Sinatra and Metallica, With Love (Blackened)

For Valentine's, Chris and Luke present an unlikely pairing of Sinatra and Metallica. The guys enjoy three pours from Ohio's Blackened, a premium blended American whiskey brand from Metallica and master distillers Dave Pickerell and Rob Dietrich. On the music side, Luke shares some timeless romantic favorites from Frank's 2014 collection, "Sinatra, With Love." Features debut of relationship advice segment "Frankly Wooing." (Recorded prior to the tragic passing of Rob and Michele Reiner. RIP.) 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Frankly Drinking with Friends, the Swell, Sinatra and Bourbon Podcast, our humble, heartfelt toast to two of the greatest things this country ever produced: Bourbon, the American Spirit, and the music of Frank Sinatra, the chairman of the board. Thank you for joining us and putting the friends in Frankly Drinking with Friends. Speaking of Friends, I'm once again joined by our resident, Bourbon Boss and Whiskey Whisperer.

SPEAKER_06 1:28

What's his name? We know his name, his name is Mr. Booze. Don't ever choose your wife.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

No, not Mr. Booze, but Dr. Booze, my buddy Chris. Welcome back. How you doing?

SPEAKER_05 1:52

I'm doing all right. Although I'm looking for my bird under glass song. You changed the intro.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

So what give? Man, can't slip anything by you. That's a good question. So I don't know if you've noticed, but Valentine's Day is coming up. And I really couldn't think of a better way kind of to kick off this celebration of romance and love and all of that than Sinatra's recording of My Foolish Heart. So a jazz standard written in 1947, music by Victor Young, and lyric by Ned Washington. And by the way, what we just heard was recorded by Sinatra in 1988 with a chart by Billy May. You know, it could have been the start of a new album for Sinatra. He was not going in the studio much at that time. In fact, I don't think he'd been in there since he did LA as my lady. You know? Anyway, it wasn't the beginning of a new album. It was just this one-off and still a great recording and a lot of fun. So good to bring it tonight to uh start the Valentine's show. I think that was a perfect selection.

SPEAKER_05 3:14

So I have some for you. So I usually ask you about Sinatra news. Yeah. So I found something. It's not, I wouldn't say it's news, okay, but I came across an article that I thought was fascinating to share really quickly. Yeah, yeah. So the article was Best Live Albums to Transport You To History's Greatest Gigs. So Best Live Albums. Yeah. Okay. So this was again one writer's opinion. Right. But here are some of the ones on the list that he had. Just to put it into perspective here. Right. Stop Making Sense by The Talking Heads, a live album.

SPEAKER_03 3:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 3:45

At Folsom Prison by Johnny Gash, really famous. Good one. Live at Birdland by John Coltrane. Okay. Obviously a good one. The Bootleg Series Volume 4, Bob Dylan.

SPEAKER_03 3:55

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 3:56

Incredible artist. How the West Was Won by Led Zeppelin. These are all on the list. Okay, yeah. And then here, the first one, these weren't in order, but the first one he mentions, Sinatra at the Sands, 1966.

SPEAKER_03 4:09

Yeah.

unknown 4:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 4:11

I was like, what? You're kidding. I thought that was awesome. Right. With Count Basie. For the average person that is not as attuned to Frank, to see him put in that list is pretty staggering. So anyway, I thought it was there were some other ones in here. That's cool. Not all of which I knew. We'll leave it.

SPEAKER_04 4:31

You too, live at Red Rocks. It is not.

SPEAKER_05 4:34

No, not in there. Okay. Shadows in Light by Joni Mitchell. Okay. Not a bad one. Yeah. Alive 2007 by Daft Punk. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Not on my playlist. Have not heard that one. Although I am aware of the band name.

SPEAKER_05 4:47

Okay, well, uh Sunday at the Village Vanguard by Bill Evans Trio. Okay. Again. That was a little bit before my time. Yeah. Okay. There you have it. So Frank made the list.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

I thought that was good. That is really cool. That's excellent. So, you know, I did a little research because, you know, Valentine's show. Yeah. I did a little research, and it turns out that Valentine's Day was created by the U.S. greeting card industry back in 1899. All the big players jumped in on this Hallmark, Norcross, Rustcraft, American Greetings. They actually met near Niagara Falls and they just schemed up the entire thing. And they also, there were other people there, you know, uh representatives from the nation's florists and jewelers and confectioners, which is just kind of a fancy name for people who make candy. So really, really hush hush. But yeah. I had no idea. But it totally makes sense. Yeah. It does make sense, but it's not true. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. But having a little fun with the season, with the moment on the calendar. Actually, St. Valentine's Day, you know, usually that's saint, a lot of times a saint gets dropped these days. Just, oh, it's Valentine's Day, or it's just Valentine's, the day gets dropped. Everything's getting dropped. It's a church feast day that goes back, I don't know, goes back centuries and honors some early Christian martyrs, which is kind of heavy. And then that somehow became, you know, inspiration for a holiday that's all about love and candy and gifts and cards. That's what I think about it. You know, lots and lots of cards. And, you know, from an economic impact. I know you were asking for that, Chris. But Americans spent more than$27 billion last year in 2025 on stuff related to Valentine's. That comes out to about$190 per U.S. shopper. So, you know, it's big business, this thing. Valentine's. Somehow I doubt that. Somehow I doubt that. But hey, seriously, let's put that aside for a minute. You know, all this, the dollars and cents and the crass commercialism of Valentine's. What about, you know, on the other side of the ledger? The good things, you know, this holiday, a little holiday in the deep midwinter, at least here in the northern hemisphere. It's just all about the wonder of love, you know, romantic or otherwise. And Sinatra continues to provide the perfect soundtrack for Valentine's, as he has for more than 80 years. So it just made sense to do this show. And um, yeah, here we go.

