Bourbon & Beyond: Music, Bourbon, and VIP—Was It Worth It? Ep. 94

Dan and Steph: Good evening. Good evening. Welcome back to Bourbon Brass and Beyond. Tonight we are talking about 2026 Bourbon and Beyond. Or, as it may now be referred to, and Beyond. And beyond. They just sort of changed the name there. They didn't really tell anybody. Just as you go into the festival, you just see and beyond. And beyond. And even that big bourbon and beyond sign, they had put a Louisville, Kentucky sign like over the bourbon. So it was kind of like you could still see the bourbon, but the sign was on top of it. It was odd. Yeah, and they changed their Instagram handle. I mean all of their socials, it went to and beyond. Yeah. Like. And beyond. Now it's a toy story. The artist formerly known as Bourbon and Beyond. It's a buzz light year event now. Yeah. yeah. So anyway, what are we drinking tonight? Tonight, we well, tonight I am drinking the national bourbon heritage bottle that Wally Dant from Monks Road did. Bourbon Heritage Month. 2026. It's 100.53 proof. It's a special bottle. Wally, not only did he sign it, but this barrel he sourced from Jim Rutledge. So it's it's really nice. It is it is good. Yeah. And this is take four, by the way. I I will just That's why we already have some bourbon sitting here in front of us because the software's being a little weird. So we've already had this discussion and now we're having it again. But I am drinking the Jefferson's Presidential Select eighteen year. Which that's my drink. And it's significant because that is the distilled in nineteen ninety one. Stitzel weller. So that is the last of the Love It Stitzel juice ever produced. Love it. And just decided today that I'm gonna finish up that twenty-one year old Jefferson's rye on my birthday, which is what six months. Big five Big five And you're not you're not far behind me then. You'll to tell me what it's like. I I'll let you know from up there. so yeah, I think basically we're just gonna kinda do a rundown of day by day. Yeah. And talk about what we did, who we saw, what we can remember, talk about the different levels that you can purchase to get into and beyond. And cool things that happened, cool people we met because we did have a lot of cool, cool things happen. So first just talking about our drive down there, which was Wednesday. It takes us about well, I mean, we have to stop and charge a few times, so it takes us a little longer. So we drove down, we listened to the different artists that we saw that were playing at Bourbon and Beyond. I I can't say and I can't just say and beyond. It's it's so dumb. Right. Sorry, sorry, whoever whoever cares about So dumb and beyond. So the artist we didn't know. We decided we're gonna listen to, give three to five songs, give a chance, rate on a scale of one to ten, five being listenable. Yep. And we had some that were really bad, some that were twos, some that were eights. But everybody has different tastes in music, so that was just our opinion. And even we had some different different opinions on some of the bands, of course. Right. so we we did find a few new bands that we wanted to listen to and we got media passes. So do you wanna talk about that a bit? So we we drove down on Wednesday 'cause step back. couple weeks prior, I reached out to Derek Trucks. 'Cause I had Derek Trucks, Tedeschi Trucks Band and Ass Pocket Whiskey. And we had seen him before, as in we we did a bottle signing. We went to a bottle signing with him. But I wanted to do an interview. so I kept reaching out and they got back to us and said, Hey, we will be at Bourbon and Beyond. so if you want to do an interview, just come to the media tent. We'll And they gave us a time. Yeah. Three thirty PM on Thursday. Luckily this was a couple of weeks before because then come to find out, in order to get to the media tent you have to have special media pass privileges and which we did not at the time. No. And had to go through the whole process of figuring out how to get that, reaching out to the PR people at and beyond and they did set us up and gave both of us media passes. Those media passes give you access to everything except the VIP areas for in bourbon and beyond. Right. So it basically gives you access to the media area. And then you can also get into the festival. Yeah, in general. So can do any kind of GA stuff in there. Yeah. you're dinging. Yeah. I didn't know. Are you sending me something? No, I'm not. No, no. No kid no kid emergencies upstairs? No. Okay. So so Wednesday night we had to pick up those media passes, which we did. Which is just just a wristband. And we also picked up our Angels Envy Beyond VIP passes. So that was the top tier of passes you could get. just below that was mint VIP and below that is general admission. So I think we're talking about general admission being four to five hundred dollars for one person for the four day festival. Mint VIP being maybe eleven hundred for a four day. And the Angels Envy was about twenty two fifty for one person for a four day. So it was significantly more expensive, but us had never having been there, we didn't really know. And I think because the Angels Envy included food and drinks, and you were able to get closer to the stages, I think we decided, well, let's just do that. Right. Because we also decided we weren't going to the gorge because we had a wedding to go to, so we had that money to kind of spend on it. So that's what we did. And we like the Angels Envy VIP. I think Like I said, the there was there was food. There's food from twelve to eight and they switched it out every two hours. And it was they say it's finger foods, which I guess it is, but you can take as much of it as you want. And you can eat enough. And I I personally didn't have anything extra at the festival food wise. Right. And y I think you had an ice cream cone. Ice cream. Outs outside of the VIP because they didn't have ice cream. and you also had a access to free drinks in the Angels Envy VIP area. Right. And they had about six pre made drinks you could get. Now what I don't know could you just go up and say I want some Angels Envy meat? