Notes
[00:00:34]
Overview of the Fifth Driving Eureka! Episode
[00:02:59]
“Write Something Worth Reading” Ben Franklin
[00:04:30]
“Do Something Worth Writing” Ben Franklin
[00:06:23]
Arts vs. Business
[00:08:01]
How to Get Started with Doing Something Worth Writing or Writing Something Worth Reading
[00:09:00]
Writing One True Sentence
[00:12:49]
Driving Eureka! Book Segment
[00:18:00]
Driving Eureka! Book Introduction
[00:21:17]
Finding Meaning in Life
[00:22:22]
Critical Mass and Changing Organizations
[00:26:12]
Brain Brew Whisk(e)y Academy
[00:27:21]
The Importance of the Tasting Room
[00:31:44]
Warehouse Space
[00:32:08]
You Need More Room!
[00:36:09]
History of the Singapore Sling at Raffles Hotel
[00:38:42]
Singapore Sling – Step 1
[00:38:45]
Step 2
[00:39:01]
Step 3
[00:39:07]
Step 4
[00:39:13]
Step 5
[00:39:17]
Step 6
[00:39:22]
Step 7
[00:39:28]
Step 8
[00:39:32]
Step 9
[00:39:35]
Step 10
[00:39:39]
Step 11
Transcript
Tripp: [00:00:01] Welcome to the Driving Eureka! podcasts where we share ideas and advice for helping you find filter and fast track big ideas.
Tripp: [00:00:14] Hi I’m Tripp Babbitt advisor to global organizations on the Deming philosophy and host of the Deming Institute podcast.
Doug: [00:00:22] And I’m Doug Hall inventor speaker teacher and whiskey maker. I’m also the founder of the Eureka ranch and author of the Driving Eureka! book.
Tripp: [00:00:34] This is the fifth episode of the driving Eureka podcast in the first segment our feature story. It’s time to do one of two things that matter in life are driving you book segment is about the release of the book Drive in Eureka and a little bit about the book introduction and our Brain Brew Whisky Academy is about having a tasting room for your whiskey business and also enough space and of course our craft cocktail recipe. The Singapore Sling.
Tripp: [00:01:14] Ok this is Driving Eureka! where we’re going to cover off the fifth news letter that Dad put out on November 15th 2018 and I really like this.
Tripp: [00:01:30] This newsletter especially because you talk about this and I want you to talk Doug too about your appreciation for Ben Franklin because I know that’s that’s kind of a it’s a big thing with you.
Tripp: [00:01:44] But this first section It’s Time to Do 1 of 2 Things that Matter in Life and it’s a great quote from Ben Franklin. Doug I’d like to take it from there.
Doug: [00:01:56] Yes. So this week is that was the release of my seventh book Driving Eureka!. And. The Franklin quote. Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. Has me really thinking.
Doug: [00:02:14] I saw it up on the wall in a building and either write something worth reading or do something worth writing in it. And it kept me thinking about it. And the more and more I thought about it and I am a Franklin nut. Okay. He was America’s first great inventor first great entrepreneur. I you know he he’s just somebody that as a young child I got his biography and read it like there’s many people who this has happened to and I’ve just really relate to him as an inventor and as a writer and as entrepreneur. And so I thought about this quote quite a bit and I finally. I came to an observation on one plane flying over somewhere
Doug: [00:02:59] And I decided I think what Franklin speaking to us about is two things when he says write something worth reading. It’s about creating something that really stirs the heart and soul.
Doug: [00:03:14] And this art can be the written word it can be painted art. It can be performed theater or even craft food or or whiskey. It’s about doing something for the sake of. It. Where it’s an artistic expression. And my book North Pole tenderfoot comes the closest to this of all things I’ve written because it’s not generally what I do. It is as close to poetry in a book. Ernest Hemingway said famously You know his first trip to Africa he really saw it. And after that he didn’t. And so having read that I did meticulous notes even at 40 below zero. And and took very good notes and had recordings from it to truly try to make you feel what it was like to be there and that the trip itself is not worth doing. I mean it’s a ridiculous thing for a person to do and there’s no. Greater good that’s done by this. It just is the book though hope fully stirs the soul and does something for you. It matters. The book. Writing and in fact it’s that and that in driving Eureka in the back it’s first time ever I put an excerpt from. The North Pole tenderfoot book because I thought it bookended nicely with this. So that’s right something worth reading.
