Road Trip to Kill The Lights | Ep. 150

Sometimes the best conversations happen somewhere between the gas station and the beer fest.

In this Arsenic Culture “travel-cast,” Matt, Jason, and Drew hit the road to Knoxville, Tennessee for the Kill The Lights Beer Fest hosted by Xül Brewing. It’s road-trip banter, music debates, random tangents, and the kind of off-the-cuff talk that only happens when you’ve got hours of highway ahead.

No studio, no script. Just bourbon brains, bad jokes, and a cooler full of good intentions.

#BeerFest #RoadTripPodcast #ArsenicCulture

https://www.youtube.com/@arsenicculture
https://instagram.com/arsenicculture
https://tiktok.com/@arsenicculture
https://www.facebook.com/arsenicculture/
https://x.com/arsenicculture

Transcript

0:00

Yeah. What do you eat for sweets? I'm probably like a nerd. Gummy clusters. That's okay. Those are Finley's favorite. I love, I got a bag on me. Honestly. It. Welcome back to Arsenic Culture. I'm Matt. I'm Jason. I'm Drew, and we're on the road. This is fucking crazy. How could you tell, how could you tell? Love this. Yeah, I know. As Willie Nelson said, we're on the road again. Um, obeying all traffic safety laws. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm not driving, so I'm good. Yeah, we're getting ready to do a whole series of, uh, quick shots of like, uh, of new bourbon in the car. No, we're not. Uh, Jason, where are we going, man? We're going to Knoxville, Tennessee to the zoo. Kill the Lights Festival. Kill the lights. Beer Fest. Pretty talked about this one. This is the fourth time and they've done it, I believe, fourth time we've been to two. The last three we missed the last one, missed last year. Um, and then we'll be here this year. We actually, uh, I think the last one we went to, we did like a little short episode on it. We did, and basically we're kind of unanimously said, this is probably one of the best beer fests in the country now. Beer fests have kind of like declined a lot, I feel like in popularity, but I think that goes with, um, like beer in general, kind of declining in popularity, craft beer, all. Together. But there's still some good ones out there, man. Yeah, I think I, I don't know if they've declined overall. Well they probably, they probably have. I think your smaller ones kind of went away. Yeah. But you still have the big ones, right? You got like GA BFS Great. American B Fest. Exactly. You got the great taste of the Midwest like Wisconsin or uh, does well works still do theirs that Wisconsin. Where the hell maybe it is in Wisconsin. Yeah. Well, works does theirs? I think Firestone Walker has invitational. Yeah. Side project. So you still have some big ones. Um, but Fab, yeah, fab is actually really. Mean honestly for the south, this is probably the biggest beer fest south of Kentucky. Like, you know, down. Yeah. The um, because I don't think Huna PO's days anything anymore. No. Cigar City. I don't know if they do theirs anymore. Garage East isn't even a thing anymore. Yeah. Uh, yeah, I agree. I wonder if McKeller still ler or whatever. Does that one I think they do the one overseas, right? They kept it outta the us Yeah. It's funny they pulled outta the United States, but that was always a fun one. We had a great, great time at that one. Yeah, man. So, uh, we're hitting the road and, uh. Trips is something that I feel like we are more familiar with than most people. Maybe I'm wrong. I mean, there's obviously people that live on the road, you know what I mean? Yeah. But we've done our fair share of road trips. I've never had a bad time. Yeah. Um, maybe once, maybe though I wouldn't know. I wouldn't jump. So, uh, quickly to say that. But, uh, no, they usually are really fun. Uh, but yeah, I was wanted to kind of sit here and like shoot the shit and talk about like road trips. In general because yeah, there is a, there's a certain kind of like planning you have to do. There's a certain kind of a, not really etiquette, but you have to be in a certain frame of mind, especially when you go for like four or five or like five or six or seven days. Um, but, uh, drew, you ever been on any road trips? Yeah. I mean, yeah. I mean, I've been on one or two. Yeah. I know. We've been on something together too. Revolve around concerts. Yeah. What's the, what's the best one you think you've ever been on? Jesus, and I'm, I'm counting like family vacations or. Whatever too. Yeah. Um, that didn't make the list. They usually, yeah. I love my family. I love my family. Sorry, cut this out. Cut this out. Uh, did you all see that interview with, uh, Joe Flaco? Yeah, it was like a Twitter, something like that. And he was talking about, about being himself I love, huh? Yeah. Yeah. He was like, I love my family. There's nothing I can think of better than that, but he's like, sometimes just eating out by yourself. It's kind of nice. He's like, I used to see, I used to go to a restaurant and see a guy eating by himself, and I'm like, I feel sorry for that guy. He's got nine kids or something. