Joe Lonsdale
Joe Lonsdale
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Turning Whiskey Into $100M+ — The Hustler Behind WhistlePig
Raj Bhakta is best known as the founder of Whistlepig Whiskey. But he also served in the Marines, rode an elephant across the Rio Grande while running for Congress, won a spot on The Apprentice with Donald Trump, recently purchased a college, and is reinventing the whiskey game (again). He's a patriot and creator of one-of-a-kind spirits - with a personality to match.
The son of immigrants, Raj grew up learning his father's hotel business before setting out on his own. After adventures in investment banking, reality TV, and politics, he saw an opening in high-end American whiskey - and he seized it. WhistlePig quickly became one of the premier craft whiskeys. After exiting in 2019, he secured one of the world's oldest stashes of Armagnac and launched his newest ventures: Hogsworth and Bhakta Spirits.
Raj recently acquired the now-defunct Green Mountain College in Vermont, where he plans to build a new university grounded in our Founding values, along with a world-class spirit library. We sample his newest whiskeys, joke about religion and politics, and learn from a great American entrepreneur.
Follow Joe on Twitter: x.com/jtlonsdale
You can find his writings here: blog.joelonsdale.com/
00:00 Episode intro
01:44 Why Raj bought a college
03:32 Riding an elephant across Rio Grande
08:49 Origin story of WhistlePig
11:32 Growing up in America; joining Marines
18:32 Acquiring world's biggest stash of Armagnac
23:20 Creating Hogsworth / how to blend whiskey
24:13 Catholicism vs Judaism
29:11 Working with Trump on The Apprentice
32:03 Bhakta Spirits & why drink Armagnac
39:40 Why Raj is building a new college
44:35 Advice for entrepreneurs
51:25 Bullying and adversity
Переглядів: 1 354

Відео

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КОМЕНТАРІ

  • @davidanalyst671
    @davidanalyst671 День тому

    Joe Lonsdale, Triggernometry, BLoomberg's David Rubenstein, Eric Weinsten, The other Weinsten?? Bro, this is america. Is there one single oligarch or podcaster who will say Genocide is bad, and Netanyahoo is doing bad things that the USA should have nothing to do with. I grew up thinking Genocide was bad, but it turns out that its not so bad while all your podcasts and news orgs are run by people who love israel

  • @sirob202
    @sirob202 День тому

    great stuff

  • @3xfaster
    @3xfaster День тому

    When Space X successfully deals with an Apollo 1 and 13 scenario, learns from a Challenger and Columbia incident, then they can toot their horn. “Go fast and break stuff” sounds sophomoric and cavalier when human lives are the payload.

  • @freddonson5436
    @freddonson5436 День тому

    Serious interview,...tremendous amount of knowledge, thank you Joe, great guest...

  • @samonaro65
    @samonaro65 День тому

    This guy seems fake with name calling Elon

  • @michaelg3573
    @michaelg3573 День тому

    Great episode 👍

  • @michaelg3573
    @michaelg3573 День тому

    24:12 Well, you know what they say: first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. 😊 but if only he knew about Bryan Johnson's religious past.. The guy actually grew up Mormon and deeply religious, but then he left the church

  • @elthumbz
    @elthumbz День тому

    Lies

  • @susancook372
    @susancook372 2 дні тому

    This was a great interview. Thank you for introducing us to Raj.😊

  • @THEOneAndOnlyDOCTORofHUMANICS

    These are the most ridiculous videos about a past politician (Harper) who NEVER wanted to live in the natural-world where the limited resources and the tragedy of the commons that he helped accelerate are real! Why don't you ask him questions about physics, chemistry - or even psychology and sociology - and see if his answers remain linked to the magical world of economics?!? For example, ask him about sea-level rise!?! You silly, SILLY, "Homo communia!" Professor-Marty.

