Leather and Oak Distillery!

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. 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. We were talking about Boswell's Northwoods, which is what we're gonna smoke with this this bottle today. With a new bottle. It's the McClellan, uh the nuke McClellan. Basically. Okay. We're gonna pop it, pop it today. Fantastic. And with it, we're having a local brand, a uh Leather and Oak, which is made in Hilliard here in Ohio.

unknown 1:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

And so just a little bit outside of Columbus. They were nice enough to send us this bottle.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

They were. They were very nice to send us this bottle as uh they wanted uh our opinion on it to see what we thought.

unknown 1:11

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

So we uh there's a there's a TikTok rolling are just floating out there of just me talking about it, saying, hey, we're gonna have this on the podcast. But here's a brief idea of what I'm getting off of it. So uh this is the full episode.

SPEAKER_02 1:25

The full thing. Yeah, the full Monty.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Yes, the full Monty. So what's crazy is just a little just to start it off because I can't not talk right now. But I just so I just popped this Northwoods, and I haven't had I have tens of McClellan Frogmorton stored away, but that was my like go-to blend back in the day. And like popping this open, it's like I just popped a tin of McClellan. It smells like it, and it even the cut is even the same, which I forgot about. So I'm pretty pumped, and it's really I mean, look how dark that is. It's got a lot of Latikia. You see how dark that is? Yeah, is it dark from age or dark from the tobacco? Both, really. Yeah, both. There was a lot of there's a lot of Latikia in this one to begin with. But you smell that that smells like straight up like camp flooding. And it smells a lot like McClellan.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Smells amazing, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

For the people that know, it's like that without some of that vinegary. There's a little bit of vinegar that you get from like McClellan that you don't exactly get here. But this is close, and like I was telling Steve a minute ago, I'm gonna pack this pipe up. I'm only smoking corn cobs today. Because for the listeners, we're doing like a camping whiskey thing. But I was telling Steve about this blend that I was like back in the day, that was my go-to. Like, everyday blend was McClellan, like regular old frog on a log, like frog morning. And I think people listening probably know that by now because I've mentioned it a few times. But that was like my go-to every day, and I had tried back when you could still get it, it was like just regular like production. I tried Boswell's Northwoods just because I heard it was good and I like Boswell's stuff. And I remember trying it, and I was like, oh, this is very similar to like my Frog Morton, you know, but I liked it even like enough on its own that I bought a bunch of tins of it and I would smoke it periodically. And what was cool was when Frog Morton went out of business, or McClellan went out of business, I remember having that thought that, oh well, at least I still have Northwoods. And then fast forward to like, you know, last couple years, if you get online and you look up like replacements for Frog Morton, Boswell's Northwoods is like one of the top ones. So if you've ever wanted to try it and you can't get it, this is a good and it's available. Like you can buy this stuff. It's really good.

SPEAKER_02 3:47

Yeah, he said this is still being made, still available for the most part. You can you can get a hold of it. Nice.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

Yeah. I think, I mean, honestly, I think it's very close to like what McClellan was doing without the fact that it's McClellan was using very special leaf that they couldn't get anymore, even towards the end of their thing. And I don't think I mean, not to say that that Jim's not getting good stuff, like good leaf, but I mean I think that McClellan was getting like superior leaf.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

I love how you talk about these guys like Jim from down the road. Yeah, Jim Boswell.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Yeah. No, if that's the thing about Boswell's, is if you buy something from him, he will like personally email you, like the guy. Yeah. If you go to the store, like he will talk to you, him and his son and stuff. It's like a family-run business. And his pipes are legendary. He makes big chunker pipes, yeah, and he handmakes them, and every week he drops new pipes because he's like, I made four this week. Here you go. You know, and that's and they sell out, and that's it. And then he doesn't have any for like another week. So if you go to a store, he has pipes, but like online he only drops so many per week. And they're reasonably priced, they're good, like working man pipes. They're cool, yeah, and they're one of a kind because he like hand makes them. So and then he hand blends these things, and just a really kind of nice, cool, down-to-earth sort of guy, but he's a legend. Like one of the legends. One of the legends. Legendary. Legendary.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

Ooh, yeah. Yeah. The uh it's got a nose. Yeah, it's got a very uh the nose is a leather noak, the bourbon, yes. It's it's got a schnazz. It is uh got a lot of nose to it.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

What's a proof on it? 94.5. It smells proofy. Like I haven't tried it yet, but boy, that's smell it's got some ethanol smell to it.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

It's a little on the younger side, and so we don't know in age, but I believe it's like between like three and four in that realm. That color is light.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Light, like so. This was sent to us, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:46

This was sent to us, yes. As the story goes, we so we uh Cody and I were at a a weller tasting and uh met one of their marketers or a marketer or friend of the distillery that's a marketer for them. And he that's his job, he like markets the yeah, like on the side kind of deal. It's it's as I understand it, not not necessarily a paid position, but one that he really enjoys doing. They're f I believe he's good friends with the owner. And so when he found out he was doing his own stuff, was like, hey, I would love to help get this out there. So we got to talking to him, and he found out that we have a podcast, and then was like, Well, have you guys ever tried this?

