Conan's Own

Conan talks to The Forest Farmers co-founder Mike in Lake Placid about the versatility of birch sap and for a special Chill Chums syrup taste test. Wanna get a chance to talk to Conan? Submit here: teamcoco.com/apply

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:02Conan O'Brien?

  Owning a car or home comes with responsibilities. Sure, it's fun, but sometimes it makes you wonder why you ever longed for adulthood in the first place. I do that all the time. I'm like, oh, these bills, these bills. What am I gonna do?

• 0:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 0:15Conan O'Brien?

  You know, when you own a house, you gotta fix it yourself. Sona,

• 0:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 0:17Conan O'Brien?

  You see this to be true, right?

• 0:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, your garage door breaks and you're like, well, I have to fix it.

• 0:22Conan O'Brien?

  Probably at first you said, hey, I'll get the super to fix it. It's your house, dude.

• 0:26Speaker 01

  It's mine, dude!

• 0:27Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah. Liberty Mutual customizes your car and home insurance to save you money. In fact, they work overtime to tailor your insurance policy around what you actually need. The only thing they can't do is get that liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty jingle out of your head.

• 0:39Speaker 01

  Liberty, liberty, liberty.

• 0:41Conan O'Brien?

  Liberty, liberty. It's in my head all the time.

• 0:42Speaker 01

  Yeah, me too.

• 0:43Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah. Start your quote at libertymutual.com.

• 0:49Conan O'Brien?

  Coca-Cola Zero Sugar is so good, it's almost impossible not to finish it before the meal arrives. It's just too good to wait. That happens to me sometimes.

• 0:58Speaker 01

  Me too.

• 0:58Conan O'Brien?

  You can try rules like no sipping until the appetizer arrives, or you tell your friend, "Don't let me touch my glass," but every time you're staring at an empty glass. So if you've ever finished your Coke Zero before the first fry hits the table, you're among friends. It happens. Occupational hazard with Coke Zero.

• 1:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:16Conan O'Brien?

  Real Coca-Cola taste, zero sugar, too good to wait. Enjoy an ice cold Coca-Cola Zero Sugar today.

• 1:27Speaker 01

  Conan O'Brien Needs a Fan. Wanna talk to Conan? Visit teamcoco.com/callconan. Okay, let's get started.

• 1:37Conan O'Brien?

  Okay, knock it off you two. Hi, Mike, welcome to the show.

• 1:41Speaker 02

  Well, thank you very much. Thank you for having me.

• 1:43Conan O'Brien?

  Hello, Mike. It's good to, uh, it's good to talk to you. Tell us, Mike, uh, where are you talking to us from right now? Where are you in the world?

• 1:50Speaker 02

  I am in, uh, Lake Placid, New York, um, up in the Adirondack Mountains. I don't know if you've been here before, but it's a beautiful spot. I've been here for about, uh, 20 years. I'm raising three, uh, wonderful kids, and I get to work out in the woods of the Adirondack Mountains all the time.

• 2:07Conan O'Brien?

  This sounds kind of perfect. I have been, uh, up to Lake Placid. And of course, Lake Placid, am I correct, is that the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid?

• 2:17Speaker 02

  1980 and 1932.

• 2:20Conan O'Brien?

  Yes, okay, I wasn't around for that one.

• 2:21Speaker 02

  And potentially 2026 for the sliding sports, we're gonna find out.

• 2:26Conan O'Brien?

  Uh, I just got the word about that, it's not happening.

• 2:28Speaker 01

  Aww.

• 2:29Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, I'm the first one they talked to.

• 2:32Speaker 01

  The sliding sports?

• 2:33Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, I'll tell you later, it's a whole thing.

• 2:34Speaker 02

  Yeah, like.

• 2:35Conan O'Brien?

  I'm on the board, um, but, uh.

• 2:37Speaker 02

  Bob sled lose, yeah.

• 2:38Speaker 01

  Oh, those.

• 2:39Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, the sports where you lay still and gravity does it all.

• 2:43Speaker 01

  Oh, come on.

• 2:44Conan O'Brien?

  Well, I'm sorry, but it is. Just stay really still and you might get a gold medal.

• 2:47Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 2:48Conan O'Brien?

  Uh, don't move.

• 2:50Speaker 03

  Remember we just had a bob sledder on this?

• 2:52Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, yeah, that guy was full of shit.

• 2:56Conan O'Brien?

  Hey, I stayed really still and I won. Good for you, bob sledder. Look, this got off to a bad start and I apologize, uh, Mike, uh, but I, I do think Lake Placid is a beautiful place. Uh, and also home of the Adirondack chair. I'm gonna say the Adirondack chair is the best outdoor wooden chair one can have. It gives you the most back support.

