- Toby Nolan,

Redbreast 12 year old, for my favorite Irish.

(Irish music playing)

Fáilte ar ais, we're normally sitting at a bar

but Toby, it's not a bar in here, is it?

- It's not quite, no, it has its moments,

but yeah, not usually.

- So, Toby Nolan, Irishman in Central Oregon,

met you a number of years back when we were up here,

folks know that we love to travel here,

and met you at a brewery.

- [Toby] Indeed, Deschutes Brewery,

and I think we tried doing the maths on it.

We think it was probably what, six?

- Yeah.

- Maybe seven years ago.

It's going back a little ways, yeah.

- So, I didn't realize at the time,

I thought you were a beer guy,

and I'm sure you are,

but you're obviously, you're a photographer.

- That's it, yeah.

So, always been a beer guy.

It's kind of in the DNA.

Always been a whiskey guy, kind of in the DNA.

But yeah, I've been working as a full-time photographer now

for actually not long after we first met.

- Okay. - That's when I kind of,

started transitioning into doing it part-time,

trying to get a business going

and then started going full-time with it.

But yeah, I mean, first picked up a camera

in school in Dublin.

We had the old dark room and everything.

That's where I kind of.

- So, you're old school on that front?

- Old School, yeah, yeah.

Even spent a very short amount of time in Sallynoggin,

at the little college there.

- At the Tech, isn't it?

- Yeah. - Yes, yeah.

It didn't last long.

There were a little bit of a creative differences

between me and the person in charge.

But yeah, always wanted to be a photographer.

Never really followed it through until later in life.

And here I am now living the dream.

- Yeah, you're in a fantastic fun studio space

that you have here in Bend.

And we'll talk about what got you here later.

But obviously, you're a fellow Dub,

born in Dún Laoghaire, was it?

- Dún Laoghaire area.

Yep, so, Dún Laoghaire, Dalkey kind of areas.

- Okay, so not too far from where I was raised.

- Yep.

- But you've traveled since a very early age.

- I was born with itchy feet for sure.

So yeah, family relocated from Dublin to Jersey.

Not New Jersey, Old Jersey,

when I was very young,

just over a year old.

And then I ended up moving back to Dublin

at about the age of 12.

I went to boarding school, finished up school,

worked for about 18 months,

actually worked in BlackRock for a while.

- Okay.

- Right opposite your school there.

- Where I went.

- Yeah, I was working as a car salesman,

first job out of school.

- Yeah.

- And before that I was in the BMW place,

just up the road there as well.

- Okay.

- So, but yeah, did that and then kind of decided to travel,

and three-month round trip to Cape Town turned

into 2 1/2 years later flying out of Nairobi, Kenya,

having kind of, hitchhiked my way

all through southern eastern Africa.

And then, that took me from Nairobi to Toronto, Canada.

Lived there for about a year.

- There isn't a direct flight now between those two.

Is there? You probably have to go back through Heathrow

- I'm trying to remember which way I bounced around

to get there yeah, but it wasn't direct.

So yeah, lived in Canada for a bit

and then decided to go back to Dublin to, you know,

figure my life out and all the rest.

And about four months later I was on a plane to New Zealand,

supposed to go out there for about a year.

That turned into four and a half years.

And then, about a year of bouncing around traveling,

and then, ended up on the east coast in Pennsylvania.

Hacked about six months,

didn't really love it there.

So, drove from Pennsylvania to Alaska,

worked up there for a season

and then drove down to this area,

and I've been here ever since.

So, coming up on 10 years now.

- So, have you ever mapped out all those miles?

- I haven't.

I really should sit down.

I remember, I think it was actually potentially one

of my parents that figured it out once.

But yeah, by the age of 21,

I'd been around the world four times.

- That's impressive.

- So, I've probably done a couple more since then.

- It's kind of in our Irish DNA,

this, you know, leaving.

You and I, we're a generation apart,

but we were part of the generations

that left the country. - Yes.

- And you've ended up here in a wonderful part of the world.

I live just south of here in a wonderful part of the world.

- Not too shabby down in Napa either.

- No, it's not.

But you know, I've been lucky enough to travel.

I feel privileged to have traveled through that time.

And I was encouraged by my parents, you know,

raised in Dublin, but would often go off traveling.

And obviously your parents raised you

with that same kind of, outlook.

- Yeah, we did family holidays and things growing up,

and that's definitely what taught me that, you know,

travel's exciting and interesting, and worth doing.

