Ardbeg BizzarBBQ!

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. Oh, while enjoying a glass. I'm Steve. I'm Nick, and I'm Chris. Please enjoy responsibly while enjoying this week's episode of The Whiskey Chasers.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

So we're back with No Steve, back with Ryan, and Ryan's got a special bottle that he brought for us. There's part of the club. Well, club exchange, I should say.

SPEAKER_04 0:38

Yeah, so every Christmas we do a gift exchange. Um, we get like a we do the uh secret name drawing thing. And uh Nick drew me and he gave me this bottle of Artbeg Bizarbecue. He drew you like uh Jack did on Titanic. Like a French girl. Featuring DJ Barbecue Limited Edition. I don't know who DJ Barbecue is, but Nick's gonna tell us more about it. But like this thing knocked my socks off.

SPEAKER_03 1:14

So Ardbag has been boasted to be the uh the smokiest scotch out there. Like, rock your socks off. Ardbag in general? Put you on your ass, yes. And I remember having Ardbag the Wee Beastie, I believe it was, maybe the 10, somewhere in there. I was not impressed. This came as a recommendation. I sent Tipsy a text and said, Hey, here's what we're doing for the club. Here's what we have. He loves scotch. Any recommendations? And this is the first and only bottle that he sent me a picture of and said, You have to get this for him. Come to find out he only had like two bottles left in the entire store of this. We've never done Ardbag on the podcast. I've had my uh thoughts about it, and then uh we we decided he was gracious to bring this, Ryan was gracious to bring this on the podcast, and I did some research and I went this is interesting. So Ardbag got its start in 1815. Okay. Uh 1838, they sell. They they sold out to who? Nah, I don't I they sold. Okay. 1853, the new owner uh keels over. Sad. Uh his sisters, uh, there were three of them, I believe, took over. And in 18, so uh 1853, uh the sisters take over. They were uh said to be the first female distillers in Scotland or 1887, Artbag makes history by producing 1.1 million liters. How were they selling that stuff? 1887. I don't know. So that's important to keep in mind. Okay, he kills over, sisters take over, 1.1 million liters.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Is that is that their name, artbag?

SPEAKER_03 2:58

No, I don't know how they came up with a name. Uh but we're talking 1853 to 1887. That's how long it took for them to get. Pause. This is stout. I'm excited. At any rate, keep going. So uh then 1911, they finally trademarked the name Artbag.

SPEAKER_04 3:17

What were they called before?

SPEAKER_03 3:18

Oh, but in 1850, 1911 they finally trademarked their name. Then 1922, they sell again for the second time. 1977, Hiram Walker, who owns Canadian Club. Yeah, I was gonna say, buys them. What Canadian Club bought them?

SPEAKER_04 3:36

Canadian Club bought them. Opposite ends of the spectrum, right there. Better believe it.

SPEAKER_03 3:41

So in 1977, Hiram Walker Walker and Sons are the ones that buy them. 1981, production dwindles down to pretty much nothing. This is my favorite part. 18 people lose their job as the distillery closes and devastates the town. There was 18 people working there.

SPEAKER_05 3:59

18 people and the town was so small it devastated them.

SPEAKER_03 4:04

Devastates the town.

SPEAKER_02 4:06

Dude, that's some that's some uh uh like who's marrying who in a town like that, right? Yeah, that's that's think about that for a minute. Like, who's marrying who in a town where 18 people are affected that heavily and it devastates the town? That's some first that's some first cousin in breeding right there.

SPEAKER_03 4:24

Crazy to think that 1887 they buy out and then they they close down, not sell, they close down in 1991. 91. 91. It was a few years, what four year? 97. The Glen uh Glen Maringe brothers buy them out. Okay, so you know good good old Glenn Morange. So three times. We have been bought three times now. Full-time production commences, and the first bottling comprises of a 17-year-old bottle. So they shut down, but they held on to their stuff. Incredibly. So again, in 1887, they produced 1.1 million liters and made world like history, right? They shut down several times, sold, shut down. 1999, they finally reached production of 600,000 liters compared to 1.1. It took them, but it took them how long from 1.1 to 600,000. Like they dropped drastically, and they haven't been able to go back up to 1.1, right? So Ardbag obviously struggles. They sell, they struggle, they sell, they struggle. They've never been able to reach where they were at their peak. So they resort to experimentation, and I say that as nice as possible.

SPEAKER_04 5:49

They resort to experimentation. Hold on, hold on.

SPEAKER_03 5:53

They got bored, they had to spice it up in 2012.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

Let's not do stuff like that.

SPEAKER_04 6:09

So gimmicky. That's so gimmicky.

SPEAKER_02 6:12

How does that benefit anybody? Are you progressing your flavor? No. You're going to space, you're going to air quest. That is an experiment.

SPEAKER_04 6:21

Space. Like, what difference does it make to have your whiskey? Well, but molecules.

SPEAKER_03 6:29

I love that. It's ridiculous. I love that you brought up.

SPEAKER_04 6:31

You put a whole barrel up into space and see what that does with like the atmosphere.

SPEAKER_03 6:36

Someone peed out the molecules?

SPEAKER_02 6:38

They yeah, they had some some guy like Buzz Aldrin come over and they're like, hey, drink this and then go on the thing.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Oh, yeah. Our molecules went to space. Bet your ass. We you know, we've been in space. That's totally what it is.

SPEAKER_03 6:53

I love that you're going so harsh on them because two years later they send it back up into space, a different one. Oh no. Did they bring him back down? They brought it back down and they sold it. So the Galileo was the first one. Are they the first Scotch that ever went to space? Probably.

SPEAKER_04 7:06

Supernova was the second one. Why do they say molecules?

SPEAKER_02 7:10

If you believe in space travel, anyway.

SPEAKER_04 7:15

They sent it to a Hollywood soundstage where they pretended to be on the moon.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

We're not in space. It's a canopy.

SPEAKER_02 7:24

They went to Hollywood. Artbag goes to Hollywood.

SPEAKER_03 7:27

They've gone through so many changes. The first women distillers crank production up to 1.1 million.

SPEAKER_02 7:33

First women dis distillers crank.

SPEAKER_03 7:35

They crank it up to 1.1 million. Then it sucks. They sell, they sell, they sell, they struggle, they close down. 18 people loses their they lose their job. The town is devastated. Then it gets bought out. They raise production as 600,000, and then Mac they max out there, and then they are like, you know what? We can't do much more. Let's send stuff off into space. So that's kind of the history of the Artbeg. So knowing that, this bottle may make a little bit more sense to you. Okay, well, okay. Let's pause. We haven't gotten to this bottle yet.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Pause here. Let's pause here for a minute. Artbeg, was that was it always called well throughout this history? Was it called Artbeg? It was Artbeg. Okay. So I'm like, where did the name come from and what does it mean? But if they don't have a thing about it, then it's open to uh conjecture. Uh interesting. I'm surprised they didn't call it space bag. Because they're all about space, apparently. Like they're all about experimentation and probably act like it's a twist of the arm.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

If I was an astronaut and somebody was like, can we please take molecules into space?

SPEAKER_02 8:42

I'd be like, Yeah, give me a few bottles. I might be able to do that for you.

SPEAKER_03 8:46

How many bottles do you want back? Uh like give me twice that, or we're gonna be.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

It's not like it's an imposition, but I mean, like, you want me to take alcohol with me into space for free.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:01

The second time was supposedly on the space station, is where they they uh sent it to her or had it age wait. I don't know what to tell you on that one. But we're drinking artbag Bizarbecue, which is so prove me if I'm wrong. I'd love to.

SPEAKER_02 9:21

We've looked at artbeg for a number of years. Me and you. Uh I've always considered artbeg to be a new-ish, which apparently is not the case, gimmicky type of hey buy me, buy me modern scotch. Is that not the is that the case or is not the not the case?

SPEAKER_03 9:39

Gimmicky is how I felt. Okay. After having this, compared to the other one they had, went, wow, they've this is different. This is um well.

SPEAKER_02 9:48

After trying this, this is definitely not. They're doing something. They're doing something, they're doing a lot. There's a lot going on. Something's happening. Something is happening. Something's going on. Uh that being said, that doesn't mean it's not gimmicky. And and what they're doing might be, I don't know what they're doing. Some sort of devil voodoo space. There might be some space voodoo alien thing going on here because this is potent.

