351. A Fathers Day Special
Jim Shannon, Rob Carter & Steve Ladden sip Jack Daniel's Bonded and Old Forester 100 in Carter's Rare Eagle Bar, toasting ten timeless marks of a Southern gentleman on Father's Day.
Tasting Notes
Show Notes
Happy Father's Day from the Bourbon Road! Host Jim Shannon settles into the Carter's Rare Eagle Bar — the legendary basement bourbon cave of returning guest Rob Carter in Shelbyville, Kentucky — for a thoughtful Father's Day conversation joined by Steve Ladden of Shelby Bourbon Tours. The trio raises a glass to the dads, granddads, and stand-in fathers who shaped them, working through ten timeless qualities of a Southern gentleman: hospitality, honoring tradition, work ethic, sportsmanship, humility, a love of the outdoors, fine craftsmanship, integrity, community, and the power of storytelling. Along the way they swap memories of barn-raising neighbors, barefoot judges, clothing-store proprietors who defied the racial norms of their era, and a Ukrainian teenager who found his footing through the tag-team of two families.
On the Tasting Mat:
- Jack Daniel's Bonded Tennessee Whiskey: 100-proof, bottled-in-bond Tennessee whiskey made on the classic Jack Daniel's corn-heavy mash bill and filtered through maple charcoal via the Lincoln County Process. Hand-selected barrels deliver a richer, bolder profile than the standard Black Label — deep caramel up front, a burnt spice on the finish, and surprising smoothness throughout. Retails in the $27–$30 range. (00:11:43)
- Old Forester 100 Proof Bourbon: 100-proof Kentucky straight bourbon from Brown-Forman, the house George Garvin Brown founded in 1870. At least four years old and priced under $30, this pour reminded the room just how much character lives at this price point — bright cherry fruit on the nose and palate, rounded sweetness, and a clean, satisfying finish that had the group wondering why they had ever set it aside. (00:46:00)
Whether you are a new dad still figuring it out or a grandfather watching the seeds you planted finally bloom, this episode is a warm reminder that the most important things a father does are rarely the things he says — they are the things his children quietly watch him do. Pour something you love, call your dad if you still can, and join us down the Bourbon Road.
Full Transcript
Welcome to another great episode of the Bourbon Road with your host, Jim and Brian, where they talk bourbon and of course, drink bourbon. Grab yourself a pour, kick back and enjoy another trip down the Bourbon Road.
We're very excited to have Blanton's bourbon shop.com is a new sponsor for the bourbon road podcast. In fact, this podcast is brought to you by Blanton's bourbon shop. Blanton's bourbon shop.com is the only official merchandiser for Blanton's original single barrel. Looking for unique gift. Blanton's bourbon shop has got you covered. Blanton's bourbon shop.com is your home for all Blanton's gifts. You know friends, it's never too early. Start planning your trip to the Bourbon Trail for 2023. We hope you'll join the Bourbon Road crew as we pull out all the stops this year at Bourbon on the Banks. So mark your calendars for October 6th and 7th and we'll plan on seeing you in Frankfort, Kentucky. Be sure to listen in during the halftime break for all the details on Bourbon on the Banks. Welcome back listeners to another episode of the Bourbon Road Podcast. I'm your host, Jim Shannon. And today, today we are actually in the Rare Eagle Bar, Carter's Rare Eagle Bar. So we're on the road. One of our favorite places to hang out. Rob Carter's with us.
Rob, I think maybe.
Your fifth time on the show, is that what you're saying?
I'm thinking so. I kind of forget they're adding up and I don't mean to be on the show. I don't realize it's rolled into number five, but I remember four pretty fun times.
Yeah, it seems like when you come on the show, we've got this kind of deep topic, right? We're going into some deep topic. So maybe you're my go-to guy when I've got like, There's serious stuff to talk about.
You need a deep thinker. A deep thinker. Oh, Lord.
But we've also got Steve Ladden with us. Steve is with Shelby Bourbon Tours, and he's going to be joining us today. But again, Rob, so you've christened this place Carter's Rare Eagle. Rare Eagle.
So why Rare Eagle? Rare Eagle. Bit of a patriotic guy. always a little disappointed I didn't join the military, and I'm raising my glass right now to all those of you who did, and I appreciate your service more than you'll ever know. But I collect historical and patriotic memorabilia. As I told Jim, this basement is full of stuff, and if we were to put it all in a yard sale, we'd have enough money to buy a bottle of Woodford. It's not worth a nickel. But dang, this is my happy place. I'm sitting here looking at, I don't know, flagged pictures from 100 years ago from family. I have flags from pre-Civil War. All authentic. I have 13 sets of eagle bookends for what that's worth and another two dozen different types of eagles and military shells and casings and just all kinds of just crazy stuff. Crazy stuff.
Oh, and by the way, you have a bourbon bar down there too, right?
All nestled amongst a bourbon bar. Absolutely.
Now you've got kind of a unique bar itself. And I think, you know, we were talking one night about your bar and you kind of told us a story about, that's kind of a cool story. You want to tell our listeners?
The bar itself? Yeah. Yeah. Well, so that thing, I, I don't know if Steve and I have talked about this or not, but he's seen it. It's a front end of a bus, an actual bus from India, the Tata brand, T-A-T-A, Tata. And all you guys out there, they're snickering. Shame on you. But it's a cool, you know, it's a beat up old rustic front end with a, you know, bar top. I mean, nothing super special, you know, it looks like something one of us would have drug out of a junk pile, but it's kind of a cool piece, probably pretty old, I guess. And bought it from Ben Harden, thanks to Ben. Used to be down at the harvest and used it for a number of different, uh, uh, you know, different ventures down there. So, I just thought it was kind of cool, rustic, and different. I like different.
Well, you definitely have a unique bar. You know, one of the things I love about this place, and we've been to a few kind of gatherings here you've had, you're very hospitable. You and Pam are very hospitable, and you have a lot of get-togethers at your place, but you can seat I don't know, I'm just guessing 25, 30 people down here. I mean, seat. So that's pretty cool.
Yeah, pretty easy. Yeah.
And so it's really easy to have a big bourbon gathering and you do that from time to time. You'll drag people back here from the barrel room and have a good old time.
Yeah, crazy as it sounds, we've met people on the spur of the moment in Shelbyville. struck up a conversation and literally within moments invited them to something. I'll just say, yeah, I got something stupid you ought to see if you want to, here's my address. And by golly, they show up most of the time. I wonder about their sanity sometimes, but we have a good time when it's all over. I've had a couple of groups from Kansas City and Oklahoma. that showed up and we had a big party here one night and they said this was the most fun they had on the bourbon tour. So I think they were patronizing me, but yeah, either way, I guess they had fun.
So Steve, maybe you ought to make this a stop on the tour. What do you think?
You know, that is a great point. I didn't think about that until we were talking about this right now, because it's an awesome place for me to see. I think it'll be amazing for people to actually, you know, do the bourbon trail.
