Jake Lewellen (00:01.266) Welcome back to another episode of the Bourbon Lens. This is where the first on-site podcast ever happened. You probably didn’t know that. Our guest, master taster, John Waddell So sit back and enjoy the next episode of the Bourbon Lens. John? It’s been a long time. We have been trying to get you on the podcast for, I don’t know, when did you get this job? A couple years, two years. Bourbon Lens Studio (00:01.289) Welcome back to another episode of Burb and Lens. This is where the first on-site podcast ever happened. You probably didn’t know that our guest master taster John Whittle. So sit back and enjoy the next episode of Burb and Lens. John, it’s been a long time. It has, man. It has. We have been trying to get you on the podcast for, I don’t know, when did you get this job? It all runs together now. Maybe I’ve been doing this position. Maybe a year year and a half two years something like that I think maybe But it’s great to be here we Connect all the time, but it’s great to you know sit here and actually talk to us and let everyone know kind of what’s happening with One of the original craft distilleries here in downtown. yeah. Yeah, no, it’s it’s awesome I mean, you know, I’ve been here for about ten years now a little bit over that maybe Jake Lewellen (00:32.614) Yeah, but it’s great to be here. We connect all the time, but it’s great to sit here and actually talk peerless and let everyone know kind of what’s happening with one of the original craft distilleries here in downtown Louisville. Yeah, Awesome. It is happening. Bourbon Lens Studio (00:54.676) right here on site. We just had a big 10 year release last week, which was a huge milestone for us. They put out our first age Statement Bourbon ever. So yeah, was exciting times. Jake Lewellen (01:02.45) Yeah, I mean I remember people lining up for their first release ever yeah the 24 month old rye whiskey and it was about when we started the podcast Bourbon Lens Studio (01:09.834) ever. Yeah, the 24 month old brother. This was the biggest turnout in my whole time here. I still can’t believe people are showing up, know, for bourbon like that. yeah, yeah. And if anything, it just means a lot to Corky, you know, to see the look on his face when he sees people lined up out there. You know, he was down here all day signing bottles, talking to every single person that came up to his desk. Jake Lewellen (01:33.829) it’s cool that you’ll have the the Corky Taylor kind of corner over there, which is pretty cool his Hall of Fame plaque and everything. It’s pretty cool. Bourbon Lens Studio (01:38.445) Well, it’s cool that you have the the Corky Taylor kind of corner over there. Yeah, it’s There’s Hall of Fame, black and everything. It’s pretty Jake Lewellen (02:06.166) tour our original tour down here Corky actually it was like you know what I’m gonna give the tour yeah and he just literally walked around with us the entire time gives the tour it’s crazy to think that one of the members of the podcast who’s no longer on the podcast actually was the one who interviewed Caleb on site in the tasting room Bourbon Lens Studio (02:09.901) Actually, it was like, you know what? I’m gonna give the tour. Yeah and he just literally walked around with us the entire time gives the tour And it’s crazy to think that one of the members of the podcast is no longer on podcast actually was the one who interviewed table on site in the Tasting room. Yeah, I’m sure a lot’s changed since you’ve been down here I mean Eve well, said you’ve been here since almost the beginning to I mean I forget how much work and how things have changed around the distillery in general. Yeah Jake Lewellen (02:35.526) get out. Yeah, it’s quite amazing how this kind of land block space continues to morph. Bourbon Lens Studio (02:40.141) It’s quite amazing how this kind of land block space continues to work. Yeah, especially because like I said, this is the only building we have. But Carson, he was a builder, so he’s always finding ways to change and make open space useful for us here. he’s got that eye to be able to look at stuff. So you mentioned it in… Jake Lewellen (02:53.606) change, know, mean, you open space. Yeah. Maximize. So you mentioned it in your opening intro, but what’s it like to now have an age-stated 10-year-old bourbon hit the market? That’s a product that, when you first started, that’s what you all were laying down. Yeah. Bourbon Lens Studio (03:08.023) What’s it like to now have an age-dated? Bourbon Lens Studio (03:14.392) That’s a product that when you first started, that’s when you all were laying down. Yeah, yeah. Honestly, because it’s only been like a week and half, maybe two weeks, it doesn’t even seem like that real yet because it’s a lot to take in. I remember when we were doing Moonshine before we had any product, right? Then the two-year ride came out in 2017. The next big thing was wait till 2019 when the bourbon comes out. We have a four-year bourbon. That came out. Jake Lewellen (03:26.438) lot of things. right Jake Lewellen (03:40.422) that came out didn’t know we got that. Right? Bourbon Lens Studio (03:41.59) And then, we kind of had that gap till now, right? It was, all right, now we gotta wait, you know, seven more years, six more years till we have a 10-year bourbon. And it just reminds you too how time flies, like it really does. It just seems like yesterday I started here, and now we have a 10-year small batch bourbon, and with the next five years being big for us as well, as we have other different age statements come out too. So, yeah, it’s pretty wild. It’s been nice seeing all the reviews online and what people are saying about it. Jake Lewellen (03:46.322) seven more years, four years before I could ever get in person. And it just