121. Oregon Spirit Distillers Bottled In Bond Bourbon

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 are not at Jip the Bin Farm. Yeah, we're six foot apart, though. We're six foot apart. We are. We're actually at the Shannon Farm. Yeah, we're looking at each other straight in the eye, across the table. I've got the good view, though. I'm looking out across the pasture and the horse fence, out to the trees there. and you got a good view of my kitchen.

Yeah, there ain't nothing wrong with that. I was actually eyeballing the bourbon balls you have sitting over there. I'm telling you listeners, these bourbon balls, they're made for Big Chief. They're my size. It fills up my whole hand.

My wife said, you shouldn't make bourbon balls that big. They're not supposed to be that big. I said, I tried to make them small, but it just doesn't work. As soon as you dip them in the chocolate, they get really big. Oh well. I just keep, every now and then I'll just keep making them and they'll be better.

Hey, I wasn't complaining. It's like going to McDonald's and ordering a small ice cream and that large one comes out and it's almost about to fall over. You don't complain about it. Right. You just enjoy it, right? Right. Absolutely. I agree with you completely. So Jim, what do we got today? What's our craft distillery we're going to be tasting?

Yeah. So today, Mike, we've got something from Oregon. Wow, we haven't ever had anything from Oregon before. We've not had an Oregon bottle in here before. And it's kind of surprising because there are a ton load of distilleries in Oregon. So- Yeah, isn't that old saying, go west young man? Go west young man. That's from the Oregon trail, right? Yeah. 1840s to 1860s, people hunting the gold, right?

Well, probably hunting a better life and- Oh, settlers going to the west and- Yeah. I would imagine settlers want something different. The East coast is crowded. Not as many Native American attacks on the West Coast, but you had the plains where those worrying tribes, you could lose your scalp over. So let's get across the plains and people would usually get to St. Louis. They'd take a riverboat to St. Louis. which we know all about those riverboats, right? Sometimes they would come all the way down to Ohio right here in Louisville, Kentucky. They'd make their way up to St. Louis on a riverboat, get off in St. Louis, and they would meet their wagon master, trail master, whatever you wanted to call him. He would take a party of people out there.

They would buy a wagon and fill it full of goodies and head west. Yeah. Well, Oregon Spirit, they're the makers of today's bottle, Oregon Spirit Distilleries. And how did we get our hands on this bottle, Mike?

So our good friend, Adam Boothby, come up here and he brought me two bottles and he said, hey, man, I want you to review this. So he gifted us these bottles. This is one of them. I'm excited about it. So it's a four-grain. Usually we don't get a lot of four grains here in Kentucky. Every once in a while somebody will sneak one in on us. Definitely doing something different out there.

So it's a bottled in bond. It's also a single barrel. So this is guaranteed to be four years old. Guaranteed to be a hundred proof. Guaranteed to be out of one distillery under one single master distiller in a single distilling season. We know that for a fact.

So this is not contract distilled. It's not sourced. They're making this juice out there. And if you look up the Oregon trail whiskey trail, I guess is what it's called, Jim. Yeah. You'll see that they're making some whiskey out there. I didn't think they were making that much whiskey out there until you showed me that list. I thought they were growing green plants to be used for medicinal purposes. Well, they're doing that too. But they are obviously making a lot of whiskey out there.

Yeah I don't know how many distillers are on the Distillers Guild page But I would have to say probably 50 to 60 distilleries in Oregon.

Is that fair to say? Yeah, that page is loaded down with them. I'm just amazed that they have that many I guess they're kind of a it could be a sleeping giant out there.

It could be. Well, it's a beautiful bottle We were talking earlier how it kind of is a little reminiscent of like a rum bottle

Yeah, it does look like a rum bottle to me. Short, stocky, rounded edges, a beautiful bottle. It's got a nice medallion on the front of it. I think they did a great job with their labeling, the bottle overall. Let's hope the whiskey is that good. I'm looking forward to it.

Well, we both have a glass in front of us, Mike. Let's check it out.

All right, let's do it. Nice, nice nose.

It's got a little bit of corn on it, I think.

I was going to say a little bit of earthiness there. Earthiness, aroma I'm getting. Yeah, that corn sweetness is coming through.

Looking past that though, I'm starting to get a little bit of like Cocoa Puffs. Not much in the way of cinnamon for me. I mean, there's some spice there. You can pick it up, but it's more about the sort of the cocoa and the chocolate notes for me. I don't know. Cocoa puffs. Cocoa puffs, yeah. Well, that's your thing, the cereal. Do you feed your grandkids cocoa puffs? They usually like Froot Loops and Cap'n Crunch, Crunch Berries.

All right, well, let's try it.

Let's try it. Cheers. Oh, that's nice.

It didn't travel back. It kind of hit everywhere at once. Every now and then we get one like that. They just sort of explodes on the palate. Got a lot of flavor, a little bit of bitterness on the back end. But I have to be honest, this is my first bourbon of the day.

