120. Exploring Vintage Bourbons with Dusty Dan

like five, six things that make these dusties so different as opposed to modern day bourbon. It talks about the distillation process, water, the grain, the fermentation process. All that stuff was so different back then. They didn't have technology to to run all that stuff. We talked about the grains not being hybrid like they were now and how they use more of a white corn versus a yellow corn. All that stuff plays a huge part in the taste of bourbon. Nowadays, you find more people using stainless steel as opposed to copper distilled. All that changes the flavor of the 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.

We would like to thank Tommy and Gwen Mitchell from Log Heads Home Center for supporting this episode of the Bourbon Road. Find out more about their fine rustic furniture at logheadshomecenter.com. 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've got one of our good old friends on here with us, don't we?

Heck, yeah. We got Dusty Dan from YouTube. He does Dusty Dan's whiskey reviews out of Maryland. You know, he's always all about those old school whiskies and stuff that you can taste, that you can find in your grandma's attic and basement and wherever else she hit her liquor.

Before she went to church every day Hey Dan, it's good to see you again. Glad to have you on the show. Yeah.

Thank you.

I'm uh, it's good to see you again I'm really glad to be on the show Yeah, so you were on the show once before we had you on back in episode 10 and You came on with some other YouTube channels. We had a kind of a a bottle share challenge, wasn't it? We had a bottle share challenge. Yes, it was. It was a blind bottle challenge.

And who won that challenge? Well, technically, I won the challenge.

Yeah. And you, and you actually, I've, I've watched your show. I've been watching your show for a long time now. And you actually, uh, the gift or the prize that we gave away for the winner of that challenge was a serving tray, a bourbon serving tray with the bourbon road on it. And every show that you produce, you've got that, you've got that on the show. Yes, sir. I do. And we appreciate that. We love the exposure.

No, I think it's fantastic. It really is. It's sturdy. That's quality product right there. No doubt.

So, Dan, we're going to get straight to the whiskey today, but first of all, let's let the listeners kind of know what we got in store for them. So today we are going to drink Dusty Bourbons and a Dusty Bourbon is?

So a Dusty Bourbon is considered in. older bourbon. It's a bourbon that you would go into a liquor store and maybe find sitting behind 10 other bottles or sitting up on one of their shelves tucked away in the back or something that your grandfather had way back in his cabinet. Those are going to be the dusty bourbons that we're going to be drinking and talking about today.

And they call them dusties because they've got built up a dust on the shoulders of the bottle, right?

Yes. That is the bottles that haven't been left there to sit and sit and sit and for us to enjoy this evening.

All right. So we're in two different places. So today, Mike and I are drinking from the same bottles, but you've got some different bottles there in Maryland that you're drinking from.

Yes. Yeah. I have, I have a 1955 old crow. It's four years old and it is from national distillers. And I have a 1963 very old Fitz, eight years. And that is produced by Stissele Weller.

Okay. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. That's some, that's some good stuff there. Mike and I are drinking from two different bottles here at our side. We've got a 1969 early times. And we have a 1985 old granddad 114. Very nice. Very, very nice. So we're, we have not tasted ours yet. Uh, and Mike and I have not had the best of luck when it comes to drinking out of Dusty's. We've, well, we haven't opened a great bottle yet. Let's just say that.

I hope that all changes.

Yeah.

It tasted like it was dust in the bottle.

But that's part of the game, right? I mean, that's, that's, that's the risk you take.

You know, it's, uh, it's one of those things where you don't really know what you're buying until you crack it open and try it, you know?

All right. Well, um, you're our guest. We'd like to let you go first. Which one are you going to pour on your side first? And it tastes worse.

I have, uh, the old crow four year poured. So one of the things, and this is actually one of the bottles that I had on my top five whiskies from the post from Reddit. So something that's so unique about this, this is actually a bourbon that I do not get that dusty note on. This is something that is so... This is like a caramel... The caramel dip you would dip your fruit into. And the nutmeg and the cinnamon on the front of the palate is just... It's unreal. The oiliness, the viscous part of that is just... That's what makes this thing so unique is those flavors are still present. The oiliness is still there. Those fatty acids are still in there. And that's what makes this thing so unique to me. I only have about a quarter of a bottle left, but I make sure I save a sample to send you guys so you can try it and see what I'm talking about. Awesome. Look forward to it.

Why don't you take us through a tasting of that just so we can sort of picture what you're tasting there. Sure.

So right away on the front of the palette. It's that caramel I was talking about, that sweetness, that caramel sweetness, that caramel dip right in the middle of the pallets where you're picking up that cinnamon and that nutmeg, those spices is all spices. Now the finish is where it kind of gets a little unique. And this is something that we talked about earlier, that butterscotch note, the butterscotch note that goes from the middle of the pallet down all the way into the finish, still gives you a nice hug. would still be in a low proof. Very nice hug going down. But that butterscotch and that cinnamon with that caramel on the front just offers such a nice sweetness. But then the balance still from those baking spices that are in there. So it's still perfectly balanced. There's not a bad dusty note on it. It's still quality bourbon from, again, 1955.

