It's time for Barbecue Nation with jt so fire up your grill, light the charcoal, and get your smoker cooking.

Now from the Turnip Don't Burn it studios in Portland.

Here's jt.

This is an encore.

Hey, everybody.

Welcome to Barbecue Nation.

I'm JT along with hall of Famer Leanne Whippen.

That's her.

Ms. Whippen is with us today again, and we're coming to you from the Turn It, Don't Burn it studios here in Portland.

Dave and Chris are floating around here somewhere, and we'd like to thank the folks at Painted Hills Natural Beef.

Beef the way nature intended.

Well, it's almost that time of the year.

The.

Jack, those two words.

Those two words are like your taxes.

They just resonate with people, you know, and.

But not in a bad way.

Not in a bad way at all.

Not in a bad way.

It's been two years.

Almost two years to the day.

I looked it up before we came on the air.

We got Jed Laurent back with us from.

From Jack Daniels, and we're going to talk a little bit about Jack itself and Jed's very difficult job there at.

At the distillery.

Oh.

I mean, I tried to talk you out of a job.

I.

The last time you were on the show.

I remember.

You know what?

I pulled up the.

The podcast that we did two years ago, and I was listening, and you were.

You were hustling pretty hard.

Yeah, I was.

I, you know, I gotta admit, it.

It.

But it's a damn good job if you get it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

If you can get it.

Yeah.

I don't think I was quite qualified, but I did volunteer, Leanne, if you don't know, I volunteered to be the librarian.

Yes.

Jack Daniels.

Oh, yeah.

Because their library doesn't contain very many books, but a lot of bottles of Jack.

So.

Sounds like a good job.

I was gonna work for free, you know, type thing.

Yeah.

Anyway, since we.

And I. I emailed you about this, Jed, since we last talked.

You said your title hasn't changed, but because you're an ambassador for the brand and all that.

But you also have more responsibilities, so why don't you walk our audience through exactly what your terrible schedule day to day is, and then kind of what they've so graciously piled on your shoulders since the last time.

So just a recap from last time when we talked.

My.

My job is senior brand ambassador for the distillery.

And.

And like you were just talking to.

I'm a sensory tester.

I'm a master taster on the property so, yeah, the job's hard.

I. I've taken on some responsibilities of historian for on site.

So when we have tour guides or staff that needs a little more information, I'll gather it, I'll get with archive.

We'll look through video.

So that's a new addition.

We've started some new tour options on the property.

And so I've helped compile information and help our team, where there's a couple people who work together to get those tours going.

Because we have a lot of repeat offenders.

Yeah.

And they just want to see something new.

So building new tour tour options.

Oh, cool.

And what can people expect to see if they come on the tour?

So our normal tour is a walk through the entire distillery.

None of it's a mockup.

So while you're walking around the property, it's the same property that Jack bought.

We're going to walk into the distillery where we've made your whiskey.

I mean, this.

It made the whiskey for Frank Sinatra, the man, the singer.

Um, we're going to go through bottling.

You're going to see the whole thing.

We're an open book.

And so we always tell people, if you have a question, just ask.

And if we don't know the answer, we have somebody who has that answer.

So we'll.

We'll talk to you about anything.

Okay, I've got a question then.

Yeah, we had trying to think if it was Adrian Miller's book.

I don't think so.

I think it was Joe's book.

It was on the history of black barbecue.

And they mentioned in the book that there was a black man that worked there and actually helped teach Jack Daniels how to.

How to make it, how to distill whiskey and.

Sure.

Yeah.

And then he stayed on as an employee for quite a while now.

Oh, is that true?

Yeah.

He wasn't just an employee.

So the story starts with Jack moving on to Mr. Dan Call's property.

He was in his preteen, early teen years, say, like 12, 13 years old.

He met Mr. Nathan nearest green.

He's the black gentleman you were talking about.

And he learned how to make whiskey from Mr. Green.

Mr. Green was his mentor.

And so he learns how to make whiskey.

During that time period.

