Bird Dog Blackberry!

SPEAKER_04 0:09

Welcome to the Whiskey Chasers, where we talk about our passion for whiskey and its history, either amongst ourselves or while interviewing distilleries. All while enjoying a glass. I'm Steve. I'm Nick, and I'm Chris. Please enjoy responsibly while enjoying this week's episode of The Whiskey Chasers.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

We are back. No Chris still. We have Ryan. But we have Ryan, so we're we're still satisfied. And we're still continuing our flavored whiskey series. Not finished, flavored. And we've had two interesting ones so far. Interesting on both sides of the spectrum. Good and bad. So we are continuing on with the interesting but foolproof. We are now heading into the realm of foolproof. And we are going with a bird dog, which is very popular. It's a pretty popular name. Yeah. They're blackberry flavored whiskey. I've been trying to figure out what the smell reminds me of, and it's on the tip of my tongue, and I just can't bubblegum. No, it reminds me of another another whiskey. Maybe like a fruit stripe. Were the fruit stripes? Were the ones with the zebra? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. The ones that lasted like five seconds, in fact.

SPEAKER_04 1:31

So usually when we do all this, I try to find some research about these companies. So just to see a little bit about what these are. There is none for these guys, which is weird because it's it's like the most popular flavored whiskey brand. But there isn't even a Wikipedia page for it. Like there's nothing on Bird Dog or on Western Spirits, which is their owner. That's the company that owns them. And so Western Spirits owns uh Cayumet Farms and Sam Houston. And those are the other two names that I recognized.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

I got really worried there from Muhammad. Uh I thought you said Western Reserve.

SPEAKER_04 2:09

Oh no, no.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

That's the one thing I thought of, and I was like, we had that whiskey.

SPEAKER_04 2:12

That whiskey well, good. That's not the Western Spirits.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Western Spirits.

SPEAKER_04 2:17

But Western Spirits doesn't have a Wikipedia page. They have a website that has a list of their spirits, but that's about it. So so I know basically nothing about them other than they started in 2010. And so this is a well, yeah. You said they own Kelly Met? Yeah, they own Kelly Mat.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

Kelly Met's pretty shady. Uh well I I think they're pretty shady. People really like Kelly Met. They have pretty bottles. They're pretty bottles. They're normally fairly expensive. Yeah. Same with Sam Houston. It's good, but they're they're pretty shady as far as giving you any detail on if they make it or who they get it from or sourced. It's just it's very like produced. Like it's it's not.

SPEAKER_04 3:00

This is obviously something owned by by uh a like an equity firm kind of thing. You know, they do that sort of deal.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

It seems more like a production, like a like an entertainment production kind of thing.

SPEAKER_04 3:12

But who knows what bird dog was before they bought it. I don't know if they technically started it or if they just bought it along the way and and all of its future, all of its past is gone. But yeah, they they do all of their products are for are Kentucky bourbon. Okay, but in terms of who makes it or anything like that, I don't know. I don't know if they make it or somebody else, but it's all Kentucky. But that's that's kind of it.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

And they do just a normal bourbon, too. So they do flavored and they do just a normal bourbon.

SPEAKER_04 3:40

Normal bourbon, yep.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

They they normally sit right around that 80-proof. The smell is cough medicine.

SPEAKER_02 3:47

Yeah, but in a better, but it's better cough medicine. Yes, the smell or the flavor?

SPEAKER_04 3:52

Flavor. Oh. I was talking. I'm sorry, yeah, we were talking about smell. I took a sip though, and it's it was very cough medicine-y.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

The the smell is like robotism. I don't know. It's it strikes me as being like the smell is kind of fresh to me. Yeah, like it is like brambleberry. It smells like a blackberry liqueur. I like the smell. I mean, it's it's weird that it's a whiskey, but yeah, but the smell is kind of a pleasant. You know what? It might be a little do you guys ever have any uh sisters or little girls in your life who played with strawberry shortcake? It it might be just a little bit like in that direction.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

But Steve, I think you hit the nail on the head there, buddy. Uh are you sure that are you sure that NyQuil doesn't own this company? Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:40

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Is that a good oh my goodness or bad? Come on. Come on. Oh, I mean, I poured a lot.

SPEAKER_02 4:53

We thought that we had the worst. Bird Doggy liked this better than Old Smoking.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

I do too. Um, Bird Dog is very popular with the flavored whiskey. It's very, very popular. And in fact, Blackberry is one of the more popular flavors. I don't understand why. The smell I can get, um, I don't know that I can get behind the flavor just yet. No. The more okay.

SPEAKER_04 5:16

The more you like it better as it goes? No. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

I poured myself a lot.