happened. It was really hard. It just seemed like that. And now we’re like, there’s more of that within the office and in person while we have a couple of Bourbon Lens Studio (04:11.404) And it just a huge milestone for a lot of us here to be able to have that out. We didn’t do this, but a lot of people know you because you’re one of the best dressed people. McCauley gives you a run for your money. He does, man. I’m telling you. Jake Lewellen (04:15.854) And we didn’t do this, but a lot of people know you because you are the best dressed people in bourbon McCauley gives you a run for your money. Bourbon Lens Studio (04:30.956) I think he’s got a chinchilla. No, no, but I got a mink, you know what yeah, yeah. Swag, swag. Johnny Drip is my dog. But what’s it like to kind of come in and as someone who was just part of the team really and then to be having your hands in a blending process now as master taster or head taster, the heck you’re talking about. Definitely different things. But also you distill. What’s it like to have your hands in creating that product? Jake Lewellen (04:34.116) Okay. Swag, swag over here. Johnny Drip, as we like to call him on the golf course. But, you know, what’s it like to kind of come in as someone who was just part of the, you know, team really, and then to be, you know, having your hands in the blending process now as master taster or head taster, whatever the heck your title is. I feel like you got a different thing, but also you distill. What’s it like to have your hands in creating that product to make Corky and the team so proud? Bourbon Lens Studio (05:00.374) to make Corky and the team so proud. It’s hard to describe. It’s a great feeling. It’s also the fact that they trust us to do these things here at the distillery. And like I said, looking back from when I started off just doing tours and things like that here to now having my hands on little bit of every part of production, as long with our team too. We got Nick Clee that’s been here a long time, one of our distillers. Ellie and Gwen, who are our engineers and distillers. Jake Lewellen (05:11.57) that have to go off, just do the worst things that So now you. Jake Lewellen (05:22.224) owner Bourbon Lens Studio (05:29.725) And Nick does batching too as well. He’s like a Rick House manager, man. He’s really good at knowing where barrels are and what we can grab. But it’s super crazy to realize I’m even a part of something this big. The fact that people all over the world enjoy something that you’re getting to make. And born and raised here in Louisville, Kentucky, you’ve been around the distilleries your whole life or just kind of like that kind of bourbon kind of essence. Jake Lewellen (05:38.482) But it’s it’s super crazy, you know, to realize that people are something that’s taking the fact that people are enjoying something at time and it’s big thing to me. And I’m really grateful that you’ve been around for a long time, you’re kind of like that conservative activist that puts out the endpoints, you know, people being able to run a system where you can vote. It’s awesome, I’m grateful for that. Bourbon Lens Studio (05:58.795) to realize, you How far you’ve come for someone like myself and our team here to be doing the things we get to do here and it’s it’s called because of the Taylor family, know Corky and Carson they did a great job of putting together this team and and then trusting us to do so Jake Lewellen (06:08.274) Thank you. Jake Lewellen (06:15.361) Yeah. And then for a period of time, you were doing all of the single barrels. Yeah. I I can put it in a way, I wanted to see what I could do. I I had a child that I couldn’t pay. But I think it’s with my barrel program, I came back for tryout set, and it’s great. love being able to take these barrels from your town and deciding to grow a Bourbon Lens Studio (06:26.891) Yeah, so I get to run, know, a lot of us wear a lot of different hats, you know, so we all have like a bunch of different titles, I guess you could say, but I do get to run our barrel program. I’ve been doing that for probably about seven years here and man, it’s great. I love it. You know, being able to taste these barrels for the first time and deciding, you know, are we going to use them for batching into the barrel program and then having all these groups and like I said, you get to meet people from all walks of life. That’s the coolest thing about the barrel program, in my opinion, is all the different Jake Lewellen (06:44.402) We can use them for bad things, and then have health and hygiene. Jake Lewellen (06:53.458) and all the different sorrows and differences. Just want to make sure that we’re this together. Bourbon Lens Studio (06:55.589) That’s pretty cool because you all do some wild things. Before we do that, I think we all have a little bit of ten year left. Do you drink yours? Not in my glass right now. It’s the right. Okay. You’re going to talk about the ten year. One of the things I think is fascinating, and we ask everyone, I feel like sometimes people get stumped, but Jake Lewellen (07:04.05) No, that’s pretty cool because you all do some wild things. But before we do that, I think we all have a little bit of ten year left. You drink yours? Not in my glass right now. It’s the rock. OK. But you’re going to talk about the ten year. And so one of the things I think is fascinating, and we ask everyone, feel like sometimes people get stumped, How did you go about batching that? Because I feel like that’s a, it’s an art and a science altogether. Bourbon Lens Studio (07:25.898) How did you go about batching that? Because I feel like it’s an art and a science all together. Yeah, so it was a big task and it was probably the biggest one that the team had been behind. Nick got like 120, 130 samples