[SPEAKER_02]: All right, Wes, this episode isn't about a bottle, it's not about hype, it's not about any of the things that you're used to.
[SPEAKER_02]: This episode is about gratitude and community and what the bourbon community made happen.
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you want to hear about it, right?
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, so just plain verse.
[SPEAKER_02]: To step so it's a little bit of my personal story.
[SPEAKER_02]: We're gonna talk about some things that I've been able to experience because of the whiskey community.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not trying to flex or anything like that.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's really just the thank you to everybody.
[SPEAKER_02]: So let's hop into it.
[SPEAKER_02]: So the first thing that I feel like the whiskey at Thuzee's community made happen that seems ridiculous from where I started where I'm now.
[SPEAKER_02]: is my whiskey collection all of this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you whiskey community.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah it's so funny because I use this in my backdrop whenever I'm doing Zoom calls and everyone thinks it's AI.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a fake it's fake and I pick up the camera and I like no hundred percent real.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's funny.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so you know if it wasn't for the whiskey enthusiast world really helped me develop that from
[SPEAKER_02]: I probably would have ended up with the collection of six or seven bottles that I've rotated through.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I too have to thank the community for that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sorry Sarah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sorry.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_01]: My collection got quite large there for a while.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now I'm kind of just a six or seven bottle guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: There for a while, man.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was ridiculous.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so, you know, but the cool thing is is that as we say here on the show, there's no such thing as an empty bottle.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's either full of whiskey or full of memories.
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_01]: Or a little bit both.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every bottle, at least that comes on the shelf, I can at least look at it and remember where I was when I got it or maybe who I've sipped it with or the reason I like it so much.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it brings back a lot of really cool memories and
[SPEAKER_02]: That's what it's all about.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think last time I counted we were doing that episode.
[SPEAKER_02]: I was at 776 bottles.
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's not bad, but there's a lot of people out there that got me beat by a lot.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_02]: So the second thing that the whiskey community created.
[SPEAKER_02]: And this is one of the ones that I'm...
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm pretty proud of because of all the good that it's been able to view is the Facebook-based whiskey club Someone say whiskey absolutely it was my first whiskey club wasn't yeah I did not know that yeah I was never a part of a whiskey club before and then I met you about the same time I was meeting someone say whiskey and coming across that so yeah Welcome to me with open arms which I'm very thankful for and it was great
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it was literally a form just outside that door.
[SPEAKER_02]: In my game room, when my buddy, we're sitting around, have a support, he said, hey, let's start a group for our neighborhood here, which is Artesian in Prostberg.
[SPEAKER_02]: And it started off just for Artesian.
[SPEAKER_02]: And then some people outside wanted to join.
[SPEAKER_02]: liquor store wanted to do a barrel pick with us and it went well and then more people want to join to get access to the barrel picks.
[SPEAKER_02]: And now we have over 16,000 members all across the country.
[SPEAKER_02]: We usually raise $120,000 a year for non-profits.
[SPEAKER_02]: Awesome.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so we've actually been able to do a lot.
[SPEAKER_02]: Not only is there, you know, kind of open this in the community and people connect and
[SPEAKER_02]: and whatnot, but when I think about what we've been able to do for a small nonprofit organization like divine equine.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, you know, or even being able to bring Freddie Johnson to Dallas, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that was an amazing thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's one of the greatest whiskey events I've been to.
[SPEAKER_01]: That was
[SPEAKER_01]: so well done and it's all made possible because that someone say whiskey and the bourbon community.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and someone say whiskey made those things happen.
[SPEAKER_02]: And the whiskey community made someone say whiskey possible.
[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_02]: But the one that is the most obvious that the whiskey community created that we are both personally thankful for, absolutely, the creation of this podcast.
[SPEAKER_01]: What you're watching right here right now, it's a beautiful thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: I started with just an idea and that was spawned out of a, what would have looked like a tragedy by all means is turned into some beautiful.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's really cool about the story.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm so thankful to be a part of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's kind of just by happened chance that I reached out to Randy and here I am, but It's really cool story.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's become such a big part of both of our lives.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's helped you to be able to focus on your ministry and the Dominican Republic It's it's led to me having countless amazing Urban experiences with me and my wife now countless amazing people
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's even parladen to some financial opportunities.
