My Favorite Movie with Steven Grasse, Tamworth Distilling

0:00 Hey everybody, Welcome to the podcast. We are back with another special bonus episode bonus episode. Today, I'm going to be flying solo. I know you here. Brad here right now, but I am kicking him out here in just a few seconds because K by, because I'm going to be sitting down with Steve grass from Tamworth distilling. This guy, Brad has a really, really extensive background in the world of spirits. He basically founded Hendrick's Gin, He founded Sailor Jerry rum, he works with a ton of whiskey Brands as a consultant really cool guy to talk to but we're talking with him about Tamworth which is a super experimental Distillery that you may remember. We just had on the show a couple months ago. Yeah.

0:46 We drank a whiskey that has the most unique backstory of any whiskey we've ever drank. I don't know if I want to spoil that here. I think people need to go listen to the episode Bob you but It was a Turkey whiskey, a turkey flavored who whiskey? Now, I think it was a turkey. He'd last. Yes, it's like a Sherry like a share. Heed whiskey. This is a Turkey whiskey. And you need to go listen to our review because it was spectacular, but Bob, I am super pumped to hear your interview with him, man. All right, let's get to it, man. If you recall a couple months back we tried a very unique Whiskey on this podcast right around. Thanksgiving time, we got sent a bottle of Tamworth distilling, 's bird of Courage, which I came to find out was essentially an entire Thanksgiving dinner.

1:41 That had somehow been you know, fermented and distilled into whiskey and I still don't quite understand the Alchemy and the chemistry behind that. But I say Alchemy because Brad and I both came out to a place where we said. Wow this is significantly. We better than I was anticipating it based on reading the description of it. And so we got the mad scientist. The Evil Genius himself to come on the show today. Steve grass from Tamworth distilling. He's bringing another new spirit to this podcast, from a category that we've never tried before. We'll get into that in a little bit, but for now, we've got Steve sitting right here. Steve, how are you today? Hey, good. Good to be here. Thank you for having me if I cough a few times, it's because I'm just getting over. My only crime.

2:27 Oh gosh. You got it, huh? Got it. No family. Got it, Christmas present for my daughter. I'll tell you what, man, we had it. We had it back in. November is right, right after Thanksgiving. So it was like, you know, we got bird of courage and then we got called me crying. I covid. Yeah, yeah well I'm glad you're on the mend, I appreciate you joining us. I know that it can really just kind of sappy with all your energy so it means a lot that you're here today. Yeah. Alright now I've been I've been joking with Brad that my first question with you was just going to be Y and and I was just going to let it hang in the air until you understood what I was referring to.

3:07 But but seriously like you guys are the only ones doing the kind of stuff you're doing. I mean, you've got this castoreum whiskey. You've got the Turkey whiskey. Now, I just I have to ask, man, like, what, what is it that is, is pushing you guys to do these. Just Kind of crazy experiments with whiskey and and feel good about what you're releasing and put your name on it. Like, I feel like a lot of companies would not have the balls to do this, to be quite honest with you. Well, I it's good question. Why? I mean, if you know anything about our company, so Tamworth is one part of what we do. The other part of what we do is called Quaker City Mercantile and we are, you know, Spirits consultancy.

3:50 So I work with, you know, I created Hendrick's Gin, I created Sailor, Jerry rum. Fist full of bourbon is a brand that we have out. So we work with like Wayne grandsons on all their brands, we just did it, amazing content series of Questlove on the Bell veiny. I do all the marketing for Guinness in the US, for Diageo owner, brand with Gallo called Lo-Fi aperitif. So, we create and manage and conceptualize Spirits brands for these, you know, global companies. And then we also own our own Distillery. And so, the Distillery was started for really to be a test kitchen for what's possible? Because I use the put, I push the limits in this place and then apply the knowledge to my larger clients, but it's also just for the pure thrill of doing it, okay. So, but it's interesting because, you know, so I'm a lifetime, so Quaker City.

4:55 He's been in business for 31 years and we are, you know, very successful in the Consulting business and The Distillery has been around for seven years and in the time that we created The Distillery, I think there's something like 2,000 craft distilleries in America now, and I feel like, you know, the answer the question of why, well one because we can or were interested in what's possible. But to how the hell else you gotta break out and get some sort of my dogs barking, and get some and get noticed with 2,000 craft distilleries in America. So, I mean, but the, the Curious thing that happened along the way, when we started creating these very curious Spirits, like the beaver, In the venison one, the deer Slayer.

