371. Iowa Road Trip - Cedar Ridge Distillery

Welcome to another great episode of the Bourbon Road with your host, Jim O'Brien, 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 a unique gift. Blanton's bourbon shop has got you covered. Blanton's bourbon shop.com is your home for all Blanton's gifts. The Bourbon Road is excited to have pintsandbarrels.com as a sponsor of this episode as well as our official custom apparel provider. Be sure to check out pintsandbarrels.com and browse their ultimate online store for bourbon loggers. Hello, listeners, and welcome back to another episode of the Bourbon Road Podcast. I'm your host, Jim Shannon, and today we are once again on the road. We headed west out of Louisville. We hit I-74 out of Indy. We just kept going. We're in Iowa today at Cedar Ridge Distillery, and we've got a guest on the show. We've got, I want to say six or seven bottles here we're going to take a peek at today, so I'm pretty excited about it. Our guest today is Murphy Quint. He's the head distiller and director of operations for Cedar Ridge distillery in Swisher, Iowa, right? You got it. Awesome. So it's real pleasure. You and I have not met before, but your whiskey and I have, and we've got some good friends that are super big fans of Cedar Ridge. I've done some barrel picks with you and I've managed to get my hands on a few bottles. I think Dave are, friend today that came along with us. He's got a bottle sitting on his bar, so we're pretty excited to taste through these. Why don't you tell us what's in our first class today?

All right, so we're going to get started with our Cedar Ridge straight bourbon. So that it's kind of what got us started, what put us on the map. It is definitely our flagship spirit, flagship expression. And yeah, it's the one that we always start with here. It's an 86 proof bourbon. So You know, it's going to be a little bit more gentle than some of the other stuff that we'll try today. But it's our nice, it's nice, easy entrance into the Cedar Ridge portfolio. So it's the one that I always start with. All right.

So an 86 proof bourbon, this is a four year older bourbon, right?

It's a minute age statement wise, it's a minimum of three, but yes, there are three and four year old barrels inside of it.

Perfect. Fantastic. Cheers. Cheers. Wow, that's really nice. You know, it's nine o'clock in the morning, folks. We are getting started a little bit early, and it's starting to get a little bit chilly here in Iowa.

It is, yeah. You caught us in a unique season. So the seasons here at Cedar Ridge play a major impact on everything. I mean, obviously, the aging of our whiskey, and we'll get into all that, but also just on operations in general. I mean, people don't think about having to drive a forklift when it's snowy and icy outside. People don't think about just the conditions that we have to work through. like decentralized campus, if you will. There's buildings all over the place on a 75-acre property. So logistically, things get very complicated. And you're catching just like the very beginning of that season. Things are still beautiful. We've got a lot of changing colors in the trees, our grapevines, which we'll talk more about. The leaves are starting to fall off of those. And we're starting to enter the season that It's weird. Things slow down a little bit, which is nice, but they also get very difficult from a logistical standpoint. So you're catching the very beginning of that.

Well, when you have that little chill, and it is a bit early in the morning here today, but when you have that chill and you get that first bourbon in your hands and it hits your palate, it does kind of warm you up a little bit.

Oh, absolutely. That's how we get through the winter here? No, no. You're absolutely right, though. The morning time here at Cedar Ridge, especially when you're going into the winter, there's a lot of pros and cons to it. But a little drem here and there can go a long way.

So 86 proof, you know, is a good solid sort of entry level bourbon. This bourbon I'm assuming is ideal for both sipping and for cocktails. Exactly. And you sell it, and this is, you're going to find this in bars across Iowa and the US, right?

Yeah, so it, especially in Iowa, it's everywhere. So this is actually the number one selling bourbon in the state of Iowa. That might sound impressive, it might not, but when I say it differently, you can kind of get the impact of it. In 49 states, Kentucky bourbon is the number one selling bourbon in those 49 states. In the state of Iowa, Cedar Ridge bourbon is the number one selling bourbon. So we're the first to ever do that. Still to this day, we're the only distillery to do that. And we hope that we're paving the way for others to be able to pull that off in their own state too, which is really exciting. But yes, this is anywhere from $30 to $35, depending where you find it or if there's a sale on it. It is meant to be a very versatile bourbon. Like you said, it can be consumed neat. It can be consumed in cocktails. But what we're going for on this from a product standpoint is something that's, like I said, versatile, economical, and something that you can move volume of. We produce a lot of different types of whiskey here. We have some whiskies that are the bottle that you showed your friend when they're in town, or the bottle that sits on your shelf for a special occasion. This one in particular, this is not exactly that. We like to say at the end of the night, this is the one that should end up in the recycling bin. You go through it, whether it's in old fashions, whether it's drinking it neat, it can be used for pretty much anything.

Well, that's fantastic. And that fact about that being the number one consumed bourbon in the state of Iowa is just tremendous. And I wonder, you know, obviously I'm sitting here sipping on this. I can tell it's an excellent pour. It's a great bourbon. I'm wondering if it has something to do with both the fact that it's a good bourbon and Iowans are very loyal.

That has a ton to do with it. Iowans are some of the most loyal, supportive people on the planet. I think Iowans for a long time have been upset about being kind of overlooked in just anything. I mean, I remember growing up and my grandma would call me because Iowa was on the national news for some reason. Iowans take a lot of pride when the word Iowa is said in general. And so when Cedar Ridge came along, we started making a bourbon made from Iowa corn, which is the whole concept here in the state. We grow a ton of corn and we make our bourbon from Iowa corn. Iowans were really quick to come out and support and kind of get on board with that. And we do feel that there's a debt to be owed. I mean, we've been we've been supported by these people. They've come out and they've helped us build what we have here. But the reason they've done that is because they want something here. They want to cool distillery that shows people out of the state that Iowans do produce cool things. And so there's a mutual respect and appreciation. But without the support of Iowans, not only would this product not exist, but our distillery in general would not.

So let's talk a little bit about the beginnings. And as we continue to sip on this, I just want to say that it's not an overly sweet bourbon. It has kind of a nice, I don't know, dry and spicy mid-palate on it. Is that kind of what you guys were shooting for?

Absolutely, yes. And so it's balanced. It's approachable. It's easy. And I'm always very concerned about how I describe that because I don't want to make it sound like it's watered down or it's whiskey light or anything like that. It stays true to what a bourbon is, absolutely. But it's also just very gentle and approachable. And that's what we're always going for with this particular product. From a flavor standpoint, yes. I mean, we want some sweet elements, some spicy, like you mentioned, just kind of a nice balance there. But at the end of the day, we want a whiskey kind of sewer to be able to say, oh, that's a nice bourbon. And we want someone who is having bourbon for the first time to not be shocked by how overly aggressive it is or anything like that.

