30A bourbon and Cross-Eyed Cricket!

Welcome And Responsible Sipping

SPEAKER_00 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.

Lighting The Pipe With Cross-Eyed Cricket

SPEAKER_04 0:29

I am going to do cross-eyed cricket.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

Cross-eyed cricket.

SPEAKER_04 0:32

English. Okay, I was wondering look at Nick. You're like, what is happening? Yeah. It's a cr uh English crossover. So there's actually some cabin dish in here. It's like an aromatic, but there's a bit of English in here as well. I think it's gonna be good. It's been a while since I've had it, but we've done it on the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

I feel like we have. I remember hearing about cross-eyed cricket.

SPEAKER_04 0:54

I'm excited. I'm gonna I'm gonna load it up in this really small. There's a small, I don't know if you can notice that. But this bowl on this pipe is real tiny. It's a Savonelli. It's a tiny bowl. But no, no, this one's smaller than their average. And uh it's actually a filtered pipe. And I don't smoke a lot of filtered pipes, but I will say when it comes to smoking something with Cavendish in it, it really actually lends itself to a much more satisfactory smoke. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

Alright. Bring it on, David. You ready for yours now? Yeah.

The 30A Pour And First Impressions

SPEAKER_02 1:32

Okay. So we've got 30A. Uh Chris and I have been to 30A a couple times, actually. Well, I have. I don't know about Chris. I really hope you like it. It's fried it. So there is a uh before we go on with this, there's a bottle that we have possibly gonna find its way on the podcast. The the distillery is called Fourfinger. Uh Fourfinger Rye, I think is what they call it. Fourfinger rye.

SPEAKER_04 1:59

Let's just say that is a bold name for a that's for a whiskey.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Right. Well, it's the whole idea of like it's a four fingers.

SPEAKER_04 2:08

Yeah, because three finger like is a big drink. That's a big four finger. This isn't even a four-finger. Yours is like a mine, mine's a solid three. Yeah, but that but it's not four. Right.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

It's uh four-fingered pore, is what they're they kind of go off of. And I was like, that that's that's close to a four-finger pour. We're getting real close to a four-finger pour right there.

SPEAKER_04 2:30

Oh, it smells fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

This smells good. Okay, so we got this

What 30A Really Is And Where It’s Made

SPEAKER_02 2:36

distillery. Well, I can't really even call it a distillery. 30A. We'll just go with that. 30A. Distillery. We'll get into this even more.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

I mean, did you read the bottle? Not at all. Not even otherwise. So you're gonna lie.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

When Chris and I went down, oh gosh, this is what, two years ago now that we went to 30A? Uh yeah, two years ago, yeah. We went down. We're going to, we're trying to find a good liquor store just to see what they have local. Couldn't find anyone that did anything local at that time. We kept striking out. We finally found a good liquor store. They didn't even have anything at the time. We were convinced all they do is clear spirits and rum in Florida, which makes sense. It's on the Gulf. So it's upset. Oh, that's what we figured. Which is kind of surprising. Like maybe we could find someone that did something. Well, Mary and I just went back there in June and found this bottle. We were talking to one of the the uh guys in the store, and we're asking, do you have anything local? He's like, Oh, yeah, we got this 30A bottle. Local 30A, the name is 30A, the main highway there is 38, has everything to do with the area. And I said, Oh, great. So they make it here. And he goes, not exactly. No, no, uh, it's uh MGP distilled that is then shipped out to Louisiana, aged in Louisiana, and then shipped down to Florida to then be bottled and blended by this company. So 30A is a distillery, they're hoping to do their own whiskey, but for now they're sourcing it from a distillery in Louisiana that's sourcing it from MGP. Third hand. It's a third hand production. It's a third production production. And what's interesting is they're the hope and dream phase. They've got batches, so I think they're on like batch seven now. But this is batch four of this whiskey. I apparently each batch is something different because they don't really they kind of want to stick with the mash gold, but they don't really have like an age range in mind as much as just kind of send us barrels and we'll blend from there, which is very uh interesting.

unknown 4:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

Again, we're talking about 30A. This is Gulf of Florida, they don't do whiskey at all, apparently. At all. Uh they're they're again they're looking to 30A is trying to. Uh they started in 2022. So if that tells you anything about this bottle, this very young company to begin with. That's taking a very young Florida company. Uh that Florida doesn't do whiskey. They're trying to figure whiskey out, and they're on year four of figuring it out. Is it worth it? That's the question that I'm very curious about.

SPEAKER_04 5:27

Do you remember anything about Blue Mountain Beach when we were in 38?

SPEAKER_02 5:32

Nope, but Blue Mountain Beach is apparently um apparently a signature beach in one of the neighborhoods. Or signature beach neighborhood, I guess you could say on 30A. Wow, these guys are okay, they're smart.

SPEAKER_04 5:48

Let me let me read some of the stuff on Mark. Yeah, let me know. Mark anyone, they're very smart. Let me read some of the stuff on the bottle, just because it's like they're not, they're so like not, they're transparent and not like obvious at the same time. So they can put about 38 distillery and company. Our dream is to produce a spirit as spectacular as the beaches of Highway 38. That's a beautiful sentence because if they actually were making it, that sentence would apply. If they're actually not making it, that sentence would apply. That's very smart, isn't it? And if you're looking like, oh, we they inspire to someday do that, that sentence would apply. You know what I mean? So our dream is to produce a spirit as spectacular as the beaches of 30A. That's smart. I don't know. It's a lot of stuff, and then but distilled in Indiana, rested at Sugarfield Spirits and blended and bottled by 30A. Rested? I've never heard that on a bottle. That's something different.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

It is very different.

SPEAKER_03 6:44

Rested,

30A As A Place To Vacation

SPEAKER_03 6:45

okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:45

30A. If you have a family, 30A is the place to go. It's like if you want like a uh nice it's like a bougie, it's a bougie beach trip. It's very it's very nice. It's very family friendly in the aspect of even like the oh, what was that called? The like launch pad or like the place where we went to get the cigars. They had a chill zone. Yeah, they had a chill zone, what they called the chill zone. It's like this outdoor uh food venue mall, but also for kids. Like they've just got stuff for kids to run around and play with.

