Episode Transcript
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of Couple O' Nukes. As always, I'm your host, Mr. Whiskey, and still super excited and energetic because we are here with the third in-person interview for the Tampa Frontline Tasting event, you know, courtesy of Craft and Mike Waskewhich, which so great to have this event going on here with one of the brands.
And it has just been so exciting to get to interview everyone, to hear their story, their passion for what they do, why they do, and how they're doing it a little bit differently. Uh, each person has had their own unique journey. So here with Cort Meinelschmidt. Yep, that's correct. Perfect. Okay. And, uh, here to highlight what you're doing, you know, and also what got you into this, and talking about some of the hardships along the way-
some of the successes. I know it's been a mixture of both, and, uh, super exciting. I'd love to start by asking what brought you to Tampa to be a part of this? Uh, well, Mike and the Frontline Tasting. Um, so he's a big supporter. Uh, he's in our area in DC, and we're Western Maryland. Um, and so he's a big supporter of us, and so we also support him, and then with the Military Influence Conference at the same time are
It, you know, just kind of made it a whole thing to come together and have a good time, and hopefully learn a little bit, and also get to spread our, our whiskey around, so. Right. And now are you yourself a service member? Yes. So I was in the Navy for almost seven years, and I was a aviation rescue swimmer, so.
Oh, wow. Okay. So what brought you into that line of work? Why did you join the military? Uh, that's a loaded question. Uh, so- And one you probably have heard many, many times. Yeah. So, um, I was a nationally ranked swimmer in high school. Um, ranked 19th in the nation my, uh, senior year. Um, but I also skipped a lot of school, um- Okay
a, a lot. Um, but I had a very high SAT, and the only college that would offer me a scholarship was, uh, University of Connecticut. Mm. And, uh, they, uh, put me on a lot of restrictions, and that's when I learned, hey, I've gotta grow up. Mm. Mm. And, uh, the Navy Rescue Swimmers gave me that ability to grow up. Um, and, and that's what I needed.
So it was a kind of that work hard, play hard mentality, you know. And I have no problem working, just school was easy. Um, so I didn't think I had to go, but, well, the Navy- Mm ... beats that out of you. For sure. In fact, you know, I was in the Navy as a nuclear operator, and the spiel they give you when you get to nuke school is, "A lot of you guys are geniuses, some of the smartest people in the world.
So a lot of you skipped class, or you sat there and doodled in the back and still got all As, A+s, whatever." Yep. "This school is not that. You can't do that. You can't get away with here. You need to study. You need to change your habits." And a lot of us learned, or rather many of us did not learn that, did not listen to that, and academically failed.
About 86% failure rate, give or take, when you look at the numbers. So, and a big portion of that, yes, it's mental health, but it's also because people didn't, as you mentioned, grow. They didn't change. And recognizing when you need to start putting in more work because something gets difficult, or just the fact and respect that something being easy doesn't mean it's not worthwhile- Yep
and that it's not worth attending. And so- Did you end up-- So did you go to college and then the Navy, or you said, "Hey, I need to get my life together before I even think of going to college?" The, yeah, I need to get my life together before college, and that's what the Navy offered me, that, that, uh, the years to mature and grow.
And, uh- Mm ... while I was in the Navy, k- started college, continued to go through college while I was in the Navy. Okay. Um, but yeah, so I, I needed that time to, to grow up, and it, it offered me that. Right. So... Now, was there no appeal for other branches? Did you talk to multiple recruiters? What was that process like?
Oh, so my dad, uh, was a retired command sergeant major from the Army. Amazing. Um, and all he said is, "Don't go in the Marines," and he didn't care about anything else. Um, but the Navy SEALs came, but the rescue swimmer, uh, you know, that's what it was. Mm. And now I, I'm just curious, personally curious, 'cause I was on the swim team in high school.
Our school had no swim team originally, so they made one, and only five guys joined, and, like, 32 girls. And, uh- Yeah ... so all the guys were automatically made varsity- Yeah ... 'cause this is it. This is all we have. And, um, did you have a particular stroke that you preferred? Yeah, so our school, high school didn't have a swim team, so I swam club- Oh, okay
um, the whole time. And yeah, so, uh, my 50 free and 100 free were my best. I did make nationals in the 100 fly and the 200 free, or yeah, 200 free. Yeah, I was, uh, at that time, my strength level was we'll go to the end of the pool and back, and that's about it. And then one time they're like, "Look, we only got five guys.