So how did Cedar Ridge get started?

Yeah, it's been a long journey and it kind of depends who you ask, but I have a very unique perspective of it because my parents started Cedar Ridge back in 2005. So, well, from my perspective, you know, what happened here was My parents, who were in their 40s when this kind of all came together, they wanted to do something that was centered around a lifestyle business. I think my dad, he was kind of reaching the midlife point and starting to think about, hey, am I heading in the direction that I want to go in? Stuff like that. And as someone who's now 35, I'm starting to kind of understand that a little bit. So I see where he was coming from. But he wanted to do something that was just his that he had control over. He wanted it to be something that he's passionate about, something beautiful. In addition to all that, I think he wanted to do something that was ag-based. Both my parents, they grew up on family farms their entire lives, come from many, many generations of farmers. And so all that was kind of cooking in their brains. And so my dad's had a major appreciation and love for wine for as long as I can remember. And that's how this all started was he wanted to plant a vineyard. He wanted to maintain a vineyard. I remember him saying specifically that, If he spent his days maintaining a vineyard, he'd never work a day in his life. So that's how this all started was just kind of a, hey, I want to take control and do something that I think is fun and beautiful. And that's what we're going to do. So it all rooted in a vineyard. And it has obviously just massively evolved from that into what we are now. And it's been a crazy path along the way. Those vineyards were planted in 2001, 2002, or at least that's when it was started. And in 2005, we opened for the first time a retail operation to actually sell the product. At that point in time, we were both a winery distillery combination, mainly focused in wine. Our differentiator, kind of our hook was We'll also produce some vodka, some gin, some rum, because that'll differentiate our Iowa winery from other Iowa wineries. And that became very successful. And as the years went on, there was kind of a transition from wine focus to spirits focus while maintaining a winery. So if you fast forward to 2023, We absolutely still have our vineyards. They're a huge part of what we do here. We still have a winery. Our winery really influences our whiskey and the way that we produce it, the way that we plan for our future. So all that is still very involved. But yeah, we started out as a vineyard and winery concept and have grown into a fairly sizable distillery.

Yeah. The facility here is gorgeous. The campus is unreal. When you drive up the road and it comes into view, it's just awe. It's beautiful. You've got a huge event center. great large tasting bar. You got a number of buildings around the campus here. It's up on a hill and it just so happens it's like a ridge with a bunch of cedars along the front of it. You've really done a great job. I look down through the vineyards here and I see a lake down at the bottom and there's some Sasquatch down running around by the woods. But what a beautiful campus. You guys really executed on a plan to create a campus here that's is very welcoming. I would imagine that building a place like this from scratch was no small task.

No, it was a massive task. And there have been so many people involved with building what we have today from where we started with. And if you ever go to our tasting room, to the listeners, if you're ever at Cedar Ridge or you go in our tasting room, you can actually see the evolution of our property year by year. Every year we take an aerial shot of our campus and you can kind of see the progression of it and where we started and what we've become since then. But from family to friends to, customers who just wanted to come out and volunteer their time. I mean, these people have all helped plant the vines and put in the trellises and helped kind of plan out the campus layout and things like that. There have been people For instance, like our vineyard manager, Kent Falker, who also used to be our winemaker, he has had a massive impact on developing the property itself and kind of shaping things. There have been so many people that have contributed to that. It's crazy and I wouldn't even be able to mention all their names. But yes, we've really developed this land from something that was fairly basic and untamed into like a really well-groomed campus as a team effort. And that has a lot to do with what Cedar Ridge is. Cedar Ridge is a lot of things. We're a winery, we're a distillery, we're a vineyard, we're an event center, a wedding venue. We're just pretty much everything. But when people ask me what Cedar Ridge is, to me, Cedar Ridge is a property. It's an estate, it's a campus. And this campus produces a lot of cool things. Bourbon, single malt, wine, vodka, you name it. But it's all about this campus that a group of people have Contributed time and resources and energy and to developing and what it is today and I have a ton of pride in it It's it's absolutely gorgeous.

Well, I as you were talking I was continuing to sip and nose on this and you know, it's it's very traditional in its profile I think it it does it is a little bit different. I would have expected and I've had it before so let me just say as a new bourbon drinker trying your product for the first time, I feel like I would have expected a little more corn sweetness in it. For sure. But it's not. I mean, it's just a well-balanced. It is a little bit on the drying side, which I actually prefer sometimes. So you've got people who like their more spicy, and you like people who like them sweet. You got people who like softer bourbons, you know. For me, this is kind of a little bit of all three, a little less on the sweetness up front, but the body is there. It actually drinks like a bourbon that's a little bit older than three or four years, I feel like.

I would agree with that. And age in general is always kind of a tricky subject. I mean, I think there are a number of elements that contribute to a really good bourbon or really good whiskey in general. And age is one of them. It's one of many important things that can help create a good product. I would agree that this one drinks a little bit older than it actually is. And in addition to that, yeah. It is sweet. It is spicy. It's kind of a bit of a people pleaser. And that's, that's what it's meant to be. It's meant to really be inviting to pretty much anyone, whether it's a newbie or a connoisseur, it's going to be inviting and something that they're probably going to enjoy or at the very least not dislike. It's a, it's something that kind of works for everybody.

So I feel like a, you know, two or three good friends could sit out on the patio with this in a cool fall evening and sip through it. without getting themselves into trouble.

Oh, 100%.

So you call that sessionable, right?

I'm really glad you said that. People talk a lot about session beers. I do refer to this as a session bourbon or a session whiskey. It is something that can be a nice contributing factor to a conversation. Like you said, you kind of drew a picture perfect. Sitting around a campfire, You're having a few drams. It's about the conversation. It's about the energy and the experience with your friends or family or whoever you're with. But this bourbon, it's just a nice background element to it all. We do make some whiskies that kind of steal the show, I think, that they put you in a creative state. I have one whiskey in particular that we'll talk about today that I really like to sit down and write when I'm drinking with it. But this one in particular, this 86-proof bourbon, it's just a really good Contributing factor to a conversation. It's a really good element to a something. That's a lot greater than just the whiskey Well now we're gonna move to a whiskey.

I would say that is not sessionable But it is it's the daddy to this one more or less, right? You got it exactly So won't you tell us what's in our next class?

