April 24, 2025 • 44 mins
There's something remarkable about a family legacy that survives across generations, transformation, and even prohibition. In this captivating conversation with Todd from Elk Store in Fredericksburg, Texas, we uncover the extraordinary journey that began when his 14-year-old great-grandfather arrived alone from Moravia in 1895, speaking no English, and eventually established the original Elk Store.
Todd reveals how his family's history during prohibition inspired his own venture into distilling after decades in the wine industry. Having witnessed Fredericksburg's evolution from a sleepy town with just two wineries in the early 1990s to a destination attracting millions of visitors annually, Todd has intentionally preserved something increasingly rare – a business built on craftsmanship rather than scale.
Unlike most distilleries that focus on a signature product, Elk Store embraces the speakeasy concept by producing everything from whiskey and vodka to their famous pecan pie moonshine (based on Todd's grandmother's recipe). Their exquisite cocktail program, featuring house-squeezed juices, handmade syrups, and spectacular presentation, has created a following that keeps visitors returning time after time.
Beyond spirits, Todd continues his négociant winemaking, collaborating with small family producers in France, Italy, Argentina, and California. His stories of working with vintners who step off tractors to unlock their wineries capture the authentic connections he values – a stark contrast to corporate wine experiences.
As Fredericksburg faces increasing corporate development, Elk Store stands as a reminder of what makes small towns special: businesses where owners know your name, remember your favorite drink, and sometimes even receive your mail. Visit Elk Store to experience this unique blend of history, craftsmanship, and community that can only be found in Fredericksburg, where Todd and his team are preserving the art of hospitality one meticulously crafted cocktail at a time.
https://elkstore1895.net/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I put a blessing on it too real, that's a metaphoric
.
We just put the I in iconic,buzzing like I'm electronic.
Ah yeah, I put a blessing on it.
See me dripping in it 24-7 onit.
I'm just being honest.
Ah, holy water dripping,dripping from my neck to my
creps.
I'm too stepping on it live.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hey everybody, this is Tiffany Foy from the Ramblin'
Gypsy podcast and we are inFredericksburg, texas.
We are starting off.
This is like a prelim, apregame, to our SPF 90 tour 2025
.
And Fredericksburg, texas.
We are at Elks Distillery.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Elks Store.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Elks Store winery and distillery, and this is Todd.
Todd is the owner, and I havebeen in here a million times,
had an absolutely amazing time.
Your staff are always just soepic.
The entourage, the ambiance,the everything is unbelievable.
And we just started talkingabout a little bit of history,
and this is a lot of things thatI don't know about.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
There's a lot of history you have so much going
on here.
There's a lot of history thatdates back before even the
Elkshore time.
I mean, yes, mygreat-grandfather came to this
country in 1895 from Moravia.
Before there was Czechoslovakia, there was Bohemia and Moravia,
and he was Moravian.
He came over here when he was14 by himself 1895.
1895 in Galveston, landed inGalveston, texas, didn't speak a
(01:16):
word of English, just all byhimself.
Wow yeah, can you believe that?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
No At 14, just up and At 14,.
Wow yeah, Can you believe that?
No At 14, just up and.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
At 14,.
I didn't know what the hell Iwas doing at 14, but I thought I
did, but not a clue.
We all did Can you imaginemoving to another country by
yourself?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
And not knowing what anybody is saying.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Nope, nobody knew what you were saying and you
didn't have a phone to go.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
hey, Siri, can you?
No, Can you talk to this personfor me?
Speaker 3 (01:41):
That's what happened.
And there were.
He had a sponsor family and thesponsor family were bad people
and they he actually was made aslave picking cotton in South
Texas.
They tore up his letters homeand it wasn't until about a year
later that they were bringingcotton in in and somebody was
(02:02):
speaking Czech and he went tothat person and said hey, I'm
being held against my will andthey're turning my letters home
and I need help.
And the guy says pack yourstuff and I'll meet you at the
road at midnight.
No shit.
And helped him escape and got upto the little town of.
So there's a little town calledWest, on I-35 headed north out
(02:24):
of Waco towards Hillsboro, andit's a Czech community and we
had family up there.
So he got up there with thisguy's help and then ended up.
There's a little town calledElk.
That's about 10 miles east ofWest Yep and this older couple
owned the two cotton gins andelk and tours and he kind of
(02:46):
became the son they never hadand ended up selling him the
cotton gins.
He became a wealthy man and hegot married and he bought the
elk store in Elk, texas, andbecause it was the hub of all
activity it was the journalstore, it was the post office.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
It was the barbershop , it was everything.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
And he built this house next door and then, uh,
unfortunately, in 1920, as mostpeople know uh prohibition hit.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Well, you're not going to tell a check.
You can't have a dream, so or aGerman for that matter.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I'm sitting right here.
Yeah, so I'm her German too.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Yeah.
So there was a little bit ofmoonshining going on in those
days and so fast forward to now,about, I guess about 15 years
ago, I started getting intodistilling and found out that it
was I kind of had in my blood.
And then he never turned theelk store into a speakeasy, he
(03:46):
just made some liquor.
But I kind of thought what acool concept, what if he had?
And so I had this property, soI turned it into a speakeasy.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
How long have you been in Fredericksburg?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
I've been in Fredericksburg since 1993.
So I've been in here so rightnow, what 32 years?
Wow, yeah, and I've donemultiple businesses, as we were
just talking about.
I kind of been in the winebusiness since the late 80s in
Houston.
I was in the steakhousebusiness there and built a
(04:18):
award-winning wine list thereand started traveling to Napa.
First trip to Napa was like1988.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Really.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Back when I mean Mike Gergich was a personal friend
of mine, we'd stay at his house.
Robert Mondavi Michael Mondaviis still a friend of mine I
would stay in his condo atSilverado Country Club all the
time and you know, it was just.
It was cool when Napa was notcorporate Right.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Sorry about the phone , no worries.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
When I was still Sorry about the phone.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
No worries.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Anyway, long story short, ended up moving to
Fredericksburg because I didn'twant to raise kids in Houston.
I wanted to be in a small town.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Really cool.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
And there were a lot of cool things happening in
Houston I mean in Fredericksburgand decided the one thing that
wasn't happening inFredericksburg at the time.
This is hard to believe.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
now, now that we have , 18 bazillion wineries all over
the place.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
We didn't.
When I moved here in 1993,there were two and I decided
what two were here?
Well, grape Creek was here, andone that's no longer here with
us anymore.
Okay okay, it's long since gone, but those were about the only
(05:27):
two that were here.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
That is so hard for me to even fathom.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Well, and we had.
I mean, our little HEB waswhere the Nimitz Museum is now,
and I mean we had a liquor store, but our wine selection here
was terrible.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Right.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
And I'm coming out of Houston, out of you know
award-winning wine list andgoing to Napa traveling the
world buying wines and it justsucked.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Did you know that Fredericksburg was going to
become this big wine town?
Speaker 3 (05:55):
No, not at all, but I knew that Fredericksburg was.
It was so cool and so unique.
I mean, this is 30 years ago.
Yes, you could see the writingon the wall.
There were.
I mean, I'm not going to.
I was on the backs of someother people Tim and Carol
(06:16):
Bolton.
I don't know if you know CarolBolton from.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Carol Hicks Bolton.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Oh yes, and her late husband Tim, Fabulous mentors of
mine.
A lot of money in there, yeah,so I worked for them for years
they, they picked me up and uhand really taught me how to do
business in this town.
Incredible people.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Very.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Um, but you know, there were the Collins family.
There were a lot of people thatsaw the potential and then they
, they took it.
And then there was another waveof us that kind of came in and
took it to the next level, andnow there's another wave of
younger people that are comingin and doing more restaurants.
(06:56):
But it's actually gotten.
You know, it used to be smallbusinesses and now we're getting
Waldorf Astoria's and now we'regetting used to be small
businesses and now we're gettingWaldorf Astoria's and now we're
getting.
I just read a deal that thisthe people that did the Thompson
Hotel in San Antonio, the DCproperties or whatever they're
(07:16):
proposing and building a bigshopping center and boutique
hotel and all this stuff, andwe're so it.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I mean Fredericksburg is changing it is rapidly I'm
from new bronfels and newbronfels has done the same thing
and it was very hard becauseI'm in the same generation as
you and it was very hard.
My grandparents and theirs,they weren't ready to let new
bronfels do that and they shutit all down for a very, very
long time.
And then our generation came inand we were like absolutely not
(07:44):
.
And then our people startedfucking it all up.
They got the old school moneyand then they were snorting it,
they were doing whatever.
Then the next thing, you knowthe land selling for this and
that.
And now we're, which is why Iwanted to do this, why I wanted
to come and introduce people toyourself business owners, small
business owners that know thehistory of the town.
(08:05):
Um, well, I mean, make sure itdoesn't completely get lost.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
I don't want it to get lost, I don't want it to be
same, I don't want it to be.
Everybody says where they'll bethe next Aspen.
Tell you right, Whatever.
They've been saying that foryears, but now it's kind of
really happening.
And, and because it's not, it'snot people that we know, people
that are living here and arebeing members of the community.
It's corporations.
(08:30):
We have a new hotel that justopened up that's out of Austin.
There's another one that theyjust bought a little hotel
property here and they're goingto gut it and do it and it's
going to be a boutique fancything and they're not going to
live here.
They don't know anything.
I mean it's going to be aboutique fancy thing and they're
not going to live here.
They don't know anything.
I mean it's just it's corporate.
And now this DC properties,which is it's inevitable.
(08:51):
It is it's inevitable, but it'skind of sad.
Growth is good, but yes, it isit really really is, but there
will always and I hope therewill always be.
One of the things I'm mostproud of about my 32 years in
Fredericksburg and being inbusiness here and owning
multiple businesses and openingmultiple concepts is a lot of
(09:12):
the cool and groovy stuff thatwe have in this town are owned
and operated by people that usedto work for me that kind of
came up, came through here andsaid I want more, I want my own.
