403. Brown-Forman - Wind Powered Whiskey

Now, do you think that wind power will be the only way you go? Or is there a possibility that you could even maybe look into solar energy usage?

Absolutely. With a goal like 100% sourcing, sourcing 100% renewable electricity by 2030, we certainly just can't rely on wind power. We're very proud of the project that we've done in Kansas, and it's a big step towards that commitment to renewable energy. But wind is just one aspect of renewable energy.

Oh friends, and welcome back to another episode of the Bourbon Road podcast. I'm your host, Jim Shannon. And I'm your host, Todd Ritter.

We've got a great show for you today. So grab your favorite pour and join us.

Well, Lesters, we're happy to have you again with us today. We've got a great show for you today, something a little, maybe a little bit out of the normal. We are going to drink some whiskey today. We're going to talk about the whiskey business. You've got a great guest on the show today, but Todd is with me. Todd, our host, is with us. And Todd, welcome.

Hey, good. Good to be here. Looking forward to talking to Miley Hartsuk from Brown Forman here shortly.

Thank you so much for having me.

Great to have you on the show today. We're so happy that you took time out of your day to join us and talk about Brown Foreman and your supply chain sustainability is something that I think a lot of our listeners are very interested in. It's something that should be important to all of us, certainly. But we don't take enough time out of our day to really focus on it and think about it. And what better way to to be introduced to what Brown and Foreman is doing, and to have you on the show with us today, and to actually each of us have a glass of some Brown and Foreman products, so we're going to enjoy those. Todd, what are you sipping on today?

I've got the old Forester 1924 100 proof that we actually just sampled. I guess that'll be the episode before.

Well, that's a fairly new release. We did have it on a show recently and I'm drinking the 100 proof as well, but I'm just, I'm drinking the standard 100 proof issue that you find on the shelf at about $25. So also a good pour. But Miley, you are the sustainability manager with BrownForm, is that correct?

Yes, that's correct. I'm super excited to be here today. I think that a lot of times when people think of the bourbon that you're drinking, you might not think of the sustainability practices that go into it. So I love talking about this work and sharing with people about how Brown Forman approaches sustainability.

And how long have you been working for Brown Forman?

I've been working with Brown Foreman for almost three years at this point. I started just about a month after the company announced its updated sustainability goals. A lot of them are focused on 2030 on climate and water and waste. And I was hired right after they were announced to help implement them. And then shortly after that, started focusing more on the supply chain sustainability side of this work.

Yeah. So, um, Yeah, the supply chain sustainability seems to be your specialty. So what what all does that entail?

Yeah, certainly. No, that's a great question. The majority of most companies impact is actually typically in the supply chain is everything from the products, the materials, the ingredients that go into a product to how it's distributed to ultimately what consumers do with it. So at Brown Foreman, the way that we've approached sustainability is setting goals in climate action, water stewardship, circularity, sustainable agriculture, sustainable packaging, and sustainable forestry. So all of those sustainability commitments, for the most part, are also in the supply chain, but especially our sustainable agriculture, our packaging, and our forestry work, and our climate action work. This means that in sustainable agriculture, we have a lot of grain that goes into our bourbon products. And we work with farmers to be able to make this grain sustainable and implement regenerative agriculture practices. We make sure that we are focusing on the long-term sustainability of white oak, which is in the supply chain to make sure that we can have bourbon barrels for forever. And then working with our suppliers to reduce our carbon footprints that we can make it overall a more sustainable industry.

So, and this program, was it already on the go before you started with Brown Forman or is this something that you came into brand new and the program kind of started along with you?