He was an enslaved man over on the Call property.

Remember this is all during the Civil War, right after emancipation.

He wasn't just an employee.

Jack hired him on as the very first master distiller we ever had.

It's an absolutely beautiful story.

It was more like an uncle nephew or a father son kind of Situation.

That's how close they were.

Yeah.

The property we're on.

Mr. Green didn't come up here to run whiskey with Jack, but his son, George Green, came up here, ran whiskey with Jack, and they were best friends.

And we have never distilled a drop of whiskey in 157 years with that.

Agreed.

Working with this.

So that's what I thought.

Yeah.

The family still Legacy.

Yeah.

And Mr. Green also was into barbecue.

That's how I tied in the story there.

Well, who is it?

Yeah, well, I think everybody's in, Right?

That's a.

That's a great point.

Is that in that black barbecue book thing?

I believe so.

I. I'll get you the name.

I'll email you the name.

Absolutely.

I would love to know that history.

Yeah.

But I just found that fascinating that not only did Mr. Green teach Jack how to.

How to distill and how to make whiskey properly, but he was also kind of a pit master, too.

So that was.

That would be awesome information, especially at this time of year when the Jack's coming in town.

Yeah.

You can add that to the conversation saying, look, whiskey and barbecues always been together.

Yeah, well, it has, it has.

And you guys make some great barbecue sauce.

You know, I've tried.

No, it's really good barbecue sauce.

Have you tried our dry rubs?

No, I have not.

You'll be able to get some when you get down here.

There you go.

There you go.

So how long have you worked for the Jack Daniels Company?

So I'm coming up on nine years now.

So the last time we talked, I was just over seven years.

Now I'm.

Or six years.

Just over six years.

Now I'm just over eight years and I'm still a rookie.

I know it sounds crazy, people like, if your listeners know about the distillery and they've been down here, there's a chance they came across two gentlemen, Goose and Randall.

They both retired last December.

At 46 years working here.

Yeah.

Nobody gives up on whiskey.

No.

Well, why should they?

It's the happiest place on earth.

Somebody else uses that term, but.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But I think these days, yours is probably happier, you know, the Jack is probably much, much, much happier than that.

Oh, my goodness.

Oh, it smells wonderful, too.

I think we talked about the last time I was on with you.

The smell of the smell coming from the square and the whiskey in the air.

It's.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I'm excited.

I really am excited.

When was the last time you were there, Jeff?

I haven't never been to the Jack, you haven't.

No.

Oh, my gosh.

You're in for a treat.

I'm a rookie.

I'm a rookie.

So, Liang, how long have y' all known each other and why has he not come down?

You know?

Well, I've been on the show almost two years.

Almost two years.

But we knew each other before that just from, you know, his show acquaintance.

We really never met until we were at the national barbecue convention in person.

So, yeah, the.

Jack just.

I just assumed.

Oh, no.

Wow.

No.

I keep telling you, I'm a Yankee and we don't get out much, so.

You know, definitely in for a treat.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.

Not only now that I've met Leanne in person, and she's going to be spending a little over a week with me up here.

That's.

We're.

We're old, old pals now.

But to go back and meet Jed and see the.

See the competition and see the town of Lynchburg.

Now, if you ask me about Kentucky, I've been to Kentucky hundreds of times, literally.

Well, there's no need to say anything about Kentucky.

Is there a real rival rivalry back.

There between Kentucky neighbors of the North?

Yeah, to the north, Yeah.

I like that.

Well, you know, you can't go to Kentucky, especially like Louisville or someplace like that, and, you know, they don't talk about the quality of their bourbon and, you know, smooth Kentucky sipping whiskey and all that stuff, you know.

Except what still fascinates me north of Louisville, there's Oldham county, which I spent a lot of time in, is a dry county, much like Lynchburg.

Is Lynchburg so dry?

Lynchburg, absolutely.

So if you walk down the street, if you brought your own drink with you in Lynchburg, will you get in trouble?

Do you want to meet the sheriff?