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, and I did. Okay couple times. And they also had a couple mocktails, which I did enjoy one of those a lot. I thought that was really good. And then you could also get water, soda, monster, power I Gatorade. I don't know if it what it was. Gatorade, Power Aid, I don't know. I didn't get that. But so that was all included. So that along with having your own little private area, which is not as crowded as a general fet festival, and also being able to get closer to the the big stages. Well, and I think there's one huge thing yes. The bathrooms. The bathrooms. Right. They weren't port a potties like everywhere else. Right. they were bathroom trailers. Bathroom trailers, yeah. Exactly. Right. Yeah. So we never had to wait to go to the bathroom. They were always clean. There was always toilet paper, soap. Paper to things that you might not always find at a festival. Right. and also the lockers. They had dedicated lockers in there, which we used so much and I'm so glad we We did have to add that on. I think that was sixty dollars extra to get that for the four days, but that was just I mean, you almost had to have that. So put your backpack in there, your swag, your your merch, everything. Your sweatshirt, 'cause it was cold at night. Right. the mint VIP, which was you know, also VIP but lower level, they have many more they sell a lot more. of of those tickets. So that area seemed to be like swarmed with people. It was kind of on the other side of the stages. and they also get access to right in front of stage, just as the Angels Envy people do. But they don't get the free drinks. Or maybe they do get a couple no, I don't I don't know how that works. I don't think they get the free drinks and they don't have the food. Right. And the other thing is the Angels Envy did have that building that had the food and that was heavily air conditioned. So if the festival had been in the nineties as it had been the week before for Louder Than Life, that would have been clutch to be able to go in there and cool down. So those are kind of the benefits of the Angels Envy VIP. couple issues that I had, and then you can say if you had any. One was I think they oversold the VIP in general. Like there were too many mint VIPs. So we weren't even able to get in front of the stage to see the closer. Like there were two stages together and then it was like a football field. And we were able to kind of be in front of the other stage while the closer was going on. And again, it's not it's not like I'm saying we deserve to be on the rail, but could we at least be in the back of that pit area to watch the closer? You know, I I I don't think that's n un unrealistic. Like, say you bought pit tickets to a concert, you assume you're gonna be able to get in to the pit somewhere, right? It might not be as close as you want, but it's gonna be in the area where you can see them. And we were just kind of watching on screens 'cause we were so far away. And I think th that's part the r the size of this event. Yeah. You know, most concerts might have at most thirty, forty thousand people. And there was a quarter million there every night. Do you think it I yeah, I don't have any grasp on how many people it was. So they were saying one million total for the four days. I'd seen some people say like seventy or eighty thousand, but I don't know what they were referencing either. So I I it was a lot. I have no idea it it was a lot. and the only other problem I have with the VIP is that there was a sort of like a grandstand area in the Angels Envy and there were tables and you could kind of go in there and there was never ever one time one seat available for us to just sit down and have a drink because people would come in there and they would take the tables for the whole day. And I think that they need to do something about that and say you get a time limit. you gotta or th or you have a reservation. You know, there there has to be something that like we all paid the same money, but they're kinda taking up the seats the whole day. It's but those are small gripes. We ha we still had a wonderful time at the festival. Yeah. It was it was awesome. I I I think that In hindsight, knowing that we had the media passes. It it it's it's a rough decision to say we should have still done the Angels VIP. I I I think it's h I think now though it would be hard to say, okay, we're just gonna go in there and be general admission and have no access to because yeah, like for Mumford and Sons, we were probably twenty rows back. Right. So we were we were close to them. Chris Stapleton, we didn't try to get into the pit that night. And for Dave, we didn't try either. We just sort of stayed in that Angel's Envy area and stood. so but there were other acts during the day that you could just basically walk up and stand on the rail. Right. And see them. So I wouldn't want to lose access to that. And now knowing like just how comfortable it is with like so many less people and the lockers there and the bathroom and just being able to go in and get your food and get a drink if you want it. It's it's kind of just like one of those things is like now I've felt the luxury. Or like if you fly first class, then you're kind of like, well, is it worth all that extra money? Not really, but now I've now I've been in it. So yeah, I I agree it would be a tough call. But we would save A lot of money if we did that. Right. And I and I don't think you would eat that amount of money. There's no way because I didn't eat I drink I didn't dr I tried two of their pre-made drinks and they were actually too strong. Like all I could taste in them was the alcohol. So I'm not even drinking at this event. so the food is not gonna make up for that cost. so there's also the option to just do mint just to have that. Just to have the access to be closer, but then you don't get the then you don't get the food. Right. The the bathrooms, the you know. So yeah. So I guess back up. We drove down on Wednesday, got the media passes. Thursday we went in, did the Derek Trucks interview, mm, went to all the shows, And Thursday night was Foo Fighters. Foo Fighters. Yeah. Was the the the headliner. Well, that was that was a rough day. 