119. Thirteenth Colony Southern Rye Whiskey

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.

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Yeah. So 13th colony out of America's Georgia, they were kind enough to send us a bottle of their Southern rye whiskey. They said that you, they knew you were the rye guy. So they wanted to send us a bottle of it. Now, when you see this bottle on the photo of it, very beautiful bottle. It's almost the same shape as old Forester's birthday bourbon.

It looks just like a birthday bourbon. Oh, absolutely. Squatty bottle, right?

Yeah. Short fat. It's a nice, they're saying this is distinctive spiciness to it. And it also has a sweet finish, but we'll see how it plays with us. Um, we'll see how we like it. I think you're going to like it, Jim.

All right. Well, Mike, let's get straight to that whiskey. What do you say? Let's do it. Oh, pretty nice nose. Uh, in getting the caribou sweetness upfront. and picking up that rye though. Now, Jim, you said this is a 96 for mash bill, right? 96 for, so 96 rye, 4% barley, which is, you know, typical 95 fives are pretty common out there in the craft distilleries. 96 for in that range.

Yeah. I think that's a beautiful nose on it. It's got that caramel. I can, it's that rye nose you get, you know, for me, it's still kind of a little off-petting pudding sometimes. It's still beautiful. I get a little bit of oak in this. It's got that, I don't know, light amber color to it. I don't know the age on this. I would say over two years though.

So 13 colonies. So the United States were formed by 13 colonies and Georgia, which is where these guys are from, was the 13th colony.

Yeah. You think, uh, Georgia, I always think peaches and the cons and Southern bales, you know, beautiful ladies. That's what I think of when I think of Georgia, little Ray Charles.

Yes. I'm getting a little bit of bubble gum on this. Um, kind of unusual for me to get that on a ride, but I'm getting just a little bit and just a little hint of a mint minty kind of note to it. Not saying minty bubble gum, but bubble gum and mint kind of together.

When you say bubble gum, you mean like that big league chew that you used to get that are like strings like bubble tape or, uh, yeah.

Big league chew that works too. That cornstarch covered bubble gum that you get, you know, with that white powder on the outside of it.

Yeah. That you chew on for like five minutes and all the sugar's gone out of it. Right. And he's just chewing on a rubber band.

But with that said, this is a good nose. This is a really good nose. It doesn't smell too young, but you know, that's sometimes that's the truth and rise, right?

Yeah. I think it's, it's got beautiful legs on it. And I don't know, I guess the taste will tell. I say, let's go ahead and drink on this thing. Yeah.

Cheers.

Cheers.

Wow. That's got all kinds of flavor.

It's got a little bit of cinnamon spice to it with that sweetness that hits you right up front though. Um, man, that's good.

Yeah. I will say though that there's an abundance of caramel and vanilla in this. Uh, it actually takes a front seat for me to the rice spices. Um, it is sweet, but that sweetness is really carrying to the back of the palette.

You know, a couple of days ago, you'd brought up that pecan rolls. This almost has a little bit of not pecan roll, but that sweetness of a pecan pie to it, um, with some bitterness on the back end.

Yeah, I'm not getting too much bitterness myself on it, but I am getting that sweetness on the back, which is kind of, kind of neat. Um, it's a sweet finish. It's a, it's a bit of a sweet finish. It is spicy. I mean, the rise there, no doubt about it, but this is more to me. This is more caramel, more vanilla, more finishing off sweetness. Um, it's got kind of a. a full load of flavor, I would say for a young rye.

Yeah. I mean, it's, it's packed with flavor. If you like those sweet rise, which I do, you know, got that sweet tooth. It makes it easier for me to drink a rye. Um, this is right up my alley. Like I said, some pecan pie in a glass for me, you know, you get that stickiness, sweetness, that pecan. And I said bitterness, it's not overly bitter. You just, you know, you can bite into a pecan. Sometimes you get a little bit of bitterness on it. That's what I'm getting from this.

You know, I was reading a little bit about a 13th colony and it, it sounds to me like they're a good group of people down there that they, uh, they're kind of a group of friends who, who just had an idea to, to try and make some moonshiners, some distilled spirits to give out as gifts to their friends. And, you know, one thing led to another. And, you know, now that they're running distillery in Georgia, something else. And I love these stories.