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. But he was like, I'm doing it now. And he is like, man, this is kinda like a little size of heaven. Yeah. There is something nice about that, especially when you got that many kids at home. Yeah. Um, man, I really, I know it's not much of a road trip, but like the, the first louder than Life festival was a lot of fun. Yeah. Yeah. That was a short, but that was still like a, that was the first one was only two days, wasn't it? Yeah. Out in Louisville. Yeah. Um, but I also really enjoyed our, uh, our. First trip to Michigan. Yes. The second one was a little bit, a little bit messed up. That was, you all went to one of the great lakes up there. Yeah. Yeah. Went to Lake Grand Haven. Yeah, it was. Have you ever been to Michigan, Jason? Uh, I have, but not, we were up there for a, remember of the locals. They do a get together, my bigger group at once a year. And uh, one of our friends, Nick, at his family's like lake house. Yeah. Oh really? Oh dude, it was, that was when I was like burnt to Chris, but yeah, I had no intention of getting in the water, but I can't imagine that that would happen to you. Yeah. Right. 12 hours later. I was in the way. Why didn't you wanna get in the water? Uh, because I, I was like, you know, I'm not taking swimming trucks. I'm just gonna sit down here and drink some of the dog. I was the first one in the water. Yeah. Like, anybody want to get in? I'm like, yes. Go. Uh, and we actually did a road trip through Michigan also, but yeah. Vacationing up there. It's beautiful, man. And we had no idea until Drew and planned this one up there. And we had a blast up in Grand Haven and we ended up going again. And tragedy kind of, not tragedy, but like un, you know, misfortune struck and we had an hospital ish. Using, uh, family couldn't all get together, but yeah, it is a really good time over there. Like in the summer? Yeah. The beaches are like 70. Oh, it's perfect. Five degrees. Yeah. Um, and the water water's super calm. Unless there's a storm, then it's like worse than the ocean, which is correct. Really ironic. Yeah. There was a storm the first year we went, there was a storm that came across the lake and it whipped up this like, I mean, people were out there surfing on Lake Michigan and there was this. Really bad rip current up against the, um, the jetty or whatever, the pier and a guy ended up drowning out there and they had the Coast Guard helicopter out there for a couple of hours trying to search for this guy. It wasn't even a guy. It was like a kid. What was Michigan in Grand Haven? Man, it, it was like he was like in his twenties or something. Uh, I thought he was like 16, 17 or 18. I mean, maybe. I don't know. Yeah. I don't know. But anyway, yeah, so they, um, they had like chains of people. Holding hands, walking through the water. Oh, just dragging the water, trying to drag the sea. It was kind of terrifi. That's scary. And they ended up finding him like three days later. Oh God. Yeah, it was messed up. That ain't good. Yeah. But it's kind of crazy fun. It's like, it's a great road trip there. Yeah, it was a great road trip. So what about you, Matt? What's your favorite road trip? Uh, so there's a lot of 'em, man. Like one that sticks out was. The first time we did New England. Yeah. Um, and flew into Vermont and then drove all around. Yeah, we flew me, uh, Jason, our buddy Nolan, our buddy Kyler, no. Was Kyler Jeff? No, that was That was Jeff. That was Jeff, yeah. Kyler Then Jeff who used to be on the show. Yeah. We flew into Vermont. We rented like Nissan Arm, Nissan Armada, and we drove all the way through New England. We ended up hitting like, what, 15 or 20 breweries or something like that? Probably more. Yeah. We went to, uh, there's this picture I posted to social media. Um, we went to tree house. Yep. And we walked out with two, uh, dollies, I think it was three, completely four. I think. We, I think we each had a doll. Oh, beer. Yeah. It was absolutely insane. And people were staring at us like, these guys are reselling it. We drank every single bit of that. Gave some to friends and stuff like that. We drank half food on the one, the trip. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. That was a good trip. Um, that was when we pulled in the, uh, the airport though, at Maine after we drove from Vermont. Yeah. And asked for a bigger rental car. Remember that? Halfway through the armada wasn't big enough and they're like, uh, having quarter beer. Yeah. It was kind of, it was kind of a you could, we, we got something bigger. We have an armada. I'm like, that's what we're in now. That's what we're in. So we got the Expedition XL four, wherever the biggest is. Expedition XL Platinum, a boat man. That thing. Massive. There was no space in the car for anything else. It was hilarious. I remember we were, the picture, you guys come back and just the back was like our arm red. The back seat was, that was like way down. Yeah, it was like heavy in the back. It was hilarious. That was a really good trip. And then we. Got to see a whole bunch of breweries. Mm-hmm. And one of the highlight breweries was Suarez. Yeah. For me, up in New York in the middle of nowhere. It was gorgeous. But what part of New York is that in? Um, it's not quite upstate, but it's like a little bit further north. Well, any, anything that's not in New York City is considered upstate, I think. Right. That's what I would think too. But it's, I even if you're like in Buffalo, I think they still call that upstate even though it's like, really? It's like West. Yeah. Yeah. You did not think you were in New York, like just didn't No, it was so, it was so serene. That was a really good one. Um. The fir when we went to, uh, what's Sonic, not Sonic Temple. What was it called back then? Rocka Range. Rock Range. Yeah. Yeah, with me, you and Ross. Yeah, that was actually a really good one too. I love that. And I was much smaller back then. I got banged around a lot and did a lot more crowd surfing, but that was a good time. I think we all bled at that at some point. Don't take the statement of context. Right. I think the, the, well, there's two really, really funny parts that stand out to me about that trip that. Event. The first one was when we're all standing there and Seven Dust I think had just finished playing. Yeah. And at these festivals, you know, you can't have glass bottles. Yeah. So, but they would give you plastic bottles back. So they were aluminum? They were the aluminum bottles. Oh, okay. Back then those were plastic. Okay. I thought they were aluminum. Yeah. And um, this guy in front of us, they finish a song and everybody's like, fuck yeah. And this guy turns around and I mean, he is. Three feet from Ross and just paint. He's going to throw this beer bottle. He started to throw it at like backwards towards the end of the crowd. He hits Ross right in the forehead, like right here. And like it put a dimple. It looked like little lips and it split his head. Ross is like, what the fuck, man? This guy goes bull cocked his arm back like he's in major league and he just wings it and it goes straight down into Ross's head and he just starts bleeding him immediately. He just looks like, what the fuck are the guy just puts his hands over. The mouth. He is like, oh my God, I'm so sorry that was supposed to go way over there. Yeah. Not like straight into your face. Yeah. The other one we were in the middle of like the mosh pit. People are crowd surfing and people are coming over wa just wave after wave of people. Yeah. And the, you know, you're basically, there's just body parts going everywhere when, when people are crowd surfing. Mm-hmm. You have to have your head on a swivel. Yeah. Because yeah, for sure. Arms and legs and heads and stuff just come at you and if you're not ready, you're gonna get. You're gonna get knocked out. So sometimes there's people, like a gap will open behind you also, so you don't know that there's a gap there, right. People can fall on you. And so you're constantly just looking back, like trying to see if somebody's coming. Well, so bodies are flying everywhere and people are supposed to cross their legs like this, don't you? Crowd service. Yeah. So you can either roll better or it's easier for people to get you because if your legs are apart and there's too many move anyway, uh, this person. Was just tumbling through the crowd and Matt turns around and tries to get a hand up. Well then their foot