Mick Unplugged - Fearless Leadership: Gridiron to Greatness with Jared Allen

Episode Date: June 4, 2026

Leadership isn’t about being the loudest; it’s about inspiring commitment through genuine connection and relentless effort.Learn leadership from NFL Hall of Famer, Jared Allen, as he shares insights from his Pro Bowl career about thriving under pressure. This episode reveals how elite athletes translate gridiron success into business and personal development.WHAT YOU'LL LEARN- The 2011 season's 22-sack mindset- Building a Hall of Fame career foundation- Jared Allen's key leadership principles- Mental toughness strategies for entrepreneurs- Honoring military families through philanthropyQUOTES THAT HIT"You have to be a little bit crazy, but you also have to be calculated." - Jared Allen"Leadership is not just about telling people what to do, it's about showing them and earning their trust." - Jared Allen"There's no substitute for hard work and understanding your competition." - Jared AllenCHAPTERS00:00 From Idaho State to NFL Legend07:15 The 22-Sack Season Breakdown14:30 Leadership Lessons from the Locker Room21:55 Transitioning NFL Grit to Business28:10 Jared Allen's Philanthropic Mission35:00 Sustaining Excellence Beyond the Field42:20 Building a Brand, Full Ryed BourbonQUESTIONS THIS EPISODE ANSWERSQ: How did Jared Allen approach the record-breaking 2011 NFL season?A: Jared Allen combined relentless physical preparation with a deep understanding of his opponents' tendencies, constantly pushing for improvement even when nearing the single-season sack record.Q: What are Jared Allen's top leadership principles?A: Jared Allen emphasizes leading by example, fostering genuine relationships, and empowering teammates, believing that true leadership earns respect rather than demands it.Q: How does Jared Allen maintain mental toughness in his post-NFL career?A: Jared Allen applies the same discipline and strategic thinking he used in football to his business ventures and personal life, focusing on continuous learning and impactful contributions.Connect & Discover Jared:Instagram: @jaredallen69Full Ryde Bourbon: fullrydebourbon.comFoundation: Jared Allen’s Homes for Wounded WarriorsX / Twitter: @jaredallen69  🔥 Ready to Lead Different & Win Bigger? 🔥 How to Be a Good Leader When You’ve Never Had One by Mick Hunt isn’t just a book - it’s your blueprint to set up, stand out, and lead with confidence (even if no one ever showed you how).Straight talk. Real Strategy. No fluff. Just the tools you need to elevate your leadership and life.👉 Get your copy now and start leading on your terms → Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A MillionFOLLOW MICK ON:Spotify: MickUnpluggedInstagram: @mickunplugged Facebook: @mickunpluggedYouTube:  @MickUnpluggedPodcast LinkedIn: @mickhunt Website:  MickHuntOfficial.comWebsite: howtobeagoodleader.comWebsite: Leadloudseries.comApple: MickUnpluggedSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The NFL, everybody's fast, everybody's strong, everybody, or some form of an All-American problem. What makes all these people in college the 1% of 1% when you get to those levels where everybody's good, everyone's great, it is a mindset and is your work ethic. Guys that work hard, that are hustlers, like that motors, all that you hear the high motor. And I'm like, you're actually using those in a negative connotation. At that point, everybody's talented. So the fact that I'm willing to outwork you just shows that mentally you're weak. And that's how I equate it.

I wasn't willing to work out to meet the standard that I thought was acceptable. I got hung on for paychecks and racked up five sacks a year and did them the minimum, but that's just not who I was. And so I take that same philosophy of what we're doing. So if that passion for something burns or if I'm not willing to put that effort in, then we get out of it. We don't do it in the first place. What greater mission or greater purpose to be all in on than your kids and your wife and in your faith?

All this goes away. When we go in front of our maker, whoever you believe your maker is, when you go in front of them, dollar size and zeros in your bank account mean absolutely nothing. You're listening to Mick Unplugged, hosted by the one and only Mick Hunt. This is where purpose meets power and stories spark transformation. Mick takes you beyond the motivation and into meaning, helping you discover your because and becoming unstoppable.

