Episode 197 Larrikin Bourbon & Greg Keely

The Final Third Podcast: you Thank you all for tuning in. Let me introduce you to Scottie B. You just don't know how much I drink. Willie B. R.S. Scott, Cocky Wolverine. Mikey B. Our favorite production machine. Piney. Knowledge of cars and machines. Hum Fleet, the wizard of slot machines. And the pretentious tobacconess. Robbie B. podcast I'm Rob I'm Will I'm Scott I'm Mike Allen and honey and today we'll be tasting through some of the Lerkin bottles with Greg Neely is that correct? Keely. I always say that wrong. Greg Keely sorry about that Greg and then we're gonna be smoking the new McAluff white that's now available here we do have the event coming up April the 9th but you can get out and try it now before the event and yeah Yeah, yeah, we got it. Yeah, so hopefully Greg will join us here soon. He's got his link, so he'll join us here hopefully in the next 10 or 15 minutes we'll get Greg on here. Yeah, yeah. But hopefully this week I won't kill the Facebook feed, so if you're watching on Facebook, tune in for more than 34 minutes today. Yeah, we are live on Facebook. Yeah, we're working on some different ways you can actually tune in to. Yeah. Testing some stuff on the website. Mike's been testing some other things to see if we integrate things to be a little bit more user-friendly. ⁓ We are monitoring chats on both YouTube and Facebook so you Whiskey and Cigar degenerates can comment at us and tell us how wrong we are. Yeah, tell me how cool I look today. You look cool. Look at you, all set for Tuesday. I like how ladylike you're sitting too. really nice. It's very ladylike. think died at the river in Chicago yesterday. It was the brightest green I've seen. It was wild. It was aggressive. Yeah, think Dan Kidd is in Chicago. I saw him post a picture of river and look crazy man they use that same stuff they do they dye their hair with so how long does that last I mean it washes out usually by the day or two yeah that quick yeah like a week total like from the time that they dump it to the time it's It's surprisingly like that river stays pretty nice and blue. I wouldn't say clean per se, but blue. Does it highlight the dead bodies floating in it? Yeah. No, they're all stuck at the bottom with concrete around their shoes. Yeah. You still want to be there in the river when a Dave Matthews band concerts. Yeah. You know, it's been like, I don't know, 15 years or more since that happened. It doesn't matter. the about it. Yeah. Poor Dave. It's not like he had anything to do with it. It was just bus driver dumping. It's just a whoops. ⁓ And then the thing was you found out kind of like that was actually like a normal practice for a lot of like buses because those yeah bridges like they're just yeah, know, like that's a good time to do it Yeah, so man, I've really been enjoying this McAlpine. I think I've smoked both the toro and the robusto Love the flavor on it. It's a great like opening cigar to have for the day ⁓ really especially the first two bottles, ⁓ Lerkin small batch and Lerkin bottom bond. We're looking to maybe see if this is going to be a good pairing because we need a pairing of the month and it'd be awesome to have the McCallick white and Lerkin both being new to the lounge. For sure. To be up there. So I'm going to do a little something different. I I know you guys are going to drink that. I'm going to drink mine with coffee. Go ahead. Yeah. Just because I've had one already and I wanted I didn't have a coffee in there. So I know we talked about this before it came out. Great first cigar. It's a little one. Yeah. It's more of Connecticut. aspect to it, so I want to actually see what it does with coffee. currently I love the green. Usually it's my first cigar of the day, Macalic Green, I usually have it with a coffee. I want to see how this pairs with a coffee as well. Yeah, you know, I was talking about this yesterday in the lounge. If you blindfolded me and I didn't know it was a Connecticut and I couldn't see it, I'd probably say it's definitely a medium, a solid medium on the strength and flavor level. We get what are we talking? kind of reminds me of a San Andreas wrapper instead of a Connecticut. It's deceiving underneath it. So this has that Connecticut leaf over top of the broad leaf binder. I think that broadly is bringing out some of that dark chocolate, but with the creaminess, it kind of blends back to like a San Andreas note to it. OK, now I want to the cold draw. I don't think there's a lot there. No, no, it's soft. Yeah, yeah, it's it's kind of interesting because it's which is kind of way it happens. It does have a nice sweet silky. Yeah. It's kind of the way it happens though with when you're trying to go for a milder cigar you don't get near as much on that cold draw. Those stronger cigars you get more of that that aroma off the the lejero which gives you a little bit more spice on the tongue when you're trying to retro or cold draw it but this one definitely didn't have that. Now there is some there is some pepper on the retrohale on this cigar but not aggressive. I think it becomes very full flavored on the retro in the Second third. Yeah, I'll see you like I just smoked this for the first time since we had it on the show when we couldn't tell people what we were smoking because we had this like six months ago, right and we couldn't talk about it. Allegedly. We couldn't talk about the time. It was still way super early. They were just got started ⁓ with rolling them and getting them set for aging and I'm pretty sure we smoked this before those two different guys up in the Northeast smoked him. So I think it's great. Yeah. I just keep not talking about guarantee not. They probably did it before us. I know they're out and about big time because obviously being Facebook friends with Lauren and stuff, she's been a lot, a lot, a lot of events. That fast name drop. Yeah. This was kind of like something that was missing in their color lineup. It kind of completes it now because you didn't have this, I don't want say lighter option. It's definitely not a light cigar, but just a Connecticut. Yeah, well and so they have one more coming out the end of this year or sometime this year the orange and the orange is gonna be another Connecticut I think if I'm not mistaken they're either going one way or other going full-mile or I believe I believe what I think they're doing is they're gonna make a stronger version of a Connecticut. Okay. All right we got we got Greg here let me get him in let me get him in here. And by the way, the video is working, Mike. With the cigar we're smoking, the McAluff White. But we've moved on to the bottle and bond now. So we'll let you kind of talk a little bit about your small batch and then maybe talk a little bit about that bottle and bond as well, if you don't mind. Ooh, there you go. Yeah, look, the small batch was a bourbon I didn't want to make. My wife and I discussed it at length, ⁓ argued about it guess and of course she won so I made it. ⁓ She wanted a lower proof ⁓ bourbon but something that still tasted like bourbon. Like there's a lot of things that come out around the 80-84 proof that just taste like watered down versions