Bobby Demars - CEO of Blind Barrels - A Blind Whiskey Tasting Experience

Jason Frazell: 0:03

Everybody, my guest on the show today is Bobby DeMars. Bobby is a CEO and founder of blind barrels is one of the things he does as we were catching up, as I always do with my guests that I don't know, you show up and we show up on a call, go, Hey, like Nice to meet you. Let's go talk and record this for everybody. So I found out that Bobby does a lot more than that. And today, we're going to talk about a lot about that. So Bobby, welcome. Good to have you here today. Oh, thank you so much for having on the show. It's pleasure behalf. And man, so you're coming in from California. I'm here in New York. So we got some timezone differences. We are recording this Tuesday, July 5. And Bobby, I don't know about you. But I had a very relaxing holiday weekend, which included a dead company shows we were talking about I had some family over we had a party. And I woke up this morning. I didn't really want to work that much. But I was looking forward to doing the podcast because this is not work for me. How about. So how about you? How was the fourth for you?

Bobby Demars: 0:56

And mine was crazy. I had 80 family members in town for a family reunion. We hadn't had one at 27 years. So it was like, wow, we did four events in two days. So there was like a breakfast. And then I hosted the big kind of night party where we had like a whiskey tasting. And, you know, there's a couple people that we lost in the family last year. So I added some Memorial videos for them. And we just have a lot of creative electric big personality. So when everybody gets together, it's just like, oh, the party's at six all sudden, it's three in the morning. And I don't know. I can't sleep and I don't know what's happening. But the next day, we had two more events. And then we just carried into the Fourth of July and had a big pool day barbecue to the fireworks. So it was three days of just, you know, my wife was asleep for the next week, but she can't so it was awesome.

Jason Frazell: 1:49

It's awesome, Bobby. Well, you must be a popular person is running a whiskey companies we're going to talk a lot about today. Popular for those in the family who like to drink whiskey because you probably got a lot. Yes.

Bobby Demars: 2:01

We have a few that don't drink. I'm curious that the dead show. So I haven't been to a dead show. But I've done a lot of fish shows and how many spinners were there. Because every now and again, in the general admission, there's always a couple people in acid that are what I call the spinners. They do the spin dancing. Yep. I was

Jason Frazell: 2:19

actually over by the spinners. I'm not a spinner. Anybody knows about Grateful Dead or dead and go there. And they do it for four hours straight. It's really unbelievable. They never stopped spinning. I went over it because there's a restroom near them. I want to say there was about 25 that were spinning. But as the night goes on, that crowd grows as well. You probably imagine why. But there's about 25 Spinners I went to I went to the same show last year there's over 100 Spinners it looked like over 100 Spinners. If you look, if you look at some of these dead companies shows now it like stadiums, like I was at a 15 person amphitheater. But if you look and they play like a SoFi stadium under if they played at SoFi stadium it or not, but there's like sometimes, like 500 People just spinning for four hours. It's really amazing.

Bobby Demars: 3:04

I don't know what you know if that's a particular drug. I don't know if you've ever smoked, like salvia. But salvia is one of these drugs. It's kind of a psychedelic and everything turns clockwise. And it's a very short, it doesn't last very long. But you almost want to people get hurt because they tried to do cartwheels. And it's one of those drugs that they just haven't figured out if it's illegal or not. So you don't know what the concentration is. But I've always wondered, I'm like, What are they doing? Where they want to spin the whole time? Because I've never done whatever it is that they're doing?

Jason Frazell: 3:35

Yeah, I don't know. I've never I've never, they don't really seem like they want to be talked to either. They look very, they're very intense, intensely spinning. Which is cool. I mean, you know, it's a vibe for sure. So this seems like a great way to kick out the podcast Bobby and ask you the first question is, what is something that you nerd out about?

Bobby Demars: 3:56

Oh, man, I'm a massive movie nerd. So I, you know, boy, I didn't talk about this. I mean, I could, you know, and the thing is, I didn't realize I was studying film when I was watching all of them so much, because when I went to college, so I went to USC on a football scholarship. And I was in the business Scholars program there and I had a girlfriend that was in the film school, and the only way so I would literally get up at five I'd have to work out go to business classes football practice, all the way until like seven and then the only way I could see my girlfriend was good or film classes. So I took like 10 film classes, but I wasn't in the class. And I'm like, Wait, you guys get to watch movies and then talk about and this is like, this is a thing today. I got into film school there and I eventually became a filmmaker but you know, I didn't realize the the aspects of just the aesthetics and the storytelling and the beats and just nuances and, and I mean I can talk about especially like 80s movies, but you can almost usually name a movie, like pre 2010 And I can get you the year of the movie with them like one or two years

Jason Frazell: 4:59

in And Bobby, like we could do a whole we might have to have you come back on and just talk movies. I'm the same way. I'm a huge movie fan. And I also have this weird memory that if you named a movie, whether or not I've seen it as a decent likelihood I can name the year. There's a decent likelihood I can name at least somebody and there's a, okay likelihood I could actually name the director, even if I haven't seen it. It's really weird. And I was say, I wish I could turn that superpower into something that was profitable. It's like I can use my business because that skill is really useful.

Bobby Demars: 5:33

We did this this week, this week with my sister, we were watching, you know, showing the kids the movie hook. And we're like, oh, the little boy that plays you know, Peter, pan's kid he's in? He's in two of the movies. Can you name those movies? And it's like, yeah, he was also the kid. And what about Bob, and he was also the nerdy kid and can hardly wait at the end. Like he had this interesting kind of, and he supposedly went on to be come some doctor biochemistry or some kind of like, Yeah, whatever. Laylat blossom out of cannabis. But really, he had this whole history. But yeah, we do the oh, what movie she from it. So I was watching me with my sister. And she's like, That's the girl that was in the parents don't don't understand video with Will Smith. And I'm like, No, that's not all that out of nowhere. And sure enough, she was right. So that's amazing. has that ability to

Jason Frazell: 6:23

any so anytime I have somebody on that's movie TV music person as they use that as their nerd out, which is my answer to I've actually given this answers film. And because somebody asked me my question, because they thought they'd be clever. What's any great movie recommendation that you've seen the last couple of years that maybe not everybody has seen or something that you really struck you? That's been memorable?

Bobby Demars: 6:48

I mean, the only movie last few years that just completely blown. My mind was pig. I don't know if you saw this. I did. And I mean, this theater will have grieving. I mean, it's just people say it's like John Wick, but mental. And if there's a little bit of that it's this Portland underground. And I don't want to give too many details. But it's it's probably my favorite Nic Cage movie. You know, the cage. Usually like if you've seen deadfall Have you seen just where he's the cages to page like movie where he's just and he's crazy. Or he'll do a weird voice.

Jason Frazell: 7:22

Now that's like a play on Nicolas Cage be Nicolas.

Bobby Demars: 7:26

Yeah, the unbearable weight of whatever. Yeah, like Yeah, play up on him. I thought that was okay. But to me when I compare it to pig, I think it's like, dude, very sad. I mean, I think nocturnal animals and the arrival movies that just blew me away there in the same year. Just I go back to those again and again. And it's I don't, I would say lately. I mean, it's hard for me to find a movie that just kind of blows my mind. But what was the guy that created the TV show? There's three TV shows that came around same time devs the Oh, a. m the Mr. Robot, though? Yes. Phenomenal. Super cool.

Jason Frazell: 8:09

I forgot to

Bobby Demars: 8:09

do. Did devs but yeah, Mr. Robot was like, Yeah, dude, that was so and it's Christian Slater in it.

Jason Frazell: 8:18

Remy Malik Oscar winner, Remy Malik. Remy?

Bobby Demars: 8:22

Yeah, but it's quality storytelling all the way through and good. Killer music choices and I'm kind of like a score snob to like, I will listen to scores like, like just the car. I'll listen to weird movie scores or something like that. I love that you're listening to and I'm going to worry about it.