  • @PatrickKukla
    @PatrickKukla 2 дні тому

    Joe Lonsdale, Alex Karp, and Peter Theil Rock!🇺🇸

  • @michaeldurrant8446
    @michaeldurrant8446 2 дні тому

    What a dishonest portrayal of the issue - the problem isn't income inequality, it's wealth inequality. Wealth is something that generates income and the primary problem is that in spite of being the most productive workforce to have ever existed, modern workers own little of the wealth that THEY (not the capitalists) create.

  • @spldrong
    @spldrong 2 дні тому

    This guy really makes me feel like im gonna make it eventually

    • @davidanalyst671
      @davidanalyst671 День тому

      the USA has 100k overdose deaths per year, which is the same death rate per year as the USA in ww2. Lets taper that optimism my guy

    • @spldrong
      @spldrong День тому

      @davidanalyst671 where in the left field did you come from with that?!?

  • @andypolak2024
    @andypolak2024 2 дні тому

    Joe plz Equitable Peace Deal for Ukraine 🇺🇦 is needed from your team … We can’t let Russia go completely unpunished = USA loosing its world order leader status . There needs to be world order led by USA period … otherwise bad actors will eat good guys alive. Thx for everything you guys do … 🙏

  • @MMAoracle
    @MMAoracle 2 дні тому

    He really doesn’t look or feel like a 60 year old

  • @peacelove7706
    @peacelove7706 2 дні тому

    This Man is AMAZING…..there should be Thousands of likes and thousands of his videos going around…if he worked with Trump and Elon…THE WORLD WOULD TRANSFORM RIGHT BEFORE OUR EYES 👀

  • @samfromuk796
    @samfromuk796 2 дні тому

    The problem is that there are corrupt politicians who knowingly allow this. Most of the corrupt ones are Zionists.

  • @SikandarDurrani
    @SikandarDurrani 3 дні тому

    SpaceX and Elon Musk have come a long way from the early days when it was just amazing to see them just getting off the ground and getting to orbit and getting to see them make the first successful landing of a stage 1 booster. With starship 5 making its booster return to the launch tower and the capture was amazing.

  • @TheAstraeuss
    @TheAstraeuss 3 дні тому

    Ya' and the thing you don't hear is the amount of public money that space x is getting. It's a lot...

    • @kenpumford754
      @kenpumford754 2 дні тому

      The government buys services that SpaceX sells, which are the most cost-effective on the market. SpaceX Falcon Heavy is well under half the cost of Delta IV Heavy, for example, so why wouldn't the government give contracts to SpaceX?

  • @Eyedbythetiger
    @Eyedbythetiger 3 дні тому

    Seems like a really competent Gov.

  • @larrycampbell5649
    @larrycampbell5649 4 дні тому

    I don't listen to the videos about people talking about a country isn't as strong as we think. If they weren't why would you bring them up. I talked to a friend who just got out of the navy. I said that China doesn't have as much experience in war but the US is certainly worried about them. This is why the US has pivoted toward China. Also, their AI development is about on par with ours. I teach English in Japan and one of my students is a Japanese master Seargeant in the Japanese Airforce he works on satellites. He told me that the US, China, and Russia have the most satellites in space. Remember the space races was between the Soviet Union and the United States before and China wasn't even heard of. Now they have as many satellites as the US. Put that into perspective.

  • @topperluciani9252
    @topperluciani9252 4 дні тому

    favorite podcast! great work JL! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

  • @davidpetersen1
    @davidpetersen1 4 дні тому

    Musk and Trump will do to pensions what they are doing to overtime.. making it nonexistant.

  • @Kevin-xq2tv
    @Kevin-xq2tv 4 дні тому

    Why do these boneheads always act like other first world countries with healthcare dont exist

  • @ricinro
    @ricinro 4 дні тому

    "Pension" is a poor choice of words. Corporations offer slightly matched 401ks or stock options with the risks of equities.