of their ⁓ other products. ⁓ We wanted something distinct. We ran this with a higher corn content. ⁓ to give it little bit more sweetness. But the key with it was we weren't going to put it out unless it actually tasted like bourbon. And I think we managed to pull that off. And it's 80 proof. think it's got some great viscosity to it. think, you know, the colour's really nice. it, it, this is the guy we're talking about, the small batch. It's six years old. They're all age stated now. And ⁓ it really, ⁓ it really works in a cocktail or just sipping at need. Or, you know, if you're going to put something on a bit of ⁓ alate ginger ale or something like that it works for that too. ⁓ On the bottled in bond ⁓ that's a whole different animal so the bottle in bond was something that I put together based on what I liked and I really didn't give a shit if anyone else liked it or not ⁓ and why I say that is... It's her 10th birthday so I can't tell her off. You know, whenever I go to a bar or doing an event or whatever, people always say, oh, what do you drink when you go to a bar and there's no larrikin? And my answer, quick answer is wild turkey 101. Because to me, turkey 101 tastes like bourbon should be, right? Now, the bottling bond, this guy, I wanted to create my own Turkey 101. And by saying that, mean I wanted to create something that reflected to me what I think bourbon should be, or should taste like, or should be. And that's what this guy is. It's an eight-year-old age-stated, actually these will be nine-year-old now, obviously 100 proof and it's our standard 75214 mashbill. You know, one of the things I love about this, is absolutely like a traditional, just what you think bourbon should be. I love that you said that. Yeah, and it's 100 % true. this, how I got to this one was, you know, back in the day, was just me and Katie and a couple of helpers here and there. And I literally pulled, I don't know, 10 or 15 barrels, proofed them, actually, I didn't. start with, was blending them without ⁓ proofing them down. And then when I proofed them to 100, it obviously totally changed. So that was a half day waste of doing that and drinking. And then I was like, okay, so now I have to proof them down before I blend them. So we proofed down to about 100 each. And I literally sat there just with, it wasn't even very scientific. was just pouring bits and bobs into different glasses and getting to the flavor profile, the profile I wanted. And that's how our bottled in Bond was born. now, you know, we've, think we're on batch five. ⁓ There, you know, being a small crafter still, you know, we're never going to have everything, you know, we're not Maker's Mark or Buffalo Trace or something. We're never going to, and we don't want to have everything taste the same every time we bring it out. So, you know, you're going to, particularly with the small batch and the, the bottle and Bond, which are our two main. ⁓ multi-barrel whiskeys, ⁓ you're going to find slight variations ⁓ from batch to batch, but the backbone will be the same. Yeah, I mean, the bottled and bond is, this is the kind of bourbon I like. I mean, it's got a ton of spice to it. It's the right, you know, it's a rye based bourbon and it's not overly aggressive, but it's just enough there to like, it's, you know, this is my kind of bourbon. Yeah. Everybody knows that my least favorite descriptor of bourbon is smooth. Right. In a lot of ways. It should be banned. Yes, it should be. I appreciate that. It's look, you're supposed to taste bourbon. You're supposed to get a little bit of that, that Kentucky hug, that blanket that warms you up a little bit. And you know, sometimes when you have none of that, I'm like, well, if I wanted scotch, I'd drink scotch, you know, but that's not what I want. I bourbon. And I love that this This has got some push behind it. It lets you know, yep, you're drinking bourbon. There's no question about it. So would you say it drinks at its proof? Yeah. I mean, it absolutely drinks at its proof. I think that's a really good way to put it. It drinks at its proof. And 100 should be noticeable. We're not drinking 80. This falls definitely into the crushable category for me. Yeah. Like, I could just keep drinking. Yeah. I I love the small batch. I agree with you. great job. Kudos, Greg, and being able to put something together there at that proof that still really represents well in the bourbon category. But Bob and Bon, that's always going to be a winner. Let me tell you guys, this is what I drink at home. It's what I have open on. I've got everything here. I can drink whatever I want. And this is pretty much what I drink every day. It stands up in a cocktail wonderfully well, doesn't overpower anything. But by the same token, I can put a big fat ice cube in it and sit on the porch with the dogs and look at the cows and be quite happy to sit there until my wife tells me it's time to come in. Well, you bring up a great point in that, old-fashions, Manhattans, gold rushes, you name the bird and cocktail. Like you've got to be able to taste the bourbon in it. It's got to be able to carry through it. This, know, this Bottle and Bond, you know, I haven't had a cocktail with it, but if I'm have a, I'm definitely going to have to do that. Do it in fashion with it. Just because of the rye spice that's shining through on it. Yeah. Greg said ginger ale or ale 8 or something like that. I would love this in like a mule maybe. It's great in a mule. Yeah, really works in It's got a slight hint of kind of a grape, kind of, you know, fruit note to it. I'd really love to have it in a bourbon smash. You guys know, I'm a smash fan, but you got to pour some bourbon in it. Like the biggest problem I have with the bourbon smash is most places that make them, they tend to make them as like girly fruity kind of whiskey drinks. I'm like, no. Well, is. of bourbon. Yeah, you're not wrong. Okay, go ahead, lay it on me. Got him. But you know, if you have it with enough bourbon, you just get those kind of nice blueberry mint notes that come through and not too sweet. This, think, would work I could put enough bourbon with spinach and eat that. You should never speak of having a bourbon smash again. It's Scotty's new oatmeal. I like to give Scotty crap because he pulled a tasty note last year that was oatmeal and like nobody else got that so we just give him crap for it. So now it's gonna be bourbon smashes. My palate's just more refined than you did, Jimmy. ⁓ no. So Greg, one of the ⁓ one of your products we don't have out here today, but one that I really like is the rose water. And I just want to ask you, like, how much of a pain is that to make just from the standpoint of steeping all those rose petals? Like, is it really challenging to get that ⁓ proofing water the way you want it? Like, how much time goes into that? Well, as you guys probably know and I've talked about before, I'm not much for measuring and stuff, is always, or writing stuff down, which is bit of a problem. ⁓ The challenge with the Rosewater bourbon is just as you suggested, is getting the brew right. If you make a ⁓ cup of tea and you put the tea bag in and you leave it three minutes too long, it's... It's like