Doug: [00:04:30] The other one is do something worth writing is about doing something that stirs the head and the soul and then writing about it so it’s about doing something and that somebody can be. Is this a nonprofit a product service system. It can be anything but you’re doing something and then you’re telling the world about it. And Driving Eureka! is my absolute best example of this of doing something worth writing. It’s a new academic field. It’s a it’s a supplying system thinking from Dr. Deming to innovation. It’s about how to unleash the talent in your organization by enabling innovation by everyone everywhere every day. And it really makes it come to life. And so this is less of a book. Written with poetry though one tries but it’s really more to be descriptive to tell you how to do this to report on it. Where write something worth reading. The writing is in itself the end output. To stir the soul. And I came to the conclusion that when he says write something worth reading or do something worth writing this is what he’s doing and that both of these approaches are very worthy missions and both bring meaning to life.
Doug: [00:05:36] It’s kind of an interesting way to look at the quote Don’t you think.
Tripp: [00:05:39] Oh absolutely.
Tripp: [00:05:40] When I first heard the quote I was thinking in terms of Ben Franklin challenging us to do something either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. You’ve obviously taken it to another level saying that to write something worth reading is an end to output and to do something worth writing is a how to do something. So yeah. No I think it’s a it’s a good and interpretation you’ve obviously internalized that a lot and thought about what this quote means to you and how it played out in writing Driving Eureka!
Doug: [00:06:23] You know we have to be. We tend to be a culture that tends to believe in the arts or we believe in business. But there’s something to be said for having a little bit of both of these. I mean it’s interesting I remember as research I reported in one book where they did surveys of scientists and the number of top top notch scientists that also do art. Is disproportionately high. And I’m wondering if they’re just basically tapping into the left and right brains if it’s if it’s a whole brain dimension that’s making this happen.
Tripp: [00:06:58] You know I went in and I wonder and especially since it’s a quote that came from Ben Franklin was there a setting for that or was that just in like Poor Richard’s Almanac. Where was that quote taken from.
Doug: [00:07:10] Well historically would have been Poor Richard’s Almanac and he also was a liberal plagiarize or Twister. OK you probably saw something like this. And oftentimes he would take a quote just twisted a little bit more. But he he used liberally from others of things that he’d seen so I don’t know this specific one have any basis for it.
Tripp: [00:07:34] But I was just curious in the history of that if it showed up and some writing some context of a political writing or just general life almost that’s almost like a theory or you know a challenge maybe would be a better word.
Tripp: [00:07:53] So the question Doug is is how I mean how do you get started writing something worth reading or doing something worth writing.
Doug: [00:08:01] Yeah the getting started is quite difficult for many people. Ernest Hemingway the author who was one of my favorite authors I think gives us a pathway to find this way to get started in his book A Moveable Feast. He writes It was wonderful to walk down the long flights of stairs knowing that I’d had good luck working or in this case writing. I always worked until I had something done. But sometimes when I was starting a new story and I could not get it going I would sit in front of the fireplace and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame and watch the sputter of blue that they made. I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think Do not worry. You’ve always written before and you will write now all you have to do is write one true sentence write the truest sentence that you know.
Doug: [00:09:00] So finally I would write one true sentence and then go on from there. I mean this is kind of cool. He says Stop boiling the ocean. Write one true sentence if you want to write something worth reading. Write one true sentence if you want to do something worth writing. Then take the first step. Make the first meaningful act towards it and then take the next step in the next step. I guess he’s basically saying just get started. Just get started.
Tripp: [00:09:36] So it’s just this kind of like an object at rest stays at rest and one in motion stays in motion type of a base and analogy.
Doug: [00:09:45] Yeah basic physics that’s what we’re talking in basic physics.
Doug: [00:09:49] You know you’ve got it. And so just try to take what’s a first significant step a meaningful step a tangible thing that you could do.
Doug: [00:09:59] Write the word and I’ll tell you I find same thing when I write books I write almost every single morning and when I sit there and sometimes I don’t know what to write.