SPEAKER_04 7:17

I'd say with a cat with a caveat. So when I think family friendly, I think of Hilton Head. When I think of family friendly in the aspect of like if you were older when you got married and had kids and you have your life basically set up and your kids are only like three and two, and you have a live-in nanny, um, it's very family friendly. It's it's Hilton Head without any of the charm. It's just nice. It's and it's it is bougie. It's nice. I liked it. And we uh we liked it, we liked it in there, but I'm just saying that it wasn't uh you know, you're not gonna let your kids run around per se at a place like that. You know what I mean? They're they're gonna play, but with supervision, you know what I mean? Like it's it's very it's white tablecloth dining, which at the beach is not really Santa Rosa Beach, the one that is all the white, or you think of Rosemary Beach? You're thinking of Rosemary Beach. Well, we were right there at Rosemary Beach on the beach. But the one that's all it's all white before the beach, yeah. That one is like you so where we stayed was right. We were a golf cart ride from Rosemary Beach. Not even a long golf cart ride. So yeah, and it was we enjoyed it. What's cool about 30A, not to get off on a huge tangent, although that ship has sailed, let's be honest. Uh, the waters are super clear, like super you can see all the way to the bottom, which sounds awesome. However, you could like Hilton Head, it's not, it's like brown, you can't see, right? But the problem with it is there was sharks there, as there is in Hilton Head. The difference is when you see the sharks, you think that'd be better. It's kind of worse because you're like, I just don't want to get in the water at all. You know what I mean? Like, like you think I'm gonna get in the water, it's clear, but then when you see it, and then also like the one day, like the one chick had her arm ripped off. Like as we were walking out to the beach, they're like, It's closed today because somebody had their arm ripped off. We right where we were swimming the day before, too, like not even far in. We were like, Where at?

SPEAKER_05 9:17

And they pointed, I was like, ooh, I don't like that, I don't like that.

SPEAKER_04 9:22

And you could see it. You're like, it's you know, in Hilton Head, you feel something underwater, like, ooh, ooh, what was that? Ooh, ooh, you know, I'm kind of ooh, ooh, ooh. But then in in uh 30A, you feel something, you look down, you're like, holy hell, holy hell, I need to move. I need to get out. There's something, it's a fish of some kind. I couldn't see it clear, but I could see it, you know, and like I respect you.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

I like you, but I respect your distance.

SPEAKER_04 9:42

Yes, yeah, and that's a shark right there. I can see it plain as day. Let's get out of the water. Yeah. So I there's things I do like about it, there's things I don't like about it, but it is a cool place. If you're looking for a real bougie beach vacation, that's your place. There's no better place.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

So the the bottle, I don't know if you saw this on the back yet, it actually references the the child aspect of watching the sunset go down on 30A while braving the ice cream lines with kids, which is a very valid.

SPEAKER_04 10:13

Such a true, true that is a nightly excursion to get ice cream, and you will get it. And there's ice cream at like ice cream shops everywhere now. There's a line.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

There's all everybody drives their golf carts to get it. There's the yeah, it's a thing. Riding past golf carts in an actual car is a pain in the rear.

SPEAKER_04 10:30

Yeah, on major road, on the on the highway, on 38, you're riding on a golf cart. It's cool. It's you should experience it once. Um, maybe.

Authenticity Problems And Tourist Marketing

SPEAKER_01 10:39

I'm curious if I I would hate to say that this whiskey is is gimmicky, but do you guys think it borders that based off some of the verbiage that they're using, just trying to appeal to like almost like the tourists? Like, oh, you're down here with the family. You should get some whiskey.

SPEAKER_04 10:58

Here's what I'm getting from it. Not gimmicky.

unknown 11:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 11:01

Uh, is it lacking any sort of authenticity or integrity? Correct. That's what it is. It's like there's no like story behind this, other than we want to have a distillery in 30A because nobody's ever done it before. So let's market this as the 30A distillery, and also we're not gonna produce it. And we're also not even gonna source good stuff. It's two years.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

I was gonna point that out. I was like, are they trying? I mentioned this to Nick earlier. Are they trying to showcase potentially something that they believe that they can make soon? Like something that's two years, right? Because if they're not doing that, this is a terrible idea. Like, why would you source something that's two years old and be like, hey, have this, try this?

SPEAKER_04 11:46

That's my thing. I don't think there's any real authenticity behind it. I don't think there's gonna be just based on what I'm looking at and tasting and everything, I don't think there's a huge push for them to even make their own stuff. I think as long as they're making money off of this, it's fine. And when it runs out, it runs out. If it runs out. The other thing is say they were to make their own stuff. What's gonna be their thing other than it's 30A? Are they gonna talk about like the locally sourcing grains?

SPEAKER_02 12:10

No, there's no grains to it.

SPEAKER_04 12:11

Are they gonna do anything specifically different? Not unless they hire some weird off-the-wall distillery like master distiller that that that comes in and gives them an actual purpose. Right now, all they got is like there's no distillery on 30A, people like bourbon, one plus one equals two. Uh, let's open up a distillery and make money. That's all it is. I that's all I've that's what I think. I mean, unless there's nothing else here.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

So, what I would say as a caveat to that is this bottle is great for the environment it's being served in. As far as tourists go? Uh, as far as the location of 30A. We've had bourbon there in 30A. You don't want anything too hot, too heavy. Well, they pick they pick the right kind, they pick the right kind. So I agree with that. For trying to figure out, okay, well, people like bourbon when they go to the beach or around here, they like bourbon. We understand that aspect. No one around here does it. Let's find something that we can do, but do well for the environment, do well for those that are probably looking for something to drink on the beach or in the hot weather. Like this kind of it kind of fits that.

SPEAKER_03 13:23

I mean, it's it's no nonce, it's a straight bourbon. It's straight. It's I mean, it's just this is um, you know.

Tasting Notes Great Nose Weak Finish

SPEAKER_04 13:29

I mean, this is bullet. Okay, this is I mean it's from MGP. This is this is a 95.2 proof bullet. That's what I'm getting. The only difference is it smells way better. I mean, it's but as far as the taste goes, I'm not saying it's one-to-one with bullet, but what the way it tastes is there's a the bottom falls out of it. Yeah, do you notice that?

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Yeah, I mean, I completely agree with you. The nose is fantastic. I was surprised about the nose, and to me, I always get nervous. I keep saying this all the time. I know you guys are like, Blake, dusty, dusty barn. I get it, but I was expecting that because it was so young. It didn't get that as much as I thought. However, the finish, in my opinion, was not very good. I was getting like medicinal cough syrup.

SPEAKER_04 14:17

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

It was not that great.

SPEAKER_04 14:19

And that's after it all the actual whiskey flavors drop out. Yep, completely dissipate like like a trap to work. What you're left with is um almost a sour medicinal taste, metallic-y, which we've gotten from MGP before, that same taste. But I and again, I'm this is not actually a knock on 30A. This is more of a knock on MGP. But 30A is the one that picked it. It's just not good, it's not good whiskey. Uh it's not bad whiskey, but it's not good whiskey. I don't know how much they're selling it for. But here's the thing. It's not good whiskey, but you know, and then when you couple that with the fact that there's not a great background to like their distillery, other than like one plus one equals two, I think. You know what I mean? Like and they're gonna sell a lot of it because of people down there with the name, you know. It's like the Shore Things cigars, yeah. Although those were pretty decent, you know what I mean? But same thing. He you could say he picked those things out. What's the name of that guy? The country music singer that Luke Bryant. Luke Bryant.

SPEAKER_02 15:21

Was it Luke Bryant?