stews it and it doesn't work. It doesn't taste any good. So yeah, we, we, we tried a lot. I experimented a lot. You know, we used, um, you know, dried rose petals and we use fresh rose petals and we use a mix of them. And how we've got it now is I'll, we don't boil the water anymore. We simmer it about 185 degrees, 180 degrees, something like that. We put the tea bags into the, uh, into the boiling water or into the hot water. And we let it sit there probably for, well not probably, between two and a half, three hours just simmering away. And then we turn it off and leave it overnight to just stew in its own juice. that seems to work pretty well. We do it now in just five gallon pots. We used to do much bigger ones, but five gallon pots lets us control the environment a bit better. And we've got it down now. I can pretty much make a brew. You know, we get four pots running at one time. I can pretty much, you know, set that and forget it now. ⁓ And then the rest of it is just, you know, proofing the bourbon like you would any, you know, with regular ⁓ well water. Yeah, gotcha. Well, would you say it's your hardest one to be on a, to make on a consistent basis? no question. It's our cigar lounge. I don't know if you guys have had that. ⁓ It's really a huge pain in the arse to make. ⁓ But people have just ⁓ really embraced it. ⁓ the problem with the cigar lounge is that it finishes in five different barrels. ⁓ And each barrel finishes at a different time. So, you know, we've got Madeira, Jackfruit, ⁓ Cognac, Maple Syrup, and... ⁓ and they all finish dramatically differently. you know, the maple barrel and the amberana barrel are finished lickety split, whereas the, you know, Ponyak is a much bigger barrel as well. Yeah, I hate amberana, but don't get me started. Well, I do. Oh, gosh, I just like it with a passion. But yeah, so what we do is we finish them in the barrels and each barrel finishes differently. And then when each barrel is ready, We dump it into separate stainless steel tanks until all of it's ready and then we start the blending process. there's a heck of a lot of work that goes into it from sourcing the barrels, know, getting a jackfruit barrel. have to go direct to Brazil now and it's expensive and we're playing around with some pear wood barrels at the moment to see how that'll work. But the cigar lounge, if you haven't tried it yet, please do. It is just... It's just exploded for us and we're really, really pleased with where it is now. Are those some of those barrels like the pearwood, are those sums that you can reuse multiple times or are you using them one time? Okay. No, you can, with those exotics, couldn't afford, like some of these barrels cost like three and $4,000 an Right, right. Yeah, that's what I was getting at, was the price of those. Yeah. You couldn't afford to do it if you didn't, but all basically what it means, you can get ⁓ you know, Cognac barrel for instance, you know, we might use that four times, five times maybe. It just means you have to leave the liquid in the barrel longer each time. Yeah, yeah. And the same thing with Ambarana. Like obviously, if you get fresh Ambarana barrels, know, first, second refills. Nice splash. They don't need a lot of time in there. So let me ask you this question. I hate Ambarana. ⁓ Thank you so much Greg. So why do people make it? overall as someone that's learning about the whiskey industry, overwhelmingly I hear people say they hate it, but yet everybody seems to make it. So why do they make it if there's... Because enough people buy it. Yeah, exactly. Enough people buy it that will keep distributors and distilleries I just think it's awful. I can't even smell it. I dislike it with a passion. I was talking to Barry when he was still at RD1 and they make an Ambarana and I was like, dude, and I can't even smell it, you know? And I said to him, why do you guys make it? What's up with this? Why do you do this? He goes, we sell shit tons of it. Wow. And honestly, that's like the best one. must like it. Yeah. I mean, if you really despise Ambarana, that's the RD1 we've talked about on the show. It's about the only one that we're like, that's maybe... Yeah, I agree. should be the baseline for Ambarana. Don't go any stronger than that. It's insane. ⁓ my god. Do you find, because you're using Ambarana barrels as opposed to like cubes or things like that. So yeah, we never use any of that. Have you found with the Ambarana barrels that they leak a lot? Because I've seen like at, where's it in? ⁓ Ohio, High Bank. High Bank. Yeah. They do Ambarana and they have, if you could, if you walk through their Rick house, you could tell the Ambarana barrels cause they all got a puddle underneath them. Like all of them are leakers. looks like I was just curious if you had that same issue. I haven't, no, I haven't noticed it. I mean, the guys up the, the, ⁓ the run the warehouse and, ⁓ everything, ⁓ pretty good with the old wax, ⁓ the wax. but no, I haven't noticed anything, ⁓ with the Ambarana, but remember we'll only probably run six to 10 barrels at a time, you know? So it's pretty easy to spot if something starts leaking. Gotcha, gotcha. Well boys, what are we gonna hit next? What we got? Yeah, what should we drink next? We can jump on this side if you ⁓ want to. Gregor, are you a cigar smoker as well? I am. So what would you, what's your go-to for the Badaumban? It's well, I'm going to do a shameless plug. ⁓ actually ⁓ created a couple of cigars of our own at Larican. Okay. For our humidor. ⁓ We sell that they've just they're wonderful. It's a ⁓ Cuban seed, Nicaraguan grown hand rolled in Miami. ⁓ pretty light. ⁓ profile to it I guess but it tastes again it tastes like a cigar we spend quite a lot of time ⁓ myself and Chris Disponette who's a international cigar sommier I didn't even know there was such a thing ⁓ spent a lot of time with Javier ⁓ the guy that literally rolls them by hand for us ⁓ getting the blend right and we're selling a lot of them a week and people really seem to enjoy them. ⁓ that's pretty much all I've had for the last little bit. Yeah, I know you sold at least six of them yesterday. Yeah, yeah, I know. Yeah, our buddy Cody was up there and I called him. I was like, can you take Greg a white? And he was like, I smoked them all. And he was there. was like, you want me to grab the house blend ones? I was like, yeah, grab them. So next. ⁓ Maybe next podcast or the week after we'll end up smoking ⁓ the one that you just mentioned. So we'll give you some notes on that too. Look forward to that one. sounds Bringing out a darker, sort of ⁓ a heavier cigar, which will be a barber pole kind of finish, ⁓ which we're pretty excited about. That's awesome. Bigger gauge and all that sort of stuff. Yeah. Yeah, I picked up some cigars when I was there at the distillery ⁓ last summer. Yeah. they're great. Great suits. Yeah, mean, so, you know, last year when we talked Greg, you know, we talked a little bit about, know, where you guys were located, how you guys got your name, all that stuff. I know you mentioned that you were waiting on some government approval to get your stills up and running. Is that all all good now? Yeah, finally. Finally. Yeah. So tell us