Inside A Whiskey Advent Exchange And Holiday Cocktail Playbook

A brown bag, a number on the cap, and a chorus of guesses—there’s something electric about a blind pour. We crack open day one of a whiskey advent exchange and let the senses lead: orange peel peeks out, a warm glide crawls across the palate, and debate kicks off about proof, finish, and whether banana means Jack or something sneakier. The best part isn’t being right; it’s how a room full of notes sharpens your own.

From there, we move into holiday-hosting reality. Picture a house that’s seen forty-plus at dinner, a bar that has to move fast, and a menu that keeps guests happy without burying you in prep. We road-test a Grand Marnier Old Fashioned—bourbon split with orange cognac liqueur, bitters riding shotgun, a Luxardo cherry when you want depth over peel—and dial the ratios so the bourbon still sings. Pair it with one bright spritz and you’ve got a complete, flexible playbook that turns a busy day into effortless hospitality.

Along the way we get honest about collecting and taste: why high-proof bottles are fun to try but not always the bottles you live with, how to build a shelf you actually pour from, and what makes a drink memorable: balance, intention, and a table that welcomes everyone. We also zoom out to creative work: keeping a podcast consistent, defining goals before gear, and curating an Irish music stream that respects real artists in an age of AI shortcuts. It’s all connected—taste, trust, and the communities we build around them.

Raise a glass with us, steal a cocktail idea, and join the conversation. If you enjoy the show, subscribe, share it with a friend who loves bourbon, and leave a quick review to help more whiskey fans find us. Cheers.

Chapters

• 0:00 Kicking Off With Whiskey And Travel
• 1:20 Holidays, Family Chaos, And Hosting
• 3:08 The Bourbon Club Advent Exchange Explained
• 6:05 Blind Tasting Day One Notes
• 9:30 Proof Guesses And Bottle Speculation
• 16:15 Collecting, Budgeting, And Heat Preferences
• 19:30 Community, Sponsors, And Global Listeners
• 23:00 Building A Holiday Cocktail Menu
• 27:10 Grand Marnier Old Fashioned Test Drive
• 32:30 Podcasting Goals, Habits, And Production
• 37:30 Irish Radio, AI Music, And Curation
• 44:00 Upcoming Guests, Side Shows, And Wrap

Transcript

Theme Song: 0:17

We're gonna drink the fine whiskey and smoke the winning whiskey.

Jamie Flanagan: 0:25

It is time for Happy and R the Man Cave, Happy and R whiskeys, the Gigar Spirits, the stories that go along with it. I am Jamie Flanagan.

Matt Fox: 0:33

I am, and I get to say it myself. I am Matt Fox.

Jamie Flanagan: 0:37

You are, brother.

Matt Fox: 0:39

You are Jamie Flanagan, the one and only.

Jamie Flanagan: 0:42

Yeah.

Matt Fox: 0:43

But here's the thing we all all we all like to travel. We all like to go out and do fun things. And I am uh I'm a little bit on the jealous side for E L L O. Yeah, a little jelly because uh August. Um he's in Poland.

Jamie Flanagan: 0:58

Yeah, yeah.

Matt Fox: 0:58

In Krakow, Krakow.

Jamie Flanagan: 1:01

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Matt Fox: 1:02

With uh cat and uh her family, yeah. So a little jelly, but I'm so excited.

Jamie Flanagan: 1:06

It's fun to see uh he's posting pictures as the adventure unfolds. Yeah, uh and uh safe travels, brother. Uh enjoy yourself. We'll see you next time around. Uh but yeah, so but it's uh it's us tonight. Yes, the OGs. Uh it's uh people listen whenever, wherever, however. But uh, we're heading into December of 2025. Oh man, and uh looking at the holidays.

Matt Fox: 1:31

We're yeah, they're still we're still looking at them. We haven't quite got past them yet.

Jamie Flanagan: 1:34

Oh my god, yeah. So it's uh but it's fast and furious. Thanksgiving was later than ever, so there's a shorter distance between the two.

Matt Fox: 1:41

Yeah, it felt pretty late. And I gotta ask you, how was your turkey day? Did you host again this year? All 35,000 people coming up?

Jamie Flanagan: 1:49

No, no, no, that's Christmas Day.

Matt Fox: 1:50

Oh, it's Christmas.

Jamie Flanagan: 1:51

Christmas Day is uh insanity for the Flanagan household. Uh, we import every O'Grady in the Tri-County area. Oh, oh, oh grady, okay. All right, got it now. They get all those O'Grady's and Serwinskies in there. Um, and I'm the lone Flanagan, Colleen by injection, right?

Matt Fox: 2:08

Some boom boom boom. So, but you you you bring the Irish to the party, is that what you're saying? All right, that's fair.

Jamie Flanagan: 2:17

Oh grady's. They're pretty Irish folk, but uh yeah, so um, yeah, very, very, very much so by injection, yeah.

Matt Fox: 2:26

That's uh pretty awful. Yeah, it was awful.

Jamie Flanagan: 2:29

Yeah, but uh so yeah, so we just visited, so all we did was just uh vegetable, and we're like, hey, a vegetable, and then that's it. So it's uh it's easy. Thanksgiving's easy peasy. We don't have to clean. I barely even put pants on. Nice. Uh so colleagues like you probably should put pants on. I'm like, all right, I'll put both I'll put both my legs in. All right, all right. I get off the couch. It was a nice, it was a really long holiday break. They gave us the Wednesday off. So Wednesday and through Monday. So it was a good six six day that's great shenanigans there. Are you well?

Matt Fox: 3:04

Are you well rested? You didn't do anything at all over the weekend at all, right?

Jamie Flanagan: 3:08

Ran like a madman, yeah. Uh so there was one thing that uh I I did I got involved in uh a couple weeks ago, threw my name into the the ring and uh made the cut, as it were. And uh Facebook, there's all these different bourbon clubs, and I'm sure wherever you're listening, right? I'm sure there's bourbon clubs in and around you. Find them, they're fun, they uh help you find the honey holes and what have you. Sure. By injection. Go on, okay. Um, so I'm just trying to by injection was my nickname in college. So uh that's uh yes, there is a uh uh bourbon club. Uh the I think it's called the Michigan Breakfast Club, and I don't know why they call themselves that. Okay. Um, but it's a bourbon club, and or maybe it's a bourbon breakfast. No, it's Michigan Breakfast Club. Uh, but yeah, so they uh they they were doing an advent bottle exchange. Interesting, and I did not know what that was. But I said I'll take part.

Matt Fox: 4:04

Was it full-on bottles being exchanged, or were you talking you know, smaller tasters?

Jamie Flanagan: 4:10

So you get 25 people for the 25 days of Christmas, right? And everybody selects a bottle. Uh-huh. Uh, and they're sometimes they put parameters on it. Okay. Uh, it has to be this vet much value, or it has to be it has to be a bourbon, or it has to be a store pick, or it has you know wow. So those rules, sometimes, right? So, but this time uh the only rules were it has to be a whiskey. Okay, um, so they were the rides were okay, you know. Um, if you wanted to go down a scotch avenue, you could if you wanted to go, I don't know. I don't I don't think they were going scotches, but I think they were staying with whiskey whiskeys.

Matt Fox: 4:46

August would be all over the scotch, yeah, right. Or it'd be all over him one yeah, yeah.

