How Middle West Spirits Scales Craft Whiskey Without Losing Its Soul

We sit down at Middle West Spirits in Columbus with Steve Frederick to unpack how an Ohio grain-to-glass distillery scales up without losing what makes the whiskey special. Along the way we taste new Old Elk bottles coming out of Columbus, dig into finishes like Armagnac and sherry, and end with a straight-from-the-barrel moment that proves context changes everything. 
• Middle West’s growth from small runs to a massive round-the-clock facility 
• What “crop to cask” means in practice for Ohio grains and farmer partnerships 
• Ethical sourcing choices like free trade vanilla and why it matters 
• How contract distilling and a serious bottling line support the business 
• Old Elk acquisition impact on portfolio, production and consumer pricing 
• Cigar Cut, Punch Cut and why structure matters for cigar pairings 
• Tasting notes across high malt bourbon, wheated bourbon and wheat whiskey 
• Why finishes and experimentation are pulling new drinkers into whiskey 
• Barrel thieving, proof talk and how a splash of water changes the pour 
• Where to find bottles in Ohio and beyond, plus distillery-only releases 
You can always go to our website 
Make sure you drink responsibly, don't drink and drive, and live your life like us. 

The wild part about visiting Middle West Spirits is realizing your brain is not calibrated for the scale. We’re standing in Columbus, Ohio, talking with Steve Frederick about a distillery that went from craft beginnings to a facility that can fill barrels at an industrial pace, while still obsessing over mash bills, fermentation, and what ends up in your glass. If you care about American whiskey made the right way, this is a rare look at how “grain to glass” turns into real decisions, not just a slogan.

We get deep into the Middle West approach to “crop to cask” sourcing, including how they work with Ohio farmers and why local grain changes both flavor and identity. Steve also shares the less-glamorous side of spirits production, like supply chain ethics, and why choices such as free trade vanilla matter. From there we zoom out to the business reality: contract distilling, a serious bottling line, and how a distillery can stay nimble while keeping quality high.

Then we hit the big moment for whiskey fans: the Old Elk acquisition and what it means for Old Elk bourbon, wheat whiskey, and future blends. We taste through core Old Elk expressions bottled in Columbus, talk cask strength value, and break down finishes like Armagnac, Oloroso sherry, Sauternes, and tawny port. We even thief whiskey straight from the barrel and reflect on why the experience of drinking can change what you taste.

If you enjoyed this kind of behind-the-scenes whiskey talk, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave us a review. What bottle are you hunting next, and are you team bourbon or team wheat whiskey?

voice over Whiskey Thief

If You Have Gohsts

Transcript

Middle West Spirits In A Nutshell

SPEAKER_02 0:01

Middlewest Spirits was founded in 2008, focusing on elevating the distinct flavors of the Ohio River Valley. 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 Michelon reserve line reflects their story from the start to the bottle to your glass, with unique wheated it and rye bourbons, and also rye and wheat whiskies, the Michelin brand is easy to sip. It might be a grain to glass experience, but I like to think of it as uncut and unfiltered from their family to yourself.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

No, it's not a brain surgery, and nobody's gonna die.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Welcome back to another podcast of Scotchy Bourbon Boys. We are here at Middle West Spirits in Columbus, and we are here with Steve Frederick. Yes, we are here with CT. We're in his backyard. Yeah, that would technically be pretty close to my backyard. And I I made the trip down this morning with a big smile. So it was just it's wonderful to be here again because we've been here. But our first time with you, uh uh, Steve, on the podcast. Do you prefer Steve or Steve? Steve. Steve. Okay, because easier to say. Right. In professional areas, you go with Steve. I have my Facebook is Jeffrey Mueller. And people, some people will come up

Welcome To The Columbus Distillery

SPEAKER_02 2:35

and say, hey Jeffrey, and it's just not me. And you're like, and I'm like, wait, it's tiny. There you go. I like that one better. Yeah, and you can refer to me as that, because I I enjoy that if someone just calls me, because that's just that's my podcast name. Yep, exactly. Gonna have that open. And I think I think there are people in your real life that call you C T now.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

I've always had some. Some call you that. Okay. So it's yeah, it's it just goes. But then there's also the It's not like this. Chris is real hard to say. No, it's not a lot, it's not a long time. C T kind of just kind of goes. I like it.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

Yeah. And then it's not C T, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:11

We don't like elongating the C and the T. They can just be just C T. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

He's yeah, he definitely that's great. So coming on for the first time, um, we've we've it's been a little bit since Ryan's been back on, and you know, was on. And Ryan has been very, very busy. Maybe just talk a little bit about how much fun he's been having now that the distilleries have at this point.

SPEAKER_03 3:37

I don't know if he'd call it fun, but there's a lot of travel that's been involved. Last time I chatted with him, he was telling me he was working on about two and a half hours sleep, traveling and getting in. And there was a group that was here, and he was having to talk to him, and you could just kind of tell he was like a little but yeah, busy, busy, traveling all over, getting our brands up and running, and basically working with to create more contracts for the distilling.

SPEAKER_02 4:03

Which it's like so go over, because this is what you were really good at. Go over the statistics of the distillery now and the the place where we're at as far as the plan.

SPEAKER_03 4:16

Yeah. So basically, here at our at Alum Creek, we sit on just under 15 acres in size. Our distillery itself is about 80,000 square feet under roof. And then we've got our bottling line that is a separate building, and then here are our offices. Eventually, when we're finished, we'll have a uh barrel house for doing barrel picks. We will have an event center, we will have a museum for the history of Ohio whiskey, as well as a tasting room and a restaurant. The distillery itself, right now. I always like to put it in perspective for people. When when Ryan first started, they could fill about three 30-gallon barrels a week distilling. We can fill three 50-gallon barrels a minute. Now, so a little bit different in size

How Big This Operation Really Is

SPEAKER_03 5:00

are still, depending on who you talk to, we're either the first or this the largest in this in the country right now, 60 feet, five feet in diameter, 55 plates, and runs at about 154 gallons a minute.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

And and if anybody, if you go by it, it's a beautiful, I mean, we've we've watched the evolution from the ground up, okay. And one of the cool things is it's not hard to understand what what can happen, but it's talking about having the biggest still, but when you look in the and look in a window, there's two. Yes. Not yet, but it's a possibility.

SPEAKER_03 5:35

Our our vision is two, and then we have the fermentation tanks ready to go for that when when that time comes along.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

And that's that's cool. So one of the things early on that I talked about when when Ryan was building this, he had craft. So when I first stopped by, I was used to a lot of times when you stop by at a craft distillery or whatever, you walk in on a Saturday or whatever, and there's nothing happening in the distillery. A lot of times you see a pot still that's not running, looks like it hasn't run for a little bit or whatever. And it's no, but when when we stopped by there the first time at the craft distillery, it was running full out, and it was running 24-7, three shifts, and yes, and and so you really got the sense that what was happening there at the at the distillery, he had done a really good job figuring everything out to basically keep that running, you know. And and what and Middle West was on the well, you know, I had had a little bit of Middle West, but not a lot. It was on the shelf, it's an Ohio product. And so it really got my brain going. And then once you get to meet Ryan, then you understand and everything like that. So it's really kind of cool, but people, I don't know, you know as well as I do what you just said. Unless you get here, you can't understand it. You know what I mean? The size. It's just like you're used to distilleries in Kentucky, and then you're used to craft distilleries, and then you come here and you're like, nowhere else in the in the world is anybody trying to build Kentucky distiller. Yes, but this is the size of a the massive amount of a Kentucky, and and you really get the feeling here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:28

And one of the things that he also did was, you know, the whole idea of creating something that was as much as we can possibly do it, Ohio. Right. We work with from grain for crop crop to cask, as we as we call it. So we work with about 25,000, 30,000 acres of farmland here in Ohio, where we work with the farmers and we go everything from the seed that's planted to the time it goes into the bottle, and we control all of that. We also do some kind of unique things that you know, we we what Ryan really likes the people that he works with to actually make a living. So, like we do the Ohio vanilla vodka, and one of the things we do is is we use the only free trade vanilla you can get on the market now. It comes out of Uganda because Madagascar, it's not free free trade anymore. And so you've got people that are doing basically slave labor to do it. So we go out of our way to do that. Here in Ohio,

Crop To Cask Ohio Farming Focus

SPEAKER_03 8:20

we grow all of our grains except our dark proper nickel rye, just because it won't grow here in Ohio. It's just not cold enough. But that was the thing is trying to keep as much as we possibly can in the state of Ohio when we're producing our products, and we grow some of the greatest grains out of Ohio that there is in the country.

SPEAKER_02 8:37

And when you think about it, agriculture in Ohio is just as big as it is in Kentucky or any any other areas when you drive through you see cornfields and wheat fields and everything like that. And so, you know, when you're dealing with like just in northern Indiana or you're dealing with Kentucky overall, those there's so many distilleries producing that they had that that that is all being produced. But when you talk about Ohio and Ohio grains, that wasn't, we weren't the Ohio isn't geared for that. And he's basically gearing them up for it, like the story you're saying.

SPEAKER_03 9:18

Like our soft red winter wheat, he they basically created that with the Agricultural Department of Ohio State in order to basically be able to grow it in different areas of Ohio so that we could keep that here in it because that's the basis of our vodka, it's the basis of our gin, and it's the base of all of our wheat that goes into our whiskies. And so that's kind of like a cool aspect of what he had in his mind when he was doing it. Right. And now seeing it all of a sudden, now it's coming into fruition, and to be able to walk around the distillery and look at it and see this amazing facility. But you're exactly right. People come here and they walk around and they're like, holy crap, like this is I've had no idea what you guys were doing here. And then the volume. A great example is like Josh was we were talking about a month or so ago, and he looked up the numbers. Last year we went through 1.5 million bushels of grain, which average average weight is like 50 pounds. So you're looking at 75 million pounds of grain went through this distillery. It's it's just like I was like, then you think the water that had to go through it, which is crazy.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

Well, uh, just just the stillage, right? Exactly. You know, the stillage. I remember I remember we were there on the cold day when we were walking around and we were looking there, and he was just getting that thing running over there, and you had all the a couple inspectors looking at it and everything. But it's so, I mean, it's its own whole deal in itself for a distillery, you know. That aspect has to, and it has to run. If that goes down, there's no place where all the stuff goes. So everything, so it's uh just as big of a part of it. But I remember also he, you know, being in there when it was empty, it was construction. He had the bottling line all delivered when I got here. And uh, that's one thing. If anybody knows anything about distilling, having a really good bottling line, like he has, yes, is is a money maker for the distillery because you can fill your bottles, but at the same time, there's a lot of places that need bottles filled. And so, and he's always been that's one thing, you know, when I threw, I'm not gonna name names, but I've seen stuff and whatever. And he, I'm like, yeah, we bottled that, and so we gotta, you know, and that makes sense, you know.