SPEAKER_05 7:41

We're off and running.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

What are we drinking tonight?

SPEAKER_05 7:44

So I've probably got the worst selection for a Valentine's Day show ever. Really? Yeah. I don't believe that. Now the samples are great, but the tie-in is not quite perfect. Oh, okay. Um, so we're we're gonna be talking about sweet amber distilling.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Whiskey, whiskey, whiskey.

SPEAKER_05 8:01

They were founded in 2018 in Columbus, Ohio. Okay. By two unlikely pairings, the band Metallica. Oh, okay. And one of their co-founders was Dave Pickerel. So I don't know if you remember, we've talked about Dave before. Dave was a master distiller at Maker's Mart for 14, 15 years. Oh. And then he kind of went out on his own to be an advisor. And so he helped start up some amazing distilleries around the country: Whistlepig, Garrison Brothers down in Texas, Hill Rock Estates in New York, put his stamp on so many different distilleries. Well, another one that he put his stamp on is Sweet Amber Distilling. Now, no one's heard of that. What they've heard of is their brand product, which is Blackened. That is the brand line that is where Metallica got involved. So unfortunately, Dave passed away in November of 18. So this was one of the last projects that he worked on before he passed. And so we're gonna talk about the legacy that he has left with sweet amber and this blackened product. Okay. So Metallica meets Frank tonight on Valentine Day. It's uh I'm not sure. It's kind of weird. Yeah. But all right.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

It's quite the match.

SPEAKER_05 9:20

Uh I'm gonna let you pour the first one here while I tell you what's going on with this stuff. So when Dave started working with Metallica, he wanted to get to know the band because obviously the whole product is gonna be oozing with Metallica stuff. So he said, when I met with the band, there were three things that he took away. One, that they're all about collaboration as musicians. They even said when they launched this product that any individual band member couldn't sign the bottle unless all of them signed the bottle, nobody could sign it.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

Really?

SPEAKER_05 9:51

So they're they were all in it. So he said collaboration. He said they think outside the box. And the third thing he says is they do what's called metallicizing. That's a term that they do, which means you take something that's good and you kick it up a notch or two.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

Ah.

SPEAKER_05 10:05

So that's a metallica thing. So he said, okay, I want to create a product that embodies this stuff. So what he did was he sourced a bunch of different barrels from different distillers all over the place. He had Canadian whiskey, Tennessee whiskey, Kentucky whiskey, Indiana whiskey. He had rice, he had corn whiskey, he had bourbons. He got all these ferrows together and he said, You know what we're gonna do? We're gonna blend all of this stuff together. All of it. Okay. No one had ever done that before, mixed that many different things together. So to him, that was kind of the collaboration part. We're gonna blend all this stuff. And then he said, the next thing you wanted to do is the name of the product is blackened. And so he wanted to have a tie-in. So he found these black Spanish brandy barrels. And he said, We're gonna do a secondary finishing in Spanish black brandy barrels. Wow. And then the last notch, I guess it's the kick it up thing, is they hit all of the barrels with what they call black noise. Okay. So this is a they play metallica music. Now you're putting me out. No, no, they play metallica music and they call it sonic enhancement. Sonic enhancement. Okay, okay. So I mean I'm gonna explain a little bit more about that. Yeah, please. But let's get to the first sample. So this first product they released is called Black and Whiskey, finished in black brandy casks. It's 90-proof, minimum four years. Let's see. It's won multiple awards. There is obviously no mash bill, no recipe, because we blended all of these barrels together, so you're not gonna find anything out about that. Okay. The very first batch they made was 081, which was the year the band was founded in 81. We're doing batch 129. Batch 129. Okay. So yeah. What do you know's in here? It's very interesting. It is different. So I think one of the things that I get is there's fruit from you can get that from the brandy part. I get, you know, caramel, oak, vanilla, some of those typical things that you would get from the the whiskey side of things. But that pairing of the fruit comes through pretty nicely. There is one particular fruit that every time I try this, it just jumps out for me. It's apricot. I don't know why that is, and I know I just planted the seed there for you, but that's on my palate every time I taste this one. And I don't know, I guess that's part of the the barrel influence, but maybe a bit of kind of butterscotch. The other thing it kind of reminds me of is Dr. Pepper. Really? Okay. It really does. I know that's not probably a technical term to share, but you let it linger a bit.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

This is a whole putting a whole new spin on be a pepper.

unknown 13:02

That's right.

