Stay Tranquilo - Racing in The World Ironman Championship - Balancing Training & Running a Restaurant And What Are The Best Whiskeys w/ Mike Ferreiro

Episode Date: January 9, 2023

In this episode of the Stay Tranquilo Podcast, we interview KONA 2022 Ironman World Championship racer Mikey Ferreiro.   We touch on what it takes to not only race in an Ironman, but also to compete in an Ironman at the highest level.  Mike is not only an Ironman racer, but also works full time as a GM for the World Famous Catch of the Day in Miami, FL.  Mike speaks on the balance of having a full time job and running a restaurant while training for the most difficult endurance championship.  We wrap up the episode touching on working in the restaurant industry and what are some of the whiskeys Mikey enjoys when he's not working and training.    Take a listen to the full convo and let us know what you think!    Follow us on social:  Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/staytranquilo/      YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@staytranquilo      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andre-dunand-200077124/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What's up, guys? Welcome to another episode of the Stay Tranquilo podcast powered by Johnny Cuba, a premium German lager, European roots with Caribbean soul. You could find it at your local Windixi Sedanos. Presidente, wherever you could find beer, go find it, get your Johnny Cuba. Perfect for a hot summer day. Perfect for the pool. Perfect for the beach. Wherever that may be, nice, easy drinking, Chris Lager. Enjoy your Johnny Cuba, and of course, stay tranquil. What is up, guys? Welcome to another episode of the State Ronkilo podcast. Happy New Year. We hope everyone enjoyed their holidays. Welcome back. On today's episode, we interview Mikey Ferrerow, a world Ironman championship racer and general manager at Catch of the Day in Miami, Florida. On today's episode, we touch on what it takes to not only compete in an Iron Man, but also compete at the highest level. We also touch on what it means to have a full-time job while training. and also touching base on some of the great whiskeys Mikey enjoys to drink. Enjoy this episode.

We hope you tune in. Make sure to follow us across every social media channel at Stay Tranquilo. And leave us a review, share with friends, and enjoy the episode. Thanks, guys, and we'll see you soon. Happy New Year. Welcome back. I hope you guys had an awesome holiday season. We got an awesome episode for you guys today.

We're going to be talking about a little bit about the Iron Man Championship. that this guy raced in. A little bit about some whiskey talk. We're going to talk about the restaurant here that we're at. We're here at beautiful catch of the day in Miami, Florida. So yeah, I'll shoot it to you, Mikey. Tell us a little bit about what you got going on. All right.

Thanks, well, thanks for tuning in, guys. Happy holidays. Hope everybody's enjoying themselves. And I'm definitely enjoying myself. Yeah. You get out for a few days of little vacation time. Oh, yeah. It's great to be here with my brother, Andre.

Always a pleasure sharing the mic with him. How yeah. Touching up upon the last. podcast that we had a couple years.com. Yeah, yeah, we had a, we had recorded probably, probably two years ago. And maybe even more. It might have been three. It was one of the first ones.

It was one of the first ones, should. It might have been three or four years ago. So, and that was the name of that episode was Go with the Flow. So if you haven't listened to that one, I recommend you maybe take a look at that one. So you can see the evolution of like how we've become today, right? So kind of getting into that, and I'm sure we even touched about it. I don't even remember the conversation too much, but I'm sure we talked about it. But we spoke a little bit about it.

about how you got into triathlons. I think at that point you had raced already and at least a half Iron Man. I don't know yet if you had done a fool, but you obviously are just qualified to do an Iron Man Championship a few months ago, racing it in Kona, in Hawaii, which we went out there, which we'll get into a little bit about that.

But before we get into that, tell them a little bit about how you even got into triathlons and then how that kind of evolved into wanting to even race in an Iron Man. Well, I mean, cutting the long story short because obviously I went into it the last time. I've been doing trathons since I was 14 years old and and realistically it's a it's a place for me to learn my limits. Still haven't learned them yet so that's why I'm still doing it.

