And that's the nostalgic of it, it would take 'em right back to their Indiana roots. You can get a cup of coffee in the morning and then come back for a cocktail in the evening. That's awesome. I'm glad I did it. Building this place, if I did it like putting in a closet in my house, no one would like show up for a party for that, you know?
So I'm glad I did it the way I did it 'cause otherwise it would've really sucked. How did this thing get started and where along that journey did the pinky end up getting, uh. From South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between. This is Get IN the show focused on the Hoosier State and the incredible stories happening here today.
I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get INdiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation. Hey Indiana, as we wrap up the holidays and head into the new year, let's talk about starting strong with a credit card that actually works for you, the Elements Signature Rewards Visa. Think about all those holiday purchases you just made.
Now imagine earning 1.5% cash back on every single one. With this card, you'll keep earning rewards on everyday spending all year long. Plus, enjoy a 0% intro APR for 18 months on purchases and balance transfers so you can roll over expenses without the stress balance. Transfers include a 4% fee, and after the intro period you'll have a competitive variable.
APR. Keep earning rewards on everyday spending all year long. And here's the best part. No annual fee, no international transaction fees, and the convenience of paying your way. Tap, swipe or chip. Ready to start the new year with smarter spending. Head to elements.org/getinrewards and apply today. That's elements.org/getinrewards. Rewards Elements Financial like a. Only better federally insured by NCUA. Now, let's get into this episode of Get IN My Guest today, Lisa Ellis and Brad Colver. They are the co-owners of Four Finger Distillery, one of Indiana's most unique craft distilleries. They're known for their inventive cocktails, community-driven events, and a brand story rooted in grit.
And a missing finger. Lisa and Brad have helped shape the distilling culture right here in central Indiana. Their work celebrates creativity, resilience, and the local spirit of central Indiana. Y'all, I'm really excited to talk about how this distillery got started. The literal, I say like sweat. Tears and literal blood.
Yes. That came along with starting this distillery talk about what you guys have built, the, the community, the creativity, all the fun stuff going on there, and we're gonna look forward to what we have coming up in 2026. Welcome to the show. Thank you. You. Thank you. Thanks for having us. This is gonna be fun.
It, I will say at the time of recording, it's a Monday. Yeah. And at some point it's a Monday and it's still before noon. And we're gonna dip into some, some product here. Absolutely. And I cannot complain about that. That's a good time. Um, let's go back to the roots of this, Brad. Yep. I believe you are. Oh. An original co-founder of Four Finger Distillery.
And for those watching at home. Or the He is. He is the four fingers. Yeah. There we go. Right. So we gotta start from, obviously the elephant in the room. Sure. How did this thing get started? Yeah. How did you start, uh, distilling and where along that journey did the pinky end up getting, uh, you know, just get,
I wouldn't say sacrificed
but like,
you know, hey, this is, this
is, you're willing to Yeah.
Blood, sweat, and tears for the brand. Yeah. I was living in Colorado and um, started distilling just for fun. Um, that was about 14, 15 years ago. After a few years of just doing it as a hobby, I started kind of apprenticing with some places out there. And the opportunity to move back to Indiana and, um, start, the distillery popped up.
That was 11 years ago. Um, so I moved back and we started construction on the building down in the Fletcher Place neighborhood near Fountain Square. Was installing the door one day and made a bad cut with a miter saw, and I put the saw blade through the back of my hand and took out, uh, every bone and tendon in my.
Left hand. Um, I lost the pinky obviously,
Dude
and I lost this knuckle as well, so this one only goes that far. Um, dude. So, yeah. So wait, what, what was the name before the injury? What was distillery called? So we were called 1205 Distillery. So 1205 is the date prohibition was repealed December 5, 1933. Um, we actually rocked that name for a long time because we already had it all.
Planned out to be 1205. So we, we went with that name for, uh, about seven, eight years. And then, um,
fast forward, um, we've been pushing the brand for a long time and we'd show up to whiskey events and we'd explain who we are, we're 1205 and people would be like, I don't think I've heard of you. And then they'd be like, oh wait, you're the place with the Four Finger guy?
And we'd be like, yeah, we are the place with the Four Finger guy. So, uh, kind of that story became our brand more than the 1205 thing did. And so a couple years back, we, uh, decided to switch over to the Four Finger name.
I mean, that is, it's good to be known for something.
Right. How far into the process were you and like, did this put a huge.
Hamper on obviously things life like. I mean, it's not every day someone loses a finger in the line of duty when you're a master distiller. Luckily I'm right-handed. Um, and construction had gotten to a point where I wasn't needed quite as much on the physical side of things. So, um, we rolled in and, uh, that was, that happened in September and we started distilling in November and, um.
Yeah, that, uh, I had to learn how to put on clamps and stuff with one hand, and that was about it, dude. Okay. So like on a scale of one to 10, like losing a pinky, like how, how, like hard has life been? Nine fingers. Well, it's helpful that it is my, uh, non-dominant hand, but, you know, it's the funny things that like, you wouldn't think of.
You kinda hold your cell phone up like that with your pinky. You don't think about it, but you do. Especially 'cause this finger doesn't close all the way. So my hand, my uh, my phone drops outta my hand a lot. Um, when you're going through the drive-through and you put your hand out for change, I almost always drop the coins, you know.