a little bit about post approval there. So how'd all that end up? And give us kind of like the update with Lyric in now. Yeah, so it took way, way, way longer than we expected it to. We had to, you know, we moved our stills out of where they were operating nearly seven months ago, maybe longer, and they've just been sitting there pretty much. So we run a 650-gallon pot, a 500-gallon pot. and our white spirits run through a 150 gallon pot still. The issue right now is that with the apparent glut of bourbon on the shelves and in the market and in barrels around Kentucky and elsewhere, there's not a lot of market for making barrels or making whiskey except for your own. own use obviously. know we're not a contract distiller by any stretch but you know part of the business model I guess is to do some contract distilling for smaller craft distilleries that might want 10 barrels of this or five barrels of that and that sort of thing. So there's not a lot of that going on right now and we're just sort of treading water a little bit. We just put in a brand new automated bottling line which the guys were very happy about. don't have to hand bottle everything anymore. ⁓ Yeah, so we've started, we're doing some work for three or four different brands at the moment. A couple of them you'd know, a couple of them you wouldn't because they're ⁓ But they're from Ohio, Oregon, New York and Kentucky. So ⁓ the good thing about that is, you know, ⁓ most of the times with that stuff we're using ⁓ barrels they've already purchased and then we're storing them and bottling for them or blending for them and then bottling. In one of the instances, when they're white spirits, three of them are taking our vodkas ⁓ which we're making different versions of for different folks. ⁓ yeah, mean it's still a really, really little operation and but you know, we're getting there despite the government. I'll tell you, that's one thing I love about the whiskey and the cigar world is the amount of relationships and the amount of camaraderie that happens within the industry. These two industries, cigars especially, are small. but it's still whiskey is kind of a niche industry too, even though it's a big industry, but it seems like everyone comes together and they just want everyone to succeed. You're not going after your competition because if they win, you win. And I love seeing you doing some of that collaborative with doing the sourcing barrels for people and stuff. I think it's great. Yeah, it's interesting that you say that because the industry, and I say this all the time, is the closest thing I sort of had the military in that there's a camaraderie in it. I can call the summit at Wild Turkey that'll come down and help me fix a still if we did, because I have no bloody idea what's going on with it. And they'll come down and help out. We had a small distillery up the road, not too far away. ran out of corks and they knew our bottles were the same size and so we gave them a bag of corks to get them through a bottling. You know, and that's just, you know, that's just how the industry is. I don't compete with wild turkey. In fact, Jimmy Russell, the Jimmy Russell sends people to our distillery every day in the gift shop. That's awesome. The Godfather of Bourbon is telling people to come and try out Bourbon, which is pretty neat. That's pretty awesome. Absolutely. Yeah, that's pretty cool. So now we've moved on. We're on the high wheat rye whiskey. And this one comes in at 117 and a half proof. Yeah, there it is. one's a nine here. He's prepared. By the way, this is one of my favorite lyrical. This is my favorite lyrical. I love lyrical fruit. This is probably my favorite thing we've ever done. Yeah, it's so good. That that what what barrel do you guys have? Uh 22. I got 24. The wheat just balances and rounds it out nicely. Yeah, it's not like spiky at all. Yeah, that's good. You don't get that rye wheat battle back and forth. You just need to blend together really well. all. This one's what 65 rye 35 wheat. And it's such a unique mash bill. really, when people, it's so funny, like when people try it, they're like, oh my God, this is different. I'm like, damn right. It's pretty cool. When I was growing up, kind of do the Jackie's I can taste notes on this here for a second. I remember, I don't know if my mom, she'd always buy cereal that was like, know, wheat. Here we go with the cereal again. Hang on, just bear with me. Damn it. she'd buy things that didn't have sugar, right? Regular Cheerios, not Honey Nut Cheerios. And we'd be like, ⁓ it's just, you know, it tastes like ⁓ grain. I'm a kid, I want some sweetness too. She'd say, put some honey in. Yep. And so just drizzle some honey in my cereal with milk. And you'd be like, hey, Mom, you can buy honey nut Cheerios. Right. No, you have to add your own honey. And I'm watching how much you're putting in. I'm like, really? You're anti sugar. OK. But you know, this it's kind of what it makes me think of. It makes me think of like like ⁓ a cereal with with honey in it. Right. You're getting the the right and that great right grain note and spiciness. But then there's this kind of honey wheat that just coats everything. Beautiful sweetness, Yeah, it's just... Not over sweet, No, it's like this really, really great balance. love... All right, I got one. Will, you said that. Yeah. So, and this may be what everyone makes fun of me for going forward, but between this bourbon and the cigar... I get kind of like this pumpkin loaf and not the flavor of pumpkin, but the sense of like most pumpkin loaves are made with some sort of nut, whether it's almond or pecan or something. You get that crunch in there with like the flour and then like the bread. You get that kind of like confectionary. dessert bread, but also like a nutty quality that kind of brings it together. And it's a really good retro with the whiskey. Well, what I'll say is we're all getting something different, right? Yeah, I think that's great. I'm pulling a lot of, I get a lot of citrus. I get some really nice orange on it, like orange, spicy orange kind of thing going on. But for me, where was the orange mimosa, boy? My favorite, the thing I love most about this whiskey is the finish. Like the finish just is phenomenal. ⁓ Well, it's funny you said that because after taking a good puff of the cigar and going back to the whiskey, I'm getting cantaloupe. Yeah. It's so cantaloupe. Yeah. It's really cool. And I love seeing the complexities change with the cigar. Now, if I go whiskey back to cigars, I'll probably go back to pepper again, which is great. I love it. Well, that's what stood out the finish on this. sticks around long enough. that when you hit the cigar, you get that combination of the two together. It gives you a totally different palette. So that brings up a good question, Greg. When people come into your distillery or when you meet people out in the world that are asking about, you know, Leriken, do you tend to suggest cigars with it? Or have people come up to you and been like, hey, what can I, what type of cigar can I pair with the rye or the wheat or the small batch? Have people come to you with those questions? ⁓ a lot. ⁓ That happens every day. mean, we