SPEAKER_04 5:21

You did pour yourself a lot.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

It's gonna be painful.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

We are gonna bleed. Yeah, you have to drink it all.

SPEAKER_04 5:28

For me, this gets worse as it goes.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

It's it's uh somehow we're at the same, almost same sweet thickness that old smokey was. Yeah, but we also have the proof. Like the proof is up there. It feels thinner, bodied, a little bit thinner bodied than old smokey. Oh, sugary thickness, maybe that's a better way of me putting it. Like sugary thickness, I'm getting that old smokey. Yeah, it doesn't taste very natural.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

The more I drink, the the more the cough medicine aspects come out. Um, I it kind of it's almost like um like at a coffee shop where they do squirts squirts of the flavor. Oh, yeah, yeah. It's almost like they do.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Like the Italian syrup kind of thing?

SPEAKER_02 6:12

A couple of squirts of Italian blackberry syrup in there.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

So I got a question. Who do you think copied who? Do you think that Nyquil copied this flavor or they copied NyQu?

SPEAKER_04 6:24

There's a they have the same supplier of flavorings.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Man, this this tastes like the mixed berry from from NyQuil.

SPEAKER_04 6:33

Yeah, it almost tastes like and almost like a hard candy, like it kind of like lasts like that too for me. Like a rock candy? No, like a like a cough drop. Oh, okay. Like a like a blackberry cough drop. But that's again, that smell is just there's something refreshing. It is kind of a you know what I do want to put this in a Dr. Pepper. I'll tell you that much. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

I I would like to do that. But is it worth the the higher foolproof and price tag? Uh not like it's an extreme price tag, but to mix it. I mean, you're talking 30 bucks, 30-40 bucks? 30 to 40 bucks? 30 to 40 bucks for that guy. I think it's about 35.

SPEAKER_02 7:13

Now that's the bottle, it's worth doing it.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Yeah. No, no, now that I have it, actually.

SPEAKER_04 7:18

Yeah, I don't know. Now that I got it. For 35 bucks, I think that's okay for for have for a mixed drink bottle. And I and I it would go good in a Dr. Pepper, but it would go good in a Coke too. You know? And so like I think there's there's pop variety.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Right there.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

I mean, you got your you got your variety there. And I would say there are some things in the world that you would be happy if it tasted like this.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

I was wrong.

SPEAKER_02 7:46

Oh, good. I was wrong. Like like NyQuil, you know, or some if if it really was cough medicine, you'd be like, that's pretty good for cough medicine. Like, I'm glad it tastes that like that way.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

I feel kind of like an idiot because I I I read this and I see foolproof, right? And it's flavored, and it's bird dog. I'm thinking Calumet prices, right? Now that you you paired it with CaliMet, I'm thinking they're gonna they're gonna happen to own each other.

SPEAKER_04 8:10

Well, I figured they're gonna jack up the price too, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:12

I mean, it's it's a it's a it's a production they're putting on.

SPEAKER_04 8:14

Yeah. 20 bucks. 20 bucks? This is 20 bucks. Then, yeah, for sure then. I mean, that makes sense for 20, but and the other side of this is shamboard. Yeah, that's what it is. That's what the smell is. Yeah, it's shamboard, yeah. Shamboard, which is uh it's a have you not had shamboard? It's a liqueur. Oh it's a liqueur, it's delicious. It's in this really pretty round bottle for like 40 bucks.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

I think it's a blackberry liqueur, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 8:40

It is blackberry, so it goes right with this. So, you know, make two two bads equal a good in this. Take some of that peanut butter whiskey and this and make yourself a PBJ shot. And there that's amazing, that's a great drink.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_04 8:55

And so that that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

Could you sit and just drink that, or would you have to take a shot of that and be done? That's a shooter. It's a shot and done, yeah. That's a shooter, it's a one and done kind of gig. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 9:04

Um, this is the nothing about this is sit and enjoy. This is well, for what I poured, this is a definitely sit and enjoy. This is a whole whole fire for you for some reason. I didn't realize. Folks, when you uh what is the drink that shamboard is is mainly in? There's there's a there's a there's a cocktail that's really popular.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

I know shamboard is in uh is it a fancy margarita?

SPEAKER_04 9:30

Is that what they put?

