This Wedding Was Brought To You By...

On this latest episode of EDS, Tony and Fingers review the Alec & Bradley Gatekeeper cigar and 2XO Oak Series American Oak.

This Gatekeeper is a 6x52 Ecuadorian habano-wrapped beauty which showcases Nicaragua's finest tobacco with a Nicaraguan and Dominican filler. The hosts immediately note its substantial hand feel and attractive appearance - brown with mottled black streaking through the oily, gritty wrapper. As they progress through the smoke, they identify a journey from initial bready sweetness and nuttiness to a building cedar-like spice that dominates the middle third before revealing more tobacco-forward flavors.

Key Takeaways:
Introduction to Alec Bradley's sale and the Gatekeeper cigar's specifications
Discussion of the cigar's flavor profile - initial toast and nutty notes with building spice
The importance of keeping tasting notes to track your cigar experiences
Tasting 2XO Oak Series American Oak bourbon (92 proof)
News segment covering corporate media layoffs
Discussion about wedding sponsorships and modern wedding traditions

The hosts pair their Gatekeeper with 2XO Oak Series American Oak bourbon, noting how ice brings out more fruit notes and tames the initial ethanol heat. At $49.99 a bottle, they agree it's a worthwhile addition to any liquor cabinet, particularly when served on the rocks.

Ready to explore these flavors yourself? The Alec & Bradley Gatekeeper offers an accessible yet complex smoking experience at around $13 per stick - a worthy addition to any humidor for both casual smokers and aficionados alike.

All that, and more, on an all-new Eat Drink Smoke!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wow. Back in twenty twenty three, the Alec Bradley Cigar
Group sold to the Scandinavian Tobacco Group for seventy two
point five million dollars.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Fingers Moloy, we offered sixty nine point three million.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
Just got beat out. Pity too. It's eat, drink, smoke.
I'm Tony Katzen. That right there is America's favorite amateur drinker.
Fingers Molloy. And this from Alec Bradley, going back to
I think twenty nineteen is when this cigar came out.
This is the gatekeeper. We're doing the toro right here,
which is a six x fifty two, which means it's

(00:38):
six inches long. Sea always makes Fingers Moloy laugh. And
the ring gauge is the fifty two the diameter of
the cigar, or how thick it is around again with
the laughter, So sixty four ring gage would be a
full one inch around. Toro is where I that's to
me is the low end of length. That's where I
like to be. I smoke roboostos. Of course I'm just not.

(01:01):
That's not my every day This into the Churchill is
where I like to play. Hey, I'm not right for you.
You do what you have to do first things first.
This is an Ecuadorian habano rapper here Nicaragua, and the
binder in the filler there's some Dominican the filler as well.
That wrapper feels so great. It's got oil, it's got grit.

(01:21):
It is brown with that modeled black almost streaking through
the wrapper there and feels it there's heft. Yeah, I
say it, it's beefy. It does you actually do feel
the cigar? Not light in the hand at all? Is
this your first time having the gatekeeper fingers? I believe

(01:43):
so it is not for me. It is not my
first time having first time today, Just not my first time.
You always remember your first That's not true at all.
There's so many cigars. I'm like, I don't remember having
this whatsoever. I don't remember if if it wasn't for
the notebooks, and it wasn't for the show, if it
wasn't for the show, that's how I go back, Like
the show is my notebook, go back and take a look.

(02:05):
But it feels great and it looks great. Uh, you've
had Alec Bradley's cigars before, and I think that as
a brand, it's it's always they've always been lovely people,
but it's been kind of hit or miss as as
a cigar for me. There's some things I've enjoyed and
some things I haven't. There's some things I thought were
so silly, like the Texas Toast, which was like an

(02:28):
eight by eighty kind of ring gage, just an absolute mondle.
Maybe it was only seventy ring gage, but still absolutely huge.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
He too, was a cigar. It's called the Black Magic
or Magic Toast. Magic Toast.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
Magic Toast was the cigar that I thought for Alec
Bradley like kind of reset them, like, oh, okay, we're
back to doing interesting things, right. And then the sons
Alec and Bradley, they started doing some of their their
own work, and I thought they did they did nice
stuff that Now that's this. This is an Alec and

(03:00):
Bradley the gatekeeper right here. And I always thought that
this was just a nice, worthwhile basic smoke in the
humid or. And I don't mean basically in a bad way.
I'm just saying, this doesn't break the bank kind of stuff.
This isn't, uh, you know, gonna second mortgage time. Just
good quality, easy to do, easy to find, easy to

(03:24):
get access to. Boom what else could you ask for?

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Not much more than that, I can tell you. You know,
we just lit this. We're just in the first third
of the first third of the cigar, and right off
the bat it popped into my head like a toast.
There's like a little bit of a bready sweetness to
it and a nuttiness as well. For me, as I'm
starting to smoke a little bit more, as I'm getting

(03:48):
a little bit more into the first third, I am noticing, Uh,
from the light to to now, there has been a
pepper that has been building.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
Yeah, I'm not I don't think I've just looked this up,
so I don't think I am there that yet. I
this is certainly there's a little bit of wood that's
actually I think it's the wood the ceedar that's re
laying the spice on the tongue. It's playing middle tongue
front to back. I like where you are with with
with nuttiness. I think so, I think this is a

(04:21):
an interesting presentation of tobacco forward, right. I think that
that's what you're actually getting out out of this, and
so it presents itself with this with this, you're calling
it pepper, and I'm telling you. I think that spice
that you're getting and for me, it's a middle of
tongue front to back, is actually the cedar and it's

(04:42):
an intensity of wood flavor.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
Okay, you can make that argument, and so I did.
Who might argue with you.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
Because if that's pepper that is not black pepper, I
would say that is that is that is a white
pepper concentrat almost into bits of red pepper. Like there's
a little bit of heat that's building from it. And
that's why I think it's actually the cedar playing a
trick on you.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
It's not the first time cedar has played a trick
on me. We know you have fallen for wood in
all sorts of ways. That is so true. Having said that,
moving back to the cigar, the draw, the draw is
very pleasant, very easy, the hand feel you mentioned it earlier.
It's got a nice bit of half to it.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
So far, so good. Yeah, I think there's a lot
to like here. I think there's a lot to really
work with in this cigar. You want to get your
notebooks right. What'd you eat today? What did you drink today?
The weather we have had beautiful weather in Indianapolis, still
warmer than I think people want it to be for October.

(05:48):
I'm not complaining.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
I met up with a group of friends and they
made an observation that I really hadn't noticed, is that
because it's been so warm, leaves really haven't changed as
much as they should have.

Speaker 1 (06:04):
Or how much you we do expect them to at
this time of year. Now there's there's no reds and
there's no yellows there. Everything is still really really green
going on. You want to get your notebooks out, guys,
what did you eat today? What'd you drink today, whether
we're talking about and then take the cigar, break it
up into thirds, first third, second third, final third. First
third where you light it from. That is the foot.

(06:25):
The final third is where you're smoking from. That is
the cap where you cut. Did a shallow cut on
this fingers did a very shallow cut on it, Very
very impressive, sir. Then what are the flavors you're getting?
Write them down, doesn't matter how weird it is, how
what kind of flavors you think, you're you're you're, you're,
you're you're getting as esoteric or as space, and then

(06:48):
write it down for each third. Then when you smoke
the cigar, a month, now, six months now, whatever it is,
you do it again, and that's where you get your
through line. You make your comparisons. What you know, what
are the flavors really getting out of this smouth?

Speaker 2 (06:58):
Any flavor, no matter how crazy at me look in print?
I just wrote down on my little notebook here, Oreo mcflurry.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
Is that what you wrote down? I don't think you did.
I just want to say, I think the people are
tired of your embellishments. How dare they think that you
are making a mockery of the cigar game?

