2. Sipping Bottled in Bond Bourbon - Jim Shannon and Randy Minnick

So let me ask you a question. When we're sitting out at the bonfire in the backyard here sipping on some bourbon, why don't you break out that guitar?

You know, because then I'd be asked to break it out the next time and then the next time. And I wouldn't play anything that you'd probably like to hear.

So, you know, I'd... And the honest truth is you just want to drink bourbon and hang out with your buddies.

You know, sometimes that's the nice way. I like to just sit back and listen and...

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 logheadshomestenter.com. So we had a good time recording this episode. I think we bounced a little bit off each other. We had a chance to talk a little bit about why we like bourbon, why we get together from time to time to have a sip of this one or that one. I think it was a good time and I think we gave everybody an opportunity to meet us and to look forward hopefully to what we have coming down the road.

And look on the bright side, ladies and gentlemen, this is as bad as it's ever going to get, right here.

I hope so. So yeah, I think it can only get better from here. So our editing and our recording and our content and all those things are going to get more polished over time.

And there you go. There you go. Looking forward to it.

All right. So here is Jim and Randy from the past doing their first recording of the bourbon rip. Hello everybody and welcome to The Bourbon Road. This is Jim here and I've got Randy with me. How you doing, Randy?

You know, maintaining and sustaining while I'm training.

What? Training?

Training on what? How to become a better bourbon drinker. My nose isn't quite as good as yours, bud.

I don't know about that. Hey, it's good to be here today with you, Randy. So what have you been drinking lately?

Oh, you know, the last thing I had was some Elmer T. Lee. Yeah. It's hard to get a hold of. And I understand they're coming out with a commemorative bottle. Let me see if I can get that all out of my mouth there. But yeah, I just, it's going to be hard to get though. I was, I just lucked up on, on that particular bottle. Harlan Wheatley was signing some stuff and they just happened to have some from Buffalo Trace there and got a, got a hold of a bottle.

Does it taste better with a signature on it?

You don't want to open it with the signatures on it, but I don't know that it tastes any better. I had never had any before.

Yeah.

And people were like, if you can get a bottle, you better jump on it. And you know what? I really am glad I did.

Yeah. I've had some Elmer tea and I've always enjoyed drinking it. It's a, it's a, it's a fantastic vermin. Very good friend of mine gave me a bottle once.

All right.

Well, thank you, Randy.

You need to make sure you remember him at Christmas.

I will. I will. So, you've been drinking Elmer tea lately. You know, I've been drinking some Wild Turkey 101.

Going back to the basics, are you?

Back to the basics. You know, when I was a young buck, and I won't talk about how young I was, but when I was a young buck, Wild Turkey was kind of the go-to. It was what we drank.

It was that and Jim Beam.

That and Jim Beam. But it just seemed like in my circle of friends, it was wild turkey. And, you know, we would drink it with Coke, you know, because that's kind of what you did.

I had a boss who would not drink it with anything other than, if he had to do seven up, he would, but it was mostly time to sprite. He was going to mix it with some Sprite. He was, he was good at that.

Well, I grew up in a Coke family. So, you know, my dad said, I don't ever want to see you out on out in the out in town drinking anything by the Coca-Cola. He said, you'll just get me in trouble. He was highly placed in the Coca-Cola company. I got you. So when it came to time to drink bourbon, you know. Wild Turkey and Coke. That was the way I were old, so that was good. So anyway, so what have you been up to lately, Randy?

Oh man, all kind of stuff. I've been trying to see what I can do about finding celebrity judges for the National Art Contest for the nonprofit that I help with there. been recording some gospel so my brother can do a song for Easter, you know.

That's right. A lot of our listeners might not know that you're a musician.

You know, well, let's, let's not throw that term around. We try. We do play a little music. I do. I do have some friends that have actually made it and I'd like to give them a shout out. Kaylee Hammack, I worked with when she was a teenager and she's now opening for John Partey and Dirk Spintley has a song called Family Tree that's on its way up the charts. So if you want to check her out at some point, Kaylee Hammack. And then Brent Cobb, I played with a lot of the same musicians he did from the same area, played some of the same places he did. And he's opening for Chris Stapleton nowadays. Hopefully I get a chance to see Brent when he comes to town here shortly. He's going to be playing at Zanzibar there at the end of March. Yeah, we're going to try to go check that out.

So let me ask you a question. When we're sitting out at the bonfire in the backyard here sipping on some bourbon, why don't you break out that guitar?