5:46 And now the bird of Courage is they're actually really good. So I feel like we, you know, you could create stuff, that's kind of like a one-off joke. But I mean, our Beaver wisdoms, really quite quite amazing. And then Berta courage got really positive reviews everywhere that, that it was tasted. So, I mean, it's really interesting, the reason why is because we can absolutely And that's the thing too is like, you know, when you see a press release come out around Thanksgiving that's like hey it's a turkey flavored whiskey. Like the first, the first reaction is okay. This is a gimmick and then we get in the mail and we try and we're like, this is absolutely not a gimmick. This, this is like the definition of craft whiskey. They have put a lot of effort into this and again, so I'm the, I'm the PT Barnum of the company and, but Jamie are distiller and that are Biochemist resident biochemist is I mean they they approach these requests, these crazy request I have in a profound way.

6:54 So I think the way he may burn of Courage was basically made it the way he made a whiskey, the way you make a jit, right? So he created all these confusions with the rotary evaporators that we have and Infuse them into the whiskey and to a startling effect. You know, it's interesting I think the other thing Is interesting about Tamworth is we make a very big range of products because again, our mission is to boldly. Go, where no one has gone before. And I think because of that we have a much more extensive laboratory and laboratory equipment than most distillers are size do so we have like all sorts of very experimental stuff that most people don't have even the, even the larger Spirits companies that are work with, don't have Stuff that we have. Well, let's let's talk a little bit about that. Then like I want to learn more about Tamworth as a Distillery and like, I feel like in a lot of ways you guys are putting New Hampshire on the map because to my knowledge, New Hampshire is not the biggest whiskey producing state. And so you guys are kind of just, like, up there in the mountains tinkering away.

8:02 And and developing these really, really creative spirits. That no one else is really doing. So when you talk about the, the equipment that you're working with the experimentation that you're leaning into it, I mean, it kind of feels like the New Hampshire of it all actually makes a lot of sense in terms of you know this is a state that's not known for doing this. So let's do something that's different from everybody else. Well, you know it's interesting is that that's true and I think we purposely chose New Hampshire. We wanted to be in a controlled State on purpose because control States tend to have state mandates where they have to buy your product. And and it seems, it's one of the things about being in this, It's industry for. As long as I have been, is I actually find, you know, most people think control states are bad. Think now they're really great for for small business but being in like we are in a very rural part of New Hampshire. I think Carroll County where where our Distillery is, the poorest county in New Hampshire and it's very rural. And what I like about that is and Matt and Jamie are our naturalist who are You know, they're out there forging and doing all this stuff all the time. And I think they're very much inspired by their environment and then I'm a historian deeply into historical stories. And I've written several books on the subject. And so it's taking the storytelling of historical things that I'm interested in

9:34 and then marrying it with the science and and naturalist instincts that Matt have, and I think it really creates a very profound and unique product. And, and the other thing, too is, what's amazing about our company is that, you know, we have a really great team of designers and, and artists. So, you know, everything you see on Hendrix and all these Brands. We do all that work here in Philadelphia. And and so we then apply. So we have resources that a lot of craft distillers don't have, which is quite exciting. Yeah. Yeah, and you keep talking about your team, which I think is amazing because it's sometimes we talk with, you know, CEOs or owners that it'd take a lot of credit, honestly. And it seems like when you were putting the team together, like there was this kind of very intentional this, this Outpost this craft Distillery is going to Lean Into The Cutting Edge. Like I mean, is that right?

10:37 Or did it arise more? Just kind of or gone. Oh say was Phyllis our experimental Test Kitchen. Yeah, to As far as possible but then also with storytelling and history to so it's really interesting. So it's very Cutting Edge but in a very historical sense. Mmm. And then the whole distilleries based on the transcendentalist of, you know, throw and Tamworth is where thorough spend time when he was wandering, the White Mountains and wrote about it in his journalism and one of our buildings is actually where he actually spent time. So it's kind of cool. So we kind of Of built the Distillery on transcendentalist principles which is not the first time we've done this. We also have a store in Philadelphia called are the age of mechanical reproduction, which is based on me, the famous essay, that was great 1936.

11:27 So we kind of build Our Brands off these weird Arcane stories and his historical figures and things like that. Well and I think that commitment to history extends to the offerings that are coming out as well. And if I can kind of like, you know, awkwardly segue us into this new That you've brought onto our show, it's not really a new spirit. It's, I mean, it's an incredibly historical Spirit, we're talking about aquavit, and yeah, it's not an American Spirit. I mean, this is traditionally Scandinavian Northern Germany. I know that Norway and Sweden kind of fight over like, who does it better as they do with most things? I mean, what led you guys to start making aquavit? Well, you know, it's interesting when you first open The Distillery not a lot of aged product, you start playing with stuff that you can make, that doesn't require like a You know, a fine-tuned 6 year old whisky or things, right? So the spin on our aquavit is that it is a whisky based on equity, which I think we're the only ones who do that, but it gives it a certain complexity and I think that again, using the Natural Things That kind of grow around us. And and I was intrigued by the historical like the way mountains, being a place where the Norwegians came to they built.