• 3:17Speaker 01

  Hot take.

• 3:18Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, that's my hot take. So now what's yours?

• 3:21Speaker 02

  So, so.

• 3:22Speaker 01

  I don't know very many others.

• 3:24Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 3:24Conan O'Brien?

  Go ahead.

• 3:24Speaker 02

  So Conan, why have you not used the Adirondack chair for the summer sports then?

• 3:29Conan O'Brien?

  Uh, well, we should have an Adirondack chair the next time we're outside and I'm gonna demand one. Uh, and then I wanna keep it at the end of the night and I don't wanna pay for it. I want it to be courtesy of the Team Coco machine, which means basically it ends up coming out of my.

• 3:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 3:41Speaker 02

  I know some people who make Adirondack chairs, so if you, if you decide to go with it.

• 3:45Conan O'Brien?

  I just think that's a fantastic chair, the Adirondack chair, check it out.

• 3:48Speaker 02

  It is, it is, it is.

• 3:49Conan O'Brien?

  The, uh, tell us, what do you do? What is your profession? How do you make your way in this cruel world?

• 3:56Speaker 02

  Um, I, uh, about 10 years ago, I founded a company called The Forest Farmers. Um, we, and my business partners, we own, uh, 10,000 acres of forest land here in the Adirondacks in Vermont.

• 4:09Conan O'Brien?

  Wow.

• 4:09Speaker 02

  And we collect sap from lots of different tree species and turn it into syrups and sugars and all sorts of, uh, beverages and delicious food and.

• 4:20Conan O'Brien?

  So basically, uh, let me cut to the chase, you're in the maple syrup business?

• 4:24Speaker 02

  Not just maple syrup, but other tree syrups as well, yes. Maple syrup is our number one thing.

• 4:28Conan O'Brien?

  I didn't know there were other tree syrups. What other tree syrups are there?

• 4:31Speaker 02

  Uh, we do birch, beech, and walnut. And there is another five species that we could do, but we're not in the right part of the country to do that.

• 4:41Conan O'Brien?

  Okay. Um, I, I'm, I don't, that's strange to me. I mean, maple is the go-to. And it's suddenly like you're saying, oh, no, there's another kind of Kleenex other than Kleenex. There's Zorzebar tissues.

• 4:59Conan O'Brien?

  So, describe, what does it taste like? How is it different beech from maple? Or is that just an impossible thing to describe?

• 5:08Speaker 02

  No, no, so, um, every different tree syrup tastes a little bit different. Some are very different than others. And, uh, it has to do, you know, a lot of types of, the types of sugars that, um, are present in the sap and then how you boil it down. And so beech syrup tastes similar to maple, but with more like a raisiny fig type of complex to it.

• 5:31Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, interesting.

• 5:32Speaker 03

  I'm glad you asked this because actually we have a syrup taste test to do.

• 5:37Speaker 01

  I have no palate. They all.

• 5:39Speaker 03

  Let's bring them in.

• 5:40Conan O'Brien?

  We have syrups here that we're gonna try.

• 5:43Speaker 03

  Syrups.

• 5:43Conan O'Brien?

  This is fantastic.

• 5:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, I, I sent, yeah, so I had sent, um, uh, syrups for each of the three chill chunks. So then you can each have a syrup.

• 5:53Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, look at that.

• 5:55Speaker 03

  This looks like Jager bombs.

• 6:00Speaker 02

  That is each, uh, you know.

• 6:02Speaker 01

  Oh, wait, should I wait till we do it?

• 6:04Conan O'Brien?

  Let's wait, let's wait.

• 6:05Speaker 03

  Okay, yeah, you can take us through this, Mike.

• 6:07Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, I see, each one, I understand. We don't each get a plate, each plate, yes. So move the plates to the middle. And so, uh, you have your birch, you have your maple. Uh, what's that one right over there?

• 6:19Speaker 03

  Uh, this is, uh. Pure maple.

• 6:22Speaker 01

  Oh, man.

• 6:23Speaker 03

  That's a maple walnut.

• 6:25Speaker 02

  There's a pure maple, which is the traditional one, and then a maple walnut.

• 6:29Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 6:29Speaker 02

  That one's for Gourley.

• 6:30Conan O'Brien?

  I think what we're gonna do is, um, I have, I have, I just want a few more questions before we start tasting, which is, um, I know when I was a kid, I was tasting what I thought was syrup, but it wasn't. It was the stuff that you get at the supermarket. Basically, in the 60s and 70s, we were lied to.

