Man Cave Happy Hour

Death Star Cocktail Night with Sara from a Flavor Journal

Man Cave Happy Hour

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May the Fourth is our excuse to do what we do best: pour something good, talk a little trash, and learn a few things along the way. We’re joined by Sarah from A Flavor Journal, and together we build a Death Star cocktail that’s basically a Black Manhattan with a darker, richer edge. Think rye whiskey for spice, amaro for deep herbal sweetness, and bitters that bring the whole drink into focus, especially when that last molasses note shows up on the finish. Yes, we even break out Death Star shaped ice, because if you’re going to commit to a theme, commit.

Then we turn it into a game: is it a Star Wars planet or a craft distillery? The names get weird fast, the guesses get confident for no reason, and somehow we all learn that whiskey branding and sci-fi worldbuilding live closer together than they should. Between rounds, Sarah shares what it’s like creating small-batch recipes, how she approaches food photography with natural light, and the practical reality that recipes are painfully easy to copy.

We also get real about AI and creativity: if AI “knows” how to write a recipe or build a cocktail spec, where did that knowledge come from, and who gets credit when it’s remixed at scale? Add in a quick ride through Spaceballs 2 excitement, Star Wars side quests, and a closing run of gin recommendations and Detroit distillery talk, and you’ve got a hang that’s equal parts tips and tangents.

Subscribe for more, share this with a friend who loves cocktails and Star Wars, and leave a review if you want more themed drink builds. What’s your pick: blue lightsaber, purple, or something else?

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Jamie Flanagan @DJJamieDetroit

Matt Fox @fox_beazlefox

August Gitschlag @rawgusto

Merch www.WearingFunny.com


Welcome And May The Fourth

Jamie Flanagan

I said hey hey welcome to the man cave happy hour I said hey hey welcome to the man cave happy hour we're gonna drink a fine whiskey and smoke a really fine cigar it is time for happy hour it is the man cave happy hour whiskey cigar spirits the stories that go along with it I'm Jamie Flanagan hi Jamie Flanagan I am Matt Fox and uh we we've got such a fun little ditty to talk about today absolutely and I am David Wright yes I'm hanging out I'm becoming a regular you becoming a regular yeah norm we are we're gonna have some fun we're making a cocktail Matthew yes sir may the fourth be with you well thank you so much wait wait can you say that again may the fourth be with you and also with you peace be with you as you go and with your spirit yes whatever it is um there we go I got my lightsaber ready so all right I am fairly sure we're gonna get tagged on some copyright shenanigans today um it's uh we're talking we're talking over it and we're we're uh we're evaluating it we're we're talking about it so we should be good yes should be critical uh we have we have a game to play yeah uh we're gonna play we're making a a cocktail called the Death Star uh we are gonna we got a game okay that we're gonna play oh my goodness there's so much happening and we uh we have a guest as well would you really uh can I introduce them yeah because we haven't we haven't parted her in forever no we haven't we needed to and I was like they're like I was like we need a cocktail professional to help us with our thing I was like oh sh I know a cocktail professional yeah we do and uh so who Matt who's who's uh so we have we have the uh the the uh honor to have back on the man cave um Sarah from a flavor journal is here back in the man cave happy hour podcast studio Sarah yay welcome back it is so good to see you it's so good to be back thank you it's always interesting when we have somebody and then you know we don't talk to them for a little bit yeah and then you call them up you're like I wonder if they'll if they'll say yes again will they come back and it's like because we're silly and and we've worn out our welcome with with people now and again so Sarah I'm so glad we haven't worn out our welcome with you never always don't don't give us a challenge it could end up badly we'll see after today right right so Sarah a flavor journal it's if I was explaining to somebody you're a foodie and a drinkie uh you're you're a you're a you're a you're a is that what I is that an inappropriate term so but uh you you you do recipes you do cocktails you do quick fixes you do gourmet stuff there's all kinds of things on a flavor journal and they are all flavorful did it did I have that right Sarah yes absolutely right all right the question is what do you do the question is what don't you do right pretty much sometimes I wonder that too yeah but we're so happy to have you back in the band cave is there anything new and interesting on on a flavor journal how are things going things are going really well still you know crushing some recipes all of them are small batch too so I try to keep everything within like the two to three serving realm which kind of makes it a little bit more special and then I need to do a lot more cocktails.

SPEAKER_06

You guys having me here is definitely going to inspire me to get some more of those out because in a minute but I love doing them. So and I've also kind of tapped into like food photography and branding photography for some some national brands I'm at an Airbnb right now actually doing a photo shoot.

Matt Fox

So where where where are you with the Airbnb?

SPEAKER_06

I'm I'm in Kansas City well a suburb of Kansas City if you had said I'm in the Bahamas doing I was like you got you got you got a you gotta no there's outside of my window so that is that is fabulous.

Jamie Flanagan

All right so Sarah on a scale of one to ten where are you at because on cocktails you're at 10 right uh you know the you know your cocktails and you know your spirits but on Star Wars and Star Wars trivia where do you find yourself on a scale of one to ten for Star Wars trivia I'm finding myself in a position to be educated today. Fair play all right all right because all right so we were gonna play a game right and yeah I went to the game and and I was like it's gonna we're gonna play a game and it's going to be is it a planet in the Star Wars galaxy or is it a craft distillery? Right? Nice and then I I'm I'm I'm you know harvesting the internet to pull these things down using various internet tools and oh good for you cheating cheating and I came back with just this lame list. I mean there it was but it was like you know Ardbag it's like you know that's in the Star Wars galaxy. It's got is that a planet you know and it's like it's like oh come on so I had to I had to go back and and dig deeper and dig a dig a second time because the you know Tatooine you know I mean everybody knows everybody knows that there's yeah unless there's unless there's a distillery that named itself after that. Right. So yeah we had to I I had to go back and and dig a little deeper because it it wasn't really challenging for someone who knows some alcohol brands and knows a little bit because I'm not I don't find myself on a scale of one to ten on the Star Wars knowledge I I'd put myself at a six maybe so you're half nerd yeah you know I'm like all right I've seen them I liked them uh you know I haven't committed it to memory or you know oh you had a different uh band on and it's like oh Jesus Mary Joseph sorry Jamie yeah I have the high ground it's it's funny because even something like this a lightsaber yeah yeah there's been so much debate on what is screen accurate and what's not like oh there's a little screw here that shouldn't be there it's people get crazy with it they do and we are not we are not like that no no no no no yeah so but always we we get into the Star Wars is I and and we talk about Star Wars right in my head goes Bill Murray every every time I get I get rid of it.

