Glenallachie Cuvee finish and GL Pease Stonehenge Flake!

Micah joins us again on our scotch series!

• Interesting things about the distillery:
  • In 2017, it was bought by Billy Walker and his business partners
  • Billy Walker is also their master distiller and has been in the scotch world for over 50 years
    • “About 70% of the flavor comes from the wood.”
    • Because of this, Billy really likes to finish
    • Started with Ballantine's blend in 1972, but has been owning companies since the mid-2010s
• Our Bottle: Wine Series Cuvee Cask Finish
  • Wine casks have not experienced a higher proof spirit, which is why it imparts so much flavor
• Pipe Pairings: GL Pease Stonehenge Flake
• Cocktails:
• Research Sources
  • https://theglenallachie.com/ 

https://www.thewhiskyardvark.com/post/billy-walker-a-whisky-revivalist 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 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

How do you say it? Glen Glen Glena Glenalachi. Glenalachi. Glenalachi. I couldn't tell if those are L's or L.

SPEAKER_04 0:37

Yahtzee. That's what I'm thinking of.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

But wait, wait. Glenalachi. It says the Glenelache. That's a distinguishing fact. Exactly. It's like the Ohio State University.

SPEAKER_04 0:49

Dude, I I just got very excited about the tobacco I picked with this. Oh, fantastic. It's gonna go very well. And I didn't even do that on purpose.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

Oh, okay. There's even a sticker that says for the UK market. Oh, not even for the us Americans. No, we're us lowlands.

SPEAKER_04 1:04

Us losers. Americans. You American swine. That's more, that's more German.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

It's not quite Scottish. I don't even think they say swine. Okay. So I told you guys uh I got this from my buddy um Paul Sutherland. Yeah, he's um from like I can think of as Kiefer Sutherland. I know. Same, and it's spelled the exact same way, too. Even the first name? That's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 1:28

I do I love Kiefer Sutherland, by the way. And his and his dad, Donald, both of them. Fantastic. They're incredible. Just great actors. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

So Paul brought this from Glasgow. I was I had a business trip in New York and he brought it to me, which I was like shocked that he brought it. So anyway, I just it was it was uh he brought it from Glasgow. From Glasgow, yeah, yeah. And this is one that you cannot get in the United States. So that's why it was I wanted to share with you. Something cool.

SPEAKER_04 2:02

Let's let's all strap in for the moment. Like because this thing just threw me. I can't think of last time I've been on the podcast where I've been thrown so far for a loop. It's been a minute.

SPEAKER_03 2:11

Yeah, what's throwing you off? What what's what's thrown you off?

SPEAKER_04 2:14

What's the what's want on? This has got some very unique, different flavors. I've never had anything like it. Okay. It's not often you get to try something that you're kind of like, ooh, ooh, this is challenging my brain right now.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

It's still going. I know, right?

SPEAKER_04 2:29

It is. It's lingering. Oh, I just saw the look on your face, Steve. This is like but it's a weird linger. Somebody just walked up and smacked me in the face and was like, What this is hyperproof.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

This is a weird linger. This is not like a linger in the back of the throat. This is a linger on the tongue.

SPEAKER_04 2:44

It's got different weird flavors going on. It's gonna take me a minute to to twee it out. Yeah, this is this is like how is this not for America? No, this is something we've gotta just when you think you've tried it all.

SPEAKER_03 2:56

This brand is in America, right?

SPEAKER_01 2:58

This bottle is not correct. Sorry, but yeah, this is something interesting.

SPEAKER_04 3:04

Interesting, yeah. No color added, by the way. It says it on the bottom.

SPEAKER_03 3:08

Just if anybody was worried, uh, we're gonna get more into all this, but the guy that does this and the guy that owns it is very much into finishings and is very into that. Like a quote of his is about 70% of the flavor comes from the wood, is what he believes.

SPEAKER_04 3:24

Even just on the box, it says it has been a hidden gem for many years and was almost unheard of until we took it back into private ownership. The brands in our crown, the spirit, maturing in cast slice, safely tucked away. This is something well.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

I will say I would agree. The the brand itself I've seen around on shelves, Glen Glenal uh Glenalachi. Glenalachi. I've seen it on shelves, and I go, eh, it's not expensive, but it's not on my list.

