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We're chatting about the people, places, events, and flavors that make Johnson City, Tennessee a lovely place to live. An interview show hosted by Colin Johnson.
Proud member of the Maypop Media family of podcasts.
 
It is a grayish cold day, February day here in Johnson City. Um, I think we're getting one to three inches of snow pretty quick. It's going to be a little cold and winter's still around. And so, um. But we're not here to talk about weather. We're here to meet my new friend Kat Scalf. Welcome to the podcast.
Thank you Colin for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
Yeah, well, you said you this is your first podcast, right?
It is. Yes, Maiden Voyage.
Well, we're gonna do, you're gonna do great. Mitch and I have done a couple of them together and it'll be fine. It'll be fine. First off, Johnson City Living. You don't live in Johnson City, but you used to.
to live fringe. We'll get to that. But what is your favorite thing about Johnson City?
Oh, my goodness. I feel like I okay. At first I wanted to say the location and how beautiful it is and the mountains and all those things. But I thought that's low hanging fruit.
It is pretty easy. That's one of the top answers.
Yeah, and then I would have said the people. Yep,
that is the top answer. Well,
you know, it's what's not to love. Little salt of the earth people. But I really, because I knew you were going to ask this, and I thought about it, and I truly feel like my favorite thing about Johnson City and this area in particular is that it just is part of you.
When you're from here, you can't escape it. I moved to six years ago and it's just part of who I am. And the people that move here have a hard time leaving. It's like these mountains get in your bones and that's just, it depends whether it's a trauma bond or what. We don't know.
We're
all falling on those mountains at some point, but yeah, too bad.
Yeah. That's funny. Yeah, the mountains and the people are number one. But yeah, I think if you're here from here and you're coming back, it just feels like home all the time. I mean, it's going to call you back all the time. You think you'll ever. Move back permanently?
I don't, well, I'm up here frequently.
Okay. I'm here at least once or twice a month. Okay. My parents, I'm an only child and you know, every moment with them that I can get, um, 'cause nobody's getting any younger these days, so I still come up frequently. I still come here enough to get my nails done here. Still from the same girl that's done my nails for 12 years.
There you go. Over at the nail Envy. . Cool. Shout out to Lee.
There you go.
Yeah.
I like it. Um, so where did you grow up?
I was, um, up in Elizabethton. Okay. So pretty fun journey up there. Um, actually started out in the Milligan area and then it moved up to Long Hollow where I spent the bulk of my life and mom and daddy actually just, um, sold our, my childhood property.
We had about three acres out there that, you know, tough to take care of whenever you're getting older and things like that. And I had moved to Nashville. So my home was sitting empty and you know, the crazy thing is it's up for sale again already for a hundred. Well, you'll enjoy this. I'm sure being on your side of things, but Yeah, it's up 100, 000 more than what they sold it for in 2021.
Isn't that crazy?
Well, yeah,
yeah. And if they had sold it back in like 17, 18, it would probably be even less, you know, and it probably doubled even that number, which is crazy.
They paid, I think back in 1992, they paid 7, 000 for that land. What? Yeah. So they still made out okay. Yeah. Considering, but
still.
Yeah. They're doing well. All right. So you are the regional sales manager for Happenstance Whiskey.
I am. Yes.
Tell us about Happenstance Whiskey. I'm excited. All right. Because. I love bourbon, like in whiskey and yeah. So tell us all about it. Yep. So we are bourbon
and we're very unique. We are a Nashville local whiskey company, but more so we are a hundred percent women owned and led nice whiskey company.
So yeah, you don't see a lot of that. There are a lot of female distillers now, which we love to see because that used to not be the norm. But for it to be an all female team is extremely rare. And especially, I think it's something like 2 percent of distilleries are female owned. So, um, that's actually how Paige, our founder, she worked for Anheuser Busch in marketing, came from a wine background.
And when she moved to Nashville, much the way a lot of people do when they move to Tennessee, they start drinking a little more whiskey. So she's like using her marketing brain and she's looking at statistics. Looking at
it, yeah.
Yeah. Well, she found out that 30 to 40 percent of bourbon drinkers are actually women.
Oh, wow. Um, and so she was like, I want to use my palate. for that I use for wine and my background and kind of create my own. So we have this great whiskey. It's 90 percent corn, 10 percent rye, so it's got this really nice natural sweetness, but it's got this little kick of spice on the back end.
You only have one expression, or?
Right
now, but we do have some single barrels that we're coming out with this year, so stay tuned. How
long has it been aged for?
So the Founders Edition, which is our main one that we sell, is four year.
Okay.
Yeah, so it's in the energy. So we source our barrels, and then she does a proprietary blend. All the blending and bottling is done locally in Nashville.
Is that like an MGP?
It is MGP. The single barrels, though, are gonna be a nine year Kentucky bourbon, so. That
sounds exciting. Mm hmm. So how did you get into whiskey?
So it's been a little bit of a journey. I've been in the alcohol industry proper for 17 years But if you count my service experience then well over 20.
Oh,
well
Yeah, so I did my internship with Holston distributing here in Johnson City way back in 2008 Which doesn't sound that long ago. I don't feel like but 17 years. Oh, well, yeah So I did my internship with them and that was the year that they brought beer or like fat tire across the Mississippi Oh,
yeah, because
before the new craft beer really was just an Asheville thing It was and so it was really exciting to be working with them whenever they were distributing all these craft beers and stuff that weren't previously available Unfortunately, that was about the same time that we had that recession and jobs were kind of scarce and to be honest with you I was like 22 23 I didn't need to work in the alcohol industry.
All your friends were glad you did.
Yeah, I needed to cut my teeth and grow up a little bit. So, um, so from that point I ended up, um, bartending and managing. As I mentioned, I worked here locally at Tipton Street for three years. I opened Yeehaw Brewing's taproom um, when they came here to Johnson City. And
they've taken off like crazy.
Like crazy. They're doing something right.
Yeah. And they were tied in with the, the, isn't that the Baker guys that are moonshine as well?
Yes. They've got the big six and Peabody location down in Nashville that's just always got stuff going on.
Yeah.
Yeah. It's constantly crawling. They're doing something right.