Stuff like that, but it's mostly the dumb shit. Like, it's not like the serious things in life. That's good. Yeah. We'll take that. Yeah. All right. Yeah, I mean, out of like all, I think the only way it could have been would be if it was like for to if it toe, that's probably like the only other like, you know, body part that I'd be willing to give up for the brand.
Um, okay. So. You come back from Colorado. What part of Indiana were you from originally? I grew up on the north side. I went to Carmel. To Carmel? Yeah. Okay. Carmel to Colorado. Mm-hmm. And then you end up coming back. I think one piece that I've learned, uh, from talking to other people in the spirit business is you guys do whiskey.
Yep. Okay. It takes minimum two years, right? When you start distilling to get a product. Yeah. So it isn't like, um, like when I started this, I could put out a video tomorrow. I could put out one today, I could put out five today if I wanted to. Right? For you all what you put into a barrel today, you won't reap the rewards for, for at least 24 months.
And that's on like the ultimate. Young age. Sure. Right. Yeah. So, uh, now there's other products, like you can do vodka and gin, and there's a handful of other things that you can, you know, produce in about a month and you can have something to. To sell. Um, but definitely, like, especially when we started, bourbon was at like a super high point.
When was this? Uh, we started in 2014. Oh yeah. Um, and so that was kind of like still, like craft beer was the rage in 2014. Craft. It was like getting real close to their peak and then like bourbon was starting to surge up and so, yeah. Uh, so we start and everyone's like, where's your spirits that are aged?
And we're like, well, we're, we just made 'em, so you're gonna have to wait. Um, one challenging part about all that is you'll put something in a barrel. And wait two years before you're like, okay, that's really good. Let's make more of that. And then you've got another two year wait at least. So you're like, you know, from from concept to like actual product to sell, you could be more like four or five years out.
So like what do you do as a business owner? You Wait, like what were you guys selling? Spirits like the month, like the vodkas or whatever there? Yeah, in the short term. Yeah. Okay. So you open a spot down and Fletcher Place, people could come in and for two years they could get. Non-verbals. Yeah, so when we started actually, um, we were next to a restaurant called Repeal.
Repeal was actually some of the same owners that were in our group originally, and so they had a standard liquor license, so we were able to sell. Our vodka and gin and stuff like that out of there, but they could also pick up other brand stuff. So being that we didn't have whiskey, we picked up, um, you know, a, a decent selection of whatever whiskeys that outta
that restaurant.
Out of repeal. Yeah. So you could come in and get a cocktail with whiskey, but it wasn't ours. But you could get a vodka drink and it was. Yeah. And then fast forward, once we finally got whiskeys on, we just started phasing out all the other products. Yeah. And it was just ours. Okay. So 2014 takes a few years, like how were the early goings of things, and obviously you're still around now 11 years later.
A few different, like iterations of a name and different locations and stuff like that. Talk to us about this journey and this process. Where did things go from, uh, after you get a, a bourbon or you get a whiskey in a barrel and you wait for two years? So initially we couldn't have a tasting room directly out of our distillery.
Uh, at that point in time we were working off an artisan permit, which, um, it used to be a three year wait, but from the time when you get your permit to when you could actually sell. Directly to the public in the tasting room. Um, they've since shortened that too, I think six, six months. But, um, at that point in time, it was three years.
So three years in, we finally opened our tasting room and started making cocktails and being able to like really directly, um. You know, communicate with our, with our customer, which was great. Um, after about a year or two to that, I will have to say, I'm gonna inter, inter, yeah. Intervene for a second. I will have to say, when they opened up repeal, there was a glass wall in the restaurant where you could look through, through the distillery.
And the actual tasting room where people stood was probably the size of the. Yeah, right here like that, which is very huge. Our studio is Matt. It was a huge, no, very small. Alright, so this was a small little tasting room, tiny, where everyone that was eating what, like what kind was repeal? Like a nice restaurant.
It was kind of, it was kind of like a, a cross between like fancy and soul food, you know? Yeah. It was a good, okay, so, you know, you're having a good dinner and you're looking in and you're seeing people enjoying in the tasting room and seeing all that. Yeah. Like what goes on? Yeah. And ours was the rowdy side.
It was like, let's go over there and get wild. So yeah, so we did that and then, um, a few years later, uh, some people from Westfield approached us about doing something up there. So we opened a tasting room up in Westfield. We've still got it up there. Where's it at? Up in Westfield. It's uh, it's in like kind of the older part of town.
So 32 and Union. Is that like where they're doing all the like Yes. Oh yeah. We've been buried in construction for six months. It opens this week though. Hey, there we go. I mean, it's gonna be really sick. Yeah, it will be really cool. It's like the short term pain for the long term gain. Exactly. Because it's like a lot of people don't even know where downtown Westfield would be if I said like, take me there.
Right, right. People would end up, you'd end up like on 32 out by like birdies or something over there. Right? Probably. Yeah. You know, like mm-hmm. There is like an, an old school down, like back when there were still fields west of where they were, you know? So true. Okay, so you guys have been up there since when?
Since, so we opened the Westfield tasting room February of 2020. So if you think about that timing, you knew it was pretty great. When we were open for a month, we were like, this is going really good. Yeah. Lisa, where did you become involved with Forefinger? Brad and I, I actually went to Carmel also. Brad and I, uh, kind of grew up together.