But it's a lot of fun. It really it really tests the mental strength that one has and it's really really neat to be out there on the course and sharing that course with the professional athletes you know racing for records down to the age group athlete that comes in literally last last place racing what seven hours there's in in Kona when we went there's a few people that were I think 82 plus yeah yeah yeah that had actually raised in the in the Kona World Championship which is insane the the oldest lady that just finished in this year was I believe 78 and there was a gentleman that was older there's a guy

that it was definitely in the 80s I know there was one yeah yeah and it's incredible just to be part of that and And, you know, it's really nice, the camaraderie that's out there. Because realistically, everybody's competing against themselves. You have numbers on your back and you're racing against people. But you go in with your goal and you stick to your goal. And you push your limits. And, you know, you see what you could do that day.

Yeah. To me, the most astonishing thing about the Iron Man is the fact that you're out there by yourself for what eight nine 10 11 hours i mean it's it's just you against you the whole time and there's no one there to like hurrah you you know there's no one there to kind of like push you because you got to be out there and kind of push yourself you know and and you got a tattoo that says mind over matter yeah yeah tell them a little bit about about that tattoo um and what you know what the mind over matter means before before i go into that tattoo um You know, you said something very, very important.

A U versus U. U versus U is one of those that I live by. And my buddy, Mario, shout out to him if he's listening, if he's tuning in. A U versus U. He taught me that one on a long... I'm going to go into that one and then we'll be back to it. So that one, I'm never going to forget that story.

So we're out in Key Biscayne. It was a 16-mile run. And we're just... We're eight miles. and I had worn the wrong socks that day. I was wearing short socks. Typically, I wear high socks. And my back, my Achilles was just getting destroyed.

It was a huge blister forming. Skin was like breaking. It was bleeding back there. And Mario's in a wheelchair. And, you know, Mario always, he always comes here to the restaurant and we have a lot of fun hanging out. And one day he's like, let's go run. So we went that day and then we ran.

and then eight miles in I was like dude my legs hurt I'm bleeding I can't feel my feet like it's just really really bad in pain and he looks at me and he goes you can at least feel your legs and I looked at him and I said you know what you're right let's keep running and after that you know we became some pretty good training buddies we would go out for runs in the key some big pushes in the rain in the wind it didn't matter we would do it uh and we we definitely shared a lot of miles on the on the tarmac together so you know it was a special person that that uh definitely taught me uh you versus you it's it's um there's nobody else there's nobody else that you need to compete with

nobody else that you need to compare yourself to just the person in the mirror yeah no and and going back to mario and like that whole thing is like you at least you can feel your legs talk about like a shifted mindset you know where it's like yeah I'm in a wheelchair. So what? This is my life. This is my circumstances. And I just got to figure it out.

And I got to do what I can do with this situation, you know? And that really puts it in perspective because sometimes I feel like we take for granted, like, you know, just like the simple things of like being able to walk, being able to run, you know. And you take it to a whole other level. But like, you don't take it for granted because you're showing yourself how capable the body really is. Yeah. what really a strong mindset can do to you, right? I mean, there's so many people. I mean, you see people with, like, prosthetic legs and their stories, you know,

and how they can compete at the highest level. They go skiing. They can do anything. Yeah, people like us sometimes are like, oh, I can't do it. I'm like, yeah, you can't do it. Shit, there's so many people that do it, you know? So sometimes it's like, I feel like we're very inclined to make excuses, and it's all comes down to the mindset that we have.

No, anything is possible in this world. Anything is possible. Just have to put your mind to you. 100%. So, you know, fast forward, you go, you know, you started racing in triathlons in high school. Yeah. Then that evolved into doing like long tries and then half Iron Man. And then I think when you did, you did a full Iron Man, I think it was in Indiana.

