My Favorite Movie with Brian Sprance, New Riff Master Distiller
This week on Film & Whiskey, we're joined by New Riff Distilling's newly appointed master distiller, Brian Sprance, for a special "My Favorite Movie" episode. Brian shares his journey from brewmaster to becoming the first master distiller in New Riff's decade-long history.
Join us as we peel back the layers of Brian's cinematic inspiration and raise a glass to New Riff's next chapter as a trailblazer in the whiskey world.
Film & Whiskey Podcast. New episodes every Tuesday.
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--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/filmwhiskey/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/filmwhiskey/support00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:02,680
Well, hey everybody.
Welcome into another special
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bonus episode.
Bonus.
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Episode.
Brad, I just love doing bonus
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episodes of film and whiskey.
It's the best man.
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Cause most of the time when we
are doing a regular episode our
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research involves watching A2
plus hour movie and drinking a
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whiskey and with the bonus
episodes that is not the case
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and in fact the the roles are
reversed most of the time.
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Man, it's it's usually whiskey
prep and no movie prep.
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Today is no exception.
I've I've been enjoying my deep
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dive into the world of new riff.
Brad We've had new riff on the
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show, I don't know, 5-6 Times
Now.
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Not enough?
Yeah, not not enough, But
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probably more than any other
distillery on film and whiskey,
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they've been with us since the
beginning.
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Yeah, the the absolute
beginning.
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I mean, we've loved all of our
conversations with Jay.
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He's talked to Kurosawa with us,
talked whiskey with us and to be
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frank, Bob New Riff continues to
put out stellar whiskey.
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And so I have no problem having
them on the podcast.
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Nor do I, man, I, I, I still
tell people to this day, if you
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are new to the world of whiskey,
if you've just started trying
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bourbons and Ryze and you're
ready to kind of take things to
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the next level, especially in
terms of proof.
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Like if you're ready to get
bumped up to 100 proof.
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I really don't know many bottled
and bond bourbons that I would
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recommend more highly than new
Rif bottled and Bond And like I
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think I've gone so far as to say
on this podcast before Brad,
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controversially, I think I I
prefer the bottled and bond to
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the single barrel.
You and I are like pretty
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starched, staunch proponents of
the bottled and Bond bourbon and
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bottled and Bond rye.
Yeah, you you really can't miss
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out on their bottled and bond
stuff because it is so
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consistently high quality like
like their single barrel stuff
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is is spectacular.
Bob, we're we're not saying
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anything else, but man the
bottle and bond is just always
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going to hit the spot and it's
at a price point that most
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people can afford.
So regardless of all that, Bob,
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why, why are we here talking to
new riff today?
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We're here because New Riff made
an announcement.
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You know, Brad, people come to
our podcast for breaking news in
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the world of whiskey.
And by breaking we mean news
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that happened two months ago and
we were just getting around to
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talking about it now, the.
Breakingest of news.
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Back in January, New Riff
announced that they're promoting
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Brian Sprints to Master
Distiller.
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And this is a huge deal.
I mean, not just for Brian, but
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because this is the first time
that the title of Master
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Distiller has been bestowed upon
anyone in the distillery's
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history since they launched in
2014.
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Brian was originally hired
because of his fermentation
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expertise.
He was a former Brewer at the
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Boston Beer Company.
He was mentored by Larry
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Ebersold, who's known as the
godfather of rye whiskey, and he
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helped shape what we know new
rift to be today.
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Brian is joining us on the other
end of the line.
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He's been waiting patiently to
dive in and talk a little bit.
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Brian, how are you today?
I'm great.
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Thank you very much for having
me.
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Listen, man, I'm.
I'm excited to get to the part
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where we talk about your
favorite movie, because Brad,
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before you jumped on the horn, I
was here with Brian and we were
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talking about all of the wild
pics we've had in the history of
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this, my favorite movie series.
There's been one or two.
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But before we dive into that,
let's talk a little bit about
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Brian himself and about his new
role at new riff.
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So Brian, you've been with the
company for a long, long time.
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It's been two months since the
big announcement.
