256. Dueling Grounds Linkumpinch SB 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.

Well, you know who likes to give back to their community is one of our sponsors, Jim. Chris Cruz from Cruz Customs Flags. He does custom flags out of bourbon barrels. Not only does that, he do that, but he's also using veterans to build those flags with. I've got one right behind me, Jim. I know you got one on your bar. Beautifully handcrafted, repurposing a bourbon barrel, not throwing it away, not making it into smoking chips, making a piece of Americana, right?

something that'll last probably quite a few years longer than a bourbon barrel would, right?

Not only that, but he's using veterans to build those pieces of art with. You know, you got to love that. But he's also giving back to his community at all times, helping veterans out like ourselves. He is really in tune to that. Go check his site out, uh, cruise customs, flags.com. You can buy his flags on their key holders. Jim's got some, uh, these neat little cups that are chart inside made out of oak that you can put a cocktail in.

They call those the whiskey grail, don't they?

Yeah, that is, it kind of reminds you, you know, when you think of a grail, but truly a whiskey grail right there. Go check those out at Cruz Customs Flags. Purchased from this guy, veteran owned, veteran operated, making a veteran built product.

Hello everybody, I'm Jim Shannon. And I'm Mike Hyatt. And this is The Bourbon Road. And today, Mike, we're at Jephthivn Farm.

Yeah, got Woodrow between us. Got Woodrow the whiskey dog hanging out.

I think he's kind of been missing this.

I think he has.

Well, we've got a bourbon today. Now, you said you drove past this place many times with the intention of stopping, but you couldn't quite find the time, right?

Yeah, it's, you know, we are, whenever we're driving somewhere, it's like we got to get there, get it done, and get back home.

Especially when that somewhere is Nashville.

Yeah, because I'm looking for that fried bologna sandwich is what I'm looking for. Um, but no, I've driven past so many times thinking I'm going to stop there. I'm gonna stop there. I'm gonna stop there. But you got to go with your son-in-law.

I did. So, uh, as you're heading south in Kentucky on I-65, right, just right before you hit that Tennessee line, a little town called Franklin, Kentucky, not Franklin, Tennessee, Franklin, Kentucky. Wow. And, uh, it's the home of Dueling Grounds Distillery. It's also the home of Dueling Grounds Racetrack, Kentucky Downs, right? Really? Yeah. So it's well known in the horse racing industry. But why are these places called Dueling Grounds? You know, we're going to talk a little bit about that. Yeah. But today we've got the Lincoln Pinch Burman.

Now that's named for the farm that the distillery is on, right?

That's correct. So the farm that the distillery is on is Lincoln Pinch Farm. That's the namesake for their bourbon and they and they've got not only do they have this single barrel Barrel proof that we're drinking today But they also have a bottle and bond bourbon there too. So they've got four-year-old bourbons.

That's that's pretty nice I mean the juice in this bottle right here is uh, it's It's kind of a reddish hue to it.

It does have a reddish hue to it. And you know, there's a lot to be said for a young, small distillery that's making everything themselves. So they make a hundred percent of it. They barrel it, they bottle it, they do the whole nine yards right there.

Wow. So four years old. And what's the proof on this one, Jim?

This is 120 proof. This is their barrel strength. Single barrel. And Mike, it's a weeded.

Yeah. We were looking it up, trying to figure out what the mash bill was. And I'm, I'm, you know, I got pretty excited cause I was like, man, I'm gonna drink a whole bunch of rye today. Um, not that I, that's a bad thing, but this is considered a high wheat. Uh, this is a 66% corn, 22% red winter wheat and 11% malted barley. Wow.

That's solidly in the weeder category.

Yeah, this is a age for four years, like you said, in a number three charred white oak barrels. Gotta kind of love that right there. Pretty dang good bourbon, I would imagine. We haven't tasted it yet.

Well, I'm ready to find out and to find out whether or not that, that day trip down there to check it out was well worth it because I don't often get to venture out to a new distillery when I'm visiting family. And this was kind of nice. The guys needed to get out for the day. We wanted to watch a basketball game. Kentucky was playing. We wanted to see Kentucky play and we wanted to visit a distillery. So it was a great day.

