Inside Detroit’s Best Kept Cocktail Secret and How A Painted Whiskey Barrel Fuels Veteran Support

A room that used to hide barrels now hides something better: a city’s heartbeat. We slide behind The Wine Garden into a bar that feels like a password, pour a round, and meet the people turning cocktails into community for veterans who deserve more than a thank‑you. The night hums with games, laughter, and a serious purpose as Crown Royal’s hand‑painted single barrels tour Detroit, raising funds and awareness alongside care‑bag drives.

Jim—26 years across the Army and Navy—pulls back the curtain on Mission Roll Call’s model: connect locally, amplify nationally, and keep veteran issues on the desks that matter. He walks us through how the Detroit art scene brought twenty barrels to life, why each event invites guests to donate nonperishables, and where you can see and bid on the pieces that might redefine your home bar. We share the stops, the links, and the easy ways to get involved right now.

Between sips, we explore mindful options with Little Saints’ zero‑proof line, including Saint Oak’s old fashioned profile built on lion’s mane, reishi, and Damiana—rich flavor without the alcohol. Then we dive into the cocktail program that makes this hidden room sing: Smoke and Mirrors, a smoked old fashioned with Bulleit 10 Year, fig, orange, and bitters; Code Black, weaving Johnnie Walker Black with espresso and amaro; and Classified, a crisp, layered blend of vodka and aromatized wines with Meyer lemon. Tony’s vision anchors it all—a back bar curated over years, multiple expressions for true tasting flights, branded garnishes, and a QR‑driven list that turns curiosity into discovery.

Come for the secret bar. Stay for the veterans it uplifts. Tap play, share with a friend who loves Detroit, whiskey, or good causes, and drop a review so more people can find the show. Then tell us: which cocktail—or barrel—would you claim for your own?

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome To The Best Kept Secret
• 2:45 Games, Giveaways, And Crowd Energy
• 5:52 Mission Roll Call And Veteran Support
• 11:05 The Barrel Art Auction Tour
• 15:30 How To Get Involved And Follow Along
• 17:40 Spotlight On Zero‑Proof Little Saints
• 24:10 Inside The Cocktail Program
• 30:00 Signature Drinks And Smoked Old Fashioneds
• 33:20 Closing Cheers And Next Steps

Transcript

SPEAKER_06: 0:01

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

SPEAKER_03: 0:16

We're gonna drink a fine whiskey and smoke a really fine cigar.

SPEAKER_00: 0:24

Oh, it is uh time for happy hour. It is the man cave happy hour. Whiskey cigar spheres the stories that go along with it. I'm Jamie Flanagan.

SPEAKER_03: 0:33

I am Matt Fox.

SPEAKER_01: 0:35

What are we introducing ourselves? We're introducing ourselves because we're in like a fancy place now, so we gotta be adults. I'm not Matt Fox. Change the fucking rules, dude. So rules. I'm August. This is my role. Yeah. Hi.

SPEAKER_04: 0:50

I'm Mrs. Vino. You can just call me Kristen. Hi, Kristen. Hi.

SPEAKER_00: 0:54

Welcome back. And we have uh found ourselves once again in the back room of the wine garden. And yes, not quite a back room in like the back room of the wine garden. It has changed entirely. We have podcasted from back here many several times. Um Tony has turned this into the best kept secret. We're telling everybody on our Facebook. Telling everybody we know about the best kept secret. Tonight on the Mad Cave, we are going to we're gonna talk to the folks from Crown Royal because they're doing some amazing things for veterans, and we're gonna talk to them about filling a bag. Kind of crashed their veteran night, didn't we? And doing that, we got uh little little little saints today. Some amazing mushroom shenanigans, uh, and it's alcohol free. It's fun because I came in to the best kept secret and there was a little saints on the shelf already, and I'm like, Crustin, we gotta come and talk about little saints and have an alcohol-free cocktail.

SPEAKER_01: 1:52

After the last time you were on here, I actually made the mistake of googling uh fairy mushroom juice. Oh, stop cartoons. Say that slower. Fairy mushroom juice. All right, there we go.

SPEAKER_00: 2:10

So, and then uh if we can pull Big Tony out from behind the bar, we're gonna talk to Big Tony uh about all the magical things that happened here. It is uh a dream come true. Yeah, very so uh Kristen, thanks for coming out. Uh she brought some swag swag bags.

SPEAKER_04: 2:28

I did, I brought some swag bags, and you know, anybody who's curious.

SPEAKER_00: 2:33

We want to buy somebody a drink right now. Yeah, so if we'd like to uh buy you a drink, we're playing battleship. If you'd like to uh try to uh win a cocktail, uh we're playing a little battleship here on the Man Cave happy hours. Everybody want a drink? Anyone uh want to come up and all right, come on over, young man. August, you should have like a long a long enough cord to jump up and talk to folks. Oh, should I have to go talk to folks? Yeah, you gotta go talk to folks.