No, not really.

Not really?

No.

I'll take your word for it that he's a good guy.

No.

So we're a dry county in the sense that you can drink at home.

We have no bars, taverns, pubs, no liquor by the drink.

So.

Yeah.

So open container walking around is kind of a.

No, no.

Got it.

We tend to have a lot of parties.

I mean, while you're down here, you'll.

You'll probably find somebody's house that you can hang out at.

Probably.

I would.

I would think that that would probably be the case, you know, almost guarantee it.

Yeah, I would think so.

So, Leanne, how many times have you been to the Jack?

Gosh, I haven't counted, quite frankly.

I'm not competing this year.

I'm judging this year.

But the last time I competed at the maybe seven, eight years ago.

It's been a while, but I've been judging almost every year since then.

You know, we could have met earlier because they had asked me to judge the Jack a few years back and then I couldn't because they asked me like a week before and I couldn't clear my schedule.

Somebody had poked out.

It was kind of a celebrity deal or whatever, but it doesn't matter.

But they said, can you be here like Thursday?

And it was like Monday, like, no, I can't.

I didn't know.

If they asked me now, though, I'd probably, probably make it happen.

You know what I mean?

Anyway, we're going to take a break.

We're going to be back with Jed and Leanne and myself here on Barbecue Nation after this.

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This is an encore.

Welcome back to Barbecue Nation on JT with Ms. Whippen here, hall of famer.

I will tell you something, Leanne.

I was.

I just ran out of time.

I was trying to get a director's chair back made for you before you came up here.

In a few days, it said Ms. Whippen on the back.

Oh, that would have been cute.

That might be your.

That might be your Christmas present.

You know, I would like something a little more comfortable than a director's chair.

So you can.

I'll put a pillow on it.

That's exactly what I'll do.

Yeah.

Okay.

I'll put a pillow in and a Snuggie blanket because he'll be cold up here.

I will, I will.

So let's talk about the competition, Jed.

Now, you know you have to be invited.

You have to have competed.

I mean, there's all kinds of prerequisites.

What happens like next week at the end of this coming week and Then you've got about 10 days till the.

Maybe two weeks till the Jack starts.

What's going on there at the.

At the distillery in the town of Lynchburg.

So, yeah, starting.

Starting next week, we're going to be coordinating everything from.

We've already got food trucks lined up.

We've got kind of, like a petting zoo stuff.

We have, like, a craft fair downtown.

When you get down here, you'll see, like, people might be selling some stuff on the square, like a craft fair.

And you drop down in the Wiseman park, which is right behind Ms. Mary Bobo's, and they should have some food trucks out and some.

Some different, like, drinks.

But next week, we'll be coordinating.

Finalizing all of that.

We should be getting our giant tent in where we actually do the judging portion of it, making sure that simply we have everything from the tent to toilets.

Everything needs to be coordinated from the most important thing to, you know, just making sure everybody has facilities that they can get to.

But we're gonna have musicians playing music.

We're gonna have all kinds of stuff for the actual events.

So next week, we'll pretty much be coordinating all those things.

So now I know Leanne, when she's at a judging table with the other judges, they get to have samples.

But do you get to sneak around and have a little taste of the barbecue?

No, the.

The most they'll let me do is judge the desserts.

Hello.

The desserts are epic there.

I mean, they are so large, sometimes it takes two.

Two people to carry them in.

But seriously, they are.

At the World Food Championships, they do, like, unbelievably cheffy type food.

But for these barbecuers to put out the desserts that you see there, they're culinary.

I mean, just beautiful.

Oh, they're beautiful.

Yeah.

And they taste as good as they look.

It's.

I would agree, but no, I don't.

I don't get a chance to walk around to the table and sneak a bite.

Maybe after the judging, if the tray's coming past, we might grab something.

Hand action there.

Yeah, just a quick snatch.

But we've got a lot of stuff going on.

We.

We've got the.

And I'm looking at my list right now.

We have a cocktail competition now.

Oh, yeah, right.

