Happy New Year from the Whiskey Chasers!

Happy New Year! For today's episode, we talk about the future of whiskey and what we think will happen in the coming year for our spirit of choice!

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:09

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

SPEAKER_01 0:29

So I presented this idea to Steve, and it what cracks me up is what I had in mind, no one went with. And what I love about that is the idea that it goes along with all the bottles that we have. Everything is subjective to the person that hears it and goes, Oh, I have this idea, or tries the whiskey and goes, Oh, I have this memory, or this reminds me of this.

SPEAKER_03 0:49

Or sometimes when you hear their reasoning behind it, then all of a sudden it makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

Right. Yeah. So I came to Steve and I was like, look, for Christmas, we'll do what's our favorite for the year past of what we did. For New Year's, I think it'd be really cool to do what do we for what do we predict or foresee for the future? Like for this year. What do we hope for? Right. That's part of the predicting of like, what do we hope for? Because part of your your prediction is like, man, I'm really hoping that it's this, but I'm going to say the confidence of predicting that it's going to be this, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:18

Like I might be able to predict something, but that's not what I hope for, right? Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

I can wish for something. It's New Year's, right? Right, exactly. So I have this idea in mind. And the idea was what brands do we see in the year 2026 coming like really uh coming out with some crazy stuff that people need to look out for. Or we think that they're gonna be making moves that no one else is gonna be watching for. But do we catch the train now or do we let it ride out, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:47

The idea of I told you so.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Yes. Yeah. Like what would that look like? But it what's interesting is as I told that to Steve, I was like, that's what everyone's gonna come to the table with. And I'm pretty sure that I'm the only one that came to the table with that idea. And I love that kind of mine's more about what I want to see.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

Probably not gonna happen. Which I love. Three of us have different versions of this prompt. Yeah, yep.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

So which is fitting because that that's that's been us this entire well, we're going into year six now, right? So like that's us for this entire podcast, right? And like you would think like maybe we get on the same page for one thing, but no, but that's what works. Can't change who we are, right? You can't change, can't deny who we are. We're we're never on the same page, but we're reading the same book. That's what this is, right?

SPEAKER_03 2:39

Here we most of the time we did it. We are never on the same page. Uh very few times are we like, I no, yeah, I just don't, I'm not not even understanding where you're coming from.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

We're normally uh reading the same book, just on a very different page from each other.

SPEAKER_03 2:53

I got excited watching you open that bottle. I just love it. Like, it's like whether I'm the one opening it or not, I want to see a bottle getting opened. Yeah, opening a bottle, it's it's just a great view. Yeah, it's like you ever seen those videos where people are like unboxing things? They shoot you videos of just people opening bottles. I'd watch it.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

You do realize I have yet to open. Well, I take that back. Last Saturday, I finally opened one bottle from our our trip to Pennsylvania for the podcast. This is the second bottle that I've opened. Everything else has been I've kind of tucked away and sealed up.

SPEAKER_03 3:23

Yeah, it's a busy time of year.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Well, it's it's for a good reason, too, you know. Like that's saving it back. Yeah, I'm saving, I'm trying to save it for a reason. The liquor cabinet at the end of the stairs has become the duplicate bottle or the unopened bottle. I like it. So I don't really touch it. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Yeah, and in the right moment, I'll pull it out and I'll open it.

SPEAKER_03 3:42

New Year's. Can you believe it? Yeah, 2026. 2026. 25 flew by. It really did come in a weird way. Yeah, it was a weird year. Like when you think about like there's some things that stick out, and you're like, oh, yeah, you know, but then there's a lot of it that move fast, you know. It's strange when you think about how certain things are slow and certain things are fast. Looking back at 2025, you had a kid. I had I had my third, yeah. You had your third kid.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

Big big year. Yeah, that's a pretty big year.

SPEAKER_03 4:14

It's a big year, but yeah. And like I said, there's some things that are just like, wow, was that this year or last year? And like so fast, right? And there's some things that were like, no, that was a big deal. You know, that was that took a while to get through, or or many sleepless nights, or you know, something like that. A lot of big changes for everybody, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

A lot of big changes in 2025.

SPEAKER_03 4:36

Just makes you think that's what I always think about this time of year. Is like, what is next year gonna bring? Like, you just don't know. Like, it could be a lot, it could be a little, it could be a big growing year, but nothing happens, or it could be the other way around. For me, 2025 was a hurry up and wait year.

SPEAKER_02 4:55

It was I I I got we got all the work done for like licensing and everything to for the adoption stuff. So, you know, so now we we we got our license and everything is good, and now we're just waiting. Yeah, so now we're just waiting for a kid to show up. So now it's it, you know, it's just hurrying up and getting all that stuff done. It's weird how it's so hard to do nothing. Yeah, it is the worst. It's like so hard. Like it's the first class of the year. I was like, this is this is good. We got things, I got a checklist, I got stuff to do. Now the checklist is done. Now it's just waiting around.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

And it's not like you can create another checklist on top of that. You gotta fill the time, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

There really isn't a lot extra to do. We already checked it twice, right? Yeah, gotta find out, yeah. I haven't found out if they're not your nice yet. So, but yeah, and like uh uh I'm in I'm in school and everything, and and that's been like flying, but I'm I'm still in the hurry up phase of that. The wait part is coming later, but still hurrying up through that one. But it was like a year of of doing a lot of stuff, but without the reward at the end. I'm still climbing the mountain, but I'm I haven't gotten to the peak yet. So it was a year of that, which is still nice. It's still I I enjoy the journey, which is good. But there's a lot of anticipation, but there's a lot of anticipation building, so it's like, man, that's now I'm like in the next couple of years, big things are gonna happen. It's just a matter of waiting for that to happen. You're gonna want it to slow down, and it's just gonna go faster, right? Yeah, I feel like I'm not it's it's not really climbing a mountain, it's clicking up a mountain on a roller coaster.

SPEAKER_03 6:26

No, no, it's it's that thing in Gatlinburg that where it just you've you seen that, like the thing that goes up the side of the mountain, and it's like click.

SPEAKER_02 6:33

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:35

Like the ski lift the bigger water.

SPEAKER_03 6:38

Whatever it's called, or or in the St. Louis, the uh have you ever gone up the Archie? Oh, the Archie, yeah. It's like okay, I'm glad I'm moving, but we are going pretty slow. Right. It's it's taking quite a while. I guess we're getting somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 6:50

A lot of anticipation, right? And like you said, predictions, those went out the window a long time ago. And uh no, you never know what's gonna happen. Oh, I'm gonna try. Oh, I we're gonna try and talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

I haven't lost hope in predictions, guys.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

Yeah, nickname predictions kind of guy. Don't worry, I'm still making predictions. I've yet to lose hope in predictions. I've just decided they're gonna not work out. I find a way to make it work.

SPEAKER_03 7:16

Most of the time, if it doesn't work out the way you planned, that's a good thing. It's all right, it still works. We always think that the way we planned it's right, but very seldom in my life, yeah, I was exactly on on. This is I'm so glad it turned out this way.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Yeah. So, Nick, your original plan was distilleries are gonna take off. What distilleries is gonna take off?

