The B Team Podcast
Talking all things Business, Bentonville, and Bourbon. Hosted by Josh Saffran, Matt Marrs, and Rob Nelson. New episodes every Thursday!
The B Team Podcast
Ep. 48 - Bourbon Tours Gone Wild!
Ever wondered what makes bourbon meet the American labeling standards, or what it's like to tour Kentucky's most iconic distilleries amid unexpected weather twists? We kick off with a humorous chat about Michter's hats and knee surgery, transitioning into wild tequila tales and a surprising introduction to Dry Fly bourbon courtesy of Matt. Rob Nelson joins us as we share our thoughts on legacy brands like Maker's Mark and its higher-proof, weeded bourbon---discussing whether or not it lives up to its reputation in the bourbon world.
Picture this: a virtual bourbon tour in Louisville, complete with a stay in a quirky house and unforgettable encounters at distilleries. Remembering a standout VIP experience at Michter's Fort Nelson, we dive into stories of insider connections that led to exclusive bottle purchases and plenty of camaraderie. We also muse about what Lexington might have in store for future bourbon escapades, capturing the excitement and anticipation of more shared adventures on the horizon.
Our bourbon journey doesn't stop there. From the thrill of unexpected hurricanes to the awe of celebrity sightings, we recount our tasting adventures, including memorable stops at Angel's Envy, Four Roses, and Jim Beam. We wrap up with anecdotes about Pat's Steakhouse antics, acquiring 60 coveted bottles, and even a touching nod to community spirit as we plan a visit to Russ with some Dry Fly. Join us for laughs, stories, and a passion for bourbon that promises to entertain and maybe even inspire your next adventure.
Welcome to the B-Team Podcast. I am your host, josh Safran, with my co-host, matt Morris, and our permanent guest, rob Nelson. We're here every week to talk to you about all things Bentonville, bourbon and business the B-Team Podcast Be here. Welcome to the B-Team Podcast. I am your host, josh Safran, along with our permanent guest.
Speaker 2:That's Bobby Nelson. That'd be me, rob Nelson. Wow.
Speaker 1:And our co-host, matt Bars, and the OG sitting bedside today with his Michter's hat on.
Speaker 4:Yeah because I'm still recovering from the trip. I'm not out of bed yet from September. What are you talking about? It was such a glorious trip.
Speaker 2:Who got you that Michter's hat?
Speaker 4:Yeah, but again, I had knee surgery replacement yesterday, and so that's why I am not in studio with you. Fine gentlemen, and happy new year.
Speaker 2:How are you feeling? How did the surgery go?
Speaker 4:Surgery went well, no complications. You know I started my PT as soon as I came out of anesthesia. I've been doing my PT here at the house last night and today and I go to physical PT next week in Centerton for three Monday, wednesday, Friday for the whole month of January I feel good.
Speaker 1:I've had some organic medicine and some Western medicine. What do you think of Matthew? With the hoodie and the hat and the headphones? He looks like a gangster. He looks like he's about to do a hip-hop video.
Speaker 4:Where have you been, Matt, since we saw you at the tequila event?
Speaker 5:Where have you been? I've been drinking tequila after that event.
Speaker 2:We have Me too, a little bit.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I bought a bottle, you need to rename it the BTBB podcast.
Speaker 2:I dedicated a half a shelf at Bar Nelson for it.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I almost brought tequila today, but instead I brought some dry fly.
Speaker 1:Russ, what do you know about this brand? Because it looks like water with like a little bit of brown food coloring in there.
Speaker 4:You know, I've been offered to put up some of my events and it's been a hard pass because there's no body, character, style or depth of character. There's nothing that we describe on our really fine bourbons during our taste scenes. That's there. I can't describe what I usually describe.
Speaker 1:So for the audience, I mean we ask Matt, rob and myself to bring a bottle every time, and I brought something good for the last episode and Matt, who has probably 25 30 000 worth of bourbon at the house, brought in his nine dollar dry fly. That was gifted to him which makes it even worse.
Speaker 5:Anything I'm not saying in truth in there no, I mean, I just I hadn't had it in a while and I thought, you know what, we should give it a try. There it says it's aged three years, and there was three of us because you weren't going to be here, so I thought you know, let's try it.
Speaker 1:So you had the Pappy 15 in one hand and the dry fly in the other and you go. You know what? Three guys, three years. Let's bring in the dry fly.
Speaker 4:Yeah let's go there. You do you know why they have to put the three years on? Why? Because to be a straight american bourbon whiskey it must be aged for a minimum of two years in oak. If it's less than four years in oak, it's still a straight american whiskey, but you must declare an age statement. Hence three, three years on dry fly. They should try a seven.
Speaker 2:Let it sit a little longer.
Speaker 5:So I think we should each try it, and then we can go to the makers.
Speaker 1:I'm going to pass on that one because we tried it before and it was dog piss. But you and I could share this one. No offense, matthew.
Speaker 5:I think Matt's going to put you in the. The nice thing is, you know, Josh, he brings quality booze here this was quality.
Speaker 2:I bring clean cups.
Speaker 1:So what do you think of the dry fly?
Speaker 5:I mean, I think it would be maybe a good whiskey to make old-fashioned, or maybe not. No, it'd be good for that.
Speaker 4:Let's just say it has potential.