SPEAKER_03 10:11

We're doing space, but this is nothing to do with space. This was DJ Barbecue, is uh is a I'd like to say a panhandle, but it's not a panhandle, it's a uh handle name for for someone called Chris Stevens is his name.

SPEAKER_02 10:25

He's a DJ, he's an American like that marshmallow guy.

SPEAKER_04 10:28

Panhandle is begging on the street.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

Yeah, yeah. Handle is what you're talking about. Panhandle is something different.

SPEAKER_03 10:34

He's a bona fide food and grill uh YouTube guy that also has his own DJ.

SPEAKER_02 10:40

I have always wondered who finds these guys' bonas. Yes. Like, how do you get bona fide? You know what I mean? Who's finding these guys bonas? That's what I want to know. I want I want my bonus to be fine.

SPEAKER_03 10:57

That's what I want to know. I mean, at any rate. So, anyway, this guy is uh an American that moved over to Scotland that does barbecue on YouTube.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

He likes barbecues on YouTube, like with meat?

SPEAKER_04 11:12

Yes, and and then has his own DJ thing. DJ's like bringing barbecue to Scotland, which is probably something they don't have. That's a good thing. Grilling meat. Every country should have barbecue. American barbecue.

SPEAKER_02 11:27

It's a hard time believing they don't have barbecue over there. That's like saying uh uh saying Uruguay doesn't do asada. You know what I mean?

unknown 11:35

Right.

SPEAKER_03 11:36

What I can find on this guy is some asada. He's some sort of barbecue guru, actor, and musician.

unknown 11:46

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 11:46

An American that moved to London and got his fame on YouTube.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

So he's one of those.

SPEAKER_03 11:51

There we go. He's another uh Leonardo Divinci. That is fine abonad. And uh for some reason, Ardbeg, I don't know who reached out to who, but somehow Ardbeg got involved with him and created this sucker.

SPEAKER_02 12:06

Okay. I mean, it's good. Well, we'll get into that.

SPEAKER_03 12:09

So it's uh three different casks make up this bottle. We've got uh double charred oak cask, PX, and barbecue casks.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

What in the heck is a barbecue cask? They're gonna act like that's a normal thing. If you ever, ever, ever heard in your life a barbecue cask. I'm not gonna just let that slide.

SPEAKER_04 12:30

No.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

What the hell is a barbecue cask?

SPEAKER_01 12:32

Like, what do you what do you do? Like, that's not a normal thing. No, it's not.

SPEAKER_02 12:38

Oh, yeah, we use X Sherry casks, barbecue casks. Hold on a minute. What the hell is that? Yeah, what is that? Something you learned in space.

SPEAKER_04 12:52

There was a cask they had barbecue in when they took it to space.

SPEAKER_02 12:56

What DT cask is this, man?

SPEAKER_03 12:58

I love that you ask what it is because I I felt the same thing of like, okay, we're going into space and oh my god, DJ barbecue.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

We got a DJ barbecue. We're gonna go down the black hole. Like, we're gonna deep dive into this thing. I don't we're not gonna just take this stuff on base value.

SPEAKER_04 13:12

Like, you some DJ is gonna say I don't care what the answer is because I love this. I'm gonna button.

SPEAKER_02 13:18

I'm gonna agree with you. I don't want to get too far into it. I do want to know what it is. I'm like blown away. Like my I've been bona fide over here. I don't know if you can see it from where you're sitting over there, but I've I've definitely been bona fide over here. It's good, man.

SPEAKER_04 13:39

It's good, it's fantastic. Whatever ridiculousness goes on around this thing, it produced something awesome.

SPEAKER_02 13:47

You don't need any sort of gimmick, gimmicky type of this is good. This is could.

SPEAKER_03 13:53

So uh there's uh a specific type. It's it's called a uh I want to say brasier. Uh it's sort of that's sort of how it reads. B-R-A-Z-I-E-R. I missed it. Is that it? B-R-A-E English?

SPEAKER_04 14:10

Brazier. Brazier. Brazier. Brazier.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

Like uh, like an ambrosia, like uh, like a fire.

SPEAKER_04 14:17

Ambrosia is like the the drinking of the gun. But yeah, like uh like a like from a from a fire pit.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

Like a fire pit, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:24

Like an abrasier, abrazier. An abrasier. Is what it's called. So how they did this barbecue cask was they took they're both hot. Yes.

unknown 14:37

Anyway.

SPEAKER_03 14:41

So they take this cask, and in order to chart, they sit it over this this old it's an old-fashioned like grill, right? It's like a circular or uh square grill that's metal in the middle. Yeah, so they sit it over this, and that's how they chart it.

SPEAKER_02 14:56

All the stuff for that?

SPEAKER_03 14:57

They charred it? That's how they did it.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Charred what?

SPEAKER_04 15:02

Yeah, the the the wood on the inside. They just they just like set a barrel over the barbecue.

SPEAKER_03 15:09

As I understand that, yes.

SPEAKER_04 15:10

Then let the barbecue smoke into instead of letting the barbecue smoke into like the lid of the grill. They let it smoke into a barrel of wood. That's the barbecue.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

Let's get technical. How in the hell are you doing that? Like, and then you're gonna make a cask out of it?

SPEAKER_04 15:27

You just don't close the lid. You set the barbecue, you set the barrel on top of the grilling the meat.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

Without it burning up.

SPEAKER_03 15:34

Well, you don't want any meat, it's just over the grill, over the charcoal. I would eat that meat. I would eat the meat too.

SPEAKER_02 15:39

How does it not burn up?

SPEAKER_04 15:41

Well, how do you charge it? It's on it's on the grill. The meat doesn't burn up either.

SPEAKER_02 15:45

What I'm saying is if it's in the face if it's in the form of a cask.

SPEAKER_04 15:48

It's a cask.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

How does it not burn the outside before burning the inside? Because you gotta burn the inside.

SPEAKER_03 15:53

Because you're sitting it, it's so big, it's sitting around the coals. The coals are flamed on the inside.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

It's like a big cask. Okay, okay. All right, all right.

SPEAKER_03 16:02

The abra the abrasia. That is their barbecue cask.

SPEAKER_04 16:06

So it's a little bit like maybe you would say a toasted barrel, but it's toasted over the same material that you would use to grill barbecue.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

God help anybody listening, because we're going back and forth. But I'm gonna I'm gonna say this space age technology is very advanced. They went with this, even in 2025, it is very advanced. I've read books talking about abrasia and abrasures, abrasions? Like, no, from like that that's that's a type of fire, like Ryan's right. But I've read books talking like referring to like cooking things on the abrasion, like from like long time ago, right? Why are you mixing space age technology and abrasia? Like, this is very strange. Very strange, and where did you come up with this idea? DJ Barbecue. Were you told by ETs? Is ET phone at Homesland? Like, hey, go ahead and spice up that abrasia, you know. You got it. Go somewhere in in India and pick one up, bring it back to the States and fire that bad boy up. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 17:18

That's a weird. I mean, so like do they specify the kind of wood that they use? Like, is it like we charred these barrels with with mesquites? Right.

SPEAKER_03 17:29

Or well, I I also they didn't go into details as far as was it a new barrel or a previously used barrel?

SPEAKER_02 17:35

Well, at that point, if you're gonna fire it up over a freaking open flame fireplace, which is basically what an abrasia is.

SPEAKER_03 17:41

Well, how hard do you have to get it? Are you planning on charring or just getting the smoke? And if you're just getting the smoke, is it an X barrel of some kind? Or dude.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

The well, from what I've the only times I've ever heard of that word being used was an big open. You can prove me wrong, Ryan. It's been in a big open fireplace in a manor's place. Like it's I've never heard of one being used anywhere else, but like a house and a big open fireplace. It's like an old-fashioned grill.

SPEAKER_04 18:11

Yeah, I think yeah. Um a brazier is like a um like one of those outdoor campfire things, uh, like a campfire dish. You could run like a spit.

SPEAKER_02 18:25

You could run like a spit on it.

