Charlie Nelson

00:00Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio, the tastiest hour of talk in Music City. Now here's your host, Brandon Styll. Hello Music City and welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. My name is Brandon Styll and I am your host. We are powered by Gordon Food Service. Some call them GFS, but you get the point. They're amazing. They help us do this show. We love GFS. We got a good one for you today. Today we are talking with Mr. Charlie Nelson. Charlie is the owner, him and his brother Andy. They own Bell Mead Bourbon. And yes, you're like, hey, isn't there a Nelson Brothers whiskey, like a big tasting room downtown? Yes, this is that Nelson brother and the brothers, Andy and Charlie Nelson. This is Charlie Nelson. Today is a, it's interesting because it's not like an interview. You know, I can ask him questions about what he's doing now, get caught up on Bell Mead, but this is really just two friends catching up after a long time. It's kind of a voyeuristic episode. You get to just listen in as we catch up. He is on baby watch when we did this. So he had his phone out. He was like, my wife's in pre-labor. I may have a child. He since this interview has had the child and has a healthy baby boy named Charlie. So just wish him a happy congratulations to that. If you wanted to know the rest of the story, this is the second time Charlie's been on the podcast. The first time was October the 20th, 2020. And I will tell you, I went, I had to go through like all the episodes to find that episode and I had to go back like 200 and something episodes to find that. Man, back in 2020, 2021, we had some pretty amazing episodes. Let me tell you

02:00this. We had Julio Hernandez come on who obviously owns Maiz De La Vida, best chef in Nashville last year. Michelin guide recommended. He, he's all over the place and he's been nominated for James Beard awards. He had his second episode, but first episode way back in the day, Bill La Violette, another Michelin recommended guy back in 2020. We had Benjamin Goldberg, Edgar Victoria. We had Brian and Leah from kisser when they were doing their pop-up at the Patterson house. That was in 2020 and Gracie and Chad from you are here hospitality. Michael Hannah from St. Vito's back in 2021. Brian Baxter back in 2021, Josh Hobbiger, Brian Lee Weaver, Tom Morales. I was looking back and I was like, man, we had some damn good episodes. If you're looking for something to listen, if you've newly found us, go back into our archive. We've had a 300 and something up 350 some 70 something. I don't even know. I've lost count at this point. But in this episode, Charlie does say that he will be at our event on Tuesday. This coming Tuesday, we're going to be at Perrin bakery. We're going to be introducing Aubrey and Tyler to the restaurant community. So if you are a restaurant owner out there and you want to come hang the whole idea here is this isn't to sell you something. Everybody always says the restaurant owners don't hang out enough. And every time that there's a restaurant owner hang, there's always like 10 vendors. They're trying to sell them something. I'm trying to create the anti that I'm trying to create an opportunity for restaurant owners to hang out and just hang out. So there's not going to be sales people. They're selling you things. We're actually going to be giving away our trophy for the fantasy football league, which was won by Nick Guidry from Pelican and Peg.

03:42So you get to meet Nick, come by, say hi to him. Shane Nasby was the loser. He gets a trophy too. We're going to be awarding Max Goldberg his trophy from two years ago and Brian Baxter, his trophy from last year. It's just going to be a lot of fun. So in this episode, Charlie, if you want to meet Charlie Nelson, come on out and drink some Belmead bourbon. We're also going to have Wild there. So if you're doing dry ginger, we're going to have some THC beverages, Fat Bottom Brew is going to be pouring the beers, lots and lots of fun things. Josh, who runs the Nashville Brewing Company, Fat Bottom Brewery was second place. Maybe I'll have him award the trophy. Second place runner up in the fantasy football league. So I guess his penance for losing is he's got to pour us all beer. It's going to be epic. Didn't start the episode off today with a commercial. I usually do that, but I'm going to do that right now because C&B Linen has a big announcement. We have a big announcement out there. C&B Linen has purchased, acquired, whatever you want to say, Hogan Linen's, right? So if you are out there and you're like, Hey, I use Hogan's. You are the luckiest person in the world, right? Because you're with a company previously and now you're going to be with C&B Linen and they are game changing Linen people.

04:54If you haven't heard that, I think they've reached out to everybody at this point, but if you want to learn more about them, I give them my full 100% backing. These are awesome people who care about your success and I am happy to give a recommendation to anybody out there who wants a good linen company that doesn't suck. I know it's kind of an oxymoron. You can't find that, but C&B is that. C&B is that company and now they're going to be, their presence is here. They're not going anywhere, guys. Now they've acquired Hogan. That's going to bring them a ton of business here in town. They're already crushing it. Everybody that we've tried off using them at NARA has loved them. Again, they're unbelievable. If you want to learn more about C&B Linen, go to naranashville.com, click the tab, vendor members and click on C&B Linen, learn more about them. They're really, really great people and if you're one of the people that used Hogan and you have any questions, you can reach out to them or you can reach out to me. I'm happy to answer any questions you have because I represent them and they are amazing and I don't represent people that aren't amazing. So if you hear me talk about them, I give them my full endorsement. That's what I got right there. That is our intro 2026 coming at you. I'm looking forward to seeing everybody Tuesday night. If you're a restaurant owner, go to naranashville.com and register for our winter social. Love to have you there, but for now we're going to jump in with Charlie Nelson. You are listening to Nashville Restaurant Radio. Super excited today to welcome in Charlie Nelson. Charlie is the owner of Bell Mead Bourbon. Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. All right. Thank you.

06:42Yeah, man. The crowd goes wild. They love you here. They're big fans of Charlie Nelson. Welcome back to the show. I think the last time I had you on the show was in 2020. Sounds about right. Yeah, during COVID, I guess. I mean, it was a Zoom. I was in my old house in the bonus room. Like I had like a little setup and I was like, Charlie Nelson, tell me about this whole story of Nelson's Greenbrier Distillery. And this is so crazy, which to this day, if anybody asks me, I say, that's probably the craziest story I've ever heard. Like the idea of walking into a gas station, buying a cow and learning this whole history and then what unfolded was absolutely incredible. Um, yeah. Yeah, absolutely incredible. I love it. Yeah. Yeah. So thank you. Yeah. Well, I think that, uh, I mean, I, it is great. Uh, but I'm, I'm here to talk about Bell Mead Bourbon today, among other things. That response tells me that you can't talk about, uh, Nelson's Greenbrier Distillery was a distillery that you had. And did you, did you sell this to another brand or something? Um, so, I mean, I could just say that, uh, I'm here for the most part to talk about Bell Mead Bourbon today. The crowd thinks it's funny too. All right. So I'll ask it a different way.

