Around the Barrel Ep052/Re050 - Goose and Randall
Lucas Hendrickson: When a company has decades of history and millions of friends, it needs caretakers dedicated to keeping the story straight, or at least interesting. Thankfully, Jack Daniel's has had two of the best. On this episode, we talk with Goose Baxter and Randall Fanning, the people who've been in charge of keeping the home fires burning for Mr. Jack's most ardent admirers, the Tennessee Squires Association, about how frying catfish can lead to a very long career, how what you leave out of a set of instructions can be more important than what you put in, and about how you can possibly encapsulate a lifetime of memories living and working, Around the Barrel.
Welcome back to Around the Barrel, the official podcast from the makers of Jack Daniel's. I'm your host, Lucas Hendrickson.
Randall Fanning: Hi. I'm Randall Fanning and I'm from Lynchburg, Tennessee, and have always been from Lynchburg, Tennessee. I have worked for Jack Daniel's now for a good number of years and I've had all kinds of different titles, but right now I'm the Secretary of the Tennessee Squire Association.
Goose Baxter: Hi, my name is Randy Goose Baxter. Goose is my nickname. If people should come in and ask for Randy, they won't even know who you're talking about, but I've been working with the company going on 46 years. I have got Lynchburg ties and over these 46 years, I will not take nothing for it.
Lucas: Randall, Goose, thanks for joining us Around the Barrel, and really thanks for everything you've done for not only our show, but certainly my knowledge about the brand and what you've done for Jack Daniel's. We'll touch on a little bit of all of that here along the way, but we are sitting inside what is called the Robert Room inside the Motlow House on the grounds of the distillery, the northeastern end of the space. And really it is the prime destination for the Squires, to the members of the Tennessee Squires Association.
Tell us a little bit about the history of this space. I know it hasn't been like it is today in its glorious form, but tell us about the history of this part of the property and now what it serves as, and what it means to that relationship between the distillery and the Squires Association.
Randall: Well, this is the location of the Lem Motlow homeplace. When Brown-Forman purchased Jack Daniel's in '56, Ms. Motlow was still living, so they did not purchase the home out from under the other lady. So she passed in '79 at 97. At that time the distillery tried to purchase the home, but the Motlows held onto it until about 12 years ago when the distillery was finally able to purchase the home. And one of the problems with that is the home set in a flood plain, hundred year flood plain. They checked the foundation. It was on the ground already and they took a sheetrock wall off the top of one of the bedrooms and there was asbestos, termites, lead paint, and three dead squirrels.
Lucas: Okay!
Randall: So the home was taken down and this home was built on the location.
Goose: And we moved in this home September of 2016.
Lucas: Okay. So a little over six years in this space, serving primarily as the destination for the Squires to come in and meet one or the both of you most days when coming in to either take a tour or just visit Lynchburg. How important do you think this fantastic structure is to that specific part of that relationship with the Squires?
Randall: Well, when you turn the curve coming into Lynchburg, we're the first building you actually see. And people– You wouldn't believe the number of people that come in and want to take a tour here at Jack Daniel's because they think we are the tour facility because we're out front. But it makes a great location. The reason this is the Robert Room and the other rooms here at the Motlow House are named after the Motlow children: Robert, Hap, Reagor, Connor, and Mary Avon.
Lucas: And several of them also having very important roles along the years as the Motlow family was really in charge of the distillery and especially the rebound of it after prohibition and all of those things. So it's a great way of honoring that family's contribution to the overall distillery history.
Randall: The one thing we do do here besides Squires is we present the barrel selections when people are selecting their barrels.
Lucas: That's what I was going to get to next. Thank you for that segue. And you guys have been involved in that process for how many years as far as helping to guide people through the selection of their single barrel options for something that they're buying, be it commercial or even private?
Goose: Well, you've been hooked up with it ever since it started, hadn't you?
Randall: Ever since it started. But as far as doing the tastings with folks, 2002, Jimmy Bedford, the master distiller at the time. He was traveling a lot and he was the only person doing the tastings. So he said, "Hey, we got to have somebody else doing this." And I volunteered or got pulled into it. I tell everyone I'm not an official taster here at Jack Daniel's because I don't spit whiskey out.
