151. Basil Hayden's 10 Year Rye Review

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, kind of getting ready to head out of town, trying to knock out a few episodes in preparation for heading down to Mexico.

Well, actually, if people are listening to this right now, we're either on a plane heading to Mexico. Or there. Or we're in Mexico in a pool drinking right now.

Yeah.

We're probably drunk.

Could be. I think, you know, we're going to start it on the plane. Maybe for, for wives will let us do it.

Yeah. If, if, if you're listening to this in the evening time, we're definitely, uh, feeling good.

Yeah. So we're going to Cancun, why not Cancun? We're going to Playa del, Playa del Carmen is how I say it. Yeah. It's a Riviera south of Cancun Riviera. All-inclusive, food, fun, lots of drinking, lots of partying.

Yeah.

Not a lot of bourbon down there, but we're taking some. We're both taking a bottle with us. Yeah.

We actually, a company reached out to us and we're going to take a decanter, a travel decanter with us. So look for that travel decanter in our photos. I'm going to fill it up with a pretty special whiskey. Jim, I know you're taking a really special whiskey with us. Take a special bottle as well.

And we'll, we'll record a nice show while we're down there and let everybody sort of jump in on the fun. Now we did get an email from another roadie. Did you see that?

No, I didn't.

We got an email from a roadie that said he'll be at the Valentine Imperial Maya the same time as us. Wow. Really? Yeah. And he wanted to introduce himself and just let us know that. So we had to search him out.

Well, we do that. We've, I've already found some bourbon drinkers down there, so they're expecting us. I said, you just find me in a pool. You'll, you'll know who I am. Whatever. Yeah. Mayor Mike, mayor Mike, big chiefs in the pool having fun. Uh, but we're actually out here at Jeff the Ben farm tonight. Yeah. Truth be told sons, I'm looking to son about the set. Beautiful sunset. I got Woodrow. He knows it's time for recording, doesn't he? He does. Uh, you brought over a bottle of a basil Hayden 10 year rye whiskey, Jim.

Yeah. Yeah. So I received this bottle from a friend. I did a favor for him and he said, what can I, what can I give you? And I said, well, I don't need anything. You know, I was, I'm just happy I was able to help you out. And he said, well, I've got to give you a bourbon or something. I said, well, I really, you don't need to do that. You know, he said, no, I want to, I feel, I feel like I want to give you a bourbon. I said, well, okay. If you got to do it, you got to do it. But he gave me a couple. but neither one of them were bourbons.

American whiskey, it was the old scout 107, right? It was an American whiskey that was blended, had some bourbon in it, but it was a blend, right? Right. And then this Basil Hayden right here.

Right. So we've never had this one before. It's craft distillery Monday. Hey, why not?

You know? Yeah. Well, it's one of Jim Beam's small batch, uh, whiskeys they have out of the distillery. They got bookers, they got bakers, they've got Knob Creek and then they got Basil Hayden.

Now everybody knows Basil Hayden always rings in at 80 proof.

Yeah, there's no surprise with that. A lot of people, they get beat up on it a lot, but if you want to introduce somebody to whiskey, This is a great whiskey to introduce them to burn them up or anything. Very light. Um, 80 proofs. That's what the rest of the world usually drinks. We talk about, we drink and craft all the time. That's cast strength. That can be off-putting to some people.

It can be. It can be. But tonight, it's a rye night. It's a Monday night. It's a rye night. We're sitting down with a little bit of basil Hayden. It's 10 years old, though. I'm kind of interested to find out what a Kentucky rye with 10 years on it, proofed down to 80 proofs of what it's going to taste like.

Now, this has an undisclosed mash bill, but it's $70 MSRP. Um, that you could buy that at total wine or something like that at that price.

Now, Basil Hayden's has the 10 year old bourbon as well. Yeah. We haven't had that on the show yet.

I, I, I'm not gonna lie. I have a couple of bottles of Basil Hayden up underneath the counter over there. I got the rum finished one. Um, I do have the regular, um, I like them for guests that don't like the cast strength or somebody that's new and said, Hey, introduce me to some whiskey. I'll bring one of those out and I think that's a great way to introduce them. There's nothing wrong with that. There's no, it shouldn't be shaming people for that. That's what they're drinking. They want to buy the bottle of it. I let them have it. I like their packaging on this. The whiskey in the bottle is kind of light looking, but I expect that out of 80 proof, right?

Yeah, I think a bottle presents itself as a high-end bottle. It's got that strap around it, that belt that goes around it, the paper dress. Yeah. I don't know what you call that. It's kind of a paper dress and it's got foil around the top. It's a sharp-looking bottle. If you've seen Basil Hayden, they usually have a pretty sharp looking bottle. It looks good on the bar. Sure. But they're after a particular demographic with this, a certain kind of person, you know? And hey, it's a popular whiskey, so there must be a reason for that. Well, I say let's nose this thing. Let's check it out.

Man, that's got some fresh canned pizzas in it right there. You know, like your mom used to make.

That's a light nose. Very, very, um, the waft is just kind of light and refreshing.

