[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hey folks, I'm Ray Latif and you're listening to the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry, Taste Radio. This episode features an interview with country music superstar Brad Paisley, who in 2019 added Spirits Entrepreneur to his resume, having founded American Highway Reserve, a uniquely crafted and super premium bourbon brand. Just a reminder to our listeners, if you like what you hear on Taste Radio, please share the podcast with friends and colleagues. And of course, we would love it if you could review us on the Apple Podcasts app or your listening platform of choice. Before Brad Paisley embarked on his 2022 global tour, he had to pack a few things. Namely, 90 or so barrels of bourbon. A Grammy award-winning country musician who's regarded as one of the genre's most talented solo artists, Brad is also the founder of American Highway Reserve, a limited edition whiskey brand he developed in collaboration with Bardstown Bourbon company. The spirit gets its name from the unique way part of the bourbon is aged. Each batch contains a blend of whiskey stored in a trailer truck dubbed the Rolling Rickhouse, which is loaded with bourbon barrels and accompanies Brad during his tour of U.S. cities. American Highway Reserve's debut expression was made with whiskey that traveled 7,314 miles across 25 states in 2019. According to the brand, the whiskey's exposure to variations in temperature and reverberation from road conditions impart greater nuance in flavor and aroma. In the following interview, I spoke with Brad about his inspiration for American Highway Reserve, which recently released its second expression, appropriately described as Route 2, the decision to partner with Bardstown Bourbon Company, and why he immersed himself in the process of distilling and blending the whiskey. He also discussed his role in communication and marketing efforts, why his name isn't on the label, and his ultimate vision for the bourbon. Hey, folks, it's Ray with Taste Radio. Right now, I'm honored to be sitting down with country music superstar Brad Paisley. Brad, how are you? I'm good, Ray. How are you? I'm doing fantastic. I'm really excited to speak with you and about your bourbon. I know you're quite busy, so thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with me. You leave two days from this recording on your 2022 world tour. You're going to be pretty pumped for that.
[00:02:43] Brad Paisley: We are. I mean, we got through last year. Somehow we did dates. That was a juggernaut. And this one feels like that too, but hopefully we can, you know, we'll stay healthy and do this thing. I'm excited to be back out there. I know people are really starved for, I mean, we all feel the effects of years of being germaphobes. So it's going to be, it's going to be interesting out there. We're going to have the best time we can have.
[00:03:08] Ray Latif: Yeah. You're, you're all packed up, ready to go.
[00:03:11] Brad Paisley: Yeah, I think so. I mean, we do it pretty easily. It's not like I got to pack for an entire tour. You look at it on a schedule and you think, wow, that's a long time. I mean, how many changes of genes do you have? But we sort of come and go. We go out and back and out and back. Nashville's really centrally located for that.
[00:03:30] Ray Latif: Gotcha. How many bottles of American Highway Reserve do you have in your bags?
[00:03:34] Brad Paisley: That's a good question. We need to be serving that out there, don't we? That's a prerequisite. We actually have these really cool bars on the sides of the stage that people can watch, like VIPs and friends, and people can watch the show with an actual whiskey bar on the side of the stage, and we have beer, and that needs to be there for sure.
[00:03:53] Ray Latif: That would be pretty darn amazing.
[00:03:55] Brad Paisley: Yeah, anytime you want to do that, anytime you want to sit there and or come out and see a show, you can watch from my vantage point back there with a glass or whatever you prefer.
[00:04:06] Ray Latif: Like I said, that would be pretty darn impressive, and I'll have to try to make that happen sometime in the near future. You know, part of your tour is surprising to me in Scandinavia. I was actually just in Copenhagen a couple of weeks ago, love that part of the world. But I was surprised to hear, or at least surprised to find out that you were touring out there. I didn't know that people in Denmark and Sweden and Norway were country music fans.