Jim, was you born in 55? Yeah. Well, 63, right?

63. Yeah. But, but I see where you could make that mistake. I do have a white head of hair, don't I?

A little bit. I can't say nothing. I can't say nothing. So we got the 1969 early times. What a year for America, right? Uh, Neil Armstrong's landing on the moon and we got the tricky Dick in office.

Great things going on then.

Steve McQueen was the sexiest man alive back then. So I'm hoping this whiskey was as good as that year though.

And in the sixties, correct me if I'm wrong, Dan, in the sixties, bourbon kind of had a heyday before up until towards the end of the sixties, right? Yes, that is correct. And that's when things started to kind of fall apart a little bit.

I agree. Yeah, it did. Um, you know, early seventies, um, it w it was still holding strong. It's, it's when you get into the, the, the mid to late seventies is kind of when it, it, uh, it started to really, really go downhill.

All right. Well, Mike and I haven't tasted this one yet. This is a fresh bottle crack. So we're going to find out whether it's a good one or a bad one right here. Cheers guys. Cheers.

This has got a beautiful nose on it. I got to say, if the, if the taste matched the nose, um, I'm going to love it. It's some floral notes coming out of there. Some butterscotch.

Yeah, I'm getting the butterscotch. Uh, it does for me have just a hint of that musty dusty, if you want to call it that, but, um, it's not too much. It's kind of what I'm used to getting from a good pour of a dusty. So I'm, I'm, I'm looking forward to this heck.

Let's taste it.

Jim, I can't taste it. Cheers. Cheers.

That's held up well. Nice. Very nice. Better than the last time. Yeah. Real buttery on this. Not a whole lot of sweetness though. A sharp spice to it. I'm not sure what that spice is Jim, but it's real sharp.

Well, I think it does have a bit of a bite to it. Um, that is, I think it's, I think it's a rice spice coming through. Uh, but it does have that nice oily buttery mouthfeel to it. And for an 86 proofer, that's pretty good.

Yeah. You know, that's something that, um, we talk about that, you know, being viscous and oily. That's something that I find often in dusty Burmese. I don't know why it, they're always like that. I don't know if it's just the way that they were made back then. as opposed to now, but I do always, almost, almost always get a nice buttery viscous mouth feel on the dusty bourbons.

It leaves that finish of, I wouldn't say waxy, but it kind of is waxy to me a little bit, which is not a bad thing. You don't want your mouth to be bitterly dry and pull that the water out of your mouth. But you got to wonder what that waxiness is. Did this have a cork in it? What would we expect to see out of a bottle like this from 69?

That would be a cork. Yes. You would have a cork. I can't remember the year of when they stopped or when they started using the corks. But I know, like I said, with this... I mean, even with this old Fitzray here from 1963, I had a cork in it. The 1955 old crow had a cork in it too. So we know it was prior to both of those years.

Yeah, I had a pretty sad moment today when I, one of the bottles I thought about bringing on was one of the old McKinnis from 1970. And of course it's a ceramic, so you can't see inside and see the liquid and it had a cork in it. And I broke the seal, popped the cork, cork broke off, which is typical. Yeah. So I went and got a cork screw, got it out. poured it, it was absolutely disgusting, damn. Oh really? It was, it was, there was so much dark sediment. It was almost layered. It had like a clear layer and a dark layer. Have you ever seen that before? No. Uh, it was bad. It was really bad. So then I went down and grabbed this early time. So I'm pleased that I did. Sad to see the old McKenna go, but. This was a good one to pick up. Yeah.

You know, so decanters are a little bit different. I've had some good luck with decanters and I've had some bad luck with decanters. I had a Jim Beam from 1974. I think it was a decanter. It felt pretty full and went to go pour it. And it wasn't as bad as you just stated, but the bourbon tasted, it tasted horrible. I had to pour it down the drain. It was like, it almost tasted burnt for some reason.

So then what would something like this 1969, what would that run?

One of our listeners, if they went out there and looked for it, that would depend on, on a lot of things. Um, you know, the tax trip being intact, the fill level of the bottle, roughly in early times, you're probably talking two 75 to three 50 ish somewhere right around that range.

Which is reasonable. Now, is it considered one of the more, uh, desirable or one of the less desirable older dusties?

It depends. I've seen some people who collect early time, so I'm sure they would pay a little bit more of a premium for a bottle like that. But you know, it's, I would say, I would say that's in between. I would say that's, that's one of those ones that kind of falls right in the middle.

What kind of tax stamp are you looking on that? Like is that where they still use it really using tax stamps where today we're not using tax stamps at all.

