The Scotchy Bourbon Boys
The Scotchy Bourbon Boys love Whiskey and every thing about the industry! Martin "Super Nash", Jeff "Tiny", Rachel "Roxy" Karl "Whisky" and Chris "CT" all make up The Scotchy Bourbon Boys! Join us in talking everything and anything Whiskey, with the innovators, and distillers around the globe. Go behind the scenes of making great whiskey and learn how some of the best in the whiskey industry make their product! Remember good whiskey means great friends and good times! Go out and Live Your Life Dangerously!
The Scotchy Bourbon Boys
Serve Honorably, Drink Honorably: The Four Branches Bourbon Story
Four veterans from different military branches share how they created Four Branches Bourbon with a mission to honor fallen comrades and change the narrative around veterans and alcohol consumption through their message of "serve honorably, drink honorably."
• Four Branches was founded by veterans from the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force—the only spirits company with founders from all four branches
• The brand's origin connects to fallen CIA operative Greg, whose death 20 years ago inspired the founders to create a way to remember those who didn't return
• Their mantra "don't drink to forget, sip to remember" encourages responsible consumption that honors memories rather than escapes them
• The Continental Bourbon celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Continental Army, Navy and Marines with a 9-year Kentucky straight bourbon bottled at 102 proof
• Every aspect of the bottle design contains symbolism, from the four-sided shape to the "4" logo that represents all branches and those who serve "at the tip of the spear"
• Four Branches donates 4% of gross revenue, with donated bottles having raised over $450,000 for veterans' charities and families
• Gregg Snyder master distiller has been hired as another piece of this amazing puzzle!
Visit fourbranchescom to order online in 39 states or find Four Branches Bourbon in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, DC, Maryland, Florida, and Arizona.
Bourbon carries stories within its amber depths—but rarely stories as powerful as those behind Four Branches. When veterans from the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force united to create a spirits company, they brought with them a mission that transcends the bottle.
Four Branches began with a moment of reflection. Rick Trott, one of the four founders, haunted by memories of bringing home fallen comrades from combat zones, envisioned creating a bourbon to honor their sacrifice. What started as a simple tribute evolved into something extraordinary when the founders realized they represented each major military branch—a combination unprecedented in the spirits industry. Their backgrounds in special operations and intelligence shaped not just their approach to business but their core philosophy: "Serve honorably, drink honorably."
This isn't marketing jargon. It stems from profound experience with the devastation of veteran suicide and substance abuse. As Mike Franco another one of the founders poignantly explains, "We don't drink to forget—we sip to remember." This perspective transforms each pour into an opportunity for reflection rather than escape. Their Continental Bourbon, crafted to commemorate the 250th anniversary of America's first military branches, embodies this ethos. The nine-year Kentucky straight bourbon, bottled at 102 proof with a precisely balanced mashbill, carries within it centuries of American military tradition.
What truly distinguishes Four Branches is their commitment to giving back. They donate 4% of gross revenue—a significant portion that demonstrates their priorities extend beyond profit margins. Their donated bottles have raised over $450,000 for veterans' charities in just two years. The bottle itself, with its four-sided design and meticulously crafted logo, contains hidden military symbolism that rewards the observant consumer with deeper meaning.
Experience what happens when honor meets craftsmanship in a glass. Whether you're a veteran
Add for SOFL
If You Have Gohsts
https://www.scotchybourbonboys.com
The Scotchy bourbon Boys are #3 in Feedspots Top 60 whiskey podcasts in the world https://podcast.feedspot.com/whiskey_podcasts/
Middle West Spirits was founded in 2008, focusing on elevating the distinct flavors of the Ohio River Valley. Their spirits honor their roots and reflect their originality as makers, their integrity as producers, and their the start to the bottle, to your glass, with unique weeded and rye bourbons, and also rye and wheat whiskeys. The Michelon brand is easy to sip. It might be a grain-to-glass experience, but I like to think of it as uncut and unfiltered from their family to yours. We'll be right back.
Speaker 2:All right, welcome back to another podcast of the Scotchy Bourbon Boys.
Speaker 1:Welcome everybody. Great one, great podcast. We'vechy Bourbon Boys. Welcome everybody. Great one, great podcast. We've got a special one for everybody. We've got Greg Schneider returning from a brief what would you call it transition and we've got Rick Trotter and Mike. No, mike Trotter and Rick Franco.
Speaker 3:Rick Franco, mike Trotter and Rick Franco.
Speaker 1:Welcome everybody for Four Branches Bourbon. Their brand is kind of new and we're excited for them to be coming on tonight Perhaps, yeah, but we also have Super Nash. Thanks for being here. We also have Super Nash. I didn't want to miss you. Yeah, Super Nash, to get here. You've gone through a little bit of something in the last little bit. Why don't you just quick tell everybody about how something a tree fell on your house?
Speaker 5:yeah, I had about 130 foot oak tree uh fall on the back of my house, across the back deck, across the whole back middle of my house and across the the whole top gable of the house. So, yeah, caused a lot of damage but thankfully nobody was hurt. We were here during the night about 3.30 in the morning during high winds and a lot of downpour, rain and pretty much that's probably what caused it, but thankfully nobody was hurt or pets were hurt. So we were all safe and everything can be repaired. And that's the headaches that I've been kind of going through the last four or five days was the insurance adjuster and a lot of contractors and all that coming out doing estimates and everything. But everything's going to be fixed and taken care of.
Speaker 1:I'm glad everybody's safe yeah, for sure, that was the first thing. Uh, I saw pictures on facebook that morning and I'm like, oh my god, and yeah, and then yeah, and then uh, greg, welcome, welcome back into the into the realm of taking your place as the most attended person. You've now gone up to 11, and you've taken the lead for being on as a guest and we appreciate you so much. That's one of my goals in life, jeff, you know for having being on as a guest and we appreciate you so much.
Speaker 6:That's one of my goals in life, Jeff See, I can't let Alan, you know, surpass me on that.
Speaker 1:So You're doing a great job, Greg, I mean you both left me in such a lurch because my two main guests that I had on consistently both pretty much left where they were and ended up. Now. At least you're ending up in a brand where you're just where we're putting bottles that you know. Alan started all over completely and he's just. You know, before he it's going to be a couple of years before some of his whiskey comes back on the shelf, but that's neither here nor there.
Speaker 1:But thank you for coming back on again and the whole in-between time. You know we've got to go to Omori two times and I never felt that. You know you never were gone to me.
Speaker 6:No, as you know, it's always a pleasure. You guys are so on the earth and I've always enjoyed being a part of the Scotchie Bourbon Boys and your podcast and I'm trying to listen in quite frequently to see what's going on with other brands and the market in general. So again, it's a pleasure to be back and it's such a privilege and an honor to be here tonight with Four Branches. You know the two guests we've got on tonight Rick Franco and Mike Trott. They're two of the four co-founders of Four Branches Bourbon. Rick Franco and Mike Trott they're two of the four co-founders of Four Branches Bourbon. As you mentioned earlier, jeff, it's a young brand but it's an amazing brand, amazing history, amazing story and hopefully these guys will have time to share that with your listeners tonight All right Welcome.
Speaker 5:Welcome, Rick and Mike. Thanks for being here and taking time out of your schedule. I know how it is being the last few years in the podcast and the whiskey and bourbon industry. I know how you guys are so busy and tied up with things and just to take this time out is a pleasure and an honor.
Speaker 4:Thank you, thank you. We appreciate it. I mean, this is how getting our story out there takes guys like you, so we owe it to you. So thank you very much, appreciate it. And the only question I have is Super Nash, are you going to be making barrels out of that tree laying across your house?
Speaker 5:Actually, the tree has already been taken away, it's already been spoken for and because insurance people. When I talk to them on Sunday, they say you've got to get it out of here and all this. So I wished I could have, but no, the contractors already took it away and all that. So there won't be no barrel made out of that one.
Speaker 4:That's too bad.
Speaker 5:That's a shame.
Speaker 1:I'm glad everybody's okay yeah so who wants to go first? Mike rick? Uh, let's just talk about, let's just right off the bat how did, how did you guys meet and meet up all four of you to form a, uh, the? Brand.
Speaker 1:I mean it's a it's uh, there's a bit. There's a lot of veteran owned distilleries and that type of thing, but you know, you're talking about all four branches of the military. And then, in your prime, in this bottle right here, you're talking about the 250th anniversary. But you know how? How did it start?
Speaker 3:I'll answer that one. I needed some. So, to your point, right, we're the only, as far as we know, we're the only spirits company in America, and I'm going to venture to say the world, maybe the world, maybe the world founded by four veterans from four different branches of the military. Yes, there are five or six, there are six branches now, but we just happen to be from four branches the military. And this all started, you know, you can argue to say that this started 20, some odd years ago. Almost 30 years ago, the seeds were planted for the founding of four branches. For the founding of four branches, and that is I was. 30 years ago, I enlisted as a Marine and then I went to Virginia Military Institute as a cadet. I was at school with another cadet and you become friends. And then I got commissioned as a Marine infantry officer and my buddy Greg we were at Camp Lejeune together, second lieutenants, running around doing what?
