Sometimes, things like this happen. Jim forwarded an email to all of us, and I have a screen cap of it here. He told all of us, we already took on Tucci, might be time to take on America's dad. Referring to Tom Hanks, of course. Tom Hanks, America's dad. I mean, I call him daddy. And I was, I think, the last person in America. You mean the guy from Joe vs. The Volcano? Yep. Yes. Yes. No, Turner and Hooch. Turner and Hooch. I wrote that on VHS. I was in Buddies. Shut the f*** up. Two jokes is enough. But you mean Splash? The Burbs. The Burbs. Bachelor party. I had the Burbs on VHS. I did too. Yeah. I still have my copy. Do you think Wilson drinks cocaine? Wilson. I never saw that one. Anyway, I think I was the last person in America to learn that Tom Hanks has this absurd cocktail. And we're going to make it. Absurd is putting in lightly. So here we go. You are listening to another episode of Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast. Back in your feed this week, it's a Jim show. It's a Jim episode. That means I punish you with awful **** to drink. I've never seen him put this much effort into a I don't know. Jim, I've got something cool for you to try out for this episode. Well, I put effort into that fictional cocktail one. That was great. Let's stuff on fire. Yeah. Jim, I have to say that when it comes to punishment, you've already outdone yourself, because I just drank Wyrmwood Extract, and tasting Diet Coke for the first time in years is gross. It's worse. It's really gross. OK. And I'm not even kidding. Not even joking. With the weird continuity, I don't know what time, what timeline we're in right now. It doesn't matter. You didn't just taste Wyrmwood Extract, the episode just started. You know, it doesn't matter. Time and space mean nothing to me. This episode is going to come out in June. If somebody noticed the incongruity, we'll give them a gift card, all right? Okay. Doesn't matter, as you like to say. Anyway, I kid, Jim, you work your ass off all the time. So he really has been engineering a lot of obscure, strange, and imaginative cocktails, and it all starts with the Diet Coke Cane. I'm Greg. I do communications at Binny's. Hey, I'm Pat. I share the things I love the most with my friends at Binny's. And we love you for it, Pat. I'm Jenna. I'm not Pat's friend. Roger, beer, hard seltzer, hard iced tea, etc. Jim, communications. Chris, wine. I eschew cocaine, but I do fat rails with a gun mag. Awesome. Regular. All right, Jim, take it away. Tom Hanks had a- Diet Coke Cane. He was on Colbert and he was talking about- He was on Colbert and he said that he doesn't drink, really, but he has Diet Coke and he had a splash of champagne on it. What? Wasn't this right around New Year's? I think that was why this occurred. Yeah, I'll join the celebration. Just put a little splash on top of my Diet Coke. Yeah. We have that, but then I started just spitballing different ideas for cocktails. I remember Roger talking about the Jaeger and Root Beer. Yeah. Speaking of spitballing, I don't think the Spit Cup has ever been more appropriate than this episode. I'm ready to spit a lot. We've got the Mrs. Brophy, which is the Spanish wine and Coca-Cola. The Señora Brophy and Spanish wine and Coca-Cola, a couple of little treats, so that's what we're going to do today. We're going to make them try these gross cocktails. Can we try them all with Coke and with RC? I guess. The RC is specifically for- Yeah, they're not all soft drinks. Oh, there actually is RC here? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I was just trying to gym this up and include RC in some way. Oh, no, no, no, no. Me and my RC. He already gym did as far as we can go. I have gym did as far as we can go. This is a gym show. This is a gym show. Yeah. We're just throwing a bunch of **** in Coke now. It was just like we started with the diet cocaine and then the cocaine and then I thought about Roger's thing and your thing. Roger's thing with the root beer. We talked about almost all of these cocktails in the past. That's true. They're all weird and wacky. We never taste some of them once. Some of them are real cocktail. This is a real cocktail that people drink. You did a deep dive into Coca-Cola cocktails. I made up the one cocktail, which we'll get to later, and then we got the black velvet, which I believe are mystery confessions of a mixologist. May he rest. Black velvet? You've had a black velvet. We've talked about black velvet. Oh, yeah. Do we do it on the show or do we talk? Yes. Yeah. So, the first one, we're just gonna try the Diet Coke, and we're gonna open this champagne bottle here. Chris, do you wanna talk about this? It's something new we brought in, M. Hasslinger, and it's only $19.99. It's freaking- True champagne, it's $19.99? Yeah, solid bottle of champagne for $19.99. Get outta here. Completely unheard of, nope. It's selling like crazy, because- Where'd they come from? Who's making, this isn't like some whole producer, my friend. Heslinger Ife. The sons do all the work though. Say it again, what Enfee? M. Heslinger Ife. Okay. Ife. That's a suspiciously German sounding name for a champagne house. Well, I was pointing out to Jim earlier that there are a number of champagne houses founded by Germans. It's quite common actually. Okay. I'm going to put this on top of my Diet Coke, which I will say- Can we try it on its own also? Is the most horrifying thing I've tried today so far, and that is saying something. So it's just supposed to be a little bit of a splash. Just a little bit of a splash? Yeah. I need Diet Coke still. You're starting with Diet Coke and then topping it with champagne, correct? I need Diet Coke to pass around here. Oh man. If anything could improve Diet Coke, it's done it. I'm not even kidding. You hate Diet Coke that much? I really do. Well, Diet Coke is not that bad. It is really bad. I would try it with regular Coke, I think. Why am I pouring so much though? It would be way better with regular Coke. I'm just pouring Diet Coke because I like Diet Coke. It can't go off the rails if it was never on the rails in the first place, right? The champagne itself is really nice. Yeah. Yeah. This is a champagne that's $20. It's actually champagne. It's unbelievable that this is $20. It really is. We tasted this in the office a couple of months ago, and everybody's like, yes, I would buy this. Yes. Yes. I would buy this. Yes. You are correct. It's crazy. Yes. That's suspiciously cheap. All right. In the current environment where champagne is just through the roof. Ludicrous. Yeah. It's good. It's bright. It's vibrant. Yeah. That's very good cut for a champagne without being too acidic. Let's step up from the Blanc de Blanc. It is a step up. It just tastes like Coca-Cola though, like the Diet Coke. No, the regular champagne. Yeah. Okay. We're still on that. Okay. Now, let's taste the Diet Coke. It's just a splash on top. I'm adding a little more. Yeah. Do what you need to do. Do what you need to do. I honestly think it makes the Coke taste better. Well, of course. It's really nice actually. I knew deep in my heart to never doubt Tom Hanks. Huge fan. The best. This is not bad at all. So we're just doing the splash. Roger hates Amaro and loves Diet Coke and Champagne. Let's just make sure we have that on the record. The idea is asinine, but he mentions also it's worth mentioning. He's diabetic, so that's why he's drinking Diet Coke. It's like him participating in the holiday with this. Of course, it makes Diet Coke taste better. 