Greg Keeley Master Distiller Larrikin Bourbon Co

We hang out with Greg Keeley from Larican Bourbon Company and trace how a military career, a Kentucky road trip and a string of coincidences turn into a real bourbon distillery with a loyal following. We taste and talk through what sells, what the maker actually likes, and how new releases get built from the barrel up. 
• Greg’s path from the Royal Australian Navy and US Navy to Kentucky distilling 
• Finding the farm and distillery building by pure coincidence 
• Being steps from Wild Turkey and earning visitor referrals 
• Building a destination experience with staff hospitality, cigar lounge and bar 
• Australian identity in the brand, merch and food truck menu 
• Amburana finishing and why cigar blends keep selling out 
• Bottled-in-bond blending with heavy tasting and minimal note taking 
• New nine-year rye details, proof preferences and how rye changes with age 
• Breaking news on Deep Purple, a bottling robot and barrel-aged Manuka honey 
www.scotchyburbonboys.com for all things Scotchy Bourbon Boys, Glenn Karen's t-shirts, check it out there or contact me direct. 
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A distillery a quarter mile from Wild Turkey sounds like a master plan, but Greg Keeley tells us it was closer to dumb luck and a willingness to say “yes” before everything was figured out. We sit down with the Larican Bourbon Company founder to unpack how a career that spans the Royal Australian Navy and the US Navy turns into Kentucky craft distilling, and how a farm search on a random Sunday leads to the place he now calls home. Along the way, we talk about what “grain to glass” really signals to drinkers, and why “uncut and unfiltered” is more than a slogan when you’re the one making the calls.

Then we get into the fun arguments bourbon fans actually have: finishing, flavor and what the market rewards. We debate Amburana, cigar blends and the line between finished bourbon and the flavored whiskey crowd, plus why some releases sell out even when the maker personally wouldn’t reach for them first. We also hit the visitor experience side of Kentucky bourbon tourism, from being so close to Wild Turkey that guests get sent over daily, to building a welcoming space with a cigar lounge, a standout humidor and a team that earns name-checks in reviews.

If you love process, the bottled-in-bond segment delivers. Greg explains blending by tasting through dozens of barrels, trusting a simple “yes or no” palate, and refining batches without turning it into a lab experiment. We close with real-time distillery updates: a new nine-year rye coming as picks, a rare Deep Purple drop, plans for a bottling robot, and barrel-aged Manuka honey that sets up a future honey-finished bourbon with an Australian twist. Subscribe, share this with a whiskey friend, and leave us a five-star review if you want more conversations like this.

voice over Whiskey Thief

If You Have Gohsts

Transcript

Grain To Glass And First Pour

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Their spirits honor their roots and reflect their originality as makers, their integrity as producers, and their passion for crafting spirits from grain to glass. Their mixed reflects their story from the bottle to your glass with unique box and bottle. And also rye and wheat whiskey. The Michelone brand is easy to stick. It might be a grain to glass experience, but I like to think of it as uncut and unfiltered from their family to yours. Super awesome podcast tonight. We've got whiskey in studio, which is rare to have anybody in studio these days. And then we've got CT, and then we've got Greg Keeley from Larikan Bourbon Company in Kentucky. Welcome, Greg. Welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_04 2:18

Thanks, boy. Very excited to be here. It's uh half an hour past my bedtime, but still very excited.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

All right. It's just CT was when you were setting this up. I I was excited to do this because Greg, if you I've got lots of questions about what happened in New Orleans in New Orleans. Nothing. Yeah. Nothing.

SPEAKER_05 2:44

Sorry, you said they don't mean.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

But you know, with you know, everybody, you've been on the podcast before. You know, every you could you can wear that microphone. There's three of them.

Meeting Greg Keeley In Studio

SPEAKER_01 2:56

So that should work.

SPEAKER_03 2:57

No, as long as it picks me up, I should be fine.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Okay. All right. So when you know, there's if just go over quickly about how you got into bourbon, how you ended up in Kentucky, and you know, how you've mixed the perfect blend of the Australian part of you and the and the American part of you to produce Larkin.

SPEAKER_04 3:29

Okay, well, it was all sort of dumb luck in many respects. How I ended up here, which I'm I'm sure a few folks would know, I was military for 22 years, including 12 years in the Royal Australian Navy and uh 10 in the USN. I was medically retired out of the uh sorry, I'm looking at the other dog, medically retired out in 2013 after a bunch of tours and went to work for a couple of startups. I ran a couple of defense and intelligence startups. They were both pretty pretty well disasters. Um actually one was okay, the other one was a disaster. And then I was sort of like, you know, pretty much popped smoke and thought, well, you know, I don't really want to be doing much anymore. And Katie had decided to leave the US diplomatic service, she was a diplomat and go to become a nurse at you know, at forty or thirty-eight, I was sure she was at the time. And uh just to to work with veterans. So I'd been to a job in Kentucky, uh doing some contract work with uh an old uh shipmate of mine and just fell in love with Kentucky and ended up staying, and then you know, with my family's background in the wine industry and all that sort of thing, you know, distilling wasn't that big a jump.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Makes sense. Makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 4:55

We've uh it seems like a pretty empty big jump, Greg. Just gonna say from the outside, it's a pretty big jump.

SPEAKER_04 5:02

Yeah, well, you know, it was like, you know, when you're in Kentucky, there's literally three things, I guess, but two really. There's horses and there's bourbon. And I'm shit scared of horses, so I really only and I don't like basketball, but uh really had nothing else to do except burb.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

Yeah. So real quick question because I don't know that you've ever answered that I've heard. So how in the early startup, what made you decide to land where you did and create that distillery right down the street from wild turkey? What what brought that?

SPEAKER_04 5:43

Yeah, you won't believe when I say nothing, well, you might. No, we were uh yeah, on this contract job I was doing, we were living in uh Lexington, we had a great place there, right on 10 acres and stuff. Katie's a uh rancher's daughter from Wyoming, you know, cattle rancher. And you know, we decided after living, you know, on on ten acres that we wanted to get a proper farm, and we didn't know jack shit. We just got in our car and you know, did what everyone done, you know, did Zillow porn one weekend and just drove around

How Kentucky Happened By Accident

SPEAKER_04 6:20

looking at farms. We honest to God had no idea where we were. None. We went to the sale, then we went, you know, all out to the other like we went everywhere. And then on the Sunday, we went down to like Danville and all down around there, and as we were coming back, oh Sunday, and and and we're like, oh, we've got to stop for lunch somewhere. So we just looked on the map what the biggest place was, and it was this place called Lawrenceburg, never heard of it right off the book. We're like Parkway, fine. We pull into Lawrenceburg main street, and literally nothing is open in Europe. For Sunday. And and when I say nothing, there was nothing open. Like the your house could be burning down, I think the fighter path was closed. Like there was literally nothing open. So at that point we're like, well, we're here, we may as well just drive round and see a few farms around here. And we didn't have a problem or anything, we just drove around and looked at them where they were. We didn't know we genuinely didn't know where we were. And then we drove past to go to this farm where we we we subsequently you drive straight past the front door rose, go up the hill about three-quarters of a mile, and there it is. And it's just spectacular. We've got you know just over a hundred acres up here. I don't need to see anyone for days at a time if I don't want, which is fantastic. Uh we've even locked the we've even we've even locked the FedEx guy out, he's gonna drop the ship down by the gate now. So no, it's great. I uh you know we've got some some cattle on the property and uh things like that, and yeah. We're just little farmers, and that's how we ended up right here. And then how we got to the back building, we'd been looking for somewhere we we originally had a little uh tasting room on Main Street when we first started Lawrenceburg Bourbon County. And an old breast shop on Main Street and started looking around, we looked at we looked at old gas stations, we looked at the mechanic shop, we just we were there's just nothing around. And so eventually I went and knocked on the door of the gentleman that had this place where where we've moved into now, we've been throughout three years, and I said, if you ever want to sell it, please let me know. And he was like, Well yeah, but now we're all good. About six months later he called up and said uh Yeah, so a week later we bought the building. Wow. Yep, so it was all just coincidence. There was no planning. I mean that's how we kind of run the whole distillery. There's not really much planning, and that's just how it went. Well, very lucky. Oh, hang on, I'm gonna go too.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Well, you've got the camera working. That that was awesome. As you went, it zoomed in on you as you opened the door and came. Yeah, that's definitely that was that that was perfect.