And they saw a niche and theydid it Spread their wings.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
And they're doing incredible.
I love that.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
It's badass and I love that.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Yes, I mean.
I've got incredible friendsthat have restaurants, the proud
Main Street, papa.
Yeah, well, I mean, it's justyou know what I'm very very.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
I'm very proud to leave, if I, if that's my legacy
, that's it.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
You and I have a lot in common when it comes to that,
and I have talked to a lot ofpeople and that is one thing
that I said if I go tomorrow, Iwill feel like I have done what
I was put here to do, I havetaught enough, I have shared
what you know, the things thatI've messed up, the things that
I've done wrong in business orin personal or whatever.
(10:08):
And I've taken that and saidyou know, you guys, if you all
have ever learned anything fromme, take this, listen to this,
especially in small towns.
Sure.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
I mean this guy.
You know the inevitability ofgrowth is going to happen, right
, and it's going to be corporatesomeday, but I've lived a great
life.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
I always say I hate to say this, but in less than a
little over a week I'm going tobe 60.
And so yeah?
I think, it's kind of where youkind of step back and take a
little stock of your life.
And you go.
Okay, holy shit.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
And you know what?
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I love it.
I'm very happy with.
I've lived my life on my terms,and I've done what I want to do
and how I want to do it and umand it's been a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
I've had some friends of mine that are in the
limelight and comedians that goand travel all over and have
been wanting me to get in frontof people.
I like to sit in the back anddesign things and make everybody
(11:28):
else look cute and shove themout there and go look how good
they look.
And here I am.
But it is important to me thatwe talk about the small
businesses.
This is one of my favoritesmall towns and the history
behind your grandfather is great, great grandfather is
unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
And that you, yeah, and he, you know it was are you
the only one that down thefamily that picked up the wine
and the yeah, so you know,eventually, eventually in the,
you know, my great grandfatherhad a lot of children, was
married and had Czech familiesin the day, had a lot of
(12:06):
children, and then mygrandfather of one of those.
But as it got down the line,everybody had their own ideas of
doing their own things Right.
And nobody wanted to run thestore Right, and so over time it
(12:28):
just kind of went away and Imean, that's what it looks like
right now.
It's sad, it's just, but if youGoogle Elk, texas, that's the
picture.
That's the picture you get, andthere it is, but you know it
makes me proud to, just for alittle bit keeping on the family
legacy, but yeah, no, I've beena.
I was a wine guy forever.
I've been a wine guy most of mylife.
(12:49):
I still make.
I make wine all over the world.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
That's what I want to talk about, the whole
distillery portion.
So let's go there.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
What I mean well, so it started off with wine.
So, um, there's anotherbusiness here in town that my
brother has now.
That was my first wine bar,called Lincoln Street Wine
Market, that I opened,ironically, today, 29 years ago
today, when you just realizedthat when we were, we first sat
down, yeah, and I have visitedhere and I was.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
That was just at Lincoln Street the other day and
you know we were in the musicdeal, the music business, and
musicians, musicians, and soI've sent a lot, of, a lot of
musicians over there to play andand um, started in March 13th
1996 it's crazy that you cantalk about irony at its finest.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
That's kind of wild, that today's the day and yeah,
yeah, and Tim and Carol Boltonwere actually my partners in
that and to begin with, did notknow that, yep uh, because I was
.
I was running Homestead andworking for them at the time,
and then I had this idea.
And so when I sat him down atdinner one night and said I'm
turning my resignation, and Isaid and they're like what?
Speaker 1 (13:51):
And.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
I said I'm at this concept and I'm going for it.
And so they said well, tell meabout it.
And I told them about it, andthen they're like, and without
even blinking without evenblinking.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Tim goes, we're in, and Carol's like what.
We're not even going to go homeand have like an argument or a
discussion about this.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
They said, uh, they're like no seriously.
And I said well, there's aconcept that in Napa Valley that
I'm kind of.
I you know, I saw and I thinkit would work well, here in
Oakville Grocery and it's ownedby.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
I know exactly what you're talking about.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Yeah, it's owned by a friend of mine, now JCB.
But I said you know what youknow, let's go.
And so we hopped on an airplane, we flew to Napa Valley, I took
him to some of the concept,took him to some wineries,
whatever.
We came back and on theairplane we inked a deal and
then and I think I think it waskind of a, it was a safe bet
that if I, if it, if it didn'twork, then he, I, he had me back
(14:46):
and I was running his, his home, furnishing stores, but it
worked, and so he eventually hadto spot him out and so then,
and then I sold that in 2001 anddid some other things, got,
became, began making wine inSouth Africa and had an
importation and distributionbusiness and so what made you
pick South Africa?
(15:07):
One of my business partners, soone of my really good friends.
So when I had Lincoln Street Imet a really good friend named
Bruce Winsmith that I metthrough that business and he's
from South Africa and livinghere and at that time apartheid
was still going on and wecouldn't do business with South
Africa and when apartheid endedhe started importing wines from
(15:31):
South Africa into LittleFredericksburg, texas.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
And then, after I sold Lincoln Street, we ended up
becoming, because the way thelaws work here, you can't have
multiple lives, you have to bein different tiers of the system
Right, and so when I was nolonger with Lincoln Street, I
had sold it.
Eventually we got intopartnership and so I would fly
(15:56):
down there.
Then they had moved back toSouth Africa.
So I would fly down and live inSouth Africa for a while and
we'd make wine down there, andthen I'd fly back to South
Africa.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
So I would fly down and live in South Africa for a
while and we'd make wine downthere and then I'd fly back and
then we'd distribute.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Yeah, so for people that don't know, From 04 to 06,
07, I spent a lot of time inSouth Africa, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
So, for people that don't know the concept of making
wine, give us the because we'reon time here.
Give us the short version ofhow long the?
Process actually takes to get abottle of wine.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Well, right now, I mean a lot of people.
They think they just show up atHEB and they bottled it, you
know.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Here we are.
Right now it's March 13th, soprobably sometime this week or
next week there's going to be abud break in the vineyards and
that means the vines are comingalive for the season.
So it kind of starts theprocess and then, depending on
where you are in the world,you'll harvest grapes, and in
(16:53):
Texas, because it's so damn hot,we harvest pretty early.
Here we got to harvest by July,because August they're just
burning up.
And but in Napa Valley in France, in Burgundy, they might not
harvest until September or evensometimes October, and and then
then you make the wine and youknow the whole fermentation
process and the making of thewine doesn't take longer than a
(17:16):
month.
But if you want to age it, ifyou want to put it in barrels,
you're going to, so it could bethe best.
Wines are aged four more yearsbefore they're ever gone before
they're.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Yeah, so ever sat in front of you, which is the
process.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
So that's why there's a.
You know, you'll always seewineries they make.
Very seldom do wineries justmake one type of wine.
They'll make a bunch ofdifferent types of wine because
some can uh ready before theothers Right.
So nobody badmouths WhiteZinfandel in Napa Valley because
it's called Chateau Cash Flow.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
It pays for everything else yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
I mean they make that shit and boom and it's out the
door and it's being sold and itpays for the good stuff that's
sitting in barrels and all thatkind of stuff Makes sense, yeah,
but you know white wines tendto take less Swe and it pays for
the good stuff that's sittingin barrels and that kind of
stuff Makes sense.
Yeah, you know, white winestend to take less.
Sweeter wines, they take evenless time.
And the red wines, you have toage those.
And it can take years.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
And I'm a red wine, I'm a rosé and a red.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yeah.
Rosé and a red, yeah, and soyou know, for me it's I'm, uh, I
.
I like to label myself I'm.
I've been in the wine businessfor so long.
I love california wine, don'tget me wrong, I love.
But the longer that you're inthe wine industry, the longer
you're doing this, the more youreally appreciate old world
wines yes you appreciate thefrench, the Italian, spanish,
(18:40):
portuguese ones, and I'm a totalFrench whore.
I'm just, it's bad.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
It's really bad.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Over the years, I've just become a total French whore
.
I mean, there's just thecomplexity, the beauty, the
earth.
You know, when you drink aFrench wine, you, you.
It's a history lesson, it's not.
It's not a chemistry lesson,it's a history lesson.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
How did you come up with your, your recipes, your
palates, your, I mean so?
Speaker 3 (19:16):
well, I mean, I've been in the business for a long
time, so I know what I like.
But I do.
I make wine.
I do what's called negotiantwinemaking.
Okay, and so most people don'tknow this, but most of the wine
made in the world, everybodythinks that, oh, you have a wine
, so you have a winery and youhave a little vineyard and you
have the whole deal.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Yes, that's yes.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
That's most of all the wine made in the world.
There's no winery, it's a brand.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
It's a brand and it's called the French invented it.
It's called négociantwinemaking.
So a business person, a winebusiness person, said you know,
I have this friend that has thisgreat vineyard and I have this
friend who's a great winemakerand I want to take those grapes
and I want to give it to thisguy and I'm going to have him
(20:05):
make it, and then it's going tobe fabulous and it's going to
have my label on it.
That's the negotiation ofwinemaking.
That's what I do.
So I go to France, I go toItaly, I go to California, I go
to Argentina and I find fabulouslittle mom and pop wineries
that want to work with me.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
And then we make wine .
Speaker 2 (20:23):
This rosé that we're having right now.
How long did it take you?
Or did you know?
Did you have two or threerecipes?
Or did you go to this mom andpop and go?
Yeah, that's not what I meant.
No, it was.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
I have a good friend that Michelle Foster, shout out
to you that lives in ProvenceAll these big fun words.
And she helped hook me up,because if you don't know, you
don't know, you don't.
And rosé is very popular.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
And so there's not enough to go around, but she had
a connection and hooked me upwith a winery about 15 minutes
north of the village ofAix-en-Provence and just one of
the most beautiful places in theworld.
Wow, and with her help, yeah,we made wine together.
I love that and I proposed tomy wife in Aix-en-Provence.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Really.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Yeah, I did.
I proposed to my wife in Aix.