have the only walk in Gimidore on the Bourbon Trail and we have the only ⁓ indoor cigar lounge on the Bourbon Trail. So we get a lot of people that really enjoy cigars come into the place. Fortunately, we have ⁓ two or three folks on our team in the front that are pretty knowledgeable on the cigar front, much more so than I am. ⁓ and they always steer them, Don in particular, will always steer them in the right direction. If Chris, our cigar sommier happens to be on site, you won't be able to shut him the hell up. Keep talking. That's great. That's great. Yeah, it happens all the time. And that's a huge thing because we just did the Bourbon Trail a month ago and we just hit some of the ones that I hadn't been to in a long time and... That was the major downfall I felt with a lot of places is you try something and you're like, oh man, I bet this would be really good with this cigar, but you can't smoke anywhere. Yeah. And we know you're close to Wild Turkey, Four Roses, and you're not far from like Woodford and all that. Like Woodford is a beautiful property. It's not very big, but it's a beautiful property. It got a nice patio. Right. Beautiful tasting room with all glass, you know, windows and doors. It would be amazing if like that, like you could have a place to smoke there. amazing just to sit outside, do a tasting like I wish more places on the Bourbon Trail would embrace that. And, you know, now that the legislation has passed that allows smoking in Kentucky would go through the steps to do what they need to do to, you know, do feel like they're missing out on that aspect of it. It's a whole nother word. It's, you know, the other thing we do at Larrikin too, is we're just about finished building our patio and deck out the front of the building. ⁓ So we'll be able to sit under cover, have a cigar even if it's raining. ⁓ outside if you like. We even do our tasting experiences outside. We actually have at the distillery a ⁓ cigar and whiskey experience. So you you'll come in and you'll get your four bourbons or whiskies and we'll pair a cigar with that for you to have while you're tasting through those those whiskies. That's awesome. So when is the patio expected to be done? ⁓ beginning of March so that's road trip so let's say the end of March yeah okay yeah it's just we're just waiting for the roof to go on that's all beautiful so you can come out now and sit if we we have big umbrellas up there now so people are sitting outside having cigars every day when it's not too blowy ⁓ now so it's open It's just not finished. Does it happen to be a casino anywhere close to you guys as well? mean that's that's a day trip for me. Not officially. ⁓ Allen's our resident gambler so yeah yeah he likes to the yeah yeah he's he's getting it to you know the degenerate label yeah he's getting it. I'm on a hot streak right now so that's the thing I gotta keep it up. one that actually loses all the money. You're least breaking even if not your way ahead this month. He's our avid gambler. Greg, all we ever see is his post when he wins. We never see shit when he loses. So we really don't know how much is going into this. The big thing is, you lose is when you don't walk out the door. When you win. leave. Yeah. And that's, you know, there's days I'll give some some of it back and stuff. Most of the times now I okay, if I win, all right, I leave. Yeah, the days when you give it back is when you give us a hundred dollar allowance and send us to the table. Give all us money. Yeah. Well, that's what are we moving to next? Yeah, let's go. Just one thing on this, this on the on the highway ride. This is now distillery only. We bottled the last two barrels of it this week. ⁓ wow. If you see this out in the wild, buy it, grab it and if you passing the distillery and want to get some ⁓ I recommend you do so because ⁓ it's only about well a number of liquor stores still have stock but they're not getting any more. We're actually going to have a funeral for the last barrel. in a couple of weeks. yeah. Well, again, thanks to Cody Roy for giving us these four bottles to taste on the show. So you got to do a Viking funeral. a great dude. He's a great dude. Send it on a float. We are going to do a Viking funeral. No. Yes. Well, take a video and send it to us. We'll definitely post it. What are you doing? Everyone's going to be in black. There's going to be a procession. There's going to be five trucks. That's going to be awesome. you have a date on that yet? No, probably next couple of weeks. We've got to do it. it's too hot. Yeah, Shoot me a text. We'll make sure to include that in an episode or make sure we share it. Yeah, there'll be plenty of video, I'm sure. I'm assuming you're doing that on a weekend, Yeah, we'll probably do it on a sad day. Okay. Yeah. On the behind us. Hopefully be able to shoot an arrow, a flaming arrow into it. That's amazing. Just don't ask for permission. Just do it. I mean, incendiary rounds work too. But no, we'll, the county fire department is great here. So we'll let them know and they'll probably bring a truck up and join the party as my guess. Yeah. All good for safety. So, Will, what are We got a single barrel now. What do we got here? this is the straight bourbon whiskey single barrel. This one is the KBB barrel. 75 corn, 21 rye, 4 barley, 8-year, coming in at 125.8 proof. And this is like night and day from the last one. Last one was so fruity on the nose. This one's darker and richer on the nose. Well, last one was a rye, right? Yeah. Oh, what was the high rye bourbon? Wasn't it? Oh, it was a high wheat rye. my bad. My bad. Yeah. 65 35. Which, actually, now that one, the real quick back to the high wheat rye. You're sourcing that, correct? No, so I heard when I was on before and couldn't speak. So you got it spot on. at Larracan sort of have a bit of a hybrid model at the moment, ⁓ whereby we've contractor-stealed ⁓ and we've made, you know, I've been doing this off and on for about 10 years. ⁓ So a bunch, our single barrels are ours. ⁓ But then we contract distilled and in the beginning we sourced some whiskey but we haven't done that for some time. But you know the high wheat rye ⁓ was, we made that down in Tampa, Florida with a buddy of mine who was more of a rum distillery ⁓ and it was his idea. frankly and it worked amazingly. also made a high wheat bourbon which was a terrible disaster and ⁓ it didn't even, you couldn't even use it for hand sanitizer, it stunk so bad. Yeah it was shocking, it just stunk, I don't know what we did to it. ⁓ yeah the high wheat rye worked great, he closed his distillery down probably seven years ago but ⁓ that's why I got the last little bit of his when he closed down. yeah, so that's ⁓ ours. ⁓ The ⁓ bottled in bond is was contracted still with Buffalo Trace back in the day. ⁓ What else? ⁓ This was also a contract, but now this has got a lot of our stuff in it as well. ⁓ So yeah, it just depends on which one pops up. Okay, so my reason for asking that question. Thank you for clarifying all that because like you mentioned, we couldn't hear you before. appreciate that. But 65 35 no malted barley. Right. That had to be a little bit of a challenge for your fermentation and getting