304. Old Line American Single Malt Cask Strength 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 gotta 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, cruisecustomsflags.com. You can buy his flags on there, key holders. Heck, Jim's got some of these neat little cups that are charred 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 Cruise Customs Flags. Purchase 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, it's another craft distillery Monday. We've got a Maryland whiskey in the house. Got a little bit of roots in the military though, right?

Yeah. We got somebody that, uh, two guys that own a distillery and they are both Navy veterans like yourself. That's off to you, Jim. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Anchors away. Let's go.

You actually know the words to that song, man. I saw you sing that whole song one time. away. I was like, man, he's going to go ahead and float away down the river here in a minute if he don't stop singing. Two Navy veterans, Mark and Arch, they were Navy aviators out in Washington state. They ended up moving back to the Maryland area and found out that they were in the same squadron. And then they were neighbors also. They liked whiskey. So they went back out to Washington state to learn how to make whiskey. kind of gave up their day jobs because they learned their day jobs were a little bit boring, a little bit more boring than flying aircraft off of aircraft carriers.

Now, I would imagine, Mike, let's just, let me just take a guess here. I mean, you're a naval aviator and you get done with the Navy and you get out of the Navy, you go to work a regular day job. What job could live up to that? I mean, What job could not be boring after doing that? You know, it's kind of hard to say. You would have to be a test pilot for like Boeing or something or, or, or space X to have that.

I'm going to say drinking whiskey on a podcast, Jim. That's pretty, that's pretty exciting. That's pretty daring. Sure. Yeah. Well, these two jokers decided they would go out to Washington state. They would learn how to make whiskey at golden distillery. They went back to Maryland and decided, hey, we're going to do this, but you got to have a distillery. You got to have the equipment to make it. They didn't have all that. So they sought out somebody to help them make it, teach them. They already knew how to make it really. So somewhere they can make their whiskey. There is actually this distillery right above Columbus, Ohio called Midwest. And Midwest will let you come in there if you have enough money and they will let you make whiskey there. Now that's a pretty neat concept. You can use their equipment. Still your whiskey, right? You're the cook, your whiskey.

So you're the cook in their kitchen.

And we know for in fact that the whiskey that comes out of Midwest typically is pretty dang good. Uh, we've had, we reviewed, we've had their whiskey. Uh, we've had other whiskies that come out of there like horse soldier, um, pretty damn respectable whiskey. Um, But this is a little bit different than horse soldier. Cause that's a bourbon and this is an American single malt whiskey, Jim, man, this story, this song keeps playing over and over again.

Doesn't it? Mike, these American single malts is like, it's like they're coming out. They're coming out of the woodwork or they come in for Scotch. I think, I think there's two things and you and I talked about this a little bit. I think they are coming for Scotch. Sure. There's a large number of Scotch drinkers in this country and abroad. a lot more Scotch drinkers than there are bourbon drinkers. Wouldn't you agree?

Yeah, you know, I don't know. I'd have to see the latest numbers on that on bourbon and Scotch. I think Scotch is so much older than bourbon and it was ingrained in people and then bourbon had its downturn. So has it made it back yet? I don't know, but I was saying that The bourbon rooms getting full, Jim, it is getting the mighty full. The Scotch rooms already was filled up a long, long time ago. Yeah. Well, where else are you going to go?

Yeah. And an American single mall is the closest thing, uh, to a Scotch because nothing can be a Scotch if it's not made in Scotland. So if you want to get close, you're going to have to make in here in the U S you're going to have to make an American single mall.

Well, that's what the old market and arch did. They made an American single mall and that's pretty much all they make. Uh, they'll do some finishes and stuff, but this is their American single mall cast strength. We haven't seen a whole lot of those. Um, there's some pretty cool, cool things for this. Uh, their logo has some waves on it. Uh, a piece of line or rope wrapped around those waves for that nautical theme, but there's also a star above those waves. And what's that stand for, Jim, that star?

The star stands for naval aviators.

Yeah. And then they got two flags on here. Uh, that's pretty special. Uh, that most military members know or Navy members, no coast guard members know. Uh, what's that Jim?

Well, I'll be honest with you, Mike. I think most Bosons know I was, I was in the engine room, so we didn't get to do a lot with flags to be honest with you, but you were a Boson, right?

