Author

About the Author
Joe Wehinger (nicknamed Joe Winger) has written for over 20 years about the business of lifestyle and entertainment. Joe is an entertainment producer, media entrepreneur, public speaker, and C-level consultant who owns businesses in entertainment, lifestyle, tourism and publishing. He is an award-winning filmmaker, published author, member of the Directors Guild of America, International Food Travel Wine Authors Association, WSET Level 2 Wine student, WSET Level 2 Cocktail student, member of the LA Wine Writers. Email to: Joe@FlavRReport.com

Coconut, Oak bring Depth and Flavor : Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged 2024 — Preview Tasting Review

Inspiring Flavor behind Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged 2024 — Preview Tasting Review

In celebration of the debut for Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged 2024, I joined a group of whisky and spirit reviewers at Maker’s Mark headquarters in Loretto, Kentucky for a day of tours, lunch and of course a private tasting.

Our Cellar Aged 2024 tasting was led by Innovation Manager Beth Buckner and Senior Director & Head of Innovation Blake Layfield.

Blake Layfield and Senior Manager of Innovation and Blending Beth Buckner

Senior Director & Head of Innovation Blake Layfield and Senior Manager of Innovation and Blending Beth Buckner

The limestone shelf that surrounds Star Hill Farm, homeplace to the Maker’s Mark Distillery, is key to crafting the unique taste of its bourbon

Today’s tasting takes place in a built-in cave within the limestone shelf itself, at a chilly 50 degrees.  It’s a memorable experience for a memorable bottle. As we walk into the limestone cellar, there’s dozens of barrels stationed on the floor, which is part of the Private Selections Program we’ll hear about below

Maker's Mark Cellar Aged 2024 Debuts its most mature bourbon

Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged 2024 Debuts its most mature bourbon

Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged 2024

Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged 2024 blends 15% Maker’s Mark 12-year-old and 85% Maker’s Mark 13-year-old, at 59.7% ABV or 119.3 Proof. 

The aroma carries notes of caramelized sugar and toasted almond. The palate unveils a delicate interplay of buttery shortbread, a surprising bite of coconut, and spices. A lingering finish highlighting dried dark fruit and oak undertones.

Maker's Mark Cellar Aged 2024

Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged 2024 alongside 2023

Side by side: 2023 vs 2024

The 2024 bottle (the 2nd inaugural Cellar Aged effort) takes a noticeable turn from it’s 2023 first path.

The 2023 is a blend of 87% 12-year-old and 13% 11-year-old barrels.  Proof at 115.7

In comparing, you’ll notice strong differences.  2023’s bottle offers lighter greeting.  Aromas of caramel syrup, cinnamon sugar, subtle red fruit.  Cornbread, apricot, brown sugar.

Whereas 2024 is a more matured taste profile.  The aroma carries notes of caramelized sugar and toasted almond. The palate unveils a delicate interplay of buttery shortbread, subtle coconut, and spices. A lingering finish highlighting dried dark fruit and oak undertones.

Private Selections Program

A Maker’s Mark priority is to maintain their taste profile.  Famously, aged between 6 – 8 years old, but every barrel ages a little bit differently. 

When loyal customers asked for a single barrel, they had to politely decline, but wanted to find a way to excite and involve their audience base.  

So they created the Private Selections Program, which is how enthusiasts visit and pick their taste, a vision of what they want their Makers Mark to taste like and then the company uses custom staves in a barrel, which were seen stored on the floor around us.

Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged 2024 will be available for a suggested retail price of USD $174.99 in the United States

The limited-release Maker’s Mark Cellar Aged 2024 will be available for purchase at the Maker’s Mark Distillery by booking the Cellar Aged Experience at https://www.makersmark.com//distillery/visit-us.

For more information about Maker’s Mark, please visit www.MakersMark.com.

ABOUT MAKER’S MARK
Maker’s Mark® is the iconic handmade Kentucky bourbon driven by a vision for better flavor and a better world.  Maker’s Mark began with the innovative spirit of Margie and Bill Samuels, Sr., who in 1953, fulfilled their dream to create a delicious bourbon without the bite, using soft red winter wheat instead of rye to enhance the softness, sweetness and signature creaminess. Highly desired around the world, Maker’s Mark is handmade, hand-dipped in our signature red wax, and every barrel continues to be rotated by hand and is aged to taste not time.

Always true to the founders’ vision, Maker’s Mark continues to shape the brand’s future through purposeful, flavor-driven innovation. In recent years, the brand has introduced thoughtful, super-premium expressions to its portfolio, including Maker’s Mark 46, Maker’s Mark Cask Strength, and Maker’s Mark Cellar-Aged, all Double Gold winners of the 2024 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, as well as Maker’s Mark Private Selection: the brand’s custom barrel program.

Lehigh Valley is Looking for Quality, Canned Wine — We Tasted with Kristin Olszewski from Nomadica Wines

Sommelier Businesswoman Kristin Olszewski brings Michelin quality to Canned Wines with Nomadica Wines

Nomadica offers sparkling, rose, white, red and orange options — both canned and bag in a box.

Nomadica Wines ‘s Owner Kristin Olszewski

Nomadica Wines are sourced from vineyards with responsible farming practices and winemakers who engage in low intervention wine making.

Wine-lovers can be 100% confident you’re drinking serious sommelier-approved wine.

Nomadica Wines ‘s Owner Kristin Olszewski; Source: instagram.com/nomadica

Today’s conversation with Sommelier / Businesswoman Kristin Olszewski from Nomadica Wines has been edited for length and clarity.  For the full, un-edited conversation, visit our YouTube channel here.

 

Joe Winger: We’re here today with Kristin Olszewski from Nomadica Wines. 

What’s the most important message you want to share today with our audience?

Kristin Olszewski: 

I think the biggest message that I want to get across is that everyone should be drinking more wine. That’s my mission in life to just bring consumers back to the wine category.

Source: instagram.com/nomadica

Joe Winger: 

Outstanding. And how how are you trying to get that done?

Kristin Olszewski: 

I’ll give a little context on my own history and how I came here.

My undergrad degree is in sustainable agriculture and I ended up dropping out of Harvard Medical School to become a sommelier – typical journey. 

I just really fell in love with wine. I worked in restaurants to pay for school and wine was always the thing that captivated my interest.

Source: instagram.com/nomadica

I feel like it’s the intersection of history, agriculture and gastronomy. And then also there’s something so fun and communal and – you’re getting a little tipsy. It’s everything. 

But I spent a decade-plus in Michelin restaurants all over the country, everywhere from three Michelin stars, Saison in San Francisco, Husk in Nashville, Osteria Mozza here in LA.

When Nancy Silverton was on a Netflix show called Chef’s Table, I started noticing a different customer coming into the restaurant. Usually as a sommelier, you’re talking to a very specific demographic of people. I would say 45 plus male white wine collector. That’s my demo. And when Nancy was on Chef’s Table, young people started coming into the restaurants, a lot of women, and I noticed they didn’t want to drink wine.

They would drink tequila, beer, cocktails, like anything but wine. 

That always felt like such a missed opportunity because wine, it’s the most ancient beverage. Our people have drank wine for millennia. It’s also in an age where we care about what’s natural, what’s minimally processed, what’s better for you.

Great wine is literally just grapes, yeast, water, and time, so I started digging into why aren’t you drinking wine? And I found out a few things. 

One, people felt like wine wasn’t a good value. If you weren’t going to spend a lot of money on wine, you couldn’t get a great wine, which is untrue.

The other one is people feel like they needed a PhD or some level of education or knowledge in order to access wine, which, again, is not true. 

I want to be people’s guide, hold their hand and walk them into the world of wine. So I started Nomadica to do that on a larger level.

Source: instagram.com/nomadica

Joe Winger: 

That’s beautiful.

You mentioned two things. We’re going to go into both. Your background in Michelin restaurants. I’ve heard heavenly amazing stories. I’ve heard horror stories. 

Can you share an experience and what you learned from?

Kristin Olszewski:

Everyone always asks me if I watch The Bear or not. And I’m like, no, I can’t.

Some positive stories, Michelin restaurants have changed a lot from when I started working in them. I think work has changed a lot for the positive. I remember one of my first serious jobs in a scary restaurant. You have your hair pulled back because you don’t want it to get in the food.

I had one small piece of hair hanging down above my face and the chef takes a match from the stove, lights a piece of my hair and says don’t ever have a hair hanging down in your face again.

Some of the wonderful stories are having the opportunity, especially at Mozza, you taste each bottle you open there. 

Source: instagram.com/nomadica

When I was at Mozza, it was a $5 million dollar all-Italian cellar with 90 pages of the best Barolo, Brunello, Etna Rosso’s, just things that like collector’s dream about tasting.

And I feel so lucky to have tasted things like Conterno Monfortino, which is the type of wine that you want to smell for three hours before you drink it. 

When you have a wine like that, it makes you realize why collectors obsessively chase bottles, there’s something so romantic and intangible, and having a wine like that, you realize you’ll never have A wine that tastes the same at any moment in time ever again.

It’s just such a lucky experience.

Source: instagram.com/nomadica

Joe Winger: 

I’m curious about how that experience inspired you to open Nomadica.

Kristin Olszewski: 

My entry point into wine was always through farming. I majored in sustainable agriculture.

I was an avid farmer.  I ran our community garden in college and was focused on permaculture. I lived in India and farmed for a while there. 

Source: instagram.com/nomadica

And I always say great wine is made by great farmers, great wines made in the vineyard, not the cellar.

So when I was looking at starting Nomadica, that sustainability ethos, it was always my starting point, but I was really shocked when I found out how bad glass bottles are for the environment.

30% of glass is recycled in the US. The rest just goes into a landfill. It’s highly energy intensive to make, to ship, because it’s so heavy. 

The fact is, most wine does not need to be in a glass bottle. 

Yes, that Barolo I mentioned absolutely needs to be in a glass bottle. That needs to be aged for years before it even comes into its own.

But for a $20 – 30 bottle of wine that you’re going to pop open and drink it on a weeknight or on a not special weekend does not need to be in glass. 

So that’s how we started. 

Cans at 70 % reduction in carbon footprint. Our newly launched bag and box wine is almost a 90% reduction in carbon footprint.

Source: instagram.com/nomadica

Joe Winger: 

I sampled your sparkling white, your white, your red and your rose, they were dangerously drinkable.

Can we talk about where the fruit is sourced from?

Kristin Olszewski: 

Absolutely. 

The name Nomadica is really a fun double entendre because you can take it wherever you want to go.   Of course, cans and boxes can be found in places that bottles can’t.

We source our fruit from all over. 

We’re truly a nomadic winery. 

Our head winemaker  spent time at some of the best wineries in California, like Eric Kent Cellars, which makes award winning Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and also Kosta Brown.

Before that he spent 10 years doing vineyard management in California. So through Corey, we’ve really got a handle on some of the best fruit. A lot of our wine comes from Mendocino. A lot of our grapes come from Mendocino or Lodi. I’m such a Sonoma girly.  Our winery is located in Sonoma, and so I always find myself drawn back to that region.

Source: instagram.com/nomadica

Joe Winger: 

Are there any vineyards you’d recommend us touring when we come to Northern California?

Kristin Olszewski: 

I think the Sonoma Coast is the best wine region in California. They’ve fought very hard to become designated as their own AVA, which is very important in terms of quality.

The oceanic influence, what we call a diurnal shift, the extreme temperature change between night and day, like Hirsch and Littorai. 

I think if anyone ever wants to see proof in the pudding of what great farming can do, you need to go see Littorai. 

Ted Lemon was one of the first Americans to ever be a winemaker in Burgundy and he brought all of his practices back, was one of the first people to practice biodynamic agriculture in California and really brought that style of farming onto a larger scale. 

When you go visit his vineyards, it’s like teeming with life. You look next door at a conventionally farmed plot, which is just like dead and sad looking. And then you taste the wines and you’re just knocked on your butt because they’re so good.

Source: instagram.com/nomadica

Joe Winger: 

Nomadica Wines has several varieties.  White, Sparkling white, Rose, Red, Orange.

Can you walk us through the taste profiles of any of your favorites – what’s the aromas, what are the profiles? 

Kristin Olszewski: 

Something really cool about our wines is everything’s practicing organic. No pesticides, no synthetic fertilizers, all of our wines are fermented dry. Naturally zero grams of sugar per serving. They have nice fruit notes, but none of the wines are sweet.

Crushable bright flavor. 

Across the gamut, our entire portfolio has a brightness and a freshness to it. All of our wines are like slightly aromatic because I love an aromatic variety, but part of the thought that we put behind the brand is that I wanted to take that sommelier curation and put it in the restaurant, on the retail shelf so that when you’re serving Nomadica at your home, at parties and the beach, 99% percent of people will love it.

I’m doing the work on the back end on blending, sourcing, creating these flavor profiles that’s really taking that wine experience, that decade plus of developing my own palette and giving it back to the consumer. 

Source: instagram.com/nomadica

Joe Winger: 

Are there any favorite wine and food pairings for you with your wines?

Kristin Olszewski: 

I love an aperitif. Our sparkling rosé is definitely my favorite wine in our gamut. In a can you always have the perfect pour because sometimes you don’t want to open up an entire bottle of wine.

When we do that in my house, it usually gets drank. It doesn’t go back in the fridge.

Sometimes you just want a glass of sparkling. And I love that. 

