Critical Role
Summary
Quest ’s Endcontinues to bring together fantasy and high - quality spirits for fans , but this time they are partnering withCritical Roleto make for a piece of Exandria to life history . Their new whiskey , Sandkheg ’s Hide , is pulled like a shot from Vox Machina ’s risky venture have in episode 65 of drive 1 . Quest ’s death took divine guidance forthwith from Matthew Mercer ’s detailed description of the bottleful . When craft the whisky , master key blender Ale Ochoa looked to desert tones to bring the flavors of Marquet to life describing it as,“an challenging whisky with base notes of adust apple , brownish spiciness , shortbread cooky , and oak . This 4 + year elderly whisky portmanteau is cask - finished to bring out herbaceous notes , dry red yield , and a hint of smoke . "
Critical Role has beenfinding ways to elaborate its story for fans whether through animation , funnies , novels , or music . However , they have also lead off finding ways to convey the world of Exandria off the screen into the veridical existence for fan to experience with their cookbook , fashion lines , and now Sandkheg ’s Hide whisky . Quest ’s End is the everlasting fellowship to bring this spirit to life with not only a bottle that fans will be thrilled to collect but a"found journal"written by the first soul to drink in Sandkheg ’s gall . The Sandkheg ’s Hide daybook was written by Jasmine Bhullar with creative person Tyler Walpole and cartographer Deven Rue bringing their voices to the project as well .
Some thespian are easy to picture in a live - activeness adaption of The Legend of Vox Machina , provided the animated show ’s stars do n’t return .
Screen Rantinterviewed Matthew Lillard following the announcement of Critical Role ’s partnership with Quest ’s End . He discussed the partnershipwith Critical Role andrevealed that the cast of characters will be make the terminal determination on which of the four whiskeys will be Sandkheg ’s fell . Lillard also shared contingent about Sandkheg ’s Hide ’s flavor profile , the exquisite bottle , and the find journal explain how Critters will be able to keep a piece of Exandria on their shelf at home .
Matthew Lillard On Teaming Up With Critical Role: “We Want To Be In Their World”
Lillard explain how the partnership between Quest ’s End and Critical Role came to be , calling it"a no - brainer"for happen Familiar Spirits . He also shed luminosity on why Sandkheg ’s Hide is the perfect whisky to overstretch straight from Exandria and the process of putting together the team to make it a realness .
Matthew Lillard : First and firstly , we adore and respect the Critical Role world . They are apparently the paramount of the streaming world in condition of our community . The people they are and what they symbolise in this community in terms of inclusion , toleration , love , storytelling , they ’re just the good of the best . So , being affiliate with that as people is great . We want to be in their Earth . We desire to be in their graces . Who else would you desire to partner with ? So , that was sort of a no - brainer .
When we launched Quest ’s End , I was ride with Jason Kletzky , their licensing managing director . At the remainder of this coming together , we were literally have dejeuner , we ’re buddies . He is like , " Hey , would you guys ever believe working with Critical Role ? " I was like , " What are you talking about ? Of course , yes . Who would n’t want that ? " And so , we started to have a conversation . They ask us to station over a couple of suggestion . I operate with a buddy at Beadle & Grimm ’s describe Chris Daly , who ’s a Critter through and through .
I enunciate , " Hey , just out of curiosity , if you were doing something with Critical Role and want to make sort of an in - human race whiskey , what would you consider ? Any idea come to heed ? " He puts together a ten - page dossier on all of the options , and we sort of circled the idea of Sandkheg ’s Hide . It ’s hunting expedition one , episode 65 . It ’s a very funny minute in the show . The elbow room that Mercer described the bottle and the reaction that all the players had of drink in it was the storytelling that we desire to get behind , and felt like there was a lot to hold onto to build around .
Then we pitched that estimate . We brought in Jasmine Bhullar , who we love dearly , was on Faster , Purple Worm ! Kill ! down ! and is a champion of ours . We asked for a tilt of writer , she was one of the top , and so , we brought her in . Tyler Walpole is an unbelievable artist , and Tyler Jacobson recommend him . And then Deven Rue , we ’ve worked with in the past times with Beadle and Grimm ’s . We put together this big combining of critter - send on creative person to tell the story around it .
We go off and built the bottleful . Ale Ochoa , who ’s our master liquidizer , we played her the clip and explicate Critical Role . Then she make her witchcraft and alchemy , transcribed the thing that she heard on the show into genuine liquid . The whole process has been nothing but a aspiration . They ’ve been keen partners all the way of life through .
