54. Meet the Carters - Old Carter Whiskey Co.

So what's, what's, what's the next big thing for old Carter?

What's, where's the future going? People ask us that, you know, and we just like, Hey, we have a hope we're around in, you know, like five years. So wherever your barrel stocks will take you.

We just stopped living in the, in the car, Mike. Yeah. We're very excited to have our new space open.

Is that where you found Marquette?

Oh yeah, he was hitchhiking actually. I picked him up.

That was a bad mistake.

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

We would like to thank Tommy and Gwen Mitchell from Log Heads Home Center for supporting this episode of the Bourbon Road. Find out more about their fine rustic furniture at logheadshomecenter.com. Hello, everyone. My name is Jim Shannon.

I'm Mike Hyatt.

And this is the Bourbon Road. And Mike, where are we today?

I think we're down in your basement.

Hey, this is my basement. That's right. I've been tied up down here before, I think. otherwise known as the bourbon road studio, studio number one, number one. Yeah. Yeah. Your place in front of the fire with old Woodrow's bourbon road studio, number two, number two. Yeah. But it seems like more, more times than not we're out on the road.

Well, we are the bourbon road. So you'd think, Hey, we'll go anywhere. See anybody do anything. You open your doors to us. We're going to, we're going to get there somehow.

Yeah, but who do we have with us today? We got the Carters, Mark and Sherry. Mark, Sherry Carter. Glad to have you on the show again. Hey, it's nice to be here. Now, it's been a while since you've been on the Bourbon Road. I think it was episode number eight. Last summer, you guys came on. That was a lot of fun. You were helping us learn how to be a podcast. It was nice to have somebody who was so gracious and able to present themselves so easily and make Randy and I have an easy time when we were actually a little bit nervous, I think.

Oh, nothing a little bourbon can't fix. That's right.

Yeah, that always does the job. So you guys are with Old Carter Whiskey Company. How long have you guys been in business now?

Go ahead there, Mr. Carter.

So, uh, 2017, we bought our first barrels again for old color whiskey company and started distilling, uh, at about the same time. So we now have some three year olds, uh, new make, which, uh, we'll wait another couple of years and we'll be able to actually, uh, produce our own, uh, new make, which was really fun to do. And, uh, You know, we've got quite a few different, you know, we do a rye, we do a bourbon, and we do an American whiskey, and different mashpills, which we love to play with.

Well, Mike, you know, I'm getting that itch. What do you think?

Yeah, let's do it. I haven't, to your surprise, Jim, I haven't drank none of this yet.

Well, you guys have brought a couple of things for us to try today. And everything that we're drinking today is currently not on the shelf. Is that correct?

That is right.

So you have brought for us today two of your bourbons that have yet to release.

Yes.

And one of your American whiskeys.

Yes.

Yes. And so we're real excited about this. We don't want to spend a whole lot of time chit chatting before we get to the first whiskey. So why don't we talk a little bit about what's in our first glass, Sheri?

Well, uh, I would like you to taste it first.

Okay.

So, and then we'll talk about it. So this is, this is, uh, as you said, our batch four and we're very excited about it. We intended to do a spring release for our bourbon this year. Um, we did not intend to do two bourbons in the spring. We'll be getting to batch five after four, but I'm excited for you guys to taste these side by side.

Well, I tasted it. This thing, you guys should call it like Rocky Balboa. You know, punching them out.

I like what you're saying. And I think, you know, we're going to start naming our bourbons and our rice and our whiskies. And we're going to put that one on the back maybe for you. Yeah, Mike likes to name his whiskeys.

I like it too. Usually a country singer.

Johnny Cash. This is Johnny Cash. Kick the speakers.

This would be like a boxer, like a heavyweight champion. This is like the George Foreman of Bourbons. It's got a punch to it.

Well, we're getting straight to it here, but I'm just now putting it to my nose, guys. So Mike, why don't you talk about it a little bit, since you're so far ahead of me.

Well, actually, I'm wondering what that, I'm looking at the horse on the label. What's that horse all about?

So that horse is actually a woodcut that I did a long time ago. I'm an artist, equestrian artist. All of my subjects are horses. I've tried to do drawings and paintings of people, but they all come out as horses. You should see his self-portrait over there. Well, I guess my portrait of him. Anyway, it's a woodcut that I did about 20 years ago, and it's a series. There are six of them in the series. When we were putting this packaging together, and when I was working on the label, nothing was coming together the way I wanted it to and convey the kind of the strength and the groundedness that I felt the label needed until Mark and I remembered this woodcut and I dropped it into the label and it just it just was the perfect thing we needed. And it's also

It was really interesting because I went to an open studio that Sherry had an art show at and it was the first piece of art I ever bought from Sherry was this horse, this woodcut.

He was sort of stalking me back then.

He was mesmerized. Yeah, definitely.

So it means a lot, you know, and it works really well with the label. How's that, a percher on?

It's actually a, it's a Brabant, which is a, which is a French workhorse, draft horse. And it just happened to be an image that I loved and it, They're very short, so they have shorter legs. They're more like a Belgian draft horse. So that just happened to be what it was, and I love it. The original painting actually hangs over the space where I write all the labels out right now.

Well, I've been kicked by a horse before, probably several times in my life. It's not a good feeling. No, it's very dangerous.

Especially when they have shoes on.

This bourbon, it's definitely got a kick to it, as you guys know.