Yeah. On the 1969, there would be a tax stamp for sure. I think there's only a couple of bottles now. These days, they actually use the tax strip. And I think one of them is the old fits. If I'm not mistaken, I think the new old fits have the tax strip on them. But yes, for the 1969, early times, there would have been a tax strip on there. And again, there are different tax strips for the different bourbons from going back from the 70s, the 60s, 50s, 40s.

toward our listeners, where do they like, when you go hunt whiskey, do you go out and actually hunt them? Do you go to state sales? Do you go to garage sales? Do you go knock on neighbors doors and say, Hey, you hanging out in your basement?

Yeah, there's, you know, there's a couple options you have. You have the option to go to a state sales. You know, you can, you'd be surprised at what you can find at a state sales. You find them a lot cheaper than you would the other places I'm about to tell you. Uh, Another place that you could find them is on Facebook. There are groups on Facebook where you can find some of those dusty bottles. And then sometimes you can find them at antique shops as well. So those you have to be a little more careful of. Sometimes they're refilled with water just to have something slushed around with them and have some weight in them. But I have seen that happen before. So those would be the 3 main places you would find them as a state sales antique shops and on Facebook.

Those antique shops, if you found one with a tax seal on it, what do they usually go into an antique shop? Do those people actually know what they have? Not half the time, no.

Half the time, it's just that they basically just bought it for the looks. Because a lot of times, those decanters... It's mainly decanters you'll find. A lot of those decanters are... They're actually... People collect those for what they are, not necessarily for the whiskey inside. But those decanters, they'll basically sell them for what they think it's worth, not what the whiskey is worth inside of them. So you're looking at maybe $25 to $50, $60, depending on what the decanter is.

Yeah, that's what I'm kind of looking for now as some of the old cabin steel decanters had that bulb on the top. Just because I'm a hunter and they're nice to display. You fill them up with some nice whiskey and put them in there and they still look beautiful.

Absolutely. You know, I just recently bought a 1982 wild turkey decanter. Great, great, great fill. Missing maybe four ounces. It turned out fantastic. Super, super dark liquid. It was, it was, it was great juice for sure. Was that an eight year one-on-one fill? Yes, yes it was. And I got that for $2.25.

So Dan, how did you start out about this? You know, how did you say, I'm going to go out there, I'm going to start a YouTube channel and I'm going to start buying up these, these old dusty whiskies.

The whole YouTube channel actually started when I think I visited Jim the first time. And Jason and Scott both had channels and we had talked about, maybe I really should do this. And so I did. And I acquired my first dusty bottle. I believe it was a 1977 old Taylor, if I'm not mistaken. I had always been in love with the old Taylor bottlings. And I believe I brought one to Kentucky when I visited Jim the first time. That was a much older one. 44. Yeah, that was a 1944 old Taylor bottled and bond amazing fill level. But yeah, the first bottle, the first dusty bottle, excuse me, was a 1977 old Taylor. And when I got it, I cherished it. I didn't open it, held onto it for a while and I finally cracked it and I drank the whole thing. So.

So what's your followership on like YouTube now? So you've been going at about a year, almost two years. How have you grown? Um,

It's been spotty to be honest. I had to stop for a little while due to work. So I was away for maybe five and a half, six months. But since then, since putting out some of these newer videos, I've actually gained a decent amount of traction. I'm really close to 500 subscribers now. Looking to do some collaborations with some other YouTube channels, ADHD Whiskey, Destination Bourbon. Looking to do some other things with Scott from iBourbon Journey and Jason from The Mashed Drum. I think the growth has been slow but steady. But as I start to get more and more videos produced, I think it should increase from there.

Yeah, it's hard whenever you do miss some time at five months is like a lifetime in social media. Yeah. So they pretty much people forget about you really. Yes.

And thankfully, you know, I was able to hold on to a huge chunk of my subscribers and, you know, just make sure I bring back the same content as when I left. So, you know, try to make it a little bit better, review some things, change some graphics and stuff like that. And, you know, I'm looking hopefully by this time next year to be well over a thousand subscribers. So.

So how much time do you spend a day on this, on your hobby?

More than I should, I would say, I'd probably say three to four hours roughly, hunting the pages and looking for any kind of sales or shops that I may not have hit up yet. So I'd say three to four hours.

Yeah, I always say that a hobby, it is almost a job sometimes. If you want to do a hobby good, it takes a lot of work to do a hobby. If you want to be a fly fisherman, you want to be a hunter. you go out there and do it. Um, but you're probably not going to be successful at it to where if you spend some time at it, you put the work in and it is work. You're going to be successful at it. I'm a hunter. I could go out there and shoot a deer or I could put some time in. I can shoot a lot of deer and process the deer myself and get into it. And that's what I've done. Um, and then it kind of like the bourbon road, the more work we put into it, the more we get from it. Absolutely. Very true statement.