SPEAKER_04 3:54

We're just we're just getting started, but I just want to say, I just want to preference this, uh, preference this uh episode that uh this is something I've not tried before. Like this is not not like anything I've tried before. This is uh and before we get too far into it, because I don't wanna now that I've had a sip and I'm thoroughly cur fluffled. I I wanna so here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna crack a tin that is from 2017, so it's got some age on it. Okay, about eight years, right? Something I've never tried. Something that I bought when it first came out, and I have not tried it to this day. It's called Stonehenge Flake. Have you ever heard of this? Stonehenge Flake? Stonehenge, like in a door hinge? Scotland. Let's in Scotland, right? It's got Stonehenge, so it's even on the thing. Let's see the Stonehenge, right? This is uh something I've never tried. It's by Cornell and Deal. Uh well, no, this might be G no, this is GLP's. GO P's. But this took a there, there was a lot of work that went into this pipe tobacco. Like a like this was not something that they made lightly. There was a lot of work that went into this, and I remember when it first came out, there was a lot of mixed reviews. People either loved it or hate it. Kind of a Lakeland-esque tobacco, but it says that it took about nearly a year to develop this. It's a modern Virginia Parique steeped in English tradition. Virginia's layered with fruit Louisiana Purique, just a touch of burley for body and fuller flavor. Then it's steamed and hot pressed and mature. The cakes are thinly sliced and pinned, ready for smoking pleasure today and for many years to come. So this was something that, like when it came out, was like the idea was like seller it or smoke it, which you don't typically get. It's usually kind of one or the other. So it's both. But a lot of people said this was very Lakeland-esque. So that potpoury, flowery, soapy kind of a thing that people say. I've never tried it. I've been wanting to try this for a long time. Like I said, 2017. So it's been waiting. I've not tried it. So we're gonna see it. And then it's Scottish. I mean, it's I think this might work with it. So we'll see. Find out.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

There we go. That was good. Yeah, that was a really good one. So, real quick while you're opening that. So I looked at the pronunciation pronunciation just to, you know, be you know, respectful. Glen Alaki. Alocky, okay. So, like uh, you know, Loch Ness Monster L O C H, it's the same thing. So the the you know, the lakes in there's a lot of lakes, deep and cold lakes in Scotland, and all of them have the name Loch Something. And I think yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 6:32

So Glenn Lockheed. What does that mean? I wonder. But it sounds better.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

When I said shh, yeah, like that's not really a sound in Scotch. That's like an American thing. The C makes a ch We did, we Americanized it. So it would be Glenholchy. Yeah, the Yeah, exactly. Like throat. There's more of a throat. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 6:54

So well, he's uh well, well, he's tearing apart that that uh flag for us. This is from a gentleman named Billy Walker. So Billy Walker is the master distiller. Sounds like a singer. I know it. Well, it is actually. As I was doing my my research, there is a country music singer named Billy Walker, and it was hard to parse out the two people. They are separate people. Billy, Billy, Billy Ray Cyrus's uh protege, Billy Walker. Mikey breaky scotch. This this brand came out in the 60s, so 1967, and it was not really uh sold as a single malt or as its own brand, it was used in other mixed blends, which is what a lot of scotch companies are. Uh that they're used for just blends for different things. Billy came in in 2017 and bought it. So he's the master distiller, and he purchased it. He's been a master distiller for over 50 years for other companies, so he's a well-known person in Scotland. He's in like Scotch Hall of Fame.

SPEAKER_04 7:59

Because, like, say he was 18 when he got into it, and then 50 years plus 18. That dude's 68 years old, and then got into this.

SPEAKER_03 8:07

Yeah, exactly. He got started in 72, so that's when he started working in the Scotch world. Man, the 70s must have been different over the next gala. And he did a lot of chemistry, he has a degree in chemistry and and and did a lot of that, but he started working for Ballantine's blending. Yeah, Bill Ballantine's. Yeah, so that's that's how he started working for them and then rose up through the ranks. He's been master distiller a few other places and everything, but then he started, he decided he wanted to start owning and doing some more stuff. So him and a few other partners get together and they have bought a few brands, this one being his most prominent. But his uh thoughts are very much around finishings and all that. So it's a quote of his that 70% of flavor comes from the wood. They play around a lot with the different casks in this company. This one is uh couvet, cuvet, which uh which is a wine.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

It is. Do you know what like the idea of couvet is? So we uh the podcast first got introduced to French couvet when we did the makers, and we had no idea how to pronounce it. I think a couvet was one of the things we tried to say, but it's French couvet. So couvet is actually used by wineries, it's their idea of blending, like we do for scotch, so it's not a type of wine, it's the idea of blending multiple wines together to get the same flavor every time. And they're typically wines from like a blended scotch from different regions or different places, all red or all white. That's the idea of what couvet is. It's not just one specific style or type of wine, it may be red wine, but a blend of multiple reds in that to for for it to rest.

SPEAKER_03 9:52

And this is part of his wine finishing series. So this is the wine series, and he believes that wine is so good for this because it has never experienced a high proof spirit before. So, because of that, it the it just draws out the flavor a lot more. When you add in a high proof spirit into the wood, it's able to to kind of break through those tannins or whatever and and really bring it out the flavor quite a bit.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

So, this one the the couvet, he takes that idea from the winery, right? So he does four, there's four different wine types that he barrels that he let this finish in before blending all four together. So two were from Bor Bordeaux, and two from I ones I can't pronounce V Val Valpolacia and Langudak. So four different types of like regions, and then that's what he did. That's the coup v idea. So not necessarily a wine, like a type of wine, but the idea of couvet for wine.

