Concocting Cocktails, with Brian Pratt

Brian Pratt the beverage director at Flying Machine at Wrightsville Beach joins us this week on the pod. We ask him all the questions you want to ask a mixologist. We get the inside scoop on how Brian comes up with cocktail ideas, his thoughts on trendy cocktail themes and where he thinks the cocktail industry might be headed.

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This week we were sippin' on Jameson Orange
We’ve branched out and things just got zesty. Introducing Jameson Orange. The smooth taste of triple-distilled Jameson Irish Whiskey, perfectly balanced with notes of zesty Orange flavour.

Try it over ice with lemonade and a wedge of orange for a crisp and refreshing drink.

How to find Brian:
Instagram: @b.intheflow
Instagram: @flyingmachinewb

Find Whiskey & Wisdom on Instagram
Instagram: @whiskey.and.wisdom

Transcript

0:31

Welcome back everybody to lovely podcast. This week we have on Brian Pratt, the beverage director of fly machine at rice beach. That's correct. He's done some amazing drink combinations over there. And I feel like this week, we're gonna ask a bunch of questions and learn a little bit about, of it. Little bit about of it. Yeah. Whatever works. It is what it is. So before we get started and dive into the drink too, the way that I found Brian Pratt is I went to Wrightsville the flying machine at Riceville beach. And while I was there, the cocktail menu was second to none. When it comes to places, you can get a cocktail in Wilmington. And so I asked the bartender, I was like, Hey, who came up with this list? And she was like, oh, is Brian Pratt? And I was like, you think he may be interested in coming on a podcast? and got me your name and number and everything, and reached out and you were like, heck yeah, man. So this is where we are today. Now we're here finally. Yeah, it took a few times, but we, we are here now, so that's all that matters. wonderful. World of board management. Sometimes it's unpredictable. Oh yeah, we get that. All right, Chris. But what we sipping on today because it's early in the morning, you gotta start out with something a little different. So this week we picked up a classic with a new twist, Jameson orange. As most people know, JMO around the world has a couple different takes on it. There's an orange and then there's a cold brew version. Mm-hmm I don't drink coffee as we all know. So we're doing the orange as you can guess, it has some citrus notes. Just a little classic spice has some nutty after tones and a little vanilla, but Tyler suggests this is be a good, if you want to sweeter version of an old fashioned. Or you're lazy and just don't wanna buy bitters. a good version. We don't have any maybe. Yes. Right. But yeah, this is what we're sipping on this morning. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers guys. Let me know. That's gonna stick and fall for sure. There we go. If I didn't have to work, I would up partake with you guys. It is very sweet. Oh yeah. it's smoother than I expected though. Mm-hmm they definitely have the fruity flavors that are taking over. So the way that we were discussing beforehand, cause I have had those once before is this is a good introductory whiskey to get you into the game. And especially if you wanna try an old fashioned for the first time and don't really like the burn of a whiskey. It's a good one to get you started and hopefully build you up. Get you ready. Closer, closer to being ready for your old fashioned, I guess. Exactly. Give me mic a little closer, for sure. Sorry. Yeah, you can move that any way you want. How about that? How's that sound? Yes. Yes. That sounds better. Yeah. Okay. Cool. Sweet. All right. Well, Brian, I spoke to you a little bit before and everything and kind of got your background, but for everyone else, who's listening that wasn't at flying machine. When I was give us a little bit about your background and kind of how you got to where you are right now. Where did it begin? I guess, wow. We have to look way far back. Anyway. I started managing in bartending and nightclub eons ago, I guess, 18 years ago. Okay. And you know, as you could expect that was slinging vodka, sodas and whiskey Cokes and doing shots of tequila, whatnot. Oh the same family that I was working for at that time was opening up a restaurant in Charlotte. I liked the concept. I like the idea it was DJs every night of the week, open seven nights a week open till 2:00 AM, but not, you know, open until whenever right. Some came up. So I took that opportunity to make the transition from the nightclub to that restaurant. And there was a lot, you know, this was 15, 16 years ago in Charlotte, so it didn't start out necessarily as a full-fledged cocktail bar. Mm-hmm it started out like everything else did at that time much like the club we were sling, like I said, as a and things like that to, to begin with. But you know, the evolution of the cocktail scene was starting to take hold in Charlotte, you know, obviously it happened in bigger cities first, but I feel like we were probably some of the first to do it in Charlotte at the time. Yeah. So Thankfully, we had people on board that were following the culture and traveling to see what was going on in other places and brought that back and we had a good platform and place to do it. And I guess the rest is history. That was 15 years ago. Wow. I've been here for a little over a year, so I guess I was at soul for 14 years. And I, I don't know, eight or nine or 10 of those years. It was, a pretty cocktail centric bar. Yeah. Nice menus changed four times a year. Mm. And we're doing some very interesting things and still are still keeping eye on those guys and they're still doing it. That's neat. So what brought you here to Wilmington then? I've always wanted to get back here. I spent some time here in my mid twenties and I've always loved this place. I was. Looking to sell my home in Charlotte and take the leap of faith somewhere. Yeah. And I, this was number one on my list, really? This for Charleston. Okay. And oh, I had worked with a dear friend in the beer and wine business and she was actually gonna be the GM here at flying machine. So we had been talking before she even, you know, took the position and the rest is history. She called and said they were looking for a bar manager. And at first I started consulting on some other things with them and, you know, I was kind of making the transition from Charlotte here and it all kind of lined up and I took the opportunity and it's been a lot of fun. Nice. That's neat. It's been a lot of fun. So what kind of, bit you to like the, to get you into loving making cocktail? Hmm, I guess that doesn't, that doesn't happen overnight. Yeah, I think you know, there was probably a little bit of intimidation years ago. You know, going from being a, you know, a fast paced bartender to mm-hmm to stepping into the cocktail world, you know, there's quite a, a difference in being a bartender and I don't know what you wanna call Yeah. I don't know what you wanna call the evolution of, you know, becoming a bartender is, I don't know. I hear a lot of words, but I don't choose to use those I don't know, man. I, I guess you have to be into it and you have to care and you have to, be willing to put in the work for it, you know? Right. I mean, it's, there's definitely some time and energy and work and the love of the craft that has to go into it because certainly, you know, you never stop learning. And as soon as you feel like. Can stop. Somebody else is gonna, yeah. you, you really have to continue to evolve with a lot of other things. I mean, if it's the, the wine world or the beer industry or whatever, it's the same way. Yeah. There's always somebody pushing the envelope and taking it one step further and doing, you know, something that wasn't done yesterday. So I think that's, what's fun about it. It's, you know, it's ever evolving and ever changing and you know, I'm not caught up into one aspect of it. I mm-hmm I really like the tools and the gadgets and the, there's a lot of things that, that are coming out every year that a lot of people don't know about, you know, whether it's James and orange or mm-hmm, you know, a new cocktail toy behind the bar that, that's