You know, because then I'd be asked to break it out the next time and then the next time. And I wouldn't play anything that you'd probably like to hear.

So, you know, I'd... And the honest truth is you just want to drink bourbon and hang out with your buddies.

Sometimes that's the nice way. I like to just sit back and listen. And that's kind of a nice thing to do.

So, you know, everybody's got their daily drinker. Everybody's got that bourbon, that go-to bourbon. What is yours?

Well, you know, for your daily stuff, you don't want to be pulling out the good stuff. So, you know, I switched back and forth between two or three different kinds. I do like ancient age. It just gives me a warm fuzzy. It was one of the first that I tried. Basil Hayden was the actual first bourbon outside the Jim Beam and wild turkey.

Well, let's clarify that. When you say ancient age, which ancient age are you talking about? 80 proof. 80 proof.

You know, the 90 is a little different.

Yeah.

And you know, like we like to say, or we'll say probably quite often on the show, you're bourbon, you're away.

That's right.

And so 80 is my way with that ancient age. And there was a time, but it was hard to get.

Yeah. Yeah, I can remember, you know, my wife also likes ancient age. And there was a there was a period of time there where she was drinking ancient age and I couldn't get a bottle for her. So no, I'm a fan, too. I'm a big fan, too. But my my palate's a little bit on the hotter side.

Well, it is. And I'm sitting here looking at these hundred He's got folks, he's got probably a hundred bottles open of different kinds of bourbons. Some of them probably from $17 on up to, I don't even want to go where some of that stuff is. Yeah, he's the connoisseur. I just hang in there the best I can here.

Well, I just like to drink bourbon. I don't consider myself a connoisseur. I've got a long way to go for my palate to get to the point where I can call myself a connoisseur.

Well, let me ask you a question then. I think we all, when we were driving country roads and hanging out when we were a lot younger, You know, Jim Beam and Wild Turkey was kind of where it was at. You know, you'd have your Jack drinkers and then every now and again, I'd see a bottle of Dickel somewhere, you know, but those were the main two. So what was the first bourbon you had?

The one that I remember the best is Wild Turkey. Really? Wild Turkey. Yeah. So I don't know. It just seems like I think that was my first bourbon. I can't nail it down and guarantee it for sure. But I do believe it was.

So when you stepped out of the comfort zone of the, like I said, the beam and the turkey and that kind of stuff, what was the first one you actually tried? First one.

You know, that's a tough question. That's a tough question, Randy.

I can remember my first one. Yeah. Well, tell me about it. No, it was Bezel Hayden. I went into, well, I don't, I guess I better not be throwing that out there too much, but went into a liquor store and I said, you know, I want to try something different, you know, and, and I saw the bottle of Bezel Hayden there and I said, okay.

A little fancy.

Yeah. It was, it was fancy and it was 80 proof. So, you know, I had been drinking Canadian whiskey. And I said, well, 80 proof, 80, okay. So I'm going to try this stuff. I love it. And that's all I drank for a while was that basil Hayden. And then I said, you know, I got to try something else. And then I went on to Blanton's and buddy, I got stuck on that for a while.

Now I remember coming over to your place and visiting sometimes and seeing your Blanton's shrine in the living room there. So you had a few bottles.

Oh yeah. You know, I had to collect and, uh, You know, and it was kind of interesting because, you know, my brother, my youngest brother, has spent some time in Afghanistan. And when he came back for my wedding, you know, to Julie there, he asked him what he wanted. He wanted a cigar, bottle of Blanton's, and he wanted some apple pie. And I just happened to know somebody who had access, shall we say, to some good apple pie.

No, when you say apple pie, you mean, Not apple pie moonshine. You're talking about apple pie.

No, no. Apple pie moonshine. The good stuff. You know, that $20 a quart stuff that you gotta wait two months to get. But anyway, yeah, he was, he was happy with that. And actually it was kind of interesting because I sent him a picture. I said, Hey, I got something for you. And I took a picture with, uh, Harlan Wheatley there and he signed it. Because, you know, Harlan's all about the vets, at least, you know, I knew he was. Absolutely. Yeah, that was kind of interesting and fun there. But that's great. Blanton's was like the second one I went to. And after that, it got crazy.

So I'm guessing you don't drink Blanton's every day anymore.

No, not every day, but it's still one of my weekenders on occasion. It is a weekender for me because during the week, you just grab a glass of something, just kind of relax. Because one of the things we want to talk about here in Kentucky is the lifestyle.