[00:04:32] Brad Paisley: They really are. I mean, you know one thing I've noticed, we started going there a few years, well, a long time ago now. That was maybe a decade ago was our first gig. Norway is what began that. We got an offer to play a new festival in Norway, and it was life-changing. It was my first really successful European venture as an artist. What we had found at that point was the Internet had shrunk in this world for a long time. There was just no access to country music in Europe. But now, you know, YouTube and Apple Music and Spotify, they're all everything, you know, you listen to anything you want. And so all of a sudden, they were gobbling it up. Also, Sweden and Norway, and Scandinavia, and have you ever noticed, they sort of assimilate really well, like they will like something and do their version of it. Like you can get, I think the second best cappuccino in Europe is in Sweden. from Italy, you know what I'm saying? It's like they went, oh yeah, we can do that. And they do it. And the same with, every time we're in Stockholm, I'm sort of in awe of how many Michelin star restaurants there are. And same goes for the fact that, I've just noticed the cowboy hats are out in full force when we play over there. It's like a Jimmy Buffett concert here. You would wear the flip flops and the Hawaiian shirts and the Caribbean thing if you went to that and we play a little dress up. They do that over there and I'm exotic to them in a way that I'm not here at all. I'm not exotic in America, but over there I'm this And this strange kind of music in a, you also see them decked out in ways they think, I mean, they're chaps, chaps and guests and looking like they're about to do an old fashioned trail ride.
[00:06:34] Ray Latif: Well, you've given them the gift of country music and they have given you the gift of Nordic cuisine. So hopefully you'll get some good food out there. Quick tangent, are you going to any Michelin-starred restaurants out there? Because Stockholm and Copenhagen, pretty fantastic selection.
[00:06:49] Brad Paisley: That's what I mean. It's like they sort of take and adapt things and perfect them. Yeah, I will for sure. I don't even know, I don't remember the names of some of the ones I've been to in Stockholm, but it's the meal of a lifetime in some of those places. And I think they're that way with whiskey. I've seen too that, you know, if you find a good little specialty shop outside of Glasgow and Scotland and whatever, there is such an appreciation for finer whiskeys and things.
[00:07:17] Ray Latif: Totally, totally. Yeah, let's stick with whiskey for a second, or for the rest of this interview, actually. Sure. You know, it's interesting. I actually did an interview with Troy Aikman a few weeks ago, and he started a light beer brand called 8 Beer. And his decision to enter the space was very much tied to his passion and love for light beer. Is it the same story with you and bourbon?
[00:07:39] Brad Paisley: It is. And my love of this art form and spirit came from building a bar. A lot of people in Nashville have done a commercial bar that you can go to, like a lot of the other artists have their own space, Alan Jackson or Doris Bentley or whoever. And they're great. They're downtown Broadway. You can go and it's a really fun experience for anybody touring Nashville. But in my case, I had this old farmhouse where there's a recording studio, guest rooms, It's 100 years old and had this big, long front porch space that kind of runs the length of the house. And for a while, it was kind of just unused. And I told a contractor buddy of mine, who's really an artist, Could we make that a pub? Could we do a whiskey bar? Could it be a place to watch sports? This is what we do now. We record all day, and then at the end of the day, that's where we wind up to watch the ballgame or to unwind. So that was built, and if you build it, it's a field of dreams. If you build it, you will fill it with whiskey. It's like they will show up with a gift of that, and promoters know, don't get me a hockey jersey, hand me a bottle of something that's hard to find. And so that became such a great place for experimentation. And, you know, when you have, I think I'm at 700-something bottles of stuff. in there, and so when you have access to that, you can do the flight, and I think you really learn by the sort of side-by-side comparison of it all. Memory's one thing, and you can have a bourbon in a situation, and that memory is always tied to that, and that's part of it, but when you're able to do the side-by-side, here's Pappy Van Winkle and Four Roses, and you go down the list of Parker's Heritage or whatever it is that you've got access to, and you A, B these world-class things, you really learn. And that's where my palate got developed.
[00:09:33] Ray Latif: You learn and you have an appreciation for what you love. And it's a beautiful thing because there's so many nuances when it comes to different bottles of whiskey, different sources, different production methods. And it might interest someone to get into the space as a producer themselves, as a distiller themselves. Talk about the inspiration for American Highway Reserve. What drove you to start your own brand?