Doug: [00:10:05] I just start writing and writing and writing we call it free writing and then eventually I write something meaningful and and then I’m off from there. But so many people worry that they can’t do the whole thing that they never start. They never start.
Tripp: [00:10:20] That’s that’s interesting. So it is then the equivalent a you’ve kind of applied that from a writing standpoint is then the equivalent in innovation coming up with ideas is that using kind of Innovation Engineering or that system that you outline in Driving Eureka! Is that kind of the first step from an innovation standpoint.
Doug: [00:10:46] No I mean it can be but it could be just taking the time to learn. I mean listening to these podcasts reading one of the newsletters getting subscribed to it could be any step where you start to prepare your brain. It could be organizing a team. It could be it could be creating an idea but do something. It does it. It’s just a sentence it’s just a step. It doesn’t have to be that big as inventing the idea.
Doug: [00:11:15] I mean that that may be too much for people it’s like telling somebody that wants to get in better shape. Okay let’s run Boston Marathon this weekend and it’s like dude I can’t do that. Man and I got to just. Can I walk around the block first you know you just gotta get started
Doug: [00:11:31] You gotta get started. And I think we overthink this stuff now we don’t give virtue to the artistic side as much as the more commercial side. I think it’s probably a fair statement.
Doug: [00:11:46] Okay. And I just want to go put this into the podcast. What what what you’ve always kind of like Ben Franklin what’s what’s the story behind that.
Doug: [00:11:58] I just always believed I got his book at a young age. His biography as many people did that really inspired me. And there’s something about Franklin being an inventor and author scientist entrepreneur a real renaissance person and myself I find that the same. I mean I like that eclectic collection of different things whether it’s making pizza whiskey or or the bagpipes which are a big supporter of our beloved prince Edward Island Canada where we where we have a home.
Tripp: [00:12:37] I didn’t know about the bagpipe thing until until this newsletter. That’s interesting.
Tripp: [00:12:49] It’s time now for the Driving Eureka! book excerpt with legendary inventor Doug Hall.
Tripp: [00:13:00] The book is out. And here we go full speed ahead. What are you going to be doing as far as the book opening and celebrating. How is that all going to happen.
Doug: [00:13:15] Driving Eureka! is out now is my seventh book and it is amazing how much since the 90s early 90s when my first book came out how much the world of books has changed. I mean you know it’s just different. I mean it used to be book reviewers and used to do book tours and now I mean it’s just different now it’s bloggers and podcasts and digital packages and it’s exciting.
Doug: [00:13:44] It’s exciting. It’s a totally different world. And so we’re doing some unique things this time. We’ve got video workbooks that you can use it as a part of a book club sort of a guided book club.
Doug: [00:13:55] You read a chapter or you watch a little video you do some exercises you talk about him where a team can go through a bunch. People really love this audio book the full 10 hours it’s out on all the major platforms driving Eureka. We also have a one hour bridge summary for people short attention spans that you can go through and and so that’s just going to be a lot. The podcast is new driving a lot of this stuff together so it’s part of building a community.
Doug: [00:14:27] I mean we’ve talked about 35000 people Innovation Engineering right now and it’s really a community that we’re growing it and it really is it is a Robin Hood type thing.
Doug: [00:14:38] I mean we charge large corporations fair prices and we use that to subsidize students on campus and people working with non-profits et cetera.
Tripp: [00:14:53] So what is this. Pat’s pizza. Curious I thought this pizza on there and and and I have to say I’m hungry. Pizza looks pretty good.
Doug: [00:15:04] Yes. So the photo up on the show notes I’ve taken pictures of the book now in different places just to give it a little bit of fun because again that’s one of them social media things you do that you know you need the good pictures. And so I’m trying to do so have some fun with it.
Doug: [00:15:19] In this case here there’s a place I went to the arrestee of Maine and Arno as did much of my family back three generations. And so Pat’s pizza is kind of legendary. And so the picture here is of Pat’s pizza and people that have been to the ranch. Now we have like three pizza ovens and we do a wonderful pizza experience for people and and it’s. And it’s just fun. It just makes it fun.
