Mike and Janell Bass

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01:05Grunberg Accounting, that's g-r-u-m-b-e-r-g accounting.com. Welcome 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. Wow, I'm excited for today's episode. Just shot out of a cannon. I love it. We have got Janelle Bass and Mike Bass. They are the founders and owners of Pony Boy Slings. You can find them at drinkponyboy on Instagram anywhere, drinkponyboy.com. They are a husband and wife couple who are bartenders and they made this, they're mixologist, they don't like that. We learned this, but they created this ready to drink in a can bourbon drinks and they are from everything I've heard. I did, 4th of July was this past week and I took some samples to the big pool party. I went to my cousin's house for a big pool party and I took some samples and everybody loved them. These are big bourbon drinkers. The guy has a bourbon collection and he was like, man, these are good. I really like these. These are tasty and they're great. Hanging out by the pool, playing horseshoes, people drinking Pony Boy Slings.

02:39What do you do? I'm excited to share their story today and I'm more excited, which is very hard for me to do, is more excited to announce the first ever NARA show. I don't know what to call it yet. We're still working on the details, but I will tell you right now, August the 14th at the Music City Center, we are going to have a meetup slash show. It's going to be exciting. Let me paint the picture for you. One of my dreams was that there was something we could do to build community amongst working chefs and restaurant owners in the city. There's never really been something, you know, we had the Nashville originals back in the day. There's, you know, the American Culinary Federation. There's these different things that do meetings and every time you go to those meetings have just never been like blown away. And there's no diss on the ACF because I, Tom Neville's doing an amazing job over there. If you don't know what the ACF is, go check them out because they're doing awesome stuff. But I wanted something that all of the people that you hear on this show, if you're a working chef in town, I wanted an opportunity for everybody to get together, kind of to network, to communicate, to talk, to connect.

04:02And part of NARA was building community. And I'm really excited about this because on August 14th, we are going to be having the first one and we're going to bring everybody together. And I'd like to get as many restaurateurs as I can together. Chefs, we're going to have two tickets per restaurant that are going to be free. You're going to need to register at nara nashville.com. And here's what we're going to do. You're going to show up to Music City Center. You're going to come into a big room, no salespeople. One of the big things I always thought was really obnoxious is that every time you go to a meeting, there's just salespeople there all the time trying to sell you stuff. This is just us. This is going to be only us. So we're going to have a big room. We're going to have all these chefs and restaurant owners kind of hanging out. Here you are together. Let's hang. There's going to be a meeting, right? So the meeting is going to be about an hour. What we're going to have is this is going to be a benefit for the giving kitchen. It is going to cost you nothing. We are going to raise money. I'm not going to ask you for money.

05:06I'm not going to ask you for donations. All I'm asking for you to do is come and hang out and see people that you haven't seen in a little while and have fun. So it's going to be an hour. I'm going to get up on stage. I'm going to explain what NARA is. We may have a panel. We're still working on the actual content for the meeting. Hopefully it is stuff that is going to help you. There will be a Q&A. It's going to be an hour. That's going to be an hour. Then we're going to open the doors to the back of this auditorium that we have there, this big meeting room that we have there. We're going to open the doors and there's a secret tunnel that goes back to the kitchen of the Music City Center. And in the kitchen, we are going to have a vendor show. So we're going to bring in all the vendors who are working with me at NARA. So if you want to meet Jason Ellis, you want to meet the people from CNBLenin, you want to meet the guys from GFS, I'm going to work with, hopefully we can get Cisco and PFG and US Foods and Robin's Insurance and Sharpier's Bakery and a lot of the people working with. We're going to have there in the building and it's going to be in the kitchen of the Music City Center. So this massive kitchen that puts out dinners for 6,000 people. We're going to do a vendor show inside of there. We're going to have food, we're going to have drinks, it's going to be a whole party. So if you don't want to deal with any salespeople, you don't have to see any of them. So you can come to the event, hang out with everybody, we'll do the meeting and then it's going to be food and drink time. Go meet the vendors, nobody's going to give you any hard sells, but you can choose. If you want to leave after that, you don't want to visit the vendors, you can do that too. But you're going to have to register because I need to know how many people because I need to know exactly how big the room is that I'm going to need. So as you can tell, I am so excited about this opportunity. My goal is to do this twice a year. We're going to be going into the holiday season, going into fall August 14th. It's on a Thursday. So we're going to do it in the afternoon. I think we're going to start it at

07:08three and it's going to go till five thirty or six. There will be an after party and we are going to have some fun with this. So I am stoked beyond stoked. We're going to throw a restaurant party for the ages and you guys are going to get to see each other. It's going to be no pressure. It's going to be fun. It's going to be connections. It's going to be everything you want it to be for a local Nashville area restaurant alliance. So I'm excited about seeing you there. And if you know a restaurateur who's local, we're talking this is local restaurants we want here. Let's all get together. Let's share best practices. Let's shake hands. Let's give each other hugs. Let's just show support where we can show support. Let's see people we haven't seen in a little while. I'm really excited to bring this to you. August 14th Music City Center. Stay tuned. That's it. We're going to have a lot more on this coming up. We'll probably do. You'll see ads. Go follow us at Nara Nashville on Instagram. NaraNashville.com is launching today. We got lots of fun stuff coming guys. This is it. All right. Let's jump in. You'll get to meet the people from Ponyboy Slings, Janelle and Mike. They'll be there. I'm pretty sure we're going to have them there. You can try or drink Ponyboy. You can drink your Calexo. You can drink the Black Sheep Tequila. We're going to have it all. It's going to be great. And so food, drinks, community. But let's jump in right now.

08:44We've got Janelle and Mike. They're Ponyboy Slings. This is Nashville Restaurant Radio. Super excited today to welcome in our guests. We have Janelle and Mike Bass. They are the founders of Ponyboy Slings. I will say the husband and wife founders of Ponyboy Slings. Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. Thank you so much for having us. And thank you for the whole audience that just applauded for us. We're very excited you're here. The Uras are very popular. They show up everywhere we go. I recognize some of them. So I've been secretly stalking you guys because I kind of ran across some of the stuff that you guys are doing on Instagram and social media. And I was like, they look like a really fun brand. And I thought I would be really fun to learn more about you. This is the process I do. You see, I look, I just watch social media and I go, they're doing something unique and different. So I reached out and I said, I'm going to bring them in my house. I'm going to bring them into my home and we're going to hang out. I'm going to show my shoe collection. It's going to be fun. It's fantastic. You have a lot of sneakers and they're pretty cool. Well, it's a, it's a, it's a passion. As one would say, I don't know why. I think it's more of an ADHD random, like this is my obsession and then it'll go away and then it'll be something different. It'll be my yard or it'll be something different. And it's great. I don't know anybody else out there like that, that has these micro passions for like six months. And then they're like, ah, I'm done with that. What's next? Yeah, maybe so, but I'm impressed by the organizational skills that you have in that closet. Very impressive. I can hyper focus for moments for moments. Uh, it's a thing. I, I, you know what, I, this isn't about me, but I, it's funny because at our restaurants, I used to wear like these wood sold, like dress shoes every day and my feet would always hurt. And my wife bought me a pair of Jordans one time and I was like,