SPEAKER_03 11:31

We we do we do a lot of that. We do everything from you know, from neutral grain spirits to low wines all the way through putting stuff into market and everywhere in between in our contracts, and people can pick and choose. It's like a smorgasbord. They can say, Well, I just want I want you know, low wine so that I can distill it in my own and put my producer bottle in my state. Or they say, We want to put it into a barrel and then I'll take it and age it wherever I want to age it, or I want you to age it and then I'll take it and bottle it, or anywhere in between that, and that's the process that we use.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

Oh, and it's also Ryan and thinking outside the box of how to maximize while staying true to everything that he wants to stay true to, and he has his own brand and everything. He also is enjoying maximizing what a distillery of this size can do. Yes, I mean, you're not gonna get that at like a Jim Beam as much because they have to make so much of their own product that there's just nothing. But at the same time, he'd built this.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

The you know, you see the distilling system and the and the software that it's all he went through and and it's kind of like I always thought when we first came here, and I think I even said that to Ryan, is it's it was kind of like we were we were in the midst of seeing a Ohio-based type MGP system. Yes, but now it's actually bigger than that because it's it's it's like you've taken Kentucky's biggest brands, whether it be Heaven Hill, whatever, and you've taken MGP and you've said, okay, what do both of these places do really well? And then they and Ryan's kind of mashed them together.

SPEAKER_03 13:15

Yeah, very much so, especially now with the acquisition of Old Elk. I think that that's a really good analogy to put together is that he he did. He took the what he was doing in the contract, and then he had his own brand in Ohio, and then took a brand that was a national brand and mashed that into the center of it, and then now taking all of them, and so now we have our umbrella of Middle West Spirits, and underneath that you've got Old Elk, you've got OYO, you've got Luxinumber, you've got Middle West Spirits and Vim and Pedal and Whiskey Smith that are that are all underneath that big umbrella now, which you mentioned earlier, it was like kind of a shock when when old elk, well, yeah, I was working for old elk at the time. Right. And uh I got I got the call, you know. Nicely, it was a couple of months ahead of time. Like, hey, this is this is

Old Elk Acquisition And Brand Strategy

SPEAKER_03 14:00

what's happening, this is what's they know who you are, they want you to come over. And I was like, awesome. I said it's what an opportunity it's become. That's a scary situation to be in.

SPEAKER_02 14:10

Where did you where did you live?

SPEAKER_03 14:11

I live here in Ohio. Okay, lived in Burlington the whole time. Well, then I worked for Southern for eight years as a key account manager, and then I left to go to Old Elk, and I ran Ohio and Michigan for Old Elk for about a year and a half.

SPEAKER_02 14:21

So were you that the pick for the state of Ohio for a while? That was Alex. Okay, because that uh that I went to that pick. Yeah, I've never been to a pick like that before. Well, they picked a lot of better. Well, initially there, I think there was 36. And I think they picked two. What? I mean, gonna put 42. It's it was it was that was a pick that there had to be I I there was dumping and spitting going on at the same time. I mean, I didn't think we tasted through them all. Yeah, and there was some spectacular stuff there. But like at the same time, I also learned that picking for the state of Ohio is a huge difference than trying to pick your barrel for a for a you know that they're not looking, they don't always look for they look for good whiskey. Yes, and but they're not looking for that just one barrel. They're look because they know everybody in Ohio has different palettes, they're looking for palettes of everybody.

SPEAKER_03 15:13

They want slight variations and different in the in the same genre or something that's completely different or something that's new that they can that they can bring to market first.

SPEAKER_02 15:21

Okay, so you were up in our so do you still live up in Arlene? Yeah. Okay. So you knew that you know a little bit of the trip down. Yes. It's it's fast and it's quick and it's boring and it's straight enough, but you know, at the same time, as long as there's no traffic, you're good to go. Yeah, especially on a s on a a morning. Because like if you gotta if I gotta get to Kentucky at 11, I leave, yeah, leave at five. If there's a traffic jam, you're yeah, yeah. But if there's not, you're there.

SPEAKER_03 15:49

You're golden. You're golden, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

But and we've done a few, we've done a few podcasts here with with Ryan. Yeah, and we talked about a lot. It's always centered around Middle West, obviously, because old elk hadn't been acquired. So for people watching today that probably have seen other ones and they've seen us here talk about Middle West, briefly touch on like, okay, what's going on with Middle West? And I think for people out there that it's not going anywhere. It's it's actually it's actually going the other way. It's going the other way. How and how that transition with old elk is coming in to amplify it. You're such a great person to say it.

SPEAKER_02 16:28

Because what what's the difference between old elk when you work for them and now in the direct like the direction it there seems to be is it it's going it's it like well for the for for the people that are out there, it's going in the in the correct direction.

SPEAKER_03 16:47

One, because we're growing, I think the product that we're making, we distilled our our slow cut and our weeded bourbon and our rye so far here in Ohio. I think the distill it is as good or better than anything we do. This is old elk, or this is old elk, yeah. But also what's happened is is the the prices have come down. Yes, which for the consumer out there, that that's always a positive. But I think the products are getting better and better. I think having the opportunity to experiment with things now a little bit more so because we have the ability to produce more product and trying to put those two brands together, the Middle West and the Old Elk, as far as the whiskeys, to kind of lace them together because we are both making a straight wheat whiskey, same mash bills. So we're one will kind of go away, one will stay, and and then lacing in the pricing of them as well.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

Yeah, and that's a big point because we've gone down, I think, in bottle price, about $20 on average between the two brands.

SPEAKER_03 17:46

Yeah. $25 on the old elk and $20 on the on the Middle West.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

Which is phenomenal in a market that is, you know, there's so much out there that to see the prices come down, and they were not unreasonable before. Right. They were a good price for what you were getting. Yes, exactly. With the introduction of cast strength, you know, which I thought was phenomenal, and now we're into you know the pumper nickel and and so forth that their cast strengths are just it that's next level to me.

SPEAKER_03 18:13

Yeah, and the the cast strength has been has been great. I I think the price point where it is at $54.99 is is that's perfect for it. You know, we were just a platinum ascot award for the dark pumper nickel rye. Uh, we were number 14 whiskey advocate last year, 2025, for the wheat whiskey at the cast strength level. So the the accolades are coming along with the fact that one I think, you know, and Ryan Ryan will be the first one to say we make better product now. You know, I get he's like I get people that walk up and like, oh, I've got your first bottling of whiskey.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

And he's like, Well, in the big and and the thing that's happened is Ryan is fantastic, yes, but he has also found a a killer core of people to help the brand move that way. I and that's the you know the other thing to do.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

I'm just gonna say you I don't know to meet him is you gotta admit, it's unbelievable because of what he's doing and how hard he's working. But at the same time, how he's done this is not like how things get done normally in this business. And then when you know, you he's there for a while that he was in these offices and he was in here a lot of times alone, and now he's gotten to the point where he's amassing his team to go out and let let him loose. But just like the old elk ac acquisition, but you know, it makes me excited is that if he can do that, just there's just wait, wait for stuff to come because he's gonna do things that completely make sense. But also, what's so unique is he can he gets this brand, it's aged. Yes, he has the stock, but he also has the complete distillery to just keep going.

SPEAKER_03 19:55

To take it to the next level, and also the big part was like you talked about with people, a whole group of us came over from Old Alc, mostly people that were running states in the West and in the East and the Midwest, myself and and and Ben, who does our blending and works in production, all came over from Old Alc with the knowledge of what it takes to build a brand to 39,000 cases a year. And so then it's like, okay, now we've got five brands that we can do that same thing with now, which is really exciting. It's a lot of work. There's a I mean, things try to get done, and it's like there's there's a thousand things going on in the background at all times, and it's like that symphony, it's like you just got to kind of get all the everybody playing in the same direction, and it and it works.

SPEAKER_02 20:40

Plus, his knowledge of distilling is like and how he built this place, you know, he's like, I have these cookers because I want to make American single mole, and so I've changed the angle that you do when you make bourbon on these cookers.

SPEAKER_03 20:58

His thought process is 10 years down the road all the time.

SPEAKER_02 21:01

Yeah, right. And you're just like, wow, like he everything he learned in the craft, he now is making a large and using those, you know, what what would be the best way to do it? And the same thing, I you know, the old elk, which has always been unique to this brand, is that it is a malted barley whiskey, right? Malt barley whiskey or bourbon, a malt bark barley bourbon, not whiskey, but malt bar, so it's 34%. And it's never been, you know, and Greg, the the cur the the former master distiller uh of this and this brand where he made it, he did that brand full well knowing, but it never was what would you say when you were thinking old elk? It didn't ever say that, they never pushed that part of it. No, when you said it, just not you know, when we were talking, it was refreshing because that's what it is. So there was always a unique flavor to it, it's it's good early on. elk sometimes to me was like what you know what you were talking about it was just like a little bit I always there's a was a flavor to it but as it matured and you were getting it and then all of a sudden what they were it it really blossomed as a brand and now you got the whole blossom plus you're making making it we got the we got the whole plant now not just the stem with the flower on the top of it we have the whole plant that the we can all the barrels everything yeah it's and so you talked about it earlier where now where a lot of these barrels are held at 10 plus years 10 plus years riser riser eight to eight to nine nine and a half cast finish stuff is all was basically most of it was put into cast seven eight years and some have been in a year like two years and and so we we talked about this too off camera but I think it speaks a lot for the acquisition because some people probably on the outside look at it and like oh you just bought a brand because it was a good brand it had good recognition and they're just going to sell through it and then move on and that is not the case because you're making new distillate using this same mash bill yeah you can see on the back the bottle in in in Ohio now yeah eventually that'll be distilled in bottle or uniquely distilled so for people watching and listening this is not a brand that was just acquired for that this is a brand that was acquired to enhance the the overall portfolio 100% but it's going to move in a there's so much they can do especially let's just say four or five years when when you're when the distillate that was done here but then you have age distillates still that you can you can start making some unbelievable blends between because they're you know Ryan's thought process isn't always the standard normal of you got to do it this way or this way he's always coming up with different ways to do it so the the brand is going to go you know you could call it old elk gold or something like that there's there's so much you can we in in and when we bought the brand you know we brought over all of the finished well most of the finished product that was already bottled and then we brought over all the barrels that either came from from Colorado and there was about maybe 3,000 barrels there and everything that was in Indiana that was aging there and we've brought all of that here to Ohio.

