SUMMARY KEYWORDS
whiskey, bottle, whiskies, barrel, cocktails, taste, Ingrid, brand, casual, good, drink, piggyback, bourbon, great, dave, year, bartender, flavor profile, rye, talk, Whistle Pig, pickerell, friends, bar
SPEAKERS
Ingrid Rodriguez – The Traveling Whiskey Fairy, Mickey Gordon, Mallory Gordon
Mallory Gordon 00:08
You’re listening to the casual swinger podcast. As your hosts, we need to warn you that the material you’re about to hear may be sexual or explicit in nature. This podcast is intended for an adult audience. Now we don’t expect you to act like adults once the button that
Mickey Gordon 00:22
we’re a married couple living in Florida with over 13 years of experience in the lifestyle and we take almost nothing seriously. Casual speakers of variety show meaning we’ll cover everything from music to events, travel, and even the occasional hilarious screw up. Our show was about entertainment. We’re not licensed professionals had anything and her stories, commentary and guidance should not be confused the opinions of a licensed professional.
Mallory Gordon 00:46
Now that you know, let’s take those pants off and get comfy. And welcome back to another episode of casual swinger. I’m your co host Mallory, you do
Mickey Gordon 01:00
that every time you cut, you talk after the lead and you go Welcome back to casual swinger, like everybody that listens all two
Mallory Gordon 01:07
people. Well, okay, if you’re new around here, hi. Nice to meet you.
Mickey Gordon 01:11
That’s right. This is Mallory. She’s your co host.
Mallory Gordon 01:14
Hi, everybody. We have a great episode. I’m so excited for this one.
Mickey Gordon 01:18
Yeah, this one’s a little different, right. I mean, this is definitely proof that our show is not just about sex.
Mallory Gordon 01:23
Yeah, it’s a variety show. Now we try to cover topics that kind of surround the lifestyle and at least our lives in general, right, cuz drinking is definitely a hobby of ours and collecting fine bourbon and whiskies.
Mickey Gordon 01:35
Yeah. Well, it’s one of those things where I think whiskey has definitely exploded in this country, and it’s definitely become just kind of like, well, I mean, it harkens back to our culture, right? I mean, my great grandfather was a moonshine. And so I learned about whiskey and moonshine a very young age, and how to make it and like I watched the still I used to feed wood under the still because it was in the woods. Yeah, cool. And it’s just like the issue it’s, it’s in my blood, literally.
Mallory Gordon 02:02
So your story is way cooler than mine. The first time I ever got drunk was off a wild turkey like one of the
Mickey Gordon 02:07
same here actually, when I got shit faced, I stole one of my dad’s glasses of coke and poured wild turkey into it and filled it to the top. And I because I just thought and he actually smelled it when I walked past him and made me drink
Mallory Gordon 02:21
- Now my girlfriend and I, we took it like a we poured a half glass like a I guess what would be a standard rock glass and to get right to the face, choked on the fumes from it and then proceeded to get so drunk so quickly because obviously we hadn’t drank before. And then my my dad pretended like everything was fine. Like it were like you didn’t smell like a distillery. Exactly. It we watered down his bourbon. He never ever said anything. But he totally knows. But we were so sick. He was like, that’s probably
Mickey Gordon 02:54
remember when the kids watered down your vodka. And because our kids are idiots, they didn’t realize that they put enough water in it would freeze. So we had frozen vodka and we’re like, Yeah, that’s probably not all right.
Mallory Gordon 03:05
Oh my gosh, I totally forgot about that our
Mickey Gordon 03:07
kids are retarded. But hey, you know what? Before we go any deeper in this I do have to catch up to you guys on one thing, our last episode, which was called Mission Impossible, and it was dating as a single guy. I do some advice as a solo as a solo as a married guy. Sorry, dating as a married guy solo. And I think I threw some advice out there that a couple of people took the wrong way. Hope that in break your heart. Oh, isn’t
Mallory Gordon 03:28
this dude, your league
Mickey Gordon 03:30
telling you to stay in your league? Like all the dogs? You I told you to get shit for that? I did. And it’s okay. I mean, I think everybody was pretty cool about it. But what I’m really saying is for maximum success. Stay in your league, right? It’s if you find yourself striking out every time you go to bat, maybe the fastball is not for you. Right?
Mallory Gordon 03:48
Yeah. And you know, double check your approach and your initiation and all these other things as well.
Mickey Gordon 03:53
Yeah, and I’m sure there’s gonna be some differing viewpoints out there from some other podcasters to check out what they’ve got to say. But you know what, fuck that today’s a new episode. This episode is called Whiskey business. Even got a special photo shoot.
Mallory Gordon 04:06
I know I changed my oh god. What’s his name? Tom Cruise.
Mickey Gordon 04:10
A little short. Dienstag the Scientologists? Yes, that one.
Mallory Gordon 04:14
I tried to slide across their floor with
Mickey Gordon 04:17
the greatest line he ever said in the movie Porsche. There is no substitute. I don’t know. That’s the greatest. It was his best work. That was the best he ever
Mallory Gordon 04:24
had. I don’t know. I’m still a bigger fan of cocktail. But yeah. All right. That’s pretty good. She can have cocktails. Let’s talk about whiskey.
Mickey Gordon 04:32
Let’s talk about whiskey. So whiskey businesses the name of tonight’s episode and we’ve got a special guest coming up for you here in just a couple of minutes. She’s a good friend of ours and has been for a long time. And she’s the senior brand steward for the southeast for Whistle Pig whiskey. Yeah,
Mallory Gordon 04:46
even if you’re not a whiskey fan, prepare to have your mind blown. The amount of knowledge that occupies the single human’s brain never ceases to amaze me. It’s absurd and like forget about like all the other things she’s you know, a scholar at the Whisky was frustrating to be around. Whiskey alone. I mean, it was it was a learning experience for me as well. And we’ve been, you know, whiskey and bourbon fans now kind of sewers, not sommelier. But
Mickey Gordon 05:10
yeah, well, it’s it. I don’t know a lot of people that know much more about whiskey than I do, but she’s definitely one of them. We’re going to talk to her a little bit. Now, of course, who is she worked for? What are we talking about? We’re talking about one of our favorite whiskies in the last few years. It’s a brand that came on strong out of Vermont back in 2015, a brand called whistle pig. We’re fortunate enough to be friends with one of the stewards of the brand for Whistle Pig. And she is here in the great state of Florida. We call her Ingrid, the traveling whiskey fairy that is actually her nickname and how she’s known on social media. Yeah, he’s joining us. Gonna be a lot of fun to talk all things, whiskey, and we’re gonna ask her some uncomfortable questions that she probably won’t answer, but we’ll ask them anyway.
Mallory Gordon 05:48
You know, she did. I think she’ll do a great job. Yeah.
Mickey Gordon 05:51
Well, I mean, we already recorded it.
Mallory Gordon 05:52
Yeah. No, I was like, I wasn’t sure where you’re going. I was like, Oh, okay. I’ll try to do that long. No, I don’t do well.
Mickey Gordon 05:59
Yet. She definitely there’s a few of them. She’s like, I can’t talk about that. But let’s talk about a couple of things you guys should know before the interview. First of all, Whistle Pig is best known for their right whiskeys. For a spirit to call itself American right? It’s got to conform to a strict set of American legal requirements. For example, those rules are first the mash and mash. Just so you guys know is that starchy, stinky soup that provides the sugars for fermentation for alcohol, all the bacteria, bacteria farts, that’s what we’re drinking has to be made up of at least 51% actual rye grain. The bills remaining 49% usually winds up being a blend of corn, wheat, or malted barley. What about the second rule Mallory?
Mallory Gordon 06:40
So the second rule certified rye whiskies initial booze content can’t be any higher than 160 Proof roughly 80% alcohol by volume hot damn, yeah, literally hot damn, that’ll burn the lips off. After all, that sweet sweet liquor has been extracted from the fermented wart, it gets diluted down to no more than 125 pre 460 2.5% alcohol by volume. Then the liquid gets piped into charred meaning the insides burnt to a crisp and never used before oak barrel, specifically oak. And this is left untouched to age and everyone’s aging process is a little different, right? That’s right, as well as their finishing process if they have one,
Mickey Gordon 07:26
which really is what turns alcohol into something else is whatever finishing process reading it’s
Mallory Gordon 07:31
Jesus mode, right? Like water. No,
Mickey Gordon 07:33
I’m pretty much okay. It’s when you go into straight up alchemy. But so for straight rye whiskey, you’re looking at a minimum of two years maturation, though many distilleries choose to let it sit around a little longer for a richer, more complex product. It’s also important to note that straight rye can not be blended with any other spirit during this process.
Mallory Gordon 07:52
Pure is pure. Stay in your lane.
Mickey Gordon 07:55
Oh come on. You got to do that again.
Mallory Gordon 07:58
So what’s gonna be whiskies are often high right, mash bills, and that was really hard for me to say because it rhymes sequential say fast. Many of these being finished or blended meaning that they buy it from food grade industrial suppliers and put their stamp on it with a finish in a different barrel than they were Asian.
Mickey Gordon 08:16
Yeah, so whiskey finishing is a relatively modern practice whereby a distiller transfers their whiskey from one type of cask into another. This secondary maturation process adds complexity to the whiskey and depending on the type of cask, it can change the flavor pretty much remarkably Yeah, a good example of that would be Port Cask finish in last month’s whiskey of the month, which was Angel’s envy,
Mallory Gordon 08:37
which happens to be one of my favorite finishes port and Sherry. That’s right. So
Mickey Gordon 08:41
the most common type of casks use are sherry casks which typically add rich notes of dried fruit and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg to your whiskey. No great content that’s a great contrast of vanilla and toffee notes from you know, the ex bourbon casks despite all of this all manner of casks can and have been used to finish whiskey including red wine port like we talked about a minute ago cognac rum, sadly, even fish
Mallory Gordon 09:05
I can’t even fucking like I need to wrap my head around finishing your fish barrel
Mickey Gordon 09:10
That’s right folks, coming soon from Casual Swinger – Bass whiskey,
Mallory Gordon 09:13
and I’m gonna rewind that even further. Why do we have fish in barrels like shooting fish in barrels I’ve heard but he knew that was actually thing like it didn’t occur
Mickey Gordon 09:19
to shoot fish in a barrel if you don’t have any fish.
Mallory Gordon 09:22
I I’m a little slow on the uptake. Okay, I feel like it’s important. All right. So a blended whiskey by American standards is a mixture of containing no less than 20% but up to 100% Whiskey, the rest that can be made up from colorings and flavorings and neutral grain spirits at Whistle Pig. This is different however, all of their blends are either right or straight rye whiskies.
Mickey Gordon 09:47
Alright, now that you know and if you watch GI Joe, you know that knowing is half the battle. That’s the that’s a little pre class the prerequisite for what’s coming up with Ingrid Whistle Pig. We’re going to get into the rest of this intro for you guys. little bit about this great, great weekend. Oh my gosh, cute too.