100 percent. This is the first time I've ever thought Diet Coke was palatable. I have a brother who drinks endless amounts of Bacardi and Diet Coke, and I can't even fathom what he's doing. But this is not terrible. That's a nature versus nurture argument right there. Yeah. If you knew us better, you'd really know that. Well, I see regular Coke on the table, which I assume is for something else. Can I try it with regular Coke? Once we open the regular Coke. Not just regular Coke. He's busting out the Mexican Coke with the real cane sugar. The only way to really drink Coke. Yes. Then let's try this with regular Coke. Okay. Pass the champagne another time. It can only be an improvement. I would have to imagine. I also think it's the aspartame fake sweetness that I don't like. It's horrifying. Yeah. Wow. I actually. That's the perfect summation. Yeah. It's horrifying. I hate to admit it, but I would rather have Coke Zero as my artificially sweetened. I like Coke Zero. I've never tasted that. It's less chemical. I think it's stevia flavor. It's like a more natural sweetness. Okay. Oh, that's delightful. Yeah, it's good. It actually really makes it much more citrusy. That's delightful. Yeah. It's a nice fluffy champagne bubbly drink. It was aspartame during the month. Well, I'll be damned. Yeah. All right, Tom Hanks is redeemed in my mind. I mean, the cocaine is a drink, right? Is it a drink or no? The cocaine. It is now apparently. Champagne and Coke. Was that not a drink before? I don't know. I don't know. I never heard about it until- How could that have possibly been a drink before? I don't know everything to drink. Yeager and root beer is a drink. Yeah, everything's a drink, according to Roger. Well, spoiler alert. Stick around and find out. Huge in Germany. All right. Just like Hasselhoff. Regular Coke and Champagne. I call it a win. I like the full boar cocaine better. Yeah, full boar cocaine, full strength. Google's like, do you mean cocaine? All right. So here's a pro tip. As a young and my my parents solution or mom was like, all right, they didn't like ban drinking soda. But the emphasis was to drink at the time a little known product called La Croix, which apparently has caught on just a tad as of late. What I've always said about colas and full regular pop, it's just too sweet. We were talking about this in the sugar episode for syrups and stuff. There's 10 sugar cubes in a can of Coke. That's absurd. What I think a lot of people would be surprised if you remember the whole clear Pepsi nonsense, like that's so gross. The ironic thing if you start looking at soda recipes is that the primary flavor component to cola is still lemon lime. Yeah, absolutely. What I've started doing that I really like, and I'd recommend if you want to drink cola, but don't like it so sweet, is I'll cut it with lime LaCroix so then that way it's just as bubbly, if not more so, and the lime completely integrates with it. When you think about it, people have no problem garnishing a rum and coke with a lime. The flavors are totally synergistic. I think it'll blow your mind. If you hate the taste of Diet Coke or Diet Cola, a great solution is to add some lime or lemon sparkling water to your full sugar. Well, to double down on what Roger is saying, we often, especially in January and February, every year talk about low alk and no alk, and you don't have to only drink sparkling water. You have an opportunity to make a very low alcohol cocktail and include some complex flavors. And also Diet Coke, which is where it falls apart for me. I don't like it. I mean, I like it, but it just tastes like Diet Coke to me. Yeah. Well, I added a little extra champagne to mine, so it didn't just taste like Diet Coke, and I do enjoy it, but of course I enjoy it. It's sugar and champagne. What's not to like? Aspartame and champagne. Right. A flavor only Chris could hate. That's what's not to like. I was also the face, but only a mother could love. The chemical taste of Diet Coke is something you really got to get used to, and I never have. Neither am I, but I think it cuts down on that. I grew up on Diet Soas and not regular Soas. Significantly, it doesn't taste as weird. Tell you what, when you put it in at a closer to 50-50 ratio, you actually do taste the champagne, and it's nice. Tom Hanks, **** you. This doesn't suck. It takes the ass out of aspartame. Nailed it. Roger, you want to introduce the... You've mentioned this multiple times on the podcast. And none of us believe you. Oh, that's us. It's called the Diesel, right? Is that what it's called? Get that f*** over here. We're not even doing that one. Diesel's the wheat beer and root beer, whatever it is. Diesel refers to a lot of things, actually. They're different versions, depending on what country you're in. Roger, what is this drink called? There's no... I don't know of a name at all. Just Jaeger and Root Beer. All right, Jaeger and Root Beer, sure it is. It came from working at the Bolingbrook store. The Germans came over from the fatherland and were visiting to see an account, experience Binny's and all its glory. We were building a giant Jaeger-Meister display for them to see when they walked in the store. These are people from Jaeger-Meister. Yes. Yeah. We bookended the display with Root Beer. I'm like, okay, what's that all about? They're like, that's the way a lot of people drink Jaeger-Meister in Germany. So you have to remember that Jaeger culture in America is literally thanks to one man, Sidney Frank, if you've ever heard his name before, billionaire and philanthropist. Spirits industry genius. Yeah. I mean, he's famous for Grey Goose. Yeah. He started importing Jaeger-Meister into the United States, and it's all from his genius that it became associated with