we went through. It was a fun time though. We all look forward to those days tasting. That was what we had been waiting for to go through 10-year barrels. But we tasted over 100 and something barrels. Jake Lewellen (07:39.57) Thank you. Bourbon Lens Studio (07:54.698) We narrowed it down to 60 and that was really the hard part, right? It’s finding the best ones that went together. Now, we didn’t really go off yield or anything like that. We just kind of sat there a couple days, tasted some barrels and we found like the first ones we wanted to dump as Nick will say, like right, we want to build a good structure. So we dumped like, you know, 10 or so barrels. We literally let it mingle overnight. I’m kind of sat there, came in the next morning, tasted it. Jake Lewellen (08:13.554) So we feel like we learned that kind of staff came in and then they do we go? they feel like these are the best profiles. We go back to examples, some of them are here. And we feel like we’re the only ones that are building that. Because like I said, for us, we take care of our own profiles. And you kind of just go out there and in all that. Bourbon Lens Studio (08:21.768) are going to be on what is this ten year going to be. Because that’s all we heard throughout the years. Wait till they have 10-year-old bourbon, wait till they have 10-year-old rye. So it was a… Jake Lewellen (08:49.282) So it’s a really good process. I’ll tell you what, we got a of people going through. Bourbon Lens Studio (08:51.082) lengthy process, but I’ll tell you what, we all mentioned how much fun it was going through and trying all these barrels and trying to find the best ones that kind of fit together. So like I said, out of the hundred and something, we narrowed down to 60 and then we used 40 of those 60 that we thought went well together. So there’s going be some that are laid back for another project and another time? Yeah, you know, mean, next year we have hopefully the launch of our 10 year ride coming out and that will give us enough space where Jake Lewellen (09:02.354) So there’s going be some that are laid back for another project at another time. and that will get us anywhere. Bourbon Lens Studio (09:19.401) The year after that, we may have a 12-year-old bourbon, then a year after that, 12-year-old rye, and then who knows, maybe a 15 or whatnot. They’re always kicking around ideas and trying to think of new stuff to do up there. For sure. You drank yours. Yeah. Don’t waste as long as I wanted to. That and I was f***ing with all the technical difficulties of the podcast. You’re more than welcome to get out and move around. That’s the great thing about it. Okay. Jake Lewellen (09:22.514) and you have that out in the world and you can never see the difference or whatnot. Jake Lewellen (09:33.01) for sure. So you drank yours. Yeah, I was as long as I wanted to. Well, that and I was fusting with all the technical difficulties of the podcast and you’re more than welcome. You don’t have to move around. That’s the great thing about editing. Bourbon Lens Studio (09:48.585) But for me, I love the nose on it. I think it’s really, it’s dark and rich. I think that’s what you want to get out of a bourbon, especially at 10 years old. You want something that’s got a little pipe tobacco, a little chocolate, a little dustiness to it. And I think that the 10 year has all of those kind of complexities that you want in that type of whiskey. I was kind of thinking like a smoky chocolate note, like smoky cocoa. Jake Lewellen (09:55.122) It’s dark and rich. You I think that’s what you want to get out of a bourbon, especially at 10 years old. Like you want something that’s got a little tobacco, a little chocolate, a little dusty nest to it. And I think that the ten year has all of those kind of complexities that you want in that type of whiskey. I was kind of thinking like a smoky chocolate, no, smoky cocoa. Bourbon Lens Studio (10:20.149) Like it feels like it’s 10 years old. Yeah, it’s got a little bit of that bitterness of like cocoa nibs. Jake Lewellen (10:20.43) Like it feels like it’s a 10-year burger. Yeah. It’s got a little bit of the bitterness of like cocoa nibs. Bourbon Lens Studio (10:34.921) You don’t get a very big pour anyways and you know I had this one that we kind of keep hidden for you know for different tastings and things like that that we I mean if Johnny drips gonna pour another little taste We’re not gonna I’m not gonna hate on that And I do have a couple questions about this one in general to my top of this so get to that here voluntarily because our fine gentlemen Jake Lewellen (10:35.186) with the plan. Jake Lewellen (10:39.474) Cutting is Jake Lewellen (10:48.357) I mean if Johnny drips and you pour another little taste we’re not gonna hate on that. I do have a couple questions about this one in general too on top of this. We’ll get to that here momentarily because I find general pouring from the bar here. Bourbon Lens Studio (11:05.128) porn from the bar. There we go. Let’s get that Henry Carver beer in the shop, know. You know, make it look up for people. OK, so you’re a cigar guy, right? I feel like this would go really well with cigar. So we talked about the kind of the rich and the deca-ness part of this. Like when you’re building like your like basic bro bourbon package, right? Like you have your nice fancy bottle. Jake Lewellen (11:08.018) Let’s get that Henry Carver here in the shot. You you gotta make it look good for the people. Okay, so you’re a cigar guy, right? I feel like this would go really well with a cigar. So we talked about the kind of rich and the deaconess part of this. Like when you’re building like your like basic bro. bourbon package right you you have your nice fancy bottle and then like how would you pair this with