[SPEAKER_02]: It times that I was going through hard financial times.
[SPEAKER_02]: The podcast was able to help support me through some of that, although it's never been a major source of income, and it's never been the primary reason why we did it.
[SPEAKER_02]: We did it for community and connection.
[SPEAKER_02]: But, you know, I'm grateful for all of those things.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what happened.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, Burden Real Talk has turned into much more than just a YouTube channel or a podcast.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's become a whole community in itself.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the memories that have been made through this show and the education that's taken place for me, at least, I mean, I've learned so much from just being a part of this, not to mention all the people who've tuned in.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's been a major part of a lot of people's whiskey during.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and I mean, we've worked very hard to build trust with our viewers and to make sure that as much as we're possible, be honest, and you know, when we don't know, we say we don't know, we do a lot of research on behalf of you guys to condense down the amount of time it's going to take for you to
[SPEAKER_02]: get to whatever level you want to be in in your whiskey journey.
[SPEAKER_02]: But also have fun while we're doing it.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it kind of became like you said, more of a show and more than just a show.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's more about a family at this point.
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, if you think about,
[SPEAKER_01]: where BourbonRillTalk.com is the whiskey merch that people wear all around the world with the BourbonRillTalk logo on it, or at least a piece of whiskey merch that they've purchased on BourbonRillTalk.com.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're not just on computer screens across the world, but on people's bodies and things that they're sipping glutton glands or whatever it is, being a part of this community and such a massive way has been.
[SPEAKER_01]: Super humbling and really cool.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and I mean, not to mention the fact that you guys meant it possible for me to create my own shape with ski glasses, you know, I mean, who gets to say that that they've had that experience, not a lot of people, and you guys made that possible.
[SPEAKER_02]: A whiskey troll is a person who seeks negative attention and uses contrarian attitudes to derail civil discussion and online forums.
[SPEAKER_02]: They communicate in ways they never would face to face because they're keyboard warriors.
[SPEAKER_02]: Their only goal is to make other people feel inferior.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey guys, I'm new here.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just got my first blatant.
[SPEAKER_00]: And trust me, you probably paid way too much.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't care much about the blans, but nice f***.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no way that she didn't buy that at secondary f*** idiot.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I know how you got that bottle.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, are you sick and tired?
[SPEAKER_02]: Are the whiskey trolls run in your fun online?
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, that's why we started bourbon real-talk community.
[SPEAKER_02]: Congratulations.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me know what you think when you open it up.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, welcome to the group.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me send you over a sample of Blanton's gold and straight from the barrel.
[SPEAKER_00]: See how you like those?
[SPEAKER_00]: I remember back to my first bottle of Blanton's.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was the birthday to my son, and we enjoyed every year on his birthday.
[SPEAKER_00]: Congrats.
[SPEAKER_02]: So if you're looking to connect with some people online who aren't
[SPEAKER_02]: Head over to Facebook.com and join BourbonRill Talk community today.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I would be remiss if I did not mention the challenge points.
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
[SPEAKER_02]: So urban real-talk community challenge called the challenge coins, which if you're not familiar, we give these away for free whenever we kept somebody doing some sort of active kindness for somebody else, whether that's helping themselves a source of bottle or giving them a sample something that they wanted to try.
[SPEAKER_02]: or coordinating a community event by doing a bottle share, or coordinating a fundraiser.
[SPEAKER_02]: It could be anything really, but we're watching, and we're trying to honor when people have embraced our culture, and decided that they're going to participate in it, and we want...
[SPEAKER_02]: them to have this little token of appreciation from us, and we don't send out as many as we once did, but when we first got started, it was a pretty large financial commitment for the podcast to agree to do that for free, but we did it, and we're happy that we did it, and some people really resonate with the coin and what it's mission is, and we're just grateful to the community for making it possible.
[SPEAKER_02]: But another thing that the community made possible was a live-state project
[SPEAKER_01]: What a great, what a great, uh, you should be proud, uh, whiskey community that's watching this that have been a part of making that happen and supporting that, you should be proud for all the work that it's doing to support those who fill along this world and making sure that they don't stay feeling that way.