All right, so this next one is our cedar ridge barrel proof bourbon. The cool thing about this is that you're going to find a lot of differences and similarities in this particular bourbon versus the one we just had. The one we started with was our 86 bourbon. This is 116 proof. So the cool thing, though, is that it is literally the exact same thing. It is the same mash bill, which is 74% corn, 14% rye, 12% malted barley. It is aged in New American Oak, char number three. We get all of our barrels for our whiskey at least from Independence Dave. So they're both made the same way, but they drink wildly different from one another just based on proof. And I really enjoy showing people that because I don't think people realize how big of a difference proof can make. This is a fairly massive difference between 86 proof to 116 proof. But even just a couple proof points, drinking something from 92 to 98 makes a massive difference in flavor profile. So I really enjoy showing that off in particular.

Well, cheers.

Cheers.

Well, on the nose, it definitely tells you it's different. It definitely comes across as something with a little bit more power behind it.

Absolutely. What I like about it is that you can definitely pick up the char. I think that when we dilute our spirit, which by the way, entry proof on it is 120 proof and exit proof kind of depends on the season, it'll be 120 give or take to proof points. So I've seen it go down a little bit. I've seen it go up. But when we dilute from exit proof down to whatever we're bottling at, the lower we take the proof down, say, to 86, the more we lose charcoal notes. The more we lose that char influence. Oak will still maintain. But on the 116 proof, because there's very little dilution at all, I can really pick up on that char. And that's something that I really like to experience in a dram. And it is something that we lose the lower we go.

Yeah, I'm going to say that for me, everything's amplified a little bit on this. Definitely the oak presence is, the charred oak presence is definitely amplified. But I'm actually getting a little more sweetness on this too, where I felt like the 86 was a little light on sweetness. This one seems to make up for it. So I think in addition maybe to losing some of those charred notes, you lose a little bit of that sweetness when you go down as well.

I would agree.

But this is definitely checking those boxes for high corn mashbill barrel-proof whiskey. It's got that nice, wonderful sweet upfront note. It's got a heavy caramel middle on it, and it's got that charred oak back end on it. So another balanced whiskey, but amped up just a little bit.

Yep, agreed. And that's hopefully what you see when we go through our entire lineup is that you find two things. One, they're always, I mean, regardless of proof, pretty approachable and friendly. And two, they're always going to be balanced. That's something that I'm always very focused on balance in particular. Our whiskey itself, though, whether it's Cask Strength or 86, I usually feel like it's fairly inviting. And how would you respond to that? I mean, would you say that this is still pretty easy drinking for 116%? I would say it is.

I would say for somebody who's maybe not typically a barrel-proof whiskey drinker, this would be one that would be a little more approachable for them. I think so. This does have a nice little spicy mid-palate on it though that kind of reminds me of, I think it's more barrel spice than rye though.

I think so, too. I definitely get some spice on it. But considering that that mash bill is going to be the exact same, I would imagine that that is also from barrel char influence rather than rye content in general. But that's one of the fun things of whiskey is there's really only theory. I mean, we can't really prove one way or another that it is the barrel or that it is the rye. But my gut would say that it's going to be from not diluting that barrel char influence.

Now this is a batch whiskey, so this is a number of barrels that you have selected.

Yes.

And your job is head distiller, head blender, whatever other hats you have to wear while you're here. You're choosing the barrels that are going to go into a batch. But are these same barrels, those that are made available, those ones that are maybe stand out a little bit more, offered in a single barrel offerings?

I do have the distinct pleasure here of I try every single barrel, every single batch when we make anything that we make at Cedar Ridge. Believe it or not, I tell people this a lot. Believe it or not, there are times when you just don't want to drink. I know that that sounds crazy to a lot of people. But first thing, 8 AM on a Tuesday morning, Sometimes blending a batch and tasting through them all isn't exactly what you want to do. So it can be kind of tough at times. But anyway, I do have the pleasure of doing that. It is really fun and really neat. When I'm doing the barrel-proof bourbon, I do get a little bit more restrictive, a little bit more picky about the barrels that go into it. Not that I'm throwing bad stuff in the 86 by any means. I'll absolutely take barrels out of the mix when I'm batching that as well. I take the barrel proof a little bit more seriously because I know that the people who drink barrel proof bourbon are oftentimes the people who are a little bit more experienced and are looking for something a little bit deeper in flavor profile. And they're going to sit there and actually break down the notes. So I do keep the consumer in mind very much so when I'm producing that barrel proof bourbon. And I just, like I said, I get a little bit pickier about what goes into it.

So you come across barrels every now and then that they're not bad barrels, but they're barrels that have some notes that are sort of outside the normal profile.

Maybe joyful notes, beautiful notes, things that, so do those end up as single barrels? They definitely can. So, you know, not a lot of people realize this. I think a lot of people think that that it's a little binary when it comes to whiskey, like it's either good barrels or bad barrels. What a lot of people don't realize is that there's a bit of a cycle in the aging period where any specific barrel, if you catch it at the right point, it might be amazing or it might be in a little bit of funk. And if a barrel is in a little bit of a funk, if you just let it sit for two or three more months, it'll kind of go through the progression and find a sweet spot again. And then if you wait, it'll kind of get funky again. It's almost like a stock. It has ups and downs, and things change as that barrel sits. So it's not all about how many years it sat. A lot of times, it's about catching barrels at the right time in their cycle. And so, yeah, when I'm batching barrels together to create a batch, and I take barrels out because I think that they're in that funky state, they'll just kind of sit aside. And sometimes they will end up in single barrels, but they will almost always rebound into something that is really good. And then we can use them in a different batch or as single barrels. But to kind of touch on single barrels, I mean, pretty much all the bourbon that we have, it is available for either the 86 proof bourbon, the 116 proof bourbon, or as a single barrel. I don't really have them set aside and penciled for any in particular. I taste through them and just kind of determine at whatever point in time that they're going to be utilized for whichever product.

So we need to go back and correct your earlier statement where you said you taste every barrel. Now we have to say you taste every barrel multiple times.

I actually do, and there's one barrel shed here, one barrel house here in particular, that if you walk into it, barrel house number nine, you will see that I've got, you know, four, five, six barrel spiles in those barrels because I actually, I do taste them many times before I actually utilize them, especially when we're getting into the world of single malt. I try each barrel multiple times before it ends up in a bottle.

