Podcasts about marriott rewards

Nick Cicero '09 is a social media entrepreneur, who — after starting college at Nazareth as a trumpet-playing music major – was intrigued by the spread of Facebook, Twitter, other social media platforms, and followed his instincts to pursue a career in internet technology and business. Nick's life's work has focused on building social publishing and analytics tools for publishers and media companies, eventually founding, developing and leading social media analytics company Delmondo, which was later bought by Conviva.  Nick has 20 years of experience in advancing the social media, digital marketing, and streaming video industries, with a track record of innovation and leadership. He has been at the forefront of many tech firsts, such as creating the first enterprise analytics solutions for Snapchat, Instagram Stories, Facebook Live, and TikTok, co-producing the first Snapchat branded series with Marriott Rewards, and working with Oprah Winfrey to launch the first Instagram video on TV.  Today, Nick works as an advisor, consultant, professor, and investor. He has made hundreds of presentations at major industry events like Vidcon, SXSW (South by Southwest), SportsPro, Social Fresh, and Social Media Marketing World. He serves as an advisor and mentor to early-stage startups and educates future leaders as a faculty member at the esteemed S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.  

Guest Nick Cicero is an analyst, entrepreneur and growth expert operating at the intersection of digital media and advertising. He made a name for himself in the 2010s when he founded Delmondo, a social video analytics company. Founded in 2014, Cicero quickly established Delmondo alongside established media measurement companies by introducing numerous industry firsts, including the first enterprise analytics solutions for Snapchat, Instagram Stories, and Facebook Live used by clients such as ABC News, the NFL, WWE, Fox, UEFA, Paramount and more. He and Delmondo also co-produced the first Snapchat Branded Long-Form Ad Series with Marriott Rewards. Raising only a single angel investment round, Cicero steered Delmondo into a profitable startup that garnered millions in revenue, hundreds of loyal customers; and set new industry standards culminating in its acquisition by Conviva in 2018. During his time building Delmondo, Cicero was also a cofounder of TVREV, an analyst business reporting on the convergence of TV and digital media. He partnered on TVREV with a who's who list of media executives that all participated in Conviva's angel investment round – Gary Vaynerchuk (VaynerMedia), Jesse Redniss (former WarnerMedia, current founder at Qonsent) and David Beck (current Brightcove COO) – who collectively operated as BRaVe Ventures. Cicero stayed on at Conviva for several years to lead Conviva's social intelligence business in a VP of Strategy role. At Conviva, Cicero focused on extending their portfolio of measurement products that enable video publishers, sports teams, leagues, and streaming TV providers to get a 360-degree understanding of the viewer journey and grow viewership, engagement, and revenue. He departed Conviva in 2022 to pursue consulting opportunities and explore new entrepreneurial endeavors. He joined the ranks of consulting firm Value Creation Labs (VCL) in 2023, establishing himself in a GTM Lead role for VCL and its partners such as Vevo, Precise TV, PadSquad and T-Mobile. Cicero is a regular speaker at industry trade shows, and is an expert commenter on industry trends such as his analysis of the $5 billion Netflix-WWE deal featured in The Drum. He also has a passion for mentoring the next generation of media entrepreneurs. He's an adjunct faculty member at his alma mater, the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, where he recently announced the formation of the inaugural Emerging Leaders Alumni Board of which he plays a lead role. We explore Cicero's impact on the media innovation community, what he's up to at VCL, and much more in this latest ‘Boston Speaks Up' episode.

Is the new IHG One Rewards set to top Marriott Rewards? While it won't dethrone Hyatt atop the loyalty rewards mantle, IHG One is looking surprisingly strong. 1:38 Giant Mailbag: Is the Apple card a better beginner card? 6:15 What crazy thing . . . did Caesars Rewards do this week? The un-matched get rematched. https://frequentmiler.com/hail-caesars-revoked-caesars-rewards-diamond-statuses-are-being-reinstated/ 8:24 Mattress Running the Numbers: Hyatt status fast-track https://frequentmiler.com/get-hyatt-explorist-status-free-shortcut-to-globalist-status-targeted/ 16:48 Maint Event: Marriott vs IHG https://frequentmiler.com/ihg-one-rewards-new/ https://frequentmiler.com/how-to-earn-2-years-of-ihg-club-lounge-membership/ 1:12:35 Question of the Week: Is there a trick to finding Qatar availability? https://frequentmiler.com/avios-sweet-spots-for-award-tickets-british-airways-iberia/ Join our email list: https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ Music credit: Annie Yoder

We’re stuck inside and it’s time to start dreaming!  If you enjoy the podcast, I hope you’ll take a moment to leave us a rating. That helps us attract more listeners! I lead off the show with a quick note on my thoughts about booking travel right now. Travel is something that will help our family recover, and it might just be what you need when things get back to some semblance of normal. Today we’re tackling how to plan an African safari. If this is a trip you’re trying to plan you’ll also want to check out the last time we talked about how to plan a safari for under $100 a day. We’re discussing the different regions of Africa where you should be focused on and we’re joined by Stefan Krasowski, who’s an expert on the region based on his extensive travels. Stefan runs the Facebook group Every Passport Stamp and you can find him blogging at Rapid Travel Chai. Stefan also shares tips on how your Marriott Rewards and Virgin Atlantic miles to save money on unbelievable safari opportunities at some of the best national parks and game reserves Africa has to offer. Links: Travel Will Speed Up The Recovery For Our Family (And Maybe Yours, Too)! Every Passport Stamp Facebook Group Rapid Travel Chai Safaris for Under $100 A Day

