Beyond the Pour: How Fog City Social is Reimagining the Whiskey Festival

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[SPEAKER_02]: Welcome back everybody to another fun edition of the Rolex Whiskey Passion Project.

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[SPEAKER_02]: I got a bit of an expedited show here, I’m kind of exciting, you know, PR, a team reached out to me.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Obviously I know of the show, it’s a conflict with me for another show, but I really wanted to hear more about it, so I got the two gentlemen today from Fog City Social.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, absolutely.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So my name is Marchella Logrande, one of the co-founders of Fox City Socials.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I’m a member of the San Francisco Whiskey Society.

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[SPEAKER_00]: and I’m rolling in.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I am also a co-founder of Fox City Social, a friend of the government in this podcast and in my day job I look after a small craft Japanese whiskey.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Tiny, super tiny.

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[SPEAKER_02]: All right, give me the history on Fox City Social Jense where it gives you came, you mean it’s been going for a minute.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Tell me how did it all start?

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[SPEAKER_02]: Tell me more about it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I’ve rolling you mind if I if I take the lead here, please do so, you know, back back pre-pandemic days rolling and I met through a mutual friend and I wasn’t part of the whiskey society at the time, not formally, but I definitely had a map as to a whiskey collection.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And Roland and I met and I started inviting him over for tastings in my house and he did the same.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I realized that he was part of this incredible group of people that shared the same passion that I did.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And pretty quickly, I became part of the leadership team doing whiskey education for the San Francisco Whiskey Society.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I don’t know, probably about a year into

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[SPEAKER_01]: into this role in reaches out to me and he said, Hey, you know, you’re doing such a great job with this whiskey education.

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[SPEAKER_01]: What if you what if you took over marketing for us and and helped us put on a whiskey festival?

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[SPEAKER_01]: So I had joined the leadership team of the San Francisco whiskey society.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It had another name, but it’s a dirty word now, so we don’t use it anymore.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, we were hanging out, we were talking, I think actually Roland and I may have been, you know, sharing a beverage at his house and he said, hey, Mark Trello, I think we should put on a whiskey festival.

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[SPEAKER_01]: How would you feel about taking over marketing and kind of making that your primary initiative?

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, sure, yeah, why not?

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[SPEAKER_01]: I should have said absolutely not, but in truth,

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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, Roland and I were we’re very aligned in a fact that we have been to so many whiskey festivals over the years and look I’m I’ll age myself here, but I’m 48 years old and I started enjoying whiskey at 21 years old and so that a lot of time with it and I’ve been to a lot of events and festivals we can get into history later, but the bottom line was I felt like and Roland did to go into these festivals was expensive.

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[SPEAKER_01]: there was really very little time that you had with the distillers and the brand ambassadors to engage in deep conversation, people were rushing and knocking each other over for limited VIP pours and this spirit of the event just seemed broken.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And I won’t name any festivals and San Francisco in particular, but there were two big ones and both of them while completely different.

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[SPEAKER_01]: had just sort of grown in a way that felt hyper corporate disconnected from the community and the enthusiast full of window shoppers and tourists who had heard that, you know, Papy Van Winkle was highly sought after.

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[SPEAKER_02]: And I mean, they had extensions.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, one of those shows and security guards.

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[SPEAKER_02]: And then Kurt Julian was actually pouring his own whiskey.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Like he didn’t even have an assistant.

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[SPEAKER_02]: I’m like, wait, that’s security for you.

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[SPEAKER_02]: You have to pop the bottles itself.

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[SPEAKER_02]: And he’s like, I think someone’s coming to help me shortly.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Exactly.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And one of those events, I literally saw a woman get knocked over.

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[SPEAKER_01]: and crampled as they opened the doors because there were so many people trying to get in to get to that one hour of the idea for us, right?

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[SPEAKER_01]: It was, it was a bad situation.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So this was, this was sort of what Roland and I were talking about and we thought, we’ve got a great community.

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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, at this time it was post-pandemic around, around the pandemic time, everyone was really heavily

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[SPEAKER_01]: We had a lot of education going on in our group, like weekly events that we were doing virtually.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We were doing a barrel a month if not more and we thought this was this was the right way to say thank you to the community and to do something from the bottom of our hearts is really a way to say, look, we want to give back.