I love that with a charcuterie board and cheese. I also love Rose with green salads. 

I think one of the best things about living where we live [Los Angeles] is we have the best produce on the planet.

I still run some wine programs in Los Angeles and I’m actually opening up a restaurant in Silver Lake next year, an Italian restaurant. Orange Wine is like the hottest trend. 

I was doing the wine list at a restaurant in Hollywood called Gigi’s and I noticed I was selling more orange wine by the glass than all other colors combined, which was just mind blowing to me.

Source: instagram.com/nomadica

We made what I think is the best orange wine coming out of California. 

There’s a lot of talk about natural wine, orange wine. They’re not all created equal. My winemaker and I tasted through my favorite Italian skin contact wines and decided on a really concrete flavor profile source.

My mother in law in Orange County is drinking her orange wine with her friends. So I really feel like I’ve achieved something. That with sushi is a mind blowing pairing. 

Then our red. We found Teroldego growing in Northern California, which is a grape that’s indigenous to Northern Italy from the Alto Adige.

It’s really Alpine, like dark fruit, like a Zinfandel, but really refreshing and bright acidity and a little bit more tannin than a Zin [Zinfandel] has.

There’s a perception that we had to overcome about can and boxed wine. People think that it’s low quality.

Whenever I pour our red for somebody, the response is always, “Wow, oh my god, that’s so good.”

No matter your level of wine knowledge, you can see what I’m trying to do when you taste our red wines.

Source: instagram.com/nomadica

Joe Winger: 

What’s next for you and Nomadica?

Kristin Olszewski: 

Right now we’re in hardcore expansion mode. We were the first people to do fine wine and can, and I grew really slowly at my own pace.

I wanted to build the brand. 

A lot of people just run to retail shelves and they want to be in every grocery store on the planet. I didn’t want that. I wanted to be, at the Four Seasons, at the Ritz Carlton, at music venues. 

I wanted to be in places where people don’t typically expect to see wine in cans and boxes.

We are one of the highest velocity items at Whole Foods in our category.

We just launched all of our box wines at Total Wine in California, Texas, Florida, Colorado, and New York and got some really big plans for next year. 

So keep your eyes peeled. People are about to see me everywhere.

That’s my goal.

Source: instagram.com/nomadica

Joe Winger:

Having a canned wine at some of these nicer hotels is a challenge.

What lesson did you learn by accomplishing that rather large challenge?

Kristin Olszewski: 

That’s the best thing about how we’re positioned. Not only am I a sommelier, my VP of sales is a sommelier. My winemaker has an incredible reputation. Every person on my team comes from the wine industry and we have the best product.

When we’re sitting down and tasting with these buyers, these people that are in our industry. They recognize it. I always say taste out of a wine glass. Everything tastes better out of a wine glass. The second that they taste it, these are people who taste wine all the time and they taste a lot of bad wine.

So that has been amazing. 

We’ve always had the industry behind us. It’s a huge differentiator for us. So I think it was slow build. Everything takes a lot more time than you think it will, which is I think the biggest lesson that I’ve taken away from this business over the last seven years.

But you got to build your brand first.

Joe Winger: 

You seem like a deep-souled individual. Whether it’s wine or otherwise, is there an overall message that you want to share to inspire the audience?

Kristin Olszewski: 

We are in a time where sustainability is more important than it ever has been. You can’t base your entire brand about it, but I think it’s an absolutely necessary component to any consumer product that’s coming out today. 

One of my missions in life is to have that conversation about sustainability and have it with other brands because it needs to be convenient.

Otherwise, consumers will not buy it, care or participate or choose a sustainable option. That’s my big thing.

Joe Winger: 

What are the best ways to follow your journey and to learn more about you?

Kristin Olszewski: 

You can buy Nomadica online and our new rosé yuzu spritz, which is delicious at ExploreNomadica.com. And then our socials are at Nomadica on Instagram.

And if you want to follow me. I’m at Kristin__O.

 

Lehigh Valley, are you Following your Heart and Need Media Attention? Reach to Publicity For Good, CEO Heather Holmes explains

Lehigh Valley, are you Following your Heart and Need Media Attention? Reach to Publicity For Good, CEO Heather Holmes explains

Publicity for Good is a millennial run communications firm that provides high-level disruptive, publicity and social media services for wide array of purpose driven clients in the food, beverage and beauty industry.

In 2016 by Heather Holmes former miss Ohio international celebrated publicist and Forbes 30 under 30 nominee publicity for good has built a reputation as the countries number one PR agency for CPG brands that have social causes built into their DNA.

Publicity For Food CEO Heather Holmes

Publicity For Food CEO Heather Holmes

Today’s conversation with Heather Homes from PublicityForGood.com has been edited for length and clarity.  For the full, un-edited conversation, visit our YouTube channel here.

 

Joe Winger: 

Heather Holmes from PublicityForGood.com.  I’m a big fan because you’ve helped us facilitate a lot of previous conversations about food and drink and nutrition and all the things we like talking about. 

What’s the most important thing that you want to share with the audience today?

Heather Holmes: 

I really want to take away the unknown or worry about getting in the media. I want to make it more accessible to amazing brands and people. 

So I definitely want to share tactical advice that if someone is reading this, they have a good story in business, they have the confidence that their story is good enough and they could absolutely make an impact and grow their business by getting in the media.

Joe Winger: 

Starting with the basics, let’s pretend I have a company, I think I want public attention. I want to reach out to someone like you.

So what should I be thinking about?  What do I present to you as a step one?

Heather Holmes: 

Step one is really the intentionality of why you want to get in the media.  What’s your goal? Are you wanting to reach more people? Are you wanting to get your story out there?

Are you wanting more sales and more people to buy your product? 

You really need to know. Where you’re going first, and if you don’t know where you’re going, or you don’t have a vision, then it’s really hard to help you. 

But if you have clarity there, then we can really pull back and help you identify your story, how you’re different, your why, and why your product and or company, would be really great to be in the media.

The PublicityForGood Team

The PublicityForGood Team

 


FlavRReport.com on YouTube

FlavRReport.com on YouTube

 


Joe Winger: 

Now, looking at the grand scheme of the campaign, what kind of a campaign should we be looking for: expectations, results?

Heather Holmes: 

After we know our outcome that we’re wanting to get more sales, more backlinks, or name in the media, then what I like to do first is work with every entrepreneur, and even if you have a product, to really reflect in “why your story matters”

Why does your product matter? 

If you’ve never been in the media before, I take people for an exercise where I have them draw on a piece of paper, them as a baby, to where they are now.

I have them write the key pivotal moments that have happened in their life that have made them start that company, because those little components are absolutely a part of your story.

I’ve been in the media 700 plus times: Inside Edition, Fox News, The New York Coast, incredible media, but it hasn’t always been about being a publicist, right?

Yes. I’m the founder of Publicity For Good, but a lot of that has been my story or building a seven figure company from an airstream.

Now I have almost two under two with a third on the way. 

So you need to have your key pivotal moments because those are things you can talk about in the media.

Then we need to look at what’s going on in the news and how we bridge the gap between your product. Relevancy.

Joe Winger: 

People may not know you are a former Miss Ohio International. Can you tell us a lesson you learned from being a former Miss Ohio International that you’re using in today’s work?

Heather Holmes: 

It’s really all about your platform and reaching new audiences. 

When I was building my company I decided I wanted to get into pageants. I wanted to meet a community of like minded people that wanted to make a difference in the world. 

It was a way for me to have a platform because at the time I was talking about why you absolutely can build a profitable business. But also make a difference in your community and make a difference amongst your team. And really just build an incredible legacy. 

So that was why I did the pageants. 

I did a bunch of publicity and again, it made me relevant and timely because that was what got me in the media because I was Miss Ohio and I was only Miss Ohio International for a period of time.

So it gave me that relevancy. So you have to be relevant. 

You have to bridge the gap between what’s happening in the news, or we often use Awareness Days, National Nutrition Month, National Social Media Day, and you have to position your product or yourself as the solution. 

[For example], we were talking about an incredible juice brand, but most pitches I see are very promotional, right?  It needs to be how you or your product simplifies people’s lives. How are you adding value? Or you don’t have a product you need to inspire people.

Joe Winger: 

You’re growing a 7- figure business.   What’s it like growing a huge business while you’re taking care of your kids and for a while you were living out of your Airstream

Heather Holmes: 

We lived out of a 23 foot airstream for 3 1/2 years. I went from dating to engaged, to married to [my first child] Rose, who’s almost two, who lived in our airstream with us. 

The year the pandemic [hit] was our first million dollar year.

I think a lot of the reason why it was that year is because when March hit, everyone was so scared that we lost about 40% of our business, number one. 

Number two, we had to hustle and grit to make it. There was no choice of failing. All the distractions were gone. 

When you’re in an Airstream, all you have is your laptop, but we had no external distractions, and then everything else was closed.

So the only focus we could do was our business and we had to scale out of necessity because we didn’t want to lose what we had put so much time in. 

Fast forward, we now have 22 acres where we live and we have two under two, we have one on the way, we’re a full time team of 40, and it’s not easy.

I say transparently, it’s a hot mess. There are so many miracles that happen every day, but life is one, right?  I can’t turn off my founder hat and publicist hat and then “Oh, I’m a mom”. It’s all one. 

So yes, I might have Rose [my daughter] on a call with me from time to time, but I’ve learned that the more you step in and embrace your life, who you are and the realness, sometimes people opt out and that’s okay.

And this is my legacy.

I like these missions that we’re doing good work to us is way more than a business. We want to grow your brand and mission and we take it so seriously. 

So it’s not perfect. It’s not perfectly scheduled. I’m a full time mom, all the time on the weekends when the kids are sleeping, we’re working.

We know where we want to go, and these clients and ambitions that we’re aligned with and supporting are helping people with their health. 

Joe Winger: 

What an incredible story to share.

Heather Holmes: I have so much to share. Like I was adopted when I was a week old to having two under two and another one on the way and building a business and building a homestead.

It’s so crazy. Austin, who’s my husband, the first week we were dating, we’re all about intentionality.  I have the journal and we mapped everything out. 

This year, we were going to get engaged then married. Austin and I,l we will have been together almost five years.

We’ve had a kid every year. Rose will be two in June.

We want to build a business. We want to impact our clients, brands, and scale their business. We want our team to get better and flourish in their personal lives too.

This is our mission and I’ve seen so many miracles happen from getting in the media on a personal level. 

I was talking to [a business owner client] and her business grew by 40% from getting in the media. 

One of my favorite cookie brands, a mom had an incredible heart story. She went on our local news and she brought in $12,000 worth of sales, just the local people wanting to support her.

On the flip side, when people Google my name, it’s like my social currency, there’s all these articles. So I have so much peace in that.  Our kids will see the good work we’re doing. 

Joe Winger: 

You’re talking to an audience of foodies. What is your favorite meal? 

Heather Holmes: 

We just had Indian food last night that my husband made and it was so good. 

We used to live in San Diego and I think San Diego has the best food. It’s all fresh. We’ve traveled a lot. We’ve been to Bali, their food is pretty incredible too. Where we live [now] we’re right outside of Asheville and Charlotte.  So they have some good restaurants, but like I’m not in the phase right now where I’m the foodie like I used to be. 

[At our house] we have chickens and we have fresh eggs. So I’m obsessed with fresh eggs every morning. You’re living a good life when you can go get your eggs and have them at home with some goat cheese.

And honestly, I love Livermuth. Crazy. So I’d say some Livermuth fried in a cast iron with some eggs and goat cheese. It’s the simple things that I really do love.

Joe Winger: 

Heather Holmes with Publicity for Good. As we wrap up, whether it’s a potential client, a potential vendor, someone wanting your help with publicity, what are the best ways to find, follow you, websites, social media, etc?

Heather Holmes: 

You can go to PublicityForGood.com You can find me on social media as well. 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/heatherdesantis

https://www.instagram.com/heatherdesantis

https://www.instagram.com/publicity.for.good

https://www.facebook.com/heatherdesantis

Lehigh Valley weekend trip Love Tasting Bourbons? This Fredericksburg Virginia Bed & Breakfast Ironclad inn Might Be Your Dream Visit, Owen King from Ironclad Distillery shares Delicious Details

Love Tasting Bourbons? This Fredericksburg Virginia Bed & Breakfast Ironclad inn Might Be Your Dream Visit, Owen King from Ironclad Distillery shares Delicious Details

Ironclad Inn is the first B & B & B – Bed & Breakfast & Bourbon Tasting Room.

Ironclad Inn is the first B & B & B – Bed & Breakfast & Bourbon Tasting Room

Ironclad Inn is the first B & B & B – Bed & Breakfast & Bourbon Tasting Room

Today’s conversation with Distiller Owen King from Ironclad Distillery has been edited for length and clarity.  For the full, un-edited conversation, visit our YouTube channel here.

 

Owen King, Ironclad Distillery

Owen King, Ironclad Distillery

Joe Winger: 

A lot of really cool things are happening right now. I want to jump into your tasting room, the distillery, we’ll get into bourbon tastings in a few minutes.

But first and foremost, what’s the most important thing with Ironclad right now for you?

Owen King: 

The most important thing about Ironclad for me right now is the same thing it’s always been, trying to make the best bourbon we can

The other thing is spreading the word about our bed and breakfast; and bourbon. It’s a bed and breakfast in Fredericksburg that when you’re there, you can drink bourbon.