SPEAKER_04 15:21

Luke Bryan owns a cigar company down there. It's called Shore Thang Cigars. S-H-O-R-E, Shore Thing cigars. And they have their own line and then they have other stuff too. And it's decent, they're decent. I honestly, I think you could take any basic cigar and throw the label on it. It's basically what they did. It's it's this. They took a decent cigar and threw their label on it and they sell it.

unknown 15:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 15:42

And I get it. But what it does is fill the hole of we need a cigar shop in 30A, why not, why not make it something that's 30A adjacent? Same thing with this. Oh, we need to sell whiskey. Well, why not sell something that says 30A on it as well? I get that. I mean, I think if a company were to sell store picks down there for 30A, that would make more sense. Bingo. That would be a restaurant would probably kill it with that. You know what I mean? You get a decent bourbon with 30A on it, and your your restaurant name, your set, and people are gonna buy those and take them home. I mean, you're gonna you're gonna sell that stuff. But I I think it's a very similar setup to that short thing cigar. We went there because I like cigars and it's a 30A place. And I you know, did I buy short thing stuff? Yeah, I did. I bought a whole, what, a case of them probably, or almost a case, yeah. Um, you know, and I had a and I got a sticker and stuff, you know, it's cool or whatever, but it's not like I'm not gonna like, hey, uh the top five cigars this year, short thing cigar. No, they were not in the top five, probably not in the top 50, but they were okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

But I guess to your point though, Chris, I agree with you. I think a better business opportunity in 30A, considering it is more affluent vacationing and more affluent clientele, would be to almost have a bottle shop where you just strictly have single barrel picks, and they can be really high-end single barrel picks. And I think the clientele down there would shell out the money for it, they'd shell it, they would go nuts for it.

SPEAKER_04 17:15

They'd shell it, you would be excited, especially if it's uh somebody else's brand already. Yeah, you walk in and you see your brand sporting a you know, store like 30A store pick label, you're gonna buy the crap out of that.

unknown 17:26

100%.

SPEAKER_04 17:28

And down there, people are throwing money away, you know what I mean? So, yeah, but and the here's the thing, and I guess that's why I'm a little bit more upset. Is I just would have if we bought this because it's a 30A bottle, I'd be super disappointed tasting it. Like, ugh, this is not good.

SPEAKER_02 17:42

Like, it's not is that because you'd have you have different expectations in your head of what it should be?

SPEAKER_04 17:48

No, I don't think so. I don't think this is not good for a 30A bottle. I don't think this is good for like anybody at all. Yeah, like any bottle. Like, you know what I mean? I just don't, it's not like I said, it's not terrible, but it's not good. Like it's not like I there's $30 bottles that are better than this, you know. Like it's just not it's not anything, you know what I mean? And for a 95, this tastes like maybe 80 proof. Okay, it's very thin.

SPEAKER_02 18:14

Yeah, it is, it is watery, it's watery. I I guess that brings up a good question on the age because we're talking Louisiana, so Louisiana is gonna be hotter, more humid. How do you gauge maturity for hotter weather? Because typically, I mean, you're looking even down in Texas or like hotter areas, you're looking at two to two years is it depends on the it's not they said it's resting down there.

SPEAKER_04 18:42

I don't know, but uh, we've had stuff that was two years age that was more concentrated than this, right? And as far as the proof goes, the it's not too proofy for that area, so that's good, right? But uh and honestly, it could go less proof, except for this bottle, it just doesn't taste hyper. I actually think a 95%, like a 95% proof, I mean, uh, would be too much for a for a beach trip.

SPEAKER_02 19:05

Um, really. So we're not talking, so proof is not an issue.

SPEAKER_04 19:08

It's not so much the proof, it's just the flavor, it's lacking flavor. The flavor profile.

SPEAKER_02 19:12

Do you think it would be better sitting in the barrels longer down south? Yeah, do you think it'd be too much?

SPEAKER_01 19:19

No, not. I mean, this is only two years, right? That's the problem. I feel like anything at two years is not gonna hit any sort of crazy complexity.

SPEAKER_02 19:30

Yeah, I agree. I agree, and I I would agree complexity, it's not gonna hit it, but if if I'm I'm my brain keeps thinking this is for 30A, this is for Florida. If you're sitting on the beach and you're there, do you want complexity?

SPEAKER_04 19:43

You you want bullet, and I get that, you know what I mean, or something like it, or akin to it, and I get that, but I honestly think if they had taken bullet and put it in there, it probably would taste even better. It'd be aged more than two years, I think. You know, like am I crazy?

SPEAKER_01 19:58

No, you're not crazy.

SPEAKER_04 20:00

Uh, I I don't think this is as good as bullet. That's what I'm getting at. And and bullet's just okay. This isn't even that, you know. It's not it's not bad. I don't want people to think like um, I have had worse. It's not Kessler's, folks.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

Like it's not Kessler's or Cleveland.

SPEAKER_04 20:14

It's not, but it's but it's just not uh it's not good. You know what I mean? Did we talk about the price, or are we gonna say the price at that? I think this is where this is gonna be the kicker when we hear the price

Price Talk And The Value Breakdown

SPEAKER_04 20:24

on this.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

It's gonna be the kicker. I bet this is something absurd. I bet this is for my taste, it's gonna be stupid. At least 60 bucks. 50 to 60.

SPEAKER_04 20:34

Oh, see, that is so stupid. That is just straight up. That's the other piece of the puzzle. That this is straight up. It's not even their juice. That that seals it. That that does make it super gimmick. You got no history, you got no reason for the distillery other than making money, making money, and you're not even making it, and you're not even selecting a good one. Yeah, and and you're gonna sell it for probably, in my opinion, three times its value. This is a $20 bottle.

SPEAKER_01 21:00

60 bucks, at least double, if not triple.

SPEAKER_04 21:05

If not triple, if not uh border, bordering on triple.

SPEAKER_02 21:08

I would agree with that. Okay, so there's a few questions running through my head of one, should places like this, areas like this, where it's in the golf or it's hot, should they even look at their it's beach, should they even look at doing whiskey or just let it go and just do rum, just do gin, just do vodka, tequila. I think I answered it.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

I I think you can do whiskey. I think the proof point, maybe I'll disagree with Chris a little bit. I think this 95 is fine, but I don't know. When I think of beach trip, I don't know if I'm necessarily going to be drinking whiskey neat at the beach. However, I'll be drinking whiskey with like a Coke or something. But once it hits the evening, it cools down, I'm back at the place, then I will probably enjoy something. Meat, right. But for the majority of the day, I'm probably gonna be mixed mixing whiskey with something or mixing liquor with something.