Jason Frazell: 8:42

I'm going to prove and I did not Google this. This is how my mind works. I heard nocturnal animals and I heard arrival the like arrival like Amy Adams arrival, the Alien movie. John Ford. And Denny Villeneuve whatever pronounce it? Right. I think Tom Ford, right. I'll tell ya. Sorry. Tom Ford the the fashion designer. Yeah, yeah. And then is it Denise? lnu? Who, whose dune?

Bobby Demars: 9:09

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, the director and the new Blade Runner movie and he's kind of the new everything and he's Yeah, that movie just messed me up the idea that like, Oh, if we were to talk with aliens, it's like, we can't talk to our dogs and they're pretty intelligent. They can understand us where we can understand them. That's true. Or dolphins right? How do we talk to a dolphin in this case? scepter pods right? Just the and once again I don't want to remote ruin the movie for you but oh man just what a really good film a full circle everything. And and yeah, the Tom Ford one. The only thing is the movie opens with like these really enormous, like, heavy wet, like overweight women like dancing nude in slow motion. And like, I still don't know like how it taught. It's it's an art exhibit and Amy mbf I'm Dr. Amy, Amy Adams. She's one of my favorite actors just in general. But she's in both movies. She is like she's, I think some art exhibit designer. And that was the art exhibit. And I don't know if it was like a metaphor for the emptiness of like, whatever she's chosen in line for. Like, but I'm like, the whole opening is some kind of uncomfortable. Don't remember that at all. slomo have just really heavy women dancing in slow motion.

Jason Frazell: 10:30

Interesting. It's the first time we've talked about this on the show. 130 some episode,

Bobby Demars: 10:35

we're gonna talk about fatherhood pet women dance, man.

Jason Frazell: 10:41

This is another good lead in to the next question I have for you is, what's something that's inside of your comfort zone? That is, you know, is outside of somebody else's?

Bobby Demars: 10:54

Man. I'd say going fast and cars

Jason Frazell: 10:58

going fast. And cars. I like both,

Bobby Demars: 11:01

you know, like, I've gotten 130 miles an hour on a boat before. And I think it's something that Yeah, most people like once you start hitting at it gets really crazy. And I don't know what it is. I have my first cars is 72 El Camino. And it will be it's fast. And yeah, I just punch it all the time. Or, you know, my buddy had the, you know, the Porsche that has the button that makes it go from zero to 63.2. You almost like lose your vision. Like your vision goes. Yeah, driving, I'm not worried if someone else is driving. And if you get that, you know, when you're the passenger. And you're like, This dude's like, right on someone's tail, I'll get a little nervous and someone else is driving times

Jason Frazell: 11:42

as Paul Walker, right? He hopped in the car with his buddy, and

Bobby Demars: 11:46

oh, yeah, no, and that guy was a professional driver. So why wouldn't you trust that guy, if anything you like, let's push it to the limit. He was probably I mean, who knows what was going on there. And I say taking risks, you know, I'm the son of an inventor, my dad has over 200 patents, it took them, you know, 30 years to become an overnight success. It's been around a risk taker. A lot of people like the idea of starting a company, they don't realize just how much work and energy it takes to, you know, put into it, and that it is nonstop. And that, you know, when when you fail at something, and everyone knows about it, that is always a difficult thing. And when you when you're successful, you know, especially with movies, when I make movies, I always have I have like, you know, brother in law, or somebody will be like, so three years after making a movie, so you give it up. And it's like, Dude, I had to develop 50 things just to make that one thing, like, I'll show you the pilots and the things that never, you know, learners send you the script that has this big director attached that can't get made for some reason. And it's like, what does that really do? So I just don't have those conversations. But I don't think people understand fully until they take a risk. And it's not that you have to be creative. I call it the 4% rule. So imagine 20% of the people out there are really creative, right? And then separately, 20% of people out there are risk takers. Now, they're not the same people most of the time. 20% of the people that are creative are risk takers. 20% of risk takers are creative. And it's usually about that 4% That 20% or 20% of that. 4%. But usually, it's about taking the risks. It's not about most of the people out there at the end of the day. You just got to get lucky too. Yeah. Yeah. You know, the best idea and not having hit for whatever reason.

Jason Frazell: 13:34

Yeah. Somebody didn't open the email. Did you don't happen to meet that person at a bar? Network? Yeah, apps. I mean, absolutely. So no, Bobby,

Bobby Demars: 13:43

I'm sorry. I've said we made a movie called Talk to me. It was kind of the first black arthouse film, and this guy is sitting, you know, we're talking about Tom Ford, this guy owns this billionaire owns all these fashion labels like Kate Spade and Jones in New York scam, Sidney Kimmel. And the movie is a true story about an ex convict that talks his way out of prison and under the radio myths, the civil rights movement. It's called Talk to me with Don Cheadle and Mark sheen and Teutonia for and I'm like, why did this guy why did this old white guy you know as a fashion mogul put all this money into this film $70 million, right to finance the movie. And a month before the movie came out. He bought Johnny Carson's house for like $50 million. And Johnny Carson is a thread throughout the film that should it's utilized as a passing time element. And ultimately, they arrive at the tonight show in the third act. But he literally made that movie because he loved Johnny Carson. That's the only reason that movie got made

Jason Frazell: 14:42

the most. I'm like, You know what? I'd like to do a GoFundMe. Here's $20 Bobby, he's like 70 million. That's nothing. I spend that on my wine collection.

Bobby Demars: 14:53

I've done the Kickstarter, I did raise money for a documentary on a Kickstarter and that's not fun either. You just hit the refresh. sweating all day and your stomach lining slowly erodes away. While you're just like, Why didn't my best friend contribute? Yeah, you get let down a lot.

Jason Frazell: 15:11

So Bobby other side of that question, what's something that is outside of your comfort zone that you know is inside of somebody else's so risk taking creative projects, you know, all those things? What's something on the other side of that that you are like? Nope. Either you're not doing it or you don't like doing it? And you know, other people that are like that's in their sweet spot.

Bobby Demars: 15:30

I mean, I think there's there's only two I think right now that are coming to mind. One would be swinging. accountable. Yeah, my wife and

Jason Frazell: 15:41

yeah, okay.

Bobby Demars: 15:42

Jared, someone else's wife. Wow, that guy's watching me the whole couple thing. I'm just Yeah, I don't think I can do it.

Jason Frazell: 15:47

Yeah. Especially when young children like it's a tough thing that if your children ever find out,

Bobby Demars: 15:54

ya know, exactly, there's actually we had a reality show that we pitched that was called Hollywood swinging. And it was a matchmaker think like Millionaire Matchmaker, but for Swingers, and we never saw that we got like, two pilot stage or whatever. And I was always like, sitting there talking to these people that were super normal. And I'm like, Yeah, I can't do that. I'm like, there's so many ways that I'm not into that.

