200. Kentucky Bourbon Festival 2021

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.

Hello, everybody. I'm Jim Shannon. And I'm Mike Hyatt. This is The Bourbon Road. And today, Mike, it's a very special day.

Yeah. I mean, I can't say enough about this episode right here. Two hundred episodes, Jim.

Two hundred. Two zero zero. Yeah, that's that's a number. I wonder how many podcasts make it to 200 episodes.

I don't know.

I'd say we're in rare company. It doesn't happen a lot. I think a lot of podcasts kind of peter out after a while. Maybe around a hundred maybe.

Yeah.

Yeah. It's a pretty good achievement. I'm pretty proud of it.

Yeah, man. I'm proud of you for starting a podcast first off and I'm proud of both of us for the work we've had to put into it, because people don't see behind the scenes, the setting up the interviews, talking to distilleries, talking to guests, the editing portion that you have to go through. You don't really run our episodes through a software editing. You do it yourself by hand. And that that takes a little bit longer than most people think. So all that work that goes in behind it and then the social media part of it That's you. Amongst all of our other things we've got to do in life, we still manage to get it done. We haven't missed an episode to date. That's right.

We've always put something out. Yeah. Sometimes it's hard. It's hard to, you know, when you're just tired and you just say, Oh man, this has got to go out tonight. I got to get it done. But you just push through it. You get it done and it goes out and we haven't missed one. Yeah. I'm gonna say we won't ever miss one.

But we managed to go 200 episodes without it. So yeah, I'd hope we wouldn't miss one. It's kind of like this whiskey. It just gets better with time. We're picking up steam. We're getting bigger guests on bigger distilleries. And this episode was no different, right? Right. And I think you're going to enjoy it because this is all of our guests from the Kentucky Bourbon Festival 2021 telling us about the Bourbon Road and what it's done for them and how much they like it. So I hope you enjoy listening to it at the end of the second half. I'll interview you a little bit. All right. Sounds good. Looking forward to it. Hey, this is Big Chief from the Bourbon Road and we're out here at the 2021 Kentucky Bourbon Festival. It is a nice day out here, nice cool breeze, about 73 degrees. The bourbon is flowing and you know, I'm just running into bourbon roadies. Who do I got with me today? My name is Caleb Boudreau from Pensacola, Florida. Caleb, what are you drinking in your glass or what did you have in that glass? This was called, what do they call it? The end of summer. It was a peach cocktail Angel Zimby's making.

Man, it's delicious. And how long you been listening to the podcast?

Roughly a year and a half since I started my little venture down the Bourbon Road. That's what I'm talking about. Well, you enjoy the bourbon festival. Hopefully you're running some more great guys out here like the big chief and we'll see you on down the bourbon road. Awesome, man. Appreciate you guys. So I got Kevin Holy with seldom seen farms. He is famous for his bourbon barrel aged maple syrup. You might have seen it on our Instagram and on our Facebook. Kevin, how are you doing today, man? I'm doing very well.

Thanks for stopping by. So tell us about your product. So our bourbon barrel age maple syrup is triple barrel age. We age it between six and nine months. Every batch goes through three used bourbon barrels. We heat it up between every batch to really extract the flavors from the wood and it's really a deep bold maple and bourbon flavor.

That's pretty awesome. I know I've had this on some pancakes, on some French toast. You can put in a cocktail, pretty much everything. But you listened to our podcast. This is our 200th episode. What do you got to say about the Bourbon Road podcast?

So the Bourbon Road podcast, I tune in as much as I possibly can. It's a great podcast to listen to and get all your bourbon information there.

All right, Kevin, well, we hope you sell out today. We look forward to seeing your product across America in distilleries. People can buy it, get true Americana, right? You're up in Northeast Ohio. Where can our listeners find you at?

So you can find us in a couple of distilleries around Kentucky, Bluegrass, New Riff, as well as seldomseenmaple.com. All right.

We'll see you on down the Bourbon Road.

It's a big yard.

Man, look who I ran into. I ran into Chris Cruz from Cruz Customs. You know him, he makes his beautiful flags out of bourbon barrels. He's a combat vet. We gotta love him for that, serving his country proud. And now he's making America proud with his veteran-owned, veteran-operated business. Chris, how you doing today, man? Doing good, Mike. How are you doing, sir? I'm doing awesome. So you came on the show. Um, this is our 200 episode. What would you like to say our listeners about the podcast?

Man, it's a, it's a cool podcast. If you want to just hear how bourbon really tastes instead of, uh, the flowery notes and this and that, uh, Mike and gang, they do a great job telling how bourbon really tastes. So check it out.

All right, brother. Well, you know what we always say? We'll see you on down the bourbon road. So we're still out here at the, uh, Kentucky bourbon festival. Um, it's starting to warm up, but you know, I'm walking around and who do I run into somebody wearing a bourbon bullshit or t-shirt drew Alan, one of our moderators for our private Facebook group, the bourbon roadies drew. How are you doing today, man?

And I'm doing pretty good. Big chief. How about you?

Well, angels envies out here giving away free drinks. Uh, not a bad thing, right?

That's right. We've done had two of them and that we probably will go back.

Well, so this is our 200th episode. What's the Bourbon Road podcast meant to you?

And you know, I first started listening and really all I ever bought was what I knew, what was on the shelf, a Maker's Mark or, you know, Evan Williams, something like that. And your show has kind of opened me up to being willing to look into craft distilleries. It's had me to try different things that may not be, you know, the big mainstream distillery. So I really appreciate y'all just opening up my eyes to other distilleries.

Well, that's pretty damn awesome. So, you know you're drinking a cocktail today, it's hot out here. What kind of cocktail are you drinking?

I'm drinking a smoked cherry wood old fashioned with Angel's Envy bourbon.

And it looks like they put out like a candied orange slice in it.

