414. United Spirits Event with Matt and Jamar

Hello 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.

Hello listeners. This is your fellow roadie, Matt Simons, AKA DJ Seven Foot. And I want to invite you to the next big bourbon event in Louisville, Kentucky on October 24th. It's the inaugural United Spirits elevated bourbon fall festival. I'm going to tell you all the details at the break. Stick around.

All right, listeners. Well, welcome back again to the bourbon road podcast. Uh, you got Todd and I in the room today. We also have some guests on the show. We've got, uh, Matt Simons and Jamar Mack. And, uh, today we're going to be focusing a little bit on, uh, on a, an event that's taking place in Louisville here real soon. And we want to make sure that everybody gets the details on it. But, uh, before we get started, uh, we've all got a little bit of whiskey in our glass right now. Why don't we just talk a little bit about. Uh, what we're stepping on tonight, you guys have been actually, you guys are actually at watch Hill proper, which is a, uh, very well-respected and well-known, uh, bourbon bar in Louisville, Kentucky, out in Norman cop Norton commons. You guys have been out there with Andrea Mitchell from mickters tonight and, uh, having a great time. Did you get to try a little bit of really good mickters whiskey?

Well, we tried to get on Jim to break out the celebration, but they just wouldn't do it. So, yeah, we have been drinking some good whiskey. You know, Mickers has been a great partner for this event. And they actually had a tasting here tonight. They had their four, you know, their stock bourbons that you can find anywhere. Their sour mash, their single barrel rye, their small batch bourbon and their American whiskey. And I was talking about the event and doing some pouring, but Andrea was actually in a private room here and she was doing a really high-end tasting with some of their 10-year products. And it was a reserve, kind of a reservation only type of event that she was doing and getting to talk to the master of maturation from makers must have been a really real good thrill for the people that are in here. Probably about 25, 30 people were in that room tonight, but Jamar and I right now, are having a little uh mickters 10-year bourbon uh and compliments of andrea thank her so much for that and uh jamar what do you uh what do you think about this i mean anything that's aged 10 years is uh is always not too bad right i mean i think mickers is one of those brands that you know has set in that kind of like craft uh distillery lane for a very long time but

When people are starting to kind of reach into that more like premium side, you know, I think that's one of those brands that people kind of like lean towards. And I think they've done an amazing job of working on consistency and trying to put out a product that, you know, whether it's 2019 or whether it's 2024, you're going to get that same kind of flavor profile you're looking for from them.

Yeah, you know one thing that Jim that stood out to me to while we were talking with Andrea was just I mean she just kept going back to this and just a natural conversation she's not trying to pitch us we had dinner, you know, she's not trying to sell us on anything and she's like you know really all I care about Jamar is. jumping into the quality, you know, our people, our quality, our consistency. She was like, yeah, we could release a 12 year, a 15 year, an 18 year, 22 year and all this different stuff. But we really want to make sure that we're focused on quality of our products that we have and that we're giving people what they expect when they open a 25 year or a 20 year bottle of our product, we want them to have a real experience. I don't know about you, Jamar. You've been in this bourbon business more professionally than I have. But to me, that tells me that it's a brand that really cares about the end user.

Absolutely.

Now, Andrea and Dan, they're well known in the industry and they've both been on the show here before, but you're right about their focus on quality. And one of the things that really grabs me when they talk about their product is the fact that they do a very low barrel entry proof, which Uh, really draws that, that, that flavor out of the barrel. And, you know, they've always done that and they've always stuck to that. And that's not necessarily what the accountants want to hear, right? The accountants don't always want to hear that you're barreling at 108 proof. They want you to barrel to 125 proof, right? That's where the money's at. So when you make a choice to do it at one Oh eight, that means you're dedicated to quality. There's no doubt about it. Very true.

Yeah. And, and, and for those who like, no, you know, matrix has a very, like the sense of, uh, uh, filtration system that they do, you know, and, and every brand itself has his own like filtration. Um, so they definitely are very focused on consistency and quality. Um, you know, and definitely could be one of those brands that have a lot more, uh, available skews available if they want it to, for sure.

Absolutely.

Well, Todd, what, what are you sipping on tonight? Jim, I've got some spirits of French Lick Lost River. This is a multi-grain bourbon. So it's got wheat and rye and corn and malted barley. And I believe it's even got some kasha grain in it. So yeah. Awesome. Yeah.

And I got to admit. I thought you were going to say cotton at first there, Todd. I was like, I've never had a bourbon with cotton in it. But you know.

But if you knew the distiller, you would understand why. He's pretty unique. He tries a lot of different stuff. But I got to admit, Matt and Jamar, I'm pretty jealous. I've yet, even though it's been open a while, yet to make it up to watch y'all proper.

Let me tell you about Watch Hill proper here. So Jamar has been connected with Watch Hill for a long time, but Chef Mike Crouch here and I went to high school together and Chef Mike Crouch started his career. Well, he started, of course, he went to school and then he went to France, you know, and he got classically trained in French cuisine. He was at Uptown Cafe and he was at Bourbon's Bistro for like I mean a long time people a lot of people know him from Bourbons and then he had his bistro 1860 and then he's been out here now since Watch Hill opened and I mean what a guy and he's gonna be at our bourbon event that I know we're gonna talk about here a little bit later he's gonna be on site whipping up some of his famous cuisine right there in front of you but they're whiskey and bourbon collection here. I mean, even their wine cellar is pretty good, but their spirits collection, if you haven't been here, guys, it is a wall. Think of like an English library with a big ladder. It's like a three-story, two-story wall of bourbon that's about, I don't know, 60 feet wide. And it's just, it's incredible. They have a front bar. And when you walk in, Todd, a lot of people will look at that front bar and be like, Wow. We heard about this. It's amazing. That's just their lobby bar. When you come into the restaurant and you see this library of whiskey and bourbon and rye, it is absolutely amazing. It's something to see for sure. Yeah. You got to see it.