colleges, partying, doing as a shot. Ripping shots. I mean, how unlikely. Crouter liquor becoming a thing in colleges. Literally something you would just sip after dinner. Like frumpy old Germans. Yeah, exactly. Middle-aged, middle class. Yeah, like, oh, it was the hunting, you know, like nice thing to sip on became this like, oh, you can't handle this, like ripping party shots. Every time you smell it, you think of Red Bull. All right. What's the mix on this, Roger? So again, this is one of those, as Greg likes to point out, some of the best cocktails are just how you like it. Yeah, you mix it to taste. So I typically do about two ounces of Jaeger. Remember, it is a little lower alcohol, so you can beef it up a little to about six ounces or so, like a half a bottle of root beer. We are using Sprecker here, so that's like a 16-ounce bottle, but I'd say like a, you know. So we're doubling down on the dramatic influence. Yeah, drink the neck away and then fill it back up. Yeah, right. Both of these things are sweet. So the one thing I would say is that when I drink these, you use a ton of ice, like do the tiki drink kind of methodologies. You actually drink these? I do. I legitimately drink this. I did more in the past. I don't quite as much. When we recently put Jaeger Meister on an unbelievable sale, I bought a bottle of Jaeger Meister just so that I could drink Jaeger with root beer again. Jaeger's made, as it says on the bottle here, with 56 botanicals. No, no deer's blood and all that nonsense. It's made with deer's blood, dude. Totally. But there's obviously overlap between the botanicals and herbs and botanicals in Jaeger Meister with what they use to make root beer. Yeah, you're talking sarsaparilla? So nowadays, root beer is essentially just natural and artificial flavors, the most pronounced of which is actually wintergreen. So that mintiness really melds well, I think, with the clove, anisey, are two of the most predominant kind of flavors in Jaeger. But it's pretty much like a trade secret, what's in there. A lot of people have tried to figure it out. There's definitely gingery notes in there, again. That's kind of like a... Or a wood. I think the clove really comes out in this context. I think Jaeger Meister should start making a root beer with their 56 spices. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I had never had this before, but initially, just the flavor components in both items, it makes sense. It didn't seem that off the wall to me. It's definitely better than Jaeger and Red Bull. Yeah. No kidding, right? That's what's been derided with Jaeger is mixing it with poison energy drink. But this reminds me of if you try a higher end root beer, somebody that tries to brew one and is using some real botanicals and stuff, it has the bitter quality of the clove component. I have a feeling you've tried a lot of those. So big. That's an astute observation. I totally agree with that, Roger. The nose is still largely winter green, but that clove just pops on the palate. It's really- It just tastes like a beefed up root beer. Yeah, exactly. It's a bolder, richer, like, wow, this is more interesting. What's crazy is that it almost makes it drier, which is nuts. Yeah, I was going to say, it's got a woodsy, bitter finish to it, and it really dries out the finish. It's interesting. I knew that the flavors would compliment the root beer, but I never thought that it would actually make it more interesting and complex. This became an interesting, complex beverage of root beer and Jager. But it is. It's cool. I hung out at a divey bar once. It was hysterical that- Or once? Yeah, once. Let's be real. I mean, once ago, I would frequent there many times, but yeah, many moons ago. It's hilarious to order this because they're like, what? A lot of places will have Sprecker or Philberts or a better root beer for kids and stuff. You ask them, do you have root beer? What kind of root beer? If you can find a bar that's got these better root beers, it especially, I think we're enjoying it more because Sprecker is a legit really good root beer. It is. It's made with real honey. It gets voted one of the best in the country. If you're going to try this, treat yourself to a nice root beer like Chicago's Own Filberts, Sprecker. Roger, I just drank the Filberts you gave me the other night. Oh, nice. It was delightful. I gave him the old Filberts. Oh, my God. Greg regrets this episode. I regret spitting all of that whiskey. Quit lying, number one. It's right there. All of it. It's right there. Just get some more. Oh, man. I am not at the level of you guys. Are we always like this? Yes. You know what? What's wrong with me? Speaking of Filberts, we'll wrap it up with this. If you mix Filberts, cream soda and root beer, it's delicious because they're famous for both of them. I'm now going to have to try that with Jager. Filberts Stan over here. He's got to support the hometown. Is there more root beer? Give me the root beer. Oh, I just instinctively was giving you the Jagermeister. Greg just said Jagermeister. Doers 12 and root beer. He's way too sober, apparently. Root beer and brown spirits is underrated. True enough, I agree. Bourbon and root beer is good too. I do that sometimes, bourbon and root beer at my house. And why not? Cool. All right. Jagermeister, it's not just for shots. Yeah. Okay, so next up, we have got the drink that Pat's wife loved when she was in Spain. Madrid, yeah. Studying abroad? Yeah, studying abroad. I believe it's pronounced Ma-th-rid. Ma-th-rid. She is a Spanish studies major in college and speaks fluent Spanish. How's her lisp? Good when she wants it to be, you know. Barcelona. I don't know what kind of question that is. It's a little personal question. Barcelona. I'm not sure. She's gotten us around Italy on two separate occasions actually speaking Spanish. Oh, gee, you've been to Italy? Yeah. Did I tell you that you didn't know that? Oh, hey, that's a new. You didn't think I could get it in. You didn't think I could get it in. Italy is actually pretty close to Spain. I'm not sure where. They're romance languages, Roger, romance. I got it in subtly. You just ran with it. So this is an established drink in Spain. Does it have a name? I mean, I've definitely heard of this before that they do this. It's like Cali Mocho. They also, we should have grabbed a bottle of Cardew because they love mixing Cardew and Coke. Out of stock right now. Well, they might have some here, but Cardew has been back ordered for about a month. It literally because of that, most of it goes to Spain, right? Cardew, yeah, predominantly goes to Spain. So they can drink it with