I'll tell you. I need their like magic touch.
What's your favorite white duck taco?
Oh my god, well surely they changed the menu since the last time I was in there. No, they haven't, not really. Oh my god, what was the one that had like pickled something on it? Uh,
kimchi maybe? Like a, yeah.
Probably, see I need a refresher.
Yeah, you need
to go over there and get you a taco. Yeah.
It's delicious. Um, but yeah, so, uh, in the meantime, and then I actually ended up going for a while and being a marketing manager at Grindstaff and their executive assistant, which I just heard that Steve passed away. And I'm. I hate to hear that, man.
He was a big, a big figure in Johnson City and a good influence on me.
That's great. Yeah. And
Ashley, actually, she is one of the reasons that I ended up getting involved with Magnolia Project, which is something we'll talk about later. But she very much kind of exposed me to, um, charities and things like that and being more philanthropic and got me in that lifestyle.
So I owe her a lot as far as that's concerned. Yeah,
I think he, um, Yeah, big figure. I met him a few times. Super nice guy.
He did not change who he was no matter who he was talking to. And that is the thing that I can appreciate the most about him.
And everywhere he went, they were like, hey, there's Stu. You know, like, he just, he had that magnetic personality.
100%. Oh man, there's that guy. And he killed it, right? I mean, sold more cars. I was talking to another buddy, and I think he sold like 450 cars or something. Like, the record. In a year, by himself, this is when he was working for another dealership, getting started. Yeah, that was how he got his start. And like, and then went, and just a salesman above salesman, you know, and then when you have all that you start.
Investing and he's done really well and
yeah, he left quite a legacy So I really I was very grateful for the opportunity to work with them.
Yeah,
but uh, but yeah So that's how I ended up going and selling wine in 2016 whenever wine became available in grocery stores, right? So I was working for Knoxville beverage in there up here in the Tri Cities division And then, they, That was a
big deal.
That was a huge deal. When they moved from the liquor store, and I'm sure the liquor store owners were like, I
can't believe they're doing this. They still don't love it. Oh sure,
I mean like revenue wise, I bet it just,
It cut it by half. And I couldn't understand because I just didn't know how big of a hit that the reps were taking on that.
Until I started working there and then like some of the other reps were like, you know, the ones that were in liquor stores and stuff were kind of standoffish and I'm like, why are you all being mean to me? And they're like, you took half my money out of my pocket.
You took half
my money. You're the one who stole half my money.
Yeah. Um, I had no idea, but yes, they took a tremendous hit that I think that
the volume, I mean, I'm sure just went through the roof, right?
Yeah. Um, well, the alcohol industry as of late is kind of trending down a little bit, which is kind of interesting to see. There's some different factors that are millennials
aren't as.
Well, the
Millennials are, the Gen Zers. Gen Zers, okay. Yeah, yeah. So, officially, I'm a Millennial, and I can assure you we're still having cocktails. Um,
so I don't know what, um, yeah. Anyway, yeah, I think, um, It's, I think, maybe, and maybe it's a cycle, right? Because you kind of, you do that a little bit, and then you kind of, Oh, I gotta have a job, and I can't, you know, and you're poor, and you probably don't do it as much, and then Later on, you're like, oh, I want to try different bourbons and you kind of get a more refined palate and You
do.
I think that the biggest hit they're taking, the THC industry has definitely affected things. I think that, and this is not a, Oh
yeah, that's a neat thought. I hadn't even thought of that. It's
very impactful. So I think that COVID had a lot to do with this. A lot of these kids were coming of age. I say kids, they're in their twenties, but I'm barely, I'm barely 25 myself if you can't tell.
Yes.
Um, but a lot of these kids, you know, they came of age during COVID whenever people weren't going out. So that was just kind of like the norm. People are more attached through social media so they don't have to go out and mingle with their friends in person anymore. Um, and then I think that, and this is not a bad thing, but I think that it's become more trendy to be sober.
And so that's like, it's not stigmatized to be sober anymore. And so I can appreciate all those factors. And I think that we just need to lean, lean into that. But, um, but yeah, so sold wine, grocery store wine, um, until 2019. And then they went through a merger. And at that point, I lost, lost my job. And then I was like, alright, I'm divorced.
I've got no kids. Mom and dad are in good health. I'm going to start looking for jobs in bigger cities. This is something I've always, I've been here for 33 years, and it's like, I got to spread my wings a little bit and see where this takes me. And so, I ended up, uh, visiting a friend who lived, I actually live in Franklin, right outside of Nashville, and so, um, I wouldn't have it any other way, because the way that downtown's exploded, it's like, I can't take it.
Yeah,
it's crazy.
But, uh, Nashville stuck, and I got a job selling fine wines, which, by the way, I did not deserve this position. Ha! I had no idea what I was doing. I had been selling grocery store labels in, uh, you know, in the Tri Cities.
Right.
And, um, Like
Ernest and Julia O'Gallo and whatever else. I don't know.
Yeah,
yeah, like Mark West and things like that. Okay. And the boxed, uh, the boxed goodies, Boda Box. And again, no shade to any of that. I think there's a place for every beverage. Um, but I just, my, my experience was very limited is a nice way to say that. And so whenever I actually interviewed with a lady, Billy Joyce, who is now my, she was my wine mentor, um, became that, but she interviewed me.
She was the portfolio manager for this, for this distributor. And she said, okay, I'm just going to gauge your knowledge. And she was like, I'm gonna ask you some questions. I said, okay, go ahead. I've been doing this for three years. There's nothing I don't know. Right. Life humbles you very quickly. She says, um, So, uh, where do, where does Sauvignon Blanc come from?
And I was like, oh, I know this. It was like Marlborough, New Zealand. Oh. And she's like, um, right. She was like, that's a very popular region. But is there, like, do you know where the, the founding place was? And I said, Marlboro specifically. And she was like, have you heard of the Loire Valley? And I said, is that in New Zealand?
And she was like, okay. So I knew I'd kind of bombed my interview and I wasn't at the level that they were. Cause this was like a lot of European stuff that I couldn't read the labels and you know, this, that and the other. So I went home and I actually like looked up some of the stuff they sold, printed off the labels cause they didn't sell it here in, in East Tennessee.