SPEAKER_03 24:20

We have those in our in our barrel houses and it's a considerable amount I mean we're talking 10 plus thousand barrels.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

So so Matt had said something and this is a question that he didn't ask it in a question but I I will he said bring me some cigar cut. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 24:37

Somehow I I've done one so yeah where is some of that okay so it'll be you can come down the distillery because as of July 1st it'll be distillery only released so he can come down by there you go Matt Cigar cut will be in the while we missed it by that much exactly well I didn't you did yeah I'll call you okay I'll send you I'll send you a live from there.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

So the question that I had about cigar cut though is what makes it and you've been around with the brand long enough to know what makes it a cigar cut compared to other brands that do cigar cuts.

SPEAKER_03 25:11

So that brand that product was actually designed originally as that specifically wanting to create something to be drunk with a cigar for me that typically coming from a I'm a Psalm is that you have to have a lot of acid and some and structure to it in order to get your mouth to salivate to cleanse your palate while you're smoking your cigar. So that was kind of the whole process of what they did and they did one release and then they changed it to to cigar cut and then there was an island blend and then the punch cut which is out now. And those are kind of fun like the punch cut is two different mash bills so it's our weeded bourbon and our our high malt bourbon they were like six six to seven eight year old buck barrels finishing four different casts so you've got an Olarosa sherry cast you have there was cognac a sautern and Pedro and a sherry okay yeah which and blended together grab one of those just to write up there real quick so they could see the difference in the cigar cut's right by you Jeff that's a

Cigar Cut And Finished Whiskey Logic

SPEAKER_03 26:10

it's it's the one right there I don't think this is a cigar that cigar that's actually the punch cut right there.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

That's the punch cut okay so this is going to be similar to the new release or what's the new release will will come later.

SPEAKER_03 26:24

So the one that should be available the one the this is actually available will be so the state wouldn't let us they didn't want to bring it in. Okay. So the nice part is this being an A3 here A3 here in the state of Ohio is that I can list this as an A3A and sell it directly out of my distillery and I can sell it to the consumer but without having it to go into market and then and having to go through all the rigmaroles so this is what will be available at the bottle shop at the craft distillery.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

At service bar in the I'll get you one later don't worry yeah they're good so and again I love the fact you guys put the blend on here similar to Bardstown you know I think they've always been good about their transparent being transparent about what what you're doing and what's going into so this is going to get an old elk eight year high malt obviously we know that 34% it's finished in carmagnac or carmagnac carmignac that's a new one yeah where in the world is carmagnac from a tour cleaner for your car isn't it and then uh old elk seven year that's finished in olor rosso sherry and then an old elk five year or six year six year that's in a tawny port and then the saw turns so yeah I mean that I love the fact that there's a lot of good finishes that are being used there to make this so and we drank this I believe you guys had an event at Prohibition yes and Gindi had this one that we had yes and it was so good.

SPEAKER_03 27:56

It is delicious.

SPEAKER_02 27:57

I I uh I like the weight of this one the the island blend before was a little lighter a little heavier yeah you can definitely I could you know what there's a there's a difference it's old elk and then there's armagnac in it do you guys need to do a an a yak elk old yak elk blend so we have we have a whole bunch of barrels of of the armag it's a wheat whiskey and armagnac and elk do so good with they really do and it's interesting like we it old elk they a lot of what they put into the cast stuff both was typically wheat whiskey it tends to do better with the different cast finishes I think it takes on flavors a little bit better.

SPEAKER_03 28:42

The one that I think is delicious is we have one that's in sautern and there's another one we do that I like is is Tokai I had the Armagnac wheat whiskey finished Armagnac from the steak pick.

SPEAKER_02 28:52

From the steak pick because by far by far when we were tasting by far the best thing that was there. And you're just like the seven year wheat I got too which was delicious. There's I always find I even like wheat whiskey as in its younger it gives me like a toasted grain flavor always right but as you get the up into those really the when you get the age on that and you start to get the age it wheat whiskey really starts bringing out like how the flavors and then with that it just the wheat and the wheat kind of stays right there but it's always like that toast and it just gets like more sugary yeah I get a loyal bit more that that nutty caramely kind of finish that you'd get in Armagnac that really the wheat tends to start to bring out but it does take time and that's one of the things that we really kind of pride ourselves on is is is aging products.

SPEAKER_03 29:44

One we start with the you know oddball mash piles a little bit different than most people but then aging them to where they get to a point where they're delicious.

SPEAKER_02 29:53

Well we got to taste the wheat or so finished wheat whiskey that you know from the early one one when we were and so we were in the warehouse when I was with there in Ryan and we were tasting he had an he had one right and I got a video of it and he retieved it and he tastes it and the look on his face is exactly how good it tastes I mean it's one of the better barrels I ever you know and then the the Orlo Rosso it's got the what you know it's got the the bung but it's got the mesh the mesh the the in it's like wheatgrass mesh or whatever it's a burlap mesh. It's right burlap yeah and he takes it off and you do it and just like if the experience is another man. And it's like that warehouse it was perfect.

SPEAKER_03 30:40

It was cold you know in the in that barrel we we've often looked at you know coming from the sales side of it my thing is is we need to build like a cave in the barrels to do barrel picks.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

Oh yeah but then when you look at the realistic end of it for me being in Ohio there's going to be about three weeks of the year that we can actually do that where it's either not too hot or it's freezing cold in there or it's not comfortable well the key jervasi up by us which where I live okay and they have a a wine cave they they they have a hill they made and then they dug a cave in it okay and the spas on the top and the but it's so the temperature it's climbing we have that in Columbus with yeah but when you do a cave if you do that and you want it you if you it's small and you make it small enough you can I'll tell Ryan to start digging a cave in the back temperature control it. It doesn't he does he can just take one of the digging it's like I know but you were saying it's a cold space but you can if you temperature control it you don't have to worry about anything you can just make it whatever you want and sometimes leave it alone but you can control hum they they're controlling humidity because it's wine okay but at the same time it's small enough that it would be reasonable that you could heat it or cool it cool it not you can't heat it with gas heat but it would have to blow it up right we do some fun experimentation with stuff like that. I mean then they just do the wine in there because they won't let any bourbon or anything go in there because it will change the back you know burger so hardy and the barrels don't matter and then wine wine you get something off and it's all dead.

SPEAKER_03 32:13

Exactly and the corks will absorb all of that in the bottle really quickly so yeah all right so anyway so what are we what what do we so what what did we have what did oh I have not tasted look at that you yours is instinct I didn't get very much oh you know what no the difference is is Jim talks a lot I drink more very good well now it's time for you to do I you have the better job yeah so this is kind of fun so this is something that's going to be hitting the markets August 1st nationally ohio maybe a little bit later because the state has some fun barrels that they want to release early but this is something that that is part of this acquisition. Not the worst thing in the world to have them selling no so we'll have we'll have we'll have the double end of it we'll get both theirs and ours well and and then if you do if you do it right you just ramp up yes like you use the states well if you like this you're gonna love this. Yeah exactly so and you have Anne on your side I know she's my she's my friend she's she is I'm a movie very good so this is a new product this is actually the first ones that we have well tech technically the first ones we have that are going to go to the market that are bottled by Middlewest Spirits in Columbus Ohio these are our core lineup of old elk so we have our our high malt bourbon which is this one right here we have our wheated bourbon and we have our wheat whiskey so the high malt is going to be 51 corn 35% malted barley and the rest is is is rye so that high malt middle this is going to be your wheated so this is another one great the the the idea was different mash goals so this one's 51 corn 46% wheat and the rest is malted barley so it's about double what most people are doing in wheat and then this is our wheat whiskey these were just done there's no strip label on it says it they can't see it anyway they can't see it anyway okay good but this is the 95 wheat 5% malted barley 103 105 and 105 are the proof on them all of these are 10 year age statements on this and these will be coming into market at 6999 what is in my glass though that's the the high barley the 30 board the

First Bottled In Columbus Old Elk Lineup

SPEAKER_03 34:20

the the the mash bill yes but at 10 year 10 year and and and at 10 now are these barrel proof or have they been proof to where they're optimized proof they when we tasted through these we tasted them from 100 to 109. 105 was 105 is where but everyone did them like separately and like put in their numbers in one two three and that was where they ended up there's this one to me has just the sweetest number oh my god it does it doesn't smell like old old elk but it's almost like there's just that's that it's interesting because I was just tasting the other day gotta admit that this one the weeded bourbon 10 year next to what we were putting out with the eight year weeded bourbon that was in the marketplace a couple years ago and two years doesn't seem like a lot when you're looking at 10 but it was like wow this is like I mean honestly what you just said but then also what were those two extra years like you know what I mean that it it all matters.

SPEAKER_02 35:25

It does and and if you think about we're probably 1970s Kentucky weather right now and Kentucky's warmer now than they were in the nine so the optimizing in Ohio for aging is more like what Kentucky was you know we're a little bit cooler yeah and not it's what but we get enough heat and we get enough cold and they're getting they're getting more heat. Yeah and no they are getting some cold they did last year they got nailed but I but I always find it we have the coldest February on record.

SPEAKER_01 35:58

Yeah you know in Columbus I mean yeah you guys for me I get like a a really nice sweet vanilla but there is a almost a sweet raisin and then a cherry strawberry note that's in there.

SPEAKER_03 36:12

It's like a golden raisin.

SPEAKER_01 36:14

A vanilla a vanilla cherry super sweet a vanilla cherry creaminess of the cola is like you can almost smell the creaminess of the vanilla that's what I mean it's like it's just different.

SPEAKER_03 36:26

The interesting thing was in tasting them I the you know you taste it at different proofs put a little ice cube in it dumb it dumb it down a little bit with a little bit of ice there's totally changed and you get more of that cola more of that sweetness on it.

SPEAKER_01 36:40

The hug's amazing just right there the the easiness of this is surprising at 105 this is not this flavor 105 the flavor goes with the palate which is kind of crazy because sometimes they totally go with the flavor you were right you were right I don't know if you influenced it but I'm tasting coal I get the cola Yeah the cola is definitely comes out on the palate more for me.

SPEAKER_02 37:08

I think that's the if they made their version of bourbonola they should be using this don't don't tell Ryan he's gonna get it you know what as long as you're buying it yeah you can do whatever you want with it yeah well that's the way all whiskey should I I you you can be a proof hound you you know a whore proof whore you can be anything but just be it right do not do not tell anybody else on the planet what they should or shouldn't like because this is like food. Yeah if you like it and everybody else doesn't guess what there's 2500 other brands to choose from and just find the brand that you like but you know I will say Middlewest and their old elk is finding is most people would like this.

SPEAKER_03 37:58

I think I think this is I find it like totally doing events and tastings the the the that high malt blend women tend to love it.