And I have very supportive and very patient parents.

- It helps.

- There's definitely been moments over the years

where they're like, you're not done yet?

You don't want to maybe slow down for a little bit?

But they've always seen that I'm happy, you know,

seen that I'm providing for myself.

I'm not, you know, asking for handouts.

- The hand isn't out.

- Exactly, exactly.

So, you know, I think they realize

that I'm living my life the way that works best for me.

And I think they both on some level

are living vicariously through me as well

because they weren't able to,

they didn't have the same opportunities.

- Well, and also the ease of travel nowadays,

you know, you and I can,

I'm not sure where you can go from here,

but living where we do down to San Francisco,

and I'm back in Dublin in 11 hours.

- Yeah.

- Whereas generations before us, once they left,

it was a one-way ticket.

- That's it, exactly.

- Very much on, you know, same is true of the Italians,

the Germans, etc.

And that was it.

Once they left, they left.

Whereas you and I go back.

- Yeah.

- I was just back and I'm not sure when you were back next.

- I was just back in June actually.

- Great. - Yes, so, not that long ago.

- Probably your first trip in a couple of years?

- That was the first, oh gosh, when did I go back before?

I think it was 2019.

I snuck in a quick trip before everything.

- There was a little pandemic in between then and now.

- Little hiccup along the way.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

So, you're here, folks know I love this part of the world.

You're here, there isn't too many Irish folks here,

I'm guessing.

- No, we are few and far between.

I have met not many that live here.

Actually, you said one of the ways

that you were able to locate me again was

you saw my name in a magazine as a photo contributor.

- Yeah, Bend Magazine.

- And that same magazine,

I got a random email one day through my work email

and it was a Irish woman living in Bend who said,

I read your bio in Bend magazine, realized you were Irish,

can we get together and have a drink?

I haven't seen anyone from home in forever.

And that was right before the pandemic.

I should pick that back up now and see where she's at.

But yeah, there's very few of us around.

- Here. Yeah, no, I'm going to guess

that in places like Portland,

there's probably a sizeable Irish population.

- There's definitely a little bit more, yeah.

- The climate is just like Ireland.

Pick a city in Ireland. - I know.

- You know, it's wet. - Yep.

- It's cold in the winter. - Yep.

- And there's a great quite pub culture in Portland as well

which is something that we have back there.

So, I suppose we should keep chatting,

but we should probably put something in our glass here.

- I agree with you on that, yeah.

- So, we should talk Whiskey.

- Yes.

- So, how did you come to whiskey?

Was it in the family?

- Yes, very much from my dad.

My dad is a man of great taste.

He loves whiskey, he loves wine.

He's developed a bit of a passion for rum

in more recent years as well.

So, he is been dabbling in that.

But yeah, my dad was the one

that introduced me to whiskey originally.

Of course, Jameson was the very first whiskey

that I ever had and is still today,

there's never not a bottle of Jameson

at my house or my dad's.

- Okay.

- Every time we get together that's our staple.

So yeah, he first introduced me to it and you know,

it didn't take the way beer did originally for me.

And a lot of that was just down to accessibility,

cost, that sort of a thing.

And also the people that you like to share it with.

Not as many of my friends were whiskey drinkers,

you know, everybody wanted beer.

But as I got a little bit older and I started saying,

well, maybe I don't need to share it, you know,

I can just have a little collection of bottles for myself.

And it was actually a private collection was,

- Let me give it to you. - Thank you.

A private collection went up for sale

and a friend of mine contacted me and said,

"Hey there's a bunch of Irish whiskeys here,

you should come check it out."

And that was the first time I found Redbreast 12.

So, believe it or not,

the first time I found Redbreast 12 was in central Oregon.

(both laughing)

I made it this far.

- Sláinte. - Sláinte.

- It's old.

- Yeah, you say Jameson was kind of something you had

as you were growing up.

Redbreast 12 was what brought me back here.

It was my, I call it my gateway.

To this part of my life,

and I think you've alluded to something there

that when you're younger,

you don't necessarily drink whiskey

in a kind of a sipping sense as I would say.

It's unfortunately kind of a shot thing.

People go to the bar, they order a shot of bitter.

- Or mixed Coke or Red Bull or something like that.

- Yeah,

I think, you know, from my journey,

you've got to be at a certain age or stage in your life

to actually appreciate it.

And you know,

the reality is a bottle of Redbreast or Green Spot,

or any of these wonderful whiskeys,

they're not necessarily cheap to buy

to be drinking it every night.