Yeah, candied orange slice. It's got a port simple syrup. And like I said, they're doing cherry wood smoked old fashions over there.

Yeah. And I think I got like a summertime cocktail is what they made almost like a bourbon punch. Um, it's pretty good. Um, I would say next year, if you didn't get to the bourbon festival this year, you need to come out here. Uh, it's definitely worth the price. They got some free stuff outside the gates and stuff, but, uh, it's definitely worth the come inside. You can run into master distillers, master blenders, uh, distillery owners. Have you, uh, ran into anybody famous there, Drew?

We run into Big Chief and Haley Perros from Wilderness Trail.

Yeah, I saw Pat Heist out here. I've saw Jason Bronner, uh, from buzzards roost. I mean, we're seeing some people out here and stuff. Um, and then we're just going to keep recording and, uh, see who else would get on the podcast. Well, Drew, man, you know, always loved seeing you. Um, it's great having you on the podcast. We'll definitely have to have you on another episode, uh, just to drink some bourbon. Maybe when we come down to Memphis, um, we'll have you on there. That's your home turf, right?

That's right. Come on down to Memphis. We got a lot of good bourbon flowing out of there.

What's the what's your two favorite distilleries out of Memphis?

So we've got a Blue Note and we've got Old Dominic. Both are doing really big things. Old Dominic is probably going to take the cake right now. But, you know, Blue Note's releasing a lot of new expressions.

All right, Drew, well, you know what we always say. We'll see you on down the Bourbon Road. Man, look who I ran into, the beautiful Hannah. You know her. She has been with our podcast for a long time. over there at the Copper and Oak in Danville, Kentucky. She used to be on a YouTube channel, but we're not going to get into that, right, LaHannah?

Well, you know, my schedule has become insane. So though I am still 110% dedicated to the whiskey world, I've had to take a little bit of a step back. But it's amazing to be here today at the Bourbon Festival and see all of our whiskey peeps in one place.

Yeah, everybody's out here. We even got some peeps out here from Danville, your home territory. Right. We got wilderness trail. We're sat in 13th right now. We got Jared and Haley and I saw Pat running around here with his big old long beard and stuff. He's actually about to go on stage here in a minute to talk. Um, so what's the best thing about the bourbon podcast? This is our 200 depth and so we're celebrating. So what has a bourbon road did for you?

Oh my God, 200 already? That's insane. Okay. Well, my favorite thing about the Bourbon Road is that you all are really fun and entertaining. You keep your audience very captured, but there's a lot of history in there. And then you know what? You all both have opinions, big opinions, but the opinions on the whiskey that you're tasting, it's always up building and things like that, which all ties into my favorite thing about the whiskey world is that everyone has a different palate. There's something for everyone, and we all keep working together just to get the word out there, get our favorite spirit out there, and share it with all of our friends.

Yeah, that's right. You're bourbon your way. We always say that. Whether you want to drink in a cocktail, in a glass, and eat with some ice, if you want to wash in it, that's, hey, up to you. Get a whiskey barrel. Just dip yourself in it. Smell good all day long. You know what we always say, the big bad booty daddy of bourbon will come and find you and make you happy. So what are you guys going to do this weekend besides drink bourbon?

Well, in all honesty, I have to be a copper and oak running that really tight shipwreck. What do I call it? Shipwreck? I'm trying to say it all in one word. That's our restaurant in Danville. But my favorite thing about it is all of our bartenders are really educated on learning what your flavors are, what you would like, and then having an educated guess on which whiskey to suggest for you. So that's what I'll be doing this weekend. I hope I can make it back out to the Bourbon Festival by Sunday because it's awesome to see all of these people gathered around just promoting all of our favorite spirits.

Well, you got friends with you and stuff. She probably not podcast listener, though, right?

She's not a real podcast listener, but she listens to me, which is enough.

Well, Hannah, it was awesome running into you. And you know what we always say? We'll see you on down the Bourbon Road.

We will see you on down the Bourbon Road, Big Chief.

So you can hear the music out here at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival still, and we're still running into bourbon roadies from across the United States. But I ran into one right here from Bardstown, his hometown, right? Who do I got with me today?

My name is Edward C and just got finished watching the best bourbon bullshitter take the stage and give his experience and just loved seeing it.

So, Edward, you know, you've been listening to a while for the podcast. You've been following us and stuff. We're at 200 episodes. What's a Bourbon Road podcast and the roadies meant to you?

I've just really enjoyed the intimate talks between two buddies and what they think of the experience the bourbon has. It's very relatable to someone who is kind of new to the bourbon world. Just because I'm from Barstown doesn't mean I've been drinking it since I was born. I've just gotten into it within the last couple of years pretty hard.

Well, Edward, we appreciate you being a listener and being part of the bourbon roadies for that. We give you a bourbon bullshitter t-shirt. We hope to see some photos of that on your Instagram page. What's your Instagram? Bourbon and sold. So if bourbon and sold, find him on Instagram, give him a follow. If you need a realtor in bourbon country, this is your guy right here. Look him up, find him on roadies. He probably could figure out a deal for you. Edward, as we always say, we'll see you on down the bourbon road.

Love it. Love it.

So we're still walking around out here at the Kentucky bourbon festival. And lo and behold, from Shelbyville, Kentucky, you run into somebody. I mean, it's a small world, right? So who do I got with me right now?

Kimber Thompson.

Now, Kimber, what bourbons have you drank since you've been out here?

All of them.

You went to every distillery. How are you standing?

I'm not driving. That's the point, right?

So this is our 200 episode. What's the bourbon road podcast mean to you?

Learning, growing, and expanding your knowledge on bourbon. Everybody should drink it.

Everybody, right? Well, thanks for being on the bourbon road podcast. And as we always say, we'll see you on down the bourbon road.

It's not easy to find, right? Yeah.

So we're walking around here and lo and behold, we walk into somebody that we met in Mexico. We shared some bourbon with them. Who do we got with us today?