• 6:53Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 6:54Conan O'Brien?

  What, what, what was I eating?

• 6:56Speaker 02

  Not just the 60s and 70s. We're continually being lied to. Like, the vast majority of people in the US, um, consume the fake stuff. The, you know, the Aunt Jemima, Mrs. Butterworth, Log Cabin, all that stuff.

• 7:09Conan O'Brien?

  So Mrs. Butterworth, Mrs. Butterworth, Mrs. Butterworth is a liar, is what you're saying.

• 7:15Speaker 03

  Does she not even exist? Was she a real person? Is she? Miss, I saw Mrs. Butterworth move on a kitchen table. She's gotta be real.

• 7:23Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, I always assumed she was a very small person whose body was filled with syrup.

• 7:27Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 7:28Speaker 01

  Yeah. Next, you're gonna say, you know, Eggo waffles aren't real waffles.

• 7:32Conan O'Brien?

  Okay, that's, let's not do that.

• 7:34Speaker 01

  I'm sorry.

• 7:34Conan O'Brien?

  Okay, that's just slanderous. That's like saying there's no Santa Claus.

• 7:36Speaker 03

  You're such a conspiracy theorist.

• 7:38Conan O'Brien?

  So, so anyway, that's just basically sugar and what? What is it?

• 7:42Speaker 02

  Well, it's corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, and an artificial maple flavor. And a bunch of preservatives.

• 7:48Conan O'Brien?

  What happened to this country?

• 7:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 7:50Conan O'Brien?

  This country was founded on something important, and now we've lost our way. But you're gonna bring it back because you're talking about real syrups. Syrups that come-

• 7:57Speaker 02

  Well, Conan, I know you're, you're a huge history buff, right?

• 8:00Conan O'Brien?

  You bet I am.

• 8:02Speaker 02

  Civil War as well, right?

• 8:04Conan O'Brien?

  Not just Civil War. Don't pigeonhole me. I know all histories.

• 8:08Speaker 01

  Oh, no!

• 8:10Conan O'Brien?

  God, I think he got mad at me when I said not, when I said not just Civil War, we lost his connection. We'll get it back. Don't worry. It's a matter of time.

• 8:17Speaker 03

  This is tough because I really wanna drink these syrups.

• 8:20Speaker 01

  I do, too.

• 8:20Speaker 03

  They look so good.

• 8:21Conan O'Brien?

  Is there something that could be-

• 8:22Speaker 03

  Let's start with the pure. Let's stir, start with the pure maple syrup. Go ahead and do it.

• 8:26Conan O'Brien?

  No, no, we're gonna wait till he comes back, but we can at least distribute, okay?

• 8:30Speaker 01

  If I had access to this much syrup, I'd take a bath in it.

• 8:33Speaker 03

  Oh, I don't think you should. I'm gonna keep that in the podcast.

• 8:37Speaker 01

  We're not recording anymore.

• 8:38Speaker 03

  We are still recording.

• 8:39Speaker 04

  It's still rolling, for sure.

• 8:41Speaker 01

  It doesn't matter if the band's gone.

• 8:42Speaker 03

  You know what, but I'm gonna put that part in.

• 8:44Conan O'Brien?

  This guy up in the northern reaches of New York, who gets syrup out of a tree, his computer went down. Big shock. His computer's made of balsa wood. It probably runs on sap. You know? There's like a falcon.

• 9:01Speaker 03

  What's that?

• 9:02Speaker 01

  I'm reading this thing. This is dark, robust maple syrup for Sona. Since she is traditional and sweet.

• 9:09Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, that's so nice.

• 9:10Speaker 03

  Oh, so these are each tailored to us.

• 9:12Speaker 01

  The most normal syrup that we make in honor of Sona.

• 9:14Conan O'Brien?

  I think.

• 9:15Speaker 03

  So the first one is the pure maple. Can you read that again?

• 9:18Speaker 01

  Yours is nutty. Probably real nutty.

• 9:21Conan O'Brien?

  All right, well, listen. This gentleman is not with us at the moment. Can he hear us?

• 9:24Speaker 04

  I don't think so. He's not on yet.

• 9:25Conan O'Brien?

  Well, I just think this gentleman who we're talking to, Mike, who makes the maple syrup, his connection has gone down.

• 9:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:32Conan O'Brien?

  Because I don't think they have Wi-Fi yet in Lake Placid, New York. And that's gonna cost them the Olympics if they can't get it together.

• 9:39Speaker 01

  How will people luge without Wi-Fi?

• 9:42Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, yeah. There's no way to luge.

