Episode 174

Embracing Chaos with New South Spirits

Published on: 2nd July, 2025

In this episode, Tyler interviews Todd from New South Spirits, exploring the journey of starting a distillery, the challenges faced, and the artistry involved in distillation. Todd shares insights into the unique products they offer, including rum and agave spirits, and discusses the importance of quality and customer experience in the spirits industry. The conversation also touches on the regulatory hurdles of opening a distillery and the personal definition of success in entrepreneurship.


Transcript
Tyler:

Welcome back to the Whiskey with some podcast everybody.

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This is your co-host, Tyler, y'all.

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I am solo again today.

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Unfortunately, Chris wasn't

able to make it with us.

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However, I am with our special

guest and today and he is.

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Todd Harbin with New South Spirits.

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I'm the head distiller and co-owner here.

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Thank you so much for inviting

me in and allowing us to take

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over the bar for a little bit.

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No problem at all.

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So tell us a little bit about kind

of how you got started into the

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distilling process and a little

bit about new South Spirits.

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Okay.

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And we'll, we'll start the conversation

there and then we'll, we'll branch out.

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Okay.

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New South: Well, my business

partner and I have done four

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different businesses together.

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This is the fourth business.

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Okay.

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The other three were engineering firms.

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Oh, wow.

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And we sold the last one

about eight years ago.

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Tyler: Okay.

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New South: And unfortunately, or

fortunately, whichever way you wanna

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look at it, they wanted us to stay.

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So we still work there.

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Okay.

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To this day, we still

run the, the business.

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However, about three years ago,

she came to me and she said, Hey,

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let's start another business.

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And I'm like, oh, no more

engineering and I'm tired of it.

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I wanna do something

I've never done before.

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Tyler: Oh yeah.

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New South: And hopefully something

that's gonna be a challenge.

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And so she said, well,

what do you wanna do?

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I said, I don't know.

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Well, the next week I went on

a distillery tour in Kentucky.

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Okay.

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And went to all the usual haunts,

the bourbon places, 'cause I'm

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a bourbon guy and came back and

I said, well, let's make liquor.

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And she said, you wanna make bourbon?

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I said, absolutely not.

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Bourbon in my opinion.

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There's possibly more bad bourbon on

the market than there's good bourbon.

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Just my opinion.

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It's a good argument.

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Yeah.

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And it tells me how hard it

is to make a good bourbon.

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Yeah.

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And as a new distiller, I

wasn't about to do that.

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Yeah.

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I wanted stay in my lane and so

rum was about the easiest thing

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for a beginner to start with.

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I, yeah, I figured out.

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And then we add the agave spirits

afterwards and, okay, here we are.

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Tyler: That's awesome.

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Yeah.

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So do you think after you kind

of get your feet wet a little bit

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more in the distillation process?

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Mm-hmm You might eventually go

into the bourbon world or you're

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just like, nah, not, not for me.

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No.

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No.

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I'm gonna stay in my lane.

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I'm gonna let the guys that do

that, well do their job well.

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New South: That's awesome.

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Very good.

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So it is the whiskey, he

wasn't podcast, I had to ask.

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Sorry.

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It's okay.

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Plus, plus we deal with sugars and

that way we don't have to deal with

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all that grain and all the waste.

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That's true.

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Yeah.

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Life's a little bit easier when you don't

have to shovel all that grain around.

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You got that right.

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Tyler: So, I think the interview

portion of this podcast is gonna come

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out before we do the tasting, which

is the opposite of what we did today.

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Okay.

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And I did get a chance to do some

of the tastings with you in the

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back, which greatly appreciated.

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Yeah, no problem.

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So just kind of go through what

you kind of started with first.

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Mm-hmm.

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What that experience was like,

distilling it for the first time.

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Mm-hmm.

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And how you got brave

to go to, is it 11 now?

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Yeah, we got 11 different products.

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That's amazing.

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New South: Yeah.

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So in one

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Tyler: year?

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New South: Yeah.

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Well we started out with 10.

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We came right outta the

shoot with 10 products.

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Oh, wow.

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Okay.

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And the one that we added

recently was the Reposado,

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Tyler: right.

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New South: Of the agave spirit.

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Tyler: That's

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New South: probably one

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Tyler: of my favorite ones.

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That was fantastic.

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New South: That one surprised me.

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I experimented with that and took

that outta the barrel, tasted it,

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and kind of did a double take.

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And I, I hollered at my business

partner, and I think the

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bartender was here that day.

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I said, guys, get in here.

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And we all tasted it and

I said, is this for real?

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And they're like, man, this is awesome.

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Tyler: Yeah.

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New South: And we didn't have labels.

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Oh really?

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We said, we're gonna

bottle this right now.

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So we bottled it.

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Then we had to work on

labels and order the labels.

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'cause we, I didn't think it was

gonna turn out good right off the

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shoot, but we were very lucky.

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It's like my dad said, even

a blind squirrel finds a nut

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every once in a while, right?

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Yeah, exactly.

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So we were just got, we just

got very fortunate with that.

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And it's turned out to be

one of our top sellers.

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And.

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I just can't keep it on the shelf.

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Tyler: That's awesome.

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Yeah.

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New South: Some of the other things

that you tried in there was one

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of the items was our agave Reaper.

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Tyler: Mm-hmm.

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New South: Which is another

agave spirit that's infused

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with the Carolina Reaper Pepper.

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Tyler: Yep.

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New South: Now, there's a

couple reasons why I did that.

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Number one we wanted to use,

we're very proud of where

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we're from in South Carolina.

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Yeah.

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And so we wanted to use South Carolina

grown products and kind of showcase 'em.

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And the Reaper is a product here in

South Carolina that was developed here.

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Oh, okay.

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In Rock Hill, South

Carolina, believe it or not.

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Oh, wow.

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Didn't know that.

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Yeah.

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The gentleman that invented it

his farm is actually called Pucker

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Butt Farms, believe it or not.

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And he is also the guy that invented

Pepper X, which is now taken over Yeah.

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As the hottest one over the Reaper.

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Wow.

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But I did that infusion

the first time I did it.

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I did way too much.

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I did a five day infusion.

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I think I cried for about two hours

and I coughed for maybe three hours.

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It was awful.

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But I found that 48

hours is my sweet spot.

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Okay.

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And I don't use dried peppers.

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I'll use fresh peppers.

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Ah, okay.

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And so even in the summer,

we'll buy 'em fresh.

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The ones that we're gonna use over

the wintertime, we freeze them.

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And then take 'em outta

the freezer and use 'em.

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We never used dried

peppers for that stuff.

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Oh, neat.

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So that's turned out really well.

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So the first time you did it was

what probably what most people

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expect it to be like it was.

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Exactly.

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Yeah.

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I, I'd gone to other distilleries and

tried their pepper infused products

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and a lot of them, I hate to say it,

but they're more bachelor party drinks.

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Yeah.

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You know, you're daring each

other to take a shot of this.

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Right.

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So you go out, you buy one bottle, you

and your buddies have about half the

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bottle and you never touch it again.

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Right.

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Yeah.

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That's not what I want to do.

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I wanna have something people

come back and buy again.

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Again.

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Right.

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We've got a local cardiologist

here in Greenville.

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He comes and buys a bottle

not every two weeks.

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Wow.

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That's his evening sipper.

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Wow.

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He loves it.

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He just drinks it on ice.

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That's awesome.

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But it does make a great

spicy margarita bloody Mars.

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I, as I told you before.

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Yeah.

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Tyler: And it is really interesting how

you just get the warmth on the back of it.

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Mm-hmm.

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That was, I was even, you said

it and I was like, yeah, sure.

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I tried it and I was like, oh no.

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That's exactly what happens.

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Yeah.

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It's a smooth super.

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New South: I mean, that's

what I tell people.

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Don't be scared of it.

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It's a smooth sipper.

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Go ahead and take that shot.

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Take that drink.

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Don't be afraid.

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The warmth comes up.

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Yeah.

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From the back of your palate.

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Comes up your throat in about

10 seconds, it just disappears.