'Cause we did see we did see a couple bands up close. There was like I was overwhelmed, had a headache. We actually left after about a half hour at the Foo Fighters because we weren't close to them and I think we weren't as into it as we could have been. So we just went back to the hotel and kinda lay down because it was I was done. Yeah, 'cause we had gotten there at eleven AM. Yeah. And we left at like ten thirty PM. We were back in our hotel room by eleven. So maybe we're there for a little bit more Food Fighters than I thought. But And we stayed right at one of the hotels right outside the property. It was nice. Yeah. We could just walk. That's clutch. Yeah if you can walk, you can that's that's the best way to do it. yeah. Friday was Friday was actually Montford and Sons. So I don't remember who else we watched that day, but that was a great way to end the night. Yeah. Well so Friday we didn't go when it opened. that's right. Because we Dan had his event. We did the bottle share at Monks Road Boiler House. J D. Fridges from The Bourbon Hunters. Yes. Joined. Yeah. He came over and I had a few bourbons though. We had a few bourbons. So you had out what I think there were at least fifteen bottles. Yep. And the and the bar at Monks Road was also open to the general public. So people were just kind of showing up and we were just sharing whatever we had. And the main draw was our nineteen seventy-six old grandad, because people wanted to try that. So a lot of people enjoy that. you had a Weller twelve, Weller. I had a Weller fullproof and Weller antique. Yeah. you had I had a what was it? Fifteen fifteen bottles. Right. Out. And then J D brought an old Louisville. Yeah. Which he sent home with me. This was one of his barrel picks. we did barrel picks from the Bourbon Hunters. We we tested, we tried they did one of their Jack Daniels picks, which was a Tanyard Hill. So people wanted to drink that too. Yeah. And J D honestly just so nice. Absolutely. Just like a great guy. And you guys got along so well and you did your podcast during the the bottle share. So as people were kind of milling around, getting some food, drinking some drinks, you guys were doing a podcast the whole time and you are getting very, very drunk. Let's just say I drove back to the hotel and he Dan was very he was a very giddy. He was a he's a happy drunk. I'm a happy drunk. And I don't know if I've ever seen you that that drunk. It i it wasn't a bad thing. You were just yeah. So in and after like the next day I was trying to remember like, we had we had a few, right? And then I'm like, well maybe we had four or five. No, I think we had Over a couple hours. I think we we probably had probably a lot. Tried six or seven? At least. Six or seven? At least. So yeah, and who do we have? So Wally stopped by. Wally Dant. so Wally Dant, owner of Log Still Distillery, and also he owns Monks Road Boiler House, which is on Whiskey Row in Louisville, Kentucky. Yeah. So if you do go down there. Go to Monks Road to eat. It is Yeah. Insane. It is so good. The food is so good. Chef Ciro Ciro. Mm-hmm. It's yeah. We've we've had some amazing meals there. And the drinks are great too, whether you just like it neat or if you want a mixed drink. I I had the mixed drinks last last month when we went. Also exceptional. Just they do a great job, so We have to give a shout out to them and for them like letting us host there and being such great hosts. Teddy, gotta give a shout out to Teddy, the manager he's the manager there. He's the general manager. And he just he helped us out so much. He was like he was getting people in, we were all drinking, it was it was just so much fun. Like it was it was a great event. But Can't rem recommend that place enough and and the inside is beautiful. I mean it just everything about that restaurant is great. So I would definitely say if you're down there, you gotta you gotta go there for for dinner. It's amazing. but anyway, yeah. So we actually didn't get to that's right. We actually didn't get there Friday night until later. Right. So after so we did the bottle share from one to three and we probably left there around three thirty or so. No. Probably four. Four s it it was yeah yeah That's all. Mhm. What all the colors mixed together gray. That was very gray area for me at that point. And then Dan, I knew Dan, 'cause he hadn't slept well the night before, I knew he was gonna pass out. And so he slept for about an hour and I woke him up and I got a little snippy because there was a band I wanted to see, but we we didn't make it in time. So, But it's okay. We made up. I apologize for my snippiness. It is his drunkenness and his his sleeping. and I don't even know I my memory's so bad, I can't even remember because there were some some good bands playing. Yeah. I think yeah. But we were mainly there to see Mumford and Sons. That's that's the one I wanted to do. That's that was the main thing. So we kind of like So they do an act, they they take turns. So it's oak barrel, oak barrel, and the final act is on oak. So we went to the third to last act and the towards the end of it and started making our way into the the pit. And then once that act finished and the barrel act started, a lot of people moved over there or they left because there was no band there and we pushed up, you know, with everyone else. So I think for when we got there we had fairly good position. I was behind two tall trees for half the concert, but it did shift halfway through the concert and I was able to move over and kind of get a more direct more direct line of sight. so that was fun. and then we went to Saturday. Saturday. Saturday was seemed to me to be more of a country day. Very much so. We had no one on the list that we really had to see. I did want to see Chris Stapleton, of course. there were a couple people right before him. I there was there were a couple people, but we went in to see what was it called? The Red Clay Strays and it was extremely loud. So I I I don't know if I did potential like damage or hurt my ears. I've noticed as I've gotten older that my ears are a lot more sensitive to like percussion instruments and in bands. like working with the kids at the school, I noticed the last couple years that I get really sensitive to like the the the snare shots or the the drum hits. Yeah. So Saturday when we were there in front of the red clay str