Well, heck let's, let's try this thing. That's got some spice to it.

It does. It's got a very spicy nose to it. Almost, uh, almost spice droppy. We get a little bit of dark licorice to this, like black licorice. It does have a licorice note. It's pretty solid in the bourbon category here. There's no doubt you, you, you knows in this, you're saying that's, that's a bourbon, right?

It's got a little, uh, baked apple to this. Uh, maybe a spiced apple to the cinnamon. I think you nailed it, Mike. Absolutely. I love it. I get some dark, uh, property or dark floor notes on that. Um, maybe a little bit of Rose on this.

Let's taste it.

Cheers. Cheers. Oh, that's nice. That's like a spicy buttery cake right there. Yeah.

So it, it has a pretty intense first impression when it hits a pallet, but it's 120 proof. Uh, but it's, it definitely knocks on the door, doesn't it? Good Lord. That's good, Jim. It is really good. That's dangerous. Wow. I tell you what, I'm really surprised. I, I was hoping for this good, but I didn't expect it. But I tell you this, when I was, when I was at the distillery, there's one fella in there and he was like, I mean, he, he's like, he had one arm trying to do three men's job. I mean, it was just, there's a lot going on. Probably 15 people coming through the door grabbing a single barrel.

Really?

Yeah. Just the whole time on there waiting to get my job done. You know, they just kept popping in the door, popping in the door, popping in the door. This guy was trying to give tours. He's trying to man the counter. One man show having a rough time keeping up.

but I did notice what they were all walking out the door with. This bottle right here. This bottle right here. Well, what's his bottle run, Jim?

Yeah. So this is $72, $73 for a bottle of this. And, uh, I think their bottle and bond is right around 40.

This thing's got a, it packs a punch. Uh, no doubt about it, that 120 proof, but it's so buttery and creamy with that cinnamon spice. I can't say enough good things about this thing. I really like it. It's got that softness though of a weeded bourbon. Maybe the barrels put a little bit of more spice into this.

Yeah, it's, it's kind of neat the way, you know, upfront on the very front of your tongue, it is soft, but as it starts to work its way back, it definitely starts to dig in a little bit.

I'll give you a little bit of punch in the back. Yeah, it will. I got to say, Jim, for four year old bourbon, this is very impressive. Um, long finish on it just because it, it does, it's just so buttery and it coats your mouth, leaves you with that nice, rich finish on it. Um, I like it. This is a bourbon that speaks truth to power out here that craft distilleries can make some just amazing bottles.

And this is a small operation. I mean, a really small operation. But I tell you what, if you're traveling Louisville to Nashville, if you're on that I-65 corridor heading north and south, take a few minutes. Take a jump off the highway there in Franklin, Kentucky and visit this distillery and get you a bottle of this because

Pretty impressive. I'm kind of kicking myself right now for never stopping or never us never having this on the show before. We've, we talked about it before us going up there and stuff, but there's just so many things that always go on with us that we, it's just busy.

You know, I've been to a lot of stories, Mike, you've been to a lot of the stories and a lot of times when you go to the gift shop, people are moseying around, right? They're looking at this, they're looking at that. They're trying to decide what they want to go home with. You know, do they want a t-shirt? Do they want a hat? They want a bottle of this or that. But I was at this distillery and I tell you what, they would come in the door straight over to the whiskey counter. They would grab a bottle of the single barrel. They would pay for it and leave.

That was it.

No word. That's it. That's all they were doing. So they, they weren't there for the experience. They weren't there for anything else. They were there to get this bottle of bourbon. Now I understand why.

Yeah. I mean, very, very beautiful. Um, for that money, I would pay for it all day long. That's not, egregious or nothing. I see other people paying about a hundred. Some people pay more than that for bottles like this. Um, so to me, affordable 120 proofer single barrel. That's a, and now if they're all that, you know, the single barrels, the thing is, is each barrel can be different. That's true. And maybe you got a honey barrel here.