Mallory Gordon 10:03
Great weekend. So this past weekend, we had a wonderful friend of ours that came to visit, right? Oh, yeah.
Mickey Gordon 10:08
Love that dude. He’s
Mallory Gordon 10:09
amazing. And he’s the funniest, kindest, sweetest, just just a genuine good person.
Mickey Gordon 10:16
And, you know, and this dude, and I hit it off like nobody’s business.
Mallory Gordon 10:20
It is so entertaining. Being around the two of you. I’m not gonna lie, like just the the banter and the candor.
Mickey Gordon 10:27
Yeah, there were people that went on the last keto trip, and we didn’t go, and they were coming to breakfast going, this isn’t the same. It’s not the Mickey and I’m not going to out him with his name here. But you know, they were like, we were looking for this show. And it’s not here now. And we can’t have Brian and laugh are
Mallory Gordon 10:42
just so sad. We didn’t consciously take the time to sit down and record just because of the dialogue and just the conversation, it would have
Mickey Gordon 10:49
been a three hour show about nothing. It would have been like the Seinfeld, casual,
Mallory Gordon 10:52
it would have been selfish on my part, but I would have loved every second of it.
Mickey Gordon 10:56
Well, that’s cool. But he did come with us because we had a bunch of stuff going on that weekend, our friend slightly sophisticated. And of course, the new with tags podcast were in town for something they were doing at a local lifestyle club. So we got to have dinner with those guys, which was wonderful. I really enjoyed that. It’s nice to see new tags. Haven’t seen them it since I was a foam party two
Mallory Gordon 11:16
years ago. Holy Toledo.
Mickey Gordon 11:18
Yeah. And you haven’t been able to drag me back to Toledo since then. Yeah. And then we dropped in at some other friends who were celebrating a big 30th birthday. And of course, he had to give her some sweet new sex toys.
Mallory Gordon 11:29
Oh, yeah. She had a very dirty 30 Yeah, that
Mickey Gordon 11:31
pretty girl had a great time. She had a bunch of cool friends. They’re so glad they can invite us out. And we were able to drop in not only the day of her party, but the day before her party
Mallory Gordon 11:41
events. This is why I have the holder of the calendar and I’m gonna call you out right now. Oh, I can’t tell everybody. Our friend, the sweetest, kindest man that I’ve ever known. comes down to visit. We’re like we’re gonna we’re gonna take you to this party. And you had let us know it’s gonna be Friday night. So Friday night comes. We have a presence wrapped. We’re all dressed up. We show up in the house is fucking dark. We’re like, Huh, I wonder if the party has moved? Let’s go see if we are early. So our dumbass is don’t put two and two together the house is dark does. There’s only one car in the driveway, would they? We know they have to. And we know that the dogs are losing their shit. We still stand there waiting for someone who obviously is not home to come into the door. I was getting to the spine slide. You call the owner of the domicile and let him know that we’re there.
Mickey Gordon 12:31
Why are you at my house? My bed? Oh, we
Mallory Gordon 12:36
were a day early.
Mickey Gordon 12:37
Yeah, this party was Saturday. Not Friday. Oh, in my defense. It was in a lake. No one could find it. I think there were other people that weren’t exactly sure. No, there weren’t. It was just like something like 18% of kids do.
Mallory Gordon 12:51
Okay, but we were so excited to see him. We showed up a day early. It was great.
Mickey Gordon 12:54
It wasn’t delicious. But hey, what do we do this weekend? Because it’s Saturday night. So the weekends not over. But we’ve had some pretty cool stuff going
Mallory Gordon 13:02
oh my gosh, it’s already been a crazy weekend. So we were very fortunate and glad to help sponsor a onlyfans event
Mickey Gordon 13:11
and only fin shoot weekend that was going on here in Orlando. And I mean, there’s some awesome only featured creators here in Central Florida. And we’re so supportive of all of the sex positive communities and these girls working their asses off and literally fancying literally I mean busting their humps creating cool content if you guys saw what we saw there with, I mean, each each of them had individual setups, video setups, Gimbels, battery packs, laptops, I mean, 1000s of dollars a year,
Mallory Gordon 13:39
just the paperwork alone kind of kind of stunned me the amount of intention and the it’s really laboris to to make sure you have all your T’s and C’s in line. I was really impressed at the this overall structure and consents and everything they did. So big thumbs up to that. Yeah,
Mickey Gordon 13:59
so girls like Kenzie Fox, Sapphire Cox, Savannah star, and just like really? Yeah, for now. Harris Knight. Yeah. Right. So they were all they’re doing their shoots, and they were super cool to us. And they’re joining in a lot of their cases. I don’t think Paris is doing it, but our casual creators program so we’re really excited about that. Obviously, that program is how only fans creators can earn money back on their wish lists. And they’re just people that are kind of picking it up and really digging it so we’re really excited about that. But that was a lot of fun to go check. Yeah, a big shout out to Liberator moto bunny. Absolutely. Operator and moto bunny booth helped us put that party on those guys who really appreciate Liberator moto money for that. And of course, we brought them some of our now famous unique condoms in Uber. Yeah,
Mallory Gordon 14:44
those are fun conversations. For sure.
Mickey Gordon 14:47
It really is. I love when I walk up to a group of guys and go okay, how big your dick Oh,
Mallory Gordon 14:50
it’s the best.
Mickey Gordon 14:51
It is the best. It’s i They all look at me like seriously.
Mallory Gordon 14:55
They look at me and I was like, answer the man.
Mickey Gordon 14:59
It’s It never gets old running up to a bunch of dudes you just met and going let’s talk about your dicks. Yeah, it’s it is what it is. And I asked
Mallory Gordon 15:06
her to feel like a princess. Yes. Nice. You gotta you gotta remember the Bohemian, which is located in town called celebration. Anyone who’s not familiar Furbish it’s fucking it’s cute but creepy.
Mickey Gordon 15:18
It is creepy. I think Children of the Corn meat Stepford
Mallory Gordon 15:21
little bit, little bit it was it was nice though. So we get sick some sexy pictures.
Mickey Gordon 15:27
pretty sexy pictures, and I got you got me this new camera strap for Christmas. And I just got the busted out. Strap on my strap on but really, really enjoyed taking some of those photos. You guys might see some of those on Twitter as we move forward. But hey, without further ado, let’s dig into whiskey business. And then don’t guys stick around because at the end today wooing to have whiskey of the month
Mallory Gordon 15:51
for January Yes. And it’s got a special prize in there too. Don’t Don’t miss it. Because yeah, we’re about to give you a deal.
Mickey Gordon 15:59
Oh, yeah, a deal deal deal. We got a deal for you. Hang around to the end for whiskey of the month and find out how you can save some money. Do it now or you want to tell everybody how to find us Do your thing
Mallory Gordon 16:11
if you guys are signing out? Thanks. You can find us as casual swinger everywhere that’s casual swinger.com You can shoot us a message at podcast at casual swinger comm. If you’d like to say something nice about us feel free to do that on iTunes as well. We are on social media that’s Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter, as well as the dating sites double EIGHT nation SLS sec and Cassidy
Mickey Gordon 16:33
Mickey’s penis at only fans calm. Getting our no shots of my penis. We just went and hung out those guys but it was super fun. Hey, we’ll be back in a hot second. With Ingrid the traveling whiskey berry from Whistle Pig whiskey. You’re listening to casual Swinging? Everybody welcome back to casual swinger. This is still Mickey and I Mallory, and we’re getting down to whiskey business. We got a little guest here in our casual swinger studios in sunny bright and really Toothless Orlando, Florida. So we’ll get into that and here’s the list. Have you been to fucking Orleans?
Mallory Gordon 17:20
I’ve been Orlando. Yeah. All right. Okay,
Mickey Gordon 17:23
it’s pretty ruthlessly meth capital of the universe and all but hey, we’re not going to talk about meth. Today we’re gonna talk about whiskey. Having a trip down memory lane. Let’s talk about a little flashback real quick. Back to 2007 A gentleman by the name of Raj bhakta bought a farm in Vermont back in 2007. And after a few years, they committed themselves to crafting the world’s finest and most interesting rye whiskies. With the help from the late great master distiller Dave pickerel. They discovered and purchased an incredible stock of 10 year old blending whiskey in Canada that was being in their words, profoundly misused and initial stock is what kicked off what we know today is Whistle Pig whiskey
Mallory Gordon 18:02
so quick whistle pigs farm is more than 500 acres of honest to god operating farm complete with maple trees for syrup, grain animals, the whole nine farmer. Yeah, their distillery is located in the 150 year old dairy barn distilling and a copper pot still designed by again, the great Dave pickerel
Mickey Gordon 18:23
pretty cool, that guy’s got his thumb prints all over that business. So Dave pickerel is known as the founding father of craft distilling. And due to his famous worldwide as a matter of fact, over 14 years of fame he earned at Maker’s Mark, I don’t know anybody who hasn’t heard of Maker’s Mark. But so in over 14 years of Maker’s Mark, he, you know, he founded his consulting business and consulted for a lot of major brands, I can’t name them all here, there’s so many as a matter of fact, but if you ask us his crowning achievement is in fact, Whistle Pig Dave passed away back in 2018. But he left behind a legacy of creativity and passion and quality that is evident in every sip of his amazing creations. And I think even more so in some of the relationships with those friends whose lives he touched in amazing ways.
Mallory Gordon 19:08
Alright guys, so tonight we have one of those very special people with us someone lucky to have started learning the whiskey business from the man himself and has done an amazing things here, growing Whistle Pig in Florida. So let’s welcome senior brands steward of the southeast and US US East Coast brand educator, Ingrid Rodriguez. That’s your cue say hi, everybody. Hi, everybody.
19:33
Hi, Mickey. Mallory. Thanks for having me on the show.
Mickey Gordon 19:37
We’re pretty excited. Oh, totally. Like Jazz got a lot of fucking Whistle Pig in my bar. Tell me that’s what the first thing you notice when you walked into the casual bar.
Ingrid Rodriguez – The Traveling Whiskey Fairy 19:44
First thing I noticed in every bar. I mean, I’m grateful that you guys brought me the nice and boring Orlando. I appreciate Yeah.
Mallory Gordon 19:50
Thanks for having all your teeth. We appreciate that. Right? That’s right. I
Mickey Gordon 19:53
didn’t bring any meth just some whistle.
19:55
Unfortunately, just Whistle Pig but that’s just as addictive from
Mallory Gordon 19:57
what I’ve heard. Oh, very much. There’s a reason it it’s front and center in our bar.