• 9:45Speaker 03

  You can't luge.

• 9:47Conan O'Brien?

  It's a no-luge situation.

• 9:51Speaker 01

  Why am I laughing so hard at that?

• 9:53Conan O'Brien?

  You're laughing because the fumes from the syrup. He'll be back any time now. And you know what? I don't know who sets these things up, but I'm sure.

• 10:00Speaker 01

  I cheated.

• 10:00Conan O'Brien?

  Is it Eduardo? Who tests the signal?

• 10:03Speaker 04

  It's a team effort.

• 10:04Conan O'Brien?

  Team effort, I see. Well, that's a nice way to throw people under the bus.

• 10:07Speaker 04

  I didn't say who is on the team. I said, I'm part of the team.

• 10:10Conan O'Brien?

  Okay, don't worry about it. And listen, you won't be blamed, Aaron Blair, for okaying a connection that isn't there. Can't we send these people equipment? Is there a way to get?

• 10:19Speaker 03

  I took a sip.

• 10:21Speaker 04

  Oh, you cheaters.

• 10:22Speaker 01

  I know.

• 10:23Conan O'Brien?

  You're not supposed to taste ahead of time.

• 10:24Speaker 01

  I can't help it. It's really good. You should just take a little, take a little.

• 10:28Conan O'Brien?

  I play by the rules.

• 10:29Speaker 04

  He's the older sibling on Christmas morning that won't let us go look at our gifts.

• 10:33Conan O'Brien?

  No, I remember those days.

• 10:34Speaker 01

  Uh, teacher, you forgot to give us homework assignment.

• 10:37Speaker 03

  There he is.

• 10:37Conan O'Brien?

  Hey, you're back. You're back.

• 10:39Speaker 03

  I'm back.

• 10:39Conan O'Brien?

  Hey, and listen, Mike, I want you to know that I take responsibility for that system going down. And when I say I take responsibility, I mean my bad team.

• 10:50Speaker 03

  I think you're gonna blame it on Eduardo or Sona.

• 10:53Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, it's Blay and Eduardo. We call them Bledwardo. Wow. Bledwardo's a beast that screws everything up.

• 11:06Conan O'Brien?

  Your name represents everything you've built, okay? Everything, like, I feel that way about my name.

• 11:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:11Conan O'Brien?

  It stands for all of the work good and not so good in my life. But guess what? Your children's names represent their whole futures.

• 11:20Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:20Conan O'Brien?

  Your children haven't even started building their futures, but their identities are already valuable. Your child's clean credit history can make them a target for identity thieves. Never thought of it that way, but it's true. Identity thieves can open loans and credit cards using your child's social security number, racking up debt and ruining their credit. And you may not notice until they try and get their first credit card. So it could be a long time.

• 11:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:42Conan O'Brien?

  Well, guess what? With LifeLock, you can add family members to your plan, giving you the power to block identity threats targeting your children. Now, Sony, your kids are pretty young still.

• 11:51Speaker 01

  They are.

• 11:52Conan O'Brien?

  Five, but within a couple of years, you know, they're gonna be buying heavy machinery online.

• 11:57Speaker 01

  What?

• 11:58Conan O'Brien?

  They're gonna be, become tractor fanatics. They're gonna be buying tractors online. So if you have expenses or money stolen due to identity theft, you're backed by the million-dollar protection package with up to $3 million coverage in some plans. So join now, save up to 30% off your first year. Go to lifelock.com/conan. That's lifelock.com/conan to save 30%. Terms apply.

• 12:22Conan O'Brien?

  This fall, I wanna try something different.

• 12:24Speaker 01

  What?

• 12:24Conan O'Brien?

  I like to change it up. I like to learn things, so I'm gonna try and make apple cider.

• 12:28Speaker 01

  Ooh.

• 12:28Conan O'Brien?

  Every morning.

• 12:29Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 12:30Conan O'Brien?

  This fall, just to see if I can do it.

• 12:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 12:32Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, fall's the perfect season to try something new, like joining T-Mobile.

• 12:36Speaker 01

  Oh, that's good.

• 12:37Conan O'Brien?

  See what I did?

• 12:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 12:38Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, there are 250 reasons to join T-Mobile right now. You wanna hear what they are?

• 12:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 12:42Conan O'Brien?

  They're America's best network.

• 12:43Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 12:44Conan O'Brien?

  True story. Plus, T-Mobile has got off-grid satellite coverage. That comes in really handy. I like to just wander in the woods sometimes.

• 12:51Speaker 01

  Oh, that's weird.

• 12:51Conan O'Brien?

