeah I mean it's for me and for me it's never enough but also I don't hunt the bottles anymore.

Drink It Do Not Hoard It

SPEAKER_03 51:34

Right. Yeah well I guess I don't not that I don't hunt the bottles I still hunt a good bottle or something that's unique or different or craft or something that means has some kind of value. You know we we talked about we talked about this earlier and and you were we were talking about the um an academic for the life of me remember the name of the distillery but on the uh blind bear walls podcast he talked about the guy that you know in south north carolina he he ages his whiskey in a tobacco flu so he's age he's he's basically curing his tobacco and aging his whiskey craft and I'm like I want to try no matter what I want to try that that's a hunt I want to find that it could be terrible the crap we've talked about but I we talked about two chores of things because it sounds so different and artistic type of deal that it's like yeah it's very much art and and it's boiled down to that and it's like do I want the do I want the starry night portrait that has been recreated 10,000 times? No I want like so I want something that means something to me or is different or unique or I find like what speaks to you kind of I'm I'm following the field of dreams philosophy when it comes to bourbon and I found that this has been working but if you drink it they will come right who's who's the they mean the they mean the bottles okay so if if you're if you actually enjoy the bourbon and the whiskey itself if you actually drink it and give it and give it to people to drink and you're actually like doing like you're enjoying the actual hobby you will be flooded with stuff to try and unique things. The problem is the the people that are acquiring and hoarding they're not drinking it they're not so it's it's they're not there's no experiencing there's no enjoyment and they're also actually not experiencing the the things that they could be because they're just going after like certain specific things. But when you're drinking it you're living it you're breathing it and you're experiencing it you get to you all of a sudden you try these craft things and you talk to people that that uh talk about things you've never heard of and you experience new things that you would never if you were just hunting and acquiring and hoarding you would never ever get into you get what I'm saying? Oh I know I I I understand what you're saying because that's kind of where how I started yeah I started chasing those bottles as wellers and those the you know the the if you know whatever blantons and and you know the the hot sought after bottles and then it was like I tried a few bottles that were so sought after I was like you know I've I've got five of these bottles and I've never even tried this whiskey like if I die tomorrow I never tried it and I'm like it's that stupid to me like what what am I doing? And so then I opened the bottle and I'm like I'm I'm I'm disappointed like it's not what I thought it would be like everyone says this is such amazing whiskey and put it on a page we talk about this like there's it's like it's like you know the Weller antique 107 and it's like oh this was disappointing and everyone's like oh it's the you know it's so great and I'm like but it's it's really not that great. I mean it's really it's not it's really great but it's like not like there's other things out there dude like yeah and it's like is it really worth like my time and my energy my effort to chase this no and I won't I don't think I'll ever buy another weller product I've talked about that it's the same with art. It's the same with uh which all things but uh literature movies I think it's like once you have that experience it does another one when you start to get to peel back the layers and you start to get into this stuff that nobody really gets into and you're like in it deep you know what I mean jazz is another one all these things you can get so far into a subject that all of a sudden you're like this is it this is the real but if you don't you know if you're just going to the blockbusters you get what I'm saying you never get to experience those movies that are like artistic like actually like like provoking you know what I mean like life changing experiences it's the same thing with whiskey I can equate it like in my my career field it's like it they you equate it to people who are like man that going to a a a a professional football game is so cool like that's the coolest thing that would be the coolest job and then it's like I've I've worked or a college football game right like oh this is you know there that's like this elite level and then you get like you you in my job like you we we work the games like we're there we're on the sidelines we know the athletes you get over it yeah and you're just like uh yeah I mean honestly it's kind of cool to know them as a person but you're like there's not it loses that appeal and I think that's how I feel about those type of whiskeys and things like that is you're you're no longer there's it loses its appeal yeah at some point and it's like what makes this special what makes it becomes replicated and everything else it's good it's not bad. Is it worth the MSRP? Sure. Am I gonna chase it? Absolutely not you know if I walk into a into a a liquor store and I'm looking around I'm nosing around and and I see it on the shelf and I don't have a bottle maybe I'll buy a bottle but I'm not gonna go stand in line. Why why do you think it's so popular to hear unreleased or unpolished or or acoustic versions of artists especially the ones that are dead. So look at Nirvana right uh look at Kurt Cobain like the dude's no longer here so there's no replicating but you were to find stuff that he did that was unplugged or acoustic or unfinished or unpolished or never released or never released yeah yeah it it becomes so huge. Why? Because it's like it's not the mainstream stuff. So it's the same thing with the whiskey you know what