Found North Hell Diver

Welcome And Responsible Sipping

SPEAKER_05 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.

Picking The Pour And The Pipe

SPEAKER_02 0:29

Should we stick with one of these or should we do something? A departure from one of these? What should we do?

SPEAKER_01 0:34

What are we drinking against? Helldive. Olaroso?

SPEAKER_05 0:37

PX Olaroso in New Wood. It is 88 corn, 11 rye, 1 barley.

SPEAKER_02 0:44

So it's spicy. 124.

SPEAKER_05 0:46

124 pretty much.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Sweet, spicy. Sweet, sweet, dark. Oloroso is kind of spicy, isn't it? Olaroso sherry? Shhh, sherry. What am I thinking? Not what what was the one we had at uh I'm thinking of something else. What's the one that if you use too much of it, it's disgusting.

SPEAKER_04 1:02

Oh no. No, no. It's the cinnamon one. Yes. That's the arminae. No, no. It's not roso, but it's Amberana. Ambrana. Amberana.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

That stuff can kiss my sweet ass. That stuff, I it's fine in very small miniature micro doses. It's like LSD. You don't want a lot of it, very small amounts. It's okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:25

Because we've all had our fair share of those experiences. I guess. Boy, we micro.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

If that's the case, hmm.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

Sherry, sherry lady.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Going through emotions.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

Um, trying to think. I what you know what? Should we do an English blend?

SPEAKER_05 1:45

I'm always game for an English blend.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

Should we do a special English blend?

SPEAKER_05 1:50

I'm always game for an English blend. Should we do something that nobody's tried and it's also been sitting for a hot minute? And I bet you I've tried it.

SPEAKER_06 1:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 1:58

No, never mind. That sounds awful.

SPEAKER_06 2:00

I definitely, I definitely have tried this. Whatever it is. Should we do a germaine blend? A germane blend?

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Yeah. Germaine? Esoterica. Esoterica. Yeah. King Charles smoking mixture. Ooh. It's a flake. Sure. It's an English flake. That sounds dandy. Ease of flake. Made in the British Isles. On the British Isles. The British Isles.

SPEAKER_05 2:22

This is a Canadian drink, so that's sort of British.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:24

British Columbia, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

A mixture of Latikia, Oriental, and Virginian tobaccos. Doesn't sound like much, but this is Germaine's. King Charles made over there. Good. On their special process yonder. It's a flake. Just east of New York. Just east. I don't know how old this is, but I've had it for a while. So I don't know how to read it.

SPEAKER_06 2:49

So we know it's more than a year old.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Oh no, I this is definitely at least three or four years old that I know of. It might be I might be older than that. I don't know. Perfect. I've definitely had it for a few a number of years.

SPEAKER_03 2:59

We're gonna smoke it. I I hope so.

SPEAKER_06 3:02

We've we've been talking about it for a while now. I hope we're gonna actually smoke it.

SPEAKER_02 3:06

Well, I mean, we just came up with it on the fly. It might be good, might not be good. We're gonna do it. Herm's on the podcast, everybody. He's gonna say, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 3:14

I'd like to know when we've ever come up with a tobacco that wasn't on the fly. Because we always that's a good point. Good question. Welcome, Herm. It's a Glenn Karen. So I don't know how much I put back.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

Kind of tough to judge on the Glenn Karen there.

SPEAKER_05 3:27

Oh, a Glenn Karen. Yeah. Just fill it to the top. Snooty.

SPEAKER_02 3:30

I want to say I'm snooty, but it's because I didn't do the dishes. It's because he's lazy. It's not snooty.

SPEAKER_04 3:34

I was like, oh no, I only have three glasses. Glenn Karen, you're supposed to fill that to the top, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:38

That's that's what I thought. Right to the bubble. Right into the bubble.

SPEAKER_03 3:43

Now I have that song Sherry Sherry Lady stuck in my head. This might work. If not, Herm, I'll take that from you. Oh yeah, I need it. I just bent. I knew that was gonna bent.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

I bent that

Found North And The Email Lottery

SPEAKER_01 3:55

like it was nobody's business.

SPEAKER_06 3:57

So this is gonna be uh interesting. We've got two of these found north bottles that we'll be having here. Nice. Uh and last time we recorded, well, without harm, sadly, but the last time we recorded, we did one that was the um American single mole that was that uh subscribers could only get. Like if you if you're like a mail-in subscriber to the uh well, not West. Uh to what was the company? Uh Westward. Westward was a Westward.

SPEAKER_05 4:26

Okay, so it's not a Canadian company.

SPEAKER_06 4:28

No, they're not a Canadian company. But on that episode, we mentioned there are other companies out there that do something similar. Okay. Where for Found North, you have to sign up to their mailing list to be a member. But each month or each time they're going to release something, they send out an email saying, hey, the lottery's open. Here's the bottle. You do have to sign up for it and give your card. But if you are picked, then you're you automatically get it.

SPEAKER_04 4:53

Uh meaning you're automatically ship it up. Yeah, yeah. They charge you and ship it to your house. But it is kind of cool because if you if you enter the lottery for a found north bottle, I I think I like the way they do it. Is if you don't win, the next time they have a bottle, you get an increased likelihood of winning.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_04 5:10

But it sounds like if you're not selected this time, the next time. Um, and so I think more likely than not, beyond a reasonable. For this bottle, this hell diverse. Beyond a reasonable doubt, I had put my name in the hat for their peregrine or something or their one of their other um limited releases and didn't get selected. And then I put it in again this time and was able to get it. So uh it was something I was excited to try. I'm not a huge Canadian like whiskey guy, so I was interested because this they it sounds like they do Canadian really, really well. Um I guess not even really Canadian whiskies, but more just whiskey in general. They do it really well, and it's it's got a lot of age on them on these bottles. So this one's I think a 16-year-old.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

They don't just do Canadian.

SPEAKER_04 5:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 5:52

Yes, it is just Canadian.

SPEAKER_04 5:53

Just Canadian. They do just do Canadian. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Yeah, that's okay.

SPEAKER_04 5:57

But they it's so they they take um, I believe they source most, if not all, um, and then they age they age it and blend it themselves. So um, they are doing something, it's not just a white label, you know, MGP type of thing or whatever.

SPEAKER_05 6:11

Founded in 2020 in New Hampshire. So they're they are in New Hampshire, is where they're located. They're in New England. Is that clear? That's close to Canada, right? I mean sorta, yeah. So kind of kind of sorta. It's east of it, right? It is southeast. East of Canada, yeah. Southeast, probably. Maybe straight east. I'm not sure how far up New Hampshire is. I always figured it was south.

SPEAKER_02 6:32

I thought I just think everything in America is south of Canada. But except for Alaska, right?

SPEAKER_05 6:36

Like Ohio's like one mile south of Canada. One mile? Wait, I mean, you can see Canada from Cedar Point. You're making that up. No, like when you go to the top of millennial topics. Michigan first, right? Looking at that close to Canada. Yeah, that close to the idea. Are you serious? We do have Michigan above us, right? But then there's that lake, that Lake Erie there, and you got Michigan straight up, and you got Canada slightly to the right.

SPEAKER_04 7:02

Yeah, you can write Jetskins in Canada.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

In my mind, you have like there's like a massive landmass. It's Canada. Literally everything in America is below that. But that's not exactly the case. No, I should look at a map again.

SPEAKER_04 7:15

The top of Bino. The top of America is kind of a bowl shape almost.

SPEAKER_02 7:20

In my mind, it's not a good thing. Maybe I should look at a map.

SPEAKER_05 7:24

They've also altered the map.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

They change it. They keep changing the map. It's not my fault. I bet it was this is one of those Mandela effects. I bet Canada was above America all the way.

