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Angels Brought Me Here!
15 Plays11 days ago
Jez sits down with Angels Envy's very own Angel Teta, Angels Envy's Global Brand Ambassador alongside Kayla Grigoriou, Australia's Angel Envy Specialist and Whiskey Guardian. Jez and Angel chat about how she broke into the whiskey industry and how she deals with explaining to consumers that finished bourbon deserves a place on the market. We get stories, market insights from Kayla and what to expect from Angels Envy in the future.
Make sure you check out their socials linked and follow them for all exciting things coming from Angels Envy.
Ps. Make sure you try their rye, its truely a gamechanger and a staple in our house ;)
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Transcript
Intro
00:00:19
Speaker
And we are live. Welcome to another episode of Non Chill Filtered. I am your host, Jez, and I'm sitting within the Bacardi offices in Sydney. It's actually really cool to be here. And I've got some cool guests as well.
00:00:33
Speaker
Some beautiful ladies sitting across from me. i I'm very lucky. It's like 20 past five in the afternoon. i've got ah angels in one hand and I am looking at two angels.
00:00:45
Speaker
ah Wow. We'll take it. I'm just handing it out. so ladies, if you'd like to introduce yourselves. Sure. I am new to Sydney as of 36 hours ago.
00:00:58
Speaker
name is Angel Teta and I am the global brand ambassador for Angel's Envy. And I am not new to Sydney, ah but my name is Kayla Gregorio and I am the national brand ambassador for Angels Envy.
00:01:10
Speaker
Very excited to be sat across from you. Oh, stop it. Stop it. You know the way to my heart. i Yeah, Angels Envy. Yeah, that's exactly. Exactly. i We don't have this in video, but I am rocking the uniform this evening.
00:01:22
Speaker
It's true. Thank you are for showing up and showing up properly. That's okay. There was no questions asked. It rolled in. You girls are doing like some evening tea. Yeah, little cocktails. Yeah, little cocktails. And I'm like, what is going on here? No one kind of thought twice to go, what is this guy doing here? it's just like, nope, showed up in the kit.
00:01:40
Speaker
In the uniform. That's why. It's an Angel's MVT shirt. It's true, yeah. We're like, let him in. It's like when you show up joe a black in a black shirt to an event you're not invited to, you just go in the back door. I'm with Katie. I work here. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:01:53
Speaker
I love it. So um ahll I'll kick off. um Kayla, do you want to run us through your start with the brand? Yeah, sure. um So I've worked for Bacardi for the past three years.
00:02:05
Speaker
um Originally, i was looking after grey Goose as a brand ambassador, but last year came on board as the BA for Angels Envy. So essentially, I'm go around the country talking the good talk about the delicious juice.
00:02:23
Speaker
I do a lot of education, um a few different activations, a lot of the whiskey shows. um But really, I have a very easy job. I have a really great brand that I love to talk about, a really great story.
00:02:37
Speaker
The bottle is pretty, so that also helps, right? um But, yeah, my job's pretty easy. I don't have to sell it. That's what the sales team do. i just talk about it and tell the story and um pour it into people's glasses, really.
00:02:54
Speaker
Which is a terrible problem to have. really hard yeah Empty glasses is a big problem, especially Bacardi. so Correct. And for you, Angel, how did you land in the beautiful company of Angel's Envy? The name is fitting, by the way. Yes, ah that always comes up. I do not own the company, thank God. That'd be a lot of responsibility and not a lot of experience in bourbon making, at least.
00:03:18
Speaker
But I came in through the beverage industry, so pretty much bartend since it was barely legal for me to do in Florida. And then i moved out to Portland, Oregon around 2006. I started running bar programs there.
00:03:32
Speaker
And when Angels Envy launched, they had a bit of a different model for their ambassadors, something that really wasn't done in the States at the time, ah where they hired people part-time that were bartenders because...
00:03:44
Speaker
As the gatekeepers, when the consumers come in and they ask the bartenders always, what do you prefer to drink? So the mere power of suggestion goes a long way. And when you're launching a Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey that has been finished in something ah back then that was not done.
00:04:01
Speaker
So who better to advocate for the program and for the whiskey itself than the people who are serving it or would be on the daily? ah so I was approached when I was in Portland about being a part-time ambassador for them called a Whiskey Guardian.
00:04:14
Speaker
And the interview was about five minutes because my name was Angel. And I was literally instructed, like, you're going be great. Don't worry about it as long as you don't, you know, F up too hard, basically.
00:04:24
Speaker
And yeah. now it's been 12 years so i think i did okay uh still still going uh the brand itself launched in 2011 so it's been really cool for me personally to see the incredible like meteorotic that is that we say that just a crazy a crazy growth we call it a hockey stick in the industry because it was flat for a very short amount of time and now it's just been climbing um like the the actual stick of the hockey um Kind of building ah the plane as we're flying it, but it's been working out okay. People seem to love us, which is nice.
00:04:57
Speaker
So when I started, we were 5,000 cases. Now we're upwards, we're almost to 400,000. Just mental. Mental. Yes, that's a good word for it. And I was the national, I and didn't get promoted. There was an interview process for a lot of really qualified candidates.
00:05:14
Speaker
but landed the National Guardian position in 2019. And then I moved to Louisville when we expanded our distillery in downtown on Historic Whiskey Row in 2022. And i was I was promoted then for the Global Brand Ambassador position.
00:05:30
Speaker
So what is a day in the life of a global brand ambassador? Because, you know, you've got you've got Kayla here and all she does is shop the whiskey shows and and pour whiskey into people's mouths. Correct. Which is a tough gig and of itself. And it looks like you do the same thing, but you now have a first class ticket around the world. nice. Not always risk that, my friend, but tell my boss that, please. its Yeah, just email this to Owen just and go, Owen, mate, you have to sort the girls out. Yeah, that's it. Well, we can't have anything less for the angel herself. Oh, my gosh. Well, it I mean, i you know ah people probably say this as an answer, but it depends on the day.
00:06:06
Speaker
um Within my responsibilities, um i set the cocktail strategy for the brand, I had a brand education is like the s sir title of my title title.
00:06:17
Speaker
ah So develop all the education to train the trainers, everything from on angels and me solely to we developed a really incredible ah comprehensive education on American whiskey.
00:06:28
Speaker
Uh, we have an Oak masterclass to talk about the trees and why and what, and fits the triple like branding as well. Yeah. i like that. And also, i mean, just as far as the, the Oak that goes into the cast for the port and all of those things, uh, fortified wine education we developed, um, from tip to toe with every fortified wine that exists on the planet earth, uh, that we know so far, I guess.
00:06:48
Speaker
And, um, so my day could be answering emails, building a deck, um, building a strategy for tales the cocktail. What is our experiential? look like, what are the cocktails that will support that, what's the POS, like the cool giveaways and stuff that we're going to develop, um how do we make this premium ah to flying to Seoul as being the first global ambassador for whiskey within the Angel Zemi portfolio.
00:07:14
Speaker
Um, which was really cool. I got to go to Korea and do some guest bartending. So, it's amazing you know, I sat behind a bar. Well, I didn't sit, I stood behind a bar and made a specialty cocktails for a lot of people at a pine and co, which a really cool place.
00:07:28
Speaker
Anyways, that's a day in life that was last week. You know, had started with a masterclass for trade, um, went to a couple of accounts to say hi and see. It's, it's really just about like what the market needs and then responding to that rather than having a program schedule.
00:07:44
Speaker
it's never the same and it shouldn't be. Uh, if you really want to get your brand sort of out there in the right way, in my opinion, it's to take in the culture and, um, the customs of wherever you are and then apply angels and be from there. Um, rather than saying, this is who we are and you have to figure it out, you know? Um, so that day could change varied on whoever I'm kind of talking to. Um, I customize it to them because why wouldn't you?
00:08:13
Speaker
Which totally tracks. Great. Like it's, oh, I get that. I get that. um So we can kind of thank you for the Toast of the Trees branding that was released.
00:08:25
Speaker
ah How involved were you with that one? I actually did see it at the meeting. um That was back in, gosh. Because we're talking early. That's what? 2014. Ooh. Yeah, 2014 or 2015. It was before Bacardi. We were acquired by Bacardi.
