Behind the Still: Kelly Bodnar's Dive into Distilling

We're down again at Asbury Park Distilling Company with head distiller Kelly Bodnar. Bodnar shares her journey into the realm of distilling, from her initial fascination with spirits to securing a role at the distillery after seeking employment there. She provides valuable insights into her hands-on learning experience, emphasizing the practical blend of science and logistics crucial to the craft of distillation.

As Bodnar and the host explore the production space, listeners gain a deeper understanding of distillation intricacies, including the innovative design of the custom-made still used at the distillery. Bodnar discusses the diverse range of spirits crafted, from vodka and gin to whiskey, offering valuable insights into the distillation process and the pivotal role of barrel selection in flavor development.

Throughout the conversation, Bodnar's expertise shines as she shares her knowledge of distiller's beer production and the meticulous attention to detail required in crafting each spirit. This episode offers a comprehensive overview of craft distillation, blending technical details with Bodnar's personal journey and the unique operations of Asbury Park Distilling Company. Whether you're a spirits enthusiast or simply curious about the art of distillation, this insightful discussion provides something for everyone.

@kelly.distills
https://apdistilling.com/

GET YOUR JERSEY FEST TICKETS NOW! https://www.seetickets.us/event/jersey-fest/588283

Music: "Ride" by Jackson Pines
jacksonpines.com

Thank you to our sponsors:
New Jersey Lottery: njlottery.com

Make Cool Sh*t: makecoolshit.co

Albert & Whitney CPAs:  awcpasllc.com

Mayo Performing Arts Center: mayoarts.org/events-calendar

Contact the show: mike@greetingsfromthegardenstate.com

Transcript

0:01

[Music]

0:23

all right what's up everybody welcome back to another episode of greetings from the Garden State powered by the New Jersey Lottery we're here in Asbury Park

0:28

at the Asbury Park dcil company with Kelly Bodner head distiller Kelly welcome to the show thanks for having me

0:34

yeah absolutely so we're going to do this a little bit different uh I'm going to wind up holding this camera for a

0:39

very long time but uh we're going to do something like a little bit different cuz we're in we talk about this on the

0:45

phone what would you call this area that we're in this is our production space production space like I wish I had like

0:50

a cooler name like I said still house uh you could call it a still house all right fine it's a production

0:56

space um so we already did you know we did uh we had Rob and a couple the other

1:02

guys that used to be here Bill and Casey that uh did the episode we did maybe two years ago now which is almost crazy to

1:08

think that that was that long ago um but I excited to chat with you because now

1:13

you're the not new and you've been doing this now for a while you've been here like you said for how long six years six

1:19

years and uh head distiller for well almost a year almost a year so how's

1:24

that transition been it was a learning curve for sure um a lot of it is just

1:30

doing the same things that I was doing before but now I'm more in charge which is an adjustment period um but it's I

1:38

it's been pretty I I don't want to say smooth transition there were some some bums in the road but we got over them

1:45

and it's been it's been going well so for sure so what so six years ago you

1:50

started here what were you doing before that were you like boy I really want to make booze when I grow up was that like

1:56

a thing that you were thinking not when I was like younger but I I started attending and I got really like nerdy

2:01

learning about like all the different spirits and all that sort of stuff like I thought about being a a s like looking

2:07

into that and I really was just more interested in spirits so I visited a distillery in Nashville and I like

2:14

realized like you could do that for a job so then when we heard about this place I kind of like knocked on the door

2:19

and was like are you hiring you need help yeah so yeah no

2:24

that's cool and like it's interesting because remember when we when we did talk with Bill like he had gone to like

2:30

school and all this other stuff to kind of like learn the process and your experience or like education of it has

2:37

been mostly hand real world you know which is pretty cool um so talk to me also about kind of like that you know

2:43

like when you first started like what are what did they have you do yeah so when I first started I mostly like

2:49

helped like label bottles like packaging like all kind of like the menial labor that you need a lot of help with is

2:55

there's a lot of it involved in the manufacturing process because you know like this is not the most Hightech yeah kind of