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Yeah, it's perfect.

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You wanna go down the list and talk

about some of the other products?

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Yeah.

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Let's go ahead.

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So we'll just go down the list if

I can remember the order right.

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So the vanilla cream, the vanilla ghost

cream is our next product that you tasted.

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We do two creams here.

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They're both the ghost line of creams.

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And there's no hidden meaning there.

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It's just 'cause they're

white and we're not.

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I was gonna gonna ask you,

you we're not that creative.

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You know, we're, we're engineers,

so we're not that artistic.

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You do have the ghost in

the back though, hanging

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Tyler: out with

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New South: us.

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Yeah, we did find that guy.

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So we stuck him up on the wall.

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Our creams are extremely popular.

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We've been very fortunate with those.

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The vanilla cream is, is

probably our Well, it is.

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It sells more than the peanut butter cup.

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But even the peanut butter cup is Yeah.

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Sells a lot of with a peanut butter

cup, you get chocolate on the front end.

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Peanut butter on the back end.

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Yeah.

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The agave mixed dose mm-hmm.

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Is our other tequila base

or agave spirit base.

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And it is one where I use pure cane

sugar in with the agave nectar.

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Okay.

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Two different ways we

make our agaves here.

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One is a hundred percent blue Weber.

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We just use the agave nectar and that's

the only thing it ever touches that.

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Yeah.

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We use good reverse osmosis

water here and and that's it.

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But for the mixed dose, we use pure

cane sugar with the agave nectar.

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And as I said before, you get

a lighter tequila or agave

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flavor but you get more product.

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Tyler: Yeah.

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New South: So it helps me make more

product with a little bit lighter flavor.

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It's a great introduction to people

who really think they don't like

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tequilas or kind of afraid of them.

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Mm-hmm.

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And so we get a lot of people come in

here and say, oh, I didn't know agave

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or tequila could taste like this.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I can.

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Tyler: So that's a great

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New South: intro.

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Tyler: I was so you back there too?

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I'm not much of a tequila guy at all, but

I was very impressed what Drew had there.

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Like I would definitely be willing

to, even, even that one you were just

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talking about, like just step that on

the rocks, like that's an easy sipper.

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New South: It is, it is.

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And then we, we've got our other,

we start into our rums, you know,

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we've got our silver Rum, which is

our base for a lot of other products.

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Yeah.

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It is a, I'd use a Caribbean yeast.

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In that.

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So you may get notes of banana

or some floral notes out of it.

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Then we've got our spiced rum,

which everybody makes a spiced rum.

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Yeah, I kind of say it's kinda like

KFC, there's 11 different spices.

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And it's just figuring out the right mix.

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It's, that's the only one that,

we're only a year into this, and

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I've only two batches into this.

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I'm still tinkering

with that a little bit.

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The first batch I did, and I'll tell you.

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I use too much staris.

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Okay.

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And Starness gives you

that black licorice taste.

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Tyler: Ah.

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New South: And it was god awful.

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Now we have people that come in

here that love black licorice

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and they bought the bottles.

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They're like, this is great.

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And I'm like, this is horrible.

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How that, I didn't like it.

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It's kinda like cilantro.

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You either like it or you don't.

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Right.

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Exactly.

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But that ours is very citrus forward.

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Mm-hmm.

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And you gotta taste that.

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So you got a lot of orange

notes and cinnamon notes.

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Yeah.

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And some lemon notes in there.

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Yeah.

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Then our vanilla rum is also

extremely popular and that's steeped

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on nothing but the vanilla beans

that I showed you back there.

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Yeah, that's probably one of my

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Tyler: favorites.

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New South: It, it's hard

to keep on the shelf.

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Yeah.

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Continuously making batch after

batch after batch of that.

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And being a small, we are a micro

distillery, so with us being a

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small distillery, you know, it

takes a lot of effort for us.

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We're not like the big boys.

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We don't make hundreds of

gallons of a product at a time.

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As you saw, I'm making five

gallon batches back there.

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Yeah.

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So there's a lot more

work that goes into it.

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Our pineapple rum is

also extremely popular.

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Mm-hmm.

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And I will say this, if you take the

pineapple rum and you mix it with a

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vanilla cream, it's a pina colada.

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Ooh,

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Tyler: that does sound really good.

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I'll make you one for you later.

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I'll say that sounds amazing.

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New South: If you take our spiced rum

and mix it with our vanilla cream.

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It creates a drink that I

call Christmas in your mouth.

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Mm mm-hmm.

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In fact, we had that cocktail at

Christmas and we called it the Angry Elf.

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That's very good.

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And it's just, it's so, it's just

Christmas, that's all you say?

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Some of the other products we have, we

have our a hundred percent blue Weber.

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Mm-hmm.

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Our version of a TRO tequila or agave

spirit as we call it here in the us.

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And then I use that a hundred

percent as the base for the Reposado.

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Oh, okay.

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So that's what makes that

other, one of the other rums

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we make is a barrel rested rum.

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Mm-hmm.

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So I will take that Silver Rum base

and I'll actually put it in a barrel

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for four weeks for the rested.

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'cause we can't use the term rested.

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Right.

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We are aging products.

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I've got a barrel full right now.

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Our first barrel that we

filled up is aging right now.

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However, you know, that takes two years.

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Yep.

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And we've only been open one year, so

we still got a little ways to weight.

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Do the math.

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Yeah, do the math.

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My flux capacitor's broken, so

I can't, can't speed that up.

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But even the barrel rested gives

it a slight, and I, I'll say ever

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So slight bourbon esque feel Yeah.

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Of flavor.

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Yeah, it definitely did.

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You do get those oaky notes and

those, that charred note in there.

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And the rum old fashion is one of

our, our top selling cocktails.

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What kind of barrels do you rest them in?

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American white oat.

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Okay, perfect.

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Yeah.

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Made in the Canton Cooperage

in Lexington, Kentucky.

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Oh, wow.

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Yeah.

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I'll give 'em a plug.

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They, they make awesome barrels

and they're good tight barrels.

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We don't have a problem with leakage

and they just make a very good product.

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That's awesome.

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Yeah.

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Very good.

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I think that's about it, isn't it?

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Yeah.

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I think we went, I think it's of them all.

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Yeah.

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Tyler: I don't know.

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I think we hit 'em.

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Yeah.

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So going from engineer mm-hmm.

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To now doing the distillation process,

there is a little bit of artistry in that.

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So is that something that you

enjoyed kind of going over?

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Because, and my experience, a

lot of the engineers I've met.

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They, they, they lack

in the artistry area.

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So is that something that was

hard for you or did you need a

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artistic outlet because you'd been

in the engineering space so long?

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New South: Well, I am not, and do

not pretend to be any kind of artist.

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Let's get that straight.

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But distillation, it is an art.

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Tyler: Mm-hmm.

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New South: But it's a science as well.

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True.

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Yeah.

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And that's kind of how I approached

it from the science aspect.

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Right.

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And.

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By doing that.

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Okay.

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So I had to learn about the proper

phs, the proper mixtures, the proper

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time, dwell on temperature and how

the temperature affects profile

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and, and all those hundreds of

things that you've gotta figure out.

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But when it came to flavors, that's

where you get a little creative, right?

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And so that allowed me to have

a little bit of creative outlet.

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Oh, that's neat.

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Which is, is kind of new for me.

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Tyler: Right.

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New South: So is that something

that, that you enjoyed, kind

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of like dabbling in that?

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Absolutely.

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Okay.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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It's been a lot of fun.

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Yeah.

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This has been, I, I will say this, I've

been doing engineering work for 26 7,

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I don't know how many years, right?

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Oh, yeah.

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This is the hardest thing

I've ever done in my life.

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Really.

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It is.

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I'm telling you the service

industry as a whole.

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Oh yeah.

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I never appreciated the

amount of work that.

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Anyone in the service industry really puts

into it until I've had to do it right.

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And it, it's like I say, you know, I was

a good tipper before, but now I'm a right.

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Yeah.

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Because I know how hard these folks

work and they worked their tails off.