Well, gentlemen, I don't know if you recognize this bottle. I I'm drinking on the 10 year as well. So I've got the, uh, the McKenna 10.

Yeah. You know, a past bourbon of the year award winner.

Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. It's a, it's a great pour. It, it had its, uh, it had its hay day. I'm going to say about five or six years ago when it made bourbon of the year and, uh, prices went through the roof and it was very hard to find. Now it's starting to, you can start to see it every now and then now, which is good. Uh, it's nice to be able to walk out and find a bottle of that, even if the price is a little bit elevated from where it was. If I remember correctly. It used to be in the $30 range. Now it's a little more like 50 or 60. Right.

So, yeah, I used to buy it for $30 at evergreen there in middle town, uh, or in my local spirit shop out in Shelby County when I lived out there. Yeah. Yeah. Now you're, you're looking over over 50 bucks, but the good news is. If you're in the Louisville area and you're looking for some McKenna, speaking of Cox Evergreen, I just have one by my house. They've still got several boxes of it in there, so you can come in and pick some up for that $52, $53 price or whatever it is nowadays.

I think still, for me, it's still a pretty good price, right? Because you're talking about a 10-year whiskey, uh, that is, uh, a hundred proof and, uh, made by a quality distiller that you just can't beat it. So Jamar, I wanted to, I wanted to try to let our listeners know a little bit about your background and, and, and what you do in the bourbon world and what brings you into the, into the mix here with, uh, Metro United way and the United spirits event.

Yeah, so as far as myself, I've always known the side of hospitality and charity. I tell people, you know, when I first got into collecting bourbon and drinking bourbon, I paid $50 for a full flight of Van Winkle. So I got to try 10 year through 23 for $50. It also included the 13 year ride. So I tell you, I started this in a time where, you had bars that were taking Van Winkle 10 year and making jello shots out of it. It was a completely different time.

Can you imagine that now?

Well, my favorite story to tell you is the first time that I ever bought a bottle of Van Wink was a 15-year. My grandmother made bourbon balls out of it. But that bottle cost $54. And at that time, I literally remember thinking like, who would spend $54 on a bottle of alcohol? Right now, we all would run spend that amount on that. But that's my side of it as like an enthusiast and a collector. But I've been putting on charity events since 2011. I've been doing verbiage events now for the last eight, nine years. And what my really kind of focus is within the industry is really on charity and access. You know, there's not a person listening to this that hasn't walked into a store to ask, you know, do you have this or that? And I tell you all the time, there was just a time where walking into a store and even asking for, you know, we can name any bottle, it just wasn't a very relevant thing. And then myself, you know, being in Louisville, there wasn't really much of a an industry or a market that was very comfortable with just, you know, having diversity in that space. So that was my big thing was just trying to work with distilleries, especially mickers. They were one of the first distilleries that reached out to us to work with us to just kind of create this kind of space where we say that, you know, everybody's included, you know, irregardless of anything that may make us different, but we're all here to enjoy a spirit. So that's why I have now partnered with Metro United Way. uh this like i said this is my eighth and ninth year doing a charity holiday event this year is in the fall uh some october 24th you can get a lot of that information on kobe's instagram so kobe is k-o-b-b-e so two b's just like kobe ryan and kobe state um and what we just try to do moving forward is just to help non-profits who, you know, clearly are all trying to raise money, but support them through putting on their own events versus just Kobe itself in an event and then making donations.

And I have to tell you, Jim, you know, to add to that, and I know we'll talk more about the event in our second half here, but Jamar, I've got to know him over just the last, you know, six months or so. He knows our chief impact officer who's a member of Kobe, Robert Gunn, He reached out to Robert and said, Hey, uh, you know, I do a big event every year. I'd love to support Metro United way. I really passionate about the work that you guys do. Um, and you know, let's do something. And so, uh, I kind of got thrown in the mix. As you know, Jim, we've known each other personally for some time. Now I do a lot of different events, including the Shelbyville Jeep invasion. And I've been a musician and DJ now for over 30 years. And, um, I thought, well, yeah, I can throw an event together and we'll have some bourbon. It'd be a good time. I have learned so much to the school of hard knocks. Jamar has taught me about throwing a really world-class bourbon event, and that's what we're going to have. We'll talk more about that in a minute, but I want to just make sure that I acknowledge Jamar and Kobe's commitment to the benevolence in bourbon and to the charitable aspect of bourbon. And I also want to acknowledge the distilleries. Jim, as you know, you've been in this industry for a long time as well. Todd, you've been around this. These distilleries are they're more than gracious when they get behind a really good event and they know it's going to a really good cause and they are very open with, you know, providing bottles and experiences and pours to attract people in, to raise money for a good cause, but also to enjoy their bourbon and enjoy their spirits. And Jamar's helped us to curate a really phenomenal show that we're going to have here in about three weeks. By the time this airs, there'll be two weeks, but yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, Jamar, it's a pleasure to have you on the show today. And I, and I'll tell you what, I think I'd like to reach out to you here soon and maybe we can do that. We can do another episode where we just focus on Kobe and kind of the work you do there and, uh, and, and have a nice, uh, focused event just on your, on your organization there. That would be great.

I'd love that. I've got my own holiday event coming in December. I've been my 13th year doing that. So I'd love to come back on the show and let me talk about our continued, you know, moving forward of like trying to help industry and work with urban brands.