SPEAKER_03 10:50

Shivas was the original people of this brand. So they were the ones that actually started Glenalaki in the 60s, but he bought it in 2017.

SPEAKER_02 10:58

The father-in-law seems to really like Shivas for yeah, for a blended, blended scotch. I think that's what he normally had at the house. Regal.

SPEAKER_04 11:08

Yeah. This is a very interesting tobacco, along with a very interesting wine. I think you're gonna find that the two are so unique in their own right that they're actually good together because they're this is a very unique tobacco, and it's a very unique wine finish on the scotch. This I can tell the scotch is good, but here's what's throwing me for a loop. It's the wine, it's the wine finish. It's very stewed fruit. It's three types of wine, different wine. Yeah. Stewed fruit, stewed fruit, like that's been pressed together and added to a whiskey. And I think that that's what is the for me, like really the prominent thing going on. Is this is the wine.

SPEAKER_02 11:51

You know, it is almost like a have you guys ever made even like a berry reduction for like a pie? Or that did like uh I like to do like uh simple syrups with like fruit and let those break down. That's what this reminds me of. But like a dark berry, like a dark red or like a blackberry, blueberry combination where it's it's very dark, but there's that sweet, that natural sweetness that comes into play with it.

SPEAKER_04 12:14

I think it's it's it's a lot of berries, uh, strawberries and blueberries, almost like jello fruit, yeah, like the fruit jello or whatever, you know what I mean. But then it's like stewed, like cooked and pressed, and then added to a very good whiskey. Why is this not available here?

SPEAKER_00 12:31

I know, right? Well, the the proof on this is it's 80. It's 80.

SPEAKER_03 12:36

All right, well, it's slightly more.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

This is only 80 proof? That's what I thought too. It's a little bit more than 80. Is it? Yeah, okay. I thought it said 40. 96. Okay, I got it. Okay, so then so then that's why. Okay, the eight looked like a zero to my older eyes. Yes, and I don't have my readers on. Scotch is normally 80. That is higher proof for a scotch. Yes, it is, but in and and I noticed that too when at first I uh but then I looked at the bottle, and to my old eyes, it looked like a zero and it's an eight. So, okay, that makes sense to me. Now I'm not as flabbergasted as I was.

SPEAKER_03 13:10

And that is the proof that all Glenalakis are. They're always at this proof. So this is semi-on topic, semi-off, maybe not us.

SPEAKER_02 13:20

I know, right? Next year for the the founders club is going to be unicorn bottles. And so Chris and I were talking about this idea of what's a unicorn bottle. Like, what do we consider a unicorn bottle? What should be considered a unicorn bottle? This is not by any standards, American standards, a unicorn bottle, but this is one that I would love for the club. Because it it's it's a it is a unicorn within scotch. I don't think I've ever had anything like this in the scotch.

SPEAKER_04 13:50

I was telling you about this is because it's unique. It's not like anything else you've I for me, what a unicorn bottle is uniqueness paired with maybe it not available. Because if you can just get it, then I mean it is unique, but you can get it. You know what I mean? So when you pair like something that's harder to get, not impossible, but harder to get with a very unique, distinct flavor. To me, that whether you like it or not, that meets the definition of a unicorn bottle.

SPEAKER_02 14:15

And that fits this. I mean, this is I I don't know that I've had any I've never had anything like this. Any scotch like this.

SPEAKER_00 14:21

Yeah, I agree. From a unicorn bottle perspective, this is a winner.

SPEAKER_04 14:24

It is. Yeah, I don't know if I've ever I've never had something like this either. I don't know if I've ever had any tobacco like this. I don't know what you think, Steve. Once I get this lit, but like from the first kind of initial charring light, this is a very different tobacco. Where's the tin?

SPEAKER_02 14:38

I know that I've never had any tobacco like this.

SPEAKER_03 14:40

I just uh I just finished stuffing, so I will uh lighter up here.

SPEAKER_04 14:45

I'm trying to figure out how to describe it. I'm not quite there yet. All I can say at the moment is it's very distinctively different when you smoke it.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

This smells really good. Yeah, I like this way better than the last one. This is uh yeah, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 14:58

It's like it's just got a whole I hate to say mouthfeel, but this has got like a whole mouthfeel.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

This tobacco. I definitely like the smell. I don't know, Nick.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

I like the smell. I'm curious on uh over time how the smell is gonna impact like pair with the flavor of this. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 15:15

It's very creamy, but it's got this almost, it's almost an off flavor, but I'm enjoying it because it's unique. I don't know how to describe it yet. Well, when do you mean when you say off? What do you mean? Like off putting? Not off putting, like off, like not a normal flavor. Okay, right. Like, and I think people uh you either like it or don't like it. It's a it's a unique, it's off in the way that fruitcake some people like it and some people don't like it, right? There's no in-betweeners on fruitcake. And I think some people would eat fruitcake and say, I don't like this, it's off. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 15:47

It's interesting you say fruitcake, because the smell of both of you guys lighting up, it's it it reminds me of like that bready, weedy kind of kind of bread pudding, fruitcake kind of yeah, yep, which I think is great for this whiskey.

