4. Noah Glanville - Pit Barrel Cooker, W.B. Saffell Bourbon and Booker's Backyard BBQ

Well, that's a really good bourbon.

You like that?

I do. Every time I've hung out with you guys, I get hooked on really good bourbon, and it's expensive. That's right.

This isn't the first time we've sat down together.

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

We would like to thank Tommy and Gwen Mitchell from Log Heads Home Center for supporting this episode of the Bourbon Road. Find out more about their fine rustic furniture at LogHeadsHomeCenter.com Randy, barbecue and bourbon, what goes better together? I don't know, actually. Yeah, so today was a great day. We had an opportunity to sit down with Noah Glanville, president of Pit Barrel Cooker Company, also a good friend and a bourbon

Yes, and I love his way when he talks about how he acclimates people to actual bourbon. That's kind of something to listen for in this particular episode.

He's out there recruiting new bourbon lovers.

He is, and I love the way he does it. Well, him and Amber took this idea, an idea in their head, and now they're international. Is that not the American dream right there?

It is. It is. So, great day, great interview, great guy, wonderful company. I really look forward to sitting down and drinking with him again in the future. That was a lot of fun.

Well, and he's also promised us that we're going to actually have some meat cooked on one of those pit barrel barbecues. I'm looking forward to it. And I'm looking forward to that, too. We're going to hold him to that, Jim.

All right. Well, let's get on to the interview, Randy. All right. Sounds good. All right. Hello, Randy. How are you doing today?

I'm good. I'm good. You ready for this? This is going to be fun.

I'm ready. We're at the Pit Barrel Cooker Company today with Noah Glanville. How are you doing, Noah? I'm doing great. It's good to have you guys here. This is kind of a busy time of season for you, isn't it? Just a little bit. There's a lot going on. So, I mean, with Derby, does that affect kind of... how busy you guys get. You're just so global. Local events like Derby doesn't play a big part, does it?

It doesn't, but it does and it doesn't. We try to do a lot of business with local companies and whoever we're doing business with locally. It's a big deal here. It's a little harder coming closer into Derby week to get people, but it's for a good cause.

It gets harder to get down to. downtown this time of year anyway, for sure. Absolutely.

Okay, so we'd like to start off the show with what we call First Pour, and it's a bourbon show, but it's mostly about our guest, but bourbon is the underlying theme. So we're going to drink bourbon today. Is that okay with you? That works.

This is a change of pace, so I'll take it.

You're going to be able to go back to work after this? I don't know.

Probably. Hopefully we won't make too many big decisions. Just stay off the foreclaves. That's right.

All right. Well, first pour today, guys, is a new bottle from Campari. It's called WB Saffle. Campari has a group of bottles called the Barron series, Barron's collection. WB Saffle is one of the most recent releases from that. Two of the other releases are Old Rippy and Bond and Lillard. I don't know if you guys have had those before.

No, I've heard the name Saffol, but I'm not sure how and why. You might want to fill us in on that, Jim.

Well, I can read as good as anybody. So William Butler Saffle began distilling as a teenager. So he was a teenage distiller back in the 1800s. And in 1889, he built a 350-barrel distillery in Lawrenceburg. And his juice became quite popular at the time. So a very successful distiller. But this particular bottle here, is a combination of six, eight, 10, and 12-year-old barrels. So it's got some old juice in there. It's got some, well, six is not young, you know, but nevertheless, it is 107 proof. It's non-chilled filtered. So let's go ahead and take a minute and nose this one and we'll take a sip. Cheers. Cheers.

Oh, yeah. Typical caramel vanilla on the front end.

Oh yeah, definitely. You know, I get a little bit more of a kind of a sweeter, darker kind of sweetness on that.

So what spice, what spice am I smelling in this? I want to say cinnamon, but that's so common. It almost makes me think that maybe that's not right, but maybe something a little stronger than cinnamon.

It's sweet. Yeah, it's definitely sweet. This has got a little bit of that wild turkey nose to it, and it should.

Lawrenceburg, right?

Right. That's nice. Cheers.

I'm a big fan of a little bit of heat. It's got that.

So you had a Russell's Reserve before?

I have.

Yeah. So they've got some single barrel picks. They'll just knock your socks off. Really good stuff. This reminds me of a really good Russell's single barrel pick. Actually, I think it's a little bit better than your average Russell's single barrel pick.

This is good stuff. That's great.

Yeah, this is actually about a $50 bottle. And it's a half bottle. It's a $3.75. So it's expensive. I bought this at Justin's House of Bourbon in Lexington. Have you been there?

I have not.

Oh, yeah. Interesting place to go to.

We'll try to get them on the show at some point.

That'll be fun. Yeah, they've got quite a collection of old dusty bottles in there.

They cost a whole lot. I bet they do. Yeah.

Well, that's a really good bourbon. You like that?

I do. Every time I've hung out with you guys, I get hooked on really good bourbon, and it's expensive. That's right.

This isn't the first time we've sat down together. So where'd you grow up, Noah?

I would say Murphy's, California, from the age of 10. So I was born in the Bay Area in California. At the age of 10, we moved up to Murphy's. And that was just a life-changing, wonderful experience getting out of the city. growing up in the foothills, kind of what's called as a gold country. And the little Napa, as some people have called it, really is blown up in the wine. And when we moved up there, there was maybe one vineyard, one or two vineyards. And now on Main Street, there's probably 20 some little places you can go and taste wine. It's a really neat area. And yeah, great times. We'd go out and had a little 22 and shoot everything that moved practically.

So now, I'm not real familiar with that area. So where's that closest to?

Basically, if you drew a line from San Francisco directly east about 2 and 1 half hours, That's where it's at. It's about an hour, depending on how fast you drive, from east of Stockton.

OK. All right.

Yeah. Well, so I'm just curious. How did you end up in Kentucky from California? Witness protection program. You have to shoot me because of that.

