Whiskey with a Desert Soul: Stephen Paul and the Mesquite Magic of Whiskey Del Bac

Get the inside pour on one of Tucson’s most iconic craft creations. In this episode, you’ll hear:

• The Backyard BBQ That Sparked a Whiskey Revolution
  How Stephen Paul and his wife Elaine turned a casual evening and some leftover mesquite into the seed of a world-class whiskey brand.

• The Journey from Furniture to Firewater
  Discover how a career in mesquite furniture laid the groundwork for sustainable, desert-inspired distilling.

• What Makes Whiskey Del Bac Truly Unique
  Learn about their mesquite-smoking process, why they malt their own barley, and how every sip captures the flavor of the Sonoran Desert.

• From Bootleg Beginnings to a Family Business
  Hear how Stephen and his daughter Amanda took an experimental idea and grew it into a respected and community-rooted distillery.

• A Community Hub with Flavor
  Explore the events, tastings, and cultural collaborations that make Hamilton Distillers more than just a whiskey producer.

• Behind the Barrel with Distiller’s Cut Releases
  Get a peek into their experimental line of small-batch whiskeys and the creative palate that shapes them.

• The Meaning Behind the Name “Whiskey Del Bac”
  A deep dive into the trilingual story of how this Tucson spirit pays tribute to local geography, culture, and history.

Welcome to another flavorful episode of Life Along the Streetcar, your weekly dive into the people, ideas, and spirit that make Tucson one of the most vibrant cities in the Southwest. This week, host Tom Heath sits down with a true Tucson original: Stephen Paul, co-founder of Hamilton Distillers and the visionary behind Whiskey Del Bac, a world-class single malt whiskey that is unmistakably shaped by the desert that surrounds us.

This episode takes you inside a story that is as rich and nuanced as the whiskey itself. From humble beginnings to national acclaim, Stephen Paul’s journey is a toast to Tucson’s flavor, creativity, and sense of community.

🌵 Distilling the Desert: A Taste of Southwestern Pride

Whiskey Del Bac is not just made in Tucson — it tastes like Tucson. With mesquite wood taking the place of traditional peat, this whiskey captures the smoky, earthy spirit of the Sonoran Desert in every sip. It is a liquid tribute to the landscape, the people, and the rich cultural blend that defines life in the Old Pueblo.

By using mesquite to smoke the malted barley, Whiskey Del Bac delivers a distinctive flavor profile that sets it apart from any other American single malt. It is a spirit infused with sense of place, made by people who live and breathe the desert air. This is Southwestern craft distilling at its finest: bold, flavorful, and rooted in the land.

🔥 Where Mesquite Meets Imagination: The Origin Story

It all began over a backyard barbecue, a bottle of Scotch, and a bit of creative banter between Stephen Paul and his wife, Elaine. Surrounded by scraps of mesquite from their furniture business, Elaine posed a question that would change everything: “Why couldn’t you dry malt over a mesquite fire instead of peat?”

That question sparked a journey of curiosity, experimentation, and a whole lot of trial and error. Stephen began distilling at home, learning the craft from the ground up, initially without a license. With the help of his daughter Amanda and a dream born from the desert, Hamilton Distillers was founded, and Whiskey Del Bac was born. This is innovation with heart, a story of vision fueled by serendipity and sustained by grit.

🌱 Sustainability in Every Sip: The Eco-Conscious Roots

Before whiskey, there was mesquite furniture. Stephen Paul spent decades working with local mesquite wood, creating handcrafted pieces that celebrated the beauty of native materials. But mesquite is a tricky and twisty wood, often leaving behind scraps too small for furniture but too beautiful to waste.

Instead of sending that wood to the landfill, the Pauls found a new purpose in fueling the malting process for their whiskey. What was once waste is now part of a premium craft product, honoring sustainable practices and resourcefulness that echo Tucson values. Even the water used in the process is thoughtfully filtered, allowing yeast to thrive in our mineral-rich municipal supply while reducing environmental impact.

🥃 More Than a Distillery: A Community Gathering Place

Hamilton Distillers is about building something bigger than business. With regular tours, tastings, live music events, and educational talks like their Armchair Anthropology series, the distillery has become a cultural hub for Southern Arizona.