strays, my ears just absolutely were killing me. I mean they they were hurting like it was piercing. Yeah. and it was towards the beginning and you were saying it was hurting and I said, Well let's leave and you were like, No, I'm okay, I'm okay. And then I think it was about halfway through, you were like, I was like, let's leave. And we we did. And we went straight over to the ear gasm stand and got you some earplugs. Yeah. but I do regret seeing them instead of seeing I think his name's Noa Cyrus, 'cause he was playing at the same time. And when we had raided them, I had actually given the Noah Cyrus like a seven seven. red clay strays like a seven. But everyone was hyping up the red clays so much that we stayed. But now I kinda wish we had gone the other direction. But anyway, because you were having ear problems, we went out, got that, and then we just kinda stood in the Angels Envy area and watched Chris Stapleton. Or we sat down. I don't even know what we did. Yeah. We just they do have couches around there too. And we were able to get seats on the couches. Now you can't see the bands when you're on them, but That's also a perk of the Angels Envy. Yeah. Little couches. And Chris Stableton was good, you know, but I it's not it's not necessarily your thing, but I do I do like several of his songs, so Right. I and I think I do too. It's just Yeah, your ears were undone. Yeah, I was and it didn't matter where I was at that point. Now, the music well, just real quick, I wanted to show these bottles. So that's Wally's Bourbon Heritage Month bottle and that's Steph's Jefferson Presidential eighteen. Because I'm gonna s grab another bottle, so I I wanted to Yeah. Okay. So the music, their the speaker systems they had set up for the stages, I mean, it was just as loud in the back as it was up in the front. I think it was louder. I think at the back of G A. they had those speakers blasting so hard or it's just the way the sound was traveling back there. It was hurting my ears to be back there. It was actually better for me to be in the front, right by the stage speakers, than in the back. Yeah. For whatever reason. Yeah. So I would say hot take, take ear protection. Yeah. For Burman and beyond. Right. I mean or any festival really. Right. Yeah. But that that's one thing I wish it would have done. Yeah. But so that that was so Saturday night, Chris Stapleton. But then you got an when did you get the email? was that Saturday night or was that Sunday morning about the other interviews? Sunday morning got an email From the media. So every day I got emails from the media place saying when certain people would be available in the media tent. And got an email saying that Fred Minnick would be available. So I responded right away and th I got a time with Fred Minnick and we interviewed Fred Had a nice little twenty, thirty minute chat with them. That was a great, great conversation. And that's out. Podcast number what? ninety-three, I believe. That was it was a good talk. Yeah, great talk. and and Fred had just been inducted into the Bourbon Hall of Fame. once again, he's a a a bestseller. So he was talk he was talking about his book, his latest book that bottom shelf. So i y we talked about a lot of things and yeah, great time. He remembered us from when we met him in Cleveland. Yeah. And yeah, it was nice. It was. It was good. Glad you got to do that. And this time, so when we did the Derek Trucks interview, like all the rules for the media was that if you didn't have a special photo pass, you weren't allowed to take commercial photo equipment. Yeah. So I didn't take anything in. We did that podcast on our phones, basically. Right, we did. So for the Fred Middle interview, I'm like, you know what, I see all these podcasters and different media people taking stuff in, I'm taking stuff in. So I took my case, my go case, and set up and I think that went a lot better. 'Cause then we got to use the mics. Yeah. So it was a lot clearer. I don't I don't think the Derek Trucks interview was as clear as it could have been if we had done it with the mics and there was, you know, because I was taking the video on the phone and there was so much noise around us that it was hard for me to hear what you guys were saying and I was right there taking the video. So I mean the podcasting software did Take out a lot of that noise and bring your voices forward, but I think it just it couldn't get everything. Right. But yeah. So and Sunday was a good day. There were a lot of a lot of people that I wanted to see. So after right after the Fred Minnick interview, you went back. I caught the last song Paula Cole, which like I wanted to watch her set. so I got the the last song of hers and then You know, it's it's all a blur at this point. But I I kinda told you like this is kind of the direction I'm going in and you were editing the podcast anyway, and I said, Yeah, I'm gonna go up to the stage of these places and be a little closer, which you did not wanna do anyway. No, 'cause my ears were still Yeah real sensitive. So I saw Jesse Wells and after that I decided I that's when I met you back in Angel's Envy and we listened to the other bands. And huge shout out to Hootie and the Blowfish. because they were amazing. Like, you listen to Hootie and the Blowfish, and you're kind of like, Yeah, it's okay. I know all these songs. I can sing all these songs, but I was never like, that's a band I'd want to see in person. But Darius Rucker was just like. He brought it. Yeah. He just he had the energy. It was it was great. That was a surprise of the whole festival for me. And for the record, I did request media availability with Hootie and the Blowfish but and they responded and they said that their management did not allocate any time for them to go to the media tent. Yeah. They apologized. That would have been cool though. That would've been super cool. But That was so fun. I mean, that was so fun, like I would consider like if I saw them playing somewhere else with like somebody you know, like a couple of people, like I'd be like, Hell yeah, let's go see Hootie and the Blowfish 'cause that was great. They they rocked. They did some covers and just everything they did was was good. and then after them was Dave. So we were far away. We