Speaker 5:A lot of potential.
Speaker 4:Well, matt, because with three years, with three years in oak, it's not showing the promise yet to be a star. Because of a lack of it.
Speaker 1:Russ. What do you think of the one that Matt's going to pour? Do we show it to you on screen? This is this Maker's Mark. Yeah, show that one.
Speaker 4:They have several new ones out. This is very good.
Speaker 5:So Josh was telling us that this was a special one they came out with. But I was reading and this is a B release.
Speaker 1:But it's good, which fits with the B team. Yeah, it's the heart. Release the 2024.
Speaker 4:Similar to what Elijah Craig does with their 12-year barrel. Proof is they come out with their A, b, c, d, ballpark-ish and different numerals and segues. There I'm having a hard time talking. What's that proof?
Speaker 5:on that one, so it's 112. And you're right, this says volume one of five.
Speaker 4:So it's interesting With that 112 with makers, because you know they've always been known to be in the a really for them almost a barrel-proof aspect. What other distilleries are doing shows that they're really serious about getting in that higher-proof game, barrel-proof game right now, and it doesn't take away because I love Maker's Mark is one of my top ten brands. I love it. As we've talked about legacy, this is a legacy brand. Talk about legacy. Uh, this is a legacy brand. Uh, you know, people don't really associate makers as a weeded bourbon. Uh, like they do, obviously pappy and weller. But this is, you know, this is a great representation of what a weeded bourbon is, with no rye characteristic in it at all well and you'd be shocked.
Speaker 1:Russ, all three of us actually like this, which, as you know, is very hard for this group. All three of us thought this was very tasty.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think it's that wheat, that wheat influence, that softens it up and helps bring a lot of that rich wood. It's 100% the best makers I've ever had. I love it, I tell you what?
Speaker 2:that's something right there. Look, russ, they even put the notes on the front.
Speaker 1:Caramel, chocolate and maple. It's doing your job for you, russ.
Speaker 4:What Does it have? Any stone fruit, coconut, toffee, stewed banana Could be potential. Do you guys have your eyedroppers?
Speaker 1:We don't Without you here. We're just going to find the same wear pants.
Speaker 5:I got a little bit of cracked vanilla. I got pudding A little vanilla pudding.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's really good with creme brulee right out of the oven, as we discussed before, with really fine bourbons. I wouldn't recommend it with the dry fly.
Speaker 1:I would just do vanilla ice cream. Matthew's going to come over to your house tomorrow. Knowing that you're recovering. He's going to bring you the dry fly as a gift.
Speaker 5:And I told him to think better about that I mean your drains need to be cleaned. I've told everyone not to have any more so we could save it for you.
Speaker 2:We'll put it in your locker at Barnett's.
Speaker 4:What a great recap.
Speaker 5:I'm thinking maybe a G plus at the gins. Yeah, I can think of a few people that we can give it to over there.
Speaker 2:G minus.
Speaker 4:Don't offer that to your new members, because they might turn around, maybe for the Sunday crowd. Shout out to the Sunday crowd.
Speaker 1:Shout out to the sunday sorry, how'd it go there, all right so the reason we dragged you out of surgery, out of your bed today because you are a key part of what we do here we wanted to talk about our louisville trip I have a question before we get into that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, go ahead, like I kind of like this setup, this new for the viewers, we're all on these laptops and sounds like next time I can't make it in studio, I'll just bring my laptop with me and and phone in.
Speaker 1:That's what I was worried about, that you would not have to stay home I'm I'm loving this.
Speaker 4:This is great. Before we guys were doing your other show a minute ago, I go. This technology is phenomenal.
Speaker 2:I'm with you, Russ.
Speaker 4:I think this should be a norm Before the pandemic. We couldn't have done this before?
Speaker 1:the pandemic. If you don't come in, who's going to bring our glasses?
Speaker 2:Everyone has them at home.
Speaker 1:Feels like he's bailing on us. Matthew, who's going to do torches?
Speaker 2:I might be in Bimini or Key Largo. Now you from Bimini, that would be awesome, that would be good Calling in live from Helio.
Speaker 4:Hey then, Rob, Then you can do some fine-aged rum from there.
Speaker 1:That's right. Dry Fly just came out with a three year rum. It's only in vimini. Yeah, let's go russ, but you're feeling good after the surgery I want to hear about we're talking about louisville and we did a bourbon tour a few months back. We stayed at a house off site and we did what three days?
Speaker 4:yeah, yeah, yeah, we got in on on thursday and distilled turd on uh, friday, saturday and we flew out sunday morning, saturday yeah, and it was.
Speaker 5:It was my first time you guys, okay yeah.
Speaker 1:That was your first time I didn't realize that. Yeah, that was my first what did you?
Speaker 5:think. I thought it was amazing. Yeah, I mean I would. I think next time maybe we stay in Lexington, Right downtown.
Speaker 2:I would stay right downtown.
Speaker 1:So there was mixed reviews, mixed feedback on the beautiful house that we stayed in because it's about 10 minutes from downtown Louisville.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean there was nothing where you could leave the house and just walk to directly, that's what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1:There was a bar across the street where the guy was bringing us in to have some micro-burp.
Speaker 2:But that was for beer. We wanted a bourbon. Yeah, the house was super cool, the house was amazing. Yeah, yeah, and we had a good time on there Saturday night.