SPEAKER_02 6:28

And I'm pretty sure that Steve and I have met we met somebody at the at the Craft Spirits Festival. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Um there in Del was it in Delaware? It was, it was up at uh Hemnik's brewery. So we uh we we met someone from the distillery up there. We got to try some of their stuff. I didn't remember much about their stuff, other than I recognize Leathern Oak as the name. And uh he was like, Well, if we send you a bottle, would you guys be willing to share your thoughts on it and tell us what you think? Sure. Yeah, I'll take a bottle. I mean, absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:01

I'll take a bottle and I'll give you my honest opinion. For anyone listening, we will take a bottle. And and we will be honest about it.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Yeah, especially me. I'm not gonna pull any points.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

We will gladly give our honest opinion on this guy. So um, it took them a while, but they they sent us batch number six of their their bourbon, which is probably the newest.

SPEAKER_02 7:21

Probably, yep. I would guess that they were they didn't say this in their note, but based on timing of this, I think they were waiting until this batch came out before they sent it to us.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

It sounds like it's very the guy, the guy was very cryptic, uh, and very secretive because I was trying to pry out, like, okay, can you tell me MASH build? Can you tell me anything about this? And he kept saying, like, talk to the owner. You gotta talk to uh Steve, I think is the one of the owners. He's like, You gotta talk to Steve, gotta talk to Steve. Steve is this is his passion, he loves talking about it, he'll give you all the details. I probably couldn't. Um, but he did the only thing he did tell me was it is very small batch. And he was not even sure that he's had one batch taste the same as the other. Like they've they very much pull the batch out, they try it, and they go, Yep, this is good. This is what we want. We're gonna put this out. But he's like, I don't know if we've ever had batches that were the exact same as the other one.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

And it seems like there's a new batch about every six months, is kind of the at least here lately. That's been kind of their flow. I was doing some research on this and I was watching a like a YouTube video, and it was it was put out about five months ago. And the video, the video was. Um, I don't know when they recorded, but badge five was just about to come out at that time. So it seems about that, and this is badge number six.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

They he also told me they have a 14-year, maybe, or 14 or 16-year-old whiskey. But that's not theirs. It's not, so that one is not theirs. This is this is theirs. Out of Hilliard. Out of Hilliard, yep. So when they first got started, they were sourcing some some stuff from local here in Ohio to get stuff out, get a product out, and really allowed to finance the rest of the stuff that was sitting. But now this is now they're at the point where they can start pulling it even in small batches and start putting out their own stuff, yeah, which is so interesting. Like you, you just tried it.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

Well, I'm I'm I'm trying not to like freak out over here because I kind of came into this with like it the nose, the nose like like smells kind of ethanol-y, it doesn't have a whole lot. It's an interesting nose, but it's not usually you get that and it's like a dud or like really not good. Like, kind of like, oh, you know, we're small time and taste small time, and then the color is very light for an American whiskey. I don't know if I just paired this perfectly with this tobacco or what, but this is really good, like this is really good, and it's for only that proof. Uh there's a whole lot of flavor going on. There's a lot of flavor.

SPEAKER_02 9:55

Now, we have tried this once before. We have, and so we were at one of our club meetings, and so we had tried it there. Have I tried this? Yes, very small amounts. But here's the thing: so when we're at club together, we're trying a hundred different bottles. There are so many things we're we're trying everything, and so because of that, I've it's it's hard to know what's actually good and not because everything's building on top of each other. Yeah, when we had this the first time, this is to remind you of what you said at that time, it's the same thing we all said, which is like this is uh a a word there's caramel, like it was that's right, straight that's right, caramel candy. And I don't get that this time, it's still caramel, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:39

Like it's but I'm getting a lot of what the the name leather and oak, obviously. But also, I that's why I was saying because we load we just lit up uh one of the most leather forward tobaccos that I can I would recommend to people, right? Because like English tobaccos are kind of leathery, you know, Vladikia, but I have never equated like nightcap to leather. Right. I've never been like, there's a lot of leather going on in nightcap. Now, I did say that about McClelland, their English blends all the time. And I actually say the way I describe it is leather, and this is gonna sound terrible, but burnt tire. And I like that.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Nope, like the smell of burnt tire, like burning rubber, like burning rubber, kind of, yeah. Like, okay, tire on fire, or like you're doing donuts and burning rubber. No, like tire on fire.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

Okay, yeah. And then creosote, which I have said that about Nightcap, but the leather specifically, very leather, is McClellan and also this blend for sure. I mean, are you getting that quite a bit with that? It's a very rich tobacco.