It's one of my favorite placesin the world that's epic, and if
you've never been there, youhave to go Got to go.
It's one of the most beautifulplaces in the world.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
And then we were married two years ago in Paris.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Yeah, I love that.
So yeah, we're very seriousFrancophiles.
Okay, Frenchies.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
It's so good, it's so good so you have on your label.
Let's give us a rundown of whatthe Elksource got.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Yeah, I make three different wines out of Provence.
I went over there to make arosé and ended up.
You know, rosé is made from redwine grape, so I knew I was
going to make a red too.
And then I ended up falling inlove with this white grape that
they have over there.
It's basically Vermentino, butthey call it Roule.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Really.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Yeah, r-o-l-l-e Roule and it's just gorgeous.
And so I started making whitewine there too, and then make
two different reds and a whiteout of Argentina, make Mendoza
area, make Cab and Chard out ofCalifornia, of course, and then
(22:30):
Riesling out of Washington State, and then I make a Moscato and
a wine called Sangra Giuda itmeans the blood of Judas A sweet
red wine out of Italy, actuallymade by monks, and it is
incredible, it's one of ourbest-selling wines.
I mean, it's very sweet, butit's not often that you find a
really cool sweet red wine.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
And people eat it up.
That's definitely a niche.
I'm not that's.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
I can't do this, and then I make a Prosecco out of
Prosecco Italy, and then I makea Prosecco out of Prosecco Italy
.
And then I discovered the Rhonea few years ago, went up to
Chateauneuf-du-Pape and startedmaking wine out of Gigandat and
Côte de Rhone and some differentregions right there, mostly all
Grenache, syrah, mouved, andjust it's beautiful.
(23:17):
I mean it's just beautiful andI love I mean the winery, one of
the wineries that I work within the Rhone Valley.
I mean, the first time I wasthere the guy had to come in off
the tractor to let me in thewinery.
He was out in the field in thetractor and you know he's a
British guy.
He was a British guy and hetook a year off of university a
(23:38):
ago took a year off universityor, after he graduated, took
what they call a gap year nowand he was backpacking through
europe.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Fell in love with a french woman next thing you know
, we have a number one seller.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Next thing you know they're married and and she
inherits the wine, and so that'swhat they do.
Boom and it's.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
It's the two of them and their daughter and they do
it yaya and kp were the onesthat introduced me to you and
and the Elk store, yes, and sheis is a Rose absolutely all day
person.
And, um, first, first trip Iwent to Napa.
She planned the whole thing andof course I'd they'd been going
(24:16):
for years and years, and so shedidn't send me to the ones that
you go and grow like.
No, she sent me to the oneswhere you were up here.
We've already, yes, and one.
It was either the second orthird trip that we had gone down
there and it was a brand new.
And it was the same samesituation.
Guy got off the tractor, hiscow dog was coming right along
(24:39):
with him and I was like I soappreciate everything that is
going on here right now and itwas just very real, it was very.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
those are the those are the ones that you really,
those are the ones you reallywant to do, and it's, it's
unfortunate and I'm I mean Istill.
I love california napa wines,but it's a lot of corporate now,
and I mean a lot of.
I mean I knew Dan Duckhorn whenit was.
Duckhorn, I mean the Yeagerfamily that used to own
(25:09):
Rutherford Hill and FremontGabby.
We would stay at their house.
I mean it used to just be sopersonal like that.
And they would make you dinnerand you'd go to have dinner with
them.
They would make you dinner andyou'd go to have dinner with
them, and and they were like.
You know, I know everybody,you've seen that movie that's
about the judgment of Paris, butit it, it, it.
(25:33):
I mean that was in theseventies and I was there in the
late eighties and it was stillthat way, you know you would.
You know, I've sat on thegazebo with Jim Barrett.
You know tasting ChantelMontalena.
You know the man.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
The guy you know, a legend.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Yeah, and it's just.
It's what it was.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
You know it was, it was so cool and and it still is.
But you got to know where to goRight, you got to know,
otherwise you're, we're moving,we're moving we're stopping.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Exactly this is where we make the 8 million tonnage.
Yes, let's talk about thewhiskeys.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Okay, so again going back to my great-grandfather, I
saw a business in wine, businessforever, done wine forever and
ever and ever, and saw I neverthought the Texas wine industry
would really be what it is todayand but wow, it has really
proven to be a you know a force.
(26:29):
And so then I was kind oflooking for the next thing and
I'm like, with the success ofTito, nobody had really done
anything.
You know the Garrison guys,when they they were in you hang
out in here before they startedtheir deal and it's like okay.
And, um, I thought this, thiscould be something, but I want
(26:51):
to do it different.
I said, you know, I'm not, I'mnot, I don't want to do it on a
commercial scale, I want to doit on a prohibition, speakeasy
way, you know.
And so uh started.
That's my original.
Still, you know you might takea shot of it later.
But up on top of the deal thatwe built that and um back
(27:17):
ordered parts off of eBay andbuilt it and just started just
distilling beer in the backyard.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Which is a whole.
If you've never researched theprocess of distilling, it's a.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
To make whiskey.
It's basically beer.
You're just distilling beer.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
A really rough beer.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
I have an old, vintage one that a gentleman
that running around and pickingout of people's garages and you
know, and so we just did thatand you know what?
Speaker 3 (27:43):
We started making some different stuff and letting
some friends taste it and somecustomers and they're like it's
pretty damn good, you mightought to think about this.
And then a gentleman who turnedout to be my business partner
was just a really good customerand he's a big construction guy
and owns a lot of companies outof San Antonio and whatever, and
(28:06):
he has a house here and hefinally just said one night he
goes.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
I'd like to invest in it.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
I'm like shit, okay, we did and we started doing it,
but the whole thing is wheremost people, like Tito's, makes
vodka.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Right.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Garrison makes bourbon, bourbon, mm-hmm.
People, usually they pick athing and that's what they do.
Right, my concept was I wantedto do a speakeasy bar, so I have
to make everything Mm-hmm.
So we had a special still made,and then we and that, and we
make gins and rums and whiskeysand, you know, vodkas and
(28:48):
moonshines, and now we arehaving tequila made for us, and
tequila at least go, and it'sjust, you know, so that we can
make all kind of cocktails anddo everything.
So, we, it's not just a whiskeycocktail or just.
You know, we make all of the,we make a lot of different
liquors and and then we, youknow we then we do our own
(29:09):
version of of, uh, let's say,fireball stuff, and then you
know the devil itself he makes alittle shot of divorce for
everyone that wants to.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
But yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
And then, but our claim to fame.
The first thing we ever madewas pecan pie moonshine.
So my grandmother, my, that wassome.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
My great grandfather's daughter-in-law,
my grandmother, my dad's mother,late mother she would make the
best pecan pies in the world andshe'd only make them in
holidays and she put a lot ofliquor in it and they were just
so damn good and so I thoughtthe rum balls and put them in a
pie and I thought I thought,well, what the hell I mean if
we're gonna make a liqueur.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
I'm gonna make them taste like that yeah and so
pecan pie moonshine became ourclaim to fame, and it literally
tastes like you're eating pecanpie and you pour that, over some
vanilla ice cream that'sexactly so.
That's so funny that youbrought that up, because I was.
That's just the only way in mymind, my opinion, I was how that
needs to work I was doing awine dinner one night and I was
(30:12):
pressed for doing something fordessert and so I got a like a
chocolate brownie vanilla icecream on top.
I I swear to pickles you and Iare related somewhere somehow,
and it went crazy.
Everybody loved it, and so Ichallenged the bartenders to
come up with a cocktail thattasted like that.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
And we make one and we call it the Nuck and Fuds.
You can figure out why we callit the Nuck and Fuds.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
I have a whole gypsum area and it's shit that I make
up, that comes out of my mouth,that people are like wait what?
And I'm like yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
It's the Nuck Fudge.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
It is, it's perfect.
If you have enough of them,you'll get fucking nuts.
Yeah, yeah, it's so perfect.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Yes, it's so good, oh , wow.
And we even have great candypecans on the top of it.
Oh and, but yeah, we, we.
So we took it and then, withthe help of the most incredible
bartenders, you have gotten tohave the coolest bartenders.
(31:10):
Oh yeah, without a doubt.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
I literally have become friends with every single
one that I met in here.
I was even telling Nick aboutit.
I said you wait till you.
They have the cutest littleoutfits on, they have their.
One guy does suspenders all thetime and his little little uh,
well, and then just right.
But the deal is, they've takenthe, the the passion behind
making their drink, and they'vetaken a crap cocktail to another
(31:33):
level.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Yes, and it's and we don't do.
We don't do anything, half-assin here I mean every single
juice, and we juice fresh everyday.
All the simples, all the shrubs, all the stuff we make, they
make it all in house.
If you there's fresh berries,they're muddled, fresh berries
that are bought every day andinto the cocktails.
And then it's incredible.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
What's really cool about being here and when you
guys come and visit is that youare up close and personal, right
at the bar where you watch itall.
There's no, I'll be back in alittle bit, or let me go check
in the back and see where yourdrinks are.
Whatever it's right in front ofyou yeah, and I mean for some
people.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
When we get busy on a friday and saturday night, for
some people they get a littlefrustrated that it takes a
little longer for the cocktail.
But if you're paying attentionyou understand why.
It's a process, and when youwatch it being made and when you
taste it you're like, okay,nevermind, I'm good.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
I tell everyone, and we go a lot of places, but from
the very first time that Iwatched the whole old fashioned
experience, by far and I'm I'man old fashioned junkie, and by
far you've got it down.
It is phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
It is, and we're going to we're going to show a
video of all that.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
You'll catch it on the bottom of the um.
We'll add it to the episode.
We've got some snippets.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
It's amazing.
And then these guys have takenit to another level.
So now they're I don't know, myGM is standing right over there
how many different, how manydifferent old fashions do we
make now Ten, yeah, yeah so.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
I mean.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Seriously different types of old fashions.