And you know, a bit of a ruse on this whole thing is, you know, if you were to bring some people by, that's just another excuse for me to sip a bourbon.
Yeah, we were just talking about that's what you had for breakfast today, and then lunch, and now it's dinnertime, and what are you doing? I'm not sipping bourbon again.
It made me think there's a roadside bourbon restaurant in Millville between Woodford and it's called the Stave. And they've got a great sign when you step in up there above the bar, it says soup of the day. Bourbon on the rocks.
Bourbon on the rocks is the soup of the day.
That's kind of what happens around here.
Absolutely. Stave is a, man, what a classic place.
Well, today is also Father's Day, and we're all three fathers. And what better way to spend Father's Day after you've had a chance to chit chat with the kids is sit down with a glass of bourbon and enjoy being a man, right? Because that's what Father's Day is all about. Do you take care of the ladies on Mother's Day?
Yeah.
What do you leave it to the kids to do?
Oh, no, I usually end up taking care of that. I think you have to, right?
Because otherwise, I mean, there's no right answer there, right? You can't say, well, you know, you're not my mother. Right. You're in trouble now. Exactly.
Well, at least you could do. Edit that out, Tim, please. Oh, no. I'm leaving it all in because it's all real. This is about being real.
Yeah. So today is Father's Day and I kind of wanted to talk a little bit about, um, I mean, without getting sappy, you know, and without getting too, I don't know, trite and predictable, kind of talk about, you know, what it means to be a good father and try to keep that... In other words, you know, there's a lot of things that change over time in our society. We see it every day, right? Some of it for the better and some of it for the worse. And we're not going to get into those social issues and political issues and all the things that tug at our beliefs every day. But there are some things that are truly timeless. And we were kind of talking about, you know, when... You know, there's, there are, there are ways to teach your children and one way is to sit them down at a table and say this, that, and the other, this is what you do. This is what you don't do. And I kind of think a lot of that goes in one ear and out the other. But what they do pay attention to is you and they watch what you do. So, you know, if, I think if you set a good example by following some sort of timeless rules, you do have a lot better job of teaching your kids the right way than trying to sit them down and make them do ABCs and one, two, threes and all that kind of stuff.
How do you feel about that? Absolutely. And, and you know, um, It's kind of funny. I know people who are a certain way because their dad was attentive, let's say, and I know people who are the same way. because their dad wasn't. You either want to be just like that guy or you'd want to be the opposite of that guy. But that guy is always still the focus.
Yeah. He's always had an impact. So you have an impact on your children, whether it's positive or negative. And even the negative impact can have a positive impact on a kid with the right kind of internal type.
Yeah. And if we're all honest and pre-thinking, you got to think back. Even the guy that wasn't the best, we don't know his background. external and internal influences that caused him to not understand how to be that guy. So we got to give some grace and love and understanding regardless. And this is not the bourbon talking either here.
Well, speaking of bourbon, let's talk about what we're drinking. Transition. People are like, wait, this is a bourbon show. What are we talking about here? This isn't Dr. Phil.
I kind of forgot for a minute.
So I tried to pick a couple of relatively common expressions that have kind of like a Southern gentlemen or Kentucky gentlemen or gentlemen in general behind it, behind the label. And, and in the first half here, we're going to be drinking Jack Daniel's bonded. I feel like Jack Daniel's with a Southern gentleman. What do you think?
Fair enough.
I would say that he, uh, He probably stood as an example in society at the time. He certainly had a long lineage of family below him. He was a father to many generations, but whether he was a good father or a bad father, I don't know, but he was a father and he was a Southern gentleman. So we're going to drink a little bit of his whiskey today. This is the Jack Daniels Bonded Tennessee Whiskey. This is obviously a hundred proof whiskey and it's made with the same mash bill as the standard Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey. It does go through the same Lincoln County process where it's dripped through the maple charcoal and all of that. The difference here is that they use some fairly unique and selected barrels for this. Um, and so it's not using the standard barrel that the Jack Daniels goes through. It's a little bit more of a bold finish. So you're going to get something here that's rich and spicy and a little bit deeper than a traditional Jack Daniels and at a hundred proof, you can't go wrong. So we're sipping on it. This is about, uh, $27, $28 a bottle, $30 a bottle. It depends on where you buy it. That's a sweet spot.
Yeah, it's kind of nice.
A bottle in Bond whiskey is always a good choice because you get that four-year-old minimum, 100 proof, and you know it's one distilling season out of one distillery and it's all good.
Yeah, and you know, I've kind of been wanting to learn from you a little bit, Jim, in the way you guys do some of your tastings and comparisons. And I like grouping little things together. So, you know, pulling some different bottled and bonds. So, you know, we always talking about, you know, let's compare apples to apples. Well, it's kind of cool for me to pull out a Heaven Hill bottled in Bond, a JTS Brown bottled in Bond, a Jack Daniels bottled in Bond. Put them side by side and just kind of sip through them. I like unique flavors and yet we're all on the same hunter proof, which is a good place to reside. Not too watered down and not too hot either.
Now we, we've kind of warmed up before the show and a couple of whiskies. And one of them was, uh, the Woodford, uh, weeded bourbon. And that was kind of a nice light entry into the day. I've always said it's kind of nice not to make that first taste of bourbon or whiskey during the day be the one you're reviewing on the show, right? Because you get that bitter punch off that first whiskey. That Woodford was soft. It was nice. It was a good warmup. And then what was the second whiskey you poured for us?
Oh, that was, um, gosh, it was a new riff. Was it silver Grove? Darn it. I moved it over out of my eyesight here, but 114 proof.
A little bit higher proof, a little bit more spice to it. It was nice.
Yeah. A little bit unique.
Yeah. But then we backed back down. We're sitting at 100 proof with some Tennessee whiskey right now. Jack Daniels bonded. I think we're not going to make the topic of the show the whiskey, but I will say this. I prefer this significantly over the standard Jack Daniels.
Yeah, I agree with that. It's got a great flavor.
Yeah, it's deep, rich caramel, a little bit more kind of a burnt, spicy note on the back end. I think it's a great whiskey. It's still smooth up front though.
Yeah. And I'd never given Jack Daniels a fair shake for a long time. I mean, I just thought it was kind of regular. I mean, I liked it. It's just nothing unique, but I do believe the bottle and bond is a little bit special. I mean, it's got some good flavors, got some unique flavors and good color. So I like it.
Well, let's kind of go back to the topic here a little bit, guys. If you're raising your children or you have already raised your children, and in my case, and I think Rob, yours, and certain Steve, yours, our children are all off on their own, running their own lives now, and hopefully we've had a reasonable impact on them and done what we could as good parents to get them prepared for life. Whether it's a boy or a girl, do you feel like them seeing you as a gentleman is an important thing? Like your son, certainly, right? Your male children. Do you think being a gentleman is kind of a thing you would aspire to and want your kids to see out of you?
