21. Some Big News While Tasting Three Bourbons

You know, hopefully some of our listeners are out there. Yeah. You know, you see me walking around. I'm, I'm quite easy to spot walking around out there. You didn't get him a bourbon road shirt, right?

Well, it, it will be in, but unfortunately his shirts won't be until the 13th of September, which is the week after. You know why? Oh man. Oh, don't do it.

Special order is going to have to be big.

Welcome to another trip down the Bourbon Road with your hosts, Jim and Randy. So grab a glass of your favorite bourbon and kick back.

We would like to thank Tommy and Gwen Mitchell from Log Heads Home Center for supporting this episode of the Bourbon Road. Find out more about their fine rustic furniture at logheadshomecenter.com. Hello, everybody, and welcome. I'm Jim Shannon. I'm Randy Minick. And this is The Bourbon Road. And today, we've got a special guest. But we've got a twist on it, don't we, Randy?

I think so, yeah.

Well, I'll tell you what. What I'd like to do, I think, is rather than getting right into the first board today, I'd kind of like to give a rundown on what this show's about, since we're not going to have a kind of an intro to it. Oh, OK. So Randy, let's go put a blunt. You're going to be leaving Kentucky.

Yeah, but I'll always have a place of affinity for my old Kentucky home. What can I say?

So why don't you let us know how you came to this decision and what do you got in front of you?

You mean like this bowman? Are you talking about the life changes? Life changes. You know, how I say this nicely, I think I could say that my wife's been head hunted. Yeah. You know, and she's got a particular skill set that not everybody in the country has. And so they've been after her for months and it was a friend of hers that she'd worked with before. And, uh, basically she said that, uh, Hey, what would you think about taking a sabbatical? And I said, you mean, I don't have to do nothing. I said, sign me up.

Well, we'll get into the specifics of that a little bit more here in a few minutes, but we do have a guest with us today.

But I understand he's not going to be a guest too much longer, actually.

No, actually, we've got Mike Hyatt with us. Mike, welcome to the show. Hey, thanks for having me on. Thanks for inviting me. Mike, you've been on the show before. I have. We did a third pour session.

Blind, yeah. That was good. So see what happens when you do blind pours with friends the next thing you know, you're a host on the bourbon road.

So Mike, you've agreed to become a host on the show and you've been going out on the road with us here the past few times and as we've done our interviews. to try and be sort of an understudy of Randy's, I guess, more or less.

No, come on, listen, he's been a roadie, man. We had to break him in. He's doing an internship. Our bourbon ship, is that what we call it?

Mike is no stranger to the microphone now. He's been on a couple of times, been to a few shows. He's written a couple of blogs for us now. He's very active on social media. I think I'd say that's kind of your strong point, isn't it? You're writing skills and you're in your social skills with people. You're kind of a social butterfly.

I don't know about all that. Yeah. You know, I don't think anybody comes and tracks my big, big self down and says, Hey, let me go find big chief.

But the thing about that is that when you walk in there, everybody knows big chief in the room.

So if everybody doesn't know, that's my nickname as big chief for my military background and I'm just a small little fella.

Anyway, so we're making this transition. So this is kind of the show where Randy is kind of saying goodbye to everybody or so long for a while anyway.

For a while. I'll be back and forth between Louisville and Virginia quite often until the end of the year. Yeah. So, you know, hopefully we can do more of these. I won't be able to do it every week like I've been doing.

But Mike is stepping up and taking on the microphone as co-host here. And he's got a pretty good skill set. Mike, why don't you take a little time here and sort of give somebody a little bit of your background and where you come from and what you do for fun. And if you want to mention your work, that's fine. If not, we all understand. Oh, sure.

So my name is Mike Hyatt. I served 24 years in the Coast Guard. retired as a chief out of the coast guard, hence the name big chief part, native American. I like to hunt a lot. What drive outdoor kick a poo kick. What now? I don't like to kick that stuff.

Oh, that's horrible.

That is horrible. So I got invited to come interview for a job here in Louisville, Kentucky. And we decided we'd take the position back with the U S coast guard. Um, I know that's weird to have the Coast Guard here in Kentucky, but there is a big old river down there that a lot of bourbon comes from. So we decided we would move to Kentucky and fell in love with it here. And we decided to stay. And you know what, how blessed am I to get invited by you guys to be a cohost? I just feel really blessed. Hey, Kentucky is a charming place. It'll grab you buddy. Well, it's great to have you. And you're originally from? I'm originally from Texas, but we feel right at home here. I've never met so many friendly people before that just embrace you and take care of your community. We have a small farm out here in Shelbyville, Kentucky. And whenever we go out on our back deck, you'd almost think you're in Gatlinburg, but it is Kentucky through and through. That Kentucky bluegrass down in our bottom, we love it.

And when it comes to bourbon, you've got

a respectable collection. I was going to say his collection is about where yours is, Jim. Yeah, a whole lot bigger than mine. I wouldn't say that. I have a nice collection, I think, where it needs to be right now. It's not for looking at. If you come over to my house or invited, Jim and I think Randy will both say that You're going to get to open a bottle if it's not open and we'll drink it.

And I'd say that about both you guys. If you see something there you like and the bottle's not open, it will be open for you.

Yeah.

Because if you're coming over and they don't think they want to share something with you, that bottle ain't going to be on anyway. I might have a couple bottles hit away just for special occasions.

You know, I'm hoping to have some grandkids one day and you know, when those grandkids are born, I think them bottles, one of the bottles get opened and you know, that's kind of special occasions when I think about his grandkids, birthdays, something that means a lot of a step in life. Like retirement for me? Retirement for Randy. We brought something for you today. That's cool.

Yeah. So what did, uh, what did you bring for Randy today in, in, in honor of his, uh, departing town?

So I brought three bourbons with me today. I brought Bowman brothers, pioneer spirits, their Virginia bourbon. I brought a, uh, yellow rose outlaw bourbon from Texas, kind of, kind of for me. And then, uh, to tie us all three together, I brought some Sam Houston 12 year. And I've heard it's really good juice. Um, it means 12 years old. It's gotta be good, right?

Well, we certainly hope so, because it's in a beautiful bottle. I can tell you, that's a sharp looking bottle.

And I think it's more about, it's not a Texas bourbon, it's actually a Kentucky bourbon. But I think it's more about celebrating the man, Sam Houston, than anything. Yeah.

All right. Well, we've got our first bourbon in front of us, and this is the Bowman. Now again, what's the proof on this one?

90 proof. 90 proof. See, then that's right in my range.