SPEAKER_01: 3:00

Alright, you guys can sit here and pop.

SPEAKER_00: 3:01

So Matt is going to uh it's a battleship, A through J one through ten. You pick a coordinate. If you hit a boat, you get to keep going. If you miss, all right, Jim, you can take the first shot. And uh we got Jim over here who's gonna give it a try. A through J 1 through 10. Jim, what do you think? August, yeah, kind of go that way with it, August. Trying to drag him over there on that side of wait a little more from the speaker. There you go. Fair play. This is not my usual game show host position. All right. A through J 1 through 10. You get a coordinate right, and uh you're working your way towards a cocktail.

SPEAKER_01: 3:34

All right, we're gonna take that first shot, Jim. Fire away. D five.

SPEAKER_03: 3:38

D five. Let me take a look here. Let me find it.

SPEAKER_00: 3:42

It's on there. It's right there. It's right in front of you. Oh, he's ready to get his light going. He doesn't have a training. All right, all right, all right.

SPEAKER_03: 3:48

I'm sorry, Jim. That is a miss. You have a miss. D five is a miss.

SPEAKER_00: 3:54

All right. August, while you're up, is there anybody else? Um I'm just gonna make people play. J4. Hit or one of the ends. J4. J4 is a miss. Miss. Alright. There we go. B4. B4 what? Before you think you're funny, did she hit or miss?

SPEAKER_03: 4:20

Oh, so close, but a miss. It's a miss. Alright.

SPEAKER_00: 4:26

So close. Oh battleship for cocktails. One more? One more. One more. One more. A through J, one through ten. Pick a coordinate.

SPEAKER_03: 4:36

And and H eight. H8 is a hit, ladies and gentlemen.

SPEAKER_00: 4:47

Which way do you go now? Alright, so if you sink a boat, you get a cocktail. That's that's the deal. So you got a hit on H8. Um you go the H's or you go the eights? Where are you going?

unknown: 5:00

I like it.

SPEAKER_01: 5:02

Yeah, you got you want to eight. That is a hit.

SPEAKER_03: 5:08

Two hits in a row. Look out. It's like a radio station. Two hits in a row.

SPEAKER_00: 5:13

Alright, so it's not sunk her yet, though.

SPEAKER_04: 5:28

One more, Colleen.

SPEAKER_03: 5:30

One more, one more. Sorry. And you sunk a ship. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01: 5:37

Colleen, that's a lot longer.

SPEAKER_00: 5:41

Alright. We'll do one more uh battleship for cocktails and um a fun little game we like to call coffee or porn stars. Coffee or porn stars? We're gonna do that. But uh Jim was here, and uh we're gonna talk to Jim. Crown Royal is uh filling bags tonight, and uh people are are donating non-perishable food items, and we're sending those out to uh veterans and active servicemen. And uh hopefully Jim would want to wander over and uh hang out with us and talk to us.

SPEAKER_01: 6:14

Where'd he go?

SPEAKER_00: 6:16

There's that handsome fella. He's gonna slide in and we're gonna talk to him about uh the brew guys are good. You don't have to move. You guys over here. Yep, right. So it's uh Crown Royal working with Diaggio and uh Crown Royal. And uh Jim, thanks for joining us here in the Man Cave. Uh Jim, you're a serviceman, you're retired. Thank you for your service, Jim.

SPEAKER_01: 6:41

Thank you. Yes. Turn him down a little bit. There we go. There we go.

SPEAKER_02: 6:45

Yeah, I uh I retired in 2023 after 26 years in uniform. Um 17 in the army and a little more than eight in the navy. It's a twofer. That's my jam.

SPEAKER_00: 7:02

So what is the formal name of the uh charity project that we're working on tonight?

SPEAKER_02: 7:07

It is Mission Roll Call. We are a mission roll call. We're a nationwide uh 501c3 veteran service organization. Okay um that uh our we we focus on partnering with veterans organizations at the grassroots level, helping get their message out to the national level, partnering with them, connecting with their veteran communities that they serve, and then amplifying their issues on Capitol Hill and at the state legislative level.

SPEAKER_00: 7:34

All right, yeah, that's awesome. So uh partnering tonight with Diageo in this like month year long, um, there's barrels from Diageo that have been painted by artists and they're being auctioned off. Yes.