SPEAKER_04 9:29

I used to be in tech. Well, I wasn't, but the company I was running was.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 9:39

I can only turn my phone on.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

But that's a pretty cool story, though, Greg, to be able to just luck into basically that uh the opportunity to find where you live and where the distillery is. But it's it's a great location for people coming down to Lawrenceburg, and you know, because obviously Wild Turkey is so famous, and now that they've redone their their welcome center, right? I and it being on the same side of the street, literally uh a quarter of a mile. A baseball throw or you know, whatever away, it's it's just kind of I I it's not dumb luck, but it's pretty awesome to be that close to stuff.

SPEAKER_04 10:22

It's fantastic, and the folks at Wild Turkey are great, you know, they've been super great. Like, you know, I tell people this all the time, and it it's still it honest to God still blows me away to this day. Jimmy Russell, you know, the godfather of the bourbon industry, sends people out to our distillery every single day when he's in the gift shop. The first time it happened, this woman, you know, with like the big North Carolina hair, you know, that sort of you know, hair like that. She walks in, we were slammed, it was a sad day, and she walked in and she like looks at me like I should know who she is. And she's like, Oh, I said, Oh you know, hi, we don't welcome to Larry. She's like, Oh, Jimmy sent us. And I looked at her for a second, I'm like, oh, yeah, okay. And she's looking at me like this.

Living Next To Wild Turkey

SPEAKER_04 11:10

And eventually I had to say Jimmy who, because she just kept standing there, and she was like, Jimmy Russell, and like stomped off. Like she was his best mate. But uh no, he sends people up to us every day, which is just a like it's just amazing to me that you know someone you know of that ill stature, history, all he's done to the industry has even knows who we are. So uh, you know, it's pretty cool. Very cool.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Yeah, very cool, very cool. I I and on that story, I believe when you were in the place, and when you were looking at the place, if I remember correctly, that's when you met Whiskey here.

SPEAKER_03 11:57

No, it's at the festival.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

Yeah, but you met him at the festival, but then when we were then when we came for Kentucky, when we came for Kentucky Bourbon on the Banks, that's when you actually looked at the place he was looking at, correct?

SPEAKER_03 12:13

No, I I actually saw it, I think before that, but I saw it when it was torn-up concrete and oh yeah, you did too, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

Yeah, but I mean you looked at the place on Main Street. Actually, you I think you met him on Main Street, you met him on Main Street to look at it, and you know, and it's but but at the same time, the you know, you call it dumb luck or whatever, maybe it's just you know, when when a good person like yourself is doing things that it's it's nice coincidence that happen so that you can keep going and doing what you want to do and what you love to do, and it you've done a great job with it. I mean, honestly, like I when when you can't that's one of the coolest, you've got the distillery and you've and you keep working on it, making it better, and but the bar area is just amazing. Anybody stopping, it's just every bit of an experience as wild turkey is it's a different experience, but it's an experience, you know.

SPEAKER_03 13:19

I think it's a better experience because uh since you guys have been down, they've opened up the cigar lounge.

SPEAKER_04 13:24

The front deck is or the front of the buildings kind of oh yeah, you've seen it the new patio and all the stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so that's we opened the food truck officially this weekend.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Okay, awesome.

SPEAKER_04 13:36

Uh yeah, and our outdoor bar, and it's all covered.

unknown 13:41

And uh the food truck is called Billabong Provisions.

SPEAKER_04 13:44

Billabong is Australian for a water hole in the country. And it's uh we're serving Australian meat pies and sausage rolls and Tim Tams and coffee and proper Australian coffee, not like bullshit Starbucks stuff out of a box. And uh Vegemate sandwich? We okay, so there's a lot of debate whether I'm allowed to do Vegemate sandwiches. The entire staff, including my wife, I know.

SPEAKER_03 14:17

But you'll sell one to each person once.

unknown 14:21

Correct.

SPEAKER_04 14:21

That's all I need to do. But what we're gonna do is I'm gonna make Australians have a like food trucks in Australia. There's these things called toasty trucks. And what they are, they all they do

Aussie Food Truck And Amburana Debate

SPEAKER_04 14:34

is make toasted cheese sandwiches. And there's different versions. You might have ham and cheese, you might have whatever, but they're just all toasted cheese sandwiches. So we're gonna do, you know, we're gonna get a you know, a one of those uh what do you call them? Yeah, panini mic and we're gonna make toasted cheese sandwiches with veggie mic.

SPEAKER_03 14:57

That literally sounds awful. It's winner winner chicken dinner.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

I think I think if you're really, if it's all no with your wife and the staff, I think you should have a day. One day when you have a day where the food truck makes it, you advertise it, you have a specific bourbon you release to drink with the sandwich, and then you get everybody, you like bring in everybody for, and then it would become a day that eventually the government would it would be a day off for everybody in the United States, and we would yeah, I think you should make it a day.

SPEAKER_04 15:35

That would be some digimac finished bourbon.

SPEAKER_03 15:40

Wow. So that'd that'd taste a lot like running it through a dead guy's organs and then through dirty tubes.

SPEAKER_04 15:46

Yeah, well, it'd be sulfy.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

Yeah. Well, and if you put some maple in it, it might work.

SPEAKER_02 15:54

Hey, there's one there's one wood that you can put it in that it'll definitely work that'll hide every damn thing about it. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

Wait, maybe the cigar blend? Uh Greg knows.

SPEAKER_04 16:08

I fucking hide amber on it.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

Why do you why do you why do you have to encourage CT?

SPEAKER_02 16:21

Well no, he doesn't. Before that bottle came out, and we sat at the bar, and Greg's like, yeah, we've been working on this cigar blend, and you know, it's not out yet. And I'm like, okay. And he said, go get us some. We're gonna we're gonna try it. And he tells me what's in it, and I'm like, uh he's like, listen, I don't like it either, but it works pretty good, and I'm using a little bit of it. It's not much. And he's right, yeah, this the small amount you can definitely enjoy that bottle. Well, people I think CT expect to have ambirana in a cigar blend.

SPEAKER_04 16:55

Yeah. Uh, unfortunately, like I think Ambarana is the worst thing to happen to Burbank since good times, and you know, I think unfortunately, I tried to make it without it, which is why we had four finishes. Uh, actually, five finishes originally, but we we dropped the port, and it just didn't work without the Ambirana. People just, you know, it we're up to batch like nine now, and the Amirana is even dialed back further than I don't know what batch you've either got there. That looks like an early one.

SPEAKER_03 17:28

This is batch one.

SPEAKER_02 17:30

Oh, that's the OG. Yeah. And you're selling it out quick when you do it. Yeah. So, yeah, uh we don't like Ambirana, it's not our thing, but holy crap, the world likes it. So there you go.