SPEAKER_01 9:30

It might be a fancy margarita. I know shamboard from uh the ungrateful dead.

unknown 9:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

The it's a long island iced tea, but it's made with grapefruit.

unknown 9:39

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

It's uh it's ungrateful. Ungrateful dead.

unknown 9:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Yep, but it's it's so grapefruit, and then it's got the shamboard in it. And it's it's actually really, really good, but it it's pricey, you know. I think it's up there with the shamboard, you know. Right. But that's where I know it from. I was thinking Quantro. That's what I was thinking of when I was doing that. Yeah. The wife really likes the shamboard, she likes some shamboard on ice, uh, which maybe I'll give this to her on ice. Yeah. Or if she has a cold, I'll just give her this instead of night quad.

unknown 10:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:10

So of the three of them so far, I think this one is the one that lends itself to cocktails the most. I mean, we've said three or four things right now that that this would go good.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

Right. So this brings up an interesting qu topic for you're struggling there. I'm just go ahead. Are you struggling with with the pipe or no no with the I'm I'm just shaking my head. If you just imagine what I poured, so Nick poured two fat fingers in this stuff. Maybe even three, two and a half, three by accident.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

And by the way, the color is rose. Yeah, this is rose pink.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

My password rose. Nice little rose wine.

SPEAKER_04 10:50

You know that they just added the syrup to a whiskey. Because it really is just kind of purpley.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

So we had old smoky that we were both like, we're all holy cow, this is under quality, like underwhelming, bad, right? Then you had the Indiana whiskey, the the uh breakfast of degenerates, right? Not for, but of.

SPEAKER_03 11:09

Of, yep.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

And you got better quality whiskey and better quality kind of mix with it. Syrup flavor. That one was good. It was it was actually decent. This one you've got foolproof whiskey, what appears to be shamboard, mixed together for twenty dollars. Is the price tag screaming, I'm not good?

SPEAKER_04 11:30

I mean, I think it's priced appropriately. Yeah, I think this is a cheap shamboard. Uh like that's that's I think that's kind of the goal here. I don't know if that was the goal, but that's the execution.

SPEAKER_02 11:45

Right. I wonder if this would get better on the rocks.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

Oh, it might. I can see that. What what do you think would be better about it on the rocks? Do you think it would kind of round out the whiskey portion of it and flavor? I think it would cut back the the blackberry a little bit. I feel like it'd open up.

SPEAKER_02 12:02

Yeah, I I would hope that it would cut down on the cough medicine-ish. This is weird.

unknown 12:09

It's really weird.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

The whole I mean, okay, so like looking at the label, it's got like a pointing bird dog on it, a hunting dog. I what who's that marketed to? Like, it seems when I see that label, I think hunters, people who like the outdoors, um, and then I I think of people who maybe are a little bit more rugged, and then I taste it and I'm like this is kid, this is for kids. You know, like I think oh sure, I'll take one next. Um like Old Smoky, I think their whole vibe is aimed at the the right target audience. But when I look at this and I think like somebody's gonna spend the day in the woods, I I would give them more credit for being a a more substantial whiskey. So it seems like the marketing is aimed at like the wrong in the wrong direction.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Uh so this is aimed more at hunters. I think at one point they did a gift they did a gift set that uh it was shotgun shells, as like the shooters. They look like shotgun shells, and it came as like a gift set. So it really is marketing towards hunters, yeah. Uh, you know, I had a thought that uh the kids that start with old smokey learn to hunt and drink bird dog as they get older. Oh gosh. But I mean, think about paths that meant to be taken, like we talked about there. If you're going out hunting, right, you're uh even camping. You're going out hunting, you're going out camping, you're probably not looking to spend a ton of money on food and drink, but you want to drink. At least where I grew up. Like bushlight is what we you would take to go camping. I feel like this is the this is the bush latte, as people like to say. They make it seem a little bit more fancier, but it's still bush light.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

It's like this is like uh this is more like wine coolers. Okay, yeah. Or maybe must it's the manly wine cooler. Maybe step a step down from wine coolers. I'd I'd rather have a fuzzy navel.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

Like uh what what what was that brand? Um Bartles and James Fuzzy Nabel or something like that. Oh that than have one of these. This what is happening?

SPEAKER_04 14:34

Yeah, why?

SPEAKER_02 14:35

Yeah, this is super bit disappointing.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

No, it's interesting. I had actually really high expectations for this bottle.

SPEAKER_02 14:41

I did too. I expect the label more the label creates a false impression. Yes, it does.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

Now, do you think any of the other flavors are gonna change, or do you think they're all gonna be this way?

SPEAKER_04 14:50

No, I think they're all gonna be super sweet, artificial flavor over top. I wouldn't say anything until you tried it.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

It's funny. You you were talking, I looked at Steve, I said, Is the ice goody? No, nope, no, it's not.

SPEAKER_04 15:06

Yeah, the ice did not help this particular drink.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

Uh open up the Black Marity Benway.

SPEAKER_02 15:12

Actually, it seems completely ineffectual. No change whatsoever. It just got colder, which is fine.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

It's fine, it just got chilled, you know.