So for a weeded whiskey drinker, that's going to be something that's not as soft up front, right? No. And this one has a little bit more of a kind of powder the palate, which is pretty typical of Carter bourbons, I think, and even your rise as well, is that they kind of really present themselves with a loud voice.

Yeah, you know, we try to make, you know, anything we do have a uniqueness to it. And, you know, we don't want just a kind of a soft bourbon or rye or American whiskey. We want something that really speaks to people.

However, there's nothing wrong with a delicate whiskey. I would never rule that out.

I definitely don't think that this is almost like You ever had a candy with cayenne pepper in it, or like a dark chocolate with some cayenne pepper in it?

Like a ghost pepper brownie?

Yeah, most definitely. That's what somebody else said the other day.

That was yesterday's conversation. Oh, was it really? Yeah.

But I'm thinking that cayenne pepper maybe, not a ghost pepper, cayenne pepper, with some chocolate, some dark, dark fruit in their gym.

Yeah, definitely. Definitely dark fruit. Um, some spicier than, you know, spices. You definitely have like a, uh, I don't know, a little bit of minerality to it.

Yeah.

Okay.

I love this cause it does have a, a really floral nose to it too. You know, um, the, uh, it is a high rye.

This is our first high rye.

So that's that little bit of mint on the back end. And that spice.

And the florality, I think.

Yeah, so I think you guys continue to do what you do best, which is to put out bourbons that make you sit and think when you're tasting them. You're sitting here and you're tasting this thing, and it's popping all these notes off to you. And the finish just sticks with you.

It's got a long finish. It's got a long finish.

Yeah, absolutely correct. Yeah. What was this batch right here?

This was 11.

11 barrels. And how long did it take you to get that batch just right?

A long time. It takes a long, long time. It's always a long time. We start with maybe even 15 barrels, eliminate some of the barrels and then pull some back in. And we'll do sometimes 30, 40 blends and we just keep working, trying to improve. And then I think it's all ready to go. I'm really happy with it. You know, I go, man, that's, that's incredible. That's, that's raising the hair on my arms, you know, but then Sherry will kind of go to sleep and wake up in the middle of the night and start blending again.

Now, does she start from where you left off or does she start fresh with new set of notes? Both.

Yeah. And she keeps good notes, man. If it wasn't for the notes, she's got this book full of notes, you know.

I do have a book full of notes.

And so she'll try other combinations to see if they get any better. Most of the time that they're, you know, we're pretty good with the one we had come up with first, you know.

You guys have been known for coming out with batches that are kind of signatures of each other.

That is true. I will say though, and I want this to be on record. These two bourbons we both love.

Okay. Yeah.

So there is not a, there's not a dueling bourbon set. The rise are going to be like that. But the, these two bourbons batches four and five, which will come out together, which will be exciting for the first time to have two bourbons out together.

So your prior batches where you have sort of, putting your name on one or the other. Have you ever been able to tally the notes up on those to figure out who's in the lead? Like who's winning? Who's winning? I'm winning. Are you?

Not really.

I'm just going to say that.

It all depends on who you're talking to. It's funny. It runs 50-50. It really does.

It really does. Because I feel like stylistically, they are in two very distinct camps. And so, you know, everyone has a different palette. People enjoy different things.

So there's no age statement on this.

No.

So what's the ages in those 11 barrels?

This one is mostly seven.

Six to seven, yeah. Seven year old. Both of these. Both these bottles are bottle 001. So these are pretty special bottles.

Yes.

So how did we get so lucky to get bottle 001?

You guys are really nice guys.

Yeah. So you were actually bottling this week in Bardstown. Yes. That's correct. And kind of, you know, what goes into a bottling? I mean, you guys, you source your barrels and you have them stored for aging. Yes. And you continue to age some stocks longer, some you, you know, they're ready and you start using them right away. But take us through that kind of bottling process. How does that work?

Okay, 15 heart attacks. There are a lot of logistics involved and you're looking at the entire company and I know you know that.

The two of us and she does most of the work. I will give her the credit on that. Definitely.

So you have to release the barrels. Well, you've got some batch specification that you've created that says this is what we want you to do with the barrels. Then you release those to the bottling plant and then they do the blend.

No, we are very, very hands-on.

You're there. We're there. We want to make sure there's no mistakes at all.

We are so there.

Because something can go wrong if we're not there, we feel. Because I'm assuming you're not just adding all the barrels, you're adding parts of barrels too, right?

We do both. Sometimes a blend is partial, sometimes it's all barrels. It just totally depends on We've done all kinds of combinations.

So once you get it all blended, you're like, this is what I want. You go to the, to where you're going to bottle it at, you get them to blend it. Are you guys sitting there? Hey, let's pour this in. Let's pour that in. Let's pour this in.

Yes.

Yes. A little bit of everything.

Yeah. I mean, we are, it is a very creative process. Um, and it's, Yes, we are.

There are plenty of blending accidents out there. You see them on the shelf all the time, redemption and whatever.

We've heard horror stories where people have not been there and somebody's pouring a barrel in and it's black and it has a problem and that's going to mess up the entire batch and we can't afford to do that. We want everything to be really great. And so we're there at every step of the way.

It's actually, it's painful. I mean, I am very, Mark is, he's much more, you're much better at relaxing and it's, you know, this is going to be, we've already done this. This is, we know what these barrels are, you know, but I am like, I stress a lot. I'm very, very, very hands on. It's like, I don't have children, but I feel like it's giving birth every time we do it. These are her babies.