Mickey Gordon 20:01
Yeah, it’s actually my prized possession is that bottle Boss Hog that you got signed for me so I’m still very appreciative
Mallory Gordon 20:09
it is it’s the cutest thing ever people come to the house he shows off the bar and then presents it as if it’s his new
20:14
child. Dave would appreciate that. Yeah, definitely. Right
Mickey Gordon 20:17
and I mean, I have the the other some of the other bottles that Dave’s got his thumbprint on right like the black end the Willett black end and things like that. Even though his thumbprint on on the Willa bottle. It’s you know, it’s kind of like I have to do it. Because you know, he was involved in it. I won’t drink it, but
20:31
you can drink and it’s good. See, thank
Mallory Gordon 20:33
you story of my life. She says I can drink it. No, no, no, no, she said, I heard it, I can drink
Mickey Gordon 20:38
- This is what happens when she wants to get into all my good whiskey. And this is what happens in my life,
20:43
count your blessings that you have your friends that are into your good whiskey, because like that really counts. Except for Well, unless you’re making some cocktails out of the really expensive stuff.
Mickey Gordon 20:54
I keep the empty bottles and put shit whiskey in it. So when people come over, then they’re like, I’m gonna make a good loss now that you’ve told them that. I’m just kidding, everybody. I don’t really do that. Anyway. Well, so I guess we kind of covered it but how you been lady, it’s been a while.
21:10
It’s been great whistle pig has been keeping me busy even through COVID got to work a lot of my couch. But selling whiskey never seems to stop. And we learned during COVID that a lot of people are alcoholics in the US with alcohol. But also, I guess people just have more money. And they really liked the socialization aspect of whiskey. So it’s grown. It’s not going anywhere. And Whistle Pig for some reason decided to make me the brand educator. So it shows their faith in me and been good. I mean, Orlando’s kind of a jump for me as well. So I’m glad I’m here.
Mickey Gordon 21:41
That’s that’s pretty wicked. And I personally blame Fox News and CNN for the whiskey consumption in America. I think they’re responsible. Yeah.
Mallory Gordon 21:50
All right. So let’s start with an easy one here. Tell us about your whistle pig journey as a whole. How did you end up there? How long have you been there?
21:58
So I have been with whistle pig since 2016, formally and became full time in 2017. I was actually handpicked by Dave pickerel to work for the brand. Prior to that, and I still am a state certified general contractor in Florida. I met him through my collaboration with the United States bartenders Guild and for some reason this guy thought it would be great at selling whiskey. Up until that point, I was the no person and everything I did. Can I buy this? No, can I do this? And now but he was like, Oh, you’d be great. Whistle Pig decided along the line that I knew what I was talking about. Even though I knew nothing. I learned everything while I was doing it. I smiled and waved and made sure it looked that way. And
Mallory Gordon 22:36
fake it till you make it. Yeah.
22:38
And now I’m I think I’m the fourth longest running employee at Whistle Pig, the Historian… like they call me the dinosaur.
Mickey Gordon 22:46
Wow. That’s better than the old lady.
22:49
This is true. They may call me that behind my back.
Mallory Gordon 22:52
I would dare say it to your face. I’d love to be there.
Mickey Gordon 22:55
Well, and I think you have another nickname a moniker you picked up along the way. I think we call you the traveling whiskey fair. Yeah,
23:00
a long time ago, when I first started working in whiskey, I always of course, and I still do always have purse whiskey. And one of my friends when I was in New York was like, Oh, can you try that? I was like, hold on, and I just pulled it out in there. Like, oh my God, you’re like the traveling whiskey bear. You bring the presence, and it just stuck. So my instagram handle and a lot of things that I do, it’s what I go by.
Mallory Gordon 23:19
That is so much better than the hot sauce and Kleenex I have in mind I’m just saying.
Mickey Gordon 23:24
So hot sauce and Kleenex very right here in
Mallory Gordon 23:30
your back’s not nearly as cool as Ingrid but I got you
Mickey Gordon 23:34
beautiful cosmopolitan really Toothless and we got whiskey and hot sauce and Kleenex just in case you’re gonna blow your nose. But no, actually, I think I have one of your purse bottles on the shelf next to all my other bottles. And then you probably saw that and then your purse maple syrup I had out there as well. But tell what is a brand steward do? Right. So in just kind of in a as a whole? What’s your role? What’s the purpose of a person like you in that business.
23:58
So our role is primarily a sales function, and maybe a combination of sales and marketing. So my first and foremost focus is to make sure that bottles are moving in the state of Florida or throughout the US. And then after that, from a marketing perspective is really kind of engaging with consumers and educating them on not just Whistle Pig. But whiskey in general. Over the six years that I’ve been with Whistle Pig you’ve seen this expansion growth in the brown spirit and whiskey market, moving all the way from non alcoholic whiskey to ready to drink cocktails. And there’s a lot of real innovation that’s going on. And our job is to make sure that we can move the consumers through those innovations and kind of challenge their palates and let them know hey, we’re still here. I enjoy every part of it. I love distributor management and relationships. But my favorite thing is sitting in front of someone and having their eyes open when they’re like I don’t like Ryan I was like oh Challenge accepted.
Mickey Gordon 24:51
That’s awesome.
Mallory Gordon 24:52
So how many in your company as a whole, like how many of you are there and does that Every brand have an Ingrid?
25:02
No. There’s so our brand has about 20 Plus or Minus Two to three sales stewards in any period of time. And they range from local market ones like we have one that’s strictly in Miami to some people that cover parts of states and then people that cover multiple states with the senior stewards. And then of course, we have our higher sales staff as well. But all in all, and we’ve grown exponentially. We were about 67 people during COVID, we’re about the whole company as a whole is around 103 employees again, plus or minus five. Personally, I would not want to be in Vermont, but we our biggest staff is obviously in Vermont doing all the labeling that stilling the bottling and all that. And snowy in Vermont. Yeah, right. They was like negative 10. Yesterday. That’s what I do. So every brand have one in some capacity. Yes. That would be my best answer to that. They don’t all have the same roles. Some have roles that are just strictly education. Some are just sales. And then of course, we have distributor teams throughout the US that also kind of mimic a lot of what we’re doing on the sales side.
Mallory Gordon 26:06
That’s awesome. Like that. They advocate and advocating and awareness part. It sounds almost too good to be true. As much as we live whiskey in this house, like how awesome would that be?
Mickey Gordon 26:17
Oh, I it’s probably the coolest job that I never knew you could get. Oh, right. Right. That’s the job. I was going after. I think I had
26:24
known this job existed in sixth grade, I would have saved 120,000 on an engineering degree
Mickey Gordon 26:29
in concrete. Also,
26:31
how cool would the great American teacher have been in like, all of a sudden there was someone there whose parents sold whiskey. Oh, people, like I’m cool. Staying here for 24 hours that works.
Mickey Gordon 26:39
Just as the best parent teacher conference ever when you just bring the teacher a bottle of whiskey and go look, my kids fine. Right? Yeah, let’s get fucked up. So we talked a little bit about the history Whistle Pig, you know, as we kind of did the lead in for this segment. But I’m curious in especially because you’re probably better at telling the story than I am. I think that’s a safe bet. Tell us a little bit about the piggy and you know, kind of the lineup, you know, talk about that a little bit.
27:04
So what’s up is made up of a bunch of different marks now, or as we call them skews. Obviously, the first and foremost and our flagship that everybody knows about would have been Whistle Pig 10 year, which is 10 Year 100 Proof whiskey. Then from there, we have what we consider our finished and blended side, and then our straight rise. So our high rise straight ride whiskies would be piggy back six year 15 year, which is 100%. Right, that’s double barrel aged. And then we move into kind of our innovation lines, which would have started with Whistle Pig 12. year as a blend of finishes. We then have the farm Stock Series, which includes our beyond bonded. And then on top of that, obviously the ball hog, which everyone knows about and our 18 year just launched a few years ago, on top of it Whistle Pig has finally decided that we want to be the best premium whiskey brand on the planet. So we last year launched an Irish whiskey as well.
Mickey Gordon 27:55
You guys are not slowing down for anything very No,
27:57
it’s only growth for us.
Mickey Gordon 27:59
Only growth only go. Alright, well about that. I’m gonna focus on one because again, my prized possession is a bottle of Boss Hog. And it’s the I think it’s the second series of Boss Hogg which is
28:10
the Black Prince. It’s the second series of the black print. So it’s four. Okay, boss on four.
Mickey Gordon 28:15
So tell us a little bit about that flagship product. And how often is it released is isn’t always different. I mean, take that one does. Like you said, your 10 Year 12 Year 15 year, they’re always the same every time I look at them. For the most part. I mean, sometimes some label changes. What’s special about this $500 bottle of whiskey
28:34
one, it’s $500. Okay, that’s fair, though, in all fairness, Boss Hog started as a fluke. It started way back when when we found that we had some barrels that were sitting there that were in the 100 30s. And we decided let’s release them a long time ago, someone had told Dave that Americans would never go back to drinking rye whiskey. It was too bitey it was too spicy. The American palate had gotten very sweet. And Dave decided, well, let’s let’s release this. This is this is clearly going to be something that people don’t like it. This is going to let us know whether rye whiskey has a liver or not. It was 132 136 Proof 100% Straight rye. You couldn’t get more ride than that. And we’re like, cool, let’s put a label on it and send it out. And that was the original bosan The first one highly popular did not cost anywhere near $500, though. I mean, now, I think one just sold for about $11,000 Oh, but back then jealous? No. They’re really hard to find and collectors are constantly asking me for them. Me personally, I don’t have one. I didn’t work for the brand at the time. I started on Boss Hog three, which was the independent. But then after that, we found out that we had something that wasn’t being done in the Whistle Pig story. And going back to what I was saying was Whistle Pig likes to be very innovative. We like to be rebellious in the space of whiskey and kind of change the way that people think that whiskey should be being awry already permits us a lot more innovation. So Boss Hogg has some certain rules that have to go behind it. First, the first rule is that it has to be something that Whistle Pig has never done before. So if we’ve done the finish of something, then it has to be triple barreled. If it’s something that has come out, we have to modify that in some way. And we have a really good finishing team up the farm that plays with that. It also has to be stupendous. It has to be the best thing that we put out that year has to come out at cask strength or barrel proof, which I know we’re going to be talking about later. And that can range we’ve had them range from 104, all the way up to 127 minus that first one that was all in the 130s. And it has to make sure that it’s very complex. When you taste it and we talk about tasting notes. You can actually kind of go through what we’re saying. And it’s it’s something that challenges your palate and makes you wonder, am I drinking whiskey? am I drinking rum? am I drinking and Armagnac or Calvados? And like, how does that all mesh together? And then from the final part of it, it’s a story it’s telling a big part of the Whistle Pig story at that time who are blender was who our distiller was, and who was part of the team.
Mallory Gordon 30:57
Wow, that’s amazing.
Mickey Gordon 30:58
There’s a lot to that.