Tripp: [00:15:42] That’s good. Now I didn’t know about this fascination with the bagpipes I have to tell me about that because I I knew the pizza. I mean you’ve you’ve done the pizza thing we’ve talked about the whiskey because it’s part of what we’re doing now but what’s what’s with the bagpipes.
Doug: [00:15:55] Well my mom’s family came from Thurso Scotland Prince Edward Island is where my wife and I have a home where we spend large parts of the year which is in Canada Eastern Canada made famous by Anne of Green Gables.
Doug: [00:16:10] People may know that it also happens to be the place outside of Scotland and Ireland with the highest concentration of Celtic heritage anywhere in the world was heavily settled by the Celts. And it happens to be the home of the College of Piping and Celtic performing arts of Canada. And so it is a mean amazing institution with my wife but I support it. She’s actually on the board of the college. We’ve done any Island child age 8-18 can take back piping or drumming at no cost. We’ve done some 50000 lessons that we’ve paid for over the years and so it’s just amazing and these kids who you know I don’t visit it because you wouldn’t know it to visit it’s just beautiful it’s amazing place. But per capita the income is pretty rough. It’s not a wealthy place. A lot of farmers kids fishermen’s kids etc. and you know have to struggle day to day oftentimes with the weather and the rest of it and the markets that go up and down and prices. And despite that these amazing kids competing at the World Championship have won the World Championship. Just recently they did and which is amazing. And the newspaper was great it said you know college of bypassing World Championships UK wins seven Scotland wins seven Canada won and it was glorious here these kids competing against adults it took the world championship which is we’re very proud of them very proud of them.
Tripp: [00:17:47] Very good. Wonderful. That’s cool. I didn’t. I didn’t know that story. So that that’s just another interesting tidbit about Doug Hall.
Tripp: [00:17:58] Well let’s talk a little bit about this book opening.
Doug: [00:18:00] We’ve talked about the book because we were talking about a prerelease but I thought it would be good to just. I’m going to paraphrase a little bit from the opening of the book the introduction and that opening is is a big thing for me. And I thought I’d book ended I’d do the opening this week and next week I’ll do the closing. So you’ve got the start and can out if you want to learn the parts in the middle and the book opens with me writing the aim of this book is to teach you how to create a meaningful difference with your career team company and community.
Doug: [00:18:37] This is accomplished through the Innovation Engineering system for thinking faster smarter and more creatively. Now the need to think smarter faster more creatively is broadly accepted in today’s fast changing world. What is not understood is how to do it. Innovation engineering teaches you and everyone you work with a reliable system for creating fresh ideas and even more importantly how to turn them into reality more successfully. And as you’ll learn in chapter 13 when just 10 percent of your team 10 percent of your team company your community has unshakeable belief unshakable belief in their ability to innovate a culture of innovation is created. Innovation engineering defines innovation in two words “meaningfully unique” when a product service work system or job candidate is meaningful unique. Customers are willing to invest their time and energy and money into it. The never ending quest for meaningful uniqueness is at the heart of this book my life and the Innovation Engineering movement made of our students defines meaningfulness differently some find meaning in improving manufacturing government or even high school junior high school teaching systems others find meaning from creating smarter methods for rehabilitating prison inmates caring for nursing home residents or growing the impact of a nonprofit. Some students find meaning in the invention of amazing new food products medical devices Internet services financial services or industrial equipment. The breadth and depth of application we are observing from application of innovation and sharing mindset and methods is both amazing and humbling.
Doug: [00:20:27] So that’s the opening few paragraphs and and as you can see we’re not thinking small with this movement. I mean we truly are thinking about how can we change the world. How can we make a difference that matter so A way to think of what it is is that you’re going to learn from somebody who’s doing exactly what they’re saying. I mean people want to believe I truly believe people want to believe they they don’t there’s they’re not happy.
Doug: [00:21:00] People are not happy.
Doug: [00:21:03] They’re not doing things that are bringing them true and Dr. Deming said what’s the purpose of this stuff to help people find joy in work and joy and work is not about you know having cool gimmicks and pool tables and ping pong games around.
