29. Kentucky's Bourbon Brotherhood

So I tend to like the weeded stuff much like Big Chief. And so I thought, hey, here's a bourbon that spent some time on the ocean, just like each of you guys. So that's why I picked this one for the poor.

Jim spent time under the ocean.

Submarine force, yeah. Were you in a submarine? I was submarine force.

I was on surface Navy for a while too. Yeah, they called us bubble heads.

Welcome to another trip down the Bourbon Road with your hosts, Jim and Mike. So grab a glass of your favorite bourbon and kick back.

We would like to thank Tommy and Gwen Mitchell from Log Heads Home Center for supporting this episode of the Bourbon Road. Find out more about their fine rustic furniture at logheadshomecenter.com.

Hello, everyone. I'm Jim Shannon.

And I'm Mike Hyatt.

And this is The Bourbon Road. And today we're in Louisville, Kentucky, and we're hanging out with our good friend Bruce Corwin. Bruce, welcome to the show. Thank you, Jim. Now, Bruce, you are the founder of The Bourbon Brotherhood. Yes, that's correct. Now, tell us a little bit about The Bourbon Brotherhood as we get ready to sip on this first drink.

Yeah, so we started this group five and a half years ago, back in 2014. The first event we had was actually just about one block from where we're sitting right now is at a place called the Down One Bourbon Bar. So at the time, now they've made some renovations to the place, but at the time they had this sort of little speakeasy room in the back of the Down One Bourbon Bar. And the only way you could get to it was there was a phone booth with one of those red British looking phone booths. So you walked into this bar and there's this kind of this red phone booth there. You didn't really know why it was there. But if you open the door to the phone booth and you walk through it, there was this little room behind there. It was really cool. So it wasn't very big, but it was good for the purpose. And so I just said, you know, hey, I invited a whole bunch of guys. I think we had about 20 or so show up. And there was no real agenda for that meeting. We didn't have anything really going on. It was just like, hey, let's get together after work on a Wednesday evening and drink some bourbon. And it was kind of fun. And we had some appetizers and stuff. And so I said to the guys, hey, is this something you guys like doing? They're like, yeah, this is really fun. Do you want to do this every month, make this a regular thing? They're like, yes, we definitely want to do that. And so I said, you know, do we want to just like meet here every month or you want to go someplace different every month? And they said, we want to go someplace different every month. So I said, well, all right, that's going to be a little bit more work to organize that. But sure, why not? So that's that's basically how it started.

Yeah, well that's a really neat story and I love the idea of the Speakeasy. I haven't been to Down One Bourbon Bar before, but I understand it's very nice. It is very nice.

It's not fancy or whatever, it's pretty casual. It's called Down One because it's basically in a basement, kind of underneath some buildings, adjacent to a parking garage. But it's kind of a neat spot.

Yeah. Well, I tell you what, let's talk a little bit about the first bourbon we're going to drink today. So for first pour, Mike and I have brought Mikhter's Barrel Strength Bourbon, and this is 107.6 proof, 53.8% alcohol. Have you had the Mikhter's Barrel Strength before? I have not, no. Well, this is kind of, as Randy used to say, this is kind of apropos since we were all together at Mikhter's just two nights ago. We were.

Man, that was a great event.

Really good. Really good. So yeah, so for the listeners who might not know what we're talking about, Mike and I actually attended a Bourbon Brotherhood event on Wednesday night. So we're recording now. It's Friday, two nights ago, at the Michter Shively Distillery. That's right. And a lot of people get to go there. It's kind of a, it's not open to the public.

No, it's not. And as you got a tour there, you could tell they were very careful to say, hey, you can take pictures in some areas, but not other areas. You've got to be careful where you walk, what you touch. It wasn't really meant or designed for people to be walking through there. So it was a very special opportunity for us.

they still put on a great event, you know, uh, just having their whole staff there. I thought that was a really rare to you that I was surprised by that too. Usually when you do a tour like that or something where it's, it's for an event, it's one or two or maybe three people. And I would think they had about 15 staff members there to, uh, show the, the bourbon brotherhood around and, took us to four different places throughout the facility and let us try four different of their products. I was amazed at how the red carpet was laid out for the Bourbon Brotherhood.

Yeah, they treat us very well. We've done a couple of events with them before and they're wonderful people. Wonderful products and it was really a special treat to see the distillery and the level of detail and level of attention they have at each stage of the process. the million-dollar machines that they use to analyze everything just to make sure it's right in addition to their sensory input. Every step of the way, even just talking about the filtration process, how it's filtered, and all the details that go through everything. Everything in the place is just spotlessly clean. It's really something else.

I was very impressed by it. Now, one of the expressions we did not have when we were there was the barrel strength bourbon. Thank you for bringing this.

Oh, yeah. You're welcome. Look at the legs on this thing.

It's definitely a dark bourbon. It is. How old is this? I don't know. It's not age stated. No, it's not age stated. I don't know whether they release that information or not, but usually if it's not on the bottle, they're not talking about it. but let's go ahead and cheers. Cheers. Cheers. So what do you think about that?

I think that is delicious. It's really, the flavor really goes with the color. You know, it has that kind of dark, sweet, rich flavor that you would expect from something of this color.