SPEAKER_04 17:46

I remember talking to Barry at RD1, and I don't know if you've ever had their Ambirana, but literally like sucking on a cinnamon stick, which isn't for me, but people obviously like it.

SPEAKER_03 17:57

It's uh and it turns perfectly good bourbon into fireball.

SPEAKER_04 18:02

Yeah, that's right. I mean like that's kind of what I told him, and I said, How do you sell this stuff? And he's like, People buy it and they love it. I was like, all right.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

Well, but honestly, when it comes to Amberana, it's almost, I understand it can be a finish, but it's almost a flavoring to me. It actually, and that is yeah, so when people actually you know the flavored bourbon market is is big for people who are younger and they go out and they want to drink some form of whiskey, but they don't like that, you know, the power of whiskey. Right. They don't like the power of it, it burns their whatever, and then you get the flavors in there and that covers it up. Whereas Amburanas right in there, and we all know the you know, the the premier bourbon drinkers and the people who like barrel strengthen or whatever, we don't make up the majority of the whiskey drinking population. 80% of those people. So when you get into an Amburana, you're getting into a level of it's still it's still a finished bourbon, it's not a flavored bourbon, but those flavored bourbon people just absolutely like French toast flavored, you know, cinnamon toast crunch flavored whiskey.

SPEAKER_04 19:26

I think that's actually pretty good. That's a good that's a good observation.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

Now, putting it in a cigar blend though, real quick, put it in a cigar blend, you kind of it just having a touch in there does get you into the connoisseurs too, because that works well to make the I I find Ambarana goes well with a cigar, it it sweetens it up.

SPEAKER_04 19:47

It does, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

Yeah, all right. So there you go. Go ahead, CT.

SPEAKER_02 19:53

I love great because he just you know what? And the best part about it is is great can be honest as he is, and just straight up that how he feels about it, but knows that the next batch is gonna sell out in minutes, and that's the beauty of it. It's it doesn't have to be your your thing, and no, and that's the you know what he's a successful businessman.

SPEAKER_04 20:19

Making whiskey bang is still whatever is differentiating between what I want to drink, you know. If I was drinking it, I'd all I drink was would be a bottled in bond in my single barrel, and I drink it rye, single barrel will rye. That's all I drink. But I'm not everybody, and I've got to remember that you know, it'd be great if everybody had, you know, my palate, then everything would be much freaking easier and I could retire.

SPEAKER_02 20:52

Can you can you imagine what Jimmy Russell would think of an Amberana finish? Oh my god. It it because as bad as is as much as he thinks about the mint julep and how that just is despicable to him.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

I can't even imagine if he's but he does he does put out a product called American Honey, which is right on the level. When you drink American honey, it's on the level of Ambirana.

SPEAKER_02 21:21

They probably don't even let him know that that's available.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

Oh my god, you just that's that's just so stupid.

SPEAKER_04 21:29

No, I think fake fade onto something. I think that's what's happening. There's a lot of there's a lot of uh stall doggery going on at wall turkey, and no one's telling Jimmy because Jimmy would practice shit.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

Yeah, they're like they're as far as Jimmy knows, they're still just making 101.

SPEAKER_01 21:45

Jimmy's like, Jimmy's like, American, what? What the shit.

SPEAKER_02 21:51

So it's uh yeah. But we were talking about so the the bottles. So the first thing that I think we all All drank collectively was the bottled in bond, and that that hit and just was holy crap. Yeah, that's what I'm I'm drinking on. That's what I drink all the time. That's my go-to. It was in our lineup for bourbon of the year a few years ago. It always had this little bit of a older dusty funk to it. Not a lot, just a little, but had just a lot of flavor for what it is, you know. And I don't know how you came up with it, but hold on.

SPEAKER_04 22:34

Well, I'll tell you how it came up with it. It was uh so it was funny we're just talking about wild turkey and and Jimmy Russell and all that stuff. So, you know, I get asked all the time, uh, you know, what do you drink when you go to a bar and they don't have your which is every fucking bar in America, but anyhow, I'm that's what's I'm talking. So I'm

Building Bottled In Bond By Hand

SPEAKER_04 22:54

I'm pretty used to it. So but I've drink Turkey 101. That's literally what I drink when I go out. So because to me, that is like the archetypal American whiskey.

SPEAKER_03 23:06

So what you're saying is you're a cheap date.

SPEAKER_04 23:08

Yeah, heck yeah. Well, no, I was just a cheap bastard myself. Well, then you know that's okay.

SPEAKER_03 23:15

Can we call you a wanker? Because I mean you are wearing the hat.

SPEAKER_04 23:19

I am wearing a hat. Merch is available at the Laraton uh website Wanker Wednesday have they sell them, they sold out twice, but we just got some more in. That's why I'm wearing it, just to be shamelessly uh plug in my merchandise. Anyhow. So with the bottling bond, I wanted to make my 101. And by that I don't mean I don't mean one copy of wild turkey.

unknown 23:50

I wanted to make what I think should be is what bourbon should be to me.

SPEAKER_04 23:55

And that's what our bottling bond is. When we made the first batch of this, I must have tasted through, and I'm not exaggerating, 40 plus barrels before I got the blend right. And then I worked out I hadn't proofed the fucking things before I did it, which was pretty pretty bad. So I had to go back to it the next day, but I cut the barrel down to a manageable level. And so that's how it was born. And each time we do this, the bottling bond, I do it up in my little lair. It could be with a couple of friends, it could be with a couple of the staff, could be with whoever. And we just go through each single bat, each batch is is done by hand, and we we taste it all, and we find the right barrel, and we just dump them all together and hope it works. And that's what we do.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

Okay, you two things. One, you introduced the bottled in bond on the podcast at Kentucky Bourbon Festival. You did the podcast right there, and that was that was an honor. I got a bottle of that, and I brought home the American maple, and we've got with the American maple, we've got those pecans still sitting in there for over a year, almost two years. That's how long they're gonna be in it. So when we come down for bourbon on the banks or Kentucky Bourbon Festival, we will have Larkin, American Maple, bourbon balls for you to taste, okay? Yep.

SPEAKER_03 25:27

We're gonna call we're gonna call those blue cheese.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

No, that doesn't no. No, the longer it sits, it the pecans sit in the whiskey, the better it gets.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

Does it come with a roll of toilet paper?

SPEAKER_01 25:40

No, it doesn't have to. It's like it's it's pecans in in alcohol. What's gonna happen? I mean, it's sealed in a mason jar. Anyways, so the other so the end, no, nothing bad happens. I mean, I've I've done it before. The longer it is, the better they taste. But I will tell you tonight with the podcast to do the podcast, when he, you know, I was talking to uh whiskey here and CT setting it up, and I'm thinking I've got Larkin, and I got no Larkin left, except for what was left on the bottle when we made the pecans, because I drank it all. It's just like, it's no, it is good to hear. That's something that, you know, as it's that's usually not the case with all this whiskey here. I usually like put it on the podcast, I'll have a taste, and it just kind of gets on the shelf. And maybe I'll hit it, you know, have a taste one night or whatever. And but most everything's three quarters to seven eighths full. And it's like, really? I and I'm like, I did. I did, I did like the bottle, I loved your bottled in bonds. It was a good that batch was good. One of my favorites, but I will say that you said you said you were, you know, you have a bunch of people, staff, whatever, and then or someone. I would like to volunteer, me, C, T, and whiskey, to be someone one time when you're when you're doing it and be a part of that.

SPEAKER_04 27:05

Let us know when you're uh okay, here we go. Let me know when you guys are gonna be in that next to the woods, and we'll do a blend of um, we'll do a um bonding bond.