As Mike was saying, you get it all mixed together and it's ready to go in the bottles and you're doing that final taste and comparing it to a sample you brought with you maybe?

Yeah, we're doing that. We know this from our background in the wine industry. you know, you put something in a tank and it's all mixed up and it's just, you know, it's kind of like, sometimes it has to come together a little bit.

You know, it takes a while to actually marry all of the different barrels.

They're a little bit like, um, unruly children in the bottle at the beginning, you know, uh, but they come together and they settle down and,

I've heard that because, you know, we've played with blends before, you know, just at home. We take this bottle and that bottle and see what you can make. And it's not the same the day you put it together as a week later when you drink it.

Yeah, the next day. And, you know, we always check, you know, when we make a blend, we'll actually taste it the next couple of days to see how it's holding up. That's always, you know, something that, you know, you want to do same way with wine. When we do the wine and see if it's going to, you know, how it's going to hold up or if it's going to last.

So this, you guys are, you're just, you're, are the corporation. You're, you're the manufacturer. You're doing everything from putting into the, making the blend, I guess, putting the bottle, bottle in it. Mark, you don't do the labeling though, do you?

No, Sherry writes every label out herself. So hand labeling?

Yes, and I'm recruiting those with good penmanship who would like to apply.

I got very lucky when I first tried to do it. My handwriting wasn't good enough, so they fired me. Which Sherry fired you? Yes. They, meaning Sherry.

I did.

So I just drive around when she's doing these labels now, you know, cause it takes her a couple of days to do the labels. So I go out and see things and, you know, check out all sorts of trouble while I'm working.

All right. Let's put a shout out to the roadies here with good handwriting. So if you're out there and you've got good handwriting, post a picture of your favorite old Carter bottle, hashtag new OC labeler.

Save Sherry's hand. Free Sherry's hand.

Free Sherry's hand. It's kind of getting crippled up a little bit, her little hand. That writer's cramp.

It actually, behind the scenes though, that is one of the things that I love to do is that I know I get to touch all these labels five times and send these bottles out, send these old labels out with some love and I always say, you know, have fun, make friends, enjoy yourself.

Make us friends.

You know what else I say? See you on the road.

Yeah.

It's a true story. I get a little cuckoo when I'm in the house for eight hours, right?

So we got this whiskey expression right here that man, it packed a punch.

But that's one of the things we're known for is it's always foolproof and we have never actually cut any of the bourbon's ryes or whiskeys.

So you guys don't do any chill filtration, obviously, because your bourbons and your ryes and your American whiskeys come out at a high enough proof where that's not necessary. So you're just filtering out the chunks, basically. Exactly. So do you do any carbon filtration at all or just screen filtration? Just the screen. So when you're working with a bottler, one of the things that you pre-arrange with them is the filtration method or the screen.

Or the lack thereof.

Yeah, or the lack thereof.

And have you guys used different bottlers throughout the process, or are you stuck with one place?

We've got a couple that we work with.

Yeah, two different ones. And we like to start doing our own bottling, which is the next thing that we would love to do.

Now, you're out there hustling this bourbon and whiskey, right? You're out there on the road all the time visiting liquor shops, right? Because I've heard you guys stop in like liquor barn and saw your stuff on the bottom shelf. And that's a nice thing to see your bourbon on the top shelf with the rest of the big boys, big girls, whatever you want to call it, big whiskeys. And you're out there working.

Well, that was a very funny story. We stopped in, we were actually on our way to the bourbon class at the bourbon classic last year and we needed poor spouts and salami.

And salami. Something to eat.

So we were at the liquor barn and got our pour spouts and Mark was wandering around. We had gotten separated and a gentleman walked by me and said, hello, are you finding everything okay? And I said, yes, but I was just wondering, do you have any old Carter? And he said, as a matter of fact, we do. And he said, I was just going back there now to put this price tag on, on the, on the shelf. And I said, oh, I'd love to see where it's at. So he followed me. So I go back there with him and there it is. And they've got it up in the, in the case there. It was in a very lovely spot. And he said someone had missed marked it and it's been down at like, I think it was like 1899 when it was supposed to be a different price.

Out of about every bottle, I've been like, I'd take everyone and things right now.

So it was very cute. And so I said, well, that looks very good. We're very happy to see that. And that's a nice, you know, it's a fair price and that's perfect. And I said, you know, Mark, by this point came over and had found me and I said, were the Carters and the gentleman thought that was pretty funny. So we just came to check on stuff.

So you guys are bouncing between Kentucky, California, Washington DC.

That's kind of your distribution right now. Those are our three states or areas that we're selling old Carter in.

So it's events, it's building relationships with social media people, doing podcasts like we're on today. That's wonderful. Meeting with other people in the distilling industry and distributors. It's just a busy job, right? It keeps you real busy, I would think. Yeah, we've been running pretty fast for the last two and a half years.

So is it just you two right now or is the plans to hire some more people to help you out like with writing the labels and you told us about your whiskey ambassadors out there?

Yeah, it's just the two of us really. A bottling line, you can hire people to do bottling. That's one of the things we hire out. Same way at the winery, we have a bottling truck come in and bottle for all our Custom Crush clients. That's an easy thing to do and that doesn't really change what the makeup of the bourbon is. The two of us. There's really a truck that comes in with a bottle.

It's like a semi truck or it is a semi truck. Yeah. Mobile bottling. I didn't even know that was a thing. Yeah. It's a very cool thing. I've heard of mobile butchers that'll come in and slaughter your cow or whatever for you and do all that. But I've never heard of a mobile bottling line.