Coke. Cardew and Coke. That's like their cap and Coke or something like that? Yeah, the drink there is Cardew and Coke. Spain and France each drink a lot of some weird brand single malts that other countries don't drink. Like Klein Leash is really big in France, Cardew is really big in Spain. The Italians love Klein Leash as well, and Ardbeg. So you're thinking half and half? Yeah. For the Signora Brophy? The Signora Brophy. Yes. Our red wine today is? It's Lopez de Haro. Which one? Rioja. The low one? This is, yes, the low one. Because they do the Rioja, a Crianza, and a Reserva. The last one. This is what would be known as the Hoven style. The Hoven. This is also Mexican Coke, which listeners I know that Mexico and Spain are not the same place. What? Wait. But I figured that in Europe, they would have a higher quality cane sugar Coke, just like Mexican Coke because they don't do, they don't mess around with high fructose. The last time I had this with Mrs. Brophy, we were using Sangra de Toro wine with the little bowl ornament hanging on the neck. That would make sense. I forgot about that. I have one of those little bowls in my office. Yeah, this wine is like 6.99. That's the kind of wine you do it with, right? Exactly. Plenty of different red wines made in the Basque region, which is where this is primarily from. I bet the price per ounce of the wine and the Mexican Coke are about the same. I think you're probably spot on with that. Also, in the 2000s, it was very difficult to get first and second growth Bordeaux. The narrative was that China was buying it up and then mixing it with Coke as a status drink. Same thing with Cognac, same narrative. Ever since then, for like 20 years now, I've been wondering, what the hell are they doing? I finally get to try it. Right, and you probably couldn't tell the difference if this was Lafite. Well, it would probably have a little more tannic grip. Oh yeah, you're right. But this is, I mean, it's like. It's not offensive, but it's not my thing. Well, it kind of makes it almost like a cherry Coke. It's almost like a quick and easy Sangria. Yeah, it's like a dumb easy Sangria. Yeah, it's got Sangria-esque flavors with the fruitiness and sweetness. I would not be reticent to put citrus fruit. This needs a twist of more. It needs a bunch of fruit floating in it right now. So just make your Sangria with a little Coke. Add a little Coke to your Sangria. Does your wife put fruit in it or just on the rocks probably? I'm trying to think back to the last one. Yeah, just on the rocks. Yeah. Oh, is that typical to put it over ice? I don't know. I'm imagining this served in a red solo cup. Yeah. Not anything more cerebral than that. Served at a tapas bar in a big expensive wine glass for $14. It's on tap. It would dull the flavors almost if it was cold, too cold. Yeah. Delightful with pinchos, some patatas bravas. Yeah. I'm going to do my best brophy right now. Yeah, I've always wondered what this tastes like. It's fine. I'm glad I had it. I'll never have to do it again. Next. Yeah. Looks like it's traditionally served on the rocks with a lemon wedge. There you go. Exactly. It's fine. Mrs. Brophy doesn't even drink anymore. Actually, it's not. She doesn't even drink anymore. When I met her, her drinks of choice where she was like doing something different would be this or Becks Dark. She was a big Becks Dark fan. What did you just say? What? Yeah. That's not true. It's like when I met San Miguel Dark or something. So she stopped drinking and then you said I'll drink for two? Yeah, sure. I think it was more like she goes, you drink enough for the both of us. It's not like the Brophy household isn't carrying its weight. It's drinking, you know. You've got to pump that average up. Listeners, Mrs. Brophy is a lovely woman. Oh, we're talking about Pat here. We're trash talking about Pat here. I know, I was going away from Pat. I mean, none of us can understand why they're together, but we're really making fun of Pat. So I think next we'll do the square cut and the party cut. Square cut and you're calling it a party cut? Are we calling it a party or a tavern? I think tavern, but if you like party, it's a party. Either one. Tavern pieces are square cut. Yeah, well, so here's the thing. Here's the thing. Actually. The square cut is an NA drink. Square, because you're a square. Because you're a square. L7, weenie, okay. And then the party or tavern cut has alcohol. The alcohol version of the cocktail. So, yeah, we got this martini. The pizza purist in me doesn't like it. Wait, just wait. You don't like square cut pizza? No, I don't like square cut. I don't like square cut and tavern cut being different things. I think it's just a regional thing. I don't allow Jim. Pizza purist always gets his way. Allow Jim to explain. You're right. It is basically the same thing. Don't align the NA with tavern cut pizza is what he's saying. No, it's square cut. NA is square. L7. Yeah, it's totally L7. You're an L7 weenie. We've got the Martini and Rossi Vibrante, which I really tried on the show. It tastes unmistakably of oregano and pizza sauce. Yeah, it's pizza sauce. I thought RC Cola, extremely popular in the Midwest. With pizza. With pizza. With your delivery order. Always. With the pizza that has the cartoon map of Italy on it. This cocktail is served on a napkin with a cartoon map of Italy on it. Yes. I don't know if they make those, but the box is for you. We can special order. I got a t-shirt with that on it. You got to have the bag, right? Delicious Italian pizza. Yeah. Pizza in a bag. Yeah, bag is better, but the box is acceptable. Yeah, of course. Bag's better though. I take points off of my two local pizza places because they do not have RC and they don't have the cartoon map boxes. If your pizza is not coming in a bag that's stapled on one end, is it really pizza? I feel like that's more South Side Chicago. I've told people not from Chicago that and it's blown their minds that a pizza can come in a bag. I want you guys to know that in Pizza King, the fanciest restaurant in Council Bluffs, Iowa, it comes in a bag. This guy flexing some street creds. Also, underlying all this is that Greg despises square cut pizza. Yeah, this whole segment is- This whole segment is- Because he prefers to eat his pizza one quarter pizza at a time. Yeah. Why don't you? Think about it. With cocktail garnishes on it. Because it's more fun to be like, I'm going to eat 20 second pieces of pizza when they're this big. It's tavern cut for a reason because it's meant to be shared with a lot of people. Yeah. Everything you're saying supports what I'm saying right now. So we've