Yeah, there's stories told about some of the older distilleries in Kentucky and how, you know, the warehouse men used to, you know, when the master distiller went in there to pick a barrel for his favorite buddy, you know, he would look for the barrels that had belt buckle marks on the front of the barrel and also that the bands were shiny because he knew the workers were leaning over that barrel every day to get a sip. So he knew who the good ones were.

There are definitely clues to which barrels are favorable versus which ones are not. That's for sure. If you're trying to pick up on clues of which ones I like, yeah, you'd walk around and you'd look for little barrel spiles on the barrel heads because I usually drill samples. I'll drill into the barrel, pour myself a sample, and then I'll hammer spiles back in. So if you've seen one that's drilled into four, five, six times, you know that That is something that I'm at least considering like a top prospect for a project because I'm clearly checking up on it a lot.

Absolutely. All right. So you're going to introduce us to a whiskey now that I know you're pretty excited about. We're excited to try. We're going to taste this one. You're going to tell us a little bit about it. We're going to go into the half and sip on it a little bit and then we'll come back. So what do we have?

All right, so this next one, we're transitioning categories. We're going from bourbon into the magical world of American single malt whiskey, which I'm wildly passionate about and extremely proud to be producing something within that category. So this is our American single malt. It is called the quintessential. That's obviously a play on words, our last name being quint here. But what it is, is it is a marriage of many different types of single malt. And after the break here, I'll really dive deep into that. But it is a very complex marriage of single malts that we age separately and then marry together in an 1,100 gallon Solera vat to create something that is rich, complex. and meant to be enjoyed by people who are typically going to be, you know, more on the connoisseur side of whiskey, people who will be able to search for notes of X Brandy Cask or X Sherry, X Port, because all that's in there. So this whiskey in particular is definitely meant for the whiskey geek.

So this one we're tasting now is American single malt whiskey. It's 92 proof. And being a single malt, it's a barley product. It's a malted barley product. We'll talk a little bit more about the importance of the American single malt category and how that's changing. And the second half of folks, first we're gonna take a sip here and talk about it a little bit. Cheers. Cheers. Oh, that's nice. Oh, wow. That is delightful. That's wonderful. Thank you. And not a lot of people doing it, but a lot more people doing it today than were doing it a year ago.

That's absolutely correct. I mean, you know, and we were not one of the original producers of American Single Malt. That's something that we joined. We got on board and I don't even want to take a stab at, I guess, which year we started producing it, but we joined the Single Malt Commission, I think, in 2017 or 2018. So we were on the early side of joining the American Single Malt Whiskey Commission and being active in the movement, but we were not one of the founding members by any means. I did, however, I did work for one of them, Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey. I had the pleasure of working there for a few years and learned a lot about Singamal and just distillery management in general. I can't speak highly enough of that distillery. It's an amazing place. You know, we're a bourbon distillery here at Cedar Ridge. Bourbon pays the bills. It keeps the lights on. And I love it. I love that it's made from Iowa corn. But I happen to be what I always say is a single malt distiller working at a bourbon distillery. I have a huge passion and background in American single malt and couldn't be happier to be a part of the category.

All right, well, we're going to sip on this. We're going to go into a break. I'm sure we'll drink through the break. And when we come back, we'll talk a little bit more about your single malt project and some more whiskey so we've got in the lineup. So stick around, folks. Looking for a unique 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's bourbon shop dot com is your home for all Blanton's gifts. If you're a bourbon drinker, and I bet you are if you're listening to this podcast, you need to head over to pintsandbarrels.com and check out the ultimate online store for bourbon lovers. Pints and Barrels Company was started by bourbon lovers for bourbon lovers. From spices to t-shirts, you'll find the perfect bourbon gift. Pints and Barrels proudly supports the bourbon road and invites you to visit pintsandbarrels.com. You need a custom apparel or swag for your bar, distillery, maybe even your bourbon society. They can do that too. As a matter of fact, they print our apparel. We're so happy with the quality and fast turnaround, pintsandbarrels.com, the ultimate bourbon lovers gift shop and branding specialist. Alright mister, so we are back. We just had a short break here. We got to kick back and sort of do a little bit of a deep dive into the new Cedar Ridge Quintessential Signature Blend 92 Proof American Single Malt Whiskey.

Got it.

It is full of flavor while still being delicate. It's got a wonderful aromatic note to it. You know, single malts are altogether different from the bourbons we drank before it. So I was a little worried. I think I mentioned that to you.

Yep.

I was a little worried going from your sort of your barrel-proof bourbon product directly into an American single malt, but actually it stood up and announced itself and held its own in the wake of a full-proof bourbon.

Yeah, absolutely. And like you said, one of the coolest things about it is that it is somehow both fairly delicate and still full of flavor and complex. And a lot of that's going to come from the way in which that it is produced. It has a pretty elaborate production process behind it that I'll dive into here. But it does allow us to create something that is inviting, delicate, but also still packed full of flavor. Let me just dive into how we produce our quintessential American single malt. It is my favorite thing that we do here at Cedar Ridge. And what it is, is it's all about making the best batch possible. What we are drinking here is batch 13. But once batch 13 was bottled, what we're left with is a salera vat that is half empty. A batch is half of what's in the vat. We never empty the thing out. We only take it halfway down for each bottling. So what we have to do after we bottle batch 13 is we have to refill the salera vat. And the way that we do that is we taste through a wide range of different single molds that we produce here and determine which would best marry back into that vat. So let me back up a little bit. The single malt that we produce here is almost all made from 100% pale, two-row malted barley. I like to work with pale malt. It's a fairly delicate, gentle grain that can be manipulated by the finishing casts that we utilize throughout the process. So I really like that particular grain. But all that distillate starts out in our own ex bourbon barrels and then eventually gets moved into secondary casks or finishing casks, whatever you want to call them. In that process, we use things like pork casks, sherry butts, rum casks, our own ex red wine, our own brandy casks. We have We have over 40 different casks that we utilize for that part of the process. So the entire concept is we're creating a wide range of flavor profiles, all made of single malt, by utilizing different finishing casks. And then we're taking those, and we're determining which would best marry together to create the next batch in that salera vat. I'm a big fan of the way that we do this, obviously, but what I love about it is that we're creating all these flavors and then marrying them together to create a batch. It's similar to a culinary process. It's like we're trying to create the best overall dish with the best overall ingredients. So there's a number of steps that go into this. And the coolest part is that it is all inclusive of our entire company from our vineyard manager and winemaker. They're producing wine in these casks that we use to finish our single malt, all the way to the people on the mashing and distillation side. You get to me on the blending side. So it really includes the entire Cedar Ridge production and operations team to come together and create this one product.