Jason Frazell: 16:16

Have you ever slept you ever seen? Are you a Curb Your Enthusiasm fan? Oh, yeah. You're

Bobby Demars: 16:22

like, like season six through seven or are like four through seven or something. I gotta go back and wire

Jason Frazell: 16:28

the season where Larry and Cheryl are celebrating their 10 year anniversary. And Cheryl gives him a gift of he can go and you know, sleep with one woman one time, that's the gift she gives him. And of course, because it's curved, it's the it's the season with the producers, where he's in the producers on Broadway, okay. But there's a scene that's so good, where he's talking about, I think it's from the season where he's talking about cheating, or having multiple women, you know, like multiple affairs, and he's like, I'm just not cool enough for that. He's like, I'm not the guy. Like, I'm not cool enough. I wouldn't know what to do. Like, it'd be too hard. Like, I'd be the same way. Like, which one are you? And like, what, what are your needs? What? Yeah, no, no, thank you too much. I'd

Bobby Demars: 17:06

be like, you know, I couldn't disappoint one woman. But you know, I don't want to be disappointed. But I'm like, you know, I think there's that fear. So there's a phobia that slightly the last of phobia, if you've heard the last phobia, but it's the fear of like, deep ocean, and deep water just in general. And so I don't know if you've ever, like just put goggles on under the water when you're in the ocean. Sure. There's things swimming all around you to scuba dive to be alive. And so like, I always imagine you're in like a building that's basically like three miles high, if you're looking at like the Marianas Trench or something like that. Yeah. And, and there's all this stuff, and you're just hanging your lower body into the top of this dark building. And all these things are flying around. And I mean, we know more about like, space than we do about the depot. That's true. We don't even know like, like, like, like the movie. What's the movie with the abyss? Right, so

Jason Frazell: 18:06

James, James can now

Bobby Demars: 18:09

I mean, octopuses just like aliens that lost her technology or something, you know, like they got to this planet. And like, they're super advanced, they got all this biotech and they can like, move. They're just super intelligent, like in an insane level, but over time, they're like our technology, we don't have enough resources to build the same tech that got us here. And then they lose their technology and their other you know, primitive species.

Jason Frazell: 18:32

Now they I believe there, there's that one octopus who I believe won an Oscar or the filmmaker for whatever that Netflix movie was about the his buddy, the octopus, or whatever it's called.

Bobby Demars: 18:41

Oh, yeah. My teacher, the octopus. I don't know if you watch the boys on on Amazon. I don't. I've seen I've heard that you don't have to be like a superhero fan. It's such a phenomenal. I've heard. I've heard. You know, you got this one superhero who can talk to animals. He's like, Aquaman, right. But he's like, has all these sexual relationships with animals. So there's this, this quasi bestiality going on. And they put up a little disclaimer at the front of some of those episodes. Like some of the sexual encounters you're gonna see are by the storyline conceptual, so that there's not like, it's not like an animal, right? Like with which is I guess some part of people be shy that dog didn't consent to that or whatever it is. Yeah. But that was didn't consent to that. And they're like, and it is just CGI, so it's kind of tongue in cheek, but it's also like that it's fine. I think they're getting ahead of Kancil culture like this. Sex with a dolphin this is

Jason Frazell: 19:39

this. I will say Bobby that this episode, I've done a lot of episodes. This episode is going in a different direction than any episodes ever gone. And I'm, I'm either wanting to follow this out in the rabbit hole until we can't come back. Or asking the next question. I think I'm going to choose to ask the next question. And we might also have more to talk about so Give us give me five minutes to give a speech and the whole world gets to hear it. What do you speak about all of us? And what do you want us to do at the end of that speech? Or for you as a filmmaker? This is your five minutes short. The message in it, what do you want us to do? What do you want to speak about? What do you want us to do?

Bobby Demars: 20:21

You know, if I guess if I had a speech, where everyone's actually listening to me, I would make a speech about listening. I think that's one of the things that we don't do enough of, and we interact with people. You know, I have an entertainment company called Saundra, for entertainment. And it's derived from the word Saunder, which is a combination. It's a word that's just been added to the dictionary. But it was kind of a slang Urban Dictionary term for a while. It's a combination of wonder, and somber. And it's the realization that we're all living these intricate lives, and that play these interesting subtle roles in each other's lives, it's actually very parallel to kind of what your podcast is about talking to interesting people. And it could be somebody that you bumped into at the coffee shop, it could be a flickering light, the distance, and almost like this infinite anthill that weaves into the underground, that we're all living these intricate lives. And if we take the time, everybody has a story, everybody's worth listening to, you know, we're in this very divisive period of just pull up politics and, and just all the different things, whether it's the we're kind of in a class war, and we're becoming a plutocracy. And these are more objective approaches to all of it. And I can get along with almost everybody that has a different opinion than mine, mainly because I listened to them. And I think, you know, when whenever you take the time to get to know somebody in what, like what you're doing, and you're asking questions, and, and I'm doing a little bit with you, I'm getting to know you. I think that's one of the greatest values, because the we can learn a lot in many different ways. But we can learn the most from each other. I think,

Jason Frazell: 21:59

I love that Bobby. Yeah, make that makes sense that you would be a creative and an artist to filmmaker, because that's another way that people can listen to a message. And I'd be listening. Yeah. As we, before we go to the commercial break, I just want to mention that. That's a good point, about the we all have these intricate lives. Because I that I have, I agree. And it's easy to forget, like, we're going to talk here for an hour, hour and 20 minutes, you're going to do it you're going to do I'm going to do it I'm going to do or remember each other but you've got a family over there. You've got businesses you're running, you probably have films you're looking to make. I've got a whole bunch of stuff on do but but it's like not that present for me. And the thing I leave with here, before we go to the commercial break is the remembering that we never know until we walk a mile in somebody else's shoes. I was I was told that by my grandparents grandpa's you never know until you walk them out somebody else's shoes. And I think that this country would be so much easier to live in and so much less stuff going on if we just remembered that. Suppose that we're so myopic, myself included.

Bobby Demars: 23:09

Have you ever see the short story? The egg? No, that's it about that. If you look up the egg, there's a great video that the Kirkenes pluton, whatever that YouTube channel that gives you informative things like what would the aliens be like in a billion years? And the concept is that somebody dies. And when and they wake up, and there's this been and you can call it God and call it whatever, and they informed that, hey, you died. And don't worry, it was painless, and your family's gonna be okay. And everything's moving along. And it's like, oh, okay, well, now what? Well, now you're gonna reborn be reborn as a Asian woman working in the rice paddies and 600 ad and it's like, wait a minute, I'm going back in time. Oh, wow. And it's like, no, well, time is all just a construct. Again, and you'll be reborn again until you live every life that's ever lived on the planet. So you'll be Abraham Lincoln, and you'll be Hitler. And when you wrong, somebody's really doing it to yourself. And there's something that he's daring and enlightening about that, because I got them all alone here. But then when you then evolve, it's kind of very Hinduism like you then we evolve into this other species, this other firepower that then goes to where those other people are that but and it's just this kind of out there concept, but it's fascinating when you think about, yeah, like, are we living these kind of interweaving lives with the same people over and over again? And what wrongs are we doing that are maybe perpetuating trauma in their lives? And whether it's us in another life or not, which is kind of crazy, but it's interesting, that, you know, are we hurting ourselves in the process of when we're hurting other people, either directly or indirectly?

Jason Frazell: 24:49

We're gonna go to commercial break. When we come back, we're going to talk about one of the ways that you provide Joy to the world. And I've alluded to it. You provide Joy to the world in multiple ways. We're going to come right back after this All right, Bobby. So what do we know about you so far? You are the founder and CEO of blind barrels, we're going to talk about blind barrels, you are a filmmaker. I mentioned this a couple of times you are a dad. You are not a swinger.

Bobby Demars: 25:20

Not a swinger

Jason Frazell: 25:21

not a swinger. At least not yet. There's always possibility to the future. What else would you like us to know about you? Would you like to share with all of us?

Bobby Demars: 25:32

You know, another thing of what I do, I mean, the reason I'm able to take a lot of risks right here, I mean, the bind barrels is a whiskey company. And we'll talk a little bit more about that. But the our whole company has enough salaries, our whole company is built to scale. And the reason I'm able to do that is I've been an independent LSAT AC t test prep instructor for last 20 years. My partner's a neuroscientist, we do mindfulness, we do neurofeedback, we help kids with their essays. You know, we talked before just about how everyone has a story worth telling. And the thing is, we're not all storytellers. But we all know a good story when we hear one. So how do we amplify somebody's story within that process, and it's, it's something that I did too. You know, I've always had the mindset, I don't want to just make a living, I want to make a killing. And I always thought that when I was doing test prep, it was this means of making a living, while I was trying to make a killing and other things. And then I started making a killing within this respect, because I was really successful with it. And not just because I had good methods, but because I connect to my students and I, I care about them. And I motivate them, I mentor them, you know, the moniker of a tutor. Sounds like I'm helping kids with their homework. But the reality is, is most of my students will remember me more than the majority of their teachers. And sure, I can't go anywhere with my wife out to dinner without running into much of my students, because I can just play a pivotal role in the catalyst for the rest of their lives. I just ran into a mom last week, and she started crying because her daughter got into UCLA 10 years ago. But it ultimately set her on a path to where she is now, which is super successful. And so it's been a privilege to be able to do that. And I've had a backdrop and working with foster kids. We started off, you know, my company was mentoring, tutoring, to enter foster kids throughout Southern California. And so, to me, it's been maybe one of the most rewarding things and then the best ROI I've had, you know, whiskey filmmaking in teaching the best role has been as a dad by far. Yeah, there's there's something I mean, do you have kids?