cool that maybe not everybody has, or you know, a machine that prints on top of cocktails or blows balloons on top of, you know, all the shit that we see. Yeah. I saw that too. I was like, that's, that's the next level stuff. It's fun if it gets people interacting and you know, it makes somebody's day then I guess. Yeah. Right. Yeah. It's funny that. Little things like that can, can make somebody's evening. So yeah, I guess it's everything that can make it Instagram worthy. That's I guess you could say, right. all press is good press. Yeah. But I don't know, man. I love to, I love to have people come to the bar and, you know, maybe show up in a foul mood or not really knowing what they're getting into or, you know, not knowing what to expect. And then mm-hmm, show'em a really good time and, have them leaving with smiles and maybe a little buzz. I don't know, whatever it takes to, to make people's day and to make it a little better. I guess that's what we're here for end of the day. That's cool therapy therapy or yeah. yeah. I'm sure. Being behind the bar, it's pretty much to being a therapist. Yeah. Little bit of that goes both ways sometimes too. Yeah, I'm sure. I will say you do a, your menu of beverages is amazing. Mm-hmm cuz I've been to a bunch of different restaurants and just tried like. Little bit of everything. Mm-hmm yesterday I had your, your fancy Fri bloody Mary mm-hmm okay. She did. I remember that actually. Yes. And all of my friends just looked at me like what I'm like, well, I get a bloody Mary or a mimosa everywhere. So they're all similarly to flavored, but you did. I don't know. It was just very a Philly cheese steak on top. Yeah. yeah. I thought everybody was doing that now. well, it's cool. Cuz every week you do something different. Yes. And I was in that Philly cheese steak. Well let's say we do something different. That's not me, every those ideas. If I didn't have a whole team of people thinking about that, thanking Molly that wouldn't happen, but you know, there's sometimes I get stuck on those like, oh, what haven't we done? Yeah. Yeah. So, but that was just so cool. And it was just clean because I mean, sometimes you get a bloody Mar and it's just very like. Thick interest mm-hmm well, there's plenty of vodka yours. Yes. Yeah. I got my, I was like, well, I know I'm feeling good today. Good morning. That was a really cool thing too, because like, you go to pretty much any bar and it's like, oh, we have a small version of like or a different version of like an old fashion or Manhattan or the typical things that you see. But the menu that you have over there is completely different. So you even have the, the ones, my two favorite or the duck washed urban and then also the coconut washed. So I'd never even seen that before or even what it meant to have a different wash to it. Yeah. Those are fun that people seem to love those. So we started it, I guess, on the last menu we did a bone marrow washed old fashioned mm-hmm and I kind of was excited about it before we got started. I really felt like it was gonna be cool and people would like it. Yeah. And I knew that. Well, I didn't think that anybody else down here had, had done that yet. So yeah, a matter of fact, I didn't, I really haven't seen the, the bone marrow wash anywhere. So I was hoping that, you know, I wasn't late to the game of that. I had done it before with a dear friend at an event for what was the, it was that Daniel Stu garden. And it was basically a convention in Charlotte where the meat industry from all over the country oh, wow. At their annual meat meeting. I don't know. Cause we didn't go to that. But then they bus them out to Daniel Stu gardens and there was like four big tour buses with all these people from around the country that maybe they were, you know, maybe they raised cattle or maybe, you know, just somehow in the meat industry. And then at Daniel Stu garden, all the like local chefs from the area were set up and basically it was like a meat and greet and they could just walk through and have drinks and try food. And it was really cool. There's a lot of great chefs there. And we were asked to. Present a cocktail and talk about it on the bus ride. Okay. So they picked four or five bartenders from Charlotte. You each got a bus and then, oh, wow. You had to make a cocktail and talk about it and you know, have to do it on the bus and present it and all that. So we did the bone marrow, it was a version of a, of an old fashion. And I think we used like a rose bloom in, and it was, it was cool. It was blood. Yeah. Blood and boom bloom or something like that. So I knew that it would work in, you know, conceptually. So we did it on this past menu and people loved it, but I did want to carry that into the summer menu cuz heavy. It was a little, I mean it was delicious in the winter and it would be delicious now, but I just wanted to lighten it up. So I started looking at options and alternatives and you know, there's a lot of there's a lot of fishermen and duck hunters and I get to see'em on across the bar. And I was like, Hmm. You know, there's a lot of duck hunters that come in here. So I started. You know, exploring duck fat and I found organic duck fat, and I was like, I bet this would be good. Tried it. Oh, wow. It took a few attempts to get it kind of, you know, where you, the bone marrow was really easy, cuz I'd done that one before. So I had a little practice round, but this one was a little, little trickier. And then working with the syrup, trying to find something that kind of plays well with, it was a little bit of a challenge, a lot easier than the bone marrow for whatever reason. But anyway, it worked out people like it and we're doing that at least until the fall menu start, so oh, cool. And we'll switch it up and do something else, but yeah. So is a lot of it just trial and error, just kind of you thinking like, oh, this flavor might taste good with this flavor and just going for it. There's a couple months of my life usually right before a menu, like is launched that there's a lot of drinking early mornings. Yeah. a lot of, I mean, sometimes I'll go in and. Have the whole place of myself and have the whole place of mess, like working on four or five different syrups at one time to see which one's better. So a lot of tasting and trial and error. And then after I get it to a certain point, I let other people try it and see what they think. And then it just kind of keeps, you know, tweak it for another two or three weeks, sometimes things, or kind of like the JayZ, I guess you can, you know, one take it, but that I think the Ry kinda low was actually one take, I thought about it for probably a month or so. And then I went in one morning, probably like a Monday morning after all weekend, I was like, all right, I've been thinking about this for two or three weeks. And I set everything out on the, on the bar top and there was literally like 10 ingredients. And I was like, all right, cool. We went, you know, I did it. And I was like, okay. And I might have tweaked, you know, one little thing, but sure. Yeah. That's how it happens, man. The, the other one that you talk about and that's super popular on this menu, probably one of my favorites the monkey fist. Yeah. That one took a little while I wanted to get the coconut wash. That was, that was a little tougher because if you just use coconut oil in the bourbon, it's not very sweet. Okay. And I can see that, you know, you can put the banana Laur and the other elements into the cocktail. So I was trying a lot of different things to get the sweetness kind of to come out in that cocktail. Cause I thought it needed it a little, you know, to be a little sweet. Yeah. Anyway, and balance at the same time, obviously. And I forget who I was talking to, but they mentioned, and I didn't think about it because we've used so much of this Coco Lopez and I just didn't, it didn't really come across for one reason, you know, for whatever reason, I didn't think about it, but the, that was the magic ingredient. Like we do a coconut wash with that bourbon and then we add a little Coco Lopez to. to that wash. Okay. And then all that gets strained out, but at leaves, some of the sweetness from the Coco Lopez and it's still coconut. Yeah. So the other