I'm Rudy Rush, and trust me, you're in the right place. Let's get unplugged. Ladies and gentlemen, today's guest is a phenom. If you look up the word or the term man's man in the world. the dictionary, you find this guest. NFL Hall of Famer, legendary at everything that he does, man of faith,

and a man who is an owner of the best bourbon I've ever had in my life. I am talking to none other than the goat himself. Mr. Jared Allen. Jared, how are you doing today, brother? I'm doing great. I mean, I need you to just be around my house 24-7 every morning with that intro.

You can't have a great day after that intro. I apologize, I'm going to dog's barking over here. My golden dude will think she's a Rottweiler. All good, brother. All good, man. I'm doing great. How about yourself? I am great now that I am with you.

I'm honored to have you on. There's so much I want to talk to you about because you're someone who on and off the field, I've admired for a long time. You're someone who, when you played sports, even the things you do off the field, you don't hide your faith. You never hid your faith.

And that's something I truly admired about you, man. because, you know, when you have the spotlight on you like you did and all the things that you were doing, you still gave honor where honor was doing. I've always respected you for that. Well, I appreciate that. Yeah, you know, like a lot of people, you know, I grew up in the church. I had my ebbs and flows, right? I always, I was laughing sick growing up, you know, had that heart rate monitor relationship, right?

Yeah, yeah. Sunday morning was always an apology for Saturday night at some point, right? And as I got older, as I grew, you know, going through challenges in my life, you know, I had, you know, I had great people around me. I have a great family, you know, for all their, all their flaws, you know, my mom and dad are fantastic people. And, you know, even though, you know, they were married, my whole, they're not married. I mean, you got divorced when I was young, but, you know, my stepdad's an amazing person. So, you know, I got great influences. That's what I'm just trying to say.

And, you know, you go through life like that. You tend to always come back around to your foundations. Right. And so as I got older, my mistakes, and, you know, I had my grandfather as a big part of my life. I had a lot of people heard me talk about him. And then my best friend's dad growing up was our pastor. And, you know, I remember, I remember forget. He said, you know, I'll never forget that. I was 20 roughly good and I was 24 years old, 25 years old, maybe, I guess 26 years old. And that's what you said. He said, the world needs more moral heroes, you know, it's enough assholes in the world. And when your pastor cusses at you, you're kind of like, okay, yeah, you know what?

I need to, I need to, I need this relationship. Yeah. Right. This, right. Anybody's been married. I'm going on 16 years of marriage. I got to tell my friends too, I said, you know, you don't want peaks and valleys, right? This is flatlining in marriage is a great, is a great thing.

Yes, sir. Consistency. And so that's kind of where, where I was at, you know, and I'm always. So I think, you know, this is my long winded version of getting back to kind of why I always wanted to live the way, you know, I lived and be so transparent with people is, is that, you know, I understood that feeling of, you know, when people would ask you, what's the one thing people don't know about you? Oh, I'm a Christian.

Like, that's not what you want to say, right? And that's not being a role. So through that process of growing up and learning that you are a role model, whether you want to be one or not, right? So what is it? And that's, you know, kind of going back to how I was raised is like, who are you? What is that an authentic person that you look like, right? You know, if you're praying, if you're praying and you're reading your Bible and

you're doing certain things, why are you hiding it, right? And if you stand, if this is how you were raised, this would you stand on, then you need to live by those, those, those, those factors too that you stand on, right? And so those are kind of those mature, that maturation process of maturing and stuff like that. And, you know, I realize, you know, that again,

I'm just going to be me. I don't know how to be anybody else but me, right? It's too hard to try to be a different version of yourself or different people and say, I tell my kids, just be authentically you. And so I tried to pass that along. And then I think I also had a great understanding of, I genuinely loved what I did for a living, right?

And I had a lot of respect because, you know, I came from, I didn't, I didn't have a lot of money growing up. I mean, we had, we had prosperous times and we had really, really poor times, you know? So, you know, I understood and would read fan mail when people would talk about, you know, you know, football was their escape, right? Or this guy was making a couple hundred bucks a week and you spend in a couple hundred bucks a week on his season tickets, you know? Yeah. You know, making me, so you understand the importance of what football was bringing to people, whether it was a distraction, whatever that fan,

whatever the fandom was for. And so for me, I'm like, people are going to pay their harder money to come watch me play. I mean, I'm just, I'm going to give it all. I'm going to be me.