And they're busy. They're very busy.

Very busy.

Yeah. And it's getting to be bottling time at the winery right now too. So you think that'll be a thing in Kentucky maybe? Maybe. We talked about it.

You know, the big difference between the wine industry and the whiskey business is the packaging can vary so much with spirits.

The bottle itself is so different. It's square, round, short.

And with wine, you've got three different glass molds that everybody uses.

A season for wine, but we're bourbon, there's really not a season for it. That's right. You need some more corn, you just find your local farmer and let's raid his silo. Well, we got plenty of that around here.

And we're happy about that. That's actually one of the things that I love the most about the spirits industry is we've got the winery in Napa and you really are a farmer and you are really tied to the seasons and you're living by the the magic wand of Mother Nature, and sometimes she gets ticked off.

Yeah, she can slap you down pretty good. You think you're good, and you get a big head, and she'll come around and rain on your parade. Yeah, literally.

So Mike, any last thoughts on this batch four bourbon before we move on?

It's definitely got some spice. I said it before, it's a very bold big boy bourbon. It's a sipper, most definitely. And it's not something you're going to sit down and drink several glasses of unless you're Sherry Carter. You're just going to sip on it a little bit here and there and come back and revisit her once in a while.

Yeah, I tell you what, I enjoyed it a lot. I think it's a little bit different than what I've tasted in your prior releases. I think this one has a little bit more, I mean, there's a lot more showing up there, a lot more notes showing up there. And it does really give you that, that high right punch to the back of the palette. So I enjoyed it. Thank you.

I love that. We really were trying to, well, we wanted to work with something that had, you know, those kinds of, maybe a brighter note, something that was reminiscent of like, I wanted a spring bourbon.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think you've, I think you've achieved that. So next we have your batch number five.

That's right.

Tell us a little bit about batch five.

Well, badge five we call a lot of things, but it was a surprise. We were not planning on doing this blend. We ordered the samples, tasted through them, and looked at each other and said, this is now. And I'm very excited for you guys to try this.

OK, well, let's get right into it. I'm getting some citrus on the nose.

Oh, right away.

Yeah. Yeah. Must some orange citrus would be tangerine.

Yeah. Mike. What are those little, what are those little things called? The cuties or is that what it is? Cuties? Yeah. I had a whole bunch of those. Those are great.

Yeah. They're just easy to appeal. Yeah.

A little bit of mint too. Is this also a high ride? No. Similar Nashville.

Totally different Nashville.

Okay.

lighter fruit, a little more floral. I haven't tasted it yet. I can't wait. I'm watching your facial reactions. I'm kind of like, what's going on here?

I'm almost getting a little key lime pie in this, with that graham cracker crust and then the spice and the citrus of the key lime. That's what I'm getting on this. I want to taste it. I've already tasted it, you know.

What I think is interesting is it's been sitting here in the glass while we were drinking that batch four.

And it's definitely opened up, I think a little bit.

Oh yeah.

Yeah. So it, um, it definitely, um, is everywhere it wants in your, on your palate. So it's not just, it's like, it's not look up front moving across the middle towards the back. It's everywhere all at once.

Yeah. I like this cause it's, you know, um, mouth feel Guinness.

Do you think that the palette matched what you've found in the nose?

A little bit, just a hair difference there, but less citrusy. Yeah. That's why I said it has that graham cracker to it a little bit.

Now that you've swirled it around, like for me, when I first picked it up, it had the, it had the lighter citrus profile, but you swirled that around. And this, this is a, this is a crazy to me. This one was just,

Frankenstein?

It's got, so it's not, it has so many different things going on.

There's going to be a, Mike, there's going to be a lot of, a lot of mouth noises on this. I'm sitting here chewing this and I can see the girls. We've got a gallery today. Our wives are here and I'm chewing my bourbon.

It's a chewy bourbon.

I like to chew bourbon. I really do. This is one of the ones you can chew.

It's really hard for me to behave myself over here. I'm just telling you.

Do not behave.

Okay, so this one is a lot more, now the first one is wonderful. The batch four is wonderful. This one is very interesting, very interesting. Now, it is a little bit different on the nose than it is on the palate, but it surprises you in a nice way.

You know a bourbon out there that, you know, some people don't like this to do this to match their bourbons up to something else, but Elijah Crick barrel proof. This to me, it has all those just different layers and complexities of taste, finish, the nose on it. Like you said, we let it sit there a little bit, we drank it and then we re-nose it and it brings something else to it and stuff. I like that. You can go from a key lime pie with that graham cracker crust almost to a cherry pie on that.

It's funny because the nose, and you say key lime pie, I said limoncello, but whatever it is, that citrusy nose. I think that graham cracker actually comes out on the palate. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Okay. Yeah.

Whenever you tasted it, you know, you get that graham cracker crust of a good key lime pie or something. Um, and I liked that, you know, that, that sweetness you're getting there and that crusted it's good.

Yeah. So again, you know, with, with an Oak Carter bourbon and with your rises and Americans as well, but it's, it gets you to think I'm going to have to steal this bottle. I think Jim, you can have a sample bottle. Yeah. Well, job, job well done. Very good. Thank you. I enjoy that a lot.

So you guys are in Kentucky for a couple of days, then you got to go back out to California to your, to your seller, right? Yep. And then you're back in Kentucky and then back out. Does that get tiring to you too?