00:08:41
Speaker
So we wanted to do something from a standpoint of sustainability and then really bring in the knowledge of, you know, we only use these casks once and we do have to think about the future um And that was, honestly, it was before, like, we saw a huge influx of every company ever, like, buy a pair of socks, we'll plant a tree.
00:09:00
Speaker
um Which is great, dude. Awesome. Like, the more trees, the better. Let's all get on this train. um But I did sit in that meeting. I did not conceptualize it. and It was something from our old VP, essentially. Her name was Sam Seiler.
00:09:13
Speaker
um We're still friends to this day. She hired me. um And she challenged the brand and the marketing team to be, like, what can we do outside of the box? um i we used to call it AE for the trees and then they were like we gotta shorten this hashtag yeah it's massive that's a math fool yeah um then it it got shortened to toast the trees um and with the evolution of social media the program has evolved as well hashtags like aren't as important it's hard to track and all of these things but um the ethos of the program still stands. And I did have a little bit of a part of that. Like, how can we involve the trade? and
00:09:46
Speaker
How can we make them care? And then what does it look like on the ground versus ah social social media wise? Like you can do a lot of things virtually, but we actually need to get these trees in the ground somehow. So we did a lot of like,
00:09:57
Speaker
urban plantings. Um, we brought people to Kentucky to plant in an old, um, how do you call it? It's like a, it used to be like mind for coal and stuff. Um, and then they call mine, like a coal mine. Thank you. Mine for coal. Wow. Yeah.
00:10:13
Speaker
A quarry? A quarry? There go. I can't say quarry. Anyways, we'll get into that later. That sounds different. No, that sounds right. Okay. Quarry? Yeah. I always think I say it quarry like in a weird like New York way. My mom's from New York, so there's like a little bit of that.
00:10:29
Speaker
um But anyways, it's a it's a national park now, a national forest, and um we went in and planted more trees because it's kind of like the earth was kind of tilled for all it was worth. Yeah.
00:10:40
Speaker
So that was a big part, but now we're focusing more on urban planting for the Toast of Trees program because we found that people, while they want to save the earth and do the right thing, they really want to do what's right for them in their community now.
00:10:54
Speaker
So planting full grown trees was a lot more impactful than saplings and um covering the urban canopy in places like Louisville where, you know, it's higher temperatures pavement, all that, um, getting an urban canopy planted really does help immediately. so that's kind of where the focus went.
00:11:12
Speaker
And Louisville so dense as well. Like I remember like being there say April and there was just not many trees. Yeah. Like there's not like parks you'd see here. Like you, like,
00:11:24
Speaker
I'd say Hyde Park or was trying to think of another park we have in Sydney, but it's, yeah, you know, there's a little bit of foliage. They're still making room for it. But yeah, in Louisville, there's not much, especially being in the heart of downtown.
00:11:37
Speaker
Yeah, the waterfront is probably the most like concentrated of trees and things. There was a very ah huge effort to replant and um make that a beautiful green space for all. There are small little parks within. Once you get kind of more outside, the like even five minutes outside of downtown,
00:11:55
Speaker
Cave Hill Cemetery is a huge, beautiful park. It's a cemetery, but it's really a park. like It's beautiful. and But yes, you're correct. We need to cover the canopy a little bit more and restore it.
00:12:06
Speaker
um And we're there's a lot of projects within downtown Louisville, Louisville Tourism, um and the NULU Commission, essentially, that are all meeting up and trying how every day, how can we improve the community? So it is on its way, and I'm i'm lucky to live there and and kind of be a part of that.
00:12:23
Speaker
Is there anything else Angela's Envy is doing to really support the community, especially in downtown Louisville? ah Yes, 100%. We sit on โ there's a lot of different factors. We have about 125 people that work within the distillery or the office, um and then everybody kind of does their part. So production talks about procurement, how we can make, like, shipping โ distillery noise uh the trucks coming in and out that are delivering the grains and everything um how can we minimize our impact as far as water um energy so our distillery pretty much exists off of like recycled water except for the fresh that we're putting in the spirit itself um uh led like all of the things we can do we pay for composting which doesn't come with the city's regulations they don't pay for it so
00:13:14
Speaker
We have an outside company come in so we can compost and make sure everything's properly recycled. ah We sit on the board essentially to improve downtown and what it looks like in the next five, 10, 20 years. There's a lot of development coming up that we've been a part of, which is really cool because as these people come in to develop, we want to make sure no one's doing double work and we're not like, we don't need a thousand restaurants. We have a lot.
00:13:39
Speaker
We need public spaces. We need a grocery store. We need certain like parts, of the community that we don't have right now um for people who maybe don't have a car, you know, the walkability, um all of that. So that is all taken into consideration. And we work closely. Our GM of the distillery, Dee Ford, works really closely with the Kentucky Distillers Association to make sure that we're not only doing things that are right for Angel's Envy, but for overall, all the distilleries of which work and live out of downtown Louisville. Okay. Okay.
00:14:13
Speaker
It's walkability is important. I like traversing downtown Louisville and there is ah fair few amount of distilleries within that, say like region there, like moving between those distilleries is a fairly easy task.
00:14:31
Speaker
But like once you start to expand outside of there, um you know, like I guess moving around, Louisville becomes a bit of a ah a struggle. I thought you could just Uber from, say, Louisville to another, I'd say, i don't know, Lexington. You can't.
00:14:49
Speaker
You can't. It'll just be like $200. Yeah. I was... as Like moving around within the, yeah I'd say the sea limits in Kentucky was like mind-blowing. I didn't realise how big it was. It's super spread out. Yeah.
00:15:03
Speaker
I think even Louisville, ah I might be wrong, but even Louisville feels... spread out in comparison to Sydney, which is quite dense. and yeah Like it's all in the same area.
00:15:17
Speaker
Whereas you're at Angel Zenby and then you go to the Pearl, right? You can't walk there. You could, it'll take you like good take for yeah take like an hour. Well, that's the thing about like, for me, it's kind of apples to oranges. Like Sydney's an international city and Louisville is like not even on the top 50 probably of population wise for cities in America.
00:15:41
Speaker
Which is crazy. Like it, the amount of bourbon that is being produced within say Kentucky, and it is not an international destination. Like you ask like my people, the Bogans and you know, where they want to go. And it's like, it's Jim Beam, it's Jack Daniels.
00:15:58
Speaker
It's every other one of the, the bourbon that's being produced within those city limits. The fact that, well, Jack Daniels is little bit further down, but, the fact that it's not on like everyone's international tour destination is mind blowing. Well, I mean, that's changing, but it won't change the, this city's infrastructure overnight.
00:16:24
Speaker
So it's something that we're working on. um in fact, the urban bourbon trail is what we call downtown Louisville now, um, that we were the first full production, Kentucky bourbon whiskey distillery to establish themselves in downtown Louisville on historic whiskey row. since prohibition so it's nearly a hundred years ago almost right 1920 and 1933 we're pretty close right um so we broke ground in 2013 um evan williams broke ground i think or filed for their permit or it was at old forester one of them fired for their permit within a day that we did like again working with the kentucky distillers association we're all we're competitors quote unquote
00:17:04
Speaker
but we're all working together to really uplift the category. um So there was a definite push where it's like, okay, we're going to make a new wave of Kentucky bourbon and bring it back to where it started. Because before Prohibition, there were over 100 businesses that were related to whether it's financial barrel shipping or making the whiskey on historic whiskey row.
00:17:24
Speaker
When Prohibition happened, they moved the distilleries out where it wasn't so much under a lens. And then why would you come back if you've established everything already? in the far reaches. um And like, just to um and just to bring it up, the Jack is actually in Tennessee. So that's a whole another state. yeah So Lynchburg, I think is six hour drive. Four and a downtown? Yeah, and in a whole another state. So you definitely need like a car for that.
00:17:50
Speaker
um but I was gonna do the drive when I was there. I was like, oh, four and a half hours, and I'm like, ah. can't even legally drink in that county. I mean, I don't know why you go. why would you go? Yeah, exactly. I'm kidding.
00:18:01
Speaker
ah But there was the bourbon trail, so it was like the big eight, right? All the bourbon distilleries that were out there. And Lincoln's dream was to bring us, sorry for reference, the the man who created our whiskey.