3:02

operation we don't have like big bottling lines or anything like that a lot of it's on my hand um and so I I was

3:07

doing a lot of that stuff and then just like asking questions as I go um I do

3:13

really like science and I was kind of thinking about going into science when I went to school for the first time but

3:19

like didn't want to waste my money on an education where I didn't know what I was doing so um since then I kind of went

3:25

back to school parttime I'm studying food science at Rucker like very long process of getting my bachelor there but

3:33

it is like there's a lot of science involved to it but a lot of it is also just like Logistics and like learning like the nuances like specific places

3:41

and specific experience that you're making yeah I also think it's interesting too because I don't think that there's a lot of female head

3:47

distillers out there probably more than there used to be but still not that many

3:52

definitely more than they used to be we're we're on the we're in the right direction we'd love to see more though

3:58

we'd love to see more yeah um and so like when you're in the here and doing this stuff like obviously or not

4:04

obviously I shouldn't say that but there are recipes that are kind of like for

4:10

this the products that you guys make here but then creating new stuff is that something that you're like often working

4:16

on yeah a little bit so like most of the products that we have are all recipes that were like made by Bill and I really

4:24

like them and I don't want to change them cuz they it's been working for us we don't want to change any of it so like most of the stuff that we've been

4:31

making is all uh it's all bills recipes that I'm just trying to kind of honor and take care of um the pazam or pachio

4:38

almond lur which I don't think goes here the last time that you were here no but I've had it and it's dope thanks that's

4:44

my recipe so so that's one product that's like fine and then from there we're kind of like we're thinking about

4:51

like working on other products always kind of doing a little bit of research um but we don't really like to bring

4:57

anything out that's not so yeah exactly yeah um can we talk

5:03

about the production space so like what do we have in here and we can walk

5:09

around and talk about it um but like what are the things that people should know about a Distillery production space

5:15

yeah so right behind us like this like this is the biggest key piece of equipment this is our uh this is our still this is custom made for us by a

5:21

company called Carl they're one of the world's oldest Brewing manufacturers um or like brewing

5:26

equipment manufacturers but this is kind of a hybrid model so the this part of

5:32

the still here is called the pot and it's kind of looks like what you would find in like Scotland or Ireland they're

5:38

like big pot Stills um the top the part on the top is the line arm and that

5:44

directs The Vapors up and over towards the condenser um the part in the middle

5:49

is called the column it's like kind of like what you would find in a in a

5:54

bourbon distillery in like Kentucky or like in a big vodka distillery because it's got a lot of copper plates that

6:02

create additional sites of distillation so you get a lot more like efficiency in

6:07

getting things to higher proofs and cleaner flavors when you include the column which we can do for some Spirits

6:14

we don't have to do for all of our Spirits um and then the condenser is the part that cools all the vapors back down

6:21

to a liquid so what's cool about ours is that we can kind of it's modular we can

6:27

kind of change up some of the pipes so that it works the way we want it to work for different Spirits yeah which is

6:33

important for if we have a lot of different products definitely and so the products that we're making in this production facility are what we make

6:40

vodka Jin aquavit which is kind of like a Jin yeah uh we have a lemon Chell one

6:49

and a pistachi UR and then the main thing that we're making is whiskey we spend the most time making that um so we

6:56

we're making bourbon whiskey right now which is out uh we release that like two

7:01

times a year we'll probably increase a little bit within the next few years yeah and then we also are laying down

7:07

malt whiskey but WT whiskey takes a long time to age especially because we're doing it in used Oak okay so um so we're

7:14

making W whiskey it's just not ready yeah and so like the process like when you're making all those different kinds

7:20

of things and obviously you know people are familiar with them mostly in the sense that they drink them you know um

7:26

but like maybe like I wouldn't realize that those things are distilled almost

7:33

kind of in a similar way up until a certain point is that right yeah it's pretty accurate so like this system

7:40

which is also crazy that you guys produce so much with just this yeah

7:46

which is insane you know um but like the process is essentially the same so you

7:51

don't necessarily have to have like a totally different vodka space or like a new a different gin space or whatever