And part of that me was, was my faith. And I think people saw me grow in there. You look at me as a rookie running around to where I was, you know, at the end of my career, you'd be like, man,

there's, there's a maturation process of a human being right there. Right. And I think that was important for me to show people that, you know, and I didn't, I didn't know it at the time. It wasn't like my goal.

was to show this, you know, this process of change. When you look back out, you say, you know what? I think I did a good job of being me and setting an example of, listen, young, fun, dumb, immature, growing into responsibility, you know, you're getting married, having kids, that whole life change that you can be an example for people that are out there running and gun and that don't think they're ever going to slow down or those people that, you know, hey, I can stand on my faith and it doesn't have to be this legalistic view of what people think your faith is. of this list of do's and don'ts. You know, Christ calls us to be a light to the world, not to hide in the darkness and not to judge others, you know? So I just tried to, that's what I just try to do. I just tried to live it out authentically and be who I was.

And because again, like I said, it's too hard to try to be multiple people. Hey, that is the truth, bro. That is the truth. And this is a great, you know, conversation. I had my kids who are older. They're in their 20s now, but my middle child, my oldest son is a football coach now. And we watched your Hall of Fame induction. We wound it probably a hundred times, no exaggeration.

Because I'm like, that's freaking Jared Allen right there, right? And you talk about authentically being yourself and that is you. And I like to call it your because or your purpose, right? You do so much that people, the ordinary person doesn't know about, right? Like, I know how connected you are to veterans. I know the things that you do for kids that you don't ever gloat about or talk about because it's about those individuals, man. Like, if I were to say Jared Allen in 2026, what is your because?

What is that thing that's deeper than your why? I like to call it like your true purpose, that foundation. What's your because, brother? You know what? I think it's my kids right now. Honestly, it's, and I know that's kind of generic and cheap. cheesy because we're still doing stuff with the foundation. I got a great team that that handles most of that. But, you know, right now, like my kids sports, my kids are in volleyball and, you know,

they're at that pivotal point in life. They're teenage. I have one teenager and one, you know, preteen, right? And so they're at that pivotal point in life where decisions matter. And I'm not talking about football decisions, like life decisions, right? So, you know, and they're deep into sports. And I think mom and dad being present, you know, my kids are in two different clubs. So we're constantly here like we're Alabama one week in Atlanta. Lexia, we're all over the place, right? But it's, it's that being present, you know, and I think if you look in, if you go really deep into it, you look at society today, there's, there's, I think a lot of the issues we have in society today because there's a gap in parents being present, you know, and it's, and I'm not just

talking about, you know, people from, you know, poor communities and that, I mean, you look at a lot of the affluent, I mean, my kids go to affluent school and there's a lot of unpresent parents, you know there's a lot of you know and no no disrespect to people that are that have nannies and that are working and their career and i fully understand that um but for me and we've been blessed you know my wife and i decided when you know when we decided to have children that we were going to be ever present in our kids lives right and i think that's one of the greatest gifts you can give your kids so my biggest purpose right now is making sure through these transformable years that the dad is present you know and And, you know, and that I'm continuing to show them what hard work looks like, right?

You know, continuing to show them what humility looks like, continuing to show them and hopefully being the man, the type of man that they want around them, you know, not much later in life. Right. But it's crazy. You think about it, man, I got, you know, I mean, I have a 14 year old. I mean, 10 years, she could be getting married, right? I mean, you think about that. You're like, wow, 10 years can go by so quick.

So that's really my main purpose right now is that. And obviously we dabble in a lot of stuff. But I think, again, just teaching them to define that passion and to be and to be passion driven. Right. And so, you know, that's kind of been what our family centers around right now is really making sure that we can be ever present. And, you know, they don't know. They don't realize it now. One day they'll look back and like, holy crap, mom and dad were pretty awesome.

And I'm going to continue to give you praise and applaud you for that because here's the truth. And I just got off stage two weeks ago and told this story of I grew up in a two-parent household, but really was raised by a single mom. My dad was physically there, right? Yep. But he wasn't present. And I'm tying everything to what you're saying because you're right. your kids are going to remember that and look back.

And you're not just present physically. You're present emotionally, right? You're present mentally. You're active. When we talk about Jared Allen, everybody talks about his motor, right? And you talk about action there. Like what you just said was you're present, yes, but you're being active, right? 100%.

