Jake Lewellen: Welcome back to another episode of Thursday Thoughts with Jake. We're excited to talk about what's happening in Nulu this weekend. So sit back and buckle in to the latest episode of the Bourbon Lens. it is great for you to join us. I'm not going to pretend to pronounce your name correctly, so I will let you introduce yourself here momentarily. But Emily ⁓ all of the chicken cock locations, both in Bartstown and here now in Nulu. So we're excited to have a conversation. So Emily, thanks for joining us.

Emily Zaborowski: Ha Thanks Jake for having me. And my last name's not as scary as it looks, it's Zabarowski. So if you just go syllable by syllable, we gotcha.

Jake Lewellen: Yeah, yeah, me not well in reading. Yeah.

Emily Zaborowski: Completely fine.

Jake Lewellen: caveman esque, Emily, thanks for spending a few minutes with us. know, we got to meet each other at the ⁓ original opening of the Bardstown location. I can't believe that's been almost two years ago now ⁓ got enjoy seeing what you all are doing and we've run into each other a handful of times since then. So it's always ⁓ great to people that you get to do real life with come on the podcast and talk with us. So can you share a little

Emily Zaborowski: Yeah.

Jake Lewellen: bit about what you do for chicken cock.

Emily Zaborowski: Yeah, so I am my official title is director of brand experience. And what does that mean? So I was hired to create our brand home here in Bardstown, which is where we're based out of. And like you said, been open almost two years. That's the summer of this June. And so was tasked with coming up with an idea of how to turn in, turn the Harrison Smith house into the brand home for chicken cock. did that, we got that open and then our owner, Marty was like, we're going to do it again in Nulu. And I was like, all right, let's do it. then we decided we were going to do the satellite tasting room ⁓ Nulu, decided on the space there in the Nulu marketplace. And we love it. Love being a part of Nulu and just also being able to showcase Chicken Cock in a little bit of a different way than what we do here in Bartstown. Both ⁓ very different experiences what you typically find for know, distilleries or tasting rooms and things like that. So, then just being able to set the new Loo space a little bit different from what we do here in Bardstown. So responsible for overseeing ⁓ creation the programming for both the locations. And then I have two amazing GMs who oversee the day to day. ⁓ And I get in their way most of the times when I show up. So. ⁓

Jake Lewellen: as any good boss does. No, it's exciting. You have a great space. What's really cool about the space that you're in, has a kind of a speakeasy vibe underneath it, right? And so you took what was an okay space and I think really elevated it from the pictures. I've yet to come down. Hopefully that changes this weekend. But you sit really right in the heart of Nulu. there which is great and that marketplace is amazing you got me squared right to your left depending on where you're looking at it and then you've got the Mayan Cafe and West 6th yeah

Emily Zaborowski: Right. We've got what's six right behind us. Mayan Cafe is down the street. Seven's right next door. Lulu's right across the street. Shout out to the Taj's. And I never remember which one's which. And I'm not getting into that conversation, but.

Jake Lewellen: Yeah. Yeah. The original, the original and the non original, but they're both original because of the same owners. ⁓ Yeah.

Emily Zaborowski: No. Yeah, all amazing neighbors and the neighborhood to be in.

Jake Lewellen: For sure, and one of the things that I hope to experience this weekend, one of the things I like about the Bardstown experience is you have some of the better elevated cocktails. So did you bring that elevated cocktail experience to the Nulu marketplace as well? Okay.

Emily Zaborowski: So yes and no. Yes with that. So always my mission has been. to make sure that we have a great cocktail program. And when looking at both different locations, Bardstown and Louisville are two very different cities on very different scale of things. what we decided to do was, so I have my lead bartender, Barbie, ⁓ down in Bardstown, who does an amazing job here. She stays pretty busy with ⁓ what she do in Bardstown. ⁓ So now have an amazing barley to new Luke, Kelly Nelson, ⁓ who she really taken a whole of the cocktail menu I gave her the task of we're gonna bring five of our Bardstown classics up to ⁓ ⁓ it's your game to rewrite and redo the rest of the menu. And so that's what we're gonna celebrate this weekend ⁓ her big reveal of the amazing cocktails that she's put together. ⁓ yes, amazing cocktail program. No, the same things as Bardstown, a few of them, but ⁓ most ⁓ of them are Kelly's own creations, so we're excited about that.

Jake Lewellen: Awesome. And so you're going to, you're going to kind of can compound all this together with Bockfest that's happening, which is one of Nulu's biggest events, uh, where people come down and we see goats race, right? Uh, because a lot of people don't know about the market of Nulu and what it originally was. And so this racing really, um, gets, um, a lot of hype and excitement. It's supposed to be great weather this weekend, which is even better. Um,

Emily Zaborowski: It's, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Fingers crossed.