Critical Role Have “Just Been Incredible Partners”
While Mercer and the residual of the Critical Role hurl have created this expansive traditional knowledge and earthly concern , they are felicitous to share it not just with an interview , but with other creatives as well . This is evident from the cartoon strip , novel , and animated serial publication , as well as the EXU stories led by Brennan Lee Mulligan and Aabria Iyengar . This extends to Quest ’s ending as well . Lillard explained why their partnership with Critical Role has been such a wonderful experience .
Matthew Lillard : Their willingness to say yes . Their ability in empowering our creatives . They ’ve just been incredible better half all the way through in footing of jazz what we ’re doing , invest us to do more , to go further , and really being just on the button what you would expect that squad to be . Which is hump , encouraging , and passionate about what we ’re doing .
I cogitate that we would have a heavy time crack the code . Sometimes when you ’re tiptoe on the great unwashed ’s lore , when you ’re tiptoeing in the world . Matt Mercer ’s spinning these webs of these incredible tales , and you desire to do your best to not only not make mistakes , but to keep it . You require to add economic value to the traditional knowledge . And all the way through , I was like , " Are we doing enough ? Is this not too much ? Where are we at ? " The whole way through , they ’ve been really fantastic with just empowering us to keep go .
The Critical Role Cast Is Going To Pick The Whiskey
Lillard also split up down the look profile of Sandkheg ’s pelt and explained how Ochoa create the whisky . Keyleth and Percy were magnificently instantly uplift by Sandkheg ’s conceal unable to speak . However , Lillard assured that wo n’t bump with the Quest ’s End version,“No , I do n’t reckon it will do that . But it is definitely our solvent for that knockout , which is a eminent validation than normal . “He also reveal how the cast will be implemental in deciding what Sandkheg ’s skin will taste like .
Matthew Lillard : Ale , she ’s our master blender . She just took a immense problem at Jefferson , which is a freehanded whiskey distillery . candidly , I do imagine that when we started talking to her about Paladin , she does n’t toy RPGs . We bulge out blab to her about Paladin and this type . We set about about Uve , our snow elf . She take these stories , you see her start scribble notes , and she ’ll ask a brace of question .
Then she scrawl some note and thinks about it for a second . And she ’s like , " This is what I ’m seeing . " She ’ll lay out this tapestry of smack . Then she hold up out and come up portmanteau . For this particular product , she want do some cask aging . So we take some vermouth barrels , we take some sherry barrel . The vermouth is to imbue this earthy herbaceous tones that you would notice in the desert .
The sherry is a deep red fruit that , again , they give a variety of hearkening on these desert tones . The affair about Sandkheg ’s is it tastes terrible [ in the show ] , but your tongue goes asleep , your face goes dead . So it ’s a reasonably high proof . So we proof it up . It ’s get some spice to it , but then there ’s a shortbread , there ’s some sweetness to it . But that ’s her . I think of , she ’s this alchemist .
We are demonstrate the [ Critical Role ] cast and the creative team four dissimilar samples . So we ’re going over to the studios . We ’re all sitting down . Ale is flying in from Kentucky , and she ’s take a admixture of four dissimilar samples . We ’re going to pose around , we ’re break to taste them , and the cast is actually fail to pluck the one they like the best . Whatever they nibble , we ’re going to go out and blend .
The Sandkheg’s Hide Bottle & The Journal Brings Exandria Lore To Life
Quest ’s ending has set itself apart not just because of the whisky ’s caliber , but because of the experience provided . The bottles are collector ’s items and have an ongoing tale with each release . Sandkheg ’s Hide is no unlike with a bottle pulled straight from Mercer ’s psyche and a account exposit the lore of Exandria . Lillard wear out down the process of Bhular spell the found diary and bring out the one detail they steered away from when ready the bottle .
Matthew Lillard : With Jasmine , what we did was we asked her to come up with a couple of hooks . Both Justin and I , as leader of the party , are from the originative diligence , and so , for us , we consider that the best outcome is empowering people to be creative , to do what they do best . So we said to Jasmine , " Hey , what stories are you imagine about telling ? What excite you about this world ? What excites you about the mathematical product ? "
She pitched four dissimilar hooks . We all agreed on one that was our pet , then we carry those hooks , and we submitted to the team over at Critical Role . They ’ve been unbelievable partners all the way through . They ’ve sort of been like , " Yes , you ’re doing outstanding . Yes , do more of that . Yes , this is awesome . You ’re on the right path , yes . "
And so , I will say that throughout the whole procedure . We ’ve gotten very few promissory note , very few push back on the summons . But Jasmine did a write up discharge . We accede that . Then she did a first pass of the story . Then we did a lore walk to make certain that the lore was on compass point . We wanted to make certain that we ’re really representing the story , the community , and the things that Critters lie with . We need to put into the adventure . The record is 44 pages long .
