187. Union Horse - Reunion SB Straight Rye Whiskey 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 Hyatt. And this is the Bourbon Road. And Mike, today is another Craft Distillery Monday. Heck yeah it is. We're sitting down in Bourbon Road Studio 1A. And we named these before, right? Is this 1A, 1B, 2C?

I call this the Big Jim Shannon Bar and Lounge.

We do have a bar down here now. Yeah. And it's full of bourbon. We've got a lot to choose from, but today we've got a special bottle. Yeah.

You know, we got a good friend up in Chicago land, right? Wilson Torres. He works for union horse. Now that's not to be confused with horse soldier. Two different distilleries. Two different distilleries. Yes sir. This is at all a Nexus Kansas. And if you're wondering where the Nexus Kansas is, it's right outside of Kansas city.

All right. So a Kansas whiskey. Yeah. All right. So union horse. And this is, this is a rye whiskey.

This is a 100% rye whiskey.

Oh, they're not playing any games on this one.

Now there's no playing with this, right? And the reason we wanted to taste this, Jim, was because we want to showcase what their single barrels are, right?

Yeah.

We've had their bourbon before, we've had their rye whiskey before, but this is a single barrel. This comes in at 126.94. proof sizzle sizzle. Yeah. This is, uh, this would be maybe it's not spicy. You know, we've had some rise that are up there. Uh, 100% right. This is a five year old barrel.

Five year old rye, 126 proof single barrel. You've got my attention, Mike. Yeah. I mean, can we go wrong with that?

No, absolutely not. And it says small batch on there, but it also says batch SB. So that means single barrel. And this is bottle one 22. Uh, this is actually called the Chicago sting. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna say there might be a killer hornet in this bottle. Maybe.

I don't know. So, so Wilson, he he's probably in on the pick here. What do you think?

Maybe, maybe. Um, I'm just happy that we got a bottle of it and, uh, we get to try it out and, um, we get to tell everybody what we think.

I'm ready. Let's check her out.

Now, if you're wondering what these bottles go for, these bottles right here went for about $55.

So it's 126 proof. It's five years old. It's rye. It's a single barrel. It's a barrel pick. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's fair.

I think it's a fair price. Yeah. I think, heck, how can you go wrong with that? Right? Well, I say, let's nose this baby.

Let's do it. Wow. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I think, I think I'm.

That is rich. Are you falling in love with a nose already, Jim? Yes, that is rich, Mike. Well, the juice in the glass is super dark.

Yeah.

And the legs on a sucker, man.

Well, we just came off, you know, we normally don't talk about what we just did before this episode, but we just came off an episode in the 90 proof range. So for me on the nose here, I'm getting a very rich, a very robust, sweet, unmistakably butterscotch on a rye. Whoa. Take my breath away.

I want to say some dark toffee on this with a little bit of a rose.

It is floral. No doubt about it, Mike. I've never been much on flowers. I'm sorry. You're the flower guy, you and your honeysuckle and roses and all that stuff. But, um, it is floral, but man, oh man, butterscotch on a rye. It's been a minute since I had butterscotch on a rye.

And as, as dark as this is, I thought I would get some oak on this, but no good on here. Yeah. Man, that bubble gum smell was I'd get in most rise.

I'll tell you what, I cannot wait to taste this. Well, heck, let's, let's get to it. Let's cheers. Cheers. That's a big boy whiskey. No doubt about it.

Yeah. There's a killer hornet in there somewhere. I think it done stung my tongue.

Very, very, um, menthol and, and minty, um, aromatic kind of got that nice minty rye taste to it. I like that. I like it a lot.

Now I said there was no oak on the nose, right? But on the palate, there's some oak in there. Very sweet, but. Man, this Joker's got some spice to it.

It's got some spice. It's also got some butter to it, which surprises me a bit. And that may be contributing to that butterscotch just a little bit. It is buttery. It is spicy. Kind of spicy butter. Coats your mouth, doesn't it?

It does. Absolutely. Yeah. It's almost velvety. Man, it is, it's rich.