Speaker 4:We were worried about keeping the whiskey in my car. Yeah, there was that.
Speaker 2:Because, of the suspect neighborhood we were in across the street and for me personally I would stay downtown. Plenty of distills where you go in there, get a tasting, make jerseys down there a lot of big names down there and then maybe spend a half a day out on the trail, pick maybe one or two places and come back. That's just me.
Speaker 4:I would go to you know we have the connection, I would. You know. Buffalo Trace, you know, get out to Frankfurt.
Speaker 1:Shout out to Lisa and I would get out to Frankfurt and we could do you know do BT and we can get out to frankfurt and we can do, you know, b do bt. And then wild turkey. Well, the first day, so the first day, we bounced around downtown louisville, right, and the highlight had to be mictors right, 100 percent.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, that was 10 o'clock.
Speaker 4:That was the first. That was our first tour, and that's so. After that, everything was hard so bobby.
Speaker 1:So so you introduced us to mictors, because I did down in bimini when you were hobnobbing with the lifestyle of the rich and famous.
Speaker 2:Nassau. I was down in Nassau at my timeshare. Shout out to Nassau and my timeshare.
Speaker 1:And timeshares, timeshares, but you ended up getting us like a whole VIP excursion at Michter's.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean they rolled out the red carpet for us. I mean it was amazing and we were at what? Fort nelson, their fort nelson location, can you share a little more? I mean, yeah, um, it was amazing, it's a boutique, uh, distill. Uh, they're doing it old school, no computers, all copper stills, um, russ correct me if I say anything wrong here and I think in the next two or three years they're going to be releasing their first few barrels from that actual distill. So it's going to be very, very special.
Speaker 5:And then, Rob, you have promised Josh and I some of the bottles from those first two barrels.
Speaker 1:We're on the list From Fort Nelson to Barn Nelson. Yeah, we're trying to get on the list for that here was my favorite part of that whole day, which I thought was hysterically funny. So everybody's going to all these places and they want the highly allocated stuff that it's impossible to find. And we were on this tour and Rob dropped a name From the head distiller and they're like, oh my god, you know this guy.
Speaker 4:He put us on his list and amazing yeah, and at the we were keeping on the download, but at the end of the tour.
Speaker 1:She's like what can we get you? And everyone had a bottle that they all wanted and she was for like 15 minutes. There was this back and forth yeah and she was all right. Well, let's go downstairs by the checkout and there was probably 30 40 people in the gift shop, yeah, and all of a sudden they roll in with these closed boxes and everyone's like, yeah, on mart, what's? In the box mart and they took care of us.
Speaker 2:They got us some stuff that we wanted that was not for sale in the gift shop well, I, I mean I a little shout out here for michael brewer he is the one who asked them for those like they went so above and beyond for us I was afraid to even ask for anything else. And then when they gave us a pick of the bottles, I mean that just threw it over the top, because then we had like a lunch after the tour, not lunch but the tasting up in their tasting room, which is extremely hard to even get a reservation up there but it was like the you can go down there and anybody could pop in.
Speaker 1:I mean the way that mitgers took care of us.
Speaker 2:I mean it was that's the way.
Speaker 5:You want to go to louisville? Yeah, yeah, like I, I knew why that was one of my favorite brands after going there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was amazing, because everywhere else- we went, we just walked in and we were just somebody else, not that we were any special we. We just knew somebody there, thank you. We went to Angel's Envy, which was cool, but it didn't hold a candle to what.
Speaker 2:Michter's was. We were on a VIP tour.
Speaker 1:What else was downtown? We saw Michter's. We saw Angel's Envy.
Speaker 4:We walked to Peerless. Peerless was cool.
Speaker 2:We got to meet the owner. We got to meet the owner, which is a vet.
Speaker 1:Now, we didn't love the bourbon.
Speaker 2:That wasn't our favorite bourbon that we tasted I mean look at the experience for what it was. It was still great.
Speaker 1:The experience was great the owner had to be. What a 60, 75 year old guy that walked down right and he was just hanging out with us yeah, right, and he was one of the guys he was cool yeah what do you remember?
Speaker 4:do you remember the patent? Tell us his dad, his family probably him now has patents pro handle pistols.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he shared that with us.
Speaker 4:That story, yeah, as we're sitting there drinking bourbon but I I tell you what the brand has more potential than the dry fly, I agree.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I would agree with that. I'll second that.
Speaker 4:And I think we're going to start seeing more releases up here in NWA and I'm a fan of the brand just because I can see it and feel it. Now that I've touched it, you understand that, wow, this is going to go somewhere eventually. It's small, you know, but they're. They're not sourcing, they're, they're doing everything there and I was, I'm going to get that one. So we gave mictors at a plus, so I'm giving. I'm giving for myself. Uh, don't tempt my answer with yours, but I'm going to give that an A the overall experience.
Speaker 1:Most of the stuff we didn't love.
Speaker 4:We met the owner.
Speaker 1:That's the owner, the experience and we talk about this all the time on the podcast about experiences versus the actual output of what you're getting. The experience being in Peerless was cool. He was speaking and everyone was like, oh right, it was just one of those really cool, unique moments. The experience being imperialist was cool he was like he was speaking and everyone was like, right, I mean, it was just one of those really cool unique moments that the facility itself was pretty cool.