- That's it, yeah.

- Yeah. So what is it about this that you love?

- So there's a few things about Redbreast,

I'm a somewhat of a sentimental old fool.

And once I tried it and realized I loved it,

I was talking of course to my dad,

first person I call, you know,

send him a photo of all the bottles I got from

that private collection and everything.

And we're chatting back and forth,

and it was actually my mom in the background,

we were on a video chat,

she said, Redbreast 12?

I said, yeah.

She goes, that's the family whiskey right there.

- Family Whiskey.

- Of course I had to call them out,

I was like, well, where's it been my whole life then,

Cause I don't remember getting offered it?

But yeah, I guess especially on my mother's side,

Redbreast 12 has been, you know,

the go-to for four generations now.

So I like the fact

that I sort of independently discovered it

and it's got this connection to my family already.

But then also it's just,

I mean it's a bland way to describe something,

but it's just such a good drinking Whiskey.

- Yeah.

- It's,

when I'm trying to convince friends of mine around here

to try Irish, cause people here,

like they're bourbon understandable,

when you start talking whiskey they might say,

Oh, I've tried a couple scotches,

but I didn't really like it.

And like, well what about Irish Whiskey?

No, I've never really tried it.

And this is now, I used to start them on Jameson.

This is now what I start people on and I've converted.

- That's a high bar starting them on this.

- Yeah.

Well, I think I said it to you on the phone once,

I like if I can get them hooked on Redbreast 12,

I know there's always a bottle at their house

if I go over there.

(laughing)

It works in my favor too.

- Yeah, so we have your family

to thank for keeping the Redbreast lineage going

because the brand almost died.

You know, the modern iteration that we see now is a,

generally it's a mash build,

so that's the, kind of the, the grain recipe.

50% malted, 50% unmalted barley.

- Yeah.

- Previous, in previous generations there was,

there was slight differences to that.

And also the distillation process,

so they talk about it being oily

and having a deeper spice character,

older Redbreasts.

- Okay.

- And older Redbreasts go for a pretty penny.

- I'm sure.

- When they come to markets.

I am sure there are old houses,

country houses,

round Ireland, where there's bottles

of Redbreast knocking around in cellars,

or larders, or whatever,

and they're worth money nowadays.

- Yeah.

- So it's um...

so obviously this is your now, your go-to.

How would, we're, you know, we're here in your workspace.

I'm hoping there isn't too much of this drunk here.

(laughing)

- Not too much,

but on occasion we'll celebrate the end of a big project

or something.

- Good, and you'll toast to it with some, Irish.

- Exactly, yeah.

- When you're at home sipping this,

how do you sip your Whiskey?

Do you sip it like this?

- So my, 99% of the time,

it'll be,

a couple of drops of water in there.

On a rare occasion I might put a single large cube in there.

But again,

the longer I drink Whiskey and the more I enjoy it,

I tend to strip that back to I'll start out with a sip neat.

Especially if it's something I haven't ever had before,

I haven't had a long time.

- Yeah.

- Just completely neat,

and then I'll just add a couple of drops of water in there

to open it up and that's how I like to do it.

I don't like to mess around with mixers,

and I've had plenty of disagreements with girlfriends

and things in the past when I come home

and find one of my nice whiskeys with a

chunk of Coca-Cola or something and I'm...

- Because they haven't paid for it.

You're the one who has paid for it.

Becuse my philosophy is if you've paid for it,

you can drink it however you want.

- Yes.

- So, yeah.

- And my philosophy is,

why would you add Coca-Cola

to a $80 or a $100 bottle of Whiskey,

when there's a bottle of Bulleit down there?

Which, Bulleit's fine, I don't mind Bulleit.

I have, I quite enjoy a bit of bourbon,

but I don't know why you would choose a fine whiskey.

- Especially when you think of the amount

of crafting that's gone into it.

Time obviously blended of the end,

time in barrel,

the distillation,

and then gone all the way back to the farmer

who grew the the grains.

- Yeah.

- It's a it's a long old process.

- It is.

- And how can you truly appreciate something

if you're masking the flavor, you know?

I think you need to experience it in it's raw form

to start to learn how to appreciate whiskey.

- I agree with you.

It's a part of my journey as well is,

is kind of going backwards, you know,

five, six years ago would've had it over a big ice cube,

but now, we'll do that on occasion,

but more so the sipping,

and to your point, the water,

and we do have some water here

if we need to add a few drops in.