SPEAKER_02: 7:47

So uh a few months ago, uh Greta at Diageo uh reached out. Uh her and I have worked together on a few issues, uh, a few projects in the past. Okay. And uh she said, Hey, I've got this great idea. I want to support a couple two, a couple great organizations. One, I want to support uh the thriving art community in the Detroit area. Okay, and then two, I want to do something awesome with you guys uh for the veteran community that you serve. So we have uh 20 um Crown Royal barrels that uh were you know they're single barrel uh selects around around the Detroit area, and the barrels were hand-painted by up-and-coming Detroit street artists. Only only 20 though. Only 20. Only 20. Only 20, yeah. So I just think I think there's uh I think 14 left of the ones that we have. All right. So um so there are uh there are various uh on-premise, off-premise accounts across the state, and we're doing a series of events um between now and well, we started on Monday through um this weekend, and then a few more in December. Okay, so at each event we're uh we're stuffing the bags, um, we're auctioning off the barrels, and the bags we're partnering with a few um local organizations in the Detroit area that specifically take care of uh homeless veterans in and around Detroit. Oh wow, god love that.

SPEAKER_00: 9:09

Thank you. So uh where can people go like online to find out where these events are and uh how they can visit the other ones?

SPEAKER_02: 9:17

Okay, so uh I invite you to follow Mission Roll Call on all the socials except for uh except for um TikTok. Facebook, Twitter, Facebook, all of those call. And uh we're we're we're you know publicizing where we're gonna be each each event, and I also have a list of them here. Uh tomorrow we're gonna be at uh Exo Sports Bar in St. Clair Shores. Oh, not too far from here.

SPEAKER_01: 9:43

Yep, right at the closest bar to my parents' house. There you go. A double to that location and various names over the years.

SPEAKER_04: 9:50

So you're gonna sleep on the couch then?

SPEAKER_01: 9:51

No, I have a spare bedroom. Ah they're empty nesters now. Is the bedroom pink? No, not anymore. Okay. Invite them to come over tomorrow. We'll be there from five to seven. Um actually tonight they're at the Texas Roadhouse in St. Clair's Shores for the Polish League of American Veterans Post 6, which I'm a member of, they're fundraiser. So invite all of them then. Polish Veterans. Hello, all the veterans. I'm a non-vet member of a uh Polish League of American Veterans Hall.

SPEAKER_02: 10:17

Um Friday, we're gonna be at the woods over in Gross Point. Nice, nice. Uh Saturday, midday, we're gonna be at uh Novi Party Store. Okay. That's on the 21st of November, right? Yes, yes, this Saturday. And then uh from there we go to the brass mug in Lavonia. Okay, yeah. And then there's gonna be uh five events in December, uh, fourth, fifth, and sixth at Mega Bev in uh Osttimo, Grand Rapids, and Standale. Okay, dang. Sounds like this job really sick.

SPEAKER_03: 10:48

I might see you out there because we'll we'll we'll talk.

SPEAKER_02: 10:53

And then December 12th and 13th will be uh the 12th will be at the Gippers in Grand Rapids, and then 13th at Meaches in Clarkston. Wow, you are all over all over the map. Each one of those locations has a barrel on site right now, so you can come in and take a look at it, or go to missionrollcall.org. We have a link to the auction on our page so you can see what the barrels look like. Uh, you read all about them and the artists and whatnot. They're great.

SPEAKER_00: 11:17

They're all very unique and they're all very decorative. Uh, so you can go vote on vote and you bid on the one that uh might suit your man cave the best. Absolutely. All right, and uh so people off season or uh when these events aren't going on, mission roll call on your Facebook, they can get involved that way.

SPEAKER_02: 11:37

Yep, mission roll call on like again on all the socials, missionrollcall.org. You can sign up, receive our newsletter, receive our surveys. Uh you know, let uh let us amplify your voice.

SPEAKER_00: 11:47

All right, so we'll have all those things linked in the descriptions uh for people to connect with that uh and and get connected with you. Thank you for your service. Thank for all you're doing uh in your retirement. You don't look retired, you're not it doesn't sound like he's retired either, does it? I uh no, no, like your retirement's gonna be like slow down, right?

SPEAKER_03: 12:07

I have life goals now.

SPEAKER_01: 12:09

I just want to you're never gonna be that handsome, Matt.

SPEAKER_00: 12:12

Uh but Jim, thank you, and we'll link all of that and we'll get people together. Thank you, Jeff. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right. Awesome. Uh all right, so we're drinking, obviously, and everybody in here is kind of having some cocktails. Uh, but some people don't always want alcohol in their cocktails. Some people like to slow roll or sip, sip, drink. I don't trust them. Christian, those people. We gotta, yeah, I don't know what to do. I don't trust those people.

SPEAKER_04: 12:42

But little saints trust me with your life, Augie. While you oh, thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00: 12:47

You're tougher than me. We've we played around, we've screwed around with little saints just uh just a little bit, and uh we gotta some cocktails tonight. We do the little saints. Yeah, what do we have?