Doug: [00:21:17] It’s about finding meaning in the stuff you’re doing. And every single thing we do whether it be in our courses whether it be in our methods of testing whether it means our ways of creating we’re looking to create meaningful uniqueness we’re looking to write meaningful may make this develop it. That’s the seat that is the North Star that is our destination and it is the singular destination that this is about. And so if you want to find more meaning if you want to do something more meaningful. That’s what this is about. And you know it’s funny as I’m as I’m on the cusp of turning over that next decade to age 60. You know you reflect on these things and you start to think about why am I here.
Doug: [00:22:02] And and I truly think it is about helping people get to meaningfully unique doing something that matters whether it’s a whiskey business or it’s a school mean it does matter whatever is your world whatever floats your boat. That’s the amazing thing. Whatever turns you on. That’s what we’re here to help you do it faster cheaper and more effectively.
Tripp: [00:22:22] Okay. And there’s a there’s one quuote in there that I think is significant and I don’t want to go by without a little bit of conversation about it. Is that to achieve a critical mass.
Tripp: [00:22:35] Now I remember you and I having a conversation some time back about Dr. Deming saying that you know the square root of organizations how many people you need in order to change the culture in an organization to to to challenge existing norms.
Tripp: [00:22:57] Those types of things. And then you found some research and I and that’s why I don’t want to go by this 10 percent that that you can get that 10 percent who I talk to that a little bit aspire first where the 10 percent came from and and in it significant because most people think gosh there’s no way I’m ever gonna get the whole organization to change.
Doug: [00:23:17] Right yeah. This came out of some some research and it’s a little bit spooky because it was funded by military so I’m not sure if they’re using this to figure out what it would take to take over a country or you never know.
Doug: [00:23:31] But the research found that when you get 10 percent with unshakable belief then the change happens end before 10 percent. It looks like nothing’s happened it would take longer than the time of the universe for change to happen. It just it just doesn’t happen.
Doug: [00:23:48] And it gives you hope that not only can you change if you can’t get the leader to lead say that one more time if you can’t get your leader to lead no whining take responsibility for your sphere events once just start.
Doug: [00:24:07] And how about now. Right now you know let’s get started. Read the damn book. Listen to the audio. You have to. Although I got to tell you listening to 10 hours and we talking I mean I can’t even imagine anything more painful.
Doug: [00:24:24] But I know people love them people love them. I’m not an audiobook person I’m a written book person. But whatever whatever works for you. Awesome. Want to get a group of people do it as a group as a book club get together every Saturday morning and do three chapters together do it do it but do something do something and get going and then when you get it then other people get it and then another and another and another and that’s how revolutions happen.
Doug: [00:24:54] It doesn’t take much. It doesn’t take much. But if you’re trying to get them all forget it they’re not going to happen.
Tripp: [00:25:02] I think it’s such a tradeoff force. Yeah I think that’s an important point for people to understand and make and you know it’s not changing everybody’s mind is it’s changing. You know a significant really few that can really change things.
Doug: [00:25:18] Well the other thing the other thing Tripp that you find is it’s not like we’re asking them to do something difficult. We’re asking them to do more meaningful things to become focused on learning collaborating with others and experimenting. Is this something in there that sounds like it’s going to be painful. This is fun. This is more fun. I mean it’s not like we’re saying you need to lose 30 pounds.
Doug: [00:25:43] That’s not fun.
Doug: [00:25:46] That’s not but it is fun to when you learn stuff when you’re on a team and collaborating with others and when you’re running experiments and you’re interested that’s fun. And so it’s not like it’s a difficult thing that works. We’re not asking for any magical stuff here okay. I’m not going to tell you that some magic silver bullet. It’s about rewiring the brain and you think thinking system. That’s all it is.
Tripp: [00:26:12] This is the Brain Brew Whiskey Academy podcast where we’re going to take you behind the scenes and what it takes To build a whiskey distillery business Eureka! Ranch team led by Doug Hall are creating a craft whisky company. Life has never been done before
Tripp: [00:26:32] Let’s start the Brain Brew Whiskey Academy with the cliffhanger. You left us with in the last episode which is giving us the distillery logistics and also this craft cocktail recipe. The Singapore Sling. And based on the fact that you just visited there and I’m sure we’ll hear a little bit about your travels there too.
Doug: [00:26:53] Yeah. So. So I thought this week you’d be good to get you into some stuff that nobody taught you because I know as we were getting our distillery we’re only a couple of years in here. And as we were putting things together we operated under another person’s DSP first.