No, you know, we get that question a lot and a lot of people. Kentucky is such a great place. I mean, I don't know if I should be spoiling the secret. Obviously, a lot of people come here during Derby, but, you know, we I'm sure we'll go into kind of career and path. And but after I got out of the military, I went into contracting and security contract work and and was just ready to explore and see if there is something else out there. And California is a wonderful state. I mean, geographically, where it is, you can ski and you can surf and surf almost the same day. Yeah, I mean, it's got the mountains, it's got hunting and fishing and And it's got a lot of other things, too, that it's just a lot of people. And so we just want to live. I believe you get one crack at it, so live as much as you can and experience as much as you can. And so moving to Colorado, and then we started our business there. And we had grown dramatically, and it was time to outsource, and we source the product. And when we did that, we found ourselves in a situation where we could really live anywhere. And so for several months, I flew all over the country looking at different places, could have basically moved anywhere. And within a couple of months, or actually, excuse me, within a couple of weeks, we had two people that I highly respect said, if I could go anywhere, I'd go to Louisville, Kentucky. And I thought, I haven't thought about Louisville, Kentucky, or Kentucky for that matter, since I learned about it on the map in school. They really don't mention anything about Kentucky outside in the media, really. Yeah, it's kind of low profile, isn't it? It is low profile. And so within a couple of days, flew out, took a look around, and said, This is it. This is, you know, living prospect. I consider it a little sophisticated Mayberry, Southern hospitality with some sense and is just a wonderful place. It is. Schools are great. People are great. And, you know, Louisville has been a great place to grow our business and make home.

So you like that Southern culture. I do.

I do that. It's a good fit for us and our personality.

Yeah. So people are good all over the world. Don't get me wrong. But there's just something about Southern hospitality and Southern culture.

And that's a lot of what this show is about. The Bourbon culture, the Bourbon road is a journey. It's not necessarily a physical road and whatnot. But it'd be kind of interesting to find out What the bourbon culture means to you, since we're here trying some bourbon. You're in the state of Kentucky now. What does the bourbon culture mean to you?

Sure. So when we first moved here, well, I'll back up. I was part of this double gun club that I was by far probably by 40 years younger than everybody else. And had a couple of German short-haired pointers who would guide. In fact, guiding kept our business going for a while in the early stages. And the older gentlemen would always smoke cigars and have scotch after. And I don't know if it was just horrible scotch that they were pouring or cheap, but it was awful. And whiskey, just drinking straight whiskey, that really wasn't on the radar unless, I mean, being younger, you're going to go out and make some bad decisions. But moving here and having a family and getting into the bourbon scene, there was people that said, oh, I just love the taste of bourbon straight. I must have been born that way. And I was open to it. It didn't know anything about it. And it's amazing how fast in drinking. And I would even do the, and I love to do this now, is whenever someone comes to our home and we have a pretty decent bourbon collection, not quite extensive as yours, Jim, but it's It's got all the big names and the big hitters. And it's nice to be able to grow on the pit barrel and not have to travel all over the place. And you can have a taste of it all right there, which you guys have to come over. But people would say, oh, I don't like whiskey. And I'm not into bourbon. And if you gave them even, say, Woodford or something pretty basic but good quality, Sometimes they say, oh my gosh, no, I can't turn their nose to it right away. And so I'd give them something like that, and not even a bourbon that's hot, but then go to like the Angel's Envy finished rye. And that's a really fun thing to do because they've already been, their socks have been blown off. on the first one, or at least they think they have. And then you give them a little bit of that Angel's Envy finished rye, which technically, I guess, isn't bourbon, right? But maybe it is. But it's cut. So they try that. And all of a sudden, the lights go on. And this is sweet. This is really good. But if you had poured them that finished rye in the first pour, you would have had a similar experience that you'd have with the first pour. So I've turned more people onto bourbon just with that one maneuver. And before you know it, they're connoisseurs. And that kind of happened for me. And then getting invited to different things and exposed to, it's a whole different world. It's like discovering country music for the first time, or something that you you know, wine or anything like that. And so before you know it, you start to like better bourbon and have a taste for it. And it's been a lot of fun. So you had not had bourbon before you came to Kentucky.

That's fair to say. OK, what was the first bourbon you ever tried? Probably makers. Really? Yeah, I'd say makers.

Yeah, and that's, you know, makers and Coke or something like that, you know, pretty common. It was neat to have a whole new appreciation. I mean, any time you can be introduced to something new and then have a newfound appreciation for something, I mean, isn't that living? That's what it's about. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, experiences. There you go.

Yeah. So you, I didn't realize this, but you're quite the bourbon evangelist. So I mean, you're out there converting people every day, huh?

I don't know if it's every day. I don't know if we have that big a problem.

You talked a little bit about your childhood in California. We're going to get into you joining the service, but can you talk a little bit about maybe the high school days, the time as you started to approach adulthood, interactions with your family and then maybe work and things that influenced you and took you in that direction?

Sure. High school for me were what was some of the best years of my life. I was big into sports, wrestled, played football. I'd like to think that I was the You know, I definitely wasn't a bully, but I would I would go after a bully. You know, it was kind of a protector in that sense of, you know, we fortunately at our school, the the I think the top dogs were were athletes and good people that weren't going to weren't going to let. bad things happen. I mean, we just had a really neat class and a good core group of friends that, I mean, a lot of people grew up since kindergarten together. You know, we moved up there in fourth grade. So all the same people that we went to high school with, I think it graduated with a class of around 160 people. So as far as to give an idea of the size. And, you know, sports were really important to me. Relationships, you know, school academically, I was not, I was never a good student, you know, and, and I, I think I was there to be in sports. I mean, there's no doubt. And it wasn't till I got into the Navy and realized, boy, I don't have a lot of very good study habits. You know, I struggled, but I stayed eligible. And now here I am. I better pass hospital core school or I'm going to be sent to the fleet. scrape and paint. So that was the first time that I ever really had to apply myself. And that was probably one of the best things. I said it the other day to my wife that probably one of the best things that came out of going to the Navy was it forced me to truly test myself. And it gave me a confidence coming out of core school, graduating second in the class when I was always having to talk the teacher into not giving me a D to get the C. But I learned a lot of negotiation and learning not to piss off.

