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Welcome to Nightlight, ladies and gentlemen.
I am Pete Schwabba.
Welcome, welcome.
Hope you're having a great Tuesday.
We are inching closer to the Fourth of July weekend, a holiday weekend, one of the most probably festive holidays we have here in America in terms of things we look forward to, long weekends, et cetera, et cetera, just kind of throwing caution to the wind.
eating and drinking like fools and celebrating our nation's birth and independence.
We have a great show tonight, folks.
We are going to be talking, I thought this was perfect for the 4th of July because the 4th of July is the kind of holiday where you stand around a keg, you have some cocktails, you watch some fireworks, but it's kind of a, I don't mean this in an unsafe or unhealthy way, but it's a drinking holiday.
It's a summer booze holiday.
And what better guest to have on the radio tonight, on Nightlight than a distiller?
Conrad, you know who you have coming in?
Sturgeon Spirits.
Distillery founder, Carl Lowenstein will join us here in the studio at 635.
He makes everything.
And I'm fascinated by the whole distilling process because it looks very cool.
I just think it's a process, a lot of work and care goes into it, and ever since I watched the show Mash, where Hawkeye and Trapper would make their own booze in the tent, even before I drank, I was fascinated at the process.
And especially with whiskey and bourbon and the barrels and all that kind of stuff.
I find the whole process really interesting.
So I thought what better and this is a great week to have a distiller on the show.
Carl will be here at 635.
I have a host of questions for him.
And I'm sure he will enjoy answering them.
I talked to him on the phone the other day and he's also a UW.
Oshkosh Professor.
So we'll talk to Carl about what he brings to each craft by way of the other.
And he will be here at 635 in the studio.
And then at 735, in honor of Cameron Frye's birthday, actor Alan Ruck turns, I believe, 55 today.
He played Cameron Frye in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
So we will have a little discussion about Ferris Bueller's Day Off at 735 with our pal Lisa Hale, the host of New Isco Weekend here on WGBW and WISS.
If you haven't checked out our news magazine show that Lisa hosts, it's really fun and there's a different theme every week.
It's a great show.
Conrad contributes to it every week.
I do a classic movie pick every week.
It's just a really, a little treasure we have here in Northeast Wisconsin.
The Northeast Wisconsin branch of Civic Media.
Lisa will be here at 735 and we were already Lisa every time I email Lisa I think I told you this con she Comes back with movie lines when I tell her what my classic movie pick of the week will be She has a ton of movie lines.
It like she's apparently seen everything She dwarfs my knowledge of movies and it's kind of emasculating But we'll have a fun talk with Lisa at 735 about a great movie and a great summertime movie to Ferris Bueller
Ferris Bueller's Day Off came out in 1987 or 88.
I gotta go to the Google.
But it was a summer movie and it was just a great... I think I saw it like five times that summer.
So we'll talk to Lisa about that.
That'll be fun.
And we'll talk fireworks.
What did you find out about fireworks?
The history.
They go back really far.
Same.
I don't we've been lucky.
There's we have a neighbor.
Our neighbor Marty has put on this little fireworks show every year.
I don't think he's doing it this year.
But we
the people in our neighborhood just kind of walk down to the water and we get our own little personal show, which is fine.
But my mom loves fireworks.
And she said, well, if Marty's not doing him this year, maybe we could all get in the car and go over to Menominee, cross the river to Michigan.
And when you do that, you might as well be in downtown Chicago.
I'm not fighting traffic in a small town.
There are hundreds of cars
and I'm not doing
it.
And I don't like fireworks that much.
Like they're beautiful.
I love them.
But to be honest,
I like watching them on TV over the mall in Washington that they do every year.
That's fun.
I like looking across the bay and seeing Dorr County's displays.
That's a little bit of a distance, but you can still, I mean, it's just a fun show, but that's, that's my level of interest.
I don't, I don't have to
under the fireworks for two hours.
Yeah, that's the way to
Right.
Okay.
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
I don't know they do the same thing and every year you hear the ooh
30 years in a row.