Yeah. So this is a sipping whiskey that, um, it'll get you thinking. It'll get you trying to identify those underlying notes that are, that are coming through on it. Uh, it's powerful. I mean, it's, it's, it's a pow pow. I mean, it's, it's, what'd you say? Stinger? It's got a. Yeah. That stinger might still be in my tongue. Yeah. Yeah. No doubt about it. It's, it's got some power to it. A little bit of sizzle, a little bit of pop rocks, a little bit of, uh, I know I'm trying to get that stinger out of my tongue, but I would say this one, the nose, what old Muhammad Ali used to say, fly like a butterfly sting like a bee. Yeah.

So that's, that's what this thing's doing, right? Yeah. It doesn't punch me in the mouth of the stinger. I mean, good Lord, but don't get me wrong. The sweetness is there. It's very complex in layers. Um, I'm getting more and more as we sip on this thing, man, this is a pretty beautiful expression.

So I'm a big fan of rise that get my attention. This ride definitely gets my attention. Um, five years old, 126 proof, butterscotchie, a little bit of mintiness to it. Uh, got my attention.

No doubt about it. Yeah, I think it's, uh, it's got a long finish on it because you're just sitting there and it's building. I can still taste that velvety, uh, a lot of viscosity of this. If you took a butterscotch candy and a cinnamon candy and mixed it together. Yeah. Would that be this?

Yeah. I think, I think you're probably right on the money. Like one of them atom bombs, uh, cinnamon. But it's, but it's still got that floral note, that floral aromatic kind of, um, um, I don't know. You said roses, right? Yeah. I don't know. Like real dark red roses that have that rich smell to them. Yeah, I would say that this is a complex whiskey. I would say it's got many layers to it. Definitely not something that you're going to figure out in the first few minutes of drinking it. It's something that you need to spend a. Probably a couple of pours with, at least. This is a cool weather whiskey.

Yeah. This is something that needs to be enjoyed. I think it was 90 something degrees today outside in Kentucky. Definitely not something to drink outside like that, but down in Jim's basement where it's frigid down here. perfect fall weather, winter, early spring. This is perfect for Jim. I think this is just beautiful. Now I really hate to say this, but how would this taste in an old fashioned right here?

This would, uh, ramp up the game on an old fashioned and no doubt.

Now, would I do it? It'd almost be hard to do it to a whiskey like this.

Yeah, I think I would have a hard time doing it. I would be interested to taste that old fashioned, but I'm not sure that I would typically pour something like this into an old fashioned, but yeah, it would be good. I think it would shine, big time shine in an old fashioned. Yeah, it's just super beautiful.

I'm digging this thing for sure.

You know, I think I remember now what, which expression of theirs did we have on the show last? Do you remember?

Oh, heck, I can't remember.

It's been a minute, hasn't it? Been over a year, actually. It has. We'll have to take a look back and see what it was. Um, I would have to say that they've definitely, definitely got my attention right now.

Yeah. People, if you're looking for a new distillery out there, If you're looking for a small craft distillery, where to spend your money at and those craft distilleries that are in that $50 range. Let's get real here. That's not a bad price for something like this. Cause you're going to pay 50 or 60 or even more for a barrel proof from a big boy place.

So here's a barrel pick. Here's a single barrel. Here's a rye whiskey at 126 proof, which is, I mean, that's, that's up there, Mike.

That's up there.

So a selected barrel, 126 proof, five years old, It's on my radar.

Yeah. I'm just happy that he thought enough of us to send us this bottle. We got to try it out. Perfect name for this. I think they were going for more of that gangster thing with Chicago sting, right? Prohibition, but definitely got a horn in there.

I can remember Melody and I took a trip. Actually, Melody and I and Zach took a trip to Chicago and we were looking for something to do in the afternoon. So we took the gangster tour. Have you ever been up there and taken the gangster tour? Nope. So it's a bus. It's really something. If you get to go to Chicago, It's a fun time to take the gangster tour around Chicago. They tell you all about the different hangouts in Chicago from the 1930s and the gangster era, but they take you around and they show you the bullet holes in the walls and all kinds of stuff like that. But the, the fellows who run the tour really get in character. They're well wearing zoot suits. They're kind of, I mean, they're, they're really.