So I mean, it was a game changer for you, I guess. It was. Yeah. So what led you to that decision to go down to the recruiter's office and sign on the line?

you know, I chased a girl down to the Bay Area. And, you know, I, I thought I wanted to play football. You know, college just wasn't wasn't for me. And, and, you know, I, but I could always see the value. And it just it wasn't, it wasn't, I didn't have the tools to really succeed there. And and I thought, you know, all I'll take the ASVAB, and I'll never forget taking that. And they came back to me, and they said, OK, here's your scores. And you can do everything except for the NUKE program. And I literally turned around both ways and said, are you sure you're talking to me? One, making sure they're actually talking to me. Did you get the name right on that score? And they said, oh, this is your score. So I thought, well, that's a good start. And then I thought, well, I'll do something that, in the event I get out, it transfers over. And so it shows a medical field to go into as a corpsman. That seemed like going into combat and being called out while the firefight's going on and hoping not to get shot, that somehow seemed like a good idea. And then came a reality. But yeah, it went down that path. went to work at J.Crew. I even had businesses before, Clearing Brush and Mobile Auto Detail with my twin brother growing up. So I always had different little businesses and ways of making money. And I was pretty entrepreneurial. But going out into the real world, as much as I can say that, I wound up living with my grandparents for a little while. They lived back in the Bay Area, went to work for J. Crew, the clothing company in San Francisco. That was an experience. So what did you do for them? Sales, just a sales associate on the floor. And I knew I could sell just about anything. And there was one guy that was always up there on top. And we kind of battled back and forth. But I was high up. recruited over from a general manager at Nordstrom's back over in the East Bay and went to work there, but knew that was going through junior college and then just decided that that I wanted something different and wanted to have the journey begin. And so I went down to a recruiter, started that process. My grandfather was adamant about, you need to go through college. Become an officer, that's key. He was my hero. He was a B-29. I flew on a B-29. He was an engineer on a B-29 during World War II. Wow. Distinguished flying cross. And was a madman, entrepreneur, go-getter, nothing. I mean, not much got in his way. And if it did, it wasn't there for long. Definitely one of your role models. Yeah. Yeah. So how many years did you serve?

I was in for six years. Do you mind talking about your deployment and the time you spent on your first tour overseas?

Sure, sure. My first deployment actually was in 1999 over to East Timor when East and West Timor were splitting up. What started out as a as an exciting, I guess what people would call maybe a Westpac tour, turned into going over to Okinawa for seven months and staying there. And I was on Camp Hanson. And that's an interesting place, too. But unless you've been there to Okinawa and you've served over there, anyone that And you say, that's an interesting place. I mean, everyone kind of knows what you're talking about. But it's a small island. If you love diving, it's a great place. But in fact, I think one of Jacques Cousteau's favorite places to dive was on the Cromme Islands. Really? Wow.

So are you a diver?

I do dive. Yeah. Yeah. Only for lobster now. OK. But yeah.

Patty, SSI?

Yeah. Yeah. Patty. Patty. OK. And heck, I don't even know where my card is. I've somehow had to show that. My wife's Patty. I'm SSI. It doesn't matter as long as you put this stuff on and go. Right, right. But yeah, so that deployment, we were there and then the Timor conflict kicked off and we were basically, we served as a quick reaction for us off of the USS Belleau Wood to support the Australian Army. So, you know, that was my first experience thinking, boy, I mean, we really we're locked and loaded on that flight deck. Young, you know, 20 year old and the The first few days, it was so hot and we're baking on that deck and just getting ready to spin up the birds if they need us and then go in. And the plan would be to rappel down and support. And so after the first few days, I was hot and worried, thinking this might be it. I didn't expect things to go this fast. And out of boot camp, through Corps school, through field medical service school, and Camp Pendleton to go with the Marine Corps, and then basically got sent to 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, and sent over. But I can say after about the first week is sitting on that deck, You were ready to get the call and go somewhere because you were so pissed off. So maybe that's all part of it. They keep poking you and making you miserable. So you actually look forward to going into battle. Hurry up and wait. That's right. Hurry up and wait. And you did multiple tours. So I went over to, so later on, got put back, went back with First Battalion, Fifth Marines. And then what, 2003 was sent over and sat in Kuwait until we crossed. And I was over there for about six months.

And what was it like when you stepped back on US soil?

A lot of emotions, of course, but a lot of numbness. Really wondering. I'll say, prior going over there, I was talking with a fellow corpsman. And we were talking about it. It's just so naive. You think about it. And we're saying, no matter what, we're pretty close. And we said, well, no matter what, we'll make a deal with each other. We're not going to. we're going to do what we need to do over here, and we're not going to change. We're not going to allow whatever is going to happen to us to change us. And very naive thinking went over. And then when we came back, it was definitely a very, I was married to my first wife, and got back, and everybody picks up right where they left off, as far as their normal everyday life. Nothing's really changed for them. Of course, the people that you're very close with look forward to having you back. And there's banners and welcome home. And I remember marching in. It was late at night and getting back and seeing everybody. But at that time, I knew things had changed. And food didn't taste very good. Really? Why, I wonder? You know, I think your body and your mind, you know, when you're in a really high stress environment, and I mean, if you think about it, you know, back in the day, not that it was any easier for World War II guys or, you know, and that's, you know, I think where things really started to change, you'd have a lot of time to decompress on a ship coming back. and floating back over. If you were a ground pounder and infantry on the way back, you'd have a month to kind of decompress and get your mind around it. These days in Vietnam, you could be in the thick of the worst hell and hours later, be expected to be what you were before. And that's just not reality. And it was interesting. I feel like my grandfather was probably the only one that knew, but he wasn't a big talker in that sense. And I remember looking at pictures on his wall of other B-29s in the squadron that were literally getting shot down and people that he knew and it never really registered to me. It just it looks like a picture, just like on the news when you see, you know, I remember seeing 9-11 and it felt like so many people thought that was just so surreal and like it's a movie that you're watching. I've always been able to kind of connect those things. And that was really horrible to see and for a lot of people. But I was able to connect with that and look at those pictures and didn't talk a whole lot with my grandfather about it and didn't really have an idea of what I was getting into.