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And the bar area that you

have here is beautiful too.

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Is that?

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Yeah.

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How'd you find the location?

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Well, we looked around and we really

had a hard time finding a location.

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We did find this in downtown Greenville.

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This was the old Cotton

Alliance warehouse.

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Oh, okay.

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So this building, this building was

built in 18 hundreds for all the

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local cotton farmers to store their

cotton before it went to market.

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Okay.

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And so we are actually in the basement

of that building, as you can see.

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Right.

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So all these bricks are original.

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There's not a level spot on this floor.

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These bricks, they will crumble if you

try to hang anything into the walls.

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But they do have a lot of character.

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Sure.

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And there's lot of history here.

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And it's been a good location.

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You know, foot traffic's

something we have to kind of

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pull off the main street, right.

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We work very hard to do that, but

now that we've been here a little

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while, we're starting to get out

and, and we're getting, you know, our

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regulars come in on a regular basis.

448

:

And, and Greenville is

a tourist town, right?

449

:

So, and we get a lot of tourists here,

but we, we put a lot of ourselves in this,

450

:

you know, we built the bar ourselves.

451

:

Oh, wow.

452

:

Did all the tables ourselves, you

know, burned all the images, logos.

453

:

My business partner, you'll

see paintings in here.

454

:

She does all the paintings any of the

wood products, I do them in my workshop.

455

:

So we, we put a lot of

ourselves into here as well.

456

:

Tyler: That's neat.

457

:

Yeah.

458

:

So not too often do I hear about a

new distillery that's coming right

459

:

outta the gate with 10 products.

460

:

Yeah.

461

:

So is, was that by design originally or

did you just like, just get going and

462

:

like, you know what, I can make this

now or I can make that one, or is that

463

:

just the beauty of having small batches?

464

:

Well, it is the beauty of

465

:

New South: having small batches.

466

:

Ideally I wanted to come out

with maybe five products.

467

:

Okay.

468

:

Yeah.

469

:

And my business partner,

Lisa, she pushed me.

470

:

She said, no, we need more than five.

471

:

We need more than five.

472

:

And, and so we, we started with 10.

473

:

Tyler: Right.

474

:

New South: And it's been a good mix.

475

:

It's actually been good for us.

476

:

Yeah, because it allowed us to have

enough variety that no matter what your

477

:

taste profile is, when you come in here,

you're gonna find something you like.

478

:

That's a good point.

479

:

Yeah.

480

:

Yeah.

481

:

Tyler: There's a lot of

other places you'll go and

482

:

you're like, ah, well, I'm a.

483

:

Whatever drinker, and then you end

up just drinking something that's

484

:

typical off the shelf that you almost

feel forced to carry back there.

485

:

Yep.

486

:

And, and you're right, you do kind of have

a little bit of everything for everyone

487

:

here and, and that's pretty impressive.

488

:

New South: Yeah.

489

:

I get a lot of people that come in and,

and when they come to a distillery,

490

:

they expect whiskey or bourbon.

491

:

Right?

492

:

Right.

493

:

And like, oh, you don't make

whiskey, you don't make bourbon.

494

:

No sir, we don't, but let, let's

try this barrel rested, right.

495

:

Well, let's try this reposado.

496

:

And they taste and they go, oh.

497

:

Hey, this is pretty good.

498

:

Yeah.

499

:

I didn't realize I like, there you go.

500

:

So yeah, it does, it does open that door.

501

:

Right.

502

:

And with the agaves, agave is a

rising spirit here in the US mm-hmm.

503

:

And we get a lot of interest in

that from not only our locals,

504

:

but also folks from overseas.

505

:

Oh, okay.

506

:

And we've had people come in here

from all walks of life and they've,

507

:

they've liked what they've got and I'm.

508

:

I'm very proud of that and

I'm very thankful for that.

509

:

Yeah.

510

:

'cause I don't pretend to

know what I'm doing at all.

511

:

Tyler: It's working out.

512

:

So that's always good.

513

:

We'll see with with the agave spirits.

514

:

We talked about this a

little bit in the back too.

515

:

What made you want to venture into that?

516

:

'cause I know that's not an

easy thing to accomplish.

517

:

New South: Well, two things.

518

:

As I said, it's a rising spirit.

519

:

Tyler: Yeah.

520

:

New South: And so that's

why I wanted to get into it.

521

:

The other thing that allowed me

to get into it was ignorance.

522

:

Mm-hmm.

523

:

Because I was not a tequila guy.

524

:

Right.

525

:

Yeah.

526

:

Before, and I didn't realize

how hard it is to make tequila.

527

:

Tyler: Mm-hmm.

528

:

New South: Or agave spirit.

529

:

I keep having to say that.

530

:

Right?

531

:

Yeah.

532

:

It is very, very difficult.

533

:

The fermentations for agave are

temperamental, you know, rum.

534

:

It's just happy to be at the party.

535

:

It does its thing, it, it converts,

it, it, it does everything.

536

:

It's great.

537

:

But the agave fermentations

are very difficult to manage.

538

:

You have to stay on top of them.

539

:

Mm.

540

:

pH is super, super critical.

541

:

To stay within a very small

window on that fermentation.

542

:

And had I known how difficult

it is, I may not have done

543

:

it right, but I'm glad I did.

544

:

Yeah.

545

:

It's like I, I said it is

just, it's temperamental.

546

:

So

547

:

Tyler: when, I'm gonna back up a second.

548

:

When you first started in getting

involved and you knew you were gonna

549

:

do the 10 different products mm-hmm.

550

:

Was, was agave on the front line of

it too or did that kind of come in?

551

:

Yeah, yeah, we

552

:

New South: opened up with rum and Agave.

553

:

Oh, okay.

554

:

Yeah.

555

:

We opened up with that.

556

:

Nice.

557

:

Because I wanted to have a variety rum.

558

:

The reason RUM was our primary outlet.

559

:

Okay.

560

:

Right.

561

:

And the reason I chose RUM is

because RUM is one of those

562

:

open palate alcohols, right.

563

:

Spirits.

564

:

Right.

565

:

Yeah, with bourbons and whiskeys,

there's some hard, fast rules.

566

:

Yeah.

567

:

You have to do this, you have to do

this, you have to do this with rum.

568

:

Yeah.

569

:

You have to do it a certain way,

but it's more of an open book.

570

:

Tyler: Mm.

571

:

New South: And rum is more of an open

palette to different flavor profiles.

572

:

Yeah.

573

:

I mean, I'm experimenting with some

other flavor profiles now, and if they

574

:

turn out well, then those will be the

new products we introduce later on.

575

:

Right.

576

:

But rum is a very, how can I say it?

577

:

It's a very good base to build on.

578

:

Yeah.

579

:

Okay.

580

:

Because you can do a lot of

different things with it,

581

:

Tyler: right?

582

:

Yeah.

583

:

When you're looking in the future.

584

:

Mm-hmm.

585

:

I know you're not gonna go into

the bourbon route, but are you

586

:

also thinking about vodka and gin,

or are you staying pretty, pretty

587

:

close to the, the agaves in rum?

588

:

For right now,

589

:

New South: agaves in rums,

we may do some brandies Okay.

590

:

Later on.

591

:

Yeah.

592

:

'cause we do with our steels

they are hybrid steels.

593

:

Mm-hmm.

594

:

So we run 'em as a pot

or as a column steel.

595

:

Right.

596

:

But I do a lot of pot

still distillation here.

597

:

Okay.

598

:

And that lends itself more toward the

brandies and things of that nature.

599

:

I would love to do a gin,

but vodka, believe it or not,

600

:

vodka's very hard to make.

601

:

Okay.

602

:

Yeah.

603

:

And because of the stills that I've got

there's only four plates on those steels.

604

:

Mm, that's right.

605

:

Yeah.

606

:

So I'd have to run that product

over and over and over again.

607

:

That's right.

608

:

Yeah.

609

:

It becomes a, you know.

610

:

How much you put in it versus

what you get out of it factor.

611

:

Right?

612

:

Yeah.