Same for me, but I gotta say, it drinks bigger than a hundred proof. It does. I agree with you. I'm very surprised by it. The four grains are definitely coming through.

You know, it's kind of thin. but it's got a ton of flavor. So, you know, if I look at the color on this, I'd say it's pretty respectable for a hundred proof. It's a nice medium amber.

It's what you should expect out of a four-year-old bourbon. If you went down the aisle and looked at some of our favorites, JW Dan, JTS Brown, TWS Samuels, if you looked at those, you would almost get that same color and that was bottles. And I'm getting a little bit of root beer whore hound now too. Little sassafras, whorehound. I get that bitterness you get on the back end. Not a whole lot of sweetness on this one. Like you said, those whorehound counties, that root beer, sassafras, which you know that stuff's poison, you're not supposed to drink it. I think you'd have to chop down a whole tree and drink the whole tree or make a whole bunch of it.

Yeah, this has got a great flavor to it. It's got a bit of heat. It doesn't settle in too much as a hug, but I feel the burn on the back of my palate. Like I said, it seems the texture's a little thin for me, but the flavor's full.

I think you're right on that, that not watered down, but it is a little light on there, on the texture. I'd like to see a little bit more viscosity in it. You know, I say, I wonder how this would taste at cast strength. It would probably be super beautiful. I wonder if they took the sweetness away when they proofed it down though. Taking some of that sugar, you're diluting it down so much. I'd like to see where it came out of the barrel at 120 proof. This is probably pretty beautiful. Not to say it's not. If you're looking for a bourbon and you're out on the West Coast, this is what a bourbon drinker would look for right here.

Yeah. I think, Mike, I'll be honest with you. Having seen that distiller's guild page and how many distilleries are in Oregon, I'm ready for a road trip. Let's get past this COVID. Get out the organ. What do you think? I think we're going to have some money.

I'm now, I'm getting sweetness on that second sip and I'm getting a little bit of fireball on there. A little bit of cinnamon coming through. Just a tad bit more sweetness has opened up.

Yeah, I picked up that chocolate or that cocoa on the nose. I'm not getting a whole lot on the palate. I got more on the nose than on the palate. On the palate for me, it's a little bit more whore hound. I'm starting to pick up a little of that cinnamon now, a little bit of spice. It's starting to fire up that middle back of my palate a little bit, but it's not settling in for a hug. See, I get a little bit of a hug, not a whole lot, but

enough to let me know, hey, I'm here. I'm ready to party. I got to say Oregon spirits. I'm totally shocked. I had to actually bought a bottle of this for a Coast Guard buddy as a gift. He'd come over and help me with some stuff at the house. And I said, Hey, what I owe you. And he's just bought me a bottle of bourbon. So I bought him a bottle of this because he was from out there. And I quite enjoy it. I hope he did too. Adam, thank you so much for sending this bottle. Thank you, Adam. Oregon Spirits, you know, hey, keep rocking it out. You know, I think they're doing great things. I think it has a medium finish. The only reason I would not say long is because of the viscosity of it. You know?

Yeah, I would say at best a medium finish on this. In general, I mean, to use as simple words as possible, This is a good whiskey. I think it's enjoyable. It's definitely a sipper, no doubt about it. It's a beautiful bottle. I'm not thinking this is a gifting bottle, although you did gift a bottle. I did. You did. For me, probably not a gifting bottle. It is a beautiful bottle, no doubt about it. And if you had that special circumstance where you know somebody from Oregon, you want to treat them to a bourbon from Oregon, Yeah, that's a good idea.

Yeah. What's the cost on this, Jim?

So this bottle shows on the Total Wine website at $65.

That's not bad.

There's a lot of craft whiskeys out there at that price range.

A lot of people beat craft distilleries up for that, but you also have to take in consideration what that bottle costs them. What does the grain cost them out in Oregon? When I think of Oregon, I think of trees is what I think of. I think of forestry, lumber, big pines. That's kind of what I think of. I don't think grain. So where are they having to bring those grains from to get them to Oregon? What did that bottle cost? What does their barrels cost about there? I don't think big hardwoods. When I think hardwoods, I think Kentucky, I think Missouri, I think Ohio. I think these Midwestern states right in the Ohio, Tennessee, Cumberland Valley, the Ozarks, that's what I think those big hardwoods.

Yeah, so thumbs up to Oregon Spirit. I think they've got a great whiskey here. If it's in your price range and it's something you want to reach out for, I would say thumbs up for it. It's a good drink. Oregon Distillery Trail, definitely surprised by that. Looking forward to the day when we can go out there and... belly up to some of those sampling bars on the distillery trail out there and talk to some of those people. I think they really got something going on. Yeah, I'd love to take a trip out there.

