Around the Barrel Ep054/Re052 - Lexie and Josh Phillips
Lucas Hendrickson: Regardless of the industry you're working in, so many factors can go into how much, or how little you enjoy the gig. When you're working with your biggest fan, though, it goes a long way into making every day a joy.
On this episode, we talk with Lexie Phillips and Josh Phillips, the Jack Daniel Distillery's current reigning power couple about the new set of limited edition Distillery Series products with their names on them, about how family got them both to the distillery, and remains a big part of their day-to-day work there. And about how their good-natured "ryevalry" has kept them both laughing constantly about the long-term project that emerged from Around the Barrel.
Welcome back to Around the Barrel, the official podcast from the makers of Jack Daniel's. I'm your host, Lucas Hendrickson.
Lexie Phillips: I am Lexie Phillips, and I'm the assistant distiller here at the Jack Daniel Distillery.
Josh Phillips: And I'm Josh Phillips, and I work in single barrel processing.
Lucas: Lexie, Josh, welcome to Around the Barrel.
Josh: Thank you.
Lexie: Thanks for having us.
Lucas: It's good to talk to you guys. We have met several times. Lexie, obviously you've been a guest on this show a number of times over the years, but we are here today to talk about a couple different things, not the least of which being the pivot essentially from the Tennessee Taster series line of products to now the Distillery Series, also could be subtitled at least for the two things we're going to talk about with you guys, all things rye, obviously. So Lexie, just give us a real quick, top-level look about what both of these things are when they hit not only the White Rabbit Bottle Shop, but liquor and beverage superstores here in Tennessee, and just what was that pivot like from Tennessee Tasters to the Distillery Series named stuff?
Lexie: Yeah, absolutely. So I mean, the series started out as an experimental series, so fun things we can do with the series, pushed different flavors into whiskeys with, of course, natural products like wines and beers, other different woods, and just the few little things that we could do to tweak the different flavors. So we had ended up swapping from the Tennessee Tasters to the Distillery Series over COVID because during COVID, supply chain got everybody, and we were definitely one of them on that with our glass supply chain. So they stopped making the stock bottle we were using.
Lucas: Right.
Lexie: But it happened to be the best time during COVID while everything was shut down. So we took that time to kind of re-envision the series because we'd heard a little feedback that people weren't really picking up on what a Tennessee Taster is. So we figured a Distillery Series, it alludes to that this is something just special from the distillery, something a little smaller leaning towards that experimental lens. So that's how we came into Distillery Series. When you see the bottles right next to each other, the current bottle we're using and the one we used for the Tennessee Tasters, it's really, it's just a little bit taller. So I will say for some of the collectors, it's not going to be as uniform on the shelf, so I'm sorry about that. We did the best that we could.
Lucas: Well, they can just build out a second shelf and start–
Lexie: Exactly.
Lucas: A new shelf for the Distillery Series stuff. I've seen a whole lot of interesting shelving options from collectors and fans across the years, so it wouldn't surprise me that we have entire shrines built up now to the Distillery Series stuff.
Lexie: Absolutely.
Lucas: As it moves forward. So you guys are a husband and wife team tackling some of these projects as well. Josh, tell us, I mean, we've been through Lexie's history and it is woven deep into Around the Barrel lore. Josh, tell us a little bit about how you came to the distillery, what your day-to-day role is with the distillery these years, and also when did you expand your duties into the realm of being a taster?
Josh: So I was born and raised in Shelbyville, which is just a few miles north of Lynchburg. Man, I'm going to be honest with you. I wasn't real big in school, didn't love it. So I knew that it was either going to be to college or going to work. And at that time, my aunt was working at the distillery and she just talked about how good of a company it was to work for and it always seemed like it was something exciting. So I knew whenever I was 19 years old that I wanted to come work at Jack Daniel Distillery. Put in my resume just like everybody else, I was lucky enough to get to go to warehousing. So right off the bat, at 19 years old, I was working in the barrel houses, rolling barrels.
Lucas: Okay.
Josh: I was a barrel boy.
Lucas: Sure.