Ironclad's famous Old Fashioned cocktail

Ironclad’s famous Old Fashioned cocktail

We make a lot of old fashions there and we always have all these leftover oranges. Now the perfect thing is in the morning you have fresh squeezed orange juice from our [leftover] old fashions.

It’s really working double duty now.

Besides that I just love the fact that we can now expand our distillery up to Fredericksburg. So we can have more people try our bourbon and enjoy our bourbon, which is the goal.

Joe Winger: 

Getting to know you before you jump into Ironclad, I want to use the word “were”, you were a football player and cooking changed your life.

Tell us more about your cooking. Was there a special dish that enhanced your life?

Owen King: 

I’m Italian. So obviously with the Italian genes, we share our love through food. Growing up I cooked a lot.

When I went to college [I cooked] for my teammates.  I’d make dinner for everyone. So when we decided to open the bourbon distillery, I figured, I know how to cook. I think I could probably figure out how to make bourbon. 

I know flavors. I know how things go well together. I think I have a pretty decent palette. 

So putting all those things together to make a great bourbon was the goal. 

Food is one of those things where you never stop improving. I feel the same about bourbon.


FlavRReport.com on YouTube

FlavRReport.com on YouTube


 

Joe Winger: 

Is there a favorite dish?

Owen King: 

Breaded chicken cutlets and spaghetti.

That is how it started. Then I was like “I really like cheese.”  Maybe I could put cheese in with the breadcrumbs and then do that. Then I started expanding.  Chicken Parm.  Making my own sauce.  Thinking I could add something here to make that better.

It’s the same way I look at bourbon.

Thinking, “I like what this person’s doing. Let me see what they’re doing. I can build off that to make it work on my own.”

Creating my own recipes, going from there, just continually tweaking little things here and there.

We’ll make a 5% difference, maybe a 10% difference.

Joe Winger: 

Ironclad Distillery is in Newport News, Virginia. The bed and breakfast Ironclad Inn is in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

For most people when we think of bourbon, we don’t always think of Virginia as the first choice. What would surprise us most about coming down to Virginia for a bourbon tasting and staying the night?

Ironclad Distillery

Ironclad Distillery

Owen King: 

If you’re coming down to Virginia, you have to remember Virginia is the birthplace of American spirits. The first place spirits were made in the new colonies, in the new world, was here in Virginia. 

The first corn liquor which would eventually become bourbon, was made in Virginia.

You can also talk about Elijah Craig, who was from Fairfax County, Virginia, before he moved out to Kentucky. 

On top of that, Kentucky wasn’t a state until 1793. Evan Williams was doing distillation in 1783, and at that point Kentucky was still Virginia. 

The birthplace of bourbon is right here in Virginia.

I’ve been to Kentucky a lot. They talk about the birthplace of bourbon being there in Kentucky.

Maybe the territory it’s in was Kentucky, but it was still Virginia at the time.

Whenever someone comes by, I can tell them the history of actual bourbon, where you’re gonna get the whole story, not just the fantasized story that you get in Kentucky.

Joe Winger: 

I’m incredibly glad you just shared that.

Let’s talk about The Ironclad Bed and Breakfast now. The bourbon tasting room, the event space.

Owen King: 

We wanted to spread our bourbon out around the state. We’ve always really liked Fredericksburg. It’s a beautiful town. It’s got a ton of history to it.

Nothing goes better with bourbon than a good story.

So we can always tell our history while drinking. So with our bed and breakfast, we looked at what the bigger guys were doing. A lot of them were starting to have these places where you could stay [the night] and get an experience to go along with it.

We really wanted to spread our Ironclad experience. 

We have a tasting room. It’s beautifully decorated by my sister. We’ve got a bottle shop where you can pick up pretty much every one of our bourbons that are available. We’ve got a bar so you can try it from our seasonal cocktail menus where we change it five times a year.

We have a winter, a fall, a spring, summer [menu].Then a holiday menu as well. 

No matter what time of year you’re there, you’re trying something that’s going to go well seasonally.  

Everyone likes seasonal drinks.  You don’t want to drink in the fall, what you’d drink in the summer.

We always have an old fashioned and it’s a damn good old fashioned. 

Then we also have an event space. We have weddings. We’ve had 50th birthday parties. 

Ironclad Inn wedding and special events

Ironclad Inn wedding and special events

We’ve had any event that you want to tie into with our bourbon or just if you want a beautiful event space in a building that was built in 1793 we have that as a great option. 

It’s a really cool spot that you can go and see and experience.

It’s something we want to share, our love for bourbon with everyone.

Whether you’re here in Newport News or in Fredericksburg, you’ll get a King family member there to tell you our story and tell you all about our bourbon and show you around.

Ironclad Bottled-in-Bond Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Ironclad Bottled-in-Bond Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Joe Winger: 

Outstanding.  Let’s get to the tasty part now.  You have several amazing bottles.  When someone comes to your tasting room this weekend, what should they be looking forward to? 

Owen King: 

We do a few bottle releases that are once a year for us. One of my favorites. 

A five year, three barrel blend of three 30 gallon barrels. Bottle of Bond.

The history alone is one of my favorite things to talk about.  In 1897 the federal government stepped in because there was people dying from drinking bad whiskey.

They stepped in to “certify” everything in there.

“If you bottle it at four years old and at 100 proof, we will claim that this is a bottle and bond bourbon certified” by the federal government that it is safe to drink.

That story alone is one of my favorites of bourbon lore. 

We just want to make sure that we do that every year that we can.

It’s absolutely one of my favorite bourbons. It’s our four grain mash bill. 70% corn 10% wheat, 10% rye, 10% malted barley. 

So with the corn and the wheat, it adds a nice sweetness to it. But then the rye is there to kind of balance that whole thing out.  Before it gets [to be] a very sweet bourbon, it balances out, a little baking spice, maybe even some clove, maybe a little black pepper.

It balances it out to be a nice, rounded bourbon.

Ironclad Sweeter Creations Maple Syrup Cask

Ironclad Sweeter Creations Maple Syrup Cask

Joe Winger:

Let’s move on to your Maple Syrup Cask

Owen King: 

Absolutely delicious. But this is a cast finish, not a flavored bourbon.  So we’re not adding maple syrup to it. People who drink it might think it’s going to be super sweet and not going to like it. Because they don’t like maple syrup.

This is my version of drinking maple syrup responsibly and not getting diabetes. 

After we empty our barrels, we give them to a maple syrup producer in upstate New York.  He’ll age his maple syrup using our bourbon barrels. 

By doing that through transference, there’s about a gallon of bourbon stuck in the staves of the wood. So when he puts a new liquid in there, that maple syrup is going to absorb into the wood and that bourbon is going to come back out.

Now his maple syrup is picking up that beautiful bourbon flavor and we are picking up all that maple syrup flavor into the wood. 

When he brings those barrels back down to us, we put our aged bourbon back in there and we let him finish in there for about three to six months. 

After we take the bourbon out, it’s now got this beautiful, mild sweetness, but it’s got that hint of maple syrup at the end.

I always say, I don’t want it to be maple syrup with a hint of bourbon. I want it to be bourbon with a hint of maple syrup, which I think it absolutely is.

Ironclad Missouri Toasted Oak Cask

Ironclad Missouri Toasted Oak Cask

Joe Winger: 

The maple syrup is so subtle, almost a tertiary flavor to it. 

Moving on to the Missouri Toasted Oak Cask.

Owen King: 

This is a double oak bourbon.  With double oaking, what you’re going to do is exactly how it sounds. 

You’re going to go from one new charred oak barrel. But instead of a second new charred oak barrel, we’re going to go to a lightly toasted barrel.

So my analogy for this is you’re sitting at a campfire and you’ve got a marshmallow. You’re roasting your marshmallow over the flame and it gets burnt. It catches on fire. So now you’ve got that roasted marshmallow where you’re still gonna eat it because it’s a roasted marshmallow.

So you eat it and it’s still sweet. But it’s got that sort of maybe a bitter acrid note just cause you burnt those sugars. You haven’t toasted them. 

Now you take another marshmallow.  You’re a little more patient this time.  You’re going to stick it down in the coals and you’ll slowly rotate it until you’ve got that perfectly golden brown marshmallow. 

When you taste it, it’s now twice as sweet because you just caramelize those sugars as opposed to burning them. 

It’s the same with a charred oak barrel to a toasted oak barrel.  With that charring of those oaks, you’re gonna you’re still gonna have that sweetness.  We’re amplifying that sweetness with the toasting of the oak. 

With this one you get those softer vanilla flavors like toasted marshmallow. You get a cookie dough flavor,  maybe it’s raw cookie dough without the chocolate chips.

Joe Winger: 

That’s amazing. mmIs there an extra bottle when I come down there, I’m in the tasting room, another good bottle we should ask for?

Owen King: 

Another one that we have right now that is a very limited run.   Very small release is our blueberry mead cask finish

We give our barrels to a meadery in Williamsburg, Virginia and they make this blueberry honey mead.  So now they have this bourbon barrel aged blueberry mead. And when they’re done with them, they give them back to us. 

You’re not necessarily overwhelmed with [a] heavy blueberry flavor but it opens up to this really nice fruitiness and then like a fermented honey flavor on the front end. 

It’s so unique, but it’s great neat on the rocks.

Joe Winger: 

If we come down for the weekend, we visit the distillery in Newport News. What’s a tour like? 

Owen King: 

If people aren’t the biggest bourbon drinker, I want you to walk away saying, “Okay, I found something that is made with bourbon that I like.”

We are a distillery that only makes bourbon. 

I want to make sure that everyone who comes here has something they can enjoy.  This isn’t an uppity bourbon bar.

I want someone to come and be able to say,  I’m not the biggest bourbon fan. What kind of cocktails do you have?” We always have a cocktail on every single menu that’s open for everyone. 

Everyone’s going to love it and whether you’re a big bourbon fan or not.  We just really want to be accommodating. We want to be a fun place for everyone to hang out. 

We want to tell our story, the history of the Ironclad ships.  Go through our distillery tour, we’ll show you that. If you want to know the history of Fredericksburg, or the history of What the bed and breakfast is we’ll tell you that.

Nothing pairs better with bourbon than a good story. And we really care about spreading that word.

Joe Winger: 

Whether it’s a romantic getaway, a weekend getaway, why choose your bed and breakfast instead of a hotel?

Owen King: 

While we’ve only had it a short time.  But we’ve been adding things here and there. You’re going to get a fresh orange juice in the morning, made with the oranges that we used for our old fashions [last night]. 

We have our barrel aged maple syrup for your pancakes.  So you’re going to have that maple syrup with a hint of bourbon. 

Ironclad Inn

Ironclad Inn

We really drive home that it’s a bed breakfast and bourbon experience. Get immersed in the bourbon culture.  That’s our goal.

Joe Winger: 

Any favorite bourbon and food pairings?

Owen King: 

Bourbon’s wonderful for food pairings.  

We’ve gone from pasta pairings to pizza pairings.  Anything that’s fatty is a perfect pairing.  Pork belly with a cherry reduction over top of it with one of our bourbons straight 

We have this bourbon cream, Buzz’s Bourbon Cream, where it’s made with our small batch bourbon that’s infused with coffee beans, cacao nibs, and vanilla beans. That one over vanilla ice cream is perfection. 

You’re adding a little booze, some coffee, a little bit of chocolate.

You take a bite and all of a sudden you had three scoops and it’s gone 30 seconds later.

Joe Winger: 

What’s the best way to learn more about Ironclad Distillery and Ironclad Inn?

Owen King: 

We have our website at ironcladdistillery.com. All of our social media Facebook and Instagram

Lehigh Valley Discovers Aphrodise Sparkling Wine, Taste it Before Your next Party, Frank Schilling Reveals

Lehigh Valley Discovers Aphrodise Sparkling Wine, Taste it Before Your next Party, Frank Schilling Reveals

Whether it’s a wedding, party, or just drinks with dinner.  We want taste.  Maybe we want a few drinks.  We also want to protect ourselves from tomorrow’s hangover.

It’s hard to find a drink that can take day to night quite like a Greek rosé and Aphrodise wants to prove it to you.

Frank Schilling, Co-Founder of Aphrodise

Frank Schilling, Co-Founder of Aphrodise

Today’s conversation with Frank Schilling from Aphrodise has been edited for length and clarity.  For the full, un-edited conversation, visit our YouTube channel here.

Joe Winger: 

Our audience is foodies. We’re wine lovers. What’s the most important message today you want to share with an audience of foodies and wine lovers?

Frank Schilling: 

I’m an Epicurean myself. I don’t have a lot of pretense around my love of food and wine, I just love great food and wine and I’ve tasted so many great things. 

I’m a character who hasn’t had a meal at home in 22 years. As an internet entrepreneur, I used to work, literally seven days a week for many years and eating out was my escape from my work because it’s the one place my laptop and phone couldn’t rule the day, or the moment.

For me, eating out was that escape and that vacation of the moment. 

I created a life around dining out probably like many of your listeners or viewers. And I have a deep well of respect for great food and wine and also for the people who admire it and chase it, it’s a, it’s one of the great things in life.

I’m always stunned by people who don’t truly love food. I feel like they’re missing something and leaving part of life on the table.

Discovering Aphrodise sparkling wine

Joe Winger: 

You have this new discovery. Let’s talk a little bit about Aphrodise. Tell me about how you discovered the grape varietal?

