18. Third Pour - Bourbon Under $20 - Blind Bottle Challenge

And some people say, oh, you know, that's, that's not good. You know, it's just, it's kind of regular. That French yoke throws that curve in there.

That ain't no good. Those people think that you just bring your bourbon over to my house.

Just leave it over here with, with the bourbon road and we'll make sure that we get on down to the next mile marker.

The beautiful thing about bourbon is everybody has their own thing that they really enjoy and like. So whether it's Pappy, whether it's for roses makers, you know, Jim beam, whatever it may be, we all have something that we really enjoy. Right. And so what, what the mainstream may say, if you enjoy to drink it, I mean, drink it, share it, tell people that you like it and keep going.

Welcome to another trip down the Bourbon Road with your hosts, Jim and Randy. 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. You know, Randy, I really like recording third pour episodes. I think we ought to do more of them. Yeah, they're fine. They just they kind of go more where they want to.

It's like a meandering river. It kind of just flows wherever it can go.

Yeah, it seems like the last two have been kind of, you know, like the competition based, you know, kind of blind tasting. Well, the first one was with the guys from the YouTube and then we did this one last night with a couple of friends that we hang out with on a regular basis here.

Mike and Brian. Awesome guys.

And yeah, so this one was bring your bottle under 20 bucks.

Bring your bottle under 20 bucks. And bring it in a brown paper bag. So we really were brown bagging it.

Right. So we didn't go through the whole trouble of trying to, you know, do all these pours and secret and everything. We just brought it in brown paper bag, just like a hobo.

Well, we did have a little sophistication, Jim. And we did not say, hey, take a swig, pass it around. Yeah.

Yeah. So we had four bottles. And I don't mind telling the folks what was brought before the episode. I don't think that's going to Ruined anything and doesn't affect the score. Yeah, it doesn't affect the score or anything We didn't know what they were, but why shouldn't the listeners know? Yeah, so we had we won't say who brought what but we had Fighting cock Yeah, we sure had a good time with that name. And somebody surprised us with Old Overholt.

And I'd never had it. And so, yeah, you'll have to listen to see what happened with that. And JTS Brown Bottled and Bond. JTS Brown.

Well, that's a bargain bottle right there. That's a cheap one. And I had never had that before. Yeah. Okay, there was a ringer, Heaven Hill Bottling Bond, but let's be fair, it was purchased for $11 at the time. So it met all the qualifications. So we had those four bourbons and they all went head to head and we all sort of drank them blind and scored them and then revealed them one at a time as we go through. So you don't have to wait till the end of the show. You just have to wait to the end of one bourbon to know what it was. So we had four sets. Yeah. If we were musicians, you could say we had four sets that we did. It was a lot of fun. So we had just a group of guys hanging out and had a good time. And I think in all, it's about an hour long.

Perfect for riding that more.

A lot of fun having Brian and Mike on though. Those guys are a blast. A lot of fun. And a little nervous for their first time on air, I think.

But you know how it is.

The second half always goes well. Yeah, it does. Yeah, third and fourth bourbons. We're really rocking and rolling, aren't we? I hear you. All right. Well, I think we ought to get to it. All right. Sounds good, Jim. Here we go. Hello, everybody. I'm Jim Shannon.

Randy Minick.

And we're here again, the Bourbon Road, ready to record another podcast. But we've got something different today. Randy, what do we got?

Well, you've arranged this, Jim. So why don't you tell us? I think this is what we call a third pour.

That's right. Another third pour episode. This is our second third pour episode we've done. And we've got some friends with us today.

Well, introduce your friends there, Jim.

Well, why don't we let them introduce themselves?

There you go. Sounds good.

I'm Mike, met old Jim here at a bar down in Shelbyville, Kentucky, and we started talking about bourbon and off we went.

So would you call yourself a bourbon fan, a bourbon outsider, a bourbon insider? How would you categorize yourself?

I'm just a bourbon drinker. I think just enjoy it and enjoy life and you meet new friends talking about it. I'm not a Kentucky boy. I'm from Texas. I sure love this good brown water you guys have here. Yeah. And how long you been drinking bourbon? I'd say I, you know, in high school I drank bourbon a little bit. Jim Beam here or there, you know, you could sneak some. Um, but about I'd say 12 years now, um, my wife bought me a nice bottle for an anniversary gift one day and off I went. And then here we moved to Kentucky and I started buying a bottle here, buy a bottle there and sharing it with my friends. And, you know, I don't think any friend's gonna push away a nice bottle of bourbon.

That's right. You kind of got the bug now, right? I do. I caught it hard.

And I'm Brian. I've known Jim for 10 years. Probably 10 years, yeah. About 10 years or so. I've been chasing bourbon, drinking it 20 years. I just like to share it, drink it, pour it, trade it.

So you've been actually doing this bourbon hunting game for quite a while.

Yeah, a little bit too long.

Yeah. You've taken a break recently, right? Now you're trying to getting back into it a little bit.

Absolutely. Taking a break, just getting back into trying to just trade bottles. Yeah. Find good people that I care about, and if I have something they want. to see what we can do.

By the time you get to the end of the bottle, y'all may care about each other anyway, even though you didn't. That's right.

Yeah, we were over at his house last night. He's christened a new bar. Got a new bourbon bar in his basement.

Yeah. Yeah. So we poured some fun stuff and poured some pretty terrible things and had a good time with it.

All right. Well guys, welcome to the show. Nice to have you. Yes. Welcome. Welcome. Thanks. So what we're going to do today is we're going to have sort of a blind, I'll explain this for the listeners. We're going to have kind of a blind pour. And what we've done is we've each brought a bottle under $20. So we've gone to the store and we've each bought a bottle under $20. No rules other than that. It just needs to be bourbon, right? That's right. And so what we've done, we've got our bags and paper bags. We've got our bottles and paper bags just like a hobo. And we're each going to pour. and then we'll talk about the bourbon, what we think about it, tasting. The only person in the group is going to know what we're drinking. It'll be the guy that poured it from his paper bag, hidden bottle.

Yeah, we all look like a bunch of bums with our little brown bag bottle.

But anyway, so we'll talk about the bourbon a little bit. We'll kind of, you know, Kind of score it. I think the best way for to score this is we'll give up to five points for the nose, for the smell. We'll give five points for the taste and then we'll give five points for the finish. So let me just say this. If it's a one, it scores a one. It means it's absolute swill. Don't want to drink it. If it's a five, it's the best darn bourbon you ever tasted in life. So three is about a good average bourbon. So somewhere, Use your best judgment.

None of y'all are going to get a five. I'm still on the quest for the perfect bourbon.

So we'll go through these one at a time and then, you know, before we reveal each one and we'll reveal them after we drink each one, we'll try to guess at it. Take a few guesses, see if we can try and figure out what it is and just have fun.

I got a feeling Jim's going to win this one.

No, why do you say that?

We're looking at your collection over there in the corner.

That's how we know.

Blind is a great equalizer. You guys know that.

It is, it is.

All right. Well, let's get started. What do you say guys? This is a bourbon that Mike brought and you don't tell us anything about it, but it's already in our glass and let's take a nose on it and taste and cheers guys. It's a little alcohol-y, but not too bad. It's been in the glass for a couple of minutes here.

So that had that room to walk.

Yeah.

Well, mine's more like antifreeze. It seems to be running. Just joking.