I was really good friends with his older brother who is actually a distiller at, um, Breckenridge Distillery. Oh yeah. Heck yeah. So it's in the family, but he, um. I grew up going on vacations together and whatnot, and so we kind of lost track. I started having kids real early and um, living life and we ran into each other.
Uh, later I had just quit a job and we ran into each other and he is kinda like, what are you doing? I was like, um, I'm not working and I'm okay with that. And he's like, well, why don't I give you a call? So, um, we ended up meeting for lunch and he kind yeah, brought me under his wing and I really didn't know anything about bourbon.
I was a wine drinker, so I didn't know anything. So I kind of. I say I understudied with him forever, two year, a year, year and a half to learn the business and to learn, um, how to make it and everything. And so. Kind of just jumped in with two feet and, um, did whatever he needed me to do. What timeframe was this At 2016.
That's, that's so and so what were you doing specifically in those early years? Literally anything and everything that needed to be done. Yeah. To marketing, to help him produce, to, um, making calls to sales, to, I mean, making t-shirts, making t-shirt, I mean, everything. Yeah. So nine years ago, kind of paths cross again, you start working.
And that was still, it was 1205 at that point, right? Yeah. Okay. Did it become Four Fingers before the brand even launched? Actually, we had opened downtown tasting room and we had opened, Westfield did, when did the injury happen? 2014. So it was like 2016. It was like, this is where the lore, the lore was starting of like, there's this guy in Indiana, it's silly talk.
Yeah. Okay. Um, so things are rocking and rolling. You're opening up multiple locations. You're kind of riding the high of, uh, you know, bourbon craft. Mm-hmm. Like craft cocktails are really starting to hit and you open this new tasting room and it's February of 2020 and you're like, yeah, let's go. And then March, 2020 happens and every, obviously Yeah, the world gets a little bit upside down there.
Yeah. What happens with the brand? How do you guys navigate this challenging time, new location? Uh, a rebrand comes through there at some point a few years later. Mm-hmm. Take us through those journey and what, at that point, you're four years in, you're, you know, you got your feet underneath you a little bit.
Yeah. What's going on? Well, it was, I mean, it was crazy just like it was for all of us at that point. Yeah. Um, obviously we were completely shut down for, I think six weeks or something like that. Then we dealt with this weird time period. A lot of restaurant people did where we're able to reopen, but we're under all these restrictions, which made it almost harder.
'cause when we were just fully shut down, it was like, okay, well, you know, our hands are tied and there's no cost going out, so we just hold tight. And then it was back open and the costs come, all the costs coming back, but you can't have all the customers back at the same time. So it was, it was an interesting kind of few years of course, or year at least.
Um. But, uh, people were ready to drink after being stuck in their house for so long. So we had a really strong comeback, honestly. Um, I think people were just. Excited to socialize again. Take us to where the business is today, like full. So like where can people pick up your guys' products, where are you all available?
Sure. How many different locations do you have post COVID? We, we did our thing and, um, we started selling enough booze that we just couldn't, we didn't have enough space to continue to produce at that level, uh, in the location we were in, in our original location in downtown Indy. So we started shopping around for buildings to see if we could find something and.
We couldn't really afford anything in the downtown area. So we ended up finding a building up in Lebanon, uh, right on the square in Lebanon. And we, um, ended up purchasing that building a couple years back and we opened a tasting room up there. And it was during that time period where we were building the tasting room that we were like, okay, we're gonna put a name on this building.
What are we gonna call it? Are we gonna stick with 1205 or not? And we just did some soul searching and a lot of debate internally and decided let's just change the name. And so. Um, that's when it would happen. We changed the name and then we opened the tasting room in Lebanon. Uh, let's see, it was, uh, a year ago, March, I guess.
Uh, and then, uh, and now we've just in the last few months, moved all our production up there as well. I mean, and do you guys buy the building in Lebanon before the LEAP District was announced? They adjust that. Well, basically we, we got our offer accepted and like two weeks later they announced the big Lilly project talk.
Talk about good timing there. Yeah, it was really well. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah, there's a lot, a lot of growth in Lebanon right now and we're really excited for it. And to be right on the square is amazing. Yeah. What's going on with the water? Oh, isn't there a huge, we have enough water to make bourbon.
Isn't there a huge water debacle in Lebanon? Yeah, there is. I think they've got it sorted and we luckily were in before. There were any kind of restrictions put in place, but I think if you wanted to go in and build a new spot, you'd be, you'd be, yeah. Have a big fight out. I mean, I, I like peruse lots of Facebook groups just so I can Yeah.
You know, keep in touch with what's going on. And like, people in people, people in Lafayette are pissed. They're talking about rerouting parts of that. It's like literally Yellowstone. It's crazy. Oh yeah. Have you seen Yellowstone? Oh yeah. Where they like, they like blow up the river and reroute it. They're like, yeah.
Hell no. Like this is our water. It's crazy. Yeah. Okay. That, that's amazing. And also something interesting about Lebanon be right there on the square. Mm-hmm. The government building. Mm-hmm. I believe those pillars, the columns mm-hmm. Are like the largest single piece hand or, or like single piece columns.
In either the world or the United States or for a time they were, look at you. Wow. They're huge. Yeah. When I did my, I did not know that. Uh, when I did my research, I like love learning about county seats. Yeah. And so Lebanon is the really interesting piece, is the, the sheer size of those columns on the building, they're massive.