Jamie Flanagan: 4:51

All over the floor, uh-huh. And then uh, so yeah, so it could be an Irish whiskey. I don't know. So, but it was uh oh my goodness, whiskeys. So, yeah, so you you buy a bottle. The parameters were it had to be a whiskey, and it had it was uh $75 or more for the bottle. Wow, so you know, so nobody's buying like a you know bottom ankle biter and Evan Williams and people uh uh shut up. Just kidding. So, and then you get a bottle, and then you get okay, little sampler bottles, and you break your fifth up interest into 25 uh bottles, and then you go someplace and everybody lays out all their bottles, and everybody grab one, one, one because one bottle is what 750 milliliters, right? Yep, you get you get about 26 and a half pores out of a bottle, right? When you got the shaky McShake pour, uh you're running you're run a little low. Oh, spilled some more. Ah, spilled some more, ah, spilled some more. That's the fox, that's the fox pour that's spilled. So that's the fox pour all over the counter while I'm doing this. Yeah, I have funnels and everything, but still. Um that's how I pour. So I fill up the you fill up the bottles, and then you go and you exchange them, right? And sometimes it's like, and this time we're doing it with doing it, we're doing it blind.

Matt Fox: 6:07

Okay.

Jamie Flanagan: 6:07

So I have if people watching on the Facebook there's a yeah, you can see it. It's uh, so you can see there's a whole 20 25. Actually, there's 26. There's a bonus bottle in there, okay. Um, so and everybody there they're different uh shapes, and some people go crazy town with you know they dipped in wax. Yeah, I see. Uh, but you're just supposed to number it, right? So you're supposed to number your bottle.

Matt Fox: 6:29

So here's the crazy question: Do you know what is what in there?

Jamie Flanagan: 6:32

No, I don't. I just know that this is number two number 22 for that I'm gonna drink on the 22nd, and uh, so on the Facebook group. So the Facebook is gonna be active, right? So you you do but bottle one on day one, okay?

Matt Fox: 6:44

Bottle two on day two, and they tell you what bottle it is.

Jamie Flanagan: 6:47

So sad news, Matt. Uh huh. Christmas is not tomorrow.

Matt Fox: 6:51

Well, okay, so I was gonna tell you my so my advent calendar going according to my advent calendar. Christmas is two flipping days away.

Jamie Flanagan: 6:59

Man, you kind of broke into it, a little heavy there. Uh that's so cool. All right, yeah. So that was almost like an ornament, right? Can you tell there were a couple women in the group?

Matt Fox: 7:09

That's fine. There you go. I put that on my tree. Yeah, I know.

Jamie Flanagan: 7:12

Colleen would be like, what the hell is that?

Matt Fox: 7:14

It's not vodka.

Jamie Flanagan: 7:16

I can't drink it to the 19th, honey. All right. So uh, so you got all these little bottles. So on the Facebook uh group, uh you try it during the day, and at some point, either either the the morning of the second or late on the first, uh-huh, uh they'll say, All right, bottle number one was uh uh contributed by so-and-so. Uh it was this, right? So everybody's like, I tried it, I think it's this, I think it's that. So it's a day full of I think and I guesses.

Matt Fox: 7:42

That's kind of a month-long tasting event. Yes, yes. I love that.

Jamie Flanagan: 7:46

Yes, and I I think it's somebody in the because there's a couple guys, Chris Rundy and uh uh Patrick is uh the other Patrick. Okay, Patrick S. Uh, very long name. Uh he's a big part of the Breakfast Club.

Theme Song: 8:01

Okay.

Jamie Flanagan: 8:01

And uh uh there's a and Greta was there, our friend Greta Harper from Diagio Spirits. She was there. People started talking about spirits, so they're like, Do you know anything about bourbon? I'm like, does she know anything about bourbon? Let me show you something. Hey, we got a ringer here. That's uh I don't know crap, but I'm boy, I'm calling in this lady to help out.

Matt Fox: 8:23

I'm just about ready to call fire marshal Bill and be like, let me tell you something.

Jamie Flanagan: 8:28

So um, and then I I I put them in the box in order. Okay, but then my box tipped over, and these are kind of all over the place. So there's two, three, four. Where's six? Oh, yeah. Maybe this is number one. Number one, number one, number one, number one. There's number one, so there's number one. Um, and then I mind where's twenty-one. Twenty-one, that's me. That's you. So I had the two, I have the two ounce bottles, but you're only pouring one ounce in it. So it looks so I didn't. I didn't when I ordered it, I thought I was getting one ounce bottles, but uh I ended up getting two ounce bottles, so they're like janky, janky. But I wasn't the only one. There are other janky half pour two ounce bottles, and well, and like the ornament one, there's like yeah, but anyhow. Um, so yeah, so they uh uh uh one ounce of one ounce pores, and uh because yeah, you gotta be careful with it because it is, it's like you get like 26 pores out of a out of a bottle. You gotta be super careful, and uh, but I had a little funnel and and uh I did all right.

Matt Fox: 9:29

So you get you get rid of that one bottle and you grab another one, make a little more, yeah.

Jamie Flanagan: 9:34

We gotta buy, then you'd have to buy two bottles of whatever it was. No, you just so I can't tell you what mine was. I can tell you where I got it, though. I got it at Keiko's. I I went in and I was like, Hey, Joe, Joe was in there, Joe Keiko's, and I'm like, uh, I'm doing this, I'm doing this bottle exchange. I'm thinking about this guy over here. He's like, it's gonna be a good one. That's uh, people are crazy about this, bourbon club people crazy about it.

Matt Fox: 9:57

How far how far over the $75 price point did you go?

Jamie Flanagan: 10:01

I was uh $89.99.

Matt Fox: 10:04

Nice.

Jamie Flanagan: 10:04

So it was a $90 bottle.

Matt Fox: 10:06

Okay, so um if I had to take a guess, uh $90 bottle from Caicos, you probably got uh yourself into uh an old forester of some sort, maybe.

Jamie Flanagan: 10:18

I got myself into some bourbon, that's for sure. It is it is a straight up bourbon. All right, uh, it is uh it's uh yep, so there you go. Um, but yeah, so Joe led me to that. So I love that I'm sure all those people will be listening. Yes. You can tell. Oh, I didn't bring a couple grab those two of those baby Glenn Karen's, and we could try this if you wanted. You can try to do number one with me.

Matt Fox: 10:41

Then I'll share with you what actually I got for my birthday last month.

Jamie Flanagan: 10:45

All right, I'm gonna do that. So there's a cool bot, but there's a cool some people went crazy with these bottles, and it's like uh number 14, day number 14. They had uh they did the wax, they had their own little wax dipper at home, and it it's a green bottle, so very festive green, and then a red wax. He goes, I I did that for Christmas. I'm like, dude, that's so funny. And then you know, you can tell the guys, the single guys, because it's just like is it wrapped? Painter painter tape and sharpie.

Matt Fox: 11:14

Oh, that'll that that'll savor the flavor.

Jamie Flanagan: 11:16

Oh, yeah. At least mine. Oh, this isn't the decorative one. My bottles came with like little labels, and actually, most of them were like decorative, and they had like little scallops on them. I took the janky one, so yeah, I left the good ones out there. You accessorized, so yeah, yeah, some bottles, and then they people are putting stickers on them and stuff, and it was it's it's fun. And then we hung out and chit-chat, and then people because these were for exchanging, right? And you fill you you spend the bottle on filling these baby bottles, and and so you would get there, and but everybody brought like a bottle too. Um to share with everything, yeah, tasters, right? And some were fresh, some were fresh crack, some were open, and everybody I didn't know how that worked, right? So I was like, uh, I brought cheese, I brought I brought a straight guy cheese tray. Did you bring adult? You brought adult lunchables. I brought adult lunchables, yes. Um, just to to share, right? Because I was like, well, you know, there's probably gonna be a lot of purpose in these people's basement. I don't know if you saw I posted a couple pictures and I tried to get their bar in the background.