got RC Cola, Royal Crown, and the story behind that is that the gentleman who, some marketing guy was, well, he only passed the martini around. Some marketing guy hooked up RC with Chicago Pizza Places, and it just became hugely popular. I remember in the 90s, Mark Grace, Chicago Club Mark Grace, used to do a RC commercial, TV commercial, where he sang off key. RC Cola had commercials on television. You can find it. That was before Mark Grace got traded to Diamondback and racked up a whole bunch of DUS. It was a very horribly off key song, Me and My RC. Yes. Well, I was going to say that I'm older than most of you, so I can go back to the 70s, and RC was about freedom of choice, and they would have these commercials, the Me and My RC thing, and there would be a girl putting on her motorcycle helmet and then riding on a winding road. It's so good. What's our percentage here with the aperitivo? I'm doing similar to the Jaeger and Root Beer. If you're looking at these cups, a finger of- About the same ratio as a Spaghetti is what you're telling me. Yeah. Okay, outsider hot take. Yeah, RC is not that good. If you want flacid, watery, unflavored colas, then this is the cola for you. Well, have you tried it on its own? Yeah, I just did. Oh, okay. That's why I'm saying this. I had it in 20 years. I forgot the ratio because I was offended by Greg. Wow, this is pizza cocktail. It's really? That's why we called it a square cut. Yeah. This is liquid pizza. Pizza cocktail. The square cut. Yeah, the square cut. It's the exact flavor of my youth, my childhood. Wow. Oh, yeah, this tastes and smells like every single birthday party as a child. I can't wait to try this. I'm into this. This is a non-alcoholic version. I like it. This is the square one. The square one. Yeah. I love RC because it tastes like, my grandparents used to like serve us and tastes like victory. They used to buy like generic Coke, generic Cola and it tastes like that. It tastes like, not that it tastes generic, but it just- That's why I don't like it. It tastes like store brand Cola. That's why I love Mr. Pinky ring over here. It can't handle it. It's got a certain flavor that's different than Coke or Pepsi. It's not about the flavor, it's about your happy childhood. You're right. It tastes like the south side to me and it tastes like the 70s to me. The thing that I'm surprised is that it's the least sweet of the three colas, which I think you would like. Yeah, but it's also the least spiced of the three colas. I think this is flat. I think maybe you don't like that. I don't understand why it's so flat. It is, by the way, listeners should know that it's from a two liter as it should be. Yes. Actually, really it should be a liter bottle. A one liter with your beaker. I think they stepped it up to two liter at some point. Yeah. All right. Pass it around again. I recently went and got a pizza in Bellwood at the beloved Giacchino's, and it was a liter bottle. Yeah. I mean, that's the way I remember it too, liter bottle. I honestly might make at home. The Tavern or Party Cut is going to have, so Pat picked out 4-0 original Amaro speciale liqueur. Did you try the two Amari to make sure this was the best one for you? I did. This was the one that I thought was most oregano-ish. So Jim asked me to bring the most oregano for her at Amaro that we had. So I had a mad scramble of aroma hole sniffing and googling this morning. Then I asked, how is that different from any other day of your life? Pretty standard Thursday morning for a jaboy. But I did find both Ramazzotti Amaro and Foro Amaro both list oregano in their botanical bill. Yeah. That's an interesting Amaro on its own. Oh, this is an awesome Amaro. It's a little sweet. It's a lot spicy. It's a nice easy little guy. 30 bucks for one liter too, like reasonably priced. See, it comes in a liter bottle. It's meant to be. Perfect, yeah. So you can do an even half and half with your RC. It's not as tomato-y as the Aparativo. Good Aparativo. I don't think it's just that it's red. It tastes tomato-y to me. Yeah, and it lacks bitterness, which this has. I actually like this. Oh, it's a great Amaro. No, but together, I mean, together, it's pretty good. Is there any more real Coke? That's what I want to try this with. Yeah, we had another bottle in the fridge over there, too. Too good for Chicago pizza. Yeah, wow. La-dee-da. Pass that Amaro when you can. You know what? The scientific process here is- Pretty good with RC. Yeah. Yeah, it is. I like that RC is a little flatter, like you guys pointed out. I think it makes a better cocktail with this Amaro. It still cuts through the sugar of the Amaro just enough, but it doesn't thin it out too much. I see what you're saying, Roger. Just as you poured it, it died a little bit. But I think Coke seems very over-carbonated to me. Yeah. It seems to have gotten more, especially in a two-liter bottle. When you open that two-liter bottle, it is- Okay. Greg was aggressively giving the RC cocktail the middle finger, like it was going to have some shame of itself. Okay. You guys, I just want you to know, your childhoods are bad, your tastes are bad. No, RC is good. Try it next to the real Coke. Hey, sometimes if you're the only person at the table who feels this way, maybe it's you. I'm loving this. That's good. Yeah, this is good. It is solid. I mean, so weird, but good. This is going to be my go-to pizza night drink. Just like mixing root beer and Jägermeister yielded something interesting, mixing this Amaro and a good cola also yields a really interesting drink. No, the shade he was throwing at RC. Obviously, Mexican Coke, real sugar Coke is the top-notch beverage. It's the bomb. I mean, it is better. I would rather drink that than high fructose corn syrup, anything. Yeah. But do they make cane sugar RC? I should find out. I've never seen it. I've never seen it. Zero chance. I will tell you something that I have at one point. Jim, I offer this to you. Yeah. The Mexican cane sugar Coke. Yeah. Tomorrow, we'll call it the pie slice. Okay. There you go. There you go. The pie slice. I think that Mexican Coke tastes like our Pythagoras. One of the reasons I like Mexican Coke is because it reminds me of RC, like how I think RC tastes. We're getting really in the weeds with this Cola debate. Yeah, we are. So let's move on. King Cola here, just not enough sarsaparilla injected in the conversation. He can talk for 15 minutes about different root beers. From a listener's standpoint, they're like, okay, Greg thinks the Coke is better than the rest of them. Well, actually, the Cola nut character on this one. Bottom line, this is actually a pretty