maybe a coffee Bourbon Lens Studio (11:33.449) And then like how would you pair this with maybe a coffee because your coffee guy too or yeah, yeah, Um, like I said, this would be a nice little good, uh evening pour like said this it has a very good like savory note to it As well. Um, i’ll be honest. I haven’t got to really pair a cigar with this yet Uh, but looking forward to that actually now got a couple good ones at home, but the problem is too. Um every bit, you know, it’s gonna be sad. This is almost gone I mean like we’re down to our last couple cases like we really don’t have anymore So I’m trying to think about that either because I have maybe half a bottle that I bought the opening night here and it’s almost gone because I just can’t stop drinking this stuff. Jake Lewellen (12:04.466) different because I have made Jake Lewellen (12:11.685) Yeah. Unfortunately, this is where a lot of your bourbons are going. You know, there’s going to take a little while longer to get there. But I mean, if this is where all that bourbon that’s been aging is heading. I think we’re I mean, I’ve said it since the beginning when the three and four year and this small batch bourbon came out. It’s like this is good stuff. And it’s like, yes, it takes several years to get there, but it’s worth the wait. Bourbon Lens Studio (12:21.48) This is where all that bourbon that’s been aging is heading. I think we’re, I I’ve said it since the beginning, when the three and four year old were in this small batch bourbon chain house. It’s like, this is good stuff. It’s like, yes, it takes several years to get there, but it’s worth it. The best thing too is putting together this batch, once it was done, for us here, it was so different and so unique that we always said like it gave off like a single barrel essence, right? You’d be like, God, this is hard to believe that. Jake Lewellen (12:40.626) Put the others down. For us here, it was so much better. Bourbon Lens Studio (12:51.302) these are these barrels mingled together where this is something that we would taste and be like, man, this is a great, like this is so unique and different. Let’s put this out. So that’s why I also think it just has a very unique kind of quality, but yet you can taste it and still be like, all right, this tastes like peerless. Jake Lewellen (12:53.522) this is something that we can take in life, like, example. So that’s awesome. It is a great kind of quality. Jake Lewellen (13:07.164) Well, that’s the one thing I like. If you really are paying fine tuning to the flavor profile, one thing I always like about Peerless Bourbon in particular, you can always taste a little bit of the grain. You can, on the back end, if you’re looking for it, and I was looking for it, you get a little bit of that cold. Bourbon Lens Studio (13:17.831) taste a little bit of the grain. You can on the back end if you’re looking for it and I was looking for it you get a little bit of that clove and you get a little bit of that sweetness to balance it out at the end which is really cool because a lot of times the barrel just takes over so much you’re still getting what the distillate is that you all are making throughout that process and you all are using Kelvin barrels right? Yeah Kelvin Cooberage yeah. Jake Lewellen (13:26.034) and you get a little bit of that sweetness to balance it out at the end, which is really cool because a lot of times the barrel just takes over so much. You’re still getting what the distill it is that you all are making throughout that process. And you all are using Kelton barrels, right? Yeah, Kelton. Yeah. And why the name? Why? Is it Craver? Yeah. Bourbon Lens Studio (13:48.614) Yeah, this you know We released it on April 22nd to well, it was a Wednesday right like in the middle of the week Yeah, yeah, I mean I’m not gonna lie even a lot of us like it’s kind of crazy on a Wednesday Let’s do this on Saturday, but you know Corky like I said, this is all about his great-grandfather You know Henry Craver our original owner and operator without Henry Craver You know as Corky was saying none of this would even be possible right now. So in honor of his great-grandfather Jake Lewellen (13:54.322) 500 plus people show up. Bourbon Lens Studio (14:16.343) He wanted to do a 10-year small batch after him and then release it on his birthday, which is why we did that. So that’s what the Henry Craver old reserve or peerless 10-year-old. But this will be something that we do one time every release once a year too as well. So we’ll have another batch come out next year, but it’s hard because you want to do like, let’s do two batches a year. But I love it, man. You got to make sure you keep enough held back just to be able to continue this. But yeah, that’s what the Henry Craver. So it’s still peerless, but we’re trying to make it its own thing within the brand. Well, I think it’s really important to people to talk about why you all don’t have an unlimited amount of barrels. You all do a sweet-mashing process. You all kind of go to the next level to cleaning out your stuff, making sure your runs are clean. That’s a labor of love that not everybody’s taking upon themselves when making whiskey, which slows the process down quite a bit. Jake Lewellen (14:50.192) Yeah, well I think it’s really important to people to talk about, you know, why you all don’t have like an unlimited amount of barrels. You all do a sweet mashing process. You all kind of go to the next level to like cleaning out your stuff, making sure your runs are clean, you know, like that’s a labor of love that not everybody’s taken upon themselves when making whiskey, which slows the process down quite a bit. It does. Bourbon Lens Studio (15:12.07) It does, but we always say it’s all about the quality, not the quantity. We