Mallory Gordon 30:59
I know, I know, I can absolutely see why. You’re the the ambassador, steward and educator on top of it all, because I just drank the Kool Aid, and I already liked Whistle Pig Oh, shit. So with knowing all that, and you were talking about Boss Hog, I mean, it’s gonna be like picking your favorite child, but I have to ask you which one your is your favorite because you’re, you’re like, you’re so fucking lucky, you get to try out all of these wonderful, you know, concoctions and blends and iterations of it. So So what’s yours?
31:30
So my favorite boss, hog, his boss, hog six, which was called the samurai scientist. And the reason for that is that I have a background in industrial engineering. And I really love kind of nerdy stuff. And samurai scientists was a dual koji fermentation process with us, and Japan. And it really helped when you think about the process, and you think about the double blending into it, and the finishing, and how many steps it took to get there. And also the fact that all boss, hog six have different flavor profiles at the start. And you wouldn’t know that unless you understood the process. It got me my nerd went up. And I was like, This is my favorite whiskey. I also liked that occasionally, you would find them when that tasted like savory bacon. And there’s just something about drinking whiskey and having this bacon finish and thinking about smoking a cigar or sitting by a fireplace in a barbecue and really kind of warms you up and fills you in. But all of our songs are really good. It really depends on your flavor palette. So like, I would hope so at that price point. Yeah, a lot of people don’t ever open their bottles. That’s true. Making
Mickey Gordon 32:32
what looks like a bottle of insane by
32:35
design. But luckily, most people if you know me, and you see me, I probably have it on me when it’s released. Boss Hogg eight that just came out, for instance, has finished in two different rum casks. So if you really like rum, then this is going to be your favorite. But for some people who really let’s say like last year was Zambrana and Spanish oak. If you really like cinnamon, you’re really gonna like boss OG seven. So a lot of the times you have very visceral reactions of whether they like it or not, but that’s all personal palate. Yeah.
Mallory Gordon 33:00
So in the the traditional set, do you have a favorite in their
33:04
piggy back? 15 is my favorite. I don’t make any bones about it. They all know 15 years my favorite Figgy
Mickey Gordon 33:10
Yeah. All right. I’m gonna Yeah, that’s I get it. I and I have all of them pretty much. I mean, I don’t have all the boss hogs just because, and you know, I started late. I did start late. But I have a significant collection of boss I have Whistle Pig rather. But I, I was gonna ask you why it’s so expensive. But I think I can answer my own question. So Dave was a chemical engineer. Yes. And both of your master distillers today are chemical engineers. Yes. Why in the fuck are all these engineers making whiskey?
33:44
It’s a choice between lipstick or whiskey. I’m going whiskey.
Mickey Gordon 33:47
Okay, so it makes sense where you can you can create the newest tampon or you can create whiskey. Okay. Yeah,
33:52
that guy, the logic behind it is when you’re when you’re a chemical engineer. And when I started school, I was your, when you come out, you’re actually looking at working in like Palmolive, or working in some sort of detergent or something like that, or makeup or trying to figure that out. Or they move you in a whiskey to figure out mash bills and the science behind that. So what you started seeing in the late 90s and early 2000s, where a lot of programmings were focusing on more of the liquid side of the world than they were on the cosmetic side of the world.
Mickey Gordon 34:17
I mean, does that contribute when you have that level of brain trust, really concocting these formulas that you guys are making? Is that Is that why these are? I mean, not all whistle pics. 500 bucks, obviously, you guys do have bottles that are 50 bucks. But is that why is that why these bundles are so expensive? Is it the amount of time that it takes? Is it the effort and the finish? Where does that come from?
34:37
Well, in all fairness, a lot of it comes from the time in the bottle. The most important part of the chemical engineers job is to create the mashbill and stick that in the barrel. The barrel does all the work. And I always say to people like 20 years ago, nobody was thinking that we were going to have this whiskey revolution that we have today. And you you can’t age whiskey faster and you can’t grow trees faster. So there’s really just a whole process if you have an eight Each statement of 10 years, you need to have at least 10 years age. So you see what’s going on now, it’s that that expense of holding it, the production time behind it, the figuring out of the science, the marketing, the bringing it to so clearing the federal TTB to get your label ready, there’s a lot of nuances that go into the back end of it. And because Boss Hog is released, the way it is, we have to make sure that it that it definitely gets there. But at the other point of it is it’s going to be the rarest whiskey of that year for Whistle Pig. And there’s not a lot of it. So quantity and stock will often drive those prices.
Mickey Gordon 35:31
You just mentioned an acronym. So I want to make sure our listeners know what that is. What is the TTB? And what is the role. So it’s
35:36
the Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. They’re responsible for all the labeling of whiskey bottles. So there are certain laws and rules and marketing that we have to come out to protect the consumers. And we have to pass everything through them in order to get that label authorized. So there is a cost and a time that that’s involved in that. Awesome,
Mallory Gordon 35:53
gotcha. So we’ve had a lot of conversations lately about whiskey, especially with our new segment that we just started and people are really getting into it. So how is the whiskey business? Stays overall? Is it really the number one spirit in America?
36:08
I wish it was the number one spirit in America, it feels that way. It really does. Especially when you live in that space like whiskey. Vodka is still the number one spirit in the US and probably the world actually shows you my
Mickey Gordon 36:20
fucking Russians.
36:23
Now it’s it but but vodka is great. I call it the soy of the spirit world. It tastes like whatever you put in it. Yes, exactly.
Mallory Gordon 36:28
It’s very diverse. And its ability to adapt to a lot of different things. Everything’s like my finger and it tastes the same way coming up as it does going down all depends
36:37
on what’s on your finger.
Mickey Gordon 36:38
Good point. It is casual swinger. After all,
36:43
I do I want to wish it was number one spirit, it’s not going anywhere, though the revolution and whiskey for the time being only sees growth. And part of that has to do with a lot of the brands that are entering into the market and a lot more of that innovation that’s occurring. Because even you have the big guys like the gym beans and the Jack Daniels of the world that are starting to innovate within that space as well.
Mallory Gordon 37:03
I absolutely love that because it gives me the opportunity as the consumer to have people compete from for my taste my palate, my money. So I love the diversity and the availability of all these different types of brains as well that I can go out there and try, like in my travels, I travel a lot for my vanilla job. So it’s an opportunity for me to go okay, I’m going to invest in at least give this one a try and see how it compares to my new quantities. So for me, that’s a little fun.
37:27
Oh, it’s fun for everyone. And also at Whistle Pig we drink our mistakes, I would love to say that everything that Whistle Pig makes is fantastic. But every once in a while, it’s fantastic enough for us to farm and we just drink it at the farm and never get to release it. But either which way whenever you’re in that it playing with something that has tradition, you have to be cautious. But now that we have all these other brands that are competing for that same space, it really is the best thing for the consumer. So anything in the palate, it’s kind of like if you if people say I don’t like whiskey unless you’re allergic to brown spirits, which is another story, unless you just don’t like them in all fairness, you just haven’t tried the whiskey that is for you yet. Fair enough.
Mickey Gordon 38:03
Yet, you know, I feel so much better now because I’ve been drinking my feelings since I could start drinking which was more or less like nine. So I feel like drinking your mistakes. I do that too. So it’s okay you made it all right. The Traveling whiskey very says drink your mistakes, folks. A couple of ex wives some ex girlfriends okay, I’m just drinking them all.
Mallory Gordon 38:22
Anyway, apparently have great taste in women.
Mickey Gordon 38:25
You’re one of them. When that shit out.
Mallory Gordon 38:27
I’m still here. Alright. So
Mickey Gordon 38:28
you know, the bourbon nation group that I’m a part of on Facebook has more than 90,000 users. And the local whiskey societies are just slammed as fully human beings Tampa Bay whiskey society, the Orlando whiskey society, they’re all over the place. Not to mention the rise of craft cocktail bars all over this country. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting one around Orlando. They’re all over the place. Sorry, I know you’re a cat person. I’m not three Rottweilers outside told you all about it. Right. But I want to know what’s driving the whiskey craze? Because it’s fucking nuts. I know. You said it’s not the one that number one secret bit spirit. But I really don’t understand what the reasoning is behind it. Do you see it slowing down anytime soon. I mean, there’s some bottles that if you find them in retail, it’s like finding a legit unicorn in the wild and not the kind of unicorn we normally talk about. Rare.
39:17
It’s not slowing down. It seems to be going a little bit more crazy only because again, going back to that innovation start you have new brands entering the market that are putting out very premium quality products. They’re all coming into like different niches like for instance, black in like with a Metallica tie in. So you’re starting to see a lot more people trying to get new things out. So it’s not going anywhere yet. There’s tons. There’s tons of whiskey coming out soon. As for what started it, it’s actually the opposite way. The cocktail scene created the whiskey market. So the craft cocktail scene that started in the mid early 2000s. And going into when Whistle Pig launched. That was when you started bringing back those traditional prohibition cocktails. Other than that, like nobody was really drinking whiskey In the 90s, and even early 2000, but when you started seeing the craft cocktail scene come up and you started hearing old fashioned Manhattan Bucherer a bowl of RDA, then they needed good whiskey to make those cocktails. And because of that most people who are getting introduced to whiskey are getting introduced to whiskey through the cocktail, and then moving backwards into more of that knee or just rocks pour. If it goes the other way, it’s because maybe your family collects it or your friends collected, or suddenly, like we’re saying at 21 Everyone wants to get the bottle that matches their year. Like that’s driving a lot of it moving forward.
Mickey Gordon 40:33
That’s just insane. So you mentioned the blackened bottle that I talked about earlier in the show. And it kind of reminded me of something because Whistle Pig doesn’t really do gimmicky shit, you guys, I mean, you have your your neat things that you do and obviously with Boss OG and things like that, but I mean, speaking of gimmicky shit, what I’m talking about is, you know, Jefferson’s ocean for example, those guys and I can say this, you can’t, you know, they take their barrels out in the fucking ocean and float them around. And somehow that’s supposed to age it faster in black and they play Metallica at the barrels, and that’s supposed to aged faster. Is that all a crock of shit? Is that the gimmick that it sounds like? Or does it actually work?
41:11
Oh, I don’t know, if it doesn’t work. It does work. I mean, what’s it like did have road stock this year where we aged whiskey on the
Mickey Gordon 41:16
road. So you guys did it, too.