So adjusting for you was not difficult. Well, it was difficult. How would you describe that?

I think like a lot of people, I think there's two kinds of people. There's people that know there's a problem and then avoid it and get really busy. And that was the route I took, was I stayed really busy. And I mean, it's not that I'd be afraid of having a conversation. I mean, I'll talk about anything. the most logical and reasonable thing and not ask for help or act like something's wrong is just get busy, start a business. Go to work for a company and work your tail off and make good things happen. And the way you make good things happen is you either go to work first, you start a business, you go to work for another company and you do really good things and you And people don't want you to leave. And that's all fine. And that was a route I took. And then I think there's other folks that, and this is the worst case, I think, that don't get busy and don't talk about anything and bad things happen.

Play video games for 20 hours a day.

Yeah. And you still have to find an escape. But if you're not dealing with it, and I always say, you've got to reach out to somebody. You've got to find somebody you can trust to talk with. regardless of whether or not they have been through what you've gone through. Because in reality, most people haven't gone through those things. And some people have. But you can't always connect with those people. So to say, well, I'm not going to talk with anyone unless they actually have gone through it and know what I'm talking about. I think a big piece of talking with someone is really hearing yourself talk through things. And so with any problem, And so having that, but when the suicide rate of veterans is through the roof, it's a really sad thing. So for me, I got really busy. But it wasn't until I went to work for a corporation, a trailer leasing company, worked up quickly as an ops manager. Anything I had set my mind to, there was just a standard. Be good at what you do. If you're sweeping the floor, be good at it. Maybe that's where you don't want to be too good. Otherwise, you're never going to do anything else but sweep the floor. But be good at what you do. And things hadn't worked out. with my marriage and it was like the here's kind of escaping. And so I went to work for at the time it was Blackwater and did a security contract work overseas, kind of applied the skills that I had from the military. And, you know, I was I shot competitively in the Navy. And then and then that combined with having a combat medical training, that's a value, especially in a small unit, working at a forward observe base somewhere. And so I did that. And I knew all the while that felt more comfortable to me because I was really working around professionals, small, close-knit group. You could trust them with your life. They've got your back. That's right. As opposed to working in the corporate world where they want to stab you in the back. Well, in some cases. Or what people consider problems. And the whole time, it's like, geez, these aren't problems. We could talk about bad days. And those are things that really help, I think, veterans become entrepreneurs. And if the veterans only realized what they have and how close being an entrepreneur and running your own business and the similarities and how to apply those. And we try and I try to talk with vets about those things at every opportunity and kind of get that out in podcasts or in interviews or any story. So those are always important things.

Well, we certainly appreciate you sharing it with us and we definitely appreciate your service. Thank you very much.

You bet. Thank you. Always thank the veterans and our first responders. To me, they're very unappreciated people. That's right.

Now, I'm going to switch gears here a little bit. We'll start driving towards the Pit Barrel Cooker Company and how that came about. So, you and Amber, you guys are business partners. How do you balance the work and the family time in such a growing company like this?

That's a great question. I guess the answer is... I don't know if there is a balance or there isn't. We're a great team. We make it happen. When people say family business, this is truly a family business where our boys are down here. Our boys went to the Bronco games and were on Amber's back passing out flyers and food samples. So since the very beginning, pushing around pallets, Easton was on my lap and working the the forklift and going up and down on loading trailers in the eastern plains of Colorado. So they've seen every minute, every step. And with Amber, we're a really good balance with what we take care of and what we don't. I'm not a huge social media. And that was probably part of my background with contract work. That was something that was a bit frowned upon as having to have a security clearance and doing that kind of work. And then, you know, it's like, what are you really going to talk about? Because you can't talk about anything you're doing or take any pictures. I didn't have anything like that. But Amber handles a lot of the marketing. We just work really well together. And some people say, well, geez, I wouldn't want to. We'd kill each other if we worked together. And I wouldn't have it any other way. a wonderful wife, mother, partner. And the best thing, too, is she knows what I'm going through. I know what she's going through. I know what she's dealing with, vice versa. If I'm gone or I have to stay late or I have to deal with something, it's understood versus not knowing. And that's something that's, I think, really hard for couples, and that you've got a common goal and you're trying to reach it.

I think this is a good time as any for us to go ahead and close out the first pull or first session and take a short break. And when we get back, no, I think you've got a bourbon for us, so we'll get into that first thing. All right, so let's take a break, guys, and we'll be back shortly. We would like to thank Tommy and Gwen Mitchell from Loghead's Home Center for supporting this episode of the Bourbon Road. Loghead's Home Center, nestled in the hills of Kentucky, is an industry leader in building handcrafted rustic furniture. Family owned and operated, they take pride in offering only the very best for their customers. The Logheads, and that's what they like to call themselves, are skilled wood crafters who are passionate about creating rustic furniture for people who appreciate the beauty of natural wood. Owners Tommy and Gwen don't just sell the rustic lifestyle, they live it. And you can be sure that Loghead's furniture will always be handcrafted in Kentucky by artisans who embrace the simple way of life. Loghead's rustic furniture is made from northern white cedar, a sustainable wood that's naturally rot and termite resistant. Its beauty and quality will add warmth to your earthy lifestyle for generations to come. Be sure to check out everything they have to offer at LogHeadsHomeCenter.com. And while you're at it, give Tommy and Gwen a shout on Facebook or Instagram at LogHeadsHomeCenter.

So we're down here on 15th Street with Noah Glanville, president of Pit Barrel Cooker Company. Wow, way down here in Louisville, Kentucky. So, Mr. Noah, why don't you take us on a trip down the Bourbon Road here and introduce our second pour for us?

So I thought it'd be appropriate. being that we're in the barbecue industry. We've got the Booker's Backyard Barbecue today. I thought that would be appropriate. I'm more into uncut, unfiltered, hot bourbon. This is 128 proof. Wow. We're climbing the hill. We're climbing the hill.