08:20Okay. Well, let's, let's get, let's get my interview chops on. Okay. Respond to this question with you're here to talk about Bell Mead Bourbon. If is this like a blink twice sort of twice if, all right. So I, I get where you're going with that. Um, so you own Bell Mead Bourbon. Yes. Yes. Tell me about how that's going. Cause Bell Mead Bourbon was the original bourbon that you guys had, right? That was the kind of the thing that started it all. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, Bell Mead Bourbon is like an historic local Nashville, middle Tennessee area brand pre-prohibition, um, that, uh, we brought back to life. You know, we sold their first bottle in like 2012. Um, and you know, it was my brother and I started it and, uh, we now again are the full owners of the brand, um, which is, so we have the company is officially Bell Mead Spirits. Okay. And under that umbrella, um, we own Bell Mead Bourbon, Louisa's Liqueur and Shotzi Vodka. And we may do some other stuff, uh, some other line extensions and, you know, add to that portfolio as well. But, um, we're just really excited to have full ownership and control of that company. Um, and kind of, uh, bringing it back to life again.

09:52And so, uh, we're really excited about it. Now Bell Mead Bourbon was an old distillery. Is there any reference to actual like Bell Mead, like in West Nashville? So, um, historically there, it's, it's kind of, it's interesting, a little bit complicated, but, um, so there was a Bell Mead distillery that was owned by the Sperry Wade and company. And they're actually, you know, we're still, there's still more information that we find out all the time, but, uh, we believe that there were actually a couple different distilleries. There was one that we believe was near where like St. Thomas Hospital is now. And then also another one that was like sort of by where Bordeaux is. Um, interesting. Yeah. I mean, back then, like it wasn't so much a matter of if a distillery would burn, but when, um, you know, there were fire protection at some point. Yeah. I mean, like going back, looking at records and stuff, you always find like, okay, one distillery was registered distillery number X and then, uh, let's say it was registered distillery number eight. And then you look at records 10 years later and that same company has registered distillery number 855. It's like, well, what happened? And you know, this is something that I found back when I was doing a lot of research and historical archives and stuff that what happened in some of those cases was that there was a fire, it burned, they moved locations and had to re-register the distillery. And so maybe same ownership and same names and everything, but, but that happened. So I don't know a hundred, I know that there was a fire at the Bell Mead distillery, you know, back prior to 1900. Um, but I'm not a hundred percent clear on which one it was and what year it was. I need to do a little bit more research.

11:55How'd you get the rights to that name? I mean, if it was a previous distillery, did you, I mean, it's almost like there was another distillery with like a name on it that you would take over at some point. How did you do that for Bell Mead Bourbon? Um, well, I mean, like, uh, from a legal standpoint, we hired a lawyer and had him file for the trademarks and everything. So you didn't like purchase it from Bell, it was just an older distillery and you brought it back. It wasn't owned by anybody. It was just a historical name and public domain, public domain. Okay. So that was okay. Yeah. So nobody was like, you know, operating a business under that name at that point in time. But we found, you know, uh, it was actually, um, part of the way that the brand came about was, you know, looking at an old, um, sort of sales list of, you know, historic brands, um, that, uh, you know, it was very intriguing to me. Um, and I said the name Bell Mead Bourbon out loud. I said Bell Mead Bourbon. Ooh, that sounds pretty good. I kind of like that.

13:04That sounds, it rolls off of the tongue. Yeah. Yeah. It does though. Yeah. Yeah. And, um, and there was actually Bell Mead Bourbon, Bell Mead Rye and Bell Mead Tennessee Whiskey. Yeah. And, and then found an old original ad for Bell Mead. And, you know, I actually, I've got, I could, I could show you on my phone, but, uh, or, you know, they're like, there's an article or an ad from the daily American newspaper, May 1st, 1885, that I think it was the sports section. And, um, yeah. And there's a big ad, like a half page ad or something that is basically the Bell Mead Bourbon label. I mean, we, we took that, that's how we came up with the, the label that we use today was basically taking that old original ad and, you know, updating it a little bit. We had this amazing, um, uh, designer, Bill Barnes, who, um, was kind of a, a, a legend, you know, 80 or 50 years ago or so, but I had no, I had no idea. And by the way, I don't want you looking at your phone, but you might have to look at your phone because you are on baby watch right now. Yeah. For the interview, you said, Hey, look, we, I may have to get up and leave. Yeah. I'm watching my phone with my wife calls. I gotta go. Yeah. Yeah. I just double checked. No, no, no text or anything yet. Like, so you are, you are like hours away from becoming a dad. How are you feeling? Um, I mean, I'm pumped. Are you, do you know, boy, girl, or you see you're having a boy?

14:48Yeah. So, um, yeah, we're, we're really excited. I mean, um, you know, I'm 41. Uh, so I've, you know, a little bit of a late start, I guess. Oh man. It's all relative. Yeah. But, uh, yeah, I'm, I'm pumped and, um, you know, a little bit nervous. I just want to make sure that everything goes well and goes smoothly and, and that, you know, we raise up a good boy. Well, all of that, man, all that stuff. Are you, are you, it's like when you get married, just like all of the unsolicited advice that you're receiving, it's like, before you get married, it's like, no, don't do that. You're like, I got it. I'll figure it out when it happens. Like everybody wants to tell you everything that they did, which is out of love, but it can be exhausting. Yeah. Are you excited just to like finally have the baby in your hands and be like, okay, let it begin. 100%. Yeah. I mean, we've been preparing for this for so long and, and yeah, I have been getting a lot of unsolicited advice, but, uh, one of the best pieces of the best pieces of advice that I've gotten so far was from my uncle who said, um, just no matter what you do, make sure you wear comfortable shoes to the hospital. That's a thing. Yeah. It's a thing. Cause you, I think we had our first one, we induced cause the baby was like two weeks late. It was like this due on July 29th and it was like August 12th is when he was born. And we got there at like 5 30 in the morning. He was born at 9 11 PM. It was like an all day and all night thing. And it was, it, yeah, it's a long, it's a long day.

16:24Yeah. Hopefully it's a lot smoother and the whole thing for you, but, um, what are you most excited about being a dad? Um, you know, uh, I, I just like, I want to, I'm really excited to just sort of learn for myself. I feel like it's going to be a really great learning journey for myself, but, um, I was going to say first just to like teach him, you know, it's a boy. I don't know if I said, you did say that. Okay. Um, yeah, I'm just looking forward to teaching him and, you know, um, just watching him grow. I mean, it's, I, I don't know. I'm, I'm a little bit overwhelmed about it right now just because it's so close, but, um, but yeah, I just, I can't wait to watch him grow and, and evolve and, and just, I just want to meet him at this point, but he's, he's been pretty active, you know, kick in and, uh, as, as my mother-in-law likes to say a Kung Fu baby, a Kung Fu baby.

17:27He's active. Well, I will tell you, you said, you know, a little later in life or whatever. I haven't taken, I had my first one, I think it was like 33 or 34. Yeah. So I wasn't that far behind, but look at it like this. When you have your kids, like in your early twenties, you're still learning every time in life and you've been through a lot at this point. Right. Yeah. I'm not going to say like business wise, anything like you've been through a lot and learning how to regulate emotions and learning patience and all of those things go really hand in hand with being a parent. And so you're so far along in that process that well, all the nerves, all the things like that, that you're going to do just fine. It's actually probably a much better thing that you're in your forties now because of the maturity level of being able to deal with all of this. I hope so. Yeah. Uh, be there for her. That's the number one thing is make sure she has every single thing in the world that she needs. I had like the second baby, I had like a diffuser with like her favorite scent. I had like all of, I had like the, I had a playlist for the room. I had like all the things to be like, are you comfortable? Are you good? Like what do you got going on? Oh, she's, she's already got her playlist all worked out. And I, you know, from here, I'm probably going to go home and give her a foot rub or something. That's the thing. That's, that's the guy to do that. All right. We could, we could talk about fatherhood. It's amazing.