Josh: Of course I'm working with, I mean, it is kind of intimidating. I mean, you're 19, you're fresh out of high school and I don't know if anybody's hauled hay before, but it's like hauling hay. I mean.
Lucas: Okay.
Josh: These guys that have done it for years, and I see Lexie laughing over here. It really is though. I mean, you're getting this warehouse and these big burly guys, man, it's just intimidating.
Lucas: Sure.
Josh: But man, I really did learn a lot of life lessons in warehousing, and so I ended up working in there for around five and a half years. And then I made my way to processing. So processing is between the barrelhouse and the bottle. So the warehousing guys, they bring us the barrels and then we process them, get that liquid ready to go into the bottle.
Lucas: Got you.
Josh: And so now I'm in single barrel processing, so I only deal with single barrel, which is great because that's my favorite Jack Daniel product. It's amazing just in single barrel how many different products we have. So basically we are in charge of, whenever warehousing brings us barrels, we extract that whiskey out of the barrel, run it through filters, we proof it, and get that liquid ready to go into the bottle. And then of course, then bottling, they let us know what they need to run for the week, whether it's domestic 94 or international 90 proof, which also Silver Select. We do Silver Select, which is 100 proof. You've got Barrel Proof, you've got ryes. I mean, there's so many different products and we've always got, we stay ahead of what is being bottled. So normally we're always a day ahead on what they're going to run. So we have to keep up with all of our inventory and I mean, it is, it's a lot to keep up with.
Lucas: Yeah, it's such a varied, but it's a subset obviously, of the product mix that goes on back there.
Josh: Yes.
Lucas: The complicated moving pieces of that have got to be a bear to keep in charge of. But obviously all that stuff makes it on to store shelves and we're happy for it so.
Josh: That's it, we keep it going. We keep it going.
Lexie: Yeah. It's a very intricate process. Like he said, as many products as we do that go through single barrel, I think growing to the level that we have and keeping all that segregated, I mean, we've got it down to part art, part science. I say that about the distillery, but really it's about all of our departments here.
Lucas: Yeah. Do the processing guys ever go, "Okay, when are they going to stop adding variations of these things onto the list of stuff that we have to do every week?"
Josh: No, we would never say that. No, it's exciting even for us to see new products that come through our special releases. Even the Tasters series, we did that. The Distillery Series, excuse me. We bottled that at single barrel.
Lucas: Right.
Josh: So it's really cool. I mean, I caught a lot of grief whenever we were bottling my bottle. Of course. Of course. All the guys I work with, I caught a lot of grief on that. Especially my mom. Of course, my mom works at Jack Daniel's also and she is the event coordinator.
Lucas: Gotcha.
Josh: Diane Potts. And of course it's proud mom moment. So whenever we're bottling my whiskey for three days, I feel like she came down there every day.
Lucas: Make sure that–
Josh: And she had to get a picture with her baby boy and his bottle. So that was fun. That was a lot of fun.
Lucas: Little different bottle than she was working with you on that however many decades ago, but yeah.
Josh: Yeah, exactly.
Lucas: So yeah, let's dive back into this specific liquid. At the heart of it, it's Tennessee Rye, correct? I mean that's where the base liquid come from. It's obviously.
Lexie: Yes.
Lucas: The two different finishing approaches to that. Talk a little bit about – first the overall state of the rye products, where we are on that, what? Three or four years now?
Lexie: 2016 was when we first started releasing our Single Barrel Rye.
Lucas: Okay. Seven years now. Wow.
Lexie: Yeah.
Lucas: Time means nothing.
Josh: Time flies.
Lucas: After a while. So where are we on the state of the rye products? Is there any other than what these Distillery Series pieces do, any sort of innovation and expansion on that that we can look forward to in the near future? And then we'll talk about how we got to the finish line on these two products.
Lexie: Yeah, there is definitely some innovation products going on around those. You're going to see, there may be some, into the future, special releases and Taster, we all still refer to it as the Taster's.
Lucas: Right, sure.
Lexie: It's on my computer, it's on my brain. Everybody knows, but into the Distillery Series as well, because that is a whiskey that still has a whole lot of popularity in cocktail making. Of course, whiskey lovers like myself and Josh, we love to drink our rye neat, but it very well mixes in cocktails.