SPEAKER_05 7:33

The map that we look with that we grew up with is wrong. Okay, but like it is like what's wrong about it because the Earth is mostly flat. Mostly sizes. That's right. It's it's actually, yeah, it's actually spherical. It's not spherical. It's it's uh it's like a snow globe. I think like it's it is like a snow globe.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

Do you are you serious? No. Oh, okay. No, me neither, yeah. Uh me neither. You neither. Clearly, I'm not serious. Um, yeah, it's not flat. I don't believe that at all.

SPEAKER_04 8:02

But if you've ever been in like Niagara Falls, right, that's Canada across the falls. Yeah. The other side of the falls is Canada.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Correct.

SPEAKER_04 8:08

But that's in New York, right?

SPEAKER_02 8:09

Right. Like Eric.

SPEAKER_04 8:11

Which is also in America. Yes. So not north of it. Not north of it. It's actually directly, well, yeah, Canada's west of West, west of.

SPEAKER_05 8:19

That paper

First Impressions Of Helldiver

SPEAKER_05 8:20

is oily. Do you feel that? We might have found north. Found this whole conversation.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 8:26

So okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

And are they thinking real quick? Are they sourcing from random? Like, like, or is it always one distillery that they're sourcing from?

SPEAKER_02 8:34

Or I didn't know if it was like uh sometimes from here, sometimes from wow, that's really good.

SPEAKER_05 8:39

Yeah, it's it threw me for a loop. The first tip I had it is not from one particular place, it's from all over Canada, but they pick it.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

Okay, so it does change, and it's not like a yeah, it's not like they have a deal with these distillers, and that's it, and that's all. Okay, that stuff smells good. I haven't smoked uh lit let up yet, but it smells very the room note on it is really nice.

SPEAKER_04 8:57

I mean, the well, not only the room note, the 10 note is really good too.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Yeah, and it's that's oily. Like that the paper on that, you can tell it's got some got some esoterica vibes there.

SPEAKER_04 9:07

Definitely in you know, that English, you get a lot of that English, but there's some of that like ketchup vinegar. I put it in a minor 10.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

We'll see how it goes here.

SPEAKER_06 9:16

I feel like I'm still learning. We're all still learning a lot of matches.

SPEAKER_05 9:19

Any luck, you'll always keep learning.

SPEAKER_06 9:21

Yes. I thought I'd try lighter, but that didn't work at first. So maybe I'll try it again. I don't know if it's working my the way I thought it would.

SPEAKER_02 9:29

What is that? Never ever stop wondering or something like that. The north-southeast west. I want the people say never, never ever stop wondering. Yeah, never eat soggy weaties. Sour watermelon. I don't know what it just cut like clicked in my head.

SPEAKER_05 9:44

Soggy waffles. Never eat soggy waffles.

SPEAKER_02 9:46

Never ever stop wondering.

SPEAKER_05 9:49

Okay, I like that one better.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

It's kind of kind of poetic.

SPEAKER_05 9:52

Yeah, that's poetic. That's nice.

SPEAKER_02 9:53

Yeah. I just when you said that, like you never stopped learning, it just popped into my head. I don't know why.

SPEAKER_05 9:57

So that's that's good. These guys are out of New Hampshire, Dover, New Hampshire. Started in 2020 by a couple of brothers, Nick and Zach Taylor. So uh it specializes exclusively non unfiltered, non-chill filtered, cast strength, blended whiskeys bottled without added coloring or flavorings. Okay, so everything is cast strength, and everything is Canadian. And that's kind of how they do all of their things. Yep. Yeah, everything is cast strength. Uh, what is the proof on this bottle over there?

SPEAKER_02 10:29

Should we guess first?

SPEAKER_05 10:31

I looked at this one.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

112.

SPEAKER_04 10:35

Yeah, my guess was right around like a 115, probably.

SPEAKER_05 10:38

And I have not looked at the bottle other than I'm looking at a number on my screen, so I'm not gonna guess. But I already looked at it. The number says 119. Oh, this is 124. Okay, okay. So that's what I thought. I looked at this and I thought they were different. And so I think what the one I'm looking at here is the 2024 release of Hellbender.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

That's a friendly uh for that proof. That's friendly. I would agree. I mean, it's Canadian, but still, even then. Yeah, and it's got what 16 years?

SPEAKER_07 11:03

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

But boy, that is not proofy. It's not proofy for that. It's right, it's good, and you really get a lot of rye, the Canadian, the rye, Canadian vibes, picking up a lot of that without it being like spicy or something. Did you see the back of it? Yeah, it's a sweet, it's sweet, but it's got some the back of it tells you what barrels they use.

SPEAKER_06 11:21

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:22

So it's aged in PX sherry, oloroso sherry, and heavy toast char one and two. It's got some some good, yeah, good stuff.

SPEAKER_06 11:32

Then down at the bottom it tells you corn, rye, the barrels that they used.

SPEAKER_03 11:36

Because these are Canadian, so these are gonna be it's a 16-year rice, 16-year corn, 20-year corn, 22-year corn, 25-year corn. So I guess so it's a bottom.

SPEAKER_04 11:47

Yeah, so the lowest is 16. So most of it's in a 20. Which that's interesting.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

Okay, I'm not disappointed.

SPEAKER_04 11:55

I like the nose on it. I feel like I get like a lot of like citrus, like almost like orange or like clementine.

SPEAKER_03 12:01

Is that a Canadian goose on the front? It is probably a hell diver, which isn't a type of bird.

SPEAKER_05 12:07

Oh, so that is why that was a dive bird. I that's where the name pie from makes sense. But a hell diver is a type of bird.

SPEAKER_02 12:15

That's cool. I love that name for a bird.

SPEAKER_05 12:18

It's just uh nicknamed after the pie build grebe, which is a water built water bird known for diving deep below the surface. So when it dives down, it dives deep. Which I don't know if you ever watch a bird dive for like fish or whatever. It's super cool.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

I love to watch that, dude.

SPEAKER_04 12:37

Yeah, well, the ones that like go under the water and will swim under the water and then come back out is crazy. First time I ever saw it, I was like, We were out in Florida on a boat, like with my uncle, and I was like, What just happened right there? Like, I don't even might blew my mind. Sometimes it kind of like splash, right? Like, like well, yeah, it came down and it like lay into the water, and I thought I expected it to come back out really quick, and it then it like swam under the water and then shot back out. And I was like, That's the craziest thing I've ever seen.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

I like the way that looks, it's a cool looking bird. Helldiver. Okay, so do they name these off of birds then?

SPEAKER_05 13:09

Well, at least these two both are. The other ones, the the next one that we're gonna do is also a bird, and so that one I knew. I didn't know hell helldiver was a was a was a bird. I didn't know the either one was a bird, but if they keep doing birds, they might end up running out.

SPEAKER_02 13:27

Is this a specifically like Canadian type of bird, or is it just a that's a good question? Um is it even found up north? The pie build grebe. Is it found north of here?

SPEAKER_06 13:38

It's probably found up north.

SPEAKER_05 13:39

Yeah, I would guess it is. Say peregrine's like a falcon type of falcon. Yeah, peregrine is a falcon. But let's see where the pie build grebe is from. The what? The pie build grebe. That's what the hell is like the hell diverse. Let's see where it where they live. Across the Americas, find a year-round seasoning through North America, Central America, Caribbean, and South America. So they're kind of everywhere, but it seems like they might be a little bit more in uh warm weather.

SPEAKER_07 14:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 14:10

So still might be in Canada, but probably not here all year round. Maybe a little more southern Canada. I do like the uh like topography map background. That's what it kind of looks like on these bottles, the the topography on them. So like the bottle design on these is really good. Is that so you can find your way up north?

SPEAKER_04 14:32

Maybe. I like the color wax too. Yeah, it's like a nice gray gunmetal gray almost. Like uh, it's a little probably a little lighter than gunmetal, but not quite silver. It's different than what you would see a lot of times.

SPEAKER_02 14:43

Yeah, I will say, you know, and out of everybody here, I'm like the most Canadian fan. This is if you if you don't like Canadian whiskey because it's kind of sweet and kind of nonchalant, this is not that.