In Texas. That was the first one. That was the first one. And then which is the one that you did that qualified you for? That was Indiana. That was Indiana. Yeah, in 2021, coming out of the pandemic, wasn't? Yeah, I think so.

Or just before the pandemic. It was before the pandemic because you weren't, I think it was before because I think you were worried that you weren't going to, you knew that your time was good enough to qualify. Yeah. But you were worried that you weren't going to qualify because of the whole pandemic thing. And then I remember you calling me and said, yo, I got, I got, I qualified. It was a mess. It was a mess of qualification. It was a very odd year race.

So it was, it was. It was definitely odd and this may not be the normal way, I guess, to qualify. But tell them a little bit about, like, how do you even qualify for the World Championship, Iron Man? Okay, so basically how it works is each race, you have to go to a qualifying race. They have qualifying races around the world. I picked to stay here, let's call it locally in the United States, just because of travel. And it's a little bit more comfortable to race in the U.S. without the, you know, the differences in customs. of course. And road closures and travel, but basically.

Yeah, you got to bring your bike over there. You have to do everything. You've got to get everything. You've got to get accustomed to the environment that you're racing and all that. So you go out there, you go race. Each category is split up depending on age. And basically it depends on how many people are in each category on a certain percentage qualify. Typically, it's in between three to five persons. Let's call it for 150 people. that are racing qualify and so on and so forth. If the larger categories do get a few more slots, but to be certain that you get a slot,

you have to be top five. Okay, got it. So top five in your age group and you qualify. You qualify. Does it mean that you're gonna get in, but you should probably be sure. No, no, you get a slot. So you get a slot.

So then you go to the ceremony and they say, hey, like do you want the opportunity to go racing Kona? And then bring out your credit card and go racing Kona. It sounds like it's a free invitation. So he qualifies, he gets into Kona, which is like unreal. Well, it's been a dream of mine since I started racing. He's been talking about it since always.

And I always said like, shit, I got to find a way to get out there and do it because that's like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And like not only is it a once-in-life opportunity, you told me it's the last time they're going to end up doing it there. Well, they're doing a bunch of different things. You know, after this year, they realized that racing a two-day format on the island was too much. So I don't want to get into the bits and details because they haven't released too much information just yet. But it's interesting how it's going to be evolutionized the sport of Iron Man now. It's cool. The environment's awesome.

You know, going to a race, I've been to two, a half and a full. And the environment's awesome. Like people, you're there at five in the morning. and people are getting rallied up. I mean, it's a long day ahead of them and they know. So the support system out there is amazing and just seeing everyone together

and the athletes that are out there, it's awesome. So if you ever get a chance and there's one in your area, I highly recommend checking it out. It's an awesome event. While he was running and biking and swimming, we were drinking. It was a nine-hour event. Hey, that's a sport as well.

We had a drinking marathon. But no, it's a It's an awesome event. So talk a little bit about, like, that day, the Iron Man Championship and, like, you know, that just what it was like racing in Hawaii. It gives me goosebumps still, I mean, to this day. It's, it's like, the course is wild. The course is such a respectable course. It really is.

You definitely earned that day. There's no, there's no shortcuts. There's no easy day. It's earned. I mean, I'll take you to do the day. So at the beginning of the day, we'll, you. It was a Thursday morning that we did the race on. And things haven't clicked just yet.

I'm not a great morning person. So my motor skills are not there in the morning. Obviously. And once, I would say once we got into the water, there was like about a 100-yard swim to where the swim start was. And you swim out there with the whole category. It was about, I think, 200 and change guys in my category. And still hasn't clicked.

Still hasn't clicked. And we line up. We have the long boards and the paddle boards all holding us back from the start. And from there, you know, the guys were already peering. Everybody's like, everybody's getting hyped up. And I was like, I need to tune out for a second. So I just went underwater for a good 30 seconds. And all you see is everybody hovering in the water.

And that's when it said, game on. Let's go. We have a big day ahead of us and we're going to conquer this. You see everybody in the water. How the people around you when you're in the water? Are they like conversing with you? No. Everyone's just like in their head.