Right.

And after you put in a day, it's nice to get in, you know, pour you a little glass, what I call that, that sunset. Cause you start getting that the ambers and the beautiful colors when it hits the light. And it's kind of like a little sun watching a little sunset there. So you get a little liquid sunset in that glass and kind of relax for a little bit.

A lot of our listeners might not know this, but Randy, you and I both, both live on or around the Bourbon trail. Oh yeah. You live a little bit more towards the Bardstown into the trail. And I live a little bit closer to the Frankfurt end of the trail. So I'm a little bit more Buffalo Trace. You're a little bit more Martin down.

Yeah. Down that. Or beam or will it and all that good stuff. That's right.

Yeah. Um, you know, it's, it's really nice to live on the bourbon trail and even, even nicer, uh, living on a horse farm. We both have horse farms, Randy.

Yeah. You know, Kentucky, what is Kentucky known for? You know, they're known for horses and bourbon and bluegrass music.

There was something else that we're known for.

We're not going to talk about East Kentucky and the 3Ms over there. Moonshine being among those.

It's great living this lifestyle. I love sitting out back on the porch and looking out over the pasture and having the horses out there. having a glass of bourbon in my hand and talking with a good friend like you. I got you. It definitely sets the mood.

And one of these days when we have some time, probably not this episode, but you know, I need to get into the whole family history of why this is so apropos for me to be back in Kentucky right off the Bourbon Trail. And, you know, I'll have to tell you the story sometime about my great grandfather from Western Kentucky, who was a moonshiner there and kind of got run out of state by the feds. And so, you know, it's kind of apropos, I ended up back here right off the Bourbon Trail.

I want to hear more about that, but let's not do that this episode.

Right. We won't get to that yet, but we'll get to that sometime.

So one of the things that we want to make sure our listeners understand is that we're more about the lifestyle of bourbon. We're more about the culture of bourbon. Randy and I, we're living the dream. I mean, I believe we're living the dream, my friend. How great is it to be just literally a 20 minute drive from 95% of the bourbon in the United States. We can go to any one of these distilleries any day and visit the gift shop and take a tour. buy some good bourbons and go back and sit on our back porch and watch our horses run through the pasture and sip on some bourbon and listen to some good music.

That's the dream, right? A lot of people don't get that opportunity. But then sometimes I wonder, because if you're looking for a certain whatever, A lot of times they follow the trucks around here and you might not necessarily get that.

I think people like to think that, oh, if I could only live in Kentucky, I could get all the great bourbons I wanted, but that is not the truth. That is not the truth. We actually have just a few Kentucky only releases that we can get our hands on, but for the most part, we have such a huge bourbon following in Kentucky that it's hard to get anything that anyone would consider a unicorn. You just can't put your hands on it.

Well, you know, and I read something the other day that I thought was interesting. You know, the Japanese have been following bourbons since the 1800s. Yeah. You know, and so, you know, that they've bought out different ones, but I didn't realize that, that they're, I guess you could say love affection was bourbon went back so far, you know? Had no clue. Yeah. You know, it's now an international thing. It's not just Kentucky or the United States. It's, it's gone international.

Yeah. Bourbons worldwide.

There's no doubt about it.

You know, one of the things we want to make sure we do on, on, on the bourbon road show is we want to make sure that we, um, We introduce our listeners to a lot of people who are kind of tied to this lifestyle. Now, does it mean they work in the bourbon industry? No, not necessarily. We want to bring people into this show who elevate the bourbon lifestyle. Things that, you know, if it makes bourbon better or the other way around, then we want to talk about it.

And, and, you know, like, like I've said before, it's, it's interesting. I was looking in the closet the other day, you know, and I had Carhartt and camouflage on one side and a tuxedo and doctoral regalia on the other side. And I'm sitting there going, you know, Berman's a lot like that. It's everybody, every, everything from A to Z. And, you know, that's the bourbon lifestyle. It doesn't, it doesn't have to be one particular way you're bourbon your way. And, you know, Hey, whatever works for you.

So let me ask you a question, Randy. Let's get away from bourbon for a second. Let's talk a little bit about music. Okay. So, so who do you really like to listen to all?