SPEAKER_01 38:08

Yeah because it's a little softer in that need that sweet nose you still get the sweet nose you still get that sweet entry but it's a soft mid palate and then a little bit and like we all say your nose is obviously the biggest taster you have when you first bring that glass to your nose it's it's gonna you're either going to get a lot of ethanol and oh I don't want it or you're gonna get those sweet sweet creamy notes and this one's got it.

SPEAKER_02 38:30

So like it's like it's not you know how they they they wanted to have where the old fashioned they go I want it made the old fashioned way no they don't no right yeah you don't want to that's where old fashion came from right but this I I want that new old elk elk that's that's the new say that three times fast. Right?

SPEAKER_03 38:52

Hey are you still gonna make the spouts we still what do you mean why do they have to the black ones he's already let me see your hands so we literally uh I actually just submitted a couple weeks ago I just asked the state to I thought that was such a cool idea we've got the we've got the original the old elk wheat whiskey in a vap that we're gonna start selling at the distillery that comes with the elk at horse spout oh nice wheat whiskey in a what oh wow in a vat in a vap VAP so value added packaging and so it's gonna have for the people in the industry they're tiny it's whether it comes with a glass or whether it comes with the spout how do I get on that list no I'll I'll send you a FaceTime he's on there you're on it when I'm there I'll send you a FaceTime so you know that's happening.

SPEAKER_02 39:38

I I'm just so Steve I'm so I I feel so I I've always felt from the start this is an Ohio distillery yep I was way Ryan has treated me and where where it's been just unbelievable okay and but I've always felt that a lot of times I was whatever and having you now yes and you know getting to know you it's just kind of like it makes me want to live down here as much as we can to promote the product. We've got a couple rooms in the back down over here you could just let me pick putting I mean it's so much you know everybody in Ohio it you whether you're coming from from the north this is like when this gets open and you got restaurant and you've got the thing I mean honestly it it will definitely and you can tell just like where we are right now what wasn't something existing right last year. And everything just keeps filling in.

SPEAKER_01 40:37

Yes and that's something I was going to say earlier is you know Ryan took a you know definitely could have moved to the outskirts of town could have gone to some better space but he resurrected an area that really this was not anything. It was an Oberlin brick company they made block and cinder blocks and bricks and it and it we still get people that pull up with like blocks in their hand and they come up and they're going where's your uh Will call I'm like not here in the wrong place here that's White Castle but but you know the other side of that is is people are used to Middle West being at the other location and how small it is. Yes the bar is awesome.

SPEAKER_03 41:14

Yeah oh my the service bar restaurant my God but it's small like if you go in there it's a small area so I can walk in the door and you can leave the door open there's a tank right next to you.

SPEAKER_01 41:23

People watching or listening they're like been to Middle West there's no way it's what you guys are saying. And it's like okay just wait that's that's the restroom for what this will be size wise compared to what this facility is.

SPEAKER_03 41:37

If you look at it there they can put about 48,000 gallons in fermentation if you were to fill all the fermentation tanks. We can do that in one of our nine here. Yeah. So we're nine times the size and and and still using that facility so it's this facility runs all the time. Yeah we do all of our batch stuff we do all of our our white spirits like our gins and stuff like that there we do our like our stone fruit vodka because we and the vanilla because we infuse it like you would a gin. So we're taking the the organic honey and the vanilla and we're putting it into the pat pot like you would with a gin with your with your botanicals and then distilling it through. Well what about your American single malt we're we're gonna because I know that's gonna be it's coming it's yeah no it it it is it's funny when I first started uh like last summer I came in in June last year there was a period of time where it was like and for me the the the sing the single malt new makeup is the best it's got this citrusy lemony liney thing on it that is just totally different.

SPEAKER_02 42:43

Look I can just I was still and being we're the scotchy bourbon boys so it's all whiskey. Everything's as long as you're associated somehow with whiskey or bourbon I'll have you on. I draw the line when someone wants to just do a tequila or whatever but if you're doing a mezcal and you're aging it in a bourbon barrel. Well tequila can be a yes they can but but I had a tequila person come on and just want to do tequila so I was like I I gotta keep it just to whiskey. We just did um Fresh Victor which is a bunch of it's mixers for and they do it they they do a good job unless you drink the expired stuff shouldn't be doing that. I can tell you that I know but what else choice what other choice did I have I was the drinker you're the talker I had the drinks you just needed there was nothing wrong actually it survived the whiskey sour the lemon sour it survived but the strawberry one didn't and I paid for that.

SPEAKER_01 43:41

Speaking of mixed we haven't we haven't touched on one that I you guys still make I'm assuming is that I've always loved is the bourbon cream.

SPEAKER_03 43:48

Yeah that that will be a new uh it will be made again but we're out of inventory right now but as fall as we roll into fall we will be doing it it's it's it's interesting between the two rooms right Yes, it's a white box. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:02

Actually, I've seen it. It's still on the shelf in OH.

SPEAKER_03 44:05

It's out on the market, but we we don't have any inventory of it. But it was interesting because when with Old Elk had had Nuku. And they had, and they were the literally the only two bourbon creams that were made with real cream.

SPEAKER_01 44:19

And so it is Nuku went away. We'll have a new version.

SPEAKER_03 44:22

New version will come out in the fall, and it'll be that's made with real cream, you gotta refrigerate. Well, it'll be made with real cream and it'll be made with really good Middle West Spirits whiskey.

SPEAKER_01 44:32

That makes sense. It's always been fantastic. Like people that for years that I've turned on to it, they're like, that's better than, and I'm all say brand names, but yeah, better than other brands. Everybody else. Yeah. Let's just leave it there. I'll let you say it. You're allowed to say that. Um that's my joke. But yes, it is fantastic. So when that comes out, look for it. I so real quick on the the audio. I love the the new the incarceration. I love this.

SPEAKER_03 44:59

The yeah, we we started that. So this is our first year of doing that. We we well we've got to be.

SPEAKER_01 45:03

Sonic Temple just happened, right? Yeah, Sonic Temple just happened.

SPEAKER_03 45:07

Incarceration's too long.

SPEAKER_01 45:09

So nothing different other than you're sponsoring.

SPEAKER_03 45:12

We're sponsoring it, and then what we've done is we've we're we're we created their own labels for it. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 45:17

So but same vanilla type. This is just the our regular character project. So this is 100%.

SPEAKER_03 45:24

This is incarceration. Incarceration. It's the heavy metal tattoo up at the I don't have any tattoos, but I like the I know.

SPEAKER_01 45:32

You want to get one?

SPEAKER_03 45:33

Let's do incarceration test. It says right here, it says made to be loud.

SPEAKER_02 45:37

So the Sonic Temple, did they have anything to do with it?

SPEAKER_03 45:40

Well, no. We basically, well, we worked with them. They we were a sponsor there. So when you were there, we wanted to have something that was unique and different to us. They loved it.

SPEAKER_02 45:51

So the the band loved it? It's it's a lot of basic. It's affordable. We talked about like shouting down, corn. Yeah, but Sonic Temple was there. No. No, the name of the event, but it's not the band. No, that's that is a band, right? I'm I'm not from the 90s, right? Okay, okay. That's somehow you should get to sign this because he started looking all worried. Like, am I just completely am I that old or whatever?

SPEAKER_03 46:16

One of the things that we do is we all we'll have like an iPad on the tables when people come up during the events and they can get on and they can put their information in and they can.

SPEAKER_02 46:23

What's that like compared to a whiskey festival? It's gotta be way different.

SPEAKER_03 46:27

This one, the incarceration is crazy because it people come from all over the world. Yes. I was at I was at a bar here last year, and this is in Mansfield, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 46:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:37

There were there was it was here in Columbus, and it was like there were four guys and they were all English and they were talking about. Well, I gave them well, next year. Give us time. Uh but they were like sitting talking, and I was like, Oh, you guys, you what are you guys in town for? They could incarceration. I was like, So you came over from England? They're like, Yeah. I'm like, okay, I'm buying you guys some whiskey because that's pretty sick that you guys are coming to Columbus, Ohio from England for a tattoo festival. Yeah, it's huge.

SPEAKER_02 47:02

Okay, so this is one of the festivals that you always get tickets to. No, I don't.

SPEAKER_01 47:06

I I or you could if you want to go to them, but I don't because we're old. I'm old and I can't. Yeah, it's a whole different level. I used to go to the Sonic Temple and they barely make it alive, so I decide to not go. No, I get it. I love the fact that it's you know teaming up and doing stuff with it. So yes, and and and it's and it's vodka, so that's fine.

SPEAKER_02 47:28

As long as you don't uh let's get back to whiskey. Yeah, okay. There you go.

SPEAKER_03 47:33

Where were we? Where were we? But we haven't tried. So wait, we haven't tried so this next one. So this is we'll go, we'll go wheat and bourbon. So this is once again 51 corn, 46 wheat, rust is malted barley.

SPEAKER_01 47:48

So this one is the 46 wheat. Yes, okay.

SPEAKER_03 47:51

So heavy dose of wheat. I think this is the highest. These noses that I've ever seen. Yeah. So redemption did some a while back that was like 43. There's someone else who did. I think Bargetown's got one that's 42.

SPEAKER_02 48:10

Just radically different. No, that's like tasting or smelling the cherry that we were smelling in the kit. Remember when we couldn't figure out what it was? It's there. And then there's the toasted caramel wheat.

SPEAKER_03 48:24

Yeah, there's uh almost that wheat really comes to use. Yeah, that it pulls all those baking spices, caramely notes from the barrel.

SPEAKER_01 48:32

It's almost got a little bit of a maple nose, too. Yeah. Like there's a American maple.

SPEAKER_02 48:38

That wheat drinks similar to your wheat. Yes. Your wheat whiskey.

SPEAKER_03 48:46

Same mash brill. Are they? Yep. 95.5. It is, it is, it's interesting you say that because it is the same mask brill.

SPEAKER_02 48:54

But those flavors are very similar for what and I always I mean, my God, the cast drink, wheat whiskey. I mean, for that price, it's like you can't go wrong. You look at it, you know, I don't know whether the lower price helps or hurts in this market because when you see something like that and you have something that tastes that way,

Wheated Bourbon Notes And Value Talk

SPEAKER_02 49:20

and it's cast strength, and then you're like, well, it's affordable, yep, like it is now. And I've been just pushing the affordability because I remember because I do a thing every year. I go to the what's on the shelf in 2020. I started in 2023. I just go to the liquor store, take pictures, and we just go through the whole, all the shelves.

SPEAKER_04 49:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:39

And it's always it Middle West has always been there.

