*** 8/22 Update. booze incoming ***
First things first: fill out the membership form and donate $115 per membership (bottle) on Venmo. You need to do both because you don't get a bottle without the donation and we can't contact you for pickup without the info from the form.
Membership Form
venmo.com
Venmo | RRS Barrel Club
Use Venmo to connect with RRS Barrel Club (@RRSBarrelClub) - Collecting funds for the Matador Club
venmo.com
Now for the update...Bottles are being delivered to the liquor store tomorrow and I'll be picking them up next week. Stickers come in next week also and I'll be applying those all next weekend.
Next steps are to sell some more and figure out distribution.
Selling:
If you haven't ordered go ahead and get some of this stuff. It's very solid whiskey and for a rye it does drink a lot like a bourbon. It's the best of both worlds. It's also going to benefit a great cause. After this barrel is paid for we'll have about $6,000 in the bank. After we sell this barrel out we'll have closer to $17,000. And if we manage to move the few cases of WIlderness Trail we have left we'll get up to around $21,000. (My math may be off because I'm doing it in my head with round numbers, but should be close.) That doesn't include what we will be able to raise at auctions, etc. Which was significant last time. I believe the total auction raise was around $7,000-8,000 last time.
Distribution:
If anyone in the Kerrville/San Antonio area is headed up to Lubbock for a game or otherwise please email me at rrsbarrelclub@gmail.com. I'd like to get a couple cases sent up there for people to pick up if they're in town before the BU game.
Same for anyone in the San Antonio/Kerrville area who is headed to DFW in the next 4-6 weeks or so. Most orders are coming from DFW and Lubbock and I'd like to get bottles sent to those places if at all possible so people get their stuff asap unlike last time.
Once we get closer to the BU game and get a gametime we'll organize some sort of official event (or a couple). I'm tentatively thinking of a pickup party at Two Docs the Friday night before the game, A pre-tailgate pickup Saturday morning at our AirBnB on 19th across from campus with some food and a whiskey tasting and then another tasting at a tailgate on campus before the game. More details to come as we get closer.
***8/9 Update... Venmo fixed***
I've copied the link to Venmo from yet another source, so lets see if it works. I think the issue is the change to the way rivals does links, so this may work or it may just be something we have to work around.
venmo.com
Venmo Link?
Here are the instructions again. I've had one person pay without filling out the form already. This isn't hard folks and it takes about 2 minutes total. Click the google forms link, fill it out. Click the Venmo link, search us on Venmo or click the PayPal link and donate $115 per membership. The end.
1) Fill out the Google Form for RRS Barrel Club membership. This membership will last through December 31, 2024 and each membership will entitle you to a bottle of one of our barrel picks. We will have around 150 bottles of the Whistle Pig, after holding back a few for special events and signings. I'll keep an updated counter so if you're only in it for the booze you'll know. You must fill out the form to qualify for "membership" as the contact info is vital to making sure you receive your gift.
2) Once you have filled out the form, search @rrsbarrelclub on Venmo to donate. Here’s a Venmo link, but it has had issues so searching may work better. A membership is $115, just like last time. If you want more than one, just multiply $115 by however many memberships you'd like to buy. Please specify how many memberships you're buying in the comment when you donate, and please do not put the words "whiskey" or "whistle pig" or anythign like that. Just "1 membership".
3) Wait for it. We're officially planning a pick-up party or 2 the weekend of the BU game in Lubbock, 10/19. IF you can make that it'll be the best way to get your membership bottle. If not we can leave some there for pickup at a later date, send some with mules to metro areas for distribution there, or ship them to you if absolutely necessary.
*8/1 Update... now accepting donations for membership*
Suh Dudes? Long time no see.