This is this really new and I know I sound like a Baham but fireworks are beautiful I love them in a baseball game or when it's not expected or something like that, but I just I Now that my kids are older.
I used to brave those groups
Especially when we lived in LA, it was more of a hassle.
But even in a small town, you know, when you got to get your spot, like you said, and there are, maybe I'm exaggerating, but I don't think I am.
I bet there were years when there have been over 100 or 200 cars, which in a small town creates a bottleneck, you know?
And I just don't, I don't know.
See that I would do if you're already there.
I
That's great Yeah, but I again, I'm not anti-fire.
I'm anti-crowd,
my brother and my dad
got in the car on Father's Day and went to a Cubs game from Marinette, Wisconsin.
They drove four hours to Wrigley Field and four hours home the same day.
Maybe something's wrong with me.
I'm not doing that.
I wouldn't do that either.
I've been to hundreds of baseball games.
I love it.
And, you know, if I could jump on the L or if I lived an hour away, maybe I would do that.
But then they're both lawyers and there'd be a ton of legal talk and I have no interest on
exactly.
Let's talk more.
Let's talk more about torts.
Um, anyway, again, I don't mean to sound like about humbucker.
I actually, when I was a kid, there was a kid in our neighborhood who blew half of his thumb off with a firework.
So I've always had this kind of bias.
He blew his whole hand off?
Like an M80 or something?
We should add him on for our handshake No, I and that always like not to me like they didn't freak me out whenever I was around someone doing fireworks I'd kind of keep my distance, but whatever I didn't mind watching but it scared me for my kids like I was always worried they were gonna be at some idiot's house who didn't know what they were doing and I always thought about that kid in our neighborhood that blew half his thumb off yeah after the and he was like nine
fireworks in the park.
right.
I knew kids that would put them in animals.
It's awful.
Yeah.
In Marinette, several years ago down by the water, I caught some kids putting fireworks in toads.
And I'm
get out of here, you future serial killers.
It's so awful.
And I looked online to find some
fireworks accidents because I thought there'd be some funny ones, but it's all just horrifying.
You know,
All right.
So I promise the show will go uphill from here, folks.
We'll
we'll try to turn this around.
I have a piece of glass in my foot, which is kind of that sucks.
It does.
And it's not a big it's like a little shard.
It's a tiny
worst that hurts a little bit, and I can't find it.
And I know that something was broken on the kitchen floor, and I'm sure somebody swept it up and didn't quite get everything.
So now, what do I do?
Like, I know you're not a doctor, but like, do
for it to pass like a kidney stone or is it going to get
Oh, and then go digging around
Here's the problem.
I haven't taken a bath since 1974.
Well,
Put my foot in some
exactly.
What are you saying?
It works its way out.
because of the heat or the.
do something.
It's starting to, it's starting to annoy me more than anything.
like bleeding profusely or anything.
they, you can feel it.
Exactly.
Did you say we missed a Steady Eddie text last night?
Braves.
The Milwaukee Braves, okay.
Very good Steady Eddie.
That, that by the way.
Him just saying Milwaukee Braves is the shortest, steady eddy text we've ever received.
So we are going to get to our question of the night shortly.
We have a great one tonight, folks.
And I hope everybody, it's been so fun with the questions lately.
And last night we had great responses.
to our who is the greatest athlete ever to wear a pro or college Wisconsin uniform.
And tonight we've got a good one too.
As I mentioned at 635 Carl Lowenstein will be here from Sturgeon Spirits Distillery.
We're going to talk distilling and spirits.
It's going to be a lot of fun, especially right before the 4th of July.
So I think we should not waste any more time and get to our question of the night.
Let's talk about the question.
Okay, question.
Question.
Question.
Question.
Question.
Okay, I have a question.
Questions.
Question.
What drink will you be nursing on the 4th of July?
I mean, I'm not encouraging day drinking, but...
If there is a day you are going to day drink, it's going to be the 4th of July.
So what's a good drink to nurse?
You got to take your time, especially if you start early, before noon, post noon, whatever.
What's a good drink to nurse on the 4th of July?