So for the barbecuers or chefs that want to have, like, a little bit of fun, make their own cocktail, we have a competition for that, and we have kind of like a.

Have you seen the.

I think it's Iron Chef, where they have the box.

They open the box right they can make whatever it is inside the box.

So we've had that for a few years, but it's.

It's a fun.

It's.

But once you're in the.

And Leanne, you can speak this.

Once you're in there judging, you're.

You're in there, right?

You're in there.

Yeah.

I mean, you could take a break to go to the restroom, but you're in there.

And I must say, you guys have stepped it up as far as the size of the tent, because it was never that big.

And even when the awards came, it was like, people were, like, all smushed together.

And now it's a huge tent, and.

It'S an epic tent.

Yeah.

But people actually go on the outside of the tent and watch the judges judge, which to me is just.

It's torture.

They're watching us judge and eat this food.

I don't know what they expect to gain from that, but, yeah, there's an actual, like, audience around the perimeter of the tent while we're judging.

Yeah.

Because they can't get in.

So judging tent is for the judges.

Right.

So you can stand around the outside, but you can't get into the tent and mingle with the judges.

Do they hold up little signs that say, we'll judge for food, something like that?

No, I might do that to you, Leanne, because I won't be able to get in the tent.

So I might just hold up a little science.

Say, I know.

Leanne, you have to do.

Aside from this whole barbecue thing is Ms. Mary Bobos is known for her fried chicken, and she does, like, certain seatings, and you have to have reservations.

And I forgot to tell you about that.

It's probably already booked, but that is one thing you need to do when you're there is.

Go ahead.

How is that Miss Mary Bobo's today?

The fried chicken is absolutely amazing.

Yeah, that's, like, a thing.

All right, I'm leaving right now.

You guys finish the show.

I'm going.

Might take me a couple days to get there, but I'll.

I'll make it there.

So there.

There are.

Jt, real quick.

There's a.

There's a special rule, and I'm sure it's everywhere for the KCBS judges, but there's no alcohol allowed in a tent for judges, so they're right next to Daniels, and they cannot drink at all.

Just water.

That's all we're allowed.

How do you make it, Leanne?

How do you survive?

Fine.

I do fine.

She makes up for it in the evening after the judging's over.

Well, I don't know.

You said there was a cocktail contest, so.

Is that.

Are all the.

All the entries in the cocktail contest?

Are all they.

Are they all made with Jack?

Yeah.

Old number seven.

Actually, it's got to be very specific to old number seven.

They can do anything they want.

Like, I think it was last year or the year before, we had some folks smoke, like an old Fashioned, which is cool.

Barbecue smoking.

They played on that.

But yeah, yeah.

They have to use all of a sudden.

Wow, they need a judge for that.

Yeah.

Do they need a judge for that?

Right.

Say things like, I'll judge anything, just let me judge.

That's what you say.

I just wonder, just on the Jack side of things, what is your most recent product that you've launched?

Is it that.

Honey, I know that's been out a long time, but is that the last or what?

You launch one every year.

I mean, how does it work?

And you have gentleman's Jack, too.

Gentleman's Jack is from.

Yeah, this is hard to believe.

We have, and we call them expressions, but we have 15, I think 15 is the count.

15 expressions of our whiskey.

So gentleman Jack, old number seven, honey fire apple, single barrel, select barrel proof rye, barrel proof rye, bonded triple mash, bonded rye, Sinatra.

We have a few.

All right.

But what's amazing about our products, every bottle we have, it is Jack Daniels.

Old number seven, Jack Daniels, Gentleman Jack, Jack Daniels, honey.

It's always the Jack Daniels brand and it's expression of that whiskey.

And so we, we, we make whiskey, we make a bunch of expressions, but we make just a couple of grain bills.

Okay.

All right.

We're going to take another break, and we're going to be back with Jed and Leanne and talk more about the Jack and the fun we're going to have there in about two weeks, right after this.

You're listening to Barbecue Nation.

At least I hope you are.