So, um.

- Redbreast is one of the few

that I find straight out of the bottle,

it's just good to go.

It's got that little bit of sweetness to it,

which I think plays a part in why I've been able

to get friends of mine in the US to learn to appreciate it.

I hate to compare apples and oranges,

they're not the same thing,

but some of the qualities of Redbreast

it's got that little spice to it,

but it's got that sort of sweet finish as well.

I think if somebody's used to drinking American bourbon,

this is less of a shocking transition for them, you know,

there's to me some crossovers between Redbreast 12

and some US bourbons as well.

So it's not like jumping straight into,

you know,

some really peaty, smoky scotch from one of the Islands

or something where people go,

"Oh, I tried scotch once and it was horrible."

It's like, wow.

You know, you tried one type.

So, yeah.

- And I think that's helping

the Renaissance in Irish whiskey, is the style,

it is more approachable.

- Yes.

- Your, as you say sweetness, that sweet character,

which comes from the various components,

comes from distillation,

comes from,

comes from the barrels.

But it's definitely what gets a lot of people hooked.

So yeah, it's a, it's no...

- But I'm certainly not shy of a peaty, smoky scotch too,

for I often have a Laphroaig or something.

- Okay, because Oban or O-ban is my favorite.

- Dad's a fan of that one too. - Yeah.

- I've had it on occasion,

but there's something about the Laphroaig

that just sits well with me.

- Okay.

- Again, it could be a sentimental thing.

I've got some good memories over the years with that too.

- So you're here, you live here,

and obviously we're in Bend here in your studio,

but you moved to Sisters.

- Correct, yeah.

- Smaller town to the northwest of us there.

- Yeah.

- But this is essentially home now

and has been for a number of years.

So, I'm going to ask you

to turn into the Deschutes County Tourism Board

for a couple of minutes for us.

So, favorite places to go for a good cocktail, where would?

- Good cocktail, so if we briefly step outside

of Central Oregon,

I would say actually my favorite place in the state,

probably to go for a cocktail or just a good drink,

is a place called Huber's in Portland.

I'm not sure if you've been there.

- No.

- But it's, it's the oldest bar in Portland.

Just incredible atmosphere, these beautiful big kind of

bolted curve ceilings and everything.

Real characters working behind the bar,

and really good at what they do.

So if I'm ever in Portland,

Huber's is an absolute go-to.

But around here in Central Oregon, you know,

we've got The Stihl Whiskey bar in Downtown Bend,

that's got a great selection.

It's busy, it's popular.

The tricky part can sometimes be

just physically getting in there.

It's often very busy,

But Stihl's a great spot.

There's a restaurant in Sisters called Chops,

which is sort of a fine dining style restaurant,

but they've got a couple of great bartenders out there.

A fellow, Joe, in particular is.

- You're obviously a regular there?

- We, we spend time there, yeah.

Sisters is a small enough town that if you're,

as we were chatting about off camera before,

you know, the Irish are naturally chatty people,

we'll kind of walk up to anybody

and strike up a conversation.

So, you put a personality like ours

in a small town like Sisters,

most people know who you are after a few months.

- And, folks who don't know,

Sisters' famed for it's quilting.

It's where the annual gathering of the quilters...

- It's a big quilt show, yes.

Which is one of the more unique

and slightly bizarre gatherings I've ever witnessed before.

I had no idea there was such a cult behind quilting.

But yeah, I mean it's chaos,

to the point where a lot of people who live there,

we get out of town when it's happening.

We just say,

you know, we'll leave 'em to it for the weekend

because it's just tens of thousands of people are showing up.

And some of these quilts are going for five,

10 plus thousand dollars.

I mean serious.

- And Sisters is a population of, correct me if I'm wrong,

like five to 8,000 somewhere like that, is it?

- You know, I'd be shocked if it's even that much.

Sisters proper, I would guess is three to four.

Somebody's going to call me out in the comments,

I'm sure of it.

- And 10,000 visitors come in for this?

- Yeah,

I'd actually have to check exactly what visitor numbers are,

but I mean, town turns into gridlock.

- Wow.

- You know.

Like to the point where,

I live about two miles outside of Sisters,

just north of town,

and the quickest way for me to get to Bend

is to drive into Sisters and down.

During the quilt show I'll add 15 miles to my journey

just to avoid trying to drive through that area

cause it's bumper to bumper gridlock.

- With the quilters?