Yeah, I think the nose really matches the palette on this one. It's very rich and it's got a, definitely an oaky kind of a sweet oak caramel kind of punch.

I was gonna say it has some deep caramels in there. It's just almost a toffee like.

Yeah, very toffee-like. Did you say what the proof was on this? I don't know if you mentioned that or not, Jim.

It is 107.6. That's right.

Everything they do, it goes in the barrel at a low proof.

Right.

Was that 103?

103 entry. And then Andrea was saying that the things are coming out of the barrel anywhere between 108 and 112. So this one's probably just a little bit on the low end.

And Andrea, just for people that don't know, is Andrea Wilson. She is the master of maturation at Michter. So she's in charge of once it goes into the barrel, then it's kind of under her purview and she gets to decide how things get aged and when it's ready and all that sort of stuff.

And I think we're going to have her and their masters still are on in the future episode. Damn the key, right? Yep, that's right. So Bruce, you don't have a deep Southern accent. Where are you from?

Well, I'm from New England, so not too many people up there have a deep Southern accent, but no exception from that. So I moved here to Louisville, Kentucky, 11 years ago.

When I was stationed up there in Maine and they start talking to somebody there, you have a funny accent.

I'm like, I have a funny accent? I think you have a funny accent. We all have a funny accent.

Just different parts of America, but beautiful country up there. I'm sure a lot of people think Massachusetts is just all city, but it's not. There's some beautiful, some mountains up there in Massachusetts.

On the western part of the state, there's the Berkshire mountains. It's really pretty out there. Obviously, in Boston, which is what most people think of, it's very urban, but outside of that, there's all kinds of areas. I grew up south of Boston in a town called Milton. In my adult life, I lived on the North Shore. Some of the towns up there like Hamilton and Ipswich was very rural. I spent a few years even in Salem, which being October, this is- Salem witch trials. Actually, interesting story. I traced my ancestry back, which wasn't too hard because it was a book about it, actually. My Corwin ancestors go back to, Matthias Corwin was the first of the Corwins here in New World, as they called it. So he was one of the founders of one of the towns I lived in, Ipswich, Massachusetts, but his nephew was a guy named Jonathan Corwin, who was the judge at the witch trials. Wow. So that's a little bit of a notorious background, I guess, as far as that's concerned.

Massachusetts, you know, I guess when I think of bourbon, I don't, I don't. Well, maybe. maybe some good old boy clubs or something up there, bankers and stuff. I could see them drinking bourbon.

You know, since I've left, obviously the bourbon appreciation around the world has gone up quite a bit. But at the time that I was there, if you were drinking whiskey, it was maybe even more likely like an Irish whiskey. There's a lot of Irish people, a lot of Scottish people and such in that area. So I think that type of whiskey is pretty popular. But even before I left there, bourbon was starting to pick up. And my father, he was never much of a drinker at all. He might have like one beer a month, something like that. Later in his life, last year of his life, he was diagnosed with cancer and he had six months to live. And so he was going through a decline. And one of the things he was enjoying that last year or two of his life was Maker's Mark whiskey. So that was something that was kind of special because he never really enjoyed that much during most of his life, but kind of toward the end of his life, it was something special. And it wasn't a very sophisticated thing to say, apparently, these days. But he said it was smooth. People kind of frowned on, don't say smooth. whatever. But that's what he liked it. And so it was something we enjoyed together. So when I moved to Kentucky, where Makers Mark Bourbon is made, it was kind of neat for me to have that. And I remember my first experience walking into a liquor store, I think it was Liquor Barn, I went in to get a bottle of wine or something like that. And I was walking down the aisle and up in Massachusetts, at least at the time, if you were looking for bourbon or even whiskey, there was, you know, part of one shelf was where you, you know, the one section of the shelf was where they had the bourbon. And when I looked down this aisle and I saw an entire aisle filled on both sides with bourbon, my jaw just dropped and I was like, what is this? Couldn't believe it. Welcome to Kentucky.

Yeah, I think I'll change my accent. So you had some bourbon before you came to Kentucky. Yes, I did. So what was your first experience with bourbon?

You know, it was probably maker's mark. I'm thinking, um, you know, that was pretty popular up there. Um, I didn't really drink much bourbon outside of that. Uh, you know, like I said, I had some Irish whiskeys and things like that. Um, but I'd say it was maker's mark and it's, it's a very approachable bourbon. It's, uh, we did bourbon, you know, it's just well known and a good quality bourbon. So it was a good introduction.

How long? 11 years. 11 years. You feel like you're a Kentucky boy now?

I don't know if I have the gall to call myself that, but it feels like home. Let's put it that way.

Why did you move to Kentucky?

You know, there was a lot of stuff going on. I had an investment firm that I had run up in Massachusetts for 20 years. I had a business partner and the strategy that we're using had a capacity that the capacity became too small for what we wanted to do. So we ended up closing down that business and it was kind of a time when it was like, you know, like I said, I had done that for 20 years. So I talked to my wife and said, hey, you know, we've been talking for a while about relocating somewhere. She does a lot of stuff with horses and We wanted to move someplace where winter was not half the year and where it was horse friendly and we could do some other things. And we just found this great situation here and career-wise, it worked out great. Cost of living is great. We've got bourbon, horses, all the stuff that we love. So it's just worked out really great for us.

Well, we're glad to have you.

