Whiskey Bits

"Bourbon County Stouts; Thanksgiving"

• Matt Sommerfield & Phil Stokes • Season 1 • Episode 42

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Ever wondered how Thanksgiving traditions, whiskey tasting, and dog shows could possibly intertwine? Join us in this special episode of Whiskey Bits as we embark on a hilariously nostalgic journey through some of our favorite Thanksgiving memories and unique rituals. We promise you'll learn about the annual release of Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout and the peculiar yet delightful ingredients behind them, like cacao nibs and coconut water. And just when you think it can't get any quirkier, we throw in a tale about the "Bark Scotty" biscotti for dogs, reminding us that even our four-legged friends deserve a festive treat.

Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without a nod to the chaos and charm of Black Friday. We reminisce about the thrill of snagging deals, discussing how this annual shopping frenzy has evolved from in-store madness to online ease. We share stories of how these moments, sipping on special beverages and finding great bargains, have become cherished traditions, bringing friends and family closer together. With laughter and nostalgia, we explore how these traditions continue to capture the spirit of the season, one shopping cart at a time.

As we toast to good times, we delve into the heartwarming memories of holidays past—like enjoying Boston Market meals in pajamas while watching James Bond marathons. We share culinary tips for the perfect Thanksgiving turkey, sprinkle in some humor with tales of carving knife mishaps, and celebrate all-star dishes that make the feast unforgettable. With gratitude and love for our friends, family, and community, we invite you to pull up a chair, grab a glass, and join our Thanksgiving feast of stories, laughter, and a little bit of whiskey cheer.

🔔 Don't forget to like, share, subscribe, and hit the bell for more Whiskey Bits with Matt and Phil! Cheers to laughter, great whiskey, and memorable moments! 🥃✨

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Speaker 1:

Happy Thanksgiving. That was good. We both knew what we were talking about. I feel like I'm wearing the same pair of jeans I wore last week. It's funny. I feel like I'm wearing the same pair of pants I wore last week. Man, we really gotta change. How's it going? Good? You excited about Thanksgiving? It's the second most wonderful time of the year, right? Yeah, I've got some fun Thanksgiving stories. Yeah, for tonight. Yeah, oh, I can't wait. Yes, you can. Okay, I will. You'll have to Welcome to Whiskey Bits with Matt and Phil, where we sip on everyday whiskeys and find the funny in our everyday lives. We have something different today we do. So.

Speaker 1:

One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is actually the Black Friday release of the Bourbon County stout from Goose Island here in Chicago. Oh, I didn't know where Bourbon County, what it was from. I didn't know, you didn't know that this was from Goose Island. I would know. I didn't know where Bourbon County, what, what it was from. I didn't know, you didn't know that this was from Goose Island. I would know, I didn't. I was thinking for some reason I thought Buffalo trace in my head, I don't know. Yeah, no, so the Goose Island um has been doing these, these stouts for going on 15, 16 years, something like that, might be even up to 20.

Speaker 1:

So this one, so I I've got, I brought a couple. Okay, you have two different ones, different. Yeah, I've got two different ones here, okay, and, um, yeah, so I'm kind of excited to share these with you, because I don't know that we've, we probably have. I have not had these two. So what I've got here is the 2021 oh okay, 2021 brand 14 stout. So this is a stout aged in rye whiskey barrels with cassia bark, cacao nibs, cacao what did I say? Cacao, like cacao, cacao, cacao, cocoa nibs, chocolate nibs, panela, nope, and coconut water. Coconut water, yeah, that's what this one was Weird.

Speaker 1:

So this is an homage oh, fancy word, I don't know what that means A throwback, throwback To their very first proprietor. So the prop is what many know this as, and it's kind of their signature bottle. Okay, so this is a throwback to the first one that they had. Now, that's that specific bottle years prior to this release, which was 2021, which was a few years ago. Right, so 14 years from 2021, uh, before, yeah, 2007.

Speaker 1:

Okay, I can do math. Okay, that's good, and then so I will. I will pour this one into here and if you're okay with it, we'll just kind of share glass. Yeah, okay, we're gonna. What are we doing something? We're having something else. You brought something else later for off camera. It's gonna burn it away anyways, it's gonna burn it all. Yeah, all right, you want to hand it? Or do you want to read this one? No, you read it because I don't know. I don't want to hand it. Or do you want to read this one? No, you read it Because I don't want to mess it up. Okay, no problem. So this is Bourbon County Stout. This is the Biscotti Stout from 2022. It's a year later than 2021.

Speaker 1:

I know how much you love Christmas. I love Christmas and Biscotti just reminds me a lot of Biscotti. Biscotti, yes, real quick. We used to travel around to these food shows For work and one of the shows was a dog show and this guy I always remember, anytime I hear biscotti. He had this thing At a dog trade show. I think I told you this before it was called Bark Scotty Biscotti for dogs, but he was from Jersey, so he was like Bark Scotty, biscotti for dogs, biscotti for dogs. I don't know. Anytime I hear biscotti, biscotti for dogs, it's biscotti for dogs. Biscotti for dogs? I don't know. Anytime I hear biscotti, I think mark scotty. Biscotti for dogs, I love it. I love it, okay.

Speaker 1:

Notes of marazapan. We'll cut that marazapan. Marazapan what the heck is that marzipan? That's what I meant to say. Marazapan, like jason marazapan. I'm the worst at reading. You can't read words and you were worried about messing it up. I know you're just royally screwing this up.