No, it's exciting.

Yeah, it's fun. It really is exciting. And you know, uh, we're, we've got it down. So it's not, We used to like travel and every three days be somewhere, you know, and then we'd have to move. Um, today we've got a place to land. We've got an apartment and, you know, we used to live out of suitcases and, you know, uh, hotel rooms and try to find a hotel room every time. So now we're staying for a week at a time somewhere, or maybe two weeks.

I mean, you're not living in a shanty down by the river.

Let's, let's, We're really happy being in Louisville and where we're at.

It's exciting to be here now because there's so much great stuff going on.

So you guys live downtown in Louisville, halftime let's say, and you actually got a building project going on down there. So you own a building at Second and Market?

First and Market.

Building at First and Market. And on the first floor of that building is? Justin's House of Bourbon. That is correct. Yeah. And right next to Justin's House of Bourbon is a little construction project that's going on.

A little construction project.

That's right. We're going to have our own little place there and it's going to be our Carter showroom and a little tasting room. And so we have a place that we can see our friends.

So are you going to sell bottles there or just do tastings and promote the brand? Have you decided you're still thinking through that or yeah, still kind of, you know, they can always walk next door to Justin's again. Exactly.

We hope to have some kind of, you know, exclusive kind of releases there eventually.

Okay, some media events, some ambassador events, some things for your... Absolutely. She said releases.

I did. Which, in my mind, I'm thinking, man, they're going to do a wheat release.

You will be happy to know that we are sitting on some weeded stuff.

We do have wheat.

It is. It's peacefully resting there.

Will it be a weeded whiskey or a weeded bourbon?

It'll be a bourbon.

So you have some barrels in your storage right now that are weeded. Weed mash bill. Yes. And are you going to let us know a little bit about what the age of those might be? Well, those are probably about three years old right now. So they need a little time. Yeah.

Okay.

And in addition to that, and we're gonna have to take a break here in a few minutes, but before I do, we talked a little bit ago about how you guys are procuring barrels and you're storing them and you're doing bottling, but you're also, you've got some new make being made for you guys as well and barreled, right? Yes. That's correct, yeah. So you've got a future ahead of you. You've got some barrels that aren't gonna come of age for another four years and you've got plans for those.

We do. We do. We're actually sitting on barrels from one year old to 28 years old.

28 years old. There's like five bottles in that barrel. That's correct. There's nothing in there.

It's just a drop.

Let's discuss that on the second half, Jim. Are we there?

I think we're there. We're going to continue sipping on this batch five. Guys, batch five is, okay, if I have to choose between the two, I'm choosing batch five. They're both wonderful though. Thank you. They are so different.

They are different. I'm definitely going with batch five.

I love batch five. It just warms me up. All right, guys, keep your ears open. We're going to take a short break and when we come back, you've got something else special for us. We do. All right. We would like to thank Tommy and Gwen Mitchell from Loghead's Home Center for supporting this episode of the Bourbon Road. Loghead's Home Center, nestled in the hills of Kentucky, is an industry leader in building hand-crafted rustic furniture. Family-owned and operated, they take pride in offering only the very best for their customers. The Logheads, and that's what they like to call themselves, are skilled woodcrafters who are passionate about creating rustic furniture for people who appreciate the beauty of natural wood. Owners Tommy and Gwen don't just sell the rustic lifestyle, they live it. And you can be sure that Loghead's furniture will always be handcrafted in Kentucky by artisans who embrace the simple way of life. Loghead's rustic furniture is made from northern white cedar, a sustainable wood that's naturally rot and termite resistant. Its beauty and quality will add warmth to your earthy lifestyle for generations to come. Be sure to check out everything they have to offer at LogHeadsHomeCenter.com. And while you're at it, give Tommy and Gwen a shout on Facebook or Instagram at LogHeadsHomeCenter.

Hey, so we're back here in Simpsonville, Kentucky, in Jim's basement with the Carters. I almost think when I hear the Carters, I think of the Carters from country music. I like that. And it just invokes that memory, I guess, of the Waltons, maybe.

Are you guys big music fans? We love country music. Country music. There was a series on public broadcasting and we watched the entire thing. It was just unbelievable from the beginnings of country music.

Was it from the same guy? It was a PBS thing, right? Was it the same guy? Was it Ken Burns? It was, yeah.

Yeah. Are you related to June Carter Cash, her family? I hope so.

I'd like to be, but I don't think so.

You don't think so. And that's a Carter's. Yeah.

But Mark, your family does originate out of Somerset, Kentucky, right? That is true. My grandmother was born in Somerset and so it's got, we've been down there quite a few times. That's Lake Cumberland area. It really is. Cumberland Gap.

I want to get a party boat.

A big old big party boat. Yeah. Or if you bring the whiskey. Old Carter party boat. Old Carter party boat.

I think we might need one of those. I think it'd be fun. Just keep it docked out there on the little,

Hey, I've seen some of those in my life where Hooters boat pulled up to the dock and I'm like, what is going on here? And then the Red Bull has a party boat like that, that they just drive around and see they have the Red Bull girls.

We can do this.

The old Carter. I like party boat. You're talking about putting Lake Cumberland. That's, that's even better place for whiskey right there. I think so.

Get Justin Collins come down. Dustin Collins. Dustin Collins come down.

I like it. So Sherry, We're on break. We were talking about the mash bills of four and five that we just drank. Yes. Run us back through those mash bills and what's so special about five's mash bill?