SPEAKER_04 49:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:43

But initially it was more and then and then it took me a year to figure out that it was cheaper. And then once it was cheaper, I'm just like, this cast strength whiskey drinks. If you're gonna, it's it it rivals a booker's or you know, it's it's right up there. Without that right there, without the peanut. Yeah, but it's really, yeah, it's good.

SPEAKER_03 50:06

But at $54.99 instead of whatever.

SPEAKER_02 50:08

And now I say the brand, right? Mike alone, right? That's the right uh instead of that's just I gotta rechange all my yeah, because I I say Mikalone, and you corrected me. So now I say Mike alone on all the podcasts, so it's the Michaelone brand, which is to his grandpa, right?

SPEAKER_01 50:25

Add a tad bit of water to that and watch the softness change. Holy crap, I just added a little bit, it got softer, and oh my god. Okay, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 50:39

The fun of it all. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 50:41

That's that you look at this, you are prepared. Get the get to the good stuff there. That's uh that's uh Pappy Van Winkle 25 extract.

SPEAKER_02 50:56

Yeah, holy shit. I love you, I love you.

SPEAKER_03 51:07

That's a that's the sales guy now.

SPEAKER_02 51:10

So so so is there other is there other extracts like you said, Scotch extract? In the rest of the world they do this shit? Yeah, not in America, not in America, you can't. Well, if it's bourbon, you could, but nobody would want to buy it.

SPEAKER_03 51:26

I don't even think you could do it. You'd have to, it would have to be blatantly labeled on the bottle. And you couldn't put anything, you could put whiskey, technically, but you couldn't put burger. What is what is scotch extract? What is it actually? It's like when do you take just like a uh I mean, I know what a vanilla extract is. Just reduce it down to where it's just like a sticky gooey mess, and then I mean it has to be so.

SPEAKER_01 51:48

So you just cook a barley scotch. No, you tell it's it's gotta be barley, it's gotta be something to do with barley.

SPEAKER_03 51:54

They probably extracted it.

SPEAKER_01 51:55

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 51:55

Or or they just that's what they do with the with the peats after they burn it over the top, they put it in and they add water, and then they call that scotch extract.

SPEAKER_01 52:05

So for me, when you added the little bit of water, the finish went from just a cherry to that cherry cordial. The finish turned into that, like you almost ate a cherry cordial that green meat. And the finish gets spicier.

SPEAKER_02 52:18

Yes, it wasn't as spicy on the finish, whereas it's uh there's no, it's still real easy in the front palette, but on the back now, you gotta get a little bit of a little bit more spice, which that's what you're saying, where you get the cherry quart instead of the cherry.

SPEAKER_01 52:33

Yeah, yeah, it it really picked that up. That's crazy just adding a little sometimes. You add a little bit of water and it goes the other way.

SPEAKER_02 52:41

Yeah, we just did a honey, a honey finished podcast, I did, and we had dark arts honey, we had Green River, where they just pour honey in it, you know. Dark arts is really good. But I didn't, but I didn't realize that Jim Beam honey is they add honey liqueur to Jim Beam. And there's there's so many different ways of it.

SPEAKER_03 53:07

At that point, it's a lot easier because you don't have to worry about separation. You're taking you're taking the liquid.

SPEAKER_02 53:17

He had a ton of money, threw it in some barrels, his specific barrels, and then dumped it out and put it in. So there's definitely when you flip over his bottle, you can see some of it drip, but it's getting cloudy. And he he he said, I had the uh he's like, it's cloudy, it doesn't matter. It's it's that's that's what happens.

SPEAKER_03 53:36

If it's bad because it's cloudy, no, it's no it tastes the same, it's just cloudy.

SPEAKER_01 53:41

Well, honey's such a different marriage to bourbon compared to maple. Maple syrup just blends seamlessly almost, even in a cocktail.

SPEAKER_03 53:51

He could probably take that honey he if he wanted, you know, chill chill filter it, he he wouldn't have that problem, but then you lose everything.

SPEAKER_02 53:56

Well, that's what he said. Yeah, so he's he made that decision not to do it, and then now he's reusing the barrels as he keeps going, which will have a little less, and you might keep it longer. It'll have a good influence, but not so much.

SPEAKER_03 54:12

Yeah, we we run into that all the time.

SPEAKER_02 54:13

We just dumped a bunch of our secondary cast things and we're have you guys find been finding that the acceptance of everything on the market of a little bit, what would you say, every not consistency? People want a you know, a variable, uh, a variance of flavors. Like I've noticed that within the industry, people are looking for a variety of different things opposed to trying to keep consistency. And you guys definitely are now living in both worlds.

SPEAKER_03 54:46

Yeah, we're we're there's some of our products where we want a consistent product, and then there's things that we're gonna be experimenting with, and with all the the cask-finished barrels that we brought over from old elk and stuff that we've been throwing in.

SPEAKER_02 54:58

Yeah, it's the legs on that that we've been kicking bottoms.

SPEAKER_03 55:02

Taking some of our new make stuff and putting it into, you know, unpeeded stuff barrels and like picking oddball things and going, throw, you know, let's throw it in a barrel for a little while and see how it comes out.

SPEAKER_01 55:12

Well, and you know, like we've said this year, I think the beginning of the year, end of last year, we were talking about the fact that uh the whiskey segment we felt was a good avenue for people to grow in instead of just the true bourbon because because you have a lot more flexibility, exactly. Right, and and there's so many great I mean, I'm gonna tell you the because they didn't follow exact they didn't use a new barrel.

SPEAKER_02 55:36

But I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you probably the best tasting whiskey, like with no rules, except you can't add anything or whatever, has nothing to do with bourbon. You have great bourbons, but to make if you eliminate that charred oak new barrel from the the thing and you can use dews or whatever, yeah. There's and then then age it. The aging can be softer, you know, everything. There's there's there's a whisk, there's there it's out there, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:06

But you know, we're I think this is America, but I think the consumer is also becoming more adaptive. They're not like, oh god, I gotta have bourbon.

SPEAKER_03 56:14

I think they're just like you used to get people that go, I only drink bourbon. Correct. Now people go like that was some of the one know it that they're actually drinking a whiskey, but they're like, Oh, I really like this bourbon. And it's like, okay, well, that that's not really a bourbon, but I like where you're going with it.

SPEAKER_02 56:28

Every finished bourbon is a whiskey, it's not a bourbon, right? It's finished, but you it's that's just a way of saying it's a whiskey.

SPEAKER_03 56:36

If you're gonna put it in a finished barrel, right?

SPEAKER_02 56:37

And at first in 2000, I mean, I really got into this in 2018, and when we started the podcast, they would just we would have these purists come on and just you know, it's just like for how long did Angel's Envy not make a bourbon? It's every single one is pork cast finish. That's not a bourbon. And now they now they've started, you know, throwing out bourbons because the whatever, but it, you know, for five, six years you didn't even know what their bourbon tasted like unless you got to know Wes and go over there and see them.

SPEAKER_01 57:07

Yeah, yeah, I do think that's the one thing that's changed in the industry is people are not as crucial to that, they're just looking for good stuff.

SPEAKER_02 57:14

Well, I think also that the industry has pivoted to that because younger people appreciate they don't need it all to be the same. Right. That's that's bringing in the the younger, the younger whiskey drinker.

SPEAKER_03 57:28

And I think it's been and it's like and it's also that I think for like a specific brand itself, it can be a little harrowing for them because you you see as you see some of these brands, and next thing you know they've got 25 different labels out.

SPEAKER_02 57:42

Well, when you think about just Jim Beam, how did how did Booker save it? It didn't save it through Jim Beam, he saved it through Booker's, not Creek, Basil Hayden, and all the others. Yeah, I miss oh, Baker's Baker's. All different flavors of very, but it was those special bottles that people all of a sudden started. And then once you had that, but that's what got everybody back.

SPEAKER_03 58:05

Yes. That it wasn't it wasn't Jim Beam. I mean, yeah, the Jim Beam guy loves Jim Beam. And you can pour him whatever, and he'll be more than happy to taste it for you, and then he'll turn right back to the bartender and I'll take another Jim Beaman.

SPEAKER_02 58:16

Well, and I'm so and I'm so not, it's not against Jim Beam, but as my as we've done this, yeah. Having Jim Beam when I first was starting, I didn't know the flavors of Jim Beam. So you got to get the base. But at this point, I know what Jim Bean tastes like. There's no reason for me to drink it unless we're at a party and that's all there is. I mean, it's not like it's bad.

SPEAKER_01 58:42

They have Coca-Cola or something.

SPEAKER_02 58:44

Okay, so what's next? Our sequel. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 58:46

Oh the good stuff. So the next is the wheat whiskey. So this is 95 wheat, 5% malted barley, 75%. That was the wheat bourbon was the last time.

SPEAKER_02 58:57

So this is 95 wheat 5 barley. So we've got the bigger.

SPEAKER_03 59:02

So this is listen this is the rye.

SPEAKER_02 59:05

This is that was that was the MGP's version of wheat whiskey opposed to their rye whiskey. It's totally different.

SPEAKER_03 59:15

Holy cow. Caramel. I tend to lean towards the whiskey. The wheat whiskey side. Something about it, I just it just drives me. I I like bourbon. And I like I like I like whiskey. But I also tend to like I used to always joke like when I was selling old elk, the 10-year-old wheat whiskey that we had was delicious. And I the when I got them home, the bottles leaked because they would always be slightly lower than everything else the next morning. And I think it was production error, pretty much, is what I blamed about.

SPEAKER_02 59:49

No, you go away. Wait, that's Angel's Share. Oh, that I mean, I mean, uh so let's get into Angel Share.

SPEAKER_03 59:56

Even the new guy's gonna tell you that Angel Share doesn't happen overnight.

