303. Talnua Single Pot Still Distillery

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.

Hey this is Big Chief and you're listening to the Bourbon Road. You know what I love to pour in my old fashions? Is a little maple syrup. It can't be just any maple syrup. It has to be from seldom seen farms up in Ohio. He takes bourbon barrels. pours his syrup in there and ages it for six to nine months, making for some delicious, just some delicious syrup that you could pour on pancakes. You can pour it on waffles, chicken waffles like this fat guy likes. But seriously, you want to make a delicious cocktail with some maple syrup and not that old simple syrup. Check out seldom see maple dot com. Pick up some stuff from there today. We'd appreciate it.

Hello, everybody. I'm Jim Shannon. And I'm Mike Hyatt. And this is the Bourbon Road. And today, Mike, we are on StreamYard. We got some new friends on with us today.

Yeah, newer distillery. A baby. We got a baby in our hands right now. So who do we got, Jim?

Well, we got Patrick and Megan Miller. They're with Talnua Distillery just outside of Denver, Colorado. And they really caught our eye because of some of the technology they have. Actually, I don't know if you want to call it technology. Going back to the basics, I think, is more like it. And we were so blown over by some of the other stories and some of the interesting things that are being done in Colorado out there, namely like Todd at Leopold Brothers, that when we heard about Taonua and what they had going on with this single pot still whiskey, we just had to get them on the show. Patrick, Megan, welcome to the Bourbon Road. Thank you. Thanks for having us. Yeah. Super excited to be here. Thank you guys.

Well, what's, what's Talmud mean? What is that? It's a Gaelic word, right?

It is. It's derived from the Irish words for new land or new world. So as the first distillery dedicated to single pot still whiskey outside of Ireland and being in the new world and kind of the terroir that we like to bring to this, we'll chat about here. is really giving the distillery a sense of place, but also the heritage name through that kind of Gaelic words. Not unlike Talisker Scotch whiskey you get, land by the cliffs is that T-A-L prefix is for land or world. So yeah, we're really happy to be America's first single pot still distillery and really excited to tell you about it today.

We're going to have to break down that terminology just so that it makes it clear for our listeners what we're talking about, because pot still whiskey is something that they're familiar with. Most of our listeners have an idea of what a pot still is, what a column still is, what a hybrid still is. They even know what a three chamber still is now. But when they hear the word single pot still, there's a story behind that. And there's a reason why it's special. And there's a reason why you're the first to do it to go into that a little bit for us.

Let's do it. Let's break it down. So the, the very first thing we get single out of the way. Single means made at one distillery, just like a single malt, single grain, just all coming from a single distillery, all distilled here from grain to glass. And so that's been really important to us to have that in as that single nomenclature. And then you're right, the next thing to move into immediately is pot still. And pot still we know, especially, you know, our friends at Balcones and say will it that put pot still on their bottles are really referencing that piece of equipment right that your listeners are familiar with that beautiful onion shape still that that. allows a lot of flavor to be generated. It's very old. It's rudimentary. As far as technology goes, you hit on that a little bit. It's a glimpse back in time from the ancient Alembic pot stills that were originally created for distillation. Really what we're talking about and what the Irish talk about when they say pot still, It's the use of malted barley and unmalted barley. And that unmalted barley was really solidified by the 1785 malt tax that the English imposed on the Irish and Irish were not going to pay that tax. So they started throwing large portions of raw barley into their mash bill to kind of offset those malted grain taxes, because the English knew that if you were malting barley, you were gonna be either making beer or making whiskey with that. And it was kind of a tax on the Irish way of life, to be honest. And so kind of born of that tax evasion, this unmalted barley gave a really rich complexity to what would have been other types of single malt or a malt based whiskeys as we knew today, a real spiciness to it, a real kind of earthiness that the unmalted barley gives. And people ask the immediately following question that we usually get is if it's all barley, how is it different than really being a single malt? Well, it's kind of like, I describe it as picking an apple off a tree and cooking an apple in a pie and how different the flavors and textures are between that raw apple and a cooked apple. It's not dissimilar to raw barley and then the kilning and germination process, the sugar conversion process that happens with malt. And so it adds a layer of complexity, really a spiciness that I'm excited to see if you guys are pulling out of this whiskey we're going to try here. It's part of the hallmark of that. And then thirdly, to kind of jump to the end of your question is why are we the first ones to do it? The easiest answer and the truest, which is rarely the case, is that barley just does not grow or did not grow east of the Mississippi, right? Now you can grow limes in Colorado with modern farming technology, but in the early 1800s when our Irish American brothers and sisters arrived in droves into the United States, They were, they landed in rye country in New England, you know, Pennsylvania Empire rye Maryland rye that Monongahela from Pennsylvania that that you hear about famously, and then corn country all the way through up to the Mississippi River Valley. And then west of that is where you start to get your grassland grains that come in, specifically barley. And Colorado is kind of famous for the Coors family bringing barley over into the Rockies that grew at the foothills of Moravia. So the barley strain that grows here is actually called Moravian barley. And that Moravian barley that grows right at the foothills of Alps grows right here at the foothills of the Rockies. So, you know, we're kind of reviving this. And and in a minute, we'll go into kind of how how we got into to this as far as the the origin of tall new and and why we want to do this style of whiskey and only make this style this one style here.

Yeah. I would say there's just a little bit of barley being malted in Colorado. I mean, we had David Coors on the show. It's been a month or two back. Yeah.

With Mike trail.

Wonderful guy. Talked, talked a lot about their malting capabilities and what they have. So that's, that's, that's really amazing. So specifically you're required to have a blend of the two in there, at least some percentage of malted barley and some percentage of unmalted barley. And then you can have a trace of other grains if you want. Right. Is that correct?