You know, Jim, let me add to that here with with what Jamar said is that, um, In the six months that I've been hanging out with him, you know, it's like, uh, it's like in sports, right? When you do things the right way, um, your legacy carries on not just as the player, but as the man, right? It's like Walter Payton or whatever. Now I'm not Jamar. I'm not blowing you up too much here.

Oh yeah. I love that.

I'm not comparing you to Walter Payton, but everywhere we go, um, people are like, Hey, Jamar. Yes. And they want to talk to Jamar and they, and they, it's always very, um, Like heartfelt and warm, uh, because they know that when Jamar puts on an event, it's going to benefit others. Uh, but it's also going to be top line. So the brands want to work with him, right? Cause he puts on a great event.

Well, it's, it's a pleasure to have both you guys on the show. You, I mean, you're, you're, uh, you're doing great work here and you know, Metro United way has a tremendous reputation, uh, for helping people and doing good work. And I think that, uh, you know, bourbon in general. is very generous, right? The whole industry seems to be very generous and always there, all these distilleries always seem to be like all in when there's a good, there's a good event and something that has, uh, uh, you know, some big impact in the community. So it's always nice to have that. So appreciate you both coming on the show today.

I was just going to add, it's amazing to see, you know, not only do they do the charity events, but Bourbon has always been awesome when, you know, like tragedy strikes, like the floods in Eastern Kentucky and then the tornadoes in Western Kentucky. It's amazing what they can, you know, the power they have to help Kentucky and help, you know, charity. So, hats off to you, Jamarda, for making that happen for the United Way.

Yeah, I remember, you know, you were part of some of those events back then, you know, I know you have been, and we don't have to list out all your accomplishments and events and stuff, but I know that you were a big part of, especially after the tornadoes and floods, of putting some of those events together that were just really great. Yeah, thank you. Everybody's having a swig here. I think I'm going to try a little bit more of this Mickey's tin here. I will tell you that it is a nice pour. I get a lot of kind of a... I would say like some black cherry kind of on the front end. That's what my palate's reading off that, right? Yeah. And then it's got a really nice hug, but not a heart burning hug, right? You know, like it hits the chest and it feels really nice. It sits on the tongue and that cherry stays there. So that kind of that dark cherry, this flavor is what really resonates on my tongue there. Even, you know, seconds if not minutes after taking a nice blast of this. So it's very good.

I think sometimes when you, when you get into a bar and you see a bottle of that Michter's 10 up on the shelf, you look at it and you go, maybe this is when I should try it. You know, maybe this is the time I should give it a shot. Cause I don't have a bottle of my home bar, but, and it's usually somewhere in about the $25 range for a pour. Is that, am I about right on that? It's usually around 25. Sure.

Unless you're, unless you're where I live downtown in Nulu, then it might be 30 or 40, but you know, whatever. I'm just complaining. I'm just complaining, Jim.

I've got to hop off here. So I just wanted to, you know, say thank you. Um, I hope everyone supports this event. You know, we're curating an amazing auction for the event. Um, it's all the auctions and believe me online. If you can't attend the event, you can still participate. There's a lot of information by going to Metro United way. Yeah.

Metro United way.org slash United spirits. And, uh, we'll make sure that we have that on the posts.

Yeah, a lot of information there that can be found. But we're just asking people just to register for the auction, support it in the way that you can. I mean, we all know how first year events go. And the more success that we have, the more that we can continue to do it. 100% of the process is going to Metro United Way for all the programs they do. So thank you so much for Jim and Todd for just having myself and Matt on here. I know Matt's going to continue on after this. But thank you all so much for the space and the time and the energy share. And cheers and toast to everybody.

Cheers. Thank you so much, guys. So Matt, now that Jamar's had to step out, because it's a busy night for you guys, how'd you get involved with Kobe and Jamar?

Well, Todd, if you don't mind, I'm gonna take you all the way back. For me, in my bourbon journey, I grew up in a household where my stepfather, who raised me up from the time I was seven or eight years old, he owned four liquor stores, two in Lexington and two in Shelbyville, Kentucky. He owned Big Daddy's Liquors, which is still there on the corner of Woodland and Euclid in Lexington, and he owned Lansdowne Wine and Liquors, which is now where Drake's and Malone's is. They're on Tate's Creek Road, but that was formerly lands down wine and liquors. He also owns Spirit Shop East and West in Shelbyville, which one is now a pawn shop and the other one is Paradise Liquors, their express location in Shelbyville. Another great store, by the way. Anyhow, I was laughing earlier about You know, I didn't realize this then, but just being in the bourbon world over the last 20 years in some regards, you know, all the stuff that we got from the reps, right? Like not just bourbon, but one time we got to go to a Louisville Redbirds game and meet Julio Gallo, you know, the famous one, you know, with the mustache. And then you're also dating yourself there, Matt.

Yeah, well, I was made for Redbirds.