Speaker 2 (07:17):
Are you saying that there are people an eat, rink
smoke nation? I think I'm turning the show into my
own dent of lies.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
Is that what you're saying? Is that what you're saying
to me? How dare I do think? Because we do
get asked this question a lot, we agree with you.
We no, not the dentalized part. There are a lot
of sites out there doing a lot of cigar reviews,
and people are going to do what they do and

(07:46):
we let them, and some of them we think are
are really really excellent. There are people doing some really
cool stuff, and there are some people come up with
some descriptions where We want you to know that, we
know that, you know that they're full of crap. We
all know it. We're all fully aware of it. We've

(08:07):
kind of mocked it in our own unique way, like
when people say I taste marzipan, god bless you. Who
am I to say? I don't think I've ever tasted
that in a cigar. Actually, we've joked about it before.
We try and just bring it to you as we
see it as directly as we.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
Can, like saying something like a hint to apricot, but
organic apricot.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
Right, Yeah, no, you didn't know you Some people really
have palettes. But I think sometimes people are trying really hard.
Is a cigar worth it? We'll tell you in a moment.
Not everybody deserves a tip, and not everything deserves a tip.

(08:51):
If you want to tip, though, send those to eat,
drink smokeshow dot com. We'd sure appreciate.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
It, would we Yeah, I guess it depends on what
the tip is, right, Like, if it's monetary, that kind
of tip, that would be great. If it's fingers, you
should do a sit up. I don't want that kind
of tip.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
D drink smoke common tony kunts and that right, there
is fitness influencer Fingers molloy find everything at Eat drinksmokeshow
dot com. We have all felt it, the tip fatigue.
The idea of every place now sets up to, hey,
do you want to leave a tip? The story from
the New York Post. Now it gets a little confusing.
They say the average consumer spends one hundred and fifty

(09:37):
dollars per week on unnecessary tips, according to a survey.
It was done by a group called pop Menu, which
is where I believe you go Fingers for all your
pop Menu advice. That is so true.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
They are great over there all their their pop Menu.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
But they in the article it reads it over the
last year, people had paid around one hundred and fifty
dollars and tips on average, but they didn't feel we're
necessary forty four percent tipping in places they don't think
it's customary. Now, I would argue that one hundred and
fifty dollars a week is probably too much, and one
hundred and fifty dollars a year is probably too little.
So I think I don't even know where that number is.

(10:15):
I think the story is I don't want to tip
my bearista, just make my coffee fix my latte. Fix
my latte.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
By the way, that'll be the name of this episode
when it's in podcast form. Having said that, I'll give
you an example. So the other day, i'm you know,
I have seventy two gigs. I work one hundred and
twelve hours a week. I stopped for lunch. Oh did
you yes, at a pizza joint.

Speaker 1 (10:40):
Oh, you got out of the car.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
Yes, I got out of the car. But this pizza
joint really should have a drive through. It's one of
those pizza joints. All I wanted was their loaf of bread.
And let's just say their deal on that loaf of
bread was crazy. I got the loaf of bread. Okay,
I know, I don't know what that means.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
I can't figure out where you are based on that
crazy bread.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
A little Caesar's pizza. Oh, I didn't know that, My
god man, was that Little Caesars crazy bread? You've you've
never had crazy bread before?

Speaker 1 (11:18):
Oh, we need to make that happen.

Speaker 2 (11:21):
No, don't tempt me with a good time. So I
went and got the crazy bread. I had to go in,
so I burned three calories. So I was doing my
part to work off the crazy bread before I even
consumed the whole loaf by myself. They give you a
loaf above of bread. It's covered in yeah, yes, it's

(11:43):
covered in parmesan and a butter and space age polymers.

Speaker 1 (11:48):
This isn't a breadstick, No, it's a loaf. It's actually
like you could slice it make sandwiches.

Speaker 2 (11:54):
No, it's spread sticks, okay, And they got parmesan all
over it. And it's a festival of flavor. And they
give you a little thing of marin aera sauce for dippin'.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
Right, So.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
Say I'd like that chop keep give me your best
best crazy bread and she said, okay, absolutely. She goes
in the back and she said, run your credit card
and then there'll be a question for you for crazy
bread at Little Caesar's. So I went ahead and tipped

(12:29):
because ten percent was seventy one cents. But still that's ridiculous.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
Do they get to see whether or not you tipped
or not?

Speaker 2 (12:39):
On the other side, what they do is at the door,
you know, right next to the chart that shows how
tall you are as you're walking out the door, in
case you rob the place, there's a little blinking green
light showing if you tipped or not.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
Okay, that's my guess. I could be making that. Yeah,
you shouldn't have to tip for that, and it's wrong
to ask, and I don't do it, don't I don't.
Doesn't matter, of course I don't. If I tipped everywhere
the way the machine tries to order you to do so,
I wouldn't be able to afford my mortgage. It's an
insane proposition. Now, the idea of I don't tip for

(13:16):
crazy bread, but I tipped for coffee is equally insane,
because in both cases, make your own. What are you
going out for crazy bread for?

Speaker 2 (13:27):
I was on the road. I had been away from
home for several hours, away from my bread oven. To
be able to make my own bread. I have an
oven specific for bread, right, easy built in himself. It's
an easy bake oven. Having said that, so I wanted
the bread. It sounded good, And if you had ever
had crazy bread, you would understand.

Speaker 1 (13:49):
I don't know how I'm fat. I don't understand what
is happening with my body chemistry.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
Having said that, and you're not fat, you are stocky.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
So much better.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
Oh, hello, ladies, impressed Now, Having said that, when you
get on I shouldn't be asking you this because you
don't eat bread to begin with. But though, okay, so
if you get a sandwich, you order ahead of time
through an app sandwich shop, you get sandwiches for the family,

(14:29):
do you tip them?

Speaker 1 (14:30):
Never done that a day in my life. I've never
gotten sandwiches for the family ever. Maybe we've stopped at
a subway before we're traveling, but hey, everybody, let's go
out for lunch and get sandwiches. In my lifetime, unless
we were online at Kats's Deli to have some pastrami.
Never once have I done that. Never once. Oh, there

(14:51):
are so many great sandwiches. No, if it's a restaurant, yes, but.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
If they make the sandwich, they wrap it up in
the paper, they put it in a bag for you.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
Stop it kind enough for each sandwich.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
They're like Tony sandwich, write it on the wrap, fingers sandwich,
finger sandwich.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
Anyway, you don't.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
You don't think it's necessary to tip those people, the
sandwich artists.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
No, No, I don't think it's necessary to pay you.
It's it's it's wrong. It is absolutely wrong. I did
you didn't do any work. You did the job that
you were paid to do. The whole idea of tipping
in a restaurant is a different scenario, is a different
thought process, because there is a service that's happening. I've

(15:42):
discussed this before, and I actually had to have words
with friends of mine. I was out with where the
server is putting things down, and they're taking the plate
from the server, and I'm expected to do that. No,
I I spent two hundred and twenty dollars dinner for
five people. Yes, I am not taking their plate and

(16:03):
putting it down. Put it in front of me. Do
the job. Otherwise what am I paying for? I have
to clean up after myself too, and I have to
tip twenty percent plus, which I go about in certain places.
I go above because you know, I have a reputation
to a vote. No, you know, No, you know I do.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
In those situations, I act like a blackjack dealer, and
I clap my hands and I wave them to my sides,
and then I put my hands down. These plates are
clean now, and then.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
They take them away.

Speaker 2 (16:35):
One more thing though, sure, you know how. A couple
of weeks ago I mentioned that a certain grocery store
has declared war on their customers. That's correct, yes, I've
been in there since on four different occasions. But five
or six days after we went on that rant about
that grocery store, nobody's in there anymore. I'm taking full credit.

