233. Blue Note Crossroads Bourbon Review

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

Hello everybody I'm Jim Shannon and I'm Mike Hyatt. This is the Bourbon Road and tonight it's another craft distillery Monday. We're bringing back a distillery we know and we love from a city we know and we love.

We got BR to Stilling out of Memphis, Tennessee. That is an amazing city. If you've never been down to Memphis, been on Beale Street, been right there on the river, listened to some blues. Great city. But, you know, Jim, I was passing through Memphis going to see my son. You know me, I like to pop into a liquor store too, kind of like you. If you see one, it makes you itch a little bit, right?

It does make me itch a little bit. I remember you calling me. from the Memphis area. He said, Hey, Jim, I just left the liquor store and they had the full BTAC collection on the shelf for $150 a bottle. What should I have done?

You should have bought it all, man. I should have. That wasn't this trip though. I've learned a lot since that trip right there. So what struck my fancy about the bottle I'm holding for B.R. distilling is that it's blue note, but it says crossroads on it. You know, and that is a 1986 movie with Ralph Macchio in it about a blues guitarist and a young kid coming up that was like at a Juilliard school in New York trying to learn blues music. Great movie, though, right, Jim?

Yeah. I mean, I'm a big fan of Ralph Macchio all around. I mean, I loved, I loved him in the outsiders. I loved him in karate kid. And then he played in crossroads and that was just, I mean, that kind of topped it all for me. That's one of the great movies of all times.

Yeah. It's like right up there in those eighties movies of like road house. Some of those movies right there, Mask, that was another great movie. Some of those movies out of the 80s just had that feeling to them, and this was one of those movies. Some great guitar scenes on it are in that movie. Learning to play a slide guitar and stuff. Just amazing music in that. And then went into kind of a little bit of classical music too.

Yeah, yeah. I think it was a, I think overall a great story. kind of a, you know, a journey, a young man's journey to find the heart and soul in music. And at the end of the day, he faces off with the devil and we won't tell you the ending there in case you haven't seen it. But I highly recommend you go out and you check out the Crossroads movie. I don't know where you can find it right now, Mike. I'm sure it's available on Prime or Netflix or somewhere. Yeah, definitely worth watching.

Well, most people think when they think of the crossroads, they think of the great Robert Johnson, right? And blues and Clarksdale, Mississippi is where the crossroads is or was said to be. And it was just where two roads met a tree was there. And supposedly people would meet the devil there and trade their soul for their greatest dreams. And supposedly Robert Johnson couldn't play the guitar very well before he went to the crossroads and he left there. It became this just amazing blues, uh, blues man.

And then of course, Ralph macho in his, uh, Epic journey to find the true soul of music and what his place was in that he left. What was it like? Juilliard or something like that, right? He had classical training. He took his guitar and he went for the crossroads and kind of made a deal with the devil.

Yeah, he actually played against this guitarist. He's been in all kinds of bands. Stevie Vey, a real-life guitarist and stuff. He has played in Whitesnake. He played with Meatloaf. He played with Zappa. I mean, the list kind of goes on there, who he's played with, who he's been associated with. pretty amazing that he was in that movie and they made a music about some of the greatest guitarists of all time. I mean, I think a great guitarist, the list kind of is like Eric Clapton. And I know some of our listeners are going to get onto me for saying this, but Prince. Prince is an amazing guitarist. A lot of people don't think of him. Stevie Vonn.

Yeah. And just one more little thing about Crossroads, you know, Eric Clapton has the concert, the Crossroads concert. And if you ever get a chance to listen to that, it's the greatest guitarist of all time. It's something wonderful to experience. But Mike, we will stop going any further. We won't talk about how the movie ends because we want our listeners to go check it out. It definitely is in my opinion, ranked up there almost with an Lonesome Dove.

Oh my Lord.

Oh, that hurts a little bit. That hurts a little bit.