Let's have an information exchange here and help each other out.
And I don't.
Not while you're driving, you know, if you're staying in your neighborhood and you're just going to watch fireworks and cook out and you don't want to really cook out when you've been day drinking either, but what's a good drink to nurse on the 4th of July?
Responsibly.
Wisconsinably, I should say.
Yeah, I know.
I don't know this one.
I like I said, I haven't had a drink in over a couple of years now But there was a slushy my the Murphy side of my family used to make my mom's relatives made this like I think it was brandy and ice It'll probably be something like that or margarita.
What about you?
So
Really?
Alright, fair enough.
So that's our question, folks.
Please be part of the fun.
We'll read your text on the radio.
What drink will you be nursing on the 4th of July?
Great night for this, because we've got an actual distiller, Carl Lohenstein, in the studio tonight at 6.35.
We're coming right back to read your text.
It's Peach Wabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.
Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get
Because Back to the Future was another great summer movie.
I remember Summer of 1985.
That's another film I saw.
I just couldn't get enough of it.
I saw it like three or four times.
I loved that song by Huey Lewis, The Power of Love.
And I found this last night or the night before Huey Lewis was talking about that song, Power of Love, and why it worked in that movie.
And I thought it was a great point.
And I'll discuss it.
Let's hear the clip and then we'll come out of it and discuss.
We weren't allowed to put Power Love on our record, except in the rest of the world.
So we never, you know, of all of our songs, we probably made less money on Power Love.
So
Actually, Power Love on the surface had nothing to do with the movie.
The lyric has nothing to do with the movie.
And there's no real love object in the movie, even.
The way these things work best is when the song stands on its own, and then the movie stands on its own.
If the song is clearly written for the movie, it kind of diminishes the song somehow.
First Power Love was nominated for Grammy and Oscar and the whole
nine yards.
One nothing.
Zero.
I was so frustrated.
No Oscar, no Grammy.
We're nominated for like 10 Grammys.
One, Bruce Springsteen just killed us.
Nine for something for Born in the USA.
That's the power of
love.
That's such a great point.
The movies where the music works, he's so right about that.
They weren't written for the movie.
Jay Leno used to do this great joke about how he hated movies when they would do the Oscars and movies were nominated and they were right.
production numbers for the films, even though they didn't have production numbers.
And he would do like this, oh, those Amish, aren't they farmish?
And it was like so bad.
But I find that too, when they write songs for movies, they can be really cheesy.
But the power of love just worked on every level and back to the future.
Such a great song.
That was a great interview.
We have a great question tonight, folks.
What drink will you nurse?
on the 4th of July.
I assume you'll start a little sooner than you typically do.
So what are you gonna drink?
Obviously you're not gonna start with the shots at 10 a.m., hopefully not.
Well, Conrad might, but you're working that day, right?
know.
We've got Tom from New Berlin says, drone shows will replace fireworks shows, but together they will be spectacular.
That's interesting.
Yeah.
That's great Tom.
Thank you.
You're probably right about that and there will be purists who won't want that but Tyler from Wisconsin Rapids says the first fireworks was really the Big Bang and nobody was there for the show Well said You know the Big Bang Started with something a little molecule like I think smaller than a grain of sand And I remember when I read this and it was so dense because everything that's here came out of that
that if you put it in the palm of your hand, it would take you into different dimensions.
Mind-boggling.
That's my science knowledge for the day.
Oh, seriously, it was a book I read.
I think it was called... It was a book about string theory by a guy named Brian Green.
It was called The Elegant Universe.
And it was so fascinating.
String theory is fascinating.
But you read it... I had to read like...
every sentence like three times.
I
books.
Yeah, and I was fascinated, so I stuck with it, but I was like, wow, I am not smart enough to be reading this.
Tom, again, from Verlin says, Pete, it will be, it will fester and pull it like a man clean it good.
Tom's not my father.
Sit down, boy, and pull that glass out of your foot.
Liz, from Sun Prairie, says she's going to have tequila and soda with a lime or a splash of apparel.
Am I saying that right?
Yep, you got it.