613

:

And so for me, because you've gotta, for

that gin, you've gotta start with a vodka.

614

:

It doesn't really make a lot of sense

financially for me to do that right now.

615

:

Right.

616

:

That makes sense.

617

:

And right now, everything that

we sell, we produce right here.

618

:

We don't buy our spirits.

619

:

We distill and bottle in house.

620

:

Yeah.

621

:

And that's very important

for us right now.

622

:

Tyler: Definitely.

623

:

New South: Yeah.

624

:

Tyler: So keep wanting, go

in two different directions.

625

:

When you're looking at your lineup

right now, what's the product that

626

:

you're most proud of and what's the

product that you enjoy the most?

627

:

Hmm.

628

:

New South: That's a good question.

629

:

I guess the product I'm most proud

of right now is our Reposado.

630

:

Mm-hmm.

631

:

Because it surprised me, right.

632

:

I did not expect it to

turn out the way it did.

633

:

So I'm probably most proud of that.

634

:

I enjoy them all.

635

:

It's hard to pick a favorite, right?

636

:

I mean, really.

637

:

I mean, the vanilla rum is delicious.

638

:

The vanilla cream is delicious.

639

:

Right?

640

:

And I'm telling you prob maybe

the vanilla cream for me because

641

:

you put that in a cold brew coffee

and it's just, that's smart.

642

:

It will change your world.

643

:

Yeah.

644

:

Yeah.

645

:

It's awesome.

646

:

Tyler: That

647

:

New South: does

648

:

Tyler: sound really good,

649

:

New South: actually.

650

:

Yeah.

651

:

Tyler: I'm

652

:

New South: Might

653

:

Tyler: have

654

:

New South: to pick that

up and try that later.

655

:

Oh yeah.

656

:

Put it in your cold brew coffee.

657

:

Put it in your pancakes.

658

:

Oh, okay.

659

:

Make your pancake mix

like you normally do.

660

:

Tyler: Yeah.

661

:

New South: Take a shot

of that vanilla cream.

662

:

Put it in that batter.

663

:

That's just about ready to be poured out.

664

:

Yeah.

665

:

Stir it up.

666

:

Alcohol's gonna cook out.

667

:

Right.

668

:

But all that great vanilla flavor comes

through and it'll make your pancakes

669

:

fluffier because of the cream in it.

670

:

Oh, no way.

671

:

It's delicious.

672

:

That's smart.

673

:

I'm gonna have to try that

674

:

Tyler: out.

675

:

That too.

676

:

There's always a lot more that you can do

with those creams than I ever imagined.

677

:

New South: Oh yeah, yeah.

678

:

Makes a lot of fun.

679

:

That wasn't my idea.

680

:

I actually stole that from Buffalo Trace.

681

:

Okay.

682

:

Yeah.

683

:

Yeah.

684

:

'cause if you go on a tour there,

that's what they tell you to do.

685

:

And I tried it at home and.

686

:

They're not kidding.

687

:

And that flavor really

688

:

Tyler: comes through.

689

:

That's neat.

690

:

Have you done any I know everything

here is small batch anyway, but have

691

:

you done any like limited edition runs

or is that something you plan on doing?

692

:

We will do that.

693

:

New South: Some Right now

we're not because I'm still

694

:

experimenting with some of that.

695

:

Right.

696

:

The only problem for a small

distillery like us is labeling.

697

:

Oh, okay.

698

:

Because labels cost so much, right?

699

:

When you buy them in the quantities we do.

700

:

We don't buy 20,000 labels at a time.

701

:

Like the big boys, we'll buy like

three or 4,000 labels at a time.

702

:

And when you wanna come out with special

editions, well you gotta get the label and

703

:

the labels gotta be approved by the TTB.

704

:

Oh yeah.

705

:

So there's a whole process there.

706

:

So maybe after some time when

we get some more time under

707

:

our belt and, and have more.

708

:

Hopefully money.

709

:

Right.

710

:

And not be so new.

711

:

Right.

712

:

We'll be able to do those kind

of things 'cause I'd love to do

713

:

Tyler: those kind of things.

714

:

That's neat.

715

:

Yeah.

716

:

So, and since you are a

North Carolina podcast Yeah.

717

:

Do you sell in North Carolina yet?

718

:

Not yet, but

719

:

New South: we're

hopefully on our way soon.

720

:

Okay.

721

:

We just started distribution here in

South Carolina about three months ago.

722

:

Oh, okay.

723

:

And we're expanding all the time.

724

:

In fact, we've got a meeting later

on today with another distributor.

725

:

Hmm.

726

:

That will give us pretty much the

whole state if we can seal that deal.

727

:

Okay.

728

:

And once we have South

Carolina, then absolutely.

729

:

We, we definitely wanna expand

North Carolina and Georgia.

730

:

Oh yeah.

731

:

Yeah.

732

:

We wanna keep it right here, where

733

:

Tyler: we're from.

734

:

Exactly.

735

:

In Southeastern Yeah, exactly.

736

:

Kind of lock it in.

737

:

And that's kind of the, the premise

behind the, the small batch anyway, right?

738

:

Yeah, that's right.

739

:

New South: I mean, we're

proud of where we're from.

740

:

We're proud of this region of the country,

and, you just can't find nicer people

741

:

than you have here in the Carolinas.

742

:

Oh

743

:

Tyler: yeah,

744

:

New South: I

745

:

Tyler: agree with that.

746

:

I'm from Pennsylvania and

moved down here and never left.

747

:

Yeah, so that's awesome.

748

:

So where did the name New

South Spirit come from?

749

:

New South: Well, that's

a story in and of itself.

750

:

When we first did our marketing

campaign, we're gonna be called

751

:

something totally different.

752

:

Okay.

753

:

And we, we were gonna

be called bad decisions.

754

:

Yep.

755

:

And then our lawyer advised us it

might be a bad decision to have an

756

:

alcohol company named Bad Decisions.

757

:

So he said, great.

758

:

Fair enough.

759

:

Yeah, fair enough.

760

:

Right.

761

:

So in the 11th hour we had to

change all of our marketing.

762

:

Mm-hmm.

763

:

And so we locked ourselves in a room and

finally came up with New South Spirits.

764

:

But in the midst of that, we

were throwing ideas on the board

765

:

and trying to figure it out.

766

:

And it was just, it was, it was chaos.

767

:

And I said that, I said,

this is nothing but chaos.

768

:

And so I said, okay, so I wrote

the word chaos up on the board,

769

:

and that later developed into our

tagline, embrace your inner chaos.

770

:

Ah,

771

:

Tyler: okay.

772

:

New South: Right.

773

:

And that's why we have the, the tornado

or hurricane on our, on our images.

774

:

Because what signifies chaos more

than a hurricane or a tornado.

775

:

Exactly.

776

:

And so that's, that's kind

of where that came from.

777

:

That's

778

:

Tyler: really smart.

779

:

Makes sense.

780

:

I dunno about smart.

781

:

It's what we got.

782

:

It came out from it.

783

:

When you're looking through the next.

784

:

2, 3, 5 years.

785

:

Mm-hmm.

786

:

Where do you hope the, the

brand's at, at that point?

787

:

And what's something that you're looking

forward to accomplish in that timeframe?

788

:

New South: I would hope that the brand

would grow and be recognized regionally.

789

:

Mm-hmm.

790

:

And really just be a, a, a

brand that people can trust.

791

:

People know, hey, this

is a quality product.

792

:

Yeah.

793

:

This is a product that, that

is consistent and I can trust

794

:

it to be what it says it is.

795

:

And and that's basically it.

796

:

I mean, yeah.

797

:

We're not looking to go or I'm not looking

to go nationally or anything like that.

798

:

Lisa wants to build this,

you know, spirit empire.

799

:

Right.

800

:

Because she's the business

mind behind everything.

801

:

So she's always looking

for things like that.

802

:

For me, I just want us to have a good

quality product that people enjoy.

803

:

Tyler: Yeah.

804

:

New South: And that's, at the end of

the day, that's what it's all about.

805

:

Tyler: Exactly.

806

:

Yeah.