tasty cocktail. What other wacky cocktails do we have before we get to the punchline? The Coup de Grace. There's at least one more, right? Oh yeah, the Gimaretto. The Gimaretto. Oh yeah, let's hit that. This is a cocktail I drank when I was in college, Amaretto and Dr. Pepper. It makes perfect sense, really. That is the secret recipe for Southern comfort. Right. Exactly. You nailed it. It's true. It was Di Serrano, which used to be called Amaretto Di Serrano. Amaretto Di Serrano. Yeah, so I don't know why someone had this. Notice the Chicago. Notice the guy busted out the big brand Amaretto when he could have just gotten some Amarito off the bottom shelf. College, come on. Yeah, this is what we had in college. Yeah, Jim, I think you're opening some ridiculously expensive bottles for this segment. That's not that expensive. I don't think he's talking about this. Yeah. We want to promote our listeners to buy bottom shelf Amarito? Come on. Amaretto, first of all. Sorry. So Amaretto has got the almond and other almond. It's an almond liqueur. That's it. I also like your Chicago accent. It is an almond liqueur, but it's not made with it. DeCerano. Remember those DeCerano commercials? Yeah, there was always like a half naked photo on it. Imagine someone in there like, DeCerano. Yeah. Oh, their commercials, I'll never forget the one where they're like, how to order a DeCerano on the rocks? And he's like, DeCerano on the rocks. And the bartender pours it in a glass. And then the guy goes, no, on the rocks. Like, oh, and then they put the ice in it. So yeah, just imagine that with the Chicago accent. Chris, you were going to school us on the actual construction of DeCerano as a- Well, yeah, some amaretto are actually made with almond, but this is made with apricot pit, right? I would assume so, but that's what it says on the bottle. So this takes- It does say that on the bottle, I think so. Or maybe I looked it up, I don't know. Yeah. So all of those stone fruit pits, they're all closely related to almonds. Yeah. They have that almondy flavor. And a lot of our- Cyanide. Cyanide. This was a favorite drink at the DePaul University, and it takes me back. Oh, that explains a lot. Okay. We're going to have a Loyola DePaul war here. Yeah. One of us, you have to graduate high school to get into. Oh, Loyola kids have their pinkies out when they do their Jaeger bombs. Yeah. Hey, this is pretty good. It's a fine drink. I didn't like it. From the reason, rum and cokes gave me heartburn, and I smelled amaretto. I'm like, that smells good. I love Dr. Pepper. So I'm like, I'm going to mix these up. And I call it, I don't know what to call it. Jimaretto. Jimaretto. That doesn't sound as good. I don't know. Raffaretto. Jim, Jim. I mean, I guess maybe one of the only downsides of this is it's 28% alcohol. So how many of these were you drinking? Yeah. This is a sweet guy right here. It's pretty sweet. It's pretty sweet. My fingers are sticking together. Yeah. This is, yeah, this could be the stickiest, belchiest episode we've done. Oh, I've burped so many times already. You're welcome for not doing it in the mic. It still picks it up, Jenna. Yeah, they're really good mics. They're very good mics. I mean, though, I think synergistically- Is it just the headphones and the cables that are bad then? Synergistically, it's nice. Yeah, just in case anybody thinks that anyone else burps on the podcast, it's always Jenna, no matter what it sounds like. I tried to cut them out like can, but- I think with this too, you need a lot of ice. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It was definitely a lot of ice in it. Got to water this down. Yeah. But I'm really proud of 21-year-old me for- Yeah. I feel like just like the Root Beer and Jaeger, they have flavors that are synergistic. Very proud of yourself, huh? Yeah, I am. This is a stunningly low bar. For a 20-year-old? For a 20-year-old? I'm pretty proud of myself for putting these two flavors together. Exactly. He could have been slamming- He got himself dressed in the morning too. It's much more sophisticated than the Diet Pepsi and Admiral Nelson I was drinking in college. For a college kid who didn't have a lot of drinking experience, I put these two flavors together and it's pretty good. It needs a lime wedge. Yeah, that would be good. A little citrus. We did not have access to citrus fruits at DePaul University. We did no access. Loyola took them all up. The devil's fruit. Jim's devil's fruit. Blue Demon. Nation's largest Catholic university, DePaul University. This drink was invented by and possibly inspired the same man who forgot about the cooking pizza, found it and in his shame, threw the ashen disc out the window and it landed on the roof next door. Boomerang back. He had to see it. I had to see it for like half the winter. This black circle of shame. I passed out from drinking too many Dr. Pepper and Amaretto. You're looking at these college pizza stories. No, actually, I was like 20. I was in my 20s, my first apartment. Yeah. I came home, I popped a mini home running pizza in the oven. That's a great choice. Passed out on the couch, woke up to the smoke alarm going off, ran into the kitchen, and just yeeted that f**ker out the window. It was like a hot, it was all black. It was totally black. It was like, it was just completely burnt, and there was smoke coming out of the oven. Lungs be damned, dispose of the evidence. I don't know what I'm saying. I don't know if I thought it was going to be too hot to throw away. Again, I was very drunk. Yeah, so I went on the back porch, and I threw it, and it boomeranged back around. I'm kidding. I don't know how this happened, but it boomeranged back around, and it landed on, so I lived on the fourth floor. The building next to us was a two-story. So it landed on the roof of the building next to us. And then it lit the building on fire and killed a family. So when you walk down the stairs, you got those windows there in the staircase. So I'm walking down the stairs on Monday, and there's the pizza. So I sat there for most of the fall, and then I think the snow covered it up, and then in the spring it was gone. It was gone in the spring. Oh my god, that was so fucking funny. Are you willing to try to recreate this scenario so we can test the actual flight and angle of flying? Don't understand how that happened. Because we need to make a couple personal homo-insentence on purpose. Yeah, and try to recreate the throw. And see how we can recreate that perfect boomerang. We can do a real boomerang, but the pizza boomerang. John Maddner, we gotta recreate the throw. Okay, I need some Desireo, but