It's got a sweet nose. It does.

If I was to just judge on the nose, I'd go, Hey, this is a little drinkable stuff. Vanilla there.

Yeah, definitely a little bit of vanilla. It's got, uh, it's got a little bit of youth to it.

Yes. I can tell that.

Yeah. But I'm not getting a lot of oak on it.

A little bit of, a little bit of fruit, but then your general caramels and vanillas are there.

All right. What do we say guys? Take a sip. That's a sweet bourbon. It's kind of a, the color on it's like a, a little bit darker than a golden Amber.

Kind of finishes with that peppery taste a little bit of like white pepper, maybe.

But I was expecting a little more bitter than I got actually. You can tell there's youth, but I wasn't, you know, not too bad, but now it finishes sweet.

There's not, there's not any dryness to that finish at all.

it around the corner quick.

I'm not getting so much of the fruit on the on the palate but it is a little bit does bring out the floral of it but man that really enhances the nose once you get a sip of it oh yeah all right everybody had enough time with the bourbon all right we're gonna finish with you Mike since you did the pour We don't want to hear your ideas on it till last. So let's start with Brian. Brian, you've got five points to give to the three different areas. What do you think about the nos on it?

I think I'm going to go probably Let's go with a two on the nose. Okay.

You guys can use decimal places like fractions if you want, like two and a half. Let's go two and a half. Now I just want to remind all three of you, I'm quite larger than all three of you.

Easy on my bourbon now. I was sitting there thinking that, Mike.

I was going, you know, he might beat our, uh, if we, if we know scoring like he thinks it needs to be scored. I'm closest to the stairs and I can run fast.

That's all right. Let's go two and a half.

Two and a half. Oh, you influenced it.

I didn't know, I didn't know we could do the decimal point, so. Yeah, two and a half. Okay.

Fair enough. And the taste? Let me go with two on the taste. Two on the taste. So you like the nose a little bit better than the taste. I like the nose better than the taste.

A little bit.

And the finish.

Let me try one more.

Yeah, go ahead.

I'm very curious to hear what Jim has to say about this.

Well, you know, he'll tell you exactly what he thinks. That's for sure.

Oh, I will. I'll go with a two. A two. On the finish. A two. OK, so Brian, you've got a two, a two, and a two and a half for six and a half points. All right, for me, the nose, it's a little hot, but it's very sweet. I'll probably give this a two and a half on the nose. I'd kind of echo Brian there a little bit. The taste, no, there's not much on the front end. Most of the sweetness comes on the middle of the tongue and the finish. The finish doesn't last very long. So I'm kind of talking about taste and finish at the same time. I would probably give this a two on taste and probably a, I don't know, maybe a two and a half on finish. And I've got, it gives me seven.

A seven. Okay.

Seven out of 15. So it's a 50 percentile.

Gotcha. Well, the nose for me was better than I expected. Okay. And I don't know if it's because it's the first one where we're, you know, and I'm having had any in two or three days or whatever, you know, so I have to get acclimated, but because it surprised me so much, I'm going to give it about a 2.85 actually, you know, because it just, it surprised me.

He's going to make me do math. Exactly.

Um, the taste though, disappointed me after the nose. So I probably would do, you know, like a 2.25.

You like that peppery finish? The finish to me was a lot better.

Yeah. You said 2.25 on the taste. Yeah. I'm going to do decimals because we're going to be splitting hairs pretty soon. I have a feeling. Yeah. You know, it just, it just going to work that way. The finish to me was probably a two and a half. It was after you know, after that nose, I was expecting something a little bit, but that did have that good peppery on the, on the, on the finish of that.

So, well, I'm not going to do the math on that till later because you got a 0.85 in there for me. So that's all right. Not a problem.

Well, you can throw it over here and I'll figure it out for you later.

There you go. All right, Mike, what do you think? This is your bourbon, my friend.

I would say it was about a two and a half on the nose. Um, has a nice, it smells like, Almost if my wife was making zucchini bread in the house, that's that's kind of the smell I get from it. Kind of gives me that happy feeling. Probably a two on the palate and then. I don't like peppery bourbon. That's just not me. That's not my thing. Probably like Randy a little bit. So I'd give it a two on the finish too. That's not my thing. I was trying to come here and win rent gym over on my bourbon.

No, this isn't something that you've had before. So I hadn't had it.

Um, I actually talked to the owner of the shop where I got it at. Um, I did a lot of research on it and, um, I thought it could compete very well. Okay. I thought it was going to be a good, good bourbon. It was a young bourbon. So, all right.

Well, let's talk about this bourbon a little bit. I've got a couple of questions for you and we can all ask you questions. All right. So obviously it's less than $20 because that was a rule. $19.95 and the shop I went to, he's a little higher than some.

If I would have brought it at Kroger or one of the big package stores, I probably would have been looking at about $17.99. Okay.

All right. Anybody with any questions?

What was the proof on this?

103. 103 proof. I'm trying to think now what's 103 proof.

Sometimes you just got to enjoy the ride and look out the window, Jim. You don't have to sit there and try to figure out how fast to go on, man.

Big distiller, small distiller. Probably one of the largest distillers out there that come out this to compete. Yes. What about age? So when this first came out, it was a six year. And the distiller, for whatever reason, they took that six year off there. And so everything that's in the bottle is four years or older.

All right. Big reveal, buddy.

I don't have a guess for it. So this is heaven heels, uh, fighting cock. Oh, this is fighting cock. Made to compete with Jim's wild Turkey 101.

Yeah. I know, I know Jason on the matching drum just did a head to head with this against old granddad 114. And it actually fared pretty well against old granddad. Yeah. And old granddad's higher approved too. So.

All the reviews on it were great. Um, it's still a $20 bourbon all day long, but it was made to compete against wild Turkey. And, um, I think it does. All right. I could drink this.

Yeah. So all the scores kind of averaged, uh, you know, between the six and seven and a half range. So that's kind of an average bourbon. Our top score is 15. So we're right in the middle there somewhere. So this is a good average bourbon. I think I don't think it excelled in anything, but, uh, Hey, I was glad to try it.

Quite, quite surprising for the, it, the bottle doesn't, to me, it looks like a, it's almost like a wine bottle or something. And they got a funny logo on there.

And it's got kind of a clear plastic label on it.

It does not what you think on a bourbon shelf, but it does stick out. It definitely sticks out there. It's got that big fighting cock on it. So.

Yeah. All right. So now that we finished scoring mics, we're going to move on to Brian's. And Brian has poured his, and we're ready to start on it. Don't tell us anything. That's a generous pour. It is a generous pour. This one actually looks about the same color as what we just drank, I think. I think we're going to find that today, probably. Might be a little lighter. Yeah, maybe just a hair. Maybe just a hair. All right. Cheers, guys. All right. This one doesn't have much of a nose at all.

Hmm. Interesting.

What little bit I am getting is kind of a little fruity corn, but it's kind of, it's very light nose on it. Not getting a lot of alcohol.

Randy, what do you think? The legs look good on this one. She's got, she's got good legs. I hadn't got that far yet. Not as much alcohol for sure. If you try, if you know, you know, when I opened my mouth, I'm starting to get them.

Yeah, I'm getting, uh, you know, I'm getting a little bit of a kind of a musty nose on it. Just a little bit. It's kind of like a warehouse must.

Maybe he cheated. You never know.