SPEAKER_04 22:06

So that's why I was saying lower proof. Yeah, that's why I was getting at like an 80 proof would be fine. Oh yeah. Yeah, yep. I wouldn't go I that's why I'm saying I wouldn't even go 95. I think that's too high, really. But it needs more flavor. I think uh I think lower proof's

Passion Matters More Than A Market Gap

SPEAKER_04 22:21

fine. I my thing is just because you don't have just because there's an uh a market for something or an absence of something doesn't mean that you should fill it. So unless you have a just unless you have a reason to have a distillery there in 38, other than we don't have one, you know, enter, let's make one. Um, don't. You know what I mean? And we this whole podcast is really kind of built around why these distilleries have been created, why they keep going, what makes them tick. When you get into the well, there wasn't one. I like to make money and do do investments. Um, so we open a distillery. I'm kind of out. You know what I mean? Right at that point, I'm I mean, it's it could be great stuff. I don't care. It's just there's no passion. If there's no passion, there's no art. If there's no art, I what are we doing? Oh, it's like it's like a frozen pizza. It will suffice. It's not anything, it's not a spectacular event. It's not Chicago style pizza, you know what I mean? It's not a New York style.

SPEAKER_02 23:22

But I'm also not spending Chicago style pizza money on the frozen pizza.

SPEAKER_04 23:24

Yeah, you get what I'm well, you get what I'm saying. Like, if there's not going to be any passion in behind it, like I can eat something cheaper and satiate my appetite. I don't need to go for something like this, you know. So I guess that's what I'm getting at. So unless you have a reason to open a distillery in 30A with a good story, I'd why do it? I don't know. I think it'd be better to, and and and I don't even know. Again, I don't think there's any local grains around there they can source from. I don't think there's any special sugar cane. I don't think I don't think aging it there would make it special. So why not just have some actual brands come down and put your and and pick them out and slap your slap your name on them. I mean, I like that even better. Now there's passion. We picked it out. We picked it out for our place. This is our place's stuff. This is the juice we stand by. We like the way it tastes, it compliments our food, our name's on it. Boom. Now you have passion. I like that. I'm happy with it. And it's got 30A written on it. Sold, sold, sold. But hey, we just decided like people are gonna buy stuff down here, and so we opened up a distillery and we sourced the shit out of it. Here you go, $60. Like, no thanks.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

I I think maybe my biggest hiccup, kind of like you, Chris, is is the price. I think that at least they were borderline ish transparent. If you're if you enjoy whiskey, even just a little bit, you'll be able to read this uh label and be like, okay, it's not their juice, it's only two years. I think if they would have sourced something a little bit more mature, they could have, like you said, they could lower the proof. I would say you do something that's 80, 85 proof, and then one that's like a bottle and bond. Keep them both, you know, around four years. I think that's kind of the the sweet spot, and then lower the price. And maybe that I think I would appreciate that a little bit better, but it makes no sense to source something that's only only two years old, that's not very complex, and then to basically charge triple the price on it. Like that is almost mind-boggling, it's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_04 25:36

It almost seems to me like they got some bargain barrels. Oh, 100%. You know what I mean? Like called up MGP. Like, what is the cheapest thing you've got that we can buy? Uh you know, and that's kind of what it feels like.

SPEAKER_02 25:47

Well, that's the crazy part is they're not even dealing with MGP.

SPEAKER_04 25:50

Well, yeah, they're going through a third party, they're not going through a third party. It makes me think that the the quality of this is is you think they bought the scraps? I think they brought the scraps from the guy who bought the scraps.

SPEAKER_02 26:00

Yeah. So secondhand scraps.

SPEAKER_04 26:03

Yeah. I mean, I really think that's what happens. Just the crumbs. Not even good crumbs. Not even good crumbs, not even decent crumbs. So and it's not like they're selecting, you know, this place to be rested at. They're buying it for, like you said, they're buying it from a place who already bought it. So they're making it seem like they chose where it was gonna age. And it's like, oh god. Do you think they could have?

SPEAKER_02 26:22

Do you think they could have tried other distilleries?

SPEAKER_04 26:24

That's what no, I think that's what it comes down to being even smarter. You know what I mean? It's even smarter. It would be like me saying, uh, I got this uh exotic coffee, coffee, these exotic coffee beans that were from this exotic place in uh Africa. And uh I chose to have them aged at the uh local Whole Foods there on Sawmill. And then, you know, so basically I bought them from Whole Food, Whole Foods who got them from Africa. You know what I mean? Is that even like so? It's smart. Like the way I phrase it sounds a lot better than I just bought them from the store that was happened to be on some. So that's the thing is they just bought this from a company who happened to be in that place who had got them from this place. You know what I mean? It's a smart way to write that. It is they could have just said that they got that that it aged there, but no, they had to put all of the all of it together, you know.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

Also, missed opportunity. They should have pulled like a Jefferson's ocean and said like this aged on our yacht for like a month, could have, yeah, and then brought it back and then sell for 60 bucks. And I'd be like, I'll have some yacht bourbon. I taste the richness of this. I feel wealthy, I taste the wealth.

SPEAKER_02 27:35

All of a sudden, feel wealthy. Taste the greed.

SPEAKER_04 27:39

Marketing goes a long way. When you're talking about lakes and oceans and and and and things like that, water you could you could call something the cattails and have a story about how it's aged by the water, you know what I mean? And and things like you can get artsy with it, you know what I mean? It's completely bogus made up stuff, but at least it sounds great. This is just it's 30A, and uh the kids do like their ice cream life. Okay, but you're right. You're not wrong. Like I can't disagree with that. I can agree with it. But that was it. I mean, that's all it is. It's basically like we didn't have one, now we do. Here you go. So yeah, I don't know. That's my that's my opinion on it. It's not terrible, it's not great, it's extremely gougy for the price. Yeah, you're paying for the bottle that's pretty bad for the price. Anybody that likes this is doesn't know anything about whiskey.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

Whiskey, either, and maybe that's marketing marketing.

SPEAKER_04 28:36

Yeah, those schlubs.

SPEAKER_02 28:37

I was gonna say, who do who who do they market? They're on batch seven.

SPEAKER_04 28:44

And usually spends all the time at the office and doesn't have anything for anything.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

He just got tired of his family and he's like, I'm going to the distillery.

SPEAKER_04 28:51

The name for those people are Schlubs. He's a schlub. He's an he works 80 hours a week, does a decent job, probably gonna have an affair at some point with a not that attractive secretary. Or he's gonna lose more than half to his wife, who's probably gonna go on to be super hot and get hooked up with some other guy who doesn't even work and enjoys all the benefits from that original schlub, which is why you call that guy a schlub. Maybe they should have put that on the bottle. That's it. I just made a whole movie. It's right there. Yeah, it's for the for you. It's gonna be the movie for the schlubs. For the schlubs, that's it, man.

SPEAKER_02 29:33

Do you think there's any sentimental value in this bottle? Do you think people are going to 30A and be like, I need to have a bottle from 30A?