Speaker 3:second lieutenants do, which is usually dumb shit, but uh, deployed quite a bit, uh, and then I got, I got out of the Marine Corps, uh, and then got recruited into a special program from the CIA as a contractor. And 20 years ago I recruited Greg into that same uh, same department, same program. Right, and this isn't one that you can just apply to, not as a kind of, so you have to be vouched for and it's, it's, it is you, you have to be in the brotherhood, in the circle to get into it, right, you have to be vetted and vouched for. So I vouched for greg, I recruited him, got him come on the program and then, uh, like I said, 20 years ago this year, december 7th, he went on his first mission day. One night, one out the wire, uh and his team came in contact, and so then they, they based maneuvers, they returned fire, they did everything right and greg saved everyone's life. But greg didn't come back that night, and then I got the phone call to go bring him home. So I flew across, uh, the pond and brought him and 12 other american patriots home that night. And then, uh, greg was given a star on the wall, uh, at langley cia headquarters. We've all seen the movies with the stars on the wall, right, so he. So he was the first contractor from our particular program. It was a rather big deal. And then since that time, there have been five more gentlemen most I've known either personally and worked with, or knew by reputation, because it's a very small organization within the CIA that we were a part of. So now there are now stars on the wall too.
Speaker 3:So let's fast forward three years ago. I guess three years ago. Let's fast forward to three years ago. Guys, I tell us a lot, supernatant, tiny. If you hear voices in your head, I'm going to tell you 99 of time. Don't listen to him. Probably a bad idea. Right, every now and then one will make sense, all right, and this one, I remember it clear as clear as day I still have a day job, my job, going from the day job, and it's like you should do a barrel bar, like, just do a barrel bourbon for the guys in the unit, the old unit. I thought that would be. I thought in my infinite wisdom that it would be super easy to do. Right, you can buy a little barrel, get some glass, got a printer right here, I'll slap some stickers on and you know what? I can sell this on facebook and the guys will buy it up in a heartbeat and I'm done. Uncle sam will come a knocking if you try that. That's a public safety announcement. Oh, we're well aware of that so then that's how.
Speaker 3:That's how. Then I, you know, I realized, okay, plan a's failed, let me go to plan b. Let me call mike. Mike and I had worked together uh in the past and mike's son and I were actually deployed on the same uh base in the same ao, ao for the same organization at one time. So I called Mike and said, hey, this is my idea, what do you think? And we started talking and originally it was you guys still there. Did I lose? No, you're good. Oh, no, you're good. Okay, all right, my earbuds made a sound. Good, okay, all right, that's, my earbuds made a sound. Um.
Speaker 3:So we started talking and you know we affectionately like to say, well, let's call, you know, let's, let's call harold. Harold's a 33 year retired command master chief from the seal teams. He spent a number of those years in uh, in seal team six, um. So we said everybody needs a navy seal these days. Harold's the guy and I always credit mike with this one on big brain, air force, look at me, rockets and all this other stuff. Um, he's like wait a minute, I'm air force, you're a marine. We got navy guy. If we get one more guy, there could be four of us and so a mutual friend that uh, both harold mike and I knew uh connected us, rj and we. You know I like to affectionately call rj as our army guy, I like to call him our underachiever, because he started as a green beret and then at age 39 he took the air force pararescue selection test, which is like going to buds or becoming a ranger at 39 years old, and he still holds the record and he's 56, 57. He's still jumping and diving. So that's kind of how the four branches came together. And then, you know, you got four guys who spent careers doing all sorts of stuff all over the world, not in this industry at all.
Speaker 3:We, so we did what we do best is we sought out subject matter experts on how to start putting this together and doing the research. Right, we come from intelligence backgrounds, starting doing the research, do what we know how to do and uh, this will play into and then I'll shut my suck and let mike talk for a minute. This this plays into how our messaging came around right, because we are for veterans, we've dealt with veteran suicide, first responder suicide and we didn't know if we wanted to be a part of a, an industry and a, you know, a part of an industry that obviously influences bad decisions. It can, it has that ability to do right, and we've seen that.
Speaker 3:So we had what I call a crisis of conscience where we took a step back because we'd lost some friends the year that we were putting it together and was like, okay, let's, let's do a little soul searching, self-analysis. Are we going to do this? And I won't speak, I'll speak collectively, but I'll speak for myself. More so is that, you know. The answer for me was we've never in our careers back down from a fight. We have had very atypical careers and we've done things very differently. So we said at least let's take that approach to the industry and let's do something that's not been done before From our standpoint.
Speaker 3:Let's try our hardest to change the narrative within the spirits industry as it relates to veterans, military first responders and, I would argue to say, anybody right as a collective, and that message is on every bottle, and that is that's where I serve honorably. Everybody serves the community. Whether you're in the military, law enforcement or not, it doesn't matter, we all serve something, and I think that's the one thing that we can all agree on as a unified, we all serve something, so we say serve honorably. And if you drink or choose to drink and we say choose to, because we put this out a lot If you're sober, stay sober. Everyone out there. If you don't drink, don't start.
Speaker 3:But, you know, what you have a seat at our campfire always, and we say drink honorably. That is not drink responsibly, that's a different message. A very important message is drink responsibly. For us, the drink honorably is if you're the last one to come home from downrange soldier or less police officer, from a call last firefighter out of the burning house, whatever it may be, just all the memories of the men and women that didn't come back. We personally are lucky to be sitting here right, but more important than that, because they're gone, don't decide your own memory. We see that far too often and that's what we hope. That the drink army gives men and women a chance to pause, reflect, right, and then that's where it leads into.
Speaker 3:We don't drink to forget because we've done that in our careers and lives. Rather, we choose now to sit to remember, and that is the message that we are really putting out there. As a brandon, it's not just sipping to remember the gggs in our lives, sipping to remember a retirement, a ceremony, four guys getting together on a podcast for the first time, having some great bourbon and telling stories. You pick those moments is what we tell people. You pick the moments in life we have a lot to be grateful for and a lot of moments to sip to remember. So that, in a nutshell, is how you know Team Four Branches came together and what our mission is and what our why is.
Speaker 5:That is so awesome. That is one of the best statements that I think I've heard since I've been in this industry and doing all these podcasts, and thank you, rick, for sharing that. That's honorable.
Speaker 3:We live what's in the bottles right, it's passion. This is us. We're putting ourselves and our souls into this. It's not a hobby. Mike says if we wanted a hobby, we'd be making chairs.
Speaker 4:That's something I planned on doing at 62 years old.
Speaker 3:We always question who's the smartest one here? Now, right?
Speaker 4:It's the youngest one. It's the youngest one.
Speaker 1:But they talk about like a bourbon or a whiskey lifestyle they're drinking or the friends, the family they're drinking for, remembering special occasions.
Speaker 1:It's kind of like when you go out on a Friday night onto your back porch and you put a bourbon in your glass and you just sit by the fire and you slow down and take time and appreciate the things that are so great in life but also then remember the people you know, remembering the people that are no longer with you or what you know.
Speaker 1:And there's so many times that bourbon is involved with, let's say, an older family member at one point that you shared a pour with, or an older person that's no longer with us. And you know, greg, you know how that goes the most because you've been in the bourbon industry for so long and so many of those pours that you had with some of the people in the industry that are so you know part of the lore. You never forget that and that's you guys have taken that aspect and you know everybody figures out their own path and it's really kind of cool to see the path that you guys are on and what bourbon means to you and what you're trying to put out there and we agree with. That's why. That's why me and Super Nash and CT, who's part of it, and my wife, that's why we're in this, because it's not it's not so much the bourbon itself, it's the people that you're spending the time with.
Speaker 1:That it brings you together and that usually doesn't. You know there's a lot of. You know whiskey can be many different things, but when you're talking about that lifestyle that you guys are living, that's exactly. You know what you said and I agree with Super Nash how you put it. That's probably the best I've heard it.
Speaker 4:Yeah it sure is that's a thin line right between whiskey and bourbon. Right, it's obviously very thin, but we've always said bourbon is even more so than whiskey. I don't know why, it's just interesting, right. Bourbon, to me and to us, is a reflective spirit. You mentioned that. You know it's just sitting and you're having these sips, these small sips, and you're remembering great times and interesting moments and maybe it's untrue but I just don't see myself just pounding down whiskey to get crazy. Bourbon is something unique and interesting and maybe similar to scotch as well.
Speaker 4:But no, we appreciate that and hopefully, you know, more than anything is that message does get spread across and we've always said, from day one, if we can take one guy who's sitting at the bar, who's a veteran or first responder and he knows he's drinking too much and he hears this message or maybe he sees that drink honorably on a bottle and he goes you know what I'm not doing that he turns and walks away and we can save one life. Because I can tell you, rick and I and rj and harold, we've done thousands and thousands of tastings now and when we tell people to drink honorably, don't drink to forget, sip to remember, and 50% of the people start to tear up. You know you're striking a nerve and we're okay to hit that nerve because if we can save a few lives and still enjoy our freedoms and have a sip of bourbon now and then it's a win-win in our category.
Speaker 4:Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the friendships, Mike. What part of the story did Rick miss about how you got involved in this or why?
Speaker 4:I don't think he missed as much. Honestly, I mean it didn't. You know what we'll say when Rick called and he goes hey, you know I'm thinking about doing this. He mentioned Greg. You know, right off the bat, we've all got our Greg's in our lives, as far as a lot of us veterans. And you know, johnny Mike Spann was the very first american killed in afghanistan after 9-11. You can google him. He's known as casualty number one.
Speaker 4:Um november, two months after september 11th, special activities division of cia, he pushed out with a small team to get into afghanistan to look for bin laden um. After that, I was in a neighboring country when we got the word that Johnny was killed in a fight as well and, like Rick, I was dispatched to go bring him home to his wife and young child. So probably 15 seconds into Rick telling me his story, I'm like dude, okay, well, I'm in, this is easy, let's do this. And the same thing we called harold and harold's. You know harold said the same thing. You know, guys, I don't need to, you don't need to tell me the long story, I'm into this. You know how many guys I've had to put in in body bags and bring home under that flag, draped coffin, and then rj, and we called rj.
