30. A Proper Kentucky Salute on Veteran's Day

Do you know, do you get a little ginger in yours? Okay, let's come clean here.

I'm diluting my bourbon. Okay.

What do we tell you? What do we say on bourbon road?

That I can drink it how I want it. It's my bourbon. I can drink it how I want it. So I appreciate that.

So when you're, when you're drinking Jim Beam distillers cut, how do you like your Jim Beam distillers cut?

Let's be- With a little L8 in it.

There you go.

L8 and Jim Beam. Now, now for our listeners that are not from Kentucky and they're going to come to the bourbon trail, right? And I will tell you, there's not L8 everywhere in the world.

Well, ginger ale is a good alternative. And actually, I like to say a late, because if you notice, there's a little one behind that.

Oh, yeah.

A late one. I like to call it a late one instead of a late, but we all know what we're talking about.

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. We've been extremely fortunate to have a lot of great people as guests here on the show. Some are industry folks, others are musicians, there's been artists and chefs and authors, and they've all been big fans of bourbon whiskey. Every now and then we get to have the pleasure to sit down with some really good people who dedicate themselves to helping others. They give us their time and their energy for a noble cause. And that's what we have today as Mike and I get to sip a little bourbon while we chat with David and Gina from the Veterans Club here in Kentucky. This is a really good organization doing great work with our veterans here at home, and we're honored to have them on the show. And it's not by chance that we've invited them here this week as we all prepare to honor and celebrate our military veterans as we do each year on Veterans Day. But before we get started, we would like to thank The Paddock in Shelbyville, Kentucky. Jeff and Stacey Rogers were kind enough to let us use their beautiful event space to record this episode. This 1890s building at 700 Main is a great place for parties and events and features bourbon barrels, stone, and exposed brick for a perfect bourbon country backdrop.

The paddocks coffee and eat serves up specially coffees and culinary treats for all its guests.

And if you need a place to stay, when you're here visiting the bourbon trail, the saddle bread sweets are on the second floor. You can find out more at paddockcoffee.com. Well, that's enough of my chit chat. Let's get onto the show. Hello, everyone. I'm Jim Shannon.

And I'm Mike Hyatt. And this is the Bourbon Road. And today, Mike, where are we? We're at the Paddock Coffee and Eats and Gatherings, the Paddock Experience here in Shelbyville, Kentucky. It's actually at 700 Main Street here in Shelbyville. If you haven't been down to downtown Shelbyville, it's super quaint. a small town feel in central Kentucky. If you're out on the bourbon trail, you should stop by here and get some desserts. So we got some pretty special guests on today. I'm excited. I'll tell you what, we got the Veterans Club of Kentucky and we got their Sergeant of Arms, David Willis. Kind of scares me a little bit because that was one of my first sergeants in the army and it gave me a little hair on back of my neck stood up a little bit when I heard his name. And then we got Gina. Don't mess it up. There you go. And she's the volunteer coordinator for the Veterans Club of Kentucky.

Guys, welcome to the show. Thank you. Glad to have you. Well, today we're going to drink a little bit of bourbon. Are you ready? Absolutely. All right. So normally the way this works is we bring a bottle and you bring a bottle and you have brought a bottle. Yes, sir. But we won't get to that to the second half. But in the first half, we're going to taste a bottle that Mike and I have brought. And today we brought Eagle Rare. It's a product from Buffalo Trace Distillery. Have you guys had Eagle Rare before? I have not.

I have.

You have. All right. Well, we have already poured this. So you guys have it in your glass. So what I like to say is we don't waste a whole lot of time. We get straight to the drinking.

That's what I'm talking about. My kind of people.

All right. So drink it like you like it. We're going to go ahead and appreciate this a little bit. You can smell it, taste it, drink it, talk about it. We'll spend a few minutes with it here and then we'll get into the backstory. Sound good?

Sounds good.

Sounds good. Now, EcoRare is a, like I said, it's a Buffalo Trace product. I think it's 90 proof. It's a 10-year-old bourbon. It's smooth. It still has an age statement, but the age statement has sort of made its way to the back of the bottle. That's usually the trend. It goes from the front of the bottle and then it makes it to the back of the bottle and then it goes away. But it's still 10-year-old whiskey.

There's that word, that taboo word, smooth. Oh, it is. We talked about that last week a little bit. You know what? I'm just going to say, if you're a veteran, I think you should be able to say bourbon is smooth.

Oh, yeah, definitely. I think you made it clear last week, Mike, with our last guest that you're a big guy and nobody better say a word to you about saying smooth.

So I missed that. What was the big thing about smooth last week?

I guess it is kind of a taboo. People don't like to say they take it to a different level, and they don't like to say it's smooth. They like to say it's fine whiskey.

Yeah, or talk about the different flavor notes that you get in it, like maybe I get a little bit of sweetness and some caramel and things like that. And smooth is kind of a general term.

What is smooth in whiskey? Right. Well, it don't burn. Like some bourbons out there, they burn when it goes down. This doesn't burn. Yeah.

I agree with you. I think, I think Eagle Rare, when it hits the front of your mouth, it presents itself kind of, it doesn't attack your tongue. Agreed, agreed.

That's what you think of a nonnie-proof bourbon, I think is, it is a bourbon that it's not peppery in that back end, towards burning your throat. It's got that, it does have that, vanilla, that caramel taste, toasted marshmallows.