SPEAKER_03

Can you forget all the creatures in the black and evil mask did he scare you as much as they scared me the Twitter up there.

Matt Fox

It's not worth doing absolutely that's all I gotta say it's not at the uh sorry so so yeah let's I'll do in the march here yeah you're good yeah we're gonna do the march underneath Mr.

Mixing The Death Star Cocktail

Jamie Flanagan

Williams is definitely gonna get it hit us up for this one all right so we're gonna play the we're gonna play the the Star Wars is it a distillery is it a planet yes please but let's get on a Death Star before we do that. Okay. There we go we have a recipe for the Death Star some people will say wow that's amazingly like a black Manhattan and I would say you are absolutely right you are probably right but uh Sarah uh Manhattan the black manhattan uh how do you make uh a black manhattan or as we are doing today the Death Star I make mine so I was saying earlier I think it's kind of a create your own adventure sometimes but always two ounces of rye or bourbon I went with rye I like the spice with the kind of depending on the Amaro you use.

Matt Fox

Right which which rye did you go with?

SPEAKER_06

I went this is a weird one it's called Fred Yervis Fred Yervis we don't know that is that with the J Yervis? Yes J-E-R-B-I-S. Okay and it's it's really good. Okay. So I went with um Brittenhouse rye one ounce of the Fred Yerviso and then I did a couple dashes of Angus dura bitters and a couple dashes of black walnut bitters.

Jamie Flanagan

Okay oh one into that black that's dark okay all right so we um I went to the store and I picked up a ginormous literac ride. I was like ooh it comes in a liter now and uh they've changed the bottling slightly they've added a green label and it says hunterproof but this is just the regular um yeah because people kind of expect that green label on on Rise. Yeah weirdly Sazerak added have you noticed that did you know that they did that well I haven't seen this no I haven't seen this yet but that for some reason clicks in my head because I feel like that's just kind of the yeah so that little label there straight rye whiskey hunterproof um is new on on the Sassy uh rye yeah no that's uh uh but it's it's the same recipe it is it is what it is they were bringing out an I think they're bringing out another expression and so they wanted to differentiate and they wanted to fit in on the rye shelf because there was nothing green on here. It is sazak rye it's kind of like you know almost a standard I love the sazrack rye Sassy's and now that it's available again readily I'm like I'm a I'm a happy camper. Although I had my hand on the written house earlier and I was pulling it off the shelf and then I realized it was a barrel pick written house from A and B liquor and I was like ah I don't want to keep that on the shelf I'm not gonna burn that on a Yvonne Yvonne and company over there they do good picks yeah yeah yeah yeah but I it was like I'm not gonna burn that on a on a cocktail let's uh let's uh do the just a straight I wanted just a straight rye and nothing you know super crazy with the barrel pick so um all right so I already poured this looks crazy already this is like the death star of a of a of a drink in a in a in our chicken it's Monday all right here we go shaker there so um I'm doing it with uh so we're doing the Sazerac the Sazerac rye and then I have um the Ameranino right am I saying that right the Ameranino often used in paper planes um so yeah I got that fella in here I'm looking for the pore lines here without making a total mess all right one two we we actually have Death Star shaped ice cube yeah that's the point yes that's that that's the trick of it there and uh our glassware sponsor uh this evening is uh Firebird Tavern yeah here in Detroit and also they have a restaurant location in Troy so they are our glassware sponsor for the evening and for the bitters for the Death Star we are going for molasses pitchers yes nice from the fee from the fee brothers most most recipes call for two dashes where where were you you did three dashes two of one one of the other I did two of each two of each i'm I did and that's something we learned from some of our bartender friends and mix mix mixed master friends um that a little heavier on the bitter sometimes gives it that that cocktail lounge yes robustness oh yeah this is a is that a is that is that a good way of saying it Sarah I think that's a perfect way of saying it sounds you sold it to me I mean it sounds great three four five six seven eight ten for good measure there's a lot of ice in there yeah there is it'll it'll soak we were chatting up and uh all right I'm gonna stir this bad boy I didn't bring up oh you need a strainer uh yeah it wouldn't hurt strain a wooden lights do you garnish uh your Manhattan or your black your uh bring the cherries and a couple toothpicks a cherry bring that cherry a couple toothpicks we forgot the cherries right you need a so we are garnishing with a a big um the big ice ball um is is our garnish but uh you always need that cherry in there did you uh did I see a big rock in your cocktail there Sarah oh yeah well I mean it's a little it melted a little melted a little bit so pretty good chocolate so but your your your classic Manhattan recipe calls for like a coupe glass right that's that champagne glass that people call it uh and no no ice in it right you you do the ice in the in the stir like I just did just yeah served up rather than on a rock yeah and then but I just figured it would be what is Matt's taking all right he's he's digging in the cherry jar I know just bring them you have cherries oh they're in the closet oh yeah the brain like a chicken so I hid the cherries in the closet because some of our podcasters were like going to town and eating yeah I think they were just sitting and eating out of the jar cherry jar I'm like all right well I'm gonna get some marashinos I'm gonna get some Shirley Temple for them yes so I I'm kind of as I pour I'm pouring like a little bit in each as I go that way it's uh even the bottom this is a yeah that's a big drink that's a it's a big ball in there that's what it is oh that's true yeah we gotta the ball takes up the material off sent the uh the density man now I remember what it was like going through my mother's uh liquor closet can't find anything you're my density I mean I mean my destiny all right almost there almost there with this uh Death Star Matt did we get a comment up there we're almost there with the Death Star cocktails somebody's chime in and we got a couple people watching thanks for joining us oh August here on the man cable oh all right all right that doesn't count it's only August that doesn't count so yeah it's just August all right so August uh unfortunately was not able to be here with us tonight and he is the most unhappiest person about it because he is a huge Star Wars fan massive massive you should see his Han Solo collect collection that he has it's impressive a massive collection of dolls at home it's what we call them dolls direction figures there you go Matthew there's your well thank you sir um there's your cherries for that I just dripped all over my hand I like the I like the Firebird Tavern logo on our glasses because it's very empire esque it's very rebellio yes it is very rebellious I didn't even realize it's got a decidedly rebel feel to it so I was glad we were using the Firebird Tavern glasses today because it's fitting all right so there you go that is the Death Star let me turn that around so you can see it with the ball of ice there.