Well, what we discovered was we were talking about this a little bit earlier, but we were not planning on blending this yet on that five. And when we tasted the samples, they were just rocking and rolling.

They're fabulous.

And we just decided, no, this is time to give birth to batch five. And it happens to be a high corn mash bill, very different from the high rye mash bill in batch four. And what I love about the two of them is that I think stylistically, They are very different expressions. They have the similarities, I think, that our blending style bring to the table, which is we really want a complexity. We want something that's very interesting, makes you think when you're drinking it. But they're so different. And we just kind of fell in love with both of them. Absolutely. And so this time around, one isn't mine and one isn't Mark's. So we both love both of them.

So, in the bourbon world, you know, everybody knows this, bourbon has to have 51% corn in it. So, typically a bourbon has some secondary flavor ingrained. A lot of times, most of the time, it's rye. And, you know, malted barley. In some cases, it's wheat, like with a weeder. We talk about weeders, Mikey loves weeders. Yeah, I love them. But in the case of batch five, there's no flavoring grain, zero. So it is 95% corn and 5% malted barley. Now that malted barley is needed to jump the enzyme process, right? That's correct, yeah. Okay, so that is basically a corn whiskey. Well, bourbon is corn whiskey, but that's a corn whiskey, like mellow corn, right?

Absolutely. Wow. Just a better fashion of it. I do. I'm drawn to corn mash bill. Like a high. I just love the sweetness and always gives that to you.

There's your sugar smacks.

Yeah. I'm a karma corn freak. I do like, yeah. Crackerjacks. You got it. Yeah.

Those are hard to find these days.

That's pairing ever. Okay. So we've got, uh, did we talk about the, the, the proof on those two?

We did not. So actually the, um, we never cut anything. That's a, that's another thing that old Carter doesn't do is, is add water. We like the consumer to, be able to add a little water or some ice if they like.

Drinking how you like it is still always the best.

Yes, absolutely. And so these are coming in at, let's see, batch four is 116.8 and batch five is 115.1. Okay. All right. And they are higher proofs than our previous bourbons have been.

Right. Yeah.

The other ones were in the 106 range.

106. Yeah.

Okay. So, we got a glass in front of us now.

Yes.

What's this glass?

Well, this one, and I want to hold off on talking about the proof.

Okay.

Until you taste that one.

Okay. So, I actually haven't looked at the front of the bottle other than to see the word American across it.

Oh, good. Okay. We got fresh meat over here.

I'm looking at the proof.

So this is our American whiskey, obviously, and this is our batch three. We're very excited about it.

Okay. So you're asking us to acknowledge the proof first, right? Not necessarily.

You can acknowledge anything you like to amateur show.

Okay. Well, I don't know. I mean, you got taken over last week. There's a lot of oak in it. Yeah.

Yeah. This has had a lot of barrel influence, I think. I will say one thing. This is the age. I'll give you an age on this. Yeah. And we put an age statement of 12, but most of what's in this bottle is about 15 years old. Okay. And, but there was some 12 in there and yeah. And I think with that age, you get a little bit of that oak.

Now this is an American whiskey because it has been spent some time in non new, not new oak barrels.

Correct. It was entered into used bourbon barrels.

Okay. Exactly. I just noticed on the back of your label, it says born from the soul of Somerset.

Yes.

That's pretty awesome. I like that. Thank you. Going back to those Kentucky roots. Absolutely.

And people don't know where Somerset, Kentucky is. So my grandmother and their whole family had to leave during Prohibition because there were no jobs out here. So they went to Bakersfield, California to work in the oil fields because there were jobs there. And so that's how we got to California.

Yeah.

I mean, a lot of that took place. Yes. A lot of that took place.

That westward movement.

Absolutely. Well, there's some pretty famous singers from there from Bakersfield, right?

Bakersfield is pretty good. Country Western. Yeah. Who's from out there? Well, you got Buck Owens, you got Merle Haggard.

And Dwight Yoakam kind of took over that Bakersfield sound, right? It's got its own special sound out there.

So, speaking of music, we are actually going to be doing the Railbird Festival this year. Oh, you are? Okay.

So we'll tell our listeners when is that?

So that is August 22nd and 23rd, I think. And they just released the lineup of the, of the artists that are going to be there performing. And we are going to be in the Rick house, um, with our, with our stuff. Yeah. So we're pouring to be decided. We're actually, um, doing a special release just for the festival.

Oh, great. So are you selecting a barrel for that?

We are selecting a barrel. We have been hesitant to kind of get into the barrel selection game because we just don't have enough to go around. But we have some very good friends behind this event. They were very, very excited to have us work with them, and so we couldn't say no. Well, that is exciting.

So, Real Birds over in Lexington. That's right. That's correct.

At Keeneland. At Keeneland. Yes. And it's a big music festival, right? August 22nd, 23rd.

Music and bourbon.

Music, bourbon, and then there are like six or seven chefs from Kentucky that are doing their own thing. They're doing a food thing.

I don't know that there's a festival in Kentucky that doesn't have bourbon at it. Right. That's true.

All right. So Mike, let's talk a little bit about this whiskey. Yeah. Anything you want to start out with?

Um, I, this was a look for the proof. It is. And I know the proof cause I got the bottle set. I don't, so don't, don't give it away a little bit, but for this proof, it's lighter drinking than the proof is. I think it's very shocking to me that it's not, it's not punching the mouth.

We've heard that before. This is kind of dangerous stuff.