Everybody is like animal mode. Yeah. It's very, very primal. It's very just like hyped up. Is anyone talking shit to each other? No. No. No.

I mean, not that I was paying attention to it. Everybody's in their zone. Yeah. And, you know, like we were talking about, you know, obviously there's competitors. You're racing race. Yeah, exactly. You know, you have somebody to your right, somebody to your left. But you're racing yourself.

You're racing. You know. What you're going to finish in? Yeah, because you're not worried about anybody's time. You don't know anybody's time when you're racing. It's not like you've got a leaderboard on the track. So it's like you just got to go there and put the best time you can play. Yeah, yeah.

So the swim start, and it was pretty chaotic. There was a lot of people in front of us in the water just because the wave starts. We were the last wave to go out that day. So we had a lot of traffic in the water. I'm not particularly the strongest swimmer, so I kind of just hung out in the pack, and got as much draft as I could. got a few elbows here and there. But, hey, made it happen.

Got through the swim. The swim was really, really happy with the swim. You actually did really well. It was nice. It was enjoyable. The water was perfect temperature. So put it in perspective, I think it was probably one of your best swims that you had. And then you see where he's on on the leaderboard compared to the rest of him.

And you're talking about these guys are the elite of the elite. No, they're fish out there. Fish, dude. It was like, how the hell? I don't think we even mentioned the distance. The swim is 2.4 miles. So it's a 2.0.miles swim, and then from there you go into the bike, which is... 120.

120. And then you do a full marathon, which is... 26.2. Yeah. Yeah. So it's a long day ahead. So from the swim, you know, hyped up. The swims over.

That's typically my worst leg. Yeah. So got on the bike and just started pedaling. Gained a few slots. And the climb up to Javi was very difficult. I was not expecting to suffer as much on the bike. Again, it was earned.

It was not a... Yeah, you get on... I forget what that road is. The Queen Cape. What is it? The Queen Cape. Okay. Yeah, and you're heading straight north

on the island, right? Yeah. And it's an up and down kind of like climb, but for the majority of the time, you're technically going up the whole way, right? Yes, for the halfway point. Yeah. And then at the...

And then you make that loop back around and you come back around. Yeah. And the pack is crazy. It's legit lava rocks. Yeah. Because the way the islands go, and it's the big island of Hawaii, where Kona is, it's basically you've got the coast, and then it just goes straight uphill to the island, which is all volcano, basically. There's four volcanoes that make up the island. One volcano alone makes up 50% of the island.

So it's all volcanic, basically. So when you see where they're racing, it's all volcanoes. So it's hot as hell, and then this volcanic rock on the side makes it that much hotter. Of course. Of course. No, and I mean, it just radiates the heat from the floor. It's an asphalt times 100. It's a math equation just to make sure that it's the hardest day possible. Yeah, seriously. So after the swim, or after the bike, better yet.

So you're on the bike and you're trying to get as many calories as you can in. True. So you could withstand. Yeah. Consuming soul. Consuming soul. You know, your bars. I like the whole food. eating the whole foods and for the first hour just food didn't want to go down.

So just like trying to stuff my face trying to get the calories in. Finally after the hour, you know, things settled down and I was able to calm down get some calories in me And from then, you know finished off the bike course very strong happy with the bike split Definitely did and then and then on to the run onto the run and I knew it was going to be a nice hot run Very difficult but we made the best of it on the run and the run and you know making sure to stay hydrated making sure stay cool yeah you saw the people when when the transit because the transition from the bike so the run was right kind of like where the main stage was kind of like in that area and you would just

see people drenching themselves with water getting the the wet towels putting it on their neck devoured and sunscreen like yeah they just tell it was hard out there yeah yeah yeah but no it was just it was a nice run it was a great great course again it was a very up-and-down run and then going into the lava or what was it the the natural energy lab I mean

it has a reputation to be like where people crack and it's a super hot there dude it's it's one of the hottest parts of the island it's where all the solar panels yeah yeah that's where all the solar panels are so it gets the the most heat

and it was it wrote up to that reputation mile 16 give or take, that's when that's when the engines were failing. But I knew that there was no way that I was going to quit that there. There was no, no way. And, you know, it was a jog, stop, walk, you know, stretch it out, make sure you get the fluids instill.