So I have a question. So the Solera process in general is a way of holding back a prior batch a little bit and introducing a new batch to it to sort of marry the two and slowly allow the profile to maybe morph a little bit over time, right? So you have no intent of trying to maintain a profile. What you're trying to do is have this ever evolving, wonderful flower that just keeps changing.

It's a mixture of both. What we've learned from making mistakes, by the way, we've learned this. And that's that we cannot just change the flavor profile dramatically. If batch 13 is heavily influenced by sherry finishing malt, but batch 14 is super peated and smoky, What that's going to do is it's going to throw off our consumers, and it's going to throw off retailers because they're not going to know how to describe the product. So we can't be that drastic with it. What we're going for, though, is a nice, slow and steady evolution, slow progression that absolutely changes slowly over time. The way that I always say it is that batch 10 and 11 will be fairly similar to one another, but batch 10 versus batch 40 will probably be fairly different. It's a nice, slow evolution batch by batch. And yes, we want our customers, the people who are buying Quintessential, to sit down and find the minuscule differences between batch 13 and 14. But I just don't want people to think that we're shocking the system and that batch X is going to be super smoky and cheery forward, but batch Y is going to be really fruit forward from wine elements and brandy elements.

But, you know, slowly this product may take you in directions that you're unfamiliar with and you might learn to appreciate it.

Absolutely. And that's something that's been really fun to follow. A lot of people, you know, in Iowa, we're much more of a bourbon state than a single malt state. Pretty much every state can say that, but Iowa in general is very bourbon focused, which makes a lot of sense due to Growing so much corn here, but it's been fun to watch mainly bourbon drinkers kind of hop on board the single malt train And and learn batch by batch that we put out kind of their their palette and my own palette for what it's worth Kind of evolve along with these batches you start to learn Learn new things learn new inputs, you know, oh wow, I'm getting some real raisin and fig on this batch that that's probably coming from sherry influencer you know wow i'm really getting some fruit forward elements this next one you know maybe that's coming from apple brandy influence so it's been fun not only to kind of watch myself and my co-workers grow but consumers as well batch by batch

You know, American single malt whiskeys have been made for a while in the US, but there's a caveat to that. It hasn't been a category of its own, right? I mean, in the eyes of the distiller, it's a category of its own, but not in the eyes of the TTB and those who regulate things. And so we've had American single malts being made in Texas, in Colorado, in Iowa. Even Woodford Reserve in Kentucky has made a single malt. but they've all been kind of categorized as an American whiskey. Things are changing. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Yeah, things are changing a ton on the American single malt front and it's really exciting to watch. One of the most difficult parts about this is since it's not an official category yet, where do these bottles end up in a retail environment? That's something that has been interesting to see but also problematic is because consumers don't always know where to look for it. within a retail environment, because there's no American single malt whiskey section yet. So once this category becomes official, that'll start to happen, and things will really start to fall in place from there. But in the meantime, yeah, we have seen a lot of changes. One of the biggest changes that we've seen is not only are more and more of these independent craft, micro, whatever you want to call them, these smaller distilleries like us getting in the game, But we're starting to see some really big distilleries get in the game, which is exciting. People ask me about that all the time. Are you concerned that Woodford Reserve is putting out an American single malter? I think Jack Daniels did one recently. Are you concerned about it? Jim Beam. Exactly. No, I'm not concerned by that. I'm wildly optimistic and flattered by it. for two main reasons. One, it means that the category is here to stay. The big successful companies that have been around for over 100 years, they're going to follow the money. They're going to invest the resources where money can be made. And the fact that they're putting out a single malt shows us that American single malt whiskey is not just a fad or a trend. It is a category that's here to stay. And the bigs being involved proves that to be true. The second thing that I really love that I find to be a little bit flattering is for the first time in the history of whiskey, the big companies, the big legacy brands are following the craft producers. I mean, American single malt whiskey, that was led and is currently being led by craft producers or small scale producers, whatever you want to call them. And the bigs are now following suit. So it's the opposite of bourbon. And what I really, really like about it is that When you talk about bourbon, bourbon's a really difficult game, especially when it comes to distribution. People don't realize that. You can produce the best bourbon in the world, but that does not mean that you can get it on a shelf in Louisiana. Getting it through the distribution channels is wildly complicated, and the retail shelves A lot of that space has already been claimed by these big distilleries. Well, when it comes to American single malt, that is that is not the case at all. It's wide open territory. There's really no ceiling. There's nothing holding us back from being successful. So in the American single malt whiskey category, each distillery kind of has a little bit more control over its own destiny, which is really exciting.

Yeah, and a couple of things I'll say about this. One is that we saw a very similar thing in the craft beer industry. The craft beer industry was very much embracing this this wild side, let's create this, let's do this. They were thinking out of the box or trying new things or creating new categories within the craft beer profile. And then all of a sudden along come the bigger breweries and they try to mimic that because they see it's a successful thing. And I agree with you. Well, you say completely and there's a saying about that rising tide raises all ships, right? And that's what's going to happen here. I think, you know, everybody doing it is going to raise awareness. We're going to sell more single malt American whiskeys and they're just going to, and the category as a whole is going to just shoot through the roof eventually.

Exactly. That's exactly correct.

All right, so we have additional expressions to try in the single malt category here. And I just have to say, the name you came up with, Quintessential. Quint being your last name and essential meaning, gotta have it, right? That's just tremendous. I love that. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

Yeah, thank you. Yeah, thank you. It's interesting. When that name was first brought up by our own team in association with a marketing agency that we had teamed up with, my family and I, mainly my dad and I, we did not love the name at all. We thought that it was a little bit weird. We're, I suppose, modest Iowans. And it just felt a little bit weird to build something off your own last name. However, it has been something that we've both really come around on. It does mean a lot to us now. I mean, it is essential to what we do here. I think it's probably the most important product that we create. And I know that we're both very prideful and honored to have our last name on it. So it is just funny that when that name was originally brought up, we were both like, no, not a chance. And now it's something that's very important to us.

OK, so what do we have in our next class?

All right, so before I even say that, let me mention, like I was saying, when we produce our American Single Malt, it's all about kind of creating this fun batch in our Solera Vat. But the middle step there, going from everything starts out in X bourbon barrels and then gets transferred to fun finishing casks, that creates a lot of unique opportunities when the barrels are in their secondary casks for finishing, we can either put them in the Solera Vat like we just talked about, we can sell them as single barrels, or we can do something fun like a special release that's a unique marriage of products. So we're going to talk about all those things, but this next one is a single barrel. It comes from the, you know, it was transferred into. from an ex bourbon barrel into its finishing cask. And that's where we stopped it. We thought it was fun. It was neat and decided to bottle it. And that one in particular is our quintessential single malts finished in a Tokai cask. So that's, that's what we're about to try.