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Have you seen a lot of change in
your day-to-day with this new
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role and are you are you
settling into it or is it still
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feeling pretty new to?
You it still feels pretty new.
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I'm.
I'm settling into it, honestly.
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One of the one of the very nice
things from a lot of that I've
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gotten back from this is
feedback from peers and lots of
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Co workers and friends reaching
out just congratulating it's
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it's a it's a a kind of a heady
big title you know.
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So I was kind of begrudgingly
dragged to the finish line of
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accepting this title.
Hannah Lowen are now CEO was
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always joking with me, like when
when do I get a master
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distiller?
When can I, when can I tell
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people we have a master
distiller?
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And I just kind of jokingly said
it's going to be 10 years.
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And when Larry Ebersold gives me
his blessing, maybe I'll think
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about it.
That got her off my back for a
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couple years and then she
actually remembered and came
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back and said, hey, it's been 10
years.
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And the cherry on top is I
talked to Larry and he wants to
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give the blessing as well.
So when you have people like
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Larry Ebersold and also Ken
Lewis are our owner, our
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recently retired CEO, but still
our owner want to kind of
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appoint you with this title, you
take it, you know, there was no
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more pushing back against it.
The nice thing is I've always
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been in the distillery making
whiskey and one of the things
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that I really wanted to like
kind of emphasize what is that
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I'm a working master distiller.
Not saying that other master
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distillers are not, but I wanted
my priority to remain in the
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distillery where I have my, you
know, my thumb on the pulse, the
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heartbeat of the distillery.
Everything is still, you know
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running right through me and
hopefully things don't change
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for the near future.
So whiskey is such a long, a
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long term game.
A lot of these things that we've
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been working on whiskey wise and
really a lot of things in the
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business are all like 5-6
seven-year old ideas that are
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really just now starting to come
to fruition.
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So it's the long game over here.
But to answer your question, no,
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things haven't really changed at
all.
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Thankfully I didn't want them to
hang a sign on my neck that said
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master distiller and then send
me off to I don't know, Kroger
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to sell bottles.
I I always you know and they
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were very respectful and
understood that I we all do a
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few things well in this world.
Thankfully, making whiskey is is
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one of mine and it was just very
important for me to stay in the
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distillery, be with my team,
taste the whiskeys every day
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because, you know, blending a
ton of whiskey and shout out to
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you guys enjoying the bottled
and bond.
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We always find that that's like
one of the the funnest puzzles
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to put together at the end of
each month when we do all our
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celery.
I mean, single barrels are a
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pretty easy thing.
Like, that's a delicious whiskey
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that'll stand on its own.
But like kind of taking all the
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components of the different
aging environments that all our
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barrels are in and kind of
painting that picture every
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month.
It's something that's also
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pretty consistent.
It's probably one of the things
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that we find the most
challenging.
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We just also, excuse me, I think
8 months ago we released our
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first malt whiskey and we
learned so much from the
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blending of our bottled and Bond
bourbon and rye whiskeys that it
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really helped us along and kind
of putting that bigger puzzle
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together.
So yeah, I would agree with you
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guys.
Well, I love our single barrels
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as well.
I think Bottled and Bond is just
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where it's at for us too.
Yeah and I'm I'm kind of curious
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as as you coined it a a working
master distiller like what does
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it look like balancing
innovation going into new areas
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of the world of whiskey along
with all the traditional aspects
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like you like you just talked
about you know this blending
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process and and really like if
you want to get better at
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shooting free throws you shoot a
lot of free throws.
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If you want to get better at
creating whiskey you got to
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taste and blend a lot of
whiskey.
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So how do you, how do you
balance those things out?
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You know honestly it's it's it's
not very difficult I'm, I'm
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given the time and the space to
be creative.
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We've just learned organically
throughout all of the years that
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that we've been doing this.
Again, whiskey is such a long
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term thing so that some of the
ideas that we're working on now
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and we're whether it's blending
whiskeys or kind of working with
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new recipes that were designed
and are coming of age now.
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You know we've had a lot of
these things on our mind for
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five, 6-7 and eight years.
