310. Calumet Farm 16 Year 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.

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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. starting off great here. I noticed you just took a sip of something there, warming yourself up for the bottle we're going to taste. I guess. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. All right. So today we've got a whiskey on the show that has a few years under its belt. We've had it before.

Well, an earlier version of it. We had earlier versions, so I thought we'd stick with just every time when these come out, Jim might as well do a review of it, right? And let everybody know whether they should buy it or not. And what we're going to review today is the Calumet Farm 16-year-old. This is a $150 bottle. So she got some price on her.

Yeah. So we're starting to dance, dance on the edge a little bit here with these Calumet releases. Now these are all supposedly sourced from Barton and we've watched them grow up a year at a time. And we've had it on the show. We had the 14 on, I think we had the 15 on. Not sure if we had an earlier one on, but, um, so this is the 16 and, uh, I'm a little worried. It might be getting a little old, but.

Yeah, this, uh, let all listeners know what, what's in this bottle right here. So the batch size of this is 19 barrels, Jim. Um, we know the mass bill is 74% corn, 18% rye and 8% malted barley. 106 proof and like I said, $150 MSRP. Now we've been talking about that $10 per year. So might've saved a little money on this one, Jim, $10 savings.

Of course, every, with every year it gets a little more expensive too, doesn't it? Yeah.

Yeah. And you know, the, the people that make this are pretty secretive. Like we've said before about this whiskey, um, where it's being bottled, where it's being, um, sourced from. Um, but we, we think we know, right?

I think, I think there's a general consensus. This is from Western spirits beverage company and they're in bowling green. And, uh, really nothing more than kind of a warehouse down there.

Yeah, that's pretty right. Now something different about this bottle. We noticed that the 14 didn't have a horse on it, but the 15 did, which is world away. And they chose to put citation on this bottle. Citation was a pretty famous race horse, won the triple crown, won 16 races in a road gym and was the first race horse to win a million dollars.

Wow. That's pretty cool. Yeah, they had quite a streak in, in the 1940s with world away and then citation. I think, uh, world away also won the triple crown, uh, world away, in addition to winning the triple count crown also went on to win the Traverse stakes. I think when you add the triple crown to the Traverse stakes, you're kind of at, you're at what they call the grand slam of thoroughbred racing. So pretty cool.

Yeah. You would say this horse, you know, had citation had almost like everything there is. Um, Like you said, he was the U S horse of the year from 1948. He won the triple crown. He was the U S champion, two year old, U S champion, three year old. Um, just some amazing stuff and was actually voted into the United States racing horse hall of fame in 1959. Uh, that's, that's saying something, you know, a lot of people think, You know, bourbon and horses go together and that's they're telling the history of horse racing through this bottle right here. Yeah.

It's a great looking bottle. Great label. Uh, we do see that typically on the top shelf. When you go to your favorite liquor store, the price tag is a little bit high, but you know, it's got a lot of years behind it. Mike, if I remember this one correctly. from a prior year. It's a bit spicy. A little bit of fire on the mountain. A little fire on the mountain.

Yeah. Yeah. I think it was, but I haven't tasted this one. We just cracked it open. Um, we're going to give you honest review listeners. Um, I made sure Jim had a big old sample of it. So, uh, he's not going to go, go home empty handed here. Um, he'll get to try it out and hopefully, uh, we'll tell you what we think.

Well, I'm ready, Mike, let's, let's nose it and let's taste it and let's tell them what we think. Let's do it. That a little bit of a dusty nose to it.

Yeah. You know, that Oak and that, you know, that dust of a Rick house is coming through. I get to actually a little bit of cinnamon butter on that, like, uh, like a honey butter or something.

Yeah, it is a little buttery, but you can definitely tell there's going to be some, there's going to be some punch there, but the nose isn't like, uh, coming across super, uh, aggressive, but you can just tell there's, there's a bit of spice there and there's some of the good Rick house aging of the oak that's going to come through.

You ever taken those bag peanuts and poured them into a Dr. Pepper before?

I have never done that.

No, that's, I don't know if that's a Southern thing, but when I was a kid growing up, you drink, you know, drink a drink out of your Dr. Pepper and you take a dollar 50 cent bag of peanuts, salted peanuts and pour them into your Dr. Pepper. And you had a whole meal going right there at all together, but I might be getting a little bit of that peanut in here, Jim, along with a Dr. Pepper spice.