I would love for you to talk to the folks that are listening and watching about why and how that is so important in the the day-to-day, not just with your kids, but also in the businesses that you have, the communities that you're with. You can be present, but you really better be active. Absolutely. I love that. I love that phrasing right there. I'm going to steal it. I tell me, I have no, I have no original thought. Everything I urge you today. I take somebody. But, you know, honestly, I'm one of these weird pieces. When I, when I hear something or read something that sticks, like, I can't forget it, right? It's part of the reason why, you know, we eat the way we do, as far as we like to grow our own food,

eat organically, you know, we eat everything. But, you know, we try to, but you know, we try to that certain

education process. But point being is that when I know something, I have a hard time making a conscious decision against it. If I believe in it, right? If it comes down to my, my core belief system, I can't, I can't consciously make that decision to go against it.

And so I say that to say when I was young. I mean, I didn't even have kids at this time. I was in Kansas City. I was early 20s. I read an article that said seven, your children will have a 70% less chance of poverty for just two parents being present, being there.

You could be crappy parents. But if two parents are there, right, you have your child will have a 70% less chance of growing up in poverty. And I don't know why that struck me in that moment. I didn't have kids. I was reading. I was like, oh, my gosh. And then the article continues to talk about now if both parents are active, right?

If you're present, you're active, you're now you're a good. parent right now you know you're all parents are going to have you know struggles but and that stuck with me and so you know when we decided to have kids um and you know aim decided to stay home and and be as you know stay at home mom which is the greatest gift you can give your children right yeah um and then when i retired i knew it was like it was like it was oh what are you going to do you're going to meet you and i'm like no like my kids were at that that that age um they were right you know excuse me they're like kindergarten my oldest was up starting kindergarten when i had retired so again, fully blessed to be able to do that.

And I just knew I'm like, this is my time now to dive in, right? You know, and share the load with Amy. And I could have easily taken a job in media. I could have taken, you know, run and done whatever. But again, I think there's that, there's a level of being active in your kid's life is huge. You know, and so for me, that's just what is. And then when I do something, I go all in, right? And so, I mean, what greater, what greater mission or greater purpose to be all in on than your kids,

in your wife and in your faith, right? So like those things that actually matter. I mean, let's be honest, all this goes away, right? When we're, you know, we go in front of our maker, whoever you believe your maker is when you go in front of them, your dollar size and zeros in your bank account me, absolutely nothing, you know? And so, you know, so for me,

I think I've had a great understanding of that, even when I was young. And so I just tried, I just, I try to be acting. And like I said, and then you go into the business world of things, right? I literally was on a call with a distributor the other day. You know, again, my buddy called me one day years ago back in 20, because I guess it's 2021. He was, hey, you want to buy a couple of barrels of bourbon?

I was like, cool. He's a bourbon officiant auto. I like to say, I know a lot about bourbon. I enjoy a great glass of bourbon. My buddy is bourbon geek. He's just, he's all in. And so I was like, yeah, sure. I had some connections over at MGP.

So we bought some barrels. The next thing you know, we bought some more barrels. We're going to age it until it's 10 years old. Next thing we're sitting on these things. for four or five years. And then Fred Minnick somebody in mine, he's like, man, it's pretty good. You should probably sell this. Like, oh, okay.

And then I just get down this rabbit hole and now I have a bourbon company, right? And we can talk about that as all. But this is true. He said, he goes, the ones that make it, the brands that make it are the people that show up, right? The people that are active. You have to be active in your own company. You have to be active in what you're doing. You have to be active in your future, right?

So if I expect my kids to have a good future, or if I want to set a good role, example for them. I have to show them what it looks like to be active. Now, anybody who's raising teenagers know half the time, I don't think they see what we're doing. But they will. They will at some point. I hope so that, you know, we always tell them like, where are you so lazy? My goodness, your mom and I work our butts off around here. So I think that's just, that's just the way I've been. You know, it's like it's that it's that mentality. It's that, you know, if you're, it's, you know, and there's the old ad is, right? If anything's worth doing it's worth doing. well. And so that's trying to, that's kind of what I get. And then when I don't have the time,

that's one of the reasons I retire for football, I wasn't willing to put the six hours in the gym anymore, right? I wasn't willing to work out in the off season to meet the standard that I thought was acceptable, right? I got hung on for paychecks and, you know, racked up five sacks a year, and it's done the minimum, but that's just not who, who I was. And so I take that same philosophy of what we're doing. So if that passion for something burns or if I'm not willing to put that effort in, then we get out of it, or we don't do it in the first place. And so that's just kind of what was ingrained to me,

the hard work growing up, you know, very blue-collar family. My dad was a raining cutting horse trainer. My grandfather was 23 years in the United States Marine Corps, which means we were all in the Marine Corps. Right. We were raised,

we were raised boot camp style. And so, again, that just kind of translates into, again, I try to put that kind of work into my marriage, my faith, my kids. any any business we're doing.