SPEAKER_04: 13:01

So I'm double fisting here. So Zach behind the bar made an amazing cocktail with the Saint Ember.

SPEAKER_03: 13:08

The Little Saints, Sam Wave.

SPEAKER_01: 13:10

Zach, Zach Zach, Zach, Zach Wave, yeah. Wave right now helps to get his name right when they want a wave. Jimmy Wave!

SPEAKER_04: 13:19

And then uh and then he also made really, really phenomenal. If you're an old-fashioned fan, right? The Saint Oak just came out with um from Little Saints, so it's Lion's mane, ricey mushrooms, and Damiana, sugar-free, alcohol-free. So even if you're gonna be having a couple cocktails tonight, finish off the night with the NA. If you want to try one, it's on me. Just let me know. I've got an open tab at the bar. You do? I do, just on the little system, just on the little sage. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 13:49

Oh, that's uh that's sweet. That's uh sweet.

SPEAKER_04: 13:52

It's good, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00: 13:53

It because sometimes it's just a sweetie old fashioned. It's uh I that's a name for the sweetie old fashioned. I think we're gonna put that on the menu called the sweet old fashioned college.

SPEAKER_03: 14:03

Yeah, that was because I am an old-fashioned name now. That's just the name now, the sweet old fashioned. There you go, man. That's um try that.

SPEAKER_00: 14:11

It's rich.

SPEAKER_04: 14:12

It is.

SPEAKER_00: 14:13

Um, it's richer than the ones we've tried before. Um yeah, so the Lia's mane, right? So now on the website, there's this allusions to um libido boost? There you go. That's I was trying to delicately talk to me about libido boost there, Mrs. Vino.

SPEAKER_04: 14:32

Well, oh yeah, I can talk about it all day long. You guys will see my husband.

SPEAKER_00: 14:37

Where is Wolverine tonight, anyway?

SPEAKER_04: 14:39

Well, yeah, the Hulk is at home.

SPEAKER_01: 14:42

It's the Hulk. His name is Logan. He's the Wolverine. He's yeah, Logan, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04: 14:47

No, but so Lions Wayne actually it's a cognitive enhancement, uh, improves your memory, and uh Ricey kind of chills you out. But for the libido portion of it, okay, you know, if you well, what's the what's the classic saying? If you drink too much whiskey, you get what?

SPEAKER_01: 15:04

Whiskey, push and rope.

SPEAKER_04: 15:06

Yeah, so if you don't and you drink this and iron horse.

SPEAKER_01: 15:10

Uh but that's more of a 20s thing. Sure.

SPEAKER_04: 15:14

We're all way past the 20s, okay? We're all right.

SPEAKER_01: 15:17

I don't know who you're talking to, but uh no. No, not maturity-wise.

SPEAKER_00: 15:24

Uh 50's the new 30. So Little Saints, it's it's uh like I said, before we came in, it was already on the bar here at uh the best kept secret.

SPEAKER_06: 15:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_00: 15:36

In uh downtown St. Clair Shores. Uh find it on Harper behind the wine garden. Um not really. You gotta find it inside the window. You can't come in from the outside. Four till ten. Friday, Saturday, four till eleven. Okay. Um, and so you gotta come in and enjoy the uh Best Epsy Group. Go back and try it out.

SPEAKER_01: 15:58

Look for a case of Coors Light and find yourself in a bar. That's it.

SPEAKER_04: 16:01

That is don't be don't be afraid. It's quite the it's quite the walk-in cooler.

SPEAKER_00: 16:06

So walk through. But uh, we're gonna try to big drag Big Tony over here to talk about a couple of the cocktails. Big Tony. So if Tony can uh if Big Tony wants to join us whenever he's uh got a second, he can come and uh hang out with us. That would be very cool. But uh so I brought a couple of friends here over the weekend, and we really, really enjoyed um just all the cocktails, and it was so much fun, the people, the friendship, and it's like everything, it's everything Tony is, you know, it's it's it's it's friendly, it's cocktails.

SPEAKER_03: 16:42

So, Jamie, you were here for their grand soft opening, yes, yes, and that was about a month and a half ago. Well, not even a month, yeah, but yeah. So one of the things that uh just really astounded me is the relationships that Tony has with the industry. Oh my goodness. Uh and we and Tony had the privilege to have Mr. Freddie Johnson here with him. We were, yes. And and Freddie was hanging out and he told an amazing story, and you took a video of his story, yes, and that that's actually up on our Facebook page.