Lucas: Sure.
Lexie: So, I mean us with ours starting with the same base of rye whiskey and then finishing it two different ways. I mean, that's so cool because it highlights what those two woods actually give to the product.
Lucas: Yes.
Lexie: So that's been a really exciting thing to push to see what you can do on our rye whiskey that's 70% rye grain. So it's like a sweet to spicy and then pushing nother flavors in there as well.
Lucas: And I don't think we've mentioned, again, the difference in these particular products. The Distillery Series #8 and #9, one of them, I believe it's #8 that was yours, Lexie, correct? And the #9 is Josh's, or am I getting at?
Lexie: Little backwards, but it's okay.
Josh: You're going to get in trouble.
Lucas: That probably wouldn't be the first time, but I'm going to say it in my layman's terms and you guys can certainly correct me and flesh out what this process was taking that Tennessee rye and then the secondary finish involving what are called high-toast barrels, one of them being oak, one of them being maple. What does that process mean, of creating those high toast barrels and where did they come from?
Lexie: So they still came from our cooperage. Both barrels on the finishing side were high toast, no char. So when you toast a barrel, it's just that radiant heat on the inside of that barrel that can get up closer to a thousand degrees. And it truly caramelizes the inside of that barrel just breaking down the lignins and wood sugars. And when it comes off of that, it has just the most sweet aroma, like a toasted marshmallow. And that's true for the oak and the maple.
Lucas: Okay.
Lexie: So we were both very curious to see what the two different woods did to it. But they were both started at almost five year old ryes. And then they pretty much split ways and went some into the maple and then some into the oak. And then on the age of those, how long they sat in there? Mine set in there about two and a half years, just–
Lucas: Oh wow.
Lexie: Because of COVID. Honestly, mine was supposed to be released about a year before, but that didn't work out. Josh, if you want to talk about the maple barrel a little bit and just its characteristics how you're set in there.
Josh: And the maple barrels, that's something that we're just not really accustomed to using. Everybody thinks the Tennessee whiskey, they think of white oaks. So I mean, that was cool in itself, but like Lexie said, it was a high-toast maple barrel. So what it did to the whiskey, I felt like just by that wood, and I'm a wood guy, I love working with wood. I'm a wood worker. I love it. So being able to taste what just the wood did, because most people think of whenever they think of maple, they think of maple syrup.
Lucas: Sure.
Josh: Additives. There is no additives to this. The sweetness of that whiskey comes from that toasted, the inside of that barrel, the toasted maple barrel. And it was just amazing what it did to that flavor of that whiskey. It was, whenever I tasted, I tasted that sweet praline taste on the front end. And on that finish, like Lexie was saying about the toasted marshmallow, it was crazy. I got none tasting it, and on that finish, I tasted that toasted marshmallow, like the absolute, I knew she was going to get a kick out of this, the absolute best toasted marshmallow you could imagine. You sit around a bonfire with me and Lexie do this. We'll sit in the backyard and have a bonfire, and we'll get us some marshmallows and chocolate.
Lucas: Get some s'mores making, absolutely.
Josh: And some people just stick that marshmallow in the fire, and I mean.
Lucas: Right.
Josh: It's got the charred black outside and hey, some people love it that way. I'm the type that I get that and I roast it for about 10 minutes and it got that nice just golden brown outside. That's what I tasted whenever I tasted my whiskey.
Lucas: Totally makes sense.
Josh: That was awesome.
Lucas: Totally makes sense, yeah. So what was the origin then of deciding on these two types of, obviously very different woods, and creating the barrels for it? And the sub-question on that, are there other different styles of wood for subsequent Distillery Series offerings maybe in the future that did this same sort of process or this is what we're looking at, oak and maple and do some other things differently in the future?
Lexie: So like I said, since mine was supposed to be released a little earlier, we had our Gold 27 that was also finished in maple barrels.
Lucas: Right, I was going to mention as well.
Lexie: But we do know that maple wood does not like to hold liquid in there very well.
Lucas: Sure.