It ’s a found journal . It ’s the first someone to ever search what happens if you drink sandkheg ’s bile . That ’s all I ’ll say , but it is super fun . I think it ’s sort of magic . We ’re really thrilled with the outcome of our originative squad . Tyler ’s art is awful . Deven came in as a map maker , obviously worked . All three of them have worked a deal with Critical Role , and all three of them convey their A - secret plan to the project .
The great thing is we have this unbelievable verbal description from Mercer in the consequence . I think the one thing we did n’t do is there ’s a chitin that was enfold around the bottle , but our nod to the chitin is our gunny . Chitin is sort of residual of glitch . So , we did n’t really want to get that far into it . Instead , we did the burlap bag as our symbolical nod .
Our glass comes from this unbelievable company in Italy . Each nursing bottle has imperfections and chips in the glass , so it feels very in - world for us . We wanted the whole experience to sense in - world all the style down to the merchant marine corner that comes in . We want the celebration of that firearm to start when it land on your doorstep . So , the box seat is in - world , the bottle is beautiful , wax dipped . The label is very tailored . We worked with an incredible design team out of Florida called Shepherd , and so they really helped manoeuvre us through the creative process .
The whole matter , it has been about eight months putting it together from the deal point to the liquid , to sourcing bottles , to bring in the maker ’s mark , but I sense like it ’s all line up . It ’s like all these pieces come together , fall all at once , that fuse into this one experience . loads of moving parts , but justly now everything ’s go great .
Matthew Lillard Hopes “There’ll Be An Appetite On Both Sides To Do More”
Sandkheg ’s Hide is straightaway tied to Vox Machina ’s adventures . Lillard also loved the theme of Critters creating a signature cocktail using Sandkheg ’s Hide for Legend of Vox Machina season 3,“That’d be good . I ’m into that . “There is a lot more of Exandria that could be explored , which could think of more spirit down the line . When asked about potentially crafting spirits inspired by run 2 and Campaign 3 , Lillard was n’t sure but seemed hopeful for the future .
Matthew Lillard : I do n’t be intimate . I think the reality is that in a spot like this where we ’re five hours in [ on the day of the proclamation ] , we ’ve had unbelievable , glowing response from the community so far . Our hope is that as we get through this process we launched , people are happy , the result ’s slap-up , and that there ’ll be an appetence on both incline to do more . What that is , I ’m not sure , but we trust that the squad at Critical Role is lofty of what we made and that the Critters revel the experience . So , hopefully , in succeeder , there ’ll be more to come , but nothing yet .
“We Want This To Be A Celebratory Moment For Critters”
Lillard explain the core melodic theme of discover Familiar Spirits as an experience for literary genre fans to keep what they love through purport , collectibles , and stories . He compared it to receiving young dice and skip this will be something that critter can experience and partake as a celebration of their passion . Lillard also teased a Modern Find Familiar life experience come in the fall . This will be their first heart outside the fantasy musical style and , instead of whiskey , it will be a in high spirits - end premium tequila .
Matthew Lillard : We are never depart to be the biggest whiskey company in the Earth . We ’re not competing with Bulleit or Jack Daniel . We require to be the good in this niche community of interests . The millions of people that encounter Dungeons & Dragons RPG biz . We want to build something that fete them and observe what they love . Anyone can spread out a bottle of whisky and drink it .
We require you to start the bottle of whisky , drink it , and then allow us to pen a dearest letter to your passion . That ’s what we do . The capital thing about Find Familiar Spirits , in my opinion , the affair that energise me about being one of it ’s co - leader is that we have multiple brands , multiple verticals coming up . We ’re doing something in the tumble that we ’re very excited about . It ’s based around a tequila , so we ’re doing blue agave , tequila , really gamey - destruction premium tequila . But within that , there ’s a residential area that we are going to build a bespoke experience for that has nothing to do with the RPG community .
So we ’re going to carry on to attain , and help to build these [ experience ] . My hope is that when you incur this , and you open it , it just makes you glad . It ’s like mother a fresh set of dice . You have plenty of die , but every clip you get dress a dice that is for an adventure , or you ’re about to use , that pay you the sense of , " Oh my God , these are my dice . " We want to be that for your hard drink cabinet . We want this to be a celebratory moment for Critters and anyone who loves Quest destruction . That ’s our finish . Our finish is to bring economic value to your whole experience .
Quest ’s EndandCritical Role’sSandkheg ’s Hide will be available for purchase starting May 2 with thoseregistered for the pre - saleable to buy on April 30 . Sandkheg ’s Hide will cost $ 99.99 .
