Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
LGP 79 - Notorious from Conor McGregor
20 Plays15 days ago
This week, we try out the first cigar from UFC superstar Conor McGregor to find out how his cigar is and how it pairs!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Cigar Label Issues
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey everybody! Welcome back to Let's Get Pairing. um This is episode 79 and today we are smoking The Notorious. Or I guess just Notorious from Conor McGregor.
00:00:12
Speaker
Come on. Come on camera. Give me a beauty shot. Give me something to put in a thumbnail if I ever make one.
00:00:20
Speaker
Nope. It's not cooperating. I give up. Um, but we'll, we'll try again and we'll tell you about the, a little bit about the cigar, ah after this, uh, this little quick intro. So grab yourself drink, grab yourself cigar. Let's get Perry.
00:00:35
Speaker
Just twist it. Get a little twist.
00:00:51
Speaker
just twist they get a little twist All right. that's it There we go. That's the money shot. All right. see there There you go. You can see this this ah kind of mess of a label. It's a nice enough looking label on the shelf.
00:01:05
Speaker
But when you start to look at it up closely, it's just got like a ton going on. And everything is like tiny and not printed in the resolution that it could be. There's a there's some you can't you're not even be able to see it on camera. but There's some
Initial Impressions of 'Notorious' Cigar
00:01:21
Speaker
tiny words on one side of label that I finally figured out, say to absolutely nobody, which I'll i'll talk about in a few minutes.
00:01:29
Speaker
um Anyway. Before we get to that, welcome back to Let's Get Pairing. This is episode 79. I'm your host, Tripp, here in LGP South Studio. You may notice my coloring looks a little different. I've tried to adjust my camera so that ah whiskey and beer will show up properly on camera.
00:01:47
Speaker
It doesn't show up right if I hold it up close, but if I if i hold it back here, you can you can get a better vibe of the color than you were getting before. So hopefully that'll help if you're ah you're interested in the coloring of the pairings if you're watching the video.
00:01:59
Speaker
And coming and at you, as always, from the dark dungeon of doom is Dennis. doing, buddy?
00:02:07
Speaker
Hey, man. Just getting my cigar lit, trying to figure out what this is supposed to taste like. Um, I'm curious. I, it, this may be one of those sleeper cigars, kind of like last week where I didn't quite like it the beginning.
00:02:19
Speaker
And as it ramped up, I, I liked it a lot more. So I'm, I'm feeling hopeful. Yeah. The cigar we had last week, which just in case you missed it is the prodigal son, uh, made for Martin Cove, the actor from Cobra Kai and many other great films and TV shows.
00:02:36
Speaker
Uh, This is another celebrity cigar, but the one last week from Martin Cove, like, we didn't really know what to expect because that's a cigar that they don't tell you what the tobacco is or anything like that. It's just what you see is what you get kind of thing.
00:02:53
Speaker
You know it's from Martin Cove. You know
Celebrity Cigars and Conor McGregor's Ventures
00:02:55
Speaker
what factory it's made in, but they don't tell you anything about the tobacco. And we had a really interesting experience with that with some possibly non-cigar tobacco, we think.
00:03:04
Speaker
um And enjoyed it a lot more than we expected to. um Because you never know what you're goingnna get with a celebrity cigar. Sometimes it's just the name that they're selling. Sometimes they're actually selling a good cigar.
00:03:17
Speaker
But you never know until you try it. so that's why we're trying Notorious this week from Conor McGregor.
00:03:25
Speaker
it that you don't need to see the band again all right so notorious by conor mcgregor for anyone unfamiliar with who he is conor mcgregor is a retired ufc fighter and i didn't put it in my notes but i wanted to put and amateur boxer um because he's only had like one or two boxing matches ever um and they were for way too much money Anyway, in the UFC, he held both the featherweight and lightweight championship simultaneously, which is was a first.
00:03:52
Speaker
He was the first one in the organization to do that. um He gained a reputation for not only being a very, very talented fighter, um but also just being a general all-around asshole to people.
00:04:06
Speaker
um he's He's great at trash-talking, but he... He doesn't seem to have much of a line when it comes to trash talking, so he said some stuff that is way over the line, which is always entertaining to watch.
00:04:21
Speaker
um But he's also known for his frequently erratic behavior back in those days. From what I gather, he's cleaned up his act a little bit. He's you know he's trying to be an actor now and trying to be be okay for his kids and stuff like that but he had some ah erratic behavior and legal issues such as I just put one example in my notes which is if you're unfamiliar with him you may be completely unfamiliar with this situation where there was a UFC media day in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center and it was leading up to one of his his big fights with one of his rivals and you know he's always been known for a lot of trash talk kind of
00:05:01
Speaker
Skirting the edge of what's allowed. he'll He'll throw a slap or something at somebody in the hallway who's going to be his opponent or because they said something. he He's very offendable from what I what i understand.
00:05:14
Speaker
um And he a was upset at his
Cigar Flavor Analysis and Nicaraguan Factories
00:05:19
Speaker
opponent's or upcoming opponent's teammate and he got on the bus with all the fighters and he attacked the bus with a ah ah what do what do you call those dolly things?
00:05:31
Speaker
a hand truck. Um, and like it, it was a big, a big bad thing. Like he smashed windows in. He, ah Michael Kiesa, who used to be a really great fighter, um, got some glass in his eyeball and wasn't able to fight for long enough that he ended up retiring, I believe.
00:05:48
Speaker
Um, but he did at least get some payout for that because, you know, Connor was, Connor shouldn't have done that. You know, but Connor has now retired from fighting shortly before he retired.
00:06:01
Speaker
He started a proper 12 whiskey, which um well yeah we don't love. We talked about it last week. It's not great. um It's definitely an Irish whiskey, but it's if you like Jameson, you might like it. I think it's similar to Jameson, but a little bit better.
00:06:20
Speaker
but I know not everybody's going to feel that way. Um, and just in case you missed last week again, ah hate Jameson. So that doesn't say a lot for proper 12, a little better, but it's not good. Um, not for me. I kind of wish they would do a premium offering. Anyway, I keep getting same sidetracked a little bit.
00:06:36
Speaker
Um, but instead of going premium, they went for an apple flavored one. Uh, Yeah, that's that's kind of the the short version of Conor McGregor. He fought Floyd with Mayweather in a boxing match and lost, which was like, it was the first of the like current wave of celebrity boxing matches, like the Jake Paul stuff and stuff like that. Yeah.
00:07:02
Speaker
And now come out with a cigar. He sold his whiskey company a couple of years ago one of the big guys, and he started a cigar company. It seems like a weird step to me because just generally speaking, there's a lot less.
00:07:20
Speaker
I'm trying to think of the words they use on Shark Tank, but there's a lot less of a market for cigars. particularly celebrity cigars compared to a celebrity whiskey, like a celebrity whiskey, you can make billions and billions and billions of dollars.
00:07:34
Speaker
Um, cigars you're lucky if you make a couple million right like cigars aren't a if that if that yeah yeah they're not kind of the the wide market there it's a very narrow market the cigar market um but know maybe i don't i don't know conor mcgregor maybe he actually does love cigars and he just was like i want to get in to the cigar business because i'm a cigar guy and i want to have my own cigar Maybe it's just like a ah ego thing for him. He just wants to have his own.
00:08:04
Speaker
I don't know. um But we're going find out at least if he knows a good cigar tonight. Because I would assume if you're a cigar guy, you're not putting your name on a cigar you actually You want to put your name on a cigar you actually like.
00:08:20
Speaker
The profit margins are going to be about the same either way, whether you make a cigar you hate or a cigar you like. um So making a cigar you like makes a lot more sense to me. But let's find out.
00:08:31
Speaker
um So we've just lit it up. We've been smoking it for a little bit. Half an inch maybe in. um I'll talk about the wrapper binder filler, as we always do.
00:08:42
Speaker
um This one, the wrapper is Ecuadorian Habano 2000 Rosado Shade. I think I saw it called Rosado Oscuro somewhere. i don't know if it's exactly an Oscuro, but it's, yeah, it's pretty It's not.
00:08:55
Speaker
Ish. Maybe ish. We'll call it an ish. ah Binder is from Mexico. Fillers are Jalapa from Nicaragua and San Victor and Villa Gonzalez from Dominican Republic.
00:09:07
Speaker
The factory is the Tabacalera MJ Frias, which is in Dominican Republic. It's not a factory that I'm very familiar with. I didn't recognize the name when I saw it, and i had to Google for some cigars, and I've never had anything from this factory before, so I can't speak to their quality, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
00:09:29
Speaker
um They mostly have a bunch of like bundle cigars that they make for a couple of websites catalog brands um they also are making cigars for pons and founders cigar company um but that's you know like i said the the bundle thing is not necessarily a bad thing we were talking in the green room about this that you know that's how naxa became what is na and now known as one of the best factories to work with broadleaf they were just making bundle cigars for decades
00:10:02
Speaker
And then Steve Saka came in, had them source Broadleaf and ah had them make him his version of a Broadleaf cigar. And now they're known as ah a very premium cigar factory.
00:10:15
Speaker
um So things like making a bunch of bundle cigars, um that's only a problem until you start making a couple of good cigars and then you make get the notoriety and become notorious for making good cigars.
00:10:27
Speaker
You know saying? Good plug, man. I saw that. I see what you're doing. That's good, man. I'll read you their ah their flavor text that they had on the website before I finish up the details.
00:10:40
Speaker
Just because I thought it was like, it was a little over the top. Crafted for those who demand excellence, the notorious cigar by Conor McGregor embodies precision, power, and refinement in every draw.
00:10:55
Speaker
The meticulously blended, medium-bodied masterpiece balances strength, sophistication, delivering an experience worthy of its legendary name.
00:11:08
Speaker
Dude, that is literally a plug in Cigar Aficionado for Davidoff. It smells and tastes like Davidoff action. Okay, okay. Wow, that's intense. I mean, that's that's a bold that's a bold statement. And off the light, what do you think? I what do i got some flavors already in my mind.
00:11:27
Speaker
What are you getting? I'm not impressed so far. I want to finish up by saying we are smoking the 5.5x54 MSRP on this $14. Which isn't like, you know, that's not crazy these days. that's That's normal for a premium cigar. kind of a For an established cigar. Yeah, it's really normal for an established premium cigar. It's a little much for a company that you've never heard of with a guy you you don't even know if he smokes cigars, right?
00:11:54
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, off the cuff, it's a little you know it's it's a little bit... I will say the construction on this is great. like The cap is well applied. I had a little crack in the wrapper on mine, but I think that might be a handling problem that occurred somewhere along the way.
00:12:10
Speaker
Not necessarily a construction problem. It seems fine. As far as flavors go, I'm not getting a lot. I did just notice. I don't know if you can see this. I didn't pay attention. yeah i was cutting the cap right as we were going live and I left a piece of tobacco like hovering the entire head.
00:12:29
Speaker
So maybe that's maybe my draw is a little looser than it seems.
00:12:35
Speaker
No, draw's still fine. So I'm mostly getting, like, kind of unspecific earth sweetness and wood. Like, I'll call it, I mean, just kind of the basics, like ah medium earth.
00:12:53
Speaker
Like, nothing specific. If you dig a hole, it might smell kind of like this. So you get to, like, the dark, deeper stuff. um Not like that.
00:13:04
Speaker
That super mineral forward, like potting soil kind of thing that we get sometimes. ah There's ah a hint of spice, but not much. Like just a little bit of black pepper sprinkled on the top.
