Farming Meets Distilling: Motor City Gas's New Adventure Rich Lockwood

Why is Motor City Gas expanding beyond their Royal Oak location? Join us for a spirited session of the Man Cave Happy Hour as we unravel this exciting journey with none other than Rich Lockwood. Broadcasting live from Motor City Gas Whiskey, Rich takes us through their meticulous process from grain to glass, and now dirt to bottle as they venture into farming with their Ann Arbor location. Be captivated by the backdrop of live music as we discuss their first barrel for wider distribution and what sets Motor City Gas apart in the world of whiskey craftsmanship.

Have you ever wondered what makes a whiskey truly distinctive? Discover "Sweating Bullets," a unique weeded bourbon made with a bold mash bill of 25% wheat, 10% locally malted barley, and heirloom white corn, released at a potent 108 proof. Rich reveals the inspiration behind its intriguing name and offers a sensory tour of its flavors—think fruit, roasted nuts, and spices. We'll also touch on their limited distribution strategy to ensure each release meets impeccable standards, and how they decide when a barrel is just right for bottling.

Crafting and distributing whiskey in Michigan isn't without its challenges. Rich shares the complexities behind navigating stringent regulations, from packaging and labeling to government approvals. Despite these administrative obstacles, Motor City Gas remains committed to quality and innovation. Discover the evolution of their distillery as they acquire a 500-gallon pot still named Aretha, and experience the vibrant atmosphere of their tasting room. Enjoy live music, local food, and witness the distillation process firsthand in a setting that celebrates the art and passion of whiskey making. Cheers to a truly engaging and informative episode!

Our previous conversations with Rich

Episode 101

and Episode 14

https://linktr.ee/ManCaveHappyHour

www.ManCaveHappyHour.com

Jamie Flanagan @DJJamieDetroit

Matt Fox @fox_beazlefox

August Gitschlag @rawgusto

Merch www.WearingFunny.com

Chapters

• 0:01 Man Cave Whiskey Happy Hour
• 12:51 Craft Whiskey Profiles and Launch Strategy
• 21:00 Whiskey Distribution and Tasting Room Experience
• 30:20 Podcast Recording and Hospitality

Transcript

Jamie: 0:01

I said hey, hey, welcome to the man Cave Happy Hour.

Matt Fox: 0:09

I said hey hey, welcome to the man Cave Happy Hour.

Jamie: 0:16

We're gonna drink a fine whiskey and smoke a really fine cigar. It is time for Happy Hour. The man cave, happy hour, whiskey, cigars, spirits, the stories that go along with it.

Matt Fox: 0:30

I'm jimmy flanagan I am matt fox and um august kitchler august is not here with us tonight but he's here in spirit.

Jamie: 0:37

Oh yeah, oh yeah we are and speaking of spirits, holy smokes I'm sharing away because we are live at Motor City Gas, motor.

Matt Fox: 0:48

City Gas Whiskey there's so much to talk about.

Jamie: 0:54

The space alone is getting bigger and better all the time, and Rich Lockwood is with us. Rich, there's so many things to talk about. We're breaking down the four walls and you're heading out. You've never really been four walls because you're out on the farm and all kinds of stuff, but you're breaking down the walls and you're going to be sharing this with the world outside of the confines of the square footage here in Royal Oak. So, rich, welcome to the Band Cave. Yeah.

Matt Fox: 1:27

I'm glad to be back guys. Welcome back to the Band Cave. Yeah, welcome back. It's good to have you back.

Jamie: 1:33

And I don't know if people can hear in the background, but it's always exciting. Here at Motor City Guest, we got a band playing in the other room, midnight Proof and, yeah, bonnie, uh, I do, you know the high school teaching thing. And there's a another high school teacher in the band, mike conrad. Uh, another broadcast teacher, so hilarious. But we're here to talk about the bourbons. Yes, um, so you are. Uh, it's grain to glass, right. So people go back and hear the other episodes, um, and then we talk all about you know your process and, uh, just all the cool stuff that you do. But now you have one of those barrels and you're doing something that people have been clamoring for. You're making it available outside of here, correct? So congratulations. We're sweating bullets, sweating bullets, is that? So that's the, that's the one, that's the fella that's going out. That's the first one. First one.