Yeah, so I'm gonna I'm gonna start out by guessing the proof because I'm afraid if I wait too long somebody's gonna slip up and say it Yeah, so I don't know what it is, but I'm gonna say 112 to 118 range.

Not even close, Jim. Not even close. Not even touching it. Yeah. It's not even close. I'm going to tell you it's 138.1.

Oh my gosh. You guys just came in under hazmat radar. Yeah.

It's a, I love this stuff though.

It has a sweetness to it. It has a sweetness. I'm just trying to pick up that note that what that sweetness is.

I just get honey butter.

Yeah. Honey, but honey raisin. I get a little bit of raisin. Dried fruit. Dried fruit. So like honey raisin.

I like that.

Yeah.

I mean that to me is like Cognac.

Yeah. You know? Yeah. It does. So it has a little bit of Cognac kind of.

I could go there.

American Cognac.

American Cognac.

Yeah. And we just created a new category.

It's going to be weird, but because of the spice of it, it does have spice. You know, you've ever been to a place that has those gigantic cinnamon buns. Oh yeah. That's called the Cleveland airport with the cinnamon covered in it. Um, that's what I get. Like Cinnabon. Cinnabon.

Oh, I will totally go Cinnabon all the way with you.

Yeah.

See, this is, it's got all that wonderful baking spice and then that sweetness and that caramely.

I could actually drink this with that.

This is super.

Yeah, I guess if you were pairing this, it would go well with the Cinnabon, wouldn't it? But I get that in this whiskey. Spice cake. Or the Pepperidge Farm raisin toast with the icing on it and a little bit of butter on it.

I thought you were about to say fruitcake. No.

It tastes like fruitcake. I've always been a big fan of that raisin toast. I love raisin toast, yeah. But yeah, it has to have lots of butter on it.

Yes.

Like Paula Deen size butter.

I don't even know what you're talking about. You've lost me there. Paula Deen butter.

That's a quantifier.

Paula Deen, that's everything she cooks with. She's like, more butter? Yeah, she just had it. I don't even know where she gets this thing at, but she has this like giant silver bowl full of, must have 20 sticks of butter. And she's like, well, you add this small bowl to this. cinnamon buns and it tastes buttery.

Yeah. I think all you really need in life is butter and salt and a little sugar and you got a bacon, you know, a little bacon.

We have a saying at our house, you know, and I think about now we're both, we're all getting a little bit buttered.

Buttered. We're getting buttered up.

Yep. Cause you can be lightly buttered. That came from my mom, actually. Very funny. Or heavily buttered.

Are you talking about when you're drinking whiskey?

Yes. Well, I'll tell you what, guys. This American is really good. Again, the funny thing is I almost feel like I could nail a Carter product almost every time I taste one, but I know that's not true. Because the blind is such a great equalizer that you get fooled more times than not. But I feel like I get your story when I taste your whiskeys. They're bold. Each one has this Just these flavors that just jump out at you. They're not subtle. I don't think they're subtle at all. They're bold, they're in your face, they're loud.

In this case, I'm surprised at the proof on this because... You know, it's kind of been interesting. So our really high proof seems sometimes lower than it is, and our low proof seems higher because it has so much flavor. I think some people think of that like a high rye.

as higher proof because of that spice. And that's not always the case. That's right. This one's got all those fruits and light spice on the back end. But it's drinking, I'd say right around what Jim said, like a 110, you know?

Yeah. I mean, what'd I say? 114, 112 to 118? Yeah. Yeah. I think it's solid in that range, but I would have never guessed it close to Hazmat. That sounds so bad. No, but it's the truth. Once you go over 140, when you ship it, it has to be labeled Hazmat. Yeah. Yeah. That's a real thing, Mike. Have you guys ever had it come out over 140?

Actually, we have a batch two was 139.2. Yeah.

Just a little under that.

Just a little under that.

And you know, it's not that you can't work with it when it's 142 or 141. It's just some extra paperwork. You just gotta do extra paperwork.

So no secret that you guys own a cellar out in California, right? Yes. Um, so this is my big question for you, right? So you got a winery, you got whiskey. Why not a finished, finished bourbon?

Oh, that is the, that is the question, isn't it?

So, so ideally, you know, we want to see a token unfinished. Right? I don't know.

Mark's like, Oh my gosh. Yeah. Gosh. You know, Sherry has always says it correctly. She says, you know, you take really good bourbon and you put it in a wine barrel for us. You know, that's maybe not what we want to do. We like wine separate and we like bourbon separate. So you guys are not huge fans of finished bourbons. Not really. They taste, they're unique and interesting, but I'm kind of just an old fashioned guy. But you have to admit it begs the question. It does beg the question. Everybody asks us that.

And we will, we have definitely had some late night experiments with just like, you know, put this in that glass after this has been in that glass and

So that doesn't taste that bad. You take one of our wines.

So we do have a few ideas.

You have some younger stocks.

I will not rule it out.

You could even use Big Chief on that one.

I do like, and I love French barrels for the wine. And I love the flavor of a French barrel. And I know I would love to finish in a French barrel. That's one of the things I would love to do.

A new French barrel.

Not, but not enough. Not used with wine.

Not sure yet.

Not sure yet. Not sure yet. That kind of, I guess my point there is I don't know anybody else in the whiskey business that owns a seller too. And then you're marrying the two products together. Yeah. And I, I would almost think there is a market out there for that, uh, for a certain consumer that likes that product.