Lucas: What about you, Goose? When did you get involved in the–
Goose: Probably about eight years ago I got involved into it and have enjoyed every minute of it. It's been a bunch of fun and you meet people from all over the world that comes to select barrels and all. You even have people that has came back four or five times buying the barrels. So it's been very neat.
Lucas: Have you recognized those folks over the years and every once in a while go, "Oh, I know what you liked before. Maybe we can send you in that direction?" Or even a completely different direction?
Goose: We have this guy that come in every I guess August and he buys about 10 barrels a year. It's for his company. He gives it away for big accounts, employees, and stuff like that. And the last tasting we'd done, he told me. I said, "Why do you buy so many barrels?" He said, "Gifts." He said, "You can take a big account out, feed them the best steak in the world, wine and dine them." But he said, "When they get back in their vehicle and leave, it's over with." But, he said, "You can give them a bottle of your whiskey and you walk in that CEO's office and sitting on the shelf behind him it's that bottle of whiskey." And he said, "Every time he walks into his office, he'll see that and he thinks of us."
Lucas: Yeah, absolutely. So again, over the years, that's just been a very small part of what each of you have done as part of the distillery. What were your first roles when you got here X number of years ago and what other things have you done as part of your employment time with the distillery?
Randall: I started in '76 as a scholarship employee. Yeah. And when you was a scholarship employee under Roger Brashears, you did everything. The truth is when you was an employee under Roger, you did everything.
Lucas: Because the company certainly wasn't the size it is now.
Randall: Oh, no.
Lucas: And the multiplicity of things that go on back here.
Randall: No. In 2000 we moved to the visitor center and there was Joe Rossman, who was the director over the visitor center, and there was myself in the office and that was it. Now there's 12 people in the office or something like that. So we've definitely grown.
Lucas: What about you, Goose?
Goose: My first day on the job – and really I'm going to say this, I don't even know if I filled out an application.
Lucas: You've just been hanging around.
Goose: How about you, man? Do you think you filled one out?
Randall: I filled out one to get a scholarship employee, but not a full-time employee, no.
Goose: But my first day on the job – you're going to laugh about this. Like he said, when you work for Roger, you've done everything. Y'all know where Barbecue Hill is. But the Barbecue Hill back in them days was a place they called Cumberland Springs. That's where we had our events. And my first day on the job was at Cumberland Springs and I cooked 300 pounds of catfish.
Lucas: That was probably a light day for some of these other events that you were involved in over the years.
Goose: And we cooked them. We didn't use propane. We used wood. We burnt barrels. Cut the barrel half in two and you got your small stave and that was the fuel. A good, hot job.
Lucas: Yeah, especially that part of that whole process. But either one of you, have you been on the production side of things at all or just mainly public facing?
Goose: I have always been on the marketing side of it. Roger might have turned over in his grave just then since I said marketing, because he did not want us to use the word marketing. PR. If you said marketing, what would he say, Randall?
Randall: He'd say, "That's when you stop and buy a loaf of white bread, a gallon of milk, and come on home." That was marketing.
Lucas: That was marketing. Yeah. That makes total sense.
Randall: He was quite a character.
Lucas: I think don't you have to be working at this place?
Randall: But he's the one who hired most of us other characters. Let's say it that way. He always said that his boss was Arthur Hancock and he always said Art was the smartest person to ever worked for Jack Daniel's because he hired him. And that's what we said about Roger. Roger was the smartest person because he hired us.
Lucas: Right. Well, and last time we were speaking with– Or one of the times we were speaking with Nelson Eddy, who's obviously been a great help to us in putting the show together. Art Hancock was a name that he mentioned as far as the pivotal figures as far as trying to, again, raise the visibility of the company overall. So it goes from all those things of expanding just the visibility of the company around the globe, eventually, but also what goes on here in Lynchburg. And then that has been refined and amplified over the years and certainly you guys have both been a significant portion of that in trying to be the public face of the first people people see when they come here. So were you guys naturally drawn to that when you were coming up within the company? Or did it take any time for you to get comfortable with those roles?
Goose: It was just practice, just being in the job for these many years. The more you done it, easier it got.