And like stuck it on some bottles I had and then made my friend sit down and I made a fake video where I was selling and I sent it to her and I was like, look, I know that I have bombed this and I don't deserve this job, but let me show you and she gave me a chance, right? So when I first moved down there, my first week we went to dinner, we had a supplier in town from Italy.
Everybody at the table was speaking different languages. They were talking about wines I'd never heard of at this really fancy restaurant. I couldn't read anything on the menu. And I felt like such a fish out of water. I got in the car and cried my eyes out and I said, I have made a mistake. But it was at that point where I was like, I don't ever want to feel like this again.
I'm going to, instead of letting this beat me down and drive me back, and with my tail tucked between my legs, I'm going to become as educated as possible. I'm going to do as good as I can. And, and so that's what I did. And, uh, really dedicated myself and thrown myself into that. I got my WCET level 2. Um, which What is that?
So it's like going back to school for wine. Okay. You have the PS SOM program and then you have som,
right?
Yes. So you have your PS SOM course, and then you have Double W Set, WSET. It stands for Wine, spirits Education Trust.
Gotcha.
Two different things. The UM, one is kind of tailored more towards hospitality.
One is more towards the business side of things. And so since I knew I would stay in distribution and not go back into restaurant, I took wset.
Okay.
But it's essentially the same thing up until the higher levels. But anyway, COVID hit. So I was unemployed for six months. So,
so yeah, it's hard to sell wine to people when you can't see people.
Exactly. Um, so, and then that company sold out. Um, but that was how I ended up going to whiskey because the former owner of that distributor ended up opening his own distillery whiskey distillery up in Kentucky, bought back his family land. And whenever that got opened up, he called me and was like, do you want to come sell whiskey now?
And I said, You know, I don't know anything about whiskey and he was like, well, you didn't know anything about wine either, so, so here we go. What's the name of that? Uh, Logstill Distillery. Okay. Yeah, and they are, their DSP number is 47, which is extremely low. I think that I think I've read about this, because yeah,
the, the number, because it was their land and there was a Yes.
There was a distillery there originally. Yeah. It was number 47, they got to keep it.
The Dant family, they got it back. Yeah, it was a huge deal for them to have that, because I think if you apply now for a distillery number, it's well over, it's probably close to 25, 000. So there's less than 10 maybe that are under triple digits.
Um, so yeah, I had that opportunity and I was like, well, if you guys will cover me getting my bourbon stewardship so I can learn some, then I'll come sell it for you. So I did that for two years and then happenstance came knocking and you know, there'll be a year coming up in August. I've been with them.
So super cool.
Yeah. Where do you
see yourself 10 years from now?
That is a very good question that I've asked myself. Um, I love all aspects of the alcohol industry. I kind of love the nerdy stuff, right? So whether it's wine, whether it's beer, I'm a certified Cicerone too. I love like learning about the processes and just how unique and cool it is to taste, which is why I still do tastings.
I do wine and whiskey tastings in my spare time just to keep me going. But I think that eventually with all that knowledge, I would like to be working for myself. Um, I love the team that I work with right now, but 10 years from now, I would like to be a consultant, maybe, or something like that, but we'll see where the wind blows.
Maybe I'll be on a beach in Europe somewhere. That's the hope.
You never know,
right? Yeah.
Yeah.
That's where I hope to see myself in 10 years.
European beach.
Yeah.
Drinking Tennessee whiskey or maybe Kentucky. Yeah. It's so good. Talk to us a little bit about the whiskey process since you're well involved in it.
Tell, like, for our listeners who may be whiskey novices or bourbon novices, I know some of the rules, but I don't want to, I'll let you speak about why, what's the difference between a bourbon and a whiskey.
Well, there's like, all, what is it they say? All bourbons are whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon.
Yes. Right? That's the way
I understand it.
Yes, correct. So, you've got whiskey as the big umbrella, and then underneath that you have all these subcategories from scotch, Irish whiskey, Tennessee whiskey, bourbon, and they all have different levels of flavor. Must haves and things that they have to tick off.
And so bourbon has seven different criteria. One of them being you have to be at least 51 percent corn has to be made in the U. S. There's a big misnomer that bourbon has to be made in Kentucky. That's not
true. It doesn't have to be in Bourbon, Kentucky. Nope. Bourbon County, I think. Yeah.
And there's also a big, there's a lot of confusion about how it got its name, like whether it's from that county or whatever, however that came to be.
There's a lot of circling stories about that. But, but yeah, there's a lot of different criteria that I don't even want to go down that rabbit hole. We would be here way longer than the allotted time if we talked. Yeah,
I think it's, um, it's a lot of fun. What would you suggest somebody starting out? Um, obviously you're going to say your brand, but, and maybe another brand on something that's kind of mid range.
Where would you say, whiskey wise, that somebody should, should check out?
I do think that exploring something, this is not just me saying this because it's the whiskey that I sell, but I think the fact that it is extremely palatable with the, the mash bill on it, right? There isn't a ton of rye. So rye can be one of those things that's extremely spicy.
It can
be really, um,
and be a little off putting for people that aren't expecting it. Whiskey is already hot. I mean, it's, you know, it depends
on the proof. What are you guys? We're at
90. We punch a little bit above proof in my opinion. So it stands up in cocktails. But, I mean, whiskey can be anywhere between 80, some of them get up there to 135, you can start
your car with it.
Stag Junior, I have one that's like 133, I'm
like, whoo! Yeah, those are a little bit, but I think that, um, you know, something that's going to be a little bit softer and then kind of work your way in. And also, make sure that you tamper it down because that's, alcohol, whenever it's at night, actually when I did my bourbon steward, I was asking them professionally, what do you think is the right proof for tasting where you can get all the different notes and not just the alcohol?
Thinking that they would say to, you know, knock it down to like 80, 90 proof, you know, they were saying 60, I think 60 to 70 is optimal for being able to taste things. All the different
things.
Yeah, and learning how to properly actually taste wine and spirits as far as, I know it seems kind of snotty when people are swirling their wine, but it does have purpose.
And so much of the, the flavor that you get is actually from the aroma. And because if you think about it when you're sick. And you can't taste your food, right?