SPEAKER_02 11:41

I don't know about the burnt tire, but the creosote and the leather, for sure. I get both of those.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

Do you guys lick leather often or like regularly?

SPEAKER_02 11:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

Sit in a real leather chair long enough. I feel like you're eating it. You know what I mean? The burnt tire I get more from McClellan, not so much this. If that's uh that's that's probably why you're not really getting any of that, or that's just crazy, which it very well could be just my mental like illness, like of oh yeah, burnt tire. Yeah, that's not normal.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Not normal, yeah. So the golf of Stephen, Chris, you'll you might remember this conversation. When we had it first for the club when we opened it, we immediately read what it said on the back and went, okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Is it not? Is it kinda?

SPEAKER_01 12:24

It says, so this bourbon balances the notes of vanilla, caramel, and oak with a rich smooth finish. And we all went, That's bourbon. Right. Like that's bourbon. This is before we even smelled it earlier. We we all took a like a whiff of it and went, oh, these are spot-on notes. Like, this is literally like butterscotch in a glass. Like normally they're like, Yeah, you get leather or you get you know oak or you get nuttiness and you smell the thing was very carmely.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

I just versatile. I'm not getting that much today, but this is the first thing I've drank all day. Well, bourbon wise, whiskey-wise. Right. And again, we're pairing it with this tobacco. So I don't know if that's part of it. I've smoked a little bit, then drank. But for one thing, this is pairing perfectly.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

It really is.

SPEAKER_00 13:07

And for another thing, this has just got a lot more flavor than I would have expected from Hilliard, Ohio. It's just opened, not much color, probably not aged that long.

SPEAKER_02 13:17

Yeah, these guys have been around since 2019. And so they're six years old, basically. And they used to be up in Utica, Ohio. So north a little bit farther north. They were called Mill Street Distillery. I feel like I've heard of Mill Street. And so that's how they started out.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

We did one on uh not Cleveland, it was uh Cincinnati. Didn't Cincinnati have something to do with Mill Street? Sycamore. Sycamore, okay, maybe okay.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

No, so yeah, they used to be called Mill Street distilling. They closed up shop. Mill Street Blues, right? Uh it's the same owners, same distiller, same everything. I think they just bought out some other people and then moved down here. And so, like the barrel probably was stamped with Mill Street distilling. Like, so basically just a name change, and they moved locations. They have a Rick House in Groveport, so that's where they're keeping it's probably some warehouse down there. Yep, some bar down there for still and so uh, but they're distilling in Hilliard there in like their garage. And so this is a very small batch sort of operation. They're they're using a 75-gallon pod still, still, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

So it's it's funny you bring that up because the there so the owner, Steve, was nice enough. I'm pretty sure it was Steve that did all this, but he sent us a whole note, like a like a whole page of like apologizing for it taking so long, but explaining like this is their newest batch and the awards they won. But at the end of it, he also said, Would love to have you guys here. Just call my cell phone ahead of time because we're a very small operation. And I at first I was like, How small? Like, it seems kind of odd that you're giving out your cell phone number to be like, Yeah, we're just really tiny. And then you just mentioned their their size of the still. I'm like, Well, that is tiny tiny.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

So, like, like that's tiny, tiny. Like, that is all they have. They do all of the distilling there in like a two-card garage. And so it it, yeah, and that's where they bottle. That's like smaller than that four five one means so. This is a small operation.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

I I the fact they're putting out something of this like quality.

SPEAKER_02 15:23

I want to know what they're doing. They won their double gold in San Francisco, which we've talked about. That means a lot, may or may not mean things, it may or may not be a thing, but it did give them get them into like Forbes magazine and all that kind of stuff. Hey, you get the sticker on your bottom. I'm cool with it.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

I get that we've talked about that that competition of like if you submit, you get a sticker kind of thing. You get some kind of middle. We often equate that like, is your stuff junk? Like, really, what kind of what what do you really put out? This is this is not.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

I don't remember if we talked about this aspect of that or not, but like if you are whether you win it or not, if you are submitting something, you probably have a good product, right? Because that means you care enough that you care enough and you're trying to and you're you're saying I think you might do well. Yeah, you think you might do well. I mean, if you're just submitting to submit, you're probably sourcing anyway, so who cares? But like if you make it yourself and you put yourself in for it, that means you have faith in your product, and that that means it's probably good.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

Yeah, when when we were looking into all that, I the what I took out of my research into the San Francisco Spirits competition is like double gold and above is actually good. Gold is pretty good, but like uh most things would win gold. Right. If you have silver on it, you shouldn't do that.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

You just shouldn't put it on it.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

That's that's kind of when I was looking at like the list of all the winners, there was a big gap between double gold and gold in terms of like the number of people that won everything because they they separate out the categories for this thing, like insane cat. There's there's thousands of categories, so because of that, there's thousands of golds, and then as they narrow down, they go with the double gold. And I think I don't know what else there is. I think there's something above that.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

So they're making their own the tiny operation.