I think so. I had two girls, kind of an influx of girls in the immediate family. I think you want them to aspire to have someone who is a bit of a gentleman who who sees to their needs and dotes over them and takes care of them and is the man of the family. It doesn't mean you've got to be a tough guy. You can cry. Be as tender as anybody out there, but you know, you should be a gentleman.
Yeah. I'm thinking about this country song I heard recently and some of our listeners may recognize it, but I'm just going to talk about it in generalities. But this girl's telling her parents that she thinks she's found a guy. He's got blue eyes and he doesn't make her cry. And I'm thinking, is that enough? Wow.
What a sad song. I know it. Here's a funny thing. Two nights ago, I was in Columbus, Ohio and she was the first, she was the warmup act. That was the last song she sang. And I thought the very same thing. Wow, that's kind of pitiful.
Yeah.
Doesn't make me cry. That was as good as she had to say.
That's kind of the definition of settling, right? I know, I know.
Yeah, because to your point, I mean, you know, a good father, you want to model to your son what it is to be a good man. And you want to model to your daughters what it is to be a good man so that your sons will take care of their future wives or even girlfriends. Because there may be one or two or a couple of girlfriends before they ever end up getting married. And they're giving them positive experiences to that, and particularly the daughters. in a major way, so they won't settle because as a father, if I have a daughter and she's settling, oh my gosh.
A perfect point, Steve. If a girl has seen someone make her mom cry all the time and thinks that's normal, then she knows no different normal. And for her to this song to say, he doesn't make me cry, so that's a good thing. Yeah. Wow.
That's me. I always wondered if anybody else heard that song and thought the same thing I did about it. And I liked the song. I think it's kind of cool because it talks about, you know, Tennessee orange and the bulldog, Georgia bulldogs and all that kind of stuff. It's kind of a cool song, but when you get down to the essence of it, that's kind of a sad thing. So with all this said, I mean, kind of what do you, what do you think it takes to be that gentleman, to be that person that your kids are looking at and learning from? and taking, uh, kind of taking notes of in the back of their mind. And I kind of made some notes myself before we came to this episode. I thought, thank God I want to sit down and kind of, and here's the thing. I tried to come up with things like I mentioned early in the show. Things that are timeless. It doesn't matter if it's 1776, 1885, 1975 or 2023, these things are the same no matter what. And they'll probably still be true a hundred years from now. Uh, because although society changes and beliefs change here and there a little bit and
Yeah. Well, Steve, uh, you mentioned earlier being, um, maybe offline, but being present, uh, and, you know, and you, and you're talking about Jim non-traditional, you want to tie those two together. Um, you know, back in the day, being present might be going to a ball game or teaching your son how to fix an engine repair or whatever. You know, now it might be, uh, going with a daughter or granddaughter to dance recital, it's things transition, but aren't they epic and timeless and the word present?
Being present, being involved. Yeah. Being with, you know, and that's, that's ever harder to do nowadays with cell phones, right? Cause it seems like if you go out to dinner, you look around the tables around you and nobody's really present with the one they're with. They're all sitting there on the phones and, and, uh, you know, you're going to wish you had that moment back someday. But I want to, I'm going to go through the 10 items and we've got, you know, we've got a couple of bottles of whiskey we're going to drink through here. We've got 10 items I'm going to talk about on my list and we'll get you guys opinions on them and see if I hit the mark or if I missed the mark. Very well could have missed the mark on some of these. I don't know.
I'd say you're right on.
All right. The first item I have is a gentleman embodies hospitality and he genuinely displays a warmth towards others. In other words, Rob, I think I'll be honest with you. I'm just going to tell you right now, I feel like you're that guy. You know, you're that guy who just embodies hospitality. And I think a few of us could probably learn from how inviting you are to other people.
Yeah. Well, I appreciate you saying that. And, you know, if you want to be, you know, humble and kind, which I do, then I got to owe that to the people that taught me, you know, a dad, a mom, a family that think that is an important aspect. You know, my mom could feed 10 people on the spur of the moment at any given time in life and enjoyed doing it. And, you know, just a dad that would grill burgers for 20. on the spur of the moment. I mean, and, and I'm not saying go to the grocery, but we had, we were that prepared that it was at the house, you know? And it might be leftovers all out straight out of the refrigerator warming it up. But, but you know, I like doing that. Like I do not like or, nor enjoy for someone to feel left out or not special.
Yeah. I know my great grandfather, um, was a man who would always come home and he, he walked, he walked or he was a judge and they lived probably three or four miles from downtown and he would walk down to the courthouse and old court and he'd walk back home every day. And some days he would have somebody with him. And he'd say, mama, we're going to feed this man or this woman. And, you know, we're going to share hospitality with them. One day he came home, didn't have anybody with him, but he was barefoot. She goes, where's your shoes, honey? And he said, well, there's somebody that needed them. So he gave his shoes away. Wow.
So what a teacher.
I know it. I know it. And you know, those, those children, his children tell that story, you know, because they saw him do that. And, you know, they're those children are in their, um, eighties and nineties now, but they still tell that story and that still impacts the generations down below. Right.
Yeah. I throw one more thing out here, Jim, and you know, grandfather Andriot in the clothing store was the only proprietor in Shelby County that would allow the African-American population to try on clothes. And Makes me so proud to know that man back in a time when there was such racial unrest and he defied all that and didn't care.
You know, it took a special kind of person back then to, and that, and that's another one of the, and that's not one of the 10 on my list, but I'll tell you what, um, when you stand up for what you believe, even though it's not the popular thing. Yeah. Right.
Absolutely.
Then that's, that's a gentleman right there. I mean, somebody that'll stand tall and stand firm on their beliefs, but even when it's not the popular thing, even when everyone else around is saying, what the heck you doing? Yeah. They do it anyway. Absolutely. That's a great testimony, Rob. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. And he was a great man in Shelby County, wasn't he?
He was. Yeah. Good dude. Yep. And like, like all of us had his flaws too.
Yeah, absolutely.
But that wasn't one of them. All right.
My number two on my list. Are we ready? Sure. Still sipping on that bourbon.
Oh yeah.
Cherishing the rich traditions of the area that you live in. Now, you know, this in Kentucky, we have a lot of rich traditions here. In the South, we have a lot of rich traditions, one of them being hospitality. Obviously we already talked about that in the first point. But a lot of times people want to abandon traditions and move on and be more, do their own thing is probably the best way to say it. There is some value in honoring traditions, honoring those that came before us and the rules and the ways that they set down. I think it's important to honor those traditions. Even if you don't agree with them completely, having a big family gathering at a kitchen table hardly happens at all anymore. True. But you can honor that from time to time once a year. You can have a family reunion and get people together. That's important.
Yeah. Yeah. And, and you know, Steve May, you can speak to this, but you guys, you guys had, you and your wife had some good traditions and things you were building and you always had gatherings and groups. And I always thought that was pretty special. I really enjoyed those.