That's what you want to see it when this man gets in their character. Oh yeah.

A lot of fun.

Yeah. I don't know, Jim, I think this is a buy all day long. If you get to see this on the shelf in your market, I would definitely buy a bottle of it. Like I said, $55 is not a bad price for this at all. I don't think it's overpriced. I think it's right where it needs to be five years old. You know, we know some big boy in the cellar is just putting that out right there.

Yeah, so ryes typically age out a little bit earlier than bourbons do, and particularly earlier than weeded bourbons do, right? I mean, ryes can come of age at two or three years. This is a five-year-old rye. Got a lot of depth to it.

Now I want to remind everybody what we're drinking here. It's a union horse distilling company reunion, straight rye whiskey. It's called Chicago sting. It was a store pick out of the Chicago area. Um, it's 126.94 proof five years old and went for $55 a bottle.

Now this particular pick is probably not going to be available, but it's just a representation of what you might expect from a single barrel pick from this, from this distillery, right?

Or even if they, the distillery themselves, you can get their single barrel. Um, you know, it should be a great representation of what they're putting out there. Well, Jim, another fine review, man. I think so.

So Mike, where can people find us on the internet?

You could find us at TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube. Heck, I don't even know what else is out there, Jim. We also can be found on the bourbonroad.com on there. You can find our swag. You can find our articles and you can find our reviews like this one right here. You want to check that website out. Please buy our gear off there. We'd appreciate your support. That's what gets us on down the bourbon road. That's what gets us out. Distilleries opens those doors for us a little bit. Once we're willing to go out to those distilleries, they like to see us.

On the bourbonroad.com, you will find our swag. Like Mike said, you also find our articles. You'll find our episodes. There's also a way for you to reach out to us on there. It's called the Contact Us page. Mike and I respond to every call, every... Email every reach out that anybody does to us Mike and I will get back with you You can reach out to us there. You can also reach out to us on email. I'm Jim at the bourbon road calm He's Mike at the bourbon road calm. We also have a private Facebook group Mike right Mike

Yeah, the bourbon roadies. You want to check that group out. 2200 and growing every day. Um, we have master distillers in there. We have industry folks. We have your new bourbon drinkers and your old bourbon drinkers. Um, three rules to go by in there and to get into the group. Are you 21? Do you like bourbon? Yeah. Cause everybody likes bourbon or rye whiskey. And do you agree to play nice because we don't tolerate any rudeness? It's a place to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, even to celebrate somebody's life that has just passed away. So come on in there. Join our group. Be our friends. We'll share some whiskey with you. Share our stories with you. Who knows? You might even get an angel share in the mail from somebody.

So we do two shows a week. We do a short episode every week on Mondays like today's. It's called our Crafty Story Mondays. Every Wednesday we do a longer episode, up to about an hour in length. Kind of get you to work, get you home. Sometimes we have a guest, sometimes it's just Mike and I diving deep on a subject. We'd love to have you listen to both shows every week and Mike How can they be sure not to miss one?

Well, you want to go on and hit that subscribe button up at the top of that app you're listening to us on. That'll let you know, hey, these two jokers are putting out a new episode today. It'll get you down that road, get you down that bourbon road. If you're driving around the distilleries, hey, sometimes 30 to 40 minutes between the drives. Just pop us on, listen to us. We'll make that drive a little shorter. And what you want to scroll on down at that five star review, because you know what will happen. The big bad booty daddy of bourbon will come and find you. Bring some bottles. We'll have one hell of a time by that end of that trip, though. You're going to want to leave a five star because we're going to empty that bottle. So please leave us a five star. I'm serious about that. We would really appreciate it.

If you're not into writing reviews though, make sure you at least touch base with Mike and I, let us know what you think. We'd love to hear from our listeners. We love it when you tell us great job done or Hey, you need to do this better either way. It's fine. You can always find me on Instagram at J Shannon 63. I'm one big chief and we will see you down the bourbon room. 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.