Now, is it age-stated? It isn't. So, man, it's a straight bourbon. So it's at least two.

At least two years old, yeah.

The fact that it is not age-stated means that it's at least four, because otherwise they'd have to put some years and months on there somewhere. We're drinking something that's at least four years old, straight bourbon whiskey. No bash bill, no other information than that, right? Not a whole lot on there. Just a Virginia distillery.

That's what it says. Is that a Fredericksburg, Virginia? That's where my daughter went to college at, so it can't be bad. What schools in Fredericksburg? University of Mary Washington. Little Bitty College. Nice, pretty campus. Been there since the 1700s.

Virginia is a very old state. I mean, really, when you think about when they all joined the statehood and all that, you know, country and stuff.

All right. Well, let's, uh, let's check this thing out. I've had this before. Have you? Yes.

And did you have the finished one or did you have just the straight part? No, I had, it was not the finished. Okay. And, and I'm looking forward to this because I remember it fondly.

I was like, you know, that's Virginia's doing themselves proud. And this is, it's really good nose on it. Yeah.

It's very floral, a little bit of fruit. It's a nice nose. On the taste, definitely very sweet. Yeah. Very sweet whiskey.

The finish doesn't last real long, you know, a long time per se, but it does go across the palate pretty smooth.

I'm getting kind of a little bit of a nutty flavor to it. Right on the mid palate.

I was thinking like dried cherries or something. It, it is very floral and it, it tastes, it is super sweet. Yeah. I'm getting almonds.

You know, that, that might be, let me try this again. That might be one of them thought I might have gotten. Cause I wanted to say nutmeg, but it wasn't that harsh.

Honey roasted almonds.

Yeah. Yeah.

I'll go there because it's very sweet and you can definitely get, uh, the toasted Oak in it. And it does have that fruity floral note to it.

Just that slight, slight peppery taste on the back end, just a little bit, ever so slightly. But really pretty smooth.

That's actually a fairly enjoyable pour. Randy, you, you, you're actually going to have something on the shelf down, down the road from you that.

And I'm not saying I won't have this, but you know, I'll be backing forward to Kentucky.

That's all. You're saying you're going to have a bottle of Blanton's on top of that mountain top.

I'm not saying, but I have some of my favorites and some stuff that I want to try that I haven't tried that I'll probably take with me and I'll have them hid back somewhere. I'll be thinking about you guys when the snow falls and I'm sitting there by the little fire.

We've had enough of these shows now. that our listeners know what you like, and they know what you're going to be boxing up to take that. They don't know everything.

They just think they do.

You're going to have some of that ancient age. You're going to have some of that Blanton's, a little bit of Elmer T. You can't get Elmer T. That's why I have to come over here because he's stuck.

You just got to cross the mountain range there and come on over here. Yeah. Hey, it's 64 straight over. I can't complain. It's a straight drive.

It's a straight drive and pretty drive. And you get into West Virginia and the mountains kind of stir you up a little bit there. It'll wake you right up. It sure will. So does this Bowman Brothers remind you of anything at all? I don't want to say this because people would think I'm crazy, but it went across my mid palette a lot like that McKenna did. And, and the oil, the viscosity of it, you know what I'm saying? It's just went, and I was like, okay. It, uh, it didn't round the corner as much as some of those hotter ones you guys.

Now, do we know if the Bowman brothers is a sourced whiskey?

It is, it is a source whiskey right now. I think they're trying to age their own stuff now, but.

So it is fairly new. It is a pretty new bourbon. What does it remind you of?

Kind of a mix between like Evan Williams 1783 and Buffalo Trace a little bit. Oh, gotcha. If I mix those two together,

Very similar to that.

The taste wasn't McKenna, but I was going, man... That almondy kind of... Yeah, the almondy kind of does, but it's that front of the palate that reminds me of like a Buffalo Trace product. But as soon as it hits the mid palate, I get that almond. I start thinking about Heaven Hill. Big Chief, you're already done, man. It must be good.

Well, I didn't give myself a heavy as a porter. I got stuff to go home and do today, so I figured... I poured heavy for both of you guys though, because.

Well, that's why we're still drinking on it. But while, while we're drinking and you're not, won't you tell us what you've been drinking lately?

I've been drinking a little bit of everything, right. And a couple of reviews, uh, Jefferson reserves, oceans, which voyage 19, 19, really? I think that means 18 or 19, 18. I think 18 we did is a weeded bourbon. It was all right. It wasn't my favorite. We did bourbon. Um, and I, for the price range, you know, I thought it would be a little bit more than it is.

Now, you did that review on Facebook and Instagram. Both. Now, are you going to put that on the website as a review as well? I will.

I reviewed a couple others. You know, I always stick to that Old Faithful. You know, Weller's Special Reserve for me, and I got that Rebel UL-10 here. That's kind of a special bourbon for me. I'll put that away. Wilderness Trail, which I went with you guys to check it out, their wheat is, man, that's some good juice right there. I love it.

Now, your reviews are a little bit different than a typical standard review. You kind of just talk plain and simple, what you like about it. you don't give like a nose palette, finished number rating and all that kind of stuff.

I guess if you read into it, into the, into the review, it it'll, it's in there. It just doesn't, it's not formatted like that. And, and I didn't want to format it like that. I mean, you talked about that a little bit. Um, I want every reader or every listener to be able to understand bourbon. You know, I don't want to get in the science of it or anything. I want the average guy that goes into a bourbon store to be like, wow, this is what this tastes like. And, And everybody, all the reviews online, you read them and they're all about the same. I want it from a, uh, just a drinker's perspective, a guy that walks into a liquor store and says, Hey, I want to grab this layman's terms. If you know, just, uh, I don't need to, I know I'm not Dr. Bourbon for sure.

No, no, no. And to me, that's what it's all about. Because we've said since the beginning, it looks like a lot of the people we appeal to are the fringe. It's not always- Bourbon curious. Yeah, bourbon curious. And when you have somebody go, hey, I'm up here in Michigan, like I told you that one person, I'm up here in Michigan. And I tried some stuff and some mixed drinks, but you make me want to try it. straight, neat. Yeah. You know, you make me want to, to try that and see if I can't pick out some of this stuff. And you know, Hey, there's a place for that.

I was talking to my son before I came over here and he lives down in Louisiana. And I said, Hey, have you met anybody that drinks bourbon? He's like, nobody drinks bourbon down here. And Louisiana's he's in the air force. And he, he said, I said, well, I guarantee you, you'll find a couple of guys that will end up drinking a little bit. and they'll drink. You'll find some bourbon drinkers.

