Buzzard's Roost Whiskey with founder Jason Brauner; Ep. 80

Daniel: good afternoon, welcome back. We are bourbon brass and beyond and we are here at Buzzard's Roost in Louisville Am I saying right? Well, so I say Louisville because I have such a draw anyway that that people hopefully won't think I'm a complete hick. So I say Louisville on purpose, but it is Louisville. So I am my my my real job is I'm an airline pilot. So I fly into Louisville all the time. So I'm always trying to say it the right way when I'm making a passenger announcement coming in here. So Louisville. Well, gotta say like your mouth's full of something, I don't know. Yeah. Well, so my nephew Noah was down here for his bachelor party, and he comes in here and they start trying stuff and he's texting me like mad. He's like, Dan, Dan, you gotta you gotta get here. You gotta come try this stuff. And it now it makes sense because he he kind of knows what I like. And they were saying upstairs how most of your stuff was double oaked. Everything we do is double oaked. That's right up my alley. So what do we have here? What is this is our kind of our our barrel strength bourbon. we do source mo almost all of our product. We do actually we are a distillery, so we do make some on property. but all of our age whiskey we source and we're very transparent about it. We source mainly from MGP. Sometimes we've done some stuff with Middle West. And we do all our contract work at Bardstown Bourbon Company. So we'll buy some aged whiskey, we will send it to Bardstown Bourbon Company, we re-barrel everything into our proprietary barrels. I've developed 17 proprietary barrels that we do secondary aging in. They're all 53 gallon. I work with the head of the wood research department, an independent stave company, and we've developed, we've got 17 different toast profiles. And we also we use a char one exclusively. So really nobody in the industry's they're starting to get into that, you know, toasting process, and and but we're the only ones I think that use a char one. Maybe some other people are starting to use it. but when you toast those products, when you toast that oak, it brings the wood sugars to the surface. And so when you burn back a a char four, let's say a char four is 55 seconds, 60 seconds. char one is 15 seconds. So when we draw those sugars to the surface, anywhere from 40 to 60, 90 minutes that we'll toast the barrels, we don't want to when you burn that back, let's say a char four is this thick, a char one is this thick, you don't want to burn those sugars that you you just brought to the surface, that you just worked to bring to the surface. Plus it's easier for our liquid and it gets gets to the toast levels faster. and much easier through a char one. So that being said, everything we do is double up. Nice. So I get like a white pepper on the A little bit. I would say a little bit of white pepper. The nose is just That's grateful. So I get a little a little bit of the sugars, a little bit of the the sweetness, the caramel. Mm-hmm. I think I think the pepper will die down a little bit when I Cheers. Cheers. Thank you. For being my first sip of whiskey of the day. That's not bad. Well, I'd be lying if I said it was mine. no, but that's that's really this comes really nice. Yeah, 116 proof. I think that double barreling also takes a little bit of the ethanol out of it. our our high proofs drink surprisingly low to me. But maybe I could be used to it. Maybe I'm partial to it, but I think that they they don't really they punch below their weight level, you know. Yeah. I above, I guess. They punch above their weight level, yeah. I I I would say that this does not drink one sixteen at all. No, not at all. but the the dark sugars, it's like You know when you make caram sauce like the old fashioned way, but then you start to get that little bit of that toast around the edge of that caramel? That's what I get. That that's really nice. Almost like a little bit of a burnt sugar, but not quite there. