113. Lucky Seven - Limited Release Double Oak "The Holiday Toast"

Welcome to another trip down the Bourbon Road with your hosts, Jim and Mike. So grab a glass of your favorite bourbon and kick back.

We would like to thank our friends at Premium Bar Products for sponsoring this episode. If you're ready to step up your game at your home bar, check out premiumbarproducts.com to choose from their wide selection of glassware, all of which can be custom engraved with your personal message or logo. And there's no minimum order. So after the episode, head over to premiumbarproducts.com and check out everything they have to offer. Now let's get on with the show. Hello everybody, I'm Jim Shannon. And I'm Mike Hyatt. And this is The Bourbon Road. And today, Mike, we're doing a craft distillery Monday. And we've got a beautiful bottle here, Mike, from one of our very good friends.

Yeah, Ashley Barnes, she actually called me up and said, Hey, can you meet me? I got some couple of bottles for you guys. Lucky seven. She's been working with them. They're at a Chicago land up there. And so they've recently released the holiday toast. It's a double-oaked Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey finished in a toasted barrel.

They've got a number of expressions today. They only have bourbons though, right? At least for the moment. So far. So this one's actually designed for the holidays. It's 115 proof and it's supposed to be a spice bomb, right?

Yeah, it's supposed to be everything that's about Christmas. They got some pretty cool things about their bottle though. Each one of their expressions on the front, it looks like an old movie ticket you would have got when you went to the movies. You remember these tickets, right Jim?

Oh yeah.

I surely do. So you'd get a ticket on the back of that ticket. You can peel it off. You can scan it with your phone. It'll take you to a short film that they create, created the owners there. So John and Michael are two good friends through college and they share a bunch of different passions, baseball, movies, and obviously bourbon. So, uh, why not interact with their, uh, clientele by producing those short films and then naming the whiskey after it.

No, they had, uh, Ashley and Ashley has been on the show before, but they had Ashley Barnes come in and blend this for them. And this is, is this a seasonal bourbon Mike, or is this a one-off release or is this something that they're going to have out from time to time?

She's actually working on batch number two right now for this. So I think it is a limited release, but I can't tell if batch number two is going to have a different name. I think it's going to have the same name, the holiday toast. And hopefully she'll keep doing this every year for them. Um, and she's actually the one that picked out the toasted barrels to finish this in.

Now I noticed they did say heavily toasted. So that's probably where, where all those flavors come from, right?

I tried to dig a little bit and ask her about that and where the barrels come from. And she was pretty tight lipped, but she did share the whiskey with us. So I say let's, let's nose this thing.

Let's get into it.

Wow.

That's got a really rich nose, a little bit of a pow to it. I mean, it really gets you in the nose. It's got a good amount of cinnamon, I would say on the nose.

Yeah. I'd say those spices, them smalling spices that you would get at Christmas time. Um, that cinnamon, maybe a little bit of nutmeg, you know, something you expect at a Christmas.

It's got a bit of fruity aroma to it. It's a, it's almost like a spiced cider.

Like an all spice or something or yeah.

Well, you mentioned mulling spices and I know when you have like a warm cider or something like that with those spices in it and cinnamon, I'm kind of kind of getting that, you know, nutmeg could be. Definitely cinnamon, definitely kind of a fruity nose on it a little bit. I would go with maybe a spice cider. What about a little bit of ginger? Yeah, I could, I could say that too.

You know, it's Jim or ginger snap cookies. You ever eat those?

I have. Yeah.

That's like one of my favorite cookies to eat with milk, just dip it in milk and eat those ginger snaps. Vivian has to keep them away from me, but, uh, yeah, ginger snaps, but, uh, I guess ginger bread would be more Christmasy, but to me, ginger snaps are still kind of a Christmas cookie.

They didn't talk at all about the age on this, right?

No, she didn't. She didn't divulge that either. Undisclosed mash bill on this undisclosed age. And if I was to take a guess, I don't know. I wouldn't want to do that without tasting it first. It's got a nice dark color to it though. Maybe that's that second, second barrel it went into.

Yeah. I don't know exactly what heavily toasted beans that must be right up to the point. We're not charring, but just like really toasting those barrels, really getting those sugars to caramelize in them. All right, Michael, let's taste it.

Cheers. Cheers. Yeah.

So, uh, same for me on the nose as it is on the palette, except I think the palette is amped up just a little bit. Still getting that really nice cinnamon spice, that warming holiday kind of spice out of it.

Yeah. I can get the same thing. I knew you were going to like this because I had already tasted this a lot of spice up front, that cinnamon sweetness, a little bit of nutmeg in there. That ginger snap cookies right there for me. I'm that little bit of bite to it. I'm getting a little bit of hug with it. Super beautiful expression, a little bit of caramel.

Yeah. This is not a young bourbon.

I would say in the four year range is where I'm going with it for maybe five year old. And then who knows how long they'd left it in that toasted barrel and what that did to it. But it's a holiday bourbon for sure.