10:45oh, these are way more comfortable. I got like 40 compliments the day I wore them. People are like, those are awesome. I like your Jordans. And I was like, I like that. Wow. I like people telling me nice things about me and what I'm wearing. I'm going to do this again. So I got a different pair. And then I was like, oh, this is fun. There's like a million colorways on these things. And then you start buying the drops and then you start selling them. And then the money you make from selling the drops, then you can buy new shoes. And you're like, Hey, look, as long as it's self-sustaining, why not? Yeah. It's a lot of work, but it's a hobby. Exactly. Fuel the addiction of shoes and thank your wife for that. It's a thing. So pony boy slinks here. We're going to do this transition. You guys are making a premium whiskey, canned cocktail bourbon, bourbon, bourbon, sorry, bourbon cocktail. Close enough. We're going to get into how this thing happened, but tell me about yourselves. Like what is your individual stories and how did you guys meet? And let's do the backstory side of this thing. Yeah. Yeah. I'll take this one. Yeah. He's looking at me. He's used to it. Yeah. This is her. This is her role here. Um, so yeah, the fun fact is we actually met during COVID on Bumble in a 10 minute span. I don't, I don't know what Bumble is. Good for you. Good for you. They don't sell shoes. What's that? They don't sell shoes. They don't sell shoes. No, that wouldn't know what they are. I've been, I celebrate 20 years of marriage this year. I've never dated online. I don't know anything about it. Wow. Humble Brack, huh?

12:13It's a thing. It's a thing. 20 years. That's fantastic. There was not even like Facebook when we met that. You know what I mean? Like, wow, that it was my space. Like it wasn't even my space was brand new then we're talking 2003 when we met. Wow. So when they're 22 years ago, there wasn't really much going on online. You're right. That was before my space. Nothing. That was it. That was the first one. Good old fashioned in person. Mike is your friend. Folded up the letter. Yeah, that's it. So you guys met on Bumble. This is a dating site. Dating app. Yeah. And what makes that unique? Is it like for farmers or something like, or for, for bourbon drinkers, for bartenders is Bumble like the dating for bartenders? It's for beekeepers. So how long have you guys been beekeepers? This is really cool. We have a thousand bees. No, so I think most people. That doesn't seem like a lot. Probably. I know. 10,000 bees. I don't know how many bees you need. That clearly you're not really a beekeeper. No, no, I just showed it right there. One honeycomb. So I feel like most people do know what Bumble is. It is a dating app where the girl has to make the first move.

13:27Oh, there you go. That's the answer to the question. So it's like the Sadie Hawkins of dating apps. Okay. Very nice. So like Mike and I, we, we should have never met. Like our lives were super different. So Mike's from Orlando. You can talk a little bit about from the cocktail scene and. Yeah. So I'm from the Orlando winter park area. Been in the restaurant business since the early nineties. Started into the cocktail program around, you know, the 2010. I was going over to Amsterdam, helped my friends open a cocktail bar over there. And that's where I saw what was coming to the state. So it was probably like 2008. And, you know, it was already going on in New York and Chicago, but kind of brought that to Florida and was one of the, there was probably about five of us that were kind of pioneered the cocktail movement in central Florida.

14:28Yeah. Wow. He kind of, yes. So he's got that bartender beverage consulting to kind of background. He did. Can you say mixologist? We don't say that. I don't know if that's a word. I mean, because mixologist is like, if you're a bartender, I don't know the difference between the two. Like people call us that, but we call ourselves bartenders. It's just, it's like in the acting world, you call yourself an actor, but people call you the talent. You see, but we would never say I'm the talent. So we would never say I'm, but you know, you are, but we are. So yeah, I'm a mixologist, but I know I can add. Yeah. Yeah. So, so yeah, so that's his background, Orlando, you know, COVID hits my background. I'm from the border of Indiana and Kentucky originally, but moved out to LA in 2011 and pursued comedy and all that fun sketch improv did a little standup all the while working in, you know, chef driven restaurants. I worked at Spago and Beverly Hills. Wow. Yeah, I know. I had no idea what I was walking into. I walk up to the woman. I'm like, hi, I got a lot of restaurant experience from Indiana. And she's like looking at me like, who is this person? You're like from Jeffersonville. Come on. I'm, is that where, where are you from? I basically Jeffersonville. Okay. Yeah. You said Indiana, Kentucky. I was like, that's right outside Louisville Louisville Louisville. Good job. Pretty much that area. And by happenstance, she's like, we're doing an experiment on staff. I'm like, cool. So I got hired, learned a ton about French wine, moved into a beer certified Cicerone roll. Next, then I started doing natural wine and cocktail creation. And all the while I'm like on stages with lots of wigs and, um, pretending to be really weird characters, which was an interesting time.

16:34And we could do an entire podcast on like that section of your life. Yes. Oh yeah. I mean, she still has the wigs. Oh yeah. I'm not getting rid of them. There's like 30 of them down there. It makes for a very fun party. I can imagine there's something about wearing a costume to me. That's like one of the coolest things. And I, I'm not, I don't get to do it, but like, if you can get in costume and fully feel it, yes, you can have a full escape from whatever your reality is for that amount of time. And it can be fun. Oh, I was a pool boy. This summer for a bachelor party that we threw and my name was buddy and I didn't want to change is all I'm going to say. I had a great time hitting on the women. Yeah. I was the Easter bunny at Maribol two years ago. I put on the Easter bunny costume for like Easter. It was the funnest thing I've ever done. Cause I was the closest I've ever been to being like a full on celebrity. Were you a furry? Oh gosh. No. Okay. But you walk out into the dining room and every person just like immediately eyes on you and all the kids are like, some of them are like, Oh my God, there he is. It's like, is this what it feels like to walk in a room being like, you know, Aaron Rogers or something? Like, I don't understand what this is. And maybe it's a bad reference. I don't know, but I fully felt the buy. I was like hopping around doing the whole thing. And I'm like, nobody knows who I am. Yeah. It's good. You're like, I didn't know I could hop this high. This is fantastic. It's a thing. It's a thing. So you were doing all of that. You got into your Cicerone, you French wines, you, did you get to catch the bug? Like, was it like, Oh, I love this. Yes, I loved it. I would have gotten, you know, my some sommelier, like level one, I would have done that. But I was also a degenerate at the same time. And I didn't want to study. So

18:35I was like learning an insane amount about wine. I was obsessed with that. But at the same time, I'm like, I don't, you know, I want to keep pursuing acting and doing all this stuff. And then when COVID hit, it was like, everything shut down, of course, everywhere. Everything there shut down for me. I still did a little voiceover, which was honestly the only time I ever made money out there. I was doing a lot of free stuff. And then when I came back to the border of Indiana and Kentucky, to kind of wait out COVID, I got on Bumble one day, just to really like compare the dudes that were LA basically like, Hi, I'm a musician or like LA, here's my headshot on my Bumble profile. And then Kentucky, it was like, I got a fish or a gun. And I take pictures or truck and I take pictures from my lap looking down. So I've got a million chins right here.