SPEAKER_00: 17:13

So, yeah, it is. Uh all the feeds, yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 17:16

But the history that Tony has here at the wine garden and the friendships that he has made in the industry just speaks volumes for what he has done here. Oh, yeah, in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. Just liquid on that bar.

SPEAKER_01: 17:28

Put the liquid behind that bar. Yes, people don't have access to that. He's been collecting this stuff from his friends for 15, 20 years.

SPEAKER_03: 17:35

I I just I'm astounded by I'm astounded by what Tony has done. I I'm just very proud to uh be a part of the best kept secret and the wine garden here in San Francisco.

SPEAKER_00: 17:46

I know. I mean, we were honored to be able to record back here when it was just Tony's private space for storing booze and right passing out barrels, and now it's there to be a public, and uh it yeah, just still absolutely an honor to be able to do that. Yeah, I'll be honest.

SPEAKER_04: 18:01

I'll be honest, I've opened up wine bars and and restaurants and random. I've never seen a liquor and spirit set up like this in the flesh in Michigan. It's incredible.

SPEAKER_03: 18:12

And it's color-coded. I'm just gonna say oh yeah, it looks like my closet at home.

SPEAKER_00: 18:19

And and what we noticed on the way in, it was like a lot of times uh bottles and uh like three bottles of something stacked up. Yeah, for when that one's empty, you just move the next one down. There's no three bottles stacked up. No, it's five bottles, they're all a different version of the three expressions. There's like seven or we counted seven or eight different expressions of uh rip rest.

SPEAKER_03: 18:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_00: 18:38

Back there.

SPEAKER_03: 18:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_00: 18:41

Um it's wide and deep.

SPEAKER_03: 18:45

That was my nickname again. I was your girlfriend.

SPEAKER_00: 18:52

That was uh set that one up. I saw Matt Fox. I couldn't you you opened the door. It is, it's it is uh it's a wild fun night. I want to try to give away another drink.

SPEAKER_04: 19:05

Yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 19:06

Does anybody want me to buy you a drink?

SPEAKER_04: 19:08

Battleship.

SPEAKER_00: 19:10

Oh no, it's uh I gotta do a show testing question.

SPEAKER_01: 19:16

You sure you don't want to do porn star or coffee?

SPEAKER_00: 19:18

We're doing porn star coffee. So does everybody uh want us to buy them a drink? We could uh very easily play a game. It's not about the prizes. Soon as they take this thing out of the holder, it starts feedbacking. All about the fun. We just gotta turn. I tried turning it up. We're good. All right. All right, all right. So if somebody would like to uh have us buy them a drink, come on over. Somebody yell out a battleship coordinate. Or battleship.

SPEAKER_04: 19:46

We need a battleship coordinate.

SPEAKER_00: 19:47

We can play battleship or I heard B4.

SPEAKER_01: 19:51

B4. We already called that one. Oh, it's a dead, it's a dead hole. That was uh D9. I heard D9. D9.

SPEAKER_04: 19:59

Is that D isn't dog? D as and dog.

SPEAKER_00: 20:01

Yeah, Matt's gotta get his readers on.

SPEAKER_03: 20:04

Yes, I have to get my readers out.

SPEAKER_00: 20:07

And then by that means there's a little bit of light on the subject, and then there you go. I actually have a flashlight. Uh D9 is a miss. Miss on D9. All right.

SPEAKER_03: 20:19

Boo is right. D9 is a miss.

SPEAKER_04: 20:22

Miss A7. A7?

SPEAKER_01: 20:25

A7's a miss, too. Not by much, not by much.

SPEAKER_04: 20:30

So close.

SPEAKER_06: 20:33

All right. What was it?

SPEAKER_04: 20:34

We need C4? We're blowing stuff up here.

SPEAKER_03: 20:39

Is another miss.

SPEAKER_00: 20:40

That's another miss. Miss All right. Hey Tony, whenever you got time, brother. Whenever you got a thing, it's over. All right. Whenever you got a second.

SPEAKER_04: 20:49

All right, we need another coordinate.

SPEAKER_00: 20:52

All right.

SPEAKER_01: 20:54

D12, MM's group. There is no D12. That's an M group. That's an MM group.

SPEAKER_00: 21:02

But we'll give you D10. All right. D10's a miss. So I'm going to talk a little bit about the cocktails. Yeah. At the best cap secret. So, August, um, you got the menu in front of you. Uh, so there's a really nice menu. There's uh two-sided, how many different cocktails? 14 or so?

SPEAKER_05: 21:20

Two, three, four.

SPEAKER_00: 21:22

We're doing a dozen. You gotta you got over 10, he's gonna 10, he's gotta drop his pants. I know, right? All right, don't threaten them all with a good time. All right. So I need some raising. So there's a several, and then there's like a little QR code that you can scan when you're here at the best kept secret. And it shows you the entire list. And the nice thing about it is all the different boozes. You can buy a two-ounce, a one-ounce, or a half ounce pour. So you can trust try it, right?