Well, no, like I said right now, just because I know them or have been in the same area and made music in the same places is, is, you know, right now I'm checking out Kaylee Hammocks, you know, the Rolling Stone said, you know, she's got a voice that can move mountains. So that's, that's pretty good from Rolling Stone. And Brent's been in the industry for a while. He's written stuff for Jason Aldean and Oak Ridge Boys. And, you know, man, I can't even list all of them. And so, you know, I'm just checking out, kind of checking out their stuff there. You know, I'm a classic rock guy. Yeah. When I start working on mine, it's probably going to be more country, you know. And like I said, Easter's coming up, so I'm working on a gospel song. You know, I just mean, I like listening to all kind of stuff. We were at a Toby Mack concert here a couple of weeks ago, and I didn't think I didn't think the Christians could rock like that. I've seen quite a few shows, and man, their light show was, Toby Mack's light show was out of this world.

Now you play the guitar?

I have two or three different instruments, guitar mainly, yeah. Acoustic and electric, I like to go between both of them.

So folks, if you don't know, you can imagine who's doing our mixing.

Don't say that. What if they don't like it?

Man, that guy sucks. Well, anyway. So for me, you know, you're a blues guy, aren't you? I'm a blues guy, but you know, I also go Southern rock. You know, I like them both. So so but, you know, and a lot of stuff in between, you know, I love to listen to Johnny Lang and Joe Bonamassa, you know, bourbon and beyond. What an awesome thing. I would like to go this year.

Yeah. They've got some really good talent on the roster and, you know, it's just a good time.

I went to the first year and then last, the last year I was actually in San Diego for a conference and I wasn't able to go. But of course it got rained out and it was a big mess, but you know, um, I would go every year. I will go every year that I can anyway.

Um, you know, at least one day of the weekend anyway.

So they've moved it this year. It looks like Bourbon and beyond is going to be at the fairgrounds instead of down at Champions Park. So I think we've got a better chance if there is rain of it being a reasonable day. Right. Right. So that's good. That's good. I like that. So, Randy, we have been chatting for a while here now and we have not had our first pour.

See, I think that's where we messed up because really the pour should happen before we do all this, I would think.

We did have a couple of drams of Elmer tea before we started. guilty as to ours. Well, anyway, so what we're going to do here is we're going to we're going to entertain our first pour. And it's kind of a format of the show. We're going to do two pours. The first pour is going to be typically if we've got a guest, the first pour will be something that we have brought to the show, you and I brought to the show. And we're introducing that to our guest and we'll drink together and we'll talk and have a great time. And while we're sipping on the first pour, And then second pour is going to come to about the halfway point of the interview. And that will be something that our guest has asked that we bring or they bring to the show and they want to introduce us to.

I think that would be fun to see what they hook us up with. You know what I mean? They may come up with something that we've never even thought of.

I think there should be some ground rules. I don't know. But what happens if it's Irish whiskey or scotch? I guess we just need to smile and be happy. Well, no.

You know, I was teasing one of my wife's bosses and he's a Scotch drinker. And I said, well, you know what Scotch is, it's nothing but leftover bourbon. They send the barrels over there and they throw the Scotch in the bourbon barrels. And I said, it's just leftover bourbon. It's all Scotch. He did not like me so well.

No, we have to have a lot of respect for our brothers in the Scotch world. I actually have a few bottles of Scotch and you know, one of these days we'll break a bottle.

I would love to go over to Ireland and Scotland and partake and go through a distillery tour over there and do some scotch. I've always liked Irish whiskey, Canadian whiskey.

Well, you know, we did decide to call our podcast, The Burberry Road. And so we will, we'll tend to focus on that, but I won't say that we won't take a side road every now and then. Is it fair enough? Hey, I'm game. All right. So I'm pulling out here for our first pour. I have Woodford Reserve bottled in bond.

Do you think everybody knows what bottled and bond means? Why don't you enlighten us? Because there's probably some people out there who are maybe fairly new to the bourbon world and might, you know.

Well, I do kind of know. I don't know that I have all the details, but I kind of have a good general understanding of what bottled and bond means. So I will relay that to probably the few people who don't know. Yeah. So, bottle and bond is a law that came around in the late 1800s to protect consumers against bad whiskey, basically.

Because they were putting all kinds of stuff in here. Yeah. You know, the kerosene, kerosene. What else were they? I mean, it was all kind of, they were cutting it with all kinds of stuff.