Yeah, that's a really good question. So sustainability has been part of Brown Forman for way before I came three years ago. The company had sustainability goals even before I got there. And so many companies, even before we called it corporate sustainability or corporate social responsibility, and we talked about it in the annual reports, the company had focus on sustainability, whether it's energy efficiency or doing things as efficiently as possible. Those are things in sustainability that we still focus on. So the company has been doing this for many, many years. In 2021 is when these goals that we focus on were formalized. And that was the first time that a formal goal and it's several goals were also focused on the supply chain. Before that, they were goals and focus areas on our own operations, which is our how we make the products and our own distilleries at Woodford Reserve at Jack Daniels for all of our brands. But right before I started and the work that I took on was really expanding this focus. to include the supply chain, which as I mentioned is all of the ingredients and the packaging that goes into our materials, everything that ultimately goes into making this product, distributing it to restaurants and retail stores around the globe, and ultimately what consumers do with it at the end. So it's certainly been an evolution since I started. And now that we have someone, which is me, to focus on the supply chain work, it's increased substantially in the past few years.

So when you talk about supply chain, that obviously includes items which end up in the final product, items which end up in the whiskey, which end up in the spirit, that in the bottle, the label, the packaging, all of those things. But I assume there are expendable materials as well that are used in the manufacturing process. Is that correct?

Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's everything that goes into the product. But it takes a lot to make a thing of bourbon or a thing of whiskey or any of our products. And this is actually a great way that we talk about circularity and keeping materials in use and focusing on zero waste. So we talk about byproducts. There are certainly in every manufacturing industry, there are byproducts of what comes out of a manufacturing process. And at Brown Foreman, we are very focused on circularity and zero waste and keeping materials in use and minimizing our waste footprint. So all of our production facilities are zero waste to landfill, which means that we send less than 1% of waste to landfill. A good example of this in Bourbon is at Woodford Reserve, the byproduct called stillage. which is what happens after distillation and fermentation. It isn't just thrown away. It's a byproduct, but it's provided to farmers to use as animal feed. So we don't throw it away. It's used as another value-add product to keep it in a circular system of use.

So you talk about the circularity principles and obviously we're more of a bourbon podcast. So maybe some of our listeners might not understand what the circularity, a circularity principle is. Could you maybe go into just a little more detail on that, what that entails?

Yeah, let's start with something that I think that we could all probably relate to, which is the traditional way that we consume our goods. This is called usually a linear economy. In this type of economy, we take resources from the earth, we make products with them, we use those products, and then we throw them away when we're done. This is what we in sustainability call a take, make and waste model. And so you can think of that as a straight line and linear. But now let's imagine a circle. And there is no start, there's no end, everything's connected. That's the basic idea behind circularity and a circular economy. It follows a reduce, reuse, and recycle model. So we aim to reduce waste and pollution through smart design. We reuse our products and materials by repairing, sharing, or remanufacturing them. And then we recycle them by turning them back into useful resources. So the goal really is to keep resources in use for as long as possible, get the maximum value of them. So in sustainability, we're talking about changing our habits, our industries, and our economies to be more like a circle and less like a straight line. So I can give some examples in Bourbon specifically. I mentioned at Woodford Reserve, there's a grain and yeast byproduct that's called Stillage. And this is provided to local farmers who use this as animal feed. At our old forester distillery, we collect all of the barrel char, our wood dust, and our other compostable materials. And this is turned into fertilizer by a local industrial composting facility. So we don't throw away the barrel char. We don't throw away the wood dust. It's turned into another product that's used as fertilizer, getting more value out of it rather than ending up in the landfill.

So that's one of the things that you guys have that not all distilleries have is that you have your own barrel manufacturing facility. So when you guys are making your own barrels, you have that part of the product as well.

Yes, that's correct. So there is the brown foreman coop ridge where the barrels are made. That's why we also have such a strong focus on white oak and white oak sustainability is these barrels are unique to bourbon and they are in white oak. And we have to focus on white oak from the long term to make sure that there is enough white oak and 60 to 82 forever to be able to make these barrels not just for brown foreman, but for the entire bourbon industry as well.

Yeah, the White Oak Initiative. Can you go into detail what Brown Foreman does for that?