00:13:16
Speaker
um What about you? is i'm so far for me, I'm not getting much, but I did let it go out twice already because I've been talking a lot. mine you know, also, so going through RetroHill on this couple of times, trying to smell the room, trying to smell the cigar a little bit off the first light, I'm getting...
00:13:34
Speaker
It's going to sound crazy. Initially, I was getting pistachio. I thought marzipan, almond side. No, it was kind of pistachio, like a pistachio ice cream. Yeah, there's like a little bit of that like sweet nuttiness to it.
00:13:48
Speaker
Not like that kind of classic dry nuttiness, like a sweeter nuttiness. Exactly. and now at some point I ended up getting what I thought, again, maybe my palate's jacked up, what I thought was kind of coconut.
00:14:02
Speaker
Sounds crazy. Little coconut. And then now, and I'm not that far in really, but now I'm getting um almost like thyme.
00:14:12
Speaker
Fresh thyme, if you've ever smelled it. I actually do get the coconut. Like a retro like a roasted coconut on the retro hill, yeah. yeah
00:14:25
Speaker
And a little bit of thyme. Now, mine oh my cigar is also going out. I don't know what the deal is with this one. and I'm trying to keep this thing alive, and I'm trying not to smoke too fast, but um it looks like there's like a, it feels like there's a bit of a plug, so maybe another inch or so I'll get through it. It'll open up. My my draw is is great on mine. I pulled that little piece of tobacco that was covering the ah cut, um and it's, the draw's perfect for me.
00:14:59
Speaker
Got a little bit of resistance, but I wouldn't, it's absolutely not plugged.
00:15:04
Speaker
Yeah, mine's got a little plug action, which is, you know, I think it's fine. There's ah there's a particular kind of astringency that I actually do like. Normally, when we talk about astringency for cigars, it's not really a good thing.
00:15:18
Speaker
In this case, I think it's it's it's kind of nice. It's interesting. Maybe develops into something better. Maybe it ends up getting kind of worse, but it's almost like a...
00:15:29
Speaker
Like a cold brewed black tea. A stringency that I'm getting. not Maybe not as intense, but that sort of that essence of it. Yeah, that like little bit of bitterness that you get from cold brewed tea. Almost like, maybe even not eating that nuty standard black. Maybe we'll call like an oolong, which got a little bit of that nuttiness to it. The woody aspect to it. The oak.
00:15:50
Speaker
Kind of a toasted oak quality to it. Alright, here's what I'm noticing with this cigar.
00:15:58
Speaker
the On the palate, there's very little flavor for me. Yeah. Like it's, it's very muted flavors. Not a lot going on at all. Like I talked about before, a little bit of spice, little bit of earth, little bit of mineral, little bit of woodiness, but they're all kind of just almost there.
00:16:17
Speaker
Not quite there, but almost there. And then you retrohale it and there's like a ton of flavor.
00:16:27
Speaker
Yeah, I would agree. like There's a lot more intensity and complexity on the retrohale than there is on the palate, which is not unheard of with cigars, but I've never mean it to this degree, where if I wasn't retrohaling, would think this is an awful cigar, just because it is very ah restrained and just just very forgettable.
00:16:55
Speaker
On the retrohale, on the other hand, like I'm kind of impressed. Got a
Pairing Expectations and Teeling Whiskey
00:17:00
Speaker
lot going on. This is going sound a little bit weird. I just took a second into to kind of smell the room a little bit and and get a sense of what the room is starting to smell like.
00:17:09
Speaker
There's a lot of dark, dry chocolate, but also this is oldest overtone note that I'm getting is going to sound weird. it's phosphorus. Really? if you're If you're familiar with the smell phosphorus, it's that. don't believe I am.
00:17:25
Speaker
um not white phosphorus. I'm going to run with the red phosphorus. Sounds probably even more weird. i have no idea what it smells like. I have no context for that one.
00:17:35
Speaker
think well the Kind of matches when you strike a match. okay kind of Kind of like that. Maybe to some degree a little bit of what you get when you light a firework.
00:17:48
Speaker
Okay. That makes sense. You get a little bit of that. it It's that kind of It bites the nose kind of like an ammonia does, but in a different way. Okay. I haven't noticed that.
00:18:01
Speaker
But, you know, I am i go nose blind pretty quickly, so I have a hard time, unless I leave the room for 10 minutes and come back, yeah I have a hard time smelling any room note at all most of the time. Sometimes I can, but most of the time I smell nothing.
00:18:15
Speaker
I smell what I'm retrohaling, that's it. Sure, oh yeah. as far as the cigar goes uh all right let's get into some pairing here so far i think we're more impressed with this cigar than we expected to be because usually we try to go into these reviews blind uh or these pairing sessions I don't like to call them reviews because we're not like giving a score or anything um even though we are kind of reviewing the cigar uh Usually I go in as blind as I can. i was told by a couple people that this was a bad cigar.
00:18:51
Speaker
So we that set our our bar pretty low. So far, I'm pleasantly surprised. Maybe it'll get better. Maybe it'll get worse. But so far, it's the it's not terrible. The palate experience is not great.
00:19:03
Speaker
But the RetroHell makes up for it, I think. Because the RetroHell is pretty interesting. I know what it is. I take my statement back about the phosphorus. I know exactly what it is. It is a, if you've ever had a, if you grew up in the 80s, if you've ever had a cap gun, you either snap caps you put into your gun, it's that smell and that flavor that I'm getting. And this is as my cigar is going out because it's, I don't know if it's, plot I don't know what the fuck is going on. It just doesn't want to burn.
00:19:29
Speaker
i do think I get a little bit of that. giving me that vibe but again and i think when we taste things and we smell things it's always about a memory to specific time and a place we equate these experiences to something that we're familiar with that's the nature of of kind of honing in your palate so at least for me that's kind of like that um you know maybe someone else in another area where different country might get a ah slightly different um memory yeah that's the way that's the way flavor flavor notes work ah All right.
00:20:00
Speaker
Before I get into my first pairing, Sam, our intrepid viewer, who always pairs along with us, is smoking a Perdomo Double Age 12-Year Vintage Connecticut. Pairing it with Henry McKenna 10-Year Bottled-In Bond, which is good stuff.
00:20:15
Speaker
Good choice. All right. So first up for me, i have a little ditty from Tealing Whiskey Company. Yeah, boy. um I've talked about tealing a lot in the last couple of years.
00:20:27
Speaker
um Walter Teeling is the the
00:20:33
Speaker
predecessor to Teeling whiskey. um Not predecessor, ancestor of Teeling whiskey. He started making whiskey in Dublin in 1782. um And over 200 years later, after that, his family decided to continue the tradition. This wasn't like, you know, handed down from one generation to the next.
00:20:53
Speaker
Their great however many times grandfather made whiskey. And then in the 80s, the 1980s, to be clear, about 200 years, 205 years after his ancestor had started making whiskey john teeling founded coulee distillery 1987. um it was one of the first independent distilleries in ireland in the last 60 or so years um one of it was the first modern one of the first modern distilleries. It was kind of like a time, like, I mean, like a similar time was in ah U.S. with beer, where you just didn't have small breweries in, like, the 50s, 60s, 70s. It just wasn't really a thing. Everybody, beer had been, um, commoditized, and if you drank a beer, it was just whatever the, whatever was at the store.
00:21:50
Speaker
Um, And then in the 80s is when we started to see breweries popping up again, small independently owned breweries. And then that led to the the revolution of craft brewing.
00:22:02
Speaker
um They were kind of going through the same thing in the late 80s in Ireland. So the Cooley Distillery is one of the first independent distilleries that was founded there in modern times.
00:22:13
Speaker
They became known for their two main whiskeys were Kilbegin and Connemara, which are, you know, course, very popular. Um, they're kind of the, i don't know if there's a big three or a big five that people would call it, but I would say they're in the top five well-known distilleries in Ireland or well-known whiskeys coming out of Ireland.
00:22:35
Speaker
Um, so fast forward a little bit in 2011, Hooli distillery was sold by John, the beam, Centauri and his son, Jack, who had been working for the company, um,
00:22:48
Speaker
but I would guess he had a little piece of ownership. He negotiated um as part of his payout for the buyout of the company. He would get to keep 16,000 casks of whiskey that was made at the Cooley distillery and had already been aging.
00:23:02
Speaker
um And that would, you know, that would cut some of the cash offer off the table. So the following year in 2013, 2012, sorry, Healing Whiskey Company.
00:23:13
Speaker
um he launched healing whiskey company ah selling blends of that aged whiskey with a couple different barrel finishes. So basically, as soon as he took possession of those barrels, um he swapped some barrels around. So he had different finishes and stuff like that that were going on and blended some of those together. 2015, they founded their own distillery in Dublin and began producing their own spirits.
00:23:37
Speaker
So at this point, I would expect that was 10 years ago. i would expect we are still weaning off of the Cooley distilled stuff. because with something like this that has an age statement of... I have it here.
00:23:52
Speaker
Oh, no, this is a no age statement. So I think they say that it's at least four years. um But four years is the minimum age of a whiskey in a bottle like this. It's a single malt, um which means it's all coming from the same... Actually, wait a second.
00:24:10
Speaker
Maybe...
00:24:15
Speaker
Man, that made me... I'm reconsidering what I have in my notes. Because if it's a single malt, that means that all of this comes from the same distillery. So it probably is all teeling distilled stuff, but it could be all coolly distilled stuff. Either way, I'm falling out my notes here.
00:24:40
Speaker
Yeah, it would have to be one or the other. I hadn't thought about that. They have the, uh, healing small batch. That's the one that this portion of my notes was based on, uh, because healing small batch is not a single malt, um, which means that it can come from different distilleries. So that's a part Cooley, part healing.
00:24:59
Speaker
Um, But this one comes out of the Teeling Distillery, I'm guessing, unless it's all coolly stuff from the old days. But either way, it's 100% malted barley, matured and finished in five different types of casks, which is always, like, staggering to think about that you're blending a minimum of five different casks for this bottle.
00:25:20
Speaker
um you You know, there's there's potentially... ah
00:25:27
Speaker
Depending on how big their batches are, that could be two to five of each of these casks. They could be different ages that were finished for longer and shorter to kind of go for the flavor profile they want.
00:25:37
Speaker
I'd be very curious to know more about that process. But the five types of casks are virgin American oak, um Just for the record, that means bourbon goes into virgin American oak.
00:25:50
Speaker
Then ah it becomes a bourbon cask, not a virgin American
McGregor's Antics and Business Ventures
00:25:55
Speaker
oak cask. It is now a bourbon cask once they empty the bourbon and ship it over to whoever wants it in Europe. um So this is using virgin American oak, which is like a bourbon barrel that's never been used before.
00:26:05
Speaker
Ruby port. her of herovellos white pork madeira and like i mentioned before bourbon cask so this has american oak that is new and american oak that previously held bourbon um all right i just uh read further in my notes and this is a blend of whiskeys of various ages some of which date back to 1991 at the original coolie distillery So this is all coolly distilled stuff.
00:26:33
Speaker
um I assume at some point that's going to change. But as far as I know, this is still coolly distilled um in this current iteration. If I were them, I would do like a label change at that point. But you never know. They might not want to do that. They might just want to sneak it on in there and get it as close as they can. I would guess the flavor will change at that point.
00:26:53
Speaker
um But 16,000 casts will last you a while. Yeah, I think we'll be all right for a bit. um that's like i don't know probably 10 or 15 years at least of stock um and since most of their bottlings are mixing that in with stuff that they've distilled themselves uh you end up with ah probably more like 25 years worth of propiti gift man
00:27:25
Speaker
I'm going to get sidetracked here for a second because I'm done talking about this 46% ABV. Before I send it back to you, just knock this thing off my desk again. My little mini ah super, what do they call it?