Yeah, so they're out there. They're just more concentrated in some areas than others. I mean, they're on every street corner here. They're following the trucks around from the distillery going, hey. Well, here's my review of Bowman. All right. All right. Here we go, ladies and gentlemen. Randy, anytime I come to visit you in Virginia in your porn bowman, it's just fine with me. It's okay. It's just fine with me.

I think this is high on a mountain top there.

I tell you that. If they're just now getting started, it'd be interesting to see what their age stuff would be here down the road.

Yeah. So, I mean, it's not a knock your socks off bourbon. It's nothing out of this world. It's just a good solid dram. And, you know, I don't know where they get it from. I don't know any of the stats on it, the mash bill, all that kind of stuff. But at the end of the day, when it's in my glass, tastes good. Yeah.

And that's it. From the nose on back.

So we know there's one bourbon over there and also that Catoctin Creek I think is from over there as well, right? I don't know how you pronounce that.

There's another one over there as well. You know, I don't know a lot about Virginia. I used to visit there as a kid, Winchester area. I had a stepfather in the Air Force and that's where his home was and he'd gone to school with Patsy Cline. What was her actual name? I forgot.

I don't know.

You know how he goes, but he had gone to school with her. So, you know, all the way from Washington State or Alaska or North Dakota, wherever we were traveling from, it was Patsy Cline that you heard on. He'd be playing her for a bunch.

There's a lot to see in Virginia and I think over the next. 10 years, I bet you'll see more bourbon distilleries pop up here and there.

Well, you know, after that conversation with Chris Morris over there at Woodford, that whole Mount Vernon and Washington stuff, I'm definitely going to be going to Mount Washington, I mean to Vernon.

So anybody who is listening now that didn't catch that episode, I don't remember the episode number, it's a few back from this one, but we interviewed Elizabeth McCall and Chris Morris over at Woodford Reserve. And they gave us sort of the rundown story on making whiskey at George Washington's Mount Vernon home. So I guess George Washington was the largest distiller in America at one time.

At one time, yeah.

And it's not a well-known or widely known fact because they don't put it in the textbooks. So it just didn't survive the ages. Right. But it's a fact. And they unearthed all that. The archaeologists pulled it all out. And then they got everything running again. And they're making whiskey over there. Yeah.

So it'd be interesting to go and watch the process and taste, do a little tasting and, you know, see what it's all about.

So when we come to visit you in Virginia, we'll probably scoot away for a day or so. That would work. That would be fine.

That'd be fine. That's a drive right there. That's a big drive.

Well guys, thumbs up on this one. What do we have next?

I think next we're going to go to that Texas bourbon, 100% corn. That's a, that's a new one for us, right? That's going to be interesting. Looking forward to it. It's called outlaw bourbon for a reason. They're breaking all those rules. Yellow Rose.

All right. Let's pour it.

All right. So lightning fast, like Mike, you just poured us the next bourbon. Won't you tell us a little bit about it?

So it's the yellow rose from, uh, from Texas. It's an outlaw bourbon. They said 100% corn. Oh yeah. It's like the lawn ranger over there. I must be Tonto.

No, the yellow rose of Texas is a great song, man.

Just saying. 90, 93 proof. So this is a corn whiskey, but it's also bourbon.

100% corn.

Okay, so we know that bourbon has to be at least 51% corn, so Evan, 100% is more than 51, so it qualifies there. So why do they say that it breaks the laws of bourbon?

I'm not sure. They just state it in their website and on the bottle it even says that.

It just sounds good because they're outlaws, right?

Maybe it's because from Houston down there, that's pretty hot down there. Yeah. It doesn't get real cold down there. I'd say 46 and you know, if it's 46 down there. Now, what was the proof on this again? 93 proof.

So 93 proof. It is a bourbon whiskey according to the label, but it's not straight. So it's less than two years old. My guess.

Yeah, I'd say that.

If you're reading from the label and trying to make a determination based on that. So we're drinking a hundred percent corn liquor bourbon whiskey. that is less than two years old, made in Texas. But you know, in Texas, two years is a long time in a barrel, that heat. There's going to be some, the angels will be happy. Let's just say that.

I would say so down there. All right. Let's try it. Well, there's white dog.

Yeah, I'm definitely getting, I'm definitely getting ethanol and corn on the nose. I was going to say it's, it's pretty young.

I'm saying burnt caramel.

Yeah, but it is caramely. There is a little bit of a fruity note on the front. I'm surprised to get that from the corn, but it's probably coming from the barrel. But you'd expect to be sweet with corn, you know? Oh yeah. That's, um, that's like eating candy.

Candy corn. There you go. Candy corn. Candy corn. I don't know. I don't think it's, uh, quite as sweet as that Bowman. Really? It's sweet.

But you know, for as young as it is, I was expecting it to be a little, it's actually not bad, man. I like this.

You feel that pepper on the back end a little bit?

Yep. Yellow rose.

I might have to date her.

It's a little buttery too. Yeah. Yeah. I'm really surprised.

That's pretty good bourbon. I don't mind it so much. I drink it.

It's still a little bright, you know, so you know, it's, it's a little bit young, but I mean, I would not say, honestly, I would not say this was under two years old. I haven't been surprised like this since that, uh, since you cheated. No, that's six months. No, that's six. What did we have that was six months? OCD OCD number five.

Yeah, I did for six months. It kind of surprised me. Maybe it's, maybe it's the 100% corn. I'm not sure.

Well, usually you get kind of a, you know, the barley is usually necessary in the fermentation process to get those enzymes that are needed. But I guess they can add those enzymes as well. Not to get too technical here, but 100% corn. I mean, there's no rye, there's no barley in there, but this has got a little bit of pepper on the back end, doesn't it?

It does. A little bit of that black pepper.

This wouldn't be at the top of my list, but I'm glad I tried it.

If I went to Texas and this was all that was available, I'd say hook me up with some Yellow Roach. As I say in Texas, this is fair to Midland. Fair to Midland.

But I wonder if it's, do they say that in Texas?

I don't think so.

Is that, is that a Kentucky?

They say Lucan Bach, Texas a lot. That's I'm from Hill Hill country and that's Lucan Bach. Texas is a, I'm sure both of you heard that song before. Yeah. Yeah.

And he's probably saying it once or twice in his life. It seems like I have heard that song before.

No, I think, uh, you know, I started going to look for these, these three bourbons, um, or I was wanting to bring three bourbons and I said, well, Randy's going to Virginia, so I'm going to get a Virginia bourbon. wasn't too hard to find that. So then I go to look for a Texas bourbon. Now that was a little bit harder to find than I thought it would be.