19:39At least three or four. That's the best. What was your photo? Mine was it was taken on the shirtless of course, right? It was a subtle black and white photo of me holding a glass of red wine. And on the other hand, I had a can of spam. And I said, I heard Pinot Noir pairs really well with spam. That was her opening line. See Spago really worked out for me. And you were like, hell yeah, it does. That depends. Are you a hunts or a Heinz girl? And she said she was a Heinz girl. And I went, she's in. What a great first interaction. Yeah, that is definitely not like, was it? I love your responses too. Well, it wasn't like, Hey, what's up? You up? Yeah. DTF. DTF. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. You don't know. You've never been on Bumble. I don't know what though. I mean, I can't imagine saying that to somebody. No, I can't. I can't even fathom. But it does. Apparently that's a thing though. Like, yeah, dating apps, people just, it's gross. That's why Bumble's fun. Cause the girl reaches out. So you don't just get like spammed with all the dudes being like, we matched. What was your first date?

20:58Our first date. Were you masked up? Yes, actually. Well, no, no, we kind of. In the Uber. In the Uber. So I made him take a test because. A COVID test. You had to show up with like a negative COVID test? Kind of. Well, we're still in the first year. Who knows? It's a weird scenario. You're in this global pandemic. Who knows what's going on? So I was actually in Louisville cause I was moving to Europe in 2020. I decided to go back to Amsterdam and just spend the rest of my life there. That was going to be my 50th birthday present to myself. I'm going to Europe and I, they closed the border. So then I, I was working with the company in Louisville prior to that. And my old colleague said, why don't you come up and help out with some projects? So I was in an Airbnb downtown Louisville right after COVID. Everyone was still kind of quarantined right after the Breonna Taylor protests. So there was nothing going on. So I went on Bumble just to see like, do people still live here? What's going on? This may be the only place to contact. And that's when I saw her. She saw you. What was my picture? I saw her. Cause I don't remember. You were in a, it was like the New Year's Eve photo and you're at gold top. Oh, low cut. Yeah. Gold top. Gold top. Gold top. I still have that. Yeah, I think.

22:30So yeah, long story long, basically we texted for hours on it and it was the most, it was the best banter. He was hilarious. He was making me laugh. My thumbs were cramping and I thought, oh no, this is too good. Like I'm going to get on the phone with him and he's going to be like, hi, it's been so good texting with you or something terrible. Right? Like I was like, oh no. Hi, I'm Mike. It's nice to meet you. I'm from Orlando. I talk like Mickey Mouse. That's so good. That's really good. I'm working on it. I actually know Mickey. Do you? I do. I could hook you guys up and you guys could compare your voices. I'm good. So yeah, no, I made him. People listeners are like, what does that have to do with a whiskey, bourbon drink? I don't get any of this. It's like, it's okay. Get to the point already. Yeah. Anyway, I made him send me a voice memo. I was like, oh, he kind of sounds like a surfer. Like he kind of sounds like an Orlando. She told me I sounded like Polly Shore, but I was okay with that much better than like squirrel voice or Mickey Mouse. So, so yeah, our first date started on a Sunday at 3 p.m. and it was December of 2020 in Kentucky is cold. So we got frozen margaritas and walked around outside.

24:02Oh yeah. I forgot my gloves. She gave me one of her gloves. So we walked around with one hand. I mean, the weirdest start of a date, but we had so much fun. It didn't, the date didn't until 5 p.m. the next day. Oh yeah. We went. That's a good date. Yep. We got that. We went to one bar that was open that had a fireplace. Little did I know at the time, Mike was good friends with the owner and he was going there for her to approve me. And they, I guess I got the thumbs up. And then we went in to a restaurant that had just opened and we sat like far away and we wrote on the wall, M and J. Everyone writes on the wall. Yeah. Yeah. We were vandalism on the first date. This is crazy. We actually woke up at 5 p.m. the next day. Then we crashed a wedding, like a wedding that was happening. We walked into the seal block and into the bar and they said, are you here for so and so's wedding? And without hesitation or looking at each other, we both went.

25:08Yes, absolutely. And so excited for them to say, well, the bar is open. It's on the groom's father. So you can have whatever you want. Our eyes went from the bottom shelf right to the top. And if you're out there, thank you so much. Yeah. And then we, we spent the night together, but we were good. We were good. Okay. Not that you need to be good. Okay. Hey, see what you do. I thought he was skedaddling to Amsterdam and I was just like, whatever. This is just going to be like a little covid weekend. And then he stuck around and basically was like, after two weeks, he's like, look, I'm old enough to know when something's really good. And this is good. And I'm not leaving until you figure it out. And I was like, oh, this guy's serious. And then I actually started thinking about it. And I'm like, I think this could possibly be the one, the one.

26:10And, uh, and he was, and we moved fast. We got married 11 months later. How'd you propose? Uh, in Paris on a picnic under a tree in a park near the iron bridges at eight months. Really? You're not making that. I thought you were like totally fucking with me. Like, no, you actually did that. Yeah, that's awesome. Congratulations. I know that's the way to do it, brother. I was trying to find the perfect moment. We were in Paris for a week and on the final day, our friends from Amsterdam were meeting us there. So I was like, I got to do this. So that Friday night while she was sleeping, I planned the whole trip down to the park. I didn't want to do it in a restaurant, you know, being in that's right. But it's okay. That's okay. Did you put it in a glass of champagne or no, it's on the dessert. So it was super cliche. Well, Mike, we should have researched that first. I was 23, 24. I mean, like I, what do you really know? But I mean, I didn't know it was a Ruth's Chris. I mean, like it wasn't like, I mean, it was like, Oh, that's perfect. That is literally the, the perfect restaurant proposal, but it was like 2004. I mean, we're talking 21 years ago. It was a year as 11 months into our dating that I proposed to her and we were engaged for like 10 months. But I was the full, I would do a completely different today. Yeah. Right. No, no.

27:36If you did it any different at that point, it would have not been amazing. That wasn't no show. We had a full standing. Oh, everybody's cheering in the restaurant. It was great. My friend was our server chef came out. It was a neat, it was a whole, well, the funny thing is after I proposed and you know, we had our moment and then I expected to look up and have everybody that was around us in the park, picnicking and clapping. And we looked around and nobody was even paying attention. They're like the American proposing in the park again. Yeah. Yeah. They're just like, Hmm. I think everybody's done it here. Like, yeah, no, that's pretty, that's pretty badass. Okay. So you get married. You come back to Louis Louisville. Well, Louisville Louisville. Yeah. You say it a little different. How do you say it? I say Louisville Louisville Louisville Louisville. It depends on who I'm talking to. You kind of, if it's people from back home, I say Louisville. Sounds like you're saying Louisville. That's how he says it. Louisville. He's just heard me say it.