So all of the things that we
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come out with that are new
products, you know they're not
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very, they're not necessarily
new to us, they're very old
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projects that we've been working
on.
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So they feel a lot more like we
really kind of understand where
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we're going with a lot of these
projects three or four months
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after the the actual whiskey is
made and put into a barrel.
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When we do things like different
grain, different multi barley
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varieties, heirloom corns or
heirloom rise, these are all
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things that we have to work on
projects from the ground up and
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almost a lot of those go back to
working with our farmer Charles
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Fogg of hey you want to work on
growing some of these heirloom
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grains for us.
So he's got to seed the land and
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then he's got to grow enough to
make the quantity and the
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quality.
So you guys kind of see where
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I'm going.
Like a lot of these things that
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are like they seem like
innovative and new have really
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been like a work in progress for
for years upon years and we have
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quite a few more projects like
that that'll slowly start to see
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the light of day.
I think this is going to be a
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really fun year for us as well.
We really, I think this is the
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year where we we hit the the
quality and the quantity of
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older whiskey that we wanted to
put out.
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We could have always put it out
at 6:00 and 7:00 and 8:00 and
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9:00.
We really know that we're going
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to be judged long term off of
the strength of our older
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whiskey.
So you know when you're making
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whiskey for 10 years and you
only hold 25 to 30% of it back,
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it takes a while to build up
kind of like an inventory of
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things that you want to work
with.
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But on top of the the blending
that we did with the malt
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whiskey and the 8 year old
releases, we're going to have
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some more fun stuff coming out.
So you know, again, it's it's a
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lot of these projects that we've
just worked so long on.
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That's the Super nice thing
about working for an amazing
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person like Ken Lewis.
It's it's not that like we don't
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look at cost of things but like
at the end of the day if it's
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something that we think is going
to be good for the whiskey or
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provide better flavor profiles
and some of the whiskey
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regardless of style that we're
making, you know, the answer's
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always a resounding yes.
So when you have kind of that
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that space to kind of like
create and we kind of laugh
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along the way, how are we going
to build this single malt
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whiskey in the end that's eight
years from now we'll worry about
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it when it comes up.
Guess what years later like got
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to figure this one out.
So.
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You know.
The nice thing is we we can call
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it naive or we just, you know,
sometimes we just we don't know
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better and we're able to just
kind of chase the things that we
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think are going to work.
And I'm not going to sit here
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and tell you guys like 100% of
the things that we've done are
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successful because that's not
really how things work.
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But you know we try to do a lot
of different things as well as
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you know remaining bourbon and
rye whiskey is, it's a pretty
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traditional beverage.
There's not a lot of things you
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can really do just skew it one
way or another.
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You know, it's got to be 51%
corn.
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It's got to be like play around
in that like kind of what we
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call like the 49% is I think
what we've done a pretty good
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job at with differentiating some
of the different bourbon recipes
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that we've made.
I want to zoom out a little bit
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and kind of take a, you know, 10
thousand, 30,000 foot view of
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the brand itself, Brad.
A lot of the brands that we've
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worked with on the show and that
we've talked to that have sprung
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up in the last decade or so, we
keep coming back to the word
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transparency and how a lot of
these brands have made their
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names on being transparent to
consumers.
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Now we've talked with a couple
brands, Brad, that kind of hate
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that and they think that
consumers are getting too
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demanding as a result.
But what I've seen on our end of
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things is that consumers just
want to know what's in my glass.
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I don't care if it's sourced.
I don't care where it's coming
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from.
I just want to know what I'm
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drinking here.
And brands like New Rif have
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always been really, really great
at being transparent about
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exactly the process they're
using and what's in the glass.
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And Brian, I'm wondering from
your point of view, having
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worked with this brand basically
since it started, you were there
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at the start of the bourbon boom
or like right on the rise of it.
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You've been there through all
the changes in the industry in
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the last 10 years.
What sort of trends are you
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seeing in terms of like consumer
behaviors?
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Are you finding that you guys
are kind of constantly having to
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adapt to those things?