  When I'm thinking about, like, making apple cider. And that's when it comes in handy. Here's another reason. High-speed data in over 215 countries and destinations. I travel a lot for the

• 13:01Speaker 01

  You travel a lot.

• 13:01Conan O'Brien?

  travel show that I do.

• 13:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 13:03Conan O'Brien?

  Stream this podcast while ignoring local landmarks. That's always fun to do. Like, oh, look, there's the Mona Lisa. Yeah, check it out. I'm in the Louvre. I should, but I'm listening to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend.

• 13:13Speaker 01

  That doesn't seem like a good idea.

• 13:14Conan O'Brien?

  It's a great idea.

• 13:15Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 13:16Conan O'Brien?

  You know, you can see art anytime. But how often can you listen to this podcast?

• 13:21Speaker 01

  My god.

• 13:22Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah.

• 13:22Speaker 01

  What?

• 13:23Conan O'Brien?

  No, all these reasons make T-Mobile a great choice.

• 13:25Speaker 01

  I agree.

• 13:26Conan O'Brien?

  T-Mobile is stacking up reasons to join. Go to T-Mobile.com and find yours best. Based on analysis by Ookla of speed test intelligence data first half of 2026. Can't believe I read that. T-Satellite with capable devices in most outdoor areas in the US where you can see the sky. High-speed international data with qualifying plan. Visit T-Mobile.com, consult a physician. I just threw that in there.

• 13:50Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 13:54Conan O'Brien?

  So, you have to admit, the holidays, it's really about hanging with the people you love.

• 14:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:01Conan O'Brien?

  And getting to be yourself, not going to some stuffy holiday party where you need to conform to what the man wants you to think about the holidays.

• 14:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:10Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, it's about being yourself. Turn your holiday time into Miller time by enjoying a Miller Lite in a place where you're free to enjoy yourself on a walk with a cousin. With a cousin? Why are they getting all specific about?

• 14:21Speaker 01

  Because it's family.

• 14:22Conan O'Brien?

  But what about a niece or a nephew?

• 14:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:26Conan O'Brien?

  Like a walk with an ex-wife?

• 14:29Conan O'Brien?

  I don't know. I mean, they're just throwing, that's a weird, they just made a very specific choice.

• 14:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:33Conan O'Brien?

  Now's the time for those unexpected holiday side guests and enjoy a great tasting light beer. 'Tis Miller time, as Dickens wrote. Miller Lite is brewed for taste, the taste you can depend on. The original light beer since 1975 and still iconic more than 50 years later. I like to be with my bros, my chums, my posse, crack open a Miller Lite, take a swig, a sip, look around and see my friends. We've known each other forever and we're just hanging out.

• 15:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, you guys are just doing chest bumps and high-fiving.

• 15:03Conan O'Brien?

  Miller Lite is great taste done right. Go to millerlite.com/conan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer. 'Tis Miller time. Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.

• 15:19Speaker 05

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• 15:55Conan O'Brien?

  Okay, so we're about to taste the, uh, which is the first one we're tasting?

• 15:59Speaker 03

  Pure maple syrup.

• 16:00Conan O'Brien?

  Pure maple syrup. And, um, tell us, when was this harvested? What's the best time to get that maple syrup? Is it the winter?

• 16:07Speaker 03

  Come on, Dad.

• 16:08Speaker 02

  Well, actually, the best time is right, is right now.

• 16:10Conan O'Brien?

  All right, then let's taste it.

• 16:11Speaker 02

  We're in the middle of maple season.

• 16:12Conan O'Brien?

  Let's taste it right now.

• 16:13Speaker 02

  No doubt about it, yes.

• 16:15Speaker 01

  Mmm.

• 16:16Conan O'Brien?

  Mmm, that's delicious.

• 16:17Speaker 01

  Good, good.

• 16:18Speaker 03

  Mmm. That is heaven.

• 16:20Speaker 01

  That is so good.

• 16:21Conan O'Brien?

  That is so good, the texture.

• 16:23Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 16:24Conan O'Brien?

  Oh my God, it's just like Mrs. Butterworth.

• 16:26Speaker 03

  There's something so wonderful about drinking it out of a shot glass, too.

• 16:29Conan O'Brien?

  Mm-hmm. Well, again, that feeds into your alcoholism.

• 16:32Speaker 03

  It sure does.

• 16:33Conan O'Brien?

  I can't take too much of it straight. It's, wow, Sona!

• 16:36Speaker 03

  I know.

• 16:37Conan O'Brien?

  I don't know how you do it.

• 16:37Speaker 02

  You just have a little bit, yeah.

• 16:38Conan O'Brien?

  I just have a little taste.