28:39You're going to actually talk about the product. Ponyboy slings right after these words from our sponsors. Very excited to be partnering with C and B linen. If you know me, it's my number one topic of conversation is linen companies and how shady linen companies can be. I am just disgusted with how the business practices work in this industry, which is why I was so excited when I found C and B linen. They're out of Waynesboro, Tennessee, and they don't charge any fees. So the linen price that you have, whatever that first linen price is, that's your price. And so you may say, well, every year they must raise the price on this seven year contract, right? No, because they don't do any contracts. There's no gas fees. There's no clean green service fees. There's no replacement cost. There's nothing. The only price you pay is the price that you pay for the actual product. I know it's too good to be true. No contracts. They do formats. They'll make custom formats for you. They do fresh linens, cleaning supplies. And guys, I just did a tour of their facility and it is immaculate. It is state of the art. I'm going to post pictures on my Instagram.

29:56You can go find them and you can see how absolutely gorgeous this is to the point that they even wash and sanitize every one of their used laundry carts. It's just absolutely amazing. If you're looking for a linen company you can trust who wants to earn your business every single week, go back and listen to our episode with Jason Cruz, the owner of CNBLenny. Hear it from his straight from his mouth, exactly what they do. Or you give them a call at 9 3 1 7 2 2 76 16, or you can DM me at Brandon Styll on Instagram for my exclusive pricing through the Nashville area restaurant Alliance. Nara for short. Hey, I'm Matthew Clements with Robins Insurance Agency. Before I got into insurance, I worked in the hospitality space. So I do understand firsthand how tough it can be to keep things running smoothly. Now I love to help business owners like you protect what you've built, whether it's a restaurant, bar, hotel, catering operation. I know the risks you're up against and how to cover them properly. This isn't a one size fits all coverage. I'm going to help you find a policy that actually fits your operation, your staff, and your budget. So you can focus on serving guests not stressing about what ifs. It's an ever changing market. Anything could go wrong. If you want to work with someone who knows hospitality from the insides and out, reach out to me. Call my cell phone 863-409-9372 or go to robinsins.com.

31:25Calexo is an art and design collective of BIPOC LGBTQ women and allies focused on creating delightful drinking opportunities for all focusing on quality, taste, and experience. We delight humankind by creating delicious and health conscious drinking experiences that shift perspectives, encouraging real life connection to ourselves and our communities. Cheers. This is what Calexo says on their website. They have three amazing flavors. They have the cucumber citron, five milligrams of hemp derived THC, citrus rose, which also has five milligrams of hemp derived THC, and they have my personal favorite, the semi tropic. It has five milligrams of hemp derived THC as well. These products are available by a Lipman Brothers. If you'd like to order for your restaurant or if you want to go try them yourself, you can visit drink calexo.co or you can pick them up at Killjoy in East Nashville. This is an amazing company. They're not some conglomerate who's jumping into the THC game. They are a craft THC beverage company where just like you and I, this is their only focus. This is the only product that they make. So they put a hundred percent of their detail and love into it. Please enjoy responsibly. Louvre. You say Louvre. That's fine.

32:48You want a Louvre for the weekend. Yeah. It's like you got marbles in your mouth. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. Good thing. So you come back to Louisville, get married, and what do you guys do for a living? Um, yeah, we, we just, well, okay. So during that year, that like 11 months, we, because of our restaurant and beverage bartending background, uh, we start getting asked to do different things. Um, I was pairing beer with Bullet Bourbon, um, West six beer, shout out. That's, you know, Louisville and, um, and Bullet Bourbon. Yeah. Fort or Lexington. Yeah. Um, and he was consulting with Hawthorne and it's, it's a company in Louisville. And we were like, you know what, let's just do this together. Let's join forces and start doing this together. So we started Punchbowl project, which was a beverage consulting company, and we would get hired by, uh, there's a place called proof media mix.

33:51And yeah, they do, um, all kinds of activations and stuff. They work with like George Dickel, Kettle, Bullet, um, Diageo stuff, Blade and Bow, Diageo. Yeah. And so we would go all around Kentucky and we would create bourbon cocktails for their events and visitor centers. And we, to make our lives easier for these like giant outdoor in the middle of summer events, we would make light bourbon cocktails, put them in kegs, carbonate them and put them on tap. And that's when we kind of like the light bulb went off where people were like, oh my gosh, bubbly bourbon. I've never had bubbly bourbon. This is amazing. Blah, blah, blah. And little did we have any idea that we were going to go into the canned cocktail, uh, world, but we just kind of kept saying yes to everything coming our way. And then, uh, right after we got engaged, we did an event in Lexington, a charity event with, uh, and we were working with Blade and Bow. And we had done this like peach bourbon iced tea batched cocktail. And also we did our, our cherry version of our carbonated cocktail now. And it ended up being a hit. And, uh, we met a, um, an investor who has his own investment company in Lexington at that time, where he had plucked a card off our bar, had a meeting two weeks later. Basically he's like, listen, y'all have a story. You know how to make cocktails. I think you all should stop consulting and start putting your drinks in cans. And we had been like saying, yes, not really knowing what our niche was going to be. And we looked at each other and we're like, oh my gosh, this is it.

35:34Like challenge accepted. Let's go. Let's go. And then we're like, new level unlocked. Yeah. And we're like, yeah, how do you do this? Wait a second. There's like nothing online. How do you translate a cocktail to a can? And so it took us like two years, but we worked with a food scientist and we did tons of research. We found out what wasn't working and we went opposite. And we did 100% of our formulations. Yeah. So we did, we hired a, a contractor food scientist. She was originally with sweet water brewing and then she moved out West to pursue the THC game. Um, but we found her online and it was, her team photo was her and her dog. I'm like, this is perfect. I love geeked out for about six months. She taught me acids and basically how to put a cocktail in a can. Yeah. Okay. So you've figured out an investor, we're going to do this. We're going to jump into the pool head first. We're going to learn everything from scratch. We're going to hustle. We're going to make this thing happen.

36:40We have to name it. What are we going to call this thing? Yeah. We were going to, let's call it pony boy slings. That's the first thing I would think about is like, if I'm thinking of bourbon drink, I'm thinking pony boy slings is a duh. Right. I mean, so that's like, yeah, no good point. Um, you know, we, we're like, okay, we're bourbon in a can. We're in bourbon country. It is very serious here. And bourbon country is also pony country. Yeah. If you know, Keeneland, Lexington, that whole area, there's some barns that are nicer than any house we have out here. I mean, that's crazy. If you go up there, how many horses and the airport with all the big, huge jets from all the middle, it's a, yes. Horses are a big deal in Northern Kentucky. Very big deal. Okay. Very big deal. And so we were like, okay, we want to go opposite of bourbon in a bottle. And we want it to feel like fun and kind of funny and just like free and inviting. Right. And so our dog's name is whiskey. And we are thinking about calling it whiskey boy, cause that's what we call him. And we're like, well, this is, this would work. But then cause we're bartenders, we're like, what if we want to do like an extension of a different spirit. And so Kentucky, like you said, a pony boy comes out of my mouth.