00:27:38
Speaker
My mini mega. Yeah. Look at this thing. cute it's It's got couple of corners missing on the top here. One corner missing on the bottom. This thing is is beat up.
00:27:49
Speaker
But I love it. I always keep it at my side here, so I have a place to set my cigar. Yeah, man. Anyway. Those things are cool. I'm going to drink some Teeling Irish Whiskey Single Malt um while you talk about your first pairing of the night.
00:28:07
Speaker
Let me see if I can... Let me take a couple draws on this cigar and see if I can keep it alive. I'm going to let you take a couple draws on that because i just remembered that little text on the side that says to absolutely nobody.
00:28:19
Speaker
I said I was going to talk about that and I forgot to. um First of all, again, that text is almost unreadable. Not that it's so small, but it's just like not printed great.
00:28:30
Speaker
So I had to really like squint to be able to figure out what the last word was. um But Conor McGregor very famously, as I talked about that situation with the dolly where he smashed in the window, he's done a bunch of stuff like that. And several times he has gone, you know, I'm,
00:28:47
Speaker
I'm really sorry. I'd really like to apologize for my actions. It was really uncalled for. I'm very sorry to absolutely nobody. And then he freaks out and yells. Everybody gets mad. and the Yeah, that's his thing.
00:29:01
Speaker
Yeah, his whole thing is being the bad guy. So, like, I think he just took that role too seriously or something.
00:29:10
Speaker
But who knows? He's like, if a wrestling heel had severe CT... Yeah, kind of kind of exactly that. like he It's like where he doesn't know when when the show is over. like He doesn't know when it's time to kind of like stop the gig. like It's cool.
00:29:28
Speaker
You go back to being normal. He just runs through, and it's just the same. like He's always wearing that that that persona, that suit, that whatever you want to call it. That's him. Yeah, or it was him. i From what I've heard, he's had a lot less spotlight since he got out of fighting, um but from what I've heard, he's tried to clean up his act a little bit, because right around when he retired from fighting was when he had his first little baby, and
00:29:59
Speaker
I saw
Jungli Indian Spiced Lemonade Pairing
00:30:00
Speaker
an interview with him, this was like eight or ten years ago, that he he he kind of realized like I need to stop going to jail for 20 or 30 days at a time and then, and then getting out of it probably with money because you know, that's how things work sometimes.
00:30:19
Speaker
Cause he would like, you know, it would be like an assault. Like he beat up a guy and smashed his phone one time. and He probably paid that guy a million bucks to shut up and go away. And that's what happened. Yeah. Um, and,
00:30:32
Speaker
when you have that kind of power, you kind of become, you know, it matters less if you get in trouble. If you just buy your way out of it and you have the money and he was kind of like, I should probably stop getting in this much trouble because one day I might go to jail forever.
00:30:45
Speaker
And that's kind of what he talked about in the interview I saw years ago. Yeah. But who knows? he's he could That could have been another character he was playing. I don't know. He's very unpredictable, that guy.
00:30:58
Speaker
Yeah, man. um Listen, let me tell you let me tell you about my first pairing because this is the one that I mentioned. When I see you at PCA, I'm going to have at least a can or two cans, a couple cans i want to share with the rest of the guys, I think.
00:31:12
Speaker
This is really cool. And it's very exciting because it's such a different thing. um you know We talked in the green room a little bit about this, where I love how certain cultures are beginning to come back into the spotlight in the U.S.,
00:31:29
Speaker
and things like spirits and beers and and you know mixed drinks and cock canned cocktails, that kind of thing. It's becoming more diverse and dynamic in a lot of different ways, which is kind of cool. So this is something that I picked up in my local liquor store that generally has a great selection of really cool Indian snacks and Other things that generally you would see in in more of like an Indian American community, like ah like a little grocery store.
00:31:59
Speaker
I love shops like that, man. any Anytime I can buy that kind of stuff that is... not available that is like culturally not available in the grocery stores that i normally go to i'm in like i love an asian grocery store an indian grocery store mexican grocery store yeah man there anytime i can buy like that more culturally specific food i'm all in dude same same man and so i picked this up tonight i had a little bit earlier and i've been drinking this for my first pairing
00:32:31
Speaker
And the more I drink it, the more exciting it gets. And I think it's working really well with this cigar. let me tell you about this. Let me get my camera up and I'll show you what it is. Here we go.
00:32:43
Speaker
You see that okay? Jungli Indian Spiced Lemonade, man. Comes in at 7% ABV. Now, Jungli is a company that was founded in 2022. But it's not entirely clear...
00:32:58
Speaker
there's There's not a lot of information about the company in terms of the people involved. It seems that there are a lot of people in the shadows that are involved in producing this. But really what this whole thing is, it is made with says made with vodka.
00:33:11
Speaker
It's a vodka with lemon, ginger, and roasted cumin. That sounds awesome. That is very cool. it' It's a very cool profile. It's it's very interesting. On the back, it says sour and spicy, which I can attest it is absolutely very sour and also very spicy. Now, what this is made to emulate is something in India that's called shinkaji.
00:33:35
Speaker
which is traditionally found in Northern India. And it's essentially a spiced lemonade that is sold just about everywhere, man. It's like anywhere you go on the streets, in Northern India especially, you're gonna find this.
00:33:50
Speaker
Vendors are going to be making it fresh. They're to be mixing it fresh. They're going to use multiple containers to aerate as they pour. You'll have the spices out on a rack, and they'll take the lemons, squeeze the lemons, mix the spices together.
00:34:02
Speaker
You're getting this, like, funky, sour, but ah kind of spicy, but not spicy in terms of heat. Spicy in terms of flavor and intensity. And the big thing with this, and we talk about this on the show a lot, is this minerality.
00:34:15
Speaker
Now, what they use is black salt. Oh, interesting. which i'll get i'll get to in a moment i'll tell you a little more about the black salt but now the concept of this has been around for really as as most things right when talk about this this kind of like digestive spice mineral things bitter stuff you end up talking about something that's rooted in a lot of history And if you go back to the etymology of all this stuff, shinkaji really came from something that was very popular in Persia.
00:34:44
Speaker
And originally back then, it was based from, it was a vinegar base made with syrup of honey and herbs and a couple of other things. And it was used mostly medicinally. Eventually, it started to be used in cuisine.
00:34:57
Speaker
And over time, it evolved. And when I'm saying over time, I mean like between 1526 1857, it evolved. ah over such a huge amount of time, it evolved into what we see now in northern India, which is this lemon or lime juice mix instead of the vinegar.
00:35:16
Speaker
Interesting. um You know, partially because of what was available, partially because it's a little bit more enticing to the general public from a kind of, heat here, drink this. It's like things like Jägermeister and things like Amari were not really consumed the way that we consume them today.
00:35:32
Speaker
Traditionally, historically, they were consumed more as a medicinal thing And similarly, shinkaji was consumed at the time initially more as a medicine.
00:35:43
Speaker
Something to clear the stomach, something to to settle you out a little bit. If it was really hot day, you kind of cool off a bit. If you're into Ayurvedic medicine, <unk> it's in that list of sort of like, it has a cooling quality, which is really interesting as well.
00:36:01
Speaker
Now, so I mentioned the black salt. The black salt that they use is Kalanamak, and Kalanamak is really interesting because it has a very umami quality to it. It's not just your classic.
00:36:12
Speaker
you know theres There are a couple of different black salts out there. This one in particular is really interesting because of the sulfur, the amount of sulfur in it. And it's not to say that it smells sulfurous, but it has this quality. and And think about when you something like onions.
00:36:33
Speaker
it activates the receptors on your tongue and it sticks to them, right, in a particular way. Now this black salt, because of those compounds, sticks to your tongue and makes everything else stick as well. So whatever you mix it with, it ends up sticking to your palate and coating your palate in a particular way. And you have this extended release of a flavor um that's kind of different and interesting because when you drink lemonade, generally speaking, it's gonna,
00:36:58
Speaker
You drink and and kind of go, okay, it's a little acidic. It's got some sweetness from the sugar if you add sugar. And then it fades out. But the black salt, the cumin, all the other things they put in, sometimes they add mint, which is another interesting thing.
00:37:11
Speaker
It really, it sits there. And it holds on, man, which is is very cool, very different kind of curious element to it. Now, it's really big in the street street culture, kind of street food scene, if you will.
00:37:26
Speaker
very popular and it's incredible to see this in a can in the way that it's presented to me it it was kind of like a cool experience uh an exploration of different culture and when we talk about things like italian amari and similar things from other countries from like scandinavia things that are bittering those kinds of herbs ah you kind of wonder what, why are people drinking this stuff? Why are people eating this stuff?
00:37:57
Speaker
What's the actual purpose? And I think from a pairing standpoint, it's very cool. If you want to go down the rabbit hole, I think it's a very cool to sit down with cigar and have one of those things, which is why I think you and I often will have different cocktails based off of things like Campari and Fernet. And we'll talk about that and,
00:38:15
Speaker
it people i what i found is i think people really enjoy the complexity of that flavor because it's so unique and so different from what most palates are used to yeah for sure uh but dude this this is a winner i you're gonna love it it's gonna be really exciting for you i think uh and just see this in the store it's right now mostly distributed within new york new jersey and connecticut You can also buy this online. You can order it. I believe it ships to most states unless I think if your state has a particular alcohol regulation, maybe they won't ship to to your state. don't think we do here. But um i I believe they said they're available in at least 40 states.
00:39:00
Speaker
So you should be able to order it on their website directly. I think they're also working on distribution. So, but yeah, man, 7%, nice, sleek can.
00:39:12
Speaker
Oh, let's get the lighting there. It's a nice, sleek can, just clean and it's cool. But wow, it's got so much flavor.
00:39:24
Speaker
It's just a flavor bomb. So if this is something you're into, if you like complex, interesting, curious things, umami stuff, this is, I think it's going be for you. um When you said Indian, my immediate thought was that you might have found like... Masala?
00:39:38
Speaker
No, like a ah like some kind of alcoholic lassi. Like a mango lassi or something like that. so love that stuff. Well, I'm glad you brought that up because one of the expressions that they have, I think they have three different flavors. This is one of the flavors.
00:39:53
Speaker
The other one is a mango flavor that haven't tried. I wonder, maybe maybe it's a little bit more like that. And I'm a big fan as well. yeah I always have been. Checking the website to see if they'll ship to me right now.
00:40:07
Speaker
I'll figure that out later. All right. They make some good shit. So the Teeling Irish single malt um is pairing really well with this cigar. It's a little intense, I think, for the cigar because as we noted before and as the official description notes, this is definitely like in the medium bodied.
00:40:26
Speaker
area um and i think tealing is more suited for a full-bodied cigar just because it's got all of those different flavors going on the like the the madeira the bourbon the port are like the flavors that really come through the most i think um because there's hold on let me take a sip
00:40:53
Speaker
It's got, like, ah lot of different fruitiness layers. Like, um man, it's so interesting because it's got, like, a little bit of, like, almost like sardo cherry and, like, raspberry and...
00:41:10
Speaker
little bit of strawberry kind of vibe going on. There's apricot funk, like a dried apricot funk that I get when I drink it as well. i don't know if you get that Oh, yeah. Yeah, definitely like that apricot.
00:41:21
Speaker
Yes, that is one of those like kind of fruity notes. But there's like all these layers of fruity notes with a little bit of spice on the top and um a little bit of kind of smokiness, I guess, in the background.
00:41:35
Speaker
And it's just a little too much for the cigar. The cigar can't keep up with that amount of flavor, I don't think. Unless the cigar is changing, um this is this is where this pairing lands for me. is It's just a little too intense for the cigar.