Matt Fox: 12:13

Was it on your Facebook page?

Jamie Flanagan: 12:14

Holy shiitake mushrooms, it might have been on the man cave. All right, I'll have to take a look. Holy shiitake mushrooms, lots of lots of stuff going on. Man, they had so much booze.

Matt Fox: 12:27

Waste not want not.

Jamie Flanagan: 12:30

All right, he's going home with me. Do I save these? Oh, these are plastic. Do I save these little bottles?

Matt Fox: 12:36

Yeah, you might you might do the next one. You might travel, yeah.

Jamie Flanagan: 12:39

And I so I'm in the kitchen, I'm filling up my bottles, and Colleen's doing what are you doing? You making roadies to hide in your car?

Matt Fox: 12:47

That that's that's appropriate. That's an appropriate question for someone who's pouring small bottles. Fair question. Fair question. It's an appropriate question.

Jamie Flanagan: 12:55

It's not like I'm going golfing or something. It's like, although now that I've done that, I'm like, hey, there you go.

Matt Fox: 13:01

Save them from when you're golfing. Making your own so I I gotta tell you, these little baby Glen Karens from from uh our guest who was here uh our last episode. You said it correctly. I was reading it, but yeah, these are these are pretty fun.

Jamie Flanagan: 13:19

I guess yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Matt Fox: 13:21

All right, ooh. So this is number one in your advent calendar.

Jamie Flanagan: 13:26

There's a number one coming at the top of the pop coming in at the morrow night for the second one.

Matt Fox: 13:32

Yeah, you want. Absolutely. We'll see.

Jamie Flanagan: 13:36

It's it doesn't smell very strong, but it has a nice smell. That's got some warmth. It it's yeah, it's it's um, it has more of a taste than it has a nose. Oh, I'm getting um orangey.

Matt Fox: 13:52

It's a really layery nice on on the back end.

Jamie Flanagan: 13:54

I gotta say, I'm getting some orangey.

Matt Fox: 13:56

Yeah, orangey. It's like a little blood, blood orange almost.

Jamie Flanagan: 14:01

Aren't you glad you had some bourbon with me?

Matt Fox: 14:03

Yes. I am all right. Okay, so the no now there now that I've tasted, there's a little bit more of a nose. Yeah, there's more of a nose, but the nose is real strong. But the the warmth on the back end, though, I'm not sure if you're if it's hitting your back teeth pretty well like mine.

Jamie Flanagan: 14:21

It's it's crawling across the roof of my mouth in the back.

Matt Fox: 14:26

What'd you call me?

Jamie Flanagan: 14:27

Yep. All right. Uh I don't know what proof are you putting this at? I should probably take some notes on this.

Matt Fox: 14:33

Um proof-wise, I'd say probably about a buck. I'd say between a buck ten and a buck fifteen.

Jamie Flanagan: 14:38

Oh, really? Yeah. Just because of the warmth. I was putting a was I was making it a bottle of 100. 100. 100 proof? 100.

Matt Fox: 14:45

All right. Well I'm gonna stick with my original taste test.

Jamie Flanagan: 14:50

Okay, and I I I taste some orange. I'm getting some orange, maybe a little banana in there.

Matt Fox: 14:55

Got some bananas.

Jamie Flanagan: 14:56

What about um the bananas is gonna lead to me? Maybe this might be a Jack Daniels product. Is this a Jack Daniels product?

Matt Fox: 15:04

I you you tell me. I I'm going blind on this. As are you, it it could be because of it's got that Jack Daniels warmth feel on it. Like a Jack Daniels barrel select or something. Yeah, is it's not the Sinatra. I know what the Sinatra is, it's not this warm.

Jamie Flanagan: 15:24

No, the bottled and bond on the on the Jack is is very banana. Um I'm not getting it. So this may be a this may be uh uh this may be a barrel pick or a barrel select, but uh um, I'm putting it in, I'm putting it in a bottled and bond. All right, so that takes me away from Jack Daniels.

Matt Fox: 15:44

A $75 bottle, 75 plus 75 plus bottled and bonds.

Jamie Flanagan: 15:49

And some of these some of these people are lunatics with their burp. They're like it's like the crap that they brought to share.

Matt Fox: 15:56

I'm like, holy after what we after what we sampled on our last episode, when we are coming in a buck 27.4 and 131 point thousand or what have you. Yeah, this has got this is reminiscent of what we had tasted before.

Jamie Flanagan: 16:13

Yeah, these are not blowing our heads off. Speaking of blowing your heads off, uh Jeremy um has a uh uh he has a barrel pick of uh Eagle Rare. And he said uh if we wanted to get in on it, we we could. Spencer messaged me and said, Hey, if you guys want to get in on his on his barrel, um let me know. It's uh it's an Eagle Rare. Okay, double nickels for that.

Matt Fox: 16:37

I wouldn't mind a Eagle, is it uh 10-year barrel pick?

Jamie Flanagan: 16:41

I'm sure probably over knowing him and his you know sure selectivity-ness of selection.

Matt Fox: 16:47

I would get behind uh I would get behind that.

Jamie Flanagan: 16:49

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Matt Fox: 16:51

I forgot to share out what we were doing here. It's okay.

Jamie Flanagan: 16:54

Uh anyway, people find it.

Matt Fox: 16:56

So, do we know what we have tasted? Did they post this yet?

Jamie Flanagan: 16:59

Oh, yeah, no. I was uh uh trying to find it. I gotta go back to being me on Facebook. I was switching over to the man cave to share stuff, and then it's all good.

Matt Fox: 17:10

So I got I gotta ask you this question, yeah. Um when we started this podcast, yes, we were we would talk about you know how folks would get into bourbon and they always wanted it to be hotter, hotter, hotter. Yeah, are you moving into that realm of you want to have your face blown off, or are you still consistent with I want to I want to enjoy but not blow my head off?

Jamie Flanagan: 17:40

Um Michigan Breakfast Club. It's so weird. Um, no, no, I don't I don't uh I I like to try those. I'm not gonna buy those to have around the house. Okay. Um, it's fun to try. It's like wow, that's that's blowing my head off. Yay, I'm I'm it's fun and it's great. Uh, and occasionally when I'm out and about, yeah, um, you know, I'll screw around with it, right? Um, but I'm not gonna marry one of those bottles. One, they get they're more expensive, sure, and I'm cheap. And then uh two, yeah, just uh because we have the Kill Mary screw, yeah. I'll screw around with it.

Matt Fox: 18:17

But if you're out and about, are you really gonna spend the money on a stag junior or a stag bottle?

Jamie Flanagan: 18:22

Oh, there's so many, right?

Matt Fox: 18:23

Yeah, it's just a there's so many other things that you could really enjoy and not have your you know the back of your palate blown up. I just curious because you know, I we've changed this. This the realm of the man cave happy hour has really changed over the past number of years, yeah, and we've had a lot of fun. We continue to explore and enjoy and meet some great people. I was just curious where your thought process was when it comes to trying new things.