You never know. He brought a, he brought a ringer. Huh? So this was $20 in 1974. That's the problem. That's right. Nobody's tasting it yet.

So is that cheating if it was $20 in 1974? I don't know.

That's when he bought it.

Well, that's what I'm saying. It was below $20 at the time.

I'm ready to taste it though. Another, um, spicy peppery kind of bourbon there, but I'm getting, uh, I'm getting a little bit of raisin plum on it though.

Little fruit on that back end there.

Yep. This is sweet, but it's not as sweet as that fighting cock.

The finish kind of just disappears, doesn't it? A little bit.

Yeah, but this has got a little bit better viscosity to it. It's kind of sticking to my sides of my mouth. A little oilier.

Yeah, a little oilier. I definitely get that plum taste out of this right here.

And this kind of reminds me a little bit of a Barton product. Yeah, I mean, I could see from the paper bag and shrouded bottle that it doesn't have the right shape, so. Plus, I think they're too expensive. Actually, I kind of like this one. You're right, Randy. Not a big huge finish on it.

It's not, it's almost like it went straight from the front of your mouth to the back end and just disappeared. I agree. Where did my round the corner come from? Where is it? Not much nose, not a finish. Now, had you tried this one before?

I've never had it. Okay. Just went in. I was like, you know what? This is going to be fun. Let's try something a little different. There's nothing wrong with that.

Yeah. Well, you never know. There's a lot of bottom shelf heroes. You just don't know about them. That's right.

And soon you won't be able to get them.

Yeah. All right, well guys, let's go ahead and Brian, we won't start with you. So in this case, I guess I'll begin. For me, the nose on it was almost not present. It was kind of very light. The little bit of nose I did get, it was okay. I mean, it was fine. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't anything that drew me to take the first drink. You don't want your nose to sort of draw you into that first drink, right? That first sip. So I'm gonna give it probably a, I'm gonna give it a two. Now the taste for me, A little bit better than the nose, but not by much. Um, I think what little finish it had was probably the best part of it for me. Uh, so I'm going to go with two on the taste. I'm going to 2.5 on the finish. Okay. So I'm at a 6.5. I hear you.

And mine's going to be pretty similar. Um, probably about a two on the nose. Like you said, what, what I did smell on there was actually, you know, I was going, okay, this may be pretty solid. Nothing to get excited about, but you know, the taste, man, I'm just going to have to. I don't want to give anybody less than a two, especially if it's drinkable. So I'm going to have to go with about a two on the, on the taste. I just didn't round the corner for me, Bryce. Sorry about that buddy. And then like the, the finish just was gone. You know, I just do a two on the finish and be done with.

So we have to be kind of fair to these, these bottom shelf bourbons. We know they're going to be younger bourbons. So the finished tips to develop more in bourbons that have a little more age on them. Maybe not so much in a four year or so bourbon, but they start to really develop at six years and higher. So you gave it a six overall. All right, Mike, what do you got?

I'd say a two on the nose. I'm along the same line as you guys. It just wasn't there. Same thing on the taste. I think it's at that two. It's not surprising or nothing. It's not going to overwhelm you. Um, and the same thing on the finish, uh, that backend is just, it's not there. It's, it's quick. Yeah. It's kind of like drops off the cliff.

It does. Yeah.

Nothing, nothing against Brian. No worries. No worries.

It's a, it's still a very drinkable bourbon.

All right, Brian, what do you got? You're bourbon.

Yeah. So I'm going to be a little more, uh, tough on this one.

Okay. Let's remember what a one is now.

One is absolutely swell.

If this is pappies, we're all in trouble.

That's right. Um, so yeah, I mean, uh, with the nose. I mean, there's not, there's not anything really there. So it's kind of hard to give it a one just because it's not existent, but, uh, probably one and a half. Okay. One and a half on the nose. And then, uh, it's tough on himself until, you know, the taste I'm going to be generous. I'll go with the two.

Okay.

And, uh, the finish and it's tough. Mike follow Randy here, go like a 1.85.

OK, we'll do the math on that later. That's right. All right, guys. All right, so we have got our scores in. But let's go and ask him some questions. Major distiller, yes or no?

To be determined. I have not researched the bottle that much.

Okay. So is this one of the big three or four well-known manufacturers?

Honestly, I have no idea. We're going to have to look at the bottle.

Oh, okay. Okay. So it's one of those. It's one of those. All right. You got a proof for us? 100. 100.

Uh-oh. I wouldn't have guessed that at all. I would have thought in the 90s somewhere.

Yeah. 83, 86, you know, like the old Forrester kind of thing.

You know, honestly, I did no research. I went in, I was like, what's under 20? Grab and go started looking around. I was like, Hey, I haven't seen that really too much. So do you have an age on it? Uh, it's going to be four plus.

I don't know, Randy. What do you think?

And they don't pay me enough to think, um, is it followed a bond?

Yes, it is. Oh my goodness.

Shabam old granddad. No, sir. You want to take a peek? Yeah. Let's reveal it. What are we drinking here? I taped the paper bag off because I had no idea. I'm kidding.

Old overholt. I have never had this. I almost got that right there, but it is harder to find than you think it is. Yeah. The funny thing is, is I did not guess it as a rye. I knew it was spicy, but I didn't guess it as a rye. It was not as spicy as I expected. Now see, I'm kind of a fan of old overholt and here I am tasting it blind and scoring it kind of low. So, Hey, what, what about blinds guys? I mean, this really tells the true story, doesn't it? That's right. Old Overholt's an old brand, been around a lot of years. Wow, Brian, good job. I love the twist. This is great. All right, so now that we've finished up that one, we're going to move into the next porch, Randy's. But before we do, I want to know what you guys been drinking on. What's in your bar lately? Mike, what have you been drinking on?

You know, I love that Wilderness Trail. Their Sweet Mash, that stuff is great. And I really love how that distillery treats veterans down there. To me, that means everything. I don't know if it makes their bourbon taste better, but to me, it seems it does. But actually, me and my wife went down to Lux Row the other day. Rebel yell tenure to me, that might be some of the best bourbon on earth right there. I love it. Um, and, and the way they, they cater to veterans down there, free tour, free tastings. Um, active duty military, retired military, they don't care. They're going to, they're going to treat you right there. And to me, that means a lot. We should be paying back to our veterans and, and giving as much as we can to those guys for what they did. And, you know, just like you, Jim and Brian, thank you guys for your service. Appreciate that. Thank you guys for your service.

Brian, what have you been drinking on? Well, you saw the bar last night.

I did see the bar.

I, uh, playing around with a little bit of everything. Uh, The, uh, limestone gave that a shot. Oh, did you, did you open that? Was that the rye you opened up? Open up the rye and then the wheat. So gave both of those a shot. Uh, Broke in the four roses. The small batch select. The small batch select. Oh yeah. One of my faves. So played around with some of those. It was kind of a long night last night.

Yeah. Well, Melanie and I had to check out early. Sorry about that, but we had family coming in, but quite a shindig and definitely appreciate being invited over. We had a good time. Yeah. We really did. And he's got a heck of a bar, guys. We're going to have to gather around the bar someday. Absolutely. Randy, what have you been drinking lately?