I just got word that our Whistle Pig 6 year rye barrel pick, affectionately named Hog Molly after Tech's own Brandon Carter, will be arriving in the next 2 weeks. It's looking like we'll have a pick-up party tailgate for the BU or CU game, but I'll let you all know for certain once it's finalized. I'm also hoping to be able to leave unclaimed bottles in Lubbock to be picked up at later home games for those who can't make the initial party, and send bottles to the metros for those who won't make any of those home games. Brandon Carter has graciously agreed to show up at the tailgate for a brief time to sign bottles and make small talk, so that's pretty cool. More details to come on all of the above.
This go around will be better organized and more timely. It'll also be a little different in that we're providing short term "Memberships" to RRS Barrel Club instead of just taking donations. This membership will expire December 31, 2024 and each member will be entitled to a gift. This membership's gift is a bottle of the "Hog Molly" Whistle Pig barrel pick. Hopefully everyone follows that... (basically a change in semantics for a couple of reasons). I'll be keeping track of memberships (and accounting for the last round as well) and hopefully we can provide some cool swag type stuff and fun opportunities to people with more membership points.
We have one of the Wilderness Trail barrels in hand as well and I'll be bringing that to @Taft33 for 2Docs to do a barrel aged beer that benefits our cause. As an aside, they just released their own beer benefitting TMC as well. So good things going on with 2 Docs.
Now for the good stuff... If you're wanting to get in on this barrel pick here's how to lay claim to some first class hooch:
1) Fill out the Google Form for RRS Barrel Club membership. This membership will last through December 31, 2024 and each membership will entitle you to a bottle of one of our barrel picks. We will have around 150 bottles of the Whistle Pig, after holding back a few for special events and signings. I'll keep an updated counter so if you're only in it for the booze you'll know. You must fill out the form to qualify for "membership" as the contact info is vital to making sure you receive your gift.
2) Once you have filled out the form, search @rrsbarrelclub on Venmo to donate. Here’s a Venmo link, but it has had issues so searching may work better. A membership is $115, just like last time. If you want more than one, just multiply $115 by however many memberships you'd like to buy. Please specify how many memberships you're buying in the comment when you donate, and please do not put the words "whiskey" or "whistle pig" or anythign like that. Just "1 membership".
3) Wait to hear from us about the pick-up party.
Sorry for being long winded. I fielded probably a hundred questions last time and I'm trying to make sure all the info is laid out pretty well. If you have questions or problems you can post them here or email me at rrsbarrelclub@gmail.com. WIth only 150-ish bottles I assume they will go fast as we had over 400 last time. So if you're wanting one, or 6, I'd suggest getting this done ASAP.
***Hog Molly Update*** June 8.
Thanks to some connections in our group, we have been able to get former offensive lineman and Texas Tech legend Brandon Carter on board with this pick. We're naming it Hog Molly and will be using an image of him on the label. With a little bit of luck and if schedules line up, he may be willing and able to attend the pickup party tailgate for a bit of a meet and greet... but nothing confirmed yet.
I'm just going to leave this next part at the bottom of every update. I have a handful of people who I've emailed and ahven't heard back from and I believe there may be some DFW folks we haven't been able to get in touch with either. SO...
If you paid for round 1 but have not received your bottle (or don't have plans to) please email me at rrsbarrelclub@gmail.com so we can get it sorted out.
Original Post on June 1.
On to more exciting things. Met with the Whistle Pig rep Friday and we made a selection. The rep said they officially quote everyone 10-12 weeks for arrival, but they're running closer to 8-10 weeks currently. That means we should have it here before conference play barring catastrophe (like last time). The tentative plan is to pick a home game to bring the bottles to and have a pickup party Friday evening somewhere like 2-Docs and then have them available at a tailgate Saturday. We will likely need some mules to get bottles back to DFW, Austin, Houston, etc. Details will be sorted out once we have confirmation that it's shipped.
As for the whiskey itself, we got one barrel (WP sets their barrel picks at 156 bottles per barrel no matter what, so that's all we got) of their 6 year Rye. I'll do my best independent internet whiskey enthusiast and pretend instagram influencer review impression for those interested in what it tastes like...