SPEAKER_05 13:03

That is right. So I'm fascinated by you know, Dave, there were three things that Pickerel made a big stink of during his lifetime being kind of the pied piper for whiskey. He was a big advocate for whiskey tiroir. And we've been talking about that on the show. So, you know, the place makes a difference. He really was one of the early people that were into finishing techniques. And so I don't know of anybody else that's using black brandy casks. So that's a different finish. I've never had that before. The other thing was, you know, barrel aging techniques. So this whole sonic enhancement thing was just right up his alley, something different to kind of agitate it. And we'll talk more about that in a minute. But agitate not in a negative way. A little bit of a double meaning there. Yeah. But anyway, first out of the box. And you see, they have since he was the developer, Dave Pickerel's name is actually etched onto the bottle of this product because this was the last one. Remastered by Dave Pickerell.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

Yeah. A blend of straight whiskies finished in black brandy casks.

SPEAKER_05 14:11

And you see the logo, it's like sound waves. Right. Right. With the name written into it, which is kind of cool.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

So Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 14:18

Huh.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 14:20

I think it's interesting.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

It really is. Got something pretty unique going on here from Metallica, and I know you're going to tell me more, but blasting the music at the barrels.

SPEAKER_05 14:31

That'll be the lead-in to the next tour. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Well, that is that is delicious. It's definitely robust, you know? So I wanted to ask you before we move on, Chris, where did this name come from? Blackened.

SPEAKER_05 14:47

So it's a song. Oh. So one of the Metallica songs is called Blackened. It was on their Anne Justice for All album that was released in 1988. The other thing, and actually the song is about nuclear war and the destruction of the planet, basically. Okay. Which is a great song to reference on a Valentine's Day thing. Indeed. Indeed. But their recording studio is called Blackened Recordings. And then they actually had a black album, okay. Which was released in 91. So all of those three things tied in, and so they called it Blackened. So Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:25

Yeah. Wow. Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

Yeah. So the dark heart of the world is showcased with this brand name. That's Blackened. That is true. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:36

So hopefully you can pull this Valentine's Day show out of the nuclear destruction with your next uh selection.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

Oh well, hey, you know, it really isn't that far down because this is a delightful pour and we're enjoying it. So just a curious source for the uh brand name. Yeah. But kind of fits. I mean, it is Metallica, after all. You know, this ain't Pat Boone's whiskey. So he only drank milk, right? I think that's right. I think I think that's right. So on the music side tonight, I am drawing from, and I know this is gonna sound weird, but a delightful 2014 CD compilation. It was called Sinatra with Love. And this thing brought together 16 tracks from Capitol and Reprise in Frank's catalog, both of those sources, and I have the CD still somewhere. I really have no idea, but anyway, you can stream it. So our first featured song tonight was written in 1936 by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Dorothy Fields, and it debuted with a performance by Fred Astaire in the film Swing Time. So this evening, however, we want to give a listen to a very popular 1964 Sinatra recording arranged by Nelson Riddle. And now, here's the chairman with the way you look tonight.

SPEAKER_06 17:21

Someday when I'm awfully low, when the world is cold, I will feel a gold just in no way tonight. Yes, you're just mouth so there is nothing for me to die. And the way you look to night with each word, your tenderness growth.

SPEAKER_01 18:25

And that was Frank Sinatra from 1964 with The Way You Look Tonight, arranged by Nelson Riddle. Chris, what do you think of that one?

SPEAKER_05 18:35

I mean, it's a classic song. Right. Wasn't there a either a TV show or pretty famous commercial that had some of this in the background? Um it should be well known to all of our listeners. This is a terrific song.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure it's been used in commercials. Yeah. But I don't know. I loved it. Yeah, this is really a really nice performance by Frank. It feels, it really feels effortless. It wasn't, but Frank made it feel that way. And he's just so, he seems so relaxed, kind of laid back. It's almost like a Dean Martin delivery, a little bit, or or shades of Dean. I don't know. But it's just a really, really delightful performance by Frank on that track of the way you look tonight. It goes back, like I said, it goes back to 1936, written by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields. And they actually won the Oscar for Best Original Song that year, back in 36. So it's a very famous, very popular song. It's been covered by uh many great artists. Crosby and Billy Holliday did it right out of the gate after it was written in 36. And it's been covered over the years by all kinds of artists. Peggy Lee, Tony Bennett, even Mr. Do You Think I'm Sexy. Rod Stewart did that one. So just a really timeless, perfect tune for Valentine's, in my view.

SPEAKER_05 20:18

I think that was a perfect one. And the Rod Stewart reference was really good. You're rescuing the Valentine's Day show after my nuclear destruction.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

So thank you for doing that. Do you think I'm sexy? Do you think I'm sexy? Right, right, right. That's kind of a key question for this time of year. I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 20:37

All right. We're gonna we're gonna move on to the next pour. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:40

So whiskey, whiskey, whiskey.