Go back to COVID.
Right. Exactly. So that's always, just learn how to properly taste and sit down and just have fun with it. People overthink. It's alcohol.
I tell other people every day, we're not curing cancer.
Right.
We want things, alcohol is an experience. Hopefully it will be shared over good times. Sometimes it's over bad times. We want these to be memories. that we're making. Right. We don't want it to be an uptight, stiff experience. Or a
vice or, you know, yeah.
Yeah,
yeah, just something that can be enjoyed along with food.
Yeah, I think it's, um, it is interesting and there's like you said 25, 000 like numbers of distilleries now. There's so many, but they all are a little bit different and everybody's a little bit different too. Like I may love, you know, um, Colonel Taylor or something like that.
And, you know, that may be, you may hate it, you know, it's just your palette and they're all different. And everybody's like, well, what should I get? Or what should I try? Or, why don't you know, should I like this one? Or what? And you're like, you're different. I don't know what you're gonna like until, yes. So I've, I've got a pretty good collection and so, um, yeah, I'm like, try whatever you want.
See what you like, you know?
Exactly. I always tell people I can't crawl in your mouth and tell you what you're tasting since memory is different for every single person. Yeah. Which is really, um, it's also kind of interesting having a, a woman blender, distiller, um, women, our senses are a little bit better than men's.
We can see color. If you think about colorblindness and things like that. Women can pick up on aromas and tastes and stuff. So I highly recommend trying things that a woman has blended because we tend to pick up on a lot of nuance. A lot of
different notes that we might not catch. Yes, my wife, Carly, she's got a great nose.
So I'll ask her, I'm like, hey, sniff this. And she's like. That one's too spicy, you know, but yeah, but it's, um, it's a lot of fun. I, yeah, I think you guys do have a lot better nose a lot of times than we do and can pick up all kinds of stuff. Like, you're like, Oh, there's some cardamom in there or something.
And I'm like, what do you, where'd that come from?
I got to tell you, whenever I first started tasting and Billy, the lady I was telling you about, that's my wine mentor, um, talking about sense memory, right? Because it all depends on where you grew up and how you grew up and the things that made, that shaped your sense of memory, right?
So we were talking about Sauvignon Blanc and she said, um, do you get notes of, do you She's kind of talking about it. She says grass and she says gooseberries. She kept saying gooseberries. She's from Saskatchewan. Okay. Wow. Okay. So, by the way, I didn't even know that was a real place until my, my, uh, history education from Happy Valley failed me.
It may be a new state of America one day. Yeah. Yeah, maybe. Um, but anyway, so she kept saying gooseberries and I finally stopped her and I said, Billy Joyce, I am sorry, but I don't know what a gooseberry is. We don't have gooseberries in Elizabethton, Tennessee. No, we don't. I said, I'm just gonna, I said, this smells like cat pee.
And so, I'm like, what does that say about my sense of memory? But she was like, that was the first time that she was like, Like, honestly, like, I, like, it's all based on what you're smelling. She was like, and apparently that is a common descriptor. Oh, wow. So it's not just me. Yeah. But yes, it's a prime example of like where you grew up.
I don't know what gooseberries smell like, but to me, this smells like something else.
I had the pleasure of picking gooseberries in England with my aunt who is now in heaven somewhere. But my, yeah, my mom was from England and so we used to go in the summers occasionally and we'd go on this, they had this like, kind of like you could go pick strawberries here in Irwin.
And we would go pick. Gooseberries. Well, what do they taste
like?
They're kind
of,
they're not the greatest. They're kind of like little, uh, grapey kind of just hard to describe. I mean, they're just kind of, I don't know. They weren't that great. I didn't think.
Well, now I'll see if I, if the opportunity ever arises, I got to get my mitts on some gooseberries so I can change my mind.
I think they were kind of harder too. I'm trying to remember. I mean, this has been 30 years ago, so longer than that, probably 40. Well, you're
doing better than I am. At least you know what they were.
Yeah, um, yeah, I think it's so cool how there's so many different flavors. And, um, I think it's cool that it's a women led, you know, distillery.
How did your, the distiller decide, hey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this?
Yeah. So that's what I was saying, Paige. She came, uh, she came from Anheuser Busch and used her, her marketing background, her
marketing background to go and make bourbon. That's a whole different deal. That is a big leap. And
it takes a lot of courage.
So she, we hit the market in 2021, but it was literally her and she hired Allie. She, she moved, um, to Tennessee to go to Vanderbilt. She's young.
Okay.
She's younger than me.
Okay.
And, um, I think that she just saw this opportunity and grabbed it and, And her and Allie, who was the first employee, just really pumped this out.
And now we've grown, and I think there's like eight employees, but we are a solid team. And it's only been in Tennessee until this year. And now we just launched across, uh, five different states. So I cover South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and then we've got a guy, the only, the only dude, the Lone Ranger, we've got him in Texas.
Oh, okay. Yeah. Scott, he's great. He's got like 27 years of experience, but he's launching with such a big market. Yeah. Yeah. We had talked about me trying to handle that in addition to
That's too far.
It's, I've already got my hands full anyway. And, you know, the laws are different in every state. Which doesn't make things easy.
And, uh, so we decided to divide and conquer. And we've, we think we've done a great job with bringing him on. But he is the, yeah. So him telling the story of being a women owned company. He has a totally different. pitch than I have, you know. I think
St. Dominic, maybe, there's a lady, a woman. Old Dominic. Old Dominic, yes, thank you.
She might
be on a panel, I'm doing a panel discussion, and I think that she might be involved in that, or someone from Old Dominic, I think is probably there. Yeah,
she's like one of the only other, like, there's not a lot of, women distillers.
There's more than you think. Now there's a lot. Jack Daniels has, uh, female distillers.
Like master
distiller. Yeah. Yeah. I think
that Jack Daniels, it's either a master assistant, same thing at Dickel. They both do.
Okay.
I've been fortunate enough to be at events where I've got to hear them speak and things like that. Like sometimes I'm like, what am I doing in the room with these people?
Cause they, I've always done sales, you know? So sometimes I feel like the big dummy in the room. I just enjoy tasting and learning from them. But I
would say, yeah, after as much knowledge as you have, you're probably easily.