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[SPEAKER_01]: we want to bring everyone together to do this the way that we would do it if we could open our living rooms up to hundreds of people who love whiskey as much as we do.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And that was really the impetus for Falle City Social and why it started.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And in the first year,

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[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we had no money and we had very little resources, so we partnered with the folks at Wing Tip and they were generous enough to really give us a platform to stand on and give us their space and to help us make it a reality and it was a humble event.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We had about 240 people or so.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It was sold out and it was it was exceptional.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It was it was an incredible experience.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Everyone had a wonderful time.

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[SPEAKER_01]: It was exactly what we had hoped it could have been.

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[SPEAKER_01]: we really just continue to engage brands in the community to grow the event in the right way.

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[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, you’ve got quite a few brands now.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I don’t mind rolling you want we want to kind of fill in a little bit on just things I believe you out here on your perspective on how we put I mean this is there’s was not like a Sunday farmers market with like you know 12 craft whiskey distiller standing in the corner you’re going to talk to the public not I think I think we’ve really come a long way you know back to the old New York story for me

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[SPEAKER_00]: You know, because we were part of the club and because we have access to a lot of brands, we also have the opportunity to come to a festival or to even pre VIP art, right?

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[SPEAKER_00]: So I’ve sat in with brands in their booth before the VIP art even opened.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And what got me going on this was a brand new brand that I loved.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I doubt they’re absolutely phenomenal.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And they told me they paid

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[SPEAKER_00]: Let’s say several X,000 to attend this, this, this festival, the minute the VIP doors open and that trampling started, not only did they light up in front of the strand, but everyone turned backwards to him and was waiting for the path or whatever they were, they were trying to sample.

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[SPEAKER_00]: He kind of looked at me and looked at him and that was, that was my aha moment that said, he basically gave me the look as I said, you know, I spent this bunch of money.

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[SPEAKER_00]: to go help these people.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And this is the thanks that I get.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And after that, I, you know, I think Marchal, I knew that we had to do something different.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, we came from humble humble beginnings.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I think this year, we’ll probably have somewhere to neighborhood of, and you have the 80 exhibitors.

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[SPEAKER_00]: That’s not brand.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So it’s exhibitors.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And that’s covering importers, national brands, global brands, distributors.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And we have something for everyone.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So we have people coming as far as Hong Kong and Japan from from the Ferra Islands.

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[SPEAKER_00]: We have the first discelerator from Korea coming so it’s it’s it’s pretty amazing.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It’s actually really humbling the way that we look at it is we’ve never wanted the biggest show.

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[SPEAKER_00]: We want the most important show so that when you come and whether you’re

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[SPEAKER_00]: you know, like deep in it like all of us or this is your first show and I just really love for most there’s something for you and if we kind of maintain that eat those when we’ve tried to maintain it over the last five years as we’ve grown, I think we’re going to continue to serve a lot of people and and and we don’t ever want that to change and if we do change, we want people to tell us so that we don’t change in the wrong way.

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[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, and then it’s for how long is it’s just a one day show, right?

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[SPEAKER_02]: It’s there’s a what when they shout, but we Yeah, it’s a bigger.

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[SPEAKER_00]: We we’ve actually made it into kind of inspired by the fact that, you know, when the shows happen before, right, they happen on a Friday night.

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[SPEAKER_00]: You would see Dave Pickroll or John Glazer sitting at a bar on Tuesday, that one said because they’re here and they’re going to go sit City.

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[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, my favorite memories were going to H’s place.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.

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[SPEAKER_02]: A lot of things.

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[SPEAKER_02]: You know, hang in there.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Exactly.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Meeting Dave Pickroll at a lecture bar with H is a highlight of by kind of whiskey, friend them, right?

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[SPEAKER_00]: And we wanted to bring that back and what we saw from other shows is like,

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[SPEAKER_00]: because it’s, you know, we unlike Asian Europe where there are multiple day festivals, marshals are three or four hours.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So if you take that amount and then you’re taking people off the floor to do master classes, then all of a sudden hack the show, they’re they’re not there for for you to engage with that, either for them to engage with people like us or for us to engage with the stillers, the odors and investors.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So what we’ve decided is we created something we call whiskey week so essentially we do a whole week of Activation so we start in fact this year we’re partnering with US BG so we do a activation is during during the day for trade and in night we do all of our consumer master classes so if you want to start

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[SPEAKER_00]: re-gaming on Sunday before the event six days before the event, you can do that so we’ll have that Sunday until Friday night where we’ll do a charity gala this year because we want to again back to March, I was one of my giving back and then the grand event is on Saturday

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[SPEAKER_01]: It’s not short to jump a good time, you know, it goes back to the, it goes back to the philosophy Gavin that that we set out to really instill in the entire event.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Number one, we want to make sure that nobody has foam on.