So that, you know, Randy's going out, going on down the road and he's going to Virginia. You're coming in the door. You're not really coming from Texas, but you're originally from there.

Originally from Texas. I haven't been there in 20, 28 years now.

Okay. So what we'll say is that the bourbon road is about to fork. we're going to come to a fork in the road. Virginia goes one way. We got this here and then Texas is headed.

He's a Cowboys fan though. Oh man, here we go. Oh boy. Hey, they laid it out last night. They laid it out. So whenever I went shopping for this, um, I went to three or four different stores and said, Hey, I need a Virginia, a Virginia bourbon. Where did you find this actually? I went over our friends over at Westport Whiskey and Wine and we talked about three different bourbons they had there from Texas and this is what they recommended and I'm glad that they could give me something that would honor my state.

So what's the story about the yellow rose there?

Well, my wife, she was an Air Force brat like you. She was born in Texas. She's a half German and half Spanish. And when she was born, she got named Vivian Rose and she was kind of a little yellow. She's half Spanish, so she has a darker complex. sometimes she gets called a yellow rose. Whenever it's her birthday, I buy her yellow roses. So to me, that's kind of special, you know, a special bourbon.

Hey, that's a great little story. I mean, pass me the Kleenex. I mean, this is getting in the middle here, buddy.

Mike's soft side.

Yeah. He's got a heart after all, ladies and gentlemen.

You know what I think this would be good in? This would make a great Kentucky meal. Maybe we should call it a Texas meal. I don't know.

Yeah, I don't know. I was thinking of making a great cocktail, no matter what. I think it would stand out in a cocktail. Quite surprising with the pepper to me that being 100% corn.

Maybe we'll, I don't have the stuff to make a mule, but maybe we'll, when we're done recording the show today, maybe we'll make it old fashioned with it and see what it tastes like.

So Randy, what are you going to be doing in the meantime? Are you just going to set up on that mountain and look pretty?

The reason I agreed to all of this is because my wife told me that after all these years of pushing so hard, I get to take about a six month sabbatical. So that means I get to sit up there on that mountain top and contemplate life and what I might want to do in the future for about six months.

So that's as doctors speak for doing nothing.

Hey, it's great. If you have to pick a place, folks, I'll tell you, if you have to pick a place to sit in and do nothing and just enjoy life a little bit, sit back, Randy, did you ever pick a place? Cause it is beautiful up there in the blue.

I remember going through the Shenandoah Valley as a kid and going, man, this is a beautiful place. And, and Camp Blue Ridge is probably, I want to say less than five miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway. It's not far from the Appalachian Trail. In fact, I think for the last summer camp, they took some of the staff and actually hiked part of the Appalachian Trail for a couple of days just for an outing for the staff. And we went up there and Julie got to go horseback riding. I got to take the four wheeler out and I was like, you know what, with three waterfalls on property and 650 acres and some of the stuff I said, I can just see me setting a chair out here and taking a cup of coffee in the morning. maybe a glass of bourbon in the evening and watching the sun rise and sunset for a little while.

There you go. So your horses, um, are going to become, uh, they're going to work there.

Yeah. They've been camp horses before, you know, so they'll, they'll get back in the routine of doing that kind of thing. And the dogs are just going to live the good life. The coon hounds, we're going to have to figure that, figure that one out. And we may have to get GPS collars because they may get on something and we'll hear some howling on the mountainside, you know, but.

But let's be realistic about this. I know you've been talking about writing a book. I know you've been working on an album and you've got at least one song done. Oh, I've got several songs done.

And actually, I talked to Bo Garrett last week. He plays guitar with Montgomery Gentry and I said, And I got a lick in my head, I need somebody to play this for me. And he said, hey, I got a little studio at the house, come to the house. And I said, the song's called Blondes and Bourbon, how appropriate for that kind of thing there. And he said, come on, let's do it. And I said, sounds good to me. He's got his own project going on and stuff. you know, some, I'll have time to do some collaboration kind of things.

Well, when you, when you start releasing a little bit, you'll let us know so that we can put some links out. So some of our listeners can pop in from time to time and check in on you.

Well, like I told Julie, when we were talking about all this, I said, it's going to be rough at first girl. Cause it's daddy rabbit's been out of the business for a little while. So it's going to, it's going to sound like screaming monkeys to start.

Well, between Bo and your friends down at Confederate Railroad, I think you've got a lot of pals out there.

You know, and I want to do that, and I'll have time to do that. So, hey, say I come back to Louisville and we do a show here, head down to Gadsden, Alabama, where, you know, Mo, who plays bass with Confederate Railroad, is, well, actually Rusty's down there too, the guitar player. He used to play with Sammy Kershaw before he joined railroad. Head to Georgia when I see my mom. I'm Joey's just down the road. You know Joey's playing keyboards with him now, so Yeah, you know see if I can't get these guys to do what do some recording? You know, hey, what better, what better folks can you get, you know, to play on some stuff. So, you know, but September is, man, it's smashed full of stuff.

So, no bourbon beyond for you.

You know what? And that's, that's the way my life's gone though, Jim. Yeah. Here's the deal. I've lived in Hawaii and Florida, but I don't get certified scuba. Until I come to Kentucky and go to a, to a freaking, you know, to some kind of mine that's filled in, you know, somewhere down. Yeah.

You get, you get done. What's important. We know you got a lot going on this month and I'm, I'm glad we were able to do this transition early, uh, to sort of take a little bit of load off you.

You know, I appreciate that because it's it's booked up. You know, you got when you have horses, you know, you know how the bourbon culture is, the horse, all the horse be playing. You got you got to think about them and the animals that you do have and making those transitions and stuff. So I appreciate you let me do that there, but I'll have to come back. I'll just, you know, I'll have some time. Yep. And I can come back and hang out with you guys and we'll go to bourbon and beyond, you know, and actually, uh, actually have some fun with, you know, I think bourbon and beyond is only going to get bigger. So I, and you know, I agree because when I first moved here, uh, let's see, Julie and I married in 2012. So I started living here, you know, around these parts here, Shelbyville actually is where we, where we used to live. 2012 and to see where it's come in the last seven years. Oh my goodness, you know, it's like Where the whole bourbon cult this this whole boom has come from in seven years has been Amazing. It's just blowing up.