• 16:39Speaker 02

  And you have to chase with water.

• 16:40Speaker 03

  I'm a hummingbird, I will just drink nectar.

• 16:42Speaker 01

  I just wanna lick it.

• 16:43Conan O'Brien?

  That is fantastic. That is, uh, I mean, the taste, the texture.

• 16:48Speaker 02

  Well, because it's, it's not the fake stuff, right? So, the fake stuff is what people are used to, but when you get the real thing, it's, you know, that much better.

• 16:57Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, yeah, once you've had, hey, once I've had this, you can't go back, you know?

• 17:00Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 17:00Conan O'Brien?

  I can't go back. I'm gonna go home and...

• 17:02Speaker 02

  Well, you have, you have two, you have two others to try, Conan.

• 17:04Conan O'Brien?

  All right, what's the next one you want us to try? There's maple walnut, and then there's birch.

• 17:09Speaker 02

  Well, okay, okay, so birch is much different than maple. Maple walnut is very similar to maple, it's just a little...

• 17:16Conan O'Brien?

  Let's do that next.

• 17:17Speaker 02

  Well, I, I can't talk about it because you guys are supposed to...

• 17:19Conan O'Brien?

  Okay, let's do maple...

• 17:20Speaker 03

  Are we supposed to clear our palate, like with some...

• 17:22Conan O'Brien?

  Oh yeah, take a little water.

• 17:23Speaker 02

  With some water, maybe, just take a little sip of water.

• 17:25Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, yeah, okay, sure. Yeah.

• 17:27Speaker 01

  Mmm.

• 17:28Speaker 03

  Let's read the description here. Maple walnut syrup. Matt's syrup is made from the sap of maple and walnut trees. It's mostly sweet, but just a tad...

• 17:36Conan O'Brien?

  Stupid.

• 17:36Speaker 03

  Just a tad, but nutty and...

• 17:38Conan O'Brien?

  Excuse me. I'm just reading what he wrote.

• 17:40Speaker 03

  In honor of Professor Gourley. Thank you, Mike.

• 17:42Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 17:43Speaker 03

  Conan, you go screw.

• 17:44Speaker 02

  Go screw.

• 17:46Conan O'Brien?

  Okay, here we go.

• 17:47Speaker 01

  Oh my. Oh, I really like that.

• 17:50Conan O'Brien?

  I can taste the difference. I can taste the walnut.

• 17:52Speaker 01

  Oh, that is so good.

• 17:54Conan O'Brien?

  I love that you have the walnut, the walnut-y. It's got that just little nutty something.

• 18:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, nuts.

• 18:02Speaker 02

  That's for Gourley, because everybody loves Gourley, right?

• 18:06Conan O'Brien?

  I've asked around. Who are you asking? Thank you, thank you, Mike. What did you, were you chatting, were you chatting up a bear? In the woods? An elk come by and say, "I like Gourley."

• 18:16Speaker 01

  Oh, I'm so happy.

• 18:18Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, yeah.

• 18:19Speaker 01

  Oh, my God.

• 18:20Conan O'Brien?

  I really gotta say, I love drinking myself there.

• 18:22Speaker 01

  That's just, it's staying in there. She's so thick. She's thick.

• 18:27Speaker 02

  Okay, so, so can I?

• 18:28Conan O'Brien?

  Jesus, look at her go.

• 18:29Speaker 02

  I just wanna.

• 18:30Conan O'Brien?

  You're like a, you're, you're a monster.

• 18:32Speaker 01

  I'm so happy. Mrs. Just, you're not even drinking all of it.

• 18:36Conan O'Brien?

  I can't, I can't take that much pure.

• 18:38Speaker 02

  That's a lot of syrup, yeah.

• 18:40Conan O'Brien?

  I can't do it.

• 18:41Speaker 02

  You don't need to drink it all, yeah.

• 18:42Conan O'Brien?

  I like to get little tastes, you know? You're the person that goes to the wine tasting and just drains the whole bottle.

• 18:48Speaker 01

  It's true.

• 18:48Conan O'Brien?

  And they say, you know, you spit in this barrel and then you drink out of the barrel. Oh, this is, smells very different.

• 18:54Speaker 01

  Are you gonna read your?

• 18:56Speaker 02

  So Conan, it's very different and this one is definitely for you, Conan.

• 18:59Conan O'Brien?

  This is for Conan since it's made from very tall, white birch trees. And this syrup has a reddish hue. It is sweet and fruity, but slightly acidic with very unique flavors. That's, that is me. This is a good description of me.

• 19:14Speaker 01

  Oh, man, I'm so happy.