38:09It makes me laugh. And Mike goes like the outsiders. And I said, my brain went to like the outsiders. Yeah. And I said, what's, what's the outsider? I said, no way. I was like, no way, because it's too close to the outsiders. And she, she had no idea. But now what's the outsiders. Yeah. Now I know. I mean, we watched it that night, but we actually, it's a good one. It is. And the truth is, is it's like, it's kind of fun that it, people may relate it to that. Why not? It's like an amazing movie book. I didn't read required reading required for a lot of not in Indiana, not in India. No, we had to read to kill a mockingbird. That was us. And I never read that. Well, I read, I read the outsiders. Yeah. Well, there you go. See you guys are closer in age. Yeah. My millennial friends would be like, I know scout from to kill a mockingbird. That's that character. That might be our next scout slings. That might be the next, that's our THC light.

39:19That's stony stony boy. Oh, I like that. Well, if it, if it gets to that point, but anyway, yeah. So that's how the name came about. And then slings is, you know, sing for slings and slings. It's a, as your listeners probably already know, it's a style. Is it? I don't know. Oh yeah. What is this? It's usually what defines like a cocktail. So it's a spirit with sugar bitters, maybe a juice stretched with water. So pony boy slings is a car pony boy is, and slings are a type of drink. Yeah. Like a sling is like how a margarita is a margarita or a Collins or spritz. A sling is in that kind of category. Oh, I, we all learned something today. I didn't, I did not know that. I just thought it was like slinging drinks. Well, that works too. There you go. Like pony boy, he slings. Yeah. He's that pony boy slings as pony boy slings are the drinks that were the type of drink that we're making. It's like a sling.

40:21Exactly. Well, now this all makes sense to me. See, thank you. This is why I wanted to have you guys in here. Cause I'm like, what the hell is going on here guys? Yeah. Yeah. I make this make sense to me. Right. Well, the funny thing is it probably should be more obvious, honestly, but you know, we just, well, you know what? There's a little bit of mystery and intrigue that makes people want to go learn more. Maybe so. If it's just smack cross side of the face, that's easy. But like, no, I wanted to, I wanted to learn more. So this is a whole thing and I love it. Pony boy slings. You've got three different flavors, cocktails. It's three different cocktails. See, this is what you're helping me with, but everyone says flavors. And we say that too, just because let's walk me through these different cocktails that you have. Yeah. And now I know that I read, I saw online, did you change the names of these? We did. So bourbon, bourbon pop star, the bourbon pop star is our strawberry flavor. It is a strawberry cocktail. Correct.

41:23It's strawberry bourbon cocktail. Yes. Exactly. Bourbon, a sling. Very nice. That's bourbon, driver Muth, real strawberry juice. It has a little bit of basil extract in it and black lemon bitters carbonated at 7%. Why 7%? Is that like the beer is typically between like five and you know, six and then wine is like 11 to 13 ish. Why did you, cause you could go anything you want, right? Yeah. So most bourbon cocktails that are in cans or bottles right now, they're actual classic bourbon cocktails where they're like 30 or 40%. So you don't typically get a sessionable bourbon option. So we wanted it to still be a cocktail and be a little bit more than a beer at like 4.55 but not be something that is going to knock your socks off. We want to show people that bourbon can be easy to drink. So seven was like enjoyable about the pool or on a patio somewhere. Yes. Right. We did a little research and talked to some distributors and from what we were hearing, seven, 8% was kind of a sweet spot because it's 10, 10 to 12 gets a little tough.

42:39Well, cause you want to sell more than one. Yeah. And if it's 10, 11%. Yeah. You can't drink like three or four of those and that 7%. Yeah. Potentially do that. Right. Exactly. A couple. Yeah. And that's what we want to show people cause most people do not think about bourbon like that. So we're trying to show people, Hey, this can be like refreshing and delicious. And it's not like a substitute for your bourbon, have your bourbon at night, but now you don't have to trade it up in the cooler for a spirit that maybe isn't your favorite or a beer or something. So that's kind of the idea there. I had a great question on top of my head and I just forgot what it was. It will come back to you. It will come back. What is the bourbon that you're using? Yeah. Like, so is this a bourbon you guys make or where do you purchase the bourbon? No. So we source, go ahead. So yeah. So the last one we did have the Derby cream soda was our cream soda version. That's got bourbon and cherry in it. And then we have the real vanilla, real vanilla, pure vanilla extract, aromatic bit. Don't just run through them. You, you, you were continuing on, on those products. Thanks honey. Thank you for bringing me back in and you can finish with what bourbon it is. Okay. Um, and then we have the My Cherry Amor. So that is my cherry for the reference. Yes. Thank you. I got that. Yeah. Most people don't. So in Kentucky, they're like, I like the My Cherry Armor. They do. We love you, Kentucky, but there's not an R in the beginning of Amor. That's friends of ours too. Um, so that is bourbon with driver mousse, real black cherry juice. It's got aromatic bitters and like an old fashioned. No, more like a juicy cherry soda. Oh yeah. Okay. Kind of like a cheer wine and all. Oh yeah.

44:34Exactly. Your wine. I know chef's kiss. Oh my God. The best. It's so good. Um, all three of those were made with MGP bourbon. We were sourcing from Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Yeah. It's a bulk distillate producer. I don't know if you're familiar. A lot of brands work with them, especially startups. And so when we decided to change the names, we wanted to make them a little more recognizable or simple, kind of explain what it is a little bit more when you have that two seconds when a consumer walks up to the shelf and they're scanning. So we said, you know, maybe we were seeing where we'd have all three in a lineup at a restaurant. The bourbon pop star was maybe selling a little bit more. And we're like, maybe it's cause it says bourbon, even though they all say bourbon cocktails on them. It's in big block letter. So it's in the name. Yeah. So we changed that one to the soon to be coming out, you know, in the next few weeks, it's the straw bourbon strawberry spritz. The cream soda is now the bourbon cream soda. And then the my cherry Amor is the bourbon cherry crush. And we have now switched to using green river bourbon. Yeah. So we can now say Kentucky bourbon whiskey. Oh, nice. But both bourbons, the one from MGP, the one from green river at the mash bill is very similar. MGP is 12 month green rivers, 13, and they're both 21% ride bourbon. Okay. Yeah. So it's like sharp and dry by itself, but then it's really meant to be blended.