The vanilla part, I got the vanilla part big time. But I kind of like the burn. I kind of like that burn.

Well, some people do. I mean, you know, there's two different kinds of burns in bourbon, I think. This is my opinion. I think you've got the burn of the alcohol. I guess the ethanol burn. And then you got the burn of the spice. So sometimes bourbons have a spice to them. That rye grain that's in the bourbon contributes a little bit of spice to it.

I like to feel it go down.

She told me she likes a little bit of that knob creek.

Yes.

That's some hot juice right there.

Well, Eagle Rare is probably a pretty good one for you because Knob Creek, it's got a good oak flavor to it. You can taste the oak in it. And Eagle Rare, Knob Creek, they both had that.

Oh yeah, I can taste it.

Oh yeah, it's good. Now, Eagle Rare is getting a little bit harder to find. I guess, depending on where you are in the country, some people, it's readily available when they go to the stores, but other people have trouble locating it.

Even here in Kentucky, people will try to snatch it up right away.

It's funny, too, because I've been to a couple of places looking for it, and the pricing is different depending on where you get it.

Right, right. Yeah, sometimes you'll go to, for example, Liquor Barn. and they'll have a special release, maybe some Pappy or something like that. And you'll see the Eagle Rare as part of that release. They're kind of putting those bottles out there as a specialty bottle. It's a good bourbon. I mean, it's a really good bourbon and it is fairly priced in the 30s, I think. Where have you seen it at?

Well, there's a liquor store right around the corner from my house that I frequent.

Yeah.

And it was $80 there. Wow.

That's a lot of money. It was a lot of money.

But it was only the only bottle there too. So that might be why.

You know, the funny thing is somebody will probably buy that bottle.

Oh, for sure.

I'm sure. Yeah. But anyway, so we didn't pay that for this bottle. We got this bottle from, I think this one came from Kroger's, maybe. I'm not sure, but I think we paid probably $30 for it, $32 for it. That's not bad at all.

I think we just bought our son a bottle, I think on Sunday, and we bought him a bottle of Eagle Rare and a bottle of Weller's. special reserve to take down to Louisiana to him. And I think that's about what we pay us $32.99 at a liquor barn. And I thought that was pretty good price. I think $80. That's a lot. That was a lot. Oh yeah.

I said something to the guy behind the counter. I'm like, are you seriously paying like charging people $80 for this? I can go to a liquor barn.

Got to keep those lights on.

Obviously, it's going to be sitting there for a while.

So we're here to kind of, we ask you two on and ask the Veterans Club to come on because we're Next week is a Veterans Day, right? Yes, sir.

And Marine Corps birthday.

And Marine Corps birthday. Kind of fitting, right? Yes. Both of you are former Marines? Correct. Still Marines? Once Marine, always Marine?

Former Marine, right? Not ex-Marine, former Marine. Former Marine's fine.

Once Marine, always Marine? Yes, sir. Yeah. And we're here to really celebrate being a veteran. Both me and Jim are veterans, and we're pretty proud of that. Absolutely. Yeah. So can you tell us something about the Veterans Club and how many members you have right now?

All right, so Veterans Clubs, probably about literal over three years old, founded by Jeremy Harrell, who actually lives here in Shelbyville. We have roughly a little over 2,500 members in the state as of right now. We're nationally recognized for our equine therapy that we have for veterans with PTSD and TBI. We have two locations that we use. One happens to be here in Shelby County, and then the other one's in Taylorsville. When I found Veterans Club, they had about 900 members. And that was back in March, I guess it was back, probably about March timeframe, we had 900 members. I just joined on as a regular member at that time. And It felt like a family from day one. So I was involved with other organizations. I'm not going to say who, but I was involved with other organizations. And it felt like a job. But when I joined Veterans Club, it felt like a family from day one. I was welcomed. Everybody helped everybody. And we have a big presence on Facebook. It's on our Facebook page. And everybody gets along. Yeah, we rag on other branches, but everybody gets along.

That's always been the case, right? The branches always are, you know, picking on each other. Oh, yeah, definitely.

It's all right. It's all right for, I think, I've told this to a couple of people. They're like, well, you two can pick on each other, but I can't say nothing. I'm like, well, it's different because we're brothers or sisters. They're like, we're not brothers or sisters. And I'm like, we are. We're veterans. We both serve our countries. And I think it's all right for us four to sit here and do that. But if you've got an outsider that didn't serve their country, They didn't experience the hardships or the sacrifices that we experienced. Who are they to rag on us? But it's all right for us.

It's like brothers and sisters.

You just let them fight.

Oh, yeah. It's definitely, I mean, and that's a good thing about Veterans Club. I mean, just the people that we have met. And the friendships that have came from that. And that's what Veterans Club is about. It's about building that camaraderie that we had when we were in the military, and we're trying to rebuild that in our civilian life. And just like when I met Gina for the first time, she's a Marine, so we automatically bonded right there. But just getting involved with Veterans Club and seeing that what we do, and that's one of the reasons why I joined the board, because I wanted to get more involved. And we went from 900 members back in March to 2,500 members now. So it's amazing just to see the growth that we do have.

Now, is the growth of the club as a result of some sort of an outreach that you've been doing, maybe some social media efforts that you've been doing?