that. Right. That was the problem. Everyone said not to do it and we still did. Yeah. Sometimes the most magical stuff happens when you don't listen to other people. what do they know? It's never getting made again, that's why. Because it's such a bitch. Yeah, yeah. Everyone's like, you've got to do this again, you've got to do this again. And I'm like, I'm not sleeping next to the freaking still. Yeah, that's the challenge, right? We all know multi-barley is often put in because it helps the fermentation process. Makes things all move a little bit better. I mean, I can't think of another distillery that's done that mashbill or anything like it. I I've never heard Yeah, I've not ever seen one, but I'm sure it's out there somewhere. ⁓ we may have a crack at it again. But this was one of those ones that even when it was six years old, wasn't very, you know, I didn't think it was that great. And then when it ticked over into like sort of mid sevens, it totally changed. And that's we bought it out initially as an eight year. and now the last half dozen barrels have been nine years. So I'd like to get your opinion or thoughts on something I've been thinking about. So there's this glut of barrels, So-called glut of barrels out. They're cheap. A lot of people are buying them. A lot of people are, a lot of NDPs are releasing a lot of high-aged product. Which is kind of like if you look back 15, 10, 15 years ago, it kind of like the case. And now you've kind of gone back, you see it, but like, how do you survive? How do you maintain longevity in this industry? ⁓ And I feel like the ladder of buying these like high age and doing all these one releases, unless you build just this mass following, at some point, the whiskey is going to run out. So, you know, five years, 10 years from now, whatever, like, how do you, I guess, what are your thoughts on how do you maintain longevity in this industry? Yeah, it's a really good, I mean, that's the million dollar question, right? A billion dollar question. I mean, you know, I always say to the guys and it's sort of my little catchphrase at work in some respects is that, you know, we're as good as our last single barrel. So we're a small distillery, very small distillery, not a people on most of them's backsides. if we keep putting out ⁓ whiskey that people like to drink and it's good quality and don't sort of give in and put out crap. ⁓ That's sort of our model. The other thing is we don't have any debt. And you're seeing a lot of these craft distillers, I think, even some of the bigger ones that are just crumbling under debt. you know, ⁓ a couple of years ago when everything was tickety-boo and we talked a bit earlier about the, you know, about contract distilling and all that sort of thing. mean, there's been a... You know, look at Garrett County Distillery, for instance. You know, they were set up as a contract distiller and no one's contract distilling now. So, and then they had mountains and mountains and mountains of debt. ⁓ Same with Lucca Mariano or whatever it called up here in Ganville. ⁓ Mountains of debt. you know, you don't need a million dollars still to make good whiskey. You can make good whiskey on a, on a still from Still Dragon in Missouri, which costs you 40 grand. And, ⁓ So I think a lot of people got over their skis, thinking the whole COVID kind of boom would last forever, which it obviously didn't. And this wasn't just smaller and medium sized distilleries, this is all the big guys. That's why Jim Beam closed down one of their plants, one of their distilleries, I think in Claremont, for the time being. And you're seeing a lot of... You know, coupling the oversupply with the lack of markets now with the tariffs, like just killing Canada and Europe ⁓ for distillers, you look at a company like Jim Beam, for instance, more than half their product would go overseas at any normal time. And that gets choked off. That's a lot of people that aren't making whiskey or selling whiskey. So, you know, I think the issue of the glut... is actually pretty good for some small distilleries and for some small or for some NDPs. You know, they were paying $4,000 a barrel a year ago. Now they're paying maybe $1,500. So, you know, that's great. you know, if I had the money right now, I would be going out and buying whatever I could and sticking it into many warehouses I could. Because you're right, what's going to happen is the cycle is going to turn around and bite itself, have another lick of the ice cream and then you're gonna have all these big guys will stop making and then all of a sudden there's a gap where there's no one year, there's no new fill, there's no this, there's no that for two or three years and all this other stuff's gonna run out eventually and then you're gonna have that little gap in the middle. So that's a long way of saying I think there's a lot more to come. Yeah. Well, I like what you said there about a... they're plus polar, but was just for remodeling purposes. Right. But I like what you said about being able to make whiskey and get something halfway decent out the door. I've always wondered about that. I have a family member that I may have got him like a little five gallon electric column still. One of these little... things you can get for 500 bucks or whatever. And he ended up making bourbon. And he just allegedly, right. Allegedly, he thought about it. He did think about it and he may have allegedly put it into a bunch of like court jars, alleged jars, right? I think you made a couple of batches put into quarter pint jars. Um, just had some little tiny charred oak stains, theoretically just enough to fit in a jar. let it sit in his basement where he had some good temperature fluctuations. I don't know, was four or five weeks, something like that. The views and opinions, especially the final third podcast, for entertainment purposes only are not a real event. There you go. And his address is. It actually, it shocked the hell out of me because he took it, he blended it, he got it into some pint jars and gave it to some of us. And I'm out working in my barn and I kind of smelled it and tasted it was like, okay, well that's interesting. Ended up having another family member come over and I said, hey, this is our family member's alleged stuff in this jar. And we sat there and just passed the jar back and forth. And I was like, man, if I can sit there and do that with something made. in like a six week time period. know, was it anything that you'd want to put on the shelf? No, like you wouldn't want to sell it because it's a little too, you know, just aggressive and it's extreme small batch, so to speak. But it just kind of surprised me. The process is the same process, right? Whether you're doing it in 53 gallon barrels or you're doing it in quart jars, the concepts are still the same. The process is same and you can get some really good bourbon from some Yeah, think the the best story that Greg shared with us last year was that 10 year that you did with the Alberta when you were telling us about you know that that whiskey was heading to Russia Yeah, yeah, your wife was like wow that can't go to Russia So yeah, whatever you got to do just get that barrel and that's