SPEAKER_04 14:57

Yeah, no, I'm I'm not a huge fan of Canadian either. This is the most interesting Canadian whiskey I've had. This is yeah, this is really good.

SPEAKER_06 15:03

Well, at the beginning of the year, we talked about you specifically talked about wanting to see distilleries do Canadian well. Well, yeah, different different well, and I think that was coming from the maybe the American idea of well. Yeah, my idea, my idea, a departure from thick traditional Canadian, yep. Who was it? There was a bottle that we had that was Canadian but Canadian done well, and I don't remember who it was that kind of spurred on this idea for you. Would this fit with that Canadian done well? Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

Oh, this is this is um this this is what makes and and I like listen, listen, I like traditional Canadian whiskeys, but I don't for me this makes me really want to like explore even more into Canadian whiskey. And I and I think that if you didn't like Canadian whiskey per se, and you liked it, but you liked a bold drink, this would also make you go, like, oh maybe, maybe Canadian whiskey is a viable option for me. Whereas you didn't think, well, you know, if everybody thinks it's like Crown Royal, this is not Crown Royal. You know what I mean? You put the two together like this is a completely different animal.

SPEAKER_06 16:08

I do feel like if you didn't under if you didn't have an understanding or an experience of what traditional Canadian whiskey was, this might ruin you for thinking that all Canadian whiskey is this. It's like this, yeah.

Why High-Proof Canadian Works

SPEAKER_02 16:20

Because there's actually it may call me crazy here, and I'm not talking about the smoke. There's almost some Scotch-esque vibes I'm getting. Do you get that? And it's more in the mouthfeel, I think, a little bit. Yeah, it's kind of thick in the aftercast.

SPEAKER_05 16:32

It's a little, it's a little thick, a little viscous. Yeah. I took a drink before I lit my pipe because I wanted to give it give it a try, an honest try on it. And the pipe, I think it does change it a little bit, but it doesn't really all that much. They seem to to coincide pretty well without interfering with each other. But yeah, I get some.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

It could be the sherry, too, that it's like that's making me think Scotch.

SPEAKER_05 16:57

But I'm curious about this being an American company and then them going to Canada to find these old expensive barrels. And I'm wondering, like, these got started in 2020. So this is you know, a six-year-old company, and they're doing these kind of bigger releases. And and I'll I'll know a better idea of my answer to this once we talk start talking about a price. But Canadian, you can get a pretty old bottle pretty cheap a lot of times. Yeah, it's I mean overall, yeah, overall, yeah, cheaper, comparative, comparatively. Yeah, you can get a 20-year-old Canadian way cheaper than you could get a 20-year-old bourbon or a 20 year old Scott. Absolutely. Yeah, that's a fair statement. And so that was awesome. Real close, just about had a fire just there.

SPEAKER_06 17:42

Yeah, keep going. But you're also talking those that have the most age on it. So, uh, what we've had Canadian Club that's been 42, 43 years old, still talking mass-produced and still talking a large uh quantity versus maybe these guys are smaller quantities, just more age.

unknown 18:04

Right.

SPEAKER_05 18:04

But what I'm getting at is that it's an American company, they're looking for not necessarily a Canadian flavor, but a Canadian price. I think that that that could be availability, yeah, and availability. And that's not a knock on them. I'm not knocking them on this because the quality is very good. This is a good idea.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

Where else are you gonna find uh uh uh large quantities of a whiskey with that age on it, other than Canada? Because they look listen, Canada they mass produce that stuff. I mean, and it then sits around. I mean, it's actually just stockpiled up there. So, like, I think it's a great idea, and then to offer it at this higher proof point, that's I think that's really changing things too. Like, that's because most Canadians don't come at a cast rank. No, and I and I've said it for a long time that a higher proof Canadian starts to change the whole like experience. It really does because it pulls away from that sweetness a little bit, gives you a little bit more to hold on to in the palate. And for this one, it's kind of sits on the top of my Adam's apple and just parks itself and chills out. And I love that. It's just hanging out on the top of my throat there. Without it being like, it's not clawing, it's not like it's not too much, it's not grabbing on and not like it.

SPEAKER_04 19:18

Yeah, I can definitely see it's kind of like us, it reminds you of a scotch in that sense of like it's got like that thick mouthfeel to it, and it's got, and I don't know, I don't know if it's more the sherry or the age on the whiskey, because that could have something to do with the two with it being a lot older, or the combo of the two probably has something to do with it. I would guess no, no like peat flavors or anything like that. Not not any of the flavor that you would typically get from scotch, but like no feel, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:44

It's the feel, yeah, yeah, especially in in your throat a little bit and in the mouth, in the mouth feel a little bit.

SPEAKER_05 19:50

Yeah, with the being a higher proof, it's 120 something, right? 124, yeah, 124. So I get the proof immediately at the front end, but it quickly goes away. And so if I let it sit in my mouth, when it first goes, like I get that little bit of spike, and it could be the rye, but I think it's I think it's the proof because it goes away so quick, and so it's there at the very start. And then if I let it sit there, I get that sweetness. That's where I get the cherry and the more Canadian kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 20:19

The the the rye that you're getting is very Canadian because it's subtle, and that's a lot of people don't even realize that all Canadian whiskey is rye, it's high rye whiskey. Because it's subtle, it's in there subtly. And I think that a lot of times that sweetness kind of you know contemplates it kind of plays around with it and and adds it complements it in a way that you're not really offended by the rye. So it's there, like you're saying, but it's not what you're getting mostly is the proof.

SPEAKER_05 20:47

I think so. Yeah, I think I mean the proof at the front, yeah. Then it turns to that sweeter flavor that I think is more the sherry than anything. I mean, it is Canadian, but the sherry, I think, is playing a big part there. And then I swallow, and that's when I'm getting more of that that scotchiness to it and that that linger in the finish.

SPEAKER_06 21:04

There's a lot of things I find interesting with this flavor and this company, but one that I find interesting with the company is we've had two, maybe three. I'll go with two for sure that I know two uh companies. I don't know if we've both had them both on the podcast. I know we've had one on the podcast, one that we've stayed away from. Yeah, that uh one was in Vermont, one is in Montana or Wyoming that pull Canadian whiskey down, yeah. One sells it super cheap, but they're also from Proximo, right? And the other one sells it for 80, 90 bucks a bottle, and we've that's kind of put a bad taste in our mouth for Canadian whiskey. So where does I'm curious, where does this, without knowing the price tag, just flavor, where would this lie within that idea for you?

SPEAKER_05 21:53

Well, I can't answer that because the Vermont one I've never tried. You've never had whistle pig? Yeah, I've never had whistlepick. I thought you've had whistle pig. It's because the price we did it on the podcast, though.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

Have we done it on the podcast? I thought that we might have, but I don't know that we didn't. It might have been a whistle pig that wasn't a Canadian. It could have been definitely.

SPEAKER_06 22:08

We did the rye, their uh bald and bond like rye or some whistle pig on the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 22:12

Okay, but it would have been a minute.

SPEAKER_05 22:13

Okay, yeah. And so and obviously it didn't leave like a massive legacy for me. Whereas the other one, Pennington, is that right? Okay, yeah, that one out in Montana. I did like it, but wasn't like it's not like a spark, like it's nothing that I'm like super in love with or anything. But the price makes it a pretty good bottle, makes it a pretty reasonable, very approachable, very approachable kind of bottle. So, you know, I I think when it comes to both of those, and maybe this one, yeah, price makes a big difference and availability, and availability, yes. How available is this in oh, in in like Ohio or the US?

SPEAKER_06 22:49

Uh, so this one, this is the one that is part of the subscription, like the lottery system. Yeah, is it the only way you can get it? Yeah, unless you want to buy a secondary from other people, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:57

Okay, but I mean, I think they only produce they they have like a couple releases throughout the year, yeah. So there's not like anything like on the shelf from them.