SPEAKER_01 29:40

You have to really love 30A and not know anything about whiskey. That's a hard sell. Okay. Considering there's nothing really unique about it. Like Chris, and you said it's not even aged in Florida, it's aged in Louisiana. Yeah, so it's like, I mean, I bought a bottle when I was in Hawaii, and I'm glad I picked it up. But at the time I was reading it, I was like, this seems kind of gimmicky, but it was like whiskey, but it was aged in pineapple barrels. I mean, now that sounds like a gamble that I'd take. Pineapple barrels? Yeah, pineapple barrels. They put pineapple in barrels? They did for this. Okay, well, I tried it, didn't I? Yeah, and and the price was like 35 bucks.

SPEAKER_04 30:21

Yeah, so that's and that's in Hawaii. That's Hawaii price. And that's Hawaii price if you didn't think that's like a thousand dollars. And it's in Hawaii, typically, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 30:30

But again, where are you gonna find something that's aged in pineapple barrels? Like nobody else does that. So was it sentimental? Maybe, but it was something unique that differentiated it. And this doesn't differentiate.

SPEAKER_04 30:44

You feel as cheated when you lose on a $30 bottle, yeah, versus a $60 bottle. And it probably didn't just say like Hawaii. Exactly. It was like, hey, we have something going on, like pineapple. Like, see, they did something. There's passion there. They didn't just throw some two-year-old bottom shelf, like crappy barrel whiskey into a thing and put 30A and write about the kiddos on the back, and that's it.

SPEAKER_02 31:09

So let's say that they they start distilling. They schlubbed it, dude. Let's say their their idea is to schlub it until they they have their own.

SPEAKER_04 31:18

If if that's legit.

SPEAKER_02 31:19

If it's legit, would it be worth it? Well, I I said that earlier.

SPEAKER_04 31:23

Even if they legitimately were making their own, it would still lack passion. So you'd have to bring in some distiller who knows something amazing, who does something amazing, and can give it some sort of niche or or passion or character or reason. It needs something. So you you couldn't, even if you made it your own, made it yourself, it would have to be, you couldn't just be a basic bourbon. I just think it'd be like, whatever, you know, because there's just nothing behind it. We what would we talk about if if we came in tonight and we tried this? And that's what that's actually a very interesting point. If we came in tonight and we tried this, and you said it's two, three, four years old, whatever. They make it themselves using basic ingredients that they get from wherever, um, nowhere, nowhere special. Um, and it's a very basic mash bill and a basic bourbon. And we all tried it, and we're like, you know, it's good, it's decent. And you're like, okay, and it and it's uh 40 bucks. We'd be like, yeah, it's not bad. Done talking about it. Because what else is there to talk about?

unknown 32:27

Right.

SPEAKER_04 32:28

Other than it's made in 30A, there's nothing about that, nothing further about that. We'd be done talking about it. It's a very decent bottle that they make themselves. You know, turn the page. That's it. And what else is there to talk about? There's no passion behind it. There's no what makes this special, what makes it stand out, what makes it different, what are they looking to do in the future? What is you know, nothing? All we have right now is this very crappy bottle and a very expensive package. And maybe someday we do dream to make our own stuff. Well, well, that sounds that sounds like something, you know. I don't know. That's uh that's what I think. What would we else? What would we talk about? We talking, we're talking more about the fact that we don't like this than we actually have substance to talk for. We already covered in the first five minutes we covered what it was, and you know, there wasn't much behind it. The history behind it, and everything done,

Can A Touristy Whiskey Brand Survive

SPEAKER_04 33:17

you know.

SPEAKER_02 33:17

Do you think we've talked quite a bit lately about distilleries going bankrupt and going out of business? Because we're we're starting to see a a drop and decline in that that bourbon boom. This guy just got started in 2022. How long is this gonna survive?

SPEAKER_04 33:34

I don't know. I'm surprised it's still going on. They're probably still selling their original.

SPEAKER_02 33:38

Like, well, they're in batch seven. This is batch four.

SPEAKER_04 33:41

So, like, there's people buying it or or or they're just really how many bottles are doing per batch because that has a bottle number.

SPEAKER_02 33:49

92. This is bottle number 92. They're done in small batches, but I I mean I bet they're on selling two years, 90 some proof. They've got to be proofing it down. Probably there's gotta be at least I'd say probably at least 200 bottles out of a barrel if they're doing 53 gallons.

SPEAKER_04 34:11

Yeah, but can you imagine a distillery that's only doing like one barrel releases?

SPEAKER_02 34:18

Right. They're blending.

SPEAKER_04 34:19

You can't even really call that successful, you know what I mean? Like because they're the overhead, so it actually costs more to source than it does to make your own. And they're sourcing from a source. They're not making a ton. And these distilleries that we've talked about it, the amount of money that goes into them before you even put the product on the shelf is a lot. So you have to actually you you live bankrupt for a while before you start making money. So, I mean, and they're already they're spending more to source. They're probably not putting out a ton of product, they're not selling a ton of product. You have to sell X amount of barrels, not just bottles, you know, but like bottles worth of barrels or barrels worth of bottles. Yeah, that's it. Barrels worth of bottles, yeah. Yeah, you'd have to sell lots before you could even like say you're successful. And they haven't been around that long. I have a feeling they're not selling that many. I don't think that they're gonna make it. I highly doubt that they because they're they're very can. I mean, well, they're gifty, you know what I mean? They're very much they're what are the what's the word for that? Where you go down there and you hit the gift shops and stuff. Touristy, touristy, I guess. Yeah, they're very so when it's not in season, when there's the tourist season's not going, they're not making money. Yeah, they're not going anywhere with you know, and then over time they're not making money. And then anybody that goes, so any repeat customers, so say we bought that, we did we bought this. Okay, we go to 38 again. Are you gonna rebuy this bottle? No, me neither. So they're so they're really banking on like a lot of gift shops, the one-time purchase. Right, they're bate, they're basing it on the numbers. So those gift shops make it because they sell a lot of crap, but they sell it to people over and over and over. Like so many people go there, and it's not the same people, it's not repeat customers. A lot of businesses make their money on repeat customers, not those places. It's about the one-time purchase, just getting it out the door, getting it out the door. So I just don't think you have that many people going to 30A that's gonna over time constitute an actual lucrative business and make it oh survivable, at least. Yeah, no, I don't think so. Not out of the whiskey. They're they're on borrowed time, dude. Even if it was decent, I'd say maybe, you know, maybe uh because you'd have repeat customers, right? But they're on borrowed time, dude. And you know how it is when people when people get like Mary loves 30A now, she would go there all the time. So if she was a bourbon drinker and this was good, she'd be a repeat customer, and then that you make your money, and then also word of mouth with that, right? Now it's like anybody that goes to 30A that hears this or talks to us is not gonna buy this crap.

SPEAKER_02 36:45

No, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_04 36:46

So they're not that not only are they not gonna have repeat customers, they're not even gonna have other customers.

SPEAKER_01 36:51

Hmm. I'm I kind of have a hard time with this with this one. Because if you enjoy whiskey neat, you are not going to enjoy this. However, if money was no object to you, Chris, would you mix this with something?