Yeah. Each one of these craft distilleries bring something different. They definitely are bringing something different. I like that they use this bottle. They weren't afraid to go with it. Maybe more people reach for it because it is in that squatted little bottle like a birthday bourbon. Um, I like it. I'll tell you the cork to get out of this bottle was a pain in the butt though. It's got one of those new rubber, I guess, rubber synthetic corks. And, uh, man, you gotta work on that thing. So Jim, what's, what's this going to cost our listeners out there?

I think depending on where you are, this bottle is going to be anywhere from 35 to $40. Uh, can run a little bit higher, but I think MSRP on it's like 34 99. I think you can get it at total wine for about $35.

That's not bad for a young rye today from a craft distillery. It takes a lot for them to put that liquid in this bottle and then they're paying for the bottle itself. And then that cork and stuff. You can find this in six states though, and online. I think that's pretty good distribution for a craft distillery. So they're in Arkansas, Georgia, obviously, cause they're in Georgia, right? South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia. And then obviously online, which, you know, if you can buy something online, a lot of people do it.

You know, a lot of times when you think of rise, you don't think about the South, you know, Georgia being in the South, but you know, we've had some rise from some other Southern distilleries. It turned out to be pretty surprising as well. I mean, uh, rock town ride was, was pretty amazing. And, uh, that's in Arkansas. We've had some rise out of, out of Texas that are pretty darn good.

Yeah, I think you don't have to be one of the big boys to produce a whiskey. We've proven that time and time and time again with our craft distillery reviews. We drank some amazing whiskeys from across the United States. I just love it that we're getting to try these things and I can't say enough. Thanks to these guys for taking some time with us and sending us a bottle. We really appreciate it. We're getting to do a review on it. I'm going back to the whiskey and stuff, but it sat there for a little bit and tasting it. I still get that pecan pie though. I hate to keep saying that, but you know, that's sticky sweet. I don't even know how to make a pecan pie. Jim, do you?

I've, I've never made one. I've eaten quite a few of them, but I've never made one myself. So no, I don't know how now I did go get a load of pecans today because I need to soak them in bourbon. I'm getting ready to make bourbon balls this year. You're actually going to make bourbon balls. I'm going to make bourbon. This is my second time doing it. And, uh, the last time was a big success. They were ugly as hell, but, but they tasted really good. So everybody loved them and they keep asking for them again. And I haven't done them in a couple of years, but this year I'm going to do some more.

How long does it take you to make bourbon balls?

Well, the actual work is not that long. I mean, you probably wouldn't invest more than an hour of your time in making them. The problem is they got to sit in a fridge and in between steps because you got to let that stuff get hard so that you can put the, put the hot chocolate over it. And there's not much holding them together. They're pretty much just sugar and bourbon.

So Jim, what's your final take on this rye whiskey right here?

Okay. So I'm going to say 13th colony, Southern style rye coming in at 95 proof. Is packed full of flavor. It hits you with exactly what you would expect out of a well made rye. I think it's got a really good nose on it. Uh, for me, I got a little hint of bubble gum, you know, a little bit of mint. Uh, but mostly for me, it was all about the caramel and the vanilla, which was very nice. Finished a little bit of sweetness. I'm definitely going to call this one a sipper and at 35 bucks. I think it's a pretty good bet. If you can get your hands on it, you're going to enjoy this bow. If you're somebody that enjoys a good, a good eye and you don't have to have a ride that's too high and proof or too, too extra aged. I would say the 13th colony rise a good pick.

Yeah, I'm right there with you. Um, that sweetness, a little bit of spice to it. Not overly spicy though. Um, which a lot of rice aren't overly spicy. Good. Uh, that, like I said, pecan pie, I get all those same notes you're getting that vanilla in and that caramel and stuff. That's sugary sweetness. Um, not a very big Kentucky hug on it. I say medium to long finish on it. Good little sipper. I'd say this is a good spring sipper for me.

Yeah, I've quite picked my season out for this yet, but I might drink this year round. This is, this has got a nice, uh, like I said, packed with flavor, got a, got a lot of flavor there, a lot to explore. I think if we spend a little more time with it, we'd probably come up with a few more notes on it.

Yeah, I wonder if we drop a piece of ice in this and how it tastes. If it'd be a nice summer sipper too, with a piece of ice in there to cool it down. I bet it'd be great. I'd like to see it, what it'd be at cast-strength, obviously. So maybe we'll get a 13 colony that sends some cast-strength stuff straight out of the barrel. I'd love that stuff.