[00:10:02] Brad Paisley: Well, I had gotten to know so many of these players in the business of whiskey, become really good friends. I'm wearing a Jefferson's cap here. Got to know Trey with Jefferson's, got to know Ray Elliott at Four Roses, got to know Wes Henderson really, really well, and with Angels NBA. And it's like, you learn as you meet these guys, there's just a lot of room left. I think as popular and as many brands as there are going today, there's room for this spirit to still grow. It has not hit the ceiling. And then in getting to know the folks at Bardstown, and one of our partners in this is a man named Jeff Hopmeyer, who is a really he's a really connected player in the bourbon industry and getting to know those folks over there, they're such a great partner in the sense that I'm so impressed with the facilities and what they do at Bardstown. As soon as we gave them the idea, which was let's take a bourbon on the road and see what it does to it, let's take it to the very place that I think of as the destination when it's done, but let's make that a part of the process. Let's make the experience of touring this country and sort of go back to the roots of bourbon, which was, I mean, the legend is, of course, it went down the Mississippi and wound up at a wedding and, you know, and came out brown as opposed to clear, and they realized we're onto something. If that's really what happened, let's take that in a modern sense down the highways of our country. And, you know, and in that sense, as soon as we got those ideas, Bardstown was all in. They were like, okay, great. Well, here's what we could do. And here's how this would be legal. And that was a big, big question mark, because we didn't want, we didn't want smoking the bandit, you know, as fun as that sounds.
[00:11:55] Ray Latif: Yeah, as far as I know, you can't mess with the bourbon while it's aging, is that right? I mean, well, it has to be in a bonded facility is really what it is.
[00:12:02] Brad Paisley: Yeah, the truck gets bonded before it goes and it's padlocked. That's what somebody asked me earlier today was, do you get to try it halfway? And I'm like, no, we're not allowed. And also, not only that, it's probably best because we end up coming back to Bardstown and they'd start to blend it and they'd be like, why is it three quarters missing?
[00:12:23] Ray Latif: Had a little fun with the boys one night.
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[00:13:17] Ray Latif: You mentioned some pretty significant companies or brands in the whiskey category, Angels, Envy, Four Roses, Jeffersons. Why was Bardstown the right fit? Why was that the right partner for you?
[00:13:30] Brad Paisley: their business model is such that it really works out for this type of adventure. And there really is an adventure and they're up for adventure. I mean, they just based on the guys over there and working with them now, I've seen it there. They're all in. They're like, okay, cool. That's never been done. Let's do it. That's such a great attitude. If you're going to try something new and this is all new. I mean, in the sense that having to cross the T's and dot the I's of how to make this legal, how to do it safely. These are no small feats, and they were all in. And then on top of that, they make great stuff. It's great. They had it figured out. Our first blend was a big experiment. Route 1, as I would call it, was a really big experiment because we didn't know how it would turn out, what the blending process was going to entail to make it into what it needed to be. We were so pleasantly surprised with what that did to what went down the road. But we then perfected, and I feel like this second voyage, this second route is crazy, the leap it took. We enhanced the notes we liked, and the experience, we're just getting better and better at it. But what's fun about this bourbon too, and I really like this, I've said this before, it reminds me of an acoustic guitar, same tree, same year, same construction methods, and there's no two guitars alike. It reminds me in some ways of some of my favorites that way, like Parker's Heritage. No two of those are alike. I know first discovering that around the time that Promise of Hope came out, I was like, okay, I'm going to find this every single time they release something because I loved it.
[00:15:16] Ray Latif: it's a tremendous experience that you're going through right now in some ways that it must feel like the early days of you getting into the country music circuit, you know, in that you're kind of wading your way through the business and feeling it out and trying to get a sense of, you know, where your talents lie, where your passion can be truly represented in this space.