SPEAKER_05 20:43

The next one they uh produced was their Rye the Lightning. Rye the Lightning? Yep. So it's a rye whiskey, obviously. Uh-huh. And it's named after their second album, which was Ride the Lightning, which was a six-time platinum album. So whiskey advocates in 2022, this was one of their top whiskeys of the year. Okay. So the second release from Black and So this is five to eight year old blends. They finished them in Madeira and then in Rum casts. So Madeira and Rum Rum cast finish. Okay. So I'm gonna let you know. Okay, yeah, I'll do that. While the song was on, I already poured myself this because I wanted to get started a little early. You just did that. Jumped right in. But I wanted to talk a little bit about the sonic enhancement. So while we're just uh just jump into that real quick. So basically, what they do is they hit the barrels with low frequency, well, ultra low frequency music. And they're playing a playlist of Metallica stuff in there. And so my first question was how do you know whether that has an impact at all? And that's what Dave wanted to prove. If we were gonna do this, we'd have to prove that there was a difference. Okay. So what they did was they took two identical barrels, so same juice in two barrels. Right. One they put to the side. Okay. The second they hit with the sonic enhancement or the black noise is what they call it. Black noise. Black noise. So then they said after I think it was after eight days, they could visibly see a difference in the liquid compared to the other. Okay. He said after ten weeks, it was completely different than the other barrel. Completely. So then they had to figure out, looking at the chemistry, was it literally different? Was it enhancing the right things using this ultra frequency stuff? So what they did was they did gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, and they were looking for basically markers of the extracts of oak. Okay. So when you put it in a barrel, right, because that's what whiskey does. It interacts with the barrels, it brings in the wood sugars. And so they know chemically what those wood sugars are, right? And whether they were enhancing the amount that was coming in or not based on this agitation from the sonic enhancement. Right. And they were able to show that on nine different markers, all of those qualities that you wanted to enhance were being enhanced through this ultra-low frequency music. The one other thing I read, I didn't get too far into it, but they said from each batch of this that they make, they change the playlist. And so they have gotten variations from batch one to batch two. And the only thing that was different was the playlist. The playlist. Okay. The level of agitation or whatever that the frequency and the music. And so there is a scientific proven impact from what they're doing. And they have a patent on this low, ultra low frequency. Their sound company is called Meyer Sound. Okay. And Meyer Sound actually has patents on the sound that's produced with these sub-woopers. So they're the only ones that can do it. They're the only ones that can produce blackened. So is that all you wanted to know about?

SPEAKER_01 24:11

Yeah, yeah. But if I go to the Rick House, is like the Rick House shaking with Metallica music? I mean, is it a good question? Is it turned up, you know, like to 11? Is it just is it really loud? I don't I don't know that. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 24:24

I don't know that the the loudness. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

But all right.

SPEAKER_05 24:28

But if the music is playing.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

Okay. Huh. Wow. That is absolutely fascinating. And kind of a, you know, like, why did it take people this long to figure out if there's all these other things we can do with whiskey to, you know, put it on a ship like Jefferson's and send it around or you know, all these different things, move it around in the Rick House. And to have music actually be yet another way to increase that barrel interaction. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 24:57

So I think what we need to do is just buy a barrel of bourbon. Okay. And then crank up a Sinatra playlist and come look at it in 10 weeks and see what happens.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

Yeah. It's going to be better, I'm sure. I mean, you could be awesome. Whatever you put Frank in, it's going to get better and classier. So that's true. All right. So tell me what you think of the uh Rye the Lightning. Okay. Let's talk about that name again. It's called Rye the Lightning. Rye the Lightning. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 25:26

So there's a lot going on in here. Okay. A lot. So remember, you have the base rye whiskey, right? Then you've got the Madeira cas finish. And then on top of that, it went into a rum cask. There's layers here. You clearly get, you know, caramel, vanilla, some of that stuff's in there. But what you really get up top is lots of different fruit.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

Yeah. The rum stuff is coming in. And that the sweetness and the flavor of the rum cask kind of maybe more on the finish. But so when I smell it, I get like figs and pear.

SPEAKER_05 26:02

Some kind of fruit. Something like that. And then underneath, you get the raisins and molasses, which is the rum contribution. That's in there as well. So it's a nice sweetness. And it's unlike most any rye that you'll try because you have these finishing techniques. But in a show we've done before, we had something that was along this line. They're both delicious. Yeah. But if you remember barrel seagrass, it's in that genre of barrel seagrass. Right. Which is that was a big hit.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

I mean, and also this one is slightly less in terms of the process, it's slightly less complex. But that Angel's Envy was a rye that was finished in a rum cask. That's another one.

SPEAKER_05 26:46

And an absolutely delightful product. All that one was missing was some sonic enhancement.

unknown 26:52

No, just kidding.