18:51And I'm so excited for you and this new journey of your life. And the fact that you still came today to do this interview while you're like baby watch 2025, maybe we'll see the news tomorrow. Who knows? Maybe it's another week. I don't know, but this is really exciting. We'll see. I'll keep you posted. You were at the Nara connect launch on August 14th. Thank you for being there. Of course. Thank you for being there and being with our launch for Nara and showing up. You've always been a huge supporter of, of local restaurants and local industries and just, it means the world. I love having you being a part of Nara. It's gigantic, a big supporter of what you guys do. You're doing something in February. That's really cool. Kind of as the, I wouldn't call it the anti dry January, but all the people that are doing dry January moving into February, tell me about your February initiative. Yeah. So we're, we've put together a thing called drink Nashville, which, you know, after drying dry January, maybe everybody will be ready to, to have a drink. And so we're partnering with a bunch of local restaurants and bars to play around with and make and feature Bellamy bourbon cocktails for the month of February. And for every cocktail that they sell, we'll donate a dollar to charity to, to drive and support.

20:27Um, and we're also going to do like, you know, uh, there may be some social media stuff and maybe some giveaways along the way, but, um, but yeah, we, we're really excited about, um, this, uh, scholarship fund that we've created, um, that will probably be the primary, uh, recipient of the funds for drink Nashville. Um, tell me about this scholarship opportunity. Yes. So, um, this has been something that Andy and I came up with a, a while ago. And, um, we've finally been able to, you know, actually make it happen where we're, we're working with MTSU. Um, and they have a program, a very cool program for the, um, um, the brewing, distilling and fermentation sciences program. And so we've created a scholarship fund for students that are in need to help support them in their journey and their, their, um, their tuition. And so, uh, what's cool about the program is that it's not just having to do with alcohol. It's also like food science. So, you know, uh, yeah, we, we also, we want to get people into the pipeline, good people into the industry and everything, and especially give those an opportunity that might not have one without this program or without this scholarship fund, an opportunity to, to, you know, get into it. And, uh, yeah, but like fermentation science, you know, they're learning about food science and like production of whether it's fermented foods, like cheese and cured meats and, you know, all kinds of different things. So I went to MTSU, I would have loved to have taken that class. That would have been right up my alley. Like, how can I not get involved?

22:21It would have been a cool major for me. I would have loved that. Yeah. I think it's something that's really cool. I mean, MTSU is great. And I mean, um, I didn't realize that there until, I don't know, five years ago or so that they're the largest university. Yeah. I was gonna say, you don't realize how big MTSU is, how many kids go there. Yeah. I don't know the exact number, but it's bigger than UT. Yeah. A lot of people in the hospitality industry that I've spoken to, you know, when I've mentioned that we're doing this, like, oh, I went to MTSU. Oh, hell yeah. I'm a grad from MTSU. Yeah. So I am not a grad, but I went there. I went there. And then I got my hospitality degree, uh, at the school of hard knocks. Nice. I left to go manage a, uh, Amerigo in Jackson, Mississippi. Oh man. I, you know, I haven't been to, I've been to Jackson. I've been to Amerigo, but I haven't been to the one in Jackson. Really? Yeah. That's, that's the OG. That's the original one. I know. I, I want to go, uh, I was like going to MTSU and working at Amerigo. Then I went down there, uh, to open the char when it first opened in Highland village and Jackson 2001, 2002, I was, I came back to Nashville.

23:34I was 22 years old and, uh, they said, Hey, why don't you come manage the restaurant? And I was like, go to school, continue to learn from somebody else who's done this. I knew I wanted to be in restaurants. This is what I wanted to do. Or I could go there and actually get out as 22 as a manager at Jackson at the Amerigo there. And that restaurant was packed. I mean, it was the restaurant and Jackson's grown a lot since then, from what I understand, but, uh, it was the, the restaurant. It was, people would always say like, man, you moved to Jackson, Mississippi. And I was like, there's the best like two and a half years on my, like it was so much fun. Just being there 22 years old, being the manager, like the coolest restaurant in town. I was like, hell yeah. Look at me go. I, my ego was, was to this day, it's still pretty low, but, uh, it was a lot of fun. And, um, yes. So I, I probably would have stayed if that was something that was there. I mean, so when you do this great group, by the way, February event, um, who's distributing for you here in town, the Bellmead bourbon? Yeah. So, uh, Ajax Turner is our distributor and, uh, currently Nashville is the only market that we're distributed in.

24:43Really? Yeah. So, I mean, historically, it wasn't terribly long ago that Bellmead was distributed pretty much nationwide, but it has sort of contracted and, um, you know, Andy and I are, are working on really reestablishing and rebuilding the foundation and starting with just Nashville area. And, um, next year we're going to start expanding a little bit. You know, we'll go into Chattanooga and Knoxville and maybe a couple other markets. It was a really strong brand a long time ago. Did you, what, what happened? Did you focus on something other than that? Um, I'm here to talk mostly about Hey guys, today we are talking about Robin's insurance and restaurants carry a very unique set of risks. We can customize a menu of insurance solutions to meet your specific needs. Reviewing the options and developing a plan for restaurant insurance coverage is a perfect recipe. Every restaurant owner has heard the statistics about how tough it is to survive and thrive in the business, but getting adequate insurance at least gives you a fighting chance to mitigate some of those risks. It's well worth considering a custom built restaurant insurance policy, as it'll not only make life simpler, but it may even overcome some risks you haven't even considered.

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29:55It was everywhere. It was going really well. Now you're back to building it back out. Now, back in the day, where are you producing Bell Meat Bourbon? So right now, we're actually working on building out a new small facility out in Dixon area, actually, in a really cool spot, hoping to open, you know, don't know exactly. It'll be a small blending and bottling facility with a little tasting room and retail shop and everything. So really excited about that. But to answer your question, where are we producing it right now, like we're sourcing, you know, barrels, like we and contract distilling. So we have barrels aged from, you know, like one to 13, 14 years old. Oh, wow. Yeah. And so we're storing, we're paying rent in a handful of different barrel warehouses. While because we don't have a facility that's up and running, we're working with another, you know, contract facility that doesn't have any brands to do the blending and bottling right now, where, you know, we're selecting the barrels that are going into the blend and everything. And so, yeah, we're... You're like starting over from scratch. Yeah. What's that experience been like? It's crazy. I mean, it's a lot of fun. It's energizing. I mean, you know, when we first started working on this business, I was 21 years old, 20 years ago. Wow. So, I mean... Barely old enough to drink. Yeah. Yeah, for real. And the market has changed significantly. But I think that the fundamentals have stayed the same. And I think that we're in a, you know, in some ways a much better position now with like the knowledge and

31:57experience and relationships that we've built over the last couple of decades. But also, I don't have the same energy that I used to have when I was 21. And like... It's about to dissipate a little bit more here coming up soon. I know. Which I'm excited about. But yeah, like, I mean, we were just naive enough and stupid enough to even go down this path in the first place. I think that, you know, my brother and I have joked a little bit about how if we had known really what we were getting into and how difficult it was going to be at the very beginning, we may not have ever gone down the path just because it was, you know... It took us six years, you know, to get our first bottle on the shelf, you know. Well, I think that a lot of people don't realize that, that, you know, when you, if you want to start a distillery and you have, you create this white dog and then you got to put it in a barrel and you got to wait. Yeah.