[00:15:40] Brad Paisley: Yeah, I think that's like anything. It's like, um, you get better the more you do. Look, it's a crowded market right now, isn't it? There's a lot of stuff, but like I said, I still feel like there's a big ceiling and it reminds me of music that way. If you do something well, people want it. That's our challenge. I didn't want to just offer something into this crowded field that's not needed or new. Bardstown was all in on, let's make this unique.
[00:16:14] Ray Latif: Well, it's also a limited edition bourbon, and it has to be given that you can only fit so many barrels on a truck and can only blend them into so many bottles of whiskey. That lends itself to a super premium positioning and a super premium price. Is that something that you strategized around? Did you know from the beginning that this was going to be in that tier, in that segment, or was it just, let's see what happens and then the pricing and the positioning will come after?
[00:16:44] Brad Paisley: I mean, it was something we had to sort of decide as we went, like, what is this? I'm open to whatever it takes for this to be as good as it needs to be and priced right and unique. And a lot is involved to make this. I mean, it's different than setting barrels in a rickhouse for six years and then bottling it. It is already, I forget what the age was of this batch that went in, might've been four or whatever, that goes in the truck. And then that has its own amount of time going down the road, always moving. And if you've ever ridden in the back of a semi-tractor trailer truck, you know this is not a plush. smooth journey for this stuff. It's getting pulverized in some ways, you know. That's really unique. And then there's the idea, too, of the blending process when it gets back. And we're really fine tuning it, too. The first batch was 96 proof, and that's where the sweet spot was. It's interesting how different 96, 98, 100, 107, all of those are. We had a 90 proof that I didn't like as well as I like 96. There's a little bit hotter always. To me, it's a little bit thicker that way. And this one's 98, and 98 was the sweet spot on this. And it's funny how much of a difference two percentage proof points make, but it did.
[00:18:09] Ray Latif: It sounds like you're pretty deeply involved in the production process and deciding what the final product should taste like. Is that the case? And if so, does the final, I guess, taste of the liquid come down to what you wanted? Is this Brad Paisley's bourbon in the truest sense, that this is what you want it to taste like?
[00:18:33] Brad Paisley: Look, they did the hard part of coming up with versions of this to taste. But when we narrowed it down to four recipes, and I got the majority, I would say, of saying like, which one I thought was my favorite, but we did a lot of it on Zoom. So we would be 12 people, and then all of a sudden, it's the one we agreed on frequently became the one that got bottled so or is the one so far like there were some really close seconds but especially this route two it's a really clear winner it's really interesting how much of a sort of leap in uh depth i think this new one has
[00:19:21] Ray Latif: To be clear, the Rolling Rickhouse is what it's called, didn't include every barrel that goes into American Highway Reserve. Right. But those barrels, the liquid jostled around in the barrels enough so that it would, again, impact the flavor. You know, I think there are some people who would really want to know, okay, well, how much did it impact the flavor? How much of the Rolling Rickhouse really resulted in what's in front of me today? And I say that because on the one hand, you have people that will deride this process as a gimmick. In fact, I saw one whiskey critic say that. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion. I read that, I'm repeating it. On the other hand, it's really consumers that are the ones who matter the most because they're the ones buying the product. Right. So how do you tell that story? It's a great story, but how do you tell the story about how much it really impacts the flavor of what's in the bottle?
[00:20:19] Brad Paisley: Well, here's the thing. Why do this if it's not something new? Was it a gimmick when it went down to a wedding on a river? That's what turns it into bourbon. it wasn't until they all decided, okay, well, the way to do this in the, in the old fashioned sense is to stick these in Rick houses in Kentucky and let it do its thing, you know, and that is tried and true. And we have perfected that. I mean, if you've had great old pappy and great old, like if you've been lucky enough to try something like, uh, one of these unicorns, especially, you know, we've perfected that. But what's something that we haven't done, and that's how I felt about it, was like, I'd love to know what happens to this. It's a large percentage of this that went down the highway. And not only that, but first batch was its own thing. This new batch has some of that first batch and an entirely new blend that went down the highway, and that became part of the blend. So you've got some that went down the highway twice. And then you've got for the next batch that we do, there's an entirely new idea of what that does. And each of these are offerings that are, you know, pick your favorite. There's a large percentage of this that went down the highway. I don't know the exact number, but, um, it definitely is different. Trust me when I say I've tasted each, each thing that goes into this and we got the best blend of this, I think.