00:18:12
Speaker
Lincoln Henderson. Yeah. He wanted to bring it back downtown when it started. um he had a real thing for history. So we did that, and now we have Peerless and Rabbit Hole. And um the newest thing are urban or it's satellite tasting rooms, essentially. we're Green River's done one. Barstown Bourbon's done one. Whistlepig bought an old bank that was a billiards hall, and now they're going to make the Whistlepiggy bank or something like this. Oh, cute. know. It's cute. is crazy. It is crazy. Heaven's Door bought an old church, and they made a venue, and they're still figuring all of that out. So we're seeing a lot of foot traffic, and that's a big part of... um
00:18:49
Speaker
Louisville tourism. We work with them a lot. um They are an incredible organization bringing tourism essentially like all of the airport routes and you can drive like 60% of the population of America supposedly can drive like Louisville is within a ah five hour drive.
00:19:05
Speaker
Which is like mind blowing. Right. Like, cause it's, yeah, it's Chicago, it's new Orleans, it's Alabama, it's Tennessee, it's Indiana, it's Ohio, it's, uh, care Charleston or the Carolinas.
00:19:21
Speaker
Um, all of these places you can get to Louisville. And so it is a big part of us not to make angels envy the top of mind, but to make Louisville top of mind. Um, so you'll go to Chicago and say like, travel a little bit South and find out what it's all about. You know, like really cute things. I, partner with them for London Cocktail Week because there's a huge travel conference that happens the week before London Cocktail Week.
00:19:43
Speaker
So I'll go in and do some media and trade dinners and things for the people in the tourism industry and then just tack on a few more days to stay for London Cocktail Week. um And they fully support that because they know cocktails are driving traffic to bourbon.
00:19:56
Speaker
ah So it's really cool. I think in five years' time, Louisville is going to look not drastically different, but so there's so much development coming in, in a positive way.
00:20:09
Speaker
um i don't know. i think the only way is up. Which it makes sense. Like the amount of attention bourbon is getting um at the moment with like seeing a downtrend, but it's only because everyone spent all their money during COVID buying all these bottles that they're never going to drink through.
00:20:31
Speaker
Like I was doing some numbers the other day with my like personal selection and it's going to take me 33 years to drink through all of it. Holy Christ. How big is your house? It's a, I just moved. It's a, it's not even, it's not even that big. It's two bedroom apartment in Sydney.
00:20:47
Speaker
But like 33 years, um it's more of a hindrance than a, I guess. You'll never want to move. I hate moving. I just moved and I'm like, this took 13 hours.
00:21:01
Speaker
i am glad I paid someone to. cut all the boos around but um are you guys seeing a i guess a shift in the market and what people are buying whether it's just your core range or whether they're spending more money uh going up market with your latest tequila cask or your triple wood release or hmm it's a great question i think maybe the downturn I don't think there's a downturn for the category. We're still growing Kentucky bourbon ah in a premium.
00:21:30
Speaker
We're the fastest growing ultra premium in the category. I think um buying select casks or um vintage pours or those things, maybe it's falling. Like we're seeing maybe there's a surplus from other distilleries that reacted to the turn they had the ability to react to the turn by upping production and getting things in barrels we are pretty not limited but essentially we only have the one still we only have the one thing that fills a barrel we only have so much land to put barrels on so we've stayed consistent as far as production goes ah slight increases
00:22:09
Speaker
with our consumer base, there's something about Angel's Envy, and I think it's because maybe it's a new bourbon in the category and it really established this finished bourbon category where... where People feel a certain amount of ownership over Angels and V a bit. It's the spirit they share. It's like, you've drank this, this, or that, but have you tried this?
00:22:29
Speaker
We find that a consumer is mostly obsessed with traveling and memories and experiences and showing people through tasting and new fun things. um And with Angels and V, they're able to do that.
00:22:42
Speaker
They make like a trip of coming down to the distillery to get things that are only released there. So we have a ah we we don't have like the lines as much like down past the interstate and everything else, um because I think people have found different avenues with e-com. Everything's changed after COVID, right?
00:23:01
Speaker
You had to make everything available for people to get shipped or have a buddy come pick it up for you to make sure you're getting it ah So that that model has changed. So we're not seeing as much of them like waiting and and camping out because they're able to get the bottles and other avenues.
00:23:19
Speaker
um But like the tequila lunch went so well. And the great thing about Owen is that he's not a fan of making whiskey that not everyone can try.
00:23:29
Speaker
So he challenged us as a company. If I'm going to release something, I want to make sure at least, at least some other people besides the ones that can show up in person can get it because what's the point where we make spirits to share. And if we can't share them, then why?
00:23:44
Speaker
So yeah. And I love that about him. um Like triple oak, for instance, that you mentioned, that was going to be a test and learn, essentially, that he wanted. He's like, let's get outside. Why do we put ourselves in ah in our own box? Why are we boxing ourselves in?
00:24:00
Speaker
um So let's see what just the casks can do. They don't have to necessarily hold a previous spirit or whatever or a wine. um I can show you what our whiskey can do in different oaks.
00:24:12
Speaker
So he created Triple Oak. um It was amazing. We were just gonna do it as a distillery only released. And then Gigi, our VP tried it and she's like, I think this is my new favorite whiskey. Can we do this in like a few more markets? Yeah, this is really great. Can we do it in a few more markets? Do we have the capability production wise?
00:24:29
Speaker
And Owen said, of course, yes, no problem. And then um the commercial director, we were all sitting and meeting and he was like, can we do this in a all 50 states? He was like, give me some time. Yeah, i think so. You know, we need another six months to finish.
00:24:42
Speaker
um And so then it went from distillery only in late summer to a 10-state release in November to and make it at 50 states in March. um And that's the power of when you know your juice is good.
00:24:58
Speaker
And when you have a commercial director behind you who wants to get this out and when have a VP who believes in what you're doing. And then my team followed up with an incredible comprehensive education that did a deep dive into each of those casks, the new American cask.
00:25:15
Speaker
And then what all of that did to end up in the spirit that we love, which is Triple Oak, which is so good. It's basically like top level note. It's a global take on a Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey. And it's really cool.
00:25:26
Speaker
I was able to try the three separate components of yeah the, the, the blend and them on their own is incredible. Like it's truly special whiskey. That's, I guess, interacting with that wood and then being able to meticulously blend that into this finished product that is now like a stateside release. Hopefully we'll see some here.
00:25:50
Speaker
Have some press, but, um, Absolutely. The goal is to get it everywhere at some point. You know, again, we have a job to be done to become known. This is our flagship. The port finishes our flagship. um So that's the first job whenever we launch anywhere um is to establish ourselves there. But for me, we've had kind of a two legged table, which.
00:26:08
Speaker
was like fine we got we could put some things on that surface but now with triple oak we have like a three-legged solid base to not only educate people but you can choose you know if you want something spicy and sweet you've got the rye if you want something kind of that softens the shoulders of your straight bourbon you have the port finish and then if you want more of a traditional sort of um but intriguing take you can you do the triple oak but my favorite thing about it is that we have an availability and in like practice and in person to put the port finish against the triple oak and it's the same base that we distill and age.
00:26:47
Speaker
Triple oak's just a little bit older, um but it truly shows you person what the barrel does. You can taste the port finish and you taste the triple oak and you, it's sometimes it's really hard, especially in America because they're not as familiar like in Euro or even in Australia or Japan where its secondary finishing is just a thing that everybody kind of gets.
00:27:07
Speaker
it's still like the conversation's a little bit, not tough, but it's just like a more of a lengthy conversation about secondary maturation. So people can physically taste what the barrel does because it's like, it's the same stuff. It's the same mash bell. It's pretty much the same aging. Like one year of aging is not gonna make a huge difference in um in the new American white oak. it It makes a slight difference, but what the biggest difference here in the play profile comes from the finishing barrels and people like, kind of like, oh, it's like a light bulb moment.
00:27:37
Speaker
How was, it's funny you let us down this road because this was one of the questions I had to ask you. Since you've been the start of Angels Every Year, like there since conception pretty much. Pretty much. Yeah, like give or take a few years. Yeah, it doesn't make that much. Yeah, it's fine. Yeah, even then, like you said, a year doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.