Frank Schilling: 

I’m a wine lover. I tasted my way through Bordeaux and Burgundy.

All the way through, I could never really tell a Merlot from a Cab.  I’d be lying to you if I said I knew what a Nebbiolo or a Valpolicella was and how all those grapes differed from each other.

I do enjoy great brands of wine. I do understand the difference between years and what impacts a year. 

But when I was building [my restaurant] it was COVID. I was doing some fingertip math and I realized we’re gonna have to start bringing over a lot of sparkling [wine] for mimosas and for brunch. It was 300 seat restaurant, two seatings, 600 seats on a brunch [shift].


FlavRReport.com on YouTube

FlavRReport.com on YouTube


You start to do the math and you realize, “Wow, 52 weekends a year, bottomless mimosas. I’m going to need about 3,000 bottles of wine per quarter of champagne. So let’s go out and get some.  We live on an island and supply chain management wasn’t really an option.

So we started to taste through different varieties of champagne

I came to discover what Tom Cruise did in [the movie] “Cocktail”, which is, champagne is like perfume going down, but like sewage on the way back.

It comes from a well meant place, not mean spirited towards the great region of Champagne.

Joining the Aphrodise sparkling wine party

Joining the Aphrodise sparkling wine party

It’s just the nature of Champenois produced wine and that Chardonnay grape that makes a beautiful champagne is such that you just can’t consume a lot of it in the heat or humidity in the sun.

Traditional Champagne vs Aphrodise Sparkling Wine

It just isn’t the type of forgiving libation that lets you function afterwards and you don’t feel good. 

The yeast isn’t good for a lot of people. Not everybody’s impacted the same way but, a large portion of the population doesn’t do well with champagne and heat in sunlight  as a day drink.

The recovery profile isn’t something that people look forward to.

Aphrodise from the grape varietal called Xenomavro

Aphrodise from the grape varietal called Xenomavro

I discovered that I’d had that problem myself for years. The yeast wasn’t working for me. 

So when I discovered Aphrodise, it was a grape varietal called Xenomavro. 

A high altitude grape, Greece’s most noble grape.

It’s a very forgiving drink.  In a sparkling format, it’s something you can drink in the heat, it’s something you can drink in larger quantities, I can tell you that the recovery profile, for me and for many others, is exceptionally good.

Meaning you can drink a lot of it and bounce back and go again. 

As a wine producer, that’s music to your ears. But it’s also nice knowing I’m making people feel better. I’m not putting something in the market that’s going to make you feel sick after overconsumption.

At a party enjoying Aphrodise Sparkling Wine

At a party enjoying Aphrodise Sparkling Wine

Joe Winger: 

Just to give a little backstory.  Frank, I hope you’ll talk to us a little bit about one of your first adventures.  You mentioned you’re an internet entrepreneur, you had some success with website domains. 

Can you explain a little bit about that and maybe a lesson you learned from that journey?

Frank Schilling: 

It’s a lesson that some of your listeners and viewers probably have some experience with.

I registered a domain name back in the dot com era. Then I registered 2 [dot com names], then 10 and I got some generic names like wine.com , cars.com.  Names like those.

I started to realize, wow, these names have value.

I wound up registering a lot of generic names and then I had difficulty managing them because in those early days of the Internet, it was all very unwieldy. The infrastructure for managing those names. 

So I created a lot of that management infrastructure.  Then in the process, grew that business over a 20 year horizon and wound up selling the 3 companies that comprised that enterprise to a company called GoDaddy, which we’ve probably all heard of.

So some of their infrastructure was my infrastructure and is now their infrastructure. 

To the extent you like the new GoDaddy offering for managing domain names, you’re welcome, for the small part I played in helping that become a reality.

In the old days, I was traveling a lot. I had an office in Manchester in the United Kingdom, one in Newport beach in California and my main office here in the Cayman Islands.  I would travel between the offices, New York, Miami and many other cities, just for work all around the world. 

Enjoying Aphrodise Sparkling Wine

Enjoying Aphrodise Sparkling Wine

At the beginning of COVID that all came to a grinding halt.  I sold those businesses and decided that with my love of food, if I was going to stay in the Cayman Islands, I realized I’m gonna have to eat at home more and I realized, the offerings of restaurants wasn’t the depth was hoping for.

So I built the restaurant, as a result of that that then led to Aphrodise.

Joe Winger: 

I love the full circle of it. 

Since we’ve mentioned the restaurant once or twice. Can we hear more about your restaurant Mykonos Cayman?

Frank Schilling: 

Sure.  During COVID lockdowns, there was a new plaza going in on the beach and I had mentally designed a restaurant years ago, but sold the real estate for it.

So when I saw the plaza going up, I was crestfallen. These guys built my dream on their land.  My fantasy of what a place would look like. But then I was happy to learn that the plaza was a strata titled affair. It wasn’t owned by one conglomerate.

So I bought into that plaza so I could control the real estate. Then once I had the real estate I did a sort of “money no object” fit out that left a very residential-looking restaurant really quite beautiful. 

I love the culture of Greece and I love the idea of the long lunch and the lack of pretense in the party and [being] all welcoming, with children, grownups will dance on the table and get really carried away.

The kids are running around. It’s all very loving and family oriented.

Whereas, Ibiza is a little more drug fueled and party, ragey and a little more intense.

I loved the soulful day party of Greece. We’re on an island and the Greeks are on islands. So I thought how nice it would be to bring some of that to my reserved island here in Grand Cayman. Grand Cayman is more of a place you quietly go to escape and enjoy the beach and family.

It’s not really a St. Bart’s where you go to seek out a great party. I always hoped that there’d be room for at least one place like they have in St. Bart’s here. 

So I built a really big place, 320 seats, super residential, relaxed, welcoming, But completely devoid of pretense.  You can come in, flip flops and shorts, or you can come in a beautiful gown as we’d hope in the evening. 

But we don’t have a lot of structure and posture around it. We want you to feel free when you come. So that, I built that venue here, and you can see it online.

It’s called Mykonos Cayman. We have an Instagram where people can learn about the restaurant.

When you come, please come for a glass of Aphrodise on me. Mention Frank said I could have a glass of Aphrodise

Joe Winger: 

You introduced Aphrodise at the Las Vegas Wedding Show.  How did it go?   Why do you think Aphrodise is the best drink to have at a wedding?

Frank Schilling:

It’s the color of love. It’s a beautiful color of red. 

We took it to the wedding show because I thought that wedding planners would share the same pain point that I discovered as a restaurateur.  Which is, if you want to buy a bottle of great champagne, easy, you go to the liquor store.

But when you start getting up there and you need 100 cases for an event or a series of events, getting that quantity consistently and getting a good product is actually quite difficult. And expensive.

So we thought we’d introduce Aphrodise.

Knowing that we could go directly to the wedding planners and help their fulfillment and execution and deliver a better product.  

Something that people could really lavish in the heat or at an after party where you’re really enjoying the bubbly and then feel better in the morning.  That was really the goal. 

My first champagne experience was at a wedding and I drank a little too much.  For the next day or two, I was laid up.

So we try to bring something to market that is good for people or at least makes them feel good in the moment and helps them recover.

We had a line all day.  I poured a 5,000 servings of Aphrodise that day. People loved it.

Let me tell you, that’s a lot of work, opening bottles. It looks very glamorous. But when you’re really going at velocity, my hands hurt at the end of the day.

We got a lot of upstart business out of that. People were like, “Wow, this stuff is actually quite good.’ 

Joe Winger: 

Let’s talk about flavor profile.

Pouring out 5,000 samples, what’s the most common feedback we get about the flavor, aroma, the mouthfeel, what are we experiencing?

Frank Schilling: 

So when you sip a drink and you talk about mouthfeel or we have a glass of wine or champagne and you have a sip and there’s a little bit of a yeasty, gamey after taste.

For some people in red wine, it can be somewhat desirable. 

In champagne, unfortunately it stays with it as well. 

When you’re having champagne, which is more of a celebratory libation, that’s not a desirable quality. You want to have something that finishes clean in your mouth. 

If you have lots of sips, you’re going to get a good buzz. You want to be able to recover quickly and elegantly without that headache that comes from the yeast and all those elements that bring its flavor.

So the taste of Aphrodise is a very clean mouthfeel and it finishes with a light crisp apple or cherry. Some people taste strawberry. 

It’s a small bubble. Very light charmat, produced in small vats, a naturally produced bubbly effect. It lives in tanks for 3 months and it gains its bubbly in a natural way. 

A little more expensive to produce that way.  Prosecco, for example, will carbonate.  They’ll add carbonation just like you would to a can of soda.

We don’t carbonate. We allow the bubbly to form naturally through the fermentation process, which is how it should be. 

Co-Founders of Aphrodise Sparkling Wine

Co-Founders of Aphrodise Sparkling Wine

Joe Winger:

When it comes to food and wine pairing.  What would be your favorite dish to pair with a glass of Aphrodise?

Frank Schilling: 

Aphrodise is literally the only thing that I drink, and I’m crestfallen when I can’t find it. 

It’s a dark rosé so it goes nicely with meat – a burger or a steak.  Chicken or fish. It’s also a great dessert drink.

I like Aphrodise as a warmup libation and as an after dinner, like celebratory drink if you’re having a party, there’s an after party.

Joe Winger: 

You’ve done a lot in your life. You’ve had a lot of adventures, a lot of successes.

Any inspiration or lessons you can share with the audience?

Frank Schilling: 

The answer is love for people and love for living your best life, love for conviviality. I have a lot of love for the people that I encountered that have helped me in my journey. Those who’ve just been a part of my life, there for a season or there for a reason, as the saying goes, I try to embrace everybody.

See the good in everybody. There are people you click with more than other people. I say yes to everything unless it hurts me. I have a real lust for life and a good energy level.

Joe Winger: 

If you’re loving Frank’s energy and his positivity, you wrote an amazing book. Would you mind giving us a summary of the book and what it was like writing it?

Frank Schilling: 

It’s called Omnia Vincent: the universe wants you to win. 

I wrote the book as I’d sold my businesses. It was during COVID lockdowns and everybody was [going through a] “The end of the world” mood type thing at that time.

You write a book like this for your grandchildren. If one day they want to know more about grandpa and did our success come from or where did our financial wealth come from?

It’s nice for them to know a little about the person who tried hard and maybe you can see something in yourself.  So I really wrote it for my future ancestors.

I want to be the guy who left something for the grandkids and great grandkids to understand a little about my brain. And it’s really just written in short micro chapters. 

Joe Winger:

Because you’re an epicurean, if you’re going to have any plate for dinner tonight, what would it be and why? 

Frank Schilling: 

Tonight I’m actually feeling a Pittsburgh style steak, seared on the outside. I haven’t had good red meat in about a week, and we just got some A5 Wagyu at the restaurant Our chef is a butcher and he’s also a certified Angus ambassador. So he gets great cuts. 

We do a beautiful short rib burger, which is really lean short rib again on the outside with a bit of a char finish.  We have a charcoal grill inside the restaurant, which is beautiful. 

Joe Winger: 

Thank you so much for your time.  If someone wants to learn more, what are the best ways to find and follow websites, social media for Aphrodise?

Frank Schilling: 

DrinkAphrodise on Instagram and the website DrinkAphrodise.com

 

Perfect Passover Wines ? We asked Kosher Expert for Lehigh Valley

Perfect Passover Wines ? We asked Kosher Expert for Lehigh Valley Passover 2024

Passover starts Monday April 22 at sundown and ends April 30th. But today’s conversation is about the flavors of Seder dinner.  

Jay Buchsbaum

Royal Wine and Kosher.com’s Jay Buchsbaum visits to talk about flavor, tradition, tastes for every family member and what’s exciting in the wine world for 2024.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.  For the full, unedited conversation, visit our FlavRReport YouTube channel.

 

Joe Winger: Jay, welcome back.  I appreciate that you’re returning.  Last time was great and we learned alot.

Jay Buchsbaum: Thank you for having me. Wow. This is great. So getting invited back for a second date, that’s really cool.

Joe Winger: Passover is just around the corner and we want to talk about different over wines to enjoy during the celebration and some great wine pairings.

I wanted to start off with what might be one of the popular new bottles – Carmel Black Cabernet Sauvignon.

Jay Buchsbaum:  It’s very hot and the reason it’s very hot is because people want something that’s rich and flavorful, especially the American palate, what we call the New World style.  

Opulence, fruit forward, but they don’t want to spend a fortune like you’d have to from some fancy vineyard in Napa or from Judean Hills. When it comes to Israel or the Golan Heights, and this is one of those wines where they’ve put together this at the beginning of opulence, lots of fruit forwardness, 14 months in oak and about $25.

So it’s really one of those really wonderful wines. What I noticed, and they say they forgot to do it, but I noticed that it does not have an appellation specific, except for Israel.  The reason I believe the winemaker did that –  I don’t know for sure – he talks about it on the back [of the bottle] that they brought the grapes from some of the finest vineyards.  He chose small amounts [of grapes] from the best vineyards from different places and put them all together, carefully crafting it so that it’s big and rich and flavorful and still under $30 bucks.

Joe Winger: That sounds amazing. What are some good food pairings that you’d recommend with it?

Jay Buchsbaum: A roast would be great. On the first and second night of Passover, we don’t officially roast anything because we don’t want people to think that it was a sacrificial lamb that was done in Egypt because we don’t have it today yet.