33:01And which I think, you know, Jeff Pennington was on the show and he was talking about Davidson Reserve and that's why they did Pennington vodka or whatever the pen, the vodka that they do. Pickers vodka because they just had to produce something to before while things were just sitting. Exactly. Is that why you're, you're doing Shotsky? Shotsky. Yeah, so the Shotsky is, it's kind of a fun thing. I mean, that's to help supplement a little bit, but yeah, the great thing about vodka is you can make it today, sell it tomorrow. Whereas with, you know, with our like classic Belmead bourbon, it's aged for six to eight years. And then our reserve is up to like 11 years. You got a bunch of money just sitting in barrels. Yeah. Yeah. And he's like, no, I know it's a thing. Yeah. And something that's kind of crazy right now. I mean, the industry is in a very different place today than. Why? Well, so when we first started working on the business in 2006, there were maybe a dozen distilleries in the country making whiskey. Really? Right. Yeah.

34:12So yeah. How many are there today? I can't remember. It's somewhere like 2,500 or 3,500 like DSPs that are putting out brands and stuff. So yeah, I mean, that's, that's a lot of saturation. That's a lot of growth. I mean, it's still like the top like 10 or 12 big guys are still making like, I don't know what percentage, but the majority of that product and, and of those, you know, a couple of few thousand businesses that are putting out product, not all of them are like distilling on their own. You know, there's a lot of like what Chuck Cowdery would call his non-distiller producers out there or independent bottlers or rectifiers, whatever you want to call it, you know, which right now you probably put us in that category as well. But you know, to your point about like, you know, investing a lot of money today that you can't realize the revenue for, you know, for Bellamy Bourbon. Hoping that it ages the right way and everything. I mean, it's. Yeah.

35:20You're rolling dice. Yeah. Yeah. Whether the barrels are good. I mean, that's why they have all these different. I look at the way that this industry has changed and I think it's been an explosion. Yeah. Because back when, you know, I started drinking or when I was drinking, you could buy Weller at any store on the bottom shelf. Yeah. I remember it was like 1399 for a bottle of Weller. And now you have to know somebody at a liquor store and be a good customer just to get, I mean, Sazerac, I don't know if they're master marketers or if the bourbon industry itself has just exploded with these. Yeah. Men or whoever it is, just wanting to have this. It's like, it's like the wine world. You know, you go to Napa and everybody has their special little one. You go up to Bardstown and everybody, oh, this is a, they made one barrel and I got a bottle of it. And it's like the collector's thing. And it's, it's huge. Yeah, it is. Which is different because back when you started, it wasn't like that. Now I remember seeing, you know, like Pappy on the shelf for like 80 bucks a bottle. And it sat there for a long time. Yeah. And I remember being like, dang, that's expensive. Like who's going to buy that? And it had dust on it. Yeah. Yeah. Like these are bottles like the old Rip Van Winkle. We had a bottle at Amerigo back in the day, like in 2000.

36:43Nobody ever, I mean, it just sat there and it was like $12 a shot. I mean, it wasn't like anything crazy. I mean, it was a nicer bottle, but like, what is it? Nobody knew what it was. Yeah. I remember buying, I bought two handle, you know, two 1.75 liter bottles of Weller 12 in West Tennessee for 29.99 a piece. And that wasn't that long ago. I mean, that was, I was actually, I don't know if I should admit this. I was on a sales call for Belle Meade Burbank and the store, you know, they bought a couple cases. And, and then I saw the Weller 12 for, you know, two handles of it for 29.99. I was like, Oh, I'll get them. Why not? What is your favorite bourbon to drink that isn't Belle Meade bourbon? That isn't, uh, tequila. Oh, you're a tequila guy. I love tequila. Have you had the black sheep tequila? Yeah. And what do you think of it? I mean, the best tequila in the world. And it really, no, it's no look at you. You're like media trained over here. I like it. No, I like it. Yeah. I actually had it at Nara at the Nara. Oh yeah.

37:45That's right. Yeah. Our, our table was set up right next to theirs and I dig it. Yeah. It was great. Yeah. Jason's a good guy. Yeah. Jason. Yeah. It's awesome. Um, but yeah, I love tequila and just like agave spirits. I mean, um, I initially got into like, uh, mezcal, um, when we first entered the Atlanta market, I think in like 2012 or 2013. Um, and yeah, I just, I don't know. Was that, huh? Yeah. It's like the, you found your, your lucky penny. Yeah. Mezcal. Yeah. Like the, do you drink the worm? Uh, have you ever drank the worm? Um, I wouldn't be surprised if I don't remember drinking, but I don't think most people do, but, but the, the mezcal that I, uh, will drink, you know, um, I, there's not too many worms going in them, you know, these days, but you do still see that from time to time. Um, but yeah, I, I just love agave spirits. There's a huge push for not drinking. I mean, the, the non-alcoholic market, I mean, I, I've, I think David Chang just wrote an article that like this non-alcoholic movement's killing restaurants because people aren't buying alcohol anymore. Are you seeing in the market, but I'm sure you look at marketplace numbers across the board, like what's happening there?

39:11And do you have a strategy? Are you for it? Are you against it? Like, what's your take on it? Yeah. So, I mean, I'm, I wouldn't say I'm really trying to like fight that. Like I think that if people are, you know, pursuing a new path in their health journey or, or whatever, if, whatever that means, you know, I'm all for it. Like for us, like, yeah, our brand and product, we are selling whiskey. Um, but more than that, what we're trying to do is, you know, share stories, build community and bring people together. And so like we may in the future, we may want to think about doing some other products, whether they're non-alcoholic or in other categories. And like, you know, I would like people have different relationships with alcohol and across the board. And so like, sometimes that's an unhealthy relationship.

40:12And we, the last thing we want to do is try and, you know, push people further along down that journey. So I would say like, whatever people is best for them, like I support that. And this business is all about relationships. And so like the last thing that I want to do is try and push somebody into an unhealthy relationship, whether it's with another person or, you know, alcohol or whatever. But if you don't have a problem with it and you do enjoy bourbon, I'd love for you to enjoy Bell Mead bourbon. Absolutely. Absolutely. And, and, and like, the thing is, is that like, we're not, we're not trying to, like, when we first got into the business, like our goal was to take over the world. And we said that, like, I maybe have said that on this podcast before, or in other interviews for sure, because that was our goal to take over the world. But to your point about like, you know, the experience and just the journey that we've been on over the last 20 years, you know, and, and with, you know, bringing a new life into the world and just my perspective has changed quite a bit. And, and my brothers as well. Does he have children?