(16:55):
So the folks in there that were going in there
being hassled by solicitors, it's not happening anymore. You can
think you can thank Eat Drink Smoke for that.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
Now, if you don't know what Fingers is talking about,
you have to listen to the last month of podcasts
in order to understand, because he wanted to make sure
he was vague enough. So you'll go listen and still
try not to get sued exactly, Oh, or didn't suit

(17:28):
Eat Drink Smoke. It is your cigar Bourbon FOOTI Extravaganza.
I'm Tony Katz. That is Fingers below. I find everything
at Eat Drink smokeshow dot com. And yes, we'd love
to come to your town. You gotta tell your local
radio station that carries Eat Drink Smoke to bring us out.
Let's smoke together, Let's drink together, Let's fall in love
and make a baby. And we'll even write a song together,

(17:52):
make a baby, and the song will be about the baby
smoking the Alex and Bradley Alec Bradley gate Keeper right here,
six by fifty two. It is a spicier stick than
I remember. I mean, and again, if we're gonna talk pepper,
I'm playing into the white peppers. But I really do

(18:15):
think it is the intensity of that would I would
like a little more sweetness, a little more tobacco, a
little to balance this out. It's an enjoyable cigar, but man,
is it present? Are you fully aware of what's happening? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (18:34):
For me, that sweetness was there at the light. You know,
I mentioned kind of a toasted, like a bready sweetness,
and then that's kind of subsided that that pepper. I
think it's, you know, a pepper what you will call it,
which but maybe it's cedar. Uh, it's overwhelming the palette.
I don't know all I know what it's there, and
it's it's nice. And then also there's a that nuttiness

(18:58):
is kind of subsided as well. That's still there, but
not like it was when we first lit this and
we were in the first third or the first third
of the cigar. Having said all that, I like what
I'm experiencing with this cigar. Between the flavor profile. And
then also you know it has been pretty low maintenance, nice,

(19:20):
pleasant draw The hand feel, like you mentioned at the
beginning of the show is great.

Speaker 1 (19:26):
Yeah, it's a good stick. Yeah. Now the question, of
course fringers with LOI is this in your humidor for
thirteen dollars a stick? Yes, I could see how this
works for a lot of people. I can see how
this is something where they like a bigger like a boulder.
I thought it interesting the guys over there, I said,
ladies over there. I should say the people over there.

(19:48):
I shouldn't be sexist at Neptune Cigar and I happen
to like their site. We don't have a business relationship
with Neptune. There are a couple of people doing some
really good work with online cigar sales. I like the
the cleanliness of their their site. I think it's pretty easy.
Descriptions are there, Ratings are there. They categorize this as
a medium. I think you gotta play a little stronger. Yeah, right,

(20:14):
your your your medium plus. But you're not in the middle.
It's just it's a little bit more than that. You're
not in full, but you're you're you're full. Curious you're
full questioning. I think that's the way the cigar goes.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
I'd agree with you on that, yeah, medium, because you
could you hear medium and you think, oh, you know,
it's not going to hit me. And I'm not saying
this is like a full punch in the face, but
it lets you know you're it's there.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
So this is not for yardwork. This is I would
also argue, unless you've had the cigar already, not for
a golf course, do not bring this cigar to your
buddies and say, hey, have this. There's a lot. There's
just a lot heat, spice, constant, that wood concentration happening here.

(21:04):
It's not gonna be for everybody.

Speaker 2 (21:05):
And depending on how cigars impact your day, I wouldn't
smoke the sun an empty stomach.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
It's actually not a bad idea, and it's it's and
it's not because it's it's overwhelming. I think that spice
might hit people, that that cedar hit people the wrong way.
All that said, for twelve seventy, I think it's a
fine stick. I think it's a fine price, and I
think you probably could find deals on it. Because the
scar has been around for a while, it's it's that

(21:38):
this is a cigar where you buy the cigar, buy two,
as we often discuss it, right now, try it a
month from now, and then after both those times like
you know what, I enjoy those flavors, or there's a
place for it in my humidor then go go do it.
But this isn't the cigar. Oh, everybody's over. Okay, here's
what we're doing. This is more specific, I think to pay.

(22:01):
This is for your friends who smoke cigars and if like, hey,
you want to try something with some punch, try something
with some heat but not overwhelming the Alec and Bradley gatekeeper.
We're doing the toro right here. But it's time Fingers
Maloy for News of the week.

Speaker 2 (22:17):
Well Tony NPR has the story, and you know, as
we put the show together. Of course, this story can
change thirty times in the next few hours. But a
fragile Gaza ceasefire is tested after Israel and Hamas swap
detainees and hostages.

Speaker 1 (22:34):
So what we've got here, And first things first, I
don't care where your politics are. It is so good
that these these hostages are home. It is a remarkable
thing that has taken place anytime we were able to
assist hostages getting out of that hell is good. This

(22:57):
is incredible, incredible stuff. But you've been hearing numbers twenty
and twenty eight. The twenty were those living. What the
Israelis want are the remains of everyone, and that is
where And remember, as we're recording this right it's earlier
than you're hearing it, so things may have changed. So

(23:17):
forgive us if we're not on top of it to
that latest bit of news. They're very slow in the
remains and it's very possible that Hamas has removed the remains,
has not kept them. The Israelis want to give proper burials.
This is about Judaism, this is about respect, it's about honor,

(23:39):
and they're very serious about this and they're very angry
about it. And there has been a slow roll of
remains being returned. They were supposed to be returned. Only
four were returned at last. As we're discussing it right now,
as we have the information right now, and that can
put an end to this whole thing, that can put
an end to this very quickly. What then got followed

(24:00):
up from President Trump and these world leaders in Charles
Sheik Charmel Sheik, which is in Egypt, was the idea
of how you create do a building of the Gaza strip.
And it's very interesting because what these nations are saying
is all right, we'll buy in because and if that
is the case, if it happens like that, of course

(24:22):
they're putting their money in. They're going to be very
concerned about protecting their investment. And that is what ends
Hamas's capability because they won't put up with it, they
won't have it. And that's where the real change in
this conversation is not this fantasy of a two state solution.
You can't live next to people who want to murder you.

(24:42):
And as Hamas has written in their charter, in their create,
it's who they are. So this changes the dynamic. And
I have my own thoughts, my own views. If a
way I didn't think about it can work and create
a safe Israel and therefore putting an end to terrorists.
I'm all in putting an end to terrorists. I'm all in.

(25:05):
But this is not a good sign as we're seeing
it right now.

Speaker 2 (25:08):
Well, I hesitated to bring this up because, of course,
like you mentioned, we're putting the show together a little
earlier than normal, and this the story can change fifty
times between now and when it airs. But this is
just too big of a story to not at least
a touch upon. But having said that, I to be
completely honest with you, you and I have talked about
this off air. I was actually surprised that there were

(25:29):
still hostages alive.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
I am amazed, I am thrilled. It was the fear
of fears that there would be nobody to hand over
it is. It is spectacular that seven hundred and thirty
seven days in hell. It is spectacular that people been

(25:54):
able to return home. But it's it's this is this
is the stuff being talked about in cigar lines. So
we talk about it here, so we're certainly right to
be talking about it. And yes, as we're discussing it,
information will change. But this is all fraught, absolutely positively fraught.

Speaker 3 (26:14):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
The the odds of this working as advertised three percent? Right,
you know, it's dumb and dumbers. You're telling me there's
a chance, Well, yeah, sure, there's there's a chance. I'm
not going to argue it. It's just this is hard stuff.
It is.

Speaker 2 (26:30):
And while I appreciate the celebration, especially about the hostages
coming home and maybe a return to at least a
period of non violence in the region. You just have
to say to yourself, Okay, how long is this going
to last? Just based on what's happened in the past.

Speaker 1 (26:47):
It's and and off. The quick doesn't look great. And man,
I want to be wrong. I think everybody wants to
be wrong. And there's an extent if we're talking about America,
just don't want to talk about it anymore? Can I
please focus on something else? I don't know if we're
going at Lucky or not. I hope. So should you

(27:09):
marinade your steak before the cooking? And the answer is, well,
it depends what do you like, but it does to
an extent depend on the cut. It's eat Drink smoke.
I'm Tony Kats and that right there is America's favorite
amateur drinker fingers below. I find it all Eat Drink
Smoke show dot com. The story was over at the

(27:31):
takeout the four cuts of steak. You should always marinate
before grilling. Now, before we get into anything, do you
ever marinate steaks? No, you're not into the marinates.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
No, A little salt, little pepper. That's about it. I
season it.