7:57

right yeah yeah so it does have little the still has a little bit of a flavor memory um so you have to start like we

8:04

have we basically work on like a a production cycle so we start with our most neutral spirits and then we'll make

8:11

so we'll make vodka first and then we'll make Jin and you can only make something that's more flavorful after that so that like the

8:18

the flavor memory that's in it doesn't like you don't contaminate your vodka with like bourbon flavors you know but

8:24

then we'll we'll do like a real deep clean um using some pretty like

8:30

it's like CTIC and and acidic chemicals like getting it really really deep clean on the copper and then uh we'll start

8:36

that cycle over again yeah what about over there those look like Brewery tanks

8:42

can we talk about those they're basically Brewery tanks okay let's go over there so yeah yeah do a walk and

8:47

talk this will follow us there you go yeah so the first part of the process when you're making oh yeah the process

8:53

yeah yeah the first part of the process when you're making whiskey is to make what's called distiller's beer Okay so

8:59

it is all of this equipment is going to look very similar to what you find in a brewery because it's basically Brewery

9:05

equipment yeah um we have a mill on the other side of that wall which we can get some footage of in it a little bit if

9:11

you want um but there's a mill on the other side of the wall we'll load up grain into the mill and that would say

9:17

that'll come up in augur and into this is our Mash tongue here so the the green

9:25

and we'll add water to it so there's a green water slurry gets cooked and like a series of like Heating and like

9:31

holding and cooling yeah um to convert the starches to sugars and then these are our fermentor tanks here um so

9:38

actually there's whiskey in there right now we're waiting to be uh distilled on Monday cool um or I'm sorry like wart in

9:46

there right now yeah um but there's stuff fermenting in there that's why it

9:52

smells so nice yeah great what's what makes a distiller's beer like what is

9:58

that in comparison to like a normal beer a normal beer yeah so the we the biggest the first big thing is

10:04

that we don't separate the grain out so Brewers have to separate the grain out after they've done kind of their like

10:10

their steep they have to separate the grains cuz the husks of all the grains have tannins in them um and tannins can

10:17

make your beer really really bitter um tannins fortunately are not they won't distill over so like they're not very

10:24

volatile so we don't have to worry about them and the benefit to that is that we get to like extract as much flavor and

10:30

as much sugar out of the grains as possible yeah so what's in there is it kind of looks a little bit more like

10:35

oatmeal than a beer it's it still has all the Grain in there um not everywhere

10:42

does it like that some places do it like a normal beer and then the other big deal the other big difference is that we

10:48

don't hop the the grains so like a a brewery would they would uh do their

10:54

extraction they'd separate out all the grains and then they'd boil it with hops um to get kind of those bitter flavors

11:02

from those so yeah so then so you have this oatmeal basically yeah and then

11:07

kind of where where does it go from here so from here we have like these like these um hoses and we'll pump it over

11:16

from here to the still so that's what we'll do on Monday we'll pump it over and then there's two distillations when

11:21

you make whiskey um the first one's called the low ones distillation so you're just stripping out all the

11:27

alcohol that you can get from it you're going from about like this gets to about 8% to 10% if we're really lucky yeah um

11:34

and then when we strip it it goes to about 30% so we can collect as much of that alcohol as possible and then we'll

11:40

put do it through the still one more time um and then it goes from that 30%

11:45

all the way up to like 70 to 80% um which is what ends up going into the

11:51

barrels cool yeah and so um when it goes into the barrels mhm like what does that

11:58

what does that do like what does that do for like a whiskey let's say so the first thing that it does like you'll

12:04

notice when like uh when whiskey comes out of the still it's clear cuz like those proteins those color bodies are

12:09

not going to come over um so the first thing that you're doing is you're getting all that beautiful color that whiskey gets you're getting all the

12:15

flavors from the wood like these barrels are charred so that like breaks down the

12:20

cellulose into sugars that are a little sweeten the whiskey a little bit but it also has all these like really beautiful