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. it's the it's the crunchy stuff you eat. Almost like on top of a creme brulee type thing. Exactly. Yeah. You get a little bit of that vanilla and Even like a just a hair of citrus. It it people do get that. Mm, that's nice. That's really nice. So what's now I'll ask, like what's what's the average age of supplement? So right now we're all probably five, six, seven. Okay. Yeah, that's probably a good range. Five through seven. A lot of the single barrels that we're putting out now are six and seven years old. Some of them are eight actually, as a matter of fact. And it seems like there's a lot of juice out there right now that that is that age, right around that age. Yeah, I think so. even old granddad went to back up to a seven-year age statement. We've actually we bought a bunch of it. So it continues to age and it continues to age in our barrels. So I don't think it's gonna overcook, but I think we're safe. So I'm trying your truffle. Mm-hmm. Those are great with the whiskey. Now who is the the place what's what's art eatables. Art eatables, such as they do a great job and they make all of our chocolates here. We do a pairing class, we do whiskey and chocolates and they have a couple of different chocolates and we'll put it with our ryes and some of our bourbons and they pair them very well. That sounds like something I would sign up for. Right. Well we that's why we we did visit there. Soon you see chocolates. Well, I thought they would be hit some brought Right. Yeah. Yeah, sorry I couldn't make it yesterday. Busy. That's that's quite all right. I our our big thing was what we did Sunday and then I was just kinda playing it by ear for you know, this week, but trying to Well that's a good interview you got with Preston. Yeah. He's a great guy. that was it was fantastic. just down to earth. You know, you're very very cordial, very gracious. Yeah. I think anybody anybody we have met or dealt with in this industry, everybody's just trying to help each other out. yeah, absolutely. We're all it's a it's a great close community to be in, I think. really so It's unlike any other. It's really cool. To be somewhat competitors, but not, you know, when we go to these whiskey fests or whatever, New Orleans Bourbon Fest, I mean we all somewhat hang out together. You know, it's a good time. Spent many years in the martial arts and you compete with somebody, you know, you're in the ring, yeah. You're you you're battling. You're enemies. But as soon as you step out of the ring Yeah, good fight. Yeah, and you've known these people for twenty years. You've been doing the same thing against the same people. So I I I think that makes sense. Everybody's a little competitive, but I think Bill Samuels said it best. He said, you know, years ago we all had our piece of the pie and we didn't want to take anybody's else's piece of the pie or infringe on their little, you know, did they know or whatever. They kinda got together and it's like, Well, we need to grow the pie You know so Everybody kind of stays the same but gets busier and I think that really happened in the last ten, ten, fifteen years. So that chocolate really so I'm getting a lot more of the deeper citrus with it. And the that that's really nice. Isn't that great? It kind of mellows out those dark sugar tones and then lets the like that floral just comes out. And then then just the that's first the the peppers come back, just a hair. Just a little bit. Yeah. So this would be How dark on the toast do you get with these? Do you Well we have so our toast profiles go anywhere from, you know, very light to very heavy. So the light ones are gonna be in that vanilla caramel kind of butterscotchy range. And then it goes all the way to the smoky end where it's gonna be campfirey, leathery, smoky. you know, almost burnt sugars. And then the middle, which comes from the eugenol in the barrels is gonna be like baking spices. You're gonna get the cinnamon, the the nutmeg, the clove. So sweet to smoking spicy is Sweet part is more like kind of fur for all that comes out of the wood sugar and then the eugenol and then you'll go to the end is the gwicol. And that'll that'll give you the the smokier end of it. So we have these different profiles and it's almost like once I'm secondary age, it's like I've got a a almost like a spice rack that I get to blend from. If I think that if I'm doing a blend that needs more smoke or more sweetness, we can do that. because our barrels are very specific. They're toasted, you know, time limits and certain temperatures and we use radiant heat. We bake some we bake some of the staves in a big oven. the French oak, we have a toasted French oak. It's fabulous. we do that once a year. And I th I think personally French anything that French oak touches seems to do well. It can be French oak is a little bit tighter grain. It's got a lot of these complex wood sugars in it. And it's also a little more tannic than white oak, so you have to you have to watch it because the the the French oak can get overly tannic quick. Okay. so we keep an eye on that, but it's it's worth it. Yeah. Just from kinda watching that finish or you know, not timing, but seeing how long that finish the finish lasts nice. Wow. still got the pleasant flavors, you don't get any