And then my dad got a first edition of Bookers, the first run of Bookers. And we had that for years until a drunken college friend came over and tapped into it one night while I was asleep, unbeknownst to me until about a week later when I saw the paper sticking out of the bottom of the box. The box, by the way, that had been up on the shelf for 15 years and never moved. But anyway, I digress. I got involved. I got involved with Metro United Way. I've only been working there for about a year and a half. I was in the technology sector for K-12 education for many years as a sales rep for software and hardware for Kentucky schools mostly. And got into the nonprofit sector through a series of events that we won't want to take up the whole podcast on. But I really admired the work that Metro United Way was doing. I had seen it from afar. And a job came up and is their director of corporate development, which is what I am now. And I applied for it and got it. I had no idea what fundraising really meant. But everyone said, hey, it's a lot like sales. You build relationships, you tell people what work that you're all are doing, and you ask for their partnership and support. And I have found that to be true. And people are so gracious, especially with an organization like Metro United Way, who's been around for 107 years. and is supporting Shelby, Odum, Bullitt, Jefferson County here in Kentucky and also Clark, Floyd and Harrison in Indiana. And so we there's United Ways all over the country and they all have kind of their own territory. Some of them like United Way of Scott County, Indiana just covers Scott County, right? And some of them cover more of a conglomerate of areas like United Way of the Bluegrass, which covers, you know, Frankfurt, and Leicester, and Nicholasville, and Paris, and all those stuff, like we do, right? And so, Jamar really reached out to us through one of his COBE members, Robert Gunn, and said, Actually, it's a funnier story, Jim. You and Todd may identify with this. He said, I have a second bedroom that I haven't used in six years because it's filled with bourbon and boxes and stuff. I'd like to donate some of this bourbon to start you on your path to a successful bourbon event. And so he brought those 90 something bottles. They're now not in my office, but the office next to me under lock and key. And then he helped us with his relationships with all these other bourbon brands to curate the brands that are going to be there that I will talk about in the next segment. I'm going to tease that a little bit, but we've got over 15 brands are going to be on site. Several of them are bringing their serving trailers and wagons and things like that. And then we partnered with Watch Your Proper and Chef Mike Crouch to provide some just awesome food, along with Crowler Catering, who does a lot of the Kentucky Burby event, but they also do a lot of Kentucky Derby events. And their food is just awesome. And I've had it at several different places and I wanted to partner with them. We've got live music coming in from Kevin and Dan. And Jim, you've probably seen Kevin and Dan at the Barrel Room there in Shelby County, Kevin, Casey, and Nick Provato. they're going to provide a great background of music. And we'll talk a little bit more about that. But that's kind of how I got into bourbon was polite drinking it, right? And I grew up around it. And of course, when I was a kid at field parties, just drinking Jim Beam and Mountain Dew, that didn't count. But as I got older and really started to, as Jamar said, bourbon has gone on this huge boom, but it wasn't super popular 15 or so years ago, right? I mean, it was a kind of niche. And if you were kind of a guy that, you know, waited an hour to get a bottle, people were like, you have a problem, you know? I'm joking. But yeah, you know, so I kind of got into it that way and just started, you know, sipping a little bit here and there with buddies. It's kind of like how people get into the Grateful Dead or whatever. You know, it's like your buddy says, hey, man, try this out. And then next thing you know, you got a collection. So.

Yeah. Well, I, it's, it seems, you know, Matt, you and I have crossed paths many times and we're good friends and you've been on the show a couple of times and we've had a great time whenever you come on. But it seems like every time I go to an event, you, you, you're the MC, you're the guy running the show. You, you're, you're the one behind the microphone. You know, you're kind of, you're kind of keeping order to things and keeping everybody moving at these events. And I'm going to assume for this event, you're probably the MC as well. Is that correct?

Sort of, yeah. So I'm going to be performing in the same but different role. So because Jamar and I are really coordinating this together, I'm going to be the kind of the run of show guy. I've been doing all the behind the scenes work and the event space and the layout and all this stuff. And Jamar's obviously been instrumental in that as well. We are going to let our Robert Gunn, who I mentioned earlier, he is a former high school principal and a very engaging personality. He's going to emcee it, but we're having finished productions, produce our silent and live auctions. And so Kevin Harned, who many people know from the news, will be our auctioneer that night. Kevin's going to be kind of doing the run of show for the program part of it. So just so people know, I'll talk about our VIP hour here in the next segment, but from six to seven or so, it's just it's an elevated fall festival. And then we'll just be sipping bourbons. We'll be indoor, we'll be outdoor. There's a lake there. We're going to have a s'mores bar. We're going to have food everywhere. We're going to have an open bar. But then at around 7, we'll have a little bit of a program. We're going to keep it to about 30 minutes, but that's mostly going to be live auction. So we've curated some fantastic bottles. Summer's still coming in. But we have a 2018 birthday bourbon that's going to be on the menu. We're going to have some William LaRue Weller. We're going to have some experiences. For example, Chef Mike Crouch from Watcho Proper can come to your home and cook for up to eight people. And they're going to bring a single barrel bottle out of their collection that's going to be one that you're going to want to have.

Uh, let's not, let's not give away all the secrets here. We go, we go, we, we definitely want to unveil the beauty of this event in the second half, but why don't we, why don't we continue sipping on what we've got? You've got a mix of 10. I've got a, uh, Henry McKenna, 10 year bottle and bond and Todd sipping on, uh, spirits of French Lake. Am I correct? Correct. Lost river. That's right. Lost river. So, uh, we'll continue sipping on these. We're going to come back and, and, uh, Matt, you're going to pull the curtain away and tell everybody about this wonderful auction. All the bottles that are available, all the events that are available there and what's going to be going on. And, uh, we'll, we'll give all the details on how people can find out how to, how to attend this vent in the second half.

Sounds great to me.

See you on the other side. Stick around folks. We'll be right back.