SPEAKER_04 15:22

Which might be better.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

You know, I'm I'm gonna be honest here, even with the high expectations, Steve trying to find history and not being able to, after trying it, I can't say that I'm upset that this place doesn't have much history that they put out.

SPEAKER_04 15:36

Thank god they don't. I know, right? I'd be I'd be really sad to be like, oh yeah, this is a cool company. I thought a nice, interesting start. The founder was a cool guy, and then he put out this. That would that'd be really upsetting. Because then he might be all right, God, this isn't for us, you know, it might be okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:53

But he was a hunter, he wanted to take his like preteen granddaughters out with him. So he mixed this up and said, Here, honey, while I'm drinking the real whiskey, you can have some of this and hang out with grandpa for a little bit in the woods.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

You know what this reminds me of? I brought up on the uh one of the other episodes of my my college days of mixing, just uh the Mountain Dew voltage in vodka. I'd rather take that over this right now.

unknown 16:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:22

Well, but voltage, isn't that a blackberry or a berry? It's it's like a deal?

SPEAKER_01 16:26

Yeah, it's like a blackberry kind of deal. Um this is that. This is that, uh, but that tastes better than this. Uh that all to say, I feel like I could make this in my dorm.

SPEAKER_03 16:38

I think I did. I left some blackberries in the back of the freezer and forgot about it there for a while.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

Uh, it it's very disappointing.

SPEAKER_04 16:47

Yeah, it's it's just very artificial. It's very the the flavoring is very fake.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

Why do people go after this?

SPEAKER_04 16:54

The whiskey is is basically not there. The like the flavoring way overpowers anything the whiskey might have. I don't really taste whiskey at all. I just taste the the flavoring.

SPEAKER_01 17:06

Was this like an experiment gone bad and like like me where they poured too much? Like, buddy, we gotta stick with it.

SPEAKER_04 17:11

A whole bunch of people buy it, so it like we are missing something. What are we missing? But I don't know why. Is it because it's cheap that people go for it?

SPEAKER_02 17:20

Yeah, but there's lots of things that are cheap, and so it can't just be that. There are a bunch of people out there who want to get a little buzz going who don't really actually appreciate the whiskey.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

Yeah, they want they're just they're just go drink a case of bush light at that point.

SPEAKER_04 17:36

Like they're not putting I'm I'm sure they're not drinking this straight. Like I am sure that this is being put into pop of various kinds.

SPEAKER_02 17:43

That actually would I I think that actually could be really good. Yeah, like you said, yeah, put it in a in a Mountain Dew, or not a Mountain Dew. A Dr. Pepper. I mean Mountain Dew might not be bad. That's just a voltage then. Or a Coke or a Sprite. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, if you want like any kind of any kind of simp, very simple mixed drink like that. And for 20 bucks, I get it. Like yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

What are you you're buying a smear off at that point, right?

SPEAKER_04 18:10

You know, and it's a and it's 80 proof. Right. So you know, you only need two of these versus a six-pack or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

This might last me a full month or two.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

Not if you keep pouring that way.

SPEAKER_01 18:25

At that rate, this might last me a full month or two. So do you think this is just pure marketing that people go after and then start to look at it?

SPEAKER_04 18:33

I think it's I think it's marketing and it's just the booze and pop combo that that a lot of people go for. And honestly, like I said, I I think this would be super good in a Dr. Pepper. Like, I might buy a bottle of this to try that. Well, I'm not gonna, because you have it. I'm gonna bring over a Dr. Pepper at some point.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

Like the like a Dr. Pepper with strawberry cream, like one of those type of deals. Exactly. But yeah, but those and those do taste artificial. Yeah, it's a candy, right?

SPEAKER_01 19:04

You're expecting it, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:06

Yeah, and so I think that will be good, but this is not how you're supposed to enjoy this bottle.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Jim Beam used to have a blackberry 80 proof or black cherry 80 proof. The red the the red stack. Yeah, I don't fully remember what that tastes like. We're talking 10 plus years ago now, but if it tastes anything like this, I understand why they just decided not to do full proof anymore. If it was the proof point that caused this kind of flavor, I get why they took it down.

SPEAKER_04 19:33

I mean, for this, this has nothing to do with the proof. The flavor is that artificial flavor. It's just the it's just they use way too much of it. If they were to cut their flavoring in half, is this worse than the watermelon for you? For me, I think it is. Yeah. And and maybe it's just the fact that my expectations are so much different. I expected more out of this bottle, and since I didn't get it, it feels worse than it is. Like, I don't know if that's what it is.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

I didn't get the G.I. Joe for Christmas. Now I'm a little upset. No, I'm just angry.