All right. Well, I think what I'd like to do here, Dan, is let's each give us a couple of final notes on what we're sipping on and we'll take a break and we come back. We'll talk a little bit more about what you've got going on and we'll sample some other dusties. But this early times to me, big surprise, very happy to have it. I think it held up well over the years. I was really surprised at how butterscotch-y and buttery it is. It's got a nice texture to it and the flavors all there. It does have a little bit of a bite to it, but I kind of like that, kind of like that.

For like a proof bite or do you think it's some, like you said, some of that rice spice?

It is a little bit of rice spice. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm not sure what the match bill is on the early times, to be honest, if they ever change it. I can't remember if that's a high ride match bill or not.

So I'd say this 1969 was a great Dusty for me. I've had a couple of Dustys and I've never been successful at it. Even when we went down to Barstown at the bourbon company there, I had a Dusty down there and I didn't like it. We had one over our house, I didn't like it. Um, taking some chances, some other things didn't like them, but this one right here is, uh, I could probably drink this all day long. It would be a, um, I get a little bit of almost Starbucks, uh, caramel macchiato in it. Uh, spice, but it's not enough spice to barely notice. Um, white peppery, I guess would be for me, but, um, if I could find a bottle of this, I might try to get it.

Yeah. Like I said, if there's ever, you know, uh, anything that you guys are really hunting down, they said, I mean, I could always invite you guys onto that page or, you know, I could always, you know, talk to some of the guys and see if there's something that you've really, you know, if there's something you really, really want to find, I mean, they're, they're out there. So some of those guys just have ridiculous, ridiculous bottles.

I'm actually looking for a 1913 big chief whiskey.

I got the 1916, I got one that's close.

Oh, you got a big chief whiskey?

No, no.

Well, Dan, uh, if any of our listeners out there are just wondering one more time about what you're sipping on there, that 55, uh, old crow, what do you suggest to them? Should they go for, should they look for this one?

Absolutely. Uh, again, this was one of the bottles that was on the only five whiskeys you need as, um, uh, a special guest, you know, having a special guest over maybe whiskey. Again, it's something that, you know, if I can refill this thing, I would it's, This, to me, is when Old Crow was one of the brands at the top. Now, unfortunately, it's taken a dive. But this is back when Old Crow was good. And I've had discussions with several other people about that too. And it's just not made like it was back then. And that, and that one will, that one will put a dent in your wallet, I guess. Right. Um, no, actually this one, uh, was right around the same, like 225. Oh, okay. Yep.

Well, there's a lot of bourbons on, there's a lot of bourbons on the shelves today at that price. So, yes, absolutely.

And again, it's just not, you know, it's, it's not made the way it used to be. And, you know, for this being, you know, four years old and being, you know, as, as dark as it is just, The things they did back then were just so different. National Distillers has a big reputation for putting out a lot of great stuff back in the day. They produced a lot of stuff. Old Taylor and Old Crow, just so many other brands. And what they did back then was just... They really dominated the game, in my opinion.

Well, Dan, when we come back in the second half, we'll all three have a different bourbon to try a dusty. We'll talk more about your YouTube channel, what our listeners could do to help you out and get on there and watch you. Not when they're driving down the road, but hey, we'll see you in a couple of minutes. I'm ready.

We would like to thank Tommy and Gwen Mitchell from Loghead's Home Center for supporting this episode of the Bourbon Road. Loghead's Home Center, nestled in the hills of Kentucky, is an industry leader in building handcrafted rustic furniture. Family owned and operated, they take pride in offering only the very best for their customers. The Logheads, and that's what they like to call themselves, are skilled wood crafters who are passionate about creating rustic furniture for people who appreciate the beauty of natural wood. Owners Tommy and Gwen don't just sell the rustic lifestyle, they live it. And you can be sure that Loghead's furniture will always be handcrafted in Kentucky by artisans who embrace the simple way of life. Loghead's rustic furniture is made from northern white cedar, a sustainable wood that's naturally rot and termite resistant. Its beauty and quality will add warmth to your earthy lifestyle for generations to come. Be sure to check out everything they have to offer at LogHeadsHomeCenter.com. And while you're at it, give Tommy and Gwen a shout on Facebook or Instagram at LogHeadsHomeCenter. Alright, well we are back and we have Dusty Dan from Dusty Dan's Whiskey Reviews and we spent a good 20 minutes in the first half tasting some amazing dusty bourbons and we've got a pretty fantastic 20 minutes ahead of us here. What do you think Mike?

Yeah, I think it's going to be great. So Jim, you, you'd sent over some, uh, 1985, uh, one 14, but it's really, is it really one 14? Cause he showed me the bottle and it says barrel proof on there.