SPEAKER_04 16:02

Well, I was gonna say, because that's kind of what I get with the whiskey as well, is that stewed fruit, and it's very wine forward, but a different kind of wine.

SPEAKER_02 16:09

I don't know that I've ever had a wine finish like this.

SPEAKER_04 16:12

I've never had a wine finish like this or wine like this.

SPEAKER_02 16:15

Yeah, we've had Bordeaux finished stuff before, but not this. Yeah, it's very interesting. And you said this almost this brand almost died out at one point, right?

SPEAKER_03 16:24

It was uh it was just being used as a like I said, just like a blending uh bear bottle. Uh uh Glenalaki was just they didn't put out anything under their name, it was always just being used for various blends by other other Scotch companies, so it's just a blending bottle until this uh Billy Walker took over, and that's when he started. Uh, they do have like a line of just regular stuff, but they're definitely known for their finishes, and not only their finishes, but also they're they they mature bottles or uh mature casks in other types of wood, so they don't just finish in other types of wood, they'll do other things in in different woods also.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

So I'm a big fan of a good couve wine, right? I from from my perspective, okay. We started with a monkey shoulder, we moved along to the Isle of Sky, and here we are with uh Glenalaki. Yeah, and and I wonder strongly now.

SPEAKER_02 17:27

Are you a Scotch guy?

SPEAKER_00 17:28

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

How about that?

SPEAKER_00 17:31

Yeah, you gotta find the right one, exactly. Yeah, because I think I do, I think I may have like started off too smoky, yeah, or whatever, or too peepy or something. Exactly. But this is not that now.

SPEAKER_04 17:44

And couvée, is that a designation on the quality of something, or is that a type?

SPEAKER_02 17:49

Because there's couvet champagne, it's a blend, it's the it's the way so couvet uh within wine is referred to as uh a style of of blending like wine, red wines together, different types of red wine into one finished product or different types of white.

SPEAKER_04 18:09

I thought it was almost a rating of quality, I did too because there's champagne that's couvet.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

From what I understand, the couvet is that idea of the blending, like it's a but it's very like specific in what they blend. They don't do red and whites together, it'd have to be the same kind of red or the same type of product.

SPEAKER_04 18:28

It's almost like a sangria type of uh the the amount of fruit, you know what I mean? Not sangria, but like the the amount of fruit that goes into that, you know what I mean? That's almost what you get. It encompasses so many different types of fruit that's been kind of stewed together and matured, and then you mix that kind of a flavor with the whiskey, which in and itself is very good.

SPEAKER_03 18:52

It is very fruit forward. Um, but like you said, kind of a cooked fruit. Like it has like a stewed is a good word. Stew is a good word because it doesn't have the like sweetness of fresh fruit, but it does have some like the flavor of fruit, but it doesn't have that like sweetness from fresh stuff, you know? So like the stewed, yeah. I'm not talking about sweetness, exactly. Yeah, but it does have the flavors of it and very berry, like to me. I like I get a lot of berry on it, and I don't know if it's because of this or what, but for the pipe, what I'm getting is almost like an orchard that just got rained on. I love that. Like you get some of the like peach or like a like a peach orchard or like a fresh peach, but not, but it's like in the air, it's not like you're not smelling a peach, it's it's just the environment's is the environment ripening, yeah. It's like a ripening, but it's like wet, like a summer day wet, along with that. It's it's a weird flavor, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:51

Like a midday storm had passed through, and now the air is interacting with the fruit to further ripen it. And it's the peaches and the apples and the leaves and the soil.

SPEAKER_02 20:01

It's funny you bring that up because I was thinking after my second sip of this. Man, do you guys remember the uh Bren 10, the French single malt that we had that was uh champagne, like champagne yeast was used in it? That's what this reminds me of, and not the same necessarily champagne feel or French feel, but it was it's very spring. I could drink this on the porch during the spring, like when rain is coming down, and you got a storm kind of rolling in, or it's just flickering, like just sprinkling down. I could sit on the porch and just sit there and sip this.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

This is spring and or early fall. Yeah, well, and so like along okay, so we're drinking this along with the sm the uh tobacco you guys are smoking. It's literally like a picture from the fall, like the leaves are falling and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 20:50

That's I don't know, like which is kind of funny because so we I mean you grew up in Indiana. I did. So growing up in Indiana full time, like Thanksgiving, when you you hit like a week before Thanksgiving, it might be snowing. It it's like 30 some degrees, maybe snowing.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

Michigan snow, northern Indiana, 100%. Yes, that's it.