Speaker 1:

Cacao, no, it's, it's cacao. What is it? How do you spell it? C-o-c-o-a. That's coco phil. Good lord. Why is there an extra a at the end? Because it's coco. Why am I? It's not coco chanel or coco, uh, whatever the heck her name is. Coco. Isn't there a singer? Coco? Isn't. Isn't there a movie? Coco, yeah, coco, oh yeah, okay.

Speaker 1:

Buttered toffee and black licorice oh, just wait, that might ruin it for me, just wait. So this one was released in 2022. Um, this one was aged in bourbon barrels, again with the cocoa nibs, cocoa nibs, toasted almonds, anise seed, which is where the black licorice comes from. Natural flavors. Have you heard of ouzo? Ouzo, I think, is what it's called.

Speaker 1:

It's that like greek liquor, and it is essentially just black licorice, clear black licorice liquor. Yeah, and I was at like some party, or maybe it's a mexican thing, I don't know these guys, my buddies from college, their family is mexican and so they had this and it was like this thing that you're supposed to sip it. Yeah, I didn't know what the heck it was, I'd never really drank. So they're like here, here you go, we're going to celebrate for it's a wedding, so we're going to celebrate, and they give it to me and I'm like I guess you know they give it to me in a shot glass. I'm like that, yeah, supposed to sip it.

Speaker 1:

It was horrible. This is all black licorice. Well, this isn't all black. I think you're okay. Are you dying? Good lord. I think you're like this you want an acid or something? I've ever poured a stout, no, okay, so mess this up.

Speaker 1:

You know, typically when you're pouring a beer, you want to try to keep the head. Whatever this one, you want more head? Hold on, let me be a 12 year old boy for a second. Okay, I'm good, still there to achieve more head. Just pour it in. Just put it in. Pour it in fast, okay and and quick. And then, oh, do you turn it? No, don't turn it, because that'll release the nitrogen up to the. You want the spill the head, okay, so just dump it in there and then on yourself.

Speaker 1:

How did you mess this up? And I did a good job. I stopped. I mean, look at that. I got lazy and stopped. I can already smell. It's fine, it'll the bugs will get it later.

Speaker 1:

Oh gosh, I got stuff on the bottom. I mean I was fine drinking out of it before, but now you're like mouthing the bottom of the glass, seriously. Well, we got a lot ahead, though. Get a room. Look at all the head in the bottle. Yeah, did I do? Okay, you did great, that was a good one, it was okay. Normally you'd want like a little bit more, but it's okay. Alright, like you didn't mess it up, it's just now. It's been sitting, so cheers to a happy thanksgiving. Happy thanksgiving, the warmest part of my day. It's the most warmest part of my day, isn't that really good? Incredible, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So they release thoughts though somewhere in the neighborhood of of five to seven bottles every year, different variants, including their kind, of their standard. They just call it the Bourbon County Stout. It's just kind of the Bourbon County Stout. So each year it's a different type. Each year they have a kind of a different, either theme or whatever, but they do some different things. They've done a lot of barley wine. They've done a bunch of other collaborations with Larceny, with Eagle Rare, with. They have done some Buffalo Trace Yep, I remember seeing that one. So they've done some collaborations with the folks in Bourbon County, but these are kind of just their various variations on bottles.

Speaker 1:

This is freaking good. It's good, right, various, uh, the variations on on bottles. So this is freaking good.

Speaker 1:

I'm definitely getting the almond, for sure. Um, biscotti, yeah, I mean, that's where that biscotti is coming from. The almond, um, yep, butter toffee. I'm really not getting black licorice. It's okay. You know what you? Just, you know, no one's gonna see it put in the wash and it just looks like you peed a little bit on the seat, not even. Actually. It looks like you maybe had a little, a little fun, a little back action there happening on the ground. It leaked a little. Nice, it's okay, it's just white. It's fine. Man, I feel bad. No, don't feel bad. This was, I didn't feel that bad. Pretty good though. Huh, fantastic. I'm not getting the anise at all, which I'm thankful for.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, would you like to try some of the 14? Would you like to try some of the 12? Of course I love the biscotti. That's not what it was at all. That's not a thing.

Speaker 1:

This is like a oh okay, do you nose it? I like to smell it, just to see what I can smell. I mean, it's kind of our thing. I like stouts, like I'm either a really light beer guy or a stout guy. I am not a pale ale guy. India pale ale Sorry, sam, but I'm not. Our buddy Sam, he's obsessed with them.

Speaker 1:

Tastes like Christmas. It does. That's fantastic, fantastic, isn't that good? It's really good. It tastes like chocolate milk, right, it kind of does. Yeah, I would say it's more of a chalk. Yeah, it's more of a light chocolate. Yeah, I could kind of get, maybe see where the cocoa or not the cocoa, the coconut, coconut water, maybe, maybe a little bit. It's kind of almost got like a lighter.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, the big one for this was the cassia bark. Oh, I guess I don't know what that would taste like. It tastes like whatever you're drinking, like the bark from the Cassia tree, right, whatever that tastes like, but that was the one. That's like their signature flavor, for this one comes from the Cassia bark. Whatever, I don't know, it's very good. Yeah, it's really tasty.

Speaker 1:

They've got another one that's made with figs. They call it the Sir Isaac Newton Stout. That's so cool, right, see, this is how, and I think I like stout because I love coffee and to me the stout always has more of a coffee kind of feel to it. I don't know what that is, if it's the bitterness, or um, but yeah, I mean, this is fantastic, dude. Yeah, I really I think that I love more, just because, well, I mean I don't want to take it away. You should have had maybe four glasses. No, I think I like no, no, no, I like this one more. Yeah, yeah, it does taste like Christmas, man, thanksgiving, christmas, fantastic time.

