Happy Thanksgiving from the Whiskey Chasers!

SPEAKER_02 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. Happy Thanksgiving, all.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Yes, happy Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we have all brought our own bottles. And so this is uh not not gonna be a typical episode. We've all got our own and uh incites some sort of a memory and something that we are thankful for to discuss. So we're gonna get a little bit more personal this in this episode.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

The last so those that listened to the Liberty Poll episode, I don't know if you've listened to it, Chris, or not. I have not. Okay. Not pretty sure that Steve has. Yes. So we we talked a lot about bottles inciting a memory, bottles carrying a memory, and why the whole idea of why do we do what we do? Why do we choose a drink that we we may or may not enjoy, and then we try and we're like, oh, what this reminds me of this or that. Uh Steve made a comment that your family is not big drinkers. You didn't grow up as big drinkers, but there's bottles that you have that you're like, what the hell? Like, how does this remind me of growing up when we never drank growing up, right? And we've always talked about in the podcast like different bottles inciting a memory, or you taking us on our journey, Chris, right? So thought it'd be fun to have our own bottles that we have in our collections that incite a memory or have something tied to it that were like, we we may never finish this bottle. And if we do, we may have to replace it or not replace it depending on that memory or depending on what it was that.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

If you did, you might it might be different from what you're experiencing at that point, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Yeah, and I think it's something that we always talk about, but it's never something that we've gone in depth on. And so this is a uh this is a Thanksgiving behind the scenes kind of fun episode, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Like a round robin of of conversation in bottles, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

And so I uh a topic that's gonna come up here is is fatherhood, family, all that kind of fun stuff. So, what are we smoking with this?

SPEAKER_00 2:21

So, yeah, I uh just before we started recording, I was like, What are we gonna do with this? Like smoke-wise, you know what I mean? Because we're just trying, we're there's three kind of different things, obviously different things here. But this was something that I've been holding on to for a while, since 2017. It looks like it's a big bowl of chip. Yeah, look how like swollen, it's pre it's impregnated. I think it's ready to pop. But this Father of the Flame, this is another Cornell and deal. It's a small one of their small batches. But the they did this documentary, and I haven't watched the documentary, which is hilarious because it's like been on my list to watch since 2017.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Like they filmed a documentary, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

And it's called Father of the Flame, and it's about you know, pipe, pipe smoking, and you know, dads and grandpas and stuff, and how it's kind of been a thing that's been handed down. So they came out with a very special, you know, for what they said, English blend. And it was very limited. And I bought a couple tins back in, you know, not thinking a whole lot about other than it's cool. And I held on to them, and then, you know, with you know, my dad passing away, you know, not long ago, and then Steve going through something the same thing I did uh not long after me. And then, you know, talking about memories, spirits, spirits past, present future, Christmas, Thanksgiving. It's like all come, you know, all comes together. I think that this would be appropriate. We're gonna crack it open, see what it's all about.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Now, have you ever had this before?

SPEAKER_00 3:46

No, no, no, no, no. It's something I've been really, really waiting on because people uh did devour this. They loved it. Yeah, yeah. And it's not, it's not something they're ever gonna make again, I don't think. Like there's some things that they come out small batch, and then it comes back out and comes back out. This is not. This has been, I think this was just for that documentary, and that's that, and that's it. So, yeah, and it's a uh all I know is it's in English.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Can you imagine a distillery coming out with a blend or a special release just for a documentary?

SPEAKER_02 4:14

And uh, I'll have to look and see if I can find this documentary and like where it's available. If it's if it's someplace available, I'll I'll link it in the show notes for anybody that wants to watch it.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

How would you like to pair a feature film that explores the history craft and spirit of pipe smoking with a quality pipe tobacco? That's what I said. You know, I would like to do that. I would like to do that. Sounds right in my alley. So let's listen to the pop on this bad boy. Oh, that was a decent one. It's like a bush light. A bush latte. That's English, all right. Oh, wow. For you know, so you've never seen this earning. She's a little moist. Well, no, no. It just it smells like a really dark English, but it's a very light looking, yeah. Uh tobacco. Like there's some dark latiquia, but not as much as I would expect based on the smell of this bad boy.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

And do you know what's in it?

SPEAKER_00 5:08

I mean, I know the typical components of in English, but I don't know like the what this one um, like the proportions for this one or anything. And it I don't know if it says it on a 10. I don't think it does. And I don't know if they really released a whole lot of it. And English English blend done in the traditional way, no topping, no flavors added. Red and bright virginias and a healthy dose of Latiquia straight up. That's what it is. This was 10. So they made 2400. That's it. And this was 10, 615. And I think I'm gonna smoke a corn cob. A bing, a bing corn cob.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

And uh while while Chris is packing that, I think it's appropriate to start with you next.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Okay. So uh people are gonna be like, it's a cop out. Uh so the club did a barrel pick with Journeyman. And this is the bottle that I sat and tried to figure out what am I gonna take, right? We're talking about memory, we're talking about inciting a memory, what are we gonna bring? And uh so I don't know that many know I don't know that very many know the story behind how we started the club that then started the podcast, right? Which is kind of ironic to me. I don't know how much of an irony it is to Chris, but the the club, the idea of the club started in this room. In fact, I'm pretty sure it started in these chairs. So it was before Henry, it was before before you're firstborn, and we had both had really crappy weeks or months, and I don't know why we got together or how we got together, how the wives approved it or allowed it, whatever that is. I don't even remember what bottle. It was easier, right? Yeah, I don't even know what bottle it was that we were drinking, but we sat here and we talked about, we commiserated about how life sucked at that moment, and I think at one point, uh, we there was a pause and a silence, and I looked at Chris, and we both grew up in the church, right? We both grew up with the idea of small groups and uh small group setting of guys and really just growing together as a community. And I remember looking at Chris at one point and saying, Man, I wish that something like this sitting around a glass of something in a small, close-knit community could happen outside of the church, like that it could be possible outside the church. And so Chris was like, What are you talking about? Like that that that can happen here. And I grew up in Podunk, Indiana, where it was like Amish and Mennonites, and you don't drink, you don't even talk about it if you drink. Yeah, it was in the closet, right? You don't you don't do that kind of thing, and so I was like, That's not something that can happen. And we started trying to hash it out like what would it look like, and all this is you know, daydream about this would be so cool, this or that. Jump ahead a couple months and we start the club, which then the podcast came about. Now, when the club started, my younger sister, and this plays into why the bottle is so big for me. Is my younger sister was doing graphic design at the time for some companies, and so I reached out to her, said, Hey, we just started this club, we would love to do a logo. I don't know what it would look like. Don't you know? Here's kind of the words at the that time it was whiskey exchange, and kind of have a rough idea what we want. A glass is somewhere in there with you know rocks, maybe there's some liquid you can tell them. She created a logo out of kind of thin air, which is the logo that we have to do. And I was like, man, this is awesome! This is so cool. We have a logo for the club. I always thought, you know, a barrel pick would be awesome to do, but we don't have enough guys to do it. We don't really have the funds, we don't know how we're gonna do it. And starting out fresh, we had no idea what that would look like, right? So, four years down the road, jump ahead, four years, we're doing the podcast, doing the club. And we got to Journeyman for a podcast interview. And right after, I don't know if you guys remember this, right after that interview is when Micah joined the club. And Micah was like, What the hell? You know who Journeyman is? Like, how do you how do you know who Journeyman is? It was randomly and he grew up with one of the owners. Like he he he was like, I'm I know the family personally. Like, how do you guys know about this? And and then through all those connections, we got to Journeyman for a barrel pick. Now, on the club bottle, on the barrel pick bottle, they actually etched our logo on there in the club. So that's number one why this bottle is so meaningful to me is like it carries kind of that family crest, it's almost like a family crest at this point, right? Like my sister had involvement in this, and without her realizing what this what the potential was for guys and for the club, she just created this logo. And now this logo is on something permanently, right? It's it's on there permanently. And I remember coming away from that experience and going, man, this is so this is so much fun. Like that was cool, but it didn't really mean much. We got our bottles late November, I think, like maybe early December, and I refused to open a bottle of mine until I went to go to my family Christmas. And the main reason for that was I wanted to open it with my sister who had involvement without her realizing had a hand in this. And I'll never forget we actually sold the majority of the bottles before that family Christmas. And my my family doesn't really drink whiskey. And I opened up and I decided to open the bottle with my uh three brothers and my sister. And my dad wanted to try it too. So like everyone in the family was like, This is so cool. Like this four years ago, you had this idea, and we didn't think it would really go anywhere. And out of those four years, you now have eight guys that are like brothers that that rely on each other, that want to be around each other, that want to talk to each other and and do life together. And this family had, while we weren't understanding of it, have been a part of it the whole time. Out of that experience, that was the first bottle I've ever opened with my my family, period, and with my brothers. And for all of them to try it, and then two of them be like, Hey, how do I get my hands on a bottle? I was like, Oh crap. Like, we've we've already sold a lot of these. Like, I don't know if I can find one, I don't know if I can find two. And we finally found two, and for them to have it on their shelves, it's a trophy bottle, but they pull it down for significant or special people that come on guests that come over of like, I want to talk about this moment. I want to share this moment with you. It seems like such a cop-out to bring this bottle as like that memory, but that's there's so much that's tied with this bottle that I was like, man, I can't pass this up. Like this, this is one of those bottles that I will I have traded bottles with Chris for to get another one because I would because I was smart and ordered a case. Yeah, right. It's one of those that I I don't ever want, I really want to open, I don't ever want to leave. Like it just has such a significant impact on me. And while those listening are like, oh, that's cool, like it started a club and like came out of a club and came out of podcast. There's so much behind the scenes that I've seen and we've done that I'm like, I don't think Chris and I ever thought that it would last. Yeah, last or get to this point. Like, I I don't think we ever dreamed of that.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