807

:

Getting people, especially in

here, 'cause it's, it's a nice

808

:

place to kind of hang out and be

able to actually watch the Yeah.

809

:

The facial expressions when they try

it for the first time and everything.

810

:

That's the best part of it.

811

:

That's the best part of it.

812

:

I, I enjoy that more than anything.

813

:

That's awesome.

814

:

Yeah.

815

:

So do you plan on getting a few more

stills back there then as, as you grow?

816

:

Or do you kind of like

where it's at right now?

817

:

New South: No.

818

:

As we grow, we'll grow the

production area as the demand Right.

819

:

You know, grows.

820

:

We've got some s space in here.

821

:

We can add some more fermenters.

822

:

Okay.

823

:

Right now we only distill two days a week.

824

:

Okay.

825

:

So we've got five open days Yeah.

826

:

That we could distill on.

827

:

So the stills, we've got plenty

of production in that production

828

:

volume wa waiting to be used.

829

:

Right.

830

:

The fermenters would be our only

limitation, and we've got plenty

831

:

of room to add more fermenters.

832

:

Awesome.

833

:

So we can, we can triple, we can

quadruple what we do pretty easily.

834

:

Tyler: Yeah.

835

:

So other than the name, what was one of

the largest struggles to getting opened,

836

:

New South: The regulatory requirements

here in downtown Greenville?

837

:

That, and that's all I'm

gonna say about that.

838

:

Yep.

839

:

Greenville's a lovely place,

but man, the red tape.

840

:

Oh yeah, there's a

841

:

Tyler: lot of it.

842

:

North Carolina in general.

843

:

Yeah.

844

:

It's like that when it comes

to spirits and just the A,

845

:

B, C and everything up there.

846

:

Yeah.

847

:

New South: It's all different by region.

848

:

It's all different by state.

849

:

It's all different by municipality also.

850

:

Right.

851

:

You know, when we first started

here, when we looked at this at the

852

:

downtown Greenville, it was not legal

to distill in downtown Greenville.

853

:

Oh really?

854

:

Yeah.

855

:

And so we found this place and we also

found out that they were having a meeting.

856

:

To discuss whether they would

abolish that law and allow

857

:

distillation to occur in downtown.

858

:

And believe it or not they did.

859

:

They said, okay, we're gonna

take that off the books.

860

:

And it was like two days later we

filed for the lease for this place.

861

:

Tyler: That's

862

:

New South: awesome.

863

:

So had they kept it on the

books, we'd be somewhere else?

864

:

Yeah.

865

:

Right now.

866

:

So does that mean you're actually

the first distiller in downtown?

867

:

There was a distiller here.

868

:

That sold, but they did not

distill in downtown Greenville.

869

:

Oh, okay.

870

:

Okay.

871

:

They had a store, so they had

a presence here and they no

872

:

longer have that presence here.

873

:

We are the first distillery to actually

make products in the city of Greenville.

874

:

Oh, that's

875

:

Tyler: neat.

876

:

There's another

877

:

New South: distillery not far from us.

878

:

Right.

879

:

They are not in the city limits proper.

880

:

Yeah.

881

:

They're in a different area of

the city and they make a wonderful

882

:

product right down the road from us.

883

:

Yeah.

884

:

But we're the first ones to

be in downtown Greenville.

885

:

Tyler: That's pretty cool.

886

:

Yeah.

887

:

Nice claim to fame there.

888

:

Yeah.

889

:

So since my cohost isn't here, I'll

ask his, one of his last questions

890

:

that he usually asks, and that

is, how would you define success?

891

:

So that's either for the

business or for yourself?

892

:

New South: That's a tough question.

893

:

Everybody defines success differently.

894

:

Right.

895

:

Some people will quantify that with money.

896

:

Mm-hmm.

897

:

Some people quantify that with fame,

some people quantify that with.

898

:

Whatever.

899

:

For me personally, I just want to be

able to do something that I enjoy.

900

:

Yeah.

901

:

And something I'm proud of.

902

:

And my business partner would probably

be upset with me for saying this,

903

:

but I don't care about the money.

904

:

Tyler: Mm-hmm.

905

:

New South: That's not why

I do the things that I do.

906

:

Right.

907

:

I just kind of do it for me.

908

:

I mean, I took this as a personal

challenge and, and it was

909

:

something I'd never done before.

910

:

It was something I never

really thought I'd ever do.

911

:

Right.

912

:

But here we are.

913

:

That's neat.

914

:

And so success for me would be

establishing a business that

915

:

can continue on and just provide

something that people enjoy.

916

:

Tyler: Yeah.

917

:

Yeah.

918

:

And outside of the, the

spirits by themselves.

919

:

Mm-hmm.

920

:

You have a pretty nice

cocktail menu as well.

921

:

Mm-hmm.

922

:

Can you tell us a little bit about

how that was created and like some

923

:

of the inspirations behind that?

924

:

Well, our cocktail menu

925

:

New South: is mainly created by

my business partner's daughter.

926

:

Oh, okay.

927

:

Yeah.

928

:

Lisa's daughter's Reagan.

929

:

She is our young person

that injects that youth.

930

:

Yep.

931

:

Into it.

932

:

'cause you know, we're just old folks.

933

:

And so about every other month she comes

up with a whole new list of cocktails.

934

:

Oh, wow.

935

:

And we put them on the, the the menu.

936

:

And the ones that are most

popular, they get to stay and

937

:

the others, they go on rotation.

938

:

Oh,

939

:

Tyler: okay.

940

:

And

941

:

New South: so every couple months we're

coming up with a new specials menu.

942

:

Nice.

943

:

And we just rotate through and

try to see, see what people like

944

:

and the stuff that people like.

945

:

We keep it on.

946

:

Tyler: That's awesome.

947

:

Yeah.

948

:

So does she come in here as a,

like a mad scientist and like

949

:

mixing around and everything

950

:

New South: She does.

951

:

She'll come in here at least once or

twice a month and get behind the bar.

952

:

And you know, there'll be people in

here and she'll be off in a corner

953

:

just doing her little experiment.

954

:

She'll go, Hey Todd,

come here, taste this.

955

:

And I'll taste, I'll go, oh, that's great.

956

:

Or I'll go, Ooh, I don't

like that, or whatever.

957

:

And then we'll let some customers

taste, you know, stuff like that and

958

:

what they, like, we put on the menu.

959

:

That's really neat.

960

:

We tried to do it for, you know,

961

:

Tyler: it's not about me, it's

about what the customers want.

962

:

Right?

963

:

Yeah.

964

:

Is there a cocktail that

sticks out the most?

965

:

More, most recently that.

966

:

Customers tend to gravitate

to the sweetheart.

967

:

Okay.

968

:

The sweetheart.

969

:

New South: We make it with

watermelon juice and strawberries.

970

:

Oh, that sounds really good.

971

:

It is delicious.

972

:

If you like a sweeter

drink, it is delicious.

973

:

If you like a more traditional,

our remote fashion mm-hmm.

974

:

Mm-hmm.

975

:

Is an extremely great cocktail.

976

:

And the Smoky Oaxacan is a tequila

version of an old fashioned Oh, okay.

977

:

Yeah.

978

:

And we actually smoked

the glass with that.

979

:

Yeah.

980

:

And we use chocolate bitters

and, and stuff like that.

981

:

And it's

982

:

Tyler: delicious.

983

:

That's neat.

984

:

Yeah.

985

:

Does, you said Reagan, right?

986

:

Yeah, Reagan.

987

:

Does, does she have a background in the

service industry or is just something

988

:

that she thought was really neat?

989

:

No, Reagan likes to

drink sometimes, right?

990

:

Like most young people do.

991

:

Exactly.

992

:

New South: But no, she she

is a college graduate that

993

:

just she has a full-time job.

994

:

She does her thing.

995

:

Yeah.

996

:

And she just, she's a wonderful kid.

997

:

I've known her since she was

little, and she's nice enough to

998

:

come in here and help, help her

mom and dad and, and help me.

999

:

You know, in the bar

every once in a while.