Or another liqueur to give it a bit of flavor.
Loving your show, no to handshakes, no to fireworks, unless you can't hear them.
A lot of people don't like fireworks because of their pets.
Yeah.
And that's
consider.
That's something too.
Thank you, Liz.
Great text.
I would shake your hand, Liz.
I'm just saying that.
I'm not saying I love handshakes, but I'm not a total curmudgeon.
And we got steady Eddie's text.
I want to talk about the show I've been watching called Department Q. I recommend it.
It's by the same guy who wrote The Queen's Gambit, and he wrote Minority Report, the Tom Cruise film.
And it's a really good show.
It's a detective show set in, I think, Belfast, Ireland.
Actually, it's kind of ambiguous, but it's definitely somewhere in the UK.
or Ireland and it's a really good show.
A good detective show about a guy who unearths a cold case and he's trying to find this girl who he thinks is still alive and she is but she's been missing for like four years and the show starts with him getting shot with his partner.
The partner gets shots and
gets shot in the spine, the bullet goes through the partner in this guy's jaw and out the other side of his neck.
They both almost die, but neither one of them does.
So he's dealing with the trauma of this horrible shooting.
He doesn't know who shot him, and his partner is paralyzed.
But they're both still working a case.
It's a fascinating show, and I'm really digging it.
But it's not one of those shows that you have to watch.
Some shows you have, like, oh, by the way, I started White Lotus Season 3.
there
Two episodes in.
Patrick Schwarzenegger character is really creepy.
way worse.
But I like it.
I like Mike White's phenomenal.
All those
shows are great.
They're just well
written.
I love the three women who talk
and
like, oh, she's great.
She's great.
But you know what?
Always trying to get a dig in on their friend.
It's just really good.
I'm only two episodes in, but I highly recommend Department Q. Very good stuff.
Um, we've got some texts we'll get to, uh, let's go to PJs on the stream.
He says soak foot in bucket of warm.
He's not using any articles.
He says soak foot in bucket of warm water with Epsom salt.
It will draw out the sliver.
It's glass though.
Will that work for glass?
try to see if it works because I've had it.
I've had it work.
Carl's a distiller.
Let's ask him.
PJ also says I might pick up a pack of Sensei High Seltzers.
These are available in lemonade and strawberry lemonade flavors and come in four packs, eight packs, and 16 packs with varying THC concentrations.
Keep them all there, PJ.
If you're really going to nurse them, do it right, right?
All right, we'll read more of your texts as the show goes on.
Coming up next, we're going to talk spirits with Carl Lohenstein.
It's Pete Schwabba and Nightlight.
Great to have you with me on this Tuesday night on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Pete Schwabba, this is Nightlight.
Great to have you with me on this Tuesday as we barrel toward a big holiday here in America the 4th of July.
Can't wait.
We'll be taking some time off here, but we'll have shows on throughout the end of this week and Monday.
We have some really fun, best of shows put together for you guys, so hopefully you can still get a dose of nightlight if you so choose during our time away.
PJ on the stream says, yes, that Epsom salt method will work for the shard of glass.
The salt is a natural drawing agent.
Science.
Now, here's the danger is he could put that and I'd go, okay, that's great.
I don't know, PJ.
He could drive a forklift and there's nothing wrong with that, but does he, you know, people just believe people.
PJ put a piece of glass in his foot and got it out this way?
Yeah.
Alright, either way, I appreciate the advice PJ.
I'm sure you're a reputable human being and a great texture, but I don't know.
This kind of scares me.
Rob from Green Bay says, I'll be enjoying Athletic Brewing Company's Free Wave Hazy IPA.
That's from Rob in Green Bay.
That sounds lovely.
Tyler from Wisconsin Rapid says, I will be nursing the intergalactic garble blaster served only at the restaurant at the end of the galaxy.
Prost.
Wow, I don't know what to make of that.
Tyler sounds like he's already having some fun for the holiday.
All right, keep those texts coming, folks.
What drink will you be nursing on the 4th of July?
That is tonight's question of the night here at Nightlight.