00:27:58
Speaker
How was it changing people's mind about secondary finishing with bourbon? Oh, it was rough go, my friend. It was a rough go. True bourbonites, they don't want a bar of port finish. They're like, I guess it has to be new charred American oak from, say, X to X. It needs to be 110, nine years old, and slap a label on it, send it out the door.
00:28:20
Speaker
the fact that you guys are releasing it as a port finish, you're not introducing your own new charred American Oak release. It is purely just port finish goodness. Here you in a bottle.
00:28:31
Speaker
Yeah. How was it? Um, um, getting in the hands. I'm an optimist and it was a rough go. Yeah. Um, you know, for that, like, again, why do you put yourself in your own box? Like I'm an equal opportunity drinker. I'll try anything once at least.
00:28:47
Speaker
and But i think the, I guess I can sum it up in a small story. So when we first launched, um we did a like national meeting, quote unquote, and it was only in 10 or 15 markets at the time. And um they got us all together and and flew us to Louisville to learn from Lincoln and to do a little exploration of other distilleries and get a you know it was basically an immersive educational trip for the ambassadors, the Whiskey Guardians.
00:29:17
Speaker
So 15 or so of us gathered and Lincoln talked about things for about two hours in the basement of Doc Crow's. um we Love it. Yeah, we were like balling on a budget at that point.
00:29:31
Speaker
um We had no money. Still on Whiskey Rye though, so it's fine. Yeah, it just looks a little better now, I will say that. So the point of my story is that Lincoln said... So what's going on, y'all?
00:29:43
Speaker
How's it feel in the market? And everyone's like, nobody wants it. Why do we have wings on the back? People think we look like Affliction, like, which is a terrible brand of, well, no, they're fine, I guess. I don't know. They're a clothing brand and they had wings on everything. And it was, yeah, yeah yeah very much Vegas.
00:29:58
Speaker
um So no offense, you know, it was just a, it was a certain, it was a choice. um And, you know, where is your juice from? that That was a huge thing because we didn't have our own distillery.
00:30:08
Speaker
um And so Lincoln kind of like laughed it all off. And he goes, here's the thing, y'all. making whiskey a long time. Nobody wants to drink it. Fuck them. We're like, ah what?
00:30:22
Speaker
He was like, honestly, we're going to keep making it. I know it's good. Maybe it'll work. Maybe it won't. Probably won't be around to see it. And just this like laissez-faire attitude of I was like, my mind is blown, one. And two, great. I don't have any sales KPIs.
00:30:37
Speaker
I'm just going to keep doing what I do. and And he taught me more about whiskey in like 45 minutes than I'd ever learned, um honestly, almost since. Owen is teaching me more things. A lot of, um there's a lot of commonalities between him and Lincoln, which is so reassuring.
00:30:52
Speaker
um But, It taught me that no matter the challenges, just continue. If you believe in it, people might come around and maybe they won't, but I'm not gonna push anybody to do anything. If you'd like to, great, you're an adult, make your own decision. um I'm just gonna provide you with the education what it is.
00:31:11
Speaker
um you know And any questions, I will be as transparent as possible, which I think we are as a company. um I pride myself on that. But in Portland especially, it was the locality. Like, it's not from here and you can't tell me where it's from.
00:31:24
Speaker
and Also, these wings are like, what is this bottle? It doesn't look like anything. And then I just continued. Like, okay, great. No problem. You don't want this? Great. Or I don't have room for it. That was one of my fun things. When somebody would tell me they didn't have b room on the back bar for it, I'd be like, well, what's not selling here? Because that looks like it's been here for two months.
00:31:42
Speaker
And they're like, oh, yeah, this ah blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, well, how much is it? ah this much can I buy the rest of the bottle and if I do you'll put Angels MB on the thing because I want to try what this whiskey is and why it's not selling and they're like yeah sure yeah that worked for me a lot which was great because it was like I mean and I called my boss was like can I buy something else and she's like sure why not ah so anyways Angels mbi did have its challenges but about two years in maybe ah rather than me going and pitching everyone was coming to me and they're like hey you're doing really cool activations can we be a part of it
00:32:17
Speaker
Hey, um do you know, i learned more about this Lincoln guy and blah, blah, blah. And, oh, I heard you're building your own distillery. And like, it just started compiling. And then all of a sudden, it didn't matter.
00:32:29
Speaker
They liked that the bottle was different. They liked the wings as an icon. They were like, the juice has always been good. i just, the perception, you're just new on the block. And it's like, yeah.
00:32:41
Speaker
And you know, I had a very, very prominent distiller sit across from me at one dinner um telling me that, which was, ran I went to this dinner to see like what the competitor was doing. And he yelled at me and told me that Lincoln shouldn't be doing this and it's not real bourbon and go back and take this garbage with suit with me. And I was just like, never meet your heroes.
00:33:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:07
Speaker
and um And now that same company has finished whiskey. So what's cool is like a rising tide lifts all boats, right? It's weird for Heaven Hill to behave like that. No, I did not. I did not say that. I did not say that.
00:33:23
Speaker
Jeremy wants to see the world burn. Yeah, absolutely. It was either Heaven Hill or Jim Beam. I don't know which one it was. We'll talk later. No, you know, and it's just like one of those things where no one was doing it.
00:33:36
Speaker
And now we are getting to the point where we can appeal to the TTB essentially to get our own category of finished Kentucky bourbon whiskey because it is, it is Kentucky bourbon whiskey. It is straight Kentucky bourbon whiskey.
00:33:49
Speaker
We just do another thing. and Balvini did it in 1983. I mean, like with the double wood, they did it with scotch with that. That was like the first wine cask finish. And then you saw it wasn't just Oloroso. wasn't just another cast randomly that they put it in or whatever that was available to them. It was a purposeful flavor choice.
00:34:09
Speaker
And then Glen Morangi came on and then everyone else. And like, just because it wasn't something that hadn't been done before, it doesn't mean it shouldn't be. And now we see a market full of them. And that's great for us because we pioneered the way and it's just opening up flavor profiles and using global ingredients. It's not just so local and secular, like use all of the tools you have within you to make the best product possible.
00:34:34
Speaker
Was that a bit of a soapbox? No, no, no. i no that's I was encapsulated in that. I was like just watching the journey from like a local perspective.
00:34:46
Speaker
Um, especially for Angel's Envy because we don't have many finished bourbons. Actually, we don't have the range of bourbons you guys have in the US. yeah Um, so the fact that we're slowly chipping away at these international markets, um, and then we're seeing better brands, like how long has the Angel's Envy right been on the shelves and the fact we only saw it in Australia this year yeah is mind blowing.
00:35:12
Speaker
And like we had it at the American Whiskey Show like however many years ago as like a, hey, we smuggled this bottle back from the US. Have a taste. Yeah. And it's like this will probably be the last time you'll ever taste it And the grain imports were coming in at like say $250, $300 a bottle.
00:35:29
Speaker
Dang. At the Australians, what is that? That's I'd maybe $150 Mm-hmm.
00:35:36
Speaker
Which isn't too far off the retail, because it's like a hundred bucks US. s I think I paid at the distillery maybe 90 US. Yeah, like $89.99. Yeah, that's about right. yeah Americans love a 99 cent. I know. I'm not sure why. I don't get it. And tax and stuff. You're like, why isn't, just tell me what I'm supposed to be paying. Yeah, that's right.
00:35:57
Speaker
That's a larger conversation. yeah No, we do in Australia. Like we we know what we're paying at like the register because we're like, all right, everything price is inclusive of GST, of we don't have any state tax or federal tax, but it's pretty much the same thing.
00:36:11
Speaker
Yeah, we, you know, these United States um where everyone does whatever they want in each individual state. Pretty much. yeah That also doesn't make sense to me. I'm like, just give me one rule to follow. Cause one thing is fine in New South Wales and not fine anywhere else.
00:36:26
Speaker
That's true. The Rai though, that to that point. So within their brand site, like if you look at a brand, their life cycle, you know, we've been around since technically speaking, launched the product in a hand.
00:36:41
Speaker
That wasn't just internal April, 2011. So we've been around for and under 20, you know, under 15 years. So for us to get ah second mark that was again, like released as a once a year 2013, uh, then it twice 2014.