SPEAKER_01: 21:51

So if you're not, you're like, hey, I'm gonna hold that uh$40 pour Red Breast, you can do a quarter.

SPEAKER_00: 21:56

Yeah. So you can do a half ounce, pour, an ounce or two ounces, and uh, so it's really nice. And the menu all spells that out, but then there's a handful of really nice cocktails. Yes, more than one.

SPEAKER_01: 22:07

I think twelve is more than a handful. Yep, yep. I just looked at it. More than a handful, you're just it's just too much, right? Right, right. I I looked at the menu. Why did I look at you when I said that?

SPEAKER_04: 22:15

Because I'm the only female sitting here with my mic.

SPEAKER_03: 22:19

I just looked at the menu and I see the cocktail called the safe word.

SPEAKER_04: 22:24

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_03: 22:25

Oh snowmobile.

SPEAKER_01: 22:27

Snowmobile? Is that your safe word? Yeah, three syllables. So I know what she's saying. I know it's serious.

SPEAKER_03: 22:33

And that's a Hornitos and uh Chinola mango, lime, poblano, and dry crackout.

SPEAKER_01: 22:40

Oh, nice. Yeah, curaous carousel.

SPEAKER_03: 22:47

I'm going to Krakao. I can say I can say carousel. I just don't want to.

SPEAKER_04: 22:54

That sounds yummy, though. It does sound good.

SPEAKER_00: 22:57

The safe word, clean of tables. All right. Is he a good one? All right, because uh there's two there's two uh cocktails that are are the top of the pops, and that is uh the number one number one cocktail that they've been serving. Yes, is uh the smoke and mirrors. Smoke and mirrors. It's their version of a smoke old fashioned, it's actually what I'm drinking at the present moment. And uh Matt, what's in uh uh uh smoke and mirrors?

SPEAKER_03: 23:26

The smoke and mirrors, that is a uh bullet tenure with the fig and orange and angostore bitters. And it's smoked.

SPEAKER_00: 23:34

So that's the that's the big game changer. So there's a dried, there's like those dried fruits, they got the dried fig in there. The nice like Kristen was really impressed by that. She goes, Is that a dried fig? And and I'm like, Why, yes, it is.

SPEAKER_04: 23:49

Yes, it was the sommelier in me.

SPEAKER_03: 23:50

I'm like, ooh, that's that dried, but it was sitting for so long, it didn't look like it was so dried anymore. Do you do you eat those?

SPEAKER_04: 23:57

Yeah, it's good fiber. You should really yeah, sweat.

SPEAKER_00: 24:01

She's like daring me. That's like she double dog daring me.

SPEAKER_04: 24:05

She just gets soaked in booze. It's gonna be even more tasty.

SPEAKER_01: 24:08

I triple dog dairy.

SPEAKER_04: 24:10

So it's not gonna be that healthy anymore.

SPEAKER_01: 24:12

Okay, there put your tongue in the flagpole already.

SPEAKER_00: 24:16

All right, so that's we got we got the the booze, we got the the 10-year bullet, yes, a fig, and what else?

SPEAKER_03: 24:22

Orange and anchor store bitters.

SPEAKER_00: 24:25

Okay, and so yeah, there's uh uh an orange slice, excuse not a slice, but uh uh it's a dry orange. You got the peel. The peel. And then the really cool thing is my favorite word. It's got the well, we're too far away from the cameras now.

SPEAKER_01: 24:41

Mushroom angels.

SPEAKER_00: 24:42

But they're all they're all embrazened, emboldened with the uh the key, the the the logo. They're branded. Branded, branded. They're branded.

SPEAKER_04: 24:53

We're gonna brand secret logo.

SPEAKER_01: 24:56

Are we we all joining black fraternities now?

SPEAKER_04: 24:58

Yeah. We're all gonna get branded.

SPEAKER_01: 25:01

We're all gonna go join the Yellowstone Ranch.

SPEAKER_00: 25:03

Uh yeah. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 25:08

Thank you, sir man. That's enough. By the way, I want this music in the background for all of our podcasts now. Oh, yeah. I do. That's what I want.

SPEAKER_00: 25:18

I didn't. All right. All right. So what are some of the other fun cocktails on there, Matt Fox? Uh some of the other so you have the the coat black. But you know what? The ballet. Who is drinking the classified? What's uh she left we were here this weekend and we were doing crushing the classifieds. What's classified?

SPEAKER_03: 25:41

The classified is your Kettle One Vaca, and then it's also got the cochi rosa with uh a Lilit Blanc, which is I believe what uh would be a wine, right?