thing that thinks pretty neat too, is you have taps of your cocktails as well. We do. So that's something that I never seen before, before going to flying machine as well. So how does that work by putting it kind of all together like that? I guess what it allows you to do is to make really central cocktails quick yeah. You know, we kind of treat it like a chef would treat prepping in the kitchen. So, we usually build those during the day or on a prep day or, you know, before a shift, so we can build five gallons at a time. Oh, wow. And it's really nice when you're busy, but it's also really nice for the consistency mm-hmm Cuz after I write the instructions down for a keg, then they're always built the same way every time. So. You're gonna get the same Paloma this week that you got last week and that you got before. And so of five different bartenders making it the way they think's best, which is also fun. Right. But I think consistency with, you know, at least the things that we have on is, are four choices. Yeah. And two of them happen to be our, our, well, two of our more popular cocktails. I wouldn't say the most popular, but unfortunately people still love mules. One of'em is our cucumber mule. and I thought one day we might be talking about another cocktail, but people still love mules. So still extremely popular and it is refreshing and delicious. So I get it. We build up without using ginger beer. And I think by doing it in a five gallon format like that, you know, it allows us, we, we juice two pounds of ginger. Wow. You know, I, you could build it on the fly, but it wouldn't be as good. I mean, we kind of build and marry those things and they marinate a little bit. And then we force carbonate and let it sit with some CO2 pressure on it to kind of carbonate the, I mean, you could put clips in it, but we typically use water and then it force carbonates it over time. Oh, that's interesting. It allows us not to use ginger beer. There's a lot of ginger beers that are great. I'm sure. But I don't think anything's as tasty as fresh juice ginger. Right. So everything that goes into those kegs is, fresh. Yeah. And a lot of times people, you know, see it coming out of a tap and they're like, oh, that's on, that's in a keg. I'm like, yeah, but we put it in a keg like four hours ago. And the right kind of low is also on tap mm-hmm And if I had, if I didn't have that cocktail on tap, I probably wouldn't have any bartenders that worked for me because it was literally a 10 touch cocktail and wow. Yeah. It's cool. The first two times you make it, but you know, yeah. On Saturday night, if you're getting six tickets and you've got four of those to build, you're just. I mean, I wouldn't like it either. So we put that one on tap and then there's a a bloodline, which is a spicy tequila cocktail. Mm-hmm with some really interesting ingredients tequila, mezcal Sangrita not to be confused with sangria AO chili, LACO lemon, lime three pepper, simple. So it was another one that had a lot of touches and it was really popular. So we decided to put that on tap, of course, deployment the mule and right. And two of the more complicated cocktails that had a lot of touch. So try to, you know, part, I think part of at least how I think about bar and service, we talked about this earlier. It's not just one aspect of this, but, flow behind the bar is extremely important. Mm-hmm and you know, there are some changes that could be made in any bar for that. I think you know, a lot of times, two years into the game, you're kind of realizing or a year in, year later that. You could tweak some things that maybe, maybe aren't as easy to tweak as they would've been when you were building the place out. And sometimes we're constricted from, you know, what health department dictate as well. Right. There was a, you know, when we were designing this bar, we had to have three sinks for some reason. So part of the design got squashed because the health department wanted to sink, but another sink, there were two, but yeah, it's not that large of a bar either. I know exactly that's what we said, but anyway, we have to make them happy. So that's what we did. And part of the design got changed, but flow behind the bar is important. And when you're, when you're doing a lot of cocktails and, you know, you have one of those nights that you're doing four or 500 cocktails, it's nice to, to have things streamlined. And you know, when you have a few, tap cocktails that really help service and helps smooth things forward and allows you to take very good care of the guests that are sitting at the bar, which is super important. Yeah. Yeah. So speaking about Taped cocktails. Another reason why we brought your one, two is cuz last week we had on ner Barth mm-hmm with blue shark vodka. And that's another one that you have on tap two right now, right? We do. We we're using those guys in our cucumber meal. That was pretty good too. I did. That's try that. Yeah, it's a perfect summer day, like hot summer day. Like if I could just take like a gallon of that to the beach like, that would be Yes. Not, not all for myself, not all for myself to share with all my friends. That's yeah, that one's fun. And you know, it's great to, you know, a lot of the cocktails that are on the list. We think about people coming off the beach, cuz we get a lot of that. Yeah. You know, they're coming in for lunch or dinner after being in the sun all day and sometimes you want a refreshing crusher and that's definitely that. Yeah. and so how did Connor find you for the competition that you're in using North Carolina ingredients? That's a good question. I mean, I guess they just started coming in from, from the very beginning, because we were new to, you know, new to the island and we carried blue shark obviously. But those guys came in a lot and had a lot of cocktails and I guess I was good enough to represent them. I don't know. You know, I'm definitely passionate about things and funny the day that they asked me to do it, I was just talking about how uninspired by vodka I am. And then they came in the next day to ask me vodka, you know, a cocktail with vodka, for a competition. I was like, oh God, I have to do this because I was, you know, sometimes you just, not that there's anything wrong with vodka at all. It's and I do drink vodka. It's just you know, it's in the world of, of mixology, dare I say. Sometimes that one kind of gets left out a little bit. Right. You know what I mean? For whatever reason, you know, people are excited about bourbon and people are excited about gin and you know, it's a little more complex and a little right. But. Are there are a lot of vodka drinkers out there, so we can't forget those folks. And it's been a lot of fun, man. Yeah. Honestly, I'm kind of glad it was a, it was vodka now because it's forced me to kind of get outta my, I dunno, get outta my comfort zone or I was gonna say, did it kind of, reinspire you to kind of see all of the different things that you can do with vodka now? I mean, I knew that you could do, you know, basically right. You build everything around the vodka and it kind of just, but yeah. Yeah, definitely. It's it's been good for me, so saying it was fun and I think using, you know, local ingredients was also challenging and, you know, super fun cuz I, you know, I usually don't think about that a whole lot. Right. I mean, I do love using local ingredients obviously, but it's it, wasn't the forefront of what we were doing here. You know what I mean? Right. So to be forced or not forced, but you know, to, to score more points. Yeah. Right. From, from using local ingredients and it was really fun. So we were able to harvest a lot of things right off the island. Wow. I went to the farmer's market that they have on the island one Monday morning which I guess is the only day they're there and met some people that had some pretty cool stuff. You know, the honey and honeycomb came from true value hardware, right, right off the island. So that's that's also that's cool. Manover county honey. So a lot. Yeah. A lot of things were super hyper local and a few things. I used crude bidders. That's a Raleigh company. Okay. And that was, yeah, everything else is pretty much hyper local basil the watermelon, the honey, the