Jamie Flanagan: 18:49

Yeah, I'll try them. I like trying them, but you wouldn't I'm not gonna buy it and put it on the shelf at home.

Matt Fox: 18:55

Okay, yeah.

Jamie Flanagan: 18:56

Would I like to do that? Yeah, but it doesn't make any sense because when I'm at home, you know, I I might have one fireball back there and not fireball, but one uh flamethrower back there, right? Right. Uh God, I don't I don't want fireball. I don't people drink that. I don't know. It's just you know, good. I'm glad they do because when they drink a lot of that, then those stores get the other Buffalo Trays products. It's just so it makes me happy. It's just cinnamon schnapps rebranded as fireball. It's not gonna be me. Um wow, this candle smells like fireball.

Matt Fox: 19:32

That's cinnamon, you alcoholic.

Jamie Flanagan: 19:37

Yeah. Um, but yeah, so uh who did that? Chad. Chad good donated um that bottle to the group okay in the Michigan Breakfast Club. Is that G-O-O-D-E good? No, just good. Just good, okay. People are coming in. Uh first a couple sweets sip. Uh so uh sips are sweet, but then it finishes drier.

Matt Fox: 20:04

Yeah.

Jamie Flanagan: 20:04

Uh nose. I thought it was weeded and bottled, possibly bottled and bond, but it had it's gonna be at least 110 to 120. Okay. All right. I stuck it all at a I stuck with the uh the bottled, yeah.

Matt Fox: 20:17

I just on the warmth side, it felt it felt more than uh a bottled and bond to me. It felt a lot more than 90, of course, but it just felt more than bottled and bond.

Jamie Flanagan: 20:27

Yeah, it's definitely more than an 80 or 90 for sure.

Matt Fox: 20:29

Yeah, that's why I really went above the uh that's why I'm still saying a buck ten to a buck fifteen. That's where that's where I feel my my uh the heat or the warmth is. Yeah, it's not a bite, it's a guy, it's got a nice coating, if you will. Enjoy that tremendously.

Jamie Flanagan: 20:49

Yeah. I'm I'm I'm I'm responding in the group here. Oh, so I say I'm getting some orange. Uh, I'm gonna say bottled in bond. I'm sticking with uh proof.

Matt Fox: 20:58

You're responding live as we as we record.

Jamie Flanagan: 21:00

I love it. Any any this is great. Watch me type.

Matt Fox: 21:06

Can you are you multitasking right now?

Jamie Flanagan: 21:09

Uh-huh.

Matt Fox: 21:09

Okay, are you sure?

Jamie Flanagan: 21:10

I am uh any chances of Jack Daniels products.

Matt Fox: 21:15

Question mark, question mark, exclamation point. No, by the way. Uh BTW.

Jamie Flanagan: 21:21

All right, five comments so far.

Matt Fox: 21:23

All right. Of this of whoever is in the group.

Jamie Flanagan: 21:26

All right, yeah, terrible at guessing. I liked it. It's hot at AF. Oh, wow. Uh, but would take definitely take another pour. I I would take another pour. Yeah, I'd take another pour of that. That's uh, I'm curious. It's 150. You know, it's like, geez, this person. Uh eight to ten-year-old bourbon over 110. Nice nose. Um, yeah, it's uh uh uh they're throwing out acronyms here, so I'm trying to think of the acronym EH uh Colonel Taylor B P with this EH T B P.

Matt Fox: 22:02

It's funny you say that because not too long ago Colonel excuse me, Colonel Taylor had a a bottle that came out and it was a barrel barrel pick.

Jamie Flanagan: 22:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Matt Fox: 22:16

And my son-in-law actually gave me a small taster of the Colonel H. Taylor uh barrel pick. And it was it was hot. It was about I think it was that came in at a buck twenty-seven or a buck twenty-one. It was uh it was up there, it was up there. So you think this is way more than a hundred? I think it's yeah, I do. Actually, I do. I'm I've already finished it, but yeah, I could lick the bottom of the on Karen, but no, I'm sticking around the one ten at the most.

Jamie Flanagan: 22:49

All right, all right, but I'm I'm sticking around. Hunted sticking around it, honey, hunt five, yeah.

Matt Fox: 22:55

So the curl H taylor, the my my son-in-law, he got me a little taster and I had it, and I put it over a block of ice around a sphere, right? It was really tasty. That barrel, that barrel proof that they brought set out. And I wish I didn't save more because it was so good. I'm gonna have to revisit it because I still have a little bit left. So I wish I had, I wish I had drank it all. It was that good. Yeah, but I still have a little bit left.

Jamie Flanagan: 23:24

Now that I had that last sip, yeah, it feels hotter than I'm but I'm so susceptible to suggestions. The power of persuasion compels you. Yes, it's like I'm so so. Would it be wrong to do number two? Yeah, and all of a sudden it's Christmas. It's beginning to look a lot long. I told you.

Matt Fox: 23:47

I told you. Christmas is two flipping days away.

Jamie Flanagan: 23:54

Uh there's other shenanigans going on in the too. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So that was the other thing. It was a big hit last year. Uh, I've been married to Colleen for 16 years. That's amazing. How long have you guys been married? Forever. Um, and so yeah, 12 kids.

Matt Fox: 24:12

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jamie Flanagan: 24:13

Good lord. Yeah, and she's uh she's one of eight. Um, so I'm only one of four. Uh she's one of eight. There's a lot of them. And then they all had a whole bunch, you know. So a little crazy. So we we've had as many as 42 people seated for dinner at one time on Christmas. Well, I mean, you know, three, four tables across three rooms, but uh that's all that uh that's all everybody had China, everybody had China and Silverware. Colleen's all about the China. So it's like I got my grandmother's China, she's got her grandmother's China, she's got you know, Dennis had gave us somebody's China. We have like we have like a lot of China China, so uh so yeah, so we had plenty of things, and they're like, Oh, don't give it to the kids. It's like what are we gonna do? Sure, it's give it to the kids if they break it, they break it. We have plenty, so you know, but it's it's like you know, it's not like Chelios and smashing them in Colleen was out drinking with Chelios from the Red Wings, and he started breaking. He was a because he's Greek, that's kind of he like oh bah he was like, Yeah, some restaurant, whatever restaurant he was in, and he like smashed a plate, and and they're like Chris, you can you can't do that. He's I'll pay for them. Smash and they're like, Yeah, but we gotta replace them, and it's a pain in the butt. And they're like, Can you stop breaking the damn dishes? Revelries, so but yeah, so it's like hey, use it if some of the happens, some of the happens, you know. Um, but yeah, so we've had as many as like 40, uh 42 people, and and so we started hosting Christmas. Um, her folks were getting a little older um as she and I met, and then we we got married, and we were in in my house in St. Close Shores, which was not large enough to entertain 40 people.

Matt Fox: 25:56

Well, the hot tub in the basement took up all the room, yeah.

Jamie Flanagan: 25:58

So yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, but uh when we got the house in Troy, yeah, um, I think that's when we took over. So we've been in there for 14 years.

Matt Fox: 26:08

We moved in there the second year we were married. I gotta tell you, I I adore your home.

Jamie Flanagan: 26:12

Oh, thank you.

Matt Fox: 26:13

I really do. I go in there and it's just all the old woodwork and the old beams in the ceiling. It's just because it's from 1831. It's just it's in the basement, it's like original beams in the basement.