Speaker 2:The tasting room was super old, and what's the word I'm looking for?
Speaker 4:it's the old warehouse district we were also down there.
Speaker 2:It was also like hurricane, see remember like how bad it was pouring rain well, there's a hurricane that came out from the gulf while we were there, because we wanted to go.
Speaker 1:What's the place we wanted to go? That was closed. That's the one that hit the carolina, yeah but remember there was a place we wanted to go to that was. There was a place we wanted to go to right across from mictors that was old forester, that'sichter's, that was closed.
Speaker 2:It was Old Forrester, that's it. Old Forrester was closed. Yeah, they were closed. What was the one that we walked in and walked out of because it was so busy? It was like Disneyland.
Speaker 4:Evan Williams' bourbon experience was closed.
Speaker 2:Russ, what was the one we kind of walked in and walked out of? It was so busy. It was like Disneyland.
Speaker 4:Old Forre, so they opened up. Okay, that was Old Forester.
Speaker 2:And then we didn't make it to Barrow. They were downtown, which I wish. That's one of my favorites. But Angel's Enemy was cool yeah. Angel's Enemy was great.
Speaker 1:The Triple Oak. There was a couple of ones that we tried, yeah. And then we had the tasting with the group of the Bachelor, the guys in the Bachelor Party, yeah.
Speaker 5:Yeah, that was fun. They tried to steal Russ from us. Yeah, we were like that's a hard. No, yeah.
Speaker 4:They wanted to pay me to ask the questions.
Speaker 1:I mean, those guys were having a time of their life. Yeah, this is what I would say to the viewers.
Speaker 2:Anyone who's thinking about going out there, book two or three tours max and do tastings. The rest would be my personal opinion and get the driver for sure, that's a must.
Speaker 1:The first day was when we didn't drive anywhere. Everything was walking on Louisville, right, I mean. But then the second day we went to Bardstown. That was a whole totally different experience, oh yeah.
Speaker 4:Right, I mean this. This was, this was my favorite day of the two, but hanging out with you guys all the time was really the, the, the. It was a great group of guys.
Speaker 5:Well, and like to be honest, mcnair's was great, but I think, jim beam, like the experience of tasting those was, was that?
Speaker 2:was the highlight.
Speaker 4:That was a highlight. That was the first day. That was my A-plus second day. The first we went to Four Roses, to the tasting room. The second day we went, you know, before Beam, four Roses, four Roses in Cox Creek, and then we, you know, went into the tasting room, did that nice tasting with a very young eager. He was learning stuff from us the guide was you mean you, uh, you guys, and that was fun, I liked it. Can we pause on the? Can we pause on the four?
Speaker 1:real quick, because the highlight of four roses for me was when the guy in the bus was asking where we're all from. Okay, and we said arkansas. And lady goes, do you know, the Mars family from Fixer to Fabulous. And Michael Brewer was like ba-dum-bum right and all of a sudden she thought it was the Hollywood.
Speaker 2:We made her weak.
Speaker 1:You guys made her weak the tour ended, yeah it was fun.
Speaker 4:Do you remember where they were from Indianapolis? Oh, I'm not sure. Denver, indiana. That's what I said. Yeah, it could be a suburb, who knows. But that was funny. They didn't want to drink whiskey, they just wanted to hang out with these two stars here. They did. They were starstruck.
Speaker 2:Who blames them? I do wish we would have maybe had lunch at Jim Beam. I think that was a miss. That would have been Jim Beam. I think that was a miss. I really liked that property and tasting the bourbon right out of the barrel.
Speaker 5:Well, and the person that took us on the tour, she was good. I thought everything was good about Jim Beam.
Speaker 1:Well, before we go to Jim Beam, just four roses. Because what was cool was we learned about the O-E-S-V we learned about. That was cool for me. I didn't know the difference, russ, maybe you could share with the audience, but like the different letters and what it signifies and I had no clue, I just knew like oh, does anybody want to buy this? And next thing I knew I'm being taught how to read the OESV and all the different the Four Roses letters.
Speaker 2:I was glazed over at that point.
Speaker 4:Where the distillery is and the yeast strain and so forth. The great thing about Four Roses that I've always admired about them is they are who they are. They're not doing rye, they're not doing wheat, they're not doing single malt just like Maker's Mark. Those two guys, those two distilleries, those two legacy distilleries are absolutely doing it right. We didn. Those two legacy distilleries are absolutely doing it right. You know, we didn't have time to get to Makers and that's why sometimes you almost need a third date. But the secret code is on the website. You can see what's what and signify why, and then we, and then you get.
Speaker 4:Of course, I thought the Visitor Center Now the Visitor Center at Mictors Trust was great. Some of you guys did the Visitor Center. I mean buying spirits at Peerless, but I think everyone grabbed something at Four Roses. I know I came back with 12 bottles total. On the trip. I bought the high-proof bourbon, 119-proof distillery release for that season. And yeah, I'm just waiting, distillery release for that season. And it's yeah, I'm just, I'm waiting, I'm waiting. Hey, josh, I'm waiting for a special occasion that might be coming down the road.
Speaker 1:I got one for you. It's on the list. Matt's 50th birthday party it's coming up.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 5:In like four years. Yeah, three more years, and we can do that.