Jason Frazell: 27:33

I do. I have to, I have a six year old and a almost two year old.

Bobby Demars: 27:38

So that's like, I got a six and a four year old and he goes, Yeah, you're almost set, you're almost out of the, the diapers slash, you know, wiping butts phase,

Jason Frazell: 27:48

we call it the, the pure danger phase when everything is a danger, and there's no ability to protect yourself yet. That's, that's the

Bobby Demars: 27:59

little guy. Ya know what? Well, that's what the thing about parenting that blew my mind. So my wife and I couldn't have kids traditionally, in the sense that I mean, if it was 30 years ago, we would just be the couple that couldn't have kids. And at first, like, you know, my wife's like, she's like, well, let's check your sperm. So she, you can buy a sperm thing on Amazon, and you know, what, they send you a microscope, and you put your, you know, I'm like, baby, my, my numbers are crushing it right now. Like, I'm like this is there's a lot of activity going on. I'm surprised I haven't impregnated a lot of people at this point. Oh, my God. And it turned out she had endometriosis. And her stomach lining couldn't hold on to the egg. So we share IVF in vitro fertilization, and we had to 12 times. And it was really expensive. And I mean, I can tell you a million stories related to IVF, you could literally do a whole episode on that. And so when we finally hurt my wife's niece carried both of our children. And I remember, it was January 1, my, my daughter was born like 5am on January 1. And, you know, you get the call, like three in the morning, I just had my eyes closed for an hour.

Jason Frazell: 29:09

And luckily, when he said, Hey, I'm in labor, or they call it unsafe

Bobby Demars: 29:13

labor, and it's an hour and a half away, we're driving to Antelope Valley. And I just remember on the way over because I wasn't around a woman that was pregnant all the time. That was this physical reminder of this literally, you know, explicitly and implicitly growing fatherhood of like, I'm about to be father and it hit me all in the driveway over I'm like, Okay, there's this little thing that's going to be we got to keep it breathing, and we got to keep it fed, and we're gonna bring it home and it's gonna be very fragile. And then I started looking ahead, I'm like, oh, and then I'm gonna be worried that they're walking and that they're talking and that they're making friends and that they're learning and that they're going to get into the college that they want to get into that they're marrying the right people and that they're going to be up with their family. I'm like, Oh my god. This is like this worry switch that went off and I'm like, this never ends. You know, because we can parents, you know, people like oh, it's a, it's the love you've never known. And until you have a child, you won't understand what really loves it. And you know what, when my child was born, it was a lightning bolt that hit me. And it was what I thought it would be. It was this unbelievably pure love that I have for my kids. But what they don't tell you is that it's a worry that you've never done. And so now I'm constantly that because now we're in this other phase, and you're in part of that to where now you're worried about them to be being good people, which is another level of responsibility, right? Yep. And how to communicate how to control your emotions around them. And you're gonna have days where you feel like a bad parent, you feel guilty about it. And then that's normal. And it's just this whole just roller coaster that never ends. And, and it's a lot, but I'm grateful for it at the same time.

Jason Frazell: 30:49

Yeah, that's awesome about it. All right, I'm excited. And not gonna lie. I'm a little fearful of what you're going to ask me about based on some of the things we've talked about today. But I will answer and I will answer whatever you ask. Unless I tell you, I won't. I've never not answered a question. Somebody's asked me on here. So, Bobby, what would you like to ask me about? Since we don't really we're getting to know each other that I can answer for you. And for everybody listening?

Bobby Demars: 31:13

I mean, I have two questions for you. One is what made you want to create this podcast in terms of, you know, there had to been probably some Catalyst, and some aha moment and not just yep, I have a good radio voice. And we had conversation list because you have both those things. Somebody told that to you, or was there some kind of was it an idea that you have for awhile, but then it just sprouted? And then you decide I'm gonna jump in? Like, what was the impetus?

Jason Frazell: 31:38

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Thank you for the question. I'm, I've never been told to have a good radio voice. And now I'm feeling very conscious about my voice. So thank you. So let me tell you the story of this podcast. When I was a kid, I thought Johnny Carson and then Jay Leno are super cool, exciting. I was, I'm 44. So I was think it was about 12 When Johnny left and Jay came in. I just thought it looked like a whole ton of fun. I'm getting completely extroverted. I was always a super talkative kid, not surprising. And I thought it'd be really fun, like, entertain people and talk to interesting celebrities. And I was like a huge sports kid. So you'd have like, you know, like Michael Jordan, I'm like, that's pretty cool that you get to sit and talk to Michael Jordan, or Jerry Seinfeld are these people that I thought were sour that were so awesome. And then as I got older, and I did not go into the arts, because I just never thought about comedy or acting or directing or anything like that, or film. It just wasn't in my purview. I guess it could have been, but it just wasn't something I thought about as a kid. And so for 20 years, I worked in corporate sales. And then in October of 19, I was on my first podcast as a guest. And it was really fun. I don't want to listen to the episode again, because it wasn't a I don't think I was very good as most people improve over time. But I remember getting done, Mike, that was really fun. Oh, wait, I could do this. And you are I'm trying to think here numbers wise. I do 50 episodes a year. And I've done 25 This year or 24. Yeah. So we're looking at about 125 episodes, and I've asked every single guest these questions that you're getting asked today. And I say that because when I came up with this list of questions, I literally don't remember it. Like I don't it was a moment of like, what I want this thing to be in my two podcast years or DAX people Dax Shepard, I love armchair expert. I love Marc Maron podcast, WTF long form interview. Pretty unstructured talks interesting people and you know, I don't do you listen to armchair expert at all.

Bobby Demars: 33:48

Yeah, I listened to Dax Shepard. I listened to that. I listened to smartlace I listened to fly on the wall, which is kind of a new one with David Spade. Yeah, I love just I love showbiz stories. Yeah, totally.

Jason Frazell: 34:01

So one of the things that really inspired me about armchair expert was and he had Carmelo Anthony on the NBA player, and he said this again, and I remember he said it. But they talked about a little bit about basketball, but a lot not about basketball. And one of his things is yeah, he's uh, he was talking about he's an anthropologist, I was his college degree, at least, that sometimes what people do is arguably the least important thing they do. And I just thought that was really fascinating. So I created this podcast, I came up with the questions, I put together a list of some people that I knew that I knew would say yes, because most podcasters do had some people on and then you didn't ask this question, but I'll answer how the podcast got named. My seventh guest I had recorded I think 10 episodes without releasing anything and I'd said to her What do you think I should call this thing? Because I had some other people give me some more like business stuff, um, and it's not really a business podcast. It's more long form interview. She's like, Oh, yeah, just like what it is talking to cool. People are like, Oh, that. Yep, that works. And that was all the title was right. So it was like a really interesting thing. So that's why I did it. I started out, I said, this is really fun. I've iterated over time, I've still asked the same questions, I added a couple things, upgraded my audio for those who are like, you know, my avid listeners will hear my audio is better. But I've really expanded who I talk to as well. And I've really never said no to anybody, unless they just want to come and pitch.