swings over and hits him like right in the mouth, like the bottom with their foot. I turned around as soon as it came at me and like it was like a Timberland and just went clocked just right in the face. And I thought my nose was bleeding and like I got dazed for a second. I was like, holy shit. And Ross like, or uh, drew turns that to me and he is like, are you okay? And I was like, I spit a little bit. And I was like, I think she stepped in. Of it. And like whatever was on her shoe, like got in my mouth and I was like, I was like spitting like somebody else's vomit out of my mouth from her shoe. You gonna make me vomit right now? That's, yeah. What's your fa what's your favorite road trip, Jason? Uh, man, it's hard to pick. It's hard to pick one. Um, I always have a pretty good time on any road trip. It's good to be out with everybody. Yeah, we, I think the New England one was fun with friends and then also the one we did in like South Carolina the first time we went to eight state. Yes. That's where we actually met Brad West from. From Zul. We're heading down there. That's, we went to answer, right? Uh, no. That's when we went to, uh, eight state there. Beer or, uh, we were waiting in line out there for bus. Oh, we saw Yeti. Yep. Yep. And then, yeah. Uh, yeah, it was Yeti there, maybe. But Brad was there from Zul for sure. See, I thought we ended up going down to see Yeti after that. I think it was before, but maybe. Maybe it was after. Either way. Either way. On the same trip. Yes. Same trip, but I mean, I, I think overall I just always have a pretty good time. Yeah. It's more about the people than necessarily where I'm going, I'd say. Yeah. I agree. The, um, the one we did in, uh, Virginia, where we, yeah. Uh, Richmond, Virginia, that's the same one. Right. We see that's what I just said. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Um, that was a good time. And then the one where me and you went to Richmond, Virginia. Yeah. And you worked And I just drank beer. Yeah. You filled up the back of my wife's vehicle in my wife's car. Mm-hmm. I just took off work. He had some, like, I was in a certification class for training like two days. And I'm just like, too, and beer drinking. I'm sending him pictures of like all this shit I'm drinking from the answer and like from the veil. And he's like, because I had to drive like an hour to get there. Yeah. And he is like, are you gonna drive my wife's car back home? And I was like, I'm fine, don't worry about it. Small force. And he comes back and there's a. The trunk is full. There's cases of beer. Yeah. There was Crowler Growler. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It like, I mean it was, it was came back and we got some Mad Dog. Yes. So MD 2020, we got the blue raspberry. It was back when beer was really fun. And we drank that side by side with like the what? The white Ferrari or so something? Yeah. Oh, that was awful. So, yeah, man. So what about road trips? Um, I think music is a key part. Yeah. So I looked it up a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. And Rolling Stone did a top 50 list, so I won't go through all 50, but. Top five. Okay. You got any guesses, Matt, on what would be in the top five road trip songs? We're we're talking about bands or songs? Uh, songs. Oh, this will be a song. Okay. No, no genres off limits. It's rolling stone, so, well, I'm, I gotta go Willie Nelson on the road again. That's, so that's, that's one you're thinking in there. It's not, it's not in the top five. No. Is it in the top 20? I didn't look that far. Buying paywall or, yeah. I'll be impressed if any of you get, like, if you get any of these. Really? Yeah. What do you, you got a guess? Uh, drew. I, I really, I really don't. I mean, I, I would, I would never pick these. I've gotta guess is this is not it. Okay. Number five, my own worst enemy by lit. Like, that's not even a, that don't even make my playlist. I'm not a lit fan Anyway, so, I mean, I think that's your only song beat, right? Yeah. One, Hey, wonder number four. Rolling in the Deep Adele. This is a weird list. Who filled this out? Number three. I could see this one. Radar love. I think that was, go. Leering maybe was a bad name. Okay. I can see that one. Yeah. Yeah. Number two, cross town traffic. Jimmy, he Hendricks. Yeah. I mean, fantastic. I don't know if it's a road trip song necessarily. No. I could put Jimmy on in general. Yeah. I don't even know if I'd specifically like play that song though. And then number one, which