77. Country Smooth American Whiskey with Lori Carcich

So are you familiar with Peggy Noe Stevens and the bourbon women?

Yes.

Okay. So yeah, she, you were just mentioning how you've kind of gravitated towards kind of barrel proof whiskies. And Peggy likes to say that the ladies really do kind of sit in that zone a little bit, actually a little bit more than the guys do. Uh, and that they kind of, and their pallets are more in tune with the higher proof whiskies. And I think that's true. So is that something that maybe you're considering?

You know what? Anything is game. If you would have asked me six years ago, if I would have owned a whiskey company, I would tell you you're absolutely crazy. And here we are today, thankfully.

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, everybody. I'm Jim Shannon. I'm Mike Hyatt. And this is The Bourbon Road. And today, Mike, we are once again online in StreamYard. And who do we have for the show?

So we got the founder and CEO of Country Smooth American Whiskey. We got Lori, the American badass woman that every woman wants to be, right? All the way out from California.

Thank you for having me, both of you, Jim and Mike. It's a pleasure. I am Lori Kerstage. I believe America's first female founder and CEO of an American whiskey company. I do live in Orange County with my family. I have three children and I'm thrilled to be here with you guys today. Thank you for having me on your show.

Well, it's definitely a pleasure to have you on the show, Lori. We have actually had some of your whiskey for a while now. You're kind enough to provide it. Mike, what do you think? We get right into the whiskey.

Well, you know, Jim, you know how I like to do it.

You're already there. I know. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. We don't waste a whole lot of time, Laurie. We like to get straight to the whiskey. And then, you know what? After we try it and talk about it a little bit, then we'll get into you and the company in the background and talk a little bit about what you have going on. Sound good?

Fantastic. My kind of gentleman.

All right. So, so Lori, is this a little bit older than six months old? This whiskey is it's 86 proof that you got sourced it out of Indiana and it was bottled in Nashville, Tennessee, right?

It is right in all accounts. So we're an American whiskey aged less than two years. Um, the TTV requires that if it's not, if it's under two years age, that we write at least six months. Um, we are 93% corn, which do y'all taste that? Do you taste the heavy corn content?

Yeah. I mean, it's, it's, it's got a bit of corn to it.

So we are bottled in Nashville, Tennessee. And, um, it was really important for me in creating country smooth. The entire package is made in USA. Obviously we know that the whiskey has to be to be an American whiskey. Um, but the glass cap seed, the whole thing is 100% made in America. Really proud of that.

So you've got a really sexy bottle there. So how did you, I mean, how did you pick that bottle?

Yeah, I appreciate that term sexy. I'll take it every day of the week when describing country smooth. So I want it to be more modern style. Our slogan is country as smooth taste, modern style, country strong. So With that, we wanted to be different than the traditional whiskey bottles. That being said, I wanted to be tall. And as a woman, I wanted other females to be able to hold it in their hands. I have a larger hand for women, but many women I know have smaller hands. So I thought of what bottle can be very easy to pick up all around the house, obviously for home usage, also in bars. Bartenders, we wanted to be able to be easy for bartenders to pick up. fit nicely in the saddle, as well as retail space. So as a newer company, initially, it was much easier to get some shelf space with a small bottle in terms of real estate. So we were intended to be more of a modern, sleek design with screen printed on labels. And so far, I think that I still love it. What do you all think about the design and the style?

I love it. I think you hit everything that it needed to hit as far as a bottle that goes into a bar as a mixer, kind of a mixing whiskey where bartenders can go ahead and pick that up. They can set it in a well. It fits all the stuff for me. It doesn't have the sticker on it. It's printed on it. I think that's a great bottle. I want to get to the nose of this whiskey though. Jim, I'm getting a lot of butterscotch out of this. Um, little bit of caramel that sweetness is coming through. Maybe some of that, uh, also as I call it, that kettle corn, you smell it fairs and stuff.

That's a great note.

Yeah. I get the corn on the nose and you know, it does have that, that light caramel to it, but I'm, I'm picking up some like pear or peach flavor to it. Let's, let's sip on a sucker a little bit.

So my goal when I created Country Smooth is for me, it was about the entire experience. Obviously, the look of the bottle, even the brand, because a brand to me resonates in my head always has. But when I opened the cap of a bottle for $26 at a retail store for a fifth, a whiskey or bourbon, did it smell really inviting? And those initial nose, the nose on that was really important to me. you know, obviously everyone has their own objectives, but for me to have that inviting nose and made me want to pour it into a glass and drink it neat, being a non-traditional whiskey drinker. So that first experience was very important. And then obviously I wanted to have a burn, gentlemen, but not too overwhelming of a burn. I tend to feel a bit more on the back end, not the front and the back end. I wanted people like you, the two of you who are very much traditional bourbon and whiskey drinkers to say, OK, that's hot, but not too hot. And then people like myself when I was forming the company and formulating Country Smooth to say, a nontraditional whiskey drinker at the time, to say, this is really enjoyable. And so it was a combination of drinkers I was trying to appeal to with obviously drinking it. And then what's nice for me is a leftover aroma in the glass. I sense a little tobacco. You guys are still working on your country smooth. But so it just it wasn't one thing that was important. It was the entire experience to me that had to be country smooth.