Some people thought it was crazy to build a business doing 100% contract distilling. David Mandell, Former President and CEO of Bardstown Bourbon Company, told us this back on Episode 019. Four years later, we catch up with him to see how the operation has tripled from its original plan. This podcast covers what it takes to be a client of Bardstown Bourbon Company and how they are making 40 different mash bills for them. From the business side, we talk about building a destination for visitors and what it takes to find the right talent pool and keep employee retention. We look into their recently launched bourbon line and what the future has in store for more collaborations. Show Partners: The University of Louisville now has an online Distilled Spirits Business Certificate that focuses on the business side of the spirits industry. Learn more at uofl.me/pursuespirits. Find out what it's like to taste whiskey straight from the barrel with Barrell Craft Spirits. Learn more at BarrellBourbon.com. The 2019 Kentucky’s Edge Bourbon Conference & Festival pairs all things Kentucky with bourbon. It takes place October 4th & 5th at venues throughout Covington and Newport, Kentucky. Find out more at KentuckysEdge.com. Receive $25 off your first order at RackHouse Whiskey Club with code "Pursuit". Visit RackhouseWhiskeyClub.com. Only one week until Bourbon and Beyond. Learn more and get tickets at BourbonandBeyond.com. Show Notes: Barrell American Vatted Malt: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190827005179/en/Barrell-Craft-Spirits-Releases-First-Ever-American-Vatted NAWR post on 21 states violating the constitution for shipping laws: https://nawr.org/twenty-one-states-in-violation-of-constitution-after-tennessee-wine-supreme-court-case/ Bardstown Bourbon Company’s new CEO: https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2019/09/bardstown-bourbon-co-names-new-ceo/ Bardstown Bourbon Company new Visitor Experience: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bardstown-bourbon-company-opens-immersive-visitors-center-experience-300914083.html This week’s Above the Char with Fred Minnick talks about glassware. What's been going on since the last time you were on the podcast? What is Bardstown Bourbon Company? What kind of brands do you work with? What technology have you implemented in the distilling process? Talk about building Bottled & Bond Kitchen. How did you find the right staff? Do you see an end of investing into the business? Tell us about your innovation. How did you decide to get into this business? How many locations did you scout? What do you do for employee retention? Tell us about your bourbon. What's the next phase for the Fusion line? What about your vintage whiskey? Where do you see the business going in the future? 0:00 Have you thought about a career in the whiskey industry? I'm not talking about being the next master distiller. But if you want a leg up on the competition, you need to take a look at the distilled spirits business certificate from the University of Lobel. This 30 week program will prepare you for the business side of the spirits industry like finance, marketing and operations. This is 100% online, meaning you can access the classes at anytime and anywhere. So what are you waiting for? Get signed up to make your next career move@business.louisville.edu slash online spirits. 0:35 All right, David, you wanna give me some? I don't know just about your breakfast this morning. 0:40 Protein Shake, protein shake. He said this testing right? Yeah, sound healthier than me. 0:46 And you're surrounded by bourbon in a restaurant. You really got to be careful 1:03 Hey everyone, it is Episode 218 of bourbon pursuit. I'm one of your hosts Kenny. And as usual, let's hit some news, barrell craft spirits. You know, Joe, you hear him on the podcast all the time, they have announced the first ever barrell American bad malt. It's a blend of exclusively American single malt whiskies, which we've actually become quite big fans of single malts on the show recently, and barrel has partnered with small and large producers across the country to select whiskies that express the full diversity of American terrier and style. This release was years in the making, and as many of the components in the blend come from emerging distilleries that have never traded or sold bulk whiskey on the market before. And this is coming from Joe who've you've heard on plenty of times. As we said before, in addition to expanding our ever growing portfolio of spirits, this new project is also an important step in advancing our vision in the next chapter of whiskey in America. We'd love to hear it 2:00 Your reviews and your thoughts on it. So make sure you comment and let us know. Now smooth Ambler is relaunching their old scout brand. This is the same brand that we all knew about when it was sourced from NGP. And now this is the new return of MGP product. It is now a five year old in GP bourbon it will be bottled at 99 proof and widely available in the US starting in the fall of 2019. We have a whiskey quickie where we review the new old scout that will be published here in just a few short weeks. The na WR or the National Association of wine retailers has put out an article stating that after the Tennessee wine Supreme Court case ruling that we've talked about so much on this podcast is saying that there are 21 states in violation of the Constitution. One shipping laws and these 21 states violate the Commerce Clause with their bands on wine shipments from out of state wine retailers. The case mandates that states may not pass protectionist 3:00 laws that discriminate against out of state wine stores and retailers by banning them from shipping wine to consumers. Now lawsuits have been challenging these bands on wine shipments from out of states are now underway in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, and Texas. The remaining states with unconstitutional wine shipping laws are California, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Washington state lawmakers in the other 14 states that we just mentioned need to take it upon themselves to start fixing their shipping laws. You can read this article in our show notes that today's podcast wasn't intended to air for quite some time. David Mendell had previously been a guest on the podcast way back on episode 19. And as Ryan would say, that's when we sucked, but this past week, I saw Bardstown bourbon companies, Instagram that there had been a leadership change, David 4:00 is taking a step back and they've hired a new president and CEO, Mark Irwin. Everyone actually was part of the bros on bourbon company and was part of their board earlier this year. And he comes from a long history in the US Army and investment groups. Now I'm sure we're going to have a lot of time to talk about more about mark in the future. But this podcast is all about David, and it's been a pleasure to watch him spearhead this movement from years ago into what Bardstown bourbon company is today. The growth of this company has seen has been tremendous, and you're going to hear about it relatively shortly, as well as some of the new product offerings. However, it looks like David wanted to go out with a blast because today also marks the grand opening of the new visitor experience at the Bardstown bourbon company. The expansive development includes curated tours, cocktail classes, exclusive tastings, and multiple private event spaces. Guests can choose from multiple levels of experiences including the main event which is a one hour fully immersive tour and 5:00 The Bardstown bourbon company's best, which is a top tier 90 minute tour featuring sensory exercises, cocktails, and a personal tour given by the master distiller Steve Nally. The sensory exercises will allow visitors the opportunity to examine distillate taste how bourbon ages and learn how it is used in finished products. The tours will showcase Bardstown bourbon companies experimental distilling process of 40 mash bills for over 24 customers guess will also be able to enjoy the visitor center, which is adjacent to the Rick house tasting bar, which is also surrounded by stacks and rows of Kentucky bourbon barrels, where they will feed whiskey straight from the barrel. Visitors you can book your online experience right now on Bardstown, bourbon.com. And you can read more about all this in our show notes. All right, let's kick off the show. Let's hear from Joe over a barrell bourbon. And then you've got Fred Minnick with above the char. 5:57 Hi, this is Joe from barrell bourbon tasting whiskey. 6:00 Straight from the barrel was truly a life changing moment for me. In 2013 I launched our craft spirits so everyone could have the experience of tasting whiskey cast strength. Use our store locator to find a retail or bar near you at barrel bourbon.com. 6:14 I'm Friedman again, this is above the char. If you follow me on Instagram, you might have caught me in a story where I did a live tasting. And I was testing the New Orleans glass versus the Glen Karen. Obviously, this is something very unique cannot really do a tasting objectively because you're touching the glass you have a feeling of what it should taste like and inherently you're going to like how one glass looks more than the other. So what I did was as I have blindfolded myself with a bandana and I had someone pour the whiskey in my mouth now this is is going to sound weird, but I actually could not tell which glass was which, by the way it was touching my lips, Italy 7:00 Initially, when Jessica did it a second time she liked cram the glass of my upper lip. So thankfully, I did not cut my lip. Anyway, the results were really fascinating to me in that I liked the Glencairn more because it gave me more surface area coverage on my tongue. Whereas like the New Orleans glass, which is very, very nice looking, it came in like a direct point on to my palate like a bead like shooting onto the palate, and I would have to work to get the whiskey all over the place. Now this is good and bad. It's good if you are a whiskey that you're trying to mask, like how you feel in different parts of the tongue because you're going in in a very narrow trajectory, and it's bad if you're like me, and you're trying to be analytical of the whiskey because you're not getting the full surface coverage that you want. Now, I own the aromatic side. I also noticed that the New Orleans glass only 8:00 offered up, you know, some of the more prominent notes like it wouldn't let me really assess the spirit as much as like the Colin Karen. And what I mean by that is that with the Glen Karen, I got layers of the aromatic properties, like I could tell what the various notes were and what they smell like. With New Orleans, I got one note, and then a bunch of little bitty other ones, but I could not really discern what some of those other little bitty ones were. Now some of this may be I typically drink with the Colin Karen. So I'm more used to how that hits my notes. So preference definitely comes into here, but I'm asked all the time, what glass should you use, and it really all depends on the moment, you can drink bourbon out of a solo cup, and it would be great if you're with your buddies. So I would say let's not focus so much on things like the glassware and let's focus more about who we're drinking it with. Now, if you're if you're being analytical and you're wanting to do these blind tastings, you need to have like a consistent glass 9:00 What if it's just hanging out with your buddies? Your old college friends? The glass doesn't matter. The company does. And that's this week's above the char. Hey, if you want to catch my Instagram stories, make sure you're following me on Instagram. It's at Fred Minnick again at Fred Minnick. Until next week. Cheers. 9:23 Welcome back to another episode of bourbon pursuit the official podcast of bourbon Guinea here today riding solo as we are at Bardstown bourbon company, and this is talking to a guest that you may have heard a long, long time ago. This was back on episode 19. This is when we were starting to break ground when they were starting to break ground. It was quite a while ago so the journey on both ends has been explosive and growth which is fantastic to see on both sides of the table here. And if you hear some clinging, some silverware going on, it's because we're in their their main restaurant here and you're 10:00 hear more about that more about really what's happened here? What are the big plans for everything that's going on more as we start diving down this this path. So today on the show, I have David Mendell, you might have remembered from back on episode 19. He is the president ceo and one of the co founders of Bardstown bourbon company. So David, welcome back to the show. Thank you, Kenny. You know it, I'll tell you, it's remarkable because when you think back to Episode 19, where we're sitting right here, none of this existed, and we had an empty room, you know, and we were just getting up and running. And it really is incredible. And I just want to congratulate you on your tremendous growth. I think you guys are the leading bourbon podcast out there, aren't you? Well, we are and thank you so much for saying that. You know, we've we've gone through a lot of growth as well. I mean, like I was saying at the we started this. We were We were Episode 19 like this is we do these every week and I was thinking like holy crap that's years ago. And I was thinking of like, wait, you united anyone put a shovel in the ground yet when we started talking about 11:00 This it was this was all just like press release it was pie in the pie in the sky kind of idea and like, how are we going to execute on this? God? That is right. I mean, you were here. That was before we actually even had the building finished. So that that's tremendous. That's tremendous. Yeah. So I guess, a few years later, how's it going? Well, I mean, you look around here it is really, it's unbelievable. I mean, I oftentimes we sit back and we say, you know, how did we do this? And I'll tell you it is it's going incredibly well. You know, since that day, more than three years ago now, you know, we have built one of the largest distilleries in the country. We do custom whiskey production. Now for 24 different companies will do 40 different mash bills. We have probably one of the most sophisticated whiskey distilleries in the world. We build an award winning restaurant and bar here in the middle of the rest in the middle of the facility. We're opening a visitor center and an experience. We've got some really aggressive plans for bottling and a hotel coming and we could not be more excited. Holy smokes. That's a lot of stuff going on. 12:00 stuff. 12:02 So, I mean, I remember if I if I remember the one of the first things that we even talked about or maybe it was like a it was a rumor that that even said that was like even before like the doors were open, you all had basically contracted out I mean, cuz let's let's also make sure we set the precedent that the the the goal of what Bardstown bourbon company is is that you are a large contract distiller for anybody that wants to come in and make their own bourbon, right. And I'll put a little bit of a twist on that because what's what is interesting is we're a celebration, the entire craft of making whiskey. So we bring everybody together here, distillers enthusiasts, lovers, you know, and the community and we do that in our collaborative distilling program in the restaurant and bar as you can see around you, we serve everybody's products, and you find ours through the lens of everybody else, and we're really about that. But when you go back to the we call it the collaborative distilling program, because I'd make a distinction between that and 13:00 Custom. It is a exclusive program. If you're accepted into it, you then get the ability to have us showcase your product. If you look, we sell everything from Jefferson's to Kentucky owl to many of the companies that we produce for their integrated into our cocktail menu. Then they can bring their guests, the distributors, the retailers here, this is their home. So it is a bit different. But you're right before we opened our doors, we sold out the first 25,000 barrel capacity of the distillery. We expanded to 50,000 barrels six months later than 130,000 barrels, about six months after that. And we have almost all of that effectively under contract for the next five years. It's been a remarkable program. I mean, it just it just goes to show you like how big this boom is really getting that everybody really wants to get into this action because yeah, I mean, like that's, that's an incredible number of whiskey that you all are producing. And people are saying yes let's I want to gobble this up. Like I want to be a part of this. 14:00 So where does Where is like the I mean, those are those are impressive numbers begin with right of kind of like, how it was and how it was all contracted out. I guess kind of give me the give the rundown if if if I'm Joe Schmo and I'm like, Hey, you know, I'm ready to do this. I really want to get into get into the whiskey game. Do they call? Hey, David, I heard you on the podcast, like, what's, what's the next step? We take you? So the answer to that one is going to be? We're not the right, we're probably not the right provider for you. So we get a lot of those calls. We get them every day. But I think, you know, the beauty of our program is that we produce for great brands. So one of the you know, one of the primary considerations if you you know, even be considered as you've got to have a great brand, it's got to be on the market. You've got to be a company that has been in the industry. That's who we focus on. That's why we only produce for 24 different companies right now. We've turned away over the last several years. You know, more than obviously that we've accepted we get those calls every day. There are many options. 15:00 still out there for people like that, you know, that want to get in the business have never been in it before. They're much smaller options were not the option for them. But, you know, what's been most exciting for us is how we have really changed the the whole kind of dynamic and landscape of the contract whiskey production, you know, market. And it's that it's that program, and it's been really, really exciting. Yeah, I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's fun, right? Because other than you all, like there's only like a few places where you can go and do something like this. Yeah, let me tell you what I think is what is one of the most exciting things about it. When you look at what happens in that distillery, we bring together of those 24 companies. We have massive companies and we have some small craft distilleries and a number of them in the middle. They're all working together with us there. We've got their teams coming in. And we're learning every day. They're learning. We're learning. We're pushing innovation. We're balancing art, and science, but we're pushing innovation. It's all happening in there. 16:00 We're sharing best practices. And that's making our team better. And the result of all that is now coming out in our brands. So we're taking all that knowledge that we have created in a short period of time doing a lot of innovation. And you're seeing that now come forward in our brands, that's never going away. The collaborative distilling program is a core piece of who we are. It's something that will drive innovation drives, you know, has us pushing the edge all the time. That's really one of the most interesting I think an exciting pieces of what's happening here is by having everybody work together, you've never had that before, in the whiskey industry in one place. Absolutely. Most the time. It's like, hey, David, here, here's the magical, I won't go make it well, and you know, even more than that, what you had in the past was you had effectively, you know, a couple of companies, you had one where you got to choose one of three different mash bills, and you got it, great whiskey, great bourbon, but there wasn't a lot of choice, or you had, you know, another large distiller producing for you and the problems you had, there's 17:00 You didn't get great customer service. You know, you were kind of seen as you know, we're not we're, you know, we're selling extra capacity. And other cases, it was kind of behind the scenes, you don't really want to talk about it. And sometimes you're not allowed to talk about it. And we were the first to really embrace this kind of production and say, we want to do it, we want to be proud of it, we're going to put it out there, it's going to be about transparency. And everything now that we drive with our customers is full transparency, access to the data in real time chemistry, we just put in a system called ignition that is used primarily the food manufacturing business that gives complete historian and transparency at every stage of the production and the customer gets to watch it in real time. They're kind of like really powerful. What What is it? Is it Volkswagen or BMW somebody where like you, you buy a car like you can brand new you can actually go to go to Europe or Germany and actually, like watch it as it's made in the last essentially the same thing. They get a portal, they can watch their production, they can see their barrels in the warehouse. We just implemented it in this last 18:00 upgraded the distillery when we just came off of shut down a couple weeks ago. Really, really neat, really neat software I was about to say I was like is do people get like push notifications like an app like it's like it's dominoes delivery dude. That's what this was. So it's really crazy about it is extremely user friendly, john Hargrove and Steve now I can, can can access the distillery from their phone at home, they can see it and they can control it. So Sierra Nevada, Coca Cola, a number of you know, very large companies are using this platform. And it is amazing because the data that comes out of it in the control of the system in the transparency, it also feeds into your financial, you know, software, it's really really powerful. Something that people like can could totally geek out on Yeah, so let's let's keep going down this path because you know, as a as the business side of it, like what, what more value do you think that that you get out of this by being able to give the power to Steve and john and be able to be able to do that. So it goes 19:00 Even one level beyond so we're giving not only this power to Stephen, john, but we're handing that power to our customer. And so that is really our partners in the collaborative distilling program. Never before have they been able to watch their production in real time, you're getting literally you're getting the chemistry is on each firm enter in real time as it's taking place, you're able to see it, you're able to, you know, work with us, there's something that, you know, you see that's wrong or is out of line, you can make immediate changes, you know, to production, but that kind of transparency. And that kind of data is really valuable for the consumer when they're used to an industry here. Again, when you talk about traditional contract whiskey production, you had no transparency, you had no data, you got what you got. And that was it if you didn't like it too bad. And that was the attitude. You know, don't tell me how to make bourbon. I know how to make bourbon. Well, what if the customer doesn't like it? So we're going we're going to make it and we're going to get it exactly right under your specifications, because you're our partner. That's what we do. And so it's it's been very neat when you talk about 40 different Nashville's 20:00 One facility. Most you know most, yeah, most facilities are one to five, maybe 20:06 two to three. So it's, it's really neat what's happening in there. Now it's making me think of like, remember Willy Wonka. And he was trying to put a candy bar like through the TV. Now it's like whiskey, like just be like sampling through the app like, 20:23 hey, if we could figure out how you could drink product out of your out of your smartphone, I would change social media advertising, it would it would change that might be a whole new business venture like let's just go Yeah, let's just get out of this. We're gonna do whiskey by the phone that's right. 20:39 Now but it is it is really neat. And then when you carry over what is taking place there and then when we built the the restaurant and the bar here when we invested tremendously in terms of bringing incredible talent here, we've got chef, Felix Mazda, from the Greenbrier, Chef john Castro, who just joined us who ran Sullivan's 21:00 Culinary Institute in Louisville incredible background he is in charge of all of our culinary Dan Callaway on our beverage team who ran deca and built an incredible team. What happened is organically, they started working together with the distillery and that is how we got here to our products. And so we're no it's no longer just about one singular person making decisions about a product. It's about a team of experts, beverage commentary and distilling, creating these very unique blends, and bringing lots of different perspectives and pushing innovation and that's what I think of everything right now. That's one of the things we're most proud and most excited about where we're headed there. But when our own brand Yeah, before we before you're touching your brands, because I think that's that's gonna be a very big part of this. Talk about what it meant to actually like build bottle and bond kitchen because you know, you think about Bardstown there's something that is missing. Right there is you can go to Miami. There's nothing wrong Miami, right but like this 22:00 There's definitely that that sort of, like, finer dining experience that was really missing. So what, why create this this large, you know, place where people can come and eat and have a really, really good meal, rather than than just like, Hey, we're going to serve sandwiches out of the back of the truck over here. Well, I'll tell you so again, like everything, you know, I'd love to say that, you know, we had, you know, full clarity of this vision when we when we walked into this, but when, you know, when you get into the business and you start going, it's an evolutionary process. And so for example, you know, with this, we like to say, you know, the distillery is our heart, you know, bottle and bond is a soul, you know, all of us and so, it really kind of brings together everybody but if you back up to 2017, you weren't allowed under Kentucky law, late 2016. You are unable to sell by the drink. So we worked with the state legislature, we got sell by the drink pass, we got vintage whiskey passed, and that changed everything. And we had not yet built this out at that point. So we stopped 23:00 And we said now that we can sell actually sell cocktails in the distillery, let's look at doing a full restaurant and full bar. And let's really complete this whole idea of the Napa Valley destination experience. And so, like everything else here, we launched into it without having the history and the perspective of the industry. So we did something completely different. And we worked with the community and we build something that I think really remarkably balances, the visitor on the trail coming in, and the community member of Bardstown and what do I mean by that? That's everything from food style, to pricing, to having a place where people can come and just enjoy. It's not pretentious, it's a high level of style and service. But you can come in here you can spend $30 for a bottle of wine, you can spend 1000 you can have a $4 pour whiskey, you can have a 20 $500 pour whiskey, you can come in and have a meal that is comparable in price to chilis, you know and to Cracker Barrel, but you're getting fresh food scratch 24:00 Me local ingredients. That's, that's the goal is to bring everyone together. And it's worked. Yeah, it really has worked. Yeah, I mean, I've done here a few times. And it's it's always fun to do that. I mean, there's, you'd mentioned i think that's that's one of the things that I think Bardstown was really key and missing, as well, as was having that sort of experience. We can have this sort of, like elevated dining experience, where it is good, it's good food. I mean, from local, we've got massive amount of restaurants around us and good places, the but like, yeah, Bardstown was really missing some of that, that key and great war and the community is so supportive, and they are so proud of what we're doing out here. I know, Ryan's gonna kill me too, because he's from Barcelona. 24:42 And, but you know, and it's great. And because, you know, we're very proud to be here. We've all moved here. We moved, you know, probably 20 people here, you know, of our team that have come from all over the country here and settled here to build this great company. But you know, what I would I'd say is we've created what I would call and we call the modern bourbon experience, and what is that 25:00 It's no longer just about drinking bourbon, just straight, all day long going through a formula tour and tasting. When do you want to have these types of products, when you want to enjoy them, a lot of times it's going to be over a great setting or a meal, you're gonna want them in cocktails, you're going to be sitting outside, you're going to want to enjoy them, along with a great culinary experience, because that's, that's a lot about, you know, the, the fun of having great high quality alcohol products. And so it's not about over consumption, it's about good, responsible consumption of better products. And so, and that's where the trends are going. And people want to see they want to know everything about their products. They want to know where they're from, they want an experience, and that's what you get here. And that's what this is. So let's talk more about the business side here because I think you bring up something relatively like a good point about finding it in moving 20 people here at least 20 people and finding the right kind of staff 26:00 kind of talk about like how that search really went and you know we john and Steve like they're great guys we know them like they've been in the industry for for a while but like talk about everything else that that goes into this from the marketing the promotional the restaurant everything like that to to find the right staff and really what it takes to look outside of just the local area Bardstown. Yeah, I mean, I think you know, at the end of the day, you know that the story of this company is the story of the people that have come together here to build this union of all this fancy equipment and all these great furniture, but it's it is the people and the culture and what we have created here and it starts from the top at my level and it goes all the way on down. And we have focused on building the best team from the day that we got here. And we knew it myself, Garnet black, who was our executive vice president hospitality, Dan Lind, our CFO and COO, our chairman Peter loft, and you know, we had to, we had to make sure we were here and so we moved here and 27:00 We started the company. But when you get into each piece, every piece is different. So in the restaurant, for example, we have a program with the State Department. Jay, one program we bring in 20 culinary students from South Africa, India, in the Philippines. We have them in four different locations. Wow, I didn't know that. Yeah, we provide transportation educational program, they stay with us a year. Amazing program. We're in our second class now of students, because the culinary talent is just not here locally. We then supplement that too, with as much as we can get from the community. You know, our beverage team comes from all over many of them move from Louisville, from some of the best places there. But we try to recruit the best people we can and and show them what the opportunity is here. And to be part of something really exciting. Yeah, we've done it across every aspect of the business. So you have to make those investments and you have to invest in the people and create the right culture in order to do what we're doing. That's in our opinion, is the is the miracle 28:00 town shaking your hand yet, like thank you for bringing in more people in business. We're at about 120 employees. We've had very, very fast growth, we're hiring at least another 20. More here. In the next couple of weeks. We're opening the visitors experience here. We're just a couple weeks away from that the warehouse bar, we have a second kitchen that has just gone in that's triple the size of this that's going to be covering our all of our catering, wow event opportunities here. So there's, you know, there is so much and a lot of hiring. We work closely with the city. We work closely with economic development. We work closely with the Chamber of Commerce in both Louisville and in Nelson County, to really help attract 28:42 the folks and we're very invested in and and we think ultimately all of this investment you look at heaven Hill $65 million facility down the street, you've got 2.3 billion over the next eight to 10 years and investment projects in bourbon. A lot of hospitality 29:00 It's coming. We're going to attract the talent here. It's going to be great for the state and it's going to be great for the community. Yeah, I mean, it's, there's, there's no shortage of the money that's getting pumped into this. And, and it sounds like you all mean it. As as like, you know, starting this business and starting another business, I know that it's hard to sit there and be like, all right, where can I see return for a little bit? Let's keep pumping money into it until we start, you know, figuring out finding our groove. So like, where do you all see the end of like, the investing into the business until you can sit back? I mean, I don't think you I mean, any good business. 