41:19
We did it too. But But again, a lot of it has to do the barrel does all the work. So if they believe putting it on a boat changes it or if they believe running sound waves through it changes it. More power to them. I mean, the science isn’t is unclear on that. I will say that I you know, I spoke to Dave When Black N was first being released. And he thought it was just super cool. It’s Metallica. Yeah. And it’s also super cool to know. Just think about it. If it’s your favorite song is being played while you’re drinking that whiskey. There’s just this sense of camaraderie in this, this beingness. And people because people are really close, like whiskey is about stories. And it’s about how it makes you feel and what you’re doing in that moment. So if you can capture a consumers idea of what they see themselves at, then it works out well. So like our road stock whiskey that we put out, which was it was finished in both wine barrels and beer barrels, we captured a market that we had never actually seen before. And it was innovative. It was new. It was very Americana. And it was just something like route 66 And we had a Hellcat and we have all this stuff. And it really kind of captures into that sense of who people think they
Mallory Gordon 42:19
are. I love that. No, I’m I would I am absolutely that consumer that would be drawn to something that would inspire me to at least attempt at the connection to the black end, you know, maybe Metallica is my favorite band or, or something else. You know, the Jeffersons oceans as a great one too. We tried that. Not my favorite. I’m just gonna throw that. I’m gonna just I have a different palette. It just wasn’t for me.
Mickey Gordon 42:40
Yeah, I don’t drink out of the toilet either.
Mallory Gordon 42:42
Yeah, but you can’t
42:44
really Jefferson notions, by the way.
Mickey Gordon 42:47
You’re saying maybe, maybe it’s me.
42:50
Maybe you just haven’t tried when you don’t know, you know? Like,
Mallory Gordon 42:52
did you really have to tell people that you don’t drink out of the toilet? Like I think that’s just goes without saying
Mickey Gordon 42:56
I don’t know, some people think pretty poorly. Maybe rhetoric views.
Mallory Gordon 43:00
So my question for you, because you’re so immersed in this culture in this field is why are some of these bottles so hard to get? And I’ll just paint a picture like way, way back in the day. We drink Blanton’s like it was water, like it was going out of style. And it was it’s a wonderful bourbon. And the price point was great. And now it’s like one of the hardest bottles to get in. I mean, do some of these brands deliberately create scarcity? Is it real? You know, it just feels like maybe there’s, you’re someone you know, the man behind the curtain, you know, and he’s laughing his ass off at me because I can’t find you know, my, my favorite bourbon from five years ago.
43:35
I can’t talk for the other brands. Okay. I can tell you that. A lot of times for like Whistle Pig scarcity is just based on product and on availability. There are a lot of brands going back to what I said earlier is people didn’t think that whiskey was going to be where it is. So if somebody likes a 20 plus year whiskey, you have to imagine that 20 years ago somebody put those barrels down and was like we’re gonna hold on to this for this long and maybe people are gonna like that’s a long commitment. It is and and then the storing of it. And all that really requires a lot of time, a lot of the frenzy to It’s just that there’s they can’t make whiskey fast enough to cover all the people that are interested in getting it. So even if you have one of the major distilleries, when Blanton’s of course being one of the best ones because it because it’s single barrel and because they have to put it out there and people have specific born on dates that they’re looking for. You just have this need if you can only make 200 to 300 bottles of that, where do they go and who gets them and that’s kind of what’s driving it and it drives it across the US and internationally as well. Also trees you know, in the US to make a bourbon or whiskey you have to use the American oak and American oak trees only grow so fast. And if you start running into a scarcity of that, then it pulls back the barrels and it pulls back the ability to do it. So there’s so much the backstory of that getting that whiskey to that shelf so you can buy is what creates a lot of this anytime you have a production or a delay in anything It creates more of that scarcity,
Mallory Gordon 45:01
I would have never thought to associate the demand for the wood that’s needed to create the barrels and assign that to that. So that’s that’s an excellent point. Like I love being educated. I
Mickey Gordon 45:10
just want to point out that Mallory just said there’s a demand for wood in this country. Yeah, well, amen. Couldn’t let that one go. You mentioned a couple of things in there, Ingrid, that I think we’re pretty it’s scarcity is driving a lot of the secondary whiskey market, but not necessarily what people’s palates or tastes go for. Unless they’re just trying to resell it on the secondary market, which I think really sucks. If you’re not going to, you know, save it for your collection or drinking, probably leave it for somebody that’s going to that’s just my personal opinion on it, that you did mention, you know, there are a lot of factors that go into it. You know, obviously supply and demand. Obviously, there’s, there’s time, do you think that that time to market I met remember a couple of years ago Maker’s Mark, for example, reduced the proof of their whiskey, added more water to their whiskey, basically, that’s how you do that. And by doing so they really pissed off their followers, people were very angry, but they had to because they were selling more whiskey than they could get out of the Rick houses. So do you think that’s what’s driving some of the boutique shit people are doing like playing music barrels to make them age faster, driving them up the road or taking them out in the ocean, I mean, is that just to get it out to the market faster?
46:22
Well, I don’t know if it actually gets it to the market faster, per se, because a lot of them still have age statements. But I will say that it gives people It gives a consumer something else to do, especially if they think about the big houses, if they have multiple different types of brand under the house, then maybe they can focus more on one brand that they have quantity of versus not. Obviously watering down a barrel is going to give you more bottles. But it does change the flavor profile. So one of the reasons people got so upset back then when Maker’s Mark did that was that those who are very loyal to the Maker’s Mark flavor, which is a lot of people, when you added water to it, it changed the way that they were used to drinking their whiskey. And it goes when I said that whiskey has a very, very common feeling towards people, people have memories behind it. When you change their memory, you’re changing their life.
Mickey Gordon 47:04
So we’ve talked about some things here. And we really haven’t defined them. So I want to dig in a little bit because whiskey is confusing for newbies. You know, ever since we started the whiskey of the month segment on here on casual swinger, we’ve heard a lot of questions come from people, like what does this mean? What does that mean, and a lot of these things are marketing. But some of these things are fairly legitimate. So I thought we might go through a couple of these and get your take on one of them, I’m gonna start with one that’s incredibly popular, that makes a bottle look very special. It’s always put on in a diagonal way on the bottles. It’s like a bottled in bond. And it’s, you know, big bold letters, the flux bottle and bond me.
47:41
So the bottle and Bond Act of 1897 was actually the first United States Consumer Protection Act. Prior to that act being put in place, we’ll just say that a lot of people were using additives to make bourbon or whiskey in general look that way, like it could have been oil, people were putting formaldehyde, you could literally die from drinking whiskey, because they were trying to get it out as quickly as possible. And they were trying to really get people to buy it. And there was no control mechanism. So the bottle and Bond Act was the first time that the federal government put guidelines and rules that had to be followed. The reason that it’s so special is it’s actually really difficult to make. So bottled and Bond has to be the product of one distillation season, there’s two in a year, it has to be by one distiller and in one distillery. So you have this complete control of the process. It has to be in a federally bonded warehouses, everyone for the most part, every whiskey out there in the distillery will have a bond label Whistle Pig has one that you can see in a lot of our pictures. And then on top of it, it has to be at least four years aged, and it has to be bottled at 100 proof. So all of those rules together are very, very strict guidelines that make it a little bit more difficult. It also if you notice, a lot of them will just say bottle and bond and they don’t have an age statement. Because you as a consumer will automatically know that that age is at least four years old. If it has a higher age statement, it’ll probably not have that on there as well. It’ll just say aged over four years. Muscle pig has a bonded product. It’s our beyond bonded line. We’ll talk about that when we go over it later. But it’s something as a distiller that they’re extraordinarily proud of because they saw it from birth to release.
Mickey Gordon 49:15
Interesting. So I guess is it a way of saying if you say bottle and bond that that it’s a least I mean, not a uniform flavor per se, but a uniform quality? You
49:26
get at least solid control. Yeah. Within that within the scope of that brand. Yes, it would definitely be the most controlled product from a flavor profile, though. Again, that’s all up to the individual.
Mallory Gordon 49:36
Right. And does that have anything to do with the finishing? No? Okay, good to know what about small batch I have a few bottles that are kind of my favorite up there and they say small batch but I don’t actually know what that means. I’m going to be perfectly honest. Whistle Pig
49:49
10 years now small batch. So I’ve learned a lot about this. Small batch just means there’s actually no real true guideline to it. So small batch means taking a couple of barrels, blending it together to Get to a specific blended profile. And you’re blending, right. You’re blending straight rye whiskies together to get to that flavor. Now, it could be five barrels, it could be 50 barrels, it could be whatever the brand itself considers small batch. It’s more of a marketing ploy in that way. There isn’t actually any standard guideline for him. That got me.
Mickey Gordon 50:20
And that would I think that probably falls under marketing terms, right? It’s, I mean, you might have 5000 barrels, you can still call it small batch if you normally do 10,000 barrel runs. Yeah, probably a fair assessment of that, right? Because I mean, it’s comparative to what you normally do.
50:33
And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s the blending of barrels to get to a flavor profile has been being done for hundreds of years, like a lot of the scotches in the world have always done that. And then McKellen’s of the world, like you blend to something that is familiar, so that when you’re trying it in Florida, and you’re trying it in San Francisco, or you’re trying it in England, you’re getting the same product.
Mallory Gordon 50:50
That’s fair. So would it be what about barrel proof? Would that be closer to the bottle and bond as small batches that actually thing? Is it measurable quantity strings,
50:59
so barrel proofing cast drink are the same, that that’s a that’s an actual phrase, that means that whatever you’re getting in that bottle is what the barrel actually yielded. So if the barrel is 110, proof, that bottle will be 110 proof. So that’s where that barrel proof or cask strength, cask and barrel are interchangeable in marketing terms.
Mickey Gordon 51:18
Okay, so if you wouldn’t stand to reason, then that barrel proof or cast strength, whiskey is going to be a little more expensive, because you can’t get as much out of a barrel central watering it down.
51:27
It could be it’s not, there’s no actual truth to that, that’s really up to the brands themselves. cask strength can give you more can give you less, most of the time, barrel strength is going to be more expensive, at least in our world, because we have less of those barrels. And you have to imagine if we’re selling you a whole barrel of whiskey, that’s not whiskey that we can actually sell out on the general market at 100. Proof. So we have one more thing cast drink and barrel proof doesn’t mean that it has to be overproof, either. So overproof would be anything over 100, you can have casks that come in under proof, we’ve definitely have some 90 two’s to hundreds available in Florida,
Mickey Gordon 52:01
really? And I mean, is that just a function again, that it’ll mean you go as the barrel goes, right? So the wood makes the rules, right?
52:09
That’s just the aging process. When we when we proof it out. That’s what you get? Awesome.
Mickey Gordon 52:13
So does it make a difference in I’ve bought a bunch of pseudo empty whiskey barrels that still had whiskey, and I’m like a little bit in the bottom. And so I’ve drained some of it out just to see you know, what’s in the juice, right. And in the bottom of those barrels is mostly chunks of charcoal. It’s just shitting in the bottom layer. That’s gross. And so when I see some of these whiskies out there that advertise themselves as unfiltered, I’m like the like. So what does it mean for whisky to be unfiltered.