Oh, thank you. See, everybody's been very welcoming. That's one of the things I noticed when I came here. Everybody was very friendly and welcoming, and I really love that.

So the Bourbon Brotherhood, how many members do you have currently?

We've got 1,300 members. Wow, that's getting up there. Yeah, I never expected that to happen.

So now, and this was started in, what was the date of this? 2014. So 2014, so in five years, 1,300 members. Wow. Yeah, yeah.

You're not that typical Bourbon society or club. There's no dues or anything.

Yeah. No, we have no membership dues. And I've been to some of these other groups and they're great groups. I'm a member of the Bourbon Society and love to attend that. It's just something a little different than what we do. The Bourbon Society, I don't know if they're all like this, but the hero.

This is the Louisville Bourbon.

Yes, right in Louisville. What they do is they meet the same place each month and people bring a bottle or two and share it and they have a speaker and it's a great format. So what we do is a little different in that we go to some place, like I said, some place different each month. Like this month, for example, we went to Michter's and had a tour of the distillery there. Next month, we're going to go to a restaurant down the street called Eddie Merlo's. We're going to have Brent Elliott with Four Roses. He's the master stiller with Four Roses. He's going to talk to us there. So we go someplace different each month. Sometimes it's a distillery, sometimes it's a restaurant or bar or private venue of some sort. So it's a little bit different in that regard.

All right, well, in the second half, we'll kind of take a deep dive into all your events you've got going on and talk about, you have one major event every year as well. So we'll talk about that and get into a little bit of your history. But can you tell us kind of how that transition took place between, I mean, how did it take off back when you had that meeting and you had that 20 guys and everything, and then all of a sudden you said, hey, should we do this more often? What were the first events like? Was it fast growth from the start or was it kind of just U-20 hanging out for a while and then it caught on?

gradual growth, I would call it. So it kind of circles back to the whole Maker's Mark thing. So I told you about the first event. We didn't really have any kind of a program. It was just like, hey, let's get together and drink some bourbon and chat and get to know each other. And so the second event, I thought, well, let's bring in a master distiller or somebody that's involved with a distillery. And so I reached out to Bill Samuels, who is at the time and I guess still is the chairman of Maker's Mark. And at the time, it's not there now, but there was a restaurant down the street here at 4th Street Live called the Makers Mark Bourbon Lounge. And so I figured, oh, that'd be a place we could meet. And I talked to them and they had a private room we could use. and got in touch with Bill Samuels, and he said he'd be happy to come down. So he came down and talked to our group. And if you've ever chatted with him or heard him, he is just the most entertaining, funny guy with wonderful stories. And so that was really, I would say, how we kind of started launching. And we did a few events after that.

Well, let me ask you. So you're 20 guys or so, and you're kind of organizing this thing in the beginning. You call up Bill Samuels. Yeah. I mean, how did that call go? I mean, what did you say to him and how receptive was he? I mean, when you say 20 guys, what's, you know?

You know, one of the things I've learned is that the folks here in the bourbon industry are really friendly and welcoming, just like Kentucky itself. And they'll do stuff for you and they're happy. I mean, these are people who are their fans and their target market. They're happy because of that, but they're just generally nice, friendly people. And I don't think I set up the meeting directly with Bill. I think I forget how it worked. No, I think I talked to his secretary or something when she set it up, but, you know, he came down, he brought some stuff and I don't know how legal it all was, but let's just say, but it was quite a special experience for us, you know?

That's, that's pretty amazing. And I think me and Jim both feel that same way as the, the bourbon culture, the bourbon community is their arms open to you. Whenever you say, Hey, could we come to an interview or wouldn't want to know about the way you run your business. They're very open armed and just, just to let you take a really deep look inside their facilities and their business. And there are some secrets. Sure. Sure. I'm not going to tell you everything. I don't think, right? No. But there's amazing community. Maybe that's just the Kentucky culture.

Maybe it is. I know the folks at Peerless, they've expressed that, that when they opened their distillery down the street here, they had folks from other distilleries come in and look at what they were doing and give them advice and say, hey, you want to be careful with this or don't do that. And as far as setting up all their processes. So it's really a wonderful community.

They won't tell you their mash bill down there.

Yeah. There's a few, like you say, there's always a few things they don't tell you. We're getting close though. We're getting close.

We're digging in.

Like when we went to Michter's the other day, if you ask them anything about their yeast strain, they will not mention anything about their yeast strain or where it came from or anything about that. There's site lift about a few things.

Oh, Mike was real funny. He said, no, where do you keep the weed at?

Yeah, I guess wheat is one of the things they don't use, interestingly.

Well, I think our listeners might find in the future, hopefully, I wouldn't say they let on that there might be a wheat there, but it seemed to me that there's the hope for a weeded whiskey or a weeded bourbon coming out of there.

Yeah, well, they're pretty good at what they do, so they know how to throw those little curve balls to you, right?

Right, yeah, yeah.

All right, so you started having events and then did you have any relationships with other clubs and other organizations? I did not, no.

I just kind of started from scratch.

And how did it go over just being a guys kind of thing? So Birdman Brotherhood by its name is a guys kind of thing.