SPEAKER_04 18:26

It's big. It's like a it's like a it's like using one of those um barrels. You know, like sorry, like homeless people like set fires in like it around. It's like one of those.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

Talking about setting fire to a garbage can? He's talking about garbage can.

SPEAKER_04 18:45

It's like a cauldron with feet on it. But but it's for setting fires. Right. You put fires inside it, but it's like a a big circular bowl.

SPEAKER_03 18:58

Sometimes they're square from what I've seen. It's circular and square.

SPEAKER_04 19:02

You don't normally have them inside. Like a brazier would be like an outside bonfire in a bowl, in a fire bowl.

SPEAKER_02 19:11

Yeah, I've heard of them being used like in a hearth, like a big open hearth.

SPEAKER_03 19:15

Um that would make sense.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

So kind of like a Google it, like like a like a wood grape. So we have an idea of a fireplace, right? And then, like, if you go to like a place where there was like a real fireplace, they're like, those things are huge. Then you go to a place like a castle that has an actual fireplace. When's the last time we went to a castle? Well, there's pictures and things, but uh you could fit a kitchen table inside with like 20 with like 20 people inside a fire place in a castle. Like they are a room. Um, and what they but they used to freaking that's where they would grill the meat, like you know what I mean? Because there was a fire like going there to warm the castle up. And uh the books that I've read, they've they've talked about the abrasia, but it's basically the section where they would cook the meat. But it was a in a big effing fireplace, like that. Like uh in these big castles that were fireplaces as big as a room. I mean, you ever think about the size of a castle? How do you heat that? Big effing fireplaces, yeah. So that that's like from from what I remember like hearing that's what I think of. But how do you like a barrel? I don't I don't know how that works. And who came up with that idea? DJ Barbecue. That's what I want to know.

SPEAKER_03 20:31

I tell you what, when researching this and looking at this, all I could think was sent two things up into space, put them in bottles, called them something different from each other. This is not unusual for you.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Well, let's not focus too much on the history, let's let's focus on the here and now, and I can tell you right here and right now, what's in my glass is amazing. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 20:54

So let me ask you this. So both of you guys really like it. What do you like about it? I love barbecue, so you do get a lot of the barbecue.

SPEAKER_04 21:03

Oh, yeah. I mean, it's it's kind of astounding how much barbecue comes out of this. Like, what but it's the same reason I like LaFroig, it's the same reason I like full English. I was just gonna say, yep. Um, it's the same reason. It's a sweeter smoke. Like there's uh uh a smoked, like a Rausch beer, Rousch beer, smoked beer, like Echt Schlinkala. It's a German brewery, but they do this Meritzen Rausch beer, which is a smoked beer. It is like bacon on a campfire.

SPEAKER_02 21:36

How dare you talk about this just now? Like he's never mentioned this before, like it was a normal thing. He's like, Oh, all of a sudden I had this knowledge you didn't know about. Oh, where did that come from?

SPEAKER_04 21:46

Lots of stuff. Where did that come from? Yeah, uh like I yeah, I I I was a beer guy before I was a whiskey guy. Um, but yeah, so if you want to taste this, I can bring it. But it's like bacon on a candy. Fire. It's yeah, like it's right in line with everything I love, but it's uh Scotch, and I was just like blown away. I was like, this is all this is a culmination of all my favorite things.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

Yeah, this is dark fire all together Kentucky. It's oh wonderful. This is dark fire. If anybody listening that's in the pipe tobacco, this is dark fired Kentucky, which we were just talking about, this Ryan. This is dark fired Kentucky tobacco, which is different from like Latakia. It's it's a barbecue style um tobacco, and it's the sweeter smoky barbecue. I don't know where they're getting they're getting the sweet stuff from from oh the P they do PX sherry casks on there.

SPEAKER_04 22:44

I think it's PX, but it's not a cloying sweetness. It's like it the sweetness doesn't lead, but it's there.

SPEAKER_02 22:51

This and this is uh LaFroig-esque with the beginning, but at the end, there's a there's a um there is a sour note, it's a twang, it's a um what's the word I'm looking for? There's a word I'm looking for, and I can't I had it in my mind and it went away. But it there's a twang and there's a sour note at the end. Uh like you get with like orientals, you it's a it's uh like sweet and sour kind of thing. Yeah, yeah. And it's right at the end after you sip it. But the beginning is a very, very, very, very freaking barbecue. Uh like like LaFroig's barbecue. But the difference being, Lefroy will finish with different things. This finishes with this like sour note, twang kind of um maybe like a tangy vinegar barbecue. That's the word I'm looking for. Tangy. That's what it is. It's this tang at the end. It's vinegary, it's kind of it's interesting. God, it's interesting. And it's a scotch. What is this, dude? Like what what planet is this from? Where did you go in space where you came back with this technology?

SPEAKER_04 23:58

Yeah, this is alien.

SPEAKER_02 24:00

Dude, this is this is something, this is something quite extraordinary.

SPEAKER_04 24:04

Yes, and I don't say that too often anymore. No, you've never said that.

SPEAKER_02 24:08

This would go fantastic with general size chicken.

unknown 24:11

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

Well, to me and Ryan, this would go fantastic with anything. All right, well, I anything, but like I want this with my morning shower. A burger.

SPEAKER_03 24:20

Yeah, I'll take one hot dog.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

This will make anything. You pour some harp eggs.

SPEAKER_03 24:28

Hot dog, no plate, no paper plate.

SPEAKER_04 24:30

If you're depressed, drink this as part of your regiment of like recovery.

SPEAKER_02 24:38

Have you have you played Oblivion and drank this? If not, go ahead and do both and let me know if you're still depressed. It's a good time.

SPEAKER_03 24:46

I remember when you got this, it was at the the the Christmas uh the meeting for the club, and uh you poured some, you opened it and allowed us to pour some out of it. I had the the worst cold known of mankind, and it was right at the time where everything was muted, right? You get all stuffed up and congested, and everything you taste is all muted in flavor. And I remember tasting this and going, It's good. I don't know why it's this is why Tipsy recommended the fruit.

SPEAKER_02 25:20

I didn't hear what I I did not try this that night.

SPEAKER_04 25:22

Chris was sitting right next to me, he didn't even taste it. I don't know what was happening. What is wrong with me?

SPEAKER_03 25:27

Yeah, I'm like trying this, and all of a sudden at the end of the table, so that I waited. At the end of the table, I hear I'm licking a charcoal grill grate right now. And I'm sitting there going, that's that's what you get out of this? What what am I missing? Trying this now, I'm going, I still don't I don't feel like I'm licking a charcoal grill grate. Like this is good. This is good, you know why? Acquired taste.

SPEAKER_02 25:55

If somebody poured this down the toilet, I would take all the water out of the toilet and drink it. This is quite fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 26:07

So when I when I've read or heard in the past that Ardbag is like the the the smokiest uh whisky you can get, or like the king of smoke, right? Like they they do the best in smoke. This is what I wish I would have tried right away, is because I would have tried it and gone, you're not you're not you're not peted smoke, you're not campfire smoke. If this is what you put out every time, you you are the king of smoke, but barbecue smoke. This is barbecue.

SPEAKER_02 26:36

This is this is like this is from a like if I was licking my barbecue right now from a good way. Like, I feel like I should have ribs right now with this. Like, oh dude, this would go some freaking great with some ribs, right? Or some some some freaking ribeyes. Holy hell. Yeah, this is I don't know how they're doing this, but here's the thing it's it's the barbecue casks. We've had art bag before, right?

SPEAKER_03 26:59

We have. I think I've had the 10 and the wee beastie, so five and ten-year-old.

SPEAKER_02 27:03

I remember being told, like you said, art bag was the thing. We got some, we tried it. We were very disappointed. This is effing good. This is really effing good. This is Logovalin and the Freud level. Well, this is like Log of Lin did some sort of weird thing, like some nasty thing with some with a mermaid. Log of some nymph, some tree nymph, and out popped some sort of weird tree nymph that with LaFroy that got burnt, and he's like running away, and he got like set on fire. And some tree nymph's offspring in Lafroy's offspring got set on fire, and the smoke from that was made was used to make this drink. That's what that is.