We will read your texts on the radio as they come in.
Right now, I'm very excited to welcome my first guest of the night.
He is Carl Lowenstein, and he's the founder of Sturgeon Spirits Distillery.
And check out the website, folks.
Listen to the interview, but check out the website.
I cannot even believe.
how much booze you make.
Oh, we have a great time.
And thanks so much for having me on.
It's my pleasure.
Thank you for being here.
And it's great to have you actually in the studio.
How was the drive up?
You know, once you get past the construction in Appleton, it's a straight shot.
Oh, OK.
It's really less than an hour to get up here is not a
big deal.
Oshkosh is a great city.
Born and raised?
No, actually, I grew up in Iowa.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
Okay, so tell us how you ended up in Oshkosh.
Well, basically for work.
So I think, well, I taught at the university at UW Oshkosh for 23 years and that was the first full-time academic job that I had.
So that's where you go.
Academics is weird that way.
Yeah.
When you get a job, you go there and in many cases you just stay.
Yeah.
And it worked out well for you.
It did.
You decided to stay.
You could put a distillery anywhere.
I imagine Wisconsin's a good place for one.
It
is in Tozash, because we didn't have one, and it's a booming industry, and they're popping up all over the place.
Absolutely.
All right, so let's jump right in, Carl.
This is exciting.
I was saying at the beginning of the show, my first, not experience, but awareness of distilling and the process of how alcohol is made
was from the show MASH because Hawkeye and Trapper had their own still in their tent.
And I thought that was fascinating.
I remember trying to watch going, how do they do that?
So I don't know much about the distilling process.
I've had another distiller on about a year ago, and I find it fascinating.
But let's do a deep dive here because you're just the guy to talk to.
Tell us first of all about your business, Sturgeon Spirits.
So we are a little craft facility.
We're at 2663 Oregon Street in Oshkosh.
We've got our own production facility and tasting room and cocktail lounge.
We just opened a new event space.
So we're having parties and bridal showers and a whole bunch of other things.
And we've been at it now for just about two and a half years.
Wow.
and I have been retired for about one and a half.
So I worked the first year just in case it didn't come together for me.
But it came together.
It's going well, absolutely.
I love my retirement.
Yeah.
Are you working harder now on what you're doing now than you were
when you were teaching?
Well, it's a very different kind of...
I mean, essentially, this was my hobby.
I was distilling for probably 10 years in my garage.
My wife kicked me out of the house and said, you'll blow it up if you distill in the house.
So I'm outside in the garage and having a great time with that.
And then I did.
I got to a long way in my teaching career.
And I said, I need something new.
And why not turn your hobby into a business?
Good for you.
That's really impressive.
So, all right.
So did being a history professor, were you able to bring any of that knowledge?
to the distilling process or to this new business because I was looking, I asked that because on your website, you're very knowledgeable about all bourbons and whiskies and everything.
I'm sure you didn't teach that at Oshkosh, but you seem to have a level of history.
No, I think distilling is an incredibly historical.
discipline, our business, because what I mean, there is nothing more deeply embedded in American history than drinking.
And so it is such a core feature.
If you think about the parts of American history, the first rebellion against US government was the whiskey rebellion, because they didn't like the taxes of the put on the farmers to pay for the whiskey.
And of course, prohibition is just
this
weird moment in our history.
So nothing I learned as a professor.
really came over the skills I learned at how to how to read and how to do research and I just read books, right?
I love to just experiment and do all that stuff and Do it and that kind of work is really what you do as a history professor.
It's
so different though than what you did That's what I guess fascinates me like you you're owning your own business now and you're kind of an artist You're making all these great drinks
And teaching is so different.
I'm kind of fascinated.
Well,
that's true.
I've always been the kind of guy who just sticks his hands in and goes, right?
I love to learn new stuff.
I love to keep experimenting.
The fun part about distilling is there's always something new.
And the same thing about being a small businessman, right?
There's always a new thing to figure out,
right?
I'm
doing marketing.
I'm doing accounting.
I'm doing distilling.
I'm making cocktails.