Um, actually, uh, the last I took was a trip down memory lane and had some plans, believe it or not. We've got a, you know, the nonprofit that, that I'm the director of, we've got a fundraiser coming up this next weekend. And so one of the, uh, one of the items up for auction is the, the old. plant, the stave from Buffalo Trace that has all the plants. Okay. You can't get them anymore because they're doing them around now and people make their own, but this was one of the original that has the Buffalo Trace on it. And I was like, You know, let me go take me a little trip down memory lane and do a little blank.

You can probably hook him up. Couldn't you?

I think I can take care of you. Okay.

What about a, uh, straight from the barrel?

Hey, let's do it.

Would that be good? Oh, that would be great. Yeah, man.

That's some good stuff. Okay. We can do it for me. Uh, Mike picked me up a bottle of old wager seven and, uh, I put it to rest the other night. It's gone. That poor thing, that poor thing. I forgot to actually text you. I saw another case of that. So,

Old Ezra. I don't know that I've ever had any old Ezra.

Yeah, they got a seven-year-old and it's pretty darn tasty. It's not in my particular profile, but it's a good bourbon. I mean, it's a good bourbon. I think, you know, it's one that I would probably recommend. And the reason I would recommend it is because I think it would be a big fan for a lot of people. It just for me, you know, everybody's got their own taste buds and what they like and and what they lean towards. That's not one of mine, but I didn't let a drop of it go to waste, Mike, and I appreciate it.

Oh, no problem.

All right, Randy, we're ready. All right. Do it. What did you bring? I don't know.

Why don't you tell me?

All right. Well, I am looking at probably the darkest of the three so far, maybe, but not by much.

I would say a little bit.

I agree. I'm looking at Mike's glass. This is darker than mine. Why is that? I think it's just the lighting in here. It is a nice dark bourbon. Yeah, but it's, it's marginal. It's a very small amount of difference.

I think it's definitely closer to the first. Second was lighter.

Oh, now that's got a little bit, uh, I like that nose. I was thinking, uh, graham crackers. Yeah.

Now I could get graham crackers. I was thinking brown sugar, you know, in the same molasses kind of thing. Brown sugar.

I'm thinking like, like nutmeg and all spice and everything nice. Nutmeg, all spice, everything nice kind of baking kind of spices. Oh yeah. Sorghum. Sorghum.

Sorghum. There you go. A little bit of deep south there for you. Ready?

I'm not getting the sweetness of it, but. I am getting the spice of it. Well, the sweetness is there for me, but. And you know what? There's a little bit of alcohol there, but it's not too much. It's not off-putting, I think.

Definitely a lot more nose. Yeah. Than the last one. A lot more.

And the legs, the legs do form and they're a little thin, but not too bad. That's tasty, guys.

A little thin, yeah, maybe.

Oh, that's tasty.

I think, Randy, did you cheat a little bit here? I may have.

Oh man. I may have. You gotta do what you gotta do.

Now you might be able to fool us with who made it and what the proof is and all that, but you can't fool us good or bad bourbon. That's good bourbon.

Can you trust these Georgia boys? No. Huh? I've been living in Kentucky too long. Of course you can't.

Of course you can. Come on guys. You know Jimmy Carter. Can you trust these Georgia boys? Yeah, you can trust Jimmy Carter. Regardless of what you think about his politics, he was an honorable man.

I'll tell you what, I know the man personally. I've had conversations with him, him and Ms. Roseland. Although him and I may not agree always, I'm telling you, you won't find a better humanitarian out there. Yeah, he's a good guy. When talking to them up at the Carter Center, they're planning on, the Carter Center is planning on putting an end to what they call river blindness in Africa in the next 10 years. So you got to give him thumbs up and kudos for that. They're, they're really trying to make the world a better place.

I think, Oh, Jimmy Carter, he's built a lot of houses for a lot of people. He sure has. I've been out there and seen what he's done before. And, uh, he'll get right on site and build a house just with everybody else. Brian, what do you think about that one? That's pretty tasty.

Yeah, it is. I'm enjoying that. Randy, Randy, Randy coming to win. I did not know it was a competition like this.

No, Randy just came to not lose. That's what Randy did. Jim was talking about making me eat some, drink some, some, some bad, some bad stuff.

I mean, that is a bulldog. That is a bulldog football player. Tom Hart right here. We're going in for the kill.

Here's the deal, guys. Here's the deal now. We're not going to do first, second, third, fourth place, all that kind of stuff. But we are going to say that whoever gets the highest number of points here can go pick anything off the bar over there.

For the other three to drink.

No, no, to drink themselves. I mean, there's some VTACs over there. There's some good stuff.

Now I was over here the other night. And this is what Jim said, right? Jim said anything over on that shelf, the losers got to drink now and Mel, his wife was like, Hey, you're going to clear that off and put some other, he didn't clear it off. So I see what's over there to drink and I'm fine with losing the night.

I was going to say, put me on a desert Island with any of that over there. I'm good. Yeah. Okay.

So Jim made mistakes.

Yeah.

I'm even okay with that plantation. I have no problem with that.

Yeah. Well, the, the each Taylor barrel proof and the Elijah Craig barrel proof, I think don't get to be in the losers pile. Jim started to get nervous when I started telling that story. I know, you know, I was so busy trying to get ready for all this. I was like, Oh man, I forgot to do that. Of course there's a, there's an infinity bottle over there too, that you can pick from, which is basically where I pour all the dregs from all my bottles into. So anyway.

All right, fellas, I don't know that I've ever had any bad infinity. No, I don't know that I ever have. Yeah. It's like the good stuff in there just raises what's at the bottom up and it's always good.

So, you know, when you have like a really rough bourbon, that's not your favorite one that you kind of use for mixers and so forth. When it gets kind of low, you don't put it in your affinity bottle. So it's usually just the good stuff that makes it in there. Right.

Well, it depends on who you ask.

Yeah, I guess so. All right. I'm ready to hear some votes. What do you think guys?

Mike, we're going to start with you, man.

All right. All right. I'd say on the nose, I'd give it a 2.5 for me. It's there, but it's just not overpowering. Overpowering anything.

I get that.

I'd say on the taste, I'd give it a 2.75.

Uh-oh, we got, we got the decimals happening.

And I'd say maybe a three on the finish. Is that our first three right there?

That's our first three. First three. Now remember on a scale of one to five, 2.5 is middle of the road.

Right.

So three is above average. So that's a C plus or B minus. Yeah.

If you want to look at it, if you're not cheating, you're not trying. Is that what Georgia says?

That's more of an Alabama saying. I mean, I think we could all say, hey, Roll Tide could roll somewhere else. Amen to that. Amen to that. We're in Kentucky. I am Georgia. The wife is Florida. It's OK. Let's see if we can get Clemson and Alabama out of there this year, maybe. That's right.

Who do you root for, Georgia or Alabama?

Really.

Brian, where are you at? I think we're taking just a step above. So I'm going to go two and a half on the nose. We're going to go two and a half on the taste.

Randy says, take your time.

Yeah. Just keep Georgia out of your mouth and out of your mind and just go ahead and do it on tape. No bias opinions here. Okay. Right.

I mean, I am kind of a big BBN fan.

So what can you say? Be nice. We can beat you one time.

I'm going to go 2.75 on the finish.

All right. We're definitely on the upward swing here, guys.

I think that's cause we're, that scores are going up as we go.

It's definitely better.