00:36:58
Speaker
four times year, And then it became
00:37:06
Speaker
and then it became a full-time offering as a part of our line extension 2017, technically speaking, like, for it to be even coming, like, the prospect of it coming somewhere so far away as Australia...
00:37:20
Speaker
when we launched globally as a brand in 2020, for me, I'm like, it's a huge thing and it's not that long. And the fact that everyone is like, why don't we have this?
00:37:31
Speaker
And we're so mad that it's taken so long for us to get is a great problem to have. Oh yeah. Demand is a great problem to have when you're trying to sell a product. The only problem with that is you don't want the consumers to get bored.
00:37:45
Speaker
I know. And that's when the gray market just comes It's and yeah. And it just like, it I guess it holds that point. So unless you beat them on the price. So you're telling me we've got to wait another 10 years for us to see like Triple Oak. Oh, God, I hope not. I don't think so. In the life cycle, you're like 2017 was like the, what was it, the rice, eh?
00:38:04
Speaker
It was like, yeah, full-time offering. So another 10 years. Okay. where No, because now Triple Oak is a full-time offering. Yeah, straight to full-time, right? Yeah, okay. So with somebody as capable as Owen... Yes.
00:38:15
Speaker
Backed by our incredible production team headed up by this man named Blake, who is has been integral to the production, um honestly, since Lincoln's past. And then someone with the ambition and the experience like Gigi at the helm.
00:38:32
Speaker
ah We're moving a little faster these days. So I've been inside the, I'd say, production facility. We had like four walkthrough the distillery. Owen was amazing when I was there. How are you guys pushing out so much whiskey? It's such a tiny facility compared to everyone else.
00:38:48
Speaker
Like I walk through and they're like, I don't know, they're throwing millions, like tens millions of dollars in their, I'd say, infrastructure yeah to run these distilleries, get out so many case numbers.
00:39:00
Speaker
The fact that you guys are โ what do you have? Like โ trying remember, eight fermenters or something? Like, I'm just trying to remember one mash, um one cooker, eight fermenters, one beer well.
00:39:11
Speaker
Our still is, and I'm sorry about the metric, 34 foot tall with 16 plates, 28 inch in diameter. She was only supposed to produce, like...
00:39:22
Speaker
Vendome told us it was like a max of like something like 800,000 proof gallons or something. And last year we hit 2.1 million proof gallons. that's and I know. It's 125 barrels a day. Essentially, we fill five days a week. Yeah. um But it's about being smart, choiceful, and then having the right rollout plan so we're not depleting our stock just to fill a shelf.
00:39:44
Speaker
um It takes everyone. like I compare it, because I worked in bars for so long, to really uniting the the back of the house and front of the house, because neither will exist on their own, right? If you don't have someone to serve the food, you can't serve the food. exactly we Without food to serve, we can't make any money or serve the people.
00:40:02
Speaker
So I think um by having a clear line of communication, and unification between the between the people who are selling it, the people who are talking about it, the people who are getting, procuring the barrels to make sure that we have them, people who are putting the juice in the barrels, all of that. And then, you know, oversight from, um I think that our our leadership team, rather than being hands off, is very hands in.
00:40:28
Speaker
um And they are very receptive to feedback. And because we're a small company, it makes us agile. we're under Louisville Distilling is underneath Bacardi, but we are a very agile company in the fact that we can pivot quickly.
00:40:41
Speaker
And um rather than kind of being like, hope this works, we're like, let's just go for it and make it work. um And I think that's really gotten us far. So we'll see. Is that because you guys are so small on the grand scheme of things where you just like you only have 120 employees working at the distillery so you can just go, well, we're going to pivot on this product like.
00:41:02
Speaker
Yeah, I think, it well, it's 120 or so in Louisville proper. Yeah, yeah. And we have like RMs and some brand team members and stuff that live like live in Miami. and Yeah, of course, of course. But I think the the openness of communication is what helps us the most because if we we have a test ground almost at the distillery, right? We have distillery guardians who do the tours and who do the tastings and they hear the consumer right away.
00:41:27
Speaker
we are not ah We are not detached from our consumer. Our brand ambassadors on the ground, our brand educators on the ground hear from the consumer right away and give that feedback. So if we're hearing something's not going right or the the narrative is not being explained properly or there's a lot of confusion about like the name or the process or whatever, we're able to fix it in the moment.
00:41:49
Speaker
um Maybe not the moment, but we can't we can correct it then for those people, but then we can broadly brought you know get it out there and be like, hey, we've been hearing this feedback, blah, blah, blah. Let's make sure we're on the same page. um And I think that's...
00:42:03
Speaker
Absolutely. Number one important because when you lose contact with the consumer or the trade, you lose it all. So how important is the narrative for Andrews Envy?
00:42:14
Speaker
and intensely important. important and Again, being a new brand, being a pioneer in a category of which didn't exist and technically legally still doesn't, um if we start to lose our ah our North Star, then, you know, we'll be lost at sea kind of. So I think it's very important to remember Every time we hire someone, like i from like a retail specialist who samples things in you know in the liquor store to the brand ambassador, talk to them. I interview them. I sat on in interviews with the bartenders who were going to bartend at the distillery bar.
00:42:53
Speaker
It's important to make sure the right people are there because if you have the wrong people, who knows? you know You have to have a good crew. um And without the good crew, your ship sinks. And if you your ship doesn't get to port to talk to everyone about what you're doing, none of it matters.
00:43:09
Speaker
So it's in the small details. You can always look at the big picture, of course. And um I'm glad that I don't have to look at like at it from a financial sense because that's not my talent. Somebody else is doing it.
00:43:21
Speaker
I'm just there to make sure that what we're saying... We're all singing from the same book, essentially, and we're also not lying to everyone. We're we're being transparent and we're being open with the information.
00:43:34
Speaker
Again, do what you will. You're an adult. So you can take all the things that we give and appreciate it and want to continue drinking Angel's Envy and supporting us in other ways, or you know you move on kind of thing. But...
00:43:45
Speaker
I think it's very important that we maintain the ethos that we have. And I'm just so happy to have a master's dealer like Owen because we were we weren't lost at sea when we when Lincoln passed.
00:43:58
Speaker
We had all his white pages and we had his processes and we had a really good, um solid production team. And a couple of Lincoln's friends came in to help... um uh, Connor McGregor, who's at, um, I think he's at heaven Hill now.
00:44:13
Speaker
Um, he worked with him a lot at Brown Foreman, but UFC guy. Pardon? No. Oh my God. I said the wrong Connor. I said Connor McGregor. I was like, no, Connor Driscoll. Oh my God.
00:44:26
Speaker
He's going to so mad at me. Connor Driscoll helped out a little bit. That's what Angel Zemmy was pushing out. And the worst dude. I'm so sorry. Can we edit that? Isn't it a thing? Right. we Christ on a cracker. Jeremy's leaving that in on purpose. And then I just said he's the worst guy. He's probably going to punch me if he sees me. Conor McGregor?
00:44:45
Speaker
I have hope I never run into him. I think he likes punching women anyway, so I'm going to make sure. So gross. I hope I didn't manifest that. The worst. So Conor Driscoll is the man that's a master. So he's amazing and he's helped us out a lot. He's really cool and I feel terrible. um Anyways, okay. Let's get back to Christ on a cracker. um I don't even remember we were talking about.
00:45:10
Speaker
ah How imperative is the story to the... no No. that was something else. That was something else. That's right. I've got us completely No, You're fine. all it. that's what happens when you lose the North Star and you talk about some terrible MMA person or whatever. Exactly.
00:45:25
Speaker
North Star. I love it. i love it. Great. So I brought a ah bottle with me. i thought it'd be fun to kind of, uh, bring it along. Um, this is technically the first single barrel of angels envy in Australia, but I heard there was a funny story behind it.
00:45:48
Speaker
i I don't know how much trouble going to get in for telling the story. i either but She just called somebody Conor McGregor. Oh my God. I can't believe i did that. it's It's fine. It's fine. um So I had the, I'd say co-owner of Dewine Spot on last week week before. i can't remember how busy my schedule is.