Matt Fox

And there we are so Sarah cheers gentlemen appreciate you thank you that's a nice man that's that's a nice desk Jamie I I think I know what you're gonna be doing in retirement. That's a death nice death you're gonna be you're gonna start working at the bar oh the walnut the the the yeah yeah the the molasses comes in at the very very end yes I can't catch it right yes so do your bitters hit you at the very end Sarah when you when you first sipped it did your bitters hit you at the end of it or uh at the very beginning no more towards the end towards the end of the yeah the molasses the molasses I think that sounds so cool.

Jamie Flanagan

I was like this is rich yes but I wasn't getting that and then at the just at the very end it came through. It's tasty the Sazerac holds up the Sazerac holds up on a cocktail you still got the little bit of spice not it's not a bite it it's a spice and it's a warmth uh that's still there and that that's super nice that is fun yum so Sarah the the photography that that you're doing what kind of what kind of lighting do you use?

SPEAKER_06

You got a ring light you got some big box lights that you just use you do you use your just use your cell phone no I no it's just all natural light and I just have my like prof you know my camera gear and all of that and I lug it all around with me but I don't know why I'm just so anti-artificial light even though it'd make my life easier but I like to make everything hard. So I mean yeah whatever I just stick away natural light all the time.

Jamie Flanagan

Yeah so yeah and I this one I I because I do yearbook and newspaper for another 22 days at school and uh when I teach my kids that and I'm like you know the flash the flash is the devil don't don't use the flash oh yeah yeah yeah flash is flashes don't natural light natural light natural light um unless you absolutely have to use a flash or you know and a video yeah you need light for video sure we light things up and it really upsets the photographers when they do so what you know Jamie has been playing weddings and events for a very long time I've done a number of events as well and there was nothing worse than a videographer on the dance floor and you have a nice dark dance floor and they're out there with a really bright light and they're trying to you know get video people dancing and the light is and it just kills your dance floor.

Matt Fox

Yeah and then the photographer's like shut that off you know it's yeah but natural light is the way to go from what from okay is there is at is there a peak uh time in the evening times it's sunset time right but there's a light that you can get when the sun is setting and that's like the perfect for pictures is that something you look for as well I don't so much I feel like the golden hour is so good for like you know people and parks and whatever.

SPEAKER_06

And I yeah definitely like if there's kind of like a picnic setting or an outdoor setting that's amazing. But I'm weirdly I have this window of like 11 a.m to 3 p.m when I'm typically at home because I have this one window that I use and that's when the lights just best for it. I'm just weird.

Planet Or Distillery Trivia Game

Jamie Flanagan

But then here at this place and like surrounded by windows so I'm like I can just do whatever it's like a free for all it's nice so it's from 10 a.m till 5 p.m morning shoes night shoes we're good we're good oh man that means I gotta work longer darn it oh right this was the perfect excuse to stop working I was like oh man I gotta drink a black hat and hang out with some cool guys harm yeah you're you're welcome yeah so well thus far we're still cool let's let's hold hope hope hold on to that all right we've got a ways to go yeah as we uh as we dive deeper into the Star Wars yeah nerddom nerddom what did i i called that earlier a planet uh druidia planet planet uh nerdopolis or something i was like i'm like i'm sorry i don't come from planet nerdopolis i don't know these things okay but so the game that we're gonna play Sarah we're gonna subject you to uh uh because Matt knows all of these things I try to I try to David is here and can see my screen I'll fake it out I'll promise not to look although I will probably I I I do have some knowledge but I'll I'll sit back a little bit I will fake it till I make it all right but Sarah we'll work with we'll work with you the first we'll go over the the the crappy list later too but I I found I went we went deeper we had the the internet machine to dig a little deeper and take a second run at it and I I think we have a couple good ones here.

Matt Fox

Alright so Sarah is this a planet somewhere in the Star Wars galaxies or is it a craft distillery which one did I want to do I wanted to do oh the suspense is killing savarine is it a is it a planet or is it a distillery savarine a planet it is a planet there it is all right here we go I gotta I gotta share if it's a planet I'm gonna see if I can find out where in the universe in the Star Wars universe that was actually found in Star Wars legends and also a soul uh a solo story.

Jamie Flanagan

See the the advantage you have Sarah is that you're you're really good with spirits and I'm sure you know a lot of big and little spirits so you're probably your spirit game probably helped you with that a little bit we're gonna go with that shot in the dark that was just a guess it sounded more planet E thanks. Yeah all right you guys might not have me back after this fail you miserably next time you're here you're in person just saying what about what about Moncala Moncala is it a distillery is it a planet Moncala I'm gonna

SPEAKER_06

Distillery. Nope.

Jamie Flanagan

That that was another that was another planet.

SPEAKER_06

See, here we go.

Jamie Flanagan

Yeah, two words, Monkala.

Matt Fox

Yeah, Mon Cala was actually again in Star Wars Legends and also in the clone wars in 2011 in the TV series. So there you go. See, I that's why I have the nerd phone. That's that's that's me.

Jamie Flanagan

All right, David. Boon the Haven. Boon the Haven. Watch your mouth. It's uh Boon Nahaven. Is that a planet or a distillery? Boon Nahaven.

SPEAKER_11

Careful. I'm trying to decide. I'll just slip a coin. Planet, planet.

Jamie Flanagan

It's a planet? I didn't know that's a distillery. Oh, yeah. Boon Nahaven is a distillery.

Matt Fox

What type of distillery do we know?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, but a chicken.