SPEAKER_06 23:07

These are all special release. Yeah, this is often around 4,500 bottles that they'll release.

SPEAKER_05 23:11

Okay, so pretty limited, yeah, pretty limited, and it's a it's a subscription sort of thing or a lottery. Email list basically, no lottery. So that also uh makes me assume that it's gonna be a higher price because it's less available, but I think this is a higher quality than than than uh yes, uh the Montana one whistle pig or Penalton, and yeah, Pennington, Pendleton, Pendleton.

SPEAKER_06 23:38

There we go.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

Yeah, I've not had the Pendleton, but it's sort of like an orphan barrel version of Canadian whiskey, correct? It's kind of because they're like it's it's a one-time, however many bot barrels we can get and bottles we can get out, and then we're moving on to it's something else.

SPEAKER_05 23:52

Yeah, it seems like Helldiver has one release a year. This the next the other one that we're gonna do.

SPEAKER_06 23:59

They keep the name, but the the year, the age may change, or like the blend and stuff and blend may change and the finishings and whatever else. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_05 24:07

So I but they keep the name. I saw three releases of Helldiver for 24, 25, and 26. So they do one Helldiver.

SPEAKER_06 24:14

Other ones and other and other think like little books. Like it's very much like little books where it may change over time, but it's the same little book chapter.

SPEAKER_02 24:23

So it probably is a different bird. Well, four different birds that they use, probably, right?

SPEAKER_05 24:26

And all three of the or all three of those were like 119, 118, 124. So like they're proof of higher proof. Yep. Uh they're all cast strength, they're all Canadian. Seem to be, yep, all mostly Canadian. Similar finishings, you know, maybe not the same percentages, but at least the same types going into them. So what is the price on this? Or do we not want to say yeah, do you have more to talk about first?

SPEAKER_06 24:51

I'm well, I I think the price tag it varies, right? It varies, but I I am curious

Price, Value, And Whistlepig Comparisons

SPEAKER_06 25:00

on how the the price of the uh mindset will change.

SPEAKER_04 25:05

So I will give you, I will uh I wanted to kind of chime in with this the whistle pig 15-year-old single barrel. Okay, that's in available in Ohio. You can get it on the shelf. Well, if you can find it, you can get it on the shelf. Yeah, is as expensive is more expensive than this bottle.

SPEAKER_05 25:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 25:21

This is a 16-year-old bottle, and I would choose this over well anything from whistleball.

SPEAKER_02 25:27

I will say, not to knock on whistlepig, but they do kind of we've talked about it. They elevate their prices.

SPEAKER_04 25:35

A lot of what they do, they do like a special bottle. It's like they do a lot of marketing.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

Even their standard offerings are way overpriced.

SPEAKER_04 25:41

For their 15-year-old, it comes in just a regular old bottle, nothing spectacular. It just looks like that.

SPEAKER_02 25:47

Yeah, like it's just like their boss hog is ridiculous. Yeah, yeah, the bottom for the amount of freaking money that it's not worth it.

SPEAKER_04 25:54

Yeah, but this 15-year-old, which is probably a comparable, you know, and that's not saying that it has anything older than 15. That just that's their that's their age statement on there. This is a little bit older than that, and it's slightly less expensive.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

That's exciting. So I put this at what's so it's like what 160 bucks? I want to say it was 179. Pretty close. Look at that. Look at that, and it's worth that. It's totally worth it.

SPEAKER_06 26:17

I was gonna say, here's my question. If you didn't know this was Canadian whiskey before you started drinking it, would you ever think it is Canadian without being told?

SPEAKER_02 26:25

Uh here's the thing. I don't know, and I get what you're going with that, but I will say, nobody's drinking this and not knowing everything about it before they take a sip, right? Like nobody's gonna get poured this and be like, oh, I wonder what that is.

SPEAKER_05 26:38

Especially this bottle because you had to go to a lottery to go.

SPEAKER_02 26:40

This is gonna be this is gonna be like do you want to try to be blind though?

SPEAKER_04 26:44

I think there's no way you would think it was Canadian.

SPEAKER_02 26:47

I I see what you're saying. If it well, blind, not a blind. Not that you'd ever have this blind, but if you were to have this blind, I would know it's Canadian. But I like I drink a lot of Canadian whiskey.

SPEAKER_06 26:57

But why? Why would you like what in your mind would say, oh, I tried this, this flavor I'm getting is can this is Canadian.

SPEAKER_02 27:04

Well, it's just it's just that specific sweetness with the rye that I uh but I'm I'm kind of I think I'm more sensitive to it than other people. I just think that's what it comes down to. But uh and I and then I've tried and I've had a lot of Canadian whiskeys, and I've had a lot of high-proof Canadian whiskeys. So I've I've had the whole gamut, I've had a lot of different iterations of Canadian whiskeys, and a lot of people haven't. They've had things like Crown Royal and you know, you know, maybe Pennington or, you know, uh, you know, a few other Canadian Club, whatever, and then that's it, and they're done. You know, maybe Canadian Mist, which is junk, you know what I mean? Like they've had crappy Canadian, cheap Canadian whiskey, and that's it. So they're never gonna equate this to that because this is quality, it's something good. I've had really good Canadian whiskey. So I think I would identify this and I'd be blown away. You know what I mean? In a blind at least. Yeah. And I'd be like, what the hell is it?

SPEAKER_05 27:57

Not as in tune with Canadian. I would not know that it was Canadian. But also, I don't have like a distaste for Canadian. Like them, it being Canadian doesn't for me, that's not like that's like a downgrade on price because it's Canadian. That doesn't that doesn't equate necessarily in the same way for me.

SPEAKER_02 28:17

It comes down to the sweetness uh with the rye, and like I said, uh that's more pronounced typically as you go lower end. This is less pronounced as you go higher end. So, you know, as long as you're okay with those flavors, as they get more refined, you get you become more and more okay with Canadian whiskey.

SPEAKER_04 28:38

Yeah, I think when I think Canadian, I think of that like cloyingly sweet maple syrup almost Canadian. Yeah, yeah. I mean, maybe maybe, but without the thickness, right? Like, because it's usually lower proof, it's got a lot of that like really, really sweet, rich flavor, but it's like it's almost too much.

SPEAKER_02 28:55

If you were to take this for what, especially for what I like, take a sip of this and think, okay, turn turn down the proof way down, and then start turning up what you are what you are tasting, the sweetness, start turning up some of the rye aspects of it, all of a sudden you're starting to get closer and closer to what a typical Canadian tastes like. You know what I mean? But with those things in place, it elevates those flavors to a point where that's where it should be. All Canadian whiskey should taste like this, in my opinion. You know what I mean? But if if you turn down that proof and you turn up the sweetness and you turn up the rye, all of a sudden you're getting closer and closer to a traditional Canadian.

SPEAKER_06 29:31

I would agree. I think you and I have had enough traditional Canadian that we want something outside of the traditional. I think that's why I like this. But I do find interesting we're taking Canadian whiskey, finishing it in normal stuff, normal for outside of America, so sherry sherry, Pieck Sherry. But then we're also tossing in new American oak that's char level one, so toast and char level two, which is just a step above a toast. That seems weird.

SPEAKER_04 30:03

That's an interesting compliment. Yeah, it's like you're almost trying to, they're almost, they were almost trying to boost the sweetness, right?

SPEAKER_06 30:08

With the high price like a little and also kind of bring it kind of back to American almost, like American flavor.