Bobby Demars: 35:30

Has everybody ended up being cool? Or have you thought about having like a sub thing called talking to some pretty cool people?

Jason Frazell: 35:39

Like somebody's like, Hey, I'd like to pitch to be on your show. And I'll be like, I don't know that you can be on the main Tonight Show. You can be on like, the cable Tonight Show. Yeah, exactly the day. Later, the light show? No, everybody has been cool, because I'm just a lover of people. Yeah, exactly. David Spade, Rob Schneider. But I find I find no most the way my questions are structured, plus the kind of people that want to be on a show like this. I've actually enjoyed every single conversation, I learned something every time people ask me why I do this. I do. Because I get to meet. We would never meet otherwise, like, how would we meet? I mean, maybe we would, but it wouldn't be as easy for us to get to connected. But what I love about this is, I'm always learning. Every single episode I learned, I'm gonna learn about whisky subscriptions. I'm learning about film and learning about just all the things we're talking about today. That's why I do it. I still do it. And you know, it's just a heck a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun. That's awesome. Yeah, it's really It's like a It's really a strange based project,

Bobby Demars: 36:45

with my speech to the world, that you're listening to everyone. Exactly. Everybody. And I think that's one of the best things I I'm constantly learning, just like you said, and I I love that that's a great reason to have a podcast. And also, you know, hopefully the listeners are getting the same thing out of it. Right.

Jason Frazell: 37:02

Yeah. Right. I mean, I know how many people listen, and it's a decent number of people. So I gotta help. So wasted time wasted their time. So you have a sec. So you have a second question for me.

Bobby Demars: 37:14

Yeah, the one that I actually thought, I just thought about that one, just rise where you're talking. But this one I was thinking of, before we started was, what do you think happens when we go?

Jason Frazell: 37:24

Oh, deep? I love it. Well, I'll, I'll answer this question by starting so I was raised Lutheran, in Minnesota. So I was raised, you know, raised in a very, like, typical Midwestern religion like Christianity. I, you know, this is interesting question, Bobby. Because I think about this now more than I'm a dad. I don't know if that's how it's gone for you. But yeah, yeah. And I just think about not to get dark. But I think about these shootings that are happening, especially the school shooting from last month and you go as a parent to think that there's not that you'll never see your children again, that there's nothing else just breaks my heart. And I but this is, this is where I really struggle with is this whole idea of the afterlife invented by us as humans to give us some sort of thing to think about or hope for? And, boy, there's been a lot of, you know, there's whole college degrees around this right, like theology. And is this an invented thing? I believe that I believe there's something after in the afterlife. I'm not exactly sure what it is.

Bobby Demars: 38:36

We all find out but none of us really know for sure, right?

Jason Frazell: 38:40

Well, yeah, yeah.

Bobby Demars: 38:43

Yeah. I think about I was raised Lutheran as well. Oh, you are? Yeah. So and essentially my family, a lot of them migrated from Minnesota. You Should Do you ever do a 23andme? Yeah. I didn't need 20 cousins. We might

Jason Frazell: 38:58

be Bobby. Possible. I am. I might be getting a family reunion. Have you been drinking whiskey

Bobby Demars: 39:07

280 people, that we're just gonna keep getting larger? It's funny. You raised I mean, Luthra. i What I liked about Christianity was the concept of a loving God. Yeah. But I'm a big believer in reincarnation. Yeah. And, and open to the idea that, you know, that maybe God is a collective of all of our energy and somehow the law of the universe operate that way. And I don't know, I just feel like there are people who have been here before and the concept of heaven just always seemed, it never made sense to me in first of all, my heaven isn't someone else's heaven. So is that a fabricated heaven? Right. Someone else then has to live in my heavens. So then that's kind of messed up, like, you know, you know, having all these virgins the way that some of the Muslims believe are the hardcore orthodox Muslims that others you know, get 78 virgins. I'm like, Have you ever been with them? version you don't want 70 of them.

Jason Frazell: 40:04

But you're working on your stand up. I like that. That's good.

Bobby Demars: 40:08

Yeah, I would never do it. I've set it up one time and I got I got banned from the coffee shop, from the Comedy Store for a reason. I'll tell that story if you want to hear that's the whole gist, reincarnation thing, or even if like we're in some type of a simulation, imagine we are these beings that can live forever and forever actually be very monotonous and boring. And there's this great Twilight Zone episode, where this guy is like robbing somebody runs across the street gets hit by a car and he wakes up and he's in this all white room and everything's perfect. And there's a guy with a goatee. That's like, in a white suit. He's like, whatever you want Mr. Valentine, so drinks dame's money. But every time he shoots pool, they all go in when he Gamble's he always wins. And he finally he gets to the point he goes, look fat, and he calls the guy that, you know the age where he's like, look, I'm tired of this having stuff. I'm just not cut out for this heaven stuff, you know, take me to the other place. And he goes, What do you mean, Mr. Baum time? This is the other place, right? Like, oh, the concept of having everything you ever wanted is a form of boring hell in and of itself. Yeah, because, you

Jason Frazell: 41:14

know, motivation. You don't have any humans, we like we like to have the strat like, we like some struggle and achievement. And if nothing we grow

Bobby Demars: 41:24

to have been reborn again. You know, whether maybe I need to work through some stuff as a as a you sell amoeba? You know, I don't know if it goes into microorganisms or other dimensions or whatever. I mean, all that's really interesting. I mean, you ever hear about DMT when people smoked DMT? Yeah. Like there's a there's a documentary called The God molecule. And it's a psychedelic, and when they synthesize, it's in every living thing it's in, you can literally create it, I've never done it, I think I'm too scared to do it. But you know, like to just pack my bags for that 15 minute hardcore trip, but they synthesize it, they injected like 15 people with it. And they all were like under Dr. Kerr in different rooms. And what was fascinating, they all had the same trip, where the room and their world would vibrate until all of a sudden they broke through some geometric plane where they saw these different shapes and, and they felt like there were shapes that were kind of talking to them like in their head, and then all of a sudden, they arrived and all the shapes stopped. And they arrived and what many described as a control room with aliens. And that that is as foreign as that sound, for some reasons seem very familiar and very like home. And but so the fact that everybody's having this like Alien control room trip that maybe it's some kind of a cheat code to the in between or the other side. Or we're out of this simulation or I don't know,

Jason Frazell: 42:45

the last thing I'll say on this and I should probably get an affiliate agreement with armchair expert at some point but they they did an episode they have a armchair, armchair and dangerous. It's like a, it's a spit not even a spin off. It's just part of the series. And they did one on simulation theory, which is really fascinating. And every time that they at the end of the show, they do the DAX and Monica like talk about the show, or they talk about what they're up to, they always do a little thing called Ding, ding ding, where they'll like say, like, oh my gosh, and like we had this guest on and they responded to this thing. And it was actually the thing that I had heard from somebody today is like ding ding ding like another proof point for the simulation. So who knows? I guess it could be. There's a

Bobby Demars: 43:25

documentary called glitch in the Matrix made by the same filmmakers that did room 237. Yep. Which is a documentary about the shining. Yeah. And all the weird, crazy theories about the shining. And I'm a massive Stanley Kubrick fan. So I was yes, at the first screening ever of that midnight showing in Sundance when it happened. And then they did glitch in the matrix. And it's very weird in terms of the way they tell stories within the documentary, because they went into some really dark places, but really fascinating places. And yeah, definitely makes you think half the time and then half the time. I'm like, I know that sounds like bullshit.

Jason Frazell: 44:00

All right, Bobby, great questions. Thanks for asking. I really, really appreciate both very thoughtful, thank you. Well, thank you. So Bobby, what are you passionate about?