Yeah, we did. I agree. I think this is such a strong trait of the south. You know, I grew up in Colorado, Colorado Springs, which is a very transient community because we have so much military and stuff. But even then, so our traditions were more, you know, America and kind of patriotic kind of things. when you talk about those rich family traditions with roots in that sort of deal, man, just being able to experience that for the last 20 years in Kentucky and just get that overflow from Tennessee, that is a really neat thing. And to live in a community where your next door neighbor is 95 years old and has lived in that house for a few And the whole street that you're living on, that's the history of this street is the tradition of just families forever. And it is a neat experience to experience that for sure. We did a lot of, we would have 60 people every holiday. We would have weddings in the house. We would do all kinds of fun stuff. And they were from all different countries and all different backgrounds. And yeah, it was a lot of fun.
Yeah, pretty amazing. Yes, to your point, Steve, in a triangle around our immediate house were three ladies in their mid nineties living alone. Just great, you know, matriarchs of their families. Great women, still strong, vibrant and spunky.
So do you think when you honor the traditions of your, um, previous generations, they, your kids see that and they'll try to do the same.
I mean, boy, you like to hope so.
I mean, I mean, yeah.
And that's all we can do if we don't, but if we don't do that, they have no hope.
Right.
So, you know, there there's the downfall. Some people give up and they say, it doesn't do any good, these kids don't pay attention. But through osmosis and whatever repetition, sometimes they're paying attention to whether or not they choose to honor that or if maybe the grandchild chooses to honor in spite of them. Uh, but it's still our duty to uphold the, you know, the, the Southern charm, the, the, the fatherly and, you know, albeit the Christian value, I believe in F in, in essence.
Yeah. All right. I'm going to move on to the next point. So, um, strong work ethic, diligence and taking responsibility for your actions. So I think, I believe this is probably one of the primary things that a young person sees in their father. When they see their father work hard, when they see their father, um, have ethics in the things that he does when they see him do the hard thing, even when it's not the, you know, the easy thing to do. Right. Right. And, uh, and even, I think more so when he messes up and they see him take ownership of it and admit his faults, those are things that children, I truly believe even at a very young age notice. I can remember seeing that as a child and seeing that work ethic and that determination to make sure that the employer who was paying a dollar got a dollar and a quarter's worth of work. I saw that as a child and that impacted me.
A thousand percent. A thousand percent. My dad was a plumber and he would go try to knock it out through the daytime and then he would do service calls and extra work in the evenings. And I would either go to work with him through the daytime or I would go on those service calls, even when I was a kid, just to be his gopher and work with him. And I really saw that work ethic in him and it was a good thing.
Yeah, no doubt. Sometimes as a child, when you tried to live up to that standard, you realize just how hard that was and how hard they were working and how much they cared to actually work like that. And now you don't see that a lot.
Would that be all boomers, right? For us, it would be all the boomers, right? Which is like such a backbone of this country. And then say this sort of like in a condemning way, but just don't know what is the what's the chasm there when you look at young people and their work ethic today? Is it because of technology? Is it because you don't have to, unless you're blue collar, which is shifting. Used to be white collar was the big money and blue collar was the low money, but now it's so specialized learning that's shifting and there's I will tell you that Kentucky dudes are hardworking dudes, man. These guys, you know, these Kentucky rednecks, they don't feel pain. You know, they love their beer and they work hard, even the kids. And yeah, it's pretty, it's pretty fun to see.
Got a lot of good people in Shelby County. I agree.
I totally agree.
I still believe these, these traits we're talking about are timeless though. It really doesn't matter the time you're in. I mean, uh, If you're employed by somebody and you give them, give them your all for the dollar you're being paid. I mean, that's important stuff, right? Yeah, absolutely. And, and your, your kids do notice that. All right. Here's a tough one for all you Kentucky fans out there. Here's a tough one.
Oh boy.
Striving for good sportsmanship and fair play in all things that you do. And that's tough, right? Cause we're very competitive people.
Oh yeah. Yeah.
You're a Kentucky fan, Ro.
Oh yeah. Yeah. I'm a UK grad.
Yeah.
Life is a UofL grad. Yeah. And how does that go? So guess which games we go to. She's got me wearing Louisville red. Yeah. So, yeah, you know, so I was horrible at one point in my life because I grew up, you know, a fan of a certain thing, you know, be it the, the red, big red machine in Cincinnati in the seventies or, you know, UK basketball. And then, and then at one point then I would let, my one win loss emotion rule my day. And I'd be mad if my team lost or something. And then one day I started realizing, you know, I'm an old man. These are kids and it's a sport. And, you know, all of a sudden I thought, you know what, I'm just going to enjoy the sport, the kids and any Kentucky university. So, you know, I'll go watch Eastern, Western, Bellarmine, you know, Louisville, Kentucky. It doesn't matter. They're kids. It's a sport. They're doing their best and, and I'm just there to have fun.
So what, so what do you think that sportsmanship? has to do with the kids. What do you think impact that has on the little ones? Of course, they're going to see daddy likes Pittsburgh Steelers, you know, whatever. And they're going to, they're going to like the Pittsburgh Steelers too. Cause they want to be like daddy, right? When he displays unsportsmanlike.
Yeah. Exactly. Conduct, they're going to portray that at a ball game.
And we've got problems with that in Shelby County right now.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And yeah, stuff like that happens. Things, family things spill out. you know, stuff that you wouldn't normally react to, you know, just unfortunate. And so it's, you know, it's best to just kind of realize what you're really there for, you know, you're there to support a kid and And, um, you know, um, these umpires and different things, they're, you know, they're there to, for the love of the sport.
Most of the time they are. They're not there to make the big bucks because they're definitely not making $5 a game. They're not making too much.
Right. And if you're, if you're so much better than them, why don't you volunteer to, you know, do the same?
All right. Well, we're going to take a short break and, uh, get our glasses filled up with this neck whiskey and we'll be right back. Any gift? Blanton's bourbon shop has got you covered. All of their hand-crafted wood products are made in their in-house wood shop with authentic bourbon barrels. Specializing in barrel-age potent treats, they use Blanton's barrels to age their own maple syrup, honey, and coffee. Find the most unique gift ideas for your golf lover, cigar connoisseur, avid coffee drinker, and Blanton's fan. Want to win an authentic Blanton's barrel head? Make sure you sign up for the giveaway on the home page of their website. Blanton'sBourbonShop.com is your home for all Blanton's gifts. As we mentioned earlier in the show, we hope you'll join us this fall on October 6th and 7th for Bourbon on the Banks. The festival itself is from 2 to 6 p.m. on October 7th and you can pick those tickets up at bourbononthebanks.org for $65. They also have an early access ticket for $75. It will get you in an hour early and definitely get you access to some special pours. But if you always like that VIP access, this year they're bringing in the VIP access tickets. They'll give you access to their VIP tent and all the great things that go along with that for $175. Be sure to check out bourbononthebanks.org. You'll get all the details on this year's event. All right, so we are back. What a great episode so far. I really feel like we're touching on some things that, man, if I was on the other end listening to this, I'd be like, yeah, I need to hear that. I need to hear that because you can't go back and redo those things. Correct. If you, if you didn't do them right the first time. But it's awful nice to hear a few tidbits of things maybe you did do right, right?