only do 2,700 barrels a year. And on top of that, we got to keep some back held back every year. We don’t even get to touch them until they’re four or five years old. So everything you do is here from a quality standpoint. And that’s one thing I love. Obviously, we could do some things to cut back on cost or whatnot. But as Corky says, he never wants to jeopardize the quality of the product. So that’s why we Jake Lewellen (15:15.568) Yeah. Jake Lewellen (15:39.664) Thank you. Bourbon Lens Studio (15:41.03) continue to just do things the way we have almost since day one. Yeah. Well, I think it starts with the artistry of the bottle, right? You know, like when you do the tour here, you learn about how the bottle and the bowl was made, which I think, you know, people don’t realize like this is not a cheap piece of glass. No, no. Yeah. Carson, you know, he, like I said, he didn’t want to spare any costs. You know, he wanted something different. And at the time too, when they were building, when Carson and we’re building this brand and thinking about bottle designs and labels. Jake Lewellen (15:44.336) Yeah, well, I think it starts with the artistry of the bottle, right? You know, like when you do the tour here, you learn about how the bottle and the mold was made, which I think, you know, people don’t realize like this is not a cheap piece of glass. Bourbon Lens Studio (16:09.498) They wanted something truly different. So you gotta think, when this bottle came out, I feel like most bottles, know, tall, slender, you know, there’s really nothing kind of like that shape, I feel like. So Carson based this off the Doubler. And it is a beefy bottle, like just without liquid alone, it’s heavy. But it’s something truly that unique. When you see it on the shelf or on a bar back, it’s always gonna catch your attention from the little details, the kind of glistening off the label too in the right light. Jake Lewellen (16:35.058) listening to all the right ones. People are always listening to the Yeah, I’m just seeing all these over here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and then the artwork of the single barrels, which I always find very intriguing because a lot of people talk about single barrels and they’re like, did you try that one single barrel? And like, I don’t date was it but these are like you know clearly like this one sitting here vintage candy it’s like memorable names I remember going to the bar trying this with you should go try that as well Bourbon Lens Studio (16:56.197) But these are clearly like this one sitting here, vintage candy. It’s like memorable names. I remember going to the bar, trying this whiskey. You should go try that as Hats off to Christina and Katie. They’re like our portfolio director and then Katie’s are our social media graphic design person. Because if you imagine, we’ve been going through barrel samples. We’ve got a couple barrels. We’ve been spitting ideas around. And now we’ve to go up to marketing like, all right, listen, this is what we want to call these barrels. Sometimes they have to reel us back in. like, let’s rethink some stuff here. But you know, and that’s honestly, people always ask like, what’s your favorite part of the job? And I really love like going through samples and naming barrels with the crew here because we really do have a good time. And that’s one of those genuine moments like where we’re all having fun or spitting ideas back and forth. But yeah, yeah, and then like I said, Katie has to hand design these once we come up with these great names. Jake Lewellen (17:53.829) Now for all of your all’s whiskey, there’s none of it that’s below 100 proof, it? Bourbon Lens Studio (17:57.761) There’s none of it that’s below 103, is there? We’ve never had one come under 100 proof. We’ve had some single barrels come out like 105. I think maybe the lowest one was like 103. But no, as far as I know, nothing’s been under 100 proof that we’ve ever released. But like I said, we go in the barrel at 107. We come out still around 130, 131 proof. We like to our water first. That way it gets to go inside the barrel, help extract all that flavoring and coloring. Jake Lewellen (18:09.894) But, yeah. Jake Lewellen (18:15.088) So we don’t want to be like that. That may be a little bit. Bourbon Lens Studio (18:26.213) So yeah, I mean the highest one we ever had, you know back in December We did a DSP tasting these events we host here at the distillery and we do special barrel releases and things like that you can only get if you’re here for the DSP and All the distillers we each picked out like our own single barrel named it, right? We didn’t like have to like shoot ideas. It’s just like I whatever we can want to name this go for it and Gwen picked this fantastic Rye she had found in the Rick house Jake Lewellen (18:48.178) When fans asked about the content of accent, it’s hundred and thirty-eight. Wow. I mean, was a bad, I don’t think it’s a bad thing. It was called accent, but it was, I mean, it was… Bourbon Lens Studio (18:53.54) It’s 138 point non-proof. I mean, it was a bad barrel. It only produced 10 six-pack cases. It was called cast and custard and looked like motor oil. it was, I mean, had been one of the best ryes I’ve ever tasted out of here that we had. Yeah. That one was probably around a nine-year-old at the time. Yeah, back in December, maybe eight, nine years old. Yeah. It was one of the, yeah, yeah, one of our favorite barrels. Jake Lewellen (19:17.892) It was a big jump. But in all of your stuff is out in Henry County, right? So when it leaves here, goes out to Henry County to age. Yeah. Bourbon Lens Studio (19:23.492) stuff’s out in Henry County, right? So when it leaves here, it goes out to Henry County to age? Yeah, yeah. have a, everyone holds about 