Jake Lewellen: fingers crossed. And so ⁓ know with that you will have what's called the coop right I guess is the best way ⁓ to that. And I'm reading from the press release here, so mind my gaze. The Coop blends Chicken Cox Gilded Age famous old brand heritage with a modern immersive hospitality experience opens ⁓ weekend with Bockfest. And you will be sponsoring the Goat Steaks featuring your own contender, Whiskey the Kid. So not only are sponsoring it, you've got some skin in the game too. ⁓

Emily Zaborowski: Whiskey the kid. We've got Skin in the game, and then also just one last little thing about Bogfest that we're gonna do down there. Will Woodington, our national brand ambassador. No, he has a new title now. Brand director of brand engagement. It's so weird because our titles are like pretty much like it's the same abbreviation. I'm always like, which one are you? Which one? ⁓ so he's going to be joining us and also he's going to be leading a rooster calling contest during Bockfest. So we're for that for him.

Jake Lewellen: Almost the same. I'm excited for that for Will personally knowing Will as well as I do. ⁓ personally excited for the Rooster Calling contest. Will the big ⁓ cock sitting on thing come? ⁓ coming. All right, that's a big deal. Because if you've never saddled up and rode a chicken cock, you've got now you got the opportunity. ⁓

Emily Zaborowski: Mm-hmm. ⁓ Ricky's coming down. Ricky's coming down. Yep. Yeah, I'm loading him up in the truck Saturday morning and schlepping him up.

Jake Lewellen: It's one of the ⁓ joys in life ⁓ to see whether it's Kentucky Bourbon Festival or at the Bourbon Classic or whatever to see people hop up on ⁓ ⁓ and take ⁓ picture with it. It's hilarious.

Emily Zaborowski: You can't take life too seriously, you know?

Jake Lewellen: can't. And when you have a brand name like you all have, you gotta have fun with it.

Emily Zaborowski: Absolutely. you know, our name's Chicken Cock and like we all haven't heard at least 87 jokes a day about the name.

Jake Lewellen: ⁓ especially when you get a bunch of men on their bachelor parties going through Bartstown or going through downtown Louisville.

Emily Zaborowski: having a few drinks in them and then, yep, we hear it all.

Jake Lewellen: Yep. ⁓ for sure. We, ⁓ we got the cross bodies last year at Kentucky Bourbon Festival. And there were a few names that were we'll, we'll leave them as unmentionables to the podcast.

Emily Zaborowski: Yes, they write themselves.

Jake Lewellen: for sure. tomorrow when this drops there is the kind of the first event of the weekend though which is the mover and shaker event. talk about what's happening Thursday from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. you're gonna party tomorrow. What's that look like for you all at the Louisville location?

Emily Zaborowski: Yeah, so we are partnering with Mover and Shaker to come up and do a pop-up event with us. So we're super excited about that. Nick and one of his team members ⁓ going to come up. They a killer cocktail menu. ⁓ It's, I always mess this up because I'm not big in video games, ⁓ but the theme is what? Is it fallout or what? It's some.

Jake Lewellen: Ugh. some game. I'm not

Emily Zaborowski: Yes, but I showed like, I mean, my 11 year old, saw the flyer of it and he said the name immediately and I am just flanking on it. There's some really great cocktails. If you're familiar with the bar world, Mover and Shaker is a great brand that really just in captures what it's like to live behind the bar. ⁓ So we're excited to have Nick there and we'll also have Tavares Smith of our team. He's going to be behind the bar with us as well as Kelly. My bar lead is going to be down there slinging some awesome drinks, talking all the Mover and Shaker stuff. And Nick will also be selling some of his ridiculous Mover and

Jake Lewellen: It's a video game. Yeah.

Emily Zaborowski: and shaker swag, is always fun. So that's night number one. So I will need, and then night, ⁓ it's a marathon. It's a marathon. And then night number two is where we're really excited. So this is Kelly's night to shine with the preview her new cocktail menu for the coupe. ⁓ there are just, let me pull up a couple.

Jake Lewellen: Yeah. And then that's two. You're partying all weekend.

Emily Zaborowski: ⁓ so one of the ones that i'm super excited about it's called the coxcomb ⁓ a coconut fat fat wash bourbon with hibiscus syrup ⁓ juice and then a little bit of clove tincture in there. That's the one that ⁓ ⁓ excited about, but there's some really fun ones. And think one of the things that I'm really excited about that we don't limit, we didn't, I didn't put any really big limits on Kelly. it's like, yes, of course, if we're going to do bourbon cocktails, ⁓ they to be made with chicken cock, but you're not only limited to doing bourbon cocktails. I want a strong bourbon cocktail game, ⁓ but reality, personality, people don't always want to drink bourbon. You know, me included. when I do, it's chicken cock. ⁓

Jake Lewellen: Yeah. Well, and you know, you got the brand new that you can play around with. first of all, I always like to say this when you all have a back bar or anything, this is one of the most gorgeous bottles in ⁓ all of ⁓

Emily Zaborowski: I know, and I apologize. I should have asked if this was going to be recorded or else I would have had a much better backdrop besides ⁓ my rando file folders.