52:38
So I’m filtering really is about the chill filter process, not necessarily the filtering of the actual slit at the bottom of the barrel. That’s pretty weird that those are in there, those should always those are just regular filtering. Chill filtering is used to actually reduce the cloudiness in the glass. Long time ago. And this is very popular in chemical engineering. Americans were not very good with cloudy seemed to make it seem as if it was a less qualified product,
Mallory Gordon 53:03
I’m gonna go with Oregon Trail dysentery, that’s cloudy liquids.
53:09
Cloudy was just something that that mentally made people think that it was an inferior product. So cold shoulder filtering will chill filtering will actually extract that cloudiness. It’s not very popular in the United States. Some use it some like that some unfiltered exist, it’s more popular and scotch. Do I think it makes a difference? It’s really again, up to personal palate. Personally for me, no, but a lot of people swear by it a lot of dough, and it’s one of those hit or miss whether you like it or not.
Mallory Gordon 53:37
Now, what about waited? So this is something that, you know, I’m not educated on personally, and we did like the oil reserve, is that appreciably different than the right or the bourbon?
53:51
So if we’re talking so if it says we did, it’s more likely a weeded bourbon. So when they use the term we did, it means that the mash Bill has a high wheat content. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s greater than that 51% to become something else. So a weeded bourbon, you can have weeded rye. What that just means is it’s a higher level in the Nashville. Now wheat whiskey would mean that it would have more than 51% wheat, which knocks you out of the bourbon in the Rye category, and then it becomes a wheat whiskey.
Mallory Gordon 54:20
Okay, well,
Mickey Gordon 54:22
and there’s a lot of weeded whiskies out there these days. I actually one of our whiskies of the month recently is a wheat ID and those Blaydon Bo, no, so that was a high wheat content as well. We did. We did, like well, we quit it, we did it, we did whiskey, but let’s talk a little bit about aging because you mentioned that and how you know the wood makes the rules and the barrel sets the story and all that good stuff. So something else that seems to be prominently displayed on a lot of bottles that I see is the agent of some habit, some don’t have anything at all. A couple of just examples that come to mind for me are things like piggyback which is where we’ll start with you guys and that’s your at this point as far as I know, you’re lowest end or lowest cost with entry level, sir entry level, least expensive, least expensive but most value? No. But when we talk about things like piggyback, you know that that’s labeled as a six year but it’s really not, it’s a blend that could be as much as eight years. So it’s somewhere in the seven year but you just put six year on the label because it’s probably the least of what it could be. We’ve got things like farm stock, you’ve got things like your 10 year that we’ve talked about already 12 year which is the old world 15 Year 18 year boss OG road stock. I mean, you got all Jesus Christ lady. First of all, how do you keep up with all this shit. And second of all, what all these age statements mean to the whiskey.
55:36
So the age statement in general on any bottle means that that’s the minimum age of the distillate in that bottle. So you can have a 15 year distillate in a 10 year bottle, if there’s 10, as long as that’s not just 15 year, age statements must be hard. So you can’t have if I have a 10 year bottle, I can’t have eight year in it, that would that would be a lie. And that goes back to that labeling that I was talking about with TTB. Now farm stock is the reason that that doesn’t have an HD and it’s because it’s a blend of three different age statements. So if you actually turn the bottle around, the mashbill is back there. It’s a blend between a three year and a 10. Year whiskey. A lot of the age statements are important because it lets you as the consumer know that that’s how long it’s actually been sitting in the original barrel on the secondary finishing and all that is a different label altogether. But age statements or some people just love older whiskey doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better just means it’s older. And some people just really they get they get drawn to things that have labels on it. I know someone whose favorite numbers 15. So as long as a barrel says a 15 on it they’re buying. So it goes back to that
Mickey Gordon 56:41
that’s an expensive choice. Why didn’t they have it three is their favorite number, I would have saved them a shitload of money. All right, well, anyway. So we talked about age statements, and we talked about how long it spends in the barrel. And obviously, you’re wildly different from bottle to bottle. I’m gonna ask you a question, or do you know the answer to because I want our listeners to hear it, and they can hear it from you because you’re hotter than me. So that’s not right, folks. They’re still yet but believe me, everyone in this room is hotter than me right now. It’s, it’s just the way it is. But back.
57:14
I was told I have a face for radio. It’s all good.
Mickey Gordon 57:16
Yeah, you and I both. But lots of folks hang on to bottles forever. And on the secondary market. A lot of times, you’ll see bottles, you know, this is my grandfather’s bottle, I got it from an est and I’ve got this bottle of Eagle rare that dates back to 1902 or whatever. No, it’s like 1970s. That’s when it came out. But anyway, the point is, they’ve got these old ass bottles, these old ass labels, and they start asking questions about does the whiskey profile change in the bottle versus when it was age? So let’s say that you get a 10 year and it sits around for 20 years on a bottle and never gets open? Does anything happen to it? Or is it still the same shit as the day you got it?
57:52
So the proper answer to this would be no, if it is sealed properly. Now the issue with that is that a lot of the sealing that’s done as being used with corks. So if it’s not stored properly, the cork could probably shrink or corrode or disintegrate. The thing that would change the flavor profile would be the oxidation. So if it’s been sitting out for a long time, and it’s been sitting in an environment that maybe there’s some more moisture or there’s too much air, that moisture content as it builds up will actually reduce the cost. It’ll make the flavor profile different. But if it’s sealed properly and it’s stored properly, then it shouldn’t change the flavor
Mickey Gordon 58:27
you need to find sealed properly and stored properly for our listeners, not really,
58:31
unfortunately feel probably means that it does not allow any air in or any type of corrosion. Most of the time, it would have to probably be in a basement, which obviously is not a Florida thing. Kind of like ceiling wine. Same thing. You want to make sure that it’s been sitting there where it’s not actually going to have something. Keep it cool out of the sand.
Mallory Gordon 58:48
I was just thinking it’s probably even into storing keep it vertical. Keep Oh, really? Because red wine. Don’t you lay horizontal right? Yeah, yeah. Okay, good to know. So we’re seeing tons of whiskey from like, all over the world even more so than usual. Maybe you know, 10 years ago, at least for us, you know? And that could just be a perception things because we’re actually actively looking for it now. Are there any hallmarks or major differences with things like Irish whiskey or scotch whiskey or you mentioned the Japanese when Canadian? I mean, is there anything else Taiwanese Martian? What are the differences? What does it mean when Jupiter leaves identifiers?
59:30
So country of origin is very important in the whiskey market. And part of that the rules of the different countries are permanent. Now Taiwan doesn’t currently have any rules. Taiwan as long as it’s bottled in Taiwan, it can be Taiwanese, Japan, Japan just brought out the rules in 2020. So before that, it was same as long as it was bought it was denationalized whiskey that was aged finished bottled in Japan. But when you come to when you’re talking about Irish or scotch or Canadian, or even American for bourbon, those rules are again consumer protection. That means that you as a consumer know what goes behind making that the distillation process as the grain used, and what those countries of origin have chosen to do. Even within those realms themselves. There’s some specific rules. But if it says that it’s an Irish whiskey, it must follow the rules of being an Irish whiskey. If it’s a scotch, if it’s Canadian, they make some of the best rise. I know. They have certain rules and regulations behind it as well. So it does change and it changes the flavor profiles as well.
Mickey Gordon 1:00:30
Yeah. I’m just gonna look at is it just in Asia, they just is their motto, I do what I want. Okay,
1:00:38
what’s really funny is the Asian market is actually the largest whiskey market. What Yeah, they drink a ton of whiskey in the 1980s. When we were not drinking whiskey here, all the best American bourbons were getting shipped to Japan. Honestly, if you can find yourself late 80s For roses out in Japan is probably one of the best whiskies that you’ve ever had. They are huge consumers, but they just again, America, they don’t have oak. So they got to get it from it. So it kind of in that in that process, they’re finding out the rules. Also, it wasn’t that big of a sell, they would buy the whiskey. But making the whiskey distillation was not something that they were really familiar with. They they do a lot of so shoo in. So she showed you a lot of Omashu in Japan, you have a lot of the Saki, so just different distillation processes that didn’t lend itself towards whiskey.
Mickey Gordon 1:01:26
And I’m consistently fascinated by the shit that bangs around in your head. I know, right? It’s it’s one of those things and I mean, I’ve known this girl for a while, folks, and I’m still impressed by some of the shit that comes out of her mouth, but alright, so I can’t bring myself to try peanut butter whiskey just so you know, but I really got to know what the fuck is up with all the flavored whiskies out there these days are any of them any good and do you have a favorite?
1:01:49
Loaded question? That is so good. Um, so flavored whiskey follows all trends just like we had flavored vodka. There are uses for it. They’re great modifiers at times, like if you want to, I mean a peanut butter old fashioned is a thing. There’s also we have my favorite brand would probably be whiskey Smith, which is by old elk. They have a full line they like Salerno, blood orange, what else the chocolate pineapple banana, just a whole line, which can also take like let’s say you like tiki drinks, but you don’t want rum and all that. You just use it here. Yeah, use whiskey. It also helps to kind of challenge your palate like any way that we can get people drinking whiskey. Eventually they move into the other whiskies as your palate changes as you get older, you’re looking for more complexity. Maybe you start with the peanut butter whiskey craze or fireball for that matter. And then you everyone starts a fireball. I didn’t start with fire I
Mallory Gordon 1:02:42
did not mind was wild turkey, and I’ve never been back but then I rien reintroduce myself with a honey whiskies, Oh, honey
1:02:49
whiskies and a lot of it is that again, the American palate tends towards sweeter and become savory as you start drinking more whiskey. So if your entry level is a peanut butter whiskey or a banana whiskey or a daiquiri made with whiskey than either which way we’re still getting you to drink whiskey, and we’re starting to challenge you.
Mallory Gordon 1:03:08
I know and I got to try the old elk flavored whiskey now I heard I heard pineapple and chocolate and I’m sold.
Mickey Gordon 1:03:14
Right a lot of people that come here to the casual bar, know that old elk is probably hands down my second favorite whiskey. So they’ve got it on the shelf going
Mallory Gordon 1:03:23
the second was populated shelf in our bar. Yeah, I would say so. Yeah. As far as diversity and quantity goes because that’s a that’s an old that’s a faithful and not one. I know. I buy it. Yeah, had a good day having a glass of that having a bad day would have glass that pretty much
Mickey Gordon 1:03:36
yeah. I’d say probably widow Jane is the third most populated shelf here in the house. Yeah, you’re welcome to drink out of the Hudson, what do you want? Me to?
Mallory Gordon 1:03:48
So we get a lot of questions from our listeners that tell us you know, there are a lot of new whiskey drinkers out there and they’re trying to introduce themselves, you know, to it as a whole. Do you have any recommendations for someone trying whiskey for the first time like Where Where should they start?