Jamie Flanagan

Spirits of some sort.

Matt Fox

Okay.

Jamie Flanagan

There's one here, it's like Westland. Okay.

SPEAKER_11

It's like Westland's not gonna be Westland's not a planet, you mean? All right.

Jamie Flanagan

So what about this one? Is Sarah? What about tealing?

SPEAKER_06

Tealing?

Jamie Flanagan

Tealing.

SPEAKER_06

I'm gonna go distillery.

Jamie Flanagan

Yeah, that's Irish. That's an Irish whiskey. Did you know that was an Irish whiskey? No, no. Oh, yeah, yeah. Tealing. That's a that's a that's kind of a big one.

SPEAKER_06

I would imagine. I'm weird with I don't know. I need to learn more about Irish whiskeys, that's for sure.

Jamie Flanagan

Fair play. And then there's like St. George Spirits. It's like, why are you giving me that? St. George Spirits, that's not a planet.

Matt Fox

Planet you is it's planet St. George?

Jamie Flanagan

And then haven't you ever been?

Matt Fox

That in style.

Jamie Flanagan

Right. Oh, there's another one, the Dingle Distillery. It's like, okay, these are these are not distillery is in the name, right? I know.

SPEAKER_02

Um what in blazes are you talking about?

Jamie Flanagan

All right, what about this one? Tele Telebardium. Telebardine. Telebardine? Telebardine. Telebardine.

SPEAKER_05

Is it my guess?

Jamie Flanagan

Yeah, sir. We're just picking on you. Yeah, we're just I'm just picking on you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I'm gonna go plan it.

Jamie Flanagan

Oh, see, that's a distillery. Oh, and then there's a bunch of them here that have like glens in them, and it's like all those glens are scotches. I mean, uh you know, Glenn, anything is gonna be a damn scotch, right? It's like you can't uh this one, this one, Matt. What do you about think about this? Well, you guys you're looking at your star. No, no, you're a star wars guy.

Matt Fox

But go on.

Jamie Flanagan

Uh Dean Stoon. Dean Stoon? Dean Stoon. Dean Stun with a D. D, yeah, Dean Stoon.

Matt Fox

I'm gonna go distillery.

Jamie Flanagan

Yeah, it is a distillery. But it sounds like a planet.

Matt Fox

It does sound like a Dean Stoon sounds like a planet in the Star Wars galaxy, I have to say. It's right, it's right up there with put it in there. Rodea. Yeah.

Jamie Flanagan

All right, Sarah, one well uh Dave, how about this one? Jada. I know.

SPEAKER_11

I I think Jada's a planet.

Jamie Flanagan

Jada is a planet. Yes. Is it Jeddah or Jada? Take your pick. Jada.

Matt Fox

It depends on what diet. It depends on what side of the planet you're from. Yeah, it depends on what side of the planet you're from, which dialect you got.

Jamie Flanagan

Yeah, Jetta. Well, Jeddah is very Star Wars y. Yeah. Star Warzian. Jeddah. So man, there's so many of these different names. Did we say sorghan? No, we did not. What is Sorgan? That's uh sounds tasty. Oh, real quick. Dave, what do you think? Sorgon? Or distillery? It's it's I'm I'm that's a tasty place to be wherever you are.

SPEAKER_11

Honestly, I don't remember ever hearing that, so I'm gonna say distillery.

Jamie Flanagan

It's a planet. S-O-R-G-A-N.

SPEAKER_04

What are you people?

Matt Fox

Sorgon, where was that in the Star Wars universe? Sorgan. I'm gonna find it. I'm gonna find it. Yeah, I am gonna find it. Sorgan was in the Mandalorian, actually.

Jamie Flanagan

Ah, okay, right on. I like the Mandalorian like a lot.

Matt Fox

A lot. So you're are you gonna go see the new Mandalorian and Grogu movie?

Jamie Flanagan

Yeah, yeah. And it wasn't really Grogu. It was just it. I mean, that's great. He's great and all, but it's a Mando. Yeah, Mando's just that turmoil, man. That's uh good stuff. That inner inner angst, he's an angsty guy. You gotta give it up to Pedro. You really have to give it to Mr.

SPEAKER_11

Pascal for what's been like an everything under the sun in the last five years. Yes, everything you can do, pretty much. Well, I mean, yeah, right.

Big Mac Rice Bowl Recipe Hack

Jamie Flanagan

He's on contract with somebody. That's what dang sure.

Matt Fox

Yes, he is. Sarah, I have to ask you, what has been one of your more recent recipes that you've been working on that kind of surprised you with how well it came out?

SPEAKER_06

Oh, that is such a good question. Good job, Matt.

SPEAKER_11

Every once in a while, you know.

SPEAKER_06

I'm trying to think of, oh my gosh. This is really random. I'm just gonna say the last one that I did okay published, but it's it's a rice bowl recipe, but it's like Big Mac inspired. Oh it's actually like so good. But the ground beef is cooked with like onions and mustard, so for that like cheeseburger kind of like flavor. And I just put like crisp shredded lettuce and rice, and then like onions, I think, in the bowl because there's no tomato and stuff like that on a Big Mac. But then I put crushed potato chips on top for like a French fry kind of thing. And then just like a homemade Big Mac sauce over everything. And I was like, this was, I mean, it was actually so easy to make, but it tasted really, really good.

Matt Fox

So you didn't use Thousand Island dressing. How did you make your special sauce?

SPEAKER_06

I went with like a mayonnaise ketchup, and then if you get like the dill pickle relish, or just chop up dill pickles and then add a little bit of the juice too, and a little bit of mustard and just like a touch of salt and garlic powder, I think is how I did it, and onion powder. It was just like sounds great, it's so good, and it's so easy. So yeah, so that's a thanks for the question. I hadn't thought about them that one bit.

Matt Fox

So you're welcome. And that that actually sounds something like I could actually make.

SPEAKER_06

And my favorite cheat is that like rather than making rice from scratch, I just get like the microwaveable pouches of rice.

Matt Fox

Absolutely, yo, you know, there's a cheat code.

Jamie Flanagan

I love it.