I think, uh, you know, besides canned peaches, I think of fresh cut flowers, you know, you wouldn't bought your wife a bouquet of flowers, something like that. Real floral. Just spring.

Yeah. Fresh cut grass spring. Good time for that, right? Cause the grass is coming out. The trees are flowering right now. Got a freeze warning tonight.

Yeah. You know, we talked about that over dinner that we're worried about that. But, um, last year the freeze killed all of our fruit trees, not killed them, but it killed the blooms and worried about the same thing this year.

Well, noticing this was not raising my eyebrows at all. It's just kind of a nice light, airy nose, not a lot, not a lot of spice, a little bit.

You can smell that, that, you know, that peach sugar, uh, like the, you know, the, the liquid you get off cam peaches.

Oh yeah.

Syrupy. I kind of get that. Okay.

Let's taste it.

Cheers. Cheers.

Super light, very light, very, uh, kind of just washes over your mouth a little bit. Doesn't really present itself as anything more than an 80 proof whiskey. Um, not very complex, not very layered. I'm getting that sort of grassy note, a little bit of like kind of a nutty peanuts. Yeah. Green boiled peanuts, bold peanuts. Yep.

A little bit of fruit. there's a little bit of bitters on that, almost like biting into a piece of green fruit.

But it's kind of refreshing. It's, I think it's a nice, easy, one note kind of rye whiskey. I mean, if you wanted to give somebody a rye, that had never had a rye before. And you wanted to introduce them to a rye and say, hey, you ever had a rye whiskey? And they say, no, I never had one. I got one I want you to start on, give it a shot, see what you think. This might be something that wouldn't turn them off to rise.

It's got a little bit of white pepper spice on it. No Kentucky hug on this. I wouldn't expect that from an 80 proofer anyways.

Yeah. I mean, I'll be honest with you, the finish just kind of disappears. It doesn't hang around at all. What little bit is there, it's got that little bitterness on it, like you said.

I'm starting to pick up, as it sets in the glass a little bit more, I'm starting to pick up that peanuts, just a little bit more of that little bit of nuttiness.

But it's almost like a little bit of green peanut, green boiled peanuts. Been a while since I had a boiled peanut.

Yeah, this has no finish on it at all. Very little to nonexistent.

Yeah, I'll be honest with you, Mike. I'm not, I'm not getting the 10 years in this. I just don't, I don't see it. And I believe it. I believe it's a 10 year whiskey, but something is just not coming across in the palette. There's not a, a preponderance of oak. There's not any deep, dark, rich kind of flavors that are coming out. They washed it all away. It's kind of washing away. It's a, I'm getting that, that sort of green, boiled peanut kind of flavor. I mean, I'm getting a little bit of the sort of the caramel vanilla that you would expect from a bourbon. I'm getting that here. We don't know what the mash bill is, but I'm going to assume this is a Kentucky rye.

I would think so. It's very light on the palate, like we said. No to just a little bit of finish on it. No Kentucky hug. That bitterness, I couldn't see even using this for it. It's so expensive. $70 a bottle. I couldn't see using it as a mixer.

I don't think it would shine through in a cocktail.

No, I think just sitting down as a summer sipper is like you said, introducing somebody new to rye. Um, You know, it's not very harsh on the palate at all. So I think that's what it would be a good starter rye.

Yeah, I agree with you. I think if you want to have something on your bar that is reserved for the new whiskey drinker, the person who's never had a rye before, that you want to introduce them to it. You want to show them a bottle that presents well. It's a beautiful bottle. Looks great. You know, pull it out, pour a little bit off on it. I think just about anybody could sip on this without being overtaken by you know, the burn or the alcohol or the strength of a rye whiskey.

I wouldn't mind drinking this over rocks, I guess. I think that would be really nice down by the fire this spring, revisit this bottle. I think it'd be perfect for that. I mean, you'd probably sit there and drink that whole bottle, no problem.

Yeah. So you're talking about like a refreshing rye whiskey poured over ice, hot day down by the river.

I could do that. And I think it would probably open it up a little bit.

When you're just sitting there drinking, you're not really thinking about the whiskey. You're just sipping on something. You're not particularly looking at it and analyzing it and trying to determine whether or not it's got this note or that note. You just got this simple whiskey that doesn't make you think.

Well, that's probably where this will bottle end up for us. I would think is we'll probably enjoy this thing and by fire down by the creek, enjoying some good food, good company with good people and probably some new whiskey drinkers always show their way over here somehow, some way seems always right.

Every bottle gets opened here and nothing ever goes to waste.

No, never goes to waste. Uh, try to share it with people and, um, you know, I think it's a fine bottle whiskey. I do see people beating it up cause 80 proof, but I think people need to remember that we're all not whiskey nerds. Um, some people are just starting that whiskey road. Other countries don't drink high proof whiskey, so this is perfect.

Yeah. Okay. So for me, Mike, I'm going to, I'm going to say definitely not a mixer because I don't think it would stand up in a mixed drink or a cocktail. I think it's a sipping whiskey, but it's a sipping whiskey for a hot summer day. Maybe even throw an ice cube or two in there. It's not anything that you're going to want to give to your knowledgeable whiskey guest.