SPEAKER_02 21:09

And then you move here to Columbus, and you're like, man, Thanksgiving's is like it's like warm. Warm. You're out compared to that. Like I it's like 40 degrees. I could be outside. It might be a little bit of like cool, damp, maybe damp air, but it that fits this. Like 100% agree. My idea of thanks, like childhood memory of Thanksgiving. This is like it's still too light. We need like heavy, heavy to fit that like 30 minus degrees and snowing, and you know, that's that's what I picture for Thanksgiving. It's slowly starting to change, and what it's changing to fits this glass, and this glass fits that change, and like it very much fits that like kind of full, chilly, kind of damp, but not enough for you to be like, okay, I'm gonna throw on a coat or two. Yeah, I love it.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

Honestly, and a Well, I think part of what's uh like making this really good for me is the smoke. I love that smell and along with the taste.

SPEAKER_04 22:09

I I I had no way of knowing because I've never smoked this this before, but this is the perfect pairing to this such experience.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

I don't know how you do that.

SPEAKER_04 22:19

You just like saw Stonehenge on the tin and you're like, I read the components and I thought, you know, okay. And it's got the age, and I just thought, yeah. And and to further it, and I feel bad for you, Steve, because I'm having a nirvana pipe experience, which we've talked about before. So I picked, not only did I pick the right tobacco with the right whiskey, I picked the right pipe. I'm smoking this Brigham pipe with this Briar stem, which is a very unique thing. And I'm telling you, it's like it's like nothing has ever been smoked in this pipe before until now. This is like, it's like the perfect guy behind the wheel of the car. It's like however you want to describe it, it's that perfect experience for the perfect thing. Like, I will never smoke another blend in this pipe after this, because it's an Nirvana experience. I have a few pipes like that. I've only experienced it a few times, but it's like the perfect smoking experience is the way that Nirvana is. And it's just doesn't get any better than this.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

So, how long have you smoked pipes? Not long enough.

SPEAKER_04 23:20

Well, I was into the idea of smoking a pipe before I was 18. I owned pipes. My when my grandfather passed away, he smoked pipes, which is most pipe smokers will tell you that's how they got started, their dad or their grandpa. My grandpa smoked pipes. He passed away when I was like 15 or something like that. And he actually left me his pipes because I would sit out there and I would I would love to smell it. I'd be like, grandpa, smoke a pipe, you know. And he would smoke pipes and I would sit out there and we talk and he'd smoke. So when he actually passed away, he like handed me down these pipes, these two pipes, and I still have them, I still smoke them. And so I had these pipes for a couple of years, and I thought as soon as I get 18, I'm gonna I'm gonna buy pipe tobacco and I'm gonna smoke pipes. Like I don't care if it's weird or not, I think it's cool, you know. So I turned 18, started smoking a pipe. And from that moment on, I've been a pipe smoker. I've never, never quit. I've just progressed because when I when I first started, it was the cherry cavendishes, it was the aromatics, it was the not good experience. Now, a lot of people start with that and then they quit. I didn't because I knew it was something I wanted to do. And I just luckily, what I did was early on, pretty early on, I fell into a pipe night club, like a club where I would go on Tuesday nights to this pipe cigar store, and there was these old guys, like you know, anywhere from I think the youngest I was like 30 something to like, you know, guys in their 80s, World War II dudes, like you know what I mean? Like, and they're sitting there smoking pipes, they've been smoking pipes for 40 years or whatever. And I'm this, you know, 18, 20 year old guy or whatever, and they're giving me stuff and they're explaining how to do it. And I would sit there and I would learn and I would smoke and we'd talk. And so I heard stories. I got to try new things, I got to try different techniques, learning how to light it, how to pack it, all of this stuff. Those guys were they're so generous. The pipe smoking community is so generous. They give me tobacco, they give me pipes, they all this stuff. So I was able to learn really quickly, which was cool, and it just grew and grew and grew. I mean, by the time I was 25, so I had had what, five, six, seven years of pipe smoking at that point. I mean, I had like 40 pipes and I tried almost all the blends you could get. At that point, McClellan was like my go-to, and that was like in their prime, so I was just smoking the crap out of it, you know, and now it's no longer a thing. So all these new guys getting into it, they're like, oh, McClellan, McClellan. I'm like, there was a time where you could just go and get that stuff for $9 a 10, you know, on sale seven. Like now, you know, you can't get any tens for less than 13, 14, 15 dollars. You know what I mean? It's just everything's gone up. But bulk blends used to be had for like a dollar an ounce or something, you know, it was crazy. But yeah, so I've been smoking, let's see, I'm 36 now since I was 18. So that's like more than half my life, probably.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