SPEAKER_02 59:59

No, you know, we all know Angel's Share is is is the excuse.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:06

Whatever's missing from the media safing, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:08

Yeah, well, of course, it all goes into Angel's Share. But this I mean evaporation happens, there's no doubt.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:15

But not no, this this by taking the corn away and predominantly wheat, you you take away that super sweet nose to me. You take away the cherry. Now you go to a grain note more.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:29

Yeah, but I like

Wheat Whiskey Deep Dive And Preferences

SPEAKER_02 1:00:30

it. But tell me, I don't see that when you drink this, the sweetness, that it's it's 95.5, but you can't, it's if I was drinking this blind, tell me there's no corn in here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:42

What I get is I with the with the loss of the corn, I lose. I I typically for me, I lose the the honey and the vanilla, but I keep that caramel nut and I keep the baking spice.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:53

The nut is definitely is there. Yeah, it's it's not a peanut, it's more of like just a No, I'll have to say that drinking a lot of your wheat whiskey, uh, Middle West.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:06

I like where you're going with this.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:07

The old oak is is oh, I mean, I it's funny. Right now, that's why one of the reasons I'm glad I'm down here, but one of last time Ryan sent me home with and first, I mean, I swear to God, I was using it and the bourbon was gone. The you know, the the which is a four-grain weeded bourbon, and it was gone I just like faster than it ever should have. And then next pumper nickel rye because is good, and I've got the and I was able to like know that I need this because I kept talking to Ryan, and I wasn't so I need I need it for the yeah, every single podcast we do, we put out, and and I you do you get it on the audio, but then also on Facebook and YouTube, I'm out there promoting each individual sponsor to promote it. And one of the greatest things I can say is all this is available when this gets released. This will be available on the shelves in Ohio. It's a real but but Middle West is available across the country. Yeah, you guys are doing a fantastic job of putting this.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:19

If we don't allocate it, there might be there might not be a a ton of it into the market, but it's not going to be something where you got to go and stand in line to get it.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:27

Well, you need to. I but you also need to to have your distillery release only because that's part of everything. Because the we like to stand in line. You know, my favorite one is you like to stand in line.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:41

If you like to stand in line, I don't like to stand in line.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:43

This morning, but you've but you're rubbing off a little bit on me. But I like to stand online because I get to meet people and will listen to the podcast. I mean, you do have your own cards. Do you need more?

SPEAKER_03 1:02:55

Uh yeah, he's still got the five you gave him last time.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:59

I no, I printed up cards with his name on the card because he deserves them.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:05

Everything. But I do like the idea though, in a couple of years, like as this is a few. I don't stand in line though. Like I usually just come to them. Yes. So but but I love the idea of once this is full, this thing's full circle.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:21

People love me because you just can come inside and wait for it and then get it.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:25

Yeah, but full circle. This is open and ready. Like the 12-year release of this is coming out. Have it here and have a line of people with the 12 years. Well, when we get to that point, okay. Yeah. But hopefully by then this is able to be done. And that would be a killer release. They're lined up and down Allen Creek. You know, we got all the way down to White House. We got White Castle.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:49

We got White Castle right next door. We got MM. If they need a dispensary, we got a new dispensary on the corner. Oh, that's even better.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:55

They can talk about weed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:57

And if anybody needs it, then we got we got lines then right across the street. Well, but yeah, most of the viewers will know the lines then off of Alan's.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:04

Does White Castle do a morning thing at all? Yeah, they do. Morning sound? Yeah. Yeah. What you should do is team up while they're in line, have White Castle come through.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:16

This one changes the sign changes. It's the first one. It was the first one that does it. So when it when it gets dark, it changes and it says nightcastle. Oh, I didn't realize that. Nightcastle?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:28

This was the White Castle. Well, wait, wait.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:30

You could do a specific Night Castle release. Comes with a comes with a comes with a six-pack of sliders.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:37

And if anybody, you know, we're talking about the we're talking about this was more we're enticing double jalapenos.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:44

Was this a more industrial area with yes, with the construction and this was a brick factory, and so it was, yeah, this was this was like out in the outskirts. You we're right next to Bexley, so we we we've got the dip out of it.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:57

Yeah, but but you're coming, you're coming, you go through the whole interchange to go for Columbus. Either you're gonna go into Columbus, you're gonna go to Cincinnati, and then you go left, and two miles down the road, you get off, you make a right, and you're here. And and just so you know what it was before when you got here and what you saw, now you see this right away, and it just changes your whole perception of the area. And as you guys keep pushing this, Ryan's doing exactly what he wants to do. He wants to revitalize the area, and he he will do the things he needs to do to help.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:40

Yeah. And we like we've been working with Bexley School District and the Bexley City Council. Like they come over here and they do events here and stuff like that because it's a big open space, it's right next to where they need to do it. They got plenty of parking, the and you know, they actually like us now. It's great.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:55

So before we end, uh can you talk about? Any special releases that might or might not be coming from the state of Ohio, possibly. Can we talk about that?

SPEAKER_03 1:06:10

I I think so. I don't see why we couldn't talk about some of the things. Because I think this is pretty awesome. Yeah, they came in and they bought some some stuff. Ann was great. She's always awesome.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:19

One of the best people in the industry that I've ever met.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:23

She's great. As far as promotion. James, her husband, is right there with her. But so they came in and they bought nine barrels. So they're gonna have some dark pumper nickel rye, single barrels that are being coming out in the state here, probably August. Maybe even July. So they're ready to go. They also bought a an old nine-year-old old elf rye that will be a distillery release only. It's gonna be a small batch. That's the one Ian was talking about. Maybe, maybe, maybe 50 bottles. It was really low, it was a really low fill.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:58

Does your bottling go 375? No. I know. Because that would that's what I would have done with that.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:08

That would turn it into 100. Yeah. And then they bought some some ones that are cool that we kind of just rediscovered when we brought everything over from old elk with some some toasted barrels. Rise.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:23

So the majority of this next release is old elk.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:28

There are no four old elk barrels and five Middle West. They found a Middle West wheat whiskey that was just stamped out.

Ohio Barrel Picks And Upcoming Drops

SPEAKER_02 1:07:40

I mean, my God, he he put those in those Orla Rosso, and yes, I can see it being because that that from the start, from the first day I was here. Yep. I I was like, I got the tasting, they let me do it. I tasted the Orloro the just the regular proof. We I think it was Or Lauroso. It was proof down. And then then I got to taste the cast strength. The cast strength of it. When Ryan showed up. And we and I walked away once it gets proof 97.5 or 99.75. I'm like But the cast strength was like, oh my god. It just like he then I knew. I mean, I knew from the start that Ryan exactly knew what he's what he was doing for whiskey lovers.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:24

And then you just get if anybody ever gets a chance to meet him, if he's somewhere, hopefully someday he'll be signing bottles and whatever, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:32

We're we're gonna get enough for some of these power releases.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:34

But that's but but he is so just it's so unique to meet him. He can talk to anybody at any level, and he makes you feel comfortable, and you then you like realize what he's doing, and then he gives you a time of day, and you're just like, Man, you just get it.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:55

Yeah, it's it's interesting. Like he he's that way with everything from the agricultural aspect of what he he grew up in in Pennsylvania to the production end of it, to the distillation end of it, to the distribution end of it, like literally, and we'll talk in depth where you're like, wow, okay, like you you get it.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:15

Well, and then the mar the distribution, but then also the marketing. Yes, he completely understands the whole experience of what we're doing and you know, and what you're doing. And and then when you think about it, it's just like this is here during this time period, and you're like, and he's the one in charge. Yeah, you're like, we're gonna be okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:39

And it's also it's also the the people, you know. Like Luis Gonzalez, who was our CEO at Old Elk, came over in the in the purchases.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:46

I met, I did meet him.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:47

Yeah, so he's our he's our chief commercial officer. So he's the one that's in charge of like the designs and the look and the feel and the marketing and how it goes out and the price points and everything else, which is for me is uh on the sales end of it, is great because his whole thing is there's only two positions in the business, and there's people that do sales and people who support sales, and that's yeah, because if you don't sell it, nobody else gets paid. Correct. And so that's refreshing to have. A lot of times you get you know, business where it's like, oh, well, we're gonna go off and do this, and so okay, well, if we don't sell it, if we don't sell it, we ain't got anything going.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:22

And if it's not well done, it's funny because I come from a commercial art background, and then I went into fine art, but I always understood some of there's great artists throughout history that made no money, died, and then all of a sudden they're famous now. That doesn't give that does not help them at all. Jackson Pollack, for instance, he made some money, but he died, and all of a sudden, and it's just like it whiskey's no different. You need everything to do it. If you're putting there, are some people that put great whiskey in the bottle, but they don't put it out there so people can know about it. Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:08

And that's it takes it all to make it work, yeah. And the getting it into the bottle is the easiest part. Yeah, it can be difficult and it can be time consuming and it can be a problem.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:18

But the when you really as long as it's good when it's going to be exactly and then if you button distilling selling when you think about distilling, if you know what you're doing, the computer aspect of it is is so uh it's just like once you set something up for consistency in the computer, then you just need people to watch over it. But you need somebody who who needs to know how to do it. But but that's not the market. You got a consistent product, you want that, people buy it. It's part of the huge part of people drinking every day, you know. Yep, but then what's gonna really market it is your other products that you're doing and you're putting some fantastic stuff. So when people see the little old elk 10, then they're like, that was delicious. I'm gonna try old elk.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:06

And then you're putting good stuff in old elk, and then but the sales part of it is huge because if you're not at those small little events, if you're not at all these little things, then the sales aspect kind of gets lost because you're relying only on advertising. Advertising doesn't always reach those people, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:12:24

It's very nebulous. I feel like that's a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:26

It's why that grassroots type advertising type social media is so important.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:31

It's this, it's it's the interaction between two people standing at a table and then tasting stuff and going, like, wow, so you know, I'm doing buckeye, and people like walk up, so where are you guys located? And I'm like, so or I'll go like are you familiar with this? Like, never heard of you guys. I'm like, Well, where do you live? And they're like, Oh, we live in Columbus. I'm like, really?

SPEAKER_01 1:12:53

You've drove by us so many times and you haven't.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:56

No, I then I'll say, or I'll say, like, we're we're the big black building, like right off of Al Creep when you get there, and they'll go, I don't know, just like guys all Hawaiian stand. They go, Oh, yeah, no, right. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:06

Just imagine being boo. There, it's an Irish whiskey company. They produce Irish whiskey, but it's straight out of Columbus. It's in Green. That's owned, right? And it's if you you I would say 99.9% of all Ohioans have no idea that there's Irish whiskey. Good whiskey. I mean, I mean I'm saying Burns, right? It's Burns Pub. Burns Pub. They and and now you're talking Martin Kennedy, who used to be the Talamordo rep for, and everybody knows most people who know Irish whiskey know Talamordo. But Bern, Boa, it's just kind of like you've got to get that name out.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:47

It's it's it's the struggle of every business is getting your name out, even after you've been in existence for Middle West has been around for a while. Yeah, 17 years. But but why you are dealing with what you're dealing with to a degree, with why you meet people that are like, oh, you're in Columbus, is because Ryan unfortunately didn't have the time to do that. Now you have a staff and you have you have a steep place to go out if you do that.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:13

But when you meet Ryan, it's obviously the long game. Oh, yeah. And and you look at it, and when I met him everywhere. For he's he's young. I mean, he's not old, old, right? Well he's getting there. Okay. Yeah, it's gotta be about compared to me, he's young. Just so you know, we gotta talk about how to how you deal with this right here. Because on the top, you're doing really good. Uh, this is, I mean, I how here, here, I'll throw out I'm gonna throw this out and be quiet. How old do you think I am?