Well, they called it rock gut, right? Yeah. Because it literally Rodded your gut, I guess. Well, anyway, so bottled and bond. So the rules surrounding producing a whiskey, a bourbon whiskey, that is called bottled and bond, basically states that the whiskey has to be 50% alcohol or 100 proof. It has to be a minimum of four years old. It has to be produced under a single master distiller in a single distilling season. In other words, no blends of multiple seasons that it needs to be stored in a government inspected, secured warehouse where the government could come in at any time with their keys and go in and check and make sure you're meeting all the guidelines. And you know, those, those things ensure that the whiskey meets just a few basic, you know, requirements. If a bourbon is bottled in bond, it's generally understood that it's going to be pretty darn good.

You're going to get some good stuff. You're going to get some good stuff.

Now, is the flavor going to be a little bit better in one than another? Of course, bourbons all over the place. But it's going to meet certain criteria. We all know that a four-year bourbon can be a darn good bourbon. It can also have a little bit of a use to it. But in any case, it meets a certain standard. So I'm going to open up Woodford Reserve Bottle and Bond. It's the bottling date from the spring of 2018. And this is a gift shop bottle. I got this at the gift shop over at the Woodford Reserve Distillery. Actually, I got it that day.

Because I've never seen it out on the shelf. It's kind of like the double-double. It comes out only on occasion. And a lot of times, if you want it, you can have to go to the gift shop because you're not going to find it at some of the liquor stores.

I got this the day you and I were over there having lunch with Elizabeth. Right. So yeah. So this is something I've been wanting to try and had a chance to try it. And you know what? I hadn't opened it until now. So I'm looking forward to it. Let's do it. I'm going to pour a little bit for you here, Randy. I'm not going to be stingy. I'm going to give you a generous pour.

Oh, I'm sorry.

A little bit for myself.

Yeah, that's Woodford. All right.

And Woodford Reserve is a good, well-rounded bourbon, typically. I mean, I love drinking it.

And as I rotate stuff in and out, Woodford hits my daily. You talked about the daily. Yep. Woodford's one of those. One of my wife's favorites, too. She loves to cook with Woodford. We'll get her on the show at some point, because she's got some recipes that are, man, out of this world. But anyway.

All right. So yeah, I've got a nice amber color here.

Yeah. There's that liquid sunset right there.

Oh man. Right. Right away on the nose. Apples, green apples right away on the nose. Yeah. I get the fruit like immediately. Oh, that's sweet. I love that. Of course we're not doing bourbon reviews here, but we are drinking and sort of letting everybody know exactly how we, how we feel about it. Oh, that's a good bourbon. Cinnamon.

Actually, I like that better than the normal, just regular Woodford that you get. That's unique.

Yeah, I didn't spend too much time on the nose before I took a sip. That's a good bourbon. I like that.

And I usually defer to Jim on most of this stuff here. My sniffer is not quite as good as his. You know, I'll taste some of the different stuff. But remember, it's your bourbon your way. So he's going to get a little more out of it than I might. But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy it.

Well, we're all, you know, we're all on a journey here. So, you know, everybody's at a different place in their journey and, you know, your palates do develop over time. And quite honestly, they can degrade as well. So, you know, depending on what you've had for dinner, what you've had for lunch. We're not going to get that intimate here, are we? No, no.

Just making sure.

Yeah. I have to say that, you know, there's a lot of apple on that for me.

I got the fruit. I just couldn't quite figure out which one.

Yeah.

You know, was it Apple? Was it pear? I didn't, you know. That's why I'm saying mine's not quite as developed.

There's one thing about tasting notes. Sometimes when you're sitting across from somebody and you're tasting a bourbon, you can hear what they call out as notes that they're picking up in the bourbon and all of a sudden you'll get them too. Now that doesn't mean you're being influenced. I'll be honest with you. I don't think it means you're being influenced. I think it means that you're being able to now identify those. Because if it wasn't there, I don't think you'd pick it up. If somebody says, I'm getting pickle in that bourbon and you're not, you're not going to say, yeah, me too. You know, it's just a matter of, you know, sometimes you just can't quite put your finger on it.

Yeah. Like, like the cinnamon.

Yeah.

You know, I got a spice, but I wasn't sure which one, you know what I mean? Was it nutmeg? What was it?

When you take apples and cinnamon together, what a great combination, right? This is apples and cinnamon all day long to me, both on the nose, apple pie, both on the nose and on the palate. Right.

And sometimes it'll fool you. You know, as you go one way on the nose, you go, hmm.

But I love the finish on this one here. I think the finish is actually.