SPEAKER_03 27:47

So you you guys are readers, right? Lord of the Rings. Oh, yeah, Hobbit. Yes, yeah. Uh, so the the the trees, the ints. Oh, the ints.

SPEAKER_02 27:56

Is this like the the children of the ints? That's what I'm saying. This is this is the Freud. Le Freig had sex with some ints, and there was out popped a baby, and as it's running away, the the oryx freaking set it on fire and it's burning. Well, that's smoke. That's this thing.

SPEAKER_04 28:17

And while it's burning up, it's eating ribs.

SPEAKER_02 28:19

That's right, it's eating ribs, and uh uh one of the elves comes along like I'm gonna preserve this fire, the smoke, and infuse it with a potion. This is it.

SPEAKER_03 28:30

This is it. I so I really don't think when we talk about the barbecue cast, you guys mentioned the meat. I don't think they did any meat on it. I think this is pure charcoal. Dude, I just want to smell it. Like the there is some meat.

SPEAKER_04 28:41

I think there's some meat to it. When it comes to barbecue, like I'm a big fan of the sauces. So yeah, like I'm kind of a sauce guy. Um, and this does taste like barbecue sauce on on the meat to me.

SPEAKER_03 28:59

Less on the sweet side. Uh, sorry, this is Prince Aju sauce on the meat. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:06

Well, that's that's what I was gonna say. Less on the sweet side, more on the savory side.

SPEAKER_03 29:09

This is not I made some homemade barbecue sauce or I bought sweet baby rays. This is like some really good chef made this.

SPEAKER_02 29:17

Like this isn't checking the boxes. This is the box.

SPEAKER_03 29:23

This is the standard that everyone else checks after.

SPEAKER_02 29:25

I can't believe I have not tried this yet. And or and or bought a bottle of this. I'm afraid to ask. I'm afraid to ask the price and availability because this is really, really, really, really, really, really, really good.

SPEAKER_03 29:39

Price. So we're talking, so we're talking unique. You were talking unique. Ardbeg is normally cheap, cheaper for scotch.

SPEAKER_02 29:47

Typically on like the 60, 50, 60, 70 dollars.

SPEAKER_03 29:50

I think I bought the artbag 10 for under 30. Yeah, cheap. Yeah, it was cheaper. Yeah, what it was on sale. Art bag's cheap. But art bag is cheap. That's cheap though. Uh it's Johnny Walker cheap. Is Johnny Walker, like lower end of Johnny Walker cheap.

SPEAKER_02 30:07

Because it's what they do to it, not what they have. And that's somehow they're doing some sort of space.

SPEAKER_03 30:12

I think the reason why they're also cheap is they're trying. So we're we if you look at history, uh so we've talked about history for several different distilleries. This is the only one that made world history at 1.1 million bar liters for them to produce, sold, shut down, sold, rebought, reopened, lost jobs. Then they struggled to get to 600,000 liters. Years, like it took years to get there. They gave up with let's mass produce and they uh decided let's do unique. So they recognize we can't put out the volume as everyone else, we can't sustain that. But what we can do is we can give you a unique experience at a price that makes sense to you and to us. They do that well. That I think that's why they put out the five-year. No one else does a five-year scotch. Name another single malt distillery that does a five-year scotch. I I can't give you one.

SPEAKER_04 31:13

So, what was the price point on this?

SPEAKER_03 31:15

This was uh 80 bucks. Okay. Uh, this was released in 2020 2023. Yep, 2023 as a limited edition, and there's no word yet on whether or not they're gonna bring it back. Damn, damn it. Damn.

SPEAKER_04 31:32

And so, and you bought it in 2024. Uh-huh. Tipsy might have one more bottle.

SPEAKER_03 31:38

He might have one more, two more bottles if you want one.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

Well, if he's gotten them. Yeah. That's an easy yes.

SPEAKER_04 31:45

How are these hanging around for like an entire year without being bought up?

SPEAKER_02 31:50

Because people are weird and don't like it.

SPEAKER_03 31:52

Well, not just weird. No, so Chris and I talked about we tried Ardbag before. We heard things about Ardbeg. It was the best of the best. Smoky, we tried it, it was turned off. Ardbag.

SPEAKER_02 32:01

This is something special.

SPEAKER_03 32:02

Ardbeg is a sleeper. No one like if you get their cheap stuff, you are missing out. If you go for their what's expensive to them, but normal for everyone else.

SPEAKER_02 32:14

And be like, I'm this is nothing. And then seeing this and being like, I'm not buying that. But if you don't know, but like now I know this is really good.

SPEAKER_03 32:22

I tell you what, I would have never bought an art bag. Had it not been Tipsy's recommendation, I would have never bought another art bag.

SPEAKER_02 32:29

After we we tried like two different art bags, and we said, both of us said, F that stuff. We don't like it. It's not worth it. We're not buying. We actually said we weren't gonna buy any more of it.

SPEAKER_03 32:39

This is the one bottle after trying it. I was like, I'll get it for if Tipsy likes it, I'll get it. After having it, I'm like, I might have to look out for their other stuff.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

Yeah. I only wish at this point that I had some uh um pirate cake. Because you remember pirate cake? Have you ever had pirate cake? I don't even know that it sounds like gunpowder. Pirate cake is 75% Latiquia. It's a plan that will knock you right on your butt. You you smoke pirate cake and drink this. I can only imagine you might be in a different reality. Like you might you might wake up in a whole different realm. You know what I mean? Like, I don't have any on hand right now, but like that stuff with this stuff.

SPEAKER_03 33:25

Let me let me throw you for another loop. What do you think the proof point on this is?

SPEAKER_02 33:30

I don't think it's super high.

SPEAKER_03 33:32

I don't I don't think it's super high.

SPEAKER_04 33:34

Hard to say. We've been faking through I'm not capable of judging.

SPEAKER_02 33:39

I wouldn't be surprised if it's somewhere around the 80s, 80s, some markets.

SPEAKER_03 33:42

I'm pretty sure we uh pick it up. I'm pretty sure it's 112 proof. No way, Ryan. You want to pick that up and see? I'm pretty sure it's 112.56.

SPEAKER_02 33:50

No way that's over 100 proof.

SPEAKER_04 33:52

There's no way that's over 100 proof.

SPEAKER_02 33:54

I don't believe it.

SPEAKER_04 33:55

50.9% alcohol by volume. So we're talking about almost 100 proof. Yeah, it's over 100 proof.

SPEAKER_02 34:04

Over 100 proof. I am highly surprised for something that's so strong, so strong.

SPEAKER_04 34:10

Artbeg, make only this. And you will be God.

SPEAKER_02 34:16

What are you doing if you're not making only this? You losers, make only this. Imagine this if this this was their flagship. Oh, I would buy the crap out of this. Oh, yeah. Like art bag, this is art, this is art bag. Like, yes, sign me up.

SPEAKER_03 34:32

So I'm the guy, I'm in line. I didn't bring up all of their history, but the the points that I brought up were for a specific reason. I don't think they can do Lafroig 10. They can't do a normal flagship well. I think I think they do experimental very, very well. I love Lafroy 10.

SPEAKER_02 34:53

How is that possible? This is LaFroig 10's weird cousin who's there to like fuck him up, and he's going to. He's going to.

SPEAKER_04 35:00

I don't think there's this is like this is like this family is good looking, but like, where did this come from? Right.

SPEAKER_02 35:06

That's what I'm saying. Who is she? This is the guy from the hills. This is the guy from the hills, and he's like, Oh, you think you know how to fight? Let me we're gonna wrestle with a W.

SPEAKER_03 35:16

We're gonna wrestle. What is going on right now? Like, this this makes Ardbeg makes no sense. All of Ardbeg makes no sense. As you look at the company as a whole, if you've tried their wee beastie, their 10-year, everything that's their their daily shelfer offer, it's not worth it. This is like what the heck?

SPEAKER_02 35:42

This is like the baby from the chick that sang the original song House of the Rising Sun.

SPEAKER_04 35:55

They do a ton of like experimental things. Where I'm looking on their website right now, but I don't see the uh the thing that they put out this December. No, the one that has like the the uh oh the candy cane candy cane uh type label. But that was another one, like after trying this, I'm like, I don't like I really want to try that other one, but it was like really expensive.