Speaker 4:He was filming and he's a. He also is a uh, an advisor in different movies and he was filming a movie with Chris Hemsworth in Prague action too, and we get him on the phone. That's the probably the common theme. Less than 10 seconds, everybody was like I get it, let's do this, how do we do it? And then every one of us have had to bring those guys and gals home. So that's that's the common thread. None of us have had to bring those guys and gals home. So, that's the common thread.
Speaker 1:So is the second hardest thing that you've done, besides bring your friends home, is it starting a bourbon brand?
Speaker 4:Yes, 100%.
Speaker 3:It is incredibly difficult, right? I joke facetiously that sometimes it's easier to get shot at than start a bourbon company. It's a lot easier to get shot at, because you can shoot back this one guys. It'd be like hey, super Nash, tomorrow I need you to perform brain surgery. Go, yeah, right, yeah, exactly. So it's taken us, you know, three years, right, a year, a year to ramp up, almost like six, eight months to ramp up, and now two years, we're in market.
Speaker 4:To your point. You know we just came out the day that Jeff Hotmayer he's joined our team as an investor. Jeff, you may know of the name, jeff Hotmayer. He's joined our team as an investor. Jeff, you may know of the name, jeff Hotmayer. He was on Barstown Bourbon Company's board. He was the founder of Brindiamo.
Speaker 4:He's been in this industry for a long time as well, but he was the very first person we spoke to three and a half years ago. We're like, hey, you know, rick reached out to him and Jeff said hey, why don't you guys come to Nashville, come to the house and let's talk? And all four of us went to Nashville. We sat at his dining room table and he spent two hours trying to talk us out of it Legitimate. He's like, guys, this is a tough industry, it's crowded, it's expensive, especially back then. Bourbon at that time was running $3,000 to $4,000 a barrel right around COVID. He's like I would run, not walk, this is too hard. And then, after you know, two hours and you got four knuckleheads and we're like we've been through hard times before, this is not that bad. He's like, okay, I can see you guys are not going to take no for an answer.
Speaker 4:Here's what you need to do. And he kind of lined out what we needed to do and you know we were, we took his advice and we, you know, surrounded ourselves with some really great people. You know we got johnny manuel from a retired brown foreman executive. He's one of our executive coach 40 years with brown foreman. And you know nick nelson, he ran woodford reserve for many years. Tim Condon was a CFO for Brown Foreman. He was with Rabbit Hole.
Speaker 4:And then we were fortunate enough to meet up with Greg through a mutual relationship with Mark Irwin at Bardstown. And just, you know, I got to say the community, we're not used to that. The first six months we were like something's weird man. Everybody's willing to talk to you, everybody's willing to help you. And Rick and I don't come from that world. I mean I spent 10 years with the Air Force and 10 years at the CIA and you don't trust anybody and we would always have this conversation. The four of us were like something's weird man. Everybody's like nice, everybody's open, everybody's giving you really good advice, introducing you to other people. We're like this is something wrong.
Speaker 1:It took us a year to warm up.
Speaker 5:That's exactly what we found with the six years that we've been in the whiskey podcasting industry. Everybody we've met in the whiskey and bourbon industry I mean they are so nice and willing to talk and help you out, especially like Greg. He was one of the first ones and he has introduced us to so many people and set us on the right path and gave us the right information, introduced us to the right people, and every one of them has been willing to talk with us or come on to the podcast or introduce us to the next person along our path. And that is amazing what the whiskey and bourbon world is and what they do for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I have to agree with what you were saying. You, yeah, I have to agree with what you were saying Initially. I've done a couple different things throughout my life and every industry. You kind of make your friends but you kind of have competition and you have all this stuff going on. And then when you experience the urban industry, especially in the Bardstown area, and then you expand out to Frankfurt and in the Kentucky area, the people is what you might start out, the bourbon might get you started, but the actual relationships and the people that you meet is really what you stay for. I mean, that's you know. And then it's not just the people within the industry, it's also the. Then you start to meet the people who also drink bourbon and whiskey.
Speaker 1:The way that you do that, all of a sudden you know you spend your life making friends, but they're far and few. You know they might be people that you know, especially you guys in the military. You've made lots of friends of the people that you've gone to combat with and everything. But at the same time, outside of that, how many friends do you make? And the same thing with me, I probably had three or four really good friends and that was. You know, everybody else was kind of acquaintances and then all of a sudden I get into this and I start making, I mean, legitimate friends. I consider Greg a friend. I mean, these are people that you want to. You want to travel five hours down into Kentucky as much as you possibly can to spend time with, and that's not normal within any in any industry.
Speaker 1:It's not definitely like you said, in in the military, it's you know. But also in most industries. Besides the people that you're working with directly, you're in competition, and in the bourbon industry, it seems like nobody's in actual competition, even though they are in competition, but they're only in competition with themselves. They don't compete against each other. Bourbon, and you know what you're doing and you put it- where it is they.
Speaker 1:Everybody seems to just accept that. So they become one industry and I think it's also because of the fact that they've been around for so long and seen the ups and downs and it's all of it's. It's, uh, all about history and you know, even the new people coming in are making history. You know there's brands come and go. There's so many brands that have left, but then, as what Greg's former you know, he revitalized, you know, the Chicken Cock brand and you know that's the part that I've loved this so much and you guys expressed it and then you put it in a bottle.
Speaker 4:Right? No, you said it perfectly. I think it's. Everybody's got their own root story, whether you're from Texas or Washington or Colorado. We've reached out and to your point. I have no problem throwing all kinds in there. Ryan out of 10th Mountain Division has got some great bourbon and whiskeys and they've become really good friends of ours. There's not too many brands in that veteran space and we're proud of those guys and what they're doing. And we're all the same family.
Speaker 4:But I come from the hills of Knoxville, tennessee. I graduated a small school where Kenny Chesney and Morgan Wallen graduated. My grandparents grew up like five miles from Dolly Parton, so I'm about as Scotchy as you get. But there's something about the roots of that kentucky. My grandmother was from frankfurt, kentucky. We went down to visit castle and key and as we're driving down into holler to see that place and we're frankfurt, I'm like, holy crap, my grandmother was born here like in the 1890s, and I'm like, oh gee, here I am. Here I am, you know, sipping some, some bourbon down here. It's just, it is a family, it's a weird family and I've got to tell you we were scared, reckless, when you see a thousand different brands on the shelf and we're like how do we fit into this?
Speaker 4:yeah it's complicated, it's kind of scary, right, but uh, your point, you carve your niche, you tell your story and a lot of great people around you are willing to help raise your brand up and help you tell your story and give you some instructions and some good advice.
Speaker 3:And it's been a welcomed uh, it's been a welcome, it's refreshing it is refreshing, but I'll follow up on that story with jeff a year later, when we were at our launch party, mike in barstown. So we all we invited all our investors had a big launch party. We just launched a. Everyone got their bottle. It was a. It was a, a really nice deal. Later that evening jeff pulls me aside. He goes I didn't think you guys would do it.
Speaker 3:He did say that yeah I was like, seriously, but we're sometimes we're too stupid to quit and it's a no, it's a no-fail mission for us, right? This this is you have missions in the military which you can't fail, just you can't, it's not going to happen. And for us, this is one of them. Getting our message out there. Putting excellent juice in a bottle right, because everyone will buy I think that I say everyone. Most people will support a veteran cost once, but if it tastes like mud water of a pond, they'll never buy it again. Bond, they'll never buy it again. Yeah, right, so we knew two things. One, it has to be better than good because it's got our names attached to it, right. I come from a school of thought where only thing at the end of the day you have is your name, so I want to make sure it's got our names. But, more important than that, it's got the names, got the names of those that didn't come home attached to it. So it had to be good.
Speaker 4:We were fortunate, to Rick's point, to have Steve Nally lend his name initially when we made our first, Because we went in, as you know, we were green, we didn't know what we were doing and we sat down with Steve Nally from Barstown and of course, everybody knows Steve Nally. Oh yeah, super great guy.
Speaker 4:He is like grandfather. I love that guy to death. He took us in under his wing and led us and directed us and helped us make that foregrain. And we owe a lot to Steve we really do. And then to be introduced to Greg because we knew we couldn't own Steve the rest of our career. Steve has another home. But then to be introduced to Greg and to have his wisdom to come on, because, to Rick's point, anytime we raise a glass of toast in honor of our fallen our friend, to his point pardon my French it can't be shit, it just can't be. It's got to be good bourbon. So that's why you've greg snyder sitting here making sure, making sure that we always put good bourbon in our bottles but you can also know I will vouch for greg because I've been with him.
Speaker 1:he's been a part of us, for I would say he was within the first, so we've been around. This is our sixth season and coming up on six years, so about five and a half years, and, greg, when you picked him, I will vouch for it. You picked somebody who's going to do exactly what you need him to do and understands the industry so well. He understands the bourbon drinkers, he understands all the stuff that goes around with marketing and what has to go, and you know, and he's, he just has a knack for it. So you guys made a really good decision when you were talking about not failing. He is, will and I know will be a key to make sure that you guys succeed.
Speaker 4:Greg's already brought tremendous value in just a few months, so a hundred percent.
Speaker 1:He does. I mean, I've been on the road with him and he does some phenomenal things.
Speaker 4:And he's sexy.
Speaker 1:Just look at him, he's a great looking guy he's sexy, just look at him, he's a good looking guy. I mean also for a guy that a non-military guy.