Matt Fox

There's a there's a coffee shop here in Clausen, it's called Noble Fish, I believe. And they have it's a market, and it's also you can get coffee, you can then you get sushi, you have everything there. But the market, they've got this pet this box of sticky rice that you can buy, and it takes one minute to make in the microwave. You just pop it in, don't take the cover off, you pop it in for one minute, and it's sticky rice. It is really good. You actually it, but it's it, but I I miss rice, I really do. I haven't been able to eat it in a while. Damn it.

Jamie Flanagan

Yeah, I was sitting here, I'll chow down on some Thai food stupid carbs in front of Matt. He's eating a salad, and I'm like narping on this big old bucket of Thai soaking into some white rice.

SPEAKER_07

I'm so I'm just salivating over here watching him eat rice, you know, whatever.

SPEAKER_05

Can I just sit near you? Can I just yeah, just take a look at it? I'm gonna eat my curry.

Jamie Flanagan

All right, so we got our big Death Star Yes ice ball in there. If you see along the center of the Death Star ice ball, the equator, right? That big equator, like the line and the star, right?

SPEAKER_11

Now that that's the trench run.

Jamie Flanagan

No, no, that is uh a star Star Wars faux pas. Uh, the big black ring at the equator is not the trench. No, one, not the trench, two wasn't supposed to be there. That was a mistake because the two have shrunk and they had to fill. So it was actually a mistake. The actual the actual trench of the run is more near the north pole of it, and it's a north-south trench than the Death Star.

Matt Fox

That's why the missiles had to go down into the center. That wasn't in the center, it had to go down into it.

Jamie Flanagan

Uh huh. So, yeah, so that's a nerding out on that. But these ice balls, when you make these ice balls in these molds, you get that cool equator.

SPEAKER_11

I just always I just lost my nerd card because I had no idea about this before. I swear.

Jamie Flanagan

Because it's it's it's you know, yeah, but brain like a chicken. May the it's the may the fourth be with you. So all that stuff's coming up on the on on my, you know, and we talked about when I was talking about to doing a Star Wars episode. Yeah, and so the the AI and the bots and the the algorithms were throwing all this Star Wars stuff back at me. And it was you know, and it was like, yeah, and I was like, I clickbaited the hell out of it. Uh-huh. And uh after 40,000 other images and ads, I finally got that uh quaint little little story um about the uh that black equator is not the trench run. Most people think it is. The trenches up near the north pole as it runs north and south. Okay, so there you go. So Tony chimed in.

Matt Fox

Tony's oh look at Tony's here.

Jamie Flanagan

Okay, cool. Yeah, I love when people check in and just say hey. Good evening, Tony. Hey, hey back, hey, back at you.

Matt Fox

That's actually Wayne Smith. That's Mr. Wayne Smith chimed in.

Jamie Flanagan

I've kind of modeled my whole look after you, yeah.

Matt Fox

Right.

Jamie Flanagan

It's uh Hispanic. No, it's uh that's kind of anyway.

Matt Fox

He's watching on uh YouTube.

Jamie Flanagan

Oh, fair play.

Spaceballs 2 And Star Wars News

Matt Fox

So all right, so um, so I actually have to ask everybody here in the studio and Sarah. I have to ask you, are you guys Mel Brooks fans? Oh, yeah, anybody here Mel Brooks fans? Absolutely. You ever what was the last Mel Brooks movie that you saw, Sarah?

SPEAKER_06

Oh gosh. My I'm gonna say honestly that my husband's more of the Mel Brooks person, but I know that I I know that I've seen what is it like blazing saddles and blazing saddles?

Matt Fox

Okay, yeah, more beans, Tagger. No, no, you've had enough. So Spaceballs 2 is coming this year, yes. And is it this year or next year? No, no, you're making spaceballs too.

SPEAKER_11

It'll probably be next year, just based on making fast because those people aren't young. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Jamie Flanagan

What's really we're all we're fans and we're old, so they are yeah.

Matt Fox

What's really intriguing to me is that Mel Brooks is a genius, yeah. Well, for one, because in the first one they said wait till Space Balls two, the search for more money, right? But Josh Gadd, who eerily looks a little bit like Rick Moranis, yes, is going to play Dark Helmet's son in Space Balls 2. Oh, okay, to my understanding, is Rick Moranis coming back? Because he Rick Moranis is going to come back because he took a hiatus from from Hollywood, yeah, from acting in period, yes, to raise his children and you know be a big part of their family, uh big part of their lives. But he is reprising his role as Dark Helmet, and Josh Gadd is playing his son, to my understanding. But Josh Gadd actually wrote the script for Space Balls 2. Search for more money, the search for more money. Is it called that? No, it's not actually it should be, yes. But he actually went to Mel Brooks, Josh Gadd did, because he he kind of got a name behind him with Frozen, Frozen 2, and what he did on Broadway. And you know, he actually worked for Disney right as a what a tourist person on the safari. Oh, no, he actually worked for Disney. Oh, fun. And he that's what he wanted to do. He was a cast member. He was a cast member, but uh he wrote the script and he took it to Mel Brooks, and Mel Brooks said, Yeah, I think we could do that. But Mel Brooks is gonna be a hundred flipping years old when the movie comes out. Yeah, yeah, God love him. God, and he's he's in the movie too, yeah, as yogurt, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_11

So I know I know we're talking like Space Balls too to fit into the Star Wars thing, but that back to Mel Brooks. One of my favorite I and I and when I say it, you guys will know my best scene of any movie of his was on high anxiety when the guy is talking in therapy and he said he used to have dreams of werewolves and he had neck pains. Then Harvey Corman shoots him in the neck with a paperclip. Oh, the pain is back. Yeah, I I've watched that a thousand times.

Jamie Flanagan

And I have never been doing it to clients.

SPEAKER_11

It's never not funny.

Jamie Flanagan

I get a client companion about mystery pains in their neck. Oh, I know. They're getting a rubber band and a paperclip on my counter just in case.

SPEAKER_11

Then he puts the teeth in, he's like, No, no.

Matt Fox

So, Sarah, when you watch Blazing Saddles, what uh what scene sticks out stuck out for you? Oh my god. Be careful, be careful.