That this bottle represents so much more than just a memory, like it it envelops so many different things. And I don't think it's one of those bottles that I don't think you can pull it down or drink out of it without it provoking some of those, or if not all of those memories and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

So I came from a family and a background that on both sides of my family we have alcoholics and recovering alcoholics. And my parents raised us and grew up with the idea that one sip of alcohol, one sip of beer will get you drunk, or become an addiction. Yep, it'll become an addiction because that's what you saw in the movies, and your your aunt and uncles were that, and so you didn't know any different. And so, for me, to present a bottle to them that is a hundred and twenty eight, hundred and twenty point seven proof. I knew it was up there, but 127 proof, a rye whiskey that most people say, A, that's unfriendly, but B, that's so high in proof. To present this bottle to them and for them to try and go, wow, I get it. I I understand it now. The validity that the club and podcast brings to the idea that drinking does not have to be about getting drunk is is insane.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

It's it's it's it's it's proved our point because you know what we were talking about is when we did sit in these chairs and when we did talk about that, a big thing that we brought up, because you were like, I don't think it can work, you know, this would be cool if it worked. And I said, you know what it sounds like? Communion. Remember this? We had this conversation, and that's why I always bring that up. Communion, communion. This is communion. Uh, but that's really what what the what the club is. When these when these the you know, the guys get together, and you know, it's like we use the bottle as a catalyst. That's we've always said that. And can this bottle be more than just what it is? And it has become that, and that's what you're saying. The it's it's validating everything that we thought, right, you know, when we were planning out the club, and that is something to be proud of. So that's a whole nother thing that comes out when you bring this bottle out.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Do you guys remember the names that we tried to figure out once we got a cease and desist for whiskey exchange? Do you guys remember the random names?

SPEAKER_02 14:35

No, I don't. I remember getting that and having to come up with a different name, but I don't really remember the process very much.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

One of them was whiskey communion, and it was based off of that idea, was okay, which is cool, but like we were like, I don't know if that like I don't know if it's we thought it was a little too on the nose.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Yeah, I do still think it's cool.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

I know, I think it's really cool because it it speaks to what this is, it speaks to how we view bottles, it speaks to how we treat alcohol as it's a communion. Every every bottle we open, every glass we have, it's it's a conversation beyond oh, I'm getting cherry, oh, I'm getting oak, oh, this is too high-proof. Oh, what is this gonna do?

SPEAKER_00 15:14

It's beyond a review, and it becomes something personal, it becomes a memory, it becomes a reason to get together, to get together, and dig deep and share and and do the things that you don't normally do on a daily basis. And that's the thing.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

I mean, when we get together, for one, there are eight guys that have pretty much all been the same eight guys for almost five years. There's been a couple of people in and out, but for the most, like six of them are from the beginning. So that means that six people have gotten together every month for five years, which and almost reverently, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Most most of us don't miss very often big life things and and shared, you know, joys and sorrows and and come together and and we're all you know in our 30s or so, you know.

SPEAKER_02 16:02

So that means we're in the the point of life where stuff is happening. Kids are being born, parents are passing, like people are getting married, whatever it may be.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

Careers are either coming ending or changing, or we're going through three. We've been the club has been together through three kids for you. Almost two kids, about to be two kids for Blake. We've gone through Cody getting married, and Cody will be leaving by the time. Hopefully not. Hopefully not.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

We're trying to convince him that in the next year or a couple of years, he'll be moving on.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

So we've we've gone through guys changing jobs, we've gone through guys having kids, we've gone through guys having more kids, and then we've gone through guys of getting married and then then some. And it's been so much fun to watch because of that. Like you talk about guys getting we have had four guys in four, five almost five years now that have said not for me and walked away. And out of those four guys, two of them constantly text some of us, if not all of us, and say, like, they're always trying to come back, yeah. Like, man, I miss you guys. Like, I'd love to get together sometime. I'd love to do this. Why? Like that that doesn't because it's special, right? And it it for most, it's like that doesn't make sense. And like that's what this bottle this is why I love this bottle because it comprises everything that shouldn't make sense. Yeah, all the stuff that don't make sense. It that's what it's comprised of. Even the flavor of this thing doesn't make sense. It doesn't, it shouldn't add up to this. And you're like, what the hell am I doing? What is happening? Right. Like this whole this whole bottle is a recipe of of things that just don't make sense, but somehow just works.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

Undulations, yeah, undulations, right? Yeah, and it is the the the clip is special in that way that that we've been going for this long. And in today's world, it's just hard to it's hard to it, it's impressive for the eight of us to be able to say that we have eight friends. Like that is that's a difficult thing for a lot of people to even grasp, you know. And and I would say we all are like it is it is to the point where we all are friends, like that in the in the truest sense. We we talk in the group chat amongst each other, but I think all of us have probably talked to each other one-on-one or texted back and forth between different things when when stuff's going on or whatever else. So that alone is impressive in in in this day and age to get together with people. And the bottle is our excuse to get together, but but really we're there to hang out and to talk and uh you know to see you know, whatever life stuff, serious or otherwise, we we talk about it all.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

So this bottle is very special. And in fact, Mary has a bottle of her own that I'm not allowed to open, but she shows everyone this is what we did. Yeah, it's something to be proud of. Yeah, it's something to be proud of. So, yeah, right. If you have a bottle and you're listening, the logo on it is something that again, my yeah, I'm I'm very proud of. As an older brother, uh, the the baby of the family is the sister, and I'm like, that that was her. I'm proud of that.