Speaker 1:

You said Black Friday and then you said Thanksgiving. So I want to hear your Thanksgiving story. Okay, so I. But I want to talk about Black Friday too, because I love it. Okay, I'm one of the crazies.

Speaker 1:

I didn't know that they would release these every year on Black Friday. I now love Black Friday too, really, because of that. Yeah, but this is the only thing I do. You just go get this, I go get beer. Yeah, that's amazing.

Speaker 1:

I want to hear about your black friday. No, I don't, I can't, I go, I go to. I go to wherever they're, wherever they have it. Yeah, I've seen a kind at jewel, but I don't think it was the any of these. I mean, you just have to buy one or two of every bottle every time that they release them and you have it. Yeah, which is kind of what I do. Did you have that since 2021, though? Yeah, and it's okay. So this one actually, unlike bourbon, these develop in the bottle up to five years. So there are some folks that will buy five bottles or whatever, and they'll just do a progressive tasting and say, all right, over the years, yeah, let's taste it every year for the next five years.

Speaker 1:

The yeast in it, maybe you would know more than I would. Yeah, that's a big thing. I tried to make hard cider once and it was an epic fail. Yeah, no, that's exactly right. Yeah, it continues to age in the bottle. Like wine, like wine, yeah, interesting, yeah, but pretty tasty, huh, it's very good.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so black friday, black friday, I'll go around. Yeah, we'll, we'll, we'll go around. I. I used to do this with a friend. We would go and buy the full thing, yeah, at our local um, antioch, fine wine and liquor. Yeah, yeah, and they would, um, they would do a couple of pourers that would come with it from right from the tap, oh nice, um, so you'd be able to leave with a sample and then you would have one of every variant and then maybe a couple, two or three of just the standard. You could buy one of every variant. You would buy a package, oh okay, and it would come with every single one and you go pick it up on. I kind of want to do that with you this year.

Speaker 1:

Get this. We can buy tickets ahead of time and we can go down to Chicago and they have a sampling of all of the variations, oh my goodness. And you get bottles to bring home, oh, my goodness. Ahead of Black Friday. Oh, which is kind of cool. Yeah, that, my goodness. Ahead of Black Friday, oh, which is kind of cool. Yeah, that's crazy, that's kind of cool, that's kind of cool. So I'll send you the link. Actually, send me the link. Should we post the link? Man, it's going to be over by then. Yeah, but go find these in a few days. Yeah, because this, this is coming out. At least you're gonna find them. The closer you are, the closer you are to chicago, the more likely you're to find them pretty quickly. Yeah, um, as you get further and further away from chicago, there it just takes a couple more days to get out, right, because they're local to here. Yeah, huh, exactly, dude, I love black friday.

Speaker 1:

I remember when it was like the crazier which I I think that that's people are. It really shows you how selfish and crazy people are. Like it really like it's insane. I, the, the one, the crazy one that I went to, was like when I had first gotten married, we, uh, and this was like a t. I still have the tv in the basement really, yeah, I still have it. Um, but it was like a 1100 tv. No, it was a 700 tv and that was the deal. But you know, with tax it was like 800 or whatever.

Speaker 1:

But, like I remember, and there was a blu-ray player I was getting with it and people were rushing the blu-ray uh palette and there was a guy standing on it that worked there and it was like literally like you ever see, like the video of a steak going in a piranha thing and then, like the piranhas just like attack it. It was that. But people, but people wanting a Blu-ray player which you can go get at any time, anywhere. But they were like 20 bucks or something, right, I literally just walked up and I said I'm not going to be one of these people. I kind of was because I was there, but like I'm not going to be pushing anybody or whatever, and I just walked up, I put my hand up like this, and the guy put one in my hand and I grabbed it like that's, that was it. Yeah, that was as crazy as I got, but I love just like. I love like window shopping and just like walking around, and so I'll go to like, because my big thing is movies and finding the movie deals.

Speaker 1:

The best deal I ever got was lord of the rings extended edition on blu-ray the full trilogy on blu-ray for 7.99. I think it was a mistake. I think it was a mistake Because I took it, because I was like there's no way it was at Target, there's no way that this is $7.99. Because it was before 4K. I took it to the person. I was like hey, is this legit? They scanned it. They're like, yeah. They're like, wow, that's kind of crazy. I was like, yeah, like wow, that's kind of crazy. I was like, yeah, I couldn't believe it. Now you can go to Goodwill and find that exact Blu-ray for $7.99. For $7.99. Well, that's what I mean. It was brand new in the box, sealed. I was like, oh my goodness, wow, as if it matters, because we just stream everything. Yeah, now we stream everything, isn't that crazy? Well, I think so. We definitely have some fun.

Speaker 1:

You know Black Friday stories, but Thanksgiving, man, what is your Thanksgiving? I have experienced a wide variety of Thanksgiving traditions through the years and you know the typical one when you get married, obviously, growing up as kids, family comes over. Whatever your kids come over. When you do Thanksgiving, like, you just kick them out and then they come back over. No, no, no. When you're a kid, oh, okay, gotcha, like as we were growing up, we have kids, we're still together. We just don't let them live in the house. It's just a lot of work. They're young, they're young, they'll be fine. They'll be fine, they'll live in the forest. When we were kids, obviously we'd have family come over. Yeah, right, extended family, and it's just yeah, that's the turkey and the stuffing and all the, all the food and and maybe some football and some board games. Board games were huge when we were kids.