46:09Yeah. The reason we did a 13 month is, by law, you have to have it in the barrel for 13 months to call it a Kentucky bourbon whiskey. Yeah, we found that out at the at the buzzer in the 11th hour before, before we purchased the 12, an attorney at Bardstown bourbon company overheard the conversation and goes, you know, it's got to be 13 months. You're like, Oh, thank you. We'll do that. Very nice. Just saved us a big headache. Yeah. So how did you launch you create these slings? Yeah. And you create the slings, you get it out there. Is it national? Are you guys selling all over the world? You started in Louisville, you started in Kentucky. What, what, how did, how did you launch the brand? Yeah. So, so no, we didn't try to go national, you know, no, no, no, our, our business strategy plan kind of thing was to stay narrow and deep. And so when we launched, we wanted to stay in Kentucky for a full year to do proof of concept, to work out our kind of kinks, and then also just to have, you know, Kentucky be our cheerleader, right. And then we want to do a slow kind of grow to our neighbors. So even though we were just Kentucky, when we launched, we did get national recognition because we, so Bevnet, which is a beverage resource, they do all kinds of stuff, elk, non elk, they do food as well. And we had been really utilizing them during the formulation time, just to learn. Yeah. And they do this cocktail showdown where they basically pick eight to 10 new and emerging RTD brands over the whole country. And they get up their shark tank style and they have to pitch their entire plan, their products, the judges taste it,

48:12and they have five minutes. And if you go over, you get like gonged off the stage. And it's funny and like fun to watch. And we had been watching them for the like two years we were doing it. And they had done it two years prior to, and we launched in July of 2023. I told Mike, get me on that stage. Like, I want to do this. Let's go. Let's go. And so we applied to compete that following December, because I'm like new and emerging. And you don't get in just by applying, you have to be picked. And so they don't know who we are. We're a tiny, you know, brand from Kentucky. And we end up getting in. So we're like, we got to buy tickets to LA. So it's, it was in Los Angeles, Marina Del Rey, and we fly, we get there, and there's eight of us competing, and we end up winning the whole thing. Wow. It's like FRAO got excited on that one. Look at that. That is amazing. They are really excited. Well, they really are. And they have not been laughing at all our jokes this whole time. Okay, thanks guys. Thank you. It's okay. Calm down back there.

49:22Calm down. It's okay. It's okay. Don't give us pity laughs. So that was really cool. We got like a bunch of ads in their BevNet magazine. And that was like the- Was there a cash prize? Well, not really. It was like a $10,000 ad package. Oh, well, hey, that's- Not too shabby. Exactly. And just made us feel like, okay, our peers and the people we look up to, you know, they tasted this product. They looked at our brand. They looked at everything. And because for two years, I like look at Mike, I'm like, we're really, the only one's been drinking this. I'm like, we get it out there and everyone's like, what is this? So it was definitely- You got a lot to drink for a long time. Like if anything, we have RTD bourbon slings for forever. Yeah, for the rest of our lives. And yeah, so that felt like, okay, let's do it. Like we, our confidence feels there. And then, yeah, we kind of just went from there. And now we're in Kentucky and Tennessee. And we're hoping to open Indiana, Ohio, and Georgia by the end of this year.

50:40Two, so. Indiana, Georgia, and Ohio. Wow. And then you launched Tennessee. When did you launch Tennessee? In March. In March. So you've only been in Tennessee, what is that? March, April, May, June, like three or four months. Yeah. You're brand new to Tennessee. Yeah. Yeah, brand new. How's it going so far? I think it's going really well. Like we've gotten into some of the off-premise retail stores that are hard to get into. And we got in, which is awesome. And we're trying to really support with tastings and like keep that that way. On-premise, we still, like us not being here, it's hard. But we really want to get into bars and restaurants. Because like most bourbon by itself, I don't think you think to eat food with it, but ours really goes so well with food. And because we're bartenders, we really want that trial to be there. So we want people to be able to try it and experience it. And then they can find their favorites and hopefully we'll be at a store next to them. So that that's kind of our goal. Running a restaurant is tough. Staff turnover, rising cost, and the endless tasks that bog you down and take you away from what you love.

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54:51They carry a number of products for keeping your dishes, flatware, services, floors, restrooms, laundry, basically your entire facility clean, bright and smelling and feeling new. This is just one of the many reasons SuperSource is taking over this city for dish machine and chemicals. You need to call Jason Ellis. His number is 770-337-1143. And he would love it if you would give him a call and let him come down and just check out your operation. Meet him. Say hi. See if there's any way he can help. He is here to help you succeed. That's Jason Ellis with SuperSource 770-337-1143. So if you're out there, you're a restaurant owner, that's where you've enlisted the power of the Nashville Restaurant Radio audience. And we are going to, we need you out there to hear this entire story and go, well that sounds like an interesting thing. If you do a happy hour, this is a great happy hour cocktail that you can pour into a glass, you can serve it in a can, whatever it is, but you're distributed through best brands. Yes. Correct. So if you want to sample it, you need to call your best brands rep and say, hey, I really want to try Ponyboy slings and ask for it by name and get all three of them in there and taste them. And then you should sell this to your clients. This, I think I see people all down Broadway drinking this, but I can also see it on Paddy. This is the time of year, 4th of July, this whole hot outside, let's enjoy something, porch pound and some slings. Absolutely. Lake life, you know, I brought it last year to Nolan Lake with the 11 girls and it was, it went by really fast. It went through really quick.

56:42But on your Instagram, you can see people tasting it at different times and everybody seems to be like just blown away at how good it is. Unfortunately, I can't taste it. I wish I could, I wish I could be the guy that's like, oh my God, I've drank nine of these today. I have not had it, but from what I can tell from everybody that I've seen have it, and I've done a little bit of asking around that it's delicious and everybody loves it. And if you are a guest on Nashville restaurant radio and you come here into the studio, I'm going to give you some, I'm going to give you, I have some samples here that I'm going to give you. So if you're out there and you're a chef, or you want to do this and you want to come on the show, hit me up and come in here and do an interview and you will get free pony boy slings to take with you. This is what I'm talking about. See this? You're the best. And so also if you're a restaurateur out there and you want to try this, again, call your best brands rep or just order it. You can order it right now. Yeah, exactly. And run it as a feature, run as a feature and not, you know, this is the kind of thing that I love because this isn't Budweiser or this isn't some gigantic Brown Foreman huge brand that's creating something that they're just trying to add numbers on their P and L. This is a husband and wife formulated this or bartenders mixologist. They were there learning how to do this. And then you guys organically have bootstrapped this thing and made it happen. I'm actually an investor, but like you're making this thing happen. And this is, this is like all these small local restaurants that are out there going support local support the small guys and they're selling blue moon.

58:17Like this is a, yes. Hey, this is actually supporting a small husband and wife company that is regional. And we're a short drive. So we really want to support. We want, you know, to be present. We're happy to come do tastings. We have this like amazing 1977 Chevy custom van. That's like a literal time capsule. It's been garage kept for 46 years. And do you drive it today? Not today. Oh, Mike, I want to go see it. Oh yeah. Let's take pictures. It's amazing. We will be bringing her back and we'll definitely get 70,000 original miles on it. We'll give you and your wife will spin and I would love it. It's well, we, you know, I was just thinking immediately. We do a networking happy hour every single Thursday at mayor bowl, which is a fine dining restaurant, but we sell a massive amount of bourbon over there. Amazing. And we do a networking happy hour for all the local business owners. It's called bowls and business. Cool. And it's every Thursday from five to seven. We're not doing it this Thursday is a holiday, but like next Thursday, like we need to get the, you need to come bring the van, park it out front and you need to sample all these people and come in. So you'll do activations like that. You guys will come out. So if I have a restaurant that we want to give this a shot and you'll come pour this for people and let them try it and do the whole thing. Absolutely. Oh yeah. You guys yourselves will come and do this. Yes. You're not just going to send reps. You're going to like send yourselves.