Rich Lockwood: 2:27

First barrel. We'll have more to follow. Okay, we're leading with our weeded bourbon. So for those novice out there in the bourbon world, traditionally you know, bourbon is mostly made from corn and then it's normally seasoned with a little bit of rye, which will give it a spicy note.

Jamie: 2:44

Just a little bit, just a little bit of rye, that's a spicy.

Rich Lockwood: 2:48

And then there's weeded bourbons which are seasoned with a little bit of wheat. So rye tends to give the bourbon a drier, spicy note. Wheat tends to give it a little bit sweeter, nutty note. What I find really unique about ours is we have a big spice on our weeded bourbon um, which is not traditional um, but I'm a big rye fan so I kind of dig it that way real quick, because jamie said something just a few moments ago and he said grain to glass and you have done something that here in michigan and you have some land somewhere in the state of michigan.

Jamie: 3:22

You guys expanded that a bit since the the, because we were here early on.

Rich Lockwood: 3:27

It's been a couple years. Yeah, I don't think we had. I don't know if we had the farm.

Jamie: 3:30

So you were talking about it. What is the farm? What's going on on the farm?

Rich Lockwood: 3:36

Dirt to bottle has always been the goal.

Jamie: 3:38

Love that Dirt to bottle, not even grain to glass.

Rich Lockwood: 3:46

Control it all the way from uh germinating seed all the way to bottling and labeling. Uh, we've been grain to glass since we opened, which means, uh, you know, crushing grain here on site, all the way to uh pouring it in your glass and uh then, right around the time that I think we had you in last, we uh acquired some farmland out in ann arbor, um, and we're. We've got a big barn we built out there where we're stacking up all our barrels that we're making. We're growing organic heirloom grains, not just your standard grains, but we go out and we search for these exotic heirlooms.

Jamie: 4:16

You're finding different species. Yeah, what is an?

Rich Lockwood: 4:18

heirloom grain.

Jamie: 4:19

So it's basically a non-hybridized grain.

Rich Lockwood: 4:21

It's a grain that its lineage is pure and it hasn't been crossed with other breeds for farming efficiencies, so it creates a lot of challenges and inefficiencies when you try and grow it and it's risky, but it's got all that goodness that Mother Nature intended, both from a nutrient standpoint but we also believe, from a flavor standpoint. So yeah, we've been having a lot of fun with that. We grow the grains there, bring them here, turn it into bourbon and whiskey, and then a bunch of our small batch barrels are here at the distillery, but most of them the volume stuff, the bourbon and the rye go back out to the farm and you're building out your own rickhouse out there, yeah, yeah we've got a great big barn we built and we've got a forklift out there and we're just stacking them as high as we can.

Jamie: 5:09

Nice, who's Farmer Brown out there? Who's doing the growing?

Rich Lockwood: 5:13

Yeah. So we've got a farmer next door that we've kind of partnered up with and he's got the big, sexy farm equipment. He'll come in and do the fancy stuff like the drill, seeding and harvesting. Um, we'll do the uh, the grunt work in between right, but we'll.

Rich Lockwood: 5:30

We'll kind of go out and find the seed and and collaborate with him. Um, like I said, he does the heavy lifting stuff and then, uh, we ship it off to uh another partner that we work with who does the cleaning. Okay, but we've got our own dryer there. Uh, we're we're looking to upgrade the farm so we can clean the grain and store the grain there as well, and, uh, it's been a lot of fun, it's been a huge uh, huge exploration and uh kind of.

Rich Lockwood: 5:54

The next step we're looking for out there is to move to a regenerative farming practice, um, which is kind of like organic on steroids, um, where we get into uh, no, no tilling plowing. It's a very, very natural way of taking it back to the way things used to be.

Jamie: 6:08

So what you're doing right now instead of buying the grains? Is this more cost-effective or are you just a lunatic? It can be. It can be.