I'll tell you that mouth feel on that. It's a little thin. Um, and that's probably from the 86 proof. And you know, I don't know how much water your guys are mixing to that, to get it down to that 86 proof, but it still offers that. I'm getting a little bit of apple and a little bit of pear, maybe some banana with that. Um, a little bit of all spice that spice you're talking about to me, maybe, maybe that's what I'm getting. And just still that hint of a butterscotch for me. I was trying to think of a cereal,

The pear definitely shines a little bit for me and I'm getting a little bit of mint to it as well, but not very much, just a light mint. What I like about it is it kind of, and I said this earlier, it kind of knocks at the door. It doesn't overpower your palette. It just kind of works its way across the palette, introduces itself gently. It doesn't jut out in any one particular direction. Doesn't surprise you at all. It's just a nice, easy, smooth, Yeah, country smooth. Nice zipper, right? Yeah.

I think it's not, the, the youngness of it isn't, um, The youngness is there, but it's not off-putting, that off-putting young whiskey that you would think of. I think it's well put together for the ages that you got it at. I think it's great.

Thank you.

I can't wait to taste it in a mixer for our second half. We're going to pour it in a little bit of ginger ale and see how it tastes with that.

That's fantastic. And it's interesting, you guys are pros, so you know what happens with like, in this case, Country Smooth, drinking it neat, and then going to the next step, just putting a tiny bit of water into it, how it opens up, and that tastes different. We'd have sort of a slightly different conversation, right, of the notes of that. And then the next step, a large ice cube. And then obviously mixed cocktails are great because you can really change the experience with a variety of cocktails, which I do enjoy. But when I created this, I wanted it to stand on its own. Neat. Because that to me is a test, right? If you can enjoy something neat and really enjoy it and savor it and the entire experience from the initial nose to smelling the less leftover aroma in the glass, then anything can be savored, in my opinion. And I tend to do all of the above, but more so neat. I appreciate that. So we are, I don't know if you guys know this, we average about $26 a bottle on the shelves. So what do you all think about that price, given the taste and the look?

I think that's really affordable for anybody out there that wants to walk into a whiskey store and, um, they're looking for, for either just a good sipper or, and I would call this a summer supper too, right Jim?

Yeah, I definitely would. Yeah.

Yeah. Something that's not going to just punch you in the mouth when you, when you sip on his stuff, even with that, I poured a little water in mine just to see what you were talking about there and even opened it up a little bit more and made it more refreshing. I could go into a bar and say, Hey, I'd like a, a pour of country smooth, maybe a double pour and pour a little water in there, put one ice cube in there. And I think it would be just fantastic. Brought up my alley and that's done a lot for me because I like to drink it neat. But we also like to go out with our wives and not every time when you're like eating dinner or even drinking like appetizers and stuff like that. big, neat pour of whiskey is not the right thing to do. You'd want a mixer or something, a little bit refreshing, especially if you're out in the hot sun all day. You come in out from outside, you definitely want something that's nice and cold. So this is it right here, I think.

Thank you. Very, very excited. We thank you. We're excited that you guys are enjoying it. Any other thoughts, gentlemen? In one word, how would you describe this to a friend?

I can't do one word. I'm not good at that.

I stunt the interviewers. I love it.

Yeah, but I think it's surprisingly smooth for a young whiskey. I really do. I think it's amazing that if you set out to create a six month to two year old whiskey that is That can fool people as to its age. That's smooth and easy drinking and doesn't have any of the potholes that catch a lot of other distilleries. You did it. You succeeded.

I think you'd call it silky.

Oh, Mike, good job.

You nailed it. One word. Although Jim, I did like your description and that's a great compliment coming from you. And silky. That's a great sexy word. Thank you.

Mike, you're always doing like one word definitions or you're attributing a whiskey to a country artist.

Yeah, I'd say this is all day long. This is I was trying to think of maybe a Tanya Tucker. I would call that a Tanya Tucker. Back in her heyday, she was definitely a beautiful woman, but had that silky smooth voice with just that little bit of twang in it. And you knew that she was pure country. That's what I would attribute your whiskey to. So I'd call that the Tanya Tucker of whiskeys.

Tanga Tucker, that's fantastic. That's another fantastic compliment. Thank you, both of you.

So, Lori, how did you get started? From the time you come up with this idea, how do you come up with the saying, hey, I'm going to start a distillery. I'm going to start an American whiskey company. How do you do that?