Lexie: So you are very limited. Once we had our last run of maple barrels, we had some left over that we could use to refill with the rye.
Lucas: Gotcha.
Lexie: And we knew that the time is ticking. Once you put it in there, you got to figure out what you're going to do with it quick. So Chris Fletcher, honestly, he came up to me one day and because we didn't know who we were going to have as the next taster, so he's like, "We may need to go ahead and release these together." And he's like, "Oh, I know Josh loves rye whiskey. Do you think that he would want to come taste it and see if he'd like to be the taster?" I'm like, "Oh my God, that would be so cute." And he got the biggest kick out of that because I mean, I can't tell you how many meetings. I was like, "Y'all, it's not cute." His and hers. So that's how it came out. And it worked out to me perfectly because it did highlight the differences in the wood.
Lucas: Yes.
Lexie: It only being able to sit in that maple wood for around nine months. And then mine was in the oak for around two and a half. And this is all in the secondary barrels. How different they taste is almost night and day. Sweet as candy, and then one that's almost perfect with a cigar or something. It's got those big bold flavors. So I will say, Lucas, I'm still not good at two-part questions. What was that other? All right.
Lucas: I wanted, I'm trying to remember. Well, oh, I mean are we going to see other, and I'm not knowing what other kinds of woods are good for creating barrels. That's where my lack of knowledge on that goes. But are we going to see other wood types be run through this similar process?
Lexie: Right. This is something else you'll see, because turns out these different woods do impose such different flavors.
Lucas: Sure.
Lexie: The next one following mine and Josh's was a pecan finish.
Lucas: Right.
Lexie: And so that one, turns out it's a lot easier to have either chips or chunks of wood and toast those and then put those into the barrel. Imagine almost like you would do a tea.
Lucas: Right.
Lexie: Steeping a tea and you can still get that full character of that wood.
Lucas: And that's how that was approached on a couple of the original Tennessee Taster series, right?
Lexie: Yes.
Lucas: With the Jamaican allspice.
Lexie: And the hickory.
Lucas: And the hickory one, yeah. Yeah, so obviously the original pass through on those attempts, this sounds like it was the first one that was truly secondary finished timeframe in the completely separate barrels.
Lexie: Right.
Lucas: Okay.
Lexie: Yeah.
Lucas: I just wanted make sure I got that right.
Lexie: For the different woods, yeah. Because of course we had the reunion barrels, but they were the same kind of woods.
Lucas: Exactly.
Lexie: Yeah.
Lucas: Exactly. How much trial and error goes into creating these kind of expressions? Has there been anything that you go, "Nope. Don't want to put that one out."
Lexie: Not yet. I'm still looking at it because I mean, there's a lot of ideation that goes around with it. Having, of course, Chris Fletcher with all of his experience over time, we work with closely with our research and development and I mean, if I come up with a random idea, I can go to them and it's almost their job to poke holes in it and sure, see this is going to work or this isn't going to work and this is why, maybe we can tweak it this way. So I'd say the ideation is the part that is the hardest coming up with the ideas that we're all like, "Okay, this is something that could work."
But then once you actually get into it, you may do a barrel or two of a trial run, if it's something that's really pushing the bounds. But other than that, you pretty much take off with about 30 to 50 barrels ish depending on, and hope for the best. Because I mean, if you're putting something good in there, it's not going to turn out just terrible.
Lucas: Sure.
Lexie: It may need a little more time to get the complexities, but yeah, so that part's been a lot of fun, and we've got some really fun ones on the horizon.
Lucas: There's not one of these that and I'm, again, lucky enough to live in Tennessee and have been able to try all of them over time. If you got that baseline experience of knowing what Old No. 7 and what Tennessee Rye tastes like standalone by themselves, and then pull your vocabulary of tasting notes from that and just really, again, compare and contrast what these things are compared to their base liquid. It's a lot of fun. When you do these, though, and there've been certain ones across the timeframe, especially the first one that came out, the High Angel's Share one that was just a happy accident and from a few years ago, is there ever an eye towards making these things so that they can be scaled up to have a broader special release approach as opposed to just being such a limited thing and available in such a small footprint?