Randall: And as we said, he had you doing a lot of different jobs, so you was never bored. You never knew. If you come in working one morning, you may be cutting guts out of catfish or cooking hush puppies or driving a tour bus. I always tell everybody I've had every job in marketing except for the main boss. Even from starting with cleaning toilets all the way up to signing tour guides' schedules.
Goose: One time he got onto me. Well, he didn't get onto me. He said, "You go to Miss Bobo's and you serve dinner." "Roger, I don't-" "You go serve that dinner." So I went to Bobo's and I put on my yellow jacket and I served the people. So when they got finished, I just took my jacket off and went back. Bobo's, they called Roger, said, "Hey, he done left. He didn't clean up his mess." So here Roger come, said, "What you doing back down here?" I said, "You told me go and serve. I served. You didn't tell me clean up no dishes." And he said, "Good point."
Lucas: Can't tell somebody to do something when you didn't tell him what to do. So yeah. It'd be specific for some of this stuff.
Randall: I think I got on Roger's good side, believe it or not, cooking hush puppies, because where we used to cook hush puppies at, the visitors, the guests came up and they saw that first. And they'd go over and we would put hush puppies in the brown bag and they'd reach in there and grab hush puppies out. So he saw them doing that one day and he came over. He says, "The next one of those people that puts their hand in that bag, throw a hot hush puppy on there and teach them a lesson." So the next two weeks or something, I was cooking hush puppies and I threw one down there and it was Roger's hand that was in there.
Lucas: Oh, no! But you did as he asked.
Randall: He saw that I followed orders.
Lucas: Other than your current roles, what's been your favorite job as you guys have worked through, again, the public facing side of this place? And certainly it has changed so very dramatically across your times here.
Goose: It's been a great run from day one. All the different jobs that I have done. I was a tour guide for about 30 some odd years and been over here at the Motlows and the Squires Association for going almost 10 years now. And giving tours was very interesting. And then the way I looked at it – and always gave the people, the tourists, the guests – I gave them time. You know what I mean? And because I always thought about it this way. They came a long ways to visit us. When they're in our house, we want to show them a good time by them. And I have made good friends over the world wide.
Lucas: We've said it a number of times during this show that you don't get here accidentally. Unless you were born here, maybe, you've got to want to make this a trip. And obviously not only certainly what you did over the years, but the way the tour guides conduct the tours and interact with guests and all that stuff continues to reflect that over the years. What about you, Randall? What's been your favorite job other than hush puppy throwing over the years?
Randall: Well, I was never an official tour guide, but I took a lot of tours and I personally think that's the best job in our area because as you said, you're going to have 20 to 30 people on your tour and they're here to have a good time and enjoy themselves. So you give them some passion, you give them some knowledge, and you joke around a little bit with them, too. And they'll come in, they'll go, "Didn't I have you as a tour guide 10 years ago?" Or something along that line. It makes you feel good to think, "Well, they remember me," because we've all been told that if a tourist remembers 10% of what you've told them the next day, you've done a good job. So if they can remember that tour guide, it's a special feeling.
Lucas: That's a big part of that as well. Again, you both talked about seeing people from every walk of life, from all over the planet. How would you characterize the folks who come in from outside the US, the international friends of Mr. Jack? Are there certain parts of the world where you get people who are a little more intense when they come here and they want to just, again, soak in every last drop of this experience? Or what's it like to see the folks from different parts of the globe?
Randall: Well, I think there's one word that you can really sum up those folks. Most of them are very passionate.
Goose: And too, they just saw videos of the place, pictures of it. And when they get ready to leave, you hear them say, "This is the real deal." And what they saw is what they saw here.
Lucas: You make it real for them. That's the big part of that thing. And I moved to Middle Tennessee over 30 years ago now. Came down here in my twenties and in my thirties and now a little later on than that. And just again, the thing that I always take away and everybody that I've brought down here over the years take away from it– They're touched by how authentic it has continued to remain, even in the midst of it being one of the most visible brands on the planet. And that personal touch that you guys have helped to give thousands of people over the years adds a lot to that.