SPEAKER_05 26:53

Those are all terrific. But you see that really good. You know, the layers on here are just terrific. I love it. Yeah. One thing I wanted to add that I didn't mention in the first sample, I talked about the black Spanish brandy casks. And so people have asked me, yeah, does that make the spirit darker? Is it darker in the bottle? And it's when they talk about black barrels, they're not talking about the innards. Oh. They're talking about the exterior of the barrel. Oh, okay. So for Spanish black brandy, one of the ancient techniques to keep out woodworms and to seal it was putting a mixture of charcoal and vinegar coated on the outside of the barrel. So when you sink the barrels, they're literally pitch black. And so when when I mentioned to people that they put them in these black barrels, they just assume you're talking about black on the inside because black brandy stained it in it, you know. Yeah. It's not on the inside, it's the outside is what it's a reference to.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Right. Right. Well, it's also very rock and roll, you know. Like the like the black on the outside of the t-shirt, the black on the outside of the guitar or the drum kit, you know, all that. And I'm sure I imagine Metallica may have, you know, somewhat of an affection for black. I would imagine. Call me crazy, but I'm I'm guessing.

SPEAKER_05 28:17

And I'm thinking what a masterful thing that Pickerell did in identifying that and putting the connection that that would be a great finishing. I have never heard of Spanish black brandy. I just have my you know, my palate has only uh only tried so much, but hadn't gone to that. But that was very new and uh for that first sample.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

But a lot of creativity and innovation by Pickerl and the fellas from Metallica. Yeah, putting this together. And I do, I do like this rye the lightning. It's you know, similar bottle to the other one we just tried. This one, you know, has green accents because that's how you know it's a rye. It's the universal signal of there's rye in this bottle. And also, yeah, there's there's a lot of nuance and a lot of subtleties in this pour from blackened.

SPEAKER_05 29:14

The layers and the complexity of this one is just very interesting. That that's what makes it a great dram.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

What kind of price point are we talking about for these products?

SPEAKER_05 29:23

Any idea? 50-ish. Okay. Something like that. Okay.

unknown 29:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:27

You know, uh getting the black noise, you know, that doesn't come cheap.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

Do they have to pay themselves for the rights to play their music? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Hmm. Well, that's really good. Thanks for sharing that one. Well, it's now time to pour us another dram of Sinatra from the romance part of his catalog, of which there is a lot. And our second featured song falls into that category of what we might call a discover Frank track. It's a song that, you know, some folks may not have heard unless maybe deep track. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Deep cut, deep track, all of that. And so, you know, a lot of the songs that we play are some are more well known than others. And this one is definitely not that well known. It was put on that collection back in 2014, Sinatra with Love. And this one was written by Sinatra's house writers, Jimmy Van Huusen music, Sammy Kahn lyrics, and it was recorded in 1962 with an arrangement by Nelson Riddle. That recording was put out as a single, and then it was later featured on Sinatra's 1964 LP, Softly As I Leave You, but ain't nobody leaving anywhere right now. So stick with us. Here now, let's give a listen to Frank Sinatra and a lesser-known con in Van Huesen joint, The Look of Love.

SPEAKER_06 31:18

I've seen the look of a jockey on a winner. I've seen the look of a fat man having dinner. I've seen the look of spaceman having six five. And there on that fabulous face is that fabulous look of love for me.

SPEAKER_01 32:33

Wow. That was Frank Sinatra from 1962 with the look of love, written by Conn and Van Huusen and arranged by Admiral Nelson Riddle. Like I said, not really that much of a popular song in terms of being picked up and performed by others, but wow, I just uh I really love that one. What'd you think, Chris?

SPEAKER_05 32:55

That's a hidden gem for sure. I love that song. I can't imagine. Actually, I'm having a hard time trying to figure out why that didn't get more play or why other people aren't How did it not become more well known over the years?

SPEAKER_01 33:09

And the just, you know, the beauty of that craft of the song by Khan and Van Huusen. I love the lyrics from Khan, just this whole idea of like all the ways that you can see people's excitement or, you know, kind of ecstasy, just like people really, really enjoying themselves. Like, you know, a fat man having dinner, the look of a jockey on a winter, all these great things that are that are there from Khan, the look of those spacemen up above. So people that are just they're doing the thing that they you know most want to do in the world, and they're loving it and enjoying it. Kind of like you and I tonight. Exactly. I mean, do it do in this show. There you go. You know? You have to look and love. And then just saying, you know, comparing that to what Sinatra, what the you know, what the narrator of the song wants to see from the woman that he is attracted to. Yeah, he wants to see that same look on her face. So yeah, really uh really a great tune and excellent orchestration by riddle, bands firing on all cylinders. I mean, everything about that, you know, woulda, shoulda, coulda, I mean, might have been a big hit. It's not, but instead, it's a relatively undiscovered gem. And we're plucking it out there for you tonight, folks.

SPEAKER_05 34:37

And see if our audience can drive some traffic on Spotify.

SPEAKER_01 34:42

See if we can get that tune. A few more listens, the look of love. Not to be confused with another song called The Look of Love that was written like two years later. And I think I don't know, other people did it. It was a totally different song, but it was slower. Yeah, not an upbeat kind of same same name. Yeah, the look of love. I think maybe Diana Kroll has done a version of that. Uh maybe it was it, Bert Backrack back in the day. I don't know. But yeah, yeah. I totally did. I'm gonna go out on a limb and just say, this look of love totally kicks that one to the curb. So I don't know. You know, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:22

Anyway, there we go. Good deal. You're ready to knock into our actually, I've got a special third sample. I'm I'm actually kind of pumped. Really? You do?