I mean yeah it doesn't make nirvana's like main hits bad but it's just you appreciate it more because you did some deep like it's like you're on a super highway and you're like yeah this is this is awesome this is awesome and then all of a sudden you turn off on this background and you're like well this is better the subgenres the the indie the indie video games the the scenery down here is way better than the highway like exactly yeah it's kind of you're off the beat and bat it's just why I always equate whiskey to art and I've always for years I've said that and people are some people look at you weird and it's like it just is it's a different version of art but it's an expression for sure. Yeah I mean it's it's it's and also it's a lot of it is preference too you know like what do you prefer same with any art and if you prefer well a red or you prefer buffalo trace or or the weather reserve like or a special reserve or whatever it's by all means if that's if that's your jam but there's a lot more out there that's that's worth looking for and like this whiskey is a really good example of that. It's like when I got into whiskey I would have never imagined that I would have ever tried something like this you know it was like it was bourbon is bourbon whiskey is whiskey like everything it all you know it all tastes the same. And and I you know I well I guess yeah it was probably from the podcast and talking about the blind barrels like oh yeah and you a lot of people when they start out saying oh whiskey's whiskey it's like you're that's not where we're at right we don't fall into that category and for me I think even trying bad whiskey is worth trying it oh absolutely it was like you know we were saying like honestly I'm never gonna try that will I try it yeah I'm gonna try I'm going to try it here's the thing how do you how do you learn to appreciate it's kind of like Chris says how do you know what something tastes like without trying things the same goes for whiskey. How do you learn how to appreciate what good whiskey is if you haven't had the bad yeah if all you've ever had is well or green and weller red yeah well or red tastes amazing yeah exactly you can't tell me that broccoli sucks unless you've eaten broccoli but you also can't tell me broccoli is the best vegetable if you've not eaten any other vegetables. Well two yeah but um or you've only eaten two vegetables broccoli absolutely sucks um but that's shenanigans but I'm but I'm just saying that blasphemer that that you you unless you try something you don't know and that's why the if you are chasing any sort especially if you're into whiskey if you are into whiskey and you're a very picky eater that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me because you just don't know until you try now I'm fine with you trying something and spitting it out and saying I hate this. That's there's nothing wrong with that. But if you can't try something if you are going to limit yourself to flavors how can you appreciate whiskey at all? Like you can't you cannot you otherwise find something you like and stick with it and never try something else. You know what I mean? You get it and there are people like that. Like my wife is like that when we go to dinner I know what she's gonna order before she ever nothing wrong with that but then you can't call yourself a connoisseur. You cannot say you love bourbon you can say you love this bourbon. Yeah you know what I mean you can't say you love rye you can say you love this rye. You just have to uh you can you can't look you can't be a foodie unless you're willing to try things. That doesn't mean you have to like it. You can try octopus and hate it. But if you've never had octopus you're not a foodie. You're just not yeah that reminds me of like a we had a club night and I don't I'm not sure what it was but there was a whiskey we had and it was it was uh I don't know if it was blended it was neutral grain spirits blended with something yeah I know you remember I see you smiling um but I remember like as some other people I saw some other people try it and I watched and I I usually watch Chris because his he will be a telltale if it's good if it's bad or if it's like different you'll kind of know just by looking at his reaction and he just kind of like look he took a sip and he just shook his head and just slid the glass away from himself. And I was like well I don't want to try that now and then but I also I felt like I should try it. So did I try it? Yeah but I'm like I'm gonna pour myself a sip of this because I don't want to waste be wasteful if somebody else does enjoy it but I know I'm not gonna like this. I just know and it's like but I'm still gonna try it to see if I do I was telling Nick the other day I picked up a bottle of like the Barker's mill and I that's been on my list and it's been forever. And I I haven't I I think I tried one like sip of it at his house a long time ago at the club like right after you guys had it on the and I remember talking about like hearing about it on the on the club and I tried it and I was like yep no this is something I would like and then like so much time had passed before I'd ever come across it and I saw a bottle and I was like I remember I know I want this bottle. I knew I wanted it and I picked it up and I'm like man I hope it doesn't disappoint and it did not it's I mean and I when I took my first sip I'm like I didn't remember anything about it. I just remembered I liked it and I put it I had it on my like my list in quotation marks my list um and it was something I picked up and then when I when I cracked the bottle and I had my first sip I was like yep that's why I like this I do remember why I like I love this this is great. Yeah and so it's yeah just try different things don't be afraid to step outside of your box and what's so fun about that story is the fact that the club the bottle that we just had for the Prince dinner was from the same company.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:28