SPEAKER_04 20:04

Yeah, so I I think the old smoky is worse, but it's only because I can imagine something I can do with this that's gonna make it better. With the bird dog. Wait, oh yeah, with the bird dog, I can throw that in the pop, and I think it's gonna be really good. What do you throw a watermelon in it? And I I mean, I guess you can throw that into some sprite, it might be good, but it's not gonna be anything to write home about. It's gonna be a whatever mixer. This I I could see this being very good. And they do so many flavors, they do a lot of flavors, like an ungodly amount. They do a peanut butter. So, like I said, throw these two together and make a peanut butter PBJ shot, and that'll be pretty good too.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

I mean, they also have a gingerbread one, they got a peach one, s'mores, they have salted caramel, apple, black cherry, s'mores, strawberry. Like they they they go all out with their flavors, but I just I don't who who who why?

SPEAKER_02 21:02

Yes, yes, and why the label? Like they should just have like a picture of like a piece of hard candy on there, but it does remind me of candy. I think there needs to be something else to like a lollipop on there or something like that. Something to show how artificial it is, not a dog, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

Not a dog. What if it was a cartoon dog?

SPEAKER_02 21:26

That would be better. It would be better. It would be better. We would not take this seriously, whatever you do.

SPEAKER_04 21:32

Yeah, this is a joke. No, this is this is a painting of a beautiful bird dog. Do you guys know where this sits on the shelf in Looker Store?

SPEAKER_01 21:40

I'm just curious if you've ever looked through uh lower but mid.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

Second to bottom?

SPEAKER_01 21:45

Yeah, yeah, like second to bottom. Yeah. Do you expect a bottle looking like this to show up on the second to bottom row? Just look. Not price tag, just look. Yeah, it looks pretty. It does. It looks like it should be sitting up like mid, mid to high.

SPEAKER_02 21:59

But this is not serious. This is not serious in any way. Folks, I need to express this. This is not serious.

SPEAKER_04 22:06

It's a completely wrong vibe. We need we need like peanuts drawing cartoon on the front of it. Snoopy? We need a bird dog version of Snoopy. Is what we need on the cover of this bottle. What's the bird from Snoopy?

SPEAKER_01 22:20

Woodstock. We need Snoopy chasing after Woodstock. No, we need on this is like two can Sam. A warning label and not what you expect. Worth the price tag.

SPEAKER_04 22:34

They ought to team up with Fruit Loops. You know, I could absolutely see them doing a Fruit Loop flavor.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

Now we're getting into dude three olives. We're getting into like three olives at this point for vodka. That's what bird dog is. Right. We're just gonna find random flavors.

SPEAKER_04 22:47

Throw stuff into a whiskey.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

What do you what do you mean three olives? Have you ever stopped and look at three olives vodka? They've gone crazy with their flavors. Yeah, they got weird. They used to do uh Mountain Dew flavored one. It was called Dude. Back in the day, they had one. I think dude stayed around. They did have one that was Fruit Loop too.

SPEAKER_04 23:03

They had a Fruit Loop flavored three olives, which was super good with ramchado.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

Oh, it was really good with Sprite, too. Okay. Oh, yeah. That was super delicious of Sprite.

SPEAKER_04 23:13

But yeah, and then they have uh orangutan, tangerine, I think is what it was.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

They three olives goes crazy with their flavors. They got weird flavors. This that's that's what this is. This is the three olives of whiskey, is what we're looking at here, folks.

SPEAKER_02 23:27

So would you say that there's uh uh a difference between vodka and whiskey when it comes to the flavors that they offer, like for you guys? Because I think I've said I've I've made some remarks about flavored vodkas. I really don't have the same kind of feeling about flavored vodkas as I do about flavored whiskeys. I would agree.

SPEAKER_04 23:50

I I think for me the difference is a good vodka doesn't taste like anything. Like the if you want a good vodka, it shouldn't taste like anything. Whiskey has a flavor, so I don't want to cover the flavor of whiskey. I want to enhance or adjust, complement, but I don't want to just like obliterate it. Whereas with vodka, a flavored vodka is fine because it's a blank slate, there's nothing, nothing else there.