• 19:16Conan O'Brien?

  Is birch syrup gonna catch on, do you think?

• 19:18Speaker 02

  I hope so, if, if I have a great spokesperson. Somebody doesn't like it.

• 19:24Conan O'Brien?

  Nope. Oh, no. Oh, no.

• 19:26Speaker 01

  Oh, my.

• 19:27Conan O'Brien?

  No. This is me?

• 19:29Speaker 02

  Well, you're not supposed to, you're not supposed to have, no, you're not supposed to have birch syrup on its own. So I was gonna try to like, warn you that, like, people just don't drink birch syrup. Like, you wouldn't just like drink a balsamic vinaigrette, you know what I mean?

• 19:43Speaker 01

  Oh, okay.

• 19:44Speaker 02

  Okay, so it's used in cooking, like, it's not like something you pour on pancakes and you just like,

• 19:48Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 19:49Speaker 02

  Take shots of, so like,

• 19:51Speaker 01

  I'm still gonna drink it.

• 19:51Speaker 02

  When you have a little bit of it.

• 19:52Conan O'Brien?

  Why did you tell us that afterwards?

• 19:55Speaker 02

  Well, because you cut me off and didn't let me say it.

• 20:00Speaker 01

  You were so excited to drink yourself.

• 20:02Conan O'Brien?

  It was in glasses that were presented to us at a tasting. So how did I fuck that up? That's uh.

• 20:10Speaker 01

  Sour? Tangy?

• 20:11Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, tangy.

• 20:12Speaker 02

  It's a, it's a common, um, it's a very common, uh, reaction. So, but when you have birch syrup on like salmon or pork or chicken, it is delicious.

• 20:22Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, I could see that.

• 20:23Speaker 02

  It's how you use it. You have to, you have to use it in cooking. It's not something you would just drink. Like, nobody would just drink, like I said, balsamic vinegar.

• 20:30Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, you'd have to pour it into cups at a tasting, um, and have it be the third thing you tasted.

• 20:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:36Conan O'Brien?

  For someone to accidentally drink it.

• 20:37Speaker 01

  It's kind of accurate, cause you on your own, you're a lot, but with me and Gourley.

• 20:42Conan O'Brien?

  That's right.

• 20:43Speaker 01

  Yeah, we compliment you.

• 20:45Conan O'Brien?

  Uh huh, and the salad. The taste of Gourley was fantastic. The taste of Sona was amazing. And then when you two were quiet and we had a little bit of Conan. Bit much. It was repellent. Yeah, it was sour.

• 20:57Speaker 02

  Okay, it was, it was always supposed to be slightly acidic, not, not fully acidic.

• 21:02Conan O'Brien?

  I, I wouldn't say that acidic is the only issue. How's it selling? The, the, the birch syrup? How's it, how's it going? The Conan one.

• 21:13Speaker 02

  So, yeah, the Conan one, um.

• 21:17Conan O'Brien?

  Don't, let's move away from it. That's the name. Nope.

• 21:20Speaker 01

  Let's package it.

• 21:21Conan O'Brien?

  Let's move away from that name. Get it on the bottle. Let's call it the Jordan. Um, it is, uh.

• 21:28Speaker 02

  George Glassgate?

• 21:29Conan O'Brien?

  Let me do, let me do you a little favor here, pal. I'm, I'm, and I don't know much about business and such. I would put 99.9% of your business into the two maples.

• 21:40Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 21:41Conan O'Brien?

  The walnut maple and the regular maple. Um, I would try... What, do you have a facility where you make the birch?

• 21:51Speaker 02

  Yeah, we do. And, and, and actually.

• 21:52Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, blow it up. Blow it, blow it up.

• 21:55Speaker 02

  No, I'm just saying.

• 21:55Conan O'Brien?

  Just blow it up.

• 21:56Speaker 02

  We do, so, um.

• 21:58Conan O'Brien?

  Big, big blow up. Big, bu, bu, blow it up. Explosion.

• 22:02Speaker 02

  We do put most of our effort into maple. That is our number one thing.

• 22:06Conan O'Brien?

  Good, good.

• 22:06Speaker 02

  Uh, yes, but the birch sap runs after maple and we have a lot of customers that do actually.

• 22:15Speaker 02

  Appreciate Birch for its unique flavors that use it in cooking, like lots of different chefs.

• 22:21Conan O'Brien?

  I can imagine, if you're grilling.

• 22:23Speaker 02

  And then also.

• 22:23Conan O'Brien?

  Base that on there? Oh, that'd be so good.

• 22:26Speaker 03

  No answer would come around.