Speaker 4:No, your next venture is Josh.
Speaker 2:I just find one of my newest favorite bourbons while we're out there. Which one? The old granddad 16th.
Speaker 1:Yeah, hold on, let's do Jim Beam next.
Speaker 5:Yeah, slow down, slow your roll, bobby.
Speaker 1:So, jim Beam, I was not looking forward to, because I'm not.
Speaker 2:I wasn't either. I was like why are we going here?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I remember you guys saying that and I just said okay, you're gonna just get it for a pleasant surprise, and that's how it usually works, because that tour was amazing, it was what about driving on campus first, though?
Speaker 2:the oldest rick houses in kentucky.
Speaker 4:I think they said well, the distillery was founded in 1795.
Speaker 1:I just love Russ. You play with the bunghole, the bung knocker.
Speaker 4:That's going to be our new band, that we're going to create the bunghole.
Speaker 1:The bung knocker hit the bunghole. That's what it was.
Speaker 5:Well, Russ was posing it on the outside of the bunghole and he hit the bunghole right in the bunghole we do have video of russ with ed.
Speaker 1:We got to put that in here russ swinging in 100 right, that was a picture.
Speaker 4:I tell you what I climbed out on that one for me then the need before we went to the visitor, then before we went to the visitor center, you know, we went to the visitor center, then we, you know, went out to the warehouse. But, Rob, I want you to talk about your new favorite, the pleasant surprise of the OG dad. Talk about your 16-year-old granddad that I think we all got a bottle of.
Speaker 2:It's so overwhelming. Right, there's bourbon everywhere. Everyone's saying this is allocated, this is special. You can only buy this here, I mean, unless you really know what you're looking for. It is truly overwhelming. And when that came across for us and it was a 16 year old the old granddad 16. The old granddad 16. You know it was like 16 year old. How do you not buy it? And it was what. The first day of the release.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah well, the problem is matt and I didn't buy it because I talked out of it yeah, but we ended up driving back later that day, two minutes before they closed we ran it at 458 yeah, and we got a, and since then we've got a few additional bottles here locally, yep, and I think it's one of the best bourbons I've had.
Speaker 4:So, okay for the audience, what's the name Old Grandad signify and whose picture is on old granddad of all their brands? The bottle of Bond, the 114 proof? That's Basil Hayden. Did you know that? I didn't know that. No, I didn't know, that His grandson started the brand old granddad in honor of old Basil Hayden.
Speaker 1:I think we have to fact check you today on your medicine, because it's a good one.
Speaker 2:So for the viewers, here's a picture of Matt and I with our fan fave. All right. And then here's another picture. Is that the butthole?
Speaker 1:No, oh, that's a good one, show that one.
Speaker 2:yeah, this is good picture. Just matt in his happy place contemplating life there.
Speaker 1:See what else I could find make sure you keep a pg-13 on the photos.
Speaker 4:Huh, oh, yeah, yeah well, okay, so as you find some of those pictures, remember what I discovered there and we talked about to the tour guide, who was very sharp, very intelligent, he's been in the business and you could tell he's well-seasoned. And I asked him where their single malts are and their Claremont steep, and that was right there when I swung and missed on the bunghole.
Speaker 5:I hate when that happens.
Speaker 4:Right behind me was their single malts, yeah, I know, and so I bought a bottle of the. I bought Old Overholt, their 11-year-old that you're starting to see in the market, and I bought some of the Claremont Steep American Single Mall and I dropped that into tasting Josh a couple weeks ago with Jack in.
Speaker 1:San.
Speaker 4:Antonio, and it was winners of the night.
Speaker 1:Did you have dry fly in that lineup?
Speaker 4:No, it was a single malt, only America.
Speaker 5:Single malt versus Scottish single malt the Claremont Steep is good.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'm a big fan. Yeah, same here.
Speaker 1:So after we left there did we do Heaven Hill next and then we did Bardstown. We stopped at Bardstown, so Bardstown again. You guys were not as big of fans as I was, did we go to Bardstown Remember?
Speaker 4:what about Lux Row? Yeah, that was good. Oh yeah, After, after, after being.
Speaker 1:Lux Row. That's where you and I sat in the lobby the whole time.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we were burnt out, yeah that was a lot, yeah, and that's where the coyote came across, the coyote run. Remember Matt the tour guide? She was sharp, she was young, she knew her stuff. I couldn't stump her. I didn't try to stump On these tour guides if you ask them, I never asked to stump. Try to stop, you know when, on these tour guides, if you ask me, I never asked to stomp. I just want to know, as you guys kept saying, you know, and when I knew that she knew who, you know what, I go.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm not going to try to bust her because she's a, she's an upcoming superstar in that company well the over under a number of questions or comments you had was 19 per each per each uh tour and he typically went over yeah, well, that was that was meant to be. Yeah, I mean, they were like who's this guy?
Speaker 2:And for the viewers Russ. You highly recommended this place.
Speaker 4:Oh, pat's Steakhouse yeah, that was amazing.
Speaker 1:That was good, that was a great night, that was the night that you grabbed the decanter off the glass thing and dropped it onto the floor mat when we were leaving. Do you remember that matt? Yeah what did I just say? You're on your phone. I'm just trying to ask you if you remember what I just said. What happened?