12:26

flavors they have vanillin they have eugenol which is like CL lots and lots of phic compounds and

12:32

things that make whiskey taste delicious um and then the other thing that happens in the barrel is that there's like a

12:37

little bit the wood is microporous so like a little bit of oxygen gets in there and the oxidative reactions that

12:43

happen in there will mellow the whiskey and make it like a little bit more palatable and kind of transform some of

12:50

those other flavors into more of the things that we're looking for yeah so I mean you're obviously not making barrels

12:56

but like when you right correct okay so that's like a lot of work I would

13:01

imagine um but so like when you're like the barrels that you're getting that could have like a pretty big impact on

13:09

what it tastes like yes yeah yeah and so how do you almost kind of like control

13:15

the flavor that you're getting out of the barrel so Mak sense there's two

13:20

things to that the first is to just trust your Barrel maker like we have we really like the company that we're using it's the barrel Mill um and so we really

13:30

like the quality of work that they do um we can't make the barrels ourselves that's a really highly skilled process

13:36

so um the first is picking the right Barrel maker and then the other part is that you can order them with different

13:43

levels of char okay so you can do like a toasted inside or you can do Char all one all the way to four um and it

13:49

depends on how like how hot it gets and how deep the like burn goes into that

13:56

wood and that it'll extract more flavors but also if you're planning on Aging it

14:01

for a long time sometimes you can extract too much flavor so it's all about like kind of playing around with

14:06

what the right like Char level is for you yeah we do Char number three CU

14:12

we're we're aiming for about four years so we find that it's not too overwhelming by that point but it gives

14:17

a lot of like those no nice like sugars and and flavors yeah the male Performing

14:22

Art Center is the heart of arts and entertainment in Morristown New Jersey impac presents over 200 events annually

14:27

and is home to an innovative Children's Arts education program to see impact's upcoming schedule of worldclass concerts

14:33

standup comedy family shows and more head to mayoarts.org or just click the link in our show

14:39

notes hey folks I want to tell you about the crew over at make cool [ __ ] these are The Magicians who recently gave our

14:45

podcast a jaw-dropping makeover you know how we roll here at greetings with the Garden State podcast right we're all about that Garden State attitude well

14:51

make cool [ __ ] shares that same Vibe and they've got something absolutely epic to offer it's called the unlimited cool

14:57

[ __ ] design subscription it's a game changer my friends imagine this unlimited creativity One Flat monthly fee and none of that boring stuff it's

15:03

like having your very own Army of design superheroes on speed dial whether you're a fresh fre startup or a season business

15:10

looking to shake things up the team at make cool [ __ ] has got your back it's all about making your brand Sizzle no matter where you are in your journey so

15:16

if you're ready to turn your ideas into mind-blowing realities then it's time to connect with make cool ship can check them out on Instagram at we make

15:23

coolshit or visit the website we makecool shit. remember that's co.com and so

15:29

I I think this also kind of goes back to what we're were talking about before like some of the stuff that like the Al and Lor um and like trying stuff like

15:38

obviously like this is a process that takes like a long time so and how long did you say that this would be in the

15:44

barrel for four years so like that's hard to really kind of you know test you

15:49

know so like how do you like how do you test like if you're trying to make something different maybe not a whiskey

15:55

that has to be in there for so long but if you are trying to test stuff like do you do this whole process with a full

16:00

tank basically yeah we have so like Whiskey's Whiskey's tough you have to just kind of like have some faith and

16:07

and it's almost better if you get a little like difference between batch to batch because then four years from now

16:12

you have a little bit more choice between barrels right like right now like we're preparing to release our next

16:19

batch a small batch and we had maybe like 10 barrels that were the right age and then we have to kind of like sift

16:26

through those to taste them see which ones are ready which one stays to age a little bit longer um and then play with

16:32

different combinations of those and the more barrels and the more variants and flavors you have like the the better it

16:38

is for you to be able to like kind of dial it in a little dial it in interesting and so like I'm sure like

16:44

the scheduling of this like you mentioned with the with the still just like knowing kind of like the whole