So Jim, you know, I kind of feel like we've been let down on a recipe thing. I haven't been getting a lot of recipes. and I haven't been getting photos for those. So this week we're not going to have a recipe. Hey, send me those recipes. Send me those photos and stuff. Some people that have sent them in have sent us some great ones though. And I know there's more bourbon recipes out there. They've got to be. Send me your recipes. Send me your photos. Mike at the bourbon road.com. I'll post it up on our Thursday posts or on Friday. And we'll get your information out there and you'll one day be in a cookbook. Hopefully that we do. Everybody else releasing a cookbook. Why shouldn't me and Jim? What else are we releasing? Oh, man. We just released our bourbon bullshitter T-shirt. Twenty five dollars. That's a pretty fair price. Standard price for a T-shirt. I know everybody wants it. Once sexy model on there, Jim. Um, so the t-shirts, two X and three X, you know, it's a bigger shirt, more material. I know that for myself. So a couple extra bucks for those shirts. Uh, but they're up there, buy them. They're made right here in Shelby County, Kentucky. They're not, we're not sourcing that out to a different country or anything. You know, I think that's a awful fair of us to try to stay local with that. Right? Yeah.

And they're going to hold up. I mean, they're good shirts, good quality shirts. So they're going to hold up. Yeah. And where else are you going to get a bourbon bullshitter t-shirt?

Well, you want to rock that thing out. I want to see people wearing it on the bourbon trail. If we go out to Oregon, I want to see people wearing it out there. And you're supporting, you know, a lot of people don't know this if they're new listeners and stuff. We are a veteran owned and operated business. So that's what you're supporting as veterans. Both me and Jim are veterans. That's a big deal to us. And hopefully it's a big deal to you that both of us served our country and the money's going to good dudes. And we're just going to pour that back into the podcast anyways. Barrel pigs, more great merchandise, and then we'll probably take a trip out somewhere. Some events.

Yep. All right, Mike, well, people can find us on social medians.

Yeah, you can find us at YouTube, Twitter. We don't get on those two a whole lot. No video on YouTube, one or two are on there. You can find us on Instagram and Facebook. We do have some videos on there and stuff. You might see me out on the road. I might pop into a local business on the trail out here just to say, hey, I think this is a business you can stop at or this is restaurant you want to eat at. They're not paying me nothing. I just go in there and ask them if I could make a video. So, um, me and Jim don't make anything at that.

We also have a Facebook group to Jim called the bourbon roadies. And the bourbon roadies is about 1300 like-minded people, guys and gals. who love to drink bourbon, talk about bourbon, share bourbon, take pictures of bourbon, and they're really good people, really great people. They give bourbon reviews, they give recommendations, they share bottles when they find them, but they're not rude at all, are they, Mike? No, we just don't do that in our group.

Three rules, you got to be 21, you got to like bourbon, and you got to play nice. Otherwise, the mods will probably boot you out of there. I would like to introduce a new moderator for our group, Drew Allen. He's going to come on board as we grow. We're going to have to have some more moderators. Drew's did a lot for the podcast over the past year. He's been a great roadie. We wanted to bring him on board, help us out with our Facebook group. So you'll probably see Drew in there. I don't know how much more of a man could be in there.

Yeah, he lives in there, right? He lives in there.

But he's been up here a couple of times. He's seen us. He's our Memphis guy down in Memphis, Tennessee. So if you're on the bourbon hunt down there, Drew's our guy. So yeah.

All right. Well, we did just have a successful barrel pick. We're pretty much out of bottles now. I mean, we might have two or three to rub together, but if you're in desperate need of one of those bottles, we might be able to scrape one up for you. Just reach out to Mike or I. Go onto our website. There's a link on there on how you can get in and try to snatch up one of the last few. I mean, really Mike, how many we got? Maybe 10. Maybe 10 left.

Hey, you missed out if you didn't get a bottle. If you still want a bottle, heck, I feel like I should charge a double for them. It is that good. It's great bourbon. I've already bought a bottle and a half down. I know Jim's went through a bottle. We're going to send something out because we had some people give reviews. Thank you guys for giving us reviews on our Apple podcast. We really appreciate it. That's what gets us in to distilleries. That's what gets good guests on here. So, Hey, if you're listening to us right now, scroll up. Hit that subscribe button and scroll back down and leave us a review. We really appreciate it. We need those reviews. Jim, we're at 98 reviews right now on Apple Podcasts.

Oh, I'd love to hit three digits. Wouldn't that be nice? Wouldn't that be nice? So, Jim, hey, great. Another great distillery. Great bourbon. Absolutely. I'm happy to have had it and I look forward to more things out of Oregon. West Coast is starting to really impress, aren't they?

Oh, if you haven't asked Woodinville, this right here would go right up against it. I think people need to get out there and buy it.

All right. Well, we do two shows a week, a short episode like this and a full length episode on Wednesdays. We always like to hear what you would like to see on the show. So feel free to reach out to Mike or I, either one. The best way to reach us is on Instagram. You can reach me 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 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.