Or it has it been more built
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into the spirit of the company
because you have always been a
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more transparent brand?
I mean the really, really nice
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thing and probably one of my
favorite things about new riff
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that I think resonates with our
customers so well is that we are
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a real authentic whiskey
company.
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You know, it's very easy for us
to be transparent because we've
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all been here.
We created the story, we've
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created the company culture.
So when you're not trying so
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hard, we don't we don't try like
we're able to just sit down and
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have a casual conversation like
I don't have to think of like
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things that I don't want to talk
about or things that could be
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like a tripping point because
the sales guys or the the
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marketing guys and gals like
they don't want.
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We're about as transparent as it
gets.
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We want to tell everyone what
we're up to just because I think
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in this day and age it's people
appreciate and they deserve
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honestly like transparency and
and where things are made.
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And when you get into like kind
of, you know, we spearheaded
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kind of like what we wanted our
bottled and bond product to be.
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I mean that's pretty much one of
the highest, how would you like
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some of the highest
qualifications for spirits in
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the world?
I mean, it's gotten 4 years old.
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It's got to be, you know, I
think it's probably one of the
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first like food protection acts
as well.
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You know, it's where was it
made?
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Who was it made by?
Where was it stored?
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Are you know are you doing
everything that these federal
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regulations say And when we
started coming out, coming up
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with the idea of putting out
bonded products, it just seemed
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like a no brainer for us.
You know we're able to tell
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people you know we started in
2014 this is what we've done.
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You know it's it's it's easy for
us because it's what we've been
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doing.
We're, we've been given such an
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incredible amount of freedom
because we're an independently
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owned, a family owned company.
And with that comes a lot of
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freedom.
And you know, one of the ways
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that we wanted to express that
freedom was to tell people
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exactly, 100% what we were up
to.
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That's why I kind of like when I
say I'd begrudgingly, like
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accepted the position of Master
Distiller.
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I'm more comfortable with it two
months into this.
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But it's like you would have
started in 2014 and been like,
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hi, I'm Brian.
Yeah, I made beer for 15 years.
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But it's my first day on the job
and now I'm like that just that
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doesn't make sense to me.
And I think what we saw a lot
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00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:03,280
of, at least when we were
opening up and getting kind of
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familiarized with like what the
bourbon scene was at the time.
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There just wasn't a lot of it.
And there was a lot of that kind
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of if you have a still, you can
make a business card and away
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you go.
You know, there's no educational
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00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:19,280
kind of background in the US to
like become this, like Master
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00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:22,880
distiller, being transparent.
Long story made short, it's
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00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:25,120
pretty easy for us.
So I don't have to worry about
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00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:28,560
what I say, because basically
it's our story.
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It's not somebody else's.
Yeah.
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And and I love the emphasis on
team that you guys have.
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00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:37,160
One of the things I've learned
as we've done this podcast, Bob
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00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:41,360
is that movies and whiskey are
both things that take the right
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00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:44,200
amount of people with the right
amount of expertise, the right
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00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:47,000
amount of innovation to create a
great product.
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And obviously new riff is is
doing that with their whiskey.
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But I I'm curious now, Brian,
when it comes to the world of
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movies, what what's a movie for
you that you just feel, I don't
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00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:01,720
know, indebted to something that
you always come back to and
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00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:03,000
enjoy?
What?
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00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:05,160
What's What's a film that you
want to talk about today?
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00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:07,960
All right, so a little
background here.
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00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:13,080
My dad was in the Air Force for
25 plus years.
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He was up.
He was a fighter pilot for the
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majority of that and we were
stationed abroad for a good
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00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:20,400
chunk of my childhood.
I was actually born in in
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00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:30,480
England and I think 1985 or 1986
we, he was stationed, reassigned
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to.
It was West Germany at the time.
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00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:42,520
It was Rammstein Air Force Base.
When we got there, there was a
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00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:46,400
movie coming out called Top Gun
and we were like, oh man, Top
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00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:48,040
Gun.
Like that's what Dad does.