It's never, it's, it's never good to be first because there is an acclimation period. So Mike, sorry that you're fighting cockhead to go first tonight, but, but Georgia will take those field goals any day, but you're not in the last place. You went first, but you're not in last place. Yeah. All right. All right. For me. The nose on this, I like it. I really do. I'm at a three. The palette, I like it. I think I'll stick with a three on that too. We're at threes here. The finish for me is the hero on this bourbon. I think it's got an excellent finish. And I think if I look at the numbers here, everybody kind of agrees with that. So I'm going to go 3.25 on the finish.

Oh wow. Yeah.

So I'm up to 9.25 overall.

Oh my goodness gracious.

Yeah. I'm going to be scored at a little high, but you know, I think it's, I think it's a darn good bourbon Randy.

Well, it's, it's been nice knowing y'all.

I don't think anybody's losing here.

No, we're not. And this is one that I personally would give threes all the way across the board. It just, it's just solid.

So is that what your score is? Yeah. You're three all the way across.

I would probably do three across the board on this one here. Okay. Um, if I got stuck somewhere and this is all I had to drink, I'd be fine.

Yeah. You guys asking him any questions? What's the, what's the proof on it? 100.

Age?

Six years. I'm guessing that's a bottled and bond.

Yep. And I didn't buy it. It was gifted to me. I just didn't have a chance to go buy and get anything. You all don't understand what I had to go through this last weekend. And so anyway, I'm thinking the heaven and hell bottled and bond. That's exactly what it is.

Wow. Good job, Mike.

It was less than 20 bucks back in the day when you could get it. That's right.

Great bourbon. I've only got like a half a bottle of my house and then we keep it inside the cabinet, kind of hidden away.

Cause you don't want anybody going in there and messing with that.

Nobody needs that. Cause I got a couple of buddies that Jim, Jim seemed they, they don't care what kind of bourbon it is. If you put it out for those guys, they will, they will drink that bottle.

You want to share your bourbon with your friends, but you want, you want to share with people who could appreciate what you're pouring and enjoy it.

Yeah.

That's why we put it out. Yeah. You know, that bottle is kind of hidden away from, from everybody.

And what's interesting is when we were interviewing Brian, Brian Hara, Brian Hara, Brian Hara, bourbon justice. He uses the six year heaven and hill as his measure for all bourbons.

Yeah. And, you know, he's saying, you know, if I can buy this for, and it used to be $11, then it moved up to 13 and then it went up a little bit higher. Right.

And now it's on secondary for $50 a bottle. There's nothing wrong with saying no.

That's right.

when somebody wants to tell you something, say, well, you know, that's kind of special. Yeah. We're going to hold off on that. Maybe a special mic.

That's one of my wife's favorites. Thank you. Excuse me. That's right. Nothing wrong with that at all. Nothing wrong with that. Later I hear about it. Why are you trying to get me in trouble? But you know.

All right. Well, that was great. 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 woodcrafters 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 rotten 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. Okay, so we are now on our fourth pour of the night. This is my bottle. But before we do, I want to ask you guys a few questions.

Okay, go ahead.

Is this our fourth pour? You know, where have you been in Louisville and surrounding areas? It's kind of interesting to you. Restaurants, bars, what have you seen lately? Tours, distillery tours that you might want to shout out as a recommendation to people if they're coming to town.

I don't get out much.

Um, I, I, no, go ahead. I'd say the, uh, not in Louisville, but, um, over in Frankfurt, the stave. Yeah. We, we checked that place out and the state, what, what is it?

What does this say?

The smaller restaurant, um, right between Woodford, Woodford reserve and castle and key.

Oh, okay. Yeah.

And if you haven't been in there and eaten, it is, it's got that Southern charm, Southern flair. It's right on the Creek right there. The food is just excellent.

Now, we stopped in there, Randy, but I don't think we ate any food, did we? No, we just had bourbon that day, actually. Great bourbon selection. Yeah.

And, you know, my wife had never been to Castle & Key. And I said, you got to at least see the grounds. So we were on our way back from doing something in Lexington and we went back, you know, and I said, look, it's not that far out of the way. So we went to Castle & Key. That whole Glens Creek area, if you go Castle & Key and Woodford and we got to get to Glens Creek to the distillery there at some point and go see old Crow there. And that hole is beautiful. You're talking about a beautiful drive. That's picturesque Kentucky down there.

Yeah, there you go. So we've got a couple of good recommendations. Brian, you got one for us? I do.

Yeah. So the Village Anchor, probably my favorite place to go to by far. Eric, phenomenal bartender. Grant, GM, guys are awesome. They have an excellent, excellent bourbon selection. Guys will take care of you. They can lead you through it all. Not sure what you want, but I mean, they have everything.

Now that's in the east end of Louisville, in a little town called Anchorage. That's correct.

Not Alaska, folks.

So almost to Crestwood. Okay. So right off at 265.

Uh, food is amazing, but, uh, the bourbon selection is the fish and chips are the best fish and chips.

They, I mean, phenomenal. They have a branch that's pretty amazing, but they, they take care of you. They know they're bourbon. They do a really, really good job.

I've never been steered wrong at the bar. That's right. That's right.

Yeah. I'm going to call it the silver dollar. I kind of like it. Oh, well, you get stuff at the silver dollar. You can't get it. I like the bourbons. But I also like the chicken and waffles. Oh, boy. Chicken and waffles is pretty darn good there. That sounds really good right now. Man.

Stop with the food, y'all.

Stop. Stop. They've got a tremendous bourbon selection there. I mean, very extensive bourbon selection. And you can get just about anything you want. They also have some Dusty's there, so you can get some older bourbons too. Really? Okay. Yeah. It's a good place to stop. And they also do picks with the distilleries. Now, they don't sell their picks or their bottles out of the silver dollar. You actually have to go over to their other store in Germantown to get that. I'm trying to remember. What's the name of that store over there? Do you remember? I do not remember, but I know that, I mean, it's, it's fantastic. Yeah. I put myself on the spot here, but I'll make sure that I put it in the show notes. So anybody that is interested in knowing that they can look that up.

I think there's just Louisville is, you know, we, me and my wife have been all over America in the service and had some great cities that are great for foodies and stuff, but Louisville, they got some great food and every place you go into has some great bourbon.

I can't remember the episode, but we had Noah Glanville on from the Pit Barrel Cooker Company. He said during his interview on the show, he said that he actually was at a point in his life where the company was starting to do well and he could choose wherever he wanted to live in the United States. He was flying around looking at cities. Where do I want to move? Where do I want to move? A couple of people told him, check out Louisville. He came here and he said, this is it. He moved to Louisville.

Well, I mean, if you want to do a shout out, we were recently, my wife and I finally went over to Volari.

Yeah.

And I'm telling you, when you can get fresh seafood.

What's the chef's name over there?

Josh Moore. Josh Moore. Yeah. Okay. And when you can get fresh seafood. That was caught less than 24 hours and it's right there. You know, the UPS hub here around more Maine lobster come through Louisville, Kentucky than any other UPS hub in the country. And when you can get fresh seafood, you know, I'm not saying we're landlocked, you know, but cause we do have the Ohio river, but we're not by the ocean and you can get some great seafood here and the whole farm to table when you have. rural counties like here, like Spencer and Shelby County. Right. Folks, it sets it up for some, why would you ever go eat at a chain restaurant?