Our top swimmers are tired. Back-to-back competitions. You need to do a 500." Yeah. And I was like, "Excuse me? That's like 10 times what I normally swim." And I thought I, it was one of those things where you get turned around and, uh, I'm like, oh, I'm in the lead. No, actually, I was so far behind that I was, like- Nice
a whole lap behind and, uh, got out of the water. Vision was, like, going black, and I was staggering. And they're like, "He's gonna throw up." And I was like, "No, I'm just gonna pass out." Yeah. I'm gonna be throwing up. That was exhausting. But that same day, they had a doggy paddle relay. My team won the doggy paddle race, and I got a free T-shirt, so- Perfect
you know what? There were some losses, some wins, but, uh, yeah. So you said, "I'm a gr-" Did you present to the Navy, you're like, "Hey, I'm a really good swimmer. Let me go swim rescue," or like, how, how do you verify that? Did you go through a test or some kind of training? Yeah, you have, you have to take a test, just like you have to take the, whatever- The ASVAB
the ASVAB. You- Yeah ... you have to take this entry level, like, test to get in to the school. Mm. And it, I mean, it was a joke So cool. Um- Yeah, well, I remember doing the swim test in boot camp itself, you know? Yeah. Um, I guess I won't disclose too much of it, but it's pretty simple. Yeah. It's like, can you, can you float for five seconds?
Can you hold your breath? Yeah, kinda jump off the high dive. Can you, can you put air in your uniform? Yeah. And yeah, and I actually did standup comedy once about how no one in the Navy knows how to swim. It's the irony. Yeah. At least my boot camp division, they said, "Who here can't swim?" 95% of people could not swim, and I, I, in my standup set, I joke about, hey, you know what's so ironic is everyone from Kansas knew how to swim, but Connecticut, Florida, California, all the East and West Coast states on the ocean, no one knew how to swim.
Yeah. And there's a guy who stands there with, like, a 12-foot long giant hook- Mm ... to reel you in. Yep. And, uh, you know, he loves it just as much as the guy who stands up there to push you if you don't go. Yep. He's just... I think they find people with, like, really bad parental issues, who were bullied as a kid, 'cause they always have a nasally voice, and they're s- short, and now they're muscular, and they've got the uniform on, and they, they enjoy pushing you in you know?
There's a certain mentality to it, but you passed the test. It sounds like you passed it easily. Yeah. And so what, what kind of is the process from there? You go through boot camp, and then you go through, like, a specialized training, or is it kind of A school, or how does that work? Well, so mine was a little different.
Originally, I went, I was set up to go Navy SEALs, um, but- Oh, wow ... but got medically disqualified 'cause I had a sinus block. So then from there- Mm-hmm ... uh, they let you go. Uh, you can choose, and so I went Rescue Swimmer Um, and then it's, you know, you have rescue swimmer school. Right. Um, so then you do that, and I can't remember how long that is, but it's, uh, pretty intense.
Have you ever seen, uh, um, oh, The Perfect Storm? Mm-hmm. Uh, have you ever seen that movie? No. So, it's a- Okay ... it's a Coast Guard version of the rescue swimmers. Oh, okay. Um, and it's somewhat accurate except for the part where you go out drinking with your, uh, instructors and stuff like that. That, that never happens.
Um, you know, but it's somewhat, you know, somewhat accurate, and so it, it's, it's pretty intense. Mm. Uh, I bet you get... It's not 20% pass rate, um, of the people that get, get- Wow ... accepted to the school, the people that get it. And sometimes it's people that, you know, they've tried and they've failed back, and they've tried again- Right
and failed back, and so they're on their fourth or fifth try- Mm ... you know, to get through the school, so, um. Now, with that, do you ever have any interest in diving at all? Did you ever look into that? Or you were like, "Hey, I just wanna, I wanna be on the surface swimming. I don't wanna go down ?" Yeah, no, I, I, it, it never interested me.
Um, I mean, I've scuba dived, you know, recreationally- Right ... and that's fun, but no, I never, never be a Navy diver. Um, I enjoyed the, the swimming part and saving lives, so it was, it was a lot of fun. Now, we hear that term and w- and we imagine the s- scenes, like you're talking about, these dramatic scenes. Were there a lot of actionable moments like that?
Or did you find you were kind of just on standby most days? Well, of course you're on standby most days. Um, but you know, I've had the, the terrifying jumps, and I've also had the, the jump in 80-degree water that it was a beautiful sunset and their boat sank, you know. Mm. So, you jumped on in, you got them, put them up, and it was this, you know, like a, a nice Sunday swim.
So, where were you jumping from? Were you- Well- ... stationed on a ship? Well- Or did they fly you in? So, I did, it was always flown in, but, uh, I did a cruise on the USS Nimitz. Um, but the- Oh ... the sunny one was in Puerto Rico. I was stationed- Mm ... in Puerto Rico. Oh, wow. Okay. So, yeah. It was just a- And so you've traveled around, did some rescue swimming.