Until the reestablishment of the temple on the Temple Mount at some future time. 

So people cook a roast in the oven, it’s not barbecued. That’s what they’re talking about from a historical, spiritual sense –  but a delicious roast, maybe chicken marsala, where you have mushrooms and caramelized onions, you have a really rich flavor to go with that.

A lot of the Sephardic foods are like that too. We talked about traditional foods. Traditional foods from where? Sometimes it’s Eastern Europe, sometimes it’s Middle Eastern, and sometimes it’s Sephardic.

Lots of seders have a mix of all [cuisines] because you have melded families.

 

Joe Winger: Royal Wine currently has a wide roster of wine suggestions for Passover  Something for every adult at the table, from Grandpa to 25 year old Grand-daughter and her boyfriend.

 

Jay Buchsbaum: That’s a great point.  I’m going to give you the last one first only because I thought this was so much fun when I thought about it and I actually might do it. 

Let’s say the boyfriend is coming over. He wants to bring you something and he doesn’t know what to get you because, he’s not that observant..

So I thought, why don’t you end the meal with something Sparkling. The Momentous Rosé. That might be fun. You go out with a pop, so to speak. There’s Vera Wang’s  Prosecco Rose that’s also wonderful.   Both around $20.

But if you want to go really high end, why not go with the Rothschild Brut Rosé from Champagne, which is magnificent.  It’s 100% Pinot Noir, and about $100 a bottle.

So you have great diversity and  accessible and quite delicious sparkling wines.

Grandpa, or if you have a real fine wine guy. You have beautiful wines from the Rothschild vineyards, the Haute Medoc. which is in the upper $30s, and then you even have Grand Cru’s LesCombes, Grand Cru Margaux as an example, and some amazing wines from the Herzog Winery in California like the Alexander Valley Herzog Reserve, or the Napa Valley Herzog Reserve.  

We have a beautiful Lake County Reserve Cabernet from California. Big, opulent, delicious, mouth filling. 

I start my Seder usually with a rosé.  The reason for that is because you’re starting your Seder, having eaten nothing pretty much since the morning. So you’re on an empty stomach and the tradition is to finish at least the first glass. So I try to start with a rosé.  It’s a little lighter, a little lower in alcohol, a little lighter in texture and, and I like to start with an Israeli wine first.

Joe Winger: Iis there a hidden gem as far as just high quality with amazing value?

Jay Buchsbaum: There’s a really wonderful wine from New Zealand.

It’s a white wine, not a red wine. It’s made by the Rothschild family, but it’s made in New Zealand, called Rimapere Sauvignon Blanc. Less than $30 for sure.  Fresh, sweet lemons, but with enough acidity and structure, almost like a palette cleanser.

Joe Winger:  Anything that you’re looking forward to in the next few  months that wine lovers should be getting excited for?

Jay Buchsbaum: We were missing rosés from Israel for a whole year because of the sabbatical year. We skipped that vintage of roses, and so they’re back for the first time in 24 months for this Passover.

I love some of the new Italian wines. One of them to take a look at is Cantina Giuliano.  it’s a boutique winery. They make 3,000 – 4,000 cases maximum. It’s run by a young couple and I just had them over at my house for Sabbath Shabbat.  His wines blew people away.

I think the most exciting thing is our new winemaker and what our new winemakers is doing with our grapes. His selection and his final product over at the Herzog Wine Cellars. And that could be

Our new winemaker, his name is David Galzignato. He’s with us about three years and he has a background that is with some of the finest and smallest, medium sized boutiques. 

He was going to be moving to France, going to go for his MW [masters of wine] and they asked him if he’d come and consider working with us and he did. He has been making literally blow your brains out wonderful wines so our Napa Cabernet, our Alexander Valley Cabernet are just up and down the line, the wines, especially the reds are just rich and opulent.

He got Joseph Herzog to buy a visual sorter, they range in cost between a $100,000 – 1 million dollar machine.

What they do is when the grapes come in [during harvest] and there’s something called sorting tables.

Done by hand [vineyard workers literally sorting through the harvested grape bunches, looking for]  damaged or a little beat up or whatever, and they only allow the perfect grapes to go through. 

This visual sorter does this electronically by computer, so nothing is missed, zero. As a result, the grape quality is much higher

Famously said in The New Yorker Years ago, “There’s only three things that matter in good winemaking. Good grapes. Good grapes. Good grapes.”

So, the fruit that we get and the fruit that we end up making wine out of is literally the most important thing.

By using these kinds of methods, which are not inexpensive. But the quality is through the roof. We’re looking to make a 100 point wine one of these days and I think it might we might get close this year. 

Lehigh Valley is Cocktail Heaven! Now Madre Mezcal offers a Gateway to a Better Taste

Lehigh Valley is Cocktail Heaven! Now Madre Mezcal offers a Gateway to a Better Taste

Today’s conversation is with Ryan Fleming from Madre Mezcal.  The LA nightlife veteran reveals his time working behind the bar in some of Southern California’s hottest spots, as well as the inspiration that got him to travel to Mexico, discovering Mezcal. 

The aroma, flavors, science and food pairings for Mezcal.

Love Tequila?  Discover the Gateway to better taste with Madre Mezcal's Ryan Fleming

Love Tequila?  Discover the Gateway to better taste with Madre Mezcal’s Ryan Fleming

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.  For the full, unedited conversation, visit our YouTube Channel.

 

“…I’ve been a big Mezcal lover before I ever sold it…”

Joe Winger:  Can you share the behind the scenes or how the brand itself was created? 

Ryan Fleming: I’ve been a big Mezcal lover before I ever even sold it or made a dollar doing that. So I got to actually meet Ron Cooper, who is the legend that started the Del Maguey label back in 2011.

I got to drink rabbit Pachuca with him and all these other amazing things. The reason I bring him up is he’s a kind of one of the people that we look up to, how to sustainably bring a brand and how to create culture that crosses boundaries in a sense. 

He has a beautiful book that I recommend anyone to read if you haven’t read Ron Cooper’s book.

But we share a similar story. One of our founding partners, Tony Farfalla and one of my good friends, Stefan Tony’s an artist and he was literally traveling through Oaxaca doing documentaries and embracing the art and culture. He happened to meet Jose Morales, which is the first family we ever worked with.

If you have original bottles of Madre [Mezcal] before the labels have changed, it used to say Jose’s name on the bottle. 

So Tony was bringing bottles back to Brooklyn in plastic water bottles and it snowballed. His friends in Brooklyn were like, this stuff’s great. Started out in plastic water bottles in 2014. I think it was 2016 when our first glass bottles actually came by and we became like of a more legit brand and company.  But it started with Tony and Stefan; and they brought on our CEO and COO, Chris and Davide.

Chris actually is one of the founding driving forces in the electronic scene in the 90s in Europe. Chris comes from a very artistic, music based background. Then he went on to work for some bigger alcohol brands in the vodka world. 

madre mezcal

Davide, who is our COO, my direct boss, who I love, is Italian and his whole family built furniture and he got his big break by importing and bringing furniture over [to the United States]. He also works with a beautiful high end apparel line. 

“…everyone has a very unique artistic background, which really reflects the brand and the label…”

So everyone has a very unique artistic background, which really reflects the brand and the label. Just not wanting to make a quick buck and actually make something we can stand behind and believe in.

As the families now blossom into four, we use three: the Vasquez family, the Blas family and the Morales family are our three main producers for our red and black label, which most people are familiar with. 

We just brought in Moises and he’s actually from Santa Catarina Minas.  That’s a little town where all they really make is their production. It’s a town known for nothing but clay pot distillation. So if you actually use a copper pot in, in Manera and Santa Caterina Minas, you’re looked at as what are you doing? That’s not what we do here. 

He’s our last and newest producer and he may be the most cowboy of them all, and he’s my favorite.

When you get to Tlaxcala, you have to walk over like a little rope bridge over like a river and stuff into the hills of Minas to see his production, and he’s got his grandfather’s old still, and he’s got his mom’s little kitchen that he wants to reopen, and it’s like a restaurant. But if you and I were to look at it, it just looks like a backyard set of tables and chairs with a cooking center.

No, this is a restaurant for the village. It’s really beautiful down in Minas. I recommend everyone, if you get a chance to go down there, it felt like the jungles in Costa Rica, cause it’s up near the hills and it’s just so green and lush up there.

 

“…I’ve been working in the alcohol industry for almost 15 years …”

Joe Winger:  What got you down there? Was it for a vacation or for Mezcal?

Ryan Fleming: 

So I’ve been working in the alcohol industry for almost 15 years and I worked for the Houston Hospitality Group for over a decade, helping run programs and menus. I worked for a couple other restaurants, but I used to work for Stillhouse Whiskey, which many people remember the terrible flavored moonshine in a gas can.

Yeah I actually sold that. I did pretty well, there was always one flavor that someone loved. I had the mint chocolate chip and I would keep it in the freezer to take care of my sweet tooth when I didn’t have ice cream. So that’s how it started.

My buddy, Stefan, who’s one of the founding partners goes, “Hey, we got this Mezcal company.”  I was just basically consulting for free lunches. 

One day he goes, do you want to go to Oaxaca? And I went, absolutely. 

I familiar with going down to Mexico city, but I’d never been as far South as Oaxaca. So I jumped at the chance.

[Meanwhile] we all got an email from Stillhouse saying “Hey, I know things are being shaken up right now, but trust me, everything’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” 

That weekend, apparently the whole team got laid off, but I didn’t get the email untll I came home Monday. They’re saying, “Ryan, are you going to be okay? Do you need help finding work?”

So I went down to Oaxaca, met the families, broke bread with Jose Morales, got to meet his mother who blessed the roast and cooked us dinner.  They offered me a job.

That was started my journey about six years ago with Madre [Mezcal ]and I’ve been with him since.

Fleming motions to tattoos on his arms and hands.

Discovering Madre Mezcal

I have it tattooed on my hand right here. I have it tattooed on my palm right here. And I think I have another one on the inside of my leg too. We do tasting events and we’ll have pop up tattoo artists all the time.

 

Tequila vs Madre Mezcal

Joe Winger: 

You mentioned the tastings and the education.  Are there quick lessons that you teach the most often?

Ryan Fleming: 

Basic production, culture, financial, environmental and economic sustainability. 

I don’t think people understand that Oaxaca is the second poorest state in Mexico.  Everyone thinks the Mezcal boom must be bringing so many jobs, but it really only affects about 20 – 40,000 people that live in Oaxaca for the production, 

Mezcal is great because it does bring some financial sustainability to the families. Jose started off driving a taxi to pay his bills and now he’s making Mezcal in his family’s tradition.  His whole family, his cousin, his uncles, they all make Mezcal for a living now.

There’s so much culture behind it. Even the old argument of did the Spanish bring over copper stills and that started distillation or does it go back to the Aztecs and Mayans? Because they found distillate and pottery from 3000 years ago. It’s those little nuances.

People really like to talk about the environmental, but giving back to the people down there by not just buying product, but giving them some ownership, which Madre does do, so that everyone has a little bit of skin in the game.

So I think Sustainability, whether it’s environmental, economical, cultural, and production. Those are the things I really like to talk about.

Joe Winger:  What is the basic difference between mezcal and tequila? Or is it more complicated?

Ryan Fleming: 

You could say production techniques, additives, mass production are probably the three biggest differences. 

Tequila can only be made with one agave. It’s a blue weber.  Mezcal can be made with the other 47-ish varietals, and that number is always fluctuating, based on classification and family genius.

Production is the big one. Tequila is made in massive factories and made with either chemicals or steam for the most part. 

Whereas mezcal is actually made by hand, roasted in an earthen oven. The biggest thing that separates Tequila and Mezcal is the 1% additive rule.

Tequila can have up to 1% by volume additives, and they don’t have to tell you. That’s why certain large brands will say 100% Agave, but it’s full of additives, because it doesn’t take much  with modern chemistry. Just a couple drops of glycerin or vanilla extract to change the flavor and hide  all the nuances.

Mezcal can’t have any additives by law. 

Joe Winger: Can we walk through the roles and responsibilities between the families that produce Madre Mezcal?

Ryan Fleming: 

Yeah, the four families. Let’s start with Jose Morales. Him and his brother both make mezcal. Now they produce for us in the US exclusively. We encourage all of our families to continue making mezcal to trade. They use it for a local economy.

Every time I go down there, [their operation is growing].  When they started, they had three stills. Now there’s 12 up and running and they have solar power.  It’s just so crazy to see how much the transformation has happened. 

The original recipe, the blend of cuishe and espadine at 90 proof, that’s his family’s recipe. So we expanded that and we brought on Carlos Blas and the Vasquez family. Unfortunately, Natalio the father passed away a couple of years ago.

His daughters are now producing in the family’s tradition and we take whatever we can from them. 

But what we do, that’s a little bit different is, we started out when it was just Jose, he was making the blend himself. Now we have them make the espadine and the cuishe separately.

All three families are part of the process. Sometimes we just get cuiche from Jose. Sometimes Carlos makes all the espadine, but Carlos is like a master blender. 

We blend a cold style like Scotch does. Even though it’s not the most traditional way, all the distillation and process is as true as it can be.

But by blending post distillation allows us to keep consistency, which was a huge problem because every batch with your wild fermentation, your wild yeast and all these beautiful nuances, it’ll be inconsistent as you grow as a brand.  It was hard for us to keep consistency.