I'm still bamboozled every day. Let me tell you.
Every day is a new day. Yeah. Um, we went to have some friends that we have a little bourbon group that we get together and sip stuff.
And we took a trip to Jack Daniels and just talking, you would probably appreciate it. I mean, they have 70 percent market share in the world. Like you take all the other bourbon, everything and scotch too, everything and pile it in together. That's only 30%. They have 70. It's crazy. They were saying, you know, we, we ship, um, Jack Daniels to the boondocks of Australia.
You know, it's in the bush in the middle of nowhere. You can go anywhere and order a Jack and Coke and they've got
the middle of Japan. The only thing they know about America is Jack Daniels.
Yeah.
And Dollywood. I think that they're all big fans. Who doesn't love Dollywood?
Yeah. I mean, come on. She's Dolly Parton.
She's the bomb. Um, that's funny. Yeah. So talk about the, uh, Bourbon Women's Brunch coming up, the event.
Yeah. I'm so excited. I've been asked to be, um, on the panel for Bourbon Women Organization. They do, uh, for Women's History Month. So March is Women's History Month. That's a big push for us with our company.
But there's a lot of exciting events that are going on and surrounding that and so I'll be speaking It's called makers shakers and storytellers. So Yeah, and there's gonna be a good panel of us chit chatting and I don't know I guess I'll just be sharing my experience kind of like I'm doing today
Will they be recording that can you find it online somewhere?
I know they have tickets for sale in person So you're gonna be in the Nashville area. We can post that the link for that But it's going to be at Nelson's Greenbrier, which is a lovely distillery down there. Cool. And, uh, yeah, it's going to be a lovely little brunch and, and then a panel discussion afterwards.
So.
That's cool. And I think you said you wanted to talk about the Magnolia Project a little bit.
Yep. So that's. Tell me about that. What is that? Oh, I love Magnolia Project. So, because it's near and dear to my heart and it's here in Tri Cities. So it's a non profit organization, um, we, it's a, it's a program for professional and personal development for women in various stages of need.
Okay.
So whether that means that they're in recovery from addiction or perhaps they're getting out of abusive relationships or whatever. We don't try to ask questions about what your stage of need is, but it's a 13 week long program and half of it focuses on personal development and the other half on professional development.
Oh, that's cool.
Yeah. It's really cool. Um, things, basics, how to write a resume, you know, how, uh, I'm going to be speaking actually on week nine as a guest speaker about professional networking and just how impactful the people around you and who you surround yourself with. can be on your life. Um, I think that too often we don't realize that until it's too late.
But the people around you can truly be, either your prison or they can lift you up, you know? Um, so I'll be speaking to a little bit of that, like I said, week 9 of the program, because that's starting March 6. And we have our little, uh, we're doing a launch dinner this Thursday. Unfortunately, I won't be there because I'll be out of town.
But, um, and then we're kicking that off. We've got 13 of the 15 slots filled. I don't know when this will be airing, but we will be doing a fall program. So, I would love to like put the word out there to say if there's someone you know that might benefit. So, the cool thing is after the 13 weeks are over.
Each woman gets 200. We partner up with Kohl's, and they go and get an outfit, a professional wardrobe, as much as they can get with that. And then we organize a, um, uh, job fair with local businesses. And so they can actually apply these skills that they've learned, sit down and interview, and hopefully walk away with a job.
That's
super cool.
Yeah, I really love it because the thing is, And I got asked when I was working for Grindstaff, Ashley had been asked to do something with this and I ended up by chance getting asked to sit in. Jennifer, who is the, the person, I would love for her to come on here and tell you all about my work.
She's so passionate.
We'll have to get her on here.
Yeah. Jennifer T. Gritter. She's amazing. Um, but she asked me if I wanted to just sit in and observe one day, so I did. And I'm sitting in the back of the classroom and this girl comes up to me after the class was over and she was, you know, She was down on her luck, you could tell.
And, uh, she comes up and she called me by my name. She said, Kathy, uh, it's me. And she introduced herself. And it was a girl that I had went to elementary school with. We were very similar when we were kids. And grew up kind of the same. And, you know, my house was filled with love. Um, and so I never knew that, I never needed for anything.
But I did grow up with less than other people. I never, thank God I had parents that loved me enough that I would feel ashamed for even, like, complaining. But You know, I grew up in a trailer park until I was six, and then we moved out to the other property, but I grew up in a trailer, and again, my parents did amazing with what they had, so I never felt like I had less than, but my point is, when I was talking to this girl, she and I were so similar as kids that we kind of looked alike, and I was just like, man, I was one luck of the draw away that this could have been my life.
If my parents had had addiction issues, or they didn't care enough to get somebody to help me fill out a FAFSA, and encourage me to go to college, I could be sitting here right now. And so, I was just like, how do I get involved with this? Because I, I want to be that person. Like I was saying, there's just been so many impactful women in my life that have given me a hand up, not a handout, because I'm a very big stickler on that.
Yeah.
But, you know, if I could be that resource for somebody, or for somebody to just look at me, because I think so often, When you grow up in that situation, you see the other people, you see people on TV and you say, I can't have that or that life isn't for me or that's not attainable. And while I don't think I'm sitting on any high horse, I just want somebody to be able to say, like, I want to be like, I grew up in the same place as you did.
It is possible to break. The chains of the generational cycles and elevate and have a life that you love and and nothing is irreparable, right? Like no matter what you've done in your past people love a comeback story.
Oh, look at Britney
Spears. Everybody's rooting for her. We want her to do well. We want her to do well.
So that's my point. So that's my big thing with Magnolia Project and it's just near and dear to my heart.
That is super cool. Yeah, I think, um, we, yeah, uh, you can Change your life in amazing ways if you believe you can. Half of it, I think, is just mindset and belief.
Oh, if not more. I mean, I truly think, like, the hardest and easiest thing in the world is, is that mindset is everything.
Like, once you get it and once you do it, it's like the most powerful thing and the easiest thing. But, until you get that click and really truly believe it, it's the hardest thing in the world. But you
gotta, yeah, um, we've taken some classes and you have to program yourself, really. I mean, because the world's programming you that you don't have it.