I think it's more word of mouth, because a lot of people will come and reach out to us. When one veteran gets involved, just even on the Facebook page, they invite all the veterans they know. And they see what we do. And just by Jeremy being on TV or on the radio or doing this or doing that, people see what we're doing. And then when they see what we're doing and they know that we're genuine about what we're doing, because we're all volunteers, we don't get paid to do what we do. We do it because that's what we're passionate about. And it's like the equine therapy. I went to my first one the other day And I'll tell you, it was amazing. It was an amazing experience because you're out there with these horses. And I've been around horses when I was younger. We had horses. And then when I joined the military, I went away from being around horses all the time. So I knew some of the mannerisms and stuff at that time. But when I went to the equine therapy and I watched these veterans that came from Salvation Army, just how they interact with these horses. It's amazing because they build that bond. And it's just simply amazing. I mean, that's all I can say about it. It's just amazing.

Yeah, so the equine therapy, we've had some people on in the past who are involved in equine therapy. And the last people we had on were doing equine therapy with children, so children with disabilities. And the results are just absolutely amazing. Just amazing. It is. So I can imagine a veteran returning from abroad and has some issues to deal with, you know, to have that therapy available to him. It's a great thing.

Well, the prime example, I'm not going to say his name, but we call him Doc. He was home ridden. He couldn't leave his house because of his PTSD and his severe anxiety. He found our program and he came out to the equine therapy and Now, just seeing from where he was then to where he is now, I mean, he's doing radio interviews. He's done TV interviews. He's getting out of his house and volunteering at Mission Barbecue for the first responders' days and veterans' days coming up. He traveled out of the state. and went to Ohio for a program for the week. I mean, it's just amazing just to see his transition because he found Veterans Club and our equine therapy. That's awesome. I mean, it's amazing. Yeah.

So Gina, your job is dealing with volunteers.

That's correct.

Can you tell us a little bit about what you do?

I basically do an outreach to everybody that is part of the club. If we have something that comes up, for instance, there was one girl, she was in the Navy. She became homeless. She Navy or Army? I don't know. That doesn't even matter. But she became homeless. Like, she got ahead of situations. She had nowhere to live. She had a lot of her things in storage. She reached out to us. I got a group together. We met up. Five, six people didn't even know each other before. Just complete strangers. Got a, you know, point of contact. Went and got all her stuff out of storage. Got her into an apartment. things like that.

Oh, that's amazing.

There's times too that Jeremy can't be somewhere. He asked me, Hey, we have an event coming up at Keeneland and we want a booth there. Can you get a few people just to represent us? And so I'll reach out and get some people together and just coordinate people like that.

Okay. So what did you, what did you do when you were serving? What was your MOS?

I was aviation ordinance.

Okay. So what, what does aviation ordinance do?

Well, they called me a BB Stacker, but basically I loaded guns and missiles and different munitions on F-18s.

Okay, and where were you stationed?

I was stationed in Fort Worth, Texas. It's an old Air Force base. It was renovated to be a joint reserve base. So I got, I was an active duty member in, on a reserve base. So I had like easy duty for the four years that I was in basically.

My wife was actually born on that, on that base. Was she really? Oh yeah.

That's a small world.

back when it was Air Force Base.

Yeah, Carswell Air Force Base.

Yeah, I'm gonna have to tell her, listen, she'd be super excited. Yeah, that's so funny. We drove through there one time and she was like, I gotta find this place.

Yeah, it's so different. Let's see, I went back about 10 years after I got out. just to visit some old Marines that I was friends with. And it was just, you know, your memories from 10 years are completely different, but it was a good experience.

So let's talk about your bourbon experience in the military. When's the first time you had some bourbon?

Well, bourbon for me goes back a long way, way before the Marine Corps. I used to drink Jim Beam. I would get a half pint of Jim Beam and chase it with Mountain Dew.

Oh, Jimmy Dew. That's what we used to call it.

No, that was when I was in high school though. Well, you know, I was Kentuckian.

But you were 18 in high school, so it was okay. Right, right. Now, what about when you're in the military? What did you do?

Same thing. I mean, I never really got out of my comfort zone until I got a little bit older. And I'm going to tell you, a lot of times, dark liquor with me does not sit well for some reason. Actually, here's a good story. I was in the Marine Corps with a guy. He was an Indian, pure Indian.

Now, Indian as in? Native American. India or Native American? Native American. Native American. OK. All right.

Anyway, so yeah, he was the nicest guy, sweetest guy ever. But when he would drink bourbon, dark liquor whiskey, he was me. He wanted to fight everybody. And I guess I have some minion in me because that's how I get. So watch it.

Glad we got this table between us. Don't say anything out loud.

I'm scared.

I'm going to have to move over a little bit.

Well, they say when you drink too much, you're going to become one of three things, right? You've heard that before. Oh, yeah. Lion, lamb, or a monkey, right? So you're a lion.

I'm a lion.

Wow. Yes. I'm just a big old monkey. Yeah, you and me both. I get silly when I get drunk. I just get real quiet. I'm a lamb. I just sort of just sink into the couch and just watch everybody. Now, David, what about your service?