SPEAKER_02 19:07

And also, it took me, I think, at least a year before I knew that that wasn't just cracked glass. Yeah, I I thought it was just cracked glass. Really? Was the background. Are you serious? It wasn't until you told me that it's the layout of the streets of Columbus.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

You thought it was no, that was intentional. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I did not know. We we we workshopped that pretty hard. Me and Ned. We went back and she came back with us. She came with some really great ones, and then we kind of tweaked it, and then she went back. And when she finally like gave us what we have now, we were both like, that's it.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

That's it, that's it. The background story behind it is Columbus. It's looking down. That is Columbus.

SPEAKER_02 19:42

I didn't know that for a long time until until one of you told me.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Yeah, people are big into like you know, proud of Columbus. Like, it's actually pretty cool when you when you realize that that's what that is, it's it's kind of like, wow, that's a pretty damn damn cool logo. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

So we can't ever change the name.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

Yeah, right, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 20:00

And when you open a club in your town, are we gonna change the glass? Well, so are we gonna change the layout? That's the fun thing.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

Every chapter gets to decide but change the change the street layout to the city. They get to keep the name whiskey chasers, they get to tweak it.

SPEAKER_00 20:12

Yep, but they get to decide what's the background, like it could be theirs, it could be they get to name their club, you know, because we're the whiskey chasers, but we're the founders' clubs. This whole I that whole idea, not to peel all the layers, but all our secrets, but basically, yeah, you remember this, Nick. It came from Sons of Anarchy, yeah, yeah. Um, because I was a big fan, my dad was a huge fan, but I was like, it's just like motorcycle clubs, like they're all the Sons of Anarchy, but then you have this chapter and you have that chapter.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

Didn't you even talk about the the patches? Yeah, the patches, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was like, they all get to kind of change their patch up, but it's all underneath the umbrella of the fan of the the big, you know, the big club is the founders club. You know what I mean? Basically, they're they're the originals, you know.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

Which I still to this day feel very uncomfortable telling people that it's the founders club. I just for me personally, like, I didn't pick the name. They're like, Where'd that come from? Like, we threw out the the idea and we said, What do you guys want this chapter to be named? It couldn't be anything but the founders club. And everyone else is like, the founders. We have to name the founders. I'm like, can we in my mind? I'm like, can we name it something more humbling, please?

SPEAKER_00 21:15

Just chapter one, right? Can we name it something more humbling? I don't think I don't think the forefathers of this country were really kind of upset with it. I mean, they I mean, hell, they have their pictures up in stone at Malm Rushmore. Some of them like uh I don't think we're that bad. We can be the founders, yeah. It's like we have our name or our faces in the you know the edged glass or anything.

SPEAKER_01 21:36

So going from a journeyman to another journeyman, Steve, that makes sense for you to kind of transition that for sure.

SPEAKER_02 21:42

So yeah, my uh I'm transitioning to uh to the election day rye from journeyman.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Is this uh the term two or is this the term one?

SPEAKER_02 21:52

This particular bottle is uh it is term one and it's not the cast strength, it's uh this is just the 90 proof, it's all Also the red, not the blue. Uh it's neither. It's the yellow. It's the yellow. It's the neutral. It's the yellow. And so not the neutral, the libertarian. It's different. It's not neutral. Steve's definitely more into that. So yeah, I'm uh I'm the politics guy, but and we disagree on it. Yeah, but it's it's fine. It's what we do. Sometimes we agree. That's the fun part of the of the club, also, is that there is lots of controversy around the club, around religion, around politics. Uh, and we all uh discuss it, debate it, and are still facing it.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

And I've I've never seen any of it ever get heated. It's never, it's never gotten heated, which is weird because I mean I'll get more heated with my family, but I've never seen anybody be like it's almost like, oh yeah, we well, I didn't know you thought that way. That's interesting.

SPEAKER_02 22:48

We talk it through and then we move on, and that's it's like it's like discords allowed. So discord's allowed. So uh, but yeah, so but that's not why I picked this bottle. It was not uh election-based. Uh, there is no libertarian in the White House. So uh no, this bottle is uh in memory of my father. So dad dad passed away back in June, and it was unexpected. We didn't know that was gonna happen. That was uh I I think in in one of the podcasts, we were like, yeah, dad's going to the hospital to get this thing done or whatever. And then it turned into a lot more than it was. So uh and he passed on. But thinking about memories of all this, uh, every year dad and I did a trip someplace, and a few years back we went to Indiana Dunes to camp there, and so that was a new national park. We wanted to check it out. Uh, Amy and I had been there once before, dad had never gone, so we needed to go there. Dad's health was not great, and so he uh, you know, the long hikes and stuff. You know, when we started doing this yearly trip, it was like backpacking, so it was you know, more a little more intense and all that. And as time went on, we would switch to camping, but we did quite a bit of long hikes and and kayaking and all that kind of stuff. By this point, we were just camping, and as you know, camping at a state park, we'd go for kind of longer hikes, you know, four or five miles, whatever, you know, nothing nothing crazy, but not around the block either, you know. But uh on this trip, we decided Journeyman's right here, it's it's right near there. And that was the Valpo location, yeah. The the uh the new spot. It was right when they were opening, they were barely open. Uh so I was there right when it opened up, but like I said, it's only halfway open to that point, and they were giving samples of this, and uh, and dad and I tried some, and it is the only glass I ever had with my father. So dad was not a drinker, he he never he never drank. So, with the exception of a white Russian at a at a wedding, that is so awesome.

SPEAKER_03 24:56

This is the only thing the dude abides, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:01

So at some point he found that at a wedding, and that became his his drink for for things like that. I love that brand, dude.

SPEAKER_00 25:07

There's nobody that that's their drink.

SPEAKER_02 25:09

I love that. When we were cleaning out mom's house, the the the house, mom mom just finished moving and stuff, and and the liquor cabinet was like uh it was it was the crown salted caramel and uh and vanilla vodka. And the only reason was because he dad would add vanilla vodka to like uh orange pop. Okay, and it would make a dream single. I I always say, you know, I grew up, like I said, not drinking at all, but also if I went to my grandma's who as far like barely ever drank, but we would have grasshoppers like every time we went over there. It was just but it was just a mint milkshake with a shot of vodka.

SPEAKER_00 25:53

I mean, that's all it is. So, you know, that's actually a good cream de mint, which is like a super liqueur, and then uh little vodka and some some milk or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

And then just and it was just it was a milkshake. It was a mint milkshake, just happened to be made with cream to mint. You'd have to drink so much of that to buzz. Oh, exactly. That's the thing. I was I was drinking that when I was 10. Yeah, it's it's definitely not like a drink drink, you know.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

But like a funny thing.

SPEAKER_02 26:17

But like I didn't even know it was drinking, you know. So I I say that story, and then also say we never drink, right?

SPEAKER_01 26:23

I didn't know we drank. There's a difference, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:28

So the only but like only glass I ever had with dad was that when we were there and and and uh uh just taking a sample of it, at which point he was like, Why the hell do you do this to yourself? I was better to ask, was it one of those that he enjoyed too? Or was it just no? No, he was not a not a drinker, which I like vi you know, bourbon or whatever. It's just burn. It probably made the whole memory even that much better. It was, it was it was funny. We got like a laugh out of it and everything else. I I bought you know a few different things while we were there because it they had just opened. I think I got some stuff for the club, you know, different people had you know texted them, letting them know how it's going and all that. But yeah, that's that's about the only one that's funny with them.