That's incredible. Yeah, I was curious just because so I have a buddy from college. Um, the first college I went to was um up in Michigan, Spring Arbor College. This guy who Jeremy Rush that I met up there, he was super ADD. He knew it. Like, I remember like he like the day of writing a term paper or whatever. I'm going somewhere with the story, by the way. He's like, hey, I need some help finishing this paper. I'm like, when is it due? He's like, this morning. I'm like, and like when? And he's like, in one hour. And it's I'm like, all right, well, I mean, I could type whatever you put in, like, what's the paper about? And so I'm like, because I was good at it, I'm like, I can type fast. And so we type this paper and get it out and stuff like that. And he ended up like get like leaving school or whatever. But this guy is absolutely incredible. So in the wintertime in Michigan, it's super cold. So they can't you you you have to wait for funerals and burying people because yeah, you can't even get in the ground. Yeah, but his business is like he works for somebody that carves gravestones. So in the in the winter, that's what he does. And every of the the rest of the year, the winter and stuff like that, like he has a brand called Beardcore. He's got this huge beard and stuff like that. One of the things he enjoys doing a lot is smoking pipes. I'm like, oh, you're you're telling me these stories. I'm like, oh my gosh, I gotta get you in touch with uh Jeremy. He comes down to Columbus at least once a year. So I'm gonna see if I I'll send him the podcast, but I also put him in touch with you. And yeah, that'd be cool. I mean, you guys would hang out. Makes sense.

SPEAKER_04 27:51

I mean, not to like out myself as having ADD, but like maybe, you know, but it if somebody who is a little hyper, you know what I mean? It's it's a good thing because it keeps your hands occupied, it keeps your everything, it's it's a whole thing that actually like will help you kind of settle in.

SPEAKER_03 28:09

Yeah, it's a little bit meditative in terms of like because I'm also kind of ADD, and so aren't we all? We all like it's a good fit. I'm not, but uh surely my wife is, I'm not uh but like the packing process, the smoke, like to smoke a pipe, it takes like an hour to like sit and do it and do it right. You really have to like take a second and concentrate, it kind of forces you into the moment, yeah. And uh it's really good for you if you have some like mild ADD to like just kind of focus up for a minute, and it's it's a good good use for that. I see it's actually a it's it's medicine, really.

SPEAKER_04 28:51

I mean hey, there's studies, pipe smokers live longer than non-pipe smokers. I mean, somebody's studying something for sure.

SPEAKER_00 28:58

What are the really long church words? So he gandalf. Yeah, no, Gandalf pipes, so like he's like an ambassador for those. He's he goes to shows in Chicago for you know, he like you know, I don't know, he's a bartender. I he's does it he's so it's so he's so interesting. That's why part of the reason why I went. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 29:18

Sounds like a cool guy.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

You have a lot of stories, Chris. So that's why I say I gotta put you in touch with him. Anyway, sounds like an interesting guy. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:25

If he likes pipes, he's all right by me, you know.

SPEAKER_02 29:28

So, question about I keep going back to me being very disappointed, I can't get this in America.

SPEAKER_03 29:36

I'm starting to get a little upset. This also is 700. Did you notice that? It's also a 700 milliliter, not 750, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:44

Yeah, which is my big thing of like, okay, this came from Europe at that point. Very, very European. Do you guys think that they don't believe we would enjoy this? Or are they holding the best part for themselves?

SPEAKER_03 29:55

Are they holding best specialty bottle and I don't think they could make enough to send it to America? Yeah, and so like it you don't send your best stuff out of your hometown or out of your area, especially if it's selling well.

SPEAKER_00 30:07

But did you see the price point? No, uh, I did not. It's like a hundred bucks. It's a hundred bucks, okay. Right, that's what I thought too. Compared to the last one, I was like, oh my god, this is a hundred dollars or euros. It said a hundred bucks, like a dollars. I don't know. Maybe maybe I looked it up too quickly and was wrong.

SPEAKER_03 30:26

No, no, this is a hundred dollar.

SPEAKER_02 30:29

So 53 pounds, 54 pounds. 54 pounds? Pounds is all I can get pound-wise. I can get poundage, that's about it.

SPEAKER_04 30:36

Which would be closer to, but man, I swear, this is something I want like all the time. Okay, here it's so it's so good, it's so unique, it's so different. It's it's got all the things going for it. And if you add price on top of it, gonna lose my mind.

SPEAKER_03 30:50

Yeah, if it's 53 pounds, yeah. You said that's 71.84 American. Hold on, hold on, hold on.

SPEAKER_02 30:58

Do you guys know the age on this guy?

SPEAKER_03 31:00

Nine years.

SPEAKER_04 31:01

No, that's why that's what I thought too. It's a nine-year-old. That's why the price, but nine years for Scotch, but the thing is because it's because the whiskey's good, but it's the finishing that is.

SPEAKER_03 31:11

I was about to say nine years for scotch. I don't I don't really go for that year. $31 is a stale. That's the wine series, uh, but it's a different one. Oh, it's a different one. Yeah, okay. So that's what I was looking at. So I was thinking about because this this particular bottle is not not currently for sale.