41:29He does. He has three. Oh, wow. So you've been an uncle for a while. Yeah. So you've seen this go down. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So, so yeah, I mean, and I priorities change, you know, and, and I've seen that firsthand. And, you know, like with, with his one of his sons, you know, it just like, I guess, I don't know, in the last couple of months, like we were over at Andy and Kristen's house and saying goodbye. And I walked out the door and then his son yelled, he's like, wait, uncle Charlie. And just like came running after me and gave me a hug. I just melted, you know. Um, it's, it's, it's a great moment, man. Every day before I leave the house, I have to give both my boys a hug. If I don't, they get like mad at me like, dad, where's my hug? Like, what is it? Like, yeah. And I have one with a broken leg right now. So I got to walk all the way upstairs and do the whole thing. And I'm like, okay, it's pretty damn special. Yeah. It's, I'm so excited for you, man. I don't even know how you're focusing on talking to me right now and how you're doing this. Well, so to, you know, like where I was going is that like with our change in perspective and priorities and everything, like what we want to do now is like what we like on this, at the beginning of this version 2.0, what we're calling it is like, we were very careful to like really build out our mission, vision, values statement and try and put together, be intentional with everything that we do. It's not world domination. It's not, no. Um, and I wouldn't really even have domination. You know, what, what we're trying to do is connection. Yeah. Connection building relationships. You know, we want to put out good products at good price points and use, you know, this as, as sort of a vehicle to inspire people to, you know, share their stories, to connect with

43:30one another, build community. And we, you know, we want to be a good member of the community and we want to make sure that like we keep, we, we're going to try our best to keep the business, you know, in the family, keep control of it and pass it on to the next generation. Or at least make the opportunity available. And so like, if that means only ever being a regional brand, so be it. But if it means becoming an international brand, you know, not going to fight it. Um, but, uh, we're, we're, like I said, we're, we're not necessarily trying to take over the world. We're trying to, to, you know, do the right things, you know, and, and just focus on quality and that sort of thing. Well, I will tell you that we are hosting a Nara Connect event, another Nara Connect, not the launch Nara Connect. We had this one is called the Winter Social and it is going to be held on January the 13th. It's at Paren Baker. Have you been to the Paren Bakery off of Sidco, the one in Berry Hill? Yes, I've been, I was there this morning actually.

44:42And I was there on my wife's birthday recently. It's like, we both love it, but it's awesome. It's great. It's fantastic. Yeah. My wife had a lunch at the one in Franklin and she was like, do you want me to bring you home something? I'm like, yeah. Are you kidding me? They have like this brulee pastry. That's like, it's like a pastry that's full of like creme brulee and it is dynamite. Get his dynamite. I'm a, I'm a chocolate croissant sucker for chocolate, a good chocolate croissant. I'm in. We got some good, as I like to say- Do you have a go-to order there? Pao Chocolat. It's you. Well, you know, I mean, so in the vein of connection and all those things, that's what we're doing. January 13th. It's a winter social restaurant owners, leaders- Are you inviting me to go? Can I come? I think you have this thing going in February. We're talking about connection. I think that Bell Mead should be at this event, pouring Bell Mead bourbon and fostering connection with restaurant owners. We would love to.

45:48Would you love to be there? Absolutely. That gets around applause right there. Look at that. That would be awesome, man. We'd love to have you. Definitely. And so we'd have a fat bottom brewery. You guys would be there. Empire will be there. We'll be pouring some different things and people can get, you can come meet Charlie Nelson of the famous Bell Mead bourbon. Yes. There you go. You can come in and so if I'm a restaurant and I am like, this February thing sounds really cool. I would love to do that. How, how do I sign up for that? Like, how do I, how do you know if I sold a Bell Mead bourbon and do I have to like register? How's it going to be promoted? All that good stuff. Yeah. Good question. So, um, we're working with Ajax Turner, our distributor partner, and you know, we're sending out like a toolkit. We've already got a number of places on board, but we would love to have more. So, I mean, people can reach out to me directly on, you know, Instagram with your Ajax rep. We're also going to be sending out more emails with our PR partner Parthenon. They're going to be helping out Parthenon. Great people over there.

46:58They're great. Um, and, um, yeah. And so, and then we're putting together a toolkit. So, one, like a little invitation will go out requesting people to participate. And then if they say yes, then we'll say, okay, what cocktail do you want to do? Um, do you, and we'll help, you know, give like a template for a social media post if they want to, you know, post about it, that they're participating. Um, and then we are requesting that they, um, keep track of the number of cocktails that they sell throughout the month. Um, and I've, I've talked to some folks, like, if they don't, we'll be able to track how much they purchase purchase. And so, like, if you assume, you know, an ounce and a half or two ounces of bottle and they go through, you know, X number of bottles, we can do the math and kind of back into it. Cause like at the worst case scenario, we'll be able to track at the distributor level. Sure. How many you purchase, but I mean, all of these POS systems, you can run a P mix and see, yeah, we sold and just create a drink around it. Right. So you can create a Belmead bourbon old fashioned. Exactly. And every time you sell one, you guys are going to donate a dollar to it. And the dollar is going to be split up between different charities. And I know right now you're working on other, um, sponsorships and maybe CVC or somebody else might get involved.

48:24And then there's, you're still deciding on which charity. Um, but there's charities that, uh, they could be anything, but really the, the, um, the sponsorship or scholarship scholarship, that's the word I was looking for scholarship. We'll get some, and then it will go to a nonprofit as well. Like the giving kitchen or something along those lines, the given kitchen, uh, you know, has a special place in my heart as well. That was, um, you know, during COVID, um, I guess before the given kitchen was officially in Nashville. Yeah, they weren't even in Nashville in 2020 because, uh, they were in Atlanta and we, we worked with them in Atlanta and like staple house and, you know, empire state south was, um, a big support. Yeah. Love, love like everything that he does. Um, but, uh, you know, I was hoping that, uh, that given kitchen would come to Nashville. And then there was the, um, w the Tennessee action for hospitality or, um, yeah.

49:28And so that, like the biggest donation I've ever made was to that fund, which ultimately then became became, they donated everything over to the giving kitchen. Cause giving kitchen was doing all of those things. Tennessee action for ha action for hostiles was called, uh, Marsha Masula, Caroline gals and a bunch of people came together to make that happen. Yeah. What a cool thing. That was just the community. That's kind of an inspiration for Nara. Yeah. How do we bring everybody together so that when something happens, we can do strength together and build. Um, well, that's cool. So I also want to put a caveat in there. I said, you're going to be there. You're going to be a new dad. If you can make it, we'd love to have you. Um, if you have to send somebody, we'll, we'll say that Andy might be able to come or somebody will be there with Belmead bourbon and that'll be cool. The brand will be there. Yes. There'll be whiskey for you to drink at this event. At least be there in spirit. You'll at least be there in spirit. We'd love to have you in person. Where's the crowd? Oh, sorry guys. We got it there.