honeycomb, the prickly pair that I shouldn't say this on but that I borrowed from somebody's yard on the beach, but hopefully, you know, I guess the next competition is, or the final round is August 8th, so okay. There will be a few more Things readily available that we're using in that cocktail. So it was hard to get North Carolina watermelon four weeks ago. it was hard to find. Was it quickly pair? It was, I didn't think it was gonna be a challenge. And it really was, you see watermelons everywhere all over these local produce places. Mm-hmm but they weren't from North Carolina, right? Yeah. They bring in from everywhere else. They were Georgia or they were Florida. Mm-hmm where the climate was a little warmer. Northline has a weird, like our watermelon season cuz I know that they grow it. Yeah. But the season here is just so weird. I think partially cuz of how much rain in our hot we got at one time, like mm-hmm watermelons were just nonexistent. Wow. And I think the true, like our watermelon season is, is like late July. August. Yeah. That sounds about right. Sure. I've just noticed like seeing like on the signs, like where they come from, that it's usually later in the year for some reason, which is weird. Didn't paying attention to that until, until recently I'm like, oh this is not really from North Carolina. Even though that, you know, it's at this a local produce place at town. So as a person who knows a little about a few things, what is this competition you were in? So it's the N C RA chef showdown. And it's presented by, got to be north, got to be North Carolina agriculture. It's hard to say it that way, but that's what it is. So it's a culinary and cocktail competition that they do once a year. With North Carolina, bartenders and chefs competing for the final round, which is August 8th. Wow. And, you know, there's elimination rounds. And I believe all the chefs are kind of on the same format as the bartenders with using as much local North Carolina produce. And obviously all the bartenders are competing with North Carolina spirits. Right. And as many North Carolina ingredients as they can. So that's cool. Pretty fun. Yeah. A lot of fun actually, but. It reminds me because we were talking a couple weeks ago about top chef mm-hmm and how I love, I just like that show in general, because they have to come up with stuff on the fly and half the time they're like, Hey, you know, here's a table of ingredients. You have to use the stuff on here and use as much as you can. And I just never understand, like, how do you have that inspiration? And I'm like, it has to be like one of those things that you learn over time. Interesting. I'm I've been getting more into cooking myself, so I haven't challenged myself like that. I mean, I guess in the cocktail, I wasn't saying the cocktail all very similar. Yeah. There's that would be scary and difficult. It was it was interesting for the competition. I was like, Hey, I'm ready, ready to do this. And then all of a sudden you have like four judges and. Three other people and two cameras in your face. And I think it's gonna be worse than that on this next round. But I was just like, oh shit. And I was the first one there too. And I'd had like 15 cold brews. I'd had to drive up in the morning, so, oh yeah. I left early in the morning and I was drinking coffee the whole way and I didn't eat breakfast and I got there and I was like, all right, I'm ready. And then I'm trying to hold the jigger. I'm like need a dream. But hopefully now that I've seen kind of what to expect would be, would be as difficult maybe, right? Yeah. I made it through the, through the first round. So now I feel like I'm a little more seasoned maybe. Yeah. It sounds like they really liked it the first round though. So that has to be a good inspiration. I hope so, man. Yeah. Humbled. So since, since this comes out after the competition, can you tell us what your drink was? Oh, sure. I mean, we could talk about, yeah, we can definitely talk about that. I think they actually posted it on the flying machine. Instagram, so, oh, okay. It was obviously blue shark vodka. Mm-hmm local honeycomb. Local B pollen and local honey local watermelon flying machine grown basil prickly pair from Wrightsville beach crude bidders. I use the ERO mango pecan bids. Mm. Local sea salt from beach. There's a for the love of Seasaw company or for the love of salt company off, off SEL beach. Yeah. It's actually like a solar cured salt. Interesting. Really good. They did citrus salt. So I used the citrus salt. And did I say Berkeley repair? Yes, I think so. Yeah. Crude bitters. Oh, key lime was the only thing that wasn't local. So I have to source a citrus in North Carolina before the next event. Cause I wanna keep it all in North Carolina, but that wasn't a possibility last time. Yeah. Key lime is just it's. I always see it around in summertime and I'm like, I never actually know what it is except that it's in pies. Yes. it's lime here. Yeah, I dunno. I dunno. I don't really, I use key lime because the first time I made it, I had some key limes and I guess, you know, you see lime all the time. Mm-hmm and you don't know where it comes from. Yeah, exactly. I don't know. I just, I tried key lime. I liked the way it worked and I don't know. It read a little better too. Yeah, that's nice. So do you have to make essentially the same cocktail that you made before? Yeah, we, so we did two cocktails and they choose one for you to move forward with. Oh, okay. So yeah. So what was the other cocktail? It was, it was fun. It was obviously it was blue shark and it was a a cordial made with blueberries and like a white whiskey from North Carolina. Hmm. And then we did like a little scoop of goat cheese with it, so it was kind that's interesting. Dessert cocktail, very Booy I think you guys would probably enjoy it. yeah. Yeah. I'm listening. That sounds silly. It was like a bourbon love. I don't know. We, because of the, the white mash blueberry cordial that we built, it was, it was delicious, but it was very Booy yeah. Sounds very fall oriented. Yeah. It was, you know a good friend of mine hunter helped me with that one. He was, you know, you get to pick somebody to work with or to, to pick an assistant. Yeah. And I was like, Hey man, you lead one of the cocktails. I lead the other and we'll just help each other. Yeah. And I didn't realize until he got there that you really weren't supposed to do it that way. So he's a good friend. And I was like, look, he's put a lot of work into this. So he's gonna be the one that makes this cocktail and they didn't love that. But mm-hmm, you know, you're only as good as your team. Nobody can do this alone. Right. And I was, I don't know. I didn't wanna take the spotlight. Mm-hmm that's a good. Well, I, I thought, I thought it was doing the right thing. Right. So anyways, a great cocktail. They really enjoyed it. But they chose this one probably cuz it was, you know, there were some things in that cocktail that I, that, you know, wasn't a hundred percent North Carolina. I don't, I don't know why they chose one over the other, but yeah, they did. Yeah. so you think that one might make the fall list for flying machine? Something like that? Maybe I'm trying not to think about that yet. a little too far away. I've been thinking about that. Yeah, that's fine. I'll really start thinking about that in August. Okay. Oh yeah. Cause you switch over October. We'll we'll switch over in probably November this year. Oh, okay. Yeah. The joy. Yeah. It'll be fun though. Yeah. Maybe a little smaller, right? it's a huge menu. I was, that was another thing that I was really impressed with too. Cuz for as craft cocktails, you can be that, that whole menu was it, it wasn't supposed to be that large and it always starts off as a, as a much smaller concept and then grows and everybody, you know, the, the folks that I work with. Have have been cool enough to, to let me yeah. Spend, like it's only gonna be 20 cocktails. I swear. And then it's like, it's 22 and then it's gotta be an even number. So it's, you know, it's 24, but anyway that cocktail menu was, you know, for the first time it was something that was a really fun mm-hmm and, you know this is really our first year, so we opened last, last year in