Randall: It's the real deal. I had a group from Australia one day. Years ago, you couldn't have commercials on television. So in England and in Australia, we could have commercials in the theaters. And a couple was on tour with me and from Australia. We got past the old office area and I heard him say to her, "Gosh, it wasn't a sound stage. It's the real thing that they're showing us." So they were impressed that it was what it was.
Lucas: Well, I think again – and we certainly talked in the past on this show about it. Again, that "Postcards from Lynchburg" advertising series for all those years. Certainly as a younger man, that's how I was first exposed to the brand growing up in West Texas. When you get here and you realize that this isn't the story, that there's plenty of stories to be told, but they're not making anything up in the midst of all this. It's still very much a, "This is where it's made. These are the people who are making it." And that, again, making it real to those folks as they visit here leaves a big impression on folks.
Randall: With our personalities that we have here at the distillery and all, I think folks just tend to gravitate toward us. As you said, to get here, you got to be coming here.
Lucas: Along those lines, when you guys first started here, it was pretty much Old No. 7 all the time, 364 days a year. But you've watched this expand first to Gentlemen Jack, and then this array of products we've got on displayed behind us. What's it been like to see each of those things as they've been added to the list and seeing then the different people who enjoy those different – the flavored products and the RTDs, things of that nature – helping to shape out the brand as a whole?
Goose: If you don't change with time, when you finally wake up, you will be so far behind you'll never catch up. So it's perfect to expand out. The coolers that we have came out with, we're targeting a whole different age group. We're introducing them to Jack and we're hoping when they do become a mature whiskey drinker, Jack would be drink of choice. So I'm all for it.
Randall: In 2009, if you had told us that we was going to come out with something called Tennessee Honey in 2011, everybody would've shook their head and says, "No. There's no way Jack Daniel's is going to go into another brand along that line." And what? Honey's our number two selling product now.
Lucas: Well, and again, that changing face of American spirits and American whiskey just as a general category, the thing that I've been impressed with as I've been exposed to it and as the new things have come out – Maybe the company isn't the first to market for a honey or a cinnamon or an apple, but they're going to do it the best.
Goose: We might not be the first one that came out with it. We're probably the last one to come out with it. But when we do come out with it, it's right.
Randall: It's quality.
Lucas: Well, talk about innovations and things that are new and different and yet hearkening back to some fantastic products before. This is the newly released Distillery Series No. 10, a straight Tennessee whiskey finished with toasted pecan and wood chips. And Goose, I'm told that you had a big hand in bringing this particular expression to life. Tell us about the Distillery Series as a whole and then talk about specifically what's in that fantastic bottle that unfortunately I'm not going to get to taste today.
Goose: When we first started this series, it was called the Tennessee Tasters and we had seven Tennessee Tasters and the company that was making the bottles for us just stopped making them. So they had to find a new company to make the 375 oval for us. And they found one and they went ahead and changed the name of the series because this bottle is about that much taller than the Tasters.
Lucas: Than the rest of the Tennessee Tasters.
Goose: So we don't want to mess with people's heads. "What's wrong with these two bottles? One's tall. One's short." So since the bottles are still a bit taller, just go ahead and rename the series. The Tasters and the Distillery Series can only be bought in Tennessee. Only in Tennessee. You know what? And this is something that we came about about two years ago. And what we did, we tuck toasted pecan chips and dropped them into the barrel.
Lucas: Like what you'd use in smoking barbecue? Okay, gotcha.
Goose: No. It's just chips dropped into the barrel and it stayed in there for about a year and a half and–
Lucas: Oh, wow. So it's a long finish on that.
Goose: We thought it was about– And, too, it was during the time of all this shut down, the pandemic. All that stuff was going on.
Lucas: Plenty of time to play with stuff.
Goose: Yeah. So it turned out very well and I'm very proud of it. I am. I'm very proud to have my name on a bottle. I would never dream it would happen. If you told me back in 1976 when I started with the company that I would have a bottle, I'd said, "No way." But I did not expect it to be this good to me over these 46 years.
Lucas: I'd say break down what the tasting and the blending process on that was for you. But I think just again, repetition on some of this stuff becomes the key to it.
Goose: No, I don't know. Did you notice on the front of the label with the proof?