SPEAKER_04 37:08

But here's the thing e and and here's my counter to this, okay? Anybody that actually has money um is is way more stingy with it than people that than people that have a little bit. So the thing is, I've known people that have had like enough money to like buy the, yeah, like to mix this stuff and not even think, not even think a thing about it. Those people wouldn't do it. Really? Oh, yeah. They'd rather use something those people you will mix Jack Daniels and stuff, and that's their go-to. They're not gonna buy a $60 bottle to mix because their price, anybody that actually has money and and keeps wealth learns to be very um frugal with certain with certain things. They're the same, the same person that will not spend $60 to for a mixer is the same person that will go out the next day and drop $2 million on something. But they and they feel fine about the two million dollar purchase, but they will not be okay with a $60 bottle. The some of the most wealthy people I know, and I won't mention who they are, um, and I mean like ungodly wealthy, like like never, like five or six generations of their family would never have to work before their money were gonna would run out. Um they're very much like this. Okay. And they will they will quibble over the price of a hamburger. Um, but then they're also okay with like spending you know $900 million on a home or whatever.

Who Buys $60 Bourbon And Why

SPEAKER_04 38:32

It's insane. Uh, maybe not that much, but a lot, actually a lot. But their go-to is Woodford. That's it. And and and even that they consider a premium whiskey. Well, Woodford markets itself as premium, even though you could argue like I mean, these people have had um, you know, oh I've sat down and drank old rip with them and pappys and stuff, and they're like, oh, you know, that's special and stuff, but they they're like Woodford. Okay. And they wouldn't go anything, you know, and that's even neat. You know, and they think that that's expensive. So I guess what I'm saying is like it's even if you're a high roller and you get down there, I don't think you're gonna look at this and be like, oh, I got so much money. You know what I mean? Or I'll mix the shit. The people that do that are the ones that don't survive wealthy, they're the ones that blow all their money and they end up bankrupt. You know what I mean? Those are the people that end up bankrupt. But the people that have generational wealth, like actual money, dude, they are penny pinchers when it comes to certain things. But unless it's an investment opportunity, then they're dropping money. And that's how they keep their money, dude, is because they usually make, you know, more often than not, if you make a good business decision more often than not and you're playing with large numbers, you will grow wealth. Even if you lose sometimes. But if you if you don't actually play with large numbers, you'll never, you'll never get more money. And if you every now and then go in on something and you end up, you know, you've lost a profit margins 50% or or worse, you're done. Forget about it. You know what I mean? But if you play the numbers, you know, and two out of three investments work out, yeah, you're gonna do well, especially if you're throwing big numbers around. So yeah, I mean, but that's my thing. So even people that are wealthy have a certain like, nah, like like those, like people like that would be are totally fine drinking Bud Light and mixing and mixing with Jack Daniels, and that's it. You know what I mean? So I don't I really don't think to answer your question in a very long roundabout kind of way is I don't think even high rollers, unless you're really trying to show off, which again kind of shows that you don't have money. Um, you know, the Bill Gates of the world that walk around in cheap blue jeans and cheap tennis shoes and drive cheap cars, those types of wealthy people are not going to spend $60 on a mixer.

SPEAKER_02 40:55

But they might buy your whole business. I could see them buying this as a gift for family out of state.

SPEAKER_04 41:01

Not but not to drink.

SPEAKER_02 41:02

Not to drink, not for themselves to drink, but like this is a this is their top shelf like special gift to like a family friend of like this comes from where I live and is expensive.

SPEAKER_04 41:15

Yeah, but again, that again, that's a very uh gimmicky sort of gift, uh one, a one-time purchase type that you're not gonna have people rolling in there buying a case at a time, you know, for their friends and and co-workers, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 41:28

Like I feel like what you just said it made me, I don't know, kind of piece together how this bottle fits for 30A for me. And it was bought because oh, 30A has something. Let's just give it a try and see what we can do. But I don't fit in at 30A, like Alice Beach and all these different beaches. I don't we don't I don't fit. I I don't fit in Dublin most of the time with people. So it it very much feels like the gimmicky world of I'm gonna act like I have I'm gonna show like I have wealth, but I'm probably in massive amounts of debt, but I can't show that to you. Instead, I'm gonna wear just plain white clothes, white shorts, white shirt. I'm gonna walk around, the house is pristine, but it's also probably gonna be going back to the bank here soon. And I've got this really nice car that probably's gonna be repoed here soon, too.

SPEAKER_04 42:26

Those people are living high in the hog and they're they're they're passing as wealthy, yes. So they wouldn't walk around in cheap clothes, they'd they'd be they wouldn't even own the clothes or walking. I don't feel like this bottle fits that. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 42:37

That would be fits that idea of like back to the gloves, dude. Is there and I here's the thing, I don't think that there's anything wrong with the whiskey itself. It's not bad. It's not bad, but it's not good. And when I say it's not the worst we've ever had, but it definitely doesn't fit what is being marketed with the bottle or the price tag.

SPEAKER_01 43:03

Yeah, it's all relative, right? I mean, the for me, good for bourbon directly relates to how much do I have to shell out for a bottle. What's what's my you know value? What's my you know cost to quality ratio? And the cost to quality ratio with this is is as I would say, no bueno.

SPEAKER_04 43:26

Well, and and here's the other thing I want to touch on. We already talked about the beach in sp in general being a harder market for whiskey, specifically, right?

SPEAKER_02 43:36

It's more wine, rum, cocktails, cocktails, boxing tropical.

SPEAKER_04 43:42

Because you're you're eating what? You're eating fish and seafood and things like that. Um, it's hot, you know, all this, all this stuff. So really, it's not the market.

Beach Whiskey Problem And The Missing Golf

SPEAKER_04 43:50

So you're already at a deficit. Okay. Now look at 30A specifically as compared to say Hilton Head or something like that. What are you missing? What's the big thing that's missing? From 30A and Hilton Head, in my in my opinion, when you think about me specifically as a person who likes to go to the beach.

SPEAKER_02 44:08

What's what do you what's what's missing?

SPEAKER_04 44:09

What do you mean by a big thing? So so you're trying to sell me on a beach vacation, right? What are the some of the things that you would look at me specifically and say, okay, these are things I need to give Chris so he would want to go to this place for a beach, for a vacation for me.

SPEAKER_02 44:28

I mean, right off the top of my head, I think beachfront access.

SPEAKER_04 44:30

Yeah, that's a good one. And actually, this applies to Blake too. This applies to Blake too. So you need a good beach, right? You need a good place, good food. What are some other things that me and Blake would look for in a vacation, specifically a beach vacation? You get what I'm getting at?

SPEAKER_01 44:46

I think I know exactly what Chris is saying.

SPEAKER_04 44:48

I don't know what I'm getting.