SPEAKER_00 35:32

Whiskey, whiskey, whiskey.

SPEAKER_05 35:33

Yeah, so blackened, their two main products are the first two that we had, but then they have a limited edition one, which they basically call the Masters of Whiskey series. So once a year they release a new edition. So we have the third edition, which is the current one. All right. So this is a Blackened X, so Times or whatever, Blackened X Rabbit Hole. Oh, wait. So that's a whole different brand there. Yeah, so this is a collaboration between Blackened and then Rabbit Hole is a distillery in Louisville. The guy that founded it is in the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame. They've got some really good products at Rabbit Hole. We'll have to have another show on them. Yeah. This is a collaboration, and I've got to describe it to you because it's kind of interesting. I'm very, very fascinated. So it's a blend of straight bourbon whiskey distilled in Tennessee and Kentucky whiskey that are finished in Calvados cast. That's basically French apple brandy. So Rabbit Hole, their contribution is they're the Kentucky piece. And so one of their lines at Rabbit Hole is their high gold, high rye, double malt bourbon. So it's 70% corn, 25% malted rye, and 5% malted barley, hence that double malt in their name. So it's that product, and they blended it with a 13-year-old Tennessee bourbon. Tennessee bourbon. So not Tennessee was Tennessee bourbon. That bourbon was 64% corn, 36% rye. So the product is non-chill filtered, and it comes in at a 106. Let's see, 106.59, very specific. Okay. So one last just kind of footnote on the distillery. I mentioned that Dave Pickerell was the first master distiller who passed away. The guy that picked up after him is Rob Dietrich. Rob has been their master distiller since 2019, which is why you may have noticed on that Rye the Lightning, it's Rob's name on it. And then this one, it has in this collaboration that we're about to sample, it has Rob's and the founder of Rabbit Hole. So he's on there.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

Yeah, Squiggly Line.

SPEAKER_05 37:55

Yeah, his name is Kaba. Kaba Zemanian. That's his name. Kaba Semanian. Okay. So anyway, this is a collab between those two. I think it's interesting. I've had the high gold product from Rabbit Hole before to blend it with a 13-year-old Tennessee bourbon. I'm excited and can't. Right. And you and I have not tried this. You haven't had this.

SPEAKER_01 38:16

This is brand new bottle. Brand new bottle. Chris, here we go.

SPEAKER_02 38:19

Chris just opened it up. Yep. So I have this is all new. Oh wow. Well, it smells good.

SPEAKER_05 38:26

Wow. So I feel the the heat on the 106. But you know what? It's actually really smooth. Yeah. I would have expected a little bit, a little bit more there. This is smooth for 106, absolutely. On the nose, did you get any like chocolatey or cocoa stuff? Totally. I was just thinking.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

I was like, man, no, that just came right off the I'm tasting it right now, too. A really a very noticeable cocoa chocolate, maybe with some marshmallows on there as well. But that cocoa is really good.

SPEAKER_05 39:00

I mean So I think that's because it's a the high gold is in there, which is that double malt. Okay. Usually the malted anything that you malt those grains that comes up with the chocolate stuff. Oh, okay. Um or at least for my palate that comes in. This is to me an incredible contrast. I get a little juicy fruit kind of thing going on that's kind of wrapped almost in a little cinnamon. It's like a sweet, and then the spice, which is a fascinating mixture. The finish is different. Other stuff is coming through on the finish. I get like toffee.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

Yeah, that cinnamon. I'm really I picked up on that cinnamon for sure. Just so much going on here. This is an amazing product.

SPEAKER_05 39:48

So you've got the 13-year with traditional grain, you've got the other with uh just complexity, and then putting it in the French Apple brandy cast. It's really interesting. I'm enjoying this. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

Yes. I mean, this is this is another one of those head scratchers where to me you just think, how do you guys come up with stuff like this?

SPEAKER_04 40:12

Yeah, this is so much in there. So interesting and so many different things.

SPEAKER_05 40:18

So just for the listeners, in case they were interested, uh the first edition of this Masters of Whiskey was Blackened and Willet. So they did a pairing of a Willet rye. I don't know all the details of that one, but I haven't tried that one. The second edition was Blackened and Wes Henderson. So Wes was one of the co-founders of Angel's Envy. So Wes worked with the Blacken team to produce one the second edition. And so this is edition number three with Rabbit Hole. So every year there'll be one out. So this one usually is about a buck fifty. Okay. So the the masters ones that come out. So it's a little because there's more to it. You know, the collaboration, it's a big deal. It's a limited release, all that. It's good to have friends. I got I got mine at half. So okay. Thumbs up for me. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:13

That was worth every penny. Oh, I totally, totally. Really great. Good stuff. Really nice. The blackened X rabbit hole working together, collab, just an absolute bottle of delight.

SPEAKER_05 41:28

And if I might add, yeah. One thing that's really cool about the just the bottle is if you notice where they had the sound waves darkened in the first pour, now the rest of the bottle is, and that's open. So it just looks it looks pretty cool. It it looks very cool.