Which bottle was it the rye that we just had the company oh yeah no that was fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:32

That was from the same company but you I don't like that as much as like the bourbon. Right. And I'm a rye guy or at least I I fancy myself a rye guy but you know I said the same thing. But it it because the bourbon was so unique and dusty corn like that just had that it's not always about that a component it's just about what a moment it's yeah it's just about what a moment yeah and I think this this this bottle is a good example of that this could be a moment for us. We might come back we might put this aside and maybe we might come back and try it at the club later in a month I I would love to try this at the club with the same tobacco and just see if you can recreate part of me wants to try this without the tobacco to see if I even enjoy it. Yeah maybe have a glass without and then a glass with or a sip or two without and then the rest with like when we first get to the club everyone's kind of settling in we we're drinking a little bit and before we have dinner and we smoke you know just have it like that before dinner and you're like I don't know if I like this but I know I like this with a smoke. Yeah that would be interesting. And also the food the food pairing with this would be interesting.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:37

So oh Prince dinner with this would be very interesting.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:41

I wonder what he would do yeah good good bottle dude we've we've had I've had a great time tonight. This bottle this this whole this has been an experience like I've been on the podcast a handful of times now uh I think to like this bottle has been I did the little book series with you guys I love the little book series great time like we had a good time but like this has been different and I think it was all those factors combined like the smoke and the the drink and just the conversation and like I said it very much has felt like a club meeting. It's just like us it's just three guys hanging out it doesn't feel like the podcast we're really like talking about this bottle and we would be saying this without microphones. Yeah you know that's kind of how the whole podcast is though it's kind of us talking yeah and I well I think but for me I think this is the first time it's really felt like that though. Yeah like it's still you know and maybe it's just the fact that I've been here a few more times and I've had the experience a little bit more but I feel like this time has been more it's just literally just us hanging out. I think we're just starting to get used to it because this is how it always feels funny yeah maybe it is maybe Steve that kind of tries to keep us on track.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:48

Steve's not here Chris and I have learned what I have learned is Chris and I should not be doing podcasts alone because there were two episodes we did alone on a Saturday Steve's Steve's goes into this episode I knew I shouldn't love this Chris was like we've we've got this like I you know I've got the kids we need to be done by like noon I think we started at like 10 that day and we're like two hours we're we should be good.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:08