All right. Oh, the richness on that is a, is totally different on the nose anyway. I haven't tasted it yet, but it's a, It's got more of a sort of a deeper syrup kind of nose to it. Jam. Jam preserves. Cheers.

Cheers.

Oh, that is packed with flavor. What is a Tokai cask?

All right, so first of all, I want to talk about the pronunciation. Tokai, the pronunciation is something that's kind of debated with the industry. You hear a lot of people say Tokaji, Toka, Tokai. I did a lot of research, and I decided to follow suit with how they pronounce it, where it's made, in Hungary. And the videos that I could find on it, they all pronounced it Tokai. And so I wanted to follow suit from them. So what Tokai is, is it's a Hungarian wine. Hungarian dessert wine that's made in a really unique way. And all the magic really happens in the grape growing process. What happens is that the grapes, they allow them to be impacted by what's called noble rot. And that noble rot, it starts to cause the grapes to shrivel up. and the grapes themselves, the sugar inside starts to concentrate. And they can utilize that to create something that is very sweet and has a unique flavor profile that they can move forward with. So that was fun to me in general, because I have personally found that some of the better finishing casks we can utilize for our quintessential are ex-sweet wine. So anytime I get the opportunity to get a barrel that is an ex-sweet wine, I hop on it. And I just knew that the Tokai category seems to be pretty hot right now, and I wanted to give it a try. I wish that I had acquired more finishing casks to produce more of it, because I'm really happy with how it turned out. But I took a chance on one random Tokai cask, and that's what we've got right now.

Well, fantastic. Yeah, and I did taste it. It's got like a very, very deep and rich preserves flavor to it. Absolutely. I'm wondering the history behind Tokai. I'm thinking the guy in charge of the vineyard probably provided wines to the royal family. And one year he let them go too long on the vine and he shriveled up a little bit and he played it off as a marketing ploy.

That's honestly, that's probably what happened. But in the world of whiskey, that's how everything happened. I mean, a lot of things were these beautiful mistakes that we thought were amazing and decided to move forward with them. I mean, I don't know this, but I'm guessing that happened with whiskey in general. They needed to move whiskey from point A to point B. So they put it in a barrel and realized that, wow, it tastes better. being barrel-aged. And that's just kind of a made-up example, but realizing that a lot of these happy little accidents have kind of shifted the paths that we're taking as an industry and allowed us to move forward in unique ways. And I'm guessing that you're exactly right with Tokai. It was probably a beautiful accident, and they created a whole thing around it.

So we're sitting at 117.8 proof. Yeah. And this, to me, would be a phenomenal cigar whiskey. Yes. I think it would play well with very rich foods. I think you could definitely have it as an after dinner drink after having a fairly rich. But personally, I'm not a cigar smoker. I used to be. Yeah. But I would think that this would be a fantastic cigar whiskey.

I think so, too. It's definitely on the bolder side of what we produce in our quintessential portfolio. I think it would hold up to, yeah, strong tobacco. So I'd have to agree with you. For me, a unique element of it is that within whiskey, I'm not a huge floral guy. Rye is a really good example. Sometimes you get a really floral rye. I'm not a big fan of that. I always try to avoid that because my own palate I don't like a lot of floral notes. This Tokai in general, this Tokai finished single malt, it rides the line of what I find to be an acceptable amount of floral versus too much. To me, it's almost perfect. I get some floral notes in there, but not so much that I can't handle it. And I've just I've really enjoyed that particular aspect of it.

And when you're when you're aging your your single malt base whiskey, how long does it age for typically?

Yeah, great question. I should have covered that. So it starts out in ex bourbon barrels and that process usually takes about four years. And then I usually aim for about two more years in a secondary cask. So the average barrel that we add to our Solera or that we put in a single barrel release is going to be about six years old.

About six years of barrel time. Yep. Awesome. Well, this is a really, really good whisky. And we didn't talk about I don't think we talked about the price of the 92 proof American single malt, and we'd also like to know the price of this one.

Great question. So the 92 proof, which is our standard offering, that's our Solera edition, that is a $59 bottle. So within the American single malt whiskey category, still fairly on the affordable side, which That's something that we're always trying to do. We're always trying to be fairly modest when it comes to pricing, both because we think that's important and it's a good competitive advantage for us. But the single barrel releases, whether it's the Tokai or other ones that we've done, those are usually going to be about $79. And then we have one more that we go a little bit higher with here that we haven't gotten into yet.

OK. So let's talk a little bit about distribution. You guys are, I mean, I know because I get out there and I travel a lot, we are the Bourbon Road and we see what's on the liquor store shelves around the country and we do see Cedar Ridge pretty much everywhere we go. Glad to hear that.

It seems like.

You guys are in what, 40 plus states?

Yeah, about that. It's always a tough question to answer, not just for us, but really for any distillery, especially independently owned companies. We are in about 40 states. But there are states that you're in, and then there are states that you're active in. And that's kind of important for people to understand, too. So you will see us in about 40 states. We also export to five different countries. So we're out there and available. Our strategy, as far as brand development goes, is mainly Midwestern focused. You know, we are in 40 states, but we've got full-time employees. We're spending a lot of our resources and promotional efforts mainly in Iowa and the connecting states, because what we're trying to do is build a regional presence. That's just how our strategy works. And we've decided that, one, our brand and our flavor profile, our mouth feel, if you will, it is perfect for the the standard Midwesterner. It's just kind of something that Midwesterners appreciate. And then two, and this is more of a personal pride standpoint, is that we're sick of people flying over the Midwest, man. The Midwest does not get enough credit for producing really cool things and doing fun stuff. A lot of people fly from coast to coast and just kind of miss it here. And we want to make sure that we're not being one of those people. So yeah, we are active. distributing to New York and California, but our resources are much more likely to be allocated to, you know, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, places like that, Nebraska. We want to focus in the Midwest. And in addition to that, it's also easier for us to get to those states. So it's kind of the perfect storm.

Yeah, it's kind of, and another thing that's kind of up in the air is what is the Midwest, right? What is the Midwest? I mean, obviously you have the East Coast, the West Coast, then you have the Midwest. Where do you draw those lines?