knew we weren't gonna be able to get close. I mean, there were people waiting at the gates an hour before it opened to get into Bourbon and beyond that day. And so I'm sure there were people riding the rail all day waiting for Dave and I I wasn't gonna do that. So we we can do that other times when we go to his concert. But we listened to it from the Angels Envy and sounded great, I thought. I really enjoyed the first part. Yes. Some you know, there's just y when you hear a band enough you kinda maybe can kinda get picky, but I I don't love when they play what is it? All along the watchtower. I don't like when they play that. I don't like when I love All Along the Watchtower. I don't like when they play warehouse and I don't like when they do covers and they kinda did all that. the good part was Jake did join them for violin. In the second half and that was amazing. So always a good show with Dave. So can't can't complain. No. But I can say, you know, hopefully next time we see him he doesn't sing those songs. I look for Sing your own songs, Dave. So you've got seven hundred songs, Dave. Sing your own. I think the significance of those songs to him Those were his those were his favorite songs growing up. He he loves to play those. He loves it. Like there's songs that I love to play. Yeah. That were my favorite, you know? And that's fine. And I saw people saying it was spectacular. I saw new people on Facebook saying like they'd never seen Dave Matthews band. And now they were like, Does this guy tour? Yeah. And everyone was really nice about that question because I was like Okay, you must really not I I don't know. To me I can't believe you haven't heard of Dave Matthews band, but I I a lot of people haven't. I get that. so that was a great ending for me. And what what else? We didn't talk about we talked about the first time we tried to to make this podcast, but we talked about Stanley Simmons band. Yes. members of KISS, their kids, are they have a band. And they played early Thursday and they were great. They were. the band Couch, we really enjoyed them. And Congress the band, I also enjoyed them. They they kinda look like a boy band, but I feel like what they're singing is is a lot better than that. I the guy's voice is really good. So those were some of the the people that we kinda discovered. And you didn't see because you were at the one stage, but Queen of the Stone Age. Yeah. They were they were actually really good. Counting crows. Why didn't I see them though? Counting crows. Counting crows, something was something was wrong. Yeah, the something this the lead singer, like something was wrong. 'cause it it just didn't sound right. So I'm just gonna give the guy the benefit of the doubt. Yeah. Live. So you saw Live and Queen of the Stone Age and for some reason I didn't. I was over talking to J D. Yeah, who was I listening to? See? Terrible memory. It might have been Couch. It might have been 'cause I think 'cause I caught the end of the Yeah, you're right. You're right. It was. So I don't regret that, but I did hear people were like, Live was amazing and I'm like it was. So live filled in at the last well, not necessarily last minute, but Joan Jett was supposed to perform, but she hurt her back. they had live come in, and I tell you what, that was it was kind of like a hootie in the blowfish moment. I mean that's how good they sounded. And I think that's kind of what's hard about a festival is you have to make those choices and sometimes you make the wrong one. Or not necessarily the wrong one. You just don't get to see everything you wanted to see. Right. Right. A little rundown on the bottle share. Okay. So we opened it with the Ass Pocket whiskey lot number six that well I take it back. These are the things you drank? This is what J D and I had. So when we got to the bottle share, as I was setting up, Teddy's like, Hey, have you tried Wally's latest barrel? No, I haven't. Well here. have some. So this is what I warm, this is what I set up with. And this was fantastic. And then when JD got there and with Teddy, we did the 1976 old granddad half gallon, crack that open. Yes. That was our first pour. And then we did the Ass Pocket Whiskey lot number six that had just come out in the last month or two from Derek Trucks. And he gave me that bottle during our interview. And that's the one that had a little bit higher rye mash bill. it's Kentucky Straight Bourbon whiskey and it was very good. I like Do we have any more of his twenty year or that yeah, I think we should hoard that. I have that up there. Yeah, okay. And then From there we went to The old Louisville. No, this was a barrel pick that J D did with the Bourbon Hunters, with Dude Poole. which he so nicely gifted to you. He did. And Yeah. And if I remember right. This is a hundred and fifteen proof. There's only a hundred and two bottles. And I can't even remember if we I can't since this is like take four of the podcast. I can't remember if I gave a shout out to JD in this version or not. But again, JD, so nice, amazing. Yeah. And yeah, just couldn't have been nicer. Fritterpoor. And you guys really hit it off and hung out. Enjoyed yourselves. Yeah, we did. Had a real good time. Yeah. And again, this it this all takes it back to like bourbon's not about the bourbon. No. Bourbon's about meeting people and drinking bourbon with other people and sharing it with other people and letting them discover different things. Do you smell that one? I think maybe I had a little bit of that there. But everything's a little hot for me. So it's great nose, a little bit of orange marmalade. It's got a really nice baking spice to it. got like an old school bourbon taste to it, but that real chewy mouthfeel. It's got a great mouthfeel. Yeah. And so I think they did a great job on that one. Good. The other thing I did at the on Sunday when you're editing the Fred Minnick podcast is I went over and did a swag swap with the other Dave Matthews people. So something we typically do in like the Dave Matthews community whenever there's a concert is you have swag. It could be stickers, bracelets, earrings, people do all kinds of creative stuff. Poker chips, bottle openers, little animals. There's just So many different things. So we did stickers