That's a great question. So prior to starting Country Smooth, I graduated from Cal State Fullerton here in Orange County, California. Back in 2002, I had a business degree with an emphasis in accounting, and I went to work for a CPA firm. The funny story behind that was I really was dead set on a business degree but emphasizing in sales and marketing. Idea creation is definitely where I feel like it might just naturally go towards. But being that my dad and his background professionally and academically and educationally was an accounting finance in business, he told me, Laura, you really need to understand the numbers and mechanics behind business. And I know that's not what you want to do right this minute, but that's really what I recommend you study in, which I did. And I went to work for CPA firm. for about less than five years as an auditor and worked my way up and learned truly what my dad said I needed to learn. All about accounting, finance, balance sheets, income statements, fraud risk assessment, all about business, ins and outs, which I'm incredibly thankful for that experience because it really sort of segued me into my second component of business. I had my first of three children. My oldest is 14 years old. My youngest is nine and a half. And I wanted to continue working. I love working. But I wanted to also spend time with my raising my children. So I started my own consulting practice, outsource controllers, CFO, business development, I accumulated about 12 clients at my max, loved doing that, incorporated a little bit of everything, accounting, financial management, lots of business development, business creation, lots of not-for-profit board work. And I decided my kids were getting old enough and I wanted to create a whiskey company of my own. And so in 2015, I decided to set out and create what is now Country Smooth. Um, I did that because I really truly wanted to enjoy whiskey meat. Um, I wanted, I knew more and more women were drinking whiskey, but I also know that obviously this, when we are our demographic, by the way, is about currently 65% men, 35% women.

Um, now is that, is that, I'm sorry to interrupt, but is, is that your country's smooth demographic or is that whiskey in general?

I would say country's demographic right now is 65-35. More and more women are drinking whiskey now than even back in 2015 when I did my very detailed study on the entire domestic international market. But I want to say my studies back then indicated that about 30% of the whiskey and bourbon market in America were women, which is still a significant number. And that number has definitely increased ever since. So I wanted to create a whiskey company based on how I was born and raised, truly after a love for our beautiful country. I was raised in a family where music, sports, love of country, support of the military and the history of how we have been so blessed to be where we are in this country. All of that is part of who I am and how I was raised. And in that, like you both know, Whiskey and bourbon was just a staple in my upbringing. My dad enjoyed scotch as well as bourbon. My husband enjoys whiskey. Family and friends have been drinking brown liquor since I was young. And I got to a point where I really wanted to be able to enjoy What they were drinking meat at home parties that tailgating events and you name it. And that really was inspiration for me wanted to start my own whiskey company. But before I knew that I knew that I would we would invest any money in this company and starting liquor companies, whiskey companies, I think of any liquor company is very expensive, very money and time intensive. I'm sure as you both know, whether you own you started with a distillery or you contract out through like an MGP or what have you. takes a serious amount of money. I knew I would have to do a fair amount of research, being that I didn't come from a liquor background, but I had a strong business background and I'm a definite research kind of gal. So I did a ton of research, I looked at the market of bourbon and whiskey, past, current, and then looked at the trends with other spirits. And I strongly believe that this is the right spirit to develop mainly because I wanted to drink it neat. I convinced my husband that this is the right decision to make. It started traveling across country to meet the different suppliers that we wanted to have on our team to be all part of country smooth. And by January of 2016, we started selling in Southern California.

Now, Laura, you said you always had a whiskey in the house or brown liquor. Do you remember that first taste of whiskey?

Absolutely.

Well, let's hear it. Come on now.

So, so the first taste neat was in college. You know, I wasn't a big drinker, really. I mean, even in college, I wasn't a big drinker and I would normally drink a wine. I had my first drink of a Canadian whiskey at a sorority party and a fraternity party with my sorority sisters. And I thought, Oh, okay. Well, I'm going to go back to my wine, right. And I thought it was great, but I was very young, and relatively young, but obviously at the drinking age. And, of course, and it just, I didn't have the palette for whiskey at that point. And, I didn't really have the serious desire to drink it as much at that age. And then over time, again, we'd have parties and we'd always make sure to have four or five different types of bourbon and whiskey available in addition to wine and beer. And those bottles would always be gone by the end of the party. And I'd say to myself, it's really a shame I couldn't help finish one or two of those bottles. But I have profound respect for all of them. I mean, I really, I do enjoy many other bottles between the 25 and $35 price point that I would say that are somewhat comparable for different reasons to Country Smooth. I also really enjoy that. barrel-proof, that now I went from really not drinking whiskey neat to loving it, being my go-to, and now it's 120 proof, bring it on. It really truly has been a phenomenal experience getting to know the other whiskey and bourbon companies, the other founders, their stories, the science behind their products. It's fascinating to me and I'm really thrilled to be a little part in this phenomenal world of bourbon and whiskey.

So are you familiar with Peggy Noe Stevens and the bourbon women?

Yes.

Okay. So yeah, she, you were just mentioning how you've kind of gravitated towards kind of barrel proof whiskies. And Peggy likes to say that the ladies really do kind of sit in that zone a little bit, actually a little bit more than the guys do. Uh, and that they kind of, their pallets are more in tune with the higher proof whiskies. And I think that's true. So is that something that maybe you're considering?