Well, it's buttery. Definitely got a butter note to it.

The oak is very much there. This is not new oak. This is very much old oak. Yeah. This might be a poor that you let set in your glass a little bit and just open up, let it breathe. Um, you know, this is, I think it's going to be something that's, um, going to tingle our pallets a little bit, Jim.

All right. I'm ready to taste it, Mike. Let's do it.

Cheers. Cheers. And I'm getting black licorice. Yeah. You're pretty spot on. It's, it's, it's heavy on the Oak. Oh, there's no doubt about that. Right. Yep.

Definitely heavy on the Oak. A little bit tannic on the back, but definitely kind of a heavy black licorice, like hard candy, black licorice.

There's not a lot of sweetness on this. If there was going to be anything, I would say this is more of a baker's chocolate. That sweetness, you know, there's no sweetness there. It's, it's got, like you said, a little bit of bitterness to it. A bitter chocolate's coming out that liquor is like you said, but there's no sweetness to it. There's this, that tightness taste of. Maybe the licorice that was sitting on that coffee table for way too long and you pick it up, chew it on, you're like, Oh, what happened? All the sugar ran out.

Yeah. Yeah. It's almost like it's got a little bit of an apparel note too. So definitely minus sweetness. Like it's the absolute absence of sweetness.

Yeah. It's, uh, it is rather oily for a hundred or six proof. Um, And I don't know where that sweetness went in this one, but I would say, uh, it's got just a tad bit of spice, not a whole lot, not overpowering spice to it. Right?

No, not like I expected it to have. Certainly some things have changed in the last year. It has taken a turn a little bit. I wish I had brought a bottle, Mike, and we could have tried one side by side. Maybe that's something we'll. We'll do off air after the show and just cause I'm curious. I'm curious to see that change in the last year.

I think we said that last time, Jim.

Yeah. Did we really?

Yeah, I think we did. So I think what we need to do, uh, to be fair to listeners, we got, um, and I don't know, I think I actually gave my 14 away to somebody, but I will see.

I still have a 14.

And then I got a 15, I think. Uh, so between the 14, the 15, the 16, maybe we'll just do a whole show on that. Let everybody know, Hey, this is what you can get. Cause I saw all three bottles today, evergreen liquor in Louisville. It was nice to see all three expressions sitting up on the shelf together. They're in a lot of case. Um, not, not surprising to see that.

Call that the trifecta.

Yeah. I tried to get the, one of our listeners, Mark Ratliff to buy all three and he just shook his head. He's like, ah, no, no sir. Uh, but yeah, no sweetness that Baker's chocolate, uh, maybe a little cocoa powder, maybe. When you were a little kid, you ever, did you, you never dipped into that thinking mama, get me some myself, some chocolate and dipped into that cocoa powder. Did you?

No, I think I've learned, I must've learned it along the way sometime without, without doing that because I knew it was, is not going to be good.

Yeah.

That's the sentiment or two things you don't, you don't want to take on their own, right?

You've never did the sun challenge or you've tried to eat a spoonful of it. I could never do it. dang near choke death on that stuff. It was just dry your mouth out. Um, not that I've ever did it, but I've seen plenty of people try it and I'm like, nah, that's not for me right there. Um, yeah, I would say it's a medium finish on this though. It's just lacking a little bit of sweetness for it to be a bourbon kind of, I think it's passed.

It's past that sweet spot now. And maybe last year we'd have to go back and take a look at our review. We'll certainly do that before we try the three side by side, but it may have already been on its way. And for me, I think at 16 years, it's time for this to come out of the barrels. I don't know how many more barrels of this they've got aging away, but I mean, it's interesting. But for me personally, going further in the barrel would not improve this whiskey further. But that's my own personal opinion based on what I like. And I'm often a little nervous about over-oaked or over-aged bourbons.

Yeah. You know what? This reminds me of Jim and we, we reviewed the, uh, knob Creek 15 year old. We said the same thing about that is that it was overly okay. And I'm kind of getting that in this right here that maybe this either they proved it down too much and it took that sweetness out or it was left in the barrel too long. Um, and I know a lot of people just look at the age on this and say, wow. Um, and I'm not saying this is a bad whiskey at all by any means. Uh, you know, I just don't know where this place is at, where you drink this at.