Speaker 1 (27:44):
I don't.

Speaker 2 (27:45):
It's very rare that I would marinate a steak. But
if I were to marinate a steak, it would generally
be maybe a lesser cut of meat that I would
marinade to try to enhance the f and then I
would slow cook it, you know, do a reverse sere
to maybe help with the tenderness of the steak.

Speaker 1 (28:07):
So the idea is, you know, depending on where the
steak comes from, comes from, larger cuts, whole muscle cuts
maybe could get the marinade. And so they recommend here
a marinade on your flat iron steak, your surloin steak,
your try tip, and your skirt steak. Now skirt steak, Yes,

(28:27):
because that's gonna be thinner, that's that's going to cook faster,
and it just it absorbed to me, it absorbs better.
It's just a natural, uh to do with with a
a kind of marinade. There, Uh, skirt steak coming from
the middle of the cow, it could be a little
bit tough, so helping break that down a little bit.

(28:49):
I agree with that wholeheartedly. On the surloins, I like
the idea of this because you'll find the surloins right
now at a better price if you're in a store.
But if you're going to think of a sirloin as
your ribbi or your strip, you're wrong. It's not how

(29:10):
it's gonna come out, and you're gonna get disappointed. So
what I like about the marinade on a sirloin is
that you are forced to recognize that it's something different.
You're forced to take a little bit of time, and
that little bit of time, I think is going to
give you a lot of result. Soy and honey, soy

(29:31):
sauce and honey as a marinade, just a classic right there,
I think can do a really really good job. Some
people would say go with some some more Southwestern flavors.
They recommend the lime juice, Cilantro and Chile's, and then
some people recommend orange juice. I have marinated steaks and

(29:52):
orange juice before and had miserable results. Miserable, terrible, awful,
not good, not like. Stuff that I made is part
of like a whole bunch of things. And I didn't
even serve them that so that could have just been
me not making it right. But as a concept, it
is right when it's not one of those standard cuts.
His fingers just talking about salt pepper grill.

Speaker 2 (30:15):
Yeah, and I've never attempted to use this as a marinade,
but the takeout in this piece suggests for skirt steak
maybe using yogurt as a as a marinad.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
Have you ever used yogurt for for a marinade? Wait
on the skirts steak this yes, no, No.

Speaker 2 (30:37):
Yogurt makes for a milder marinad for your meat than
citrus or vinegar since it contains lactic acid, a substance
that can be that can add moisture to meat without
making it mushy.

Speaker 1 (30:48):
Mushy, mushy, mushy, mushy, mushy mushy. Right when I think
yogurt on steak, I think mushi. I don't. It's it's
a good idea. It's a good idea. Now the key
here is get better steak. And that's why you want
Defiance Beef. Defiancebeef dot com in Indiana, ship directly to

(31:12):
your door, cut to your specifications, age twenty one days.
The meat is fantastic. I've had the strips, I've had
the ribbis, I've had the tender loins, I have had
the ground beef. It is fantastic. And you order your
quarter cow, your half cow, your full cow, and you
use promo code eat drink smoke when you order, you're
gonna get one hundred and fifty dollars off. And then

(31:33):
after the aging process, they're gonna give you a call
and say, okay, what do you want? And based on
what size you ordered, they'd be like, okay, we'll get
you this many strips and this many ribbys, and how
do you want to cut? And this and that do
you want? Do you want the soup bones? That was
the question I gotta ask, do you want the soup bones?
And I'm like, uh, yes, I do. I'm gonna make
my own beef broth, of course, my own beef stock
without question. Defiance d e F I a nce defiancebeef

(31:58):
dot com is where you want to order from, and
you want to use promo code, eat drink smoke and
get one hundred and fifty dollars off your order and fingers.
We've done enough grilling. It matters, you know. If I'm
doing briskets, I only do prime briskets or kosher briskets.
I have tried choice, I have not had satisfaction. I'll

(32:20):
pay more with Defiance beef overall. When you're buying a
quarter cow, a half cow, or a foll cow at
defines beef dot com, you're gonna pay less than the supermarkets,
for sure. Those prices are nuts.

Speaker 2 (32:31):
How often do you find yourself picking up a flat
iron steak or skirt steak?

Speaker 1 (32:39):
I find myself with a flat iron if there's some
kind of deal going on. Skirt steak. I don't order enough.
Skirt steak. I don't order enough. I like a skirt steak.
I think you can do it well on a grill.
I think you can do it well cast iron. I
do think that the marinade is right, and I just
think it's easy, boom bop and done. So yeah, I

(33:01):
like it.

Speaker 2 (33:02):
I really that's That's one thing I have never cooked with.
I don't have one is a cast iron. Oh come on,
I know, go get it. So do you think I
here now in the house, Yes, the new house which
he's not fully moved into yet, Ladies and gentlemen. With
the gas stove. Yes, this is weird. It's your first

(33:22):
gas stove. Yes, I thirty eight years young and it's
my first gas stove. And I don't have this.

Speaker 1 (33:32):
So should I go could go back to thirty eight
years old. Let's just move on.

Speaker 2 (33:35):
Should I go ahead and buy a new cast iron
skillet and season it? Or should I go antiquing hope
to find a really old one and recondition it.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
Okay, you need to listen to me. Okay, I'm listening.
If you buy a used cast iron skillet, huh, I
will hit you with a skillet with with sid skillet.
But I think we've been saying cast iron stove, cast
iron skillet, buy a new one, season it, work it in,

(34:06):
give it time. Yes, that's exactly the way to do it.
Take some pride.

Speaker 2 (34:11):
What about the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction knowing that
I brought an old cast iron skillet back to life?

Speaker 1 (34:18):
How about the pride and satisfaction one day showing up
to the show ready to do the show? That would
be great. What are you saying? Don't do that? Get
yourself something, get this, don't don't mortally knows what they
were making in that thing, don't you dare?

Speaker 2 (34:37):
I'm envisioning God that the old ranch cook was out
there with his cast iron skillet making sonny, yes, son yes,
making some beans in the cast iron skillet for for
the boys while they're out there ranching all day. And

(34:59):
then somehow, you know, Sonny passed away, and then they thought,
we can't use Sonny's skillet, And next thing you know,
it's a good will waiting for me to pick it
up and then bring her back to life. You're saying, no,
that's ridiculous.

Speaker 1 (35:13):
I'm not saying it's ridiculous. I want to be on
the record. I'm not saying it's ridiculous. You know. You're
saying it's ridiculous for me to do it. I'm saying
it's gross. There's a very large difference in ridiculous in gross. Yeah,
I know. No, no, no, don't get me wrong. I'm
sure people do it. We're gonna get emails from Eat, Drink,

(35:33):
Smoke Nation saying Tony, you are such a primadonna, prude,
you Joe, you do this and you do that, and
the next thing you know, you're cooking delicious.

Speaker 3 (35:45):
No.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
Is it that it's cast iron? Or is it you
would never buy any second hand cook wear at all?
Like would you buy a second hand chafing dish?

Speaker 1 (35:55):
Yes? I bought secondhand knives, And I'm questioning whether the
cast iron we had was secondhand.

Speaker 2 (36:01):
Now that you bring it up. Oh, so here we are.
You're turning each rink smoke into your own den of lies.

Speaker 1 (36:07):
No, I'm going back to remember, and if it is
indeed used, I have to stop using it immediately. I
don't think it is. I think I think I bought
it ours is is.

Speaker 2 (36:18):
Good present it. I'll take it to the boys in
the lab and we'll find out how old it is.
It's probably seventy years old and you didn't even know it.

Speaker 1 (36:26):
It's so great that you don't have money. You know what,
I will get you one now. I will purchase you one.
You don't have to do that. I want to. It'll
be cheaper than the other gift I was gonna get
you for the new house.

Speaker 2 (36:38):
Do you use a little spray in it before you
before you cooking it.