They host events that highlight local food, art, and thought, from “Women in Whiskey” nights to Tucson Foodie parties and birthday celebrations for the city itself. It is a place where stories are shared, knowledge is poured, and friendships are distilled all over a glass of something exceptional.

👨‍👧 A Family Legacy: Born and Raised in the Old Pueblo

At the heart of it all is a father-daughter partnership deeply tied to Tucson. Stephen Paul has called this city home since he was eleven, and Amanda Paul brings a modern vision and operational excellence to the team. Together, they’ve grown Whiskey Del Bac from a backyard curiosity into a national name, all without losing sight of their roots.

They’ve stayed committed to local collaboration, supporting nonprofits, cultural events, and fellow small businesses. Family-founded and locally grown, Hamilton Distillers represents the very best of what Tucson has to offer — creativity, community, and craft.

🥂 Experience the Spirit of Tucson

Whiskey Del Bac is a story in a bottle, a celebration of Tucson’s landscape, culture, and character. Whether you’re savoring the smoky notes of their Dorado or the smooth complexity of a Distiller’s Cut release, every pour is rooted in craftsmanship and desert pride.

Visit whiskeydelbac.com to:

• Book a tour or tasting and experience the distilling process up close

• Explore upcoming events, including live music, community talks, and special whiskey releases

• Learn more about the whiskey lineup, from their classic expressions to seasonal experiments

Prefer to sip closer to home? You can find Whiskey Del Bac at many of Tucson’s favorite liquor stores, or ask your bartender for a pour at the local spots that celebrate and support Arizona craft spirits.

Support local. Celebrate the desert. Taste something unforgettable.
And don’t forget — raise a glass to Tucson.

🎧 Listen now on SoundCloud
🌐 Explore more local stories at lifealongthestreetcar.org
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Tom Heath
Good morning. It’s a beautiful Sunday in the old Pueblo. You’re listening to Katy. Tucson. Thank you for spending a part of your brunch hour with us on your downtown Tucson community. Sponsored, all volunteer powered rock n roll radio station. This week we’re joined by Stephen Paul, co-founder of Hamilton Distillers and the man behind Tucson’s Award-Winning whiskey, Dale bark.

Tom Heath
We’ll dive into how a love for the store in desert and mesquite sparked a uniquely southwestern approach to American single malt whiskey. Today is June 8th, 2025. My name is Tom Heath and this is life along the street. Car. Every Sunday we shine a light on social, cultural and economic forces shaping Tucson’s urban core from a mountain to the University of Arizona and all stops in between.

Tom Heath
You get the inside track right here on 99.1 FM streaming on Downtown radio.org. Also available on your iPhone or Android with our Downtown Radio Tucson app to connect with us directly. About the show. Follow the lifelong A Streetcar on Facebook and Instagram, or head to life along the streetcar.org. Most episodes are posted there with audio and video. Plus, you’ll find shows, info on our book and an easy way to reach out.

Tom Heath
Well, we typically cover things within the urban core from about the University of Arizona. And as summer approaches, we are now in the midst of our road trip season. So we took a little road trip up north to around Grant road, where Hamilton Distillers hangs out there and makes a fabulous product known here in Tucson as Whiskey del Bosque.

Tom Heath
And we had a chance to sit down with one of the owners and the co-founder who, sitting around one night drinking some scotch with his wife. They, they hatched this idea that maybe mesquite could be used instead of the, the peat that they use for Scotch. And there you have them. But why am I telling the story?

Tom Heath
Let me introduce you to Stephen. Paul of Hamilton Distillers. He can tell you all about it. Well, I get to welcome into the studio the fabulous, Stephen Paul. Fabulous. Because, you’ve made my life so much more interesting. Because I have used your beverage on occasion and, apparently people find more interesting when they’ve had a couple.

Tom Heath
But you are with, Hamilton Distilleries.

Stephen Paul
Yep. Hamilton Distillers. And we’ve kind of branded ourselves as whiskey del Bosque.

Tom Heath
Which, which, if you’re not familiar, is, brewed right here in, distillery. It’s not brewed. I keep saying.