So yeah, it's just that it's a mentality. And it's, it's, you know, again, you joke about it. He just joke about it with a mullet. It's a lifestyle. It really is. It's a choice. It's a choice to be, be this way. Yes, sir.

Yes, sir. So, Jared, I'm going to give you an unplugged truth right here. And I've said this to anybody that will listen to me. I think I've said this on film, too. I hate the saying. hard work beats talent when talent doesn't show up. And here's why. Because I've said this before.

When hard work and talent shows up, you got a monster. And that monster is Jared Allen. I believe that you were the epitome of hard work, motor, but then talent too, right? Because, yeah, hard work does beat talent when talent doesn't show up. But a lot of times, though, when you mix that talent in you get 136 sats that's the difference chair right yep that's the different chair i tell that to kids

these days i'm like you get to the NFL everybody's fast everybody's strong right everybody everybody was bored if they weren't first team all-american they were some form of an all-american problem like so so all the accolades are there right everybody so what's that what makes what makes all these people in college that are the 1% of 1% right i think um i love math right and i had a high school coach tell me one time. And this is when he, he was basically trying to tell me, like, I shouldn't get my hopes up for, for college scholarships when I was like a freshman, right? He was like there. There was like 20,000 colleges in the country, right? And, you know, hundreds of thousands of high school students and high school athletes and this, that,

only about 20,000 them get to go to college on a scholarship. And then out of that, another only, you know, 5,000, at least this level, this leg. And it was this whole like, you know, 1% or 1% kind of keep coming down. And I think when you get to those levels where everybody's good, everybody's great. it is a mindset and is your work ethic, right? And I used to laugh about it because guys in the league that work hard, that are hustler, like that motors, all that. You hear the high motor, you know, a try hard hustle guy.

And I'm like, right, you're actually, you're using those in a negative connotation, right? You're trying to say like, hold up. I only have 136 acts because I worked hard. No, I only have 136 acts because I tried hard. You know, and again, why is working hard and trying hard and hustling ever, what does that ever been a bad thing? Those are qualities I'm trying to teach my kids, right?

Right. You have to put the work in. And that's why I love sports, right? Like you said, because at that point, everybody's talented. Mm-hmm. So the fact that I'm willing to outwork you just shows that mentally you're weak. Right. And that's how I equate it.

And so I'm with you. I don't, you know, yes, I would take someone that has a great work ethic that might not be as naturally gifted. I don't like say talent. I like to say, you know, there's, everybody's got. different gifts. And I remember having that conversation with Everson Griffin when he was a young kid or, you know, a young player. I said, do you, you have more natural athletic ability than I ever had? I mean, this dude was, this dude was running a sub four, five, 40 after practice with pads off. You know what I mean? And like 270. I mean, this dude was just a absolute physical specimen.

Yeah, yeah. Well, I told him, I said, but when you get this right, when you, when you, when you can use your mind when you when you when you when you when you when you when you when you know your playbook when you know uh what that offense attack was in the set when you when you know the game so well now you're actually using those physical attributes as a as a as a as a tool in your toolbox right but you're just you're just surviving on those you know but when that when that work ethic and that's what I would say the hard work isn't just in the weight room you know it isn't just you know practicing hard it's all it's fine tuning the detail is being willing to pick yourself apart and you know I tell you about I

the 136 are great. I probably remember all the ones I missed more. It is. And it's those missed opportunities of what could have been. You know, dang, that could have been even better. And every season, I would just go back and I would just rip myself apart. Okay, you're only as good as your last season. How can we get better?

Where can we get better? Where are we lacking? You know, writing down goals and giving those to my coach to hold me accountable. And stuff like that. So, yeah, man, I think I'm with you. I think, you know, talent. a lot of people get by on talent in all aspects of the world, right? You know, it's like you got a person that naturally really smart.