SPEAKER_01 7:36

So I had a all so the idea was I'm gonna bring a bottle out of the distilleries, I think, and we're gonna narrow it down to one, which is really hard to do, guys. If you think about it in my my terms, but I don't want to predict.

SPEAKER_03 7:47

I didn't have the hardest job.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

It was my own instructions, I guess. Kind of hard not to follow them. But I looked at like all craft, right? Big names are always gonna find something to try to take off with, and they're gonna come out with Eagle Wear coming out with 12 year. Like it's just stupid at that point. But I looked at Liberty Pull, I looked at Wiggle, and I looked at New Holland Brewing. Those are like the three that we've had on the podcast, like either bottle or interview. They looked at and went, man, those are the companies I think are gonna the craft distilleries that need to be watched out for. They're gonna really take off. But then I had to narrow it down to one, and I narrowed it down to Liberty Pole, which I feel like that's kind of a not a cop-out, but like No, but it makes sense.

SPEAKER_03 8:31

It makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

I think we all thought about it, right? And it was so hard because it came down to Wiggle and Liberty Pole because both of them, the desire to want to push and to be pushed, want to be on that edge, yeah. Like our kind of spreading their wings and really taking on. And and preparing for something more. The fact that they have a five-story Liberty Pole has a five-story Rick House.

SPEAKER_03 8:53

They they got everything, they got everything in place, they just need to start moving into different states and whatnot.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Everything in place to start letting things grow, and they've done everything right, they've they have tried everything right. I was kicking myself in the rear that I couldn't take off the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to go get the bottles, the finished bottles, because they were just so different and so good and so unique. The whole combination of that is really hard to find. But it's also why I sit here and I go, they are the ones to watch. I feel like this year they're the ones to watch out for. I don't think that they believe that they'll be making moves in the whiskey world, but I think that they'll well they'll be making moves.

SPEAKER_03 9:32

Yeah, maybe they don't want to get their hopes up. But I I like you said, there's very seldom do you see somebody do all the right things to make all the right steps, and finally that's coming to flourition. Like it's really kind of like they're starting to put out like some higher age stuff. What they do have is fine-tuned, they're still innovating. They got, like you said, the Rick House.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

Yeah, they've moved them, just built that Rick House, and that's gonna be they got everything that they need in place, makes it so that they can put out some numbers.

SPEAKER_03 10:02

Really, all they need to do, you know, what their next big push is just, and what they're already kind of working on it, but getting into other states and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

Like I yeah, they got their Ohio stuff in order, so that they'll they'll be in Ohio sometime this year in 2026.

SPEAKER_03 10:15

It's a matter of getting people in other states to try their stuff, and once they do, they're they're set. But sometimes things sit on sit on shelves and just never get tried. Right. That's where really like what you do, Steve, comes in. Like they had people that are ambassadors or something that were like opening bottles for when they're in Ohio.

SPEAKER_02 10:32

Let me know. Add me to the payroll. I will gladly do tasting.

SPEAKER_03 10:36

Once people try their stuff and hear a little bit, they're gonna be sold. But uh there, there's many bottles that sit on a shelf never tried, then they wind up on in Ohio, they wind up on the last call show. We don't want that to happen.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

And I think the other thing that the other solidifying idea in my mind of like this is why they'll be the ones to look out for is we're big scotch guys. Somehow, some in shape or form, uh, I have their peated rye and I tried their peated bourbon before the podcast even went there. And I was like, that's okay. But then on the podcast, they brought out the single barrel Peter bourbon. And I'll never uh till this day, I'm like, I I want that bottle because it it tells a story of somehow in America we found a way to take peat, mix it with our product, and get this idea of scotch where each region has a different flavor, each region changes based off of what you use. We we do it with uh with a different mash bill, but somehow they created this way of being able to do it where everyone else is like, ah, that's too much beat, or I don't know, like that's gonna that's gonna not be good.

SPEAKER_03 11:44

Yeah, the idea of taking something that's so um amazing and and and his historically like long as Scotch, but then making it wholly American while while still mix, like like a hundred percent American, but kind of and not stealing from, but taking from something as is is legendary as Scotch, you know.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

I think what excites me the most about that is I looked at American single malt as that idea. Like we're we're we're taking our jab at malt whiskey, right? Yeah, that's almost copying though.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

It's almost it's almost copying. Whereas whereas this, what they have done like taking aspects but making it a wholly American, it's adding to what it's adding to what is already there, more of a nod of respect versus like a copy.

SPEAKER_03 12:36

Not not I don't want to say copycat in a bad way, but you know, like imitation is a highest form of flattery. That's what American single malt is, it's imitation.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

Yeah, it's 100% barley, it's it's really taking more of an Irish look at things and playing around with stuff a little bit scotch-like, but kind of more Irish like honestly. But yeah, but like we when we talk to Wiggle and them kind of really hammering in the the the regionality of it and stuff, like I think American single does have maybe a future in that peated peated bourbon, peted rye.

SPEAKER_03 13:09

What but a peted concept, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

But they they take it to another step where they're like, we're not ashamed or afraid of the peat level.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

We're gonna give you Scotch level peat. But with this, with this American.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

Yeah, yeah. Everyone else, I mean, we've had peated bourbon from other places, and it's like, man, it's good. You can you can taste a hint. It's there, like you really gotta look for it. And here you're like, you don't have to look for it. It's it's it's like it's there, it's in your face. Yeah, it's it's not but somehow you like you smell like oh wow, oh okay, that's that's there, and you try it, and you're like, Okay, okay. I I'm not offended. Like, I'm gonna get behind. Yeah, so that's why I get really excited for Liberty Pole. Like this idea of like, I think they're ones to watch out for this coming year. I think they can really they got a lot going for them, they can really take off.

SPEAKER_03 13:54

They're still innovating.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

It's they got it, they got you know, it's like full steam ahead for them, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:00

I think.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

And they've got the passion behind it to want to to innovate, to want to be challenged. To I mean, just think of the three that they had sitting out, the barrel, the the finishings, like when you throw in the the fact that they're such a strong family.

SPEAKER_03 14:15

Uh yeah, I'm always gonna bet on it. Doesn't matter what it is, I'm always gonna bet on that a strong family, you know, to win out.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Well, even when we were there, do you guys remember what they were putting in the barrel? The cherry bounce. The cherry bounce. Do you remember what they're gonna do with the the barrel once the bounce is out?

SPEAKER_02 14:30

Uh they're gonna finish something in it.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

Yeah, they're gonna finish rye in a rye barrel that's been used for cherry bounce. I I love the concept of that.

SPEAKER_03 14:36

Yeah, because it's only gonna get more and more like like uh not complicated, more and more uh compounded. That's the word. Like they're just gonna keep compounding flavors until they're like, you know, I love that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

They remind me of a young journeyman.