59:48Yeah. So people want to meet you in person and hear more about your love story and more about your proposal and bumble. They can, they need tips on beekeeping. They can ask you yourselves, whatever they need. Well, yeah, we'll just do the little Lucy. Here's 10 cents or for some tips. Yeah. No peanuts reference there. If you're not getting it. Thank you. Thank you. I'm like, now I'm showing my age. My younger listeners, like what the fuck is outsiders? I don't understand this. They're Googling outsiders and peanuts and all these bees. Yeah. No, I, yeah. And that's what we do so much of in Louisville, you know, and, and we want to extend that here. I mean, we're so close and, and it really does mean a lot to us in the restaurant and bar world. I mean, we, we grew up through that. It's because of that, where we are, and we want to really lean into that and show people, Hey, there's all kinds of outlets and things to also do. And I always think if I was an investor, I would definitely be looking at the restaurant industry bar industry because they're hustlers. They're smart. They can multitask. I mean, they work really hard and amazing community. It is. And I feel like Mike and I got this like incredible opportunity that I don't know if we would have ever been able to do this without having that moment. And now I feel like we are bringing something to the consumer that we want to drink, that we feel proud to serve to our parents and our friends and things like that.

01:01:34And so I hope people, you know, can recognize that. And when they try it, they can definitely taste that difference. And, you know, we're not just for the bourbon drinker. We are finding out, you know, every time we do tastings and samplings, we get the, you know, Oh, I'm sorry, I don't drink bourbon. Like, Oh, perfect. This is for you because we put the bourbon on the back end. So it's not so spirit forward. So we are making bourbon believers out of a lot of people out there that go, Oh, now I can drink bourbon with my, with my husband. And so in a sense, we are kind of the gateway to bourbon in a sense for people who don't think they like it. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of leaning in. And then the bourbon drinkers can now just drink something that's ice cold bubbly and with your burger, with your hot wings, with your pizza. I love it. What is your, are there other flavors in the works? Are you guys or other cocktails that you're blending or slings that you're blending that you potentially will be releasing? Limit LTOs or anything like that's like, what's next for pony boy slings? I think, you know, we do have a lot on the back burner that we've tried. Um, we are looking to go into a variety pack, um, probably this year with an eight pack. So we want to introduce the fourth cocktail in the, in the variety pack, but it's to be determined, but we, we do have a lot on the back burner. And you know, when we first launched, all three are super different. That's why we say cocktails instead of flavors. Yeah. Um, cause you can't just interchange it all because the strawberry, it's really neutral. It's like a light strawberry spritz. The cream soda is like that nostalgic cream soda. And then the cherry is full flavor tart. And so we were like, okay, we'll release these and whichever one takes off, we'll know let's go in that direction. But they've really been neck and neck and they change for the seasons. Really cherry pops in the summer. I feel like I shouldn't have said that.

01:03:38I hope this is all adults. Um, okay. Oh boy. My brain didn't even go there until you said that. Wow. Okay. That's where I'm at today. Um, now it's going to crush it in the summer. Yeah, maybe exactly. And then the strawberry, oddly enough in the fall, I don't know why everyone loves it in the fall. And then the cream soda, I think cause of that vanilla, people kind of associated with the holidays. So this fourth one, it may or may not fall in line with one of those three types, or it might be something completely different for the spring time. Spring needs its moment. Spring needs its moment. We're going to do, we're going to do snap pea, basil, wait, we already did basil, snap pea, uh, cilantro, fresh garden herb. We're going to do- That sounds disgusting. I know, I know. Yeah, please. This summer ween now. We'll do a pumpkin spice right in the middle of July. Oh, that would- That is not happening.

01:04:39That would, that would, that's probably happening somewhere. And it's going to end up going- People love pumpkin spice, pumpkin beer, pumpkin, all that stuff. And pumpkin bourbon. I can see that being a nice little fall, something or another too. You guys gotta have so much fun, just kind of dreaming all this stuff. Like just having dinner with you guys, I'm sure you're just talking about all the different possibilities. That's when our mixologist comes out. See, I knew it. I knew it. You were a closet mixologist this whole time. No, you're a closet mixologist. I love it. We did, when we put these out there, we wanted, as bartenders and doing cocktail programs, designing menus, we wanted to create something different. Like you would view a cocktail menu. So there's something for everyone instead of just, you know, most of the RTDs out there are just interchanging flavors. It's the same base, just mango, pineapple, orange, grapefruit. So we wanted to create something different and then see which one stuck, like Janelle was saying. I think that if you need to learn anything about you guys and your mentality, I think you just go back to your Bumble Profile. Yes. I think a glass of red wine and a can of Spam says everything about you in a positive way. I love that. I would swipe right or whatever the thing is. If I saw that, I'd be like, that dude's cool. I just want to hang with him. Like of all the, like, I don't take myself too seriously, kind of a moment of like, I'm sophisticated, but I, you know, I could sleep at a travel lodge. I'm good. There you go.

01:06:20Doesn't matter to me. I'm ready to party. Ready to party. Right. I'm ready to go. And that's Pony Boy, honestly, because the truth, this is like, it's all handpicked by us. We only use real ingredients, real, we don't put any artificial colors, flavors, sugars. We don't put preservatives in there. So it's like, we are Whole Foods approved. We're definitely like snobby when we were choosing what goes in these. But then at the end of the day, it's like, it's in a can, it's retro. It's got fun names. Well, it did have fun names. Now it's got descriptive names. And so that's, that's Pony Boy. She's like, packaging is really cool. I like the packaging too. Thank you. I'm looking at the bourbon pop star right now, the actual can of it. Yeah. Retro vibe. It's inviting. It's free Studio 54. You have cool merch too. Thanks. Like your hats are really cool and your whole, the whole vibe. I just dig it. I thank you guys so much for coming in today. This has been really informative and hopefully the people listening to this are still listening and they're like, yeah, I want to give this a shot. This is something that I could sell or I just at least want to know they want to try it. Yeah. Again, best brands is the way that you want to do that.

01:07:33You can go to our websites, drinkponyboy.com and we do have a locator on there as well. Store locator. Nice. If you could share a Pony Boy with somebody to sit, sit down and have a Pony Boy sling with anybody past, present or future, who would you want to sit down and drink one of these with? Chris Farley. Good answer. I think him and I would just like immediately be best friends. I mean, he was my role model growing up. My brother literally looks like him physically and I would, and he's way funnier than me. So I would just try to be like them my whole life and you can see I'm five foot two. Goofy. It's fun. Yeah, it's fun. And I would love to see, I feel like he'd go, oh my, I feel like he'd open it, pour it in his mouth and it wouldn't stop till it was gone. And I want to see that. All right. What about you, Mike?

01:08:39I would probably say my father because he passed away before right when this happened really. Oh, wow. Sorry to bring it down a little. Wow. No, that's special though. And that's why I asked. That's beautiful. Wow. That was way better than my answer. My second answer was Kim Kardashian because I would snap a photo and see if it went viral. Okay. Thank you. That makes me feel a little less, you know, shallow over here. Wow. You're welcome. Yeah. This is, you're a really good interviewer. You know why? I'm having a lot of fun. You're funny. You're really funny. I don't know about that. No, looks are not everything. See, the crowd thought it was funny. They're looking at me. It's like a whole thing. It was a delayed laugh. They went over their head for a second, but they got it. What's the old, do you have a face for radio? That's me. I have the face for radio. It's wonderful. It's not true.