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00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:50,560
And then when we actually went
and saw the movie, like we just
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00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:53,680
had this like amazing view of
like what we thought like life
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00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:56,040
in the United States was because
like we were like when we lived
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00:15:56,040 --> 00:15:59,360
over there, when we lived
abroad, like my my folks always
315
00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:01,600
wanted to be like you know, off
of the Air Force Base.
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00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:06,240
So like we lived 1/2 an hour out
in West Germany and same when we
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00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:08,720
were in England, we lived you
know, 2530 minutes away.
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00:16:09,080 --> 00:16:13,640
So when we like saw Tom Cruise
in like San Diego and the sun
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00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:17,680
and airplanes, we were like
that's obviously what America is
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00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:19,440
like and we cannot wait to get
there.
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00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:23,520
Also, you know when you watch a
movie like 300 times, like once
322
00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:26,600
you know all the all the words
and everything, all the
323
00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:29,360
mannerisms and everything, it's
just one of those movies that's
324
00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:32,400
that's stuck with me.
I think my dad would be happy to
325
00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:35,480
hear that because we were like,
well, it's so cool that our dad
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00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:37,720
is so cool.
Look what he does, but also like
327
00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:41,920
look how cool America is and oh
man, and then that's the main.
328
00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:45,560
So the the other answer that I
loved was, I don't know why, but
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00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:49,400
I first time I saw Grease, I was
like, I love musicals.
330
00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:55,640
If only Tom Cruise had sung
while flying planes, then we
331
00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:57,760
would have the perfect movie, I
think is what you're saying.
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00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:00,480
Agreed.
And then when we went to us, we
333
00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:05,119
saw the new Top Gun.
I was like, not bad.
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00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:07,160
That held up pretty well.
And then I went back and watched
335
00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:08,760
the first one.
I was like, nothing's beating
336
00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:10,200
that one ever.
It's classic.
337
00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:11,640
That was going to be my
question.
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00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:15,200
I feel like most people in the
wake of Top Gun Maverick have
339
00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:17,599
been like, you know, the
original's pretty good, but it's
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00:17:17,599 --> 00:17:21,280
no Top Gun Maverick and you're
out here boldly going where no
341
00:17:21,280 --> 00:17:23,880
one I've heard has gone before,
which is the OG.
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00:17:24,319 --> 00:17:27,720
The OG Top Gun Trump's the new
one.
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00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:32,320
I I need, like, give me 30
seconds on why is the old one
344
00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:33,720
better?
Because.
345
00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:36,320
The original's always better.
It's always better.
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00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:40,080
I mean, it might be few and far
between of like somebody remakes
347
00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:44,120
a song, but come on man, like
you can't have that one without
348
00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:49,200
the original.
You gots to have the OG and that
349
00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:52,160
is the right opinion.
The second one, while it's it's
350
00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:54,000
it's a really good movie as
well.
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00:17:55,160 --> 00:17:59,120
I still cry when Goose dies.
That's how real Top Gun was to
352
00:17:59,120 --> 00:18:02,320
me.
I mean, the new one has no Meg
353
00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:07,200
Ryan so we're already missing
that and and no Kelly Mcgillis.
354
00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:10,120
No, no great soundtrack.
Like I was driving home from
355
00:18:10,120 --> 00:18:12,920
somewhere the other day and Take
my Breath Away was on the radio
356
00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:15,960
and I'm like, where was this in
the new Top Gun movie?
357
00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:19,120
Like you, you gotta have the
needle drops and I feel like the
358
00:18:19,120 --> 00:18:23,440
new one did not have that, Brad.
Yeah, the the new one, while a
359
00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:27,920
superior film to the original,
does not quite have the needle
360
00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:32,200
drops of the of the first.
I also will will give you this
361
00:18:32,280 --> 00:18:35,600
the volleyball scene is way
better than the the double
362
00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:38,680
football scene.
That's just kind of weird, like
363
00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:41,360
just just play a normal sport
that that we all know.
364
00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:45,800
I mean, that was my kind of
introduction to, what's the
365
00:18:46,080 --> 00:18:50,840
proper way of saying watching
intimate relations on the big
366
00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:53,960
screen as well.