Well, and I think for us, the bottom line is this. It has to be delicious. So whatever we're doing, it's got to be great. So if, if, if we're doing it just to do it and it detracts from the flavor profile, I don't want to do that.

Yeah. But that totally makes sense. I just, I wanted to dig on you too, a little bit.

No, no, it's a very good question. We get asked all the time and we're just not sure yet. We haven't decided.

All things are possible. Anything's possible. Exactly.

Don't rule it out.

I guess that is the old Carter.

I mean, we got the, we got the weeder out of him.

He's kind of push a little bit. I love, I love wieners too.

Yeah, we can't wait. We've got, we've got some, we've got a five grain, we've got a weeded, we've got, we got all kinds of five grain.

So, so what are the five grains? Obviously we're talking corn, rye and barley, right? We eat.

But there is also a, we have two corns.

Two corns in there.

Oh, two corns, not quinoa or anything like that. You're not trying to put white and yellow corns. Soybeans or some soy in there. Four was good, we go with five.

We might be, you know, halftime in California, but we're not doing the quinoa.

I mean, we're all the way up to like 19 bean soup now, so why not?

So what's, what's, what's the next big thing for old Carter? What's, where's the future going?

People ask us that, you know, and we just like, Hey, we have a hope we're around in, you know, like five years. So wherever your barrel stops will take you.

We just stopped living in the, in the car, Mike. Yeah. We're very excited to have our new space open.

Is that where you found Marquette?

Oh yeah, he was hitchhiking actually. I picked him up.

That was a bad mistake. So you got your new space in downtown Louisville. That's kind of a lot of focuses on that, right?

A lot of focuses on that.

So what's those top stories going to be?

We don't know yet.

We don't know, but we're going to have suggestions. We're open to suggestions or thoughts. Me and Jim are going to help you guys on that. From your audience here. The recording studio.

Yes, we would love to have the recording studio there for you all.

Um, there's actually, uh, we got a lot of friends and that record too. Yeah. Um, a lot of other podcasts out there. We, we say that all the time. Rising tides raise all ships. Yeah. That's what we love about the bourbon culture so much. Um, it's just, you know, you guys came in here to Jim's basement, sit down like old friends and we start sipping on whiskey. I mean, how much better does it get to that?

Not much better.

All right, guys. Well, I tell you what, I've really enjoyed this. This has been a great time. We definitely want to have you guys on again in the future. Well, thank you. I'd like to make this a recurring theme. You know, we get the Carters to come on next time. Maybe not an interview, maybe just hanging out and having a good time and drinking suburban. What do you think?

That sounds good.

We love you guys and thank you very much.

We'll come back anytime.

Love sipping with you anytime.

Well, let's take a minute here and let's let you have an opportunity to reach out to our people and let them know where they can find you on the internet, on social media, what you guys have going on.

Yeah, so we are on Instagram at Old Carter Whiskey Co. That's our little handle. And a little bit of Facebook, too. But to be honest, you are looking at the entire company right here. So if we go dark for a few days, don't be mad. We'll be right back. We're just making whiskey or blending whiskey. Making labels or drinking whiskey with us or drinking whiskey with these guys and we really appreciate you guys having us You guys have a website too, right? We do old Carter old Carter whiskey co.com and you guys sell any like Merchandise is coming. I've had a lot of requests and I appreciate everybody reaching out and wanting to get some and we will have some merchandise on the website soon. It's all about getting it, being able to be doing the fulfillment.

Right, exactly. Somebody's got to pack it up and ship it out.

Somebody's got to pack it and ship it and I don't want to make people mad waiting for stuff.

Yeah, I understand.

But it is coming and we've got some barrel heads in the works and Yes, and actually you'll be able to get some stuff down there in Louisville when our little space is open.

So really, I think your little space you're going to have in downtown Louisville, you're going to have some bottles in there, people are going to be able to come in and taste your products. yes or no, maybe be able to buy bottles or at least go next door and get them. Yeah, and and you're gonna have some swag.

Absolutely.

Okay, well, I'm gonna have some old Carter purses and we might have my wife.

Well, you know, I call the they call me the Mary Poppins of whiskey because there's always a bottle of something in my bag.

Just carry that magical purse around.

It's a magical first for certain. That is, that's right.

Mark Sherry, some of our very best friends in the world. Thank you so much for coming on the Bourbon Road again. Thank you, Mike. Thanks. It's always a pleasure to have you.

And Mike, why don't you take us out? So you can find us on anywhere on social media, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter at the Bourbon Road. You can find us on our Facebook page the roadies. We have a group in their private group where people can Like-minded folks can talk about whiskey all the time. We love to be in there chatting with people You can find us on our website the bourbon road comm or we leave our blogs about our episodes We're trying to get a shop up online for some of our own swag Um, you can find me at one big chief on Instagram.

I'm jshadon63 and everybody, we appreciate you listening to the bourbon road and we will see you next time down the bourbon road. Thank you guys. We do appreciate all of our listeners and we'd like to thank you for taking time out of your day to hang out with us here on the bourbon road. We hope you enjoyed today's show, and if so, we would appreciate if you'd subscribe and rate us a five star with a review on iTunes. Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, at The Bourbon Road. That way you'll be kept in the loop on all the Bourbon Road happenings. You can also visit our website at thebourbonroad.com to read our blog, listen to the show, or reach out to us directly. We always welcome comments or suggestions, and if you have an idea for a particular guest or topic, be sure to let us know. And again, thanks for hanging out with us.