I bet it's just delicious.

So, you know, Jim, we're talking about bourbon balls and we're talking about recipes and we've had our recipes out there. We've kind of missed last week, but for this week, Drew Allen sent me in a recipe for maple bourbon banana pudding cake. It just sounds good, right? Yeah, really does. Not a whole lot of ingredients in this, but if you want to find that recipe for that and a photo of it, I'm gonna post it up on Thursday. Check it out. The recipe would be there for you. It's got bourbon in it.

Well, good. I'm glad it's got bourbon in.

Well, that's one of the things about our recipe. And hopefully after a year or two, we'll have enough recipes for a cookbook. I'd love to have that. Also getting a lot of desserts. If you're listening to this, make sure you email me your recipe at Mike at the bourbon road. Make sure you send a photo of it with a bourbon that you used in that recipe. Um, that's the only way I can post it up on a Thursdays is if I have a photo of it. I'll make sure I credit you. We'll put the recipe up there and hopefully after a year or two, me and Jim will figure out how to make a cookbook.

Yeah. When you send these in, you are giving us the rights to reproduce, right Mike? Heck yeah.

Um, but I'll tell you this, you're going to want to have your recipe in our cookbook. You're going to have your name down there below that recipe. Um, me and Jim ain't going to make every one of these though. So we're trusting you that these are good. I might make this one though, Jim, that, You know, I'm a big fan of pudding bread or cake that's real moist, big banana bread guy, but it's got to have those real ripen bananas in there and it's got to be real soft and moist and stuff. Dry banana breads, just not for me.

Well, Mike, I want to give a big shout out to 13 colony. These guys really did it right. This was a fine ride. I think, uh, I think I get surprised every now and then, uh, by, by a distillery. I haven't heard of before or haven't really dealt with, uh, I've definitely was a bit surprised this time. Very, very pleased. I think that, uh, if they just keep doing what they're doing, they got a great future ahead of them.

Yeah, I totally agree with you. Um, you know, spot on, hopefully we can taste some of their other juices they're making today. They got several other products. I would tell you listeners go out there, go on their website, find out where they're at, pick up a bottle of their, uh, whiskey. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Um, most people say me and Jim are spot on on our whiskies. If you make it on the show, you probably pretty good.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, Mike, uh, we did just have a barrel pick and things went really great. We just had a, an event where listeners came out and picked up their bottles. It was a great day. A lot of fun. We got a few bottles left though, don't we?

Yeah, we got a couple bottles left. Still a chance to get that pick. Um, check out our Facebook group, the bourbon roadies. You start to see those roadies, post those picks. They'll start talking about that bottle we have. Um, I don't think you'll be disappointed if you buy this thing. It's 120 proofer. It was kind of an experimental barrel anyways. It went in at 120 proof. Wilderness trail usually goes in at 105. Um, it's saying just a butterscotch bomb and it gets better and better as it sits in your glass, but it shouldn't say in your glass too long cause you're going to want to drink it. Absolutely.

Yeah. And if you're not on Facebook, don't worry about it. You can head over to our website, the bourbon road.com. We've got a menu link on there for our barrel picks. You can go right there and with all the instructions on what you need to do, get your hands on a bottle of that. Well, Mike, people can find us on all the social medias, right?

Yeah, you can find us at Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram at The Bourbon Road. We're always talking about something on there, trying to post photos up. Go on there and give us a follow. We really appreciate it if you're on YouTube. We don't have a lot of videos on there, but subscribe to us anyways, listen to us. We're on anywhere you can be to listen to a podcast. If you listen to us right now, you probably have a favorite one like Apple or Spotify. Yeah, if you want to check us out in the office, check us out on YouTube. You know, maybe we'll get some videos on there one day, Jim.

Yeah. One of these days. Absolutely. Well, other than that, you can always reach out to Mike and I, we do two shows a week. We do this short form episode where we talk about a craft distillery product, which we did today. Uh, we also do a longer version on Wednesdays where we usually have a guest on last about an hour, two shows a week. We'd love to have you listen to both, but if you need to reach Mike or I, you've got an idea for a show. You can, you can reach out to me on Instagram at J Shannon 63. I'm one big chief and we will see you down the bourbon 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 it 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 in 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.