So I joined the Marine Corps in 97. I was 0311 infantry. So I was a ground pounder. I call those bullet catchers. Oh, yeah, bullet sponge. Yeah, definitely. I was stationed in North Carolina at Camp Lejeune. And my first duty station was Second Battalion Eighth Marines Golf Company. I was there most of my career until I decided to go on a med float. And 28 wasn't going on the med float, so I talked to a career planner, which is basically a recruiter for people that are already in the military. And I switched over to First Battalion Eighth Marines, Bravo Company, and went on a med float with those guys. And after I got done with that, I got out in August of 2000. right before 9-11, got out before 9-11, and then got recalled back in to go back overseas.

So I'm going to pause you for a second here. And I want to say that probably 80% of our listeners have no idea what a MedFloat is.

OK, so a MedFloat is you get on a Navy boat, or should I say ship. Ship. Ship. I had to correct myself. I know. I had to correct myself because you don't say boat. It's a ship. I was on the USS Nassau. We went to the Mediterranean and did a float around the Med. So went to Rhoda, Spain, Italy, Tunisia, Africa. And we were there for six months on a six-month deployment. You make that sound so romantic. It was amazing.

I went to Rhoda, Spain.

Oh, it was amazing. Let me tell you. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

My son said Rhoda was the best place he went.

Rota was an armpit of the Med. Me personally, I like Malta. That's a beautiful little country. Oh, it is beautiful. We went to the little town of Valletta and it was amazing just to see. It kind of reminded me of a little bit of Venice. Like when you pull into port, the streets were, you know, it was water and then houses were right up on the waterway coming in. And then we did our training. You know, as Marines, when we're underway, all we do is train and sleep, basically. You know, the Navy guys do what they do to run the ship and make sure everything's good to go. And as Marines, we just do our training.

That's all right. When it's time to get busy, we appreciate you guys. No doubt about it. Yes, sir.

Now, how'd you How'd you start your bourbon drinking journey, your bourbon road?

Well, see, I'm from Barstown, Kentucky, where Jim Beam is one of the premier ones that are down there. But we have, what, six distilleries in my hometown.

It depends on what day you're talking about.

They're going up everywhere. That's right.

Oh, yeah. So as I was growing up, my family's always been bourbon drinkers. But growing up in Barstown, waking up every morning, you smell that sire mash as it's cooking. I mean, if you're not from Barstown and you come there, you think that smell is nasty. But to me, I mean, it was amazing. I think I had my first drink when I was probably

14 maybe, maybe a little younger. They do start them young in Bardstown.

I was one when I got my baby bottle and it had bourbon in it.

He probably did. His grandma probably put it on his teeth when he was teething.

Oh yeah, a little hot toddy when I was younger.

My grandma's from Nelson County too. I know how that works.

Now when you were out with the Marines and you're stationed there in North Carolina or you're overseas and stuff, did you find it hard to find that same bourbon that you were finding at home?

Estate-side, not so much. But when you got overseas, I was talking earlier about Okinawa when I was in Okinawa. I went out to Kadena Air Force Base, which was the northern part of the island, and went out to Gate 2 Street and walked into a liquor store there. And I was looking at the bourbon that they had because I wanted to see what they had from Kentucky. And they had some bourbons that I never even heard of, like virgin bourbon was one of them that caught my eye. So I bought a bottle, a small bottle just to try it out to see. And it was kind of like Jim Beam, but it had a whole different flavor. So I don't know if that's because it was shipped overseas or whatnot, but It was easy to always define Jim Beam, which is my go-to bourbon. I mean, I don't know why. I guess because I'm from Barshtown. It's always my go-to. I like my Jim Beam black. It used to be eight year old, but now it's a double age or whatever they call it.

You haven't, you haven't talked to a man with three fingers was three fingers missing, eaten by a turtle or something.

No, there's a whole nother story to that. Okay.

No, I think the, the, uh, the military has this rich tradition, um, with whiskey and with bourbon. Oh yeah, definitely. Since the Revolutionary War, actually, Congress actually gave the Continental Army a ration of whiskey. Nice. Which was four ounces, I think, somewhere around there. They kind of fell out of love before the revolution. It was rum. It was America's drink. But then they started taxing us, and they stopped that rum from becoming America. So Americans said, heck, we got all this excess corn, and it's going to spoil. What are we going to make with it? They make us some whiskey. Man, it sounds pretty good. Well, how are you going to keep a soldier fight to keep him happy? You know, it's cold, Valley Forge. Oh yeah. You know, and he's been battling all day. What are you going to give him, Jim?

Give him some good rye whiskey or bourbon whiskey. Give them a little bit of liquid courage, right?

A little bit of liquid courage, I think. So that lasted until about 1832. And then Congress decided to stop that. They were having a lot of issues and stuff, as you both probably realize you have with people drinking in the military. Oh, yeah. But it's been around forever. Jack Daniels, they actually sell more. I think it's their barrels. two active duty military that anybody else or their largest buyer for those barrels. Right. Wow. Clubs and you know, the veterans club, hopefully one day you guys will do a barrel pick and that'd be nice. I think that'd be pretty awesome.

That would be good.