It is, and that was kind of a controversial thing at the time, and maybe it still is a little bit now, because I asked a few guys. I had looked in the investment business, and so I get involved with the community a lot. I've been involved with a number of charities and chambers of commerce and different business events and such. A lot of events are just sort of general business events, but there's also a lot of women's groups. And if you're looking online, whatever these days, you can see women in this, women this, women this. A lot of women's groups that meet together, and I think that's wonderful. I know what occurred to me one day, you know, there really aren't any men's groups. Can you think of any? I mean, any men's, whether it's a business group. I think we're scared to do it. Yeah, and that's what people told me. And I thought, you know, it's kind of a shame. There's too much sissies. I thought, you know, hey, this is, I actually did a Google search in Louisville for different women's groups and there were like 50, no exaggeration, 50 different groups. And then I looked for men's groups. I couldn't find a single one. I thought, well, we should have a men's group. You know, we're just get together and camaraderie is an important thing, you know. And, you know, for us to get together and enjoy some bourbon, what can be better than that? You know, and I tried to set it up on a Wednesday right after work so you can pop in after work. make some friends, enjoy some bourbon, get home at a reasonable hour. So that was a bit of a, people said you couldn't do it. And I said, well, let's do it anyway, you know? So I haven't gotten into too much trouble yet. Blazing the trail, blazing the trail.

I noticed that the event of the night, you've got quite the range of gentlemen that come to the event from business to blue collar. Nobody's turned away, right?

That's right. And the age ranges. Yeah, age ranges. And the other thing I think is important, you know, we have, you know, blue collar, white collar, young and older, obviously 21 and older, but also experience. And that's one of the things that I think is important is that, you know, hey, you don't have to be a bourbon expert. You don't have to have a hundred bottles in your basement bar. You don't have to have any knowledge. You could just be like, hey, you know, I've heard a lot about this bourbon thing. I want to come try it and learn about it. Absolutely, you know, there's no requirements as far as experience or knowledge or abilities to get in and, you know, come enjoy it. It's very welcoming.

Speaking of bourbon, what do you think about the finish on that mickters?

Oh, that's great. It's a little peppery on the backside with that Ryan there, but it's still, what's that word you said? This taboo is smooth.

Smooth, yeah. I've been hearing that lately. Have you heard that too?

Well, I guess I do hear that a little bit, but my thing is, you know, I guarantee if you ask probably Freddie Ngo or Jimmy Russell, they'd probably say smooth, I think. They probably do. Because they just speak in simple terms. I think some people like to make bourbon a high class thing. To me, it's not. This is pretty dang smooth.

This is a good bourbon. It could take a little bit of water. It could take a little bit of ice. I think it would kill a cocktail. It really would. Don't know that many people are going to pour the Michter's barrel strength in a cocktail. I wouldn't do that myself.

It's kind of hard to get your hands on one. I tend not to put the top shelf stuff into the cocktail. Some people do and that's all right.

Bruce, what's your favorite way to drink bourbon?

Ah, neat is my favorite way. I rarely drink it on the rocks, maybe if it's in summertime and it's just really hot and you're outside at some event, but neat is almost always how I drink it. I do like a cocktail, so.

It was just coming out of summer. What was your summer cocktail?

I mean, it's hard to beat old-fashioned. Yeah. I mean, it's actually the official cocktail of Louisville. I don't know if you knew that.

I didn't know that, but I know the Pendennis Club here in town. That's right. That's... Originally. Allegedly.

Everything with bourbon history has to have allegedly, I think, in front of it. Right. Because it's a lot of questionable history.

Well, Bruce, let's let's keep sipping on our mixtures here. We're going to take a short break. And when we come back, I think you've brought a bottle for us to try. I did. And I put a lot of thought into this. It's a special one for you guys. Looking forward to it.

All right.

We would like to thank Tommy and Gwen Mitchell from Loghead's Home Center for supporting this episode of the Bourbon Road. Loghead's Home Center, nestled in the hills of Kentucky, is an industry leader in building handcrafted rustic furniture. Family-owned and operated, they take pride in offering only the very best for their customers. The Logheads, and that's what they like to call themselves, are skilled woodcrafters who are passionate about creating rustic furniture for people who appreciate the beauty of natural wood. Owners Tommy and Gwen don't just sell the rustic lifestyle, they live it. And you can be sure that Loghead's furniture will always be handcrafted in Kentucky by artisans who embrace the simple way of life. Loghead's rustic furniture is made from northern white cedar, a sustainable wood that's naturally rot and termite resistant. Its beauty and quality will add warmth to your earthy lifestyle for generations to come. Be sure to check out everything they have to offer at LogHeadsHomeCenter.com. And while you're at it, give Tommy and Gwen a shout on Facebook or Instagram at LogHeadsHomeCenter.

So Bruce, we're back for the second pour and you brought us something pretty special today. What'd you bring us? I did.

So Mike, I know your moniker is Big Chief.

That's it.

And tell me a little bit how you got that again.

So I'm part Native American and I served in the U.S. Coast Guard and went up through the ranks and I retired as a chief petty officer from the Coast Guard. So hence the name. And I'm a rather large fellow if people have met me.

That's where the big part comes from?

That's why I can say whiskey smooth. Nobody's going to say nothing to me. They say once a chief, always a chief in the Coast Guard. And I believe that. People just started calling me big chief. Hey, big chief. Hey, big chief. And I kind of like that.