SPEAKER_02 17:12

Do we know anything about mash bill or eight uh you threw you threw me off a little bit because I thought when I looked at this video from five months ago, I was like, all right, this is gonna be pretty current, and they probably aren't gonna do the thing they were talking about by now. But we're talking two batches later because they were five was just about to come out, they were drinking four. At that time, their mash bill was 100% corn.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

Wow, that's different.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

Yeah, I wouldn't say this is 100% corn.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

No, this is not. This has got some I feel like this has got some rye or something.

SPEAKER_02 17:42

So they're spicy. They talked about their new mash bill, and I don't know the percentages, but it is a rye and malted barley, corn rye and malted barley. And based on what they were talking, it sounds like the malted barley was a little bit higher than like their normal small maybe like a nine, nine percent exactly. Yeah. Now, also watching this video makes me want to go to their distillery and take them up on this offer and maybe interview them because they have a farm up in Delaware where they uh raise rye, and they have a bottle of rye.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

I thought that it was harder to grow here.

SPEAKER_02 18:22

Rye does okay in Ohio, and so it's because it's wintery here, so that's okay. They don't have they don't make enough rye on their own for farm to do anything bottling-wise, they just it's too small of a field. They can do some experimental stuff and they might come out with some specialty bottles in the future, but nothing that's gonna be on the market on a regular basis. They did, though, have some other Ohio grown rye that's not theirs that they are were bottling. And so it sounds like there's a decent chance of a rye in their future. So they're they're it might make okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

Yeah, okay. Which I want to know what they're doing to get this kind of flavor. Yeah, because if you have a rye, unique flavor, you can kind of get this flavor with a rye or be unique with the flavor you get out of the rye. Now I'm very interested. I'm intrigued.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

Yeah, there's a good amount of flavor that's unique enough to. I haven't had anything like that specifically in a while. There's not a super long-lasting finish, but I didn't even expect there to be this much flavor in the beginning. So, what it's lacking in finish, it's making up for in flavor. For again, something that's starting out doesn't probably doesn't have a ton of time on it. I I'm pleasantly surprised. I'm too. I kind of came in thinking this was gonna be like a blah blah blah. And I mean, and we're gonna talk about some kind of blah blah blah stuff, which there's nothing wrong with that because we're going, we're doing this uh camping whiskey kind of theme, and that kind of is blah blah blah, right? You know what I mean? Like you don't want the whiskey to take over your camping experience, it's just gonna act you're eating beans for crying out loud, right? You're sitting around a campfire eating beans, you just want to, and you actually don't want something with a long finish.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Yeah, you don't want something with a long finish, you don't want anything super complex, you want something that matches where you are and your experience.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

Woodsy campfire kind of I was gonna say you're normally camping when it's hot out, too. Like that the season is gonna be hotter, right? So this you want something lighter, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:19

By the time you practice, it should be chilled out enough a little bit. But the only other thing that I would say it would be the price. Because for so for a camping whiskey, you'd also want it to be probably a certain around a certain price. Yeah, right. So what are we looking at for this? Do we have any idea?

SPEAKER_01 20:33

I don't know off the top of my head. Steve's gonna look, but funny you mentioned so not price tag, but the flavor you're getting and everything, Chris. It took me two times to of trying this, so this is my third time having it. The second time, it took me almost 20 minutes to figure out what it was that I was feel like I was getting, what this reminded me of, and why I'm not appalled by it. I'm not gravitating towards it, but I'm not upset. Yeah, this is the most Canadian flavored whiskey I've had from America.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

Okay, it's because it's sweet a little bit and it's got some rind to it.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

But it's also got that car that like traditional like caramel maple, kind of syrupy kind of flavor without being syrupy.

SPEAKER_00 21:18

It's not uh and I wouldn't for anybody listening, I wouldn't think maple.