Rich Lockwood: 6:17

And just to be clear, we're not growing 100% of our grain. We're probably 20% to 30%. The goal is to eventually be 100 percent. The stuff that we're not growing ourselves is almost exclusively michigan grown. Okay, we've got some local farmers we partner with. The only time I um import grains is if it's something really exotic that I can't find here in michigan, sure, or we love our peat malts, uh, and and when we do that, when we do a scotch style or an irish style, we like to uh import from across the pond to infuse a little terroir okay, love that make sure it's done right.

Rich Lockwood: 6:53

Um, yeah, uh, the stuff that we're growing. If we were to just grow, uh, regular yellow dent corn, no, it would not make. It would not be as cost effective as buying it from a large farmer. Okay, but in some cases, um, like with our autofile corn that we're going to plant this spring, we started with a one-pound bag and propagated it over the course of two or three years until we had enough, and it's an exotic Indian orange corn. It was grown here by Native American Indians hundreds of years before settlers even came over.

Rich Lockwood: 7:27

So in the case of that, yeah, it's a lot, it's very cost effective because you can't find that stuff, and if you do, you're going to pay an arm and a leg for it.

Matt Fox: 7:34

So in instances like that it's definitely so what was the thought process to lead you down that path? To buy that barn, buy that land in Ann Arbor and then start this process? Where did that come from?

Rich Lockwood: 7:48

I mean, that was the dream all along, that was always on your little dream chart.

Jamie: 7:53

It's on the dream chart for sure.

Rich Lockwood: 7:56

Yeah, I mean that was always the goal. We're a small family business. It's just my wife, tanya and I and the folks here that help us. So we didn't have the means early on for that. We bought what we could afford here and then I'd say, about three or four years in is when we acquired the farm. The main need is we ran out of places to stick barrels here.

Matt Fox: 8:17

Right right, right, right right.

Rich Lockwood: 8:18

Which is a good problem to have. But then we got out there and we saw these beautiful fields that the gentleman that owned it before us was growing organic vegetables on, and we thought it was a perfect fit for Motor City Gas.

Jamie: 8:32

I like it. I like that. And the other thing was, like you said, you were running out of room. Here you had a very small tasting room, you had your distilling room and then you had shelves full of, but you've moved things out in this gorgeous little space that we're sitting in. It's not that little, it's probably almost as much square footage as the original tasting room. Yeah, it's a cool little space, right, I showed these guys a picture and they're like where the hell are you? I'm like I'm in Water City guys and it is so cool. So you have this extra room now and it's sort of overflow and you can do private parties and all kinds of stuff back here and this is gorgeous, this is cool and swanky. As all get out. Thank you, I am digging this. Yeah, I always love the cocktails. I always love coming in.

Rich Lockwood: 9:20

They always do. That's their most popular. Old-fashioned is what we're known for Since day one to this day.

Matt Fox: 9:30

It always outsells all the fancy craft cocktails we come up with. Yeah, so one of the things I really enjoy about coming here as a patron to support you and your family.

Rich Lockwood: 9:37

Which I appreciate.

Matt Fox: 9:38

My oldest daughter and I came out here a few months ago and we had a few cocktails, but the most amazing part of that experience was the person behind the bar making the cocktails. They knew they were asking questions. What is our profile? Like, you know, they really wanted us to. You know, have a great experience and that do. You put your bartenders through that type of training when you, when they come and they want to be a part of the family.

Rich Lockwood: 10:02

I can't take credit for what the magic they can do. I mean we've got, we've got a staff here and we've got. They don't like to be called mixologists, but I call them mixologists.

Rich Lockwood: 10:11

I stayed away from that word, yeah, and I wish I could take credit for it. But they work the magic at the bar. Okay, I make the juice and then they turn it into the magic that's in your glass. And you know, I obviously taste test this is my baby, so I taste test everything that they're coming up with, but they just continue to surprise me menu after menu with what they do, right.

Matt Fox: 10:34

So thank you for what they do.

Jamie: 10:35

Yeah, exactly, you found good people, man you got a good crew here.

Rich Lockwood: 10:39

Good people find us and yeah, and then.