SPEAKER_02 30:15

They're trying to, yeah, I think they're trying to put more wood in it, which you don't typically get in Canadian whiskey. No, it's super it kind of reminds me a little bit more of the and actually what what this reminds me a little bit is the basil Hayden wine cast finish because that sherry, the sherry finishing is on here. What it's actually doing to me is it's drying it out a little bit, and I'm appreciating the hell out of that on a Canadian, the the dry wine kind of aspect that you get from sherry a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 30:43

I would say I would say that dark fruit. Yeah, it's like that, it's very much like that wine. Yeah, that makes sense. It's like I was thinking dark fruit versus like something that's very sweet, like a ripe fruit, like a like a perfectly ripe strawberry. It's very sweet, it's got a little bit of a sour, but this is more of like an over-ripe, like dark berry. But yeah, I mean that that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 31:02

Well, it's taking a little bit of that wine Canadian sweetness and it's changing it into something more marriage a little bit a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 31:08

I would agree, yeah. It softens

Adding Water And What Breaks

SPEAKER_04 31:10

up the part that I don't like.

SPEAKER_02 31:11

Yeah, which is yeah, the most people that most people don't like that.

SPEAKER_05 31:14

So I added some water to mine because I wanted to see what it would do if we lowered the proof on it a little bit. And for me, one, it actually made it more proofy. Like I get more of the spice, or I don't know if that's maybe that is the rye, I don't know. But also it changed that sweetness and kind of removed those fruit flavors and turned it into a like a molasses, kind of a darker, that's exactly darker sweet.

SPEAKER_02 31:38

So more traditional Canadian.

SPEAKER_05 31:39

More traditional Canadian. So when I add just a little bit of water to it, it it did make it actually a little less pleasant in terms of just just like spice level, I guess. And I like I said, I I I equate it more to proof than to rye. The it's it's giving me more of a proof issue than a rye pleasantness, but it changed that sweetness and changed it more to more.

SPEAKER_02 32:01

Taking away those concentration of flavors is is making it more of a traditional Canadian. Yep. Which is a turnoff for a lot of people. It can be. Yeah, for a lot of people, people that don't like that. That's what I love about this. This is Canadian subtly. This is subtly Canadian with with American vibes.

SPEAKER_04 32:19

I think if you were uh if you were so I mean, as being a Canadian fanboy, right? If you were if you were like you, I love Canadian whiskey, not a huge bourbon gum, not a huge rye guy, and you just really wanted like a Canadian whiskey, this is would this be something that you would be drawn to to buy?

SPEAKER_02 32:33

Well, I mean, I think because it's got so much age on it. And Nick asked me a very similar question in a different format a long time ago. If you're like really into the Canadian, what would you look for? What would you all this stuff? And I told him I will say that Canadian whiskey runs very much together, it's very similar across the board. Really, what you're looking for is different qualities of it, and after a while, different iterations. For me, that's the big thing. Now I've had enough of it that I'm looking for Canadian different. That's how I feel about Irish. Right. So, I mean, unless you're that guy that drinks the same stuff, the same brand all the time. If you just like Canadian whiskey for all the different aspects of it and you're looking to try different things, yeah, 100% you'd reach for this because now this is a departure from what you're used to. You can't get this in every other bottle. You know, this is a very unique Canadian expression.

SPEAKER_05 33:30

If your bottle is is crown royal, yeah, this is probably not a great bottle.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

And you're not even looking for anything different. If you're if you're that kind of guy and there's nothing wrong with it.

SPEAKER_05 33:40

You may be looking for like a crown peach or crown blackberry. You might you'll go get the crown 20. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_02 33:46

Yeah, you're uh we've talked about this. Like, like if you are a big crown guy, every now and then you might go something exciting like a crown 18, yeah, and be like, oh, this is my special bottle. But it's very similar to Irish whiskey people. People that are super in Irish whiskey will drink the same thing, whether it's powers or it's Tillamore do or it's Jameson or whatever. And then every now and then they'll reach for the Jameson 18, which I don't think they don't make that anymore. But green spot or whatever it is. But that's a that's a special occasion bottle. And again, so it's a very similar question to Irish whiskey. They're very much the same across the board. What are you looking for if you're an Irish whiskey fan? A departure from the norm, something that's Irish and its roots, but different expression. Redbreast fits that bill, right? They they come out with different expressions of Irish whiskey. It's exciting, it's new, it's different, it's limited, it's whatever. Yeah, you're reaching for that if you're an Irish fan. So if you're a Canadian fan, is this a bottle you're reaching for? You bet you're sweet ass, in my opinion. Unless you're a very basic, I don't want to, you know, be challenged. But if you like to be challenged, oh yeah, dude. I mean, I'm a Canadian guy through and through, and I'm dude, I'm loving this bottle. And for the price, yeah, I want this on the shelf. I want this on the shelf. I'm gonna put my name in that lottery. You bet, you bet, you betcha. As

Canadian, Irish, And Scotch Drinkers

SPEAKER_02 35:05

they would say in the that area. You bet you betcha.

SPEAKER_06 35:09

You know what's interesting as you were talking about Irish and Canadian whiskey, and like if you've had one, you're like, okay, maybe I've had them all, but okay, let's depart, let's find a different version of this. For some reason, Irish and Canadian whiskey are the only two types that I can see people doing that in. I don't see anyone doing that for scotch. I don't really see anyone doing that for American whiskey, bourbon.

SPEAKER_02 35:32

Yeah, I would say for Scott, Scott, here's here's my opinion on Scotch. Uh, although there are different we're not, I'm not talking about Highland Scotches, and I'm not talking about like the hardcore, the hardcore scotch, you know what I'm saying? Like Octomorph? Yeah, yeah. I'm talking about like a very basic scotch, a space-ide scotch, the people that are into like very basic. The only thing those guys are looking for is how much smoother can I get, how much more refined can I get, how expensive can I get. When you're talking about the guy that drinks like scotch, because like I drink scotch, those types of dudes, like they're literally like, this is a 28-year-old single malt, and they don't really care a whole lot. It's gonna all scotch taste the same. They're not looking for a departure, they're looking for smoothness and age and status. They're being status y. They're being status y. They don't really know, they know the flavors of what scotch is, but they're not like you get what I'm saying? So scotch is different. I don't know anybody who's like, you know, drinks a a bargain, like a bargain bottle scotch all the time. Like, I just don't know anybody who does that. You get what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_06 36:44

I mean, I did have a guy once that famous grouse grouse. That was his bottle, and he would go crazy for it.

SPEAKER_02 36:49

But I don't think that even people, the the people that are drinking like to that point, you get what I'm saying? Like the daily driver type drinkers that are drinking uh Canadian Club every day or uh Jameson's every day. Scotch people don't do that. I don't think that there's a guy that's like, I go home and drink uh you know, three glasses of famous Krause a day.

SPEAKER_01 37:10

It's I just called it the business deal.

SPEAKER_02 37:12

Let's drink this.

SPEAKER_01 37:13

You get what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_05 37:16

Every once in a while I'll get somebody that's down there getting a liter of scotch, like the liter bottles of the of the blended scotch. And it's like this guy clearly is not looking for a quality scotch. He's got like this. But even then, I don't know how much how much you think he's drinking a ton of that. I mean, he's buying big bottles of it. Maybe he just does it once. Steve sees them there every Friday. Weird, yeah. Every once in a while it up, not very many of them. They're usually pretty old. So the ones that are doing it are usually.

SPEAKER_02 37:43

That's my guess. My assumption is that they are mixing it. I used to make an Irish coffee with scotch, which makes no sense, I know. But uh, we used to use Klan McGregor, and it was a liter for like 11 bucks or whatever. That was cheap. And what we we me and my brother would make a pot of coffee and pour about you know half to three quarters of scotch in there. It was the other way around. Dollop of coffee and a ton of Klan McGregor, and we and but and we bought, but but it was cheap, and we were younger, and we that's how we drank, and we would drink, you know, two or three or four or eight cups of those, you know, and that was fine. Uh, and that was like a you know, a couple months at a time type of thing. Yeah, just a new before passing out. Yeah, so uh, you know, I so for that, I mean I get buying the big things, but I but for the most part, I don't see like your guy that's going through a liter a week. It's not typically scotch, but maybe, but maybe it is it's a mixer, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 38:33

It's a mixing it with something.