SPEAKER_03 14:50

Yeah, that's what it reminds me of. But with a but with a different sort of twist. Like I love journeyman for a lot of different aspects. If you listen to the podcast, a lot of them we talk about. But Liberty Pole for me has you know a lot of other aspects that that I appreciate as well, you know, and they both have a cool, unique history, but you know, one's more, I don't know, obviously one's more petty, which I love that journeyman in a in a good way, you know. Uh, but the other one's a lot more like I don't want to say American, but it is, you know, but it's also like just pro family, uh, heritage, roots, yeah, you know, and like that's the thing that like Journeyman's got like, you know, we're in this factory and it's cool and all this stuff. And I love that. But with Liberty Pole, it's like we really like where we're from and we want to, you know, like it you see it with the Monica Haler, and then you you see it with they they they love where they're at, you know, they they love their city, they love their their people and their fans. So for those aspects, again, it's like different things that I appreciate about them separately, but very similar about how I feel about them as a whole. I feel like there's not very many that you find out with. Like we this is fun, yeah. We're craft boys. Yeah, that's we can make like a shirt, like we're the craft boys. Craft boys, yeah. Craft boys. Yeah, I I I don't know. Yeah, yeah, I get excited anytime I see Liberty Pole or I talk about it. Obviously, it made a good choice, Nick. Okay, so next, me. Okay, good. Because I want to smoke. I was gonna say you guys have to wait and make your tobacco too. Smoke, but I'll talk about the whiskey. I'll just keep talking so you'll talk about the whiskey first. Um, so I took your direction to be more like, you know, what do you want, what do you hope for? So that's where I'm at. Obviously, I'm a big Canadian guy, so we're gonna throw some Canadian. I like to see more Canadian become more popular, but not just Canadian in general. What I am seeing with Canadian whiskey is a lot more heavily aged stuff, and it's actually starting to get a little bit more in-depth flavors, which I like to see as well. So I actually have a very special Canadian whiskey that you can't really get. You can't really, you can't get I'll talk about that in a minute. But I'm just right now, I'm just speaking to Canadian whiskey in general. I'd like to see. I've made this prediction before in the past. I don't know if it's ever gonna work out. I'd like to see it because I'm selfish and I want to get more of this stuff, but I want to see some heavily aged Canadian whiskey with high proof. That's what I want to see. I'd like to see some of that. I'd like to see maybe more single barrel Canadian whiskey stuff because a lot of it's blended, you know. I'd like to see some like let's dig deep into some Canadian whiskey. Like, because I like the flavors of it. Can't as far as Canada goes, I've never been there. I don't know, I don't know. I don't know about I don't know anything about Canada, but I like the whiskey, I like it, which is something that a lot of people aren't into. Yeah, I still think that it's kind of an untapped thing. Most of the time with Canadian whiskey, what you get is cheap mixer, whatever. But there are good, like this one, Canadian whiskeys out there. This one was a special gift from Nick, obviously. This was for Obviously, obviously, obviously, he gives me the best. I love the obviously, uh obviously because he gives me the best ones, man. But anyway, this one was for my third, right? Actually, that was for June. Yeah, and I got this, so it's been a few months, and this one's 34 years old.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

I think this might be the only one we actually opened in the hospital. Yeah, the other ones we opened here at home.

SPEAKER_03 18:18

I was gonna say we actually have a photo of it. Yeah, yeah. Maybe we should add the photo. I don't know. But literally, she's like born a couple hours later, we're popping this bottle. That's literally how we roll at this point. In the hospital room. So 34 years old. This is a handy spot liquor. Starting to start to become a theme, I guess, for me. I don't know. He does good picks, he does good picks, it's it's pretty cool, it's very limited, very, very limited, obviously. Now, this is a Canadian whiskey, people. I want you to listen to this. Pay attention 149.80 proof. That's insane, and it's 34 years old. That's Canadian whiskey. That's pretty exciting. Oh, 150 proof?

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Yeah, it does not drink like a Canadian, it's fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 18:59

Smashable barrel company. So uh, you know, we did a little bit of, and this is a single barrel, by the way. So, this is what I want to see. This is that's why I picked this bottle, besides its sentimental value. I want to see more of this stuff in the market. What's cool about Canadian whiskey is you are getting a I've talked about this, you get a lot of bang for your buck because usually, I mean, I'll this one was probably crazy, but a lot of times you can get a Canadian whiskey around this, maybe not this proof point, but for decently priced compared to like what you like you imagine a 34-year-old bourbon. What the hell? You know, like that is not gonna be cheap, you know what I mean? Five-six hundred bucks at least more sometimes, yeah. So Canadian whiskey for what it is, you get a lot of bang for your buck. But yeah, this one is pretty cool, distilled in Canada. This is a Nashville company, but they source it so. But is it's a single barrel Canadian whiskey. Like, Nick picked a perfect bottle for me, 34 years old, almost as old as I am. Geez, it was on purpose, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:55

Yeah, believe it or not.

SPEAKER_03 19:58

Two years away. Yeah, I mean that's crazy. I was two years old, and this thing was put in a barrel, yeah, and it's a single barrel, so it's so cool.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

Well, it's crazy to me is your idea isn't too far-fetched because Canadian whiskey has so much to offer that the Canada doesn't touch, and most American companies don't touch. Oh, what's the pig? Uh whistlebig? Whistle whistlepig is was Canadian. Their idea was cheap to to make a profit. Then you've got Pendleton out of uh Vermont. No, they're Pendletons out of Utah or Wyoming.

SPEAKER_02 20:32

I think it's out of Wyoming. Whistlepigs out of Vermont.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Yeah, whistlepigs out of Vermont.