16:50

process you have to be like very regimented regimented about that schedule right I got a lot of Excel

16:56

spreadsheets yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah it's kind of a specific like

17:02

because we we try to go from least flavorful to most flavorful for the the still but we also like this is this sits

17:09

for two weeks so we brew and then this sits for or I'm sorry for a week so we brew and then the the fermentation say

17:16

for about a week and then it has to like immediately be distilled so there's some things that are more time sensitive and

17:22

then like a vagu distillation we can be like oh like we'll just do that next week yeah right um so you got to kind of

17:28

be like what's the most important thing and and kind of work backwards from there right

17:33

um and then the same with like bottling and blending and that sort of stuff we have limited amount of equipment the the pump that we used to kind of like blend

17:40

everything together that also has a flavor memory so we still also has to reset that yeah so we also have to go

17:47

from least Flav fall to we flavorful when we're bottling so that also has a little cycle so yeah just kind of like a

17:53

lot of moving Parts but that's the fun part it's like a logic puzzle yeah yeah for sure and so let's like uh we'll zoom

17:59

in here to the stuff the actual product so like this is we got them all yeah the

18:05

we have most of them most of them these are the ones that we give out on our tour right now as as sample so we have

18:11

the Vodka the Gin um this is Barrel finish gin so this is just gin that has

18:18

spent 3 to four months in a in a barrel like the 30 gallon barrels that are here

18:23

yeah what does that do to the Gin like what does it make it taste like it a lot of the citrus goes away and it gets

18:30

really it gets a little mellow you get a little bit of like the vanilla a little bit of like the the

18:35

tannins um but you get a lot more of those like baking spices which is kind of cool um it gets it like somewhere in

18:44

between the flavor profile of a whiskey or a gin so it's really cool for cocktails yeah um I always say it in

18:49

liquor stores but like I'm not a gin Drinker not really so like I never really go for it but this is the one

18:55

that I tried where I was like I need to work here this is so cool yeah yeah and

19:01

this one you're producing pretty consistently right CU I know the the small batch is a small like

19:07

it's yeah lied it's limited that is my that that one's my favorite personally mine too we put the most effort into

19:13

that one so I think that's probably why I like it so much um but the small batch Bourbon is it takes I mean four years

19:19

for us to get it to um maturity and then and then there's a whole like couple

19:24

month process of like selecting all the barrels and figuring out and and then getting ready to put it out there in the

19:32

world but and then so let's talk about the Pam did I say that right pam pam and

19:37

it's more fun if you shout it yeah all right so let's talk about like that so why why this like why alond laor is

19:44

going to be the thing that you're going to yeah so the the alond lior uh

19:49

honestly there was an like I like I like G dinner drinks sure but I would always get myself into a situation where I'm

19:55

like do I want a sambuka do I want an emir do I want this like do you know what I mean do all of them and you can't

20:01

have all of them because well mean you could you could but you don't want to hold up that table for that long right

20:07

you know what I mean like it's such a Hospitality thing to say yes yeah you don't want to hold out that table over

20:12

so long and you want to be able to get home so like yeah so I just wanted to make like like all my favorite parts of

20:20

after dinner drinks and put it into one thing um the testing process we have like a little mini still that's over

20:26

there and so I just kind of played around with like different flavor combinations we distill it with um tart

20:32

cherry cinnamon uh clove all spice a little Ana seed uh there's some orange

20:39

peel in there so it's got like a little bit more depth in the backbone and then we add we have the one thing I had a lot

20:47

of trouble with was like nuts have like a tendency to go really rancid so I had a lot of issues with getting the right

20:53

pistachio and almond flavor so we ended up going with an extract for that yeah um that's another thing where you're

20:59

like you just have to like your vendor because you have to trust them you have to like know their process um but we

21:06

ended up going with an extract for that and like I like it I think it's it's great I think it's sweet enough and it

21:13

and it's sippable it's not overly like cloyingly sweet you know so I was at a

21:19

dinner and I don't even think this had gone like on the menu here or wherever yet and Rob brought some for us to try