And at some point they held the title of the largest single piece. So they're all one thing put together. Right. Um. It's crazy, but that's my, that's my fun facts about that. That's fun. Um, okay, so you guys have been open, you're growing there. So is, is there one tasting room now? Well obviously Westfield still, but then you, the downtown location or like the Fountain Square.
Fountain Square, yeah. That um, did you guys end up closing that one? So we've moved production out of that building, but we still do occupy that building and we have our tasting room there. Oh, nice. Okay. So down there we're partner, we've got. Our, the same setup where we got our tasting room there and, um, we're partnered with Pi Pizza, who's done a food truck for I think, like 10 years.
Are they the one that had the glass side? Mm-hmm. They've got the glass side with the wood-fired oven with Yeah. It's a really good pizza. It's pretty good. So they're, um, they're actually just parking the truck outside from the moment they're waiting for Health Department approval, but then they'll, they'll be open inside here soon.
Uh, in Westfield, it's just us. There's no food, so you can bring in whatever you want. And then up in Lebanon, we actually have us, we have a coffee shop and a, um, a kitchen as well. So, oh yeah, the coffee shop just opened. Um, that was a big. If you're, if you know anything about Lebanon Chatter, that's definitely the place to be on Facebook.
You gotta check out Lebanon Chatter. Oh yeah. Wait, what are they saying about the coffee shop? No, it's good. It's good. But I'm saying, uh, the city actually can, uh, came to us and asked if we would be interested in having a coffee shop. 'cause we have a ton of, how many square feet is Lebanon? 6,000 square.
6,000 square feet. So it's huge, pretty big for us. Um, yeah. And so they had asked if we'd be interested in maybe putting in a coffee shop inside. And we were just kinda like, well, well we don't, we don't use it in the morning, so, you know, we don't open till four, um, or 11. So it's like perfect. Yeah. So co uh, what is it?
Coffee to cocktails? Come on. That's right. So we actually, I found a partner for us, um, Erica and PJ with Just Love Coffee Cafe out of Carmel. And if you know them, they serve the massive cups of coffee cups. They do. And the Bundt cake maybe, or some type of, there's some sort of breakfast pastry there. Okay.
Because it's over off like the Old Meridian. Yes. Across from Meijer. Yeah. Yes. Their place is amazing. They have one buckets of coffee. They literally serve it by the bucket. Yeah. And I, I think that it's some maybe coffee cake. They do have a coffee cake. Yeah. They have some sort of pastry there that is to die for.
Okay. It is spectacular. Oh, that's amazing. I love that place. Yeah. Okay. So you partnered with them? So we did. We brought 'em in and they looked at the space and they were super excited about it and we did a build out of a little corner of the, um. The space right there. And they just opened, um, this, this past week was their soft opening.
Oh my gosh. Yeah. So how is it, how has, has it been going? Well? Yeah, they have been pleasantly surprised. It's gone. Are there no other, like, locally owned coffee shops up on the square or like up in the downtown? There's some in that area, but not on this square. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah, it was kind of a, a void that they, well, okay, so as you guys, when did you buy your guys the building in Lebanon?
We bought it, uh, about two and a half years ago. Okay. Two and a half years ago. So definitely you've seen people are trying to get into Lebanon. They think there's gonna be all this growth. You were kind of on the front end of that. When you think about kind of being part of revitalizing a historic downtown square mm-hmm.
What do you feel like are the important key essentials to that? Like obviously you guys have the distillery, they come to you with a coffee shop. Are there other things that. The town of Lebanon is thinking about as they continue to develop this downtown, but like as far as other things they plan to, um, bring into the square or just to thing?
Yeah. Or like what got you guys excited about it? You know, like, I think that there are, I mean obviously at the time, this was before Lily announced there, so you guys were already gonna go up to Lebanon. Why were you going there? Weird deal. Where, uh, it was kind of a, a friend of a friend kind of had the property.
Yeah. And so we went up and looked at it. I would think most people that would see it would've been like, this is not gonna work for this kind of stuff. But I'm just, uh, I just love torture, I guess. And so I was like, no, we can do this. We can put in an elevator and do all this crazy stuff to make it work.
And yeah. Um, just love the space. Um, what, what's fun about having a space that large, we've always had kind of relatively smaller tasting rooms. It's been fun so far that we have space that we can, um, you know, have abandoned and people can get wild late on a Saturday night. And then it's also big enough that we can have yeah, groups of younger kids and stuff come in and do fun events throughout the day.
And it's just kind of got this versatility and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. It's definitely more of a family. Um, we do allow kids, Westfield is 21 and over. Lebanon is family friendly. Um, but typically if we have a band, there's not too many kids past nine, nine o'clock, 10 o'clock. But um, as far as like the city in a whole, I feel like they're really trying to get back to their roots.
The originality of buildings. Like right now they're in the process of, um, blasting off all the old paint and plaster off buildings to get back to the original brick. Um, one thing we really wanted to do was our building is. How, how old is that building? Well, it was, it's, it's super old and then it burned down and then they rebuilt and then bu in 52.
In 52. Yeah. So one thing was for us when we were doing, um, demo on this was to use a lot of like the original flooring from the fifties or to reuse as much as we could from what was there. Yeah. So a lot of it was a dance studio before a very popular dance studio. And so we Not that popular. Not that popular.