not going to Russia like make sure that that's that's that's American whiskey now So, you know, yeah, we appreciate that as Americans, you know, I know if that would ever sell but It took off. Yeah, it did. That was crazy. Ten years old. Do think that ten year kind of spread the other, you know, varietals that you guys are doing or do you think that was kind of like a one and done? ⁓ no, that was a one and done. At the time, you know, when we launched as Lawrenceburg, four years ago, whatever it was, maybe a bit longer, I thought we had enough barrels of our own to... you know, get through. But we didn't, we sold out everything in like a week. So we had to fill a gap and that's what that tenure run that and remembering this was sort of COVID as well. Sure, sure. You couldn't get hold of anything. You couldn't get barrels. couldn't buy bottles. You couldn't buy anything. And so these popped up on my radar and I tried it and it was remarkably good and we just got it and bottled it. And fortunately, it was a slow burn. It took a while. Well, one, people didn't know who the hell we were. And two, it was a really unusual product. And we like to put out stuff that's a little bit different when we can, not to be contrary or anything. we'll never have enough money. We'll never know enough. But we know just enough to, you know, sort of shake the tree a little bit and put out a hundred percent 10 year old rye and see how it goes. Put out a 65 35 ⁓ rye wheat. ⁓ And, you know, just and the rose water. We just enjoy doing that sort of Yeah, I mean, I think that's great. know, like every every distillery when they come around, you know, wants to do like the next big thing, they want to be that next, you know, whiskey on the shelf. They want to be the pour on the bar that everybody goes to. So I think it speaks volumes to what you've done with your brand and everything with Lerkin that has spread all this amazing whiskey knowledge and just everything that has happened in the last three to four years has been amazing. I just like to drink it. Well, thank you. Well, so earlier you guys are saying that that that weeded rye was your favorite. I don't know if I could pick one. ⁓ he's got the deep, is that the Deep Purple? Yeah, no, no, this is just a nine-year-old single barrel. This is barrel D12. Okay, ⁓ yeah, that's great. Well, you know, just it speaks volumes to what you guys are doing that, you know, I don't think I could pick a favorite because I think every single one of them, with the exception of the Ambarana, ⁓ is something that I would leave on the shelf at any time and I would buy any of these bottles. And any single barrel that you guys do, I'm in. I mean, it's just one of those products that the single barrels hit, the small batch hits, the bottled and bonds are amazing. Talking about Deep Purple, ⁓ they're very infrequent. probably, last year I think we had two barrels because we find these barrels that are hazmat proof that are good enough to go single barrel. You can find hazmat barrels, but they're not single barrel. They're terrible. Some of them are terrible. Terrible. Like our old adage, we're as good as our last single barrel. So we won't put out a shitty had thing just because it's hazmat. we found two barrels. that keep dumping hazmats in the market for no reason. I don't even like hazmat whiskey much. Actually, I don't like it. But Mike up at the back is our production manager. He's got a fantastic palate. and ⁓ he'll walk in, you know, just holding a little glass, ⁓ little Glen, and he'll be like, try this. And ⁓ I know already that it's a hazmat because he's like a 12 year old girl, know, with a new beard and everything. But I try it and we've had two barrels in the last month, but they're both only about five gallons each. ⁓ they are remarkably good. We'll probably release them at the same time ⁓ at some point. But you know, there'll be 30 or 40 bottles out of each barrel maybe. So that'll be our next Deep Purple whenever we put those out. Sounds like a KBF release. Yeah, maybe. We've got something pretty special coming down the pike for KBF this year. Okay, well cool. Can't wait for that. ⁓ Let me ask you one last question before we kick you off here and we wrap up for the day. How involved are you ⁓ with the everyday operations? Are you on site every day? you the face of this? you? ⁓ with Wild Turkey, Jimmy Russell shows up. We know that he was a huge part of Wild Turkey in the beginning. ⁓ He's obviously a huge part now. but now at this point, like he's getting up there in age, so he sits in the gift shop and signs bottles. What is your role at this point with Lerkin? Like, you ⁓ mixing, are you mashing? What are you doing? ⁓ Everything. I'm the HR department, I'm the plumber, I'm the merchandise designer and orderer, I'm the distiller, I'm the blender, ⁓ everything. I would love to just sit in a gift shop and sign bottles. That would be freaking awesome. It's coming. It's coming from your lips to God's ears as I say, but you you know the, you know, we've got a great team. think we're 15 people now at 16. Um, and everyone, you know, someone might be the sales manager or the marketing manager, production manager, but everybody does everything. So, you know, I'm going to go in. Once I get off with you guys for last three hours we're open and I'll be working the tasting room. I'm going to get some stuff set up. We're doing a gin run tomorrow. So I'll get, you know, I'll get set up for that. ⁓ And then Mike will get that underway in the morning because he goes in at like five o'clock or something stupid ⁓ in the morning. And ⁓ then I'll waddle in and make sure it's all going okay. do the thing and then go and do the next thing and then deal with the ABC and then go and deal with the county and then go and deal with whatever else is coming down the pike that day, deal with our distributors and do social media and all that sort of stuff. So no, it's very hands on. I'm traveling a lot more now. Obviously we're in 17 states now, including New York, California, Texas, Illinois, Indiana, et cetera, et cetera. Tennessee. So I'm traveling a lot to those markets which is important. So we've just hired, well not just, about six months ago we bought on a gal by the name of Barb MacDonald. She's our lead distiller. Barb was the head distiller at Laws Whiskey House in Colorado which is a great facility ⁓ and she's also an engineer so when we are going through all the drama of putting together stills and steam and all that sort of thing. She's able to step up. So ⁓ she's sort of doing a lot of the day to day of that now. ⁓ More so. That's that's a great addition. That's a great addition. do the math. she's barbed the business. But I won't let it touch the gin. I still do the gin. I love gin. There you go. That's great, man. I think that speaks volumes to what you guys are doing, you know. Having you being hands on with the operation is, I think it means everything to what you guys Well, I'm too cheap to pay anyone else to do it. So, will we see an American single malt in your future? No, probably not. Light whiskey? I'm not a big fan of the American single It's just not my thing. If I wanted a single malt, I'd drink scotch. There