29:35 You're never stopping the investment. I mean, especially when you're doing something, you know, as you know, innovative like we are in cutting edge. You're constantly pushing the boundaries here. And I think that's one of the things that really is exciting is we've got a very nimble team, we can move quickly. We see opportunities we go after them whether they're on, you know, on all of this, even just and to the brand side, pushing innovation, creating 30:00 Very interesting collaborations, testing, trying not everything works. But you've got to be bold enough to give everybody especially the folks on your team, the freedom to run. 30:11 And to you know, you have a good vision set out, you've got good people, you've got a nice structure and you give people the freedom to create any of the right folks on board. You see, amazing things can happen. And that's how we've done this in three years. And that's the story. Well, it seems from from you know, from your level, that you're giving them the freedom and flexibility to go and try things right because it's it's tough to be able to say like, hey, let's go experiment. Let's do these things. When we know that we've got to we've got to do a lot of things right to be able to make sure that we are we're pushing the boundary our first things out there going to be home run stuff like that, too. I mean, it's it's hard to have that experimental mentality Come on. It's like a lot of things. I mean, you can overthink things and you know, you can over test things, but the real test 31:00 doesn't come until you put it in front of the consumer. So you can plan, plan, plan, test tweak. But until you take this and you stick it in front of the consumer, and you find out, do they like this? Do they love the fact that we have complete transparency on the label? How are they going to react to that? Well, the consumer really likes it. Are you going to like these unique finishings where we're taking different companies and we're pushing the envelope on some of these types of finishings with bourbon? 31:27 You don't know until you put them out there. But I think one of the most interesting things is having bottle and bond kitchen and bar in the middle of the facility is like having a laboratory with the consumer. So every day, we're experimenting, and we're getting direct feedback. So it's, this is like our focus group test. You create it, you put a better way to do it, right. I mean, you're right here you have, you know, you have an audience that comes in here every single day from all over the world. And we're able to try with them lots of different things. We're able to get feedback, we're able to tell 32:00 So we're getting it in real time from consumers. And it's a it's a another very interesting component of the business that you wouldn't necessarily think about. You know how you would use that when you first coming up with the idea. So thinking of ideas and kind of rolling back and I can't remember everything we talked about back on episode 19. 32:22 But kind of what was what was the idea of you even wanting to get into this wanting to do this? 32:31 The 2019 Kentucky's edge bourbon conference and festival Paris all things Kentucky with bourbon. It takes place October 4 and fifth at venues throughout Covington in Newport Kentucky, Kentucky's edge features of bourbon conference music tastings pairings tourists and and artists and market Kentucky's edge. 2019 is where bourbon begins. Tickets and information can be found online at Kentucky's edge.com 32:57 there are more craft distilleries popping up around the country now. 33:00 More than ever before. So how do you find out the best stories and the best flavors? Rock house whiskey club is a whiskey the Month Club, and they're on a mission to uncover the best flavors and stories that craft distilleries across the US have to offer. 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And we learned a lot about who's we, by the way, myself, Dan Lind, who's our CFO and CEO and Garnet black, who is our executive vice president hospitality, we'd started this vodka company. And, you know, we, we sold that in 2009. And we stayed in the business and we worked. We did a lot of work with lots of different companies in the spirit space, and we connected over that period of time with our chairman and main investor in the company, Peter loft and, and we all you know, sat down and we had this vision for creating something in bourbon, we saw where the market was going. And we wanted to do something and it at the time. It wasn't necessarily this, we didn't come here with this exact vision in mind, we had another idea. And as we all got into it together, that changed from that to here, and it continues. 35:00 evolved as we learned more, and we saw more every year every year every month as I say that the business changed and everything from standing over there when the when the city was showing this property right across the road a small parcel the turning of looking across here and seeing the hundred acres you know and saying you know what, we can see where this is headed this the Napa Valley style destination experience, you know, begins that you plant begin to plant the seed. And so nothing happens immediately overnight. It's it was evolutionary. 35:34 And so you had the idea let's get into bourbon, let's do this, I guess kind of talk us through those those days to of dealing with the city of, you know, weather permits where they're like, hey, was this was this like you saw this place and said yeah, or I mean, how many? How many other like locations where you? First I the city leadership was and is not only extremely supportive, they're one of our greatest allies. 36:00 Just in the, you know, in building our business is very important to make sure you have a great relationship there. Kim Houston, who has economic development, our current our current mayor, judge and judge, Dean watts, who is a county judge executive. 36:15 And Bill shackles, who was the former mayor at that time, all So, so supportive, but the funny story is, initially, they didn't want to sell us this property, they had it. They had it, you know, slotted or thought out for different business, you know, and when you have an unknown entity coming in, and wanting to buy 100 acres of your best city property, you know, not always 36:38 making all sorts of promises. And like a lot of communities across the country, they get burned with these, you know, people come in, they make promises, they don't deliver, they buy things and it doesn't materialize. So there's a lot of trust and a lot of faith that goes on and I think that's one of the things that I am and we are a team most proud of is we have over delivered here in Bardstown, and we've been able to 37:00 Do it with their support. It is had been a team effort across the board with the state with local government. And with the community members, we named we named the company after the town. I mean, we really believe in this place, and we believe in where it's going. Yeah. So I know you're dying to talk about these kilometers. So let's, so let's let's, let's talk about I will, we'll talk we can cover this and cover any subjects. 37:25 I mean, like I said, you gotta get a lot of knowledge on the business side of it. I know it's, it's not a, it's not an easy feat to sit here and think like, okay, let's, let's dive head in. Like let's really go all in on this and, and, and, you know, really, I mean, let's be honest, like, you look around here, there's not you hit the nail head modern type of operation. There's no there's no corners that have been cut here. There's a heavy heavy dollar investment and, and I think, you know, in me personally, that I really want this all to succeed too because there's it's a different kind of experience than what you see 38:00 Really anywhere else on the drill and this is the funny thing Kenny is this there was a very significant investment made here and there has been in there has been over time. But when you compare this investment with other similarly situated companies, we spent a fraction of what they spent and that is a tremendous testament to our all local construction team. Busa construction that has been with us for six years. And so I still conduct the same construction team meeting at 9am, every Wednesday morning, and we've done it for six years with the same team that has built everything on this site, and will be building everything else. And so it's a small team. We're nimble, we make decisions immediately versus bringing in huge construction companies and giant engineering firms and architecture firms and nobody's really understanding the business or distilling and you know, you get into spending a tremendous amount of money it goes over, you know, goes over budget it goes over time. We have done this again for a fraction of what others have spent. And that's really an untold 39:00 portion of the story. We couldn't have done this without the use of construction and that team till more of the story then because I mean, that's it seems that's that's really that's interesting, right? Because I mean, a, I guess on the other side of it too is is you do get some more of that upfront capital because you can kind of pre sell some of this sort of stuff, the contract, distilling the barrels and everything like that beforehand. It's not like me, if I wanted to build this over again, I would have to be like, Oh, I gotta wait five, six years until I have a product right? You can spend a lot of money creating a distillery and especially one of this size. I mean, we are now you know, but we did look, we did it. And I think we did a very smartly in terms of we built, we did it, so we had a modular expansion. So we could go from 25,000 to 50,100 30,000 barrels, we just didn't expect to do it in two and a half years. 39:47 It was more like the five to 10 year plan exactly, originally. But you know, so, but the ability to make those changes to say, okay, we're going to expand now and now we're going to expand again and we're going at the same time we're going to build a real 40:00 restaurant and a bar and Oh, wait a minute. before we're done doing that, we're going to start the visitor center. And we're going to start bottling. And that is only because we have this relationship, but the construction team that lives with us is effectively an in house construction team. We want to build something, it gets built. We have a problem, it gets fixed. You know, we're able to do that now. It's a blessing and a curse. You want to build something it's all of a sudden you start building something, but it is fun, like the Bochy ball court out there. You know, that showed up a couple weeks ago. Yeah, it was just that was Dan Callaway, his idea. And then now we have a professional Bochy, ball court, you know, construction team goes out there and builds it overnight. So it's fun. It's also it's also good for, 40:40 like employee satisfaction and stuff like that, too. Right. Like, let's, let's go, let's go have lunch play given Bochy will go have a few meetings. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. And that's right now, so it is, but it is. It is a very important part of the story of how we develop this so quickly, because if you tried to do it with big, conventional 41:00 construction firms, it would be extremely hard, it takes a long time, and it would cost a lot of money. And, you know, I won't, you know, point two examples, but you can find them out there in this industry where you have, you know, seen those problems. So talk about as well as, you know, I guess, again, business side, what do you do to like, have employee retention, right, because this is, this is an industry that most of the time people look at account managers, they look at marketing professionals, they look at, you know, you have your culinary side of things, that it's a lot of turnover and some of this industry, what do you do to help keep that employee retention and make this a positive working, so we do a tremendous amount there. And a lot of that work is led by Garnet black, who runs is our executive vice president hospitality, but she also is our head of HR and our HR team here, that starts with the culture and it starts with day one, you know, we created our mission, vision and values with our employees. We wrote them together. They participated in writing the employee guide 42:00 lines with us, you know, they we give them we did it all of this together every employee, the first 18 barrels that rolled off the line at this company went to the employees. And most people set most companies sell those for a lot of money. They went to the employees, every employee that starts here, I get a in whiskey gets a barrel of bourbon. Right? Yeah. You know, it's everything from, you know, the way you recognize the right way you reward, you know, and the type, the type of culture we create by bringing people's families together here too. And so, you know, we look at we emphasize all of those things, and that there's appropriate work life balance, and that we support the community and, you know, the charities and the organizations that the employees care about. So there are multiple different levels to this. And in a company that is growing so quickly, we I think we spend a very significant amount of time focused on culture. 42:54 And, and it's important, yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, because I come from a tech background. I know most listeners know 43:00 Already and, and so I, I venture out to Palo Alto in the valley very often. And I get to see the ping pong tables and the arcade machines and the puzzle room and also that kind of stuff that most companies around here would be like flabbergasted at. Right. Right, you all build about you ballpark, right? So yeah, you're trying to create a culture that makes you feel like you really want to be here, that it really helps, as I said, helps the employee retention but really helps create that sort of like positive environment that you feel good about coming here in China. That's exactly right. And that's what we try very hard to do. And you know, you're running, you know, very different businesses to you have the distilling side of the business, which is very different from the restaurant and the bar, which is different from the visitors experience, which is different from brand sales and marketing with our team that's out there in the marketplace. Now. You know, we're building world will be in six states with the product by the end of the year, and that is an entirely different business and architecture and one of the most important pieces of the business and we have just this year now ventured into that. 44:00 It's actually the part of the business that we know the best, ironically, because that was the business we were in before. We did a lot, right? We did a lot wrong there. But we learned a tremendous amount and it's one of the most exciting You know, one of the areas I am certainly most excited about with where we're headed is the brand All right, let's talk about that. Okay, let's talk about I know I've been I've been taken off the rails here and there's a lot going on here it well it really is and it's it's fascinating and talk about what this what the multi do do this and we can keep talking let's not wait 200 episodes to do another saying come back here what's going to be a different place a year from now as it is six months from now, so So talk about you know, the first three expressions that you all put out what did it take for the collaboration side of this to really make it happen and I should mention that you also you there was the the collaboration series that kind of came out in this like square bottle? Yes, I think about a year or so ago, correct? Well, we have one case of that left. But that would that sparked an idea and so all of us 45:00 I'll take back to that. But just to start this, this is the Bardstown bourbon company that you see in front of you, this is our brand format, so that this style bottle, you know, and label, this modern presentation of a cohesive brand. And I think the challenge that you have with any young whiskey or bourbon company, is how do you create and begin to create a brand, when your whiskey that you're making here is still maturing in the warehouse and take some time to mature. We don't cut corners. We don't plan on putting anything out that is young, we made a very early decision that we weren't going to put out a six month rye and a one year old, right? That we were really going to wait and we were going to put it out when things were ready because we're not under a rush. But in the meantime, we want to do we want to create really exciting things. So what's happening, what are the trends in the industry? Where are things going? blending, blending is a very exciting trend. It started in scotch. It's been going on for a long, long time, but it really is becoming you know more 46:00 Prominent now bourbon, we want to be great at that. And what's unique about it, we got a Distilling Team, a beverage team and a culinary team that are now all different flavor experts in cocktail team is looking at I mean, a beverage teams looking for cocktail balance, colonnade teams looking at for pairings distilling teams work looking at traditional methods, and they're blending for those reasons. So as we began to get into it, how do we bridge that gap? Well, we start with, you know, a couple of different expressions fusion. Our fusion series tells the story of our blending capability but begins to introduce our young bourbon in with a fully mature or older bourbon and we put it all on the label. So we have 60% of this is two year old bourbon. One is a 20% wheat one is a 36% rye, blended with a 11 and a half year old Kentucky, so it's a Kentucky straight bourbon. And what you get is these bright notes from the younger bourbon with kind of the heavier 47:00 You know the notes from the older bourbon and it makes a very complex blend, where you would get much more of just a uniform product. If you had just the 11 and a half year old here, you're putting these really neat notes. And we went this process went through 50, blind tastings with the Distilling Team, the commentary team and the beverage team to arrive at this unique blend. Its series one, because it's going to adapt. Next year at 6040, maybe several months from now, it'll be 7030, then at 20, but you get to really kind of see how this is going to change as we move to our fully mature product. Then Discovery Series. Discovery is our series that just is about making phenomenal blends using whiskey and bourbon that we didn't produce ourselves. So Discovery Series, one is a blend of four Kentucky straight Bourbons, the core of it being 11 and a half year old, but you've got some, you know, sprinkled in 13 year old 10 year old and five year old and again, went through the same process with the 48:00 Teams blending. And instead of having one singular product, they're adding these like, it's like little notes like little spice notes into the blend, so that you're getting something much more complex. And it's really neat again, went through multiple blind tastings with those teams to arrive at this. Yeah. So I mean, that's and that's what I think is what you're starting to find that a lot more prominent now is being able to get these, these these older Bourbons and then do this blending and there's going to be varied amounts of the type of one product, a proof of another product. And really, you're not going to find the same thing everywhere you go when you do this as well. It really makes it fun because the consumer is looking for interesting things. The consumer is open to innovation, which is where the collaborative series comes in. And you go back to the square bottle. So that idea started over dinner with Joe Harris, from copper and kings. And I was sitting with him and we said, let's Why don't we just start 49:00 This was three four years ago. Let's just start making some neat stuff. We had this glass, we actually owned inventories of 10 and a half year old MGP Indiana bourbon 21% rye. So we took Muscat misspell barrels. And we finished, selected the bourbon finish this bourbon in the Muscat misspelled us for 18 months with the same with American brandy. It was a remarkable product. And it sparked this idea of why don't we create a series very limited edition that tell the story of two great companies working together to produce a really unique product. So then we did the fight for Patrick reserve with Suzanne Fiverr private, great winemaker out in Napa Valley 18 month finish in her Napa Valley cab barrels 18 months is quite a quite a long time. I mean, usually you hear about finishing it's like two to three months, maybe a few ways. Yeah, we were doing 18 month finish on every one of our products at a minimum. And it's a major investment. But you see a remarkable difference. You know, some people will say oh, you know, the products done 50:00 It's going to turn. We have never seen that yet. And I you know, Joe Heron is a huge, you know, believer in this to just keep waiting. And so we have 10 more of these products, projects coming out. We've got three more with copper and kings. We have a really neat one one coming out and beginning of next year with prisoner one. So fabulous that's been that has been finishing now over 16 months. We have great Armagnac house a really neat run one again, we're not held on whole story of the two companies working together. And so these remarkably long finishes produce exceptional products. We actually go one step further to we make sure that there is no degradation in the underlying quality of the wine or spirits. So for example, our wine cast, we ship on refrigerated trucking across the country, they never sit out in the heat, not even for a second they come off the truck, they're filled. And so you prevent all degradation. So tremendous care and making them as well to say I was like, that's a that's 51:00 Investment right there, just I mean, I know what it takes to ship a barrel, you know, across 51:05 state lines and everything like that. But now to put in a refrigerated truck here, it's, it's a lot more expensive. But at the end of the day, you know, our goal is to create exceptional products. Because if you make really good quality things you're going to do great. And that is, we just firmly believe that, you know, if you go take the extra steps to make an exceptional product with a really deep authentic story. You know, that's what consumer, that's what many consumers are looking for these days. And we see it every day. Absolutely. And so I mean, it's it's good to see that this is where the brand's heading, you're doing a lot of good things here too. When do you start seeing it? Because granted, I know you contract with a lot of stuff, but you're also distilling for yourself. Oh, yeah. So all right. Oh, yeah. A lot for yourself. So what's the what's the next phase of, you know, taking fusion to its its own so you'll see you 52:00 You'll see that fusion blend change, you know, multiple times. And then what you're really looking at is about 2022 when our whiskey and bourbon is, you know, really hitting that, you know, about five to six year sweet spot, that's when you're going to start seeing it. And so you'll see rye and different bourbon mash bills. We've been doing a lot with malt whiskey. 52:20 We have a lot of experimentation taking place to so I think there's a lot of exciting things everything also, you know, we're going to be launching a single barrel program here shortly for the public and for retailers, which is different because because we do 40 different mash bills and we create so many different things. You're not limited as a consumer you're going to come into our new bear can be quite the quite the experience and like I don't know if we'll be able to make it through all these Nashville's exactly so you go Rick house bar here, which is beautiful. I you know, I think we're going to take you out and see all these things today. But that structure, you have all glass looking into the warehouse, it's all lit, beautiful setting intimate bar, we're going to be able to provide 53:00 The consumer the retailer with five six different selections different mash bills you'll be at a try those barrels you'll be able to secure them now you'll wait several years will bottle them for you and you know you have a very different single barrel you know pick program where you're not just limited to one tiny let's do a whole array of different things yeah, I mean that's that's gonna be impressive when that when that comes around because a lot of fun Yeah, well Sign me up 53:29 great Yeah, no, I mean it's it's it's cool because there's there's definitely room at of what you all are doing and pushing the envelope not only just in regards of the whiskey production, the kitchen, the single barrel program and one thing we even talked about was the vintage whiskey you all are doing as well like that's it that's the way it is here. It is so exciting. And as part of the new visitors experience, we have a whiskey library that we have built a little secret hidden library back that you can do dinner for up to 10 people in it. And we're that's where we display and showcase our 400 bottles of vintage whiskey. 54:00 that date back to the late 1800s. We secure that and curated the collection with Fred Minnick. It's all for sale by the poor. And it is we built the product we built that collection based on stories. And we didn't wasn't based on volume it was based on what is some really hard to get very unique products that tell great stories. And so some of the some of them back there are absolutely incredible. And they further the whole discussion about whiskey and bourbon. So you come here and again, carry everything but you have discussions like why is you know, the Old Crow chess set considered one of the best whiskeys made? Why is this 1929 see grams Canadian bourbon, which we have, which was before you know, the the statute went into place. Why was that at eight years old? so unbelievably rich. Why are some of these products so terrible? Yeah, that's right. That's, that's 54:56 a stuff and you're like, Well, that was Yeah, that was good. 55:00 And you know, and so, but it starts a conversation. And, and that's what this is all about. That's what I mean, the enjoyment of whiskey, and bourbon, and all of these things is all about a conversation. It's all about an experience. It's all about trying things, sharing things, talking about them. And that is at the core of who we are, and what this place is about. All we want all those conversations about all different things happening in here. It's not just about one brand, or just about our brand, our brands great. And we will put it against anything. But there are also other wonderful producers out there, and it's a big community. And we want all those discussions taking place in here. Now, absolutely. And you know, as we kind of wrap this up and start thinking about really what's on the horizon for you, like on the business side, like where do you Where do you kind of want to see this year? I mean, shit, you already talked about, hey, we're expanding every six months, but like, do you want to stop expanding? Like is there is there a time when you're like, hey, like, let's let's pump the brakes on this for a little bit. I mean, you are seeing the expansion is we're not in 56:00 anticipating further expansion in distillery, so are now our focus we have you know, upgrading yes improving our capabilities always. But we are now focused on building the brand building the visitors experience and the elements around that including bottling and the hotel. And so those are things that we are looking at right now. And we're really excited about that's what's on the horizon and making this a fully not only a fully integrated production entity from you know, from whiskey production to storage to bottling but also on the vent on the visitors experience side, from restaurant to bar to lodging to being able to stay here in the heart of the bourbon capital of the world and make this a full destination experience Am I gonna be able to use my Marriott Rewards points here you know, and I went on a yet 56:49 so we'll leave it on that you know, David, I want to thank you again for coming on. You know, like I said, For for Ryan and myself and Orion's on here, but we always like to hear, you know, we can always talk about like, oh, 57:00 We can do this many barrels a day able to love but, you know, hearing it from a business aspect, I think is one one crucial component that I think a lot of people need to understand as we start getting this and, and you you really talked about it earlier about how you create the culture. And the culture is what builds everything around it right that point and, and really what ultimately makes any venture successful. That's right. And I look and I want to congratulate you guys, because your growth has been as significant as ours and you know, up to 200 podcasts now. It's incredible. And you guys are the leading and if you know, for those of you who are out there, I mean, Kenny and his team, they are the leading bourbon podcast out there, period. And so sign up, listen to it, we encourage it, and we love what they're doing spreading the word here and helping educate everybody about what's happening in this industry. So congratulations to you. Well, thank you, David. I appreciate that mean, I always like a good 57:53 great, it's wonderful to see that, you know, rising tides is lifting all boats across all of this and you know, we're all 58:00 Part of this, you know, bourbon journey together. Absolutely. Well, hopefully we're going to be a part of it with you. And we're going to be excited to kind of see where this is going to go here in the next year too. So, gonna be happy to see that. So before we kind of close up, if people want to give them the address, where can they find it? And they can type in Bardstown bourbon company, and Google M