Yeah, absolutely. I think this is a great question because White Oak is so important in the bourbon industry. You probably know that it's the primary material that's used in making barrels and it imparts the spirits characteristic color and flavor. So we're very focused on white oak and white oak sustainability. And we were a founding member of the white oak initiative, which is a coalition of stakeholders that are all dependent on white oak. So this is different industries, it's universities, it's state and federal agencies, private landowners, conservation organizations, and trade associations working across the regions of where white oak is grown. So it really was created because there is a concern about the long term availability of white oak and that the regeneration of older white oak trees is. not happening fast enough to be able to support long-term sustainability. Of course, this is a concern for our industry because we need to be able to have white oak to make our barrels. So we were a founding member with the White Oak Initiative. We helped establish it as a long-term initiative to conserve and protect America's white oak forest. We know that it takes about 60 to 80 years for a white oak to mature to the point that it can be used for a bourbon whiskey barrel. So this is really a long-term strategy for brown foreman, which is how so much of sustainability is. We have to start thinking about these things now to make sure that in 10 to 50 to 60 to 100 years, we have the same materials that we can use for our products. So as a member of the White Oak Initiative, we are focused on this long-term sustainability of the White Oak ecosystems. We have a working group in place at Brown Foreman right now to establish updated sustainable forestry goals. And we use the research that comes out of the White Oak Initiative the science-based reports where they talk about areas that are best suited for regeneration, we use that information to make sure that the work that we do in sustainable forestry and white oak is impactful and it's effective and it's targeted. And the White Oak Initiative is a great partner to be able to ensure that the work that we do really is the most impactful that we can be.

And Miley, how do you prepare for a position like you have? I'm sure you went to school, but is this something you had to learn quite a bit once you entered into or were you well prepared walking in the door?

I don't think anyone is ever prepared for any job when they walk into the door. So much of this has been what I have learned on the job and with great mentors and great teams. And especially in sustainability, anyone who is working in this space can agree that our teams are small. And so we really have to partner with our procurement teams, with our site teams that are different distilleries. And I've been thankful that I've gotten to work with great people who really have helped teach me about this industry and have been able to learn so much of it. But I did receive my Master's of Sustainability Management from the Kogod School of Business from American University. So that's where I was right before this. I was working at the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research. And both of those combined, when I started the job, I certainly had a leg up. I knew, for example, the theory of circularity and some of the technical pieces. But like anyone starting a new job, you learn as much as you can to be able to be successful.

Yeah, and there's that whole adapt like you adapted to the business that you're in. It's I mean, you came from food, but this is similar, but not similar to I think.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, my journey to sustainability, it kind of did start in food actually, but at a very, very small scale level of why I was interested in this work and why I do what I do now really goes back to a decade ago when I was finishing my undergraduate degree at UC Santa Barbara. I was a UC global food initiative fellow and I was essentially tasked with looking for underutilized space on campus. for students to grow food. So whether this is like a concrete hallway or parking lots or rooftops or areas that are not being utilized, the goal is to have students grow food and then have that food be provided to the food bank at UC Santa Barbara. And actually years later when I was interviewing at Brown Farm and I was asked about what my biggest achievement was, and it was creating these long-term plans to start a campus farm run by students. which ultimately launched in 2019. And then after that, I spent about four years working for the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, which was started by Congress in 2014. And we were creating public-private partnerships focused on really big issues in food and also agriculture. And so then I started working with some beverage companies then too, in climate change research and food waste research and water stewardship. And that's when I went back and got my master's degree. and pivoted to corporate sustainability because I was working with companies like McDonald's and PepsiCo and Walmart and could see the huge traction and the scale that these companies have. And so when I graduated with my master's degree, I knew that I wanted to work for a company with agriculture at its roots. And so I did that slight transition from food to mainly the beverage side, but I knew that I wanted to work on something in agriculture and for a company that has sustainability integrated into it. And that's what I found with Ron Foreman. And of course, now I expand beyond agriculture to scale sustainability and packaging and logistics and forestry and climate action. But I'm fortunate that I still get to have a focus in sustainable agriculture, stemming back from a decade ago of when I was first interested in this work.