I've never even heard of this song, wheels on the Bus. That would be, that would be better. Right? Road Runner. The mod from the Modern Lovers. Huh? Have you ever heard that? No. I don't know what that is. I don't know who the modern lovers are. In a minute, but I thought that was, that was the interesting one. Road runner from Modern Weld. Yeah. Well, so those are just, it's rolling stoned. Top seat. Those are, it must be, those are themed that ha like rolling in the deep Right. I mean like, I don't think anybody's gonna be sitting road driving. S not. That's not them. It doesn't even drunk Makes sense is, I'm trying to think if there's anything in that song. Crosstown Traffic might be like going from one part town to the other. I don't know. Strike. So one of the things I looked, I looked at just kind of thinking about, so, you know, famous road trip scenes or movies, right? I, I didn't put, I didn't see like a top 50 or a hundred list, but I just put down some notes. Okay. So anything, Matt, any movies or scenes you come to mind for road trips? Uh, they did that movie called Road Trips. A lot of people cite that one. Um, which I mean, that's a funny movie. It is too. Uh, Euro trip was another one that was kind of funny. All the national anthem, any of the national improves. Um, the, uh, American Vacation is the first one. It was like, European vacation is my favorite. Yes. Okay. Um, drew Gut got Ink Cannonball Run. I don't know if it's really That's a good one. That's a good one. That's, no, that's a great one. One, I mean, honestly, yeah, smokey and the smokey and the band bounding down that make, that'd probably make my top. You know, road. Road. You call that call That's road trip song. Well, it's just like a song J listen to all your, I thought you were talking about the show with, uh, I was like, I mean, it does drive to Mexico at one point. I guess it's also very good. Yeah. Yeah. What about, uh, so some I thought of where, um, almost famous, the bus scene. Yeah. Yeah. Where they're all, every bus, they're all like, it's, they're really down. They have tiny dance. Everybody starts singing and stuff. Right. Kind of gets 'em back together. Yeah. I, that was kind of cool. It was kind of cool. I remember that part of the movie. Yeah. That was like the only part. Of the movie I liked. Yeah, I think it's, that's Michelle's favorite movie. I didn't really care for the whole movie, but that's a very memorable scene. It is another one older movie here I came up with Easy Rider. You remember that one? I Who, Nickon? Yes. I don't think I've ever seen him. It's back. I think it was Jack Nickson. He's riding a motorcycle, right? Dennis? Big Chopper. Yeah. Yeah. And then, uh, I can't remember the last guy's name, but I'll think of it in a minute. Yeah. Um, another one, Tommy Boy, remember that when they're in the car? That was pretty cool. I use that. Tommy Boy was great. I use that in a meme on, uh, Twitter or x uh, the other. Day just to spare somebody. And then two more I was thinking about. So dumb and Dumb Rights. That's a classic, that's a classic one. Driving on the damn moped or whatever. Mm-hmm. And then, uh, fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Fear and lo that was, that was pretty wild filming. We is actually another that good one that Yeah. Especially we're off the, and there was one that's like, that sticks out. I guess what we're gonna do later. Yeah. Okay. I'll ride the back. Just jump off. So y'all take off. Uh, well, there's one with, I know this is kind of, kind of out there, but I think it was like Clint Eastwood in like, um, oh. A trucking movie. I can't remember With the monkey. No, no. It's a pink Cadillac. Oh yeah, he was in that one. Yeah. I don't know. Trucking movie with the monkey. Yeah. The fuck are you talking about? No, dude. I'll think it in a minute. But yeah, the truck, he's like a truck, like a monkey, like a chimp. I about you, about shit, about p b's. Big adventure. Would that considered that? I mean, I'll allow it. Yeah. Large Marge. Large barge. Yeah. There's, there's no, uh, there's no rules with these lists here, drew. That's hilarious. The, well, you know, one cool thing I like about road trips. Also. Yeah. Yeah. Is that, depending on how far you're driving and who you're driving with, the drive can be as much fun as Oh yeah. As wherever you destination you can do this. Right. You know, the other thing I always seem to get into with road trips, if we're going on a couple day adventure is