SPEAKER_03 36:27

I'm gonna say it maybe 120. I think that's hardbag is your sleeper. I think artbag is your sleeper, scotch, when it comes to experimentals, one off one off like, yeah. If you like the smoky, the peaty, the unique, I think they're the ones to go after.

SPEAKER_02 36:43

I mean, every sip is just like it blew. I'm I'm frustrated. Right in the kisser, you know, like it's a lot. I'm slightly frustrated with our honestly, it's going really well with this like basic Virginia. I can only imagine smoking like an English blend with this. Like, I was gonna say, how's that plum going? It might be overwhelming with like a English blend, let alone a pirate cake. But like this with this like basic bright Virginia, it's good. And that's easy.

SPEAKER_03 37:15

That is a uh symphony. That's the plummy one, right?

SPEAKER_02 37:19

Symphony, yeah, it's plummy, but it's hey, it but it's it's a bright Virginia, like it's a very neutral tobacco.

SPEAKER_03 37:25

Do you think that's what's causing the uh the the sweeter barbecue or like a barbecue sauce kind of feel?

SPEAKER_04 37:31

No, when I tasted it like just at the whiskey club, no no smoking or whatever. Yeah, the barbecue sauce came through like right up front.

SPEAKER_02 37:42

I was gonna say if anything, this is making you the pat the tobacco sweeter.

SPEAKER_03 37:45

You talk about your pipes, you you pick your tobacco based off of what you believe might need to fill in gaps of what you drink.

unknown 37:53

Right.

SPEAKER_03 37:54

This would go so stinking well with a sweet barbecue. Yeah. Oh, this would, yeah. Because I think this would fill in those gaps. It would fill in it would fill in the sweet baby rays. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 38:06

A more of a vinegar-based guy. If anybody's wondering, like, how do you have barbecue without sweet? Well, guess what? Welcome to vinegar-based freaking freaking barbecue tons. You know what I mean? And uh and then uh then you got the hot sauce and whatnot.

SPEAKER_03 38:20

Do you like Tennessee barbecue? Like more of the hot Nashville?

SPEAKER_02 38:23

Yeah, I like Nashville hot. Yeah, there's a time and a place for it. But uh, I I am more on the savory side of barbecue, and uh people that know what I'm talking about know what I'm talking about. Um, however, I there are times where I like a sweet barbecue. However, with that meat, you gotta change it up, right? So there's certain meats that do not go well with, in my opinion, sweet barbecue, and there's certain meats that do go well with sweet barbecue. But smoked on hide is a very good savory barbecue and savory barbecue sauce. And uh, but but from what what you're saying is actually with this, what's missing is the sweet component. So I think with this, with the smoke, which is a um uh a burley with a little bit of virginia, and it's not topped, it's very much a blank canvas, but but it's good quality blank canvas. Uh, and then this very smoky, in my opinion, not sweet barbecue scotch. Uh, I think what we're missing is some sweet meat, which in this case would be good, which I would not say that often, but my gosh, if you gave me some. You give me some sweet barbecue chicken with this, and I think I might have to go to the bathroom and clean myself up.

SPEAKER_04 39:47

That's all I have to say about this. It's that good, folks.

SPEAKER_02 39:52

You know, this would actually go really good also with like uh with like Indian food, which I am a fan, like a fanatic. Because that's a cream, it's creamy, it's sweet, it's kind of you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_03 40:03

This would add the uh the uh smoky kind of this is gonna sound weird for a lot of people, and I don't mean it in a weird way. This is like sucking on charcoal in a good way, in a good way, yes. This is like the aftertaste is like sucking on charcoal. In Mary's perspective, it would be sucking on charcoal for me. I think in a lot of people they wouldn't like this, yes.

SPEAKER_02 40:23

But for the for the niche market that gets to what we're saying when we say suck on charcoal, they so imagine when you're grilling, not on a gas grill, on a charcoal grill, or you have a campfire, right?

SPEAKER_03 40:35

You got the smoke coming towards you. I'm sure you guys don't care about that. The wife hates that. She does not want the smoke coming towards her because she doesn't want to smell like campfire. I have to take a shower after grilling. This is a crack yup. Grilling campfires, but not pipes. It's it's the charcoal campfire smell that she just hates. It's the sucking on charcoal that she just does not enjoy that smell. And I love it. I love that smell because it smells like success. Yeah, it smells like success. It smells like I just made I just barbecued something amazing. I just sat at an awesome campfire for hours, and this was wonderful. Like it smells like success.

SPEAKER_04 41:28

Like my my wife worked at when we when we were living in Kansas City, she worked at um RJ's barbecue for a summer. Like she was a teacher, but during the summer, she's like, I'm gonna get an extra job, you know, during the summer. She worked at a barbecue.

SPEAKER_02 41:46

She probably came home smelling like a freaking fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 41:48

She came over, she came home smelling like a barbecue. And I was like, I was like, mmm, I was like, all over her.

SPEAKER_02 41:58

Yeah, she didn't probably get that.

SPEAKER_01 41:59

She's like, I smell gross. Yeah, like uh I'm gonna cannibalize you, okay? Even one minute.

SPEAKER_04 42:09

Yeah, if you can get a perfume that smells like this, like it would be on like every night. Um, no, this is yeah, that that smell, uh yeah. I don't I guess there are two kinds of people in the world, and I'm the kind that likes the barbecue smell.

SPEAKER_02 42:28

Yeah, you don't even smell like violets, you can smell like barbecue cooked meat.

SPEAKER_04 42:32

Like barbecue, like I'm all over that. Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 42:36

Go fry some some bacon up. Come back and talk to me. You leave that flower crap alone.

SPEAKER_03 42:44

You know, it's funny. We we uh when you fry a bacon in the house, you come back afterwards. Mary's like, oh man, I don't I don't know that I love that smell. And I'm like, oh, bacon. Oh, someone cooked bacon. Oh, I cook bacon in here. I forgot I cooked bacon. This smells fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 43:00

I'm turning myself on.

SPEAKER_03 43:02

Let's look at it. This is fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 43:10

Why why why aren't women's perfumes so you know, right? Meat oriented meat. Yeah, that would be the best route to take.

SPEAKER_03 43:19

24-hour smoked brisket. I have never been so turned on.

SPEAKER_04 43:25

This'll do it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 43:27

The only shame I have with this this is. I'm the only one who's completely empty. You guys know. I've been savoring it because, again, the only shame is it's not my bottle, it's Ryan's bottle, and it's limited. I just want the whole thing.

SPEAKER_02 43:40

There's not often, I mean, we'll get on here and on the podcast, and there's things I like, there's things I don't like. This is quite something different.

SPEAKER_03 43:48

Again, I'm I'm upset with hardbag. I I I'm upset in the fact that this is not their normal offering. Like, I don't care about the bizarbecue, I don't care about DJ barbecue.

SPEAKER_02 43:58

I like the DJ.

SPEAKER_03 44:00

Stuff I don't it's the flavor that I'm like, why why? You do you realize you could be competing with logvalin in Lafruit?

SPEAKER_02 44:07

I could call this scotch for wusses, and I'd be like, Yes, I will buy all of it. I will buy a hundred percent all of it. You could call it like the most stupid thing, you could call this rainbow scotch, and I'd be like, Yes, I want it. I want all of it. I want all of it.

SPEAKER_04 44:22

Give it to me like DJ Barbecue is not a selling point.

SPEAKER_02 44:27

That's not a selling point to me.

SPEAKER_01 44:29

I I just love the way it tastes.

SPEAKER_02 44:31

Like, I don't even care about the bizarbecue. Like, if if I was art bag, I'd be like, and we're scrapping everything. Yes. Like everything we're scrapping, this is all we're doing. Like, we're not doing anything else. We figured it out. They would do they would be the number one, in my opinion, like for my palette. Yes. Again, I'm not everybody, but for my palette, I'd have like 10 bottles of this. Oh, like on the shelf. Like, I'd have like 10 bottles of this.