Hey roadies, it's Matt Simons. I work with Metro United Way and we have partnered with Kobe, Kentucky's original black bourbon enthusiast, to throw the area's next big bourbon event on October 24th at Progress Park in Louisville, Kentucky. If you haven't been there, it's a beautiful indoor-outdoor venue where we will have 15 brands on site, including Angels Envy, Parkstown Bourbon, Barrel, Brown Foreman, Bullitt, Buzzard Roost. Green River, Heaven's Door, Heaven Hill, Peerless Distilling, Maker's Mark, Michter's, Castle & Key, Smooth Ambler, and the chef Mike Crouch from Watch Hill Proper will be on site making food for everyone to eat. This will be an elevated fall festival. We will have a s'mores bar, fire pits, live music, and a silent auction and live auction that you'll be talking about for years to come. For a ticket price of only $125, you can eat and drink all night, including our complimentary open bar with Codigo tequila, Mum Napa wines, and other spirits that you will enjoy. Tickets are on sale now at MetroUnitedWay.org slash United Spirits or just Google United Spirits Bourbon Festival. We hope to see you there. If for some reason you cannot be there in person, you can still bid on our silent auction online all week starting Monday, October 20th. See the website for details. This event will be one you will tell your friends about and invite them to next year.

Hey, welcome back, Roadies. We're here in the second half of the show with Jamar Mack and Matt Simons. Jamar had to leave. He had some business to take care of as they've got an event up at Watch Hill proper. So Matt, the one thing we didn't touch on is what COBE stands for. So the folks out there might like to know.

Yeah, you know, I'm glad you mentioned that, Todd, because Jamar alluded to it a little bit in his in the first half when he was talking about how he got into this. Kobe is Kentucky's original black bourbon enthusiast. He kind of mentioned in a subtle way that, you know, early in bourbon wasn't necessarily All inclusive type of space sometimes and he wanted to say that hey there's a lot of us brothers out here that like bourbon we like to drink it we want to be a part of the community and he started Kobe so that you know he and his friends could you know can i have a collective to say hey look look at what we're doing you know we like bourbon just like you guys do and uh we can all enjoy it together we can cross those boundaries and barriers uh that may separate us sometimes in our daily lives all around the spirit that we all enjoy which is bourbon and i know a lot of people do that around cigar A lot of people do that around tequila and bourbon is just as good or better platform than any, especially right here in Kentucky to do that. So yeah, Kobe is Kentucky's original black bourbon enthusiasts.

Awesome. Awesome. So I guess we've all got a second pour.

Matt, do you have the same thing or you got something new this time? No, I did not. So I came. I took a little break. I went out here and I ran into Tommy, who is the one of the owners of the ownership group here at Watch Your Proper. And he had a bottle that they picked on his table. It is a wild turkey, Kentucky spirit, single barrel. 101 proof. It's aged two years longer than the kind of normal Wild Turkey 101 and it has a bit of a different label. And I am going to take a sip of it for the first time right here. We're all familiar with Wild Turkey 101. This is a seven and a half to eight year bourbon that Watschel proper picked and it's their own barrel piece. So let's have a sip here.

Yeah, Matt, cheers to you. I can see the size of that pour. He took care of you. He did.

This is a normal Glen Caron pour. This is probably about a three ounce. All right. And I will tell you, it's good. It's, it's all the notes that you, that you expect from a Jimmy Russell, but it's, uh, it's age longer than the one-on-one, right? And so it's got, it's got that it's, it's weeded, but it's got more of that, just more of the character, right? Whenever we age a bourbon a little bit longer, uh, it just brings it out a little bit more and highlights, uh, the, the, the notes that were in original mash bill there. Absolutely.

Todd, what are you sipping on?

So for the second half, I've got a, it's a 13th colony single barrel. Um, they're out of Georgia. So yeah, both of mine were out of, from out of state this time, uh, just kind of the way it happened.

Wow. 13th colony. These guys are like, uh, they've had, they've had. They've had a legendary bottle or two in their, in their history. And, and I've got a couple of bottles here and I'll tell you what, I've, I've been totally impressed with their stuff. So great, great, great whiskey from a great Georgia distillery. I don't think they, do they make their own or are they a non distilling producer?

I know they distill some there at their, at their place, but I think they couldn't keep up with demand. So I think, uh, MGP might be doing some of their mash bill too. So.

What are you having, Jim?

I'm curious now.

Well, I'm, I'm actually drinking a wild turkey product as well. I've got a Russell's 10 year. This is a 90 proof, uh, Russell's reserve. And, uh, it's, uh, it's not going to be at the same level of fire as what you're drinking there, Matt, but, uh, it's, it's a, it's a good solid pour at a great value. And, uh, I'm a big Turkey fan myself, so awful happy to have it in my glass.

Well, I will tell you that that that 10 year Russell Reserve, whether it's the white label or you step it up to that maroon label, the white label is a it's a so, you know, Jim, from you and I talked in the past, I love a good, affordable bourbon that gives you that quality. Right. It's a 30 some dollar bottle that just delivers every time. You know, Jimmy Russell, they're like nobody else. It's so good. You know, along with that, you know, obviously, you know, You can have some OFO 86 or some OGD bottled in bond or some good, you know, cheaper bottles. My favorite used to be the Evan Williams single barrel until they figured out that everybody loved it and raised the price up 20 bucks. But yeah, I mean, Russell Reserve 10 year that white label is right in there with just a really good, solid, affordable pour.

Well, listen to Matt just dropping them names here. He's just dropping them one after another.

Drinker more than a collector. Right. So my wife's like, you know, all your buddies have those bourbon bars. You know, why don't you have one? I was like, well, I bought two bottles. I drink two bottles. It's all good. You know, it's great.

Well, we're all drinking fantastic whiskeys tonight and it's, it's a lot of fun. Matt, one of the things I'd like to say is if, if somebody comes to this event and, uh, and, and, and they're down at, uh, what's the progress park you said is where it's going to be. And they're walking around progress park and they're like, well, I listened to that episode on the bourbon road, but I was wondering if I might recognize Matt Simons. How are they going to recognize you?