01:09:45Well, thank you guys for making the long trip. Not the long trip. It's a short trip. I was in Louisville Thursday. Yeah. Drove through Louisville. Yeah. Went to Cincinnati. Okay. Came right back through. Yeah. Thanks for calling. Yeah. I'm here for you. That's what I do. It was so funny because we went to a Reds game with my 10 year old and on the way back through, it was funny because like, I don't know that stretch from Louisville to Cincinnati. It's on the 75, I think, but it's like a straight, it's very non-exciting from Louisville to Cincinnati. But when I get to Louisville, it's like, I'm home because I've done the trip from Nashville to Louisville, like 7,000 times. I'm like on Waze watching all the stuff. I'm like, I can turn this shit off now. And you're driving through the Watterson Express. I'm like, I know where I am now. This is great. Louisville is almost like a second home. My sister-in-law lives there. I used to run a company called Creation Gardens, which is based in Louisville. What chefs want now. And so I would go up there just all the time. That's awesome. Spent so much fun times in Louisville. Yeah. Yeah. It's great. You guys are going to feel that way about Nashville. I know. I know. All the time you're going to spend in Nashville. Because of this episode, you're going to meet so many restaurant owners. They're going to invite you to come in. I can't wait. I'm relying on the Nashville Restaurant Radio Army.

01:11:02I just named the people who listen as my army. I love people to help build you guys up. Heck yeah. Black Sheep Tequila. It shares six exclusive styles with the oldest released tequila with a line of six artisanal handcrafted luxury tequilas. Labor intensive, old world handcrafted process produces a single estate small batch line of tequilas for perfect flavor and balance. No salt, no lime required. A true flight. Black Sheep Tequila cultivates Highland Blue Weber Agave that requires seven to 10 years to reach full maturity under the brilliant sunshine of Los Otos de Jalisco. As done in the old world approach, Black Sheep Tequila continues the handcrafted heritage. So much so that they have won double gold at the World San Francisco World Spirits Competition. This is the best tequila in the world. And their headquarters is Nashville, Tennessee. So these guys are amazing. They're doing amazing product. Everybody I've tasted on has said this is the best tequila I've ever had. There's zero burn. It is just delicious.

01:12:12You need to call your Ajax Turner rep today. They have a brand new Amogrande, which is their their entry level line so you can have the best tequila in the world as your well. Yes, this is a true thing. So pick it up. Find liquor stores everywhere. Look for Black Sheep Tequila or order it today through Ajax Turner. There's a new way to drink whiskey. It's called Ponyboy Slings. These bourbon based canned cocktails are fully carbonated and only 7% ABV. So light and refreshing. All you have to do is chill it, pop it, giddy up. Follow us on Instagram or online at drinkponyboy.com. We do the final thing here. We're going to let you guys off the hot seat with the Gordon Food Service final thought. So this is the you guys both get one. Oh, great. You get to say whatever you want. You get to take us out of the interview. This could be an inspirational quote. This could be a summation of what we said. This could be an advertisement for you. Whatever you guys want to say. And I'm really excited to hear what comes out of your mouths and I'll put some pressure on you. I know whoever wants to start. You guys get to take us out with anything. I used to say, you know, like Jerry's final thought, whatever you whatever you want to do. But nobody knew what Jerry's final thought was. I don't understand this. It's like Jerry Springer show. Yeah. Oh, got you. Oh, like the final thought he would come on and do this. But oh, gosh, man, this is the hot seat. This is the hottest seat. I started to sweat a little bit. There's not a lot up there. Um, I've never got to use the crickets.

01:13:58It's the first time I've used the crickets. That was a fantastic use of the crickets. You don't ever use the rim shot either. I need to use that. Oh, that's good. Okay. Well, um, final thought, I think, um, how about, Mike, come on, help me out here. See, when it's in, when it's just this big, it's a lot. It's a lot to put on you. What is your favorite quote of all time? Oh, okay. Well, that that gives me a little bit of a, um, um, oh, oh, gosh, gosh. Okay. It's a Mary Oliver. Um, and I can't quote it because I'm terrible at it. But basically, it's like, um, what will you do? It's, it's basically about like, really choose wisely. And what will you do with this one and wild and precious life, like make it count or something. And I think for me, why I love that is because, um, at the end of the day, it's like, what else are we going to be doing? Why not take the big risk? We definitely are taking a huge risk here. And so I'm kind of like, go all in, go 110%. And then if it ends up pivoting and doing something else, you can go, well, at least I exhausted all effort. So that's kind of how we live our life. It's like, we're in, we're in 100%. And yeah, there we go.

01:15:38Live life to the fullest, live life to the fullest. It's kind of, it was kind of generic, but that is kind of our motto. So Mike's looking something up on his phone, which is not fair. Well, you went first. So he, I always liked this from, see if you can guess what this is from. I lied to myself all the time, but I never believe me. No, that's good. That was pony boy, Curtis from the outsiders. That's see a lie to myself all the time, but I never believe me. Wow. Is that your final thought? That's my final thought. I'm sticking with it. Bringing it full circle to the outsiders. That was amazing. It's callback. That's why I married him folks. Stay gold, you know. Thanks. That's how it's so deep. And I like that. Yeah. He's deep. Yeah. I'm like, live, laugh, love. Thank you so much for coming in and call best brands, get you some pony boy slings or come on the show and I'll give you some pony boy slings.

01:16:44Yeah. Yeah. Thank you guys. You have, I love your energy. I love everything you guys are bringing today. And hopefully, hopefully this is a wild success. And we can say that we helped launch you here at Nashville restaurant radio. Thank you for the coffee and honey. It was delicious. My pleasure. Thank you. All right, guys. So fun. Bye bye. Bye. There it is. Pony boy slings. Thank you so much to Mike and Janelle for coming out and doing this interview at my home, where the studio is. We are, I told you it was a fun one. I love that. Stay tuned because we've got some other fun episodes. We have Tyler Laktanski coming on. He is the owner and founder of Jambox. They've got two locations, one in Franklin, which I just went to and it is delicious. Of course, there's their flagship store inside of Fate La Force Brewery. And then we have Aaron Vaccaro, who is the CEO of Liquor Lab.

01:17:45And that's a fun, interesting conversation. If you're a business, he well, the conversation with Aaron Vaccaro just went so many different ways and it was so fun. I just I could have talked to him for hours and stay tuned because on July 30th, we are going to be speaking with Jake Howell. Jake Howell is the chef over at Peninsula and he just won a James Beard awards. Really excited to talk with him and just learn the whole story behind the whole thing. Just a super interesting guy and I cannot wait for that conversation. I know you are going to be excited about that one. That's all I got today. We hope that you guys are being safe out there and enjoy the rest of your summer. Go to NaraNashville.com and make sure that you put your reservation in so that you can be at our Nara show. We are excited to see you there. Love you guys. Bye.