Well, it's fantastic. Such a rich education history in your background. I think you're well suited for the job, and they're probably very lucky to have you. I did have one follow-up question to the White Oak Initiative, and that is that, as we well know, White Oak is not only used in making barrels, but it's also used in making a lot of products, particularly those used in the home, like flooring and things like that. Are those companies also part of that initiative?

Yes, I believe that there are some companies from some of these other industries that are also part of it. If they're not part of the White Oak Initiative, and that's certainly something that we could easily check, I know that there have been other industry alignments where different industries have come together to advocate for a long-term focus on White Oak sustainability.

I might add, I know the Bourbon on the Banks Board agreed to donate some money to the White Oak Initiative this past year. The Permanent on the Banks is a festival, Miley in Frankfurt, that is on the first Saturday in October. And so I think there's a lot more places getting really involved with that, especially since there was a small, you know, there for, I guess, maybe a couple of years ago, there was a There was a bit of a panic about a shortage of barrels. So it's good to see, you know, a lot of people like jumping on the bandwagon with the White Oak Initiative, I think.

Yeah, absolutely. It really crosses industries. And there are trade associations that are part of the White Oak Initiative in Alabama and Tennessee and more. And those trade associations, they don't just represent the bourbon voice. They represent all industries that are using different forest products. So white oak sustainability really is an issue that crosses so many different industries because it's a cornerstone of many products that people are purchasing today. And it's also a cornerstone species of forest in general.

All right, well, it's time for us to take a short break. We've got a lot more to talk about in the second half. We're going to get into wind and solar and all kinds of fun stuff. We are going to continue sipping on what we have in our glass. And when we come back, more from Ali Hartzok and all about Brown Forman's supply chain sustainability. We'll be right back, folks.

Welcome back, Roadies. We're here talking with Miley Hartsuk. Jim and Shannon and I are getting schooled on what sustainability is all about. It's pretty impressive. So, Jim, what do you think?

I think I'm learning something and I didn't realize that there was so much to a sustainability program, and I'm sure we're going to hear a lot more in this second half, but I guess before I let you get to your first probing question, I would ask, sustainability is obviously something that is increasingly important these days. But I want to know how the company, in addition to the good feeling you get by helping the environment, do you also get a financial return on your efforts as well? Is it something that the shareholders can also look at and say, that's a good thing? Did I say that right? So you obviously want to do it because it's the right thing to do, but do you also gain benefit from it as well?

Yeah, I think that's a really good question. So many companies now don't just do sustainability to be able to talk about it and to have some press releases go out. And that's never why I got into sustainability. I wanted to work in sustainability because I think it's important from a risk management perspective. And so if we look at some of the other benefits that platforming gets by focusing on sustainability besides maybe communicating some of this work and We also know, like you said, it's the right thing to do. And we share these places where we operate with our communities. And it's important to be able to recognize that as well. But we also are mitigating risks. And there's a risk with companies, any companies, but companies, those that are relying on agricultural commodities and water and wood to be able to make sure that we have enough of these commodities forever to be able to make these products. So the White Oak example is a good example of In 10 to 15 years, the amount of white oak is expected to rapidly decline. And there might not be enough white oak in 100 years to be able to make the amount of bourbon barrels that we need without action today. So it's important for Brown Form and for others in this industry to be able to take action today to mitigate that risk of not having enough white oak. But we could say the same thing for water and to make sure that we have a resilient supply of grains to be able to go into our products. And so that's a benefit of this risk management and this risk mitigation. And then there are areas in sustainability where there is a financial benefit, energy efficiency, as a good example. By using less energy and becoming more energy efficient, costs can sometimes go down. And so there are examples like that. When you take a more sustainable action, it reduces cost. And then there are other examples where it maybe does that as well. And it also mitigates a risk. And then when we talk about it, and that's a positive for our community as well. So sustainability is certainly multifaceted. And there are a number of reasons that companies pursue these sustainability initiatives. I think increasingly it's around risk mitigation. And certainly investors and shareholders for many companies are interested in that risk mitigation and the long-term sustainability, speaking from financial sustainability of companies.