00:41:49
Speaker
And how far are you on the cigar? I actually took my band off, so i can't I don't have a point of reference. but I think I'm kind of at the halfway point here. Okay, well, probably... Probably about the same. somewhere Somewhere around there, yeah.
00:42:01
Speaker
I'm desperately trying to get this thing to burn. It's a little bit plugged. I'm... Otherwise, I'm enjoying it, the kind of, I think. I'm still trying to figure it out.
00:42:11
Speaker
To me, there's it's gotten like a minerality to it on the palate now that is not really my bag. Kind of a bitter earth, I'll call it.
00:42:25
Speaker
Like, when I usually want to talk about earthy notes. Again, this is going back to like what we were talking about earlier with The ah flavor notes are just the flavor that you taste on your tongue that, or retrohale, that reminds you of something you've ever had.
00:42:46
Speaker
A lot of times when I say earthy, talking... stuff with like Connecticut broadleaf, um, very like heavy Dominican cigars, LFDs and Aurora's and stuff like that.
00:42:59
Speaker
Um, that are very Dominican forward. Actually, LFD is probably less Dominican forward than most. Um, But it always reminds me of like the smell of digging a hole or the smell of opening a bag of of garden soil.
00:43:13
Speaker
Like those intense mineral earthy notes that smell kind of sweet and and ah um dirty, earthy at the same time. This one reminds me of if I were to lick that dirt instead of just smell it.
00:43:31
Speaker
Like it, you know, it's one of those things that doesn't taste the way you want it
Cigar Challenges and Proper 12 Whiskey Critique
00:43:36
Speaker
to. If you, if you decided to lick it, if you smelled that and you thought, man, that smell smells good.
00:43:43
Speaker
And you suddenly had the temptation to eat it. This is what I imagine it would taste like. Cause I've never like eaten dirt, but this is what I imagine it would taste like. And it's I'm not enjoying the cigar as much as I was before. The retrohale is still great, though.
00:43:59
Speaker
I'll tell you what, man. You said digging a hole, and I thought there was one time in our lives, our joined experience, where i was digging a hole, and nothing about that smell was enjoyable whatsoever, because that's where all the pool was. That's a different kind of hole. Yeah, we were that yet we weren't building a house in Nicaragua. wait I don't even know what year was that.
00:44:20
Speaker
That was 2015. twenty jesus fucking No, sorry, 2016. twenty Because I just got the the thing the other day. Oh, you did? That it was the 10th anniversary of when I posted that video picture to Facebook.
00:44:33
Speaker
Fucking 10 years ago, man. It must have been 100% humidity, 100 degrees outside, out in the sun, digging holes, digging stuff. The only water available once you once we got there, like we would we would get off the bus with one or two bottles of water each.
00:44:51
Speaker
And then those were gone in an hour. And then for the rest of the day, the only water available was if a family was willing to get bagged water. they were like They're like little tubes of of cellophane that get vacuumed, like heat sealed at each end and filled with water. Yeah, man. People don't realize that that things are different in a lot of places outside the U.S. And I remember we were digging that, and it was getting muddy.
00:45:16
Speaker
And it wasn't mud, man. That was poo. Oh, yeah. It was not not good. but At least it had been there for a few years. It'd be a lot worse if it was fresh. Yeah, well, that's fair. Okay, fine, that's fair.
00:45:29
Speaker
It's fermented poo. It's that the fermented juices that we keep talking about. Exactly. So how does that how does that ah that Indian Spice Lemonade work? Oh, dude, it's it's fantastic. I think probably the best way to describe it if you've ever had Oh, God.
00:45:47
Speaker
ah Oh. god Tripp, help me out with this. Ginger beer. Goslings. Goslings, ginger beer. if you Like goslings or reeds. Those are the two that are like spicy. I would say probably more on the gosling side if you had that, but you added cumin to it and you added just a little bit of a funk, some kind of a particular minerality to it.
00:46:07
Speaker
I think that would be probably the closest way to describe that or equate it. But yeah, I thought it was i thought it was very well. Very well done. I also have to say the burn on this cigar has been a little wonky.
00:46:20
Speaker
this is I just had to touch it up. not because like Normally when I'm reviewing a cigar, I won't touch it up because I want to be able to show if it's got awful burn. But this one, once it starts to get wonky is when it goes out, I've noticed.
00:46:34
Speaker
So if I don't keep touching it up, it goes out. That sounds like me after 30. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. All right.
00:46:47
Speaker
Next up, founded in 1881 on the northeast corner of the Isle of Isla. I'm not going to go all the way into this one because I've i've had it many, many a time here.
00:47:00
Speaker
This Bunahabin. an Isla single malt scotch that is not peated. So it's, if you hate peat, if you don't like Isla scotches, try this one because it is still distinct from all of the Highlands Lowland Speyside scotches.
00:47:17
Speaker
um Has its own kind of like Isla vibe. that little ocean water thing going on, but without any of that Pete smoke, which is great for people who aren't into that. And I am into that. And I still absolutely love this whiskey.
00:47:31
Speaker
Um, it's aged. This is a 12 year. it is aged in ah mix of Sherry bourbon and X whiskey casks, which I assume is scotch, but who knows?
00:47:43
Speaker
Like they might be third use or something like that. Um, But it is it is just hands down one of my favorite scotches, especially when I'm not in a peated mood, which I usually am.
00:47:57
Speaker
But I love this one. it's They only use spring water at the distillery. It's very clean. Oh, I forgot to hold up my my glass before. If I hold it up like this, this is the actual color.
00:48:07
Speaker
At least the color that looks on my screen is the actual color of this whiskey. So if you're watching on video... Check that out. and You can see this is a beautiful whiskey. um I'm going to take a couple sips.
00:48:19
Speaker
Oh, I forgot to mention 46.3% ABV. um If you haven't had Buna Haban, I highly recommend it, especially with a cigar. I think it's a great cigar pairing whiskey.
00:48:30
Speaker
So I'm going to take a couple sips, see how it does with Notorious from Conor McGregor and let you talk about what you got up next. ah You know, I'm a glutton for punishment. And since we're talking about the Punisher, one of the most ah notorious, dare I say, punishers of of the last, i don't know, 30 years, roughly, more or less, 25 years of recent times, we'll call it, right?
00:48:57
Speaker
one of the One of the most notorious punishers of recent times. I'm drinking a very tiny little petite dram, if you will. It says LaFroig. I promise you this is not LaFroig.
00:49:08
Speaker
I wish it was. Sincerely, wholeheartedly, I wish it was. ah Man, I'm going to bring you back to a time called 2018 when Conor McGregor decided to launch fucking proper 12.
00:49:24
Speaker
i almost did this, but I didn't want to punish myself that much. Sorry, fucking proper 12. Here we go. Now, let's get down to this distillation. Let me show you the bottle. We're going to talk about the bottle.
00:49:38
Speaker
It's a thing. Did you buy a whole bottle of this? Yeah, because I couldn't find anything else. Oh, I'm sorry, dude. At least it's cheap. Not that cheap. It's fucking $30 for a bottle.
00:49:50
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. I forgot it was that expensive. I was thinking more than $20. How much old granddad I could buy for $30? I love that shit. That old granddad. All day. Anyway. Proper 12.
00:50:03
Speaker
Here we go. Irish Whiskey by Mr. McGregor himself. Triple distilled. It comes in. what well Actually, hold on. Let me tell you. It's aged four years in bourbon barrels.
00:50:16
Speaker
Now, the Irish minimum is three years. That is the the Irish law. got to be three years. This is ex-bourbon barrels. And i I wanted to give you ABV. Curiously enough, it's not on the bottom.
00:50:31
Speaker
don't think. Oh, sorry. 40%. The bare minimum. The bare minimum.
00:50:43
Speaker
I lost my train of thought. ah um Now, proper tell if you go, well, what's the deal with the name? The name is named after the district where Conor McGregor grew up, which is, had it in my notes a while now.
00:50:57
Speaker
Crumlin, Crumlin, Dublin 12. Dublin 12 is the district. And so, proper 12 is is ah in honor of that where he grew up. Now, the distillation partner on this initially was Bushmills. When he first launched, Bushmills was producing this eventually. and closer toward the majority stake sale or sell off in 2021.
00:51:20
Speaker
This ended up landing in in the hands of contract distillers all around Ireland. So it's not really clear who picked up the bill. ah I couldn't really find any details on who's doing it now. Oh, so it's not distilled all at one distillery anymore?
00:51:34
Speaker
No, no, it's multiple Irish contract distillers. And interest i guess they have some kind of deal where they they'll do. And I suspect what this means is like it's it's one will produce it, another one will store it or vice versa, whatever it is.
00:51:49
Speaker
Or the other one will source the barrels. And then so they'll kind of work together. But I don't think that it's being distilled specifically in multiple places. I think it's being distilled in one spot.
00:52:01
Speaker
And then maybe aged somewhere else. Maybe there's some kind of Either way, there's some collaboration going on. Yeah, there's some collaboration. And so now the majority stake was sold to Proximo Spirits, which is a fairly large up-and-coming company.
00:52:17
Speaker
you know Certainly not nowhere near as big as somebody like Diageo, but definitely they are building a huge market share. and So it kind of makes sense that you know they they they picked this up.
00:52:29
Speaker
Now, triple distilled, I mentioned that. Classic Irish pot still distillation, which, okay, fine. Yeah. Sell it however you want to sell it. you know the The flavor notes that talk about this stuff is going to be, they say, you get a lot of oak and you lot of vanilla.
00:52:47
Speaker
Quite a bit of sweetness, some honey. little bit of green apple, which generally speaking when we're talking about whiskeys, green apple is not a flavor I want i want to taste. It's very prevalent in Irish whiskey.
00:52:59
Speaker
like It is. All all of the Jameson, Bushmills, Kill Bag and all that stuff has at least a little bit of green apple. um I think Jameson is the worst offender.
00:53:11
Speaker
You know, i don't I don't get that from... What do I know? I mean, normally i drink, like, if I drink... Irish whiskey, I'm going for like Roan Co. I'm going for Tullamore Dew.
00:53:22
Speaker
just Just because my options are like I can get Tully or I can get Jameson. If I get the Tully, it's going to be a Boilermaker combo. Seven bucks to get a a Guinness and a Tully or something like that for seven bucks. Like pretty good deal. Guinness by itself is ten bucks.
00:53:38
Speaker
Yeah. Most places in New York. So, yeah, not bad. Now, purportedly, and I did not verify this, so don't quote me on this, but supposedly they say, or purportedly they say, this is one of the fastest growing Irish whiskey launches in modern history. i Maybe.
00:53:55
Speaker
i suspect, you know, going off of his championship history background and he kind of timed it just the right way to to launch. um Sure. um I'll say probably.
00:54:06
Speaker
Now, he sold his majority stake for somewhere near $600 million, dollars which is fucking wild. Crazy. ah Again, you know, i I would argue the man got hit in the head enough times where, yeah, <unk> I'd pay $600 million, dollars you know, for the for the damage to his brain and all the shit. Like, it makes sense.
00:54:29
Speaker
Um, that's my concern is that he's trying to do that with the cigar company. That is, uh, I'll tell him right now, free advice, Connor, that is not happening in the cigar business. No, you're not going flip it, baby. You're not going flip it. But listen, who knows? Who knows what's going happen?
00:54:45
Speaker
Um, going back to the cigar, I'm really having a hard time keeping this thing lit. Um, I, I don't know, you know, again, maybe, Maybe it was my humidor.