Yeah. To me, this would be just a pass altogether. Cause I think there's better Rye's out there. You know, I could buy old Forrest Rye, which was on your list last week, or I could go with a Victor's Rye whiskey. I could go somewhere there that's 90 or a hundred proof. And I think I'd still introduce them properly to Rye whiskey. That's just me. Yeah. Pass for me.

I'm not going to point anybody towards this bottle. I think there's a market out there for it. But honestly, I wouldn't be inclined to put it on my bar.

Yeah. Well, that's fair. Hey, that's, that's what we're about is telling truth. It's not a mixer. You want to introduce somebody if you had a bottle already or to say, Hey, what is a bottle I should get? You know, they got a little bit deeper pockets. This might be it for them.

It's not a bad whiskey. It's a good whiskey. So yeah, nothing wrong with it other than the fact that it just doesn't kind of kind of rise to the standards of something I want to put on my bar.

So, Well, cheers to another great review. Absolutely, Mike.

Where can everybody find us?

Everybody can find us on social media at The Bourbon Road, you find us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok. We don't have nothing up there yet. We keep promising. We just promise you guys all kinds of stuff.

You can also find us on a beach near Cancun, right?

Yeah, that's where you can find us at. You definitely find us drinking some whiskey somewhere. So that's where you find us at. We also have a private Facebook group called The Bourbon Roadies. 1600 strong in there right now. Got to answer three questions.

Yeah. Want to make sure you're 21. Got to be old enough to drink. You know, you're getting yourself into a bourbon group and that you absolutely agree to play nice and don't troll. Don't criticize. Just be part of the fun. Be part of the family. Uh, jump in there and post your reviews and your whiskeys and your pictures and whatever else you've got going on in your life. Great group of people.

I'd tell you this, Jim, I saw another group and a girl went on and did a live in another group. She passed out on there and she drank too much. But they criticized her so much. She almost committed suicide that day. We don't want something like that in our group.

Right. No haters. No haters. Just lovers, man. We just want lovers in our group, right?

Rising Tides, Raise All Ships. That's the best way to say it. That's what we'd like to do.

We do two shows a week. We do a craft distillery Monday episode, like today's episode, every week on Mondays, where we do a short review of a great bottle. or an okay bottle. It all depends. We try to get as many bottles in front of you as we can. We also do a long episode every Wednesday where we have somebody on the show. Usually we do an interview. Sometimes it's just Mike and I, but we want to give you a little more content, a little more length to it, something you can drive to work and home from work and listen to one episode. We'd love for you to listen to both episodes every week. And Mike, how do they make sure they know about these episodes?

Well, you scroll up, hit that subscribe button on your phone, on your computer. Make sure you hit that subscribe button and scroll on down and give us a review. Five star, hopefully. One star if you have to, but please tell us what we need to do to get that five star from you and then go back and leave us a five star if we fixed everything. You can also check out our Web page, Jim. We got some gear on there. Go on there and buy that gear. That's how me and Jim travel on down that bourbon road. We got our bourbon bullshitter t-shirt, our Glen Carons, which we're drinking out of today from premium bar products or distillery products dot com. You find our hat on there, a couple of other shirts. Go on there and buy some stuff, read our articles on there, read our blogs and read our reviews on there. We hopefully we put it up for your enjoyment. There's some knowledge on there, too. You find some suggestions for the bourbon trail for your bourbon pilgrimage here to Kentucky.

Absolutely. And let's get ready to open back up. So we're kind of excited about the changing times here. Well, keep in mind folks, you know, Mike and I are always interested in knowing what you think. We always want to know if you've got a bourbon, if you've got a rye whiskey, if you've got an American whiskey that you think is something special from your hometown, you'd like to take a look at it and maybe do a review on it. Let us know. Let us know if you've got a guest that you'd like to hear on. You can always reach out to us. You can find me on Instagram at jshannon63. I'm One Big Chief and we will see you down the bourbon road. You know, you can't drink whiskey without glassware and Mike and I are extremely pleased to have a sponsor like premium bar products. Premium Bar Products offers direct to consumer the finest whiskey glasses, cocktail glasses, and bar tools with your own personal engraving. I mean, you can write anything you want on these glasses, anything from a company logo to a personal statement, and there are no minimum orders. Their direct consumer platform offers you the opportunity to purchase small quantities of your favorite glass shapes that enhance the pleasure of enjoyment and drinking a whiskey and make it all very positive. They offer the absolute finest trending and handmade classes as well as a comprehensive range of styles and all of their items have been designed with purpose, practicality and longevity in mind. So if you're a bourbon or whiskey group and you need custom logos, you need to reach out to premium bar products. If you're an individual, you just want a few for your bar to impress your friends, to give out as gifts, you need to call Premium Bar Products. They need to be your one and only source for custom glassware. I can tell you right now, the Bourbon Road, that's who we use. Janie and Carson and the team there at Premium Bar Products will take care of you. They'll treat you like family and they'll take care of you with every order.