Yeah, it's respectful, but kind of jovial fun at the same time.

Even the other night, a bunch of the Bourbon Brotherhood, there were so many mics there. And I wrote on my name tag, Big Chief. And a lot of guys that sat at our table the other night, they were like, hey, Big Chief. And man, what a great table we got sat at. I tell you what, we sat with Sam and Keith. Steve, and right next to me was an older gentleman named Jim, and they were quite delightful to sit there and talk with, and got to meet old Big Chief and Jim. We talked about all kinds of stuff.

Oh yeah, it was great. Yeah, that's one of the things I like about your events and I've been to a number of them now. I think it's my third event with you guys, but everybody's so conversational and everybody gets up and walks around a little bit and talks to each other and very welcoming.

And Jim, so you've got a history in the Navy as well, right? Right, yeah.

Well, I didn't retire from the Navy, but I did spend eight years there. So they call that two tours, I guess.

So the bourbon I picked here was Jefferson's Ocean. And they have, basically for those who don't know, Jefferson's Ocean, basically they put barrels of bourbon on a ship and the ship is a cargo ship I guess goes from port to port here and there and all the while it's bourbon is sloshing around in the barrel. So this bourbon that we have here is Voyage 15 and the thing that's special about Voyage 15 is it was the first of these voyage series that has a weeded mashbill. So I tend to like the weeded stuff, much like Big Chief. And so I thought, hey, here's a bourbon that spent some time on the ocean, just like each of you guys. So that's why I picked this one for the poor.

Jim spent time under the ocean.

Submarine force, yeah. Were you in a submarine? I was submarine force, yeah.

I was on surface Navy for a while too. Yeah, they called us bubble heads. But yeah, so the barrels are, are you real familiar with this? I mean, do they like put them up on deck? Are they exposed to the elements?

No, I believe they're in a container.

Okay.

I know that Trey Zoller, who's the head of Jefferson's, I know he tried another experiment where he took two barrels of bourbon. He put them on a small boat, launched them here in Louisville. They went down the river. They went all the way up and around Florida and up the East Coast to New York City. I guess that was a little rougher because those were exposed the whole way and it was kind of rough on the barrels. All that salt spray and everything. Not good. Yeah, they had to do a little cooperage work on the way, I guess, to try to keep things together. These, I believe they're in a container. I don't know exactly the details, but I think on, and you can actually look up, I think on their website and it'll show you each voyage, like all the ports that they went to and such.

Oceania, their research vessel that it goes on.

Oh, is that what it goes on? It does. Okay. There's a picture of that on the front here. So I thought, I wasn't sure if it went on that or if it was a, it was just- It's called O-Search or something like it, isn't it?

Yeah, I'm not a hundred percent positive on that. I put on their website, they're very, very front forward of where it goes and what it does and stuff. And like you said, what ports it goes to. I think it just, that kind of, that nautical theme it kind of has for sailors takes us back to our history. And I mean, sailors have a great tradition of, of being pretty good drinkers.

Yeah, yeah. And there's always the question about how much of this bourbon gets taken by the angels share and how much gets maybe taken by the sailors share, shall we say? The sailors share. I just made that up.

So this is Jefferson's Ocean, Voyage 15. This is a straight bourbon whiskey. It's a weeded whiskey. And what's the proof on this? Let's see. The proof on this, it's 90 proof. All right. Well, let's explore it a little bit. All right. You like that? Explore it?

Yeah. Hey, that was good.

Yeah, I like that nose. It's, you know, coming off that, that mixtures was a little bit more in your face. Right. This is a little more, this is a little lighter, a little more delicate.

It is more lighter and delicate. I would say that.

It doesn't have that quiet, that dark, dark, continental color that the mixtures does. I would say it's a young, like younger bourbon.

It's got a really nice nose on it. It, I don't say it reminds me of a weeded whiskey, but it does have kind of a, like a, like a honey tea and, uh, I don't know. What do you say? Kind of a fruity.

Yeah. Kind of a light fruity. I'm not very good at naming all of the numbers.

Have you been up to artisan's distillery?

I've been there several times, yeah. It's a neat place. It's not like one of the huge distilleries, and there's some fun stories there. One of the stills they have there used to belong to Old Forrester, and I'm sure Old Forrester would love to get that back, but I don't know if they're going to get it back.

For our listeners, you don't know where Artisan's at. It's up in Crestwood, Kentucky, about 17 or 18 miles from downtown Louisville. If you get a chance to go out there, I highly suggest a small quaint distillery.

Is that a tugboat sounding off its horn out there on the river?

I think it is. For our listeners, we're overlooking the Ohio River. I don't know. This might be the most beautiful view we've had on an episode.

Well, I kind of hope that the microphones pick up that tugboat sound because we're sitting here drinking oceans and it's all coming together, guys.

If not, maybe you can dub one in secretly. I won't tell anybody.

I'm sitting here just watching tugboats push barges up the Portland Canal there out of the lock and dam there.

It is fun to watch that.

Overlooking the falls of the Ohio there on the Ohio River. It's super beautiful.

I think there's a little bit of a little bit of raisin or plum in this. What do you think, Mike?

Yeah, I think there is a little bit. I still, I taste that cinnamon in it with almost like a raisin oatmeal cookie.