SPEAKER_10

Because we all know what we're talking about. Oh man. I don't know. I don't know. It's been so telegram for Mongo that escalated. I'm feeling I mean that really got out of hand fast.

Jamie Flanagan

No, you don't, you have nothing to recollect, you just know you've seen it. You see this steady as a rock, but I shoot what this shoot name. All right, so oh man. Dom de Luise is the choreographer at the end, right? Yes, oh my gosh. He's the best choreographer ever. Yeah, flossy, fussy, fussy, fussy. Anyway, all right.

Matt Fox

But yeah, uh, I'm really excited for uh space balls too because they they had to get special permission. Mel Brooks had to get special permission from George Lucas and company, Lucasfilms, to do space balls. Yeah, right. They had to get that permission to do so to parody it.

Jamie Flanagan

That was so bad. I mean, it's good. It is it is it's so Mel Brooks, it's so bad, you know, that it's it's good.

Matt Fox

I just re-watched it last week, for goodness sake. Yeah, we did.

Jamie Flanagan

We had watched it. Colleen and I had Colleen had it on and I joined the party, right? Yeah, probably four weeks ago or so.

Matt Fox

Yeah, so I I I'm really I I'm actually kind of excited for Space Balls too, but I am actually kind of excited to see what happens next in the Star Wars universe. What are they doing? Because they just uh dropped the Darth Maul, Darth Lord uh animated series. Uh it's like 10 episodes, and it just finished the season finale today.

Jamie Flanagan

Yeah, see, I've I haven't gotten into any of the animated ones, and I guess to know all the stories, you're supposed to watch all those things, and I just haven't it's just a continuation of the story of that character a year after whatever happened after he had uh perished, you know.

SPEAKER_11

Spoilers, yeah, after he was cut in half, cut in half, right?

Matt Fox

Right.

Jamie Flanagan

So it's just yeah, how do you survive that? I don't turn to this big spider egg thing. I don't know and no, no, but on on Facebook, there's uh now there's all these AI, yeah, like mini shorts on on social media, right? And so you'll I'll I'll get I'll go down a rabbit hole watching these like 10-minute, eight-minute AI generated Star Wars shorts. And they're you know, they're not you know, they're just somebody with like way too much time on their hand and way too much computer power created these things.

SPEAKER_11

Well, that though and that's been going on for years, like especially with the with the two franchises, Star Wars and Star Trek, these fan films, fan fiction, yeah. But the problem is, and we're talking about Star Wars.

Matt Fox

No, no, I know don't say the bad word.

SPEAKER_11

No, but but I'm saying that that that they the the makers are like, no, you can't right you can't be creative with our property, our intellectual property, right? Right, yeah.

AI Scraping And Recipe Credit

Matt Fox

So Sarah, with intellectual property, as you are making recipes, yeah, yeah. So are are you copywriting or are you doing anything special? So you are putting yourself out your stuff out there so no no one else can copy it or say, I made this, and it's actually yours.

SPEAKER_06

No, unfortunately, with recipes, it's such a like you could you could copy someone's recipe and change maybe two words in it, and then it's yours. Oh my goodness. And AI, I have such a strong opinion on AI.

Matt Fox

Okay, share. Please share. This is a this is a platform for you. So go ahead. Yeah, yeah.

Jamie Flanagan

Where are you at with the people going, I want to make cocktails, I'm gonna AI this.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, well, and like AI wouldn't know how to make anything unless it scraped all of that information from creative people who produce it and put it on the internet.

SPEAKER_11

Yep.

SPEAKER_06

So it's like it's stealing, but you can't really do anything about it. And so I just find it very disheartening that like humans are the ones who have created all of these things, and AI is just like, oh, I'll just take something from this person and this person, and I'll just put it all together and hope for the best. And you know, people are like, Oh, I'll just ask AI because it's easier.

Jamie Flanagan

And I'm like, Oh, but there's that's how I come up with this first list. Well I did so. The first list it gave me, the first two ones were Tatooine and Artbag. What well, okay. So how are how are you how are you stumping the chump with that? You know, have to be Sarah, you know nothing about nothing about nothing about Star Wars, but I I would wager you would know that Tatooine is a planet in Star Wars.

SPEAKER_06

I mean that would be a yeah, a strong guess on my part.

Jamie Flanagan

And then Naboo and Lafroy.

SPEAKER_06

Well, I mean, obviously, yeah, bless you.

Jamie Flanagan

They had Bladnock. You know, it's like that's a pretty popular, and then anything with the Glenn in and Glenn Glenn uh Glen Drawn Glen Dra Drawnick. Glen Drawnick. Glenick Glenick.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

Jamie Flanagan

What else? Uh there's a these are the pronunciations are crazy. Brooklady. It sounds Irish. Brook Laddie. And it's crazy how it's spelled, though. It's like it looked, there should be an itch on it, but it's B-R U I C H L A D D I C H.

Matt Fox

What did you just call me?

Jamie Flanagan

Right, right. And that's Brooke, and it says it's pronounced, and that's well, that's the stupid computer telling me how it's pronounced, too. And it says Brook Lottie. I don't think that's Brook Laddie. I don't think it's I think it's uh Birch Laddich or something. Anyway, Belveni. Belveni, yeah. You know, that's and again, so these are like really, really obviously uh Genosis.

Matt Fox

That's a pretty popular geonosis, genonosis, yeah. Geonosis is a planet.

Jamie Flanagan

That's a pretty that's a pretty big, that's a pretty big important one in the whole.

Matt Fox

That's where the biggest battle in the Clone Wars happens in the movies.

Jamie Flanagan

All right, fair play. So right, I knew that was I knew that was a big one. So these were like all the and then lavagulin, right? It's like, all right, it's like these are like all the big dogs. It's like this is not a this is the I want it to be a crafty game.

SPEAKER_11

If they're gonna do a list like or if they're gonna like attack a clone, it needs to be very uh like more obscure distilleries.

Jamie Flanagan

Yeah, but here's and here's what I'm really curious about. What's that? What is the the the auto the AI transcript of this is gonna look like?