August. So it's kind of trying, you know, getting more of the algorithm of how people drink here and like what people get excited about. Mm-hmm, you know, it's a little different than what I'm used to in Charlotte, so, yeah. And I've always wanted to do a fun menu, kind of take the pretentiousness out of it. Maybe a sprinkle of pretentious. Well, right. But more fun than pretentious. And, you know, I think that being on the island and being on Wrightsville beach is a perfect platform for that because, you know, people are on vacation, they're having fun. Mm-hmm and even people that live here, you know, they're a little more laid back and, you know, that's for sure. Little, little less uptight maybe than the Charlotte banking community. I don't know. Yeah. Or just, you know, city life in general, but yeah. It's, I wanted to do something really fun and I can't tell you how many times people have sat down and looked over the menu and said, wow, this is really fun. And mm-hmm yeah, I, it accomplished. Yep. all of my friends were excited because I just texted.'em like, Hey, we're getting brunch at a fly machine. And they were like, well, first I didn't know. They had brunch they do. Yeah. And then they were scrolling through and every single one was like, man, I'm so hype, like just excited just to see the menu because it's different. Cuz I mean, we do brunch like once a month and we just pick different places, but I saw your menu and I was like, oh, this is different, different, it's not the basic, oh, Hey, you know, let's get a mimosa, let's get a bloody. Well, we still have those. Yes. Which you, you, you added on to that. And I, that was what got me excited. And then I saw the food and then I was like, okay, I can deal with that too. Awesome. mission accomplished. Exactly. And we'll continue to evolve in both of those areas. I think. Yeah. I don't feel like the brunch cocktail menu is, exactly where it needs to be yet, but always good to have places to improve. That's right. That's right. We're getting there. Makes it fun that way too. Mm-hmm always, well, it's probably one of the biggest differences that you've seen in Wilmington versus Charlotte when it comes to the that you, like, you kind of said, like the people are different and so what they want drink is different. Absolutely. So I feel that way. I mean only from experience, but right. Yeah. I mean, I could be wrong, but it sh it seemed to me that that when I was at soul, that we were serving, I don't know. I just feel like Jen and bourbon We're a lot more ordered than they are here at the beach. Oh, really? Obviously we do. Okay. With bourbon and whiskey here, but sure. Tequila and vodka always seems to be at the top of at the top of the best of, you know, for the week or, you know, so anyway Jen is something in Charlotte that I feel like, as I, and I, you know, travel a lot and try to hit the cool cocktail bars when I'm traveling. I I've noticed that, you know, I don't think that we could do a gin bar here in, in Wilmington. Definitely not w SEL beach, but in Raleigh they can. So mm-hmm and I could see that, you know what I mean? So I think that just the, the way people drink is a little different. And is it because, you know, we're in island on the beach, I'm sure that has something to do with it. You know, and it does change obviously during the season as well, like, you know, people are gonna drink differently in the fall and winter than they would in the summer, which I guess you could, that's pretty much the case anywhere. I don't know. I mean, I've definitely learned to embrace tequila because people love it here. I have no to say you could have a whole menu full of tequila. People wouldn't complain. It's speaking. right. Well, tequila vodka seemed to be at the forefront of, of what most people order. And then, you know, whiskey is a little behind that and you would think that, you know, we have bringing the Hemingway cocktails onto the menu yeah. Has really helped drive rum cells. yeah. And I think making that fun and kind of paying homage to Hemingway and putting four rum cocktails on the menu definitely has helped that. But before that it wasn't like we were, you know, it wasn't like we were doing a lot of Roman and you would think being on an island, you know, that that Ru would be a little more popular. See, that's what I was thinking too. I'm like, I feel like Ru would be a more popular drink. I think it's coming. Yeah, I think it's coming. I hope so. Anyway. Yeah. Well, you gotta think there's a lot of people moving here. Mm-hmm in transplanting. And if you, I feel like you seem very ahead of the game and knowledge wise, like where to shift things and being at the forefront is always the best spot to be because then that striving people to try new things. I hope so. Mm-hmm but yeah, I agree. Tequila. And the problem is that everyone, when I was younger, you would just go get tequila shots and that's what you knew to get. And so they just kept that vibe and I'm like, no, you need to get a good, like mezcal. You need to get something. That's like, mm-hmm, a, that's good to be mixed. Don't please. I love patron. On a good day, but please don't have that in every single drink people like y'all gotta, you gotta step your, can they're you a lot of money to do that, right? oh, wait, they don't do that. No, no, of course not. So in your professional opinion since we're talking about tequila now on a whisky podcast what do you think about Casamigos? I love it. Yeah. I love it. Love it. Which is Casamigos George Clooney's old brand. Okay. But he sold for somewhat billion dollars. I don't know. Yeah. It sounds like in the billions, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I love it's. It's great. It's easy to work with it's yeah, I love it. I love their Mecal. I mean, I love the whole line. Oh. I don't even think I've had their mess cowboy. That's that's really good. I got that. I have to try that my pop drinks, tequila, like he's not actually my blood relative. Right. He loves him. Some tequila, he went to Mexico, came back, was like, so right. I don't have this here. No. Right. Well, and now every time I get him a, a bottle, I'm like, well, you gotta go get a 1942 or something like mad, expensive. Right. And then I drink on it. I'm like, you see why mm-hmm this is acceptable. That was a conversation I had with someone else a couple weeks ago is he was like, oh yeah, I love tequilas. And going on. And I was like, tequila, really? I was like, I don't know. He was like, no, you're thinking like what you were shooting in college. he was like, that is, that is not the tequila that I'm talking about. So why did you bring up Casamigos? Why that brand? I've heard a lot of people talking about it recently, like good or bad. Good. Okay, cool. Yeah. And they're using a lot in more mixed drinks now that I've noticed super clean. Yeah. So when I've been going to other like different cocktail bars, just around North Carolina, I see Casamigos and most, every, I feel like everybody knows the brand. So if it's a good brand that has the recognition. And why not put it on your cocktail menu because they're gonna see, oh, wow. It's got Casa because even if it's$18, they're like, I know I like that. I'm not gonna feel like crap tomorrow. And yes, I wasn't sure if it was just like a branding thing or it a branding thing, but it's also good tequila. So that also, so it's a good yeah. Combo there. Cause there's, there's some whiskeys that are out there that just have very good branding. Mm-hmm yeah. There's some tequilas out there that have big names behind it. That really we'd rather not drink. Right. exactly. But absolutely. And I feel like with, bourbon and whiskey right now, it's just, it's the place to be, you know? Yeah. Yes. And so a lot of people wanna put their name on something and it takes time and it takes love and it takes right. Yeah. I don't know. Do we have any good North Carolina skilling? I mean, So we, I don't think we have that's the, we need that next. Right? Right. Yeah. So, I mean, we we've tried some South Carolina, North Carolina whiskeys, but I can't say I've had one that's blown my mind yet. So they're like, there's some that are okay. There's some that aren't like five years. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. A lot of is, is probably the last one we had from North Carolina. Mm-hmm cuz they're right up on the, the Virginia border mm-hmm and they just dropped one called the rockfish. Cause I think that's the street that they're on. Okay. And that one looks really good. I'm actually try that, but you are very right. I've been questioning that. I'm like, how do you get a really good whiskey in North Carolina? A lot of these places I've only been around for two, three years. That's why, so you're you're at the very beginning of even calling it whiskey. So and so that's right. We need five more years, I guess. Right? Yeah. And I think we'll start to see things. I mean. There's absolutely good gin here. There's absolutely good vodka here and there's some decent rom, so I feel like it's only a matter of time, right? Yeah, I hope so. Anyway, if I had the money to just like build a facility and just sit on it for seven years I would, that would be awesome. Yeah. Be a lot of fun. It's probably why everyone does Jen and vodka in, right. we need to get some money back in the account. Let's right. Yeah. I can get this done in a week. Let's go yes, absolutely. And people drink those things. Yes. Yeah. So as a person who works behind a bar and comes up con concepts I get to ask my random question. Mm-hmm how do you feel about seltzers? How do I feel about seltzers? Yeah. I feel like there's too many people doing them. Mm-hmm but obviously there's a reason for that. I mean, it's an alternative to beer and. I guess it's a less bloating filling option. I don't know. Is that true? Is that even true? I guess it is. I guess it kind of belongs. I, a lot of, I know a lot of old timers that drink beer, their whole life, that, that now are on seltzers cause, oh man, I can't drink a 12 pack anymore. Six of these. I don't know. I mean, I guess it probably gained popularity in the female side of things, what you said. Yeah. I think that's kind of where there's been some crossover from that, but they weren't making prickly pair key lime beer then. I mean, they are now, but yes. Or pineapple seems like it started in the sororities, jumped through the fraternities and then it just took off like wild, final. And I also feel like it's cheap and it's fast. So, you know, it's a money maker. and people and people drink it. So I guess that's why everybody got on the train, but I mean, who didn't, you know, Budweiser was doing the SST or. Corona. I'll just say Corona was making so TOPA Chica to us now as well. I saw that the other day. I think I have one which makes more sense for TOPA Chica to do it than Budweiser, but Smirnoff has a few of'em out there now. Yeah. I just think the whole market has gotten extremely watered down with that. So we should be asking ourselves what's the next big thing, right? Yeah. And I think it's those canned cocktails. So I was, I was gonna bring that up the surface. I was gonna bring that up too, because I think that's a huge opportunity because so, so one end of days is doing a lot of those. Yeah. Right now, too. And it's one way. So in North Carolina, liquor is controlled by the ABC and it doesn't leave. But these canned cocktails looks like it's about to Pierce that and be able to be sold in grocery stores at sometime soon. So that would be interesting. Mm-hmm and that's a huge way for these liquor companies to start getting into groceries percentage is actually super low on those cans, right? some of'em are pretty high. Like you you're getting like nine to 11% on some that I'm say, okay, what I, the conversation I had last week was supposedly it was less than, you know, less than a double IPA. Oh, they're talking about like, but this is the thing is like, they're I'm with you. I feel like the canned cocktails will be the next thing, but they have to, I don't know if that that's gonna be the thing. It just something's gonna be, seems like it. Yeah. I, I just think I'm with you cuz I've seen a couple other brands, like bring them out mm-hmm and they just have to find the right balance to alcohol mm-hmm cause I tried obviously like the big names like Jack and Coke had one really. And I remember seeing that on Instagram or something and I was like, I'm not sure if I can go down that road. I was like, mm. And when you do that, then it just starts tasting a little flat. So. I think being local to a spot that can make them and getting like a locally sourced can cocktail mm-hmm will actually be a little bit better because they have that quick, Hey, you know, I heard you, this tastes bad instead of making like a batch of a million bottles and then mm-hmm, coming back and be like, oh, oh, I did see one at the grocery store. I forget who made it though. And it was a a mojito and they had a bunch, bunch stamps at that. Yeah. Yeah. There was like a few different types of like mojitos in this like box and it actually, it sounds cool, but right. Yeah. I just haven't tried any of those that I was like, wow, this is actually good. Just like the Canda. Gries like, I've tried a lot of those and I've never been impressed by any of that. Yeah. It just feels like it's missing something. It feels like it's missing a lot. Yeah, good point. But the one that I was looking at when I picked up the box, it said 9.7% and I was like, dang, like wow. That's pretty intense. Pretty boozy. I don't know. I think that we're seeing the, the baby bloom of this and over there mm-hmm I think the evolution will be hopefully will turn into something. Cool. Yeah, but you know, also, I mean, cans were kind of, I mean, maybe I'm wrong, but you know, when do you, when do you drink out of a, can on the beach, on the beach, on a boat when you're hiking, you know, things like that. Yeah. Do we really need to mix vodka and tequila and Jack point with this? I don't know. So I'm sure people are gonna do it. I myself do not drink that, that type of alcohol when I'm out and about no, yeah. Playing sports or on the boat or, but a lot of people do, I guess evidently yeah. yeah. Not the thing I'd be doing. If I'm driving a boat, I'm drinking a I'm drinking a boat soda. Yeah. so the other week we tried monkey shoulder and when we did monkey shoulder, it said it is. The whiskey for making cocktails. Oh, wow. So have you, so branding, I love monkey shoulder. Yeah. I was gonna say have actually a blend of what? Four or five single malts. Yeah. She looked at that. Mm-hmm did you pull that up? We did before. I don't think we went into it on the podcast, but we looked, we looked it up all the single malts that are in it, except for one are very like recognizable, like great brands. Yeah. So I think price point there's it's hard to beat mm-hmm yeah. And I've used it for cocktails. I love monkey shoulder. Oh, okay. It's awesome. I was just curious. Cause I was like, well, there's no better person to ask than you sitting here. I mean, scotch cocktails, aren't gonna be very popular no matter what, but I try to put one on at least the fall menu, fall winter menu. Okay. And last year, the one that was on the menu, did you know fairly well? Oh yeah, I did. I did use scotch and Japanese whiskey together to kind of, Ooh, that was well just to kind of, well, if people are scared of scotch and they see a Japanese whiskey, they might be more inclined to try it. Yeah. Perhaps was my thought but you know, the, we always have a beautiful scotch shelf. So if you're Scott fingering, there's always a place for monkey shoulders. So yeah, that's something that we'll always have. So you could probably put this in words better than I can. I know, I know. I just don't really like scotch. Is there a way that you can kind of put in words why most people tend to not lean towards scotch versus like a Bourn? I certainly not. uh, I love scotch, so really, I mean, maybe I can understand, you know, the Ile regions, there's a lot of SCOs that get compared to like hospital bed, bandaid flavors. have you ever heard that? I haven't heard that yet. That's kind of a thing in the scotch world, like, you know, that, you know, some of, some of the art bag and things of that nature, mm-hmm, the extremely peed smokey. SCOs where they, you know, I could see how that, that could be an acquired taste, although I appreciate them But like the single malts and the monkey