Why did you choose to get out? Especially, you were approaching that halfway mark, as you put it. Yeah. So, um, it's gonna sound weird, but I wanted to go to Iraq and do my job. Mm. Um, I made rank way too fast, um, so I was never gonna make chief, uh, 'cause I was, you know, six years in and I was already E6. The chance of making chief is slim to none, um, because the rescue swimmers are such a small billet.
Mm-hmm. Um, my, uh, detail wanted me to become an instructor. Uh, Casey's like, "You need to get the check in the box to make chief," and I'm like, "I'm not making it in four years, so I'm not worried about it." Uh, he called my bluff, I called his bluff, neither of us were bluffing, I got out. Okay. So And so, and at that time it was like, uh, the Navy had this program if you got out and got back in within six months, like you never left.
Mm. So I took a shot at it, and that was 23 years ago. So you did not go back? Did not, no. Okay. Now, obviously you're here for, we talked about brewing and distilling, so from the Navy and leaving there to what we're doing now, how did that all unfold? Um, so we- The 30,000 foot overview. Yeah. So me and my wife, uh, prior to COVID, um, we, and, and, and to this day, but prior to COVID, we love to travel, and we love to find- Mm
these little distilleries. Uh, we like whiskey, we like bourbon, and the, the people are just amazing. The- Yeah ... the energy. They love to show you their craft, and you can taste the stuff. They'll give you a tour. And I'll tell you, I think majority of the time there's some better stuff. Um, sometimes it's not.
We all know that. Um, but we enjoy it. We made a lot of friends all over, uh, from Colorado, I mean, just all over Kansas. Just, just met a lot of good people. And then in July of 2019, Maryland changed the laws on, uh, distilleries. Mm. So prior to July of 2019, you couldn't have a tasting room where you had cocktails or you had beer or wine.
Okay. You could only serve a limited amount of shots, and you could only sell them a limited amount of bottles. Mm. So the business, uh, did not make sense. I mean, you had to have a lot of capital to be able to just, uh, distribute. Right. Um, and that's very hard for a new distiller to be able to distribute.
Um, but they changed the laws in July of '19. January 2020, we bought the still. Of course, COVID kicked us in our ass. Um, so we didn't- Mm ... we didn't get open till March of '21. Mm. So. So was it kind of, I, I hate to say it out loud, but a year just paying bills with no return? Well, so we were still under construction and- Okay
uh, luckily our landlord was amazing, and 'cause he, took him longer to get it done. Mm. Um, so it was paying bills, but not as bad as it could have been. Yeah. That, that could have been a devastating loss, and I know affected a lot of people, so. Oh. But you have obviously since then, you know, you got it, and then you got it going.
So how was it first starting and everything? And, you know- And, and what was it about it? You know, you, you talked about traveling, talking to people, and, you know, doing these interviews, and I've done travel as well, and the people are amazing. They're passionate about what they do. Yeah. They love talking about what they do.
What kind of from that inspired you? You're like, "I wanna be one of those people," or what was it like? Are you like, "I just wanna be a part of that community"? So it was, o- one, we love whiskey and bourbon. Yeah. Um, that was a, a big part of it. Two, our downtown's going through a r- r- a revitalization. Mm. Um, and we wanted to be part of that, and the distillers bring people.
Um, and so it was kind of our personalities of we just like to have a good time. You know, we wanna share our craft, um, and, you know, be part of that revitalization. So it was, it was all those things combined, um, to, to be able to- Yeah ... make that leap, so. And, you know, being part of the community's, uh, been a, a huge thing for us.
Right, and that's been a few years now, correct? Yeah. I mean, technically it's six years, but we count our anniversary as March 5th of '21- Right ... 'cause that's when we opened the doors. Right. Um, so yeah. And so how have you found it? You know, d- do you host special events? Or, like, what, what has the process been with the community and rebuilding and connecting?
Yeah. So, uh, we hold events all the time. We have comedy nights. We have karaoke. We have music. Um, we even have... We have poker nights. Um- Oh, wow ... there's people just sitting there playing poker. Um, it's free poker, and then, uh, you know, uh, at the end of the season, it's like a six-month season, we give out gift cards and stuff- Okay.
Yeah ... for people to win. So it's a lot of fun. Yeah. Now, when you first opened and you were like, "Hey, we're looking at making our own different bottles and stuff," what was the process for that, for picking the ingredients, for making the labels, for, for all of this? You know, kind of where does that come from?