21:26

and then we had it after dinner and it was a awesome oh I'm so glad yeah yeah um so we're talking about like flavors

21:33

and stuff at what point in this whole process obviously like you know your Whiskey's going to and Bourbons are

21:38

going to take flavors from the wood like you said but like the Gin when does the

21:43

Jin get those flavors that we're talking about or the or the pazam yeah so the Jin and the pazam get most of their

21:49

their flavor from the the distillation so you'll add we have um a neutral grain

21:55

spirit that we bring in from an outside supplier um it's basically like alcohol

22:00

that's distilled to just be high proof and so we have to do a lot of cleaning up to get it to taste the way we want it

22:06

to we also make our vodka out of that um like we redistill it and we make like

22:11

select what part of the distillation we want to collect to make sure that we're getting only the good stuff out of it um

22:17

but we start with a neutral spirit and we'll add all of our Botanicals in there at this point the Gin is so dialed in

22:24

that I'm just like weighing out exactly the same recipe every single time right in the world best in the world

22:31

2021 um but we'll add all the Botanical

22:36

into the still and like let them merate for about an hour like just take a bath in there hang out and then that helps

22:43

like Infuse all those flavors into the alcohol so when it when it the vapors come out they're kind of like clung to

22:48

each other um and we get those flavors coming out in the distillate um and all

22:54

of those flavors have different volatilities too so like as the Gin is coming out first to tastes like orange

22:59

and then it'll taste like something else and like it kind of tastes different the whole time which is really cool it's fun

23:04

to see um so let's go back over

23:11

here we can kind of oh that looks good um so we were talking like off Mike

23:18

about the well we were technically on mic but the show hadn't started yeah um

23:23

but like The Moonshiner show and like different things that you've been able to do in this new role like

23:29

what are some of your favorite things that you've been able to do like is that one of them yeah it was definitely a cool experience like I I mostly just

23:37

kind of did it for the story because like who who else get to say I've done a reality competition show like that was

23:42

that's fun um and it was definitely a cool experience like I've met some people through that show that I'm still

23:47

in contact with from like even this industry so that was really cool um I

23:53

don't know I think just like being able to do this is the coolest part like I I

23:58

I don't have to like sit at a desk all day which is nice just once a month like doing like paperwork but sure yeah yeah

24:05

but just like interesting and cool because it's like you know it's like one of those jobs that people are like wow

24:12

like how do you even become yeah you know because I feel like I mean there are one like distillers and stuff like

24:18

that that exist like they are there because we drink them um but I think that people just like don't even realize

24:24

that people actually have to make this stuff you know and it's just like to have that kind of epiphany like this is

24:31

what you wanted to do and now you're doing that at in my opinion probably the

24:37

best distillery in the state yeah I I really like working I

24:43

just wanted to yeah say that out loud um so you have those products you know that

24:48

you've been producing now for a while the pizam is out there like what are you

24:55

like rolling different ideas of like things that you want to try or do or make or whatever or you just kind of

25:01

like let's just let's go a full year first before we start you know going

25:07

crazy yeah it took me like I wanted to make sure that like I had like a good routine and I was keeping up with all

25:13

the products like before I even started thinking about other other things sure

25:18

um we are releasing a brandy that we made two years ago cool um soon so like

25:25

I mean I I helped with that for sure so that's kind of cool to see and then like beyond that like I'm trying to kind of

25:31

put together like a it's a tough balance between making sure that you have all the stuff that

25:37

you need right I want to lay down as much whiskey as I can as much bourbon as I can I also kind of want to play around

25:43

with other whiskies and I kind of also want to play around with other like Spirits so yeah um nothing like

25:49

immediately in the pipeline but sure I get definitely doing some r& day yeah what are like these for these are these

25:56

are just totes that we use for hyper so we just into them I know I just saw like a bunch and I was like ask about

26:02

that and and the barrels and everything like there's obviously more barrels

26:08

somewhere I would imagine yeah they're at our warehouse okay cool yeah so we have about 100 53 gallon barrels at the