Jamie Flanagan: 26:26

It's uh logs with bark on them in the basement. Yeah, as a cross beams. It's a lot of nutty 1831. Yeah, it's crazy house. So uh we've been hosting since, and it's like always, yeah, hey, you know, it's we'll have wine and we'll have mimosas or whatever, and then you know, I got you know, whiskies and and spirits and things. Uh, but two years ago, I uh it was coming out of COVID, and we were you know doing the man cave and I was doing a little more cottage we're doing more cocktail-y things, yeah. And uh, I think we did whatever reason we did it, we did like some Star Wars cocktails, yeah. And I was like, it was closing in on Christmas, and I was like, you know what? I'm gonna do, I'm gonna have I'm gonna make a menu, right? And so I I made a menu of like four or five cocktails that uh it's like hey, if you want a cocktail, I'll make one of these, right? So, you know, people could make their own stuff if they wanted to, but I'm like, hey, I'm making cocktails. We want one of these. And people almost everybody had one of my cocktails. It was fun. So it was fun. You played bartender for the day? I did. I was playing bartender. Um, and I think our friend Sarah from a flavor journal in inspired me to uh to do that. Um, I haven't brought her name up in a little bit. No, it's better. We gotta have Sarah back on. Uh, but so I was thinking about all right, so I got my cocktail list from last year, but I wanna I want to change it, right? Because what uh there were two of them are like really complicated. There was like a lot of ingredients in them. There's uh one the Death Star. Yeah, uh, and you gotta use the round the round cube, which is you know the Death Star in it, and then but it was like uh it was like we had it, it was you can go back to that episode last year, and uh it was it was nutty, it was uh just uh the seven or eight liquors. It's like and Jaegermeister is one of them, and I'm like, all right, so the Death Star is coming off the list because one, I'm out of Jaeger, was it the long and ice long island iced tea of cocktails? It's pretty much, yeah, it's pretty much, and so I'm like, all right, well, screw it. I'm gonna, but I'm I'm thinking I'm like I'm gonna change it up, right? So uh you know, uh I I'll change up, I'll do a different four different cocktails this year, but I want to keep them simple. Um, so I'm gonna try this one. It was uh I came across that it was uh a grand old fashion. Oh, so it's old fashioned but with gram minier. Oh so instead of the simple syrup, interesting. In instead of two ounces of bourbon and a simple syrup, one ounce of bourbon, one ounce of gram minier, and the orange bitters and bitters, yes. Interesting. So yeah, so that's why I thought I'd hey, let's give this uh let's give the the holiday cocktail uh a try. Uh huh. Um, what would you like what would you like to see um on a holiday cocktail list if you were going to a friend's house?

Matt Fox: 29:02

Well, I would definitely want to see an old fashioned on the list, but it everyone can anyone and everybody can do it in old fashioned, but to switch it around to the Grand Marnier and you're using makers. Um it is fun, but what would I like to see? I I you know it would have to be something refreshing as well because everything is so heavy on Christmas Day, all the food, the you know, the ham and the stuffing if you guys if you practice that most folks will just set out you know appetizers all day, they'll do the shrimp cocktail, they'll do veggies, they'll do fruits, and just set out a table of munchies all day long. Yeah, but for a cocktail, you want to have something refreshing, you want to have something I guess you could say flavorful, right? And that would be I feel this Grand Marnier with the with the makers as an old fashioned would be the flavor part of your cocktail. So, really, only two cocktails that you need to a spritzer and an old fashioned.

Jamie Flanagan: 30:00

Right, right. Right, right. But the spur. So the old fashioned can easily become a Manhattan or an on the rocks.

Matt Fox: 30:06

Or neat. Whatever you want.

Jamie Flanagan: 30:08

So uh it can morph pretty quickly.

Matt Fox: 30:10

Can you hand me that bottle of Grand Marnier? I just want to get a nose on that one. Sure, sure, sure, sure. Just to refresh my memory. Yeah.

Jamie Flanagan: 30:17

I like doing, yeah, I like doing a Cosmo with that.

Matt Fox: 30:22

That's got a very fruit that Grand Marnier is very it's got a very fruit nose to it. It's a cone cognac and orange liqueur.

Jamie Flanagan: 30:32

And I'm actually using a jigger this time instead of free balling it and destroying us like I did that one time.

Matt Fox: 30:40

Did you I I have to get this in here, Jamie, because you know, in honor of August, did did you finger bang the ice? All right. You're welcome, August.

Jamie Flanagan: 30:49

There you go.

unknown: 30:50

All right.

Jamie Flanagan: 30:51

So and it calls for three dashes of bitters. Oh go five.

Matt Fox: 30:55

Yeah, that's five.

Jamie Flanagan: 30:56

So yeah, I I like going bitter, I like going bitter heavy. I'm I'm a bitter heavy guy. So it's uh I think it makes the cocktail.

Matt Fox: 31:04

Oh, did you did you swap it? So yeah, you did switch them around, didn't you?

Jamie Flanagan: 31:09

Jesus, Mary and Joseph. All right. Um, it calls for an orange or uh uh a garnish, but I I love me.

Matt Fox: 31:19

Is there enough in there?

Jamie Flanagan: 31:20

Oh yeah, because I had two earlier. I love me some cherries, right?

Matt Fox: 31:27

Luxardos. Come on, come on. The Luxardos. I love the Luxardos cherries. They are they're the original OG. I don't know, is there any more in there? There are all right, I feel them.

Jamie Flanagan: 31:41

Can you feel so I'm really excited for cherry to I'm really excited for you for why? For why?

Matt Fox: 31:47

Well, it is December of 2025.

Jamie Flanagan: 31:49

Oh my god, is it ever?

Matt Fox: 31:51

And I am I'm counting down with you, yeah, because May will be here, beginning of June will be here soon.

Jamie Flanagan: 31:59

Not just not just for the Justin Timberlake memes.

Matt Fox: 32:02

No, no, no, it's for for you, and I'm excited because you I okay, so you and I have known each other. You and I have known each other since I was 19. And I am now 51 years old. Yes, so you have been in my life more than half of it. So to see you grow and move into this next uh phase, if you will, of your career or your life. I I'm just happy being a part of it. I'm happy to be here and witness the exponential growth of James Flanagan.

Jamie Flanagan: 32:36

We are witnesses.

Matt Fox: 32:37

I've only had one drink, I'll be honest with you.

Jamie Flanagan: 32:39

Okay.

Matt Fox: 32:40

Oh this is all this is all from my uh stirred.

Jamie Flanagan: 32:43

You did stir it stir 20 times. 20. It's a little this OCD in me. Um, so there you go. So uh we got the cherry garnish in there instead of the orange, but it is what it is. I think with the graminier being super orange liqueur to begin with, right? Cognac and orange liqueur, right? Um I think uh orange orange is just overdoing it. That's just silly, it's just redundant. All right, so cheers. Cheers.

Matt Fox: 33:11

Hey, hey, yeah, there it is.

Jamie Flanagan: 33:14

And and the these are like very cool glasses, Matthew just contributed.

Matt Fox: 33:20

Okay, so that's a tasty beverage.

Jamie Flanagan: 33:25

All right, so that was one to one. Ramonier and uh bourbon.

Matt Fox: 33:30

I'd go a little more bourbon.