50:33Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, dude. The, my little clap here, the one right next to clapping is the rim shot. And this episode is going to come out after this, but I had, um, had Brad Hopkins and Bryson Hopkins. And we do at the end of the show, we do the Gordon foods and his final thought. You get to take us out with whatever you want to say. And you know, you could kind of some, I just, whatever you want to say it in the show, you're going to have that opportunity here in about 10 minutes. So be ready for that. I need to prepare on in your own brain, do this. But we went, then Ollie spoke for a minute and then Bryson spoke and then, and Brad gets up and he's like, man, you know, we can do all things through, through Christ who strengthens us. And this is a special thing. And I'm excited to work with my son and all these, it's amazing what God can do. And this just a, it's an honor to be here and all, all the things. And it was like this real moment. I was like, man, that's amazing. Oh, I need to do the clapping. That's right. And he did this whole thing and man, everybody lost it. Cause he did this beautiful final thought. And that had a rim shot at the end of his final thought. And it's a moment you got to listen to. It hasn't come out yet, but this it's weird to have so many episodes we're doing right now. And so many amazing people coming in here and talking and sharing. All right. Where do you want to go? Where do you want to go? I could go a hundred different directions. I mean, Ooh, um, golly.

52:03We've got the wet February is happening. All right. So we've got that. We've got our Nara connect event. Anything else, any other big events you're doing the music, city food and wine this summer, anything that's going on? How can restaurant tours help you and your mission pick up your product? Obviously. Absolutely. Um, yeah, I mean, we would love to, we're still sort of, uh, growing the, the list of, of bars and restaurants. And are you involved in shared spirits? Um, what's, Oh, is that where you can like send drinks? That's a really nice company. That's right. That's right. Um, we, I don't think we are. You need to get involved with them because you can not only have your, you can go, Hey, Justin, we want to be on shared spirits and we want to send drinks to people. And you can, from his app, you can jump in and you can send bell meat. You can send people, Hey, a green Hills grill. I want you to go, I'm going to send them 10 drinks. And then you can send 10 people and they'll get a notification on their shared spirits. You've been sent a drink by Charlie Nelson, go to the green Hills grill and you can have a, and you can buy them a drink. And it has the drink, the tax and the gratuity already included. So anybody can just walk in and go, Hey, I have a free bell meat bourbon. I liked it. And they go, sure, no problem. And then people who carry your bourbon can then get, you can send people in to have their drinks. What happens if they don't carry it? Well, the restaurant has to be on there too. Okay. And so you have to have like the menu when you walk into a restaurant, you can say, Hey, are you on shared spirits? If you carry my drink, I'll send 10 people in here to drink. I'll send a drink to 10 people to come to your bar to order. If you pick up my bourbon, I will send 10 people in to come drink it. And that's just sold half the bottle for you.

53:55Instead of you having to go, Hey, I'll do an activation. I'll show up. Now you can get 20 restaurants and send 20 restaurants, 20 drinks and say, everybody go in there. I'm going to get you new butts and seats. It's kind of a beautiful thing. It's the most beautiful thing. I mean, it's going to be the next way that people like you market because you it's all paid for it's all legal. Everything. It's not like, well, I got to account for this. No, you can just go to shared spirits and go, I want to, I got 10 new restaurants. I want to send people into those restaurants. And what a fun activation that would be for placements. You need to get involved with shared spirits. And if you're a restaurant out there, if you want to be one of those people and you carry a Bellmeat bourbon, then you can get on share. It's free for you to be on shared spirits. You just as a restaurant, just go and sign up and say, I'm a restaurant. I want to be on here. You get on there and then people can start sending you drink. It's through a website. It's through just a shared spirits.com. Okay. You go to shared spirits.com and you yourself can sign up as a recipient and you can start sending people drinks. You can look on there and there's a, everybody who's on there and hey, I want to send Brandon a drink. You can go in and find my name and go, Hey, I'm going to buy you a drink. And then there's all these restaurants listed. You can find the restaurant and then they have all their drinks listed and you can just pick something out and send it to us. You can be featured on that restaurant site as one of the drinks you can send somebody. Huh? That's amazing. It's brilliant. Yeah. And it's all legal. It's not like, uh, there's no weird ABC stuff. It's like anybody can do it across the country. Beautiful man. Yeah, no, it's, it is. It's really cool. It's a great opportunity for it all throughout the U S nationwide. Oh, wow. So if you do activations in Atlanta or Louisville or wherever you're going, LA, DC, New York, Chicago, you can send people, Hey, we're in the purple pig. I'm going to send 10 people in there, 50, a hundred people, whatever you want to do. And you've got to buy the drinks out of Chicago. Is that yeah. Yeah. That was, that was funny. You brought that up. That was actually one of the first places that I went to in Chicago with Bellamy. Oh, it's so good, man. The menu is great. Purple pig. Yeah. It's great. Delicious. And then you have

55:58Pelican and pig here in Nashville. Another fantastic restaurant. Oh, there's so, I mean, it's crazy. Just like growing up in Nashville, you know, there was not many great options for places to go out to eat. And now like, it's almost overwhelming how many good options. Where's your, where, where, where you've been going recently? I mean, like it, I, I haven't been going out as much recently, um, just because of the, you know, pregnant wife at home trying to, but let it take out. I live close, kind of close by to Baja Burritos. So I go there like, that's like, there's always like, we go to like an Oscar's taco shop right here down the street. And it's like, it's easy. You walk in, you order the food and then you can leave. It's like, where's your favorite place? Like, I don't go to Waldo's a lot. Yeah. You know, I mean, yeah, what's close by to your house is where you tend to go. If your leadership team is not on the same page and you are constantly having these long meetings and you're not getting traction, this is your opportunity. Today, I'm talking about the entrepreneurial operating system. EOS. Yes, it is based around the book by Gino Wickman and Traction.

57:15We use it at our restaurants. They use it at Frothy Monkey. They use it at Edley's Barbecue. They use it at Carrington Row, Germantown Cafe, Park Cafe. Lots of restaurants are using it because it helps. And let me tell you today, Justin Cook is a great facilitator. Justin helps business owners and their leadership teams implement the entrepreneurial operating system, which is a set of simple, practical tools, disciplines to help you get better at three things. Vision, traction, and to be healthy. Vision is getting you and your leadership team 100% on the same page with who you are, where you're going and how you're going to get there. Traction is helping your leaders become more disciplined and accountable to execute on the right things that will make your vision become reality. Because a lot of times you're doing a lot of stuff, but not the right stuff. Healthy is helping your leaders become a healthy, functional, cohesive leadership team. Because unfortunately, leaders don't function well as a team. If you start with the leaders, the rest of the organization will follow. And you'll get to a point to where your entire team is crystal clear on vision. Everywhere you look, people are executing the things that make your vision come true. And it's a great, healthy, fun place to work. If that resonates with you, you can email Justin right now at justin.cook at eosworldwide.com or you can call him 615-336-7133 to see if EOS is a right fit for you. He will come down and do an initial kind of introduction and ask you a bunch of questions. It is totally free. Definitely call Justin today. Are you one of those people who's always on the hunt for the next restaurant location? You open any sweet deals on retail space that may come your way? Why not be proactive and have the market experts out there working for you? The retail team, Atlee and Associates, led by Miller Chandler and Megan Glazier, is your go-to for all things commercial real estate in middle Tennessee. They're located downtown in the heart of it all in the Batman building. Miller is a