Speaker 5:I'm trying to drop down the floor mat when you about broke everything on the the antique shelf, that wasn't me, you were playing with all that was you.
Speaker 1:That was a good steak, though, and the guy called what the guy called Brewer an asshole. What did he call Brewer at dinner all night?
Speaker 2:Someone gave him five bucks to have their waiter call Brewer an asshole.
Speaker 1:But Bardstown was good. Now you're talking about the old school distilleries versus brand new. It was very different. That's the kind of place that you go, like a brand new bar restaurant here in northwest Arkansas Bardst. It was very different. Oh yeah, that's the kind of place that you go, like a brand new bar restaurant here in northwest Arkansas. Bardstown was very cool.
Speaker 2:It looked like they had a huge location for lunch and all that was going on. Pretty nice bar.
Speaker 5:Yeah, well, we were lucky they got out some of the Elijah Craig grenades for us. That was at Heaven Hill.
Speaker 3:Oh that was Heaven Hill. Remember Bardstown with the really nice bar.
Speaker 2:What was cool?
Speaker 1:about Bardstown was you could drink just about anything that didn't have to be Bardstown specific in the bar.
Speaker 2:That was cool.
Speaker 1:But then last was Heaven Hill.
Speaker 2:That was cool. That's where we got the grenades.
Speaker 4:I mean, we didn't do the tour so we didn't see the guts and the think tank and the warehouses, but we'd seen enough by then, right, and so you guys were burnt out. But I'm a nerd, I can go in those things all day long, get lost and be happy. So at Heaven Hill, just all Heaven Hill brands. And again, it's just one of these things when people are out there looking for the allocated stuff from buffalo trace our great friends from buffalo trace, you know they're, they're just looking for everything that you can't find for some other fine distilleries. They forget about jim beam but what we discovered being right, and then at the end of the trip, what we discovered, what I have in the past at Heaven Hill, and then they just had all Heaven Hill upstairs but I'm not sure who found the grenade. So they had this really cool Elijah Craig grenade. They're barrel-proof 125.
Speaker 1:Well, so the funny story with that one was keeping with the theme of the Mars family. They had the little grenades and they sold the last one out, and so I asked if we can get more. And the guy came over and got more. And then Matt was checking out and she goes oh my God, I recognize you from that HGTV show. Matt's like yeah, you know, it's me, Matt Mars, I'm famous. He kind of did that whole spiel.
Speaker 2:Those 70-year-olds always wrecked us, Matt.
Speaker 1:And then what was the best was Matt's like hey, you have any. Heaven.
Speaker 5:Hill 18? Right away he knew he's like all right, she knows me, I'm going to go ask for the good stuff.
Speaker 1:She was like I like you not that much, and then she took a picture with you, but we didn't get to have an L18.
Speaker 4:Yeah, but did you get? But they had already sold that Saturday's allocation and they brought out extra four.
Speaker 5:Yeah, we were there pretty late. Well, I think what happened is Rob slept in. We all wanted to get there early, but we were late by the time we got there. I slept in.
Speaker 1:That happened in Bimini too Like, but we were late by the time we got there. That happened in Bimini too.
Speaker 2:I was one of the first ones out there.
Speaker 4:Remember lunch was very long. They were short-staffed. Unfortunately we had a 45-minute lunch that turned into 90 minutes. Remember when we went to Lux Row after that we were late. If you want to Heaven Hill 18, you have to be there lunch.
Speaker 1:It turned into 90 minutes and remember when we went to lux row after that. Yeah, but I think you have. If you want the heaven hill 18, you have to be there like six in the morning, right, like you have to be there super early for the releases and we got there at like 4 30 in the afternoon hey, haven't, you haven't really spent two and a half hours at that lunch place.
Speaker 5:The food was good yeah, I think that was Josh's pick, yeah.
Speaker 1:No, that's when we couldn't get the driver to sit at our table.
Speaker 4:So for me, the bookend for me on Saturday. Let me get into this because I've always been very bullish on Jim Beam, everything at Jim Beam. I've told you guys this for years and I've loved everything for years because I've represented brands too at Heaven Hill. There's no dud there, people poo-poo old brands. I remember when we were at Jim Beam in the Visitor Center and I go oh my God, I haven't seen the rebirth of old Overholt Right.
Speaker 1:Jim Beam was very cool. I was. I'm not a big fan of that brand, but the tour was the best of all of them outside of Michter's, I thought being up in the Rickhouse 100%. That was cool. And watching Russ swing the hammer, that whole tour was amazing. Yeah. I was pleasantly surprised.
Speaker 4:Are you going to put that up on the screen at Gents Givey next year? Swinging a miss? Yeah, we may have to do that, I think. Just to start off, you know, is this what happens when you're at Jim Beam, but when, with our friends from StatsRack, that doesn't happen.
Speaker 5:Well, I think what happened was there was so many people there, you got a little nervous, so you thought you were supposed to hit the bunghole instead of the side of it.
Speaker 4:All right. So I've done it at Woodford and I'm lying, I'm dying. I knocked it and it popped right up because I hit it in the proper spot.
Speaker 1:That's what she said.
Speaker 4:I admit it. You know I'm a clutch.
Speaker 1:Russ, there's no proof of the Woodford one. There's only proof of Jim Beam.
Speaker 5:Yeah, we don't have pictures of that. We don't have any video or video.