So, sorry, sorry. Lebanon. Oh, shoot. So we, um, like the old tap door tap dance flooring, we actually used to put on our, um, walls as like a wood flooring. Um, there was literally like four layers of flooring when we started ripping up floors, like, and we got down to like the original hardwood flooring. Oh man.
And, um. Some of the planks that we used, we used all those planks to put in the ceiling of our bathrooms. And so we tried to reuse, um, a lot of, you know, the history of the building. That's awesome. But it's pretty cool to have people come in and tell stories of, oh my gosh, my grandpa worked here. You know, this was a, it was a laundromat, it was a bookstore.
It was a, to hear stories of people. I love it if you've been hunting for a brunch spot that understands food allergies and has bold flavors. Look no further than Fire & Ice Cafe in Indianapolis. This hidden gem serves up European inspired dishes that are entirely gluten free. They're also completely free from peanuts, tree nuts, soy, sesame fish, and crustaceans.
We're talking biscuit sandwiches, crepes falafel, bowls, pastries. And of course, all your favorite brunch drinks, crafted with serious care and a whole lot of flavor. Whether you've got food restrictions or just interested in great taste, this place is a must visit. Seriously, I don't have dietary restrictions, but the food actually rocks here.
You definitely need to check it out. Grab your brunch crew and head to Fire & Ice Cafe at 6 2 1 1 Allisonville Road. And your taste buds are gonna Thank you. I am so fascinated. Anyone who's like an avid listener to the podcast has probably heard me yap about this so much. I am so fascinated with these towns that are like Lebanon or similar sized all across the state.
Mm-hmm. And how to revitalize these. Uh, some people call 'em small towns. Like to me, like I grew up in a town of 1500. Lebanon is not small. Yeah. Like, like if you're 10 to 25,000, like those size towns across Indiana. Mm-hmm. They've been, I feel like for the last decade or two, like. Mass Exodus, people coming to Central Indiana, going to the north side, going to the south side, going to Hancock County even, right?
Mm-hmm. And obviously Avon, Danville, all that stuff. But as you get even further out, I'm so fascinated with people who are investing in there and like building these things back. Mm-hmm. 'cause there are still people that live in these communities and they want. You know, craft cocktails and distilleries and locally owned businesses and great coffee shops and good, I think it's bun, not Bundt cake, uh, coffee cake as well.
You know, like to find that. Yeah. And there's, there's a, and there a ton of incentives too of, you know, preserving history. Like you're not only just. Going in and slapping up a brand new building like you're preserving a piece Right. Of uh, Boone County history. Yeah. Which I think is so, so cool. Yeah, it is.
It's really fun. It's really fun to do that. And we love people coming in and telling stories about that building, so. Yeah. Well, one thing we gotta do is we have to try Yeah. What we have going on here, um, as we talk about. I think what I saw, we sourced a number, the US craft spirit market is projected to hit $20 billion by 2030.
That's our number. It's never been more competitive, I feel like, than it is now. Yeah. So what are we doing to differentiate what y'all are doing at Forefinger? How do you stay competitive? New distilleries are popping up left, right, center all the time. Some are VC-backed, have a ton of money. Others are like just a.
People with purpose and Yeah. Drive. Like what do you guys think? Like, how do you continue to stay competitive and grow, uh, in a time where there are so many brands? Yeah. Well we are, it is, it's hard. Yeah, it's hard. We're, we're definitely people with a purpose. Yeah. Um, trying to create products that. Are different.
I mean, we're not going to compete in age with a lot of these major brands. So I do weird things like, uh, peated bourbon. So this is, um, just very unique. So bourbon's gotta be majority corn, so this is majority corn, but then it has peated malt, which is what makes Scotch kind of smoky. And so it's kind of this smoky sweet bourbon.
Um, I'll let you pop that and smell it. That's really good. Oh, you guys like A SMR? Yes. Okay. We go. Oh yeah, this is Peated bourbon. It's, I think when you first started making this, I looked it up and we were one of only like 10 people in the world that made a peated bourbon. So how do you even learn about that?
I mean, there's no necessarily learning. It's more of, uh, experimentation. And here we go. You want to hear I'll, I'll describe this in elegant detail. Old World Smoke meets New World Oak with our peated bourbon. Enjoy the best of both worlds with this smoky, sweet whiskey. I'm in, I'm in. Sign me up. Yeah. So yeah, it is a total best of both worlds.
You do get that sweetness from the bourbon, but then on the back end you get that smokiness, um, from that Scotch, but it's not overpowering where the smoky is. Um, taking over. 'cause some Scotches are very rarely smokey. I don't think I've ever had a Scotch in my life. Oh really? That just, that just seems like an elegant drink.
You know, like I grew up like, like we lived in like a bush light community, you know, so, so not necessarily the biggest like Scotch drinkers. Hey, we saw Bush light there too. Hey there, I'm gonna come hang out in Lebanon. Alright. Cheers. Right, cheers. Here we go. Come on Chen. Sorry. Forgot to pour some. So if you had had Scotch before, you would say, oh yeah, it's got some peat smoke to it.
Some of that phenol stuff going on that, um, okay, so it did not burn. That is very, I was like waiting for it, you know, you know, like, what do they call, um, a lot of bourbon drinkers say that like, um, they say, uh, a Kentucky hug, or we say Southern Indiana hug. Yeah. Southern a southern Indiana. I did not get one.