Jamie Flanagan: 33:31

I'm gonna go one and a half to half. Yeah. Um, let the bourbon, because I we're a little bit more bourbon forward, but I think my I think uh it gets makers wrong. It gets a little sweeter.

Matt Fox: 33:42

Um I they I can I can feel the bitters in it. Yes, you put an extra couple dashes in there, but I'm gonna add a little bit more of the uh makers here. Yeah. Just give that a stir. Three, four, five, six.

Jamie Flanagan: 33:58

It's half the four, so yeah, so half the stir. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm I'm gonna put that guy on the I'll put this guy on the uh that took you thirty minutes. That took you thirty seconds. It was it's it's two ingredients, right? So it's it's it's the makers of grand manier. Well, three with the the bitters, but does that really count? No. The bitters aren't really uh it's another third, you know, and I count an ingredient, it's like a whole, you know, another bottle. It's a garnish. A whole nother bottle. Yeah, it's yeah, it's like no.

Matt Fox: 34:25

This is a this is a tasty beverage. How much of that grand marnier uh runier? Do you remember?

Jamie Flanagan: 34:31

Um no, I'm not sure what they go. This is the pint. It's not uh not even the fifth. I forget what it was.

Matt Fox: 34:40

That's pretty good. Yeah, I can see where they would want to throw an orange, you know, yeah. Orange into that.

Jamie Flanagan: 34:48

So, but this is it's it's fresh. Um, it's lighter than uh I would say uh the traditional old fashioned, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And depending on how sweet you make your old fashioned, it may not be as sweet. Sure.

Matt Fox: 35:02

That's actually pretty good.

Jamie Flanagan: 35:04

Yeah, I thought it was that's gonna that's gonna go on the that's gonna go on the menu. I will be there. You can you're most welcome.

Matt Fox: 35:10

46 people now.

Jamie Flanagan: 35:12

All right, you're all yeah, we want to the numbers have dwindled. Uh a bunch of my family moved to Florida on me, so that that cut the numbers down.

Matt Fox: 35:21

What are you the baby of the family? Is that why?

Jamie Flanagan: 35:24

So everyone everybody vacated, everybody bolts bolted out on me. They're like, all right, later days.

Matt Fox: 35:30

I'm like, all right, fine, people. Watch this. It's been my best impression of a snowbird. Here you go.

Jamie Flanagan: 35:37

And they're not even snowbirding, they just straight up moved on me. I don't even know where I don't even know where to send the Christmas cards anymore.

Matt Fox: 35:46

So I know you probably talk about the man cave often with friends when you're out and about. Sure. I I do share the man cave with a lot of folks and in my ventures out in public. And one of the things I do share that I'm really proud of is the fact that folks across the globe have tuned in to the man cave happy hour because again, people listen whenever, however, wherever, wherever. We've we've had folks from over from across the pond. Oh, yeah. Uh in Israel. We've had folks uh chime in when uh we interviewed the folks from Milk and Honey, yes in Tel Aviv. Um, England, you know, the uh wonderful folks over at uh High Clerk Castle and what have you. And you know, they they've tuned in, they've listened, and they've and they've enjoyed. I hope they would enjoy. And please, no, share with your friends, you know. Honestly, that's just one of the best things that you can do is really just share what your passion is and start your own podcast. Yeah, and then look to podcast your voice to do so. You don't have to be in studio to do a podcast.

Jamie Flanagan: 36:53

No, no, no. I help a couple people remotely, yeah. Um, to either help them produce their shows remotely. Yeah, uh, they send me money and I tell I tell them what to do. No, but yeah, no, I'm I'm very I'm very happy to help people. I'm very I'm very happy to help people. Um, and and because some people just need it's like it's like a gym membership. Um pay as you go, yeah. Well, it's uh uh it motive you're like, oh, I paid for this, I gotta do it, right? So um if you I guess how many people you see on Facebook and eBay, it's it's uh oh, I was gonna start a podcast, but I'm not gonna do it here. I'm selling the crap, right? So it's like it's but when you rent the studio time, it kind of forces you into a habit into a a cycle and put it on your put on your you put it in the book and you put it and you make it happen. It's a commitment, yeah. Yeah, that's it. So it's a commitment. Uh so yeah, so it's uh I'm here to help you be committed, honestly. And but you want the easy button for it, too. Yes, it is there's a lot of whistles and bells.

Matt Fox: 37:52

There there are a lot of extras that you can get yourself into, and you know, sitting down and talking about your passion is one part of it, sure. But what do you want to get out of it when it becomes to a podcast? What do you want out of it? And it's either it's just millions of dollars, but is is it just is is it just getting things off your chest? Is it a decompression for you? A podcast could be so many things. If if you want it to be a a source of wealth, it takes a lot more work, right? But if you just need to come in and decompress and let shit off your chest, you know, then by all means start a podcast because it can only help you out.

Jamie Flanagan: 38:32

Goals and objectives. Uh, Rick Bloom was a money guy back in the day on 1270, and that was all the things. What are you you you if you're planning for your money, you're doing what are your goals and objectives, right? So people like you know, our parents were like always you gotta buy a house, buy a house, gotta buy a house, gotta buy a cash escape, buy a house, buy a house, buy a house, cash escape. Um, that's not true today, no, right? It's all about your goals and objectives. Renting, uh leasing might be a better option for you. Um depends on your lifestyle. It's it's your lifestyle and your goals and your objectives. So uh that's the use of the money of the smart money personal listen to you. Yeah um, do I want to own a home? So, what are your goals and objectives with with a podcast, right? Um, so yeah, that's what you got to think about. That what are your goals and objectives for that? And me, my goal and objective is is to hang out with Matt Fox and have a couple cocktails.

Matt Fox: 39:24

You know, that's a good goal to I have succeeded. Gangbusters, cheers. No, I I thoroughly enjoy uh folks that you know do share and do like you know our our our posts and our shows and what have you share away, you know. Honestly, they're don't hold back. Yeah, you know, if people it's free, yeah.

Jamie Flanagan: 39:43

Why not roll it on out there?

Matt Fox: 39:45

You don't pay for your podcast?

Jamie Flanagan: 39:46

Like the barrels, roll it on out. They're free wherever fine podcasts are sold. Speaking of which, so actually, not all of them are. You can actually we can monetize we can we can put like a paywall. I'm like, it's like no, no, right.

Matt Fox: 40:01

I think we're I think we're both in agreement on that. I know I know you you said roll out the barrel. Yeah, did you see August when he was in Krakow? He went to a karaoke night. Oh my god, and I really wanted him to do roll out the barrel and karaoke, karaoke in the middle of Poland, all over the world.

Jamie Flanagan: 40:18

It's uh who stole the Kieska? Who stole the Kieska? Come on, everybody! Jame Bouge. Oh my god. All right, uh, Zherkowski is uh my name. So that's uh uh my my pen name. So Thaddeus Zherkovsky. Is it yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, Thaddeus is my middle name, and uh Tad Day Wosh named after my grandfather Tad Daywood. See, I never knew that. Yep, yep. So yeah, I was like kids cool. Kids, oh, what's your middle name, Ms. Flanagan? I'm like, it's like it's like Rumpel Stilskin, man. You ain't never gonna get it. You ain't so you're never gonna get it.

Matt Fox: 40:54

Your middle name is after your grandfather, yeah, as is mine. Oh, right on. Yeah, Warren. Not kidding. That's great. Yeah, but I don't know if I knew that. No, I don't think you did. My uh my my mother's biological father, my granddad, not my grandfather, my granddad, his first name was Warren, and he was a merchant marine, yeah, spent some time on the subs and what have you out in San Francisco, yeah.