Jamie: 10:42

So we're. We're enjoying the cocktails and people come in, they can buy the bottles to go and, and up until now, if you wanted some motor city gas juice, you had to come here. People have been clamoring and finally you've worked out a deal with Great Lakes.

Rich Lockwood: 10:57

Great Lakes Wine and Spirits is our distributor. Yeah, and it's going to be available.

Jamie: 11:01

So what's the plan and where's it going?

Rich Lockwood: 11:03

Yeah, so the bummer is here in Michigan. We're not allowed to ship to households, so you can't get it delivered to your front door, uh, but we can go through a distributor, um, which then sells it to uh businesses with a liquor license. So bars, restaurants and stores uh, pretty much anybody in the state of michigan and great lakes is huge. Most, most businesses work with them. So, um, yeah, so not now we're, uh, we're gonna kind of dabble in those waters, like, like you said it's. It's always been on site here for the first nine years yeah, kind of our gig has been just a crazy variety of bourbons and whiskeys.

Rich Lockwood: 11:36

Yeah, we probably produced over 90 since we've opened, um, we normally have 10 to 20 at a time that you can sample and, uh, the thing that I'm most proud about is not only have we gotten into a lot of creativity, but we've gotten age up on our spirits now, where our youngest whiskeys spend a minimum of four years aging congratulations yeah this fall, we plan to have one or two, uh, nine-year-old whiskeys.

Jamie: 12:00

So that's a thing right, because those are from the, those are from the jump and we were talking about that when I was here checking things out and it's like okay, but when they're gone, they're gone. But you know, there's that magic. Where's that sweet spot? Is it four years, is it five, is it ten? You know right you got one that you're gonna squirrel away for like a the the the big, big anniversary somewhere down the road.

Rich Lockwood: 12:23

God willing, we make it there yeah, we've got some that we're letting collect dust and you know, we just want to see how long they can go some specials. I made a barrel for my uh son, aiden, when he was born and he gets it when he's 21 together.

Matt Fox: 12:37

I think you had mentioned that that is. I'm so happy to hear that it's still sitting I love that still going.

Rich Lockwood: 12:42

Yep, that's great.

Jamie: 12:43

So as long as he's good, he gets it at 21 otherwise otherwise I'm drinking it so the, the, the barrel that you're putting out, it's uh, the name is sweating bullets. Sweating, um, what's the mash bill? And why did you, why did you pick sweating bullets to be the first for your launch?

Rich Lockwood: 13:01

yeah, so the mass mash bill is uh, 25 wheat. It's a 100 michigan grown, all the grain in there. We're only about 10% malted barley which was locally malted and grown, and then the rest of it is corn. It's an heirloom white corn. We did not grow that, that was grown by one of our partner farmers. And, yeah, it's called a weeded bourbon. Where'd you come up with Sweating Bullets? Sweating Bullets our names. You come up with sweating bullets sweating bullets.

Rich Lockwood: 13:30

Um our, our names normally come up uh during crazy times and I, I either can't talk about it or I don't remember it, but we led with sweating bullets.

Rich Lockwood: 13:41

Um, you know we've got um some rye bourbons going that we're intending to distribute a high rye um one that's like royal oak rye that's seasoned with a little bit of corn. Um, but we just felt like, uh, the sweating bullets was uh maturing and uh developing ahead of the other ones. Okay, um, so we decided to lead with our best foot forward, so we're just dropping one barrel of it and um, so that's not many.

Jamie: 14:06

that's like uh, you know, one barrel is like what? Like 12 cases, how?

Rich Lockwood: 14:11

many. No, it's, it's more. It's about 240 bottles. 240 bottles, yeah, and this is a cask strength, so it's 108. Ok, so it's a strong one, all right. I think it drinks quite a bit smoother than that. Is that what's in the glass?

Jamie: 14:25

Yeah, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Is that what's in the glass? Yeah, oh Shall we yeah go for it.

Rich Lockwood: 14:31

Oh my God, all right, I might need to get a second one.

Matt Fox: 14:34

He's been nipping at it, yeah, so a real quick question for you on this. So 108 proof is what you said, right? For a lot of folks when they release something for the first time, they'll usually go a little bit less on the proof.