[00:21:54] Ray Latif: You're making me thirsty, Brad. I'm gonna open this up at some point, but not just yet, because I'm looking at the bottle, and as far as I can tell, your name isn't anywhere on it, which is notable.
[00:22:08] Brad Paisley: It's not about me. This isn't about me at all. This was a group effort between myself, some other guys that love this, and the Bardstown folks, and it's not about me. I want this to be about doing the best thing we can do. It has nothing to do with what tour it's on or how it goes. You can imagine various scenarios where we send this down the highway and it doesn't always have to be my concert, it can be someone else's, it doesn't have to be music. The trick is the movement and the changes in altitude, temperature, you know, terrain, all of it goes into making something that will never happen again. In the same way that you said you were just in Scandinavia, come back and you learn something. and you're different from it. I know I am. Every time we do Europe or anywhere like that, I come back and my mind is different. I think whiskey has the same effect on whiskey that way. It's not about me. This is about coming up with ways to send this thing on journeys.
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[00:24:06] Ray Latif: It may not be about you, but I think people might say that, well, the reason I bought this whiskey is because Brad Paisley was so deeply involved in the production of it. People love your music and they want to be associated with you. And this is very much. tied to your passion and in some ways your music because it came with you on tour. How much of the reason, I guess, what did you learn about your customers? What did you learn about why they buy this product? Is it because of the reason that you talked about, which is this is a very specific liquid and it's going to be a specific liquid for every iteration of the product, or is it still very much, I bought it because Brad Paisley was so involved in it?
[00:24:52] Brad Paisley: I would hope they buy it because in the same way that I'll find out about something and I'll go buy the new Four Roses offering for 2022. I want to know what this year's small batch blend for 2022 is. if you can find it. Or Booker's, you know, 2022 batch three. I've been collecting the Booker's offerings ever since they came out. And I've got a lot of, there aren't very many I'm missing at this point. And they're all different. They're all entirely different. And I think in that sense, I would hope people buy it for that, you know, so that they can experience it. If I'm their gateway in, then great.
[00:25:36] Ray Latif: That being said, I'm sure you do want to get this out to the public as much as you possibly can. So how are you involved in the promotion and marketing of American Highway Reserve? Because I think I've seen a couple posts on your Instagram account, but not many more than that.
[00:25:53] Brad Paisley: I don't want it to be like heavy handed either. I think people start to see through when everything, every post is about something or when you're too heavy handed. I never want to force anybody's hand on something. My hope is that I see people enjoy this. There'd be nothing more satisfying than... I've already gotten friends that'll send a picture by a campfire or something, or they'll send a picture watching a ball game with a cigar and that. Nothing more satisfying than seeing them do that. I mean, it's no less satisfying than seeing them take a screen grab of listening to the new album or listening to a song on Taste Radio and saying, I heard your song, I love it or whatever. It's fun. It's fun to see somebody enjoy something you made.
[00:26:40] Ray Latif: You know, it's funny you say that because I've spoken with a lot of entrepreneurs who say the exact same thing, which is when someone buys my product for the first time and tries it and enjoys it, that's like the greatest thing they can ever do because they've created something that, you know, they enjoyed and now they can share that with other people. And if other people really like it, it's amazing.
[00:27:02] Brad Paisley: It really is. There's an art in all of these things. There's art that's involved in music. There's art in great whiskey. And I'm just really pleasantly surprised at the fact that it does really change it to go down the road. It really does turn it into something that I don't think you get notes of anywhere else. And like any bourbon, there's things that are similar, but the subtleties in various bourbons are the reason guys like yourself and me probably have an entire shelf full of things that People that don't know much about whiskey would walk in and go, why do you need 50 different bottles up there? It's like, well, there are 50 different notes in those bottles. And to the uninformed, they might be like, I don't notice much of a difference. We're looking for those notes that are so subtle that might be missed by someone who isn't a connoisseur. But it's the same way somebody walks in an art museum, and if they are looking for a certain thing in a painting, I might just think it's pretty. But they'll tell me, no, no, no, no. There's a dimension here. And what they've done is that this small thing on the left indicates this and whatever. And in bourbons, that's why you and I have 50 different bottles. It's not about quantity. It's about tasting these little differences.