00:54:56
Speaker
Maybe it's me smoking too fast. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's just me. But in my case, it's not smoking great. I don't dislike the flavor. Yeah, but mine is like, mine is the same way where every time I don't take a draw for a minute, it feels like it's about to go.
00:55:13
Speaker
Yeah, i'm I'm just constantly massaging this thing to try to get it to to kind of move a little bit. I'm about to start my third relight. And listen, even with my smoking style, i it's rare for me to even have a single relight.
00:55:28
Speaker
If I have multiple relights, I immediately go to look at my humidor and pick something else out and smoke it and see if there's a problem. Yeah. So this is one of those I'll have to go back and see if, you know, maybe maybe I caused this. But now, Proper 12, quick flavor note for you.
00:55:44
Speaker
It smells like piss. It tastes like piss. I hate this stuff. um But jokes aside, it Listen, if you've never had irish Irish whiskey before and the only options are Proper 12 or Jameson, I'd say probably go Proper 12.
00:56:00
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Only because Proper 12 is going to be a lot... I don't want to say smoother. I hate saying smooth. When people say smooth, it's not fucking smooth. You know?
00:56:11
Speaker
It's not smooth. It's not marble, right? It's not marble. I think, horrible to me, the difference is... Proper 12 to me has a lot less of the green apple kind of flavor. Man, my contact is like moving around in my eyeball.
00:56:24
Speaker
um It has a lot less like that green apple flavor. And it's got a little bit more like whiskey barrel influence, like bourbon barrel. it's It's got a little bit more of that kind of like bourbon character to it.
00:56:37
Speaker
Yeah. and And I would say, honestly, if you are somebody that comes in and just says, give me a shot of whiskey from the well and a beer. This is probably a little bit, it's between the well and between the shelf.
00:56:50
Speaker
Like I think proper 12 flavor profile wise, alcohol wise, it sits somewhere where it's not going to be pure hot garbage from the well. It's not going to be a ah shelf whiskey whatsoever, but it's, it's a bit of an upgrade from the well.
00:57:05
Speaker
So yeah, it's, it's um not awful. Yeah, that's exactly my thoughts. it's It's not an awful whiskey at all. It's not great. It's not good either, but it's not It's not exactly made for sipping.
00:57:18
Speaker
But if you're going do it shot a shot of whiskey, there are worse whiskeys you could do a shot of. Oh, you know
Four Loko's Impact and Cultural Significance
00:57:23
Speaker
what? I'll tell you what. If i if i I just took another sip, if I had to shoot this, I... I'd have trouble keeping it down.
00:57:29
Speaker
Really? Okay. See, for me, that's the kind of whiskey that I feel like would be perfect to do a shot of. I don't i very, very, very rarely do shots. I drink Malort.
00:57:42
Speaker
Okay. Just full disclosure. I drink Malort. Malort, I'll do like a shot of. But I'm talking like like a whiskey shot. like Or a tequila shot. like Maybe...
00:57:54
Speaker
maybe once every three years, five years maybe. Like, if I'm out with a particular crowd that I don't usually go out with, and they order a round of shots, I'll be like, okay, I'll do a shot. But i've I don't believe I've ever ordered a shot to do a shot.
00:58:09
Speaker
Listen, man, I can take a shot of Abanad right now. That would be pleasant. Which is which is spicy. it's it's quite Most people try to put that kind of booze down their throat. and well you ga Yeah, cask strength whiskey is not made for shooting.
00:58:26
Speaker
But I could shoot that over this. I feel like... okay Listen, it's fine. it's it's It is what it is for the price point. Again, I think there's a demographic that this is aimed for. It's not me, and that's okay.
00:58:40
Speaker
That's kind of my feeling on it, too, is like I'm ah i'm very aware I'm just not the demographic for that whiskey. It's not awful, but it's not great. But I'm also not the person who's buying it. So doesn't really matter to me.
00:58:52
Speaker
You're making me beat myself up on the show, I think. We're going through this full theme. We talked about this in the green room a little bit. I mentioned that this is Conor McGregor. This is... It's March. We're in March. We're we're seeing Patty's Day is coming up.
00:59:04
Speaker
Chaos is upon us. And I'm beating myself up a little bit tonight. So my final pairing, when we get into it, it's going to be a painful one. What do you got for your last pairing?
00:59:15
Speaker
I can't wait to see it. um All right, my last one... i I was just trying to figure out like what I wanted to do with this cigar. I thought about going all beer, but, um, I don't know, not knowing what to expect. I was worried that this beer or this cigar just wouldn't work with any beer.
00:59:36
Speaker
Um, so I went with three whiskeys, but I decided to go Irish Scottish American. So I have a bourbon Elijah Craig, small batch. um as you can see they're 94 proof um so elijah craig was introduced in 1986 by heaven hill distilleries um elijah craig the man the namesake of i elijah craig ah was a baptist preacher in the 1700s who founded a i mean they say he founded a distillery i don't know if he founded a distillery or if he really just was distilling in a barn i think it's more the latter um according to the legend
01:00:13
Speaker
In the 1790s, he lost some his his barrels to a fire in the distillery. It was too cheap to buy new barrels. So he used those charred, burnt-up barrels anyway. um And took a trip to New Orleans to deliver them. And when he got there, the whiskey inside was brown delicious.
01:00:33
Speaker
And he found a new way to to prepare whiskey. And, ah you know, and bourbon was born. That claim is very widely refuted. The earliest reference that anyone has been able to find to charring barrels was ah in 1826, which is 20 years after Elijah died and 30 years after that supposed fire um that created the first charred barrels.
01:01:00
Speaker
um So it's pretty doubtful that that actually happened. But, you know, when you're when you're selling a product, you got to tell a story. And ah yeah even if it's bullshit, you still need a story, right? Like, that's just the way it works.
01:01:15
Speaker
So, this is the Elijah Craig Small Batch. Once upon a time, Elijah Craig Small Batch was a 12-year whiskey.
01:01:26
Speaker
That went away in 2016, 10 years ago now. Jesus. um When the bourbon boom kind of started happening, um to extend production because when you're aging every barrel for a minimum of 12 years ah you can rotate through a lot less stock.
01:01:43
Speaker
So my guess is that they're doing something like there's probably it's probably still mostly over 12 year whiskey but there's probably i don't know 10, 20, 30 percent of some 8, 5, 4 year whiskey in there just to but send it out over the the extend those supplies a little bit more um
01:02:09
Speaker
i don't think the whiskey has changed that much i know it's it's definitely changed a little bit it's got a little bit less richness than it did when when it was 12 year but it hasn't changed a ton like the the the flavor of the whiskey is pretty close to what it's always been i think uh when they changed that that when they changed the recipe to remove the 12-year age statement they switched from their small batch now small batch is a term that is not legally protected but it does mean you have to be doing it in batches that's all it means you want guess how small a batch is of elijah craig's small batch a thousand barrels
01:02:52
Speaker
ah ah you're you're You're pretty pretty high. um It was originally with the 12-year, it was 100 barrels. And when they took the age statement off, it went to 200 barrels. um what they what some people have said is that this current version is a blend of eight and 12 year old whiskeys like before it was um supposedly just all 12 year which you know that that makes your life a lot easier as a distiller if you put 12 years and you're just doing all 12 year whiskey in there you don't have to be blending it the same way and uh you know reserving 18 year old barrels so that you have enough to make your production you just it's i mean i would guess since they switch from 100 barrels at a time to 200 barrels at a time and the reports are that it's eight year old and 12 year old
01:03:46
Speaker
I bet they were doing 100 barrels of 12-year-old, and they just added in 100 barrels of 8-year-old in addition to it. But it's it's pretty close to what it was. Got a little more heat, especially at that 94 proof.
01:03:57
Speaker
um That's 47% ABV. So my previous ones were 42 and 42.3. 42.6? 43.6. 46.3. 46.3, this is 47. So it's actually only little higher Bunny, the Boonhaven. forty two point six forty three point six forty six point three forty six point three and this is forty seven so it's actually only a little higher than the bunny tab bonahava um But I'm going to take some sips of Elijah Craig's small batch.
01:04:18
Speaker
Stop rambling. And I forgot to show it to you here. Get it in front of my my test sample. the The white in this background really gives off the color correctly.
01:04:30
Speaker
That's about what color it is. um It's pretty dark for a bourbon because most bourbons aren't quite this dark. But I'm going to take a couple sips. Tell you all about it when I come back.
01:04:41
Speaker
Dennis, take us away. Well, I say this with a heavy heart as we get into the final pairing I'm excited for this one, man. I'm excited to hear what you got. We're talking about what's gonna hurt you this notorious cigar from Conor McGregor. We're talking about, you know, I mentioned we're in March. We're getting to St. Paddy's Day. We're getting into that chaos. We're getting into a lot of this this cultural intensity, if you will. And I thought...
01:05:08
Speaker
Two things. Now, one, cultural intensity. I wanted to embody that. like What does that actually mean for people our age? Yeah? All right. if i If I had a piece of paper, I would write it down so I could hold it up. I thought what I wanted, the goal was by the end of this show, I wanted to to embody the spirit of Conor McGregor and get to a place where Or I'm just so wild and so crazy that I would want to beat the stripes off of a quadriplegic mime.
01:05:39
Speaker
You know? Like one of those. Fucking. Right? And what better to do that than with a drink that we all know and love? I'd hold up my piece of paper right now, but I don't i don't didn't have a piece of paper. But it would say Irish Carbond.
01:05:55
Speaker
was Is that your guess? Yeah. Oh, no. This is far worse. No? No, no, Oh, no, baby. this this is I'm bringing you back. Let's go back to college. Let's go back to 2005.
01:06:06
Speaker
two thousand and five The mecca of intensity in insanity and intensity. I got me a four loco. Oh, man. That's even worse. Okay. I'm im this is not going full.
01:06:17
Speaker
This train was not going where I thought I was going when I got on. um Tripp, you know what I'm going to... I really want to say it. I almost... I shouldn't say it, but you know what I want to say?
01:06:30
Speaker
ah don't, but I want you to say it. A lot of people said that about the train that went to Auschwitz. Yeah. um Fort Loco. And this is why, ladies and gentlemen, this is why we are...
01:06:44
Speaker
unable to get a fucking sponsor. This is because we are too unhinged. Not even Netflix wants to deal with our asses because we are so unhinged. It's true. um Anyway, so this is for Loco. Coming at you for 12% ABV. This is a 24-ounce can.
01:07:01
Speaker
Now, let me give you a little bit of ah a concept if you've never had this. Let me tell you what's in this. This is a premium. Capital, all caps, premium.
01:07:13
Speaker
malt beverage with artificial colors, sucralose, and certified color, which means it is certified probably not to kill you, but it might kill you have a lot of it.
01:07:24
Speaker
That's what i'm talking about. This thinned out paint. Was it you that was telling me about Buckfast? Excuse me? Were you the one telling me about Buckfast, or was that somebody else?
01:07:37
Speaker
Buckfast?
01:07:40
Speaker
Like deer? No, it's an Irish drink. Oh, no, I don't know. i don't know about Buckfast. I have no idea where I heard this from.
01:07:51
Speaker
I know mickey's i the Mickey's. It might have been on a podcast, but I think it was somebody actually telling me about it at some point. But Buckfast is like the official Irish drink of fighting.
01:08:04
Speaker
Oh, get fucked? Yeah, yeah. um I've never seen it. i've i I know the term. i don't know if it exists. No, Buckfast is a brand. Well, no, I mean, either I know the term to get fucked. Like, that's... Yeah. like Get pissed, get fucked.