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[SPEAKER_01]: There’s no such thing as a VIP, a ticket for Fall City Social.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Every ticket is the same price and everybody is a VIP and contractually,

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[SPEAKER_01]: When we connect with brands, we strongly encourage them to bring things that go beyond what would typically, you know, in the data community, maybe because shelfies or, you know, what you would just have is sort of the well beverages.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And there’s a really good reason for it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And we understand that the brands want to kind of display the full portfolio, but also there’s a unique opportunity in our community to share things that are uniquely different, that are a bit more storied

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[SPEAKER_01]: rare because you have a unique opportunity to get in front of your ideal customer at Fog City Social just as much as you have the opportunity to create the next ideal customer.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And so you know by by kind of equalizing everything and allowing everyone the time to find the things that they love that they’re passionate about.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We’ve been able to open the show up so that it moves beyond whiskey and rolled and had mentioned that.

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[SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, we’ve got Tequila.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We have Jin.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We have Brandy’s.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We have Arminyax.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We have Baiju.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We have canned beverages.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We have a whole lot of different things because

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[SPEAKER_01]: We want to encourage people to come and bring their spouses, bring their friends, bring folks who are curious, but may feel intimidated to go to something that feels like too much of a whiskey festival that’s don’t for enthusiast only and that that’s another really important piece of it and then you know rolling you touched on this for a second.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I think it’s really important.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I always felt the anxiety going to a whiskey festival and spirits festival that had great master classes that were going to eat into the time that I paid $450 for my ticket to attend and it’s like, well, great.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Now I’ve got an hour and a half and I think I was also guilty of probably consuming too fast to try to balance things out.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So by creating whiskey week, what we’ve done is we’ve removed that and said, hey, enjoy the experience

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[SPEAKER_01]: spend the full three and a half hours, which is more than enough time, you know, with the brands that you care about and learn about some new brands, you didn’t know existed.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And then get those intimate experiences all over the Bay Area.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I think we’ve got like 14 or 15 of these whiskey week classes, not including some like open bar events in the week leading up to Fog City social, which is which is epically cool.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And then

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[SPEAKER_01]: to kind of add another dimension to this, we’ve done two things that are uniquely different, at least from the festivals on the west coast.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Number one, we’ve introduced festival-only bottles and the first festival-bottle

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[SPEAKER_01]: is one that comes with your ticket.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So every guest goes home with a festival bottle and we’ve had some incredible bottles over the years.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And over the last two years, Roland is worked super hard with brands to allow festival-only bottles for purchase at Fog City Social.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And the second big thing that we’ve done is we’ve partnered with third parties and three tailors to allow guests to purchase spirits at Foxy social through that retailer.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So that if there’s something that they’re like, oh my god, this is incredible.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I’ve got to have it.

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[SPEAKER_01]: The brands make things available.

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[SPEAKER_01]: We set up a micro site, a site dedicated to Foxy social through the retailer that’s open for usually about a week.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And it allows you to kind of check off some magic boxes on your shopping list.

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[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, that’s pretty wild because the first time I saw that experience was Whiskey Live Paris where like literally as you’re walking into the left of the entrance is a store with a bunch of limited releases only for the show on top of other brand stuff and I’m like to that’s a great fucking idea.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Yep, we have Replicator then, here it is.

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[SPEAKER_02]: And now I was like, that is a great idea because you know, so you get to try it at the table and you get to walk outside and buy it and granted the line was around the block up the street over the bridge, et cetera, et cetera, to get in there because they would Chichavu releases and all that stuff that was happening in there.

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[SPEAKER_02]: It was like, it was cool.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Gavin, are you sure that was the line to take a picture with you?

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[SPEAKER_02]: No, not yet, not yet.

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[SPEAKER_02]: That’s what Hong Kong actually next month.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Hong Kong large is like, you better be bringing hats and everything because they went nuts last year for the hats.

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[SPEAKER_02]: It was fucking hilarious.

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[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, the Chichibu releases, which always go crazy, but I love that you guys have that.

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[SPEAKER_02]: And also the stores carry it.

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[SPEAKER_02]: It’s kind of like, I mean, I don’t think there’s any, I mean, I haven’t been obviously to your show and I want to get there next year will probably be the year, but it’s wild because I’ve never actually,

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[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I know you said I’m like the West, like other shows, I’m like I’ve never heard of a show like this to be honest, that’s got this much passion involved in it.