SPEAKER_03 21:21

Right.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

Uh, but I see what you're saying. It's a the but the syrupiness is not a thick syrup. Yes, it's just a little sweet. It's it's it's it's very kind of a thin whiskey in in the in the air quotes mouth feel, and I in in a good way though. I like that, especially for what you're talking about for camping whiskey. It's not clawingly thick, it's not super sweet, but it's not unsweet either. Right. It's got the bourbon sweetness with a little bit more of a punch of I hate to say leather, but because it's on the bottle. But that's literally what it is. Granted, we are smoking this English tobacco, but. I am getting quite a bit of camp, not campfire, but kind of like that camping char. Char. Yeah. Char. That's the word.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

Yeah. Uh it's 60 bucks.

unknown 22:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 22:11

Yeah. 59 and some change. So 60 bucks, which is probably the top end of your like going camping kind of bottle. Yeah, you're paying a tax for being small badge. Exactly. You're paying a tax for local. Which I get it. Which is, yeah, exactly. That's appropriate.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

But how many other local distilleries here in Ohio could you say that's a camping bottle? I could take that I flavor-wise, everything, I could take that camping and still get this feeling, this reaction.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

Of normal batches. So nothing special, just normal batches. I don't think so. Like watershed, we all love watershed, but to me, that's not a camping bottle. I don't generally take watershed camping with me. I don't know. I don't know what a Middle West normal is.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

I think the only other one we haven't put in the lineup here so we can talk about it because we're not going to be doing it. And I thought about this uh after I spoke with you, Steve, is regular high west.

SPEAKER_02 23:06

Oh, high west. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

That actually would be a good one, right? Yeah. Yeah. That one I could see throwing in a backpack and away you go. You know what I mean? Uh that one, uh, we'll we'll we have some other ones lined up. There's another one that I'm thinking of that I'll talk about later on that we are not that we're not gonna do, but that could, and I'm kind of glad we're not doing because I don't like it, but it would also go along with the vibe. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

Um but can you think of any like Ohio distilleries that fits that?

SPEAKER_00 23:32

No, no, I don't I can't think of anything like that. I'd be like, that's I mean, nothing from Middle West comes to mind. Certainly nothing from high bikes. Same thing with watershed. I didn't no, this is and honestly, like at first I was like, I don't know if this would fit, but the more I look at the bottle and the more I drink it, honestly, everything but maybe the price, which again is not a big deal because you're paying local. This is a local bottle, so that's different. I'm just saying the price because you're not gonna want to take anything too expensive camping, because if it breaks, right, right, you don't give that much of a care about it. You're more upset because you don't have something to drink than you are about losing a $60 bottle, right? So, like if you can get it closer to that $30, $40 your top end, just because it's camping, right? Other than that, this actually fits the bill. This actually really fits the bill in my mind in a flask. So that's something when I go camping, there's fly fishing involved if I can get to it. And there's if there's fly fishing involved, there's pipe smoking and and flask drinking definitely involved. Because that goes in the that goes in the in the in the fishing jacket. You know what I mean? And I just feel like on a in on a hot day in a cold stream, this stuff actually would go down pretty nice.

SPEAKER_01 24:47

I wish Mary was more into camping than what she is. She hates bugs.

SPEAKER_02 24:51

Winter camping is the win. Take take there's no bugs and there's no people. It is cold. But you but you dress and you get the fire going.

SPEAKER_01 25:00

She needs a place to go to the bathroom and a shower, all in like a nice facility.

SPEAKER_02 25:06

Most state parks now have that.

SPEAKER_01 25:08

A nice, a nice facility?

SPEAKER_02 25:10

I a lot of them do.

SPEAKER_01 25:11

Nice for camping or nice for hotels?

SPEAKER_02 25:14

Uh, I mean, not as good as a hotel. Okay. But better than you're imagining a hot a camping.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

See, I'm cool with pooping in a bucket. Yeah. But you do need to be by water. If it's if it's not, and I don't really need it out of a I need clean water in a stream because that's what I'm used to, right? So I always camp right by the water. So for one thing, that kind of deals with the bug problem a little bit. And if you get hot, you just dump. I mean, you're in the water most of the time, and you're fishing for your breakfast and dinner if you can. Um, but like if you take a dump, you just go to the stream and wash your hands. You know what I mean? Like you're not having to worry about it. So that's what I need more than a toilet. Because I can poop in a book, I can poop in a hole. I actually kind of prefer that, to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

Like fertilize the ground.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

Well, I mean, you can just go right away. Like you're walking five feet versus like I gotta go 20 minutes to go. Cause I've been to those campgrounds where there is a toilet, yeah, but you might be kind of away from it. Right.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

Depending on where you're gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 26:08

You don't want to pinch that off if you can help it, right?