But by blending multiple terroirs and three different families’ production, we can keep a consistent product that tastes the same as well as expanding and bringing on more families to help instead of just going to a large factory house and not making what I would call “traditional Mezcal.”

Joe Winger: So focusing on your background, you mentioned that you’ve been a bartender in the LA nightlife.  Any memorable adventures or lessons you can share?

Ryan Fleming:

There are some stories I could tell that I probably don’t want to share publicly. But there are some amazing stories I can tell.

One of the oddest experiences I’ve ever had, I worked at Good Times at Davey Wayne’s, which is one of the most famous bars in the Hollywood nightlife in the past decade. 

Paul McCartney showed up at our door. 

But because our staff is younger and our door guys are a little bit younger, they thought it was an old weird British man that just showed up and they turned Paul McCartney away from the door.

‘Holy crap, is that Paul McCartney’?

He was like, do you know who I am? The guys [were like] ”We don’t care.” Like straight up, blowing Paul McCartney off. One of our managers came out and was like, ‘Holy crap, is that Paul McCartney’? And they’re like, wait, the guy from the Beatles?! 

My manager ran out, “Please come back,” and Paul had a great time at the bar. We got him a special little area to sit down. It was a packed Saturday.  It’s not a nightclub where we have gated off [areas]. Even if you reserve a table, people are inches away from you where you’re sitting at your table. 

Justin Bieber showed up one time and everyone went nuts.  He comes in, walks around, does a loop, comes out and goes, “I thought this was a hip hop club.” and just left.

It was a 1970s themed bar and we played nothing but 70s music. 

The dichotomy between the two different generations and to see them all melt into one location was one of the coolest things about working at that bar. 

 

Joe Winger:It’s so crowded because it’s so popular.  The Houston Brothers always do such a good job.

Ryan Fleming: 

Yeah.  The cocktails are still really good too. For as much volume as we used to do there, the biggest thing is how can I make a really beautiful cocktail that’s still cost effective and doesn’t take 12 steps. We got really good at batching stuff and figuring out how to infuse things.  Luckily our back of house was just the most amazing.  Mariano is the best barback I’ve ever had in my whole life. He’s still there. 

He is just a workhorse that got all the infusions. He would cook, he would infuse all of our products and he was just great. Even if we just did a jalapeno infusion on our tequila, if it got too spicy, he could break down the ratio and water it down with more products so that we could keep the spice level approachable.

Joe Winger:

What is the secret to high quantity yet high value cocktails? 

Ryan Fleming:

Batching is definitely the way to do it. Any of your alcohols that are shelf stable, you want to put all of those in the proper ratios in a bottle.

Instead of grabbing a modifier and your base spirit and another modifier, you’re grabbing one bottle with a special tape at the bottom, so you know which cocktail it goes to and then all your fresh stuff. 

You can’t batch the fresh stuff. It has to be separated because you put citrus in something and it goes bad in three days.  Now the whole batch is bad. So keeping your fresh stuff separated.

Joe Winger: Back to Madre Mezcal.  Obviously the bottles themselves are where all the power is.  So let’s talk about labels and taste profiles.

Ryan Fleming:

People love our labels. Our branding is top notch. It’s one of the first compliments we always get. “Oh my God, I love your branding.” 

Madre Mezcal Artesanal

Madre Mezcal Artesanal

Looked at Oaxacan culture and some other like medieval culture and combined the art from the two.

As far as the red label it’s the woman on the bull. It’s a really beautiful message of Mother Earth coming down and starting to share humanity and move across the world to plants and spread love.  That’s why she’s on the bull.  It’s the combination of animal, Mother Earth, and humans. 

Madre Mezcal Espandin

Madre Mezcal Espandin

The black label is a beautiful logo of a woman on the ground.  She’s planting and spreading the seed of life that gives us agave and flowers and fruit and vegetables and everything else.

Madre Mezcal Ancestral

Madre Mezcal Ancestral

The ancestral is this beautiful clay bottle with old clay vessels from Greece that carried wine with the fluid coming out and it’s supposed to celebrate the ancestral way of making mezcal and clay pots and clay distillation.

I always love telling the story of people who say mezcal is not supposed to be aged, which is a true-ish statement in my opinion. But back in the day, everything got transferred in barrels. So Mezcal would accidentally get aged in barrels because it would travel from town to town on horseback after the product was made.

So the idea that Mezcal was never aged is it wasn’t aged on purpose. 

Mezcal was accidentally aged in wood. The traditional way that people would age Mezcal is in glass and they would hide it underground. 

I always tell people, if you have a beautiful bottle of Mezcal, you should open it and take it out and put a wine cork in it, or at least crack the bottle and get some air because it really lets alcohol open up and aerate.

Mezcal benefits from a resting period. Pouring it in a nice open glass, like a snifter or a wine glass, letting it sit for about 5-10 minutes will really open it up.

Madre Mezcal tasting notes 

Madre is designed to be less smoky. I really hate the term smoky. I like the word roasted because what you’re tasting is like barbeque.

You’re tasting the roasting of the agave and the charcoaling and the burning of the outside agave which will affect the sugars, the caramelization.

Madre really was designed to be a more approachable mezcal. We call ourselves ”The gateway to the category.” 

We want to bring people from tequila over to Mezcal so you can explore what agave spirits also have to offer. 

It’s bright, clean, and smooth. I always compare it to a really nice, made tequila.

Our Espadine is actually a close cousin of [tequila’s] Blue Weber. It tastes really bright, clean and smooth.  But you’re going to get some of that minerality and smoke in the end. 

Like easy drinking with some earthy aromas. 

Joe Winger:  That night when I met you, what you handed me was my first taste of the night. I love that it was so pure and smooth.  It didn’t clog up my mouth for the rest of the night.

Ryan Fleming: 

I’m like you. I want to have 2-3 cocktails a night. Not just one and my palette’s done. 

Our Espadine to me is a 2-3 second palette.  It clears up and you get like a breath and it’s fading.  Our Ensemble goes on for 10- 12 seconds.  From sweet vanilla to chocolate to mineral and then to smoke.  Then the smoke fades and you get just a really beautiful, crisp.  It’s viscous. You can feel the oil in your mouth when you swirl it around and it makes the best Negroni.

Joe Winger:  Let’s talk about food pairings.

Ryan Fleming: 

I want to know if this caught you off guard, but it’s Italian food.

Very rich foods. These beautiful Mezcals are light and almost floral and fragrant, It cuts through the richness and creaminess of food.

That’s why mezcal and chocolate are consistently paired together, but that was just way too easy. There’s always mezcal chocolate pairings, but like a really nice Italian dish, something creamy and rich, like an Alfredo or a really well done piece of pizza, like a margarita or a white sauce pizza.

“…I want to know if this caught you off guard, but…”

We are working on doing some [pizza] pairings with some places in LA.   Do a different slice of pizza with three different cocktails of Madre and then have a tasting at the end.

Chocolate has a big part of Oaxaca too. You can’t not have some chocolate and mezcal at the end of the night. 

Espresso martinis are so hot again right now. Try making one with mezcal instead of vodka and just [see] how coffee helps open up the agave and the notes, and you’re going to get so much more going on in your cocktail.

If you pair a nice espresso martini with  beautiful, dark chocolate from Oaxaca.  That is your final cocktail at the end of the night, it won’t let you down.

Joe Winger:  You mentioned replacing Mezcal with vodka in a martini, are there any traditional or more common cocktails we should also try replacing Mezcal in?

Ryan Fleming: 

When I tell you this, it may blow your mind. Most gin cocktails are a little bit better with Mezcal.

There are certain times you need botanicals, but a lot of really good classic gin cocktails, if you sub them for Mezcal, are absolutely fantastic. 

Joe Winger:  I’m shocked because most gins have such unique aromatics.

Ryan Fleming: 

Which Mezcal has so many of those same unique terpenes going on that it changes the cocktail, but it works.

So instead of having botanicals, you have all these beautiful vegetal and mineral notes that just come from agaves. 

Joe Winger:  What are the biggest misconceptions in the world of Mezcal?

Ryan Fleming: 

A lot of people have a misconception, especially on the trade side, that we have grown exponentially. It’s been a lot of hard work. People think we have this massive team behind us.  There’s less than 20 of us on the whole team. That includes our team down in Oaxaca, who  watches over manufacturing and production for us down there. 

We don’t have an office.  We have a little tiny apartment in Venice for meetings.

A lot of people don’t understand the hard work that goes into creating a small brand. It’s just a lot of people working hard to create beautiful Mezcal, especially the families. 

People [unfairly comparing it to] tequila.  What do you mean, we can’t get more? Why is it so expensive? We have people going out hand collecting wild agaves and harvesting espadine.  All of that is hand cut, hand chopped.   I’ve hand cut agaves with the families.

None of this is industrialized or mechanized like tequila. 

Appreciate every drop of mezcal you have, because someone put a lot of love and labor into it.

Joe Winger:  Ryan, as we wrap up, let’s talk about where can learn more about Madre Mezcal? 

Ryan Fleming: 

We have a beautiful Instagram.  Madremezcal.com is our website. 

We also have this Instagram called mezcal. Learning and it’s a little short videos and little blurbs to talk about production, families, history, and culture. It is focused on Madre, but it’s not just Madre, it’s Mezcal as a whole.

If you want to know more about our families who produce, where it’s made, you can find all that information on madremezgal. com. 

Our bottles are in most of your nicer bottle shops, liquor stores. In California, we’re lucky enough to be in Trader Joe’s for the Espadine and Whole Foods has our Ensemble.

If you can’t find it,  go to madremezcal.com and we ship bottles to almost every state in the U S.

We’re in nine countries, too. Australia. All over Europe, Costa Rica.  We’re working on Japan and South Korea as well. So I’m just excited to see the culture of mezcal just expand beyond just America and see how excited because I, when I talk to people that are in London or, people in Australia, and they’re so excited about the idea of being able to get mezcal.

Joe Winger: What is the future for Madre?

Ryan Fleming: I can’t tell you about the big one.

But, [exciting things for] our Ancestral, which is pretty new and every batch of that’s going to be hand numbered and labeled.

We’re going to start doing small batch productions that will be very limited. Then the desert waters, which we have ready for summer. 

To learn more about MadreMezcal, visit MadreMezcal.com. Find them on Instagram at MadreMezcal

 

Lehigh loves tasting the trendiest cocktails — Bark and Barware Shows You How with Cocktail Smoker

Lehigh loves tasting the trendiest cocktails — Bark and Barware Shows You How with their cocktail smoker

Bark and Barware enters the cocktail market with their premium cocktail smoker, including 6 flavors. 

Bark and Barware’s Harel Levy

Bark and Barware’s Harel Levy

Today, Bark and Barware’s Harel Levy joins us for a conversation about cocktails, creating your long-lasting drinking crew, picking the right flavors, the perfect pairings and more!

The below conversation has been edited for length and clarity.  Find the full conversation at our YouTube channel.

 

Joe Winger: Can you tell us a little bit about your story? And what inspired you to create this cocktail smoker kit?

Harel Levy:  I’ve been an entrepreneur for the last seven years. While there are no mistakes, I actually found [the cocktail smoker] by mistake. I was planning to buy something for my Dad. I usually won’t give something if it’s not 100%. So I’d rather not give a gift that I don’t really like.  Because I really care about what the recipient is going to feel. 

“I really love the idea of cocktail smoking kits. […]  It’s another tool to have a great night.

I don’t want to give something cheap, because if you really love someone, you really want to make sure that everything is spot on, right? 

Even on yourself, you will be more forgiven in terms of what you buy than someone else.

I really love the idea of cocktail smoking kits. It’s not that it’s only cool and it’s a great addition to having those nights with friends, with family.  It’s another tool to have a great night.

I went to Amazon and I saw there is no one who actually sells it in a premium, wooden box.  And with many flavors.  I talked with [my company’s] CEO about it, what’s missing here.

Bark & Barware's Smoker Kit

Bark & Barware’s Smoker Kit

We came up with a wooden box. It came from my passion to give something that looks good.

For almost a year, we went back and forth with factories. The smoke.  The flavor.  Details with the box.

When we released it, we were very happy.  We knew my criteria.  If I can give it to my Dad, not being afraid he’s not going to like it.  Then I know that other people are also going to enjoy it because I have high standards for giving a gift to someone that I love. That’s how we came up with the product and the product.

The second thing we are planning is to bring a mixologist,  make it a more holistic experience. 

Extend the journey with our customers, give them cocktails, give them recipes, give them ideas, The journey doesn’t end when the transaction happens for us. We want to continue to build trust and serve our customers.

 

Joe Winger: You have a very comprehensive website.  Can you walk us through your Cocktail Smoker Kit? When we buy it what do we get?

Harel Levy: There are six different chip flavors, the culinary torch, the smoke lid.  Ice tongs, whiskey stones. Unfortunately, we don’t include butane [gas for the torch] because shipping is very heavily regulated, 

“In every smoker kit you get six different chip flavors, the culinary torch, the smoke lid.  Ice tongs, whiskey stones.”

We have six flavors: cherry, oak, pear, maple, hickory and apple. Our plan is to listen to our customers and come up with new flavors based on what they ask for.  It’s not a one-time product release.  We’re going to offer refills, extensions, more.

Each taste is very delicate.  The world of wine, flavor, alcohol is so wide and you can get very specific sometimes. When you do get specific, you get the best results, right? 