- Oh, the quilters, yeah.

Yeah, they're a rare breed.

(both laughing)

So, and then on the other end of the spectrum,

we're famous for the Sisters Rodeo as well.

- Oh, I didn't know that.

- Which is a whole different crowd.

- I can imagine.

- Yeah.

The sister's rodeo is, it's an incredibly,

especially as somebody who's not,

I didn't grow up in the US,

I didn't grow up in that environment,

you know, so to go there and you know, it's,

I think it's three or four days, the actual rodeo,

but it's basically for a whole week,

Sisters just goes into a huge party for a whole week.

Live music at every bar,

late nights all over the place,

locals nights going on.

You've got all these rodeo cowboys,

- Cowgirls.

And cowgirls, and it's terminology I learned this year,

Buckle bunnies.

(laughing)

So it's.

- Is that something that's in between a cowboy

and a cowgirl?

Is it?

- They do,

I think that's what they call the barrel racer girls.

So they do that really incredible high speed on a horse

around the end of a barrel and back up.

But that's my naive understanding of what that is.

- Hey, you know, just put on the Irish accent

and you can get away with anything.

- That's it.

So, but yeah, Sisters is a great spot.

I was seven or so years in Bend,

which has now got a population of over 100,000.

- Yeah.

- And even in the time I was here, it's,

it's just grown exponentially.

I mean as you guys come up here,

you know why it's appealing.

Amazing outdoor activities,

a four seasons town.

You got great skiing and snowboarding in the winter.

You've got every type of summer activity you could imagine.

Lakes, rivers, mountains,

more and more industry and business starting up here too.

- Yeah, no, definitely.

One of the things I love about coming here,

a number of things, but one of them is

the support that it gives kind of entrepreneurship,

mentorship,

there's definitely a "can-do" attitude

in this part of the world,

which I love.

You know, you and I have our own businesses, so, you know,

I love seeing that, that it's very supportive.

But back on the kind of the advice kind of,

favorite places to go for a walk or a hike around here?

And it could be a long list.

- It could be a long list.

So yeah, it's,

and it's interesting, it's getting a little tricky now.

We're so popular,

they've had to bring in a permit system here

for some of the really busy hiking trails.

You actually have to pre-purchase a permit to be able to go,

and it's limited on certain days.

Some of my favorites can be hard to get onto now,

but you know,

one of the most famous ones is the Green Lakes Trail,

which takes you, so the west of Bend,

you've got the Cascade Mountains,

Mount Bachelor, the Sisters, everything like that.

And the Green Lakes Trail is just an incredible incline

trail that takes you up to these beautiful lakes at the base

of the mountains and everything like that.

South Sister, summiting South Sister, I did that in 2020.

That was my first COVID project was Climb a Mountain.

- Okay.

- And it was a, it was a good slog for me because I mean,

I keep active, but I'm not the most in-shape guy out there.

But, you know, it's a good trail if you're prepared.

It's achievable for anybody.

- Okay.

- And it's amazing.

It's a little over 10,000 feet at the summit.

So you get up there and you've just got these,

just mind blowing 360 degree views, looking at other peaks,

looking down at the lakes and everything.

It's incredible, so.

And then out in Sisters,

there's a number out there I like as well.

Tam McArthur Rim is a beautiful one out there.

It takes you up around three creeks Lake and things.

And the Metolius river.

I'm a big fly fisherman,

have been a fly fisherman most of my adult life.

- Okay.

- That's just a remarkable river.

- So I'm sure folks back in Ireland will eventually,

you know,

both see and hear this

and they'll hear you talk about a 10,000 foot mountain

and they'll grim us because I think

Carrauntoohil down in county Kerry,

I think weighs in at,

and I'm sure I'll be corrected in the comments,

but about 3300 - 3400 feet.

We are here in Bend.

We are,

I think the center of Bend is measured at like 3849ft,

something like that.

- Yeah.

- So here we are,

where we are sitting,

and we are higher than any point on the island of Ireland.

- Absolutely.

- I always struggle when I come up here the first night.

- Oh.

- With the, with that,

with just going from ground sea level up to here.

- Yeah.

- But here we are in the second night and you know,

we're good.

- You're in, you're in shape.

- So do you find when you go to sea level that you know,

because you're living at elevation, that you are,

you're able to go longer, you have more stamina?

Is that never, you ever really thought about it?

- It's a good question actually.

I, in my younger years I was much more aware

of that sort of thing.

I was incredibly active.