Yeah, you do a s'mores oldfashioned with a roasted
marshmallow on the top of it andI mean I cannot.
And chocolate, it's justridiculous.
I mean, yeah, you do a s'moresold-fashioned with a roasted
marshmallow on the top of it.
I cannot and chocolate.
It's just ridiculous.
(33:30):
Seriously it is.
But I'll tell you, for years,our old-fashioned sales were the
number one, everything and itwas the number one cocktail and
everything.
But because of podcasts andInstagram and everything else,
the espresso martini has nowbecome one of the most popular
cocktails that we do.
But again, we take it to thenext level.
(33:52):
So we have our beans roastedfor us in Austin and we grind
them and make the espresso freshevery day.
We don't use cold brew.
We don't shortcut.
We don't use cold brew.
We don't cut, we don't shortcut,we don't do any of that.
And then our vodka is thesmoothest thing, that's ever
been invented, it is just tasteslike water, so it is incredible
, and ladies will come in hereand order 20 at a time.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
So where can people buy?
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Right here, only right here.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
That's what is very, very important 100%.
So you're not going to get thisout, You're not going and
listen everybody write, yourcongressman and your state
legislator.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
If we could ship we can ship wine.
If we could ship liquor, oh myGod, it would be the best thing
ever.
But right now the law prohibitsthat.
So it's just right here, rightso it's not in storefronts?
No, ma'am, it's not, it's right, it's right here,
fredericksburg, texas I don't,I'm not, I'm not at a point and
I don't know that I I want tothis is a valid point.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
I don't, I don't want to.
I know where you're going and Idon't want to say cheapen the
process.
But I don't want to, I don'tsmall batch and small everything
which is why we are here Smallbusiness owners, small towns,
the hidden gems that are here isthe inspiration behind my SPF
90 tour.
We're doing 11 states in sixweeks and I am hitting.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
I love the SPF 90.
That was funny.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
I'm serious about my skincare and it's a whole joke.
Behind my sunblock because I'man idiot and I had it looked
like I rubbed deodorant all overmy face more than once and my
girlfriend's turned around andshe's like what in the shit is
all over your face?
I was like it's my SPF.
She's like is it a 90?
And I'm like I mean maybewhatever, it doesn't matter.
But that's our whole.
(35:43):
But that's exactly what we'redoing.
We're going to go in andintroduce people like yourself,
entrepreneurs, people that havea passion I'm not going to give
up, I'm not going to let thecorporate come in
Speaker 3 (35:49):
here, and it's what we do.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
It's so important.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
I'm that person as well.
I don't want to have to do whatis necessary and I don't want
to say sell out.
I mean, my God, look at Tito.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
He made a billion dollars out of it.
Let me tell you, I own threeliquor stores and we're in a
tiny little town right outsideof New Braunfels, in Canyon Lake
, and there's times that I wishthere was the Elk Store stuff in
there.
You know to where we could getit.
But then you've got to pushthem here.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
It works for us.
I've got my resort, so it's thesame deal.
The reason it works for us islocation, location, location,
100%.
We're so fortunate I mean, I'mso fortunate that I chose to
live in Fredericksburg 30 yearsago.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
And I'm still here and now.
We have 3 million visitors ayear.
Three million people walk bythat door every year.
So it's insane, and so yeah, itworks yeah, it wouldn't work if
you're in BFE, you know it, you.
But it works.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
That this, this concept, this model works in
furniture don't break it, I'mnot holding firm to it and it's
all about what firm to it, andplease do it's all about what we
do please, and and old, andit's the experience it is, it's
absolutely.
When you come here, you walk inhere, you've got the velvet
curtains, the crushed velvet,the seating, that everything is
(37:14):
just it's always.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
It's always dark, it's always sexy, it's always
mysterious.
But you don't, you're, you feellike your home.
You do, and and we we have alot.
We have a lot of repeatcustomers, whether they're they
repeat once a year, they repeatonce a month, or they're in here
three times a week.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
I mean during the week we're cheers we yes, we
take care of our local clienteleand uh but it, yeah, and
everybody has their.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
we know where, everybody likes to sit,
everybody sits.
We know what drinks they like.
We have wine set aside for themand we know what glasses they
like You're right.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
I mean, don't you love that?
Speaker 3 (37:52):
I do.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
I absolutely love that and we have a little a guy
that I met.
He would come and hang out, hewould have cocktails and I had
my little boutique in green andwe became really good friends,
excuse me, Um, and he opened upa little shipping and mailing
and pour them in New Braunfels.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
And it's that guy shipping and mailing and pouring
.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
Let me tell you what you walk in there and he's back
there and him and I have thisjoke about a mission because
he'll his little accent willcome out and he's just the
funniest guy you've ever met inyour life.
But it's that guy you walk in.
I don't have to say nothing.
He hands you your mail.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
He doesn't you know and we have, we still have that
here.
It's so great.
It's like, yes, we have the biguh company shipping stores, but
then there's local ones thatdeal with those and they know me
and they know and I and they'llbox everything for me.
They'll do whatever, and that'swho I go to.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
They'll send you a text and go hey, you're going to
come pick this up.
Do you want me to drop it bythe river, Cause I'd like to go
hang out and sit on the Gwad fora little bit.
I'm like I'll go hang out atthe river and drop my cold beer.
Whatever you want to do, yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
I'm not going to mention names, but you're going
to find this hilarious.
We have regulars who have maildelivered here.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Okay, yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:08):
We have people that's called respect.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
We have regulars that get mail Drop it off in Bob's
chairs.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
The third one to the left or get clothing.
You need mail, deals right here.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
Yeah, that's awesome, I'm not kidding, that is
awesome.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
And then once they're , I'm pointing over there, like
you can see, but over therethere's an antique shoe shine
chair and once a month becauseour customers requested it once
a month we bring in aprofessional shoe shiner from
San Antonio and he shines shoeshere all first Saturday of every
month and he'll shine shoes allday and all night.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
I have to come and be a part of that.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
It's the coolest thing and he is awesome.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
So I met a little lady and y'all can judge if you
want to out there, I don'treally give a shit, but she was
the cutest little black ladyever and my husband, we were in
Vegas and he plays his blackjackand winning all kinds of money
or whatever.
And I play my roulette, and I'mprobably the only person that
goes and sleeps in Vegas becauseI actually can relax, and so
(40:09):
I'm the one that gives myself myown spa and I go bring my own
bottle of wine and I lay in myroom by myself and watch Law
Order reruns, and I won $100 ona roulette table and she was
just the cutest thing I had everseen, and so I took my a
hundred dollars and went andgave it to her, and this woman
literally had tears coming downher face.
She was so appreciative and sosweet, and so and it's one of
(40:32):
this was years ago and it's oneof those stories that I will
never, ever forget, and so it'ssomething about the whole
shoeshine thing that just takesme back to that.
I love it, it is.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
And you would just be surprised at the number of
people that are just like.
They just think it's thecoolest thing since sliced bread
and it's been around forever.
Yeah, and you just.
But we send out a deal andpeople will bring in bags of
shoes or boots or what have you.
This guy will work his butt offall day yes.
But his shout out to Craig theshoe shiner.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
I mean you look him up on.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
Instagram.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
Craig, I cannot wait to meet you.
Speaker 3 (41:09):
He is incredible, yeah, and he can make anything,
I mean it's I've seen peoplebrought in like old hunting
boots that look like they justneed to go in the dumpster.
And he brought him back to life.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
It looked amazing.
That is so fun.
Yeah, that is so epic saturdayonce a month.
Craig shoeshiner's here firstsaturday of every month.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
There it is, and then every friday and saturday night
we either have a dj spinningvintage vinyl or we have live
jazz and blues the live jazz andblues.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
That's ironic because speaking of the music thing.
I've walked in here a couple oftimes and be like hi, what are
you doing over here?
This?
Speaker 3 (41:42):
weekend is going to be so cool.
On Saturday night we have thisnew guy and he I don't know if
y'all have ever seen Hauser thecellist guy.
This guy plays cello and sings,but he'll play the Eagles,
he'll play the Rolling Stones,he'll do whatever on the cello.
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
We have a mariachi band in New Braunfels that will
come and play rap songs and it'sthe coolest thing you have ever
seen and they run around thewhole.
There's like five or six ofthem and they will start busting
out some of the coolest thingsand they will just turn it into
and you're like, okay, now thisis fun.
Speaker 3 (42:22):
Here we go.
They're going to be showing uphere.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
When you've got the sombreros out there busting out
some Run DMC and someSalt-N-Pepa and some old school
stuff.
It's so cool, it's so cool, Allright.
Speaker 3 (42:33):
Well, we're out of rosé, so I think we need to get
a smoked old fashioned we doEverybody.
Speaker 2 (42:37):
You guys, Fredericksburg, Texas, Elk Store
, Come see Todd.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
Yes, danny, come meet Danny, the.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
GM Amazing bartenders .
Come have an old fashioned or10.
Speaker 3 (42:52):
Try all the wines he's got every single thing that
you could possibly imagine, andyou can take all of it home
with you.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
You can take it home.
There you go.
Speaker 3 (42:58):
You can fall in love with the cocktail here and you
can buy everything.
You can buy the liquor, you canbuy the mix.
You can take it home with you.
There you go.
You can fall in love with acocktail here and you can buy
everything.
You can buy the liquor, you canbuy the mix.
You can buy anything.
We even took our old-fashioned.
We had our old-fashioned madeinto our own mix.
We have our own old-fashionedmix.
So if you fall in love with ourold-fashions, here you can buy
the liquor and the mix and takeit home and do it.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
And if some I happen to be here all the time because
I'm only an hour away, tag,message me.
Y'all all know how to get ahold of me.
Like, share, follow.
I'll bring it home to you.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
Hell, we're fixing to hit the road.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Follow our tour dates and I'll load my bus up.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
We're on Elk Store, 1895.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
We're on Instagram, Facebook, all those things.
Speaker 3 (43:39):
Yeah, Danny does all that, because I don't even know
yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Hey, we all got people for that.