SPEAKER_02 38:35

I don't think anybody's sit drinking it for the yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 38:37

Yeah, he's not doing it for flavor. I can tell you that.

SPEAKER_02 38:39

He's not doing it for flavor. So I I will say that, yeah, to go back to your point, Nick, I think scotch is different. Whereas there are people that like daily drivers, um, Irish whiskey, Canadian whiskey, um, bourbon, obviously, bourbon. And then you've got, you know, your alcoholics that drink vodka or whatever. Straight ethanol. Just straight ethanol. Or your gin. I like I love gin, but like uh, yeah, gin, you could overdo it with gin. Drink a liter of gin a day, you know. You can I can do that. I like gin. Gin on ice. Gin's great, dude. And I the straight, yeah, I love it. Most people don't like that. I do. I I like it. I like gin straight.

SPEAKER_05 39:17

Yeah, gin straight's great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 39:20

He's getting my face.

SPEAKER_05 39:21

He's making a face.

SPEAKER_04 39:22

He's really getting into it. I'm not, I don't I haven't really explored gin much. I've tried like I've had like Hendrix and like a soda or something at the bar once, and then I think I had a I've had the obviously the four-peel gin is good as a cocktail, like making cocktails with that, but I've never had like a good, like a London dry gin or something like that where it's neat or on the rocks.

SPEAKER_02 39:49

It's you take a bottle out of the freezer and you take a glass and you fill it with ice, then you throw that gin in that glass of ice and you drink it. That's it. So and if I want a gin and tonic, I will do that and then I'll throw lime in there. But with no tonic bottle. I just took I look at the tonic bottle. Very similar to my martinis. I just look at the vermoons. You have to have imagine what tonic would taste like. Think about it, and I go, Yeah, this is a gin and tonic. Yeah, yeah. So it has to be in the room, it's it's in the government. Presence isn't is desired, but it doesn't have to actually participate. It can stand back there and watch. That's fine. Gin and tonic voyeur. Sit over in that chair. I'm I'm fine with it. Yeah, you sit there and don't talk. You're here for a reason. That's it. Or the voyeur's

How Helldiver Changes Each Year

SPEAKER_02 40:40

gin and tonic. That's right. That's right. I should order that at the bar next time. Do you see the tonic bottle? You do? Okay, that's good enough. Give me my drink.

SPEAKER_05 40:50

Do we know for this Helldiver what last year's release was? That's what we're drinking right now. Is this the 2026 release? Yes, this year.

SPEAKER_04 40:59

Yeah. Is that that was your question? No, then like have they changed the proof I was with you, Steve. I was with you. I do think they they they keep it a similar like they I think they try to keep a similar flavor profile, but it's very different every year just because you're going to be using so many different parents.

SPEAKER_05 41:14

I don't know percentages, but I know that it was a 17-year, so it was between 17 and 24. Uh, PX Cherry, Cognac, and Noebec and Oak bowed at 112 proof. Okay, so a lower proof.

SPEAKER_02 41:28

What are the odds that I said 112 proof earlier? What is this? Did I say 112? Oh, I do remember that.

SPEAKER_05 41:36

That's crazy. That is crazy.

SPEAKER_02 41:39

A little early. I was a little early. You were just a little early. Normally, not the case.

SPEAKER_05 41:43

Yeah. And then 24, the 24 release was a 15 year 15 to 23, pick sherry, cognac, and new American Oak at 119.

SPEAKER_06 41:52

Wait, sherry cognac? Sherry and then Sherry and Cognac.

SPEAKER_05 41:56

Yeah, Sherry and Sherry, cognac, and no American Oak. They change it. Uh so that was the same for the 25, also. Oh, so they changed the cognac.

SPEAKER_02 42:06

So now did they also add the toasted and they didn't have the toasted last time? Correct. So this is a different iteration.

SPEAKER_05 42:12

Yeah. So the 26.

SPEAKER_02 42:14

They're refining it.

SPEAKER_05 42:15

Got rid of the cognac and added the olor rosso. And the toast. And then now I know that it's char one and two versus just new American oak.

SPEAKER_04 42:22

I wonder if they went away from the cognac because they felt like it was a little too sweet. I could see that.

SPEAKER_02 42:26

I I think this is sweet enough.

SPEAKER_04 42:28

Yeah, and they wanted to dry, like you said, you with that that extra oloroso sherry, you're gonna dry it out a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 42:34

Um this is probably one of my favorite.

SPEAKER_05 42:40

This is really one I'm gonna like stash and hide from myself and I I did not read this before we started talking, but it does have a flavor profile on here. Okay, read it. And we're pretty good. Uh extremely rich. You know that, Steve? Why? And dark fruit forward. So we've talked about that. Features deep notes of molasses, dark raisins, tart cherries, plum, candy pecan, uh pecan or pecanch, and brown sugar. Balanced by new oak spices, toasted walnut, and a velvety full-bodied mouthfeel.

SPEAKER_02 43:14

Velvety full-bodied mouthfeel. Yeah, that's that's a way to that's somebody to describe me that way. I would be very in I'd be very proud.

SPEAKER_04 43:21

But I mean, that's a great way to describe what we were talking about. Like that it's very like it's it's soft, but it just kind of hangs out there. I mean, that's funny that we were pretty much spot on with what they had said.

SPEAKER_06 43:31

The brothers, right? Nick and are they the only two in the company? Or do they have people like uh the blenders or people that help them with blending?

SPEAKER_05 43:40

I'm sure that they have other people in the company, but they are the two that started it. Yeah, Nick and Texas had to showcase the true potential of ultra age liquids by acquiring well aged casks and using modern full favorite blending and finishing techniques. Uh, so they don't say if they've hired a blender or if they're doing it themselves. You know what's something interesting.

King Charles Blend Hits Its Stride

SPEAKER_02 44:00

Just to interject right now. And I don't normally talk about this. I don't. But the tobacco was struggling a little bit, but which is normal for germains on a pop 10, a fresh-based. I'm still struggling just a little. But I hit the half halfway through my bowl. This second half so far is exquisite. It's so good. Flavor wise, it's so much better. It's like all of a sudden. And so I don't typically talk about um as it changes throughout the bowl, which tobacco does um change as you go down a lot of times, whether it's better or worse. But I will say, I don't know if you guys have gotten to that point with your pipe yet, but for me, I just hit like the second half of this and it's really, really opened up flavor-wise, so much better. Yeah. Creaminess has come forward a little bit. It's like it's producing like a pretty thick, like heavy smoke. Yeah, it's starting to start to burn better. I'm starting to get a white ash on top, whereas before I didn't. I think it's the moisture is starting to come down moisture to it, which is helping. Uh, it's a little drier. I'm getting a lot more Virginia's off of this tobacco, which for an English I don't typically get.

SPEAKER_04 45:02

Yeah, the I feel like that that we talk about this all the time. Like, I love the incense flavor. Like this, I really, really like this uh tobacco. This is more charcoal, charcoal y type of addictive. But it's not overpowering. Like uh, there's there's certain blends that that you I like I like them because of the because of that, but it that can all can almost become overpowering. This is something that I feel like I could it very esoterica for, right? Right. I've never had a like a like a the Germains brand. I've had some esoterica stuff, but um, this is really, really good. Uh I think, yeah, I think you I agree. Like some of the moisture, it's definitely got a lot of moisture in it, um, which is surprising. I'd be curious to see how old this 10 is. That's what I was trying to look to see if I could figure out.

SPEAKER_02 45:41

But like I was enjoying it, uh, but now that I hit the second half of my bowl, all of a sudden it's transformed into like a very um a little bit more balkan forward, but it's very good English blend that is really um just behaving well and flavor-wise, it's smoothed out.

SPEAKER_06 46:00

It almost gives it like a and tell me if I'm wrong in this thought process and when I get flavor-wise, but that second half, it almost gives like a dark chocolate cherry with the whiskey. Like it gives more of a dark chocolate kind of feel.