And Josh, he does the farmer table and it's not just some marketing ploy with him. He actually grows most of that produce out on his farm and brings it into the restaurant. And that's what they cook with is actual the food from his farm out here in Shelby County. So, you know, that, that you can't get no more real Kentucky than that.

That's right. So you've got, you've got those guys, you've got red hog on Frankfurt Avenue. Those guys do an unbelievable job. And then river house. That's really good. I mean, they, their seafood is John Veronese. So he's got Veronese and then, uh, river house. He's got a little nightclub there too.

We went to Randy. What was that? Here we go. I'm putting myself on the spot again.

He gives me four pours and expects me to remember. Really?

Yeah. Yeah. So they've got a nice restaurant and then after you're done eating, you'd go over to their nightclub and listen to a band. Good music. Yeah. River house.

They do a river house.

They do a really good job. It took me a minute there.

But even the Old Stone Inn right down the road here, you know? Shifty is, you know, he's pretty particular about what comes in there and he has done some research. That's right. As far as local farmers and stuff.

All right. Well, we've given our listeners a whole list of things to do when they come to Lowell. Urban culture.

Everybody always asks. There you go. That's it.

All right. Good deal. Let's focus back on the bourbon guys. What do you think? Whose turn is it now? This is my pick, but you know, be fair, be fair. Now this is, uh, this is, you know, I would say the same thing we just had.

Hold it.

No, this, this looks, this looks a lot. Yeah. This does look a lot like the same color. What Randy brought.

No, I actually, I would say, oh yeah, about the same. Okay. You know, ever since you said graham crackers, that's all I'm going to smell now.

That's amazing how it works.

A power of suggestion.

I actually stayed up late last night and I, you know, some graham crackers and some, some milk is always as good. And I looked in our, in our pantry. Yeah. No graham crackers. How disappointing was that?

Well guys, I tell you what, I am definitely getting some of the same notes that Randy had. Some of the kind of the baking spice, graham cracker, gingerbread.

But a little more alcohol on the back end for me on the nose. Yeah, I get that.

A little more alcohol than Heaven Hill had. You know, it's got a little bit, it's a little bolder for me. Kind of a little bit, it kind of punches you a little bit more in the nose than the Heaven Hill bottled in bottom.

So Jim, I definitely think that when we look at the nose, the difference between mouth open, mouth closed, what do you think? Oh, I didn't try it that way.

Or you could use, we just got through interviewing Mark Klein and his method is as soon as you take a taste. breathe out through your nose. And he said, all of a sudden you get some, some things that you don't normally get coming this way. It's almost like you reverse it. That's right. When you take your first, first little sip, breathe out through your nose instead of your mouth and see what happens.

I remember the tasting we did with Elizabeth McCall. Yeah. So kind of changed the way I did things a little bit. And I noticed a big difference in the nose.

She would know, wouldn't she? That's right. She would nose these things, wouldn't she?

That's right. All right, well, I'm going to taste it. All right, somebody speak first.

Well, it's got a little pepper at the back. But not as much as I expected from the nose.

Well, from Jim, you'd think something that... It's got a little bit of pepper to it.

He needs to be a pitcher in the big leagues. He's always throwing curve balls, isn't he? In there, we're going to throw you a fastball. It's all going to be a curve ball. He's going to try to trick you.

Brian threw the big curve ball today with that overholt ride. That's probably true. This one for me, and again, I know what it is, but for me, this one's a little bolder on the palate. It was a little bolder on the nose. I think it's a little bolder on the palate. It's not as well rounded as the last one, but it's definitely more present. Does that make sense?

No, it makes, it makes sense. And the finish stays with you probably just a tad bit longer on this one, I would say.

There's a lot more on the back sides of your pallet on the back and the sides. The finishes, it's a good finish.

And it rounds the corner very well.

Is anybody else getting any bitterness on the back end?

Just a tad.

Maybe just a tad. Just a little bit.

What's weird is a lot of these that I taste that have that bitter finish when I add just a little splash of water sometimes helps that. And then ones that I don't have that problem when I'm drinking neat. And I, and I do a little water on that. It all of a sudden it turns bitter. It's like, you can't water just a little drop or two of water. We'll change some of that stuff for me. Just them tears. Yeah. Just a little bit. That's not check nor is tears.

Like you guys were having. I want to put a little water in it because I want to test Randy's theory.

What about the legs on that? What do you think?

They're just, they're, they're pretty, they're a little thin, but they're definitely sticking to the glass.

They're not running quick though.

Yeah, Randy, adding a little water did tame that bitterness a little bit. It always does just attack. And it sort of brings out some sweetness on the front end.

I just thought those glasses, they're just so tiny in my hand. I can just hide it.

We need a Mike Karen. That's your McLean Karen, right?

All right, Randy. Well, the scoring is going to start with you this time. Oh boy.

I'm kind of like you, the nose was really bold. I'd have to give it a three on the nose myself. Maybe about a two and a half on the, on the taste, you know, because it did hang in there across the mid palette a little bit rounded the corner fairly well. And the finish was to me is as good or better than the heaven hill. So I would probably give that a three as well.

Well, would you give the heaven hill on the finish? Let's see. Randy gave a three to the heaven hill.

I would give that a three as well. This one here, it's really bold.

Randy's all about completing things. Now I can enjoy.

You know, on the, uh, on nose, I would, I would give it a three. It's a, and it is, it's there. It was a great bourbon, um, on taste. And it's not my jam, but I still give it a 2.25. Split in there. I told you. On the finish, maybe a 2.5. I'd have to say to defend my stuff, I'm a weeded bourbon guy and that's just who I am. And probably nothing will ever change my mind on that. I am who I am. I kind of liked that. Well, you know, you're a bourbon in your way. That's right. If I'm paying for it, I'm the one that's got to like it.

Everybody's got their profile. No doubt about it. We were drinking your fighting cock. I was like, yeah, this is pretty good stuff. And I think a lot of people would really like it, but for me, it wasn't my profile. Oh yeah.

Which is funny because. It was there to compete with Wild Turkey is not your profile.

Yeah. I mean, there you go. Well, it's not Wild Turkey, my friend. That's right.

I heard about something I want to throw out to you guys. This guy was, he took his bottle with him backpacking in the mountains and I guess it was this last spring. So there was still a little bit of snow and the rivers were very, very cold. He likes his stuff on ice, didn't have ice, so he stuck the bottle down in the creek or the river. It works too. He called it fire and ice because he didn't get any water from his ice cubes like he normally would, but yet it was cold. And he's, but he's still got the heat from, you know, on the front end, especially when he, when he did. And he said, you know, boy, if I have my brothers, he goes, that's the way I want to drink my bourbon is fire and ice. And I thought that was kind of an interesting story. Yeah.

Oh yeah.

I gotta try that. I gotta go to the mountains and put my bourbon in the river. Go ahead. Sorry about that, Brian. One of those sperm in the moment things.

I feel like Jim kind of picked this one for me. Oh boy. Yeah? It's right up my alley. You like this? Oh yeah. This is good stuff. I'm gonna have to go three. Wow.

Ooh, from Brian, a three.

Ooh, ladies and gentlemen. I have to go three. Oh my goodness.

The Japanese judges gave him a three.

That's right. And, uh, what do we get on three, man?

There we go folks all the way across.

There we go. There we go. That one coveted nine.

All right. Now it's on me and this is my bourbon, um, and five, five, five. Okay. I've had this one before.