I think we've been here for three years and I I'm just amazed at the new distilleries that are popping up the

And they're good, man. When you look at Peerless and Wilderness Trail and New Riff and some of the stuff coming up, you know, I don't know that I've ever had any rabbit hole and I think I'm gonna have some rabbit hole before I leave. You know, just some new craft stuff that's even coming up, you know.

Make sure you load up your, your, your traveling box when you leave with a few good ones, especially the Kentucky only stuff, you know?

Well, and not craft. Yeah. Straight, regular stuff.

It's JTS Brown.

Yep. You can get your JTS Brown. Man, you're killing me.

I was going to say old Forester's because you know you can buy some out there.

Sitting around the fire last night, we sat around our little fire pit because, you know, we finally got like a fall day in August. Can you imagine? Right. Oh, what a beautiful day. It was awesome. And, you know, that's to me, part of the bourbon culture sitting around that fire pit with a little music going. And that's it. So you've got to talk to one another and you find out things about each other that you didn't know before. And you know, Old Forester is what we were drinking last night. Good deal.

Not a bad bottle to have around a fire.

I was going to say that's a solid every time, you know. So.

We would like to thank Tommy and Gwen Mitchell from Loghead's Home Center for supporting this episode of the Bourbon Road. Loghead's Home Center, nestled in the hills of Kentucky, is an industry leader in building handcrafted rustic furniture. Family owned and operated, they take pride in offering only the very best for their customers. The Logheads, and that's what they like to call themselves, are skilled 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 LogHeads Home Center. Well, we also have something coming up the weekend of the 6th of September, the 6th through the 8th. It's the Kentucky State Barbecue Festival, and it's going to be at the Wilderness Trail Distillery in Danville, Kentucky.

And I wish I could go with you, dude, Mike. I wish I could go with you big chief down there to hang out with Shane and Pat down there and who all else.

So Shane and Pat has invited us to come down and be the podcast of the barbecue festival.

No pressure, Mike. No pressure. I'm looking forward to it.

Just to sit back in that house again and just walk around on the grounds as a guest to me is amazing.

So I like your plan. You're going to set up to record in the house and you're also going to walk around and talk to some people as well.

I think and walk around and you know, hopefully some of our listeners are out there. Um, you know, you see me walking around. I'm, I'm quite easy to spot walking around out there. You didn't get him a bourbon road shirt, right?

Well, it, it will be in, but unfortunately his shirts won't be until the 13th of September, which is the week after, you know, why? Oh man. Oh, don't do it.

Special order is going to have to be big.

Yeah. But I'm looking forward to going out there and just walking around and talk to listeners and then maybe have some special guests come in that inside the house there and sit down with me. And supposedly there's gonna be some big names in bourbon there and some big names in barbecue, barbecue.

Yeah, that's the thing. And these folks. I had a, I had a brother that was on a barbecue cooking team that used to go to Memphis and compete, you know, Memphis and me. Yeah. Oh yeah. I'm telling you, you know what I'm talking about then. Oh yeah. And they're serious about that stuff, folks.

Yeah. And Mike, you're pretty, you're pretty serious barbecue guy yourself, right?

I would say I dabble with it. You're not a competition guy. I'm not a competition guy. I'm a, I'm an eating barbecue kind of guy, but I think I make pretty good barbecue.

And, um, you know, that's not what I'm after. What I'm after is I understand that you've done some pretty good job with some venison sausage. I do that too.

I like to hunt a little bit for in the outdoors and, and I, I prefer to do my own, uh, processing and I like to make my own jalapeno summer sausage, which both of you gentlemen have got a little bit upstairs.

Yeah. And, and so you can hook me up before I leave, right? I actually have some for you. Oh, are you kidding me?

I just did 22 pounds of it the other day and I smoked it up and it's in the refrigerator right now, finishing up and I'll package it up and I'll make sure you go to Virginia with something.

Now I really am shedding a tear.

Well, I tell you, we hope that anybody who's listening to this podcast, if they're thinking, looking for something to do that weekend, the weekend of the sixth through the, uh, It's Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

I think I'm going to be out there on the morning of the eighth Friday. They, they have some private events going on on Saturdays, the big day out there. And that's the day I'll be out there. I'll probably be out there from nine o'clock until, until about four. If you want to try to catch me out there, I'll be there, be in the house for a couple of hours or not be around the grounds. And like I said, you, you won't miss me for sure.

Well, and here's the deal. I, you know, the wife goes to sign the paperwork this week. And depending on what the schedule looks like, if I can break away for that day, I'll come hang out with you. If it's just that one day, maybe I can, I can break away for that one day and then we'll see what we can do.

I think to be out there and even to be a guest of Pat and Shane's out there on their grounds. Folks, if you haven't been out there to wilderness trail, you definitely need to go out to Danville. Folks keep your eyes on these guys.

Absolutely. I mean, they, from what I'm tasting and from what they're doing and they're just really getting cranking, you know, get, I want to see where these guys are in five years. Maybe, you know what I mean? It's just going to be, to me, amazing.

But I'm going to drink their stuff the whole five years.

I'm not saying you don't because they're, and you know, me and most of you guys, most of the people that have listened to this show know that when I first hooked up with Jim, I wasn't a right guy. I didn't care for rye in between the carters and then that wilderness trail. Oh, their rye is just off the chain. It's good stuff. And man, I want to see where they're going to be.

I think they're going to go a long ways in the Bourbon community. And it's good for good for Kentucky, too. You know, it's good for tourism.

Well, you know, I was sitting there thinking when I was awake at two o'clock this morning, how supportive all the master distillers are in the state of Kentucky of each other. If somebody goes down and they need something, hey, look, we'll house some stuff. We'll do some stuff for you. And they don't tear each other's product down. They lift each other up, and that's one part of the bourbon culture that I really love. It's a team effort, really. At the end of the day, it's pretty awesome to be a part of.

I think that's what drew me and my wife to Kentucky was the generosity here and everybody. Pat and Shane and the rest of the Master Distillers, they live that lifestyle. They live that as their Their creed, I guess, is what you would call it.

Well, when you hear stories like Bo told us last week of, you know, Jimmy Russell and Fred Ngo, actually, they know each other. They know the product, you know. They're always keeping up with what's going on with the other guy because, you know, hey, it's a friendly competition. Sure. But at the end of the day, we're all in it for the same. What was your quote, Jim? I love that quote.

Rising tide raises all ships. That's not mine. That's been around for a very long time.

I understand, but I hadn't heard it until you guys. So, you know, rising tide raises all ships. And hey, I love that about the bourbon cult.