Does that make you think special Dan? Not that I'm aware of. I've actually never seen that before, to be honest, especially on a, on a mini. So that intrigues me.

I'm kind of wondering if barrel proof doesn't, if they're not talking about, cause this is quite a few years ago. We're talking about what? 35 years ago. 35 years ago when they mentioned barrel proof, were they talking about the, the proof that came out of the barrel at, or the proof that it went into the barrel at? I believe that was the proof that it went into the barrel. Okay. So old granddad 114 went into the barrel at 114 and then it probably came out a little bit higher and then they proved it down or what?

Well, from what I understand around that time is the, a lot of things were non-chill filtered. So I would say that, If they did prove it down, it was hardly anything. If so.

All right. All right. Well, Mike, let's, let's, before we start talking about Dan has in his glass, let's go ahead and check out what's in ours. Let's do it.

So Dan, you know what happened in 1985? What's that? Back to the Future came out.

Classic.

Ronald Reagan was our president. Um, I think Jesse's girl was the song back then. I had just gotten a driver's license, so I thought I was cool.

What was your first car?

I had a 1969 Ford short bed. Oh, nice. Oh yeah. I wish I still had that pickup.

So 1985, I was a petty officer, second class in United States Navy.

So since he brought it up, since he brought it up, you know, um, third, third or fourth time that Navy has traveled up to West point, the game just happened. Um, I gotta say army beat Navy. Yes, sir. Back to my army roots there. The golden Knights. Uh, that's, that's awesome. I love that they, uh, that they want out and stuff. Um, it's always a special game for me, a special time of year, even if they didn't win the Navy and stuff, it's still a special game. Uh, we got to thank our, uh, service members that are raising that hand for service. So, yeah, absolutely.

But, but I'm ready to talk about the whiskey, Mike, no more, no more Navy getting beat stuff. Let's, let's talk about the whiskey.

So same on this, I get more honey out of this one. A little bit of those floral notes, like a honeysuckle probably.

I was going to say honeysuckle. So it's definitely got that floral kind of, yeah, honeysuckle, but very sweet. What's that chewy honey? Bitto honey. Bitto honey.

Yeah. Man, I hope it tastes like that too. Oh, it's got a great nose. Heck, let's dive into this thing. Cheers. Cheers. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Some good stuff. Yeah. That is bit of honey right there.

That's, uh, that's lovely to drink. Does it drink like one 14?

Yeah. So the nose, it did have a little bit more of that, you know, that ethanol kind of bite to it. Um, but on the palate, you can taste the, the boldness, the fullness of it. Um, it's definitely a lot. It's definitely not like an OGD woman before you pull off the shelf today. This is a little bit more, um,

full bodied, rich sweetness on the front, um, goes on the back. You get that super bite from it, from the spice, get down to you. Um, it's got a good Kentucky hug on it. Little bit of bitterness on the back end. I'm getting, um, not overpowering bitterness, but just a tad bit.

Yeah, it's definitely a spicy bourbon. It holds true to its name. I mean, old granddad has always had a bit of spice to it. It's been a spicy bourbon. This definitely has that. But I just can't get over how full and developed the flavor is in this. It's so different. Like if I pick up a bottle of Old Granddad 114 today, it's a good bourbon. I mean, there's nothing wrong with it. But it's not like that. It's not what I'm drinking right now. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Again, that's, you know, from what I've heard and just looked at here, the 1985 is actually a fantastic year. And again, you know, going back when, you know, Old Granddad was still putting out or when they first started putting out product, you know, that lot one and a lot of people's opinion is some of the best whiskey that you can taste. As far as Dusty's go.

All right. Well, I'm very pleased. We're two for two today, Mike. That's pretty awesome. We don't have a good track record. We've mentioned that before.

I'm actually really happy it happened on this episode. So, Jim, whose image that is on the old granddad? Do you know who that is?

Isn't that the fella that's, is that Basil Hayden? Basil, how do you say that? Basil or Basil?

Basil. Basil Hayden. That's who he is. Old granddad. I think you got it right too. When you think of a granddad, you know, you got that little bit of bitterness, little bit of spice, and it can be a little bit of sweetness. Yep.

But he's not on this label. When did he make it on the label?

That's a good question.

but he was the old granddad they're talking about. Yeah. His picture is not on the label here, but he is the old granddad it's named after.

So you actually have a, um, a pint of old granddad back at the house. I should have, should have brought that one over here with me because it offers the almost the same thing that you said, very well rounded and bold flavors, just rich.

So Dan, what are you drinking for the second half? You got something special. I'm probably going to want to come in and reach through there.

I do. This is actually a 1963, very old Fitzgerald. It is vitamin bond. It is eight years old and it was, uh, this is Stitzel Weller product. So, and For what I can say, the old Stitzelweller juice is absolutely fantastic. It is some of the best, you know, the older Stitzelweller is some of the best dusty bourbon, modern bourbon that I've actually ever tasted.