Yeah, that's pretty cool. I was actually talking to old Coast Guard guy today. He's a retired guy. I was talking to him and he said, uh, he's like, yeah, I was up in a Bering sea, um, in the early eighties. And that's back when in the Coast Guard, them guys could have beards and stuff. And he's painting me this pretty picture of this 1944 ship he's on Coast Guard cutter. And they're out there doing operations in the Bering Sea. And he, they went out there and you can imagine how cold it is there. Oh yeah. Pretty cold. He said they come back from doing the boardings on these fishing boats and probably some Russian trawlers. People were trying to come into the U S zone and fish and stuff. And that's who they're trying to make sure that they're not intruding on the U S waters. And he got back on board and Doc brought a big old bag out there and they had all these airline little bottles of bourbon and rum and all kinds of other stuff. Foul weather rations is what they were calling them. He said it'd warm you right up. Obviously it doesn't warm you up. It makes you feel warm. It makes you feel warm, yeah. It doesn't warm you up though.

It's like drinking moonshine.

Right. Well guys, let's keep sipping on our Eagle Rare here. And by the way, what do you think about that? That's good. You like that? I think it's great. Mine's gone already. I think we can get you some more. But we're going to take a little break here, and when we get back, we're going to find out what you brought for us to drink. All right. Sound good? Sounds good to me. 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 hand-crafted 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 warrants 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 we're back for the second pour and we're here with the Veterans Club of Kentucky here at the paddock in Shelbyville, Kentucky. Once again, they got some fine coffee and they got some bourbon dessert. So once again, if you're out here on that bourbon trail and you want to stop by, you're on your way to Bullet or out here to Judd the Creed, stop by Main Street, hit some of the shops, come in and get yourself a great coffee. So, David, what'd you bring us today, man?

Well, I brought Jim Beam Distiller's Cut, the limited release. I'm from Barshtown, so I had to go with Jim Beam. Jim Beam here, this limited release Distiller's Cut, straight bourbon, comes from barrels, personally selected by seventh generation distiller, Fred No. And let me tell you, Fred No knows how to pick some barrels, doesn't he? Yes, he does.

He's been in the business a long time.

He has. It's a hundred proof. It's unfiltered, aged five to six years. It's just got a smooth flavor. I know that's a bad word to say, but. That's all right. That's all right. When you taste it or you smell it, it does taste a little woody. I smell some chocolate in there.

So what is distiller's cut? I mean, kind of what's the whole idea behind the distiller's cut?

Well, that's just like going back in the old days when you had your moonshine. The distiller would pick your heads and your tails, and the distiller picks the sweet spot. And that's kind of what this is here. It's that sweet spotted gem beam. So that's what they're looking for. That's why the distiller is cut. So this is roughly a six-year bourbon, more or less.

Yeah, roughly about six years. I mean, I'm looking across the table at the bottle. It's got some good color to it. Oh yeah.

Yeah. It's that standard Jim Beam bottle though, right?

It's a little bit different than a normal Jim Beam bottle. Just a little bit, but not much. It's pretty standard.

I think that Jim Beam bottle is pretty recognizable to anybody around the world, right? Oh yeah.

So what do you say we find out what it's all about? Oh yeah.

Has anybody had this before? Do you know what you got in your glass over there?

I've never.

I'm not going to tell you.

I've never had it before. I love Jim Beam. Jim Beam Black has always been my favorite. The four year old, the eight year old, the triple age, which is hard to get. They don't have eight year old anymore, right? It's called double aged.

There are people on both sides of the fence on this whole thing, taking the age statements off. I hear them tell a story how it gives them more flexibility in the distillery to pick barrels and mix them and stuff and make a better flavor profile. I look forward to the day when the age statements come back.

Oh yeah, me too.

I think I do. I like to just see it on the bottle.

What about you, Mike? You know, when I walk through a liquor store, I guess that's what I'm looking for is I look for that age statement. You know, I'm looking for that sweet spot, that eight to 12 years old bourbon and stuff.

I think a lot of people do.

Man, when I get some of that stuff, I'm just like, look, that Eagle Rare was just...

I hope they don't take the tenure off that, but I just know that in the past, those age statements have, they've gone from like up on the neck to down on the front, and then around to the back, and poof, they're gone. And then they're gone, yeah.

And that's like a triple age. It's six year old, triple age. I mean, and it's, oh my, I'll tell you what, it was probably one of the better tasting Jim Beam that I, that is just. It doesn't, it's really easy on the palate.

So to me, triple age would be if it's six, right?

It's 18-year-old, yeah. It's 18-year-old. That takes a lot. 18-year-old? Are you sure? That's what it says on the bottle.

It's a six-year-old, triple age. Six years old, and they age it two years in one barrel. Well, I don't know.

So yeah, I don't know anything about this, so I can't speak from knowledge. bourbon becomes straight bourbon at two years. So triple that is six years.

So I'm just wondering if maybe that's what they're saying there. You know what I mean? Maybe, but it's really good though.

I bet you money that some of our listeners will hit us up on Instagram and they will let us know.

Oh yeah. Yeah. We got, we got pounced on last week. Well, the last two weeks we get pounced on because something will come out on the show. It's It's okay. I mean, we welcome it. You know, we say something on the show that we think is what it is. And then it doesn't take any time at all on Instagram. Boy, they'll come in and say, guys, here's the story.

You're wrong.

I'm doing that though. You know, I don't like, I definitely don't like being wrong. I mean, I was a chief for a long time and chiefs don't like being wrong.

Even when you were wrong, you were right.

That's all right. I'll take it. I wouldn't say we made mistakes. We were just not informed.

You're a man. You make mistakes. You just don't own up to it.

Wow. Oh my goodness.