Speaker 1:

Okay, um, when we were when I was a kid and, uh, when we were kids, when you were a kid, yeah, we were there together. Yeah, we're brothers from another mother, so, uh, yeah, that was that was a big like. That was big. But like growing up, like growing up, getting married, moving out, like doing your own thing, we started with that tradition. Do you host now? Yeah, do you host? So I have to tell the whole story. Oh, please be patient. So what we did for a long time, my mom would host, my mom would host, so we would go over there, whatever.

Speaker 1:

And um, one year, I had a uh, I had a uh, a back injury at work and I couldn't really move. So I didn't. And we had some friends bring some boston market. Do you remember boston? Oh, yeah, I just talked about this the other day. We drove past when I was like, oh, boston market, that's where people get shot. Yeah, oh, every boston market really. Yeah, the people get shot all the time. But, yeah, so we had a friend bring boston market on thanksgiving day for us and good mac and cheese, this is the thing we're gonna do. Oh, so then the next year I happened to be sick. We did it again and then we decided we're not gonna do this anymore, we're just to stay in and eat from Boston Market and watch James Bond movies.

Speaker 1:

Why James Bond? Why James Bond? The natural Thanksgiving movie, the go-to. I got to tell you the reason why is because one of these cable networks shows James Bond marathons, really During Thanksgiving. Yeah, interesting. So the whole weekend, not planes, trains and automobiles.

Speaker 1:

From Wednesday night James Bond All the way through Sunday night Nothing but James Bond movies. Sean Connery, pierce Brosnan, all the way through. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Favorite James Bond, favorite James Bond, I mean through. Favorite james bond, favorite james bond. I mean, here's the thing nostalgia, golden eye for sure, okay, nostalgia because of you know the game and all that. But like I like the daniel craig bond movies a lot, yeah, I admittedly have not really seen any of the, any of the ones. Roger moore, yeah, okay, uh, yeah, I haven't seen those, but I, okay, I need to. I, I think you need to see some of the later, like sean connery sean connery is my favorite. James martin printer yeah, my favorite anyways.

Speaker 1:

So, so that became the thing. Okay, it's james bond and boston market, b Market, a little bit of football here and there, just mix it in Great. So we ended up calling it. It ended up getting coined when we got together with some friends and they were like we want to do what you do and we're like that kind of defeats, we want to be just like you. It kind of defeats the purpose, but we'll do this together. That's fine.

Speaker 1:

It's pajamas and we're not going to dress up. You wear pajamas too the whole day. I really want to like a onesie Cool, do it? Should we get a onesie Together? Yeah, let's go onesie shopping. I'm actually okay with it. Yeah, like with the two buttons in the back, and you pull it down and you're like oh, I can go to the bathroom now. Poop, I poop now. Yeah, I was going to. No, there's no, I'm wearing them now. There's no, oh yeah. Yeah, you've clearly made a mess here, phil, I'm wearing them now. I have to steam that out later. So, okay, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So that became what was known as the Stokes non-Thanksgiving extravaganza. Oh my gosh, that's awesome. Yeah, oh my gosh, that's awesome. Do you still do that? Do you still do Boston Market? There's no Boston Market around here. No, no, no.

Speaker 1:

So then we had kids and they were like you know what? This is good? They ruined it. It was like, well, we want to. They made it better. I got so much out of being around other family members with it Like let's go and do that again. And so we hosted.

Speaker 1:

When we lived down in bloomington, we hosted once. It was one of the my favorite thanksgivings ever. Um, I got up at like five o'clock in the morning, was making turkey and stuffing. Oh yeah, you could roll, I did. I did everything, nice, I did it. I'm not everything there was, there was some help, but I did a majority of it. That was like five o'clock in the morning. By the time we were done eating, I laid down on the couch while everyone cleaned up, and I was out for like two hours. That's why you want to cook, though, because then you don't have to clean, then you don't have to clean up. That unwritten rule. I'd rather clean up. Really. Oh, forget that. More hands, no, so, anyway. So we've hosted, we've gone places.

Speaker 1:

I gotta tell you, like the most special Thanksgiving. We had the most special Thanksgiving, the last, our last Thanksgiving here a year ago, a year ago, and we had. So it was at my mom's house. She hosted again Nice, and we did. We had her sister, my aunt and all of her kids Yep, all of her kids were all there and and we went around the table and just, we like the cliche thing, like what are we all thankful for? Yeah, but it was so special because like people actually opened up and like actually did start like really sharing what they were thankful for for people around the table. Like it was like so hard for around the table, yeah and uh, and it was just. It was just a really, really special moment. Um, oh, that's awesome to kind of spend together and, as you know, that was the. It's the last thanksgiving I had with my mom and at my mom's place, and so there's a lot. There's a lot there. But, um, that's kind of become the tradition.

Speaker 1:

I don't know what it's going to look like from this year. What are you gonna do this year? I'll start something new. It could be a conglomeration. I mean, certainly you want to do this this year. I'll start something new. It could be a conglomeration. I mean, certainly you want to take all the good things that you enjoyed about it. You know, yeah, there's a Boston market in like Indiana. Yeah, just go. I mean it's going to get cold. Bring a heater.