There's some pretty iconic
367
00:18:54,640 --> 00:18:56,640
iconic scenes that came out of
that one as well.
368
00:18:56,640 --> 00:18:58,320
We won't.
So what I'm hearing is this was
369
00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:01,160
just a very formative experience
for you all around.
370
00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:04,480
I mean, it hit like all the main
things for me at the time.
371
00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:07,440
I was like, that's that's
exactly what we imagined the
372
00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:10,560
United States to be.
Like, that's everything that we
373
00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:12,680
thought was so cool about what
my dad's job was.
374
00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:17,080
And you know, I'm when I'm
eleven years old and walking
375
00:19:17,080 --> 00:19:19,720
around, I think the village that
we stayed in was go to housing.
376
00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:23,400
I mean, I have the danger zone
going in my earphones like.
377
00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:27,720
Yeah, man.
Brian, I can't thank you enough
378
00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:30,480
for joining us today.
As we kind of wind things down,
379
00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:34,000
I want to ask you, you know, new
riff is always looking for ways
380
00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:36,280
to innovate.
I know that you can't spoil a
381
00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:39,960
lot about what's coming in in
this next year for you guys, but
382
00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:43,280
just generally speaking, you're
in a new role.
383
00:19:43,360 --> 00:19:45,400
You've been working with this
company for 10 years.
384
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:49,520
When you wake up in the morning,
what is the thing that excites
385
00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:51,280
you the most about going to work
still?
386
00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:54,200
Like, is it, is it a new release
you're working on?
387
00:19:54,200 --> 00:19:57,080
Is it just the the culture of
the place?
388
00:19:57,080 --> 00:20:00,440
Like what is it about new riff
that keeps you ticking every
389
00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:02,920
single day?
You know, I I think I might have
390
00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:05,400
already said this, but like what
New Riff means to me is
391
00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:07,720
honestly, like everything
throughout the years has always
392
00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:10,360
been new.
And a couple things that go with
393
00:20:10,360 --> 00:20:13,200
that are we were able to create
a lot of things, not only
394
00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:17,080
creating whiskey, but we created
a team, we created a culture.
395
00:20:18,120 --> 00:20:20,360
We believe in the goal.
And I don't know if it's how you
396
00:20:20,360 --> 00:20:23,240
quantify or when you reach it,
but like, if we're not going to
397
00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:26,280
try to be one of the the world's
great small distilleries, then
398
00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:27,880
then what are we trying to do
here?
399
00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:30,840
I mean, and really the icing on
the cake is that, like, we get
400
00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:33,320
to make whiskey, we get to taste
whiskey, we get to blend
401
00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:35,800
whiskey.
There's so much creative freedom
402
00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:38,080
here that I don't think you get
a lot.
403
00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:40,480
I've, you know, I've I've worked
in a corporate environment
404
00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:43,760
before and I understand, you
know, what goes into like a
405
00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:46,080
small tweak of a beer recipe
when you have to go through
406
00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:48,000
eight different e-mail things
and stuff like that.
407
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:49,800
I understand all that and the
importance of it.
408
00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:53,000
But again, just like the
creative freedom that I think
409
00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:56,480
mostly everybody within the
company feels, we're also again,
410
00:20:56,480 --> 00:21:00,440
just we're all all on the same
team, all trying to accomplish
411
00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:04,800
one kind of singular mission.
All this talk of teamwork, Brad
412
00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:07,360
and Top Gun, I I think what
Brian's trying to say here is
413
00:21:07,360 --> 00:21:10,960
behind every great pilot is a
hell of a wingman, right?
414
00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:14,880
How's it going, Bob?
Brian Sprance, thank you so much
415
00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:16,760
for joining us on film and
whiskey today.
416
00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:18,640
Thank you guys so much for
having me.
417
00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:21,880
We'll be back on Tuesday with
another regularly scheduled
418
00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:24,560
episode, but until then, I'm Bob
Book.
419
00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:27,400
I'm Brad G.
And we'll see you next time.