01:08:17
Speaker
it's No, but this is like, this is a... As far as I understand it... Oh, God, it's like fortified wine with caffeine. Yeah, it's fortified wine with caffeine that tastes like, kind of like iron brew.
01:08:31
Speaker
I love Iron Brew. It's all paint, but it's so good. I need to try this. I wish I remembered who was telling me about it. Buckfest. God. But it it was...
01:08:45
Speaker
I'm trying to remember this conversation. Somebody was telling me about it, and were like, it's, there is a, like, uh, I can't remember what the saying is, but there's, like, a statistic that a certain number of arrests involve Buckfast, and it is crazy number. Over 40% young offenders in some Scottish facilities.
01:09:06
Speaker
Oh, it's Scottish, not Irish. Okay. Oh, God. fucking Fucking balls, dude. Yeah, it's it's a popular... Well, in Scotland, particularly, there's a cult following.
01:09:17
Speaker
I'll ask some my colleagues. It is Irish. Yeah, i'll I'll ask them about that. see what they yeah it's It's all across the UK. Yeah, this that's where... Wherever I heard of it, they were they were telling me about the statistic of like 40% of arrests involve this stuff. Like, it is... It's fight in a bottle.
01:09:37
Speaker
And I thought that might be what you were going for. No, well, here's here's what makes this stuff sound great and awful at the same time. This is what it gives you perspective. um Officially, it was originally made by monks at Buckfest Abbey in Devon, England. So...
01:09:54
Speaker
Monks made a fortified wine, added caffeine to it that became fight juice for a lot of people. And they're monks. But of course, they're in England. So that tracks. ah Wow.
01:10:08
Speaker
All right. As my cigar goes out, let me get back into give you a couple of notes. Sorry, we got way off track there. That was my fault. It's always your fault.
01:10:19
Speaker
That's true. I got all horrific ADHD. so Same, same, same. That's why it's fucking two raccoons. I can't believe we have people watching this show. We're like two raccoons with booze and cigars, the most dangerous room combo that also love guns. Here we are.
01:10:36
Speaker
um All right. So Four Loko found, and I mentioned in 2005, they were founded by Chris Hunter and Jason Freeman. out in Chicago, Illinois, Illinois, if you will, for some of you um French folks.
01:10:51
Speaker
Uh, so really kind of came out of this Ohio State University grad experiment where they took caffeinated alcohol beverages, ah took alcohol and caffeine and combined it into a thing that was being done already. People were mixing things like your vodka, Red Bulls, you're spread they were mixing that stuff, espresso martinis, right? So what they did is a little bit different. So they took the classic back then we had balls, right? and b B A W L S.
01:11:17
Speaker
Drinks like balls, drinks like venom, all these different... Bull. Red Bull, right? it was big at that time. Just kidding. They took caffeine, they took taurine and guarana, and they added alcohol to it.
01:11:29
Speaker
And it kind of... They layered this on top of of malt liquor, which, again, was very notorious in the college communities for... You get smashed pretty quick. It's kind of cheap. You can mix it with stuff. It's not that can some brass monkeys.
01:11:42
Speaker
You can knock out... An entire college football team with just a couple of those things, right? um So they did all this stuff. It exploded.
01:11:54
Speaker
I entered the world of university in 2006 and sure enough had the OG. I remember the OG caffeinated for a local was wild. i taste you I had one once and I was like, I never want to drink this again.
01:12:10
Speaker
it was so sweet. or It's rough. they's It still doesn't taste good. But it's like if you take Old English and you add um too much Kool-Aid powder to it and then a Red Bull on top of it. That's what it that that's kind of the vibe that gives. That's honestly exactly what it tastes like. ah At least a fruit punch. i'm I'm drinking fruit punch tonight. um Anyway.
01:12:38
Speaker
so what happened? They got really popular. People started abusing it. People started blacking out, doing stupid things, getting in trouble. It became a huge problem. And then eventually in 2010, the FDA issued a warning stating that it was an unsafe food additive, specifically talking about caffeine when mixed with alcohol.
01:12:57
Speaker
So back then it was called fusion, fusion with a PH, fusion. ah And they reformulated it And they got rid of all the stimulants all the oh shit And they basically just Kept it regular for local Which is what we have now No it was for local when it had ah Yes it did it did yeah But I'm saying at that time In 2010 they got rid of the Caffeine Oh which they called fusion Okay yeah tori taurine They called the energy mix That they're adding fusion That makes sense Yeah so they got rid of that
01:13:32
Speaker
It went back in just just regular for a local, but without all the extra shit. That's how they were able to stay alive. Typically, these range from 12% to 14%. I've had the one. It is fuck off it's it's bad ah anyway so exploded, took over the world for a very short period of time and somehow survived. And like, this is the thing you have to understand. They kind of branched into other markets, kind of like they went into seltzer thing.
01:14:04
Speaker
They own a couple of other things that are not for a loco, but it falls under their, their, their umbrella. ah Corporate wise.
01:14:16
Speaker
It's sold over in over 40 states today. They do some pre-mixed cocktails and seltzers, as I mentioned, and fucking if I see anybody on the street with one of these, i am um I'm basically making sure I have one or two things on me, either my gun or my my fountain pen.
01:14:37
Speaker
is you know So you can write them
Final Thoughts on Cigar Pairing
01:14:39
Speaker
a stern letter. Well, you know, Fontapens are really great because sometimes if somebody has trouble breathing, you need to aspirate them really quickly. ah Man, dude was choking. I don't know the Heimlich. It's not even approved anymore. You can't even Heimlich anybody anymore. You got to aspirate them. So, yeah.
01:14:55
Speaker
I think you might get just as sued for aspirating them as you would for breaking a rib or two, popping that piece of chicken nugget out of them. I'm just the lonely poet that was pushed to my limits.
01:15:07
Speaker
What can I tell you? Trying to get a movie deal. None of my scripts are being picked up. I'm sad, man. Leave me alone. ah But yeah, so Four Loko, I think, is embodies the spirit of of Conor McGregor.
01:15:22
Speaker
When you drink a Four Loko, things get weird. it makes you It makes you want to throw a hand truck at a bus full of people. And now, Tripp, you and I, we drink and we're kind of pretty sensible and neither of us have criminal records of any kind. True.
01:15:37
Speaker
true. It's all true. However, when you drink a Four Loko, things go disco real quick. Yeah. And this is why i don't drink Four Loko.
01:15:49
Speaker
Regardless of who you are, man, all of a sudden things you're kind of in like, it's like when Mario goes into the secret tunnel there's the underworld and it's that like hidden level. It's that vibe.
01:16:01
Speaker
I thought you were going to say when Mario gets the star. did did did did it did did it did And he's flashing like a rainbow and just knocking out everybody he touches. Okay. All right. I'm going lean with that. I think that's good.
01:16:11
Speaker
ah um I'd love to tell you how this is with the cigar. However, this cigar, it refuses to smoke, which is amazing.
01:16:25
Speaker
It's so stubborn that I might have to punch it just to get it to start smoking again. maybe that's ah Maybe that's part of the process. Maybe they're made to to be punched first. Oh, it's ah it's a punch start. Yeah, because Connor's so angry, he's got to punch his cigars. Fucking crazy.
01:16:40
Speaker
Yeah, um so the the Elijah k Craig small batch, I think, once again, yeah is too hot for this cigar. This cigar is um the... like i'll I'll say exactly the same thing as I think I said before.
01:16:52
Speaker
that the palate, this is like very, very middle-of-the-road medium body. Medium body, medium strength, medium amount of flavor. um On the retrohale is where like all the magic happens for this cigar, which is great, but that makes it really difficult to pair with.
01:17:09
Speaker
um Because with a drink, you don't taste with ah your olfactory senses. um So I think my best pairing was the Bunahaben.
01:17:25
Speaker
Wow, okay. Just because it was the palmist of the whiskeys. The Elijah Craig is is kind of on the spicy, sweet side. It's got a good bite to it. I really like the Elijah Craig for that, but I understand what you're saying, especially with the kind of where the cigar is for... How far are you? A little past halfway. A little past halfway. I got to where the band was.
01:17:46
Speaker
Yeah, I think that tracks. It's really not ramping up in spice for you, is it? No. Okay. It's only ramping up in bitterness. Oh, I actually, so you mentioned the bitterness earlier, and it it reminded me of a flavor that I picked up earlier, which is is green banana.
01:18:03
Speaker
Yeah, that's kind of the same type of bitterness, yeah.
01:18:10
Speaker
this Yeah, so why don't I guess we'll do final thoughts on the cigar here. Actually, before I do that, Sam had his final pairing was Glenlivet triple cask, my man. Oh, wow. And his second pairing, I think i forgot to mention, was Guinness in a Guinness glass that he got from Ireland, which is pretty cool.
01:18:27
Speaker
Yeah. I've never been to Ireland. I always wanted go. I love Guinness, man. Guinness is great, though. I almost bought a pack today yesterday at the grocery store, but I decided to go with a ah local Blondale instead.
01:18:38
Speaker
you know Do you know this this this weird thing that I do with Guinness? it sounds It probably sounds stupid to a lot of people, but I'll go and I'll get Guinness, you know, the nitro cans, the tall nitro cans. I'll get those, and I'll just leave them in different spots, like outside fridge or in the back of some other fridge or, like, in the garage somewhere. I'll just leave them.
01:18:59
Speaker
And it's it's always surrounded by a bunch of other shit. Like, I i lose it. And then every now and again when I'm rummaging through shit, I go, oh, it's a Guinness. You leave yourself a little surprise Guinnesses? It's like a little reward.
01:19:10
Speaker
You know? Nice. great I like that idea. I should do that. Problem is, we only have one real fridge and wife cleans it out, so I just keep it in my little mini fridge out here. Alright, so my parent the night was the Boonhaven. What's yours, Dennis?
01:19:28
Speaker
Oh, man. You know what? I'm gonna say this is this jungly... Lemonade, Shinkaji, specifically the Shinkaji, which is the lemonade itself. The Spice Lemonade is really cool. I think it would work really well with a lot of different cigars.
01:19:42
Speaker
And I think it would work as well as, as I mentioned earlier, if you have like a spicy ginger beer, like a Gosling's, I think it would work similarly well. there's a cigar that you like with that stuff, I think it might fit the bill. The spice is a little bit intense ah in terms of flavor, not in terms of heat.
01:20:01
Speaker
So just keep that in mind if maybe you're not kind of you don't want to blow out your palate for particular. You don't like ah what were the what were the spices in there? Cigars are not going to benefit from that. Cumin is in there. It's kind of the big one.
01:20:14
Speaker
And then you have the black salt, which has that very intense umami sulfur quality to it. So certain cigars are a little bit more delicate. You would not want to drink that with. But yeah all aside, I think it'd work for most cigars.
01:20:30
Speaker
right. um And circling back to finish up talking about the cigar.
01:20:39
Speaker
Oh, I thought I noticed a weirdness to the scene, but no, it's normal. um
01:20:46
Speaker
I'm more disappointed than I thought I was at the beginning of the show. Oh, wow. Okay. It started off and I had very low expectations. Then I lit the cigar and I was like, all right.
01:20:58
Speaker
this is This is pretty good. I'm enjoying this. I really enjoyed the retrohale. But as as the further I went in the cigar, the more unpleasant notes started to come out. It's got that bitterness.
01:21:14
Speaker
It has kind of like a a chalkiness almost.
01:21:21
Speaker
And that that kind of unpleasant earthiness. Mm-hmm. Um, and those flavors just kind of ramped up as the cigar went on The retrohale still stayed pretty good, but it's hard to focus on the retrohale when my mouth tastes. Oh yeah. Um, and I don't know how much influence my, my pairings actually had with that, but I think this is not a cigar I would return to.