You know what? Anything is game. If you would have asked me six years ago, if I would have owned a whiskey company, I would tell you you're absolutely crazy. And here we are today, thankfully. You know what? We are definitely in, I can say this, and that's a great question. We're definitely, in the final stages of finalizing the entire formulation and design of our second product. And I'm very proud of that. And our third product, we are just beginning that process of developing our third product. So I'm really happy to say that this is our first and the first baby at the family, now obviously not so much of a baby, our horse, if you will. And as the story goes, I think that palates and experiences evolve and they change and they grow over time. But that's a really interesting statement from Peggy and I would entirely 100% agree with that.

So will you give us a little more hint on what you're doing in the second half?

I won't say the exact name, but I can somewhat allude to it. And I would love to come back on if I'm invited to actually do a proper airing of that, because it's pretty exciting. So yes, we can definitely talk about that. I think you're not too far off.

So Jim, man, I actually dropped an ice cube at another pour. So this is my third pour of this, Lori. And wow, it's like having almost some pear juice with some whiskey in the glass now. It's definitely opened it up and I could see some wine drinkers actually drinking this like this. Something that they could go to the bar. How did you, you know, you said you did a lot of research in development. You obviously put a lot of thought into the bottle itself, but what about the name? Where'd you come up with Country Smooth?

That's a great question. Well, And again, my love for our country is number one, by far, in just developing this company. I wanted the culture of the company. And at the time, I didn't know the name when I first thought of it. But I wanted the culture and the love for our country to be paramount. Not only the culture, but the brand itself, right? So the country of USA, I also love country music, obviously. And so the name country to me has different applications, but they're all rooted in America. And smooth being, it's, I wanted to create a very smooth tasting whiskey. And so the two names together, country smooth, you know, just made sense. And it's obviously what I want to drink, but it's also a lifestyle. Country Smooth is really intended to be a lifestyle in addition to what you're drinking or what we're drinking here today. And that lifestyle truly is an Americana lifestyle. And that was really the intention behind the brand. The five stars in the bottle, if y'all know this, the five stars represent the five branches of the military. So we have a star for each one of you plus another three.

Well, I really appreciate that because a lot of people leave the Coast Guard out.

You're there. You're on my bottle. So every time you see that bottle in the five stars, you know that you were represented for sure.

Well, Lori, I might even have to change my nickname from Big Chief to Country Smooth, maybe back when I was 20 something. Everybody thought I was Country Smooth. But with that, we'll wrap up this first half when we come back. We'll talk about the future of Country Smooth, what you guys are doing in the future. We'll talk about how you're interacting in our community, how you're interacting with our veterans and putting your brand out there. All right.

Fantastic.

We would like to thank Tommy and Gwen Mitchell from Log Heads Home Center for supporting this episode of the Bourbon Road. Log Heads Home Center, nestled in the hills of Kentucky, is an industry leader in building handcrafted rustic furniture. Family owned and operated, they take pride in offering only the very best for their customers. The Log Heads, and that's what they like to call themselves, are skilled wood crafters who are passionate about creating rustic furniture for people who appreciate the beauty of natural wood. Owners Tommy and Gwen don't just sell the rustic lifestyle, they live it. And you can be sure that Loghead's furniture will always be handcrafted in Kentucky by artisans who embrace the simple way of life. Loghead's rustic furniture is made from northern white cedar, a sustainable wood that's naturally rotten 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 LogHeads Home Center. All right. We are back and we are with Lori Karsich from country smooth. And, uh, we had a great first half Lori really enjoyed drinking, uh, your American whiskey straight. Mike and I both was able to give out some tasting notes on that. You gave us a little bit of background behind the company in this half. We're going to talk a little bit more about kind of what's going on today and the future and what kind of outreach you have. And, and we're going to drink, we're going to drink your whiskey. combined with a little bit of... Mike, I'm going to do kind of a... A ginger, a ginger lime water with mine.

Sparkling eyes, zero calories. I love it.

Yeah.

So zero calorie. Absolutely. So I'm actually, Jim, I'm going to go with this. Uh, I got some Canada dry bull, old ginger ale, a little bit more ginger in it, a little bit more spice, which I think will go great with this. Um, already made me a big old tall boy.

So do you think that it's a little bit more like a ginger beer?

Cheers.

Um, cheers. I, uh, I wouldn't call it a ginger beer. It is just bold. It kind of has that ginger beer taste to it, but still a ginger real. Oh man, that's great.

It's so different, but can you still, so I'm sure y'all know this because you're professionals at this, but whenever we're launching in a new bar and we put together a signature cocktail on the menu, um, our team, and obviously it comes from my, my desire is I tell our team guys, make sure that the country's smooth. the notes of Country Smooth are strong enough in that cocktail. Meaning, it's easy just to put a one and a half ounce pour into a cocktail and stir it up. But if you can't taste the actual notes of Country Smooth, then what... I want people to enjoy the notes. So we try to go two ounces or... Meaning to make sure that that true Country Smooth taste is experienced even in the cocktail. Does that make sense?