And make your way to the finish line. And there's no, there's no other, there's no other way. Yeah. It was, it's impossible to quit there. I mean, shit. It's easier set to done, though, you know, considering the way that, course plays and like how tough it is and how hot it is and and while also trying to be as competitive as possible you know going into like you know the most elite individuals in that race yeah that last

mile i mean that's that's something that i could play back yeah it was just like this is why i've been training for 14 years to to go on a linky drive and you know you see the tree above you and family and friends, thanks to this guy, he came. Another one of my buddies, Julio, came with his girlfriend. And it was so special. It was really such a special event. It took everything out of me and, you know, emotionally, mentally, physically, everything, everything, everything.

And I'm so happy that I have the support group because this is not an individual support. Down to, you know, my girlfriend, Natalia, helping me out, making sure I have my food. Making sure that she reminds me to eat. I mean, she has a big place in my heart, along with my friends that really got me through this event. And, you know, I tip my hat off to them. And a lot of what was done that day was for them. 100%. It was awesome.

You had that bib with everyone's name, which is super cool. It's just crazy. Like how everyone has their thing. It's like he had dedicated a mile to a different person, which I thought that was amazing. And it just shows, like, for you, that was something that you were like, I need something to get me through every mile. Because every mile is going to be that difficult. Well, you have to stay occupied. You have to keep your mind motivated.

And the minute that your mind turns off, your body's going to turn. Your mind could go a lot further than what we physically can. Than you think, yeah. So, you know, for me, that's what I. What I stuck with, I knew that the run was going to be a long day. So I wanted to make sure I was mentally prepared and mentally strong for that run. You know, as fed and as healthy as you could be, you need that mind to be working for you. And that's what got me to do the run.

And I feel like it was, it was, it was very well trained. I would do that consistently on training runs. And I saw that it would work. So I just stuck with the plan. Nice, I like it. So is there another Ironman in the near future? At the moment, at the moment, no more Iron Man. So I'm going to go back to racing the bike and changing the chapter in life.

Everything is about understanding, accepting, and just embracing everything that you've done. I feel like I've embraced my Iron Man sport to the fullest. I'm not saying that I'm done, but done for now. Um, uh, we'll circle back to that maybe in, in the next podcast, but, but now, now it's, uh, evolutionizing into business. Um, and that's, that's the chapter of life that, uh, that, that, that I'm excited for now. Yeah. And so, you know, kind of touching on that, what is something that Iron Man has taught you to apply

into like real life? Dedication. Dedication. And, uh, I'm focused. I would say, those are two words that I would, I would, uh, say that Iron Man has taught me a, you embracing it into the restaurant industry. There's no way around it. You have to be dedicated into what you do.

And you have to put it your 110% into what you do. We touched on balance on the last podcast. A big switch in terms of balance for me is I've learned that, yes, balance exists in, you know, the long term. But in the short term, it does not exist. And you have to put all your marbles into what you want to do at the moment. in order to achieve that. And then, yes, at the end of the day, you know, you pick and choose and you could relax a little bit and embrace the balance.

But if you want to do something and do it to the fullest, there's no such thing. Yeah. Hey, guys, I hope you've enjoyed the episode thus far. We just wanted to take this time to shout out one of our sponsors, Epic Cigars. A great cigar, one of my go-toes, I was recently introduced to by Dean, the Founding, They're a great guy and an even better product. They're produced in the Dominican Republic. It's one of the highest quality tobacco is available in the DR.