Celebrity Cigars Compared and Gaming Nostalgia
01:21:48
Speaker
Um, Which is i'm I'm bummed about because it started off so promising. It like it tastes like it was going very good cigar. um Or at least a very interesting one. um And then for me, like I haven't even reached the end, but this is the point where I'm going to stop smoking the cigar because it is just not enjoyable anymore at this point. There's like a heaviness, kickiness on my palate with that bitterness and that that kind of danky earth.
01:22:16
Speaker
earth that's That's kind of what I'm getting also. And like an overpowering version of, like you talk about pistachio or like kind of almondy somewhere in that range. Then like ice cream, that like fake pistachio flavor. Yeah, but it's like, it's stuck on the center of my tongue and it won't go away now.
01:22:36
Speaker
Which is unpleasant. This is the part of the show when you're going to reach for a smooth Turkish camel. Yeah.
01:22:47
Speaker
Nice, unfiltered, blended turkey. Or as a as June likes to say on developing palates, he's been talking a lot about... i don't know what I got in his head. He was on a whole run where he was comparing every cigar to Marlboro Reds.
01:22:59
Speaker
And this is the kind where like I'm like... yeah I should just be smoking a Marlboro Red at this point. like This is not enjoyable. It is not flavorful. It has a decent retrohale, but I'm not enjoying anymore, which I'm disappointed in.
01:23:13
Speaker
It's been a long time since we've had a cigar on the show that I was actually like, I would not buy this cigar. But this is one of those cigars. um So if you're if you're out there at a shop, you see some celebrity cigars,
01:23:32
Speaker
I would say if you're if you can only buy one, probably just buy a knuckle sandwich, to be honest. If you're looking for a celebrity cigar, just a knuckle sandwich. But if you if you want to buy two and they have all of them, all of the different celebrities, this is the this is the celebrity cigar shop. all the They only carry celebrity branded cigars.
01:23:53
Speaker
um Go with a knuckle sandwich. Then buy two knuckle sandwiches. Maybe. i was going to say buy a knuckle sandwich and a prodigal son. This is... okay yeah The Prodigal Sun is so much better than this. It was it was it was so much better. Agreed. yeah I'll go with that. yeah this This is the first cigar in a long time that I think we've smoked that is that is decidedly bad, which is interesting because if I had smoked the first half of this and tossed it, it would have had a very different story, but it completely changed at the halfway point and then continued to get worse until the beginning of the final third here where I am sticking it in my ashtray because it is bad.
01:24:32
Speaker
um load up your ass exactly you get it duke nukem baby and i love that game so much i played so much of that game when i was younger um all all three of them i i i am one of the like very few i think people who played duke nukem one and two before three d uh yeah as i think most people old pc yeah i played it on an old pc i i grew up with my dad working for a computer company so it was like you know we had a pc ever since i was a kid that i could game on and duke nukem was one of those games that i remember playing and ah at a very young age like we're talking in the 80s i don't even know when it came out but we had it duke nukem one and two on our computer
01:25:24
Speaker
and then so when duke nukem 3d came out it was like oh man this character that i thought was so cool is now like saying words i'm not allowed to say and blowing pig man in half uh and it was it was very cool for me anyway uh yeah i guess that wraps up this disappointing episode of let's get pairing but before we go we have to get to our one for the road Um, yeah, what a disappointing cigar, man. Uh, it's a shame. And what they've said, um meant to mention this at the top, but what they have said is that, uh, this is the first in a lineup of cigars that they're coming out with.
01:26:05
Speaker
Um, I mean, you know, it's, it's kind of our job to try cigars, so I'll try whatever they come out with. Sure. Same. But, uh, I'm no longer excited about it.
01:26:17
Speaker
Um, I'm mostly curious just to see how committed Conor McGregor and this brand team are to actually being in the cigar business.
01:26:29
Speaker
We'll see. Maybe there'll be a PCA this year. Maybe we can chat somebody up from the company. Oh, man. i Hey. What do you think? What do you think? If Conor is there, what do you think? like I think the chances are absolutely zero. No, there's zero. I know. But if he is there...
01:26:47
Speaker
but Dude, if he was there, he would be fighting like every other person. If I gave you 20 bucks, would you would you take a hit from Connor? Al's no. No way. That guy would punch my head off of my body.
01:27:02
Speaker
i It would no longer... He would break my spine with one punch. Guaranteed. Yeah, probably. Probably. That dude's got heavy hands. um All right, time for One for the Road. This is where we tell you about something that we've watched, experienced, listened to, read, listened to. i already said that, but um just something we did recently that was cool. Our experience for the road. Sam Finnell's One for the Road is a friend found a toy from the TV show, and I was able to introduce him. Oh, to UFO, the TV show.
01:27:35
Speaker
Since then, I've been watching it. Nice. Let me think for a second. What TV show is that? UFO? The show UFO from the 70s.
01:27:49
Speaker
Why? it It's like an old, old sci-fi movie. like think Think like OG Star Trek style kind of thing. oh Oh, okay. All right. Yeah, yeah. That's cool.
01:28:00
Speaker
I think it was British, but I can't remember. Cool, man. That's fancy. But i I remember watching reruns of that when I was a kid. um Mine is, ah you know, I'm a nerd.
01:28:14
Speaker
I have been gaming all weekend because Resident Evil 9 just came out, and I am loving it. It's such a good mix of, like, the different styles of Resident Evil games over the years. They've been... They've had, like, very... Like, over the years...
01:28:32
Speaker
Resident Evil has changed a lot. They've gone from like the original kind of like in a mysterious house mansion turning into like a sci-fi horror kind of thing to straight up almost sci-fi to like a couple years ago when Seven came out. Seven is basically the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but they're more mutant-like.
01:28:52
Speaker
um and you're like trapped in this house and there's people coming after you and breaking down walls to get to you and stuff like that and you're defenseless most of the game like running away and trying to escape from these people And this one is like a mix where you're, you play as two different characters. One of them, uh, kind of inexplicably is an FBI agent, but she's kind of defenseless in the game.
01:29:13
Speaker
Like you have a pistol and a flashlight and that's basically all you get. Um, so you're mostly as her, you're, you're hiding, you're, you're staying in the shadows. You're trying to sneak around and be quiet as you can.
01:29:25
Speaker
um and then sometimes it switches to the Leon who's been a protagonist on and off since the second game. Um, yeah um And he is just like... He is the John Wick of this universe, dude.
01:29:38
Speaker
Like, you play as him and your inventory is like eight times the size of Grace's. And you start with like three different guns. No, two different guns. You're unlocking guns the whole game. You're getting...
01:29:49
Speaker
fed with ammo, just covered. You got armor, you got grenades, you got everything at your disposal. And so it's like, got these two completely opposite sides of the coin where you go from sneaking down hallways and trying to be quiet, not to step on the glass, hiding in the shadow to hide from this lady, turning on the light to blast her with light because she's allergic to light, to just straight up walking through the hallway, blasting them with a machine gun.
01:30:14
Speaker
um And it's it's a very cool dichotomy. uh that's very like classic Resident Evil and it rules it is I'm holding judgment out until I finish the game sometime in the next week or two uh say that it's my favorite Resident Evil game so far wow but it's like tall order well so I think seven and eight really changed changed what Resident Evil is like It went from being super goofy and like very sci-fi to still having like some of the sci-fi elements where there's a company that's creating this virus that can turn people into not just zombies, but soldiers, super soldiers that they can control and stuff like that. That's called Chad GPT.
01:31:02
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. um But it like brought in these like actual, very, very much horror-inspired, classic horror movie-inspired settings and stuff ah in 7, where you're it's you're basically in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre house that just happens to be built on top of a facility um that you end up getting into and then in eight it was like you're in eastern europe in think it's romania and you're in a town that has been taken over entirely by werewolves and it's got all of again all of these like really classic horror stuff there's a part where we're stuck in this mansion with this eight foot tall vampire lady and her three two vampire sisters and
01:31:50
Speaker
ah it's that one had a lot of cool stuff going on and those two together really changed what Resident Evil was and like put a new spin on it that it it wasn't just blasting zombies all the time and of course there's always a big scarier extra scary giant zombie who's unkillable that you have to kill at the end um to like adding in all of these kind of influences that Resident Evil has always had, but making them a little more little more on the surface.
01:32:20
Speaker
And this one kind of merges both of those worlds, which I think is really cool.
01:32:27
Speaker
Yeah, that's exciting, man. I haven't played i haven't actually played since 2. So I've been so far removed, and it's kind of like... Certain games, you know, I i remember, and it's like Metal Gear Solid, like Sons of Liberty was the last one that I played.
01:32:43
Speaker
And i just it's on my list of things to get back to that I want to explore. I want to go back to these games and play them. The latest Prince of Persia, I want to play that, and I've touched that thing and forever.
01:32:55
Speaker
Like the the latest Prince of Persia? Which one are we talking? I haven't played Prince of Persia in probably 10 years. Well, no, it's ah sorry, it's a lie. I played Prince of Persia Switch recently. Oh, okay.
01:33:08
Speaker
and Was it the side-scroller one? Yeah. that That one rules, man. That one's so good. Yeah. I would love to see a port of Castlevania in like, what, you know something? I don't know. Yeah. What do you know? There is a I have it on my Switch, but I haven't played it much.
01:33:28
Speaker
There is a like Castlevania collection that is like. On Switch? Yeah, it's like four or so of the Castlevania games. And there is also a new one coming soon. You know what game I thought i would I would absolutely hate and someone recommended I play it?
01:33:44
Speaker
It was that Diver game. Oh, Dave the Diver? that came dave Dave the Diver. I thought it was go to be stupid as hell and then I played it and I was fucked. I thought it was going to be stupid same and I played it and like, man, this is I really like this.
01:33:58
Speaker
This speak, and I think maybe because you and I are in kind of similar industries where we have to be hyper-focused and like task-driven for things. if For us, it makes sense. Like, those are the kinds of games we want to play. It's like Zelda, right? Like, we get down into it and you fall excuse me, you fall into a rebel goddammit. local burps are the worst.
01:34:21
Speaker
Oh, bet. little that That sounds unpleasant.
01:34:30
Speaker
Yeah. But yeah, there's a new Castlevania game that's like ah a classic style, like side-scroller. That's super cool. Castlevania game coming out later this year, um which um I'm very excited about because i'm I'm a big... I was a big Castlevania fan
Reality Show Comparisons and New Formats
01:34:46
Speaker
as a kid. I haven't played a Castlevania game in at least 20 years.
01:34:51
Speaker
At least not more than like five or ten minutes of it. And i was I was big on Altered Beast as well. I think that was my one of my absolute favorite games. Altered Beast. I loved it. Crash Bandicoot. Somebody told me, my my teammate actually told me earlier this week, he said, dude, Crash Bandicoot was ported to the Switch. Like, you can play the collection now.
01:35:13
Speaker
It's on the Switch. I had no idea. i no i didn't know. I was like, man, I really miss... Because we were sitting in a meeting i said, man, you know, this guy looks like Neo Cortex. but and He was like, you know, Crash is back, man. Like, fuck I gotta i play this. This is great.
01:35:30
Speaker
i Because I grew up with that stuff, right? I mean, that's the kind of thing. Almost everything is back, which is crazy. ah Street Sharks are coming back. Oh, that's cool. love Street Sharks. Live action. Live action.
01:35:43
Speaker
No way. Apparently. That's hilarious. The other thing I was going to say is if you are into watches, Trip talked about Resident Evil. Hamilton has a really cool thing out right now. They have two watches out, which are Resident Evil watches. If if you're into watches and you're willing to spend, the one that I like is the Requiem Limited Edition. got to look this up.