Right. So we follow, there is no category for single-pot still whiskey, American single-pot still whiskey yet. We hope that we can follow in the footsteps of the single malt category. So we want to create this new category, but basically, so we follow the Irish technical file so that we can maintain Excuse me, that quality and that standard of what is expected of a single pot still whiskey. And so the Irish whiskey technical file says it has to be a minimum of 30% unmalted barley, at least a minimum of 30% malted barley, and then up to 5% of other oats or grains. and then grain off distillation and fermentation and distilled and then unobstructed copper pot still. So those are the main rules that we follow. Obviously we can't age in Ireland, so we're not Irish, and we are not shipping over Irish water to proof down our spirit. We use Eldorado Springs water, so all Colorado grain, thanks to our friends at Rootshoot in proximity. Right up the road.

Yeah. So it's a, it's a big, for us, uh, kind of place into that terroir. And what Megan is saying is, uh, we've, we've got two layers that really define tall new. One of them is that we self-govern by these Irish regulations, the way that this has to be made the way that the mash bill, right? I mean, y'all are the bourbon road. You you're very familiar with rules and regulations around, uh, mash bills, right? that go in and make styles of whiskey. And the aging requirement is just a wood barrel, not an oak barrel of any kind. So we are really focusing on the regulatory side of of being America's single potso, but really paying homage to the style and following their rules and regulations, but putting our American touch and twist on it. And part of that is this terroir, like Megan said, our friends at Rootshoot and Proximity, none of our barley comes from more than three, four hours from the distillery. So it's all very local, all that El Dorado Springs water, bringing that terroir, that beautiful French word for a sense of place in the taste of something, uh, bringing that to this style of, of whiskey that, uh, really has deep ancient roots in Ireland.

Well, I know Jim, I bet our listeners like these, these jokers going to drink some whiskey on the show. Let's sit on some of this.

Let's do it.

Cheers. Cheers. Cheers.

So y'all are drinking the Virgin White Oak cask from us right now. And this is the first of our three-year-old whiskies, which actually some batches will end up being four years old, but three-year-old minimum age. And what we've done is we've taken our new make, which is 50% malted barley, 50% unmalted barley, and we have aged it for that minimum of three years in a Virgin Oak barrel. So you're getting that new oak. So it's kind of like this old world style, meets the tradition of American aging of whiskey.

So if people really like, if you want to catch phrase this one, it's kind of distilled like an Irish whiskey would be, but then aged like an American bourbon would be. And char two, Virgin American white oak casks. We use char two, a little bit lighter on the char than you're typically getting with char three for kind of the common bourbon char, if you would, if you say there's such a thing. Finding out that with barley, even though it is a very robust grain in its own right, it has some nuances and delicacies that heavier chars we found were really starting to shout over the top of the grain and kind of confuse the profile as a too oaky of a whiskey. And we really wanted to balance that old world tradition of really more grain forward whiskies, usually aged in X casks of some kind, normally bourbon or sherry or what have you, and having a style that is uniquely American because there is no single pot still out there that's aged in virgin American white oak. That's just a very American thing and not something the Irish really, really do. So kind of a cool marriage of heritage in your glass for this one.

Yeah. I'm getting a really, um, a very like brown sugary spice cabinet nose on it. Not, not overly spicy, not any kind of a sentiment or anything like that, but definitely like a, like a nutmeg. Yeah. Yeah.

Maybe I'm getting a little bit of a saltwater toffee on this for some reason.

Toffee, a little bit of that maple-y, you're right on it. Maple, toffee, those are all notes that we really love dancing through that char level of the barrel. And we get a lot of kind of gingerbread-esque nature just from the distillate as well.

Here's another thing I'm getting on this gym. I'm sorry.

Go ahead. I was going to say, yeah, he mentioned ginger.

There is an underlying ginger note there that I think I'm getting a very, uh, strong, um, like a vanilla Laffy taffy. Um, if that makes sense on this, um, like that rich vanilla bean is inside this glass. I just love it. And then, um, Jim, I've already stepped on, I couldn't take it. I was just looking at it. I was like, man, this is too much for me. But the taste on this, that spice on the back end, it's not an overpowering spice. It won't just blow your palate out of the water. The spice is just tingling there, like dancing on your tongue.

Yeah, the oak is present though. And I like the amount of I don't know if I'm going to call it smokiness, just the char influence. I like the amount of char influence that you get on it. I have to say that there's a pretty good match between the nose and the palate. I am getting a little bit of a light fruity note to it. Not a lot, just a little bit, but it definitely plays second fiddle to the sugar maple, all spice things that are going on.

It's got a little bit of seared pear. I like to take a pear and shave it down and sear it in a pan and put some cream on it with some honey. And then I always like to pour some rum over that.