You can't make it. Duh, duh, duh, duh, duh. Your
circumstances, your past, all this stuff. I can't do it. It's absolutely not. Yeah, I think it's
Satan trying to break people down, but the Lord doesn't, you know, He wants you to think. Yeah. And just be the wonderful creation that he made you. And so, but you can get down for sure and not get back up.
Yeah. Um, and it's sad. And you're right. Like we're one heartbeat away from living in, you know, a place where they, we're looking for a meal today, you know, like where you don't have anything, you know, and luckily we're in the best country in the world, you know, and so it's such a blessing, but uh, you have to recognize that and I love that you're wanting to help others succeed and That was my next question.
Who are some of the people who have been most influential to give you a hand up?
Oh my goodness. So they, I will say man, like It's always been people that will gave me tough love whenever I needed it But every big decision in my life whenever I started really thinking because I used to think to myself I'm not a girl's girl, you know what I mean?
and I have made decisions that were not, you know favorable for for myself or for other women and things like that, but Whenever I started really thinking about it, I was like, all of the reason that I'm sitting here right now is because women, other women believed in me or offered me an opportunity that I didn't deserve at the time and gave me, but they gave me the opportunity to prove myself.
They didn't say, Oh, here you go. Here's this on a golden platter. It's like they led by example and they put me in situations to either rise or fall. And so, you know, I rose to the occasion. Thank
God. Yeah, it's a choice.
Um, but I would definitely say, you know, like I said, working, working with Ashley here local on local level, that was extremely beneficial. DJ Jessie, she was my college advisor. Uh, I don't know if you ever had the pleasure of me. She lives in Vegas now. I
didn't know that's where she was. Yes, I knew her years and years and years ago.
Super sweet.
Incredible woman. I just laugh sometimes because she used to just look, and again, it's that mindset of thinking like, that's not for me, that's not my life. But, um, I was in her class and she's talking to me and she's like, you just, and she came in and she was always so fabulously dressed, you know, and just like impeccable and she breezes in.
She's like, you just need to save 10, 000 and move to a big city. And I was like, okay, DJ, because I'm like broke in college. I'm like, I might
as well be like making like at this time, 5 an hour,
waiting tables at three different places and on a scholarship and going to school full time. But I was like, okay, but you know what?
That's exactly what I did like down the road. And it's just so funny that that was exactly how much it took for me to get up and get out. Well, sometimes
people plant these seeds in your mind and you're like, oh, you know, whatever. But then later on it comes to fruition and you're like, oh yeah, that was because of that, you know.
Yeah,
it was always in the back of my mind, like that's what it takes. If you want to move somewhere, you need at least that to deal with a big city, right? And it can be a
limiting belief, like, oh, all you need is 10 gram, you know. And then you stop. You don't make more than 10. Well, once
you make 10, you realize how
little that actually is.
Um,
it's funny. I like, especially living in Nashville, it's not cheap. And I'm like, how is it? I'm making more money than I've ever made in my life. But I'm also like living worse than I did when I was a broke college kid. I'm like, Oh, I live in a super expensive place.
Not just Nashville, Franklin, right?
It's even more expensive. So it's like one of the hottest places in the country right now. It's
unbelievable whenever, again, real estate side of things. When I moved into my neighborhood, the townhomes were like, 350 to 425, 2, 000 square feet. And now they're like 700 to 900, 000. I'm like, why didn't I buy whenever I moved here?
Yeah. We always wish. Yeah. I tell people there's, you know, you can buy 20 years ago or you can buy today. It's kind of like the Chinese planting a tree proverb, you know, 20 years ago or today. So there's not never a bad time to buy. You just gotta, you just gotta jump and do it.
That's what all, that's what all you people say,
That's right.
A lot like the, the whiskey distributor people. You, you just need to get another bottle. It'll be, yeah. Just get
another bottle to add the collection. You can't have too many I drink it.
Yeah. Yeah. Um, so what are some of the hard things, like, I mean, 'cause you have this grit about you, like the, you know, you've, you've pulled yourself up, you've done some things that have been difficult.
What are some of the hard things that you've had to overcome to get where you are? that some advice you could lend to some other people who are listening.
Um, in my life, it kind of has always felt like the pendulum, as soon as it starts to swing up this way, boy, you better be ready because it's going to swing backward and knock you on your butt every time.
And I've, I had to start realizing to stop personalizing that because that's actually just life, you know? Um, because that can also keep you down. When you're always waiting for the other shoe to drop, Then you're limiting yourself. Um, Um, things have never been easy for me, and I think that that's, it's been a blessing in disguise, right?
It makes you more resilient. At this point, I feel like I am made of Teflon. So, um, I have made horrible decisions that have been, and I, truthfully, I take accountability for everything, and I think that's highly important. To be able to say, it's all my fault, whenever the times are bad, and take accountability, even when somebody does something wrong to you, you know what?
I allowed that to happen. I allowed somebody to do this. Uh, I allowed myself to get sucked into that or whatever, because then you get your power back. And then you're able to also, whenever things are good, look around and be like, I did that. I did all that. That's all me. You know? And be able to take accountability.
But, uh, you know, like I said, it's, I always knew, I was told from a young age, if you're going to succeed, you have to go to college. We don't have, you're going to have to get scholarships. We don't have money to send you. You're going to have to work hard. Um. Did you
go to ETSU?
I did.
Where did you get your degree in?
Mass Comm, uh, Concentration in Public Relations, and a minor in Advertising. Oh, wow. Awesome.
3,
000 years ago, BC.
Before the internet. My sales
rep, my sales rep now is like 22 years old. Yeah. And there's things that she's, um, I think she was born in like 2005 or something. I mean, like, when I was in
college we were just getting cell phones.
Like, they were just coming out. You know, and so you're like, wow. You know, like, but these kids have no idea what, you know, Not a clue. Not a clue.
It's totally different.
Yeah. If the internet ever crashes, they're, they're done. They're like, hey, can you walk to your house? No, I don't even know how to do it.
You know, I'm watching my phone for the map. Um, what are you excited about right now? What are some things that you're working on that you're like, all right, this is going to take off. And, or personally, you know.