Speaker 1:

No, I think the thing that intrigues me the most is like what's easy, yeah, what's easy. I don't want Thanksgiving to be complicated, right, because that's when it becomes like I just don't want to do this. Let me tell you about complicated Thanksgivings. I want to hear you write your answers. Look, I go all out when I do something. If I'm going to do something, I'm going to come. Yeah, you, yeah, you'd be surprised, I would be shocked. I look like I don't even try, but I actually go big or go home with everything. I can't believe that, as a comedian, you go big or go home. It doesn't make any sense to me.

Speaker 1:

My favorite turkey I'll tell you my favorite of each of the things. Favorite turkey deep fried. I deep fried it. I watched Elton Brown on Good Eats. He showed you exactly how to do it because there's a lot of safety things you got to do. You got to do the water displacement test. You got to uh, cover the hose. You cover the hose, the gas hose, with aluminum foil in case there's anything that comes out and it doesn't melt the hose and then explodes. Um, a lot of fires happen in thanksgiving because people are morons and they don't know how to do it.

Speaker 1:

I did occasion injection into the turkey. It sounds like I deep fried it. That sounds. Oh, it was. It took 30 minutes to cook. Yeah, uh, it was the juiciest, most flavorful the. The skin was so crispy. It was amazing. Best turkey ever. Have not been able to top it. I've tried.

Speaker 1:

Uh, last year was jean-pierre chef jean-pierre on youtube, look him up. Uh, chef jean-pierre, thanksgiving, I did every. Are you gonna? Are you gonna link it? No, I'm too lazy. It takes a lot of work, man, you know what. Go big or go home. Let's link it hard. No, I know. Uh, you could just drop an ad on Instagram. I could just put an ad. Yeah, maybe I'll do a TikTok about it. No, so I did Chef Jean-Pierre Thanksgiving. I tried his turkey. I tried a bunch of other sides and stuff. I made a stuffing. That was ridiculous, but I love to cook. I'm actually a really good cook. Yeah, I cooked tonight. Actually, I cooked some stuff tonight. But yeah, yeah, trying to just do different recipes and things, but I'm really what.

Speaker 1:

One of my signature things I do is pumpkin pie. I've been doing that every year, yeah, for years, like 16, 17 years and I get a real pie, pumpkin, and I actually roast it and I, yeah, like those small pumpkins that are, they're called pie pumpkins, it's. They're not called pumpkin pies. No, they're not, they're called pie pumpkins, yeah, oh yeah, the pumpkin pie is what you make it on. Oh, but I roast it in the oven. Get it out of a can. No, you can, you can, can, you can, can, you can, can, can. Uh, I make pumpkin pie and it's so good. Um, what?

Speaker 1:

What I'm not good at is crust making, but I think I might. Maybe you know what, maybe I'll do that this year, maybe I'll make, but I'm usually the Turkey gravy. Um, well, gravy, dude, freaking giblet gravy. I make from scratch, yeah, and With like a little bit of flour. Oh well, you make the roux. Yeah, you make the roux and then you thicken it. You know you can thicken it. You don't have to do that. You can use cornstarch. We'll thicken it also. Oh, okay, yeah, and without In the gluten-free family. But the cornstarch thickens it without changing the flavor, I think, or something. Yeah, got it, but anyways.

Speaker 1:

So, speaking of changing flavors, just a real brief moment. You know how whiskey opens up, uh-huh. Wine opens up Uh-huh when it gets, you know, air. This opens up when it gets warmer. Really, yeah, no, I'm yeah, no, I'm saying drink some.

Speaker 1:

For those of you listening, I've put the beer bottle in between my legs to attempt to warm it. I feel like a duck. Is this what a goose feels like when it's waiting for it to hatch? You know what it's going to hatch and it's going to be the most flavorful stout you've ever had because of you sitting on it. Yeah, I just want you to think I did shower, okay yesterday, but you should drink some of it is.

Speaker 1:

What I was saying is like take it, take a, take a sip, drink this. Well, you said to warm it. No, I'm saying it's gotten warmer since we pulled it out of the fridge and poured it. You could have just said that it would have been easier. I tried I know I wasn't listening. Was it any better? It's really good. It tastes like a gingerbread house, not really. I feel like I've wasted so much of your time as the beer. Like we typically would keep this right around 48, 49 degrees up to 51 degrees. When you pull it out, pour it where you let it sit I'm talking to our listener here who's like who'd like to know why I'm talking about this and and then you let it warm up in your glass, it actually starts to taste a little bit better some of the flavors, the notes, come out in the stout as it sits a little bit warmer.

Speaker 1:

Anyways, are you done my gosh? I mean, is this like a cooking class? I'm sorry, that was just tell us about a cooking class that you took to make your turkey and like you're talking about a roux and all of this stuff that I don't even know how to spell. I love the food, but I don't want to clean it up. Yeah, so that's why you cook. Yeah, also, you like cooking. I love cooking. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So have you done Friendsgivings at all? No, yeah, because we host it. You host the Thanksgiving. Yeah, we host it here, which we have a 908 square foot. So your family comes here. Yeah, and medicines They'll come. We've had usually like 14 people, okay, and we set it up in the living room with all the tables. Yeah, that's nice, it's a good thing. I mean, everyone pitches in. Yeah, yeah, that's really great.

Speaker 1:

But, yeah, I don't know what I'm gonna do this year. I got to start thinking about it. Okay, um, I, I like I've done a pumpkin pie and last year I don't think I did one. Do you have pie pumpkins? I should get some pie pumpkins. Not pumpkin pie pumpkins, no, no, pie pumpkins. Right, I'm gonna get some, but yay, big, is that your favorite pie? No, key, uh, key, lime pie is my favorite, okay, yeah, yeah, I gotta get pie pumpkins for the pumpkin pie. Not pie pumpkin pie, pie pumpkin pie, but pie pumpkin. Yes, but I think I'm going to do, I think this year, no, I'm going to do different, because I think I try to one it up.