SPEAKER_02 46:17

I get what you're saying with the cocoa a little bit, maybe like a like a cocoa. Uh it's the the type of smoke, the latiquia, is more charcoal, in my opinion. And less creosote, less fireplace, less campfire, more charcoal barbecue, not sweet barbecue, barbecue.

SPEAKER_05 46:36

Yes, charcoal, yeah, charcoal, like a web break.

SPEAKER_02 46:39

And then the but but for me, the orientals are finally coming through. So I'm getting some creaminess and some sweet sour. Um, but the Virginias have been there since like I've lit, like the I first lit it, but and they haven't gone away. But I feel like uh maybe that's why I was struggling a little bit because I was getting more Virginia and less everything else, and it was a little bit wet, which Germains comes that way. Um, but now all of a sudden the second half of this bowl is it's behaving better and it's just delicious. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:08

So I was able to figure out what year this 10 was from based on the date, the um the code. Uh 2018. 2018? Okay. So it's probably about eight years.

SPEAKER_02 47:17

That's way more than I thought. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:19

Yeah. Wow.

SPEAKER_04 47:20

It's hard to tell about the 10 because it has such like an antique kind of label. Yeah. It looks like it's from like 30 years ago.

SPEAKER_02 47:27

I didn't, I honestly did not think about it. I think it was at all, but when we popped it, that uh the paper in there is oily.

SPEAKER_04 47:32

Yeah, it's very, yeah. I mean, it's like got that like very like like a cigar cellophane like darkness to it.

SPEAKER_05 47:37

You've mentioned esoterica a few times, and this is germain.

Germain And Esoterica Scarcity Explained

SPEAKER_05 47:40

Are they related or are they just team company?

SPEAKER_02 47:42

Okay, they are the same. Uh Germain's uh makes esoterica. It's one of their lines, basically. So what makes a lot of people don't know this? What makes esoterica uh germains so crazy awesome, amazing, is for one thing, they're old as hell. They are made in the British Isles, they are a very small operation, which is why it's so limited. They don't do that because they're trying to drive up prices. It's just literally one of the last few places that it's hand-touched, hand quality, handmade stuff on very old machines that when they are broke, that's it. They're keeping them, they're keeping them working, but they're old machines in an old factory in the freaking British Isles, and and they're and they're getting leaf that they've gotten for years and years and years, like the same quality, and they're making it in a way that nobody else is doing it. So that what well and to their credit, the small batch, it it is yes, it is small, very small batch, yeah, but they don't drive up the prices.

SPEAKER_04 48:42

They're not they're not acting like this store if you get it at you, you if you get it at the like regular price, it's gonna be average away that a little bit more than a regular Cornell and deal, but no more than a small batch or way.

SPEAKER_02 49:03

They literally make what they can when they can and they give it to their suppliers. That's it. They're selling it to the people that are buying. So when these sites get it, they sell it. That's it. Now the secondary market's retarded with this stuff. But as far as like like legit, like say, say you're smoking pipes.com, Steve, and Herm, your pipes and cigars. You're you are allotted X amount, Steve, and you're allotted X amount, Herm, probably less than because Steve's cooler, right? And he's he gets he sells more, just is what it is. And then you got tobacco pipes over here, which is Nick, which is even less than, and you got four noggins, which is me, which is even less than, right? So Steve gets the most, and then Herm gets some, and then Nick gets some. When they're done giving their suppliers the allotted amounts, then it starts going to you know whoever until they're done with their product, and that's it. So so as far as their germains are going, they're selling out every time to their people, and then these people are the ones that can drive up the price, these these brick and mortars, you know what I mean. And and honestly, that's to where you get this stuff. Anybody wondering where do you get esoterica or germains? It's not online because it's the same people that freaking pirate that stuff. But if you can go to a brick and mortar, you can't beat out the the third party reset.

SPEAKER_05 50:18

We just found a whole bunch of it right here in Columbus.

SPEAKER_04 50:20

We found it at Tinderbox Dublin.

SPEAKER_05 50:23

Shout out to Tinderbox Dublin. They just got a bunch in, yeah, and so we we all all of us kind of got got some some share of that.

SPEAKER_02 50:30

And it didn't used to be what it is now. I mean, it was always limited, but I remember like the first time I ever went into uh Pipes and Pleasures here in Columbus. I walked in there and I didn't know a whole lot of anything. And this is years and years and years ago. I mean, when Frog Morton's on the shelf for normal, and so I walked in there and I'm trying to figure out what and they have I remember seeing tens and tens of penzans and pinbroke, freaking germaine, just out the ass, like just tons, like a whole shelf of just dedicated two germains and it's like you could have retired had you bought all that all those things. And I remember they were like talking it up, and I looked at it, and yeah, if you look at Dunbar, my my package of Dunbar there, it's very, very plain. And being a new pipe, new ish pipe smoker at the time, looking at that and looking at something like the Royal Yacht right there. I was marketing almost a royal yacht. Yeah, you know what I mean? So I even really went for esoterica. I bought one tin of Pinbroke and I took it home and I smoked it. And I was like, oh my God, right? And I'm a cognac guy. So I was like, oh my God, you know, and I thought I found some treasure, you know, and I at the time I did it. So I was, dude, I was smoking esoteric like it was nobody's business. And pins ants, oh, as much as I wanted, right? And all of a sudden, it was like people found out about this stuff, and it was like you couldn't get it for the life of you. And now it's like, you know, it's like a unicorn. But there for the guys back in the day, anybody listening who knows back in the day, it was like the like pin stance, bourbon and people's daily

McClelland, Frog Morton, And Lost Blends

SPEAKER_02 52:00

drivers. Can you imagine being penzants being your daily smoke? Yeah, that's what it was. That's what Frog More, right? Like Frog Morton say people frogmorton was smoke. Frog on a log was my daily smoke.

SPEAKER_04 52:10

Yeah, and it's like now, like you could put your kids through college with a few tens of frog mortem.

SPEAKER_02 52:15

I I remember having bulk amounts of McClellan. Like, I had like so much I gave it away because I had so many huge jars of like bulk McClellan, and I'd never thought a thing about it.

SPEAKER_04 52:26

Yeah, I would still like to get my hands on a uh McClellan's Christmas cheer.

unknown 52:30

Christmas cheer.

SPEAKER_04 52:31

That's one I would like to try. Which one's the Christmas cheer? But it's really hard to get. So McClellan's is the same as the the Frog Morton brand, is McFalls under McClellan's brand, which they went out a long time ago. But they made Christmas cheer every year. It was it was a yearly one.

SPEAKER_06 52:45

It was like kind of a taller one that was like red and then blue. Then red and blue. I don't remember being red. Mostly red and gold. Mostly red and red and gold. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 52:52

They had that at the pipe show. And uh it goes, yeah, it goes for a ridiculous amount of money. You could I mean you can still find it secondary, but it's it's it and it's slowly defined because people are smoking it. I mean, people are smoking it, yeah. I would love to just get my hands on a tank. Their mellow Mac was really good.

SPEAKER_05 53:09

I mean, I feel like anything that has McClellan's name on it is gonna be I have I have one pipe left of uh across the pond, because that was my that was by far my favorite, and I will be smoking that the day my son is born. That'll be my last. That's that'll be the end of my McClellan. That'll be uh that one, and that'll be my last. I know that that'll be my pipe that day.

SPEAKER_04 53:28

So yeah, I got into pipe smoking a little too late for McClellan.

SPEAKER_06 53:32

So is the Christmas cheer supposed to be like Christmasy or just the name? It was Christmasy.

SPEAKER_02 53:37

It was Christmas, it was more seasonal blends, probably a little bit aromatic. Uh, and I remember when it came out.

SPEAKER_04 53:42

They made that was kind of the go-to Christmas blend.