It's the highest proof of all the samples coming in at 115.1, but that may change some by the time it's bottled. It was also the one that drank the least hot out of all the samples, so interesting enough proof for whiskey nerds but very drinkable for people wanting a more mellow pour. On the nose it's pretty sweet and almost smells like flan, but there's rye spice, too. The taste is pretty much the same as the smell. Caramel, vanilla, that minty/grassy rye spice. It's very oakey and a little dry, but in a good way. Everyone at the tasting thought that it drank a lot like a bourbon, so it should be pleasing to Rye and Bourbon lovers alike. It's a pretty easy drinking whiskey with a lot of flavor but it's also clearly unique. I like it a lot.
Compared to the Wilderness Trail rye... this new one has that vanilla and oak that the WT does not. It tastes a little more like a typical bourbon where the WT is very straight forward rye. The WT is 102 proof, but may drink just a bit hotter than the Whistle Pig at 115. This WP is just very drinkable.
Pricing is going to be similar to the last one. Planning to have it set at cost +$50 where the $50 goes to TMC, and that'll have us around $110-115 I think. Once we get the PO confirmed and can verify price, we'll get it set up for pre-orders. I'm going to require addresses, phone numbers and emails to confirm an order.
As far as donations go, we're still sitting on the $ from the last pick. We have some bottles left that we will likely make available when we distribute the new ones, but we have raised right at $11,000 so far and the sales of the rest of our bottles will get us around $17,000-18,000. This pick should bring in about $7,800. So $25,000 total. If we can manage to make a distillery pick happen we will likely hold on to the $ until that's done and give in one big gift, but if it's looking like that won't be an option we will start donating to TMC. Either way, that plan should be set by the time this new pick arrives and I'll share it when we know.
Last thing, anyone have ideas on a name for the pick? I was thinking something to do with the OL, just seems to fit with Wistle Pig, but I don't have any great ideas yet.
First things first: fill out the membership form and donate $115 per membership (bottle) on Venmo. You need to do both because you don't get a bottle without the donation and we can't contact you for pickup without the info from the form.
Membership Form
venmo.com
Venmo | RRS Barrel Club
Use Venmo to connect with RRS Barrel Club (@RRSBarrelClub) - Collecting funds for the Matador Club
venmo.com
Now for the update...Bottles are being delivered to the liquor store tomorrow and I'll be picking them up next week. Stickers come in next week also and I'll be applying those all next weekend.
Next steps are to sell some more and figure out distribution.
Selling:
If you haven't ordered go ahead and get some of this stuff. It's very solid whiskey and for a rye it does drink a lot like a bourbon. It's the best of both worlds. It's also going to benefit a great cause. After this barrel is paid for we'll have about $6,000 in the bank. After we sell this barrel out we'll have closer to $17,000. And if we manage to move the few cases of WIlderness Trail we have left we'll get up to around $21,000. (My math may be off because I'm doing it in my head with round numbers, but should be close.) That doesn't include what we will be able to raise at auctions, etc. Which was significant last time. I believe the total auction raise was around $7,000-8,000 last time.
Distribution:
If anyone in the Kerrville/San Antonio area is headed up to Lubbock for a game or otherwise please email me at rrsbarrelclub@gmail.com. I'd like to get a couple cases sent up there for people to pick up if they're in town before the BU game.
Same for anyone in the San Antonio/Kerrville area who is headed to DFW in the next 4-6 weeks or so. Most orders are coming from DFW and Lubbock and I'd like to get bottles sent to those places if at all possible so people get their stuff asap unlike last time.
Once we get closer to the BU game and get a gametime we'll organize some sort of official event (or a couple). I'm tentatively thinking of a pickup party at Two Docs the Friday night before the game, A pre-tailgate pickup Saturday morning at our AirBnB on 19th across from campus with some food and a whiskey tasting and then another tasting at a tailgate on campus before the game. More details to come as we get closer.