Lucas: I did not. Let's see.
Goose: Look at the proof on it.
Lucas: I am not reading that wrong to say 120. Holy cow.
Goose: That's what it is.
Lucas: That's going to be potent. So what would you say for the person who was considering, they've come down to Tennessee to either check it out here at the White Rabbit or pick it up at fine beverage warehouses around the state of Tennessee. What are they going to experience when they take a sip of that?
Goose: To me, pretty well balanced. A great finish to it. Something you can enjoy this season, the holidays, and enjoy a good pour of it and about two cubes of ice.
Lucas: What do you think the pecan chips bring to that as far as tweaking that flavor a little bit?
Goose: It's kind of put some toasted to it.
Lucas: But not like a smokiness? It's just a little more of an extra warmth to that?
Goose: Yeah.
Lucas: Interesting. Okay.
Goose: And you notice how it's a gorgeous color to it.
Lucas: It's fantastic color to that. That's going to look good on people's shelves, but probably better in a glass, I'm thinking.
Goose: It will.
Lucas: I'm just guessing. I'm just guessing. Randall, what do you think about it? I'm assuming you've taste tested this along the way as well. What do you-
Randall: I thought it was very good. Very good. We tried three different proofs to see which was the best. The 120 was really, really nice.
Lucas: Did you guys walk through the process of tasting that like you would helping people make single barrels?
Goose: Well, I'll tell you what we did. We were sitting in the back back here, just got finished eating dinner, and Lexie brought some over and we just dove into it and we even had Will tasting with us.
Randall: The one person we've not mentioned in our whole conversation so far is Will Shavers. Will is the young fellow that might try to take over one of our positions, but he's got a long way to go to fill our overalls.
Lucas: Well, I was going to mention it. It's another reason why we are sitting here. You guys are both getting ready to retire. Individually, what do you guys think have been the most memorable parts of your careers here? I know that's hard. It's a hard thing.
Goose: All of it. It's just a great experience from day one and, like I said, I just wish I could start over and do it again.
Randall: The company has been great. Jack's a good company to work for. Brown-Forman. Good company to work for. The people we've worked with over the years. I mean, there's been so many great memories and trials and tribulations with some, but it's just a feeling of family here at Jack, I think. I always like to tell everybody with our ads and our people, we don't sell whiskey. We sell a way of life.
Lucas: What's next for each of you? What are you guys looking forward to most in retirement? I know you're a relatively new grandfather in the midst of all that. So what have you got planned?
Goose: I might travel just a little bit. I went out west in 2008 to Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Idaho. And I really enjoyed that. Big sky country. And I'd like to do that one more time, man. Just stay around the house, do what I want to. I will come back every once in a while.
Lucas: And I imagine you've got friends all over the planet. You can probably reach out to some of those Squires and–
Goose: Right at the moment here we're retiring, which he's probably done, had people do him the same way. The Brown-Forman reps that we have worked with over the years, you know. "Now, here's my email address and here's my phone number where I can be in touch." They want to stay in touch.
Lucas: Well, and you guys both have been big parts of their experience of telling decision makers all over the planet about this brand, about this liquid that they are enjoying selling as well. So it's probably impossible to calculate the impact that you've had, not only on the friends of Mr. Jack, but also the people who also make their living getting this everywhere out in the world. So everybody, me certainly, owes you guys a lot in bringing our knowledge of this brand and deepening it and helping us to understand it even further.
Goose: Just like this guy yesterday. I'd done a tasting up here in that room over there and this guy walked in and it was a Brown-Forman rep and knew him for years. He even took me out to Vegas to the Hooter's swimsuit competition.
Lucas: Oh, my.
Goose: But we sat down and I asked him, and I said, "Are you getting ready to retire?" He said, "Yes, I am." He said, "I was going to announce it tonight at dinner with these folks." He said, "Yes, I am retiring now." So when he left yesterday, I did give him a bottle of my whiskey and signed it.
Lucas: Oh, nice.
Goose: And the guy broke down. He broke down on me.
Lucas: That's very cool.
Goose: That's the kind of friends we have made over the years.