Speaker 3 (43:45):
I'm turning 60, so I don't know.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
Hey look you got to stick to what you know.
Stick to what you know, andit's the Rose Day.
Speaker 3 (43:50):
Stay in your lane, Trust me.
Everybody's telling me to stayin your lane.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
Yeah, we appreciate what you're doing.
Don't fuck it up.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
Just like your daughter said Don't fuck it up,
yeah, hey, it's been fun.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
We're going to go have some cocktails, yeah, and
watch for the videos.
Speaker 3 (44:06):
Thanks for the things .
Yeah, thanks for being here.
It was so fun, it was so goodto see you.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
Yes, boop.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
I put a blessing on it.
See me dripping in it 24-7 onit.
I'm just being honest, dog.
I put a blessing on it too real, that's a metaphoric
.
We just put the I in iconic,buzzing like I'm electronic.
Ah yeah, I put a blessing on it.
See me dripping in it 24-7 onit.
I'm just being honest.
Ah, holy water dripping,dripping from my neck to my
creps.
I'm too stepping on it live.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hey everybody, this is Tiffany Foy from the Ramblin'
Gypsy podcast and we are inFredericksburg, texas.
We are starting off.
This is like a prelim, apregame, to our SPF 90 tour 2025
.
And Fredericksburg, texas.
We are at Elks Distillery.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Elks Store.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Elks Store winery and distillery, and this is Todd.
Todd is the owner, and I havebeen in here a million times,
had an absolutely amazing time.
Your staff are always just soepic.
The entourage, the ambiance,the everything is unbelievable.
And we just started talkingabout a little bit of history,
and this is a lot of things thatI don't know about.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
There's a lot of history you have so much going
on here.
There's a lot of history thatdates back before even the
Elkshore time.
I mean, yes, mygreat-grandfather came to this
country in 1895 from Moravia.
Before there was Czechoslovakia, there was Bohemia and Moravia,
and he was Moravian.
He came over here when he was14 by himself 1895.
1895 in Galveston, landed inGalveston, texas, didn't speak a
(01:16):
word of English, just all byhimself.
Wow yeah, can you believe that?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
No At 14, just up and At 14,.
Wow yeah, Can you believe that?
No At 14, just up and.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
At 14,.
I didn't know what the hell Iwas doing at 14, but I thought I
did, but not a clue.
We all did Can you imaginemoving to another country by
yourself?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
And not knowing what anybody is saying.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Nope, nobody knew what you were saying and you
didn't have a phone to go.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
hey, Siri, can you?
No, Can you talk to this personfor me?
Speaker 3 (01:41):
That's what happened.
And there were.
He had a sponsor family and thesponsor family were bad people
and they he actually was made aslave picking cotton in South
Texas.
They tore up his letters homeand it wasn't until about a year
later that they were bringingcotton in in and somebody was
(02:02):
speaking Czech and he went tothat person and said hey, I'm
being held against my will andthey're turning my letters home
and I need help.
And the guy says pack yourstuff and I'll meet you at the
road at midnight.
No shit.
And helped him escape and got upto the little town of.
So there's a little town calledWest, on I-35 headed north out
(02:24):
of Waco towards Hillsboro, andit's a Czech community and we
had family up there.
So he got up there with thisguy's help and then ended up.
There's a little town calledElk.
That's about 10 miles east ofWest Yep and this older couple
owned the two cotton gins andelk and tours and he kind of
(02:46):
became the son they never hadand ended up selling him the
cotton gins.
He became a wealthy man and hegot married and he bought the
elk store in Elk, texas, andbecause it was the hub of all
activity it was the journalstore, it was the post office.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
It was the barbershop , it was everything.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
And he built this house next door and then, uh,
unfortunately, in 1920, as mostpeople know uh prohibition hit.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Well, you're not going to tell a check.
You can't have a dream, so or aGerman for that matter.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I'm sitting right here.
Yeah, so I'm her German too.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Yeah.
So there was a little bit ofmoonshining going on in those
days and so fast forward to now,about, I guess about 15 years
ago, I started getting intodistilling and found out that it
was I kind of had in my blood.
And then he never turned theelk store into a speakeasy, he
(03:46):
just made some liquor.
But I kind of thought what acool concept, what if he had?
And so I had this property, soI turned it into a speakeasy.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
How long have you been in Fredericksburg?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
I've been in Fredericksburg since 1993.
So I've been in here so rightnow, what 32 years?
Wow, yeah, and I've donemultiple businesses, as we were
just talking about.
I kind of been in the winebusiness since the late 80s in
Houston.
I was in the steakhousebusiness there and built a
(04:18):
award-winning wine list thereand started traveling to Napa.
First trip to Napa was like1988.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Really.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Back when I mean Mike Gergich was a personal friend
of mine, we'd stay at his house.
Robert Mondavi Michael Mondaviis still a friend of mine I
would stay in his condo atSilverado Country Club all the
time and you know, it was just.
It was cool when Napa was notcorporate Right.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Sorry about the phone , no worries.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
When I was still Sorry about the phone.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
No worries.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Anyway, long story short, ended up moving to
Fredericksburg because I didn'twant to raise kids in Houston.
I wanted to be in a small town.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Really cool.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
And there were a lot of cool things happening in
Houston I mean in Fredericksburgand decided the one thing that
wasn't happening inFredericksburg at the time.
This is hard to believe.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
now, now that we have , 18 bazillion wineries all over
the place.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
We didn't.
When I moved here in 1993,there were two and I decided
what two were here?
Well, grape Creek was here, andone that's no longer here with
us anymore.
Okay okay, it's long since gone, but those were about the only
(05:27):
two that were here.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
That is so hard for me to even fathom.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Well, and we had.
I mean, our little HEB waswhere the Nimitz Museum is now,
and I mean we had a liquor store, but our wine selection here
was terrible.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Right.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
And I'm coming out of Houston, out of you know
award-winning wine list andgoing to Napa traveling the
world buying wines and it justsucked.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Did you know that Fredericksburg was going to
become this big wine town?
Speaker 3 (05:55):
No, not at all, but I knew that Fredericksburg was.
It was so cool and so unique.
I mean, this is 30 years ago.
Yes, you could see the writingon the wall.
There were.
I mean, I'm not going to.
I was on the backs of someother people Tim and Carol
(06:16):
Bolton.
I don't know if you know CarolBolton from.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Carol Hicks Bolton.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Oh yes, and her late husband Tim, Fabulous mentors of
mine.
A lot of money in there, yeah,so I worked for them for years
they, they picked me up and uhand really taught me how to do
business in this town.
Incredible people.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Very.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Um, but you know, there were the Collins family.
There were a lot of people thatsaw the potential and then they
, they took it.
And then there was another waveof us that kind of came in and
took it to the next level, andnow there's another wave of
younger people that are comingin and doing more restaurants.
(06:56):
But it's actually gotten.
You know, it used to be smallbusinesses and now we're getting
Waldorf Astoria's and now we'regetting used to be small
businesses and now we're gettingWaldorf Astoria's and now we're
getting.
I just read a deal that thisthe people that did the Thompson
Hotel in San Antonio, the DCproperties or whatever they're
(07:16):
proposing and building a bigshopping center and boutique
hotel and all this stuff, andwe're so it.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I mean Fredericksburg is changing it is rapidly I'm
from new bronfels and newbronfels has done the same thing
and it was very hard becauseI'm in the same generation as
you and it was very hard.
My grandparents and theirs,they weren't ready to let new
bronfels do that and they shutit all down for a very, very
long time.
And then our generation came inand we were like absolutely not
(07:44):
.
And then our people startedfucking it all up.
They got the old school moneyand then they were snorting it,
they were doing whatever.
Then the next thing, you knowthe land selling for this and
that.
And now we're, which is why Iwanted to do this, why I wanted
to come and introduce people toyourself business owners, small
business owners that know thehistory of the town.
(08:05):
Um, well, I mean, make sure itdoesn't completely get lost.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
I don't want it to get lost, I don't want it to be
same, I don't want it to be.
Everybody says where they'll bethe next Aspen.
Tell you right, Whatever.
They've been saying that foryears, but now it's kind of
really happening.
And, and because it's not, it'snot people that we know, people
that are living here and arebeing members of the community.
It's corporations.
(08:30):
We have a new hotel that justopened up that's out of Austin.
There's another one that theyjust bought a little hotel
property here and they're goingto gut it and do it and it's
going to be a boutique fancything and they're not going to
live here.
They don't know anything.
I mean it's going to be aboutique fancy thing and they're
not going to live here.
They don't know anything.
I mean it's just it's corporate.
And now this DC properties,which is it's inevitable.
(08:51):
It is it's inevitable, but it'skind of sad.
Growth is good, but yes, it isit really really is, but there
will always and I hope therewill always be.
One of the things I'm mostproud of about my 32 years in
Fredericksburg and being inbusiness here and owning
multiple businesses and openingmultiple concepts is a lot of
(09:12):
the cool and groovy stuff thatwe have in this town are owned
and operated by people that usedto work for me that kind of
came up, came through here andsaid I want more, I want my own.
And they saw a niche and theydid it Spread their wings.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
And they're doing incredible.
I love that.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
It's badass and I love that.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Yes, I mean.
I've got incredible friendsthat have restaurants, the proud
Main Street, papa.
Yeah, well, I mean, it's justyou know what I'm very very.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
I'm very proud to leave, if I, if that's my legacy
, that's it.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
You and I have a lot in common when it comes to that,
and I have talked to a lot ofpeople and that is one thing
that I said if I go tomorrow, Iwill feel like I have done what
I was put here to do, I havetaught enough, I have shared
what you know, the things thatI've messed up, the things that
I've done wrong in business orin personal or whatever.
(10:08):
And I've taken that and saidyou know, you guys, if you all
have ever learned anything fromme, take this, listen to this,
especially in small towns.
Sure.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
I mean this guy.