SPEAKER_03 44:56

Like, it's that good. Like, so I I know that I told you Tipsy recommended this. Did I tell you how that all that conversation went about? And the picture I got? No. The picture was his hand holding the empty bottle. Titsy said, he goes, This is what I recommend. But as he put it, it was it was sweet yet smoky. He was like, I it was it is sweet, but it's not overly sweet. It's more savory. It's everything. It's everything. Do you guys get hickory smoked candy? I get every smoke. Do you get grilled auto choke? Do you get flame steak? I don't know about all that. No, I don't know about all that.

SPEAKER_02 45:34

Well, like, give me a freaking ribeye steak that's been medium cooked medium rare on a high heat grill and with loads of butter. Yeah. So can you I'm eating, I'm eating that with this. Well, with a baked potato and sour cream.

SPEAKER_03 45:47

Yeah. We we love this. Can you imagine the club? What do you think?

SPEAKER_02 45:51

So let's what do you think about the club? I don't know if anybody else, I maybe Steve would appreciate it. Because he appreciates stuff. Whether he likes it or not, he appreciates it.

SPEAKER_03 46:00

Appreciate. Okay, appreciate, yes. Herm would Herm might like it. Blake would puke. Blake would not like it. I don't think Cody would like it.

SPEAKER_02 46:07

Cody would be turned off. Micah would be very nice about it, but he would be on the fence.

SPEAKER_04 46:13

Who said the it's like looking at charcoal girl?

SPEAKER_02 46:15

Was that Herm?

SPEAKER_03 46:16

No.

SPEAKER_02 46:17

That was Micah. Micah, I was gonna say Micah would be very nice about it, but he would not like it.

SPEAKER_03 46:22

I think Herm would be on the fence. I think Herm would be on the fence. Herm on the offense of offended side. Not in a good way. Of like, I don't know. Like, I'm just getting into scotch. I also like pipes, but this is not pipes, and this is not my normal.

SPEAKER_02 46:37

I think Herm would be kind of like, hmm, I don't know. You know, but he would be open to suggestions. But I think Blake would throw up. Yeah, he would have to take a trip to the bathroom. Cody, Cody would be like, nah, nah. This is not for me.

SPEAKER_04 46:53

He probably wouldn't even drink it. He'd smell it and be like, no, I can already tell.

SPEAKER_02 46:57

Yeah, I I think I'll I'll, you know, I've been eating pretty healthy lately. And I think I'll probably not drink tonight. That's probably Cody. Blake would Blake would probably throw up.

SPEAKER_03 47:09

Blake would be done.

SPEAKER_02 47:10

Yeah. This is strong. Like, this is strong. Where do you think this comes from in Scotland? I got no F and clue. Dude, I don't know. This has challenged my whole opinion on everything Scotch ever. No, um yeah. This has changed. I I've never had anything like this. Like, I don't want to underestimate it. Like, this is quite extraordinary. Like, I what what are they doing to make it this flavorful? Barbecue casks. That is not enough. That is not enough of an explanation. I don't know. I DJ, whatever. It's gotta be Isla. It is totally Isla. It's Isla. But like Artbag is Isla.

SPEAKER_03 47:49

But but you talk about their their five-year-old and ten-year-old. It it doesn't have smoke that doesn't have to be anywhere close to this.

SPEAKER_02 47:56

I mean, that's I don't want you to think art bag is like this. It because we've had art bag, because we were recommended art bag for, and we were like, eh, meh, you know. And a lot of so here's the thing. I don't know if we talked about this, but a lot of art bag stuff is around five to six years old. There's very, very, very few art bag stuff that's aged more than that.

SPEAKER_03 48:16

But the ones that are aged, nah, I'll take that back. The the unique ones, I won't say age because a lot of the unique don't they don't do age statements on the unique ones.

SPEAKER_02 48:28

They don't do a lot of age statements.

SPEAKER_03 48:29

But those are about the price tag of a 16. Oh, they're expensive.

SPEAKER_02 48:33

I'm not saying they're not expensive, but they will they will put out something that for five or six years that is the same price as something that's like an 18-year-old's got it.

SPEAKER_03 48:43

It's almost like they're just pushing out stuff to make this make room for this.

SPEAKER_02 48:48

Before today, if you had told me anything art bag was like, you know, over 60 bucks, I would have been like, no.

SPEAKER_03 48:54

Wouldn't be worth it. This thing, this is a gamble, my friend. This was a gamble for you. I'm glad you like it. I was really glad you like it.

SPEAKER_02 49:02

It was a bold game. I think if you're art bag, you take away the DJ retard, whatever stuff that is, like hey, it's 2025. We can say that again. And um, and and and just say, like, hey, this is like art bag smoked, like suck it, you know what I mean? Like take it or leave it, kind of a deal. Like, yeah. And then uh what the price point uh dude, if you could offer that for 80 bucks, I would be like blown, like excited. Like, I'd be like giving you money. If it was like over 100, like 120, I'd be like, that is where it's probably at. For for this bottle, I think 120 bucks makes sense. 80 bucks, I'd be very excited and available. Oh my gosh, dude, this might trump LaFroig 10 for for like not for my everyday, all day like desert island, but like for like my go-to for now. I don't know, man. Whoa, it might whoa, it might, dude. Whoa, it might. It's up there, dude.

SPEAKER_04 50:08

Arn Bag if you're listening.

SPEAKER_02 50:10

That's a big deal.

SPEAKER_01 50:11

Do something about it. That's a big deal.

SPEAKER_02 50:13

Yeah, this is a big deal. This is really good. Like, I don't want people to think I'm just like talking out of pocket. Like, this is really good.

SPEAKER_04 50:22

I was slightly concerned that you would find it too sweet barbecue.

SPEAKER_02 50:27

No, no, it's good, and I think I like it even more because there is some sweetness there, but my my barbecue, I I eat uh a ribeye around three times a week. I have a ribeye, somewhere around a uh 16-ounce ribeye three times a week. That's I know I'm awesome. That's a lot, that's a lot of ribeye. I grill it up, there's butter involved, things are nice. My life is good. But this would go really, really well with ribeye. Really well. With a ribeye, all I do, if anybody's wondering, salt and pepper, high heat, butter, and I cook it to the uh towards an uh internal temperature for um medium rare, and that's it. I pull it off. Like, and I don't let it rest because I eat that crap. I I'm hungry, you know what I mean? This would be great for ribeye.

SPEAKER_03 51:17

Good ribeye.

SPEAKER_02 51:18

You just said that?

SPEAKER_03 51:19

So great ribeye, a great prime rib.

SPEAKER_02 51:22

Yep, prime rib. Okay, I'm not big fancy.

SPEAKER_04 51:24

Any kind of red meat this would enhance a burger? What were you gonna do? Oh, a burger. A burger, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:30

Fly like really again, charred up.

SPEAKER_03 51:33

But what uh brisket, maybe, but well, like a little bit more redder.

SPEAKER_02 51:39

Yeah, this is good for brisket. Like, you need to have something that's bloody.

SPEAKER_03 51:43

Yes, something you could get in the like medium rare, medium kind of stage.

SPEAKER_02 51:48

Yeah, like like a I mean, you're not supposed to do the ground beef, but let's be honest. It's already ground, it's fine. It's grounded, it's good to go. I cook it out. This is really, really good. This is really, really good. I did not expect this. I just think that a company, if a company were to put that out as their like flagship, I mean maybe we're on the maybe we're on the fringes, maybe we're the weirdos, you know. Maybe listen, people listening to us are gonna you guys are weird, you know.

SPEAKER_03 52:16

But log volin and LaFroy cell. This is like Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:20

I mean, this is this is right up there with Brian. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 52:22

Like, this is it fits right in. I can't believe this is right up there with because we we talk about LaFroy being barbecue, but it's not this barbecue. No, not this.

SPEAKER_04 52:32

Like, this is like nothing like this.

SPEAKER_03 52:34

This is like in between log villain and the.

SPEAKER_02 52:37

I've tried nothing like this. No, this is up there, but this is something different. And if you were to have this as a flagship, like I can go to the store right now and buy this. Holy cow! Holy cow! Like, hey guys, I'm going to get freaking potatoes and steak and an art bag. You know what I mean? Like an art bag, and like you know, you're like buckle in, you're heading, you're you're heading for a good time, you know what I mean? Like, now let's put on a movie, right? Maybe something noir-ish, you know what I mean? Things are getting a little exciting, you know what I mean? Like, that's a for me, that's a good dang night, you know.