#152-Die Marriott Travel Packages waren lange Zeit eine der besten Möglichkeiten, Punkte bei Marriott Rewards einzulösen. Ein solches Travel Package inkludiert neben 100.000 Meilen bei einer der Partnerairlines 7 Nächte in einem Marriott Hotel. Je nachdem welche Kategorie das Hotel haben soll, müssen für die Travel Packages mehr oder weniger Punkte eingelöst werden. Seit dem Zusammenschluss von Marriott Rewards und Starwood Preferred Guest wurden die Travel Packages leider stark entwertet, sodass die Ersparnis verglichen mit dem regulären Meilentransfer und der separaten Einlösung von Punkten nicht mehr signifikant war. Seitdem Marriott jedoch die Punktezahl für Freinächte während Peak-Zeiten erhöht hat, ergibt sich wieder eine spannende Möglichkeit, mit den Travel Packages zu sparen: Mit diesen lassen sich Hotels nämlich unabhängig davon, ob an den gewünschten Daten das Peak-Pricing gilt oder nicht, buchen. Damit liegt die maximale Ersparnis eines Travel Packages verglichen zum regulären Meilentausch in Kombination mit regulärer Zimmerbuchung bei 90.000 Rewards Punkten. Alle Details erfahrt ihr im Podcast.Abonniere uns, damit du keine Folge verpasst!Vereinbare noch heute Deine kostenlose Beratung. Verbinden Sie sich mit anderen Vielfliegern in unserer Facebook-Gruppe& folgen Sie uns auf Facebook.