Rich Lockwood: 14:54

Why did you decide to go with 108 first for your first uh outing, if you will? Yeah, I mean the way we proof. We don't, uh, we don't have a lot of product strategy here. You're not going to see any powerpoint presentations uh we don't go to market with uh, a plan for what proof customers are going to want or bartenders are going to want Every whiskey that we do.

Rich Lockwood: 15:10

We will test it at different proofs and we'll cut it to where we think it stands up best. Okay, and then we'll usually start barreling it at that proof going forward. That's fair.

Matt Fox: 15:22

Now the oh, thank you.

Rich Lockwood: 15:26

Thank you, sir.

Matt Fox: 15:27

I appreciate that.

Rich Lockwood: 15:28

Now the proof can change. In the barrel Sure, we felt that this one stood up best at 108, so that's what we led with and our distribution is going to be very limited. We're not going to be out there everywhere all the time. We're going to drop a barrel at a time when the barrels tell us they're ready, they go. If we don't have any that are ready. They're not going to go and it won't always be a weeded bourbon. It's going to be different types of whiskey.

Matt Fox: 15:53

I would hope so yeah.

Jamie: 15:56

I've been sniffing, sniffing, sniffing I got some crazy stuff. I'm thinking in this I don't know, I don't want to be suggestive yet and say until you've sniffed it and you get, give me. Yeah, what do you, what do you I got?

Jamie: 16:13

I got three things all the way in the one carrot here I got three things, and one is very, very surprising to me, and I don't you can tell me I'm a lunatic or um, do you smell the smells? You know, like. You know saddle leather and pencil shavings and adduce, and you know oregano and and all spice. And you know I saddle leather and pencil shavings and you know oregano and allspice. And you know I hear a lot of whiskey professionals, because I mean, that's our deal. We're not professionals, we like talking to professionals and learning, so would you get those? Do you smell those smells? Or just it smells good to you?

Rich Lockwood: 16:43

Every once in a while I'll get those crazy exotic smells, but I tend to think that a lot of times it depends on you know what I had to eat that day.

Jamie: 16:53

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know if my old-fashioned is influencing my, my sniffer here.

Matt Fox: 16:56

I haven't had the old-fashioned yet, so this is my first. So what are you?

Jamie: 16:59

what are you sniffing in this? I haven't sipped it yet. I just, I'm just working on the nose. I am getting some fruit on the nose. I got, I want to say, a fruit it's almost like a peach okay feel on it. Yep, all right, I'm getting and I it's a berry, but I think it's strawberry. I think I'm getting strawberry in this.

Rich Lockwood: 17:18

I get I get fruity stuff on it, um I I get roasted nuts, okay, um, I find some. You know you talk about the more exotic smells, I. I tend to find a little bit of toasted marshmallow on this once in a while, not not all the time, um, but like I said, what's what's exotic to me is the spice that it brings, which is not very typical in a weeded burger the barrel flavor.

Jamie: 17:39

Now I've sipped it, the water is a decided I got barrel flavor to it.

Matt Fox: 17:45

Yeah yeah, this was my flavor to it. Yeah, yeah, this is my first coming through today and the warmth that is hitting the back of my head right now. I have to go on for a second dive here so I can kind of coat the rest of it. Right, that has got a nice warmth. Yeah, I'm not right off the get-go, I'm not, I'm not getting any.

Jamie: 18:03

uh, the I'm not getting the the fruity taste in the, the taste, but it was in the nose. Yeah, but the flavor is toasty.

Matt Fox: 18:11

It's a barrel, it's toasty.

Jamie: 18:12

It's toasty barrel is what I'm getting on that Very, very toasty barrel, very nice, I'm getting juicy fruit like the gum Juicy fruit on that back end.

Matt Fox: 18:24

Not bad at all. So is this?

Rich Lockwood: 18:26

cinnamon on the front of the palate. Late is where I get more of the the complexity. Um, I agree with you on the fruity notes on the nose yeah for sure, um, I love it. I get, I get big robust flavors up front and then it gets very mellow to me, um, and you mentioned the, the warmth. It's a, it's a slow warm burn at the end, yeah, um, but it's no, it's not harsh, no at all.