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[SPEAKER_02]: I believe it’s very business.

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[SPEAKER_00]: think much else being a little modest is that we’ve actually built it based on everything we’ve seen in Asia and everything we’ve seen in Europe.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So, but we wanted to put a US twist on it to get people more value.

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[SPEAKER_00]: People here are always asking for give us more value, give us a reason.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Well, I’ve got to ask a question just because you just made a statement there.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Is does the United States have a problem where you can’t sell?

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[SPEAKER_02]: Pores like when I go to Hong Kong whiskey festival if nothing better than working up to like for example elixir bar and they’re like, hey dude Here’s you know, you can’t do that here, right?

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[SPEAKER_00]: Right.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It’s unfortunately there are there are laws there’s there are laws against that Not only open open tastings, but are selling tastings, but also against selling bottles So we have to manage it very very carefully.

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[SPEAKER_00]: We’re actually not transacting app you man

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[SPEAKER_00]: we are presenting a online micro site that makes bottles available through an author as retailer.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.

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[SPEAKER_02]: So I was like, man, like, that would be so cool.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I have all the lawyers bringing, bringing in my years.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So, but you, we will get out, you will get a bottle.

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[SPEAKER_00]: There’s could be bottles that are only available to them there.

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[SPEAKER_00]: But again, you don’t, you don’t have to buy one.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Even why just going to the show.

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[SPEAKER_00]: This year, we were fortunate that one of our sponsors is Westland out of Seattle.

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[SPEAKER_00]: They’re an amazing American whisky through the Stillery, and we are getting the California release of their watchpost, but it whisky.

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[SPEAKER_00]: And everybody who comes to the show will get that bottle.

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[SPEAKER_00]: Then off the by single thing, they’re going to walk home with that bottle that night.

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[SPEAKER_00]: It’s going to be in their back.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So that’s the kind of thing that we like to do as to just as when we say give value, we really want to put action behind our words and then these festival bombings after that.

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[SPEAKER_00]: They’re basically single cast or limited editions coming from some of the best facilities out there that people are falling over.

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[SPEAKER_00]: So I’m going to show it and you can buy it.

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[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, man, and so just I know you touch briefly on like, hey, getting lost in the masterclasses and stuff like that with the educational that happens throughout the week or is it actually, there’s no education on the Saturday night, right?

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[SPEAKER_01]: No, there’s no there’s no education on Saturday night in the traditional masterclass sense, but the education comes in the ability to chill out and stay at a table and talk to a brand ambassador talk to a distiller talk to the distributor and really get get familiar with the portfolio.

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[SPEAKER_01]: And that’s exactly what we want it we wanted people to be able to just calm down and not like they needed to knock anyone over.

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[SPEAKER_01]: They’re not running out of spirits.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I give you an example.

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[SPEAKER_01]: So last year, Glen Droneck was represented and they’ll be back again this year.

17:33.386 –> 17:36.291
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, I would have expected.

17:36.271 –> 17:44.563
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, maybe they would have brought a one or two very interesting bottles, but they brought out their entire vintage library, and then this does behind the bar.

17:44.723 –> 17:45.424
[SPEAKER_01]: It’s on the table.

17:45.585 –> 17:49.130
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, they’ve got, you know, 20 expodels on the table.

17:49.791 –> 18:01.468
[SPEAKER_01]: Everyone’s appreciating the core lineup, which is already an incredible lineup for folks who enjoy, you know, Sherry casts and then they brought the entire vintage lineup and and ported generously for guests.

18:01.448 –> 18:03.131
[SPEAKER_01]: really there’s no red tape.

18:03.151 –> 18:05.976
[SPEAKER_01]: There’s no VIP brands are super generous.

18:06.457 –> 18:15.314
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, found North is another is another brand for for those familiar with who I just I just found recently last year in New York at Doc Lurens event his charity event.

18:15.614 –> 18:17.077
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, like I’d never heard of these guys.

18:17.137 –> 18:21.465
[SPEAKER_02]: And I was like holy shit, I said at that table, the longest of any of the tables I said at that.

18:22.762 –> 18:29.490
[SPEAKER_01]: They have an incredible product and portfolio and they’re also doing a private lend for us this year.

18:29.570 –> 18:37.259
[SPEAKER_01]: It’s an 11 year old bog city social label, a 2026, it’s almost 60% alcohol by volume.

18:37.279 –> 18:41.884
[SPEAKER_01]: And the youngest is 11 years old.