of the bitterness in the end. You know, it's it the that's nice. Probably should have brought another bottle of something. Well. Is it all the same over there? What's that? Are they all the same over there? there's one different one, but that's kind of an LTO. That is the smoked. That's a neat one. I mean if you want to try that one, it's pretty cool. well then you don't have to get you that one. I think it's safe to say I really enjoy I I enjoy the theories of behind the different wood grains and the toasts. It's back in the chocolate room, so it's bad. So I do have to tell you, like, it it is very drinkable because there are a lot of things I just cannot I cannot drink. Really? Like a lot of higher proof or just higher proof I don't really like and yang is is tough for me because it it's all too spicy. It's all too peppery. I've got some Right, right. Yeah, Preston didn't bring us any chocolate. Yeah, see? Slacker. We know what my favorite enemies could be. What's that? I like it. This is such a unique product. It's a rye that drinks like a bourbon that finishes like a scotch. Probably said too much already. Hmm. And this is an orange one and this is spiced. So looking looking forward to it. The orange would probably bring out the citrus in that first one. And I should have brought you a glass as well. I got chocolate on my mind. So I'm picking up the rye on the nose. We use the 955, so it's a huge rye. When I first started the company, I actually hated rye. Because I prefer to sip whiskey and I felt that ryes were meant for drinks and I just didn't feel just wasn't comfortable sipping sipping on rye's. But these, I mean they get really scary when you even put it on on on a cube of ice. They're just so approachable. Just a hair of that white pepper again. Okay. It's not a Petey scotch, or anything. no, no. It's it's it's more like a Highland scotch, but it you get it on the you get a little smokiness on the back of your palate. Yeah, that's really nice. It's not enough for Scotch people. It's a bridge between But that sweet sweetness stays mid to back of the tongue, right on the top. Just stays the sweetness is surprising. Yeah. And this is you said this is an LTO? Yes. We we'll bring that out once a year. we had a lot in the market this last batch. In some pockets it it does really well and some it doesn't. So we just got a few cases back from I don't know what state they came from, but and we sell it it's just we had a I don't know, three or four cases and basically sold out instantly because we sell here at the distillery. And people love It just depends, you know. We talk to people about what they like and a lot of we'll show this one and people love it. So which chocolate should I have with Highwind? Probably the square. Okay. Get all jacked up on chocolate. This orange chocolate isn't that great delicious. Could go really well with the whiskey too. Mm. So what's your background? Like where how'd you get into this? So I actually started the restaurant side of it. At a restaurant here in town called Bourbon's Bistro And we've been there for 21 years. So we were one of the first on premise, we were actually the first account to buy a single barrel of four roses. So I was early on in the single barrel craze. you name it with the distilleries, we've done one. We've done probably over a hundred single barrels through there. So I really developed a palette from you know going into their warehouses, thiefing out of their barrels. And you know, every like I said, every distillery name we've probably done a single barrel with. and that kind of brings me Preston and Julian. We didn't we haven't done it. We didn't do one with them. But I'm I feel that I'm kind of a bridge between the old guys and then and the newer guys. So I'm between Preston and and and Julian. I know them both very well. I'm between Freddie and Fred. No. not between Jimmy and Eddie. I think Eddie's about my age, but you know, just and between Bill and, you know. Rob, like I always dealt with Bill first, you know, now kinda deal w see Rob and whatever. But it's neat and I've learned a lot of stuff from all those those kind of old school guys and gals. Jim Rutledge is a great friend of mine from Four Roses. We did tons of barrels with with them. so I learned a lot, you know, you you'd you take a tour of the distillery before you go pick a barrel and I had bourbon dinners at the restaurant. Mm-hmm. We did flights, you know. I think we were one of the first bars to do bourbon flights, you know. I mean we picked that up in California. My wife and I were out in California to do an online flight. I was like, well, surely we could do bourbon