***8/9 Update... Venmo fixed***
I've copied the link to Venmo from yet another source, so lets see if it works. I think the issue is the change to the way rivals does links, so this may work or it may just be something we have to work around.
Venmo | RRS Barrel Club
Use Venmo to connect with RRS Barrel Club (@RRSBarrelClub) - Collecting funds for the Matador Club
venmo.com
Venmo Link?
Here are the instructions again. I've had one person pay without filling out the form already. This isn't hard folks and it takes about 2 minutes total. Click the google forms link, fill it out. Click the Venmo link, search us on Venmo or click the PayPal link and donate $115 per membership. The end.
1) Fill out the Google Form for RRS Barrel Club membership. This membership will last through December 31, 2024 and each membership will entitle you to a bottle of one of our barrel picks. We will have around 150 bottles of the Whistle Pig, after holding back a few for special events and signings. I'll keep an updated counter so if you're only in it for the booze you'll know. You must fill out the form to qualify for "membership" as the contact info is vital to making sure you receive your gift.
2) Once you have filled out the form, search @rrsbarrelclub on Venmo to donate. Here’s a Venmo link, but it has had issues so searching may work better. A membership is $115, just like last time. If you want more than one, just multiply $115 by however many memberships you'd like to buy. Please specify how many memberships you're buying in the comment when you donate, and please do not put the words "whiskey" or "whistle pig" or anythign like that. Just "1 membership".
3) Wait for it. We're officially planning a pick-up party or 2 the weekend of the BU game in Lubbock, 10/19. IF you can make that it'll be the best way to get your membership bottle. If not we can leave some there for pickup at a later date, send some with mules to metro areas for distribution there, or ship them to you if absolutely necessary.
*8/1 Update... now accepting donations for membership*
Suh Dudes? Long time no see.
I just got word that our Whistle Pig 6 year rye barrel pick, affectionately named Hog Molly after Tech's own Brandon Carter, will be arriving in the next 2 weeks. It's looking like we'll have a pick-up party tailgate for the BU or CU game, but I'll let you all know for certain once it's finalized. I'm also hoping to be able to leave unclaimed bottles in Lubbock to be picked up at later home games for those who can't make the initial party, and send bottles to the metros for those who won't make any of those home games. Brandon Carter has graciously agreed to show up at the tailgate for a brief time to sign bottles and make small talk, so that's pretty cool. More details to come on all of the above.
This go around will be better organized and more timely. It'll also be a little different in that we're providing short term "Memberships" to RRS Barrel Club instead of just taking donations. This membership will expire December 31, 2024 and each member will be entitled to a gift. This membership's gift is a bottle of the "Hog Molly" Whistle Pig barrel pick. Hopefully everyone follows that... (basically a change in semantics for a couple of reasons). I'll be keeping track of memberships (and accounting for the last round as well) and hopefully we can provide some cool swag type stuff and fun opportunities to people with more membership points.
We have one of the Wilderness Trail barrels in hand as well and I'll be bringing that to @Taft33 for 2Docs to do a barrel aged beer that benefits our cause. As an aside, they just released their own beer benefitting TMC as well. So good things going on with 2 Docs.
Now for the good stuff... If you're wanting to get in on this barrel pick here's how to lay claim to some first class hooch:
1) Fill out the Google Form for RRS Barrel Club membership. This membership will last through December 31, 2024 and each membership will entitle you to a bottle of one of our barrel picks. We will have around 150 bottles of the Whistle Pig, after holding back a few for special events and signings. I'll keep an updated counter so if you're only in it for the booze you'll know. You must fill out the form to qualify for "membership" as the contact info is vital to making sure you receive your gift.
2) Once you have filled out the form, search @rrsbarrelclub on Venmo to donate. Here’s a Venmo link, but it has had issues so searching may work better. A membership is $115, just like last time. If you want more than one, just multiply $115 by however many memberships you'd like to buy. Please specify how many memberships you're buying in the comment when you donate, and please do not put the words "whiskey" or "whistle pig" or anythign like that. Just "1 membership".
