Folowing the clues

Good morning Staker! Here’s what’s cookin’ today. Jim Beam’s downsizing production, Lego smartens up, meet the 80 year old who just conquered tje Appalachian Trail, and Triumph is the latest band to announce a tour 🤘

But first, our weekly poll!

Jim Beam owner Suntory announced it’s suspending production at the bourbon maker’s flagship distillery in Clermont, Kentucky due to declining alcohol consumption in America and around the world.

The one-year pause will be used to make enhancements to the facility, according to Suntory.

The Jim Beam operator is but the latest spirits maker forced to make a difficult decision of this nature, following in the footsteps of Brown-Foreman (Jack Daniels) and Diageo (Smirnoff, Crown Royal).

Brown-Foreman shut down its bourbon cooperage in Louisville last year, laying of 640 workers, while Diageo suspended production at distilleries in Texas and Tennessee, while also closing its bottling plant in Amherstberg, Ontario.

The ongoing trade war is adding to the tribulations of American spirit producers. While alcohol consumption is down, tariffs and boycotts of American liquor have driven sales down further. According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, shipments were down 9% last year compared to 2024.

61 million barrels of bourbon are reportedly aging in Kentucky, and will be ready to bottle in four years. It’s yet to be seen if a market will still exist for all that brown liquor.

This week at the Consumer Electronics Show, LEGO revealed it will launch Smart Brick on March 1, calling it the company’s “most significant development in 50 years.”

Three separate Star Wars sets will inlcude a “Smart Brick” containing a computer chip that interacts with other small tiles in pieces throughout the set. Sensors in the bricks trigger various reactions when they interact with one another.

In the 473-piece Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter set, the Smart Brick’s sensors detect when it’s being “flown” by the builder, and will light up and make the sounds of the Empire’s galactic starfighter.

Even more impressively, when the Smart-Brick-implanted TIE fighter comes within range of Luke’s Red Five X-Wing set, both fighters will react accordingly, creating the sounds of a firefight, and carrying out commands from minifigures Darth Vader, Luke, Leia and R2-D2.

LEGO maintains the technology doesn’t betray its core principals of physical play. SVP of Product and New Business, Federico Begher, told IGN the Smart Brick is an added layer that’s here to stay and enhances imaginative building.

This is Betty Kellenberger, the pride of Carson City, Michigan, and now also the oldest female to complete the Appalachian Trail. It was her fifth attempt, and she got the job done at 80 years old on Sept. 12.

A new PBS documentary recounts the tales of Betty’s courageous adventure, which included overcoming dehydration, Lyme disease, a concussion, several falls, the death of her original hiking partner, and of course the overwhelmingly difficult terrain of the mammoth hiking trail along the American east coast.

The goings-on of adult life and her job as a school teacher prevented Betty from attempting her lifelong dream for years, but as she got older, she decided it was now or never.

“I remember thinking, ‘How long do you think you have to think about it? You know, I’m pushing 80’,” she told the AARP. “ ‘Am I going to wait until I’m pushing 90?’ So yeah, it sort of pushed me into action.”

Her 2022 attempt was sidelined after her hiking partner, Joe Cox, had a nasty fall in Maine and Betty got dehydrated, concussed, and contracted Lyme disease. In 2023, she made it to Massachusetts before suffering a nasty fall herself. She completed the middle section in 2024 but Hurricane Helene had other plans afterwards.

Then came 2025. You can read more about Betty’s conquering of the 2,200-mile trail here.

Triumph is widely considered one of rock ‘n roll’s most underrated bands. Like Rush, they’re a Canadian trio of prog rockers, the singer of which is known for belting notes most female singers would have trouble hitting.

They never made it quite as big as Rush, but absence makes the heart grow fonder. A second Boston show was just added to the reunion tour celebrating 50 years of Triumph. The Chicago gig is also moving from the Rosemont Theater to the Rosemont Horizon (now officially called the Allstate Arena).

It’s the group’s first extended outing since 2008, when the original members played two shows at the Sweden Rock Festival. Rik Emmett left the group in 1988, and though they toured 1992’s Edge of Excess in ‘93, Emmett was replaced by Phil X, who will also be on the road with the band for the spring reunion tour.

"It's serendipity. There's no one specific thing [that made this reunion happen]," drummer Gil Moore told UCR's Matt Wardlaw. "I would say it's the rising tide of fans reflecting on how songs that Triumph played affected them in their life. The more time goes by, the more of these stories you hear and the more compelling they are, or in some cases, heart-wrenching. And so there's that cumulative effect that we're experiencing."

Emmett can still bring it, but not quite like he did in the 70s and 80s. Have no fear, though, both Phil X and accompanying bassist Todd “Dammit” Kerns have the high-end stuff more than covered.

3 outta 4 ain’t bad

Get ready to test your skills because we’ve got a brand new kind of quiz for you, Staker. In today’s trivia we’ll test you on ten questions - all of which feature 3 things that belong and one that doesn’t.

Complete the game and earn a shot at a $25 eGift Card ;)

Winner will be notified on Friday afternoon. Keep an eye on your inbox and don’t forget to check your spam folder!*