shoulder. I don't, I don't really understand why, what, what it, what, what about it scares people away personally? Mm-hmm but you know, I've also been drinking. SCOs a long time. Probably longer than I should have. Usually that's something you find that people kind of get to much late, later stage lot. But I like to see, you know, 20 something year olds that enjoy scotch and it happens, but maybe you're just not trying the right one. Maybe you need to come in and we'll do a scotch tasting. Yeah, we'll do that. Well, we'll start with like the Caribbean cast, like the Balvin Caribbean cast. Oh, okay. I think that's like a nice, a nice entry level to maybe someone who doesn't know much about scotch. Yeah. But wants to get in, get into it. The, I think so I think you bring up a good point with that because I don't really like the strong PD flavor that you get in a lot of'em and I think that's really what the turnoff was. I think there was anything I mean, it's definitely a little more acquired. Yeah. But it's the same as Mecal I would say, which is weird though. Cause I like Mecal so I don't know why I like it in Mecal but I don't like these like PD flavor. Yeah. It's a different smokey, but yeah, it is similar just, yeah. It's interesting. I, I wish I could put that in the words. I almost have to sit more time on the other side of the bar with you animal. Well, you probably just need drink more scotch. Yeah. but that's the same with whiskey. Like for the longest time, the only whiskey I had was crown and JMO. Right. And I'm like, and there's nothing wrong with either one of those things. There's a reason that they do as well as they do because they're consistent and they're good. Yeah. But as I got older, after I drank them, I had the worst hangover. Right. And now I'm like, you know, let's transition to something a little bit, lack of a better word, better you can say yes. And you can, but there's, there's better than Jameson. Right. But it's just nice to try something. And that's part of the reason why I hopped on the podcast is cuz I like trying new whiskey just to see like what I will like and what I taste, because I know if my flavor palette is like, this is all I had as a kid, you gotta have somebody else to tell you, like, what's something that you could potentially like in the future. Mm-hmm, how to transition from that cheap, you know, bottle that you just down before you go out to the club to something that you can elevate elevating that a little bit. yeah. I think the, my first experience with the love of scotch was probably I realize that I didn't get hangovers with it. Yeah. So, you know, drinking the way that I drink when I'm drinking mm-hmm it's nice to be able to drink something right. Yeah. And I also stayed away from the, the bottom of the barrel with scotch. It's privilege to be around people who were much more educated and had been drinking scotch much longer than I have. So I started near the top instead of oh yeah. With sheep dip or, oh, Johnny Walker red or one of those that I can't recommend. Yeah. Oh, I shouldn't say that on here today. Oh, no. It's okay. Nobody's gonna come at us from sheep dip. Trust me. No, I'm sure not. So I feel like I'd be missing out if I didn't ask what your favorite one whiskey into just spirit in general is specifically that changes so much. my favorite whiskey uh, Nika coffee green. So yeah, I mean, right now it could change next year, right? That was that's still at the top of my list, probably, you know, when you look at price point and it's probably a little bit of an underdog, it doesn't have the reputation. Mm-hmm that a Woodford or Buffalo trace or. So many more might have. Yeah. I love Japanese whiskey. I love, I really do so mm-hmm and when I found that yeah, man, I, I turned people onto that probably every week and yeah, I still get you get to me too, a couple, not a week ago. People are, you know, people, we usually feel the same way. I, but I do about it after trying it, and there's a lot of great whiskey and, you know, I could put, you know, it's hard to put one thing to fill that blank with just one thing. But if I had to, right now this week or this month, it would be the Nika coffee. Green Japanese whiskey. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I saw that sitting up there too, and I've, I've seen it in ABC stores just out and about as well. And I'm like, oh, like Japanese coffee, like Japanese, I love Japanese whiskey. And then I was like, oh, coffee, I love coffee. And I just never picked the bottle up and it's not like super coffee. I think it's not at all the distillation process, but it's not like I don't really get a lot of coffee, caramel notes and some. yeah, you don't really get a coffee flavor from it at all. Personally, but yeah, when I tried it, I was like, this is probably one of my favorite whiskeys now. Yeah. And we had the high west mid winners jam in. Oh yeah. God, that sounds good. So good. Everyone's talked so much about that. Oh my God. It was so good. And it was so easy to sell cuz you just like pour somebody the tiniest amount and it was that good. Yeah. Like you just, you were like, okay. Yes please. Yeah. Well, and this was kind of sold itself and it was delicious. I wish I had more of that. Yeah. And Chris LACO on and he loves high west mm-hmm and he got us the boo eye. Oh yeah. Mm-hmm and I was like, oh, you're doing great things. Yeah. I almost want to go out there just to visit distillery that whistle pig six years is fun for just like a bolt drink or two if you know. Oh, okay. Yeah. If you're the six year, the six year yeah, you gotta try that on the rocks. Just mm-hmm I mean, it's, it's not gonna blow your mind, but it's just. A good every day, like, you know, bulk drinker is what we call that. Yeah. honestly, I would, I would have that over the like the boss hog though. Yeah. Like for over too, cuz the boss hog's$600 a bottle yeah. So like if you put the flavor versus like price, oh that's a, that's how I make that's so easy. Yeah. I'm like it's, it's not worth a 600, you know, you got$80. A bottle was probably actually cheaper than that for for some people, but you know, for$80 bottle of bourbon, I feel like it stands. Right. You know, with things much more expensive than that. Yeah. What else? Probably the gray, well, gin, I don't know if you guys have seen that yet. Mm-hmm, kind new to this area, but it's from somewhere in California, they use sea kelp an almond in the distillation and obviously it's a gin, but yeah, I wanted to do something cool with that for the fall menu. I'm really excited to work with it's. Probably one of the better gins I've tried in a, in a long time. Yeah, super interesting. And I, you know, being here on the coast, I've always wanted to do a weird briny, C something cocktail. That'd be cool. We and salty and cool. And I'm gonna do that on this next menu. So that will be the gin we use the, the gray will, which is delicious. And I, you know, there's, so every now and then we'll get gin lovers in and I love to bring down the bottles of my favorite gin right now and kind of taste them on things. And most of the time they haven't heard of that one. So yeah, that one's cool. My first introduction to Jen was bomb based Sapphire. Yeah. And nothing wrong with that. it was interesting. And then after I tried that, I was like, okay, I guess I don't like Jen and that, that was it. And then finally someone don't shut the door yet. Right? Yeah. And then finally I had a good friend of mine. Who's a big Jen drinker and he has like a. Small collection of Jen. And he was like, you need to try a few of these. Right. And I was like, oh, my mind has been open. Yeah. I was like, okay, I'll open that door back up again. Mm-hmm yeah. There's some, so many great gens and there's actually some really good gins coming outta North Carolina, which is cool to see. Yeah. I, so what you were saying earlier too, like I do think the gin world is starting to come here to Wilmington as well, too. That's so thankful for that. Yeah. Cuz like I have friends that like from PA that are up near like New York and Philly and then some that are out west and they've been going to these gin bars for the past two and three years. I'm like, why in the hell would you have a gin bar? And but now with