Oh, most definitely. Me and Jim, we were pouring some pours the other day. And I think the jigger that I have is an ounce and a half, the big one, and an ounce for the smaller half. But we were trying to kind of control our drinks. We were drinking six of them. But I was actually going to... Yeah, I know. But we were drinking six in hours. How many drinks do we drink in an hour? So I was trying to control what we were drinking and make sure everything was exactly the same. But today, I just didn't have time to get to the store and get everything. I was going to drink one of the cocktails that you put on your Instagram page, which was Berry Smooth, which was 2 ounces of Country Smooth American Whiskey, 3 quarters of an ounce of fresh squeezed lemon juice, 1 ounce of Zac Special 3 Berry Honey Syrup, an express orange peel garnish. And then you shake it up, double shake, serve chilled in glass. I thought that looked pretty delicious.

Mike, study that one. When I come over next time, you can make some.

Mike has to have all the ingredients for Jim, right? Because I know that's a lot. But I'll have to tell you, in the hot summer days, that drink is incredibly refreshing and so sweet. If you're looking for a sweet drink, original, I've never found that recipe anywhere else. I would definitely recommend it.

Now there's a second one that I saw that I'm definitely going to try it. I'm a big watermelon freak. I just love some watermelon. So you have as a smooth watermelon sour, and this would be right up Jim's alley right here. So you do two ounces of country, smooth American whiskey, one ounce of simple syrup, one ounce of lemon juice and a half a cubed watermelon muddled. And you strain that out over ice. Man, that sounds delicious. It does sound good. Yeah.

So that was created recently by one of our bartender ambassador. We launched a bartender ambassador program during COVID as one of our initiatives recently where we have bartenders who may not be working in the bars right now because of COVID, but they're able to create a country smooth related cocktail entirely original that we have not on our website or a card. And that was a result of one, which I thought was incredible. I mean, I'm creative, I would have never come up with that. And so sounds like something we all three should try at some point.

I was going to have one of those today on the show. I just kind of ran out of time today. If you live on a farm, you always got something to do and a lot of stuff going on in our house today. So I just kind of ran out of time and I ran out of watermelon because I took it all to work the other day. So, but I think those are just great summer drinks. There's nothing wrong with having whiskey in those. I think it opens whiskey market. Open to more people want to try whiskey in their drinks instead of that dirty white stuff vodka.

You know, I can't blame people for wanting to have whiskey in their drinks. I would entirely agree. And it's interesting. So I would say our most popular and our original cocktail was a country mule. And having obviously the whiskey over the vodka. And it's interesting how I just I love how different country smooth that the creation of the cocktails different cocktails created, how just different of experiences we have. And, and obviously a smooth fashion can be enjoyed throughout the year, but I enjoy it more in the fall and the winter, like a Berry Smooth or a Country Mule. Definitely more of a summer, refreshing summer, late spring, early fall drink. Do you guys have classic whiskey or bourbon favorites, cocktail favorites in general?

Go ahead, Jim.

Yeah, I mean, I do. You know, this time of year, I'm not drinking a lot of old fashions, but a Kentucky mule or a whiskey mule or in your case, a country mule is definitely at the top of my list in the summertime. You know, I really love ginger, I love ginger beer, I love lime. And you know what, I think yours kind of plays well, that sort of pear note plays well with that lime and that ginger. And it makes, and because that's what I'm drinking right now, and really plays well with it and brings out that wonderful mule taste that you expect.

Fantastic.

I'm trying to think of what other, I don't drink a lot of Manhattans. Not a lot of sours, not a big sour guy. Mike, what about you?

Actually, you know, I would call this a smooth punch. I'm big into any berry drink, you know, or a watermelon drink or something like that. But like Jim, a country meal would be right up my alley with that ginger ale. That's, When the other guys would go to the bar and they would just order a whiskey and Coke, me, I would rather have a whiskey and ginger ale and always drink it as a tall boy like this and a big glass because I'm a big guy. And when I have a little bitty glass in my hand, it looks funny. So, yeah, that's right up my alley and stuff. But lately, I've been drinking Kentucky punch a lot with broken in it. But a country punch that that watermelon Watermelon Smooth, I think that's right up my alley.

I love the name, the name Country Punch. If you're not quite sure when you hear that, you're like, hmm, that's interesting. It kind of plays on the words a little bit. Interesting. So can I ask a question of y'all? So, Jim, you live on a farm.

Yes, actually, Mike and I both live on farms. Mike's got a little more acreage than me, but I've got more animals.

There you go. How fantastic. So can I ask you a bit about your farms? Sure. Am I not allowed to interview you?

No, no, let's let's let's let's turn the tables here a little bit. It's OK. I'm having fun.

Good. So, Jim, tell us about your farm, please.

So I am in Simpsonville, Kentucky, which is. You know, it's kind of a little bit further west than Mike, but closer to Louisville, but still in between Frankfurt and Louisville, kind of right on the Bourbon Trail. I've got just about five acres, so it's a small place.

Fantastic.

But we have horses and we have goats and chickens and dogs and cats. And we enjoy, you know, we've got the four board black fence around and kind of the I don't know, kind of the, we've got a white house, which is kind of like a, I don't know what you call it, kind of a gentleman farm, Mike, kind of a smaller land, but kind of, yeah.