01:36:07
Speaker
Also out of stock, I think, or it's not available yet. It's $2,175 US dollars. but all that blackout one Yeah, if you love Resident Evil, ah Hamilton has a watch out. and And if you're a watch guy, I think like it's an investment. Hamilton makes some nice watches.
01:36:25
Speaker
So you're not going to lose value on it, I don't think, if you want to resell it 10 years down the road. but And it's limited to 2,000 of them. That's crazy. So i I like watches, but I don't i don't buy them because they're expensive. I just like to look at them.
01:36:42
Speaker
They're just eye candy. Yeah. Yeah, you know, certain things I like to look at, certain things I'll buy, but... Yeah, man. So my one for the road, very easy, very simple, but but something that, going back to watching stuff, I really, really, really wanted to watch the new Fear Factor.
01:37:00
Speaker
And i' love that Johnny Knoxville is the host. Fear Factor has been around since 2001, originally hosted by Joe Rogan. And they kind of took a break for a while. They they took a break, i think, it's until 2011,
01:37:15
Speaker
At some point, they took a break for a couple years and then came back, and then eventually they came back again in 2017, and now they're back with a new format, which is, there i think they call the House of Fear, or the Fear House.
01:37:29
Speaker
I feel like that's a way better formula for Fear Factor. i haven't watched this, but just based on what you're saying, i can i can get the vibe of it. But I'll let you continue. It's a good format.
01:37:40
Speaker
I think it kind of... Because again, when you when you make it like reality house style, you can see people being vulnerable outside of the games. You can see people making alliances. You can sort of like Traitor and sort of like that other show that I really liked. What was that show, Trip?
01:38:01
Speaker
Hosted by the guy from Walking Dead.
01:38:05
Speaker
guy from walking Oh, that one. ah ah Where they didn't know where they were going to figure out where they are. Zero Latitude, something like that. I don't know, something like that but like it's similar to that. Destination X. Destination X, destination x yeah.
01:38:18
Speaker
Similar to that where they have to build alliances. Similar to Anderson Cooper before he was on CNN hosted a show called The Mole. And I loved that show so much. And so Trader is trader kind of like that. I really love Trader but also started watching the new Fear Factor. Just watched the the first episode last night.
01:38:40
Speaker
Have you seen this? No, I haven't watched it yet. I've seen it that it's on Hulu but I haven't actually watched it. Uh...
01:38:50
Speaker
I would say i don't want to ruin it necessarily, but I want to say like some things should not be vacuum sealed.
01:39:03
Speaker
If that makes sense. It doesn't make sense, but I'll know what you mean once I watch it. people People being one them. Oh god, really? Wow. That sounds intense, man. Holy shit. Dude, it was so good.
01:39:18
Speaker
it's Yeah, it's it's it's very well done. um But yeah, so check check out Pewter Factor. Check out Trader with Alan Cummings, who's just great. He's such a cool guy. Alan Cummings rules in that show. I love everything he does.
01:39:34
Speaker
I think we only watched probably the first episode or maybe two episodes of that, but that was really good. fit It finished last week, so we just finished it on Thursday. Oh, you did? Okay. All right. Yeah. It's ah it's a very good season, I think.
01:39:49
Speaker
Yeah, man. there's There's some really good content out there. There's some some great stuff, but also I just want to say we we often talk about digital media. I think it's also important to go back to print media.
01:40:01
Speaker
Read a book, read a magazine, read a publication of some kind. Go back to like the printed stuff that you don't need to charge to consume.
01:40:12
Speaker
Because more often than not, that stuff is something that you're going go back to time and time again. yeah a lot of times we we buy books. i have I have a whole library of different books that over the years I just end up going back to. I'm just like, hey, I thought of this weird thing. Let me go and back into the book and remember that scene. read Reread something from that book that reminded me of something that happened to me recently.
01:40:35
Speaker
Or a thought came to my mind. You can't do that necessarily with digital media in that same way. Yeah. So I will always recommend going back to, you know, the classic media forms.
01:40:47
Speaker
ah Speaking of ah the Joe, sorry, speaking of reality shows, did you ever watch the Joe Schmo show? No. Oh, hold on.
01:40:59
Speaker
ah Brain fart. I have to tell you about this. um That show. Remember the juror, the juror show? Drew Roar. I have a speech impediment.
01:41:12
Speaker
I'm trying to remember what the name of that show was. With that famous actor that yeah that was like the under he was like the main guy. i can't remember what that show was. Jury Duty? jury duty that what it was called? Yeah, it was called Jury Duty. So they're making a new one. It's about hell yeah a cor a corporate retreat.
01:41:28
Speaker
It's coming out in March. Watch it. So Joe Schmo's show was very similar to that. Yeah. Except... It was an entire like a reality house show that only one dude was competing. That's a hoax. everybody Everybody was an actor. Every moment was crafted oh to make this guy feel weird.
01:41:52
Speaker
It's exactly like Jury Duty. Yeah, it's just like Jury Duty. um But it was 25 years it is good... and it is so good I'm sure it hasn't aged well, but it's so goddamn funny.
01:42:07
Speaker
Like, the situations they put this guy in, because it's a lot weirder than jury duty. Like, it's a reality competition, right? So, like, they they have to, like, do these competition things, and they always end up putting him in, like...
01:42:24
Speaker
a very weird, uncomfortable position where he's got a, everybody else has to make out with a hot girl, but there's no girls left, so he has to make out with a guy or something like that, and the best kiss wins, or some shit like that.
01:42:36
Speaker
Actually, I think there was one like that where he had to, where it was licking, ah like, whipped cream off of somebody, and then he's the only one that got a dude.
01:42:47
Speaker
um you know this was early 2000s where gayness was very much ah frowned upon and and yeah i was that it was a whole thing it was weaponized yeah it was a whole thing um so I'm sure a lot of it hasn't aged well but I remember that show being so funny where this guy is just he has no idea that everybody else is in on the joke and he's but yeah if there's another jury duty coming I am definitely going watch that Yeah, it's it's... Oh, and it's coming in two weeks.
01:43:18
Speaker
Holy hell. What's it called? The Joe Schmo Show. I'm sure it's not streaming anywhere. Oh, no, you're Joe Schmo. I'm talking about... No, I'm talking about Jury Duty. Jury Duty Season 2 will be out in two weeks.
01:43:32
Speaker
what's What's the name of that? its oh otis oh ah Jury Duty. it is. Oh, Jury Duty Presents Company Retreat. Okay. March Yeah. march twentieth yeah it's oh yeah It's a season that shifts in setting from courtroom to a corporate retreat at a fix fictional hot sauce company called Rockin' Grandma's Hot Sauce.
TV Series Discussions and Future Cigar Choices
01:43:53
Speaker
ah Where Anthony, a temporary worker, is unaware that the entire event is staged. Alright, I'm gonna watch that because it really reminds me of that. ah James Martzen is in it still. Oh, really?
01:44:08
Speaker
ah Cassandra Blair, Susan Berger, James Martzen. Wow. and Why do they have this many celebrities?
01:44:19
Speaker
Trisha LaFash?
01:44:23
Speaker
Damn, there's lot of people on this, actually.
01:44:28
Speaker
Alan Bernholtz. Barron Holtz. Okay, cool. Alright, yeah. Alright, I'm going to have to watch that. ah So we'll talk about this, probably catch up on a future show, maybe for a future
01:44:42
Speaker
Wonder for the Road, maybe we'll we'll not we'll probably talk about it, because we're both going to be watching it. um ah Chris Healy says his one for the Road is A Night of the Seven Kingdoms, the new oh dude yeah Game of Thrones spinoff. I haven't watched it yet.
01:44:57
Speaker
People are talking very well. They're they're speaking very well about that. I haven't seen it. I haven't even watched House of Dragons yet. i need to I need to get caught up on that stuff. I am one of the, I'm assuming millions of people, that was so burned by the end of Game of Thrones that I'm kind of like, i don't know if I'm ready for more Game of Thrones yet.
01:45:19
Speaker
I was burned by the fucking beginning of Game of Thrones. The end of season one. fucking ned stark dies yeah what i mean he's played by sean bean like you know okay fine yeah i get it fine fine fine but it's like it's kind of i was done at that point and somehow i kept watching it gets a lot better after that um but then the final season is where i thought it it was really just kind of a letdown like it just no i want yeah i watched it resolve the way you wanted it to okay it was letdown was not yeah i watched the whole fucking thing It was just like The Witcher. When they got rid of Henry Cavill, nope, I'm done, man. Yep, I stopped watching. I haven't watched since Henry Cavill left.
01:45:58
Speaker
no No offense to... Liam Hemsworth. Thank you, Liam Hemsworth. I like him. I just...
01:46:07
Speaker
Mid-show is it like a weird thing to change somebody else. Well, and it it happened because Henry Cavill is a nerd about it. He's a huge fan. And they wanted to do stuff that was out of character for the original.
01:46:22
Speaker
And so he basically was like, if you're going to change this, I'm going walk. And they changed it. so yeah no he did he did He did a good job with that. ah ah yeah But now he's got Warhammer coming soon.
01:46:35
Speaker
I know. i i i know, and he's a big Warhammer fan, so I think... I'm curious how that's going to be. It will be... I think it'll be really well done.
01:46:46
Speaker
And Peacemaker. I've been watching Peacemaker. I'm just slowly going through. Every now and again, I'll throw an episode on. did you Did you get to the reveal yet in the alternate universe? No!
01:46:56
Speaker
Okay. Not yet. Not yet. Not yet. I don't know. But it's good. not Text me when you get to it. I know it'll be a couple months, but text me when you get to it. It's great. yeah Yeah, I watch every every couple weeks I'll watch an episode. and I fell asleep in the last one. By the time I get home, it's so late, dude.
01:47:13
Speaker
Yeah, you got you got a long commute. My commute is longer than my workday.
01:47:20
Speaker
Literally. like man That's I'd never thought about it i'd never thought about it that way
01:47:28
Speaker
And I can't really do a whole lot on my commute because i have multiple legs. And so it's kind of like there's no one point where I can sleep. There's no one point where you have his like two hours to yourself.
01:47:40
Speaker
It's just. Well, no, I mean, I have multiple hours to myself in the car, but I'm usually just listening to podcasts. and Yeah. You can't do a whole lot in the car. Once you're on the train or the bus or whatever. Yeah. You can do other stuff, but you're not on for for long enough to get anything done.
01:47:55
Speaker
um I'm doing what what does Generation call it? Doomscrolling. I'm doomscrolling on ah Reddit and on Instagram, and I'm shitposting my friends about stupid shit that I see because my mental capacity is at that level where I have no energy for anything else.
01:48:11
Speaker
it's like, look, it's a honey badger shitting into find fine crystal wear. Watch this video, and I send it to everybody, and you're you know you're one of the victims of my chicanery.
01:48:26
Speaker
I like it. Alright, anyway, I guess that brings us the end of the show. I don't know what we'll smoke next week yet. We'll have to dig through our stock and see what we've got and our or pile of stuff to smoke.
01:48:38
Speaker
um Something good, I hope. We'll talk about it. I have some thoughts. because This week was pretty disappointing. yeah Let me know what you think. We'll talk about it. redemption But for now, that's the end of the show. We'll talk to you guys on the next one.
01:48:54
Speaker
Dennis, do the catchphrase, and let's go sleep. Oh, I'm so for Locut out right now. um Thank you, everybody, for watching and listening. And remember, we want you to drink better, but we want you to drink the less.