SPEAKER_01 41:46

Very cool, yeah. And as cool as the normal bottle is, which, you know, I think this whole thing where it's the open glass is right around the name blackened, and the the black is on the sides, the bottom and the top, that looks really sweet. It does.

SPEAKER_05 42:03

It looks really good. So it looks just an attention to detail. Yeah. And I I'm gonna say, this is just me personally, all of this attention to detail that continues with blackened got fed by Dave Picker up front and the band, who is obviously consummate musicians, you know, masters at their craft. And so those two together to put the thought into this, I think it's really good. Now, there's a lot of celebrity-tied whiskeys and alcohols and stuff, and some folks don't spend a lot of time, and other ones like Metallica have invested a lot of time. The other thing I tell the audience, go to their website. They've got videos where the band talks about what they call blending sessions. Okay. And it's they've got, I don't know, maybe five or six different sessions with the group in there. It's just cool to listen to it. Yeah. It's just cool. So, anyway, that's our trip. That's sweet amber distilling and the blackened brand. So can't wait to see what they're gonna do next.

SPEAKER_01 43:03

Well, yeah, very good. I've not enjoyed this brand before. And so, yeah, thanks for introducing me. You bet.

SPEAKER_05 43:11

On Valentine's Blackened episode. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 43:15

Metallica. Metallica meets Frank. Yeah. On Valentine's episode. Yes, yes. So up next, we have a very special, a new segment that we're calling Frankly Wooing.

SPEAKER_06 43:30

I must inform you that that Venus De Milo, she was noted for her charms. Much cuter than Venus. Now what's the more you got of the arms?

SPEAKER_01 43:58

Around you. Welcome to the Very first of this new segment, Frankly Wooing. Who knows if this is gonna work or not? I mean, this could be the first and last time that we do this, but um hey, look, we're here at Valentine's. Many of you know Frank, he was a romantic guy. He loved women a lot. He really did. He's a real fan, real fan of women. I think that's fair to say. He was married four times. Nancy Barbano, Ava Gardner, Mia Farrow, and last but not least, Barbara Ann Blakely, Oliver, Marks, Sinatra. So a long list of women that he also might have married, but didn't, including the actress and dancer Juliet Prouse and Lauren McCall, both of whom he was kind of engaged to in one way or another, and didn't happen to uh get down the aisle. But anyway, so look, you don't have to be Frank Sinatra to figure this one out, folks, but and I I'm speaking to the guys here. If you have a girlfriend, if you have a wife, if you've got someone you care about at all, do not skip Valentine's. Okay? How many words is that? That's four words. Do not skip Valentine's. Four words. That's it. That's the advice. You know, because if you skip Valentine's, it is not going to end well for you. It's not even going to start well for you. So if you take her out, if you you go to dinner, you go to a show, you go to the movies, you go to live music, you take her to see Paul McCartney in concert. You know, whatever you do, look, you're gonna need a gift. And probably a card, but definitely a gift. So what do you think about that, Chris? It's sage advice.

SPEAKER_05 45:54

Uh and the gift doesn't have to be big. That's the whole thing. Right. They just want to feel special on a special day, and it doesn't take much to do it.

SPEAKER_02 46:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 46:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:03

Don't we all want to feel special on a special day?

SPEAKER_01 46:05

Well, yeah. Yeah, that's true. I mean, I I think it's fair to say that some women are less complicated than others when it comes to you know what level of gift you need to get them. So, hey, you probably know your lady, your wife. So, anyway, but it's basic. Yes, I get it. It's basic. Romance 101, but still, don't mess this up. Do not skip Valentine's. I'm sure Sinatra never did, not with his wives, not with his girlfriends, and you shouldn't either. So, unless you don't have a girl, or you're really trying to lose the girl you've got. You've saved a relationship tonight. Maybe, maybe two or three. Maybe two or three. Who knows? Anyway, so that was Frankly Wooing, our debut segment. Frankly Wooing. And for our third tune uh tonight, our third featured tune, we have another song from Sinatra with Love, a 2014 CD compilations of love songs from the chairman of the board. Now available everywhere, wherever you stream music, Apple, Spotify, whatever those other things are, do the same thing. So this song was written back in 1924. Music by Isham Jones, lyrics by Gus Kahn. So 1924, you know, do the math. That's 102. Here we are in 2026. That's 102 years ago. But back in 1980, Sinatra put down this timeless tune with an arrangement by Billy May. And now let's give a listen to the chairman's one and only recording of the Isham Jones and Gus Khan classic, It Had to Be You.

SPEAKER_06 48:04

Some others I've seen. I love you still. It had to be. Wonderful you. It had to be you.

SPEAKER_01 49:01

That was Frank Sinatra with a 1980 recording arranged by Billy May of It Had to Be You, written back in 1924. It was released on his monumental triple album called Trilogy, Past, Present, and Future. And it was later featured on that 2014 CD that I keep referencing, Sinatra with Love. If you've got an old CD collection, you know, maybe try to find that thing. Pull it out. Or even better, if you have a CD player, you could probably get that thing on eBay for about three bucks. Don't know. Don't know. But anyway, Chris, what did you think of that one?