There you go. Pow, pow. She punched me in the mouth. So reading here, it says, Jim Beam Black, the Triple H statement refers not to three different types of cask. but to the six-year-old age statement, which is three times the minimum maturation period for straight bourbons. So that's six years. So I was just guessing.

That's a very good guess.

Yeah. That was a good guess. Poor David over here. But six-year-old bourbon, massive respect for a six-year-old bourbon. I love six-year-old bourbon. I thought it was 18 years. You know these infantry guys.

A little slow. We are a little slow.

We are. Just a little.

I'm glad you just put him in his own category, not just a marine thing. Like eating crayons and stuff.

I hear that one all the time. So let's talk a little bit about this, this Jim Beam we have in our glass right now. So this is the Jim Beam Distillers Cut. This is a five to six year old Jim Beam product. What's the proof on it? It's a hundred proof. It's a hundred proof product.

But not bottled in bond though.

No. No. And when you sniff it, you can smell the wood. I smell a little bit of vanilla.

Yep. I get a little bit of like, like a raisin or a darker. A little bit of dried fruit. Dried fruit. Yep. It's really good. Do you get a little, you get a little ginger in yours?

A little ginger. Okay.

Let's come clean.

I'm diluting my bourbon. Okay.

What do we tell you? What do we say on Bourbon Road?

That I can drink it how I want it. It's my bourbon, I can drink it how I want it.

That's right.

So I appreciate that.

So when you're drinking Jim Beam Distiller's Cut, how do you like your Jim Beam Distiller's Cut?

Let's be... With a little L8 in it.

There you go.

L8 and Jim Beam. Now, for our listeners that are not from Kentucky and they're going to come to the Bourbon Trail, right? And I will tell you, there's not L8 everywhere in the world.

Well, ginger ale is a good alternative. And actually, I like to say a late, because if you notice, there's a little one behind that.

Oh, yeah.

A late one. I like to call it a late one instead of a late, but we all know what we're talking about.

So that's a Kentucky soda.

That is a Kentucky, yeah.

Ginger ale. And it's kind of a ginger ale, but it's got a little bit of a twist to it, right?

It doesn't have ginger in it either, does it?

I don't know. I don't think so.

I think it's more like a Sprite.

I think mad props to putting the L8 in bourbon. It's good stuff. I think it's brown. I've had it before. I'm a big fan of mules, Kentucky mules. So I love, you know, ginger beer and bourbon, a little bit of lime in there.

Well, according to the label, it does have ginger in it. Does it have it? Okay. I thought it might. Finally, I'm right about something. According to the label, there is ginger. Okay.

Well, ginger is good for you. So, yeah.

So it makes sense. You know, there's a lot of ginger root up them mountains in Kentucky.

That's right.

Well, Kentucky boys, they knew something up there, right?

Right.

Well, hashtag you're bourbon your way.

You drink it however you want to. Thank you. Yes. Absolutely. Plus your Marine. Nobody's going to say nothing. That's right. You just kick them in the teeth. Just other Marines.

All right. So you guys are, you guys are, you guys are, um, prior military, you have gotten yourself involved with a veterans group. You're kind of dedicating some time to, to help on our returning veterans. Uh, but what do you do as a normal job? I mean, what do you guys, what do you, what do you do you know, from eight to four every day.

So I work for a telecommunications company, AT&T. I install U-verse service in customers around Louisville, Shelbyville, Prospect. So I go out to customer's houses and install TV, phone, internet, mainly fiber. which is relatively new and within the last couple years. So yeah, that's pretty much what I do. All right. Gina?

I am a purchasing agent for Vindome Copper and Brassworks, who I'm sure the bourbon world knows.

Yeah. So you work at Vindome. And so for people out there that are listening to the show that don't know who Vindome is.

Okay. Vindome is the primary The production of all the distillation equipment for bourbon distilleries.

They make just a couple of stills there, right?

Yeah, they make stills. So chances are pretty darn good. They make distills for distilleries.

Chances are pretty darn good if you've been on a distillery tour.

You've seen Vindome's products, yes.

You've seen Vindome's products.

Absolutely.

Yeah, I think you're probably spot on there. I would say 98% of the distilleries out there probably are running your equipment.

Yeah. I think, I think the statistic for bourbon is like 95% of the world's bourbon is made on our equipment.

Yeah. So how big is Vindome? I mean, how many employees do you guys have there?

They're not very big and that's the best thing about it. We have about 75 employees. Wow. And we take up like maybe a small city block. It's just amazing.

They're not open to the public for tours or anything, are they?

No.

No. Maybe the old Bourbon Road will get a private one.

Maybe.

So you're the one in there buying all that copper, aren't you?

Copper, steel, sanitary fittings, yes, a lot of that.

Yeah. Copper is expensive, isn't it?

It is.

Yeah. Poor old David's over there. He's like, yeah, I just went for AT&T. I know, right? I wish I had the cool job. I'm just a cable guy. I wish I had a cool job.

It definitely has its perks. I'll tell you that.

You presented it wrong.

Our Christmas parties are awesome.

I think you presented wrong. You should say, I connect people to the world. Yeah, I do. People get mad when their service ain't working.

They get mad at you a lot.

Oh yeah. So you can say, Gina, you could say, you're really, before the copper is even purchased, you're the start of that bourbon.

I am. I am where it all starts.

So all bourbon comes through Gina.