Was it truly $20 though?

uh, significantly less, but let me, let me score it first.

799.

No, wait a minute. Let me score it first and you guys can ask me questions. All right. So on my score, I'm going to give it, I think a fair nose on this is three. I tend to agree with you guys. In fact, all three of you gave it a three. I'm going to go on board with that on the pallet. This is, this is kind of my jam. I like this stuff. I mean, I, I can drink this on a regular basis. This is five. No, no, I'm going to be honest about it because look, I can taste a little bit of youth in it. All right. Yeah. So, so, you know, it's not a well-aged bourbon. It's a reasonably aged bourbon. Does that make sense? So I'm going to give it a three on the taste, on the palate. On the finish, I do think that this is a competitor to your Heavenhill Bottom to Bond, but I don't think it takes it out. In other words, I think it's probably very approachable to it. I would say a 2.9, you know, close that I'm just, I'm just going to give it a three across the board because I think it's really close to it.

Hey, at least I didn't lose. Yay.

So we'll, we'll tally all these up in a minute because there's a little bit of decimal math here and I'm, I've had four pours. So, but, uh, does anybody have any questions for me? Proof. 100. Really?

From a major distillery.

Yes.

I told you it was the same thing we just had. No, that's right.

Years. I don't know exactly, but I can tell you it's at least four. You guys ask all the questions. Jim Beam Double Oat. Definitely not Jim Beam Double Oat. No. This is JTS Brown Bottled in Bond.

Don't think I'd ever had any of this.

Nice. And what do you think the price is on a bottle of JTS Brown Bottled in Bond?

$12.99. Mike, what do you think?

Man, that's hard. 11 bucks. Randy? I'm going to go a little higher than that. I want to say in the $15 to $17 range somewhere in there.

Well, I can tell you this, if this was a $10 or under challenge, this bourbon could have been in it. What? Yeah, $9.50. See?

Curveball.

I told you.

My store is a little expensive.

Yeah. Well, you know, the JTS bottle and bond can vary anywhere between say about $9 and probably 14. Is that right? I don't know. I think so. Yeah. It's a Heaven Hill product. So it's made by this.

I got some of those same notes that I did from the six year. So, so three heaven and hell products tonight, which is interesting.

Yeah. Yeah. All right. So let me tally these up and we'll see who is the big winner tonight. What do you think? All right guys, so we have totaled up the scores and it appears that Randy and I have tied at 34.25 points. So Randy and I are sitting in the lead at 34.25 each. The next person is Mike with fighting cock at 27.6 and then Brian. Oh, Brian, you're sitting at 23.85 with the old overhaul, which is a very good ride. I mean, I really enjoy it, but tonight it fared not so well.

Ron, I thought the guests were supposed to win on this thing. That's right. I came here. I was like, me and Brian are, we're winners and Jim and Randy are going to let us win. That's not what I heard. I heard that the ringers were coming to do third, fourth.

That's what I heard. And I said, man, I got to be bringing some a game on this thing.

I think here's the story.

Had this not been blind, you guys would have probably won because we'd have been looking at the labels and looking at who we were going up against and saying, they need to win. Exactly.

You know, everybody knows the Bulldogs fade out in the fourth quarter. So, you know, we pulled this off.

Oh, you're going to start cramping time. That's it. But I don't care who it is. where you are, the very best bourbon connoisseur on the planet. When you sit down with a blind pour, it's all equalized and you never know who's going to come out on top because it is your pilot on that day. On that particular day. That's a good point. On that day. How you, how you feeling that day too, sometimes. Exactly.

Well, the sinus is messing up and you can't get the nose right.

Well, anyway, Randy and I tied, but while we were away, we did a taste-off between Randy and I. And when we did that blind taste-off between our two bottles, myself, Mike and Brian chose Randy's bottle. And surprisingly enough, Randy chose the others. Randy didn't choose his own. So anyway, so Randy's bottle won the overall challenge. And that means that Heaven Hill bottled and bond six year. which is discontinued, which you can't get anymore is the champion of the day. Now, some can argue that you cheated, but I don't think you did.

Well, at the time, at the time that that was gifted to me, it was bought for below $20.

Randy, I don't, I don't feel cheated at all. I drank it. I loved it. There were no losers here today.

I'm just saying.

I would have to say that all four bourbons brought today were, well, one of them was a rye. Brian, you threw a curve ball.

That's right. I do what I can.

All four bottles brought today were delicious. They were good. They were really good. So guys listen to me. There's some real heroes on the bottom shelf. Go out there and try them. They're darn good. But anyway, so as a result of Randy winning, he got to choose from anything he wanted on the top bar. What did you choose, Randy?

Well, I went and got something I know that I personally probably couldn't afford on a day-to-day basis. And, you know, I take advantage of these moments when I can, but I got me some old Carter Rye. Which batch? That number three, you know, that one I liked that had that lilac and that flower boutique. 116.2.

All right. And then the rest of us.

So what did you losers have?

Well, I chose the rabbit hole. Now this is this we were choosing from the bottom shelf that these aren't necessarily losing. Drams, but there are the bottom shelf here. I chose the rabbit hole, Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey. This is a 95 proof bourbon from rabbit hole here. It's the 2017 double gold winner.

Double gold winner. And that's bottom shelf here. Yeah.

That tells you everything you need to know. Well, remember this is my bar. And I get to choose what shelf to put the bottles on. Well, you can choose whatever you want to. That's a high bottom shelf right there.

I can't quite reach the top of that one, can you?

So I chose that. And so guys, what did you choose?

I think both me and Brian, we chose your infinity bourbon. Man, that's got a dark color to it.

Okay. That's right. So I keep an infinity bottle. I think most of us probably do. But when a bottle gets down to about an inch or less, probably less than an inch, half inch or so left in the bottom of it, rather than let it sit there and oxidize in that bottle. I just pour it through a funnel into a bigger bottle and we just, uh, we drank it.

So you know what that means, ladies and gentlemen, that dark infinity bottle there. You know how sometimes on companies, when they say we've got this many years of experience, that's that thing's got a hundred years of experience there in that infinite.

I will tell you this much. I can, I can assure you there are, there are everything from B tax to rise to, hard to find bottles to easy to find bottles in there because I don't keep track of my infinity bottle. When I pour something in it, I don't write it down.

But Jim, I don't know that I've ever had a bad infinity. I just don't know that I ever have.

Well, I guess if you're a Scotch drinker, somebody might throw us a little bit of peated Scotch in there and it might throw things off a little bit. I don't drink Scotch on a regular basis. I've got a few on my bar, but, um, if there is, it would be an unpeated Scotch. So you won't, you won't taste any Pete.

It was Paul. It wasn't Peter. It was no Pete.

All right. I want to ask everybody what they think. What do you think about bottom shelf bourbons, Randy?

Bottom shelf, I go to those for daily drinkers all the time. One of my daily drinkers, as most of y'all know, is the ancient age 80. It's now just above 20, but cheap enough and just a good solid daily drinker and then save the good stuff for the weekends when you're on a budget.

Yeah, for me, I like T.W. Samuel's. I don't know if you guys have had it or not, but it is another Heaven Hill Bottled and Bond product. Usually you can pick that up at Total Wine for $18 to $20. Half gallon. Half gallon.

That's a steal. That's a steal.