I did make it overly sweet. You know, it's, it's not super deserty sweet like you get from, uh, Like a double oat, you know, it, it seems that this one has really picked up a little more spice than it has sweetness. It is sweet, but it's not super sweet. I wouldn't call it a dessert bourbon. Would you?

I wouldn't say a dessert bourbon. It would be a, you know, I take this to a party and let everybody taste it. Um, It's just a before dinner bourbon, I think, um, just to kind of get your evening started, warm you up a little bit, get you in that holiday spirit, laughing a little bit.

Yeah, this is definitely a, a cold weather holiday cheer kind of spirit. I, um, I love the bottle. I love the bourbon. It's really good. I think that the profile of the nose and the palette really match. Uh, I think the spice carries through. I do get that ginger on the back that you were talking about a little bit kind of hangs around. I think this, I think the finish on this is medium to long because it just sort of sticks there. I am getting a little bit of hug. You said not so much for you, right?

As it sets there a little bit, I might be getting a little bit, but not super deep. It's not like a high rye for me. I definitely think this is a rye. I couldn't imagine this being a weeder. Yeah, it's everything. I think a Christmas bourbon should be nice and warm, 115 proof. Like I said, when I first drank this, I was like, man, Jim is going to like this.

This is a great campfire bourbon too, I think.

Hey, campfire bourbon, sitting in front of the fire bourbon. Hey, anything. Lighting candles for Christmas time bourbon. This is just a great bourbon. I actually hasn't disappointed us yet. I'm always happy to taste anything she's working on. Obviously, she brought some lineage with her from Buffalo Trace and from Four Roses. Her and Monica Wolf are creating a great team. There's other great expressions out there that she's working on with other distilleries. So anytime I see that she has something, I want to try it out and see what kind of magic she's dealing with. So yeah, Jim, this does have a higher price point. It's from 90 to a hundred dollars. You can find it in 24 states though, and in DC and you can find it online at several different places. If you were looking to take a nice bottle of bourbon to a Christmas party or to gift a nice bottle, I think this is perfect for that. Like you said, it's a medium to long finish. I agree with you on totally on that. sticks around on a palette. I love that, that sweetness and that, that spice is just kind of lingering there. Like a, like you said, like a spice tea, um, that ginger snap cookie there on the back of my tongue, it just calls for another pour, right?

Yeah. And I'm amazed, you know, it's funny how playing with the barrel like they have and the blending, they were able to, you know, get these, these different flavors to come out. They just have that, that total holiday feel to it. That's a true craft there. And I think Ashley's really done a great job with this one. Yeah. I would be happy. I'll tell you what, I ended up with the sample bottle this time, which is fine, but I may come back for a refill.

You know, I probably just give you this whole bottle, Jim. So Jim, talking about the holidays. So Thursday is Thanksgiving, right? That's right. In a holiday tradition for us, it's usually to go cut a tree down that weekend after Thanksgiving and start decorating. What do you guys do?

We don't go out and cut a tree down. I mean, we usually, yeah. So like, I think like a lot of people, we usually take that That Thanksgiving holiday is a signal that now it's okay to start talking about Christmas. We just don't like to do it before that. I think a lot of people are in that boat.

Yeah, that's, that's how we are. Usually my daughter, um, she would live in Virginia with her mother and we'd pick her up, uh, for Thanksgiving and stuff, or she would come in right after that and pick her up from the airport. One time I had to pick her up outside of Dayton, um, Ohio. We live it up in Cincinnati and I picked her up and we're leaving the airport and you kind of come off the off ramp there out of Dayton, Ohio. And there's all these beautiful pine trees there. They all look like Christmas trees to me. And I pulled over on the side road and said, Hey, jump out. We got to get our Christmas tree right here. She was like, no, I'm not cutting one of those trees down. I was just messing with her. I didn't really didn't cut a tree down, but. It took me back to when I was a little kid and stuff and we didn't have any money. And my mom would send me and my little brother out on the farm and we would go cut a Christmas tree down. And it literally wasn't a Christmas tree at the time. It was probably just a cedar tree, but that's all we could get. So it kind of took me back to that. This is the time of the season, you know, people started getting that holiday season and 2020 has been a tough year for everybody. But I got to say, super thankful what we have. And I'd like to wish everybody out there, all our listeners, a happy Thanksgiving. Thanks for supporting me and Jim and the Bourbon Road podcast. And I just got to say thank you, Jim, for letting me be your co-host. I really appreciate it.

Well, Mike, I extend the thanks in your direction as well. You know, I think together we were able to, to, to carry this off. It'd be hard to do all by yourself. There's no doubt about it. And, uh, you carry a big load and I appreciate it. You know, one of the things that I look forward to on Thanksgiving since last year is I want to smoke another Turkey this year. What about you?

Well, I got to work on Thanksgiving, but I am going to smoke a little 10 pound turkey just for me and Vivian kind of playing it safe with the COVID. We'll make some Thanksgiving ham. I'm not a big turkey guy, really. I'll eat some little bit of white meat, but I'm more of a ham guy. So we'll do a little bit of smoked ham, little bitty turkey. I've seen chickens bigger than the one we got. Um, but Vivian is making some special stuff. Uh, pink salad that my grandmother's recipe, she's making that and Vivian makes a cranberry chutney that I really love and always get excited about speaking of cranberries. That is what's inside this right here. I get a little bit of cranberry bite to this too.