My name is Ross DePriest. My wife, Andrea, is with me. We met Big Chief in the lovely Valentine Imperial Riviera Maya Resort in beautiful Mexico, and they were kind enough to share some bourbon with us, which if you've been to Mexico, you know, it's not easy to get ahold of bourbon down there. Spent a lot of good times with them down there, had some sushi, and now we're very pleased to run into them and say hi up here at the Bourbon Festival in Bardstown. So great to see you guys.

Yeah, so if this our 200 episode, so what would you say to new listeners about listening to the urban podcast? What would you say to them? What has it taught you?

Man, I mean, it just kind of depends on what you're after. If you're kind of new to getting into bourbon, you're going to get a lot of good information as far as just listening to guys talk about bourbon. If you've been drinking bourbon for a little bit while, like some of us have, again, a lot of wealth and knowledge. Big Chief and the gang all know a lot about bourbon. They live here in town, so they're in the heart of bourbon country up here. So yeah, it's really got something for everybody, really.

Yeah, well, we appreciate that. We appreciate listening. Um, we're glad that we got to share some whiskey with you down in Mexico. Uh, you know what we always say, we'll see you on down the bourbon road. All right, listeners, so that's the first day of the Bourbon Festival. What a great day. We had the VIP experience up on the third floor of the Getz Museum. Got treated like royalty in there. They had scallops. I drank a big old glass of Michter's 10. What an experience. If you can get down here for 2022, the Bourbon Festival, you need to do it. We're finishing up our night here at the Rick House Restaurant. pretty damn amazing, right? I can't say enough great things about that. We're having dinner with Drew and Heather Allen all the way up there from Memphis, Tennessee, the home of Elvis, right? So Drew, what was your favorite thing from the day?

I don't know. It's probably seeing big chief on the, on the stage with a bunch of celebrities, just like he was a celebrity and the cocktails.

Well, free cocktails, the cocktails were flowing up there. It was a great day here. We're going to finish it up with a great meal here. I think we all ordered steak, right? Is that what you had, Heather, too? Vivian has to eat, Drew's getting a steak, I'm getting a steak. I think we all ordered it rare. Gonna finish off some bourbon for the night. Tomorrow is Drew's birthday. We're gonna celebrate that. I got a little present in the truck for him he's gonna get tomorrow. We'll get him to open that up on the podcast. We'll record that live. So hang with us for the second half, the second day of the Kentucky Bourbon Festival 2021. We'll be right back. All right, listeners, second day of the 2021 Kentucky Bourbon Festival here in Barstown, Kentucky. I thought I would get one of our first guests on that we've ever had was one of my first episodes. I got to kind of sit in the room and kind of watch him look at his whiskey and tear it apart with his eyes. He is the mad scientist of whiskey. I got Mr. Pat Heiss from Wilderness Trail. If you haven't had their whiskey, it's badass. What do you got to say? This is our 220th episode. You've been on a podcast. You've had your whiskey on a podcast. Our listeners love your whiskey. What do you got to say about the podcast?

Well, I mean, I'm probably one of the biggest urban bullshitters out there, so I'm a big fan. Always have been. And that day, I think you came on board over there. That was one of your first days, wasn't it?

Yeah, that was like my first podcast to kind of go in and watch what it was. And I think I drank more whiskey that day. And I might have, I think I drank a whole bottle that day sitting in there and just cause I wasn't on air. I was just watching. Yeah. I think you had a bourbon virgin shirt on that day. Maybe, maybe something like that. It was, it was a great experience for me. Um, I know you and Shane have built something magical here in Kentucky. You rose up from a craft distillery to a major brand, right?

Yeah. I mean, you know, some people take 150 years to do it. We did it in seven years. So not too bad for a couple country boys.

Yeah, you say you're a couple of country boys, but let's let's get real. You're both doctors, right? You got that doctor beside your name. But you did start from humble beginnings, your heavy metal band, rock band, college buddies. And then what did you start after that?

So we started off with a yeast company. So we supply yeast and fermentation products and support to over 500 breweries and distilleries around the world. And so that's how we got our experience prior to starting Wilderness Trail Distillery.

See and that's the magic people don't realize when they walk down a liquor aisle They don't realize that you are in almost every brand out there a lot of brands Well, you said ever like five feet you could walk in a liquor store and that's your product Oh, yeah liquor store beer store wine store, whatever But if people haven't tried your stuff, what's Wilderness Trail working on right now? I know you've got something special you're probably working on.

Yeah, well, I mean, we make three different mash recipes, so that keeps us busy. But, you know, we've been distilling for eight years now. So we just came out, you know, a couple of years ago, released our first age-stated six-year. We've got an age-stated eight-year coming up. And in fact, we've got plans to release a four-grain coming up. So that's some exciting things coming around the bend there.

We're hoping that we can get in there this year and go ahead and get our bourbon pick number two for the bourbon road. And this time it should be a weeded bourbon if we can get them because they're there. People love them a lot, but we're hoping we get in a wilderness trail. We'll get a pick out there. Make sure Mr. Pat Heist here, Magic, is in that bottle, because he is a mad scientist when it comes to whiskey. Pat, we appreciate you coming on the podcast, man. We appreciate you, what you do for the bourbon culture, and we see nothing but success and a future for your distillery.

Well, I appreciate that and look forward to participating in more podcasts.

All right, man. We'll see you on down the bourbon road. So we got the triplets, as I like to call them, from the Bourbon Lens. They don't look nothing alike though. You got Scott, he's like regular size. You got Lurch, Jake, and I don't even know what to call Mike. Keebler elf, he's a little, little feller. He's wide. He might've been on a hobbit. You might've seen him on there. I don't know. Lord of the Rings, one of those shows. I don't know. So we had these guys on episode with us and they did episode with us and it turned out pretty good at collaborations. So Scott, what are you, it's 220 episodes or 200 episodes for us. What's podcasting mean to you? Podcasting has just been a lot of fun. I mean, it's something I never thought I would do.