you go. How do you feel about light whiskey, then? Love them. Yeah. ⁓ look at that one. Yeah, there's a light whiskey. a good one. American light whiskey. is this one's seven, but the new ones are eight. ⁓ This one's hundred and forty four proof. Wow. Eight year old single barrel light whiskey. ⁓ It's ⁓ the difference with our stuff is it's 85 percent corn and 15 percent molded barley. Most of the time you'll see an American light whiskey. they'll be 99.1 or 95.5 or thereabouts. This has just gone, I don't know of anyone else that's done a single barrel, like a single barrel cast ring, a light whiskey. This has just taken off for us and retail, it's an eight year old hazmat that retails for under $100 and so it's gone really great for us. Can you say is it distilled in Kentucky? Oh yeah, we don't have anything that's not distilled in Kentucky apart from that one 10 year old Canadian rum we ran I think I know where it's coming from. I tasted a Kentucky probably eight or nine year light whiskey about two weeks ago. Rob and I both did. If your barrels are anything like that, that was just... There's a very good special barrel. I look forward to trying it. the whiskey is great. as I said 10 minutes ago that I don't like hazmat whiskey. It's just not my thing. But this works. It's got a lot of caramal and vanilla. It's really smooth. There you go. Smooth. it's almost like he's bashing you. Now, Greg, I thought we agreed that smooth is the worst description out there. Come on. No, it is. It really genuinely is. He got you there, brother. Actually, I have to win someone close something. of smooth? I know here we talk about approachable. Is that what you use? Yeah. No, one thing at the distillery at Larrick and we... No one on our team will ever tell you what it smells like, tastes like, what the profile is, ever. And that's easy from above. You know, we made a decision way back in the day that it's not up to us to tell people what they taste. ⁓ And so we genuinely don't. We never put tasty notes on anything. We never, if we get asked, we ask them what they get out of it. ⁓ But we'll never tell you what it should taste like. And the other thing with us is that, you know, my family come out of the wine industry, so we always put the mash bill on our bottles so you know what is in there because I'm not going to go and buy a $50 bottle of wine if I don't know what's in the bottle. And I think the same about whiskey. So we always put the mash bill on there for that reason. That's smart. Love that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. But I do love a good smooth whiskey. Does your family still have the involved in the wine business in Australia? Yeah. So you've got to do a finished barrel from your Australian wine. Yeah, get a nice cap finish. You got to do one. Yeah, I think when I go back at just before Christmas, ⁓ we're going to see how we can bring a couple of pallets back. That'd be awesome. barrels yeah it'd be pretty cool. kind of ties in your whole story you know. Yeah and I've got a bunch of other friends that are winemakers over there and cider makers. Bunch of winers yeah so I'd probably bring some of their stuff back too if I can and you know just play around with it over here. Very cool. That'll be awesome. don't think Greg calls them winers he calls them wankers. Wankers. It's whole different thing. wankers. Wankers on ⁓ baby. ⁓ Yeah, oh, he's got the hat. Yeah, Wanker. There you go. So, you know, after this, we're gonna do our members only, which is... Yeah, that's great. We do our unfiltered event after the regular recorded podcast. And we're gonna talk about your Wanker Wednesdays. yeah. So, we'll do is... Wanker Wednesdays has just exploded. That's awesome. It's pretty funny. Yeah, we will talk about that here in a minute because we want to talk a little bit about it. And we want to talk about it with more open vocabulary. Open vocabulary. Make sure we keep it straight and narrow here, but our members podcast section will open up. We appreciate it more for sure. But definitely check out the Wankers Wednesday because that is absolutely fantastic. It is great. On Instagram, Larrick and Bourbon on Instagram and my Instagram is Larrick and Distilla. ⁓ We'd love to, know, I need some new bloody followers. I haven't had a new follower in a year. So, ⁓ at Larrick and Distilla, that's me. At Larrick and Distilla, there you go. Awesome. And then you can always see our Wanker Wednesdays. Heck yeah. Well, Greg, if you want to hang out for members only, unless you have to go do some work. I actually do have to... Okay, we will carry on in your memory. ⁓ We'll take on for you while you go do important distilling things. You carry the torch. Yeah, carry the torch. We'll carry the torch. That's a good way to say it. We're gonna carry on. Greg, we thank you for joining us today. We'll make sure to share this out on all our platforms after this live is done and we'll tag in everything. We'll check in later on in the year after we get some more of these verticals. you know, around the lounge, around Indiana and other states. So you're shipping more stuff to Indiana. Yeah. We like to drink it up. Indiana is really, Indiana has taken off for us. It's been great. people in Indiana like good burden. do. Yeah, they do. ⁓ know, ⁓ handy spot up there. don't even know what town that's in Ashley. think Ashley ⁓ tips his place. ⁓ that's they'd, they've sold, they've done three barrel picks in a month and they've all sold out. in a few days. yeah, it's Indiana. You know, we've only just got into Indiana a couple of months back, so it's been really good for us. So we'd be remiss to say that we're still waiting to get your your bourbon cream. That bourbon cream might be some of the best bourbon cream in the market period. And I'm waiting to get it. I already got a case on order of that too. Plus we have the single or the small batch in the bottle on the bar. So I'm looking forward to get that bourbon cream too. Yeah, I'm not a bourbon cream guy, you know we make that in-house and It's our biggest selling product. That's amazing. Yeah, it's good. That's great, man Well, Greg we appreciate you for joining us today buddy ⁓ we will touch base later on in the year whenever we have a chance and ⁓ Yeah, come and see us. That's all you got man. Yeah, you're down in Kentucky near Lawrenceburg. Go check out Lerkin. It's a place to be so Yeah, we appreciate it. a cigar. You can smoke a cigar. Thanks, Greg. Appreciate it. Thanks a lot, Greg. See you, boys. Thank you, everyone. Yeah, I appreciate you guys. Bye, Greg. All right, everyone. That's it. That's it for Greg. So we're going to wrap up here. Yeah. We'll get into the members only here in just a minute. But I hope you guys enjoyed hearing from Greg. Greg is a great guy. So we're excited to have him on the So you guys can find me anywhere, Final Third Cigar. Cockatoo Wolverine. Find me at Scotty D. Smokes. You can find me at both the Visuals, Spencer Lee's, and don't forget to follow the Final Third Podcast. All things Big Al. And Motofoto on Instagram. Don't forget to follow the Lerkin Distiller or Lerkin Distillery on Instagram too. There you go. Thanks a lot, guys. Cheers. We'll see y'all.