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
[SPEAKER_02]: And just having a hand in helping other people, um, it's
[SPEAKER_02]: It's humbling, and it's one of the things that, you know, when people get in the comments and they say negative things or they assume negative intent and then they ascribe some really terrible world view on me or whatever.
[SPEAKER_02]: The one thing that they don't know is the motivation that I get from what happens being part of Livestay project.org.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I got home from a trip the other day.
[SPEAKER_02]: I had a ton of work to do and an individual reached out to me and said, my sister committed suicide yesterday.
[SPEAKER_02]: I need to talk.
[SPEAKER_02]: and I immediately got on the phone with him, spent some time with him, followed up with them, checked on him.
[SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, those are the kinds of things that like, I would never have been able to turn my pain into an opportunity to help somebody else who might also be struggling with loss, like I struggled with loss, if it wasn't for the whiskey enthusiast community.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and the fact of the matter is, it's a wonderful thing to help people in life, to help people source a bottle, to help people.
[SPEAKER_01]: you know, with whatever needs they may have physically, but it's a different, it's a whole different level of gratitude and humility to help someone stay alive.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, to be there when someone, and you may not even know that they feel that way, they feel distant, but just to be a kind loving,
[SPEAKER_01]: outstretched hand towards somebody in a smile to somebody, just a random stranger.
[SPEAKER_01]: You never know what that means.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Livestay Project is doing amazing things to help people feel like they belong and let them matter.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and you know, this may seem like a odd subject matter for us to cover on our whiskey podcast, but community's last
[SPEAKER_02]: when people feel seen.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I wanted to recognize you and that every shared poor where you're having these types of serious conversations, every time you listen, every time you donate to help make this happen, you have a part of all of the good that this is brought into my life and everybody else's life.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep, and that's what the bourbon community has been all about.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's being about so much more than just this brown spirit is in our glass Yeah, no, it's they've built something very beautiful that is much more than just a hobby.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's building a village of people a lifestyle really of kindness and generosity and love
[SPEAKER_02]: Right, and that's why we don't tell people what they have to do to get the challenge coins because we hope that the influence that experiencing this community has on you is that you start to shift your thinking, you start to assume positive intent, you start to look for opportunities to show kindness to others, you start to look to reach out across the aisle and make connections that you previously wouldn't have.
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's why we don't disclose it, so, you know, I guess I'll just say kudos to all of you out there.
[SPEAKER_02]: You helped me create a platform, a business, and more importantly, a mission that matters.
[SPEAKER_02]: And this happened because of people like you.
[SPEAKER_02]: So, just one of the, say thank you.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a thank you to you guys.
[SPEAKER_01]: The whiskey community has been near dear to my heart for, I think, gosh, I wanted to say almost.
[SPEAKER_01]: eight or nine years now have been I've been kind of digging in deep and man I've developed so many great friendships people I talk to almost every day you know it's just it's a beautiful thing and so keep up the good work whisky community there's a lot of community little pockets of hobby focused groups of people all around the world with very many different different hobbies and focuses but the whisky community has been
[SPEAKER_01]: people group that's super accepting and and loving to one another in the outsiders that are outside that community so keep up that good work Awesome.
[SPEAKER_02]: All right.
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, we always give away some whiskey with a still east we could do and this isn't good It would not be any exception.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_02]: So slide these bad boys out here.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, we got so what happened here See what happened was yeah I Have whiskey it stored all over my house and I was I was going through my closet and I
[SPEAKER_02]: I lifted up these clothes that were covering up some boxes and I dug in there and I remembered that I had the single barrels that I had the distillery pull of the Prideful Goat when I was running the single barrel program and I used to use the single barrels to pour off samples.
[SPEAKER_02]: and send them out.
[SPEAKER_02]: But these samples got pulled so long ago, they can't be sent out for them to select these barrels anymore because the barrels don't taste like this anymore.
[SPEAKER_02]: And some of them, the barrels actually got selected in the bottle.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so I thought, you know, it would be fun, is I could, if I could send out a nearly full bottle of an actual single barrel selection bottle.
[SPEAKER_02]: And so we're going to have three winners, um, you're going to get what's left of these bottles Oh my gosh.