I mean, we were about 145 episodes in right now and you guys right there with us. And you know, it's been amazing just meeting different people and Just making connections, really.

Yeah, it's all about that bourbon culture, right? To me, that's the biggest thing about it. It's who you meet, and everybody's just super friendly and stuff and super helpful. I know you guys have helped us out with some media stuff. We've helped you. It always goes that way. Now, Mike, you just returned. You decided to go to the desert where there's no bourbon down there in Florida. So why did you return?

Oh, you're looking at it, man. I had to come back in time just for the Bourbon Festival. You know, the people here in Kentucky and Indiana are just, you can't beat them. The Midwest are the best. And I just had to get back to one of them, do the podcast, meet some more people like yourself and Jim, and just had a great time doing it over the last couple of years.

Yeah, man, I tell you what, I think you made the right decision coming back. I got a text from you and said, Why would you come back? And I told you a family, right? And really Scott and Jake are your family to be true, right? They're just not friends, right? Cause you, you gotta hang out a little bit to drink bourbon. Just a, just a tad bit. So Jake, you weren't on our podcast, but everybody's seen your lives. You guys have been on Instagram a little bit on Facebook, on YouTube. You're all over the place. You just got one of your first picks. You coming out with another pick. Um, but what, what's the podcasting? What's the bourbon road to being to you?

Yeah. So I mean, I think it's just really cool. Um, me and you had never met. Michael's like, Hey, big chief wants to talk to you. And so we, you know, we got to connect over phone and, um, it's really just interesting, like to go over, like we're standing here listening to, um, uh, an onstage event, but like to see Wally dance and be able to go up and walk. Talk to Wally and be like, Hey, how you doing? It's great to see you. Uh, and him to say, Hey, the podcast turned out great. Thank you for having us on. And those types of things are kind of second to none. When you're talking about people who are building these mass distilleries, know you share your conversation, your love for bourbon and your passion. That's the fun thing. And then, you know, it's been really cool to interact with all the fans. Like, you know, you'll have your roadies. We met some guys yesterday that were huge bourbon lens fans. They bought a pick. They bought a t-shirt. Like, It's just really cool to interact with people here in these type of environments, so that's a lot of fun.

Yeah, you see people walking around. You got the master distiller of michters walking right past us. On stage, you have the legendary Jim Rutledge up on stage. You got Pat Heist up there.

The lady up there, Sherry, is the maturation person for michters.

Yeah. So you just have a beverage dynamics up there leading this panel and stuff. This is where the bourbon world's meeting right here today, really, for Kentucky bourbons anyways. So make sure you get out to the 2021 festival. Guys, I appreciate you coming on.

Make sure you get out to the 2022 festival.

Yeah, because the 2021 is about to be over. Well, it is. It is. It will be over by the time this is over with. So 2021, I've already had a couple of pours of bourbon. Uh, make sure you check out the bourbon lens guys. Um, check out their podcast. They actually have a pick coming up as a bullet pick. Uh, these guys have great tastes in whiskey. They know what they're doing. Um, so if you're not listening to me, you ran out of episodes, give these three jokers a lesson. Uh, and, uh, you know what I say, we'll see you on down the bourbon road. So as you can hear, the Kentucky Bourbon Festival is just rocking today. They got the music blaring. We're here again in Wilderness Trail's tent, and I got the famous Haley with me. She's been on the podcast before. So Haley, 200 episodes for us. Awesome. Right? Awesome. You know who we are. You know what we're about. But what's a Bourbon Road mean to you?

Oh gosh, the Bourbon Road is family. It's community, man. I'm privileged enough to be on the show and to meet you guys, but also part of the group, part of the Facebook group and everything. It's family. It's all inclusive. It's learning. It's experience. It's all positivity and inclusivity, and I love that. It's welcomed.

So what would you like to see out of our show for the next 200 episodes?

Oh, gosh. I know 200, 400. Let's keep going. Gosh, I don't know. More. More of what you're doing. More Big Chief. More people. Just keep making it happen. You guys are some of the ones that are doing it right, not only in a show, but just multifaceted. You've done more than just have a show. You've created a whole community, and I think that's awesome.

Well, that's what we love doing, right? We want to build that community. We want to have fans from all walks of life, women, men, whatever you call yourself. We don't care. Yeah. As long as you drink whiskey, right?

Exactly. Exactly.

So a couple of years ago, 2019, we asked you, what was your favorite bourbon? And you were like, looked around and you were seeing a pattern. Shane was right there. And you were like, I like vodka.

Yeah, gin. Gin was it. Gin and tonics.

So what is your whiskey drink now?

My whiskey drink, man, if it's not Wilderness Trail, man, you know... Now Pat's right there. Yeah, right, right. Well, hey, if Pat were to answer the question, he'd tell you it'd be Bud Light. So that's what he's drinking when he's not drinking bourbon. That's his chaser. That's his palate cleanser. Really, I guess I would say that I don't have a favorite. I don't have a favorite. I think it's whatever's in front of me and whoever's pouring. The world's too big. The whiskey world's too big just to have one favorite, you know?

All right, Haley. Well, you know what we always say? We'll see you on down the Bourbon Road.

See you then, Big Chief. Oh, what are we doing?

So you never know who you're going to run into at a Bourbon Festival, especially the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. It's the who is, who was, who's going to be of like social media, whiskey everywhere. And I'm out here. We got Mr. Instagram himself, really. The urban bourbonist, Chris, you might have seen him on a live once or twice in his life. He's always in his dungeon, his basement, uh, talking shit about people. Um, but he's out here at the bourbon festival drinking some whiskey. Yes. So Chris, this is our 200 episode, man.