18:42.044 –> 18:50.794
[SPEAKER_01]: It’s Ryan, a soft turn cask, 13 year old corn and soft turn in 18 and 22 year old corn in New American oak.

18:50.774 –> 19:09.525
[SPEAKER_01]: These are the sort of things that are exclusive to the event and then of course they bring out the whole portfolio and their spirits are very rare So you get to try stuff that you’re like I haven’t ever even seen that in a store before and I’m a whiskey geek and like I don’t know where to get 25 year old found north But you get you get to enjoy it at the show and for me

19:09.505 –> 19:14.914
[SPEAKER_01]: you know, it’s kind of a dream come true to kind of sit back and go, we put this together and everyone’s having a good time.

19:14.934 –> 19:31.902
[SPEAKER_01]: And another thing that we do, it really was, I don’t know whose idea it was, it’s probably Rollins’ idea, he’s got a lot of great ideas, but you know, we notice that a lot of brands stress out after the event because they’ve got to pack up their gear and get out the door because the ballroom is charging by the hour.

19:31.882 –> 19:38.428
[SPEAKER_01]: And what we do every year is we say goodbye to our guests, which is them good evening, they usually go to a local bars.

19:38.968 –> 19:50.258
[SPEAKER_01]: And then we do a little bit of an after party for the brands where we buy them pizza, we bring out some beers and just allow them to kind of chill and connect with their peers.

19:50.678 –> 19:55.283
[SPEAKER_01]: So they don’t feel the pressure of having to pack up and go and get booted out, right?

19:55.403 –> 20:01.568
[SPEAKER_01]: And some people do, they clean up and they’re tired, but a lot of the folks in the industry have worked together

20:01.548 –> 20:03.217
[SPEAKER_01]: or know each other one way or another.

20:03.398 –> 20:08.487
[SPEAKER_01]: It’s an awesome, it’s an awesome way for them to just kind of like kick back and enjoy the rest of their night.

20:09.715 –> 20:11.317
[SPEAKER_02]: No, I mean, I love that idea.

20:11.477 –> 20:13.520
[SPEAKER_02]: That’s what that makes, I mean, I don’t know.

20:13.540 –> 20:17.545
[SPEAKER_02]: They, the people work in the booths and then it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s a lot of action.

20:18.286 –> 20:26.137
[SPEAKER_02]: And I, I, I, I, I always watch you, if you’re saying the end of the night wrap up and they’re like, I can, you guys gonna be out in like 90 minutes and like, be wise.

20:26.878 –> 20:29.942
[SPEAKER_02]: Like how, like, they’ve been here since three in the afternoon.

20:29.962 –> 20:33.006
[SPEAKER_02]: It’s midnight now, like, come on, give me a break, you know?

20:33.644 –> 20:48.784
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, we, we really think about when, when we talk about value right and we, we want to, there’s value for gas, of course, but brands and reps are people to and we want to make sure they’re taking care of they’ve taken time out.

20:48.764 –> 20:52.831
[SPEAKER_00]: the fly across the world, they’ve taken time out on the Saturday away from their families.

20:52.951 –> 20:54.494
[SPEAKER_00]: We want to make sure that they’re taken care of.

20:54.514 –> 21:02.989
[SPEAKER_00]: And I’ll tell you what, it seems like little minor things we’re doing, but the amount of positive feedback we’ve gotten brands that, oh my God, you’re feeding us.

21:03.690 –> 21:05.053
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh my God, you’re taking care of us.

21:05.654 –> 21:07.637
[SPEAKER_00]: You’re letting us do this, you’re giving us a break.

21:08.098 –> 21:08.779
[SPEAKER_00]: That’s amazing.

21:09.060 –> 21:09.861
[SPEAKER_00]: And,

21:09.841 –> 21:14.132
[SPEAKER_00]: it’s because these brands that we’ve talked to, they share the same ethos that we do.

21:14.212 –> 21:19.505
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, we just mentioned that found North, but Zach and Nick, after I met them, but they hadn’t even heard of the show.

21:19.525 –> 21:20.247
[SPEAKER_00]: They committed.

21:21.330 –> 21:24.417
[SPEAKER_00]: Folks like Laugh, Laugh, and Adam and Nora, they just had a baby.

21:24.457 –> 21:26.382
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I don’t think they’re going to make it a share, but

21:27.003 –> 21:37.857
[SPEAKER_00]: Within a two-minute call, it said, bro, I mean, I mean, these are the kind of people that we want under show and that’s what we feature them and show we have them back year after year, single cast nation after Jason came.