I call it the Billy goat homestead is what I call it.

Billy goat homestead. Yeah. We just got, we just got our goats and we're loving our goats. They're so cute.

So how many animals in total can I ask?

Ah, let's see. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. 20.

Wow. And you have names for each one of them?

No, we didn't name the chickens. They all look alike. You can't tell them apart.

I don't blame you. Fantastic. So how long have you been into farming?

Well, I actually had a farm once before. So this is my second time around. And before I raised hay, I had a 40 acre farm where I raised hay and my brother raised beefalo cattle and we live right next door to each other. So, so this is the second time around, but this time close to 10 years, not quite, but yeah.

Okay. Well, next time I'm in your neck of the woods, do not please. I'm going to invite myself over to come visit your farm. For sure. We can drink some country smooth, right? Absolutely. Absolutely. Your patio or your back porch. And what about you, Mike?

So I live on a place called Jeptha Bend Farm. The back side of our farm is a creek, Jeptha Creek, which is kind of tied to Jeptha Distillery, but we're not even near there. We're about three miles off the interstate in Shelbyville, Kentucky, halfway between Lexington and Louisville. Either way, there you go. You can get there 30 minutes and get to the other place 30 minutes to downtown. We only have one animal here. We have a yellow lab named Woodrow. He's me and Jim's whiskey dog, really. He's been a lot of episodes. He's a fan favorite, I guess, out of the three of us.

Well, he's definitely got his fan base.

Oh yeah, he does. So we have 10 acres and we have about five acres of it is a hay field. We have a neighbor that cuts hay off of it every year, does about four cuttings and he sells it to other people for their horses or for their cows. Jim's place is a little bit flatter than ours. Ours is, if you look at our back door off our back deck, it kind of looks like Gatlinburg, Tennessee here. Just rolling hills, green grass. We got a pretty good garden here. We got an orchard and some fig trees and apple trees and pear trees. So some peach trees. We love it here.

10 acres is a lot to manage, right?

Well, I grew up on a 2,000-acre ranch in Texas. So this, to me, is just pretty... I wouldn't say it's easy for anybody, but I would have...

Compared to what you had before, it's easy to maintain.

Well, I wouldn't say it's easy at my age now, but it's a lot easier. But I'd rather be doing this than sitting in front of the TV, watching TV shows all day. And if that's all I had to come home to do, it would probably drive me crazy. I really enjoy living in the, on the bourbon trail, I guess. Um, so it just, to me, this is Kentucky. It's, it's home now. Um, I'm not originally from here and from Texas, but I love it. I love being here. And luckily enough, uh, God blessed me with, um, meeting Jim. Everything happens for a reason. Me and him met in a bar and, and here I am today, co-host on a podcast.

Fantastic. And I and I think that's wonderful. I do believe everything happens for a reason, especially with people meeting and relationships and friendships. But going back, when my first trip to Kentucky, I said to my husband, this is such a beautiful country or part of the country state with rolling hills. And I loved your I love your rolling hills. I think it's beautiful and I love the type of homes for the most part. And that entire Bourbon Trail, there's nothing like it in the entire country. So you guys, it's a beautiful place to live, especially, obviously, if you like acres, acreage, and being close to some of the most beautiful distilleries in the entire world. So it's definitely a good living. And thank you for letting me be the interviewer for just a few minutes.

No problem. So when you, when you come to the bourbon trail, the invitation is always open. Mike and I, we'd love to entertain you while you're here and enjoy, enjoy your company for a bonfire and some good mixed drinks. That'd be great. Right? Yes. So, so I'm going to turn, I'm going to take the mic back and I'm going to turn it back onto you for a minute. And I'm going to ask you a little bit about, you know, what you do for fun, you know, what, what's your favorite drink? You know, what do you like to do when you're cutting loose?

So I am a mom, I'm a proud mom. I have three children and I would say that's my number one outside of work and not in that order, by the way, work and then kids. And I have a very supportive husband who helps and family takes a true village to raise children and a dog. I have a dog as well. So I would say keeping up with the kids is probably what you find me doing first outside of work. Also, friends. I have a lot of incredible family and friends that I like to keep busy with. I would say I love hiking. I love the outdoors for sure. I just finished my second overnight backpacking trip with a good friend of mine. I've been hiking. I've hiked Half Dome three times years ago. I've hiked 405 miles. in the last three and a half months during COVID in our local hills and mountains, weekends and some of them during the weeks. It's definitely a passionate hobby. But to go backpacking is next level. I'm not much of a camper, not much of a lover of dirt and tents, but I just not, I'll be honest. and bugs and all that goes into it, but I absolutely am in love with the idea of hiking and backpacking, which has to involve tent camping and doing it all. So this last trip, my girlfriend and I hiked 23 miles in 50 hours. My backpack was 38 pounds. We hiked with it the entire time outside of sleeping or eating or collecting, filtering water. And we climbed 6,700 feet in those 23 miles. So that was my second trip in three weeks. Again, part of that hiking and running and being outside, swimming in my pool, swimming in the ocean. I'm a huge lover of outdoors and usually with family and friends and making sure that when we're not working, we're outside. enjoying the beautiful weather when it's nice. So if you can't find me, if you can't get a hold of me, be a cell or email. I'm usually in the middle of a mountain intentionally with no reception, hiking or fishing and hunting really, to be honest.