Speaker 4:I have to find hey, during my sabbatical You're going to have to redeem yourself, Russ, During my sabbatical here on recovery before. I go live again in March.
Speaker 1:I'm going to look for those pictures if they still exist. The likelihood of you finding them is slim from what I'm hearing. Do you guys remember?
Speaker 2:this oh, that pizza was good. That was Saturday night, we were all done. We hung out at the house ordering some pizza.
Speaker 1:That's a lot of pepperoni on that pizza. I wish I had one of those right now.
Speaker 2:That was so good, yeah, and the ham, that one was really good too.
Speaker 4:We ordered three for six guys and we inhaled it. So, russ, what would we do? Remember I had a peach for the road? Remember I was the mule? Russ, what?
Speaker 1:would we do different from the next trip? If so, how would you? I mean, because we didn't get down to, like Sazerac, we didn't get down to a couple of other places, but what should we have done that we didn't do?
Speaker 4:This is what I would do is do kind of in between Lexington and Louisville as kind of a halfway place, Get an Airbnb, whatever it might be hotel somewhere between these, and then the first day we do Frankfurt and those four distilleries.
Speaker 1:One of the four in Frankfurt, Woodford. Who else?
Speaker 4:Yeah, woodford Wild Turkey, four Roses and Buffalo Trace, and this is the guts of the distillery at Four Roses. That would be a good trip and that's one day there and that's easy. How far is that from?
Speaker 5:where we stay?
Speaker 4:oh, that's about 90 minutes, so we would need a hotel, but I would suggest staying in between, because the next day I we need to go to places that we didn't get into, like again. Makers, mark, you know you. Makers is a great one.
Speaker 5:Yeah, you said that you love that because you got to do the double dip.
Speaker 2:You get to do double dip and you're watching all the bottles fly down the line. Now, obviously that's if you're there during the week, which is something good for the viewers, right? So if you're there during the week, there's a good chance. If you do a full tour, you're not seeing stuff in production because the distills are shut down for the most part, Right? Is that true, Russ? Correct? Yes, true. So if you want to see more action, you've got to plan accordingly.
Speaker 4:But again it just depends. I mean, they could be making a big run, for you know, you just don't know, it's all timing on the weekend.
Speaker 2:But there's a better chance. If you want to see action, be there during the week.
Speaker 1:I mean, we saw some action down in Louisville. We had a good time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you did. We had a good time. I got the video teed up for next.
Speaker 1:We had a good trip. That was a fun time, that was a fun time, are you?
Speaker 4:going to play the video. So, guys, Texas plays Kentucky in Lexington.
Speaker 1:I've got it right here.
Speaker 4:We're talking basketball now. No, we're talking next November Football. So I've got fraternity brothers from UT that want me to book flying on Wednesday and do Thursday-Friday tour before the game on Saturday.
Speaker 2:We're going. Does that sound like a second annual?
Speaker 1:That's October 18th, that's getting too close to Thanksgiving because I've got to have these guys focused. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm out on that too, because we're going to be in Florida.
Speaker 4:I would I'll probably make it just me.
Speaker 2:You're going to be in.
Speaker 5:Florida.
Speaker 4:Well, here's an idea for the next one. Again, we hit it right, unfortunately, the rain and the hurricane and so forth. And then we had that big festival, that live music festival. Don't go that time of year, you can't get in anywhere. Kentucky Derby weekend the first Saturday in May. I would go in April. I've been there in April again. I've been there in that region 10 times and April can be cold but there's nobody there and operations are still going. On April we go.
Speaker 4:April is, I'd rather it be a little cooler than hot walking around all those places yeah, a couple of those guys on that at lux row they had they had to sit back some. You know one of the guys because, yeah, he was, he was hurting for certain me and me and bobby had to do a timeout at lux.
Speaker 1:We had to sit in the lobby.
Speaker 5:I don't think we're hurting, we're just. Yeah, you, you guys did a timeout, but but now Bobby's drinking green tea, he may do all of it.
Speaker 1:I don't know. My knee is fine. We may be good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and Russ has a knee too.
Speaker 4:Speaking of the knee, you had your knee surgery, your ligament surgery, and you had that freaking knee brace from ankle to thigh. You know what I have? I have a bandage for the wound area and then I have an ACE bandage from ankle to thigh.
Speaker 5:Well, russ, you're in a different age group. You know, at Josh's age group they have to make him feel better with the bigger, bigger race.
Speaker 4:Oh, it's self-esteem issues, I see.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:You know what they say about the guys with the bigger berets Russ, they got bigger knees yeah.
Speaker 5:That's what they say, that's right.
Speaker 1:Just don't put no weight on it. We've been drinking the dry fly yeah.
Speaker 4:All right, so you asked me to critique the trip, I think. In a roundabout way, rob was the best guess. I like walking around louisville. That was great. I think we need to space and make sure like we're on time. This to places again. The weather delayed a lot of things, so and mictors got a lot of crazy because, remember, our afternoon got delayed because we were set back at mictors while waiting for our great buys that we all purchased, and so I don't think you know that was $30 to $45.
Speaker 1:Well, the problem with the trip for me, ross, is that Michter's was so good that nothing, and that was the first thing we did right. Right but like everything else after. Michter's was a letdown because, Michter's was so good.