Jamie Flanagan: 41:19

So but in school, and like if I'm doing something, yeah, I use the pen name Thaddeus Trikowski because it's like on this on the school paper or something. If I did something, if I did something, I don't want to like just put oh this flash staff, and it's like because the kids didn't do it, I did it. So it's but I don't want to, I was like Flanagan, Flanagan. It's like, oh, what's he you know? So I I put I make Thaddeus Sherkowski when I when I'm responsible.

Matt Fox: 41:40

That's your Richard Bachman, is what you're telling me.

Jamie Flanagan: 41:42

Yeah, pretty much. So that's my Bachman Turner overdrive.

Matt Fox: 41:48

People are like, did he just call him a dick? No, Richard Bachman, pen name of Stephen King. Oh, okay. He wrote Richard Bachman wrote uh The Running Man remake that was just done. Uh that 1980s movie Who Loves You and Who Who Do You Love? Yeah, yeah. And so he also Richard Bachman also wrote yes, The Long Walk. Okay, the movie that just released. That's that's a Richard Bachman story. It was also Rage was another one of his stories. Um, yeah, there were some amazing short stories by Richard Bachman that uh Stephen King penned as Richard Bachman.

Jamie Flanagan: 42:26

Oh look at look at you educating the English major.

Matt Fox: 42:30

Yeah, yeah, there you go. First time ever. Only took 39 years.

Jamie Flanagan: 42:37

I've been bluffing for 26 years, man. How did they how did I 20?

Matt Fox: 42:44

How long is it? Is it 29 years?

Jamie Flanagan: 42:46

Yeah, no, no, it's well, because the Michigan retirement system you could buy into the pension.

Matt Fox: 42:51

No, no, you do you've you've mentioned that. So I'm just I'm 51 now. I met when I was 19. How long has it been? 29 years? Oh uh it's been 29.

Jamie Flanagan: 42:59

No, I mean I've been bluffing.

Matt Fox: 43:00

Oh, you've been bluffing longer than that. Yeah, all right. Well, now now I just learned something new. Yeah, I thought you knew what you were doing the whole damn time.

Jamie Flanagan: 43:08

No, I'm just all just a big my head is exploding right now. Big big, big long bluff. Uh, today's brought to you by our two sponsors. Who's that? Uh it is wearing funny.com. Okay. Uh funny t-shirts, wearing funny.com. There's uh podcast t-shirts on there. Okay, there's some fun Detroit t-shirts on there.

Matt Fox: 43:27

Isn't there something about a highway or a freeway?

Jamie Flanagan: 43:29

There's some on the lodge with it.

Matt Fox: 43:31

Yeah.

Jamie Flanagan: 43:32

Uh yeah, yeah, yeah. And there's some vintage Detroit shirts on there.

Matt Fox: 43:36

Is there a man cave happy hour t-shirt in there?

Jamie Flanagan: 43:38

There is a man cave happy hour shirt in there.

Matt Fox: 43:41

Is it is it a jersey and uh as well?

Jamie Flanagan: 43:44

A jersey too. It's a softball and the uh the softball, the the you know, the three-quarter sleeve and the hockey sweater. No, oh those are those are specials. Oh those are those are specials, all right. But uh, those are specials for us. All right, fair enough. Uh, but yeah, so wearing funny.com and then of course uh my irish radio. I am my irishradio.com 24/7 Irish music just for you. You don't have to listen 24 hours a day, no, but we're there when you need us.

Matt Fox: 44:14

When you can just turn on a radio station, my iris radio.com, and you hear something you've never heard before, but you think you have, that's good radio.

Jamie Flanagan: 44:25

Yeah, I got it set up right now. It uh you'll go six days without hearing the same song.

Matt Fox: 44:30

That's amazing because there's a there's a lot of history in the Celtic Irish music realm.

Jamie Flanagan: 44:35

And I I haven't even I haven't even scratched the surface. No, you have not. Uh I've I've gone the depth of my library, but uh I have not I have not scratched the surface. So I'm building, I'm building the the library.

Matt Fox: 44:47

One thing I do like about my Irishradio.com is that you can send in a request, it's kind of fun, and it's and if you don't have it, you'll get it, right? Or they'll send it to you. And it's like, hey, if you want to hear this, you know, send it to me.

Jamie Flanagan: 45:01

And and I've I've had a bunch of uh Irish musicians, uh people from the states here who do Irish music, and people from the island. I've had a few people from the island send me things. Uh I've had a couple people send me straight up complete 100% AIs.

Matt Fox: 45:13

You've shared that with me, and I'm still on the fence as to whether it should be played.

Jamie Flanagan: 45:17

And I'm a little angry because I like it.

Matt Fox: 45:20

Yeah, I'm on the fence. Um I like what you shared with me.

Jamie Flanagan: 45:23

I didn't I did like, but as I as I as I listened more critically to it, I'm like, okay, it's it's it's thin and a little cliche. The lyrics, yeah, yeah. Some of the in and yeah. Um, so I don't know. I don't, I don't know. I just they're not in regular rotation. Um, I'm not playing them right now. Because if I if you were Bono, let's say you were Bono, and I I was sitting here with Bono, and he's like, Oh, you're playing my music on my Irish radio. That's great.

Matt Fox: 45:49

I want I really want to be the edge, but okay, you can be the edge.

Jamie Flanagan: 45:52

All right, don't get your time, don't think, don't worry, everything's just fine. You get your little cap on. All right. Uh I think he'd be pissed if I was playing that.

Matt Fox: 46:02

Oh, I think so too. All right. Any any musician would be pissed.

Jamie Flanagan: 46:08

While I'm asking musicians to send me their stuff, uh, because I want to highlight them and celebrate them.

Matt Fox: 46:13

Right.

Jamie Flanagan: 46:14

Um, I think they would be annoyed or angered uh if I was playing full blown AI generated. Yeah, full blown AI. I still say stay awake because radio is supposed to be it's yeah, it's but pop radio with all that you know auto-tune and all that. I mean, it's like those, but are those artists, are they singers? Are they is it just they're just they're just they're technology wizards, man. Yeah, it's garbage. Um so I I'm I'm gonna I'm staring clear of that for now. Uh when something comes to my attention that it's AI generated, I really because the first time I listened to you, right, right, right.

Matt Fox: 46:48

But go on, yeah. Akon. So yeah.

Jamie Flanagan: 46:52

Uh there was a it was like a it was a clickbait news story. Uh the number one country song completely AI generated. That's bull. No, it was well, kinda. Uh it was the number one paid for download on Spotify, like two weeks ago or something. It was the it was the number one song paid for, but uh nobody's buying music on Spotify, right?

Matt Fox: 47:14

No, because they're just listening to it, right?