SPEAKER_01 26:11

But like the thing of like I love camping, I like nature, I like being able to get out during the day. I have nothing but the sun, nature kind of feel, right? This is a bottle that I feel like you could have during the day and at night.

unknown 26:27

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

This is this is not a like this only fits for the campfire. This only fits when it gets cold out, right? It fits when it's warm out, and then at night you're like, this still fits. Like this still works because it is it's still warming, but not like no, it's not crazy hot.

SPEAKER_00 26:42

And that's what I was saying. It doesn't have like that finish that's kind of kind of clinged a little too much, which you don't want in that situation. You do want flavor, but you don't want it to be too much, right?

SPEAKER_02 26:52

When we were talking about this idea and doing like campfire bottles, right? The problem is like for me, my head trying to match flavors, I go to like scotches and stuff, and like that's not what you want in a hot summer day. No, it overpowers, it's so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

You talked about with that with tobacco, yeah. You don't want something too strong when you're drinking something too strong, smoke-wise.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

I haven't gone camping for a long, long time, but there's something to be said about that camp food that you're like, it's almost like a prince dinner, like it's almost like it, it's not as good as like a prince dinner, but that flavor, like you don't want to ruin the flavor of like a camp.

SPEAKER_00 27:30

Well, and you're hungry for it most of the time, so it tastes that much better.

SPEAKER_02 27:32

That's the thing. But when you're camping, it's always amazes me. What like I'll be camping and we'll have a really long day of doing all this cool stuff, and we come home and we cook basically like nonsense chicken and vegetables, maybe a baked potato, like it's not a fancy meal, but it tastes so incredibly good. And it's just because you're in the woods and you you're hungry and you didn't really know you were hungry. Like, I I don't eat a lot when I'm camping because I'm just busy doing stuff, and so when I do sit down and eat, it's like, oh, turns out I was hungry and I didn't like really realize it. And now this is incredibly good.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

But those those memories, like as you're younger, you're like, oh, great camp food. But as you get older, you're like, I'm kind of excited for this meal. Like, I can't wait for the flavor or non-flavor that I'm gonna get out of this. In my mind, I'm like, I don't want a whiskey that's gonna overpower that, even though that's not really good, like great flavor compared to like a restaurant. It's the memory, like it's the environment, it's the memory. I wouldn't want whiskey to overpower that.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

Yeah, you want to keep it light, but you want to have good flavor. It's uh I and I think this would go great with a bowl of beans and uh and and fried fish, you know what I mean? Which is like kind of what I eat, and then eggs and bacon, you know what I mean? Like that's like camping food to me. I think this would go great with that, or a hobo stew, you know? Like, yeah, this is good. I like it. I think it's I'm kind of surprised that you like it. Well, on the based on the nose, and I forgot I had tried it before, but based on so today I'm coming in as a completely like I didn't know I'd tried this, I forgot, but I just smelled it and I was like, that is there's some nice things going on, but it also like this smells like it's gonna not gonna be good. And then I was surprised, very pleasantly surprised.

SPEAKER_02 29:13

I remembered having it before, and I was trying to figure out how to turn that into a positive. Uh, but again, it was it's just one of those things, every circumstance when you're when you're trying whiskies, which is part, I mean, that's part of the reason we don't do reviews or like flavor stuff on here too much, because we're smoking a pipe with it. Like we do things that impart that change, yeah. Exactly. And we don't want to be pretending. We're not using Glenn Karen glasses or anything like that, you know. We're not just kind of we're not switching it around and spitting it out. That's sacrilege.

unknown 29:49

Right.

SPEAKER_00 29:50

Remember that spit buckets like what the heck?

SPEAKER_02 29:53

Give me all those spit buckets. That's the reason we talk more about the distilleries and and kind of the vibe that you get from the bottle more than the actual flavors.

SPEAKER_01 30:02

Now, do you know anything about the owners that started this?

SPEAKER_02 30:04

So it's a couple of buddies, they're both from Ohio here. They didn't they hadn't done this previous.

SPEAKER_01 30:10

So this was not their profession prior.

SPEAKER_02 30:12

No, okay, and so they just kind of met up and decided to to try to get into it. I don't think I found anything on like their their history.

SPEAKER_01 30:22

Now I'm curious to really meet with them because it the first time we had it, I was like, what are they adding to this to get that flavor? Like that seems like there's something adding.

SPEAKER_02 30:30

Yeah, it is a family operation, so their kid, the kids and everything are involved also. They have farming in their family, and so they have some of that.