Yeah. So I was a Boatswain's mate. Um, so Bravo Zulu, most people you get an award, that's kind of getting a pat on the back right there. Bravo Zulu. Good job there, buddy. Get your ass back to work now. That's, that's what a chief Boatswain's mate would say. You're interrupting my coffee break right now.

Good job. Get back to work. Damn it.

The old line, these two guys, they went out to Midwest. They've make their whiskey. Um, which is. Respectable. Now they have a distillery. They're making their whiskey out there in Baltimore, Maryland. But this right here actually did come from Midwest. We know that because it says distilled in Ohio. Aged in bottle and old line spirits in Baltimore, Maryland. This is, Jim, 124.4 proof.

That's pretty respectable. That's rocking it out. Yeah, sir. It is. Yeah. And these guys are pretty transparent. I mean, if you go to their website, they lay it on the line. They tell you all the details. They let you know exactly what they're doing today and what their plans are tomorrow. So I think that, uh, you know, using a place like middle west, uh, to craft your whiskey early on while you're building your distillery is pretty respectable. They definitely picked a winner in middle west. We know that they can, they can make some good whiskey up there. Can't they?

Yes, sir, most indeed. Now, some people are probably asking why the words old line. Well, old line is a nickname for the state of Maryland. According to some historians, General George Washington bestowed the name old line state and thereby associated Maryland with its regular line troops, the Maryland line, who served courageously through many revolutionary battles. Kind of a nod to other veterans there from these two Navy veterans. That's pretty cool. I love a tied into their military ties.

I think it is really cool. And it's neat to know that, you know, the Maryland troops were that steadfast line that Washington could rely on in hard times to hold the line and, and defend, you know, the ranks in the back. So that's pretty cool.

It also says that it is a name bestowed in blood, you know, that they would hold that line no matter what it took. You know, I just, the more I think about it, I kind of get goose bumps, Jim. You know, we wouldn't have all the freedom we have today without those first fellas out there that, you know, raised their hand and said, I'll do this. So hats off to them. Hats off to these Dave ladies right here that also were, sent us this bottle of whiskey to try.

Absolutely. I'm excited to try this. We've had a few single malts recently from across the country. And I think that, you know, we always say, Mike, that we'll, we'll take that side road every now and then. It's not always about bourbon, but it's about American whiskey. Right. And in this case, single malt seemed to be popping up here and there and kind of surprising how good some of them are. And I'm really excited to try this one.

Well listeners, so this is non age stated. We could probably say the match bill on this is a malted barley. I would tend to think, right, Jim?

I would, I would say so. You know, we talked a few weeks ago about some other malted barley whiskies, particularly single pot still whiskies where some of the barley is not malted, where it's unmalted barley. But in this case, I think we're talking about malted barley.

Pretty neat there. And you pick this up for around 64 99. You might find a little cheaper that online. A couple of places you'll find it for 64 99 though.

Definitely a respectable price for barrel proof. 124.4 proof is $69. We don't know the age on it, but I think that it seems like a pretty fair price.

Yes. Well, let's give the sucker a try, Jim.

Let's check it out. Cheers. Cheers. Well, you definitely don't want to put your nose deep in the Glen Karen. This has got a pretty good ethanol content to it. So back off that Glen Karen a little bit and just get that essence of that whiskey.

You know, you're always saying stewed fruits. I get like, uh, boiled plums on this or you're getting plums.

I'm getting kind of. Pairs like boiled pears or yes, dude, pears, Mike, why not stewed pears?

Maybe like, uh, not like pear sauce, like applesauce, but pear sauce.

Yeah. You know, now that you say it, that would be pretty good. I would think, I mean, I, I'm a big fan of applesauce, but I guess you could make pear sauce, right? Oh, you can.

Viv will have to make you actually even makes pear butter. Does she really like, like apple butter, but pear butter.

Well, this definitely has a caramel waft to it, a little bit of butterscotch notes, but it definitely has that stone fruit nose to it. Um, a little bit of a medicinal note there. I might even call it like, uh, I hate to say whore hound, but a little bit of like maybe whore hound.

I tend to agree with you on that whore hound Jim. It's that's listeners. I know you guys think we're making this up, but it, it hits whore hound on the spot. If you took whore hounds and put them in a microwave gym and melted them suckers down, I guarantee you it smelled just like this and pour them over top of your, um, pear sauce. Well, I was gonna say we're pancakes, but Hey, all right.