I think we finally got out of this room at like six o'clock at night we we just talked like we just talked and talked and talked like more than we say the inmates are running the asylum just that was the moment I was like 44 well that's why we can't do this because we'll just keep talking and talking and talking about keep us for freaking tangents is made it's more than I used to well yeah I mean like and I I know to expect your tangents but it feels like like this whole episode kind of has felt like uh just a swirling tangent. Not that really a tangent where you're going down a rabbit hole about a certain thing. Because we didn't expect the journey that this bottle was going to take us on. It took us on a different journey than we expected. Those are the fun bottles because this this is going to be a bottle like a bottle that we could open together and we could drink all right at once. Yeah like we could put the we could hang out I could like I could see us doing this exact without the mic microphones sitting on the back patio So we've had some dinner, we know whatever. We're having a barbecue, or there's gonna be a barbecue today. And we're sitting out, we're afternoon drinking. Nick's working the grill, we're sitting drinking, smoking pipes. We have dinner, we finish the bottle, and some cherries jubilee and call it a night. Yeah, right. We have some dinner and call it a day. Yeah. And I think this bottle it speaks volumes. It would go quick, and I think I would just keep and I don't say this very often, but I think I would just keep smoking this. I would just smoke a bowl after a bowl after a bowl, like until I was done. You know, so I would be, yeah, I'll be hard pressed to you'd be hard pressed to get me to switch up yeah because of how well it's paired together. It's it's it's burning well, it's smoking well. Part of me thinks that the Mississippi River might pair well with this as well. The the the age that we had with our previous model. But I think that that one is But I also wouldn't want to change it. Like I don't want to change anything for me. I hear you hear people talk about Nirvana smokes, and until you've experienced it, you don't understand. Like it seems like this like goofy, weird thing, and then you have it and it's like that's that's it, that's the spot right there.

Beauty Of One-Off Memories

SPEAKER_02 1:07:04

And I think to like wrap it all up. I think Chris and I talk about moments and memories of like we opened a bottle, finished a bottle, right? Yeah, the number of bottles that you have or I have that match that, like, okay, we found another bottle of this, are very few because quite like this, where like this has been a moment, like this has been one of those nights of like we could finish this, and it's been such a great experience. There's a small moment for everyone that goes, I want to find this bottle again. And it will never be the same. But then you also think back, you're like, but I I don't know that I want to I don't know that I want to or can recreate that, so I'm gonna leave it as is. I'm it this was that perfect at what it was, whatever it's gonna be a memory. I can talk about this all the time.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:52

Right, and that's the in that moment, and it may not ever work again, and maybe it does. I'm hoping it does. The fact that it probably won't is what makes it so special, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:01

That's the beauty of things like this. Like, we're not searching or or hunting after the wellers that you can always get and always do this. It's these random one-offs that you find. You're like, wow, okay, this this has been fun. I don't know that I can record.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:16

It's like those unicorns that though that's for me, that's a unicorn.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:19

That's the unicorns, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:20

But it and it, but part of me, part of me is like, man, that is so great. It's a one-off thing. Once it's gone, it's gone forever. And the other part of me is sad because I can't get that back.

unknown 1:08:33

Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:34

You can't recreate that that one like that our journeyman barrel pick, right? Like I came in today and I saw a couple bottles sitting on Chris's shelf. Just a couple. I'm gonna do a fevery. What did I do? I'm gonna do a just a little bit of fevery to it. Yeah, could I get away with putting this in my pocket? That's an awful big bowl that you got there, huh? Yeah. I didn't notice that before. Hard to believe that that's hard that bigger than when you walk in. I but like, yeah, yeah, and it's like one of the and it's like you can never you can never get that back.

unknown 1:09:10

Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:10

But that it's also we've talked about like it's like does that make it special or does that taint it? And it for me, it's like it makes it special, but there's a part of it that's also tainted. Like it's just it's the I I it's like two sides of that coin. But that, but that's what makes it so beautiful, yeah, and so fragile. It's it's like your kids growing up. Well, yeah, I mean, it's like an experience, you experience something for the first time. But you remember when they were, you know, three years old. Yeah, you know, or that you go back to the ocean, you're like, it's okay, cool. We've been here every year. Like, it's I've seen it, like it looks the same. It's the ocean. Knowing that you're never gonna get something back, something that you love, you're never you're not gonna get it back.

unknown 1:09:48

Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:49

It's it's be it's beautiful and it's tragic at the same time. Yeah, it's an amazing feeling. It's a that's what it is to be a human, period. Yeah, to have a soul, yeah, to live. Yeah, and that's what we did tonight. We had a good time, and you guys were a part of it. Till the next episode. Thanks for being on, dude. Thanks for having me. I'm looking forward to coming back, hopefully sooner rather than later. Awesome. Until next time.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:18

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, whiskeychaserspomma.com, with any ideas for the show. Thanks again.