SPEAKER_00 27:09

And you'll get this, Steve. You know, uh Nick, you won't, which is a good thing. Yeah, but eventually someday you you will. But what's funny, and you tell me if I'm wrong, but when your dad's alive, and you you have memories uh, you know, of being a kid, or even just like last week when you saw him, and there's certain things that you think, okay, I'm going to like remember that because that was a you know super fun thing or whatever. And you have these memories of your dad when he's gone and he's gone forever. It's like all of a sudden there's different things. There's different memories that mean so much more to you, and the ones that you thought you were gonna like hold on to. I mean, they're still there, but they're not the ones that bring like the feelings, no, and it's like the most random stuff that you're like, I never thought that that was gonna be stuck in my brain, or I've completely forgot about that. Then it comes out and you're like, you know, he was such a goofball here, or man, I was really proud of him here, and and stuff that you you didn't even know you remembered. And it comes out, but then all the other stuff that you've been holding on to the whole time he was there, it's like it's not that it's not important, yeah, but it's not it's the day-to-day stuff that you remember the most.

SPEAKER_01 28:17

Yeah, the most important thing. It's the little small things, yeah. I think the thing that I love the most about that story is as growing up with parents that don't drink, right? Is the fact that your dad was not a drinker, right? A big drinker. And for him to try it with you and then look at you and go, I don't get why you drink this stuff. The fact that he took the moment, the time he wanted to do it with you to want to do it with you. Like that, that like that's we talked about with Liberty Pole. The Ellen talked about that that's the thing that brings families together, like people together that they don't realize are like, I kind of want to see why you do it.

SPEAKER_02 28:54

Yeah, yeah. And that's the thing. I mean, you know, on this trip, it's a camping trip, and and we went, you know, we we spent half the day going off to this distillery, and like that's obviously nothing he would have wanted to do, and like you know, it's not something that he would have ever done outside of this, yeah, but it was close by, he knew I like doing that kind of stuff, and so so we went and he didn't bitch about it, he didn't want you know, he wasn't one upset or whatever else, you know, and you know, and so yeah, that kind of stuff always sticks around, and so that is why this bottle means so much to me.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

Was that one of the last camping trips that you guys were able to take together?

SPEAKER_02 29:37

It was because it was I'm trying I was trying to remember the the years for all this stuff, and it's uh in I I want to say it was 23 that the that we did this, um and uh 24. We never never got out there or anything because just life got in the way, and that was that was the problem for a lot of these camping trips, is we we tried to go for a little bit longer, you closer to a week, you know, not really just a weekend, but like at least four or five days, make it make it a longer trip. When we started this, we started it because my dad and my cousins used to go out to the boundary waters out in Minnesota, and they'd go out there and they'd be gone for like a week and a half or so, and they were and they were doing like these kayak canoe deals where they're like portaging and like a pretty intense backpacking sort of. What is portaging? Carrying it across land. So you're carrying your carrying your I just thought you called that hiking. Yeah, so like you're you're kayaking or canoeing through, you get to a spot where you can't go any farther, you take everything out of your kayak, walk it to the next spot where you're gonna get in, go back again, get your kayak and come back. So it could you could be going back and forth a couple of times, yeah. So yeah, you're you're you're going, you're hiking, but with a kayak or a canoe, and it's in the boundary waters. Like half the time they went, it rained like the entire time they were there. It was miserable, and they loved it, as you do, as men do, I should say. And I never got a chance to go. This was during my early 20s. This is this is when you're grinding for work stuff or college or whatever it is, and I I couldn't take a week and a half off. I never had a job that I could take a week and a half off like that. So I never got to go. And the first year that I could go, they stopped doing it. So so dad was like, well, then let's do it ourselves, and so let's just do a different one. And we went up to Michigan, we went up to the Manistee River, that unfortunately now people know, and it's pretty popular. It's a nice little loop around. It's a it's an it's a good two or three day kind of loop by backpacking trail. That when we were there, we saw two people the entire time we were there. It was fantastic. The second year we we didn't backpack, we backpacked into a camping spot and then set up there, but then we hiked out and canoeed and kayaked back to the campsite, and the next day hiked out to the car to get moved to the other side and hike back and then kayak and do all this stuff. So those first couple years were a little bit more, like I said, backpacking, a little a little more intense and camping stuff. And then after that, we you know it slowly dwindled in intensity. But went down to Red River Gorge in Kentucky.

unknown 32:34

That's a great spot.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

That's a great spot. Went up to the went up to Pictured Rocks and everything and and up in the UP and and went up there, the Jordan River in Michigan someplace, and Andirondex in Pennsylvania slash New York. Those were kind of all of our big trips. And then one random one where we went out to Cal we went to um North Carolina, and it was only because our camper that we have, the camper that we we bought is just a utility trailer that you can set up to put a pot to put a tent on top of it, and like the the front and back gate swings out, and you put your beds on there. So it's this kind of cool little elaborate thing, and it's super unique. We've never seen one out in the wild other than ours, and all the time people would want to see it and everything, so felt kind of campsite famous. But uh, it was like 300 bucks to ship it to us, but we figured by the time we drive out there and come back, it'll be about the same. Let's just make it a trip. So we went out and then camped it, camped in it on the way home, and so it was kind of a cool little random trip we did there, the one year.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

I don't want to bring it back to the club or the bottle, but we're talking memories, they're talking this inside in a memory. I don't know if we've ever talked about this before on the podcast, and we can cut it off if you don't want to talk about it. Is it getting heavy? Are we getting heavy? I just I knew it was gonna happen. I'm very curious. So the Saturday after your dad passed, why did you come to the club cookout? I remember walking in the house, you walk into the house and me looking and be like, Steve, what the hell? What the hell are you doing here? What the hell are you doing here?

SPEAKER_02 34:14

Surprised. Dad died on June 19th, uh, which I think is Thursday, maybe. And uh, and then that Saturday was the the cookout. And so at the end of every year, we do a we do a cookout. Um, end of every year, because our our club begins in July. That's the new year for the club for our bottles and stuff. But we do a a camp out or a little cookout there that that during that time. And I had been home for those couple of days after dad passed, and staying with mom, uh making the phone, you know, checking dad's phone to call and text everybody that had reached out to him. So he had been in the hospital for a couple of weeks and and was kind of touch and go on on responses. Um he wasn't in life-threatening danger until like the day before. So there was, you know, lots of people that had messaged him, but nobody knew it was as serious as it was. So going through and and calling everybody and and talking to people and doing all that, and it puts a drain on you when you're when you're doing that. So uh my sister uh was coming over and kind of relieving me to stay with mom. We we stayed with her for the next week or so afterwards, just to kind of make sure somebody else was around. And the club and being able to come back on that Saturday like that was able to um just like I said, see everybody. You know, get kind of talk to my people versus talk to dad's people.

SPEAKER_01 35:55

The reason I ask that is we we talk about bottles bringing up something more, meaning something more, and that bottled meaning the last trip you remember with your dad. That's pretty as someone, the only one in this room that I can say I selfishly I still have my dad. That's that's pretty that Trump's mine.