Stephen Paul
Distilled. Distilled. We actually have to we have to make a beer, and then we distill that beer into whiskey.

Tom Heath
That’s. Is that normally how whiskey is?

Stephen Paul
That’s how. That’s how it’s done. Yeah. And so one of our people, Jana, actually likes to say that, whiskey is what beer wants to be when it grows up.

Tom Heath
But, I’m definitely. I’m sure I’ve seen it. Where? That t shirt at some point.

Stephen Paul
Right.

Tom Heath
But I guess, you know, you’ve been. How long has whiskey been out there?

Stephen Paul
So we actually, I’m my daughter, and our daughter, Amanda and I founded the company in 2011. Or so, and, we finally took product to the local Tucson marketplace in about late 12 or early 13. Okay. And then we got, funding to do the system we have now, in 2014.

Tom Heath
Okay. So let’s take a few steps back because I and I know you said everyone’s probably heard the origin story, but it’s a good story. But your background is is actually in the furniture, right.

Stephen Paul
Or can you I mean, I’ve seen a lot of things, but. Yeah, my wife and I had a furniture design company for 30 years that specializes in mesquite wood, actually. And that business kind of, grew out of a sense of place as well, much like the distillery did, early on as a furniture designer, I realized that you had to if you wanted spectacular grain, you had to go to rainforest.

Stephen Paul
Woods didn’t really like doing that. I did it a few times, but then I realized there was this beautifully green wood growing all around us in the Sonoran Desert. And so we really started to focus on mesquite and in that furniture.

Tom Heath
So are you from Tucson?

Stephen Paul
I moved here when I was 11. Okay. From a hotter desert than this Palm Springs. Oh, my. Yeah.

Tom Heath
And, So you moved here when you were 11? As has been home since then.

Stephen Paul
Yes. It has. Love it. I love this place.

Tom Heath
And so you grew up with these mesquite trees all around you, and at some point realized, hey, we could probably use this to be more, sustainable. And our furniture making. Is that kind of how it works out?

Stephen Paul
Yeah. I mean, yeah. Has people most people know, you know, we’re losing rainforest, rapidly. And so anyway. Yeah. And, you know, mosquitoes is is a limited resource as well, but it’s not being, you know, just wholesale raised and, you know, bulldozed. So anyway, yeah, it’s a it’s a pretty sustainable, resource and quite beautiful, very difficult to work, but, but it generates a lot of, scrap because there’s a lot of floors and, and a lot of likes to, doesn’t like to grow straight.

Tom Heath
So there it I know I wouldn’t want to take its own path.

Stephen Paul
Right. So yeah. So, you know, long tabletops are a challenge. You can get them, but in boards long. But anyway, so but I used to take my scraps home to barbecue with, And I always, sometimes I look at my wife and I go, those are our profits going up in smoke, Elaine. And, one night we’re drinking scotch and barbecuing.

Stephen Paul
This is in 2006. And she goes, why couldn’t you dry malt over a mesquite fire instead of a peat fire? Like they do in Scotland. And and, you may know, but peat. So when you dry malt over peat, it gives that it gives the whiskey a very unique flavor. And so knowing what mosquitoes to food when you go over it, that’s why Elaine had this idea.

Stephen Paul
I’ve always, always called her ideal woman. She’s just keeps them coming.

Tom Heath
That’s fantastic. The, It’s always good in relationship to have an idea person. And then someone that can execute that idea. That’s. Yeah. I’ve been around. I’ve. I’ve got ideas. And when I’m in with an idea partner, we just spin around in circles on the.

Stephen Paul
Absolutely.

Tom Heath
So I guess you before we get too much into the production, were you the first or one of the first, then to use mesquite for, for distilling and.

Stephen Paul
As far as we know, yeah. Oh okay. Yeah. And so we so there’s a few, distilleries in the country now that do use mesquite and not peated. We’re like, we like to say, okay, malt. But none of them malt their own barley. And so two of them are in Texas. One of them is in Santa Fe.

Stephen Paul
And they’re making really good, good single malt whiskey. They’re, they’re sourcing their, their malt, though, so we’re the only one that we know of. I’m sure we’re the only one that malts our own barley. Okay. And dries it over.