Speaker 5:He's definitely the most military looking of anybody, right? He's absolutely, if you put.
Speaker 4:He's always working out and hiking, hiking if you put him in a lineup of five of us the four of us and greg and said, okay, which one's uh navy, sealal or Marine, everybody's going to say I think it's Greg, yeah.
Speaker 5:Agreed, the old fat one.
Speaker 4:You ain't fat, brother, you ain't fat.
Speaker 1:So, greg, so talk about, we're here for this bottle right here, and the Four Branches bourbon, the 250th anniversary bottle, which you guys, I have sent off samples. Super Nash got a couple of bottles, you know, got to him. I'm going to be tasting. I've smelled it, but I'm going to be tasting it with you guys right now for the first time. I waited, I have patience. Super Nash never had it, he has no patience.
Speaker 5:I broke into mine a week ago when all three I ordered three of them. I got the free pack and also got my commemorative coin along with it. Very nice.
Speaker 1:I got mine also and thank you.
Speaker 5:A little bit later on, when we get done with all this. I've got a little bit of icing on the cake to share with everybody here. Let's go on and let's talk about this bourbon Greg.
Speaker 6:Let me start off by talking a little bit about business strategy and core brand. I think both Mike and Rick alluded to our core brand is a four grain bourbon. It's kind of synonymous with the four branches, symbolic of the four branches of the military which these guys represent and kind of built the brand on. And so in today's market, as you guys know, the growth, the demand for bourbon is softened up. It's still strong but the premium has softened up a little bit. Well, for the last 12 to 15 years the production of bourbon has far exceeded what the sales forecast was ever going to be.
Speaker 6:And I mean I remember six years ago, steve Thompson. I don't know if you remember Steve Thompson. He was one of the co-founders of Kentucky Artisan Distillery. He was my boss at Brown Foreman. He was the president of Brown Foreman Beverage Company when I worked at Brown Foreman, but I went by, I think it was 2018.
Speaker 6:And Steve and I just got together one afternoon. I wanted to see his operation. He said, greg, he says where's all this going? I said what do you mean? He says if you take the sales forecast and he had solid data he said look at the sales forecast. And even if that sales forecast is off 10%, on the low side, he said this production far exceeds what the sales forecasts are going out eight, 10 years from now. He was right. And he says got to hit a wall sometime. Nobody just knew when that wall was going to hit, so it's never really hit the wall.
Speaker 6:But today there's so much surplus of inventory of aged barreled whiskey that the prices have dramatically come down. So, from a great intelligent business strategy, there's an opportunity to go out and find good quality aged whiskey that we can source, can acquire and bottle under the name, and so that's. That's the key thing. Number one, as these guys said, it's gotta be good quality, good, high quality bourbon. Number one. Number two you know you just can't go around spot market. You gotta have sustainable inventory.
Speaker 6:So the key is go and find a good enough inventory to sustain your sales going out for future years. So that's an important element of it too. So it's a unique business strategy. A lot of companies are kind of shifting that way because of the evolution of the current market, and so you know we do a four-grain bourbon that next year is going to evolve into something that's a four-grain distillate. I think everybody's going to just rave about it. It's pretty special Tonight. What we're featuring is the Four Branches, continental, and I think, as these guys touched on earlier, this is a tribute to the 250th anniversary of the Continental Army, continental Navy and the Continental Marines. That all started in 1775. And so I think this past Saturday was actually the Army's 250th anniversary so
Speaker 6:quite a parade Before my involvement. These guys actually went out and they found some spectacular bourbon. This is nine-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon, extremely special. Not enough barrels to bottle an LTO limited time offer. It's bottled at 102 proof, mashable on a 75% corn, 13% rye, 12% malted barley. I got to tell you and you guys know me, I don't BS, I pretty much tell it like it is. Whether I like it or not, you like it or not, this is in my top 10 bourbons of all time. You know, in 47 years in this business I've drank a lot of bourbon. It tastes spectacular. So again there's the label, it's a beautiful bottle, beautiful package and again, I'm just privileged and very honored to be associated with these guys and get to drink this great bourbon. So cheers.
Speaker 1:Cheers. So and it's bottled at 100 proof, correct 102. 102. Yeah, 102. All right, so sorry about that. So the nose on it is. I'm going to say for me, I'm not going to say it without, but it's familiar. It's familiar and it's got a nice. There's a little bit of brown sugar.
Speaker 5:Lots of vanilla and lots of caramel.
Speaker 1:And I even pick up a little bit of cinnamon. It's doing some nice. There's definitely that type of that thing. And then what it does in your glass is pretty spectacular. Sticks really nice. The viscosity on it's perfect. Here goes it does.
Speaker 5:I too as well switched over to my crystalen carrying as Greg right before we started. Yes, sir, like you said, there's nice weight to it. It's just nothing like drinking out of that Perfect.
Speaker 6:Great sipping Les. Wow, nice. And again as you guys know, I mean we have to sign nondisclosure, so we can't. You know me, I'm transparent as I come. I like to share information as much as I can, but certain things you can't divulge. This is one of those things. But I, you know, as far as the quality of the bourbon, I'll vouch for it day in and day out that completely.
Speaker 1:And you know, we just had a guy on uh, ed blake, who and he actually picked up he was able to put mgp on the bottle because he didn't buy it from them. He bought it from somebody who bought it at six years and then he bought it at 12 to 14 years and then he was able to put who distilled it? Because he didn't sign an nd. What's wrong with that? Yeah, so no, I understand. If you're purchasing it, you have to. You're not supposed to disclose, but you know a lot of people. You know most people who are in the know can usually figure out what's happening.
Speaker 5:I just got to say, at this quality of bourbon, I don't care where it came from, I'm just glad you guys found it and you bottled it and put your name on it, because it's fantastic and I agree. I agree with Greg. This is wonderful. I mean, it's everything that I look for in tasting. It's a special burger. I mean all the way down to just that slight little bit of hug to the finish. The full mouthfeel. All the flavors are there, the aroma, everything's there.
Speaker 4:That one's got a nice hug to it right On our Founders Blend. We call it a Kentucky kiss. You get a little bit of that rye on the back of the tongue, that kind of kisses you. This one has that traditional Kentucky sort of that. It doesn't have the burn going down but it's got that nice heat in the chest.
Speaker 4:I think the other thing bringing Greg in it was a conscious decision. We talked about the do we build a distillery, build small, and go out and go into that place? And then I think Greg was talking about it just where the world is right now and I hate to say it because this is not this is not the good news there's just some distilleries that's not going to make it the next five to 10 years. They just kind of overbuilt the distilleries and then we got you know Rick and I and Harold and RJ, we've gone to you know Missouri, texas, all kinds of places looking North Carolina, south Carolina, looking at different distilleries.
Speaker 4:And I think that's the other thing you do when you start to go down this road is there's some really great people out there making some great bourbon and some of that bourbon doesn't have a bottle to go into. It doesn't have a bottle to go into, it doesn't have a brand, it really doesn't. And then there's some stuff sitting out there that has kind of fallen off the ship or fallen off the radar and we're like, why reinvent that? When we try to elevate the individuals who have crafted some of these things, I mean these bourbon is our american spirit and why go start not that it's egotistical, but it's almost a little bit of arrogance starting your own distillery when there's always great, great stuff out that's been made by some really truly passionate, you know, master distillers and blenders like Greg. We would rather give them an opportunity to work with them and put their product, you know, with us as well and a lot of times we do, we do a finish like we
Speaker 4:did last year. We did a really nice, uh, nine-year Kentucky straight. We finished in in some rum barrels. It was fantastic, dynamite, that was fantastic. And so we do the experiment with that and kind of have our own distillery. And again, as you guys know, that's a very expensive proposition and we just didn't feel like we needed to go down that route. But we wanted somebody like Greg to help us make sure the quality is good. If we decide to blend it, if we decide to age it, if we decide to double-oak it, we decide to do something unique with it. We wanted somebody like Greg to make sure that we're doing the right things, something unique with it.
Speaker 5:We wanted somebody like Greg to make sure that we're doing the right things. That shows great respect to American tradition, which in reality, is respect to the American forces which help build and protect America as it is today. That's honorable. That's great. That's honorable, that's great. That's a great way of thinking and, to me, is a great way of looking towards future business. Appreciate that.
Speaker 1:There's so many different ways to do it. You're talking about purchasing barrels as far as a distillery. That's one thing that Greg has proven. If, down the line, you wanted to distill, contract distilling is pretty much, which would be the way that you guys go. You're already we're dealing with Steve Nally and the people from Bardstown Bourbon Company, but you know that's a choice of any brand.
Speaker 1:But, like you said, like I think, when you're doing what you're doing, there's a lot of opportunities. And you know, I was going to say to Greg you know, just two years ago buying, there was a shortage of aged whiskey on the out there for barrels and it wasn't like there and if you were buying it you were paying premium, premium prices. It was really expensive, we know Right.
Speaker 1:But now the opportunity of you know, we're just I mean, two years is not that long of a time Markets have completely changed and now there's an excess of aged whiskey and that's one thing that the market, you know. A lot of people were talking about the glut to an extent, especially the people that I've talked to as far as consumers, and I just tried to tell them at one point this glut isn't the worst thing that can happen to you. There's going to be some brands that you're going to have to have the good solid marketing and the good, the established, you know, base plan, but overall it's going to make the whiskey cheaper and that's good to the consumer. Right to not have it. I mean, I think the prices for some of the stuff just kind of went crazy. I mean secondary, kind of drove it and then everybody was buying everything. But I do believe that there's always a balance that happens and this is almost like a market correction. I don't think, uh, I think it.