That's right. Y'all want some bourbon? Just talk to Gina. I'll make it happen.

You know you're going to have like a thousand people invite you on Facebook.

When we get to the end of the show here, we're going to let you guys share your social media accounts or whatever else you want to do so people can reach out to you. I would imagine, Gina, you're going to get a few messages, I would think. Definitely.

So when you guys think about military and whiskey again, what's some whiskey phrases you hear from the military?

Whiskey phrases?

Yeah. You know any?

I don't.

I don't know any either. You ever heard of whiskey tango froxtrot?

Oh, yeah. I mean, whiskey is the W, so you can do anything with that.

Jim, you heard that before? Yeah, whiskey. And then you got the whiskey flag. in our phonetic alphabet, right? The phonetic alphabet, the W is whiskey, right? But the flag, a navel flag, it's blue on the outside like a blue eye. And then the white of the eye and then the center of it is red where you've been drinking that whiskey.

Oh, nice.

That's how I always remembered it. So you got that, then you got the phonetic alphabet, the letter W for whiskey.

W, whiskey, right. So, for anybody that flew right past you there, whiskey, tango, Foxtrot, WTF, fill in the blanks. Right. I think we'd let her... Hopefully everybody understands.

Oh yeah. Hopefully. If not...

I mean, I'm blonde and I even got that one, so...

Whenever we in the military or in the Navy, and I'm sure in the Coast Guard is the same way, they'd say whiskey. That's code word for location for us.

Honestly, I've brain dumped all of that. So I forgot it.

Yeah, me too. It's been 27 years.

Yeah. So when did you depart from the military?

I was in from 95 to 99. And you? 97 to 04. Mike?

Oh, long time. Long time.

91 to 2016. Nice.

Wow. And I still work for them. I was 81 to 89, so way back when.

Wow.

You're showing your age. Yeah, so we did get to have beards, Mike.

Yeah?

Yeah, absolutely.

I remember when I first retired, it took me no time to grow a goatee. And every once in a while I'd grow a beard, and I'd shave it back off. And the guys at work would be like, What happened to your beard? I mean, I got that luxury where I keep my goatee, but my beard can come and go.

Yeah, I'm the same way. Like right now, I'm growing my beard out. Just No Shave November is coming up, so I'm growing it out.

Is that what you call that?

That's what I call it. Do you call it a beard or No Shave November?

I had to give him a crab about his beard.

But yeah, so normally I got to go teeing, so yeah. But now getting back to the beard in the Navy, don't they have a tradition like if you sell the seven C's you can get like have a piercing?

When I got my fish, so I was on a submarine, so we would get our dolphins, our fish. Right. You know, you had to go around the entire base and visit all the commands and everybody in the commands would pin them on you. I don't know if you know what that means. Oh, yes.

We got pinned.

So you got pinned. So, yeah. So, you know, that kind of went away. And then the crawling on your hands and knees through trash on the ship's deck went away. And then Eventually, I think all this stuff's pretty much gone now. They're still traditions. They just don't talk about it anymore. When you cross over the equator or the international date line.

Yeah, they're still traditions. That's like the piercing. I think it was an old naval tradition from like back in the day, back when you had your pirates and stuff like that, that if you sell the seven seas you could get a... The piercings.

David, I think somebody forgot to mention, what happens in the med stays in the med.

Agreed, agreed. Yeah, we just had Dustin Collins on, what happens in the barn stays in the barn. Hey, that's good I do.

Oh, we don't want to know about that. My imagination just went everywhere.

All right guys, so let's get back on the Veterans Club here. You guys have got some events that you do from time to time. What do you got coming up?

We have camaraderie with coffee.

Yes, we do have a camaraderie and coffee that is coming up on, I'll tell you what. The 10th. Is it the 10th?

It's at Jaytown Beach. Jaytown Beach.

Now what's Jaytown Beach?

It's actually, I play volleyball there. So it's a little volleyball set up and it's got a little, I don't know if you'd call it a restaurant, but they serve drinks and I don't know what else they serve there.

They got bar food and coffee and stuff. As of right now, we had an equine session today. Then we got coffee and camaraderie coming up on November 10th. And then we have a bullets and barbecue coming up, which is where we go to the Lovo Armory. which is one of our partners. They let our veterans come there for free. The only thing that would cost the veterans is $10 to buy a box of ammo if they don't have their own ammo. But they get, so from four to seven, they get to go to the range and shoot. So the range fees are donated?

And so are the weapons?

The weapons, any weapons that the lower armory has in there, they usually use for rentals. Veterans can use those. So if they want to try something that they've never shot before, they can. Or you can bring your own, correct? Or you can bring your own, yeah. What kind of turnout do you have for that? We normally, so... Depending on what time of the day, so normally it's from four to seven. We normally have about 20 or 30 veterans, just depending on time of day.

I'm going to go out on a limb here. There's probably not any bourbon there, right? No, no bourbon on the range.

Now what about, you guys just had an off-road?

Yes, we just had our Jeep adventure, our first one ever.

Did you go to that?

No, I didn't. I was working actually at AT&T doing my boring job. But no, we had our first Jeep off-road adventure that we put on. We're calling it Trail Ride Therapy. Basically, we put veterans with other veterans and take them out into trails at different places. from what I've seen pictures wise, everybody had a great time. And you just did a chili cook off too. Yes.