Well, guys, as you all know, but we are on a podcast. I'm seven foot tall. I played basketball for the University of Louisville, 1993 through 1995. I actually finished my career, played one year at Eastern Kentucky University where I graduated. So if you see a seven foot tall guy with a beautiful bald head and a white beard that's now turned as he ages to 50 years old, you will know that that is me.

And you'll probably have a drink in your hand. I imagine.

Yeah. I think for the first hour, I'm going to just make sure we get off to a good start. Uh, but after about six 47, uh, PM you might see a drink in my hand.

So let's talk a little bit more about this event here. So this is an event, uh, and, and, uh, and it's going to, it's going to be a, what, a three hour event, right?

So, yeah, three or four kind of depending on which package you choose, but yeah, it's, it's a three and a half hour event. We're advertising six to nine PM, but Kevin and Dan are going to play till nine 30. And we, we don't want to. We don't want to abruptly end it at nine. So we're advertising it ends at nine, but we're going to have it's going to go to nine thirty ish. You're not going to run anybody off the property or anything like that. Now, around 10, we're going to be like, OK, boys, it's time to wrap it up, you know, and head at home. But yeah, it's it's it's six to nine ish. So let me tell you just a little bit about the event. First, let's start with the beginning. Let's start with the venue. Look up. Google Progress Park, Louisville, Kentucky. And what you're going to see is this thing is out by GE. It's out in an industrial area, right? And you're going to be driving there and you're going to think, where are we going? Why did I buy this ticket? And when you pull in the property, you're going to realize why you did. There's a five acre lake. There's a huge lodge. there are there's 13 air streams on the property there's kayaks i think uh summer camp it looks like an adult summer camp out there right and that's why we're throwing an elevated fall festival so it's going to be an indoor outdoor type of event we're going to have plenty of heaters there's fire pits that are out there. You know, so we had a game yard. So we're going to try to everybody that goes gets whether you get a general admission or a VIP, everybody is going to get a Glencairn that's branded for the event. And there's going to be rinsing stations, all the stuff you would expect from a high quality tasting event. So think like I'm at the lake, I'm at the lodge, that's the feel of the event. As I mentioned, we're going to have live music, but it's not going to be too loud. It's for the backgrounds to set the ambiance. The star of the show is the bourbon. So let's talk about the brands that are going to be there, Jim. I've got a little bit of a rundown in front of me. So Angel's Envy is going to be there. Bartstown Bourbon is going to be there. Barrel is going to be there. Brown Forman's coming and they're gonna do a Woodford expression out of their catalog. And they are gonna be, I know for a fact, they're gonna be pouring their Masters Distiller Collection Sonoma Finish Bottle along with their Double Oat. So they're bringing the big boy bottles out for the pouring experience from their collection. Bullitt's gonna be there. Buzzard's Roost is gonna be there. Green River, Heaven's Door. You guys know about Heaven's Door, the newer distillery that's down here, Louisville Bob Dylan thing. Heaven Hill is going to be in the house and there's going to be a surprise there. I'm going to make you buy the ticket to see what's coming out there. Peerless will be there, Maker's Mark Mikters, Castle & Key, Smooth Ambler. And then we're also going to have some non-Burban stuff there too. So we're going to have two open bars. If you need to take a little break from bourbon, cleanse your palate. Pernod Ricard has come in and stepped up and they're going to provide the Mum Napa wine brands for us with their sparkling white and the reds. We're going to have Codigo Tequila. We're going to have seltzers and we're also going to have a local craft beer brand TBD on that. We've got a couple in the mix. We may even have both of them there, but there'll be a couple of Louisville craft breweries represented just at the bar. We're not going to be pouring cocktails, but there will be a welcome cocktail that everyone will get when they walk in the door that is going to be produced with the Castle & Key single barrel that we picked for our VIP. So all of the VIP tickets will get a Castle & Key single barrel of their restoration ride that Jamar and I both went down there to Castlin Key and had just a fantastic experience on their property picking that. And if you haven't been to Castlin Key, you really ought to go check it out. There's so much history there in the former Colonel Taylor distillery that they've restored. I mean, it was just in shambles. And they brought it back to life. And they're finally starting to produce, you know, their own juices coming out of that four to five-year range. And this rye that we picked, Jim and Todd, and anybody that's caught on a barrel pick before, you know how it goes. They give you four or five of these blinds and you taste them and you write some notes. And Jamar and I both looked at each other. I said, on the count of three, say your number, one, two, three. And we both looked at each other and said, number four. And this rye that we're going to have that are going to be in the VIP and in the welcome cocktail, it's a rye upfront. But on the back end, for lack of a better term, it has almost like this kind of a bubblegum finish. It's got some apricot and some peach. It's really interesting model that all the VIP tickets are going to walk home with that. Clayton and Crume. Also has stepped up and gonna do some of their leather bourbon swag that'll be in that VIP bag. Woodford's put some swag in that bag. There'll be a Bluetooth speaker in that bag. It'll be some fun stuff for the VIP people. But more so on the VIP, as I go into the rest of the event here, as we start off, the events from six to nine, Jim, as you mentioned, but the VIP hours at five. And so you get in an hour early, you get to Valet Park, and there's going to be four bottles at that VIP pouring that are going to be special. Jefferson's is not activating for the event, but they are bringing out a premier selection bottle that they're going to pour. Barrel's going to be pouring there. And then, of course, our partner, Michter's. And then we've got one surprise that's going to be there. You're going to have to buy the ticket to see this one, but it's going to be really good. We're not pouring anything like Celebration or anything like that, but we're pouring some really good pours for that VIP hour. And you're going to get a couple of the Masters stillers will be there. And I'm hoping Jim Shannon and Todd Ritter will also be there with us at the VIP hour to talk a little bit about the pours that we're having along with, you know, just quite honestly, we're comping a few tickets to industry experts right we want those people to be there so that you get to buy a VIP ticket and get to hang out with people like Jim and Todd and other folks and talk bourbon right and so that first hour we'll have some food and we'll have some bourbon but it's going to be really just listening to the distillers and the brands talk about those pores And then at six, it opens up, you go ahead, Jim, you seem like you had a question.