SPEAKER_01 44:49

Okay, I would just tell you it's golf. It's 100% golf. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:52

Golf is a huge thing that we look forward to on vacation. Okay. Hilton Head's got it. 30A does not even one course. Okay. So I was going back to the beach is a hard sell for whiskey. What would be an easier way to sell whiskey on the beach is at golf courses. That's when people would drink it, right? They might not drink it at restaurants. They're not going to drink it on the beach most of the time. Most bars they're going to have, you're hot, you're sweaty, you're going to order a ranch water or a vodka soda or a rum and coke, right? You're not going to order a straight whiskey at most, most of the bars. But at the golf course, you definitely might order a whiskey, either, you know, after your round or whatever. That would be the place you would order it. 38 doesn't even have that going for it. They were already at a deficit, there being a beach. Now they don't even have golf. I don't think they even have miniature golf. They don't. I don't even remember seeing miniature golf. I don't think they do. I don't remember seeing any of it.

SPEAKER_02 45:49

So they've got the golf cards, but they don't have the golf, which is ironic.

SPEAKER_04 45:52

So so again, I just it comes back to like there's some places where it's just not viable. And 30A is one of those places that's really not viable. Like, like even Hildenhead has got a bit of a chance, right? You've got um, you know, it's a little bit cooler in certain certain times of the year. So you got that going for you got all the golf, tons of golf down there. I mean, just that's one of the big things down there, it's just all over the place. So you have that going for it. You know what I mean? So and and another thing with 30A is there's really not a whole lot of, if you remember, there's not a whole lot of like stores. I mean, there's like little gift shop places and stuff, but there's no like actual like town feel. Whereas like Hilton Head has freaking movie theaters and bowling alleys and things like that. Like 30 rounds become very touristy. So there's more uh, you know, there's more other things that would lend itself to a glass of whiskey at some point. Um, whereas you just wouldn't have that with with 30A, it's very much, you know, you're riding around the golf court cart, you're hitting the beach, you're hitting a gift shop, or you're hitting a restaurant. That's it. That's all there is to do there. Which is funny.

SPEAKER_02 46:58

Now the I mean, thinking about it, it's it's like a cruise ship. 38 is like a cruise ship.

SPEAKER_04 47:02

Yeah, and if you're a female, it's great because it's a lot of clothes shopping and beach. Beach, clothes shopping, eat, beach, clothes, it's rinse and repeat for guys. I mean, look at us. We ended up going to the place, the the chill place, sitting at the bar and watching TV. We could have done that at home. Yeah, we could have done that at home. I mean, I like the beach, but then there was no golf. Yeah, you know, I was kind of bored, to be honest with you. And I would have loved a whiskey, except it was hot as hell. So I ended up ordering what ranch waters the whole time. I had like eight ranch waters sitting at that bar, you know, because it was cool, it was refreshing, and it got the job done. I didn't order any whiskey. I wasn't like, hey, what you know, I got any 30A whiskey, you know what I mean? It's uh 97 degrees out. Humidity is about 200,000. I'd love a whiskey meat, you know. So I I again I think it's a hard sell already. And then you take away golf, like one of the only conduits in that in that environment that would subject itself to whiskey, and you're really at a deficit. And then you're like, oh, we have zero passion, we source the shit out of it twice over, and we're selling it for triple its value. It's like it's old. Yeah, I just think that they should have quit while they were not ahead.

SPEAKER_02 48:12

While they were still not ahead, yeah. But again, they I mean you're talking about it. I hate to rip it apart, but there's just nothing good I can say about it.

SPEAKER_04 48:19

Yeah, I mean, let's all try to say something good about this whiskey.

SPEAKER_01 48:23

It's not Kessler's.

SPEAKER_04 48:25

Yes, I agree with that. That's a good point. Yeah, yep. On a positive note, it's not Kessler's, it's not Kessler's, and it's not making something happen.

SPEAKER_01 48:34

Yeah, and and they were not complete, they were not completely dishonest. Right. They're very open about it. Yeah, they were.

SPEAKER_04 48:42

I will say they're not lying about anything. I would agree. They're they're they're not even passionate enough to lie. Yeah, they didn't even try to lie, they didn't try to lie, they just put all out there. They were smart. I'll give them that. It was smart that they said we dream to be a very mediocre whiskey.

SPEAKER_02 48:58

I do also appreciate that Chris poured himself such a heavy pour. I did. I didn't know.

SPEAKER_04 49:04

I'm regretting it. It's it's just not that if it had been good, I wouldn't have regretted it.

SPEAKER_02 49:08

Well, not even trying it, just poured himself a very hefty glass.

SPEAKER_04 49:14

It's been a while since I've had that much crappy um blank or um blatant. Well, you know uh whatchamacallit.

SPEAKER_01 49:23

It is gonna bullet looking at everybody's glass beforehand. I kind of assumed that this was not gonna be my favorite. So I poured one finger. I looked at Nick, I think you're two fingers, and then Chris is like, I'm all in, was at least at three fingers. At least I still got a very little bit mine. I played by the numbers and I lost. See, sometimes you make bad, you know, business decisions.

SPEAKER_04 49:49

Down to like a half a finger left.

SPEAKER_02 49:52

I will say, I believe there are some people that this would fit. It fit what they were looking for. They're the only people that would buy it and not regret it. I think the flavor would fit some people. I don't know that the price tag would fit many. That's a better way of putting it.

SPEAKER_04 50:09

People who don't know bourbon.

SPEAKER_02 50:10

There's people getting into it.

SPEAKER_04 50:12

Yeah, they it would fit them fine because they don't know what they're it's dude. It's like if you've never had like if you've never had medium rare steak, you've only ever had it well done, you are never gonna be disappointed by steak. That is true. But if you've ever had a really good steak, medium rare, the right way, perfect, you could be disappointed by steak easy. It does not take much. So, I mean, really, it just you gotta adjust your uh standards, you know. I mean, if you have no standards, this is for you.

SPEAKER_02 50:42

How is the cross-eyed cricket with it? Does it make it better?

SPEAKER_04 50:45

It's whole it's it's keeping me together. It's it's it's it's holding me up. If it wasn't for the pipe, I think I would have I wouldn't even be close to finishing the glass. It's painful for me to try to finish this, but I'm not one to pour it out. Or uh what was that thing that uh at Jourdymen when they were like the spit this the spit bucket? The spit bucket. I was like, what is a spit bucket for? Like if if I cough up something, they're like, no, it's you remember that? They were like, no, if or I don't know if Zake was there for that. No, it wasn't there. Yeah, they were like, it's for when you try stuff and you can't.

SPEAKER_02 51:19

During the interview, they're like, Yeah, if you can't finish it, just put it in the dump bucket or like a split the dump bucket.

SPEAKER_04 51:24

Yeah, the dump, yeah. I was like, who do you think I am? I was like, there's no such thing. You either drink it and small it or you don't drink it at all.

SPEAKER_01 51:31

Well, I've heard of people kind of doing that, like if they go to like a whiskey festival or people going to like wine festivals because people don't realize even if you like put it in your mouth and switch around, you get some of the flavor and you spit it out, your body gonna do it. Your body still absorbs some of that alcohol.

SPEAKER_04 51:47

To those people, I would say, I remember my first beer.