SPEAKER_03 20:36

You've got companies that are bringing down Canadian whiskey for the cheap aspect, but when you don't take it cheap and you do this, when you do it right because what a Canadian is, is it's rye and it's got some sweet aspects to it. But the problem is it's so they make so much of it, so mass produced that they just it it yeah, it ends up being very cheap, underaged, underproofed. When you take a Canadian like this and you put that much proof on it, like I'm tasting this right now, I'm just like, holy hell! Like you get so much flavor, it's still sweet, it's almost like a fit, like a finishing at this point, because the sweetness doesn't take over when it's that high a proof, the sweetness is there, but it is not clawing, like it is not it's like caramelizing me. Yeah, it's not smothering me. Like, so because you get a lot of proof, you get a lot of rye, and you know, you're still getting that sweetness. So for me, for like I like cognacs, I like finished uh whiskeys, but I still like my spice and I like my proof. It's all the things, it's all the things, it's everything you want, yeah, and more. So I want to see more of this. This is what I'm hoping for in the future. I want to be able to, I want more of an option when it comes to Canadian whiskey. I don't want to just go there and be like blah, blah, blah. You know, I want to see You don't want crown royal? I don't mind. There's some crown I like. We've talked about them. You like the chocolate? A lot of its junk. Yeah. Shut up. Growth. Actually, I haven't had chocolate. I haven't had it. I don't want to. I don't want it. Oh, Oregon. That's what it is. That'd be cool though, right? See some Canadian whiskey that's like legit, like proud to be Canadian whiskey. Like, like, let's offer some products that you're not embarrassed about, right? Like, you're not putting Canadian like Frown Royal on your freaking top shelf, right? So, anyway, all that to be said, I'm gonna grab my pipe tobacco. Yeah, what are you smoking with this? I don't really know how it's gonna go. I have a feeling it's gonna go well because it is sweet. But I wanted to talk about this because this is actually what I'm going to be trying to smoke more of, not this specific one, but in the in 2026, what I want to do, this one surprised me. It's the most surprising tobacco I've had in a while. I don't know if you remember when me opening this. Herm's gonna love this if he's listening, because it's Cornell and Deal Pennington Gap. Oh, Pennington Gap, yep. And I remember opening this thing and being like, wow, I really did not expect to like this so much. And I can't remember if we opened that. I think it was this year. Yeah, pretty sure. I think it was. Uh, it's so much like, you know, kind of that Christmassy winter time, you know, springtime a little bit, but really winter time. Smoky mountain kind of campfire, or or really like fireplace kind of a smell. It's it's an aromatic kind of, it's you know, kind of burly, kind of Virginia. It's kind of it's got a lot of different aspects going on. But for me, it's not something I normally gravitate to, especially because it is a little bit more aromatic than some, but it does have Parik in it, you know what I mean? Which is kind of it's the thing that surprised me the most. Like, oh, this actually has a little bit more spice than I thought it would. But I'm gonna try to smoke more of this kind of stuff. And what I mean by this kind of stuff is surprising, like, like out, like off-road. That's what it is. Because I do smoke a lot of like safe things, you know what I mean? And I have kind of taken a way back seat on English tobaccos, and I've been smoking a whole lot more non-English tobaccos. And I've it's been a long time since I've smoked more aromatic tobaccos. And again, this isn't aromatic air quotes, but it is more aromatic. It's got some bourbon topping to it. But I think I might kind of go off-road this year with pipe tobacco. I might be getting a little bit loose with it because this thing surprised the heck out of me. I remember popping this and being like, I'm not gonna like it, or it'll be okay. And I've smoked damn near this whole candy. It sounds pretty empty. It sounds pretty empty. Yeah. And I mean, this thing is. Do you have anything left in it? No, and I want to get a lot more. Like, this is this has become like like there's probably, I could probably give you 10 or 15 tens that I'd be like, I don't want to live without these. This has become one of those, which I can't believe that.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

What's the aspect that you're like, I don't know that I would like this? Is it the top the more of the topping aromatic kind of feel?

SPEAKER_03 24:49

Yeah, so I mean, they you're they're calling it an all-American blend with a southern accent. Right there, I'm like, okay, this is gonna be like an aromatic. You know what I mean? Do you feel like it's gimmicky? Is that what comes from? When I think aromatic, I think Cornell and Deal is always quality, but I when you get in aromatics, you're starting to get more into like, it's like flavored whiskey. Like, how well are they gonna do it? You know what I mean? Is it gonna be overpowered by some sort of weird thing? But when I was like so nutty, Q cut burly, which I like, but then black Cavendish, which I don't typically smoke, because again, that is a it's a processed tobacco that is usually used in aromatics and when whatever, whatever. But then, okay, they put some Louise Amprique in here, which I'm cool with, and then finished with bourbon for a touch of southern hospitality. So to me, this seems like it's been topped with a casing, you know, or uh topped with a condiment that's gonna make it more aromatic. I didn't think I was gonna like it. I thought it was gonna take taste artificial, whatever it is. This is like real tobacco, through and through real tobacco with a good amount of spice, and the Cavendish is done right. Like it actually is got some vanilla, it's got the bourbon in there, it smells amazing, it smokes the flavor, it is really good. For me, it's kind of like sweet tea from the south. It's not fake, it's still got that real tea, but it's sweet. So, again, for me, I think what I'm going to do in uh this year to come is maybe smoke a little bit more stuff that I've been kind of neglecting, but I still don't want it to be like aromatic, but I I think I might go a little bit more wild with it than I have in the last couple years. I mean, just smell that. You just expect that to be more like it smells like you want to eat it, and usually that doesn't translate to smoking, but they got it, they nailed it. Like Cornell and Deal nailed this one, like it's become one of my favorite. Like, for this year, I've smoked a lot of it. It's become one of my favorite like uh blends of this year.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

What's interesting, I think it's taken me a while to realize what it is. The smell of tobacco, I think one of the reasons why I like the stuff that you have isn't so much that it's aromatic or has this. My grandparents growing up uh outside of their my grandpa's like barn shed wood shop, he had it on the back side and off to like the right hand side. And there was a like a grape site that he helped take care of, right? It was right beside it. But they had, I don't know why, if my grandma made jam every year or what it was, but they always had more like wine grapes and the on grape vines that hung on the back and on the side. And they did, it was more muscadine kind of grape, but they did white and they did red, and that mixed with like the flowers from like fresh flowers from the gravesite, have it's like that sweet floral, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:27

It's kind of boozy, kind of sour, kind of that's what they have going on with the Parique. It's a little sour, and that's what it reminds me of. Like walking through that, that that they had an archway that had the vines going up over you, and so like walking through that and smelling all the grapes and all the kind of matured kind of uh what's that word when you uh you when wine becomes alcoholic or grape juice? Fermented fermented, yeah. Yeah, that's the word. Yeah, and I love that. I I like fermented type stuff, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 27:56

It reminds me of like walking through that with like grandma and grandpa trying to get like pick off the fresh the grapes ready to go.

SPEAKER_03 28:01

Yeah, and I just think it's surprising because I I bought this tin, not really think anything about it, and it sat for a while, and then when we finally cracked it open, I just was kind of really kind of thrown back a little bit. Like I did not think that this was going to be such a powerhouse. And then I just the more and more I smoked it, I'm like, I love this. And it's one of the few tins that really smells for me fantastic and smokes just like the taste is just as fantastic. Yeah, like the room note on this thing or the car note, like when you come back to your car after you smoked in it. For me, that's a big thing. Like, God, it smells great in here. It's freaking fantastic! Yeah, so that's what I'm gonna smoke this and I'm gonna drink this 34-year-old Canadian whiskey and I'm gonna have a good time.

SPEAKER_02 28:44

Welcome 2026. It's a good way of doing it. Steve, what do you got going? I took our our our prompt for this as things that I want to see within craft whiskey for the next year. So, like, what what am I aiming? What am I what do I want to see? So uh, because of that, I took this bottle, which have you had any of this? It doesn't look like you've opened it very much. Uh no, I cracked it for this. Okay. Okay, I cracked it for this. Okay, um, and we're not gonna talk a ton about this particular bottle. Like I cracked it and uh uh it's certainly not the best thing I've had, but it is a very young distillery, and uh, and so it's it's called uh Wood Hat Spirits. Is it out of Missouri? Okay, and this is an 80-proof whiskey that is it it says in the back it's aged at least two years in small barrels, so they're doing a small barrel kind of thing, but it's 80-proof and and all that. So, like bliquin' side is fine, there's nothing incredible about cloudy looking, very cloudy, it's very cloudy.