Oh my gosh, everything is taking off right now. I'm so, so busy. This is probably a downside. All I do, I feel like, is work and think about work and, uh, that's become a little bit of a, maybe a trauma response, but it's, it's paying off in the end.
So, right now, I'm getting ready to kick off, as I was telling you earlier, two weeks of travel. Um, start with a personal trip, a fun little reunion, and to Myrtle Beach, some college friends, um, and me and my best friend from high school are road tripping it. She is a horrible driver. I'm sorry, she hasn't, she hasn't killed anybody yet, but I'm petrified to go over the mountain with her
on Thursday.
Be careful, yeah.
Um, but, so we're doing that Thursday to Sunday, and then I'll be doing, um, just bumping my way down the coast, a couple days in Charleston, a couple days in Savannah, ending in Miami, so I plan to eat a lot of good food in between working very hard with our distributors in those places, and then coming back, and like I said, Women's History Month, we have events non stop for happenstance.
So while I'm here, I'm going to hit some accounts and hopefully, I've got some meetings with some people, so you all will be seeing it on your shelves up here. Yeah,
I mean, talk to us a little bit about that because there's a lot of competition on the shelves. So, how do you, you go to, one stop down here, how do you get on the shelf over there?
That's the hardest thing, right? Because it's, it's always trying to break through that noise. And especially since COVID with every celebrity putting their, product out there and having the big names behind it. You have to be able to break through that noise. It comes down to outworking the competition and trying to be creative.
Um, off premise, which is liquor stores is a little bit more difficult. We rely heavily on liquid to lips as they say, but the in store tastings, because who in this economy wants to spend. 50, 100 on something that they've never tasted before.
Right.
That's also why bars and restaurants are so expensive, or so, excuse me, important, is because we like to say that brands are built in the on prem.
People will spend 10 on something and try it, and then when they see it in the store, I mean, myself included, I don't want to just buy a whole bottle of something I'm not going to like.
Yeah, I've done that too many times, and you're like, ugh, this is bad. Yeah,
yeah. So those are, that's heavily the most important things is the in store tastings, and then Activations, giving people opportunity to try before they buy, you know, and you just have to outwork everybody.
That's why, I mean, being a woman in alcohol industry, it's, I've always had to learn to hustle, it is still very much a boys club, I hate to say that, but you as a woman, being an attractive female will get you in a lot of doors. But then you're expected to know, to be considered on the same level, you've got to be three times as smart.
For sure.
And work four times as hard.
Yeah.
You know, to, to be taken seriously, because otherwise they kind of expect you.
I would hope that that's starting to level out, but you're saying it's not. I love
it. Yeah, you like the competition. Yeah, keep your foot on my neck. It keeps me smarter. It makes me work.
There you go.
I love it. That's good stuff. Yeah. And do you, and then like, what, do you have to get in with the distributor then? So let's say, Joe, liquor store wants to put you on the shelf. How do you get from the distillery to the shelf?
Yeah, so um, thanks to prohibition we still have these great laws called the three tier system and we have to operate on that.
So that means that the producer or the supplier A. K. A. like happenstance in my position, can't just go sell directly to the consumer, the buyer, whomever that might be, whether it's Joe Liquor Store or, you know, you getting something for your shelf. So, we have to have a distributor as the middle man to do that.
Unless you
buy it in like a shop at the distillery, right?
Correct. Or you can like buy online and that sort of thing. And they ship it. They're not in Tennessee. Yeah, in certain stores. There
are certain states too. Yeah.
So we have to have a middle man distributor. Okay. Um, that does that for us. And then they have sales reps.
So I've worked, as I said, I've worked in distribution. been on supplier side of things and I prefer supplier side. It's distribution is tough gig. You've got thousands of brands in your portfolio and there's always a fire drill at the end of the month to prioritize things that and give everything love.
And it's just, uh, it's, it's, And
there, I mean, is it just massive amounts of warehousing? Like I've got a, I'm just sitting here going, there's so many bottles, right? And they're, they've got to have a stock. And then they've got to get it to the shops and you know,
it's unbelievable. Those warehouses in Knoxville, cause they're all based out of Knoxville or Nashville.
And is that JP
Lipman or something like that? So
Lipman is one of them, but there's probably like 10 distributors. Um, yeah, there's a, there's quite a bit. I mean, I see the
pretty black Lipman trucks around. I'm just, that Lipman's,
Lipman's the big one. They've got Jack Daniels, what you were talking about.
They've got Tito's too. So that's another hard thing too for smaller brands like Happenstance is trying to get the attention. within your distributor and get equal share of mine with your distributor reps whenever you have them that have all this money and, um, Um, resources that they can push into the market that us little guys were fighting for, you know, we're
seeing an ad on TV for, you know, right, people, they can't do that.
I will say, though, we got really lucky. Um, last year, happenstance signed on to sponsor Ella Langley's. hungover tour. Country artists. I don't know if you're familiar. She did a song with Riley Green last year called You Look Like You Love Me, and she took off. She won a CMA award, and they featured Happenstance in her video on YouTube.
You can look that up, um, in You Look Like You Love Me. They're in a saloon, and you can see Happenstance bottles everywhere. That's
cool.
Yeah. Um, so we've teamed back up. I think we're teaming back up with her this year, but her star really took off last year, and it's nice to have that star power. When you think country music, whiskey, very like minded crowd, and so it just drives you.
Do you talk to those folks about being like a brand ambassador then at that point?
She has certain stipulations about things, um, we're always in her green room and we, I mean, there's obviously everything comes with a price, so, uh, as far as having her face on all of our things, we have some, we have some POS shelf talkers and things that we can use in liquor stores that have her, her image on it, her likeness.
there's always limitation. I don't blame her. I, if it were me, I would monetize the heck out of everything.
Yeah. If people
wanted to use my face on stuff, I'd let them.
Yeah. Cause you don't know when that's going to, that's going to run out.
Exactly.
Yeah. Um, and then. Private tastings and that kind of stuff.
Do you do those frequently?
I try to in my spare time. It's slowed down especially with how busy I am. But really last year I started kind of doing those frequently. It's a great way for me to keep my education going. Because it's impossible. That's what I love about this industry. Everything is always changing.