Um, what's the bourbon road podcast to you? Well, let me first start up by saying congratulations on 200 episodes. That's like such a huge, huge accomplishment. And to be able to continually put out content like that, that people are attracted to and really want to listen to, kudos to you guys. But the Bourbon Road podcast is one of the first that I started listening to as I was increasing my knowledge of whiskey and trying to learn more and just listening to you guys and a lot of the interviews that you've done has changed my perspective on whiskey and bourbon and I've learned so much from you guys and from your guests that you've had on and just when you guys talk about whiskey it's something that like I kind of strive for myself like with my friends and hanging out just like getting together and having great conversations over

whiskey and I think you guys do that you guys are like the epitome of that so cheers to you guys and really appreciate everything that you're doing well the same to you man you know I if if you're a listener of ours and you're not checking this guy out on on instagram urban bourbonist check him out give him a follow uh you can learn so much he has so many great guests on there he knows his shit about whiskey he is a bourbon bullshitter um like we like to say None of us consider ourselves expert, right, Chris?

We're just talking about it. Just talking about it and constantly having fun and learning. Well, brother, thanks for being on this podcast.

You know, everybody's running around. They see me. They're like, that is the big bad booty daddy of bourbon right there, the big chief. So I love running into you. Thanks for being on this episode. You know what we always say? We'll see you on down the bourbon road.

Absolutely on down the bourbon road. Thank you. Thanks, man.

So there's so many distilleries here at the, uh, bourbon festival this year is so nice to see that they actually set up a craft distillery area this year. And one of the new kids on the block this year is Barry. He was on a episode with the Lexington bourbon society back when the podcast very, very first started very worried. Our 200 episodes. Um, what do you got to say about podcasts and then let's hear about your whiskey.

Well, first of all, I love podcasting because it, it takes your brand. It takes, you know, what you want to say to a broader audience and the people that are listening to you are listening in because they're very interested. So they're either. super fans or they're an aficionado level. And so you've got a very captive audience. Essentially, you've got the one percenters of people that love bourbon. And so they're a very captive audience for you. So I love podcasting. I love digital marketing. I'm super excited to be involved with this brand. RD1 is Lexington, Kentucky's first federal registered distillery. It was established in 1865. My partners and I resurrected this brand last year during COVID. no less. And one of my majority owners is Coach Mark Stoops of the University of Kentucky football team. Coach loves his fervent almost as much as coaching football, but coaching football is number one and near and dear to his heart.

Man, that is pretty badass. And you guys actually got the game on right now, right? You got a UK game on going on. Some people might not be UK fans, but you're definitely football fans if you're drinking some bourbon more likely.

Absolutely. If you reside in the state of Kentucky, you know football. You're either, it's either you're a UofL fan or you're a UK fan. And I'm one of those fans that I root for UofL except when they're playing UK. You know, I want to see the Kentucky teams do very well. And I'm very supportive, but you know, I'm obviously, I'm going to be cheering for UK when we're playing the University of Louisville. Other than that, when UofL is playing, you know, I'm one of those people that I live in Kentucky, born and raised in Lexington and want to support them as well.

Heck yeah. That's what it's all about, right? Well, most people probably don't recognize RD-1 Bourbon from that name. They probably see that tar name on there, right? William Tar. And that's history. He was a bourbon giant back in the day.

Yeah. And you know, really the one thing that we wanted to do is RD-1 represents a lot of different brands and labels from 1865 all the way to prohibition. And the one thing that we wanted to do is we wanted to give a tribute to William Tarr. We wanted to give a tribute because he had the brand for the longest amount of time. So people probably recognize the names of Otar, Old Elf, Bond and Lillard, Bell of Marion, E.L. Miles, and New Hope. All of those labels came out of RD1, registered distillery number one in Lexington, Kentucky. But we wanted to give a tribute to William Tarr. And so what we came out with was a Kentucky straight bourbon super premium 12-year bourbon mash bill. And then we have a blend of an eight-year rye, seven-year bourbon Manchester Reserve that is a multiple award-winning whiskey. It's won two gold medals, two silver medals since October of 2020. So what we wanted to do, we knew we have a great bourbon story. All of us love a great bourbon story, but they want, consumers want to make sure that the product that they're tasting is good so that they buy a second bottle and they tell their friends. So what we believe and we have in the Manchester Reserve, William Tarr, represents that. And so we're super excited to have a bourbon and a whiskey being released last year.

to another episode with Barry. Look forward to us picking apart his whiskey on a review. So he's going to get two more shows out of us. So look for that listeners. Barry, we appreciate you being on the Bourbon Road and supporting us in our podcast. You know what we always say? We'll see you on down the Bourbon Road.

Yes, sir. Thanks so much and looking forward to that.

More listeners, more listeners, more listeners. We got some more bourbon roadies out here at the 2021 Kentucky Bourbon Festival. This is a reason you should come to 2022 so you can bump into everybody from distillery greats to podcasters, to YouTubers, to listeners, to fans, to just whiskey drinkers. You want to be checking this out. There's so many great distilleries out here and bourbon drinkers really. Um, so who do I got with me right now? You got Ralph Burgess and Jeff Hart. So this is our 200th episode, right? 200 episodes. We've been kicking it down the Bourbon Road. Both of you guys listen. What's the Bourbon Road mean to you?

It's a fraternity. Fraternity of bourbon drinkers, bourbon lovers, and love the entertainment. I enjoy all the stories and the history that you present to everybody.

Yeah, that's what it's all about, right? Telling that story, making sure the true story of whiskey gets out there, where it came from, where it comes from today, and making camaraderie amongst bourbon drinkers from all walks of life. We appreciate you guys as listeners. So where would you like to see the bourbon road go in the future?