Randall: There's just so many of the reps that over the years we've got to know them. And a lot of times they'll call us instead of calling the events coordinator here to plan stuff, because they want to make sure they get one of us as a presenter or–
Lucas: Well, you guys' calendars are pretty booked up, so you got to get in there and get that request in fairly early because you guys are busy.
Goose: I'd like to make a statement about it. You might have to cut this out. But like this morning, we got a message and they wanted Randall and myself to come to the visitor's center. So we went to the visitor's center and we was sitting on outside. And you can finish it.
Randall: The CEO of the company came by.
Lucas: Oh, wow.
Randall: Shook our hands and sat with us for a picture.
Lucas: That's tremendous.
Goose: And thanked us.
Lucas: That's tremendous. That's very cool. You're not going to see a lot of multinational brands do that for their folks.
Goose: You're right.
Lucas: Again, it's just another one of those things that shows the human touch on not only the liquid itself, but getting it into the hands of friends all over the world and continuing to knit together how this town is the heart and soul. And you guys are certainly the pulse of it. How important that is to this effort as a whole. So I'm glad that that happened.
Goose: And it really made me feel good now. And it probably made him feel real good.
Randall: Oh, it did. It was very touching.
Lucas: That's awesome. What are you looking forward to most? This chapter is coming to a close. You guys aren't going anywhere anytime soon, but what are you guys looking forward to most in retirement?
Randall: So we're going to travel a little bit and we don't have feathers, so we don't fly. But I'm looking forward to getting up in the morning and if we drive 50 miles and decide to spend the night there and to do whatever's in that area. Have no time. No reason to be anywhere at any particular time. That's what I'm looking forward to.
Lucas: Just taking the time to experience that. So that's very cool.
Goose: And I've got my fishing poles out.
Lucas: And plus there is also still the unofficial caretaking of the individual plots. So that little piece there. That's part of Squire lore.
Randall: Well, let us tell you the story first.
Lucas: Yes.
Randall: We had a Squire from South Georgia to come in one day. He said he'd been a Squire over 30 years. And he was upset about the way we were taking care of his property. He said we had asked permission to dig fishing worms and to go hunting on his property. And he thought growing watermelons was a great thing. He was going to sell them and make money for the Squires and for the Squire program itself. But then we wrote him the letter telling him about the hogs getting out and tearing up the watermelon patch, so he was a bit upset about that.
Lucas: Right. As well he should be.
Goose: So he said, "Fence it off." And that's the fence for his property. And people really gets a big kick out of it when show it to them now. They get just so tickled.
Lucas: I mean, this is always part of the? What's– Just a little chicken wire and some–
Randall: It's a white picket fence.
Lucas: White picket fence. Yep, absolutely. That's always tremendous. Again, you mentioned Will can't really fill your overalls, but he's going to be that public face now of the Squire's moving forward?
Randall: He'll probably be one of them.
Goose: One of them.
Lucas: Sure. Sure. There's a lot of folks who could never do what you guys do. It's been an honor and a pleasure to speak with both of you over the years as far as, again, deepening my own knowledge and helping pass that along to folks who listen to this show. So for me, I certainly appreciate that and wish you both nothing but the best as far as what's happening next. And when I come back down here for The Jack or for whatever, I expect to see you and I'm sure everybody is feeling that that same way as well. So Randall, Goose, again, thanks for everything you've done and thanks for joining us Around the Barrel.
Goose: Well, thank you.
Randall: Thank you and you're welcome.
Lucas: Thanks for joining us Around the Barrel.
Thanks for checking out this episode of Around the Barrel. You can find archived episodes of Around the Barrel on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and more, plus on the web at jackdaniels.com/podcast. And if you like what you hear, please follow, rate and review while you're at it. Cheers y'all and join us next time for more conversations, Around the Barrel.
Your friends at Jack Daniel's remind you to drink responsibly. Jack Daniel's and Old No. 7 are registered trademarks, copyright 2023, Jack Daniel's. Tennessee Whiskey, 40% alcohol by Volume, 80 proof. Distilled and bottled by Jack Daniel Distillery, Lynchburg, Tennessee. Around the Barrel is intended for listeners 21 years of age and older.