Yeah.

Yeah. I go with that.

Yeah.

I'm not sure if I can pick it up on this one, but I think on some of the other Voyage series I have, Trey Zoller has said that being out on the ocean with the salt air and stuff, you end up with sort of a salted caramel kind of a flavor from all that salt air, but I don't know. It's hard to tell.

I don't, I don't pick that up on salt in it. Now they had a second one of these. I'm going to say it's which 18 or 19 and actually wrote a review on that. And that one, you could taste a little bit of salted caramel. Um, but not, not what I expect. I think if they would leave it on there for a couple more years and maybe have like a 10 year, that'd be a expensive barrel of bourbon.

And with it sloshing around that much, I don't know what would be the result of that. It might end up pretty dark or I don't know what.

I'm glad you put some thought into it. That means a lot to me that somebody that puts a lot of thought into something they're doing and it kind of shows their love for that.

By the way, I brought something else along. I didn't tell you about this, but it's a piece of wood, maybe four inches long. It's rectangular. obviously an old piece of oak, heavy.

I almost think I know what that's from. Is that from old Ironside?

Very good, big chief. That is exactly what this is. This is a chunk of wood from the USS Constitution.

I've been there a couple of times.

Wow. I guess it was my great-grandfather. My great grandfather was working in Boston at the time at some office. He was in the customs house, that's where he was working, which is very close to where Old Iron Sides is birthed. At the time, this was probably 75 to 100 years ago, somewhere in that range, he was there. They were doing a restoration. The ship is obviously as old as our country. he went over to see the restoration and one of the people working there gave him a piece of wood that was one of the original, I don't know what part of the ship this would have been from, but You can check it out. Maybe you can tell me you're a sailor.

I have no idea. As soon as you pulled it out, I knew what it was. That is unbelievable. Being downtown there so many times, that place just has such a nautical lore to it. Boston Harbor has the Boston Harbor light. It's the oldest continuously operated lighthouse in America. I didn't know that. Just all the history that goes to that place. And it's got the USS Constitution right there. If you haven't been there, it's a sight, to me it is, it's a sight to see. It was one of my bucket list things to do and see. And if you're a sailor or a merchant Marine, Navy Coast Guard, active duty, there's a place called the Mariners house. It's like two doors down from Paul Revere's house, which you could stay in, get a breakfast made for you. And you're right there off Hanover street and the harbors. a block away. You can't get no more nautical than that, right?

Yeah. And it was called Old Ironsides. You know why it was called Old Ironsides, right?

I think it was because the cannonballs would bounce off of it. That's exactly right.

Yeah. It was made out of oak, very strong oak, thick oak sides, and cannonballs would bounce off it. So oak obviously kind of ties into the bourbon thing, right? Yeah. So this kind of ties into the bourbon thing. the sailor thing. I brought that along just to share with you guys.

That's great. I mean, that's a fine way you've wove the fabric of that story all together.

That's probably some of the first tree cut down in America, actually.

That's old growth, I'm sure, right? Wouldn't you say? Oh, yeah. They didn't have anything else to go with at that point. We don't have any of that left, so I mean it's pretty much gone.

You ever seen back then how they sawed lumbers, they would dig a pit in the ground and they would build a structure They would lay the log down on the structure, and one guy was on the top of the structure, and he would pull the saw up. And another guy would be in the pit down underneath there inside that pit, and he would be pulling that saw down. Wow.

That sounds like hard work. Yeah. Yikes. That's how they built that ship. And sawing through oak, I'm sure. I mean, it's such hard wood. I can't imagine how much work that must have been to do that.

That's a pretty amazing that you have that.

I'd probably have that in a glass case. Well, as we continue to sip on this Jefferson's OH-15, I'd like to talk a little bit more about some of the events you've had in the past and maybe some things you've got coming up in the future. Sure. Can you tell us a little bit about the kind of events you've done? We know you go to distilleries sometimes, but what other kind of events have you had?

Yeah, so we talked about the first event we had and the second one with Bill Samuels. The first one that I thought was kind of a milestone that we had 50 guys at this event was with Four Roses. So this was back in October, actually exactly five years ago this month, October of 2014. We had Jim Rutledge, who was then the master distiller with Four Roses. He met with us out at the restaurant called Chard Bourbon Lounge, which is at the Marriott Louisville East. And like I said, we had 50 guys there, which I thought, wow, I never thought we'd ever have 50 guys. at one of our gatherings, but it seemed huge at the time. And that guy, if you've ever talked with Jim Rutledge, he's got his own brand now. He's left Four Roses since then. Cream of Kentucky is what his brand is currently. But he is just such a wealth of knowledge in the bourbon industry. He is like a walking encyclopedia. He's not as maybe He doesn't have sort of the sense of humor and those kinds of things that someone like a Fred No or a Bill Samuels has, but he's just like very sincere, warm. And he will just, as much as you want to absorb, he will bestow upon you. He will just talk and talk and give you all kinds of fantastic- He's kind of an encyclopedia of bourbon knowledge, right?

That's right.

He is just like a walking encyclopedia. He's an amazing guy. So that was kind of our first big event, but we've we've done lots of other stuff we've got. So this month, I'm sorry, next month, we've actually in November, we're meeting with Brent Elliott, who is the current master distiller with Four Rows. This is actually the second time that we are meeting with him. And that's, like I said, going to be down at Eddie Merlot's on Fourth Street. And then December.

