A look at the top southern craftsmanship

>> susan was there. along with bunny, julia.

>> julia reed . i heard her toast was quite something.

>> she is a toasting champion.

>> with us now to reveal "garden & gun's" award, dave benidetto.

>> from the council tool company in north carolina , been around 126 years, hudson bay head. this is the original multitool. if you go in the woods, going camping.

>> my mother uses one of these every day for her art.

>> you want to give that --

>> swiss army knife .

>> if you want to get this for something for christmas. if you've got a friend or neighbor that needs a good ax.

>> everybody needs one.

>> what else we got?

>> whoa, easy there.

>> i'm a huge fan of the bourbon.

>> heilemann's holding it up. show them what they won.

>> it's belle meade , you know who lives in belle meade ?

>> meacham.

>> how is this compared to the moonshine?

>> it's equally as good. smoother.

>> mika, take a sip. is that not great stuff.

>> it's good.

>> this is --

>> 20% more rye than most bourbons.

>> yeah, i'm good. go ahead.

>> that stuff is great. if you got a drunk on the list who appreciates --

>> on " morning joe ," what they do is eat the food and go --

>> it's great. it has an amazing history. two guys get together find out their grandfather had a distillery. great, great grandfather. they track it down, they revive it. and they use the original recipe and now we have belle meade bourbon, this is good stuff.

>> i want to say, i've drunk a lot of bourbon in my time and also a lot at 7:47 in the morning. this is the best bourbon i've ever drunk before 8:00 a.m .

>> it is.

>> this cheese. great cheese comes from an interesting place unknown.

>> yeah, from georgia. five years ago the south was not known as a cheese-making hot bed. not even close. the couple leaves atlanta, buys 126-acre farm, never seen a tractor, raising cows, start raising pigs , and they decide to feed the pigs they're going to make cheese and realize, wow, we're not bad at this.

>> farm stead cheese from nature's harmony farm.

>> if you've got a cheese head in your family. this stuff is great.

>> this impressed one of our judges, blew everybody away.

>> i don't know what that means, but it impressed me. what else do we have here?

>> the duck call things --

>> yeah.

>> you're a duck hunter, right?

>> that'll scare them away.

>> sounds like the brzezinski home.

>> i don't think that's the idea, huh?

>> here's how it's supposed to sound.

>> do it the way --

>> i'm a yankee.

>> there we go.

>> that's the real thing.

>> kinney calls --

>> sam stein sounded like the effect --

>> that sounded like -- cutting its head off.

>> i'm used to the chauffeur not the duck caller.

>> so kinney calls, another great family tradition , his great grandfather made these calls, collectible items now, he's decided to revive the company, started making them himself.

>> i guess you guys were down in south carolina .

>> yeah, palmetto bluff.

>> amazing.

>> that looks beautiful.

>> the pictures are amazing. but she showed me a bag maker down there that had set it up in the back of a pickup truck. who is this?

>> you can see those on south by northeast.

>> yeah.

>> this is matthew cook , company is border state in kentucky. he was a landscape architect in grad school , got tired of studying, decided he wanted to fool around with some leather and make something, started making bags. he was searching for some tools and while in a tack shop found a hoof pick and used that as the latch for his bag.

>> fantastic stuff.

>> they're beautiful, great. will last you a lifetime like most of all the stuff besides the bourbon.

>> what do you want to do next? pick one more.

>> let's do the blanket.

>> that's beautiful.

>> diane nort, nort farms out of virginia. here is a gal who graduated high school . her parents asked her, do you want a car? no 0, she said. i want a loom. she has a flock of sheep.

>> that's exactly what i said to my dad.

>> she makes only 75 blankets a year. great color blocking, natural vegetable dye. just cool things.

>> it seems like the obvious combination is the bourbon and the ax.

>> one or the other and you're in trouble.

>> the ax goes with pretty much everything.

>> i'm going to give it to my mom for christmas.

>> you should. it's yours.

>> your magazine does this every year. i'm telling you, we talked about this being a southern phenomenon, a lot of people in the northeast are starting to pick up on it.

>> it's a national phenomenon. it is amazing. new york is one of the i think top ten states in terms of subscription. top five, i think. it's spreading and we're delighted it is.

>> fantastic. we love having you on here. susan is having a great time. the issue of "garden & gun" is out next with dave dibenedetto.