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This is an encore.

Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.

I'm JT along with hall of Famer Ms. Leanne Whippin.

Speaking of Ms. Whippin, here's something for you, Jed.

Have you ever tried her pig powder?

Pick powder?

Yeah.

I mean, is that.

The name of.

It is pig powder?

Yeah.

It's tram tabs.

It's after my dad.

Yeah.

What's the name of it?

It's trim tabs Pig powder.

All right.

I'm writing it down.

It's.

It won best trap on the planet.

And a lot of competitors use that.

And.

And you know what?

Proof.

This is a funny story.

Not funny, but very interesting.

I noticed that in the past few days, my sales of pig powder have dipped a little bit, and I can't figure this out.

Well, hello.

Everyone's going to the Royal.

They already have their pig powder.

They already have.

They're on the road to the Royal.

And I really do think so many competitors use it, and there's a little bit of a slump because they don't need it at this time.

They either already have it or they were too late to the.

You know, whatever.

But I do attribute it to that.

Where can I buy it?

You can get it@pigpowder.com.

i personally fill and ship out the orders.

Hey, JT, do you like the way I had her plug that?

I. I love it.

I'm just sitting back.

I'm just sitting back.

It's all good.

It's all good.

See, you can sell pig powder, but I can't judge desserts, you know?

So I think, jt, the last time I was on your show, yeah, I was a novice, you know, smoker at best.

But since I've talked to y', all, I've done, I think, two full briskets.

My daughter, my oldest daughter, got married, and she wanted me to do pulled pork for the wedding.

There were sandwiches and such, and I did what would be close to £50.

Yeah, right?

50.

Yeah.

I don't know.

We did, like, eight to ten butts.

I have no idea.

And so I smoked all of them.

I gotta tell you, everybody was happy.

I didn't kill anybody with my smoke.

Very good.

But I did not have pick powder because I did not know.

Good.

It is.

It is, it is.

I'll bring you some when I come.

Oh, nice.

All right.

If you want to do it.

Okay.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

You can't see it because of my green screen, but I've got a few boxes of it right behind me.

There's.

Oh, my goodness.

And Leanne and I are going to pay for our television expenses by standing on the corner selling pig powder.

Do you know I have a whole pallet landing this Thursday and I unload the pallet myself and bring it up to my second floor apartment and it takes me four hours up and down the steps and I keep it in my apartment.

Come on, Leanne, can you flex for us?

I can, yeah.

She, she may be little, but she's mighty.

I'm going to tell you.

That sounds like it.

Yeah.

Big workout.

Oh, okay.

And I also need to plug our, our good friends at Painter Hills Natural Beef.

Don't forget, you can go to naturalbeef.com and if you type in the code BBQ Nation, you get 15% off.

And Leanne is actually going to go to cowboy country with us here in about a week, a little over a week, and see where Painted Hills comes from.

So there you go.

But just use the code BBQ Nation.

I don't know why my nose is itching today.

I'm like Bewitched or something.

Anyway, there it is.

Those are the two plugs for the show.

How big of an effect does the Jack have on Lynchburg?

I mean, you always see things, Jed.

You know, seafare comes into Seattle and it's got a $385 million impact on the economy.

But that thing is a week long Rose Parade and in Portland, you know, those types of things.

But when you get into a really small town like Lynchburg in comparison to the bigger cities and you have an event like this, it's got to have a really positive financial impact on the community.

Sure.

I would say, like this is the 34th jack we've done.

And what's, what's amazing is in kind of like Leanne was talking about her pick powder, it kind of ebbs and flows.

Right.

So in the early part of our year, January and February, we don't see a lot of people come in.

You know, it's cold, it's winter time, school's still in.

So travel as far as tourism is down, but around this time of year, school's back in.

But people are having like fall breaks and this is perfect.

You know, we're bringing more and more and more things to the Jack because we want your listeners to come and visit.

It doesn't, I mean, if you're close to come and see this, why not?

If you're in Nashville, Huntsville, if you're in Atlanta, Georgia, you're only three hours away from us.