I was just saying, you know, I'm listening to, I'm listening to a professional here. I'm listening to somebody who has, uh, who's put together an event and he really knows what he's doing. I mean, you've got these teasers, you've got these, it seems like you're a master of marketing, Mr. Matt Simons, and you've really, uh, planned this out very well. It's preaching the gospel. Yeah.

You know, a little something about urban events. Well, Jamar curated the bourbon, but I do know a little bit something about events. I want to tell you enough to get you interested, but I don't want to give you everything because I want you to show up and be like, wow, I didn't know that was going to be here, right? And so as the event starts at six o'clock, Kevin and Dan will be supplying the music, the food will be out. So think about fall festival, right? So everybody's getting a Glencairn, right? So you have a Glencairn in your left or right hand, and then all the food is something you can hold in the other hand. So there'll be there's going to be like a Korean corn dog and a shrimp roll and a walking taco and polenta squares and like just some really high end chef prepared food. But then, as I mentioned, Chef Mike Crouch from Watcho Proper, a renowned bourbon industry chef, is going to be there doing some oysters. And he has one other item he has not shared with me. So he's teasing me. He's going to have two items at his table. And then we're going to also have a s'mores bar. So this place, as I mentioned, is going to have these fire pits. One of them is huge. It's like seven feet, a big iron bowl that they're going to have a huge fire in. And we're going to have different marshmallows, different chocolates and caramels, different crackers that you can curate your own s'mores and then cook it right over the fire yourself while you're enjoying Buzzard's Roost, char number one rye. and or they're toasted. They're both gonna be there to pair with those s'mores. And I was at a golf scramble the other day and saw the activation team from Buzzard Roost. They were there at the Denny Crumb Scholarship Foundation golf scramble. And it's the exact ladies that are gonna be there for the event. And they said, yeah, we're already ready for the s'mores. We've got the char number one rye that we're bringing and we got the toasted and we're gonna see what people like and then have a little dance off there. There'll be things you expect though too, Jim. There's going to be a silent auction. Now that silent auction, you don't have to be there. It's all week. It starts Monday and it ends when the event ends. And that's where the meat of the bottles are going to be. So they're going to be online. You're going to be able to go to Metro United Way dot org slash United dash spirits or United Spirits. You'll find it. Just Google Metro United Way, United Spirits. And you can find that silent auction when we release it and you can bid from the comfort of your own home. But if you don't come, You're not going to get to taste all the stuff that's there. And you're also not going to get a shot at our lab option items, which as I teased earlier, already includes a 2018 birthday bourbon. It already includes the William Leroux Weller. It already includes a 2014 Four Roses. Oh, the name's escaping me, but it's a 2014 model. Yeah, exactly. That's going to be like a live auction worthy. I believe and don't quote me on this, but I believe it'll be a Heaven Hill 18 or two. They're going to be available there and some other collections that I'm going to tease you with. But we're going to have experiences too. So there's going to be the opportunity to get Chef Mike Crouch to come to your house and cook for eight and bring a special bottle with him and come cook for you. And then they supply all the food and it's going to be amazing in-home experience. We're probably going to have a trip. Some things like that. And we have stuff besides bourbon in the silent option as well. One of them that really stood out to me, Jim, was you're going to be able to book a date night and take a charter flight for two over top of the city of Louisville and fly all around and do a little tour like that. That's an item that was donated to us. And you can drink all the bourbon you want as long as you're flying the plane. Yeah.

Yeah. We hope that we hope the pilots not drinking the bourbon, but yeah.

That one movie he's not flying the plane.

Yeah.

What, what day is this, Matt? So this is going to be on Thursday, October 24th. Yeah. It's a Thursday night, October the 24th. Okay. I think I've kind of given you the gist of it. But there's gonna be 15 brands on site. So when you buy a ticket, the general admission is $125. Now let's think about this. Three and a half hours, 15 brands, all you can eat, and access to live and silent auction items and s'mores if you're into that, right? For 125 bucks, you'd spend more than that. For two of you, go to Chili's. Not Chili's. Oh, yeah. You know what I'm saying. Yeah i could just two hundred fifty bucks you're gonna get all that plus the hour early reception with the four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four four And you get, you know, the whole event. Plus, you're going to walk out of there with that single barrel, Clayton and Crume swag and all the other stuff that we're going to put in that bag. So I mean, like, it's our inaugural event. And so we want to get people there. We want them to see how much we care about this and how much value we want to pack into it so that they tell their friends and we make it bigger next year.

Yeah, absolutely. You know, I'm thinking about the time of year that this is happening. So we're talking about the third, third or fourth, yeah, third week in October, um, between five and nine or nine 30 ish or so we're talking about, uh, just before and then twilight and then after the sun kind of sets. So this is a great time to be around fire pits and, and hanging out in a, in a beautiful park setting, sipping on bourbon, listening to music. munching on some good food and, uh, and, and attending a great auction. I think it's going to be a fun time. Yeah.