SPEAKER_03 29:48

Anybody in the club's like aye, that sounds familiar, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:52

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's it's not bad, it's just not a great bottle. But this is called the all an all-American whiskey, red, white, and blue corn. So this is made with red, white, and blue corn. It doesn't have a mash bill on it, but obviously it's a high corn mash bill. And the main thing I'm I'm going with this is is unique grain, I think, is is something that a lot of people are doing. We've already ran into it. There's lots of people that have picked up on the bloody butcher and are starting to do more of that. We've seen some of like the Belcone baby blue corn that's using some blue corn. We got Monongahala rye, purple corn, too. We got purple corn, got the wopsy, the wopsy. Yeah, so lots of just unique grains that I think people are starting to pick up on. The finishing stuff has been around for a while, and I think that's going to continue. That's always been a big, a big thing craft and craft whiskey because it's something that can you can do to kind of make yourself unique. Also, it's a good way to cover up some young whiskey. You can manipulate your spirit a little bit too. Exactly. Which, if you're a if you're a new craft distillery, you kind of need to do that at the start because you're pushing out a lot of young stuff, so you need to, you know, do something to it. But as these craft distilleries now, the the craft boom has been going on for a little while. So these craft distilleries are a little bit older, that they're putting out some some older stuff. They don't need the finishings as much because of that. And I think they're gonna start playing around with grain more as time goes on. So, what uh what grain do you think is next?

SPEAKER_01 31:27

Because we, I mean, obviously, this year alone, we've gone through quite a bit of different corn, yeah, like different variants for corn and a few unique ryes, right? So, what do you think is next? Do you think we're gonna jump into like different types of rye even more?

SPEAKER_02 31:41

Or I think they'll I think there'll be more rice. Okay, I also think and rye in particular is is going regional. You have lots of which we we called that years ago. Right, yeah. It's becoming more of a thing.

SPEAKER_03 31:54

Lots of these Pennsylvania road varieties of or varietal corn that could be utilized. Oh, we'll look at uh Journeyman did a they used to pop the corn, yeah. And it actually was turned out great, but like that's a different thing. Like, there's more corn that can be utilized in in uh in other things, I'm sure. Seen a lot more malted type stuff too, exactly different types of malt.

SPEAKER_02 32:15

Malting, I think, is is becoming a bigger thing. I mean, can you malt corn? Yeah, probably.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

You can malt corn, it's just getting away. It's just yeah, soaking. Have we seen that?

SPEAKER_02 32:24

I've not seen malt. Maybe I just made something up. I've seen malted wheats, malted barley, and and malted rye.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

Malted rye. What about malted corn could be a thing?

SPEAKER_02 32:33

So maybe some malting, and also I think some like peeding.

SPEAKER_03 32:36

And I think I think I think more people will different variations of all the all the all they're in, and then different combinations and stuff that you make all t there's still tons of room for like changes and variation in the spirit world, right?

SPEAKER_02 32:50

And people care a little less about bourbon than they used to, it's becoming more of a whiskey thing, a little bit more of a whiskey thing. So I think more people are able to get out there and maybe not play around in the bourbon world, but in the whiskey world. What'd you find there, Nick?

SPEAKER_01 33:04

Frey Ranch actually does 100% malted corn bourbon.

SPEAKER_02 33:07

Oh, well, there you go.

SPEAKER_01 33:08

It's not normal.

SPEAKER_03 33:09

This is something that I'm I didn't come up with, but I I kind of kind of did.

SPEAKER_01 33:14

You envisioned it. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna say it was me, but I mean right.

SPEAKER_02 33:18

Come on, guys. So, yeah, that's that's my vision for for what's gonna happen in the in the craft world is more playing around with and advertising more grain, different ingredients, yeah, which is fun.

SPEAKER_01 33:30

I I think one of the draws and excitement for little book is doing that within a I want to say within containment. And what I mean by that is you're you're a big distillery, big company, and people know uh what your flavor is, so you can't really change it up too much and expect people to want to go for your stuff. Little book doesn't necessarily change the growing type, but it changes enough to where people are like, oh oh, this is something new. I I I never knew I never thought you could do this. I never thought you could blend this or mix this, which no one else, big name distillery-wise, A, is willing to take the risk, or B, could take the risk and people be all right with it. Yeah, but then you dive into these smaller guys that are still trying, the ones that are actually trying, and you've got this new world that they could do whatever the hell they want within just very small parameters, and people be like, I'll try it, I'll take a bottle. I I think that would be interesting. I think that'd be unique. I'll I'll do that. But then you also have within this world the small guys that want to be the big guys, right? So not saying that these guys want to be the big guys, but good times. You've ever have you ever heard of good times? They're like uh the World Whiskey Society. They don't make anything, they buy up all these different barrels and they finish in all these unique types of you know alt sourcing, three, four blend or three, four finishings, but they let them sit in eight in shipping containers. That to me screams as as weird as it sounds, that screams Sazrak, that screams big name of like we're not gonna do very much because if we if we go too far off the path, we might lose a lot. But then you got guys that are we could go off the path, we can go off the beaten path and we could try something new, and it might work. And I feel like we might be at that point, we might be at that point that we I think what we all have is we're going off what we are predictions are off the beaten path.

SPEAKER_03 35:32

And I feel like we're at that point where we're gonna be able to do that. I think there's a there's a reason to have respect for not risking too much, however, it comes to a point in your life where or wherever you're at where after a while maybe you've played it safe too long or too much. And it's time for I'm not saying to completely like just throw, you know, throw yourself to the wind, but there does come a time to take a little risk. And almost even when you fail, you almost rejoice in it because finally doing something a little bit out of my comfort zone or whatever it is, you know, whether that's you know, the the spirits we're gonna try or the tobacco we're gonna smoke or just choices we're gonna make in life. Again, not saying you need to have a healthy respect for outside parameters, but sometimes it's okay to you know get a little wild with it, you know, like just have fun. Life is short, let's have fun uh without you know going too crazy, you know. But let loose, let your hair down exactly.

SPEAKER_02 36:30

And in the craft world in particular, there the the whiskey kind of system as a whole is not doing great right now. There are lots of people falling off the whiskey train, the spirits world is kind of falling off, younger people aren't drinking as much, all that kind of good stuff.

SPEAKER_03 36:46

So you don't want to do anything as a new distiller, it's gonna completely throw you into bankruptcy, right?

SPEAKER_02 36:51

But at the same time, there's been lots of consolidation and lots of craft distillers closing. And I think most of that are people that weren't trying something new, they're trying to be Sassy. Something else trying to be silly to that point.

SPEAKER_03 37:04

What I don't want to see, and what I'm afraid of seeing, because we have been seeing it, what I don't want to see is more and more of these really cool companies that are doing well and they're starting to get momentum, and then they sell out because they're getting a and look, I don't blame them. Like if I had a family and all of a sudden I'm getting offered a ton of money and I could I could just go retire for the rest of you know, and then take my family with me. Like, yeah, sure, like I get it, like sell out, you know. But on the other hand, like it's not gonna be the same. You're when you get when you get brought in like that, it's just you're you're kind of you're almost just letting them stay where they're at. And that's why they're kind of there buying you out. So you don't challenge them eventually down the road.