And I think consumers in many cases would rather purchase or give their patronage to companies who are aware of the environment and are concerned about it and doing their part.

There are so many different stakeholders now that are asking about sustainability from government regulations to consumers are interested in this, to different retailers that we sell our products to, to investors, to insurance underwriters. There are lots of different stakeholders that are interested in this work. But certainly, there's well-documented research out there now that consumers are focused on sustainability. And so we want to be able to provide our consumers with more sustainable products.

Having read your press release about sustainability and going to your website, one of the things that really stuck out to me was the wind-powered whiskey, because it just sounds so cool. And it sounds like it should be on a label to me. But can you tell us a little more about that?

Yeah, absolutely. So I think this is actually one of the most exciting projects that Brown Foreman has engaged in. In 2018, we were actually the first major US spirits producer to commit to a renewable energy power purchase agreement in the United States, which was the East Forks wind project in Kansas. And this is a really significant milestone on our journey of sustainability. So just for those who might be interested in this term, power purchase agreements, they're contracts that allow companies like Brown Foreman to invest in renewable energy at a large scale. This is because maybe sometimes we can't always have renewable energy projects to the scale that we need at our specific facilities and production sites. That's why this project is in Kansas. And so we entered into a contract. We were able to add renewable energy to the grid in terms of wind energy. And then this offsets our greenhouse gas emissions from our electricity usage at our US facilities. And it's been really impactful. It offsets more than 90% of our US electricity usage in the United States. So it's one of our really key projects that is part of our ambitious goal to source 100% renewable electricity by 2030 and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 as well. So it's certainly a testament to sustainability and to the belief in the power that we have in renewable energy. And we're proud to be really at the forefront of this movement of being able to offset almost all of our US electricity usage.

Now, do you think that wind power will be the only way you go? Or is there a possibility that you could even maybe look into solar energy usage?

Absolutely. With a goal like 100% sourcing, sourcing 100% renewable electricity by 2030, we certainly just can't rely on wind power. We're very proud of the project that we've done in Kansas, and it's a big step towards that commitment to renewable energy. But wind is just one aspect of renewable energy. Like you mentioned, solar is another well-known form of renewable energy. And when we look at renewables, We look at this comprehensively and holistically and look at a wide source of renewable energy that each other unique benefits for our different locations and applications because we have so many sites around the globe so we actually are consistently looking into solar energy. In 2022, our Slane facility, which is in Ireland, implemented a solar project that now provides about 4% of the site's energy demand. And our New Bridge site, which is in Scotland, that supports our three Scotch whiskey brands, has integrated solar electricity pretty recently. And now a portion of our bottling operations are actually run on solar energy. So all of these initiatives are part of our broader goal to source 100% renewable electricity by 2030. We're actually about 79% as of our most recent fiscal year of sourcing renewable electricity. And we're continuously exploring opportunities to incorporate more renewable energy sources into how we make our products.

So I'm just trying to get my brain wrapped around the idea of this East Forks wind project and how that functions. But just to make sure I understand, and maybe this is helpful for those who are listening to this episode or maybe where I am, and don't grasp it entirely, but we're all plugged into this big, giant power grid in the United States. It's sort of like a big pool of energy and that energy comes from various sources, whether it be wind power, solar, fossil fuels, whatever that all that pours into this grid and we all receive that power. But you guys are actually investing in contracts from a specifically a wind project so that you're encouraging at the end of the day, more of these wind projects, more wind production through those contracts, and therefore, in trying to cover all of your usage in that way. If more companies were to do that, if more companies were to invest in these wind projects, these solar projects, these more renewable energy sources, these sources of energies would expand and grow at a rapid rate and eventually replace fossil fuels. Is that correct?