SPEAKER_01 27:17

That would be freaking amazing to be a part of the process.

SPEAKER_04 27:21

Sometimes it takes an hour or 40 minutes because you just get the right barrel, do you know? You just get bam, bam, bam, bam. Sometimes it takes like all afternoon because you just like it's even working.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

So what when do you have everything at a hundred proof? I mean, so for me when I do do it now, I do. If you were doing batches and you were dealing with barrel strength, and then you had to proof that those those batches down again. I've been at so many barrel picks where you where that's gonna get proofed down, and it's not, you know, that that proofing process is so what would you say loose. Sometimes it's gonna work, sometimes it's not. And it's just kind of like I always thought bottled in bond would be one of the hardest things to do because you kind of have to match two points. You know, they they gotta kind of somehow match up. Whereas if you're releasing something else, you might be proofing it down a little bit and you want to put it, and then at 114, you're like, oh, that's really good. And you take it a little further, and you're like, nope, 114's it. You can kind of determine loosely what it's gonna be based off what it tastes at the best proofing point, whereas bottled in bond holds you to that.

SPEAKER_04 28:44

Right. Well, it's funny, uh, you know, the the and this is the crazy part about it. So I spend all this time like doing the you know, getting the blend right and getting exactly how I want. But then I don't go and measure the barrel or weigh the barrel or anything. I just say dump that barrel in, that barrel, that barrel in that barrel in. And who knows how much is in each one. It's worked out pretty well so far.

SPEAKER_03 29:08

No beakers for you. My god, I I love that. I don't even write I don't even write shit down. That's uh beaker, you're you're you're you're you're operating in a beaker-free zone.

SPEAKER_04 29:18

Beaker free. Well, Jessie, who's our operations director, she actually now writes stuff down and it kind of freaks me out. Freaks so she'll like we'll be doing it, you know, we're tasting a barrel and we're doing and like I'll just go, okay, one and you know, barrel one is here, and I put it forward because I think that's a good one. Barrel two will be back here, you know. I just sit up, they're either yes or no to me. But she writes down all the tasting notes that we say, and oh, this one's like this, and it's like that's just too hard. It's something good or it's bad.

SPEAKER_01 29:52

So we had one question on on on uh YouTube, it's Larikan. That's the name, how you say the name. Someone was asking, how do you say it? Um Larican. Laricin. Larrick. Larican.

SPEAKER_03 30:04

Actually, if you go to their website, it actually has a pronunciation of it.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

Do you do realize that that doesn't mean anything to me? Yeah, because it's the pronunciation. I have to actually hear it. So he says Larrickin.

SPEAKER_02 30:16

Laricin. Larry King. Every time I want to know how it's said, I just listen to Greg say it, and I figure if he says it right, then I'm probably okay. I'm on the right track.

SPEAKER_01 30:25

I mean, it's so Larry, Larry King.

SPEAKER_02 30:28

Larry King.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

So it's almost like so it's really close to Larry King, but no gee. Larry King. No hard, no hard.

SPEAKER_02 30:37

You you have to excuse him. He's from Wisconsin.

SPEAKER_01 30:40

That was a joke.

SPEAKER_02 30:41

The cheese has started to overkind brains.

SPEAKER_03 30:46

No disrespect to Larry King, but none of us have like a tan head, right? You know, where our hair starts up here.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

I did say you were him.

SPEAKER_02 30:57

Yeah, the bottled in bond is so for people that don't know Laricin and they haven't had it, or maybe maybe they do, and they only have a single barrel or whatever. Bottled in bond is your introduction into the the world, right? That it's no small batch.

SPEAKER_04 31:15

God no, we had a we had our single barrels first.

SPEAKER_01 31:18

Everything was single barrels when you were the other place.

SPEAKER_04 31:21

And you you know why it was single barrels, because I didn't know how to blend anything or how to cut anything or do anything. I just had single barrels and I just put them in a bottle. That's how it worked. So that's no bullshit. That's no word of a lie. I had no clue or business doing any of the any blending.

unknown 31:39

I didn't even know how to proof whiskey problem.

SPEAKER_02 31:42

And to be able to not do that, again, just like finding the location that you're in, yeah, to be able to come up with that bottled in bond that was absolutely amazing. It's like, holy crap.

SPEAKER_01 31:55

This sounds like a divine story that we got going here. I mean, right? Yeah, I mean, honestly, you've been in you've served, you've served in two militaries and you're still here.

SPEAKER_05 32:09

And then that's remarkable, so yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:13

No, I mean, honestly, that it's it definitely there you go. That's perfect. He's just just we need some. Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_03 32:29

That just shows off your bald spot.

SPEAKER_05 32:31

Yeah, no, don't do that.

SPEAKER_01 32:33

No, don't know you that. No. So look, so uh you know, there's an aspect of you when you meet and and one of the worst people you can get together with is whiskey because between the two of you, some the back and forth is just insane sometimes. It just you know, sometimes it's just like if I wore my shirt.

SPEAKER_03 32:58

You should have worn your shirt. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:00

So I wore my shirt. No, I'm gonna uh I'm gonna uh uh podcast shirt. Yeah. Whiskey guy me.

SPEAKER_03 33:09

There's Larican across the front.

unknown 33:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:12

Larican spout spell sounded out. Larrican.

SPEAKER_02 33:16

Did you spell his right?

SPEAKER_03 33:17

I did.

SPEAKER_01 33:19

Oh, I didn't you spell yours right? Oh, you have a he's you've got the the you gave him a jersey?

SPEAKER_03 33:23

Yeah, but it says Larican on it. On the back? Or the front? No, it says Larrick and I'm not. On the front, baby.

SPEAKER_01 33:29

Yeah. And then what does it say? What does it say on the back? Keely. No, because I'm like a bull. C T shirt, it's it's not C T, it's C T. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:50

With with extra ease. To the point that it has become a thing with Roger from the uh that does the tour, Roger will literally be like C E. Thanks to Whiskey.

SPEAKER_03 34:07

I'm kind of a jackass with the shirt.

SPEAKER_01 34:10

Except Roxy. Roxy likes her shirt, so it worked. Yeah, because it says Roxy. Yeah. Because I know not to mess with her on her. So Greg, I just want to talk about how New Orleans. You know, so so New Orleans was you know unique for me when it comes to you. One, okay, one, we both got invited to a wedding, we didn't know was gonna happen. And then I somehow became I live streamed it and video recorded it, and you, on the other hand, you did something special for Macaulay, and he's gonna be on tomorrow night, but he's much more serious than I am. What?

SPEAKER_04 35:05

He's much more serious than I am.

SPEAKER_01 35:07

What, right, but what? No, we I mean, for God's

Saying Larican Plus Merch Stories

SPEAKER_01 35:10

sake, there were there were antique swords involved with his wedding.

SPEAKER_04 35:17

There were dried raccoon penises in the frog bag that I was carrying.

SPEAKER_01 35:23

I didn't but that's what I'm saying. What was the I didn't understand the frog bag. I that's what I was gonna ask you about.