SPEAKER_04: 25:51

Lille Blanc.

SPEAKER_03: 25:52

Lille Blanc, okay. Simone Blanc. There you go. With a Maier Limon and a plum.

SPEAKER_04: 26:03

Yes, Lele Blanc is a it's it's a wine. All right, Lilay Blanc. Low ABB wine with the Maier Lemon. Lemon. All right.

SPEAKER_00: 26:12

And so I had before you guys got here, I had two code blacks.

SPEAKER_04: 26:17

You don't say, baby. Oh, espresso.

SPEAKER_00: 26:22

I was here for like three hours before you guys got here. So two three two cocktails over three hours.

SPEAKER_04: 26:28

So that's not bad.

SPEAKER_00: 26:29

Or maybe I was here 15 minutes. I'm not sure which. But I was so long getting my hair dead so I could wear a hat on the podcast. What is the code black? What is uh what's in the code black, Matt?

SPEAKER_03: 26:39

The code black is a uh Johnny Walker drink. It's got the uh Johnny Walker black with the Lagardo espresso and the Amaro Lakano.

SPEAKER_00: 26:50

Yeah, so it's a it's very much a smoky coffee drink. It's it's very, very cool. I'm not gonna like anything to do with it.

SPEAKER_01: 26:57

It's scotch. It's scotch, scotch, scotch. I like scotch. But not my belly. It is.

SPEAKER_03: 27:04

Yeah, there's a there are so many things. I don't want to spoil it. You just need to come and experience you have to keep some of it secret. Yeah, we gotta come and experience what they have going on here. There's just so many great, amazing things.

SPEAKER_00: 27:18

There are. So if you're anywhere near the Metro Detroit area, not even just St. Clair shores of the East Side, right? Anywhere in the Metro Detroit, it is worth a trip to come check out the wine garden, the best kept secret behind the wine garden. Yes, yeah. Uh, it's inside.

SPEAKER_01: 27:37

It's inside the wine garden. It's all a secret.

SPEAKER_04: 27:40

Yeah, it's all right. We're we're diversion. You just gotta get here.

SPEAKER_01: 27:44

All right, we gotta get Tony over here. He's busy being Tony.

SPEAKER_00: 27:47

Ah, he's uh we'll get we'll do Tony another time, I think.

SPEAKER_03: 27:50

Would you all right? But for Tony to open his doors the way he has for us over these past number of years, no, we just cannot thank Tony enough. That is because we've we've been we've been on outings with him, we went, we've smoked cigars with Tony.

SPEAKER_00: 28:05

There's so much history, and we know that and he opened his doors up tonight to the Diaggio people and the Crown Royal people, yes, um, and and the the the military helping the veterans. Yes, uh, he opened the doors for that, and he is that generous all the time.

SPEAKER_01: 28:21

It's just it's just started with liquor stores. Now he's running around uh high-end cocktails in his own joint, all dressed up, and it's he hustles, man.

SPEAKER_00: 28:29

So the the the work that he did putting into this and setting up all the Kristen, you're you've helped set up some bars, so you mentioned that this is an impressive very very layout. The uh the all the acutima, right? All the accessories.

SPEAKER_04: 28:46

I was gonna say all the garnishes. I mean, even yeah, the wine, you know, each wine cube is they they have it stamped with their uh the signature key, and then just like Jamie pointed out earlier, their branding all of their garnishes. I mean, this is yeah, every single little detail, all the details here, it's incredible. So just yeah, bravo, Tony, bravo.

SPEAKER_00: 29:07

Yeah, much applause.

SPEAKER_01: 29:10

Applause for Tony, yes, deep in conversation with customers.

SPEAKER_00: 29:14

He did that.

SPEAKER_01: 29:15

It's like the guy at uh at the Italian restaurant and Goodfellas going around, hey, everybody okay?

SPEAKER_05: 29:19

Hey, holy bitch.

SPEAKER_00: 29:22

So here's what I'm thinking. Here's what I'm thinking. I'm we're gonna wrap it up. Okay, and then we're gonna drink more cocktails.

SPEAKER_01: 29:30

All right, I was gonna go uh see if the two ladies at the end of the bar could do uh coffee or porn star. Coffee or porn star? I can reach them. All right, Tony, you doing alright? Show of hands. How's Tony?

unknown: 29:42

Woo!

SPEAKER_01: 29:43

All right, see if I can reach always coming with a drink. Oh, well, that'll be the next episode.

SPEAKER_00: 29:49

All right, so if you can guess correctly, is it coffee or is it a porn star?

SPEAKER_01: 29:55

All right, ladies, do you want to play the key stuff?