[00:28:16] Ray Latif: I get the sense that you're a real Renaissance man. Oh, thank you for saying that. That's nice. You seem to enjoy a lot of experiences of life or the experiences of— Hillbilly Renaissance man. Can we expect that the Rolling Rickhouse will be with you on this tour as well? Are we going to see a Route 3 in 2023?
[00:28:35] Brad Paisley: For sure. We have some great ideas on that because each one of these, like we said, it's like there is no reason to try and duplicate what we did before because we'll fail at that. We can perfect and enhance and improve, but I don't think you can duplicate. This won't ever be like if Route 1 or Route 2, if one of those two is your favorite, go go buy as much of the one you like the best. Like for me, when I go, we talked about bookers. It's like, I love what, what is it? 2019 one, I think whatever it was, Booker's bluegrass. It has a banjo on it, which is ironic. Booker's bluegrass is my favorite of the bookers they've done. And I went around when we were on the road and I bought as much of that. I should own stock and be
[00:29:28] Ray Latif: Well, you've mentioned Booker's a few times now, and I have a feeling some people in our audience are probably going to go out and try to start buying some bottles as well. So you've done your part in supporting the company.
[00:29:38] Brad Paisley: I'm here to promote everyone else. That's fine.
[00:29:41] Ray Latif: Well, you brought up Booker's and you brought up the limited-time offering or limited-time availability of those products, and there's a limited-time availability of American Highway Reserve as well. Do you ever see this becoming a year-round offering? Do you envision a year-round product for this brand?
[00:29:57] Brad Paisley: We'd have to figure that out structurally. I mean, we, you know, our model is such that this is a process that has to happen. That's a good question. That's a good question for people that are a lot more in tune to what it would entail. But I wouldn't mind, you know, more and more of this. I think the idea of what we're doing, expanding and doing more and more of it is certainly, it's fun to think about. you can envision a thing where what we're doing is more of a more of a conveyor belt than what it is right now where you send out the truck and then it comes back and then we do the blending and figure out what the best product is. You could see it more where it's like, okay, this is where you got this part down. There's also the possibility of versions of this where there's the one that is more of the consistent thing and then there's the one-offs that are like we send out. We've already got some ideas on that on this did this and here's what's in it and this is why this one's different.
[00:30:59] Ray Latif: So I got to ask, and I have a feeling I know what the answer is going to be, but let's find out. You know, a lot of musicians, actors, celebrities have gotten into the spirits business, tequila, whiskey, gin, what have you. And it seems like a lot of people have done it because there could be a huge payout in the end. There's certainly potential for that. George Clooney with the Cosamigos is probably the best example of that. I mean, do you have any, is there an interest for you in seeing American Highway Reserve become a big brand, a brand that, again, could be ubiquitous, could be available, you know, to everyone, everywhere?
[00:31:37] Brad Paisley: Just in the sense that I would love the idea of more and more people liking it and trying it. You know, in the end, what's a lot of fun is creating something that you're proud of, that you love, and and then seeing what you can do with it. The goal is really to see as many people enjoy this as possible. This is a lot of fun. Like think about it, there it sits next to you. And we created this, and I can't wait to see, first of all, what you think, but more than that, to see where it goes. And the goal isn't necessarily to become some mammoth thing. The goal is to do it as well as we can do it, create something that didn't exist before, that's a worthwhile offering in this world. You talk about fun. This is a gift I give friends. It is, like I said, something that you can have on the side of the bar, on stage. If you come see me in concert, I'll set you up with a glass or two of it. You'll watch the concert and know that in the parking lot, there's a new batch being made.