Speaker 1:You know, when people are drinking a bottle like your, uh, continental, there's still a lot of people searching for these bottles. They're looking for these different type whiskeys. That part isn't the part that we're talking about. We're talking about the average, you know everyday whiskey drinker the jack, jack Daniels, the Jim Beams that has. That was up way up also and it's kind of started to back down there in that part of the market. But I don't see the allocated or the kind of bourbon that you're producing. I don't see that market going down.
Speaker 1:But you just definitely have to make sure, if you're getting it on the shelf, that you tell your story and you know, be in the in the liquor stores and you know, you know, go around and sell it and put boots to the ground and meet the people.
Speaker 1:Because I always find, you know, when I first went into the business, I'd walk into the liquor store and it was almost like Chinese, I mean, I didn't know all the brands. Now when I walk into the store I know them all and it's boring and so not so much, but it's not like it used to be. So you get to that point. So then you know what is somebody going to pick when they want to try something different. You know they've already gone through and now they're looking for more stuff. Well, if they've met, you, heard your story and they see it on the shelf, they're going to, that's what they're going to pick and, like you said, rick, then once they pour it in their glass, you have to have a quality whiskey in there that they're going to buy more of, and I think that's you know, you guys understand that now I will tell you this and I understand exactly, uh, greg, why you like this whiskey, this bourbon, is because it it is.
Speaker 1:There's. There's bourbons, and I love aspects of bourbon, but there's fruitier notes and some and and there's a lot. Some are I call dessert bourbons, where they're so sweet, but then there's the bourbon. That is what I think the definition of bourbon. It's like when you walk into a rickhouse and you smell the whiskey or and the bourbon's aging. That, to me, is what bourbon is, and a lot of times you don't smell sweet, sweet caramels or this or that, and you guys have a really nice balance that I would call this a bourbon.
Speaker 5:You know that was exactly what I was going to say.
Speaker 3:This has got a complete balance of everything across the board yeah, I'll say thank you for that because that hits the mark of the continental right. Yeah, originally that that compliment pairs really well, that the continental is the american spirit, the american forces. It's a, it's what you think of and you guys just said, but it tastes like what you would want bourbon to be, absolutely.
Speaker 5:I agree.
Speaker 4:You could have said it better.
Speaker 3:One thing we didn't mention Mike and guys, Tiny and Super Nash is that what people don't understand is that we're a big give-back brand. I don't think we've touched on that. We give back 4% of our correct me, if I'm wrong, mike but four percent of our gross right right, that's a lot trust me, trust me as a managing principal that has to write these checks all the time.
Speaker 3:I'm like holy crap, it's a lot of money but probably more more than that which we never saw coming. We never saw this coming. It was never intended, it's just a law of unintended consequences. But we are humbled and honored by it is that we give a lot of these bottles away to different organizations, right, we get requests all the time. Hey, can we have a bottle for this raffle, this auction, and we pick and choose the ones that we feel aligned best with who we are. We've given away a lot in two years, guys, and in two years the count now those bottles have raised an auction in auctions, over 450 000 that's amazing, that's awesome, that that's a that's an awesome contribution.
Speaker 3:And it says a lot on y'all's page Helping families, children, first responders, veterans, the people that need it right. Yes, absolutely A couple hundred dollars as much, as I think the highest one was $25,000.
Speaker 4:$22,000. No $25,000 in Texas. That one bottle, that one bottle $25,.
Speaker 3:25 in Texas. That one bottle, that one bottle. 25 in Texas, that was a bottle.
Speaker 4:RJ jumped into Normandy last year on the 80th anniversary of the Normandy invasion. He jumped in with a bunch of guys and he had some World War II veterans sign the bottle and they had a flag and it was auctioned off. You're right, Rick, it was a flag and the bottle was auctioned off in Texas for $25,000. That's awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, I always love charity auctions because people, the way I put it in, people are like well, how did wanted to donate $25,000, and he got a really awesome bottle and flag and you get something for giving something that big and that's really what those bottles are. But still, it's just amazing for that to be, because if you didn't do that, the auction wouldn't be there and people wouldn't be able to donate yeah that's what the donation is about.
Speaker 5:It's not about what you get. It's really about the donation and what the donation is helping, what the donation is going for, and uh, and then you know just the bottle and the flag or whatever you get for your donation. That's, that's just the.
Speaker 4:You know the icing on the cake and, let's be honest, there's no bottle of bourbon worth $25,000.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely it's just not true.
Speaker 4:You know we have to also applaud those Americans, those patriots who are willing to write that check for $25,000 for a bottle. You know we love those men and women who do that because that allows those charities to keep functioning and we'll keep doing what we've got to do to make sure allows those charities to keep functioning and we'll keep doing what we got to do to make sure that we're part of that in some way. Thanks, rick, for bringing that up.
Speaker 5:Awesome Thank you, rick, and.
Speaker 3:Mike.
Speaker 6:Thank you to all you guys for helping out the veterans and all the forces. I'm sorry to interrupt, but you said something about going in the store on the shelf and that I'll let let Rick and Mike talk about this. You know we're very limited. I think a lot of our sales are online and we're in very few markets at this point. But you guys want to touch on that because you just can't go in any way, especially Ohio. You can't just go into a store and find it on the shelf. I got mine online.
Speaker 4:That's such a great another American story. Right To allow people to build a byproducts like that. Have it delivered to your door. A year ago we were only in like 29, 30 states. Now we're in 39 states in terms of you can go to F-O-U-R-4branchescom in order to have it delivered to your door, and we recently switched to a new shipper distributor and now, rick, probably three to five, three to seven days it's at your door. It's crazy.
Speaker 3:I mean, it's one of the greatest changes we've ever made and the customer satisfaction has been phenomenal. You know three to five days, if not sometimes sooner, depending on where it's going.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I think mine was here in about five days to South Carolina.
Speaker 4:I love it, we do love to hear that. But we're in Kentucky, tennessee, dc, virginia, maryland, florida and Arizona as markets. That was our first seven markets to go into. Basically it was a test of the markets I live out here in Arizona. Now we wanted to see what this looks like out here and it's been good. Arizona has been a really great market for us. I was surprised at the kind of bourbon it is bourbon market out here.
Speaker 4:But you think DC, maryland, virginia is natural, and that's true. We're in a virginia abd abc stores. Uh, next year, you know, we'll see. You know we'll tease it rick. Next year we hope to be in the in the carolinas, for sure in north carolina. So right, it's natural for us. Uh, harold and I both have roots out of North Carolina. That's kind of where our family's from, and Georgia is a natural sort of progression.
Speaker 4:And then we're thinking about the great state of Pennsylvania. There's a lot of great patrons and bourbon lovers and individuals in Pennsylvania. So we'll see. You know, I think the other side of the story and we could talk about this for hours too is the whole business structure. There's four components. We've talked about it tonight. You know we always want to make sure good bourbon's in our bottle 100%. Even Bardstown will tell us. Every time we put bourbon in a bottle, we always show up a couple of days prior and taste it and we work with a final blend and they're like hey, you know, you guys are one of the few that come, come in and taste the final stuff yeah your bottom.
Speaker 4:We're like dude, how do you not do that? Um, yeah, it's important to us, so we're always going to be there. We're always going to be part of that tasting. Greg was part of our last one, so that's important to us. That's why we brought greg in. So always, always, great juice in our bottle.
Speaker 4:Uh, number two, as rick about, our trademark message is serve honorably, drink honorably. Center members are always going to be forefront of our conversation. Three is our give back. It's important to us. But number four is if we're not a successful business, one, two and three doesn't matter. That's right? Yeah, absolutely. We have to be smart about our business. That's why, having guys like john emmanuel and tim condon and now jeff hotmer coming on board and we have a great team of individuals that are helping us making sure let's be honest, the three of us know how to do some scary stuff, but how to make bourbon and get bourbon out there. That's not our world. So we have guys like greg that take us and we call them our dashboard, our instrument panel. They tell us when to land and get more fuel, when to turn here. Don't do that, do this. We're pretty good about taking instructions, even though or when to jump right.
Speaker 4:When to jump when to jump whatever it may be, we literally take their instruction. It's great for us to get out there and meet the people who support us, but it's really these guys and gals that give us that kind of support that we need as a company. But if we're not successful as a company, we can't give back, we can't make sure our brand message stays and hopefully save some lives and, yeah, it's important to us. I'll leave that with one.
Speaker 4:We met with a gentleman who'd been around in the spirit industry, in the distribution industry, for 40 years. He just retired and, uh, he was with the number one company, distribution, and he was looking at our bottle. He was kind of rubbing his finger across the floor because that four has a special meaning. He's tasting the bourbon, he's watching the videos. He goes I'll tell you what, guys, because my 40 years of experience and I think um super national mentioned it in my 40 years of experience if you keep putting great bourbon in that bottle, it'll be on the shelf in 40 years, as we all know. You know, good bourbon without a great story is just brown water. That's it You've got to have it all.
Speaker 1:You've got to have it all. There's got to be a story. I mean, you hired one of the greatest storytellers. I've ever heard in.
Speaker 1:Greg. I mean the story he was telling before. I heard it many times. I almost could recite it, but every single time I listened to it it was a fantastic story. But your guy's story is great, but then you've got to have.
Speaker 1:I'm into bourbon. I love every aspect of bourbon, of all fashion. I like the bottle, I like the marketing, I like the labeling, I like the special releases. I love that. I'm in it for that. I like the marketing, I like the labeling, I like the special releases. I love that. I'm in it for that. I want the whole package.