It's a little better than normal words for it to me.

Medium to long. Yeah. Medium to long. So I'm very impressed with this bourbon. I wish I could get it all the time.

Yeah. Chris, Elizabeth, y'all did a good job. Yeah, it's good stuff.

So I will definitely, on this one, I will definitely try to have it in my bar. This is good stuff. I enjoy it.

You know what this one would be for me is a good Christmas bourbon. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? At that particular time, I could see this being a great in a hot toddy. So no, you laugh, but you know, that time of year, because you got the apple in the center. You could do that or, you know, just honey. Yeah. You know, a little lemon like they do the normal hot toddies. But that kind of brings me to another question. So how do you actually drink your bourbon?

Well, normally I drink my bourbon neat in a Glencairn. Do you? Yeah. Okay.

And I do that when I'm with you. Right. And I'll do that out because it's cheaper. But normally I like just a couple of little small cubes and then about 40 seconds to a minute somewhere right in there. After it's been sitting in that ice, the water does something that kind of releases something in the bourbon.

Yeah.

And to me that's perfect right there somewhere between 40 seconds and a minute. If I could take the I sound, I would at that point, but it was just enough. That's my favorite way. I love it neat. This is great. Not much of a mixer, but like you said, you're bourbon your way. My wife is a mixer and she loves mixing her bourbon with you know, whatever she's having at the time.

So let's, let's talk about, um, let's talk about bourbon at home a little bit. So, um, I know you keep a bar. I keep a bar at home.

Well, you have a plethora, shall we say, of bourbons over here. And I have, you know, four or five stock. You'll, you won't have just one choice when you come to the house, but You know, my expense account for bourbon is probably a little less than yours.

Oh, I don't know about that. I've been reprimanded lately. So I think I'm cutting back a little bit. But I mean, bourbon at home for me, we are a bourbon family. You know, we like bourbon. And, you know, my wife and I both do. And our adult children who are anywhere between 23 and 35 years of age, they like bourbon too. You know, we'll have bourbon out here during gatherings at the house and it always seems like I'm marching down to the bar to grab a bottle of something to bring upstairs.

What I appreciate about coming here, Jim, is what usually happens is have you tried this? And I get to try stuff that I would normally never ever even think about. And that's why I said it's going to be interesting when we get people on the show to see what they actually bring if they want to bring something because people's tastes are so different. And it's just nice to step outside your comfort zone sometimes or what you think is your comfort zone and try something new. And I've tried more new bourbons here than I ever have at tastings in bars and

Well, we've had some interesting evenings, haven't we? Oh, we have.

I only drink on two occasions anyway, when I'm by myself or with somebody. So there you go.

Well, it's good that you limit it. And you appear to be somebody who has it under control.

I do. I do.

All right. Well, we're going to take a break here, folks. We're going to take a few minutes and enjoy the rest of our Woodford and then we're going to We're going to get our second pour going and we'll introduce to you what that second pour is once we get back and we'll talk about it a little bit and the show will continue. So we'll be back in a few. 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 hand-crafted 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 wood crafters 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 rot and 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, Randy. Well, we are back. And how was that Woodford bottling bond?

You know, that may, like I said, that may become one of my new Christmas ones.

Yeah. It just, you know, the fruit in that I just think is going to go really great with honey. Yeah.

For that hot toddy. And different people do hot toddies different ways, I understand, but I just, man, that thing was, the finish on that was a whole lot smoother than just regular wood.

I don't think I've ever made a hot toddy, so make sure you bring some by. Pour number two of the day. So we're looking at a very old Barton, bottled and bond. So today is bottled and bond day.

I guess we could, Hey, for your first episode, what more could you ask for? That's right. You know, you're getting the good stuff today.

We're having some Barton today. So the Woodford's out of my territory on the trail and Barton's out of kind of your territory on the trail.

So down to Bartstown.

All right. So we each have our pour. Let's go ahead and, uh, Take a nose and take a taste and see what we think about it. Cheers, Randy. Cheers. Oh, and the nose, definitely caramel. Oh, yeah, I get that. Vanilla. Of course, you get that with most bourbons, but a little bit of corn, not too much.

Not getting the corn as much, but maybe I'm used to it, you know, how that goes.

All right, we'll take a sip.

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Definitely the caramel comes through on the palette too. A little bit of dark fruit.

Now by dark fruit, what are you talking?