So I don't have to try very hard to school. But imagine if they did. You know, like imagine where you could go. And so I couldn't agree more with you. I think, you know, you look at, you look at anybody that's successful, you know, it takes grit and determination. The talent is a given. Now, what do you do with that talent?

That's on you. And that comes down to your work ethic. And that's why you see guys wash out, right? It's not because they weren't talented. Yeah. You know, it's not because, you know, and then you got, you got guys that overachieve, you got guys that underachieve and it comes down to that work ethic, like you said.

Yep, yep, absolutely. All right, Jared, I'm going to get in trouble in a good way. This is my hot take of the day. But I need some help with this hot take. Okay. So sitting right here to my right, I have this bourbon. Full ride bourbon.

And not only is this take hot, this bourbon is hot on fire. We're talking 122 proof 61% alcohol content. But it's the presentation, bro. Like got some signatures right here on the side, right? We got some limited edition stuff that I love. So I wanted to do this live. We're going to open this. Oh, I like it.

Okay. We're going to open this. And I need everybody. to see this right here. This is amazing. This is amazing. And this blend is number

1 of 25. It's how special Jared Allen is to me. This has become my favorite bourbon, and that's what I'm going to get in trouble. I love it. And I'll tell you what, that is fantastic. And it's 9 o'clock.

I don't know if I should have a sip live. I didn't say if it was 9 o'clock a.m. or p.m. It's just 9 o'clock. There's no judgment here. No one knows if you've even swallowed it. So that, so that, so the was special about this one, too, is, you know, this one is our higher price. Because so this was actually, I, when we, when we made this blend, this was only for my Hall of Fame party, right?

So we made this blend, especially for my Hall of Fame party. So that was batch one that we bottled in 2025. That's with the 125. So you, you should have a number on your canister. that'll tell you which bottle of 228. So after the Hall of Fame party, I was never going to release this into the public, right? And then we had some issues with our,

we had some delays in our glass because our batch two is our 115, which is cool. It is is prima. We've softened the front end up a little bit. And so we had 228 bottles sitting in a tote over at our bottling company, Middle West. So we said, you know what? Let's let's make a custom canister for it, right?

I'll sign all of them individually. Because, you know, our brand isn't built around me as an athlete, right? It's built around the bourbon. Like that's the other thing, too. It's like, you know, when you do something, you got, like, there's a ton of celebrity brands, athlete brands. Like, that's why we put all of our focus into our juice. And that's why we have, we sat on our MGP until it was eight years old, right?

I went out. We bought 13 year old barrels of Kentucky bourbon. That are fantastic. And we literally created this blend while we were, we were there to, to, to, to figure out how we were going to blend out our MGP with our Middle West. And we ended up with this, which was totally, so we shifted in the ninth hour, right? I mean, we just were like, the juice is going to lead the way. We're going to do what it takes.

So anyway, we did this. We signed this. We got this out. And that is why it's at the elevated price of $2.95, our batch two retails at $99.99. But this is, this is one of my favorite just because this is, this was like, this was that completion of an idea. Again, right? We just had me and my buddy sitting around, called me up one day, like, yeah, let's do it.

And then knowing nothing of the spirits world, just, just worked the process and took our lumps and just worked, work, work, work, work, work. And this was what we got, you know, in time for the Hall of Fame party, be able to give that as gifts for everybody. And then, like I said, to have that left over and be able to release a very, very small, limited run to the public, which you are lucky to get one. It is cool. And I will say, it is, it is fantastic, neat. But I'm a cube guy too. and that 122 on a cube is Belisimo.

I don't even know what Belissimo means. That's good. It's amazing. No, but I'm a cube guy too. But, like, this is so great neat. Yeah. And by the way, that canister was 122 of 228. Okay, okay, perfect.

And here's what I do. Release the video. I sat here in this office and I signed every single one of those canisters. I freaking love it. I freaking love it. Here's what I'm going to do because I need to do this right now before the rest of them get sold.

Okay. I'm going to go ahead and buy another two bottles. Okay. If they're available. I'm going to check literally right now. They should be. I don't speak easy. They should be.

Yep. Yep. So here's what I want. I want people that live here near me. So my friends, so John Moreau, my cousin, Randy, my cousin Torrance. We're going to do a special. We're going to film it.

