Thanks for the vote of confidence, Chuck. I feel like a robot these days, just processing paperwork, paying bills, bookkeeping, blah blah...good to hear kind words.
I had lunch with Drew Kulsveen recently who informed me that the stash of rye barrels that many of us have pulled from for private bottlings (my Red Hook Rye, Black Maple Hill, Willet, etc) has pretty much been depleted. He's got some whiskey in tank but the warehouse is emptied out. Mike V., Brenda, and the Lippmans may remember when we were in the warehouse picking out barrel 2 of Red Hook Rye, there were a few barrels on the ground that had fallen out of the ricks. Well, those are tapped now, too. Sad to see it all go...but the positive side is that the Kulsveens will be distilling soon and although we gotta wait many, many years for that kinda whiskey aged stock, we'll have a new distillery to work with and an exciting new day in Kentucky when that still is fired up. The family has been working slowly but surely in getting their equipment ready to go. Will this be the year the fire is lit? Hmmmmm.....I'm thirsty for white dog. Red Hook Rye white dog....at least it'll be a lot cheaper and could be quite amazing to watch whiskey age from year to year, like seeing your kid grow up.
"Drinking just to get drunk is like having sex just to get pregnant." --Robert Hess