SPEAKER_03 53:18

I'm very sad about this bottle. Sad? Because it's hard to get? No, because it's his and not mine.

SPEAKER_02 53:27

Yeah, you gotta let me know about this. Uh, not often that I say this, but I mean, this is one of those once in every we try a lot of stuff, but like this is one of those, you know, one in every like so many we try that I'm like damn, like we've I've gotta get this.

SPEAKER_03 53:47

This hits another level for Scotch of like so. We have the Dalmor. The Dalmor is like meh, we gotcha. The Dalmor, see the Dalmore, right? Uh you think about like like the Dalmor, like yeah, we gotcha. Like Glenn Fittick, meh, we we got you a little bit more. Like this is like we we want to be not we want to, we're they're unapologetic. We are who we are. It's not that we are just as good as Lafroy, we're just as good as Logovin. That's not them. It's them saying we can compete. We're not them, we know we're not them. We're not even even in the same conference. Like we could we couldn't even play them and win, but we know that we could be something.

SPEAKER_02 54:34

Well, I mean, whether they know that or not, I I would love to talk to or tweet to or email to or text to uh the guy that's in charge and be like, hey, drop the DJ bullshit. Like, this is what you need like art bag barbecue or whatever you want to call it, and that's it. Be done. You've done it before, do this, only do this, like wake up. Like, there is a good amount of people that um, there's a lot of people that wouldn't like this, but there's a good amount of people that would be like, absolutely sign me up, and those people would buy the crap out of this, dude. Like, absolutely, and again, I I don't know what the age is on that, but I'm guessing it's four to five to six years old because Artback doesn't do much more than that. So you're not aging a ton. So whatever you're doing, do that, sell it. You will be the guy. Like, man, uh again, I I'm I am a LaFroig guy, but this is effing good. This this is effing good.

SPEAKER_03 55:35

But I think the reason why you say I'm a Lafroy guy, but this is good is this is something I'm so loyal to Lafroig.

SPEAKER_02 55:42

I'm so I don't want to say like this is the best thing I've ever had, but uh because I'm loyal to the Lafroy, but like this is close to me saying this is the best thing I've ever had. Like this is really close to being up there. You get what I'm saying? Like, I don't want to like step out on Lafroig. I don't want to be like, hey, I you know, I am in uh you know Las Vegas, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 56:05

But this is I mean this is close. This is close, you know what I mean? This is the Las Vegas experience that you're that that's like tempting you to take it home to like regular life.

SPEAKER_02 56:23

I'm talking to the I'm I'm talking to the art began. I'm like, look, I I'm running out of reasons. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 56:29

Like, you need to walk away, please. I've got LaFroy at home. Don't make me do something I will regret. Like I'm loyal to LaFroy. Walk away, please.

SPEAKER_03 56:49

Let's be honest, we don't need this.

SPEAKER_01 56:51

Nobody needs this. Take your sweet cheeks and get the hell out of here.

SPEAKER_03 56:55

Yep, that's exactly it. It's the you're cute, bud.

SPEAKER_01 57:00

Listen, I'm a one-woman man, and that's LaFroy. Damn it.

SPEAKER_03 57:04

This is tempting, but you get out of here.

SPEAKER_01 57:06

You home record.

SPEAKER_04 57:10

Yeah, like I can't stop myself. I need you to be the one who walks away because if you don't give me a minute, I gotta go to the bathroom.

SPEAKER_01 57:18

Lord, Lord, I'm just a man, and I need your help because I'm a I'm just a man. I'm not a strong man.

SPEAKER_04 57:28

That's the truth. Oh my gosh. That's 100% honesty right there. Yeah. So I haven't had I may have had the Wii Beastie from Munich, yeah, but like I don't think I've had much from Ardbeg at all. Have you guys had anything beyond like their basic offerings that might I think Chris and I got turned off.

SPEAKER_02 57:55

We we tried we tried at least two things because I remember we tried one thing, we were like, eh. And I said, Well, we can't say that like that's not enough to be like we tried like two things, and we were like, it's just not it's not expensive, but it uh we were kind of like it's not worth the hype. That's what it was.

SPEAKER_04 58:14

But you know, are you talking bottles? Or are you talking about like at a restaurant?

SPEAKER_02 58:20

No, having some having a drink. I mean, here's the thing me and Nick will buy a bottle of something and be like, eh, it's just okay, and then finish it.

SPEAKER_01 58:31

So right, yeah, yeah. We're not gonna let it go to waste. That's not always a good judge of uh, you know, we're like, oh, you want to play some pool? Yeah, let's let's rack them. You know what I mean? You know what I mean? It's just okay.

SPEAKER_02 58:44

And then at the end of it, we're like, yeah, we won't buy that again, you know. But um, I don't remember buying anything from Artbeg that we were like, we need to go back and buy a case of this. You know what I mean? I'm like, I'm in I'm in actual fear that they would quit making this.

SPEAKER_04 59:02

Yeah, yeah. They they need to do this like all the time. Like, um, but like, I mean, artbeg has like a wide range of things that they put out, right? I mean, right, they they do like a lot, and they're all here's the thing about art beg, they're normal stuff, it's decently priced.

SPEAKER_02 59:21

So, like if you are in the scotch market, if you're not in the scarch market scotch market and you look at art bag and you're like, oh okay, 60, 80, 70, what whatever bucks, you're like, that's expensive. If you're in the scotch market, you're like 60, 80, 70, 80 bucks, that's cheap. That's cheap. Like, I I will like I will buy that and try that, you know. If you're willing to try new things, so you have to temper your price expectations um when you go to the store. So I think we bought a few things and we were underwhelmed. It was their cheap stuff, and we and we drank them up. I mean, they were good, so uh good enough to drink, you know what I mean, but not good enough to be like, I'm gonna go out back out and sing its praises or buy this again. This is something that like again, I if it was available, I don't even know what price I would put on this. Well, I mean, how much is it? If let's pretend it's available, it's 90 bucks. That's great. 90 before tax. If it was available and 90 bucks, oh my god, like under 100 bucks for this and available. I've never seen that around. Better believe it, but I don't I don't think it's available. I just I just don't think it's available.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:30

2023 is when they released it as limited. But so that says something. You you asked us about artbag and what we've tried. I think artbag gets a bad rep in the sense they're the up and comers, kind of they're up and comers in the sense that their everyday drinkers are not good. They're they're not to write home about.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:49

Nobody's gonna be like our per like like we're like going nuts.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:53

Like you'd be satisfied with it, but you wouldn't I wouldn't buy it again. You would you wouldn't I wouldn't even be satisfied. What what what about like going out to a restaurant, you see art bag on the list? No, two bucks? Yeah, no, yeah. I'll buy it for two. Two bucks.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:06

I there's things I would buy over two bucks.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:08

I'll buy it for two. When everything else is like 12 or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:11

There's things I would buy over art bag a million times.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:15

I mean when I when I say I was never gonna buy another bottle of artbag, I was serious.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:19

When when Tibsy recommended this, I was like, if if you had art bag for two dollars and you had Highland Park for seven, I would buy the Highland Park. That's how it was that disappointing. It just wasn't it, it's not bad. It's not bad, it's not good. It's not something I would buy again. I don't have any on my shelf, I don't care for it. This is something different, and honestly, me being the way I am, I kind of freaking hate the DJ, whatever BS crap that's on the label. Like, drop that crud, like that's stupid. Like, just be like, this is artbag. Did he contribute artbag barbecue? Leave it and leave it.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:58

I I kind of wonder, did I mean, did he contribute anything except for his is there a DJ barbecue?