You know the inevitability ofgrowth is going to happen, right
, and it's going to be corporatesomeday, but I've lived a great
life.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
I always say I hate to say this, but in less than a
little over a week I'm going tobe 60.
And so yeah?
I think, it's kind of where youkind of step back and take a
little stock of your life.
And you go.
Okay, holy shit.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
And you know what?
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I love it.
I'm very happy with.
I've lived my life on my terms,and I've done what I want to do
and how I want to do it and umand it's been a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
I've had some friends of mine that are in the
limelight and comedians that goand travel all over and have
been wanting me to get in frontof people.
I like to sit in the back anddesign things and make everybody
(11:28):
else look cute and shove themout there and go look how good
they look.
And here I am.
But it is important to me thatwe talk about the small
businesses.
This is one of my favoritesmall towns and the history
behind your grandfather is great, great grandfather is
unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
And that you, yeah, and he, you know it was are you
the only one that down thefamily that picked up the wine
and the yeah, so you know,eventually, eventually in the,
you know, my great grandfatherhad a lot of children, was
married and had Czech familiesin the day, had a lot of
(12:06):
children, and then mygrandfather of one of those.
But as it got down the line,everybody had their own ideas of
doing their own things Right.
And nobody wanted to run thestore Right, and so over time it
(12:28):
just kind of went away and Imean, that's what it looks like
right now.
It's sad, it's just, but if youGoogle Elk, texas, that's the
picture.
That's the picture you get, andthere it is, but you know it
makes me proud to, just for alittle bit keeping on the family
legacy, but yeah, no, I've beena.
I was a wine guy forever.
I've been a wine guy most of mylife.
(12:49):
I still make.
I make wine all over the world.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
That's what I want to talk about, the whole
distillery portion.
So let's go there.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
What I mean well, so it started off with wine.
So, um, there's anotherbusiness here in town that my
brother has now.
That was my first wine bar,called Lincoln Street Wine
Market, that I opened,ironically, today, 29 years ago
today, when you just realizedthat when we were, we first sat
down, yeah, and I have visitedhere and I was.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
That was just at Lincoln Street the other day and
you know we were in the musicdeal, the music business, and
musicians, musicians, and soI've sent a lot, of, a lot of
musicians over there to play andand um, started in March 13th
1996 it's crazy that you cantalk about irony at its finest.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
That's kind of wild, that today's the day and yeah,
yeah, and Tim and Carol Boltonwere actually my partners in
that and to begin with, did notknow that, yep uh, because I was
.
I was running Homestead andworking for them at the time,
and then I had this idea.
And so when I sat him down atdinner one night and said I'm
turning my resignation, and Isaid and they're like what?
Speaker 1 (13:51):
And.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
I said I'm at this concept and I'm going for it.
And so they said well, tell meabout it.
And I told them about it, andthen they're like, and without
even blinking without evenblinking.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Tim goes, we're in, and Carol's like what.
We're not even going to go homeand have like an argument or a
discussion about this.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
They said, uh, they're like no seriously.
And I said well, there's aconcept that in Napa Valley that
I'm kind of.
I you know, I saw and I thinkit would work well, here in
Oakville Grocery and it's ownedby.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
I know exactly what you're talking about.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Yeah, it's owned by a friend of mine, now JCB.
But I said you know what youknow, let's go.
And so we hopped on an airplane, we flew to Napa Valley, I took
him to some of the concept,took him to some wineries,
whatever.
We came back and on theairplane we inked a deal and
then and I think I think it waskind of a, it was a safe bet
that if I, if it, if it didn'twork, then he, I, he had me back
(14:46):
and I was running his, his home, furnishing stores, but it
worked, and so he eventually hadto spot him out and so then,
and then I sold that in 2001 anddid some other things, got,
became, began making wine inSouth Africa and had an
importation and distributionbusiness and so what made you
pick South Africa?
(15:07):
One of my business partners, soone of my really good friends.
So when I had Lincoln Street Imet a really good friend named
Bruce Winsmith that I metthrough that business and he's
from South Africa and livinghere and at that time apartheid
was still going on and wecouldn't do business with South
Africa and when apartheid endedhe started importing wines from
(15:31):
South Africa into LittleFredericksburg, texas.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
And then, after I sold Lincoln Street, we ended up
becoming, because the way thelaws work here, you can't have
multiple lives, you have to bein different tiers of the system
Right, and so when I was nolonger with Lincoln Street, I
had sold it.
Eventually we got intopartnership and so I would fly
(15:56):
down there.
Then they had moved back toSouth Africa.
So I would fly down and live inSouth Africa for a while and
we'd make wine down there, andthen I'd fly back to South
Africa.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
So I would fly down and live in South Africa for a
while and we'd make wine downthere and then I'd fly back and
then we'd distribute.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Yeah, so for people that don't know, From 04 to 06,
07, I spent a lot of time inSouth Africa, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
So, for people that don't know the concept of making
wine, give us the because we'reon time here.
Give us the short version ofhow long the?
Process actually takes to get abottle of wine.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Well, right now, I mean a lot of people.
They think they just show up atHEB and they bottled it, you
know.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Here we are.
Right now it's March 13th, soprobably sometime this week or
next week there's going to be abud break in the vineyards and
that means the vines are comingalive for the season.
So it kind of starts theprocess and then, depending on
where you are in the world,you'll harvest grapes, and in
(16:53):
Texas, because it's so damn hot,we harvest pretty early.
Here we got to harvest by July,because August they're just
burning up.
And but in Napa Valley in France, in Burgundy, they might not
harvest until September or evensometimes October, and and then
then you make the wine and youknow the whole fermentation
process and the making of thewine doesn't take longer than a
(17:16):
month.
But if you want to age it, ifyou want to put it in barrels,
you're going to, so it could bethe best.
Wines are aged four more yearsbefore they're ever gone before
they're.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Yeah, so ever sat in front of you, which is the
process.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
So that's why there's a.
You know, you'll always seewineries they make.
Very seldom do wineries justmake one type of wine.
They'll make a bunch ofdifferent types of wine because
some can uh ready before theothers Right.
So nobody badmouths WhiteZinfandel in Napa Valley because
it's called Chateau Cash Flow.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
It pays for everything else yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
I mean they make that shit and boom and it's out the
door and it's being sold and itpays for the good stuff that's
sitting in barrels and all thatkind of stuff Makes sense, yeah,
but you know white wines tendto take less Swe and it pays for
the good stuff that's sittingin barrels and that kind of
stuff Makes sense.
Yeah, you know, white winestend to take less.
Sweeter wines, they take evenless time.
And the red wines, you have toage those.
And it can take years.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
And I'm a red wine, I'm a rosé and a red.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yeah.
Rosé and a red, yeah, and soyou know, for me it's I'm, uh, I
.
I like to label myself I'm.
I've been in the wine businessfor so long.
I love california wine, don'tget me wrong, I love.
But the longer that you're inthe wine industry, the longer
you're doing this, the more youreally appreciate old world
wines yes you appreciate thefrench, the Italian, spanish,
(18:40):
portuguese ones, and I'm a totalFrench whore.
I'm just, it's bad.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
It's really bad.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Over the years, I've just become a total French whore
.
I mean, there's just thecomplexity, the beauty, the
earth.
You know, when you drink aFrench wine, you, you.
It's a history lesson, it's not.
It's not a chemistry lesson,it's a history lesson.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
How did you come up with your, your recipes, your
palates, your, I mean so?
Speaker 3 (19:16):
well, I mean, I've been in the business for a long
time, so I know what I like.
But I do.
I make wine.
I do what's called negotiantwinemaking.
Okay, and so most people don'tknow this, but most of the wine
made in the world, everybodythinks that, oh, you have a wine
, so you have a winery and youhave a little vineyard and you
have the whole deal.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Yes, that's yes.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
That's most of all the wine made in the world.
There's no winery, it's a brand.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
It's a brand and it's called the French invented it.
It's called négociantwinemaking.
So a business person, a winebusiness person, said you know,
I have this friend that has thisgreat vineyard and I have this
friend who's a great winemakerand I want to take those grapes
and I want to give it to thisguy and I'm going to have him
(20:05):
make it, and then it's going tobe fabulous and it's going to
have my label on it.
That's the negotiation ofwinemaking.
That's what I do.
So I go to France, I go toItaly, I go to California, I go
to Argentina and I find fabulouslittle mom and pop wineries
that want to work with me.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
And then we make wine .
Speaker 2 (20:23):
This rosé that we're having right now.
How long did it take you?
Or did you know?
Did you have two or threerecipes?
Or did you go to this mom andpop and go?
Yeah, that's not what I meant.
No, it was.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
I have a good friend that Michelle Foster, shout out
to you that lives in ProvenceAll these big fun words.
And she helped hook me up,because if you don't know, you
don't know, you don't.
And rosé is very popular.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
And so there's not enough to go around, but she had
a connection and hooked me upwith a winery about 15 minutes
north of the village ofAix-en-Provence and just one of
the most beautiful places in theworld.
Wow, and with her help, yeah,we made wine together.
I love that and I proposed tomy wife in Aix-en-Provence.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Really.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Yeah, I did.
I proposed to my wife in Aix.
It's one of my favorite placesin the world that's epic, and if
you've never been there, youhave to go Got to go.
It's one of the most beautifulplaces in the world.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
And then we were married two years ago in Paris.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Yeah, I love that.
So yeah, we're very seriousFrancophiles.
Okay, Frenchies.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
It's so good, it's so good so you have on your label.
Let's give us a rundown of whatthe Elksource got.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Yeah, I make three different wines out of Provence.
I went over there to make arosé and ended up.
You know, rosé is made from redwine grape, so I knew I was
going to make a red too.
And then I ended up falling inlove with this white grape that
they have over there.
It's basically Vermentino, butthey call it Roule.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Really.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Yeah, r-o-l-l-e Roule and it's just gorgeous.