Speaker 1:If I'm going to be spending my hard-earned dollars to buy a bottle of bourbon when I go out, you know some people, the bourbon, you know, will speak for itself to some extent. But I really love the flash. But you know, I come from the art industry and you can produce the greatest art ever produced on the planet. But if you don't have a way to get it distributed and have somebody see it in a way that people that have money want to buy it, then it doesn't matter what you're doing. I mean there's so many great artists throughout history that have painted and painted and painted and died poor because they didn't have that one aspect or that outlet to be able to do what they were doing.
Speaker 1:And it's the same thing with bourbon.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's the story.
Speaker 1:I mean there's a reason why brands last eight, nine that have been around are not into this ninth generation, because they're doing all the right things as they go forward. And if you look at some of the brands, a lot of them in this world, the bourbon world, since the 90s, have gotten big, huge, giant corporations to basically back them so that they can keep doing what they need to do to keep that brand viable. And in the end we all know there's ups and downs and sometimes the corporations or whatever that all kind of goes away. But there's got to be a steward of the brand. I mean that's one thing Stephen Bean one time told me he's just the steward of the Yellowstone brand. He's making sure that brand through his time period goes and he's helped it to become more popular. And it's the same thing what you guys are doing, hopefully that this brand goes on beyond you and that's what you're in it for right, so that future generations can enjoy what you guys started for right, so that future generations can enjoy what you guys started.
Speaker 3:The goal. You hit it on the head, tony, because Mike and I and Harold and RJ, we've always said this. Right now we are the ones who started. It's our face, rick, mike, harold, rj. The goal is we're old guys, we fade away. And that young man or woman walks into a bar and says and that young man or woman walks into a bar and says, hey, give me a pour of my four branches.
Speaker 3:And let me. Let me throw this also out there you pick your branch. If you're in the Coast Guard, you're in the Air Force. It says four branches. You pick your branch. It's yours too. Right, we just happen to be from Army, air Force and Navy Marines. But that's the goal, is that we go away and it becomes the men and women who are serving this country, whether they're first responders, law enforcement, military. It's their bourbon and that becomes theirs and the community around it, the patriotic community that supports it.
Speaker 4:It's probably half or more of our nation who really are the patriotic. We couldn't be the military, we couldn't do what we do without our spouses that support us 100%. Spouses Absolutely Burden the weight of every soldier, sailor, airman, marine. If they're married, it's the spouses that carry the weight, I don't care what anybody says.
Speaker 1:My spouse Roxy. Yes, she carries the weight. I'm going down to Kentucky tomorrow and Saturday and she was booking my hotel rooms. It's just like I need her so much. I will say this though there's Space Force now, and you guys should try and get the four branches to be the first urban to be drank in space.
Speaker 3:I got this patch two years ago from the commanding general of Space Force. That's awesome. I knew where it was going and I said, sir, as soon as you put a barrel in space, we'll call that blend space juice. Oh, that would be cool. Oh right.
Speaker 4:It would be a tiny little barrel, but it's going to happen, that's all right. That may be a $25,000 shot.
Speaker 1:Well, you guys if it's a tiny little barrel, a tiny barrel. I'll make sure when it comes back I'll sign it for you.
Speaker 5:Hopefully my son will be working for that. He's getting ready to finish with his third degree and he's either going to work for NASA, spacex or Boeing International. You did well, you did well, yeah, yeah, I'm so proud of him. He's got two semesters to go. This is the first semester this summer that he's been off and that's only because they didn't have the courses to finish up, but he has not missed a semester since he started college a few years ago. Yeah, I'm super proud.
Speaker 1:I am too Super Nash. I mean, right when we started getting together, you told me that he had enrolled, and I've been through that.
Speaker 5:That's right 2019.
Speaker 4:Supernation. Greg and Todd, I got a quick, maybe for your audience, Obviously, you know, prior to this, and I did this a little bit, not so much with scotch but more with bourbon. You obviously do it with wine, letting a good bourbon have five or ten minutes to breathe. People don't understand the importance of that. And we have a restaurant nearby us that is called Bourbon and Bones and they carry our Black Ops, which is that nine year rum finish. And I was sitting next to a guy at the bar and and bartender knows me and this guy was ordering a bourbon and she goes. You know, this guy sitting next to you is a guy that he's a founder of that four branches. I was telling you about a month ago. He's like holy cow. He looked over and he goes. So we started talking. He goes, what's your favorite? And I said, right now it's, it's our black ops. I said but.
Speaker 4:I ordered it prior to dinner and I let it set to the side so it could breathe. He goes. Why do you do that? And I said, man, it changes the flavor, he goes. I've had your Black Ops and I thought it was a little hot. I said I get that. There's nobody. You know my personal opinion. There's no such thing as great bourbon. Everybody's got their own opinions on what a great bourbon is. There's really good bourbon and there's really bad bourbon. And so he goes.
Speaker 4:I thought it was a little hot. I said I kind of respect that. I said I tell you what I'm going to buy you a glass of of our black ops. And I told him and she poured and I said don't touch it, let it sit for about 10-15 minutes, let it let it, uh, let it breathe. He goes okay. And at the end of dinner we both started talking again and we both had our, our bourbon. And he goes, goes, holy cow, that's a different profile than I had. I said let me guess they poured it last time. As soon as they poured it you took a big sip of it. He goes. Yeah, I said you got to let that breathe a little bit. So you guys I think you, greg and Tanya and Super Nash you guys probably have more experience in the genesis of how we should enjoy that. It would be interesting to hear your perspective on letting it breathe and how important it is.
Speaker 5:Absolutely. I for one, especially with like weeded bourbons, I've always opened the bottle and let it breathe and let it sit for a few days actually if I'm able to before I actually take a pour of it, because it lets the grains and everything open up and also lets a little bit of that ethanol evaporate off of it and then it opens up the flavors of it so much more. And the same thing with any pour of bourbon or whiskey that you get, like you said, letting it sit there and letting it breathe a little bit. It just lets a little bit of that ethanol breathe off of it and just open up a little bit, and that just lets the flavor to me, lets the flavors open up a little bit, where you're able to enjoy it a little bit more, instead of the burning sensation that a lot of people, uh, which when they first taste it like that, that's what really first kills their to me, I think, kills their taste buds and they're not able to really sense what they're really able to taste. That's my opinion.
Speaker 4:Rick and I, we do these tastings all the time right, and these both men and women will have a little shot glass or a little one ounce, and they'll do this thing right now, and Rick is like we're like going across the table like don't you, don't shoot bourbon, like that, you just don't. You know, it drives us crazy.
Speaker 1:Well, there's times like maybe, if you're just like about, you're walking in and it's about 10 minutes till the concert starts and you got to go through security, then you might, you might do something, you might finish the bottle or whatever and throw it away. But I will tell you that, um, as a podcaster, I have to open up a lot of bottles and, uh, I have my ones that I like to go back and forth to. But out of the 925 bottles, or 960 bottles or whatever I have, I would say at least 875 of them are open. And I would say there's a sweet spot between six and eight months where the bottle, when you revisit it, tastes almost and it's usually a positive effect that if it just sits and it's able to breathe in that bottle without that pressure of the cork, and then whatever, it just completely changes the oxidative oxidation of it just changes it, uh, to usually the benefit I mean, and and weeded does it probably the most.
Speaker 1:Now, some of my it's. It's bizarre to me because there's bottles I have and now they've been open. Some bottles have been open almost six years and I'm almost ready to see revisiting it, but I also know when it gets down to about at least two eighths left. You got to start to really kind of push it because otherwise it's just going to evaporate. You know I you know it's funny because a lot of the bottles sit and there's no children living at home. My wife's the only one. I'm the one that she usually at. She goes if she wants something. She's like pour me this, pour me, that. I do that. So I'm in the managing of this collection down here and I'm telling you sometimes some of the bottles that I'm like coveting, I'm like who's stealing my bourbon and it just, it's just, it's just getting a little bit lower because you're not drinking it that's funny, that's funny that's one of the ways that I learned about this was my wife is from Ventura, california, california, and before I ever got into bourbon, and her parents still live out there.
Speaker 5:We were just out there back in April for a couple weeks and so they always been into wine and got me into wine and all that. And I've learned a lot about wine and learned about letting the wine breathe, or aerating the wine as you pour it into the glass and all that as to how much better the flavors come out in the wine or the oakiness sort of leaves if you let it aerate a little bit at all.
Speaker 4:It's amazing how it changes, even at the end of the night. Sometimes I'll walk back to my glass, whether it's a Glencairn or whatever at all. It's amazing how it changes, not even at the end of the night. Sometime I'll walk back to my glass, whether it's a glen karen or whatever at all. I just got my nose and I'm and I'm sniffing and smelling and my wife, my wife, is like, what are you doing? I'm like man, the nose on this is so good, there's nothing left, right, it's just what was coated in glass. And that's when you get those, true, you know whether it's the confections or the oak or the woodiness or the, you know, whatever it may be, that's in it.
Speaker 4:Mash, I don't know. The more obviously it's different, right, if you're a consumer versus somebody that's making it. But when you make it I got to imagine, greg, you scratch your head. You're probably full of frustration because you have so much knowledge of how it's made and what it should taste like. And, um, you know, you're, you, you're, you're. Frustration must be, uh, pretty high sometimes when you're tasting certain products. Cause you, you know it's not what it should be and you know, just, I get it. I, I hate to live in your head. You know when it comes to.