26:15

warehouse another 30 single Mall barrels we've got um the eight or I'm sorry the

26:21

16 that are here our Barrel finish gin and our double barrel Bourbon like the finishing cks cuz they they stay in

26:27

barrel for a little bit less time um we have like a bunch of them down the street and then I mean like there's no

26:35

wood to knock on but hopefully we also expand it to even more space I know not not in my arm yeah but yeah hopefully

26:44

like we continue growing and we get to expand into even more space and lay down even more whiskey for sure so when you

26:50

do like one process of this and we'll take whiskey again because with the barrels and everything like how many

26:57

barrels does that make and then how many how many bottles are in a barrel yeah so one

27:05

Brew yeah so like it takes one day to do a brew um and then that sits for about a week and then it's two days of low wines

27:13

and then one more day of um our spirit distillation our second distillation um

27:19

that gives us one barrel right and so we do two of those Cycles every two weeks

27:25

okay so we'll do two well we'll do two brus and then we'll do four low lines and we'll do two spirit distillation so we get two barrels out of every two

27:32

weeks um so it's definitely a labor buff yeah I was going to say like I figured

27:38

you know like looking at like the size of that and the size of the barrels and like you know all that other stuff I was like all right maybe like five six

27:45

something like that um yeah and so then like like a what are the 750 milliliters

27:50

like the big bottle yeah those those are normal size bottles yeah so like how many bottles are coming out of that

27:55

Barrel oh I could do some math um so we get about 20% loss we get a 20% loss

28:01

there's 53 gallons so say we get like 50 and it's like2 gallons

28:08

per I don't know that mouth off the top of my head I can use a calculator yeah like maybe like I could

28:15

do it real quick on a calculator sure yeah yeah yeah I don't sorry to put you on

28:21

this no it's okay I like I get asked that like so often and I always forget to like I always forget like I'll do the

28:27

math and I'll be like I think it's just a lot of times cuz people don't necessarily like it's good context for sure think of it because people don't

28:34

always see the barrels so they don't think of the barrels you know they think of like yeah bottles and you know how

28:41

many drinks am I going to get out of that it goes in at 120 proof and the other thing is that we're bottling a 92

28:46

so that changes a lot so say 120 divid by 92 divid by .198 so like 270 so like

28:55

almost 300 bottles oh wow a barrel oh that's way more than I thought yeah yeah that's

29:01

cool so yeah almost 300 bottles in a barrel if we're getting good losses

29:08

sometimes sometimes it's really unpredictable we actually had the last

29:13

Bouch that we had it went into Barrel at 120 proof and it came out at 135 and I

29:19

like redid the math like five times cuz like no way but like if it's uh really

29:24

humid more alcohol will come out of the barrel interes and if it's really dry more water will come out of the barrel

29:30

cuz it's just like it's a like a oh there's a word for that osmosis yeah

29:36

it's diff Fusion right so like they're going from like a less concentration to more concentration to less concentration

29:42

so uh depending on your CL yeah like and places like places like Colorado see

29:48

like crazy crazy losses so like you'll rarely see anything that's super old there um but we're like I we're

29:55

fortunate that we're getting like like more alcohol alcohol out of the not more alcohol but like higher alcohol sure out

30:02

of the barrel because more water is evaporating which is cool it like these

30:07

so I mean I think you know like I've traveled all over the state we've done distilleries breweries and Vineyards and

30:14

Wineries and stuff and like the brewery thing to me is like I get it you know

30:20

even like the vineyard thing I get it but I know that it's you know if you have a bad rain season you're like

30:26

screwed for an entire year but this is like thinking four 5 years down the road

30:31

in some cases which is like insane you know to think about like all the stuff all the steps that have to take place

30:38

all the unknown variables that are going to kind of happen in that four to five year span when you do actually like you

30:44

know open it up and check it you know um it's it's got to be like nerve-wracking it's making me nervous just thinking

30:50

about it yeah it is like I always like kind of get shocked by it where I'm like yeah so in 2028 this is and then I'm