I'm doing...
you know, construction supervision, you name it, I have done it in the last two and a half years.
And I
love it.
Let me ask you this, is it hard to learn?
Like if people are listening, and I'm sure you don't want everybody to do this, but it seems very involved in like a...
detail-oriented process.
Is it hard to
learn how to distill?
I think distilling is actually easier than making beer.
Okay.
Because one of the great things about distilling is that everything is at such high alcohol concentrations, it's sterile.
I don't know if you ever talked to a brewer, right?
They have to worry about bacterial contamination and dirty lines and all this stuff and oxygen and all these things that contaminate your product and makes it not taste good.
I can take
whatever I make, I run it through the still, it comes off the still at 80% alcohol or 90% alcohol, it's sterile
and
it's clean.
And in fact, I was just talking to some of my friends at Fifth Ward Brewery in Oshkosh and they brought me some beer that they had too much of and they'd had some contamination problems.
I distilled it, it made a terrific.
Oh, wow.
Whiskey, I mean, I would say it's a terrific whiskey.
We put in a barrel for a year and it's just it's delicious.
That's fascinating.
I how long does like because I was telling you before we came on the air that Flakes Brewhouse in Madison made a nightlight beer for the Wisconsin Film Festival called Hazeln Radio.
I want to say Dave, the brewmaster had it done maybe in two weeks, maybe three weeks.
How long is it more of a process when you're distilling spirits?
Well, actually distilling is brewing with one more step.
So
I make, I essentially make a beer and it's a whiskey mash or a corn mash or a rum mash or whatever.
I ferment that so the alcohol, the sugars get turned into alcohol.
Right.
And then I put it in my still.
Okay.
Right.
And with your brewing, you just turn it into alcohol and then you serve it.
I do one more step.
And so for me, I can do a batch in a week from start to the spirit coming off the still.
But the thing about it is it comes off the still clear.
No matter what you make, it's clear and whatever proof you want it to be at the still, it comes off clear.
And the color that's in a whiskey comes from the barrel and the aging.
So that's why moonshine is clear,
because
that's fresh from the still, even though it's the same
recipe as a whiskey.
So the color
of whiskey, Scotch, Bourbon, whatever, is because of the barrel?
Yes.
It is absolutely crystal clear when it comes off the still.
So why do they say, and maybe there's nothing to do with the actual color then, but they say stay away from the brown, whether it's colas or like a whiskey, I think vodka is not as detrimental to your health.
Well, they're all pretty bad for you if you drink them straight.
That's why the cocktails are better But I think that's personal preference, but the one of the things about that
Well, we get a lot of detail, but whiskey usually comes off the still at a lower proof and therefore has more stuff left in it.
When you take vodka off the still, it's all the way up at 95% pure alcohol.
So there's no impurities left in that at all.
So it's super, super pure alcohol.
And that's where, and I think that's why vodka can have a smaller effect on you because there's less leftovers and esters and various other chemical compounds that pass through.
through the distilling process.
That makes a lot of sense.
Tell me about, if you would, the barrels, because, I mean, you say you use white oak barrels.
Right.
Do all, like, what's the perfect barrel to use to make a whiskey or a scotch or, you know, something like that?
Well, it's not, everything's an art.
That's one of the things I love about it, right?
There's no, there's the simple answer, which is there's a government rule that says you can't call it bourbon.
unless it's in a new American white oak barrel.
So if you get a bourbon, you know what kind of barrel, and it has to be in there for at least two years.
So there's a federal regulation defining what bourbon is.
For whiskies and scotches and all of those other things, there are rules, but you can use whatever barrel you might want.
But to have bourbon, you need
to have
that new white oak American barrel.
Why?
I don't know.
I think that I don't actually have a good answer to why it has to be that specifically.
I have a feeling it has to do with the industry as it developed, right?
To say when bourbon as an idea was coming into being, they said, we want to make sure it's really distinctive and we want to do something that's really uniquely American.
And
so putting in an American white oak barrel does impart a certain flavor, but it also is part of the thing that makes bourbon bourbon.