I worked as an outdoor guide for over a decade,

all around the world, at altitude to sea level.

Everything from kayaking,

to glacier climbing,

to rafting,

fishing, I mean, you name it.

And I certainly noticed back then that yeah,

I had more stamina more,

nowadays, you know,

I do most of my activity around here

and when I go to the coast, I'm on holiday.

I'm not really working too hard when I'm out there.

- Makes, you know, makes a lot of sense.

- But I do love getting to the, the Oregon coast though.

It's so beautiful.

- Yeah, we're like that,

where we are living in a lovely place,

but it's, for us,

it's an hour and a half drive out to the coast

and it's just, I think it kind of recharges the soul.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

And obviously both of us being from relatively close

to the coast in Dublin, I certainly know,

although I loved in my youth,

hiking through the Wicklow mountains,

and kayaking and canoeing down there,

but getting out to the coast in,

whether it's Dublin or Wicklow,

is always something to recharge the batteries.

- Absolutely.

- So we touched on the pandemic there a few minutes ago.

When I got in touch with you,

finally tracked you down online

and we chatted about various things.

One of them was where we went to school.

So you went to St. Columba's College,

I went to BlackRock College.

They were big rivals in cross country and rugby.

I know, because you know,

you and I, we're not the biggest guys in the world.

- No, no.

- So I stopped rugby at 13.

Did cross country.

We used to go out to St. Columba's every year.

It was one of the most enjoyable

but most horrific cross country races we would run.

It was proper cross country.

- That's a gnarly area out there, yeah.

- But you told me a great story

about how when you were there,

you actually got away from rugby and you got into golf.

- Indeed, yeah.

So like most kids at, you know, over there is rugby,

little bit of hockey, maybe some football, real football,

that sort of a thing.

And then, yeah.

There was a golf course that actually,

I can never remember if it was on the school property

or it shared a border with it, but there it was right there.

I mean it was walkable from the dorm rooms

and there was an agreement

that students could play the course for free.

So for various reasons, you know,

stepping away from sports that I wasn't really built for,

I picked up a golf club,

started playing golf and got really, really into it.

Myself and a small group of buddies

all started playing together.

I actually ended up starting

the first golf team for St. Columba's.

And my last year there was when that was going on,

and started playing against some of the other schools around

and things like that.

And I developed an absolute passion for it,

but I mean, to be honest,

one of the contributing factors is we realize,

my friends and I, that golf was the only unsupervised sport.

So while everyone else was playing football and rugby

and things with teachers, we'd be on the golf course.

Not that we were getting up to too much mischief,

but you know, it was, when you're in boarding school,

you live there, you sleep there, you eat there,

you go to class there, you never get a break.

So any opportunity to feel like you have some freedom.

- A bit of freedom, yeah.

- Some control.

So that was kind of the contributing factor. But yeah,

we all got really into it and yeah.

- And then obviously you've talked about all your travels,

you can't cart golf clubs around that with you.

- No.

- But like a lot of people,

you came back to golf in the pandemic.

- Yeah, thank you COVID.

- You know,

and there's definitely some silver linings for all of us.

And here, you know, this on top of being a great beer town,

a decent food town, an incredible place for outdoors.

This is a great place for golf.

- Phenomenal golf area.

Just huge amount of courses

for every budget and skill level.

I mean you can play everything from, you know,

when I first started playing again when COVID hit,

The Old Back Nine,

Which is just on the south side of Bend, at the time,

I think it was $22 for a round of nine.

And I had the first tee slot, you know,

every time I went out first tees slot in the morning.

And then once I kind of realized like, okay,

I haven't completely lost my game,

like I can show my face in public,

I started playing some other courses again.

And now that I live in Sisters,

I just actually in the last two weeks,

have played twice out there

at a course called Aspen Lakes.

- Okay.

- Phenomenal course as well.

Beautiful, long, oh my gosh,

I walked it the first time and

- And regretted it?

- I was knackered by the end of it.

Absolutely.

And I only walked nine,

but it was nine long, long holes.

But it's a unique one too.

You've got this red lava rock around here.

- Yeah.

The cinder rock.

And in the winter we don't grit,

we don't salt the roads here,

even though we get a lot of snow and ice,

they just throw that cinder rock on it.

Aspen uses that in their bunkers.

So it's not white sand bunkers,

it's this finely dusted up red.

- Wow, really?

- Red.

So it's a really,

I mean you've got, you know, the greens,

- Yeah.