Speaker 1:

And so last year was Jean-Pierre. There were things I liked about it, things I didn't the gravy, I do all the giblets and everything and I eat it. I'll eat like the heart and all that. I'll try the liver and stuff. Yeah, I'll do it. Indy, he ate some Six year old. I was like, oh, you want to try it? Yeah, so he did, and I don't think he liked it. No, I don't think so.

Speaker 1:

But the gravy I made last year was a lot of steps and they say not to use the drip pan juices. Why do they say that? He said that? Why? Because he? Because that is my favorite gravy, I know, and I tried it his way and I got to say I like it the other way. I like it with the drip. Yeah, the drip pan. Right, because it's the thing is it's a lot of just grease, yeah, but it's a lot of flavor, yeah, like if I could wring out the skin Right Of the turkey, yeah, so I think I will do that again. Wait a minute, how do you get a drip pan if you deep fry your turkey? Well, that year, no, we didn't, but this last year I roasted the turkey I did get.

Speaker 1:

This year you want to switch it up? Try some of it. It's a little bit warmer. Okay, did you put it in your crotch? No, I just let it warm, because it looks like you spilled a ton. Hey, it blended in with the. Did you mop it up with your foot? Oh, yes, yes, I did, you did. I don't even see I did. I did it because I felt bad. Looks like you yammied all over the chair. Um, oh yeah, that's real good. It's better than it's. Kind of a right nuttiness to it. Almost. It was better than it was before. Yeah, yeah, uh, the, but the gravy. So here's the thing with the gravy. Okay, yeah, yeah, keep telling me about the gravy. Yeah, it's just a big that to me the gravy is, is what? Is this a cooking show, I know, but the gravy is a huge deal. It's the biggest deal.

Speaker 1:

I got one of those pans. I got a cool pan. We're like, anyways, um, wait, what? No, no, tell me about the pan. No, the pan is.

Speaker 1:

You know how you take the turkey out? It's like you gotta, uh, how do you get the turkey out of the pan? It's, yeah, but it's this pan has. You take these two steaks out and then you pull it and it's, the rack itself comes apart. So, but, you can move it with the rack and then the rack comes apart and then you don't have to like, try to, because most people are taking the turkey and lifting it off the rack and putting it on a cutting board. Okay, to to clean it, because you don't want it to sit in all that grease and all that. Well, this, the rack. You can take the rack off. Yeah, pull these two tongs out. The rack actually falls apart, so you can. Yeah, it's easier to carry because I'm like I shove a spatula or whatever. Anyways, yeah, I have a, I have a rack that you can take off. Yeah, and let it sort of, I don't know cool, yeah, drain before you carve it. But then I have like large forks, two grippers that go inside and you move it. It works, it works fine. It works fine. Yeah, I got a really good knife. I was excited about I got a good carving knife, a boning knife. Yeah, I learned really that's.

Speaker 1:

Was it the same as the same episode? I was not gonna, I wasn't gonna laugh. Yeah, it is. It's the same episode. I wanted, I wanted to, I wanted to take a minute. We got I said wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Of all the thanksgiving episode, this is gonna be the most dirty. Lots of head and boning knife.

Speaker 1:

We're talking about beer and turkey people. Okay, get, okay, get your minds out of the. Have you ever had beer? Can turkey Beer? Can chicken? I've never had either. It doesn't really do much.

Speaker 1:

But the gravy it's so good. I cook the giblets, I cook all that stuff up and then he basically makes His was, like he basically makes a stock and that is the juice. But the flavor of the stock probably would have had to Hold on. I cooked it down a while. I probably would have needed to put it either, cook it down. I mean, I probably cooked it down for like four hours, yeah, four or six hours. Okay, to concentrate the broth, and then that broth is supposed to be, in his opinion, better than the juices, because the juices is grease. It's really what it is. Yeah, but it's flavored grease and it's really good, especially when you put, I mean, do you? Yeah, go ahead. It's concentrated flavor, right, like, yeah, yeah, now can you could probably go nuts, but you're talking like I think I had like red wine. I mean, there's just so much stuff you're putting in, and it was, the flavor was good. I just um, I like the, the greasy bits. Yeah, me too.

Speaker 1:

What's your favorite Thanksgiving dessert? What's your favorite Thanksgiving dish, whether it's turkey or a side. And then, what's your favorite dessert? Well, favorite side or dish is we talked about the, the boston market uh-huh, the sweet potato casserole. Oh, yeah, I made that at the one that I hosted, hosted along with like a copycat version of, yeah, uh-huh, uh, and it was like. It was like an entire pound of butter, of course, and it was maybe half a bag of brown sugar it was, but it was so stinking good 45 pounds. It was so good and, um, like here's.

Speaker 1:

So here's what I did with the, what I did with the turkey that I that I made was um, I actually didn't stuff it. I didn't put stuffing inside. Yeah, you don't have to, you don't have to, but I actually didn't stuff it. I didn't put stuffing inside. Yeah, you don't have to, you don't have to, but I didn't. It cooks quicker. It does cook faster without the stuffing inside. I spatchcocked it once. That's a real term, phil Head. So is boning Boning Spatchcock To me.