Well, I'm glad. I'm glad that Lonesome Dove is kind of its own category of a mini series of the eighties, which I guess we have series today, right? You know, I was, I was seeing that thing the other day. It said, would you sit down and watch a nine hour movie? And most people would say, no, I'm not going to sit down and watch a nine hour movie. But hey, how about I break that nine hour movie up into nine hour segments? And would you sit down and watch it? Oh, got me.

They'll bid you in one day. Won't they? Yeah.

I think that the craziest stuff.

Yeah. All right, Mike. Well, let's, let's turn to the bourbon here. This is blue note crossroads. This is a hundred proof bourbon from Beard of Stilling out of Memphis, Tennessee. We've had blue note on the show. We've had both their bourbon and their rye and we're big fans of both of them. So pretty excited to get this one in. What makes this one different?

So this is a non age stated, um, We think it's a four year MGB product. It's 60% corn, 36% rye and 4% barley. Um, but the real special thing about this, and you know, Jim, I have a fondness in my heart for this, for some reason, this thing has been finished in a toasted French Oak barrel. Yeah.

It really does make a difference, doesn't it?

Yeah. It gives that something, something extra.

Now we know we love, we know we love bourbons finished in toast, but oak barrels, but those toasted French oak barrels in this case, add something special, something different. And it's very nice. So I'm looking forward to trying this one.

So this was 100 proof. I paid 40 bucks for it. That's the MSRP for it. I felt good about that right there. Something that's toasted. Um, but let's know this thing, Jim, let's check it out.

Nice nose.

Yeah. A little bit of sweetness come out of there at caramel. Like you just said, um, Maybe a little bit of marshmallows there. That marshmallow cream puff, maybe.

Yes, Dave puffed marshmallow. Yeah, there you go.

There you go. A lot of sweetness on that or some fruit. Yeah, there you go. You ever open up a you got grandkids and give them those fruit cups and one of those up and you get a witness of fruit out of there. Those are nice to open up and take a whiff of. Maybe a hint of spice on that. Just a tad bit of cinnamon in there.

Nice vanilla. I, you know, I just love French oak stays and what they add to a, to a bourbon. It's just, it's such a nice thing. Well, heck, Jim, let's, let's taste this. Let's taste it. Cheers. Cheers. Very nice. Sweet. Okay. Caramel vanilla, a little bit of sizzle. Not too much.

A little bit more Oak than I thought I was going to get out of that. Right. Yeah. That campfire is coming through with a s'mores right there.

Yeah. This is a, this is a nice toasted finish on this. I definitely get the added sweetness, the extra Oak, a little bit of marshmallow. Not so much fruit, but the sweetness is nice, but the caramel and the vanillas are coming through. Um, that's very nice.

Well balanced, really well balanced. I'm actually getting a little honeycomb cereal on this today, Jim. Honeycomb cereal. This podcast is brought to you by honeycomb cereal. Yeah, the oak is there. Jim, when I think about oak, I'm looking behind me and I see that American flag made out of oak. It just warms my heart. I'm talking about the American flag from Cruz Customs Flags made from bourbon barrels by veterans, veteran owned, veteran operated. The man gives back to America all the time. Cruz Customs Flags. He's got all kinds of items, Jim.

Yeah. I mean, ask yourself three questions, right? Do you love America? Do you love bourbon and do you love bourbon barrels? And the third question is, do you appreciate your vets, those who went and fought overseas for you and defended our country? If you can answer yes to all three of those questions, I definitely think you need to check out Cruise Custom Flags. They're dedicated to repurposing bourbon barrels into products that you and I both love. Mike, you and I both have them. We really appreciate the work they do there. We appreciate the fact that they're putting combat veterans back to work, repurposing both the barrels that hold our whiskey and the vets that served our country. How awesome is that?

Yeah, that's, that's what I'm talking about. Go check them out today at Cruz customs flags. Tell them the bourbon road guy sent you. Yeah. Well, Jim, man, I'm really glad that I picked this up. I'd say it's a winner finish on it. Yeah. Winner all day long, right? Every time I see that toasted, man, I'm like, man, this might, this might be a winner right here. Let's pick it up. Uh, it is got that medium finish on it, that Oak that I'm looking for. Um, a hard proof for 40 bucks. That's a pretty good price.