Jamie: 18:52

But you, there is a proof to it. Yes, it's not a low proof, there's a proof to it. Uh, it's a nice, it's a nice. Yeah, it's a. It's a nice toasty, it's a toasty barrel, it is um and that's kind of like a craze right now. The toasted barrels, you know the toasted thing char, did you do one, two, two? Three, four. This has got a toasty taste to it.

Rich Lockwood: 19:11

Yeah, it does, which it was not a toasted barrel, it was a charred barrel.

Jamie: 19:16

Okay.

Rich Lockwood: 19:17

We did not finish it in toast. That's why you know I get all kinds of flavors on this, like it's got rye in it, like it was in a toasted barrel but it wasn't.

Jamie: 19:26

Every barrel is different, every piece of wood is different, every barrel is going to hit you different and that's fun. So that's interesting because if you put this out there and sweating bullets is gone, you um, are you, are you? Are you a thieving and and and trying to find another sweating bullets? Are you, you know? Are you moving on?

Rich Lockwood: 19:46

so sweating bullets is one that we fell in love with, so we have been socking away barrels of that okay, so we've, we've got a you're finding, we've got in our barrels profile and yep, we've got a rye bourbon.

Rich Lockwood: 20:00

Uh, this is our weeded bourbon. We've got a high rye and we've got a corn rye and we've been socking away a significant amount of barrels of all of those. But it's not like the bigger craft distilleries where we've got enough to, where it's going to be steady distribution of all of those. Sure, it's going to be dropping a high rye here, dropping a rye bourbon here, dropping sweating bullets here kind of game.

Jamie: 20:24

Yeah, so is the sweating bullets available here, or is it only going to be available out and about?

Rich Lockwood: 20:32

So we have a lower proof version of the sweating bullets available here. Okay, the rules are kind of quirky here in Michigan, where we're not allowed to sell 108. If we're distributing something, we can also sell it here at the.

Matt Fox: 20:44

Tasty. You know I was going to ask the question about that. You know I was going to ask the question.

Jamie: 20:51

This is a political season. Let's talk politics. We'll get to religion in a second, but holy crap, get the hell out of my life Politics.

Matt Fox: 21:00

So you've been working on all these different variations and these amazing variations and there's a process so for you to start distributing. Was there a different process for sweating bullets?

Rich Lockwood: 21:13

going into distribution there's, I mean, different process in that you not in the making of it okay, no, not you know you got to obviously make a unique product for whatever you're gonna process the procedure that you have, but um you know, you got to obviously make a unique product for whatever you're going to process the procedure that you have. But you know, you do have to go through a Michigan distributor and you got to play by all the Michigan rules and so, yeah, there's a lot of laws and regulations that you need to meet.

Matt Fox: 21:37

So in that sense, yes, yeah, okay, I was just curious about that. What?

Jamie: 21:41

about the packaging and the labeling. Is there more advanced packaging and labeling required for distribution than what you sell here at the Tasting Room? No, we're not real fancy here at Tasting Room.

Rich Lockwood: 21:52

We keep everything pretty simple.

Jamie: 21:53

But you've got to get approval for your labels in the shop. Oh, yeah Again it's like thank you, government, for getting involved in my life way more than I want you to be, for getting involved in my life way more than I want you to be.

Rich Lockwood: 22:02

It is highly, highly regulated. The bottle that it goes in, the label that's on the bottle, the product that's in the bottle all has to meet very specific regulations.

Jamie: 22:11

Have you run into any snafus? Who've been shut down on anything of late?

Rich Lockwood: 22:15

We have not.

Jamie: 22:18

Knock on these gorgeous girls back here. All right, fair play. We've talked to a lot of, you know, distributors and and uh uh, craft people that that are making spirits and and they say that's the worst part is, is, is the, the, the governmental paperwork yeah, just get to.

Matt Fox: 22:39

It's like I'm busy brewing I want to make something, I don't want to write something.

Rich Lockwood: 22:46

Definitely a side of the business that I was not expecting. Yeah, it is one of the most challenging, but it's worth it. You know, once you get through all that paperwork.