:

00:29:21,011 --> 00:29:21,491

That's awesome.

:

00:29:21,491 --> 00:29:22,811

That's always just a good person.

:

00:29:22,811 --> 00:29:23,021

Yeah.

:

00:29:23,471 --> 00:29:25,211

Tyler: Keeping it in the

family and keeping it close.

:

00:29:25,211 --> 00:29:25,451

Yeah.

:

00:29:25,721 --> 00:29:26,141

I like it.

:

00:29:26,141 --> 00:29:26,531

That's neat.

:

00:29:26,711 --> 00:29:30,251

I'm glad that she likes to come in

and, and enjoys making and doing the

:

00:29:30,251 --> 00:29:32,021

artistic stuff behind it and everything.

:

00:29:32,231 --> 00:29:32,621

That too, she does.

:

00:29:32,621 --> 00:29:32,981

That's neat.

:

00:29:33,011 --> 00:29:33,101

Yeah.

:

00:29:34,061 --> 00:29:37,841

And we are coming up on a little over

half hour now, so I'll ask one of my

:

00:29:37,841 --> 00:29:41,051

last questions and then we will go

into another question after that, but.

:

00:29:41,681 --> 00:29:44,801

Since you looked forward

with how you define success.

:

00:29:44,831 --> 00:29:45,011

Mm-hmm.

:

00:29:45,251 --> 00:29:47,771

Kinda looking back a little bit,

if you were to tell your younger

:

00:29:47,771 --> 00:29:49,181

self one thing, what would it be?

:

00:29:53,381 --> 00:29:54,791

New South: Pick something

you really enjoy.

:

00:29:55,091 --> 00:29:55,391

Yeah.

:

00:29:55,571 --> 00:29:56,891

You know that That's always the thing.

:

00:29:57,551 --> 00:30:00,611

You know, when you, when you get

outta school or when you get outta

:

00:30:00,671 --> 00:30:03,071

college, you gotta go make some money.

:

00:30:03,191 --> 00:30:03,281

Mm-hmm.

:

00:30:03,521 --> 00:30:04,001

You have to.

:

00:30:04,241 --> 00:30:04,541

Right.

:

00:30:04,781 --> 00:30:07,901

But if you can ever figure out

what it is you really like and

:

00:30:07,901 --> 00:30:08,951

what you're passionate about.

:

00:30:09,621 --> 00:30:12,171

It truly is like the saying

goes, you'll never work.

:

00:30:12,171 --> 00:30:13,401

It's a true statement.

:

00:30:13,431 --> 00:30:13,491

Yeah.

:

00:30:13,491 --> 00:30:15,801

Because if you really

enjoy it, you'll enjoy it.

:

00:30:16,251 --> 00:30:16,521

Right.

:

00:30:16,731 --> 00:30:20,091

And that's the only advice I would give

my younger self is find that passion.

:

00:30:20,391 --> 00:30:20,631

Tyler: Mm.

:

00:30:20,901 --> 00:30:21,681

New South: And go after it.

:

00:30:22,161 --> 00:30:22,641

That's right.

:

00:30:22,641 --> 00:30:23,571

And, and do that.

:

00:30:23,571 --> 00:30:24,831

And don't worry about the money.

:

00:30:24,831 --> 00:30:25,701

The money comes.

:

00:30:25,881 --> 00:30:26,181

Right.

:

00:30:26,241 --> 00:30:27,441

The money will come in the future.

:

00:30:27,501 --> 00:30:28,281

Don't worry about that.

:

00:30:28,731 --> 00:30:31,431

You don't need all these things you

really think you need sometimes.

:

00:30:31,431 --> 00:30:31,521

True.

:

00:30:31,521 --> 00:30:31,611

True.

:

00:30:32,631 --> 00:30:32,991

That's it.

:

00:30:33,231 --> 00:30:33,561

Tyler: Yeah.

:

00:30:33,861 --> 00:30:36,081

And you've created a few

other businesses in the past.

:

00:30:36,261 --> 00:30:36,381

Mm-hmm.

:

00:30:37,281 --> 00:30:42,081

How do those differ from the

business that you're in now in

:

00:30:42,081 --> 00:30:43,731

creating, in creating spirits?

:

00:30:43,731 --> 00:30:46,546

Other than being like, obviously

like engineering to mm-hmm.

:

00:30:46,626 --> 00:30:49,371

To what this is, but what were

some of the, the pros and cons

:

00:30:49,371 --> 00:30:51,501

to both and what just made 'em

really different from each other?

:

00:30:52,041 --> 00:30:53,661

New South: Well, with the

engineering, we do a lot of

:

00:30:53,661 --> 00:30:58,041

product testing and development for

automotive, aerospace, and medical.

:

00:30:58,221 --> 00:30:58,551

Okay.

:

00:30:58,731 --> 00:31:00,861

So you name it, we pretty much tested it.

:

00:31:00,951 --> 00:31:01,221

Right.

:

00:31:01,381 --> 00:31:03,361

We do a lot of, for

example, airbag testing.

:

00:31:03,751 --> 00:31:04,021

Okay.

:

00:31:04,021 --> 00:31:06,001

And when airbag deployment

systems testing.

:

00:31:06,376 --> 00:31:07,396

Seat belts.

:

00:31:07,816 --> 00:31:10,806

We've done testing for knee implants.

:

00:31:10,806 --> 00:31:13,506

We've done testing for hernia implants.

:

00:31:13,506 --> 00:31:14,166

I mean, you name it.

:

00:31:14,826 --> 00:31:19,146

And the thing, the thing with that

is you have to use your engineering

:

00:31:19,146 --> 00:31:21,366

skills to develop these tests.

:

00:31:21,726 --> 00:31:21,756

Okay?

:

00:31:21,756 --> 00:31:24,396

Now, a lot of tests, they have

nice specifications written.

:

00:31:24,396 --> 00:31:25,506

You just follow the specification.

:

00:31:25,506 --> 00:31:26,466

That's great, right?

:

00:31:26,916 --> 00:31:28,386

But even with specifications.

:

00:31:28,876 --> 00:31:31,456

You might not have the right, you

might not have a piece of equipment

:

00:31:31,456 --> 00:31:33,466

that does it and you have to

build that equipment, so, oh yeah.

:

00:31:33,466 --> 00:31:34,725

That's part of what I've done for years.

:

00:31:34,725 --> 00:31:39,585

I design and build the equipment to do the

test, and it was kind of the same here.

:

00:31:40,365 --> 00:31:43,456

Great example is the

controls for our stills.

:

00:31:44,265 --> 00:31:48,495

So the stills that we bought, that we

bought actually came with a controller

:

00:31:48,916 --> 00:31:51,555

that controls, it's just a big sst.

:

00:31:51,586 --> 00:31:53,836

It controls the amount of energy

you put into the heating element.

:

00:31:53,925 --> 00:31:55,336

'cause we have electric stills, right?

:

00:31:55,381 --> 00:31:57,001

Yeah, well I don't care about that.

:

00:31:57,631 --> 00:31:59,881

What I care about is a temperature

at the head of that still.

:

00:32:00,331 --> 00:32:00,691

Ah.

:

00:32:01,051 --> 00:32:03,481

And so they didn't sell a PID control.

:

00:32:03,481 --> 00:32:05,461

Now you can go online,

they'll show you how to do it.

:

00:32:05,461 --> 00:32:07,681

It's a pretty simple system for

anybody who wants to do it at home.

:

00:32:07,891 --> 00:32:07,951

Yeah.

:

00:32:08,431 --> 00:32:12,721

But I built our PID controllers, so

now I can control what temperature

:

00:32:12,721 --> 00:32:14,041

I set, what temperature I want.

:

00:32:14,251 --> 00:32:15,901

I can actually set the profile of it.

:

00:32:16,620 --> 00:32:16,951

Oh wow.

:

00:32:16,981 --> 00:32:18,571

And it'll ramp up to that temperature.

:

00:32:18,571 --> 00:32:20,821

And then you control your dwell

time and that helps you to

:

00:32:20,821 --> 00:32:21,991

control your flavor profile.