Well, remember now the Knob Creek 18 made a big recovery, right? It came back. From, we thought the 15 was getting a little bit too far gone, but then the 18 kind of pulled it out. And that's, that's what you're able to do when you have a huge barrel inventory, right? You're able to find some of those barrels that didn't cook off at the high in the high Rick's right. And maybe play with blends a little bit.

Yeah. And maybe it's the season to, you know, how did this in that season, how did they come back out of the barrel? You know, it's going, maturation is going in and out of the barrel a lot. Does those sugars get left in there in a year where it's not as hot or something or as cool? It's just, it's just one of those weird things. I don't know. You know, drinking another sip of this, when I drink it, I get a little sweetness now. Maybe it's opened up a little bit more in the glass. There's not a whole lot left in there, but it's definitely still lacking a little bit of sweetness for me. Medium finish, just a little bit of Kentucky hug, I guess, but there's no spice on your tongue. It's lacking that.

Well, I have to say, Mike, I always like trying these because it's interesting to follow a bourbon as it ages and you taste it each year and you get to experience, you know, what that bourbon is doing over time, sitting in those barrels. I think we get some pretty dramatic changes per year now. So I'm not, I'm not sure how long they're going to continue doing this. Maybe that's a good question for them. How much inventory do they have? How long do they keep playing on, you know, at 18 to 20 barrels a batch could be that they have another hundred barrels for all we know. And this is going to, 21, 22 years.

Good Lord. There'd be some old whiskey at this point right here for a rye. Usually your wheaters can, I think, handle that older age better than a rye could probably, but heck what I know. We're just two bourbon bullshitters and just drinking this whiskey. Obviously I bought it because I want to have an older whiskey on the shelf. for people to experience and let them educate themselves about older whiskeys. The age statement doesn't always matter, right? Jimmy Russell would probably tell you that, hey, a whiskey is good at eight years to 12 years. But some people see that age statement and say, man, I'm going to try that. So if you're out there listening to that, you know, right behind this bottle of whiskey is a seven-year-old, old Ezra Brooks. And yeah.

You know, it was starting to, as I continue to sip on this, I'm getting that Christmas fruit cake.

Mm-hmm.

Yes, sir. And so it is interesting. It does tell a story, having these different ages of whiskey and watching them go through that aging pattern. I think it's interesting in that respect. Certainly, I would love to see, just for reference, what happens in 17. Like, what happens at 17? Kind of curious now what it's going to taste like next year. So I think As far as we're concerned, Mike, let's not finish off any of these bottles. Let's hold them back so that we can continue to do these comparisons for our listeners over time. I think it'd be an interesting thing to do.

Yeah. Maybe we should sit down and do just a show on that right there. Uh, and you know, so roadies, you're not going to see this on a roadie bar. We're going to save this one back. I'd also like to take in a drink this alongside that maybe that knob Creek, 18 year old or that 15 year old and see what older age bourbons like this, how they compare to each other. Um, I think like I said, in the beginning of the show that Maybe this is a whiskey that you gotta let open up a little bit, Jim, these older whiskeys. Let it breathe and then, you know, then you get a little bit of that sweetness that comes out. So lessons learned here in this review right here. I love it. I love it.

So, Western Spirits out of Bowling Green, in addition to the Calumet Farm expression, they also have Sam Houston, which we've had on the show as well. They have Bird Dog, which I don't think we've had on the show, and they have Lexington Bourbon, which, again, I'm not sure that we've had Lexington on the show either.

I don't think we've had either one of those on the show. Uh, I'm not, I don't know if there's a reason why I just, um, we're always searching out those other whiskeys. And, uh, you know, the only reason I bought this is cause I wanted to finish out our line and see, say, Hey, you know, we didn't miss a year. So listeners, that's our thoughts on this one. Um, if you don't like overly oaky bourbons, I would say don't purchase this one. It's a, you know, $150 is, is not cheap.

If you like your bourbons to be sweet, this is definitely not sweet. No, sir. No, it's like completely absence of any sweetness. It's dry from the beginning to the end. So, but I say it's got that Christmas fruit cake, but it does that without having any sweetness, right? It's kind of funny.

This is a perplex bourbon for me. I'm not sure how to take it. I think I just got to let it sit in a glass for a while. I'm going to open up and get some air to it. Maybe it's been, it's been in that barrel for so long, Jim, that it needs air. It just needs air.