Bobby Demars: 44:10

You know, I'm, I'm passionate about trying new things. And really, I'm a big I'm really passionate about fighting for the underdog. You know, a lot of people think passion means love. But the actual root of passion. The Latin root is PA TI, and it means to suffer. And so what that means is, you're willing to suffer you love something so much you care about something so much that you're willing to suffer for it. I didn't know that. And so when and that's where the Mel Gibson really passionate the crisis from that, yeah, Jesus loves the world so much. He's willing to suffer that. And not that I'm pushing that dogma, but that's kind of if you were to tie the element of it. That that whole movie is just a horror movie of suffering. Yeah. And so I think all the things that I've done, you know, I made a documentary called the business of amateurs, as a former college athlete, and I got to start for Pete Carroll and, you know, have these amazing experiences. But I always felt that, you know, the, the college athlete didn't have enough rights. And so I made a documentary that focused on the rights of the college athletes. So obviously, the money we talked about the money to the disparity and the gap that exists within the system of where the money actually goes, and payers are played, they're paid in the form of a scholarship, it's just they're worth well more than that. So there's a form of a cartel, where they can control the supply by limiting the cost of the actual product, the athletes, you know, we see in drugs, cocaine doesn't cost that much, but because they have all the cocaine, they can tell you what it costs. And then the academic integrity, a lot of these guys are forced into sociology or some major that get easy, it's about eligibility, it's not about actually, you know, graduating or giving them an education, because you're really an athlete student, you're not a student athlete. And then the medical side of it, you know, you look at these guys that are given up their long term health, through chronic traumatic encephalopathy and these repetitive blows to the head. It's not all concussions, it's sub concussions. And I have long term mental health issues from bashing my head and other people for a number of years. And I wanted to dispel that, and it wasn't easy to talk about a thing called panic disorder, which means sounds like a panic when you know something, and I'm not panicking. And I can do live television or talk to a bunch of people. And, you know, I might get as nervous as anyone else. But it's a malfunction in the brain. That's a part of the latent part of our brain where we used to be food for other animals. And, you know, they called fight flight or freeze, really, it's really firefight. But a lot of people freeze, and break, so your brain malfunctions. And it's like a bad trip, if anyone's ever had a bad trip either took too many edibles, or, you know, did some mushrooms or something, and your brain malfunctions, and it's very uncomfortable when it happens, and you ride it out. And that's why I've been a big proponent of mindfulness. It's how I kind of combated that, but I had to be honest with that, because I know there's a lot of athletes out there that suffer from this depression or anxiety. So when the brain cells get hit, they don't die, what happens is they get shook, and then they eventually died about 13 to 15 years. And they harden what's called this tau protein. And that's the evidence after you die when they cut open your brain and find that you have chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Yeah, so these guys that are struggling with depression, anxiety, most of them self medicate, and they overdose. So it's difficult for these guys to come to terms with something that is associated with their identity, when they've done all these brave, strong and insane things when it comes to just taking on all the things you do as a high level athlete. And the film went on to you know, so we really fought for the underdog, we utilize it to pass a bill in California, that allowed money athletes to make money from their name, image and likeness. And that competitive element spurred 12 other states to do the same thing. And then we got from the Supreme Court, I'm on the Oversight Committee for college athletes rights, then got in front of the Supreme Court last summer, and now college athletes can make money from their name, image and likeness. And it's kind of close the disparity in the gap by allowing these mostly poor people of color to make money and, you know, people that go well, I, you know, I have student debt, and they have a free education, it's like, Well, okay, they're just worth more than you are like, if you're an artist, when you have a scholarship and you couldn't release an album, right? Or children, child stars, dogs get paid to be put in commercials, right? I mean, their owner gets the money. But you know, all these elements, it's very capitalist. It's a part of the Venn diagram where, you know, the left and the right coexist, you know, that you should be able to, you know, make your worth, and that is a capitalist, you know, idea. Yeah, supply and demand at the end of the day, hopefully. So I'm very proud of that, as that film. And now I'm doing it with distilleries through blind barrels. So blind barrels is basically it's a quarterly subscription. And every quarter, somebody gets four samples of stuff that they would never be able to get any other way. So if you look at the liquor laws that exist since prohibition, some say prohibition never really ended. So there's a Yeah, every state is totally different. And even cities and counties, I mean, it's, it's a big mess. And but the main federal laws, it has to go from a producer, to a distributor to a retailer, which is what we are, and as a pastor those things. So what happens is there's 3000, whiskey distillers throughout the country, and there's maybe 200 at your total water Bevmo. Now, who gets that shelf space? Those are long term relationships that have existed from those brands and those distributors, or people that actually pay off the boots on the ground, to that have the relationships with the retailers to get that shelf space, so you end up with these. First of all, not everybody is making whiskies making great whiskey, but of the ones that are the rock stars and 50 miles, and they're on a shelf space in there, but then they just died out So we have created a model where we can uplift showcase and highlight really, the small distilleries that are making the best whiskey in the country that you haven't been able to try and couldn't any other way. So not only do you get a chance to have a blind tasting and discover what you like, let your senses tell you what you like. But you get discovered. So once again, this is really about standing up for the little guy, if you look at it, the parallel of what the business of amateurs was about. And if you'd like a bottle in the lineup, you can buy it for the same price if you're at the distillery, so we really don't make a lot or any sometimes from bottle sales, because filmer partners and we give shipping discounts and, and so you know, we might get a bottle for three, six bucks, we're selling it for 50. And the shipping was really$7 More for 20%. And so all of a sudden, we didn't make any money on that. But it's to me, it's like, yeah, the curation of the samples, the blind experience itself. Yeah, and, and really just access, being able to have access to these brands. I mean, if you just want to go get a bottle of maker's mark, get a bottle of Maker's Mark. But it wasn't easy to come up with this model. My buddy was doing blind tastings are in quarantine. And I dealt with wine before I'd never done whiskey. And you know, I call them up after the tasting. And I was a little bit of directed if God has pulled on my cheeks a little bit. And I said, Do this is a business he's like, Yeah, okay. And I'm like, either this isn't legal. It's not possible. Or maybe it's just complicated. And it turns out, it was very complicated, complicated. Yeah. So if you ever needed an attorney, just so you know, you can do an hour long consultation, usually with any attorney of any different trade. And so I did 16 of those with alcohol beverage control attorneys. So I figured out how to do it. So the first seven were like, You can't do

Jason Frazell: 51:45

this, you got nose, they're like, this is illegal. You can't, I'm not

Bobby Demars: 51:50

gonna pour whiskey the bottles and send them out to people that I can't do any of that. And then I talked to one who was like, you know, this$900, our attorney who represents like, massive brands, and she was a partner at this law firm. She's like, well, you know, what you could do, you could do this, but you can't do that. And I was oh, so she kind of opened the door a little bit. And then I took that into the next meeting. And the next one that we figured out a way to do it. And so it took six, seven months to figure out how to do it, how to create our branding. And this is all you know, being a filmmaker, and educator, this is all new, you know, creating custom packaging, creating custom bottles, and caps and labels, and you know, all of that, you know, the shipping box that the packaging then goes into, you know, all of

Jason Frazell: 52:33

these are recorded video today, Bobby, let's, let's take a look.