You're right in my territory. I love this area, but Randy, I don't know.

You know, this is where I have to throw an ice cube or two in there sometimes, but I'm good. I can do this. I know I can. You're getting better. I'm getting better. Help me along the trail. Yeah, it's good stuff. Well, what do you smell in here, guys? What's the nose like? Oh, I like the nose on that, though.

Well, you know, it's got the typical notes. I think we're definitely picking up caramel and vanilla, but a little bit more like brown sugar honey, kind of.

Yeah, what's on the backside of that, though? I'm smelling something else, like a sweet candy kind of thing.

Definitely sweet, and it's so nice when it's as hot as it is and still sweet.

Yeah. I think with bookers, I always get a little bit of leather, dark fruit. Does it say the age on the bottle at all? It's always going to tell you the age of the youngest barrel.

Six years, two months, 10 days.

Yeah, so that doesn't mean it doesn't have any older barrels, and it just means that's the youngest barrel.

But if that's 128, that's pretty smooth for 128. Wow.

That's good stuff.

I'm impressed. You get your Kentucky hug in there, but it doesn't... do the anaconda on you there. That's an interesting way to put it.

You get the kind of the peanut in it at all. Like, no, when I say peanut, I don't mean peanut butter. I don't mean you know, peanuts like planters.

What kind of peanut are you talking about?

I'm talking about like ballpark shelled peanuts, kind of the way it smells. Roasted in the shell. Roasted in the shell. Like, you know, if you were to be at the ballpark and you're eating a bag of shelled peanuts and you're shelling them, that kind of that.

Well, let me try this again, because, you know, after that acclimation stage, you know, things taste a little different on that second time around. So. Well, it helps if you know what you're looking for.

Yeah, the power of suggestion, I don't think, and I've said this before, when somebody suggests a particular note they're picking up in the bourbon, I don't think you're going to pick it up if you're really not. I think it's just a matter of, yeah, that's what it is.

Yeah. I never thought about that. I never thought about it. Yeah, that's it. I never thought about it.

And Randy, you're Mr. Butterscotch. Do you get any?

A little bit on this. It's still as powerful as some I've had as far as the Butterscotch goes. But like I said, there was like a sweetness on the back end. And that could have been very well could have been that Butterscotch.

So for Butterscotch, if you're a fan, what do you like as far as bourbon to hit that?

Well, I was telling Jim the other day, I was at Cedar Key in Florida and believe it or not, this little place in Florida, little bar off the dock had 50 kinds of bourbon. I'm saying, are you kidding me? And found out that the bartender was from Louisville, Kentucky or Kentucky or somewhere. And he said, have you ever had this? And he pulled out some Jefferson Reserve Ocean. So it was Voyage 11. And he opened that Voyage 11 up. And from across, I mean, from across the room, I could smell butterscotch on that thing from across. And to me, duh. That has been, if you want to put butterscotch with a bourbon, it was the Jefferson Reserve Voyage 11. Why did you love it? Interesting. Yeah. It just, I could smell that from across the room and, and you know, I'm still developing my palate. So to get that, that strong right off the bat.

He was telling me, he was telling me the other day that his nose is not as great as it ought to be. But I'm telling you what, when you could pick up butterscotch from down the bar,

This time of year, you know how it is with the pollen. I'm from Georgia, so the pollen would be yellow on cars. It turned cars yellow. I get up here to the Ohio River Valley and they're going, hey, welcome to Kentucky. It didn't really hit me the first couple of years, but your body chemistry changes every seven years, they say. Whoo, this year has been rough for me.

How many seven-year changes have you had?

Let's not go there, shall we not? We're not going down that road. But anyway, something changed. And this year has really affected. I can't smell. I'm sure I'll get past it as the pollen and things happen.

Well, the good news is no one's asking you to be a bird dog. You just need to drink bourbon. There you go. I like that. Hounds in the hay.

Well, no, this was a great choice. Bookers is always a good pour, and this is really good. I think they do, what do they do, four a year? I think they do four releases a year. And what's the number on that bottle? Should have like a year and a number after the year.

2018, two. Oh, two.

So second release of 18. So they would have had two more. after that in 18. And I do believe the first bottle of 2019 is out on the shelves now. Oh, wow. I haven't had it yet. I haven't had it yet.

For the price, it's always a solid choice.

Yeah, they've always got it on the shelf at Costco. I don't know if you shop Costco or not. I absolutely do.

And cheaper than you'll get it down at your local liquor store usually. Well, I'll tell you what, speaking of Costco, Costco is not only for the bourbon, but for meat. Oh, yeah. You can't beat the beef and their prices and the quality. I probably should be working for them. But yeah, I say it all the time. It's true value, and we want to always bring bring our customers good stuff. And so we'll always say, hey, go. I mean, one Packer brisket pays for the Costco membership.

Wow.

I basically joke with my wife when we're in there. And when we get separated, I was like, have you seen my wife? She's loose in here with a credit card. That could be dangerous. And we needed, hey, babe, go up there to the front and get another cart. We need another cart. And I'm going, are you kidding me? $300 cover charge to get out of Costco. Came in for toilet paper, and you had two plasma screen TVs. Just because they weren't on sale. That's right. Well, you had to buy it. Yeah, exactly. All right, guys. Let's get focused here. Focus.

So Noah, why don't you tell us a little bit about how the pit barrel cooker company came to be, how it started.

So I would say the best way to describe how pit barrel came to fruition was, I always enjoyed good food, just like most of us. I had taken a trip when I was in eighth grade to the San Francisco Culinary Academy. I was really impressed with what I saw there and thought, that's it. That's the path I want to go down. Several people later on after contracting and saving up some money after the military had said, that's probably about the worst idea you could come up with. And they were probably right. But I still was determined to have some kind of involvement with food, the experience. And you could basically put anything in my hands, whether it was a hibachi or just some kind of a grill. And I could make a good experience. But I wanted that for everybody. And so taking the guesswork out, started looking at where is the most consistent environment. So anyone that knows will tell you cooking in a drum is one of the most consistent environments to cook in. Well, why?