SPEAKER_02 36:14

It's it's it's um I'm glad I have it for that purpose and to think about him. And it's by no means my favorite bottle, but it's memory provoking. But the memory provoking part of it means that you know I'll always have it. And you know, it's about it's about half gone. It's not one that I reach for very often, but you know, I've I've already kind of decided that I'll I'll continue kind of the camping tradition like that. You know, that's always been something I I enjoy myself, but our our trip was always around his birthday, and so his birthday was is July 15th, so it was um, you know, right around there is usually when we when we would go. And this was our last big trip. We'd done a couple of weekend things, we have a family reunion every year that's a camping related. So like I'd been camping with him since then. But that was our last just the two of us camping trip. And uh, and so you know, it's the the memories around that are are really good because of that. And because dad, you know, he never it's not like his health failed him necessarily, he was unhealth unhealthy, but he wasn't like you know degrading in that way. So, you know, so he was still very capable uh to do a lot of stuff, um, which was great. Yeah, so this this bottle was pretty helpful in in that, and it just made a good made a good memory because of that. And uh with that the the biggest disagreement my dad and I had throughout life was uh was working career. Um, dad at the age of 18 went into that factory and he was gonna retire there, and that was the way it was. And I am the opposite of that. I changed jobs every year, I moved every year. My dad never lived alone. He never he went straight from his parents into moving in with my mom and them getting married. So there was very little, and they they and that house is where they've lived since then. So there's there was not the change kind of thing that I always craved. I had a lot more wonder lust in that way for that, and then that he didn't, and so when he passed and for the funeral, um the entire department called out and came to the funeral, yeah. So that essentially wing of the factory closed and everybody came, which none of us expected that to happen. They came to the calling hours the night before, which we we did that. We we made we kept that in mind when we did the calling hours was you know, what time to do this to make sure people could come and and then to have them all come that next day, his boss, all the line people, whatever, everybody essentially all called in sick that day and and came in, which was a pretty big testament to the culture and the people there. Or also to your dad. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. So factory workers will bitch and moan a lot about their jobs. I think that's kind of uh maybe a requirement, but but uh but when push comes to shove, they they certainly had each other's backs. So I definitely have a lot of respect for them in that way. And to dad's point, he or to to dad's credit, he you know had enough of an effect on people that his boss was also there, so and so that was helpful too. But yeah, I wanted to come to the club because I wanted to see my people and and kind of commiserate with them. And I don't do grief and personal stuff super well. Well, I shouldn't say I don't I don't talk a lot about my grief and everything. It's I'm a pretty internal kind of person.

SPEAKER_01 40:13

I think a lot of guys struggle with this. Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 40:16

Yeah. Um, but to know that you know, to know that Chris had recently gone through it with his dad, to know that you know, other people in the club had been through similar things, or or at the very least, would have some appreciation for it. I felt like it was important to get there and and talk to people.

SPEAKER_00 40:36

That's actually some of what I was gonna hit on too. And with my bottle too, it kind of brings that back. Yeah, um what are you? Introduce your bottle, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:46

Yeah, mine, and then we'll you got your glass fully drained, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 40:51

Um here in a minute, but I think it just segues right into mine. So my so I picked there actually was it was hard to choose because there's so many bottles for me, especially, right? Uh, that are I'm gonna be like, this has memory this, this has memory this. Like, I almost don't think I have anything on the shelf anymore that I'm not like, yeah, that's got a memory of some kind, you know, because for me that's more what it's about.

SPEAKER_01 41:13

I feel like that's you and me. Like I give you a bottle every time a kid's born.

SPEAKER_00 41:17

Yeah, exactly. Well, and I thought about picking one of those, but I did pick this one for uh more than one reason. And I don't know if you realize that. Uh probably you probably have no idea, Nick. But it goes along with what Steve was saying, and I didn't know you were gonna do that. But actually, this bottle is caribou crossing. So this is a bottle that I've been like, you know, before I got it, I was so excited to try it.

SPEAKER_01 41:39

Before you go, is this the one that Kurt gave you or the one that I gave you?

SPEAKER_00 41:42

No, this is the one that Kurt gave you. That Kurt gave you. Okay, all right. So actually, like, I don't know if you've noticed, but like I it's been like I haven't touched it since he gave it to me because it's still like that's where he gave it to me. So actually, I think we tried like a sip of it. Um, and then I've had it, I've had it one other time, but then now tonight. We always wanted to try this because this is the Canadian version of Blands, basically. If anybody knows Caribou Crossing, it's always, you know, but I'm a Canadian guy. So for me, I was like, this is it. And cool story was we went to Joe and Kurtz, and they have a ton of crap, like a ton of stuff, and so much stuff. And I got to try so many great things, but I was so excited about Caribou Crossing, and I can almost see like Kurt's face. He was like, Okay, you know what I mean? Like, I got all this stuff, and this is what you're excited about. But for me, it was like the idea of it, right? And I was so enamored by it and I loved it so much that he, you know, as we're leaving, he gives me this bottle. And I'm like, dude, you can't do that! Like, you know, it's like a half full bottle of Caribou Crossing. Like, I can't believe you're doing this. And I was very touched by that. It was very cool. That's a very special memory because Hudson had just been born, he was pretty little, and Henry was, you know, still pretty little, and we were, you know, on the jet skis, and I got sick, like the end of that, and I had to call off work and we had tubing, but we me and you split one of the best bottles of all time. Oh, yeah. I still have foregate. We literally so we drank a ton of stuff, and then we drank that for gate. It was a great night, it was a great weekend, it was a lot of fun, and that was before my dad died, you know. So, what was interesting is go, you know, to Steve's point, and this is this is actually that's not the memory I'm gonna talk about. The memory I want to talk about is the fact that this bottle comforted me. So when my dad passed, it was very unexpected, kind of like what you're saying, Steve. You know, he did he did end up having you know pancreatic cancer, so we knew it was coming. But he had a surgery that was supposed to be very innvasive, not not not a big deal. And I went because I thought you never know. It's literally I literally had a conversation with my brother Tommy, like, you know, should we go? Like, I think I should go just in case. And he's like, I think it'll be fine. He goes, I talked to the doctors, it's it's gonna be fine. But how about you go just in case? You know, let me know what happens. So I mean, he didn't even go because we didn't think it was gonna be anything. So So, you know, I went there and um got to hang out with my dad. And, you know, the next day he goes to the hospital. You know, dad will see you after the surgery. We're in the waiting room, and you know, it doesn't go well. And there that that was it, you know, and that was a tough day, very tough day. Which and and that tough day turned into a tough couple days, you know, and I was there without my family, you know, out of state, and I was by myself. And my my family was there, but not my family, you know what I mean? And uh the sucky thing was like, you know, I called them all to come. So they brought their families with them. But I was I was by myself basically, and it turned into like a rough week. I was there for like a week. Um, and I was only supposed to be there for like two days. And um this was the first thing I poured when I got back. When I got back and I, you know, had some time to myself, I cannot, and I poured this. And what I wanted so badly there was normalcy and comfort. And uh I didn't get it for like a week. And to you know, speaking to your point, coming to the club, that's exactly what you were looking for too, and and strength and you know, companionship and you know, guys to lean on, right? And you don't realize how much you value that until you need it. And, you know, you'll do anything to get it back in those moments. And I couldn't wait to get back to the club and stuff after that happened. And I couldn't wait to get back to my family and my kids and my wife. And and uh this is something that I poured because I had good, good memory from it, from you know how I got it and when I got it, and it was important to me. And then I poured it and it did comfort me. And that made a new memory. So now, like this bottle is something more, and I think Canadian whiskey is even something more, you know what I mean? Like for me now, it's a very comforting thing. But it was I'm finally, you know, I'm through a very tough time, hard time in my life, and I'm you know, I'm back where I have security and I'm back where there's some normalcy, and you know, super vulnerable, and now I'm can be a little bit more at ease, right? And I poured this, you know, for all those reasons, and I drank it and it did give me comfort and it did invoke those memories of that trip we had, you know. And um, but now when I see that bottle, I think more of like home, you know, I mean, after something tough, like it's it's special, you know. And uh that's the memory that I wanted to talk about because that one actually is uh not one I expected to have, you know. And but I can't not think of that when I see this bottle now. And and I think it it it's you know, it was such a a nice gift, you know what I mean? And it was such a a nice time that we had that I just wanted to reach for that in that moment, and that's what I got out of it. And now it's become this like feel-good bottle for me. So so that's that's why I, you know, like this. And I think that I'll always strive to have this on the show, yeah, you know, and in that specific bottle too. So I think I feel like I would dump my other one into this. Yeah, you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_01 47:24

Well, so I find it fascinating. Steve, you brought up an interesting point in your bottle that it's not the best bottle that you have. Yeah, I think it's fair to say with that, we all have really good bottles in our collection. Ones that we were like, this is our top shelter. I don't know that any of us brought that bottle.