21:37.917 –> 21:40.040
[SPEAKER_00]: He’s like, this is an anchor show.

21:40.140 –> 21:41.021
[SPEAKER_00]: I love this idea.

21:41.041 –> 21:43.224
[SPEAKER_00]: I’m going to make it my point to come on.

21:43.264 –> 21:51.235
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, but I think also the people you’re talking about, like I know some of them, and I think it’s quiet of the old dog and pony show.

21:51.255 –> 21:51.475
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah.

21:51.657 –> 21:59.605
[SPEAKER_02]: you know, like a bunch of people, a lot of them, I mean, my pet peeve is how many people and no disrespect to any show that they’re, I’m just speaking freely.

22:00.185 –> 22:06.472
[SPEAKER_02]: The amount of people that get pumped to come to these things, to cover them for press, who don’t even enjoy whiskey.

22:07.413 –> 22:10.135
[SPEAKER_02]: And I’m like, like, you were just, like, go move away.

22:10.295 –> 22:11.737
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, I got to these tasting sometimes.

22:11.797 –> 22:16.622
[SPEAKER_02]: I’m like, oh, wait, that’s like Robert Ford, that’s Forbes, that’s that one in the room.

22:16.642 –> 22:18.964
[SPEAKER_02]: And I’m like, they’re just here for the free meal.

22:19.467 –> 22:37.948
[SPEAKER_02]: like they could give a shit and unlike you guys are having actual people that are passionate about whiskey I’m not saying that those people don’t exist they’re not coming to your show but it’s it seems like this is a way better environment for people to live and learn about whiskey than oh my god I hope this gets ridden up in the press let’s invite all these random from the press

22:38.080 –> 22:46.410
[SPEAKER_00]: It’s funny you say that because the amount of, you know, now that I’m working for Brandon, their amount of stores I walked in and said, oh, yeah, I came to show.

22:46.510 –> 23:01.167
[SPEAKER_00]: I actually bought a ticket to hear retailers and bars say that, it’s pretty awesome because, you know, usually you’re right, those guys are compting, we would love to comp them, but we just can’t afford to, we’re not trying to make money.

23:01.367 –> 23:06.113
[SPEAKER_00]: We are, make sure we lose our shirts, and we’re trying to put on a great

23:06.093 –> 23:09.802
[SPEAKER_00]: for the community, but that’s our mission.

23:09.822 –> 23:14.973
[SPEAKER_00]: So I’m glad people are enjoying it and I’m glad you understand what I’m trying to do.

23:15.875 –> 23:23.072
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean I just think you get a better clientele if they actually engaged and they want to be there as opposed to, oh cool I’m going to go there and you know,

23:23.795 –> 23:47.693
[SPEAKER_02]: Just, I wanna write up a few points, but I’m gonna actually like waste time at a table for no reason when there’s people behind that where we’re like, oh my god, I’d love to learn more about the brand and they’re like, oh hey, and this and the brand should handle their own marketing to those kind of people I think outside, this is meat soap boxing, but the shows should have the people, the clientele that just are there for the knowledge, excitement, passion, et cetera.

23:48.348 –> 23:49.090
[SPEAKER_01]: that’s what it is.

23:49.110 –> 23:55.022
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, and, and, and, you know, the idea that we make that we make the ticket so affordable.

23:55.583 –> 23:59.170
[SPEAKER_01]: Like what you get with your ticket is, you know, people buy a ticket.

23:59.190 –> 24:04.100
[SPEAKER_01]: The general public ticket is still under $200 once taxes and everything are included.

24:04.160 –> 24:06.525
[SPEAKER_01]: It comes with a festival bottle.

24:06.505 –> 24:15.281
[SPEAKER_01]: It comes with quite a bit of food from our sponsor on the food side, Yank Singh, which is a Michelin bibgormand and James Beard restaurant.

24:15.301 –> 24:19.368
[SPEAKER_01]: They’re kind of an institution in San Francisco and the food’s incredible.

24:19.849 –> 24:25.759
[SPEAKER_01]: Roland and I designed the menu with the owner Vera over there so that it’s not offensive to the whiskey palate.

24:26.521 –> 24:27.282
[SPEAKER_01]: And

24:27.262 –> 24:34.139
[SPEAKER_01]: You get to try all these incredible things that normally would come with a VIP entrance cost, right?