SPEAKER_02 51:53

We all gotta grow up at some point. Yeah, it's called fortitude.

SPEAKER_04 51:57

So and know how much you can handle and and pace accordingly.

SPEAKER_02 52:02

Right, pace accordingly, you'll be fine.

SPEAKER_04 52:04

I can drink all day long or I can drink in one hour, but I'm gonna pace it out the right way.

SPEAKER_02 52:10

So I take it this is a no-go for you wanting to buy again. I'm glad I never bought the first time.

SPEAKER_04 52:15

Yeah, I'm glad I'm schlubbing this bottle. I'm getting something for nothing.

SPEAKER_02 52:19

If you if you found out they're distilling their own, would you uh have any desire to want to see what it tastes like?

What Would Earn A Second Chance

SPEAKER_02 52:28

Uh you'd have to give me something more.

unknown 52:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:30

You'd have to give me something. You'd have to be like, they're doing this now, or they brought in this person, or or you know, they decided to source from this stuff, or they're you'd they you're gonna have to give me something because right now, even if they made their own, like I said, I'd be like, what would we talk about? Even if it was decent, what would we talk about? This is decent, DN.

SPEAKER_03 52:49

D.

SPEAKER_04 52:50

This is decent fish.

SPEAKER_03 52:52

Thanks for listening. Thanks for playing.

SPEAKER_04 52:55

I don't know, you know what I mean? It's it's uh, and there's nothing wrong with decent things in the world. Um, you just don't talk a lot about them. You know what I mean? I and when's the last time you talked about uh uh you know a fried egg? And fried eggs can be made better than others, but like a very basic fried egg. When's the last time you're like I had the best fried eggs in my life? Like, no, you you you put some butter in a skillet, you fry it, and that's it. Some salt and pepper. There's you're not gonna be able to reinvent that wheel, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 53:25

Like, it is what it is, and that's all it is.

SPEAKER_04 53:27

There might have been one time that you were like, This is the best stuff in the world, it's a fried egg, but now it's like it's just a it's a fried egg. Like, I what am I gonna talk about? There's a yolk and some white stuff, and it's you fried it up, and you that's it. I mean, what else do you talk about? I'd fair it's uh, you know, I here's the thing it's like um Carter Hall pipe tobacco. I talk about this all the time because it's a very basic pipe tobacco. It's not bad, it's it's not amazing, it's very good for what it is. It's a very basic pipe tobacco, it's an American pipe. What I like it for and what I use it for is the base. It's the sandwich bread. It's the you know, it's the canvas that you get to paint on, it's the dance floor, you get to bust a move, right? That's what that's for. So the problem with the whiskey is listen, unless you're gonna mix it with something, what are we talking about? It's a good bread. Okay. Like imagine someone handing you a sandwich and it's just dry the bread with nothing in it.

SPEAKER_02 54:25

It'd just be a piece of bread.

SPEAKER_04 54:27

It's just bread, it's just dry bread. The bread's good, sure. Yeah, what do you want to talk about? It's bread. You know, that's the thing. So I don't you never hear me sit and talk about Carter Hall over and over because it's a very basic, decent tobacco. That's it. But I'll talk about Carter Hall plus something else a drink, you know what I mean, and how it's playing well and how it's uh building it up or amplifying it or showcasing it or taking away from it or what whatever, you know what I mean? So that's when you talk about basic things, nobody ever talks about basic stuff, you know what I mean? That's a really good-looking concrete wall. It looks great because it's you know concrete, yeah. And they did good with the solace and the concrete. That's it. What else do you talk about? I mean, well done, well said and done. That's it, yeah. So, I mean, so even if they started making this and it was very basic, whatever, Bert, like you gotta give me something more, right? Otherwise, like, what's the point? Especially at that price. I still think even if this was made by them and it was decent, it's way too expensive. You're playing on the fact that it's from 38 at that point, which we all see, and I get that. Yeah, we resent it. We will, we'll resent it. It's gotta be something extra with the name, sure. Then then we'll shell out the money and still judge it, but at least it'll have something to talk about, like you know.

SPEAKER_02 55:46

Blake, what about you? Would you would you uh ever give this a second chance, a second try? Would you ever seek it out? Negative.

SPEAKER_01 55:53

Yeah, I mean, we kind of touched on it. I think if they would have done something a little bit more interesting, like at least if you're gonna source it, make it at least four years old. Like that seems almost like a no-brainer to me. Like Chris Chris mentioned it. If they would have just found you know, a decent distillery they could have sourced from like Heaven Hill or something interesting that people would know. It could even have been higher end, people would have shelled out the money for it just to do a single barrel pick, or at least I mean, they could have got something that I mean, I don't want to say two years, but they could have got something and then finished it or done something interesting, but it's almost like they didn't even try, they were just banking on 30A, and that's all they were going for. To be honest, their bottle design isn't that bad. I kind of like the bottle design, the label on it is kind of cool, but yeah, I think they could have tried just a little bit harder. I can't imagine that anybody that gets this once is gonna get it again, is gonna get it again. But I think the bottle is interesting enough that it does draw you in. Right. I'm hoping if you go to this place, they don't give out samples because if they do, and then people are buying this afterwards, like that is mind-blowing.

SPEAKER_04 57:16

That is mind blowing, unless you're like somebody who like, yeah, like they've never gone to the distillery before. That might be good for those people. But again, it'd be a I bought a bottle one time 30 years ago. We were at that place in 30A. Remember that place? Those people. It's like uh I could see like the girls buying that, you know what I mean? Like going in there and trying some stuff.

SPEAKER_01 57:35

It's like uh I got something from the you know, yeah, trying to be nice, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 57:38

And I can I can respect and then you're gonna love it, you're just gonna put on the shelf and it'll stay there, yeah. Yeah, because they bought it for you, right? Yeah, and then again, you're back to the one-time purchase type stuff, which is not a viable business. Long term.

SPEAKER_02 57:52

No, long term is not very viable. I don't know there's much more that can be said about this. Other than Chris really likes it. I love it. Yeah, go and buy it right away. He's on his what looks to be his third glass.

SPEAKER_01 58:04

So I I finally finished, I've I finished it's so good you'll pour four fingers with it right without even trying it.

SPEAKER_04 58:13

It looks so good. Uh, one of the uh failings that I've made in the last uh this this is might be one of my biggest uh you know biggest blunders. Yeah, biggest blunders on this podcast. I mean, I've poured heavy on this podcast, I've poured light. Well, I can't really say that. I've poured mediocre and I've poured heavy. Yes. I don't think I've ever poured a light. This should have been a light one. Yeah, this should have been a light one, but I poured heavy and I drank it all. So cheers, 30A. Um, good luck, Godspeed. I hope I never see you again. That's right. Good luck. Don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way up.

Final Verdict And How To Support Us

SPEAKER_00 58:54

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, whiskey tasterspommet.com, with any ideas for the show. Thanks again.