SPEAKER_02 47:39

No, and it's to the point of whiskey being a memory, yeah. I don't even grab my best bottle that often. I I grab the bottle that's speaking to me on the memory that I'm trying to invoke, whatever that may be, or the the mood that I'm trying to create, whatever that is. And so and the the whiskey helps create that mood, whatever it may be. And so if I'm if I'm aiming for an outdoorsy kind of feel, then it's usually a scotch or a rye or you know, something with some body to it to think about, and I'm gonna contemplate it. And then if I want some easy drinker, just because I you know I'm I'm really more looking just to relax and just chill out, then I'll you know, go for some easy going $40, $30, whatever nonsense bottle. Just some bourbon, just some regular, just just just some bourbon. Yeah, and so the the whiskey does impart the feeling, whatever the feeling is that you're aiming for.

SPEAKER_00 48:38

That's that's I've always said this is the paint on the canvas, right? It's not the brush, it's not the canvas, uh, it's not the studio, but it is the paint a lot of times.

SPEAKER_01 48:48

I remember having a conversation with my mom when we I finally told her we're starting this club. Yeah, and her biggest question was why? Why what good will it do? Right, and that's coming from uh someone that has several alcoholics recovering alcoholics in the family, and not on the Amish side, not on the Amish side, yeah. I made a comment to her there's something about guys when you get around a group of guys and you get a glass of something, it doesn't matter what's in the glass, you you can never even drink the glass. But for guys to see oh, Steve has a glass of something in his hands. Oh, Chris has a glass. I don't care if you're drinking the glass, I don't care if you're sniffing the glass, I don't care if you ever touch the glass. But the fact that you have a glass, I now feel like, okay, I can have a conversation with you. And we we can go pretty deep.

SPEAKER_00 49:37

It drops your guard.

SPEAKER_02 49:38

It drops it's an immediate icebreaker, too.

SPEAKER_01 49:40

It is just, hey, what are you drinking? Right, exactly. And and for her, it was well, that's because you all of you are drunk. And that that was the hardest thing to explain. No, it's not that. It's nobody gets drunk. It's it's the idea of of even the crappiest bottles. We sit there and we try and go, Oh my gosh, this is terrible. What did you do today? How did today go? And like it it changes the whole perspective on a crappy bottle. That the next time you try it, you're like, Oh, we had this conversation about me last time having the struggle, like going through this, and the guys really sat there and went, That sucks. Yeah, that it becomes something more than what it was intended.

SPEAKER_02 50:17

Yeah, and that's the even bad bottles have a place on my like I I have a bottle of Cleveland, and it's and I have the bottle of Cleveland because of the story. Yeah, that that'll invoke some memory right there.

SPEAKER_03 50:28

And some actions, really bad ones.

SPEAKER_02 50:30

It's just it's it's the story, and I have it and I pull it down for for people that are whiskey drinkers. I pull it down for them and I say, Hey, first things first, do you know anything about this? And if you don't, try it, and then I want to tell you a story. Then we're gonna talk about it after you try it. Yeah, I want you to try it first because maybe you like it. People like it for some reason, so maybe you like it. It's got a whole hour of eight. And if you and if you do, then I want to talk to you about why why I disagree, and then we'll have that, we'll have that chat. And it is, it's it's the step one, and then after that, it goes into how's life, and then from there deeper into that, and then and then what is life.

SPEAKER_01 51:15

One of the things I loved, so I I met with Ryan from the club this past weekend, and we talked about he mentioned, oh, I listened to part of Liberty Pull on the way here, or you know, since since the club. And so we started talking about that, and he he he looked at me and goes, Man, the relationships that you guys have built for the club and for the podcast are insane. The relationships with the the the distilleries, and I looked at him and I said, Well, they're not really that insane when you think about it. Pretty natural, yeah, pretty natural. We're just we're we're nerding out with them about what they enjoy, but at the same time, we we're just open. I mean, the fact that we had on the last episode, the Liberty Pole one, you even made the comment, Steve, of we've talked about increasing the number of mics in our setup, and we might have to after this. I think we had to have some in the on the deck just in case the fact that we had eight people, eight people on the podcast, like their whole family wanted to show up and be a part of that. And nobody wanted to quit talking, right?

SPEAKER_02 52:15

While we're having a lot of people, we had to kind of cut them off on like quick time. So we're it's the second time we've had yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:21

Both of those episodes we had to cut in short because of everybody agreeing that we only had a certain amount of time for them and for us, you know. Like it's it's hard to stop when you're having fun.

SPEAKER_01 52:32

It's hard to stop. Well, it's not just hard to stop when you're having fun, it's hard to stop when you get started talking about this and people catch on. Oh, you you enjoy this too. And it all came about passion that all came about from a bottle that is the silliest of things. I mean, we're talking it's a beverage. Yeah, it's a beverage. We're talking corn at that point, like Coca-Cola. Yeah, it's a corner will be Coca-Cola. But the fact that we we sit there and we're like, you have a glass too. Yeah. Oh, you have a glass. Okay, let's let's talk, let's open up, let's, let's just be crazy.

SPEAKER_00 53:03

Different thoughts, feelings, and emotions and opinions based on the same drink shared by two different people. That's crazy to me. I mean, I think anybody that sits down and says, Oh, I'm getting exactly what you're getting, liar, liar. Poser. Okay, yeah. Like, like quit like quit being like that. Like, like this is gonna be different for even though if if it's the same thing, people are gonna have it differently because we all have different thoughts, feelings, emotions, memories, values, everything. Everything about us is different and unique. So you're gonna experience something differently than from me, and that's what makes it awesome. Like, let's talk about that. You know, like that's really cool. You know, if we all had the same experience, that's not cool. Like, that's boring.

SPEAKER_02 53:43

You know, that's a five-minute conversation.

SPEAKER_00 53:45

Oh, yes, it's just like you agree. You wouldn't even have to suck. Yep, yep, I agree. I agree. Like that's all we need to say because you're feeling the same thing I'm feeling. I don't need to say it out loud, you know. I love the fact that I have both of your bottles.

SPEAKER_01 53:57

Well, I don't have the the the wax color, but I have a term one of that rye, and I have your Kaboot Crossing this bottle in my collection.

SPEAKER_00 54:08

But you don't have the same attachments, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:10

I wouldn't grab them with the same idea. Yeah, but if I pulled it down for you guys without thinking, it means the world for you guys. Yeah, like that. That's the it's a it's so fascinating. You think about we're doing this on Thanksgiving, right? Families are getting together around food, right? Around things that are like, why would you do that? Why would you do this food? Why would you do that food? We get around this idea, food brings people together. This can also bring people together without realizing this does a lot.

SPEAKER_00 54:40

Along that vein, I just had a very interesting thought. How special is it for someone to share something? Because the way that you just described that, so if me and you went, if we didn't know, if we didn't have this night, and me and you went over to Steve's house and he pulled that down and said, I want you guys to try this, and he didn't have to say anything else, we would never know. But Steve is not sharing a bottle at that point, he's sharing something very special and personal to him, and he's trying to share that feeling that he gets with us, without whether he even knows it and we don't know it, whether he even realizes it or not, he gets this certain feeling from this and he's sharing that with us. How special is that? That gives me freaking chills, dude. And and I never thought about it that way. But when someone pulls something down and hands it to you to try, how potentially like, and don't even want to just say special. That's it's almost like uh, I don't know what the word I'm thinking. You're pulling a piece of you and you're sharing it. It's uh it's it's I don't know what that word is. When you're like it's like when you're uh, you know, what's that word? Well, like when you're like naked for the first time in front of somebody else. You know what I mean? Ashamed? No, no, no. Embarrassed? All right, yeah, I'm the opposite of that. I'm pretty, I'm pretty like proud of it. Uh no, but uh what's that word I'm trying to think? Not vulnerable, not vulnerable, maybe vulnerable, maybe vulnerable, but it's a very like that's a very private thing to share. And whether you even realize you're doing it or not, like that is just so special, you know what I mean? Like that I never really thought about that before. But that is a very cool kind of a concept.