And one of the best premium cigar blends out there. You can currently find them in the U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkey, Lebanon, Dubai, and many other countries. So if you're looking for a new cigar smoke, epic cigars, great brand. They got an assortment of different products from La Rubia, so they're Herbano, to their Maduro. you name it many different offerings try them out enjoy your smoke and of course stay tranquilo 100% I agree I mean you the amount of dedication that Ironman takes is one thing but like it's not like you just do Ironman no you run help run basically a restaurant full time yeah so you know touch on that you know you do the Ironman you do your training that requires a

certain amount of hours a certain amount of time but you also you know are here managing a restaurant, inventory, personnel, all that. It was interesting, the dynamic of, you know, running in the restaurant industry, because obviously the restaurant industry runs late nights. Exactly. So I had to evolve my training schedule to work with me. A lot of my training schedule was very lonely,

but, hey, I chose that path. Which hypothetically probably may be benefited you, considering that's out racing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, you know, day to day, it was a challenge. I mean, there were days that you would be wrecked, and you had to go out there and do the miles, or that you'd be wrecking, you'd have to do a full shift and close out, and give your 110% during the shift. You have to make sure that the restaurant's running and whatnot, but, you know.

Life doesn't stop. Life does not stop, and it doesn't take any prisoners. But basically working 60 hours a week, you ever take 50 to 60, I would say. Yeah, and again, it's something. that you're clearly passionate about, something that you generally enjoy to do. And I think when you align kind of like what's some of your passion and some of the things that you really want to do, you're able to kind of push through those like, I don't want to do this, I'm uncomfortable, you know, because you're more inclined.

It's like, you know you're doing something for a bigger, bigger purpose. Exactly. Exactly. So, transitioning. So the restaurant, so there's a little bit about Cash of the Day, what you got going on here. So Catcha the Day, we've been here. now we'll be celebrating our 25th year in business in May. Very, very excited for that.

And, you know, I've been fortunate enough to have a dad that has built this beautiful restaurant. And I'm proud to call it the family business. This is what I love to do. Been here now for seven years. Worked almost every position. Thanks, Dad, for putting me in the summers as washing dishes. But, hey, you know, you've got to learn the hard way. You got to learn every single piece of the pie in order to be the best at it.

Exactly. It's to be the best at it. And not only that, like being at like a leadership position, it's like you now understand every facet of the business that much more. So you can relate to the struggles that they have at that position, maybe some of the problems that they have. And then you know how to work the position. So how are you going to teach someone to train something if you've never done it? Exactly. So, you know, I think it makes sense, right?

I mean, you see some of the highest level executives, like, I mean, even like from a symbol as like a McDonald's, like they, a lot, there's a reason why a lot of times they want franchise owners of people that have opened that have worked there and they work as chefs. They worked as cashiers, whatever it is, and they evolve their way to the top. And it seems like it's not that big of a deal, but it is. You know, those people work their freaking butts off to get to that point. And they're probably good at what they do. Of course. And it's the same thing from corporate level. They're passionate, like you said.

To entrepreneurs, like, whatever it is, like, you have to learn the trade first before you can even think about teaching people or leading in that trade. Yep, yep, absolutely. No, and it's great to work with our staff. We have incredible team members here. I think our, let's not call him the oldest, but he's been with us for, Julio's been with us for, I think he'll be celebrating his 24th year with us. Is he the one that makes the bread?

Yes. Yeah, dude. You gotta try the bread. Bread from Julio. We got some stone crabs over here. It looked good. But yeah, the catch has been here from. There you go.

Oh, thank you. Some of the best in Miami. Very good. I like it. So, yeah, they've been here forever. Great seafood. Awesome, happy hour. It's right by the airport.

So if you're coming from out of town, it's a great spot to visit. You've got a pass spot. Check it out. It's a nice. Tranquilo time. It is. That it is. I spend my Fridays here a lot of the time.