Bobby Demars: 52:37

So this is the box that we have, you see, we got this awesome gold leaf, you know, some really cool logo, somebody gets a high end box. And in each box is a tasting table. And you know our brand, and you can kind of see the bottles that are in there. And yeah, the samples, you know, is something that you wouldn't be able to get any other way. And so once you go through the blind tasting, there's a QR code in the bottom, right. And it then tells you everything about the brand, the backstory of the distillery, cool Nashville, the makeup, the ABV, if you want to buy a bottle of it. And you know, we're really proud of this in general, because we're beautiful, really kind of helping these. Since our first lineup in March. A lot of these brands have gotten a lot of recognition. They've won some awards. They've got other bigger podcasts that are talking about them. We've got whiskey clubs in our group that are doing barrel picks with them. We were talking to somebody from our June box that I said, Yeah, we had a bunch of clubs do barrel picks from a few brands and our first one. And he said, Well, hey, if that happens with with this lineup, you know, we're happy to give you a commission for all those and I said, No, we don't want a commission. That's not really at the bottom of why we're doing that. Like, no, we want to, we want this to be a good thing for everybody. We want everyone to win at the end of the day, we want our subscribers to win, obviously, we want to win by having our subscriber standard club and getting to access that lineup will never happen again. So it'll never ever say more bottles. It's it will never be exactly. So it's a one off every single time. And I think what's really cool is because we can't have all this inventory. We're sitting on it seasonal. So mid March, mid June, September, December, everybody gets everybody that's our subscriber gets that same box at the same time. So friends, family, coworkers that are in other states of the region. You know, we've had several subscribers that are like I didn't even know my wife like whiskey. And now it says we're doing this together. This fall every three months, or a father and a son that are in different states and they commit to checking in and that's what whiskey is really meant to be shared. You know, this is much more about tasting than it is drinking. There's a mindfulness component to it about the connected to color and the aromas and the taste and the finish and all the different little pieces along the way and connecting to the Spirit. And look we always say you're probably Like all of them, but you might you're gonna fall in love with one or two. Yeah. And that are gonna really every single time people are like, wow, I didn't think I liked right. But this was the best whiskey I've ever had. And I don't even like Right. That's awesome. You

Jason Frazell: 55:14

can't wait to try it I how do you how do you create the partnerships with a different distilleries? I'm just because I know a couple people. I know somebody who runs a great distillery up here in the Catskills. Just curious. Which one? Yeah, Catskills distillery, it's called, they're great.

Bobby Demars: 55:31

Okay. No, I'd be super curious to if you want to make an introduction. So a lot of this is very organic. It's somebody, we've had subscribers and be like, You need to check this this place, we reached out, you know, our distributor, who basically we have a bottling partner, Pastor distributor, us, we have to hit all those different tiers, right. Yeah. And the reason we chose this particular distributors, they represent, you know, 600 independent brands. And they've done that for we were even had a website and all we had was almost a logo, and, and they believed in us from the beginning and were supportive. So we wanted to pay that loyalty back to them by having them play a role in our entire flow of our business. And so we had a lot of introductions that way, now, we have a lot of distilleries reaching out to us, which is really cool. Sharon, we have a lot of subscribers, and you got to check these guys out. And so we'll reach out. And so what will happen is, I usually have an initial talk with them, and just tell them kind of how the process works. And, and, you know, I will give you all the bits of the how we kind of perform this whole thing legally. And then you know, and figure out a price point and then ultimately say, look, alright, send us some samples. Some case, we can source it, or we might already have a sample, and then we blind taste everything so nobody can, by the way in our lineup. I have a couple of guys that are real whiskey nerds there. I call my whiskey wizards or her spirits guides whiskey. That's good. Yeah, to guide us through the process. And so but they're great. They listen to everybody, somebody that's in our June lineup, for instance, we did a blind tasting with a bunch of our investors and, and those guys and everyone's different level of experts, novices, our CFO doesn't even doesn't even like the whiskey really isn't really a whiskey guy. But this one brand. He's like, This is so amazing. He's like, maybe I'm a whiskey guy. He laughed, and he went, he bought four bottles of it that day. So that had an influence. There was some sway there. And it's great that we picked them because they're becoming really popular now. They're starting to expand and grow. And we're helping be a part of that type of Zeitgeist and in that growth and ultimately helping marketing these brands. But if it doesn't pass the the blind taste, then it doesn't end up our lineup. Sometimes you get these great distilleries, great people. Were gonna like the whiskey and we

Jason Frazell: 57:46

you got to stand by stand behind anything you put in there. Last question around this before we start to wrap up is Is it legal in every state? Can you ship to every state?

Bobby Demars: 57:58

No. So we have fulfillment partners that can get to certain states, but we don't ship to Hawaii and Alaska, because just, you know, certainly charging massive amounts for shipping. But it's like dealing with that is hard. There's certain states like Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee, because they have their own whiskey trails that it's, it's it, they don't allow certain things to come into their state or Oregon, you can only buy alcohol from a liquor store in that state. So certain states that it's just not allowed. It's not possible. Even if you have a fulfillment partner that has all these grandfathered licenses, you can ship to certain places, even if they're within that state, if they can't do it. So So there's all these elements, and can our distributor get to certain fulfillment partners that can get to those states. So we're in 42 states. Pretty good. And yeah, we're not in Oregon are those ones that I mentioned. And then like, Massachusetts, and you know, Pennsylvania, I think I mentioned those, I can never always like say them on once. It's like Hawaii, Oregon, Alaska, Kentucky, Tennessee, Massachusetts. And then there's there's two more Pennsylvania and then there's one more I'm thinking of just whatever that other one is,

Jason Frazell: 59:13

well, I just want to say this out loud. Because I'm, we're looking at each other and recording this video. And we'll we'll post this but the packaging is beautiful. Like really? Black and Gold. The logo looks great. That is a great thing that shows up in somebody's doorstep with their whiskey fan. So congrats. Congratulations on launching. This is a great pandemic. Great pandemic business.

Bobby Demars: 59:36

Thank you. Yeah, you know, I'll tell you, for me it is important when you get a box you want to feel special and I've Yeah, I've been in subscriptions where they send me you know, with this corrugated box and some fatty in there and it's okay but not only do we want people to feel like wow, this is really special but we want them to associate these smaller brands with Top Shelf. So yeah, our bottles are really thick. Our caps have a metal finish on them. You know the soft cap Watch the gold leaf everything a part of that process. That obviously is our brand, but we want people to associate this with not only just the top shelf experience, but a really cool experience too. Yeah, you know, there's some special,

Jason Frazell: 1:00:10

okay, like, come on. Hey, come on over tonight. I just I'm getting my blind barrels shipped to me this week. Let's do a tasting together. Like that's, that's an exciting. That's an exciting experience.

Bobby Demars: 1:00:21

And if there's enough whiskey in here that four or five people can share it, you know, I mean, I'm a big dude. So I'm gonna want my own box. You know?

Jason Frazell: 1:00:29

Bobby's, like there's four or five normal people. For me. I like the box myself.

Bobby Demars: 1:00:33

Yeah, I'm gonna enjoy one box today. And look, I have one of my best friend who's in the club. He still has half of his March box. And he's tried it three or four times now. He's sure making them last so he can go back and he can savor it. And then And then sometimes he really falls in love with something he drinks it all and then he buys a bottle of it. You know?

Jason Frazell: 1:00:55

Yeah, that's super cool. What a great idea Bobby Well congratulations to you your partners your investors I'm have no doubt this will be the a very successful business. I think it's much needed. I mean, this has obviously been going on for years and wine, but this is the first time I've heard of it whiskey. And thank you for investing all the money into those different attorneys and keep in going to what a lesson I did the

Bobby Demars: 1:01:16

for those. That was the beauty those were 16 free one hour consultation. Oh,

Jason Frazell: 1:01:22

finally got it. And then you finally got it. Yeah, we can make it happen. You're like, we're going to do

Bobby Demars: 1:01:28

I was trying to figure out and, and yeah, there were like three that we liked. And then one was really kind of in our price range that ended up being our attorney and all that. And yeah, eventually our goal is to, you know, once we get, you know, to a few 1000 subscribers and whiskey, we're gonna probably get into tequila, and then into beer and wine. So we needed to crush it with whiskey first, just because it's so popular and there's so many different ways Nashville's that we can we can really show within a lineup. But

Jason Frazell: 1:01:54

I was just reading an article that tequila and mezcal are like the number two alcohol and you know, like they're blown, like tequila and mezcal are very become very popular.