SPEAKER_02 56:18

And I think about it, like I do it, and I don't necessarily always share the story. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. When I was uh when I went up to my parents and was helping pack stuff up here like last weekend, a buddy of mine from childhood was coming over and he was gonna help help us and packing stuff up. We needed some muscle, and and he's our most muscly guy. He's got it nearby. He's again good. So invited him over and I took with me our bottle, uh, the the the the club bottle to make sure that he got a chance to try some of it. I didn't give him that bottle, I gave him a different bottle, but but I wanted to make sure he got a chance to try it. It was one of those things where in for that for that particular moment, it wasn't it was sharing a memory, but it was it was mainly sharing pride when it comes to that bottle, the the club bottle, I bought it. It's like showing off our oldest son. Yeah, that's that's a pride bottle for me where I'm gonna make sure I share this with you. And I want you and I want you to know that you know this this is this is from a lot of years of companionship with some friends, and this this bottle came from that. And you I feel like I do that oftentimes with with various bottles and stuff. Um, but and it is that it is showing a piece of you, it's showing some sort of a thing.

SPEAKER_00 57:39

And whether they never know it or not doesn't make it any less special.

SPEAKER_01 57:42

It also might change your guys' even listeners' opinion. That idea of Steve, if we go over to Steve and he pulls this down, of like, hey, pour me something, and this is the bottle that he gets excited about. Think about going to a restaurant, think about going to a bar. We're like, hey, what's the last thing you had? Pour me that. Like, what are you excited about? There may be something tied to that they don't realize. The bartenders pull it down.

SPEAKER_00 58:04

Yeah, and this means there might be a reason they're pulling that, right?

SPEAKER_01 58:07

Like the conversation that can be surrounded around that idea of like, why did you pull that down for me? Like, let's have a conversation.

SPEAKER_00 58:13

There could be a whole study probably based on on you know what somebody would pull down given certain circumstances.

SPEAKER_02 58:20

I kind of feel like I want to go to some whenever I'm I'm at somebody's house or or a bar with a good bartender, and I just say, I want you to pour me a story. I just want I want you to pour me something that's gonna invoke some sort of a story. And I want I want a story along with it.

SPEAKER_00 58:35

I'll pay extra for that. Yeah, that is an interesting, that's an idea for a bar. Pour me a story for Liberty Pull.

SPEAKER_01 58:42

Yeah, Jim made a comment. Tell me the last time someone poured you a vodka that had a memory tied to it.

SPEAKER_00 58:50

It's a good point. Yeah, that is a good point. No age. I have a hard time with unaged spirits because of that.

SPEAKER_01 58:57

There's there's very little tied to it. This these three bottles could not be drastically different from each other in story, in reason why we pulled them down in memory, but in a moment where I feel like Thanksgiving and Christmas are the the holidays that you sit down and you go, What am I thankful for? We used to go around the table and my dad used to ask us, What are you guys thankful for this year? And as a kid, I'd be like, Well, this is the dumbest thing ever. Uh Christmas is coming. I don't know. Like uh, but I remember my it started because both my grandparents we all we always prayed before a meal. And before the prayer, both of my grandpas would look at everyone, and we it was a very large family, right? 20 plus people. And they both grew up with 11, 12 siblings depression. They they grew up with quite a bit of stuff going on. And not once did they sit there and think, I'm going to have a family tree that extends this far.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:00

They were probably blessed beyond what I ever expected.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:03

Not just extend this far, but all want to be together. And I'll I always remember around this time of year that that's something they always said to the entire family. And as a kid, I never understood, never got it. But they always made a comment of you guys may never know just how thankful we are to be able to stand here and see all of this. And I used to think, what a crowded basement? A crowded room? Like, what do you what are you talking about? See all of this. But like, that's this. That's these bottles. People ne they don't people may never have an idea what these bottles mean to everyone.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:41

Well, and I think that that's so cool, and that's why it's so important to have not just a bar, but like the idea of having like a shelf of memories, basically, up there, uh, is so cool to me. Like, it's it almost makes you want to not have anything except for like except for that, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:00

Yeah, and uh another part of all this is our pipes.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:04

Yes, yeah, what's interesting is I put mine down, you just lit that up, and now I can smell it. Yeah, it actually is a good smelling.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:10

It's a good smelling, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:11

I've enjoyed the smell quite a bit.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:12

Um, and we haven't talked much about this, I don't think, and and we don't talk too long about it. But for me, pipe smoking started because I found a pipe in my grandma's attic. Um, and it was from my grandpa Snyder, who I never met. I mean, he died when I was like two or something. There's you know, there's pictures of him holding me, but that's the extent of it. Like, no memories of him. I have stories of him that mom has told me or grandma told me, or whatever else. Guys in my life, great guys in my family don't live very long. All the guys have died young. So, like I I've had I had a great grandma until I went to college, and I had both of my grandmas uh until just a few years back. And so, um, but grandfathers, my my my dad's dad died when I was under 10. Uh, you know, so I was pretty young. I have good memories of him, um, which I'm very thankful for because my sister only has bad memories of him, and so because he had gotten sick and stuff. So she he she just doesn't have any by the time she remembered him, he was already pretty much gone. Uh and so whereas I have some some good stories of him. He never smoked a pipe that I'm aware of, but he did smoke a lot of cigarettes. So funny how that is. That that that's uh generation, yes, yeah, yeah. Um but my my grandpa Snyder smoked a pipe, and I still have that pipe, and it still smells like cherry because he smoked the cherry tobacco that was so popular at the time. I found that and I decided I want to smoke this. I tried it once and I hated it because I never dad didn't smoke, I never smoked in a household full of cigarettes, and cigarettes were a no-no. Because of my grandpa the way he was, my dad was very anti that kind of stuff. So that was a no-go. You know, but the pipes came about because of a friend. We uh a friend of mine decided he wanted to smoke one also, and so he went and bought one, and we fumbled our way around it for a little bit and stopped, switched to cigars, and then as you do, because it's easier, and then you go back to hard, yep, and then you just go back. But um, you know, pipes are again usually a generational thing, it comes that's that's generally how you come across it.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:32