And listen, Jim, we really try to put attention to detail here. Um, like we're going to have not only the fire pits, we'll have, uh, eight to 10 of those, you know, propane heaters throughout the property. If you need to, you know, warm up a little bit, we're going to have some blankets on site where people, if you need to wrap up, I think people will come appropriately dressed for the weather when they see, you know, whatever the forecast is going to be. And we do have a contingency plan. It has an indoor space and we have a tent to tee up to the indoor space. If it absolutely became a deluge of some sort or a freeze out, which I don't think it will be in a beautiful fall, October night, the event will still go on and it will be an indoor or covered at least event, right? And so no worries, the show must go on.

Absolutely.

Now, Matt, is this a, is this kid friendly as well? Or.

Well, I mean, yeah, I think it's adult only, honestly, Todd. I mean, because I mean, you can bring your kid if you want, but your kid's 125 bucks and they're just going to be eaten. Right. I mean, let's be honest about it. That's that's not super kid friendly. It's like if you go into an all inclusive resort, right. It's a thousand dollars a week. All inclusive. But you don't drink, you know, you don't kind of get your money's worth. But yeah, it's so it's an adult only event. Yeah. We haven't advertised it that way, but I would say it's adults only.

I think I was going to say, I think on them all inclusives, they lose money on me. They definitely lose money on me.

Four times a day in heaven, seven margaritas. But anyway, I do want to say this. If you, if you're interested in the event and you go to Metro United way.org slash United spirits, or you just Google Metro United way, United spirits, it comes right up. Um, There are 13 Airstreams on the property, and I've heard that nine or 10 of them are still available for that date. If you want to do a stay and play, you can come check into your Airstream. They got their own little fire pits and setups. I mean, it's nice. And then you can come to the event, drink all you want, have a good time and just walk right back over to your Airstream and have a good night. And I'm going to stay on property that night. So if you want to hang out with the seven footer and have a couple of after pours, all those brands like to leave those bottles with me afterwards, you know, we can, uh, we can have a couple of pours afterwards if you want to do that.

Well, that sounds fantastic. So the details on the airstreams, well, everything, all the details are on metrounitedway.org slash united-spirits.

Yeah. Yeah. It's, you know, how you got to do on the web. I wish it was just metrounitedway.org slash united-spirits, but it's united-spirits if you want to type that in. But if you just Google Metro United Way, United Spirits, it pulls right up.

Oh, good deal. Awesome. Well, Matt, it's been a blast to have you on again. I mean, we definitely need to get you back over to the bourbon road bar down here so we can pull some bottles off the shelf and just have a good old guys night. We've had some great times before. It's good to have you on the show again. I'm so glad to hear. that you're running this event for Metro United Way. Like I said, it seems like every time I go out to an event, you're running the show. You're on stage, you're behind the mic, you're a master of ceremonies. You're always Charles in charge, I guess. I'm aging myself there a little bit, but yeah, Charles in charge.

Well, I will tell you, Jim, I kind of started this earlier and I went right into the event, but I will make sure that it's not chaotic, right? We're not going to arrest you doing anything, but we will have a run of show. We're going to have plenty of signage, plenty of maps, kind of a general agenda so you know what's going on. You know where all the brands are located. It's all going to be laid out right in front of you. So I will be still serving in that capacity to some degree, but just to make sure that it goes smooth and everyone has an exceptional time. And then they say when the tickets go on sale next year, they're there day one waiting on them.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, again, great to have you on the show, Todd. I've had a blast tonight. I've got to drink some good whiskey and, uh, hang out with some good friends. It's always fun. I think you and I definitely need to head out to watch you proper and, uh, and have a few pours. What do you think?

Yeah, it sounds like a plan. Maybe Matt can meet us there.

I will, I'm just down the road here. Uh, you know, I grew up in Shelby County and Jim, as you know, I've lived out there for many years, but my wife and I are empty nesters. Now we decided, you know what? Let's move the downtown logo and have some fun before we get too old. So I'll meet you guys over here. It's only about a 10 minute drive for me.

Nice. Sounds good to me. Well, Matt, again, thank you so much for coming on the show today. We're going to make sure that, uh, we. Continue to promote your event over the next few weeks until, uh, until the event takes off and, uh, and we hope that our listeners will, uh, will pay attention to this event and, uh, go to Metro United way.org. You not slash United dash spirits or just search United spirits. I guess what it is and that that way the event will come up and they'll, they can get the tickets online. We hope to see you out there and, uh, have a few pores with you and enjoy the event.

Thank you guys. I appreciate you, Todd and Jim. As always, you guys are the reason that bourbon is fun. So the bourbon road rolls on.

Awesome. Well, you can find the bourbon road on all social media outlets. You can find us on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, tick tock threads, all of those places. Every single week we put on an episode, uh, Todd and I are hanging out with good friends like Matt Simons and Jamar Mack. Sometimes we've got a distillery on sometimes a musician, an author. Uh, it's always fun, always drinking whiskey. Uh, make sure you check it out. That's out every single week to make sure you don't miss an episode. Scroll up to the top of that app. You're on hit that subscribe button that way every single week, you'll get a reminder that, uh, Jim and Todd have dropped another episode and, uh, and I've got something to listen to. So we hope you had fun at bourbon on the banks. And I know you're going to have fun at United spirits event on October the 24th. We look forward to seeing you out there. Todd and I will be hanging out. We'll be drinking a little, uh, little mickters and a little, uh, well, a little bit of everything that's available, but, uh, until then we'll see you down the bourbon road.

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