My guest is Carl Lowenstein.
He is the founder of Sturgeon Spirits Distillery in Oshkosh.
It is located at 2663 Oregon Street in Oshkosh.
They do tours, events, everything.
They have every kind of alcohol under the sun.
Go to the website and check out their website because you'll be blown away by all of the products they offer.
How long does it take?
to make good whiskey.
Let's say a good Irish whiskey, or you said bourbon has to stay for two years, and you've only been in business for barely that long.
Right, I have no bourbon to sell at bottles.
We have some really young stuff that we do, we use cocktails and tastings, but I don't sell it in a bottle because it's not ready yet.
but you're working on it.
It's sitting in barrels.
I have a ton of barrels just sitting around waiting.
How
excited are you to taste that when it comes out?
That must be something you look forward
to.
Oh, no, it's really exciting.
We do taste it every once in a while, and I think it's getting really close.
And so the other thing that you can do is big and small barrels.
And so I have some really small barrels that will be faster.
We're going to hit that two-year part and have a young bourbon that we will release.
But we're not there yet.
I've tasted new whiskey.
and it doesn't quite have the taste of how long do you have to let whiskey sit before it's really good?
And does that matter?
It does.
It totally matters.
And, you know, obviously some people go for let it sit for 10, 15 years.
Five is the kind of industry standard that it needs to be in a barrel for five years to kind of be, again, bourbon without a caveat.
But there are so many variables that
it's hard to say and I think a lot of it's individual tastes of what you like because like you know you can also over oak whiskey and that's like I don't it tastes literally too oaky and not that not what I want and so there's a lot of you know fine tuning.
Carl Lowenstein is here he is the founder of Sturgeon Spirits Distillery and when we come back I'm going to ask him what the difference is between 18 year scotch
and 10 years scotch.
Let's start there and then we'll find out all the awesome stuff that they offer at Sturgeon Spirits.
It's Peach Wild by Nightlight.
We're coming right back on the Civic Media radio network.
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The Kurt Newman of the Baudin's here, that was fun.
And we had, who else do we have on the show counter?
That was a lot of fun.
I was testing you.
And Jeffrey Curtis.
That was a great talk about film incentives coming to Wisconsin.
And tonight is no different, folks.
We have a great guest here in studio right now.
Lisa Hale will be here at 735.
We'll be talking about the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off in honor of Cameron Fry's birthday.
It's Alan Ruck's birthday today.
So we thought that was a good night to do Ferris Bueller.
But before that, we are talking about Sturgeon Spirits Distillery and all the products they make.
The distiller is here in the studio, and he is the founder of Sturgeon Spirits.
Carl Lowenstein, it's great to have you here.
Before we went to the break, I mentioned you gave a very funny answer about, but what is the difference really?
I had all these friends where I used to live that loved Scotch and turned me on to Scotch and they would drink 18 year old Scotch.
I don't even know what that goes for right now in terms of the cost, but I found a 10 year Scotch at Trader Joe's that I loved.
And to me, it tasted as good as anything I had.
What is the difference?
And is it like to the naked palate?
Is it that much different?
Well, I think my answer was silly, but it's basically true eight years.
So what happens is that whiskey sits in contact with a barrel for an additional eight years, which should mellow it out more, which there's a little more evaporation.
Less burn.
It should be have a little less burn, but.
I haven't had whiskey around that long, so I can't tell you from personal experience how much the difference is going to be.
I mean, I've tried some of those older whiskeys, and I tend to think that the mash overpowers the barrel when you get to that stage.
Because for me, I've noticed that barrels kind of get used up their character.
So after a certain amount of time, you're just not going to get that much.
more flavor out of the barrel, you're just kind of just letting it rest.
So it's kind of that resting that I think can change the complexion, but I don't I don't know the chemistry.
I'm not a chemist.
I'm a historian.
Yeah, don't I don't really know what's going on.
Do
you like to drink?
I would assume you have a pretty good sense of all the stuff if you went into business.
Like you like good cocktail, where's your level of drinking?
Yeah, I always say I didn't go into this just because I wanted free booze.