SPEAKER_01 37:44

One of my favorite things, uh, quotes, I guess you can call it, things that was said, we brought up this idea of being bought out, right? Why do you do what you do? Starting the distillery. And Jim made a comment at Liberty Poll that selling out in five years or selling out in general to a big name was never in the cards.

SPEAKER_00 38:03

You gotta respect that.

SPEAKER_01 38:04

I respect the crud out of that. But one of the reasons why I respect that, I look at them as a whole and what they do. They're not big into the finishings, they do some cool finishings, but when I say they're not big into the finishings, and to go along with the idea of the grain, the number of distilleries that uh brands that have come out that rely heavily on the finishings, and then rely heavily on people spending two, three, four hundred bucks on their bottles because of the unique finishings versus the smaller guys that say that was never in the cards, you know, that that was never part of the deal why we did this. They go for the unique grains that are maybe cheaper or more expensive, but either way, they come out selling the bot per bottle they sell way cheaper than any other finished product. And to me, I look at that and I go, I support that. Mainly because it's it's like looking at we grew up all grew up country, farmers around us. The farmers they are the struggling compared to the finishing, right? They're they're they're doing that for a passion, they're not necessarily doing that because it makes a ton of money, but they enjoy what they plant, they enjoy the time they get to harvest, they enjoy the ins and the outs of that. And while this bottle may not be fantastic, it's a it's a strive towards something more. It's the idea of if I can play with the grain, if I can play with with what grows in the ground, then maybe I could I could challenge people and their thoughts and their views and their opinions on this, and maybe get a following that says, you know what? I I I trust you. You you've done enough good stuff, enough challenging, but enough promise at the same time with the challenge that I'm gonna go with you. I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna go with you.

SPEAKER_03 39:52

You can get the fans that are uh you know just chasing the spirit and and and they like it, you know. Those people are also gonna have, and you don't, and you know, the big ones like Jim Beam, they don't get this, but the small guys like that are always gonna have the people that are more willing to pay more money and go to a local hardware store than Lowe's. And there's a lot of people out there like like that. I'm like that, and Steve, you're like that, Nick. I think you're like that. There's a lot of people out there that are like that that are never gonna change that. I would rather pay a little bit more money and go to a hardware store than to the big box store. And those types of people, the craft distilleries like that, even if they get really big, they're not gonna lose those types of people. But I tell you what, Jim Beam, don't don't they don't they don't have fans like that. You can be a fan of Jim Beam, but you don't go to Jim Beam for that.

SPEAKER_02 40:42

For me, I I always think back to there's uh there's a country music singer. His name is Charles Wesley Godwin. He was a no-namer like four years ago. He's still a no-namer for me. He's still pretty much. Is Wesley the middle name? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I saw him at Woodlands Tavern down in down here in Columbus. Kind of hippie-ish. So Woodlands Tavern is not like a country ball. I picture like Woodlands like forest, like this Woodcraft cocktail. He's a country music singer. Yeah, he's a country music singer. Western or Western. Western. He's from Virginia. Kentucky. I like Western country. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:17

So he's Appalachian. Oh, there's a big difference. Southwestern, southwestern country, especially, has got a different.

SPEAKER_02 41:25

When I say country, and if I'm talking about me liking it, it's not on the radio. Radio country is pop music with a twin.

SPEAKER_03 41:35

I would agree, but like what's we actually like very or or old country, like like like Haggard and freaking yeah, outlaw country. Then there's red dirt country, which is your Texas country. That's a little bit more uh banjo and and full.

SPEAKER_02 41:49

They went rock. So you know, Nashville country is pop, red dirt country is rock, rock, rock, rock with rock with a like hill twang. And then you have Appalachian country, which that's when you're getting a little bit more bluegrassy.

SPEAKER_03 42:04

Now you got your fiddle and banjo. Banch in a jig, and you got a fiddle in a banjo.

SPEAKER_02 42:07

Yeah, this this guy is Appalachian, and Tyler Childers is the big name.

SPEAKER_03 42:11

Is a different thing too that people have.

SPEAKER_02 42:12

Yeah. If you're if you're listening to this and you know anything about any of this kind of stuff, Tyler Childers would be the name that you might know. He's like the most famous of this type of music.

SPEAKER_01 42:23

I don't know who that is. Appalachian Appalachian music.

SPEAKER_02 42:25

He's from he's from the hills of Kentucky. But Charles, I I saw him there at Woodlawn's Tavern, and it's like a back room, like maybe a hundred people can be there. It's a very small venue. So it's like what 50 Birkenstocks? Maybe, yeah. 52. And then uh about a year later, I saw him at the Bluestone. So he got he got a lot bigger. Now now he's he's selling out this kind of a bigger place. That's an old church downtown that has been turned into a venue that holds probably 300 people. I've heard you know, or so it's a really cool place to go see a band, and they they have good music that's like acoustic, not famous, but people know him. And then I saw him open for Luke Bryan at a stadium down in Cincinnati. So I've had I've had the chance to experience this guy in three different stages of success, and I will see him again. I'm I'm a big fan of this guy, Amy and I both are, but the reason we're a big fan of him is because we saw him when he was a nobody, nobody knew he who he was, and I've gotten no chance to see him grow into fame, and it's really cool to watch that. And I feel the same way about a lot of these craft distilleries. Like I have the same kind of appreciation for Journeyman or Watershed or Wiggle and Liberty Pole now. These are people that nobody knows unless they're like really in the crowd. You gotta really be into it, but if you're in, you know, but as time goes on. More people are gonna learn about them. It's like how many people we talk to about the Cell 630 that are like, Oh yeah, those guys, but you have to be in the in the thick of it. But later on, when they do take off and people start talking about, hey, you've heard things about these guys. I'm like, Yeah, I heard about them five years ago. Like, I'm an original fan. Yeah, we're the RG. Yeah. And so I really, I really like the craft world in that, and then being a being able to be a fan when there's not a lot of fans yet, and everything. And that's that's how I feel about a lot of this stuff.

SPEAKER_01 44:33

You know what's fun about the club? So we have the second chapter of the club, right? We just had a Prince dinner, and we start out with uh the very typical Sazerac, right? We walk through for year one, we walk through major brands to figure out I call it the wonder years. Yeah, it is it's a wonder year, like trying to figure out like what's your palate? What do you go after? Because you got Sazraq that's weeded, easy, everyday drinker, no thinker. Then you you normally end the year with Beam, where it's like in your face. You that you you have no doubt. Yeah, you have no doubt this is what I'm drinking. And the other night we had uh a guy that normally is a big like Saz.

SPEAKER_00 45:13

A Saz guy, yeah. We're gonna start calling people a Saz. There's a Saz, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:17

See? So he had two knob creep bottles that he brought. Oh man, what a good choice. A 12 and a barrel pick, like a single barrel pick. And I said, So uh what what's kind of your go-to lately? And he looks at me and goes, Well, to go from Saz to knob. Yeah, literally, like pondering, he's like, Well, I I guess you could say that my palate's starting to ch and my mind is starting to be opened.