You know, one of the things I like about the culture, and I also like about our show, the sharing of the bourbon, it's the same thing that happens when you share a meal. You know, it's just that camaraderie that comes together. It kind of levels the playing field a little bit. people just tend to become closer during those times. And I don't think it matters whether or not they're friends or competitors in business, that the same thing happens. You sit on a couch next to a guy, you enjoy a glass of his bourbon, even though you might be a bourbon maker, You gain a lot of respect for him. You're, you're, you're sharing common ground. You're sharing conversation. You know, you're focusing on the product and the flavor of it and you're appreciating what he has done. And next week when he's over at your place, he's doing the same thing. Now you're not going to stand up in a room and say, I like this guy's better than this guy's. These guys aren't going to tell you, Hey, I drink this guy's and I like it the best. They're not going to do that. They drink everybody's. They're drinking their own stuff.

The thing is, you can use the same analogy as a musician. If I want to know where my music fits and what little niche that I have in my music, I listen to everybody's music. You just do that kind of thing.

You get a great appreciation for what they do. All right, guys. Well, I think I'm ready to move on to bourbon number three. What do you think? Let's do it. All right.

This is the 12 year stuff here. So for our third pour, we got a Sam Houston 12 year. It's a Kentucky straight bourbon, 98 proof. Where is it distilled? Does it say? It says it's distilled in Varshtown, Kentucky. Wow. Okay.

So what's the age on this bourbon?

12 years, 11 months. Are you kidding me? Wow. So this was distilled in April of 2006. Wow. Man. Okay. So it didn't matter where they got the juice.

This sector has been sitting around for a while.

So who bottles this whiskey and where? It's bottled by Three Springs Bottling Company down in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Oh, okay. Yeah, familiar with Three Springs. For Western spirits.

Got it. Okay. So is there a match bill on this?

74% corn, 18% rye, and an 8% malted barley. This should be right up your road, right? Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it sounds a little familiar, but we'll let our listeners decipher that. I'm not going to say anything.

You know, when I smell it, there's something familiar about it. This is something I have tasted before.

Number four char barrel, which if our listeners don't know what the number four char is, that's about 55 seconds on that char.

So this is a, this is a sourced bourbon out of a barge town and it's a 12 year old stock. It is a, it's proofed down to 90 proof. You said 90, 98, 98 proof. Okay.

Okay. So, so in my range, definitely where I would like it.

So I don't guess I understand why Sam Houston. So this is a Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey and, but it's named Sam Houston.

So to tie our free bourbons in a day, you know, I had this upon a shelf and I, I'd looked for this bourbon and looked for it and looked for it. And it was a bottle that I wanted because Sam Houston, he's just a guy I respect. I respect the hell out of that guy. Why? Well, Randy, so you're going to Virginia? Well, Sam Houston was born in the mountains of Virginia, right there in Lexington, Virginia, where you're moving to. He went to Tennessee. He was the governor of Tennessee. He was a state senator in Tennessee. And then he said, well, you know what? I'm going to go down to this place called Tejas. And a lot of Americans were coming down there to start doing life and stuff and getting these land grants from Mexico. And they didn't like how they were being taxed. So they started up their little revolutions and Sam Houston was a big part of that. I know a lot of people have heard the story of the Alamo and how they fought and he kind of took revenge on the Mexican army. Yeah, he ran Santa Ana out of that particular territory. Made him put a dress on. He found him in a dress, hiding. What? He did. Now hold it back, back the train up now.

Back the train up.

What? So, uh, Santa Ana, he, they attacked him on a, on in a morning. Santa Ana went and hid in a back of a wagon and dressed up like an old lady. Um, so he could hide.

This is the guy that had 5,000 troops on 120 at the, at the Alamo. He did. And then he went and got in and out of dress. How much time it transpired between those two events?

I think it was a couple of months. Um, I don't know the exact time frame. I'd have to look it up. But they, man, that's how I've had Texas history too. And it's been a while though. But Sam Houston, he wanted to revenge and he wanted to make sure that Texas won its independence. And then eventually Texas became a state. He was the first president of the Texas Republic. And then he, I think he became the sixth governor of Texas. And then he became a Texas state senator for the US Senate. So he's a hell of a man.

So you brought all three bourbons today. And the first one you bought in honor of Randy going to Virginia, you brought the Bowman Brothers, which is a Virginia whiskey, a bourbon whiskey. And then you brought the Yellow Rose of Texas, which is a Texas whiskey, which represents you coming in from Texas and your wife. And then to kind of tie it all together, you brought the Sam Houston, which is a Kentucky, let's get this right. This is a Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey. named after a guy who was born in Virginia, but made his fame in Texas. I think he was already a pretty famous politician at that time in life.

And for those days, the man lived to be 70 years old. That's a pretty good old age at that time.

I don't know. They say Dan will live to what, 83, 80 in Missouri when he passed finally. But, uh,

Yeah.

Yeah. Those days tough old birds. Job well done putting this together. What a great tribute trio of bottles.

How apropos. I think, uh, respect the hell out of you guys in this, in this podcast. I was just honored to come on here and I wanted to do it justice and say, Hey, um, I brought three bottles of bourbon that anybody, you can go and purchase any of these and almost every liquor store. You might be hard pressed to find the Sam Houston, but you can find it.

Well, let's, let's, uh, well, here's to you and Sam Houston. Oh, that is a bold whiskey. That is, um, it is very thick. It's very, um, Caramel Oak rich. There's definitely, um, some dark notes to it and it

And it doesn't shoot straight across the pallet. It rounds the corner, as I say. And the finish isn't bad, man. That lasts for a little bit.

But I'm getting some, I'm getting, definitely getting like a warehouse must kind of age to it. You know, the older oak kind of warehousy kind of flavor.

This has bothered me for a while. You guys don't mind if I just like bring this up. I've been hearing the last few podcasts about this oak taste and I'm not getting this oak. What am I missing that I'm not getting the oak everybody talks about? Well, do you drink wine? Do I drink wine? Yes. On occasion, yeah.

So do you drink any bold like Cabernet Sauvignon's, anything?

I like Cabernet's actually.

So you get that kind of tannin, kind of oaky tannin flavor on the bold aged wine.

Does that equate to a little bit of bitterness? Not quite.

I mean, it can. It can lead to a little bit of dryness on the back of the palate. It can definitely give you that kind of, I don't know, I don't know how to explain it. Tannins kind of dry out the tongue a little bit.