 

Joe Winger: Has there been one or two major lessons you’ve learned?

Harel Levy: Initially we had more flavors. After we gave out samples and heard about which flavors were the favorite, we removed some. 

Joe Winger: You mentioned flavor pairing.  What’s your favorite cocktail pairing?

Harel Levy: It’s a tough question because taste is something that is extremely subjective.

We usually put it with scotch. That’s our personal preference.  Our customers get very creative with their ideas. That’s why we initially started with those six flavors. But listening to customer feedback, it’s going to grow and change.

 

Joe Winger: Over a year of research and development, were there any unexpected surprises?

Harel Levy: A lot of people agreed with me on the wooden box.  People started asking for smoke refills.  They’re going through the smoke faster than I thought.  When we launched, I was expecting this to be used for special occasions.  But people are using it every week, all the time.  

 

Joe Winger: In the past few weeks, I’ve been in Los Angeles, Brooklyn, New York, Philadelphia.  All those places have bars where they’re serving smoked drinks.  Now people want to have that experience at home.  

Harel Levy: That’s going to make you the hero of the party.  You’re the one who brings the cool stuff. I always like to do that. 

We really advise [anyone trying this] to taste all of the flavors. Not just one or two.   The spectrum of what flavors someone likes or doesn’t like is very wide.  You’re probably going to really like 1-2 [of the flavors], and less like the others.

Those 1-2 that you really like, we’re going to offer you refills.

When I host friends [at my house], I drink scotch and it goes well with cherry.

But it’s like a game.  You try a lot of things. You find out something that you’re really going to love.

“That’s going to make you the hero of the party.  You’re the one who brings the cool stuff.”

Joe Winger: This first kit is a starter kit or a sampler kit. I get those six flavors and I get to decide, “Oh my gosh, I really like this one. Now I need a refill.”

Harel Levy:  Exactly. It’s exciting me on a personal level because I’m curious […]. What’s going to make people upgrade a scotch that costs hundreds of dollars?

I can play with the flavor. That will upgrade an experience for the end customer cost hundreds of dollars. I did my part, right? And for them, they’re going to be over the moon. They’re going to be super happy. It’s just going to become one of their routine.

“What’s going to make people upgrade a scotch that costs hundreds of dollars?”

Joe Winger: There are smoking kits all over the place. Dozens of competitors on Amazon.  Why should someone choose Bark and Barware?

Harel Levy:  It’s the full experience that we offer. It starts with the package. Then the flavors. Most of our competitors offer four, we offer six. We tasted all of the competitors and our flavor is better.  Otherwise I would not have released the product.

Our post-purchase [experience] the recipes.  We’re working with a mixologist to just create a mini course to go with the kit, go with specific drinks. Customers are going to have access to all of it. How do I mix it? What should I mix it with? 

Joe Winger: What does the future of the brand look like?

Harel Levy: We’re planning to release big packages [re-fills] of each flavor. Second thing is the mini courses. We really want to inspire because that’s fun.  

The process of drinking with friends, the process of smoking. It’s a fun process. You sit on your balcony, with friends, you open a bottle of wine as well.  That’s a fun process. 

Our goal is to inspire. Someone [will realize they] like a specific cocktail.  We will give them all of the information on how to make it,  how to mix it, then we earn a customer for life. 

Joe Winger: You mentioned picking a cocktail is like picking a favorite kid. It’s so hard to do. What is your favorite cocktail to use with your smoker? 

Harel Levy: Yeah, so that’s a great question. I like the combination of the apple and scotch.

Joe Winger: Because you’re a foodie, are there any specific cocktail and food pairings that you really enjoy with any of your specific flavors?

Harel Levy: My favorite is having an apple flavored scotch with a ribeye. Someone I work with loves the hickory flavor.  That’s the beauty of this world, every person has their unique taste.

Shop for Bark and Barware’s Cocktail smoker hit on amazon here: https://amzn.to/3P5c42g 

Learn more at: https://www.barkandbarware.com

Bark and Barware enters the cocktail market with their premium cocktail smoker, including 6 flavors. 

Bark and Barware’s Harel Levy

Bark and Barware’s Harel Levy

Today, Bark and Barware’s Harel Levy joins us for a conversation about cocktails, creating your long-lasting drinking crew, picking the right flavors, the perfect pairings and more!

The below conversation has been edited for length and clarity.  Find the full conversation at our YouTube channel.

 

Joe Winger: Can you tell us a little bit about your story? And what inspired you to create this cocktail smoker kit?

Harel Levy:  I’ve been an entrepreneur for the last seven years. While there are no mistakes, I actually found [the cocktail smoker] by mistake. I was planning to buy something for my Dad. I usually won’t give something if it’s not 100%. So I’d rather not give a gift that I don’t really like.  Because I really care about what the recipient is going to feel. 

“I really love the idea of cocktail smoking kits. […]  It’s another tool to have a great night.

I don’t want to give something cheap, because if you really love someone, you really want to make sure that everything is spot on, right? 

Even on yourself, you will be more forgiven in terms of what you buy than someone else.

I really love the idea of cocktail smoking kits. It’s not that it’s only cool and it’s a great addition to having those nights with friends, with family.  It’s another tool to have a great night.

I went to Amazon and I saw there is no one who actually sells it in a premium, wooden box.  And with many flavors.  I talked with [my company’s] CEO about it, what’s missing here.

Bark & Barware's Smoker Kit

Bark & Barware’s Smoker Kit

We came up with a wooden box. It came from my passion to give something that looks good.

For almost a year, we went back and forth with factories. The smoke.  The flavor.  Details with the box.

When we released it, we were very happy.  We knew my criteria.  If I can give it to my Dad, not being afraid he’s not going to like it.  Then I know that other people are also going to enjoy it because I have high standards for giving a gift to someone that I love. That’s how we came up with the product and the product.

The second thing we are planning is to bring a mixologist,  make it a more holistic experience. 

Extend the journey with our customers, give them cocktails, give them recipes, give them ideas, The journey doesn’t end when the transaction happens for us. We want to continue to build trust and serve our customers.

 

Joe Winger: You have a very comprehensive website.  Can you walk us through your Cocktail Smoker Kit? When we buy it what do we get?

Harel Levy: There are six different chip flavors, the culinary torch, the smoke lid.  Ice tongs, whiskey stones. Unfortunately, we don’t include butane [gas for the torch] because shipping is very heavily regulated, 

“In every smoker kit you get six different chip flavors, the culinary torch, the smoke lid.  Ice tongs, whiskey stones.”

We have six flavors: cherry, oak, pear, maple, hickory and apple. Our plan is to listen to our customers and come up with new flavors based on what they ask for.  It’s not a one-time product release.  We’re going to offer refills, extensions, more.

Each taste is very delicate.  The world of wine, flavor, alcohol is so wide and you can get very specific sometimes. When you do get specific, you get the best results, right? 

 

Joe Winger: Has there been one or two major lessons you’ve learned?

Harel Levy: Initially we had more flavors. After we gave out samples and heard about which flavors were the favorite, we removed some. 

Joe Winger: You mentioned flavor pairing.  What’s your favorite cocktail pairing?

Harel Levy: It’s a tough question because taste is something that is extremely subjective.

We usually put it with scotch. That’s our personal preference.  Our customers get very creative with their ideas. That’s why we initially started with those six flavors. But listening to customer feedback, it’s going to grow and change.

 

Joe Winger: Over a year of research and development, were there any unexpected surprises?

Harel Levy: A lot of people agreed with me on the wooden box.  People started asking for smoke refills.  They’re going through the smoke faster than I thought.  When we launched, I was expecting this to be used for special occasions.  But people are using it every week, all the time.  

 

Joe Winger: In the past few weeks, I’ve been in Los Angeles, Brooklyn, New York, Philadelphia.  All those places have bars where they’re serving smoked drinks.  Now people want to have that experience at home.  

Harel Levy: That’s going to make you the hero of the party.  You’re the one who brings the cool stuff. I always like to do that. 

We really advise [anyone trying this] to taste all of the flavors. Not just one or two.   The spectrum of what flavors someone likes or doesn’t like is very wide.  You’re probably going to really like 1-2 [of the flavors], and less like the others.

Those 1-2 that you really like, we’re going to offer you refills.

When I host friends [at my house], I drink scotch and it goes well with cherry.

But it’s like a game.  You try a lot of things. You find out something that you’re really going to love.

“That’s going to make you the hero of the party.  You’re the one who brings the cool stuff.”

Joe Winger: This first kit is a starter kit or a sampler kit. I get those six flavors and I get to decide, “Oh my gosh, I really like this one. Now I need a refill.”

Harel Levy:  Exactly. It’s exciting me on a personal level because I’m curious […]. What’s going to make people upgrade a scotch that costs hundreds of dollars?

I can play with the flavor. That will upgrade an experience for the end customer cost hundreds of dollars. I did my part, right? And for them, they’re going to be over the moon. They’re going to be super happy. It’s just going to become one of their routine.

“What’s going to make people upgrade a scotch that costs hundreds of dollars?”

Joe Winger: There are smoking kits all over the place. Dozens of competitors on Amazon.  Why should someone choose Bark and Barware?

Harel Levy:  It’s the full experience that we offer. It starts with the package. Then the flavors. Most of our competitors offer four, we offer six. We tasted all of the competitors and our flavor is better.  Otherwise I would not have released the product.

Our post-purchase [experience] the recipes.  We’re working with a mixologist to just create a mini course to go with the kit, go with specific drinks. Customers are going to have access to all of it. How do I mix it? What should I mix it with? 

Joe Winger: What does the future of the brand look like?

Harel Levy: We’re planning to release big packages [re-fills] of each flavor. Second thing is the mini courses. We really want to inspire because that’s fun.  

The process of drinking with friends, the process of smoking. It’s a fun process. You sit on your balcony, with friends, you open a bottle of wine as well.  That’s a fun process. 

Our goal is to inspire. Someone [will realize they] like a specific cocktail.  We will give them all of the information on how to make it,  how to mix it, then we earn a customer for life. 

Joe Winger: You mentioned picking a cocktail is like picking a favorite kid. It’s so hard to do. What is your favorite cocktail to use with your smoker? 

Harel Levy: Yeah, so that’s a great question. I like the combination of the apple and scotch.

Joe Winger: Because you’re a foodie, are there any specific cocktail and food pairings that you really enjoy with any of your specific flavors?

Harel Levy: My favorite is having an apple flavored scotch with a ribeye. Someone I work with loves the hickory flavor.  That’s the beauty of this world, every person has their unique taste.

Shop for Bark and Barware’s Cocktail smoker hit on amazon here: https://amzn.to/3P5c42g 

Learn more at: https://www.barkandbarware.com

Lehigh Celebrates with Rose’: NBA Hall of Famer Tony Parker shares his Dinner Party Secrets, Summer Escapes and the Rose’ Revolution

NBA Hall of Famer Tony Parker shares his dinner party secrets, favorite french summer escapes and the future of the Rose’ Revolution.

In his incredible basketball career, Tony Parker earned four NBA Championships with the San Antonio Spurs, was selected for six All-Star teams and named MVP of the 2007 Finals.

But these days, his passion for food and wine is keeping him even more inspired.

Starting as a boy growing up in France, the memorable dinner parties he hosted during his NBA days, his summer escapes to French Vineyards during the off-season. 

It’s no surprise that now he diving into the French wine world, buying Château La Mascaronne in Provence with legendary business partner Michel Reybier.

A magnificent adventure for the next vintage of his life’s journey.

Château La Mascaronne Rose' COURTESY OF CHÂTEAU LA MASCARONNE

Château La Mascaronne Rose’ COURTESY OF CHÂTEAU LA MASCARONNE

Today I sat down with Tony Parker (over audio-only speakerphone) for a conversation about dinner parties, french vacation, getting busy in vineyards, and the future of Rose’ wine. 

The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.  The full conversation can be found on our YouTube channel.

Also, the podcast version is here:

 

 

You’ve been diving into the world of winemaking with Michel Reybier and his team. Can you talk a little bit about the adventure, any surprises or lessons?

 

It’s been amazing. I always wanted to invest in a project like that. The first time I tried wine was when I was 17 years old. I wanted to keep learning about it and get my knowledge better around the wine world. And so when I was 19, I finally made enough money to afford all those great wines.

I was lucky enough to play for a coach who loved wine, had a huge collection, was reading wine magazines every trip. And so that’s how we bonded. As I got better, in my knowledge of wine, I started to invite all the best [people] in San Antonio to come to do a nice dinner at my house with Coach Popovich, and then the next day I would invite them to a Spurs game.

Château La Mascaronne COURTESY OF CHÂTEAU LA MASCARONNE

Château La Mascaronne COURTESY OF CHÂTEAU LA MASCARONNE

Then during the summer I started making trips to the vineyard. I started to know them better. Because in the wine world, obviously, you have great families. They’re super passionate. And that’s how I started; working on my allocation and the good bottles, the Reserves. 

Tony Parker and Michel Reybier - SEBASTIEN CLAVEL

Tony Parker and Michel Reybier – SEBASTIEN CLAVEL

When I retired I wanted to be more involved. But it’s very hard to invest in the wine business because it’s either in the family for generations and generations.  Those big companies buy everything. And so I was very lucky, through mutual friends I met Mr. Reybier and after talking for six or eight months, we decided to become partners. Now I’m a proud Owner / Ambassador / Everything.