Wilmington being a few years behind, I'm like, you see, ah, okay. It makes sense now mm-hmm yeah, there's a cool gin bar and Raleigh. I can't for the life of me, remember the name of it right now. And they do have, you know, one bottle of tequila and one bourbon or whiskey and and it was it, you know, oh, they had a lot of memorials too. So that, that was. That's it that we need to open a tomorrow bar. That's the next big thing, Amaro. What is that? Oh, we could go down that way. we'll save that for the next bar, right? I'm kidding. I'm not opening a tomorrow bar, but I think that it's cool to see that people are starting to embrace that a little more here too, and right. You see it on the shelves and, you know, unfortunately here in Wilmington, there's only a few that we can get our hands on without a special order. I've definitely seen it used in, in more cocktail builds and seeing it on the shelves more. So I guess for Annette kind of started that whole thing, but there's yeah. There's so many more options other than for Annette out there. Wonderful deliciously. We'll bring those back on the fall menu. Yeah, that sounds good. I'm excited to see this fall menu. Yeah. That you're talking about it. Me too. So I'm excited to see it done, right. is there a lot more work? I'm sure. Really appreciate it. When it's we'll do a it's in print. We'll do a travel. We'll come over there and sit down at the bar and try out some of the random things on the menu. Sounds awesome. We'd love to have you. That would be fun. Yeah, he does that like once a week. Yeah. that's true. sorry. That's okay too in trouble. Nah, my wife knows I'm there every week, so that's fine. it's just far enough from work, honey. I'm at the surf shop for real, right? Yeah. exactly. I'm like, I always want to go on lunch break, but I'm like, mm. I know if I leave, I'm gonna get caught at the bridge. Yes. And then they're like, Chris, why are you? Especially if you're in a hurry, you're definitely gonna get caught time, time. If you've got anywhere to be at any certain time, you're gonna get caught at the bridge. I'm like, it's supposed to go up on the hour. Not 10 minutes after. Yep. It goes up when it goes up. Worry in my life. Yep. well, now that we've hit an hour on here already. I have one last. Oh, wow. You're right. It does fly. It flies. Right? I have one last question for you. Yeah. If you could tell your younger self one thing, what would it. Hit you with a big one at the end. Oh, invest in apple. I don't know. Yeah. I would've said invest in Bitcoin, but that would've been a, if you sold it the high. Yeah. Right. oh God. So many things. One thing. Yeah. I don't know, man. Leave your life to the fullest. Yeah. That, one's great. So don't get caught up in the, in the rat race, do what you love every day. That's awesome. And, and it probably, you know, maybe it doesn't feel like work. Yeah. Is that how you feel when you go to work most days or yes. Every day. That's awesome. Yeah, absolutely. Everything that I'm doing now I enjoy and that's you know, there's something to be said for that. I hope certainly. That's awesome. Yeah. Smiling people at the bar having delicious cocktails definitely makes me happy. Right. and I'm sure working at flying machine is nice too, cause it's probably not like the, the college bar. Oh, you're surrounded, surrounded by water. It's horrible there, right? no, it's been a really great, great place. And I always dreamed of you know, working in a bar, surrounded by water, you know, I honestly thought I was gonna be on a boat or somewhere in the keys or something, but oh, wow. It's pretty damn close. It feels great. Yeah. And the people are awesome and you know, we're, we get people in every day that you know, that haven't been there, experienced it yet. So it's still a lot of fun. So as long as it's fun and we keep, keep, you know, up with the innovation and yeah. Keep, keep getting people through the door then I'll, I'm gonna be there. So you're gonna be out on the boat tomorrow on your day off. Oh, well I always pay attention. So what it's gonna look like, so, right. Yeah. I know that also plays into factor on whether I can come on podcast. I'm like, I don't know, next Tuesdays looking pretty flat out there and, you know, even you would think living at the beach that you would get more time to do those things, but no, you also have to pay close attention to the weather and be smart and safe out there. So yeah, when it lines up, I go and when, you know, when it doesn't, I find something else to do and there's plenty of work. There's plenty bar. Right. So I will be doing a maintenance day tomorrow, sir. Oh, yeah. Sounds good. the weather looks bad. Yeah, I know. Right? I it's mm-hmm we need more rain, right? Holy. Oh, I know. We've been getting torrential down poured here last week. Hopefully we needed it, but it's time to move on. I know. Give me like three weeks of no rain. That's it. Before you gimme a little bit more, a weekend of no rain would be great, right? At least that for Because we're at the end. Mm-hmm we want to get you some shout outs so people can come see you. Absolutely. Where can they find you on social media? Oh let me see what it is now. Sorry. I'm not much on my social media game, but be in the flow. So b.in the flow is my Instagram. Okay, perfect. You know, I'm not super attached to that, but it'll change eventually. But everybody says that you know, I get in my little spurts and I do post some cocktails and I do post kind of what's going on every now and then in my life. But I definitely don't live in the phone or by social media, I'm usually pretty busy doing, doing things. If I'm not behind the bar, I'm doing something right. definitely follow the flying machine and flying machine rights. Ful beach, absolutely Instagram though. Cause they, they do post quite often. They post a lot more than I do. Yes. And I'm sorry that I didn't mention that, but no, that's. Thank you for mentioning that. Yeah, that, that's how I learned about all of the new food and everything that's coming there. And I saw the cheese steak that was featured the other day on there. And I was like, okay, I wanna go try it. Oh, that's yes. And that was delicious. Yes. And we have those every day at lunch. So you can that anytime. Well, a much larger version rather. Okay. Right. Yeah. My friends were like is that like a, an appetizer on a cocktail? Is that a no, it's a damn near full meal on a bloody Mary. Wow. and those have been fun, man. People. I think they come in, some people come in for, you know, on Sunday brunch just to see what the, what the bloody Mary of the week's gonna be. So that's that's cool. Definitely worked out for us. Yes. And it's fun. Yeah. We keep thinking that we've outdone ourselves and then. Molly comes up with another idea. That's that's great. Cool. It sounds like you have an awesome team over there. Oh, we do, man. It's great. You're only as good as your team and we have some great people, man. Can't do it alone. Yeah. Everyone that I've met over there has been fantastic, super personable, really easy to kind of talk to and stuff while you're sitting at a bar, that's the way it should be. Right. That's how it all, how it all starts. Exactly. Spread the love. Okay. All right. Well, we won't monopolize too much more of your time here and thank you so much for coming on. I greatly appreciate it. That hour went very, very quick, man. Yeah, it speeds on by. Yes it does. But yes. Thank you again, Brian, for coming over. Pleasure to meet you, man. It was a blast. Sorry. It took so long to get you on here. Well, that was my fault. I'm sorry. Judy calls. Yes, I understand. Yeah, you have important things to do. But for those who want to support us, I am being a slack person. Just found out that you can give us a five star review on Spotify. So yeah, just hit the three little dots or if you have a real phone. Android. It just pops up automatically. You can vote for us and give us a five star review. Appreciate you don't wanna give us five stars. That's cool. Just don't leave us review then. I'll give you five stars. Thank you. Thank you. But yeah, I think that's about it first. We will. You'll hear us on the next one. Yeah. Cheers. Thanks guys. Thank you so much. Cheers. Cheers.