Like, I did not have the like. Lingering heat and kind of like, oh yeah, we kinda have to like just clench up a little bit, you know? Mm-hmm. Really, really stiff. That was great. And it's 90 proof, so, okay. Yeah. You know, I could, I could sip some peated bourbon. Yeah. Okay. That's very unique as you're thinking of, so product.
Yeah. One way to diversify. Uh, and to com stay competitive in a very competitive market is with product. You, are you, when you started, you were one of 10 peated bourbons I think around there we were. I mean, it was, I only knew of three, but yeah, but Okay. But that's peated bourbon, not peated whiskey. There's lots of peated whiskey in the world, but Okay.
So what are other ways that you guys continue to innovate, to be creative? I know that one part of that was partnering, I think with Hamilton County on like, oh yeah, the Hamilton County. That was the Hamilton County Smash cocktail. Yeah. Yeah. That was a big, that was a big thing. Um, uh, yeah, they came to us and we, we, um, did this venture with them, created a cocktail for Hamilton County, and we got it in a ton of restaurants on their menus.
And when we first started, um, one of the things that I would do is do a lot of events and it's really fun. When I first started, no one knew of 1205, no one. Every event we go to now, everybody knows Four Finger Distillery, or they say, you know, it's, it'll always be 1205 to me, kinda like Deer Creek. They know it and they know the Hamilton County Smash cocktail.
So we did a huge blast with them. We did. Um, coasters, we did bags. We would, um, sell the product and the Hamilton County Smash was. Brad created a rhubarb liqueur which is our most unique, and it was kind of a fun, I'll let him explain it, but it was a fun product that took off and people just rave over it. Um, well, one, if you grew up in any Indiana slash Midwestern home with a grandmother that liked to bake You know, a thing or two about rhubarb. Yes. All right. I'm intrigued. And that's the nostalgic of it. You know, people would, it would take 'em right back to their Indiana roots. They'd be like, oh my gosh. My grandma would go out in the yard and pull out some rhubarb and just knoll on the rhubarb, which, which like rhubarb looks like celery.
It does kind of, right. It's like red and, mm-hmm. It looks like celery, but yeah. And you're always thinking you're getting like a veggie pie, like rhubarb crisp, and you're like, grandma, I don't want to eat this. And then like, I don't know what, I don't know what age it is. It's like 15 maybe. And like you finally like, just like get over it And eat some rhubarb and you're like, dang, this is fire. Yeah. 'cause there's a ton of sugar in it, but that this, yeah. The rhubarb pie is, uh, strawberry rhubarb pie is big. The powers that be up in Boone County when they listen to this episode and they're like, oh, they did the Hamilton County cocktail we might need to do the Boone County cocktail.
on. We do. We took that cocktail and we actually twisted it a little bit for Boone County and we do call it the Boone County Smash. Um, and we put a little twist on it and used some Earl Grey tea in it. Oh, it's a little bit different. A little sweet tea. All right, here we go. Yeah. This is the rhubarb liqueur.
Yeah, it's, yep. So you wanna tell 'em how you came about making that? Yeah. I mean, so Rhubarb's. Oh wow. That's sweet. Yeah. Yeah, it's, it is not a whiskey. It's definitely, it's more of a, that's delicious Yeah it's okay. It's sweet, but not like the, if you've had too many sour Skittles melt your teeth Sweet. Right. You know, like there are some, and some people like those cocktails that are like. All sugar, all and like, I think at first you, again, I would say the tail end like of like how it trails off the flavor. I'm like expecting this, you know, whether it was from the bourbon, like I was expecting the like heat and, and I then I was expecting the like, oh, super sour, sweet.
Not there. Yeah. You end up, you kind of get the like earthiness that comes with rhubarb. Rhubarb's. Cool. 'cause it's like, for one, it's not like one of those flavors that's like huge in the culinary world as far as like you don't see like. Rhubarb flavored ice cream and stuff like that. Yeah. It's grown a lot here and north of here.
And then if you go anywhere south, people don't even know about it. So you'll meet someone from like Alabama, they'll be like, I don't know what you're talking about. Oh my. No, they've never seen it. Never heard it. Um, it's like persimmon. Yeah. Yes. Like nobody, and that's almost like a southern Indiana thing too.
Mm-hmm. Like even say as you get up into Northern Indiana, like I had no idea what persimmon pudding was in growing up in northern Indiana. Yeah. And I moved out there. I was like, persimmon this. I'm like, what the, okay. Fun. Um, that's delicious. Very, very good. So we use that in the cocktail. Uh, we use our gin, the rhubarb, some lemon, some mint, some simple.
And uh, it's a pretty refreshing little cocktail, very refreshing cocktail by having these interesting partnerships like with Hamilton County, like the Boone County Smash, uh, that's one way to continue to stay innovative. Yeah. Are there any other, like, I mean, what there might be other. Whether they're distillery owners or other small business owners that listen to this and are in these competitive markets that are hard and they don't have an unlimited budget, like, have there been other steps along the way that you guys have taken to help you grow?
It all depends on how you wanna present yourself. I mean, we've, we've, we've, we're not one of those group of people that are going to, um, kind of create this like. False ambiance about ourselves. We just kind of keep it real. And I think people appreciate that and probably some people would prefer it to be a little more fancy.