Doug: [00:27:09] We got it registered and we did it there. So we’re literally just about to open up our own physical space. So we’ve been operating on somebody else’s space. When you file with the TGV you can do that for those of you involved in it.
Doug: [00:27:21] But one of the things that we learned we’ve learned a number of things is we’ve put this together and we’ve talked with all kinds of people about it. But somehow they missed some certain things. So if you’re going into the going to create a craft spirits company you’re going to whether you’re gonna do gin or whiskey or whatever it is and whether you’re gonna do it the classic way of distilling or are you going to work on stuff that we’re doing. Which gets you up and going lot faster and cheaper whatever it is. A couple of things that you got to think about really think hard about your tasting room because anywheres from 20 to 50 percent of your sales and profits may come right from that spot. It depends on state laws or provincial laws or you know country laws if you’re in other parts of the world.
Doug: [00:28:10] I forget now we’re doing a podcast.
Doug: [00:28:12] There’s no boundaries to this planet Earth.
Doug: [00:28:16] It’s a whole new world. Boy isn’t that exciting. And and so depending upon the rules on how it works you know you make money selling bottles but you make a lot more money selling drinks. You know you make a drink. It’ll be probably 80 85 percent profit margin gross profit make bottles. You know you probably make 50 percent is what you’re going to shoot for sometimes a little bit better. But you know on average it’ll average out at the end of the day maybe about 50 percent by the time you do taxes and all the rest of this craziness that you have to pay. And so that tasting room is really important and really think about it and it’s for that reason that you know we were operating. We’re operating out of Kentucky in a place and we looked at a lot of different places for it and we decided to put it come over the Ohio River just a few miles over and from Kentucky and put it in at the Eureka ranch because when we have a large property here but also we’ve got this magnificent ranch building that has this huge bar and this huge you know 30 foot tall stone fireplace and this huge great room on the side of a lake and I’m like Oh my God you know it’s a multi-million dollar facility. And on Friday nights and Saturdays I can use it as a tasting room and it’s already paid for. You know I mean that works. The math works. And so we renovated buildings here on the property and we’re building some new buildings on the property. And so but getting that space right is really really important. It’s really important that that you can make that work as a commercial space.
Tripp: [00:29:57] So is this something Doug you found from from the distilleries that you’ve worked with to this point as far as the tasting room that that that’s where the profitability comes from and I guess it helps then the demand obviously for more than the product itself but it’s in some states it’s really huge depending upon the way the state laws are.
Doug: [00:30:20] But breweries are the same way. I mean very high amount of sales and profits are made on location. I mean it really is hyper local.
Doug: [00:30:27] And so you’ve got to have that as your base to make money on. I mean you know some some restaurants that are complaining that you know breweries and distilleries are competing unfairly you know because they’re basically competing with them as restaurants or bars. And then if they had to deal with the taxes that we have to deal with whether it’s federal or state and three tier distribution systems and all the craziness that you have to deal with I don’t think it’s a bad thing at all. We’ve got to do things like this because you’ve got to be able to sell it by the drink if you want to make money. I mean it’s just it’s really important and you also sell tchotchkes shirts and all that kind of junk.
Doug: [00:31:08] People want cause they want to be at the place and all that stuff. But you know you’ve got to have a business there and you’ve got to want to be in the restaurant business. You’ve got to want to be in the restaurant or bar business if you don’t want to be in the restaurant you just want to make whiskey and go do it. It’s gonna be really tough to make your math work. It’s gonna be extremely tough. You better have a whole lot of money to get into this business it’s going to take a long time for you to be able to build awareness and distribution.
Tripp: [00:31:37] Now are you seeing that. Are you saying that Doug would Bay from a Kraft whiskey standpoint or Kraft spirit standpoint.
Doug: [00:31:44] I’m saying it for any spirit OK. Period. OK. You know but primarily the Kraft guys you know you’ve got to have it even if you wanted to be a you know say you you wanted to make something big you know doing something with a hotel chain or you’re gonna have to have some retail business as a backbone to get it going. I just think I just don’t know of another way to do it realistically. OK. All right.