SPEAKER_01 24:17

Maybe that's why the bird dog and the the old smoky so far have been the most offensive to me. Is because bourbon at its core already has a flavor. And if you want to adjust that flavor, if you want to tweak it, if you want to change it, if you want to experiment with it, you experiment with the mash bill. You experiment with what type of corn you're using, you experiment with how much corn. You experiment with what's the second ingredient? Is it gonna be rye? Is it gonna be wheat? Are we gonna do a soft red winter wheat? Are we gonna do you know something else? Like you experiment with those things. And if you want to go really crazy, you finish. Right. Like that that's kind of the thing. And we've had so much whiskey even on the podcast that it has been full-fledged bourbon, full-fledged whiskey. And none of them have we said, this tastes just like the last one we had. They have their own flavor to it, and this is almost uh bastardizing whiskey. And and it it almost feels that way to me of like we didn't have good whiskey to begin with, so we threw it in with some flavoring, hoping to cover up the fact that our whiskey was shit to begin with, but we have it, let's do something with it. That's what it really feels like. Whereas like the Indiana whiskey was like, I can tell we had we had decently good whiskey involved, and we had something that paired with it that wasn't like artificially flavored, it wasn't leaving like a a film on your tongue or lip of like sugar. This is it was very like natural, it fit with the bourbon, it fit with the whiskey. The old smoky and the the bird dog, it's it's like it doesn't fit. It's like they're fighting with each other, and the flavoring is almost like we we need to win, folks, because if we don't, you're gonna die. Like this is gonna be really bad. You think this is bad, it's gonna be worse.

SPEAKER_04 26:02

And I thought Blackberry was gonna be a fairly decent compliment. Also, I thought I thought that flavor would be okay in a whiskey, and I was wrong.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

And I don't know if it's like again, I don't know if it's the quality of whiskey that they're using, but it I I struggle. The conflict I have with flavored whiskey is taking something that already can change in flavor and going the easy route. What feels like the easy route of we didn't care enough to try to experiment with the ingredients, we decided to experiment with what we could flavor to get it sold. And that's what we do. At that point, I'd rather have flavored vodka because at least from my my expectation of vodka is like you, Steve, it's flavorless. Let's throw it add in the flavor, it makes it taste better. I I could drink this. And you know it's a mixer, right? It's meant to be mixed, yeah. Right. I have a hard time mixing whiskey for cocktails sometimes because it's like this is good on its own. Like this is really good.

SPEAKER_02 26:59

You know, any flavored vodka, I I figured this out. If you get some, like if you're making a white Russian, you got some like you know, uh heavy cream milk or whatever, and you put any like fruit flavored vodka in there, it's like a creamsickle of whatever fruit it is. It's amazing. If you I mean, if you like those dessert type drinks, I don't think this would work even for that, you know.

SPEAKER_04 27:27

Like my dad, one of my dad's favorite drinks, and my dad does not drink Harley at all. He doesn't really like the flavor of alcohol or whatever, but he takes vanilla vodka and puts it in sunkist, and so it makes like a like a dreamsicle sort of deal. It's a heavenly drink, it's really, really good. That or like he'll have like some creamy cacao and a in a milkshake or something, you know, something like that. There where that's his alcohol that he'll have, you know, he'll he'll maybe do a white rushing or something if he's at a wedding.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

Yeah, you know, but if he's feeling fancy, right, exactly. I got my tie on here, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:05

Attending the uh a a great or uh a big Lebowski uh convention.

SPEAKER_04 28:12

But like I bet my dad would drink this mixed with a with a pop or something, but not by itself, uh maybe even by itself. Really? Okay, I don't know. I don't know if he'd like this particular flavor if they if if it was a cherry, maybe uh go full cough medicine, then maybe he'll go for it by itself. And so, because he likes the artificial sweet candy kind of like if that's what you're looking for, then this is not bad for that. Do you think that's the probably mix it?

SPEAKER_01 28:41

But uh yeah, maybe. I mean, because you're talking 80, a foolproof whiskey that's flavored like this. I I I taste it and go, oof, like we're we're we're we're rough. Yeah, we're roughing it. This is this is not a whiskey drinker's how do I put this in this is not a true whiskey drinker's drink.

SPEAKER_04 29:01

You're not gonna go from even like Jack Daniels to or like even even your like low-level bottom shelf whiskeys, you know, even if you're that kind of a whiskey drinker and that's your go-to, you're still not gonna like this.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

Do you guys remember the very first night of the club we had early times whiskey and early times bottle in the bond? Do you guys remember the flavor early times whiskey? It's very, I mean, it's was watery. I mean very like light and watery. I'd take that over over this. I'd take that over this. Like it wasn't this is almost harsh and not harsh in a good way. Maybe it's because I'm not sick and I don't need Nyquil, but I I feel like this is this is that yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:46

I would I would rather ha just have like a piece of blackberry hard candy, like a blackberry jolly rancher, and sip on a glass of like Buffalo Trace while eating while eating the candy. I'd rather do that than drink this. Probably a better flavor, yeah. Yeah, because the blackberry isn't bad. It's like the the blackberry aspect of it isn't bad, which I think is why it would go good in a pop.

SPEAKER_04 30:14

But it just yeah, it's artificial and it's over top of something that's supposed to be natural.

SPEAKER_01 30:20

Do you think it's that or quality of what should be natural?