I mean, we all mess up. Absolutely. None of us are perfect.
And we hope that we've raised our children in a way that gives them the best toolkit to go forward and be successful in life. Well, not just successful, but just good people, right? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, what would you rather have, a successful child, Or a child that's a good person.
Oh, yeah. Yep. Good person. Good person. No doubt. And I, yeah, I've told my kids, I don't care if you want to, if you want to work for $5 an hour, you want to do, I mean, forgive me, Walmart greeter, you know, I know we make jokes about that, but bottom line is, We must live within our means and be happy.
Yeah.
If you do that and you're a good person.
Yeah, I agree. Yeah. I remember watching it. I mean, it's been a years ago, but I remember watching a movie and I, for the life man can't remember what it was, but it, I still remember this, this scene in the movie where there's this. There's this kid he's going to school, right? And his daddy's the janitor in the school. He's, you know, obviously sweeping the halls and mopping the bathrooms and doing all that kind of stuff. And, uh, he's been doing it for a lot of years. So he's got this child now who's in that school, high school, I'm going to say. And, uh, the kid's kind of embarrassed to his dad because he's the janitor and, uh, Football, he played football, football coach pulled him aside one day and said, let me tell you about your dad. Wow. Your dad's pushed back adversity at this school for the last 20 years, sweeping those halls. He's pushed back adversity with a broom. And he goes, there's been a generation of kids that watched him work hard and do do good work. You should be proud of your father. And that, that's amazing stuff. Right. I mean, it is, and you know, I mean, it's easier for a kid to not be proud of their dad because of what they do. But if he's a hard worker, for crying out loud, be proud of your dad.
Right. Yeah, absolutely. Yep. I agree. Yep. Cause we don't, we don't see enough of that, um, this day and time. Yep.
All right. So point numbers five. All right. We got five of 10 here. So we're going to try and get through the last six of these during the second half.
All right. Yeah. You're killing me, Jim. Am I killing you? Yeah. I feel like I'm being interviewed over here. I'm feeling inferior. All right.
So this, this one's to Steve. I'm going to give you a break. I'm going to give you a break, Rob.
Wait a minute. While y'all are doing that, I'm going to be silently sipping on some bourbon over here.
Speaking of bourbon. Remember Mutual of Omaha?
Rob is on the sideline sipping bourbon.
Oh yeah. I remember that the wild kingdom, right? Marlon Perkins. While he's wrestling the bear, I'm going to be... Marlon Perkins and Jim. Wasn't his name Jim? Jim. It was just Jim, right?
I'll be floating a hundred feet above in a helicopter.
Steve. All right. So here's the next one. Humility and modesty, even in the face of success. And that's the key part, right? Even in the face of success. So how important is it to be modest and have humility?
Well, I think that's where you talk about the difference between a successful person and a good person, you know, good people. And I think the humility, you know, humility isn't, um, tearing yourself down, it's building others up. And to be humble isn't to tear yourself down, it's to build others up. And I think it's through humility that you become the most successful.
Yeah. So would we say the janitor with the broom in the hallway, he was successful?
Absolutely. So real quickly, I am not a pro sports fan much at all. Kind of quit watching a lot of stuff long time ago, but if I get this remotely correct, it'll resonate with some of you guys out there. NBA finals recently completed. There's a, one of the foreign guys on the Denver Nuggets, the MVP, the guy that's the kind of the glue to their team finished the last game. They, they won the NBA finals and before he would enjoy the moment for himself. He went to the other team and congratulated and acknowledged every player on the other team before he went off to celebrate for himself.
Good sportsmanship. That was point four. Humility and, uh, modesty, right? He wasn't jumping up and down, high-fiving his players. He was thinking about the other team who wasn't in great spirits at the moment.
Yeah. And how cool. And, you know, there's a time and a place for everything. You don't have to do something in somebody's face. You can, you know, if you're, I don't know, if you're a man, you know, if you're a man, take it down a notch and, you know, be humble and kind, and then go off and celebrate with your friends later.
You can be successful and you can do the hard work and you can be the leader and you can do those things. What humility ends up doing and modesty ends up doing is when you get to that point, you realize, appreciate and acknowledge those who got you there. And the bottom line is we need each other. It's the people that don't need anybody else that are usually, that's where you find yourself in the most unhappy situation in your life. It's important to know that we need each other and that's why we practice hospitality. That's why we work good to each other. But also to understand that it's all the people and acknowledging all the people that help get you there.
All right. So the bourbon. The bourbon we're drinking.
Yes.
So this is Old Forrester 100. And this is not a bottled in bottom bourbon, but it is a hundred proof. It is at least four years old. And the man behind this bourbon is George Garvin Brown, George Garvin Brown in 1870. Kind of fathered this company and fathered a lineage of children that have run his company ever since. Yeah. And I'm going to, I'm going to assume for a moment that he was a Kentucky gentleman, Southern gentlemen. What do you think?
Yeah, that's probably fair. Yeah. It's, um, and you know what, Jim is funny. I. at one point kind of classified this as a good price point for the bourbon. And I think a lot of people maybe told me that, so I bought into that concept and I drank it a good bit. And then I have not really consumed any of this for maybe a decade, not one time till today. And By golly, I forgot how good it was.
So what are you getting there, Rob?
I don't know. You know, it's actually sweeter than I thought. It's very smooth at a hundred proof and it has some unique flavors. I always suck at trying to figure out what those are.
I'm getting cherries.
I wanted to say some sweet fruit. So a cherry is probably the most apropos.
Yep. This, this is cherries all day long for me. And you know, I'm surprised by it because like you have neglected this whiskey for a very long time. And, uh, you know, there's a lot of old Forrester whiskeys that we don't neglect the 1920, the 1910, right? We pick up on those often. Sure. Get that those 1910, uh, burnt marshmallows, right? Yeah. Wonderful stuff.
But this 100 is kind of nice, isn't it? Yeah.
I mean, it's nice for a reasonably good price. These are $30 under whiskeys, right?
Yeah. Wow. Exactly. Yeah. And, and I'm getting so disenchanted with all these crazy high price stuff that's out there that, you know, we need to just back up, take a breath and get back to our roots and start enjoying some, you know, lesser priced stuff that's out there. That's very good.
Yeah. Very good. All right. Point number six. You guys ready? So Steve, Rob, who am I pointing to this time?
I don't know. Say it first and we'll let you know.
Oh yeah. Flip a coin.
We'll see who has the most to say about it.