And that'll be kind of what? That'd be kind of a night of tasting and just getting to meet the master distiller.

Yeah, every single master stiller, they've always got such interesting stories to tell and insight. And I mean, it's one thing to be able to taste the product and look at it and knows it. But when you hear about all the stuff they do to create that and what goes into it and what makes it different from the other brands, it's really enlightening and fascinating. Really enjoy hearing that. And then December, we got kind of an interesting thing going on. Bernie Lubbers, I don't know if you guys know who he is. He's- Mr. Bottled and Bond, right? Mr. Bottled and Bond, exactly.

Bourbon professor.

The whiskey professor. Whiskey professor, yeah. He's associated with Heaven Hill. And he loves anything that's bottled in Bond. But he also does this thing, this sort of presentation called Bourbon Through Bluegrass. So he is a guitar player, and he's got a friend, Hickory Vought, who plays banjo. And he's got other friends that he often brings in. But he's put together this whole really unique experience where he plays bluegrass music and the bluegrass music tells a story of the history of bourbon and he has a tasting that ties into it. So you're like hearing the music, learning the history, tasting the bourbons that are part of this history and it's a fantastic experience. So we're really excited to be having him for our December event to close out the year.

So you guys have kind of a a relationship with a ladies bourbon club as well, right?

Yeah, there's actually two significant ones here in Louisville. One is called Whiskey Chicks and we've done a lot of events with them. And the other one is called Bourbon Women. We've so far just done one event with them. I think Bourbon Women has been around a little longer. So they're two little bit different groups. Bourbon Women is a little bit more serious on what they do. They have an annual event called the Sypposium where they get together and it's a lot about education. Whiskey Chicks tends to be a little bit more fun, a little bit more freewheeling maybe. So we do an event every year and we've done it for six years now. It's called the Bourbon Mixer. And so the idea was Linda Ruffinock, she is the head of the Whiskey Chicks. She started the organization about the same time that we started Bourbon Brotherhood. So we met each other and learned about what we were each doing. We said, hey, you know, let's do an event together and let's make it a fundraiser. So we've done this every August for six years and it's been a lot of fun. Money that we raise goes to the coalition for the homeless. So a lot of the money that we raise goes toward veterans programs. As you know, there were a lot of homeless veterans in this city and other cities. So far we've raised over $150,000 to help fight homelessness here in Louisville. A lot of that's for veterans. And lately it's become also for youth. Homelessness among youth has become more of an issue. So it's been a lot of fun. It's kind of a, hey, let's get all the guys together and the girls together. We have a big fun event on a Saturday night and it's a really good time.

It's not like boys school and girls go come together for a dance.

We don't stand on either side of the auditorium.

I mean, everybody's bringing their spouses, of course. Yes, right.

Where's that event going to be this year? Well, it's the last few years and this coming year, it's at the Henry Clay. Okay. Great place to have an event. The first year we did it was at the Evan and Williams Bourbon Experience right outside our... window here. That's a pretty small venue, but it's how we got kicked off. And then we went to another place down the street called Pasolino's. Then we went to another place called the Gillespie, a little bit bigger. And then we moved to Henry Clay, which is even bigger. So we have usually about 20 different distilleries there. We have all kinds of music and food and it's a really fun time.

So are you busting the Henry Clay at the seams or are you going to be okay there for a while?

You know, it's good enough. We don't want it to get too too big so we limit attendance to about 350 and I think that works good.

What about barrel picks? You guys, Bird and Brotherhood does a couple barrel picks, right?

Yeah. We don't, some groups do a lot of those. We don't do a lot. We do one or two a year. We've done, we did a Knob Creek was our first barrel pick. We did a new riff barrel pick earlier this year. So our next one is actually going to be in two weeks on November 7th, two weeks from when we're recording this. And that's going to be Bullet Urban. It's going to be a barrel-proof pick out at their Shelbyville distillery. So we're looking forward to that. That's going to be kind of fun.

That's right in my backyard.

Yeah. So how do members get involved with these picks? So what we do, one of the things about the barrel picks, it's great to get a barrel that's been selected from a variety of barrels that are available and specially chosen where it's like, okay, here's a really great barrel. We're gonna have our label on this. It's gonna be our own thing and we're gonna have a great price. But one of the things that everybody wants to do is be involved with the pick. And so we thought, well, how do we do that? Do we just say, hey, you guys are our favorite guys and we're gonna let you be on the team? So we thought, we'll make it a little bit more democratic. So what we do is, Everybody who says, yeah, I'll buy one bottle, or I'll buy two bottles, or five bottles, or whatever it is. For every bottle you buy, you put your name in a hat. So if you buy five bottles, your name's in the hat five times. And then we just pick out the names out of the hat. OK, the guys are going to be involved with a barrel selection. And it's a really fun experience for people who have never done it. Each distillery does it differently, but usually you get a tour of the distillery, and then you go to a special tasting room. And it might be three barrels or more, depending on the situation. And you get to thief out of the barrels, use the copper whiskey thief and try whiskey from each one and compare notes. And even ones like the barrel pick that we did with Knob Creek, they were three barrels that were from the same batch. stored on the same floor of the same rick house, but they each tasted different just because of that oak. Each tree is going to be different. And it's just a really fun experience, really, really fun. So it's kind of fun to participate in that because the worst case is you get a bottle or more of really great bourbon. And hopefully, you've got a good chance at participating in the barrel pick as well.