- Of the fairway,

and the green and the roof and everything and

then these kind of volcanic red bunkers and yeah.

- Fascinating.

- Yeah, fascinating.

Not great for the,

- Not good for your clubs.

- underside of your club.

- I was thinking that.

And I know folks won't know,

but weather has changed here this week.

Last week before we traveled up, when you and I spoke,

we were looking at up here,

it was mid to high 70's or so,

and we're definitely a little cooler than that.

So we didn't pack our clubs this week.

But I look forward to perhaps in the spring

or early summer when we're up again,

we'll connect on,

I don't know if you're an evening golfer

or a weekend golfer,

but we'll definitely get nine holes in.

- One of the beauties of self-employment

is you have some control over your schedule.

- Don't give away our secrets.

So also when we spoke Toby,

you and I both share a love of Redbreast 12.

It's my favorite.

- Yeah.

- We always have a bottle in the house,

but over the last number of months I've slowly grown my,

I don't, I hate the word collection

because I don't collect whiskey,

I buy it to drink it, and share it.

- Yeah.

- So we, we've got a number of them at home,

but one of them I picked up was the, the Cask Strength.

Now you and I talked about this on the phone.

- Yes.

- I said I was going to bring up a little treat for you

and this is it.

So we'll pour some in here.

I haven't had any of it yet.

Weighs in at 56.3 alcohol.

So 112.6 proof.

- So this will be your first time ever with it.

- Oh, that's exciting.

- You know, I've pulled the top on it, but still filled.

- Yeah.

- As I said, love sharing whiskey.

I wanted to share with somebody who loves Redbreast.

So let's pour a little drop of this.

- Absolutely.

- We may, we may put a little bit of a,

we may put a little bit of.

I want to just put a smaller amount in there.

It's been interesting to watch,

Redbreast expand.

I jokingly what some people call it the,

you know, the Nest, the Robin Redbreast is,

you know, the Nest is getting bigger.

It's obviously a successful brand now here in the States.

So there it is at Cask Strength

- Thank you.

- You're welcome.

So Sláinte again.

- Sláinte again.

It's immediately very different on the nose.

- Yeah.

Obviously we've just poured it so,

to me it's not as,

it's not as evidently sweet.

- That was the first thing,

yeah, not nearly as sweet coming straight off there.

But it's got a little bit more of, I don't know,

it's a long shot,

more of a kind of a green appley kind of,

- Yeah

- Or something to it.

- Which is, which I know we talked about Green Spot

on the phone as well.

There's definitely,

green apple always comes through on that.

So that's kind of a,

that's a classic pot still character that the apple,

and occasionally it goes over into pear as well.

So yeah, it's not often I put myself

or someone else on the spot by literally opening it

for the first time while we're, while we're recording.

But, what the hell.

- There's something else on there

and I cannot put my finger on it.

- Big mouthful of spice for me.

- That's a lot hotter.

Yeah.

That one caught me off guard actually.

- Yeah, it's a, we're stepping it up a few percent.

So let's...

- So yeah,

it's definitely not nearly as sweet on the finish is it?

- Let me, if you want,

I'm going to just pour a few drops in there.

- Yep.

- There you go.

- See and that's again what I love about the 12.

You don't get that initial, hit.

- Yeah.

- Exactly.

- Yeah.

What's interesting about.

- That brings out the sweetness more now.

- Yeah, agree.

Just those few little drops, you're still drinking it at a,

you know, decent proof.

What I love about Cask Strength whiskey is

it gives the consumer the choice as to where they want it.

- Yeah.

- So if they want to dilute it down a little,

so it's in the mid forties or lower than that,

they can,

but it can be,

it can be too much for.

- Yeah, I like,

I mean, initial instincts are telling me just is to sit down

and have a glass.

I would still reach for the 12 first

- Yeah.

- Myself.

But this might grow on me.

I need to give it a minute.

It actually, again it's, we keep mentioning Green Spot,

there's, I get little kind of hints

of Green Spot off it in some ways as well.

- It's interesting, back in 2019,

my folks came out for Christmas and they asked,

they were coming through Duty Free in Dublin,

and I asked could they pick up a bottle of Redbreast 15?

I don't think we could get it here at the time.

So they brought it,

all excited to open it up and we opened it up and went,

That's different from Redbreast 12.

And I think,

I don't know if our palate had become conditioned to that.

I've had it since and I definitely enjoy it more,

but it's a different whiskey.

- Yeah.