Speaker 1:

The rosemary cooking inside of a turkey, oh yeah, one of the best like aromas you can get. So I ended up sticking like an entire stick of butter and maybe three stalks of, oh yeah, of rosemary in there and let it, oh man, that that made the best gravy. That, yeah, because then I had the rosemary in there. Anyway, orange, rosemary, thyme, sage, yeah, under you put it, put stuff under the skin. Yes, his last year was literally like three pounds of butter, like, yes, it was just butter under the skin, butter on top of the skin, yeah, butter inside, everywhere, butter, and then basting it when, like, well, his whole thing was, you didn't have to baste it because it was just butter. Oh, then basting it when, like, well, his whole thing was, you didn't have to baste it because it was just butter. Oh, I basted it because I just wanted to. Yeah, yeah, I wanted more more, um, it was fantastic. And then you put the tent or anyway, yeah, um, it's not something I want to do every year for sure, but it's a good thing it's once a year. It's a good thing it's one year. Yeah, I could see I could agree with that, um, but me I'd rather just like make some steak out on the Blackstone, yeah, and do baked sweet potatoes.

Speaker 1:

I'm kind of losing interest in sweet potatoes. We have it all the time. I love sweet potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, so we do a mashed, so sweet potato casserole, we do a mashed one with orange zest, maybe syrup. Oh, yeah, I think I've had that. Yeah, you've had it. It's so good. You brought it over once. Yeah, it's so good that I like Delicious.

Speaker 1:

Mother-in-law makes this like mushroom or marshmallow Very different than mushroom, marshmallow, cranberry kind of like dessert. Yeah, thingy, yep, really good with pineapple, I think. Yeah, that's good. I like a good green bean casserole if it's got the crunchies with it. You know what?

Speaker 1:

The turkey? Well, the gravy is usually my favorite thing Because you just put that on everything, because it's every yeah. Yeah, it's like Frank's hot sauce yeah, the gravy and the sweet potatoes, but the stuffing, eh, it's okay. I made a really good stuffing this last year again, it was his recipe, but the turkey is always the one besides the fried turkey, the deep fried turkey, I mean, it's usually just kind of meh, okay, it's turkey, yeah, you know. And so, yeah, that's what I'm saying like switch it up, I know, be for. Well, we, that's what we. We spatchcocked it one year because I was like it's gonna cook quicker. I don't know, maybe I'll try to. I don't think, don't know, maybe I'll try to. I don't think I've done a. Have I done a smoked turkey? I don't think I have. I think that would take longer, wouldn't it? Yeah, I want to get one of those, like one of those electric smokers, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

You asked about favorite dessert. Yeah, what's your favorite dessert? It's a variation on pumpkin pie, because I don't really like pumpkin pie, but you use pumpkin pie, uh, but again, it's like it's brown sugar. You use pumpkin pie, you throw it away, yeah, and then you use, then you make an apple pie, chocolate cream, chocolate cream pie is really good too.

Speaker 1:

Um, I would say that it's, it's this um, we, we call it a pumpkin crunch and it's like a pumpkin pie. Um, it's made on a yellow cake. Uh, there's yellow cake bits in it, oh yeah, it's not like necessarily, like on top of that, right, like it's inside of it. Okay, um, because it's all kind of mixed together, okay, um, and then topped with um, with pecans, oh yeah, so it's just, yeah, I think, just really tasty pumpkin piekin pie topped with I've made it's so much butter.

Speaker 1:

Oh, everything is butter. Thanksgiving it's just butter. My kids would just eat a tablespoon of butter, just plain Same. I don't understand it, not me, my kids. It's disgusting. I mean, I guess it's close to cheese. Look, I'm not gonna judge, because I love butter. Well, I love butter too, but maybe I'll try it. I don't know if I could eat it plain. I don't know, maybe I'll try it. I'm gonna try it. See what they? Because you're the big fusses, I'm gonna do it now. Let's do it now. So a shot of butter, I do.

Speaker 1:

I've done sweet potato pie that I like really good, with pecans, with candied pecans, oh man, yeah, I just remembered, though, maybe my favorite favorite Thanksgiving dessert that I ever, had, ever, ever, down in New Orleans Nolens, nolens, nolens, nolens, nolens, nola. We had a pecan pie with chocolate chips. Oh, oh, yeah, oh, that was fantastic. I'm so glad Thanksgiving is right now. I've never found it. I've never found it Really, just make it.

Speaker 1:

I've never found it. Yeah, you know what it should be this year. You know what I should do? No, it should be the all-star game of Thanksgiving dishes, like all the best, all the best ones we've had over the. Yeah, and spice it up a little bit, dude. I mean, oh, so many things to say, okay.

Speaker 1:

And then what's the other all-star pieces? Well, it would be the deep fried turkey, for sure. Yeah, it would be the gravy with the grease bits in it, absolutely For sure. So, like you've got to cook another turkey that you're not going to eat, that you're just going to throw away, that's true. Yeah, no, what you do is you have your neighbor like, hey, I need some of your grease, give me your grease. It would be pumpkin pie with pecans on it. I love that idea.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, the stuffing I made last year was fantastic. It just had a lot of stuff in it. Yeah, good gravy, oh, good gravy. I like a good gravy. I do make it gluten-free so everyone can have it. Right, dude. I could talk forever about food. Okay, so we made it all the way through those pieces.

Speaker 1:

Green beans Do you do green beans? Green bean casserole? I don't usually make it. Okay, of course you know. We have the croissant rolls. Everybody makes cranberry sauce but nobody likes it. Of course you know we have the croissant rolls. Everybody makes cranberry sauce but nobody likes it.