Tom Heath
And you’re gonna have to help me out a little bit here. So barley, you grow barley. Is that.

Stephen Paul
No, we we don’t. We? Early on, we had two local farmers, try to grow out two row barley for us. Turns out. Excuse me. Turns out two row barley likes to grow at higher elevations or higher latitudes. And so it didn’t. Neither one of the farmers got the yield they needed. And so we sourced our barley from southern Colorado.

Stephen Paul
Okay. It’s about 70 500ft above sea level up in Alamosa.

Tom Heath
That is Steven Paul, co-founder of Hamilton Distillers and the makers of whiskey. Don’t like telling us a little bit about how they, get the ingredients here and use the the snore and dessert for, all of those great flavors that go into their whiskey. We’ll be back to finish up the second half of that interview in just a moment.

Tom Heath
But first of all, I want to remind you that you are listening to lifelong the Streetcar in Downtown Radio 99.1 FM and streaming on downtown radio.org.

James Portis
This podcast is sponsored by Tom Heath and the team. Another home loans. If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, continue listening or head over to Lifelong The Street Khou.com. For current events and information on what to do while visiting Tucson. Tom Heath and MLS number 182420 Nova and MLS number 3087, UK number 0902429. Equal Housing Opportunity.

Tom Heath
Hey, if you’re just joining us, first of all, shame on you for being late. You know, we start at 11:00 every Sunday. But if you did miss the first part of this episode with Steve and Paul of Hamilton Distillers, you’ll be able to catch the full thing on our web page. Life along the streetcar.org, along with the video of the interview.

Tom Heath
But we’re going to jump back into the second half, as we’ve been talking about sort of the, the make up of Whiskey Del Bosque. And we’re going to get a little bit deeper into the story with, Steven Paul back in 2006, were you fully aware of the altitudes and, the areas in which, barley grew, or is this something that you’ve kind of learned along the way?

Stephen Paul
Tom, I knew nothing. I knew I’d like to, since the whiskey.

Tom Heath
Lane’s like, I have an idea. And you’re like, well, I guess I’m going to learn to be. Yeah.

Stephen Paul
Now, no, I was totally naive about all of it. So. No, I it was a steep learning curve. I knew nothing about malting or distilling. Marketing, you know, marketing whiskey. Anyway, we could market furniture, but not whiskey.

Tom Heath
So I guess I’m I’m just dumbfounded how you get from this idea. Like, what’s the first step? You’re like, okay, well, instead of barbecuing food, we’re going to we’re going to, we’re going to make whiskey. Is that. And then you just go down that path, or do you do you meet people that are making whiskey and say, hey, can I sell you some?

Tom Heath
Like, how does it how do you get there?

Stephen Paul
Well, first I did a bunch of reading. Okay. And then I made a lot of really bad whiskey. That was key. And hopefully you learn from that. And then, I did attend a week long after I had been distilling for a while. I’d send it a week long distilling workshop put on by the American Distilling Institute in Petaluma.

Stephen Paul
And then, you know, got good enough to have it marketable, drinkable. And then, you know, and then a few years later, I hired distillers that were better than me. And so that’s been key to, to success as well.

Tom Heath
And at what point do you go from, like a hobbyist? Did you know from the beginning that this was going to be a commercial product, or were you just trying to make something that you could enjoy?

Stephen Paul
Well, that was the first that was my first motive. The it’s something that, you know, I just wanted to see if if we could make a single malt whiskey that was truly from the Sonoran Desert, I had no, goal of making any money or taking it nationally or anything like that. I just wanted to see if this idea worked.

Stephen Paul
And, so then. Yeah. So then we got investment, once it once it started, you know, being passably drinkable. First of all, I was doing it illegally. And then when our daughter moved back from New York, she realized I was at that point making drinkable whiskey.

Tom Heath
But it was a bootlegger. Yeah.

Stephen Paul
So she’s. She made me get legal. She helped me founded the company. So we formed a little LLC. But, Yeah. So. But then when we got investment, it kind of changes things, like, then you got to step up. People, people have expectations, you money killer.

Tom Heath
They think like, oh, it’s no longer just about what’s fun, right?