Yeah. So, um, we started with what we liked, what Chelsea and I liked, and we like the wheated whiskeys and the wheated bourbons. Mm. So that's what we started with. Um, and then we found out, uh, that some of the whiskeys that we liked, we liked, um, the heirloom grain, so, uh, a Red Bloody Butcher. Um, and so we said, "Okay, we're gonna start with those," um, and then, you know, add your, uh, your, your, your wheat and your mal- I mean, your corn, your malted barley, and we did that.
And, uh, the very beginning we made some really bad stuff. Um, it was not good. Uh, so we redistilled it and made vodka, and so we made a lot of vodka for a while, um, because that's one good thing you can do in the distillery business is if it's not good, you just redistill it, turn it to vodka. Um, and then eventually, uh, we came out with a mash bill that we liked, um, and that was our very first one, our wheated whiskey, so that's what we started with.
Um, and then actually friends of ours, um, in Colorado, they gave us their technique on how they make their cinnamon whiskey. So we turned our wheated whiskey into a cinnamon whiskey, and then turned our wheated whiskey into a honey whiskey. So that's what we started with originally, was our cinnamon whiskey, our honey whiskey, and then a regular wheated.
Okay. Yeah, so you've got the, the vodka, you got the whiskeys- Yeah ... and then are you looking at launching anything new soon or working behind the scenes- Yeah ... for some stuff? So we do have our Maryland rye, which is about three years old. Uh, we do have a c- or the cask strength wheated whiskey. Mm-hmm. Um, and then we do have two bourbons right now.
We have a regular bourbon at 90 proof, and then we have a bottle and bond at 100 proof. Um, later on this year we're going to be bottling our very first five-year bourbon- Ooh ... and it will be a cask strength. Nice. Nice. And so what are you hoping as you continue to be a part of the community to launch, you know, new products, what are you hoping this is all leading to or continuing to do?
Um, so we're, we're, we're very fortunate. Um, we're looking at actually gonna be, uh, exporting to the UK here in February. Mm. So that's gonna be a lot of fun. Um, we're working on new distribu- distribution through Maryland, um, just because the law's changing things. Right. Right. Constantly everything's happened there.
Um, but so it's just to continue grow the, grow the distillery and make high quality product. I mean, that's one of our, our biggest thing is everything that we've, uh, we've sold, we've, we've mashed, we've fermented, we've distilled from day one. Um, like I told you in the beginning, our first whiskey on March 5th that we sold was seven weeks old.
Mm. I mean, and that was a very- Wow ... very, very young whiskey, just, just barely above a vodka. Um, but you know, that, but that's the thing is we wanted, we started with that and we continued to grow. Um, and now, you know, our three-year bourbon's one of the youngest things we have. Mm. Now, for anyone listening who's thinking about getting into this industry, what would you say has been the most difficult or unexpected part of it?
I don't know. Uh, so for us, I would say the most difficult part was not part of the distilling. It's that revitalization part of our downtown. Mm. Uh, just trying to get people to come downtown. Um, for us, there's a lot of people think it's, you know, oh, there, there are drugs and they're gonna get harassed, the homeless and all that stuff.
Mm. That's our biggest problem. Other than that, it's the, the regulatory, uh, issues. Mm. You know, the, all the reporting, all of that. You get caught up into that, and just it can grind your business to a halt. So people should be prepared for some paperwork and for some reading and research, right? It's a lot of paperwork.
It's, uh- Yeah ... it's kind of intensive, 'cause then you have the state stuff, and then you have the federal stuff, and then, oh- Right ... you start, you went to a new state, so you have this paperwork, and it's, it's constant. I can imagine. And, you know, with that revitalization downtown, you talk about the environmental factors in a sense of, like, how that area is kind of affecting customer attraction, stuff like that.
Have you seen any revitalization with, like, other businesses opening, uh, up and trying to make the area nicer, efforts from the town? Ooh. Well, so yes, there's definitely businesses. We started a restaurant a little over a year and a half ago. Um- Mm ... there's a brand new... lucky for us, a brand new $92 million, uh, minor league baseball stadium, uh, that ended up being two blocks from us.
Mm. So that was great. Uh, we had a bakery open up across the street, so things are starting to do that. Yeah. Um, you know, there's, uh, sometimes I think the city gets in their own way. Um, but there's a, they, I think a lot of them are doing the best they can. Awesome. Yeah. Well, I know we gotta cut things short 'cause you're running all over today.
Yeah. We got stuff to do. But I want to thank you for your time and guesting and sharing and highlighting your story. And I know I'll catch you Thursday night as well- Yep ... to try some of your stuff and, and do some content, so looking forward to that. We'll be there. Thank you so much. Awesome. Thank you.
That was fun. All right. Ugh.