30:55

like oh my God like I 8 but you do really have to think of ahead that much

31:01

and then the other part of it is that you just need you really need to learn it's like one of the first thing you

31:07

have to get used to in this industry is that like you just have to learn to let go of the things that you can't control

31:13

yeah there's so many of them like is it spontaneous like all the oxidative processes that like make whiskey taste

31:19

good like all of it's spontaneous and you can't there's just so much that you can't control so you're like I'm just going to set myself up for success and

31:25

worry about it in four years it you know yeah so that is a hard thing to learn

31:31

especially cuz I'm very like like typ a like I want to control as much as I can

31:37

but um but it is kind of fun to plan that far ahead and even the single mall

31:43

like like I don't even know if that'll be ready in four years that might be like a five six seven 10 year thing so

31:48

we don't really know until like we're trying it every year we'll see sure you know yeah and so when you did make the

31:55

move from assistant distiller to head you said there was like like a learning

32:00

curve almost like what was like the the thing that was like the hardest thing to

32:05

kind of make that adjustment for just like not having someone be like hey go do this you have to be the one that

32:11

actually like does it kind of no one had my back so I like like like when I was

32:16

working for Bill like he had my back you know what I mean I and I tried to have his back and like he was really great at

32:22

teaching so it wasn't like I felt like there was anything what I didn't know I mean there's so much that I don't know

32:28

but like you you're always learning in this industry um I think the biggest thing is that like nobody was like hey

32:34

go home you know so I would be like I would be like I have to get so much yeah

32:40

done and like really like it's okay so that was like a big part of it is just kind of being like okay so how do I

32:45

spread out and manage my own time like be I'm not a nice boss to myself I'd like to think of a nice boss to other

32:51

people but I'm not a nice B myself so that was the biggest thing for sure um

32:57

and then just just like kind of like grappling with the long term of everything like that's try to put that

33:03

in perspective I would imagine was really tough yeah cuz there's some stuff that we have to like focus on right now

33:08

but like if you also let go of thinking about the future then you're like oh no we're out of like the Barr finish in if

33:14

you're not thinking four months ahead like you're like oh no we're out of stock like how are we going to deal with that we don't wanted people to run out

33:20

of it and not have it on their cocktail menu so um that's the hardest thing to kind of adjust to I think like I think

33:26

I'm a patient person but also when I'm working on something I need it like it just it needs to get done like this show

33:32

took like a like maybe a month to really kind of put together and then you know now when we kind of like put the rest of

33:37

it together on the Fly you know but to think about you know 5 years from now like where the show's going to be or

33:44

whatever you know or in your case what's coming out of that Barrel forget it I don't know if I'd be able to handle it

33:50

yes I feel like I've gotten a little bit of a better handle on it now but it's definitely an adjustment for sure well

33:57

this has been so cool you know because I really I like thought I sort of knew

34:03

just from watching TV but like to actually like be in here and kind of have you like point out everything and

34:08

talk about it and all that kind of stuff this is I really appreciate you giving me the little tour and for doing the show thanks yeah thanks for having me

34:15

absolutely um so we'll put all the AP distilling stuff in the show notes is

34:21

there any place you want people to go to learn more about you uh yeah I mean like I'm on Instagram I'm on Tik Tok it's

34:28

Kelly kelly. distills um I try to do more like educational like I I keep it

34:34

more around my work than my personal life so it's not just going to be like me like out at brunch so yeah like I do try to do some

34:41

like educational stuff I do like Vlogs of my like daily life here sometimes so that's yeah if you want to that out

34:48

awesome yeah for sure we'll put that in the show Nots too so um well thank you again appreciate it uh so this has been

34:54

the greetings from the garden say podcast I don't know which to look at now uh greetings for the St

34:59

podcast powered by the New Jersey Lottery we were here in Asbury Park today at the Asbury Park Distilling Company with head distiller Kelly Bodner

35:06

thank you for listening and watching we'll catch you next [Music]

35:17

time do you tell me before you

35:24

go do you want to ride a

35:32

[Music]