Stephen Paul
Right.

Tom Heath
Let’s fast forward then a little bit to where we are now. You got a fairly sizable, facility, and you’re making more than just this original, sort of flavor of whiskey or what’s. Yes, you got different varieties.

Stephen Paul
We do. So, the the brainchild of the whole project, turned out to be our. It was what we call our dorado. It’s our mesquite smoked single malt. And but the first thing I did to just learn how to make a single malt whiskey was what we now call our classic. It’s un smoked.

Tom Heath

Stephen Paul
We still. Those are our two core whiskeys that we have all the time. We do, like about three, about 5 or 6 special releases, three of which are regular annual releases. And 2 or 3 of the others are what we call our distillers cuts. They’re they’re one offs. They give a chance for our master distiller, Mark Vere taller, to really play and and create and blend and stuff.

Stephen Paul
So those are always really fun. And then we, we have, a rye that we bring in from out from a distillery in the, in Indiana. So we don’t make that, but we, we let that sit in X Dorado barrels. Okay. To take on a little bit of that, desert character because, you know, that’s what we’re all about is, is, is the desert.

Stephen Paul
And so, so that our sentinel straight rise is as that, product.

Tom Heath
Okay. And I have a bottle of that at home, I didn’t realize I was wondering is going to ask you about the rye, because that seemed like an odd, an odd, but, just a sort of a different crop to be to be working with. But I’m curious about these distiller cuts. So how long does it take from when you first start the process to when I’ve got something I can put in a glass and drink.

Stephen Paul
For the distillers cuts. So I’m going to say so, about 17, 18 months for to make the whiskey and then mature it. And then for the distillers cuts, those will sit in the finishing barrels for anywhere from like a year to three years.

Tom Heath
Oh my gosh. So that like the classic and the Dorado those, those the staples, you’ve got a formula and a recipe and that you can crank out so to speak. But these distiller cuts, if you’re playing around with that, I mean, at what point like I mean, it seems like you, you could get months into this thing and realize, oh, this doesn’t taste very good.

Tom Heath
Like, is it fixable? Like, how does he know how to do that?

Stephen Paul
Well, that’s the fun part. And so first of all, Mark has a pretty good idea of what’s going to come, you know, of of how the finishing cask is going to affect the whiskey. What kind of flavors it’s going to give. And there’s always surprises. Distiller Mark, has a good idea of what flavors the special casks are going to impart to the whiskey.

Stephen Paul
So we’ve done, you know, port casks, we’ve done sherry casks, certain, cognac casks, lots of different things. And so, so we are Mark know pretty well what those are going to do to the whiskey. And then do we have surprises? Sure. Usually they’re good surprises. Okay. But if there’s something that doesn’t taste quite up to what the.

Stephen Paul
You know, what he would want to bottle? He can do a little blending, he’ll add a little of the dorado, and he’ll put a little bit of the, you know, the saw turn cask, whatever. So these are always really fun. They’re very creative. And they’re, you know, they’re just a fun part of the of the, of our, of our whiskey lineup.

Stephen Paul

Tom Heath
And his Marcus, he’s the decision maker as to when something is ready to go. Or is there like a committee that has to sample it and.

Stephen Paul
You know, he is the he does make the final decision. But the good thing about Mark is he wants lots of input. And so we’ll have, when that process is happening, he’ll have glasses set out for everybody and put a notice out and say, hey, you got any like, pencil and paper in front of each glass?

Stephen Paul
And, you know, asked for all of our input. And so that’s kind of so vicariously. That’s really fun for us too. I mean, it’s kind of, you know, helps us, you can contribute to the creativity. But Mark’s marks, the one marks the one doing it.

Tom Heath
Just I would imagine over the years, your palette has become a little bit more sophisticated in, in addressing some of these, these undertones.

Stephen Paul
It is. I’ve learned a lot. You know, a lot of that is trying to, you know, identify flavors and, and aromas because it’s both, you know, it’s both things. First your nose, then your palate. And so a lot of it is, you know, the ability and I’m not great at it. I’m not. And some of it is, is the is learning the vocabulary of what potential flavors you are experiencing.

