This is our second episode. Current state of the distillery, Brain Brew Vision and the craft cocktail recipe - The Crazy Viking. This podcast episode features Whiskey Maker - Doug Hall and Whiskey Drinker - Tripp Babbitt.

 

Show Notes

[00:00:34] Why Everyone Deserves There Own Whisk(e)y

[00:01:37] Before Prohibition - Lots of Distilleries Existed

[00:03:59] The Tribes of Whisk(e)y

[00:04:09] Four Grains of Whisk(e)y

[00:05:11] The Compression Technology of the Brain Brew Whisk(e)y Academy

[00:05:42] Can Mimic Whisk(e)y Made Around the World

[00:06:35] Craft Styles Making Your Own Whisk(e)y

[00:08:03] Using the Data to Refine the Whisk(e)y

[00:09:48] Making Your Own Heritage

[00:12:02] Beta Sites for Custom Whisk(e)y

[00:12:29] The Whisk(e)y Economic Model

[00:14:58] Craft Cocktail Recipe - The Crazy Viking

[00:15:08] Craft Cocktail Recipe - The Crazy Viking

[00:15:56] The Crazy Viking Recipe Step 1

[00:16:01] Step 2

[00:16:14] Step 3

[00:18:26] Noble Oak in 17 States

 

 

Transcript

Tripp: [00:00:09] This is the Brain Brew Whisk(e)y Academy podcasts were going to take you behind the scenes on what it takes to build a whiskey distillery business. The Eureka ranch team led by Doug Hall are creating a craft Whiskey Company like has never been done before.

 

Tripp: [00:00:34] Doug you have been helping organizations for decades and you like people to know you practice what you preach and so you've built this whiskey business. And we covered off a little bit of it in our first newsletter talking about the purpose and the distillery itself but this concept that you have talked about that really intrigues me and I at least want to have some initial conversations about is this whole concept of craft whiskey and getting people to kind of brand their own thing. Where are you in that process. How does that happen. I mean I'm having a hard time understanding if he got an individual out there and they're interested let's say and their own craft whiskey for a wedding you mentioned that in our previous episode or whatever how you taken them through at least give me a few notes here. You may have I think you said you're still working on it.

 

Doug: [00:01:37] Yeah. So yeah. So we're we're very close. So where we are with the whiskey business right now is where we have our federal permit with the TDB from the federal government. We are about a week from our state of Ohio permit and in the absence of those we've been doing production over in Kentucky at another distillery using their permit file the paperwork so that we can do products into there so we were manufacturing it there. You have to have a licensed location for it. So that's been able to get us up and running as we're doing it. And so we've been doing a lot of research on figuring out how to do it. And it's built around some simple things. Let me go back in time for a little bit first. Prior to prohibition when alcohol was made illegal across the U.S. everybody had their own whiskey. There were 70 distilleries in Cincinnati alone. And that doesn't count all of the blenders who would take whiskeys from those 70 and make their own and literally every restaurant every bar every individual would have their own personal blend of whiskey with grains and whatever they wanted and it was very common after Prohibition. There were just a few companies that got permits during prohibition to do medicinal alcohol. So they were able to keep spirit in barrels and had product when prohibition ended and they pretty much took over the market and did it.

 

Doug: [00:03:06] The Canadians came down and then Cutty Sark came in from Scotland.

 

Doug: [00:03:11] And the little guys were basically gone by that point what my vision is is when I make whiskey like our Relativity product that's one that I crafted and I take that product and I serve it to people it is such a cool thing to tell them the story of why I use the Greens I did. Why do you use the compression. And I did what I was trying to do. It's just it's awesome. Okay. It's like a piece of art. But that you get to drink you know which makes it even better. And I thought wouldn't it be cool if everybody could do that exact same thing to go through that and our line is basically brain brew custom whisky because everybody deserves their own whiskey.

 

Doug: [00:03:56] Now how does it work.

 

Doug: [00:03:59] What when you work with whiskey as I've said before there are tribes we don't have any tribes. We're just about green spirits and how they work.