5,700. The one here, it’s more like, I think now down to like 1,200, but this is more like a grocery store Rick house. Everything here is aged pretty much. We’re using it for batching or single barrels or double oaking and things like that. And then we, we’ve broken ground. We got a 10,000 barrel Rick house. Literally they put up the, the frame of it a couple of weeks ago. Jake Lewellen (19:52.178) So, I have all three. Bourbon Lens Studio (19:52.182) So once that happens, then we’ll have all our aging within our own rick houses. you know, we have rented out like other rick housing space to put barrels up and stuff like that. Like some of those shared rick housings they have. But finally we’ll be able to bring back everything. And like I Carson and Corky have been working hard at building two fantastic rick houses out there to, you know, be able to control the whole thing. Yeah, good. I was gonna say, going back to the 10 here, like at the end, it’s… Jake Lewellen (20:02.962) Yeah. The fellow fielders in that, in the car scene, pretty good work, they’ve been building up to combat, you know, to come there to, you know, be able to control the thing. Yeah, I was gonna say going back to this the ten year like at the end well Bourbon Lens Studio (20:19.971) Well, it starts out like very dark, rich. At the end, it has like this nice pop. It’s like a little bit of fruitiness, but it’s almost like effervescent. don’t know. We like to say the third quarter turn, right? It’s just that finish when it just kind of lingers and it gives you that little bit of like a pop on there. that’s really nice. What’s really funny is like you forget that it’s Kentucky peerless distilling. No, not just peerless. Peerless, yeah. We always call it just peerless, you know? But you think about that like… Jake Lewellen (20:37.19) Yeah, no, that’s really nice. What’s really funny is like you forget that it’s Kentucky peerless distilling Co. Not just pure list. But you think about that like talking about like you how you make flavor notes feel like you’re a little bit of right? Well, you give a little third turn, you give a little bit of beauty to the horse racing industry. The Derby still all fresh in our mind as we sit here and talk about this. Bourbon Lens Studio (20:48.963) Talking about like you how you make flavor notes feel like you’re a bull base business, right? Well, you give a little third turn give a little Beauty to the horse racing industry. The Derby still fresh in our mind as we sit here and talk about this. So you know Jameson had a had a horrific Derby won’t go into the details that one, but he was a trooper. Jake Lewellen (21:08.594) The one my son bet on. you know, Jameson had a horrific derby. I won’t go into the details of that one, but he was a trooper and he was like, I want to bet on corruption. What do want? I want number one. And he was holding him, holding his where he got a little wound and he was holding it tight. He’s like, let’s go corruption. And everyone’s like, what is going on in this room in the hospital? And luckily I was like, he’s just watching the derby guys. He’s just enjoying life. Bourbon Lens Studio (21:18.973) And he was like, I’m going bet on corruption. It’s what he wanted, one number one. And he was holding his where he got a little wound and he was holding the tights and saying, he’s like, let’s go corruption. And everyone’s like, what is going on in this room in the hospital? And it’s like, he’s just watching the Derby guys and he’s just enjoying life. Yeah. Yeah. So just a small injury. Just a flesh wound. But he’s all good, clean bill of health now. back to playing football this weekend already. Jake Lewellen (21:38.5) Just a small injury. Just a flesh wound. But he’s all good. He’s all healthy now. But back to flag football this weekend already. That’s tough. Bourbon Lens Studio (21:48.58) I remember those days, I played football. Yeah, but you know, it’s really cool just to see like horse racing no matter if you’re six or 96 It’s something that we can all get around here in the Louisville Derby City area Maybe that’s got it’s gonna be a foreign race mission That’d be dope like if they did that on Sunday Jake Lewellen (21:50.158) Yeah, but you know, it’s really cool just to see like horse racing no matter if you’re six or 96 It’s something that we can all get around here in the Louisville Derby City area Maybe not Scott. He wants to go to the F1 race next year. If they bring it to hockey, hell yeah. dude, they did F1, how I can afford to get to that race. they did F1 Louisville, that’d be dope. Like if they did that on Sunday, you’d have folks Derby F1 Sunday. Let’s go. Bourbon Lens Studio (22:16.003) You have Derby F1 Sunday. was F1 would be nice to have nice little way to end the week because a lot of people stay here anyways throughout the I did a tasting at the airport Monday and everyone was flying out Monday to. Just saying we got we got options. I’m not willing to my money up for it. Maybe maybe later. Jake Lewellen (22:29.936) just saying here we got we got options brainstorming I’m not willing to put my money up for it I’m not either maybe mayor or whoever is successor is like yeah well we do have elections coming up but we’re not getting political on this podcast at all so when you think about you know your next steps as an organization right as a distillery right you’re Bourbon Lens Studio (22:39.528) success really Mike. Yeah well we do have elections coming up but we’re not getting political on this podcast at all. So when you think about you know your next steps as an organization right as a distillery right you’re navigating the quote unquote economic downturn of bourbon and whiskey but you all just stay distinctly craft. Jake Lewellen (22:55.381) navigating the quote unquote