Episode 5 - Marriott May Bonvoy You But Still get The Points"One complaint came from a member who had (over 1,300) nights with Marriott...That's an average of $266,000 they have spent with this company...and due to tech glitches...properties aren't honoring lifetime status and (other) benefits? It's a bait and switch."If you've said or heard the phrase "I've/You've been Bonvoy'd", chances are high you've been burned by Marriott's problem plagued SPG merger and new program rollout. The stories of former Marriott Rewards, SPG and Ritz-Carlton members missing nights, points, waiting for hours on hold, and more are endless. This week Richard is joined by Mister M, Shubhayan Mukherjee, co-founder of Bonvoyed.com! Yes folks. You know that there are more than just a few customers on the fringes that are upset when a website launches dedicated to helping members get the support they aren't receiving.Founded in 2013, the Award Travel 101 Facebook group teaches members how to travel the world using points and miles. Today, our community of over 50,000 people from around the world share, teach and learn how to travel anywhere on any budget. More than just a recap on award travel news and strategy, the Award Travel 101 Podcast offers a glimpse into the stories and lives of our AT101 community members. Show Timestamps1:30 - Starting out on a positive note with some of the good parts of Marriott Bonvoy12:00 - Three ways to use those Marriott Bonvoy Points13:50 - The Mysterious Mister M16:22 - Bonvoy'd goes viral18:00 - The problems are everywhere25:00 - Is there an entitlement issue?LinksBonvoyedThanks to Our SponsorEarn Instant Gold status when you join Fuel Rewards. Save 5 cents/gallon on every fill-up. Terms and Conditions apply, max 20 gallons per fill-up. Visit AwardWallet for more info on the Award Travel 101 Podcast!