SPEAKER_05 49:41

You know, the one line that jumped out in that song is where he said, I couldn't fall until we met. You know, it wasn't happening, and then it happened when I saw you, right?

SPEAKER_03 49:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 49:53

I love that line. Just couldn't fall till we met. Yeah. But what a great song. And a great combination of three songs for the Valentine's Day show. So well done. Yeah. We got the deep track. We got this one. Uh but this is this was a beautiful song. Just beautiful song.

SPEAKER_01 50:12

Well, yeah, I agree. I just think, you know, it had to be you is somewhat unique. It is unique. I love the way that it talks about, you know, her flaws. And, you know, if you flip it around, if it was a lady singing it, his flaws. But, you know, the person that they're falling in love with is not perfect. They're not put on a pedestal here. They're not like, well, you know, everything about her, everything about him is perfect. No, no. The flaws are very real. You know, I could meet somebody who wouldn't be cross or try to be boss, but that wouldn't do because nobody else gives me a thrill like you. So yeah, there's just something, I guess it's something about the mystery of love and the way it works. You know, I've been, you know, on this planet going around the sun for more than 50 years, and I don't think I'm any closer to really figuring that out exactly how it works. So anyway, that was done in in 1980. Sinantra had sung the song It Had to Be You way back with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in his big band days, back to the early 40s, pre-war years and stuff, and he just never got around to recording It Had to Be You until he did trilogy in '80 with that chart by Billy May. And that song, the recording that we just heard a piece of, was used in a key scene in the film When Harry Met Sally, the delightful classic uh film that was uh written by uh the great late Nora Efron and directed by Rob Reiner. This is part toward the end of the film when Harry is wandering around New York, New Year's Eve, and maybe, maybe something in that moment changes for him. I don't know, folks. You have to go back and watch the movie. But yeah, it had to be you. So this again shows even when Harry met Sally, they just wanted a little more class, you know, and so they just they added some Sinatra just to class that thing up a little bit more. Well, it was already classy. It's like he metallicized it.

SPEAKER_05 52:25

Kicked it up a nice. That's what Frank does. He metallicized the stuff. He kicks it up a knot.

SPEAKER_04 52:30

He's the perfect time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:33

Absolutely, yeah. Also, during the movie, one more thing about when Harry met Sally, when it kicks off, you've got Harry Connick Jr. singing It Had to Be You and playing. You know, he's doing his piano thing because he is a jazz pianist and he's he's playing that. He's singing the song, and it's a bit jazzy. It's a great, really nice rendition, and that's coming up right at the beginning of the movie. Conock uh got a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Male Vocal Performance for that song at the time that it came out. So what can you say? Anyway, so some some great tours tonight, Chris. Goodness. I I just yeah, these these are they're doing good work over there.

SPEAKER_05 53:23

Well, the thing that impressed me the most is uh because there are a lot of celebrity alcohols, and some just get involved in the marketing and that sort of thing. But when they wanted to do this, they went to the number one guy at the time, Dave Pickerel, to get it started. Right. I give them a lot of props for doing that, setting it up right, instilling kind of the right pursuit, the right ingredients, all that stuff. I think it's pretty neat. And they've just continued. I wish they were still here, but they're still rocking the bourbon over at in Columbus, Ohio.

SPEAKER_01 53:54

Yeah. Yeah, good stuff. Wow. Well, and thank you for introducing me to Blackened. This is a great brand, and these are delightful pours. I gotta say that uh that special release uh with Rabbit Hole quite remarkable, but they were all great, loved them all. Want to uh thank our editor and friend Aaron Rose out in Texas and Haley, who's done a lot of work on our episodes. Appreciate you. Thank you, our friends listening. Thank you for joining us. I hope you'll come back and hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day. This is frankly drinking with friends. It's not a good idea to drink alone. Much better if you're so inclined to have a drink or two with friends, and always responsibly.

SPEAKER_05 54:48

If you're listening tonight, you're a friend, even if we've never met, please like, subscribe, and share this podcast with your friends. You can find the podcast on Facebook, follow the page, drop us a line. We'd love to hear from you. And again, I'm Chris.

SPEAKER_01 55:02

And I'm Luke, wishing you health, happiness, peace, and love. And you've been listening to a very special Valentine's episode of Frankly Drinking with Friends. For our outro, we're going to pull one more track from the 2014 romance collection, Sinatra with Love. This one is sheer perfection, written by George and Ira Gershwin in 1938. And like it had to be you, it was included in the film When Harry Met Sally, again performed by Harry Carnick Jr. Here, however, we're gonna go with Frank's version, because that's what we do. From Songs for Swinging Lovers 1956, have a great night, God bless, and until next time, so long, everybody.

SPEAKER_06 55:54

It's very clear our love is here to stay. Not for a year, but ever end the day, the radio, and the telephone and movies that we know may just be passing fancy, and in time may go, but oh my dear, our love is here to stay going a long way. In time the Rockies may crumble, the brother may tumble, the only made of play is here to stay.