 

[00:04:09] They're typically made for big grains are corn wheat rye and barley corn is obviously the predominant grain in bourbon. Wheat whiskeys are very popular. They're very small but they can be very luxury and weed is oftentimes put in the highest in bourbons. They'll use wheat will be the central ingredient after corn rye is the big spicy one. It's kind of the IPA of whiskeys pressure it's usually higher alcohol and barley is the product of Scotland. That's what they use in Scotland single malt barley is what they use. And so it's kind of a Scottish So corn is bourbon barley is Scottish Rye as are growing they typically were Canadian and wheat is the underappreciated one which is a magnificent grain but it's hard to work with. It's hard to work with but it is magnificent when you make it right. It really creates an elegance to it.

 

Doug: [00:05:11] I think my mind and so we can take those products and because of our time compression technology where all we do it's 100 percent natural. All we do is we take the spirit and we put pieces of wood in that we've charred and things staves or whatever pieces we want to do and then we take it through heating and cooling cycles just like the barrels grow through just like Woodford Reserve in the wintertime they heat their warehouses and then they call them the heat them and they call them it's no different no different than what we're doing.

 

Doug: [00:05:42] We just happen to be doing it with very very high precision super reduction of variance in the process is what we do. And so we're able to make amazing whisky in about 40 minutes. We can mimic what the seasons of barrel aging are like in the old world which would be Scotland. We can mimic what's it like to do it in the US where it's a general rule at least through this way that the Ohio River Valley Ohio Kentucky Indiana it's it's obviously a lot warmer than it is in northern Scotland. And so what people do is they come to an artisan whisky experience where they taste the deconstructed whiskeys so corn wheat Ryan barley they'll taste it first New World style then they taste it old world style and they're shocked because they usually you go to a bourbon tasting or scotch tasting you never get them together and so they get a taste.

 

Doug: [00:06:35] And then the last set are predominantly corn wheat right barley but now done in a more craft style. And the new craft styles a much more creative than different you know might be multiple Woods could be different things in it. And then we give them a pipette and they literally take a graduated cylinder and they start to make their own blends. They've rated them individually now they put together their own and they go through some fine experiences and some food and different stuff. And then at the end of that they give a secret recipe and we make it for them and they get it the next day that's um so this is this is whiskey and you can do and we have them sign the bottle. Artisan whiskey spirits by them if they want they get fancy labels printed but fundamentally this is less about a label and more about the product and they can get their own personal taste and the looks on their faces are amazing. I mean it's just it's just the coolest experience to make your own board. I mean whiskey has a place in society that is different than beer or different than wine. I mean it is that ultimate end of the night beautiful taste. It's something magnificent about it.

 

Tripp: [00:07:54] So they're really just trying different things to find out what maybe their real taste is. And then you find the right mixture for them and an in essence.

 

Doug: [00:08:03] Yes well they'll put it together. And we've got we've got some artificial intelligence things that will give them some recommendations and we give them coaching on how to put it together. But here's the amazing thing. So they put it together make their own taste their taste buds. I don't know their taste buds. They're going to do their own but every time we do it we keep getting more and more data. So eventually we'll be able to also give them a computerized recommendation which and then they'll make it themselves. But what's interesting about it is all the ones they like and we tell them this they'll say Oh I like these three I like old world barley I like new world corn and rye and then they put those together and they go that taste terrible. I go it's the interaction it's a system it's an interaction of the parts it's Dr. Deming would say and it can work. And I said Now you got to start to think about think about it like a musical note what's the high note the middle notes the bass notes What are you trying to do.

 

Doug: [00:08:58] And they start to get into it and people just their minds go because at the beginning they thought I'm never gonna be able to tell the difference in the whiskeys. I can't tell the difference. Well I can tell you ladies and gentlemen these twelve whiskeys are all distinctly different. It's not like sometimes you know you get a Scotch you get verbiage taste five of them they'll taste the same. No. These are by design twelve unique tastes you will like them hate them you'll rarely be neutral to them but when you put them together you're going to want to put like we've got a smoked product number twelve. You might want to have five percent smoke in there because it gives it a backbone that's kind of nice or you want to keep the light weed in it because you want the freshness and the lightness to it. And by the time you get done people say well well isn't it Scotch about heritage. I go Yeah that's what it is today. But you know what it is.