  • @nealramsey4439
    @nealramsey4439 4 дні тому

    It's a shame that the military tech is at colleges that invite Chinese students that come here and learn. Then they take the tech back to China and plan to use it against the US. This tech needs to be protected. They are innovating and all of it can be militarized. There's basically no advanced tech that can't be used in war. We are not protecting it anywhere near the way we did against the Soviets. Imagine letting Russian citizens come to the US in the 70s or 80s. The government would have never allowed it. They didn't even allow the Speak and Spell children's game go to the Soviet Union due to chips. Now we are inviting them into our colleges to learn and help advance with our money for them only to take it back to China. It's insane!!

  • @EuClid-v5e
    @EuClid-v5e 4 дні тому

    Euclides. 🙂👍👍👍💯💯💯💯💯🇺🇲🦅. Hello. You. 🙂👍💯

  • @gdaddy5193
    @gdaddy5193 4 дні тому

    SpaceX is under budget and ahead of schedule. SpaceX has rockets on the pad ready to go before the paperwork gets approved. They sit there waiting for the bureaucracy. Their competition launches at 10 times the cost and is over budget and behind schedule. The main difference is ... SpaceX doesn't have billions of dollars in defense department contracts.

  • @shelboymebob
    @shelboymebob 4 дні тому

    Exceptions don't prove rules

    • @rstous7691
      @rstous7691 4 дні тому

      What do you mean? What is the exception?

    • @shelboymebob
      @shelboymebob 4 дні тому

      @rstous7691 he used SpaceX and Elon as "proof" of his claim, but in his claim he states that Elon and SpaceX are exceptional examples. Exceptional examples don't "prove" the normally expected outcome or "the rule" Do you fancy yourself an intelligent person? Hopefully you do. Your comment reminds me of something stupid I would have said when I was 27 or so. PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING AT, otherwise you're just being an actual NPC. Have a happy Thanksgiving ✌🏻🖕🏻🖖🏻

    • @MMAoracle
      @MMAoracle 3 дні тому

      Free market doing things more efficiently than government isn’t an exception it IS the rule

    • @kaelan3
      @kaelan3 3 дні тому

      @@MMAoracle There's just so much graft in the "free market" that it really tampers my faith in situations like these. Like I'd rather apple make my iphone than the US government, but that is not the same as apple making a rocket to carry humans into space. I'd rather an agency that has far less incentive to cut corners and cheat to get government money be the people who get us there. It's also just 100% a good thing when public interests like space travel and science are accessible to the world rather than hoarded away for the oligarchs to profit off of at the expense of scientific advancement.

    • @adamsmasher9769
      @adamsmasher9769 3 дні тому

      ​@MMAoracle no, it isnt. Free market doesnt look for efficiency, it looks for shortcuts and loopholes

  • @MustangBobGT
    @MustangBobGT 4 дні тому

    Smarten up

  • @MustangBobGT
    @MustangBobGT 4 дні тому

    We know or think dark matter is real well yeah it's real we can't see it so it there right

  • @MustangBobGT
    @MustangBobGT 4 дні тому

    I'ma ede people we won the moon race right but what did we really accomplish

  • @MustangBobGT
    @MustangBobGT 4 дні тому

    So oxygen witch we won't and I love Elon... There is no oxygen out there so your spending money on nothing right we get to whatever we look for you can't breath and the shire radiation you can't win not matter how smart you are you need air to live

  • @dmelson7502
    @dmelson7502 4 дні тому

    Well why don't we get some astronauts off that space station?

  • @jamesbarry1673
    @jamesbarry1673 4 дні тому

    Well thank you for explaining

  • @leylayorulmaz6665
    @leylayorulmaz6665 5 днів тому

    ❄️💙❄️🟠❄️🟡🟦🟡🟦🟦🟦🧡🟦🌀🌸🟢🌀🟢🟢🌐🌐🌐🌐🌼🎋♻️🎋⚜️⚜️🟪⚜️⚜️

  • @markrussellfilaroski5035
    @markrussellfilaroski5035 5 днів тому

    Greatness happens long before you make the game winning shot. Good show Joe. ❤

  • @NicholasPalance
    @NicholasPalance 5 днів тому

    How do I get this invite?! 🤣Really enjoying your content. Thank you.