SPEAKER_04 31:28

You know, that that that reminds me of um what's the is it Highland Park? No, what's the is it Highland Park? There's a Scotch brand that uses low age, relatively low age, artbeg. Artbeg does a low age, and they and they do really well too. Yeah, where they they don't use super aged stuff, but they're doing a really good job with everything else that that it's making up for the uh honestly, it's more than making up for the age because scotch has always been so aged, but that doesn't always equate to flavor. But now they're adding these extra flavors um with something that's decently aged and it's really kind of shining for a cheaper price point.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

I honestly believe if this brand would bring this over to America, this brand would shine and grow. 100% agree with that.

SPEAKER_04 32:13

I think this would become super, especially for the price.

SPEAKER_00 32:17

Can you okay? It has been so difficult for me since March of this year. I don't know when it was in New York, but it's been a month, almost half a year, not sharing this with the club.

SPEAKER_04 32:29

I cannot wait for the rest of the guys to oh, they're gonna love it because it's it's so different for it's such a departure from anything, right?

SPEAKER_00 32:37

It's so strange.

SPEAKER_04 32:38

From the first sif, I was like, my head's spinning like a top. This is something 72 bucks, 100 bucks, whatever.

SPEAKER_03 32:45

Like, that's a good price for Chris.

SPEAKER_00 32:48

Chris tasted it before me. And I mean, I know podcast listeners can't see the what no, what it was, it wasn't just his face. There was a whole body motion, and I was like, Oh, I I didn't taste it. And I'm like, I don't know what's going on, but you but you guys know, and and then I had I'm like, Oh, that's it. And that that's when it clicked. I was like, Yeah, this is a good bottle. I thought it was special.

SPEAKER_02 33:11

It's uh I mean it honestly has been a very long time since I've had a bottle, even on the podcast or period, that I've gone, never had anything like this before, never had this experience before. Like this is someone makeup brought it to us. Well, no, that's all thanks to your friends, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:26

Paul Sutherland. Paul, he brought it to us, he brought it to me, and I'm like, oh my god, I have this I have to share this with the the club. And and then Nick was like, Hey, you want to join the podcast? Okay, can we use the bottle?

SPEAKER_03 33:38

Okay, can we do this? There we go. So make sure he knows that this is on here. Yeah, he will.

SPEAKER_04 33:44

Well, I'm I'll send it to him for sure. Guys that drink stuff, I mean, and and different things all the time, and to be thrown for a loop like that, that's cool. That's something special. Yeah, it's cool.

SPEAKER_02 33:53

It's something the funny thing is, I saw you guys pour it and I was like, wow, this is really light. It doesn't look like an is this gonna pack enough. I don't space eye, it is not my first pick to begin with. Space I'd already normally light. This is coming out looking very light, but it also has this red violet hue to it, which is weird.

SPEAKER_04 34:13

It's almost it's almost rose, the color is almost rose, but I will say it's lighter in color than that monkey shoulder.

SPEAKER_02 34:20

But the flavor, the flavors is not light at all. I mean, this is like if you're a champagne, if okay, so if you like rose champagne, that is kind of the color. If you like cognac finished bourbon, this is your bottle. Because it kind of has that like a little bit of smoky from scotch, not too intense, but it also packs that almost champagne cognac kind of feel.

SPEAKER_04 34:49

Yeah, uh stew, stew fruit. Yep. That's what I mean. Is there any surprise? I'm loving this. No, because I'm the call, I'm the cognac finished.

SPEAKER_02 34:56

When you say like red stew fruit, and like so I think of bourbon finishes, and I think of like the they they like the dry wine, which dries it out even more for the bourbon. This is not that dry red wine. No, when I say stewed, this is like fresh.

SPEAKER_04 35:11

When I say stewed, think of red beans and rice or gumbo that's been cooking all day, slowly simmering. Now imagine that with like the fruits, the fruits that you would put into a wine like this, and then you take those fruits when they're just about they can't take any more to temperature, and then you squeeze you squeeze them and you press them. You age that and you throw it in with the whiskey. I mean, forget about it, right? That's this this is something extra.

SPEAKER_02 35:39

We've talked about several times on the podcast in the club. There are moments where Chris and I open a bottle and finish a bottle. There was a Christmas bottle we did. We started at like eight or nine in the morning, and it was perfect. It was light. This is like your if if I had to, if I was going all out in the experience, this is the morning Thanksgiving bottle. I'm gonna probably finish this before we dive into the turkey, and then we're gonna open another bottle that's more hearty for the end. Yeah, like that would be perfect. That sounds like a great Thanksgiving. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it? Like, man. Yeah, this is the one to drink during the Macy's Day period. This is like this is before the cranberry sauce, but prepping you for the cranberry sauce of like there's something more to come, but this is a really good starter. Paul did a good job. Yeah, he did.

SPEAKER_03 36:29

Did he try it before he bought it? I'm sure he did, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:32

Just not this bottle, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:33

Right, yeah, yeah, not this particular bottle.