All right. A gentleman, a Southern gentleman, a Kentucky gentleman. Has a deeper appreciation for nature in the outdoor and that could be hunting and fishing horseback riding. Doesn't really matter. He loves to get out of the house, right? He loves to get his children out of the house and experience nature. Right. Yeah. Did you ever get a chance with your kids to get them out and get them into the woods on a trail and. Like leaves or anything like it.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. A little bit. Um, you know, so, um, probably thrown this out a couple of times, maybe, maybe not. I don't know. Um, I'm kind of a big goofball, but I was actually kind of raised on a thousand acre beef cattle farm in Baghdad, Kentucky. You know, I built a log cabin then that way back off the road in the middle of the field. And. I lived there 26 years after college, and kids grew up in the middle of all that. You know, there was a little three acre lake behind the house and we had it kind of set up for picnics and had paddle boats and canoes. And yeah, that was sort of our lives, you know, kind of. And again, all that taught to me by somebody to take time and do things. And I wish I had been better at some of those things. But, you know, again, kind of like, you know, don't want to go religious on you, but anything that we've done in the past can always stop and we can change our path. And so those things I fell short with on my children, I have tried to make sure I don't fall short with on my grandchildren. So, and that often happens, but I just think we can always stop our bad behaviors or, you know, not bad, but less than optimum behaviors and move on and, you know, take it to the next generation or whatever.
I got a funny story. A hundred percent agree with what you just said, but I got a funny story that kind of flies in the face of that, an unfortunate one.
Right.
So when I was growing up, my father, he was a hardworking man and he had, we had a couple, two or three acres, not much, not hundreds of acres, but we just had a little bit of, but we always worked really hard to keep it nice. And I would go get his tools and I would work on stuff, you know, and I would build this and build that. I'd leave his tools out in the yard and they would rust. And I can remember him saying, my grandchildren will revenge me. He always said that one of these days you're going to have tools and my grandchildren will revenge me. And then many years later, of course, I had a son who loved motocross and all things mechanical. And he had a great set of tools. I mean, working on these bikes and stuff. And I left his tools out in the yard and they got all rusty. And I thought, you know, it's exactly the opposite of what he said. I went and did it to my kid. Yeah.
That's so funny. Yeah. That happens. It does happen. We're not perfect.
All right. Point number seven, a gentleman, a Southern gentleman, a Kentucky gentleman has a love for fine craftsmanship. in attention to detail. What do you think about that? Is that, is that off base? Do you think? I don't know. What do you think Steve?
Look at the bourbon industry. Look at, look at, um, rifles, the Kentucky rifle. Look at, I mean, there's so much, I know this dude, man, this guy in town. Okay. I just thought of three guys, one of them. is the only guy who's kind of trained or has the ability to fix all the old houses and, you know, Jeff, Jeff, able to repair all of that craftsmanship from these hundred and 200 year old houses out here. And, you know, There's a guy here who takes forever to get his work done because he's so slow, because he's a craftsman at cabinets or remodeling, and he does all of the most amazing, beautiful stuff. I see it more here in Kentucky than I ever have really anywhere else. It's really neat, and you can just see it everywhere.
I've got a brother-in-law that does plaster and he'll do the old forming of the cornices and all that kind of stuff. And there's not a handful of people that do that anymore, right?
Yeah. And, you know, so me growing up on the farm, I can remember, you know, what our attention, you know, I guess my dad's attention to detail was. in that if we were going to go, if a neighbor needed help rebuilding a barn that had some damage, we'll say, and he would say, all right, we'll be there tomorrow to help you at eight o'clock. Well, at seven, we're loading up a trailer with all equipment that you could ever imagine that you might need on that job. And then we would show up on time, we would stay till the job is completed, go home, and then all those tools needed to be replaced back to their original location. And I would see other people show up, They'd show up late to help and they'd leave early and all the different things. And as a kid, it ticked me off because why do I have to be there all the time when all these other people don't? They're getting there late, leaving early. And then lo and behold, I grow up and I'm just like that.
So it had a major impact on you. Do you think, do you think he knew that that example he was setting would, would be in your bones later on?
I doubt it. I doubt it. And you know what? That's probably not the value of it is, you know, whether or not, you know, it's just your job to do it. It either happens or it doesn't. Don't, don't worry about if it does you do your job. And, and, and I just didn't. What it taught me was inevitably the value of showing up on time, working hard all day and being there till the end. You know, if you're a guy in need of help and I get there late and leave early, did I help you? Did I really help you? Or did I just do a token show up? And I think, I think I decided I wanted to be the guy that was of value to you. Yeah, absolutely. And that's what, you know, my ancestors taught me.
All right. Point number eight, honor and integrity. And really this is about standing up for what you believe, even when it's not the popular thing, even when it's not the easy thing, even when everybody around you is saying, I wouldn't do that, but you're doing it. That's hard. Have you ever been in that situation, Rob? Have you ever had to say, I'm not going to do that with you guys? Yeah. Yeah. You guys go on and do your thing. I'm going to, I'm going to go home.
Yeah, I think so.
Yeah.
And you know, there's times I did it and I really didn't understand why, like, um, It was, so maybe it was more of a, I mean, just to be fair, it was more of a fear, right? Than anything, right? So, but. I can maybe look back and say, I knew my parents didn't approve of it. So the fear was that I would disappoint them. So what I'm trying to say- There's honor in not disappointing your parents. Right. But I think what in my brain was, I was fearful. I wanted to do it. I wanted to. I wanted to be in that group. I wanted to participate and I didn't. So it wasn't because of me, because I was good. It was a little bit of fear of disappointing someone else. So I was taught better. I was taught not to do that. And so, you know, thank goodness for them teaching me that and instilling that fear.
But I think that's true in that you chose to do the hard thing. Yeah. Even when it was against what everybody else was doing, because you knew it was right.
Right. Yeah.
Even though deep down you wanted to, that's okay.
Yeah.
Right. But you chose not to. I think it happens every day.
Yeah.
I want to kill that guy, but I didn't kill him.
Right. Exactly.
I want to take those drugs, but I didn't. I want to drink until I'm blind, but I didn't. Yeah.
Cause it seems like they're having fun.
Yeah. Yeah.
Looks like fun.
Yep.
Yeah.
Yeah. I got this girl with me and she's, she's had a few too many, but I'm going to take her home, put her in bed and go home. Yeah. You know, exactly. Yeah.
Yeah.
We have all those variations of choices every day.
You know, it may not be like, you know, I'm standing in front of a crowd, you know what I mean? Standing up against a crowd or that kind of thing. But it is, it's choices of treating people well every day. It's honoring people. It's making good decisions in relationships or based on morals, you know, those kinds of things. I definitely.
You've heard before the person does the right thing when nobody's looking. Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
Absolutely. Yeah. And I did have the good fortune and we probably all did have seen people like that.