Jamie Flanagan: 47:16

Right, right. So, but it was the the most paid for song. That's wild. And and so it wasn't the number one listened to song, and it wasn't the it was just it didn't appear anywhere on the billboard charts, but uh whoever got a hold of that information and turned it into a clickbait article, um, which got me. Yeah, did you come? And I was like, I was like, oh my god, AI generated number one song, pitchforks, torches, yeah. Let's storm the castle, right? And I was like, what the hell's going on? And then uh I because I had shared the story with somebody else, and then after I had shared the story to somebody else, I realized how stupid it sounded. Um, and so I did research. Okay. After I spread the viral clickbait message, I went and I I checked. Oh, and I did a little research. You're one of those after the fact, yeah, researching after the fact. Yeah, I researched hindsight 2020 of question mark eventually. Um, but no, because I was talking about it was because I was in my craw for a little bit, right? And I was like, wow, this is amazing. I was like, because we were talking about education, I teach high school, so we talk about AI a lot, right? And so it came up in the conversation. It's like, yeah, there was like a country song that was doing really, really well, like in a number one spot that supposedly was all AI. And they're like, No, I go Google number one country song AI, and they Googled it popped right up, but that's all the part of the clickbait uh um articles.

Matt Fox: 48:45

And the website it went to was Jelly J E L L I E. No, no, it was just no, I just think it was just YouTube. Was it Jelly Roll? Jell E J E L L I E R O L E Jelly Roll.com.

Jamie Flanagan: 48:57

Yeah, I don't know. But uh, you know, it wasn't a horrible country song, but yeah, so it was the most popular paid for country single on Spotify, but it didn't appear, it didn't, it didn't chart, it didn't resonate uh on any actual chart. It did not chart, not even on the digital music charts. Good. Um, even though it was digital, yeah. But it was like I because I saw it on like on on you know the local, you know, 247 here in Metro Detroit, those are the three big stations, 2420, 62, 56, whatever. But uh 247, it was on like 2407. Really? Uh a little story about it. I'm like, oh my god, that's it's on the news, it must be true. Uh and then I'm like, you F and Morons are reporting it like it's fact. They like so whoever TV people are so stupid, they didn't research it. They just oh, rip and read. It was a rip and read. All right, so just rip and read. They ripped clickbait and they freaking read it as news on local news.

Matt Fox: 49:56

It's not just it's not Jay's fault, it's not Erica's fault, it's not Amy's fault. They are just reading what is on the prompter. Is that what you're talking about?

Jamie Flanagan: 50:05

It was uh, yeah, it'll it's like it's are there are they are they are they the anchor man? They'll just he'll read anything on the prompter. You put anything up there, he'll read it. Um yeah, yeah. So it's uh that's what that may be a little nutty, but so yeah, with uh my Irish radio, um My Irish Radio. Yeah, that's where we started this. Uh our sponsor there, so thank you to them. Uh if you need a little Irish uh Celtic jams in your in your in your ear earballs, go go grab it.

Matt Fox: 50:35

Are you gonna put out a Christmas list of Irish music?

Jamie Flanagan: 50:37

I'll do a little Christmas. Yeah, I've been getting Christmas music from artists. So nice. Real artists too, not the AI artist. They are AI people, send me a bunch of Christmas work. So did you get Wamageddon yet? I did not get Wamagedd.

Matt Fox: 50:48

I know it's the first city summer only. There's a few folks that have already gotten a big one.

Jamie Flanagan: 50:51

I did not get Whamagedon.

Matt Fox: 50:53

Just don't listen to a certain radio station in the Nutter Detour area, and you'll be all right.

Jamie Flanagan: 50:59

I don't listen to that trying to get a job from them, but I don't uh listen to it. Uh no, I interviewed, I interviewed at Wheels. Uh did you? Yeah, back when I first left DVD, Podell was like, You gotta come in here. So I went talk to the his program director. And but they wanted more. They went and I would have been working on that other station and wow and like the urban station. And I'm like, uh no, I just want a little part-time, you know, I'm not looking for like oh well. We need somebody. I'm like, all right. Well, you're gonna retire here from teaching here pretty soon. So I'll have more time. I could go do that.

unknown: 51:31

I don't know.

Jamie Flanagan: 51:31

You you're an asset, no matter you're an asset no matter what. Yeah, I got you're just an ass, actually. I got uh pretty much, I got fun stuff happening here.

Matt Fox: 51:40

So, Jamie, what's uh what's next for the Man Cave Happy Hour? What do we have coming up? Um anything special in the month of December, like two weeks from now.

Jamie Flanagan: 51:50

Yeah, we're talking to the folks from Double Neat. Yeah, uh, there's a a box we uh did a little opening uh a couple episodes ago.

Matt Fox: 51:57

I'm still thinking about that jerky uh FYI.

Jamie Flanagan: 51:59

Hey jerky, yeah. Uh so yeah, we're gonna do uh the box from uh double neat, and uh there was something else on the horizon, and I forget.

Matt Fox: 52:08

That's okay. You'll figure you'll figure it out.

Jamie Flanagan: 52:10

There's probably it's probably on stream yard, it's probably set up as a stream already.

Matt Fox: 52:14

Um got a couple interviews for and is Animal Talk or uh anything happening in that?

Jamie Flanagan: 52:20

I just rolled a new episode of Animal Talk out as well, yeah. Uh with an animal communicator. She actually I was uh kind of I was kind of uh she was she's like a fitness model too.

Matt Fox: 52:31

Yeah, I saw the picture.

Jamie Flanagan: 52:34

They're like, Why did you why did you interview that girl? I go, just see her picture.

Matt Fox: 52:40

Well, when you shared it with me, and I said, Yeah, I was like, Okay, how come there was no invite? Yeah, I like to get to know folks, you know.

Jamie Flanagan: 52:47

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Matt Fox: 52:48

You know, if she could speak to animals, but I was a little uh I was a little uh I want to know.

Jamie Flanagan: 52:52

Uh I was a little uh uh skeptical, and right, and uh maybe less skeptical.

Matt Fox: 52:59

Uh so you you see you think she's the real thing.

Jamie Flanagan: 53:02

Nah, I don't know. I don't know.

Matt Fox: 53:05

So he's still on the fence, or what?

Jamie Flanagan: 53:07

Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, I don't know. I'm gonna show you a picture of my cat and you tell me what he's thinking.

Matt Fox: 53:11

Oh, I could definitely tell you what your cat is thinking.

Jamie Flanagan: 53:15

Give me food and leave me alone.

Matt Fox: 53:18

My cat's thinking the same goddamn thing.

Jamie Flanagan: 53:20

Give me food, give me food, leave me alone.

Matt Fox: 53:23

Scratch my tailbone and then I'll bite you, and then I'm out.

Jamie Flanagan: 53:28

See ya. That's it. That's it. That's it. Same thing. Um, Jamie, yo, Matt, the OG of Man Cape Happy Hour, August.

Matt Fox: 53:37

We we have missed you, yeah. And we wish you safe travels on your way back from Krakow Is he wait. Isn't he supposed to go to Auschwitz to end the show on a positive note?

Jamie Flanagan: 53:53

His group is taking a tour. I think he was opting out.

Matt Fox: 53:55

I think he's baby, I think he's uh watching the kiddos while they're doing though.

Jamie Flanagan: 53:59

That's uh that'd be oh, gotta watch the kids.

Matt Fox: 54:01

Uncle Augie at work, but yeah, safe travels, August, on your way back.

Jamie Flanagan: 54:06

Yes, and uh everybody uh like, subscribe, uh leave a comment, do all those podcast things in all the podcast places.

Matt Fox: 54:12

That is Jamie Flander. Ah, Matt Fox on the other side there. Thank you, sir. Appreciate your time tonight and the and the cocktail. This is uh this is a really nice cocktail.

Jamie Flanagan: 54:22

So thank you. Ah, we'll see you next time. See ya, cheers.