And I think that's what we're seeing is that there are many companies that are quite interested in procuring more renewable energy, whether it's solar or whether it's wind. And I mentioned the power purchase agreement because that's one of the most common mechanisms to be able to procure renewable electricity is through essentially adding renewable energy to a grid, to the grid through going through one of these contracts. And so that's why we've seen more and more wind energy and solar energy in the United States, but also globally as well. And I think we'll continue to see that be added to the grid.

So Miley, I'm a water guy and you guys have a water stewardship program that I'm very interested in hearing about because I mean, if you're familiar with drinking water issues, it seems like there's always something new coming out the door. So like right now, the Forever Chemicals is a big thing out there right now, PFOA and PFOS. But can you tell us a little bit about your water stewardship program?

At Brown Foreman, our water stewardship programs are primarily focused on protecting the health of our key watersheds and the communities where we operate and achieving water balance in high risk and business critical watersheds by 2030. So water is certainly an interesting case in sustainability and it's something that's very local, which you are certainly well attuned to if you work in water. Unlike our climate work and our greenhouse gas emissions, which are global, our water work has to be very localized because we draw from different water sources for our different facilities. And I think most importantly too, we share these water sources with the communities where we operate. And that's important from a long-term sustainability perspective, especially if we start to talk about water quantity issues, these communities that would be facing the same issues. So it's very important for Brown Farming to focus on, especially in our high-risk watersheds, where we in the future potentially could be facing a higher water risk to be able to focus on water stewardship. So we've done a number of different projects throughout some of our facilities. At our Slane Irish distillery in Ireland, we operate a rain catchment system where we collect and store rainwater from the roofs of all of our distillery buildings. This is then treated and it's used for processed water, which reduces the amount of water that we have to actually draw from the river that's adjacent to our Slane distillery. From 2021 to 2022, Slane actually reduced their water consumption per liter of whiskey produced by 32%. by focusing on water efficiency throughout these production process and reusing water wherever possible. And then our tequila facility in Mexico, certainly another focus given the potential water concerns in Mexico that the country in some areas is facing, it could be facing in the future. So we have two specialized plants for wastewater treatment at our Casa Herradura facility in Jalisco, Mexico. These plans ensure that we meet the water discharge quality standards set by the government of Mexico, and it also reduces our fossil fuel usage. The renewable biogas that's produced by these wastewater systems is used by steam boilers, which reduces emissions and then creates more of a closed loop system. So those are a few examples of how we focused on water stewardship, on water efficiencies, I'm not certainly a water expert for much of this work. I work on it more from the supply chain side and working with farmers on talking about irrigation systems. But what I will say about water is that we have to look at it so localized and some of our sites will not have as many water concerns as some of our other ones. And we have to look at that in the supply chain too. Some of our commodities may not have water risk concerns, but others might. And we have to take a very localized and targeted approach to anything that we do in water.

Has Brown Foreman found it difficult having to deal with other statutes and environmental laws in other countries? And America has its laws. And I was just curious to know if it's easier in other countries or far more difficult?

I'm actually not too sure. We have a few other people on my team who work more on that side in the environmental health and safety work and complying with local environmental regulations. I know in general that having so many different production sites in different countries certainly can present challenges to comply with all of these different regulatory requirements, but complying with local laws and regulations on the environment is something that's business critical for the company. So it's something that is certainly adhered to no matter what.

When I hear a lot of times about you know, companies and well, companies, the governmental goals for sustainability or for, you know, reduction of fossil fuel usage or whatever it is. There's always these very lofty goals, 2030, 2035, you hear a lot of that stuff. And it always seems that those kinds of things are kind of pie in the sky stuff, you know, pie in the sky numbers, we may or may not reach them. But it sounds to me like you guys are really well ahead of when you're talking about how much your power is covered by wind. I mean, my goodness, that's that's like a major percentage. So does 2030 look like a real achievable goal for you guys?