SPEAKER_02 53:45

There were two blends that they came out with. Um, it was 220, 222 Baker Street or whatever. It was the there was they came out with two Sherlock Holmes blends a while back. I remember when it came out, it was brand new. They had a black shag, and then they had one that was called Honeydew. Honeydew was okay, it was at aromatic, but the black shag was a shag cut, and I can't remember the components, but it was black. And it was like, this is what, and if you re ever read uh Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, the way it they describe um Sherlock Holmes tobacco that he smokes was this black shag. And I will say that stuff was really, really good. And at the time I remember smoking it, being like, This is different, this is so different, so unique. Not really appreciating it. And now it's it's one of those things that, like, now that it's gone, it's like that was it was so different and so unique and nothing like it that I think about that actually quite often. Like, it sucks that I can't like like somebody needs to replicate that blend, the black shag.

SPEAKER_04 54:43

It's almost like a McClellan's going out was almost would was would I guess the equivalent in whiskey would be kind of like Buffalo Trace.

SPEAKER_00 54:49

It would be like Buffalo Trace.

SPEAKER_04 54:50

Closing their doors tomorrow. It was the number one. They don't share the recipes with anyone. There's it can never be made again.

SPEAKER_02 54:56

Never be made again.

SPEAKER_04 54:57

And then like imagine what those Buffalo Trace bottles end up looking like. Yeah, you know, the bottles of the I mean they're already crazy, right? Like they're already there's already a secondary market for them, but then they just close their doors abruptly.

SPEAKER_02 55:08

Yeah, it would it can never be made again. It literally was the they were just the best.

SPEAKER_04 55:12

And it's just now it's like you're like, Well, what like you you're you're scrambling to find your blend, or you you always wanted to try, you know, like the the you know, a weller antique, and they they no longer make it anymore. And now it's really hard to find, even harder than it already is. Well, it it used to be. It's come becoming a little less less.

SPEAKER_02 55:31

It's crazy. Like, I was lucky that I had a good amount of before they went out. But to be honest, I smoked so much Frog Morton specifically, uh McClellan's in general, but Frog Morton specifically, that I didn't think anything about it. It would be like tomorrow if all of a sudden every Jim Beam product was gone, Nick would flip out, but he wouldn't have gone out and bought a ton of it without knowing, you know what I mean? Because he dr because you drink so much Jim Beam. You get what I'm saying? You have what you have to smoke like at least once a day, like with Frog Morton. Like I smoked so much of it, I never thought like I need to stockpile this shit. I had enough to last me in case like something weird happened. But I never thought that like I need to, you know, because it was my daily thing, you know.

SPEAKER_05 56:16

But you had one extra sitting back basically, just you know, just lying. I'm like more than one. I can literally see Frog Smith on his shelf.

SPEAKER_04 56:26

That frog shelf is Frog Morton. Literally, I can within eyesight, I see multiple tens of Frogmortons.

SPEAKER_02 56:31

But I wish I had gotten some Frog Morton on the town. I can't believe I didn't get well. I didn't, I just didn't know.

SPEAKER_04 56:37

I always kind of like what happened with um um the other there was another big tobacco blend that just went out. Um they got bought up.

SPEAKER_02 56:45

Uh, you're talking about Mac Baron or Sutliff?

SPEAKER_04 56:47

Well, yeah, Sutliff in general. Yeah. So Sutliff went out and it was kind of like uh, is this another one of those? And it was like, eh, Sutliff is a little more like your everyday smoke, your bulk blends, like a lot of that. So it does affect the market, but it wasn't something that like a lot of people I felt like were gonna go run and chase down a bunch of tins of Sutliffs.

SPEAKER_02 57:06

There were certain things Sutliff. The big thing about Sutliff, Sutliff was MGP for tobacco, they were sourcing a lot of tobacco for other people and then versus being like blends went out.

SPEAKER_04 57:18

They were like you're very bulk. Seattle Pipe Club had a scramble and yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 57:23

So there's a lot of a lot of your bulk blends that people mix is a Sutliff blend. I mean, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. So uh MacBaron going out was a bigger deal for me. There was a certain certain blends, and I was able to get a good amount, but like bold Kentucky, yeah. The Hold Fire, like like there's some blends that haven't been replicated and won't be replicated because Mac Baron was another one of those that had specific machines that they destroyed them not to sell. They destroyed them. So it was one of those things that, like, F, you know what I mean? Like, cause uh because a Mac Baron flake is if you've never seen one, is something amazing. It's art, it's art. Like they're different. They're the most uniform flakes I've ever seen in my life. Mattes, I mean, I don't know how you do it. I just don't know how to do it.

SPEAKER_04 58:15

Like a it's like a really square, like small rectangular tent, even it's probably even smaller than that. It's like it's exactly the same size as the 10.

SPEAKER_02 58:22

It's like it's like it looks like a piece of it's amazing, and the way it comes wrapped in the gold PLOC. It's just something special. Yeah, you can't uh you just can't get that again. So it's gone. I mean, it's just one of those things. So you gotta get it while you can, you know.

SPEAKER_06 58:37

Sounds like that's similar to this model. Yeah, and uh essentially the one we're gonna have next of uh once you have it. Yep.

SPEAKER_05 58:44

And so

How To Buy Found North Releases

SPEAKER_05 58:45

real quick before before we cancel out here. Uh, to add yourself to this list, you need to go to found north or or look up their website, add yourself to the mailing list mailing list. And then when you do that, you can choose to enter yourself into a lottery. Yeah, it's not automatic.

SPEAKER_06 59:02

Yeah, so how it works is once you're on the mailing list, yeah, they do this once a year, maybe whatever. Two times a year, two times a year. They have different releases.

SPEAKER_04 59:10

Some of them are not lotteries, some of them are hey, we're releasing this bottle, go ahead and buy yours now. It's a limited availability. Okay, you can just go ahead and buy it.

SPEAKER_06 59:19

But you get an email that says, Hey, this is the bottle, click the link. And if it's a lottery, it'll tell you, hey, this is what the bottle is. Click on this. The link will open on this day. Go ahead and you know, click on it. You sign up for it, put all your card information in, and they have like maybe a week or two weeks before they end the lottery. Well, they put like a one dollar charge in your card or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 59:39

They're shipping it to your house. Yep, they ship it directly to your house. Yep. I love this uh business. It is a is for business. I really like this concept.

SPEAKER_04 59:46

Yeah, they well, they utilize um one of the the big online alcohol retailers. Um, I want to say it's Sealbox. I'm not entirely sure that's how they ship it to you. So the shipping is a little pricey. So I think on the state, especially, yeah. Because you're you know, you're buying it and they're shipping it to you, and you're you're getting you're gonna hit with taxes and you're gonna hit with shipping, a pretty decent shipping cost. I think it's all in all 20, 30 bucks for shipping. I think after everything it was like 203, uh, I believe, um, for the bottle shipped to my but to my door, and I didn't have to go stand for most people.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:19

That's a lot, but for me, this that that this bottle's totally worth that. It's not something I would probably buy every year, but I would definitely, I mean, if you haven't tried it, it's definitely a bottle worth I and based on previous years, I don't even know if I'd like those it that much. This one specifically with the toe, it's hard to say without trying them side by side, but I love the addition of that the the toasted aspect.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:40

And I feel like all of their bottles have had really high rating reviews. People really rave about them, um, both like from the the true like whiskey connoisseur people, but also from like the general public who get a bottle. They have a pretty good, pretty good following in terms of people who've had their whiskey and they really like it. And so that's something that people will come back to for sure. So I don't think the previous versions were any worse than this one, probably different, but not necessarily bad.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:06

Yeah, when we get into our next one, we'll talk maybe about why they changed that. So there is sort of a story a little bit about why that changed, about why the mash bill changed a little bit. And based on the flavor of the next one, we'll really tell you whether or not you'll like the old ones because that they had more of the finishings, they are a little similar of the old ones. So great. So let's check out the next one next. All excited for that.

Support The Show And Send Ideas

SPEAKER_05 1:01:38

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 tasterspa.com, with any ideas for the show. Thanks again.