Yeah. I've had a lot of good examples in my life. I'm really enjoying this. I have to be honest with you. I kind of like this old Forester 100, just a little bit better than that Jack Dane responded. What about you?
Yeah, it's pretty good. I like it. I like them both a little bit. So, yeah.
I like them both, but if I had to pick one.
Old Forester.
I think so. I like that, that fruity note to it. Yeah.
Yeah, me too. It was a flavor to mine for a long time. Don't know really why I got away for so long.
All right. Point number nine, the importance of family and community, showing that to your kids and uplifting those people around you. So how do you do that? We just talked about that. So I remember when the tornadoes came through and devastated Kentucky, right? Now we had a, we had an event online, the bourbon road, and we raised money for Jessica and her family whose their farm was just destroyed. Um, but I can remember the day that melody and I got up in the morning, got in our truck and we drove down to Campbell's field because that's where they, her family was from. And we went out on their farm and we spent the day picking up debris. And it's one thing to raise money for somebody, but it's another thing to go there and roll up your sleeves and fill your truck bed up with sheet metal and wood and debris and carry it off to the burn pile. And, and, uh, you know, I think it's important because that family will never forget how the community came together and supported them. I mean, that was a devastating event.
Right. Yeah. Yeah.
And, uh, I hope, I hope we helped out. I feel like we helped a little bit, but the damage was just tremendous.
Yeah. Now I look, I have total respect for that act of kindness because look, I don't, I've never been a big money guy, but You know, we're probably all three comfortable and we can do a lot of things that a lot of people can't do, but I think throwing money at something is so easy. It's pitiful. You know, it's, I just, I just.
I don't know. Sit in my lazy boy and send a check, right? Exactly. Nothing wrong with that. You should do it if you can.
It needs to happen for sure.
Yeah, but- Must happen, but if you're- Next level. Yeah, but if it's really from you, I mean, look, money to me is almost God's gift to me and I'm sharing it. If I want to do something, that has to be something I do.
It's kind of the difference between sending flowers to a funeral and showing up.
It's the difference, right?
And, uh, you know, you should send flowers. You absolutely should, without a doubt.
But if at all possible, you should try and show up and. We're not discounting those things, that next level, that next touch, that more powerful touch. And I think that's what solidifies a lot of things. I just remember the, we're just talking tornadoes here, Henryville. Oh my gosh, we went to Henryville the next day. And again, I'm from Colorado, right? So we go to Henryville, this is Indiana, that tornado, I mean, it- It was devastating. It was incredible. I mean, it flattened that community. You know, not since like Xenia, Ohio have I seen something similar. But every dude in his pickup truck showed up from, I'll tell you- Wow. A hundred mile radius, and everybody had a chainsaw. I'm like, I'm like the only guy here that doesn't own a chainsaw. And I mean, people just showed up with chainsaws going, what can we do? How can we help? You know, what do you need? And you know, people had trees literally through the roofs of their houses. And it was just literally taking care of people, putting clothes together, you know, it was just an amazing thing.
And I think it's important that those guys with pickup trucks showed up with their kids to help.
They did, absolutely, absolutely. It was very, very cool.
Because they'll never forget Those children will never forget watching their father come help save a community, right? That's important.
Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Good stuff.
All right. Well, 10 number 10 here, we're going to get through all 10. Oh, that's the last one. There's, there's so many more guys. I mean, I'm just, I just grabbed, these are just things that I thought of, right? There's so much more. And then, you know, and I, and we'll talk about a couple after this. That's one of the questions I want to ask is like, what are some things I missed? Right. But number 10. Embrace the art of storytelling and preserve oral traditions. In other words, talk history with your kids, right?
Yeah.
I love history. I've always loved history. History has been something that for me, it's always been A's and A pluses, right? In my life, I've always been a history guy. And I love the stories. I love the recounts of how things happened at civil war, revolutionary war, first world war, second world war. I mean, all those history points are just amazing. I mean, the, the men and the women of the second world war were just, they were phenomenal people, right? I don't always want to talk about war. There's people outside of war that have done some great things, but telling your kids those stories about the history and the, and the, and even the local histories of your town, like the Andrea family, right? I mean, yeah. Wow. It's amazing stuff. How important is oral history? Do you think, and relaying that to the next generation?
I think it's big time.
Yeah.
I think what it does is all of the things we've talked about, particularly this piece, speaks into those basic needs that every human has. It's the need to identify, the need to belong, the need to have a sense of purpose in your life, need to have a sense of freedom in your life, and a sense of power in your life. And all of this that you talked about today speaks into all of that. Oral tradition, I mean, that's, you know, since the dawn of time, right? So that we tell our stories and that people know our stories. And on the greater level, there is all of that, the, you know, the history of our families. And I just remember my dad talking about, he taught me so much about both sides of my family, my mom's side and my dad's side. And it's so fun to know that because that speaks to my identity as a person and belonging. And then then there is the ministry of like presence, you know, the power of presence that we talked a little bit about before. You know, we can get so tied up in doing things that we think are purposeful, which is, you know, board meetings and business and all of these kinds of things. What I've learned as I've gotten older is that it's become so much more important to just sit down with people, particularly people I don't know, and just listen to their story and know their names and get a view of where their heart is and where they're coming from. That's just so powerful. And so to be able to do this with understanding your history and tradition and you're molding your community by doing that, it's very, very neat.
So just to, yeah, to expound upon that, I have a kind of a crazy family story where my aunt Married a guy who grew up poor as dirt, but smart as hell. Ended up in Colorado Springs, Air Force Academy, a guy that skipped two grades in high school, yada yada. Extrapolate to the end of his life. He sold a company for $1.2 billion. and was just a fantastic Christian guy, never changed. And I would go visit them multiple times a year because he was such a fun guy to be around. And everywhere I went, be it sporting events, big arenas, wherever, he would be personal friends with the guy that cleaned the bathroom on the third floor or the person that checked us in to certain seating area, knew about their family and their kids. And he would talk to the, you know, what might be considered the least of these, my brethren. And I just never forget that. I'm so fortunate to have crossed paths with with people who were engaged and cared about others.
All right. So we've been through 10 things here and I've probably missed a point or two. What do you think?
Man, I don't know. You're pretty comprehensive there. You did your homework, Jim.
I don't know. I think, I think I missed one big one. One super, super big one. Father's teach your sons to respect women to treat them like the princess or the queen that they are. And, uh, yeah, I mean, that's important, right? It's important to teach your daughters to expect that. Right. And to teach your sons to do that.
Right. Yeah. Yep.
What do you think about opening doors? We talked about that a little bit.
Yeah, a little bit. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, you know, it's goofy to say that certain things are the, you know, the foundation or tenement to something, but I mean, how damn hard is it to open a door and be nice to somebody?
