I’m Andy from St. Louis, Missouri, and I’m a CaskX investor.
You know, we were a little apprehensive at first because this is a new category of bourbon in North America.
So I don’t think anybody really knew what to expect.
But beyond this category.
CaskX has done a fantastic job of recognizing the investors that are here.
We’ve been in a Nashville Bourman tour.
We’ve been in a Louisville bourbon tour.
This is an opportunity to come to, one, a distillery that Craig Beam is invested in, of all people, Jim Beam’s great great grandson, Craig Beam, is here.
And, of course, Terry, with Willette, or if you’re the other side of the Mississippi River, Willet, whiskey.
So those guys know what they’re doing.
They have a passion for what they’re doing.
And we know that this is a new category in North America, so we’re like, Well, we don’t really know. Lets go check it out from the guys that are actually making the product, and see what they say, and see the passion that they have about this new single malt bourbon that’s never been a category North America.
So we came down St.
Louis.
We’re only a couple hours away from here.
This is the closest distillery partner that we have with CaskX. So it’s super easy to get down here, but the whole storyline about Jackson purchased, and how they were here.
I mean, it goes all the way back to the Louisiana Purchase.
This was the Jackson Purchase east of the Mississippi River before the Louisiana Purchase.
So the history is incredible, which we love, but we want to come down here.
We know Craig, we know Terry, the passion that they have for the product of the bourbon.
We’re like, Let’s go see what’s happening in Western Kentucky, which is also Tennessee, which is also Illinois, which is also southwest Missouri.
So it’s really a great community, a rural community, that we wanted to get involved in, and see what was happening, and we came down here, and we are just floored with what’s happening here.
I mean, the development that they have, the passion that they have, to bringing the entire community into the process, to do what they’re doing, and to build the product that they’re building.
We’re just so excited to be involved with the quality of the people that are associated with CaskX, that we’re just excited to be here.
So those are the things that we look at when we invest through CaskX. CaskX finds those people that are passionate about their product.
We’re not in the mass merchandisers of, I can name you a half a dozen names of the bourbons or the whiskeys that we all drink.
Okay?
Those guys are producing bajillion bottles a year.
These guys have a passion, and a feel and a heartbeat, and a rhythm of what they’re producing.
And I think the quality of the product that ultimately comes out of these barrels shows that.
It’s unique.
It’s tender, it’s complex.
It’s something that you can’t replicate by producing a million barrels.
Okay?
We don’t want to do that as an investor.
We want to help the small distillers.
We want to help the independent business people that are trying to build a brand that has a product that is unique and kind of develops their own personality.
So everybody is a little different.
And we’re involved in six different distillers.
So every one of those distillers we have seen, we’ve talked to the owner, we’ve talked to the master distiller, and they own, have their own vision, and their own passion.
And most of all, they have their own taste.
So they like something maybe a little more smoky or a little more spicy, or whatever it might be, but the product that we ultimately purchase is indicative of their own personality.
And that’s why we want to be involved in CaskX. So, um, you know, we came down from St.
Louis last night, amid all the thunderstorms and rain and everything, but, you know, it’s an easy drive for Memphis, easy drive from St.
Louis.
We got to come down here.
We got to meet Jeremy, the CEO of CaskX. We got to meet a whole bunch of staff from CaskX.
We got to meet Craig Beam.
Beam, Jim Beam, Craig Beam, we got to meet him, and you know what?
He’s just as unique as you and I. He’s an individual person.
He has a great story, but he is just a person.
And so is Terry from Willette, or Willet, depending on which way.
Again, so unique, so personable, but they’re just another person following their passion.
So we came down here to understand what was happening with the new category of bourbon in the single mall.
But we had no idea about the hospitality that we would receive.
We have some issues with the bus, and you know what?
Everybody here at this event got in their own personal cars and drove 10 miles over to our hotel and picked us up in their individual personal cars.
How you don’t get that kind of service anywhere else.
It’s personalized, it’s carrying.
Everybody cares about each other.
And it’s the tours that Craig and Terry gave us about the passion that they have, what they did to build the distillery where they were at.
But just to be here and listen to their suppliers, the people that care about the company that they’re supporting, the independent stave company, CFI, the stainless steel.
We talk to Rick about all of the bartling and everything.
This is not a business.
This is a family, with family transactions, and everybody helping each other to reach the same goal.
And that’s what we’re about.
We’re not about the money.
We’re about the development of small business, and to be able to achieve the dream that people have set out for themselves.
Can you Oh, yeah, so we started here.
We got together, welcome tent, and everything, and then Craig and Terry, Craig’s the Master Disteller, Craig Beam, of course, of the Beam legend.
But Terry also, from his background with Willett, introduced themselves, kind of told us about the development.
They came in, and resurrected an old distillery.
So there are some things in place, but they put their personal touches on the development.
So we got to see the malting process, the brewing process.
Everything that they do in the distillery themselves, the stills that they have themselves.
Three stacked, 24 inch, 36 inch.
What’s the difference?
Everything that they’re doing.
How did they make all of the mash?
And then what happens with the mash?
It turns into slop, which is important for me because, as a rancher and a farmer, they’re donating that slop to the local farmers and ranchers.
That’s speed, that speed that they don’t have to have.
They don’t have to worry about what is the corn price.
Where am I going to buy feed?
Here is a partner, and a neighbor that’s giving me a byproduct that is valuable to me, that I can give to my cattle, my sheep, my goats, whatever the livestock is, but they’re giving back to the local community, and saving them money to help them stretch the dollar.
And then everything that they’re doing in the rick house, the new rick houses, which are just friggin’ awesome, I don’t know how many thousands of barrels are in there, but it’s a steel building, they have protection with it.
They can kind of open windows, closed windows.
It’s not wood.
They save a lot of money with insurance, which saves me on my insurance, as well.
So, I think they not only are passionate about distilling, but they’re good business people, as well.
They understand.
Those guys know how to brew bourbon.
Their granddads have been brewing bourbon, but they have come into the 21st century with the technology that makes them more efficient.
They can give back to the community, and the byproducts that they have, and continue to look at ways to contribute back to the community and develop everybody around them.
And as we all know, a rising tide raises all boats.
And I think that that’s what Craig and Terry and Jackson Purchase has been able to do with this distillery in the furthest part west of Kentucky and all of the area, but they have brought a product together that is important, not only to them, but the community.