Matt Fox: 22:57

There's a cadence to it. Once you get used to it, you know it's just all right, here we go.

Rich Lockwood: 23:01

And we love what we do, whatever we got to do to make it happen.

Jamie: 23:05

All the distilling is still happening here on 4th Street, downtown Royal Oak, just east of Maine. Easy to find, easy to miss it's a discreet, nondescript facade. Just Google it and find your way here. So all the distilling is here. There's a new big girl over there, I think I saw.

Matt Fox: 23:29

Yeah, that's right. So since the last time we were here, did I miss it? Did you not get to meet Aretha?

Jamie: 23:35

No, I went last week and I was very happy. So tell me about the distilling and where you started and where we're at now.

Rich Lockwood: 23:47

Yeah, so when we first opened, uh, you know, like I said we're we're a mom and pop shop, so the only thing we could afford we went to vendome copper. They make the best uh stills in in america and there was never really a question if we were going to buy an american made still. So we went to them and uh, uh, monica was about the smallest still that they make mon.

Matt Fox: 24:01

Monaco is the only thing we could afford. All right, right, it was affordable.

Rich Lockwood: 24:12

So we were running the hell out of Monaco, you know, almost every day of the week trying to keep up. And then was it about a year ago. We got an agricultural grant here that helped us. Oh nice, purchase, aretha, that's a 500 gallon pot still.

Rich Lockwood: 24:23

She is gorgeous, which is what I've always wanted Copper, copper copper Again from Bendome, yeah, and so we're absolutely in love with her and with our bourbons and ryes. We've been running our first distillation through her and then the second one through our original still to try and keep some continuity with with the profiles we've been creating. But now with our malt whiskeys, I got a two pot still and, uh, I'm really excited, yeah look out red breast.

Jamie: 24:53

Here we come, he's going after you and that's the thing about coming to the tasting room. You get the full experience. Uh, you're, you're seeing the barrels resting. You know you're seeing the barrels resting. You're seeing the stills as they're there. They may or may not be running, but the process. And every once in a while you see you guys are pulling out thieves of things and looking at the proofs and the alcohol content. It's fun to watch. It's when it's going on, but it's just an experience. Are you double fisting, jim? I am double fisting. Welcome to the making. That's the way we do it here.

Rich Lockwood: 25:28

But, yeah, we wanted people to be right in the mix with us while we're making whiskey. So we pushed the limits about as far as we could with regulations of how open we could be and how close we could have people to the action.

Jamie: 25:44

You're right in it, man. There's a big window right there. You can see it all happening Today. Like I said, there's a band, mike Conrad and his band. They're out there. What are they called?

Matt Fox: 25:54

Midnight Proof. Midnight Proof.

Jamie: 25:57

Fun guys and there was a taco truck, a French fry, crazy funky French fries or something out back when I got here, funk it up fries.

Rich Lockwood: 26:05

Funk it up, fries.

Jamie: 26:07

Do you do food trucks out back often here?

Rich Lockwood: 26:09

Yeah, yeah, we're just starting to get into some of our own food, so in the meantime I had the little.

Jamie: 26:14

I had the pizza. Last time I was here you got some.

Rich Lockwood: 26:16

I got to give a shout out to Tanya's pizza. Yeah, royal Oak.

Jamie: 26:24

Great family. It's fresh, though. We cook it here. The dough is done, the crust is done, then they add it and they throw it into a little oven here. To finish it off, I had it last week.

Matt Fox: 26:33

It was good Before we even sat down. You're like I've got to take care of this and I'll be right there.

Jamie: 26:38

He's running with three pizzas. That's not for us. The pies look amazing. It looks really All right. So we got sweating bullets out, we got it. We got a distributing going. Is that enough for you right now? Is that where you're at? Is that enough to manage, or do we have more irons in?

Rich Lockwood: 26:59

the fire, I mean, we're distribution is a whole new game to us. To us it's not something we ever intended on doing. So we're kind of going slow, just to kind of feel it.

Jamie: 27:06

This is where we're at. We're mid-September 2024. It hasn't hit the streets yet, though. Yet.