It could be. Well, this is barrel number 50. So if you see barrel 50 on the shelf, it's a good pick. This thing's got a little bit of a, Candied jalapeno in it. Yeah. I'm, I'm going to say Mike, it's definitely spicy on the back. I mean, it's, and that hug is growing and growing and growing.

So this is a, this is a grown man, grown woman's whiskey.

No doubt about it.

Well, the Dueling Grounds is super famous and stuff, right? The father of Texas, Sam Houston, a Tennessee legend, right? One of the reasons Tennessee has the Tennessee Volunteers. You had told me that legally they couldn't have duels in the state of Tennessee, right?

Right. And so in this particular case, Sam Houston and William White had an argument. Let's just say an argument like lawyers do, right? Yeah. And the duel was set to take place in Franklin, Kentucky, which is just over the border in Kentucky. And Sam Houston went there and spent several weeks, got himself a hotel, prepared and practiced. I mean, this was not something you took lightly, but he came over and prepared for this duel.

actually had a really another famous guy helping prepare, right? That's right. Who was that? Well, that was a, it'd be a president Jackson, old Hickory, old Hickory.

Yeah. He told him, he said, now, now Sam, when, when you get to your dual, you want to put a bullet in your teeth and bite down on it. He said, because that will help you to concentrate.

I don't know if I, if I, if I was a, uh, another lawyer and I knew who Sam Houston was at the time. I don't know why I would challenge him to a duel. I probably wouldn't.

I mean, I guess it was kind of commonplace back then. I don't know how commonplace it was, but one thing I do know for sure is that when you pass the bar and you take your oath, part of your oath is you have to say that you haven't been a party to a duel. So it was a pretty big deal for attorneys. to be in duels a long time ago. And it's so much so that it became part of their oath to become.

You guys got to stop this.

Yeah. You have to say, I've not been a party to a duel. I haven't been in a duel or participated in a duel even today when you make that oath. Isn't that something? That is pretty cool. They leave that in there. Now Sam Houston didn't kill that fellow. No, but you might as man, if I was him, I might, I might've just wanted to die cause he got shot in the groin. Oh, I mean, that's kill me now. Yeah, yeah.

Be careful there. Be careful. I tell you, it was amazing back in the day how they treated stuff. I read a story about a US Senator that went on the floor of the U.S. Senate, took his walking cane and beat another senator with it because he felt like he slandered him. Now, that's a different way of living. Could you see old Mitch McConnell from Kentucky? going to take a walking cane and just whoop old Schumer with it. Uh, no. Nancy Pelosi jump off the, her throne up there and just start whooping on Mitch McConnell.

I can see them slapping each other like little sissies, but I don't think that.

I don't have a side on either side, but I just can't see that today. But I can see that back in the day.

Yeah. They were, they were some tough folks, you know, and they were living the frontier life, right? Yeah. And they might've been in, in politics and they might've, you know, but at the same time, you know, they were living, they were living in the, You know, the frontier time.

No, that's, that's quite a haul from Nashville for Sam Houston to travel up to Franklin, Kentucky. What is it about 50 miles? Yeah.

I mean, that's a, that's by horse. That's two full days, right?

Probably. Yeah. Yeah. Now everybody's wondering how we know that's two full days because in the state of Kentucky, each County was one day's ride from anywhere in the County. Right. It was like 25 miles, 25 miles. Yep. Yeah. That's a, that's on a good horse. That's on a good horse. It's on a good horse. Well, you guys horses, you probably can make that on. Well, Jim, another great bourbon, another great episode. I just love this thing. It's easy for the Weedy King of Kentucky to love anything weeded, right? But I've had some weeded ones that I'm not too particular on. I'm like, hey, we probably need to rethink this whole thing. But this one right here, hands down, this right here, Jim, I might stop by there. We'll see how they are. This could be a bourbon of the year right here.

Really? You like it that much? I do. It's a good bourbon, no doubt about it, but bourbon of the year, Mike, that's some high praise coming from you.