Speaker 1 (36:42):
I'm not having this conversation anymore. To XO. I gotta
admit I've seen the bottle around, but I didn't know
what to XO was until you realize it's about a
double oak techne and you're like, oh, I don't want
to drink that. It's eat drink smoke. I'm Tony Katz.

(37:05):
That is fingers. Will I find everything at Eat Drinks,
smokeshow dot com. That's what we are having today, the
two XO Oak series. American Oak, it says American Oak,
and yes it does. You don't have to check. This
is from Dixon, Deadman of Kentucky Owl Fame.

Speaker 2 (37:23):
I'm wondering if we've done two XO before. I believe
we have not this one though, No, I don't think so.
But I specifically remember saying that two XO is better
than one XO, but not as good as three XO.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
This comes in right here at forty seven percent alcohol
by volume or ninety four proof. No applause, fingers MOLOI
does not applaud for anything that is under one hundred proof.
I poured big today.

Speaker 2 (37:53):
Yeah, I was watching you poor and I was like, Okay,
he's gonna quit. No, no, he's still pouring. Oh no, no,
it has it been a day.

Speaker 1 (38:00):
No quit And Tony Kats that's that's absolutely right. I
like the color here right, A little darker, a little
orange e right here. Not maybe as rich as you
might like and in in some of those ambers, but
it's a it's a nice, nice color sticking to the
glass a little bit in that nose fingers flog. Hmm,

(38:25):
A little oak. There's a little ethanol. Oh ha, I
got a little hot on the nostril right there.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
You getting a little honey on top of us, some
caramel and oak, and then the ethanol that you're referring to.

Speaker 1 (38:36):
There's a little ethanol for sure. Nose is started as
sweet then got kind of kind of rich, very very full.
I don't know what I would call that. I'm trying
to think of. There there's fruit, but it's not maybe

(39:00):
playing the stone fruits. It's not overwhelming. It's certainly not orchard.
It's certainly not bright. It's certainly not berries, and it's
not citrus. No, no, it is not.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
But I'll tell you what it is. If you get
past that little bit of that of that ethanol, it's nice.

Speaker 1 (39:17):
It's nice. I'm not complaining. I'm not complaining about it
at all. But enough enough sniff and fingers malloy, Are
you ready for this?

Speaker 2 (39:26):
It's my favorite song, by the way. Enough sniffing, enough sniffing. Yeah,
it's off of Alabama's third album, Alabama three.

Speaker 1 (39:35):
Are you ready for that? I've been ready for this
all fingers mlloy is gonna do what's known as the
Kentucky chow, that is moving the juice around the palate,
getting a feel for the flavors. I like the two
sip theory, the two sip theory. I'm gonna say it again,
the two sip theory. The first zip to set the
taste buds, the second sip to really get an idea
of where the flavors are. Yeah, I'm still hit by

(39:56):
that ethanol, but there is a sweetness, there is a
pleasantness underneath eat that it's just for me. The ethnol
is hitting a little bit harder. I don't know. I
don't know why.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
It's nice first of all, nice little bit of staying
on the tongue, gentle, warmth in the chest, nice bit
of oak. There is that caramel that that I referenced
on the nose. It does transfer to the palette, and

(40:25):
a bit of spice. It's it's very nice. I really
like it. I don't know if I want a monkey
with it by putting water in it later in the show,
but I will for each drink.

Speaker 1 (40:37):
Smoke Nation, you are.

Speaker 2 (40:38):
A great American, but I'm very curious to see what
you think, Tony.

Speaker 1 (40:41):
I'm going in This is the two XO the Oak series,
American Oak.

Speaker 2 (40:45):
He's going in ladies and gentlemen, and he's doing what
we like to call the Memphis munch, the Chattanooga chomp,
the Sagana swish.

Speaker 1 (40:57):
And oh, that's way sweeter than I thought it was
gonna be. That is way sweeter. He's going in.

Speaker 2 (41:06):
That's why he made the big poor He knew he
was going to go in for seconds right away.

Speaker 1 (41:12):
But too sweet for Tony.

Speaker 3 (41:15):
No, no, no, no, oh wow. I just swallowed that
in a big gulp, and that hurt.

Speaker 1 (41:27):
Okay, that is sweeter. That has got vanilla, that's got caramel.
It's rich, it's almost serrapy. That is a big mouth
feel fully coating the tongue. The lips have a little
bit of sting. You can feel it in the cheek.
I have to work now now I feel the heat
center chest. Okay, right like like through the sturnumer. I

(41:50):
feel it right there.

Speaker 2 (41:52):
But that's not like, oh my gosh, that's that's nearly
a hundred proof.

Speaker 1 (41:57):
No, no, I it's it's it's not painful. It is
much more luscious than I would thought. It's much creamier.
The guy's over at whiskey advocate said whipped cream. And
I think they're onto something because it is much more
about a feel than maybe about a flavor. But it's
a way to describe the cream. I think that's really

(42:19):
really nice. I'm getting that.

Speaker 2 (42:20):
I'm noticing that, especially on the finish, like it really
lingers and I could see where you would get that.
So there's a creamy finish to it.

Speaker 1 (42:26):
And I'm not gonna lie, it's a little smoky. Really,
I'm not kidding, Am I kidding? That? Go back in
for thirds, not judging, So how smoky? Huh. There's a

(42:48):
sweetness that kind of counteracts the concept of the bourbon
caramel that you would normally maybe want or expect. But
there's a lot of good happening in here, tremendous. I
can't wait to put this on a cube. I can't
wait to see what that's like. But I could see
how people are doing this. I could see how people

(43:10):
are are our simpness. There's real richness going on with
this bourbon. This is the two XO. This is the
American Oak And you can find the website, by the
way at two XO number two XO, whiskey dot com,
Fingers Momoy This was released back in twenty twenty three.

(43:32):
Is this in your liquor cabinet? For forty nine ninety nine.

Speaker 2 (43:36):
A bottle without putting it through more of a test
with the cool drops of water in it.

Speaker 1 (43:43):
At this point I would say yes, I want it
on a cube to know if it's in my liquor cabinet.
But off the cuff, off the off the first. I
definitely see how this is in somebody's liquor cabinet. This
is a flavor that's going to work for people, right,
not overwhelming on the proof, So therefore not this this

(44:05):
overarching punch, but a that that that sweet still feeling
some oak, that finish that plays no bitter whatsoever, feeling
it in the cheek, that fullness. Ah, yeah, there's there's
something here to appreciate for sure. That isn't that is interesting?

(44:29):
Do I want more oak? Yes? What I like a
little less sweetness? Absolutely for me, a little less sweetness,
a little more oak and I and I and I.
It's not that I want this big spice bomb, but
I think that would just be the there'd be just a
touch more balance that makes me say, oh, absolutely for me,
it presented with much more oak than it did for you.
And I think this is where we're really starting to

(44:51):
notice a difference in our palates. Because I have such
a ridiculous sweet tooth. This doesn't feel overly sweet to me,
but it is sweet, yes it is. But that's not
the first thing that hit me was the oak. Really Yeah,
it's like, oh, that's oak, and then everything else started
me later for me, and I would just I would

(45:13):
like a better balance. But we'll see what the cube
has to bring. We'll see what the water brings for.
Fingers mooy find everything at Eat drinksmokeshow dot com and
follow us on Instagram, Eat Drink Smoke podcast and the
Twitter x go Eat Drink Smoke. Everything is stupid expensive,
It's stupid. What's going on? Gold is forty one hundred

(45:36):
dollars an ounce. It might be more by the time
you hear this. It's crazy. What is going on is surreal.
And there's this report from Kelly Blue Book that kind
of proves the point. It's Eat Drink Smoke. I'm Tony Katz,
that is fingers MOOI find it all at Eat Drinks
smokeshow dot com. If you would, we'd appreciate it. If
you'd head on over there and be a part of

(45:58):
what we're doing and what we're growing. Kelly blue Book
has this story where the new vehicle average transaction price
is over fifty thousand dollars for the first time ever.
A new car on average fifty k Go ahead, Fingers,

(46:20):
explain it to me. Cars are really expensive now, Thank you, Fingers.
I appreciate that incredible update.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
But it is amazing to look at the data, and
unfortunately I had seen a few stories about this and
it was I believe five years ago it was just
forty thousand. It's gone up to fifty thousand in just
five years. There's so many things going into this between

(46:50):
new regulations as far as what needs to go into
a vehicle. There's the tariff conversation, there is the supply
chain issues that automotive manufacturers have had, and also market demand.
People are willing to pay that amount of money for
a new vehicle, so automotive manufacturers are going to charge

(47:10):
that kind of money for that vehicle.