59:17Tennessee native, so you know he knows the neighborhoods and demographics. And Megan is a California transplant who brings fresh perspective as she fully embraces the Music City culture. They use the best prop tech like Placer AI and Esri to analyze the data while also leveraging their own industry knowledge and relationships to find and negotiate a killer deal for you. If you're one of those people and you'd like to get a hold of them, their office number is 615-751-2340, or better yet, you can call them directly to get your conversation started on your next restaurant location. You can reach Miller Chandler at 615-473-2452 or Megan Glazier at 760-846-6193. That is the retail team, Atlee and Associates. Give them a call today. You can also visit them at TheRetailTeam.com. So I've been visiting a lot of restaurants recently and one of the comments I hear a lot is, well, we just post online. We do marketing ourselves. And guys, you need to speak with a professional and that is where Miles hospitality marketing comes in. She works exclusively with independent restaurants and small hospitality groups, helping you build a smarter, more strategic marketing plan without hiring a full-time team. The best part, owner Christine Miles brings over 25 years of restaurant marketing experience to the table. She's worked with everyone from beloved neighborhood spots to national chains and she knows what works in real world restaurants. So whether you need help branding, digital marketing, social media, or just figuring out what actually is worth your time, Miles hospitality marketing gets it from quick wins to long-term growth. They offer everything from graphic design to full fractional CMO services.

01:01:05Check them out at mileshm.com. That's M Y L L S H M dot com. Mention Nashville Restaurant Radio and receive a free hour consultation. Miles hospitality marketing, because your marketing should work as hard as you do. Yeah. And like ML rose, I go to a lot and, and like, you know, char also. Um, and I just went to the, uh, the new Patterson house. Um, uh, the other night for my wife and I was our last, I have not been in yet. Oh, it's great. It's great. Um, yeah, we went there and then to Rudy's jazz bar. Really? Uh, it was a great day. I hear amazing things about Rudy's jazz bar, but I've never been. Yeah. It's right over there. Like next to, um, uh, peg leg porker. Yeah. That little jazz bar on the corner. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's great. It's just like a small little place and they're, uh, they've got some great cocktails, uh, with Bellamy bourbon, of course. So in that same little area, have you been to St. Vito's picanceria? Yeah. Dude, is that not just like the best killer? Yeah. Cool vibe in there. Everything. Yeah. It's so good. I actually, I was just thinking about that actually, like a few hours ago. It's weird that you brought that up. Really? Yeah. Um, Spencer own pizza. So good. So good. Yeah. And like you, it's so unique. Yeah.

01:02:25Yeah. Have you ever been to three 12 pizza in Germantown? Yeah, I have. Yeah. I thought that was like a chain. Oh, it's not. No, it's like locally owned and operated. Like it's like a husband and wife who moved here from Chicago and couldn't find good Chicago pizza and opened up a Chicago pizza place. I guess I just assumed. Yeah. Cause the three 12 beer, like I just thought that it was like an extension. I never really even knew. I just assumed that as well. They do original style Chicago deep dish pizza and it's locally owned and operated by like a husband and wife and their mom and her mom. Man, I need like it's mom and pop as they get. And I was like, I had no idea. And we met with them today for Nara and they're amazing people, just like the nicest people. And I think a lot of people will think, and their pizza takes a while to cook. Yeah. Because it's a deep dish pizza, but I would love to get, love to help promote them because they're a business that, you know, I don't think a lot of people understand what they do. Yeah. And speaking of that across the street or yeah, across the street is city house city house. Yeah.

01:03:27I was just there as well. Not that's it. I said, I haven't been going out that much and then there's a lot of places you're going. Um, but yeah. And city house is always, uh, what's your go to a city house? I mean, um, like I always think of just the belly ham pizza with an egg. Um, but like, gosh, everything's so good. Um, I can't remember what it was called, but it was like the Crippledi or something that I haven't been there in a minute. I need to go. I need to go. I was over there the other day and I was going to pop in and just say hi to Tandy. And I, he had a huge lunch party happening and I was like, I'm not going to go in there and, and Hey, what's going on, man? I'm just going to do their thing, but it's definitely on my list of places to go for a date night. It's great. And then, yeah. And I mean, there's still so many great places opening up. Um, you know, uh, like the new junior and 11 11, which, um, I popped into both of those recently. I dropped into both of the, I, I've been to a lot of like, there's a lot of places you're going, but I, you know, I also, uh, I'm not necessarily having a full meal at all of these places. Um, but, uh, there's, if you had Cletus burger yet, if you have, what's the best hamburger in Nashville to you? Cause I, I posted, this guy posted this thing. It was like the best hamburgers in Nashville. And I posted this hands down as my favorite hamburger, but it's a very close second to this other burger. And I would put Cletus in that world. And they just bought the old party foul location, right? The corner of eighth next to like Arnold's, there's going to be a massive Cletus going in right there and they're going to open in, I think late January. Nice. I know. I didn't know. Um, maybe later than that. I don't know exactly when they're open, but that's happening. What's the best burger? Gosh, I, I don't, I can't, I can't say a favorite, but like,

01:05:30can I just list off a few that come to mind? Sure. Cop out a little bit, but it's okay. I mean, um, you're going to offend somebody when you don't mention anyway. So recently had a brisket burger at Martin's before a preds game, which was legit. Martin's is legit. And Hugh babies is, I mean, killer. Um, first thing I had a colonoscopy last month and the first thing I said, I got it. I go, I want Hugh babies was the first thing and they're like, you shouldn't eat greasy. And I'm like, I don't care. And I went to Hugh babies and got just like a double smash burger. Delicious. You know, what that just made me think of was my favorite song and song lyric. Um, whenever I hear the word greasy, um, what is it? Um, gosh, uh, I'm, I can't really say it without singing it. I can't really sing, but, um, you can try. So it's, it's a Kenny Rogers song, uh, Tulsa turnaround. Um, and, uh, I don't know if I've heard this. So the, the, the line is like, well, I wish I was back and making, taking it easy. Cause if a man's going to eat fried chicken, he's going to get greasy. And I just love the idea. So it's kind of something that like, you know, some of my friends and stuff know, like, if you say something like, well, if you're going to do this, then you might as well, you know, if, what is it? If you're going to be a bear, what's the name of the song? Tulsa turnaround, Tulsa turnaround. Um, yeah. And, uh, so I just love, you know, it's like, if a man's going to eat fried chicken, it's going to get greasy. Um, um, but, uh, yeah, so many, there's a lot of good burgers in town. I think, um, I mean,

01:07:31the love of Dino's burger, mother's ruin burger. We've got in and out now. I haven't, I'm not sure I'm willing to wait in line for, I'm definitely not, um, for that though. Uh, like, I mean, is this it? Um, that's yeah, but not this version's not, oh, it's not it. Um, you gotta find the version from country funk. Um, which is one of my favorite albums from light in the attic records. Um, I mean, it'll still, it'll, it will still have, uh, I think we've accomplished you singing and that was the best part. You know, it was pretty good. Actually, I went to the Tyler Childers. Is it Tyler Childers or Childers? Childers, Tyler Childers, Tyler Childers. Yeah. Um, I'm pretty sure, um, so I went to his show at Geodes park. Um, I think he did a cover of Tulsa turnaround, like, so my wife was pregnant during, and I like made her go and, um, and as we were walking out, he started playing Tulsa turnaround. I was like, no freaking way. Cause it's like one of my favorite songs.