Why do they say that?

Well, to yield really good cooked food or protein, you need time consistency and temperature. Ah, time consistency. the drum in a vertical environment really yields to that. And then to take it a step further, it's like, well, how do we figure out how to make this easy for everybody? And the vent control, I thought if we could create something that works at sea level all the way up to 12,000 feet or so, and no vents to adjust on top, one vent to adjust on bottom per year elevation, a cold basket that's predetermined, fill it up once, light it, wait 12 minutes, hang the meat, close the lid, walk away. And it's that easy. And so I thought if we could create something that is truly set it and forget it, that everybody has one of the best food experiences that they've ever had, you know, much less cook for themselves. we've got something. So we went forward with a utilities patent, which we will go to the mat for. But we've definitely got the attention in the industry. And that's a big deal to us, because there's companies that have been out a long time that have that have worked hard and grown a lot, I mean, 60 plus years. And to be nine years in and have the market penetration that we have is, I think, unheard of.

But surely this didn't work the first time around. Didn't you try this some, I guess what they call it, a prototype or something? How many prototypes have you done?

Some R&D. Yeah, research and development. 29 prototypes, to be exact. And actually, I mean, that's how many units that I actually used. different configurations for the vent control. So anyone that's familiar with a pit barrel, if you slightly offset the lid just a little bit, it completely changes how it functions. And so the configuration, the vents, the intake, the fuel source, the rods that go through, I mean, none of that happened by mistake. And it was testing going to sea level, going to 5,000 feet, and so on at every mark. to test that and get it right. So it was a lot of testing and I'll never forget going elk hunting one time and I thought that a two inch diameter hole at the bottom for an intake was perfect. I had tested it at sea level, all was good, was up. You know, elk hunting 12,000, 13,000 feet, and could not get that thing to cook. And that was all. And I'm telling everybody, you guys, wait till you taste this food. This is going to be unbelievable. You're all going to love it. I'll handle all the cooking. I'll bring the food. I'll bring the cooker. And even there is a question, like, what are you bringing us? And what are we actually cooking on? Because I mean, elk hunting is a big deal. And we plan to eat really well. And don't put all that in it. No, no, guys, trust me. I got it. And I bring this thing up there. and cannot keep the fire lit. And so I had to wind up shooting through the bottom of the drum several times to get through. And I remember shooting and then coming back and actually measuring the holes of a 300 wind mag times two and saying, you know what? I think we're closer to a three-inch diameter hole as far as what we need. But that's for the pit barrel cooker. We also have, so I mean, talk about true research and development there. But needless to say, we didn't harvest an animal that trip. But we ate really good.

Yeah. So these 29 prototypes, you've kept them somewhere for the museum, the pit barrel museum, right?

Well, Jim, that would be a nice story for a huge company that had you known and had we had the money. There was times where in year one, we had to start a catering company, sandblast the units to provide a substrate that the powder coating would stick to, which later we porcelain coated. We did things to just keep going.

So where did it start?

Did it start here in Kentucky, or you started this somewhere else years ago?

It started in Colorado.

Colorado. OK. Great place for big game, though. Oh, yeah. Colorado's a beautiful state. A lot of people. No one can argue the fact that the traffic is horrendous.

So I guess it's not easy to start a business from scratch, not even a little bit. How did you convince Amber to go all in?

Because women, they have a tendency to dictate a little bit about what happens with us. They do? And to convince your better half to go all in. This is what you need to do. How did you do that?

Or was she there all along? She's always been there all along. We both support each other. And we look at other marriages, and she can do whatever she wants. And I think it's big boy, big girl rules. We know what our responsibilities are. I could leave tomorrow and go on a fishing trip or go somewhere, but that's probably, you know, we've kind of got a goal in mind. So, you know, she's, I think, wanting me home more. I mean, I was contracting. So that was also a plan to start a business. Now, obviously, you know, where the rubber really met the road was when we had met with an attorney. an intellectual property attorney. And she said, well, here's what you're looking at for a utilities patent. And utilities patents for a good one can be really expensive. They're not cheap, no. And it can take a long time to get. And so if I'm going to start something, I want to finish it. So I want to know how long is it if you go through the appeal process. and get into that, what are we ultimately looking at? And that was when we turned because that was about a quarter of the nest egg that we had saved to even start a business at the time. And I'll never forget looking over and saying, is this something that you want to do? And without any hesitation, looked over, looked me in the eye and said, yep, I trust you. And so, you know, but she, you know, I trust you, meaning it's if this goes bad, this is all your fault. You know, no, we all know that all of us guys know that's underlying. But yeah, right. Right. No. And, you know, I think there was times on both ends. I mean, I'm not, I won't sugar-coated it. It was a really hard, you know, the times and saving up money and deploying overseas and the sacrifices made to to be able to start the company also makes you fight that much harder to protect what you have. And I think that the things that our company has, we have a face to the brand. We have a good story. And I think the American dream is usually a pretty good story.

So what's been the most difficult part so far?

I think when you're self-taught for the most part, coming off the battlefield, going into contract work, short stint in the corporate world, and getting into it, you Finding people that you can trust is tough. And I mean, sometimes you find ones that you don't. It takes you on some detours. But our team is phenomenal. I mean, we have a really small but powerful team. We couldn't do it on our own. I mean, Amber and I started the business, but it's we've grown and scaled to where you've got to have a good team to continue to grow.

So just just how successful has the pit barrel company become I mean, how big are you guys?

Well, it's the greatest outdoor cooking device in the world period we ship to several different places in the world You know have obviously great market penetration here and in North America and You know ship, you know, our model has been far to ship direct to consumer. And we're in more of a kind of a pivot to not compete with a retailer and set up more in the brick and mortar, smaller mom and pop, stores who are actually boots on the ground that can actually talk about the product and be successful that way.

And this facility you have here, it's quite impressive. It's extremely large, very big operation you have here. But what kind of plans do you have for the place to improve on the facility and the land that you have here?