You guys are doing a great job as it is. Put me on the spot here. I think I'd like to see you guys maybe do some more live on the road type stuff. You know, going out doing some other different distillers. I know you're doing some, but maybe going outside of the Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana area. You know, maybe venture out west a little bit. I know you like Texas. So maybe Colorado, Nevada, something like that. Same here. Just go out and have fun and drink the bourbon and enjoy it and let us all know what we got to buy.

Well, you know, as that happens, we got to spend money to get on the bourbon road. So with that, we're hoping everybody buys those shirts, right? What kind of shirts are those? the bourbon bullshitter yeah you see people rocking them these two brothers rock them and stuff we hope you rock them um so make sure you buy one well guys i appreciate you coming on our 200th episode celebrating with us and you know what i always say we'll see you on down the bourbon road see you on down the bourbon road chief on down the road So one of our first guests we had on on that first year was Lisa Wicker from Widow Jane Whiskey. Everybody loves her stuff. She is like the witchy woman of whiskey. She's got that magic in her whiskey. So Lisa, this is our 200th episode. What did it mean to you to come on the Bourbon Road podcast?

First, congratulations. And you know what it means to me because that's the first and only interview I've done in the Oscar Getz Museum. And it was a whole series of happy accidents with actually our PR firm that when they told me about you and your podcast, I wasn't familiar with it at the time. And then they're like, oh, yeah, and the interview is going to be an Oscar Getz. I'm like, I'm in, I'm in.

Yeah.

And you guys are so solid. I mean, you're just truthful and solid and more people are joining us, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So what's a podcasters view? What's the bourbon culture?

Oh, my gosh. It's family. I ran into Andrea Wilson from Victor's this morning and she's like, Lisa, it feels like a homecoming today. And I just sat on the stage with John Hargrove and Bart Stump, Bourbon Company and Charlie Downs with Evan Williams experience. And it's a homecoming. I mean, it's family. You know, it's the best industry in the entire world and it's open and transparent and so much mutual respect and learning. It's just the best.

Yeah, if you're here at the Bourbon Festival, if you're coming next year to 2022, it's the who's who of Bourbon, right? You got Andrea over here pouring whiskey for people and they don't even know who she is.

That's right. That's right. That's the best part of it. Yeah, you know.

You got Lisa Wicker here just walking around and everybody can come up to you and talk to you, right? Yes, absolutely. I think people don't realize how down to earth the Bourbon culture is and how wonderful the whole community is to each other.

Yes, absolutely. Everybody's accessible and everybody's friendly and we're all, you know, intertwined and some people might say inbred, but... And they're very welcoming, even if you don't have a degree or pedigree that's specific to the bourbon industry, people, there's always a place for everyone.

Yeah. I mean, we're standing with bourbon royalty around here was what I call it, but really we're just all down to earth. We're just trying to promote the brand and stuff. We appreciate you and coming on our show and helping us out build our brand and we help build your brand. It's that spiderweb kind of thing, right? and putting everybody's good word out there. What can we see from Widow Jane in the future?

Oh, stay tuned. I don't even know. I'm working on all kinds of stuff, but I don't even have a goal yet. It's just as whiskeys come together and we'll end up branding them and putting them out. But yeah, stay tuned.

That sounds like a future episode in the Getz Museum.

Absolutely. I'm in.

I'm in. Well, Lisa, you know what we like to say? We'll see you on down the Bourbon Road. Yes. I can't wait.

I can't wait. I love that we're friends. So cheers.

So, you know, it wouldn't be the Kentucky Bourbon Festival without Big John from Dad's Drinking Bourbon. Zeke, again, there's nowhere to be found. He's here somewhere. To be fair, he's here somewhere, but he's sleeping somewhere.

No, he's here. He's wandering around. I have no idea where he is, but I did come to find you because I mean, like, I got to give my fellow big man a hug.

Yeah, two, two biggest dudes probably at the, uh, Kentucky bourbon festival. You can't miss us walking around, right?

No, you can't. And especially if we're together, I do finally have this bourbon bullshitter shirt. Finally. He had to go get one, especially made in my size. So thank you so much for that. I might use it to wipe some sweat off.

You want to wash it first.

I'm going to wipe some sweat off my face with it. I'm going to wash it and then I'll wear it.

Yeah, that's a wise idea.

I'm actually going to do it right now.

So you were on one of our funniest episodes all time where we were down in a hotel room, just drinking away at like, I think nine 30 in the morning. We finished like at one 30, probably drink way too much that day.

I took over the episode. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry about that. Still hashtag free big chief, let him off the reins. Jim, I know you're not here. I know you're not at Kentucky bourbon festival, even though we drove all the way up from Nashville and it's right in your backyard. Well, he went to Puerto Rico to be fair. Life's tough. It is. And that's why he has a whole episode to edit that is free Big Chief. This is Big Chief on the loose in his natural habitat. He's running wild. He's running free. Sometimes he wears pants. Sometimes he does not. It's been a crazy couple of days here at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival.

Yeah, I mean, you can bump into anybody as I've been saying throughout this episode. Master distillers, distillery owners, master blenders, podcasters, YouTubers, Instagrammers, you name it. Some TikTokers out there and stuff.

Haven't got into the TikTok yet. No TikTokers. I feel like if you're over 30 and a male, it's kind of weird if you're on TikTok.

But Kenny from Bourbon Pursuit was on TikTok.

I know he was like the first guy, but like as a, as a dad with a daughter and I know Kenny has a daughter. I'm just saying there's a lot of young girls dancing on YouTube or on Tik TOK. I feel a little weird.

So you're not going to see any videos of a big John on Tik TOK dancing.

No, I mean, Instagram is fine. Facebook is fine. Like I'm on the old person platforms. I'm not up with the new guy. You know, like I was telling somebody the other day, I'm probably going to talk to Zeke about this soon too. But like, I don't know how you feel, but I feel young. I don't feel old.

Well, I don't feel old, but somebody told me that they could be my child today and he's 30 years old.