1:04:04
So liquid to lips, as we say is the most important way to start learning exactly where to put it. Just saying anything with lips. The the truth of the matter is try as many whiskies as you can. The easiest entry way is in cocktails. cocktails are a good way to try whiskey and maybe not be too invested in what you’re trying old fashioned being one of the most popular ones. Me personally, I like to do strange cocktails if I’m going to do cocktails via my favorite cocktail is everyone in Florida knows the French 95 or 75.
Mallory Gordon 1:04:34
Okay, I knew that. And that’s that’s what like whiskey and champagne are with
1:04:39
champagne. You can sometimes add orange lemon, it’s a different citrus, but I like bubbles, so bubbles in whiskey on a Sunday, Nobody judges you. I would say that cocktails are the easiest way. If not, it’s go to whiskey tastings. Try as many whiskies as you can. You’re not obligated to finish said whiskey if you don’t like it. We don’t get insulted by that. Everybody has a different palette. Some people may love Jack Daniels. Some people may love Scotch likes, I like ultra peated scotches. People don’t some people don’t like rye, it’s really personal. And I would recommend that you do it often because your your palate changes depending on what you eat and what you’re doing at that point or just your light years lifestyle at that time. So, go to as many whiskey tastings as you can, if you have if you’re in a state where you’re allowed to crack open a bottle at the retailer, definitely sample try it that allow you to do that as often as possible.
Mallory Gordon 1:05:29
Yeah, and actually seek out maybe places that offer those flights, like you said, or tasting you know, events locally at some bars. And you might that might have actually answered my next question. If you don’t mind me interjecting we’re gonna hurt his feelings. Java’s folks like I had trouble identifying descriptive notes that related to my palate, that can be tough, especially when you’re like you’re reading descriptions, cuz I do a lot of research online. And it’s so hard to assign that description to the flavor like we did, for example, or smokey those those notes or identifying those until I had them. I couldn’t relate it to. Are there any simple notes or profiles for the new whiskey drinker? To start with? Like, maybe sweet or hot? Like how, how would you help them relate the description to the actual T’s?
1:06:14
So palettes are all individualized? What I like to tell everyone is that what you taste is right? It’s never wrong. So if you taste your grandmother’s butter pecan ice cream, then you are correct, whether it’s in there or not. Because taste has a lot to do with memory. So if you have no concept of what that taste should be, you will have no recollection of what you’re looking for. I was allergic to nuts for a really long time. And when someone would say like, oh my god, this tastes like walnut. I have no idea what walnut tastes like. So let me keep going through this until I can find something that relates standard tasting notes in whiskey, which you’ll hear all the time are going to be caramel butterscotch, when you’re talking about rise, it’ll be like winter spices, clove cardamon, which most people have no idea what actual cardamom tastes like, do yourself a favor, go into your spice debt like room and taste all the spices rubbing between your hands, smell them, put them on tip, the more flavors that you taste, the more food that you eat, the different type of international foods that you eat will give you a better sense of those words that we’re looking for. I
Mickey Gordon 1:07:15
thought Cartman was a sweater. Sorry,
1:07:20
wedding, you’re cute. And a lot of the times it’s very personalized, my distillers and I will sit down and talk a lot about tasting notes because they may get something different than I do. But I want to make sure that my tasting notes are very colloquial. So when I’m talking to somebody who’s a novice or even an expert, I’m triggering muscle memory for them so they can figure out oh, yeah, you’re right, this is what I’m getting. But also you have to understand my job is to sell you whiskey. So I’m also leading you down a path that will bring you that positive experience and that positive experience will make you do that. In all fairness, your personal palette is always right no matter what it is.
Mallory Gordon 1:07:52
I love that I feel very confident in my palette now. Like I just got a little like therapy and he didn’t
Mickey Gordon 1:07:57
know what I’m doing. It’s funny that you talked about that though, because I know we talked about flavored whiskies a little bit but I think some whiskies are a little bit of a shocker and even though maybe they’re labeled A good example would be high West campfire, or smoke wagon out of Vegas. When you talk about some of those whiskies they taste like a fucking ashtray. I mean, I hate them i They’re disgusting to me, but some people love
Mallory Gordon 1:08:21
smokey all fashion before we had the little oh my gosh, what’s it called the thing that makes a fire that you’re not allowed to play with
Mickey Gordon 1:08:26
that thing? No, it’s it’s a little blood charged with the chips. Yeah, which it thingy and it’s really cool to smoke.
Mallory Gordon 1:08:33
I love that flavor profile of that. But those those whiskies on their own, I would never touch because it’s not something I like. But in that cocktail I love.
1:08:42
It’s just your palette. A lot of the times those those were kind of capturing more of the peated Scotch market. If you like peated scotches, you’re probably going to lend yourself toward more towards those the campfires of the world. I personally love Ultra peated scotches, love them to death. So for me, I would have enjoyed it, but it’s a learning curve. A lot of people when they taste Pete they think like bandaid old school rubber band aids, or some people say it tastes like tar, which by the way, who’s looking at driveway or ashtrays you can actually grow into it. So as you age your palate changes and a lot of the times people run into starting to drink those more PD or smokier whiskies as they move out of the rye. So it normally goes Irish bourbon rye, and then into scotch and then even within all of those realms that you have from sweet to savory and backwards.
Mickey Gordon 1:09:29
Well, if you had to pick this is gonna ask them asking you for an opinion. And I’m sure the answer is gonna be a whistle pig, but it’s okay. So, there’s listeners out here who have listened to our whiskey of the month like okay, maybe they’ll go out and try it and maybe they like it. Maybe they didn’t. And again, you know, it’s I love what you said about your your taste is always right, right, your lips don’t lie. And I think that’s kind of akin to what my favorite Irish bartender in New York City told me When I apologize for the way that I drank the whiskey he gave me. He said, It’s not my fucking drink. I can’t do it with an Irish accent if my life depended on it. Yeah, please, it gets yours. So if you like it that way, drink it that way. I’m just a bartender. And so what I’m going to ask is for my listeners out there that have not really doubled in whiskey. What recommendation? Could you give them go out and buy a bottle and try this? Right? And because it’s good, it may not be great for you, but you know, at least it’s of great quality. That won’t necessarily make the make obviously, don’t send them out for Boss Hog because then they’re just gonna be like, Yeah, fuck you, Ingrid. But if you had to recommend something to start with, under 100 bucks, what would it be?
1:10:42
Got a piggy back in all fairness, I love my products. But I would say actually, don’t go out and buy a bottle. Go to your local restaurant or bar and order a drink either a cocktail or order it neat. Don’t spend all that money on a bottle. If you’re not sure that you’re going to drink that bottle. Definitely try to taste as many as you can before it’d be much cheaper to buy a shot of whiskey than it would be to buy that bottle. But as you get into it, a lot of the time people like to start with the softer of the bourbon line. So feel free to definitely indulge in those even Jack Daniels, Tennessee whiskey jack or a decal or have fun with the maker’s mark and then as your palette, feel free to try the rise whether it’s piggyback. We like the Sagamore line, learn where your palette falls. And then once you find it, then start looking more in depth in that whether it’s the individual company itself or just the market share. Now I’d say that most people who really when they drink bourbon and they think it’s too sweet, you’re more than probably a rye drinker. So you have the opportunity. Definitely piggyback is a great entry point forever. We also just launched an Irish whiskey so Limavady is a really good entry point as well into that Irish whiskey space. And don’t get discouraged. A lot of the time. People think that you’re supposed to know a lot about whiskey. No, it’s whatever you get out of it. And in all fairness, if you don’t like whiskey, it’s also okay, I might judge you, but my opinion doesn’t really matter. Yeah.
Mickey Gordon 1:12:06
So let’s turn that around. Then. How about a whiskey cocktail? For a new whiskey drinker? Would you suggest one of those and some bartender Yeah,
Mallory Gordon 1:12:14
cuz I’ve mentioned me five like my instincts are like beer before liquor bubbles and whiskey. I’ve I’ve always been a little confused by that one.
Mickey Gordon 1:12:22
I recommend a new ones. I know what I tell them, but I want to know what you think.
1:12:26
So the easiest cocktail for people to get into is easy old fashion because it’s the simplest cocktail. It’s a very pure and it’s it’s very clean. A Manhattan would also be good if they’re on the sweeter side of the palate. I personally like sours, I think are great, because you can also do like a New York sour where you’re adding wine to that. Oh, really. It’s very exciting. But also for instance, you can play with it a Bloody Mary with a rye whiskey is delicious. The French 95 One of the reasons that that’s very palatable is because the bubbles were really the overhanging flavor profile on that, and a lot of that little citrus kick. It’s not your your body doesn’t get like oh my god, all I got is whiskey in this, but also a Paloma, which is really grapefruit foward is an easy way to get into it as long as the grapefruit doesn’t interfere with any of your medicines. A Paloma has a really good way of of getting into whiskey and kind of challenging yourself to try something different. I love that.
Mickey Gordon 1:13:16
That is absolute. That’s great advice. Well, before we jump out of here with Ingrid, first thing I want to do is thank you for joining us here in the casual swinger studios for talking about whiskey, the traveling whiskey fairy lived up to her name and brought her ass all the way to Orlando to talk to us today.
Mallory Gordon 1:13:30
We’re so lucky.
Mickey Gordon 1:13:31
We appreciate that very much. Thank you, Ingrid for joining us. And thank you to Whistle Pig rye whiskey for letting her come on to our show today and talk to all of you. I know there’s a lot of brands out there that don’t have the balls to talk to you guys and you know, join an event like ours, but I think hopefully this was what you thought it was going to be today and was certainly a service to those of you out there that are interested in or getting in to what I would consider high in whiskey.
1:13:56
Well, thank you for having me guys. I really appreciate it’s a lot of fun. And I used to be told that I have balls asides in Nebraska so it works out pretty well.
Mallory Gordon 1:14:02
I believe that I believe it.
Mickey Gordon 1:14:06
I love Awesome. Now one more thing before I turn this thing over to Mallory and let her tell you guys how to find us. We got a surprise for you guys. We talked about a little bit in the lead in make sure to check out casual swinger.com here in the next couple of weeks we are going to be launching our first virtual mixology event where you’re going to be able to hear, see and taste a instructor bartender teaching you guys how to make some of these cocktails we talked about right here today. So that’s coming your way. It’s an event. This is the first time we’ve talked about it, you’re on the show, but we finally got our bartender figured out. We got our stuff figured out. So we’re going to be launching a virtual mixology event for you guys in March. So stay tuned and check it out on casual swinger comm. We’ll have that landing page up for you. In the meantime, Mallory you want to do this thing?
Mallory Gordon 1:14:49
I can totally do the thing Well, obviously whiskey of the month. Let’s do it. So you can find a casual swinger everywhere right where casual Swinging calm you can reach out to us podcast at casual swinging.com If you You have questions or just want to thank us. You can also write reviews on iTunes. We love that. Come on. I’m a girl. I love affirmations. We are on social media that’s Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. And you can find us on the dating sites which is W eight nation STC. SLS and Cassidy.