And so I started making whitewine there too, and then make
two different reds and a whiteout of Argentina, make Mendoza
area, make Cab and Chard out ofCalifornia, of course, and then
(22:30):
Riesling out of Washington State, and then I make a Moscato and
a wine called Sangra Giuda itmeans the blood of Judas A sweet
red wine out of Italy, actuallymade by monks, and it is
incredible, it's one of ourbest-selling wines.
I mean, it's very sweet, butit's not often that you find a
really cool sweet red wine.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
And people eat it up.
That's definitely a niche.
I'm not that's.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
I can't do this, and then I make a Prosecco out of
Prosecco Italy, and then I makea Prosecco out of Prosecco Italy
.
And then I discovered the Rhonea few years ago, went up to
Chateauneuf-du-Pape and startedmaking wine out of Gigandat and
Côte de Rhone and some differentregions right there, mostly all
Grenache, syrah, mouved, andjust it's beautiful.
(23:17):
I mean it's just beautiful andI love I mean the winery, one of
the wineries that I work within the Rhone Valley.
I mean, the first time I wasthere the guy had to come in off
the tractor to let me in thewinery.
He was out in the field in thetractor and you know he's a
British guy.
He was a British guy and hetook a year off of university a
(23:38):
ago took a year off universityor, after he graduated, took
what they call a gap year nowand he was backpacking through
europe.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Fell in love with a french woman next thing you know
, we have a number one seller.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Next thing you know they're married and and she
inherits the wine, and so that'swhat they do.
Boom and it's.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
It's the two of them and their daughter and they do
it yaya and kp were the onesthat introduced me to you and
and the Elk store, yes, and sheis is a Rose absolutely all day
person.
And, um, first, first trip Iwent to Napa.
She planned the whole thing andof course I'd they'd been going
(24:16):
for years and years, and so shedidn't send me to the ones that
you go and grow like.
No, she sent me to the oneswhere you were up here.
We've already, yes, and one.
It was either the second orthird trip that we had gone down
there and it was a brand new.
And it was the same samesituation.
Guy got off the tractor, hiscow dog was coming right along
(24:39):
with him and I was like I soappreciate everything that is
going on here right now and itwas just very real, it was very.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
those are the those are the ones that you really,
those are the ones you reallywant to do, and it's, it's
unfortunate and I'm I mean Istill.
I love california napa wines,but it's a lot of corporate now,
and I mean a lot of.
I mean I knew Dan Duckhorn whenit was.
Duckhorn, I mean the Yeagerfamily that used to own
(25:09):
Rutherford Hill and FremontGabby.
We would stay at their house.
I mean it used to just be sopersonal like that.
And they would make you dinnerand you'd go to have dinner with
them.
They would make you dinner andyou'd go to have dinner with
them, and and they were like.
You know, I know everybody,you've seen that movie that's
about the judgment of Paris, butit it, it, it.
(25:33):
I mean that was in theseventies and I was there in the
late eighties and it was stillthat way, you know you would.
You know, I've sat on thegazebo with Jim Barrett.
You know tasting ChantelMontalena.
You know the man.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
The guy you know, a legend.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Yeah, and it's just.
It's what it was.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
You know it was, it was so cool and and it still is.
But you got to know where to goRight, you got to know,
otherwise you're, we're moving,we're moving we're stopping.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Exactly this is where we make the 8 million tonnage.
Yes, let's talk about thewhiskeys.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Okay, so again going back to my great-grandfather, I
saw a business in wine, businessforever, done wine forever and
ever and ever, and saw I neverthought the Texas wine industry
would really be what it is todayand but wow, it has really
proven to be a you know a force.
(26:29):
And so then I was kind oflooking for the next thing and
I'm like, with the success ofTito, nobody had really done
anything.
You know the Garrison guys,when they they were in you hang
out in here before they startedtheir deal and it's like okay.
And, um, I thought this, thiscould be something, but I want
(26:51):
to do it different.
I said, you know, I'm not, I'mnot, I don't want to do it on a
commercial scale, I want to doit on a prohibition, speakeasy
way, you know.
And so uh started.
That's my original.
Still, you know you might takea shot of it later.
But up on top of the deal thatwe built that and um back
(27:17):
ordered parts off of eBay andbuilt it and just started just
distilling beer in the backyard.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Which is a whole.
If you've never researched theprocess of distilling, it's a.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
To make whiskey.
It's basically beer.
You're just distilling beer.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
A really rough beer.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
I have an old, vintage one that a gentleman
that running around and pickingout of people's garages and you
know, and so we just did thatand you know what?
Speaker 3 (27:43):
We started making some different stuff and letting
some friends taste it and somecustomers and they're like it's
pretty damn good, you mightought to think about this.
And then a gentleman who turnedout to be my business partner
was just a really good customerand he's a big construction guy
and owns a lot of companies outof San Antonio and whatever, and
(28:06):
he has a house here and hefinally just said one night he
goes.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
I'd like to invest in it.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
I'm like shit, okay, we did and we started doing it,
but the whole thing is wheremost people, like Tito's, makes
vodka.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Right.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
Garrison makes bourbon, bourbon, mm-hmm.
People, usually they pick athing and that's what they do.
Right, my concept was I wantedto do a speakeasy bar, so I have
to make everything Mm-hmm.
So we had a special still made,and then we and that, and we
make gins and rums and whiskeysand, you know, vodkas and
(28:48):
moonshines, and now we arehaving tequila made for us, and
tequila at least go, and it'sjust, you know, so that we can
make all kind of cocktails anddo everything.
So, we, it's not just a whiskeycocktail or just.
You know, we make all of the,we make a lot of different
liquors and and then we, youknow we then we do our own
(29:09):
version of of, uh, let's say,fireball stuff, and then you
know the devil itself he makes alittle shot of divorce for
everyone that wants to.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
But yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
And then, but our claim to fame.
The first thing we ever madewas pecan pie moonshine.
So my grandmother, my, that wassome.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
My great grandfather's daughter-in-law,
my grandmother, my dad's mother,late mother she would make the
best pecan pies in the world andshe'd only make them in
holidays and she put a lot ofliquor in it and they were just
so damn good and so I thoughtthe rum balls and put them in a
pie and I thought I thought,well, what the hell I mean if
we're gonna make a liqueur.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
I'm gonna make them taste like that yeah and so
pecan pie moonshine became ourclaim to fame, and it literally
tastes like you're eating pecanpie and you pour that, over some
vanilla ice cream that'sexactly so.
That's so funny that youbrought that up, because I was.
That's just the only way in mymind, my opinion, I was how that
needs to work I was doing awine dinner one night and I was
(30:12):
pressed for doing something fordessert and so I got a like a
chocolate brownie vanilla icecream on top.
I I swear to pickles you and Iare related somewhere somehow,
and it went crazy.
Everybody loved it, and so Ichallenged the bartenders to
come up with a cocktail thattasted like that.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
And we make one and we call it the Nuck and Fuds.
You can figure out why we callit the Nuck and Fuds.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
I have a whole gypsum area and it's shit that I make
up, that comes out of my mouth,that people are like wait what?
And I'm like yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
It's the Nuck Fudge.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
It is, it's perfect.
If you have enough of them,you'll get fucking nuts.
Yeah, yeah, it's so perfect.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Yes, it's so good, oh , wow.
And we even have great candypecans on the top of it.
Oh and, but yeah, we, we.
So we took it and then, withthe help of the most incredible
bartenders, you have gotten tohave the coolest bartenders.
(31:10):
Oh yeah, without a doubt.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
I literally have become friends with every single
one that I met in here.
I was even telling Nick aboutit.
I said you wait till you.
They have the cutest littleoutfits on, they have their.
One guy does suspenders all thetime and his little little uh,
well, and then just right.
But the deal is, they've takenthe, the the passion behind
making their drink, and they'vetaken a crap cocktail to another
(31:33):
level.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Yes, and it's and we don't do.
We don't do anything, half-assin here I mean every single
juice, and we juice fresh everyday.
All the simples, all the shrubs, all the stuff we make, they
make it all in house.
If you there's fresh berries,they're muddled, fresh berries
that are bought every day andinto the cocktails.
And then it's incredible.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
What's really cool about being here and when you
guys come and visit is that youare up close and personal, right
at the bar where you watch itall.
There's no, I'll be back in alittle bit, or let me go check
in the back and see where yourdrinks are.
Whatever it's right in front ofyou yeah, and I mean for some
people.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
When we get busy on a friday and saturday night, for
some people they get a littlefrustrated that it takes a
little longer for the cocktail.
But if you're paying attentionyou understand why.
It's a process, and when youwatch it being made and when you
taste it you're like, okay,nevermind, I'm good.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
I tell everyone, and we go a lot of places, but from
the very first time that Iwatched the whole old fashioned
experience, by far and I'm I'man old fashioned junkie, and by
far you've got it down.
It is phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
It is, and we're going to we're going to show a
video of all that.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
You'll catch it on the bottom of the um.
We'll add it to the episode.
We've got some snippets.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
It's amazing.
And then these guys have takenit to another level.
So now they're I don't know, myGM is standing right over there
how many different, how manydifferent old fashions do we
make now Ten, yeah, yeah so.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
I mean.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Seriously different types of old fashions.
Yeah, you do a s'mores oldfashioned with a roasted
marshmallow on the top of it andI mean I cannot.
And chocolate, it's justridiculous.
I mean, yeah, you do a s'moresold-fashioned with a roasted
marshmallow on the top of it.
I cannot and chocolate.
It's just ridiculous.
(33:30):
Seriously it is.
But I'll tell you, for years,our old-fashioned sales were the
number one, everything and itwas the number one cocktail and
everything.
But because of podcasts andInstagram and everything else,
the espresso martini has nowbecome one of the most popular
cocktails that we do.
But again, we take it to thenext level.
(33:52):
So we have our beans roastedfor us in Austin and we grind
them and make the espresso freshevery day.
We don't use cold brew.
We don't shortcut.
We don't use cold brew.
We don't cut, we don't shortcut,we don't do any of that.