Speaker 6:It's not an exact science, you know, and I didn't respond early because I wanted to hear what Super National Tiny had to say. But they were both spot on and you know that's why a lot of high end restaurants, you know, you go to a winery for tasting. I actually take the wine and pour it in a craft. It kind of opens it up and it allows that alcohol to dissipate. It really pulls up and brings the true flavors to the forefront. After that alcohol dissipates. I agree with you. Same thing with whiskey. Whiskey is a much higher alcohol content. So if you let it breathe a little bit, let some of that alcohol dissipate. The same thing, you know. I typically, when I taste whiskey out of a barrel, I'm doing sampling. I'll drink it neat in a Glencairn and then I'm doing sampling, I'll drink it neat in a glan carrot.
Speaker 6:And then I'll let it sit, let it rest, let it open up taste again, and then, the third time, I'll actually put an ice cube in it. That ice cube, likewise, will open up some of those flavors and further, kind of give you a different perspective of what's actually in that bottle or that barrel.
Speaker 5:Fascinating that was one of the things that I learned when I went to executive bourbon steward school was when you added the water to it, and that truly amazed me, as when you added a few drops of water or or like an ice cube to it, and how much it changed the flavors and the aromas of whiskey. It's. It's totally different and it just opens it up so much more and allows allows them, I guess, I guess to escape more or something.
Speaker 3:It's just, it was just amazing and when I learned that you know, we, when we, when we first came out, we had that same problem to a certain degree of whiskey evaporating. Because we I think, mike, you told me a story we had a friend calls and say hey, man, bought a bottle of bourbon and there's something wrong with your bottles. They defective immediately. We're thinking, you know part of my friends, but shit, what's going on with our balls? So tell us what's happening. He goes, I don't know, every night is about two ounces that evaporates out of that damn bottle. Because we thought seriously, something's wrong with our corks or something like you got us, you know so it.
Speaker 3:Uh, we had the same problem.
Speaker 4:He called me he called me off guard. You know, when you're starting a business, you know you're dealing with corks and labels and boxes and you know cracks and all kinds of stuff. It's just, it's a lot of issues you're dealing with and he calls me up, he goes. Hey, like Rick said, he goes. I'm losing a couple ounces a day. And when he called me up, you know, tony, that bottle comes from France. That bottle has a little bit of sand from the area of Normandy. That's a very clean, crisp bottle. These bottles, yeah.
Speaker 3:They're not cheap, all the same bottle.
Speaker 4:All the same bottles and everything we've put into that bottle. There's probably nine to ten different images, if you will, that are hidden within that bottle. You can look at it and not tell, but there's a lot of meaning to that product In addition to the four-sided bottle. That's something amazing. The four-sided bottle has a meaning to it. There's a reason why it's four-sided you could go around. You could go all kinds of shapes.
Speaker 6:There's a reason why it's four-sided and the number four too. Mike, you might want to jump back to number four on the bottle.
Speaker 5:I was going to say something earlier about the four-sided when we were talking about it, that I like the fact that it was four-sided and that it attributed to the four branches.
Speaker 4:A lot of hidden meaning there and you guys you're probably familiar with what the four logo means, that four, you know what the five different elements to that four. Are you familiar with that? No, all right. So if you look with, that. No, all right. So if you look at that bottle as Rick's holding it up right there, the very bottom, the bottom of that four, has a ground, almost like a ground effect.
Speaker 4:Got that small arch over it, that's the foundation of the logo that represents the US Army, the foundation of the US military. That's the first branch. That's the foundation of the US military. That's the first branch, that's the foundation of the military. That's the foundation of that logo. If you look at the next mark coming off of that, going up, if you think of a Navy mast or submarine tail coming up out of the water, Absolutely. I can see that.
Speaker 4:Represents the Navy, If you look at that thin mark that goes horizontal. If you think of the Marines, the Marine is often represented by the bayonet or the sword.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 4:It's the thinnest and leanest branch of the military, by far probably the deadliest. That represents the Marine Corps and then the Air Force controls the skies overall. So that big sweeping motion to the sky is representing the Air Force. Wow, if you tip that bottle slightly sideways you'll see a downward spear. Just look at that line going down the center you'll see a spear. Rick will probably point it out to you. I see half of that spear is showing. There's only half showing at the spear the tip.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 4:We all served in the special operations or special units within the CIA. That's considered serving at the tip of the spear. Half of that spear is showing represents those serving today. The other side is missing. That's for the Mike Spanns, the Greg Wrights and those that are no longer with us. Wow, that's with us.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 5:Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:I have one. You probably didn't think I'm a Green Bay Packer fan, so four means everything to me. That's all I can tell you, you know.
Speaker 4:I've got to. No, there's no cheese on there, I'm sorry about that.
Speaker 1:I need to get, I need to get Brett Favre on here and drink this with me. That's what I'm thinking right there. There you go, so that's funny.
Speaker 5:I I'd like to add something to this now that we're talking about all this. I come from a military family. My dad, jb Nash Sr. He was a career service military man, 23 years active duty and it was spent over all four branches of the military.
Speaker 4:Holy cow.
Speaker 5:Yeah, most of them was in the United States Army, a third of them was in the US Marines Two tours in Vietnam, one in Korea. He was a CB in the United States Navy station in Port Winneme, california, and he only did two years in the United States air force and that's because he was stationed at Fort Carson, colorado. Come out of one of his army terms, went over to the air force, didn't like the air force, come right back out and went right back into the army, wow, wow and uh, he had 10 back out, went right back into the Army, wow. And he had 10 kids and we were born all over the world, me being born in Germany, a brother born in France, some in California, a sister in Port Hueneme, california, while he was in the Navy, and some in Colorado Springs while he was at Fort Carson and the rest here in South Carolina when he was in the Marines.
Speaker 4:Holy cow. We should have your dad's name on his bottle. He's a four-brancher, yeah.
Speaker 5:So when I saw this four branches and all this and saw that y'all were coming on and I, immediately, like I say, hadall were coming on and I, I immediately, like I said, I had to jump on and I grabbed, grabbed some bottles and it was so special and I just wanted to share that with y'all and I, I was just elated that you guys, you know all four of you guys, started this, this brand, over the four branches and and then wanted to tell you guys how much of a special meaning that it has to me. And I'd like to raise a glass now to my fallen father of the four services, four branches. Here's a JB. Here's a JB.
Speaker 4:Nash thing. Oh, wow, thanks for sharing that Remember. Okay, you know, that's what Rick said. We did some videos a while back. We wanted people to kind of jump in. We think it still will take time. We wanted people to do exactly what you just did, and that's share what you simply remember. Um, yes, that's incredible, I think.
Speaker 4:Thanks for sharing it, cause I, you know, everybody's got those memories. You know my, my grandfather, was a more or one father in France and unfortunately he died when my dad was 10 years old and then my dad 17, joined the Army and went to the Korean War. He was at the DMZ and you know he fought, and I had three uncles in World War II France and Germany and I was in the first Gulf War. My son was in the second Gulf War, with 10 tours in Afghanistan, and people ask me why I joined the military and I'm like dude, that's just all I know, right, yeah. Then you have people like Rick, whose family didn't serve in the military but he had an instinct to give back to the country that his father was a successful immigrant to the US and wanted to give back.
Speaker 4:Everybody's got a story right. Everybody's got a story and everybody wants to sip to remember something in life and there's a lot you know. To Rick's earlier point about you know, sipping to remember, not drinking to forget, yeah, right, prior to a lot of bad reasons, a lot of veterans and first responders drink to forget. I remember this guy telling me, because I was having this conversation with him, barb, about sipping to remember and he goes, roger, that he goes. I got it, he goes.
Speaker 4:For so long I was drinking to forget the moment that I lost three really good friends in a Humvee. We had an IED and he goes. It was traumatic Body parts and pieces. Ied and he goes. It was traumatic Body parts and pieces, he said. But an hour prior to that, Because I never stopped to think about that, an hour prior to that, it was the best time of my life. We were listening to some really great music, we were riding high, we were four guys part of his convoy in Afghanistan. We were doing the best that we could as veterans. He goes. We were just on a high. It was such a cool moment, I remember, and it had turned dark and he said I've been drinking for about 15 years to forget that. But he said you reminded me. I need to remember what happened right prior to that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because if you sip bourbon the way that it's made to enjoy and you have the right perspective, you can go from that to this because of exactly what you just portrayed, because the reason you're doing it is everything that matters, right, and if you're using it in a negative way, just like anything else, you can't.
Speaker 1:But this bourbon boom really, in my opinion, has taken the sipping part and the lifestyle up to the point where this, this kind of thing, matters. It's what brings people together, it's the glue that connects everything and that's why the industry we were talking about the industry. That's exactly why the industry's like that, because of the fact that people that are making it understand what it's. It's. It's true purposes. It can be abused just like anything else. People come to me all the time and say, oh, this is bad and whatever I'm like. So can food be bad? They're like what? Yeah, if you eat McDonald's, three cheeseburgers and two Big Macs a day, it's going to be bad for you. It's the same thing.
Speaker 1:Bourbon and whiskey is no different. Yes, but a lot of people you don't want to use it as a crutch and you don't want to use it as you know. It might get you through sometimes, but overall I like to think it like if you're like your father, nash, when he passed away, it's traumatic, but at the same time, he loved bourbon and he drank bourbon and you, you drank bourbon, but you drink it in perspective, to honor his memory, opposed to forget that he's gone and that Mike, mike, rick, that that was another thing that my dad you know, he, he became an alcoholic and but he liked, uh, mostly his favorite was like Jim Beam and traveling all over the world and stuff.