01:08:47And I did not expect that. And so we stood, uh, right, uh, right by the exit to listen to that song. I was like, okay, now we can go. All right. Let's see how long you stayed in that show. Cause they played it. Uh, you called me out. No, I'm just kidding. I, um, I have to, I said on this post, I think the green chili burger at redheaded stranger is my favorite burger in the city. I said, but it's a very close second to bad luck burger club. Very close for like, those are like tied to me. Yeah. They're both like really. And then I think Cletus can enter that conversation. Also it's just Cletus is so creative with their burgers and how they do the different styles of burgers. Then you got dream burger and you got Hugh babies, but the in and outs here now, Gabby's is fantastic too. There's a lot of good burgers in town. There are. Yeah.

01:09:49Like I'm missing people right now and the Jack Browns. Oh, Jack Browns is great. I mean, come on. Yeah. Um, and, uh, you know, there's also been some pretty good veggie burgers that, so my, my wife said no one ever. There's some good, like the fuck are you talking about? There's not. Well, so my wife is kind of pescatarian, like, oh, I'm sorry. She's, I know she's very particular when it comes to, you know, her, her meat. Um, and so like, but she loves a burger and like, if like at, uh, at like ML Rose, for example, we would go there and they used to have the Porter road burger. And so she would get that because she's like, want to make sure that it's, you know, pasture raised and that sort of thing. And, uh, so if she can't guarantee that it's like, you know, pasture raiser, it's like veggie clean and all of the things she gets a veggie burger. And, um, yeah, I get that. It's understandable. I understand it.

01:11:00I don't, it's not for me, but I get it for those that do that. I don't, I'm not hating. I just, as a carnivore, you'll never get me to say that a veggie burger is good. Cause I know what a burger it's like drinking a non-alcoholic whiskey. We've ever had a good non-alcoholic whiskey, but I will tell you if you have a non-alcoholic whiskey and Coke, it's like non-alcoholic wine. To me, it's like, people are like, Oh, this stuff's nasty. I'm like, well, I'm like, I haven't had wine in over six years, like real wine. When I drink a non-alcoholic wine, it's like, Hey, this is pretty good. Like I will. So I'm the same way cause I don't drink, but I will enjoy it. If you don't eat meat, then you, maybe you can find a good, it's a good veggie burger. Like, but to me, I'm like, no, it's nothing. Sorry. Yeah. So a lot of great burgers in town. There are a lot of great burgers. All right, man. Anything else you want to say about Nelson's Greenbrier distillery? Anything that you want to just get off your chest?

01:12:08Um, you're here to talk about Belmead bourbon. Let me guess, right? That is correct. I love it. Thank you so much for coming out here, especially on a day like this where you're literally watching your phone, waiting for the phone call. Congratulations in advance. Thank you. Excited that you're here. I'm excited to see you again on the 13th of January. Yes. Um, I'm excited. I got to introduce you to Shared Spirits. Yeah. Cause this is going to be your new marketing. You're going to be like, Oh, this is the greatest thing in the world. It's going to be awesome. Tell all your friends. And when you go in restaurants, get them to sign up for it. When you get placements at places, get them to sign up for Shared Spirits so that you can buy drinks there. And if you are out there and you're a restaurant owner, you need to pick up Belmead bourbon. This is a great, uh, it's a great product, great lineage. Um, it sells like crazy. I mean, people know the brand when you have it there, people buy it. It's one of those things. We have it at Maribel and Green Hills Grill and people, we, we sell a ton of it. I mean, people buy a lot of it and they see it and they know it. It's easy to order. It tastes good.

01:13:13You can pick it up through Ajax Turner right now. It's in a great price point. Yeah. It's money on it. Do it. It's, uh, yeah, it's back. It's back and it, it ain't going nowhere. No. Good. Well, that's good to hear. It's going to be in the family forever. Yeah, exactly. I love that. So now is the time that we have the Gordon food service final thought. Oh, okay. This is your the final thought before you become a dad. Oh my gosh. I just added some weight to this. Did you see how I just did that? All right. Final thought, whatever you want to say, no time limit. You just get to say whatever you want to say to take us out of this show. I'm not even going to respond. You just get to, to, to grip it and rip it. The mic is yours. Um, man, you know, um, I had fun with my buttons today. Uh, are you, can you edit out all the silence and me thinking?

01:14:17I got crickets. Okay. Jiminy crickets. Um, you know, I think that, uh, something that like, I just feel so fortunate to be in the Nashville area. Um, because I don't think that our business would work at all, um, in any other city or community because Nashville has been so great. Like the Nashville community, I feel like is very unique in the way that it supports, you know, all of these other businesses and how important relationships are and how the relationships are honored. And of course it's, it's gotten, you know, things have evolved over the last decade or a couple of decades, but, um, I'm just, I feel so fortunate to be a part of the Nashville community and just really looking forward to, you know, the next decade, next several decades. And, um, you know, if a man's going to eat fried chicken, he's going to get greasy. Heard. I love it. Thank you, uh, Charlie Nelson for joining us today on Nashville restaurant radio. We will see you soon. Thank you.

01:15:44All right. Thank you so much to Charlie Nelson for joining us here on the show. Thank you, the listener for listening all the way through. And I want to thank all the restaurants who have entrusted us, uh, through our Alliance, the Nashville area restaurant Alliance. We've been having some amazing conversations, amazing, uh, negotiations. Uh, we've been helping people. I'll get some testimonials for you, but if you're a restaurant out there and need some help, come to this thing on Tuesday, come to Perrin bakery on Sidco drive from four to seven. This is not a, you have to be there for three hours. You can come in. We're going to do the Facebook trophies at five, but you can just come in, hang out for a little while and leave. If you want to come have a drink, go, uh, we'd love to see you come by, stop, say hi, uh, meet some other restaurant owners. It'd be a lot of fun. And what else do we have going on here? Um, if you're not following the Nashville area restaurant Alliance on Instagram, follow them at Nara Nashville. That's N A R A Nashville. And if you're not following this page, wherever you're listening to this, go ahead and subscribe. We need more subscribers. Let's fill this thing up. Uh, again, I do this for the restaurant owners. If you're not a restaurant owner, you get to, it's kind of a voyeur strict side, but I do this for people who are in operations and restaurants and, uh, we love you. We care about you. Uh, we want, uh, want you to succeed. That's better, better restaurants, stronger communities. That's what we're doing over at Nara. So we hope that you guys are being safe out there. Love you guys. Bye.