Stephen Paul
And one thing I’ve realized recently is that, and I heard somebody say, well, this guy is, really he relies on his nose, and this guy relies on his palate. And I realize, oh, that’s crazy. Because I rely more on my nose. And so, so palates important too. But, but it’s funny how different people kind of, have different, influences.

Tom Heath
Yeah. I’ve always I think I’m more of a of a palate person, but I’ve never quite gotten the nasal piece of it. But I’m probably not doing it right. I need more practice. That’s what I.

Stephen Paul
Come on.

Tom Heath
Over here. We can do a workshop. Just try to look myself into those. Well, speaking of workshops, you do a lot of events at your. At your spot, right? You’ve got tours. I know I’ve taken a tour. I know if that was, part of a special event or not, but I, it was great to get a, like a flow of how everything goes from start to finish.

Stephen Paul
Yeah. We do regular tours and tastings. Almost every day of the week I think maybe Mondays we don’t, but but people can go on our website and sign up for those they’re really fun. We have fabulous tour guides. Really fun, a lot of different characters. And then, yeah, we do a lot of events at the distillery.

Stephen Paul
We do. We’re doing Friday night happy, happy hours. We’ve had this series, and we always have music for those. We’ve been doing this series. We of, talks called Armchair Anthropology, where we, where we have, anthropologists and archeologists come in and speak on their, area of study. Those have been really well-attended and fun.

Stephen Paul
You know, we’re doing, we’re having a distillers cut release, and on June 12th, we’re having a Tucson foodie party. For Tucson foodie, on June 27th, just a bunch of. We’re having a Women in Whiskey event at the distillery. We’re going to celebrate Tucson’s birthday in August. So. And then we do a lot of things out of the distillery, too.

Stephen Paul
A lot of events for, you know, organizations and, we, we do it we support, a lot of non-profits and environmental groups.

Tom Heath
Whiskey in a box name is everywhere, not just, you know, in the bars where they’re serving it. But I have seen you in a lot of different events and, and, some interesting pairings with different restaurants and things of that nature. Definitely a name that is, if you’re familiar with with the Tucson scene. I mean, it’s it’s a it’s not an uncommon name.

Tom Heath
Yeah. Where did the name come from though.

Stephen Paul
Well, that’s was actually my wife’s idea as well. So we want to express where we’re from. And so my wife said, why don’t we brand ourselves after mission son of yours, Del Bosque. And, for anybody that doesn’t happen to know what San Harvey or Del Bosque means. Del is Spanish for of the. And a buck is the Tohono O’odham word for where there’s surface water along the normally dry Santa Cruz River.

Stephen Paul
And so some have your del Bosque. Means the mission itself. It means, Saint Xavier of the place where the river reappears in the sand. That’s how it was translated to us. And so whiskey del Bosque, you know, I’ve always loved living in a border region because the blend of cultures, makes you look at the world in different ways, and it’s so enriching.

Stephen Paul
And so after we branded, I realized that our name is trilingual. So whiskey del Bosque. Yeah. Which I just in my mind, I just I love that little word.

Tom Heath
I like it just sort of this a little oasis as the water just appears above the desert, you know? Brings me back to my, wet, wet my whistle there. Yeah. With your,

Stephen Paul
There were two places, so, in the, upstream. On the Santa Cruz there it is a perennial flow by the border. It runs south to north. And, it’s quite, but down here there were only two places where there was a surface water. One was where the mission was founded. So there was a back there.

Stephen Paul
The other one was right underneath Sentinel Peak, which is a mountain. And that’s why the there was a village here predating a lot of villages, predating, you know, Western people, settling so, so those were the two places where there were there were surface water.

Tom Heath
And speaking of water, like, I’m assuming that’s a component of your of your process is that is that you’re doing special with the water or is it is it locally sourced? Is it.

Stephen Paul
We are we use our municipal water up until the, so so during the production process, we use our municipal water. We do have to get rid of the, chlorine. We have carbon filters that do that. But the yeast actually, loves the minerals in our water. They’re actual nutrients for the yeast. So that’s a that’s a benefit once it’s our whiskey, though.

Stephen Paul
So once it goes into the barrel, we’re going to proof it down, using reverse osmosis water. And then again when we bottle it, we proof it down again and we’ll use aro water for that as well. Okay.