12:43 Ski jump in America, nansen, Ski Club, I think in 1872 or something like that, and we only launched the brand. We kind of tied it to the ski club and did it as a fundraiser with them. But it's really grown, as a from what I've understood, it's gotten some really great reviews, particularly, from Scandinavians, who think it's a really great Aqua V. And Bloomberg, just declared it one of the 16 best spirits of 2021, which is quite, you know, it's a nice honored. Have so and it's called speak Lubin and I love the artwork on the brand and feels very sort of mid-century waiting out here is worth.

13:23 Yeah, which is really cool. So it's one of my favorites, and it's a perennial hit for us. That just keeps growing year after year, so it's quite exciting. Well, let's go in a little bit further on on what aquavit is for our listeners. Because most of our listenership are people who are looking to go into their local liquor store and find a reliable bottle of whiskey. Like this is not typically the place that, you know, people who are looking for each and every release of abhi Tak are coming and so aquavit is going to be way outside of, you know, what most of our listenership is familiar with. Now, I understand that it is typically made with either like a potato, vodka or some sort of neutral grain Spirit as the base, you're talking about, how you use whiskey as the base.

14:06 I mean, just from that starting point. What do you feel like using whiskey as the base? Does to add like a Layer of complexity here. You'd have to ask Matt Jamie on that one but I think I mean to me it just adds a certain way to it that I think it adds a level of smoothness to it they'd I don't get what I have other other alkyl beats. It's interesting too because I've been with Scandinavian to when they first see the like why is it not clear. Hmm and I'm like oh it's whiskey base and I like that's that's not that's what's it, what's the word? Um, Blasphemous and then they try it and they liked it. So it's it's again, it's it's our it's our spin on it or take on it.

14:51 I don't think we would dare to do a purely authentic Scandinavian aquavit because I think they do it much better. So why would I write? So that's what we've done with everything we've done. So if you know with Hendrick's Gin when we first came out with it, a lot of it was trying to appeal to people that didn't like Jim so Hendricks. Didn't have that. It wasn't allowed to drive something other. So everything we always do, it's other and and the only reason we do that is, is its Instinct, pulls us to not. Try to. I always feel like if there's a really good example of something in the marketplace. Why would I try to replicate it? And that's my criticism of a lot of craft distillers in America is, you know, it's not Christmas.

15:36 And it's more, like, dare to be bold. Try to try, try some new stuff. Yeah. Like, why are you all making the same damn thing all the time? No, I think if you did if you made some different stuff, you'd have a chance of breaking out and not being just a mirror Regional Regional provider. You know, that's how that's how hits are made. And in this business in the end of the day it is it is like the music business or a movie business. You're trying to make hits, right? Well I got to say I've got the ski club and poured out here. I'm just sipping it neat. If I had to describe it to the listeners, I guess. So there is a very sort of gin Unlike feel to the nose. There's, I mean, it's like, it's got that kind of juniper and yeah, like are your face. But if I could use the term, like a winter region because it has its kind of cardamom.

16:25 Here's a lot of licorice on it. Yeah, and it's almost like if you took a really good really citrusy gin and mingled it with a really bold spicy Rye because I also see that you guys use dill as some of the spices in here and you know, deals of note, we pick up on rye all the time. So it's like this really Interesting, you know like a dirty martini at a later time in a glass. That's a great explanation of it. I end the way I drink it. I think you know it's interesting before I owned a Distillery I was a cocktail guy after I own a Distillery. I only drink this stuff neat and it's because I just want to get to the heart of what I'm drinking. Sure.

17:08 And so for me I drink aquavit with a few rocks and that's it. But It's, it's funny happen. The Distillery this weekend, I think they're having a sold-out tiki aquavit class because they've discovered that aquavit is really great in a lot of classic Tiki drinks, huh? So go figure that one out. It's also really good apparently in it, an espresso Martini. Yeah, I imagine that this would be like really, really good. As a substitute for in like, gin cocktails. Just add a layer of something. That's not There. Yes, that interesting. So, I mean, it's a very versatile Spirit surprisingly. But again, like, I like to drink all this stuff that we make just on the Rocks.