Episode 2 – Marriott Bonvoy And The Struggle Bus“The blogs are being told policies before Marriott reservation agents even know whats going on and certainly before front desk agents. No one knows what’s going on.”The Marriott and Starwood merger has been anything but smooth and leadership of the combined portfolio continues to display tone deaf responses to loyal customers. This week Richard and Ed Pizza discuss the continuing struggles of the new Marriott Bonvoy program, how it got to where it is, the current state of trying to be a Marriott Bonvoy loyalist and what Marriott can do to right the ship. Show Timestamps1:12 — Happy Travel Day2:21 — Bonvoy Merger Disaster3:51 — Problems attaching award certificate for an award night? Points advance bookings and more5:19 — Marriott is broken master thread6:55 — New Bonvoy Co-branded card discussion7:34 — Marriott's tone deaf responses10:33 — Has anyone never needed a passport to make a hotel reservation? Probably not18:07 — What could Bonvoy and Lolo Jones have in common?20:18 — “Bonvoyed”24:00 — Is there hope? What Marriott needs to do to improveToday's GuestEd Pizza founded the Pizza In Motion blog on the Boarding Area network. He's considered one of the preeminent voices in the loyalty program space and is a successful entrepreneur. ResourcesMarriott Is Broken #MasterThread in Award Travel 101Pizza In MotionBonvoyed.comContact Marriott Thanks to Our SponsorEarn Instant Gold status when you join Fuel Rewards. Save 5 cents/gallon on every fill-up. Terms and Conditions apply, max 20 gallons per fill-up. Visit AwardWallet for more info on the Award Travel 101 Podcast!