Oh, that was at my VFW, at the Oklahoma VFW.

That was at the VFW on Preston Highway. That's right. Jenna, did you win?

I didn't, but I didn't put one in either, so I won because I ate all the chili.

Okay, everybody's a winner. Everybody's a winner there, right? Yeah, so everybody's a winner there. So we do coffee and camaraderie where we get veterans together, a group of us, and we talk about whatever topic that they want to talk about. Then we do our family cookouts, which the way we look at things is, families served as well. So when you were in the military, if you were married and you had kids, well, when you were deployed overseas, well, your family is back here serving. So what we try to do is incorporate families into that. So that's why we have our family events. So we have a monthly cookout where we bring everybody together. And with us having 2,500 members, or actually 2,600 because I just looked, so we got veterans that are wanting to start their own events in Bowling Green. We got veterans up in Lexington that are starting their own events, which is what we need because we can't, you know, the board members, we're local here mainly to Louisville. or Shelby County, and we can't be in Bowling Green to have events. And for those veterans that come here, that's an all-day experience, if not a two-day experience. So we have veterans like Brian Wise, who's down in Bowling Green, they got an event coming up down there at the Flippin' Axe. I saw that. Yeah, it's going to be pretty cool. So, you know, other veterans are getting involved down there and hosting events. We had Mary LaRue up in Lexington. She just had a range therapy up there. And that's what we want. We want people in the outlying areas to get more involved so we can have more events statewide. Because we're trying to reach all veterans in the state of Kentucky.

Do you guys have like one big major event every year that kind of brings everybody together?

We're planning a gala and hopefully we will, you know, get a lot of people together for that.

Where's that going to be at?

The location hasn't yet been determined. We're working on it. We've talked to a few different places. Jephthah Creed being one.

A distillery, man. That'd be fitting for this podcast right here.

You all could come and like be our commentators, MCs.

So we're planning a Veterans Club gala. Of course, you know, Veterans Club is only three years old and we're still growing. So as for one big event, The gala is going to be the first big event that we do. We tend to focus mainly on the veterans. So we do our family cookouts, our coffee and camaraderie.

But let's make it clear that we are a nonprofit. So we need donations to get going and to keep doing all these different events that we have. throughout the state.

So are you guys going to do like a, at that gala, you can do like a silent auction.

That's the plan. Yeah. We're going to do a silent auction, a live auction.

I'll tell you what, something great to auction off is a bourbon is bourbon. Yes.

Yes.

One of our listeners out here and you want to donate, uh, I'm sure that the Veterans Club, you can reach out to them on Facebook.

Yes, you can reach out to us. We have a public page, which is Veterans Club. You look us up there.

So it's just that when you say public page, you mean Facebook public page. Yes, it's a Facebook public page. And if they just type in Veterans Club, you'll come up.

And that'll be the public page, yes. The picture will be the state of Kentucky, and they'll say Veterans Club on it. And then we have a private page, which is just strictly for veterans only, for confidentiality reasons. That's where we have 2,600 members at.

I think a lot of people don't realize why there has to be a private page. And the reason for that is because a brother or sister veteran can go on there and they can ask for help for other veterans and stuff. And I've been on there before and a guy asked for help.

Absolutely.

And he got it. I mean, there were so many people. I remember talking to him on the phone for quite a while one night and saying, hey, man, I'll stay on the phone with you as long as you need me to stay on.

As long as you need to talk him off that ledge, yeah. So we had a guy, a prime example, without saying names, but he was at a bar. He was drinking. And he got to that point where he thought about he was going to hurt himself. So he reached out. And within five minutes, we had somebody there. We had somebody there to help him, make sure he made it home safely. And then the next day they took him and got him help. So that's what we're all about. Things are doing good work. Yes, sir. That's what we're trying.

I'm really honored to be a part of this association.

Where else can we find you on Instagram too?

We are on Instagram, Veterans Club on Instagram. We do have a website, which right now it's veteransclubky.com.

Okay, so what about personally? Would you guys like to share your personal social media accounts so people can reach out to you? Do they have questions about some of the things you might have said here on this show?

Yeah. I mean, look me up on Facebook. It's David Willis Jr. on Facebook. There's a picture of me, my wife, and kids.

Now, Gina, you want to put your social media stuff out there? I might want to reach out to you to see if you want to be a national sponsor for Bourbon.

No, actually, I've got a Snapchat and I also have Instagram at ggless12.

GGLESS12.

L-E-S-S. G-G-L-E-S-S. Well, either if you're out there, you're listening to us, reach out to her. She'll be proud and sponsor.

She's Insta-famous. Insta-famous. Insta-famous.

I doubt it. All right.

I think this has been a great episode. It has been. To kick off Veterans Day, which is on the- Thanks for having us. I appreciate it. Yes, definitely. Thanks for having us.

It was a blast. We really appreciate you guys coming out and sitting down with us, sharing your whiskey with us. It was a blast. We had a good time. I think you guys are doing great work. Thank you. I'm glad to be a new member. As of today, you are a new member. That's right. And I look forward to the future with you guys. Awesome. Thanks so much.

Well, you better come out to some of the events. I will. And volunteer too. I can do that. Because I'm going to reach out to you.

Yes. We'll bring bourbon with us.

That's what I'm talking about.

All right, guys. Thanks a lot. Thank you. 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 it 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 in 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.