Well, so fortunately, good problems to have, but still problems at the end of the day. Every place we've ever bought or moved into, we've really almost outgrown it within six months. Wow. Man, that's moving. So we said, we're going to try and at least have a couple of years here and then look at maybe a facility on the West Coast. So this is our one facility that we ship. everything domestically, and then also some back overseas. It's not the most efficient way, but sometimes it makes the most sense for quality and making sure that certain products are on there and having a consolidation. Anyone that's in logistics knows that that's a pain point, but that's something that that we're wanting to take in-house and get really good at and just have that control, which any decision that I make or our team makes that's a big one, that's monumental in the direction we go as a business, And I would say this is good advice for any entrepreneur or any business or CEO to say, before you make a decision, is it the best thing for the consumer? And if you circle back around to that, because it shouldn't always be short-sighted in the sense of, well, what's best for the margin right now? If it's not best for the margin, it needs to make dollars and cents. But if it's not best for the consumer in the end, it probably isn't the best long-term play.

You won't get that reciprocal income, yeah.

And you see companies do it all the time, where if you ask yourself, is this best for the business or best for the consumer? And we see that a lot in this industry. And when you see that, it's more low-hanging fruit that's only going to be ripe for you to pick. Yeah.

Well, I'm going to tell you how right you are. I have some figures here. You guys are going to blow your mind. When I read this stuff, I was just looking up on barbecue stuff. I said, well, let me just see what I bring up. So, a Nielsen report on MarketWatch said that two weeks prior to 4th of July, a lot of people do a lot of barbecue on Independence Day. Here's the figures of what we Americans Spend for meat just for meat and barbecue before 4th of July two weeks prior 800 million on beef Wow 371 million on chicken 218 million on pork, 85 on shrimp, 48 on salmon, and 38.8 on just barbecue sauce alone two weeks before that two-week period to 4th of July. So I think you're on the right track. That's a lot of killing. That is. Man, can you imagine? You know, because barbecue, you know, and then you're poor today with the barbecue. I said, wow, he's on the right track for sure. So what do you think have been some of your keys to success? I mean, with the barbecue?

Well, you know, and that's interesting. Just to, Randy, to go back to that last number, you know, if you look at the numbers are even more staggering, obviously, prior to Thanksgiving.

Really? You think it's even more? I mean, because people think summer, barbecue. Well, obviously, yeah.

I mean, they're killing a lot more turkeys, you know, prior to Thanksgiving. But, you know, prime rib, tenderloin, Christmas, and even more turkey. how much meat is bought. And one of the unique things about our cooker and our product, which kind of differentiates itself from other brands, is you've got that big peak up to 4th of July, and then things start to settle down a little bit. The cookers that are better for tailgating are still in play. And then you've got tailgate through the winter months. And then all of a sudden, after Super Bowl, things usually, that's a bit of a dip. So if you're going to take a vacation, you're going to go somewhere, or you're not trying to rebuild or do a new website or something, which we're always growing. So that's not convenient. That would be the time you would maybe take a break. But our cooker is solid just about year round. The best Thanksgiving turkey you'll ever have comes out of this thing. Prime rib, if that's what you cook for the holidays, is bar none. There's nothing better. Well, do you use that hook and hang method for the turkey? Absolutely. Really?

Yep. Yep. Comes with a turkey hanger. So tell us about this hook and hang. I know your boat's named that, but let's make the transition over to the actual cooker here and tell us about that hook and hang method.

So besides time consistency and temperature, cooking in an environment that is very conducive to really good protein, but even vegetables are amazing out of there. The hanging, you think of it kind of as a stationary rotisserie. So that lends the question, does food need to sit on the grill to get cooked? Or does it need to cook in the environment? And the pit barrel answers that question every time. It needs to cook in the environment. As we say in our explainer video, grill marks are real nice for looks, but for taste and tenderness, the grill marks aren't lending to taste and tenderness. So it works. That's the magic. Plus the meat hanging directly over the coals and the juices dripping down, causing that amazing smoke fog to come back up into the meat is really where it's at for sure.

So do you suggest certain types of wood for the smoke flavor? Or do you guys not necessarily do that? It's more charcoal.

You can add wood chips. Wood chips are chunks. I mean, we'll say if you're hell-bent and determined to put some chips on, sure, you can do that. But really, let the meat be the hero. Let the drippings fall down on the meat. I mean, that's really the way. It's the way the gay men did it. And it's so simple. I typically, I mean, nowadays, I'll use, I started out when I didn't know any better using briquettes. And nowadays, I use pretty much lump on everything. You can still use briquettes. Hardwood briquettes are great.

So what was that palette of briquettes I saw? I mean, it wasn't briquettes. It was what you use. Is that what you suggest? That devil's whatever.

What was out there on the pallet? We have a pallet out there right now. It happens to be a pallet of Jealous Devil. That's a great brand. They're very clean and I think the best way to describe it in short order is you've got a lot of different charcoal brands and they're popping up. that's getting more and more popular, but a lot of them are private labeled to the same spot. So you're getting basically the same, you know, wherever that wood is sourced from, you're getting a lot of the same stuff. And, you know, so what I'm looking for, someone said, well, okay, what do you think's a good field source and hardwood lump? If that's what you like, you know, I'm looking for things that are, you know, not bark, in there, just the real hardwood. Certainly not pieces of rubber or nails or something that might have come from a construction site that's in there. That's not what I want to be cooking with. So I want stuff that's real hardwood, good stuff.

Well, I've got one more curious question, and this is just for me. And then I'm going to let Jim ask a few. But I noticed out there on the pit barrel cooker junior, and maybe it's on all of them, a horseshoe. What's with the horseshoe for the handle?

Yeah, yeah. So that's kind of been a staple of ours. We've put horseshoes, so there's horseshoes on the junior and the pit barrel. identical except one's larger and one's smaller.

But why the horseshoe instead of say wood or anything else?

I wanted something that was different than obviously putting a garage door handle on the cooker and then A lot of the basic stuff where there's a rod and then a polished wire wrapped around it to protect from heat. I just want a character to it. And it may look like a simple drum, but having that horseshoe on there I think really gives a character and changes the look. and just has a much different feel.