24:34.781 –> 24:44.545
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that’s one of the things that when we talk about not making money, it’s really to go back to the core of it, which is we want to celebrate

24:44.525 –> 25:03.037
[SPEAKER_01]: the community, people who are our friends, our acquaintances, we want to introduce more people to this hobby that we’re all passionate about and we really want to help to create a space for brands and folks in the industry locally in San Francisco and globally to come together and feel like this is my place.

25:03.798 –> 25:10.009
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we’re telling you to tell a guy about what we just announced yesterday from our friends at Virgin.

25:11.440 –> 25:12.261
[SPEAKER_01]: That’s a great idea.

25:12.301 –> 25:16.525
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, we we have a whole bunch of incredible sponsors this year.

25:16.545 –> 25:19.527
[SPEAKER_01]: It’s it’s really wonderful virgin voyages.

25:20.028 –> 25:22.190
[SPEAKER_02]: Just yeah, just so they coming out here.

25:22.530 –> 25:23.751
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that’s the way this.

25:23.831 –> 25:35.742
[SPEAKER_01]: And so the amazing thing that virgin voyages has done, they’re so busy launching all these incredible new cruisers around the world is it listen, this year we really can’t do that much for you, but we really believe in you.

25:35.782 –> 25:41.447
[SPEAKER_01]: And so what we’re going to do is we’re going to we’re going to give away a all expense paid cruise for two.

25:41.427 –> 26:05.753
[SPEAKER_01]: Anywhere that that we go you get the airfare we we got the crews and and the amenities and Any guess who comes to fog city social in person who buys a ticket We’ll have the opportunity to win a basically of you know up to a seven day cruise anywhere that Virgin voyage is go and Virgin voyage is like a no kids grown-up cruise line a dear friend Cori loves that cruise.

26:05.913 –> 26:07.435
[SPEAKER_02]: He loves that cruise

26:07.415 –> 26:16.540
[SPEAKER_02]: I’m like as you’re saying that I’m like dude, like how about we like step it up like take fog city social at sea and take over one of these virgin boats.

26:16.841 –> 26:21.373
[SPEAKER_01]: It’s coming one day.

26:21.877 –> 26:29.313
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I’m like, man, like, just to be out and enjoying life and then like dipping in for a couple of whiskey and like I’m going to go lay it to pull out for a minute.

26:29.333 –> 26:30.014
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, I’ll be back.

26:30.395 –> 26:31.778
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, when do you guys got going on tonight?

26:31.818 –> 26:32.479
[SPEAKER_02]: Anyway, I dream.

26:32.499 –> 26:33.341
[SPEAKER_02]: I think that’s awesome.

26:33.361 –> 26:34.443
[SPEAKER_02]: I think that’s awesome.

26:34.463 –> 26:37.390
[SPEAKER_02]: You’ve got that sponsorship and that ability to give that away.

26:38.191 –> 26:39.514
[SPEAKER_01]: It’s all that fun.

26:41.333 –> 26:54.540
[SPEAKER_02]: dying for like, at this point of my, whatever, whatever, whatever I’m doing, I’m dying for like intimate experiences that are unique, but also aren’t like, hey, you’re stuck.

26:54.580 –> 27:00.171
[SPEAKER_02]: So I love the fact that you guys do all week because you can dip in and out and then there’s the end of it.

27:00.211 –> 27:01.654
[SPEAKER_02]: Like it’s up to you.

27:01.634 –> 27:06.192
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I think you obviously onto something because it keeps getting bigger and bigger every single year.

27:06.252 –> 27:12.015
[SPEAKER_02]: But you also like a breath of fresh air, I think, in the whole risky events in the United States.

27:13.025 –> 27:13.385
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.

27:13.426 –> 27:16.449
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it is a really, it is really a great event.

27:16.790 –> 27:31.529
[SPEAKER_01]: Every year that Roland and I do it, almost feel like the proud father, I’m shaking hands and kissing babies, I get to kind of experience the event at a bit of a distance just saying hello to all the incredible people from the club and from the community.

27:32.030 –> 27:39.479
[SPEAKER_01]: And Roland is stationed at his table generously pouring for guests who, you know, he’s built like a fandom of his own.

27:39.499 –> 27:40.821
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh yeah.

27:40.801 –> 27:42.082
[SPEAKER_01]: It’s it’s unique though.

27:42.262 –> 27:48.668
[SPEAKER_01]: There’s a certain energy there that I have never felt at another whiskey festival that I’ve attended.