[00:32:08] The second thing that you’re going to find out is if you were at all successful you’re not going to have anywhere near enough room. So make sure you’re thinking about how you’re going to expand the space and what you don’t need is more space for distilling. That’s like no space. And people spend all the time around the shiny copper stills and that’s the key thing that is not what the problem is. The problem you’re gonna find is the warehouse space the bonded warehouse space which is where you’ve got alcohol before it’s the tax paid on it and where you have to troll it and the unbounded space it’s for it because I mean when you get a little bit of flow the empty bottles are sitting there the empty bottles go into cartons go get liquid and get a label on it go into a carton.
Doug: [00:33:01] Now you’ve got full cases that are waiting to be shipped out. You’ve got in many cases that you’ve got whiskey aging so you you’ve got work. I mean you know we talk about in lean they talk about work and process. My god the amount of stuff you’ve gotten process and if you’re small you get killed because the price of buying a small amount of bottles and stuff kills you. So you have to buy more. And next thing you know you’ve just got warehouses full of junk. I mean just huge volumes. I mean this stuff takes up in thank God it’s whiskey it’s better than beer. I can’t even imagine what the beer guys have to go through. I mean you see these places where they’ve got the cans stacked up to the ceiling. I mean the volumes that a beer guy has to do are even worse. But it just surprises you because you tend to think about the whiskey making in that kind of stuff. But if you’ve got to have a rock house you’ve got to store barrels then you’ve got to dump the barrels. You have bottles. I mean that same product is taking up you know it’s a bomb because I know we’ve gone we’ve gone up X in sales this year and next year we’re going up 5 x again and you just do a little bit of paper to put pencil to paper and you quickly go all my frickin Lord.
Doug: [00:34:19] How many pallets do I have to have and what kind of floor am I going to get. And so we’re working on systems for that. So really think about that you’re going to underestimate the amount of space that you’re gonna get. And related to that I know a group I know a couple of groups that have been looking to buy me we’re not for sale or anything but who are looking to buy craft distillers. And one of the things that they’ve told me that has held them back from certain purchases is that they said they had no capacity even if they wanted to make them big. They were either landlocked in a city and there was no space I mean for intents and purposes they had to start a new place in order to make the math work. I mean they had a brand maybe a recipe but that was about it. There’s just no stock there’s no no volume for it. So I’m not talking about building it big but you got to think through the plan for how you’re going to do that.
Tripp: [00:35:21] Okay. There is some of the interesting things that you’ve found as far as the distillery piece.
Tripp: [00:35:29] Well what’s let’s move to the last section here on your craft cocktail recipes since you had been too long since you’ve been back from Singapore. And I’ve actually had a Singapore Sling before. I don’t know what was in it because I only drink it so I am not familiar with Raffles Long Bar in Singapore. Why don’t we start there.
Doug: [00:35:54] So so Raffles Hotel named after Raffles who was who came. I think he was an Englishman who came to Singapore in the area and helped develop it.
Doug: [00:36:09] There’s the Raffles Hotel very famous and there’s a at the end of it there’s a bar called the long bar it’s I’m on the second floor and I’ve been to Singapore a couple of times and the first time I was there it was rustic. I think it would be a name of a rickety staircase you went up there you know charmingly rustic I guess is what you would say OK. And this time when I was there I was a little bit unsure because I’d heard that the hotel was under construction. I thought I was there but they knew enough to open up the long bar first because the tourist is coming through all Monaco to get the place where the Singapore Sling was originally invented. And so they make Singapore Slings and they make a lot of them there and back they have a mixing machine. I’ll send you the video on it we put it up on the website. They have automated mixing machine for shaking the Singapore Slings it’s an hilarious. And I took some video of it and so we stopped in and we might have had a couple a couple of these things. And so the new building is a bit disappointing I said it was sort of like it’d been dignified. It was it was just very prim and proper. How they’ve made it up it just you know it looks like Walt Disney’s view of what an old Singapore bar would be like.
Doug: [00:37:39] You know it’s just.
Tripp: [00:37:41] It’s like a movie set or a ride or something.