Well, I'll tell you, you guys are hitting on it and I'll get a little nerdy with you about that triple distillation that we have on the label there that you see. And one of the things that the Irish do on a lot of their whiskies, especially their pot still whiskies, is that triple distillation because that unmalted barley, when only double distilled can be a very dense, very oily texture to the whiskey. But when triple distilled, the spiciness still remains. You get almost like a white pepper lingering note on the tongue that kind of builds sip after sip and that unmalted barley is really responsible for that. So giving that Third distillation kind of lightens that oily texture, makes it so nice velvety mouth coating, but really rounds off the sharp edges and kind of reveals some of that fruit that comes from our yeast. Our yeast, we only use liquid culture. So differently for the folks out there listening, a lot of whisky. almost all whiskey is done in some form of open top fermentation that is relatively open to the elements and is maybe lightly cleaned in between fermentations. But generally, a lot of them, especially old world whiskeys, are made in wooden vessels, wooden bats. We were speaking at the very beginning about Todd Leopold, a superhero of a distiller and innovator, great mentor. And He does a lot of open top fermentations and he's got windows like right outside the outside the fermentation that allow natural flora and fauna to come in. Our approach is a little bit different. It's a lot of bit different. It's actually quite the opposite where we boil our wort. Megan mentioned that one of the rules of single pot still is that there's no grain on distilling. So like malt whiskies in Scotland, you cannot have grains present past the mash. And so that that wort we will then boil and then like a brewer would put into a clean sterilized stainless steel closed fermentation vessel where that liquid yeast culture is the only organism, if we've done it right and really gotten our cleaning done, that's the only organism that is acting on that. It's a very curated flavor profile that provides us a really broad bouquet of esters that make it all the way through the aging processes. A nice bit of that fruity It allows us to make consistent mashes going into to the stills and consistent fermentations and then allows us to to directly change outside of the natural elements, things that we want to do by higher temperatures, different yeast strains, but we act very, very much like a brewery would, which is fairly different. A lot of distilleries dry pitch yeast strains into open top vessels. Just a very different theology, if you will, for fermentation that gives different flavor profiles. Ours happens to be a really great ester profile that we're able to curate through our liquid yeast culture.

Now I'm noticing that you mentioned that the, by the third distillation, a lot of those heavier oils tend to come out, but I'm noticing that there is a bit, there is a bit of creaminess to this. There is some texture. Um, I don't know if you call it chewy or not, but it's a, it's nice. It has a very good, uh, viscosity to it. Um, what's it like coming out of, out of the second pot still, I'm sure you've tasted plenty of it. Is it too bad? Is it too much?

So we, we will do one for people because I think what it is, is it's not for the novice whiskey drinker. there is going to be a lot more of that earthen tone to it, a lot more of the viscosity that you're getting. It makes it a much more seasonal, like not something you, it's 92 degrees outside, it would be fairly miserable, drinking a double distilled pasta with that kind of dense oily body to it. So it it, however, has a really great rich tone and texture to it. It is very mouth coating. It's very chewy. I would I would venture right up to saying that it's a very chewy distillate coming off of there. But we will do that because I think there is a place, especially as the American palate has become more refined and interested in whiskey styles, there's a lot there to offer for somebody who's looking, you know, that's going to taste a lot more like that three chamber rye, right? Where there's a lot more of that texture.

A lot more of that earthiness and a lot of texture in that. Yeah. So that's one of the things that make it unique and make it, um, but it's not for everybody. And we said that in our podcast, you know, this isn't for everybody, but, but those who like it, It's at the top of their list. Yeah. Yep. Yep.

Were you guys really watching a soccer game and came up with this idea? Is that the truth?

Well, we were watching rugby rugby rugby on our honeymoon.

That's how cool she is. So yeah, it was 2011. It was actually 9-11, 2011. So it was the 10th anniversary of 9-11, and we were in a pub in Galway. And the United States was unfortunately not victorious that day, but we were in the pub early. We were the only Americans there. A handful of good Irish folk and in walk, the first cases of Red Breast 12 year old cast strength to come back to the market since the 50s. And so it was a huge moment for the bartender was super excited, pulled those out of the cases immediately and gave us our very first pour. And Megan's always loved cast strength. She's, she, I'm, I'm that like, uh, 86 to 96 kind of range is usually where my, uh, profile tends to lean to. Um, I think this, uh, Irish cast strength was one 15, one, one 18, something, something right there. And, uh, um, it, I mean, for any of the listeners who have had red breast, it's pretty special as a style, right? And, and the fact that that hasn't. wasn't maintained because of this history we can chat about too, that it's something new to the market, but from very old roots. This is whiskey and a whiskey brand that's been around for hundreds of years. that we're just getting all of a sudden in 2011 for the first time. And so that bartender was kind of telling us the story of Potsdale, what happened to it, what it is, how quintessentially Irish it is as a style of whiskey. And to be quite honest, we fell in love with it. And then going back every year, We got new expressions of the spots like green spot, yellow spot, blue and red now, right? Gold even. The powers lines, John's Lane and Three Swallows specifically. Middleton Berry Crockett Legacy. All of these started to come out and we were just coming home with suitcases full of this every year. As new brands came out, it was something to really be excited about and the Irish were, I think, finally excited again about their own whiskey history and their place of prominence and kind of origin of whiskey making. And so it's been fun to watch. And to be quite honest, that's love of this style of whiskey and our inability to get it were the sparks that happened to create Taunua.

And being in barley country as well.

I love that you're the one that Megan that loves cast strength. I always think that women in whiskey. they love the cast strength more. And I think it's because women's palates can take that complexity of a cast strength. And men, they're kind of blinders on when it comes to whiskey sometimes. And they can't understand all the complexities going on. And women's palates are just so much better than men's. So I can totally get that. I love that they hear that from you too. Most people wouldn't admit that. So hats off to you.

Yeah, I think I agree with you. I think women's palates are I mean, that's why you get some of the best master blenders in the world are women.

It's we have no batch goes through this distillery without Megan Maya, our general manager and Christie, our sales director, having a sip of it. I mean, it's just it is it is a requirement as part of the job that it passes muster, especially when we're blending casks together to make these batches.

Now, are they tasting the white whiskey coming off the still as well?

No, we do that mostly. Yep. On the distiller side, it's usually me, Kevin and Adam. Kevin's our production manager. Adam's our full-time distiller back there.

Don't get me wrong. I will go up there and if there's a stream of whiskey coming off the still, I'll go try it.

Well, she loves that. Well, Jim, what a fascinating, uh, first half here, right? Where the, this, this whiskey, I gotta tell you to hats off to you. The nose on it is, is scrumptious. I mean, it makes you want to drink the whiskey. Um, and then to have the palette match the nose, like Jim said, uh, just beautiful. You put it in a beautiful bottle. Um, I liked the Ram on there, kind of that pool to, um, Colorado, right? Is that, is that where you got it from?