- To me.

So...

So I think we might stop recording

and we'll just keep sipping on this and see how it goes.

So one last thing before we wrap up.

When we chatted, you told me a great story about your dad,

kind of, your dad, whiskey and some music back in the day.

And I think we should put that on record.

- Okay, yeah.

That ties back to my first ever experience with whiskey.

And from memory, I was 14 years old.

My dad is a very responsible person,

he does not feed alcohol to minors.

This was very much a father, son bonding experience.

But yeah, I was about 14 years old,

my dad had a little home office and he had, you know,

the leather chair with the receipt

of buttons and everything in it, you know,

and it was always this kind of mythical place as a child,

you know?

What's that room dad always goes into

that were not really supposed to be in.

And he called me in there one day,

closed the door and walked over,

and pulled out a bottle of Jameson,

good old, off the shelf, regular Jameson.

And he poured me a little glass of it,

and he took me over to the armchair in the corner,

and he said, sit there,

hold that, don't do anything yet.

So, oh yes dad.

And he walked over and he had the old, you know,

this was long enough ago that it was the old hi-fi system,

you know, with the CD changer and everything.

And he walked over and he was messing with that

and he teed up a song, which I had never heard

and never even heard of the band at the time.

But he got it all ready and he turned to me and said,

Right, sit there, drink that, listen to this.

I'll be back in a minute.

And he hit play and walked out.

And it was Money by Pink Floyd.

- Okay.

- And he had it turned way up,

which was interesting cause he's a fairly conservative guy.

He's not a big noise maker or anything.

And I yeah,

sat there in that armchair sipping on my first ever whiskey,

which was Jameson,

listening to my first ever Pink Floyd song, which was Money.

And that experience will stay with me

for the rest of my life.

And it was an interesting one cause my dad, again,

he's a very loving man.

He's a great father.

But he was always, you know,

he's of that generation

where he's a little bit more reserved,

and you know,

doesn't really wear his emotions on his sleeve.

So I remember thinking like, what's wrong with dad?

Why is he doing that?

And you know,

and I look back now and I realize that that was just an,

I think for him more so than me,

an important bonding opportunity,

to share a couple of his favorite things with me.

- With you.

- Yeah.

And here I am now, you know,

whiskey is a shared passion of my dad and I.

Every time we go home,

I'm bringing a bottle, or he's got a bottle,

and he's got something he's held for me.

And you know,

when I was working at Deschute's,

we would do all those barrel-aged beers,

with these really rare, you know,

low quantity beers

that have been aged in bourbon

or aged in this, that and the rest.

And I was constantly sending them home

for my dad and my brother and you know,

he's still hanging on to some of those.

So when I come home,

cause he knows that, you know, I'm,

that's something we can share together and bond over

and things like that.

- That's great.

That's, to me,

that's as we get older and you know,

haven't been through what we've been through,

I certainly know from my point of view,

I value some things more now,

and family and friends has really come to the top

of my list in that,

not that I didn't before.

- Yep.

- But it's become even more important.

And to have something like that,

to have it be, you know,

a dram or two or three or whatever it is.

And the nice thing is we have Irish whiskeys

that are often only available here in the US.

- Yep.

- So you can bring back home

and then there are many distilleries doing, you know,

Ireland only or Duty Free only whiskeys there.

So there isn't, it's not like it's all the same stuff.

You can be sharing different whiskeys, which is fantastic.

- Exactly.

- Right, with that, we'll,

we should, we'll keep chatting,

- We'll keep chatting, yeah.

- We'll stop recording,

and we obviously got some nice whiskey to finish.

So I'll say Sláinte, thank you for your time.

- Oh, thank you so much for including me,

and tracking me down after all these years.

This is impressive detective work.

- Well you know, Google helps.

- Yeah, that's true.

Yeah.

And Google, Irishman in Central Oregon,

there's not many results that pop up.

- And you having such a, such a wonderful website,

which we'll obviously will share in the video.

You do some lovely work.

- Thank you very much.

- I say that genuinely as somebody

who works in the digital marketing space.

It was fascinating.

I thought the most important,

not the most important,

but the most interesting one was a lot of food shots.

- Oh yeah, yeah.

- In my opinion some of the hardest photography to do.

- It can be a challenge.

- You've got some beautiful ones on there,

which, we'll, which we'll share out.

So with that, thanks again.

And we will

- Thank you so much.

See you next time everybody.

- Sláinte

- Sláinte, thank you.