SPEAKER_01 30:41

So it sounds like I mean they've really got a passion for a specific flavor, but also from the whole grain to glass idea. Yeah. So with them them not having any this not being their prior experience or prior uh job, and I would really like to figure out like what got you into this? Was it like you guys had a you guys loved just drinking? Like, was it a specific type of whiskey that you guys went after? Was it Canadian? Was it bourbon? Was it from a certain place? Like what what really was the draw for this? Because that seems it doesn't seem odd. But I look at like Cleveland, I look at like Cincinnati, those guys didn't start in that profession right away, so they came from kind of the IT world. Yeah, and there's this is like far above their stuff, yeah, even which is interesting to me to like look at and think about. Like they didn't try anything experimental, but yeah, this feels very experimental to me. Yeah, but they didn't go the techie experimental.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

No, no. The only things like they're they only have two bottles that are on the shelves on a regular basis this and a lemon cello. Oh wow, and and that's it. So they don't have a vodka or a gin, they only have these two. So are they Italian? They didn't look Italian, okay.

SPEAKER_00 31:57

Lemoncello is very Italian, lemoncello is very there's a lot of people doing rums and vodkas and gins and whatnot, but uh lemon cello is not something too often.

SPEAKER_02 32:08

Nope. They also do private barrels of this, and so there are a few throughout Ohio that you can get um that different restaurants have gotten. Opas up in Delaware has one and some others, and they do it cast strength. That's when they that's what I'm talking about. When they do private barrel stuff, and so I know Opas had one. I don't know if they still do or not, but I know they used to. Uh the Blarney Stone here in Dublin has one, and some other places that are throughout Columbus area has them. They're obviously too small to be out and about in in other states and things. As far as I know, they're only in Ohio.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

Are they using they're using 53 gallon barrels?

SPEAKER_02 32:48

Yeah, yep. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 32:49

So this is I mean, this is clearly their main thing, right? So they're not they're not really doing anything else.

SPEAKER_02 32:55

That's it, yeah. Like I said, this this YouTube video I watched, they had some stuff in the works for a rye, and then they also have are messing with their mash butt a little bit, it seems. I mean, I kind of like that though.

SPEAKER_00 33:08

Like I really like the idea of just doing one thing really well.

SPEAKER_02 33:11

Yeah, I really do. And so, and they're only six years old, so they're they don't haven't had enough time really to do to do too much more.

SPEAKER_00 33:19

You we've seen plenty that are six years old that have too much stuff. Yes, they're doing too much.

SPEAKER_02 33:23

Yeah, like when you start getting into flavored stuff, like if that's the route you go, you can have seven different flavored things because you're not really changing that much, you're changing whatever that flavoring is, but yeah, so so I think you can just do a lot of things with that, which uh it could be a problem, right? It's too many things.

SPEAKER_01 33:41

I also feel like they're hitting a special sect of the bourbon world and bourbon community by doing if each batch is different, even different mash bill, different flavor, like they're hitting kind of that collectible kind of feel within the bourbon community, where it's like this batch is gonna be different from this one, therefore I want that batch along with this one. I want to collect them all, kind of feel which isn't I don't know any other I don't know any other uh craft distillery that really goes after that, or even more specifically in Ohio, I don't know anyone that does that.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

I mean, watch has their uncut unfiltered, but uh there isn't a huge that's more of like a booker's sort of deal where it's it is different, but only if you're really a whiskey guy, like only if you really know what you're talking about can you can you piece those things out. Whereas in if it's this and they're if they're still trying to figure out their mash bill and things where every patch is gonna be a different mash bill, like you can get some pretty drastic differences, which is fun.

SPEAKER_01 34:49

Yeah, I think that's fun. Because especially if your product is this good again, I had hopes, but I don't know that I had high hopes.

SPEAKER_00 34:56

Yeah, I'm surprised at how much I'm liking it for and again I'm putting this in the I'm just thinking about like a camp, camping whiskey too, specifically. Like it's good uh otherwise as well, but I'm just thinking specifically it's camp camp whiskey. This actually is really good. It really is really, really well for that. What do you think about the Northwoods?

SPEAKER_02 35:17

I love Northwoods. You loving it? Um, yeah, I will for sure be getting a tin of this. I haven't I haven't bought tobacco in a while, and so I've been kind of working through my tobaccos because I I had opened them, so they're not cellared, yeah, and so I want to use them and get them, get rid of them and move on and uh buy some other ones. This is a top of the list one to get for me now. You've had it not age and age now. Is there a big difference or is it about the same?

SPEAKER_00 35:46

Not a big difference. That's what I was gonna say. For I think the what it would really be the noticeable difference is smokability. Uh, I think it's just smoking so, so well, like it's behaving so well. And I think that is because of the age. Uh, not that it didn't before, but it's just hard to get any tobacco to smoke this well. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 36:06

Oh, yeah. I have nothing but white, yeah, white fine water on the top.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

And it's like you don't really need a whole lot of relights unless you're really like letting it go out. And it's the perfect moisture content that you get only with something that was made right and then aged right. But yeah, it's especially for that cut of tobacco, sometimes that struggles. It's doing really well. Flavor-wise, though, it's just as good as I remember it used to be. So I don't think I mean it might be a hair better just because of the age, but I don't I don't think you would have a noticeable difference between something new and this and this. You know what I mean? As so far as Northwoods, new Northwoods versus this.