Mickey Gordon 1:15:15
There it is. She’s so good at it. We’ll be back in just a hot second. With one more January whiskey of the month. I bet you guys can’t guess who the brand’s gonna be back in just a second. You’ve been listening to Swinging.
Mallory Gordon 1:15:44
And welcome back to casual Swinging.
Mickey Gordon 1:15:47
You got it right that time
Mallory Gordon 1:15:48
I just say Welcome aboard.
Mickey Gordon 1:15:51
All aboard. Mallory. Sorry. I every line up and
Mallory Gordon 1:15:55
pologize I have the giggles tonight. I don’t know what’s going on. I’m totally sober.
Mickey Gordon 1:15:59
That’s all right. Well, hey, guys, it’s time for whiskey of the month. But before we dig into that, I want to throw something down. This is where you guys are gonna save some serious coin. I don’t know if it’s serious coin. It really depends on your perspective. But I’m really excited about it. I’m very thankful to Ingrid and the team at Whistle Pig whiskey, which you just heard from in the main segment, tell them what they’re saving now.
Mallory Gordon 1:16:17
They’re saving $10 off their purchase at Whistle Pig whiskey.com.
Mickey Gordon 1:16:22
That’s right. All you have to do is use code casual 2020 to
Mallory Gordon 1:16:25
that as casual 2022 at checkout, and just be sure that you live in a state that can have alcohol shipped to you. Right, that is caveat.
Mickey Gordon 1:16:32
Yeah. But yeah, you can get $10 off if you order direct from Whistle Pig at https://shop.whistlepigwhiskey.com with our code, CASUAL2022.
Mallory Gordon 1:16:40
Now thank you traveling whiskey fairy.
Mickey Gordon 1:16:42
It’s time.
Mallory Gordon 1:16:44
Candy is dandy. But whiskey makes you frisky
Mickey Gordon 1:16:47
whiskey of the month.
Mallory Gordon 1:16:48
Baba bomb was
Mickey Gordon 1:16:50
January the first whiskey of the month for 2022. I know this is going to come as a major shock to all of you after what you just listened to. But it is Whistle Pig piggyback which is a 60 year dry.
Mallory Gordon 1:17:02
Yes. And this is a great rye whiskey and it’s going to be very versatile in your bar, especially in reference to cocktails.
Mickey Gordon 1:17:09
It was actually designed for cocktails. So we’re going to talk about this a little bit, but it’s really hard to talk about Whistle Pig and really not talk about Dave picker. Yeah,
Mallory Gordon 1:17:17
we need a little Ode to Dave pickerel here a little bit.
Mickey Gordon 1:17:19
So before his untimely passing in 2018. Master Distiller Dave pickerel had a dream of creating an aged rye whiskey, specifically for use in cocktails. The end result was piggyback ride, which according to the company is a nod by pickerel to his love and respect for the bartending community. In fact, the company designed the bottle for ease of handling by bartenders. Whistle Pig piggyback is unique for some pretty cool reasons.
Mallory Gordon 1:17:48
Okay, so we’ll start with it’s 100%, dry aged in charred oak barrels.
Mickey Gordon 1:17:54
It’s also a blend of rights, which is kind of a misnomer. But between six and eight years are the rise in that bottle making it an average of 7.25 years.
Mallory Gordon 1:18:04
Yeah, and this is actually really cool. So it’s marketed as a distiller strength at 96.56 proof. Exactly. And why is that? Well,
Mickey Gordon 1:18:13
super cool. I love this. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah.
Mallory Gordon 1:18:16
So according to Pete, Pete Lynch, he’s a former master distiller, the piggyback is 96.56 proof. And that’s a nod to 56 which is Dave’s birth here. The piggyback was designed for that versatility.
Mickey Gordon 1:18:29
Yeah, I got to point out real quick, how cool is it? That Dave’s pick roll design this whiskey as an ode to bartenders, and the bottle itself became an ode to Dave? Uh huh.
Mallory Gordon 1:18:42
Yeah, that’s really cool.
Mickey Gordon 1:18:44
I mean, I love whiskey with a good story. And like, that’s awesome. So
Mallory Gordon 1:18:48
explain why the bottle is an odd now.
Mickey Gordon 1:18:50
Well, so first of all, most importantly, the bottle was designed for bartenders, right. date picker, his name is on the bottle. And also the 1956 is his birth year. Yes. So it had to be of a certain quality, right. And that 96.56 is an ode to 1956, which is his birth, just really kind of jumps out at him. And you know that 97 Proof is known as the ideal proof for Highball glasses without overpowering a drink.
Mallory Gordon 1:19:16
I learned that I didn’t know that. And that actually does. It’s very well balanced. Very well balanced for this. But another reason that it’s an ODE his paper was vision was an odd like you said to the bartender community and the tradition, the traditional Whistle Pig pig wearing a top hat. Yeah, it’s
Mickey Gordon 1:19:37
gone. It’s gone.
Mallory Gordon 1:19:38
That’s right that it’s been replaced with one wearing a Stetson hat which was one of Dave’s like markers. That’s another one. That’s
Mickey Gordon 1:19:44
exactly right. Now something interesting that a lot of people don’t know is the Dave had a pet pic. Date, pet pigs name was more of their last. Their last Boss Hog prior to his death was the spirit of Ma which was his pig. So there’s so many Amash and it’s kind of odes to different things in whistle pig. But yeah, that’s right. There’s no top hat on the pig. It has a Stetson hat instead, which is a big deal. I just think that’s super cool. And the dates 1956 to 2018 are on the neck wrapper for the bottle, which is a nod to his birth and his death.
Mallory Gordon 1:20:23
And, you know, I know, maybe that’s a little McCobb for some people, but I actually really love how personal they made it because Dave was very personal with his whiskey. He’s very intentional. And what he did,
Mickey Gordon 1:20:36
I only got to meet Dave once or twice. And both times he he treated me like I was the only person in the room. He was really really, which is good about like talking about whiskey, and he loved to talk about it with other people that loved it.
Mallory Gordon 1:20:49
Yeah. And it’s funny because that’s something you do very well, as well.
Mickey Gordon 1:20:53
I appreciated it. So maybe that’s why I appreciate it. I really thought it was cool. So Whistle Pig piggyback is an impressive ride in and of itself and it stands out in a sea of very impressive rise. I’m alright guy. If you take away the fact that this is one of deep pickles last creations for the company. You are still left with a well rounded and easy sipping ride. It developed it really gives you a sweet and spicy flavor combination with a touch of earthiness that rye lovers will easily gravitate toward.
Mallory Gordon 1:21:23
You’re right over there. That’s a Hickam. Grey lush,
Mickey Gordon 1:21:29
hey, I’m not even drinking is January This sucks.
Mallory Gordon 1:21:33
Poor baby. So last ones whiskey month, this bottle obviously tells one hell of a story here. And even if the story isn’t the right itself, but equal parts its creator, for the fact that Dave really wanted to give it tribute to the bartending community. And in turn, the bottle has ended up being a tribute to him, in return really shows the passion of the creators and the brands each have for their products.
Mickey Gordon 1:22:00
It’s true in their review, breaking bourbon said in the end, maybe piggyback does succeed. And its aim is a cocktail, right? Not specifically from its flavor profile, but from the fact that it helps tell a good story. And with any great cocktail, a good story is just as important as what’s being used to create the actual cocktail in the glass. Let’s talk a little bit about what some of the details are in piggyback.
Mallory Gordon 1:22:23
Okay, so from a visual or I it’s a it’s a light copper
Mickey Gordon 1:22:28
light that’s
Mallory Gordon 1:22:30
on the nose. You actually get a copper, fresh right bread, cinnamon spice caramel, Orchard fruits, like apples, grainy, and a bit of bergamont.
Mickey Gordon 1:22:42
Yeah, and you know, something that Ingrid pointed out when you recorded with her. And I really thought was kind of brilliant. Whatever it whatever you taste in your whiskey, it’s right. You’re right. Yes. Right. Whatever you smell, whatever the eye is, whatever the nose is. You’re right. It’s that’s exactly what
Mallory Gordon 1:23:01
I absolutely love that because humans are relevant people like I like to say, so relational relational. Yeah, that’s what I say.
Mickey Gordon 1:23:09
We’re not relevant. We are irrelevant. Hey, you fucked with me. So I’m just taking it back out.
Mallory Gordon 1:23:14
No, totally deserved to ship relational people. So my my, you know, key or legend may be different than
Mickey Gordon 1:23:23
Yeah, that’s right. And so for a pallet Whistle Pig piggyback. Your pallet is gonna pick up some rye bread. Shocker. It’s all 100% Right? Butterscotch, cinnamon, raspberry, Candy oak, fruit, spice, and even some citrus.
Mallory Gordon 1:23:37
On the finish. It’s gonna be medium to long sweetness, rice, spice, copper and oak. So definitely more earthy.
Mickey Gordon 1:23:45
So piggyback is a very balanced whiskey with a medium to full body and a bit of a velvety feel.
Mallory Gordon 1:23:52
Yeah, yeah. And from price. Point, yeah, always 50 bucks
Mickey Gordon 1:23:57
4999 for whiskey of the month. Now here’s the thing that’ll only set you back. 3999 If you want to try piggyback, don’t forget to use the code. And by the way, we don’t get shit out of this and we don’t want anything out of it. This is just for you. 10 bucks off. Casual 2022 You can get your piggy back for 3999 plus shipping. Yeah,
Mallory Gordon 1:24:17
I recommend on the sweet side of Manhattan with us. Or if you’re into a traditional like real legit whiskey sour. It’s a it’s a great whiskey for that.
Mickey Gordon 1:24:27
And there it is. That is whiskey of the month, whiskey the month this month. As a reminder, one more time is whistle pig piggy back and a big thank you to the team at whistle pig whiskey, their marketing department and of course, the traveling whiskey fairy herself. Indra, Ingrid Rodriguez. Yay. Why I almost messed up her name.
Mallory Gordon 1:24:46
It’s okay. I said relevant. Just we’re limping along.
Mickey Gordon 1:24:50
Alright, Mel, tell these folks. Goodbye. Bye, guys.
Mallory Gordon 1:24:52
Thanks for joining us.
Mickey Gordon 1:24:53
That’s right, folks. We’ll be back in a couple of weeks to swing your ship next. We’re Swinging a ship. That’s right. We haven’t we This was a shit show and we didn’t drink any whiskey. What a joke.
Mallory Gordon 1:25:04
Hey, that was really painful. So all this talk about whiskey and not being able to drink
Mickey Gordon 1:25:09
it was Don’t worry. The drunks will be back next time you hear from us next episode we’re drinking 100 For sure. Alright folks, that’s enough out of us. We’ll talk to you soon. You’ve been listening to casual Swinging.