00:46:09
Speaker
um but he was telling me the story about this bottle and he teamed up with, I'd say two importers in Australia to bring right this bottle of Andrew's Envy in.
00:46:21
Speaker
I heard he got into a bit of trouble for like beating Bacardi to the punch, essentially for like bringing in a ah bottle of single bar, single barrel Andrew's Envy. Uh, when you guys were trying to launch a brand here,
00:46:40
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know anything about it. Is this the one um that that they just bought in? no No. No, no, so this wasn't the one. Yeah, this was like a couple of years ago. Yeah, because you can tell by the label this is like the new label. Yeah. Or this is the old label. Old label. There's a new label.
00:46:58
Speaker
Yeah, they they were definitely not stoked. No. Not stoked about it. Yeah, he he was saying there was a yeah ah yeah they weren't able to pick another single barrel for quite a while. Yeah. This is Cheesemay, so that's what um I call like gossip.
00:47:16
Speaker
Cheesemay? Cheesemosa? Do you guys know this? No, I like it. this is new to me. Yeah. It's my Puerto Rican. So anyways, okay.
00:47:27
Speaker
I do recall this. It was like more like water cooler chat. My colleague, Deja Lawson, who has been with Angels Envy for a while, she launched, she actually helped build out the distillery as far as the experience went and stuff. um She was challenged with creating a single borough program for Angels Envy.
00:47:45
Speaker
Um, and the one thing Deja is incredibly intelligent and super organized. And so, um, we only did like 25 test barrels three years ago, four years ago at this point per single barrel to see how the program would run and everything else.
00:48:00
Speaker
And I think, I don't know how he managed to get it to Australia. Um, but I can imagine that once that happened, she was like, well, now you don't get shit. Um, I don't want to misspeak or anything, but I can imagine, you know, when you're building something out and then sort of somebody goes rogue,
00:48:17
Speaker
um that you want to punish them? I think it's the old grey market kind absolute situation. absolutely. Which is always hard. I don't know what that means. What's a grey market? Oh, like the black market.
00:48:28
Speaker
But why is it grey? Because it's not totally illegal. Yeah, so this is so the grey market is legitimate goods but brought in through improper channels. Oh. The same way um people were importing, say, ah i don't know, the rye, for example. yeah Like these retailers were just importing, buying it from the US, getting it shipped over and selling it here as like the same product but not done through Bacardi Channel. Yeah. Like Pitcher and Exo.
00:48:57
Speaker
um Yeah. And now it's like back up back up for sale. I didn't realise I bought a heap of it at auction. um I wouldn't say I overpaid for anything. I paid maybe 80, 90 bucks a bottle.
00:49:08
Speaker
It's probably about the same now. Yeah. Um, but yeah, now I've got, yeah, now I've got a heap and I don't if I'm going ever drink it, but, uh, I got it. Hey, espresso martinis are all arranged. You should probably go ahead and make those at your house.
00:49:22
Speaker
Um, I mean, I like the entrepreneurial spirit of it. Yeah. but It's just hard when you're launching a brand in a market and then it's like, cool, but what frustrate what's frustrating.
00:49:32
Speaker
What's that one? What's that one? See, that's where we can't control the narrative. And so it's like, sure, this person might know a ton about whiskey, might know a ton about bourbon, maybe somehow picked this and got a little bit of information, but without the proper um structure and support of the Angels and Me team, like,
00:49:54
Speaker
Maybe if this was a person's first experience with angels and B and there was no one to talk to them about it because this guy just brought it in and then went to his house. Cause he doesn't work for angels and B who cares? You know, that might, that's not the best way to do things, right? There, there is a reason why we do what we do.
00:50:11
Speaker
Um, so I can see that being a bit of a conflict of interest. Well, it'll be interesting to see because, mentioned earlier, the the team was over in Kentucky and we did pick a bottle a barrel of Andrew's Envy. it'll be interesting to see the, I'd say, the arc of how that does when it when it finally lands. ah Will we be seeing more single barrels?
00:50:36
Speaker
In Australia from like Bacardi point of view? It's definitely something that we've spoken about. It's all capital, right? Yeah, and I guess just like anything you want to do with the right people. And so with the guys that just went over, it was the right group or a right retailer to do it with. yeah um For us next, if we're going to do something on-premise, it would probably be with an on-premise group that has the capacity to sell it because that's also a it's a big investment, right? Like it's not just two cases of angels. There's yeahs a lot more in a barrel. So for us, it's also about is do they have the capacity to sell it and to talk about it and to you know get it to the customer?
00:51:22
Speaker
that And that's really important, yeah especially when it comes to single barrel because if you're getting this really exclusive but completely exclusive product, ah liquid, it needs to be the right fit.
00:51:37
Speaker
Which makes sense, but it makes it hard for like an on-prem to actually execute on that well because it's such a short amount of time for them to serve drinks and they go, well, actually I've got to talk you through this liquid that we had a team go over there and pick and now bring back and sell to you by the glass. Yeah, it's definitely for us not necessarily going to be like just that like I think the people that we were looking at were more restaurants types where you have the ability to actually talk about the liquid and then probably do events and activations and that kind of stuff. Yeah.
00:52:17
Speaker
Our team comes in to support, launch it. celebrate it temple moments around, like if it's National Bourbon Day, okay, let's do something, whatever. um But also giving the staff the right training where it is a quick, this is what it is, this is why it's different, this is why it's cool, this is why you should try it.
00:52:35
Speaker
And we've had the most, successful well, I won't say we, but on-premise accounts, I feel like, have had the most success um with a single barrel if they're incredibly high volume but high um level of hospitality and or they have a whiskey club attached to the venue so they're able to sell it from two different outlets it's by the bottle to their members or by the drink to the people who come in will we see any more activations come to australia in like a a consumer focused fashion from your team
00:53:08
Speaker
Kayla and Monty are hard at work. Oh, theyy I see them, like, sweating at the whiskey shows. Yeah. Yeah. My feet hurt by the end of those things. I hate life. You always want to take a picture. Yeah. Right when I'm trying to talk. Yeah.
00:53:23
Speaker
Not about it. I couldn't agree more. i Yeah. i ah But I don't want to be on the other end of that camera. Yeah, correct. I mean, for us, consumer-wise, like, that's โ We dealt last year. Last year was, I guess, our launching year and it was definitely about trade on and off premise and getting them to understand who angel Angel's envy is.
00:53:47
Speaker
um Monty says it's called um like being seen, right? like yeah Yeah. Right people need to see you. ah Yeah. Classic Monty. For us, that's definitely, a he's going to love that. For us, it's definitely, it was definitely about the trade, understanding who Angel Zenvy is, because you made a great point earlier today, Angel.
00:54:06
Speaker
The trade are the ones who give the recommendations and kind of help dictate what's going to sell on a shelf or online, however it might be, right? to the consumer. So last year was definitely about trade this next year. It's then about how can we now get in front of consumers more?
00:54:23
Speaker
Um, we know that a lot of people will buy whiskey during father's day and Christmas time. And it's normally the wives, girlfriends, moms, daughters, whatever.
00:54:35
Speaker
so only me the females in the man's life that are buying the whiskey in Australia. I think the States is 50, 50 now, like you're, pretty well even in Australia. It's still majority men are drinking whiskey ye and majority women are buying it for the men in their lives.
00:54:50
Speaker
So we're also thinking, how can we, I guess, educate the women. Yeah. Educate the women. Because also if it's there, my mom's not a whiskey drinker, but if dad pours out a little bit, she'll have a glass with him. yeah should That's not the first thing that she's going to reach for.
00:55:05
Speaker
um And I think most women do quite like whiskey. a little some, some. Yeah. And angels envy is very approachable, especially the port finish is super approachable.
00:55:16
Speaker
um so this year it's definitely more about consumer, um, and educating the women and then also activating over those Christmas and sort of father's day time periods.
00:55:29
Speaker
Father's day in Australia is later in the year. Okay. Yeah. i was going to say we just wrote out a father's day in the S what? Yeah. it was like last Sunday or something. Last Sunday. Yeah. yeah I don't have a dad, so I don't care.
00:55:40
Speaker
That's, yeah. I don't keep track of it. I'm just kidding. My mom's my dad, yeah so I have send her presents two times. I can appreciate that. Mine's the same in my house, though.