That's tough because people have different viewpoints on that. And we actually, like in our business plan and our tactical plans, we have actually defined it. I mean, so we do what we call the upper, the northern Midwest, if you will. So yeah, we've got Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, the Dakotas. And then we've kind of expanded a little bit from there. We're starting to include Ohio and Michigan in that region as well. So we personally do define it. But yeah, the average person, the Midwest, there's a little gray area in there. Don't forget Kentucky. Yeah. Kentucky's a whole- We've got our foot in three different areas, right?

We're kind of Eastern, Southern, Midwestern.

Yeah, there's a little bit of it all. And it also, you know, it can be difficult to go into Kentucky with an Iowa bourbon and try to carry on about it. I mean, that can get personal for people and be a little bit difficult. So that state, not only regionally is it confusing, but it's a harder one for an out-of-state distillery to crack.

You guys are there. You're on the shelves. No matter where you go in Kentucky, you're going to see Cedar Ridge products on the shelf. For sure. A lot of times you're at the end of the aisle as a single barrel pick too.

Absolutely. We've gotten great support from Kentucky. It's the bourbon state. I mean, it's amazing, and we're glad to be there. I just met from getting people on board with a new brand. It can be difficult, especially when people from Kentucky, they take so much pride in bourbon, and they absolutely should. It can be a little bit awkward at times to say, hey, will you try our Iowa bourbon? It's just kind of a fun little gray area.

So we have another whiskey we'd like to get to here in the same American single malt whiskey line. What do we have?

All right, so I mentioned that there are three different routes to market that we can take with our American Single Malt. There's our standard offering, the 92 proof, and that's all about the Solarevat and creating this really cool batch concept. If we don't want to do that, we can release cool single barrels like the Tokai single barrel that we just tasted. Well, there is a third option or a third route. and that is to release it in our quintessential special release label. And what those are made of are fun marriages of unique single mulls that we have around the property that kind of separate from that salarivette. So this one in particular has not been released yet. As a matter of fact, we just recently bottled it, and it will get released around Thanksgiving. And this one in particular is our quintessential special release portside. So we've named it portside. It is a marriage of three different things. It is heavily influenced by port are single malts. It's just beautifully impacted by X wine casks in general, especially ones that are on the sweeter side. So primarily what single malt is in this bottle is primarily going to be finished in Ruby Port casks. First, Phil Ruby. You can you know, you can obviously see this. I know our listeners can't, but it's got kind of a purple color to it and that is because the podcast that we utilized their first fill and are going to have a major impact. To round it out from there, it is also going to have some some content from first fill Amontillado Sherry butts and then we use one virgin French oak casks. So all the barrels that we were, that we utilized for this particular product were first fill or, or, or virgin. They had not been used for anything else. And so they're going to impart maximum flavor profile and you can really, really pick up on all three that I mentioned.

So I'm, I'm going to expect. some sweetness, some serious sweetness from all that first run stuff. I'm also going to expect some nuttiness and some great influence from those French casks. This is a very dark whiskey. It has a great color to it. I'm going to say, looking at the bottle, we're almost a chocolate color. What about a purple chocolate, you said, right?

got it. Yeah. I mean, you know, it is reminiscent of port in general. It's got kind of a nice, you know, mixture of red and purple in there. And yeah, no, the notes that you mentioned, I hope that you do find them, because that's exactly what we're going for. And my my style, when I'm doing these special releases is I like to produce something. I like big, bold, meaty single malts. When we're talking about kind of our premium offerings, at least, you can tell that it's very different from our Solera, which is gonna be on, in color terms, gonna be on the lighter side of things. But when I'm doing special releases, I like to hit it with a lot of first fill stuff and really bold notes.

Cheers. Cheers. Oh, yeah, definitely. Big, bold and meaty. I love those words because it definitely has sort of a so it's got a little bit of like a deep, not almost a maple note to it. But at the same time, I'm getting like a savory note like, oh, this will be great with barbecue.

Oh, absolutely. I mentioned earlier that every now and then there's a whiskey that there's just so much going on in it. It's so complex that it kind of gets my brain going. This is the type of whiskey that I like to sit down and enjoy while I'm writing something. It just kind of gets me in a creative mindset because there's so much complexity, so much going on within that glass.

I've not had anything like this. This has a little bit more of the the grape skin to it. Definitely. And a little bit more of a little bit of a tannic feel on the palate, but it's got underlying, it's really got that nutty kind of a, I don't even know how to say it. It's just, it does have like a, on the nose, a little bit of a maple note. You get a little bit of that on the palate, but it's almost savory.

Yeah, I definitely get that maple note as well. But when I'm doing these special releases, though, I mentioned I like to make them big, bold, meaty. The difficult thing there is I want to produce something that has as much cask influence as humanly possible. Because that's really, if you haven't picked up yet, that's really what the quintessential single malt program is all about, is utilizing different casks to make fun single malts. I want to utilize the maximum amount of cask influence that I can. without throwing it off balance. And that's a really, really tough line to walk. So I'm hoping that, you know, while this is big, bold, meaty, you're still finding something that's balanced, something that matches up from entry all the way to finish. That's what I'm going for is something that has maximum cask influence and big, bold flavors, but it's still nice and balanced and approachable.

It is, and I always get super excited when I taste something or I get this profile of something that I've never had before and I get to explore it and I get to taste it and I feel like, wow, this is... This is somebody really, really, really thinking out of the box a little bit. I'm an explorer when it comes to whiskeys, and I love to try things that just haven't been across my palate before. And this is that whiskey. This is that whiskey.

I'm glad to hear, and that's exactly what we're going for. We like all three of the lineup, whether it's the Solera, Single Barrels, or the Special Release, we like them to really be separated in flavor. However, we also like people that taste through them and also kind of figure out how they match up. Like when you go back to that Solera and you try the special release, you can go back to the Solera and be like, wow, I am picking up on the port side notes. I am picking up on some sherry notes. So you can kind of see how they separate, but also how they go well together. So it's a really fun program in general. I look at our quintessential single malt less as a product and more as a program. And it all works together really well.