But I really am into making it as a craft because what I did in my garage is I would make
liqueurs that I would give it gifts.
So in fact, I gave you a little sample of cranberry vodka, which was basically the first product I made at home.
Because
this is right there and you sweeten it a little bit.
It makes a great Cosmo.
You use it for Christmas gifts.
You know, you can make all sorts of really nice drinks.
And so I got into just making alcohol for cocktails.
Now, I like I like to drink.
I my favorite right now is we have this lavender gin.
I do a lavender gin and tonic, which I love every night.
And then, you know, we're always got something new, some new cocktails to just taste.
So, you
know, I'm going to hold this up here on the stream again.
This is a cranberry vodka from Sturgeon Spirits that Carl brought in and even the packaging.
It's very slick packaging, by the way, but how do you.
decide on how to package stuff.
The whole thing seems like it would be so time-consuming and you're retired.
Well,
what I would say is I leaned on good people.
One of the things that makes a business like this work is finding good people and work with them.
My brand design, my shape, my sturgeon, it was all designed by this amazing local design team in Oshkosh who made this lovely package.
that Quill Design Studios put
this whole
thing together.
And that became the basis for everything that we do.
You know, I hired an architect to make sure our building and our tasting room and our fit the kind of character that we wanted to create.
So at every step of the way, you find the right people, you can make this whole thing work.
And it's a great passion project for you.
It is.
Yeah.
So what's the most...
Tell us this first.
Where did the name Sturgeon spirits come from?
Well, I think it's a celebration of our community.
I mean, one of the things in the Lake Winnebago Basin and the Fox River and all through the area are these great, amazing primordial fish that has the weirdest fishing season you can possibly imagine, right?
A frozen lake and you spear them.
I mean, this is...
a phenomenon that you will see nowhere else in the world.
And I wanted to celebrate that.
And I'll tell you one more story, because I do like to tell stories.
So the house
I
bought when I moved to Oshkosh.
25 years ago was also built by sturgeon poachers.
So I'm connected to the history of sturgeon.
So the family that built this house apparently, though they actually started to put the control on sturgeon fishing back in the 20s because the dang Russians were taking all the caviar,
right?
They
were fishing out the whole population for caviar.
And so they put this caps on, but my
The house, the people who owned the house just kept right on fishing the sturgeon out of the lake.
They would had a smokehouse in the backyard, and then they would sell them out of their ice business.
Wow.
That's fascinating.
And what better mascot, so to speak, for your business than a sturgeon for a history professor, because they're so older, like prehistoric.
It says this ancient species made its first appearance about 100.
a million years ago.
Is it a hundred million?
A hundred million years ago.
Okay.
In the upper Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic era, it's just, this is not, this is in the weeds here with your history
stuff, but
that's a great name.
And so, and you guys do a lot.
for the community too.
We'll get to that maybe after the news.
But what's the most difficult spirit to make?
Like, is there one that's finicky?
Like, you have to be overly meticulous when you're distilling
it?
I haven't found anything that's been really hard to do.
I have a lot of, I have temperature control issues, right?
So one of the things you have to worry about is yeast is really picky.
You got to keep your temperature down.
If it gets too high, the yeast basically kills itself.
If it gets too low, they stop being active.
You got to keep your
So there's a lot of chemistry that I have to deal with, but the recipes themselves, the base distilling hasn't been radically different from one product to the next.
That is fascinating.
All right, we have Carl Lohenstein is in the studio.
He is the founder of Sturgeon Spirits Distillery in Oshkosh, and they do tours.
They have tons of craft cocktails.
He's only been in business for less than two years.
And after the news,
The second act, after intermission, we're going to come back and talk about how you use rhubarb in your vodkas.
And you have a jalapeno vodka.
I don't know if you're the first to ever do that.
It's the first I've heard of it.
So we'll talk about that and Carl's process and more about what they do for the community and how you can be part of a great experience as search and spirits.
It's Pete Schwabba and Nightlight.
We're coming back on the Civic Media Radio Network.
too good to be true Can't take my eyes off you
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