SPEAKER_03 45:40

You think? Yeah, that's a big jump.

SPEAKER_01 45:43

That's a big jump, right? It's like going from a Prius to a full-size truck. Those are the guys who are like, You have hope for the craft distillery. If you're if you're jumping that big, yeah, that's a big thing. Like, you don't know it yet, but I I got something in store for you. Yeah, like he's he's the guy, like halfway through your journey of that country singer, be like, Oh, you know him? You're like, Yeah, I'll have to check that out. That guy.

SPEAKER_02 46:03

Yeah, so what are you smoking, Steve? So I am smoking some Stonehenge Flake. This was one that we had this year, and it's a nice kind of a little bit more standard. It's pretty normal. Yeah, feel like that one and the blockade runner.

SPEAKER_01 46:19

Did we have those twice because we lost two episodes? We may, yes. Yeah, I think you're right. Yeah, blockade runner, blockade runner, blockade runner. Yeah, blockade runner. I feel like those two we had twice because we lost. I know we did.

SPEAKER_02 46:30

I think this one was the other one, too. Uh, was our other lost episode. My tobacco journey has been widened quite a bit throughout this podcast. So I have always I I've enjoyed a pipe for a long time, but I'm kind of where I was with whiskey now at the at the start of the podcast, is where I am with tobacco now. So at the start of the podcast, I I always said that I I could tell a good whiskey from a bad whiskey, but I couldn't tell a great whiskey from a good whiskey. I couldn't like piece those things together. And tobacco, I'm kind of the same way. I really do not have a tobacco palette. I know when I'm smoking it if I like it, but I don't know why. And I don't really know how to piece that stuff together yet. So that's kind of something that I'm gonna be working on this year, is trying to figure out what my tobacco palette is. Like I know now I like in English, I don't really like a aromatic. I know I kind of I like Virginia's, but I don't really know why. So I'm gonna like try to kind of piece that together a little bit. So that's gonna be my tobacco journey this year is really trying to go down to the basics. So I'll I'll have a lot of like straight Virginias, straight burlies. I was gonna say we should see the components out.

SPEAKER_03 47:51

I should get some some blending tobaccos and we should smoke them straight and see where where you're at. And maybe we can end up with making our own blend or something. That that that's the way that I've just decided what I like, you know what I mean? As is as a way to figure out okay, I've smoked these things on their own. Then I started blending my own. What what ratios do I like? And then let's try variations of those. That stonehenge flake is something that I hope they come back out with. Are they done with for now? No, they there was a Stonehenge Flake, and then it did really well. They got rid of it. They brought that out. That was a re-release back in God, I don't know when. 17 to 26. GLP. Yeah, GLP's which is it's made by Cornell and Deal, but GLP is the blender, he is legendary, and that did really, really well. And then they again got rid of it. There is a bulk, it's a Lakeland-esque tobacco. So there's a bulk version of that called Louisiana Flake, which is impossible to get. Even the bulk, it's impossible. Like I got an email alert, hey, it's in stock uh three minutes after I clicked on it, it was gone. There you go. So uh they're saying they might come back out with that, but that one is a chocolate topped flake that has been painstakingly produced. It's got Lakeland-esque qualities. So if anybody knows, Steve, you probably know it's got it's it's it's it's floral notes, but you don't get that with any other type tobacco. It's you think Turkish delight, that that floral kind of candy. This isn't candy, but it's those floral notes. Like I think flowers comes through on the taste, not on the nose. And some people call it soapy or potpourri. I like it. Some people don't. But that's got a chocolate, kind of a chocolate topping. It's got some some Virginia stuff going on, it's got some Parik stuff going on, it's got some. I can't remember what the blend is exactly, but it's very cool. You can't get that at all right now. Like it's just which there was a time where that was available, and and I did buy a few one or two tins of it. I should have bought bought more because it is. I it took me years to open it, and we finally opened it together on the podcast, and I was like blown away, like, oh crud, you know, this stuff's so good. Now you can't get it. So I will be watching when that thing drops, because I know Cornell and Deal will come back out with it, or or GLPs uh in this case. But uh, I'm gonna buy a crap load of it because you can't even get the bulk version.

SPEAKER_02 50:10

It is a it's a Virginia, it's layered with some Purique and a touch of burly, that's what it says on the side.

SPEAKER_03 50:15

Yep, and then it's got like a chocolate topping.

SPEAKER_02 50:16

And then second copper is matured. Doesn't say anything about a topping, but that doesn't mean it's not there.

SPEAKER_03 50:21

It's it's it's very cocoa. Oh, you taste that. It's more like a dry cocoa powder. And I get well, they have a Bob's chocolate flake, which is kind of similar. I've had that as well, but it's like this cocoa, like real chocolate, not fake milk chocolate, like a real cocoa. God, it's uh it's just something different. It's good, and it's very say on the savory side of dessert, and smells just like a freaking man's tobacco, doesn't it? It's just and it's a good split on your chest. Yeah, I'm branching out more, you're getting more like distilling down, narrow it down, yeah, and then you'll branch out, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it'll be interesting this coming year with the podcast. Well, maybe we will smoke some straight tobaccos.

SPEAKER_01 51:03

What's interesting is we all thought of very different things when we heard what we're doing and grabbed very different bottles. But I think I feel like I could comprise it all down into one idea, even with the pipe tobaccos for both you and Chris. And that is a challenging growth, which seems kind of hokey for like, oh, every year we want to be challenged. But when I think of like a challenging growth for what we've been talking about is grabbing grabbing the pipe tobacco that you're like, hmm, I don't know. I don't know if this is for me, and then trying to be like, well, okay, that either yay or nay, or here's what I liked about it, but at least or give it a try. Right. Grabbing the the craft bottle that you're like, uh, I don't know, like look, it seems a little odd, like they're using some weird grains in that guy, but giving it a try and going, Yes, this is what I like about it. No, this is what I don't. Or Americans taking something that's cheap like Canadian whiskey and actually doing something good with it. Doing something with it. We're like, got it. We could actually present Canadian whiskey in a good light.

SPEAKER_03 52:12

I I think I like I don't know how old you are, I don't know where you are in your life, what stage you're in, but it's like for me, at least in my point, it's don't be afraid to be embarrassed, don't be afraid to be wrong, don't be afraid to try new things. Look, I I actually like being proved wrong at this point in my life because I'm surprised. And that's a that's a welcome thing. It's not the same old, you know. I I how boring would it be to be right all the time?

unknown 52:42

Right.

SPEAKER_02 52:42

It's pretty nice.

SPEAKER_03 52:45

But really, like, like, really, like, I being surprised for me anymore is really kind of like a really cool experience. Like, because you get to a certain point where you are right all the time and you've done it and you've done it and you've done it, and you even say, like, well, don't do this because it's gonna be like that. How often does something turn out the way you expect it? And you're just like, Yep, see, so I saw it coming. You know, that's so boring.