And then our vodka is thesmoothest thing, that's ever
been invented, it is just tasteslike water, so it is incredible
, and ladies will come in hereand order 20 at a time.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
So where can people buy?
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Right here, only right here.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
That's what is very, very important 100%.
So you're not going to get thisout, You're not going and
listen everybody write, yourcongressman and your state
legislator.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
If we could ship we can ship wine.
If we could ship liquor, oh myGod, it would be the best thing
ever.
But right now the law prohibitsthat.
So it's just right here, rightso it's not in storefronts?
No, ma'am, it's not, it's right, it's right here,
fredericksburg, texas I don't,I'm not, I'm not at a point and
I don't know that I I want tothis is a valid point.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
I don't, I don't want to.
I know where you're going and Idon't want to say cheapen the
process.
But I don't want to, I don'tsmall batch and small everything
which is why we are here Smallbusiness owners, small towns,
the hidden gems that are here isthe inspiration behind my SPF
90 tour.
We're doing 11 states in sixweeks and I am hitting.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
I love the SPF 90.
That was funny.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
I'm serious about my skincare and it's a whole joke.
Behind my sunblock because I'man idiot and I had it looked
like I rubbed deodorant all overmy face more than once and my
girlfriend's turned around andshe's like what in the shit is
all over your face?
I was like it's my SPF.
She's like is it a 90?
And I'm like I mean maybewhatever, it doesn't matter.
But that's our whole.
(35:43):
But that's exactly what we'redoing.
We're going to go in andintroduce people like yourself,
entrepreneurs, people that havea passion I'm not going to give
up, I'm not going to let thecorporate come in
Speaker 3 (35:49):
here, and it's what we do.
Speaker 2 (35:50):
It's so important.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
I'm that person as well.
I don't want to have to do whatis necessary and I don't want
to say sell out.
I mean, my God, look at Tito.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
He made a billion dollars out of it.
Let me tell you, I own threeliquor stores and we're in a
tiny little town right outsideof New Braunfels, in Canyon Lake
, and there's times that I wishthere was the Elk Store stuff in
there.
You know to where we could getit.
But then you've got to pushthem here.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
It works for us.
I've got my resort, so it's thesame deal.
The reason it works for us islocation, location, location,
100%.
We're so fortunate I mean, I'mso fortunate that I chose to
live in Fredericksburg 30 yearsago.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
And I'm still here and now.
We have 3 million visitors ayear.
Three million people walk bythat door every year.
So it's insane, and so yeah, itworks yeah, it wouldn't work if
you're in BFE, you know it, you.
But it works.
Speaker 2 (36:53):
That this, this concept, this model works in
furniture don't break it, I'mnot holding firm to it and it's
all about what firm to it, andplease do it's all about what we
do please, and and old, andit's the experience it is, it's
absolutely.
When you come here, you walk inhere, you've got the velvet
curtains, the crushed velvet,the seating, that everything is
(37:14):
just it's always.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
It's always dark, it's always sexy, it's always
mysterious.
But you don't, you're, you feellike your home.
You do, and and we we have alot.
We have a lot of repeatcustomers, whether they're they
repeat once a year, they repeatonce a month, or they're in here
three times a week.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
I mean during the week we're cheers we yes, we
take care of our local clienteleand uh but it, yeah, and
everybody has their.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
we know where, everybody likes to sit,
everybody sits.
We know what drinks they like.
We have wine set aside for themand we know what glasses they
like You're right.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
I mean, don't you love that?
Speaker 3 (37:52):
I do.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
I absolutely love that and we have a little a guy
that I met.
He would come and hang out, hewould have cocktails and I had
my little boutique in green andwe became really good friends,
excuse me, Um, and he opened upa little shipping and mailing
and pour them in New Braunfels.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
And it's that guy shipping and mailing and pouring
.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
Let me tell you what you walk in there and he's back
there and him and I have thisjoke about a mission because
he'll his little accent willcome out and he's just the
funniest guy you've ever met inyour life.
But it's that guy you walk in.
I don't have to say nothing.
He hands you your mail.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
He doesn't you know and we have, we still have that
here.
It's so great.
It's like, yes, we have the biguh company shipping stores, but
then there's local ones thatdeal with those and they know me
and they know and I and they'llbox everything for me.
They'll do whatever, and that'swho I go to.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
They'll send you a text and go hey, you're going to
come pick this up.
Do you want me to drop it bythe river, Cause I'd like to go
hang out and sit on the Gwad fora little bit.
I'm like I'll go hang out atthe river and drop my cold beer.
Whatever you want to do, yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
I'm not going to mention names, but you're going
to find this hilarious.
We have regulars who have maildelivered here.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
Okay, yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:08):
We have people that's called respect.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
We have regulars that get mail Drop it off in Bob's
chairs.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
The third one to the left or get clothing.
You need mail, deals right here.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
Yeah, that's awesome, I'm not kidding, that is
awesome.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
And then once they're , I'm pointing over there, like
you can see, but over therethere's an antique shoe shine
chair and once a month becauseour customers requested it once
a month we bring in aprofessional shoe shiner from
San Antonio and he shines shoeshere all first Saturday of every
month and he'll shine shoes allday and all night.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
I have to come and be a part of that.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
It's the coolest thing and he is awesome.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
So I met a little lady and y'all can judge if you
want to out there, I don'treally give a shit, but she was
the cutest little black ladyever and my husband, we were in
Vegas and he plays his blackjackand winning all kinds of money
or whatever.
And I play my roulette, and I'mprobably the only person that
goes and sleeps in Vegas becauseI actually can relax, and so
(40:09):
I'm the one that gives myself myown spa and I go bring my own
bottle of wine and I lay in myroom by myself and watch Law
Order reruns, and I won $100 ona roulette table and she was
just the cutest thing I had everseen, and so I took my a
hundred dollars and went andgave it to her, and this woman
literally had tears coming downher face.
She was so appreciative and sosweet, and so and it's one of
(40:32):
this was years ago and it's oneof those stories that I will
never, ever forget, and so it'ssomething about the whole
shoeshine thing that just takesme back to that.
I love it, it is.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
And you would just be surprised at the number of
people that are just like.
They just think it's thecoolest thing since sliced bread
and it's been around forever.
Yeah, and you just.
But we send out a deal andpeople will bring in bags of
shoes or boots or what have you.
This guy will work his butt offall day yes.
But his shout out to Craig theshoe shiner.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
I mean you look him up on.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
Instagram.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
Craig, I cannot wait to meet you.
Speaker 3 (41:09):
He is incredible, yeah, and he can make anything,
I mean it's I've seen peoplebrought in like old hunting
boots that look like they justneed to go in the dumpster.
And he brought him back to life.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
It looked amazing.
That is so fun.
Yeah, that is so epic saturdayonce a month.
Craig shoeshiner's here firstsaturday of every month.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
There it is, and then every friday and saturday night
we either have a dj spinningvintage vinyl or we have live
jazz and blues the live jazz andblues.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
That's ironic because speaking of the music thing.
I've walked in here a couple oftimes and be like hi, what are
you doing over here?
This?
Speaker 3 (41:42):
weekend is going to be so cool.
On Saturday night we have thisnew guy and he I don't know if
y'all have ever seen Hauser thecellist guy.
This guy plays cello and sings,but he'll play the Eagles,
he'll play the Rolling Stones,he'll do whatever on the cello.
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
We have a mariachi band in New Braunfels that will
come and play rap songs and it'sthe coolest thing you have ever
seen and they run around thewhole.
There's like five or six ofthem and they will start busting
out some of the coolest thingsand they will just turn it into
and you're like, okay, now thisis fun.
Speaker 3 (42:22):
Here we go.
They're going to be showing uphere.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
When you've got the sombreros out there busting out
some Run DMC and someSalt-N-Pepa and some old school
stuff.
It's so cool, it's so cool, Allright.
Speaker 3 (42:33):
Well, we're out of rosé, so I think we need to get
a smoked old fashioned we doEverybody.
Speaker 2 (42:37):
You guys, Fredericksburg, Texas, Elk Store
, Come see Todd.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
Yes, danny, come meet Danny, the.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
GM Amazing bartenders .
Come have an old fashioned or10.
Speaker 3 (42:52):
Try all the wines he's got every single thing that
you could possibly imagine, andyou can take all of it home
with you.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
You can take it home.
There you go.
Speaker 3 (42:58):
You can fall in love with the cocktail here and you
can buy everything.
You can buy the liquor, you canbuy the mix.
You can take it home with you.
There you go.
You can fall in love with acocktail here and you can buy
everything.
You can buy the liquor, you canbuy the mix.
You can buy anything.
We even took our old-fashioned.
We had our old-fashioned madeinto our own mix.
We have our own old-fashionedmix.
So if you fall in love with ourold-fashions, here you can buy
the liquor and the mix and takeit home and do it.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
And if some I happen to be here all the time because
I'm only an hour away, tag,message me.
Y'all all know how to get ahold of me.
Like, share, follow.
I'll bring it home to you.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
Hell, we're fixing to hit the road.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Follow our tour dates and I'll load my bus up.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
We're on Elk Store, 1895.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
We're on Instagram, Facebook, all those things.
Speaker 3 (43:39):
Yeah, Danny does all that, because I don't even know
yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Hey, we all got people for that.
Speaker 3 (43:45):
I'm turning 60, so I don't know.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
Hey look you got to stick to what you know.
Stick to what you know, andit's the Rose Day.
Speaker 3 (43:50):
Stay in your lane, Trust me.
Everybody's telling me to stayin your lane.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
Yeah, we appreciate what you're doing.
Don't fuck it up.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
Just like your daughter said Don't fuck it up,
yeah, hey, it's been fun.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
We're going to go have some cocktails, yeah, and
watch for the videos.
Speaker 3 (44:06):
Thanks for the things .
Yeah, thanks for being here.
It was so fun, it was so goodto see you.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (44:09):
Yes, boop.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
I put a blessing on it.
See me dripping in it 24-7 onit.
I'm just being honest, dog.
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