Well, let's taste it. Cheers. Cheers. Well, definitely a lot more caramel butterscotch on the palette. It is, um, but that whore hound is ever present. That spiciness that comes from a whore hound. And you know what I'm getting, I'm getting a little bit of that tannic oak in it as well. So I'm not sure how long this spent in the barrel, but I'm going to say it's spent enough time in the barrel to pick up those nice barrel notes.

Yeah, I'm getting all that right there. A lot of oak in this. Uh, this is a dark, dark whiskey in the bottle by itself. I mean, it is, uh, a red amber inside the bottle. So, um, a lot of oak, a lot of caramel in it. Um, that whore hound, like I said, if you took it and put it in the microwave and melted it, Jim, it'd be in his glass and that spiciness, it coated the tongue like coated my whole mouth. Um, and then it, it kind of got a little bit dry.

Yeah, it's a little bit dry on the backend. I have to agree with you there. I would say that, uh, that sweetness kind of disappears on the back. Then you get a lot of little bit of a dryness there, not tart, but kind of, um, You know, the drying is when that tongue doesn't want to slide over the roof of your mouth real easy. It wants to grab on a little bit, right? It wants to stick just a little bit. So I think that, uh, the tannic qualities are coming from the wood. Certainly the sweetness is sort of gone here upfront. A lot of those stone fruit notes, a little bit of whore hound. This is a spicy whiskey for a single malt, isn't it?

Yeah. Well, maybe that's more of the proof on this gym. Cause you know, when we tried to nose it, you can't just dive your nose right in there. And I think that spice is coming from the proof. Um, on the backend though, after I've taken my sip, I'm getting a little bit of a NW root beer, uh, for some reason that's at whore hound candy, but kind of. turning over to the root beer candy. You know, if you ever had one of those barrel root beer candies, you suck on it for a while. Or after you drink a root beer soda, you get that taste left in your mouth. That's what I got left.

Okay. Yeah, I get that. Yeah. You're spot on there, Mike. I think that this, this whiskey is a little bit more complex than a traditional Single malt. I think it's got a lot going on. There's certainly not a lot of smokiness there, but there is a lot of barrel influence. I'm getting the stone fruit up front. I'm getting the kind of the whore hound effect, maybe even a little bit of pepper on it as it settles in on the back end. It is a little drying overall, a pretty respectable single malt American whiskey.

Yeah, it's really pleasant and deep. I mean, when I say deep, I mean complex. It's got a bunch of unique flavors to it that just totally shocked me from any other American single malt I've had. Maybe because we're always saying, hey, that'd be nice. Cast rate. We always say, well, dang, Jim, somebody listened to us. Somebody gave us a bottle of gas drink and said, Hey, you two jokers drink this and let's see what you got to say this time. Uh, they hit it on the spot. Um, I think it's great.

Yeah. I mean, at 124.4 proof, this could, this could be a nice porch whiskey. Sitting down with a friend, you're not going to session it. You're not going to, you're not going to drink through a bottle of this because it'll, well, it'll put you out because it's a very high proof whiskey, but it's definitely something you want to have a few glasses of on the porch, maybe in the fall, maybe in the spring, uh, maybe even in the deep of winter. I don't think this is a summer whiskey. Do you think Mike?

Oh, heck no. This would definitely be sitting by the fire in a great room there, petting Woodrow, talking about whiskey, talking about old naval stories, Jim, talking about being under the water for so long. But this is a great conversation whiskey, to have those conversations with friends, to drink whiskey with friends, to remember those great times in service. Yeah, I just, I love it. I mean, I'm going to fall in love with this thing very easily, Jim. I hate to say this. This is not a bottle we're going to share with anybody else. I hate to say that because this is something we need to enjoy ourselves.

Absolutely. And I'll mention something that I mentioned to you off air. And that is that I think it's fair to say that there are some notes to this whiskey. that remind me a little bit of Leapers Fort distillery out of Tennessee. Now they're, they're a bourbon and a Tennessee whiskey distillery. So they're, they're quite different in what they do, but there's some interesting notes here that kind of remind me of them. And I think it's that spiciness. This has got that unique spiciness that kind of stands out for a single malt, doesn't it?