Chris, what is your origin story on pipes? Yeah, I have an interesting kind of a different one than most. I mean, it's similar. Uh, my so I had a my grandpa, uh, he smoked cigarettes like crazy. Like he was like a three-pack a day kind of guy, like a lot. But he did have uh two pipes, actually, and I have both of them. And what he would do is he always had a pipe in his front pocket with his cigarettes, and every now and then he would smoke it. And for whatever reason, like when they smoked pipes back then, I it was aromatic, so it did smell good. So usually when you're around somebody who's smoking all the time and it doesn't smell great, when they light up a pipe, all of a sudden you're like, that is so much better, right? And that sight smell memory that you get, you know, with it. So I would sit on my my poppy's lap while he would smoke a pipe, and I loved it even when I was a kid. Like I would ask him, Poppy, can you smoke a pipe? Like that's how much I liked it. And what's interesting is I was probably 10 when he died. Uh, and it was one of those random things. Actually, he actually got he he died of pancreatic cancer as well. My dad went out to California and he died. And um, when my dad came back, I could tell it had changed him. But one thing my dad did was he brought these two pipes back and he gave them to me as a 10-year-old because he knew I that's how much I liked the pipe smoke. Even as a 10-year-old, I was like, I like this. So I was a 10-year-old with two real pipes. And what was interesting was I kept these pipes very like proudly displayed on my bed. Um I would smell them or pretend to smoke them from the age 10 until I was 18. I literally had these pipes for eight years and was every day was like, I'm gonna smoke a pipe when I get when I turn 18. Because we it was like one of those things, we didn't smoke either. My dad was like, You gotta be 18 if you're gonna smoke a pipe, obviously. They thought I'd grow out of it. I literally bid my time. So I started smoking the day I turned 18. I went and bought a pound of cherry tobacco. You know what I mean? Like, and I'm out there smoking, and my mom was like, Oh my gosh, what are you doing? You know, and I was like, uh, you know, my I remember saying my mom this there's some people in this world that smoke, and there's people that don't. And I smoke, and she was like, Okay, you know what I mean? And but it never stopped. Yeah, it I literally smoked, and like my siblings would make fun of me and my dad, and you're 18 years old and you're smoking a pipe. And I didn't have friends that did that. I was like the only guy. Uh, and I was like, I don't care if it looks cool or not, I like this, and I stuck it out, you know what I mean, to the point where all of a sudden, um My brother was like, oh, you know, pipe smoking is kind of cool. So he got into it. Then my other brother, my other brother. So then all four of us were smoking pipes. And then my dad started, he, you know, he started smoking pipes again. Uh and actually in this room, my dad and I would watch TV and smoke pipes. When he would come to visit, we'd smoke pipes. So um I just, and I remember my dad saying that one time, like, you just never, like you always wanted to do this and you never quit. Like you never like gave up on that. He's like, that's kind of cool. And I was like, yeah, like I doubled down, obviously. But I uh maybe triple. You know, so a lot of people will say that, my grandpa or whatever, and then they got into it. But I just it was one of those things like I knew I was gonna do it, and I've been doing it now for you know, I'm what 36. So you do the math 18 minus 36. I've been doing it that many years, and uh I've never stopped. I love it, like I love pipe smoking.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:51

So, with that, the the tobacco you guys are doing, this pipe tobacco, yeah, it is named for fathers and sons. Does it remind you? I mean, does it bring that memory about?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:00

Um, you know, I I uh think the idea is it does because like in English is an old world tobacco. You know, the reason why they call English tobacco English tobacco is just because in England that's what they smoked, it was a Latiquia type tobacco. Because really, an English blend is not an English blend. You know what I mean? That's just what they call it. Um, but it's I think it's an old world blend. Um, so in that context, yeah. My grandpa never smoked uh an English. An English blend, yeah. Neither did yourself like they back then they were smoking frou fru like cherry and apple and god knows what.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:34

Yeah, so holding a pipe reminds me of uh just old, just whatever old may be, you know. Um I said I for me the pipe was never I didn't even know you smoked until I was dicking around in the attic and found it. So usually how how it worked at my grandma's house, she had one of those L like like elven half doors into the attic, and that's where all the decorations were. And since I was the kid that was short, I could get into it to get all the stuff and drag it to the front, and then they would take it from there. But that left a lot of waiting time for somebody to go take take the tote downstairs and then come back. So I would just fiddle around in there and just looked at everything. I'm I'm nosy when it comes to that kind of stuff. I I I liked family history and all that. I found a a binder full of all of grandpa's old uh military records and all that kind of stuff, and this was with it, and so that's how that came to be. So it wasn't until I found it that I went down and showed it to grandma, and she was like, Oh, yeah, that was your that was your grandpa's, and you know, it was an old Dr. Graybo, just uh, you know, back then those things were legit. Yeah, so it's not really necessarily a memory, but it is like like an homage, yeah. Like it's a it's a lost, like everyone homage, homage, an homage to grandpa that I never that I never knew. So I think in conclusion, we're thankful for whiskey, yeah, because of the memories that it provokes and pipe smoking for the same reason.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:08

Speaking of, if anybody was curious, I was gonna mention this, that the English itself is uh light, but it's got a lot of full flavor. It does. And what's in it's a little spicy, it is, it's a little spicy, it's like there's Parik in it, but there's not.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:21

Yeah, it's it's burning down really nicely, too. It's it's been a really nice smoke. It's a it's a I understand why people went for it to good English when it came out. Um, it's not just nightcap. No, no, it's really not. It's not, it's a very good English. Um, I'm excited to try to find this this documentary. Uh, I wanna I wanna see if I can find it and watch it. Right. I'd like them.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:42

We ought to watch it together, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:43

Cause I'm I'm I'm real into documentaries right now because Ken Burns uh Revolutionary War just came out. So I've been watching documentaries here lately. It's on PBS, PBS, which is free. You can get hop on the app for free and watch it. You can watch all eight episodes to uh 16 hours of Revolutionary War documentary.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:05

Can we get on PBS? Yeah, it's free. Can we could we record ourselves and throw ourselves on PBS?

SPEAKER_02 1:10:09

Yeah, I legally, I don't know. I I think I think if we talked to somebody at the Ohio channel, uh, I feel like we could absolutely have a show. Although I don't know if they would want to support uh whiskey and pipes. So vices, yeah, vices. Um with memories, with memories, yeah. We call them something different, exactly. Yeah, uh, and so maybe oh q is gonna come up with a streaming service on weekend.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:36

What do you call it?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:36

What do you call it something different? Medication? Yeah, curious what ails you. Hey, uh we marijuana's legal.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:48

So, yeah, I think I think we are all pretty thankful for whiskey and where it's brought us, uh, in terms of of all of us coming together. Yeah, uh, this is the catalyst. This is how I can I met Chris. I met you through work, Nick. This is how we but we really connected through this.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:07

We connected through this, and then you ever think about like it's crazy when you meet make one of those connections. Like, what if we had never met Steve? Right, dude. Talk about missing out. Yeah, like, dude, I can I can't imagine my life without you in it, Steve. I just can't. Same. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:23

Yeah, Nick's fine, but you can take an agreement.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:25

But but really the thing is right here. This is the connection. Yeah, yeah, this is important.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:30

That's just okay, you know. So, um, yeah, and the the last thing I want to say is a thank you to the club and to the podcast, everything else for bringing us all together.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:40

You know what, Steve? We we have to pause on that. Yeah, Chris and I would never have done this. In fact, I mean, even prior to the club, we had our wives saying, You guys need to set up a camera or mics or something. We guys talk about it. You need to do this, you need to do this. We're like, why would we do this?

SPEAKER_00 1:11:54

And then we started the club and Steve first, Nick, and then Nick and Steve pushed me.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:58

Well, Steve Kim's like, what if we did this? I'm like, cool. I mean, what's a podcast? Yeah, like oh, yeah. I've never listened to one.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:05

Yeah, so like I still haven't listened to a ton.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:08

This this wouldn't have never happened without you. Like, you you thank us, but like, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:14

Podcast part, sure. That's the only reason you guys are listening. But uh but yeah, but for the club and and us all getting together the way you are, and like I said, the the friendships that are created from it. Um, and I will always remember that Saturday coming back to the club. And I will always remember saying, What the hell, Steve? What are we doing? Right, exactly. Walking in the door, what do you what do you do? We all did our kind of uh fairly customary, but but a little bit more so that time, all the hugs and all that kind of good stuff. But because we're all guys and we don't really do the whole the whole uh uh sweet uh all uh emotional thing, um, I was incredibly thankful for that for that day because uh my dad didn't come up very much. It was it was all very quiet. There is the customary like let me know if you need anything or we can talk or whatever. And I don't think anyone said that to me the whole night, but I knew that it was there, and uh, I'll just always remember uh talking as if nothing was wrong and talking for like ever with Cody that night about different stuff and knowing that it was there and available to be talked about if needed. But in terms of like you said, Chris, just wanting a normal day that was very good, that worked out really well for us. So thank the club and thank the podcast and happy Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:44

Happy Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:51

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 tasterspama.com, with any ideas for the show. Thanks again, we can see the next one.