Now you said you've done hiking and running. Have you ever done any trail running?

Yeah, so I've competed in seven sprint triathlons. After raising each of, after having each of my kids, I thought no better way to get back into an athletic shape and shed some mom weight, right, than to start competing in triathlons. And so I did, we over, after three pregnancies competed in seven triathlons total sprint, which was amazing. started doing some trail running. I would like to start doing some ragnars, which are trail running races with friends. So I think in the next year, I'm going to venture into that. There is a big trail here in California called the John Muir Trail, which is 210 miles from Yosemite all the way down to Mount Whitney. It's world famous. I don't have three weeks to take off and have no reception with this business. But I was invited to take part in about a week's worth of that. So in September, I just signed up to do 55 miles of the GMT in September.

Good for you. Good for you.

Yeah.

So, Laura, you didn't say what's your favorite drink?

My favorite drink. So my favorite country smooth drink or outside of country smooth?

Yeah, what's your everyday drink? Well, if you had to come home and every day you're like, I'm gonna have a drink after work, what are you drinking?

So of course it'd be Country Smooth, but you know, because I still have obligations as mom and working out, I would say over ice would be my, a little bit lighter, if you will, and stay a little, last a little longer. My favorite cocktail is the Country Mule right now in the heat of the summer. Outside of Country Smooth, I would say a Rombar Chardonnay. would be my would be my go-to drink outside of Country Smooth.

So Country Smooth is doing a bunch of outreach right now, right? Do you guys do military outreach too? And you hold some country concerts too, correct?

Yes. So we recently launched the Country Chorale. It's an online live streaming concert series on our Facebook. And we use StreamYard as well to stream both the country artists that we're featuring. We're doing one tonight, in fact. as well as our Facebook. So combined Facebooks and other platforms. And it's about a 40-minute interview, myself and Kyle, sometimes just Kyle if I'm not available, and Q&A with the artists that we're highlighting. These are all up and coming talents of the country artists that we appreciate. And during COVID, they're not able to play in bars and at concerts and festivals. And we appreciate them and their talent and their efforts. And we want to be able to highlight them and keep the core value and culture of country smooth country music as part of that alive during COVID. So this will be, I believe, our 12th of 12. And we have plans to do an actual online concert festival in late September, early October. with all of these artists and then additional ones. So we're thrilled that we've had some, just to be able to continue with the efforts in an ever-changing world that we're all in during COVID.

So what about military outreach? You guys doing anything with the military?

So we just launched in the Navy stores, the top tier. There's 17 stores in March. Thrilled to be there. It is not easy for an up and coming brand like CountrySmooth to get the Navy exchanges, but we did. thankfully, and I believe as part of is the core culture of who we are and our commitment to the military. So we're currently supporting two outstanding, outstanding military foundations. One of them is Brothers in Arms Foundation. They are a Marine Reconnaissance Support Foundation who has spent um invested donated spent um you you know catch my my drift my point um hundreds of thousands of dollars over the last 10 years to support reconnaissance families um which i think is incredible also the nevada veterans outdoor um adventure foundation is another not-for-profit we support in nevada um amazing group of men and women they support disabled veterans that are domiciled in the state of Nevada with outdoor adventures. So NASCAR this past year in February, I want to say they treated 400 wounded veterans and their families to meals country smooth for the legally allowed over 21 and NASCAR and passes to the NASCAR race. They have other events. They do an overnight campout that was unfortunately canceled this year because of COVID required to be canceled. They have an upcoming banquet here next weekend that we're attending. So we like to support them as well. There's also another Marine Sniper Foundation. It's important for this company to be able to give back in every way possible that we can. We have other plans to do additional outreaches as we grow. But being truly rooted in the veteran community is really important for us.

You guys sound like you got a lot going on. You're out there really pushing your product. You're trying to embed yourself in the community and do good things. I mean, you got Kyle out there pushing your brand. How many states are you guys in?

So we are currently distributed in 7 states. And the newest state as of products there already that we're launching with the sales team is Arkansas. So brand new Arkansas. We have 2 additional states that we're just finalizing our distribution agreement with. So that will be 9. And I think we'll call it 9 to stay at 9 just in time for O&D, which is the true big holiday season, October, November, December.

And do you guys have a problem keeping up with keeping your inventory up with demand or?

Yeah, that's a great question. And I think that many, I know that many up and coming brands, especially with with sales changes, sales increase changes rather quickly can, we don't at this time, you know, about a year ago, when we went from X amount of cases to where we are, as of last year, somewhat swiftly change, which is a great problem to have. It took about 4 to 6 weeks to get product versus I like to have product on hand to ship out. So a lot of it is just predicting the trends and the growth and how quickly product will be reordered per state to make sure you can meet those demands. So at this point in time, we're pretty well positioned to be able to sell between 7,000 and 10,000 cases this year and to have ample... Not 6-pack cases. And to have ample amount of inventory marketing support to be able to support that on a timely basis.