27:48.688 –> 27:51.791
[SPEAKER_01]: In my day job, I’m a tourist in the whiskey world.

27:51.831 –> 27:59.157
[SPEAKER_01]: In my day job, I have traveled the world quite a bit and sought out, you know, whiskey everywhere I go and fog city social is unique.

27:59.177 –> 28:00.158
[SPEAKER_01]: It has a different vibe.

28:00.679 –> 28:01.319
[SPEAKER_02]: It’s got to give.

28:01.900 –> 28:10.167
[SPEAKER_02]: I, I gotta say we’ve crushed almost 40 minutes and my listeners can probably listen for like 30 and I don’t want to lose them before

28:10.147 –> 28:16.935
[SPEAKER_02]: So let’s get them some information, I mean, this is like guys and girls listening, you know, it sounds like honestly a no-brainer.

28:17.596 –> 28:21.360
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you haven’t heard about it, the gens are going to give you all the socials and stuff like that.

28:21.800 –> 28:23.983
[SPEAKER_02]: But like, Tiyama, it sounds like a no-brainer.

28:24.003 –> 28:32.833
[SPEAKER_02]: If you really want to go do a deep dive into whiskey, and ideally if you live on the west coast, because that obviously convenient, but obviously like the boys said, people are flying in from everywhere.

28:33.394 –> 28:39.681
[SPEAKER_02]: But this kind of sounds just like a no-brainer, and I’m not, no disrespect to any other events

28:39.661 –> 28:50.683
[SPEAKER_02]: This sounds incredibly unique and informative, and that’s the biggest word that I know only use as experiences and as informative and as sounds like informative is very high on the level.

28:51.220 –> 28:52.522
[SPEAKER_01]: It absolutely is.

28:52.703 –> 28:53.925
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, Gavin.

28:54.045 –> 28:58.773
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you’re interested in attending, you can go to fogcitysocial.com.

28:59.554 –> 29:00.736
[SPEAKER_01]: And from there, you can get a ticket.

29:00.776 –> 29:03.841
[SPEAKER_01]: You can follow us on Instagram, fogcitysocial SF.

29:04.903 –> 29:13.077
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you want to join us at the San Francisco Whiskey Society on Facebook, SFWS, you can get a discount on your ticket.

29:13.850 –> 29:15.673
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, I can’t thank you both enough for coming.

29:15.713 –> 29:17.356
[SPEAKER_02]: I can’t thank everyone enough for listening.

29:17.796 –> 29:20.741
[SPEAKER_02]: Definitely get the socials up and take a look over there.

29:20.781 –> 29:21.562
[SPEAKER_02]: Grab your tickets.

29:21.803 –> 29:25.849
[SPEAKER_02]: It sounds like it’s a great event by, I know, for a fact, a great group of people.

29:26.430 –> 29:30.897
[SPEAKER_02]: And I definitely look forward to coming next year and taking a look at it and if anything else comes up, you know.

29:30.877 –> 29:35.782
[SPEAKER_02]: Like we may be alluded to and maybe didn’t that haven’t happened yet most of down.

29:36.282 –> 29:37.343
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you guys for coming on.

29:37.403 –> 29:39.085
[SPEAKER_02]: I know it was quick notice quick turnaround.

29:39.105 –> 29:40.967
[SPEAKER_02]: I appreciate everyone listening.

29:41.007 –> 29:41.888
[SPEAKER_02]: I appreciate you guys.

29:42.328 –> 29:45.271
[SPEAKER_02]: And I wish you nothing but the best for the show and knocking out the park.

29:45.311 –> 29:50.316
[SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, so it’s even set for a bigger stage next year when I make an appearance.

29:50.776 –> 29:51.717
[SPEAKER_02]: Thanks everyone for listening.

29:51.737 –> 29:52.938
[SPEAKER_02]: Make sure to rate the podcasts.

29:52.998 –> 29:53.879
[SPEAKER_02]: I appreciate all of you.

29:53.959 –> 29:54.860
[SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, that’s what we do.

29:54.940 –> 29:55.641
[SPEAKER_02]: Whiskey passion.

29:55.761 –> 29:57.002
[SPEAKER_02]: People who love whiskey.

29:56.982 –> 30:00.756
[SPEAKER_02]: people doing great things in the whiskey community and here it is, the fog city social.

30:01.760 –> 30:02.804
[SPEAKER_02]: Go chat to everyone soon.

30:02.824 –> 30:05.153
[SPEAKER_02]: Thanks again for listening and that’s a wrap.