Speaker 2:But also as well too, not to like. We knew they were going to roll out the VIP carpet, so we purposely didn't have anything planned after that.
Speaker 4:But here's one thing. Another thing we got it delayed. Right, this is all positive, we got delayed at Mictors. But what did we get delayed for? Because of the great time we were having and so forth, and then we walked to Peerless a mile away in the rain, that's because there was a hurricane above us. Yeah, I know, I know I get that I'm not bitching because of what happened, but I'm just saying we should have found an Uber or a driver.
Speaker 1:But the part is like if the best thing is the first thing, everything else paled into Paris after that.
Speaker 4:Like it, everything else paled into Paris and after that, like it was. Why do you think I had knee surgery yesterday?
Speaker 5:Because of that fricking rock on the road, he slipped a few times. I think, is. It is the Fort Nelson release coming out in April.
Speaker 2:I'll email him again. I'm not sure. I'll ask.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:They said one to two years.
Speaker 4:No, I'm saying April of 26.
Speaker 1:Maybe we could have a release party for all the podcast viewers at Bar Nelson.
Speaker 4:We can't get anything up and running in three months. I'm thinking again. Unless you want to try to do a one-off in October on a non-Kentucky football weekend and Louisville, we got it right. You know we could do that. We have plenty of time if you want to do late September, early October.
Speaker 1:Can we go visit Dry Fly when we're down there?
Speaker 2:Are they even in Kentucky?
Speaker 1:They're in Newark, new Jersey, shocker.
Speaker 2:There it is. Yeah, there's the problem.
Speaker 5:That's up where Josh came from.
Speaker 1:All right, russ. Well, get yourself feeling better. We miss you. It's not the same yeah.
Speaker 4:And again, 100% non-stumped again today. The streak is running into 2025. All right?
Speaker 1:well, feel better. When are you going to be up and around again? How long?
Speaker 4:So I see my orthopedics PA. I see her two weeks from today and then I'll have a guide post to where I'm going Again. I'm doing all my PT. I've got ice on right now, those nice ice machines they send you home with. I'm following all the regiment. I'm living in a cave right now, which is good. I need to recover and rest.
Speaker 2:When you're ready. Let's do a Bart Nelson night when you're ready.
Speaker 1:If Matt wanted to pop over and drop off some dry fly. Do you want to? Give him your address offline and just make sure that he has something for you.
Speaker 2:Not over the air Offline. Yeah, we want him to pop on by. Do you want to give him your address?
Speaker 1:offline and just make sure that he has something for you, not over the air Offline.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we want him to pop on by and drop off some dry fly for you, matt's got a bow for you.
Speaker 4:One of you guys came by my house, came by the house and picked up that beautiful yeah, you came by. So you know, speaking of that, that was fun when we left that morning because you guys had to fly out. That was fun when we left that morning because you guys had to fly out and I had, let's just say, several thousand dollars worth of brown liquid in the car and I had to go through Kentucky, southern Indiana, southern Illinois and then through St Louis and then back down. It was a beautiful drive.
Speaker 4:We thought there was a chance you'd go through Mexico and we'd never see you again with all of our liquor, quite honestly, because again I had some gold with me in the back.
Speaker 5:Well, we appreciate you doing that.
Speaker 4:Well, I'll do that again.
Speaker 1:Matt, would you have done that for?
Speaker 5:everybody else I would. I actually like to drive. It's fun. Matt, would you have done that for everybody else?
Speaker 2:I would I actually like to drive. It's fun. Actually, we could mule it on your plane. Yeah, we could do that too. That would be better. Might have pushed the weight limit. There's a lot of bottles, a lot of bottles.
Speaker 5:A lot of weight in there.
Speaker 4:I'm going to text my buddy in Texas who works for Beam, that I hired in the business, and ask him hey, what cool things are coming down the pipeline now? Because now people are going to be looking for the new cool stuff from Beam that they've rebirthed and that's what's the great thing about this. Is that new discovery that we had I talk about this all the time, legacy and new discovery. We all had new discovery. I mean I brought back 12 bottles and I new discovery, because how many? I mean I brought back 12 bottles and I'm not sure how many you guys all brought back, but I think in total we had about 60 bottles, I think I brought back six.
Speaker 2:I think. Bro had like 30 bottles himself. I had six. He bought a ton. Yeah, he bought. I think he was buying for other people as well, though yeah, and you bought for other people as well.
Speaker 1:I bought a bunch of peerless for other people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, which is nice, did you? Get one of those battles, Matt, that he bought for he didn't like the peerless.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, matt didn't like that one.
Speaker 4:I didn't get. Anything Happens Well. You know, my son-in-law represents it up here in the distributed world and I'm going to start popping that into some of my local events, Not just because it's my son-in-law, it's just because, again, I've told you, I mean I'll always tell you, if I don't believe in the brand and I have a relationship or connection, it doesn't go my way.
Speaker 1:It does feel like because it's your brother-in-law or son-in-law, whichever one. You said it does feel like that's why you're going to take care of them.
Speaker 4:Let's be clear no, that's the double secret probation.
Speaker 2:Whoa All right.
Speaker 1:Russ, feel better. Matt will drop by with some dry fly. Make you feel better. Feel better, be good.
Speaker 5:See him. Take care, russ Take care, take care, take care.