SPEAKER_04 35:32

Alright, let me go back. The night before the wedding, or maybe it was the day before, I can't remember. No, it was late. He called me. And I thought he was gonna say, let's go out. It was like two in the morning. And he's like, I want you to be my in my wedding party, I want you to be my ring bearer. I was like, well, how hard can that be? Okay, I'd love to do it. Quite an honor. Yep, I'll do it. Anyhow, day rolls around, and of course I don't have any wedding attire. Then I find out it's in the parking lot at the uh at the event, and uh the event was the parking lot. Yeah, right, that was a shit show, but that's beside the point. So then I get presented with this fro bag that inside the frog bag is a silk thing, which was like Joan of Arc's like funeral silk or something, don't know something. And in that with the two rings tied together with bits of string off like the Titanic or something, and then like eight dehydrated raccoon penises, some ground glass, some uh mystic stones, and something else. Anyhow, I've got to like proceed to process the other thing with the frog bag, and then stand there with it like this while they're doing all the business, and then when it comes time for the rings, I've got to walk up to the altar, and I've got to use a special gold knife to cut the string from the Titanic or from the bounty or whatever it was to free up the rings. Oh, I've already had the lady eight raccoon penetration out on the altar with the glass and everything. It was dry raccoon penetration.

SPEAKER_01 37:16

Yeah, I recorded it.

SPEAKER_04 37:18

So then I had to give the ring to um Mr. and Mrs. and my job was done.

SPEAKER_01 37:26

Well, and then at the same time this was happening, somebody had to man your booth. Right, somebody had to man your booth, and you were there basically, you're the only one there that ran your you were you came. I was like I said, I was impressed. Uh, one of the reasons why you do such a great job, you you were talking about not so much being a people person, but anybody who goes to Larry Larrican. No, I said Larican. Larrickin. I said it. Larican.

SPEAKER_02 38:06

Larrickin.

SPEAKER_01 38:06

Larrick. Larrikan.

SPEAKER_05 38:08

You've put a E.

SPEAKER_01 38:11

Where am I putting an E?

SPEAKER_05 38:12

It's just Larrick.

SPEAKER_01 38:13

C T. We need Larrick. Laricin.

SPEAKER_05 38:15

We need Lara.

SPEAKER_01 38:17

Larkin.

SPEAKER_05 38:18

Lara.

SPEAKER_01 38:18

Yeah. Yeah. That's closer. That's what I always said. Now we see he just goes punt. Anyways, I'm sorry. We need to pull it up. I'm sorry. Okay, so we're what so, but anybody who like to meet you and know you, you're at your distillery a lot, and people get to know you and your wife. You guys run it, you put the time and effort into everything. And you were at New Orleans Bourbon Festival and you set up in the hot heat the whole damn booth. It's such a fucking shit show. Yeah, and then you ran the booth. Now, one of one of the coolest things that me and Matt did, Matt Lisen from Cleveland on the Rocks, we were there. Yeah. As you asked us, it was great because you asked us, you're like, I gotta pee. He goes, I I haven't I haven't gone because this was after the wedding and whatever. I haven't gone. And she's like, Do you mind if I go and maybe grab something and you guys you guys may in the booth? And I was like, Yeah, cool. That's uh because I I knew Matt's Matt's skill at selling whiskey is phenomenal. So when we start, there's just there's like a couple people wandering up, and all of a sudden Matt starts doing his thing. And so Greg comes back from the area wherever the bathroom was, and he probably had to talk to 15,000 people in between because that's kind of how it worked. And he looks at us and he's like, We got a line. And he's like, Oh, they're doing really good. And so he's like, I'm gonna go get some food. So and he came, so we we ran, we did it for about a half hour and thoroughly 45 minutes. Okay, we we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves promoting what you do. Now, you left us, you kind of had some stuff put away that we found, so we were able to share some of that. But it overall, it was it was a cool experience to be able to promote what you do because you know we do understand, you know, if you've taken us into the barrel room, you know, super nascist, he was at a wedding and he's was behind, so he will he's watching off, but he wasn't able to get in in time. But he wanted to say say hi. I mean, all of us love what you're doing, and and you're an awesome, great guy and person. So anybody out there is my wife? Oh, I have.

unknown 40:49

Oh, thanks, Kyle.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

No, but but no, I I well, I I have a wife too, so don't be I I understand what you're saying. Who?

SPEAKER_03 41:01

Yeah, you guys.

SPEAKER_01 41:02

Yeah, we're good at that. You are.

SPEAKER_03 41:04

Anyway, this is what happens if Archie Bunker and Edith would have had a child. Just just know that uh and they would have married each other.

SPEAKER_01 41:11

I do two podcasts. I do two two podcasts, and CT has us so booked, and so there's been all these people wanting to come on in the 250th anniversary and everything. So this week I had three, I I put in three. I uh it's Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. And and she was not happy.

SPEAKER_02 41:30

Actually, was not she's like I'm just gonna tell you tomorrow she knows what happens when Macaulay comes on because when Macaulay comes on, you guys will be on until one o'clock in the morning because that's what happens with Macaulay.

SPEAKER_01 41:45

Yeah, yeah. It's always I mean, but but you have to admit, that was the most you're gonna my bed five. I mean, to be a part of his wedding and how cool that was. I it was just like even the even afterwards, we we took some stuff up to his room, and then he brought the whole his rehearsal, not his rehearsal, but his reception after the wedding, the ceremony was upstairs in the lobby of the hotel. He just brought a bunch of dark arts into the lobby of the hotel and just start serving it up, and everybody was just having a good time. And he started, you know, he he had a had the the saxophone player that was fantastic. That was amazing, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_05 42:37

Yeah, I still had the raccoon penises in my pocket. At least they didn't need to be the same.

SPEAKER_01 42:41

No, wait, how'd you get those report security? Wait, you have the raccoon penises in your pocket, but at the same time, you you definitely are used to that type of thing considering the longest time you gave out kangaroo balls.

SPEAKER_05 42:57

Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:01

I got a set, gave them to my brother. I have still three sets. I don't I don't got raccoon penises, you know, but go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 43:10

No, I was gonna say, you know, it is kind of funny, Greg, because you know, on a bit from you know, to get kind of back to the to what the business of the business is you guys have just had uh an almost uncanny or or divine sense of the market. So at least being an outsider looking in. I mean you know, who would have ever thought who ever would have ever thought that a rose-infused bourbon was going to be bought by anybody? And yet Yeah, no money. Yeah, you created it thinking it might sell, and well, holy hell, I mean it sells well.

SPEAKER_01 43:49

And it's got it's gone crazy for us.

SPEAKER_03 43:52

Crazy. It brings women in.

SPEAKER_01 43:54

I mean, it tastes like roses.

SPEAKER_03 43:57

When you when you said, Oh, I got this cigar blender. And it's selling really well. I have to tell you, in the back of my brain, I'm going great because the world needed another cigar blend.

SPEAKER_04 44:06

Yeah, I agree with that 100%.

SPEAKER_03 44:08

And yet the cigar blend sells out. I mean, the last time I was down, I think it was sold out before you bottled it, the whole batch. Yeah, it was. Which is nutty, right? So I mean there's you're getting POs for for your products before you can even get it in a bowl.

SPEAKER_04 44:26

Well, so you know I mean, two two years ago. Oh, I'm sorry, uh in February of last year, we're in two states: Kentucky and Wisconsin, the great state of Wisconsin. And uh lots of people in a year, year and a half, and it's just been insane.

SPEAKER_01 44:47

Yeah. Oh, hi, yo. Oh stop. Oh, hi, fuck that.

SPEAKER_03 44:53

So actually, so what somebody from OHLQ is listening or was listening.

SPEAKER_01 44:58

Well, she definitely will make it easier for you.

SPEAKER_04 45:01

Love her applying.

SPEAKER_01 45:02

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_03 45:04

So, so you know, Greg, the other thing is, you know, because I you know, I love coming down and I love visiting, you know, the the the store and your merch. I mean, your merch is pretty clever. Some of it's a little edgy, some of it. Have you actually ever sold a Vegemite packet? Because I know that those are sitting on the shelf.

