163: Rebel Distiller's Collection Single Barrel Bourbon 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.

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Hello everybody. I'm Jim Shannon. And I'm Mike Hyde.

And this is The Bourbon Road. And today, Mike, we are at Chip The Bin once again.

Yeah.

Kicking back, I have to say that today is going to be an amazing day for you because we've got in the house, we did bourbon whiskey.

Yeah. So, you know, the weeding King of Kentucky, one of my favorite bourbons is rebel from the crow, right? Uh, especially the 10 year. I absolutely love it. If I get my hands on a bottle of it, I go through them pretty fast. I got to stashed underneath the counter there. I just love them. But last year, they came out with their distillers collection. I started seeing it pop up like Liquor Barn and Total Wine and other stores. And across the nation, you started seeing them pop up. I went through one bottle of it. I put some photos up of that bottle, drank it, and then that was from Liquor Barn. So I saw this bottle. I knew it needed a bottle. So I said, hey, let's get it. This is from Total Wine. This is 113 proof. Five years old. What's the mash bill on it, Jim?

68 corn, 20 wheat, and 12 malted barley. That's right up by alley right there. That's a good portion of wheat. You call that a high wheat.

Yeah. So these are, they're going to be a little bit different from place to place where you buy them because they are single barrels. but how can you go wrong with a weeded whiskey? That's a single barrel that's at 113 proof. Cause I'm always saying, Hey, I wanted to cast strength.

And so the real story behind this bottle is, is they've dropped the yell off a rebel yell. This is just rebel.

Yeah. And that was probably a smart, I think it was a smart move. This is, if you look at the 10 year bottle and this bottle, this is the same exact bottle. Um, Now Luxro sold to MGP for $475 million, Jim. That's a few bucks there. That's not chump change. That is not chump change. So I hope that they keep with this and we keep getting great whiskey out of Luxro. I just absolutely love that place. Beautiful distillery. We've both been there. Actually me and you went there together, um, last two years ago for the Kentucky bourbon festival. That's right. I remember met our buddy Jason from the mash and drum, Jason, Jason.

Yeah. And, uh, we, um, we actually attended a tasting there. We met up with some other people that were in the industry, uh, had kind of an, uh, a pretty great day there.

Yeah, it's hard to believe that was two years ago. Yeah. Um, but we're really here to taste this today and, uh, give it a review and we'll see how LuxRos doing whether we did bourbon whiskey. Now I know I love it. It's hard to be non-partial to this, I guess, but you know how I crave that wheat.

And this is, this is pretty available stuff.

Yeah, a little over five years old. So not a bad age for a bourbon that's a weeder. And for people that are kind of new and you're listening to us when we talk about weed bourbon, um, So your secondary grain is either going to be easily a rye, right Jim? A rye or a wheat. A wheat. So it's still 51% corn, in this case 68% corn, right? Still a bourbon. Still a bourbon whiskey. This is Kentucky right here though. This is straight out Kentucky.

That secondary grain, otherwise known as the flavoring grain.

Yeah. So we're going to get softer notes on this little sweeter, um, more. I don't know.

I sometimes, I think they're more spicy, but cause I think a weeded bourbon, let's the barrel shine through just a little bit more.

Yeah. Now this, this juice is nice and dark for a five year old. It is. It is. Well, let's know this thing, Jim.

Let's do it. Oh, that's nice. Very sweet. A little bit of fruit.

You know what I get on this? I get a little bit of chocolate pudding.

Really? Yeah. A little bit of, a little bit of cocoa. Yeah. I think I can pick up a little bit of cocoa.

I'm also getting a little bit of fruit there and I think it's a little bit of cherry.

Maybe probably the reason I said chocolate pudding, cause I bought a chocolate pudding cake for dessert. Those floral notes are there. Um, I'd bought Vivian some roses for our 20th anniversary. And, uh, if you smell those roses, I get a little bit of rose and they're perfect for the Derby time. Right. Yeah.