But it was like, you know, it's like, I think about my parents where they're like, come on, I'm a cool parent. I'm not old. And then I'm like, oh crap, I'm old. Like, and I think about all this stuff and I was like, maybe I shouldn't be on TikTok.

You got your beard rocking right now, right? And it's got a little salt and pepper. A little salt and pepper. Yeah. You're going to get to my point where it's just mostly just salt. And just running down my face.

You got the pepper mustache or the salt goatee?

Yeah, yeah. Well, I don't know. It doesn't work right.

It's good though. The top of your hair though is more pepper than it is salt though.

Yeah, when it starts growing out, it's super, super salty.

So what did you think of the festival? That's what I want to know.

Man, this year has been great. All the naysayers that said it couldn't be done, that it wasn't going to be popular. I think they did an outstanding job. The one thing that we both probably agree on, we're both big dudes, so they need some food outside for people. Yesterday they had one truck, today they have three. VIP room up here is kicking though.

VIP room is kicking. I think there's some things and as this goes on, I mean, this is David Mandel taking this over. I think there's some things that they can probably do as far as getting more food vendors that you don't necessarily have to pay for. You know, like a typical bourbon event where you have some restaurants promoting themselves. You could get restaurants in from Lexington and Louisville. You can get, you know, it's not going to be full plates, but you can get samples of stuff out there. I would love to see them do something for the community in the bourbon community. This used to be, yes, it was more of like a flea market. But, you know, the distillery employees and their families got in for free. So something to give back to the people that are working hard in the bourbon industry. I would love to see that. I would love to see I think about the people that have houses right around here.

Oh my gosh.

And they got to do something to hook them up. That's something I would love to see them do coming into next year. That's something I would love to see them do coming into next year. I would also I do have to say though, it's killer in here. It's the best I've ever seen it as far as distilleries doing stuff, interactive things. There's panels, the booze are kicking. Four Roses brought limited edition Small Bash 2020. You also have makers coming with some good stuff. You have mickters with the toasted bourbon. So people are not holding back. They're doing good ports.

Well, maybe for next year, they could hire me and you, the two biggest dudes, to help with the food. We'll set that up for, make sure that people can get fed. Cause we know how to get fed, right?

But I also think it's something to be said for like you got on a panel this year. Like that's big congratulations, big cheat moving up in the world. I love it. And for everybody that is listening, I am not cool enough to be on a panel. Big chief. And this is not, I'm not being passive aggressive. I'm not throwing shade. Big chief is cooler than dad's drinking.

I don't know about that. I don't know about that. You guys, I'll bow down to you guys. You owe to me. Um, you gave so much to our podcast and I gotta say that. Thank you. You made those 200 episodes possible. You're what we strive to be. Um, and hopefully we can be as good as you in the future and our future episodes.

You guys are there and I want to say you're killing it. I love your voices. I've always said that love your voices on the air. You're putting out great content. You're putting out great content. Some people came by and messed me up a little bit, but you're putting out great content. You're working hard. You appreciate and love bourbon and it shows and real recognizes real. And we just love everything that you and Jim are doing. So no Zeke's not here, but on behalf of both of us, keep up the good work. We love what you're doing. We can't wait to see more.

All right, man. Well, we appreciate you celebrating this 200 episode with us. And you know what we always say, John, we'll see you on down the bourbon road. Heck yeah. Thanks. So we're almost to the end of our Kentucky bourbon festival. And I got one of our great listeners, one of our roadies. She's also a member of the original bourbon society there in Louisville. Chris, how you doing?

Doing great, Michael. Great to see you.

So this is a celebration. This is our 200th episode. So I wanted to ask all of our listeners that's here at the bourbon festival. What's the bourbon road meant to you?

You know, to be honest, you know, I got started on bourbon late in life. And so being able to meet people who appreciated all kinds of bourbon, but it doesn't have to be top shelf. Doesn't have to be bottom. It's whatever happens to come down the road and getting to learn about more craft bourbons, which I know is a big deal to you because, you know, it could because they matter. Right. And and just being able to be in a group. The Bourbon Roadies is one of those really friendly, nice groups where nobody's sort of flexing and acting like a jerk. And I mean, there's so many of these bourbon groups out there that don't make you feel welcome. And so the Bourbon Roadies especially is really just a nice place to hang out and enjoy fellowship.

Well, that's what it's all about to us is fellowship, that camaraderie, that just being nice to each other, building that bourbon culture, making sure everybody can enjoy this great American spirit that we call bourbon, right? And it's roadies like you, listeners like you that help us grow our podcast. And we love to say thank you for listening to us. Sometimes we mess up, sometimes we don't say the right thing, but we do try and we care about our listeners. And I guess that's what I want everybody listening today to understand is that me and Jim are just two dudes, right? And we live our t-shirt to the best. We're just two bourbon bullshitters, right? You're wearing one shirt today.

Absolutely.

So if you're not at the 2022 Kentucky Bourbon Festival, you're missing out.

I'll be here.

You're going to be here, right?

I'll be here.

While you were here, how many craft distilleries did you see since I gave you a shit about it lately?

Well, you know, it's interesting because a lot of big boys pulled out this year. Obviously, we know Heaven Hills on strike and Buffalo Trace also pulled out. So now we're really getting to see, you know, we had Jim Dan, we had bluegrass distillers. So we're seeing a little more of that now because the big guys aren't sort of muscling everybody else out of the way.

Yeah, and it's nice. You get to see some beautiful whiskey expressions. Some other people that are not that 1% of whiskey drinkers are getting to see that there's some beautiful whiskies out there from these smaller brands that are on the shelves.

Yeah, you can get them. They still taste good.

Don't pretend there's not good bourbon out there waiting for you. Well, we always say that if you stick to five brands, hey, good on you. That's your whiskey your way, our whiskey our way, right? You drink it how you want it. We're going to drink it how we want it. But we we implore you to go out there and find those smaller brands and taste them. You might find some magic in a bottle.