I'll bring my laptop, do some work. But it's a good time. So before we wrap up, we're both big whiskey connoisseurs, and we enjoy. So I wanted to kind of, like, touch on it. I think people like to drink whiskey, but sometimes they're a little intimidated by it, especially when they're going out to eat. They don't know what to order, you know, what to look for. They just say, I want a whiskey, right?

So let's say I'm going to a restaurant, and, There's five or six different whiskey options. Is there something that I should look for? You know, what is a good, what is a good kind of like basis of like choosing a good whiskey to drink? Well, it depends. I mean, you know, there's a bunch of different types of whiskeys. It's sweeter to peter. In my opinion, I like the peter whiskeys.

Okay. Lafroyque, I think the 10-year is one of my favorites right now. It's just one of the, it's very, very smoky. It's a slow drinking. I love a good whiskey. It's not something that you're going to have multiple of. Maybe I'm a long night. But, you know, it's something that you can sit back and kick back and have some good times over.

And then you can go, that's a single malt as well. And then you could go with something a little bit simpler, maybe like a Glenn Levitt that'll go down a little bit smoother. I personally like the 14 of the Glenn Levitt. So he said single mall. Single Mall. So what are the differing? Is there? So there's blended whiskeys.

There's blended whiskeys, which, you know, your, you're a jack-dane. Not your rejected us, I'm sorry, you're Johnny Walker's, your Chivas, your Buchanas. Those are going to be blended whiskeys. Nothing to take, that they're not bad. Right. It's just they're aged, they're aged and then they're blended. To create the different flavors and different palettes that people like. I personally like the single malls.

I find them a little bit more traditional. A little bit more simpler in the taste. They're not as, I would say. spicy they're there they just go down a little bit smoother got it and you did a whiskey for Julian's bachelor went to where did you go to Kentucky to Kentucky yeah and what the Cillery did you go a we went to Maker's Mark oh we went to oh damn so he did multiple no we did a full day oh we did a full day oh that was all in one day all in one day a lot a lot of whiskey was drank that day and

what was the other one we went to Maker's mark probably was one of the coolest ones yeah well it's cool because they're the one that do that that melted cap right yeah yeah yeah so you got to see that i'm guessing we saw we saw that's really cool some of the guys on the trip uh ended up doing some bottles there oh that they they got to dip their their cap so it was really neat it was really neat to to share some time and you know and just like anything you know you you have a nice cocktail you have a nice drink and it's it's meant to be enjoyed in great company yeah 100% yeah and there's you know you You can make you I mean the traditional way to drink it is either on the rocks

Yeah, or you know nice big cube or neat yeah, right? But there's ways that you can create cocktails out of there's Of course, of course. Yeah yeah yeah there's there's great ways to get into whiskey Even people that if you're an espresso martini person with you can make it with bourbon with bourbon it comes out really nice Yeah, and you know those are those are kind of like nice ways to get start starting to learn your palette and whiskey is kind of order a cocktail and see how you like it You go or something. It's definitely not easy to drink right off the back. No. I remember like the first time I tried whiskey, I was like, oh, okay.

It'll grow some hair in your chest. Yeah, yeah, but definitely try the cocktails. You know, the old-fashioned is always a house favorite. One of the ones that we make here is called the New York sour. And the sitel, the bartender makes it delicious New York sour. You gotta give that one a shot one of these days. And then there's, it goes down the line. And you know, there's a, there's a flavor for every

person. So give it a shot, drink whiskey, you know? Yeah. And Johnny Cuba. You got to drink down. Yeah. When you've already drank too much whiskey and you need something to tone it down a little bit. You can tone it down with some Johnny's. But yeah, cool, man. Well, this was a pleasure. I enjoyed it like crazy. Anything you want to, you want to add towards the end? Just thanks for tuning in, guys. And I wish you guys a very, very happy new year. And many blessings and, you know, Go get what you want and make it happen. Yeah, and come by the cats of the day.