It is it's a state animal of Colorado and it blows my mind with the number of breweries in the state 500 plus at this point and distilleries over 100 that that we are the first ones to use the bighorn ram. I think it's a beautiful animal and really the symbol of the state.

Yeah, I mean, the bottling, the whiskey, everything, I always say you can have the most beautiful bottle. Me and Jim have had this discussion a thousand times probably driving down the Bourbon Road. You can have the most beautiful bottle, the most beautiful label, the best marketing. But if you don't have the best whiskey inside that bottle, And it really doesn't matter. You know, the whiskey consumer, they'll never buy it again if it tastes bad, just because it's a beautiful bottle. But hats off to you. What a great first half, Jim.

Absolutely. Well, we're going to keep sipping on what's in our glass here. We're going to take a short break. When we come back, you've got something else for us to try. And we'll talk about what's going on and what's kind of down the road for Paul Newey.

Man, Jim, you know what I've really been enjoying lately? Oh, you're going to tell me. Some of that seldom seen farms maple syrup that's been aged in bourbon barrels. It is absolutely delicious. Not only in a cocktail, but you can cook with it, right?

You can. You absolutely can. Now, Mike, Kevin just sent me a new shipment, so I got a little bit more. And I've been making some beef jerky lately. Really? Yeah. Now I know you're the meat master, but I tried my hand at it. I said, you know, I want to make some beef jerky and I've got a pretty decent beef jerky recipe and it's got a little bit of soy sauce, a little bit of Worcestershire, a little bit of, you know, onion powder, garlic powder, those kinds of things. But I always put brown sugar in it. Well, this time Kevin sent me a bottle of his granulated maple sugar. Wow. And I decided that I was going to substitute the maple sugar for the brown sugar. Oh, game changer. Let me tell you. Total game changer. Total game changer. Some of the best beef jerky you've ever had. So I'm going to make another batch here in about a week and I'll be sure to get you some.

Man, that sounds delicious. Vivian took and we just got an air fryer like most people got these days, right? And she took and soaked fresh pineapple in that maple syrup and then put it in the air fryer and it kind of crisp up a little bit. Oh, sounds good. It was just magically delicious. And people probably wonder why we love it so much. Kevin competed in the Maple Festival last year, 2021, and he was named grand champion. That's saying something.

So Statham Seam Farms. grand champion of the 2021 Maple Syrup Festival.

Yeah. Wow. That's saying something. Yeah. You're going up against some heavy hitters in Maple Syrup. And I know we're talking about just the syrup, but that's something to be proud of. Hats off to you, Kevin, for winning that. Kevin's also competing in a couple other competitions. Make sure you check out his website. Check out his social media on Instagram and Facebook. You won't be disappointed. If you want to buy something, from him. Where can they go, Jim?

You can go to seldomseenmaple.com and Kevin and his crew, they've got a great website, very easy to navigate. They've got all their products on there. You can buy their maple syrup by the bottle. You can buy it by the case. You can buy that sugar. Oh my goodness, Mike, that stuff is so good. And they've got some other gift sets there too, so you definitely want to check it out.

Well, he's also going to be in some distilleries pretty shortly here. Some distilleries that I love and I know you love. He's going to be down Leapers Fork. Um, you could find a syrup down there aged in their barrels, treaty oak down in dripping spring, Texas. Um, I was just out there. His syrup is going to be there. Awesome. Um, and a garrison brothers in Texas, if you think, uh, you love some maple syrup, make sure you go to garrison brothers and pick up a bottle from them also. Kevin, appreciate it. I know he loves people. You're supporting a local farmer, a local product, a small family. This is no factory place that's putting out maple syrup, right, Jim? This is a good man, do a good work. Yeah, gotta love it. Well, make sure you check out his site. Like Jim said, seldom see maple.com. Pick up a bottle every day.

All right, let's hear. So we are back. We've got Patrick and Megan Miller on from tall, new, a distillery and just outside of Denver, Colorado. In the first half, we had their Virgin Oak single pot, still whiskey. And, uh, I have to say, Mike, I think we're both in agreement that that's a, that's a, definitely an add to the bar whiskey, right?

Yeah. I mean, we're, we're gonna have to fight over this one bottle, Jim, I think.

Yeah. Well, we won't fight over it. I'll just go over and drink yours. It's just when, uh, when we get, when we get another bottle from the next one's mine, when that double pot still comes out, that can come my way.

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Well, let's talk about what's in our glass right now. What do you guys, you guys send us some special stuff that's not out yet, right?

It was just released and it's now sold out, so we don't even have a sip to share with you today because we don't have any left at the distillery, but what it is is a very special dram. You are tasting the very first bottled and boned single pot still. There has never been a distillery that has made this style and this method and achieved the bottled and bond status. So of all the bottled and bond, wheats, rye, bourbons, single malts even, this is a kind of historical whiskey that is America's first bottled and bond single barrel single pot still whiskey.

Oh, it's a single barrel too.

It is. Yep. So this barrel was actually chosen by our good friend, proprietor of Irish whiskey fans of America, stories and sips, Barry Chandler. The barrel samples flew over to Ireland, the ancestral homeland of of our style and was selected by both Barry Chandler and Fanon O'Connor, who literally wrote the book, the first book ever about single pot still whiskey called A Glass Apart. So it was really special to have this single barrel selection chosen in Ireland by two pot still experts.

Now you're sold out of this release, but there's going to be more, right? I mean, there are listeners want to know there's going to be more.