Rich Lockwood: 27:13

It is available to order right now. It just was made available last week. Okay, so any retailer with a liquor license can order bottles right now and a restaurant can get it to have a bar store.

Jamie: 27:27

Is there anybody in particular? You're like I want this restaurant to have it or they're going to have. They've been bugging me and they're going to have it. Do you know, or is it still developing?

Rich Lockwood: 27:34

So the tricky part in Michigan is we're not allowed to direct bottles to specific customers.

Matt Fox: 27:39

Right, right, right.

Rich Lockwood: 27:40

You can make a request to this distributor yeah, once it's out there, anybody can order it. So what we're trying to do is kind of create a private list of friends that we like doing business with. Yeah.

Matt Fox: 27:55

And then we'll tip those people off first when Barrel is gone. A little insider information, yeah.

Rich Lockwood: 27:58

So, and like I said, it's going to be limited. It's going to be drops here and there, there'll be little gaps in between, but we're going to try and keep it fairly regular. Yeah and yeah, we'll see how it goes.

Matt Fox: 28:10

So you're thinking maybe one a quarter.

Rich Lockwood: 28:12

You know, starting off I'm not really sure.

Jamie: 28:15

That's fine.

Rich Lockwood: 28:29

That's absolutely fine Once we hit our stride, depending on how fast those barrels are moving. I'd like to do at least one a quarter, hopefully, hopefully more, yeah, um, uh, you know, maybe one a month or something like that. And uh, yeah, for uh motor city gas fans out there, you can help us out by uh just asking for uh motor city gas at your uh favorite local water there.

Jamie: 28:35

It is, there you go, and uh, so not just water, but they have a.

Matt Fox: 28:38

They have a place where they go and they buy their bottles and what have you hey? You know you need to get this. You know let them know that this is ongoing. That's out there. You should really add this, because it's very, very good.

Rich Lockwood: 28:49

We'd really appreciate it. I'm getting sweet grass now, yep. Isn't it crazy how it evolves?

Jamie: 28:55

I'm getting a little sweet grass in the sweaty.

Rich Lockwood: 28:58

Especially when it gets down to where you just have a tiny bit in the glass and you got a lot of uh, a lot of open space in there. You just start to get some earthy notes the oils that are sticking to the glass.

Matt Fox: 29:08

After the fact you know you're getting into that as well rich, I gotta, I gotta.

Jamie: 29:11

Thank you, you're just, I mean you just throw the doors open and and let us come in here and shenanigan apply us with drinks. Uh, I, we really appreciate it you're so hospitable. I always always have a great time with you guys, and you know what I was noticing while you were like cause, you were like oh, I record in a minute, and you were like bringing people their pizzas and you were taking orders.

Matt Fox: 29:30

And if you come in here.

Jamie: 29:33

Rich is going to take care of you. Him and his people are going to take you and if he's here, he's taking care of you, taking care of you. So, uh, the website, what's the website? Uh, motorcityguestcom, motorcityguestcom. And uh, just on fourth street, downtown royal oak, just uh, east of maine, before you get to the elks club, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, you know I'm gonna wait. I gotta do it for my.

Jamie: 29:56

I'm gonna I don't know that's not even a thing. The other people are are like what are you doing? We'll get you in the Elks Club, We'll get you some bottles at the. Elks Club. People do the tasting room, Ask for it out and about Anything else Did we miss? Anything? Did we cover everything? We get everything.

Rich Lockwood: 30:17

I think that's about it, all right.

Jamie: 30:20

Coming up next Chief One Love. The Chief One Love Podcast Rob Griffin. He's going to record an episode of his podcast here. You're so kind to let us record crap back there.

Rich Lockwood: 30:34

That's kind of the way it's always done here.

Jamie: 30:37

Thank you so hospitable. We appreciate it Anytime, rich Cheers. I love the Glencairs man. They make such a pretty sound, all right.

Matt Fox: 30:49

Cheers Clack Like subscribe all the podcast things.

Jamie: 30:58

Go hit that kill button. While I do that, like subscribe, leave a comment. All the podcast things, all podcast places, See you