Okay, here comes my confession. I don't counter the concept. I'm just going to tell you my own shortcomings and failings. So my father-in-law, my wife, she was awesome. But my father-in-law, man, he would not drive in, he would not go park the car and you get out and walk. He would drive to that front door. He would go around cars to get his daughter and his wife to that front door. I mean, and I remember it just being so annoying because it was not how I was, you know, but I tried to be like, I think when you're dating, you're all about that. I'll open the door. I'll go around. I'll do these kinds of things. And then you get married and you start getting more lazy, you know. But my defense, to my defense, My wife walks so fast. I mean, I would have to run to get, I mean, okay, I, you know, I'm the big joke in Shelbyville because everybody's like, oh, I saw you out walking with your wife the other day and I'm always like 10 feet behind her because she can walk so fast, right? So, this used to be a point of contention for me, like, you should just wait, you should just calm down and slow down and let me get to the door first.
So I'm in total agreement with all of it.
I just was terrible at it for a long period of time. And then, you know, you look back on stuff like that and go, oh my gosh, you know, I could have done that so much better.
I think when your son sees you. I shouldn't say that. When your son or daughter sees you, treat your wife special and, you know, open the doors for her and treat her with respect. I agree. That goes a long way. I agree. And they remember that.
I totally agree.
So do these things, not only because they're right, but because your children are watching you.
Yeah, absolutely.
Now, did you have any special, uh, I don't know about issues, but with, with your son, Steve, I mean, coming from a different country. Yeah.
So we adopted our son at 14 years old from Kiev, Ukraine. He was homeless from six years old to like 12 years old, lived in a dirt hole in a train station, been there, seen that. And, um, so it's kind of like bringing a wild animal into your house, you know, cause he'll, he will literally claim territory. Um, you know, if you don't kind of like stay on top of that. But what's interesting about that is I think there was a point where I was always the cool guy that spoke into other people's kids' lives. So we bring Dennis in thinking, oh, I'm going to be so successful as a father. I could say honestly that I feel like the biggest failure I've done in my life is being a father to him, right? But you don't know that until later on. You try your best. We create around us what's going on inside of us. And so, I felt like I tried my best on so many levels, but I felt like he just wasn't listening. And my wife and I, we prayed for We prayed for a couple years that God would bring in those special people to speak into His life. And eventually, He did that. Somebody sent me a text today saying, Happy Father's Day. You're a great father. Look at your son. He's grown up. He's graduated college. He's been successful in the military. He's done all these things. And I literally I literally texted back going, thank you so much. I appreciate that. But that was pretty much Sam's family because there was a family that we like prayed for that. Dennis met his friend, Sam, whose parents were the ones that really spoke into his life in the most crucial time. So we need each other. It was a tag team and they came. right at the time to speak into his life when he wasn't really listening to me. And so, yeah, it was, you know, there's a lot of neat things that, you know, in that process.
So, you know, our world is messed up slash confused to say the least.
And it has always been that way. Yeah, for sure.
True. And family wise though, it's, it's the, the lines are more distorted and, and, you know, I just want to say to Steve and, and all the guys out there who chose to be someone's dad, who chose to be a stepdad, who stepped up in a, in a manner in which, uh, is not often expected, uh, to me. You know, that's, that's the real dad. Sure. That's awesome. That's the real dad. And a lot of, a lot of you guys out there and I'm raise a glass to you right now.
Awesome. So awesome. Well, I've had a great time today. It's been, it's been good.
I hope this episode doesn't flop.
Oh, well, you know what? Some of them do. Some of them don't. That's okay. Uh, this is our show and we get to do what we want and people can listen or they don't. I hope that, um, some young dads get inspiration from this and some older dads get reflection from this. Yeah. And some wives and daughters get to see that, you know, maybe it's, it's not easy, right? It's not easy to be a good dad or it's not, but on this father's day, I'd like to say that my father was there for me and I'm, I hope I was there for my kids. And, uh, you know, I think it's important. That we understand what it means to be a gentleman and being a gentleman means to be that, that representative of what a man ought to be or the best that you can be. Right. And none of us are there, but we all try.
Yeah, keep striving. I have to give kudos to my wife Pam last night, and she's been tolerating my little bourbon. my little bourbon cave here and my, and my bourbon consumption and so forth. And so, um, yesterday I brought in that little, um, Woodford bottle, the distillery, uh, pick and another one. And, and I said, um, I got a couple of new bottles that I've never tasted and I know you're starting to enjoy bourbon neat. But would you share them with me? And she did. We had a minuscule pour. We don't always have to guzzle half a bottle or whatever. And we both had a pour of each one, talked about it. And just sipped it a little bit and enjoyed it. And that was kind of neat. It was almost like a father's day gift to me from my wife who took the time to share a pour, tolerate me for a minute and just sit and talk.
That's what they do, right? They tolerate us.
That's all I ask.
All right. Well, Rob, Steve, thank you so much for sitting down with me tonight and, and enjoying some good whiskey and some good conversation. I don't know that we're the, we're certainly not the experts in this area, but, um, I, hopefully we've talked about some points that are important and maybe a few people gleaned some things from this that'll help them out in their lives. Maybe not. I don't know. But I think you should strike gentlemen. You should strive to be exactly that, be a gentleman and, uh, be a better man.
Yeah, I agree. And, and whatever we did yesterday, I mean, move on, move on, move on.
All right. Well, you can find the bourbon road on all social media outlets. You can find us on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook. You can find us on our private Facebook group, the bourbon roadies. It's just a bunch of guys and gals that love bourbon, love to talk about bourbon. share stories, share pictures, share experiences. And guess what? They even share bourbon. They do. They send samples to each other and, and, uh, just have a good time talking about bourbon things. We hope you'll check out the bourbon roadies. Just go to facebook.com and search the bourbon roadies. And it's a private group. It'll come up and ask you if you want to join and just say, yeah, answer three quick questions and you'll be right in and, uh, join the conversation there. We'd love to have you. We put out a show every single week, every Wednesday, you're hearing episode from the bourbon road. Sometimes it's just a few of us sitting around having a few glasses talking about important things or not important things. Sometimes we'll have a distillery on or we'll have a country music artist or an author or a chef, but it's always good content and we're always drinking whiskey. And it's always, always a good time. We hope you join us every single week. If you've got an idea for a show, if you've got an idea for a bottle, we ought to be trying out or a distillery we should be going to. Make sure you pop into our website, the bourbon road.com. We've got a contact us page on there. You can just fill it out and send it to us. We'll be sure to get back with you. We'd love to hear about your hometown distillery or that whiskey that you just found that you think is amazing. We'd love to share it with our listeners, so make sure you let us know about it while you're on the bourbon road.com. We got t-shirts and glasses and all kinds of cool swag that help us raise a little bit of funds to get us on our way. Get us down the road to that next interview. We'd love to have your support. But make sure you jump to the top of that application. You're on that, uh, that Apple podcasts or that Spotify or that Amazon music or whatever it is that you're listening to us on subscribe so that you get that notification every week that we've come out with a new show. We love to have you join us every single week, but in the meantime, we'll see you down the bourbon road.
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