We're going to do some cool things for social to really push this brand out here. I love it. Next weekend, when I'm home. I'm sorry, I keep interrupting. No, no, no, no. We might call or FaceTime Jared Allen and get them on with us, too.

But we're going to go celebrate this right here. We're going to celebrate Jared Allen, but we're going to celebrate full right bourbon. I love it. Because if you're watching, if you're listening, it is the best bourbon you're going to have. And this is where I'm going to get in trouble because everybody that knows me

knows that I love the difference. Chris Voss, one of my very good friends. Chris, we're now number two, Nick, we're number two. Full ride is my number one. They know I love a vintage yellowstone. Ooh, yeah. My vintage yellowstone is now number three. I love a Jefferson's.

Jefferson has now moved to number four. Yeah, which, you know what you know. Because full ride is that truth. I appreciate. And so I do do this to our and we can send you a bottle of our of our batch two, right? And taste them against each other because that's that's the coolest part about when if you have both of them is, you know, everybody's kind of trying to figure out what always is different. And so we have about 10% more wheat in our batch two.

Okay. Right. So again, one of the reasons, one of the reasons we got to the 122. This is this is the reason everything is high proof bourbon. Like the reason I love high proof bourbon is the complex. of the blending process and the making process, right? The ability, A, because we're not drinking like we're going to the clubs anymore, you know, like we're 20s, right?

Give me a glass. I'm ready for sleep. A glass of I'm going to sit for 30, 45 and just enjoy it. Yep, exactly. And as Fred would say, you graduated from a drink or two, a taster. And so high proof bourbon is so people who get so scared of it. And I'm like, but it's like, it's like heating up your spices or, you know, or toasting your nuts before you make, make a meal, right?

It just adds a complexity of flavors to it that you can't get any other way. And then the challenge is making it drink like a low proof. And that's and that is why I love it. And that is why, you know, we have the partners we have over in our Midwest and our blenders, you know, they just acquired Old Elk, which is a great brand as well. And so we get, we get the ability of just being able to source. And that's why we like to source too, because I'm not going to say to pretend I'm going to be a distiller and make and redo the world of bourbon. There's so many great barrels of bourbon out there.

The key is finding those, putting them together and then creating the blend that, again, I think it's great. You think it's great. Some people might not. But that's what I love about the challenge of it. And then with our batch two, you know, we wouldn't say, okay, how can we, how can a, we make, you know, the batch different, right? I like, I love orphan barrel for that reason. Like they go out, it's all, it's always different.

It's always floating, right? Yeah. And they say they have some staples like barter houses, which is fantastic. But that's kind of the premise behind full ride. It's like, we'll always let the juice lead. You know, we have what we have, you know, we have our barrels that will base it. But if someone comes up to me, it's like, hey, I just found something insane. And we can get it.

Like, yep, we're going to. And if it works with our, with our premise of what we're trying to put out, then we'll do it. But this is why. So our batch two, we just, we softened it up just a little bit. It came, the proof came down to 115 based on, based on the extra wheat. So the 122 was hard to hit because the wheat, our wheat had burned. Urban was only coming in at like 100, I think, 113 out of the barrel, right? It was a little lower out of the barrel in our Kentucky.

It was like 130. So we were trying to balance like how we were trying to get these just to meet a standard. And I really wanted to kind of be in that 120 above 120 for that first for that first one, something really special. And we think we nailed it. And then the 115 is our batch two. I always call them by their proofs because I think right now we do our batch too. I would love for you to taste them together and give me your thoughts on them because it has a little it's going to be a little little softer on the front end not as grain forward now it depends on what you like I love the taste of the grains of a bourbon right like I just want to taste when I'm drinking yeah and so again I it's such a fun process and you get kind of you know the science behind it and you just try to get into this like this play I'm trying to you know how can we soften the mouth you how can we do this how can we do this and hopefully. we continue to throw out good products.

So I'm glad you love it. And I look forward to hearing what you think about the other one, too. Yeah. So that's what I'm going to do then. I'll get another bottle of this one because this one's mine. I'm not sharing that one. I'll get another bottle of that one. And then I'll get batch two.

And then next weekend, I'll have some of my guys over. And we're just going to sit and talk and share. How about that? I love it. I love it. Yep. And shoot me text or FaceTime me. and I'll pop in and give my two cents if you want it.