You know, I mean, come to the Jack, you'll have a great tour, you'll have a great experience.

It's Family friendly.

And we want more and more people to come.

I think our max we've ever had, and I think I said this a couple years ago, the highest count I think was 30,000 over the weekend.

And it's a multi day event over the weekend.

Now we have an Indian motorcycle rally just before it.

So last year I think we had over 300 bikes.

Indian motorcycles come in for the rally.

So we want the influx of people to experience a little town.

Whose idea was it originally to do the Jack?

The competition?

Oh, God.

You would ask me a question that is going to slip my mind.

Oh, my goodness.

I don't know.

I have to just be honest with you.

I don't know.

I don't know.

Leanne, do you know?

No, I don't.

I'm kind of curious, though.

I know.

I think my dad was at the first Jack judging.

Yeah.

I mean, it's.

Yeah.

35 years.

I don't know.

Okay.

Well, I certainly don't or I wouldn't have asked the question.

But you know who would know is Artie Davis.

He would probably know.

Artie Davis knows everything about everything.

And that's.

I'm being.

I'm not being mean.

I'm just saying already, anything to do with barbecue, he'll be there.

He hands out the.

The little walnuts, the good luck walnuts to each of the teams.

Yes, I got one of those.

Yeah.

He goes around with dirty Dick and the two of them go and hand it down.

That's right.

And they hand out the little walnuts.

The dirty.

Dirty Dick handing out nuts.

Oh, yes.

Dirty Dick in the legless wonders.

Yeah.

So what is.

What is he hauling those nuts around in?

I don't know, but it's a little bag, isn't it?

A little sack?

Yeah, yeah.

It's like a burlap sack.

Right.

I think.

I think you're correct.

I think you're correct.

J.T.

just.

I lost it.

I'll be back in a minute.

Just.

Yes.

He hands out the nuts from the burlap sack.

Yeah, there you go.

Do they have ribbons on them or are they.

No, they are a whole walnut in the shell and they have the little Jack Daniels logo thing on it.

And it's good luck, right?

It is.

It's good luck.

Yes, you do.

That's why it's passed out.

And it's.

It's a big deal.

So I sent a request for the information on the question you asked and hopefully I get a response here quickly.

Well, we've got the after hours too, so if we If.

If it goes into that, then that'll be fine.

I. I didn't know about Artie's nuts, so.

So the interesting thing about the jack is it is a world invitational, but even though they call it invitational, there is a lottery.

So you get three KCBS sanctioned state champions from New Jersey say they go into a lottery.

Only one state champion can get.

Can.

Can get pulled.

So you could still be a state champion and not qualify to be in the jack.

So it's really kind of a lottery and an invitational because some of the are automatic jacks, which mean you automatically get in the jack if you win.

Grand champion.

Right.

And then they.

They also.

The.

The big deal about this is you've got all the international teams.

That's.

So you're getting really.

It's true.

World.

So you're getting people from all teams from all over the world that come in on this thing.

So we have 66 domestic teams and 15 international teams going to be here in about two weeks.

Wow.

Yeah.

Fifteen.

So that.

That's.

That's.

That's 25%.

The 66.

Because I'm a math person.

Well, approximately, yeah.

That are going to be international.

And so they have to figure out, you know, if they're going to get their equipment from here.

And.

And maybe they've never cooked on it.

So, I mean, it's really interesting.

And you can always tell the international dessert, because some countries like marzipan or whatever, and so you'll know that it isn't a domestic.

It came from an international team.

You can almost always tell when you're tasting the desserts, because it's not Americana desserts.

That's what's so fun about this.

Jed, let me jump in here for a second.

Speaking of desserts, when we went to the NBBQA convention last year, I showed you that picture behind me is from there, but they also had the high school kids competing there.

And one of the things they were doing was making desserts.

And Leanne and I were eating and arguing our way through the desserts.

Which one was better?

Because I like this little kind of.

I don't even know what.

Simple.