SPEAKER_04

That's too plaid. They've gone plaid.

Jamie Flanagan

It's like no, it's like that in the Bugs Bunny commercial, the little salamander jumping from color to color, and he jumps.

Matt Fox

Can't oh, I thought you were I thought you were talking about space ball one oh ridiculous speed, ludicrous speed, you know, and then they pass over.

Jamie Flanagan

Oh, they do no that's a bugs bunny cartoon, right? They got the little chameleon and jumps from color to color, and it's like he jumps, he can't do flat anyway. I've learned more from Bugs Bunny than uh anything. Sarah, you're you're a little younger than we are. A little. Did you it was a bugs bunny, or or were you like because that by the time I think you and Matt, you got I'm I got a couple years on you, it was all like the Muppet Babies and and the Scooby, not Scooby-Doo, but the shaggy do or whatever. The scrappy scrapbook was all the way. It was like all the it was like Muppet Babies and and it was like second generations of these shows like the babies and small things, and it was like it was like but it was like the Animaniacs, right? Right, came after. Although they were they were they were crafty in their own way, yes, they were, but still it was like a another generation, the traditional old you know, Yosemite Sam, you know, the really racist stuff.

Matt Fox

Yeah, I'm the rootiness, tootiness, turn but I don't know.

Jamie Flanagan

Let's work some cliches into this mix, can we? But Sarah, I think uh did you learn from Bugs Bunny, or was it like the that younger Bugs Bunny babies garbage?

SPEAKER_06

No, I was on the cusp of like the OG stuff. Like my okay, good fifth grade trapper creeper. This is such a weird throwback, but it wasn't.

Matt Fox

Give me a good trapper keeper story, please.

SPEAKER_06

It was well, it was like my favorite color of the time, which was cerulean blue. I was so particular about it, which is odd in itself, but it was the Tasmanian devil because I didn't that so yeah, you never knew what he was saying, but everything that he was saying, you knew was just he was just cursing whoever out. Everything was I feel that, and I like that nice.

Matt Fox

Yes, yes. I I learned from Bugs Bunny that it's okay to cross dress. Ah, yes, yes, and I did learn from Bugs Bunny that you can win blackjack with one card. That's it.

Jamie Flanagan

So 21 har har I got most of my I got I got most of my cross-dressing from Monty Python.

SPEAKER_07

Okay, and kids, right? Kids is a mall.

Jamie Flanagan

I squish you'll hit, I squish you'll hit. That's where most of my cross-dressing came from. So anyway, well, sir, we've taken a turn.

SPEAKER_06

I'm here for it.

Jamie Flanagan

Oh, we've made it from Star Wars to cross-dressing with Dave Foley. That's these I know.

Matt Fox

I know, I know. These are the Daves I know.

Jamie Flanagan

All right, fair play, Sarah. If you were in uh the Star Wars galaxy, what what side would you be on? Oh that's a great question. Uh you know, not all not all heroes are heroes.

Matt Fox

Not all heroes wear capes either. Not all heroes wear heroes, not the dark side. Was that a question?

SPEAKER_02

I don't know.

SPEAKER_10

I don't know how any of this works.

Jamie Flanagan

It was a pretty stupid question, Sarah. Honestly, I actually it's a pretty I just kind of winging it.

Matt Fox

I kind of like that question because you Sarah's kind of thinking maybe the dark side for a minute.

SPEAKER_10

I was like, you know, that's the wrong answer, right? No, I mean I don't know, that's where all the power is. Power in the dark side.

Matt Fox

Do you have patience, Jamie? Do I have patience? Yeah.

Jamie Flanagan

Yeah.

Matt Fox

Yeah.

Jamie Flanagan

22 days, man. Oh. Jesus, Mary Joseph. Yeah. 22 days. I've been saying, they're like, Do you pray a lot? I'm like, what? You're like, Jesus, Mary Joseph. I'm like, that ain't praying, brother. All right. That's me not saying you fucking. Anyway. Rugger, frigger, frigger, rigger, frigger.

Matt Fox

If you could wield a if you could wield a lightsaber, what color? What color would it be? Well, there's uh there's like three major colors of it. There's blue, there's there's red, pink. You know, it looks like pink. It looks pink, but it's red. Blue, red. Or purple. And purple, yeah, yeah, yeah. And also green. There's four. I'm I'm down with the blue. Down with the blue? Yeah. What color is your lightsaber?

SPEAKER_11

I would probably go purple only because there was only one that I know of, which was Mace Windu.

Matt Fox

Mace Windu, yeah.

Jamie Flanagan

He's not dead.

SPEAKER_05

Dark and be one.

Matt Fox

It's just because of Samuel Jackson, isn't it? Right. Okay.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, absolutely.

Matt Fox

Zero?

SPEAKER_05

I'm gonna go purple. Ah, nice.

Matt Fox

Not cerulean blue?

SPEAKER_05

I mean, it wasn't an option. Okay.

Jamie Flanagan

If you said cerulean blue, right there.

SPEAKER_06

Then it's a different story.

Jamie Flanagan

Which actually sounds like a song about a Star Wars planet. Cerulean blue? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it does actually.

Matt Fox

Is that by Erasure?

Jamie Flanagan

Yeah, yeah, I think so. Yeah, all right.

Matt Fox

That's called Blue Savannah actually.

Jamie Flanagan

Something like that. Sarah, I do believe that uh these Death Stars are kicking in. Yes, they are.

Favorite Gins And Detroit Plans

Matt Fox

They are doing their job mighty well. So last question for you, Sarah. What are you going to be uh working on over the next coming months? Anything uh on your docket?

SPEAKER_06

Well, definitely more cocktails now. I feel like we should revisit. Well, we I should come up with some new ones, and then maybe we can reconvene and discussion.

Jamie Flanagan

Yeah, because uh absolutely what we introduced, uh we got introduced because I was searching with the uh Matt, hold up. Yeah, I don't think uh I was searching for what to do with the Luxardo juice, you know, not the Luxardo liqueur, which is fun and is great in a bunch of cocktails, uh, but the Luxardo juice because it's like so tasty, and it's like, what do you do with it? And you had a wonderful recipe for a man of war, and then I was like, ah, talk to this girl who came up with this recipe. And then and then you made us uh uh uh a cocktail unique to the man cave, which was the uh witty comeback. The witty comeback, which I was gonna make for my welcome cocktail today, and I forgot to do it.