00:55:53
Speaker
It's fine. I like to say father figure. Yes, that's smart. Yeah. Yeah, so for us it's definitely around, like, the end of the year, which is comical because and angel, I think,
00:56:07
Speaker
has spoken about this and it's definitely a strategy for Angel's Envy, but we see majority of whiskey being drunk in winter, but September and December are like much warmer months in Australia.
00:56:20
Speaker
So it is kind of funny. So for us, it's also about different ways of drinking. whiskey or you know and not just angels envy whiskey in general but angels envy that isn't just neat or isn't just an old-fashioned how can we make it something long and spritzy and super refreshing but instead of somebody reaching for a beer or a wine to cool them down reach for this whatever it might be Like for instance, I'm drinking Angel's Envy with the Bundaberg like sparkling grapefruit.
00:56:52
Speaker
Oh yeah, yeah. And it's delicious. Super funky. If I had a little raspberry syrup, it would be like a blinker variation. it's delicious. It's long. It's refreshing. Yeah. I would drink this when it was sunny out. I... I mean, for me, I guess, like, especially in Sydney, and I'm very, don't know ton, but it feels like... You've been here 36 hours. I was going to say, yeah. It just rolled off a plane. It feels a warmer. Like, doesn't snow here. It must be nice. It was like last week, was pouring down with rain. Like, you picked the right week. Yeah, you actually got great weather.
00:57:21
Speaker
Well, tomorrow's... We're going to knock on wood there. But I'm just saying, like, yeah a again, getting outside of the trope of... what what everyone thinks bourbon whiskey should be and challenging that is what I'm all about. So you don't always have to have it in an old fashioned. It can be fun. It can be summery. It can be refreshing because at the end of the day, it's a spirit that's taken a long time to make and every part of the process is very meticulous.
00:57:51
Speaker
And so why put yourself again in a box where you're not utilizing the spirit for all it can be? I'm going to drop one of my finishing questions early, but is there any cocktail recommendations you'd have? Cause since you're part of like developing these cocktails for say on-prem, off-prem, yeah um is there any yeah cocktail racks you can share for angels?
00:58:15
Speaker
I mean, our hero serve is definitely in Manhattan. um I know old fashions perform very well in Australia, and but we love to do 60 ml of angels, 30 of a very nice vermouth, a red vermouth, and then...
00:58:30
Speaker
just like 5 to 7.5 ml of ruby port, just to bring out the port finish in a nice way, two dashes of Ango. I personally prefer prefer it on a big rock with a lemon twist um rather than a cherry just to kind of brighten it, bring out a little bit of the citrus notes.
00:58:46
Speaker
ah But for a summer serve, we're we're actually we're giving it a go. So we're calling it a day cap when you don't necessarily... Uh, when your day ends, you shut the laptop, you know, it's not quite sunset yet. It's not the nighttime. You just want a nice cocktail to kind of cap off your day.
00:59:05
Speaker
and and the serve for that is a peach smash. Oh, stop it. Yeah. So, and like, how do we make it simple? Like not everyone wants to muddle and shake and do all these things to make a smash. Yeah.
00:59:17
Speaker
So, um, essentially just angels, a peach syrup with a sparkling lemonade on top and just a touch lemon juice to kind of balance it out. But the peach goes so nicely. That stone fruit like picks up all the stone fruit you get from the port finish.
00:59:32
Speaker
And then that bit of vanilla kind of rounds it out from the ๅฒกไบไบ, yeah. um It's really good, man. it's i It was almost too simple for me where I was like, are you sure we want to go with this? And then was like, everyone loves it. And the peach just makes so much sense.
00:59:47
Speaker
um For me, when I'm at my house, I kind of do a little bit of an elevated serve with it. I do triple oak, a really nice peach eau de vie, and then cremant on top. Sparky wine. I know. No, I like to be bougie. even I'm all about it. don't You don't have to sell me on it. I'm from a very trashy place, so I like to be classy sometimes to just really buck that trend.
01:00:06
Speaker
You're speaking of the hood rat of Australia. Wait, what'd you call them? Bogan. Bogan. Yeah, yeah, You can take that back with you. You're just like, yeah, it's Bogan. Daytona Beach Bogan. Is that thing? has to be. Okay, great.
01:00:20
Speaker
that It's not quite your rednecks. still caught up on the fact I called him Connor. Like, get out of my head. Forget about it. Oh, I love it. I love it. I'm have to send him flowers or something.
01:00:31
Speaker
Not the other Connor. No, there's a wrong person you want to be sending flowers to. Oh, my God. You could do it just for fun. Let's see what happens. Be thrown to. Absolutely not. No. Oh, my gosh. Okay, sorry.
01:00:43
Speaker
Again, off track. So those are our two fake serves. um When I go out, I like to order an Angels and Me Aperol Spritz, which kind of like i get a little bit of a raised eyebrow, but it's really just 20, 30 ml of Angels and an Aperol Spritz.
01:00:56
Speaker
It's delicious. um it you know you can Well, me personally, I can drink one quick, just the skull.
01:01:04
Speaker
That's the thirst quencher. Yes, we call them patio pounders, and yeah essentially, affectionately and in the South. um But Angel's just like lengthens it and kind of like gives it a nice, solid foundation. um i think that's the big part of what I like about Angel's is that it's like it is whiskey, but it's got like these soft shoulders um that just kind of lengthens any any drink that you want to to put it in. But it works well with Fortifieds, of course. That's a natural pairing.
01:01:30
Speaker
um and then i think anything but the things i would avoid i guess are like really light almost succulent fruits like cucumbers like that doesn't work so well yeah that's i'm not solving the cucumbers yeah or like peppers and stuff like hot hot spicy with whiskey is like not a good pairing for me personally i know fireball is like ah a thing of the i don't know if that's the f word we don't use on this podcast that's the that's the only f word you can everything else is on the table you can talk about conor mcgregor all you want yeah it's a no not sold it's a yeah that's not really something that's like worked super well for me um personally just because the aging there's something about barrel age spirits with spice there's something there that's like not quite um but
01:02:17
Speaker
Which is interesting because like rye is typically spicy, but it's like a different kind of spice. It's like an earthy spice. Yeah. yeah and Yeah. And there's like a nice, um it's almost like a a baking spice spice rather than a capsicum spice. Yeah. Yeah.
01:02:32
Speaker
Which is nice that you guys are using the the rum finished. i don't even know what that was. was Conor McGregor. I thought it was my chair for a second. I was like, what happened?
01:02:43
Speaker
Just screaming. I actually should think it was Monty. Yeah. Wouldn't surprise me. Classic Monty. He's like practicing for baby noises. I didn't see him fory ah push his face up on the glass or anything, so we should be okay.
01:02:59
Speaker
So maybe it's Monty telling us to wrap up. Okay. Or Miss Penny. Well, I might fire off some um questions to see if ah you have like some sweet spots within your palate. you have like a perfect proof range that you like your bourbon? Oh, I do. um Yes.
01:03:18
Speaker
Anything. i i like things typically under 100 proof. Mm-hmm. Um, but my sweet range or my sweet spot, as you call it is 86.6 or 43.3%. Oh, which are, important yeah say po um, I really like it. Like I don't like to go higher than honestly, like 98 or so we did, um, a big comparison tasting. We're always like tasting at the disciplinary and stuff.
01:03:41
Speaker
Um, terrible problem. I know, right? Um, and my favorite, like what we were doing, it was a 94. Um, but I typically, or, what is that 40 no 47 is that right 94 yeah 94 47 yeah okay um yeah my mat's off but yeah i trust those numbers i like it to be strong enough that it holds its weight in a cocktail but not so strong you can't drink it neat and so that's my threshold it's a good spot like ah yeah
01:04:13
Speaker
I agree with that. the Especially with angels as well because like the those sweetness notes intertwine, like Australian palates, are typically lead sweeter.
01:04:24
Speaker
So the fact that that's even at 83%. ah Yeah. 83. No, 86.6. So 86, 43. Yeah. I hate that we have like proof and percentage. Listen, if America just get on board with this whole metric thing, it'd be great. Oh yeah. The fact that you used mills in your cocktail rec was mind blowing to me. Cause that's what you use. If I could do the math on like Fahrenheit and shit really quickly, like i I try my hardest. I really do. I'm not a math person. No. um But anyways, there, there's something about for me,
01:04:58
Speaker
I think the most underrated thing in whiskey is water. Like everyone wants everything at cast strength and everything else, but I need, my palate personally needs water to compare the spirit against.