like, oh, we have an event planned for tomorrow. Yeah. But tonight could be more fun. Yeah. Like it could, 'cause I've, I've had that happen before, many times actually. So let's talk, let's talk about like the unspoken rules of road trips, because that is actually a big one that. We kind of started adapting early on. Mm-hmm. Whenever we go somewhere, especially if it's like we did, but then you got too hung over and had to sit in the car for like three days. But I digress. That was in the middle of the road trip, not the beginning. I'm just saying. My thing is that we all, we typically, like, we will plan stuff out and then we'll start a day early and that kind of gives us a cushion. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. You got to, um, like this one, for example, the, the zoo, uh, killer liked beer fest isn't until tomorrow. When does it start? Tomorrow? Uh, I think noon, like 11, 12. We're in at 11, so it's like BIP We could have woken up at like, you know, like seven and driven down there. But you know what, it's what, what is it? One o'clock in the afternoon or whatever it is. Two, two. Let's just go down there. Let's get a few beers. Yeah, we're gonna go watch uk uh, hopefully kick Purdue's ass later tonight. And, uh. It's a good time and then you get a cushion and then you're not stressed out. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah. Oh yeah. I could. I feel like that's a good unspoken rule is to kind of give yourself time early to, to get acclimated. Well, and driving from Lexington to Knoxville, I 75, anything can happen, right? Yes. So, you know, you could, we could get up in the morning and drive and the damn interstate could be closed for five hours, two or three hours. Yeah. Yeah, exactly right. Other road trip rules, you gotta have snacks, which we'll have, stop in a minute. Drink. That's why get something, have some snacks there, some beef jerk or whatever. So, yeah. Yeah. Also that movie, clin Eastwood movie every which way but Lose. Okay. Okay. Look it up if you've never seen it, it's a good movie. Okay. I am actually familiar with that movie. I still think your description was hilarious, but uh, I am familiar. Whatever Clyde is, the Clyde is the monkey, whatever. A chimpanzee, orang thing. Yeah, it was a chip, I think. Right? Yeah. That's funny. Um, but what are your favorite go-to snacks for a road trip? Oh, shit, that's a good one. Uh, what's like your favorite chip and then like a candy if you have it. Okay. So favorite chip? I think I go Doritos. Classic. Doritos. Okay. For me, see, I'm a, I'm a barbecue, especially like a GPOs or something like that, and like Dippos or something. I'm big with like beef Turkey. I always gotta have like beef Turkey. You just said chips, Matt Damnit. I know. I'm trying to like, don't think of nothing else. Chips, I'm, I'm doing an overarching snack pick. You drew chips, uh, the garo rye. Um, those are solid chip. That's, yeah. If you can get the ones, if you can get the ones that are just the rye crisp. That's fantastic. That's my chip. Go to. You said you said sweets now? Yeah. What do you eat for sweetss? I'm probably like a, the newer candy, uh, nerd gummy clusters that Okay. Same. Those are are Finley's favorite. I love, I got a bag on me. Honestly. It's, it is my backpack. It's a hundred percent in there. You're like Uncle Danny with the grilled cheese. That's hilarious. What about you for sweets, Matt? Uh, I don't know. I could go for grilled cheese right now though. That sounds a pretty, some bacon jam or something there. Plate in the back. Start cooking. Short order cook back here. That's hilarious. What about you Drew? Um, yeah, I love the gummy some, like something that's gummy but also a little bit crunchy, so like I'm on board with the nerds. Yeah. Yeah. The ropes or the clusters for sure. I think the moral of the story is a rope rope. There's about as fun as you can make it and the people you're with, but, uh oh yeah, man. Generally always a good time. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. If y'all ever been on a road trip, sound off, uh, tell us what your unspoken rules are and what your snacks are. Or if, uh, if you hate being in the car, then tell us that too, and we will make fun of you. Or if you hate riding with somebody. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Uh, thanks for tuning in For more Arsenic Culture, check us out on all the socials we are @arsenicculture. Like and subscribe on YouTube. We'll see you on the next one.