  • @bval2201
    @bval2201 5 днів тому

    Interesting

  • @evanchen5360
    @evanchen5360 5 днів тому

    joe, your pod is terrific but has nothing to do with turbotax. turbotax succeeds because of aggressive lobbying from intuit and regulatory capture. if DOGE simplifies the tax code, turbotax is over like the hawk tuah chick.

  • @midwestcannabis
    @midwestcannabis 5 днів тому

    Thank you for sharing Joe! 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲💪💪💪💪🥳🥳🥳🥳✌️✌️✌️

  • @jpegcashflow
    @jpegcashflow 5 днів тому

    thank you for this great podcast Joe!!

  • @limitlessfiberglass4561
    @limitlessfiberglass4561 5 днів тому

    Very interesting

  • @echomande4395
    @echomande4395 5 днів тому

    What SpaceX is doing is truly impressive. But while the Starship tower catches are spectacular, the most impressive thing about SpaceX is that they are the world leader both in number of launches and tons to orbit, while managing to recover the first stages and payload fairings in over 90% of launches where recovery was planned. These days SpaceX regularly launches multiple times per week, which would have been unthinkable even as recently as 5 years ago. I do agree though that when Starship comes fully online it will truly be a game changer for the launch industry, both in terms of cost per pound to low orbit as well as tons launched annually. Starship's payload volume alone will make some fairly wild things possible, such as launching a James Webb telescope analog fully assembled instead of it having to perform orbital origami in metal.

    • @nealramsey4439
      @nealramsey4439 4 дні тому

      Imagine the JWST that could be launched with the origami now. It would be huge! But we could launch existing ones without all that work. But now they know more about the folding up of objects so it wouldn't be as long hopefully

    • @echomande4395
      @echomande4395 4 дні тому

      @@nealramsey4439 True, but because Starship is reusable you might not need the spacecraft to perform that origami. JWST had to perform the origami because it had to be launched in one go straight to its final orbit. Instead with Starship you set up an orbital work yard where you can assemble the spacecraft and check out and test it before using a tug to move it into its final orbit. One of the many other tasks Starship could be tasked to is bringing materials, fuel and consumables for the work yard and tug up the gravity well. The work yard and tug would almost certainly also find many other uses.

  • @valenrn8657
    @valenrn8657 5 днів тому

    X86 gained RISC's 1 instruction per cycle.

  • @deal2live
    @deal2live 5 днів тому

    Gosh!!!

  • @Soulessdeeds
    @Soulessdeeds 5 днів тому

    The biggest problem I think is wrong with agencies like NASA is their marriage to defense contractors like Boeing and Lockheed Martin. These contractors continuously bill the government outlandish costs to build things and support them. And then you see SpaceX absolutely curb stomping these clowns for penny's on the dollar. NASA and even the defense department have been turned into cash funnels. It's not wasteful spending anymore. It's purposely being over charged to line the pockets of those in power.

  • @ismailnyeyusof3520
    @ismailnyeyusof3520 6 днів тому

    17:07 ‘..watching SpaceX.. versus watching SLS slowly trundle out..’ this was a great description of what is wrong with government processes weighed down by regulations that Elon’s been beating the drum loudly recently! Every free, or purportedly free, country around the world must learn from what could soon be happening in the United States under the incoming administration team.

  • @JustinPearsonHSV
    @JustinPearsonHSV 6 днів тому

    Ha, not crazy. Brilliant!

  • @moshewilshinsky1926
    @moshewilshinsky1926 6 днів тому

    I saw an interview with Steve Blank so I watched after reading his first book I try to learn from him when ever possible) This is my first time watching The American Optimist, it was great. I subscribed. You have the ability with presenting the facts , good bad and ugly while maintaining ok how do we fix it optimism, thank you.