[00:32:45] Ray Latif: That, like I said, from when you first mentioned that, that sounds absolutely incredible. I've been waiting for this moment, however, for some time. I have my glass. I'm going to open this up now.
[00:32:56] Brad Paisley: I can't wait for you to try this. I'm really, really proud of this. I'll be really anxious to hear what you think.
[00:33:03] Ray Latif: Now, while I'm opening this, perhaps you can give our listeners just a quick hint of what they should expect when they are cracking open a bottle of American Highway Reserve Fruit II.
[00:33:15] Brad Paisley: I think that it's way more complex than Route 1 in that there is a real smoothness to this and the finish is different. But one thing that we kept the same that I really like from Route 1 is the nose of this. And I think that, I don't even know what the percentage is, but I bet it's two-thirds the experience is the nose of the whiskey, because that's the one thing that can sort of consistently is going the whole time. So pour that in and let it sit for a second. And then I don't know how you take it. Are you neat or you drop a water?
[00:33:49] Ray Latif: What's your favorite? Usually neat, just like in my glass right now. So let this sit for a few seconds, you said?
[00:33:58] Brad Paisley: Yeah, you can smell it, you can nose it now, but then it's like, as that burns off, it gets really, really fun and stays there the rest of the time. I love the mouthfeel of this too.
[00:34:12] Ray Latif: It's really delicious. I think it's, you know, it's, it's shockingly approachable, I think. I think I was expecting something that was a little bit more of a stretch for the average bourbon consumer, but this just hits it on every level, I think.
[00:34:26] Brad Paisley: That one really became, and it also, that's going to open up in about three minutes, you're going to have another another experience that's different from this right now. One thing about this one I feel like is the spiciness that was from the higher-I content of the first batch that we did is somehow toned down a bit, even though it's very similar in chemical composition. Something about, I don't know whether, I think maybe the barrels that went down the road this time are slightly older. Because I know one thing, I tasted what went down the road the first time before it went down the road, and it was not drinkable. When it got back, it was. This stuff, before it went down the road, was drinkable. I tasted it in the rickhouse before it got on the truck. it was drinkable prior to ever seeing crossing the Kentucky state line. And this, and now it's like, you can see what that did. So there's a lot, you can see there's a lot of potential for ways to grow this taste profile even.
[00:35:25] Ray Latif: I think you've done an outstanding job. Thank you. And I think it's one of these things where, you know, this goes back to the question of, I think people are going to look at this a little sideways sometimes, or they're going to look at any celebrity-tied brand or musician-tied brand a little sideways and say, eh, you know, is this really that good? I mean, folks, this is a phenomenal whiskey. Thanks for saying that. And I think you've done an outstanding job, Brad, in helping to craft this, or really coming up with the idea and crafting this bourbon. Congratulations on it. And really excited to see the future of the brand, really excited to see your continued involvement in driving forward the whiskey and bourbon categories.
[00:36:06] Brad Paisley: Well, nothing will make me happier than to think that And then for you to reach out later and say, Hey, I'm, I'm all done with that bottle. Can I have some more?
[00:36:16] Ray Latif: Well, I'm in Boston and I know your first stop is in Connecticut at Mohegan sun. So, uh, I think that's a little too soon for me, but, uh, maybe if I'm in Scandinavia later on this summer, I'll find you in Copenhagen. And, uh, yeah, I think my bottle will be empty at that point.
[00:36:32] Brad Paisley: We'll be back at Boston White too. So anything you want to come to, again, the offer stands, drink that on the side of the stage while I play and there's something about it that's just, you know, that's why we're making this.
[00:36:44] Ray Latif: Incredible, incredible stuff. Brad, it's been so amazing speaking with you. Thank you so much for taking the time today. Good luck on your tour. Thank you. Congratulations again on this incredible bourbon. Thanks, buddy. That brings us to the end of this episode of Taste Radio. Thank you so much for listening, and thanks to our guest, Brad Paisley. As always, for questions, comments, ideas for future podcasts, please send us an email to ask at Taste Radio. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team, thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.