Jake Lewellen: You're fine. All good. Hey, Bourbon Plus, good magazine back there.

Emily Zaborowski: So, yes, the bottles, ⁓ can go spend another 20 minutes talking about the bottles, but. ⁓

Jake Lewellen: Yeah.

Emily Zaborowski: But yes, so Thursday night, mover and shaker pop up nine until midnight. If you're feeling like you can stay up late with us. And then Friday night, the menu lunch, that's from five until midnight. So you can come in a little bit early. ⁓ So way you don't have to stay up so late. Those are two big things. And then of course, we're sponsoring the race at block fest. We're going to have a special cocktail down there. have our goat rooster calling. Also this, you know, the tasting room will be open all day. We're going to.

Jake Lewellen: Yep.

Emily Zaborowski: have the same featured cocktail that we're doing during the race ⁓ is making for us down at the race but you can also buy it at Chicken in New Loop so all day long then the coupe will be open that night too as we all know that day usually turns into a late night too so we'll be there.

Jake Lewellen: ⁓ for sure. And so, you know, the coupe is also it's the speakeasy environment below the bar, right? you I've been in the previous ownership's location. So ⁓ what you done to change it? Because it was kind of rustic. It really was the kind of like ⁓ 1920s vibe that they had going on down there. So how have you all changed that to meet your all's aesthetic?

Emily Zaborowski: Correct. So really not a whole lot. We, I completely redid the lighting. ⁓ so there's some different light fixtures redid the seating. So now there's some bankettes and just some ⁓ plush chairs to sink into, but it's still that same vibe because I just love ⁓ you walk down there and it's got that perfect lighting. It sets that mood ⁓ Whether we, you know, we do live music once a week, ⁓ know, so it's even better with the live music, but without live music, It's still a beautiful setting and I wanted to really let the setting speak for itself and the cocktails speak for itself. You know, I think get asked at least probably twice a week, are you gonna put pictures on the wall? No, we're not putting pictures on the wall. It doesn't need pictures on the wall. It just needs that nice stone and the dark atmosphere and that's all we need. ⁓ ⁓

Jake Lewellen: Yeah, well, and it's great because, you know, cool. It's calm. Like I can imagine like you talk about live music, like getting some smooth jazz playing and ⁓ you're you know, Island Rooster. That's a good one. I like Island Rooster a lot. And you to bring your big boy wallet for that one though, guys and gals. Get you a Violin Rooster and you just enjoy life ⁓ in the basement.

Emily Zaborowski: ⁓ yeah. Yeah. And that's what I want. I want people to be able to sip away, get away from the busyness literally one street above. Just be able to sit down and enjoy that time with whoever you're with or make your new friends. Because that's the thing, at both of our spaces, they're not huge spaces. think we're 30 seats down in the coupe, I'm eight seats at our bar here in Bardstown. What I want people to do is really focus on making those connections with who's sitting next to you.

Jake Lewellen: Yeah.

Emily Zaborowski: somebody that's in your group or it might be somebody completely new and just being able to get away from all the busyness and relax in the environment you're in that's what I want for our guests when they come to either one of our spaces.

Jake Lewellen: Yeah, I think that's a really important thing because the best thing about whiskey overall, right, is creating community, right? Like that's the best part about it.

Emily Zaborowski: And that's what I fell in love with, with being in the bourbon industry for, you know, gosh, a bajillion years now, it feels like. But that's just the community of as soon as you open up a glass of bourbon, it's here, let me share this with my friend. Let me tell you this story of why I like it. Let me tell you this story of why I don't like it. Let me tell you how I got this bottle. Like, you know, and it always leads to a lot more conversations than I think the typical other, like,

Jake Lewellen: Mm-hmm. Yep.

Emily Zaborowski: types of alcohol does. So another reason to love this business. ⁓

Jake Lewellen: for sure, you're not. You're not shooting it. You're sipping it to savor it and have a enjoyable time. you all have, you have to recharge your batteries. Let's make sure that we let Emily recharge her batteries. But ⁓ weekend guys, starting tonight, ⁓ can find all the stuff happening ⁓ in Nulu. ⁓ if you're interested, ⁓ check out what's happening. If you want to just go to Bachfest and just check out the space ⁓ that this Saturday, ⁓ sure that you all check out Chicken Cock in Nulu. Emily, congratulations on all the success that you are having and that you will continue to have. And thanks for joining us this week on Thursday Thoughts.

Emily Zaborowski: Thanks for having me Jake and hopefully we get to see you this weekend. If not, we'll catch up soon and everybody come out this weekend. It's going to be a great fun weekend down in Nulu.

Jake Lewellen: everybody.