On the Sunday, February 17th edition of The Travel Guys… Steve LaRosa is in for Tom Romano and joins Mark in the studio. In the Travel News, United Airlines is offering TV for free.  That’s on the 211 aircraft which have the in seat back screens.  Previously there was a charge, but now you can watch the screens or on your own device for free.  Southwest Airlines has declared a “operational emergency.”  It appears a...

Today I’m joined by Jennifer and I have been so excited to share this with you for so many reasons. First of all, Jennifer is kind of a Disney Newbie. Although this wasn’t her very first vacation to Walt Disney World, this was the very first trip she has planned herself. She just didn’t grow up with Disney…they went as kids but only one time. If you’re also planning your first trip, you’ll be grateful for her insight. The other reason you want to keep reading, is that we are bringing you an introduction to runDisney! If you’re a runner and you’ve never tried a runDisney race, or if you’ve never ran a step, but you’re thinking “This is my year!” and you want to run through Disney World, then keep reading for all the details. Trip dates: November 1 – 5  Why she chose trip dates:  Jennifer’s ambitious goal is to run every runDisney race in one season (a twelve month period) before her next birthday. How awesome is that?? She had a wonderful time running in April (when she first started running!) A friend had invited her to run Star Wars Rival Run Weekend and it was so much fun that she was hooked. In a big way. Jennifer has booked every race weekend through the Star Wars Rival Run Challenge in April 2019. Resort Review: Coronado Springs and the Dolphin Disney’s Coronado    MagicBand  Amazon Prime Now   Dolphin  Marriott Rewards    Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend  Port Orleans, Riverside  Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend    Beach Club   International Gateway  Trip Planning Details Travel Party: Jennifer traveled to Orlando from Dallas and her sister met her from Buffalo.  Disney Dining Plan: No  Park Tickets: Annual Pass  Memory Maker   PhotoPass   Tables in Wonderland – Yes.  Read more about Tables in Wonderland here.  Lessons Jennifer learned while planning her first Walt Disney World vacation Trip Planning Tools: The Internet.  Phil Gramlich You can read Phil’s Insider Tips for Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and Disney Cruise Line here. You can learn more about dining in Walt Disney World with a food allergy here. Last minute reservations at Tusker House in Animal Kingdom Everything you need to know about runDisney Becoming a runner It was an absolute blast. It was super fun even getting up at 2:00 in the morning to go run. runDisney: The details Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend   Uber   Lyft  ESPN Wide World of Sports  The Itinerary Arrival Day: ESPN Wide World of Sports and Epcot Food & Wine Festival  I wish I was hungrier. I would have pre-gamed better, ate way less during the day, and also probably worn stretchier pants. Day Two: 5K and Magic Kingdom I had only ridden it with my sister, the one that was with me. We’re two years and two days apart in age, so we pretty much did everything together as kids. So I didn’t want to do Haunted Mansion without her. (I didn’t do it in April when I was there.) We jumped into the Haunted Mansion FastPass+ line, and we just rolled right in and it was awesome. It was just as amazing as it was a lot of years ago. The rides aren’t any smaller. They’re not any lamer, you know, they’re not like, ‘oh, this was fun as a kid, but it’s dumb as an adult’ it’s exactly as awesome as it was when I was eight or ten or however old I was. Day Three: 10K and Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, and Epcot Garden Grill There were kids around us. I’m pretty sure they were not as excited as we were because we just looked at each other and started shrieking! Day Four: Half Marathon and Animal Kingdom Two Course Challenge    Disney Springs  Favorite Vacation Memories Jennifer’s sister had a really hard time defining her favorite memory of this trip. However she did mention riding the Haunted Mansion together…they actually have two older siblings and the whole family drove down from western New York, six people in a wood paneled station wagon and it was as awesome as any trip you could imagine. Being able to relive those vivd memories in the Magic Kingdom was really special. Jennifer’s favorite memory is also riding the Haunted Mansion. Riding it with the same person that she always rode with as a kid, because they were always paired together in a family of six. Their two older siblings rode together or one rode with their Mom and the other with their Dad, but Jennifer and her Sister always rode together. So getting back in the Dune buggy together was just so awesome. Her other favorite memory was at Animal Kingdom. As you look at the Tree of Life, there’s a kiosk literally right on the left (as you’re walking down towards the tree), where they stopped to get Mickey ice cream bars because that was their favorite snack is a kid. The two sisters just stood there, staring at this tree, just talking with each other, eating Mickey bars. Finally Jennifer has a photo of her standing in front of the Tree of Life with all of her medals from the weekend. What a perfect souvenir!