It's certainly ambitious, especially now that we're talking in 2024. We're no longer in 2021, and we had nine years to be able to achieve these goals. I think Ron Farman's goals are ambitious, but we have a great team and we have great plans in place to be able to achieve them. So we've spent the past two years setting strategies and setting plans, outlining roadmaps and resources required to be able to achieve some of these goals and are now seeing those strategies be translated from high level strategic work. into actual on the ground programs, like some of these solar energy projects that we have that with our wind project now has the 79% renewable electricity sourced. So I think it's exciting to have ambitious goals and have a high standard for ourselves. But I also am appreciative of the amount of work that the company has put into setting actionable transition plans leading up to 2030 in our goals.

You guys obviously have really set the standard for sustainability, I think. And one can only hope that some of the other distilleries and companies like that will follow suit. I mean, I don't know if any other company like that reached out to you guys about your sustainability for like an assistance, I guess.

Well, I think that most people would be surprised actually how much the spirits industry is doing around sustainability. There are other major players that actually brown form in. speaks with on a regular basis about sustainability. Brown Foreman and several other beverage companies and also those in spirits are part of the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable. The acronym is BEER. And we have regular meetings where we talk about sustainability. We identify roadmaps for the future and we share learnings. And I think that's something that's really unique about sustainability. So There are lots of other companies where we are looking at this very holistically. And the more that we all do, the more that it lifts the entire industry. And I think that that's something that we're certainly seeing in spirits that it's not just Brown Forman. Our competitors are working on this. And actually, when we all have similar goals, whether it's on climate action or sustainable packaging or sustainable agriculture, there's a lot more synergies that we tend to see in the industry. And ultimately, that means that we're creating a more sustainable industry and more sustainable products for our consumers to use.

The one last question I might ask is, what's your favorite brown form and product, Charlie?

My favorite brown form and product is Woodford Double Oaked. I think it's a classic. And I work closely with Elizabeth McCall and some of our sustainable agriculture work. So it's always a pleasure when I am able to drink some Woodford Double Oaked and also know some of the sustainability practices that are going into our products, to me, it makes it taste all that much better.

Well, that's definitely a good choice. I'm always happy to have a glass of Woodford Double Oat. Well, Miley, it's been such a pleasure to have you on the show today. I do want to give you the opportunity to give our listeners some links to more information so they can find out more if they're interested. Maybe a way to get in touch with you if they have more questions or in an email address where they can find out more. That would be fantastic. I'll turn it over to you.

Well, thank you so much for having me. It's been such a pleasure to share more about BrownForman and sustainability and how we have integrated this across our brands. If you're interested in learning more about sustainability at BrownForman and some of the work that we have upcoming, of course, in a podcast like this, and I can only touch on some of the work that we do in sustainability, You can visit our website. We have a full page dedicated to sustainability, talking about our 2030 goals that we have upcoming, our most recent goal that we just achieved in sustainable agriculture, and lots of other information on our brownformant.com website.

Well, fantastic. Thank you again for being on the show. We certainly appreciate your time and we're very excited about what you guys are doing and I just hope it catches on and even the smaller craft distilleries would be able to pile on and be a part of this as well. That would be fantastic. But you can find The Bourbon Road on all social media outlets. You can find us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, threads, TikTok. We're kind of everywhere. We put a show out every single week. Every Wednesday, we'll come out with an episode. We'll have some guests on from industry, like Miley. We'll drink through a few whiskeys. A lot of times, we'll tell you what we think about them and maybe make some recommendations. Every week, it's a lot of fun. Todd and I, we got the best job in the world, don't we, Todd? Can't complain. All right. It's just all right, he says. But yeah, we have a great time doing this show. We hope you'll join us every single week. You can find her more about our show on the bourbonroad.com. We have all our episodes there, our blog articles. You can also find our gear, our glasses and t-shirts and hats and all that kind of stuff. The sales of those help get us down the road to that next interview. But until the next time, we'll see you down the Bourbon Road.

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