And you know, Mike and I don't normally call out caramel and vanilla. They're usually present on most bourbons. They're here too. The oak is here too. Yeah. The oak is definitely here, but we're always, we're always trying to express those, uh, those pick out those notes that we think are unusual or unique or sort of pushing through a little bit. And, uh, Yeah. I'm ready to taste it though.

Mike, you getting any cherry juice on this?

Oh, I get cherries.

Yeah. Yeah. Super beautiful.

Let's, let's, let's taste this thing. Cheers. Wow.

That's nice. Yeah, upfront real quick, a little bit of sizzle, some sweetness hits that mid palate and explodes on the mid palate. Really love it when that happens with a bourbon. That mid palate's given me a cherry and floral notes and a little bit of spice, actually a lot of spice, but it's barrel spice, I think, like we were talking about. kind of moves to the back. Let me take another sip.

Let's hear your notes. So I do get that cherry, almost a, like a cherry pop rock to this. Just super beautiful. That spice just kind of rolls back nice and easy on you. Those floral notes are there. Nice sweetness to this.

Yeah, I'm getting cherry and chocolate. I am getting that cocoa, but I'm getting it with cherries. So it's kind of that, um, chocolate covered cherry.

You ever had one of those? I think it's a German, like a German chocolate cake with like cherries on it.

A tort, German tort with cherries on it. Oh yeah. Yeah.

I get that in this right here.

Yeah, the finish on this is just building. As I continue to sip on it, the back end is just sort of exploding, not exploding, growing. It's growing and building. I'm getting that oak, getting that spice from the barrel. I'm getting a little bit of pepper, a little bit of cinnamon. But you know, it's just, and the hug's starting to build too.

Yeah, this thing is very complex. You know, I hate to say this, Jim, but I saw a bunch of people say, whiskey advocate said that, um, larceny last year, larceny's barrel strength was their bourbon of the year.

Yeah.

I think just give it run for its money.

I think this might be a contender. I think we should keep this one in mind as we start to evaluate at the end of the year.

Very, very good. Long finish on this. that Kentucky Hug is building. Can you see why I went through a bottle of this?

Yeah, I can see. Yeah, it's definitely for me. It's dark chocolate. and cherries on the back. Um, the finish is, uh, very lengthy and the hug, um, hasn't left. It just, it just stays there. So this, this nice warming feeling I'm getting in my upper chest is just, it's just sticking around, uh, flavors there. Um, Yeah, I think you and I could probably sit here and drink half this bottle.

We'd probably drink the whole bottle. Listeners, if you were out there, I'm just going to go ahead and speak for Jim now. I'll tell you, if you're out there, you see this thing's $39.99 at Total Wine. If you see them one of your store, ABC in Virginia, I noticed they had a couple of them. If you see this bottle, do not pass it up. That is a great price for this whiskey. You'd be hard pressed to find something that's good anywhere else for that price.

Now, Mike, you were saying this is always a pick, right? This is always single barrel? It is. So it's only available through the barrel program?

I don't know how they do that barrel program there. I do know there's several out there. If you look online and you'll see people, I've seen them down in Memphis, Tennessee. I've seen them in Chattanooga area. If they're an ABC liquor in Virginia, which very limited picks there, but they have them. Total Wine has it, which I think there was like 280 Total Wines across America. Make sure you get a bottle of this though. A single barrel for $39.99.

And what does it say on the, on the next strip? It's just their distillers collection.

Okay.

Distillers collection.

So they actually have a rye too Jim.

Do they?

So maybe we should grab that and try that. Yeah, we probably should. I think it's a, this is a buy all day long. This is a gift. Um, and this is a year round drinker.

Oh, Mike, I can hear the excitement in your voice. I love it. You're talking love here.