Speaker 5:over the years he and when the decanters came out, he started collecting all these decanters from like Jim Beam, wild Turkey, jim Dent, jw Dent and you know all different kinds. And so when he passed away in 99, I was five boys and five girls, I was the only one that went into the service out of those 10 kids and I went into the army. So his collection, so when he, he was electing these decanters, my, my mom, she'd say these decanters, when he'd bring them in it was like, oh, you're not gonna open that one, it's going. She, she'd put it up on her shelf. So that's how, all of a sudden we he had accumulated like, or my mom had accumulated over 50-something decanters that were full.
Speaker 5:So when he passed away, and then my brother's sister's like you know you were your dad's son, you know that went in the service. You deserve all these. And then all the pictures and the accommodations, awards and all that because he's got a presidential accommodation from serving in all four branches too. Wow, and I got all that because he's got a presidential accommodation from being serving in all four branches too. Wow, and I, I got all that stuff and uh. But I've got all these decanters and that's one thing that I do is each year when we come up on our kentucky bourbon tour or during the kentucky bourbon festival, we go on a bus tour, I always bring one of these old decanters and open it up on the bus tour and share with everybody. That's cool and that's you know. It's just so much fun to do that and let people taste this stuff. And I know, like I say, my dad's looking down and that's what makes me feel good.
Speaker 5:I never got into whiskey and bourbon until like six years ago, in 2019, and that's about the same time. I met Jeff when I came through the Kentucky Bourbon Festival and happened to see his picture on the festival page that he was presenting a picture to Fred and Freddie Ngo he had painted, and I just started following it on Facebook. I just messaged him. I just found an old Booker's bottle. So that's how we became brothers from another mother. That's awesome.
Speaker 1:So that's how all that became about, Although we do have two decanters that are the same, and that was when they were your mother's. So I honor that decanter because that was one of the a lot of the decanters that survived really well were the ones that Super Nash's mom coveted.
Speaker 5:Yeah, like I said, if she'd see something that looked really nice and all it would go on her shelves and all where she collected stuff from all over the world, you know, and you know ceramic stuff and all this but when he brought that decanter in nope, nope, there it goes on the shelf.
Speaker 4:She was a smart woman, right? Yes, she was.
Speaker 1:All right, we should wrap up, we should get ready, summarize.
Speaker 1:Give us your website all the information how people can find out about your bourbon and get it online. Just give us all the information there and then we'll summarize that up. We'll end the audio at that. After you do that, I'll do my little thing. We'll. We'll end with our, our uh favorite song and then, uh, if you don't mind, we well, I think it's getting late tonight. We'll just, and then we'll just end it. On facebook. There's a couple people who have a couple questions. I I'll just. Maybe we can take them and you guys can answer them. We're here.
Speaker 4:First. First of all, connie and Super Nash, thanks for having us on your podcast and Greg, thanks for joining us and kind of bringing us into this family. You know, if you go to F-O-U-R fourbranchescom, you'll see all the story and you'll have all the links to information. If you're in one of the seven states I mentioned, you can go out. There's a find locator. Put your zip code in it. It'll tell you where the nearest location is, and that again is Kentucky, tennessee, virginia, dc, maryland, Florida and Arizona. You can order your product. We ship to 39 different states and that's where probably half of our products go out through DTC. Go to YouTube. You'll see probably 30 to 40 different videos. We were on.
Speaker 4:Fox and Friends. Last weekend, a few months prior, we were on NBC Today Show. You know we're very apolitical. You know we don't get into it. There are four guys that have served our country and done some pretty you know some pretty unique things. It's hard to describe that, but we bleed red, white and blue. There's one thing where we feel we need to do a better job, and that's bringing our country together in a more unified area. A country divided cannot stand alone. You just can't do that. So you know we want to bring people back closer to the middle, and that's why things like sitting around telling stories and reminiscing about your dad you know, nash, that is so cool, that's exactly what it's about and honoring those individuals. So thank you guys again for allowing us to be part of your show. And I only have one question, and that's where did you get Scotchy Boys at? Where does that come from?
Speaker 1:The Scotchy Bourbon Boys Scotchy.
Speaker 4:Bourbon Boys.
Speaker 1:So we are not. What would you say? We're bourbon heavy, but we also look into other brands. So we were whiskey scotch.
Speaker 5:So initially, when we were trying to figure out what to do, we were tasting a lot of scotches and Will Ferrell was Anchorman and his favorite thing was super nash but, to be honest, how they really started becoming bourbon and whiskey heavy is because when I messaged him back in 2019 and I started they, I was able to get things down here in South Carolina that he couldn't get in Ohio. He's like well, how can I get it? Well, I'll ship it to you. I don't even know you, it don't matter. I shipped it up to them. I was shipping them barrel picks of 1792 and stuff like that. And so then all of a sudden, you know I was getting things from all over, and so here you got to taste this, let's taste this on the podcast, and we were just really starting out picking things from the bottom shelf and tasting them and giving our own tasting notes and learning about it, because we were all just getting into it.
Speaker 5:Well then I was coming up with some amazing bottles because I was just traveling all over with my work and sending them up, bottles after bottles, after bottles, and sending them up bottles after bottles, after bottles and the next I mean so we were tasting whiskey and bourbon, every other podcast, and so that's basically how we became, and then, through our wonderful friend Greg, you know, starting to meet more and more people and introducing us to all the right people at the right time. You know in Kentucky and all in Indiana, that we were able to expand and just get to know everybody, and that's how we expanded into more, into bourbon and whiskey, wouldn't you say? Jeff.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, and then there's always the time period this is this last story when I met Super Nash. He came up for a meeting of the Scotchy Bourbon Boys and he brought Sherry, his now wife, who he was not married to. Well, she found out that her knee was injured and when they went back home this was the greatest time period in my life. She had to move in with him and when she moved in, nash basically had bourbon bottles in every nook and cranny in his house.
Speaker 1:We are talking about closets, spare bedroom, even where you keep the pans In the kitchen cabinets.
Speaker 1:Where you keep the pots and pans. So she moves in and the first thing I do is I get this, this package, it's like 75 pounds, and it comes up and there's like 14 bottles. And then another month, another one comes and I'm like what's going on? He goes well, I got to supply you guys with bottles for the podcast. And I'm like, yeah'm like what's going on? He goes well, I gotta supply you guys with bottles for the podcast. And I'm like, yeah, but what's going on? He's like. He's like I had to make, make room for sherry to put some pots and pans and some plates in the cupboard, so. So then they broke up, and then they broke up for a little bit and they were not whatever, and then they got together and eventually got married. But but when they were getting back together, I was like, are you going to move her in? Because I was just like wondering what kind of like, cause he's probably filled it all again. So it was a great story.
Speaker 5:Oh yeah, yeah, that was. That was a great time.
Speaker 1:All right, so did that answer your question.
Speaker 5:It did All right, greg.
Speaker 1:Do you have any final things before we sign out?
Speaker 6:No, I don't, you know. As always, guys, it's always a pleasure. I appreciate you guys and what you do so much because you bring a whole new light, a whole new exposure to what we do in this industry and what I've done for 40, over 47 years now and, as you know, I love and appreciate you guys and thanks so much for having us on. Hopefully your listeners enjoyed and, you know, resonated with what Mike and Rick had to say tonight and so again, I'm just honored, very privileged to be working with them, this great brand. There's good things to come down the road and looking forward to the future.
Speaker 1:Same here, All right. Thanks, Rick and Mike and Greg for joining us tonight.
Speaker 5:Well, we have Mike and we have Greg, Rick. Any last words that you'd like to say?
Speaker 3:You know, first of all, thanks for I'll reiterate what they said guys, thanks for having us on. It's been a great time. You know, anytime we can get together and have a pour and share and tell the story. That's really impactful and meaningful. You know, hearing the story of Super Nashville by your dad is probably one of the coolest things I've heard in a long time. In fact, I don't know anybody who's been in all four branches and now I've met somebody whose father was in the four branches.
Speaker 5:I wish I'd had time to grab a picture of them, and all that.
Speaker 4:Next time.
Speaker 1:On the next one.
Speaker 5:I will grab some pictures and show of each one.
Speaker 3:I'd love to see that, we'd all love to see that. You know the other guys on here. Um, guys, it's been great. Um, thank you for having us. You know, and hopefully the member, the viewership out there goes to, you know, forbranchescom learns a little bit more and as I end up and every podcast, with telling people hey, let's have a sip to remember when you have a pour.
Speaker 1:All right. So remember everybody, Cheers, Cheers, Remember everybody. Wwwscotchiebourbonboyscom for all your Scotchie Bourbon Boys merchandise. We've got Blank Karens, We've got T-shirts, Check us out, Check out the bios and everything. And we're approaching our 500th podcast coming up. I believe it's going to probably be late August, so that's kind of cool to be able to be around for 500 podcasts. And then also we are on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X, along with Apple iHeart and Spotify. Whether you watch us or you listen to us, remember to make sure you like listen. Comment completely reiterated good bourbon equals good times and good friends. Make sure that you drink responsibly, don't drink and drive, and drink honorably, and make sure you live your life uncut and unfiltered.
Speaker 5:And little Steve-o will take us one more thing, okay, I just want to give a shout out to all the uh veterans and military whiskey and bourbon groups that, uh, I belong to and that I've shared to. I appreciate each and every one of y'all listening, tuning in, watching this and like us and give these guys a like go to their website If you can patronize them and because they're doing great things and just want to thank each and every one of y'all and every one of y'all that have served. Thank you. And super Nash.
Speaker 1:Little Steve-O's going gonna take us out.