SPEAKER_04 30:24

I don't know. I don't know if a better quality whiskey would be. Do you think they're using the same thing as Cali Metz?

SPEAKER_01 30:31

Huh?

SPEAKER_04 30:31

You think they're using the same juice as Cali Metz? They're two separate things that this this company just firm happens to own. But I I think that like I said, the the artificial the flavoring that they're using, they're using way too much of it that even if it was a good whiskey, I don't think you'd be able to really taste it. You might get like the like the finish might be a whiskey finish. You might get some of that whiskey flavor then. But I think that would really be the only thing that would matter. Do you think we're changing this?

SPEAKER_01 31:04

For those that are looking for a quality whiskey and actually drinking like a whiskey, do you think that's the divide between finishes and flavorings? If I'm looking for a good whiskey to drink, and I, you know, for the club, like we enjoy a good whiskey, a good sipper, good quality. Are the finished products more geared towards that that group and the flavorings are somewhat different? Yeah, it seems that way.

SPEAKER_04 31:28

Yeah, because finishings, like you said, they they add to the whiskey. Uh whereas the flavorings do you think it takes away? Uh do I think finishing? Oh, flavorings take away from the whiskey?

SPEAKER_02 31:41

Yes. Yeah, it it seems to be the pattern that shows up. The the finishing just it it seems to be integrated with the whiskey, just by its very nature. The flavoring, man, you just have to you need a softer touch than this. But I don't know what could be done about the whiskey either, because probably the 80 proof is what's making it feel a little more cough medicine-y, right? But if you take it down to like 70 proof, would that make it better? No, it would just it it would just make the blackberry stronger, it would just create a bigger monster.

unknown 32:18

Right.

SPEAKER_01 32:19

So in the in the lieu of when this is gonna come out, uh it's gonna be around July. Summertime, beach, lake, boat time kind of activities, right? What would you find yourself gravitating towards for yourself and for others? Would you find yourself gravitating and finding a place for flavored whiskey or finished whiskies? Because you're talking like a hot summer, you're talking around water, kind of that uh sweeter stuff is what you want, more like uh fruitier maybe feel. Uh you find yourself gravitating towards a flavored for you and others, or you you you think you go towards finished?

SPEAKER_04 33:02

For me, whiskey is not gonna be my first choice. And so I'm gonna go with probably more of the seltzers or the the wine coolers and that kind of thing. But if I am gonna go for a whiskey, then something like this that I can put in a pop and drink on ice and cold, I'll probably do that over a finished whiskey. I think for me, what it really comes down to is the cold. I don't want to take a good quality whiskey that's finished and add ice and add a whole bunch of ice to it.

SPEAKER_01 33:35

And just chill it down, yeah. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 33:37

Uh so I don't uh but I want a cold drink.

SPEAKER_02 33:41

And you want something that you can drink a lot of. Yeah. Um that's the other benefits like beer or money coolers. Yeah, you can you can have like a few glasses of it that'll last you for a while uh while you're hanging out, instead of like one finger of uh or in my case, um two fat fingers of uh something that's higher quality and it's gonna be gone faster and you've still got hours to kill and nothing left to drink, or you keep drinking that higher you know the regular stuff and you're like wasted. But no, I think it'd be more refreshing to go with like a a a simple a simple mixer with with pop.

SPEAKER_01 34:25

So no whiskey at all.

SPEAKER_04 34:26

You guys aren't even it kind of or something like this in a pop in the evening, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:31

Maybe like when the sun goes down, you're sitting around, whatever, but not like not when the fire I wouldn't take it to the beach, yeah. I wouldn't take it out like onto the beach. I guess Chris and I are a whole new animal. Yeah, you guys are different.

SPEAKER_04 34:45

Well, you guys got that fancy flash thing, yeah. So that's fair.

SPEAKER_01 34:47

We're I guess we're a whole different animal.

SPEAKER_04 34:49

Yeah, but uh I mean, I think once the fire is lit, that's when the whiskey comes out. When it's time to sit and talk and chill, like somebody might have a guitar, you know, that kind of thing. That's where the whiskey belongs. When Bob Dylan comes out? Yeah. On a beach, or really for me, even on a boat, like I got other things to do. I got, I got, I I have activities, and with activities, I don't want whiskey.

SPEAKER_02 35:20

I think I might there might be one exception, although I I agree with that. If I was like out, like out on the beach in the sand, stuff going on, I'd I'd want some like tall glasses of icy stuff to drink. But like I'm pretty sure the last time I went on vacation and we had like a pool, I'm pretty sure I just kind of at one point lay laid on like a pool floaty with a glass of whiskey and just kind of sipped. Now, does that change things?