That's pretty impressive. Yeah.

Thank you.

Great job.

It takes time to get there. It's not an overnight thing as I'm sure you both know, right?

Absolutely. Nothing happens overnight, right? So Lori, you said in the first half that you guys are going to be releasing a second expression. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Sure. Without giving away exactly what it is, you know, we, I would say the second expression, and I will go back to the Country Smooth that we're all drinking right now. We have two bottle sizes that we're rolling out by October. The 50 mls, which you probably see at many liquor stores, it's a great way to get a small amount of product into new consumers' hands. as well as the one liter for bars. So that's with the current expression. Our second product is going to be definitely more expensive. It's going to be an older product for sure. As we all know, the TTB does not require age statements for products that are aged over 4 years. 4 years or over. So we will not... I can just say this. We will not need an age statement with this product.

Oh, that's nice. That's nice to hear.

Yes. I can say that without giving away too much detail of the age. Just know that it's at least four years old. And I can tell you as, you know, going from not really being a whiskey drinker, pre-2015, I know my own personal palette has been enhanced. Does that make sense? So in terms of my whiskey and bourbon palette, so the idea of drinking something over 80 proof or 86 proof in this case is It's something that's really enjoyable for me and I know for other drinkers. So looking into different products that have different proofs and obviously an older statement, different price points, that's really where we're headed towards. I know that we've already formulated it and I'm extremely excited. And I can say this, it's hard for me to not go to try to to tap from my small sample or my inventory of that product because it's so incredibly good. And I will say that when we formulated it, I wanted to make sure that that the experience was still country smooth. Does that make sense? I wanted to make sure that people who were going to drink the second product, they know, okay, this is like... And I'm not going to say an older sibling of country smooth. And I'm not going to say it's good or just different. I still wanted that country smooth feeling to resonate in a second product. And I think it does.

You know how to put out a teaser without giving away the phone.

Well, maybe the, maybe the bourbon road will get a bottle of that and we could put it on our, on, we have a Monday review show and maybe me and Jim will be able to do a review of that.

You know, it'd be fantastic. Actually, I was thinking about what we were talking about your backyards and your rolling Hills and your horses. I think it'd be pretty fun is maybe with our second product, we could do a live broadcast from one of your backyards of the product. That would be fun to me. I think maybe we can, we can do that if I'm, if I'm welcome to do so.

All right. So if you're listening to this episode and you've just heard this possibility, shout out in the bourbon roadies and let us know if this is something you'd like to see. If so, we'll make it happen. Right, Mike?

Well, we can definitely get some country music on here for sure.

For certain, absolutely. So we're very excited that we have in store for the future. I know that this time, the last four months have been very challenging for most of America. And Country Smooth has done what we can as a company to support all the Americans. I know that being able to support musicians, the veteran community, the bartenders, obviously do as much as we can with helping everyone we can as a company. That's been our desire. So I want to make sure that people know that CountrySmooth supports America and good times and bad and our efforts. And we would love input from any of you guys out there listening, your thoughts about Country Smooth and ideas and your support is incredibly important to us. So we just launched, gosh, a month ago, our own rewards program. It's called the Country Club. And you can go to countrysmooth.com and sign up for the Country Club, which is a... I mean, it's our own version of Country Smooth Club. And so when you sign up, you'll get an email response back welcoming you. And then you'll get a welcome package usually within the first two weeks. And then a letter, electronic letter for me every month announcing new products or new projects, events, et cetera. We may have a few gifts coming your way throughout the year, a couple of gifts. It's a really great way for you to stay included and in touch with Country Smooth as we grow and have some information that the general public would not have access to.

So they can sing that song. I'm a member of the country club.

You got it. That is fantastic. You're hired for our vote, our professional voiceover.

That probably sounded really horrible. No, you missed your call it Mike. I think you missed your call buddy.

So Lori, where can we find you in country smooth on social media?

Okay, so country smooth is at country smooth on Instagram. And we're at country smooth spirits, I want to say on Facebook. And we also have a Twitter and I am l car stage on Instagram. So that's where you can find this. And of course, our website is dub dub dub country smooth calm.

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That's okay.

So Lori, Hey, we got to thank you and Kyle for coming on today with us. Uh, thanks for sending me and Jim a bottle each of your whiskey to try. Thanks for coming on and letting us pick on you a little bit, pick on California a little bit there. Um, it is so exciting to see a new brand come out, see, a new whiskey come out. Me and Jim just love, especially something like this that we can put out there and promote to our listeners, your listeners, your fans. So thank you very much.

Yeah. And so it's really great every now and then we get to turn the tables. You know, it doesn't happen very often, but once in a while a guest will turn the tables on us, take over the mic and interview Mike and I. It's happened before, but you did such a great job, Lori. Thank you so much. 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.