and we met up. Of course it wasn't as big of of a swag swap as if you go to a concert or the gorge especially. But there was a good amount of us. I'd say there were at least like fifteen people that that kind fifteen to twenty people that kinda came by and we traded stuff and we do still have some of the stickers, so and I think the winner the winner was the Weller bottles. Yeah, so that somebody did Six the six Willer bottles and then a seventh and it says all the colors mixed together gray and then the seventh bottle that they made was a gray color. Yeah. And that of course is a Dave Matthews song, Gray Street, and that's one of the lyrics, all the colors mixed together to gray. And that was exceptionally creative. Absolutely. Well done. Great design. So was excited was excited that that person was there. and I am trading a couple of people who didn't make it through the mail. So if you wanna do a swag swap, send a message. We do have some stickers left that we can send out to you. So fifty left. Fifty. Well, there's not fifty anymore because I use some. Yeah. Well that's all right. Yeah. Yeah. So that was fun. And I do And that's out of five hundred stickers. Right. We we left a lot. We had in our hotel. Where they all went. We gave away. It was fun. And I have to say all the people we talked to were were lovely. You know, we met that Brazilian couple, the g the leader of the Bourbon and Beyond twenty twenty six. What was it? Adam Montoya. everybody was just great. I felt like we we talked to a lot of cool people. So I you know Can't complain. No. Talk to people when, you know, you're going up to the different stages and everyone's pretty cool, you know. I think Yeah. Had a good time. I mean, would we go back next year? I mean, I think you probably would. I think I don't know if I'd like trade that for like the Gorge or something like that, but we'll see. I and I think for this one, this one I had has more of like a dull purpose. I mean, yes, we get to go to the concert, yes we get to enjoy it, but also with the bourbon. Mm-hmm. You know, 'cause w some of the things they had, like the the fork and flask stage. Right. So they had like round table discussions with master distillers or like the the keepers of the bourbon were had like the heads of the the old families like Preston Van Winkle and Trey Zeller and Connor at a Driscoll for Heaven Hills and it was just it was they had such a great series of panels. Like Derek Trucks was on a panel. Yep. Chris Stapleton was on one. and that's right. We got to when we were back in media, we got to see Preston and talk to him for a while. Right. And then you also got to meet Brewzle Right. DJ. And we had a chat with him and his wife and They were really cool. So we got to you know, and then you got to see him again after his talk. so yeah, and then of course we went to the Pappy and Co. tent and we saw Carrie. Carrie. One of the triplets, that owns Pappy and Co. and that's always a fun time. We met Drew Estate Izzy. Yes. Yes. And we gotta get in touch with her. So upcoming episode we wanna do with her because she knows a lot about cigars and we wanna do one pairing bourbons with cigars. So that would be a really cool thing to do. but kind of well, you know, there was like the Big Bourbon Bar. Did you ever go into the Big Bourbon bar? I don't think you it's where the bluegrass stage was, wasn't it? That was the bar that Fred Minnick opened. Yeah, yeah. The whole thing. Yeah. But by the time we got there there was square dancing or line dancing being taught. And since we didn't r necessarily need to buy any drinks, we weren't necessarily although you did go into the what was it, the Hunters Club? I don't know if you're sure you had a drink in there or not. So I didn't buy a drink, but they had three hundred, four hundred bourbons in there, a lot of old Dusties. that's which was nice. Yeah. Yeah. the other thing was we didn't talk about was Wednesday night we went to was it called North of Bourbon. North of Bourbon for dinner. yes. You had I had a King of Kentucky single barrel 17 year. And you loved it. It was fantastic. And yeah, it was good. I even had a sip. I was like, yeah, that's good. So much so that you wouldn't let c let go of your glasses on can. And you actually brought it home. I brought it, yeah. Well you better you better hide that somewhere so it doesn't accidentally get washed. Unless you want it washed now. It's up there with our pile swag stuff. it is with the pile swag. That old Louisville's good. It really grows on you. Yeah. yeah, what else? I guess I guess I was expecting more bourbon at the bourbon and beyond. And I know, yes, they had the big bourbon bar, they had other places to get bourbon, they had what was it? Jack Daniels tent, they had a Buffalo Trace tent. But I was kinda thinking it was gonna be more like more brands, maybe some smaller distilleries there trying to get you into their their brand. There was a few like Jefferson Jefferson's was there. There was the what one of the rabbit rabbit hole. And and there were some that came just to do like the panels. Like Macaulay Minton came from Dark Arts. Right. he was on that panel with Fred Minick and T J Brussel. and Blake from remember all their names. There were like six people up there. but other than that, I don't think it had as for example, hot take number two. Yeah. Here's what pissed me off. Okay. We were in the media tent. Right. And they had a whole bar there. They had a f a free bar and coffee bar. Mm-hmm. Which the coffee bar was great. It was amazing. It was called Drip. Yeah. Maybe drip something, but drip. But the regular bar. I wanted to get a bourbon for Fred and I to sip on while we were doing the podcast. They didn't even have bourbon at the media tent bar at Bourbon and Beyond. Right. And what they did have was Tito's. And you know what Fred Minnick says? Vodka sucks. Vodka sucks. So Yeah. Did not have any bourbon for our our discussion. Yeah. I yeah, I don't know. and you do hear from people that used to go that it used to be a lot more bourbon heavy and that it's now it's gotten bigger and there's just I don't know, they kinda are doing other things. Maybe it's too expensive for some of those smaller distillers to come and have a a tent