SPEAKER_03 1:02:04

Is there a guy that's called DJ Barbecue? It's his handle. He's like a legit like YouTube person guy. Yeah, I I I mean, I wonder, is that purely a barcode? I think he contributed trying it and going, oh, it's barbecue.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:23

Maybe some some some dude named DJ Barbecue is looking more into getting laid than he is to like calling the squat. That's a cut.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:32

That's what it reminds me of.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:34

Some dude with a marshmallow, that marshmallow dude with like the hat on his head, and he's like, Oh, I'm DJ Barbecue. And then that dude dies of an overdose. They pick some random dude off the street and they're like, your name is now DJ Barbecue.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:51

I mean, like, you get what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_04 1:02:53

Like, uh no longer marshmallow, it's now barbecue. Yeah, it's just really odd. Like, I've never heard of him, which I'm not like super into pop culture. It's so like maybe maybe everyone knows him except for me.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:07

But like when you go from YouTube, griller, actor, director, grinder? What did you yeah? Like, what are you doing? Like you're you're jumping all over the place, and you're an American that moved to London, and they're like, Oh, let's have you. I'm like, that's that seems weird.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:25

I don't know. Maybe he's like big and and like everybody associates him with barbecue, and maybe there's like a new you know I so associate with barbecue, uh freaking Bobby Flay.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:36

Okay, this isn't Bobby Flay Barbecue. Like, at least I know that name. You're like, I I I like this stuff. I don't think they had anything to do with the DJ barbecue guy, other than like some sort of weird European version of like we might sell more bottles, but like don't like don't like the let's just call it artbeck barbecue, be done with it.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:59

You can even do bizarre becue, that's fine. Bizarre, I like bizarre. Leave out DJ Barbecue Leave out the DJ part.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:05

That's I don't want to feature anyone. That's a weird thing.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:08

Feature yourself and be done.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:09

But if DJ Barbecue approached Artbeg and said, like, hey, dude, I would be more like CC Arbecue.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:16

C C like okay, uh, you're sold. I'm a CCR guy. You know what I mean? Like CC Barbecue, yes, I will buy that.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:24

I'm just saying classic rock. If DJ Barbecue had anything to do with this, I'm glad. This might be the pinnacle of his achievements in life.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:34

If that's even the same guy, yeah. Who knows? Those guys wear like those masks and stuff. You ever seen that? That marshmallow guy? Dude, there's like a it's like this thing. It's like it's like he does like remixes, but he wears like a mask. You don't know, nobody knows who he is. Like what he looks like. It's it's a weird thing.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:53

Like, at least like marshmallow with like uh two eyes and a smile.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:57

DJ Barbecue brought to you by Darius Rucker. Okay, I'm not a big Darius Rucker guy. You were better better as Hootie in the Blowfish, but like at least I know who you are. Like, okay, like I'll DJ Barbecue. Use your name, dude. Like, not a fan.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:12

I'm a fan of the juice.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:14

Hardbag um barbecue. Uh what was it called? Barbecue? Yes, done, done, be done, be done, and make that like your everyday. We're gonna put out this.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:27

Nick, if you see this again, I'm uh yeah, let me know. Because I'm I might have you pick up another one for me.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:35

I just can't think of another um Scottish blend that I've had that has been that offensive in a good way. Like air quotes offensive.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:45

Challenging?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:46

This is yeah, challenging offend uh was what I'm trying to think of a sentiment uh for offensive. We always say offensive air quotes, but like there's gotta be more out there. Like challenging's a good one. Challenging's a good one. Um Hard one, hard one. I don't know. Hardcore. Hardcore. It's just, it's it's all the way up there. It's all the way up there, and I like it. It's a level 10. It's a level 10 out of 10. It's close. It's pushing. It is pushing the envelope up to the top of my like little spinal tap. I've had logavulin. This is better. I've had LaFroig 10. I'm not going to say anything. No comment. That's how good it is. That's how good it is.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:33

I don't want to purge myself.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:35

I don't want, I don't want to perjure myself. This is very, very effing good. Like anybody listening, it's like, oh, they're just like uh they're really, you know, plug in this one. Well, it's because it's F and good. Like, this is really good.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:49

If you were listening to the other Scotch series, yeah, you don't know that we're not like plugging this one.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:55

Like you gotta be. I I will say, I will temper this with you've gotta be hardcore Scotch. Most people are not to this level. If you're listening to this and you're wondering, you're probably not to this level. You probably need to take a step back. But but for the select few of you, you might be to this level. This this is what Scotch can be. It can be. This this is elite. This is elite level, Scotch. Everything you've dreamed of. I can't believe this is coming from Artbeg. This is elite, this is up there. This is like this is like space age technology, fellas.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:34

Barbecue in space. Well, can we do that?

SPEAKER_02 1:07:39

Yeah, this is I mean, this is if I was artbeg, maybe they don't know, but if I was artbeg, I'd be like, scrap everything. This is it. We're doing this, we're doing this, and that it we'll we'll do a couple things on the side, like whatever, but this is it. Like, this is it. We've had art bag stuff. It wasn't this. Gosh, dang it. This is it. This is good. Drop the DJ BS. Like, it's stupid. We don't care about the music. Come on. Nobody cares about DJ Marshmallow. We're past it. It's 2025. People are getting back into like pop country, which is fit country, which we talked about.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:19

Like, it's stupid. Get away from the techno BS.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:23

Like actually, after this, I'm probably gonna look up DJ Barbecue.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:28

Yeah, I will say, I will see what he does.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:30

You know what's what's interesting is Europe is always like one or two years behind us. Well, I'm saying is what if they're still into like that stuff? Like dubstep? Like like okay thief from DJ Marshmallow. You know what I'm talking about? No. Oh, yeah, that's the thing. Look it up. Look at it.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:49

To me, that's not the kind of music I associate with barbecue.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:52

Yeah, me neither. But you're dude, when uh like dubstep. I have uh dude, I have family over in Germany, and I would I would like email them. We we would talk, and it was like college, right? 2028 or uh 2008, I mean um 2028 was in the future, 2008, and they were like just now like finishing Safe by the Bell. That's how far back they were. They were still watching like 90s stuff, like Save by the Bell, and uh like that kind of dude. They were like they're like 10 years behind, like 10 years behind least Germany was like 10 years behind. They were into so like imagine communists, communists holding everybody back. Imagine being like a fanatic, like watching Safe by the Bell. Your pop culture references are different, right? Like, so instead of being like, you know, saying like what's what's up nowadays, you're like way back, you know what I mean? Like, I don't even know what the slang is now, but you know what I mean? Ohio, like that's so ohio or something like something like that, or or or like uh gosh, like like back in the day, a couple years ago, it was uh YOLO, YOLO, right? That was back in the day, that was actually a couple years ago, but like being like YOLO, and they're like, What? And then in like 10 years, they're like YOLO, dude. You're like, that's old man. That's how they are over in Germany at least. Maybe in Scotland, they're like, Yeah, DJ barbecue. Fuck yeah. You know what I mean? Like, this is it.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:23

This is I don't know how much barbecue they have over there, but maybe maybe he's like the guy who's making barbecue barbecue.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:29

Maybe they're still into like DJ Khaled. Yeah, I mean, DJ Khaled. All I do is win, win, win no matter what. This is good. This is great. This is fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:40

I I don't know why they I don't know why this is like 8090, and then the other one is like what like 120?

SPEAKER_03 1:10:49

I'd have to see what the difference is with the what are they I like? What do they do? You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 1:10:55

Like the the uh label copy is like you wouldn't think this was good, but it will blow it.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:06

You wouldn't think this is great. I mean this money, but yeah, why am I buying it? Yeah, it's like you like it doesn't sound like it's gonna work, but it does on the off chance that it does.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:18

Yeah, yeah. That that's the candy cane one, yeah. It makes me really interested, but that one is definitely beyond my price point. But but this one is beyond my price point and by you know twenty twenty bucks or thirty bucks, but I I would do this is your uh Lafrey Glore.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:37

If it was available for 80 bucks, would you buy it? Yes, yeah. I want this to be available for under 100. That's that's it. Like if it was a hundred or less available, like I could go now and get it. Yes, I would buy two. Yeah, it would be on my shelf. It's so good. Uh just drop the DJ stuff. I I will feel I will say that's kind of weird. Like, like I'm I'm almost 36. It's kind of weird, but at any rate, like it's really good. It's really, really good. Well, we um changed our opinion on our art big. Yes. It's a good bottle. Thanks, Nick. Again.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:18

We'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:19

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