 

Doug: [00:09:48] Now you're making your heritage when you're crafting your own product that's pretty cool.

 

Doug: [00:09:59] The other thing this does for us. The other thing this does for us is it enables distilleries to start to craft products just like it was pre prohibition and eventually every bar every restaurant every hotel is going to have their own whiskey. You're not going to have Jimmy and Johnny's you know Johnny Walker and Jimmy Beans. That was nice. I want my name I want my own whiskey and so that to me is the future.

 

Doug: [00:10:37] And to me what delights me about this is one the while for the customer to be able to get their own thing and finding that there are whiskies that they like and it's magnificent. That's just fun. I mean that's just the culinary aspect of serving that. The other part that gets me excited is we're gonna enable folks that are making maybe vodka and gin to be able to do world class because we went double gold medals at competitions in Los Angeles and all that stuff and and we're going to enable those people to have their own whisky to do whiskies and to do custom whiskeys for people. And so we're gonna help those entrepreneurs make more money.

 

Doug: [00:11:13] And in the process they're gonna discover things we've already got a rye that's coming out that was discovered because of some work people were doing messing with the rye and where we're gonna find other new ideas as people do this as we look at not the individuals but we start to look at the patterns and we put it in an artificial intelligence computer and we start to look at what is some of the roots and the patterns that people are doing not one person but hundreds and hundreds of people as that data builds up it's going to help us discover new things and new tastes.

 

Tripp: [00:11:45] So who are you looking for now are these just people that want their own brand or is these four people are reselling Is it a combination of them or are you just kind of messing around at this point to see what you come up with what.

 

Doug: [00:11:58] Well we're we're setting up and we're setting up in in Cincinnati.

 

Doug: [00:12:02] We'll be running it here and then we're in conversations with people and a bunch of different countries and across the U.S. where we're gonna setup some beta sites doing custom whiskey and we've got to license them and enable them with the technology to get going.

 

Doug: [00:12:16] And obviously if there is still it they've already got the permits but if they don't have a permit they can go through the process to become a blender and they can go into whiskey.

 

Doug: [00:12:29] So rather than spending millions and millions of dollars for a fraction of that you're gonna be able to go into the whiskey business and we're gonna announce that program in February we're going to the craft spirits conference. We've got booth space up there in Minneapolis in February and we're gonna make it so that anybody that wants to go into the whiskey business you can't.

 

Tripp: [00:12:50] That's so easy. All right. It's easy.

 

Tripp: [00:12:54] That's that's amazing. I I'm I'm fascinated by the whole. What the capabilities are and what's interesting to me and we really haven't talked about it in the episodes that we've had so far is you know you talk a lot about diversity and you actually built them by virtue of having these crafted whiskies these customized whiskeys and you're getting other insights into what could be made.

 

Doug: [00:13:19] Yeah it's a very interesting yeah and the future I think is all you know. There will always be a place for the great brands. I love Macallan. I love Highland Park.

 

Doug: [00:13:30] I mean me before they were even partners with this my. I was asked What's your favorite whisky. I said Highland Park and then Macallan and I love them and I drink them and I their the tremendous wonderful products and and I love some of the great bourbons as well but I also really like to have my own and and I really like to when I travel I like to go to local places and this local thing is going to be a percentage of the market that's going to go to that and I just think it's wonderful to be able to enable that local energy and creativity because with our stuff you can use amazing wood. So when I was tasting just recently when I was tasting the the brandies a fella had come to us and he had done it's really amazing that a bunch of them had never done this before but they they bought a b c land and they developed it with houses. They did all the development. I'm like You guys gotta be crazy. They said well it seemed like an easy thing to do. I said I know I've got many things before and and they did this. And as it turned out there was an old building on it that they saved that had oak boards in it. And so he he got a board and he said would you try making whiskey with it to see what it comes out with. And I just tasted it and it's pretty amazing.

 

Doug: [00:14:54] That's pretty amazing.

 

Tripp: [00:14:58] Yeah. Yeah. No that's that's that's outside the box there. OK well let's let's talk about this kind of fun section.

 

Tripp: [00:15:08] Your craft cocktail recipe the Crazy Viking. What is that.