I can't remember what it was.

Yeah, it was a little.

But it had some strawberries and whipped cream on it, and it was quite sweet.

And she wanted something else.

So I just kept going back to that one, that one setup.

And the girls kept giving me more and more strawberry treats.

But if they're anything like that or a couple of levels above that, they're.

Look at her.

Look at her.

I can't even put it into words.

Okay, okay.

All right.

I got an answer.

You did?

Okay.

Yeah.

I mean, it was Jack Daniel.

Our people are amazingly efficient here.

Ms. Debbie Christian just hit me back up.

You know how I was saying that we're always trying to make the event bigger and more inclusive as far as family and people coming.

That was the whole premise behind starting it.

It was promotion and community awareness, getting people down here to Jack Daniels and to promote barbecue and to promote the distillery.

So the whole reason for the Jack was to promote those two things was barbecue and community.

So cool.

Yeah.

So I would like to think that we were trying to put our foot into the barbecue game, but it was just to get some good cooks down here to cook for us.

There's nothing wrong with that, Jed.

I'm telling you.

I'm telling you.

We're going to take a break.

We're going to come back with Jed Lorette and wrap up the show talking about Jack Daniels and the Jack coming up.

And we will all return just momentarily.

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This is an encore.

Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.

We're very fortunate to have Jed Laurette with us today.

Jed is from the Jack Daniels Distillery.

He's a branded bastard.

He's a taster.

He's semi serious pork butt cooker.

He's all kinds of things, but he's doing that.

And I'll get to meet him here in a couple of weeks.

That's kind of fun like that.

Jed also was served in the Navy and for what, 15 years, something like that.

Five years active duty.

And then I worked for the government for another ten and a half years.

And then you.

Thank you for your service.

Yeah, thank you.

And then you came to your senses and went home and got a job there?

Yes, yes, absolutely.

Well, that's good.

Now I'm only kidding about coming.

Yeah, it's.

It's all good.

Do.

I don't know what the corporate structure is.

Jed on for Jack Daniels there and.

But do the head guys, the guys that we normally think of in suits and ties, do they come down to the competition?

Do they hang out?

Do they walk around?

You'll see some people, like our Heron company is brown foreman.

They're out of Louisville, Kentucky.

And you'll see some folks come down from Louisville for the event.

Our master distiller, our assistant distiller, folks who work here in Lynchburg, they'll be at the event that night.

But yeah, you'll see out of towners that are corporately part of Jack Daniels show for the event.

Is your master distiller a woman?

Chris Fletcher is our master distiller, but Lexi Phillips is our assistant distiller.

She's the very first female assistant distiller we've ever had.

That's what I thought.

I remember hearing that.

She's unbelievable.

She's fourth generation working.

Yeah.

Her family has a huge legacy at the distillery.

Yes.

So when you guys have a company party, it's more like a family Christmas get together, isn't it?

Because you've had these families that work so many generations for Jack Daniels, like the Greens, Christie's family and all that.

Yeah.

So, I mean, we have actually a family family picnic once a year here at the distillery.

So on Saturday, we've got a building on the south side of town where we'll bring bounce houses and all kinds of stuff.

And it really is kind of like a family reunion.

Everybody knows everybody, they went to school together, they work together their whole lives.

So, yeah, it's kind of like a family reunion.

Wow.

Yeah, that's cool.

That.

That is very cool.

I think there should be more of that, if possible, around.

So are you gonna make it down to Byron's party?

Do I need to get you on the list there or what?

So you're saying Byron Chisholm?

Byron Chisholm from Bad Byron's Butt Rub?

Oh, yeah.

Well, if I get an invite.

I don't know if I've gotten an invite, to be honest with you.

Yeah, that sounds.

So if we can make some things happen, that.

That would be.

I can.

I think we can handle that.

I think JT just wants me to.

It's like, all right, Jed, just leave the whiskey.

You can leave now.

I'll get you in on the food list.

I mean, you know.

Yeah, it can be.

It can be that way.