Yeah. I remember when we had McCauley on the show. I mean, he, he, he, he brought two bourbons with him. He brought his Ryan, his standard bourbon, and then we were both impressed with, and we were impressed with both those whiskies. And now we get to try their crossroads whiskey. And I'll tell you what, it's a, it's a, it's a proper continuation of their expressions, proper continuation of their line. I think they're doing it right down there. No doubt.

Yeah, I really do like this. I'm glad I picked it up. You know, a great bottle to drink from, a great remembrance of a great movie from the eighties that we're going to see Ralph Macchio. I just actually watched one of his shows tonight with my wife. I know everybody's watching it. Cobra Kai. Kind of a continuation of the karate kid on Netflix. If you haven't seen it, check it out. Not that we're sponsored by Netflix, but we'd like to be.

Yeah. You go back to the beginning of his career. I don't know. Mike, do you remember the movie, uh, the outsiders? Oh yeah. Yeah. Wasn't that fantastic? Man. He was so young in that movie. It was, it's like the beginning, right?

Yeah. I mean, I can't think of him before that. And then he came out with karate kid and you know, then he moved on a crossroads and he, he kind of just kind of disappeared after a while. Yeah. But he's come back.

He's had a great career and it seems like every movie he's been in that I can remember I've got an appreciation for, so it's a lot to say about an actor.

Yeah, most definitely. Well, Jim, people can find us where?

You can find us on Facebook. You can find us on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube. You can find us on TikTok, believe it or not. We do have a few videos there. You can also find us on our private Facebook group called the Bourbon Roadies. And that's where all our friends hang out. If you want to be a friend of the show, we invite you to come in and join them. Uh, just go on Facebook search for the bourbon roadies. It'll come up, ask to join, uh, three simple questions. We want to make sure you're 21. You're old enough to drink bourbon that you realize you're getting yourself into a bourbon group and that you agree to play nice once you're in there because you know, everybody in there's friends, right? We all get along. We celebrate life, Mike. And, uh, you know, we just want to lift each other up. We don't want to tear each other down.

Yeah, you couldn't have said it better, Jim, whether you drink from the top of the shelf or the bottom of the shelf. If you want to drink 10 high whiskey, which I don't recommend, but if that's what you want to drink, you drink it. Drink it to your heart's content. You want to drink military special out of a classic store. We want you to drink that. We want you to show us what you're drinking. Have a conversation with us. Let's all try to get along. But what we'd really like you to do is scroll on up the top of your app there, hit that check sign, that plus sign, that subscribe sign. That'll let you know that we've just recorded an episode, we've just released it. What we need you to do after that is scroll on down, hit that five star review. because you know what's going to happen. If you don't, the big bad booty of daddy, a bourbon is going to come over to your house. He's going to be dragging along this Blue Note Crossroads bourbon finished in toasted French oak barrels. You're going to drink it all night long with him. By the end of the night, you're both going to be laughing. You'll get that five-star review for us, I guarantee. Make sure though, we really, really, really need those reviews. It helps open up doors, helps get great guests on the show, helps get great bourbon in our hands like this blue dome. We really would appreciate it.

Well, Mike has told you how to let us know what you think about the show, but if you've got a suggestion, if you have an idea for a show, if you've got a guest you'd like to see on the show or a distillery you think we've overlooked that you'd like us to check out, make sure you reach out to us. There's a lot of ways to get in touch with Mike and I. Obviously, you can go to our website, the bourbonroad.com. We've got our gear on there. We've got our articles on there. Our podcast episodes are on there. We also have a Contact Us page. And feel free to fill that out. We do respond, so send us a message. Let us know what you think. We'll be happy to get back with you and try to take care of what what you think we ought to do. Also, you can reach out to us by email. I'm Jim at the bourbon road.com. He's Mike at the bourbon road.com, but probably the best way, as we always say, is to hit up our DMS on Instagram. I'm Jay Shannon 63. I'm one big chief and we'll see you down the bourbon road.