You know, bourbons have always been very focused and very narrow band as far as because they're very regulated, right? They have a very strict set of rules that say if you're going to make a bourbon, it has to be this, this, and this. So it still allows some variety and some breadth in the profiles. And finishing has added another level of complexity to that. But what you've done here is like kind of the whiskey wonderland. It's a little bit a little bit of this whiskey Disney I think you've given a you've given an opportunity for our listeners and our whiskey lovers to sort of venture out on a on a path to something altogether different that has a whole new set of rules and You know you get to try things that are just they're definitely out of the box

I'm really glad that you mentioned that because that's something that I'm constantly harping on here. Also, when I'm on whiskey panels at conferences and stuff like that, I obviously, if I haven't made it clear yet, I freaking love bourbon. I think it's amazing. I think you absolutely can differentiate your bourbon from someone else's bourbon. However, when you compare it to single malt, it just doesn't even come close when it comes to range of flavor profile. The rules for bourbon, like you mentioned, can be very restrictive. But the rules for single malt, they're only tight enough that they put everyone on a level playing field. Outside of that, each producer is allowed to artistically represent themselves or their product however they so choose. And that, as a producer, is something that I really enjoy. And I think that that's something that consumers are really starting to enjoy. People get too caught up in producing something for a consumer. I think that the consumers want us to produce what we want to produce, and they want to enjoy it. I look at it very similar to art, like a painting, for instance. A good painter isn't producing a painting specifically for a person. A good painter is producing what they want to paint, and then a person is appreciating it and buying it. And I view single malt is exactly that, something that is that allows for a lot of artistic input and freedom. And that's kind of where it differentiates from bourbon. Like I said, I absolutely love bourbon. Just the range of flavor that you can create within the bourbon category, it doesn't really work on microphone. It's only this big, like a couple feet big. The range of flavor profile that you can create within single malt is like miles big because it's just a lot less restrictive.

And we haven't had a chance to taste all of your expressions on the show today. I wish we were able to, but time doesn't permit. Do you guys also have a rye? Yes. And do you do a number of expressions of your rye?

Yeah, so we do have a number of different ryes, probably four or five different labels in general. My favorite one that we produce is our port cask finished rye. And if you can't tell, I'm a big fan, whether it's bourbon, rye, single malt, I'm a big fan of marrying together our winery with our distillery. I feel that it is a huge advantage to be a winery distillery combination. There's not many of them in the United States. and I'm proud to be one. So anytime we get the opportunity to utilize our wines to finish our whiskeys, I'm excited about it. And so our port cask rye out of our rye portfolio is my favorite.

So I have a double-barreled question for you, and then we'll finish up here. But the first question is, what do you have in the works now that hasn't released yet that might be coming soon that people can look forward to? And the second half of that question is, once they know that that's coming. What's it like to come to the distillery here? What can they expect? And yeah, what's a day at Cedar Ridge like?

Absolutely. OK, so the first question on what are we doing that's new, we're doing a lot of really fun single malt stuff right now. That port side that we just talked about and just experienced, that's kind of our big shiny object in the future right now that people have just started learning about or are getting really excited about. So that's the product that we're Really excited to get out there. However, I also want to mention in 2024, we're kind of redesigning a lot of our what we call LTOs or seasonal releases. Every year, we do some fun bourbon releases, maybe unique finishing casks, maybe they utilize unique malts, stuff like that. In 2024, we're going to release some that we had never released in the past, which is particularly exciting. So I hope that people keep an eye out for those. Pay attention to some of the new stuff that we have coming out, both with bourbon and in single malt. As for what can people expect at Cedar Ridge? What is a day-to-day like? Honestly, I know it's tough to hear, but the best way to understand what Cedar Ridge is and what we're all about is to come out here and actually see it for yourselves. And hopefully, when I'm done rambling here, you can comment on that, because I'm guessing that it's probably different here than how you expected it. And that's something that we hear from pretty much everyone. But day-to-day. changes dramatically based on season, based on day, everything. I mean, you'll always see our warehouse team out here driving a number of forklifts around hauling barrels from point A to point B. We fill our barrels in one building and then we have to drive them across the street and put them in racks. You'll see our winemaker and our vineyard manager out constantly working the property. You'll see our packaging manager, Lauren, who's the best in the business, constantly setting up for the next the next bottle that we're going to run through our bottling equipment. So there's a lot of stuff that's going on here all the time. And that's just the operations side. I mean, you get to our our hospitality side. I mean, those the people in our hospitality side of the business are absolute all stars. I mean, they're setting up for weddings every single weekend. We have a lot of corporate events, a really cool setting out here that has to be maintained and operated by people. So when you come out here, you'll just you'll see constant activity. Our workers love to sit down and chat with customers. We get over 100,000 visitors a year that come through our tasting room, so fairly active and we like to interact with them all, that's for sure.

So you've got an event center here, you have weddings and so forth, you've got a tasting bar. Would you say that this is a destination distillery that you need to allow about four hours for a visit?

It really is. It's an area that you want to plan to spend a day at, especially if you get some really nice weather. You want to sit out on our patio where you can overlook the vines, sometimes even the pond, the landscape in general. You want to just sit out here and admire it and think about how we utilize the land to create the products that we're putting out and stuff like that. It is one that you definitely want to spend a day at. a really cool spot in Iowa. And we take a lot of pride in the fact that Iowans take pride in it. We constantly hear of people that say, oh, you know, my cousin was in town. He's never been to Iowa. So the first place I had to bring him was Cedar Ridge. And that's like, if we could hear people say anything, that's like the number one thing we want to hear. Because when we started this business, when it was just a concept, just an idea, We didn't know if people were going to come out here. At that point in time, Swisher, Iowa, there was not a lot going out here. It's between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, not really a convenient spot for people to get to. Obviously, a lot of that's changed now, but people did come out, and they did support, and they continue to. There's more of them now than there has ever been, and that's something that's really special, and we take a lot of pride in.

All right, so if our listeners want to find you guys on the internet, social media, where do they look?

Yep, so we're available on all social media platforms. Cedar Ridge, Iowa, or Cedar Ridge in general. Those are the handles that you can look for. Our website, cedarridgewhiskey.com, or cedarridgedistillery.com, we have both. So check us out there. I also do manage my own little Instagram, just kind of showing some behind the scenes stuff. So you can check that out at MurphyQuint. And yeah, check us out. Awesome.

Well, Murphy, Murph, thank you so much for having us on the show today. We really enjoyed our visit here. Actually, I know you're heading off to a big guy's thing in Chicago. I wish you a great weekend and lots of fun on the adventure going to. We really appreciate you taking time out of your day to sit down with us and show and drink your whiskey with us. Thank you so much.

Hey, thanks so much for being here. I mean, that's what whiskey is all about. It's really fun to enjoy, but it's more fun to enjoy with somebody over a really good conversation. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you guys making the trip out and working into your schedule.

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