flights. Absolutely. And but we had, you know, bourbon dinners, so we'd hear about all their stories, they'd come and you know, just great time, like you said. just getting to know those folks. I was lucky enough I went to one of Wally Dant's dinners with Bill. yeah. So I got to sit with him. Yeah. Well even that one broke apart on. Wally was at Bourbon's bistro two weeks ago. Or last week. What a great guy. love Wally. So My grandfather was really into bourbon. He was a JW Dant fan. wow, yeah. So when I started doing this, I reached out to Wally because I I wanted a little you know background and and he had us down, went down to this distillery, stayed in his grandfather's house, and did a tour tasting long podcast. And then afterwards he sat around and drank with us. And honestly, it was it was it was fantastic. but so that's where I you know Wally and I got back and you know talk a lot. We've had I had a lunch down here doing a barrel pick at Weller. And so we went over to Amongst Road and Wally came over with his son, Jack, and had dinner, so yeah. Yeah, he's a great guy. Yeah, I really enjoy that. Hm. All right, so now back to this, the first one. And obviously, I mean, you put a little drop of water in there and that blooms it, you know, it changes it quite a bit. I love to just take my time with if I have the time. so I don't think it needs water though. That's the I mean it definitely just it Changes it quite a bit. As you know, air does over time. water kinda jumps a shark a little bit, get you ahead of the game. So I was using it to wash down the chocolate and see the f you get so much of the orange out of that after having that. That is that is you really pay attention to it after that. Perfect. So what do you got coming out next? Anything? Well, the French oak is coming out. our bottled and bond is coming back. that sold really well. We're gonna do A wheated single barrel. So our bottled bond is wheated. And that's the only wheated product we do. But we were tasting through some samples the other day, and one just stood out crazy to me. And I think it was almost 118, 20 proof. And I was like, this has to be a single barrel, wheated single barrel. So that may be distillery only. but you know, we're just continuing innovation. We're probably due for another. smoked round. We'll have to see what kind of cases are in the market. like I said, it sells really well here, so we may do a smaller batch of that just to not flood the market. And you know, just continue to keep doing what we're doing. We've got got running the still upstairs and we're looking forward to getting some of our our juice off of that still aged. Well we've got some down. We've it's been down two years now. Nice. So we're looking forward to that. Turn it out. Just just turning out pretty good. yeah. we could taste some he was cooking today. Yeah, you have to taste some white dog right off the still. It's all right. It is I'm always up for that. Like I said, I may be biased, but it was pretty I taste a lot of white dogs and it's pretty good. All right. Well, thanks for doing this. Appreciate it. Yeah, absolutely. and we'll Thanks for having me. Yeah, I'm appreciated. Are you gonna be at Bourbon and Beyond? I am. I'm actually speaking on the Kroger stage at some point. it was really cool to see the little poster that they put out. I mean, they've got some really great people on there, but I told my wife I'm on the same poster as Chris Stapleton so it's pretty cool. That is cool. Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna have to get a poster, right? I'm gonna have to get a poster. Hang it in my bathroom or something at home. It's like there's my name, there's Chris Stapleton. Pretty cool. There's a lot of other cool people on there too. There's a lot of great people in the in the whiskey industry. I think Preston's on there and some other some bunch of other folks. Well we'll we'll be there this year. So very good. So we're looking forward to it. This is our first time at Bourbon and Beyonds. Okay, well you'll have a big time. It's it's fun. It really is. It's a good time. Perfect. Well hey, thanks again. Yeah. Good luck. Thanks for watching and we'll include some pictures from the the white dog. Thanks. Thank you. Yeah. Very good. And you all have to you should go by the restaurant. If you have town. there's a restaurant here. No, not here. It's about it's it's it's four about four miles east of here. Okay. Yeah. What was it called? Bourbon's Bistro Hmm, I'm gonna place. It's actually really good. I I like trying anything, so Yeah. He's probably running the tails right now, so you can see how it's hard. Do you have I'm hoping?