SPEAKER_00 36:36

Yeah, he is um he he's a connoisseur as well. Yeah, yeah. So I pick his brain periodically. I haven't talked to him in a while, but I will.

SPEAKER_02 36:45

I've always had this thought and wondered how many different bottlings are over there in Scotland that we don't know about of like a Leforic that you're like, oh my gosh, this would be amazing. And they're like, Yeah, it's over here. Well, come come over here, bring it over here. Like, why why are you keeping it for yourself? Like, please share. I'm happy to share what I have, I'll share with you. Let's just trade. Yeah, like it makes me wonder like, okay, that is a strong possibility. Yeah, and it's sad.

SPEAKER_00 37:15

Well, so next time I go over and visit, I wanted to take him something, and one thing he keeps talking to me about is some whiskey from Texas, Garrison Brothers, but yeah, still Austin, Balcon, Slocum. I have no idea. I need to find out, yeah, so I can take it over.

SPEAKER_02 37:33

Because I've got uh an old roommate down in Texas, so he might be able to find it for you and get it to me. Oh, that would be awesome.

SPEAKER_00 37:39

Okay, so yeah, I'll find out and let you know, but but yeah, I'm supposed to go there in September.

SPEAKER_02 37:45

This is where I I would love to do like an old like a barrel pick for the club, but buy like a huge barrel and then store half away just to trade with people across the sea. Like, look, you can't get this anywhere else. Give me something I can't get over here.

SPEAKER_00 37:59

And there's gotta be a market for that, right? I would hope. Maybe there's a business opportunity right there.

SPEAKER_02 38:04

Yeah, kind of like that whiskey exchange.

SPEAKER_00 38:07

Yeah, I've heard there's a whiskey exchange. Whiskey exchange. What is that?

SPEAKER_04 38:13

That sounds familiar, oddly enough. Do you want to hear something really depressing? No, you you don't want to hear this. Okay, then don't say it. When I got that Stonehenge Flick, there was something they were producing, they were gonna, and it did well. So they were gonna continue to produce it. So I never worried about it. And this is from 2017 when it came out. They quit making it in 2021. Oh, it's gone, they don't make it no more.

SPEAKER_03 38:42

That's really sad. Ooh, brother. Ooh, brother. Yeah. That is really something to watch out for when we go to these pipe shows and stuff. Oh, yeah, dude. Oh yeah. Because we were we were at one uh a few months back and they were they were at you know, some old. Well, and you know what?

SPEAKER_04 38:59

You want to hear something even worse, Steve? There was Stonehenge Flake, there was Stonehenge Flake there. Was it really? Yeah, for like 30 bucks. Yeah, and I was like, oh well, I can get this anytime. You know, nope, I can't.

SPEAKER_00 39:11

And that's the reason why people have fear of missing out.

SPEAKER_04 39:14

Yeah, that's where you get the FOMO from. Yes, mother effort, dude. Yeah, but I never I never knew because I never tried it. No, but well, there you go. Well, now we know. All right, so what we need to do is write the GL piece, which is Cornell and Deal, and be like, if you don't bring this back, we will come there and and we will like choke. Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm just gonna choke you, choke you out. What I'm gonna do, I'm gonna drop kick you in the face because you could make this and you should make this.

SPEAKER_03 39:43

Yeah, this is really good pipe tobacco. This is a very good bike tobacco. I'm really liking the room note, I'm really liking the the the experience of it with this glass. I mean, like Thanksgiving Day is a great, is a great like idea behind this.

SPEAKER_04 39:59

Like, this is turt turkey and cranberry does not go better with anything but this pairing.

SPEAKER_00 40:04

Agreed, and I'm also enjoying the second, you know, the sm the smell.

SPEAKER_04 40:08

This is the morning of Thanksgiving. Yeah, this is bread pudding and all the the the trimmings and the turkey and the this is all the things. This is Thanksgiving. Yeah, this is Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_03 40:20

So happy Thanksgiving, everybody.

SPEAKER_02 40:22

Yeah, happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy that turkey. Send us another bottle if you can us. But enjoy Thanksgiving over there in England too, I guess. That's the thing.

SPEAKER_00 40:32

But boxing day, maybe that's around there.

SPEAKER_04 40:38

Yeah, they don't really. I I actually, though, not to get off on a tangent, but I have heard other countries celebrate Thanksgiving, but not for the way we the reasons we do. They do celebrate a day of Thanksgiving taken from our Thanksgiving, but not because like they model it off of the thing. So a lot of people have modeled it because it kind of makes sense. It's you know, it's a universal idea. It's not like 4th of July. This is not like celebrating independence. Thanksgiving isn't celebrating independence, it's celebrating a day of thanks for all the things we've been given. Yeah, it's a good sense for other countries to do that. Why not? I think it's a good little holiday for everybody to practice. Yeah. Well, with that, we're on to the next.

SPEAKER_03 41:15

On to the next. 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, whiskeychaserspumba.com, with any ideas for the show. Thanks again.