You all just hang tight with us. I swear we are. We've mentioned early on in the first half, we are a baby distillery, right? We're, we're three and a half years old being open to the public. We opened on St. Patrick's day of 2019. Uh, and, and we started distilling in January of 2018, right? So, so we are still new. Um, but I am hoping to kind of, The way I see Talnua in the future talking about this in the second half is like the E.H. Taylor of Single Plot Still, where everything is bottled and bond. It'll be that 100 proof that is one of the requirements. I'm sure your listeners are very well versed on bottled and bond and those regulations of a single grain from a single season, a single distiller at a single distillery, aged a minimum of four years under tax and trade bureau supervision, and bottled at a 50% 100 proof minimum. And so that is really kind of a special milestone to hit and something that we want to do in a lot of our whiskey lines. Our core lines will all be this bottled in Bond style here in the next couple of years.

So January of this year, your distillate reached four years of age, your first distillate. So we're really drinking some of the first stuff you put up.

You're drinking the very, the very first cast that I ever filled when I was the only one here by myself every day. Megan still had a full-time job in the, in the oil field. Uh, and I was making all, all the whiskey, uh, in our, uh, a kind of 5,000 square foot facility and off of a handmade pot still. And now we have graduated and have three beautiful stills, each with their own job, a wash still, a faint still or intermediate still, and a spirit still. And so it's all triple distilled and batch driven.

Well, I feel honored to drink from your first batch and I'm really looking forward to it. Mike, what do you say we raise the glass? Cheers to, cheers to Talnua.

I'll just add to that too on the future releases. I'm really hoping for more single barrel options that are cast strength. That has been a request of mine for four years. So.

And the first one you tasted at 86 proof, right? Kind of that great entry level proof for whiskey drinkers that aren't necessarily those high proof preachers out there. But when you're in the whiskey world, people really wanna know what that's like coming out of that barrel. Uh, and a hundred proof is a really great balance. I think the beautiful thing about that bottled and bond is it's proofing it down a little bit, but you're still getting a lot of that heat, a lot of the kind of the, the nice burn, that warmth that you get from, uh, from a higher proof whiskey. Um, But you can add a little bit of water to it, proof it down into the nineties, really open that up. And then we'll get our whiskey warriors that demand the cast strength. And I think Megan will likely be the champion of that here in the distillery.

Let's talk about barrel entry proof here. What did this go into the barrel at?

almost everything at the distillery except for our barrel-aged gin, which we do have one of those, goes in at 110 proof. Very respectable. So here in the Rockies, we gain proof. So it goes up. We would, it'll come, I think the, the very highest we've ever had is about 118, 119.

I think that's what just bottled and bombed came out at. It was like 118.2 or something.

And the longer it goes, kind of that proof creeps up and up and up. At our evaporation ratio here in Ireland, to compare ourselves for your listeners, they're generally between 2-3% angel share a year. up here in the Rockies at 6,000 feet. We're anywhere between 7 and 11% evaporation. So we get a much higher rate of esterification that air comes into the barrel, esterifies the tannins and lignans that make up the barrel structure, that oak structure, give you all those vanillas and allspice and the fruity nature to it. And so that happens at a much quicker rate here in Colorado because we're allowing that air, that oxygen and nitrogen into the barrels to start catalyzing that reaction. And so we get really rich notes here. We found that at 110, it's a really good balance between a sterification and aggressive proof extraction, especially for a barley based whiskey, right? Different grains. interact with the ester profiles and the tannins and lignans coming out of the casks in different ways. And so for us at this altitude with 100% barley, that extraction is really great. It's really nuanced. It's not too aggressive, but it does go up in proof and kind of give it shoulders at the end of its casking life.

I'm telling you this right here, man, I'm so thankful that you guys let us try this right here. Um, Jim, it is like drinking a little bit of hot honey. Um, it's really good. I mean, when I say hot honey, I'm talking about was just a, here in Kentucky, you can get honey that has a spice with it. Um, spicy honey. And that's what I get with this. Um, That's the best way to describe it. That viscosity. This has Jim at a hundred proof. You guys are making some magic. They're pretty damn special. And that's, that's coming from bourbon guys.

So it's really good. It definitely tastes like a mature whiskey. And I'm going to say from the numbers you spattered out a few minutes ago, seven percentage in that range, we're not going to see anything from you guys in the 10 year old range. It's just, there's nothing left in the barrel. So you're probably going to be done at six, right?

Yep, and the only option is climate control. The other option that has seen some success here in Colorado, both at, again, we keep bringing up Leopold's, but also at Peach Street, is both cellar aging and or dunnage style warehouse with earthen floors that allow the natural humidity from the soil to work like a greenhouse to keep a higher humidity that raises the barometric pressure, keeps more of that whiskey in the barrel, right? Get that down to about 5% loss, right? And so right around there, you can start to see really nice, rich 10-year-olds.

There's actually, just recently, the last couple of years have been at least two Colorado 10-year-old whiskeys that have come out.

Strandhans had a 10 year old and Peachtree had 10 year old for a fact.

Yeah.

And their use of climate control. Strandhans uses climate control and Peachtree has their they're up in wine country of Palisades. So they've got some wine cellar aged. They I guess they're it's whiskey cellar age. It's all whiskey, but subterranean aging profile.

We need somebody to age some barrels up on the top of Pike's Peak. That would be interesting.

You got about two years at Pike's Peak.

That's it. That's all you got up there, right?

That's all you got, man. You got a puddle of molasses in the bottom of the barrel.

Sounds like an expensive bottle of whiskey.

Yeah, because it's basically going through a season in 24 hours, right? Yeah, effectively, yeah.