SPEAKER_04 45:20

We sell them, we sell tons of them.

SPEAKER_03 45:23

And I swear to God, you have the best maple syrup that money can buy.

SPEAKER_04 45:26

Yeah, it's from Wisconsin, the great side of Wisconsin. Yeah, absolutely. But it's good.

SPEAKER_03 45:30

But I mean, what where what how do you come up with all this stuff? I mean, your merch, you know, making it edgy enough that people are like, oh, I gotta have that. Like Wanky Winky.

SPEAKER_05 45:42

Oh, wait till you see the new ones. Oh, they're the wombats.

SPEAKER_02 45:47

Dude, they're awesome. I you know what I always want when I come in is I want the wombat, but you only have the one stuffed wombat that sits over on the side with like the table. And I always tell the girl, I'm like, what are you gonna get wombats? And she's like, Well, that's the only one we have. So yeah, that's him. He's here.

SPEAKER_03 46:11

It looks a lot like it looks a lot like Jeff.

SPEAKER_01 46:15

That's I I'm good with cuddly. Fuzzy.

SPEAKER_06 46:19

Hey, hey Jeff!

SPEAKER_05 46:25

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 46:27

Let's see if Jeff remembers this. So at Burbank on the Bank last year, I had got you had these brown hats that the over on the corner and said I turned it down. I think you so I had you sign the back of the hat. Yep. And Jeff was like, he didn't have anything to have you sign. Do you remember this? I do, yep. Jeff, do you remember it?

SPEAKER_01 46:52

Yeah, I absolutely do. So what did he sign for design for you, Jeff? My chest.

SPEAKER_02 47:02

Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 47:04

I I didn't I didn't shower for like two weeks. Yeah, he had that he had he had a jailhouse tattoo go over that signature.

unknown 47:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:12

There was that there was the the he he what would you say put an exclamation mark on it too.

SPEAKER_03 47:20

And you know what? He he can't pronounce Greg Keely either.

SPEAKER_01 47:22

So I can say Greg Keely. Damn it.

unknown 47:27

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:28

That was a merry kid. That was a happy Gilmore moment, though. It was like watching Happy Gilmore sign that girl girl's chest when uh grandma.

SPEAKER_03 47:38

You remember the grandma?

SPEAKER_02 47:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:42

Nothing like 75-year-old breaths to really make a scene in it.

SPEAKER_05 47:45

Yeah, hard to sign, trust me.

SPEAKER_03 47:47

Yeah. Do you have to stretch the skin out so that it looks easier? Yeah, you do it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 47:54

It's like it's like signing a bowl sack.

SPEAKER_03 47:57

Yeah, you know, Jeff would be able to talk to you about that, but uh it's uh okay.

SPEAKER_02 48:03

So back to uh back to Bourbon. Okay, so how long ago did the bottled and bond come out then, Greg? Was it three years ago?

unknown 48:11

Two.

SPEAKER_01 48:12

Not last Kentucky. Two, two of them. So 24.

SPEAKER_02 48:17

So this this will be the third year. Third year, yeah. So you have something, I think that you're you have that is also something very special that we uh we talked about. I don't I kind of filled Jeff in, but I haven't given him a lot of info. I don't think that Carl knows anything, so I think it's behind you, right?

SPEAKER_03 48:42

Not not about anything, no.

SPEAKER_04 48:45

No, okay, so this hasn't come out yet, and it won't come out for a little bit, but it's our new nine-year-old rye. Like this was my favorite rye that I've ever had previous.

Bourbon Festival Wedding And Booth Tales

SPEAKER_04 49:00

But oh, by the way, there's two bottles of this left at the distillery, and that's it, and it's gone forever. Oh, as well, as of tonight.

SPEAKER_03 49:08

You're not gonna do another batch of that. I know it's God no. I know you said it was a giant pain to do the enzymes and it would make it happen. It was horrible.

SPEAKER_02 49:17

So this bottle is new. This is like the introduction of this bottle, correct? This is where you've got the first one that's ever left the distillery. Oh wow. So one thing I've noticed, I haven't opened it yet. I'm gonna open it and I'm gonna taste it for all of us. Is this like a glass cork? It's so that's our new bottle. That'll be our new bottle. It's like acrylic or something.

SPEAKER_04 49:41

Yeah, it's a uh yeah, it's like acrylic. It's uh the pin peel's that way. I can't get used to it either. But yeah, new cork, new shape bottle, which is ours. You'll see these start to come out over the next couple of months with a new label, new all sorts of stuff. It's just like a little refresh.

SPEAKER_02 50:03

The oh, that was nice. That cork is really cool. Even though it's not heavy, the acrylic of it makes it look like it's a glass cork.

SPEAKER_04 50:13

And the great thing with that cork is it's it's one of those ones that has a like it's it can't break. We had an issue with breaking corks and all this sort of stuff last year.

SPEAKER_02 50:24

That's got like a tea stalk in it. You can't, it won't break. Okay, so this is a nine-year. So this one says at the bottom, three bears each. Oh, yeah, that's the surf break near my house. Uh my house in my parents' house. Ah, okay. Yeah. So we're we're uh 30% corn, 64% rye, 4% molded barley.

SPEAKER_04 50:54

That's yeah, that's one of the uh sample ones that went out. That should be 6% molded barley. I'm not very good at math either. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 51:01

No, that's all right. That's all good. Yeah. And it is 104 proof, looks like uh it'll vary by by Red Barrel. 104.5 proof. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:16

So so Greg, it's after I be we've both been doing this for a little bit, and you learn things about there, like a lot of times I don't like ries. And so, but but lately there's a lot of ryes I've been liking. But I went to it's Stolen Wolf in Pennsylvania, and they do a lot of Pennsylvania rye. And as I was tasting through with Eric's wife, Eric Wolf's wife, as I was tasting through, I actually learned why I what ries I don't like. I like barrel strength ries or high proof rise, but as soon as you start proofing it down, there's an aspect of it that I'm that I'm not that I don't like. It adds like an earthy flavor or an off or firm. And and so right, right. And so I didn't realize this until his wife's like she analyzed, she's like, let me see. What don't you and she's like, you, that's why I like Mickter's toasted barrel, barrel strength rye, or I like other like whiskey thieves ries. They're they're all barrel-proof. I like high-proof ryes, but when you start to get into those lowerproof ryes, that's where those flavors start to come out. Now, I'm not saying all of them I don't like. I mean, there was a Ohio distillery here that the rye tasted almost there's a lemon flavor in it that was bizarre, but that was okay for me. It didn't have those off, you know, grassy, spoiled grass notes or you know, those off flavors. So it do you find that every once in a while that you know you've been doing this, and then all of a sudden, kind of like the puzzle fits in, and you're just like, oh, that's why.

SPEAKER_04 53:17

100%. And so my rye journey, I guess, is I like kind of I wouldn't say I'm a big fan of traditional rye, right? So the rye that's that we put out in the last three years, we had that 10-year-old Canadian 100% rye that we got because it was COVID and we couldn't get anything else done. And it was amazing, right? I had no intention of putting out a Canadian whiskey, but we had to, we were out of whiskey. And it was extraordinarily good, it was so good, but that had a lot of grass to it. The uh the this guy, the high wheat rye, uh single barrel high wheat rye is just extraordinary. I I you know this sat in Florida for six years, 150 degree heat, probably. And I that's what I'm drinking right now, as a matter of fact. Um then this guy that the CT's got hold of, uh, the new one, two years ago when we cracked that, it was not great. And I've always been of the opinion that rides are at their best around six or seven years, six years, seven years. And so I cracked this at six and a half, whatever it was, I forget exactly. And so you it would have been fine, blended or whatever, but it wasn't single barrel worthy of by any stretch. So, you know, that kind of made me ship my pants a bit because we had we had a fit of it. And we had a few different years of it. We got the nine, a seven, whatever. Anyhow, but then we put it up for a year and a half while we ran through the rest of the high wheat rye and cracked it at nearly nine. Well, it was nine, I guess, by the time he opened it. I was so nervous about it, I didn't do it. I had one of the guys do it, and Mike standing there going, Well, what's wrong with this? I'm like, Well, you fucking tell me. I don't what's wrong with it? And he's like, No, it's great. I was like, Oh, okay, good. It thinks.