I love some Luxro whiskey. I don't know that they make a bad whiskey there. I'm hoping MGP keeps with it. Maybe adds to it a little bit. I'm super excited about this. Now this used to be a Stitzweiler. Back in the day. Back in the day. Yeah. Which, you know, no surprise there. Oh, William LaRue, right? Yep. He, uh, don't put it on this thing.

Yeah. So, um, rebel yell Lux co Lux road distillers, uh, has a number of expressions around the rebel brand or the rebel yell brand. Uh, they have an entry level, call it a bottom shelter, but definitely entry level weeded whiskey. Uh, they have a a hundred proof version and then they have their 10 year version. And now they've got this single barrel, pretty exciting stuff.

Well, you can't find the 10 year out there, but you can't. It's hard.

It is very hard. It hits the shelves. It gets snapped up pretty quick.

I mean, I know this fellow, like I said, that has a couple hours counter for, I'm not hoarding those things away to sell them or anything. Um, they're under there cause they're going to get drank at some point. Um, Oh, there's a fresh bottle up there right now.

I've got, I've got a half a bottle that's open and I've got another full one that I haven't opened yet still in the box.

So yeah, mad, mad respect for this brand. Um, and I'm glad that, um, you know, you still get great juice like this for 39.99. I know people don't like to be called juice or say it's smooth, but this isn't smooth. It's still got that peppery taste on it.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's, it's, there's a little bit of pal to it. Um, it's, it, it definitely lets you know you there. The hug is, uh, it's real and it sticks around. And, uh, you know, I finished mine a few seconds ago, but that hug is just going to keep going for a while here. Flavors still there in the backend. Mike, it's full of flavor. It's full of notes. I think we'd sit and pick this apart right down to about a half a bottle. You said we could drink the whole bottle. I don't know that I could go that far at 113 proof. I think we'd be slowing down about half bottle.

You're probably right.

I don't know. We wouldn't be working tomorrow for sure. Yeah, that's true.

Well, Jim, where can people find us on social media?

Well, you can always find us at The Bourbon Road on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. We're also on TikTok. It's the same in all places at The Bourbon Road. We also have a website called the bourbonroad.com where you can read our articles. You can buy our swag. We have a new article coming out every week. Mike, you're kind of the author of most of those.

Most of them. Every once in a while I get lazy and make you write one. You can find our reviews on there and stuff. Adam posts those up for us. That's Adam Boothby. Make sure you check out those reviews. Check out our articles. There's a couple articles on there that tell you where to go in Louisville, in Barshtown, and Lexington, Frankfurt area. So make sure you check out those articles. Make sure you check us out on Facebook, the Bourbon Roadies. That's our private Facebook group. 1,700 strong in there and growing every day. Three easy rules to remember in there. Are you 21? Do you like bourbon whiskey? And do you agree to play nice? Because we don't tolerate any what, Jim.

No rudeness allowed. We've got a family going on in there. We've got people that get along real good. We don't need anybody coming in and trolling and picking at people based on their bourbon choices. Because you know what? We believe it's your bourbon your way. You drink what you like the way you like it. You paid for it. You do what you want with it, right?

That's right. Now, if you want to remember to listen to us, all you got to do is scroll on up, hit that subscribe button or whatever you listen to us. So if you listen to us on YouTube, this is on iPhone, Spotify, whatever you listen to us on, hit that subscribe button, help us out, help us grow our community. Hit that subscribe button then scroll on down hit that review button Give us that five-star review help us open those doors so we can go into great distilleries we can have great guests on and Provide you with great content to get you on down that bourbon road

Absolutely. Make sure you reach out to us if you've got some ideas about who we should have on the show or which bottles we ought to review. Mike and I are very open. You can reach us on our website through our contact us page. You can reach Mike and I at jim at the bourbon road or Mike at the bourbon road. You can also reach us on Instagram, right, Mike?

So you can find me at one big chief on Instagram.

I'm jshannon63 and we'll see you on 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 glasses, 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.