So Stitzelweller from the 50s and 60s, what labels

Would we expect to see their juice on 50s and 60s? So you have, you got the very old Fitzgerald. I believe you have rebel yell from that time here. I'm trying to, I'm trying to think if that was. if that was Rebel Yell or not. I can't remember when they first started distilling that. Cabin still had Stitzel Weller. Man, there's a handful of them. I can't remember all of them off the top of my head, but I know those three for sure.

What about the more famous bourbons like Weller and Pappy?

The old Special Reserve, I can't remember when that was produced, but I know that was right around the time period of when Stissell was. The original was Stissell-Weller produced. for the special reserve. Okay.

Anything we did. Um, so I'm definitely going to have to have a little sample of that, but just to try, you know, I think that's fitting for the Weedy King of Kentucky. Yeah. If I could find a bottle of it, I'd buy it.

you know, something that's very different about, you know, the sits a weller juice from, from then and now is you find this to be, it's, it's waxy and oily, but the flavors in here are just so bold. You know, sometimes what you find is some of these dusties is sometimes they fall flat. And by flat, I mean that, you know, you get those, you get your, your vanillas and your caramels, but they're almost like, almost like undertones, I guess you would say. They're not very well pronounced and they're not big and bold and flavorful, coating your whole palate where some of this old sets of weller juice, the flavors just sit there and there's a lot of depth and complexity to them that you would compare with modern day bourbon.

So Dan, what, what, uh, let's, let's talk about this one. We were drinking first, um, this 1985, what would something like that go for the 1985 old granddad doubt?

You're probably looking probably three, three and a quarter.

All right. So it's getting up there in price a little bit. Now let's talk about that big boy that you're drinking.

Uh, 525 to 600.

So that's, that's a, I like to say it. That's a grown woman whiskey.

Yeah.

Yeah. You better have a little change in your pocket. Absolutely. I think that song came out in 85 too.

You know what's crazy is on the market, they are very readily available. So there's a lot of people that have those out for sale.

What about 1981 Wild Turkey 101 eight year? I have that.

Yeah, I do. That's my, that's my unicorn. That's what I'm after. Okay. Well, maybe I can shoot you off. You guys both a sample of that. I actually, I do. I have something I was going to review on the channel, which I still plan on doing. I do have a 1981 one.

It just so happens that 1981 Wild Turkey 101 was my first purchase in a bar of a drink. So that's my coming of age. Yeah, takes me back. Yeah.

Jim had dark hair back then.

You weren't, you weren't always gray Jim? No, but I started turning gray about 27.

So, but no, I was still dark haired at 18. Yep. Of course that was a drinking age in Ohio back, back then.

So you know what I can do is I can, cause like I said, I have the 1982 101 that was in the decanter and I have the 1981 101 and when you look at the color difference between the two, it's mind-blowing. I mean, the 1982 that came out of that decanter is dark, like coffee dark, where 1981 has a really nice golden amber color to it. But just the differences between the color in there are just unbelievable. But I'll make sure, like I said, I get a sample pack to you guys. And I'll include that 1981 while turkey in there.

So, Dan, let's talk about YouTube a little bit and what it takes to do a YouTube channel properly, I guess. What does equipment cost? Let's say one of our listeners said, you know, I'll start up my own whiskey channel and I'm going to compete with these guys that are doing it excellent like you and Jason. Scott, what would it cost for the equipment just to start up?

Uh, to start up, you know, that's actually a great question. Um, you know, when you look at Jason and Scott's channel, especially Jason, you know, Jason really, uh, he takes his, his stuff and his B role and his equipment very, very seriously. Um, he's, you know, I would say he's probably put somewhere between maybe $1,000 to $1,500 in his equipment, his microphones and his camera and his whole setup back there. I would say somewhere between $1,000 to $1,500 where as for me, I don't go into crazy B-roll and stuff. And I just honestly, I use my phone for my reviews. And I use a little, a little tripod, you know, to hold it, maybe $200 roughly to get everything started up. Now, Dan, are you married? I am. Well, there's the problem with Jason.

Exactly. He don't have a wife to be like, Hey, I need this or that. And me and Jim know that full well. We're about to make that big old purchase on something. We're both probably thinking in the back of our minds, how is this going to affect me today?

Yeah, it's, you know, I got, I got the wife and two kids. So I got to, got to, you know, take that in consideration.

Well, let's make sure that we, our listeners probably going, who's this Jason and, and who's this Scott they're talking about. Let's go ahead and give the shout out to these guys just so people know who they are.