SPEAKER_02 55:14

And just to correct myself, because the glare on that bottle, I couldn't read the proof. It's 124.5.

SPEAKER_01 55:21

Yeah. Yeah, I would probably be in on that.

SPEAKER_02 55:25

This it's uh but this is a great rye. It it does have some of the mint that you that you do like. Yeah, but it's it's the chocolatey kind of mint, not the grassy mint that like we talked about that doesn't uh you know what's crazy is I get like a uh a really nice, not necessarily graham cracker because it's not super over-pulverizing sweet like that, but it's like a baking that kind of like a sweet cracker flavor to the to it, which is kind of nice.

SPEAKER_04 55:58

Yeah, we were pretty lucky with this one. It it could have gone either way, I think. You know, that these will these will range from about 120 to probably about 126. Uh, the first 10 we've got like so that one you you got was literally the one of the first two barrels we popped, and that label on it is literally just a sticker we had printed so we could um send it out to you. But yeah, the I'm so excited to put this in market. We're only going to do these as uh uh picks, so you know you won't be able to just walk in and buy a buy it as a liquor store, but uh but distributors can buy a pick, you know, and have an Illinois pick or a Texas pick or a California pick or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 56:43

Or an Ohio Ohio pick.

SPEAKER_04 56:46

I love Ohio. I don't like to uh you know I knew you did. Yeah, I've always loved Ohio.

SPEAKER_03 56:55

You know, Greg, that that voice you do is a little disturbing. Frankly, you sound like you're little you sound like a little girl.

SPEAKER_00 57:02

Okay, well, hey, I don't.

SPEAKER_03 57:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:11

You gotta stuck yourself on the horse you're riding on.

SPEAKER_03 57:14

You know, it's funny that I I did ride in on a horse. It's like you're clairvoyant.

unknown 57:19

I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 57:23

Well, dude, what last time you wiped, you left some paper.

SPEAKER_02 57:27

It's uh I think Greg.

SPEAKER_01 57:32

And like I said, that is just classic car.

SPEAKER_02 57:38

We introduced a new South Park character, and Greg can voice them over as the little wombat that runs along. How cool would that be?

SPEAKER_05 57:45

Yeah, keeps up with cards. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 57:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 57:49

No, I'm a bit of news.

SPEAKER_04 57:55

Breaking news. Breaking news come out anywhere yet. Wait a minute, you just gave us breaking news. We just break it. That's breaking news. This is more breaking news. I'm full of breaking news tonight. Oh my god. So we you know, you probably remember our Deep Purple, which comes out every so often when we find the barrel. We found a barrel, and it's really, really, really short. But it's freaking amazing. To the point I'm not allowed, I'm not keeping one, I'm keeping a 375. And we're gonna drop it on Friday at the distillery.

SPEAKER_03 58:32

Nice. Everybody head to the distillery. Yeah, so you know, speaking of the distillery, I mean, it's been interesting to me to watch it go from a shell, basically, with busted concrete. Yeah, but yeah, you know, yeah, but you know, the distillery's been filled, you're still a shell. Yeah, correct. But uh, you know, it's funny because you know, I have I have friends, not many, mind you, because of my personality, but the you know, when they're like, hey, I'm going to Kentucky, where should I go? And I'm like, you know, if you're gonna be down by a wild turkey, you really need to stop it. Lyric, inconsistently, the feedback is that you are either their favorite or one of the top spots of the places they go. But I think a lot of that is that's a testament to the facility, right? Because I mean, now you have a cigar lounge area, you you hands down probably have the best humidor anywhere on the trail in Kentucky.

SPEAKER_04 59:27

Uh it's the only walking humidor, I believe. But I think, Carl, the big thing with our place is our our team are just freaking amazing.

unknown 59:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 59:38

Yeah, yeah. If you ever look at our Google reviews, what's extraordinary about them is that the people that leave the reviews name the person that was looking after them. Oh, really? Right. So they're Erica was great, Jason was great, Russ was great, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they and Don or whoever's working, Chelsea, and they name them because they looked after them so well. And they're that's that's that's the difference between coming to our place and coming anywhere else. You know, you know, it's funny.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:10

I I read some of those reviews before the podcast, and not one person mentioned Greg. I know it's fuckers.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:20

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:23

I know I gotta read, I gotta, I always mention mention you when I leave the reviews, but you know, you get so many, I just gotta keep doing it.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:32

So when are we gonna place when are we gonna see the rick house go up in the back? I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:42

How long the place of string? It's uh it's a process. We're uh working through right now our bottling room. We've got the bottling like, oh we're getting a robot. A robot bottler? Yeah, no, a robot's gonna do like lots of robot things, so I can hopefully fire everyone.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:06

Um wonder what kind of Google reviews a robot will get. Robot things? I don't imagine that you're firing anybody, it's just gonna do robot things.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:18

No, dude, it's just gonna be roboting around in the back and like dumping barrels and filling bottles and doing all the shit. Like it's gonna be a like it's gonna be the best robot in the stilling industry. Because it's being made by a very, very smart group of people. So nobody related to you. Correct.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:45

No, but uh, I'm very excited for the robot. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:50

Well, that's some breaking news right there.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:53

So we've got the new rye, we've got the dropping of the deep purple,

The New Nine Year Rye Reveal

SPEAKER_04 1:02:00

and we've got the robot.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:02

Is now great, you said you were only keeping it. Is it is 375 outs going to be released?

SPEAKER_04 1:02:08

No, it you know if I hadn't in hindsight, that's what we would have done in 370 because the barrel's so short. Oh, so they will be 750s. Yeah, I shouldn't have done them in three. I never even thought of it until you just said it, but um we should have done.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:22

Okay, you can dump them out and put them in. We do it all the time. Just just shear it into a smaller lab, and there you go. I I don't like sharing.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:31

Yeah, that doesn't that doesn't work, especially with the way that it works with labeling. Yeah, it's like yeah, that's a whole and is your bottling set up for 375? Uh no. Okay. That's another pain in the ass in itself.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:47

Oh, I don't do it, so I don't care. That's that's what the robot does.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:53

Wait.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:54

Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:54

Your syrup your your syrup is in in bottles that are similar size to 375.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:00

Does it yeah, we don't we don't bottle those. We get them bottled, they bottle them for us in Wisconsin before they come down. Nice.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:06

Okay. By the way, is this is is the syrup back in? Because when I was there, you were out.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:10

No.

unknown 1:03:11

Out.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:12

It's been out for a while. We uh we're actually going to okay. Here's another bit of breaking news. Oh we we're going to uh do a manuka or manica honey, which is an Australian honey, it's a little less sweet.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:27

Yeah. Um it's it's I mean, and and that that honey is very what would you say medicinal or you know that that that honey based off of yeah, I mean the whole a whole coal corporation's uh melaleuca is made off of that honey aspect of nation.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:50