SPEAKER_01 35:51

The the the the uh form of the water, so pools versus lakes, pools versus beaches, does that change kind of the mentality? Yeah, it does for me. But what I'm hearing is you're really not pulling this down to enjoy on its own by itself, certainly not by itself, right?

SPEAKER_02 36:09

See, for me in the pool, like what I was doing, I was just like laying on a floaty, you know, just kind of with my eyes closed or whatever. I could that that's the equivalent of me like sitting down to read a book or sitting around a campfire or whatever, or sitting on like a deck and looking out at the ocean. Or it's quiet and no one's bothering you, right? That's nice. But if it's like stuff's happening, you know, and and you know, people are like kicking up sand and you're like, I don't know, like throwing a frisbee or you know, splashing around or or something like that, I I would want something that would be more diluted and last longer.

SPEAKER_01 36:47

Man, we have very different experiences on beaches, on boats. What do you take myself? Little book out to the beach? Yep.

SPEAKER_02 36:57

I mean, we're probably taking a little book out there. You're like surfing boogie boarding with some little book on your in a glass.

SPEAKER_01 37:04

I I I'm gonna take like Evan Williams. I'm gonna take like a good bourbon. What do you do on the beach? I sit there, and when I have to pee, I walk into the ocean with my glass or with my my my cup. And I I go, I drink, and we just stand out there for a while and I drink, and then I come back and I sit and I drink, and then I have to go again, I just walk out there. That is my I think being in the blazing sun makes a difference. I mean, I gotta have like a an umbrella. An umbrella or something. I I don't take that. The sister-in-law brings that along. So Laura takes that for the kids. I'm one of the kids, apparently.

SPEAKER_04 37:39

When you're sitting on the beach drinking, what are you generally in this in this circumstance? Whenever you find yourself on a beach, it sounds like you're generally with family and such. So you're not generally just out there by yourself just sitting there drinking.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

Last year, when we so Mary and I went with Chris and Laura to the beach, like to Florida, and I became the uh designated spot holder. Uh well, you know, the little ones have to go back up, they have to change, they have to eat. I I got my meal in a glass. So I can sit there and I can I can drink.

SPEAKER_02 38:14

Wait, meal and a glass or meal in a glass glass.

SPEAKER_01 38:16

It's in the glass, in the glass, you know, both of them. Yeah. Uh so just sitting there, I literally would just sit there by myself and just listen to as narcissistic as the sound my myself on the podcast. I would just listen to the podcast and I would just drink. It's fun, you know. I just that's that's what I would do. Same with a boat. I'm fine when just sitting on the boat with the waves and like just drinking or hopping in the water.

SPEAKER_04 38:40

You're just are you like people watching? Are you reading a book? Oh, people watching. People watching, okay.

SPEAKER_01 38:45

Yeah, people watching all day long. Okay, all day, every day. I will I'm girls. People are interesting, let me tell you. Yes, they are. Pretty girls and dumb guys.

SPEAKER_04 38:54

That's what we're looking for. That's what I'm looking at.

SPEAKER_01 38:57

Yes. So I I hardly ever do any kind of mixed drinks anymore because I just take whiskey. Honestly, like the lighter proof stuff is like water at that point. So it's like, we're refreshing. Like, this is this is my bushlight. You know, I got 80-proof whiskey right now. I'm I'm hydrating while I drink at this point.

SPEAKER_02 39:20

I guess I just don't I don't want to be like right in the sun. I want to be like, I want it to be a little cool. If I if the temperature's cooler, whiskey, neat. If the temperature's hotter, a nice drink, which which would uh preferably be spiked with something. That's fair. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. Yeah. Or a gin, gin on the rocks. Oh, yes. I can do see that's or or gimlets of any of any sort whatsoever. Um, I'm all about that in the in the uh heat.

SPEAKER_01 39:49

See, that was my thing. It was gin and whiskey was kind of flip-flop every day. It was like, here's gin, here's whiskey. Here's gin, here's whiskey. So I uh gin and ice is is the way to go.

SPEAKER_02 39:59

Or white wine, like uh, like a Sauvignon Blanc or something like that, a chilled white. That's kind of nice when it's hot. If you like wine, it's great.

SPEAKER_01 40:07

If you like wine, if you like wine, that's wonderful. If you don't like rose, then then don't go for this. Or if you do like rose, don't do this.

SPEAKER_03 40:17

All right.

SPEAKER_01 40:18

I would say this is uh Yeah, is that a wrap?

SPEAKER_03 40:21

So this is uh we need to see you drink the rest of it before we sign off.

SPEAKER_00 40:25

So this has been rough.

SPEAKER_04 40:27

Down the hatch. There you go. Okay, that was it. Now we can now we can clink. Now we can clink. Till next time. 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 tasterspop.com with any ideas for the show. Thanks again.