And, uh, you know, among others. So today I brought the, uh, JTS Brown. That's one of my favorites, you know, uh, Mike, you and I have gone out to the bar and we've had the, uh, uh, what is that with the blue label on it?

The early times bottled in bond, big favorite of mine. I think any, any bottom shelf, whether you're drinking it or as I like to do, I like to cook with a little bit, you know, it's going to get you some way, whether it is to make me, uh, cheerful. Happy. Yeah. Make me do that little jig, that Kentucky jig.

Now some bottles on the bottom shelf, you know, are not necessarily the best choice for drinking straight. Right. I mean, you cook with old crow, right?

I do. That's like my favorite bourbon to cook with. Some people, they're like, I can't believe you're even cooking with that.

But as a cooking bourbon or a mixing bourbon, it's just fine. It still brings out that flavor.

I make chili out of it. I smoke pulled pork with it. I make a mean bacon apple pie with it.

But, but a lot of people will tell you, I mean, it depends because we've had, well, like, um, Virginia from Earth's cakes, she goes, people love Woodford and think that it pairs good with, with food. She said, but when I actually try to put it in pies, it did not do as well as other brands in cooking.

Yeah.

Which is interesting because Woodford is actually known for. It's pairing with food. And I was sitting there thinking to myself, yeah, but you, I bet you, if you try that double Oak or that double double, you'd be a whole lot different story.

But what do you think Brian? I mean, I really think it just depends on each person.

Yeah.

I mean, truly I've done a lot of blind, a lot of blind tastings and, uh, I mean, it really just depends on what you like. So you can go buy something that's really cheap. People are like, ah, I don't like that, whatever. And it's great. You know, for me, Makers, I don't care. Makers 46. I mean, I like it all. 46 is good stuff. That's right. And some people say, oh, you know, that's, that's not good. You know, it's just, it's kind of regular. That French oak throws that curve in there.

Don't people think that you just bring your bourbon over to my house.

Leave it over here with, with the bourbon road and we'll make sure that we get on down to the next mile marker.

The beautiful thing about bourbon is everybody has their own thing that they really enjoy and like. So whether it's Pappy, whether it's for roses, makers, you know, Jim Beam, whatever it may be, we all have something that we really enjoy. Right. And so what, what the mainstream may say, if you enjoy to drink it, I mean, drink it, share it, tell people that you like it and keep going.

Yeah. So you just christened a new bar in your basement.

That's right.

Job well done, by the way. Nice bar. So if you were going to create a decanter on your bar that's unlabeled, what might you pour in it? Oh, wow.

Never heard of that. Oh, wow. Is that pretty good stuff?

I mean, for me, honestly, I would probably lean a little bit towards four roses, just because a little bit more easy to get. But if I had something that I could get unlimited, you know, easy, I would go Blanton's probably a hundred percent. Yeah.

But here's my problem with Blanton's and a decanter. The first time I picked up Blanton's was because of the bottle. Okay. I didn't know what it tasted like. Had no food. Jockey juice. Yeah. I was like, well, that's kind of cool. We've got a horse up on there and the bottles different than the rest of the bottles on the shelf. Let me try this stuff. And I'm sitting and I, so for me, I would never put that in a decanter just cause I love the bottles.

Oh yeah. If it was unlimited, that's what I would pour 24-7 for anybody.

Just the regular, or would you try to go gold label?

I mean, gold label, straight from the barrel. Obviously, straight from the barrel is probably the best. You've got to do it with a little drop of water, maybe a very small piece of ice. But as far as blends goes for me, I mean, it's the best.

Yeah. So what do you guys think about the Infinity Bottle?

That's actually pretty good. The nose on it is excellent. Surprisingly. Yeah.

You guys have fun with that. With the lilac over here with me and the floral boutique. You don't want to smell the roses.

Just run it with the roses over there. That's me. Yeah. Infinity bottle. Great thing to do. Keep one on your bar, Brian.

Oh yeah.

Yeah. It's definitely a way to go. I think that I have been surprised. I've never been totally disappointed with an infinity bottle. I have had some that have knocked my socks off. And some that are just like, okay, but I've never been disappointed. So it's definitely something to do.

I think if you, if you had some bourbon instead of having an infinity bottle, you'd have an infinity decanter. You know, run out to a garage sale or to a estate sale and find yourself a nice decanter or something and start yourself an infinity.

Pick up one of those, uh, pick up one of those, uh, those bottling binds from what are they? The, uh, the old fits bottling bonds from the, yeah, those come in a nice bottle, you know, and the juice is okay. It's pretty good. I mean, it depends on like the most recent was a 13 year that they've got down there now at heaven hill. And if you can get your hands on that, my understanding is it's pretty good. I haven't tasted it yet. You got to get up pretty early to go get that. You got to get up pretty early to go get that. But if you get that and you enjoy drinking that bottle down when you're done, You know, soak that label off of it, turn it into a decanter and make an infinity bottle out of it.

There you go. Start it with a little Blanton's gold. Ooh, I bet they would not like that.

I don't think. Randy, I think Brian rivals you as the Blanton's fan in the room.

That's right. Well, Blanton's is just one of the many that I like. I don't know what to tell you. I love it.

And if you've never had the Blanton's maple syrup, Yeah.

Good stuff. Get that. That is, where do you pick that up at?

You got to get it online. Uh, Blanton's bourbon shop.com and, uh, put that on some bacon or pork belly. Yeah.

So I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I got a friend that actually taps maples over in Virginia. So I'm going to get some of his. organic homemade maple. And then what we're going to do is we're going to take, and we're going to do some of my wife's French toast with her, with her custard, her bourbon custard. We'll make it out of blends for you. Okay. With a blends infused whipped cream. And then we'll put that maple syrup on the top of that French toast. What do you think?

I'm not even throwing some homemade bacon for that.

Let me tell you about this guy. Let me tell you about this guy's homemade bacon. It is something to die for. It's so delicious.

Hey. All right. When we doing breakfast?

Well, fellas, what do you think? Blind? bottle shares, blind bourbon tastings. What do you think about it?

I love it. You know, I, the first time I'd ever did a blind tasting was with Jim. Um, probably the second or third time we'd hung out and it just kind of opened my eyes and, you know, educated me so much about bourbon and that you really don't know what you're drinking until you drink it blind.

I think a lot of people, they hesitate in doing a blind because they're worried that they're going to get caught off guard. But the answer is we all get caught off guard. We all really don't know what's going to happen when we taste that bourbon.

We sure don't know what's going to happen because the first time I ever did a blind was with Jim as well, and we tasted until we were blind. I'm just saying, you just never know what might happen.

And it doesn't matter if you're Fred Minick or if you're Randy Minick. There you go. It's all equal when you get a blind. I'm telling you, it's all equal.

So I don't know about that. I tried to fool you one time and you got it to the tee. You were like, Hey, this is, this is the brand. This is the proof. This is the year it's bottled and bond. It is this right here. It is this bourbon. And I was like, man, I can't fool this guy.

I was just having a good night.

Is there ever a bad night though? No, not when you're drinking bourbon.

That's right. All right, fellows, while I've had a great time tonight, it's a pleasure to have you on. I tell you what, I'd like to do this again. Let's plan on getting together again for another third pour episode and just drinking some bourbon together. What do you think? I'd love it.

I appreciate you guys having us on.

Yeah, it's a blast. Thanks guys.

All right. Sounds like fun.

Thank you. 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.