 

You mentioned the wine dinners you had in San Antonio. Just for us massive foodies, can you help us fantasize for a moment?

What kind of food was served? What kind of wines were poured? Can you take us back to those nights?

 

I had a private chef. My private chef would work with the vineyard. We tell them who’s coming, how many people, which bottles and what year they will send us. 

Then they will work with my staff to make sure we make a menu accordingly, to make sure that everything is matched with what we are drinking.

So when the [dinner party] came to my house, we tried [the vintages] 1969, 1982, 2000 and 2009. It was unbelievable. Great bottles, great vintages. 

And for me, I’m very lucky too because I’m born in 1982 and it’s one of the best years for wine, especially in Bordeaux. So every time I visit a castle in Bordeaux, the employees are always super happy because it’s a good opportunity for them, as the owner, to open an ‘82 [vintage]. 

Most of the time, they’ll come and say thank you to me, saying it’s [their] first time trying an ‘82 [vintage]. Because nowadays, they don’t open those 82’s a lot.

 

 

You’ve hinted at your sports background, obviously you have become a master. Is there any lesson that you mastered in sports that you’ve brought into the wine world with you?

 

The passion and the work ethic. Obviously in the wine world I will never try to be and talk like a Sommelier, they studied for that. Even if I have good knowledge and I’ve been working with vineyards.  And I’m learning all the time, especially since I’ve been owning vineyards. I did Harvest. I did the assemblage.  Which is when you try all the possible [options], and you decide what the wine is going to be.

Tony Parker and Michel Reybier - SEBASTIEN CLAVEL

Tony Parker and Michel Reybier – SEBASTIEN CLAVEL

I’ve been working with great directors.  Our director is unbelievable. The director at La Mascaronne, she’s great too. And so for me, it’s been great knowledge, and a great learning process to learn even more about wine.

What inspired you to choose the partner with Chateau La Mascaronne?

 

When I met him, I knew he was huge in the wine business and obviously it brings a lot of credibility when you work with somebody like Michel Reybier because he’s been at this for so long and he’s the owner of one of the best wines in the world with Château Cos d’Estournel.

That’s how I knew him and that was big time. When he talked about La Mascaronne, he bought it from Tom Bove.

Back in 2006, when I started going on vacation every summer, I started drinking Rose’ with my brothers and my friends. We love rose’ in the summer. 

That’s when Miraval took off.  Brad Pitt bought it with Angelina [Jolie]. He bought Miraval from Tom Bove.

Tony Parker at Château La Mascaronne COURTESY OF CHÂTEAU LA MASCARONNE

Tony Parker at Château La Mascaronne COURTESY OF CHÂTEAU LA MASCARONNE

So [I thought] if Tom Bove hit that property perfectly with Miraval, for sure [it can happen] with La Mascaronne, it’s just a matter of time before we can do something amazing.

What’s next for you as far as the wine world goes?

 

Our premium rosé just came out from La Mascaronne.  Only 3,000 bottles.

We’re working on more premium one’s now.  I think that’s where things are going with rose’s.  All these big companies and all the knowledge that they get from the red wines is coming into the Rosé world, where the Rosé is going to get better and better.

For more information on Tony Parker and La Mascaronne:

La Mascaronne’s website

La Mascaronne’s Instagram

Tony Parker’s Instagram

Lehigh Valley loves Cocktails: Local Spirit KLYR Rum gets poured throughout Pennsylvania, Adam Lehrhaupt reveals

Local Spirit KLYR Rum gets poured throughout Pennsylvania with better flavor, healthier Ingredients.

Adam Lehrhaupt, Amish Patel, and Neil Kahrim started a Pennsylvania-based spirits company with the simple goal of creating a better-tasting American rum.

As they started adjusting their recipe for flavor, they soon found health benefits and great cocktail and food pairings.  The result? A purer, cleaner rum, with a flavor they claim creates its own genre. 

One thing’s for sure, Pennsylvania cocktail lovers are ordering more and more.

The following is a conversation (via zoom) with Adam Lehrhaupt.  The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.  Find the full, un-edited talk at our Youtube channel.

 

Let’s start by saying you’re in a car right now and can you tell us why you’re in a car right now?

 

Adam: Yeah, so I’m in a car right now because today’s a big day for any sports people, but especially in the Philadelphia area. 

KLYR Rum being poured at a Phillies game

We’ve got a 1 o’clock Phillies game. And as a rum company, we like to go down to those games when we can and just hang out at the ballpark and buy rum for people. Introduce them [to our KLYR Rum brand]. Either something they’ve never had before or if they are already a fan, getting them another one. So I’m heading down to the ballpark today to catch a ballgame and hang out with some Phillies fans. And then tonight, we’ve got the draft, so the ballgame will roll over into some fun at Xfinity Live. So we’ve got our products in Xfinity Live now.

So we’ll pop over there and roll into a little bit of draft night. See who everybody’s favorite football teams draft. 

I love your guerrilla marketing style.  You’re out there meeting the people.

 

Adam: [Points to his shirt] This is my Phillies KLYR shirt.  It’s our KLYR K, but it’s in the Phillies pin stripes. I don’t know if you can see it’s got the Philly pin stripes on it. 

Tell us about the KLYR brand itself and what you’re trying to accomplish.

 

Adam: Basically the idea for creating KLYR rum and I’ll start back at the beginning. One of my two main business partners, his name’s Amish Patel. He is a dentist. He grew up as a dentist. His dad is a dentist. His brother’s a dentist. Thirteen cousins are dentists. There’s nine more in dental school. He has another group of cousins who all work in dental laboratories.

So they make dentures and things like that. So he comes from a dental family in Pennsylvania. I think they’re around 93 offices now in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, the mid-Atlantic region.

He came to me over Covid and said he was done being a dentist and he wanted to do something different. And he had a friend who had been in the spirits industry, somebody he went to high school with, who created Whistle Pig and he said, I wanna create spirits. 

And I said, first of all I’m in for anything spirits related,  I’m a big fan and I went back and did a little bit of research to see what the market needed. So everything that we do is market driven, so we do research and figure out not what we think it needs.

What the market did have was a big kind of opening a gap in the Silver Rum area for something that was just very well made, but had flexibility. So a really good clean tasting silver rum didn’t really exist. So we set about trying to create it and that’s where KLYR Rum came from.

 

Now tell me a little bit about your background and the team itself. How the three of you got together.

 

Adam: So my current day job, when I’m not helping run this run business, is I write children’s books. So I’m a children’s book author.

Before that I was a senior art director for a company called Siemens Healthcare. Before that I was a roadie, but currently I’m a children’s book author and in my spare time I play hockey. That’s my little outlet for my extra energy. It’s my cardio when I’m working out.

And that’s where I met Amish. We all played against each other for years. And then finally a couple years ago, we ended up getting him onto my hockey team and we became pretty good friends. And when he presented this idea, I came back to him with rum as an idea.

He said, I have this guy I went to high school with. His name is Neil Kareem who’s from Trinidad. Let me get him on the phone. So we’re at lunch and he calls Neil and gets Neil on the phone and he goes, Neil, what do you think about, rum?

And Neil goes yeah, I like rum. Rum’s great. He goes, what about making rum? And Neil’s okay let’s figure it out. So really Neil and I were the ones who kinda went away for about five or six months and figured out how the whole distilling process worked, figured out how to build a distillery, put together all the numbers, and then Neil went out to try to find us a master distiller.

KLYR Rum Distiller Lexi Close

KLYR Rum Distiller Lexi Close

And he found somebody that we both really liked. And she agreed to meet us and we did this meeting and we just clicked right away. As it turned out, she was working for her family’s distillery, so we couldn’t hire her away at that time. But we did start working with her –  her name’s Lexi Close and Lexi took my ideas and the flavor profiles I was talking about and the way that I described it to her, because it didn’t exist.

So I described it through other spirits.  I wanted something with the clean taste of vodka or tequila, right? So I needed to keep that body that you get, but with the sugar of rum. You needed to have the mouthfeel of rum. What I wanted to lose was that harshness. There’s a harshness to rum that most people hide behind sugar.

It used to happen a lot with tequila as well.  Luckily, Lexi’s a big tequila person, so she saw the change in tequila [from years ago, it’s much better now]. 

But she understood when I was talking about harsh tequila and she went about trying to [fix it]. She and I worked together. My work was just tasting it and making suggestions. She worked really hard.

She managed to create this whole new category of product that we are calling American Rum. To differentiate it from Caribbean style rum.  We wanted to really delineate that this was something unique and different and it wasn’t like something you’d had before.

 

So let’s talk a little bit about flavors and the cans themselves, the process of making them?

 

Adam: Let’s start with how we got there first. Because when I started thinking of what drinks I would make with this great rum I was thinking summertime. A little sugar-free lemonade.

Then I came up with this idea for a drink at the ballpark.  I called it “Clear sky”, so it had a little blue curacao in the lemonade, it was like a light blue kind of color. 

We had that all last summer (2022) at Citizens Bank Park. Then we’re also up at the Iron Pigs Coca-Cola park where the Iron Pigs play in Bethlehem. 

It was really light for a lemonade. It didn’t have a lot of sugar in it. I wanted to create that as one of our first cans. Then we were gonna do the traditional Orange Crush.  Orange Crush is the big flavor down at the Jersey Shore towards the middle of last summer.

I expect it to be even bigger this year with all the peach crushes and everything that is happening. There’s a whole crush bar live now that’s how popular these are. 

So we go in and we’ve got our flavor guy, Mike.  He was concocting the mixes for us, and I wanted to keep them below 99 calories. That was very important to me, to go after the seltzer market, ready to drink’s or the White Claws. They’re basically made with cheap alcohol, hidden behind bubbles.

So we sat down and we started trying these lemonades, [testing for the] right amount of flavor. I tried the low flavor lemonade and I went, hold on, can you do this, but  20% less flavor?

I’m thinking we can get it to taste like water and it will be KLYR water. With the partnership with the Phillies, we’ve got Clearwater in Clearwater, right? Because that’s where they hold spring training. 

He really took a lot of the flavoring out and basically something that tastes like ice cold water with a twist of lemon in it.  So that was how we came up with that first flavor. 

Then we had to create Crush. We did; and I thought it was good, but it was 99 calories. It had a lot of flavor to it, like an orange crush.  As we’re going through and I’m drinking them, I’m [always] throwing in another shot of KLYR. 

So when we decided to expand the water line to four flavors: the original OG water that has light, lemon flavor.

We have a tangerine water, which is really subtle, but it’s got sweeter, tangerine flavor to it. Still less than 99 calories. 

Passion fruit which has got a little bit of that sour pop that passion fruit has.

Then the last one I really wanted to do a spa water, so we did cucumber mint.  Which  is my new go-to. I drink it all the time. 

I knew that we wanted the flavors to be unique and different. 

I didn’t want it to be sweet. When you get more full flavored, it ends up being more than 99 calories.

So the crush line became 6.5% [alcohol]. Because as I said, I kept adding an extra shot of KLYR to it. We could lower the sugar that we put in to give the flavor body so that we would get that kind of Crush body when you’re drinking it.

So they’re 6.5 %, they’re only 190 calories. We’ve got Orange Crush, Pineapple Smash Berry Lemonade Blast and Fruit Punch, which is like a tropical fruit punch. This is the juice bag of my youth. So I created those for people who like a little more pop, a little more flavor, and for anybody who goes into a bar and orders that double or triple IPA.

 

Is that why you didn’t want it sweet,  for the calories?

 

Adam: No, I didn’t want it sweet because I don’t wanna hide the rum.  I want you to be able to taste the rum. The flavorings might be great, but the rum is what we’re showcasing. So whatever we made, I wanted you to be able to still get those hints of the rum and enjoy that flavor as you’re drinking it.

 

For foodies, food pairing wise, what have been some great food combinations?

 

Adam: Let me go through the flavors of the crush line, because it splits, I think about them as like red wine and white wine. 

So the water line is like a white wine. So you can have the waters with pizza, pasta, fish.

The Orange Crush and even the Pineapple Smash with Indian food or Mexican food where you have that spice but a little of that sweetness cuts through it and you have the body of the rum on the finish. Those things come out really well together.

[Now Adam has parked and is walking through their KLYR Rum office]

How much of your office is Pennsylvania based? Where’s your distiller?

Adam: Our distillery is in Lewisberry, so that’s in Pennsylvania out by Harrisburg.

Our headquarters is in Westchester.  I am here in Bluebell. Keith is based in Quakertown.

 

Where can we find you? Where can we buy, where can we shop? Where can we follow?

 

Adam: In Pennsylvania we’re available through the PLCB (Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board).

We’re in 30 different stores right now, but we’re in the distribution centers, so anybody who doesn’t have it in their PLCB store order it to have it delivered to them. 

If you are in the greater Philadelphia, Eastern PA area, as far as Bethlehem and out towards Harrisburg we do home delivery.

We have a whole thing on our website everywhere that you can find it. So you can put in your zip code and it’ll tell you where you can get it near you.

In Eastern and Central Pennsylvania use the code: Adam2023 at checkout and get up to 35% off you order.

 

Tell us which social media channels you’re on and how to find you on there?

 

Adam: It’s KLYRRum on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and find us at KLYRRum.com

We support local first. So we’re a Pennsylvania company. That includes South Jersey.

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