Like you go to Angel's Envy and it's like super awesome and beautiful. Yeah. And I wish we could do that, but I couldn't do it with a straight face. So yeah, we are who we are. And I think that speaks to a lot of people. I mean like. The anniversary of me doing my hand September 29th. We throw the party every year on the anniversary, call it the Finger Blast,
yes.
Yeah. So we just,
you
you know, The finger, Blast Finger Blast. That's, that's fire. I mean, kudos to you for being a good sport about it too. You have to, like,
I always say like, I'm glad I did it building this place. If I did it like putting in a closet in my house, no one would like show up for a party for that, you know?
No So, you know, it makes it fun. I'm glad I did it the way I did it. 'cause otherwise it would've really sucked. Yeah, absolutely.
So looking forward into 2026, you know, Lebanon's Rolling. Westfield's gonna be the, the construction will be done back open there. New pizza opening up, uh, next door downtown. Yeah.
What can we expect for four Finger Distillery in 2026? So for us internally, it's a lot of just, um, getting back to what we had been doing. We've spent a lot of time doing the construction and then like trying to maintain while, um, we've had construction issues on the road in front of Westfield and our food partner leaving downtown and we're bringing in these new guys.
So it's gonna be a lot of just getting back on track and, and, and putting down barrels and, um, we'll open up tours up in our, uh, Lebanon location. Uh, you can definitely check that out. I mean, we're. Less than a mile off 65. So if you're headed to Chicago, you're headed to Lafayette, whatever, we're a good spot to stop and, and, uh, get a sip of whiskey and hang out for a bit and that kind of stuff.
So yeah, we'll be at a lot of events this year too. Yeah. And go up and explore Boone County. Yeah, like there's a bunch of interesting stuff up there. One, the, if you're a mountain biker Stone Eater is up. Like, is that Whitestown? Maybe, but like, it's actually, it's Lebanon address. Is it Lebanon address?
Yep. Dude. Have you ridden it? I have. I'm not a mountain biker, but like I know that it is like a nationally renowned mountain biking place. It's awesome. I rode it with my 7-year-old a couple weeks ago. He loved it. I loved it. was great. That's awesome. Yeah, go up there, rip some mountain bikes and then go get a couple glasses of whiskey.
A little something to take the edge off afterwards. Um, I love that y'all, I think that's super, super cool. Yeah. Um, what about out in stores? Can, can they pick up. Uh, product around in different locations? Yeah, certainly. So, um, we're, we're sold kind of throughout Indiana. Um, a lot of the, like, smaller mom-and-pops will carry us.
Um, as far as like big, big names, um, total wine carries us. So you can definitely, if you're in the Indianapolis area, one of those total wine stores would probably have, um, some of them have like almost all of our products. Some just have like one or two, but they can always pick up more. So if you've got a, uh, particular store you like.
You can always just ask for it and you should be able to grab it. Yeah. That's what we tell people. Like, yeah. Go out and ask for it. Yes. Come on. Make their, make their job a little bit easier. Um, I love it. Okay. We've come to the part of the show where we're gonna go through some rapid fire fun questions all around the state of Indiana.
First, this question is brought to you by our friends at JC Hart. They're a leader in creating enjoyable living experiences at apartment communities all across Indiana and beyond. Check them out at homeisjchart.com. So my question for each of you. Why do you call Indiana home? I absolutely love living in the Midwest.
I love we, I have three kids raised our kids here. They're all grown adults. Now, you could go from a small town. Even though Carmel wasn't small town, some of the friend groups that we had was small town. We had that small ball. We would go out in a field, we would drink, have fun, do whatever, come back. I mean, we would go out on somebody's farm, play some farm games and do whatever.
Um, but some farm games farm, I didn't, I didn't wanna get too specific. Yeah, we don't, no expectation. All right. Now you got a least, you got adult kids listening to this, right? Like we're staying ambiguous. Shoot. Yeah. Um, yeah, so I just, I love it and I love, um, you know, you can, you can be classy. You could be not as classy.
You can, we won't say the other word. Word. Be classy. You can be not as classy. You can not as word. No, I totally agree. Its what I, it is, um, you can do a lot of things. Yeah. It's very, um, I love it. Versatile. That's a great word. Versatile. Yeah. That is it. Brad, what about you? Yeah, I mean I, I lived in Colorado for 10 years and there's, there's definite beauty in Indiana.
Um, it is sometimes hard to compare it with the beauty of Colorado 'cause that's pretty intense too. But the people of Indiana are what make the most beauty of this place. I mean, uh, living in Colorado, the one thing I miss the most is the people of Indiana are so hos hospitable and just, um. Always down to earth and you know, it's just the people.
It's the people. It's hard. I think it's easy to appreciate the beauty, the beauty of Colorado. Mm-hmm. You just like look in the sky, you see a massive peak and you're like, ah, that's what I'm supposed to be doing. Yeah. That's what I'm supposed to be loving and appreciating and that, and then you come to Indiana and maybe you, you know, you walk outside and you're like, okay, what do I do?
Yeah. And it could be a little bit more challenging. It doesn't mean, it's not like if you go into. Southern Indiana. Yeah. And you see the hills down there or the coastline up on Lake Michigan. There's definitely like natural beauty there. Sure. But just like when you're walking down the street and you get like a cup of coffee and someone holds the door for you and it's nice.