SPEAKER_01 36:42

Now you said that this was does this one have a hint of aromatic stuff in it too, or do his other stuff?

SPEAKER_00 36:49

No, supposedly this one does too. I'd have to look at it again. I read that a while back that every one of his blends has a touch of aromatic. Yeah. Or maybe wait, no, I had it backwards. I think every every blend has a touch of Latakey in it. That's what I'm thinking of. Yeah. Although I do think that there is the Virginias in this, it do have an like in part of sweetness. That and that's the same as it was with McClellan. But I'd have to look at my phone, but I'm pretty sure that's what it was. I had it backwards. Every one of his blends, including the aromatics, have some Latiki in it. That's what it is. So even if you get it makes more sense to me. And if and he's got like some really interesting sounding aromatics that I've never tried. And you get samplers, but he's got stuff like strudel, like certain strudels and berry cobblers and like stuff that sounds like it would be delicious, right? And it probably smells amazing. But you know, as a pipe smoker, I might not smoke that well. Well, his aromatics, since they have that little bit of latachia, they smoke actually really good. Like they actually taste good too. Because I've had a few of his aromatics, and some of them obviously have more English than others, like the one I was talking about, countryside. Yeah, yeah. That's what the name was. Countryside. That's a really good one. Lotta, it's probably like a 50-50, right? It's a crossover English blend. But the other ones, I've only had a few of his aromatics, but they're very aromatics, but there's probably like 5% latachia. So nothing, you would never say this is an English tobacco, or I really get the campfire. No. But there's something in that makes you go, this actually is pretty good. You know what I mean? I think it's adding that little bit of backbone to each one of those aromatic blends. Right, which is what it needs. Because yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

The reason I ask about the the aromatic thing was it does it smells very mellow, like very friendly and mellow. It's got a good room note.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

Well, see, that's how McClellan was too. And for such a stout English blend, Laura was like, I really like the smell of that. She goes, you know what smells like? And Nick, you would be the one to tell us if this is the case, because we're smoking, we can't tell. But she said it kind of smells like in the incense in a Catholic church, like in a good way.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

Okay, I can get that.

SPEAKER_00 38:54

Yeah, she because she goes to mass, you know what I mean? And she was like, it kind of has that like it's got that church smell to it.

SPEAKER_01 39:00

Like almost like a mix of like light pepper, like fresh cracked pepper in the air kind of feel, but very light, yeah, very light of that, but it does have because I think incense and I think like very strong, like oriental kind of smell. And this is like a a nice kind of down-to-earth with a like hint of pepper kind of feel, yeah. But very mellow, it's not like intense, yeah. It's not like in your face. What I expect for like a burly kind of northwoods, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:29

It's it's like something you would think out of the Lord of the Rings, right? Which again is kind of like the whole idea between behind like McClellan's blends a little bit. But yeah, I don't know. I've always thought it was good. I always like the smell of it for an English blend. It doesn't smell bad.

SPEAKER_02 39:42

No, yeah. English is generally are stout, they're strong. People don't like the smell of it. Yeah, they usually don't have the best room note because of that. So that's good that it's as mellow as it is in the air.

SPEAKER_01 39:54

That means you can have that at home.

SPEAKER_02 39:56

All right, leather and oak.

SPEAKER_01 39:57

Leather and oak. Final thoughts. I'm not disappointed.

SPEAKER_02 40:00

No, no, I'm pleasantly surprised. Like I said, I like I said, we've had it once before and we weren't a huge fan of it at the time. And so now revisiting it, it's and this is the same bottle, so it's not a bad thing. It's the it's the exact same bottle. So revisiting again was a was a really pleasant surprise on that. And uh yeah, we'll definitely have to reach out to them and see if see if maybe we can get them on the podcast too and do a little interview with them or uh or at least answer some questions when we're there.

SPEAKER_01 40:28

Yes, yeah, and I would think this would be a good if we're talking camping. I feel like this would be a good it'd be on the high end, the bonus but maybe but a little bit more expensive.

SPEAKER_02 40:36

So if you're a camper camper in in like an RV sort of deal, then where you don't have to worry about breaking things, then then it's for sure.

SPEAKER_00 40:45

You might not want to throw this in a backpack, but you could throw it in a camper.

SPEAKER_02 40:49

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