Hey, it is time for a live edition of Bama and Bourb. And I am Lance Taylor. There's no Aaron Suttles from Alabama today because we are doing this live on location on a Friday before Alabama, Wisconsin. We're at Galettes, a Birmingham, or excuse me, a Tuscaloosa institution since 1976 right here on the strip.

They're known for the Yellowhammer, but today we are talking bourbon.

Jeff Arnett, the master distiller for company distilling.

Lance, good to see you.

Yeah, it's going to be back with you.

Yeah, we had you in our studios in our green room about six, eight months ago when company distilling first came to Alabama. We appreciate you coming out to the strip. You're in Alabama grad, so you're familiar. I am familiar with town. Actually, my wife is a graduate from here as well. So I graduated in 1990s. She did in 2001 with her master's degree from here. So roll tide. Well, I definitely Alabama fans. A lot has changed since the 90s when we were down here. We were just talking about that. It doesn't look quite the same here on the script. Yeah, obviously the bar layout is a little bit different and the selection of bourbons you can get. Oh yeah. Now, some people will talk about oversaturation in the bourbon space. And I would agree there is some. Okay. But, but probably not with unique liquids. There's just a a lot of the same liquid that's being put into different labels at different proofs and age points. They kind of confuse the consumer. So there's not as much new product out there as they might think there is. But, you know, one of the things we wanted to focus on when I was leaving Jack Daniels after 20 years to start company, I'd been working in the wood finishing space for a couple of years. I really enjoyed that because to me it was much more fun than kind of doing the flavored whiskeys, even though we were doing those while I was there as well. But it was important to me to kind of keep it natural, if you will, but also to look at Tennessee's natural resources. I'm a born and raised native Tennessean. And one of the things

that Tennessee's blessed with is great water, a four seasons climate, but also as far as the

biodiversity of hardwoods and fruit trees and things, it's one of the most, one of the most

diverse areas on the entire globe. So trying to take, you know, the grains, the water, using the

climate with the maturation in the

barrel but to introduce a new wood finish that was maybe an untraditional spin on on a traditional

product okay so we want to ask you some obviously questions on company distilling in the product it is

sure but we also want to ask you some basic bourbon questions because you know when Aaron and I when we do the show on a week to week basis he knows a lot about bourbon but you

are a master distiller you were they master distiller for jack daniels for a long time up in

lynchburg until you took over this new project yes so we're starting first with the applewood

i've had it before love the flavoringing. It's an 86 proof, right?

It is. It's 86.5 and not that it means much in Tuscaloosa, but 865 is the East Tennessee Area Code. It's ball on your touchstone phone. So we just wanted to have some fun with it. We do a single barrel version that's 931, which is Lynchburg's Area Code, and where our newest distillery is located. So just kind of be playful, but make it very interesting at the same time. Okay. So when you're tasting a bourbon for the first time, there's a lot of people that say, hey, put a little water, you know, on the palate first, certain ways to hold the mouth, the nose. Just walk us through it. If you are, yeah, just doing a regular bourbon tasting, the first one on the palette today, the Applewood Company distilling, what's the proper way to do it? I think whether it's this bottle or any other bottle for that matter, I think to take one neat sip from the bottle, if you're not familiar with it, is always a good place to start. From there, you can make an informed decision. You may decide that you just want to drink it neat, that you really like how it is straight out of the bottle. There's a reason why most of these are at the proof they are. The distiller, somebody like myself said, this is the right proof we want to present it. Now, if you want to make adjustments to it, beauty is in the eye of the holder. So there's no wrong way to drink whiskey unless you're just over consuming. You know, but in this case, I would say, you know.

Some people down here might disagree with that.

Yeah, I mean, you know, we're all about making memories gathering around with good company.

You want to make sure you have actual memories of that.

And it's not so fuzzy that you can't remember anything.

Well, I don't know about you.

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