Lexie: And it depends on which ones they are, because let's just say the pecan where we did the pecan chips. It takes a lot of manpower to toast those, that amount of pecan chips and put them in the barrels, so you don't want to end up having to do that to 5,000 barrels.
Lucas: No, that'd be–
Lexie: 500 barrels. But one's where we did the Barrel Proof Rye, and then a couple years after that we released that as a larger release of this Single Barrel Special Release.
Lucas: Right.
Lexie: And of course hoping very soon for that to be an even bigger thing.
Lucas: Right.
Lexie: So I think it really depends on how the liquid comes out, how it's received, and that really helps a lot just hearing other people's opinions because I think we may be a little partial, but, you know.
Lucas: Just a little bit.
Lexie: That's a fun part of it just to see what people really think of it.
Lucas: Yeah. Well, and part of me also wonders there was that exceptional Twin Blend one that came out. Did any of the learnings from that filter into what's now the Triple Mash, that bonded series, whether we're able to take how those two different styles mingled and then add the third part of the Single Malt into that product as well?
Lexie: It does make me wonder, because I know those two ideas really came from two different people because I'll be honest, I think the Triple Mash actually came from our marketing team.
Lucas: Oh wow, okay.
Lexie: And at first Chris was like, "No, we're not doing a blend."
Lucas: Okay. I can see him being fairly protective of that kind of idea. Yeah.
Lexie: That's it. But making it a blend and bottled in bond, he was like, "Yeah, this is something we can do." But the Twin Blend, I think when he was going through and saw that those two whiskeys were put in the barrels on the same day. Yeah. I mean that's a pretty rare thing here.
Lucas: Sure.
Lexie: So I think that that's pretty cool. It's just, a lot of times making whiskey, you may not even know what it's going to be yet. And that's the hard part of trying to decide what this is going to look like in five to seven years.
Lucas: Again, that it goes back to the thing we've talked about a lot. You guys are called to be fortune-tellers for these things so often.
Lexie: Exactly.
Lucas: Prognosticators looking into the future hoping that it's going to be what you need it to be. In the moment, I'd forgotten about the day of the Twin Blend being single day, liquids going into the different barrels. But what a great storytelling piece on that. And then the liquid turned out fantastic in and of itself.
Lexie: Absolutely.
Lucas: So as far as, again, your individual coupledom, if you will, with approaching these products, were there any – Lexie, you said you put yours in a couple years ago, and so clearly you already had about a year and a half lead head start on that. But was there ever going to be any sort of who got to claim ownership of the maple versus the oak barrels, in the labeling of all that?
Lexie: Well, I think it came in, Josh, he's a little bit of a sweeter character than I am.
Lucas: Oh, okay.
Josh: That's right.
Lucas: He got to be, have the sweeter whiskey.
Josh: Yeah.
Lexie: But yeah, I mean that was part, or really big part of this that was a lot of fun because we made this, I'm going to throw out another cute term, a "ryevalry" between the couple.
Josh: Oh, wow.
Lexie: I know, right?
Josh: Yeah, rye not?
Lucas: Well, we just got an episode title. There we go.
Lexie: That's it. There we go.
Josh: Rye not.
Lexie: Because when we first started tasting Josh, he came to my office and I'd gone to the lab and cut it down to several different proofs and went through on the tasting notes and came up with all that. So that was a whole lot of fun on that. But it was pretty much set from the beginning.
Lucas: Sure.
Lexie: That I was doing oak and he was doing maple. Josh, if you want to add anything on the tasting notes or proof or anything, please do.
Josh: Well, the only thing I was going to say was, Lucas, whenever I told you that you might get in trouble earlier for getting the #8 and #9 mixed up.
Lucas: That's true.
Josh: Lexie knew that the next one in the series was going to be hers, which that was going to be the first one in the Distillery Series.
Lucas: Sure.
Josh: So whenever Lexie came to me and asked me if that'd be something I'd be interested in, little did she know the maple was going to be #8 and the oak was going to be #9.
Lucas: Oh, okay.
Josh: I think she was a little upset about it, that mine was going to come out before hers.