Matt Fox

Um does the witty comeback have an H in it?

SPEAKER_06

Uh it can. The Whitty Comeback? Maybe it should.

Jamie Flanagan

Only an odd number months.

Matt Fox

It's like who whip quick. So yeah, we'll we're happy to be your test kitchen.

Jamie Flanagan

But yeah, so um, let's do some more cocktails. Yeah, come up with some more cocktails. I eat like a cocktail or two. Um let's pick a spirit. Let's like not do whiskey, right? Yeah, let's do a different gin. Gin? Gin gin gin? What do you want?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, she's saying. I mean gin, definitely. Yeah.

Jamie Flanagan

So what what uh let's go, let's go down the gin rabbit hole for a second. Uh what are some of your favorite gins? Well, I'm asking, what is your favorite? It's like that's my favorite child. It's like I don't have one. But uh, what are a couple of your favorite gins?

SPEAKER_06

What uh when you're I'm try uh I'm trying to remember, sorry.

Jamie Flanagan

No, you're good.

SPEAKER_06

I'm gonna look at fish back because I always forget the name of it. Oh Sheringham. Is one of my favorite ones.

Jamie Flanagan

What?

SPEAKER_06

Sheringham. Sharingham. A couple of different ones. Um, I don't know. Here's a couple of ones from Kansas City that are kind of fun too. It's like a agave spirit distillery. Make like a gin garden party kind of spirit, so it's kind of fun, different.

SPEAKER_02

All right.

SPEAKER_06

I have the little bottles of the St. George, all the different ones for martinis. I do like that too.

Jamie Flanagan

Yeah. All right. All right. So there's um um, have you had no let's gin?

SPEAKER_06

No, I have not had no let's gin.

Jamie Flanagan

Have you heard of it?

SPEAKER_06

Yes.

Jamie Flanagan

All right, yeah, it's crazy. It's good. It's very, very good. Um, and the stopper on it is a replica of a Rolls-Royce gear shifter. I forget, what's the company, the parent company? It's like Volkswagen? No, no, no, no, no, no. It's like Grey Goose or Belvedere, or it's one of the big companies. The Nolette family owns is that I should Google it, but uh two things at once. Um, but uh so whoever the Nolette family owns that big vodka and the dad big gin fan and has a Rolls-Royce, the the the patriarch of the family. And so we got permission from Rolls-Royce to make the stopper a Rolls-Royce, and it weighs a metric shit ton. Oh, wow. If you drop it, it would break your toe. It is heavy. But and the gin itself is very, very good. So the Nolette gin is is one to try. Matt and I are huge fans of uh the High Claire Castle. Very big fan of Castle.

SPEAKER_06

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Jamie Flanagan

They're coming out with like some kind of crazy rose. Uh I've been trying to get a hold of Adam to get the uh get the rose and give it the rose a a try. Um, Hendrix is my other one. So Nolette, High Clear, and Hendrix are my are my my top three. Okay. So, but then I forget about local distilleries, right? Because a lot of times local distilleries they start with the clears, right? Because they're easier because you don't have to age them. Yep. And uh, but yeah, so they do those if they can get the botanicals right. Um, who just launched uh Detroit City Distillery? DCD just launched a distribution. Just launched a new gin. We gotta we gotta try that out.

Matt Fox

So um Sarah, you come to Detroit, you and your husband come to Detroit. We'll take you around to smoke the distilleries. We got we got we know people. DCD, we know people's got an amazing distillery in downtown Clausen. Jamie.

Jamie Flanagan

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Weiss, Weiss distilling, Vice, Vice, Vice, it's Vice, Vice.

Matt Fox

So, yeah, if you the two of you were to come up here, we would just take you around to all the motor city gas whiskey.

Jamie Flanagan

Yeah, motor city gas, yeah. They do a nice job of stuff too.

Matt Fox

Go ahead, Sarah.

Jamie Flanagan

Were you gonna start?

SPEAKER_06

Oh, that would be incredible. I've never been to Detroit. Oh, yeah.

unknown

I know.

Matt Fox

Oh, yeah. If you guys were to come up here and make a weekend of it, we will definitely take you to where you need to go. Yes, and then shank our distillery as well.

Jamie Flanagan

Yeah, oh geez. So they do sue gin too.

Matt Fox

They have a tequila.

SPEAKER_11

Just a s just a side question, Sarah. Are are you or your husband golfers?

SPEAKER_06

My husband is very much a golfer.

SPEAKER_11

Yeah, because I was gonna say that's that's another thing that we we do.

Matt Fox

Yeah, we could do for sure.

SPEAKER_11

Absolutely.

Matt Fox

So yeah, Sarah, you you your your friendship with the Man Cave is fantastic. I really appreciate you for always saying yes.

SPEAKER_06

So far.

Jamie Flanagan

In spite of what unfolds. So all right, so that was fun. So uh thanks to our sponsors, the Firebird Tavern. Firebird tavern, thank you. My Irish radio.

Matt Fox

Oh my the desk, I I blew up the Death Star. It finally happened.

SPEAKER_07

It cracked it happened.

Jamie Flanagan

And uh WearingFunny.com. So all our sponsors thanks so much. And uh Sarah, thank you. AwFlavor journal, right? It's offFlavorjournal.

Matt Fox

A flavor journal. Yep. Perfect.

Jamie Flanagan

So yeah, great recipes for if you want to go gourmet. If you want to go quick, I gotta do stuff because I got a life.

Matt Fox

If you want to if you want to impress your date, same thing, yeah.

Jamie Flanagan

Cocktails, all that. Thank you so much. And we'll do it all uh again very, very soon. That over there is Jamie Flanagan, Dr.

SPEAKER_11

Dave. That is uh Matt Fox sitting over across from me. And Sarah, thank you again online with us.

Jamie Flanagan

Cheers, cheers, everybody.

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