economic downturn of bourbon and rye whiskey. But you all stayed distinctly craft, right? Like how do you all navigate that in your niche and not worry about all the outside noise? Because I feel like it’s easy to look at the boom and bloom, but people are spending plenty of money on whiskey still. Bourbon Lens Studio (23:03.968) Right? How do you all navigate that in your niche and not worry about all the outside noise? Because I feel like it’s easy to look at the diamond gloom, but people are spending plenty of on whiskey. yeah. Yeah. Man, so I’ll always go back to, you know, the whole boom, you know, plus like with the COVID thing going on that just surged, right? Just, you know, I mean, whiskey was booming, bourbon, everything during that period of time. So, you know, like I said, Jake Lewellen (23:25.37) I’m going to drop that out. Bourbon Lens Studio (23:29.889) I’m going to jump back and forth. People are talking about, you see distilleries closing, decline in sales, things like that. And I truly mean this when I say it’s hard to sometimes for us, I feel like it’s hard to take that all in because we haven’t really seen that here with our distillery, right? Because one, we never amped up production. never, Corky was never like, all right, we’re going to build another production facility. We’re going to really amp this up. We’re going to do this many more barrels. And also we were still growing, I like to say, at that time too, right? Jake Lewellen (23:33.842) And I’m happy to be part of the conference. I’m excited to with all of you. One, never forget. We never forget. Jake Lewellen (23:53.308) Do this. Bourbon Lens Studio (23:59.298) We just had our bourbon come out in 2019. Still, we were kind of new kids on the block. You know what mean? So our hardest problem, I always say, is just trying to feed the beast right now, trying to make enough. Because we only do a couple of batches of each skew a year. And once we’re so widely distributed that, you know, stores are only getting like a couple cases, things like that. And from day one, we’ve never tried to oversaturate the market, even with the barrel program. I do 100 barrel picks a year. And I guarantee you I could do every bit of like 200 if we wanted to. But then you look at overcrowding, you don’t want the two stores right down the street that had the barrel pick land at the same time and now they’re competing. So we do a good job at spreading the risk or spreading out the barrel program. And then on top of that, it’s Corky. I love how he puts this too. He says, I already eat a steak a day. I don’t need to. I know what kind of growth I want here. I want my employees to be happy. why we don’t run 24 hours, we don’t do production on the weekend. He’s big, he likes things the way they are. He went from having 2,000 employees to about 30 of us now. And he’s like, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. same reason why we don’t have a restaurant or a cocktail bar here or anything like that. And don’t get me there’s nothing, believe me, we all would love to have a little cocktail bar here something. Jake Lewellen (25:22.396) Yeah. Bourbon Lens Studio (25:23.594) But, know, Corey’s like, you know, I don’t want to get into the restaurant business. I don’t want to get into that. I like just making my bourbon and rye. So he’s just he’s also a very simple person in the fact that, you know, he just wants to put out good bourbon and whiskey for his great grandfather. Now, it’s it’s funny. I think one of the reasons for that is this is a great starting place to do Louisville’s Whiskey Row. Yeah. It’s like you start here and you just work your way back. Yeah. Yeah. I think like I don’t know how many people I’ll tell about. Jake Lewellen (25:27.922) making my program work. So he’s also a great support person back at it. Jake Lewellen (25:38.098) Now it’s funny and I think one of the reasons for that is this is a great starting place to do Louisville’s whiskey row. Yeah. It’s like you start here and you just work your way back down. Yeah. I think like I don’t know how many people I’ve told like have you been to Peerless? Like you need to go check it out. For sure. Try the whiskey. Like buy a bottle. Buy the single barrel. Like figure out what’s which single barrel they have right then and how you like it. And grab a bottle. mean a lot of people have seen this bottle on a shelf. Bourbon Lens Studio (25:53.345) been to Fearless, like you need to go check it out. Try the whiskey, like buy a bottle, buy the single barrel, like figure out what’s, which single barrel that they have right then and how do you like it? mean, a lot of people have seen this bottle on a shelf at a liquor store, but maybe they haven’t seen like, well, this is how it’s made. It’s in this huge landlocked, it’s a small building. It is. like the amount of stuff that you guys put out here. Jake Lewellen (26:08.112) at a liquor store but maybe they haven’t seen like well this is how it’s made. It’s in this landlocked, it’s a small building. The amount of stuff that you guys put out here it’s pretty incredible. Bourbon Lens Studio (26:20.544) It’s pretty impressive. But what I love about it, you know, I worked, you know, I worked up front yesterday. They were a little short staffed and I was like, you know what, I got a little bit open day. So I worked up there, gave tours and tastings yesterday. And it’s just so cool because you can come back here and do the tour maybe three different times. And then depending on who you get, like doing the tour, your tour is going to be completely different. Because you’re doing it on the script. Yeah, yeah, right. Yeah, yeah. I just I wing it half time now, man. But you know, it all depends on too what’s going on that day. There’s so many times where tours come