Well, we're worried.

We Are really looking forward to it.

Is there anything you can.

I know Leanne has judged the Jack several times, but is there anything that you can say?

Now, Leanne, we know you've been here before, but you really need to pay attention to this.

And I don't mean her judging.

I mean anything ancillary outside the judge's.

Tent as far as what she needs to be aware of.

Yeah, I mean, you know, how much is bail bonds in Lynchburg?

So.

Oh, my God.

No, no, you really don't want to meet the sheriff.

Although I gotta tell you, he's a good guy.

He really is a good guy.

Yeah.

Look, when you just talking to your guests, when you show up here at Jack, you're going to want to make a trip down to the square, walk through the.

The actual competitors tents area, and then maybe take a tour.

Go to Bobo's, get a bite to eat, and be here for the judging and the actual award ceremony for the evening.

If you've been to a small town county fair, it's kind of that same vibe.

I'm really hoping we have funnel cake.

All right.

I don't know if we're going to.

I'd like to put in a special request.

You guys do the big party on the hill Friday night.

And last year I was ranting, raving about your fried chicken up there, and I don't think you had fried chicken on that.

I'm trying to look and see.

So I hope it's there this year, but I think.

Yeah, I don't think you had it last year.

You usually have it every year.

I think the worst thing that we can do and watch me put my foot in my mouth is have barbecue before the barbecue event.

Like serve barbecuers barbecue before they have.

Yeah.

So I don't.

I've got a whole list of featured vendors, and I don't have one person doing funnel cake.

Oh, the horror.

Yeah, don't cry.

I think it's going to be all right.

I'm a little upset by it, though.

Look, jt, I'm a big boy.

You're not talking to shrinking violet here.

Come on.

My funnel cake.

Yeah, it's gonna be.

It's gonna be a blast.

It's always fun.

It really is.

And we're hoping, we're praying that the rain holds off, or if it's gonna rain, let it rain a couple days ahead of time just to knock the dust down and pull it off a little.

But no, it's.

It's always good.

But for your.

For your listeners, come and See us.

We have amazing offerings here at the distillery.

To go and look around.

And it's free just to walk through the visitor center.

We got all kinds of stuff for you to look at there.

You know what they do there is, you know this, Jed, but you don't, Jeff, is that they will actually engrave your bottles that you buy and they'll put whatever you want on the bottle for you.

So you can have your own signature.

Bottle to take as long as it's appropriate.

Jt.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, I think.

Watch.

Watch this, Jed.

I think that little one on my shelf behind me has got some engraving on it.

Leanne, didn't you get one of those?

No.

Well, no, seriously, though, you can, because I remember having wood chicks put on my bottle and just as a memorabilia piece.

Oh, it's a great little piece.

Yeah.

We could do Barbecue Nation on it, something like that.

Yeah, you can.

Oh, absolutely.

Yeah.

But it's kind of in a little house there, and I only heard about it the one time, but for those who are going down there, if you want something like that, you can do that.

So, Leanne, to your question earlier about our latest release, we have a.

A fully matured whiskey that we finished in Anejo Tequila Barrel.

Yeah.

So we.

We do have that.

It's our latest distillery offering.

We do have our new bonded rye whiskey that just came out.

It's a brand new offering.

We're not trying to get something out new every year, but we do have some new whiskey.

Hopefully it'll still be available when y' all come down for the visit in a couple weeks, so.

Right.

Yeah.

Hard to find rare whiskey.

Very good, Jed.

Lorette from Jack Daniels, and he's got a short title but a long job description and which a lot of people would fight over.

Jed, thanks.

And I know you're going to stick around for a couple weeks.

Yeah.

And it's going to be fun.

That's going to wrap it up for the regular show.

Don't forget, we've got after hours coming up if you're doing the pod version.

And so we want to thank Jed again and the folks at Jack Daniels and thank Ms. Whippen there, for which I'm going to see in about four days, I think five days.

And for everybody listening, thank you for being with us.

Until next time, I'm jt.

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