Today we talk with Julie about how she gets the most out of her Marriott Rewards points, and her dream-come-true trip to Paris, including a magical Moment under the Eiffel Tower. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today we speak with John, who redeemed over 300,000 Marriott Rewards points for a four-night football experience, including running drills with the star quarterback, a tailgate party with Hall of Famers, and great seats to the all star game in Florida. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

For this episode we talk with Bruce, who shares stories from several of the Marriott Rewards moments he's redeemed points for, including seeing Counting Crows perform at a winery in Seattle, dining with Thomas Keller at The French Laundry, and meeting Darius Rucker at the Country Music Awards. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Som danske kunde hos SAS så opleves det ofte at flybilletter fra København er dyrere end fra Norge og Sverige og samtidigt, så er det betydeligt sværere at samle statuspoint via SAS partnere end det er i de øvrige skandinaviske lande.Vi ser nærmere for forskelsbehandlingen af de danske SAS kunder i denne episode.Til slut i udsendelse kommer vi også med et godt tip til hvordan du på en enkelt måde kan optjene status hos en stor hotelkæde.Læs også:Danske SAS kunder har dårligere muligheder for at få status hos EuroBonusGenvej til status hos Marriott Rewards

Parent Driven Development Episode 012: Traveling with Kids 00:48 The Great Screen Debate Today's particular panelists are all about screens while traveling as long as it's not detracting from the travel experience. Everyone agrees that screens are a great way to keep kids occupied and quiet. 08:09 Transportation Challenges, Woes, and Genius Tips When your kid gets flagged on her first plane ride... TSA Pre√ (https://www.tsa.gov/precheck) (Worth its weight in gold!!) Download shows to devices in advance Have a variety of activities (besides screens) Hotel Paper & Pens Books Cheerios ... and a Walkman (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkman)? Building Up Good Will with People Around You: Is it worth bribing others (with chocolate??) and socializing or should they just deal with you traveling with your kiddo(s)? Use Car Services like Lyft! (https://www.lyft.com/) 24:25 Transportation + Car Seats (Deserves its own conversation, obviously.) Amazon a cheap one + have delivered to your destination then donate when you go home (Pro tip: Do the same thing with diapers!) Uber and Lyft have car seat options in select cities (https://offspring.lifehacker.com/how-to-ride-with-a-car-seat-in-an-uber-or-lyft-1826237627) Renting Car Seats: Yay or Nay? 32:58 On-The-Go Childcare Hotel Concierge - Check Yelp (https://www.yelp.com/) Reviews! Make sure you know where the closest hospital/urgent care center is 37:46 We're Here. Now What? Google "Top 10 things to do in X" Use an app like Winnie (https://winnie.com/) 39:48 A Round of Helpful Hints and Tricks Josh: If possible, get a hotel room with a separate bedroom. Mandy: Hotels with pools are delightful. (Especially if your kids can swim on their own.) Also use Uber Eats (https://www.ubereats.com) for food delivery to the hotel if going out is undesirable. Chris: Pizza chains will deliver to hotel pools for an easy pizza party. Great for traveling sports teams! Allison: Bring a roll of duct tape and use a taller chair on the side of the bed to act as a bedrail. Andy: Aluminum foil and a sponge! 43:42 Genius / Fail Moments Allison: MilkStork (https://www.milkstork.com/): A breast milk shipping company when you're away from your infant. Andy: Andy's son offered his teddy bear to a friend in need! Chris: Playing Mario Kart (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Kart) on the Nintendo Wii (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii) as a family activity to teach good sportsmanship and kindness. Mandy: Staying on the boardwalk part of the beach on the ground level. Also, if you do a lot of traveling, save up points! Mandy uses Marriott Rewards (https://www.marriott.com/loyalty.mi) to get free nights in select hotels for summer vacation fun! Follow & Support Please follow us @parentdrivendev (https://twitter.com/parentdrivendev) on Twitter or email us at panel@parentdrivendevelopment.com (mailto:panel@parentdrivendevelopment.com). Our website is at ParentDrivenDevelopment.com (https://parentdrivendevelopment.com). Support us via Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/parentdrivendev) and get access to our our Slack Community. Panel Andy Croll (https://twitter.com/andycroll) Chris Sexton (https://twitter.com/crsexton) Allison McMillan (https://twitter.com/allie_p) Mandy Moore (https://twitter.com/therubyrep) Josh Puetz (https://twitter.com/joshpuetz)

The biggest news this week in travel has to be the announcements made regarding the newly combined Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest programs (oh and Ritz-Carlton rewards too). Join Ed and Gary Leff from View from the Wing and Book Your Award.com for a deep dive on the some of the most asked about changes - there's so much that we couldn't get to it all! Summer Hull from Mommy Points is back to talk about the benefits of booking awards on alliance partners and shares an example of a recent booking she's made to Europe for this summer. Thanks to our Sponsor! Gogo In-Flight Internet Show Notes Gary's Ultimate Guide to the Marriott/SPG Changes Summer's Reference Post on Award Booking

Gary Leff from View from the Wing is back for Ep. 005 chatting with Ed about travel news of the week: the first fatality caused by an accident involving an autonomous Uber and Hyatt Place quietly testing out eliminating free breakfast for most guests. Followed by, on a lighter note, his expert tips on how to book award tickets like a pro. Jen from Deals We Like spots a transfer bonus for Avios from various hotel programs. Lastly, Andy Luten from Andy’s Travel Blog shares his recommended photo gear and some tips for taking great photos. Thanks to our Sponsors Gogo In-Flight Internet Freddie Awards | Voice of the Frequent Flyer Timestamps: 0:00 - Gary Leff from View from the Wing is back this week for news and notes as well as with expert tips on award booking! For more info check out his other site, BookYourAward.com... 1:00 - First fatality due to an accident involving an Uber autonomous car 5:45 - Hyatt Place testing out eliminating free breakfast for most guests 12:40 - The first thing about Award Booking... 15:50 - Why the airlines really want you to use those miles 17:50 - The amount of time you need to plan a dream award booking 22:05 - What newbies need to know 24:10 - Which carrier sites to find the best awards for other carriers/alliance partners 30:00 - Jen from Deals We Like sharing the current transfer bonuses available between Marriott Rewards and British Airways Avios 36:55 - Travel Photography Tips from Andy Lutton of Andy’s Travel Blog 39:00 - Andy’s go to travel gear 42:30 - What you want your photo to say 47:15 - Top Two Tips 54:07 - The Final Two Pennies: Why you ALWAYS book those insanely cheap tickets & Gogo's Secret Phrase

Total Rewards Celebration Dinners;  February Tier Credit Fever (log into your Total Rewards account before you click the link or it won't work!);  Steve Wynn;  Super Bowl;  Marriott Rewards at The Cosmopolitan;  Blocking the 6:5 signage;  Horeshoe Southern Indiana;  Playing Caribbean Stud in the Caribbean

Carrie interviews elite runner, American Ninja Warrior, and mom-to-be Rose Wetzel! Rose talks about growing up in a large family, her husband's battle with cancer, and her time on American Ninja Warrior. She also shares details about her pregnancy and her excitement to be a mom! Show notes for this episode can be found at ctollerun.com. Rose Wetzel Rose Wetzel is a Georgetown University middle distance runner who now competes professionally as an obstacle course racer and a competitor on American Ninja Warrior. Her athletic journey zigged and zagged along since she first stepped foot on a track in high school twenty years ago, taking her from an 2x 800m high school state champion to a junior All-American 1500m runner at Georgetown, only to hit a bump after college, a bit burnt out. She experienced a "quarter-life crisis" in her early 20s, gained weight, ran local road races in costume for fun, and somehow still qualified for and ran the Boston Marathon, only to fall back in love with running and pursue the 2012 Olympic Trials in the 1500m. She came up short, but had a blast and took her rejuvenated fitness level to the obstacle course racing world, where she's finished top 5 in the world at the Spartan World Championships and made it to American Ninja Warrior Finals the last two years. She's grateful to her sponsors: CLIF bar, Marriott Rewards and HumanN, who continue to support her throughout her pregnancy. She's due July 17, 2017, and she's determined to make it back on the Spartan Race World Championship starting line 2.5 months later. Rose plans to compete strong for years to come, as she feels like her best as an athlete is still to come.