Speaker 1 (47:12):
The ATP, which is the average transaction price, was above
fifty thousand for the first time. If you take a
look at MSRP twenty twenty six, models are now hitting
a lot. The MSRP reached an average fifty two and

(47:32):
eighty three dollars the average price. Now you've got luxury vehicles,
you've got electric vehicles, which of course raising the average
price of everything, even though less and less electric vehicles
are are being sold because the madness of the push
from the federal government is non existent and any longer.

(47:54):
You've also done away with the subsidies now, so that's
going to change the electric vehicle market. And there's some
cool electric vehicles out there, you know, full disclosure. I
work with a local car company here in Indianapolis called
Andy Moore Ford. I drive their Forward vehicles and I'm
driving the Ford Lightning, which is the electric pickup, and
I'm telling you it's incredible. It is sensational. But it

(48:19):
has to fit a certain lifestyle. You know, I work
from home. It fits perfectly. I have a friend that
has the Hummer EV which is unbelievable, but again it
has to fit a certain lifestyle. It is not a
for everybody a vehicle. But there are now more than
sixty models with an average transaction price above seventy five thousand,

(48:42):
sales nearing ninety four thousand units. Seven point four percent
of total industry sales, up from six percent in twenty
twenty four. And then you know of that the Cadillac
Escalate is still the big dog in that in that group.
You have mentioned on the show before that people are

(49:03):
doing not five year loans, six year loans, no, no, no,
six year loans, seven year loans, no no, no, not
seven year loans, eight year loans, which you have to
do to make fifty thousand dollars work for a budget. Yeah,

(49:23):
is this based on you? You've brought this up before,
all the added nonsense they're putting into cars that no
one actually cares about. Is this a labor conversation? Is
this a technology premium conversation? Or is this well, what
are you gonna do? Not buy a new car? Not
have a new car in the neighborhood. Everyone's got a
new car. Okay, best of luck to you at the

(49:45):
PTA meeting. It's all of that. It's absolutely all of that.

Speaker 2 (49:50):
Labor prices of labor costs have gone up, you know, regulations,
you continue to have new things, and a lot of
it's just like nickel and dime stuff like the alarm
that lets you know that to remind you.

Speaker 1 (50:04):
That Oh, good gosh, is that the kid that you
don't have is in the back seat.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
Yes, it's so gross. Backup camp its gross. I mean
you just one right after another's, you know, and it's after.

Speaker 1 (50:16):
A backup camera is a world class of mention. The
backup camera is spectacular. The thing that tells you if
a car is coming from the right for the left incredible.
The thing that tries to keep you in your lane.
The person who invented that should be sent to Siberia.
We're getting to the point now.

Speaker 2 (50:32):
I believe in ten years, no one will know how
to parallel park anymore, because more and more vehicles have
the self parallel park.

Speaker 1 (50:38):
Do I or do I not? In my garage have
a nineteen ninety nine Mazda Miata, so I could teach
my kids how to drive a stick. Yes, that got it.
To teach them to drive a stick, and then to
work on a car. That's pretty easy to work on
doing spark plugs this weekend.

Speaker 2 (50:53):
Oh, nice plugs and wires. I don't think we have
the gapper. I was gonna say, do you have the gapper?

Speaker 1 (50:58):
No, we've got everything else the gap. I get the
gap thing probably three or one if that's in the
box with the spark plugs.

Speaker 2 (51:06):
Not Usually the gage is probably well last time I
bought one was three dollars right, so not But most
of them are already gap properly. But you need to
double check everyone's work. You know why, Tony, because almost
everyone is terrible at their job.

Speaker 1 (51:21):
Terrible at their jobs. But learning stick, I mean stick
is a lost art. Parallel parking, it's not that tough.

Speaker 2 (51:29):
Freely admit I've never driven a stick. And this is possible.
And this is coming from someone who has a Harley Davidson.
I ride a motorcycle and you you have you know,
you have to shift, manual shift on a motorcycle. But
my parents never had a manual car, manual transmission car.
I always drove, uh and continue to drive automatics. Now

(51:51):
it's getting really hard to find a car anymore that
has a manual transmission that's brand new.

Speaker 1 (51:57):
I mean you have to get a sports car. Yeah,
they're only a I will tell you. I've been driving
the Miana, and first of all, I look ridiculously, I
look up whatever kind of crisis I'm having, I look like,
but I'm so damn happy when I drive it. I
don't care. I'm convertible stick. It has an aftermarket exhaust

(52:20):
and the sound is just delicious. It's fantastic. But if
you're on the open road, because it's it's only a
five speed and you're going sixty, if you go sixty
to the whole car will fall apart. It's a go kart. Yeah,
it's ridiculous. And in Indianapolis and near Indianapolis, there's a

(52:42):
town called Carmel that has it has more roundabouts than
any other city in the country. It's known for its
roundabouts and if you take those at some level of speed,
you are sliding everywhere. But it's it's fantastic, I found out.
So we had the car for a while and then
the right rear went flaws. Like, okay, we need new tires.

(53:05):
So okay, we just bought the car used get new tires.
It's still happening the right rear tire, and so I
called the tire Gora. I'm like, what's the deal here,
and he goes, it could be that the chrome is peeling.
I'm like, so, does that mean that it's like cutting
into the tire. No, it could be that the chrome
is peeled. And now the tire doesn't fit properly on

(53:26):
the rim. So you got to get new rims. You
gotta get new rims. That wasn't what I wanted. Getting
new rims was not the thing that I had planned
for in in this vehicle. I am not interested in
this thing. Nickel and diming me. You know. If I
gotta do something with the engine, I get it new rims.

Speaker 2 (53:46):
You've got a twenty six year old vehicle. You're gonna
be nickeled and dimed. Son of a I paid. I
paid like nothing for there. Did you pay nickels and
dimes for it?

Speaker 1 (53:57):
I paid nickels and rolled up, you know, but I
did pay nichols and nines for it. Now you should
you should know. I don't drive a stick looks alike.
It looks like a lot of fun, a lot of
money for a car. What eat, drink smoke? It is
your cigar, bourbon food, the extravaganza Tony Katz Fingers Meloy

(54:19):
right there. Find it all at E drinksmokeshow dot com.
This is the Alec in Bradley, the Alec Bradley gate
Keeper Toro six by fifty two. It is an Ecuadora
and Habano rapper nick Roguin and the binder. The filler
is nic Roguin and Dominican, coming in at just about
thirteen dollars a stick. And that that that cedar spice,

(54:41):
as I would describe it, has come down a bit
now that we're in the second third of the cigar,
deeply into it, and that's where the tobacco forward's coming out.
And now I'm a i'm a, I'm a yes, this
is where I like to be in the cigar, in
the This is why you got to buy one and
try it to see where you are with it. If

(55:04):
that spice is too much, again, I think that medium analysis.
I think it's certainly medium plus for sure. But it
is a well constructed cigar. Fingers, you've had a little
trouble keeping yours lit. I have not had that trouble
that can happen from time to time. A nice stick,
great hand feel. That rapper feels fantastic, oily, a little

(55:26):
bit gritty right there, A beefy stick. Really felt it
had the weight and good in the hand. I like
this cigar.