Well, it's the bomb and being from, you know, shipped out of here in Kentucky right now. So, you know, I would say that's apropos.

So you've got a tremendous website. I mean, I know you say it's under construction, you got a new one coming out, but the one you have now is really good and you've got a lot of great videos on there. Of all those videos, what do you think is your most well-received recipe?

I mean, I guess I could look at strictly numbers and say what videos most viewed. Probably ribs. Ribs is really popular. And ribs are not always easy to cook for people. Is it my favorite thing? I can tell you, Max, my six-year-old, he loves ribs and he loves rack-o-lam. And if you cook rack-o-lam, you better hide some of it from him because you're not getting any. Absolutely not. The only thing that will be left is some bone sitting there. I mean, he's like a commercial saw that goes through it. He just munches right through them. But if there was something that was most impressive and was probably ribs, because again, it's not the easiest to cook, but When people cook on the pit barrel and they see, you don't have to cook eight to 10 racks of ribs, but you can. And that's for the footprint that it takes up to be able to cook eight to 10 racks of ribs on a cooker that's $299. And they're far and away the best ribs you've ever had. I mean, nothing even a close second. That's where it's at. That's where our brand is. And so that's pretty impressive. It'll do a brisket in six hours, pork shoulder, five to six hours. But you've got videos for virtually every type of meat out there. You know, I mean, we have enough videos to be dangerous. We've had, I think, just about every staple to give. I mean, if you can do all those, which just about anybody can, now it's the sky's the limit. Now you're doing your own recipes, but you've got the hang of it. And you can start doing cheese nachos. And we talked about that actually last night. and the amazing flavor and the smoke that goes into the cheese and the chili. And I was like, oh my gosh, we need to do a video on that. And now it's just having fun and letting people create different things. But the website itself actually gives you a good base to go from as far as cooking different kinds of meats and different kind of recipes. That's been our goal, is to keep it really simple. We're not a company that tries to be everything, but we want to be really good at what we do and providing great products at a very reasonable price, more than reasonable price. As we've grown, I think we've shown our commitment to that by not gouging for accessories, still keeping things at a reasonable price. and keeping things simple to where anyone can watch. I mean, they're three to four minute videos. There's not a bunch of shenanigans. It's me doing things straightforward. So I'm not true talent. And I've got to stick to the script and make sure we get the point across of what we're trying to do. But the goal is we want everyone at the end of the video to be able to say, I can 100% execute that. And I might not have ever cooked before. By golly, I can do that. And that's where it chipped your door, pulling it out of the box. And less than 20 minutes later, you're cooking, again, some of the best food you've ever had, much less cooked yourself. You can do that. And simply watching the video, it's easy.

So flash forward five years. What's the Pit Barrel Cooker Company look like?

I think that we are I think we've made a lot of people happy. And we've brought a lot of people together. And there's been a lot more great food and great memories and good times. And that's what I think it's about. I mean, that may seem as if I'm skirting around the question. No, not at all. a tremendous amount of market penetration, so going to the business end of things. But at the end of the day, I think we're going to do a lot of good. And that's the focus, is if we can make a living and do a lot of good, that's what it's about. You never know how long life's going to be. And life can be pretty short, and you've got to enjoy it while you have your health. And I'm thankful every day that my boys get to see their mom and dad work really hard with the team that we have. They come here. They have their dirt bikes. They ride around the parking lot. They've got the remote control cars. A lot of product's coming in, so their space is going to get squeezed. But it's really neat to be able to see the boys grow up and see how hard their parents work. And I think that's what it's about. But our kids, they're busy and they play very little video games.

I'm telling you, we've had a great time here with you today. You've got a great outlook on life. It looks like you've got a great company. It's really dedicated. I tell you what, you guys are really giving a life lesson to your children. I think they're watching you guys do something that's really meaningful. and fulfilling. They'll grow up and they'll know exactly what they need to do when their time comes. Pretty awesome.

Yeah. What are those juniors going for nowadays?

They'll be available in a few months, and they'll be $249.

$249. And the actual big boys go for? $299. $299. Yep. Wow, you're almost better off just going for the big guy, huh?

You know, well, a lot of people say that. I mean, it's really two different tools. Wow, OK. And I think how many you're cooking for, what you're cooking. Yeah, Randy, I think you're going to want to have both. Oh, jeez, listen to him now.

As we close out here, Noah, any words of advice for young entrepreneurs trying to start their own business? I mean, if you had to give two or three sentences to them to let them know the direction they should go, what would those be?

Being lazy is not going to get you there. Stop watching TV. And it's going to take a hell of a lot of work. Don't take no for an answer. Don't take anything at face value. Hold on. I'm still writing. Go ahead.

Randy's still learning.

I'm still learning. Go ahead. You guys have given me so much bourbon here. But yeah, I think taking nothing at face value and don't take no for an answer. Words of advice, and I always like to say this, if you're a veteran, especially someone new that's gotten out and you haven't quite found your path, and you're looking for the answer. You're looking for whatever career path you're going to take. And nothing really seems to make sense with what direction doors aren't opening that make any sense for you. Take a hard look at. solving a problem, coming up with a solution, and starting a business. And because you already got the education and the tools to be really successful. So get busy and live the American dream.

That's great advice. So if our listeners want to find you out there on social media, on the web, how do they get in touch with you?

Pitbroilcooker.com. OK. And you go to our website. If you're looking to pick up the product or learn more about it, there's a dealer locator. Put in your zip code. The closest place that will pop up that will carry the product is there. And obviously, all the handles, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, are all there as well. Pitbroilcooker. Yep. OK. Absolutely. Great.

We really appreciate your time today. It was a pleasure to come down here to Louisville and visit with you.

Thank you for your service.

I appreciate that. It was a great time here, and you issued an invitation to us earlier in the show, and I want to accept that right now. So next time you're having a shin dig, we're going to come. Randy and I will be here.

You got to look forward to it.

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