Lexie: We released them together, but it did get a little mixed up, but that's okay. That's okay.
Lucas: Just as long as the right names are on the bottles, that's also the big part of that as well. So let's do the dive into how you guys came together. When did y'all meet? Did you bond over whiskey or other things? Josh, what was the courting process like for you with Lexie over the years?
Josh: So I'm going to tell you how I just hook, line and sinker here. So whenever I made my move to processing, I had to work a night shift. And so, of course, we're dealing with raw whiskey, and so we've got to have QC basically run all the tests they need to make sure everything's perfect with it. So Lexie was actually working in QC on nights, and I did not know Lexie before Jack Daniel's, so she was our QC girl. And so I would take my samples over there every night. Of course, whenever you're working on nights, I mean, you got to stock up on coffee as soon as you get there. I'm always, I'm ready to go. So man, I'd walk into the quality control office and I mean, it would be silent. There's nobody there at night. Lexie would be the only one in there. And I would either slam my hand down on the table, or yell real loud or something and, I mean, I would get her every single time. Every time.
Lexie: 10 times throughout the night.
Josh: I'm talking. She'd be shaking over there, she was scared so bad. And so I would mess with her all the time. We were friends for so long before we started dating. And I guess you can say the whiskey did bring us together. I mean, we met at Jack Daniel's and kind of followed each other through different places at Jack Daniel's.
Lucas: Right.
Josh: So yeah, I mean, it was perfect.
Lucas: Yeah.
Lexie: Yeah. There's two sides to every story, too.
Lucas: Of course.
Lexie: I can truly remember my first day of work, the moment I met him, because my great-aunt, she was who helped me get my foot in the door at bottling and she was taking me around. She was actually trying to set me up with another guy. But I remember walking through the door and, of course, Josh, you can tell he's loud. And she was like, "Now, this is Nacho." And I'm like, "Oh, okay." I'm like, "Ah, that's nice." But yeah, I think him just making me laugh all the time. That is definitely what did it.
Lucas: Right.
Lexie: There was one night in processing that– he has a terrible fear of snakes.
Lucas: Okay.
Lexie: So I was trying real hard to get him back and I'd got a fake snake and put it around one of the pipes that I knew he had to step over.
Lucas: Oh man.
Lexie: I think he saw it coming from a mile away but–
Josh: Yeah, that didn't get me.
Lexie: It's always a little retaliatory.
Lucas: Oh, sure.
Josh: Yeah.
Lucas: Sure. Plus, I mean, if I'm remembering correctly, you each brought a pet named Jack into the relationship, right? I mean.
Josh: We did.
Lexie: Oh yeah.
Josh: We did. Jack the dog and Jack the cat.
Lexie: That's it. And they are both the high-maintenance animals.
Lucas: Well, there you go. Well, because nowadays, they don't know which one you're calling when.
Lexie: See.
Josh: I have to get onto her sometimes on that, too. She'll be leaning out the door yelling for Jack the cat and then Jack the dog's over here in the kennel just whimpering. He's thinking that she's calling to him and it's a thing, man.
Lucas: Yep, I can imagine. I can imagine. But Josh, I mean, talk about – you've watched her make her way through these different departments, through throughout the distillery and obviously up to her role right now. What kind of things have you seen in her as she's progressed with her responsibilities and roles within the distillery?
Josh: Yeah, I've got to say, I mean, she's always been the best at whatever she does. And so taking on her new role has been a challenge.
Lucas: Sure.
Josh: And so I always try to be there and just push her along, sometimes she does not like that. But no, I mean, I truly am her biggest fan. I really am. I think sometimes she thinks I'm just blowing smoke here. But I really am, I am her biggest fan. I think she has taken this new role on just perfectly and I love it. I love listening to the podcast with her in it. And any little trips that she does, I want to hear all about it.
Lucas: Sure.
Josh: So I love it. I think she's doing great.
Lucas: Well, like I've said. Again, when we first met, it was a struggle just to get her to get right up on the microphone. But now she is one of the faces of the distillery, and–
Josh: That's true.
Lucas: And presenting these products all to people all over the world so.