There it is. I'll share a toast with you. I love it. I love it. So I'm going to get you out of here in a moment, but I always like to ask this question. I call it The Room. And you've done so much on the field, off the field.

Was there ever a room, a meeting, a dinner that you can look back to and say, that meeting, that room, that moment changed my life? man um yeah yeah i mean i can't and and and not from a fools not from a football standpoint right it was a uh uh and again it's it's well documented that in 2006 i got a little trouble and made some bad decisions and you know what i was on a phone call with my grandpa i was literally i was in the car so the my room was my car and um and my grandpa told me he said i didn't drag this last name through multiple wars and conflicts for you to eff it up. Right.

And in that same, and in that same year, I was in the locker room talking with my pastor, right, with my best friend's dad. And he's the one and that was in that, and that was in locker. I was sitting in my locker in with the chiefs. And that's what he said. The world needs more moral heroes. We got enough assholes. And those two moments right there changed my life.

It refocused me. It took me from a child, a child's mindset to understanding what responsibility really was, you know, on and off the field. It took me to a place of, you know, you worked so hard. I worked so hard at my football career, right? That, you know, again, I had this idea that to play on the edge, I had to live on the edge. Yeah. And so in that moment, those in that year 2006, those two phone calls really showed me how you can separate, right? You can, you can live a conservative, responsible life over here and you can play with your hair on fire, borderline illegal on the field, And so, yeah, so those were those were, those were the room, right?

Those would be my, my room. But the most impactful one is in the car with my grandfather, because he is my hero. And, you know, so again, I think sometimes you need those moments of truth. Yep. And I was blessed to have people around me that would give them to me when I needed them. I love it. I love it. All right, brother.

I'm going to get you out of here with my rapid fire top five. Okay. Let's do it. Unplug five, as I like to call it. All right. You can't have a favorite child, but you can't have a favorite teammate. Who is your favorite teammate of all time? Kevin Williams.

Kevin Williams. I like it. Big sexy. The sack you remember the most. One and only on Peyton Manning. It was my first favorite because it was my first one from Minnesota as well. Yeah, it is. There it is.

What's one thing that you do every day without fail? What's one thing you have to do every day? Drink coffee. Okay. okay, I like that. I like that. If you had one moment, one sit down, I think I know the answer. Who would that be with? Oh, that's a rapid fire.

I mean, the obvious is Jesus, and I'm going to meet him one day. But if I went away from that, oh, my goodness. Honestly, you know what? This is going to somewhere. So I've been reading the Ethiopian Bible now, right? And learning more about, you know, the original. where that originated from yeah i would love to have a conversation to sit down with the ethiopian um enoch i think it was that was on the road who became a christian i think when he

ran into paul uh peter i think peter or pa can i already lose that on the road because there was such it that that dude was changed right there and then now knowing what i know about what has transpired in ethiopia for thousands of years i would love to sit down with that dude and see what that transition looked like that would be that would be super cool for me. I love it. I love it. I love it.

Last one, and this is personal. I want you to finish this sentence. I refuse to leave this earth until dot, dot, dot, dot. Oh, man, I refuse to leave this earth until, oh, my goodness. That's, that's a heavy one. That's, that's, uh, I'll be honest. I don't, I don't feel like I have anything that.

It's unaccomplished. Okay. Like, I don't, I don't live, I don't live a life with, with regret looking backward. Yeah. So, I mean, if I have to say, I mean, I don't want to leave this earth until, you know, I have seen my grandkids at the minimum. Great grandkids would be cool. There it is.

I love it. Ladies and gentlemen, this has been Jared Allen. Hall of Famer on the field, Hall of Fame or off the field. Someone who I've looked up to for a very long time just because of the person that he is. is Jared, brother, I mean this when I say it. If there's ever anything I can personally do for you, I'm there. You don't have to ask. I'm here.

I appreciate that. I love you with everything I got, bro. I appreciate that. And right back at you, this has been fantastic. Fantastic show. Great, great conversation. It's like talking to someone I've known my whole life. There it is.

I love it. I love it. There it is. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, always remember your because is your superpower. Go Unleash. That's another powerful conversation on Mick Unplugged. If this episode moved you, and I'm sure it did, follow the show wherever you listen,

share it with someone who needs that spark, and leave a review so more people can find there because. I'm Rudy Rush, and until next time, stay driven, stay focused, and stay unplugged.