• 22:27Speaker 02

  If anybody just has it by itself, um, it's not just something you normally just drink. And then we also have a lot of people that buy it for just the sap as a beverage, because that's what's been used for centuries. People drinking birch sap in the springtime is like a spring tonic. It's delicious just in the sap right out of the tree.

• 22:44Conan O'Brien?

  Is that where birch beer comes from?

• 22:46Speaker 02

  Um, birch beer, uh, there's lots of different types of birch beer, but, uh, the birch beer that came out of America was actually the distillate of sweet birch or black birch in Pennsylvania. It has like an oil of wintergreen that that's grown in the trees.

• 23:02Conan O'Brien?

  Yes.

• 23:03Speaker 02

  And that's what they made the back, the, the, the birch beer from.

• 23:06Conan O'Brien?

  Okay. Well, it probably took us down an unproductive.

• 23:08Speaker 01

  I was gonna say, I've never heard of birch beer.

• 23:10Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, birch beer is, uh, pretty common.

• 23:13Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 23:13Conan O'Brien?

  It's out there. You've had.

• 23:14Speaker 03

  Oh, no, is that an east coast thing? It must be.

• 23:17Speaker 01

  I don't drink much.

• 23:17Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's, it's a northeast thing. More when Conan was growing up too.

• 23:21Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, when I was growing up, every now and then, my grandfather would pull up in his Model T and say, let's go get a birch beer. And then on the way back, we'd vote for Warren Harding for president.

• 23:29Speaker 03

  See, out here, we just have beer. We just have beer, you nerd.

• 23:33Conan O'Brien?

  Okay, well, okay, well, I guess I'm the fool in this equation.

• 23:37Speaker 03

  Well.

• 23:37Conan O'Brien?

  Um, I, uh, this is a, you have mostly a thriving business, I think, um.

• 23:43Speaker 01

  Mostly.

• 23:44Conan O'Brien?

  Beware of the birch syrup and, and put a warning on the label, do not drink, okay? Put a warning on, on the birch syrup label that, uh, it's not to be.

• 23:54Speaker 02

  That's, uh.

• 23:54Conan O'Brien?

  You know, no one should drink it.

• 23:56Speaker 02

  Yes, yes.

• 23:57Conan O'Brien?

  Oh, you know what? Better yet, put my face on it. No one's gonna drink it.

• 24:01Speaker 02

  I think if we put your face on it, everybody wouldn't want to buy it.

• 24:04Conan O'Brien?

  No, we've tried that with other products. Yeah.

• 24:07Speaker 02

  Really?

• 24:08Conan O'Brien?

  We have a Conan fire extinguisher and in fires, people won't use it. We, we have a Conan intubator and people that are dying won't use it.

• 24:16Speaker 01

  The anti-Paul Newman.

• 24:18Conan O'Brien?

  Okay, that's nice.

• 24:22Conan O'Brien?

  You win this round, son.

• 24:23Speaker 03

  Oh, Conan's own.

• 24:26Speaker 01

  Conan's own?

• 24:26Speaker 03

  All proceeds are stolen from charity.

• 24:29Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, all my money is taken from the kids' camps. The ship is sinking. Quickly, grab the life preservers. They're Conan's own life preservers.

• 24:39Speaker 03

  I'd rather die!

• 24:40Conan O'Brien?

  I choose to drown!

• 24:44Conan O'Brien?

  Uh, well, Mike, you're a good guy. You've got a nice business. I envy you living up there in Lake Placid. Those are cold winters, but what a beautiful country. What a beautiful place to be from. And congratulations on the upcoming possible Olympics where people remain perfectly motionless and yet are given the highest prize possible in athletics. Um, I think that's it. I think we're gonna...

• 25:07Speaker 03

  It was a pleasure, Mike.

• 25:08Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, we're gonna go make some, we're gonna go make some griddle cakes and pour two of these three syrups onto it.

• 25:14Speaker 03

  And then afterwards, not use the Conan defibrillator.

• 25:17Conan O'Brien?

  Yeah, exactly. Well, thank you very much, Mike. Take care.

• 25:22Speaker 03

  Bye.

• 25:23Speaker 02

  Okay, thank you.

• 25:23Conan O'Brien?

  Bye-bye.

• 25:24Speaker 02

  Bye-bye.

• 25:26Speaker 03

  Conan O'Brien Needs a Fan with Conan O'Brien, Sonam of Sessian, and Matt Gourley. Produced by me, Matt Gourley. Executive produced by Adam Sacks, Jeff Ross, and Nick Liao. Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino. Take it away, Jimmy.

• 25:43Speaker 03

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