Randy, I've always been kind of the same like you when I'm drinking a bourbon. I don't always get that oaky taste to it, but whenever I drink a red wine, a really deep, rich, dark red wine, I'll get that oaky taste. I know what that thing's been an oak barrel. And I can taste just a little bit in this right here, maybe cause it's been sitting in the barrel so long. But sometimes I have to wonder what I drink a bourbon that somebody else says, Oh, this is okay.

And I'm like, Oh, I get that leather taste because it's been sitting around the warehouse and I'm sitting here going, geez, I feel like I'm in Hawaii again. And that, that wave just went over the bottom. I think what typically happens with the,

The older aged bourbons is you get a little bit more of that later oak influence that shows up on the back of the palate. It shows up as sometimes leather, tobacco. Okay, tobacco, I can relate to. Kind of a, you know. That dry taste you get from there. That dry taste. That, you know, the lubrication on your tongue kind of goes away and it becomes kind of, it sticks to the roof of your mouth a little bit.

Okay.

I don't know how to explain it. That's kind of the best I can do.

But at least you guys give me a direction, you know. Hey, we're not a bunch of science guys here. We're just guys drinking some bourbon, right?

And everybody knows that my sniffer is not the greatest. You know, I've got a deviated septum. I've had problems breathing all my entire life, you know, and that I don't quite catch the nose.

Well, there's plenty of guys out here doing bourbon reviews. And although we like to talk about the bourbons we're drinking, We're not necessarily dissecting them like a wine sommelier. There's plenty of people out there that do a perfectly fine job of that, and I guess we're just not right there. We're not there yet.

I don't know if we'll ever be there. I don't want to be that guy that... talks like that. I want to be a guy that sits down and drinks some bourbon. And I think both of you guys are the same way. We just like to enjoy our bourbon and you know, hey, that's a good bottle of bourbon.

And you know what? I think Bo said it best last week. He said, it's not how much bourbon you drink, it's how you drink your bourbon. And I was sitting there going, okay, he's in the groove. That's where, that's where I'm at. It doesn't take a lot. It just takes a little to get the taste. Now, what am I tasting now? Let me dig a little bit deeper, you know, and, uh, geez, you know, this, this shows basically has taught me that, you know, let's dig a little deeper. When am I actually getting here?

Let's take a note from what, uh, what Bo said last week and you know, the kind of the, a little bit of advice that Jimmy gave him. He said, you know, when I talk about bourbon, I just like to speak plainly.

Yeah. You know, so the people understand what I'm saying.

So if you're speaking plainly about this bourbon, Randy, this Sam Houston bourbon, what would you say about it?

I like it. That's plain. That's pretty plain. Because it's smooth and you guys know that it's right in my range of heat. And so when I took it on the front end, I'm sitting there going, okay, what am I getting? You always get the caramels and vanilla. You always get that kind of stuff there. And I go, Okay, it's something a little different, a little bit darker. So am I getting a dark fruit on the front end? What am I getting? And then the next thing is, I talk about rounding the corner. So sometimes the mid-palette, it'll shoot straight across. You know what I mean? And you get to the finish. This didn't do that. It took a little bit and it rounded the corner just a tad. And the finish though, it sticks around, but it's not peppery. Does that make sense? I don't know.

Total sense.

And I'm sitting there going, dang, this is pretty smooth.

Um, They definitely did Sam Houston justice here with respect to him and picked out a good bourbon.

If I was in Texas and this is what I was offered, we'd drink it up, you know, we definitely would drink this.

So if I was speaking, speaking plainly about this, and I'll give you the same chance when I'm finished here, Mike, if I was speaking plainly about the Sam Houston bourbon, I would say that this is a well-aged bourbon. It's, um, it's a good sipping whiskey. It's got a boldness to it. When you take that first nose and that first sip of it, it is absolutely present in the moment. It gives you everything it's got in that first sip and then it sticks around long after you've swallowed. And it makes you want to reach for that glass again.

Yeah. And I'll tell you this, I, this winter I'll be sitting by my fireplace and I would say that would be one of the bottles I reached for to sit there. Like you said, a good sipping whiskey with my old dog Woodrow and just sat there.

What is the bottle of this run?

I want to say this was right around 130 to 150. Um,

Similar to old Carter then basically.

And you know what? It reminds me a little bit of an old Carter bourbon.

You know, I can get that. I get that.

They're different in their own ways, but this reminds me of it a little bit.

I would recommend if you see a bottle of it, you know, for our listeners, if you see a bottle of it and that's in your price range to go out there and get it, not chase it, but If you see it, it's well worth picking up. And I think, like you said, Jim, to me, I'd call that my fireplace whiskey right there.

And I get that. You know, my fireplace whiskey is a little different. I'm looking for the whole hot toddy with the honey and the lemon kind of stuff.

You know, a lot of times we try to avoid talking too much about price because we all know that price It's relative to where you are in life and where you are in your earning and your disposable income. And value is in the eye of the beholder. And honestly, I can't tell you whether or not you want to drop $130 on this bottle or not. That's not fair of me to ask it because I don't know what you have to do to earn $130. That's true.

You asked me earlier, said, hey, what are you drinking lately? And I've got everything from a $20 bottle to all the way up a little bit more pricier than a Sam Houston. And I'll reach for anything. I'm in that part of my life right now where I can do that. But I'd just as soon drink a $20 bottle as I would a $200 bottle. To me, it doesn't matter on the price. It's the juice inside that bottle that matters to me and how it tastes and how it's going to drink. For listeners out there, I drink my bourbon neat. I don't put water in it. I don't put ice in it. That's just how I like it. I don't care if it's 200 degrees out that day or if it's 36 degrees, that's just me and I like it like that.

Well, and you know what our motto is here at the bourbon road.

You're bourbon, you're away. So if you're out there looking at the shelves guys, and you see a bottle of Sam Houston up on the shelf and the price tag that they've got on that bottle is not something that drives you away personally, I would say buy it because it's a delicious pour. It's very good.

I am pleasantly surprised and it's something I would reach for again.

I think that's a fair way to talk about it.

What do you think?

Oh yeah. I think, uh, man, that's some good bourbon. Yeah.

So we're going to keep drinking on this. Um, I, I want to say again, Randy, you know, we, it was been such a pleasure to work with you on, on the bourbon road and you're one of the original founders and, uh, you know, we've had some great times recording this show. We've really enjoyed ourselves. It's been a lot of work, but it's been a labor of love. A lot of fun and a lot of great people. Yep, absolutely. And, uh, you know, Mike, it's, it's, it's great to welcome you on board. I am so happy to have you. And, uh, I think, you know, we're going to take this thing further on down the road and see where it goes.