Speaker 2 (55:34):
Yeah, I agree with you wholeheartedly about the tobacco forward.
And now I don't know if because I've had to
light it quite a bit in the last fifteen twenty
minutes and not getting that ammonia that you get sometimes
when you relight it over and over again it gets
too hot. But something's it's almost like a hey, I'm
getting right now, going along with that tobacco forward that

(55:54):
you mentioned, and then that spice has really subsided for me.
But at thirteen dollars less than thirteen dollars a stick
with twelve seven seven. Yeah, let's go with twelve seventy.

Speaker 1 (56:07):
I love it. Yeah, it's it's in my humidor. This
is it. It is in my humidor. And moving my
bourbon here onto the rocks. Let's got a getting rid
of a little bit of water, right, let me get
my drop. Yes, yes, yes, yes. This is the two
XO we're doing right here. This is two XO number

(56:30):
two XO Whiskey dot com there double Oak technique. This
is the American Oak Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey. I said
forty seven percent. I apologize forty six percent alcohol by volume,
which puts it in at ninety two proof not ninety
four proof. Fingers my apologies there. It was this unique

(56:52):
suite that was going on certainly the nose had a
bit of of ethanol to it, but it was a
little bit of like whipped cream going on, and I
thought maybe it was kind of like a stone fruits
is where it was at. There was definitely an oak
in there. I'd like to see the oak a little

(57:12):
bit more to maybe counteract, but I put it on
the rocks. That's how you know it's fresh. And I'm
going in because I think I think the cube is
gonna do something to it. Right. Ice, it's water, Water
brings down proof, it can open up the bourbon some flavors,
a little more pronounce I'm a little more muted. Here
we go. He's going in, ladies and gentlemen.

Speaker 2 (57:31):
He's got the big rocks glass with a couple of
cubes in there, and he's doing the Memphis munch.

Speaker 1 (57:37):
That was a big sip. Yeah and oh yeah, So
what did it do? Oh there's a little more spice
happening on the tongue. That lusciousness is a little bit cut.
There's a little more oak that's happening, and the sweet
now just makes sense. There's a little more there's a
little more fruit, a little more fruit happening on the

(58:01):
tongue itself. No heat at all in the center chest.
Now maybe feeling in the lower lower, lower chest. Oh
that's not bad at all. Oh, look at you, you
look so happy. Much better on the cube. This, This
is a couple of ice chips. Much better. Okay, well

(58:22):
on the cube.

Speaker 2 (58:23):
I was wondering, you know, about putting water here because
I thought that it may bring out more spice. And
now you're starting with that analysis to make me think
that that's probably gonna happen with me.

Speaker 1 (58:34):
I don't know. See what happens. And a little bit
of water from the dropper that he did not bring
with him. Once again, he has droppers to put it
in the right amount of water. But water does change,
It changes the complexion of the bourbon. And you have
to do this. You need to go through this and
try this in all the ways to see which one
is right for you. And a bourbon you don't like meat,

(58:55):
you might like on a cube, you might like water.
You might say, no, I don't want water on this.
I only want it neat.

Speaker 2 (59:00):
For the first time, I'm getting that kind of stone fruit.
Note that you were talking about that water brought down
the spice for me, and actually brought down a little
bit of the oak for me before. The first thing
that I noticed was the oak. I didn't notice it
off the bat with a little bit of water in there.
But that fruit, that stone fruit that you mentioned, I

(59:22):
can see where you're getting that. Now the caramel is there,
that oak, and the spice is still there, but it's
a little bit more subdued than it was before. I
would not be unhappy either having a neat or with
water in it. So it's forty nine, you're still I'm

(59:43):
still all in. Yeah, I think yes, I think having
it on the cube, the answer is yes, you you should.

Speaker 1 (59:53):
This could be in my look.

Speaker 2 (59:54):
So let me ask you this because I feel like
I feel like you're hesitating a little bit on the guess.
Is it because you'd rather with this flavor flavor profile
it be more of a forty dollars bottle?

Speaker 1 (01:00:08):
And is this a value question? Now? This is a
palette question. I think it's it's much better on the cube.
I just I would like a little more, as I said,
a little more oak in there. Okay, that would make me,
that would make me happier. But I get it. I
get it, and I could see the value that people

(01:00:29):
would put in this as a as a nice bottle
of the bourbon that they have. Forty nine ninety nine
is not a cheap price, but it is more and
more a standard price. So I can I could see this,
I can understand where this is because I can that
that presentation would work. Like, Okay, that's very very nice. Yeah,
it's time Fingers Maloy for News of the Week.

Speaker 2 (01:00:51):
Tony The New York Post has the story Corporate media
continues to struggle. NBC News is preparing for its largest
round of layoffs in years. About seven percent of the
workforce in the newsroom is going to be laid off.
How many seven one and fifty jobs? Okay, and you

(01:01:13):
know you've got the whole rebrand with MSNBC.

Speaker 1 (01:01:17):
Now becoming ms now. That's literally what they're calling it,
News Opinion World, miss Now, yes, miss now, so many jokes.
Having said that, as opposed to miss right now. There
it is there. It is, by the way, terrible rebrand name, awful, awful.

(01:01:40):
I might as well call it new Coke terrible rename.

Speaker 2 (01:01:44):
They would have been better off just coming up with
something completely different than trying to incorporate the MS in it. Right,
Just you know Peacock for instance. You know it's the
whole NBC umbrella. You got the Peacock app, and you
know you stream from Peacock. You should have come up
with something different.

Speaker 1 (01:02:03):
Going the stalgeat and called it pets dot Com. There
you go. I was good.

Speaker 2 (01:02:07):
I was gonna go with n RON. You went with
pets dot Com. But still the message is the same.
It's going to be interesting here. Bear Sterns is still available.

Speaker 1 (01:02:18):
Too soon.

Speaker 2 (01:02:19):
No, if you look at my stock portfolio, it's too soon.

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
Having said that, nothing but n run Bear Sterns and
t w A. Thank god.

Speaker 2 (01:02:34):
I thought we were gonna go a full episode without
a t w A reference. Never gonna happen. But this
is gonna happen all over. Yeah, I mean it's not.
It's this is not an NBC MS NBC problem. This
is a corporate media problem. And you know some media
outlets are trying to shake things up.

Speaker 1 (01:02:55):
CBS News, my heart, which is owns radio stations where
country laid off of was it over fifty people last week?
And you know who lamented it? No one, With all
due respect, I am not going to lament NBC News
doing layoffs. I'm not gonna lament for these people. If
you lost your job, hey, that stinks. Losing your job stinks,

(01:03:18):
but no one is guaranteed a job. The market forces
are very very real here. So many people are getting
into this game and providing quote unquote news, and people
are going to all these other bifurcated spots. You can't
think that the model is going to work for forever,
and some models, some people aren't necessary. As models change,

(01:03:38):
as AI comes, as job descriptions morph, and more people
are doing more for less. You may not like it,
but it is what it is. After considering what my
life has been like being married and oh I'm staying married.
My marriage is very very good. The one thing that

(01:04:00):
my wife and I have concluded is that the wedding
was a terrible idea. See Drink Smoke Come Tony Katz.
That is fingers below. I find it all at Eat
Drink Smoke show dot com. Yes, fingers Sha ba la lah.
Terrible idea. Why did we spend that money on those people?
Half of them we don't talk to anymore, another quarter

(01:04:21):
of which are dead? What was the point? See?

Speaker 2 (01:04:25):
For me, half of them are dead and the other
at least a quarter of them we don't talk to anymore.

Speaker 1 (01:04:30):
We could have done three weeks in Italy and those
memories would still be with us. It's not that we
didn't have a good time. Some other people didn't have
a good time. It's that we didn't. We know the
Italy trip would have been better for us. It would
have been better because it was never about the wedding.
It's about the marriage. Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:04:46):
Let me let me pose this question to you. You
and I are you know, right around our You know,
we're in our late thirties. We've seen it all. We've been.

Speaker 1 (01:04:59):
We've been there and we've done that. Yes, been to
I don't know a couple dozen weddings. I don't know
about you. Maybe four, maybe six.

Speaker 2 (01:05:09):
You've been a four or six weddings. I've been in
four weddings. Really, Yes, I I've been in one wedding,
mister personality, been in one modding and you were. Both
of you and I we both have been an efficient well, yes.