Wow. Well, I got, like I said, hats off on this bottle and bond. I love that you're going to try to go that route. I love that we got to taste it. You know, it's always nice to, you know, Jim and I get to drink about a thousand whiskeys a year. Different expressions and amazing. I would, I got to say this is right up there at the top. you know, 5-10% from this year. That's saying something. We got to drink some pretty damn special bourbons and whiskeys this year, Jim.

Yeah, we have. We have. And this is really good. And I think primarily, Mike, because, well, it's darn good whiskey to start with. If you're a fan of hot steel whiskies, and you haven't had a single pot still whiskey before you definitely want to sit down with a glass of this it's interesting it's good this in particular being a bottled and bonded 100 proof i think it just brings that extra little punch that uh whiskey connoisseurs are going to appreciate yes and uh it's it's it's really good

Well, I'm honored. Thank you for the compliments, guys. It's amazing. This is some of the very first stuff we ever made on a handmade pot still. And so the distillate that's coming off of our new three beautiful stills is patently better than the original stuff. So we have a very exciting future. And I'm really happy to get to share this with you guys. I mean, This is kind of a once in a lifetime thing for us. I mean, you don't get a new category of whiskey that achieves bottled and bond every day. And, you know, especially with this second half talk that we're in the midst of right now is this is a glimpse at the future. This is what the direction of the distillery is going and really exciting for us. I can't tell you what a, what a monumental achievement it was for us as young distillers and entrepreneurs to be creating this and having this expression out. It's very meaningful for us at the distillery. So thank you all.

You just got to keep Megan from drinking it. All right.

That's it. It's a drinking all the profits. It's a problem.

What you can't see listeners is Megan over here has been throwing the whiskey down. I've been, I've been paying attention Megan. She likes the bottle of bond. She said she liked it stronger. So that's, Hey, that's, that's cool with us. I love it. Um, I love that you guys are whiskey nerds like us, right? Uh, you, you appreciate that good whiskey and. You're honest. You're telling everybody, hey, this is what I'm putting in my whiskey. This is what it is. There's so much transparency here on this one bottle. I'm just very thankful as a whiskey consumer that we get all that from you. And you told us what you like. And you even nerd out on these other brands and say, man, we drink this and we drink that. And we want to build our brand this way because of those. And that speaks volumes. right? That tells people who you are as owners, that whiskey makers, you know? And I love that you're a family or couple that's doing it together. That's pretty damn cool. Not too many people in the business are doing it together like that.

It's pretty special. It's always a challenging thing to work all day together, go home and separate that work-life balance. I think we've done an extraordinary job of it here and it's a dream. We're doing this for our people. We're building a distillery that has big aspirations for what we can do to serve others on our team and really provide meaningful, fun lives and work experiences for those who are with us. So the mission runs deep here. It's a lifelong passion for us.

So I've got a couple of more geek. I want to geek out again, just a little bit. You've told us that you're doing a single pot still whiskey. It's triple distilled. It's 50% malted barley, 50% unmalted barley. That's your core product. That's what you're focusing on. But we also know that those rules that you follow allow some variation there. So you're allowed to go down to as little as 30%. on any one of those two components. You're allowed to introduce a third component up to 5%. You're also allowed to use barrels that have been used for other things before. So what kind of other expressions are in the works? Other things that are on your shelf now are available. What kind of the future looks like for various expressions coming out of Talnua?

Absolutely. So our core lineup, our core four whiskeys include that Virgin Oak. We've also got a blend, which is about half of it is our American pot still whiskey. The other half is an Irish grain whiskey that we imported from the Cooley distillery in Ireland. So that's kind of our answer to like a Tullamore Dew or your Jameson drinker. It's a blend. We've also got a Solera program with our Continuum Cask whiskey, which is our whiskey aged in smaller oak barrels and then we harvest those barrels into a footer, a 350 gallon wooden vessel that it's a continuous cycle. It never empties at all. So we bottle from it and after we bottle, we add more whiskey. So it's never completely empty. And then, so then the virgin oak kind of falls in line next that you had. And then we've also got our bourbon cask and stave, which is again, our new make that 50% malted, 50% unmalted barley aged for a minimum of three years in used bourbon barrels. And then we've taken a page out of wine's book, if you will, again, with, you know, the same as with the Solera system. We've used spiral staves of different oak profiles so we can impart that oak number that we want on or type of oak that we want on that spirit. So that's a core core lineup. We've also got our peated cask, which is our whiskey that we have finished in X peated barrels. So the only Pete that you're getting is from directly from the barrel. We don't put Pete into our mash done or our stills at all.

It's a whisper of Pete.

Indeed. Yes, we call it like Pete light or gateway Pete. And then we've got two gins, we've got a clear gin and a barrel aged gin. And then in the future, so every year on our anniversary, which again is March 17th, we release our old Saints keep. And it's a different finishing project every year. So this last year, we won two gold medals for Old Saints Keep. And before anybody asks, we are sold out of that one for 2022 as well. But we look forward to 2023, where we are doing Madeira casks.

And then if you really want to get into the future nature of what's happening here, you mentioned the Mashbill side. One of the things I'm not sure if your listeners are familiar with is that the Irish whiskey technical file and Irish pot still whiskey. is a geographically protected type of whiskey. Just by having the nature of Irish, it has to be made in Ireland. Well, as an American single pot still whiskey, we're able to produce this style here by really bringing the American, again, that terroir to it. Well, the geographic nature of the protection reviews the history of styles of whiskeys. And it was that way in Champagne in France as well. That's why it can only be called Champagne if it's from the Champagne region of France. Well, that Irish whiskey technical file, as they kind of uncovered their own history over the last 10 years, is now going to change to be a 30-30-30 mash bill. So a minimum of that 30% malted barley, a minimum of 30% raw barley, and then up to 30% of oats, wheat, or rye. So we're going to start our own 30, 30, 30 mash bill late this year, November, December. We'll start mashing that again. That'll be three, four years before that comes out. But that'll really be part of the core line as well. so that people can see what these other grains really do in the style. So still 70% barley, but we will utilize that 30% to really showcase what oats do and what rye does and how wheat changes the nuance of this style. Because one of the goals of this distillery specifically is to make this one style of whiskey and showcase the diversity within the category.