What are you, what are you talking about? A lot of people say dark fruit, but for me, dark fruit means raisins, plums. I get a lot of raisins in this one actually. This one's a little more raisiny, I think.

But it's almost like I'm getting a spice in there. I'm not sure what I'm getting. What, what, what spice am I getting in there, Jim?

I don't know, Randy. I'm actually getting a, just a tad of banana.

Just, just a little bit.

I'm still on the spice. Sorry. You are the guru of bourbon knowledge. So I was, I'm going to defer to you on that one.

I don't know. I don't know what spice I'm getting. It has, it definitely has a little bit of rice spice to it, but I don't know. I can't put it. I can't put my finger on it. But I like it.

You know, I like it. I do know. I like this one too. How many years has this one been aged?

That would be six year. Well, it's kind of number six on it. I don't know. Honestly, if it means six year, I would say. I don't know. I would just say I don't know. You know, in order to be a bottled and bonded, it has to be at least four. I would say flavor-wise, the amount of oak character I'm getting out of this, I would say definitely, probably at least six. But they're not age stating this. It just has a number six on it. It says six crafted. I don't know exactly what that means. I didn't go to the website before we recorded this session, so I'm not sure. you know, exactly what they claim.

You know, very old Barton is very good to me.

Yeah, I like that. That's a tasty bourbon. And, you know, this particular bottle, I don't remember exactly because it's been a while since I purchased it. You know, I seem to think it was in the 15 to 20 dollar range.

See, that is good quality for the price.

Yeah. So I'd be happy to go look it up to see exactly what we paid for it. But honestly, I don't at this point, I don't think this is, uh, this is anything more than a value bottled and bond bourbon. Um, it's definitely, um, in my opinion, um, very flavorful. It definitely has a great nose in my opinion. The palette matches the nose, although I would say on the, on the palette, I tend to pick up a little bit more of the dark fruit and banana that I don't get on the nose. Um, but you know, it is complimentary.

And folks, I'm still stuck on the spices. Well, you know what, I can't, and you know, that bothers me. I can't, I cannot put my finger on what it is. It's not cinnamon. I don't think it's cinnamon, but maybe it is.

I don't know. You know what? Here's what I suggest, Randy. Take this bourbon home with you. Oh, geez. Here we go. Or take a sample of it home. I can do that. And then go to your spice cabinet. And then come back and report. Come back and report. Because I can't tell you what you're picking up on it.

For me, ladies and gentlemen, show and tell here at the Bourbon Road actually means a little something different than it did when we were kids.

The finish on this is actually lengthy. I mean, it's sticking around. It's definitely a sweet finish.

But the mid, that middle part to me was what was so great. It's bold.

A little ethanol-y on the finish, but it's not off-putting. I mean, I like it. I think it's good. I see no reason why this couldn't be an everyday addition to your bar. When you go out in town to have a pour, where do you like to go?

There are certain places. You and I have both been on several occasions over to the Silver Dollar there on Frankfurt Avenue. They've got stuff that you're not going to find at other places. And I'm not just trying to give them a shout out, but here in Kentucky, you would expect that. With Louisville being the number two USA Today poll says that Louisville is the number two local favorite food scene.

Oh yeah. I didn't know that.

You didn't know that. No. In other words, but think about it with the farm to table, you know, I live in a rural community outside, you know, over towards in Spencer County and the farm to table Louisville has the number one UPS hub for the most main lobster flown through anywhere in the country.

But does it actually flow through here or does it stop here?

Some people say that they've got tanks. I've heard they've got tanks and that you have lobster in the tanks. Fresh seafood here in Louisville is not out of the question. You can get stuff that's really fresh. And because of that, I guess with the celebrities coming here and all the Ma and Pa places, and we've got chefs here in this town who I hope we can get on the show at some point, who are on national TV, they're on Iron Chef and they're on this one and that one. Yeah. And my wife is the foodie. I'm not necessarily the foodie, even though we want to do a culinary piece with the nonprofit that I work with.

But you do eat food.

I do eat food. And, you know, it's one of those things where, you know, people don't realize that about this town. And, you know, when you can come here and get really great food. And how many bourbons are out there right now, you think?

Oh, my goodness. No clue.

But you can try stuff that you weren't going to get anywhere else in the country. I can see why when you do aerial views of the airports at Lexington and Louisville during the Derby, there's not a place to park. They're Learjets. So we're doing something right around these parts. Let's just put it that way.