there. Like who knows? It's possible. Yeah, so only the bigger ones can can come in. I don't know. I did have the free Weller twelve samples though. I I did enjoy that. You did. Yeah. Yeah. I mean it's too bad you don't have your own bottles of Right. You didn't have to wait in line for that though, right? Or you did a little Not just yeah, maybe five people in front of me. And yeah, there I mean there were all kinds of foods around the ground. We didn't have to buy anything, but there were there seemed to be a good variety. Yeah, the Angels at V V I P tent had they always had like a chicken tender type something or other. Sometimes it was chicken parm or other times it was a spicy chicken something or other. Right. And egg rolls. There seemed to be egg rolls. Mac and cheese. The mac and cheese was really good. Yeah. they did do a lasagna the one day. You like that, yeah. They did a enchilada casserole type thing, lasagna. The last day I felt like the food was a little bit lacking and that they kind of gave up. But I still ate it. I still and the amount of people they fed the amount of people they fed, yeah. Well, like the one day they had the the spicy chicken, and I'm like, I didn't want I don't want the spice. Yeah. And the one girl went back and got me one right out of the fire fryer before they put any spice on it. And I appreciated that. And I'm not saying anything bad about the staff because honestly, the the hospitality was great. I say that every time about Kentucky. Like Kentucky just seems to have great hospitality everywhere. but yeah, the all the people in that Angel's Envy area were were amazing. So Couldn't complain. They did a good job. Yeah. I'm just saying by the end of it, it's kinda like the the food. I feel like the last meal we have, I was kinda just like, all right, I'm just eating it 'cause I need to eat and then gonna get on with it. yeah. What else? I don't know. I think maybe we covered most of what we did. Most of who we saw. Yep. It was it was fun and the overwhelm of the festival I think that was gone after the first day. I think we st I I started preemptively taking my ibuprofen so that there wouldn't be pain, headaches or leg pains. Got used to walking more, honestly, just in those few days. You kinda knew your way around. You do a I mean, there is a lot of walking. I will say my feet didn't hurt, so I do I love my my shoes that I had. I think you maybe not so much. Well, I just think that I had done so much walking. It's like I had a bruise right on the ball of my left foot, like right on that. It's really weird. Yeah. Yeah, so have comfortable shoes, walking shoes, be prepared for all temperatures. Get a locker. And we were lucky. Because it wasn't that hot. The hottest day we had was Sunday and I think it was seventy six. And it was sunny all day, but it wasn't humid. And as soon as the sun went down it got chilly. It was yeah, it was chilly. We put on our sweatshirts. Yeah. Yeah. So we got super lucky with the weather. I can see if it was a hundred degrees the whole time, it would have been a completely different different ball game. Yeah. Am I boring you? You're young, you're tired. Tired. and I will say that also they were handing out water everywhere. They were. And that that w that was nice. That was Yeah, that's true. The security guys were well, the people up by the stage were handing out water and I heard they were doing it in general admission as well, handing out water to people. And I only saw one person pass out. And I don't know if that's because she was drunk or she got dehydrated or or both. But yeah. She kinda looked unconscious and carried her out. But hopefully she's okay. Yeah. Yeah, so Would you do it again? What do you rate it? What do you rate it out of ten? Out of ten? Yeah. I think the overall whole experience was was at least an eight and a half. I it was To have done what we did in four short days. Right. I I just think that It was a great experience. Now, would I do it again without some of those things? Probably not. You know, like I it would it has to have the that dull purpose meaning for me to do it. You mean the bourbon? The bourbon. Talking to people? Yeah. Because I think that yes, I was so happy to see Mumford and Sons, I was so happy to see Dave. Yeah. Hooting the Blowfish was great. Yeah. Other than that, I don't know that I would have liked driven to Louisville to see anybody else. Right. I think that Combined though with the interviews I mean the interviews in and of themselves to me were like a once in a lifetime type thing. Yeah. I And everybody that we interacted with, I think, down there were so super nice. Yeah, I agree. and it and for the bottle share, I mean Monks Road Boiler House, Teddy Halmi and and and Wally Dant, the owner. I just top notch people. You know, yeah. Doesn't get much better than that. I guess for me obviously I'm happy you do the interviews, but it's not it's not exciting it's not as exciting for me as it is for you, right? I mean it's cool to see those people and see you interview them. but like for me I wanna be up close to the people who are playing the music. That's what I want. And so I feel like there were a couple instances where I wished I could have seen a little more, been a little closer. To a few people. Obviously, if I could have been closer to Dave, but it just wasn't an option, right? I again obviously I didn't expect to be on the rail, but I would have expected to be in the vicinity. And you couldn't do that if you wanted to go stage to stage, if you wanted to see other things, if you want to go to fork and flask, if you wanna you can't necessarily be close to the closer. And I kind of felt like for being at the tier where we paid, I kind of felt like that was not. not in line with like my goals, I guess. Right. Maybe my goals. but, you know, I'd probably still give it a t a seven, seven and a half. Like, it was fun. I guess. For me it's hard to like know that I missed some of those good acts. Yeah. But I can see there's nothing I can do about that. Sometim sometimes people were playing at the same time and sometimes we I just couldn't go and that's just kinda How it was, so yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, we need to wrap this up before you fall asleep