:

00:32:23,011 --> 00:32:25,291

I've thought about fully

automating it, but you know what?

:

00:32:26,611 --> 00:32:28,471

You gotta have a little artwork in it too.

:

00:32:28,471 --> 00:32:28,831

Right?

:

00:32:28,921 --> 00:32:31,201

You know, you gotta, you gotta

kind of manipulate it by hand.

:

00:32:31,201 --> 00:32:35,251

And, and it's like, I've got a, a

distillery associate now that helps out

:

00:32:35,941 --> 00:32:42,151

and I'm teaching him, don't worry so

much about what you see on the display.

:

00:32:42,156 --> 00:32:42,446

Mm-hmm.

:

00:32:42,526 --> 00:32:42,527

Mm-hmm.

:

00:32:42,691 --> 00:32:44,581

Watch what's coming outta the steel.

:

00:32:44,731 --> 00:32:44,791

Yeah.

:

00:32:44,791 --> 00:32:46,021

Watch what's coming outta the parrot.

:

00:32:46,621 --> 00:32:48,631

Look at your proof, look at your flow.

:

00:32:49,696 --> 00:32:52,216

And those two data points in your

mind will tell you how do you

:

00:32:52,216 --> 00:32:53,356

need to adjust that temperature?

:

00:32:53,746 --> 00:32:54,376

Tyler: Ah, that's, yeah.

:

00:32:54,376 --> 00:32:54,736

So there is,

:

00:32:54,736 --> 00:32:56,116

New South: there's a

bit of an artwork to it,

:

00:32:56,326 --> 00:32:56,626

Tyler: right.

:

00:32:56,626 --> 00:33:00,876

You know, there's a distillery up

in North Carolina near Jacksonville.

:

00:33:00,876 --> 00:33:00,966

Mm-hmm.

:

00:33:01,566 --> 00:33:03,576

And they originally

started as moonshiners.

:

00:33:03,726 --> 00:33:03,936

Mm-hmm.

:

00:33:04,176 --> 00:33:08,136

And this old, like illegal moonshine

back in the day and everything.

:

00:33:08,136 --> 00:33:11,616

And they eventually brought it

to the 21st century kind of, and

:

00:33:11,666 --> 00:33:12,866

made it more legal and whatnot.

:

00:33:12,866 --> 00:33:15,691

Started getting into bourbons, but

it was very similar to that too, is.

:

00:33:16,721 --> 00:33:18,791

When I was going through that

tour, they said the exact same

:

00:33:18,791 --> 00:33:20,771

thing and they're like, Hey, we

could automate a lot of this.

:

00:33:20,891 --> 00:33:23,861

We could do a lot of things that

we could kind of bring it in.

:

00:33:23,861 --> 00:33:26,171

It's like even more the

21st century than it is now.

:

00:33:26,411 --> 00:33:29,441

But there's something about like

sticking to the heritage mm-hmm.

:

00:33:29,741 --> 00:33:33,881

Of like the old time distillation

process and just like doing it,

:

00:33:34,751 --> 00:33:35,831

doing the old fashioned way.

:

00:33:35,831 --> 00:33:36,131

Right?

:

00:33:36,136 --> 00:33:36,236

Yeah.

:

00:33:36,236 --> 00:33:36,881

Like, yeah.

:

00:33:36,911 --> 00:33:39,101

And they said it was, it

was a labor of love there.

:

00:33:39,101 --> 00:33:41,171

And, and they, they do it on, on purpose.

:

00:33:41,351 --> 00:33:41,591

New South: Yeah.

:

00:33:41,591 --> 00:33:41,681

I

:

00:33:41,681 --> 00:33:41,891

Tyler: mean,

:

00:33:41,891 --> 00:33:41,981

New South: the

:

00:33:41,981 --> 00:33:42,671

Tyler: big boys,

:

00:33:42,731 --> 00:33:44,501

New South: You look at somebody

like buffalo trays, right?

:

00:33:44,531 --> 00:33:44,681

Okay.

:

00:33:45,266 --> 00:33:47,666

Well, they're running continuously 24 7.

:

00:33:47,996 --> 00:33:48,206

Yeah.

:

00:33:48,236 --> 00:33:50,846

So I don't know if you've seen their

new line that they put in Gotcha.

:

00:33:50,846 --> 00:33:51,446

A few years ago.

:

00:33:52,076 --> 00:33:52,616

It's awesome.

:

00:33:53,196 --> 00:33:56,826

It's all controlled, big

control room and they Right.

:

00:33:56,946 --> 00:34:00,096

They put their programs in and they're,

they're taking their cuts at the

:

00:34:00,096 --> 00:34:01,506

different heights and it's just, yeah.

:

00:34:01,566 --> 00:34:02,376

It's amazing.

:

00:34:03,126 --> 00:34:05,136

But it's industrialized.

:

00:34:05,376 --> 00:34:05,646

Right.

:

00:34:05,646 --> 00:34:08,166

You know, I'm not seeing

anything bad about their product.

:

00:34:08,166 --> 00:34:08,976

Love their products.

:

00:34:08,976 --> 00:34:09,065

Right.

:

00:34:09,516 --> 00:34:14,056

But when you do stuff like that, you lose

a bit of that, that human touch to it.

:

00:34:14,056 --> 00:34:14,266

Yeah.

:

00:34:14,596 --> 00:34:17,266

And a little bit of that

variability, you know, having a

:

00:34:17,326 --> 00:34:18,795

consistent product's important.

:

00:34:19,005 --> 00:34:19,246

Tyler: Yeah.

:

00:34:19,576 --> 00:34:21,706

New South: But a little bit of

variation's, not necessarily a bad thing.

:

00:34:21,735 --> 00:34:22,216

Exactly.

:

00:34:22,860 --> 00:34:24,811

Tyler: That's what's funny 'cause

I know you mentioned end of days,

:

00:34:24,811 --> 00:34:27,001

which is right down the road

actually for where we're bored.

:

00:34:27,001 --> 00:34:27,331

They're awesome.

:

00:34:27,331 --> 00:34:27,481

Yeah.

:

00:34:27,601 --> 00:34:30,630

And that's how everything is, like

every single batch that comes out,

:

00:34:30,630 --> 00:34:33,271

like there's a little bit different

and every single one of 'em.

:

00:34:33,271 --> 00:34:34,710

And that, that's something that I enjoy.

:

00:34:35,130 --> 00:34:35,341

Yeah.

:

00:34:35,341 --> 00:34:35,521

I had

:

00:34:35,521 --> 00:34:37,771

New South: somebody the other day

pull up two of my vanilla bottles

:

00:34:37,771 --> 00:34:38,971

and one was darker than the other.

:

00:34:39,031 --> 00:34:39,511

Oh yeah.

:

00:34:39,601 --> 00:34:41,311

And he said, Hey, why is this one darker?

:

00:34:41,311 --> 00:34:43,021

I said, 'cause I use real vanilla beans.

:

00:34:43,110 --> 00:34:43,351

Tyler: Right.

:

00:34:43,591 --> 00:34:44,251

New South: He said, what do you mean?

:

00:34:44,251 --> 00:34:47,911

I said, well, it's the same

number of beans, same grade,

:

00:34:47,911 --> 00:34:49,621

a Madagascar beans split.

:

00:34:49,621 --> 00:34:49,891

You know?

:

00:34:50,710 --> 00:34:51,580

Same amount of time.

:

00:34:51,730 --> 00:34:52,540

Stir 'em once a day.

:

00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:53,951

But they're a natural product.

:

00:34:53,951 --> 00:34:54,730

There's variation.

:

00:34:54,821 --> 00:34:55,301

Exactly.

:

00:34:55,301 --> 00:34:55,420

Yeah.

:

00:34:55,420 --> 00:34:57,401

And some batches are

darker than other batches.

:

00:34:57,731 --> 00:35:00,040

And that's, that's just part

of using natural products.

:

00:35:00,401 --> 00:35:03,281

I mean, if you use artificial stuff,

then you can get it perfect every time.