3) Wait to hear from us about the pick-up party.
Sorry for being long winded. I fielded probably a hundred questions last time and I'm trying to make sure all the info is laid out pretty well. If you have questions or problems you can post them here or email me at rrsbarrelclub@gmail.com. WIth only 150-ish bottles I assume they will go fast as we had over 400 last time. So if you're wanting one, or 6, I'd suggest getting this done ASAP.
***Hog Molly Update*** June 8.
Thanks to some connections in our group, we have been able to get former offensive lineman and Texas Tech legend Brandon Carter on board with this pick. We're naming it Hog Molly and will be using an image of him on the label. With a little bit of luck and if schedules line up, he may be willing and able to attend the pickup party tailgate for a bit of a meet and greet... but nothing confirmed yet.
I'm just going to leave this next part at the bottom of every update. I have a handful of people who I've emailed and ahven't heard back from and I believe there may be some DFW folks we haven't been able to get in touch with either. SO...
If you paid for round 1 but have not received your bottle (or don't have plans to) please email me at rrsbarrelclub@gmail.com so we can get it sorted out.
Original Post on June 1.
On to more exciting things. Met with the Whistle Pig rep Friday and we made a selection. The rep said they officially quote everyone 10-12 weeks for arrival, but they're running closer to 8-10 weeks currently. That means we should have it here before conference play barring catastrophe (like last time). The tentative plan is to pick a home game to bring the bottles to and have a pickup party Friday evening somewhere like 2-Docs and then have them available at a tailgate Saturday. We will likely need some mules to get bottles back to DFW, Austin, Houston, etc. Details will be sorted out once we have confirmation that it's shipped.
As for the whiskey itself, we got one barrel (WP sets their barrel picks at 156 bottles per barrel no matter what, so that's all we got) of their 6 year Rye. I'll do my best independent internet whiskey enthusiast and pretend instagram influencer review impression for those interested in what it tastes like...
It's the highest proof of all the samples coming in at 115.1, but that may change some by the time it's bottled. It was also the one that drank the least hot out of all the samples, so interesting enough proof for whiskey nerds but very drinkable for people wanting a more mellow pour. On the nose it's pretty sweet and almost smells like flan, but there's rye spice, too. The taste is pretty much the same as the smell. Caramel, vanilla, that minty/grassy rye spice. It's very oakey and a little dry, but in a good way. Everyone at the tasting thought that it drank a lot like a bourbon, so it should be pleasing to Rye and Bourbon lovers alike. It's a pretty easy drinking whiskey with a lot of flavor but it's also clearly unique. I like it a lot.
Compared to the Wilderness Trail rye... this new one has that vanilla and oak that the WT does not. It tastes a little more like a typical bourbon where the WT is very straight forward rye. The WT is 102 proof, but may drink just a bit hotter than the Whistle Pig at 115. This WP is just very drinkable.
Pricing is going to be similar to the last one. Planning to have it set at cost +$50 where the $50 goes to TMC, and that'll have us around $110-115 I think. Once we get the PO confirmed and can verify price, we'll get it set up for pre-orders. I'm going to require addresses, phone numbers and emails to confirm an order.
As far as donations go, we're still sitting on the $ from the last pick. We have some bottles left that we will likely make available when we distribute the new ones, but we have raised right at $11,000 so far and the sales of the rest of our bottles will get us around $17,000-18,000. This pick should bring in about $7,800. So $25,000 total. If we can manage to make a distillery pick happen we will likely hold on to the $ until that's done and give in one big gift, but if it's looking like that won't be an option we will start donating to TMC. Either way, that plan should be set by the time this new pick arrives and I'll share it when we know.
Last thing, anyone have ideas on a name for the pick? I was thinking something to do with the OL, just seems to fit with Wistle Pig, but I don't have any great ideas yet.
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