01:05:09
Speaker
If I don't have that, I don't have like a base. Like it's just, it's heat and I can get flavors from it, but just a little bit of water, it really opens it up and gives it literally physically gives your palate something to taste the spirit against.
01:05:23
Speaker
So that's important for me. I just think it's, um, you should try it ah like castrate great, but then try it at least with a little bit of water to give yourself like, just see, see what it does. You know, like in cocktails, nobody ever talks about, well, we are talking about it more now, I guess, but dilution, like again, an underrated ingredient, a cocktail without proper dilution isn't a proper cocktail. Um, water makes all the difference.
01:05:47
Speaker
And Cal, do you have a... I'm anything below 50%. I think sometimes it depends on the time of day, right? For sure, for sure. yeah Time of day, but I would say if I'm like 50%, 100 proof or lower. you saying higher for breakfast cocktails or lower?
01:06:09
Speaker
Yeah. And it just depends on I've eaten. Or the day, right? like what I'm about to eat. Are you still awake? Do I have a pasta coming? Like what's, you know. Yeah, yeah.
01:06:21
Speaker
Pasta always. But yeah, I think happiness is normally around ah or anything below 50%. Ultimate happiness. Yeah, like 44, 45%. Like that's probably threshold if I haven't eaten anything. Yeah.
01:06:40
Speaker
And ladies, if you could share a Duran with any historical figure. my God. Who would it be? in the entire world? Just anyone. Anyone. like Dead or alive? Doesn't matter? Either. Yeah, either.
01:06:51
Speaker
Seems like a large question. Yeah, it's a very, very large. I guess we haven't shared one. Yeah, that you they haven't shared one with. Yeah, because I do that all the time. Yeah, that's โ well, you would, like, because you're hanging out in the yeah the bourbon law country.
01:07:07
Speaker
You'd be seeing some incredible figures, like the ones that told you not to do finished whiskey and tip it down the drain. Those ones from โ I don't know. I was going to throw out another brand, but don't want to kind of guess it and you give me a look and I'm like, oh, bail. Sorry.
01:07:25
Speaker
I would say because i obviously didn't get to meet the man and I can't say Audrey Hepburn. Why not? I could. You could. Two then. Audrey Hepburn and Lincoln Henderson would be my number two um because for me โ But like my hero bartenders, I've got to have a drink with.
01:07:45
Speaker
um I got to meet Francois Thibault from Grey Goose earlier this year and Dr. Anne Brock. So that's pretty cool. But for me and Owen, obviously, I've had a one or two beers with Owen, which has been nice.
01:07:58
Speaker
But I think Lincoln would have been really special. The way that Angel talks about him and obviously the way that um the information that we get about him, I think he would have been a pretty special human being and that...
01:08:10
Speaker
I think he would be super awesome. Way to be Brandy. And also Audrey Hepburn.
01:08:19
Speaker
I mean, i don't know. It would be cool to sit with Lincoln now to be like, hey, dude, what do you think about all of the things that have happened yeah since 2013? The distillery actually works. Can you imagine that it happens? We're doing it. Yeah.
01:08:33
Speaker
Yeah, the the amount of case numbers yeah that you're like pushing out, coming off the back of the conversation you had, where it's just like, oh, who cares if they don't like it? and Right. um like I can't say all... I'm going to just... I'm going to push it back to...
01:08:48
Speaker
Only cocktails because like the amount of humans I want to talk to and have a cocktail with, but but probably wouldn't give a shit about bourbon. um So that's not fair to them. Like, why did you resurrect me just to talk about this whiskey? It's Jesus, isn't it? No, God. I'm sure he's fine.
01:09:04
Speaker
A glass of wine with Jesus. I was going to say Bloody Mary, but... Let's fuck that. Okay. Honestly, being that I'm living in Kentucky and and that part of the world right now, i would love to talk to Tom Bullock just to know what he went through as far as like being, you know, of the preeminent black bartenders and the venues he worked at and arguably responsible for the mint julep and so many cool drinks and I think I just learned a lot about American history and the history of bourbon ah through his eyes. It would be really cool to talk to him.
01:09:41
Speaker
I'd love to get his perspective because I can't imagine it was an easy... career or an easy choice at times. And I just have a lot of respect for what I imagine he went through working at a place like the Pendennis Club and everywhere else.
01:09:55
Speaker
So i'd I'd love to hear his perspective on what he went through and then what he thinks about it today. i can't imagine it would be. Choke and chase. Yeah, it'd be cool. Really cool.
01:10:07
Speaker
right. Well, thank you very much, ladies. ah I know you've got a dinner to get to, so I appreciate you two taking the time. They didn't feed me lunch. Did they? I was actually thinking about that when I walked back. i went to the post office. Yeah, yeah.
01:10:19
Speaker
Which is why I didn't see you when you came in. was like, oh, we didn't have lunch. Oh, no. Just snackies. It just, like, loaded you up with cocktails. It was my fault for it or your fault for the Conner slip up. It wasn't. Yeah. It's ah it's Penny's fault. It's never Penny's fault.
01:10:33
Speaker
This was really great. If you could edit that kind of thing. No, i'm just kidding. It's now become a running joke. It's actually going to be the name of them. don't.
01:10:46
Speaker
No, just say drams with Jesus or something.
01:10:52
Speaker
Bloody Mary's with Jesus. I'm all about it. All right, ladies, thank you so much. um Did you want to plug your socials? Let us know any events that are happening, um be it Angels, Bacardi.
01:11:06
Speaker
I'm sure there's like things, but I can't think them. Yeah, that's fine. My social is at Kayla Gregorio. Nice. How fun spelling that. I will. I've probably got a linked. I'll drop it in the description.
01:11:20
Speaker
um But, yeah, can't think of any events that we're doing. Whiskey Show in Melbourne. Yep, yep. Come see me. I will see you in Sydney, but I will also now drop past the office. Now I know where you live. So that is. I know where you live.
01:11:34
Speaker
Yeah. That's the. Whenever you want. but Yeah. That's pretty much. i was where my angel shirt. That let me in. It's fine. Correct. um For my um Instagram is at. course, I guess.
01:11:45
Speaker
Angel sharing Angel's envy. It's a bit long, but it's worth it. And if you come to Tails, we're doing a really fun daycap party to celebrate the Peach Smash and our new summer campaign.
01:11:57
Speaker
um We have one of the top 50, Cobra from Columbus, Ohio. Popping up with Mover and Shaker. It's going to be a really fun pool party on the rooftop of the Barnett in Tales of Cocktail.
01:12:09
Speaker
We have a cute little party the night before for a nightcap. um Hit me up on a um the DMs if you want an invite to that. ah Slided to ages, do you? That sounds gross.
01:12:21
Speaker
um And also, I'll be at Speed Rack that Sunday before ah before Tales for finals. um One of our hometown girls from Moondog is competing.
01:12:31
Speaker
wo So that's gonna be really fun to see. And yeah, I'll be there Sunday to Thursday. So we're always bebopping around New Orleans. If you need the best place to drink or eat, I got a line for you.
01:12:43
Speaker
I am going you up for rec, so. Yeah. Are you going to be there? I will. Well, not in the next week or so, but I'll definitely make a trip. like No, Tales of the Cocktail. No. i like You've got to come. i As much as I'd love to. I'm not going to. then work isn't going to give me some time off. the amount of time off I've taken in the last six months is ludicrous. Like I did Italy last year. I just came back from the US. Oh, boo-hoo. I know. Talking. Talking.
01:13:08
Speaker
They're clearly paying me too much. I don't know what to say. But, yeah, thank you again, ladies. Hopefully you guys have enjoyed this episode. And, yeah, someone mentioned Conor McGregor in the comments or something. No, come on. Jesus Christ. Never going to live a day. Him too as well. Tag and bye. Next jet bag will get you. Thanks for having us, Jess.
01:13:27
Speaker
Bye. Cheers. Thank you. Cheers.