through and that day we’re dumping barrels. So if we can, we’ll stop them. Hey, come dump a barrel or we’re in the Rick house pulling samples and we’re like, hey, you all want to, you know, smell it? Like every and everybody just has a different experience on their tour that they do. And that’s why I think like being family-owned, we don’t have a script that we all go off of. Obviously, you’re going to give like your certain knowledge of whatnot, but just every person’s a little different out there on how they how they do their tour. Jake Lewellen (26:55.274) And it’s just cool. Jake Lewellen (27:06.002) Obviously. I mean it’s the it’s the crafty spot like you know everything else has been so productionized and like even the NDP’s right like pursuit like they do their stuff they do all their blending off-site so when you go down with row and you stop at Bardstown or Michters or pursuit or Buzzards Roost or Green River Bourbon Lens Studio (27:17.184) It’s the crafty spot. Everything else has been so productionized. Even the NDPs, Pursuit, they do all their blending off-site. So when you go down Whiskey Row and you stop at Bartstown or Micters or Pursuit or Buzzard’s Roost or Green River or on down, and then the next production facility you get to is Rabbit Hole or Angel’s Envy. Yeah, yeah. Or Forestry. Forestry. They’re a little production facility. Jake Lewellen (27:37.49) on down and then the next production facility you get to is Rabbit Hole or Angel’s Envy. still, it still is huge. It’s capable of doing a lot of things, but they don’t run it very often. But like, you know, you go a good chunk of Whiskey Road without seeing another production facility. And I think people like, they don’t realize sometimes that this is here because it’s underneath the bridge. You know, you got to get to Tenth Street It’s not like it’s far, but you just got to get to it. And so I think it’s important Bourbon Lens Studio (27:47.207) It’s still the still is the stills here. It’s capable of a lot of things, but they don’t run it very often. like, you know, you, you go a good chunk of whiskey road without seeing another production facility. And I think people like, they don’t realize sometimes that this is here because it’s underneath the bridge. You know, you got to get to 10th street. It’s not like it’s far, but you just got to get to it. I think it’s important that people start here because also it’s the SP 50. Jake Lewellen (28:13.062) people start here because also it’s DSP 50 like it’s got history Bourbon Lens Studio (28:16.768) Like it’s got history. Yeah, we got some history. one of the biggest things now, I the shift is, know, from being here almost since the beginning almost, is, you know, so you just like going these tastings and people be like, tell me about your brand and tell me about you. Where now it’s like, you know, we’ve noticed they go on these tastings. You’re so used to giving this people like, no, I know anything about you. Like, what do you got? What are you pouring here now? And that’s always a cool little shift to see going going from that to where. Jake Lewellen (28:25.51) Is you know, it’s like. Jake Lewellen (28:33.254) Yeah. Bourbon Lens Studio (28:43.775) One of the biggest compliments is people come in here now and they’re like, all well, where’s your other facility? Like, love your old brand. We’re like, no, no, this is it. And they’re like, I was expecting something bigger than just this building here, which is always, I feel like blows people’s minds too. And we’re like, oh no, this is the only production facility we have. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jake Lewellen (29:01.282) We don’t need we don’t need anymore No, but it’s exciting, man. When we had a bunch of friends come down and pick this up, they were all excited about it. And then we kept getting notes. like, this line’s longer than I thought. He’s like, I’m 60 people back. There are 250 people back. So we went through and counted. Yeah, and then it was like, you’re number 70. And there’s 250 behind me. And then I know the line went all day that Wednesday. So it’s so cool to see from. Bourbon Lens Studio (29:03.997) No, but it’s exciting, man. Like when we had a bunch of come down and pick this up. Jake Lewellen (29:29.136) the start of the bourbon boom to like where you all are now, it’s like people have continued to be peerless fans throughout that progression, which is really, really damn cool. Bourbon Lens Studio (29:37.439) I definitely think we have a like a little bit like a cult following which is always nice, you know and just It’s super, like I that day just seeing that line, it was unbelievable. No one was sure how it was gonna go being on a Wednesday, but everyone thinks, everyone that showed out and showed up, that was truly a tremendous day. It’s been a while since you’ve seen Corky light up, just that whole day, man, couldn’t believe it. I had my mom working the coffee cart. She was out there by 6 a.m. with it open serving coffee to people in lines. Jake Lewellen (29:56.498) Yeah. Jake Lewellen (30:11.85) It’s awesome man well congratulations on the success you all are having but also to the continued success that you all will have. Thanks for hosting us here and allowing us to try this beautiful ten-year-old Henry Craver old reserve. Gosh I can’t read. I’m in and actually is the issue. But thanks everybody listen to this episode of the Bourbon Lens. Catch you next time. Cheers. Bourbon Lens Studio (30:14.238) success you all are having, but also to the continued success that you all have. Thanks for hosting us here. And this beautiful 10-year-old Henry Craper, reserve. I can’t read. Kentucky is the issue. But thanks, everybody. Listen to this episode of the Birdland. Catch you next time. Cheers. Cheers.