Yeah, absolutely. I know both these guys, you know, Jason from the Mash and Drum. Fantastic. One of the fastest growing channels on YouTube right now, as far as whiskey goes. Guy puts just everything into his videos. He has distillers on and, you know, all these visitors that come on to his channel. And he's really going places with his channel. And Scott, who has the MyBurn journey, you know, he's another one who has, you know, He's good friends with Mark and Sherry Carter from Old Carter Whiskey Company. And he also has distillers on his page and authors who write these books on whiskeys. And both those guys just have fantastic whiskey channels. They're both growing at a very fast pace. And make sure you guys go out and subscribe to both of their channels and watch a few of their videos and catch on to them. They're great guys.

Yeah, I think it's awesome whatever everybody's doing. I really didn't know this all existed until I met Jim and Jim's like, hey, check this place out. Check that out. If I really want to get into something, if I really want to research a big boy whiskey that before I purchase it, I'm going to go on one of those channels, find another podcaster out there that's reviewed it. more than, more than one, I do really. I want to see what everybody's saying about it. And then see if I can get a sample of it, taste it before I put out two bills for something, you know? Yeah.

All right. So Dan, have you heard of the vintage whiskey law in Kentucky? I have not. Yeah. So this is something that's kind of new here. Well, it's not real new. It's a little over a year old, maybe two years old, but So in Kentucky, uh, the law was passed statewide that, uh, an individual like you or I, uh, we're able to take a dusty bourbon that we find in our seller or our grandparents seller, and we're allowed to take it to a local shop owner or a local bar. And we're allowed to sell it to them over the counter.

Really? Absolutely. He's looking like he's surprised. That's interesting. Only in Kentucky. Only in Kentucky. Yeah. I mean, that's something I would have never thought would happen ever.

Well, the idea here is that, you know, they wanted to make sure that there was an opportunity for people who had these bottles to get them out to the public, to people who really want them rather than have them sold on the black market across the US. So yeah, you can go into any, any, you know, bottle shop in Kentucky and you can sell those. And you know, that's part of the reason that Justin's house of bourbon is doing so well in Kentucky is because they know they're able to purchase those bottles from people legally in the state of Kentucky.

Gotcha. Even our, our hometown liquor store here, Paradise spirits and wine, James has a case full of it up there. Um, he has a 1984, Blanton's there. I think it was the first month that they put it off the line. He has one of those in there. He has an old Fitzgerald in there. He's got a nice collection up there and stuff, but it's all for sale and stuff he's bought that opened his business up for those extra things. And from my understanding, he's probably going to expand that a little bit here in the near future.

It's actually really nice to see so many of these dusty bourbons being in some of these bars. You look at Bars Down Bourbon Company, who has a really nice selection of and collection of old dusty bourbons. Then you look at Justin's House of Bourbon. We have Jack Rose down here in DC, who recently, with everything that's going on, actually sold a lot of their older bottles to keep their business afloat and to be able to pay their employees. So they sold a lot of their stuff. But I think they're slowly starting to get all that stuff back. But it's just nice to see some of these dusty bottles still hanging in there, still alive and people still enjoying them.

Absolutely. Well, Dan, we'd like to give you the opportunity to, um, to let our listeners know exactly how to find you, find you on YouTube, find you on Instagram, uh, talk a little bit about a recent show you put out and what you got coming down the pipeline. They'd love to hear it.

Yeah. So, um, on Instagram, you could find me at dusty Dan's whiskey reviews. On YouTube, it's going to be Dusty Dan's Whiskey Reviews as well. And one of the last videos that's really taken off is you only need 5 whiskies. That was a challenge by someone who had put it on Reddit saying that you only need 5 whiskies for the rest of your life. And so far, that has been my most successful video. It's had, I believe, 3000 views so far. So that's... For me, a little guy with a little channel just giving honest reviews, that's something that's near and dear to my heart. So the things I plan on doing on the channel, I do plan on doing some more of the the old Dusty Bourbons. I have a nice collection of them and I do look forward to reviewing some of those on the channel in the near future, as well as something to look forward to is going to be my top whiskies of 2020.

Yeah. And how do you, what's that saying you use when you close out your show?

Oh, stay dusty. Stay dusty. Stay dusty. Stay, stay hunting for those dusties, find them, get dirty. You know, just recently the people found those dusty bottles in the around the siding of their house, if I'm not mistaken, in New York. So get dirty finding those things. You can find them in basements and then cabinets and they said antique shops, estate sales. Get dirty and just enjoy the hunt is what it's all about. Hey Jim, I'd actually like to do a giveaway on the channel. I would like to give away a sample of the very old fits that I tasted here on tonight's show. And I'd also like to give away a sample of the 1977 old Taylor that I have at home to those bourbon roadies out there.

Oh my goodness. That's pretty awesome. Oh, somebody's going to appreciate that. What do you think, Mike?