Yeah, I, I tend to agree with you that this would be, I mean, it's American single malt, so it is different, but those characters, those, you know, stone fruits and stuff in there, um, you know, me and Jim had this conversation a long time back and we, we were drinking whiskey and we're like, man, this is a little different. We didn't know if we'd liked it or not. And I was like, let's drink the whole bottle, Jim. And let's visit this whole bottle together and see what is, and then we got a second bottle and we're like, ah, dang, that's, that's pretty good. Um, And so that's a little whiskey lesson to yourself that just cause you don't like it the first time and your palates like, man, this is different. Doesn't mean you can't go back and visit that bottle several times and kind of spend some time with that bottle. Right, Jim?

Yeah. And, and I was, I was actually brought into the fold is probably the best way to say it. Cause when I first tasted the whiskey, I thought, Oh, this is kind of. This seems outside the lines a little bit. You know, you got these lines that you think whiskey should be in and you drink it and you're like, wait a minute, this is not inside those lines. This is outside those lines. So I'm not sure I like it. The actual thing is, is you're the, you're the problem. It's not the whiskey. You're the problem. Cause you're drawing these lines. You shouldn't be drawing, you know, because whiskey is outside those lines for a reason, because it can be, and it's good outside those lines. And, and maybe those restrictions you're putting on that drink. uh, or not correct.

Yeah. It's, it's the same thing with drinking anything. If you're drinking beer or, you know, I'm not a big sour guy, Jim, you know that, right? Uh, I don't know why I can't get into it.

Yeah.

But every time I go to the bar, I still will try one. to see if I could maybe tease myself into liking it or saying, hey, I still want to give it a chance. Even if it's a new beer or something like that, I still want to revisit it and say, okay, what did I not like about that? What's not fitting with my palate and stuff? And it probably something from my past is something I had sour and I don't like that sour taste so much. But with whiskeys, that's maybe there's a little different with whiskey. Heck, I don't know. I love to go back and, and visit whiskeys that I maybe didn't like. There's a whiskey. I, I don't know that, you know, I don't know how many people know this. We've not talked about old Pogue at all, Jim. Um, but I drank old Pogue at Jim's house and I was like, good Lord, Jim, I don't know that I like that.

Yeah. It was the, the, the malted Rye Maysville, right?

Yeah. And I still want to go back and revisit that and see if there's something there for me still. You know, and the other thing is your palate changes over time. You know, my old daughter, she didn't love strawberries at all, but if you give her strawberry today, she's like, man, I'll take the whole carton from you. So just remember that over time, your palate changes. And then like Jim says, give it a chance, go back and revisit it. You might shock yourself that it's outside those lines for a reason. These whiskey makers, we've had several of them say, hey, I don't want to make the same bourbon everybody in Kentucky makes. I want to make something different. I want to try to stick to the rules, but I got to do this different thing for myself to say it's my product. Um, so we love that about whiskey. We love that about beer. We love that about food. You know, you can go a hundred different Indian restaurants and you're going to get a hundred different types of flavors, right?

Absolutely. Without a doubt. Well, we definitely like to thank our fellow veteran friends at the old line distilling, uh, for, uh, introducing us to their whiskey, giving us a chance to taste it and review it. We certainly would like to encourage our listeners to give it a shot. If you don't have an American single malt whiskey on your bar personally, I think you should. I think you should because. American single malts are up and coming. There's something that, uh, defines America and its whiskey business. And just, uh, you know, just like bourbons represent a core of America and our American whiskey soda, American single malt. So give it a chance, give it a try, pick one up, put it on your bar, have an open mind and give it a try. What do you think, Mike?

Yeah, I totally agree with you, Jim. You know, I love single months. You know, I love Scotch. I love Irish whiskey. I love bourbon. I'm starting to love rice. I don't want to say that too loudly to anybody, but yeah, this is definitely something right here that you got to have on yourself. This is a buy all day long for me at $64.99. I'm going to spend my money on it. Heck, why don't you spend some of your money on it? Now, you got to go out there and ask that spouse, hey, can I spend that 64.99? But I think this is worth your money right here.

Absolutely. Well, Mike, where can people find us on the Internet?