Yes. And it's like genuine and they don't like want something for you and they're not gonna try to like steal something outta your car. Like, I'm not saying like it's just like the, the hospitable people of Indiana. It's a real thing. Agreed. When you guys are drinking, whatever your, you know, drink of choice cocktail, is it straight?
Is it a cocktail? What cocktail? If you were only ordering one thing off the menu at Four Finger Distillery, what would you be getting? I would do straight uh, rye. Oh, rye. You went from a wine drinker, right? You didn't like bourbon. I know. And now you're saying straight rye whiskey. Yeah, and I was never a rye person when I started this endeavor.
Brad was really good about like we would do, we do some blind tastings on some different products and stuff. Uh, he's really worked on kind of advancing my palate a lot, but, um, rye can be super bold and spicy and, um, our rye is very smooth and I think he brought some, if you wanna do a little taste real quick, but it's only 55% rye.
Oh. So it's really, really smooth and not, not as bold and spicy, but that would be mine. Okay. Brad? I actually, I tend to end up on my absinthe a lot. Yeah. Absinthe. Absinthe. Yeah, he makes an absinthe that it's unreal. What is an absinthe? So absinthe is a, it's an herbal spirit. If you think of like gin as an herbal spirit with the flavor predominantly being juniper.
So that like, yeah. Piney flavor absinthe is the same in that it's uh, herbal spirit, but it's um, the predominant flavor is like black licorice. So that flavor comes from wormwood and fennel and star anise and it just kind of has this black licorice kind of flavor that's. Super good. If you like black licorice.
Hey, there we go. Gonna, that's also 120 proof. Oh, so there, now we're talking. That'll be, that's what you have, uh, when the bands are playing on Friday night or Saturday night. Right. There we go and take one, that's for sure. Uh, we've come to the final portion of the show. These the same three questions that we ask every guest that comes on.
We'll go, Lisa, Brad, Brad, Lisa. Lisa, Brad. Got it. Well, okay. First question. What is something the world needs to know about Indiana? I would say to support local. I mean, that's a huge one. Yeah. I think supporting local is really, really important. And that's something I really didn't think of until we owned a small business and there's so many small businesses out there that need to be, um, they have so many amazing products that Yeah.
Um, that I think people miss out on. Absolutely. Brad. I think, uh, I think the word's getting out, but uh, it's basically Naptown's, not Naptown anymore. Don't sleep on Naptown. I mean, there, there's so much going on downtown in all of the communities surrounding Indianapolis. There's. Yeah. It, it's not what it used to be.
Absolutely. Brad, this is a chance to show some love to something in Indiana that more people need to know about. What is a hidden gem in Indiana? Well, actually, I mean, you mentioned Stone Eater. That's a really cool spot. I also love all the caves down in, in, uh, southern Indiana are pretty amazing. I mean, there's just some really cool spots in Indiana, especially if you just kind of seek them out.
Yeah, they're there. Um, it's not as simple as just, uh, there there's more than just Eagle Creek, you know? But yeah. Amen. That's what I was gonna, I was going down towards Southern Indiana too, Bloomington. Um, hidden Gym, uh, just the, the camping grounds that are down there. Yeah. So beautiful. Final question we have is your chance to share the love.
This is how we find new guests or just other people in the state doing incredible things. Who's a Hoosier? We need to keep on our radar. Someone who's doing big. Thanks, uh, Matt Lamping from Eighth Day Distillery. Mm-hmm. Uh, he makes some awesome booze. He's great. Their brand is, is kind of like us, kind of lesser known, but he's got a ton of whiskey put away and I think you're gonna be seeing a lot of it coming out soon.
They are down by, uh, Circle City Industrial Complex today. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Or Factory Arts District now that, yeah. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. They make some great stuff and, um, some fun cocktails and they're super good people. Yeah, I love that. I mean, and we just kind of talked about 'em, but I would say Erica and PJ, the coffee world, um, heck yeah.
I think that they, uh, they have great hearts and they love what they do, and they, um, have a great story. Everything that they do, it shows in what they do. So on that same note, it's clear that you guys love what you do and you've been doing this for a minute now, since 2014. Thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing the journey of from 1205 2 4 Finger Distillery.
I love it. Uh, I think that it's such a cool. Uh, just like a progression of a brand and like leaning into what you're known for. I think throwing things like the Finger Blasts. Yes. Very, very fun. I hope that listeners will go out and explore whether the downtown loca, well not down, like with Fountain Square.
Fountain Square, Fletcher, Fletcher Place, Westfield. Now that it's reopened the new tasting room in Lebanon, you can get a cup of coffee in the morning and then come back for a cocktail in the evening. Yeah, I think that's awesome. Continue pouring into Yeah, the Boone County community and I'm really excited to follow along.
I would also say. You need to add the rhubarb liqueur to your cocktail menu. Like wherever you are out there listening, it is phenomenal. Yeah. And it just makes me think of, of, uh, home and Sunday dinner with grandma, grandma, I love it. Y'all appreciate you coming by and we'll talk soon. Thank you. Thank you.
Thanks for having This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater. Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level. Click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations at Sweetwater. If you want a behind the scenes look at everything we're doing across the state.
Make sure you follow me on Instagram and TikTok at Nate Spangle. Thank you so much for listening and being a part of what makes the Hoosier State great. We'll see you next time here on Get IN.