Hey, man, I said, it's a journey I'm looking forward to. And you know, when I first started listening to your guys podcast, I, you know, I was mowing my grass or driving to work and I'm listening to it. And I said, man, these are, these are two guys I can listen to and just sit down and kind of relax. And, um, You know, you make that time go by faster when you're listening to a podcast is that that's what you're trying to do, I think. But rather than just making that time go by, it's enjoyable. And then you look forward to that next podcast. You're like, man, I can't wait till Wednesday and the Bourbon Road comes out with a new episode. And I hope that that's still it is that we're still wanting to be listened to. You know, I hope Randy it's like, man, when is Mike and Jim going to cut that new episode?

And I'm going to have time to do that now. So.

And it'd be like that Sam Houston, let me reach for another, you know, that second class.

Let me listen to that again. And if I could say anything to you guys here, one of the things that makes this podcast different is the stories. Keep reaching for these people's stories because everybody has a story. And you're doing something that 95% of the other podcasts out there aren't doing is get the person's story. And they do a great job. And I love the bourbon culture. And I was sitting there thinking to myself, if somebody asked me what the bourbon culture was to me, I could go on for 20 minutes. Yeah, because it's the food, it's the music, it's the people, it's everything from just mother nature working on that juice, you know, to bourbon geeks, you know, and to friends of ours, you know, with, you know, mashing drum and the bourbon journey and Dan's dusty reviews, you know, all dusty Dan doing his reviews. It's that, And then it's Virginia with her cakes. It's Bo playing with Montgomery Gentry. It's Chef D over here at the old Stone Inn. It's all of this stuff. It's hanging out with you, Mike, down at the fire pit, down by Jep the Creek. Whiskey River. Yep. It's Whiskey River doing their little thing on America's Got Talent and stuff as well.

It's Terry flying his planes over the distilleries.

Yeah, that's a whole different take on the whole bourbon culture thing.

Folks are going through every episode right now. And I tell you what, thoroughly, that's a road you want to go down right there, I think.

But what I've enjoyed about people in the whole bourbon culture thing is Hey, you'll drop a 130 bucks on a bottle, but you're giving back to society too, because that's one thing I've loved about the bourbon culture, like Lexington Bourbon Society and the old Ronald McDonald House thing and the charities and some of the money. Hey, I appreciate the life that I'm having.

Let me get back to- Noah down at Pit Barrel Cooker Company with talking to the vets about how to readjust after coming back from the war.

And then Liz and Jeff over there with their whole take on bourbon barrel rehab. Hey, let's take something that's supposed to be no good to anybody, a barrel, and let's make something out of it. And I'm going, man, the bourbon culture is all of this stuff.

It's just crazy. I think it's fair to say that part of this podcast, probably the most important thing that this podcast does is we're kind of uncovering the best of bourbon culture. kind of, you know, picking it out, putting it on air and letting our people hear it. Because it's not just master distillers and their product. It's also the people that enjoy drinking it, that make the music, that make the food, that make the cakes.

That hang out with the horses.

That hang out with the horses. You know, just the whole culture. And, you know, just enjoy the bourbon, but understand that it's kind of the underlying theme here. You know, the real thing is the people and the story they bring. And that's what makes this podcast different.

And bourbon culture to me is about the moment. You know, those, those special moments, whether you're breaking a bottle with somebody or you're having a mint julep at the track, whether it's Santa Anita with the readers cup or, you know, Churchill downs or Lexington, you know, with, uh, Keeneland and opening, you know, and Preakness and Belmont, you know, there's, there's that aspect. And then there's the fireplace and a little fire.

This is like, this is like that, uh, world of sports 20 minute reel, you know, where they show the last one.

Yeah, exactly. It's all of this stuff, man. And if I could give you guys anything that I would like to see down the road, hey, keep the stories alive.

I think we got some great ideas coming up here. Just going out to the Kentucky Barbecue Festival out in Danville, I think, Hopefully I get some good stories.

I imagine the stories that you're going to get because you're going to get the barbecue aspect and then, you know, Pat and Shane will be there as well, you know, and who knows who all will be there and you'll get some bourbon connoisseurs and. I don't know. I think you're going to get just a big mix of a lot of good stuff out there.

That may be a two-parter. You never know. Never know. I think we got some good concepts coming up for some other episodes and just trying to still capture that, like you said, that bourbon culture. People's own bourbon road they've been down and just to get inside their head a little bit and say, hey, What's bourbon to you? You know, every time I, what's that bourbon culture mean to you? You know, I think that's what drew me to your guys's episodes is you started talking about, Hey man, we got this bourbon right here. We want to taste it. And, um, you know, tell us about your experience with bourbon and how you got into this, this job and, and what do you do? What do you drink every day? What do you got on the shelf at your house? What's your daily drinker? To me, some of those stories like Bode, the interviews I got to go along with you guys and listen to, and Pat and Shane, their stories, just some awesome stories that come out of those guys. And we sat down and talked over a glass of bourbon, and sometimes this brown juice will make people open up a little bit.

Yeah, we've noticed that the second four seem to always, the second half of the show always seems to be a little better than the first. I wonder why that is, you know?

Well, Randy, I want to say before we sign off here one more time, cheers to you, my friend. It's been a great run and we're going to have you on the show many times in the future, I hope, as you visit and as we visit you. And you know what? I tell our visitors to look for a blog from time to time as you

You know, you never know how the spirit moves. So that's right. We'll be up there. And then when the bourbon colonel or gentleman sage or whatever I want to call myself that day puts this little earplugs in, you know, I hope to hear some good stuff from you guys.

I'm looking forward to hearing some of your music you make.

You know, it's coming. It's just I've spent the last many years working on the left side of my brain, and you know that, working for the federal government. Both of you guys do. They have a concrete sequential way of making you think, and I want to go abstract random for a while and just work on that right side of the brain and get the creative juices going. Who knows what might happen in the future? So, yeah. All right.

Randy, Mike, future's bright. Cheers, my friends. Let's have a little more of that Sam Houston. Let's do it.

That sounds good.

We do appreciate all of our listeners and we'd like to thank you for taking time out of your day to hang out with us here on the Bourbon Road. We hope you enjoyed today's show and if so, we would appreciate it if you'd subscribe and rate us a five star with a review on iTunes. Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at The Bourbon Road. That way you'll be kept in the loop on all the Bourbon Road happenings. You can also visit our website at thebourbonroad.com to read our blog, listen to the show, or reach out to us directly. We always welcome comments or suggestions. And if you have an idea for a particular guest or topic, be sure to let us know. And again, thanks for hanging out with us.