I need some Dr. Pepper. And one burnt pizza. So let me just throw in that in direct opposition to what Jim did. Thank you for leading into that story, Greg. And this was like the personal size? Yeah, the little guy. That's even better because that's like almost close to real Frisbees. Because it's like, it's like, because Drunk Me at that time, be like, that's cute. We eat real drunk food in my house, and I would make two full size pizzas. I mean, it was just me, and it was all I had in the Frasier. And I lived in an old town, and there were no late night options. Little Orphan Jim had no other food in the house. No, I had nothing late night to eat. I had like one frozen pizza. I was so disappointed that I lost that pizza, and I had nowhere to go because there's no late night options. Because you are wide and awake and alert and really waiting for it. Yeah. He's doing that survival foraging. Should have gone back and just eaten the pizza. So maybe this is a Binny's thing, but I was talking to Sennel a few weeks ago, and he popped a frozen pizza in the oven and passed out drunk on the couch, and his roommate had to come down and wake him up and be like, what the f*** are you doing? And I think he actually ate it. Did he clarify that his roommate was actually his parents? No. I told that story multiple times in the office. Thank you so much. That's so classic. That's one of my favorites. That's a good one. Black disc of shame. That's so funny. All right, are we two the last two? Yeah, we are at the end. All right. There is a real cocktail that real people make. Apparently, they're mostly old men who remember this. Chris, why does the Black Velvet exist? Why wouldn't it exist? No, because it was invented to celebrate the death of royalty. Yeah, that's actually right. Was it Churchill? No, it wasn't Churchill. It was some English member of the monarchy. I can't remember. You put your black band on your arm. You're going to make me taste the cocktail of imperialism? Yes. All right, so let's do it. I won't do it. How could you forget? It's Prince Albert. Oh, yeah. Famous and being trapped in the can. Hello, do you have Prince Albert in the can? You best let him out. You best let him out. All right, bring him it down and listen. Most people make this with domestic non-vintage sparkling wine and Guinness. Guinness, sure. I always wondered what would it be like to make the black velvet with Bourbon County Stout and Dom Perignon. Now, the champagne by Binny's and also Chris, we're like, that is absurd. You should not do that. So, I'm sad to say that we're not going to make this. I was very against it. We're not going to make this cocktail with Bourbon County Stout and Dom Perignon. We're going to use Cristal. Which, of course, was my suggestion. So, okay, guys, this has been a fun podcast and I've enjoyed working with all of you. The powers that be are not going to look kindly on us, but we're doing it for you people. Anything for our listeners. We got a sample bottle. Yeah, exactly. We got a sample bottle of Cristal and we're taking this bullet for you so that we can experience the black velvet made with Cristal and Bourbon County brand. Now, one thing about this is this is a drink of relative specific gravities, but I have a feeling that they're going to be reversed in this situation because... Because the Bourbon County is going to sink and so it floats. Because Bourbon County is three times the ABV of Guinness. Exactly. Is this like half and half? Yes, half and half, but yeah, generally the stout floats on top of the champagne, but I don't think that's going to happen. I'm going to use a glass. Oh, classic. Oh, yes. Why start now? I mean, it is Cristal. We should probably taste the Cristal on its own, Jim. I think that's probably... I mean, if we're going to open a bottle of Cristal, is your problem. Yeah, we should probably. I like that idea. This is just mixing together. Oh, yeah. Yep, it's just blending up. So again, it's even more than three times. Guinness is four percent, and Guerrero County is like 14. Louis Roeder's Tete de Cuvée. You can even pour it with your pinky out. We need to save some for the next cocktail because it also involves this. Oh, wow. That's something. Oh, wow. Crystal in a plastic cup. Twenty twenty two Goose Island, Bourbon County brand Stout GI Blend. And twenty twenty fourteen, if I'm not mistaken, crystal. I've had the black velvet a few times, just with like, you know, Prosecco or like Blanca Blanca. I enjoy this drink, you know, with normal, the normal sparkling wine, not the one of the most prestigious in the world. And also Bourbon County brand Stout. This is. Yeah. And that too. Yeah. It's elevated, elevated experience. What's this cocktail called? Black Velvet. Black Velvet. If you please. Actually, I take it back. This cocktail sucked. I think it brings the fig out in the Bourbon County brand Stout. It makes it bitter. Well, that's interesting. You're right. It's quite bitter. Yeah. So you love it then? It's very figgy too. Very figgy. Yeah. Incredibly figgy. Like the figgyest figgy pudding you've ever had. I guess this just goes to show you, you know, usually in cooking, you say start with great ingredients. And like the best Italian cooking is like three or four ingredients, perfect ingredients put together. But I don't think that applies here. No. I wonder if you guys would like a normal black velvet. Well, I do. And this is not, this is just, it's weird. I have to admit. I feel it accentuates the umami. Yeah. Yeah, there's like a soy component. I mean, it smells like the grilled cheese I had for lunch. Like the grilled cheese and tomato soup cheese puffs we were eating. Yeah, there's like a, I'm getting a lot of coffee from the Bourbon County. I'm getting like soy sauce and beef bouillon. Yeah. Yeah. It's really umami driven. It's really weird. Why, you know. So sometimes bigger is not better. No, it's probably because the sweetness, right? Is like canceling out the sweetness in the beer. Yeah, champagne. Canceling? Yeah, canceling. Like when it overlaps and it's going to accentuate what remains. So I feel like you're getting almost no wine character and you're getting all the like back end of the Bourbon County. It like it's tearing the Bourbon County open and show you the flavors on the outside of it. I agree with that. I wonder because the Bourbon County is so assertive, if it wouldn't be better to be like a third and two thirds rather than half and half. Probably. This is so bizarrely savory. I feel like you could dump like Bloody Mary mix in this. Yeah. Seriously. It became very. It's coming around though. Initially, I