Speaker 1:

I think the best cranberry sauce out there is the one that comes in a can. It's like got the shape of the can around it. Did you just dump this onto a plate? I did, but I cut it in slices that are too thick. I sliced it too thick. You missed the hump of the can, you know. So you can still see. There's like a hump of the can. There's still like a couple ridges in there. Yeah, there's a ridge in it. You're like I want the one. Give me the one with the ridge, please. I don't want the divot, I do not want the divot, I want the ridge. Like that stuff typically better than the other.

Speaker 1:

Cranberry sauce yeah, I don't know what it is, and it's kind of funny because cranberries yeah, like I like cranberries. But then the cranberry sauce. You're like what the heck, how did we ruin this? I don't know, but that marshmallow thing has cranberries in it, so that's good. Yeah, that's right. We'll do egg. No, we do eggs, not Easter Eggs. That we'll do egg. No, we do eggs. Not, it's easter eggs, that's easter. Hard boiled eggs no, that's easter, okay.

Speaker 1:

You know, what I like is like a party platter, like a charcuterie, yeah, like charcuterie, dips, veggies and and good, just really the dips. You like dips, I love the dips. Give me the dips. You're like Martin Short's character and only murders in the building. He's always freaking dip guy. I'm a dip guy. I would be a dip guy if I need to buy more dips. Maybe I'm going to do that tomorrow. What are you going to do? Are you going to host this year again? I mean, at this point, I better know, at this point, as it's released, I hope you better know what's happening. You know, I don't know. I think. I think it's just gonna be. It's gonna be a little bit different without my mom around, but uh, but we'll see. I think it's probably gonna be. Um, it's probably gonna be a family, for sure.

Speaker 1:

I would imagine it would be weird if you didn't have any family. It was just you and some strangers. What's wrong with you? Not strangers, I think. Thanksgiving to me I get that. It's a family thing. I would love it if it became a friend thing. Yeah, a family thing. Yeah, that'd be cool Because you guys are like family. I would love to spend Thanksgiving with you guys.

Speaker 1:

You're saying I could sleep in your basement 100% and it wouldn't be weird. Oh, it'd be weird, but you could still do it. Well, I do sleep in the nude. Well, I've got news for you. You do as well. Party time, hopefully. What did I tell you about this? I really sorry.

Speaker 1:

If we ever like travel together and like are sharing a hotel room, we got to make sure we don't sleepwalk, cause that's just going to be awkward. You know, we've shared two naked dudes walking, sleeping yeah, but you were in a separate room, so sleepwalking. You run into the door and smack your face. That was like one of our first experiences, I know, was it awkward for you? Were you nervous? I wasn't nervous at all. No, I wasn't either. It was like we've been friends for years, I know, but we've really only known each other for, like I know, a year. It's kind of funny. Two years maybe? Yeah, it is kind of funny.

Speaker 1:

Well, this episode is long, but it's Thanksgiving. You know what? What are you thankful for? I'm really honestly like I'm grateful for my friends. Yeah, me too. I'm really grateful for my friends. Yeah, and for our church family yeah, church, yeah, just really grateful for that. Family, yeah, friends, yeah, the stout Very, very much. So this chair Okay, now you're just naming things that patch up the carpet.

Speaker 1:

I really like that patch of carpet. I'm glad you finished the rest of the sentence. I didn't just point and say I'm thankful for that. Those of you just listening, I was pointing at the spot. Well, it's near the crotchal region, but it's where he spilled the beer, it's like right below his crotch. But I was like I'm thankful for that. And then I moved it down to the floor because in my head I'm going I can't say I'm thankful for that. So you went from sleeping, sleepwalking in the nude, sharing a hotel room, to being thankful for each other's crutches.

Speaker 1:

Whiskey bits hey, thankful for the whiskey bits and the cocoa nibs and the cocoa. Oh, my gosh, we got to get you like a speak and spell or something. I'm going to get you a speak and spell for Christmas. I would appreciate that Speaking of speak and spell. Well, go find yourself some Bourbon County Stout this Black Friday at your local liquor store, especially if you're in the Chicagoland area. I'm sure you'll be able to find some. Yeah, find it, find it, drink it, enjoy it. Enjoy it with some friends because it's pretty strong. Yeah, and it's all about that gravy. It is all about the drippings in your gravy. Okay, yes, please put it in there and be thankful for your friends. And, oh and the bump. Adios, phil, until next time. Bye, matt, I can't wait for the Christmas episode. Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving Next time on Whiskey Bits.

Speaker 1:

You know, as we're getting close to the end of our first year of doing these episodes, I'm excited for what 2025 has to hold and for the conversations we're going to have and the guests we're going to have on. I think I'm so excited. I think, finally, like you know, I'm going to be able to get to a point where I can actually like lock these guys down, cause we've got some good potentials coming up. Yeah, so, no, I'm really excited about that.

Speaker 1:

Getting down to the bourbon trail and meeting up with some people that we've made connections with at different, different events and different phone calls and different you know different connections that we've had. I think it would be great to reconnect with them and have some fun down on the Bourbon Trail as the celebration of our first year of podcasting and maybe I get another Nevis removed. Who knows, maybe we remove all the Nevises. You can get some removed. I'm looking for Nevises to get taken off. I'm not going to help you, but ask a man. She'll probably already know. Hey, thanks for tuning in to Whiskey Bits. Please like, share and subscribe wherever you watch or listen to podcasts.

People on this episode

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Matt Sommerfield

Host
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Phil Stokes

Host