at the table. And I'm not saying that in a mean way, I'm saying honestly you're tired. Yeah. It's eleven o'clock. You have to get up at five thirty. If you're lucky, and don't get up before that. And I don't even know how you survive on that amount of sleep. Tomorrow I get to sleep in a bit. Nice. A little bit. Maybe I'll come back and sleep. There you go. You should. Well, once again, thanks for watching. thanks for watching the podcast from Bourbon and Beyond. thanks to Bourbon and Beyond or and Beyond for the media passes, being able to do that. For sure. Thank you to Wally Dant and supporting us with doing the allowing us to do the bottle share at Monks Road Boiler House. Thanks to Teddy, homie, Chef Ciro there. I mean and we didn't even talk about the appetizers. So he did meatball appetizers and could charcuterie boards for us. Yeah. For I mean, just and those that was fantastic. That was really good. I think I ate those a couple of times. You did. You had a big plate of meatballs towards the end there. that was that was fun. I didn't even talk about all the bottles we did. I only got through a few of I know, but you probably don't even remember what you did. So real quick, at the bottle share we did the Monks Road. Mm-hmm. Urban Heritage Month. We did the S Pocket Whiskey, lot number six. We did the old Louisville. Old Grandad? Old Grandad. Yeah. Nineteen seventy six one. And then we did the Wild Turkey, nineteen eighty-three. yeah. that is a good one. JD really liked that one. And we did a unnamed bottle distilled in nineteen seventy-seven and bottled in nineteen eighty two five year from the familial lineage of Wally Dan and the Dan family. Distilled on the that one was the done in Louisville, but from 77. and that one was really good. That was that's the one you got at that yard sale. So good. Fantastic. we did what else we did the Oak and Age. Hazmat Oaken Age, which is the eleven year Jim Beam, which is really good, but I mean honestly I d I don't even know what you drank. I don't because you were just a you were kinda over there doing your thing and we did the Jack Daniels Tanyard Hill single barrel pick from the Bourbon Hunters. That was the gone in sixty seconds. And then What else do w I know we did at least two more? You probably don't remember. But I do have to say to people like if you've been to Bourbon and Beyond, or if you have questions for us, feel free to message us. Yeah. Info at Bourbon Brass and Beyond dot com. Mm-hmm. Send me an email. Or you can Contact us through our socials. We're on YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and now you're on some other iHeart Radio, Amazon music. You've got Deezer. You added all these things. I don't even know what they are. I don't know what Deezer is. The podcast. Okay, we're on there. so yeah. Leave a comment, let us know what you think, and Yeah. Please like and subscribe, share. Yeah. You have five stars? Five stars? I don't even know I don't even know where you can give five stars. Which which a like or a follow. Apple podcast, maybe you give a rating? Or have have we just been saying give five stars out into the ether that there's nowhere to give five stars? Maybe. I don't know. Anyway, if you like the content, follow us somewhere because we're everywhere. And if you don't, then I guess email Bob. Email Bob. Alright, we'll get in touch and yeah, send a message if you want some stickers. Cause we do have some of those left and otherwise I guess. And you know what? We actually have a couple extra signed bottom shelf books from Fred Menick. Right. Well, so there will be a giveaway for one of those books, but not today. 'Cause you have to figure out how to do that. Saith the boss. You've got to figure out how to do that. I mean is it ju is it gonna be on all the socials and how would you even do that? I don't know. I don't know. Is it just gonna be on like Instagram? Whoever can explain how to give five stars gets a signed bottom shelf book, autographed bottom shelf book from Fred Minick. If you've made it to the end of this podcast and you are still listening And you leave us a comment saying what your favorite experience at a bourbon brass or bourbon and beyond was, or if you've never been, you could tell us what you would want to experience if you went to a bourbon and beyond festival, which is now just and beyond, I guess. Can't get into that. And and you have to use a word. Yes. There have to be words, not just mode. No, no, no, no, no, no. Let's pick a specific word they have to use in that comment. give them a specific word. Okay. what do you want it to be? You gotta come up with a word. do you know what's happening this week? week it is Cleveland Browns versus the Pittsburgh Steelers in Cleveland. So the word the word is Pittsburgh sucks. Pittsburgh sucks, okay. So we'll find a comment from somewhere in our socials. Could be any socials. Has to be a comment. Has to be like a coherent comment. And it has to say have to be coherent. As long as it says it says Pittsburgh sucks. Okay. Just Pittsburgh sucks. That's gonna be Your there isn't enough That's it full stop. That's a full sentence. Yeah. Full sentence. It's like vodka sucks. And I love how you're not just making about the Steelers. It's just Pittsburgh sucks, just Pittsburgh in general. I mean the city's n the city's kinda nice. I'm gonna get kicked out I'm gonna kick kicked out of the podcast for saying that. Yeah, but Steelers fans are in that city, so I You're right. You're right. Okay, well those are the rules. And then we'll go through and find the people who comment that somewhere and we'll put you into a lottery and we'll pick someone. Not like an OHL Q lottery. No, but it has to be fair somehow. Where nobody wins. Somebody's gonna win. 'Cause we don't need all these books. How many how many copies of that book do you need in our house? Do we need one in on every floor, maybe? So if they use the term Pittsburgh Sucks and vodka sucks in the same is then they also get a sticker. Supplies limited. While supplies last. Okay. All right. Nobody's listen nobody's listening anymore. If you're listening though, we love ya. Have a great night. Take care. Have a great night. Have fun. Go to festivals. Drink bourbon. Yeah. Good night. Good night.