SPEAKER_03 1:14:45

I this is what I love. How old do I think? Take your you gotta get rid of the nope, nope. I would say like like late 40s.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:54

I'm gonna be 62 in September. All right, but okay. He refuses there we go. No, he refuses to not color his beard. So that's no, no. This is this is solid. And then I gotta this morning. I'm like, I gotta shave this morning because this is just the stuff I shave is all like frosted. It's it's it's ridiculous how much when I first started, how much like it used to be salt and pepper. No, that wife, what who wants to watch an old man drink whiskey? It's like it's I like that late 40s. I'm oh yeah, she she how much you just did 50. Yeah, I'll turn 50. And you did a good job. I just turned 60 last year, I'll be 61 this year. So you were born 65. Yep. My wife is was born in 65, a year old, yeah, younger, but it's it's what it is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:47

I just like I I love you wake up in the morning and look at myself like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:50

But when you say that to me, because because honestly, now it used to be like once a month, dye it up, whatever. Yeah, and I go go tea in the summer, but I'm liking I got a guy that I like that's trimming it up, keeping it where I like it. But at the same time, now it's like every one and a half

Getting Older And Still Drinking Well

SPEAKER_02 1:16:10

weeks I have to hit the roots because he'll trim it short to long, you know, kind of thing. And then I mean, it's just like it's like in three weeks I've dyed it twice, you know what I mean? It's just like you can't you can't stop being old.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:25

I just uh I'll go like a week and a half and I was like married?

SPEAKER_02 1:16:30

Yes. Okay, so then I get it. It's just like I'm married, but at the same time, my wife laughs at me all the time. I just and I enjoy I do it, it takes six minutes, right? You or 10 minutes. 10 minutes to do it, and and we're not gonna do it. We're not talking about we're not talking about like let me call it. No, it's 10 minutes. It's five minutes to put it on, six minutes.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:00

It's ten minutes to stare at itself towards it.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:03

No, you gotta you gotta mix it up, put it in five minutes, then you gotta wait six minutes for it to do it, then you gotta wash it out. And it used to be go into the shower when our shower wasn't really good. Now she's remodeled the shower, so now I have to wash it off in the sink and then go wash it. Well, you're not allowed to wash it in the shower, no, not no more, because it would stay in the shower and I can't stay in the brand new shower stall. That's just like that, would be like the end of us. So, anyways, but but about 15 minutes and the clock back. Yeah, it works. Hey Steve, can I pick you up in that bedroom? But I have not seen my chin since like 2007. I it's just like at one point, you look good. Yeah, well, am I doing better? I it's just sometimes you go up and down. We were we were on a thing and I did something. Uh we I sat on the edge of a chair in in the Airbnb, and the chair flipped.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:00

So I went straight to my back, and then the chair is with the guy from Black Diamond.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:06

Okay, yeah, and then the chair, the chair hits me in the back of the head. So then I'm like, I feel when I hit the ground, felt like my whole back exploded, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:18:17

And then I'm laying as outside, and I look back and he's laying on the ground.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:23

And I'm like, oh my god, my back. I thought it was gonna be so I've been able to get through it because it hurt my back, not the normal way my back goes out. So not the normal way. My back, my back, my back will go out every once in a while in a way that you've got no strength in your life, whatever. Yeah, but it's now to the point where everything's I've been actually able to start working out again. And then when you get, as you know at our age, you basically have to stop eating almost.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:57

It's like actually I find if I go two days without eating, I'm like almost at my perfect weight. That's what, yeah, that's what I mean. As you keep or a good or a good stomach fluid, it's the same thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:06

Yeah, okay, there you go. But but but it's like it used to be you could eat as much as you want and you work out and you'd be fine. Now it's like you work out and you don't eat anything you want. I'm like salads and you know, burgers with no buns and whatever, and and somehow it never you work out and work out, it just doesn't go away.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:28

Well, age does that, it's just like getting cut. I mean, when you were 15, 20 years old, you get a cut on your hand or whatever. Yeah, heals up date, yeah, too. Now, as you get older, it's like we can have a week, two weeks, a month. And you're like, holy shit, why isn't that going away?

SPEAKER_02 1:19:44

Like just like it should just wait till it's just like there's certain things you do, you get hurt, like if something happens, it don't hurt the next day or the next day or the next day. It's like you get hurt, you do something on Sunday, and on Thursday you start feeling it.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:02

You're like, what the why does my knee hurting me like struggling back up?

SPEAKER_01 1:20:06

Yeah, you're like Sunday, Sunday. Yeah, so so why don't we finish in the podcast with with hold on. I got an idea. All right, we're gonna end the podcast thieving from that barrel. So you're gonna do the camera. I'm gonna turn the cameras and we're gonna finish. It is on this business front.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:26

Okay, so we'll thieve from the barrel, and then we'll redo the thieving from the barrel when I can record it. I'll record it. I'll record it from my phone when I'm gonna share it to me. Promise. Because that's like this all the time. No, no, no. Yeah, I am I am cards because CT said this before, and I never see it, and all of a sudden I see. You're just sitting looking at your phone for like a week. So so you want to wanna hear something really? Oh, I should shut up. I'm not gonna say that. Hold on.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:54

Okay, so we're gonna I'm gonna move the cameras, we're gonna finish up feeding.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:57

Everybody, wait, okay. So you wear this one. I've got one. And no, you need another because this is the main podcast. I'll wear this one and then you two.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:06

I'm gonna grab another one.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:07

I feel I feel so important. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:09

Oh, oh.

unknown 1:21:10

Do you need one too?

SPEAKER_02 1:21:12

Yeah, I need a glass. Yes, please.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:14

So we are gonna thieves.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:15

So do you know? So this is how special I am to rhyme. Oh I have a Middle West Spirits Glencaren, Crystal Glen Karen. Crystal cut. I do too. Yep. Yeah, you're you're special. You guys, I didn't even have those.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:30

I bought one of them.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:32

I bought it. You got one?

SPEAKER_02 1:21:33

You did get one? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:34

We just got new ones with the uh with our group.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:37

Uh but he also, Ryan has one. You do a couple more podcasts you're in with the Scotchy Bourbon boys. You'll get one of mine.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:46

Like this? Yeah. Do you have the do you have the the older one with the flat Middle West? Okay. Or do you have the new one with the curved?

SPEAKER_01 1:21:54

Oh, I think so.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:55

Oh, I need a new one.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:56

Where's the old elk one?

SPEAKER_02 1:21:57

Can you give, can you give me one of the new ones?

Thieving From The Barrel Live

SPEAKER_03 1:22:00

Oh, we'll look around in the back. I think there might be some back that we just.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:04

You're amazing. Okay, so well, then I'll have to bring you, if you do that, I'll have to bring you the trading, the Scotchy Bourbon boys. I I I do six a year, and you'll be one of them.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:16

Okay, so we are so this how to do it.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:19

Okay, I should get out of there.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:21

Probably 2015. Let's look here. Hold up here. Yeah, 15. That's 11 years.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:33

In November, it'll be 11 years. So wow. So 10 and a half-year-old standard mash bill. Yep. This is a 51 35, 35%. 34.

unknown 1:22:46

All right.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:47

So what's the third grain? Rye. Rye.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:51

So they produce 14%.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:52

Yeah, they use rye like barley and barley like rye. Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:56

And at the time, barley was barley's expensive. Yeah. It's four or five times the cost of all the other grains. Well, right. But her had a lot of money to spend. So I'll let you do the honor search.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:07

I've never done that.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:08

You've never done it?

SPEAKER_02 1:23:09

So you basically got to take it. Screw it in.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:12

Just hit yourself in the face. And then just scrapping the funk.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:15

Yeah. I've seen it, but I've never done it.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:19

You're going to break it. You're fine. I am. And you split that thing in half.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:24

Now I can't.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:26

I got a whole box of them over there. Actually, there's a bin right over here we can put them.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:30

Well, I'm I'm going to keep that one.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:32

You're just going to be sticking in there. I yes, I was worried. I was with Michael recently. We had a different thief that's got like the curved handle on it, and it was a top fell. And some of the old elk have big bum holes. You can put one. Yeah. It literally Michael like smells like a rickhouse. Smell that chocolate? Stuck the thief back down like this. Oh yeah. And it like went into the barrel. Like it, the the bowl was so big the whole thing. Just fell in. Went in, and he was like, oh shoot. We had like get a coat hanger and scroll it around till we hook till we hooked it on.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:10

Oh, that's this one's yours? Here we go.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:17

Get one. No, no, no. You did, and I think I put it down somewhere. I'll get a new one. I just want to know what you're doing. That's a pretty good film. That was good to grab there. I've done this many times. Cheers, C. T. Cheers.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:53

10 and a half.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:54

Jesus. It looks amazing. It's not just looking.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:00

You know, the best part of this is the I'm never sending this video to Jimmy. Oh, you're so bad.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:06

And so these are these are averaging like they've been varied a bit, but like 118 on the wheat on these ones, like 118 to like 130 is where the proofs are. It doesn't mean whiskies are somewhat higher.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:22

So when you taste from the barrel, I really feel like the this experience is elevated.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:29

It's different.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:30

It's yeah, I mean, I'm this is the first time we've drank something from the barrel ever, and it's special.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:36

It is. It's like I sold wine for years, and I used to always tell a story like I just one guy, and this guy would spend $30,000 a month with me buying wine. Goes to Italy one time, stays in this beautiful villa, calls me, gets back to me, he goes, Oh my gosh, Steve, I had the greatest Keanti ever had in my life. Can you get it for me? I said, Well, what was the name? He tells me the nail, I'm like, Yeah, I can get it for you. And he's like, How do you want? He goes, Give me a couple cases of it. I'm like, perfect. So I call him, I'm like, okay, I got it for you. Come pick it up. He goes, Well, what's the total? And I said, It's like they were like $11 a bottle. And he's like, What? Really? I'm like, yeah. He goes, Oh, that's amazing. Comes and gets it. Week goes by, calls me and goes, Steve, this is not very good. And I said, Well, think about it. You're sitting in a villa on a vanishing edge pool in the middle of the Tuscan hillsides, rolling along. You're having an amazing time, and whatever you put in your glass is going to taste great. And then you get home and your kids are yelling, your your mother-in-law is in the back room, and you don't really want to be with her, and you're tasting this thing, and you're thinking, this is not the same thing. It's not what I remember. It's the exact same stuff. No, it's exactly it. It's the place, it's what you're doing, it's how you're drinking it, that you're pulling it directly from a barrel rather than just pulling it from a bottle.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:57