That could be, that could be. All right. Well, let's, let's make a little note in her notebook there to try and put together a show where we look at the 14, 15 and 16 side by side. I think it would be an interesting thing to do. If you're on the fence about Calumet 16 and you're wondering whether or not it's a bourbon, you ought to open your wallet for. The best advice I can give you is think about what you like. If you like sweeter bourbons, if you like bourbons that are softer, this is not it. If you like bourbons that don't have an overly oaky back into them, this is not your bourbon. If you don't like dry bourbons, bourbons that sort of suck the moisture out of the back end of your palate, This is probably not going to be the one for you either. But if those things are all lined up to be something you like, if you like a good, this might be a good cigar bourbon. I don't know. Good possibility.

That's definitely a good idea. Well, another great review, Jim.

Yeah. What would you say the price was again, Mike?

$150. It was 105 proof. What was it? 106? 106 proof. 106 proof. And what was the mash bill again? So the match bill on this listeners is 74% corn, 18% rye and 8% malted barley.

Square, square on a Barton match bill, right?

Maybe just maybe Jim, just maybe.

Well, it's out there. It's on the shelves folks. If you want to take a chance on it. Uh, I'm not the guy to say no. Uh, I probably won't buy one for my bar. Mike, I know you like to have the latest and greatest. So you picked one up yourself. Are you happy with your purchase?

Yeah, time will tell, time will tell. Like I said, I'm going to have to let this one, if I'm going to drink it, I'm going to let it set in a glass for a little bit, open up, and then I'll sip on it just to get that tad bit of sweetness out of it. So yeah, I mean, it's nice for guests that say, hey, I got to have that older bourbon, you know? And you know me, I like to have a nice bottle for guests to come over and they'll look at it. And it's like that shiny nickel.

You got to pick it up. Absolutely. Well, Mike, we're pleased to find this on the internet.

Well, you can find us on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, on our private Facebook group, the bourbon roadies. You gotta be 21. You gotta love bourbon. Hell, who don't like bourbon? And you gotta agree to play nice because we don't do rudeness in our group. That means we don't talk about politics. We don't talk about religion. We don't talk about social issues. What we talk about in there is whiskey. If you want to celebrate Whiskey Woods, you want to celebrate life, you want to celebrate a retirement, a birthday. If you even want to celebrate a family member's death that loved whiskey, you want to say, hey, can you raise a glass to this family member? That's the kind of stuff we do. Right, Jim?

That's right. Absolutely. And we do two shows every single week. Every Monday we'll do a craft distillery episode like today's where we'll take a look at one single expression. We'll taste it. We'll talk about it. We'll give you our opinion. We'll let you know that whether or not we think you should add it to your bar. And every Wednesday we'll do a full length episode. We'll have a guest on drink, couple of expressions, deep dive, a subject, give you a full hour to get you to work and get you back. That's two episodes every single week. Mike, what do they have to do not to miss one?

Well, listeners, you need to scroll up the top of that app, hit that check sign, that plus sign, that subscribe sign. That app's going to let you know, hey, these two jokers have a show out today and you need to listen. You need to scroll down, hit that five-star review, leave us some comments because you know what's going to happen if you don't. But big bad booty daddy of the bourbon is going to come to your house with this Calumet Farm 16-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey. Drink it all night long. Maybe even smoke a cigar. Be talking like Big Chief by the end of the night. But seriously, those reviews, those comments, they open up doors to distilleries, get great whiskey in our hands like this Calumet farm, 16 year old. We'd really appreciate it.

So Mike and I are very approachable. If you see us in town at a liquor store, see us at a distillery doing a tour. If you, if you, if you see us at an event, make sure you walk up to us and say, Hey, shake her hand. We'd love to meet you. Love to hear your bourbon story. If you've got an idea for a show. or a bottle we should have on a show. Make sure you let us know. You can always hop on our website, the bourbon road.com. We got a contact us page on there. Send us a quick message. We'll get back with you and also send us an email. I'm Jim at the bourbon road.com. He's Mike at the bourbon road.com. But like we always say, probably the best way, get up our DMS on Instagram. I'm Jay Shannon 63. I'm big bourbon chief. And we'll see you down. The bourbon road.

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