:

00:35:03,285 --> 00:35:03,731

Right, right.

:

00:35:03,731 --> 00:35:04,151

That's true.

:

00:35:04,330 --> 00:35:05,321

That's not what we want to do.

:

00:35:05,446 --> 00:35:05,736

Yeah.

:

00:35:05,915 --> 00:35:06,136

Tyler: And.

:

00:35:07,166 --> 00:35:09,716

I think that's kind of where a lot

of the world I feel like is going

:

00:35:09,716 --> 00:35:12,596

right now too, is they wanna associate

themselves with a brand, they wanna

:

00:35:12,596 --> 00:35:14,186

associate themself with a story.

:

00:35:14,396 --> 00:35:14,486

Mm-hmm.

:

00:35:14,726 --> 00:35:17,696

And that's what's fun about going to

these like micro distilleries mm-hmm.

:

00:35:17,936 --> 00:35:21,806

And the new places that open up too,

because they'll have a story mm-hmm.

:

00:35:21,996 --> 00:35:24,996

That builds the brand and then there's

something a little bit different

:

00:35:24,996 --> 00:35:28,596

about what they do as opposed to the

person down the road a little bit.

:

00:35:28,596 --> 00:35:28,806

Right.

:

00:35:28,926 --> 00:35:30,036

And, and that's what makes it fun.

:

00:35:30,276 --> 00:35:30,396

Oh yeah.

:

00:35:30,396 --> 00:35:32,496

And that's kind of where the,

the podcast came from too.

:

00:35:32,496 --> 00:35:33,216

New South: That's awesome.

:

00:35:33,561 --> 00:35:34,071

That's awesome.

:

00:35:34,341 --> 00:35:37,371

Everybody that I met in the

distilling industry has been great.

:

00:35:37,371 --> 00:35:39,291

In South Carolina, we

have a distiller's guild.

:

00:35:39,411 --> 00:35:39,861

Oh, okay.

:

00:35:39,951 --> 00:35:42,711

That we lobby for things at the

state house and different laws

:

00:35:43,191 --> 00:35:46,801

and every representative from the

different distilleries that is in it.

:

00:35:47,431 --> 00:35:47,911

Wonderful.

:

00:35:48,121 --> 00:35:51,871

I mean, distillers being, coming

from an engineering world, we

:

00:35:51,871 --> 00:35:53,131

keep our secrets very tight.

:

00:35:53,251 --> 00:35:53,491

Right?

:

00:35:53,491 --> 00:35:53,731

Yeah.

:

00:35:53,881 --> 00:35:54,091

Okay.

:

00:35:54,721 --> 00:35:57,561

But it seems with the distillers they'll

give you the shirt off their back.

:

00:35:57,561 --> 00:35:57,651

Right.

:

00:35:57,801 --> 00:35:59,151

There's only one thing they won't share.

:

00:35:59,586 --> 00:36:01,951

We don't share our type of

yeast that we use, the yeast

:

00:36:01,951 --> 00:36:03,071

strainers, we don't share that.

:

00:36:03,426 --> 00:36:05,706

But anything else you wanna know,

we'll tell you whatever you wanna know.

:

00:36:05,706 --> 00:36:07,386

And it's, it's been refreshing.

:

00:36:07,386 --> 00:36:07,446

Yeah.

:

00:36:07,566 --> 00:36:10,926

It's, it's been really cool to get

involved in something like that.

:

00:36:11,106 --> 00:36:11,616

Tyler: Oh, that's neat.

:

00:36:11,826 --> 00:36:12,066

Yeah.

:

00:36:12,156 --> 00:36:12,276

Yeah.

:

00:36:12,276 --> 00:36:16,506

I'm sure going from the engineering

world where it is so tight and

:

00:36:16,506 --> 00:36:18,936

just going where people want

to help you and everything too.

:

00:36:18,936 --> 00:36:19,026

Mm-hmm.

:

00:36:19,476 --> 00:36:21,186

There's a lot of breweries

up in Wilmington.

:

00:36:21,186 --> 00:36:21,546

Mm-hmm.

:

00:36:21,721 --> 00:36:24,991

And I've known quite a few of 'em that

know each other really well and be

:

00:36:24,991 --> 00:36:26,581

like, oh shoot, like I just ran out of.

:

00:36:27,001 --> 00:36:27,661

Whatever.

:

00:36:27,661 --> 00:36:29,251

And they're all like,

oh yeah, here you go.

:

00:36:29,251 --> 00:36:30,691

Just like, get me back on the next one.

:

00:36:30,841 --> 00:36:30,986

Oh yeah.

:

00:36:30,991 --> 00:36:31,081

Yeah.

:

00:36:31,081 --> 00:36:32,311

And just like super easy

:

00:36:32,341 --> 00:36:34,171

New South: distillery

down the road swamp Fox.

:

00:36:34,351 --> 00:36:34,681

Oh, okay.

:

00:36:34,681 --> 00:36:36,301

Distilling in the

Pendleton, South Carolina.

:

00:36:36,301 --> 00:36:38,401

Good friend of mine, Ernie

Wagner and his wife Peg on it.

:

00:36:38,521 --> 00:36:38,761

Yeah.

:

00:36:39,031 --> 00:36:41,971

And I've run outta yeast nutrient

before and I've got crap.

:

00:36:41,971 --> 00:36:42,991

I can't get it quick enough.

:

00:36:42,991 --> 00:36:43,231

Right.

:

00:36:43,231 --> 00:36:44,071

Ernie, can I get some?

:

00:36:44,071 --> 00:36:46,831

He said, yeah, come on, get,

get you a couple scoops or

:

00:36:46,831 --> 00:36:47,701

whatever you need to get you by.

:

00:36:47,701 --> 00:36:47,941

Right.

:

00:36:48,421 --> 00:36:51,571

And everybody in that, in, in

this industry has just been great.

:

00:36:51,841 --> 00:36:52,351

That's awesome.

:

00:36:52,471 --> 00:36:52,681

Yeah.

:

00:36:53,281 --> 00:36:55,921

Tyler: Since we are coming up on

40 minutes now, is there anything

:

00:36:55,921 --> 00:36:59,071

that you want to shout out or let

people know where they can find you?

:

00:37:00,151 --> 00:37:03,061

New South: Just come see us in downtown

Greenville, South Carolina, new South

:

00:37:03,061 --> 00:37:06,151

Spirits www new south spirits.com.

:

00:37:06,631 --> 00:37:09,691

You can also order, there are six of

our products that are in distribution.

:

00:37:09,901 --> 00:37:10,291

Oh, okay.

:

00:37:10,351 --> 00:37:12,901

And you can order those through

our website if you wanna try 'em.

:

00:37:13,361 --> 00:37:16,091

But come on down to Greenville

and, and come see us and,

:

00:37:16,091 --> 00:37:17,261

and give us a try in person.

:

00:37:18,221 --> 00:37:18,461

Tyler: Yeah.

:

00:37:18,461 --> 00:37:20,471

And from Wilmington it's,

it's a little bit of a long

:

00:37:20,471 --> 00:37:21,761

trip, but it's not a bad trip.

:

00:37:21,766 --> 00:37:22,496

It was a bad trip at all.

:

00:37:22,496 --> 00:37:22,498

It was.

:

00:37:22,571 --> 00:37:23,831

It was pretty easy to get down here.

:

00:37:23,891 --> 00:37:24,131

Yeah.

:

00:37:24,701 --> 00:37:25,031

Awesome.

:

00:37:25,031 --> 00:37:25,811

Well, thank you so much.

:

00:37:25,811 --> 00:37:26,411

I appreciate you.

:

00:37:26,591 --> 00:37:27,281

Thank you very much.

:

00:37:27,281 --> 00:37:27,731

Appreciate it.

:

00:37:28,331 --> 00:37:29,111

See you on the next one.

:

00:37:29,321 --> 00:37:29,621

Cheers.

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Whiskey & Wisdom
Talking about life over a glass of whiskey
Discussing life's most fascinating topics over a good glass of whiskey.
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Tyler Yaw