SPEAKER_01 53:09

But that's the time you want to be right, is when you're guessing and it turns out you're right, you're like, Oh, I was right. Yeah, but the times that you're right all the time.

SPEAKER_03 53:17

But I'm even more excited when I'm proved wrong anymore. Then because there's only so many times you can say, I told you so. And who gives a crap? You know, kind of hoping for a couple of good duds this year.

SPEAKER_02 53:26

Because you you went out on a limb. Yep, yeah, yeah. That's where I'm at. I think we're gonna we're gonna fresh. We're we're really aiming for the craft stuff, which means that with which with craft, it is less reliable. Like you there are people out there that are new to this. I could be a lot more quote unquote offensive, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Maybe not even in the good way, yeah. Sometimes not even in a good way, right? But we tried something different today, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And so, like the this thing that I'm I'm drinking here is not a great bottle. Can I try some of this bottle? Yeah, yeah, I it's very cloud.

SPEAKER_03 54:02

Do we need to shake it?

SPEAKER_01 54:04

Oh, you're oh, oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 54:06

Okay, you know what, Steve? That is the most I've seen you leave in a glass. I know, I thought you were done. It looks like a fresh pour on there. It's very corn, it's very corn, and there's a lot of it.

SPEAKER_02 54:14

It looks like an orange bomber. It does look like an orange bomber, and so it's like it's one of those things where it's like, oh, I can kind of see maybe what they're aiming for, or like what where they're gonna be.

SPEAKER_03 54:26

Yeah, yeah. Hopefully, they're just working on it and they're not just like this is like they're not gonna pepper it. They wouldn't want to pepper it.

SPEAKER_01 54:32

Oh, it's not this. Is not a pepper. This is um it's buttery, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:35

It's very different, yeah. And like I I think I've decided I don't like it, but I can see where some people would. Like, I could see there being some things.

SPEAKER_03 54:43

Let me ask you this yeah, how much was it?

SPEAKER_02 54:46

I don't know, but it wasn't a lot. Uh it wasn't like a $60 bond.

SPEAKER_03 54:50

Wait, wait. What's funny is hearing Steve again, we were great in our sixth year. Okay, that is not something you would have said before. No, no, yeah. Just throwing it back because he's like, not a lot less than 50 bucks. Yeah, that would have been like Steve would have been like $20 back in the house. A lot of stuff under 30. Inflation has gone up. Inflation has gone up, but yeah, but what you used to think is not a lot was never close to 50 bucks. That is true. We gave you a lot of good 50 bottles, and you're like, it's a little pricey way back in the day. You know, right, right. Yeah, it's it's that's it's good to hear you say that. Like you you've come to the dark side, it's it's it's moved, yeah. Yeah, you were definitely the line has moved. You're not a Jedi anymore. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:31

But what I love about that idea is okay, being challenged. It took a decent amount of you to like a decent time and amount of you to be like, I think I don't like it.

SPEAKER_02 55:40

That's that's it's one of those things I I tend to believe that there are not a lot of bottles out there that are actually bad bottles. They may not be for me, right? But I don't really think that they're bad bottles. You're an optimist. When it I am absolutely an optimist, especially when it comes to this. So now I do know that there are some like there are just things that are too young, and like there are very few people that are gonna like that, but it's usually an age thing, or it's not enough time in the oak. That's really usually what where it's like, oh, this is like this is bad, and that's why this is maybe it can it can be it can be better. There is some stuff that's junk out there, yeah. Yeah, fist pumper. So this, I'm like, this is too young, and also it probably needs. I I don't know if it's a hundred percent corn or not, but it needs something else. It's it's just missing something. It's pretty, it's pretty flat. It's interesting that flat is never a good thing, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 56:32

Yeah, I mean, yeah, just all the way around. Yeah, I've never flat in a good way, right?

SPEAKER_02 56:38

Exactly. Yeah, but it's like, oh, this is a good starting point, though. Like, there's enough here that it's like, okay, this could be something if we changed it, and then there's other things that are just like, yeah, this is just bad. And so some things are just bad, but I'm still glad I tried it because it just made me better about you know now I know that this, whatever this thing is.

SPEAKER_03 56:56

You almost don't want to like you know what you can't appreciate the good stuff without trying the bad stuff. That's right. Because otherwise it's all good, but yeah, it's all good. You can have light without the dark. That's right. Better to have loved and lost than to never loved at all. Yeah, happy New Year's. Happy New Year's. Cheers.

SPEAKER_01 57:13

If you're listening to this on New Year's Day, please let us know what you cracked. What are you drinking?

SPEAKER_03 57:18

Yeah, you know, you know, I don't know. You know what? It would be cool to hear what other people are drinking. And actually, it might give us something to try.

SPEAKER_02 57:25

A little peek behind the curtain is that we're changing kind of how we do our recordings now. We're recording a little bit more often, whereas we used to like just hammer out a bunch of episodes.

SPEAKER_03 57:35

And that means hammer. These six hours of drinking is a lot.

SPEAKER_02 57:38

I don't know how much you guys could tell, but we could tell the last episode of the night. We could tell, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:44

We tried very hard to make it like we didn't drink for six hours straight, but there was a chance.

SPEAKER_02 57:49

Yeah, so now we're recording a little more often and a little less uh time, but that also means we're having the same amount of fun. We we could have maybe some conversations with you guys and have like ask some questions if you guys are.

SPEAKER_03 58:02

Like ask, like answer questions or talk about like if somebody makes a comment on something, that would be kind of cool. I always like hear that on videos. I'm like, oh, that is kind of cool. I never thought about it, but yeah, it would be cool like for someone to ask us something. And for I mean, we're not gonna give you like maybe the right answer, but we're gonna give you our answer. We're gonna give you an answer. We'll be us our way through any question you ask us. I'm always look, I'm always gonna say what I think.

SPEAKER_02 58:27

Everybody already knows that, whether it's right or wrong. Yes. So uh at the top of the show notes there, there's a little button that says send us a text.

SPEAKER_01 58:34

It works, trust me, it works.

SPEAKER_02 58:35

Do that and just ask us a question, we'll uh we'll answer it. Because we have a whole nother year of this.

SPEAKER_00 58:40

At least.

SPEAKER_03 58:41

And Steve's gonna be smoking straight Parik. That's right, which is gonna be like holding on to your stocks because that is.

SPEAKER_00 58:47

Yeah, if we go with that idea, we're gonna be drinking straight moonshine. We should. We haven't done that in the podcast. It's a white dog. Let's drink straight moonshine. Yeah, as that is whiskey.

SPEAKER_01 58:59

Yeah, it is whiskey. Uh straight rye, straight corn, straight barley. That way we know what it should just straight. As long as it's not the other way. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:09

Happy New Year's to 2026.

SPEAKER_02 59:14

To 2026. Cheers. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you want more great content and other perks, be sure to support the show by clicking the link in the show notes. We can be reached on our website, whiskeychasterspot.com, with any ideas for the show. Thanks again.