So did you hear that, Mike? They said wheat.

I did. I was trying to, I was trying not to get too damn excited about it. Cause, um, I don't know if you guys did your homework or not, but my hashtag is we the king of Kentucky. I have to have every wheat on the face of the earth. I have to have it. So, you know, you guys can have to ship that to us.

You're gonna have to. If I'm drinking a bourbon, it's going to be a weeded bourbon.

If you came over to my house and seen my shelves and my cabinets, you'd be like, this guy loves a little bit of weeded bourbon. Just a little bit. And we do whiskeys. It doesn't matter to me. I just... There's a softness to it. There's the sweetness to it. I got that sweet tooth as a fat guy. So, you know, I want to taste that. It makes my beard grow better. I think. I don't know. I really don't know why I love it so much. But Jim's the right guy. I have the weed guy. So you guys got something for both of us.

I got it. We got it coming down. And then we got oats thrown in that mix, which is just fun because there are so few oated whiskeys. And it was something, especially as horse and cattle feed and in the British Isles, oats were an always kind of an adjunct, right? It's where you get stout beers from as well as throwing that unmalted barley and oats in there and really having those kind of rich creamy beers. I'm really excited to show people what these other grains do mixed with this multi done multi barley because up until this point, no one in the world has had one unless you got your hands on stuff from the 40s 30 1930s hasn't been made since then. So we're really torchbearers and pioneers of this style of whiskey here in the United States and globally. We're right alongside our Irish brothers and sisters who are making this. When we had that first sip in 2011, there were 3-4 distilleries maybe. Now there's 40, right? But they're all kind of where we are. You know, they all started between 2015 and today and still have a long time. In Ireland, there's a three-year minimum for whiskey to be aged. So a lot of these distilleries don't even have their own distillate out. Yeah, at this point. And so there's a whole world on cover for your listeners that is happening right now in real time as the people who invented whiskey, the Irish, and I'll let the Scots fight it out if they like. But as the originators, of this style that we all drink today that's taken on many forms. They're seeing their own renaissance and revival. And so it's something we're very, very proud of.

Well, I think one lucky listener, you guys gave us something as a giveaway. And I think they're going to be shocked at what we got for a giveaway. So what do we got for our listeners?

We have a hat, a t-shirt, and your very own bottle of Virgin Oak whiskey.

And I'll add to that because we have one little sample. I think this is a two ounce bottle right here or an ounce and a half. We're going to put that inside that package for you so you can taste this bottle of bond. You're going to be one of those people on the face of the earth to get to try something simply amazing. So let's talk about how you can win that giveaway listeners. We're going to do this giveaway. on facebook on our private facebook group the bourbon roadies you gotta be a member so that means you gotta be 21 that means you gotta like bourbon or whiskey because everybody loves some whiskey you gotta agree to play nice because we don't tolerate any rudeness in that group You gotta invite three people to that group, which is pretty easy. Listeners, if you've got three friends out there that love whiskey with you, that's not part of our group, invite them to that group. And then you've got a tag, hashtag. to Luna, uh, distillery in there. Um, that's pretty easy.

Let's spell it out for everybody. Just to be sure. T-A-L-N-U-A. Pretty easy, right? Tall, newa. There you go.

I still, I still want to pronounce it wrong. I don't know why it's that big old Texan in me wants to pronounce everything wrong. I got that, uh, that Southern accent going on. It just messes me up. But I think that's a great giveaway. You get a full bottle of their single pot steel, virgin white oak. You get a small bottle of their bottled and bonded, which nobody else has right now because it's sold out. You get a t-shirt and you get a hat from them. Inside the bourbon roadies, we owe our roadies that. So Patrick, Megan, we can't thank you enough for helping us out with that giveaway. Get more people drinking your whiskey, right? Absolutely. Now we invite both of you to, we invite both of you to join the bourbon roadies too.

Um, absolutely on our way.

I'm sure they, people would have questions. Um, after this episode, they're going to have questions of you. Um, they're going to want to know all about your process. Uh, I know Jim's a happy man right now, cause we start talking about the science of whiskey, how to make whiskey. Uh, he enjoys that part. I enjoy drinking it. I love it.

I love both, but I really liked that. I like to nerd out a little bit, so.

Well, I feel like this is my opportunity to offend myself about, you know, consuming on camera. When this one talks so much about nerdiness, I have to occupy myself somehow.

Yeah. Hey, there's nothing wrong with that. There's no shame in that and drinking your whiskey responsibly. I love that you guys are drinking whiskey together. You know, that's That's a good thing. You get to go to work together, drink whiskey together. Probably have some great conversations over the dinner table too about whiskey. That's just amazing.

It's wonderful. Being in this whiskey world, it's fun. And we love these things because especially through 2020, there was rough times. We're now sitting in my brand new office. I just hung pictures up behind us today, the frames at least, and we're doing an 11,000 square foot renovation and expansion. And so we'll be able to get this whiskey out to people, right? That's the goal. And connecting with communities and telling our story and listening to other people's stories is part of what we fell in love with, with whiskey that led to the creation of Talnua. And so being able to do this with y'all and having this us on, really means a lot as a young distillery. And so we very much appreciate you and your community that you guys have built.

Well, we'd like to give you a chance to let our listeners know where they can find you on the internet, on social media, driving up and taking a tour, whatever it takes. How do people find out more about Taunua?