Lexie: This last week has actually been a little funny because he would always help me calm down the nerves before podcasts or going on trips or something. I can't tell you how many times this week, I'm like, "I love this," because he's been so nervous getting ready for the podcast and I've tried to calm him down, be like, "It's just a conversation." So it's been really fun to have the roles reversed.
Josh: Tables have turned.
Lucas: Yes. You get that extra idea about what Lexie has to go through on a semi-regular basis nowadays.
Lexie: That's it.
Josh: You're right. You're right, yep.
Lucas: But these things come along with being the new power couple of Lynchburg. It's one of these things that you have to deal with. That said, what's been the reaction? Is there a leader in the clubhouse as far as what people prefer with #8 versus #9? Is there any sort of?
Lexie: This has been.
Josh: #8, all the way. All the way.
Lexie: This has been so much fun because, I will say, throughout, since the release, because it was released what right before BBQ? And so I actually had work things that I had to do during the BBQ. Well, I want you to know, this man would go down and sit at the White Rabbit Bottle Shop and he'd sign bottles, hand sell them to people because almost every day he would call down there and be like, "Hey, Angie, who's ahead?" That's real.
Lucas: Oh, nice.
Josh: It's real. It's real.
Lexie: We pretty much got the majority of the town involved in wanting to know, "What's your favorite? What's your favorite?" So it has been so much fun. And I have to say, he's been ahead a big part of the time.
Lucas: Okay.
Lexie: But, there is still a lot of people that, because I mean, it's almost like comparing apples and oranges.
Lucas: Sure.
Lexie: Because they're two such different flavors.
Lucas: Yep.
Lexie: That's really the fun part of it, because I mean, just my brother-in-law last weekend, he's like, "You won. Five out of six." I'm like, "Yes." So we're still kind of keeping tab, but it has been a lot of fun and just a healthy competition.
Lucas: Of course.
Lexie: Nobody's ever gotten course out of shape or anything because we've laughed hysterically over this multiple times.
Lucas: Well, and really if again, these people, folks who are going to listen to this when it comes out and if they get the opportunity to visit Lynchburg and or again, beverage retailers throughout the state, if they can get a hold of both of them, buy both of them.
Josh: That's it.
Lucas: This is the better way of going about it. That's what I've done. And I've put it in, like I said, put it in the hands of a lot of different people who have a lot of different opinions about their rye whiskey and to a person, they have all loved both of them.
Lexie: That's it.
Lucas: Yeah, I can't add to one side or the other of the argument here. It's been fun to experience both of them because they are, as you say, two very different expressions of virtually the same thing so.
Lexie: Yeah. I'm going to throw one more cute one your way. If somebody really likes one of them or really likes the other one, you can play a little at-home chemist and they are even better together. Just kind of mix a little bit of each because that's what we did sitting in my office. We each had a little bit left in our cups. And just out of curiosity, we mixed the cups together. And I'm like, "Well, me and him are both better together." This is perfect.
Lucas: There you go. Wow. There's not possibly a better way to wrap this up than that very thought. So again, both of y'all, thank you so much for your time. I'm excited not only about this product, but what you guys are doing individually for the distillery and also together now again as the premier power couple of Lynchburg, Tennessee. But Lexie, Josh, thanks for your time. Thanks for joining us Around the Barrel.
Josh: Yes, sir.
Lexie: Thanks, Lucas.
Josh: Thank you, buddy.
Lucas: Thanks for joining us Around the Barrel.
Thanks for checking out this episode of Around the Barrel. You can find archived episodes of Around the Barrel on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and more, plus on the web at jackdaniels.com/podcast. And if you like what you hear, please follow, rate and review while you're at it. Cheers y'all and join us next time for more conversations, Around the Barrel.
Your friends at Jack Daniel's remind you to drink responsibly. Jack Daniel's and Old No. 7 are registered trademarks, copyright 2023, Jack Daniel's. Tennessee Whiskey, 40% alcohol by Volume, 80 proof. Distilled and bottled by Jack Daniel Distillery, Lynchburg, Tennessee. Around the Barrel is intended for listeners 21 years of age and older.