SPEAKER_00: 29:57

All right, so Kurt and you're gonna you're gonna tell him if you get it right.

SPEAKER_01: 30:00

They're gonna name it's gonna give you a name size.

SPEAKER_00: 30:03

So these are porn stars, those are coffee players.

SPEAKER_01: 30:06

Coffee or porn star?

SPEAKER_00: 30:07

Coffee. Alright, you gotta guess whether or not this is a coffee.

SPEAKER_01: 30:11

What's your name?

unknown: 30:12

Karen.

SPEAKER_01: 30:12

Karen. We got Karen first.

SPEAKER_04: 30:14

Alright, Karen.

SPEAKER_00: 30:15

Alright, Karen.

SPEAKER_04: 30:16

So I'm gonna I'm gonna say one of these names, and you gotta tell me if it's a if it's a coffee drink or if it's a porn star. Name. Name. Alright. So we're gonna do uh chokey ice. Chunky ice. Chokey ice. Choky. Chokey. Chokey ice? Chokey ice. Chokey ice.

SPEAKER_01: 30:35

Is chokey ice a coffee or a porn star? I'd say a porn star. Ah, you're good. You're good. Karen knows a chokey ice.

SPEAKER_06: 30:46

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01: 30:47

Get out your Google machines.

SPEAKER_00: 30:48

Oh, good Lord. 50-50 shot. Yeah, scrub that browser. What's the next one? All right.

SPEAKER_04: 30:58

So the next one we're gonna do. Um let's do spicy taco.

SPEAKER_00: 31:05

Spicy taco. She will get the complexion really quick. It's a coffee plate.

SPEAKER_04: 31:11

It's a coffee plate. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 31:15

I don't know.

SPEAKER_04: 31:16

It is.

SPEAKER_00: 31:17

I also did it here in college. Why am I not sports? Appreciate it. Yeah, it's a coffee flavor. There you go. All right. Thank you, ladies, for playing.

SPEAKER_04: 31:30

Appreciate you.

SPEAKER_00: 31:33

I love coffee flavors or porn stars. That's my favorite game.

SPEAKER_04: 31:38

Really? All right. Spicy taco, though. I mean, come on.

SPEAKER_01: 31:41

Should have known you weren't going to get back-to-back porn stars, though. We had to play the odds there. All right. Matt. Yes, sir. What do you think?

SPEAKER_00: 31:49

I am thinking, coffee flavor. Oh boy, here we go. Or porn star. Okay, go ahead. Log mint. Can you repeat that? Long mint. Long mint. Long mint. Coffee flavor or something.

SPEAKER_04: 32:02

So wait, wait, I have I have a question. So porn star can be a girl or a guy. Yeah. Porn star name, right?

SPEAKER_00: 32:09

L-O-N-G long mints? Long mint. Coffee flavor or porn star. That's a porn star all day long. That is a porn star.

SPEAKER_04: 32:16

What was that?

SPEAKER_03: 32:18

Choky what? Chokey and ice.

SPEAKER_04: 32:20

Chokey ice. Ch o K I.

SPEAKER_00: 32:23

Ch O K my Ice. All right. C-H-O-M-Y. So there's two, yeah. Careful with that. So we got coffee brown and we got black ivory. One's a porn star, one's a coffee flavor. It's a male porn star. Coffee brown. That's why it's black ivory, one's a coffee flavor, one's a porn star.

SPEAKER_03: 32:39

Black ivory is the bite, is the coffee flavor.

SPEAKER_00: 32:41

That is, yeah. That's correct.

SPEAKER_03: 32:44

I never coffee flavor.

SPEAKER_00: 32:47

I've never heard these names, but yeah, I played before. Alright, I'll take your word for it. Alright, there you go. So like, subscribe, leave a comment, do all those podcast things in all those podcast places. Um, we're gonna do it again. We'll do it again from here.

SPEAKER_01: 33:02

We might do it again in 10 minutes when uh Tony sits down. Tony's available.

SPEAKER_03: 33:07

The supplemental supplemental interview. Yeah. But in the meantime, this over here is that's Jamie Flaming.

SPEAKER_00: 33:13

Uh, in Monkey in the middle here, it's Chris and Carlson or Mrs. Vino.

SPEAKER_04: 33:18

And that over there is August Gitchland.

SPEAKER_01: 33:20

Oh, that's me. And we're lucky to have right in between us the sexy foxy Matt Fox. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00: 33:25

Uh Matt Cave Happy R and Cave HappyHour.com on all the socials. Uh we'll see you all again. Hey, cheers! Cheers, ladies and gentlemen.

SPEAKER_04: 33:35

Cheers, guys. Cheers.

SPEAKER_00: 33:36

We promised drinks to a couple people. She'll get to you.