[SPEAKER_02]: It's quite a bit, um, but this is the kind of thing, like, if I go to somebody's house and and they've got a bottle sitting somewhere that's got like a paper label on it that was very clearly printed on a printer somewhere.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm like, that's the one.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll take some of that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's give you a little hint of what we've got here.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've got a straight bourbon, um,
[SPEAKER_01]: proof point entry port entry proof 120 chart level three here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Mm-hmm.
[SPEAKER_01]: These are to ride right there.
[SPEAKER_02]: We've got a we've got a straight ride whiskey and we've got a straight bourbon whiskey so yeah little variety here.
[SPEAKER_01]: have no idea where these barrels are or what their life is like now so they're probably already bottled somewhere they have even gone into a blend I don't know you could very well be drinking even one of a kind experience one of a kind for sure so tell them what they have to do to enter to win you've got to like this video subscribe to the channel and ring the bell yes it's that simple
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's that meaningful for us to know that you're supporting what we're doing here And this is a simple way you can show us that you support the the mission that we've got going on I really want to just talk about just like subscribe and ring it keeps the mission moving down the tracks And so those three things you can do the last thing you just need to fill out the web form that's in the description below Next to the all caps word giveaway.
[SPEAKER_01]: They'll just get your get us your basic contact info so we can run it through a randomizer and then put you in the the
[SPEAKER_01]: the giveaway, and we'll announce our winner, and you'll get your samples, we'll not samples, a huge, almost full bottle of whiskey.
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely free, you don't have to pay any shipping or any other fees like that.
[SPEAKER_02]: No, we take care of all that.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, someone they can do to support the channel if they like this content.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so again, if you were watching this and you're like, man, I didn't realize that Birb and Ril talk was doing so many different things.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's outside of just sipping good whiskey and giving away stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, you can be a part of that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Our patrons, the names you see on the screen right now, in particular, are the top three tiers, but don't worry.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've got tiers and packages in our Patreon that fit pretty much any budget.
[SPEAKER_01]: everything for the five bucks a month or something all the way up.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we've got everything for everybody's budget.
[SPEAKER_01]: Go check out the Patreon if you want to support.
[SPEAKER_01]: Another thing you can do is go to bourboneraltalk.com and check out the merch over there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lindsay and the crew do a great job of designing whiskey stuff created by whiskey lovers for whiskey lovers so you can find pretty much anything that you need for your whiskey journey right there at bourboneraltalk.com.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've even got customizable stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've got these fancy
[SPEAKER_01]: So, we can customize anything that we've got.
[SPEAKER_01]: We can even partner with you in your whiskey group.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you've got one to create a subsite for you that you can send your crew to.
[SPEAKER_01]: It looks like it's your own side.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's got your merch there.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's really cool.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, if that's something you're interested to check out www.bervingrilltalk.com.
[SPEAKER_01]: Last but not least, my boy Randy here is a residential real estate agent in Dallas and Houston.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he gives away epic bottles as closing gifts.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, if you're looking for a good whiskey and a good deal in the house, hit him up.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and you can find all three links to support in the video description below.
[SPEAKER_02]: And if this year first time tuning in, you want to know what we're all about.
[SPEAKER_02]: We talked about it throughout the episode, but it's about community and connection.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I did lose the love one to suicide.
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's the suicide prevention connection.
[SPEAKER_02]: When I lost my brother, I saw that he was missing those kinds of deeper relationships that keep us bound to this world.
[SPEAKER_02]: And I saw how,
[SPEAKER_02]: Whiskey as a hobby was bringing people together to form those kinds of relationships and I thought maybe if I got you connected to Whiskey Whiskey to do the rest of the job and get you connected to others.
[SPEAKER_02]: So we started this channel.
[SPEAKER_02]: We started the Burma Newell Talk community that we discussed We started live-stay project Part of the reason why we did our own Facebook group is because there was some negativity out there.
[SPEAKER_02]: We wanted to space that didn't have it and obviously it doesn't But that negativity taught us another thing and that is that if a stranger can hate someone online
[SPEAKER_02]: There's nothing that keeps us from loving a stranger in line and that's why we end every episode the same way and it's this.
[SPEAKER_02]: If you woke up this morning, you're unsure whether or not anyone loved you.
[SPEAKER_02]: Just know that we love you.
[SPEAKER_02]: We'll see you next time.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll burn real talk.
[SPEAKER_02]: Cheers.