 

Doug: [00:15:14] So this is one that actually was last Thanksgiving that this came up I bought a bunch of stuff that I'd never seen before and there was this product called Linie which is a Nordic spirit it's an aquavit and that is a it's just it's a very unique taste to it. And so I was just playing with different things. And I me this sort of a riff on an Negroni now it's really not a riff on Negroni because Negroni uses gin and I'm using bourbon and he uses Campari and I'm using aquavit. The only thing that's the same is that it has sweet vermouth in it. So it's not even close to to that but it basically.

 

Doug: [00:15:56] It's to rock's glass full of ice. And again this is in the show notes that did you get it.

 

Doug: [00:16:01] Put an ounce of bourbon and I prefer our noble oak bourbon which if you've got a NobleOak.com you can you can find find it. It's about half the country right now.

 

Doug: [00:16:14] And then one ounce of Linie aquavit and you get this complex creative concoction. It's the best way I can describe it and I don't know if it's the Norwegian aspect of the aquavit but I particularly like it outside when it's bracing cold. I don't know there's just something about it it's it's like that and when you see the picture of it in the show notes I've got it. I put it outside on the rocks because it's just it's got a just a robustness to it it it it's got an edginess to it it reminds me a lot of I've been to Orkney the island of Orkney which is north of Scotland my mom's family came from third so Scotland which is on the north shore and Highland Park is made there which is the brother to the Macallan and and it's made on the island working it's the northernmost distillery in the world and Highland Park has some cocktails that have the same. You know that it tends to have a penis to it and it's a ruggedness to it and it's it's definitely not not a wussy drink. You know it's but it's not harsh it's not bite your face off. It's just Hardy. They Highland Park oftentimes talk about Vikings it's got that Vikings to it. Well this crazy Viking has that same spirit which is why he gave it the name Viking has a memory of Highland Park it's just a unique taste and I think I think as we go into the winter time I think some folks should should have some although I I drank them this summer on the beach too but especially late at night it is particularly good. So it's a crazy Viking bourbon sweet removes. I use Dolan is what I usually use. And Lenie aquavit an ounce of each go to the liquor store. Lenny you'll find it'll be dusty because nobody buys it and after you get it you're going to just love it. You'll only use it for this one cocktail but you're you'll amaze your friends people who say they love the Manhattan you give them this they go man that's got a lot more complexity than a Manhattan which would basically be the bourbon and smooth. This has got a lot more complexity if you like Manhattan you're gonna love this you got to love it.

 

Doug: [00:18:26] Very cool and you said that Noble Oak is available in about half the country right now.

 

Doug: [00:18:32] Yeah OK. Much for it for a population sample 17 states but those states include New York and California and Texas. So you know it's proportionally it's got a.

 

Tripp: [00:18:42] Population wise it's greater. Yeah OK. Yeah. All right. Very good. Well this has been really interesting as far as learned a lot from from your experience in working with different organizations and how they beat down big ideas and make them smaller. That's certainly a concept that I can relate to. And then also you know getting a little bit more understanding of meaningfully unique and not only where it came from but how it's applied. And then of course the third segment we basically talked about not only the crazy Viking VIKING drink but how you're going to be customizing whiskey for entrepreneurs to be able to kind of sell their own brand or for other things that you've mentioned before weddings and things of that sort.

 

Doug: [00:19:32] People go crazy ways and just a preview coming attractions in the Brain Brew Whisk(e)y Academy. Next week I'm going to tell you the one thing you need to have to create a distillery.

 

Doug: [00:19:43] The one thing you have to have that's coming up next week on the driving Eureka podcast as well as in the Brain Brew Whisk(e)y Academy.

 

Tripp: [00:19:56] Well we'll look forward to hearing about that next week. Thank you for listening.

 

Tripp: [00:20:10] Have you ever thought about owning your own craft whisky business. Well subscribe to the Brain Brew Whisk(e)y Academy because in early 2019 we'll be offering opportunities to start your own business. Whether you are an aspiring entrepreneur curious about innovation. Or just like a good story. The Brain Brew Whisk(e)y Academy podcast will take you behind the scenes to learn the good the bad. And the ugly about what it takes to create whisky in the craft space. Which is growing at a crazy rate. Lessons learned can be applied. Broadly.