There's so much to learn. Especially keeping that passion alive with wine. Which I do truly love. I love whiskey. Wine for me too is just such a big There's 10, 000 different grapes. So, you know, it's, and every bottle can be different, right? That's a cool thing about things like whiskey that people don't realize is that.
There's so many factors about where it's stored in the where in the rickhouse is that can affect the flavor So like two barrels side by side are gonna taste totally different same thing with wine But wine continues to change in the bottle as well. So it's yeah, it's really really unique and that's you know I love to taste with people there's so many regions things are changing with regions now because of the climate changing and So you've got these great champagnes that are now, or not champagnes, sparkling wines that come from England that are on par, if not better, than a lot of champagnes because champagne is getting too hot for them to grow the quality grapes that they used
to.
What would be a bottle you would suggest for our listeners on the champagne from England?
Oh, my God. Ridge. You put me on the spot for this because it's been a long time since I've sold it. It's been a while. But yes, there's some if you go to your local boutique shop and ask, um, just ask and again, try a lot of things.
But they're having that same. It has that same biscuity kind of quality that champagne has. Um, but it's just coming because England's a little higher up, right? So it's able to keep that colder climate. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. But it's
so private tastings. I just love to do. Plus, it's like it. But, again, it's offering an experience, you're getting people together, and everybody's tasting.
And a lot of times just hearing other people talking about what they're tasting, you're like, oh crap, that is what that is. Cause you know, whenever you taste something, and you're like, what am I getting? You know, it's hard to put your finger on it. And somebody else is like, oh, that's leather, that's, you know, caramel, that's what it is.
And you're like,
that's exactly what that is. Yeah,
it's just a fun experience. People sit down, have some snacks, and.
What is your favorite pairing, combination of food and happenstance?
We have such a good natural sweetness, um, with that high corn content that I think any kind of You know, softer cheeses, sweeter things, or a
salty nut, yeah,
or like a bourbon glazed nut or something like that.
Yeah, our bourbon is really, it's got, it's not overtly sweet or anything to where it's off putting, but we're able to do a lot with it. I was making all winter long espresso martinis with our happenstance whiskey that were just out of this world. That's
cool.
Yeah, so it pairs extremely well with chocolate, with sweeter things like that.
That's awesome. That's awesome. How can our listeners connect with you online if they want to get involved with Magnolia or find out more about Happenstance?
Yeah, well my personal Instagram handle is a fun one.
What is the name of that one?
Dumb Blonde Drinking. It suits me. Have
we had that one for a while?
For a while. That's my, that's my professional paid, but it's a double entendre, right? Um, like Dolly's, the great Dolly Parton said, I know. I don't mind when people call me dumb blonde because I know I'm not blonde and I know I'm not dumb, right? Yes.
And she says it takes a lot to look this cheap.
I can attest to that.
Help me. I'm poor. Just pay me directly into the funds to keep this going. Um, but no, I When I came up with that name, I thought back to that moment I was talking about in my car whenever I was like, I felt like the dumbest person in the room, right? And so I was like, I, I don't want anybody else to ever feel this way again.
Right.
I'll be the dumb blonde asking the questions for you. So when I made that page, it was originally, this was during COVID too. And I was like, I'll have some time to maybe answer questions for people or like make this an interactive thing. I bought the website. For it, the domain name and was really thinking it was gonna turn into that sort of thing.
And then I went back to work full time. And so anyway, dumb blonde drinking, just stuck. And so here we are. Um, so you're, feel free to reach out to me on that, on my Instagram. Okay. Usually I'm just posting, you know, pictures of me having cocktails and around town. But, um, happy to answer questions there. The Magnolia Project has their own, uh, it's magnolia project.org.
Okay.
Um, and yeah, that's, they, they, and then where
can people find happenstance? It's
happenstancewhiskey. com and it's at happenstancewhiskey on all the things.
Is it on the shelves here locally yet?
We should be an off premise, I'm double checking so we're kind of blitzing up here a little bit over the next couple of days and we should be.
If not, please ask. for it. That's always helps us out too. We'll get our listeners
to go to all the later stores and be like, we need happenstance. I'm
telling you, you asked me how to break through or how to get like on the shelves. That is the number one way because the store owners are limited on space, but if they know customers are asking for it, then they'll definitely put it in because they know it's going to move.
Right. They're like, yeah. Cause they don't want to get a bunch of stuff that just sits and
just sits and then put it on closeout and you know, that's not good for anybody. Right.
And then that one goes to the wayside.
Exactly.
Um, last question. What gets you just fired up? You're like, let's go time to roll.
I'm gonna get go crazy. You know, like you're just jacked up.
Colin, every morning I try to wake up like that. I love it. Life. Trust me. There's always something that gets me fired up. I love
it. I love it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm fired up all
the time.
I think that's the way you're supposed to be. Yeah. Uh yeah. I love it. I love it. Well, anything I didn't ask, you wanna share, talk about?
I feel like we covered quite a bit. We kinda got
it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. It's been a pleasure getting to know you. I'm sure our listeners have enjoyed it. I'm sure they're going to go check out happenstance. They're going to look up Magnolia project. Um, and we wish you the best.
I think it's cool what you're doing and, um, keep fighting those guys. You'll, you'll beat them. And yeah, just your fire. You can see that you're going to continue to be successful in whatever you do. So thank you so much.
And I love being back up here in Tri Cities every time. Well, I would love
to help you move up here and buy a house at some point.
So, um, yeah, we'd love to help you do that. We've helped. Thousands of people do it. Lord have mercy. Yeah. We'll help you buy. I've got friends down in Nashville too. So if you're going to buy a house, call me.
Alright.
Done deal. Yeah. Until next time, I'm Collin Johnson with the Collin and Carly Group. Carly and I would love to help you make Johnson City your home or the Tri Cities or, yeah, we can even go down to Greenville and towards Knoxville now and so, um, yeah, just reach out to us.
We manage a ton of property. We help people build wealth through real estate. So we'd love to help talk about that too. So just click on the link below, you can get to our website and reach out and, uh, I'd love to just talk to you. Thank you for listening. So, and subscribe, subscribe. Have a great day.