Tom Heath
So for the for the most part, I mean, the origins of this are very regional. I mean, know you have to go to Colorado to get the base product, but the wood and the I mean, the things that are doing this, you are really consciously using what’s right around you.

Stephen Paul
Yeah. Yeah. You know, when you were talking about, the various things we do with different organizations, the sense of community here in Tucson is one of the special things, as you well know, about this place. And it’s just such a, a great, we do a lot of collaborations with different, purveyors. We love supporting local, causes.

Stephen Paul
And just the level of community in Tucson makes it really fun to live here. It’s just a cool, cool thing.

Tom Heath
I, I, I agree, there are a lot of collaborations and, and I appreciate when, people get ideas and then follow through with those and, and bring it to a point where I’m sure neither of you on that evening when you were sitting there drinking your scotch, imagine that, that this would be, would be the outcome.

Stephen Paul
No. No idea.

Tom Heath
I appreciate what you do. We’ll link to a lot of your social media will open up, put the website up so people can find you and and learn more about it. And hopefully we can have you back at some point and talk about what’s what’s the future of our Del Bosque.

Stephen Paul
Absolutely. Yeah. Thanks so much for having me. This is fun.

Tom Heath
That was Stephen Paul of Hamilton Distillers, the, creators of Whiskey Del Bosque, telling us the creation story and some really interesting things about just, the distilling process and making whiskey in general. It’s fascinating, all the components that go into it and the complexities and, and how they can use. I, I wanna say mistakes, but things that don’t quite work out as expected as ways to create new flavors and adapt really, really interesting stuff.

Tom Heath
I look forward to to learning more and heard a lot about some of the things we’re doing at the distillery for community building and education, so definitely want to want to check that out in more detail. Let’s see here. What do we got coming up? Well, in just a few minutes, you we’re going to work because we got Ted presents ski with words and work.

Tom Heath
He’s going to interview writers and others from the labor movement. It’s at 1130 at noon. We’ve got Ty Logan with Heavy Mental and then back into the music at 1:00. And you can check out that whole lineup, including the, the Sunday kickoff with Mr. Nature and the show that precedes us, the Art of easing with a fabulous DJ Bank musical bum.

Tom Heath
But, all of those details are on our website, which is downtown radio.org. You can get the, the lineup for today, which is probably the best day of the week, for, for this session, mainly because, you know, my show is on here, but also because we got fantastic, other personalities and, deejays. But, honestly, every day is fantastic.

Tom Heath
We’ve got Jim and Dave’s roadside. We got, the radio club crawl, the Arizona for one one, music invasion. Oh, my gosh, you’re just too many shows to name. Go over to Downtown radio.org. Check it out. Look at all these volunteer DJs. And while you’re over there, don’t be afraid to, hit the subscribe button for to get more information about the, the shows.

Tom Heath
And then, why are you doing that? Click the, donate button so that we can make a little bit of money and keep the station up and running to the highest of standards for volunteer radio. No paid staff. So when you’re donating money, you’re really putting it into programing equipment, rent, the things that are necessary to keep us on the air and broadcasting quality content, which I believe, we do a great job of of putting out into the world.

Tom Heath
Let’s see, we got coming up here next week. Who? Center for Creative Photography. That’s going to be fun. And then we’ve got, some follow up with a social venture. Partners, all kinds of things happening in here in June. And if there’s things that you would like us to cover, you know, our plan hit us up on social media, Instagram, Facebook are the best ways to to connect with us and tag.

Tom Heath
You can also email us directly a contact at life Along the Street, car dawg. And you know, our website has a contact button as well. Well, our executive producer of lifelong streetcars, James Portis, Amanda Mulattos, is our associate producer, and I am Tom Heath, your host. Each and every week, we have opening music from Ryan Hood.

Tom Heath
And today we’re closing with one of my Tucson favorite bands. From when I first moved out here. Fell in love with them. I called the Molly’s. This is from a 2011 live at the Casino Ballroom album. And, fitting for our guest today. It’s called whiskey in the jar. Have a great week and join us next Sunday for more life along the streetcar car.