was like, it's too bitter, but now it's as it, I don't know, as it sits a bit. I don't know. I see what you're saying or tears open the back end. I feel like you get a bitter graininess to it. But there's still as it sits, it gets a little more of that vanilla, a little more of the oak and it kind of tempers that a bit. Now when it's mixed, it's a little better. All right, so mixed results there, but wait, there's one more. We're gonna bring this full circle. So Chris and I were spitballing ideas, and I remembered the Bourbon County brand Classic Cola Stout from two years ago. Big fan. That looks like an RC. Delicious beer. It looks like an RC bottle. It's got the blue and red, and so it's brown sugar, citrus, coriander, spices, and natural vanilla flavor from 2021. By the way, our Niles location still has some of this. Wow. I know. That's why I had to go over there. That's interesting. The coriander seed is really popping for me in this. All right. So then Chris was like, we should make the cocaine with the cola bourbon county. I did say that, but now I'm not sure it was a good idea. It's hats on hats all the way up and down. It's hats all the way down. Turtles all the way down. I'm getting like coconut now from the cola stout. The cola stout still smells very savory to me. Yeah. I think it's still very good. It tastes sweet. It's awesome. It's very coconut. It's really thick. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I need the cristal. It is very sweet when you taste it. It doesn't smell sweet at all though. Get some right in front of you, Jim. Don't we all need the cristal? Yes. Oh, yeah. I need some. Wow. Somebody's gone nuts on the cristal. Well, we all drank it. Says the guy with two glasses in front of him. Yeah. Someone named you. Oh. Was that me? I like this blend more than the last one. I do. You almost didn't want to do this one. Well, I didn't want to do it because of its absurdity, but the cocktail itself is pretty good. Because this is such a just straightforward episode. I mean, I think also with this, you can't do 50-50. I mean, it's such a different style. Oh, that's what I did. I agree. You got to do a third at the most. This is better than the last one for sure. I agree. It's not as bitter and figgy and it blends better. Yeah, because I think there's plenty of champagne drinks that incorporate citrus. So again, the Cola, Bourbon County has citrus in it, so it's a predominant thing. But yeah, if you're insane enough to do this, buy a $350 bottle of champagne. $350, is that what this is now? Yes. So we're like, wait, why would we open a $225 Dom Farignon? Let's go for this. Well, it's on sale for 300 pats. Oh, okay. Well, how can you afford not to drink it? I just got the joke. Yeah. I understand. I wanted to emphasize it once he actually put the point on it. It boomeranged like Jim's pizza, finally hit him in the head. In the cocktail, the coconut really comes out. Oh, yeah. Exactly. Did you tell Champagne Buyer Mark what we were doing with this bottle of Cristal? I don't think it was that. He was kind of mad. That doesn't matter. This is like first thing in the morning conversation. Yeah. He absolutely was 100 percent against Dom P. Yeah. I said, well, Cristal. That's how it went down. That's literally how it happened. Then a couple of times during the day, he was like, what are you going to do? Are you sure you want to do this? We did though. We did it. We got through this. It was good with the classic Cola Stump. I agree. I bet you could mix it the right way with the Bourbon County. I think it's worth mentioning, it's this idea is not without precedent, with the whole Coca Cola Bordeaux thing. People were mixing first growth Bordeauxs with Coke in, where was it, Korea or China? China. Although it's up to question whether they were actual real first growths or knockoffs, because there's a lot of that going on. Intellectual property rights is not exactly the foremost. Well, either way, the idea of mixing the best, the pinnacle of something with- Can we see the classic Cola bottle? Honestly, the Cola version with is pretty good. It's pretty good. It's pretty good. It's pretty good. You know what? It's not as sweet as the Jaeger and Root beer or as watered down as the RC Cola. Really, the RC, you already hate square cut pizza, so it just- Yeah, it makes sense. Did you expect me to like that cocktail? Not at all. So, yeah, if you enjoy eating pizza by holding the crust and making a big delicious pizza taco and just having enough pizza in your hand at one time and then having crust on it so that you can touch it- I don't want to get off on a rant here. And also drinks that have less oregano flavors. I will say this is a good excuse to talk about that I was a big believer, like Pat, in the Cola Grubin County that I knew everyone would say was crap. It was too adventurous for everybody. We keep trying to drive home on Barrel to Bottle that with these adjuncted stouts, you should drink them immediately. Yeah. And this is still very good. Yeah. But it's so muted compared to what it was before. Like it is not at all the same beer now. Maybe that's why it's tasting pretty good with. All right. Thank you. Thank you for listening to this super secret episode of Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast that may or may not ever see the light of day. Somehow that was less time spent than the other episode. Well, this was stupid but entertaining and not all of these were bad at all. I think they're kind of shocking. The takeaway here is think outside the box with some of these cocktails. Go to Taco Bell. Think outside the box. Honestly, the square cut was my favorite. It just needs more booze in it. Yeah. And don't put a pizza in the oven and then. And if you do, just eat the pizza because you can eat the evidence. You don't need to throw the evidence away. You can eat the evidence. I think the story is much more worthwhile than eating that pizza. Be careful. There's carcinogens and burnt food. That's true. Also, Tom Hanks continues to be an American treasure. Yeah, absolutely. Well, knock on wood. Never doubt him. Hanks, much better mixologist than Tucci. The Tooch and his shaken vodka Negroni can continue to go pound sand. And we are on that Hanks train. Yeah, Hanks all day. Yeah, Hanks all day. All right. Thank you for listening to this episode of Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast. We will be back in your feed next week. You're not even going to believe what we do next week. Maybe with something more sane. Yeah, okay. Yeah, until then, I'm Greg. I'm Pat. I'm Jonah. I'm Roger. I'm Chris. I'm Jim. Keep tasting.