Oh, let me take another taste. Yeah. I'm going to have to say that, uh, I haven't had cranberries in so long. I can't join in on that. Cause I can't even remember what they taste like. It's been so long.

Are you that, that rubber jail kind of cranberry guy or are you the cranberry?

Yeah. I like the cranberries with all the chunks in it and everything, you know, I'm not, I'm not in the cranberry family, so it doesn't matter what I like. I got to eat what the, what the family likes.

And so nobody else likes cranberry.

I just don't think it's on their menu typically. So she's, you know, she's kind of responsible for that day a little bit. I do the meat, but, but she sets the menu and I don't remember the last time cranberries was on the menu.

You know, the funny thing is Vivian loves that. I don't even know what you call it. I call it cranberry jelly or I don't know. It just comes out of a can in like a bouncy little form, right?

Yeah. And it's got the, it's got the ribs of the can on it.

Yeah. She likes that stuff, but she won't eat canned green beans. I don't know why she likes that stuff. But she asked me the other day when I went to get some stuff and she was like, did you get a can of that? And I was like, no, I did not. I got some cranberries though. So. Another great craft distillery. I'm glad to see some stuff on the shelves like this. I can't wait to have John and Michael on the show with us. They did send us two more bottles. So everybody look for that episode coming up. I think it'll be a great episode of this guys. Um, the other two bourbons they sent us are supposed to be super spectacular. Just like this one is. Um, like I said before, if Ashley's touched it, I'd like to call her a witchy woman. You know, she's, she's got some magic in those fingers, right? And those taste buds of hers. So actually from us, Thank you once again. Happy Thanksgiving. Thanks for giving me and Jim a chance to review this right here. It is definitely a special bottle. I love it.

Yeah, it's really good. So, uh, shout out to our listeners. Uh, if you have an opportunity to pick up a bottle of lucky seven, you know, it definitely is a holiday bottle. It's something that, uh, it's a little pricey. So, you know, if you've got a, a fellow roadie out there or somebody you want to share the cost of a bottle with, not a bad idea, but it's definitely worth tasting. It's really good. And I think it shows the true craft in blending, I think, and, and in barrel preparation as well. And Mike, as usual on, uh, you know, craft story Mondays, we like to, to mention, uh, a recipe we have. And as you know, I was just out in Virginia and, uh, Randy's wife, Julie prepared some bourbon creme brulee French toast for us in the morning. And it has a bourbon whipped cream on it.

That sounds like a fat man's dream right there.

Oh my goodness. So yeah, so they actually make their own maple syrup there on the camp. And so we had some homemade maple syrup along with it, some French toast made with real French bread. And we actually used a bottle of heaven hill bottle and bond to create the bourbon recipe for it.

So.

Uh, we're not going to go over the recipe now because it's got a lot of steps and a lot of, uh, you know, ingredients, but we are going to post that. We've got a, a great detailed recipe on how to make it absolutely to die for. So wonderful. And, uh, I'm going to make it here pretty soon.

So listeners, you can look for that recipe on our Instagram and on our Facebook account on Thursday. That's when I'll post those recipes up with photos that Jim took. Perfect for the holidays for breakfast. If you're waking up on Thanksgiving morning, look for that recipe. I'll have it posted up. As I said, if you want to make it that morning, hopefully some stores are still open. I'm sure you got bourbon in the shelf though. But if you want to make it for Christmas, I think that sounds like a great Christmas day breakfast to make for the family. So where can we find this at, Jim?

Well, you can find us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube at the bourbon road. We're also on a Facebook with a private Facebook group called the bourbon roadies. And on the bourbon roadies, Mike, we have about, is it still 1200 users about?

Yeah, we're 1200 in our, in our family in there. Um, three questions you got to answer. Do you like bourbon? Are you 21? And do you agree to play nice because we don't tolerate no what Jim?

No rudeness. We want everybody to be good to each other. Lift each other up. Don't tear down another man's review.

Yeah. We also have a website, bourbonroad.com. We have our good and Karen's on there. We have a blog on there that you can read. Sometimes I write it. Sometimes Jim writes it. It's not about the podcast episode so much. It's just what we're thinking for that day. Um, so go on there and check that out. I'm one big chief.

I'm Jay Shannon 63 and we will see you down the bourbon road. We do appreciate all of our listeners and we'd like to thank you for taking time out of your day to hang out with us here on the bourbon road. We hope you enjoyed today's show, and if so, we would appreciate if you'd subscribe and rate us a five star with a review on iTunes. Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, at The Bourbon Road. That way you'll be kept in the loop on all The Bourbon Road happenings. You can also visit our website at thebourbonroad.com to read our blog, listen to the show, or reach out to us directly. We always welcome comments or suggestions, and if you have an idea for a particular guest or topic, be sure to let us know. And again, thanks for hanging out with us.