People had this honey that was a medicinal and all this sort of stuff, and so we're taking the medicinal aspects and putting it into barrels, and uh we're barrel aging a whole bunch of honey as we speak, which we brought over from Australia, and it's in a bunch of barrels, then we're gonna dump those barrels. We're gonna have honey, obviously, at the distillery in place of the maple, which is sort of dry.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:18

And then so you'll have barrel-aged honey.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:22

No, yes, it doesn't matter, it's the bourbon that goes back in.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:26

Yes, of course, but the barrel-aged, so you're gonna have the medicinal aspects of bourbon from a bourbon barrel going into manuka honey, which which is not a cheap honey.

unknown 1:04:41

No, it's not.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:42

That that is, I mean, I'm I'm well aware of that type of honey. My wife is, you know, as a midwife and with all the the medicinal aspects of what that goes in all those. Hey Roxy. So Greg is bourbon bourbon barrel aging manuka honey from Australia. Oh and then he's gonna put his bourbon in it when it's done. It'll have healing properties. Yes, she's well, yeah, that's that's that's amazing. I mean, I mean, people, I mean that that honey. You're you're actually close to being on right there. So if you don't want to be on, I wouldn't mind.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:26

I'm seeing on here too.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:28

Yeah, I grabbed it. G Top It's whiskey.

unknown 1:05:35

It's whiskey.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:38

All right, so yeah, that's a cool that's cool though to be able to do that and then have that for your bottle shop.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:45

I can't tell you yet what bourbon we're gonna put in those barrels. But we've got another couple of things coming out at the same time as that.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:53

So will that be ready for the festival or hell no?

SPEAKER_04 1:05:56

Yeah, funnily enough, it would like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:58

Nice. Is it a will it be available for taste testing before the festival? Probably. Yeah, okay. In limited quantity.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:11

Oh, sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:12

Special people.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:15

Well that that sounds great though. That I I like a good well, Jeff just did a honey finished episode the other day, and you know, Macaulay did the honey barrel that he did. Yeah, that was really good. I like it. I don't normally like honey barrels. I thought his one was really good. I even like the Green River one. I wanted to dislike that all the hill for $23.99. Yeah, I didn't dislike it. But it's sweet, but it does finish okay. Like it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:47

I should be quiet, but then I'm not going to be quiet because all that is, is that that stock of Green River, when you come from the the prior, there's a certain amount of barrels that didn't meet the specifications. And what what what what better to do with those barrels than just dump it in? I mean, the fact that they just dumped honey in it, they did it's not barrel-aged, it's like they just they just basically bought a bunch of honey in Kentucky, which is great, dumped it in, and then sold it for you know 20 bucks a bottle. That that tells you a lot about the whiskey they dumped it in. Because you're talking about they bought a shit ton of honey, and honey ain't cheap, dumped it straight in. I mean, not even barrel-aged it and whatever, and sold still only 20 bucks a bottle. Yeah, it is 20 bucks a bottle. You're just like, well, and and it it was, I'm not, I won't lie, it's okay, but like you said, that was a a process, and we're where then what Greg and what Macaulay are doing is they're like Macaulay like searched the whole world for the best honey there ever was, and then invested a shit ton of money and has been doing it. And Greg's buying Manuka honey from Australia with with healing properties, it will be like the most medicinal bourbon you could possibly drink.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:15

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:16

I mean, it's gonna it's gonna cure people.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:19

Unlock a murk of bourbon.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:21

Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:23

Well, that's alright, because I'm gonna show up with a prescription and you'll have to fill it for four dollars.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:29

Sure, we're gonna take insurance.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:31

Dr.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:31

Key Dr. Keeley.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:33

Yeah, I've got a ring to it, as a matter of fact.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:36

Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:37

Maybe that'll be the next shirt. You're the bourbon doctor.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:42

Yeah, bourbon will see you now.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:43

The bourbon doctor.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:46

I like it.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:47

Yeah, I do too.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:49

Yeah, well, yeah, I think we're we're just past our hour and Greg's probably ready to jump shit. Oh no, I'm rolling now. I'm gonna roll. Oh, you're good.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:00

So do you wanna we can we can let's let's let's end it and then we could bring on some people to ask some questions because there's a there's a Matt's been wanting to say hi and he's hanging in the wings, so yeah. I can bring in a couple people if you want.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:14

Yeah, if Matt's there, I'm going. I'm leaving. I was actually thinking the same thing, Greg.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:19

Yeah, yeah, we'll leave it.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:21

We'll see you out in the driveway.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:22

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:23

Bring a cigar.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:24

Yeah, you know. That's not it's not really that far. It's really not. Nope. All right. Well, thanks for jumping on, everybody. And okay, so Greg, tell everybody all your social media that you have so how they can do what they gotta do. What? You turned it down somehow. Oh, I did?

SPEAKER_04 1:09:47

Yep. Okay, go ahead. Um, yeah, so uh our distillery is at Laric and Bourbon on Facebook and Instagram. Did you fuck it up?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:59

No. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:04

On both Facebook and Instagram. But if you want a more salty feed, follow me at Larric and Distiller on Instagram. I think I'm in Facebook too, but I don't give a fuck about Facebook.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:17

You know, Instagram and Facebook are the same.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:22

I know, but you know, like Facebook, Facebook is just like, I don't know, it's just like I I can't explain Facebook. I I just want to punch people that are on Facebook.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:36

I I don't want to punch, I don't want to punch people on Facebook.

Deep Purple Drop Robot Plans Honey Barrels

SPEAKER_01 1:10:40

I want to punch Facebook because whenever you get anything rolling where you start to become successful, the first thing they do is figure out how to not pay you. I yell at them all the time. I'm just like, what? How they they stop you from sharing it or they stop you from doing this, and they stop you from and I've got it kind of figured out after all these years, but still, ooh, there's Kirk. What does he say?

SPEAKER_03 1:11:06

He said uh he wants to know, Greg, if you have any concerns about your robot uh becoming aware and turning into the Terminator and killing everybody.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:15

No, I'm as long as it gives me a heads up, I don't care.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:18

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:20

So program that part in so I can get out of there.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:23

So that's that's Instagram and then your and then you throw out your you throw out your website.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:30

Oh yeah, website is larricandburbon.com. And let me just say, if anyone drinks gin in this uh listening to this podcast, we just launched koala bear gin. Koala B-A-R-E gin. I love gin. I make it all myself. And uh check it out. It's koala B-A-R. So I think nude koala.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:55

Yeah, that's that's an image I'll never get out of my head.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:59

Uh the uh well it kind of looks like kind of looks like this, but yeah, nice.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:07

I think the other end of that stuff anal is better than the end you keep showing.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:10

The one with the toilet paper on its ass. There you go, that's cute. All right.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:16

So when are we gonna see wombat balls in the in the gift shop?

SPEAKER_04 1:12:20

No, they're too little to do.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:22

They're only like Scott details that nobody has. I I think I just found a new nickname for uh tiny wombat balls.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:34

No, no, if you want to call me tiny wombat wombat balls. There you go. There you go. The big T. Okay. Anyways, all right, everybody, www.scotchyburbonboys.com for all things Scotchy Bourbon Boys, Glenn Karen's t-shirts, check it out there or contact me direct. And then also we're on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and X. Also on Apple, iHeart and Spotify. Whether you watch us or you listen to us, make sure that you become like a top shelf member that Kirk has become and leave super chats on YouTube or five-star reviews on Apple. And remember, good bourbon equals good times and good friends. Drink responsibly, don't drink and drive, and live your life uncut and unfiltered, and AI will take us out. All right.