Man, I think that's, that's pretty bad ass. You know, how the heck do I get to do that? So Jim, what are we going to do? I think what we should do for this, he's willing to give away two samples. So the first two people to post a review on dusty Dan's whiskey reviews on YouTube and then post it on our post for this episode, post a photo snapshot of that, whatever you got to do, post that review in there. Those first two people will get those samples. I think they're two great samples. Mighty generous of you, Dan. We appreciate it. No problem at all, guys.

So let me get this right. So they got to go, they got to go watch one of his shows, post a review for it, take a snapshot of the screen, post it in the bourbon roadies.

Yeah, I think that's pretty easy. And make sure they subscribe.

Yeah, they need to subscribe. They should be able to see these.

We should be able to see that on their screenshot that they're subscribed, right? Yeah.

All right. Yeah. Post that in the bourbon roadies. I guess the best place to post it, Mike, is right there in the comments of the, of the episode, right?

Heck yeah. Post it in there. Um, heck more and more people want to watch Dusty's dance. That's what we want. We want you to go to his YouTube channel, check him out, give him some love, give him some support, give him a great review. Um, help him out, helps us out. We get great guests like him on. He definitely deserves it. If you haven't seen one of his videos, you'll definitely love it. And you'll see him have that Bourbon Road board up there supporting us.

All right. Well, Dan, we hope that you get a chance on Wednesday when this episode comes out to pop into the roadies there. You've been around for a while, so you're familiar with the group, but pop in there and say hey to everybody. And maybe they'll have a few questions for you. I certainly will, sir. All right. Well, you can find us on all the social media. You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and on YouTube. Of course, we don't have video, just audio, but that's all right. We are at the Bourbon Road. Mike, we also have a website, right?

Yeah, um, bourbonroad.com. You can find our blogs on there. We're fixing to add our reviews. Pretty excited about that. Um, we're actually gonna have one of our moderators from our Facebook group. He's also going to write reviews in there for us. Uh, so look for that. You can find our gear on there. We're actually about to have our, Uh, one of our shirts on there, which I'm really excited about. I know Jim's excited about it. Uh, you've seen me wearing it out there. I know the whiskey world wants it. Um, bourbon bullshitter t-shirt. Thanks to our friend dude pool up in Ohio. He, uh, gifted me the art for that to the Bourbon Road. And we can't say thank you enough for that. So check out our website. You can also buy our Glen Carons on there from one of our sponsors, Distilled Products. If you're a YouTube channel like Dusty Dan here, or if you're a Facebook group or you're a podcaster out there, or if you're a small distillery and you're looking for glasses at a better price, You want to head over on this distillery products, shoot me an email at Mike at the Bourbon Road and I will link you up with Janie and she'll give you a great price over there. Great team. If you're just looking for something for your personal bar though, they can also custom make you some Glen Caron glasses out there for your personal bar. It's a Bob's bar on there. Dusty Dan's whiskey lounge or something like that, whatever you want to make it look sexy. They can put it on there. Like I said, shoot me an email. I'll send you over to Janie, hook you up with her, her and her team over there. They will give you a great price on their products.

All right. And our roadies, our bourbon roadies know all about premiumbarproducts.com and what they have to offer. But if you are curious about becoming a bourbon roadie, that's our private Facebook group. We're at about 1,300 members now. We just had a barrel pick, flew off the shelves. About ready to have to do another one, Mike, because we're out of bottles almost.

Yeah. There's a couple of those bottles left. If you wanted one, we might be able to hook you up.

Well, you can go to our website. We do keep our picks on our website and all the instructions on how to get in on one of our picks is there. But we do invite you to become a bourbon roadie. A bourbon roadie is somebody who just enjoys the chit chat about bourbon, about whiskey, loves to hang out with like-minded folks that are just nice, not rude. Right, Mike?

Yeah, we don't tolerate any rudeness in there at all. That's where you won't find yourself as a bourbon roadie, but you got to be 21. You got to like bourbon, of course, because we are the bourbon road and you got to agree to play nice. 1300 members, like Jim said, we also have master distillers in there. We have people like Dusty Den in there. We have all kinds of people in our group. They're sharing their whiskey as I like to call it. They're being angels and sending out angel deliveries. Hint, hint. So, send out those angel deliveries. If you're a roadie, share your whiskey. I think that's what it's all about. After all, some people can't afford a big bottle, a big bottle of whiskey, a grown woman whiskey. Share your whiskey out there with some people. I know that. Don't send me and Jim any bourbon because we got plenty. You know, unless you're Dusty Daniels, send me some old Fitzgerald.

That'll happen. You're welcome. You're welcome to send it. It'll happen. And if you've got any questions about the show, you'd like to recommend somebody to, for us to have on, you'd like to recommend a bourbon or a rye whiskey that you'd like us to review. Reach out to Mike or I, you can reach me on Instagram at jshannon63. I'm one big chief. 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 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 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.