Bobby Demars: 1:02:03

It's massive. Yeah. And you know, it's interesting all to hear those are Mezcal has been on all my Scouser tequila, there you go. I didn't know that process, just like all bourbons or whiskey and not all right, he's bourbon, right? Yeah. Bourbon has to be made with corn 51% Corn SP new white oak barrels. It has to be American doesn't have to be in Kentucky. But tequila, I mean, yeah, you have your representatives and and yet it was an extra years and you have your bunkers and you have your havens, right? But now you get your crystal Leno's, right. And then Mezcal is I mean, there's seven different categories, not all mezcal or smoky. Just like not all single malts are smoky. So a lot of people take Well, I don't want something smoked a lot of these miscast for cocktails, because that smokiness mixes really well. With the citrus right, so good. Yeah, whatever it's doing. But yeah, eventually we want to get into that and we love the educational component of the culture. In general. You know, on our site, we have a masterclass on Nashville whiskey history. Tasting that's free for anybody that even isn't a subscriber you can go onto our site and learn about whiskey just because you want to learn about whiskey you don't have to be in wine barrels just because we love the educational component, the culture of it that Yeah,

Jason Frazell: 1:03:13

that's cool. Well, Bobby, just we're going to put URLs to the video put a URL to blind barrels will throw your any contact information for you. As a way, anybody who's interested pop in there, pop into the show notes here and take a look and click on it. Go check it out. It's like seriously really beautiful. Like the it just I'm really impressed with the packaging and what you have created over there.

Bobby Demars: 1:03:37

Will thank you and look anybody that wants to jump on us whiskey 10 at checkout, and you will get you can get 10% off anything if you want to give a one off gift as a box and get 10% off that if you want anything new, you know, we've got some really cool shirts and, and tasting glasses and we got a monkey hat. That's that's just that's phenomenal. That has been really popular if people been ordering the monkey hat. Somebody just told me recently it's a chimpanzee and I'm like, it's a monkey. I just let it go.

Jason Frazell: 1:04:04

Chimpanzee is a chimpanzee not a monkey. I don't know, like the I'm trying to be they're trying to be smart.

Bobby Demars: 1:04:10

It's like, like, yeah, the monkeys in the ape family and chimpanzees like I don't know. Yeah, I got it. I'm like, oh, no, it's a monkey Fred now. Okay. Yeah.

Jason Frazell: 1:04:21

That's awesome, Bobby. Well, as we wrap up here, I just want to tell you, I'm so glad we got a chance to connect make this happen. So good to get to know you, too. Last traditions. I want to ask you a question that I want to give you a request. So the question is, Bobby, how do you see the world?

Bobby Demars: 1:04:41

I see the world as an opportunity, you know, to learn and connect at the end of the day, you know, it goes back to that concept of Saundra for this realization that we all have these intricate stories and trying to find out someone's story and what you can learn from it kind of what like basically what your show is doing I do set out to compliment a stranger every day if I can. Nice. It's one of these, you know, we receive, you know, compliments from our friends and our family, our loved ones and, and sometimes it is lip service. And you can tell when it's genuine or not. But if you give it to a stranger that day, if you just say you got a great smile, you know, and you just throw in a compliment like that. It can be a really bright moment in somebody's day in a in an unforgettable moment. And people have done that for me in my life. And that's where I was kind of inspired by that. And I can't say I honestly accomplished like that every day, especially the COVID era where you can see people's smiles, yeah, you're not interacting as much. But you know, everyone in Southern California can be very cold. And so I try to offset that with a warm presence. And, and so I do see the world as an opportunity for learning and connecting,

Jason Frazell: 1:05:52

that. I do have a second question for you. It's very timely. How do you feel about USC and UCLA joining the big 10?

Bobby Demars: 1:05:59

You know, everyone's like, Oh, the PAC 12. And this year, I'm like, Well, you should be the PAC eight, there was a PAC 10 effect. Well, now

Jason Frazell: 1:06:05

the big 10 is like the big 18 or night I don't I can't even I don't even know I'm I mean, I went I'm a big Tanner. And then it's gonna be I think it's 14 or 15. Now without UCL, but you Yeah, it's

Bobby Demars: 1:06:18

the big 10 And the big 12, when they both have 20 teams or their 20s.

Jason Frazell: 1:06:22

You know, right, they're gonna rename themselves. That's why this SEC is smart. Right? They're just the s the Southeastern Conference, which means it could they could have 100 teams or two teams, anyway,

Bobby Demars: 1:06:34

should emerge 40. Exactly, you get the Super Double, big go. I look at it, I think it was an awesome, awesome opportunity. You know, everyone's just got to get their big boy pants on. And we're gonna go play in the big house. And we're gonna play at Ohio State. And it's a great excuse for me to, you know, it's a write off for me, because there's, there's a amazing whiskey trail at Ohio State. You know, Midwest is in Columbus, I mean, I'm going to be going all these places. I've always wanted to go to Michigan Stadium. Never been to Ohio State stadium, you know, yeah, a chance to get to play these themes. I've never, you know, there's certain places I've just never gone to, and I think it's a great way, you know, been at Notre Dame many times, right? And it's just going to make everything stronger. Obviously, there's going to be more money now. And more opportunity in that. So that's why they're doing it. As they get bigger TV deals by having bigger matchups, I think the thing I worry about is are they going to increase the number of games the way that they've slowly been doing, they used to never deal with like 13 games with the pleasure to 15 games, and you're really shortening these guys, potentially, their ability to play more years in the league by increasing the chance for injury? I mean, have you ever watched a game where they didn't cart one or two players off the field and seems like it happens often doesn't happen? Often. I mean, there's like a 10% chance that somebody that you're gonna get injured in the game. And I've been injured gibside I know that I've been that person. I've been carted off. But yeah, there's all these different things. I worry about that about these guys maybe doing too many snaps, and even shortening their lifespan by playing more games like that. So that's what I worry about, you know, football isn't gonna go anywhere. You know, one of the things about making the documentary that was difficult, because I'm very proud of what I did as a college athlete. And how did I really come to terms with challenging the institutions because the NCAA is the school's it's a collective of the school that isn't this faceless unit institution that makes all these decisions? No, it's consorting with the colleges that ultimately, then the will of what the NCAA actually does. And the way that I've kind of reconciled with everything is this is, you know, I asked this rower, you know, she said, Well, this is what we do with our friendships and our family and our loved ones, we push those relationships to be better. So I love my school, and I can love them, and still push them to be better in the way that they operate. And I'm hoping that the steps forward and the more money hopefully creates more opportunities for athletes, and rather than, you know, you know, keeps them from other pains and other things that might be down the road. And I'm hoping that it creates more opportunity.

Jason Frazell: 1:09:09

Yeah. Again, thank you, Bobby, for being on last tradition. Thank you. Last tradition, leave us with some authentic Bobby DeMars words of wisdom and keep it short and sweet should fit on a little Instagram post they got for us.

Bobby Demars: 1:09:25

Be present. You know whether you're drinking whiskey, whether you're you're watching your kids, connect to the moment because that's what we really have. All we have is the present moment. And whatever you're doing, like in this podcast, when you're talking to somebody, be connected. Don't be thinking about the mistake that you just made. Don't be thinking about what's down the road be present in the moment that you have. It's an opportunity. I

Jason Frazell: 1:09:46

agree with that. And I would say if you're receiving a blind barrels box that evening, you may want to think a little bit about how you're going to enjoy that whiskey as it comes in.

Bobby Demars: 1:09:56

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Jason Frazell: 1:09:57

That's where you can think about it.

Bobby Demars: 1:09:59

You're gonna be Got the next one? It's like my grandpa used to talk about dinner breakfast. He's like, you're eating your breakfast, right? Yeah,

Jason Frazell: 1:10:06

I do the same thing about you. It's great to have you on so good to connect with you. And I'd love to have you back on again sometime soon. Hopefully you come back.

Bobby Demars: 1:10:13

Well, one of my movies, we can talk about movies. Alright, take care of Bobby. Awesome, thanks. Appreciate it.