17:53 All right. Steve you have come onto the film and whiskey podcast. We've spent some time talking about the spirits world. Let's move into the world of movies. Okay, and we talked right before he pressed record about what movie we were going to discuss, because we always discuss the, you know, the guests favorite film. But you have two movies that are just absolute bangers. And I don't I don't want to narrow it down any further. So you go ahead and you pick the first one that you want to talk about and we'll say, we'll say the second one for a few minutes from now. But why don't you introduce them to us? First one is the man who would be king with Sean Connery and Michael Caine. Yep. Drafted by Houston, John Huston and and I don't know when I first saw it captured a sense of adventure for me.

18:40 And and Inez I've probably seen the movie Two times, and I just love the story. I love how it's based on Alexander the Great and the Freemasons, and all that stuff is just a fascinating, great story. Well, told I feel like that movie Ki think that movie was 75 when it came. Yes, I probably saw when it first came out as a kid. I'm 27 years old and so I was 11 years old. When that came out, I feel like it hit at the perfect time to where you were able to bring in a little more of the violence of 1970s film. But even when it came out, I feel like at movie probably felt like a throwback to Classic Hollywood, like of course, you got John Huston directing it, but now I just has this, like, swashbuckling, you know, Errol Flynn and Cary Grant in gunga din? Kind of feel to it, right?

19:29 So we write, hey, and I don't know this, I should know this as Sean Connery and I and Michael came to. They were they in any other films together? Oh, that's a good question. I don't know off the top of my head, but if not, then they should have been, because this pairing is They had a great chemistry and I love, you know, I don't mean to spoil the movie for anybody. I love the balls Enos of the ending of the film to like, I don't know that I need to get into it but like, you know, this movie is it doesn't end on the happiest of notes and it still does kind of carry, you out feeling like, you know what, though they did, what they had to do. Like they they live the life that they wanted to live and I really, really appreciated that about this movie.

20:12 I agree. Absolutely. So in my second film, we doing that. Are we ready in this for the second film? Yeah, let's roll into it, man. All right. My second favorite film of all time. Is Repo, Man with is it Charlie Sheen? Or is it the other Emilio Estevez? You know, that's, that's right. I think it's an Emilio who directed it was? The who was it? I don't know. The details is, so C. Is it thing? I keep I keep confusing it. In my mind with RoboCop 2. I'll keep moving to say that. Rubbers. All right here there have been movies but I also think was was a Repo Man directed by what's-his-name Cox. Who directed that Cox.

20:53 Yep. It sucks cocks, right? And and I think it was produced by Michael Nesmith, right? I think somebody's. Yes interesting and Iggy Pop did the soundtrack and what is truly an oddity of the crew dick root is in it. He was a famous Punk rock, I guess he was in a band before this but I just love the, I just loved. And now, what's his name? He was in Paris Texas, which is every Dean Stanton. Is there you like dark hip cool comic Edge.

21:35 That's just like you hadn't seen it before and it was like kind of cheap and In a great way. Yeah, I feel like it's one of those movies from the 80s that as a guy who's born in the 90s, my introduction to 80s, movies were all of the like the really safe, you know, zemeckis and Spielberg's 80s period and and then you get a little bit older and you find out like there's some really crazy subversive stuff coming out in the 80s. It's a, it's a, it's a punk-rock movie. And and I think it's like and then obviously, what's the other Alex Cox movie? He did, that was straight to hell, right. Right? Where it's a terrible Western with Joe Strummer and Grace Jones, and Courtney Love. And they're all high on coffee.

22:22 All the time, all they do is drink coffee in there over-caffeinated, shame of gal, in it, from The Pogues, it's been great and terrible that he, I think, saying that that's, that's actually how we create a lot of Our Brands. Still high on coffee. Yes, but it's also like like Let It Rip. Any terrible there. Be great there to be whatever like put some stuff like I feel like the Whiskey Business is so up its own ass. Sometimes I feel like like come on, guys, have fun. Make a wild turkey with wild turkey. Make make a put some Beaver balls in there. Like to see what happens, right. I love it.

23:05 I mean I do feel like we should just start calling you the Repo Man of whiskey at this point you go. That's sticks. I like the tagline for sure. Steve, thank you so much for coming on the show today. I'm just really excited about what's coming out of Tamworth. I hope that we continue to get some product from you guys, you know, maybe, maybe not the beaver balls, but we'll see that it's great. I really enjoy this but my wife made it expensive Sushi meal thing that I'm gonna run out too. So hey, get to it, man. Enjoyed it. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Yeah, let's do it again. Steve grass from Tamworth distilling. Thank you so much, again.