Just think, lobster, right? Yeah. You're I l I love lobster. Bugs of the sea. But you're sitting in Florida, or you're sitting in California at a restaurant that is known for its lobster, right? And you basically are paying market price on the coast. And then you have the lobster cooked by a chef with a special butter sauce and everything. And then you're like, how do you think that lobster's gonna taste? It's just like one, and then it costs. Cost matters because it's status. So then you go to Red Lobster for the all-you can eat lobster fest, and it doesn't taste the same, but it doesn't taste the same because you're at all you eat lobster fest. But that lobster that you're eating at Red Lobster could have been the exact same lobster sitting next to another lobster. That you ate on the coast. It's just like people just don't. It's all about the experience. There's no doubt about it. And when you're with people, and that's why bourbon works, because not only can you have that experience on the Tuscany coast or in Kentucky, but you can have that experience sitting around a fire with friends. 100%.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:21

And it it it all comes down to like the guy who buys the bottle of bourbon that puts it up on a shelf and stares at it for five years. It's a distillate that's made and designed to be drunk with friends, either as a celebration or just hanging out on a day. It is not meant to be just stuck up on a wall and stared at and looked at. Oh my God, check it out. See, I found the killer bottle. Let me pour you some of it.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:49

But the greatest thing is, is if they do that and then they pass away, and then someone buys their collection and sells it to you, then you get to basic. So someone else is experiencing it on a different level, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:29:07

Divorce. Death and death. Divorce. And that was it. Because literally you get huge sellers that guys had collected over years and years and years. They gotta get it. And the wife's like, I never liked it anyways, I'm out. Just whatever you can get it for it. Then you get the divorce where they'd get the it was never the husband and wife that came in, it was the lawyers that would come in and they'd like inventory everything and like figure out how they're gonna split it. I'm like, you guys go for it.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:31

Well, Brad Bonds last year got us 1946, 47 Mary Dowling. It was Dowling from 1947, two bottles. They were tearing down a house, and underneath the stairs, when they broke through the stairs, was uh I think there was 11 bottles.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:51

And they were in a crate or something.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:52

And they were in a crate, but the two bottles we got were the outer part of the bottle, the labels were messed up and everything.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:02

You don't drink a label.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:03

No drink, and he's like, but you know, when he sells them, he was able to get the ones, clean them up, make them, and do the sale. So he gave us because he sponsored the butt our bus tour, he I was able to buy two of the bottles. Uh we opened them special with the cork, and we did all the things, got them open on both. It was it was some amazing whiskey from you know, but somebody stuck that underneath.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:31

I don't want my kids getting this, so I'm gonna hide it under the stairs here. And then somehow when they're ripping down the house, someone went, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, there's something down here.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:40

Let's get that out. So I didn't realize it was worth it. But it was real. It was all delicious. I mean, the cherry note on it, and it did it didn't drink completely like a dusty. Sometimes you get that really richness of a dusty.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:56

I always tell people it's the same thing you have with wine. There's there's two things in spirits and there's two things in wine that never go away, and that's oak and alcohol. They do not diminish. So, what you lose is you lose that baby fat, that richness, that sweetness on the entry of the palate. And then you start getting those secondary notes where you get that earthy and that tea bag and that leafy kind of forest floor thing going. And if you like that, great. Buy the older stuff. If you don't, why don't buy the older stuff?

SPEAKER_02 1:31:22

Roger hates it. She hates dusties. She's just like, I her palate just doesn't tolerate it. She's like, uh, that tastes moldy. That tastes this, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:29

And I both uh have a hard time with basement floor.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:33

But you like you like that, that doweling, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:31:36

Dowling was different. Old fire of copper? No.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:38

It's like old fire of copper. They get to about 12 to 15 years, and it's just like wine. It gets to the point where it ages and ages and it goes like this. Now it's not a drop-off, it's a slow decline. But you you I agree. It just changes. And if you like it, great. I used to guys would be like, oh, I want to buy 10 cases of them at Google.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:56

I mean, Papi 15, I've had some unbelievable stuff. Pappy 2023, the little bit I've had, it's too oaky.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:04

Yeah, it depends. Yeah. And again, just and it depends on the environment. It depends on what's going on. I can't wait.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:12

So where are we? Did I get an invite to that? No. Not damn. Me neither.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:20

Chris does a lot of things. I didn't know I was getting it. It was like it was just a gift from a friend and so gods, and you thought, oh no.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:28

Was that was it straight from the barrel?

SPEAKER_01 1:32:30

Yeah, it was straight from the bottle. And it was delicious. It was really good.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:36

But I mean, it really depends.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:39

But I can't wait. We're we're set up to when we get to 20 with you guys.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:43

Yeah. Let's do it.

unknown 1:32:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:46

You and I'll both be old, but you know, what the hell's old, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:32:50

I'll push you around. You know, it's funny, I tell I tell my kids all the time, you know, when I get old, I'm gonna get like a like a chair that like I can sit in that you guys can like like I can like move it around, be like, yeah, that's a wheelchair. I'm like, yeah, great.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:03

Or you could go with the the George Castania when you castanza when he was in those motorized chairs in racing when he was pretending to be injured.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:16

Yeah, that's where I am. That's where I am.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:19

So as long as there's there's a cup holder that holds a glen.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:24

There you go. Well, I'll make one. I'm pretty good with the book.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:27

There you go. Well, we better wrap it up. So everybody on Facebook, YouTube, and thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:33

And then we'll end the audio real quick.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:36

All right, let's just sit down. We'll end it.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:39

Sit back now and finish up. Jess and Larn will go off for his front door again.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:48

We'll put them on YouTube. All right, everybody. Thanks. Thanks for thanks, Steve, for joining us. Awesome Saturday. I mean, it's been spectacular. Middle West Spirits has been nothing short of, I mean, it's so as a as a smaller podcast when Ryan started putting the time and effort into us and helping us and everything. It's just like, and then to you know meet you and now share whiskey with you. It's just been spectacular. All right. Well, tell everybody how to where how to find your stuff on on social media, everything, website.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:30

So you can always go to our website. We're actually developing a new one that's this really cool new system where normally when you go to like buy stuff online, it takes you to another website. We found this new one where it just pops up a window and we like maybe we're able to like watch what you're doing, but you can buy all of our stuff online. We're in 47 states now with Southern Glazers, so we're basically all over both brands. Middle West is launching state by state. We want to do it on a relatively controlled basis as we as we as we grow. But again, you can always go on our our site and do it. And then in Ohio, pretty much most we're in, you know, the the core of the Middle West stuff is in about 250 stores on average. Old Elk is in about 50, Castranks are in about 50 different agencies, and you can always just look up OHLQ and type in the name and it'll pop up where it is.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:18

And the best thing to do is to come to Reserve Bar, come down to downtown Columbus, go to the original location because the one thing that you guys do that I love there that a lot of distilleries don't is you can sample. Like you can you can try, like you want that cigar batch, or you want this and they have it. They usually have something there you can try.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:39

So we have probably a half dozen or so at least single barrel releases that we're that are just at the distillery. And there's also probably six different items now of old elk that you could buy that's just

Where To Buy Visit And Future Plans

SPEAKER_03 1:35:50

at the distillery. But yes, you can go into the to the the uh uh store and you can taste them all before you buy, which is great. And then and then stay to eat. Oh, yeah, stay and eat. James does an amazing job of the food.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:03

He is duck fat fries, insane.

SPEAKER_03 1:36:08

We were doing the duck fat fries with God, what was he putting on top of me? Like loaded fries.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:15

Isn't that what isn't that what Ryan bought that day? Like you came late and then we're whatever, and we had coffee or something that day with his kid. No, you you showed up just yeah, he had to leave, and then you showed up a little, but you got there for the right at the live. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:32

But yeah, food's fantastic, it's definitely an elevated experience. The bar is awesome, it's a cool old bar backdrop. But from Chicago, 1850s. If you want some of these that we've talked about today, like this uh cigar cask that's gonna be released July 1st, a few days from now, that is going to be at that facility only. So it's it's it's easy.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:58

The the part that I want to know about is when this facility, when everything that's not going away. There's never that's not going away. No, but there'll be an opening for this facility where releases will happen, yep, and everything will happen out of here, and that's the day we're we're getting there.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:18

They've they've talked of different times. My my thought is on it is that we should be open and ready to go by the end of 28, which will be our 20th anniversary.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:29

You mean you mean in five minutes? It's just this works, it's just crazy. 2028. I mean, I can't believe it. You know it's a 20 year old out. It's like I keep saying it's 20 year.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:41

20 years old 12-year-old elk. You said it. That is my goal now, is that we're gonna have a 12-year-old release at the distillery. We'll also probably have an eight-year, nine-year release. We've got some 10-year-old stuff from Metal Office, but eight-year at least.

SPEAKER_01 1:37:57

It's gonna be fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:58

That just tells you right there. You've been around for a long time, and what you have for releases isn't, you know, you've been around 20 years at that point, but you don't have 20 years because everything's sold, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:38:15

Yes. Either everything's sold or we were the we were smaller at that point in time and in building the brand. But yeah, there's not much of the older stuff.

SPEAKER_02 1:38:25

You started releasing older stuff, but then you didn't even get out of the older stuff before you started doing this.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:32

I think Ryan's got a few of them stuck back there with his with some of his with some of his his uh his cars as well. Not really. I never that's he doesn't collects cars. My my my dad raced cars for years, and one day I pulled up and here was a like a 69670 Roadrunner 446 pack out front. And I was like, wow, that's a nice car. I wonder if that's a company car.

SPEAKER_02 1:38:57

Did he take you for a ride in it? No, no, he didn't. We gotta get to that point. We gotta get you there. Believe me. Believe me. I I'm I'm all with you. You get me there. I'm gonna get I'm gonna because I'm gonna give you high praises. High praises? I like it.

SPEAKER_03 1:39:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:39:15

All right, everybody. Take us out. No, we're the Scotchy Bourbon Boys, www.scotchybourbonboys.com. For all things Scotchy Bourbon Boys. There's new t-shirts coming because I just brought CT a massive amount of t-shirts, and he is the t-shirt god. And you are.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:34

I'm trying to figure out my business card must be like a whole newspaper. It's just a newspaper. I mean, it's all the shit. You're just put it on there. Wait, anything you want to do. I will update it.

SPEAKER_02 1:39:45

Just say anything you wanted to say because holy crap, what you've been doing. I gotta throw out kudos for it. It's just like between me and you booking podcasts, getting it's like you there's so many, it's like even hard for you to come on, right? It is. So, anyways, all right, and then also remember good bourbon equals good times with good friends. Make sure you drink responsibly, don't drink and drive, and live your life like us.