So your wilderness trail pick, I have to say, was probably one of the best picks I've had in a long time. And it is truly an uncut, unfiltered and it absolutely had flavor crystals in it. And it was one of the most wonderful bottles I've had all year. And I have a backup and I am glad of it because my first bottle is gone.

Well, we appreciate you. You know what, Chris, we always say we'll see you on down the Bourbon Road. Yes, sir. All right, Jim, so you've got to listen to everything. But I wanted to ask you, what has the podcast meant to you?

You know, it's kind of it's kind of been. a blessing in disguise. At first I did it because I just wanted to drink bourbon. I wanted to hang out with good people and just experience the whole bourbon culture because it wasn't long after sort of hanging out with a few people who really love bourbon before I started to realize that they're different kind of folk. You know, they're friendly. They're very generous. They love to share their whiskey. They love to tell great stories and great jokes. And they love to sit around by campfires and do things. They're active people, right? Yeah. All of those things. I just thought, man, this is kind of where I want to be. This is the kind of people I want to hang out with. It's a lot of fun. And so the blessing in disguise is that I built this huge group of friends and people that I know. They're not all friends. Some of them are acquaintances, but good people. that would do anything in the world for you. It really would.

Yeah, there's no doubt about that. We've had stories of roadies actually helping each other move. Somebody saw your son broke down on the side of the road wearing his bourbon bullshitter t-shirt. They stopped to help him. Just those acts of kindness and every day that you've built this you know, really a community of whiskey drinkers that respect each other. They respect what each other drinks and they enjoy themselves. And I still, I thank you all the time for making this. I enjoy it just as much as you do or sometimes probably even more. I get geeked out on it a little bit sometimes.

I think we both like it. I think we both have a great time. One of the things that, and I wanted to say this earlier, one of the things that, um, also is pretty cool to me, is that we've actually never really changed who we are all the way through the whole thing. So we've never tried to readjust or change how we do things too much. We've never tried to be something we're not. We've just sort of kept that same idea that we had in our head from the very beginning to just be truthful and honest, to be Um, not over the top, you know, not crazy, not, uh, not focusing on unicorns, you know, focusing on just good whiskey and the companies that make it and good people. And then I think that, you know, it's paid off dividends in the long run because we're well, we're well respected.

Yeah. That was widely shown at the bourbon festival. Everybody was asking where you were. Where's Jim at? Where's he at? I was like, well, he's in Puerto Rico on a top secret mission down there. No, you were down there on business and I said, man, he's really hating this, but he's probably loving life down there right now. Probably getting to drink some really good rum.

We did get to drink some good stuff. Actually, I had so many people invite me to go to the Bacardi Distillery down there. That was a big tourist spot in San Juan, was the Bacardi Distillery. A lot of people went to it, but you know what? I can't go to a distillery when I'm on vacation with my wife. She has to deal with that on a daily basis. We're doing something else right now. But we did go to a great, great cocktail bar called La Factoria. Man, top 35 whiskey bars in the world. Absolutely wonderful. I did get to drink a little bit while I was there.

Yeah, well, that sounds like a awesome trip. I wish I kind of was with at that in Puerto Rico, but we enjoy it ourselves wholeheartedly at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. I think 2022 will be that much bigger. We'll have a bigger role there for the Bourbon Road, for our roadies. Hopefully we'll have an event. We've already got a distillery that said, hey, they would like to come do a private tasting for us. 2022 is going to be a special year. I think, um, we'll push this onto 300 episodes, but Jim, congratulations on 200 episodes. Congratulations to you too, Mike. It's a, to me, it's a great accomplishment. It says a lot about your character sticking with this. And, uh, I just, I can't see nothing but success for both of us. Where can people find us on the internet? Well, you know, they can find us on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok. We promise we're going to post videos. We're on there, though. Facebook, YouTube. You can pretty much find us anywhere.

Yeah. Yes, we also have a web page called the bourbonroad.com on there. You'll find our swag. You'll find our articles, Mike's articles. He writes them every week. You can find out more about who we are and where we come from. You can also communicate with us on there. You can always hit that contact us form and reach out to us. We're pretty responsive. You can always reach us by email. I'm Jim at the bourbonroad.com. You're Mike at the bourbonroad.com. What about the bourbon roadies? Well, we got this small little Facebook group.

It's a little bitty group of people. They're growing 2,300 strong right now. We're growing every day. We've got new members coming in. We are kind of selective. We ask you three things. Are you 21? Do you love bourbon? Yeah, everybody loves some bourbon. And do you agree to play nice because we don't tolerate any what? No rudeness allowed. Yeah, we don't talk about politics or religion in there. That's that kind of old bar. You don't go to the bar and talk about those things. In our group, we don't talk about those things. We celebrate births. We celebrate life when somebody passes away. We celebrate retirements, birthdays, you name it. You want to celebrate it.

Let's do that inside there. Absolutely. Well, Mike, if they want to make sure that they never miss an episode. Well, you know what they got to do, right?

They got to scroll on up and hit that subscribe button. It's either a plus sign or check sign or subscribe in your podcast platform. Make sure you do that. The other thing we'd like for you to do is scroll on down, hit that five star review because you know what's going to happen if you don't. I'm going to bring along my little buddy with me, the big bad booty daddy of bourbon, and he is going to pay you a visit. We'll bring some of this whiskey we're drinking right now. We're actually drinking some third three cord bourbon. We'll drink that bottle by the end of the night. You're going to leave us a five star guaranteed.

Well, like we said earlier, we'd love to hear what you have to say. If you've got an idea for a show, you have a local distillery you'd like to shine the light on. We'd love to hear about it. Probably the best way to reach out to us is on Instagram. I'm Jay Shannon, 63. I'm one big chief. And we'll see you down the bourbon road.