Doug: [00:37:44] Yeah I mean I mean they got they got like they got like you know you know like the palms that you know Breeze they’ve got some of those on a metal bar that automatically goes back and forth like it’s like it’s a bit cheesy OK now it’s like a lot cheesy and I had pictures of the last time I was there and I looked at the bar and the new bar is made to look like the old bar but it’s not the old bar. And the whole place is I mean it’s fine but it’s just doesn’t have the the grip that it had before. But the cocktails are still good although I would point Buckham a little bit because they aren’t squeezing the juices and but the volume they’re doing I guess is pretty big.
Doug: [00:38:33] And so here here’s the drink. And again the brand in the case here the brand names really matter. They really do matter.
Doug: [00:38:42] And so to a tall glass of ice.
Doug: [00:38:45] And add one And a half ounces again what ten add one and a half at one and a half ounces of gin. The Gin is a little bit open but I would tend to use Beefeaters or Gordon’s a classic London dry I would tend to use one of those. OK.
Doug: [00:39:01] A half ounce of Cherry Herring which is a cherry liqueur.
Doug: [00:39:07] A quarter ounce of Cointreau which is an orange liqueur.
Doug: [00:39:13] Quarter ounce a Benedictine.
Doug: [00:39:17] Half ounce fresh squeezed lime juice.
Doug: [00:39:22] Two ounces of fresh squeezed pineapple juice.
Doug: [00:39:28] A dash of Angostura bitters and.
Doug: [00:39:32] Then you stir it gently.
Doug: [00:39:35] And add a splash of 7 Up.
Doug: [00:39:39] And garnish it. She’ll take it like a toothpick and take some cherry and pineapple to add to it and and add that to it and it’s it’s a wonderful refreshing long drink.
Doug: [00:39:55] That’s quite fun.
Tripp: [00:39:57] Yeah they’re tasty. But there’s a lot going on inside those drinks obviously that I didn’t have any idea of what or what the ingredients were at the time.
Tripp: [00:40:08] You know I’ve got and I got to ask this and maybe it’s going to be in one of the upcoming upcoming craft cocktail recipes but I gotta believe there’s a Doug Hall something Doug Hall one may you know maybe it’s on Doug Hall 62 now. I don’t know.
Doug: [00:40:25] I think that’s a good one. You know maybe we’re good. We’re gonna have a bit of a party here.
Doug: [00:40:30] Martin Luther King weekend is gonna be the official opening of the distillery here in Cincinnati. And that’s our official opening and we’ve got some wonderful musicians from Prince Edward Island coming down and might have a little bit of a birthday party we’re going to release a new special bottling for my birthday. I’m going to do. But you’ve got me going now though there will be a special cocktail too. I think I’m going to have to start on that.
Doug: [00:40:56] Oh good. Doing do that. Funny think about this stuff folks. I mean the fun thing about these things is make a cocktail for family and friends make it and enjoy it invent your own play with it. I mean it’s simple it’s easy.
Tripp: [00:41:09] And send it to us. Yeah. I mean I know I haven’t I haven’t sent it over and you know well if it’s something worth mixing well we’ll put it out there.
Doug: [00:41:22] Send us a send us a cool one we’ll send you a T-shirt. Elvis said that the guys and I go wow that’s cool we’ll send you a T-shirt and that’s the recipe that’s meaningfully unique.
Tripp: [00:41:35] Very good. Hopefully we’ll get some participants in that I’ve made me do it just to come up with something to try and get a T-shirt although your voice rejected my pizzas so I’m not sure I’ll do a mixed drink.
Tripp: [00:41:51] I’m still I’m still looking up at a 4 Doug on near meaningful unique scale so I got some work to do. All right very good. Well that concludes this portion. Any cliffhangers for us for the next Brain Brew Whisky Academy.
Doug: [00:42:11] No but I’m going to end you with a quote this week and it was a quote.
Doug: [00:42:15] I’ve met a friend in Singapore who said this to me and we had a wonderful 4 hour dinner just a glorious Asian dinner with a tasting menu and had lots of laughs and talks and he said this quote to me and I put it down and I just think it would I’d like to end the show this week with this he said no one ever changed the world because their boss assigned the project to them.
Doug: [00:42:43] “No one ever changed the world because their boss assigned the project to them.”.
Doug: [00:42:50] So what are you waiting for. Folks let’s get started.
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