Yeah. So the horses, right? I mean, that's what's drawing people. I think, well, no, that's not the only thing that's drawing people, but certainly. That's the highlight, I guess you could say. Yeah, the highlight. I mean, people are, the Derby draws a huge crowd to Kentucky every year. And yeah, I've, I've been by the airport many times and you just see Lear jets as far as you can see. So yeah, who's who of everybody in the world is coming to Louisville once a year. at least once a year, certainly once a year, to see the Kentucky Derby.

But you know, I don't want to... push the brothers and sisters in Lexington out of the way. Because to me, Keeneland is probably even more beautiful than Churchill Downs.

Love Keeneland.

And that opening weekend at Keeneland when the horse season, you know, horse racing season starts, it's a beautiful and wonderful affair. I love going there. Almost probably as much or more than the Derby.

Yeah. So the opening meet or the spring season in Keeneland is absolutely phenomenal. It's amazing. Did you attend the tailgate party that we went to over there with the Bourbonite people?

Oh, Burma night. Yes. And see, that's what a fun time. We didn't even go in and watch the horses race. We just hung out.

Yeah, that was good. I love tailgating at Keeneland. What an amazing day we had out there. And all the college kids aside, we had a great time.

If you really want to know, get in contact with us and we'll tell you the story. But yeah, we had a good time out there, I thought.

Chad and Sarah were great hosts. We had a wonderful time there. They had a lot of their fans out for the day and certainly it was an event that I won't forget for a long time. We had a great time.

I still think it's funny that... when they realized there were people coming into the tent area that wouldn't appreciate some of the finer stuff. It kind of went under the table out of view. Way to go, guys. Well, who wouldn't either Pappy when, you know, I mean, come on. It was somebody's birthday too, wasn't it? It was Sarah's birthday. People were bringing her stuff from all over. TNT Blues, wow, from out of Virginia. Billy, I think is his name.

Great guy. Yeah, actually, while we're recording this session, just so everybody knows, Randy and I are recording the session tonight. But Chad and Sarah are having their engagement party at Bell's in Lexington tonight. So between, I think it was between seven and nine this evening, you know, they're having their engagement party. We couldn't make it. We had some other obligations that got in the way, but those folks are having a great time.

Well, you're on our minds tonight and congratulations.

Congratulations, Chad and Sarah. We wish the best for you guys. We love your channel. We love to watch It's Bourbon Night. We think you guys have such a great show and a great following. And maybe we can have you on sometime.

I think that would be fun. They're fun folks. I think that would be a great time. Yeah, it would be. It would be interesting to see what Chad and Sarah actually bring us for the second war.

Well, Randy, we've had a great time talking here and, you know, we've enjoyed a couple of really good bourbons. I think that certainly the Woodford Reserve bottle and bond is a thumbs up for me. The very old Barton definitely a thumbs up for me. I think we've got a couple of good ones we had today. Very enjoyable.

Very enjoyable. Definitely.

And, you know, for the first episode, it was a pleasure to talk with you. It was great to speak with you and sit down and talk about a little bit about our past, a little bit about what we like and what we like to do. I think that going forward, you know, at least our listeners are going to have an idea of who we are, you know, and what we like to do and where we live. you know, what the show's all about. It's all about, you know, the lifestyle and the culture of bourbon.

Yeah. I really want to get into that a little more. There's a lot of people out there that do tastings and get behind the science, you know, of bourbon and stuff, but people don't realize this is a lifestyle through the central part of Kentucky here, you know, and the food reflects it. You know, a lot of the people we know have had the horse farms and the horses are part of it and bluegrass music, you know, especially Renfro Valley down there just on the other side of Lexington. A lot of good stuff going on here in the central part of the state, I think.

Absolutely. Well, we've been on there for a while now, and I think we probably ought to wrap it up. We'd like to definitely encourage everyone. Send us a message. Let us know what you'd like to hear, what you'd like us to explore on the next show. We've got a lot in store for you. We've got a lot of great guests coming on. We've got a great year planned for you guys. So definitely come back, subscribe, listen to us, and Join us on our journey down the Bourbon Road. All right. Sounds good. Cheers. Thanks, Randy. We do appreciate all of our listeners and we'd like to thank you for taking time out of your day to hang out with us here on the Bourbon Road. We hope you enjoyed today's show and if so, we would appreciate if you'd subscribe and rate us a five star with a review on iTunes. Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at the Bourbon Road. That way you'll be kept in the loop in 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.