We're coming early in our year still in 2022, but so far this year, and we've had some nice bourbons this year already, but this right here is just, I like it.

I mean, if you're, if you're a stone's throw from Franklin, Kentucky, uh, you need to go pay your respects at Dooling grounds distillery because they're, they're doing it themselves and they're doing it right.

I just took another sip and how buttery and creamy this thing is and where the spice added in. I tell you what, now it's 120 proof. You're not chugging down a whole glass of this thing. This is a sipper bourbon. Um, if it was a little chillier out, probably have a fire going today. Um, but man. I tell you what, Mike, when you go down on your next trip, you pick up that bottle and bond and we'll have it on the show. Yeah, we'll do that. Most certainly. I'll call up and see if we can get him to break away some time for us.

Yeah, one man. I don't think he's going to be able to do it. Well, Jim, where can everybody find us on social media? Well, you can find us on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok. You can find us on all the social medias, even Twitter. We do the best we can to keep up with all of them. You won't find us on Discord. You won't find us on Twitch. We're on all the others. Make sure you check us out, subscribe to us. In particular, Facebook, we have a private Facebook group called the Bourbon Roadies. Huge number of loyal followers, loyal fans, bourbon lovers, people who like to chit chat and talk about whiskey, take pictures, share it with each other. Mike, what do they have to do to be a bourbon roadie?

Well, you've got to be 21, obviously, in the United States. Do you like bourbon? Yes, everybody likes bourbon. And do you agree to play nice? Heck, nobody likes rudeness in there. If you drink from the very bottom of the shelf, let's say an ancient age, all the way to the top of the shelf, something like this. Dueling grounds, bourbon right here. We want you to be able to do that and comfort in that group. Even though we just talked about politics, we're joking about it, we don't talk about politics or religion in there or social issues. We talk about whiskey. We certainly don't take a side. Yeah. There's no sides in there. It's just we feel like those rules help us with that group. And we've been pretty fortunate.

We have been. Absolutely. Well, Mike, we do two shows a week. Every week we do a short episode where we talk about a single expression like Lincoln Pinch bourbon, like the single barrel, 120 proof, four year old Lincoln Pinch bourbon. Really good. Dueling Ground Distilleries is doing it right. But we'll do a short episode like this. We'll do a walkthrough of a single expression. We'll tell you what we think. Should you add it to your bar? Should you not? Today, I think, Mike, we're in agreement.

This should be on your bar. Most certainly. If you're looking for something that's craft, that's really, really good, this is what you want to have on your shelf.

And every Wednesday, we have a longer version of our show, about an hour in length, sometimes longer, sometimes less, usually right at about an hour. We get you to work, we get you home, we talk about the two or three bourbon expressions we have a guest on, getting ready to have Castle & Key on this week.

Not an episode you're going to want to miss.

You do not want to miss it. always entertaining, always good. Mike, how can they be sure that they don't miss any of these episodes we got coming out?

Well, you want to scroll up on your app that you're listening to us on right now. If you've just found us, hit that subscribe sign, hit that plus sign, that check sign, whatever you have to do to make sure that your app tells you, Hey, these two guys got a show that's out. Then we want you to scroll on down, hit that five star review, leave those comments. You know what's going to happen if you don't. I'm going to bring my friend, the big bad booty daddy of bourbon. He's going to be carrying this Lincoln Pinch bourbon with him. You guys are going to drink it all night long. Heck, you'll be laughing with me carrying on. By the end of the night, you're going to leave that five star review. You're going to leave those comments. But truthfully, those help us get into places like Dueling Ground. It gets those doors open to us. We can walk right in and do great episodes for you, give you great content. We'd appreciate it.

So you can reach out to Mike and I. We're very approachable. Hit us up on email. I'm jim at the bourbonroad.com. He's mike at the bourbonroad.com. You can even go on our website. There's a contact us page. We'll always get back with you. But probably the best way, like we always say, is to hit up our DMs on Instagram. I'm jshannon63. I'm Big Bourbon Chief. And we'll see you down.