Speaker 1 (01:05:22):
I have been official. I forgot about that one. I've
been I've been an efficiant at what? Okay, So I
just have not been to hundreds of weddings like lots
of people. So how many people really want to go
to somebody else's wedding. I don't know. I don't know.
I don't know. Depends on the person.

Speaker 2 (01:05:38):
I feel like once you reach especially once you reach
a certain age, it's one thing if you're like in
your early twenties, you're like, ooh, open bar. But uh,
for the most part, I feel like most people, unless
it's like a really close relative, right think to themselves.
I do not want to go to this wedding. I
don't care if it's an open bar. Why would they

(01:06:00):
pick Labor Day weekend? Why would they do a destination wedding.
I don't want to go to this wedding. I don't
want to be I got to put on a suit
and go to pretend to like other people and show up.
I feel like eighty percent of the people that attend
the wedding feel like they have to be there and

(01:06:22):
don't really want to be there.

Speaker 1 (01:06:24):
I don't know the numbers, eighty percent, eighty percent, but
there's definitely those people. But by the way, we love, love,
hear any drink, smoke, and if you would like to
invite us to your wedding, we will show up. We'll
wear a tuxes, we will cut and light cigars for
everybody that's there. We won't bring you the cigars, you
have to pay for those yourself, but we will do it.

(01:06:46):
We will come to your wedding. Just email Fingers at
the drinksmokeshow dot com. We'll take care of that. The
reason I bring up weddings Fringers Will is there's a
story from the New York Post shocking number of Americans
open to having a sponsored wedding. So we have two
thousand Americans. Sixty one percent said they'd consider having a
brand sponsor for their big day or would have considered

(01:07:08):
it at the time they initially got married. And the
answer is sure, why not?

Speaker 2 (01:07:12):
Oh I'm glad that's where you were going with this.
I thought this was a whole. I'll sponsor your wedding
with an indecent proposal, and next thing you know, Robert
Redford runs off with your wife for half a million
dollars or was it a million? It was a million,
It was a million. She's worth more than half a million.
She's worth more than that. Don't be ridiculous.

Speaker 1 (01:07:32):
No, uh, you know, Tony Katz is getting married. Brought
to you by subway. The catering is taken care of,
subway marrying people and flavor. I thought you were going
to say, Mary Fresh, Oh that would have been better.
Damn it. Oh yeah, I could see it. I could

(01:07:55):
see it. And honestly, the tuxedo with like a patch
like you you're ansk are.

Speaker 2 (01:08:02):
I'd like to thank the Texico team for putting this
wedding together. Every name off like five sponsors in the
wedding video, right, and you do.

Speaker 1 (01:08:12):
Pit stops and your groom's been change your shoes and
get you a drink. Oh, I love this whole idea.

Speaker 2 (01:08:18):
You know what's unfortunate about this is well, I love
the idea. You know, you you walk up, you walk
down the aisle, and your tuxedo has a Nike swoosh
on it.

Speaker 1 (01:08:28):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:08:30):
The only people where you could see this getting done
are the people who could afford to throw the wedding
to begin with. Like I'm pretty sure Taylor Swift and
Travis Kelcey could have their their their wedding sponsored by someone.

Speaker 1 (01:08:43):
Oh, but in their case, so many things are going
to be donated because they want to say we provided that.
Oh that's gonna happen for sure, for sure. Now you're
asking the question is does it a brand? See any
value in this whatsoever? And the answers I have no idea.

Speaker 2 (01:08:58):
Well, one thing I know is is people ask all
the time, what's it like to go to a wedding
for someone as rich as Taylor Swift? Give you one example.
At the ceremony afterwards the reception, they'll have two cakes.

Speaker 1 (01:09:15):
What did you not have the two cakes?

Speaker 2 (01:09:19):
It's a norm John nor McDonald joke. Is it Norm MacDonald?
Gone too soon?

Speaker 1 (01:09:24):
Oh? Totally gone too soon? Yeah, you had, you had
the two cakes.

Speaker 2 (01:09:28):
You had the one cake that you cut into to
do the whole bride and groom? No, what do you
How do you feel about the bride and groom cutting
the cake? And then one of the Wisenheimer's in the
couple decides to shove the cake and the other person's
face media.

Speaker 1 (01:09:44):
Divorce, shove it in, shove cake in my face, just kidding,
And I walk and I walk, gone gone. It's not cute,
it's not funny. You're a jerk of a person. End
of discussion.

Speaker 2 (01:10:02):
But what if Pepperig Farms sponsored the cake smash.

Speaker 1 (01:10:07):
Wedding cake brought to you by intoins? Well, wait if
you're doing it for the sponsor. You're like, well, it's
how we're paying for the wedding.

Speaker 2 (01:10:15):
Smash away if you make the announcement after the fact
that they paid for it. I didn't want to, but
I like Pepperidge Farms.

Speaker 1 (01:10:26):
So in your scenario, this has to be a secret
kept from the audience.

Speaker 2 (01:10:31):
Yes, until after the fact when people are disgusted by
and making better.

Speaker 1 (01:10:35):
I don't know if they're disgusted by it. I don't
I have no idea if they are disgusted by it
or not.

Speaker 2 (01:10:42):
I feel like people are taking side bets at that point.
Do we give this five years?

Speaker 1 (01:10:47):
Do they make it? Oh, that they're doing but they're
doing that anyway. That's true. You've never been at a
wedding because I said I haven't been doing a ton
been to a wedding and turned to your girlfriend of
your space. So everybody to be like six.

Speaker 2 (01:11:01):
Months, yeah, because that person and I'm not pointing out
what sender that person's crazy. This is not gonna last.

Speaker 1 (01:11:12):
Everybody has done that. Do you think that the people
who attended your wedding to the Lovely Missus Malloy, do
you think that they were saying, yeah, this isn't gonna last. Probably. Oh,
I I will bet you any amount of money that
got said at my wedding. I will bet you any

(01:11:32):
amount of money that got said at my wedding. Well
part for me, for me is because missus mulloy' is
my third wife. Oh yeah, well that's a that's a thing.

Speaker 2 (01:11:45):
She doesn't know that though. Oh, shouldn't have said that
in the microphone. Don't worry, she doesn't listen to that.

Speaker 1 (01:11:50):
That's true. She's working on her fourth husband. She's got notes.

Speaker 2 (01:11:54):
By the way, I no cake stuffing, by the way
at our Oh, absolutely not. I just find that it's
so And the other thing too, is it's so played out.

Speaker 1 (01:12:04):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:12:06):
What do you follow that with YMCA? You know there
are certain things just like do you really have to
do that?

Speaker 1 (01:12:11):
Well, I think you're it's just okay if you play
YMCA your wedding.

Speaker 2 (01:12:14):
But do you play it right after the cake smash?

Speaker 1 (01:12:18):
Oh? Immediately, yes, immediately. I don't know. I'm not a
wedding TJ. Well, by the way, we will DJ your
wedding and after the cake smash we will play YMC. A.

Speaker 2 (01:12:30):
Well, you need the construction helmet anyway, got it?

Speaker 1 (01:12:34):
Don't ask why. I also have the Indian feathers. Judge
me not is what you what you will do? That's
just fun. We are drinking the two XO. This is
the Oak series American Oak forty six percent alcohol by volume,
ninety two proof better. On the Cube, I'm just gonna
go back in real quick because it's all gone good

(01:12:57):
for you, going back in one more time. Yeah, yeah.
On the Cuba, it's a nice bourbon Cuba. It's a
nice Bourbon. Forty nine ninety nine is the Bottle and
Smoking the Gatekeeper from Alec and Bradley. This was the
sixth by of fifty two the Toro. It has turned
into a lot of spice at the first Nice Nice

(01:13:19):
cigar at twelve dollars and seventy cents, a stick outstanding.
Find everything we do at Eat Drink Smoke show dot
com and follow on Instagram. Eat Drink Smoke Podcast. It's
E Drink Smoke