Well, you can find us on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter. Our main place is on Facebook at the bourbon roadies. You got to be 21. You got to love bourbon. Hell, who don't like bourbon? And you gotta agree to play nice because we don't tolerate any rudeness in that group. Meaning, if you drink from the very bottom of the shelf, some of that old 10 high maybe, all the way to the top of the shelf, maybe some of that King of Kentucky that Jim would love to have on his shelf. Whatever you're drinking. We want you to come in our group, celebrate life with us, celebrate births, retirements, even celebrate somebody's death, celebrate that life they live, their love for whiskey. We'll raise a pour to you and your loved ones. Come in there, join us. It'll be a great time. Now, Jim, we're going to be at Bourbon on the Banks on October 1st. Man, what a festival to be at. We're going to be in the Bourbon Road Lounge. We're going to have a whole bunch of bottles. We're going to have a distillery in our tent, which is, Jim?

It's going to be Leapers Fork Distillery, and they're going to be pouring the very good stuff, aren't they?

Yeah, but we're also going to have a Bourbon Roadies little bar there. a little bit of whiskey there for you to pour from. So for, from reviews that we've done from our own bars, um, make sure you come in and join us. We'll have all of our swag there. Our wives will be there. And we're also, Jim, we're going to have some special guests in our tent and I can announce this on air right now. We're going to have Jane Bowie and Denny Potter in our tent for about an hour.

Well, that's, that's bourbon royalty out of maker's Mark, isn't it?

Yeah, now they've left Makers Mark and they got a new project they're going to start up. Hopefully we'll know by then what it is. Maybe they'll tell us there at the event what they're doing. I kind of know some details, but I can't let the cat out of the bag right now. There's no hints in that. Okay. But Denny was the master distiller at maker's mark before that. He was the master distiller at heaven hill. So he's got some lineage there. And then Jane Bowie was the master blender master of innovation there at maker's mark. Um, two great people, two amazing people. Uh, if you really want to get to know them, go back and listen to our interview with them. You'll love it. I guarantee. Uh, but Jim, how many shows do we do a week?

Well, before I tell you how many shows we do, let me just say that. Denny and Jane are a hoop. They're a blast. There's so much fun. So definitely stop by the tent and introduce yourself and, and, and get ready for a barrel of laughs. Cause there are a lot of fun, but we do two shows every single week. Every week we're going to do a short show on Mondays called craft distillery Monday. Like today's show where we kind of focus on a single expression from a craft distillery doing it right. With Mike and I will taste it. We'll talk about it. We'll decide whether or not we think we ought to suggest it for your bar. In the case of today, the old line cast strength, single malt whiskey, Mike and I both are giving it a thumbs up and saying, this is a single malt that you should probably add to your bar. But every Wednesday, we do a full-length episode where we'll have guests on. We'll have a couple of expressions. We'll talk through a subject and deep dive it a little bit. You really want to listen to both shows every single week. Mike, what do they have to do to make sure they don't miss a single episode from the Bourbon Road?

Well, listeners on that app, you want to hit that check sign, that plus sign, that subscribe sign to make sure that app tells you, hey, these two jokers got a show out today. And then what we need you to do after that episode is we need you to scroll on down, hit that five star review, leave us some comments. You know what's going to happen if you don't. The big bad booty daddy of bourbon, he's going to change it up a little bit. He's going to come and drag in this old line, American single malt whiskey cast drink to your house. We're gonna drink it all night long. By the end of the night, you're gonna leave us that five star review and those comments. But seriously, those comments, those reviews, that gets a great whiskey like Old Line in our hands. It opens up doors to distilleries to us to get great guests on the show. We'd really appreciate it.

Now, Mike and I are very approachable. You'll see us out at a fence. You'll see us at distilleries. You'll see us at liquor stores. Heck, you might even see us at Walmart, but when you run into us, make sure you walk up and introduce yourself. Shake her hand. We love to meet our listeners. We love to meet our roadies. If you're not a roadie, make sure you join the bourbon roadies by going to Facebook. And searching out the bourbon roadies and join in there. We'd love to have you as part of that crew. Just a good group of people having a great time drinking whiskey, but you can always reach out to us on our website, the bourbon road.com. We have a contact us page. You can go on there and write us a note. Mike and I are very responsive. We'll get back to you. It also sent us an email. I'm Jim at the bourbon road.com. He's Mike at the bourbon road.com. But kind of like we always say, probably the best way to slip into our DMS on Instagram, shoot us a message. I'm Jay Shannon 63. I'm big bourbon chief and we'll see you down the bourbon road.

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