And you guys put your own label on there?

Yeah, so each distillery does it a little bit differently, but they all let you put your own logo on there. Like New Riff, they let you put a little description on there. So they're all done a little different. The one that we, for example, with Knob Creek, they make a special little metal plaque that you get. Actually, the Knob Creek one's kind of fun, because what you do is you go into the barrel warehouse, and you're there. Of course, if you've ever been in a barrel warehouse, they're just so beautiful, and they smell so great and everything. So you're in there and you're doing your tasting with your friends and making your notes and voting on which one you think is the best. And then you have lunch there and they make great barbecue at Jim Beam if you've never had that. They have great barbecue there. So you have a barbecue lunch, you do a tour of the distillery and then you go to the bottling plant. And by the time you've done your tour and your lunch, they've got everything ready to go into the bottle. And you get to participate in the bottling. And you get to put the stickers on each bottle, have your name on the little plaque and stuff. So it's a really great experience.

So your retail partner in the PICS, is it the gift shop at the distillery? Or is it an actual liquor store in town?

It's an actual liquor store. And you can do it with pretty much any liquor store. The one that we're doing currently with Bullitt is through Liquor Barn. But we've worked with other liquor stores as well.

So I know we've got some people hearing this right now saying, I need to be a part of this organization. So what's it take?

How do they do it? Yeah, so the easiest way is just go to our website, bourbonbrotherhood.com. One of the things that we've done there is we have actually photographs from every single event over the last five and a half years. So you get to check on what we've done before and get an idea of what it's all about. Another part of it shows what you have for upcoming events. So you can just click a link there to sign up for the upcoming events. And if you want to be added to our mailing list, we send a few emails each month on what we have for upcoming events or how to participate in barrel picks and things like that. There's another link there where you can contact us and say, hey, add me to the list.

So if you come on the website and you see I want to be on the newsletter or whatever it is, sign me up. That is your membership.

Yeah, that's it. We make it really easy. It's not complicated. It's all about friendships, camaraderie, enjoying some bourbon together.

Right. And when an event comes up, they usually have some small fee associated with them. It's kind of an Eventbrite thing, right?

Yeah. So we usually have like a $15 early bird price and then $20 for the regular price. And that usually, you know, depending on the venue and the distillery, we always try to work out the best situation we can. But like at Michter's, you know, that was all you had to pay. That included some great food that they brought in from the Bristol and included the tasting and a welcome cocktail and such. Depending on what it is, sometimes we're at a venue where there might be at least includes a tasting and food. There might be a cash bar if we can make an open bar or whatever. We try to work out whatever we can work out. Are you doing all the work or you got some help? I've got some help. So like with the barrel pick, for example, we've got a guy, Steven Scott. I had originally been doing that myself and I'm The more I can have other people help, then the more we can do. So I've got Steven Scott, who is handling our barrel pick stuff. So he's handling all the transactions involved with that. And we don't mark that up at all. So I know some organizations might mark it up or whatever. But so the bourbon for the bullet barrel pick is going to be $53, which includes tax. So it's $50 plus $3. $53 for a barrel proof

pick. Yeah. Wow. Isn't that great?

So yeah. So then again, you get the worst case scenario is you get the great bottle of bourbon for $53, including tax. Uh, and you may get to participate in going out to the distillery and choosing the barrel, which is a lot of fun. And you're on social media as well, right? Yes. And, uh, I don't always know off the top of my head, but our, so in on Instagram, it's bourbon brotherhood KY and on Facebook it is Louisville bourbon.

Okay, great. Well, Bruce, it's been a pleasure having you on the show today. I really love what you're doing, and I'm glad to be a part of it. Yeah, I hope you guys come more often.

I love that you put a lot of thought into being a guest today, and I guess our last question for you, and usually we ask this to every guest, is what's the bourbon culture to you?

It is all about, as far as our group is concerned, it's about camaraderie and there's a long history of guys getting together over, whether it's bourbon or whiskey or beer or whatever, it's kind of a chance for us to get together and build relationships and get to know each other. So much sometimes division in the world over various topics, whatever it might be. But, you know, we've got people of all persuasions and ethnicities and religions and political affiliations or whatever. And hey, here's a way for us to get together to get to know each other, have that camaraderie, build relationships and make the world a little bit better.

A way to break bread, right?

Yeah, exactly. Liquid bread.

We usually have some food in there. Well, thank you for sharing your whiskey with us. Thank you so much, guys. We do appreciate all of our listeners and we'd like to thank you for taking time out of your day to hang out with us here on the Bourbon Road. We hope you enjoyed today's show and if so, we would appreciate if you'd subscribe and rate us a five star with a review on iTunes. Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at The Bourbon Road. That way you'll be kept in the loop on all the Bourbon Road happenings. You can also visit our website at thebourbonroad.com to read our blog, listen to the show, or reach out to us directly. We always welcome comments or suggestions. And if you have an idea for a particular guest or topic, be sure to let us know. And again, thanks for hanging out with us.