Yeah. So, uh, tell new a.com. Um, we are, I think, tell new a distillery on Instagram and Facebook and tell new a distilled on, uh, Twitter. And I'm pretty sure we just entered the Tik TOK game recently. I don't know what that handle is.

You're going to get to see a lot more of this beautiful face dance, doing some dances.

Yeah. And what about the distillery itself? Is it open to the public?

Absolutely, yeah, we have a wonderful cocktail lounge. Our beverage director and our bartenders have done an amazing job creating really unique cocktails using only our products. So actually like in Colorado, our tasting is we're not allowed to have any other alcohol that we do not make and manufacture at the distillery. So we got to get really creative. So they have a lot of really cool and delicious cocktails. We are open six days a week, Tuesday through Sunday. You can find our hours online or on Google. They're always accurate.

Yeah, you can buy bottles.

We do guided tours that you have to book in advance.

You can do that on our website.

And those are really fun with Maya, our general manager.

Our tour program will really pick up early next year as we complete the renovation and expansion here. We'll have a tour-specific staging room. We'll do those multiple times a week.

We can't thank you both enough that you came on the Bourbon Road podcast, tell your story, shared your whiskey with us, shared it with one lucky listener that's going to win this. Jim, I forgot to tell everybody what time we're going to choose this right here, right?

Oh, so you're going to, you're going to make a post in the roadies, right? Yeah. And then they got to watch out for that post and comment in that post, right?

Yeah, they got them a comment. So we're going to say at 10 o'clock, um, we'll go ahead and do that 10 o'clock mountain time. Um, because these guys right here are over there. Mountain time.

Make everybody do some math.

Yup. Yup. 10 o'clock mountain time. I'm going to post. I'm gonna stay up late for that. Uh, we'll decide who's going to, um, when that roadies, we really need you to share that love, um, share this story out there. So we'd appreciate it.

So let me get this right. Just so I understand, they need to, uh, invite three people who aren't roadies to become roadies. Yup. Yup. They need to come into the post that you're going to put in the better been roadies and they need to make, post a comment in there and they need to hashtag. Yeah. And then of course we want to see all that conversation going on with. uh, the new members and the people that they've vided in.

So I think this is a great giveaway for the roadies. Uh, you know, and we got these great guests right here, uh, husband and wife team, uh, drinking whiskey together, sharing their stories, sharing their love of whiskey with us. Once again, thank you guys, uh, listeners. You know where you can find us at. You can find us at on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube. Like we've talked about, the main place is on Facebook at the Bourbon Roadies. We'd love to see you in there as a member.

Yeah, so we do two shows every single week. We do a short episode every Monday where we focus on a single expression out of a distillery that's doing it right. Primarily craft distilleries, but sometimes we'll have a big boy on. That show usually lasts about 15 or 20 minutes. We get right to the point. We'll let you know whether or not that's something you should add to your bar or not. Every Wednesday, we do a full length episode like today with our friends, Patrick and Megan from Paul Newe. We'll get into a deep discussion. We'll, uh, we'll focus on a topic. We'll have more than one expression. We'll make a full hour out of it. We'll get you to work and get you home on that drive. You definitely want to make sure you don't miss a single episode. And Mike, what do they have to do to make sure that they don't?

Listeners, you know what I'm going to say. Scroll on up top of that app, hit that check sign, that plus sign, that subscribe sign, whatever you got to hit. So that app is going to tell you, hey, these two jokers have an episode out today. Then you're going to want to scroll on down. You don't want to hit that five star review because that's how we are at there. We are the five star bourbon podcast. Go ahead and hit that five star. Leave us some comments. We'd really appreciate it. But if you don't, you know what's about to happen. The big bad booty daddy of bourbon is going to come over to your house with this Talnua single pot still whiskey and drink it all night long. By the end of the night, you'll have that big old smile on your face. from ear to ear, you'll leave us that five star review and some comments, I guarantee. But seriously, those comments, those reviews, they open up the distilleries like Talnoa for us. Get great guests on our show like Patrick and Megan here. Get great whiskey in our hands for reviews. We'd really appreciate it.

So Mike and I are often out and about. This is the season. You're going to see us all over the place. You're going to see us at events. You're going to see us at liquor stores. You're going to see us traveling around the country doing podcasts. When you do make sure you step up to us, introduce yourself, let us know a little bit about your whiskey journey. We'd love to meet you. We'd love to shake your hand. We're pretty approachable guys. Aren't we Mike?

Heck yeah, we got two major events coming up here this weekend and two weekends away. The first event, if you don't have your tickets, it might be too late. But we're going to be at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival, the 15th through the 18th. We might not be down there every day, but I'm quite the large man. You can see me and I'll have this little shorter guy next to me with some gray silver hair. You come find us. We might have something in our bag for you. And then we're going to be at Bourbon on the Banks on October 1st in Frankfort, Kentucky. We'll have the Bourbon Road Lounge there. I'll have some of this Talinua whiskey with us there. You can sample on that. We'll have several other expressions. Come hang out in the Bourbon Road Lounge. You don't want to miss that. BourbonOnTheBanks.org is where you want to go buy your tickets right now. Come hang out with us. Come buy some t-shirts. We'd really like to meet you.

So like I mentioned before, Mike and I are pretty approachable and we put our email addresses right out there for you and our website. So hop on our website, the bourbonroad.com hit that contact us page, send us a note, send us a message. If you've got an idea for a bottle, you think ought to be on the show or a distillery that needs highlighted. Uh, we're definitely open to it. You can always send us an email. I'm Jim at the bourbonroad.com. He's Mike at the bourbonroad.com. Like we always say, probably the best way slip into those DMS on Instagram. I'm Jay Shannon 63. I'm big bourbon chief. I will see you down the bourbon road.